10.18.2007

no class university...

i may be a little late on this one but i couldn't not blog about college kids and their increasing inability to get the point. last week texas tech banned the selling of a t-shirt made to commemorate that weekends football game against in-state rival texas a&m. as you may or may not know, texas a&m's mascot is reveille VII, an american collie and their call to arms-- their "conquer and prevail" if you will-- is the phrase "gig 'em".

a fraternity brother on campus at tech- in what can only be described as a lapse in judgement of what is funny and what is totally inappropriate- designed this shirt, with the play on words "vick 'em" on the front and a likeness of michael vick holding up a noose with poor reveille VII hanging by his neck on the back. when interviewed about his reasoning behind the couture creation, geoffrey candia told "the battalion", a&m's paper, that he had hoped to donate 50 percent of the proceeds to an animal defense league "because we knew there would be a controversy about the shirts, you know, animal rights, stuff like that."

gee, geoffrey, you think? now why in the world would the imagery of a confessed animal abuser breaking the neck of the beloved mascot of your rival upset anyone? surely the world is off its axis. what next? shirts with colonel reb with his boot on a prostrate cory boyd declaring "we still own you!" or a shirt with the image of a male cadet at the citadel with a woman kneeling in a ditch simulating oral sex proclaiming "women belong in the trenches!" just because you thought you were being funny and you were going to donate money to appease the "you know, animal rights" uproar to come doesn't give you the right to be a heartless, oblivious ass. show some class, dude. cheer for your team, wear your colors, put your "guns up" and have pride in being a red raider. but next time, leave the crass-tastic t-shirt at home. douche.

btw, i seriously think i went to the wrong school.

an affair to remember...

the huffington post is reporting that deborah kerr passed away today at the age of 86 in suffolk england from complications of parkinson's disease. you may be asking yourself, deborah who? and if so, shame on you!

deborah kerr-- the actress with a prolific, four decades long career that began in the early 1940s-- is best known for sharing one of the most recognized and imitated kisses in motion picture history, laying one on burt lancaster while waves crashed over the two of them on a hawaiian beach in the world war II drama "from here to eternity". but while many will remember kerr from this role or her iconic turn as anna leonowens in "the king and i", i will always remember kerr for her strong and heart wrenching performance opposite the scene-chewing-hunk-of-a-man cary grant in "an affair to remember".

as former night club singer terry mckay, kerr falls for cary grant's playboy nicky ferrante on a trans-atlantic cruise from europe to new york city, where their respective significant others await them. they agree to meet atop of the empire state building on valentine's day (yes- "sleepless in seattle"- they did it first) to see if their love can stand the test of time and if they should marry each other. when terry doesn't show nicky fears that she has married another and the scene between kerr and grant in her apartment when he finally realizes what kept her away from their rendezvous is, well, amazing.

nominated for six best actress academy awards during her career (the most by any one person without a win), deborah kerr represents the best of what the classic era of film has to offer. elegant, witty, beautiful and real, kerr will be greatly missed. and, to be sure, we will always remember kerr and the affair we shared together.

10.10.2007

omigod you guys...

omigod, omigod you guys! legally blonde: the musical is coming to MTV! the original broadway production will be shown in its entirety this saturday at 1PM eastern time. i seriously cannot tell you how excited i am about this. during my recent trip to nyc this summer, angel and i had the great pleasure of seeing this show at the palace theatre and i absolutely adored it! from the opening song omigod you guys through so much better (with probably the best lyrical interpretation of the film of any offering in the show) and there! right there! (in which, while questioning the pool boy during the trial, callahan, elle and others ask the poignant question "is he gay? or european?" funniest. song. ever.) i was completely invested in the production-- even though i, like every other person in america, had seen- nay memorized- almost every line of the reese witherspoon starring movie. granted, this most recent iteration does not stray far from the original work, but it is totally worth catching for free on MTV.




starring tony-nominated laura bell bundy (as the ever-perky elle woods-- and a fab singer in her own right), tony-nominated orfeh (as the completely awkward paullette-- and how can you not love a woman who goes by one name?) and miss america 1998 kate shindle (unfortunately miscast as a very statuesque and un-hatable vivienne), the original broadway production of lb:tm kept me smiling through literally the entire 2+ hour production. if you are around a tv on saturday (or, knowing MTV, any day in the month of october) think pink and fall in love with broadway all over again or for the very first time.



THINK PINK!

saturday, october 13th, 1PM n MTV

10.09.2007

very interesting...

my sister informs me that this video is making the high school staff meeting rounds. ah, the use of technology to do so many things...except teach.

