Hedwig + Tony

Many years ago I watched a Sundance stunner with a group of people - I should say half watched since crammed in a dorm room with a bunch of chit-chatty folks isn't the best for fully absorbing a movie. Looking back, I had appreciated the lead performance, and loved how the musical numbers and the costumes combined to make something just as dynamic as Moulin Rouge or Rent, but made at a tenth (or less) of the budget.

I couldn't remember much else about the story - Fans of the movie know I was missing a lot.

Then sometime last year a remarkable rumor began swirling around that said film was getting the revival treatment starring Barney Stinson aka Dr. Horrible aka Doogie Howser. With such a cool development, I thought, "I really gotta watch Hedwig and The Angry Inch again".

And so I did, and it has since debuted on Broadway, and last month the revival of Hedwig And The Angry Inch nabbed nine Tony award nominations, including one for Neil Patrick Harris.

Jealousy will be reserved for those able to catch NPH as Hedwig - a remarkable character still electric  in film form 13 years later. I can't even imagine seeing those songs performed live. For awhile I was trying to scheme a way to hitch along with my G-ma when she went to New York for her high school reunion in June. I'd pop down to NYC, see Hedwig, and then she could meet me on The Great White Way to check out Les Miserables for the second time. It would be truly splendid, but highly unlikely.


For those not able to fly to NYC you could still check out the movie, if you haven't already.

Not to be outdone by Mr. "Nothing Suits Me Like A Suit", John Cameron Mitchell, the first Hedwig, is magnetic. He wrote, directed, and stars as the title role, which is all based on the show he originated in an Off-Broadway production.

Mitchell (recognizable to all those Girls fans as Hannah's would be editor) effortlessly moves around as Hedwig, like they are one and the same, belting undeniably catchy tunes. I watched the movie again last month and the spirit rousing, power anthem, "Wig In A Box" has been lodged in my brain ever since.

Hedwig performs across America in various dives (bars, diners, or wherever people gather it seems) and the audience follows along as in between the songs she tells the story of her life. We find out how someone from Germany ends up as an underground performer that even has fans showing up to performances in the USA boasting large paper yellow wigs - a tip of the hat to Hedwig's greatest accessory.  Michael Pitt is part of that equation, so the tale also has that going for it.

From being transgendered to growing up in a communist state, all of Hedwig's stories are told with earnestness. Those heavier topics cause a lot of strife for all the characters, but just like the rest of us watching the movie who find modes of coping, the entire movie is equally told with excellent humor set up as an extended kick ass rock show. Music and laughs, nothing better than that. Many of the sequences left me longing for the good old days of MTV music videos.

The Broadway production may be all the buzz right now, but the stage can not capture a great cultural film moment like Hedwig swigging a Zima on a pile of tires, then cutting to her performing on The Rosie O'Donnell Show. That is the early 2000's in a nutshell.

On the other hand, the newest production with NPH in the lead definitely secures Hedwig as an icon of the stage, that can be adaptable and relatable in any decade. 

Until next time. 

Check out the Tony Awards hosted by Mr. Hugh Jackman on June 8th.

Listing: Meet Me At The Crossroads

[My new wallpaper for everything.]

While the Winter Olympics are dominating NBC, the networks regular scheduled programming is taking to the Net.  Anyone not interested in the cold and snowy (somewhat) conditions of Sochi can keep warm with the Texas spirit brought back to life by a few folks from Dillon.

In a master stroke of genius, Jason Katims decided to spend the Olympics hiatus bringing together two of his critically acclaimed, yet criminally under-watched television masterpieces  - yeah, that's right, the worlds of Parenthood and Friday Night Lights are converging right now.

There is no way to properly explain the amount of happiness that filled my heart when I clicked onto the 18 minute "webisode" and found Landry (aka Lance) jamming with his band Crucifictorious at the Luncheonette recording studio and Amber donning some East Dillon Lions apparel - dreams brought to reality.

People may argue that there are continuity issues - I'm already reading complaints by some who wonder how Amber could possibly be friends with Becky - but hey, let's not take it so seriously!  This is simply an opportunity to create a fun filled inside joke for anyone who loves both of these shows.

Boy, are there many references to savor, specifically, a shout out to The Landing Strip and a certain "local car dealership". Also, Billy Riggins playing football with Max is precious, and let's get serious, Landry would be really good for Amber.

