Archive for the 'Entertainment' Category

Bingo Costa Rica Style – Esta Buena!

Published on May 13, 2012 in Baby Boomer, Costa Rica and Entertainment. 0 Comments Tags: .

As Bulbous pointed out: We are not old enough to be regulars on the bingo circuit. But one evening we passed by the school as the bingo game was breaking up and we commented that it might be kind of fun to do bingo.

We got the chance Saturday afternoon as Pat invited us to go with them to the church in their neighborhood to play bingo.

Since Pat is fluent, she promised she would help with the numbers.

Did you know Bingo callers have their own lingo when it comes to numbers? I think I knew that from U.S. bingo games… or maybe something I’ve seen on the big number program on the satellite teevee.

The caller in Atenas liked “solito” before the single digit numbers and “redondo” before 20, 30, 40, etc. (the round one.) That’s about it except for hyping the cards for the big screen teevee and the refrigerator prizes (which didn’t exist.)  The prizes were donated by parishioners and were in the category of a dozen fresh eggs, etc.

Yaddi, the best waitress in Atenas, told us that where her Mother lives the caller sings the numbers!  Now that would be cool.

We found our way to the church about 2:30 and they had already played a few games. Which is pretty remarkable because it seems that nothing in Costa Rica starts on time. The scheduled start time was 2 p.m., so the gambling bug must have bitten pretty hard for them to be rolling within 30 minutes.

Everybody was huddled around tables under big tents with a card or two in front of them. No big multi-card players here like in the states. Two seemed to be the max. Each card costs the equivalent of fifty cents.  Some used plastic discs for markers, but most used the corn kernals as we did. They provide the corn.

Bingo?  Nope. Buena! is the call when the numbers are covered correctly.

And after the card is checked the caller would say… Esta Buena! 

Nobody – out of six at our table – Buena‘d. Nada. Zilch. Pfffbbt. We must have played 100 games and we changed cards and we changed corn, I even played standing up once…all the tricks of the Bingo trade.

Hmmmmmm. Just had a thought. Bribery is supposedly the way of the world here. Wonder if that applied to church bingo? May give that a try next time.

Bribes for Bingo Buena.

Pura Vida.

 

Beer Swilling Groupon CEO Kills Ideas: Including Torture Porn Headquarters Tour and More

Published on April 27, 2012 in Entertainment, Holy Shit! Lookit This! and Money. 0 Comments Tags: .

Groupon CEO Andrew Mason was swilling beer from a bottle while at a meeting chastising his top employees about how childish they were.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the 31-year-old CEO said the company doesn’t “have any margin for error,”

Near the verge of tears because he had chugged to much PBR, Mason plowed ahead to motivate his staff to find better deals with better financial controls and better profit margins.

The SEC is probing Groupon because of book-cooking and other frat-boy shenanigans.

Meanwhile, out in the field, the Groupon Chicks were having a ball (maybe literally) lining up tours of Kink.com, a torture porn filmmaker.

“Groupon even advertises that groups may get to see a live filming in progress,”

according to an anti-porn group.

Groupon told the War on Illegal Porngraphy

“we strive to offer interesting and exciting deals that will appeal to our diverse customer base.”

Because of the backlash to the torture porn tour, Groupon is considering the merits of the following offers for their diverse customer base:

  • Tour Mother Mary Magdalene’s OB-GYN clinic.  Spend a day with the retired Sisters. You may get to see an actual pap smear done on a seventy five year old virgin!
  • Nose hair trimmer for a day at Cadaver King of Cleveland. Because hair continues to grow after death you can enjoy a variety of noses and hair and trimming. Get creative!
  • Backstage with The Fluffer.
  • Pre-op Pus Inspector at Burning Man. You will hang with some of the most diverse groupies ever to have assembled. It will be colorful!
  • Post-op Scab Scanner at Flame Throwers R Us. You will help management determine if the scabs were actually on the job incidents. Snacks of chips and salsa will be served all day!
  • Crime Scene Cleaner for the Detroit Police Department, Detroit River Division. Bodies are plucked from the Detroit River almost daily. You can watch as the bloated bodies inflate right before your eyes. Swell time!
  • Colonoscopy Intern. Batches of baby boomers bring their backsides to the Boston Bean Center where you lube up and probe as many bums as you can!

