« Reviews

20 Mar 2008

Discover More

When you get a Discover card, you’re allowed to choose from over one hundred fifty designs, and you can order a new card with a different design at your leisure. I think it’s a brilliant marketing move. When you choose a new card design, it gets you excited about using your Discover card again. You want to pull out your card with puppies on it, or palm trees, or the Statue of Liberty, so that clerks everywhere will say, “Ooh, what a cool credit card you have.” And then, as if getting you to use your card more wasn’t enough, it might also convince others who see it that they should get a Discover card. That way they can have a credit card with puppies on it.

20 May 2007

Netflix Watch Now

Tonight Ashleigh and I tried the new “Watch Now” service from Netflix. It allows us to watch a movie instantly on our computer screen instead of waiting to receive it in the mail. The service is only available for select titles, and obviously only with a fast internet connection. Anyway, it’s pretty amazing that a movie can be delivered so quickly and reliably, and at a very decent quality, over the internet. Our movie had to pause a few times for just a minute to “catch up” to itself (as a result of hiccups in our internet connection), but that gave us an opportunity to use the restroom; it wasn’t much of a nuisance. This is definitely the future of movie renting, and I highly recommend it for any Netflix users who haven’t tried it yet, provided you have a very fast connection.

28 Feb 2007

Canadian Idol

Some of the American Idol contestants are decent, I guess, but I’ll tell you who my idol is: Robin Sparkles. She’s got the best music video ever.

4 Dec 2006

“Spring Awakening” Rocks

The new Broadway musical Spring Awakening is based on an 1891 German play about teenagers discovering their sexuality in a strict, prudish German town. The adults are unwilling to be straightforward and honest with the teenagers about the changes they’re experiencing, and the children are victimized and hurt as a direct result.

The play has essentially been translated verbatim, but songs have been added and both characters and plot points have been fleshed out. The play still takes place in 1890’s Germany (apparent in the costumes and minimal set pieces), but the songs are full-on modern rock.

It actually works remarkably well. The songs generally happen as inner monologues, or as expressions of emotion when words aren’t enough. And it makes sense that in these teenagers’ heads, they hear something akin to rock music. Because rock music has always represented youth, and how youth is misunderstood by the adult world around it.

The show is edgy, unexpected, and full of captivating, addictive tunes. It’s satirical in both comedic and dramatic ways, and it tells its story very well. It also helps that the cast of young actors (plus the two adult actors who play all of the adult characters) are superb, easily attacking both the rock music and the antiquated dialogue with great conviction.

I don’t want to say too much about the content of the show, because you need to see it for yourself. A limited number of $25 student tickets are available at the box office beginning at ten o’clock daily, and there are always seats on stage available for $36 if you’re not squeamish about that sort of thing.

4 Dec 2006

Let’s Go Force a Kite Down the Audience’s Throat

Mary Poppins: The Broadway Musical was not so great. It would have been one thing if they’d just taken the movie and turned it verbatim into a musical: We wouldn’t have been surprised by anything, and it wouldn’t have been anything new, but it still would have been entertaining. But instead, they decided it was important to change every single scene—for the worse. Every iconic memory from the movie was missing or thrashed, the plot was choppy, and the whole theme of the show was way off.

I can’t name every wrecked scene, but I’ll give an example. For some reason, they felt it was necessary to move the “Spoonful of Sugar” scene to the kitchen. Okay, that might have been fine, but then they decided that it wasn’t the kids’ fault that the kitchen was messy—it was the butler’s fault instead—which completely ruined the whole point of having that scene in the first place!

And then to make up for the missing plot points, they just interspersed new scenes where Mr. Banks scolds everyone and Mrs. Banks mourns being his wife, so that it’s clear he’s an awful parent/husband and that the children and Mrs. Banks are victims. These scenes make the plot choppy, because the whole show went back and forth like a pendulum: a song and dance with Mary Poppins followed by a serious scene about family dysfunction.

Another example of a wrecked scene: Obviously they couldn’t do “Jolly Holiday” in a watercolor vacation land with animated livestock, but instead… they set it in the park (which turned from winter to summer, woo-hoo), with half-naked “statues” coming to life and dancing. I felt it was not only disturbing, un-jolly, and boring, but that it was also somewhat inappropriate for a young audience.

