The next phase of Make Room for Kids, the charity arm of That’s Church is in full swing, and you can help while getting a good laugh.

Check out this Amazon Wish List for the games that are left that need purchased.  And make sure you read the descriptions that Ginny has added.  They are golden.  Take for instance, the description of the Force Unleashed for the DS:

“I can make objects travel across the room to my hand via The Force. Also, I call my husband “The Force.””

Games are going quick, so take a look (you can ship directly to the Mario Lemieux Foundation, it’s the address provided with the Wish List, even though it won’t be listed publicly) and pitch in what you can.

Dancers from Attack Theater discuss the show as they sit on the winding stage

Quantum Theatre recently invited me out to a special preview of their latest show, “Maria de Buenos Aires,” and all I can say is this: go see this show.

Sometimes I forget how much of a sucker I am for good strings (and good cymbals), and the live orchestra during just the little bit that I saw kept me transfixed, even to the point of occasionally ignoring the singers.  Not to say the singers were not amazing, because they were, but the live orchestration kept me enthralled.

“Maria” is about the history of tango, and the theme that form must die to be reborn.  The entirety of the show: the dialogue, dance, music, set design, even location, all explore that theme.  Karla Boos, Quantum Theatre’s artistic director said that ”Maria” really is a big experiment, and she’s anxious to hear from the patrons what they liked and what they didn’t.  I certainly appreciate the dialogue, and am happy for that.

East Liberty YMCA. It doesn't look like it, but for now, it's a theater.

During our preview, we became part of the blocking, as two of the dancers from Attack Theater made sure they could move one of their props through the audience without hitting anyone in the head (spoiler alert: no injuries, plenty of room).  The preview that I saw, was also the first time the orchestra and actors were together in the performance space, so it was like every other musical rehearsal I’ve ever been at or seen, which was comforting.  Also, every single musical makes the same face when a note is played out of tune: it’s nice to see universals like that.

I only have one bit of criticism, and it’s not even about the show itself.  Later in April Quantum will be doing a “Women Only” evening.  Now granted, I’m not a woman, and I don’t think this is their intent, but I refuse to believe that women can be so weak or scared that they need a night all to themselves.  Yes, it can be nice to meet in a setting and already have something in common, but I come from the Joss Whedon school of thought, so I view my feminism through a lens of actual equality and strength.  But hey, if it fills the house, more power to Quantum, I can’t argue with economics.

“Maria de Buenos Aires” opens tomorrow and runs through April 17.  Find out more, including local dining partners and directions (it’s just a short walk from the East Busway!) at Quantum’s website.  Check out all my photos here (just be warned, I am not a good photographer!)

After this week’s tornado that ripped through Hempfield Township, a lot of local media has been running donation drives to support the Red Cross.

Not to nit-pick (but I will): you’re mispronouncing it.

The Red Cross chapter is the Westmoreland-Chestnut Ridge Chapter.  Not Chester.  Chestnut Ridge.  I cringe every time I hear it said wrong.

I know Westmoreland County isn’t as glamorous as Allegheny, or as “interesting” as Fayette, but here’s a short history lesson.  The Chestnut Ridge is an area of the Laurel Highlands, named after the American Chestnut trees that once grew there.  When the Saint Vincent Basilica was built, the wood used was American Chestnut.  After the building of the Basilica, a blight hit the tree species, and very few remain today in mature form, and the species is still in danger of extinction.  This makes the Saint Vincent Basilica pretty much priceless, which is crazy to think about.

Anyway, click below to donate to the Red Cross and help the families in Westmoreland County affected by the tornado.

Wednesday brings a big decision for me (well, not really, I already RSVP’d to the one event, but I’m pretty bummed anyway).  While I am heading to the North Shore to a special reception for Squonk Opera, one of my favorite columnists of all time will be at Pitt’s campus: Dan Savage.  Basically, if you have ever thought about sex, you should go.  Hell, even if you’ve never thought about sex, you really need to go.

Dan Savage is the internationally-syndicated sex-advice columnist from Seattle, you can read “Savage Love” every week in City Paper.  He also has a weekly podcast and, along with his husband, founded the It Gets Better Project.  I’m a huge fan of his work and activism (google Santorum, or don’t, if you have a weak stomach or are at work), and I usually quote him to my friends, endlessly.  However, if you read nothing else by him, please read “The Commitment,” a book where he examines marriage, and every iteration of relationships by looking at his family.  It’s such a good book that I pulled  quote from it and wrote a toast for a wedding around it.

