Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Luke and Noah auf Deutsch

Despite being a big Days of Our Lives fan throughout high school and college, I don't really follow the soaps anymore. I've got several friends who are simply mad for the Luke and Noah storyline on As the World Turns, but the tortoise-like pace with which those boys were permitted to proceed to their first big kiss was enormously frustrating.

For my money, a much better boy-on-boy storyline is the trials of Olli and Christian on the German soaper Verbotene Liebe ("Forbidden Love"). You can catch up on the backstory here; on Youtube, a fan has thoughtfully subtitled the clips in English.

I have a big crush on Jo Weil, who plays frisky, puppy-dog-eyed Oliver Sabel (Olli). Hubba hubba.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Bathing with Bierko

OK, seriously people: HOW DO I GET TO BE A GUEST ON THIS SHOW?! THIS IS WHAT I WANT FOR EASTER, MY BIRTHDAY AND CHRISTMAS! HOOK ME UP!

Monday, January 21, 2008

Suzanne Pleshette

Oh Bob! Another classy broad gone to her rest. Actress Suzanne Pleshette has died at age 70. Of course, she was best known for playing smart and sassy Emily Hartley, Bob Newhart's wife on his eponymously-titled sitcom. But I and millions of others also fondly remember her as the frosty but fragile school teacher jilted by Rod Taylor in Hitchcock's The Birds, and for her many dishy and slightly ribald ripostes with Johnny Carson on the old Tonight Show. Comedy writer Ken Levine has a very nice remembrance of Pleshette.

I had just landed in Chicago Saturday morning when I heard the news of her death, thinking to myself it was somehow fitting that I raise a glass in her memory in the city that served as the setting for The Bob Newhart Show. Although there's a sub-zero chill outside, I might just have to make a pilgrimage to Navy Pier to visit Bob's statue and spend a few minutes with him remembering all those times he hurried Home to Emily.

I also encourage you to visit More Than Emily Hartley, the wonderful fan tribute site to the life and career of Suzanne Pleshette.

Friday, December 21, 2007

My Favorite Things 2007: On the Web

If it's good enough for Oprah...

While I certainly can't afford to dole out free stuff to my audience, I've been thinking over the past couple of weeks about some of my favorite things (it might be a consequence of having that danged song from The Sound of Music stuck in my head) and I thought I'd share some of them with you. Over the next few days, I'll put up some lists of my favorite media, theatre, websites and other stuff from 2007. Most of it is new or new to me this year, but there are a few perennial preferences stuck in as well. First up: my favorite things on the web.

Comics: The Perry Bible Fellowship sneaks in from my discovery of it last year, but continues to make me chuckle, as does Doug Savage's Savage Chickens and Lulu Eightball. After the Deluge is a fantastic (if a bit slow-paced) telling of the stories of several folks in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Also loving: We the Robots and The Abominable Charles Christopher. Related faves: The surprisingly still-not-cease-and-desist-served The Other Family (for those who miss the deliciously mean-spirited antics of The Dysfunctional Family Circus and a daily read of snark for the funny pages, Josh Fruhlinger's The Comics Curmudgeon.

Covet: I've long enjoyed Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools weblog, a compendium of gadgets, software, books and other items that are...well, just cool and useful. Earlier this year, Kevin began publishing Kevin Kelly's Lifestream, an assembled feed from all of his fascinating weblogs. It's become a favorite read. A recent post: Phone Mining from his Street Use weblog.

Theatre Geeks: And I mean that in the best possible way, natch. I stumbled across Man in Chair one day a few months ago and realized that I knew that man. He's writing fondly about theatre from the cultural capital of America, north central Florida. (I kid, I kid.) With an understandable Broadway bias, but with the attention that must be paid to interested regional work, Eric's site is a breezy, frequent read. (And, Man, if you're reading this, I am aware I owe you my side of the story. Stay tuned.) I am not, for the most part, a podcast or videoblog consumer—I simply haven't the time—but I make an occasional exception for Andrew's Blog, the video diary of actor Andrew Keenan-Bolger, friend of a friend. And speaking of pals, I don't miss an installment of the [title of show] show, put together by Jeff Bowen and my old chum Hunter Bell.

Local Color: For St. Louis architecture, urban planning and redevelopment news and thoughts, I keep an eye on B.E.L.T., Urban Review STL, Pretty War STL, Vanishing STL and Built St. Louis. STL Syndicate aggregates news posts from several great St. Louis weblogs.

