I meant to post this yesterday but time got away from me. I read the most jaw-dropping column in yesterday's National Post, concerning an incident that happened on Radio-Canada, the French-language version of Canada's national radio service, the CBC (if you're an American, NPR is probably the closest equivalent). He was talking about the New Year's Eve show that was put on by Veronique Cloutier and her husband, Louis Morrisette. Apparently every year it's pretty risque, but this year they went just a little bit further.
Okay, a LOT further.
They opened with a little racism (in the year of Obama, how could you NOT? Sigh). And some sexism. But it was the bit on Nathalie Simard where things went too far. Moore explains that Simard is a Quebec pop star who's always had a difficult life, who's had her share of bad media experiences, with culture vultures wondering why she's such a disaster. Easy target? Maybe... unless you know what's happened to her. Which, apparently, everyone in Quebec does. To quote Moore:
But the evening’s most noxious moment came in a parody of former pop idol Nathalie Simard. The show mocked her for giving interviews in spite of having quit Quebec some time ago, insisting that she was seeking anonymity. The concept might have been funny had not Simard left the province after she finally broke her silence about the man who serially raped her when she was a teenager. It gets worse. That man is Guy Cloutier: the father of Véronique Cloutier, who produced the TV show.
Wow. Wow wow wow. I honestly have no words. Cloutier and her vile husband (shown above... aren't they adorable little pieces of shit?) gave a press conference where they "apologized" because of the uproar throughout the province, and during their mea culpa, as Moore explains, "Vero, as she is popularly known, insisted she didn’t think people connected her to the sins of her father. Really, Vero? Do you honestly think you can attack your sex offender father’s victim on television and no one is going to draw a link?"
The mind boggles. Their show should be banned, they should be fired, and chased from the country with pitchforks and torches. (Again, for the Americans reading, this is still a common practice in Canada. Of course, occasionally the torches melt our igloos, but that's a risk we all have to take.)
This post first appeared a week ago, but I've bumped it up to the front again just to add the shipping update at the bottom.
As I've said on the blog before, my life last year caused my regular Finding Lost schedule to be thrown off. Usually I'm writing the books as the season airs, and finishing it the weeks following the finale, and it goes into a summer production and is out by the fall, before the new season begins. Last year, I was on maternity leave with my little one for the year, and in addition to my 4-year-old, there was no time to be writing a book. But a lot of people requested a season 4 edition (the original plan had been to do a season 4/5 split this coming fall) so I set to work and completed it in October, it went into a quick production, and it's now at the printer.
Will you have it in your hands before season 5? Sadly, no. In fact, larger stores like Barnes and Noble have long lead times and the buyers buy books for certain months. They bought it for April, meaning if it were available right this minute they wouldn't allow it to be shipped to their stores until April. Outlets like Amazon, however, and independent bookstores, take it the moment it's ready. When it returns from the printer, it goes to the publisher's warehouse, is counted, then shipped to various other warehouses and wholesalers, who then distribute them among their stores. It's usually about 4-6 weeks from printer to shelf (less in Canada). I found out from my publisher today that the book is scheduled to ship the week of Lost's premiere (how appropriate!) and might -- MIGHT -- be in my hot little hands during the season premiere. But everyone else will have to wait.
Now, I always get a ton of copies of my books and after handing them out to a few family and friends, the rest sit on shelves so I can pretend I live in a bookstore or something, and I never know what to do with them. Offer signed copies on my blog? Who the heck would want a book signed by me? Contests? I did a couple of those. But in this case, I could offer to ship them directly to you, but you'd have to pay for the shipping. Shipping, sadly, has become very expensive (I remember a time -- says the old lady -- when I could ship out my behemoth Buffy books for about $2.50 a pop). BUT... it would mean you'll have a copy about a month before it hits the stores, and probably during the first couple of weeks of season 5, if you're in any kind of rush.
If you're interested, email me off-list, tell me where you'd want it shipped, and I'll take a copy of my season 3 FL book (which is exactly the same size as the new one) across the street to the post office and ask what the cost would be. Then I can email you back and see if it works out. And, if it means anything, I'll sign the book. And hey, if you want seasons 1/2 and 3 thrown in there, I'm happy to oblige! The book is $15 plus shipping (the season 1/2 book is $20). I don't charge tax, and autographs are free! How could you POSSIBLY pass up this deal? :)
Otherwise, you can order from Amazon here if you're in the U.S. and here in Canada. I promise season 5 will be out before the DVDs and we won't have to go through this next year.
UPDATE: I went to the post office and discovered that for a single copy, it falls under lettermail. So the shipping costs would be $2.65 if you're in Canada, $6.80 to the United States, and $13.60 anywhere internationally. If you want more than one copy, email me and I can give you the cost for that. I have lots of copies, so email me if you're still interested! For payment, Paypal would be the easiest option, but if you don't have a paypal account, email me and we'll figure out another way.
So, did anyone watch the Golden Globes last night? I always enjoy them a little more than the Oscars (though I have a lot more excitement for the Oscars... not sure why) and it was definitely full of surprises. But as the night went on, I was starting to think there wouldn't be a single American who would win, since the Hollywood Foreign Press was apparently giving awards to everyone who was, well, foreign.
Gabriel Byrne FINALLY got props for his groundbreaking work in In Treatment, thank goodness. I would have settled for the newly married Michael C. Hall (who got hitched to his "sister" last week) but I was thrilled for Byrne. Too bad he didn't show up.
Worst Dress: Renee Zellweger. What... was THAT? And I don't mind Zellweger -- not like my husband, who can barely stand her (he's always yelling OPEN YOUR EYES! at the screen) but man, when she stepped up to the mike and started talking, both of us yelled it in unison. What's with that squint? Is she nearsighted and couldn't see the teleprompter?
The Heath Ledger win was inevitable, but also sobering. And I think they handled it well, and Christopher Nolan gave a very tasteful speech about how we should focus on the legacy he left behind, and stop focusing on the potential that will never be realized.
Slumdog Millionaire. I posted that I loved this movie, and I do, don't get me wrong, but I thought the kudos were a little over-the-top. I didn't see it as Best Picture material. It's a feel-good film, with a LOT of feel-bad in it. But maybe I'm looking at it wrong. Maybe the Best Picture doesn't have to be all epic and tragic and swooning and Brad Pitt. But I was surprised, nonetheless. When it won best screenplay I said to my husband, "I'm so happy they gave it that. Screenplay is always the bone they throw to the underdog who won't win best picture, and I'm glad they got it." D'oh. I was also happy about the music winning, because it's fantastic. Also happy to see so many of them there, including Kapoor (oh, and someone posted a comment that I must not mean Kapoor, but someone else, because Kapoor is only in Indian films... I love Indian films. Can't understand a word of them, but I love watching them anyway, so yes, I did mean Kapoor). Good thing: everyone who has been saying they'd love to see it but it's not playing in their city will probably find it in theatres very soon!
John Adams had a bit of a sweep. The show is fantastic, and I was especially thrilled that Laura Linney won. She, incidentally, was wearing my favourite dress of the night. Paul Giamatti was so goofy and wonderful at the mike, and Tom Wilkinson is just amazing in everything. So it was nice to see that get so many kudos.
