Getting to the play was an adventure in itself and we very nearly didn't make it. This was the weekend with all the snow/sleet and messy winter weather that closed airports and cancelled flights. When we arrived in Detroit on Friday, Feb 22, our flight to New York had been cancelled. The airline informed us there were no flights available until Monday. Since this would have meant missing the play and the Q&A we were faced with two options, fly back home and find another way to get to New York, or scrap the trip to New York and just go somewhere else for the weekend. We went with the first option and flew back home. I wasn't keen on driving in bad weather, so we waited and left Saturday morning, leaving us with about 10 hours to get there. The drive took us about 7 hours and went pretty smoothly. After arriving in New York things went a whole lot smoother.

The Harvey Theater, part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, was smaller than what I expected. According to the website, it seats 874. Our seats were seven rows back, off to the left (if you are facing the stage) and just about in front of the sink, where many interesting things happened. When I was fortunate enough to catch Patrick Stewart's one man version of A Christmas Carol at the La Jolla Playhouse in 1994, a theater which according to its website seats 492, I recall being about 13 rows back and yet somehow I seemed much, much closer to the stage at the Harvey Theater, even though there were only 6 rows difference in seats. Perhaps it is because the stage at the Harvey Theater is not raised and that the first row of seats literally rings the stage. Whatever the reason, when one of the actors looked in my direction, it felt like they were actually looking at me, not just at some point over my head. I could clearly see their eyes, facial expressions, props and a lot of little details. There were times in the play where the actors would enter/exit from the audience and there was one particular segment where one of the actors was shining a flashlight at random audience members and incorporating them into the scene. All these little details, pulled the audience in and at least from my perspective made it almost feel like I was part of it, rather than just a spectator. There has been so much written already about the technical details of the play, the use of video screens, the music, the freight elevator, there really isn't much I can add. I will say, however, that it all worked very well. I was a bit skeptical when I'd heard that there were going to be video screens and automatic rifles and other modern elements. But the director's modernizations fit in so well, it did not seem the least bit gimmicky.

Born to Be a Dancer from the album "Employment" by Kaiser Chiefs

From the Crater - 6 pledges for $111.13 to go to Amnesty International
Starbase Karma - 11 pledges for $246.00 to go to PLAN USA

Total Efforts of Blogathon 2007 - 360 blogs with pledges totaling $118,113.86.

I'd also like to thank the admins and volunteers over at Blogathon 2007. It takes quite a bit of effort to get something like this accomplished.

I think we made a difference. And hopefully we'll be back next year to do it again.

Now that I'm settled into my new physical location, I'd like to get back to my screen capping project. It has been on hold for almost a year, due to some unforeseen issues. As soon as I get the last few differences worked out on the Mac I'll be ready to pick up with the TNG Season 5 episode Unification. To break things up, I tend to interweave the TNG stuff with McFadden's and Stewart's other projects.

Music videos are a whole different issue. I've held off picking up Adobe Premiere until I find a program that will let me rip the video clips. Honestly, I've only had this machine for a couple of weeks and just haven't had the time. I can't make more vids though if I can't get the clips.

Back in 30 minutes with the wrap up :)

Here are a few photos of Patrick Stewart mingling with political leaders. I'm too tired at this point to comment on them.

Patrick had a non-speaking part in a mini-series based on a famous spy novel. Can you name the movie?

Here's an image from it, if it helps :D

He's done a series of commercials, print ads, and whatever else Chancellors do, including attending commencement ceremonies.

He was also the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University last spring.

A few pictures of Patrick as scholar:

Here are some of the goofier Patrick Stewart pictures I've found...

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