Old Favorites: I am particularly grooving these days on Girlhacker's Random Log, which consistently digs up one or two links every day that never fail to interest me. Jaime J. Weinman's Something Old, Nothing New weblog is so tasty, you can almost forget he's Canadian. (I kid, I kid. Ow, quit it!) Certainly his "thoughts on popular culture and unpopular culture" align with mine frequently enough, he could be my long-lost Toronto twin. Latest example: His appreciation of a cabaret song I've long loved and occasionally sung. Next up: Scrubbles, Mr. Hinrichs' always-interesting accumulation of kitsch, camp and other words beginning with hard k sounds. Love it. I am also, if you please, beyond thrilled that Mr. Damp Pants his own self has resumed publishing his An Entirely Other Day.

Transit Geekery: CTA Tattler, alongside the Livejournal L or El community, keep me posted on the Chicago Transit Authority and all of its attendant funding woes, while the Chitransit Flickr pool keeps me knee-deep in rolling stock and station porn from up north. Also on Flickr: London Underground pool and Undergrounds and Subways.

Everything Else: Usually safe (enough) for work is Hunk du Jour, a daily dose of guy candy from Chris. I check on T Critic every day, even though I have quite enough t-shirts. (Yes, I also check on Threadless weekly and get more. It's a delightful sickness.) For good—and unexpected—ideas, I love David's Ironic Sans. Even though I've missed him hanging out with the cabal regularly, I am thrilled by (and envious of) my pal Nick's diary of his world-round wanderings on Woolgatherer. Bill Keaggy's reddykilowatt.org is an attempt to keep track of everyone's favorite old electricity spokescreature and, as a kid who grew up surrounded by REC propaganda, I love it. Speaking of advertising, I am grateful to whomever introduced me to ad goodness, a showcase of the best (and sometimes worst) advertising creative. (Another Toronto guy. What's going on up there?!) If you're in the market for a desktop photo that simply sparkles (er, not literally), I am pleased to commend you to Mandolux. And I love, love, love Serious Eats, the amazing breadth and depth of which I've only begun to explore.

Now then, remember, these are just a few of my favorite things. (Like. That. Damned. Song.) I've got a bookmarks list, a del.icio.us account and a feed reader crammed with stuff I've left out. But if after looking over the above, you have a suggestion of a site you're absolutely sure would be a favorite of mine, let me know in the comments.

Next up: My Favorite Television & Movies 2007.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Meet the casting directors

What, you think those suddenly ubiquitous viral YouTube videos just happen? Oh, you poor naive noobs.

Meet the casting directors who brought you "Chocolate Rain", "Fat Kid on Roller Coaster" and, of course, the flavor of the moment.

Part One, Part Two and Part Three.

-dary

Awesome! Have you met Ted? is a weblog devoted to all things How I Met Your Mother, my current favorite sitcom, season three of which debuts Monday.

I have the biggest crush on Jason Segel, the show's Marshall. W to the OOF!

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Cruising coming to DVD

As noted by Nightcharm, the 1980 William Friedkin travesty Cruising is going to be released on high-definition DVD this September, uncut (ahem) with restored unseen footage. (N.B.—that last link, in addition to featuring a lengthy consideration of the film and its attendant controversies, also features some naughty pictures of nekkid fellas.)

In the dawn-tinted Parthenon of awful gay movies, Cruising stands alone. It doesn’t merely backfire; it backfires brilliantly. ...

Cruising was certainly a shocker in its day. The 1980 thriller is set in the night-world of New York’s orgiastic backrooms, peepshows and open-air fuck-fests that ran 24/7 in the bushes of Central Park. A then hot and nasty Al Pacino goes undercover to attract a serial killer, decoying himself as a hungry bottom in wife-beaters and low-slung jeans. The killer, meanwhile, a lanky, long-torsoed lad whose face is always concealed, is shown tricking and then killing his bound-up S&M partners — a sort of buyer’s remorse we usually associate with the black widow spider — ever whispering in his victim’s ear the moronic catchphrase “You made me do that.”

Dramatic chipmunk

Honestly, I just can't get enough of Dramatic Chipmunk. (Yes, I know it's a prairie dog.) I watch those five seconds of video a couple of times every day and it always gives me a chuckle.

As do this melodramatic chipmunk and the Darthmatic chipmunk.

Kritters is funny.