My least-favourite win: Anna Paquin. For the record, I love her. The Piano is one of my all-time favourite movies. I've seen it so many times I've lost count, and I used to be a pianist and died inside every time I saw her finger get cut off. I still remember giggly little Paquin winning the Oscar and not being able to speak, and she was wearing this adorable little outfit with a poofy hat and finally blurted out in her New Zealand accent, "I'd like to thank the Academy..." I was thrilled when I saw she would be starring in True Blood, and while I raved about the opening episodes, I didn't really get a chance to blog on it again afterwards. I'm happy to say I loved it (a LOT of people didn't; maybe it's because I watched it all at once over about a week). BUT... I thought Paquin's performance was a little too wide-eyed, over-the-top, and, well, not very good. There's a scene where she's walking through a cemetery and she's overly shaky, like some kid acting in a community theatre production and having to let the back row know she's scared so she's shaking far more than she should. Crying scenes she would squeeze her eyes shut as hard as she could like she was desperate to bring on the tears. There's a lot of yelling and exasperation and very little subtlety in the character. She won over January Jones (who has the best name in the room, and had to act through a very difficult season of Mad Men for her character) and Kyra Sedgwick. I haven't seen The Closer, but everyone who does watch it loves it and says she's really amazing.
Worst acceptance speech of the night: Um... Anna Paquin? I know I sound like I'm really coming down hard on her, but her acceptance speech was dull and long and thanked everyone we've never heard of, including her hair and makeup people. Ugh.
Most profound acceptance speech of the night: The director of Waltz with Bashir, who said during the 4-year production of the movie, 8 children were born. He hopes that some day they all watch the movie about the war and they see it as some fairytale that could never happen again. I loved that speech.
Most awesome acceptance speech: Tracy Jordan accepting for 30 Rock. I loved how Tina Fey just nonchalantly handed the Globe to him and he stepped up and declared himself the face of post-racial America, and then went on a rambling drunken thank-you speech that was SO awesome (made even better by Alec Baldwin leaning in to remind him to thank someone). I don't think Tina Fey can do any wrong this year. She is so loved by everyone. Her speech was almost as funny as Jordan's, especially when she addressed the Internet haters. Ha!
I'm thrilled for Kate Winslet winning BOTH of her acting awards. Wow. And I think the biggest roar of approval that went up in the crowd was when Mickey Rourke won for The Wrestler. I've been dying to see that film for a while now, but it's still playing in select theatres here. Entertainment Weekly had a pretty amazing interview with him, discussing his downfall and where he went (he hated his pretty boy face and dropped acting to become a professional boxer, perhaps in a subconscious attempt to destroy those good looks) and his face is kind of hideous now, but he actually looked pretty good last night at the Globes.
All in all, it was a pretty entertaining night, and it's always nice to see underdogs winning. I'm thrilled for Slumdog Millionaire, and I hope this means a LOT more people will be seeing it. I was a little sad to see Button and Milk shut out, though. I wonder if Penn will keep getting beat by Rourke, and since both movies are excellent overall but don't shine for one particular thing (other than Penn) this is simply a harbinger of what's to come? What are your thoughts?
UPDATE: Turns out, those Internet posters Tina Fey was telling to suck it are real! They post on the LA Time site, The Envelope, and have apparently been trashing Tina for a while. Only thing is, dianefan and cougar-letter are actually the same person (she changed her name partway through) and the other one, Babbson whatever, is a Fey fan. Check out the article on the Envelope today, and see all the Tina haters below. They're all bitching about how vain Fey is that she's actually reading the Internet chatter generated on herself. Like they haven't spent all day googling their names to see what blogs have been saying about all of them the day after they get named on international television.
Just a quick note for the Canadian BSG fans out there... tonight on Space, there will be a fan forum at 10pm about the first half of the fourth season. Among the participants will be author Jo Storm, who wrote the companion guide to BSG, Frak You, a book I worked on. Jo is brilliant and very funny, so I'm very much looking forward to watching this. And, as I was disclosing to a reader who emailed me a couple of weeks ago, I discovered that despite what I'd thought, I'd actually missed the final episode of BSG. He's been bugging me since to watch it, and now I have to say I'd actually missed THREE episodes. Two down, one to go tonight, and I am ADORING it.
For those who, like me, need some refreshers on where we're at before the second half of the final season begins next week, tune in to Space all day next Friday for a marathon of season 4, plus the webisodes, an hour of interviews with Moore and Eick, and a repeat of tonight's fan forum. The first of the final 10 episodes premieres next Friday at 10pm. Squeeeee!!
OK, not really a trailer for Lost, but for season 2 of the Lost parodies done by the Fine Brothers. I posted all of season 1 here, and here is the trailer for the upcoming season. And I need to say it again: Poor Hurley.
I don't know what makes me happier about the upcoming season: Buffy or Wall-E. I can't wait!
And only a week after everyone else has done it, here is my best of list for 2008. What a crazy year. On the international stage, the United States finally has a president who can complete a sentence without a non sequitur and dodged the Alaskan bullet, while at home, it was a difficult year for many of my friends. Just the other day I was thinking about how last Christmas was a certain way for many people I love, and this year it was entirely different, marked by absences. I hope they made it through OK.
On the television front, it was a year of strikes, disappointments, endings, beginnings, and more endings.
Saddest Cancellation of a Television Show: Pushing Daisies. I don't know if I'll ever get over that one, to be honest. It was colourful, funny, kitchy, and awesome. The Writers' Strike cut its first season short, and ABC attempted to roll it out a second time this past fall, but new viewers were nowhere to be seen. I guarantee you this show will go down as a massive cult classic like Freaks and Geeks, with people like me whining 10 years from now into our chips and dip that it ended too soon.
Funniest Jack Donaghy Line on 30 Rock: In the Christmas episode, Liz asks Jack if he knows the Postmaster-General. He says yes, but they haven't spoken for a while because they had a fallout over the Jerry Garcia stamp. "If I wanted to lick a hippie," he says, "I'd return Joan Baez's phone calls." My husband and I were screaming with laughter.
Funniest Moment, Period: I already blogged on this, but when Jan shows up for a baby shower on The Office, she describes having a tub birth, and Creed's response is still something that makes me laugh just thinking about it (especially because a friend of mine had a tub birth in her home, and her husband once explained rather graphically to us what it was like for him cleaning it up afterward): Kelly: Uh, so you're in the tub with everything? Jan: Oh yeah, the afterbirth floats. Creed: Must be like the tide at Omaha Beach.
Biggest Reality TV Disappointment: After a gabillion seasons, America's Next Top Model finally went off the rails when Tyra Banks lost her mind. In the opening episode she emerged from some futuristic time machine thing like that vessel Jeff Goldblum stepped into in The Fly, appearing completely whacked-out and robot-like, while her cohorts stood nearby, all silver-haired and insane. I quit watching at that very moment, only to be pulled back in by a friend who assured me the next episode wasn't nearly as crazy. So back I came, only to see the makeovers with Fairy Godmother Tyra in a little box in the corner talking in a weird high-pitched voice about what magical things she was going to do with their hair and makeup. I hit Stop on the PVR, deleted the episode, and never watched again. You used to be a funny kind of crazy, Tyra, and now you're just CRAZY.
Best New Reality TV Obsession:So You Think You Can Dance. This show is freakin' fantastic, and I've never had a dance class in my life. This series doesn't spend the first 2 months highlighting the "hilarious" Clydesdales who show up for the auditions like another reality talent show that shall remain nameless, but instead celebrates dance and its many forms. From Bollywood numbers to some contemporary routines that brought me to the edge of tears, I can't get enough of this show. Next installment doesn't start until the spring (curses!) but I cannot WAIT. The Canadian version was in the fall and I'll admit I only caught the last half. It was good, and by the end it was excellent, but I need my screechy Mary week after week.
