I resisted for a long time, but Telephone finally got me. And now she has a new single out. Hooray!
I hope someday she releases DVDs of all her music videos. It would totally be worth having.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
Monday, February 28, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Insidious Trailer!
Hell yeah!
Don't let the whole "from the people who brought you Paranormal Activity" fool you; Insidious is going to be awesome!
Be seeing you.
-Sally
Three Brief Thoughts On The Prisoner
SPOILERS so those of you who haven't seen it (HA! Like anyone reads this thing) stop reading right now, I am not even kidding a little. If you haven't seen the whole series, I don't want to be the one responsible for giving stuff away. SPOILERS, I say!
1) I don't buy into the whole "Number Six is John Drake" thing for several reasons. The main one is simply because I want them to be separate characters. And that's a good enough reason because the show leaves a lot open for interpretation. The second reason is because Patrick McGoohan said he isn't and, in spite of what George Markstein, ITC promotional materials and pulp novels based on the show said, I'm inclined to believe him because he is my favorite.
I'm a big fan of the not knowing who Number Six is and one of the many things about the remake I found royally stupid was that they gave him a name, and a lazy name, at that. Michael? Seriously? How long did it take you to come up with that gem? ... Sorry, sorry. I'm not really bitter, I swear. And I have nothing against the name Michael, but ... well, my friend Mike has a joke that goes: "Like most people, my name is Mike." That pretty much sums up my frustration. Of course, I hated Number Six in the remake ("Hey, you know that classic television character everybody loves because he's a hero? How about we make him smarmy and whiny and thoroughly impossible to care about?" "Brilliant!"), so what should I care if they put no effort into naming him? ... I'm getting off topic, aren't I?
Long story short (too late) I'm not terribly concerned about who Number Six is. I do have two theories:
One is that he really is Peter Smith. He wasn't lying to Mrs. Butterworth, he was just so used to not trusting people and not telling anybody his name (or anything else) that it sounded like he was making it up.
The other is that he's Patrick McGoohan, but an alternate universe Patrick McGoohan who became a spy instead of an actor. I base that one solely on the whole birthday thing.
I'm sure both of these theories have already been analyzed to death by fans I just haven't happened to meet. So, on to thought two (the next two are where the spoilers come in).
2) It's funny that the identity of Number One comes as a shock considering we've already seen an entire episode about Number Six having an evil (or, at the very least, a working-for-The-Village) doppelganger.
The Schizoid Man is one of my favorite episodes (and it confused the hell out of me the first time I saw it; I understood it a lot better the second time, after Scott explained to me that black jacket Number Six is our Number Six) but that didn't stop the face under the monkey mask from blowing my little twelve year old mind.
Fifteen years later it's still a freaky and impressive scene, and it didn't occur to me until just this morning that we've seen it before in the series (just with way less crazy and over a longer period of time).
3) Another theory I'm sure has already been discussed in conversations not had by me:
Number Six escaped The Village in the sense that he got back to London, but didn't escape in the sense that he brought The Village with him.
Literally, in the sense that he brought The Butler home with him, but there's also the whole figurative thing. He was there for more than a year, I don't care how much he resisted and fought, he's going to have enough of The Village left in him to mess with how he lives the rest of his life in Not The Village.
And, also, apparently doors open by themselves now. Not that he was around to notice.
In one of my books about The Prisoner it mentions something about the door to his house in London opening by itself at the end of the series and that "He makes no notice and even seems to expect it," or something along those lines.
No, book, he doesn't. You know why? He isn't there! He already drove away! He didn't see the door open at all! The Butler seemed to expect it to open for him, but he's The Butler. For all we know he'd never been outside The Village ever, in which case he wouldn't know doors to work any other way.
Or maybe The Butler is the force that makes the doors open by themselves. Maybe everything within a mile or so radius of The Butler happens automatically. He's a magic butler (or Magneto or something), which helps him do his job more easily.
The Butler: secret wizard among the muggles of The Village. Awesome!
Be seeing you.
