OK, forgive me if I seem out of line, but why is Ted Neeley still playing Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar? The man is 66 years old.
Uh, ehm.
Isn't he a little old to play Jesus? By about 30ish years?
Surely there's someone else out there that can sing Gethsemane? Someone a little younger maybe?
I can't fault Ted's voice, its superb, or at least it was when I saw him in the part many years ago, but oye! I think its time to retire from that part. Give some younguns a shot at being Jesus!
Happy Tubesday, Wenches and Wenchabbes! Today I bring you a trio of PSA remembered fondly throughout my life. The first is one anyone who watched Saturday morning cartoons in the 80s will remember, Louie the Lightning Bug.
Next up is an iconic, much parodied PSA that I have on many a VHS tape from my childhood, the infamous crying Indian.
My final pick isn't the video so much as the jingle. We still have this in rotation at the local college radio station, and I play it every chance I get. If you ever need the poison control center, then I've got your back...
You know what's annoying me lately, besides the snow?
EVERYTHING!
I'm sick to death of people telling me what to like, what not to like and what not to bitch about.
As a wise friend of mine once said, "Fuqua!" and "Go Fuqua yourself and the horse you rode in on."
I'm sick of the world removing MSG from my soups, thus making them pretty damn tasteless. I should not have to add soup base to my Chickarina so that it tastes like chicken soup and not water. Watch Food Detective people, most people aren't allergic to MSG!
I'm sick of the world telling us where to smoke, and do you know what? I don't even smoke!
I'm sick of Hungry Girl who tells me if I want a Big Mac I shouldn't eat the snack wrap because it has 330 calories and I should instead make one myself with a meatless burger.
Yo, BITCH! If I was craving Boca, and I do sometimes, I wouldn't be craving a Mac. When I want a Mac, I want a Mac, and while I'm at it, don't tell me not to have the special sauce. Bitch! The sauce is what makes the Mac! Fuck you!
Eh hem.
My list of ravings could go on for hours, because frankly the whole universe is pissing me off, including a relative who likes Sarah Palin! How the fuck can you like and admire and want to vote for a skank that has to have her notes written on her hand like a fucking grade school kid trying to cheat on a spelling test.
As a few of you know, I do some freelance work for a PR company and I get a lot of music free, which is awesome. Every so often the one site I review for, offers up some mp3s and since they did so for the holiday, I thought I'd pass along a zip file of the love-themed tunes.
Artist: Various Artists Album:Happy Valentine's Day (144 MB) Genre: Adult Contemporary, Alternative, Contemporary Instrumental, Indie, Jazz, Neo-Classical, New Age, Pop, Rock Sounds Like: Smootchy Smootchy Tunes Buy: Melt Into You - Sara Haze Valentine - Vitamin-D Forever - Gabe Hizer Hearts Left Behind - Ann Sweeten The Way You Do - Farrad Destiny - Farrad Tamahana - Te Vaka Whisper - Megaphone Your Ways - Jeffrey Krantz My Funny Valentine - Debbie Cunningham What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life - Debbie Cunningham How Much I Love You - Debbie Cunningham Overjoyed - Debbie Cunningham (We Don't Have to) Live for the Weekend - The Salesmen She's So Punctual - The Salesmen Beauty of The Heart - Lee Abramson Cling To Me - Jennings Falling Higher - Jennings Romantic Issues - Strait Laces Awhile - Kindred Souls You Are Unlimited - Jimmy Philip Pillar When We're Old - Beautifully Mad With You I Can Be Me - Lisa Hugo Just Friends - Bone Gunn
A few of these artists should be familiar to you. I've either reviewed their full albums or did a spotlight on them in Artists to Watch. Here's a chance to sample them further. There are quite a few different types of music here. I hope you snag and enjoy!
Its funny how whenever JB is on, I'm called into the room. I have an odd fascination with this man. At times I love him. I love that he's totally out an not ashamed of it one iota. I love his campy nature and the general fact that I think he's method acting Jack Harkness, or that he's played Captain Jack so long that he's become Captain Jack and will in fact snog anything that moves.
Pardon me, while I try to get in this man's line of fire. Gay or not...if he wants to bestow some hugging or kissing on me, I would be the last one to complain. I mean, really, who would complain. He's John Barrowman and he's so gorgeous that its sickening.
But back to the story at hand. Last night on BBC America, JB was on the Jonathan Ross show. That in itself means something. He has something to promote. Sure he mentioned that he has a part on Desperate Housewives coming up in about a month and a half. Cos JB would get on American TV before David Tennant. Curse you John Barrowman! I miss my Doctor!!!
I digressed again.
What does our lovely John John have to sell to those in the UK?
A new album.
Oh yeah. He's singing again. At least they are songs from musicals for the most part and not pop songs, cos that hurts me. That's truly what I hate about him. I loved him to death until I heard him sing, but back to his new self titled album.
Here's the tracklisting:
When I Get My Name In Lights (from The Boy from Oz) One Night Only (from Dreamgirls) Copacabana (from Copacabana) I Won’t Send Roses (from Mack and Mabel) Memory (from Cats) The Kid Inside (from Is There Life After High School?) My Eyes Adored You (from Jersey Boys) Don't Cry Out Loud (from The Boy From Oz) So Close (from Enchanted) duet with Jodie Prenger Unusual Way (from Nine) You’ll Never Walk Alone (from Carousel) The Winner Takes It All (from Mamma Mia!) Oh What A Night (from Jersey Boys)
Yes, you see it, Copacabana is on there. When I watched the show last night and JB performed that I joked that it was the gayest song ever recorded sung by the gayest man on the planet. A perfect combination really and he sings it wonderfully. I just wish he wouldn't do the stuff from Jersey Boys. I guess I'm a purist..and he doesn't have a voice for Frankie Valli tunes.
Guess I'll be pre-ordering this expensive puppy soon. Cos I'm a glutton for punishment.
God bless the internet. Really. Because since my last Twitter post, I have stumbled upon so many more ridiculous, silly, & entertaining Twitter accounts it's not even funny. Thank you, internet nerds, for doing this. Really. You astound me. And for the record, I've been snowed in a dorm room for three days. I'm just saying.
sayidjarrah: That's right, Lost fans. Sayid has a Twitter. It's not official, but it's pretty entertaining. Especially since on premier night it said, "No plans for tonight...yet." Think about what Sayid was doing for most of that two hours. Yep.
Edgar_Allan_Poe: Awesome as it would be to have the man himself Tweeting from the grave, that's not the case (or is it?). Equal parts macabre, literary humor, & plain dark humor.
DailySedaris: Not David Seadris himself, but a daily quote from one of his books.
Dr. Drew: I love Dr. Drew. He Tweets about basically everything, from his numerous projects to inspirational quotes to daily life. He crams as much as he possibly can in 140 characters.
Brace yourselves, Star Wars nerds.
Luke Skywalker: Brilliant. Updates are infrequent, but when they happen, they're gems.
I'm pretty young & there are lots of good books in the world so I've got lots of catching up to do. I was a little kid when this came out, & when Morrie himself was actually making the news. I have vague memories of when the movie came out, but that's about it. But hey, what good would books be if we couldn't come to them years after the fact? Good stories keep making the rounds.
When my grandmother died in September, my cousin & I were the first to go for her bookshelf. I took this, & The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Clearly, good choices for the mourning.
I at least had the sense to wait a few months before reading it. Otherwise, the parts about death, the afterlife, etc. might've made me bawl like a baby. They would've been comforting, sure, but extremely tear-inducing. Instead, I only cried a little. I'm not sure exactly what this means in terms of the sadness factor, though, because I have some pretty embarrassing stories about movies that have made me cry that no one but my roommate, who thinks I'm insane & knows me too well anyway, needs to know about.
It's not too long. It's not too complex. But it is pretty moving. It's one of those books I feel like everyone should pick up & read, because there's a lot to be gained from it. Especially now, in 2010, because even though it came out in 1997 everything is still relevant. It could've been published yesterday, save a few references to goings-on at the time. Lots of talk about life & the skewed priorities we humans often have.