Series that Returned to its Former Glory:Friday Night Lights. Most people haven't seen it and are waiting for the January start on NBC after season 3 aired on DirecTV in the US, but it is SO worth the wait. Season 3 is glorious: I realized I care about these people like family, and when they're hurting, I'm hurting. Two major characters make their exits from the show, both wrapping up their storylines beautifully, but able to return if the show makes it to a fourth season, which it probably won't. A new character showed up with his family and started off as a bit of a disaster, but by the end I cared about him, too. God, I love this show.
Top 8 Lost Moments of Season 4 (check out THAT use of the numbers!): 8. The Oceanic 6 reuniting with their families as they get off the cargo plane. 7. Ben referring to Alex as his daughter in the first episode and Rousseau cracking him in the face with her elbow. 6. The return of Old Smokey as he flies into New Otherton and takes out the freighter folk. 5. Sawyer racing through the compound amidst a hail of gunfire to save Claire. :::swoon::: 4. Hurley and Ben sharing the chocolate bar while Locke went into the cabin to talk to Jacob's cohort. It was funny for its silence, and seemed like such a banal thing to do while the world was being changed inside that cabin, while at the same time suggesting that Hurley accepts Ben now. 3. The look on Ben's face when Keamy shoots Alex in the back of the head. 2. Desmond calling Penny and her picking up on the 15th ring, and the lovely way they begin to finish each other's sentences in delight. 1. Sayid blinking his eyes hard when he sees Nadia at the airport hangar, as if he can't believe his own eyes and is trying to convince himself he's not dreaming. It's wonderfully done. Yeah, I'm a sucker for reunited love.
Favourite New Show: Mad Men. Okay, I know it's in its second season, but I just caught on this year because it was not easily available in Canada. I started watching the show from the beginning as the second season and was piling up on my PVR, and I ADORE it. Jon Hamm is magnificent, and Betty Draper is one of the most complex characters on television, hidden inside a very uncomplex package.
Most Shocking Series Finale:The Shield. Without giving any spoilers, something happens in the finale that made my hand fly to my face, I gasped aloud, and immediately started weeping. I don't think I've ever had such a sudden and visceral reaction to something like that before.
Most Expected Series Finale: The Shield. Because Globe and Mail reviewer John Doyle, in his year-end column, GAVE AWAY the very ending that made me weep, despite the fact the season hasn't yet aired in Canada (yeah, I'm downloading it, but I've bought every season on DVD and will buy this one, too, so they'll get their money out of me). AGAIN making me wonder, why the HELL does anyone want to KNOW spoilers in advance?! I think my immediate reaction was because I knew what was about to happen in the next scene (though, because he didn't give specifics, I didn't know the nature of it), and my heart leapt into my mouth a moment earlier than it normally would have (this was only, of course, after watching about six episodes leading up to it where I thought, "Will it happen now? Now?"). After 7 years of watching that show, I really wish the guy had kept his mouth shut and allowed this loyal fan to watch it spoiler-free. Sigh.
Most Amazing Series Finale: Ok, it's a tie between my two favourite cop shows, now done: The Shield and The Wire. The Wire, which killed off a very important character a couple of episodes from the end in a completely unexpected way (thank you, John Doyle, for not mentioning THAT in your column), ended beautifully, showing that the world will go on, the sun will continue to rise and set, and things will get better, then worse. It didn't pretend to have the answers or wrap up everything in a lovely little bow, but instead showed us the world as it really is: dark, angry, depressing, hopeful, funny, loving, confusing, and difficult. WATCH. THIS. SHOW. The Shield wrapped up years of Vic Mackey in a way that was more satisfying than the way Tony Soprano's storyline ended up. Mackey's always told himself that everything he did was for his family, but it wasn't. It was for himself. And at the end of the series, what happens to him runs counter to everything he'd been working (and stealing and killing and silencing) for. Amazing.
Favourite SNL digital short: This one:
I actually watched it the next morning on my PVR before it became a viral phenom and was howling with laughter. I've seen it a million times since then. This is the first single of The Lonely Island's new CD, and the faces that Samberg and Akiva Schaffer make in the video (the DJ, Jorma Taccone, is the third member of the group) are worth the entire thing.
Easiest (and Most Fun) Target: Sarah Palin. It used to be Rebecca Eckler, but Ecky isn't nearly as interesting as Palin. I just wish the woman wouldn't make it SO freakin' easy. Her campaigning — which actually made George Bush look like a Rhodes Scholar — was legendary. The only thing that outshone her was Tina Fey's inspired impression of her. She refuses to believe it had anything to do with the campaign's outcome. I respectfully (and happily) disagree.
Favourite Fan Experience:The Buffy conference in Arkansas. I loved the people I met there, made new friendships that continue through blogging and emails (and postcards with Buffy stick figures -- thank you, Cedar!) and now 2010 seems SO far away. We need to find an excuse to all get together again and hang out. How about a weekend conference in my living room? It will involve Buffy viewings and we could even write papers if we want. I'll put up a sign-up sheet soon. :) Ian posted on his blog that Parade Magazine also included the Buffy conference in its year-end wrap-up, calling it one of the quirkiest events of the year. Ha!
Biggest Anticipation for 2009: Lost season 5 and Dollhouse. Joss Whedon back on my telly... I don't have words for what this means to me. And Lost's season 4 was just too fabulous, so season 5 is HUGE for me.
My New Boyfriend: I am sorry to tell you this, Desmond, but I have found another. It's been a lot of fun, and I thank you for keeping that blue shirt slightly open for most of season 4, but... I've met someone else. His name is Chuck Bass. Oh Chuck. You join a long list of fantasies that begin with Luke Skywalker and include Bo Duke and Spike, but you are the first one who is younger than I am. Sigh... but that is OK. I'm willing to let that one go if you are. You are so wrong for me, but when you gave in to your mourning over your father and curled up in bed with Blair, that was it: I was yours.
Worst Boyfriend: Henry on Ugly Betty. I mean, come ON, Betty, Gio is RIGHT THERE and he is SO superior. Henry, on the other hand, got a girl pregnant and decided to stay with her during the pregnancy with her understanding that he will dump her like a ton of bricks the moment that baby rears its head. Yeah, that's some prime manhood, there, Bets. Sigh. Thank god he hasn't shown up yet this season. Gio's only made a cameo. And super-cute dude across the hall turned out to be a dud. I want Gio back.
Best Comedy that No One Watched Until It Was Too Late: Aliens in America. This show killed me week after week, but NO ONE seemed to watch it. I blogged on it, no one commented. None of my friends turned on to it. It was risky and had its hugely politically incorrect moments, and I loved every minute of it.
Most Graphic Thing I Saw on Television: On Dexter, the other serial killer on the loose this season was "The Skinner," who would gouge out large sections of people's skin until they died. Near the end of the season, we saw the skinner at work. I wasn't watching the screen after about 5 seconds of the scene. Gnarl on Buffy was bad enough. :::shudder::: Dexter, by the way, continued to be fantastic, and somebody PLEASE give Michael C. Hall that Emmy!
