Welcome to Phantom of the Opera

Don't cry for The Phantom, Broadway. The truth is he'll never leave you. He'll hide in the sewers with the subway rats and sneak through the rafters of the next show to find its home at the Majestic Theater. 

That's right - The Phantom of the Opera is leaving Broadway.

1988 may not have had social media like we do today, but Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber's famous (or infamous) show proudly welcomed local and (mostly) tourist alike to through its doors for an amazing performance. 

Sadly, all things come to an end...and the show fell victim to the pandemic. It will become a memory alone in the moonlight after February 23rd, 2023 - a few weeks after it's 35th anniversary. 

The musical is an amazing production. The movie that came out in 2004 and it does not do justice its source material (neither the show nor the book). There's something magical about seeing the candles rise out of the stage's fog while the orchestra swells. It's heart pounding watching The Phantom throw fireballs at Raoul and Christine - it's replaced by a silly sword fight in the movie. And the Chandelier falling at the end of the first act is incredible.

I'm glad I got to see it on stage at least once.

Though I will admit, this isn't my favorite adaptation of the story. That honor goes to The Phantom of the Opera Wishbone episode "Pantin at the Opera". A close second is the original Lon Chaney 1925 silent movie, followed by Phantom of the Megaplex and Phantom of the Paradise tied for third.

However, Lord Webber's rock opera entered pop culture, found a foothold in little theater kids' hearts and midwestern moms' souls, to explode into ubiquitous culture. Something Cats will never be able to do (please let the movie be a fever dream).

A YouTuber who did a lot of video essays on The Phantom of the Opera book and its many adaptations (including the musical, it's sequel, it's many knock offs) once said that "civilization will fall and Phantom of the Opera will still be playing on Broadway". They were kind of right. COVID-19 struck and the show managed to last a few years after its peak. 

Yet, the lack of tourism to New York and the very high budget needed to maintain the ability for a guy to throw a legit fireball at two other people was the death knell for the show.

The final performance will be held on Saturday, February 18th, 2023.

It was magical. It was fun. It had a great theater run. Such dazzling performances. How the tourists loved the performances. 

It was Broadway's Phantom of the Opera.

Let me know of any fond memories or your favorite adaptations of the story. I remember first seeing the movie with my cousin at my grandmother's house and then (reluctantly) seeing the stage production with an aunt and cousin after getting (severely) discounted tickets - I'm glad I did. 

I know the story has its problems and certain parts of social media are having fun with all of their "hot takes" (seriesouly don't look at the theater side of Twitter right now), but there's a reason this musical stuck around for so long and nearly everyone in the United States is familiar with this serialized French story. 

I think it has something to do with the amazing 80s guitar riff.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. 

Until next week. 

By the way, I've made several references through out this post to other Webber musicals. Cats is directly called out, but I also referenced Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, Evita, and Jesus Christ Superstar. Feel free to let me know if you spot them. 

Welcome to the Many Adaptations of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

 Did y'all know that there's a musical version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde starring David Hasselhoff and can be found on YouTube (link here)? Well there is and it's as ridiculous as you think it is. Go check it out if you want to spend two and a half hours of your time watching a man angst about his life and commit murder while drinking a special potion that makes him look like something out of the uncanny valley (at least that's the impression the book gives). 

If you'd rather watch the twenty-two minute summary from Musical Hell on YouTube, you're welcome to do that instead.

What I find interesting about this version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde isn't it's misstep in stunt casting, but how far it deviates from the original source material.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a compact novella by Robert Louis Stevenson. The same guy who famously wrote Treasure Island. Mr. Stevenson is probably one of my favorite late Victorian writers (along with Stoker, Carroll and Doyle). His prose are, for the most part, are easy to read for modern audiences. The one exception I'm familiar with is the short story "Thrawn Janet", which is written entirely in Scots. (I internally screamed the entire time I tried to read this one.) 

Most people know of Stevenson's work. Treasure Island has had many adaptations and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has become well intertwined with horror pop culture. My first introduction to both stories was through children's media. The Muppets did fantastic adaptation of Treasure Island, while Scooby and the Gang met Jekyll and Hyde in the episode "Nowhere to Hyde". Interestingly enough, The Scooby Doo episode is actually somewhat closer to the original mechanics and motivations of the story than that musical adaptation I mentioned at the start of this post.