I recently obtained a copy of the soundtrack for the new chick flick, Valentine's Day. I was really intrigued by some of the songs on the album. Some where very good and others were creepy.
I'm sorry, Amy Wine "O" house's cover of Cupid, hurts my ears. I'm a Motown purist and what she did to that song would have Sam Cooke rolling over in his grave and it would offend The Spinners too.
But lets not discuss the bad and ugly, let's talk about one really strangely awesome cover on the album. The Bird and The Bee covered the Herman's Hermits classic I'm Into Something Good.
I have a love and hate relationship with cover songs, as many of you know, but this one really made me smile. You can listen to it @ YouTube. I think Peter Noone would be suitably impressed.
I was intrigued when District 9 first came out, but like most movies, I never got the chance to actually go see it. This one was tackled one lazy weekend home from college when my dad rented a bunch of movies, & my brother kept talking about how much he loved it & how much he thought I'd like it.
It's one for the sci-fi fans, for sure.
It's set up like a documentary, which seems to be a growing trend. But I think District 9 really nailed this one, because it's quite convincing & has the advantage of putting you right in the middle of the action, & there's quite a bit of that. It kind of loses some of the documentary feel around the middle to the end of the movie, but that's because it shifts more to Wikus' point of view.
Set & filmed in South Africa, the movie is centered around aliens who just kind of show up one day, & government agencies & organizations are set up to accommodate them. District 9 is sort of housing for them, & it's basically a slum. Wikus works for one of the organizations & is sent out one day to convince the aliens to relocate to what is later described by Wikus as a concentration camp. And with that, the movie also becomes a sort of social & political commentary. Funny how sci fi seems to do that so well. Anyway, things get a bit chaotic. Overall, it wasn't quite what I was expecting, but I can't say much else about that without completely ruining the rest of the movie.
But here's what I can say.
Sharlto Copley, who plays Wikus, is seriously freakin' amazing. For starters, his accent is awesome. Beyond that, he's a seriously unbelievable actor, & this was the first movie he'd ever been in, which is completely ridiculous because seriously, I can't say it enough, he blew me away. His character goes through such a range of things & he has to do so much, & Sharlto as an actor pulls it off amazingly. I'm not afraid to go out there & say that this movie wouldn't be as strong as it is without him. Whenever I talk about this movie, I always, without fail, bring up Sharlto.
It's also pretty impressive visually. Every single thing looks real. I believe they tried to use little CGI, but regardless, it never feels like you're watching tons of ridiculous CGI. And where make-up is used, it's also incredibly good. I'm always amazed by the things people can do with prosthetics & some make-up.
It's also pretty action-packed. Plenty of things blowing up, & plenty of graphic violence.
I really liked it, & I definitely highly recommend it. However, try to kind of forget everything you expect from it in the previews, because they don't do it much justice & do little in terms of setting up what actually happens. Expectations might screw this one up. Just jump right into it & enjoy.
And when you have, or if you've already seen it, be sure to check out www.fookinprawns.net. It's full of just little sound clips from the movie, which is awesome because 1) some of them, especially out of the context of the movie, are surprisingly hilarious & 2) Sharlto's bitchin' accent! I could listen to him talk for days. I'm not even kidding.
First of all, let me be the first to tell you that I hate how release dates are different for music depending on the country. My thoughts are, if you are internationally known the release date should be the same, give or take a day, not weeks or months different.
Why is Mimo upsetting me?
Who the fuck is Mimo?
Mimo is Andy Bell.
Yes, Andy Bell of Erasure, my favorite gay boy of all time. He's also the gay boy with the best voice. (Sorry Mr. Barrowman, Andy trumps you every time) Andy wanted to put out some music under a pseudonym, so as not to get the "its Erasure without Vince" thing thrown at him again. However, one listen, and you know its Andy. His voice is that distinctive. So whatever, Mr. Bell. And after further reading there's an artist using that name already...so when the full length album comes out later this year, it will be as Andy Bell. Tres confusing, yes?
But back to my rant, Mimo has a new single out today in the UK.
When can we expect to get the single in the US.
MARCH!
I'm going to be sulking now until I can find a copy of the EP, which may be until March.
Molly reviewed this film awhile back, but I finally got to see it last night, so I'm chiming in with my 2 cents. OK, maybe 10 cents.
I liked the film. It was cute and terrifying in some parts. It definitely left me thinking. The book, only contained 388 words. That's not even one type written page in Microsoft Works or Word. So crafting a movie out of that had to take some effort and talent, regardless of what those original 388 words led too.
I haven't read the book since I was a child. So I'm taking the film as I saw it. It was enjoyable. It wasn't life changing or particularly profound, but it was good. It definitely would be worth the price of theater admission or the price of a DVD.
The wild things reminded me a bit of The Banana Splits characters meeting HR Puff n Stuff. They were all endearing, including the boy Max, who definitely needed some help. The boy had some anger management issues, that's for sure. I'm thinking that Carol was the embodiment of him as a monster aka Wild Thing, when he ended up Where The Wild Things Are.
The movie is confusing though. You never quite understand where the wild things actually are or how he conveniently got there and back home. And the whole thing with his mom and we assume her boyfriend that went unresolved leaves me with questions.
So yeah, it could have been better. It could have even made sense. It was still entertaining and the Wild Things, even when they were being creepy and violent were cute. There are definitely worse things I could have watched on a cold snowed in Saturday night.
There's a time I dread every year, a time of great trepidation in Internetland: the roll out of this year's Facebook redesign. And unlike the 5 billion groups that pop up two days later, I don't hate the new designs. No, what I hate is constantly hearing how much everyone else hates it.
I get an average of two group/fanpage invites a day the first two weeks of the new Facebook roll out to the effect of "Thousands of children are homeless in Haiti, but the new Facebook is the worst tragedy of the year." And I promptly delete them. Why? Because - gasp! - usually I like the Facebook redesigns. When I don't, I suck it the fuck up and get used to it.
The thing I hate the most is the barrage of status updates bitching about the redesign. Most of these are folks under the age of 25 going "Waaaa I can't find ANYTHING!" The reason I hate this so much is because these are the exact same folks that say, "OMG, old people (read: anyone older than them, median age of old = 23+ I wish I were joking) don't know NEthing about the internet! LOL!"
Hey, bitching people! Pot calling the kettle black much? The first day your Facebook profile updates to the new design, they have a fucking tutorial that tells you exactly where everything moved or changed. Most of the changes are cosmetic and don't have a huge impact on your user experience, too. So either clam the fuck up or have a little sympathy when someone older than you (usually your parents, but also reserved for the nameless faceless Olde People) doesn't immediately know how to upload photos on their computer or use Twitter.
Caveat: This is mostly reserved for youngins and mombies who live on Facebook. If you have a for really realz job or actual grownup responsibilities, you get a free pass because, God forbid, you don't log onto Facebook every 12 seconds.
PS Rant-within-a-rant: Hey, same group of people that clogs up my newsfeed with this bullshit? STOP MAKING ME FEEL OLD. Seriously, one of you saw the Phantom Menace when you were in SECOND GRADE. There is a very appropriate Garth Brooks song title I could wax poetic about if I didn't want to stab everyone of you in the eye socket right now.
Today was a comfort food day. I think it had something to do with a huge snowstorm that's turning most of PA, MD and VA into a winter wonderland. I'm not much of a cook but I'm getting there, slowly but surely.
This recipe was quick and easy and for those of you that don't eat meat, those Morningstar/Boca crumbles are a fitting substitute.
