The Other Drummer

Next month we get to go see Wicked again. This will be our fourth time and we’re stoked.

The first two times we saw it were on Broadway. We hadn’t heard the music, just rave reviews from everyone we talked to. We bought tickets before we went to New York, and then won their lottery for tickets in the second row. Wow. I finally understood why people make such a big deal about seeing shows on Broadway. It really is incredible.

For those of you who may not know, Wicked is the untold story of the witches of Oz. You see, Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West, pronounced “el-fuh-buh”) and Glinda were roommates in college. After a rough start they become friends until they come to a crossroads where each must choose their path. Glinda, traditionally known as the “good witch”, is obsessed with being popular and will do anything to get her way. Elphaba, who has been an outcast all her life due to her green skin, is selfless and always tries to do the right thing. Unfortunately, it often backfires or is misunderstood resulting in her title of the Wicked Witch. Finally, she gets fed up and essentially says “Screw it. I’ve tried so hard to be good and it’s never worked, I’m not going to bother anymore.”

The music is fantastic, especially the closing song of the first act, “Defying Gravity”. You can hear it on the soundtrack, but until you know the whole story and see it in person, you just won’t realize how cool a song it is. It gives me chills when I hear it. And when we heard “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished” performed in Denver we learned to love the second act.

Wicked starts long before Dorothy ever shows up, proceeds through the traditional story and concludes after she and the wizard leave Oz. It explains where the flying monkeys come from, the origins of the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion, the real reason Dorothy ended up in Oz and why the Wicked Witch is obsessed with the ruby slippers.

You also find out why Elphaba is green, how she ended up with the pointy black hat we have all come to associate with witches (hint: it was originally a gift to Glinda from her grandmother) and why she flies around on a broom (hint #2: it was the only object available at the time). Ever wondered why the munchkins hated the Wicked Witch of the East so much? Or the real reason the Wizard hides behind the smoke and mirrors? It’s all explained in a wonderfully creative way.

Fun and uplifting, the message is a good one and can be appreciated on a number of levels. Best of all it’s entertaining and G-rated. A refreshing change considering most of the “entertainment” that’s out there nowadays.

If you ever get a chance to see it, it’s well worth the money. I’m sure if it ever comes to Salt Lake we’ll be camping out to get tickets.

Oh, please. Like you never wanted to do it.

Today I looked at my blog and I says to myself, “Dave, you need a post with an entertaining picture.” As I was at the library returning An Inconvenient Truth (which was inconveniently two days overdue) I saw the following display:

That should work.

The first thing I did was surpress a laugh into a barely audible snort. I’m pretty sure that banner could have been worded differently, and I still have no idea why there are a bunch of paper hands taped up behind them, but I’m trying not to think about it.

I snapped the picture incognito, but then approached the table and asked for some information under the guise that it was for my wife. (That’s not entirely untrue. If I decide not to throw it away, I’ll give it to my wife.)

They were pleasant enough (one had a mustache though) and loaded me up with pamphlets and handouts on the virtues of breastfeeding. We had a brief conversation that went something like this:

Me: How long will you be here? (This was to find out if I could come back later with a real camera and get a better shot incase the one I had taken turned out to be blurry.)

Woman: The whole month of August. August is breastfeeding awareness month you know.”

I didn’t know. Did they expect a guy in his middle twenties to know that?

Me: (With feigned shock) I had no idea!

As soon as I said it, I realized it was a mistake. These women took their duties very seriously. I mean, if you’re hardcore enough to sit in the library and distribute literature about breasts and how they can be used for feeding, you probably don’t appreciate sarcasm.

They didn’t.

The one on the right squinted at me and cooly replied, “It is.”

I took a few more pieces of literature (“Join Le Leche of Utah!”), stuck them in my newly checked out books and walked out of the library, holding in my laughter until I was clear of the building.

Clearly, we need alternative energy sources to cut our dependence on foreign oil, reduce pollution and save on energy costs. But I’ve been pondering lately about how there probably won’t be some revolutionary new alternative energy source that takes the world by storm and is used everywhere.

Wave energy is being developed in Oregon that, by using about 10 square miles of sea water, will be able to supply power to the whole state. Wind power will be used in Oaklahoma (as the it comes rushing down the planes), and solar energy will be used throughout the southwest.

Instead of building cookie-cutter subdivisions everywhere that all look alike and are made of the same materials, I think we should take a cue from generations past. They didn’t build all their houses the same way. People in New Mexico use adobe-style houses because they are made from readily made materials and keep their homes cool. Hybrid indoor/outdoor houses work in warm and tropical locations when the weather is fairly consistent year round and allow for more natural air circulation, thus reducing the need for using AC as much.

We can’t make enough ethanol to supply our oil needs, plus it often uses material that could be used to feed the starving masses. Not very ethical. Gas-electric hybrid cars (such as the Prius) require expensive batteries that will, eventually, loose their ability to hold a charge and are still relatively expensive. The same problem exists with 100% electric cars. Solar panels aren’t at the point yet where they can power a home in most cases, let alone a car.

So let’s stop waiting for some cure-all to our environmental problems, and start acting on the technologies that are already available.

THE POTENTIAL CURE-ALL

The way I see it, the “magic solution” to our energy problems is the practical production of hydrogen. If these guys are legit, they may prove the title of this posting wrong.

If hydrogen (or, in this case, aquygen) can be produced at a rate of 1,500 liters in one hour for 70 cents of electricity, it would completely revolutionize the way we get our energy. It can (could, whatever) run cars, heat our homes, power turbines to create electricity, etc. etc. etc.

Anyway, those are my current thoughts on energy. Readers (all six of you), I’d be interested to hear your thoughts, particularly on the hydrogen link video.

Did you know that according to this government website only 15% of the gas you put in your tank goes to moving you down the road and running things like your headlights and AC? 64% of the gas you put in your car is wasted thanks to “engine losses”.

Engine losses? Are you kidding me? We can put a man on the moon and launch sattelites that can read the time off your watch but we can’t figure out how to design an engine that’s more than 15% efficient? I find that very hard to believe. (Any big oil/auto industry conspiracy theorists out there?)

Here’s an earth-shattering idea: let’s make a law that says cars have to be, oh, I don’t know 30% effecient within 5 years and 50% effecient within 10. Imagine the impact be if all cars doubled their fuel effeciency! Don’t worry about the discovery, production or distribution of a new fuel source (although we should still be working on that), just make more efficient use of what we already have.

Hey! Rich Guys Auto Industry Guys! Instead of designing self-parking cars and in-car DVD players for the kids, maybe you should work on designing a gas engine that doesn’t suck gas, because no matter which car you look at, knowing that it’s only using 15% of the fuel you put in it means the Prius should be getting 400 mpg, not 60.