Crystal Ball Gazing

What will Tosy and Cosh be watching in the fall? We'd guess:

Monday
8-9
How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang, Two and a Half Men, Rules of Engagement, and CSI: Miami.
Mother is just great and inertia will probably have me tune in to The Big Bang. The wife likes Two and a Half Men and CSI: David Caruso Loves His Sunglasses, so inertia will work there too. Heroes gets TiFauxed, as does maybe Journeyman.

Tuesday
The demise of Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars opens some holes, and yet remarkably none of what I'm seeing makes me want to fill them. House at 9, sure, but that's about it.

Wednesday
8-9 Pushing Daisies looks very interesting and may just hook the wife. But we've never seen an episode of Grey's so no spinoff for us. Over to CBS for Criminal Minds for a procedural/Mandy fix, but nothing at 10 intrigues. Bionic Woman gets TiFauxed.

Thursday
NBC will keep us watching all night. No changes here.

Friday
8-9 Men in Trees was much better than its premise might suggest, so we'll come back for that, but that's about it.

Sunday
I love me my Simpsons, but the musical fan in me has to check out Viva Laughlin.

Until Whenever

Finales

Since I'm coming rather late to the party, I'll offer only very brief thoughts on the season finales I've seen thus far:

Lost: I did see the twist coming, but for literally one second only (her posture as she stepped towards the light gave it away). A complete package of a season finale - suspenseful, moving, funny, exhilarating (Hurley's van charge may have been the most exciting event of the TV season for me), and shocking. I can't think of 48 hours of more anticipated-by-me entertainment than these last three forthcoming seasons.

Gilmore Girls: A remarkably effective finale, with blessedly economical closure on the Luke-Lorelai front, great use of the entire town, and some very nice moments from the elder Gilmores. Still, that the Palladinos have stated interest in a two-hour movie that would tie up loose ends is happy news.

House: If the "game-changer" truly changes the game, then excellent. If not, then a bit of noise to no effect.

Scrubs: I suspect that all of this JD-Eliot stuff is a smokescreen, a kind of Lucy and the football thing done almost to mock the fans who want them together, and that the next and final season will see that near-kiss never consummated, Eliot and Keith happily betrothed, and JD and what's-her-name happy parents. But I could be wrong.

My Name Is Earl: I loved it. And I hope they run a bit with the "Earl in jail" story and don't spring him in an episode or two. And for all that is right and holy, I hope they bring back Marlee Matlin!

The Office: Just a perfect moment at the end. Jenna Fisher earned an Emmy just with that final moment of teary happiness - so real, and so effective. And I hope that the Ryan-in-corporate story goes places, and that the character doesn't just disappear. Lots of fodder there.

Still to be seen: Veronica Mars (taped), How I Met Your Mother (missed! ugh!), and Heroes (I'm a good five or six episodes behind, actually).

Until Whenever

Soul Test

Step One: Watch this:



Step Two: Confirm that you smiled. If you did: you have a soul! If not? Not.

Until Whenever

Back! And Lazy!

As is my wont, I return from a long hiatus with a lazy meme post! Courtesy this time of that spin-kicking frog over at Electronic Cerebrectomy.

1. I've come to realize that my last kiss... was too long ago (i.e.; not today).

2. I am listening to... a lot of U2 after failing (for the umpteenth time) to convince my brother-in-law that Bono is truly the greatest rock singer ever. Ben reconvincing myself.

3. I talk... to my wife and kids more than anyone else.

4. I want... the new Michael Chabon book. And a rotisserie for my grill. And the new 100 in the Shade cast recording.

5. My best friend(s)... and I don't get together enough. The perils of adulthood and kids and responsibilities.

7. The weather is... warm and humid, but pleasantly so.

8. I hate it when people... assume the primacy of their viewpoint or wishes. Arrogance.

9. Love is... more powerful than I usually remember.

10. Marriage is... long-term. Not for the sprinter.

11. Somewhere, someone is thinking... "I'm hungry." Not as in "is it lunch time yet?" but as in "I may die today if I don't eat." How is it possible that we (I) can push that fact out of our (my) mind(s) 99.999999% of the time?