The list of bad choices goes on and on: Mary Poppins quitting her job, the Banks family hiring a replacement nanny (think Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty who used to be the nanny of Mr. Banks, the kids not spending their coins on birdseed from the bird woman (Mary Poppins pays for it instead, and the kids save their coins), the Banks children not getting into trouble at the bank, the “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” scene taking place in a carnival-like store that sells “ounces of conversation,” Mrs. Banks being ashamed because she used to be an actress (random!), Mrs. Banks not being involved in the suffragette movement, the children’s toys coming to life and sentencing them to imprisonment (which is still better than the British version, in which they’re sentenced to death by firing squad), and finally a completely unnecessary scene in which Mary Poppins takes the children into outer space.

The only good scenes were the conversation between Mr. Banks and Bert (because it was left exactly as it was in the movie) and the whole “Step in Time” number (which once again was very faithful to the movie). Since the writers decided that the movie’s dialogue for the scene in which Mr. Banks has his revelation (the climax of his plot) was irreplaceable, I can’t imagine why they didn’t realize that the same choice would have benefited the musical throughout.

Thank God for the cool special effects, or else we would have walked out after about half an hour.

3 Dec 2006

“Bobby” Wins

I highly recommend Bobby. It was basically two movies in one, and each was equally well-crafted and touching. The first was a valentine to Bobby Kennedy, showing what he stood for and his effect on others as a statesman. It’s hard to ignore the obvious comparison to the current war in Iraq, but the point of this movie isn’t just anti-war, it’s highly pro-America, and that makes it come off as patriotic, not rebellious. The second (and more prevalent) movie was an ensemble piece about the lives of several ordinary citizens whose only connection, it seems, is their presence at the Ambassador Hotel on the night of the California Democratic Primary.

For me, not knowing much about this time in history or the specifics of Bobby Kennedy’s assassination, the movie had a surprising conclusion. Yet even without knowing why the movie unfolded as it did, or knowing who the characters were, I still found that it drew me in and held my attention. For other viewers, the ending will obviously be much more expected; however, I think the movie developed its ensemble so well, it doesn’t matter if you’re familiar with the assassination or not. You know that “the ship is going to sink,” to use a typical metaphor, so it’s the burden of the filmmaker (writer-director Emilio Estevez) to make it interesting nonetheless. Estevez succeeds.

One of the most shocking choices in the film was the casting of Bobby Kennedy: He plays himself. Most scenes of the title character use archive footage of the man himself. Kennedy is obviously a necessary character in the film, but the point is his true effect on others, so there’s no need for an impersonator.

Regardless of your familiarity with Bobby Kennedy or your personal politics, I think this movie is an important piece for every American. It’s a historical piece, but it also reminds us about the American dream and our values—both personal and national.

31 Aug 2006

Mountain Man Dance Moves

I picked up an advanced copy of this at work, and let me just say it’s quite possibly the best book ever published: Mountain Man Dance Moves: The McSweeney’s Book of Lists. If you like McSweeney’s lists, or if you’ve never heard of McSweeney’s lists, it’s going to make you very happy. Go pre-order a copy, or pick it up at a bookstore when it’s released to the public.

18 Aug 2006

Enjoy the Fright

Well, Snakes on a Plane was everything I expected it to be. I’m going to get started on my screenplay now for Snakes on a Canoe.

8 Aug 2006

New Every Two: The LG “Chocolate” VX8500

On Saturday I was eligible for my “New Every Two” discount from Verizon Wireless, so yesterday I went to the Verizon store and upgraded to the new LG Chocolate. It’s a sleek, black phone that looks way more like an iPod than a phone, obviously because they’re trying to encourage people to listen to music on their phones. It slides open to reveal a keypad when you want to use it as a phone, and the rest of the time it’s really small and thin.

Verizon didn’t have the cable yet to transfer my phone book from my old phone, but with a USB cable and BitPim (set for the VX8300, which is pretty much compatible), I was able to transfer my phone book as well as all my photos. BitPim also let me create a custom ringtone out of an MP3 of “Such Great Heights,” so that was pretty awesome.

