CHANCING THE INDOOR MAELSTROM

Ususama-myō-ō, the Japanese toilet god: the presumed hero of this story. 

A late night in New York City moment:

Around 3am I awoke to avail myself to the toilet, and when I turned on the bathroom light, I noted two dark objects floating in the bowl. I knew that nothing had been left from earlier use of the commode, and upon closer examination I realized that the objects were a pair of mice that had somehow made their way into the bathroom, encountered my toilet, fallen in, and unceremoniously drowned. My apartment's lights had been out for just over an hour before I made my discovery. For whatever reason, they must have been investigating that space in search of food — a hopeless mission if ever there were one — and they must lost their footing on the slick porcelain rim's surface. (I leave the seat up in case of an overnight pee break.) How both of them ended up in the water I cannot say, but I wonder if one fell in and the other met the same fate by attempting to rescue its fellow. Whatever the case, I flushed the toilet and sent the corpses on their waterlogged way, followed by a liberal spraying of bleach upon the rim.

The mice that periodically invade my building are always small enough to flush down the toilet, as I have done several times previously when emptying them from my electric mousetraps, so clogging the works was not a worry. They usually stalk my kitchen surfaces, no matter how often I clean them, but, for no adequately explained reason, this time around they chanced the alabaster temple of the indoor whirlpool and lost.

Anyway, that's two invaders down, with zero effort from me, so I suppose thanks to Ususama-myō-ō, the Japanese toilet god, are in order.

WICKED (2024)

Defying gravity.

I just finished watching WICKED (2024), and when "To Be Continued" flashed across the screen at the end, I said aloud "That was excellent."

I went into WICKED cold. I read the source novel when it came out — Mildred gave me the hardcover first edition for Christmas in 1995 — but I gave it a miss during its Broadway run, thanks to it being hyped to death, so I knew nothing of how the story would be handled when translated from the page, and the only songs from it that I had heard were "Popular" and "Defying Gravity," the latter of which I recall being partially heard in the commercial for the Broadway production. Now I regret missing the original production, because I love Idina Menzel — Hot Jewish chick alert!!! RRRROWR!!! — Kristin Chenoweth, but what's done is done. Anyway, the movie adaptation...I initially intended to give the film a miss until next year, when the second half is released, but I was granted the opportunity to watch it at home, so I took it.

Upon seeing a considerable amount of the promotional lead-up to the film's release, I was concerned that casting a Black actress in the role of Elphaba might be too on the nose, considering some of the plot's themes, but short of time-traveling back to 2003 and press-ganging Idina Menzel to the present, I could not have asked for a more perfect Elphaba than Cynthia Erivo. She was tremendous, simply tremendous in the role. She has an incredibly expressive face, and she can belt out a showstopper like nobody's business. She perfectly conveyed Elphaba's loneliness and anger, and arch villain though she is destined to become, I totally rooted for her from the moment of her birth. And do not get me started on "Defying Gravity." That song is a modern classic for a reason, and when she took to the skies during it, I felt the same thrill that hit me when Christopher Reeve's Superman swung into action for the helicopter rescue back in 1978. In short, Elphaba is in no uncertain terms completely fucking awesome — and I do mean AWESOME — and I will be there on opening weekend for the second half of this story.

My new favorite anti-hero.

Everything else about the film is superb across the board, and though I now regret missing the original Broadway production, I'm glad I waited for the movie, because no matter how much the stage design may have rocked live, I personally needed cinematic special effects to properly bring the vistas of the land of Oz to vivid believable life, and not make all of it look like, well, a stage musical. The realization of Oz and its denizens is terrific, and the voice casting of my man Peter Dinklage as Professor Dillamond was inspired. (When the character first spoke, a spark of recognition ignited in my brain, but it took maybe a minute before I twigged to it being The Dinklage.) I was initially leery of the casting of Ariana Grande as Galinda, but she sold the vapid rich and popular girl seemingly effortlessly. She made me hate the character instantly, and I only hated her just a tad less after Galinda and Elphaba became besties. But the real surprise was Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard. I have always enjoyed his work, but for what seems like close to thirty years he's pretty much played his roles with a quirky delivery a la Ian Malcolm in the JURASSIC PARK franchise, and frankly that schtick has worn out its welcome with me. (Though he does get a pass as the Collector in THOR: RAGNAROK.) And of course the always welcome Michelle Yeoh completely slew as the elegant Madame Morrible.

So, yeah, I loved WICKED, and it immediately joins my roster of favorite movie musicals. If they stick the landing with the second half, we're looking at a timeless classic. HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.

                                                          Poster for the theatrical release.