Anyway, enough of me gushing.  Savage will be at Pitt on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m.  The event is free and open to the public, but preference is given to Pitt students (fair is fair).  Hopefully, we’ll see some of the question and answer session go up to Savage’s youtube channel, if so, I’ll post a few in the future.

Have fun, I’ll be jealous from across town!  Click here for the Facebook event and more information.

I don’t know how long this will be up, hopefully I can pop in with some more info later, but anyone looking for a blogger, I feel as though I’m going to be free very soon and looking for a new home online…

OMGPittsburgh is a possibility, or maybe I’ll start something myself, but how would people find me.  Sigh.  I love blogging here, who knows, maybe we’ll get another miracle!

Contact me here!

I’ve been hearing a lot about the Ravens telling the NFL commissioner that they don’t want to play any nationally televised games at Heinz Field this upcoming season.  Most of this week I heard it on the radio every day.

However, I’ve been searching, and the only references I can find are about the 2009-2010 season.  I’ve seen a few forum posts scattered around, and they are current, but they don’t like to any new articles.

Has anyone heard differently?  Or is this a non-story (at least this season)?

I’m not sure if it will embed or not, so just in case, here’s the link to the Star morning show’s Peep Olympics:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aEeUa40tYw[/youtube]

From the depths of Metblogs, once again comes…a kitteh.

As I mentioned briefly before, I’m looking for more writers.

Here’s the deal: We (Metblogs authors) write because we love the cities we live in (now granted, I consider Southwestern PA to be Pittsburgh.  I spend enough time romping through Westmoreland and Fayette counties to know we’re all Burghers).  All you have to do is write about Pittsburgh.  Anything that is related to Pittsburgh.  I tend to write about transportation, culture-type things and fun things I see when I’m walking to and from my bus stop.  If you want to write about those things too, that’s awesome!  I don’t know much about Pittsburgh politics, since I live in the suburbs, and I tend to only follow hockey.  We’re pretty irreverent here sometimes, we have fun with what we write.  If we don’t, what’s the point?

What do you get out of being a Metblogs author?  Well, I keep getting invited to things, for free!  I’ve seen a bunch of special preview shows, gotten to interview awesome people who I would normally not have access to, and also, every now and then, just get free stuff.  I’ve gotten a lot of exposure for my own blog, and made friends in other cities because of the community of authors.

And, here’s the fun thing, since I’m Captain now, I can give you stuff.  Case in point, at least every other month (but I’ll try for monthly), we’ll have an author meet-up, and the first round of drinks is on me (21+ only, younger authors can write, but I’ll be buying you something non-alcoholic).  That’s right, free drinks, just for writing about the city you love.  Seriously, where else are you going to find a deal like that?

What do you need to do?  Write about Pittsburgh.  That’s it.  I try to post at least once a day (sometimes I fail, hence the need for help).  The general rule is to post 2-3 times a week, but if you can’t, that’s okay too.  When we have a lot of authors, we just make sure that we don’t post over one another (that is, letting other posts sit at the top of the page at least an hour, and scheduling of posts does that easily), unless something is happening live.  I post a lot from my phone (you can post from a flip phone, Android, or iOS device).

If you’re interested, send me a message, I’d love to see some previous online writing if you have some, and if you don’t, that’s okay too, I’ll work with you, no worries.

As always, thanks for reading.

I was driving on McKnightmare road when I got pummeled by rain.  However, nothing like this:

Photo credit: @junofive

Good gravy.  Stay dry and be safe out there!

So here’s the big update.   As you can see, we’re not going away!  The servers went down for a few hours, and again later for about ten minutes for some maintenance, but we’re here to stay.

Mobile uploading is up, and I’ll be testing it out tomorrow, so look for a post as I walk up The Hill (I’ll give you a hint, it involves Fleury).

The other big news (at least to me), is that I’m now officially the city captain!  Now I’ll be able to bug people to add them as authors.  I’ll have another post up about that, but basically, I want more people to write for Metblogs.  I’ve gotten all kinds of free tickets and invited to cool events since I’m a writer for Metblogs.  I’ll even throw in author meet-ups (maybe every other month or so), and I’ll buy the first round of drinks.

Authors just need to be able to post a few times a week as they’re able, and the posts have to be about Pittsburgh.  Other than that, you’re free to write about anything.  I write a lot about theater and transportation, as well as things I see as I walk around town, but you can cover whatever you want.  But like I said, I’ll post more about that later.

There are some cool things coming down the pipe, I can’t wait to help roll them out.  In the meantime, if you have any suggestions as to what you want to see, hit me up in the comments, I’m always happy to do a new project (like The July Project), or cover what people are interested in.

Thanks for reading, I’m really glad you’re here.

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