12. I'll always... want more. The curse of being human.

13. I have a secret crush on... Secret? None really. Rikki Lake is the one people usually find baffling though.

14. The last time I cried was... Months ago.

15. My cell phone is... small.

16. When I wake up in the morning... I despair at another day of work. Unless it's Saturday or Sunday. That's when I'm a viking!

17. Before I go to bed... I usually watch a little Scrubs.

18. Right now I am thinking about... how soon I can get out of here on a sunny Friday.

19. Babies are... really good at making you feel completely inadequate.

20. I go on MySpace... Almost never.

21. Today I... will finish a project at work and beat a hasty retreat to the suburbs.

22. Tonight I... will finally clean/organize the basement.

23. Tomorrow I... will spend time with two antic three-year olds. Awesome.

24. I really want to... find a more engaging, less stressful, less commutey, job.

25. Someone who will most likely repost this? I'm coming late to the party here, so likely no one. Maybe Roger.

Until Whenever

Not Dead!!

Sorry for the complete radio silence, but Tosy and Cosh have been slammed by malevolent real-life forces intent on stealing all free time. We are going on a short holiday, but hope to resume posting late next week.

Happy Memorial Day everyone!!

Until Whenever

Doin' the Friday Shuffle

1. "Day after Day" - Dave Brubeck - Dave Brubeck Songs
Did you know that Dave Brubeck wrote art songs? Me either. They ain't half bad.

2. "Gold & Goldberg" - Michael John LaChiusa - The Wild Party (Original Broadway Cast)
Loose and jazzy character piece sung by a pair of hopeful Broadway producers.

3. "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist" - Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez - Avenue Q (Original Broadway Cast)
Hilarious.



4. "Entr'acte" - Stephen Sondheim - Anyone Can Whistle - Live at Carnegie Hall (1995 Broadway Concert Cast)
Very brassy and bouncy, almost Jerry Herman-esque, if you can believe it.

5. "The Park" - Michael John LaChiusa - See What I Wanna See (Original Cast Recording)
I still haven't been able to get into this score, and I usually love LaChiusa. This track in particular sounds a bit too much like some of his Hello Again material.

6. "Love and Peace or Else" - U2 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
I love that crunchy, fuzzy opening.



7. "The Car Chase" - James Horner - A Beautiful Mind (Film Score)
Dramatic and portentous cue from one of my favorite Horner scores.

8. "Back in the Car" - Danny Elfman - Music for a Darkened Theater Volume I: Film and Television Music
An avant-garde, atonal, guitar-heavy short piece from his score for the early Resse Witherspoon/Keith Sutherland vehicle Freeway.

9. "Do You Think It's All Right" - The Who - Tommy
An earnestly sung ditty about child abuse. Creepy.

10. "Heat Wave" - Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook
Not one of my favorite songs, to be honest.

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Buried Beauties - Tina Marjorino

Last night's most excellent episode of Veronica Mars had me remembering that it's been ages since i did a Buried Beauties post. Tina Marjorino may not fit the Hollywood standard beauty mold, but, as these pictures indicate very well, it's hard to argue that she's truly a beautiful young woman.

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Movies I've Seen in the Past Few Weeks

Children of Men
I'm trying to remember the last time I so taken with a film and I simply can't. I was just blown away by the world created here, by its organic, deep-woven feel. The much lauded and discussed long, long shots are as powerful and seamless as advertised, and do an amazing job of adding a feeling of complete naturalism to the film. As much as I love films like, say, the Star Wars films, and as much as they might feel "real" within their constructed universes, they don't feel "real" in the sense that this could all be happening right now. Children of Men does. The acting is uniformly excellent, with Clive Owen putting in probably the best "reluctant hero" performance I've ever seen and Michael Caine inhabiting his character so fully that you swear you know him. Even the score is spot on; haunting and beautiful and modern; for the first time in a long while I finished a film wanting to get the soundtrack. It seems premature to put a film on my all-time top ten list after just one viewing, but I suspect that after a second viewing it will easily be right up there.

