Recently I was watching a rerun episode of “3d Rock From The Sun,” a serial science fiction situation comedy which originally aired on NBC from 1996-2001. It starred John Lithgow as (High Commander) Dr. Dick Solomon, Kristen Johnston as (Security Officer, Lt.) Sally Solomon, French Stewart as (Communications Officer) Harry Solomon, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as (Information Officer) Tommy Solomon. The characters they portray have come from another more advanced planet and the hilarity with which they encounter the nuances of behavior on Earth though blunted, is frequently hilarious, and serves as the basis for the zany show.

In this 2d season episode #22, entitled “Will Work For Dick” which originally aired May 4, 1997, Dick’s secretary Nina quits, and Dick hires Harry, whose poor skills become Dick’s source of frustration, while Nina tells Harry to fight back. Meanwhile, to advance her understanding of the human experience, Sally decides to attend a children’s ballet school to re-live the childhood she never had.

As usual, in the summary closing scene, they all are seated upon the roof to reflect upon the day’s events. In this episode Tommy, Harry and Sally are seated on the roof, while Dick joins them shortly.

Sally: Gyp – all I wanted was a normal childhood but Dick just couldn’t let me have one! I felt so humiliated.

Tommy: Hmm… I bet when you looked out into that audience and you didn’t see Dick there that you just felt like your heart was torn out.

Sally: Yeah.

Tommy: Yeah… and you felt betrayed and alone.

S: Uh huh.

T: …and you’ll never trust anyone ever again.

S: Exactly!

T: Yeah. Well, congratulations Sally! You’ve just taken your first step into childhood.

S: I have?

T: Yeah… and now you take all this emotional damage and let it feed your adult neuroses.

Harry: And the best part is that if you ever kill a guy or balloon up to 400 pounds, you get to blame Dick.

Dick: (off screen, and climbing onto the roof) Sally!! Sally… Sally! I am so sorry I missed your recital!

S: Yeah, you did. Umm, thanks, Dick.

Dick: What for?

S: Well, you’ve given the most precious gift of all…. emotional baggage. Thanks.

D: You’re welcome.

S: Now I gotta’ go eat.

D: I’m sorry Harry… I thought I didn’t need anyone. I thought I could do everything by myself. It turns out I was wrong. I do need someone… just not you.

H: Well, it takes a big man to admit that. And I guess it just goes to show you that you can’t work with your family.

T: But technically, we’re not a family. We’re more like coworkers.

D: Well… it goes to show you can’t work with your coworkers.

T: Isn’t that the motto of the Postal Service?

How ironic is it that within this humorous exchange we see the fallacy of blaming others and not accepting responsibility?

Birthed from pain, blame avoids responsibility. The fallacy that we are self-sufficient feeds failure. Yet  our natural tendency to avoid pain curiously drives us toward pain through avoidance of responsibility, which in turn feeds failure and absence.

It’s a vicious cycle. It’s a destructive cycle. But, it’s part and parcel of our shared human experience.

Calling honesty… come in honesty.

Is there anybody out there?

Have you met Ted? Im Jahre 2030 erzählt Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) seinen zunächst wenig begeisterten Kindern eine ausufernde Geschichte darüber, wie er ihre Mutter kennen gelernt hat. Die Geschichte beginnt im Jahr 2005, in New York, wo Ted in einer WG mit seinen Studienfreunden Lily und Marshall, seit langem ein Paar, lebt und von der großen Liebe träumt. Nächtliche Touren durch die Clubs oder die Aufreißtipps seines Kumpels Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) liefern bisher nicht den gewünschten Erfolg. Das scheint sich jedoch zu ändern, als Ted seine Traumfrau Robin kennenlernt. Dummerweise scheint sie nicht an einer festen Beziehung interessiert …

Nein, “How I Met Your Mother” ist keine Sitcom der ganz konventionellen Sorte. Dafür sorgt schon die ungewöhnliche Erzählperspektive, die – der wichtigste Punkt vorneweg – von der ersten Folge an klarstellt, dass Robin zwar Teds Traumfrau, aber keineswegs die Mutter seines zukünftigen Nachwuchses ist. Dass die von Beginn an verkorkste Immer-mal-wieder-Beziehung der Beiden sich trotzdem wie ein roter Faden durch die erste Staffel dieser außergewöhnlich gelungenen Comedy zieht, ist schon fies. Vor allem, da den Zuschauern dabei immer wieder unter die Nase gerieben wird, wie gut die beiden doch zusammenpassen. (In Sachen Traumpaar-Status reicht es nicht ganz für den ewigen Marktführer J.D./Elliott, aber immerhin.)

A propos “Scrubs”: So wie die Mutter aller Comedyserien es damals (sprich, in den ersten vier, fünf Staffeln) perfekt verstanden hat, stilvollen Witz mit tiefgründigen Stories zu verbinden, gelingt “How I Met Your Mother” die gelungene Gratwanderung zwischen romantischer Komödie und klassisch-amerikanischer Sitcom, freilich auf überdurchschnittlich hohem Niveau. Für ersteres ist in erster Linie Ted zuständig, der sich im Laufe der noch folgenden Staffeln von Beziehung zu Beziehung hangelt und den Zuschauer bisher völlig im Dunkeln lässt, welches denn nun die zukünftige Mrs. Mosby sein wird (dieses Rätselraten macht ebenfalls einen großen Teil des Charmes der Serie aus). Die hohen Sitcom-Ansprüche füllt dagegen der Aufreißer und ewige Junggeselle Barney aus.

Neben dem interessanten Aufbau der Geschichte und den (meist) unkonventionellen Ideen ist es gerade Barney Stinson a.k.a. Neil Patrick Harris (der übrigens seit neuestem twittert), der der Serie ihren einzigartigen Reiz verleiht. Der notorische Single Barney liefert mit der bescheuertsten gelungenen Anmache aller Zeiten und einem reichlich peinlichen Geständnis nicht nur die absoluten Höhepunkte der Staffel ab (neben einem Nicht-ganz-Gastauftritt von Moby), sondern profiliert sich mit seinem Mega-Ego und seinen extravaganten Aufreißtouren die ganze Staffel hindurch als liebenswertester Unsymphat der momentanen TV-Landschaft. Ebenso wie ich “How I Met Your Mother” momentan als absoluten Marktführer in Sachen Comedy bezeichnen würde. Eine der besten Sitcoms ever. (Selbst in der synchronisierten Version ist die Serie noch besser als die meisten anderen im OT – dennoch würde ich natürlich optimalerweise zur Originalfassung greifen.) Um es mit Barney zu sagen: “Legen … wait for it … dary!”

