Tipping

Merriam-Webster defines gratuity as something given voluntarily or beyond obligation usually for some service.

That being said, tipping is tricky.  There are some basic guidelines like servers usually get a 15% tip for average service. For the most part this is common knowledge.  But what to do if the service was truly horrible?

Recently I went on a dinner cruise down the Cincinnati. We were seated by 630 and we didn't see our server until almost 7. We placed our drink order at that time and we didn't get those for 45 minutes. My brother pointed out that the server forgot his drink and after that the server mostly paid attention to my brother (the server was obviously gay, maybe he was hitting on my brother).  It was like this the rest of the night, we basically had to hunt him down to get any kind of service.

This isn't the only time I've had horrible service.  Once our waitress told us she was new to this and would do her best. I would expect nothing less and I'm definitely OK with a new waitress in training. She proceeded to tell the next table she had been doing this for almost a year. Long and frustrating story short, it took us almost 3 hours before we were finally able to leave. Talk about a waste of time (and the floor manager was useless).

A google search reveals we should always leave something, anything.  Officially I find nothing that states what should be done in this situation. That's too bad because I think if service is more than lacking somewhere I should be able to withhold their gratuity.

During this google search I did find an interesting tip guide at www.tipping.org. It has quite a bit of tipping etiquette on services I didn't know had an appropriate etiquette (specifically speaking, I had no clue there was proper etiquette for tipping at an exotic club. Did you know you should pay $3 tip per song when you are sitting next to the stage? Not including a tip for any fun moves you see. And if you pay for a private dance you should still tip them after the performance).

Musical!

Merriam-Webster gives a simple definition of a musical as a movie or play that tells a story with songs and often dancing.

Musicals are great. You can claim you don't like them but I bet there is one that you enjoy more than you're going to admit.  I enjoy several musicals myself and my wife does as well.  We do, however, have a hard time agreeing on what is considered a musical and whether or not we want to watch it together.

I've decided to compile a list of some of my favorite musicals. These are in no particular order, just as they come to mind.

The Sound of Music

I don't know of anybody who doesn't know of this movie. Several have not seen it, and I understand. Old musicals are not everyone's cup of tea. Time period movies (can WWII be considered a time period movie?). The Von Trapps have amazing talent. This movie is based on the true story of the Von Trapps family, crazy to think. Truth be told I made it halfway through the movie and woke up at the end but I still do enjoy the music.

Grease

Who doesn't like a good musical about changing your values to woo the person you have a crush on? Forget about being true to yourself and forget about them liking you for who you are. By the end of this film both Olivia Newton John and John Travolta change who they are to impress the other. You'll start off innocently with "Summer Nights". By "Greased Lightning" you'll be wondering "why haven't I fallen for this hip cat? All your values will be out the window when you sing along to "You're the one that I want".

My wife may have a hard time getting me to watch this movie but I usually end up singing along to it.  I usually find myself singing along to the music when it pops up on my playlist (her playlist.....).

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

No, I'm not talking about the newer one with Johnny Depp. That one wasn't great. The original with Gene Wilder.  Between the Oompa songs and Gene Wilder's creepy boat ride, what's not to like? Besides all the other events leading up to the Chocolate Factory.

DISNEY!

No list with musicals can be complete without some mention of Disney. They have left a huge mark on the world of musicals. Some were great (Lion King anyone?) and some were not so great (Pocahontas, decent music but didn't like it). This deserves a list on it's own but I'm putting a quick compilation here for now.

Lion King

Growing up we had some regular guests in our house that would demand we watch "El Rey Leon" all the time. They were toddlers and I was a teenager. As much as I enjoyed the movie and the music it became extremely frustrating hearing it all the time. Having 2 kids I now completely understand the persistent demands to watch the same thing over and over. But it's still a great movie with great music.

Aladdin

I watched this movie so many times my brothers and I would choose characters to quote and we would do our best to imitate the voices and songs. We didn't always get all the words to the songs right, and I still probably sing the same wrong words now.  My children don't have the same fond memories I have of this movie but that doesn't stop me from trying.

Little Mermaid

The 90s were a great decade for Disney. The summer before my senior year some friends of mine had a stage play and put on their version of Kiss the Girl. Oh, if only I had a camera. I can't put into words the way they portrayed this song. 2 guys (one with a wig) in a small kiddie pool and 6 others dancing around them in circles using straws to make the the appearance of the fountains in the blue lagoon (missing on purpose and spitting the water onto "Eric" and "Ariel").

Beauty and the Beast

Kids don't understand Stockholm Syndrome and why should they? I don't believe this is about the captive Belle falling in love with the captor Beast, it's a typical love story told by Disney. Beeftony (anybody else picturing Cartman's Beefcake?), another blogger, agrees that it isn't Stockholm Syndrome, you can read his arguments here.  This is still a great movie and I'm excited to see Emma Watson play Belle.

And in case you've been living under a rock, here is a link to the teaser trailer.

Rio

It's time to move on from Disney movies (there are still multiple movies I did not mention). This movie was terrific. I don't often buy soundtracks to movies but after seeing this I bought the soundtrack. Watching my 3 year old (or was she 4?) daughter pretend to be a bird in her carseat flapping her arms to the song Hot Wings (I wanna Party) was adorable.  Personally I like Nigel's song better.

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

Straying away from what my wife considers a musical, this is by far one I can watch over and over again. The bluegrass twang of the music and George Clooney's best role (according to me, my mother in law prefers Ocean's 11) make this movie terrific. The Siren's Song was my favorite, I love when voices harmonize and the way the trio acts around the lovely Siren's is great. The Coens admitted this movie was loosely based on Homer's Odyssey, and the website Quora made side by side comparison to help us understand the likeness (this helped me a lot because when I was supposed to read this in college I made it through the first line and fell asleep). This movie is great to quote along to as well.

The Blues Brothers

I'm going out on a limb to say this is by far my favorite musical.  The plot of the movie sends the Blues Brothers, Jake and Elwood (played by Belushi and Ackroyd), "on a mission from God" to save the orphanage they grew up in.  The stellar cast also included Carrie Fisher, John Candy, and Henry Gibson with guest appearances by James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and Ray Charles (to name a few). It was the first Saturday Night Live sketch to be made into a movie and it was the second most successful one (first being Wayne's World).  This movie is a must watch for anybody. Their website (just found out it existed) is full of information regarding the legacy that is The Blues Brothers. I purchased their CD at one point and it was one of my favorites (unfortunately it didn't survive during my 2 years as a missionary, my brothers scratched it beyond repair).