For those out of the loop on these two shows, I've ranted about this many times before, so make these your next TV show obsession faster than you can say Riggins Rigs.

  (Check out Friday Night At The Luncheonette here.) 

All this talk of merging got me thinking about those great crossover episodes from years past. They always seemed to be thrown in during sweeps or when the network was trying to get viewers hooked on some new show. Some from my childhood are marvelous, but it seems like now those types of episodes are reserved for the dramatics of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice. Oh, what I would have given to somehow find Tracy Jordan hanging out with Walt Jr.

Let's remember the good times, and those classic TV crossover episodes from the days of yore:

The Simpsons Meets The X-Files

"The Springfield Files" episode of The Simpsons may have entirely went over my head back in the day, since I had never seen The X-Files, but that didn't stop it from becoming (and still being) my favorite episode from the long running cartoon.

Now that I have successfully completed getting sucked into all the adventures of Dana Scully and Fox Mulder (best. name.) I can properly fan-girl out about this classic crossover.

The episode finds Homer, after a night at Moe's, traversing the outskirts of Springfield only to have a close encounter with, what he believes, is an alien. Obviously, since they also had their own hit TV show at the time, Scully and Spooky Mulder are called in to investigate.

Sometimes crossover episodes are awkward and forced. For this episode the setting is a cartoon world that has no limits to creativity and wackiness, and that's what makes this pairing absolutely perfect.

Mad About You Meets Friends

Several years before she became part of the six single best friends living the dream in NYC, Lisa Kudrow played a role on another successful NBC show, Mad About You.

Once she got the gig playing Phoebe Buffay, what's the network to do? Of course! Make the characters twin sisters! Kudrow played double duty starring on Friends, as the lovably kooky Phoebe, and still popping back up every so often on Mad About You as Ursula the flighty waitress.

The episodes of Friends where Ursula would pop up to cause Phoebe some sort of grief were always hilarious. Just like when they both dated Sean Penn that one time - he thought he could dump Ursula, start it up with Phoebe, but he could only look at her without his glasses, because she would look fuzzy and he could call her "Blur-sula". Oh the hyjynk!

Phoebe ended up married to Paul Rudd, so it all really worked out for everyone.

Full House Meets Family Matters

If there could only be one cultural icon to represent each decade of television , without a doubt the 50s would be represented by Lucille Ball, the 70s would be Mary Tyler Moore, and the 90s would have to be all about Steve Urkel.

"Did I do that?" Yes, Urkel, you did. The fact that this was a character that rocked the nation in high waisted pants and suspenders makes me elated.

For a time it seemed like you could find Urkel crossing over to just about every TV show, but facing down Uncle Jesse, cardigan to sweater vest, has to be the all time greatest. Well, besides when he turns into the hunky Stefan Urkel. PLEASE tell me Jaleel White has a thousand Emmys for that transformation alone.


I seem to remember an instance where Salem, from Sabrina The Teenage Witch, spent an entire night crossing over to each show on the T.G.I.F. line-up. Didn't this have something to do with Boy Meets World going back in time to WWII?

There was no video proof on the internet to back this assertion up, so it will just have to remain in the illustrious television crossover film vault and, of course, in our memories.

Until next time.

For Your Consideration: Spooky Movie Edition

There is something particularity jarring about a child screaming. The majority of modern horror movies don’t understand that a scare can come from something that simple. 

Thrilling audiences by channeling those old fashioned, more commonplace fears has seen a resurgence in supernatural chillers like the The Conjuring and Paranormal Activity. More often though, horror movies tend to be about outlandish murder and torture. Most notably, "show me the blood!" was the key to the popular Saw and Hostel enterprises, and just this year in The Purge and You're Next.

Let's bring back more of those subtle scares! One way to start would be to check out a movie from 1961, based on Henry James' story, The Turn Of The Screw. It may be missing all the blood and guts we’ve grown accustomed to seeing in our favorite flicks around All Hallows Eve, but sometimes all it takes to send a chill up your spine is an eerie house and the unsettling sounds of a terrified child. In consideration for your new spooky favorite – The Innocents. Beware, after just one viewing, windows at night will become something to avoid.