Wertung: 9 / 10

A  single woman’s biggest worry would be choking to death alone in her apartment. Right Lemon?

[3quarks]

Patrick Warburton (Born 1964 in Paterson, NJ) is an American Television and Film Actor and Voice artist. Despite appearing in over 100 different Television and Film projects since 1986, he is probably best known to most people for his role as David Puddy, Elaine’s on again/off again, man-fur wearing, “High Five!”, boyfriend on “Seinfeld”. His extensive TV resume includes “Northern Exposure”, “Seinfeld”, “Murphy Brown”, “Mad About You”, “Just Shoot Me!”, “Designing Women”, “Ellen”, “Grace under Fire”, “Dave’s World”, “Newsradio”, “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command” (voice), “The Tick”, “8 Simple Rules”, “Less than Perfect”, “Kim Possible”, “The Venture Brothers” (voice), “Rules of Engagement”, “Family Guy” (voice), and dozens of others. His Film resume includes “Scream 3″, “The Emperor’s New Groove” (voice), “Joe Somebody”, “Big Trouble”, “Men in Black 2″, “Home on the Range” (voice), “Hoodwinked” (voice), “Rebound”, “Chicken Little” (voice), “Open Season” (voice), “Bee Movie” (voice), “Get Smart”, “Space Chimps” (voice), and many others.

Autograph #251 in Collection.

Without a doubt the most cruelly overlooked comedy of this century so far, Sean Lock’s 15 Storeys High is an absolute gem. I’ll write more about it later. For now just enjoy this wee clip of Vince and Errol and ask yourself: Rantzen or Quirke?

This is a bit of a continuation of my novel, so if you haven’t read Rorschach’s Ribs this delightful holiday story might not make a lick of sense. A print version of this book will be available next week after Thanksgiving.

I needed a job.

We all needed a job, except for Ted. He broke down within days of losing his beloved automobile, “Thunderfuck”. As he watched the repo man load his pride and joy onto the back of an open-bed truck, something inside him snapped.

Unemployment officially became a harsh reality for Ted.

His inherent work ethic took over, and Ted did the unthinkable—he took an occupational downgrade.

Ted took a job at “Wicker World”, a home decoration store famous for their wicker bedroom sets and scented candles.

It’s a playground for bored housewives who redecorate for sport. He came home smelling like cinnamon mixed with defeat every night and began drinking more—a lot more.

Ted hated his job. He had to shave after spending months cultivating a (quite impressive) beard. He had to wear khaki and a blue vest with a name tag. He was required to smile.

Ted not only took an occupational downgrade, joining the ranks of retail soldiers on the front line, he did it during the holiday season. It was a suicide mission. That meant eight hours a day listening to the same one-hour loop of Christmas songs, day in and day out for two months straight. That meant gift wrapping fragile Christmas tree ornaments covered in glitter and sequins.

That meant Ted came home every night wreaking of artificial pine-scented candles,  humming “Santa Does the Mambo” over and over (and over) again.

I scoffed at him when he told me he took the job—I called him a quitter.

“I can’t believe you’re giving up, just like that, Ted,” I said, staring down my nose at him. We were standing in my kitchen drinking coffee when he broke the news to me. “This time last year you were working on a Superbowl ad and now you’re ready to just chuck your dreams off the roof so you can work at Wicker World?”
“Give it a rest, Escher,” Ted replied, taking a drink of black coffee. “I’ve got bills to pay.”
“There’s better ways to earn a living, Ted. I mean, what’s more important? Self respect or a minimum wage paycheck for hard labor and forced smiles?”
“Self respect won’t pay my rent.”
“You’re such a sell out.”

Two weeks later, I asked if he could get me hired there.

I didn’t get the job. Apparently, they were afraid that tattoo-covered arms and bright blue hair might frighten the Prozac generation.

They didn’t want me to ruin Christmas for everybody else.

It was the first of many “thanks, but no thanks” I would receive that holiday season. The only marketable skill I had outside of advertising, really, was coffee. I spent (too many) years on the wrong side of the counter serving up pretentious sounding drinks for even more pretentious acting customers.

Truth be told, I had more experience as a barista than I did as a web designer.

So I applied at every coffee shop I could find in St. Louis, from Starbucks to the little indie shop around the corner staffed by disgruntled hipsters.

Nobody was hiring. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one trying to make an occupational downgrade.

I even tried to get a job as an elf at Macy’s. In a brief moment of cloudy thinking, I was able to convince myself that if I drank enough alcohol and smoked enough pot before (and during) each shift, it could be fun in a surreal, novel kind of way.

It worked for Sedaris.

The thought of screaming, pants-wetting children and over bearing mothers, exhausted and tired from the joyful holiday season never entered my mind.

I really shouldn’t make career decisions during 420 sessions.
After the interview, I asked what my chances were. The interviewer told me, matter-of-factly and without hesitation, that I was:
A: Too tall.
B: Too angry looking.

So there it was. I couldn’t even get a job as an elf.

An elf.

It’s not like I was going for Santa. I know I’m not upper management material.

I just wanted to wear green tights and a funny hat in a very public place for eight hours a day, pretending to be jolly. The very bottom of the ladder.

In essence, I wanted what could be considered the worst seasonal job in the history of time, and even that was out of my reach.

Looking back, I probably shouldn’t have gone to the interview hung over.

It’s probably for the best. I tend to frighten small children.

