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.

Carnal embrace and other topics

I first saw Arcadia when I was 17, on a trip to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival with my high school drama class. I enjoyed it, but was confused. In the play, Stoppard addresses concepts like chaos theory and predeterminism and art vs. science. Fortunately, he does it in an engaging way and has some fantastic characters discussing it, meaning that Barb At 17 liked it, if she didn't quite grasp it. In the years since, it's the final image of the play that's stuck with me.

I saw it again last night at the Folger, and again, it's going to be that last image that sticks with me. I appreciated the other elements (and understood them) much better this time around (it's amazing what 13 years will do!), but still...that last image, and all that it symbolizes, is what gets me. It really brings together the themes of the play, but in a poetic way. Love it.

The actors did a fantastic job. Erin Weaver, as the 13-year-old Thomasina in the 1809 world, was a bit over the top, particularly for the last few scenes, when she's supposed to be 16, but I never doubted her relationship with her tutor, Septimus Hodge (Cody Nickell, who has just fabulous hair), which is an important point. Nickell was awesome; it has to be a gratifying role--he's funny and charming and mischievous and a bit of a rake. His is a character easy to fall for. (Let's just say that yes, I did check out Nickell's website. And yes, he is married. Of course.)

The characters in modern times were good as well. I was actually probably most impressed by Peter Stray, who played Valentine. It's a hard character--he's clearly a smart guy, but has to also be completely dense about the literature side of things. When he's first introduced, he comes across as a fool, which he isn't. He's also quite likeable, and I loved his interactions with Hannah (Holly Twyford, who's apparently quite the fixture in DC theater; I've never seen her before and enjoyed her in this). (And holy crap, apparently Stray is Welsh. Fantastic!) (Also married. Of course.)

Seeing it made me wish I ushered at the Folger, just so I could see it a few more times, despite the long running time. And it is quite long. But it didn't feel it.

Also, that's not what Smithsonian ID badges look like

I saw Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian last night. It was enjoyable enough, even without having seen the first one (which is lost somewhere in my Netflix queue); it helped that I was in an easily amused mood. And really, any movie that has that much slapping of Ben Stiller is at least somewhat worthwhile. Of course, it also had huge plot holes (proximity to the tablet is what causes the objects to come to life, yes?), most of which I could ignore. I couldn't stop my horrified reaction to what they were doing to the museums, though. So much destruction! I can't even think about it without shuddering.

But what really annoyed me is the depiction of Stiller's character, Larry. Since the first movie, he's become a successful inventor, complete with infomercials (win!). Naturally, this is a bad thing. You can tell because he only makes it back to the museum every couple of months, answers his phone a lot, and an assistant says that he'll have to cancel his daughter's birthday to help prepare for a big presentation (though Larry goes off to work on it by himself). Obviously he has sold out and is now without joy. Because being successful is bad, kids. I'm certainly not one to condone working insane hours (she says, in the midst of spending a good chunk of the holiday doing work), but starting a successful is not a bad thing. I'm sure there are people who are happy being night watchmen at museums, and quite possibly Larry is one of these people, but the message left an overall bad taste in my mouth.

On the other hand, the movie did have Amy Adams. She can do no wrong. Love! In fact, let's all feel better by watching her sing "That's How You Know" in Enchanted:

NPH FTW!

You know, I didn't think it could get better than Hugh Jackman hosting the Tonys. I was wrong. This year's host is...wait for it...

Neil Patrick Harris. Epic win.

This is going to legendary.

Running behind

So at some point, I'll post something. Maybe about a couple of books I read! Or some plays I've seen! Or the end of the tv season!

You'll just have to wait and see. Perhaps at some point I'll have time to post. That'd be nice. I imagine it'd be therapeutic to get those thoughts out of my head--like how Dumbledore used the Pensieve. Alas, tonight it is not meant to be.

Biblical years: The showdown

I just finished reading My Jesus Year, about an Orthodox Jew who spends a year going to Christian churches and trying to experience Christianity to help him be a better Jew. Fittingly enough, I read The Year of Living Biblically, about an atheist who spends a year living by all the rules found in the Bible (Old and New Testaments). It was interesting reading them back-to-back the way that I did; similar topics, theoretically similar writing styles. Except that I liked YoLB much more than MJY.

I found Jacobs's journey in YoLB much more interesting and relatable than Cohen's in MJY. For one thing, it seemed that Jacobs actually had a journey. As he went through the motions of doing what the Bible said, it actually sunk in (to a certain extent). It was easy to see him start to appreciate taking time to pray, and the benefits of being grateful. By the end of the book, he had grown from the person he was at the beginning.

The same can't be said of Cohen in MJY. He states that he's a rebellious Orthodox Jew, but absolutely nothing about his behavior illustrates this. He still follows the Orthodox laws. His biggest rebellion seems to be that he's interested in seeing what goes on in a church. It's frustrating, because there's a lot about this that could be interesting. He talks a lot about his mother's death when he was a teenager and how this affected his faith at the time...but we jump from that to him in the present, in a different religious mindset. How did this happen? I have no idea. And while he claims that he's trying to understand Christianity, what's actually included in the book shows no indication of it. The episodes included involve him experiencing the most extreme ends of Christianity--snake handling, mega-churches and revivals in stadiums, that sort of thing.

At the beginning of the book, he's at a more typical service and gets upset that the minister is preaching Old Testament passages; he's upset because that's the Jewish part of the Bible, and this Christian minister has no right to interpret it, particularly to interpret it differently than Talmudic scholars. But toward the end of the book, he's in another mainstream Protestant service and says that Christian interpretation of the Old Testament no longer bother him. Why not? Because he's just become immune to it, after experiencing it for a year? Did his perspective actually change? I have no idea!

But really, it boils down to him wanting to experience Christianity without ever even trying to believe in Jesus as the Son of God. Now, I'm not saying that he should convert, but it left a bad taste in my mouth when he wound up not being particularly moved by Christmas, even after admitting appreciating the midnight service--to me, the most moving, spiritual part of the holiday. Well, of course he's left cold by Christmas! He knows it's a material holiday and while he acknowledges that there is a spiritual component...he just kind of ignores it.

Plus, he tries to be funny, but he tries in a way that's obvious. Jacobs's writing is more easy, more naturally amusing. When Cohen includes a line that's humorous, the effort is obvious.

It just bums me out because I think Cohen's book had so much potential. It just totally didn't live up to it. The Year of Living Biblically, though, is totally worth the time. And while My Jesus Year has some interesting, thought-provoking moments, they're just too few and far between to make it worth your while.

(I'd also recommend Bill Wood's review of My Jesus Year on Amazon. Reading it after writing this entry, I find myself thinking, "Yes, exactly!")