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Reverse the polarity of the…oh, nevermind

Oh dear. A brilliant and dead-on lexicon for those of us without lives. The Doctor Who Fan's Phrasebook.

“That bit was completely ripped-off from Star Wars.”
I believe that the world began in 1977.

“That bit was completely ripped-off from Buffy.”
It's a little known fact that Joss Whedon actually invented not only television, but also the Internet.

“I think James Marsters would be a brilliant choice for the next Doctor.”
I am twelve and have only ever seen one other television show in my life.

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Boy, finally

After about a million years (well, 12), the movie adaptation of Matthew Rettenmund's witty, sexy novel Boy Culture will open in March. Here's the official website and, naturally, Rettenmund's got a blog.

Derek Magyar, who geeks may remember as Kelby on Star Trek: Enterprise, is a great choice to play X, and Patrick Bauchau also as Gregory. Looking forward to this one.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Happy holidays from the Beeb

I have A Charlie Brown Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on DVD. The holiday-time television I'm most looking forward to? It comes from across the sea.

• Christmas Eve: Torchwood, "Combat"


• Christmas Day: Doctor Who, "The Runaway Bride"


• New Year's Eve: Torchwood, "Captain Jack Harkness"


• New Year's Day: The Sarah Jane Adventures premiere

Stuff my stocking with torrents, daddy. I've got a fine port and a pudding to make.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Connections!

Oh, this is simply marvelous! The wonderful 1970s-era BBC documentary series, Connections, created by science historian James Burke, is available for download.

Connections explores an "Alternative View of Change" (the subtitle of the series) that rejects the conventional linear and teleological view of historical progress. Burke contends that one cannot consider the development of any particular piece of the modern world in isolation. Rather, the entire gestalt of the modern world is the result of a web of interconnected events, each one consisting of a person or group acting in rational self-interest with no concept of the final, modern result of what either their or their contemporaries' actions finally lead to. The interplay of the results of these isolated events is what drives history and innovation...

There were two sequel series to the original. Here's hoping they'll be made available too!

Monday, October 23, 2006

Me Tube

Since our new production schedule rendered October and November as The Months That Ate Leisure Time, I'm barely keeping up with all the new and returning teevee I must see. All praise the 421-hour dual-tuner TiVo. Thy will be done. Herewith a few notes (may be spoilers here and there):

The premiere back-to-back episodes of Torchwood kicked major ass. Yeah, Captain Jack is back and leading a band of Earth-bound (for now?) alien-hunters in a smart, sexy new series. Definitely keeping my eye on Ianto Jones (played by Gareth David-Lloyd). Yum! And you just know there's more going on there than he-who-fetches-the-tea. And all that Welsh-talking. BBC3 hit this one out of the park.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: Finally found its groove this week, I think. The Sorkin rhythm and poetry are there, although if they insist on continuing to show us snips of the sketches, they need to find someone else to write them. Let Sorkin be Sorkin, but he can't bring the sketch funny. Loving Amanda Peet! Every actor in the cast is stellar and, even so, Eli Wallach came in this week and brought nine decades of experience with him to work circles around 'em.

30 Rock: The "other" show about a show...I'm not feeling it. Alone among my friends, I seem to be the one who can't stand Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey feels wasted here. I've only got two eps down, so maybe it'll grow on me.

Desperate Housewives: Welcome back. I was a latecomer to this party, but thanks to DVD and BT, I've caught up and drunk the Kool-Aid. The season opener with Bree rushing to the doctor after feeling a strange new sensation had me on the floor, and I've a feeling this season is going to be all about the VanDeCamp-Hodges for me. Not sure how I feel about pseudo-sympathetic Andrew yet. And my theory about Orson: I don't think he killed his wife. I think Alma will be back, because she was the mystery woman he was visiting in the psych hospital from which Bree escaped.

Heroes: Two weeks behind on this one. Like everyone else, I'm loving Hiro. I'm not terribly invested in any of the characters, but I am interested in how the story arc is going to come around.

The Nine: Glad I added a Season Pass for this one, if for no other reason than weekly doses of Scott Wolf puppy-dog eyes. But it's off to a pretty smart start and, if I can get beyond thinking of Egan as Dr. Phlox (curse of Trek casting), it's a keeper.

Jericho: Plot holes a'plenty, but I can't stop watching. Skeet Ulrich (who is my very favorite actor named Skeet, from a field that is admittedly not wide) is the hometown outcast that intrigues me, and Hawkins ("I was a cop in St. Louis") is the season's most mysterious character. There's something perversely interesting about the post-apocalyptic setting; I can't stop watching for, I think, some of the same reasons I couldn't stand to watch and couldn't look away from The Day After.