]]> http://vashkuckoja.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/zsidozas-buzizas-fekazas-es-izeles-istennel-silverman-program/ Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:46:12 +0000 Vash http://vashkuckoja.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/zsidozas-buzizas-fekazas-es-izeles-istennel-silverman-program/ http://redriverautographs.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/debbie-reynolds/ Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:20:12 +0000 redriverpak http://redriverautographs.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/debbie-reynolds/

Debbie Reynolds (Born 1932 in El Paso, TX) is a Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Emmy Award nominated American Actress, Author, Producer, Dancer, and Singer. Her film career began in 1950 and has included roles in “Singin in the Rain”, “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” (Academy Award nomination), “The Affairs of Dobie Gillis”, “Tammy and the Bachelor”, “How the West was Won”, “Divorce American Style”, “Charlotte’s Web”, “The Bodyguard”, “Mother”, “In and Out”, and many others. Her Television credits include “The Debbie Reynolds Show”, “The Love Boat”, “Hotel”, “The Golden Girls”, “Wings”, “Roseanne”, “Will and Grace”, “Family Guy” and countless others. She appeared with, and danced with, Gene Kelly in the classic film “Singin in the Rain” when she was just 19yrs old. Previously married to actor Eddie Fisher, she is the mother of Actress Carrie Fisher. A successful businesswoman, she once owned her own namesake Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas in which she would frequently appear as the headline entertainer. She has a Star on the Hollywood Walk-of-Fame.

Autograph #250 in Collection.

While Buster did build a faster bike, he neglected to build the brakes.

Check out our Exclusive Interview with Brian Dalton (Mr. Deity)!

This is the 25th post in our TV Series of the Week series.

Mr. Deity is a hilarious webshow that follows the daily life of the creator and the trials that come with managing his creation. Luckily he is not alone as he has help from Jesse (the savior, the boy), his assistant Larry and his on and off girlfriend, Lucy (Lucifer). The show is geared toward making you laugh while trying to explain some of those infamous contradictions.

Stephanie Schoppert: What first inspired you to create this series?

Brian Dalton: I was inspired by the 2004 Asian Tsunami. It was just one of the most gratuitous awful things I can remember in my lifetime. My brother-in-law (at the time) was from Sri-Lanka, and his family lost a number of people they’d known. I saw how it affected him, and the classic question of theodicy (how there can be evil when God is all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful) kept rolling around in my head. So, I wrote this short script about it which people now know as Mr. Deity and the Evil. That’s what started this ball rolling.

Stephanie: What would you say is your favorite episode of the series?

Brian: That’s a really hard question because I like different episodes for different reasons. There are a number of episodes that are just pure comedy — they have nothing much to say philosophically, but rather go for the joke. In that vein, I love Mr. Deity and the Man from this third season. Of the ones that have a bit more to say, I really love Mr. Deity and the Evil from season one, and Mr. Deity and the Book, Part Deux from season three.

Stephanie: What would you like to have happen with this show?

Brian: We really want to expand the show and do it as a half-hour, one-camera sitcom.

Stephanie: Is it all about being a skeptic and questioning religion? Are you against religion itself or just the hypocrisies that may be found within it?

Brian: The show is all about whatever I’m feeling when I write the episode. Sometimes, it’s just pure comedy. Religion has been so sacrosanct for so long that it’s presently a goldmine of rarely excavated material. So, when I just want to have fun with it, that’s what I do. But sometimes I want to educate. In a culture like our own, where the majority religion still saturates our public lives, it’s very hard to step back and look at the things we believe and hold dear. I know how hard it is, because I was entirely devout for a while. What I like to do is hold up a bit of a mirror and say, “in any other circumstance, you would probably see the absurdity of this or that belief. Look, if you dare.”

As for religion, I am generally opposed to people taking religion seriously. In general, I’m opposed to any philosophy or ideology to which a greater measure of devotion results in a more frightening world. I believe that religion should be used like any other recreational drug: One should engage in it sparingly. It should never be allowed to take over one’s life. It should be kept private. It should not be exposed to children. And one should always have a large bag of Doritos nearby in case the munchies set in.

Stephanie: Your shows seems to take place in no real frame of time because things in the present affect things that happen in the past and things that have yet to happen yet will be mentioned. Do you do this as part of a criticism as “Mr. Deity” being all-knowing or is it more a way of making it reachable to a wider audience?

Brian: One of the things that I love about writing the show is that there are no boundaries. You have a central character who, along with his associates, can do anything, anywhere, at any time. There’s really no statement there. It’s just a fantastic set-up.

Stephanie: Have you ever come under fire for some of things you say on the show?

Brian: The most criticism I received was for the episode with George W. Bush. Both sides hated me for that one, and I learned my lesson — stay away from politics! The other episode that got me a bit of heat was the episode about 9/11. I think that for some people, it’s never going to be okay to comment on that event or make humorous observations about the way people deal with that kind of tragedy. I understand that position, and I have great empathy for it. I simply don’t agree, and I certainly don’t think that the rest of us should have our thoughts and feelings held hostage because someone might be tender.

You have a nothing is safe approach to the show, after all you sell T-shirts that say “Breast Cancer?” “Yeah Leave it in.” Are you pushing boundaries for the sake of pushing boundaries or is there a true ulterior motive here?

Brian: I actually created that shirt for a fan in her late ‘20s with whom I’ve become good friends. She devoted her life to social work, got married, adopted two little girls, and was then struck by cancer, which has since spread to nearly every part of her body. When she originally wrote me, they didn’t think she’d make it to Christmas (’08). Thank whomever, she’s still with us.

As for pushing the envelope, I’d say I’m a little late to that party, if that was my intention. I don’t really even think in those terms. I just write what I think and feel. If I can’t defend what I’ve written, we don’t shoot it. If anyone in the cast thinks I’m taking a cheap shot or being mean-spirited, we don’t shoot it. I don’t want to offend. I know that’s not always possible, but I really do try hard to keep my motives pure and my scripts free of “pushing the envelope” for the sake thereof.

Stephanie: Did you ever really understand the holy trinity?

Brian: No. And I’m in really good company — with everyone else who has ever lived!


Stephanie: You seem to know quite a bit about religion, were you raised in a religious household?

Brian: I grew up as a Mormon. I now call myself a Formon (former Mormon). I didn’t take to it well until I was 17. Then, I got religion with a vengeance (as Woody Allen might say). I became frighteningly devout. Instead of my parents telling their teenage son that I needed to get my act together, I was telling them how they ought to be living. Over the course of the next ten years, I gradually thought my way out (as an old friend had predicted I would).

Anyone who knows me will tell you that whatever I do, I do it 209.43%! Religion was no different. I read, and read, and read. Not just Mormon stuff, but everything I could get my hands on that had to do with religion. I know Christianity, Mormonism, and Judaism backwards and forwards.

Stephanie: Do you think your episodes have taken on a more intellectual side as they have progressed and gotten longer or has it just been the natural progression from asking questions?

