Click. Click. Click. "Bang!"

I've been holding back my posts so that the year-in-review stays up top, but no longer. I just gotta talk about Valentine Victorious. Like a lot of people, I've been waiting a year for this show- ever since I saw the inexplicably-set-in-medieval Japan prequel, "Curse of the Crying Heart." Valentine genre-hops to a film-noir forties Chicago. It had me grinning like an idiot, bouncing up and down, and endlessly babbling about how awesome it was. Even though it was a very well attended dress rehearsal. I am so hideously jealous of the people who get to see it Saturday, when they flip the opening night switch and it all coheres. Tonight, I got a hugely entertaining and inspiring mix of awesome scenes and classic final-preview moments. You know, the absence of crucial props or sound effects, severe instrument malfunction just before the final song, etc, etc. All beautifully handled.

I would go tell you to see it tomorrow, but you can't, suckers. Go see it as soon as you can get tickets. Oh, and even if you don't smoke, bring a lighter. I'm just telling you now.