I do a mean Fagin, I have to say.

Sarameg--when prioritizing your list of to-dos, I STRONGLY urge you to do whatever ceilings and/or floor work you need before you move in, even if you have to put off other things. They are so much easier and cheaper to do before there is furniture to move and dust to worry about. Also this is a really d good time to hire plasterers, electricians, etc, due to the economic times, so if you are planning any work like that, try to see what can be done beforehand.

Signed,
Has Learned This The Hard Way

I STRONGLY urge you to do whatever ceilings and/or floor work you need before you move in

Has Learned This The Hard Way

What Scrappy Said × 1000

Jumps on the 'if only we had it to do over again' bandwagon. Also, plaster dust gets in every possible thing, even closed drawers.

So exciting, sara!

Since I was a tragic teen of 15 when I first heard it, I was all about Eponine (sp?), but I have come to understand over the years, that Javert is my true match.

Ha! msbelle is me, except I was in middle school so it would have been more like 12. Which is like 15 but with less practice.

Her voice was good, and we're conditioned not to expect that from plainness.

OK, I admit I was like up last night fuming about the Susan Boyle thing, which is stupid, I know. But everywhere I turn on the internet (not here!) she's being hailed as some kind of musical genius, when she's just fine. Even if she was Broadway-ready, it's not like Patti LuPone is getting 22 million views (and the YouTube comments that say Boyle is comparable/better make me nuts). Anyway, I don't understand the part of the Boyle madness where it's her unexpected plainness that is so pleasurable. What, we don't like fat singers? Since when? A plain, awkward singer was unbelievably successful coming out of that very show!

We have really short memories if we think that Americans wouldn't get behind a weirdo like Clay Aiken or Taylor Hicks or a great-voiced non-thin singer like Melinda Doolittle or Ruben Studdard or Kelly Clarkson. Even in Britain they're mad about Adele and Beth Ditto!

and the YouTube comments that say Boyle is comparable/better make me nuts

I find Patti Lupone's voice whiny and annoying, and her acting mediocre at best. I've seen her twice on Broadway and both times she was the worst part of the show. I can't think of a more overrated Broadway star.

I find Patti Lupone's voice whiny and annoying, and her acting mediocre at best.

This is me, too. Which is why I like Ruthie Henshall as Fantine and Elaine Page as Evita much better.

And I'm now currently watching clips of Hugh Jackman camping it up as Peter Allen. God, but he camps well. Almost as well as Guy Pearce. I love how fearless Aussie actors are.

I've seen her twice on Broadway and both times she was the worst part of the show.

I'm betting one of these was Sweeney Todd. What was the other?

I don't think it was Boyle's weight. I think it was her age, for one -- the teen in the audience rolling her eyes clearly though a woman her age had no business dreaming of being a singer anymore.

I think it's more about expectation -- people might expect a woman who looks like she lives alone with her cat to be sort of delusional about her talent. And yet she opened her mouth and was great.

And yeah, she wasn't perfect. But she was really, really good for an untrained voice in that situation, with a cheering audience, and I honestly don't believe that there are dozens of women in church choirs who sound like that solo. I've been listening to my parents' church choir for years, and there's maybe one woman who could come close to performing like that.