Cirque du Soleil's Quidam in Long Beach

The husband and I had a date night on Wednesday and were lucky enough to be given tickets to Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam at the Long Beach Convention Center. I wasn’t sure what to expect.

The only other Cirque show I’ve seen was Mystere in Vegas during a weekend away with girlfriends. The night of the show, my friend Kim and I had been playing blackjack. We started with $20 each and were up to $200 when our other two friends came and dragged us away. We spent the first part of Cirque cursing our friends and the clown dressed as a baby. By the end of the show we were transfixed and in love with the brother acrobats.

My husband and I were transfixed from the start of Quidam. It was dark and beautiful and the acrobatics were amazing. The best part of the show was when my husband was pulled onstage! I took this little video. In it, the Clown, Toto Castineiras, is directing a movie and my husband is the romantic lead. I think he did a fantastic job!

Kinect and a Cirque "Inspired" event

School is winding down for my boys, which means there is a flurry of activity these last couple of weeks. That didn’t stop me from picking my kids up from school and driving them downtown to play Xbox.

We tried the new game Kinect a month or so ago when it was a beta version known as Project Natal, but the changes made for the most recent version are amazing. With Kinect for XBox 360, you can make the avatar move just by moving your arms and legs. Crazy, Spooky.

Speaking of crazy, even though the invitation said recommended for kids 8 and up, I took my 4 and 6-year-old boys to the unveiling performance of Project Natal for XBox Experience Imagined by Cirque du Soleil. I don’t know much French, but apparently “Imagined” means minimal involvement by Cirque du Soleil. After getting stuck in traffic, yelled at by a police officer, and standing in line for 45 minutes, we waited an hour for the show to start. Once it started, it was clear it wasn’t the “circus” I had promised them, but my kids sat with their mouths open during the entire show, which was a long demonstration of all the new games.

Here is a little video I took…