The good times

This morning before work, I was flipping through the channels and 13 Going on 30 was on. Awesome! Sadly, I had to leave before the big dance number. A few days ago, one of the boys in my tap class illustrated his ability to moonwalk, even though he was born well after the move was introduced. In tap the other night, my teacher and I started doing an old routine to "The Way You Make Me Feel."

So Michael Jackson was in the front of my mind when I came home today and saw that he had died. I was surprised at how upset I got when Wolf Blitzer said the news. For those of us who grew up in the 80s, Michael Jackson was just such a huge part of our childhoods. He pervaded everything. One of my earliest memories is being freaked out by the video for "Thriller." (I still can't deal with the ending of it.) (And why the hell did my parents let 4-year-old me watch it?)

But still, over the years he became someone different from who he was when I was younger. He made great music, but was also something of a total nutcase. Linda Holmes does a good job summing up my feelings in an article she wrote, though she doesn't include my uncomfortableness about the child abuse allegations.

Anyway, so I'm just going to include his "Smooth Criminal" video. It's the looong version, from the movie Moonwalker, which I remember watching with my sister. The movie is made of crazy; seriously, just check out the description in Wikipedia. But this criminal is totally awesome. The dancing really gets going around 6:40.



I lied. I'm also including the "Say Say Say" video. I don't care how good (or not) the song is; I just find Paul and Michael adorable in it. Plus, I've heard that Jackson left Sir Paul 50% of the Beatles catalog in his will. I hope that's true.

This is why I don't listen to that many commentaries

I've been watching The Adventures of Pete & Pete on DVD lately. I loved that show in college, so it's been fun to go back and watch again. It's an odd show; it's one that's definitely set in its own universe--maybe a bit ahead of its time. It also has a great guest cast--Steve Buscemi, Janeane Garafalo, Michelle Trachtenberg, Rick Gomez (Luz from Band of Brothers!), Bebe Neuwirth, and so on.

Anyway, one of the recurring themes is whether the older Pete, who's in maybe 9th grade, and his best friend Ellen will get together. They keep coming close, then backing off. Over and over. I can't remember whether it's ever resolved. Anyway, last night I got to my favorite episode (and, as it turns out, the favorite episode of the series creators), "Yellow Fever," about a bus ride to field trip. (It includes one of my favorite lines ever: "Passengers will refrain from killing my soul. Thank you.") And it had commentary! I was hoping they would discuss the Pete-Ellen relationship.

Unfortunately, they didn't. The issue is that they recorded the commentary fairly recently, 10+ years after the show was actually made. So there was a lot of reminiscing about the actors, and much less about the plot of the show. I got frustrated after the first 10 minutes, so maybe they did address their feelings about Pete and Ellen, and I just missed it.

But still. Some backstage info is fun, but I like getting the creators' take on, you know, the plot. Sigh.

Friends forever, indeed

Mark-Paul Gosselaar has rewon my heart. I was always a Zack girl growing up. Loved him. How can you not? Like everyone else my age, I've seen every episode of Saved by the Bell numerous times and still see every actor as their characters. (True story: In middle school, a friend and I went to the mall to get the autographs of the stars. We were too back in line, though, so they left before we got up there. My friend actually broke down and cried.) So how awesome was it for Mark-Paul Gosselaar to embrace his past on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon?



(You can read an interview with the background on the interview here.)

My favorite part is probably when he pulls out the phone. One of my favorite stories from volunteering at the National Museum of American History is when a couple of teenage girls came up and asked me whether we had any "Zack Morris phones." Of course, I knew exactly what she was talking about. (And no, I don't believe NMAH has one on display. If so, I hope to God that when they display it, they give a shout-out to SBTB.

Anyway, reunion, whoo!

Maybe I should start just randomly buying cast recordings, to help

The Washington Post had an interesting story today about cast albums. Admittedly, I own quite a few, and it makes me sad to see how it's becoming harder and harder to produce them. I can't imagine the time when songs from musical theater was popular music, but there was such a time, and it's sad that we're so far past that. There are jukebox musicals, which take popular music and turn it into a musical (and I admit that I'd rather people buy ABBA Gold than the cast recording of Mamma Mia!), but I wonder whether that gets people to see other shows. I somehow doubt it. It is encouraging to see people snapping up copies of CDs at shows...they need to continue to be made. It's how I relive those experiences; I can't imagine seeing a show that really moves me, and not be able to listen to the songs over and over again.

And it's nuts to think that there used to be many versions of shows recorded. Do they still make Broadway and London recordings of shows? I mean, at one point, I had the London, Broadway, Complete Symphonic, and 10th Anniversary recordings of Les Mis. I can't imagine that they'd do that these days. Unfortunately.

(I don't have the Broadway version anymore. What's the point? No Michael Ball.)

How DO I solve this? (Hint: DVR)

Why do the tv gods hate me? Tomorrow night is a veritable bonanza of shows I want to watch. I already knew the Tonys would be on--with Neil Patrick Harris hosting. Awesome! I'm one of the 10 people who regularly watches the Tonys, so I was already psyched. But then I realized that some idiot at BBC America scheduled the finale of Any Dream Will Do, which is a 2-year-old reality show casting for the part of Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. And of course I'm watching. How can I not? Some of my earliest memories involve listening to that record. My favorite, Daniel Boys, was tragically cut a few weeks ago (why, Andrew Lloyd Webber, why?) and I've been spoiled on who wins for ages, but I can't miss this show! And afterwards, they're starting to air How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, which was done the year before ADWD and cast the role of Maria in The Sound of Music. Awesome! Surely the people at BBC America had to realize the people who watch shows casting roles in West End productions would want to watch the Tonys, correct? It can't be that big an audience that they think it's a smart idea to split it, right?

And then I was going through the "What to Watch" in last week's Entertainment Weekly when I see that the first episode of The Next Food Network Star ALSO airs tomorrow night. Good Lord, people! Thank God for my dual-tuner DVR.