I've been a little bit in love with this video of Gavin Creel singing Pasek and Paul's "Do You Remember?" for a while now.
It's a really sweet song (one of several written for an abandoned Peter Pan musical project) and Gavin Creel does it beautifully. (I've also never seen his hair look better.) The video is from a showcase of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul's music at the Zipper a few months ago. It seems as fitting a note as any on which to wrap up 2008. Happy new year!
It's Proposition 8: The Musical! Warning: Contains Jack Black.
While it's not Mr. Shaiman's best foot forward, there's certainly a chuckle or two to be had in this star-crammed satire. It's only a shame this wasn't made a couple of months ago; there's nothing like musical comedy to rally the troops!
I had the opportunity to meet her a few years ago when she was in town doing a concert at the Sheldon, which I reviewed for the Post-Dispatch. She was so gracious and, although she was not in the best voice that evening, gave a performance that held the audience rapt. Many encores were demanded and many given. It hurts my heart a little bit to know that there are young people who don't know her name or her legacy; I'll try to do my part to share the music on down.
I love this. I have no idea how one accomplishes something like it, but I love it. One guy performs "Thriller". Dayum. 7:23 AM |
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Mmm…daddy like!
Neil Patrick Harris and my future husband Jason Segel totally making out? Yeah, that's going on my fantasy highlight reel. (It's an outtake from season three of How I Met Your Mother. Video here.) Hubba hubba!
The video for cutie crooner Spencer Day's "Movie of Your Life" (my favorite of his songs) pays homage to eight classic films. Can you name them all? (The short was put together by St. Louisan Chris Lawing.) 6:41 AM |
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Love over Gold
Eventually, I suppose I'll get 'round to posting something besides obituaries and YouTube clips, but this was too delicious to pass up.
And to anyone who says you can't build a relationship around coffee, I present as evidence to the contrary my five-year unconsumated mutual flirtation with a certain barista at Starbucks.
Washy Ad Jeffy, a Jonathan Coulton ditty to help you remember the order of all the United States' presidents and how many terms they served. 11:12 PM |
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
Brad L. Graham is a writer, editor, riverboat gambler, fashion consultant, softshoe dancer, professional assassin, freelance factotum and singer of sentimental ballads.The BradLands is his home on the web.
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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.
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Brad L. Graham is a writer, editor, riverboat gambler, fashion consultant, softshoe dancer, professional assassin, freelance factotum and singer of sentimental ballads.The BradLands is his home on the web. 
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