Verizon uses Windows Media Player 10 to sync music to the phone. It only comes with a tiny 60MB of memory, just enough for about an hour of music, so I put the Postal Service’s Give Up on there, and I might get a microSD card later to store more music.

2 Dec 2005

The Courtship of Stewie’s Father

Three things make episode #67 one of the best Family Guy episodes ever:

1. When Stewie got lost at Disney World, they dressed him up in a costume, chained him to the floor of “It’s a Tiny, Tiny World,” and forced him to sing endlessly.
2. To cheer up Peter, Brian dressed up as a banana and performed “It’s Peanut Butter Jelly Time.”
3. Herbert, the old perverted man, sang “Somewhere That’s Green” from Little Shop of Horrors, almost completely unchanged, to Chris.

So good.

19 Nov 2005

Barenaked Lame-ies

I was all excited waiting for the new Barenaked Ladies EP, Barenaked for Hanukkah. And then it finally came out (exclusively on music download sites), and…

It’s just three songs. One is a track taken directly from Barenaked for the Holidays, another is a live version of a song from Barenaked for the Holidays, and the third is “I Have a Little Dreidel,” which is less than a minute long. Lame!

17 Nov 2005

The Goblet of Fire

I saw the new Harry Potter movie last night at an advance screening. I liked it better than the other three. It finally flowed like a movie, not like a book. There weren’t discernible chapters. And the plot just seemed more exciting. My friends who have read the books said that about 3/4 of the book was excluded, yet they all enjoyed it as well. They said they appreciated the fact that it felt more like a movie, and it was better to leave things out entirely than to touch on them briefly and never come back.

15 Nov 2005

Best Mattress Topper Ever

I laughed and laughed when I saw this item on the Linens-n-Things web site. Hopefully you’ll make the same instant assumption about the product, otherwise it’s not funny.

14 Nov 2005

The Woman in White

I received a free promotional CD in the mail with selections from The Woman in White. I guess they’re trying to generate interest in the Broadway run. Anyway, it’s really weird. I almost can’t pass judgment on the music, though, because it’s definitely the plot that’s weird. I might consider seeing the show. Now that I’m reading about the plot, I’m totally intrigued.

8 Oct 2005

The New Rent, PS

I just want to add something to my previous post.

My absolute favorite change on the new RENT movie soundtrack is in “Goodbye Love,” where Mark finally says, “Mimi still loves you, are you really jealous?” instead of, “Mimi still loves Roger, is Roger really jealous?” and so on. Thank freaking goodness. It always sounded retarded in the original.

7 Oct 2005

The New Rent

I got the new RENT soundtrack (the movie soundtrack, as opposed to the original Broadway soundtrack). I really like it. It’s almost identical to the original, but I greatly prefer Rosario Dawson over Daphne Rubin-Vega, and it’s nice to hear the other actors occasionally making different choices with their songs. The only things that have been cut from the original, and that I miss, are the telephone messages.

1 Oct 2005

In My Life: Lemon… in a Good Way

Tonight I watched a preview performance of In My Life, a new musical by Academy Award-winning composer Joe Brooks.

It’s one of the few shows on Broadway that is not based on any pre-existing piece of material. In fact, the only other one I can think of right now is Avenue Q, but even that is a parody of Sesame Street. That’s why I was so excited to see In My Life; it’s a completely new show. And I wasn’t disappointed.

The plot is a simple love story between a songwriter who has Tourette’s Syndrome and an obsessive-compulsive editor for the Village Voice. Their idiosyncrasies aren’t really the conflict of the show, however. The conflict is between them and heaven, because they’re actually players in “God’s reality opera.”

I refuse to give away any more of the plot, but it’s terrifically bizarre, and the audience is very confused at first, but eventually they’re forced to give in to its craziness. And if you’ve been curious about the billboards full of lemons… don’t worry, it’s explained pretty early in the show.

In My Life is truly refreshing…just like Dr. Pepper.