-Sally
1) I don't buy into the whole "Number Six is John Drake" thing for several reasons. The main one is simply because I want them to be separate characters. And that's a good enough reason because the show leaves a lot open for interpretation. The second reason is because Patrick McGoohan said he isn't and, in spite of what George Markstein, ITC promotional materials and pulp novels based on the show said, I'm inclined to believe him because he is my favorite.
I'm a big fan of the not knowing who Number Six is and one of the many things about the remake I found royally stupid was that they gave him a name, and a lazy name, at that. Michael? Seriously? How long did it take you to come up with that gem? ... Sorry, sorry. I'm not really bitter, I swear. And I have nothing against the name Michael, but ... well, my friend Mike has a joke that goes: "Like most people, my name is Mike." That pretty much sums up my frustration. Of course, I hated Number Six in the remake ("Hey, you know that classic television character everybody loves because he's a hero? How about we make him smarmy and whiny and thoroughly impossible to care about?" "Brilliant!"), so what should I care if they put no effort into naming him? ... I'm getting off topic, aren't I?
Long story short (too late) I'm not terribly concerned about who Number Six is. I do have two theories:
One is that he really is Peter Smith. He wasn't lying to Mrs. Butterworth, he was just so used to not trusting people and not telling anybody his name (or anything else) that it sounded like he was making it up.
The other is that he's Patrick McGoohan, but an alternate universe Patrick McGoohan who became a spy instead of an actor. I base that one solely on the whole birthday thing.
I'm sure both of these theories have already been analyzed to death by fans I just haven't happened to meet. So, on to thought two (the next two are where the spoilers come in).
2) It's funny that the identity of Number One comes as a shock considering we've already seen an entire episode about Number Six having an evil (or, at the very least, a working-for-The-Village) doppelganger.
The Schizoid Man is one of my favorite episodes (and it confused the hell out of me the first time I saw it; I understood it a lot better the second time, after Scott explained to me that black jacket Number Six is our Number Six) but that didn't stop the face under the monkey mask from blowing my little twelve year old mind.
Fifteen years later it's still a freaky and impressive scene, and it didn't occur to me until just this morning that we've seen it before in the series (just with way less crazy and over a longer period of time).
3) Another theory I'm sure has already been discussed in conversations not had by me:
Number Six escaped The Village in the sense that he got back to London, but didn't escape in the sense that he brought The Village with him.
Literally, in the sense that he brought The Butler home with him, but there's also the whole figurative thing. He was there for more than a year, I don't care how much he resisted and fought, he's going to have enough of The Village left in him to mess with how he lives the rest of his life in Not The Village.
And, also, apparently doors open by themselves now. Not that he was around to notice.
In one of my books about The Prisoner it mentions something about the door to his house in London opening by itself at the end of the series and that "He makes no notice and even seems to expect it," or something along those lines.
No, book, he doesn't. You know why? He isn't there! He already drove away! He didn't see the door open at all! The Butler seemed to expect it to open for him, but he's The Butler. For all we know he'd never been outside The Village ever, in which case he wouldn't know doors to work any other way.
Or maybe The Butler is the force that makes the doors open by themselves. Maybe everything within a mile or so radius of The Butler happens automatically. He's a magic butler (or Magneto or something), which helps him do his job more easily.
The Butler: secret wizard among the muggles of The Village. Awesome!
Be seeing you.
-Sally
On A Completely Unrelated Note
Merry monsters!
Why can't we have commercials like this in the United States? Who doesn't love a mummy rushing to bandage a kid's leg?
On the other hand, it's an ad for a company I personally hate because they lied to me and tried to bilk me out of almost two hundred dollars.
They told me if I put my cable "on hold" for six months the account would still technically be "active" and then I wouldn't have to pay their ridiculous "you didn't keep our cable for a year so we're charging you extra to cancel it" fee. So I put my cable on hold for six months. After which, when I called to cancel it completely (after having been reassured that this would surely count as me having cable for a year), they told me I needed to pay their ridiculous you didn't keep our cable for a year so we're charging you extra fee. I told them that six months before one of their telephone representatives told me that having cable on hold for six months counted as having cable for six months and I would pay no such fee. They kept billing me until I sent them multiple emails telling them they were liars and I hated them. Then they left me alone, billwise, although every once in a while I do get mail from them trying to get me to subscribe to their cable again.