Here's the recipe:
INGREDIENTS 1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef 1 small onion, chopped (about 1/3 cup) 1 cup barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays Honey BBQ) 1 can (15 oz) spicy chili beans, undrained. (Mine came from Aldi) 12 sandwich buns, split 3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (3 oz) DIRECTIONS 1. In 10-inch nonstick skillet, cook beef and onion over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is thoroughly cooked; drain. 2. Stir in barbecue sauce and chili beans. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; simmer uncovered 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened. 3. Spoon mixture onto bottoms of buns; sprinkle with cheese. Top with tops of buns.
When I lived with my mom, she loved to scour the discount DVD bins at local grocery stores and buy movies based on interesting covers. This is how as a wee teenager I discovered the delightfully weird clusterfuck that is Nothing But Trouble. I don't think I could come up with a better summary than my husband, who said that it was "a cross between Cars and the Rocky Horror Picture Show." But here's a shot, at least.
Chevy Chase is some kind of smarmy financial writer, and Demi Moore is a lawyer. Because Demi Moore is hot, she talks Chevy Chase into driving her to Atlantic City along with two of his clients he dubs the Brazilianaires. All this back story is mostly a MacGuffin and doesn't matter too much to the plot, except that it's fun to say Brazilianaires.
A speeding ticket lands them in the Night Court of the Damned, as an ancient, sadistic Dan Akroyd makes them hot dogs before trying to kill them on a roller coaster that player the Damned Yankees. Then things get weird. Bonus points for an impromptu Digital Underground concert.
I suppose it's hard for me to objectively review this one, because it's a movie I've seen several times and love to pieces. It's dark, it's both consciously and inadvertently funny, its set design is mind-fuggling, and it's one of two movies based on Centralia, PA. Plus Demi Moore is oddly hot in her... hot pants business jumpsuit? (Yeah, you come up with a better description. Here's a picture.)
If you want a different opinion, check out Rotten Tomatoes, where the flick averages 11%. About the only ungushy thing I can say is that you can definitely tell at times that Dan Akroyd wrote the movie, particularly with the awkward pacing that some of the actors use. But mostly, I can just echo the sentiments of an IMDB forum member who said, "Someday when I'm rich, I'm going to have a pickle-shooting condiment train."
Trust me, you won't know what you're watching. Even with repeat viewings, you'll never know what the hell is going on. But at the very least, you can walk away saying you saw Tupac's film debut.
There's a reason I'm called "The Space Cadet." I've pretty much dropped off the planet recently. I didn't mean to, HONEST. I can give you a laundry list of excuses: it's the busy season at work, it was my birthday and the holidays, I drove across the country, almost got arrested at 4am in Arkansas (awesome!) but you don't want to hear it.
I'm sorry, ladies, I really am.
But things have changed lately. I've stopped giving all my attention to the boy who doesn't deserve it, I've stopped caring about my job (and applied for a better one! wish me luck!), and I'm trying to be less of an asshole.
I scanned through the posts to make sure the things I want to write about haven't been covered already (Lady Gaga? Community? LOST?!) I'm beyond amazed that Andrea didn't write about the Doctor Who holiday specials (I already hate Matt Smith, does that make me a bad person?)
I'm psyched Janelle wrote a post about who to follow on Twitter. I need more interesting people. Can I add Roger Ebert to the list? The man is a great writer, and a great critic, and also f'ing hilarious. Ever since he lost his actual voice, his online voice has been crazier and genius. I love his tweets.
Anyway, I'm not making GRAND promises, because, after all, I am the Space Cadet, but I'm going to try to not forget I promised to post here.
I watch several shows on BBC America. Shows that apparently hair between 8-10 in the UK and one thing that's always baffled me, is how America, the land of the free, yada yada yada, gets all up in arms over a naked tit, a swear word, homosexuality displays and yet in Britain, you can say Fuck, bare your bottom and a myriad of other things and there's no huge fines levied on people or people up in arms.
Why is this?
I watched The Inbetweeners last night, a show I find hilarious in its total "realness" and half of the dialogue was bleeped. Basically cos teenage boys swear a lot.
Do ya think?
You can't drop the f-bomb in prime time. Nope, not even on cable.
Think of the children! (As if mommy's little preciouses haven't heard "fuck" on the school bus a bazillion times)
Oh and on Being Human, when George and now his girlfriend change into werewolves, you see some pretty shapely bums in the process. That sort of nudity can only be shown in the 10 o'clock hour here in the US, cos all the little kiddies are in bed then.
WTF!
Seriously! WTF!
I know this is a regular gripe of mine, but the more European TV I watch, the more I just wonder how long we can live with our heads up our asses without suffocating!
Vulgar/swear words have obviously not turned everyone in Europe into a bunch of potty mouthed anarchists (maybe a few of them..but I'd say that was the same here). I'm also sure that nudity hasn't harmed anyone either, nor has any public displays of homosexuality. (Can I say, TORCHFUCKINGWOOD).
I want to bring to your attention a funny show you have on your network that you seem determined to kill, Better Off Ted. The entire cast is funny, and the scripts have been wonderful too, and yet you stick it in a time slot where it will be doomed to failure, after Scrubs.
Pardon me if I remind you that no one watches Scrubs. They might have 8 seasons ago, but they don't now, and sticking this funny show right after it, isn't going to do it any favors.
It would be a great fit for the Wednesday night comedy night, but for one thing, it doesn't fit in with the "family show" theme that The Middle, Modern Family and even Cougar Town bring to that night. Sadly its a more family friendly show than Cougar Town and deserves a slot in the 8 o'clock hour. I'm sure more people would come to love Veronica, Ted, Linda, Lem and Phil so much more if this show was in a better time slot.
Couldn't you try it at 8 o'clock on Wednesday rather than rehashing episodes of Modern Family.
I will devour anything that has this man's name on it, because he's hilarious, a good guy, & I'm hopelessly in love with him. This documentary shows a whole other side to him.
Yeah, it's funny. Eddie Izzard is in it, of course it's funny. But it's also surprisingly moving, & in a few ways, inspiring. You see Eddie in a way you never have before. We're used to him being funny, talkative, & lively, but here you all that plus a more quiet, reflective, insecure, and even emotional side to him. And it's nice to see, but also a little heartbreaking. We see Eddie Izzard actually in tears. Hard to picture, isn't it?
It's a very honest documentary. Suddenly, Eddie Izzard is so much more than just a devastatingly funny guy who occasionally cross-dresses. Personally, I found myself able to relate to him in some parts, & it made me love him all the more.
It's not full of sadness, though - just snippets. But it is full of other interviews, not just Eddie. Friends, his dad, etc. Plus vintage home movies, clips of his very early street performing days, & home movies & baby pictures! Who doesn't love that? And he was the cutest little kid ever. Seriously.
This is definitely one the fans want to check out. And the great news is, you can do so on the internet for free! Legally! Thank Eddie himself for Tweeting this. Go to www.epixhd.com/invite to get yourself an invite code, & watch it. And while you're at it the code gives you free access to the site for about four days, so take advantage of it & stream as many movies as your heart desires. If you're in the mood for more Izzard, they have the new-ish Live in Wembley show up there, too.
And if you're not familiar with Eddie's stand-up, get off the internet & go watch it because it will not disappoint.
And for the record, if you get the chance, go see the man live. True story: I saw him in Pittsburgh, & laughed so hard I cried. Then the next day someone referenced one of the jokes & I went into hysterics.
Happy Tubesday! This week's theme is the ever ambiguous "weird stuff." First up, a video that combines three of my favorite things: birds, installment art, and Rock & Roll. Check out the zebra finch at 0:40, who's either trying to make a nest or a whammy bar.
Next up may be the creepiest children's show I've seen. And I scour the internet specifically for awful children's shows. Between the bad production values, the Rasta Rooster, and the super awkward host, this amounts to one heap of weird.
Our last video turns up on the endangered species list of dark yet funny SNL sketches. John Hamm of Mad Men and Michael Buble make a commercial for a pork and champagne restaurant called Hamm & Buble. Then things get weird. Never knew that Michael Buble was such a funny dude.
