Ellen and I went to see "Beatlemania Now" at the Claremont Opera House two weeks ago. The show, which was the penultimate offering in the Opera House's 2010-2011 season, billed itself as a "Multimedia tribute to the Beatles." I'm a big Beatles fan and I always enjoy hearing their songs performed live. Unfortunately, the impersonators just weren't very good. They didn't look much like the actual band members (which is hard to blame them for, but still, the realism wasn't there) and they didn't sound much like them, either. "John" actually came pretty close, at least with the songs from the early period, but the rest of the band was underwhelming. Still, it was an energetic show and I enjoyed getting to go out with Ellen and see it.

On Saturday I played in the White River Open, a one-day, four-round tournament held in White River Junction, VT. The tournament was small but surprisingly strong; the Open section featured a Grandmaster, a Senior Master, an International Master, a National Master and two Experts. In fact, of the nine players in the section, five were rated above 2180! I took a first-round bye so I could sleep after getting off work in the morning, and I defeated southern New Hampshire Expert Clay Bradley in my second-round game. Unfortunately I faltered at a key moment against IM Danny Kopec in Round 3 before getting blown off the board by SM Denys Shmelov (rated 2529!) in the final round. My final tournament score was +1 -2 =0, which was good for a sixth-place tie. It's hard to be disappointed by my result, but I can't help wishing I'd been able to keep up the pressure in my game against Kopec. Regardless, it was a lot of fun to play, and I'm looking forward to my next rated event (which at this point is looking like a match in June against top-rated Vermonter Dave Carter).

Living in New Hampshire, I've come to accept the fact that many of my neighbors are (for some reason) Red Sox fans. My sports affiliations have, consequently, caused some good-natured friction at work. And after the Yankees were swept by the Red Sox over the weekend, I knew I was going to be in for it on Monday. And sure enough, when I returned to the station following an early-morning emergency call, I was met at the ambulance door by a coworker brandishing a broom.

In other news, Pirates of the Caribbean 4 opens on Friday. Apparently they are starting a new trilogy featuring some but not all of the old characters (Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rusch are back; Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are not). I'm looking forward to seeing it soon.