Saw the touring production of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (based on the Frank Oz film starring Steve Martin & Michael Caine which was itself a remake of a '60s Marlon Brando-David Niven film called Bedtime Story) at the Pantages last Saturday. Despite being 15 minutes late and missing the new opening song they made especially for the tour, it didn't dampen my overall enjoyment of the show. Norbert Leo Butz was a live wire reprising his Tony-winning role as the crass young con man Freddy Benson (originally played in the films by Martin and Brando) to the delight of the audience. He was so much full of energy on stage that he basically stole the whole show from the equally talented cast. This is evident in his first song "Great Big Stuff" (the low quality video was taken from the original Broadway production):


After that I bought the soundtrack and went home. All I had to say was I had a ball, I had a blast, and it was a shame it couldn't last, to paraphrase a lyric from one of the song. And I was lucky since I just learned the Broadway production will be closing next month.

---

Lately for the past few weeks, I have been riding the Metro train going to LA and Pasadena, sometimes by myself, sometimes with my uncle or dad or mom, and it's been a really enjoyable experience despite taking long to reach LA from my nearest station in Long Beach. At least I get to go out a lot even despite the hot weather.

---

So Pluto is no longer a planet, which means my very eager mother served us noodles instead of the usual Neapolitan pizza. Oh well, at least technically it's still a planet, only its now a dwarf planet which could lead to further discrimination in the solar system for the likes of Xena or Ceres.