Everyone here knows I'm not into teen TV. Sorry there's no Vampire Diaries for me, or Gossip Girl (though I do like the books). I wasn't even keen on Skins when it aired on BBC America, and I like most things from the UK.
The Inbetweeners has changed my mind about this kind of programing. One plus is its geared more towards teenage boys than girls, and for some reason that makes the show much more appealing to me.
Its 4 16 year old boys in public school trying to make it through sixth form. Click the link to try to sort out the educational system in the UK.
It basically shows the life of the typical not so popular teenage boys trying to make their way through life, trying to acquire booze and chicks all the while they're screwing up.
Unlike Skins, The Inbetweeners is not quite so serious and more funny. My mother was laughing hysterically through it.
If you are looking for a laugh out loud funny show about teenagers and how life is often very fucked up at that time of your life, this is the show to watch. Oh and since its a UK show, there's plenty of profanity too.
Well, the guys at Apple sure have helped all the comedians in the country out with there nifty new computer.
There are so many tampon and maxi-pad jokes going around that its getting old and the product was just unveiled, what? 2 days ago.
Yes, I pad makes sense, since it looks like one and iClipboard really doesn't sound all that crazy and hip, but really, is it something we really need?
Its a combination of the iPhone/iTouch devices and a bit of a rip off on the Kindle from Amazon.
The price is definitely right at $499. I'd definitely prefer that to a laptop or the Kindle, but I want to know how well it will connect to my DSL in my house. I'm certainly not paying AT & T for a plan. No thank you.
Plus what makes it better than a laptop or a tiny notebook?
I haven't seen any signs that its all that exciting overall compared to what's out there. Its just another not so cool named product Apple wants to sell to the 20-30 somethings so that they can feel important.
PLACE half of the banana slices on bottom of crust. Set remaining banana slices aside.
POUR milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Gently stir in 1 cup of the whipped topping. Spoon half of the pudding mixture into crust. Top with remaining banana slices; cover with remaining pudding mixture.
REFRIGERATE 3 hours or until set. Serve topped with the remaining 1 cup whipped topping. Store leftover pie in refrigerator.
I never realized how easy banana cream pie was until I found this recipe to make at the last minute for our Christmas dessert. The hardest part is waiting the three hours for it to set! I don't know if this is a "traditional" recipe, but even if it's not, it's damn good. Here is the link: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/kf/recipes/easy-banana-cream-pie-51072.aspx?cm_re=1-_-1-_-RecipeAlsoEnjoy&pf=true
What happens when one of the Republican Parties wingnutty-est members' daughter decides she's going to remain celibate until marriage, after she has a baby out of wedlock?
I'm pretty sure its chaos and craziness and a touch of too little too late.
I mean this smacks of cheesy PR that will lead up to the new reality show that will obviously air on FOX since that's the crapass network that Mommy works for.
Oye-fucking-vey!
Pardon my language, but who hasn't laughed at this yet?
And what's more, who can really take seriously Sarah Palin let alone her daughter?
I shudder at the thought that she could have been a heartbeat away from the presidency. The woman can't handle her own kids let alone the nation or for that matter the state of Alaska.
But back to Bristol.
Why bother taking the celibacy vow now? You already have a baby. I'd say, if you're lucky enough to find a guy that wants to get busy with you go for it. Just use birth control this time you ditzy twit!
But then again, we all know that children are often the best form of birth control out there, so maybe she just wanted to use the celibacy thing as her excuse for not getting any.
The mind boggles at the idiocy this family comes up with.
Dear fellow lovers of live music: LiveNation & TicketMaster have officially merged.
Now, who knows what the full extent of this means, really? Other than the biggest damn ticketing company the planet has ever seen, or eve will see. Some speculate this means even higher convenience charges, but that remains to be seen. Especially since I swear I just read a Rolling Stone article not too long ago where one of the higher-ups at Ticketmaster swore he wanted to lower the conveniences charges. Granted, some if the fault of the venue - for example, Pittsburgh's Post-Gazette Pavilion charges a parking fee (I believe $17) PER TICKET for a lot that's essentially some gravel, port-o-potties, towers, & garbage cans. Granted, by the end of the night it's littered with beer cans & drunk dude pee, but still.
We could all go on for days about the injustice that is convenience charges, but I'll stick to the merger.
They don't technically have a monopoly on concert tickets, but you'll be hard-pressed to find an alternative that doesn't involve tickets way over face value, scalpers, & questionable legality. There are a few companies that have popped up lately, but mainly they serve tiny bands or local music. For the big arena acts, we're stuck with this nonsense. God bless the few venues left that sell their own tickets. Going back to Pittsburgh, just about all of the theater events tickets have to be purchased through the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. When I saw Eddie Izzard do stand up a few years ago, the Pittsburgh date was among the few not listed on Ticketmaster's website, because, thankfully, Pittsburgh's Benedum Center wasn't selling them through there. I'd bet that this method decreases the amount of scalping, too, but that's a discussion for another day.
We'll see where this goes. Probably nowhere good.
In the meantime, one of the ticketing alternatives out there is ticketweb.com. It's pretty small & doesn't cover all tour dates for all artists, but they do what they can. For example, they're selling tickets for one of AFI's tour dates, but that's it. But they are cheaper, & I've had nothing but good experiences with them. As in, I don't yell at my computer screen about stupid charges.
Well when the song in that 30 second spot lodges itself in that persons head, and only takes a mention of the artist or the commercial for it to come storming back into that poor individuals brain, well then that 30 second spot can be a killer.
What commercial is killing me?
Have you seen the T-Mobile commercial for the new Ltd. Edition Fender phone featuring, guitar legend, Eric Clapton?
Well if you haven't, watch now:
Now if you don't mind, I need to figure out how to get Rock N' Roll Heart out of my head!
Before I get started: a) I am, in many ways, behind the times, b) given the Jersey Shore angst here (which is completely justified), we need to watch stuff that's, you know, good. Or with this one, you can read it. Or both.
So, Bleak House. First, it was a Charles Dickens novel, then in 2005 the BBC made it into a mini-series, featuring Gillian Anderson of X-Files fame. And on that subject, Gillian shows her skills in this, trust me. Anyway, for some reason, I decided it would be neat to read the book (which is just shy of 900 pages long) & watch the series at the same time. It's going well, aside from being a pretty long process so far. But it's been worth it, because it's classic literature, great storytelling, & especially in video form, very compelling & engaging.
Death, betrayal, romance, scandal, lies, shame, guilt, secrets, murder, blackmail, dickhead lawyers, the failures of the legal system in general, human experience, violence, sickness, financial ruin, the rich, the poor. It's all here, & that's not even everything. It's tough to concisely explain the plot in a way that makes it sound interesting but also doesn't give anything away. That's what the IMDB page is for. Oh, I forgot to mention the spontaneous combustion. Yep. Dickens got in a little bit of trouble for that one.
The book is worth trying if you have the time & patience for 19th century writing. And if not, the mini-series is one of the closest adaptations of a novel I've ever seen. The only real changes condense the story & move things along faster because really, how much time would it take to get every detail of a book this long perfect? Which is also why mini-series format works really well.
Back from the dead, it's TUBESDAY TOP THREE! I realized yesterday whilest on the 'Tube that I hadn't posted one of these since early November. So to get back in the swing of things, here are three random music videos that I dig.
No I'm not weighing in on the Conan/Leno debacle. They can all go to hell in a handbasket with their talentless asses wrapped in a butaine blanket for all I care. Seriously, this is not a national issue. This is further proof that businesses from banks to networks are run by morons. Oh and as a viewing public we are morons.
What brought this on? Besides hearing more than I can stand about Coconumnutshead and Chin the Great and Powerful?
The cast of Jersey Shore and the fact that a bazillion people watch this. Cos the cast are fighting to get $10,000 an episode now. (BTW they get that for certain PR things they do already) Seriously, dudes and dudettes, you don't deserve a penny.
WTF! JUST SERIOUSLY WTF!!!!