Don't believe me? 

I could tell you to read the book, but that takes a lot more time than you probably want to spend (though you should read the book because it is excellent). Instead, you can watch the wonderfully sarcastic summary by Overly Sarcastic Productions on YouTube (click here). 

Yes, the big twist at the end has been spoiled by pop culture. However, that's not what makes the book so interesting. It's the suspense. We know Hyde is bad news, but what evil will he do next? Will he ever be caught? And will Dr. Jekyll put an end to Hyde for good?

It's also a little more complicated than a split personality (or Dissociative Identity Disorder as is the mental illness's proper name). 

However, this fore knowledge of the main twist somewhat necessitates the changes to the plot. Most people know going in what the connection between Jekyll and Hyde is (I'm not going to outright type it out because you might be the 0.0001% of my readers who aren't familiar with the story). So, adaptions need to keep the audience interested in the story another way.

Insert the love interest(s).

The original novella has very few female characters. The two most important are a little girl and a maid - neither of these characters have a name. 

Thus adaptations love to add a lady or two - usually as a love interest (or two) - to add some drama to the plot. This has been done in a lot of movie adaptations, the previously mentioned hilarious musical, and some cartoon adaptations. The Scooby Doo episode included a maid character who is a suspect in the mystery. In Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman, their school is putting on a stage version of the story that includes a love interest.

These love dramas are not in the original story at all. The main drama starts out as a mystery that eventually leads to the questioning of human nature. The question drifts from who Mr. Hyde is and becomes what makes a person evil and can that part be carved out. Dr. Jekyll struggles with personal issues (that are left incredibly vague in the novella). 

I find that most adaptations drift from this theme to focus more on the added love drama. Which is a shame because the original theme is much more interesting.

Recently, I read a graphic novel adaptation of Stevenson's novella. Klimowski and Schejbal collaborated to create hauntingly beautiful drawings (which is the reason I brought the book in the first place). It's an extremely faithful adaptation, including characters who are typically left out such as Mr. Enfield and Dr. Lanyon. It even has one of my favorite lines ("if he be Mr. Hyde, then I shall be Mr. Seek"). However, the novella in its original state doesn't seem to take well to a visual adaptation and the narrative felt a little too streamlined.

They also made (in my opinion) the mistake of showing Dr. Jekyll's struggles...and they aren't all that shocking.

Okay, they're shocking by Victorian standards (maybe). But one of the most creepy aspects of Stevenson's original work is how vague he is about the evil being committed. The author leaves it up to the reader to fill in the gaps and that makes for a more interesting experience while reading the text. 

The graphic novel decided to just show their readers this "evil" and I didn't find it all that "evil". If they had left it vague, my imagination would have definitely come up with something a lot worse (especially with the creepy charcoal drawings to go off of). Instead they chose something pretty generic - even for the Victorian standards of the time. 

Which brings me back to why any adaptations of this novella need to have some narrative changes to keep the reader interested. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a very internally driven narrative. It's a fight between the good and evil within a person rather than an external one. Any visual medium has to add an external drama element to draw out the story.

The original novella on its own is really good and I do recommend y'all check it out if you haven't yet. If you have read the novella, let me know what you think of it. Also let me know if you enjoyed Mr. Hasselhoff on Broadway. I can assure you that I was entertained. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Welcome to a Tragedy

Why do we listen sad stories? Why do we retell the tragic tales? The whole world is filled with tragedy, so why do we feel a need to put pen to paper and end the happily ever after?

I saw Hadestown this week on broadway. A friend was nice enough to take me. If you don’t know this beautiful musical, it’s an American retelling of the story of Orpheus and his trip into the underworld to save his lady love. Hades and Persephone are there having some martial problems (unusual for their myth as they have the most solid marriage of the Greek gods). The Fates are spinning around and around. Then there’s Hermes narrating the journey.

The band is on stage. The story told as a series of songs. Seems right for a story about Orpheus. Though the setting has been changed to the hard times of the early nineteenth century America. My friend and I weren’t sure if it was New Orleans, Tennessee, or West Virginia, but the atmosphere felt southern, poor, and like the old mining communities we have a bad habit of romanticizing.