This “historic” tours follow the Groupon Kink.com new marketing plan outlined here:

In the immortal words of Vanessa Pinto…
The Armory is a historical building that people are fascinated with. Human beings are curious about all sorts of things they find odd or interesting. Tours are offered of Hearst Castle, Winchester Mystery House, and Alcatraz, and no one bats an eyelash. The Armory is a very old building with a rich history that people are fascinated with. Add to that, it was bought by kink.com, the home of BDSM porn, and of course people are going to want to take a tour.

And Groupon.com will be there to make it profitable for shareholders.

Bring Beer!

Europe ‘Final Countdown’ Head Banging Cellos. Great Riff

Published on September 11, 2009 in Entertainment. 3 Comments Tags: , , , .

This is fun. From Urlesque:

That’s why I fear listening to Europe’s 80s monster-rock hit, ‘The Final Countdown.’ It’s literally impossible to get it out of your head once you hear it

I love pop concerts, mashing orchestras with pop music. Headbanging cello players. Awesome.

My favorite couple guitar riffs: Slash in November Rain and ‘unknown’ on the long version of The Carpenters Goodbye to Love. (The only long version I could find.)

Yeah, This Seems About Right, What’s the Problem Officer?

Published on September 8, 2009 in Entertainment and Holy Shit! Lookit This!. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Arrest_MJimpersonations

Review: ‘Wicked’ Wasn’t.

Published on September 8, 2009 in Baby Boomer, Empty Nesters and Entertainment. 2 Comments

Nothing like a hugely successful Broadway play, that sells out for three weeks in Nashville, which I didn’t really care for, to make me seem soooo out of it.

Wicked wasn’t.

I didn’t know much about the play before we saw it Saturday, except that it is the prequel to the Wizard of Oz. I heard on one of the Nashville Tee Vee stations that the performances had sold out for three solid weeks. (Even the Saturday afternoon performances, right in the heart of college football season.)

I was shocked. We’ve been season ticket holders for three years, and on Saturday afternoons, the section (Loge R if you must know) is always pretty sparse of patrons.

Walking in Saturday to a packed house was amazing. I was prepared to be blown away by Wicked.

I was.

Once.

At the close of the first act. About a five minute scene with fantastic lighting, outstanding special effects and powerful singing.

BTW: the actor who played Elphaba, one of the leads, for the touring show of Wicked was the same as for the Broadway play. She sure was no slouch in the singing and acting department.

Here’s the deal: it was too much opera for me.

Now, everything I learned from about opera, comes from watching Amadeus a couple dozen times.

Wicked reminded me of Don Giovanni (the guy in the Darth Vader outfit breaks down the brick wall and eventually the flying monkeys take over.)

There were some nice laugh lines throughout Wicked to break the heaviness. But those scenes reminded me of Legally Blonde. (Perky little blonde, in this case Glinda,  tosses off cute little laugh lines.)

Wicked is a combination of Legally Blonde and Don Giovanni.

Give credit to the playwright, Winnie Holzman. She did an excellent job of devising a script to explain how the wicked witch became wicked, why there was a Tin Man and flying monkeys, and more.  She even does a fun job with Glinda’s name change.

The Nashville critic said

A strong book by Winnie Holzman, beautiful music and lyrics by the great Stephen Schwartz and assured direction by Joe Mantello are mixed with such ingredients as Eugene Lee’s terrific sets, Chic Silber’s astounding special effects and Susan Hilferty’s brilliant costumes. Stir in some top-notch actors, and it’s an intoxicating brew…

I’m sure Evans is righter than me. I used to know Evans Donnell and Evans never lied to me before.

He bs’d me a  lot, but never lied.