21 Sep 2005

Why the Green Screen Is Funny

I went to a taping of “The Daily Show” recently. It’s too short, so I’m not sure if it’s really worth the hours of standing around and waiting. Still, it was very enjoyable, and it’s even funnier in person than on television.

The biggest thing that makes it funnier in person is the use of the green screen. Anyone who watches the show regularly is aware (or at least suspects) that the “field reporters” are never actually on location when they report “live” from somewhere; they’re standing in front of a green screen, with the background superimposed behind them. What you don’t realize, and what makes it even more amusing, is the location of the green screen on the set.

The set consists of three large screens, which often have the three words “The Daily Show” displayed on them respectively. Jon Stewart’s desk is in front of the center (“Daily”) screen. When Jon introduces Rob Corddry (who is supposedly “live” in another location), Rob immediatley walks out on stage and stands in front of the screen that says “The” on it. Rob stands there for less than two seconds before the camera switches to him, at which point the screen immediately turns green, and we see a different background behind him on the television monitors. The speed at which this happens is the first reason it’s funny.

The most humorous part, especially in person, is that the green screen isn’t on a different set. Rob is standing on the very same set as Jon. In fact, he’s only a few feet away from Jon. He’s basically standing right next to Jon’s shoulder. But Rob has to stare straight ahead into the camera, and Jon also stares straight ahead into the center camera, so from an audience perspective it looks like Rob is yelling into Jon’s ear and Jon is ignoring him.

It doesn’t sound as funny when I write about it. I guess you had to be there.

For tickets to “The Daily Show,” check the web site, or call (212) 586-2477 at 11am on a Friday to see if there are cancellations for the following week.

18 Aug 2005

William Finn’s Cast Recordings

I’m listening to Elegies: A Song Cycle right now. It’s a musical revue by William Finn from a couple years ago. As much as I love Spelling Bee, it’s really sad to me that a lot of people will buy the Spelling Bee cast album and think that simplistic music is all William Finn has to offer.

So if you’re buying Spelling Bee and want to buy something else (to qualify for the free shipping), please consider also buying a better example of his work, like Elegies.

15 Aug 2005

New LP from JRB

Jason Robert Brown (Parade, The Last Five Years, Songs for a New World, et al) released a new album a couple weeks ago. It’s not a musical; it’s just a collection of random songs he wrote. But this time, he sings them:

Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes

Some of the songs were cut from (or at least written for but not used in) his musicals. If you’re a fan of The Last Five Years, this album is a necessity because it includes the song “I Could Be in Love With Someone Like You,” which was cut from The Last Five Years (and replaced with “Shiksa Goddess”) because of a lawsuit from Jason’s ex-wife.

For those of you not into musicals, you might still give this album a listen. It doesn’t sound like musical theatre… I think I’d describe it as “piano blues” or even “country without a drawl.” If someone else has a better classification for it, I’m open to suggestions.

26 May 2005

Broadway Blitz

Every once in a while, I see a bunch of Broadway shows in rapid succession. This month is one of those onces.

A couple weeks ago I went with my family to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Beauty and the Beast, and Spelling Bee (which I had already seen off-Broadway).

Chitty was rather lousy except for the amazing flying car. You’ll seriously ask yourself, “How’d they do that?” Other than the car, though, expect a long show full of boring dialogue and painfully-simple songs. Thank goodness for Marc Kudisch’s spoiled-childish portrayal of the Baron of Vulgaria, which was the saving grace of Act II.

Beauty and the Beast was exactly what I expected, basically a staging of the movie, with some beautiful sets and some funny supporting roles, but overall unimpressive. The leads left something to be desired, but I suppose that’s to be expected from a show that’s been here for so long.

Spelling Bee, on the other hand, was just as hilarious as it was off-Broadway, and is definitely my favorite new musical this year. The music isn’t great, but the play is amazing, and it’s complemented by brilliant direction and acting. Also, Circle in the Square really is the perfect venue for this show; it feels like a school gymnasium.

