by Katie

In the TRUEST spirit of the holidays, I fully intend to slack off on the blogging this week. Except that I’m kind of trying to assemble some sort of “best of 2009″ and “stuff I remember from this decade even though 10 years is almost half of my life” lists, so look forward to those. Also to feeling very old.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and yours, and HAPPY NON-CHRISTIAN HOLIDAYS (EVEN THE ONES THAT ALREADY PASSED) to everyone. I hope you get many sweet gifts and take the opportunity to drink loads of wine with your families. That’s what we in the Bolton clan did tonight.

To further celebrate the holidays, I leave you with the intro to our family’s favorite Christmas comedy, “Bernard and the Genie.” It tells the story of an art buyer (played by Alan Cumming) who makes his company millions only to lose his job, and then learn his girlfriend is cheating on him with his best friend. Tragedy! BUT THEN Bernard awakens a genie (Lenny Henry, he of the fantastic pants) who’s been in trapped in a lamp for 2,000 years. As you can imagine, hilarity ensues.

I highly advise watching this movie NOW on Netflix. I know it’s there, and I know it’s worth it if you like holiday wackiness, 90s nostalgia, or the idea of knowing why sometimes I end imperative sentences with “ye.”

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

145. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (2009)
Leviathan, Book 1

Read By: Alan Cumming
Length: 8h 15m (448 pages)

Genre: Alternate Historical Fiction, Sci-Fi, Steampunk

Started: 30 November 2009
Finished: 03 December 2009

Where did it come from? The library.
Why do I have it? While I haven’t loved absolutely everything Scott Westerfeld’s written, I’ve really enjoyed enough of it that his new books will get read as a matter of course.

I bet none of your
war stories involve a huge
flying whale, do they?

On a related tip, when Fantasia 2000 came out, I saw it opening night in IMAX. During the Pines of Rome piece, a little kid – maybe 3 or 4 – who was sitting right in front of us and had otherwise been very well-behaved, busted out with a very loud, very emphatic “Mommy! Whales. Do. Not. FLY!” That kid’s probably 13 or so nowadays… I wonder how he’d feel about this book?

Summary: Leviathan tells the story of two young people on the eve of World War One. Deryn is a girl, and thus barred from military service, but she’s pretending to be a boy in order to join the British Air Force. However, the Air Force is not just Sopwiths, not by a long shot. In Westerfeld’s version of history, Darwin discovered not only the theory of evolution by natural selection, but also DNA, and since his time his followers have been building new life forms from the building blocks of others. The largest is the Leviathan, a giant zeppellin-like airship modeled on a whale (as well as a host of other creatures), and a more prestigious service assignment than a young midshipman could dare to hope for.

The other storyline follows Prince Alek of Austria-Hungary. When his parents are assassinated, he is hustled out of the castle by Count Volger, his father’s longtime advisor. In an instant, Alek has become an important pawn in a game of political maneuvering that he did not realize he even belonged to, and to escape to safety, they must flee unnoticed in a Walker – a mechanized battle robot.

Alek and Deryn’s stories intersect when the Leviathan is shot down near Alek’s hideout in Switzerland. Although the Darwinists and the Clankers are typically enemies, the two must become unlikely allies if either of them are to survive.

Review: Steampunk is not normally my cup of tea. Conceptually, I think it’s neat, and visually, steampunk-inspired stuff is typically gorgeous, but as a genre, it’s never done much to crank my gears. (Terrible pun fully intended.) So I was a little bit wary of Leviathan at the outset, but since Westerfeld’s generally pretty reliable, I decided to give it a go.

And I’m really glad I did. I quite enjoyed Leviathan; maybe because of Westerfeld’s skill at telling interesting stories with likable characters; maybe because it’s not in-your-face about its steampunkiness, and thus it reads more like historical fiction; maybe because I am a huge sucker for any time an author can sneak some biology into their fiction (see also: Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer, and Westerfeld’s own Peeps.) I had a great time listening for all of the little history of science references that Westerfeld snuck in throughout the book, and got to feel briefly smug every time I caught one.

Actually, Westerfeld managed to hit two of my buttons: not only am I a sucker for biology in fiction, I also really like the “girl disguises herself as a boy to enter military service” plot device (see also: Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness quartet, and L. A. Meyer’s Bloody Jack series.) Both Deryn and Alek were interesting and well-developed characters, and although I spent early chapters wanting to kick Alek in the shins and tell him to stop being such a moron, he’s at least got a believable excuse for his naivete.

I also enjoyed the setting; I haven’t read nearly as much fiction set in World War I as in World War II. Westerfeld helpfully includes an author’s note that lays out what parts of his story are true, what parts are based on truth but modified to fit his alternate world, and what parts were made up for the sake of the story.