Brian: Season three is much more “edgy” than season two. But the first season is pretty heady (I think) and vocal, and I think I’ve simply gotten back to that in season three. I will admit that I am presently much more concerned about the effects of religion than I was three years ago when we started. I’ve had a lot of emails from believers that have concerned me. Most of the email I get from believers is very positive. Having been a true believer myself, I knew when I started this that the vast majority of them would be able to laugh at the show. And that has been the case. But, there are a significant number of people out there who take their monotheism very seriously, and truly believe that I’m going to Hell, and dragging others down with me. I’ve never received any kind of physical threat, but I have been truly disturbed at how people cannot see how entirely evil the doctrines of Hell, damnation, and sin can be. I have realized from these emails that the more devout people are, the more we’re all in serious and immanent danger.

Stephanie: You are obviously a skeptic and like to question religion and in one episode you allow a skeptic into heaven, is this indicative of your own belief of what would happen if heaven did exist? Do you think you have what it takes to talk your way into heaven?

Brian: Well, I don’t think it’s a matter of talking my way in. I really do believe that if there is some a God up there, I have nothing to fear. I know my heart, and I know I’ve made an honest attempt to search for truth. One of the reasons I am where I am philosophically is that when I was a believer, I took Jesus seriously. He said the truth will set you free, and so that’s what I’ve pursued. To me, the Christian idea that God cares about what you think and believe more than what you do and how you live your life, is the most evil doctrine ever conceived. If God exists and he is actually good, I’m covered.

Stephanie: “Mr. Deity” is supposed to be all knowing and all powerful and yet your portray him in the manner of someone who is just winging it and trying to figure it out as they go. Was the reasoning behind this solely comedic or do you consider it just another device to encourage people to start asking questions?

Brian: Mr. Deity doesn’t keep his all-knowingness turned on — it’s just too disturbing for him. That also gives him some cover (ignorance is bliss). It’s also impossible to have conversations like we do on the show, when one of the participants is all-knowing. His response would be, “yeah, I know,” to everything that is said.

Stephanie: Voltaire once stated that “If God did not exist, it would be necessary for us to create him.” How do you feel about that statement is the idea of religion necessary? Especially in this new modern age that we are living in?

Brian: I think Voltaire was probably right. Although, I don’t know that mankind needed monotheism. To me, that’s where things start getting ugly, because in it’s most primitive form, monotheism has to be intolerant. The only way you get rid of that is to secularize both the state, and to the extent possible, the religion itself. We have done that fairly well here in America by stripping religion of it’s power and making it compete in the marketplace. Subjecting religion to the pressures of competition has reduced religion in America (for the most part) to it’s lowest common denominator — fast and easy salvation.

Stephanie: You have a new series that is a bit more down to Earth, shall we say, what can you tell us about it?

Brian: Our new series is kind of a behind the scenes show of Deity, and a behind the scenes show of itself. We basically just play versions of ourselves (I’m the most warped version because I know how far I’m willing to push it). Everything that happens on the show is reality based. We just bee it up or change the circumstances a bit. It’s a lot of fun, and a great diversion/extension of Mr. Deity and the Deity universe (so to speak).

To learn more about Mr. Deity and to watch all three seasons visit the official website. arry

In the likely event that she doesn’t reach some kind of epiphany while she’s back in England for Easter, I’m trying to set plans in motion to get her (and Dave, who was responsible for me meeting her in the first place – more on him later – but mainly her) to Lyon before the end of the year. At the moment, all I can really think about is what I’d say to her when she comes. Based on past experience, I’ll say nothing at all and bottle up my emotions out of fear of being knocked back and destroyed, but at the moment I have all sorts of speeches in my head that sound like they could have come from the writers of Friends. Particularly from Ross, obviously. I’m a nerd too. This American sitcom feel-good fetish may have something to do with the fact that I’ve been binge-watching How I Met Your Mother recently. As part of my obsessive personality, I find a TV programme – it doesn’t even have to be a good one, as witnessed by the fact that I am watching How I Met Your Mother – and I sit around watching it until I have watched every episode. Obviously this doesn’t happen in a day: it’s normally a weeklong effort of laziness, obsession and procrastination. I even have the first series on DVD now, 20 euros well spent I feel. But now I blame the whole American sitcom industry for giving me a false view of how romance works, and false expectations of love. A guy like JD could never get a girl like Elliott, a guy like Ted could never get a guy like…well, like Elliott (same actress, third series How I Met Your Mother – at least in that, she leaves him at the altar), and there is no way on earth a guy like Ross gets Rachel. At least, that’s what my cynicism tells me. But a small part of me still believes that if I make an impassioned, sweet, funny speech, Jen’ll fall into my arms and we’ll live happily ever after. And the next day I’ll fly my rocket ship to Mars and we’ll set up camp there with the moomins. When I’m happy I spend my time watching cynical comedies like Peep Show. Two miserable guys living miserable, frustrated lives: it warms me to the core. But I can’t watch it when I’m depressed like this, mainly because I’m far too much like Mark from comfort. Even my family thinks so. When I’m confused or upset, I turn to the old comfort blanket of bad American comedies. I even have particular episodes of shows that I watch. Take, for an example, the last ever episode of Friends. The one where Ross and Rachel finally get together, with Ross racing to the airport, and the answer phone message. I dream of something like this one day happening to me. Or the episode of How I Met Your Mother where Ted’s recovering from Stella leaving him at the altar. The other day I watched the episode, where Ted imagines telling her what a mistake she made in leaving him, and almost cried. I had to check afterwards that my balls were still there. In short, in times like this I dream of myself in this kind of situation, giving the romantic speech. Given that next time I see Jen, I will be: A) drunk; and B) me, it seems unlikely that this will happen. If I say anything at all, it’ll probably be inappropriate and counter-productive. I have visions of me giving some garbled speech, her reiterating what she’s already said to me, and me sitting outside on the kerb, drunk, in the dark, crying like a pathetic loser. It’s nice to know that I can rely on myself to make the big romantic gestures.

I watched a rerun of Friends today. It wasn’t funny. At all. Which isn’t to say that I never liked the show, but smug humor doesn’t age well. And I was mildly annoyed with its complacent tone even back in the nineties. “People get paid for writing this?” I wondered. “Hell, stuff a wad of cash in my fist and I’ll write lazy, sarcastic one-liners till the cows come home!” But graver still than ten seasons of crime against quality humor, was the crime once perpetrated against my favorite genre—more specifically, against The Shining.