10.08.2007

les poissons...


straight from the streets of denver to the lights of broadway, disney is replacing the long running musical beauty and the beast with the much anticipated adaptation of the little mermaid, scheduled to open for previews on the great white way in early november.

receiving the disney royal treatment from acclaimed opera director francesca zambello and tony award winning lighting director natasha katz, tlm appears to be the mouse house's next lion king, which has grossed over $44 million so far in 2007, its tenth year of production (the show has averaged almost $60 million for the last two years and a respectable $50 million in previous years when ticket prices were much lower). included in the score are old favorites kiss the girl, part of your world, and the academy award winning under the sea (ahhh, the pre-jar-jar binks good ole days when mocking the caribbean accent wasn't vilified) as well as new offerings from the original mastermind alan menken.

while i do not wait with the same level of bated breathe for tlm as i do for the mel brooks backed production of young frankenstein, i still rejoice for its addition to the 2008 broadway season, if for no other reason than there doesn't appear to be a role for donny osmond in tlm. unless, of course, he wants to play that loopy albatross.

just so you know...

last week oprah winfrey announced the newest selection for her book club, bestowing the most lucrative honor in the literary world to love in the time of cholera by columbian-born nobel laureate gabriel garcia marquez. those of you familiar with my slightly unhealthy obsession with the john cusack-kate beckinsale-bridget moynahan gem serendipity will understand why this choice intrigues me so much. if they release hard backed copies with this cover, i imagine johnathan trager-esque behavior in bookstores across the country. what i wouldn't give to find sara thomas' phone number on the first page of my copy.

one hundred years of solitude-- marquez's most famous novel and oprah book club selection in 2004-- has been on my list of books to read for many, many years. his most recent selection by oprah precedes the mid-november theatrical release of the mike newell directed film staring every spanish actor in hollywood.

i have yet to get through the two previous oprah book club selections-- middlesex and eat. pray. love.-- and, therefore, doubt that i will read littoc before the film is released. but for those of you with nothing much to do, i recommend snatching this book up and finding out how far you would go for unrequited love.

10.07.2007

love/hate relationships...

i have many. but today a trip to the movies reminded of one of my longest running dichotomous infatuations. chris and i headed out to the hollywood 24 here in town to see a matinee showing of the kingdom, the newest "introspective" war movie to hit the multiplexes. while the movie itself was mildly enjoyable-- jason bateman offers some fabulous comic relief amongst all the blood and bullets and jennifer garner does her best alias impression. it will take me many, many days to get the visual of her thrusting a 6 inch hunting blade into the groin of an offending saudi out of my head. i cringed for all man kind-- i walked out of the theatre shaking my head not at the heavy handed "moral" of the film but at the conflicting love affair i continue to have with the cinema.

let's talk about the love first. it is, after all, the strength so strong mere force is feebleness-- thank you mr. cummings. at some point in between the cameo appearance of a foul-mouthed tim mcgraw and the attempted "humanizing" of muslims everywhere (they have *gasp* families and are not *gasp* all terrorists!) i was struck with the realization that i was sitting in a theatre. in atlanta. watching a movie. i wasn't, in fact, there in the desert with jamie and jen and chris and jason. i wasn't in saudi arabi watching from a birds eye view as the inner workings of the royal family unfolded in front of me. i was safe and sound in an airconditioned building in georgia. amazing.

i love that about the movies. i love when i forget where i am, when i have a moment amidst the magic of the flickering lights of the projector where i realize just a moment before i was somewhere else. i was on the streets of riyadh with heightened senses waiting for the next attack. i was holding my breathe for minutes at a time, totally engrossed in the story-- no matter how implausible it might be. the strength of the cinema-- and the reason it will never be put out of business by DVDs or home "theatre" systems-- will always be its ability to transport patrons to another place and time. and it is why i-- and others-- continue to pay ever-increasing sums of money to see images on the big screen. put simply we love the movies.

but there is a downside, as with any relationship. what i hate about the movies actually doesn't have anything to do with the movies. it has to do with movie patrons. inconsiderate-noisy-perhaps-mentally-challenged-movie patrons. first, i hate when people bring infants or toddlers to the theatre. not to G-rated offerings like cars or even the newly minted PG designated franchises like harry potter and the golden compass. i mean crying, fussy babies at R-rated films. i don't want to listen to your toddler whine during the impactful turning points of a movie about war! leave the kids at home. and if you can't afford a babysitter than you probably shouldn't be spending $9 on a ticket to a poorly reviewed movie on a sunday afternoon.

children aren't the only offenders in this regard, however. calling all adults: let's have a discussion about appropriate times to talk during a movie, ok? are you listening? the appropriate time to discuss and recap the finer points of the screenplay is AFTER the credits are rolling. i hate listening to the guy two rows behind me trying to sound cool by explaining to his girlfriend the patton reference that chris cooper just made. dude, she doesn't get it! nor does she care to get it! she is there to see jamie foxx, not to understand the finer points of u.s.-saudi relations. just let it go. also, while i am fired up, i hate people who talk on the phone, unwrap food of varying types, cough constantly (bring a lozange for pete's sake!), or choose to sit in the middle of a crowded row and then get up more than once to go to the bathroom and disrupt the movie-going experience of at least 15 other people. let's learn some manners people! think of your fellow patron. sit down. don't move. shut up. and leave the kids at home.

maybe, if we all work together, we can turn this conflicting romance into nothing but love. nothing but love baby!

coming soon

get ready peeps.

inspired by LJ and my need to communicate, a blog is coming.

look forward to discussions of important education policy initiatives, music industry trickery, political musings, television craziness, musical theatre happenings, and other disparate, unrelated- yet insightful- discussions of the world.

coming at you live from the ATL.