Throughout the book, the action moves along at a good clip, managing to work the details and descriptive world-building into the story without slowing down the flow of the narrative. I was never totally emotionally involved in the story, but I was always interested, with the result that I tore through the audiobook much faster than normal. The ending was kind of abrupt – nothing is resolved, but the characters get to a temporary bit of safety and then the book just ends. I can see why the break was made where it was, but it’s still a little annoying – I would have definitely picked up the next book anyways, so the cliffhanger feels like a bit of overkill. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: It’s hard to recommend a book to others when I’m still surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did. Fans of steampunk or alternate history, or entertaining young adult novels with fast-moving adventure storylines will for sure want to pick this up. Otherwise, it sits at this strange boundary between sci-fi and historical fiction, and folks who are fans of one but not the other may find the crossover either really intriguing, or they may find it thoroughly annoying. I’m one of the former, happily, but I suspect reactions will vary.

This Review on LibraryThing | This Book on LibraryThing | This Book on Amazon

Other Reviews: Bermudaonion’s Weblog, Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog, A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy, Fantasy Book Critic, The Infinite Shelf, Karin’s Book Nook, My Favourite Books, Necromancy Never Pays, Neth Space, Stella Matutina, The Written World
Have you reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link and I’ll add it in.

First Line: The Austrian horses glinted in the moonlight, their riders standing tall in the saddle, swords raised.

Cover Thoughts: Eh. It’s really well-designed and interesting looking, and I like that it gives the impression of the interplay between the mechanical and the organic vessels of war. On the other hand, it’s a lot more aggressively steampunk than I think the book actually is. It’s all “Gears! Look at my gears! GEARS!”, which is not the impression I got from the actual story at all.

From the McHenry Brothers come a satirical version of World War II in which the Scottish defeat the German invasion of England. Chris (Ewan McGregor) dreams of the chance to join the army and fight in exciting new lands rather than be stuck in the slow paced village life he has grown up in. His chance comes when the three top Nazis hatch a plan to invade England by drilling under the English Channel and into the heart of London. With the entire British army stuck in Dunkirk and no military support to defend the country, Churchill issues a final radio broadcast from his bunker in Downing Street – a cry for help. But can the nation unite in time to make one last stand against Nazi forces? JACKBOOTS ON WHITEHALL boasts pioneering techniques in animation and the voices of a stellar cast including Ewan McGregor, Tom Wilkinson, Rosamund Pike, and Alan Cumming.

Source: Collider

Can anyone out there even remember how long it’s been since the original Mask film arrived in theatres? Well think of it this way. Jim Carrey was just starting to make a splash on the big screen and a little unknown actress named Cameron Diaz was cast as his love interest. The year was 1994.

Flash forward 11 painful years later and what are we left with. Probably the worst comic-book movie ever conceived and quite possibly the worst film I have seen in 5 years of covering the silver screen. It is that bad.

The sequel which bares little resemblance to the original finds Loki (Alan Cumming), creator of the Mask, banished to Earth to find his mask that has caused so much mischief. Loki’s father Odin (Bob Hoskins) is keeping a close eye on his disappointment of a son.

Meanwhile, cartoonist and would-be animator Tim Avery (Jamie Kennedy) is struggling to start a family with his eager wife, Tonya (Traylor Howard). Tim wants a big promotion at work before they have the baby Tonya has always wanted.

To make a long story short, Tim acquires the powers of the Mask and wows the big-wigs at work. After he scores big at work, Tim rushes home to make love to his wife but forgets to take off the mask. Thus we get “The Son of the Mask”.

Will Loki find Tim and his new son and finally regain his former glory and more importantly the mask? Will Tim ever find a happy ending?

Ok so the film has a plot, well, sort of.

What makes “Son of the Mask” so utterly painful to watch is how much it insults the audience that is watching this train wreck of a film. Every low-brow bathroom joke, bodily function and other things I don’t want to mention are passed off as rip-roaring comedy.

There is a sort of zany cartoon element to the child in the film who faces off against a “Mask-enhanced” dog for the father’s affection. But the whole scenario is so out of this world that it belongs in a cartoon. The scenario being played out in real-life and CGI just seems utterly wrong.

I can say for a fact there wasn’t anything I liked in this film. The acting was awful, the effects were in poor taste and nothing was funny.

I would suggest that if you have to relive the adventures of the Mask, stay home, lock the door, microwave some popcorn and rent the original. I shudder to think some people actually wanted to see this flick.

This is probably the worst film I have ever seen! And that includes all seven Deathstalker movies.

0 out of 5

So Says the Soothsayer.

The band Du Jour from the brilliant 2001 satire Josie and the Pussycats (I’m not kidding, see it stat if you haven’t already) likes your back door.

This clip shows the entire opening sequence of the movie, including the scandalously hilarious number “Backdoor Lover,” and the set up for the rising action in the film. A truly great movie and a wickedly funny song, if you like parody and loathe pop cultural brainwshing, you will really enjoy this clip.