In fact, the chilling tone is set within the first frame.  For 45 seconds, the screen is black and all that can be heard is the haunting voice of a singing child. Slowly, the blackness fades to the closeup of a panic stricken face, the star of this picture in fact, Deborah Kerr, who is quietly praying. It's a simple movie equation that religion + supernatural  = terror! (See also: The Exorcist) That's right, only a few minutes into a movie and you may already be leveled with fear, but keep watching.

Kerr plays Miss Giddens, a governess, who, after the dark opening, we find as she happily accepts her first position taking care of children in a country estate. These orphans have been left as the charges to a man more interested in remaining a bachelor, so he requests to be left completely alone and entirely hands off their care. Miss Giddens is unaware that the man's carelessness has unknowingly already caused harm.

All is well traveling out in the wide open country, with a towering mansion off in the distance, but not upon closer inspection. Within minutes of Miss Giddens' arrival in the massive garden surrounding the house, a soft voice calling out a girl’s name can be heard, so quietly both Miss Giddens, who looks perplexed, and the viewers wonder if anything was heard at all.

Quite suddenly, a joyous young girl runs up out of nowhere, who ends up having the same name of the voice we just (thought) we heard. There is no time wasted for the supernatural elements to begin. From the first minute on the property, anyone would want to jump in the screen and make Deborah Kerr run in the opposite direction.

Instead she heads into the massive household that is large enough to hold many secrets, but is bewitching to her, as she grew up under meager circumstances, so, she happily bounces through each of the magnificent rooms. Nothing odd to find here...yet.


Everything remains well until several days later, the girl is joined by her brother who has gotten expelled from his boarding school. It is the first of many mysterious circumstances.

Once the two siblings are joined together, odd events begin to torture Miss Giddens; she see's a woman in black hovering across the lake, a shadowy male figure on top of a bell tower, and a woman restlessly pacing the hallways. Unexplainable events happening around every corner definitely turns a normal game of hide and seek into 10 nerve wracking minutes for both Miss Giddens and the audience watching it unfold.

Kerr, who is most well known for The King and I, is far from her character who dances the night away in Siam. She spends the entire time on screen doing the demanding job of balancing the face of a joyful teacher with that of abject terror - she becomes a governess who is scared of the children she is looking after. More emphasis is put on the latter emotion as the history of a past governess and groundskeeper are revealed. These were two people the children cared for with an extra special affinity.

Those children are terrifying enough, but then there is the entire spooky atmosphere enhanced by the director, Jack Clayton. Dramatic camera angles, quick cuts, and intense close-ups on the actors faces makes the already unearthly story feel even more abstract and unreal.

Filmed in black and white, older scary movies are inherently creepy as it is, just in how that type of film makes shadowed corners seem especially dark. With that element already in place, each scene is constructed to get the audience to react with quick cuts to mysterious figures coming out of those shadows and adding terror to a scene with a toy clown in the attic. You know a story has reeled you in when every single instant in a movie, even a toy, makes you want to hide under the covers.

Besides the wonderful performances by the entire cast and all the creative, mind-bending filming techniques, what really makes this flick a  must see, and incredibly memorable, is the ambiguous nature of the story.  The additional assumptions that arise from this ambiguity, which will be different based on each person's interpretation, could be (for some) much more frightening than the obvious fear caused by a haunting.

Halloween is next week, so anyone looking for a new movie  to add to their spook-fest that will deliver more spine chilling moments than a traditional slasher flick,  look no further than The Innocents. Three days later, after seeing it for the first time, and I can still hear the slight scream of a child rattling in my ears.

Blockbusters Loss / All Of Our Gain

[Cheap Movie Memorabilia, yeah!]

It's becoming the end of an era; video stores are closing their doors right and left these days.

Being a believer in the faith of Netflix, I think I can declare that I have not stepped in a video store since my freshman year of college. There are many a tale of pilgrimaging down Broadway in Seattle to that sketch-ass Blockbuster that never had anything in! Quickly, I signed up for Netflix and never looked back.

Even though I literally bow down to Netflix on a daily basis, there is something to say about the experience of perusing the shelves of an actual store seeking out movies, instead of searching with our quickly typing fingers. Maybe I'm just old fashioned.

Currently the only thing that gets me into the physical realm of the diminishing world of video stores, is when they are closing down. Ironic, a little?

The greatest sign anyone could ever see; "$2.99! Everything Must Go!" Well, besides a sign that says, "Free Money. Hurry, I Need It Taken Off My Hands Fast!"

