McDonald's Continues Halloween Bucket Tradition with Scooby Doo in 2012

I blogged at length last year about my collection of McDonald's Halloween Happy Meal buckets, which began around 1985. I am pleased to report that Mickey D continued the tradition again this year, with Scooby Doo themed buckets.

I have to say, I miss the older style Happy Meal containers with faces and names like McPunky and McBoo. I also miss the hard plastic lids, even the ones with removable cookie cutters. The stickers-on-backing-paper lids from the last several years are, imho, craptastic. They end up getting greasy from the fries and the stickers themselves don't adhere particularly well.

On the bright side, at least the graphics on the actual buckets are interesting, unlike last year's essentially blank "create your own" versions. The Scooby Doo logo handles on this year's three variations are a bit clunky, but still serviceable. And I love the third color choice for this year's selection: purple. There hasn't been a purple bucket since 1994's McWitch.

So that's one of my collecting obsessions. What are yours?

Anything Goes Starts Playhouse Broadway Season

Missie and I attended our first Broadway show at Playhouse Square for the 2012-2013 season. Cole Porter's Anything Goes was a visual and auditory delight!

(Complete Disclosure: I appeared in my high school production of Anything Goes as Sir Evelyn Oakleigh. I had a blast with the character and the show remains one of my favorite memories from that tumultuous period of my life. So, my perception of the show may be colored by that experience.)

Whenever there is a revival of an old show, I fear producers will attempt to make the show less dated by changing lyrics or dialogue so that modern audiences, especially here in the heartland, will connect with it. I have seen at least one production of this show which did just that and it was, well, not good.

I'm delighted to report that this production retained all the original flair and presented it with wonderful acting, soaring vocal performances and choreography that took my breath away! Of the three productions of this musical that I have seen, including the one I performed in, this is my new favorite. It was truly a delight.

Missie and I started the way we usually do, with lunch and cocktails at Bricco. Then, more cocktails after the show and a visit with our favorite bartender, Josh. The twist to this Cleveland trip was that we reserved a hotel room as a "trial" for possibly someday renting a studio apartment in Playhouse Square.

The hotel was the Holiday Inn Express in the theater district. Missie had a discount through Hotel.com so we got the one-night stay for cheap. Which was good, because I can't recommend staying there again. We booked a room with two beds, but of course couldn't get that. It was one king or a queen with a sofa sleeper. We chose the queen, since I sleep on my sofa often enough anyway. There were no spare linens for the sleeper and the room had no carpet, so it sounded like an echo chamber.

We walked down to East Fourth Street entertainment area and had dinner at Zocalo, a Mexican restaurant that came highly recommended. The food was good, if a bit pricey. Compared to the quieter intimacy of Bricco, the sports pub-like atmosphere of Zocalo was kind of noisy for me. We hoped to meet up with friends later, but that became a plan to meet for Sunday brunch, which also never materialized.

We went back to the hotel, got linens from the front desk, who promised to send up the pillows they were lacking. These never arrived. The echo chamber proved almost impossible to sleep in thanks to others partying with open doors on the same floor. They finally quieted down around 4 a.m., just in time for different guests to start leaving. I maybe slept an hour, though I think Missie fared better.

Despite the lack of sleep, we drove back to Akron Sunday morning still humming the score from Anything Goes. If this show sets the standard for the new season, it's going to be an outstanding year!