Most Inspiring Thing I Saw on Television: CTV's W-Five aired a documentary called Peace Warrior, about soldier Trevor Greene, a Canadian who was stationed in Afghanistan when he was hit in the back of the head with an axe. I've talked about him on this blog before (here and here) because I worked with Trevor on his amazing book about the missing women in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. When I heard the news, I was shattered. I was interviewed early on for the documentary and offered them some background, but I was unprepared for what I would see in the show. I hadn't seen him since the "accident" and the images of him being taken onto the aircraft with his head bandaged and half his skull gone were very difficult for me to handle (I think I started sobbing at the beginning of the episode and didn't stop until the end... though it was for a very different reason I was crying at the end). He has recovered his speech, some of his upper body motor skills, and is determined to walk despite so many experts telling him he won't (they don't know Trevor). At one point the interviewer asks Trevor what he would say to his attacker if he could see him again, and he says he'd say sorry, because he walked into his village with a gun, and his colleague shot and killed him, but Trevor is still alive. Wow. Keep an eye out for this show to re-air.
Favourite Jon Stewart Moment: Describing Dick Cheney's completely unsurprising support of John McCain, Stewart shows a clip of Cheney announcing his backing, and Cheney coughs at the end of it. Stewart then imitates him, doing his own version of the announcement where he's coughing and hacking so hard and so loudly he can't get a word out. I was laughing so hard I stopped breathing. I kept that on my PVR and watched it about a half million times before finally erasing it.
Favourite Thing About My Blog: The commenters, good and bad. I was at first surprised, then baffled, then amused by the people who came onto my blog during the election campaign and used it as their personal sounding board for Why the Republican Party Is Awesome, and while some of them made me want to pluck my eyes out with a fork so I wouldn't have to read the drivel anymore, I miss them and almost wish there was some Republican stuff happening in the media so I could spark the debates again. But I'm not the sort of person to goad just to bring them back. I actually had a lot of respect for the ones who used a name or reasonable facsimile to argue, knowing this was a blog written by a non-conservative and read by a lot of non-conservatives, but sadly, the anonymouses ruled the roost. But then again, if you were a member of the Republican Party, wouldn't YOU remain anonymous, too? (KIDDING... I'm not goading. Really.) But I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you who come and read my posts and comment on them (or not), whether it's because you like what I say or hate it. Some of the comments on here throughout the year have been some of the most insightful writing I've read, and after going to other boards and seeing some of the dumbass things people write, I'm constantly grateful that I have such an intelligent readership. Keep the comments coming... you guys make my day.
I saw movies. Not the number of movies I used to see over Christmas. Pre-children, my husband and I could hit the theatres and spend all day in there, wandering from movie to movie, from morning until midnight. This year I saw four, which probably constitutes 70% of all movies I saw this year in the theatre. (Sigh.) I used to keep a little notebook where I’d write down all the movies I saw, the dates, and brief reviews, and I found it the other day and I was seeing three to four movies a week, more during the holidays. Ah... those lovely days... So here’s what I saw:
Bolt Starring John Travolta as the dog and Miley Cyrus as the husky-voiced Penny (as Kathy Griffin once said, why does Miley Cyrus sound like a three-pack-a-day smoker?), this movie was actually really hilarious. My brother had taken my daughter to it, and she loved it, as did he, and both of them wanted to see it again and take me with them. The film is about a dog who stars in a television show with his human, Penny, where he has superhuman powers and can save her. The catch is, he doesn’t know it’s NOT real, and the producers of the show don’t want Penny to let him know. So at the end of the day she has to leave him on the lot and go home without him, and it breaks her heart. When the network complains that the demographic of 18-35 year-olds aren’t watching because they don’t like happy endings (clearly Joss Whedon had NOTHING to do with the television series) they leave it on a cliffhanger, driving Bolt wild. He escapes and accidentally ends up on the other side of the continent, and spends the rest of the film trying to get back to Penny. The movie is really funny, but the stand-out is Rhino, the little hamster in the plastic ball. One of the best behind-the-scenes stories I read this year is about Mark Walton, the storyboard artist on the show who stood in and read Rhino’s lines for the storyboarding sessions until they could cast the real actor to play him. But Walton was SO hilarious they kept him on. His comic timing is impeccable and it’s what makes the character so funny. I bet this guy will have a long career of voicework ahead of him.
Slumdog Millionaire A kid who grew up on the streets of Bombay/Mumbai (a.k.a. a “slumdog”) goes on India’s version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and gets all the way to the final question. As the movie opens, he’s about to get the clue for the final question, and on the screen the film asks us how he got there? Was he smart? Did he cheat? Or was it his destiny? The movie then goes back to the beginning of the game, and we see him move up question by question as we see the moment of his life that brought him to this, and how he may or may not have known the answer. It’s unique and brilliant (and will appeal to Lost fans for its free will vs. destiny idea). The casting is amazing as we see the main character growing up on the streets with his tougher older brother and the girl he falls in love with, the “three musketeers.” It makes a person want to visit India about as much as Trainspotting makes you want to visit Scotland (Danny Boyle probably isn’t a favourite director of travel agencies) but it’s a great, great film. I’ll admit, there were moments of the film where I was so depressed I thought there was no way the director would dig us out of the hole of despair, but he managed it. Beautiful film.
Milk Going into this movie, I knew who Harvey Milk was — the first openly gay elected official in the United States. I also knew he’d been assassinated. But beyond that, I didn’t know much about him, his story, or who had killed him. So I was able to enter this biopic without knowing a lot of the history, which can get in the way of biopics where you know a lot of the story already and think they’re telling it wrong. Sean Penn plays Milk, a charming man who ran for the office of supervisor of the Castro area in San Francisco several times before finally winning. The movie recreates the fun of the era, where Milk organized local businesses to open their doors to gay clientele, turning the ward into a hotspot for gay tourists (and shutting down the businesses that didn't comply because they were boycotted), but it also demonstrates the lows, where a man walking home with his longtime partner is beaten to death by a group of thugs and the police shrug it off and say the guy was accompanying his “john” at the time. Events like this lead to Harvey’s activism. Sean Penn is superb in the role — despite being one of the most recognizable actors today, I never once thought of it as Penn playing Milk while we were watching. He was Harvey. I came home and watched some video of Milk on YouTube, and Penn clearly studied every nuance of the man, because he had his mannerisms and distinct speech patterns down pat. The only actor who gives Penn a run for his money is Josh Brolin (who I swear appears in every single film made in the last two years). He becomes a key character in Milk’s story, but because he appears so late in the film he has to make an immediate impression on you, and he’s incredible. You can feel the man falling apart while desperately trying to hold it together in almost every scene, yet Brolin manages to do this without creating unwarranted sympathy for the man. His character, Dan White, was a disaster, and the tragic events that followed happened because of his inability to cope. I really enjoyed this film.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button This movie was directed by the man who did Se7en (he joked in EW that the serial killer doesn’t show up until an hour into Button) and it claims to be based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. But the idea it uses is a man aging in reverse and falling in love along the way. Otherwise, it’s nothing like the short story. It’s MUCH better. Brad Pitt stars as Benjamin, a baby that is born with arthritis, emphysema, and signs of severe aging (luckily he’s taken in by a woman who works in a nursing home, allowing him to blend in), and as the years pass his body becomes younger and younger until, 80+ years later, he’s in the body of an infant. But his mind, on the other hand, is aging forward, getting older and wiser as the years pass. We all live our lives knowing at some point we’re going to die, but we don’t know if we’ll live to 60 or 80 or 100. Benjamin, born looking 85, knows he has that much time to live (if he’s not hit by a car sooner). When he appears to be an old man, but is in fact a 7-year-old boy, he meets and falls for a young girl who looks 7 (and is mildly accused of being inappropriately interested in children by her grandmother). As he appears to get younger, she gets older, and they meet in the middle. But their love has a time limit on it — at some point she knows she’ll be arthritic and grey, and he will be young and nubile, and they know they have to live their lives in that small amount of time allotted to them where they appear to be similar ages. For many of the ages, they used CGI to get a realistic effect (young Benjamin who appears to be in his 70s is created by grafting the image of Pitt’s head onto another actor’s elderly body; elderly Benjamin who appears to be a 16-year-old Pitt is achieved by having Pitt stand VERY STILL as they clearly airbrush his face to turn him into Thelma and Louse-era Pitt). By the end of the film, where the end of Benjamin’s life is shown in a subtle and quiet way, I was sobbing uncontrollably, and the images of elderly Benjamin trapped in the body of a toddler and what they meant have haunted me ever since. Pitt is very good, and will undoubtedly be nominated for many awards, but he’s nowhere near as good as Blanchett, who narrates the film as an elderly woman, and who plays as many ages as Pitt does. But I think at some point we all just expect Blanchett to be perfect. I hope she gets recognized for the role. I will admit, the movie is extremely long, but I enjoyed watching the epic life unfold on the screen, and the ending made it all worth it. Well, that and the one elderly man at the nursing home who tells his stories of being hit by lightning throughout the movie. I laughed out loud every single time. So it’s not ALL depressing.
