Post 1,853

After 1,852 posts, The Great Plotnik is coming to a close.

...well, someday. Just fooled ya. But nothing lasts forever, you know? Plotnik knows that even he follows the blogs he used to follow less than he once did. Bloggers now just seem to be people who are compulsive megalomaniacs who can't figure out how to tweet.

Comments are down. Most of his friends who once blogged faithfully now Facebook or actually have lives. For Plotnik, the idea has always been to chronicle the photos and events in his friends' and family's lives as a kind of living journal, where you take more care with your writing than you would if you were jotting things down in your private diary. You cross your t's and not your eyes.

Nope, no typo.

The good thing is, Plottie still enjoys the exercise. For him, it was good to be able to write about Mischief the last few days, and it's always great to post new photos of the various Plotnikkies in his life. It's not like it was when he first put the blog up, though, because all of us have moved forward. And this is all good.

Last night Plot and Duck saw "Coraline," which is an adaptation for the stage of Neil Gaiman's really scary kid's story, with music by Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields and other groups. You can read the review of Coraline here.

After the show was done, before the post-Premiere party, the Duck turned to Plotnik and asked: "Did you feel like I did?" Plot had been watching her squirm out of the corner of his eye so he said "No, I liked it more than that."

He and Ducknik have gone to a lot of shows for the past 10 years. They know how to read each other's theater body language now. You won't read about this in Plottie's reviews -- how, for example, he knows that if he sees the Duck staring at him in the middle of a scene, she has lost it. And she knows if he puts his pen back in the pocket of his review book, he has gone somewhere else.

But you can read it here. And you can read how Plotnik's eyes still water EVERY time the actors come out to take their bows and he doesn't know why. You can learn why the worst show at one playhouse might feel better than the best show at another -- the attitude you get from the production company. One is happy to see you. The other has figured out you're neither thirty nor gay.

You can read about how Plotnik's favorite moments of every show come when he and Duck are walking back to the car, talking about what they just saw, what they loved, what they didn't love, what worked, what didn't, what the seats felt like, what the actors wore, and how they wish they'd get new cookies for intermission. Talking to the actors or the writer after the premiere, seeing how they are one person on stage and another off. Plotnik knows about this -- how when performing you are bulletproof, but at the party you can get whacked by a comment from a stranger.

And of course, there's food. And family. And the garden. And politics. Shoot. I guess Plottie isn't going anywhere for awhile.