Goertz Thoughts

Andrew Lloyd Webber is the composer that first started my love for musicals. My mom had a compilation CD that I would listen to over and over. He composed 21 musicals, although most people have only heard about half of them. This is in some cases a good thing (seriously, who asked for Love Never Dies). It was really, really hard to narrow this list down. I had 32 that I started with Please see my Rodgers and Hammerstein post regarding my criteria for selecting these songs. Here are the shows that I drew from Jesus Christ Superstar (1970) - Basically a retelling of the events of Holy Week. Creative license is taken. Mrs. Goertz and I saw this show on our first date. Evita (1976) - Retelling of the life of Eva Peron Cats (1981) - Due to the very odd movie a few years ago, I'm sure you've heard of this one Song and Dance (1982) - A recombination of Tell Me on a Sunday and Variations. The Phantom of the Opera (1986) - A tale of love and Stockholm Syndrome Aspects of Love (1989) - ...

 In an earlier post, I referred to a hobby that Mrs. Goertz and I are particular to. We call it "Adventure Time" (no relation to the show, which I don't actually care for). The premise is simple: Pick a destination somewhere in Texas. Start driving. If you see something along the way that sparks your interest, do that instead. We try to set aside a Saturday each month to do this. It works best if the initial destination is no more than 4 hours away (you do have to drive back again). There are a few things that makes this pastime more enjoyable: A companion (I prefer my wife) A book (the passenger can read out loud) or an audiobook Downloaded music or satellite radio (you might end up in areas without cell signal and only country stations) A State Park annual pass  (This is only $70 in Texas and gets everyone in your car into the park for free). There are 88 State Parks in Texas, although we've only visited 51 so far. We've been doing this for over 10 years now (al...

Spoilers for Disney's Wish This isn't a post attacking the movie. It was enjoyable. The music was okay. There were a lot of Easter eggs (you caught that each of her friends is based on one of the 7 Dwarfs, right?) But I take pleasure in overanalyzing things. Scroll down for today's issue. Mrs. Goertz brought up an interesting point this morning as she was singing This Wish from Wish. Was Magnifico's plan all that bad (not the monster that he became, but the original situation from the beginning of the movie)? Magnifico and Amaya founded the kingdom of Rosas to be a safe place free from the trauma of his own youth (the details of fuzzy, but I'm thinking war). Rosas seems like a good place, as near as we can tell: low crime, fairly egalitarian society, no concerns of outside attack. In fact, one of the first scenes shows that there is enough immigration that there is a position of tour guide to show newcomers around. Yes, the castle is a little large for one couple, ...

 I've been promising this post for a while. Those of you who know me in person have probably noticed that I walked with a limp sometimes. It's not your imagination; my left foot is very messed up. I affectionately call it my lucky fin. One of the many things I share in common with Nemo. The story is actually pretty fascinating. I was too young to remember a lot of it, but my mom takes copious notes* and saves everything, so I can reconstruct a lot of it. When I was less than a year old, I was diagnosed with an arteriovenous malformation . More specifically, a peripheral limb AVM, so less serious than one in the brain, but still needing correction. Two surgeries later, it was taken care of. I thought I had a better picture, but you can see the cast. Unfortunately, this left me with major scarring on my left calf (ask me to show you sometime). My whole leg developed wonky. The doctor's notes that I have say "Scarring in the gastrosoleus complex has left him with an extre...

I just turned 40. I am old now. I've always said that age is just a number, but as I approached my birthday earlier this month, I began to feel it.  My left foot (always tricky) started aching more.  I got a weird ganglion cyst (benign) that I didn't even know was possible. I remember my parents' 40th birthday parties. They  were  old. So, logically I must be old too.   I got really into genealogy over the Christmas break*. They used to call being 40 "over the hill". This implies that your life is halfway over and it's just coasting from here (remains to be seen). In my nostalgic mood, here are a few things that I have learned through the wisdom of old age: Politeness pays. It's one of the things that people outside of the South admire about us. Family is really important, although you won't always be friends (Chesterton has some wonderful thoughts on this. Read Heretics , Chapter 14 ). I have found that my relationship with various family members have...