This past weekend, I finally got to see Sweet Charity. Christina Applegate is not a singer, and that was painfully obvious, but her acting (and dancing) more than made up for it. Overall, the show was quirky, fun, and beautiful to behold. The dances were bizarre, as are the musical numbers in general, but it’s really the book that makes this musical great. Neil Simon’s script is perfect, and my favorite scene in the play (as it should be) was definitely the elevator scene between Charity and Oscar (played perfectly by Denis O’Hare). I actually didn’t care for O’Hare’s performance in Assassins last year, so I was pleased to see him redeem himself in another role.

Tonight I’m going to see The Light in the Piazza, which is one of the two remaining Best Musical nominees I haven’t seen. After this, I just need to get tickets to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and I will have successfully seen all the contenders.

10 May 2005

Singer/Songwriter Stephen Sondheim

I immediately placed an order for Sondheim Sings, Vol. 1: 1962-72 when it came out today. I read about it on Playbill:

The disc, the first in a series produced by Peter E. Jones, “utilizes the demos held in Stephen Sondheim’s private collection, and consists of the composer-lyricist singing and playing songs from such shows as A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, Company, Follies and A Little Night Music, among others, all digitally remastered.” [Read more.]

I know I’ll enjoy this (even though I’m sure Steve isn’t a great singer) for the same reason I liked hearing (and seeing) William Finn and Jason Robert Brown playing and singing their own songs: There’s just something so perfect about the way a songwriter interprets the meaning of his own song.

2 May 2005

Shake It

If you’re in need of a great peanut butter shake in the theatre district, try the Renaissance Restaurant [Diner] on 9th and 52nd. Their food is typical diner food, so it’s not all that great, but their shakes are peculiarly amazing.

10 Apr 2005

Guss’ Pickles

Anyone from New York City can tell you that the best place to satisfy a pickle craving is at Guss’ Pickles (on Orchard at Broome). I went there for the first time last month, and I became an instant fan of their “spicy half-sour” pickles. So today I ventured down there to get a whole quart of them, and now I get to enjoy them all week.

18 Mar 2005

Visitor by Onelinedrawing

I’m listening to “Visitor” by Onelinedrawing, and I’m proud to say it’s a modern rock/folk/indie/emo album I can highly recommend that has not been played on “The OC” (well… not that I know of). Onelinedrawing is the solo project of Jonah from the now-broken-up Far. It’s a little like Death Cab for Cutie or Iron & Wine, but not completely. It’s definitely worth a listen.

If you’re interested, you should harken to some samples at iTunes or Amazon. Yeah, I said harken. You got a problem? Huh? Huh? That’s what I thought.

Ahem.

For you neo-retro-electronica-lovers, track four (“Smile”) has classic Casio-inspired beats. And for you late-seventies-sci-fi-fans, it has guest “vocals” from R2-D2.

7 Mar 2005

Still Just What the Doctor Ordered

To be honest, I’m pretty sure Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper tastes exactly like normal Dr. Pepper. Actually, I think I taste a hint of the cherry flavor. But really it tastes overwhelmingly similar to Dr. Pepper. I’m not impressed, but also not surprised.

5 Mar 2005

Dismantling the Gates

My cousin Danielle went to see The Gates a couple weeks ago, and she later confided, “I’m glad I saw them because they’re such a big deal, but to be honest I really don’t get it!”

I’m glad she said that because she’s my cousin and it’s good for me to get along with her. See, I decided I only get along with people who don’t get them. Those people who say, “Oh, they’re beautiful, this art is so amazing,” are not people I can communicate with very well. They’re like people who’ve never seen Star Wars; we have little common ground.

I think only real New Yorkers think they’re beautiful. And that’s prob’ly because it’s been a long time since they’ve seen, for instance, a bright orange sunset, which—on the scale of beauty of bright orange things—is a lot higher than bright orange fabric on bright orange steel.

Oh, sorry, I meant saffron, not orange.

14 Feb 2005

More on The Gates

Amid all the acclaim, someone actually had criticism of Christo and Jean-Claude’s multi-million dollar art installment (via kottke.org):

As I approached the gates from the Upper West Side near the park’s northern edge, I spotted a bluff topped with orange flags. I had seen all the sketches and early installation photos and even pieces of the project being assembled near Central Park South, but still, my first thought was, “Oh, another construction site up here.”