Do you guys know the story of Orpheus and his lady love Eurydice?

The original tale is cautionary, about how the dead should stay with the dead. This telling is a little different, has a different message to give. But the ideas are still there and the ending stays the same, no matter how much I or anyone else might wish it would change.

Why do we tell tragic stories? Why do we like tragedy?

History is full of tragedy. There really aren’t happy endings in real life. Nothing falls into place like how our modern fairytales go. Everybody dies. Everybody has a perspective and the popular one might not be all that right.

If we live in constant tragedy, why do we keep telling these stories? Why tell the story of Orpheus and Eurydice again and again like Hadestown? What do we get out of it?

A lesson?

An emotion?

A warning?

I love the music of Hadestown. It’s very American - jazz and blues. Perfect for many reasons, first and foremost because of the subject matter. I think it’s also appropriate that the 20s are just around the corner and it’s time to bring back jazz.

One song in particular seems like it was written for this this year, but it was actually written in 2006. “Why We Build the Wall” is intense, creepy, and cultish. Hades leads the song by asking his followers why “they build the wall, my children” and his children answer that they “build the wall to keep [them] free” and keep out the enemy. And who is the enemy? Poverty.

They make a few changes here and there to the myth. Traditionally Hades isn’t hell, but in this musical it is. And Hades doesn’t tempt people with death, he doesn’t really have much to do with the act of dying at all (that’s Thanatos for the most part). He just rules the underworld and keeps the dead where they ought to be.

The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice doesn’t have much to do with poverty or have any capitalistic analogies. It’s actually about how the poet and artist Orpheus goes into the underworld to retrieve his dead wife. The play has Eurydice’s selling her soul to Hades because she’s hungry. In actuality she dies. Hades allows Orpheus the chance to rescue Eurydice (both in the play and myth) after he proves himself as a musician. In the myth it’s to bring Eurydice back to life, whereas in the play it’s to free her from slavery.

But the changes, like the music and the setting, are appropriate for the overall feel of the play. It’s very American. Did I mention that? It’s a new incarnation of an old story, an old song that’s been told again and again and again.

Tragedy.

The one change not made is the ending. The myth and play end the same way. Orpheus fails.

No matter how many times or different ways we tell the story, Eurydice doesn’t escape the underworld. The dead stay dead and Eurydice is never free.

We hope to never experience it. We wish for happiness, but there can be no happiness without the biting taste of despair at the back of our minds. We hear a tragic story and we’re just a little more grateful for the good things in our lives, as short as they are. We might even learn what not to do or learn that there’s nothing we can do to prevent tragedy.

Is there a sad story that you keep coming back to? Do you go back and watch a movie like Titanic or read The Fault in our Stars? We know how these stories end. Why read about a doomed relationship or watch a terrible series of events?

Because we tell stories to help us deal with the emotions we feel and tragedy is one of the hardest to process.

We hope for the story to change. It never does. Yet we tell the story again anyway.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like herding from me.

Welcome to an Arts Micro-Vacation

This weekend I spent in New York City. I don’t usually spend a full weekend in the city, especially not in the summer months because of the heat and even worse humidity. It’s often crowded and space, as rare as it normally is, becomes nearly impossible to find.

But really, that’s New York in a nutshell.

So, why did I choose to spend a weekend wandering around a city that I typically avoid during the burger of tourist season?

I decided to take the opportunity to see a couple of plays. I got tickets to see To Kill a Mockingbird months ago (because any sooner was near impossible in my price range). Then, about two weeks ago I saw that Tom Hiddleston and Charlie Cox would be in the play, Betrayal, on Broadway. It was an opportunity I didn’t want to waste.

I felt it was too hard to do my usual commute back and forth into the city, so I opted to just stay the night. I call it a micro-vacation.

The plays were only part of the trip. I now had ample free time to do a few other things - like eat in Hell’s Kitchen (Maria Pia is one of my favorite restaurants in that area), see some of new exhibits at The Met, and enjoy my wanders around the many parks (Central being my favorite).

It’s calm and peaceful and everything is set to my pace.

This also isn’t the first micro-vacation I’ve taken this month (last weekend I was in Hershey with a friend). They’re a nice indulgence when I can’t get far away from home for a long period of time.