Uh-oh!

In episode 13 of season three, Joey and Rachel decide to read the other’s favorite book. This means that Joey has to plow through “Little Women,” while Rachel gets to have some quality time with “The Shining”. Now, when this episode originally aired, a few years had passed since I’d read Stephen King’s tale of hotel madness. But I remembered the plot well enough. And since I’d already seen Kubrick’s adaptation a couple of times, I was especially attuned to the differences between source material and movie. Clearly, nobody who worked on that episode of Friends had read the book. Or if they had, they disregarded the facts for the sake of a stupid joke. In my book (geddit?), that’s cheating.

It's not what she expected, but still a gripping read ...

Joey: Oh, all blank and no blank makes blank a blank blank!

Say what? Forgive my confusion, but isn’t Joey supposed to be referring to the novel? They’ve exchanged books, not VHS tapes. Why is he talking about a scene that only appears in the movie? If you’ve seen The Shining, you no doubt remember the moment when Shelley Duvall riffles through her husband’s monotonous manuscript and grasps the true depth of his dementia. It’s a “whoa” moment, for sure. But like I said, you won’t find it in Stephen King’s original book. And in case you didn’t already know, it really bugs me when people don’t get their facts straight.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT: Crosby Tatum

Triceptus Studios

Phone #: (857)-891-7744

E-mail: crosbyt@triceptus.com

(Boston, MA) November 16, 2009 – In a stunning move announced today by Triceptus Studios Co-Executive Producer/CEO Crosby Tatum, Triceptus Studios has made the decision to showcase the premiere of All 4our One’s pilot episode: Episode 101 (pilot) aka  ”BABY BEGINNINGS” on All 4our One’s website – www.all4ourone.com.  All 4our One is Triceptus Studios first High-Definition Sitcom that focuses on the lives of a sweet-natured, but ditzy mixed-race female named CRYSTAL JONES, her materialistic but supportive multi-racial female friends, SAMANTHA PEETE, JOY FELIX, & ELLEN ROGERS, her womanizing boss JAY COEPLAND, and her freeloading half-brother, TERRY.

When asked as to why Triceptus Studios decided to release the pilot for public viewing, Crosby had the following to say: “All 4our One has been one of our most time-tested and successful ventures that has produced a myriad of success for all of us here at Triceptus Studios.  Our goal is to get onto national television and we are close to striking a deal that will help us get to our goal.  But to generate more interest and to give people a sample of what they’ve been hearing about for an entire year, we felt, rather I felt that it would benefit our cause to get the people involved with what this series potentially has to offer to men and women particularly, and let them say if they like it or not.”

Triceptus Studios plans to air the pilot in 2 weeks on All 4our One’s website & Triceptus Studios website simultaneously for a four week engagement with details about the series and behind the scenes footage on a special video streaming page.  All 4our One will send out invites from it’s fans on Facebook, Myspace, & Twitter to get involved with watching the series and commenting on the series with a poll and other feedback tools.  All 4our one is currently fundraising to produce 6 more episodes for Colours TV, to get the show broadcasted into 19 million homes nationwide through DISH Network, among other syndicators.  Upon completion of the episodes, Colours TV will air the series over-the-air, and on their website – www.colourstv.org, with episodes appearing on Amazon, iTunes, and many other outlets, thanks in part to Triceptus Studios Distribution Deal with Wiggens Music Group Worldwide (www.wmgw.net).  All 4our One’s trailer was selected as one of 35 films to debut at Boston Film Night 2009 this previous May at Somerville Theater, while the pilot itself was on “visual” display at the March 2009 Edition of the Filmmakers Shindig.  All 4our One’s website is currently in the remodeling phase.  For more information, visit www.all4ourone.com to learn more about the series.

ABOUT TRICEPTUS STUDIOS

Triceptus Studios is a Film/Television/Entertainment Production Company that specializes in creating innovative, creative, cutting-edge entertainment for various audiences and clients around the world using the latest in New Media, Digital, and High-Definition Technology.  Triceptus Studios recent projects have been seen by over 500,000 viewers in the Greater Boston, Massachusetts & Manhattan, New York City areas respectively; with over 40,000 total views online combined through various social media websites (i.e. youtube, myspace, revver, and veoh).  Triceptus Studios projects have been considered & screened at numerous film festivals over the New England area and nationwide.  Triceptus Studios most recently signed a Distribution Deal with Wiggens Music Group Worldwide (www.wmgw.net) to distribute any and all project under the Triceptus Studios banner to major retailers worldwide.

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The 2010 IKEA Seattle catalog offers many moments of advice on developing my identity by purchasing furniture:

“‘You’ is the secret ingredient that gives your home that little something extra.”

“Everyone can do their own thing…together.”

“Change in a wink.”

Here, we are offered an opportunity for self-improvement and affirmation. Separated from the catalog, these words appear more like estranged versions of personal advice.  If one were to follow IKEA’s life suggestions, the acquisition of some of the least unique objects in the world will somehow provide answers to the larger questions of self.

When reviewed critically, the words of IKEA’s sales pitch, like so many advertising campaigns, reflects a disconnected relationship between words and meaning: the store offers identity but only sells cheap, mass-produced furniture. A similar disjointedness is also at the forefront of Guy Ben-Ner’s satirical Stealing Beauty, currently on view at Western Bridge. Filmed in various IKEA stores around the world, the work’s “situations” include brief moments in which the artist’s family plays a re-envisioned form of the sitcom family; the Ben-Ners disperse an unconventional set of morals focused on the role of the family in terms of property and productivity. At times, the phrases they speak evoke the IKEA catalog’s own mantras of identity and consumption.

Guy Ben-Ner. Stealing Beauty (excerpt). 2007.

When watching an actual sitcom, there is a tendency to passively absorb the characters, situations and dialogue because television most often prioritizes entertainment value over content.  Ben-Ner’s “characters” do not behave and speak as one would expect in a conventional comedy; instead of going through the situation/conflict/final moral cycle, the artist, his wife and his children exchange Marxist questions, often without any form of resolution.  When all of them speak, there is a feeling of overt scripting and over-acting that creates a rift between the people speaking and what is said.  This effect inspires active viewing of the work.  Because we are so accustomed to the look and feel of television, particularly the highly formulaic sitcom genre, a deviation from expectations is an immediate reason to pay attention and reconsider the images on the screen. This separation is ultimately one between signifier and signified meaning, as the artist employs typically benign vehicles (television and IKEA) to question issues related to capitalist society.