Now, with all of that praise said, I did have one quibble. The central notion, that for eighteen years no woman on the planet Earth has given birth, is a good and compelling one, and one the film embraces and makes real. The scenes of masses of people grieving at the death of the world's youngest human were perfect. But the central drive of the film, the effort to get the first pregnant woman in decades out of England and to some rebel group felt a bit off. We get a brief discussion about how if she made her condition known to the government they'd take the baby and pass it off as a native (in this vision of the future, England has cracked down on illegal immigrants hard, putting them in camps and encouraging violence). But this felt slight, and as a result I was never quite sure why there was such urgency to get her out. In the end, the film overcame these objections through sheer storytelling power and an abundance of breathtaking and beautiful moments, but as the glow faded I did find myself coming back to that nagging concern. All the more reason to give it a second viewing though, right?

The Pursuit of Happyness
Will Smith his great, his kid is more than passable, and the story of triumph against the odds moved me and held my attention. So why, in the end, did I feel that The Pursuit of Happyness failed? Because, to me, a film like this has a very simple pass/fail litmus test. That moment at the very end when the Will Smith character gets the job, should elicit tears, or send a shiver down the spine - it should move you big time. And it didn't. So while I enjoyed the film, and recognized its virtues, in the end it failed in its very simple primary directive.

(I apply a similar litmus test to any version of A Christmas Carol. When Scrooge wakes up on Christmas morning a changed man, and starts doing all of the good, giddy things he's done, I should be moved to extreme happiness, to tears of joy really. If I am, it's a good Carol. if not, not. This is why for me the Bill Murray version, Scrooged!, works. When he goes into his big monologue at the end, I'm moved to tears. So it works.)

Until Whenever

A Trio of Audra

"See What I Wanna See" - A slinky, jazzy speakeasy evoking song from Michael John LaChiusa's musical of the same name.



"The Glamorous Life" - A great lesser-heard Sondheim song sung by a young girl about her absentee actor mother.



"Farewell Letter" - Audra singing my favorite Sondheim score. The fact that this isn't available on CD kills me.



Until Whenever

Idle Dreams

Lefty passes along a simple and elegant meme on his blog, a meme taken from his wife: Name ten things you'd like to learn to do. OK:

1. Play guitar. I can fumble my way through some very basic chords, but I'd love to be able to play enough chords capably enough to play and write some songs.

2. Play piano. See the sentences after "play guitar." Copy and paste.

3. Run a marathon. (Well, not learn exactly. I know how.) I ran cross country in high school and keep imagining that I'll get back to it someday.

4. Ski. Looks awfully fun.

5. Hike. Again, I know how, but I'd like to learn enough about it to do it for real, to climb some of those small mountains in New Hampshire the wife and I love so much.

6. Cook. I can grill a steak and make some tasty meatballs and sauce, but that's about it.

7. Do that "walk the coin across your knuckles" thing. That's awesome.

8. Write speeches. This is a professional thing - I'm a business writer by trade, and have dabbled in speech writing, but would love to learn more about it.

9. Swim. I technically can swim, but get tired very quickly. Would like to learn to do it properly.

10. Enough simple magic tricks to delight my kids and their friends.

Until Whenever

The Mellow, Vaguely Chemical Smell of Faux Butter Hangs in the Air

Lots o' bloggers are doing the summer preview thang. But writing a comment or two about dozens of movies seems . . . hard. So here are the five movies I most would like to see in a theater this summer. I will not see all five of these. I have three-year old twin girls. I may see two. But if wishes were fishes? These.

Spider-Man 3
Will hopefully see in the next week or two. I was very fond of the first two, so, despite some negative buzz, expect to at least be greatly entertained by this one. Three villains does seem like overkill though.

Knocked Up
The Forty-Year Old Virgin was hilarious and touching a feat that is very hard to pull off. (The regularity with which The Simpsons did it for six or seven years during the peak of the show's run there notwithstanding). So this follow-up by many of the same suspects is s strong in-theater contender, especially given that the wife's tastes and mine don't converge often, and we both loved Virgin.

Evan Almighty
Steve Carrell and Lauren Graham? And Morgan Freeman? In what actually looks like a pretty funny big comedy? I'm in.

Ratatouille
I still haven't seen Cars so the Pixar 1.000 batting average may or may not be intact with me. But this is more than just Pixar, this is Brad Bird-directed Pixar.