Yesterday, a sign much like the one described was seen outside of a closing Blockbuster, and I couldn't resist. At first it was discouraging to walk into a building that looked like a bomb hit it, but without fail, like a true champ, I walked out of that place with six class act films:

The Best Find

An All Time Favorite Movie, You Thought You Would Never Own: 

You Can Count On Me

Other Perfect Additions To A Movie Collection


Visually Stunning Costume Dramas:
  
Bright Star

Far From Heaven

Something Surprisingly Fantastic

Adam

Oscar Winning Ladies, Gone Cuckoo (a favorite category of mine)

Doubt
 

Notes On A Scandal 
 

   












Being stringent on my purchases over the last year has kept me from going hog wild buying movies, which I would like to do all the time! This was a good day to splurge, and I got all of these for under 15 bucks! Not too shabby.

When they said everything must go, they meant it. Posters were coming off the wall, and the store had boxes and boxes of these neat hard backed mini posters.

Really not sure what the original purpose for these were, but that didn't stop me from carting away with 10/$1 in hopes of using some of them in frames or for an art project. The picture above, shows a couple of them off!

Can I also say the nerdiest thing that happened? You are looking at a person who, at this moment, has both a subscription to Netflix...AND Blockbuster's online movie service thingy. How does that happen, you ask? Well, I got tricked, as usual, into a free month of their service.

On the good side, Tangled (currently a long wait on Netflix) is coming my way today thanks to Blockbuster, and by signing up, one movie I purchased yesterday was completely free! Although, MUST remember to cancel Blockbuster by May, or things will get very ridiculous.

Still Behind on BEDA, however I will be caught up by the end of today. For those keeping track: This post= April 5th!

Now & Then

(G-Ma Rita's "Banana" Posts + G-Ma Julie's Pin)

Perusing antique shops tops a list of the many ways I like to spend most afternoons. Any place crammed wall to wall with tacky whos-its and whats-its, and endless other treasures just waiting to be discovered, is a beacon to my eyes and will instantly draw me inside off of any sidewalk.

The thrill of the hunt rarely needs to be limited to shops already filled with belongings from strangers, sometimes the best booty can be gifted from your nearest and dearest.

I count myself lucky that throughout all of my 24 years on this planet (and hopefully for many years to come!), I have been able to have a life filled with grandparents. All of my parents' folks are still kickin' and I have been able to reap the benefits. Not only from their endless love and company, but I have tons of loot from digging through unwanted belongings in their own personal antique shops; their attics!

(Mom's 20-something scarf + clutch)

Family history and genealogy is fascinating, so I truly covet these items that used to belong to, mostly, my grandmothers. Over the years many of these things have become all time favorite pieces; from my "banana" shaped post earrings (or so I hear they look like bananas) and floral tea cups, to a gold floral pin (perfect for jazzing up boring dresses), and a clutch that, even after fifty years, still has a lil' sparkle left in-crested on the lace fabric. Even my mom has begun gifting things to me, including, a purple checkered scarf she picked up in Europe during the 70's.

To me, anything with a story, or just having the knowledge that it was owned by someone you love, makes any item just more special every time you wear it or have it near. It's a little representation of a person, a memory. (Side Note: This is how people become hoarders.)

(Great G-Ma's clutch)

Recently a possession, other than clothing and jewelry, was passed along into my safe keeping;  I now hold  my great-grandmothers recipes. All the secrets to the recipes of yore, neatly transcribed from a typewriter onto note cards, and placed, quite handily, in this great handcrafted wooden box.

Being a baking/cooking fiend as well, I couldn't ask for more in this memorable gift. The contents from this box runs the gamut, from an epic chocolate cake that my G-Ma makes for my birthday to "Overnight Layered Green Salad". Yeah...those folks from the 50's and 60's lived on various kinds of salads.

After testing out one tasty treat this past weekend (a Banana cake that got gobbled down in about 24 hours), I had an idea for a new mission: whenever I need to bring a food item to a party, I will be pulling a index card from this box. In the next weekend I will get my first chance to test this idea out, as we celebrate my grandpa's 80th birthday.

Whatever you love most, out of all those possessions we own, live it up with it in whatever way you can. Someday that story will live on and someone will cherish just knowing it was owned by you.