Review of Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov at Strawdog Theatre

There was this show that I went to and it was good. It was called the Cherry Orchard. Maybe I should start at the beginning. There were some funny parts. Yepihodav was my very favorite. Well he wasn't my favorite actor. Shannon was my favorite actor because there was lots and lots of kissing. There was some very funny parts. And when Yepihodov was coming some people said "Here comes trouble."

Jenny was awesome. It was just very good and better. She seemed different than she was offstage. Tom was pretty funny. He was just giving a speech about something that he had—a wardrobe or a bookshelf, I don't know. There was one sad part: they had to move. At the end don't you remember what Lopakin said? That he bought the whole entire house. And then he was laughing because he said that and they cut down the cherry orchard. Dad was my favorite actor because he was always great but he did kiss another woman but they were falling in love. But he was really in love with my mom. Because he really was. I thought that there was funny stuff that he did.

The costumes were cool. The good dress that I liked was Shannon's. I thought Anya's dress was awesome. And Anya was my favorite actor and Dad and Shannon were all my favorite actors. The music was awesome. It was very groovy. The dancing was great because it was very good and groovy and just great. I thought that Michaela was very funny. I thought that dropping the keys was hilarious. Pischick was going like he fell asleep and then someone said like "WELL" and he was like "Huh? Huh?" I thought that was good because it was hilarious. The directing was good. It was just funny. Other people thought the crying when the cherry orchard was cut down was funny but I didn't. But I didn't want anyone there to laugh because they thought they were doing the play wrong because they weren't.

Cherry Orchard is for everybody.

(Photo credits: Chris Ocken)

World of Wheels Car Show Jan. 23-25, 2009

We went to the car show with Aunt Amanda and Grammy and Grandpa. I could be a judge in it! It was really fun. We wanted to see my uncle's car in particular. You could find anything there. And there were lots of funny things and scary things. Like one with a sword and a bow and arrow and a skull. That was pretty scary!

There was one that reminded me of Mike from Monsters. Inc. I love how he shook her in his arms and told him to put her back where she came from. And in the takeout scenes he says throw up instead of grow up.
There was one that was greater than any one else. It was a purple carriage and I had a little class about it. I had my uncle and my aunt and my mom and my dad and my grammy and grandpa were in the class. Well, they were pretending to be kids. And it was so much fun.

There was one with a mummy that moved its eyes and said Ahhh! Well actually it was a statue in front of a car. And you had to stand in line to get in. There was one car about a little boy monster and there was a movie there and there was comic books—well really it was a movie of the comic books but it was still interesting. There was a Batmobile that was created for Batman in the comic books. The Batmobile you could take a picture with it. It was not as much fun as the comic book movie but it was pretty fun anyway.

Well that's not all, everybody. Well there is some more of my story but if you don't see the rest that is ok. If you never see it ever that means that you will never be able to see it ever again. If you live in Canada you could still see it, but never mind, let's get back to the story.

Uncle Brad won the first in the class. He might win every day. And Aunt Amanda needs to go to work everyday, well not everyday. She doesn't need to go there when I am supposed to come over to visit.

And there was a car you could go into the car. We were looking for one of those. There was a really big truck. We got to take a picture under it with Uncle Brad and Aunt Amanda, of course. Something that was very fun was there was pogo sticks. And there was a kid up on stage. Well, never mind, lets get back to the cars. So, you could go in a car. So you could go in some of them but not all of them. There was paint right on the car it was not actually ice cream but it was paint and it looked like ice cream had melted on the car. Other people should go to this car show because they have cars.

(Thanks to Aunt Amanda and Uncle Brad for the pictures!)

Review of Damine Kabuki Troupe performance at Art Institute of Chicago 1/10/09

At the Art Institute we saw a sign hung up on a stand and it said Kabuki. So, we got tickets for it. And then we thought it was a good idea to go because we called my Dad.

At first there was one with some girls playing girls and a boy playing a girl and a boy playing a boy. I was surprised that girls played girls because Kabuki has men playing girls sometimes.

They wore dresses and these little socks on their feet.

