Billi Pod Blogs: Summer Shorts, Series A - This Is Our Youth

Monday==>Good morning to all of my loyal and faithful readers and followers. I hope everyone had a great weekend.

This errands and chores day has started out with another beautiful Summer morning here in The Big Apple, The Greatest City In The World, so your favorite blogger needs to get this posting started so he can work on his to-do list and also have a decent walk and wander session to take advantage of the great weather.

Let’s get started with Billi Pod’s report card(s) on last night’s Off Broadway show ...

SUMMER SHORTS, SERIES A, featuring 3 one-act plays ...

The Sky and the Limit by Roger Hedden - Much to the amusement of his best friend, a young man dives into one of America's mesa strewn deserts in search of the perfect site for a wedding==>B<==the humor turned into a serious drama much too quickly.

Riverbed by Eric Lane, a lyrical drama about a married couple that experiences an intense loss and their struggle to find their way back to each other==>A-<==thought-provoking and very well acted.

Sec. 310, Row D, Seats 5 and 6 by Warren Leight, three guys share two season tickets as they watch the Knicks, and their lives, pass before their eyes==>C<==premise grows old pretty fast and we don't care about the characters after 5 minutes.

This show is playing at the 59E59 Theatre Complex (one of my favorite venues) on East 59th Street (duh), has a running time of 1:20, without intermission, and runs through August 31st.

I had gotten to the theatre area about 45 minutes early so I could have a nice walking session in Midtown East. Then, when the show was over the weather was pretty awesome ... so ... tada ... your favorite blogger walked back to the apartment.

This and the in-apartment walking during the afternoon’s ball games resulted in another good day==>5.66 miles. This brought the total mileage for the week to 37.19 miles or an average of 5.31 miles per day. Not bad, not bad at all.

Moving on ...

Today, being Monday, is, as I said, the usual boring errands and chores day. I do, however, have something really exciting booked for this evening ... and that is ... a Broadway show in previews ...

8:00==>THIS IS OUR YOUTH - “Set in the Upper Westside of New York in 1982, this show follows forty-eight hours in the lives of three very lost young souls: Warren (Michael Cera), a dejected nineteen year old who has just stolen $15,000 from his abusive, tycoon father; Dennis (Kieran Culkin), his charismatic drug-dealing friend who helps Warren put the stolen money to good use; and Jessica (Tavi Gevinson), the anxiously insightful young woman who Warren yearns for. Funny, painful and compassionate, it is a living snapshot of the moment when many young people go out into the world on their own, armed only with the ideas and techniques they developed as teenagers – far more sophisticated than their parents realize, and far less effectual than they themselves can possibly imagine.” (Broadway - full price ticket)

This is the first Broadway production of the Kenneth Lonergan play that had its Off Broadway debut in 1996, starring Mark Ruffalo, Josh Hamilton and Missy Yager. I saw it back then and remember that I liked it a lot although, frankly, I can’t remember much about the story line.

As I said ... I am totally charged about seeing this show because I really like Michael Cera for his work in Juno, Superbad, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Kieran Culkin for Igby Goes Down and also in Scott Pilgrim.

The show is in previews, opens on September 11th, is playing at the Cort Theatre on West 48th Street, has a running time of 2:15, with intermission, and tickets are on sale through January 4, 2015.

Now ... on the sports scene ...

Yesterday afternoon out at Yankee Stadium, The House That Greed And Ego Built, The Yankees (67-61) beat The White Sox (59-71) 7-4, in the bottom of the 10th inning on a HR from pinch-hitter Brian McCann. With the win we remain alive in the hunt for the second wild-card spot.

Tonight at 7:10pm is a make-up game out in Kansas City against The Royals (72-57). On the mound for The Yankees will be Michael Pineda (2-2) vs. James Shields (12-6) for KC. Shields has 15 career losses to The Yankees, his most against any team. He is 9-15 against The Bronx Bombers.

After the game The Yankees will fly to Detroit to begin a crucial 3-game series against The Tigers.

The team from Seoul, South Korea, beat the team from Chicago by a score of 8-4 to win The Little League World Series Championship Game. It was an exciting game to watch.

Now ... in closing ...

In Sunday’s New York Times there was a very interesting article about Coach Will Muschamp and his current situation with the Florida Gators. This is the link to the article ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/24/sports/ncaafootball/college-football-preview-floridas-will-muschamp-is-on-the-hot-seat.html?ref=sports

It is worth reading.

OK ... now on to the errands and chores list ...