Let's give these absolute dunderheads lots of money so they can behave badly.
OMG FUCK NO!
The fact that people watch this shit is proof that as a society we're sinking to levels of intelligence so low that cave men look like Einstein. I will make apologies to all the cave men that I insulted by that.
In the 80s when my parents said that we shouldn't watch Mtv because it would rot our brains, I scoffed at them. As I see what the network is becoming and what people are watching, I have a feeling they knew more than I thought they did at the time.
This show is why we should be fearful for the planet, not global warming. This is far worse, its GLOBAL STUPIDITY!
And what else proves this: Jon and Kate Plus 8 and the fact that people really cared about that clusterfuck of a marriage, The Kardasheins or however the fuck you spell that name and all the other fucked up pathetic reality shows that disguise themselves as entertainment so the networks can save money.
Tune in tomorrow when I ponder Bristol Palin's vow of celibacy.
I haven't really gotten too much into CoCoGate on here, mainly because the internet already has plenty of commentary on it. I think that it was a dick move, and that if ratings were the issue, NBC should have shit-canned both shows instead of turning it into a giant pop culture pissing contest. But mostly I think it just shows what a colossal waste the Nielsen ratings really are. (this is what I did my senior graduation paper so nerdom ahoy!)
The Nielsen ratings really worked well when entire households sat down and watched the same thing on their one television on one of 13 UHF channels. When households had more than one set watched by more than one person and a little thing called cable in the 70s, it started making the numbers less reliable. When people don't even watch television at its regular time, cable has made the FCC basically obsolete, and most people in the Cream-Yer-Pants demographic watch most television through legal, illegal, and quasi-legal means through their computers... Well, you see where I'm going. When I did my paper way back in the Year Of Our Lord 2007, DVR recordings weren't even counted. So I'm surprised the Neilsen company adopted it so fast.... a decade after the technology came out. (and they only count it if the playback was within three days of the recording! Yikes! There's stuff on my DVR from September!)
*jumps off the high horse* So, Conan. Eh, I watched about every ep of the Tonight show, even though it was usually at dinner the next day. I guess I have the right to be mad (the "you can't bitch if you don't vote" argument), but in the end, I can't cover the streets in blood over pop culture. I think most of these grandiose Internets plans to boycott NBC are pretty naive. Here's your list of things to boycott - hope you kids won't miss Battlestar Galactica. Or, um, electricity. And for all you putting such high hopes of Fox, remember that it likes to kill good shows in their first season.
Mostly, though, I'm just kind of... proud? As my husband and I sat around for our 2nd annual "Conan leaves a show" night, I just couldn't imagine having my dream job yanked out from under me. But in a way, it's a little comforting. Somehow it made me feel a little less bad about being "not laid off per say from my first real job last year. And his speech toward the end, urging all the internet youngins to not be cynical, kind of made my heart swell.
So I'm eagerly awaiting his next show. And I guess NBC either needs to get its ass in gear or hope every advertising firm in America likes Chuck.
My favorite speccy comedian was at The Improv and I have to say, he didn't let me down at all. (Even though there was no chance @ meeting him this time though because there was a second show).
There were two opening comedians and oddly both local comics were really hilarious. But I'm not hear to extol their virtues, especially as I don't even remember their names.
I'm hear to talk about Greg Proops, the Proopdoggie Dog. The Ocelot King! The well suited man who had white and lavender argyle socks on last night.
Yes, I was in the front row, so I could see his socks. I could also see his well rounded tushie every time he shook it, and for those of you that are familiar with Greg and his stand-up, he shakes this tushie quite a bit.
Le sigh!
His routine focuses on all sorts of things from politics, to music, to Christmas, with a smattering of anything else in between. His take on the Olsen twins is particularly spot on.
I was also quite amused by his take on Hillary and Bill Clinton. Remember Bill Clinton? He was president when peace and prosperity broke out! There was quite a bit of applause for that.
Even his jabs at all things Pittsburgh, from the cold, which it really wasn't, at least for Pittsburgh standards last night, to the amount of cheese on salads here. Uh Greggie, behold the power of cheese, was not left without a comment. See Greg is the master of snark. He's also the kind of comedian that can heckle his own audience.
In Soviet Russia, comedian heckles you!
I don't think I've ever laughed so hard, or at least not for a very long while.
Oh and if you get to the Improv I recommend the Espresso Martini and the Thin Mint coffee drinks. Both will leave you warm fuzzy and very open to comedy, good or bad. Greg was neither, btw, he was fan-fucking-tastic
Whatever Happend To Advanced Notifications Of Ticket Sales
I'm going to the Improv tonight to see my favorite comedian, Greg Proops. Yes, there will be commentary here tomorrow.
But I have a gripe. A huge one.
I used to get email updates from the Improv.
I've been to the Stacks @ The Waterfront many times. I saw Brad Sherwood there many years ago as well as Jeff Dunham before his career kicked into high gear.
And I knew all about these because of emails from the Improv.
I found out about Greg logging into my Facebook page and seeing a comment from Greg about Pittsburgh, which prompted me to say, OMGWTFBBQ.
At least I got the tickets.
But still, there were a few hours yesterday when I was in a panic, cos The Proopdog is my man!
I bought this book ages ago and ever so often I pull it out to see if I've been to any of the places in the book. Considering I've only been as far north as Toronto and as far east as Atlantic City and as far west as Cincinnati and as far south..as...well Fairmont, WV, you'll see I've not covered much ground here.
However I have hit quite a few spots in PA. For one I've been to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA many times.
But it got me thinking what about some places in my state that are fabulous that I haven't been to. Surely there are many. PA is pretty big state and there's a lot to be seen here. So I started to poke around some travel websites for PA.
Well I have found one place I must go, that's not in the book, but is definitely on my list, The Bayernhof Museum. Click the link and you'll see why. Neat isn't it?
Today (or rather yesterday, since I'm doing this at 3 AM...) marked the 201st birthday of Edgar Allan Poe & the anniversary of a long-standing tradition at Poe's grave - the laying of three roses and a bottle of cognac. Except this year, the mystery person who lays them every year didn't show.
The possibilities as to why the "Poe toaster" didn't come this year are endless - sickness, death, or the possibility that since last year was his 200th birthday, the toaster decided it was a good year to stop. Not willing to let Poe rest on his birthday without his roses and cognac, someone did put them out later in the day, but people who'd been waiting at the site to see the real toaster in action early this morning were disappointed.
And some am I.
Ever since my dad told me about this when I was in high school, it's stuck with me & I've been fascinated by it. In my mind, is the coolest & yet most bizarre of traditions. It's a great way to honor Poe's memory & yet no one knows who actually does this or how it got started. It's been done every year since at least 1949. Frankly, I hope that when I die - especially if I end up being a successful writer - people love me enough to leave nice things at my grave some 160 years after I've died. With press coverage.
Kind of dark and macabre with just a hint of romance. Poe, I'm sure, would love it.
You can't be a self-respecting horror fan without reading a little Poe. The stories are old so the writing's kind of dated & tough, but worth working on. Especially for classics like "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Fall of the House of Usher," & one of my personal favorites, "The Masque of the Red Death." Not to mention "The Raven" is probably one of my favorite poems ever. And the Halloween episode of Castle where he dressed as Poe & carried around that raven was one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
I'm a book junkie. I'll be the first to admit it. I love books. I'll read just about anything if it strikes my fancy. Sci-fi, romance, biographies, the classics. If the plot suits me, I'll read it.
Which is why I really need a Kindle, even though every fiber of my being balks at having a gizmo for reading. Its essentially paying to read stuff that you'd be paying for.
Eh!
But look at the latest Kindle.
Its thin and its about the size of a trade paperback! Oh and depending on the model you get the Kindle can hold 1500 to 3500 books.
All in one little device!
If only I could get past my need to hold a book in my hands and turn the pages. This would be the more eco-friendly way to read.