This trip has been centered around the Arts. The Art of the Stage Production, The Art of Fashion (The Met has a really cool exhibit on Camp right now that was really cool and informative on the history of LGBTQ+ culture), The Art of Food, and The Art of Adaptation.

I don't think that last art gets as much attention as many of the others. Adaptation takes an already created work and transforms it. In this case, I'm referring to the play To Kill a Mockingbird.

My introduction to the story was like many American high schoolers, by reading the novel for English Lit. class. I think it says something about the books that they were making us read that I still think of it as the "happiest" book we read that year. To be clear, this book is not "happy" in the slightest, just happier than everything else we read in 9th grade.

It wasn't that much later that I saw the movie with Gregory Peck as the too prefect for this world Atticus Finch. Both the book and the movie are excellent. The movie definitely does the book justice, though I recall it leaves a number of scenes out.

The play has a very different structure from the book and movie, but this is an adaptation that I think does both justice in a time where a few updates needed to be made. Jeff Daniels is excellent as Atticus Finch, showing both his strengths and deep flaws as a white man living in the south during the 1930s. He even gets called out several times on his actions by the family's black house keeper, Calpurnia, which I don't remember happening in the movie or the book.

I thought the updates were needed and I found myself frustrated by Atticus, more forgiving of Jem, and enjoying the non-linear story telling.

Which brings me to the other play I saw. I went into the play Betrayal only knowing that it was a play about an affair told in reverse, also Tom Hiddleston and Charlie Cox were in it. I enjoyed the acting and the story, but I didn't understand at all why two of the characters started having an affair (even at the end when it showed how the affair started).

I won't spoil the story, but I admit I had a hard time relating to the characters. The only character I somewhat sympathized with was Tom Hiddleston's Robert, though I might have also sympathized with Zawe Ashton's character, Emma, with a few more scenes providing context to some of her claims.

Charlie Cox's character, Jerry, was just an all around clueless B@$%@#d.

I think the coolest part of the play was how time was portrayed. They had a circular revolving stage (one ring on the inside and another on the outside) with only two chairs, and later a table, as the set. As time moved backward the circles would turn and there would be a projection of how far back in time we had gone in the story. There was also a lot of excellent shadow play with light projections and use of the circles to show how all of the characters orbited around each other.

My final thoughts on the weekend are from while I was at The Met. I got to see the incomplete masterpiece of St. Jerome by Leonardo Da Vinci, which was cool, a very cool presentation of music and visual landscape of Iceland called "Death is Elsewhere" which was projected on screens surrounding the viewers, and an exhibit on Camp.

I honestly knew nothing about Camp before I went into the exhibit. It's history and evolution are closely tied to the history of (mostly male)  LGBTQ+ culture. It's an Art of Fashion and Self Expression. Though I don't think I could pull off any of the looks, I was fascinated by everything I saw.

It was a fun weekend and I experienced a lot. I'd recommend any of the plays I saw and the exhibits at the Met. Also Hell's Kitchen is a must for people who like good food.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Welcome to Watching the Stage

One of my goals for the start of this year, was to take advantage of the fact that I live within spitting distance of New York City. I am happy to say that I have been keeping to that goal.

And my favorite reason to go into New York is to see a stage show.

It doesn't matter if it's on or off Broadway, I've been having a lot of fun going to different plays and performances around the city, though I haven't gotten tickets to see Hamilton yet.

There are all types of stage performances. Musicals, dramas, comedies, classics like Shakespeare and the Greek tragedies, operas, and ballets. Each is unique in how they tell stories and convey emotions.

My current favorite play is Come From Away which is about how a small town in Canada took in about 3,000 people during 9/11 when all airplanes were grounded. The music is amazing and the stories are inspiring as well as heart breaking. What's really cool is that all the characters portrayed are based on the actual people who experienced the event.

What's really cool is how the set is designed. There's a rotating stage with fake trees, chairs, a "bar", and beautifully painted backdrop that reminded me of painted drift wood art. The band plays on stage, instead of in a pit and adds to the atmosphere. I hear there's a movie in the works, but no matter how well done the movie is, I don't feel it will have the same feeling as the play.