Also, as a bonus, this video is full of cute, funny boys being adorable. My favorite is Seth. “Hey, little girl, beauty secrets?” (flashes peace sign and makes kissy face.) Yay, I love this movie!!

83rd Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2009 has a new route! For the first time ever, the parade route will bypass Broadway and travel down 7th and 6th Avenue’s to Macy’s in Herald Square.

Stars joining the line-up include Bello, Grandma and the cast of the Big Apple Circus, Andrea Bocelli, Boys Like Girls, Alan Cumming, Billy Currington, DJ Lance Rock and the cast of Yo Gabba Gabba!, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots, Gloria Gaynor, Sarah Hughes, Kermit the Frog and Tiffany Thornton, Jane Krakowski, Cyndi Lauper, Ziggy Marley with Judah Marley, Katharine McPhee, Miss America 2009 – Katie Stam, the cast and Muppets of Sesame Street, Mitchel Musso, Keke Palmer, The Pizzarelli Quartet, Jay Sean and Carly Simon.

Enchantment returns this November as Macy’s magical procession of pomp and pageantry ushers in the holiday season at the 83rd Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. From the trumpeting of the time-honored phrase Let’s Have a Parade. to the first glimpse of one of Macy’s signature giant helium balloons, the march of whimsy will delight more than 3.5 million spectators lining the streets of Manhattan and more than 50 million viewers nationwide. America’s Parade steps to the beat of its own drums on Thursday, November 26th at 9:00 AM bringing with it 8,000 participants including the nation’s best marching bands, jaw-dropping performance groups, cheerleaders, clowns, giant balloons, fanciful floats and the biggest star of them all, the one-and-only Santa Claus.

From a small band of Macy’s employees gathered in 1924 to commemorate the holiday season to a tradition that has delighted millions for generations, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is truly an icon of American popular culture. Changing with the times from a Parade of floats, zoo animals, clowns and bands that marched down a more than 5- mile route to a Parade filled with giant helium balloon characters, celebrities, and more; the Macy’s Parade this year will mark yet another milestone moment. Having marched down parts of Broadway for 82 years, the 2009 procession will be the first to bypass Broadway in the history of the Parade. Over the years, the Macy’s Parade route has changed five times as it traveled through Manhattan. From the initial Harlem step-off site in the mid 1920s to its current 77th Street starting line, the Parade route has evolved with the city.

The 2009 Macy’s Parade will begin at 77th Street and Central Park West, travel down to Columbus Circle where it will turn onto Central Park South. Once the Parade reaches 7th Avenue it will turn once more and march down 7th Avenue through Times Square to 42nd Street. At the famed intersection, it will turn east to 6th Avenue and begin its final march down the Avenue of the Americas to 34th Street, where it will turn towards Macy’s famed flagship and end at 7th Avenue marking a 2.65-mile march.

“This is a milestone year for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” said Robin Hall, executive producer of Macy’s National Events. “Dramatic changes in the mid-town landscape will divert us for the first time from the fabled Broadway route we have followed since our first Parade in 1924. However, our course will remain true and the Parade will continue to entertain millions as Spider-Man returns to the sky and the first new Santa Float in almost half a century makes its debut.”

The 83rd Annual Macy’s Parade will be an unparalleled crowd-pleasing spectacle that features 1,500 cheerleaders, dancers, singers and performers; 800 clowns; 15 giant character helium balloons; 35 novelty/ornament balloons, balloonheads and balloonicles; 10 marching bands; 24 floats; and a host of celebrity performers.

Rise of the Giants
The sky above the streets of Manhattan will be alive once more filled with colorful friends as the Parade’s signature giant helium character balloons soar on Thanksgiving morning. The line-up of giants features a who’s who of children’s classic characters from comic book superheroes to the stars of television, films and American pop culture. New arrivals to the Thanksgiving Day balloonfest are everyone’s favorite neighborhood super-hero™, the web slinger himself, Spider-Man®; the ever cute and cuddly Pillsbury Doughboy®; America’s favorite clown Ronald McDonald®; and the top mouse on deck, Sailor Mickey Mouse.

Making a vaunted return to the Parade to complete the 15 giant balloon line-up are some of the nation’s most favorite characters including Abby Cadabby, Buzz Lightyear, Dora the Explorer™, Flying Ace Snoopy, Horton, Kermit the Frog™, Pikachu™, Shrek®, Smurf, SpongeBob SquarePants™ and Supercute Hello Kitty®. These giant balloons are only one portion of the buoyant procession; the Macy’s Parade also boasts 35 novelty/ornament balloons and balloonicles, which can range in size from 12 to 25 feet tall and give the line of march a tiered perspective. The Macy’s Parade features a team of Balloonatics – balloon experts who create, maintain and inflate the Parade’s balloon line up. A fun bunch, the Parade Balloonatics are known to give lessons in balloon speak to spectators every year. Two very important facts should be known when referring to the Parade’s giant helium characters. One is that although the Parade’s signature balloons seem to float in the air, they are indeed balloons – not floats. The second and most important is that Macy’s does not blow up the balloons – that would be very disappointing to millions who would not get to see them fly on Parade day…that’s why they are inflated!

