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Heard this on the radio last week, and then heard it again today – quite catchy and simple, so I looked up what the song is. I think this pick is something more in line with you guys’ taste, as opposed to… rap and 8 bit music :P.

I’ve always wanted to watch Annie since it is one of those Broadway ‘classics’, except I wasn’t sure whether I was going to catch this one. The show was in Seattle for a limited time only (Feb 12 to 14) since it is a national touring company, and I was busy the entire weekend. I had to skip a birthday party to watch this show, and even then I wasn’t sure I’d have went until very last minute after I got off work. I ended up watching the show by myself, which worked out because I found out there was student rush tickets 1 hour before the show started, so I got a really good seat (main floor center, 11th row or so) for a really cheap price :).

I thought Annie was like… Rodgers and Hammerstein old (like ’50s) but it ended being more recent than I thought – the musical was written in 1977, and apparently the lyricist is still around and is the director for this national tour.

As expected, the tunes are more classical styled, with lots of reprisals (makes me wonder why newer musicals don’t have much reprisals anymore), and overall the performance was well done as it definitely gave off an uplifting and heartwarming vibe. The plot is set in the Great Depression (1930s) and the plot talks about some of the national issues faced during that era (e.g. high unemployment rates) and how we ought to be optimistic even in tough times – the entire theme seems oddly applicable to the current “Great Recession”. The casting was impressive as well – there were I think 7 children involved in rather important roles, and more impressively, there’s a dog that’s part of the cast and the plot as well.

The musical is around 2.5 hours long with intermission. The encouraging tone is a plus for me, and I’ll give it 3.5 stars.

I am running out of iTunes monies!!!

After being infused with a fresh $20 giftcard about a month ago, I am almost down to nothing due to renting movies, $4.99 a pop! While the price feels steep in relation to buying single songs, it is:
a. in line with renting from blockbuster and
b. super convenient,
You’re able to start the movie about one-minute after you rent because it downloads in the BG, which makes it really convenient (and good for someone such as myself–re: instant gratification). My one gripe is that once you start the movie, you have 48-hours to complete it. I think originally, the time limit was 24-hours, but its been extended to 48-hours, which, still, IMO is a bit short, it’s not like they really need the file back to rent to others, so I’m not sure what the rationale is there.

Well, this was originally supposed to just be a comment in response to yfa’s SOTD post but it became too off topic and long to be a comment..

Background: After receiving my present: Oakley Flak Jackets XLJ (LiveStrong Edition), I was once again met with my predicament of trying contact lenses. After failing numerous times, I decided to look for the easy way out–buying a set of RX lenses for the frames. I figure I can use benefits, now that I don’t have to buy the frames, it shouldn’t cost that much right?

The Search Begins: If you thought that it shouldn’t be that hard to find an optical shop that can do RX-you’d be grossly mistaken. After calling a few stores met with no success, I called the Oakley Vault store, and they said by Canadian law, they cannot sell RX lenses without an optician and they suggested EyeStar and LensCrafters. EyeStar quoted $3-400. When I called LensCrafters, I was quoted $170 (no tax; in Canada, apparently no tax on RX lenses, not sure if this will change with HST). With a CAA membership, you should be able to get 15% off so I figure wow, lenses for just under $150 and change. I should do it up. But first I’ll check it out in store to confirm pricing and then maybe check a few more stores.

The Confrontation: So after work last night, I stopped by the Lens Crafters (Hillcrest Mall location) and was met by an unfriendly woman behind the counter (ok, maybe she wasn’t not unfriendly, she was just stern and not what you’d expect from somebody working in a front-line business). In short, she told me that Lens Crafters ONLY does RX lenses on frames that are purchased in house. When I told her it was Oakley Vault who actually referred me to them, she abruptly interrupted me saying that only frames sold by Lens Crafters were the ones they’d be able to do RX for as they have to ship the frames to Oakley for them to mount the lenses. I repeatedly told her that I spoke with another rep from that store, and they quoted me $170 for the lenses and such, but she insisted, that they only do it if they sell the frames. Reason? Because when they ship the frames to Oakley (apparently), the frame gets cracked really easily, and if they shipped my frames, they’d be liable for the damage and thus they don’t want to be on the line for it. I also told her the Flak jackets were listed on their website, to which she came up with a lame excuse saying, that their website is not a correct representation of store stock, (and they cannot order them or something). So I went along with her, and checked out their store stock and within 30s, I found the Flak jackets. (now becoming more agitated because she clearly doesn’t know what she’s talking about), I confront her, and ask her for a quote for frames and lenses. The flak jackets are selling at a premium of $250 (when the MSRP is $180), and she looks through her papers, $515 for the lenses for a total of $765. Floored with disbelief, I asked her to check again, I said my prescription is quite simple, -3.00 and -2.00 (well within the limits of Oakley’s RX lenses) and I didn’t need anything special, just grey or black with irridium coating, I showed her my prescription. She then proceeded to show me on paper, $515 to prove to me, this is the cost. And she says, this is the price, you must buy both frame+lens, otherwise you’re SOL.