When I came upon Keys to Our Heart by Kalup Linzy at Prospect.1 (who just launched their new website counting down to Prospect.2), I recall experiencing a similar, albeit more dramatic, effect to that of viewing Stealing Beauty.   Although Keys to Our Heart includes more visual cues derived from Hollywood films (black and white medium, a period feel, elaborate costuming and sets), elements from the artist’s earlier body of work with the soap opera television genre (over-acting, archetypal character figures) also appear.

Kalup Linzy. Keys to Our Heart (excerpt) 2008.

Like Ben-Ner’s sitcom, Linzy’s work also utilizes a divide between dialogue and meaning; however, the latter’s rift is most apparent from the artist’s inclusion and manipulation of his own voice, ultimately using it for all characters.  Keys to Our Heart was installed in a crowded gallery of multiple high-impact works at the New Orleans Museum of Art during Prospect.1; yet, many, including myself, were drawn to the cacophony of the spoken dialogue and the way the words being spoken were out of sync with the actors “speaking” them.  In contrast to Ben-Ner’s piece, Linzy’s video is a societal critique more focused on identity politics and stereotyping. However, it is the unspoken dialogue beneath both scripts and sets of characters that reveal the most interesting truths of the works.

In the first edition of DVD magazine Wholphin, a group of five writers independently created five different sets of subtitles for the same episode of Turkish sitcom Tatli Hayat (“The Sweet Life”). The DVD begins with the subtitles included in the actual television program and then provides the episode five additional times with the writers’ new scripts.

The end results of the Tatli Hayat reworkings were not as impactful as the videos by Ben-Ner and Linzy, but they successfully initiate questions regarding the role and manipulation of meaning in television.  Ben- Ner and Linzy then take these questions farther by exploring TV’s covert constructions of identity and societal roles.  All of the works ultimately consider how much actual meaning is created by the intentional and unintentional messages communicated by mainstream media.  While the this inquiry has become increasingly persistent across various disciplines, if an answer resides anywhere, it is in a moment of art TV.

I found a bunch of old Head Of The Class tapes. It’s more of a guilty pleasure than anything: the scripts were pretty weak, some of the actors playing students were 30+ years old, and for supposedly smart kids they sure stayed around in high school far too long.  Some of the most cringeworthy aspects to the show were the unironic rat-tail, and later mullet, that Hesseman’s character Mr. Moore had, and I can’t suspend my disbelief long enough to buy that high school students (even an honors program) would have the ability to come up with a video for the time capsule that used state-of-the-art-for-1987 computer effects set to the tune of Timbuk 3’s “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades” (an exercise in cheese).

Mr. Moore (Howard Hesseman) demonstrates that a mullet on a teacher was actually once socially acceptable in the 1980s.

For a mid-level sitcom shot on tape, though, it was at least decent at least for the first four years.  It did go downhill when Howard Hesseman was replaced by Billy Connolly, mainly because Connolly’s character didn’t so much teach as go on extended comedic tangents (just imagine if they couldn’t find a teacher at a real high school and they just had Craig Ferguson rant for an hour).  I am surprised how many recognizable guest stars I’ve spotted on the show, though, mainly Elaine Stritch, Stephen Root, Roscoe Lee Browne, Lori Petty (Tank Girl), John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Kirsten Kemp Becker (then known as Kirsten Holmquist, Property Ladder), and Brad Pitt (tabloids).   They also did a few interesting episodes based around the cast doing a musical theatre production that actually incorporate the “opening night performances” (based on the episodes’ individual writing credits, the shows creators Rich Eustis and Michael Elias were the one that had a thing for musical theatre), and were the first American sitcom to shoot in the Soviet Union, giving what was generally a mid-level sitcom added notability.

Recurring characters Manfred (John Cameron Mitchell) and Monica (Kirsten Holmquist) performing "White Boys" in a style that presages the singing music teachers from SNL

I doubt the show will be heading to DVD season sets anytime soon because music licensing is a big hurdle, at least for the musical episodes, and there likely isn’t a strong enough market for it to justify the cost.  Part of the reason a lot of worse and shorter-lived shows are on DVD is because they can make money back on those (which explains why Small Wonder is actually getting a DVD release).  It wasn’t great by any stretch of the imagination but I am having fun watching my old tapes again as I transfer them to disc (and removing countless ads for 1-809 sex lines that used to run late at night on CKY-Winnipeg, but those are another post).

The students included one of Tony Soprano's mistresses (top row centre), the men responsible for the career of Kenan Thompson (top row left), and the victim of Tobias Funke's glitter basket (bottom row centre).

Cameron holds his newly adopted baby, Lily. (Photo credit: abc.com)

A mockumentary laced with seemingly smart politically incorrect humor seems to be the recipe for sitcom success today.  After all, the style has been championed by such hits as NBC’s “The Office” or FOX’s cult favorite “Arrested Development.” ABC now hopes to challenge the kings of the 30-minute mountain with its new sitcom “Modern Family.” However, the show has anything but a modern mindset.

In the show’s pilot, we are initially introduced to three separate families in a non-descript but obviously Southern California town.  First, there are good-cop/bad-cop parents Phil and Claire, who have three children.  Wealthy retiree Jay (“Married with Children” alum Ed O’Neill) is wedded to much younger Gloria, both on their second marriage, and the stepfather to Gloria’s son Manny. Lastly, gay couple Mitchell and Cameron have just returned from Vietnam, where they have adopted a daughter, Lily.

By the end of the episode, we learn that these three units actually make up one family:  Jay is Claire and Mitchell’s father.  Some normal familial issues surface with this revelation, such as Jay’s timidity toward Mitchell’s sexuality, and Claire and Mitchell’s concern about their father’s much younger second wife.

Like its sitcom predecessors, “Modern Family’s” satirical humor pushes the envelope a bit, yet politically incorrect quickly becomes culturally ignorant.  Lily, the Vietnamese baby, bears the brunt of the abuse. 