No dice, DirecTV. I don't care how many awesome movie monsters you put in your foreign commercials. You're still liars, I still hate you and I will not even consider you next time I have to pick a cable provider. Thbbbth.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
Why can't we have commercials like this in the United States? Who doesn't love a mummy rushing to bandage a kid's leg?
On the other hand, it's an ad for a company I personally hate because they lied to me and tried to bilk me out of almost two hundred dollars.
They told me if I put my cable "on hold" for six months the account would still technically be "active" and then I wouldn't have to pay their ridiculous "you didn't keep our cable for a year so we're charging you extra to cancel it" fee. So I put my cable on hold for six months. After which, when I called to cancel it completely (after having been reassured that this would surely count as me having cable for a year), they told me I needed to pay their ridiculous you didn't keep our cable for a year so we're charging you extra fee. I told them that six months before one of their telephone representatives told me that having cable on hold for six months counted as having cable for six months and I would pay no such fee. They kept billing me until I sent them multiple emails telling them they were liars and I hated them. Then they left me alone, billwise, although every once in a while I do get mail from them trying to get me to subscribe to their cable again.
No dice, DirecTV. I don't care how many awesome movie monsters you put in your foreign commercials. You're still liars, I still hate you and I will not even consider you next time I have to pick a cable provider. Thbbbth.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
Monday, February 21, 2011
My Smooching Hero?
It's pretty well known that Patrick McGoohan wasn't comfortable playing romantic scenes in movies and television. He turned down the role of James Bond (twice!) in part because he wasn't comfortable with all the sex, and rumor has it that during a scene in The Chimes Of Big Ben when Numbers Six and Eight are walking with their arms around each other so Number Two won't suspect them of planning an escape, standing in for Number Eight was McGoohan's daughter in a wig. (I don't know if that one's true but I heard it somewhere once and therefore it belongs on the internet. I also heard once that one of the other reasons he turned down James Bond was because Bond used too many guns and gadgets and didn't punch people enough. I really hope that one's true.)
However, back in the day when he wasn't famous enough to be morally opposed to things, Patrick McGoohan did some scenes that, given his reputation, I was pretty surprised to see on Youtube.
There was a damn-near rape scene in High Tide At Noon (seriously, I didn't know they could get away with that sort of thing in movies in the '50s):
And at least two scenes of general swarthiness in The Gypsy And The Gentleman:
I can't tell what anybody's saying in those last two clips. The sound's kinda bad.
There's no real point to this post, I just found these videos and wanted to share them with the world.
Golly, I love that McGoohMan.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
However, back in the day when he wasn't famous enough to be morally opposed to things, Patrick McGoohan did some scenes that, given his reputation, I was pretty surprised to see on Youtube.
There was a damn-near rape scene in High Tide At Noon (seriously, I didn't know they could get away with that sort of thing in movies in the '50s):
And at least two scenes of general swarthiness in The Gypsy And The Gentleman:
I can't tell what anybody's saying in those last two clips. The sound's kinda bad.
There's no real point to this post, I just found these videos and wanted to share them with the world.
Golly, I love that McGoohMan.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
Saturday, February 19, 2011
My Punching Hero
I adore Patrick McGoohan. He's just one of those people who, in my fangirl mind, is brilliant and beautiful and I'm deliberately blind to any faults he may have had because he is a hero.
Or something. I don't think I'm expressing myself very well. I have a headache. Patrick McGoohan is wonderful. I love listening to him talk. And don't watch the next video it you haven't seen all of The Prisoner. It gives away some important stuff.
I think this one's okay, though. (Didn't finish it; I have to go be a chauffer now.)
Be seeing you.
-Sally
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
PoorZacEphron!
What I'm about to say, I say with absolutely no irony:
This song rocks, in an early-2000s boy band kind of way.
I've never seen any of the High School Musical movies, but Winter showed me this video last night when she was telling me about all of the not very subtle gay subtext Disney let them get away with (she actually referenced the line in this song "Put the balls in my hand, this time it's man to man").
And, yeah, it's about as subtle as a train wreck, but other than the quiet boring part at the beginning and the cheesy Home Alone scream at the end, I really like this song. It reminds me of how every boy band always had one good song.