Floating Scenes of Wonder
Riding down the street on Thanksgiving Day will be the Parade’s magical lineup of floats that feature landscapes of fantasy. These moving stages transport millions of spectators on unexpected journeys. The new float line-up includes a salute to the heroes in our everyday lives on the Local Heroes Helping Everyday float; a magical land where friends come to life to play and dance on the There’s A Party in My City float, and the first new Santa’s Sleigh in more than 40 years.

The dazzling stages that ride down the streets of New York City each year take months of painstaking work by the skilled artisans of the Macy’s Parade Studio. The gifted Studio team design and build each float from the ground up. Wood, foam and other materials are the skeleton that gives life to this fleet of fantasy. In addition to the three new stages, 21 floats will make a return appearance to the line up this Thanksgiving.

The returning float roster includes 123 Sesame Street, Big Apple, Bridge To The Future, Bountiful Harvest Cornucopia, The Care Bears™ Winter Fun-derland, Castle of Dreams, Cele-bear-ate Hugs Worldwide, Doodlebug, Jolly Polly Pirate Ship, M&M’s® Chocolate Candies on Broadway, Marion-Carol Showboat, Musical Innovation Bigger Than Life, Pep Squad, Shine On, The Smurfs™, Snoopy’s Doghouse, Spirit of Liberty, Tom Turkey, The True Spirit of Thanksgiving, Winter Wonderland in Central Park and Woodland Family Gathering. In addition, the famed Speed Racer Mach 5 will be making a special appearance in the line of march this year.

Drum Roll Please
Strike up the band and pump up the volume, as the Parade’s signature marching bands hit the perfect rhythm this Thanksgiving. The musical heartbeat of the Parade, the marching bands and students representing their home states in this year’s holiday spectacular are the nation’s highest caliber musical and marching talents. Ready to step to the beat are Adair County High School from Columbia, Kentucky; Frank W. Ballou Senior High School from Washington, DC; Choctawhatchee High School from Fort Walton Beach, FL; Franklin Regional High School from Murrysville, PA; Harrison High School from Kennesaw, GA; Morgantown High School from Morgantown, WV; Pickerington Central High School from Pickerington, OH; Pittsburg High School from Pittsburg, CA; Towson University from Towson, MD; and Macy’s Great American Marching Band featuring students from all fifty states.

Taking Center Stage
Adding pomp, cheer, spins, flips and dips to the holiday revelry are some of the nation’s best performance groups. From the cheerleaders to a one-of-a kind group of peddlers, the Parade features a host of unique performers. Set to wow the crowds are performers from the Big Apple Circus, Chinese American Community Center Folk Dance Troupe, Mike Miller Dance Team, NETSational Seniors & NETS Kids Dance Team, The Purple Peddlers, Varsity Spirit, Spirit of Long Island Mounted Drill Team, Stagedoor Manor, and USA Jump Rope.

Stars on 34th Street
Celebrating the start of the holiday season will be performers from stage, screen and music riding down the streets of New York City to Macy’s famed home on 34th Street. The stars joining the line-up include Bello, Grandma and the cast of the Big Apple Circus, Andrea Bocelli, Boys Like Girls, Alan Cumming, Billy Currington, DJ Lance Rock and the cast of Yo Gabba Gabba!, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots, Gloria Gaynor, Sarah Hughes, Kermit the Frog and Tiffany Thornton, Jane Krakowski, Cyndi Lauper, Ziggy Marley with Judah Marley, Katharine McPhee, Miss America 2009 – Katie Stam, the cast and Muppets of Sesame Street, Mitchel Musso, Keke Palmer, The Pizzarelli Quartet, Jay Sean and Carly Simon.

Nationwide Star
From coast to coast, Americans will gather around the television to share in the magic of the Parade via the national broadcast on NBC-TV. One of the nation’s most viewed events, NBC’s Emmy® Award winning telecast of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will be hosted by TODAY’s Matt Lauer, Meredith Viera and Al Roker. The telecast will air from 9:00 AM to 12 Noon in each of the four time zones in the continental United States. Star power on Thanksgiving morning will include performances from some of the hottest Broadway shows including Billy Elliot, Bye Bye Birdie, Hair, and Shrek. In addition, the world-famous Radio City Rockettes® will return to kick in the start of the holiday season.

A Holiday Treat for Children Everywhere, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade’s finale features the biggest star of all, the one-and-only Santa Claus. As his sleigh comes into view, Macy’s will wish everyone “Happy Holidays” and a “Merry Christmas.”