The Simpsons Movie
I have nine seasons of The Simpsons lined up on my shelf and faithfully Ti-Faux two syndicated episodes a day to try and catch post-season nine unseen episodes. I must see this movie.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, The Ex, Shrek the Third, Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer, Hairspray, Stardust, Superbad, and The Bourne Ultimatum - we may get together on DVD. We'll see.

Until Whenever

Smart Move

If this is true, then the suits at ABC, in a move uncharacteristic for their breed, are being smart and not greedy. As has been said many times before, giving the Lost creators a firm end-game will allow them to do a much better job of structuring the large story they're telling, and of determining when it would be most appropriate to provide certain answers. And five seasons strikes me as a fair run for the show, and gives them more than enough time to finish telling their story. We had heard a while back that the producers wanted this, and that ABC might have been amenable to the idea. If the E! report is right, then this would be the natural end result of these rumors. Excellent news, and I hope we hear it confirmed soon.

Until Whenever

Gilmore No More

According to Alan Sepinwall, the CW has officially announced that Gilmore Girls will end with the season finale. The rumored short season eight will not be happening after all. I know many fans are actually happy about this, given their lack of respect for the Sherman-Palladino-less seventh season. But as I have said, I've found this season, if less than great, consistently enjoyable, and I suspect that this news will make the last few episodes somewhat less satisfying than they would have been, not as artfully conceived a capper to seven seasons as they would have been.

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On the Nightstand

Oryx and Crake

I read Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale last year, and she immediately jumped up pretty high on my personal list of favorite authors. And now, after reading Oryx and Crake, she only keeps climbing. Just as The Handmaid's Tale showed us a dark vision of the near-future, with the details teased out in bits and pieces only, so does Oryx and Crake. But where the former focused on a future in which women's rights were all but stripped away completely, and the dark Fascist America in which that happened, the latter focuses on a world in which genetic experimentation and bio-engineering have been followed to what Atwood convinces us is an inevitable conclusion.

Atwood's explorations of her characters, especially Jimmy/Snowman, the central figure in her tale and the one who gives us, the audience, the story of how society fell is superb, as is her handling of the present/flashback structure. And I loved the world and story she has laid out - the concepts behind the Crakers (a new race of humans genetically engineered to be polyamorous non-violent herbivores), and the spliced-together new animal races (pigoons and wolvogs), and the way that mega-corporations have created a demarcated society even more split than the one we have now. But I did find myself wishing for some more vigor and detail behind the science, of the kind of fact-based, dryly scientific verisimilitude that someone like Kim Stanley Robinson brings to his near-future, based-on-real-science creations. There was a felling throughout of the science - and, given how dependent her world is on real scientific advances, the world Atwood was creating - being not completely real, not as finely textured and convincing as it could have been. In the end, this feeling was easily ignored, given the remarkable skill at hand in the other elements of the novel. But that faint whiff of "what if" was nonetheless there and present as I read.

Other minor faults? The romantic triangle angle, and Oryx herself, the distaff point of that triangle, were surprisingly underdeveloped, especially given the title. But, again, in the end, none of that really mattered, given how good what is focused on is. The character of Jimmy, who goes from smart-assed kid to unhinged, sheet-clad oracle is completely believable. And the self-centered, Aspergery genius character of Crake, whose hubris proves so devastatingly destructive, was likewise completely realized.

The bottom line is that the book grabbed and moved me like few others have, making me eager as can be to dive into another Atwood novel as soon as is feasible. Any suggestions? (I've read The Blind Assassin as well but no others save Oryx and Handmaid. ?

Until Whenever

It's the Role She Was Born to Play, Baby!

The Obererver notes that Saturday Night Live has yet to feature a Barack Obama impersonation, due to the glaring lack of a thin black castmember. While they are correct in noting that the show really will have to feature an Obama at some point, given that election-season candidate mockery is so finely woven into the DNA of the show, they are incorrect in claiming that SNL currently has just one black cast member. Maya Rudolph is, as far as I'm aware, at least partially black, and it occur to me that she could turn in a pretty interesting Obama impersonation, if they let her. She does that deep-voiced orator thing pretty well and with the right makeup and wardrobe - why not?