When Mitchell voices concern that Lily hasn’t been sleeping, he remarks “I didn’t even know that Asian eyes opened that wide.”  When the rest of the family meets the baby, Phil questions, “‘Lily’, isn’t that going to be hard for her to say?” And finally, Grandpa Jay asks to hold “the little potsticker.” 

Three strikes, writers, and you’re out. One culturally insensitive joke might have flown, but a barrage of them is overwhelming.  I have a sneaking suspicion that the writers’ room is predominately Asian, and this is their insider attempt at self-deprecating humor.  Yet, even with that far-fetched rationale, the jokes still fell flat. The Asian character was not singled out either; Gloria, who is Colombian, is regarded by other characters with similarly clueless awe. 

To its credit, “Modern Family” has avoided the one area where it could have been obviously stereotypical: Mitchell and Cameron are perhaps the most accurate portrayal of a committed gay couple that we have seen on TV to date.   Neither man is overly flamboyant, and they act like a normal couple—gay or straight. Mitchell is anxious and uptight, overly conscious of others’ perception of his “gayness,” while Cameron plays the foil: Mitchell’s big-boned, lovingly aloof partner.  They are a sweet couple with whom viewers can identify.

Yet, a “modern family” is not simply one that is hesitantly accepting of a gay family, it is one that is educated about all cultural differences. The show attempts to be forward-thinking, but still remains comfortable in its solidly American (read: white) bubble; the humor needs to go beyond off-color jokes that, after one episode, already feel stale.    

Modern Family airs on Wednesdays on ABC and stars Ed O’Neill (Jay), Julie Bowen (Claire), Ty Burrell (Phil), and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitchell).

Eu precisei de 24 horas e de um empurrãozinho da Isabela Boscov, da Veja, para definir que indicações esse filme levaria. Fiquei matutando a crítica dela, em especial a parte em que diz que 500 Dias com Ela é o antirromance, algo completamente diferente do que estamos acostumados a ver.

E é verdade. Eu sou viciada em romances e comédias românticas e, embora admita o valor de Closer e Amantes, saí desgostosa do cinema por achar esses filmes reais demais. Eu não quero sofrimento; quero vibrar com o casal, rir, chorar e sair do cinema achando que o mundo é mesmo um conto de fadas (não julguem! cada um se ilude da forma que quiser!).

500 Dias com Ela tem um pouco desses dois mundos, mas pende mais para a realidade.  Ainda assim, é impossível não se apaixonar pela história e personagens que o novato Marc Webb construiu – da pequena e madura Rachel Hansen (Just because she likes the same bizzaro crap you do doesn’t mean she’s your soul mate), do melhor amigo Paul (Robin is better than the girl of my dreams. She’s real), do Narrador (Most days of the year are unremarkable. They begin, and they end, with no lasting memories made in between. Most days have no impact on the course of a life. May 23rd was a Wednesday), da honestidade polêmica de Summer (I woke up one morning and I just knew… what I was never sure of with you) e Tom, principalmente Tom.

O romântico, descolado e certinho Tom que diz It’s love, it’s not Santa Claus, que sabe de cor o que mais gosta em Rachel (I love her smile. I love her hair. I love her knees. I love how she licks her lips before she talks. I love her heart-shaped birthmark on her neck. I love it when she sleeps), que dança maravilhosamente bem de tanta felicidade

e depois, como todos nós, leva um doloroso tombo (You don’t want to be named as someone’s boyfriend and now your someone’s wife?).  

Te dou uma dica? Corre pro cinema!

 PS1: Marc Webb ainda acertou em cheio na trilha sonora, que vai de U2 a Carla Bruni, passando por She & Him, banda da Zooey Deschanel, a Summer.

PS2: Confira várias faixas no Blip.

PS3: E eu não consigo não olhar para o Joseph Gordon-Levitt e sentir falta do 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Betty White (Born 1922 in Oak Park, IL) is a Emmy Award winning American Television, Film, and Stage Actress. In a Hollywood career that started in 1945, Ms. White has forged a career that has seen her become one of Hollywood’s most beloved Female lead and character actresses. In a reversal of the norm, her career has continued to flourish and even grow larger with each passing year. She is best known for two signature Television roles, as Sue Ann Niven on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, and as Rose Nylund on “The Golden Girls”. Her very extensive Television resume includes appearances on shows such as “The Love Boat”, “Empty Nest”, “Who’s the Boss?”, “St. Elsewhere”, “Hotel”, “Suddenly Susan”, “Ally McBeal”, “That 70’s Show”, “Malcolm in the Middle”, “Boston Legal”, “Mama’s Family”, and literally dozens of other shows. She has also appeared on a number of Daytime Soaps including “Another World”, “The Bold and the Beautiful”, and “Santa Barbara”. Her film resume includes “Lake Placid”, “The Proposal”, “Bringing down the House”, “Hard Rain”, and others. She has been nominated for a total of 18 Emmy Awards with 5 career wins and has also been nominated for 4 career Golden Globe Awards. She has a Star on the Hollywood Walk-of-Fame. She is widow of longtime “Password” host Alan Ludden.

Autograph #247 in Collection.

Um eins direkt klar zu stellen: ich weiß es nicht. Aber ich weiß, dass der Account @ShitMyDadSays nach dem jetzigen Stand 770,700 Anhänger hat. Und das aus gutem Grund. Ein gewisser Justin Halpern twittert unter diesem Account seit Anfang August Zitate seines 73-jährigen Vaters. Und der Erfolg deutet schon an, dass diese Zitate echte Originale sein müssen, damit sie so viel Beachtung geschenkt bekommen.

All des “Followings” nicht genug, jetzt will der us-amerikanische Tv-Sender CBS diesen Twitter-Account zum Inhalt einer Sitcom, das ist eine periodisch gesendete Komödie, machen. Was nichts Gutes sein muss. Die Buchrechte sind auch schon verkauft. Was nichts Gutes sein muss.

Hier einige Zitate, jedes einzelne ist köstlich:

“You look just like Stephen Hawking…Relax, I meant like a non-paralyzed version of him. Feel better?… Fine. Forget I said it.”

“Son, no one gives a shit about all the things your cell phone does. You didn’t invent it, you just bought it. Anybody can do that.”

“I hate paying bills… Son, don’t say “me too.” I didn’t say that looking to relate to you. I said it instead of “go away.”