Somehow I know that though I'm fascinated by the device, it will be a long while before I allow myself to buy one.
A Serious Man is certainly a fitting title for this movie. While there are plenty of awkward laughs and honest laughs, it's definitely not a feel-good popcorn flick. It takes a lot of imagery from the Book of Job, which should give you a hint about the vibe of the movie. And if you think that's a hard enough read, try seeing it on screen with the Coen Bro's brooding, creepy filmmaking flair.
The flick is set in the 60s and revolves around the life of Larry Gopnik. Almost simultaneously, his wife decided to leave him for a friend and an upset student threatens to mess up his upcoming tenure hearing. Meanwhile, his son is trying to outrun the school bully/pot dealer while studying for his Bar Mitzvah. Larry tries to find solace in friends, rabbis, and lawyers, who can't give him the answers he's looking for. As this goes on, he's taking care of his off-kilter brother, who's trying to figure out a mathematical algorithm to unlock the universe. Then things sort of go downhill from there.
Make no mistake, A Serious Man is a serious Coen Brothers movie. If you're expecting kookiness like the Big Lebowski then look elsewhere. The movie has a lot more in common emotionally with Barton Fink and thematically with No Country for Old Men. Like both of those movies (and the lighter O Brother, Where Art Thou), they really set the mood of the era with little details like background props and big ones like the coloration of the film.
The thing I loved most about this film (and all of the Coen's) is the symbolism. Both Larry and his brother were driven crazy by their search for The Big Answer. In a similar vein, it seemed like all the characters that Larry went to for advice were surrounded by stacks of books yet knew nothing. They utilize one of my favorite filmmaking hat tricks, the “pop song as overarching message,” by playing Jefferson Airplane's “Somebody to Love” throughout the film. And this is just a smidgeon. To really dissect the movie would require more than one sitting.
I can't say definitively (because, uh, it's January) but I have a feeling this is going to be at the top of my movie list this year. As much as I love the silly Coen Bros, their serious movies are a magical gut punch that get me thinking for days. That's the caveat with A Serious Man: if you like movies that almost torment your brain as you try to unlock them, then definitely give this a go. If those movies don't interest you or piss you off (especially the latter) then take a big pass on it.
Final verdict: 8/10 (will probably grow with repeat viewings)
Hello, my name is Molly, and I am an awards show junkie. Since I've been sick this week and am still working on forming coherent paragraphs, here are some snippets of thoughts I had during this year's Golden Globes.
How the hell is Sherlock Holmes a "Comedy and/or Musical"?!?
Sandra Bullock for Blindside winning over Precious just seems wrong.
Is it just me, or was Ricky Gervais a lot less caustic than he should've been? Did NBC reign him in after his recent Conan appearance?
Shocked but happy that Inglorious Bastards took one home.
Fuuuuuck I wish either Chloë Sevigny hadn't been in an HBO series or that I hadn't watched Brown Bunny.
Seeing John Lithgow means I'm going to devote a column to Ricochet in the near future.
Anyone have any more gracefully worded observations to add?
I realize this is late in coming but I finally got around to watching Nan's Christmas Carol, and I have one thing to say about it, IT'S FUCKING AWESOME!
Now first allow me to say, of all the characters Catherine Tate does on her show, Nan is the one I like the least. For the most part the potty mouthed granny gets on my nerves, so why do I like this special so much?
Well, it's got David Tennant as the Ghost Of Christmas Present for one, but the main reason, is its just totally funny. Nan is simply Nan throughout the whole thing, even when she's reforming at the end, she's Nan! She doesn't try to get serious even when faced with the opinions of people during her visit to Christmas Future.
The fun and funny in this special is Catherine Tate and her ability to really play so many different characters and as you see Nan grow up you really appreciate her abilities. Oh and props go to the little girl that played the young Joanie that got to spout off the F-bomb in the special.
This was by far one of the funniest specials I've seen in a very long time. Oh and David Tennant looks hot in skinny jeans!
Not that I want to get too terribly serious, but...
As we all know, a huge earthquake hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Quite simply put, the city is a complete mess right now, & it's not like Haiti always has an easy time of things as it is.
Haiti is something I'm drawn to. In my high school French class, we got involved with a young priest named Fr. Antoine & who would come once a year to speak to our class, completely in French. Our (tiny) class took it upon ourselves to start fundraising events in the school on several occasions, with the money mainly going to help fund schools. And now, just because we're in America doesn't mean there's nothing we can do.
I may be pretty broke at the moment, but as seen as I even get $10 together I plan to donate. In high school, when Fr. Antoine came back with pictures of the school our money helped, I became aware of how even a little bit of money in Haiti can go a long way. So, here is a relatively large list of organizations taking donations.
There's also a blog mentioning kids in orphanages & the huge problems this has made for them. If you're interested, it's worth the read.
You can also text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts.
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened 1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained 1-1/4 cups KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese, divided 6 Tbsp. KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided 6 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1-1/2 lb.), pounded to 1/4-inch thickness 1 egg 10 RITZ Crackers, crushed (about 1/2 cup) 1-1/2 cups spaghetti sauce, heated
HEAT oven to 375ºF. Mix cream cheese, spinach, 1 cup mozzarella and 3 Tbsp. Parmesan until well blended; spread onto chicken breasts. Starting at one short end of each breast, roll up chicken tightly. Secure with wooden toothpicks, if desired. Set aside.
BEAT egg in shallow dish. Mix remaining Parmesan and cracker crumbs in separate shallow dish. Dip chicken bundles in egg, then roll in crumb mixture. Place, seam-sides down, in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.
BAKE 30 min. or until chicken is done (165ºF). Remove and discard toothpicks, if using. Serve topped with spaghetti sauce and remaining mozzarella
I am on week two of my 2010 diet, and this fits into it pretty well. I just can't give up cheese, I'm sorry. I didn't use the spaghetti sauce and it was perfectly fine. In fact, it was delicious! I think the Ritz crackers give it a nice salty crust that are different from the normal bread crumbs. The things I like about Kraft's website are the recipes are pretty simple, there aren't too many ingredients, and they give the nutritional information on the dish. Here is the link: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/kf/recipes/chicken-parmesan-bundles-107338.aspx
I was reading a totally awesome book the other day and I really wanted to jump into the pages with the rest of the characters.
It takes quite a book for me to say that, because there's usually something about at least one character that makes me want to slap them or shake them silly. But with this thought in my head, I started to think about some other books that I wouldn't mind becoming a character in.
If any of you have read, Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series or at least one of them, you'll understand when I say, I wouldn't mind being Stephanie or at least a friend of Stephanie's because her life is so hilarious and I wouldn't mind some of the super crazy stuff that happens to her, rubbing off on me.
I definitely would love to step in Gaston Leroux's Phantom Of The Opera too. Not as a main character but as someone that might try to to save Erik from Christine.
As for my "girl porn" and "romance", I wouldn't mind stepping into Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove series or even one of her holiday books with the angels, Shirley, Mercy and Goodness. I also wouldn't mind being a character in Stephanie Bond's novels for the Harlequin Blaze series. My fictional love life would be a whole lot hotter than the block of ice it is now!
On a funny note, I wouldn't mind becoming a character in Twilight so I could bitch slap Bella and Edward and a few other characters. Picture me poking Edward and going "Sparkly Vampires! WTF!!!!" or "Just bite her or screw her and have done with it!"
When I was younger I read a series called The Girls Of Canby Hall, which was about 3 roommates in a boarding school, kinda like Facts Of Life. I always wanted to be a character in those books too.
So what books would you like to become a character in?
Well, someone was bound to say something eventually, right? Plus Conan comes on in 20 minutes & I want to see how much he shits all over NBC tonight. If it's anything like last night, we're in for a good time.
