Musical Review: The Spirit Of Christmas Mood: a-ok
It's really great to have a world class theatre a few miles away from our house in Brampton. This is the "Rose Theatre" which opened last year. Already, we've seen five productions there.
The parking was free and it took only 20 minutes to get there and get home.
Broadway's "The Spirit of Christmas" resembled a Rockette's Christmas show with this one exception. There were many high energy rock songs which were performed with high energy dancing. This included "Higher and Higher", "Marshmellow World" and "Rocking Around The Christmas Tree".
The dancers also did varied dance numbers to Christmas songs (e.g The 1920s dance, "The Charleston", was done to "Jingle Bells" which was very entertaining).
"Santa Baby" was done by a soloist and it was hilarious
Some of the dancing and singing wasn't the greatest, but I'd give the show Three Stars.
It's very busy at Canada Post these days. In our section, we're working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to get the mail to our customers. That means lots of overtime.
My section is the Toronto Exchange Office (incoming foreign mail) and with the Canadian dollar very high. The mail has been a deluge.
Of course, there's shopping, decorating and cleaning up to do.
It's tough doing Christmas stuff and the blog too.
There's a great deal of commericalism during the holidays. It's good to be reminded every now and then what Christmas is it really about.
Below is one of favourite new Christmas songs, "Christmas Shoes".
Of the three great male vocalists in the world today, John McDermott is definitely one of them. The other two would be Josh Groban and Russell Hitchcock of Air Supply. To be a great male vocalist, you have to have a great voice with perfect pitch and sing songs with an emotional impact.
Last night, I saw John McDermott for the first time at the Rose Theatre in Brampton and it was quite an experience. John performed many tunes from his new album, "Sharing Christmas". Often, he reminisced about musicians he knew, his childhood memories of Christmas, and his father in Glasgow, Scotland.
The thing about John is that he doesn't just sing a song. He tells the story with it as well. This was especially true with "Christmas In The Trenches", a song about the Germans and the English meeting together and exchanging gifts on the battlefield.
The other songs which I found almost as moving were Ave Maria, Oh Holy Night and Old Tin Star. Four stars.
It boogles the mind when CEOs are rewarded for failure. In a 3rd world country, they would probably be executed.
There is very little subprime financing in Canada. We don't have much to do with these questionable risky products. TD Canada Trust shunned them completely.
Below is a video by Hillary Clinton on subprime mortgages and trailer homes, etc. Perhaps, this is just another reason to create a United States of Canada.
This movie wasn't as bad as the critics said it was. Sure Tim Allen's Santa Claus was getting a little stale, but Marvin Short injected some life into the story line. His "Jack Frost Wanna Be Santa" had some good moments, especially, the "North Pole, North Pole" number (to the tune of New York, New York).
Granted Santa Clause One and Two were funnier, but Santa Three was funny in a weird stupid way. Two and half stars.
The motto of Google is "Don't Be Evil". I'm sure they're trying to live up to their motto.
Apparently, one financial analyst was negative about these investments. He said in New York, "This makes me worry about Google's priorities".
If saving the planet isn't a priority, than I wonder what is.
It would be helpful if Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and any other person with big bucks joined this crusade too. Avoiding the human and environmental costs of "Global Warming", should be priority for anyone.
The new technology of the 21st century is green technology. It will replace the old fossil fuel technology and the infrastructure that goes with it.
When a person is born into this world he/she is born into a dangerous environment. There are thousands of things that can kill and disable us at any moment.
As a baby, one depends on one's parents for safety and health. As one gets older, the community and government services help us to learn, get a job and stay healthy.
Behind the umbrella of human institutions, there's another world that either protects us from terminal disease, criminals and accidents or doesn't. To make it work for you, there has to be some belief in its existence and power.
When a crisis situation develops, one recognizes the vulnerabilities of his/her human condition and the need of a greater power to help out. A baby in his mother's arms or in car has that special faith that protects him. He lets "Jesus Take The Wheel."