“Nobody is that important. They eat, shit, and screw, just like you. Maybe not shit like you, you got those stomach problems.”

“You worry too much. Eat some bacon… What? No, I got no idea if it’ll make you feel better, I just made too much bacon.”

“The baby will talk when he talks, relax. It ain’t like he knows the cure for cancer and he just ain’t spitting it out.”

Geht hin und folgt den Weisheiten dieses weisen Weisen. Er hat mit allem Recht. Aber bitte, versucht keine Tv-Serie daraus zu machen oder einen Kinofilm, ich erwarte mehr Respekt und Demut von meinen Lesern.

On any given day, I’m an angry, bitter, sarcastic son of a bitch. It’s true, just ask my wife. I like to say it’s part of my charm. I do however, have two weaknesses—two chinks in the armor that leave me a cheesy sentimental fool:

Animals and Christmas.

I’m a sucker for the holidays. I turn into a little kid around this time of year, whether I like it or not. I have no shame. I watch Christmas specials, listen to holiday music and buy the seasonal beer from my local microbrewery. Our house is decorated from top to bottom.

Yet, somehow, through it all, I’ve never written anything holiday related.

Ever.

Last year, I decided to do something about it. One of the best things to do over the holiday season is revisiting dear old friends. Though mine are imaginary, I thought it would be fun to give them a call anyway.

In my novel, Rorschach’s Ribs, Part One of the book ends as the last leaves of autumn are drying up and falling to the ground. Part Two picks back up in January, with only the vaguest of holiday reflections.
In Part Two, Escher describes his Christmas season as such:

“Things have sped up here in the last month or so. I have vague, blurry memories of an awkward Christmas with the fam, consisting of homemade gifts, pity and alcohol…the holidays came and went in the blink of an eye and I am not complaining.”

I thought it might be a fun holiday treat to give you a little more insight into Escher’s Christmas. It’s essentially, just like those hokey, Very Special episodes of any given sitcom from the 80’s—minus Joey Lawrence.

I published it last year around the holidays, and a print version will once again be available to purchase in the coming weeks.

This year I thought I’d slowly repost it for you. Think of it as a Slacker Advent Calendar…

This is a bit of a continuation of the novel, so if you haven’t read the book (Rorschach’s Ribs) this delightful holiday story might not make a lick of sense.

So, without further adieu, here we go….

I began developing an overwhelming sense of doom just after Halloween.

One day after, to be precise.

The world changed within the blink of an eye. A feeling of forthcoming, prolonged dread washed over me as I crossed the threshold from the cool and dreary parking lot, into my local Target department store in search of deodorant and toothpaste.

I go to Target a lot. It’s got everything a single, unemployed guy needs; laundry detergent, underwear, frozen pizzas and video games. If you have to leave your house, better to get it all out of the way in one place.

It’s really just a nicer, slightly more expensive version of Walmart. Given my current financial crisis I should have just gone to Walmart, but that’s beneath my social class; Walmart is for white-trash and the county dwellers. It’s the trailer park of department stores.

Hipsters and city folk go to Target. It’s the packaging.

Target hired a better ad agency, I guess. I wonder if they’re hiring right now.

But I digress.

It hit me the moment I was within the warm confines of those hallowed walls of commerce.

I had just been to Target a few days prior, the day before Halloween, to buy socks and body wash. A few days before that, I was there buying boxer shorts and razor blades.

I had to buy my necessities in increments; my unemployment checks were just about to run out, and the job market was bleak. I only bought things after I completely ran out, and had no choice in the matter. Every time I used my debit card it felt like a game of Consumer Russian Roulette. It could be declined at any purchase; it was just a matter of time.

We were all feeling the crunch.

The last time I was at Target, there were witches, bats and various non-offensive Halloween clichés hanging from the ceilings and covering the end caps. The entire back half of the store was filled with children’s costumes, Styrofoam tombstones for your front lawn and thousands upon thousands of bags of candy. I got a cavity and a sugar rush just walking down the aisle.

Two days later, however, I found myself lost in a winter wonderland.

Looking back now, it was more like a blizzard.

Gone were the black cats and spider webs dangling down from the ceiling. In their place were non-denominational snowflakes symbolizing any and every wintertime holiday, without actually representing any of them. A soft hum of holiday music resonated from the ceiling, and a used car lot of artificial, self-lit Christmas trees filled the spot reserved for lawn furniture during the off season.

“It’s too soon,” I sighed to myself. “It’s not even Thanksgiving yet.”

It wasn’t always like this. I could swear that when I was a kid the holiday season didn’t start until the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. That was the unspoken rule. When Santa rolled by, preceded by giant balloons shaped like our favorite cartoon characters and a visit from the Rockettes dressed as naughty Mrs. Clauses, mixing childhood innocence and sex with every kick, it was like the ball dropping in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.

Happy Freaking New Year, Merry Freaking Christmas. It was officially the holiday season.

It seems like the holidays have arrived sooner and sooner every year since. It’s the retailers. They’re playing with our minds. Stores are so eager to get consumers into the holiday shopping (and spending) spirit, they start it just a little sooner as each calendar year passes. I give it a few more years before the “Christmas in July Sale” is actually a sale on Christmas items in July.

This feeling of dread only grew, the closer I got to the holidays.

The week before Thanksgiving, in a moment that could only be described as a premature ejaculation of the holiday spirit, How the Grinch Stole Christmas was aired on TV, and that uneasy feeling washed over me once again.

I wasn’t ready; it was all moving too fast. I felt like Christmas slipped me a rufie and was trying to date-rape me.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Christmas. I’m not a Grinch. I watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas Every Year”—I love the smell of pine needles.

But…

Christmas is an expensive time of the year. I was down to my last month and a half of unemployment checks, and I hadn’t even begun shopping for anyone’s gifts.

I couldn’t—that required money.

Unfortunately, so did rent and heat, and while Christmas was coming fast, winter was coming even faster.

So, with every holiday decoration and Christmas special I saw, I was reminded of just how broke I was. Every Very Special episode of a sitcom left me with a nagging feeling of self loathing and impending doom. Every commercial that showed happy consumers dancing around with kitchen appliances while a pop star sang a modern rendition of an old Christmas classic reminded me of how desperate my times were about to become.

Tobias came up with a new plan for the play and a way to connect to George Michael.

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