Leno's ratings aren't too great, NBC wants to move him to 11:35 & push Conan & Jimmy Fallon both back a half hour, blah blah blah. Conan's being particularly vocal about it. Now, at first I didn't really care - I'll watch Conan no matter when he's on - but now that he's spoken up officially, I am inclined to pay a little more attention. He has every right to be mad. And is it just me, or if Jay Leno was basically anyone else would NBC just have canceled outright instead of playing with time slots everyone's already all to used to?
NBC probably stands more to lose if they don't comply with Conan, especially judging by the internet backlash already. God bless the internet for making pop culture issues completely explode. The internet is probably one of those most interesting things here, because Twitter quite literally exploded with cries of Team Conan after his statement today.
Arguably the most artistic & interesting expression of all this?
That's right. imwithcoco.com.
P.S. I got Ben Folds tickets! I know, no one cares.
I despise all the commercials for sites like Match.com and EWhoremony...erm Eharmony.com. I do realize that people have hooked up via the internet, but I really feel that more harm is done rather than good.
Because the reality of it all is "People LIE!"
It would be nice if we all lived in the world in Invention Of Lying, but we don't and I've always found that the internet is the easiest place to lie to people.
I'm not saying everyone is a predator. But I think a good part of really deciding if a person is right or at least sane enough to go out with is removed by filling out questionnaires.
Do any of us ever answer those things honestly?
I mean some parts of it we do, but other parts...don't we give the answers we hope people want to hear? We do that in regular life, and the computer makes those white lies safer.
Then you get the people that just want sex without the benefit of dinner and a movie...a few times..
I know I'm probably not in the norm, but I generally find dating sites to be nothing more than a legal form of prostitution and those of you giving it up aren't even getting paid!
Maybe I'm just too cynical. Maybe I've been burned a few too many times, via my own stupidity, but these sites just don't ring true to me and I know that finding people to date is hard, especially after college. Its kinda like if you don't get married then, you are screwed and if wait until you're in your 30s or later (like I am) the baggage that comes with the person you are dating could be a lot more than you'd like to handle. (ie: kids and ex wives).
This is why I gave up a few years back when I got burned by a doofus DJ that wasn't sure if he was going to cheat on his girfriend/wife (not really sure what she is) with me, and then decided not to...finally informing me after 5 months of flirtation that there was someone he was involved with.
As Ben Folds fans might already know, the man is currently embarking on a tour - with symphony orchestras. Not his own symphony, mind you, but he's going city to city playing with that city's own symphony. Which is kind of cooler. He'll be in Pittsburgh in February & I'm trying like hell to scrounge enough cash to make it, but being a full-time student doesn't make that easy.
Seeing a symphony is an awesome experience in itself, but symphony + Ben Folds = one of the most awesome live musical experiences I can think of.
If I was definitely going, I'd be crazy excited right now.
Remember those cheese ads that said "Behold the power of cheese"?
Well, I'm one of those people that can be totally captivated by cheese. I love cheese. The problem is my favorite cheeses are always so damn expensive.
Have you ever had Jarlsburg Swiss?
Our local Giant Eagle has a spread made with this wonderful cheese. Its shredded Jarlsburg, scallions and I think some red onion.
I think the container is maybe 6 or 8 oz. Its a small small container. Smaller than a cream cheese tub.
Do you know how much that spread costs?
$6.99!
Oye and ouch!
I was lucky that at New Year's it was on sale for $3.99. That almost never happens. So I bought it then and now its almost gone and I'm going to go through cheese withdrawals.
I swear all the wonderful good cheeses are all an arm and a leg. I love Harvati cheese and that's another one that will break the bank, especially if you can get the butter Havarti in the fall. We used to get that cheese back when Hickory Farms were still in the malls.
Nom Nom Nom.
I won't even start with marscapone, which is the fancy Italian cheese used in tiramisu.
In some ways, Augusten Burroughs can be summed up like this: when I picked up You Better Not Cry, his collection of Christmas stories, my mom looked at the cover & said, "What the hell is that?" If you've read Augusten, this oddly makes sense. If you haven't, you should & it will when you do.
I fell in love with Augusten when I read - or more accurately, annihilated - Running with Scissors in high school. Now, I'm kind of jumping around because I have read A Wolf at the Table, which was fantastic & heartbreaking, but not Dry because my cousin currently has my copy & not Possible Side Effects because my cousin used to have my copy. It's a glorified Augusten Burroughs book swap a my house. But the point is, Augusten keeps me hooked by released something new every so often & using Twitter.
While most of Augusten's books are of the long, memoir persuasion, this one's more the short essay type. Some have complained that for this reason it lacks intensity, but it's also what makes it shine. It wouldn't function as a full book because it's not meant to. Instead, we see different Christmas stories as they occurred chronologically, & Augusten jumps right in by starting with a tale of how he started making out with a wax Santa & then literally ate its face. We see everything from the ridiculous to the simple & heartwarming, which is why I'm so drawn to Augusten as a writer. He's not necessarily trying to get you to feel for him or the other people in the stories, but he does anyway.
If you're looking for it to be ridiculously funny, it's not. It has its moments, but really, it's better this way. Augusten doesn't need to be constantly hilarious, even if his humor shines through subtly often. He's just as good serious as he is funny. No need to be alarmed. And in this way, this is actually probably a decent place to start if you want to ease into his writing without going in any kind of order. Or jumping right into the chaos that is basically everything else he's ever written.
Yeah, Christmas is over, but this is a nice, relatively light read for the season. Even my mom ended up picking it up when I'd left it out & started to read it & quite enjoyed it. Plus it was the first book I finished in 2010!
My mum is a PBS junkie and I end up with some odd musical obsessions thanks to that. A few weeks back she had the station on for a bit and the Straight No Chaser Christmas concert was on.
I fell in love.
For those of you that haven't had the chance to experience the band, Straight No Chaser are a group of men, 10 in all, that sing acapella.
If you need an idea of what they sound like, think Rockapella meets Michael Buble.
They are definitely a band worth hearing, whether they are doing pop songs from the likes of Queen or Jason Mraz to holiday music. (They have two Christmas albums)
I never thought I'd hear an acapella band than I enjoyed as much as Rockapella (who I discovered while watching Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiago), but I have.
I'm kinda peeved that they are playing the Byham in April. Not because the show is on a flipping Wednesday but because I fear the ticket prices.
If you want to give them a try, go to their official site. I recommend listening to I'm Yours/Somewhere Over The Rainbow, The Christmas Can Can and Africa.
One from the Vaults: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
So many times naive young indie rockers and pop culture lovers ask themselves, "It's the Beatles, how can you mess it up?" That phrase, kind of like "I'm not racist but..." should automatically signal to you that something is amiss. But even I found myself at age fifteen asking, "This movie can't be as bad as everyone says it is - how can you mess up one of the best albums ever?" Then I watched it and found out exactly how you can mess up one of the best albums ever.
May I present to you a timeless piece of cinematic vomit, 1978's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. I rewatched it over the weekend and found it to be even worse than I remembered. Sometimes I wonder if the filmmakers asked themselves the above questions, though I think the only question they really asked was, "how much coke can you buy in this town?" (answer: enough to get through a film shoot)
The record Sgt. Pepper's had the Beatles pretending to make a concept album so they could secretly experiment with their sound. Likewise, the movie Sgt. Pepper's had the filmmakers pretending to make a rock opera so they could secretly showcase some bitchin' Beatles covered by the Bee Gees. Yes, friends, that's right, the band portraying the Beatles' alter ego is the Bee Gees and is led by Peter Fucking Frampton. And unlike the Lisa Bonet's cover from High Fidelity, when he sings you're aren't going to "kind of like it now." You're going to wonder what dark personal vendetta Frampton has against the Lennon family.