I'm not sure how to explain this feeling, but there is a big difference seeing a stage play and watching a movie based on that play. Plays rely on suggestion and imagination. When the lights go down and a single spotlight illuminates a solitary character on stage to give a soliloquy, it doesn't have the same effect as a character looking into a camera or giving a voice over to tell the audience what they're thinking.

Don't get me wrong, there are some plays that made the jump onto the big screen with success. West Side Story, Sound of Music, Hairspray, and especially The Rocky Horror Picture Show are all awesome movies (though I admit that I haven't seen them on stage). I even enjoy the 2004 Phantom of the Opera.

However, movies are a different medium from plays. Often scenes are squashed together or cut to make room for run time. Depending on the writers and directors, things can change drastically between stage to screen. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does change the experience.

To see "Phantom of the Opera" on stage is an entirely different experience. There's a reason it's one of the longest running shows on Broadway. The sets are a amazing, the effects are stunning, and to see the actors on stage is magic. I like the "Phantom of the Opera" movie. I love the Broadway show.

And there are a lot of plays in New York. New ones open every year, and there are even a few shorter runs with famous actors and actresses.

This is from the movie.

A few years ago, I saw The Front Page starring Nathan Lane and John Goodman. Yesterday, I saw Hillary and Clinton with Laurie Metcalf and John Lithgow. Both Adam Driver and Danieli Radcliff have recently been in shows that I nearly brought tickets for, while my mom was disappointing that we weren't able to see Jeff Daniels in To Kill a Mockingbird (tickets were about the same price as Hamilton when I finally started looking).

It's cool to see these actors in movies and TV shows. It's stunning to watch them preform live and on stage. Nathan Lane in particular is one of my favorite actors to watch on stage. His stage presence is captivating.

I do wish it wasn't super expensive to see plays though, especially in New York. There are ways to find cheaper tickets, but it's tough and the timing doesn't always work out. There are raffles and buy-same-day tickets, but they are hard to get.

If going to New York is a tough option, then check out what the local high schools or college are putting on. When I was still in high school and college, I'd go to the plays my school put on. I loved seeing Little Shop of Horrors and Thoroughly Modern Millie with my friends.

Some schools even put their performances on YouTube, which is how I saw the "Very Potter Musicals" (not "Cursed Child") and "Once Upon a Mattress".

And don't discount the film adaptations. I know I earlier said that the experiences are different (and they are), but that doesn't mean that that's a bad thing. The Harry Potter movies are very different from the books, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying them. There are tons of movies from the 30s and 40s which were originally plays (see my post on The Front Page for a great adaptation example).`

One of my favorite play adaptations is Angels in America. You can find the whole mini-series on Amazon Prime right now (and possibly HBO GO). It's about the AIDs epidemic in the 1980s. HBO put together a 6 part miniseries back in the early 2000s and if you haven't seen it, I totally recommend it. It is a play (both parts) that I hope to eventually see on stage, but for now, I'm happy re-watching the miniseries when I have the time.

Do you guys have any favorite plays or stage performances?

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from

Welcome to the Front Page

This past weekend, I went into New York City. I (unfortunately) wasn't there for the Women's March, but I did get to see and speak with many of the protesters on their way in. I was actually in town to see the Broadway play, "The Front Page", starring Nathan Lane, John Slattery, and John Goodman.

The play is about a journalist who is trying to get married and escape his crazy boss, but he somehow gets pulled into investigating one last story when a man scheduled to be hanged the next morning escapes from jail. It's been adapted into a few movies. My personal favorite version is the movie "His Girl Friday" (where Hildy is played by a woman instead of a man and Cary Grant is the crazy boss). The 1930 version and "His Girl Friday" are both on Amazon Prime and I highly recommend checking them out if you can.

It's interesting to see how a play written nearly 100 years ago still holds up for modern audiences.

The journalists openly admit to writing inflammatory headlines, exaggerating facts, and twisting people's statements just so they can get in edge to sell more newspapers. They compete with each other to get the best scoop for their stories. Politicians in particular are a popular target for the journalists to poke fun at.