Source and Photos: Macy’s

Enjoy!

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Aguilera will play “an ambitious small-town girl with a big voice” who tries to escape a hollow past by performing in a neo-burlesque club in Los Angeles. The film hopes to be Moulin Rouge meets Cabaret, with established songs that will be updated and worked into dance numbers.

Burlesque stars Christina Aguilera, Cher, Stanley Tucci, Cam Gigandet, Kristen Bell, Julianne Hough, Alan Cumming, Eric Dane and will be released on 24th November 2010. Steven Antin directs.

Pacific Coast News had the pics.

Besties Michele Weinberger and Romy White; image courtesy of infoplease.com

Tonight’s post is in honor of girlfriends. Here’s to the ladies who are supportive, give us perspective, and make us laugh. I intend to have some quality time with one of my close ladyfriends this weekend. Kristen and I are gonna boycott New Moon and catch a matinee showing of Precious instead.

So, when we think about Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” in conjunction with Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, the daffy blonde buddy comedy starring actresses who went to Harvard and Vassar, most people are probably imagining this scene.

Admittedly I find this scene, wherein the nerdy millionaire Sandy Frink (played by Alan Cumming) finally gets his high school crush Michele Weinberger (played by Lisa Kudrow) to dance with him at their ten-year reunion, to be silly and charming. And I also appreciate that Michelle won’t dance without her BFF and roomie Romy White (played by Mira Sorvino). But there’s a bit of heterosexual recouperation in this configuration. While the boy has to share the girl with another girl, he still gets the girl. If only Janeane Garofalo’s outcast Heather Mooney got to dance with them instead. She’s clearly my favorite character.

Man, I never thought I’d argue that a romantic assemblage that involved Alan Cumming resulted in heterosexual recouperation. The proudly bisexual actor seems to delight in queering everything around him. I am usually delighted as well.

Alan Cumming's cologne -- pun intended; image courtesy of mirror.co.uk

But I’m referring to this scene.

Apart from the obvious, at-times hilarious age disparity between the thirtysomething actors and the teenaged versions of their characters, I find this scene to be really sweet and moving. For me it captures how hard it is to be the weird girl and how sometimes having a like-minded ally is as essential as air or water. Also, I think it’s hella queer, even if lesbianism is something the girls claim to have ruled out (at least if they’re still single at 30). To review.

1. Rather than match their corsages with some dudes’ cumberbands, they chose to go as each other’s dates and have coordinated their outfits accordingly. In doing so, they are announcing themselves as a pair instead of as two high school girls who couldn’t get boys to take them to the prom.
2. Just as they served as each other’s date, I have no reason to believe that they didn’t make the outfits themselves. It is well-established that Romy and Michele make their own clothes, eventually opening their own boutique at the end of the movie (with, ugh, Sandy’s money).
3. Romy and Michelle are both dressed as Madonna. Romy is representing the Material Girl’s be-Gaultier‘ed Blonde Ambition period and Michelle staying true to her early Boy Toy heyday. Each girl is an individual, but complements the other.
4. By aligning themselves with the Material Girl, they are connecting themselves to girl fandom and gay iconography.
5. By dancing to Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time,” they link up with another 80s pop star with a memorable look, a notable girl fan base, and a big LGBTQI following.
6. And by accepting Michelle’s offer to dance after being stood up by her lunkhead crush Billy Christiansen, I think it’s pretty clear who Romy really loves.

So often when people ask me to define “cabaret” I tell them that it’s performance in a cabaret space and that anything that works for that sort of intimate space is “cabaret.”  Others I know define it as “personal theater.”

However, you define it, Alan Cumming’s CD, I Bought a Blue Car Today, is a model of what next generation cabaret could look like.  Cumming, best known for his Tony-winning turn as the Emcee in Cabaret, combines a punk rock sensibility tempered by an English music hall tradition filtered through work in the musical theater.  The results are very personal and eclectic covering a variety of  moods and emotions from the touching to the emotionally raw to the truly wacky.

He covers a range of material: Dolly Parton’s Here You Come Again, Falsetto’s What More Can I Say, and Cabaret’s Mein Herr to name but three.  In fact, the final cut of the CD, Beautiful is the best for summing up the multi-dimensional aspect of the CD.  It is a tender love song laced with the aggressive patios of the street.  However, in the album notes we learn that it was written by a septuagenerian as a birthday tribute for his wife.