That alone should be enough of an explanation, but let's try to dive into the plot. The Product Description from Amazon states it a little too coherently for its own good: "SGT. PEPPER'S GRANDSON AND THREE OTHER GUYS FORM A BAND AND FIGHT BAD GUYS.MUSIC FROM THE BEATLES. "
George Burns as Mr. Kite, the town historian, tells the legend of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band, who singlehandedly conquered both world wars and the great depression through British brass music. After Sgt. Pepper dies, his grandson Billy Shears and three of his buds decide to reform the band and perform in their quaint hometown of Heartland. There's also Billy's stepbrother Dougie, who's bitter because he didn't get breastfed or some shit and I can't tell if he ever figures into the plot again because everyone in the movie looks so fucking whitebread that I can't tell who's who.
Anyway, the band magically gets a record contract and goes to LA, where they promptly get drugged by a record exec and raped by a pop soul band, which everyone in the film's universe seems to find completely a-ok. They forget about that and record a record and get world famous. Meanwhile, Mean Mr. Mustard and his gang of robotic rubber dominatrix ladies, who hate love and music, cruise into Heartland. The band isn't there to protect the town by playing "When the Saints Come Marching in" or "God Save the Queen" so Mr. Mustard steals some magical instruments as commanded by the mysterious FVB via computer and then turns the town into a pinball brothel.
Billy's girlfriend Strawberry Fields runs away to get the band back from LA and save the town. They steal Mr. Mustard's pedovan and drive to beat up Alice Cooper and Steve Martin and then come back to play a concert with Earth Wind and Fire. Then Strawberry gets kidnapped by Mr. Mustard and taken to Aerosmith, who've been pulling the strings the whole time. Strawberry dies in a giant neon gyroscope while Frampton beats up Steven Tyler.
Billy is pretty bummed about his dead girlfriend, so he tries to jump off a roof. But wait! The weathervane that's been watching over the town the whole time turns into Billy Preston and stops him with his magic trumpet! And turns all the bad guys into Catholic religious figures! and reanimates Strawberry! And then a bunch of celebrities join around and sing the reprise from the album.
The reason this is so long and describe the whole plot is to spare you the pain. For the love of God, those are two hours you'll never get back. Sometimes you think it's going to verge into "so bad it's good" territory and you're proven horribly wrong, kind of like getting a staph infection from a flu shot. I understand that the Beatles are hard to tackle despite how many people have tried, but these guys were handed material on a silver fucking platter and decided to use it as toilet paper instead. Steve Martin dresses up as a crazy doctor - almost the same act he'd reprise in Little Shop of Horror with flying colors - and dances around to Maxwell's Silver Hammer and it's still not good.
The thing is, I don't understand why this film is so bad. The Bee Gees don't automatically suck the win out of a film, and on paper this should be a campy romp with some great cameos. But it's not. Sweet sassy molassy, how it's not. So I blame Peter Frampton. Sure, I suppose the casting director is partially to blame for creating a horrific world in which Peter Frampton can triumph over Alice Cooper, but the casting director wasn't the one prancing around in a pink suit and fuggling my brain.
So, in short, this movie is bad. And not the fun kind of bad, more like being given a puppy and then watching being thrown into a woodchipper. It takes the worst elements of the campiest of 70s musicals and shoves them into a film while taking a huge dump on something that should at least be fun if not good.
Twitter isn't for everyone. Even I didn't get it a first, but now I'm addicted. Sure, it can be a useful to for just about anyone looking to put something out there, but half of the fun is in some of the hilarious & amazing people out there in the Twitter universe making their voices heard.
shitmydadsays: Exactly what it sounds like. A guy Tweeting the shit his dad says. Always hilarious, & occasionally strangely profound.
Michael Ian Black: Naturally, the comedians are the best. We all know Michael Ian Black from VH1's numerous I Love the - shows (and now that's 2010 I think we can expected some more...), & his Tweets are usually just as entertaining. Jokes about New Years suicide pacts? Yes please.
Seth Meyers: He usually stays pretty quiet, but he's good for linking to the best SNL sketches of the week.
The Pensblog: Admittedly, this one is for Pittsburgh Penguins fans only. But they're damn funny. And semi-responsible for a Pittsburgh Twitter trend making fun of the mayor.
Hal Sparks: Also most well-known because of VH1, he's what I call a Twitwhore - he Tweets a lot. But he's both funny, sweet, smart, & loves interacting with his fans. Fellow Queer as Folk lovers take note.
someecards: The funniest e-cards you will ever read.
Jeff Eastin:White Collar fans, he's the man behind it all.
WriteRCastle: For Castle fans, a Castle character Twitter. At its funniest when Castle interacts with Nathan Fillion. They like to compliment each other. I have no idea why...
Because the Twitter universe is so vast, I know I've missed some. So share your favorites!
One of my friends recently gave me a kick-ass present that she found while cleaning out her attic, a book called "The Original Rock Music Rating System" by Eric Barger. From what I gathered, Barger was a late 80s/early 90s rock critic turned evangelist of the Hyper-Calvanist "Oh Noes, the Children!" type. I'm fairly sure one of his books was the reason I wasn't allowed to watch Thundercats growing up, but that's a whole 'nother story.
Anyway, in this book Barger and his crack team of researchers pour through albums and interviews a variety of groups from the late 80s so that "parents know exactly what they're buying." Honestly? I don't have much against that idea. In fact, with all the parents that let their kids consume pop culture carte blanche (and ruin my damn movie going experience by taking their four year old to Silent Hill), I think it's a pretty good one. I'm all for sites like Kids in Mind so that Little Sally doesn't end up in therapy and I end up out $8.
This ratings system, though, has its bags packed for Crazyville. Sure, I can see the merit of telling parents about drug references, cursing, and violence. But when the criteria for "cultic" influences is "glorification or participation" in a non-Christian religion, that's when my warning bells go off. (and I'd almost put money on the fact that the author would consider a lot of mainstream Christan denominations "cultic" too). And is there really a need to rate a band for "surreal fantasy"? I guess one minute you're listening to They Might Be Giants, the next you're mainlining Salvador Dali paintings with dirty needles in an underground arthouse.
That last example is my biggest WTF with this book. I can understand 80s fundie parents railing against Ozzy and Poison and Alice Cooper (even though - big pointing arrow - he's a Christian!), but were enough teenagers listening to the Toy Dolls or Nick Cave to warrant their inclusion?
And seriously? CCR? Devo? For fuck's sake, Bananrama? If your 80s-era crotchfruit commits unspeakable acts against nature or God under the influence of Madness or Camper Von Beethoven, I think you have more to worry about than what the local Ladies Auxillary thinks of your kid's music purchases. And methinks thou doth protest too much if you think your kids' faith is going out the window when they buy a Hall and Oates album.
At any rate, the book is campy good fun. Use it for a fun party conversation starter or, for the more sadistic, apply to your child's life to end up with a serial killer or a nerdy, jittery pop culture junky. See exhibit A for proof. (of the latter example... at least until I finish more than season 1 of Dexter).
Why am I so outraged at this mostly talentless crap actress, singer?
Did any of you happen to watch Dick Clark's New Year's Eve special? Well if you did you'd understand.
Not only did this skanky woman wear a disgusting bodysuit for her performance, but afterward, she donned a full length fur coat.
Bitch!
Its 2010 lady! We don't allow governments to torture people, why should we torture and kill animals to cover your ugly backside? Seriously, wouldn't a designer make you a nice coat that didn't involve slaughter?
It really angers me that anyone even uses fur these days. Its not necessary, and perhaps if consumers would be a little more informed in how the animals are treated so that they can get their coats.
A little FYI J-Ho, they don't shear those minks, foxes, etc like they do a sheep, m'kay.
Think about that, please.
All those little animals that did nothing to you or anyone, dead because you're overpaid talentless body could wear that coat.
You should be ashamed of yourself, probably for more things than just the coat, cos your performance was pretty crap too.
OK, forgive me if I seem out of line, but why is Ted Neeley still playing Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar? The man is 66 years old.
I recently obtained a copy of the soundtrack for the new chick flick, Valentine's Day. I was really intrigued by some of the songs on the album. Some where very good and others were creepy.
Dear ABC:
A Book Everyone Should Have
Brief thoughts on the Golden Globes