The Class: If only for Jesse Tyler Ferguson and hometown gal Heather Goldenhersh (yes, that's her real voice). Gay Kyle and not-gay Perry (riiiiiight) annoy the hell out of me, and Jason Ritter's character reminds me way too much of an ex, but he's starting to grow on me and you can't argue with the cute.

Smallville: If the season follows a typical pattern, the first four episodes and the final four will be pretty sweet (so far, so good) and everything in between will be meh. Hey, Oliver Queen ain't hard on the eyes though.

And, of course, there's Battlestar Galactica, which remains the best damn show on television. Period.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

You need to know Moore

If you don't mind knowing a little more than you probably should (in other words, thar be some spoilers here), you might enjoy reading this interview with Battlestar Galactica executive producer Ron Moore about where the series has been, is going and how it became the "ripped from today's headlines" science-fiction must-see it is.

Remember how the Great Bird of the Galaxy used classic Star Trek to talk about contemporary issues and politics at a remove? That's what BSG is today, times a billion. If you're not watching it, you're frakked in the head.

Wednesday, August 9, 2006

So long, old friend

Almost six years ago (September 26, 2000, according to my still offline jurassic weblog archives), I won a free 30-hour TiVo in an online promotion. Actually, I was supposed to have won a 14-hour model but, either by glitch or design, they gave all of those away and sent me the next better thing. Three years ago, I pimped it out with an upgrade from Weaknees.

Last night it threw in the towel, as you can see from the Green Screen of Death above.

I won't be calling the toll-free number. Six years and countless hundreds of hours of programming enjoyed without channel surfing is a pretty good run for an appliance I didn't pay for in the first place. Before the fall premiere season begins, I'll give it a proper burial recycling and bring home a brand-new (bought and paid for) dual-tuner model to take its place. With the rebate, it'll cost me about $100, plus a little more for another Weaknees upgrade.

I love TiVo. It has truly changed the way I watch television, and completely for the better. I can barely stand to watch live television without it. (And I don't have to: There are actually two other units in our home, thank dog!)

Weep not for TiVo, friends. The best is yet to come.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Turnin’ on Bea

One of the greatest disappointments of my shallow, campy life is that during a particularly tumultous move in the early 90s, one box of my belongings went astray, never to be seen again. Inside was a jumbled assortment of videocassettes containing recordings from the late 70s and early 80s, the last gasp of the celebrity TV variety show.

One was my cherished tape of two installments of Musical Comedy Tonight, the public television program hosted by Sylvia Fine (Kaye), and featuring recreations of a few seminal Broadway musicals. Thanks to a benevolent friend, I recovered one of those shows a few years ago, the episode wherein Agnes DeMille talks about choreographing Oklahoma! and, most deliciously, Ethel Merman and Rock Hudson sing the duet "You're the Top" from Anything Goes.

Yes, Ethel Merman and Rock Hudson. "You're the Top." Please. There's no question in that pairing that Ethel had the titular role.

Coincidentally, also lost in that carton was another cassette featuring Rock Hudson. I was reminded of it, and cried yet again for its disappearance, when this clip popped up on YouTube the other day: Bea Arthur and Rock Hudson singing "Everybody Today Is Turning On" from the Cy Coleman and Michael Stewart musical I Love My Wife. It's taken from 1979's The Beatrice Arthur Special.

I'm often asked, when did you know? When did you know you were "that way"? While certainly years earlier Randolph Mantooth had aroused feelings in me while watching Emergency!, hands down I figured out I liked boys and showtunes definitively in 1979, when I had a serious crush on school chum Billy and I sat glued in from of the TV watching The Beatrice Arthur Special.

Bea was, of course, just coming off the six-season success of Maude and was also married to director Gene Saks, whose production of I Love My Wife was just ending its run on Broadway, which explains how both "...Turning On" and "Hey There, Good Times" wound up in Bea's TV special. In addition to Hudson, other guests on the show included Melba Moore and Wayland Flowers and Madame.

Uh-huh.

