How I remember David Bowie…
Posted in Celebrities, Comedy, Entertainment, Humor, Music, Television
Tagged celebrities, comedy, Craig Ferguson, David Bowie, entertainment, Humor, Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Music, parody, Television, tribute, Youtube
Turns out you can’t judge a musical by its poster.
The only thing I knew about the Broadway show Fun Home before I saw it last night was a) the critics loved it and b) the Tony voters did, too.
It scored 12 nominations earlier this week.
I didn’t know the soundtrack or the book upon which it was based. I walked in the theatre about as clueless as a person could get.
So imagine my surprise when the show wasn’t the singing, dancing Partridge Family parody that I had cooked up in my head.
If you too are in the dark (and wish to remain so), stop reading now.
Have they left? Okay. So the rest of you know why my mind is a bit blown right now.
The musical’s narrator is a lesbian cartoonist. (Yeah, this show’s no Cinderella.) With the help of her very young self and college-aged self — two incredible young performers — she tells her life story. With captions.
(‘Cause she’s a cartoonist.)
How her father was a part-time teacher and part-time funeral director — FUN HOME was the family nickname for the funeral home — and a closeted gay man who slept with lots of boys and committed suicide while she was away at college.
Yeah.
But that’s not to say there weren’t moments of humor and laughter. Her first girl-on-girl experience in college inspired “Changing My Major to Joan,” one of my favorite songs in the show. And the kids did do a little Partridge Family at one point, so the graphic designer gets to keep his job.
The cast is all-around amazing. I do wish I had seen the show off-Broadway before they were plopped down into this in-the-round venue. It has led to a lot of ‘singing to the audience’ staging that seems amateurish for a story of such complexity.
It is quite a ride.
Posted in Broadway, Commentary, dancing, Entertainment, Family, Humor, Music, New York City, Relationships, Singing, theater
Tagged Broadway, captions, cartoonist, cast, clueless, college, critics, dancing, family, Fun Home, funeral director, funeral home, gay, graphic designer, Humor, in the round, laughter, lesbian, life story, mind blown, movie theatre, musical, narrator, Off-Broadway, parody, Partridge Family, performers, poster, review, singing, soundtrack, staging, suicide, teacher, Tony Award, Tony nominations
Oh Christmas dress,
Oh Christmas dress!
Your lights are white and shiny.
Oh Christmas dress,
Oh Christmas dress!
I think I see her hiney.
But then, I kinda see her boobs
And legs and torso–navel, too.
Oh Christmas dress,
Oh Christmas dress!
Your finery is tiny.
I was lucky enough to catch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on HBO over dinner tonight.
Such a wonderfully inventive story, and perhaps Jim Carrey’s most powerful and controlled performance.
As I watched, I questioned yet again why he didn’t win an Oscar…or even get nominated. So I used the Google machine to remind me — who did take the prize in 2005?
The Oscar nominees for Best Actor in a Leading Role were:
Foxx took home the prize; it was no shock. His portrayal of the musical legend was spot-on. He sang and played the piano, too. I wasn’t a fan of the film, but of him, yes.
I concede defeat.
But I would argue that Carrey’s performance deserves to be on that list as much if not more than Leo. Or Johnny. In fact, the list would be stronger for it.
Isn’t it funny how quickly you can become bitter about something that happened 10 years ago?
(Imagine how Jim must feel.)
Posted in Academy Awards, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Movies, Oscars
Tagged 2004 Oscars, Academy Awards, acting awards, Ben Kingsley, Best Actor, Bill Murray, bitter, cold justice, Cold Mountain, commentary, drama, entertainment, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, film, Google, Google machine, HBO, House of Sand and Fog, Humor, Jim Carrey, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Keith Richards, lost in translation, movie sequel, Movies, Mystic River, Oscar nomination, Oscar nominees, Oscars, parody, performance, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Sean Penn, showy, subtle
I bought a ticket to see Heathers: The Musical in late March.
I finally got to use it tonight.
Is it as dark as the movie? Definitely.
