Early morning misstep

So, after almost 10 months of blissful peace and quiet, DJC and I have new downstairs neighbors; a mother, a father, and two FUCKING OFF-THE-WALL kids. I didn't know kids could make so much noise. It's insane. From the moment they wake up at 7am each day (even on weekends) until the second their fat little bodies require rest at night, the yelling and stomping and door-slamming and thumping and more yelling is non-stop. When I spoke with the father about the ludicrous amount of noise, he simply looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and said, "I have kids". He made it pretty clear that he is completely uninterested in positive neighborly relations or in disciplining his wild, circus animals children. There are four people living below them and I can only imagine what all the stomping and shouting sounds like down there. It rattles the walls up here! They really do act like they're the only ones living here.

When they first moved in, it was a Wednesday, and I feared that, despite being 7 and 10 years old, the kids did not go to school at all. Mercifully, I saw them waddle down the front steps carrying bookbags on Friday morning. Sweet lord, they went to school. All day. The problem was that I was rudely awakened by their shouting and door slamming VERY early and couldn't go back to sleep. So, I camped out on the couch with my fave down blanket and the remote. I foolishly tuned in to the last 30 minutes of...wait for it...

...Celine Dion's Las Vegas extravaganza entitled "A New Day". This show ran from 2003 through 2007 and grossed over $390 million dollars. My question is this: WHY?! From what I saw in my sleepy 30 minute snapshot, it was nothing more than a mediocre concert hardly worthy of the gaggle of awards it received. Franco Dragone, the brains behind the breathtaking Cirque du Soliel show "O" also orchestrated Celine's show, and I have to ask, REALLY?! None of the magic and whimsy and sheer entertainment value of "O" was present in "A New Day". In fact, the most entertaining parts of the show came when the camera would cut to the audience, where people were standing and singing and clapping along, sometimes in French, sometimes with tears rolling down their faces. Again, REALLY? People actually listen to Celine Dion's "music"? Huh. Who knew!

The point here is that this show received many, many accolades, like "Best Headliner in Las Vegas" and "Best All-Around Performer", winning nine awards in all over its four year span. Maybe I would have felt differently about it if I had seen it live (for free, though...), but even the Cirque du Soleil shows that I've watched on TV blew me away. Am I missing something here?