The good thing about not being able to see a lot of movies is it’s forced me to be very choosy and I’m watching very good movies. The one I still really want to see is The Wrestler. But I’ll probably see The Tale of Desperaux with my daughter before that happens.
So, I decided to get my husband a new guitar for Christmas. (Yes, I am a seriously AWESOME wife.) He had his eye on a Gibson ES335 or an Epiphone for many many years, but never bought one. I've always loved the look and sound of hollow-bodied guitars, so I was willing to support him in this endeavour. So one day he comes home and says he'd just played some Japanese version of the ES335 in a used guitar store and the owner of the store told him that this particular company succeeded in creating such GOOD knock-offs (considered by some experts to be superior in sound to the Gibsons) that Gibson sued them, and now they're unavailable in North America except used. My husband played it, loved it, and came home chatting about how he was going to do research. That night after spending an hour or so on the Internet, he was even more excited about the guitar. Everything the guy said had checked out, and he saw these things going for way more than the guy wanted in the store. Meanwhile, I'd come up dry in my hunt for a guitar for him and had moved over to something else that I was going out to pick up on Christmas Eve. But now... I was going to buy that guitar.
My brother came over and stayed the night, and the next day I knew the store was opening at noon. We left around 11:30 (even though the store is a stone's throw from our house) to throw my husband off the scent, and he told me to hurry back because he wanted to go and get that guitar. So off we went and I walked into the store and immediately knew which one it was (cherry red, hollow-body... it was a thing of beauty). Clerk was dealing with another customer, and then wandered over to me. I said, "My husband was in here yesterday and said he played a Japanese version of the 335." The guy stood there for a moment, swallowed hard, and said in a low voice, "Is he in trouble?" Totally not the reaction I expected. I said, "Uh... what?" "Is he in trouble? Usually when the wives show up this is bad news for the husbands." I laughed and said no, I just wanted to see the guitar. He hesitantly led me over to it, and started in on the history of the guitar when talking to me and I began asking the questions I knew my husband still had for the guy, and then asked him if his price was firm. I'd seen my husband haggle over guitars before, and I wasn't going to be the dunce of a wife who would be taken advantage of. He said yeah, the price was pretty firm. I stared at him, mentioned that one of the knobs was missing, he feigned surprise and then said it would be no problem to order me in a new one, and then he came down in price. Then offered strings and other bells and whistles to throw in, and I knew that was as low as he would probably go. So I said to him AFTER the negotiation (since I didn't want him to know this sale was a sure thing beforehand) that I needed a favour from him. "When my husband comes in this afternoon, you need to tell him that it was bought yesterday, and by a MAN." Dude says, "No problem; in fact, I'll tell him that someone else was in the store and heard him playing it and bought it right after he left!" We had a good laugh over that one, told me my husband was a very lucky man, I agreed, and I bought it. I stopped by a store on the way home to buy a big red bow.
I smuggled it into the basement as my brother distracted my husband, and then my hubby left to go look at the guitar again. My brother and I giggled behind our hands and said, "Have fun!" Then an hour went by. And then another. I started to sweat. I was shaking. I thought I was going to be sick. Just my luck: My husband is going to go to the store, not find it, and buy ANOTHER ONE. I sat in the living room playing with the kids and sweating bullets (the guitar was non-returnable, and if my husband bought one it would be non-returnable, too). See, I had faith in my guy, but there's another bigger guitar store just a few blocks away from this one with clerks who don't know this poor wife had just attempted to pull off the surprise of the century. I mean, who buys an expensive gift for themselves the day before Christmas?! Oh right... MY HUSBAND.
Two hours later, I heard him pull up and raced to the door. No guitar. My heart slowed its beating again. He walks in and says, "You're NOT going to believe what happened. I was playing the guitar in the store yesterday and someone else heard ME playing it and really loved it and then they bought it!" "You're kidding," I said, putting on my Oscar performance. "No. So I went up to the other guitar store... but I didn't buy anything because the guy at the first guitar store assured me that it wasn't a guaranteed sale and that the other guy was given four days to play it, and wants me to call him on Saturday because he might have it back. So I'm going to wait because I loved that guitar."
I really need to go back to the store and kiss that guy. He took my pitiful lie and turned it into a beautiful work of fiction.
"Wow, that totally sucks," I said, and then asked him if that Japanese guitar would be available elsewhere after this. He said not easily, and then seemed a little glum about it, but said he'd start checking eBay and craigslist to see if he could find it.
That night I tried to figure out how I'd display it, and decided to just leave it in the basement on the guest bed because he wouldn't be down there. I opened the case, hung the red bow on the top of the case (I didn't want to stick it on the guitar for fear of scratching it) and blew it a kiss. The next morning the kids were spoiled rotten by Santa (I had NOTHING to do with it) and we all sat opening gifts and my husband didn't have anything to open except one small one from the kids. Then I said I ran out of wrapping paper so I just left his in the basement. We all walked downstairs and went into the back room and I turned to see his reaction... and it was sort of like Sayid when he first sees Nadia after all those years: he stood, blinked hard, stood longer, and had no words. He had resigned himself to never seeing the guitar again. I shouted, "I was the man who bought it after you played it!" and laughed and laughed. He looked at me like I was speaking Martian, and still hadn't put it together. So I told him the store owner and I had come up with the story together. A look of understanding came over his face, but it still took another second or two before he could step forward and actually touch the thing. But he did, and now he's obsessed with it.
I got to feel what it was like to be Santa, and my husband got his Red Rider BB Gun.
I'm tired of lists of resolutions I'll keep for 7-10 days, so I'm attempting a new tactic this year. Here goes...