  1. Shine

  2. I Dance And Dance And Smile And Smile

  3. That’s Life

  4. Wig In A Box/Wicked Little Town

  5. Don’t Tell Me

  6. Here You Come Again/My Interpretation

  7. Next To Me

  8. Thinking Of You

  9. Unexpressed

10. Where I Want To Be

11. What More Can I Say

12. Mein Herr

13. All I know

14. Beautiful

An overachieving good girl, a sexually confused outsider, and a rich kid hiding behind his bad boy persona unexpectedly find their lives colliding during their last semester of high school. Alexa (Emily Rossum) may get good grades, but she longs to get her nose out of the textbooks and experience life. Meanwhile, melancholy teen Ben (Ashley Springer) wrestles with his sexuality, and good looking rich kid Johnny (Zach Gilford) realizes that he can’t maintain his bad boy image forever. As their lives slowly converge, it becomes ever more apparent that they have little to rebel against other than their own, self-imposed inhibitions. Ana Gasteyer, Alan Cumming, and Sandre Bernhard co-star

Alan Cumming had me with his opening number, a medley of “Wig in a Box” and “Wicked Little Town” from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.  Tonight I went to a Empire State Pride Agenda fundraiser at the Highline Ballroom in Chelsea featuring Alan’s stage show, I Bought a Blue Car Today.

He covered a lot of great songs from musicals I’ve never seen like Falsettos and Chess.  But my favorite song was a mash-up of Dolly Parton’s “Here You Come Again” and Mika’s “My Interpretation.”  I just saw Mika last week and I was a little bummed he didn’t sing that song, as it’s one of my faves.  Funny how the Universe just lobs one right back at you from time to time.

What I really enjoyed were the stories Alan tells of his life and career.  He’s hysterical.  Cyndi Lauper, Ann Miller, Mika, Lauren Bacall and the late, great Walter Cronkite and Natasha Richardson were all referenced, among others.  Good show!  Buy his album!

Please can the BBC make more programs like ‘Alan Cummings: The Real Cabaret.’

The honest depiction of Christopher Isherwood’s inspiration for  his book, ‘Goodbye Berlin’ which inspired Bob Fosse’s 1972 film ‘Cabaret’, was a refreshing difference from the drivel often found on other art shows broadcast on television. It did not patronize or dumb down; instead Cumming interviewed a balance of experts whose opinion was actually valued, from the wonderful Liza Minnelli, about her experience of making the film, to Peter Jelavich the brilliant author of ‘Berlin Cabaret.’ The show also included some well researched images and video clips of the era and performance genre that it so difficult to define. It captured the essence of authentic cabaret: political satire, sprechgesang, music, intimacy and the use of the emcee.

Finally.

It was with some trepidation that I headed to the Lyric Hammersmith to see The Comedians. A three hour running time has become a considerable burden to me on a school night and when I’d initially booked the tickets I hadn’t realized seeing the show was likely to wreck me for work the next day. In fact, I didn’t know anything about it at all, and really didn’t right up until I sat in my seat and looked at the program; I was there because the West End Whingers were going, and they tend to have a magical ability to sniff out good shows. In fact, if it hadn’t been for them, I’d never have managed to get in to see Enron. They’re also great company, though I’d brought my own posse along with me (admittedly in part so my American visitor Irene could meet Andrew and Phil). But, well, the Lyric has this thing where the first week of a show (usually) they do tickets at £10, so I figured, hey, if it’s bad, I’ll leave at the interval, and, gosh, I even have two different intervals to pick from! I also knew in my heart of hearts that if the show was good I wouldn’t regret the lost sleep.

First interval came around and I was still a bit on the fence. The show is about six men who have been going to night school to learn how to be comedians. I saw in the set up a bit of “The Pitman Painters,” with a lovable teacher (Matthew Kelly) who just wants to pass on a bit of his learning to a roomful of “characters,” with likely life lessons to follow at the end to send us all home with a smile. I figured the story would be mostly playing off of the comedy of the various “types” in the class, with a bunch of laughs in the middle during the “now we show our stuff at the comedy club” act before the heartwarming finale. (No, I didn’t read the program.) But I was wholly confused by what the types were supposed to be, as the accents were completely meaningless to me. I wasn’t able to tell the Northern Irish guy from the Republic of Ireland guy or actually from … well, any of the other guys except for the one who was supposed to be Jewish (and what was funny about that also passed me by). Being American was really working against me, and I wasn’t getting their casual jokes at all. I felt at a complete cultural loss. I was also kind of irritated by the overacting of Gethin Price, who as “teacher’s pet” David Dawson kept forgetting to interact with the other characters and instead kept acting toward the fourth wall. (“Hello​! You’re very sexy in an Alan Cumming kind of way, but would you please stop acting like you know we’re all out here and get on with being in the play? It ruins my developing fascination with you.”)

The one thing I did understand, and that got me back in the door after the end of first interval, in the face of the exhaustion I’d have to face the following day, was the drama that developed when the judge for the performances (Bert Challoner) appeared just after it was revealed that he and the teacher were arch rivals who had completely different ideas of how to be funny. Suddenly the students, who all wanted professional careers, were faced with failing their real test: getting a job. After getting a speech from him about what a comedian’s approach ought to be, suddenly it became clear that every one of them was going to try to fix his routine to better please the judge.

