Hey, turns out my cell phone will text! Or at least receive text messages – I couldn't figure out how to make it send. Well, I almost never use the thing. And it turns out that WideAwakeInNJ was at the back of the line, and DrSteveB's phone does what he wants it to do when he wants it to do it. And the line matron generously gave us an extra couple minutes to collect her. So we all three got in to see TDS tonight. How much spoiler do you want?
The stand-and-wait line seems to be more sheltered than the one for TDS – I wasn't really chilly at all. But the sidewalk was much dirtier. Hay. You know those jokes Jon makes in the summer, about being near the stables? At least I didn't notice any smell. Of course, it was maybe 40 degrees and raining. But definitely a stand-and-wait, not a sit-back-and-wait kinda place. Turns out it's hard to eat take-out sushi while standing. The hay brushed off my jeans pretty well, though.
I managed to make the metal detector beep. Keys. Oops. Or possibly the can of tea I was carrying. And then we were herded into a box-shaped room with a handful of velvet ropes and told to fold ourselves into a snake-like line, and we continued to wait for quite some time. I was pretty tired by then. But you want spoilers, right?
But I'm leaving out the start of my adventure! The last time I planned to go to TDS, I was feeling sucky (I suspect. it's always a safe bet) and managed to miss the last MetroNorth train that would get me in to the city on time. So I was a little OCD about getting myself together on time. I needed to get a pocketbook that would fit this MagicMiniMachine I'm writing on, sort through my everyday pocketbook which slides off the shoulder of my winter raincoat to pull out just the basic accoutrements necessary – ID, cash, credit card, just-in-case painkillers – it's amazing how much stuff ends up in that bag – pick a book to read, decide whether to put something on my not-an-iPod in case I finish the book on the way down, muse briefly on whether I should bring the aforesaid can of tea (cost much less than what I'd pay later)... maybe you can see how I managed to miss the train before. Plus, somehow the coat landed on the floor and the cat thought it a nice comfy couch to curl up on and play with. But I made it to the 1:40 train with plenty of time. Yes, I did drive down the hill (a whole 5-minute walk) and park near the station, at a one-hour meter. Maybe I'll get a ticket, but it's definite that I'll be exhausted later – plus, it's cold and rainy. Oh, but you wanted spoilers. Right.
So they finally let us into the studio, in ticket number order. I was #129, which put me in the second, was it? row on the risers, right in from of Jon's desk. Whoever programmed the places on the globe must have had snow on his or her mind today. And we continued to chat, despite the incredibly loud music. It was nice to sit down. And I definitely think that DrSteveB should shave a smiley face into his stubble. Or maybe shape his sideburns into a double helix. Something interesting like that. As we were waiting, several TDS employees stood on the stage floor staring up at the audience. Who knows why, we couldn't have been that interesting a group to look at. Eventually, the warm-up-comic came out, had us practice making lots of audience noise, and picked on a couple audience members. His humor's not completely to my taste – a little coarse, a little mean. although when I saw that Yves was wearing a very-french scarf, well...
And then Jon came out and took some questions. DrSteveB mentioned the singer thing from the Oscars. And the kid next to me on my other side asked Jon if he'd met any obnoxious Hollywood types – y'know, that he just wanted to punch in the face (rough paraphrase there). Jon said something about not having anger issues. Also, being tiny and old.
Oh, and there was a woman in the other seating area who had on a nice blue shirt that's exactly what I was looking for a little while ago. I wonder where she got it. It was that peacock teal shade which will probably now vanish from the fashion spectrum for a decade or so. Love it.
And then the show started. We made lots of noise (they should hand out throat pastilles to the audience on our way out), as commanded. The first segment is, of course, about the Oscars, with John Oliver reporting (in a tux) from Hollywood. I laughed at something, I think the bit about the ratings figures. It was surprisingly hard to hear them over the audience noise – we were in similar seats when I went to TCR, and it was much easier to follow along. Oh, and did I mention that our premium seats right in front of the desk meant that I was looking at the cameraman's back for most of the show? 'S true. And there was a campaign thing, Hillary's developing approach to Obama. Some funny stuff in there. You'll recognize the footage.
Both segments 2 and 3 are an interview with Madeline Albright. Which, um, ok. I'll be interested to see if they leave in the part right at the beginning where she joked about the Oscars. That was cute. What I bet you will see is where she talks about how screwed the next president will be re:foreign affairs, and that's why experience matters. In response to Jon, she pointed out that she's supporting Hillary. Definitely not McCain. I wasn't able to hear her answer about Obama, but it sounded weasely to me. And Jon said that he feels good about all three of the current candidates. Shudder. And she also talked in a bit of detail about just what it'll be necessary to do to get out of Iraq, and they brought up the philharmonic trip to North Korea (which made the MOZ). She likes cultural diplomacy.
And, well, that's it. There'll be a handoff tonight – Jon & Stephen did a bit of back and forth beforehand (how was your vacation? etc.). The handoff includes a tongue joke. No, you've just got to see it.
And then we were ushered out into the rainy streets. WideAwakeInNJ gave me a lift to grand Central, at one point asking if I thought it'd be all right to come up on the left of the cabs stopped at the light so we could take the turn-- she didn't want to cut anybody off. This is NY, you can do what you want. And then I used the cab money she'd save me to buy a hamburger. It wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. The full-sour pickle, though... mmm.
And yeah, that's it. Except that I didn't get a parking ticket. And it was definitely worth taking that chance. I'm exhausted.
Back to your regularly scheduled Grinder tomorrow night.
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