That's not to say that the sheriff and mayor in the play don't deserve the nasty things that are being written about them, they do. See they happen to be up for reelection very soon and they want to guarantee as many votes as possible.For example, they scheduled the man to be hung a couple of days right before a major election in the hopes that it would get them more votes. They also do everything in their power to make sure nothing prevents the hanging from happening, including bribing a man, who brings a reprieve for the condemned man, with a position of power in the city.

The journalists are all aware of the mayor and sheriff's motivations, which is a key reason why they enjoy tormenting the sheriff and mayor with their exaggerated stories. They especially love reporting on the incompetence of the sheriff's men, who are mostly made up of the sheriff's family (and were appointed by the sheriff).

The more scandalizing the story on the front page is, the more likely people are going to buy the newspaper. Doesn't this sound familiar?

With social media eclipsing traditionally printed newspapers, the front page stories are the ones we see while scrolling through our Facebook and Twitter feeds. The more the headlines pulls at our emotions, the more likely we are to click on and share them. Journalists know this, so they will purposefully write their headlines in a way that is both eye catching and inciting a power emotional response.

Journalists aren't the only people who can report on current events. Now, anyone can take photos and videos of events and include a brief caption, then share them with millions of people. We have more access to information than ever before and can easily research current events.

And yet, fact checking still remains a huge problem and media bias certainly helped shape this past election. We probably wouldn't have known that Bernie Sanders was running for the DNC if people on social media hadn't rallied behind him. Then there's the media circus surrounding Donald Trump's latest tweet. (Seriously why hasn't someone confiscated his phone yet? It seems like it's going to turn into a huge security risk sooner rather than later.)

There are some who are claiming we now live in a post-fact world, where opinions matter more than factual evidence presented. I'd make a "Whose Line" joke, but personally I find this idea to be unsettling.

The media has always walked a fine line between reporting the facts and sensationalizing a story so they can sell as many papers as possible (or clicks). They are in the business of making money after all. Bias will also always be a problem. That doesn't mean we should disregard the importance of freedom of the press, having evidence based arguments, and challenging those in power.

The biggest thing I took away from seeing "The Front Page", is that even though we the audience know the journalists are purposefully using questionable tactics to sell their papers, we're on their side. We want them to expose the crooked politicians because if the journalists don't, who else will? We want the journalists to get their stories.

And please remember this is my just my opinion. I'm sure somewhere in the dark recesses of the Internet, there's an analysis of this play that says we should really be siding with the crooked politicians.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week.

Welcome To Staying Cool

This weekend, some friends of mine came up to visit. I was very happy to see them. Unfortunately was one of the hottest weekends of the entire summer. Fortunately, we had tickets to see The Book of Mormon. So even though we were going into New York City in nearly 100 degree heat, we would be inside for most the time.

I can honestly say that The Book of Mormon is one of the funniest plays I have ever seen. I recommend it if you have a twisted sort of sense of humor (think South Park twisted since it is made by the creators of South Park). I don't know if it would make a good movie or not (but then again what do I know of the adaptation process).

Before the play started, my friends and I were able to walk around for a little bit. There was a street festival going on, which was a lot of fun to see. There were a lot of small shops and plenty of food options. However the heat did start to become a problem, even when we ducked into the M&M Store to cool off.

Even before my friends arrived, I received a few emails from the library I used to go to in Maryland, that Cooling Centers would be available throughout the weekend at all of the county libraries.These are places people can stay to remain cool if they do not have access to air conditioning for any reason. And in this heat, these places can help to save lives.

If you know someone who currently doesn't have air conditioning (or a cool place stay), see if you can invite them over. If you can't invite them over, find out where your local Cooling Center (if you have one) is and get the word out.

With the release of Pokemon Go, there have been a lot more people outside as well. If you really want to go Pokemon hunting, bring plenty of water if you plan on going hunting for Pokemon. My friends and I went through six bottles of water in very little time. Finding a place to hunt for the cute little creatures inside might be a better idea between 10am and 3pm (I've heard rumors about IKEA having a lot of Pokemon hanging around).

And don't forget about your pets! I've seen a lot of reminders going around to not leave pets inside a hot car. I've also seen recommendations to not bring pets to my local farmer's market because the pavement heats up so much that it has the potential to cause dogs to overheat.

 I hope everyone is able to find a way to stay cool and hydrated in this heat. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that cooler weather will arrive soon. Please stay safe everyone!

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week!