This conflict made me quite enthused to see Act Two, in which the students one by one (well, and once by two) went up on stage and did their best to wow the judge. This is when it finally became clear to me that I was watching an extremely good group of actors, because they were actors, not standup comedians, and yet for each of their acts I totally bought into what they were doing and the tension they were feeling. The best of the acts for me was the two-man routine Reece Shearsmith (as Phil Murray) and Mark Benton (as Ged Murray) did, when suddenly Phil, who’d been “the one who wasn’t funny” earlier, turned on his brother Ged and insisted he tell a racist joke that went completely against the philosophy of their professor – but that he felt sure would amuse the judge. The power of the moment when his jovial, gentle brother turned to him and said, “No, YOU tell the joke” and then physically moved him to a place where he would have to … words fail me. It was pure theater. I completely bought the characters and the situation. Admittedly, at the very beginning of the act, all I thought about was how pretty Michael Dylan’s blue eyes were, which wasn’t really about getting into his character so much as getting into him, but grab your pleasures where you will, I say. Anyway, by this act I was sold on the play, and the whole question of how to get a decent night’s sleep was moot; I was making the Ultimate Sacrifice and was going to call a cab after the show.

During the second intermission, I had a long conversation with an old guy who’s seen the show in its original incarnation in the 70s. According to him, the jokes the guys tell during the second act actually just aren’t funny, and people back them knew it. He said he was really surprised that people were laughing during the performance. I was, too, but I was confused because to me they almost all of the jokes seemed really offensive – I don’t see where being Irish or Catholic or Jewish is a comedy item and there’s no laughs for me in a joke about beating your wife up in a bar. But per Old Guy, this kind of humor was actually standard standup material in those days, especially up north (where this play was set), so the format itself was unsurprising – only the jokes were really flat. Of course there’s the question of the act the teacher’s pet performed, about which I’ll say little other than I thought about it during the De Frutos catastrophe the next night, but that had to be its own special moment.

Act three was, well, really not the heartwarming huggy-feely takeaway I was expecting and a lot more of the “this is going to get dark” my husband anticipated. There is a bit of a message about artistic integrity, but the whole thing is couched in a rather nauseating story that ends in a Nazi death camp, so any chance of a “feel good” is blown out of the water. Still, as we all walked out, a bit dazed and blasted, my thought was: what an amazing ensemble cast I just saw perform. Nearly three straight hours and I didn’t begrudge them a minute; once act two started I was bought in all the way. While I was too culturally confused to be able to see it in the big stars and lights the West End Whingers did, I’d definitely say this is a show worth catching.

(This review is for a preview performance that took place on Monday, October 11th, 2009. It continues through November 14th. I ate at Akash Tandoor beforehand and can highly recommend their 20 quid two person combo plate.)

Having been introduced to Alan Cumming in his role as Emcee of the Kit Kat Klub in Cabaret, I’ve become quite a fan over the last 10 years or so. Extravagant, edgy, creative and, I think, kinda hot. In addition to his prowess on the stage, I’ve enjoyed Cumming’s literary work, Tommy’s Tale, he makes a pretty amazing X-Men character, and he’s a great DJ – caught him once or twice at some NYC clubs.

Cumming is currently touring with his one man cabaret act, I Bought a Blue Car Today, encapsulating his greatest hits from the past 10 years in America. Highlights include a cover of Hedwig and the Angry Inch’s “Wig in a box”, “Mein Herr” from Cabaret, and an original composition about blacking out drunk a lot, but always waking up next to his loving husband…deep stuff! I guess you could say one of Alan’s most endearing qualities is his self-awareness as an absolute trainwreck…hmm, wonder why I’m so drawn to him!? The album version of the show made its debut last month.

And just in case you’re still not sold on my man, Alan, perhaps his fragrance line will sway you (Cumming The Fragrance) or try the whole line of body products (Cumming All Over). As I said above, extravagant, edgy, creative…and clever, too!

Posted by Sam

No ha sido nada fácil sacar adelante el proyecto de un musical de Spiderman en Broadway.

Tras meses en los que la obra estuvo literalmente entre la vida y muerte, al parecer por fin ha encontrado inversionistas. Se trata de Jim Stern de Endgame Productions y Norton Herrick, un magnate inmobiliario que ha tenido éxito invirtiendo en Hollywood y Broadway.

Con la llegada de estos productores, es casi un hecho la puesta en marcha de una producción que se estima, andaría costando cerca de 45 millones de dólares.

Y si bien tanto los fanas como el mismo  Hombre Araña serían de la opinión que primero muerto antes que ponerse a cantar ybailar, la cosa cambia para Peter Parker y compañía.