1. Watch more television. 2. Eat more junk food. 3. Talk about my kids even more than I do now. Target people who don't have kids, don't like them, and REALLY don't want to hear about mine. 4. Don't clean the house. 5. See how high the piles of stuff on my desk can get. 6. Recruit more people to watch The Wire. 7. Recruit more people to watch Buffy. First victim: the intern who works in my office and said she "used to be" a Buffy fan. Horrified, I said to her, "There's no past tense in Buffy fandom!!!" but she said she stopped near the end of season four. Victim two: the other co-worker who chimed in and said she couldn't make it through season one. Sigh... time to break out "Hush." 8. Find even less time to read books. 9. Allow several days to pass without updating my blog, yet every time something happens, think, "I totally have to write that up on my blog." Then... don't. 10. Become obsessed with this show on TV everyone is talking about called "Lost." Apparently it's pretty good.
Whew. I should probably stop there. These are going to be really tough to keep. I'll need y'all as my support group.
Hey guys, sorry I missed last week's Dharma special access. I have a floor of Elmos and Little Einsteins that looks like a tornado just hit it. But in the meantime, here's Darlton answering this week's questions! Password is "emal". (Anagram... lame? male? mael, as in maelstrom? Miles Straume? Hmm...)
I wish you the happiest of holidays this season, and what better way to celebrate the holiday than with a classic. Go here to watch Steve Martin list off his five Christmas wishes.
The new special access video from Darlton was released today, where Darlton donned their Christmas hats, attempted to put a wreath on the wall, and then read out the questions that had been sent to them and their answers. There are a couple of revelations in there, but it's mostly just fun to watch them rambling. After Damon and Carlton are done, stay tuned for an intriguing scene of Ben and a newly shaved Jack (thank god) in a hotel room discussing the return to the island and Locke. It's AWESOME. Go here, and the password is kapalaran. (This will probably work today and tomorrow only, and after that it'll be at the ABC site in regular rotation.) I'm not sure what the significance of the word is (and if you run an anagram search on it, I'm sure they didn't intend for it to anagram to "Anal Parka." Or... maybe they did).
And nary a Lost vote among them. Sigh. They've missed the mark on this one. But I'm glad to see Mad Men getting good play again. But my fingers are crossed, hoping that THIS year will finally be Michael C. Hall's year to win for Dexter. He is brilliant.
MOTION PICTURE CATEGORIES
BEST MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" "Frost/Nixon" "The Reader" "Revolutionary Road" "Slumdog Millionaire"
BEST MOTION PICTURE, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
"Burn After Reading" "Happy-Go-Lucky" "In Bruges" "Mamma Mia!" "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
FOREIGN LANGUAGE PICTURE
"The Baader Meinhof Complex" "Everlasting Moments" "Gomorrah" "I've Loved You So Long" "Waltz With Bashir"
BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle, "Slumdog Millionaire" Stephen Daldry, "The Reader" David Fincher, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" Ron Howard, "Frost/Nixon" Sam Mendes, "Revolutionary Road"
BEST DRAMATIC ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio, "Revolutionary Road" Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon" Sean Penn, "Milk" Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler"
BEST DRAMATIC ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married" Angelina Jolie, "Changeling" Meryl Streep, "Doubt" Kristin Scott Thomas, "I've Loved You So Long" Kate Winslet, "Revolutionary Road"
BEST ACTOR, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Javier Bardem, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" Colin Farrell, "In Bruges" James Franco, "Pineapple Express" Brendan Gleeson, "In Bruges" Dustin Hoffman, "Last Chance Harvey"
Tom Cruise, "Tropic Thunder" Robert Downey Jr., "Tropic Thunder" Ralph Fiennes, "The Duchess" Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Doubt" Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, "Doubt" Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" Viola Davis, "Doubt" Marisa Tomei, "The Wrestler" Kate Winslet, "The Reader"
ANIMATED FILM
"Bolt" "Kung Fu Panda" "Wall-E"
SCREENPLAY
Simon Beaufoy, "Slumdog Millionaire" David Hare, "The Reader" Peter Morgan, "Frost/Nixon" Eric Roth, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" John Patrick Shanley, "Doubt"
ORIGINAL SCORE
Alexandre Desplat, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" Clint Eastwood, "Changeling" James Newton Howard, "Defiance" Hans Zimmer, "Frost/Nixon" A.R. Rahman, "Slumdog Millionaire"
SONG
"Down to Earth" (performed by Peter Gabriel, written by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman), "Wall-E" "Gran Torino" (performed by Clint Eastwood, Jamie Cullum, Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens, lyrics by: Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens), "Gran Torino" "I Thought I Lost You" (performed by Miley Cyrus and John Travolta, written by Miley Cyrus and Jeffrey Steele), "Bolt" "Once in a Lifetime" (performed by Beyoncé, written by Beyoncé Knowles, Amanda Ghost, Scott McFarnon, Ian Dench, James Dring, Jody Street), "Cadillac Records" "The Wrestler" (performed by Bruce Springsteen, written by Bruce Springsteen), "The Wrestler"
TELEVISION CATEGORIES
DRAMATIC TV SERIES
"Dexter" "House M.D." "In Treatment" "Mad Men" "True Blood"
BEST ACTOR, TV DRAMA
Gabriel Byrne, "In Treatment" Michael C. Hall, "Dexter" Jon Hamm, "Mad Men" Hugh Laurie, "House M.D." Jonathan Rhys Meyers, "The Tudors"
BEST ACTRESS, TV DRAMA
Sally Field, "Brothers & Sisters" Mariska Hargitay, "Law & Order: SVU" January Jones, "Mad Men" Anna Paquin, "True Blood" Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"
TV SERIES, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
"Californication" "Entourage" "The Office" "30 Rock" "Weeds"
BEST ACTOR, TV MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock" Steve Carell, "The Office" Kevin Connolly, "Entourage" David Duchovny, "Californication" Tony Shalhoub, "Monk"
BEST ACTRESS, TV MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Christina Applegate, "Samantha Who?" America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty" Tina Fey, "30 Rock" Debra Messing, "The Starter Wife" Mary-Louise Parker, "Weeds"
BEST MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
"Cranford" "Bernard & Doris" "John Adams" "A Raisin in the Sun" "Recount"
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Judi Dench, "Cranford" Laura Linney, "John Adams" Catherine Keener, "An American Crime" Shirley MacLaine, "Coco Chanel" Susan Sarandon, "Bernard & Doris"
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Ralph Fiennes, "Bernard and Doris" Paul Giammatti, "John Adams" Kevin Spacey, "Recount" Kiefer Sutherland, "24: Redemption" Tom Wilkinson, "Recount"
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Eileen Atkins, "Cranford" Laura Dern, "Recount" Melissa George, "In Treatment" Rachel Griffiths, "Brothers & Sisters" Dianne Wiest, "In Treatment"
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Neil Patrick Harris, "How I Met Your Mother" Denis Leary, "Recount" Jeremy Piven, "Entourage" Blair Underwood, "In Treatment" Tom Wilkinson, "John Adams"
CECIL B. DEMILLE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Steven Spielberg
There's this game I used to play with other English lit nerds when I was in university. I think we called it Shame (it's been a long time. Sigh). It works in a pop culture setting very well, too. If you're a huge fan of movies, like I am, you name the one movie you've never seen... the one you should be ASHAMED of yourself for not seeing. (For me, it's Gone With the Wind. Never seen it.) Or maybe there's a TV series you've never watched that you really should have, especially if you're writing books on Lost. *cough* I'm not even going to say what that is, for fear people will run screaming away from my blog like I'm some charlatan know-nothing. Wild horses can't drag that one out of me.