Until Whenever

The Fiber-Rich Diet

So, at long last, we have replaced the lamented DVR, by giving the new competition a chance and switching to Verizon's FiOS TV, Internet, and Phone package. For the same price we were paying before for phone, cable, and high-speed Internet, we now have a faster Internet, 11 HBOs (previously had none), and a brand-spanking new DVR. So, a week in, what do Tosy and Cosh think of FiOS?

Yay!

• The picture is noticeably better - and we are not springing for HD, nor do we have a HD TV - just a plain old picture tube.
• The channel choices. I especially like the multitude of digital music channels, a list that includes a beast I have long longed for - the showtune channel!
• Faster Internet. Not crazy noticeable, but noticeable all the same.
• The tech who installed it all. Eager, helpful, and superbly diligent - even when Verizon corporate dropped the ball (see below).
• The DVR. Dual tuner. Much easier to work than the old model. Series priority capabilities.
• Widgets - with a push of a button I can get a five-day forecast on-screen, under whatever I'm watching. Neato.
• On Demand. After much searching, I finally figured out that I could just order up, for free, that first episode of The Sopranos. Awesome.

Boo!

• On install day, some card on some pole was out, so after doing everything the tech realized that phone calls were disconnecting after 30 seconds, and that the Internet would disconnect as well. Stupid Verizon home office refused to let him put us on another card, and told him to tell us to just wait for the card to be fixed - which would mean he came into a house with working phone and Internet only to leave it with neither. He yelled at Verizon home office. He was awesome. And yet ineffectual in the end - they wouldn't budge. In the end, we made him put us back on copper for the phone. SO he had to come back this week to finish.
• Without a box, you get only network TV and a few odd cable channels. I knew without the $5-a-month box I wouldn't get all those HBOs, but I figured, as with cable, all the basics would work - TNT, Comedy Central, ESPN, etc. Not so much. So the bedroom and basement TVs are very limited. Ugh. Still, another $5 a month galls. Will try to go without.
• Call waiting is included. Never had it before. Me like.

So overall, while the tech gets an A, Verizon FiOS as a whole gets a B-, for screwing up the install and for the shortsighted, piggish box strategy. But on the whole? Happy.

Until Whenever

Random Top Ten

Random Top Ten!!

Top Ten Adam Guettel Songs

10. “The Beauty Is” – A delicate song about being on the threshold of adulthood, about being ready for responsibility and for consequences.

9. “The Riddle Song” – A great scene/song that closes out Act II of Floyd Collins. Floyd is trapped underground in a cave and his brother refuses to let him lose hope by getting him to relive childhood fun. Stephen Sondheim has called this one of the songs he “wishes [he] wrote,” so there you go.

8. “The Light in the Piazza” – A gorgeous ballad, with Guettel’s trademark understatement shining through.

7. “Let’s Walk” - More from The Light in the Piazza. The ingenue's parents discuss the difficulties inherent in letting their children grow up.

6. “Fable” – The finale to The Light in the Piazza. Note the Sondheim allusion at the opening, with a very Into the Woods-esque vamp introducing the lyrics about "looking in the forest" for a "prince to appear."



5. “The Carnival” - A basically instrumental piece from Floyd Collins that plays as the media circus overtakes the town (think Baby Jessica eighty years earlier with a young man instead of a toddler).

4. “The Ballad of Floyd Collins” - A dead-on pastiche of a folk ballad, used to introduce the show in lieu of an overture and in a eerie, angry reprise later.

3. “Dividing Day” - Light in the Piazza again. Clara (the mother) ponders when her marriage went from one of love one of convenience, ponders when that "dividing day" was. An achingly melancholy and pensive melody.

2. “Migratory V” - Guettel gets a lot of the beauty and power in his music through harmonic language and effects and odd rhythms. But here a pure, pristine melody drives the song, a beautiful hymn to the power of what people can accomplish in communion with one another.

1. “How Glory Goes”- The finale to Floyd Collins, with a dying Floyd asking God what heaven will be like. Heartbreaking.