Fuentes al interior de la obra indican que ya se hizo el casting para el actor que dará vida a Peter Parker, pero el nombre lo quieren mantener en secreto. Sin embargo, les podemos adelantar que  Evan Rachel Wood y Alan Cumming  serán dos de las estrellas del musical al interpretar a Mary Jane Watson y el Duende Verde, respectivamente.

Mientras tanto, Spiderman estará a cargo de 5 diferentes acróbatas.

Las canciones serán compuestas por la dupla creativa de Edge y Bono.

La obra tendría que estar en cartelera antes de la llegada de la primavera.

Here are this week’s new music releases:

Alice Donut – Ten Glorous Animals
Basement Jaxx – Scars
The Big Pink – A Brief History of Love
Billy Talent – Billy Talent III
Black Tape for a Blue Girl – 10 Neurotics
Brand New – Daisy
Brother Ali – Us
Chynna & Vaughan – One Reason
Guy Clark – Somedays the Song Writes You
Harry Connick Jr. – Your Songs
David Crowder*Band – Church Music
Alan Cumming – I Bought a Blue Car Today
Deadmau5 – For the Lack of a Better Name
Diamond Rio – The Reason
Orla Fallon – Distant Shore
Five Finger Death Punch – War is the Answer
Flying Machines – Flying Machines
Lisa Germano – Magic Neighbor
Girls – Album
David Gray – Draw the Line
Richard Hawley – Truelove’s Gutter
Andrew Hoover – Chances Stances & Romances
Reagan Hudson – The Boar Hog Twist
Islands – Vapours
Joshua James – Build Me This
Janus – Red Right Return
Sean Kingston – Tomorrow
ksm – Read Between the Lines
Larry the Cable Guy – Tailgate Party
Los Lobos – Los Lobos Goes Disney [Amazon exclusive]
Mae – (M)orning
Matt Maher – Alive Again
Mika – The Boy Who Knew Too Much
Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk
Monty Are I – Break Through the Silence
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Speed of Life
Noisettes – Wild Young Hearts
Pillar – Confessions
Rain Machine – Rain Machine
Rescue Signals – Indecisions
Sea Wolf – White Water, White Bloom
Jon Secada – Expressions
Skindred – Shark Bites and Dog Fights
Sonata Arctica – The Days of Grays
Spiral Beach – The Only Really Thing
Jeffree Star – Beauty Killer
Adam Steffey – One More for the Road
Angel Taylor – Love Travels
Three Days Grace – Life Starts Now
J. Tillman – Year in the Kingdom
Times New Viking -Born Again Revisited
Vertical Horizon – Burning the Days
Wallpaper – Doodoo Face

First of all, not to feed your bizarro Elton John love, MamaKitt, but I did hear the “Tiny Dancer” this morning, and stopped scanning to listen to it. Makes me think of one of the best-ever moments on “Friends” (“Hold me close, young Tony Danza”) and of the bus sing-along scene in Almost Famous. YES the latter is cheeseball. But my love for the cheesy is undeniable.

As is my love for the vaguely (or not so vaguely) icky, which was the subject of yesterday’s inadvertently deleted post. For instance, this morning my scan also hit on a little gem called “Talk Dirty to Me,” by a little group called Poison. LOVE. IT. Oh my goodness, terrible band, ridiculous song, I can barely type the title without feeling the need to go wash my hands, but dagnabbit if I don’t listen to that tune in full any time the FM gods bestow it upon me.

I don’t know why I love things that are icky like that, but I do. My love of Aerosmith, among the all-time icky bands, is well-documented in these pages. When MamaKitt and I shared our crappy but awesome apartment just after college, with the meat-cooking boys and the “Shut UP, Stevie!” neighbor and the hacking cougher, we had a little collage in our hallway–postcards, cut-outs from magazines of things we liked, etc. Among these were a clipping of Steven Tyler, looking good and skeevy, and a heart-shaped cutout of Alan Cumming in his getup as the emcee in Cabaret.

OHHHHH, Alan Cumming in Cabaret! Sweet delicious ickiness if ever I saw it! With the mincing and the pervy come-ons and the piercings! It is possible that, if I made MamaKitt watch a Tony Awards clip of The Lion King a dozen times, I made her watch the Cabaret clip a hundred trillion times. It is possible that part of my love of the icky is in large part just a love of icking MamaKitt out. And it is possible that we saw Cabaret at Studio 54 in NYC around 1999, with Alan Cumming (and Jennifer Jason Leigh!) in the sparkly slimy flesh, and that it was AWESOME.

I don’t know why I have this shameful attraction to things like Alan Cumming and Steven Tyler and Poison, but I do. The love for the lowbrow is strong in me.

This is why, even though I have expressed my disdain for the jukebox musical, I fear I might enjoy Rock of Ages. I mean, just check out the synopsis and song list. There’s no “Talk Dirty to Me,” but there are some GEMS.