Went to Cirque Du Soleil's Alegria last night. If you've never been to a Cirque show ... go.
Any special you've seen on television pales in comparison to experiencing the real thing. Watching a trapeze act immediately above you is absolutely amazing. I'm still trying to digest the experience ... and I'll probably be doing that for some time.
The only blemish on the entire evening (not counting our dining adventure at the Old Spaghetti Factory ... but that's another story) was the one cell phone that went off in the middle of the performance (not mine, some other moron's). As timing would have it, it went off with it's damnedably distinctive ring during a quieter part of the act ... as if proudly proclaiming, "I'm so important I need to let everyone know."
I mean, when the show opened, the introduction included specific instructions to the audience (loudly and clearly detailed by the young Mongolian actor in English more cleanly pronounced than many Americans):
- Don't smoke in the tent
- Don't take pictures or video (the flash and lighting could distract and be potentially dangerous to the cast)
- Turn your cell phones and pagers off
The last point brought a round of applause from the audience, a serious indication that people are tired of these self-important, arrogant assholes who feel that common courtesy doesn't apply to them. Ok, ok ... so you're an important individual ... you've a job where being "on call" means you have to be contactable ... I can respect that.
But, you can easily get a vibrating battery pack for your phone (I use one myself) that
silently alerts you to an incoming call. If you can't turn the phone or pager
off, at least think of the people around you ... and not in the way you usually do ("people who see me taking calls in public will know I'm an important person ...").
I mean ...
think. You impress no one with your phone ... get over yourself ... you're no better than the whining idiots I see in the Usenet newsgroups and website discussion forums critically ripping everyone else around them apart ... yet being completely incapable of contributing anything worthwhile to the discussion (yes, that's another story, too).
::deep breath:: Anyway, it was just one phone ... so no major issue. In my own jaded way, I was half-expecting there to be more interruptions, so having only one was a pleasant surprise.
At any rate, I've always been amazed at the skill of the performers in Cirque ...
... now I'm a serious fan.
