Ask Luke’s Mother in Law: Fifty Shades of NOPE

In which ex-cop/crazy cat lady/mom-in-law Martha Boyd answers your questions from the coziness of the Joshua Tree desert.

Happy Thursday. Hopefully we all made it thru Valentines Day. Next up, St Pat’s Day, I believe. This week I have attached a photo of the lovely flowers and candle that I got from Julia and LYT for Valentines Day. They even included a card for St Patrick’s Day. This is a thing John used to do. He always picked a card that had nothing to do with the holiday the gift was being sent for. They also shopped at Cactus Flower in Yucca Valley. This is the florist that our family has used for years and did the flowers for Julia and LYTs wedding a couple of years ago.

If any of you are going to be in the Joshua Tree area on Thur 2/19, remember the next selection of the Joshua Tree Film Fest will be playing. It is 45 RPM, the story of a girl looking for a 45 RPM of a song her father did.

For those of you in the snow belts, we will be having 80 degree weather all week. Lovely, lovely, lovely. I have to start thinking about getting the pool open again for the season. This week I also had to put up a baby gate between the front door and hall. Little Luv Bug has decided to run out the front door now 4 time when I try to leave the house. She is a quick little furball. Luckily she stops just past the door, sits down and starts to cry. So I have been able to grab her each time, and yes those are a few of my Beanie Babies on the right.

How about SNL 40? Pretty good. Too many commercials. Could have done without Kanye, and Miley had clothes on. It was great to see the Blue Brothers and Molly Shannon. Gilda and others were so missed. Wayne’s World had barely changed. Lots of good memories, but with fewer commercials we could have had more.

So on to this week’s madness.

Adam M:

With 50 Shades coming out in theaters, what is the best way to make millions from my crappy FanFic??

Well, let’s see. Submit the writing to the publisher of 50 Shades – they like crap and get a good publicist. Submit the witing to lots of companies, and someone may purchase and publish it. Self-publish: lots of people do that.

clashctyrkr:

hi hi mamasan…
i’ve lived in an amazing desert. and when the wild flowers bloom in the sonoran desert, it is most beautiful. desert lupine is my favorite bloom whats yours?

I love flower season too. My favs are the poppies, and the prickly pear flowers. Orange and hot pink are sooooooo pretty. As the yard blooms I will get some pictures to post.

doctor_mindbender:

I bed I’d get a biting, but it would be worth it.

Okay, no question, but I will comment back anyway. All of my kitties love belly scratching, kissing and or smelling. They normally just purr.

NebulaJack:
With Valentines day coming up the pike (though it’ll be over by the time your next column goes up) I’m curious at to what your thoughts are on the social concept called “The Friend Zone” and how valid/bullshit the whole thing is.

I think the friend zone is alive and well. And one or the other party has to give some indication that they would be interested in going to the level beyond just friends. For example, right now I have several male “friends” and none of us are wanting for whatever reason to do anything more than just be buddies at this point in time. That is more than okay right now.

Rx79immigrant84:

Hi LYT’s MIL,
So after LYT’s comments about 50 shades of grey, do you plan to watch it?

Nope. I did not read the book, as romance novels are not my cup of tea to start with. Thus I have no plans to see the movie either. I know several people (ladies) who did go and see the movie, and said it was pretty much as waste of the ticket price. Yes, I know it is number 1 in the box office this weekend – but that is due to all of the sheep that have to see whatever thing everyone has to be in love with this week.

GallenDugall:

QUESTION! In my experience cats often seem obsessed with boxes. Not just small domestic cats but the big ones as well. Why? Are cats seeing something that humans, who just put stuff into boxes, don’t see?

Please, it is not just cats. Haven’t you ever watched kids at Christmas? You get them some really nifty gift in a big box and what do they spend the most time playing with – THE BOX. My kitties love boxes; they make great hiding spots and scratching posts. They can be like furry jack in the boxes at times.

Room405:

Good morning. First time commenter.
As a High School theater teacher and director I am rapidly running out of ideas for shows to direct and can not seem to read any good ones. As an actress can you reccomend any plays that you have enjoyed over the years that have large gender balanced casts?

Welcome, welcome. Hope to hear from you again. The arts are so important in schools and I wish this was not the first thing the districts try to cut to save a dime. Have you checked out Pioneer Drama Service? They specialize in plays and musicals suited for kids’ productions with casts that you can move to suit who shows up to the audition. We have a summer youth theater group out here and they use Pioneer quite often. Royalties are also very reasonable Julia’s first play when she was only 5 was Wagon Wheels West (from Pioneer). We had a cast of about 30 from ages 5 to 18. Lots of short citizens.

There are also kids’ versions of Little Mermaid and Aladdin. Musicals are generally the best, as you can always have lots of chorus which will allow even sort-of shy ones to be involved. Dramas are good but generally don’t expand as well as a musical. Another one that would be fun for a school would be Fame. If your school has a band those kids could be the music students and the drama kids could take the other parts, even if you have dance in PE or something. You could get different classes involved and make it an end of the year production. Some of the other fun shows she has done over the years have been Cinderella, Wizard of Oz, Guys and Dolls, Working and Goodbye Girl.

Also check out freedrama.net. Lots of shows, NO royalties and fexible casts from 7 to 49 people in many cases. Lots of things for teen audiences.

Somethng else that might work: do you have a creative writing class at the school? Maybe first semester the class writes one-acts, and those that wish to submit could see the show produced in second semester. Maybe even make a contest out of it. Then they can learn how a show goes from concept to production.

Theater builds such self confidence even if the kids don’t plan on going into the biz professionally. Just the public speaking and learning how to work as a group is so important in almost every career path that they take. Theater can be just as important as team sports, although most districts don’t seen to think so. As always, break a leg.

Well, my pretties, that is about all of this week. Hope you are loving the podcast. I understand that I am going to be drafted to speak sometime next month when I am in LA to see Julia’s show with UCB (Upright Citizens Brigade). So if you want, get some mom questions ready for the show. The Valentine’s wreath is done and St Patrick’s is up. Then on to Easter. As always, be good to each other next week and Huggs.

You’ve got questions. She has answers…for EVERYTHING. So ask below. Nothing is off-limits.