Is it funnier than the movie? Definitely.
Does its soundtrack feature some of the wildest lyrics I have heard on a stage to date?
Most definitely. (We’re talking blue balls, ‘sword fighting’ — yes, you should take that in a dirty way — and a salute to ‘my dead gay son’ that rocks the house.
If you’re a fan of the movie, you will love it. If you have never seen the movie — like my friend Beth, who joined me tonight — you will love it. And if you love great parody…
You’ve probably already seen it. Go again. You deserve it!
Posted in Broadway, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Movies
Tagged blue balls, Broadway, comedy dark comedy, commentary, dark comedy, entertainment, funny, Heathers, Heathers: The Musical, Humor, lyris, movie, movie fan, musical, musical comedy, my dead son is gay, parody, review, rocks the house, soundtrack, sword fighting, ticket
As I’ve mentioned here before, I’m a Star Trek fan. But not so big that I would attend the annual Creation Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas (or even notice an article about it until months later).
But notice it today I did.
Trekkers at the convention attempted to rank all the movies in the franchise from best to worst. It’s no surprise that Star Trek II Wrath of Khan topped the list, and even less that the most recent Star Trek Into Darkness landed at the bottom. After all, these are the most rabid fans.
And the movie these Trekkers placed in the #7 slot?
Galaxy Quest, a hilarious 1999 send-up of the series and its fan base.
During the convention, Quest held the #1 and #2 spots early in the voting before slipping to the halfway mark to split the other 12 Star Trek movies.
Makes me like these geeks even more!
Posted in Entertainment, Humor, Internet, Movies
Tagged by Grabthar's hammer, Creation Star Trek Convention, entertainment, fan base, Galaxy Quest, geeks, Humor, Internet, Las Vegas, movie franchise, Movies, parody, rabid fan, sci-fi, science fiction, send-up, Star Trek, Star Trek II Wrath of Khan, Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek movies, Trekker, voting
“Nothing is sexier than a sharp, happy mind atop a lean, healthy body. Few foods are able to deliver this promise like kale.”
This is wrong on SO many levels.
No. No.
NO.
Posted in Books, Commentary, Foods, Humor, Life
Tagged 50 Shades of Kale, books, Foods, green, Health, Humor, i feel sick, kale, life, parody
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon just keeps finding more and more ways to get their audience involved in the show.
Hashtags. Screen grabs. Instagrams.
The show producers always pick the funniest ones…and who doesn’t like the idea of maybe seeing their idea on the show?
(One day)
But think about it — we are creating content for Jimmy. Entire segments of the show. He gets thousands of entries, all written by us — the audience — for free. Oh well, it does give him and his staff more time to focus on new parody songs, shows and series.
Still. Brilliant way to play us, Jimmy.
Posted in Celebrities, Comedy, Entertainment, Games, Humor, Life, Television
Tagged audience, celebrities, comedy, entertainment, games, hashtag, Humor, Instagram, late night, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, life, parody, screen grab, show producers, show segments, show staff, Television
I like movies.
I like actress Kristen Bell.
She loves sloths.
This is for you, Kristen.
Posted in Animals, Celebrities, Comedy, Humor, Movies
Tagged Bell, Humor, James bond, Kristen Bell, movie poster, Movies, parody, skyfall, sloths
The day the music died
I feel such strong emotions — or I’m trying to, anyway — so I must breakout into song, like any decent musical would:
(My apologies to “American Pie.”)
Denial, denial,
American Idol
You are leaving
I am grieving
in a ugly rage spiral
Sure, I’ve spent my nights
watching your network rival, singing —
I’ll tune back in for the big final.
I’ll tune back in for the big final.
So long, AI. (Harry, you were my fav.)
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Posted in Celebrities, Commentary, Humor, Life, Music, Television
Tagged American Idol, American Pie, breakout into song, canceled tv shows, celebrities, commentary, competition, emotions, FOX Network, Harry Connick Jr, Humor, Music, musical, parody, reality shows, singing, Television, the day the music died