But it's when it came to literature that it got fun. I remember being out for drinks with a guy who was an assistant professor and we were playing the game, and he admitted to never having read Hamlet. I think half of us either choked on our drinks or spit them out completely. "How is that possible?!" we asked in complete bafflement. "Special skills?" he replied.
For me, that book that has been missing from my own personal canon is James Joyce's Ulysses. I know I should read it. Every day on June 16 I swear I'm going to take the day off, disappear into a basement and read the entire thing (that is Bloomsday, after all). I actually went and bought my copy in Paris at Shakespeare & Co., one of the world's most famous bookstores (my friend CK just posted pics of the store here) because that's where the book was written. I got them to stamp the front inside cover with their special stamp to prove that's where I bought it. That was in December 2000. It's been sitting on a bookshelf ever since, and every once in a while I glance over at it, send "good intention vibes" its way, and then it continues to sit for another 6 months before I glance at it again.
But now, Damon and Carlton have announced that in season 5, Ben Linus will be seen reading a copy of Ulysses in the season's seventh episode (this is in the special Dharma Access video that went out to subscribers last night; it will be on the ABC site some time tomorrow). Now I have to take the behemoth off the shelf. I have to open it and turn PAST the page with the fancy stamp. I have to read it.
I'm kind of scared.
I mean, this is something I've been building up to since my undergrad. It's like one of those things I've always looked forward to, but like Desmond and his tattered copy of Our Mutual Friend, figured it might be one of the last things I do. How do I read it? Do I check the footnotes as I go? Do I just read it straight and hope I get the feel of the lilting language, much like you do with a Shakespeare play? I feel like the thing needs to come with instructions. I talked to a friend of mine several years ago who is a well known Canadian poet and he told me the best way to read Ulysses is to avoid the footnotes altogether. So I think that's what I'll do.
I might disappear for a while. I'm not sure whether to curse the houses of Cuse and Lindelof for doing this to me, or to send blessings their way for giving me the heads up before the season actually started. (Here I am in December, and quite literally, when Damon held up the book and announced it, I dropped my head to the desk with a thud and moaned, "Why... why... WHY?!" Could you IMAGINE what my reaction would have been in March if that had been the first time I saw Ben reading it?)
But, I vow to you, gentle readers, there will be a chapter on Ulysses in my season 5 book. But you have to promise me that YOU will be reading this book, too. (And to my friends who are university English majors and professors who are reading this now... prepare for the onslaught of emails from me.)
Wow. How will I play the shame game now? I've been using Ulysses as my answer for so long I wouldn't know what to say next.
Now I don't think I can ever watch Gone with the Wind.
I posted yesterday on the strange new season 5 promo shot, saying it looked overly airbrushed to me. Then someone pointed out that Faraday was missing a foot. Sure enough, he is. But others are debating the issue and arguing his foot is there, it's just hiding behind some plants. Luckily, my readers are always there to help me out, and redeem isolated the foot and lightened the background, and it is most definitely not there.
Someone else pointed out that Juliet's toe is gone, and they're right; her toes, which should be sticking out of her shoe, are missing. What is all this about? Matthew Fox looks 10 years younger, Yunjin Kim looks like she's completely detached from that coffee table, Ken Leung and Naveen Andrews have very different lighting on them. This photo was clearly photoshopped and not taken all at once.
I don't know if you ever go and check out Jorge Garcia's very entertaining blog (it's here if you haven't) but he recently had a post where he was talking about going to get their photos taken. What I found curious is in one picture, you can clearly see him standing before a green screen, and he's wearing the same outfit as in this photo. I think each person was shot individually and then shopped into this photo. The question is, why? Is this another game? Are there other clues in the photo (other than those damn crackers)?
And here they are: the cast of season 5. But wow, holy airbrushed... click on the photo to see a larger version of it, or here to see even larger. They look a little alien-like. But I like it anyway.
As many of you know, I adore Hawksley Workman. (Even if I did once bitch on this blog about a bad cellphone shill he did at one concert, my love of his music did not waver.) I've seen him in concert countless times. I've seen him on stage alone with an acoustic guitar. I've seen entire concerts accompanied by no one but Mr. Lonely, his ever-present pianist. I've seen him on every tour, and through every persona. While promoting his first album, he played the blue-collar worker, saying he'd just gotten off his shift at the pipe-fitting plant and barely made it to the gig (the next night he was a plumber). I saw him on the incredible Delicious Wolves and Lover/Fighter tours, where his persona was as a sexual god who stormed about the stage and made everyone in the room want to leap onto the stage to be with him. At the screamingly loud Phoenix show, he wore torn jeans, and took off clothing throughout the set, and when he was joined onstage by hip-hop artist Graph Nobel so she could perform "Smoke Baby," it was insanely fabulous. The version the band did of "Striptease" that night -- raw, deviant, sexual -- has never been matched in a show I've seen since.
I saw him a few months ago about 30 minutes outside Huntsville in the town of Burk's Falls (pop. 1000) playing a small movie theatre that held about 220 people. I chatted with the town reeve and the deputy clerk of the town, who were running the door and made it probably the most charming show I'd ever been to. They tried to talk me into going to see the Screaming Heads, but we didn't have time. I'll definitely go the next time I'm up there, especially when I checked online to see what they were. I saw him at Massey Hall a couple of years ago and it was like a religious experience -- he had the entire place in the palm of his hand, and he knew it.
As the years have gone by, Hawksley has put together a band of extraordinary talent, and despite the fact he could probably play each one of them into the ground (he plays all the instruments on his albums) you can see the respect and adoration he has for each one of them. On earlier tours, as I said, he'd strike fanciful poses with the mike, standing atop monitors and stomping around the stage. Now he sings, walks over to the bass player to look at him, then walks over to the violinist to watch him, and heads back to the mike. He plays guitar himself, though he defers to the other band members to take the solos. The few times he does handle the solos, he kills them, making me wish he'd tackle more of them. But I think that new persona -- which isn't so much a persona as more of the real man, who admires other musicians and wants to give them the spotlight occasionally -- is taking over. I really wish Hawksley would occasionally put the guitar down like he used to and just sing, though. Even just a couple of songs.
Hawksley played Massey Hall this past Friday, and I was there filled with glee. I knew what to expect -- he's toned down the over-the-topness (which is a little sad, because I loved it), he'll tell stories, he'll perform amazing songs. There was no undressing as the show went on. In fact, he didn't even unbutton his jacket, which must have been rather stifling. I kept thinking that if he'd just remove the dull brown jacket, I could see a crimson shirt underneath with a pinstriped vest and a yellow tie, and he would have struck a pretty cool-looking figure. Similarly, the violinist, Jesse Zubot, who gave one of the most electrifying live performances I'd ever seen, looked like a local at a pub, complete with trucker hat, jeans, and an old shirt. Pop a suit on the guy and you'd have had one fine-looking band. (Hey, I'm not trying to be materialistic here, but when it comes to live shows, there's something to be said for the look.) I forgive him, though... this guy performed a solo where he completely shredded it -- literally. By the end of the solo his bow was almost ripped to shreds, with strings hanging off both ends. Zubot spent the remainder of the song pulling the threads off it. It was jaw-droppingly good. Even Hawksley stared at him at one point like he couldn't believe what the guy was doing. It had to be seen to be believed.