I liked that funny thing where the husband thought it was the servant instead of his wife. Because that was just funny. She was hiding. And there was something funny when the servant was under the blanket and he was sitting in the chair and his legs wiggled because he was so frightened when the wife patted his leg.

Then there was a princess one with a fox. And a husband but you didn't see the husband. And there was an older girl and a smaller boy. And one was playing the fox. He was nice and there were these policemen who were scared of the fox but he was a nice fox. And the princess liked him. I liked the part where he hopped? He put his hands in fists to hop.

I would like to see a Beauty and the Beast and Snow White Kabuki on my honeymoon.

Review of Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman on PBS Kids Go

Fetch! was pretty good. There were great contestants. They did a great job because they did a great job at making a toy. There were some boys staying behind and some girls going. And a few boys did some great projects. There was making a Fetch toy who did a good thing. Well it didn't actually do anything but the other one (that Ruff Ruffman had)did some things. It did anything that he said--like ice cream headache. There was really great contestants. They were so great. The toy-making ones. There was great stuff that they used to make the Fetch doll. There was gooey and bouncy things to make a toy. I think the polymer was the girl who made it. You need to just put them in something that looked like Ruff Ruffman and then it would be all ready once they got to the Fetch! House. Other kids should watch Fetch! on PBS Kids Go because it has a dog. If some people are allergic to dogs they may not watch it. If people are allergic to cats they may not watch it because it has one cat in it.

Review of Book-a-Mania at Harold Washington Public Library. November 2008

Book-a-Mania is kind of a book store and also a puppet show theater and it was at the library. We got my necklace right when we got in there. The necklace was for my reading passport to get stamps in. My Aunt Amanda was there too. I looked at Corduroy and I showed Aunt Amanda the house. It had Mary Poppins and Jane and Michael and James and the Giant Peach.

There was a puppet show. It was a girl puppet and she was so funny. She said this song was before your mother was born and she said she had a dad but she didn't really have a dad. I really liked the princess. She was so hilarious. And she said that she just kissed something.

And then I got a Fancy Nancy book for free. I had to go to a table and give them my card with the stamps on it. My favorite activity was a corduroy button that was a necklace and not a real button. I also had a chocolate egg from the bird on your head activity.

Mo Willems read Knuffle Bunny. He did a good job and he was really nice and he looked different than he seemed in New York. He did a good job reading Are You Ready to Play Outside—better than Mom did. Mom thought that it was not good but then we found out it was. At first I was a little shy but then I wasn't when I was talking to him. I really liked him. He drew Piggie in my book.

Kids should go to it—all my friends should go to it and also Jack my neighbor.

[Thanks to Aunt Amanda for the Pictures!]

Review of Neutrino Project at ComedySportz. November 2008.

I didn't like the puppet because he was too scary. He was kind of going silly around. And it was so hilarious when the hand pretended it still had the puppet on.

It was funny when they said Rats! Rats! Rats!

I liked the drink we got there. It was sparkly and looked like sparkly pink lemonade.

I wanted them to be on stage instead of on a movie. It would have been gooder because it would be closer and I could say hi to Lillie.

Lillie was pretty funny. Drinking out of the beer so fast was really hilarious.

I thought it was really funny when they took the objects and played with them in the scenes.

It is good for kids and grownups. Kids should watch out for the parts where they are yelling so much.

Ada's Review of Bill Peet: An Autobiography

Bill Peet's Autobiography.

When his aunt dies was a kind of sad part. Because if you yell too loud that means that you will die. It was scary about him working through the war.

He worked for Disney and says Walt Disney. It was a hard job and fun. I liked the Jungle book part because I have it. I liked Sleeping Beauty because I liked her dress and her hair. And also when they worked on Tinkerbell I liked her hair and her dress. It was really pretty.

It was so funny when he said "NO MORE DUCKS!"

If I was Bill Peet's kid I would say "What do you think, Dad?" if I colored Bill Peet's painting. He should have asked his dad first.

Other kids should read it because it is a really good book and has maybe some of their favorite characters.