I went home, quite upset at the fact that the initial rep I spoke with apparently didn’t know what he was talking about, and of course there is no accountability. So I called up Lens Crafters Promenade to confirm if all this was true, because it sounds a little insane, how would somebody ever buy Oakley RX sunglasses, surely I cannot be the only person looking to do this. I explained to her my sitaution, and made it clear I was looking for lenses for the Flak Jackets, and she quoted me w/out irridium: $317, w/ irridum $374. Further, they DO accept the frames if purchased elsewhere, they just ship the frame off to Oakley for the lenses to be added and if anything happens, Lens Crafters will take responsibility. She added, that because the Oakley store carried more styles than they did, that people typically buy their frames elsewhere, then bring it to them for RX lenses. Completely surprised, I confirmed that Oakley has a standard pricing chart (to which the CAA membership discount does not apply to these lenses), and then asked her why the other rep quoted me $515. She responded: “oh that’s if you wanted RX, w/Irridium, w/polarization AND progressive.

My Gripe: Why would the rep at the Hillcrest location quote me for their most expensive lenses, while knowing that I didn’t need progressive? Is it because the recession has somehow made their business SO successful that they’re ok with turning away business? Why did she so adamantly tell me that this was Lens Crafters’ policy, and every store would sell only frame+lens. What bugs me is theses people say things without any accountability, and its not like you can fight them. I’d launch a formal complaint against that store, but it’d probably be a waste of effort yielding no result, that is why I’ve posted it here, maybe people searching for stories of bad service from Lens Crafters will find it.

The Solution: After finding the $374 price a little more acceptable, I proceeded to call the chinese optical shop I usually deal with. They confirmed that since the lenses are extremely curved, they cannot produce an in-house lens that fits that shape, meaning official Oakley lenses was the only way to go. Surprise surprise, the price she quoted was even lower than the promenade Lens Crafters, she quoted me…. get ready… $250!!
(while that is still expensive, it is a price that I’m willing to strongly consider)

In short, chinese optical shops ftw. Lens Crafters fail.

Guess I’ll do some musical reviews too after reading the Rent review sadd3j and teewee made. I’m definitely piling up on the number of Playbill programs I have =), but this will be another way of keeping track of what I’ve saw. Oh and I decided to be a season subscriber to one of the musical theaters here too ;).

I went to see a touring, revival production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific last night. Rodgers and Hammerstein are definitely the classical Broadway masters – the “Andrew Lloyd Webber of the ’50s”, to help paint the picture. Rodgers is the composer and Hammerstein is the lyricist, and they collaborated on a whole bunch of musicals including Oklahoma!, The Sound of Music, Carousel, The King and I and of course, South Pacific. Random trivia bit: Richard Rodgers is one of 2 people in the world that has an EGOT + Pulitzer prize =P.
Anyhow… South Pacific is a very classical broadway show I would say. The music is very complete but classically styled – a lot of reprises of themes, which makes it very well rounded. Amazing baritone lead with his French accent and the soprano lead is fairly decent. There’s a surprising amount of French dialogue in the show – one of those instances that I’m glad I got a Canadian education, where at least I could understand enough of what they’re saying to catch the gist of what’s happening. Otherwise, the story was very flat – nothing dramatic like Rent or Wicked (granted it is a little unfair to compare to my 5 star musical selections), and people just fall in love at first sight – not a lot of character development. There’s also a very unexpected theme of racial prejudice that shows up in the second act regarding interracial marriage. My initial thoughts were since South Pacific is an older musical from the ’50s, maybe segregation is still a big issue back then and hence the characters made a big deal out of interracial marriage – but on further thought, that seems to be something we (especially as Asians) still struggle with nowadays.
The musical is just shy of 3 hours long with intermission, which is quite lengthy, especially when the plot isn’t moving. 3 stars for me.