Where Have All The Flowers Gone?

Pete Seeger
1919-2014

From 1988: Lea Salonga Auditions For MISS SAIGON

Lea Salonga, 17 years old, auditions with Claude-Michel Schonberg for the leading role of Kim in Miss Saigon.

Not much can be said about this clip, other than to direct you to watch the reactions of the three men standing at the other piano. They are, left to right, Nicholas Hytner, Cameron Mackintosh, and Alain Boublil. And I think you can tell what they were thinking: We've found our Kim.

(If you have the chance to see Miss Saigon, go! It is my favorite musical.)




Do you see Kim's face?

What I Will Be Watching Instead Of The Superbowl

"Ken, I want to go back to Vietnam," I said.
"What," he answered, "right now?"



The Lover (French: L'Amant) is a 1992 drama film produced by Claude Berri and directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud.

Based on the semi-autobiographical 1984 novel by Marguerite Duras, the film details the illicit affair between a teenage French girl and a wealthy Chinese man in 1929 Vietnam.

The Lover is a passionate, deeply sensual and tender love story with very generous lashings of magnificent smut.

It stars Jane March as The Young Girl, and Tony Leung as The Chinese Man.

It also features a breathtakingly beautiful soundtrack by Gabriel Yared.

From 1963: For One Brief Shining Moment

Woke Up On A Groovy Tuesday

We're home. More later.

Edited to add: It's 5:55am. Jet lag is a real trip. When it's jet lag coupled with some sort of strange Asian flu (are any of you really that surprised that I am sick?), well, let's just say that you begin to hallucinate that the cup of tea you made for yourself in the hopes of quelling your sour stomach is actually named Ralph and he has a wife and kids in Hoboken.

The cats are really showing their Siamese side, demanding constant attention. Manni Moe unfortunately had inappropriate bathroom habits during our sojourn, according to our house sitter. We don't get angry with him about it. That's just who he is.

First Class is the only way to handle long trips abroad. I don't know how I would have made this trip otherwise. All told, from Singapore to Phoenix was over 24 hours of nonstop travel and transit. We were in First Class for 90% of the trip, and it still was just miserable.

The Northwest Airlines lounge in Minneapolis serves a wonderful chicken noodle soup...a real saving grace for me, believe me.

All in all, it is great to be home. Now if only I could get some sleep. I might just stay awake until Jamba Juice opens. I am jonesing for a Coldbuster like a junkie craves smack.

Oh, and one more thing: our view of Singapore from our hotel room window was amazing.