But onto the show. Hawksley has one of the great voices in rock music, and it was a little scratchy at points, which became clearer when he pulled a box of lozenges out and began popping them in his mouth (how crappy to get a Massey Hall show and then get hit with a cold days before it). The show was good, but like I said, it just sort of lacked something for the first bit. The audience didn't seem to be into the songs, which were mostly from his latest CD, Los Manlicious.
A little background: Hawksley recorded two albums: Los Manlicious and Between the Beautifuls. Manlicious is the rockier record, and Beautifuls the singer/songwriter one. Universal, in their infinite non-wisdom, decided North American audiences hate rock music or something, so they released that one in Europe, and Between the Beautifuls here. BtB did OK, and Hawksley pushed them to put out Manlicious. Finally, they acquiesced, and put absolutely no promotional push behind it. The critics raved about it, called it his best album since Delicious Wolves, but no one bought it because, well, they didn't know it existed. (If you are a Hawksley fan, I urge you to get this one... hell, if you don't know who he is, I urge you to get this one. It ROCKS.)
So I think the audience non-reaction had more to do with not knowing the album than anything the band was or wasn't doing.
And then... it happened. During "Striptease," which these days comes off more like Radiohead's performance of "Creep" ("sigh... we hate this song, but we bloody well have to do it because it's the freakin' hit"), the band launched into a bit of a lacklustre performance. And halfway through, during the big orchestral bit in the middle, the speakers completely blew. Like... GONE. Problem was, the monitors and speakers on stage were working perfectly, so the band had no idea that the rest of us had just lost the sound. They kept right on playing, and sounded like a band rehearsing in a garage. And here's the thing: it was GREAT. The loudness was stripped away, and instead you heard a stellar band pulling off a stellar song. They kept going, unaware of what was going on on our end. At one point Hawksley glanced out and you could tell by the look on his face he knew something was up. People weren't staring at the band, they were talking to each other, looking around. The soundboard guys were running frantically down the aisles toward the speakers to try to figure out if something had slipped. The band went up a key and kept going. I loved it. Hawksley stepped up to the mike to sing the final verse, got nothing through his earpiece, and stopped the song for a second, and said, "John, I don't have anything in my ear." Everyone in the audience began shouting at once. He pulled both of the earpieces out and leaned out, cocking his hand behind his ear while everyone continued screaming at him. Finally he said, "Look, I can't hear what you're saying, stop for a second..." everyone stopped. "Can you hear me?" "NO!" He pursed his lips, nodded, turned around and you could just hear the "FUUUUUUUUCCCCKKKK" in his head at that point. If this were many other singers I've seen over the years, he would have tossed the guitar and stormed off until the problem had been fixed.
But that's not Hawksley. Instead he called out to the lead singer of the opening band, Hey Rosetta (who were wonderful; their album is produced by Hawksley and the lead singer of the band has so much charisma I thought he was going to blow the roof of the place off), asking him for his acoustic guitar. The guy ran backstage, grabbed it and handed it off. The sound guys continued running up and down the aisles and checking everything. Hawksley came to the front of the stage, and Zubot joined him. Mr. Lonely stayed behind his piano, the drummer sat back, and the bassist stood by Hawksley's other shoulder, not playing. Hawksley began strumming the minor chords that we all knew so well, and then, bravely (considering he was starting to lose his voice and to shout this song out to Massey Hall was NOT going to be easy) he sang:
Gather at the church Say a quiet prayer Hold each other's hands Praying that we might be there.
And with that, we suddenly were at church. You could have heard a pin drop. Zubot began playing quietly on his violin beside Hawksley, Mr. Lonely played some quiet arpeggios behind him, and the bassist (it's killing me that I can't remember this guy's name, because he's always incredible when we see him) sang harmonies behind him. Hawksley performed "Anger As Beauty" slowly, quietly... and it was amazing. As the chaos continued below him, he glanced upwards and carried us all out of it, like nothing was wrong, like he had planned the PA explosion all along, as if this was the way this song was meant to be played. Halfway through the song Lonely's piano suddenly rang through the speakers, and everything was back to normal. Hawksley smirked, they resumed their places, and he continued to sing it quietly until the song hit a natural break point, he switched to an electric guitar, and then the band slammed into the end of the song, playing it fast, loud, and amazingly. It was one of the best moments of any Hawksley show I'd ever seen.
From that point on he had the audience right where he wanted us. We hung on every word, we were carried along by the solos, we cheered and sang along. It was a beautiful thing.
And for that, this show officially ranks right up there with the Hawksley shows. I can't stress it enough: if you have not seen this man live, you are missing out. He is a consummate performer. He carried Massey Hall with no speakers or mikes (yeah, I know, hundreds of performers have done the whole, 'let's walk to the edge of the stage at Massey Hall and do an acoustic thing' including Hawksley himself at his last show, but their voices were being picked up by the mikes. He did it as if he were in our living room, and he had to make that voice carry to the upper upper balconies... and he did). He is extraordinary.
Hey all. Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but my entire family was hit with the stomach flu on the weekend. At the same time. It's one thing to lie in bed wanting to die for two days, it's quite another to be looking after a 4-year-old, a 1-year-old, and a husband while also wanting to die for 2 days. Ugh. Yesterday I watched the new season 5 sneak peek (involving Kate and Aaron), and it's pretty exciting. I will warn you, however, this is a scene from the new season, and therefore is a bit of a spoiler. I hope they don't release too many of these, but as a standalone, it's exciting and has me anticipating the new season with even more glee. (I believe this is going to be from the premiere episode, "Because You Left.")
And honestly, the more I see the kid who plays Aaron, the more I think they found someone who really looks like Claire. (A little odd, though, that Kate puts a suitcase together with some clothes for herself, but nothing for Aaron.)
You can watch the sneak peek here. Check it out quickly, because ABC will soon replace it with something else.
Also, for an interview with Darlton, check out Television without Pity. Mildly spoilery. Thanks to fb for the link!
Mostly, I write about television, and with this being the home of the Great Buffy Rewatch of 2011, a lot of that television is Joss Whedon-related (when it's not about Lost). Stick around if you love Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Sherlock, Lost, BtVS, Doctor Who, or anything on HBO.
I've published companion guides to Xena, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Alias, and Lost through ECW Press, and my latest book is "Finding Lost — Season Six: The Unofficial Guide." Currently, I love Revenge, Community, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead... actually, pretty much everything on HBO or AMC.
Welcome to the home of the Great Buffy Rewatch of 2011, where every Tuesday night we convened to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer from season 1 to the end. I was joined by over 25 guest commentators and Buffy scholars who helped me lead you through the watch, offering non-spoilery discussion for the new watchers as well as spoiler-filled discussions for the rewatchers. The entire Rewatch can be found in the archives here, listed by week and contributor. Go here for the full 2011 schedule, and here to see the list of amazing contributors. And be sure to pick up my book, Bite Me, a complete episode by episode guide to the series!
I meant to post this yesterday but time got away from me. I read the most jaw-dropping column in yesterday's National Post, concerning an incident that happened on Radio-Canada, the French-language version of Canada's national radio service, the CBC (if you're an American, NPR is probably the closest equivalent). He was talking about the New Year's Eve show that was put on by Veronique Cloutier and her husband, Louis Morrisette. Apparently every year it's pretty risque, but this year they went just a little bit further. 