Until Whenever

Season Endgames

Here at the end of the 06-07 season, I thought it would be fun to take a look at the series I watch, where they stand, what I thought, and were they are going. So:

How I Met Your Mother - I though the second season was superb. I missed a fair share of episodes thanks to what I'll refer to as the "Tragic DVR Implosion of 07", or "TDI07," but still caught a good hunk of the season, and thought the writers did a fine job of a) deepening Barney without needlessly softening him, b) developing the Ted-Robin relationship, and c) fairly handling the Lily-Marshall break-up/reconciliation. I understand that the season finale upsets some apple carts, but am reassured by the good Mr. Alan Sepinwall that a third season will surely get approved and any open plot threads the chance to get resolved next year. Huzzah!

Studio 60
Never found its stride. I think having the leads be savior/geniuses who succeed out of the gate at rescuing Studio 60 was a major dramatic stumbling block (I never really believed in their genius), and that the tone of "this stuff isn't of earth-shattering importance, but it is to us, and we treat it that way" that Sorkin achieved so nicely on Sports Night was missing. Sorkin tried to have his cake (write about folks just putting on a show) and eat it too (the show was the most important show ever) and ended up neither possessing or ingesting it.

Heroes
Saw this intermittently over the year and have seen most episodes by now. Loved the plotting and sense of momentum. Loved the sense of humor. Thought the portentousness fell flat and that the character interaction writing - the dialogue - was oft clumsy. Still, very eager to see how this first season plays out.

Gilmore Girls
Thought, as usual, that long-time fans overreacted to the shift in focus. No, this season hasn't been classic Gilmore Girls, but it has been worthy and honest and entertaining. I'm one of the few hoping the 13-episode final season gets approved, so that the tying up of loose ends can be done more elegantly.

Veronica Mars
TDI07 had me miss all but the first, stellar, arc, but I eagerly await the last episodes of the season, and most likely series. I have a feeling it'll take the DVD to really appreciate this chopped-up season. I do think that Veronica Mars had the potential to be very interesting in the long-term, as they let Veronica grow up, and on that basis mourn its supposed demise even more.

Lost
I marvel at every episode at how well-directed, shot, cast, scored, and produced this is. While Heroes may have gotten a lot of ink for successfully aping Lost's sci-fi, geeky, serialized nature and bettering it in plot-advancement, I don't think it's gotten enough dis-credit for not coming close to equaling the writing, acting, or production excellence that is Lost. I know many lost patience with this season, but I remain enamored. We've learnt much about the Others (whose story this season is clearly largely concerned with) and have seen some interesting dynamics develop between characters. Count me as hugely anticipating next week's Ben-focused backstory and the Jack-(again?? - I bet this time there's a good reason)-focused finale.

My Name Is Earl
Only saw a handful of these, but loved the messing with the format they've done, and actually think the last few episodes, which suggest big changes for Earl, could be great.


The Office
Missed some key episodes (all the Roy-Jim stuff), but absolutely loved how they have managed to balance soapy, plotty stuff (the Jim-Karen-Pam triangle, the Michael-Jan relationship) with more standalone humor. It's a hard balance to strike, but I think they're doing a great job of it.

Scrubs
Seen maybe half of the episodes and have liked them just fine. Scrubs is one of those shows I never think about, but always love when I remember to watch it.

30 Rock
A great first season that evidenced a remarkable ability to adjust on the fly. An ability that will hopefully not be tested by an Alec Baldwin-less season. Still, I don't curry with the seemingly unanimous notion that Baldwin carries the show. A Tina Fey-less 30 Rock I could not fathom. Get the right actor to replace Baldwin and you could still have a show.

ER
Still moving, still capable of wonderful drama.

The Sopranos
Have only seen the premiere so far. Will post thoughts once I'm more caught up.

Battlestar Galactica
TDI07 had me miss the entire second half of the season. Am trying to grab reruns now.

Until Whenever

Stars and Moon

When this song came up in a Friday Shuffle two weeks ago, I wrote at (relative, for a Friday Shuffle entry) length about what a great song it is, and how quickly it's become a cabaret staple. At the time, I tried to find a video to better illustrate its brilliance, but was unable to. No more. From a live Audra McDonald concert in London. Enjoy.



Until Whenever

Things That Can Kill You

When your three-year old, the one who carts her baby doll around with her everywhere, is told that she can't take a highchair for her baby doll to sit in, because she's not real and a real baby might need it, and she responds, with absolute stunning sincerity, "But my baby is real."

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