It was everything you'd expect the show to be, by which I mean campy fabulous. Bea did solo songs (including a delicious "How Long Has This Been Going On?" and another Cy Coleman treasure, "The Way I See It" from the 1979 flop Home Again), sketches (including one with Rock Hudson where they play a long-married couple discussing that something has gone wrong in their relationship—gee, y'think?) and duets with Hudson, Madame and Moore (plus a "surprise" cameo by Maude co-star Conrad Bain.

It was, in short, the gayest thing on television in 1979. Unsurprisingly, the handsome Bea Arthur superfan Kevin Buckstiegel has a few other clips from the show on his fansite but, oh, what I wouldn't give to have that box back and my cherished cache of tapes restored to me. Wherever it went, whoever has it now, I have only one thing to say: "God'll get you for that."

Monday, May 8, 2006

Imaginary prequel posters

• Woot : Winners' Gallery: Imaginary Prequel Posters
  Some nice ones here. I especially like "Extremely Low Barometric Pressure" and the prequel for "The Italian Job".
  (tags: movie poster parody)

Tuesday, May 2, 2006

Unlucky lobster

My spring of whirlwind travel continues, with the past few days spent on a breezy (and rainy) jaunt to Chicago for assorted obligations. Despite the nip in the air and the persistent drizzle, it was a lovely visit. I think it was Emerson who said that the earth laughs in flowers and, if my glimpses of the many parks and plazas of the city through the raindrops are any indication, Chicago was laughing through tears all weekend long. Just lovely!

Late Sunday night while enjoying the hospitality of my bosom pal and ami avec des avantages John, I spied a commercial on TV. I wish I could remember what it advertised; to the best of my recollection, it was internet service or integrated communications or something. Might have been Comcast?

The spot featured a "regular guy" in the foreground, extolling the virtues of the service while, in the background, someone dressed as a lobster passed out circulars to passersby. While regular guy rambled on about unlimited minutes or $19.95 a month or somesuch, the lobster got frustrated, threw down his handbills and tried to walk into a building through a revolving door, getting his tail caught in the process and eventually becoming comically trapped as the commercial ended.

I tried to describe the spot to another friend the next day, but I'm afraid I didn't do it justice. It was entertaining—perhaps moreso given the wine and smoke in my system—but apparently not very effective if I can't recall the product being hawked.

Anyone have any idea what I'm talking about and, optimally, if there's a place online to see the spot?

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Stage on TV

Televised Opera and Musical Comedy Database

Developed in association with the Indiana University Digital Library Program, the Televised Opera and Musical Comedy Database documents more than a half-century of opera, operetta, and musical comedy telecasts produced in the United States. The database traces performance programming from early live presentations on experimental TV stations, to contemporary productions released on broadcast television, various cable forms, and home video.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Woooo-Who!

Thanks to the miracle that is the Internet (and each day I bow in the direction of Saint Al of Gore for inventing it), I've already seen the whole series but I nonetheless welcome with a hoot and a holler the news that Sci-Fi will soon be airing episodes of Doctor Who.

The revamped adventures of BBC Wales' Doctor Who are to be seen by sci-fi fans in America, it has been announced.
The first series of the cult programme starring Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper is to be screened by the American Sci Fi Channel.

The screening deal was confirmed by the US channel and BBC Worldwide Americas on Thursday.

Sunday, January 8, 2006

The Stan Daniels Turn

The always enjoyable Something Old, Something New debriefs that staple of sit-comedy, The Stan Daniels Turn.

Friday, December 30, 2005

The Mystery of Dinner for One

Every New Year's Eve, half of all Germans plunk down in front of their televisions to watch a 1963 English comedy sketch called Dinner for One. Walk into any bar in Bavaria and shout the film's refrain: "The same procedure as last year, madam?" The whole crowd will shout back in automatic, if stilted, English: "The same procedure as every year, James."

How an obscure British skit has become Germany's most popular New Year's tradition.

Who boy!

A million (give or take) remixes of the Doctor Who theme music.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

In Color!

It looks as though Police Squad! finally may be coming to DVD! Huzzah! Once upon a time, I had two VHS cassettes of this short-lived TV show—upon which the Naked Gun movies were based—but I foolishly lent them and they slipped my grasp, never to return.

I can't wait to get this show on disc. Despite having only a six-episode lifespan, there are so many classic moments to relive. In just one example, the series included one of my favorite comic exchanges of all time:

Gangster: Who are you? And how did you get in here?
Frank Drebin (undercover): I'm a locksmith. And...I'm a locksmith.

The sight gags, the guest stars, the "freeze" takes at the end of each show. So much comedy gold.