I think the last paragraph of the article, regarding an elderly woman discussing some ducks, sums up how I felt about the experience. I quickly became bored.

13 Feb 2005

The Gates

Everyone in New York City with a weblog is writing something about The Gates and posting photos of it. I posted a few photos as well, just in case someone missed something while taking the thousands of photos already online.

3 Jan 2005

My First Broadway Play

Last night I saw ‘night, Mother, which is the first non-musical I’ve seen on Broadway. It was amazing. It only has two characters, a mother and her thirty-something daughter, played brilliantly by Brenda Blethyn and Edie Falco. I didn’t know much about the play except the basic information I just listed, and I think that’s best for anyone who is planning to see it. It’s good not to know what it’s about. But I highly recommend it, and it’s been very undersold, so it’s easy to get rush tickets (front row for $26.25) by showing up anytime during normal box office hours.

9 Oct 2004

Dr. Strangelove

“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the war room!”

It’s on TCM right now, uninterrupted, and it’s seriously one of the best movies ever made. It’s simple, poignant, funny, well-acted, well-written… and if you’ve never seen it, you should immediately add it to your NetFlix queue.

8 Oct 2004

Samsuck

I waited over an hour (literally sixty-three minutes) on hold to talk to Samsung’s Level Two Tech Support. When I explained the software bug in the web browser on my Samsung a670, they informed me that they don’t have a working a670 in the office, so they can’t test it.

Remind me not to buy Samsung stock.

Anyway, I explained my complaint: The manual says to hold down the “CLR” button to return to the browser home page, but when I hold down the “CLR” button, it does nothing at all. After talking with his supervisor, the tech support guy told me, “it’s a misprint.”

Remind me not to buy Samsung phones.

6 Aug 2004

You Have Earned 20 Reward Frustrations!

My Disney Rewards Card didn’t work the last time I was at Disneyland, nor the time before that, so I called Bank One to find out why. The Bank One lady said that my attempt to activate the card (by calling the phone number on the little sticker) had failed (even though it never told me it failed), and that’s why it wasn’t accepted. So she activated it manually (supposedly), and she told me it should (yes, should) work next time. I really hope it does, because I feel like a total jerk when I try to use the Rewards Card, and there’s a line of people behind me, and it doesn’t work.

24 Jul 2004

Casablanca

I finally finished watching Casablanca a few minutes ago.

Most of the movie was slow yet slightly difficult to follow. It suffered from too much unnecessary set-up; the movie might have been better off without the news-reel-style opening (which seems like it was popular at the time). Also, and more importantly, I found myself disliking characters (both Rick and Ilsa) whom I was pretty sure I was supposed to like. I started to wonder why it was considered a classic. It seemed over-hyped, much like Citizen Kane.

The ending of the movie, however, redeemed its status. It got to the point at which Rick delivers one of his famous lines to Ilsa, “If that plane leaves the ground and you’re not with him, you’ll regret it,” and suddenly I realized that I didn’t know the rest of the story. I knew that Rick would say that, but I had no idea what would actually happen. I didn’t know whether Ilsa would get on the plane. I didn’t know what would happen to Rick, or to Victor, or to Captain Renault. Suddenly, the movie became exciting, and I ended up really enjoying it as a result.

20 Jul 2004

Half-Ass Restrooms

It really bothers me when a restroom has toilets that automatically flush, but you still have to “push” the faucet to wash your hands. I don’t know why it’s such a big deal to me, but I feel like the two technologies need to go together. If the toilet flushes itself, the faucet should open itself.

I think the reason it bothers me so much is that you don’t just have to push the faucet once; you have to push it several times while washing your hands. Really, I just want to stick my hands under it and have it pour water. They did it for the goddamn toilets, and I’m sure that was equally (if not more) difficult to install.

Naturally, I’d also like automatic hand dryers and automatic soap dispensers, but I’m not partial. Hand dryers may work better, but they also take longer, so I’m fine with paper towels.

Also, I know they exist, but someone is apparently doing a horrible job marketing automatic soap dispensers. I rarely see them.