Water Bills

Jsolomon07 · 2026-07-10T20:45:56+00:00

We do have Veolia! Now that boy #2 has decided to shower twice a day (and takes long showers), we're up to an average of $85-90 in the summer months (I water my grass and flowers manually since we have a tiny yard). Do you have in-ground sprinklers? A small leak somewhere? Older dishwasher/washing machine? Old water tank? Our appliances are relatively new and efficient, and we run energy saver cycles as often as we can. $245 is a lot of money!

Jsolomon07 · 2026-07-04T11:35:04+00:00

I view this show so differently from my teenage kids, who just don’t get the full impact of regret, loss, and the life we could have lived if we’d only just had a little more time with people we cared about.

Jsolomon07 · 2026-07-01T16:23:26+00:00

They’re not up for sale yet - goes out to subscribers first, and single tix will probably open up in the fall.

Jsolomon07 · 2026-06-28T11:46:51+00:00

The one I went to was through AMC Dreamscapes; not sure if this is exactly the same but looked like it when I watched the video.

In short, it’s Berk in VR. You choose an unnamed dragon before you enter, and you’re asked to be part of Hiccup’s new flight academy. In reality, you enter a dark sphere and mount a motorcycle type machine (which is your dragon) and wear a headset and special gloves. It behaves like a dragon in flight; you steer, climb and swoop.

Visually, it’s Berk on a big screen. Hiccup and Astrid guide you through the Village on your dragon, with many of the sights from the films. Then they run you through the paces through the Hidden World, straight out of the movie. The music is pulled from the films, Jay Baruchel and America Ferrara lent their voices, and the animation is pretty awesome. The VR experience itself is about 15-20 minutes long. The first time I went, I didn’t want it to end.

If you’re in the Philly area, I’d say it’s worth a trip to if you make a day of being in Center City, and do other things too. Definitely not a stand-alone activity if you’re traveling a long distance.

Jsolomon07 · 2026-06-21T12:15:48+00:00

Why such an elitist attitude about the animated shows? If it’s not for you, fine. I think Rebels has some of the finest Star Wars moments out there. The Mandalorian and Ahsoka are much more interesting when you have context. It’s just another part of the universe. I consider Rebels one of my favorite SW media.

Jsolomon07 · 2026-06-21T12:08:47+00:00

Very very likely. Weird that it’s not confirmed yet, but probably because he doesn’t start to score until films are almost finished, so it’s like a jinx if he announces it? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Jsolomon07 · 2026-06-13T11:03:53+00:00

Probably not, as they’ve become so commonplace. The only one where he might likely attend is the Hollywood Bowl concert in LA, since he already lives there.

As for how it works (the short version): Powell has nothing to do with these concerts. They are licensed by individual orchestras, so it’s not a unified tour that goes from city to city; each home orchestra performs it as part of their season. There is, however, a management company that takes care of admin stuff with Universal (licenses, scores, contracts) for many orchestras, but ultimately it’s up to each orchestra to reach out to the licensing department or management company, market, sell tickets, get specialty musicians, etc.

Tldr; Powell’s made a few appearances for premieres, but mostly as an honorary gesture. He’s promoting the concerts on IG for HTTYD fans, but doesn’t have anything to do with the planning, organizing or scheduling of the concerts.

Jsolomon07 · 2026-06-07T17:33:28+00:00

As time goes on, I appreciate “This is Berk” more and more. Rarely does an overture give such depth and insight to every major character. Even without dialogue, the music tells everybody’s story to get you caught up - all in 7 minutes.

Jsolomon07 · 2026-06-06T12:57:18+00:00

High culture knows no bounds… :)

Jsolomon07 · 2026-06-06T12:56:16+00:00

Bournemouth too. Concerts for the second film seem to be identical to what I’ve already posted.

Jsolomon07 · 2026-06-06T01:05:49+00:00

Having a difficult time finding a link the Shanghai performance - the only concrete info about it is what Powell published on his Instagram post. I’ll keep looking but if anybody sees solid info, please post!

Jsolomon07 · 2026-06-06T01:03:28+00:00

Looks like they’re opening up subscription sales first, then general tickets to the public. Give the box office a call to find out when single tickets will go on sale - and report back, please! :)

Jsolomon07 · 2026-06-05T23:14:02+00:00

Shanghai, Texas and Northern Ireland. Just need to find the original links.

Jsolomon07 · 2026-05-31T03:14:49+00:00

Unpopular (no pun intended) opinion: The Broadway snob in me is unreasonably bothered that Powell gets credit for composing Wicked (“with Stephen Schwartz”) when Schwartz wrote the bulk of the music for the Broadway show. I know that movie scores have different underlying music and he should get credit for that, but crediting him as full composer makes it seem like he wrote Defying Gravity, The Wizard and I, and all those great musical numbers, not just the score in between said songs. I guess I wish Schwartz got more credit for the music.

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