If High School Musical was a boy band, this would be their one good song.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
This song rocks, in an early-2000s boy band kind of way.
I've never seen any of the High School Musical movies, but Winter showed me this video last night when she was telling me about all of the not very subtle gay subtext Disney let them get away with (she actually referenced the line in this song "Put the balls in my hand, this time it's man to man").
And, yeah, it's about as subtle as a train wreck, but other than the quiet boring part at the beginning and the cheesy Home Alone scream at the end, I really like this song. It reminds me of how every boy band always had one good song.
If High School Musical was a boy band, this would be their one good song.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
Monday, February 14, 2011
We Came, We Saw, We Kicked Its Ass!
My new favorite song for the day:
Any time The Prisoner is included in a kickass remix, it's guaranteed to make me smile.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
Any time The Prisoner is included in a kickass remix, it's guaranteed to make me smile.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
Friday, February 11, 2011
I Wish I Could Remember The Line From The Movie To Use As The Subject Line
There's an incredible movie called Ink:
I only watched it once because it was emotionally draining; I cried through the whole thing. But this may be the only time I recommend a movie not only in spite of but possibly because of that.
It's impossible to describe or explain, but it's beautiful and moving and I want everybody to see it.
Ordinarily I don't like dramas but sometimes, and especially in Ink's case, it's worth it.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
I only watched it once because it was emotionally draining; I cried through the whole thing. But this may be the only time I recommend a movie not only in spite of but possibly because of that.
It's impossible to describe or explain, but it's beautiful and moving and I want everybody to see it.
Ordinarily I don't like dramas but sometimes, and especially in Ink's case, it's worth it.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Dream Casting (The Rocky Horror Picture Show)
It's no secret that I kind of hate The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I say "kind of" because I love about half of the soundtrack. But if I never hear The Time Warp again, it'll be too fucking soon.
Anyway, I think it's kind of awesome that they're remaking it. I don't know why; maybe I just think it's funny in a "mean to the fans" sort of way. I never said I was a nice person.
At any rate, I like the idea of a remake and I was just thinking about what it would be like if I were to cast it myself. First of all, I'd only cast musicians and second of all, most of them would be musicians I like.
Hell, if I were allowed to cast the remake, it might actually turn me into a Rocky Horror fan.
Brad Majors - Josh Groban
Columbia - Britney Spears
Dr. Frank-N-Furter - Mike Patton (failing that, just have Anthony Stewart Head reprise the role)
Dr. Scott - Bill Moseley (yes, he's primarily an actor, but not only did he have a pretty big role in Repo! The Genetic Opera but he's been in two bands: Cornbugs and Spider Mountain BBQ)
Eddie - Christian Kane or Voltaire (depending on which way you want to go with it; I actually prefer Christian Kane because, thanks to Angel, he comes with his own cannibalism joke: just replace "Meat Loaf" with "McDonalds")
Janet Weiss - Sarah McLachlan
Magenta - Amanda Palmer (I dare you to come up with a better choice)
Riff Raff - Alice Cooper
Rocky Horror - Eugene Hutz
The Criminologist (I had to look his name up; I was just going to call him "Narrator Guy") - John Flansburgh
Be seeing you.
-Sally
Anyway, I think it's kind of awesome that they're remaking it. I don't know why; maybe I just think it's funny in a "mean to the fans" sort of way. I never said I was a nice person.
At any rate, I like the idea of a remake and I was just thinking about what it would be like if I were to cast it myself. First of all, I'd only cast musicians and second of all, most of them would be musicians I like.
Hell, if I were allowed to cast the remake, it might actually turn me into a Rocky Horror fan.
Brad Majors - Josh Groban
Columbia - Britney Spears
Dr. Frank-N-Furter - Mike Patton (failing that, just have Anthony Stewart Head reprise the role)
Dr. Scott - Bill Moseley (yes, he's primarily an actor, but not only did he have a pretty big role in Repo! The Genetic Opera but he's been in two bands: Cornbugs and Spider Mountain BBQ)
Eddie - Christian Kane or Voltaire (depending on which way you want to go with it; I actually prefer Christian Kane because, thanks to Angel, he comes with his own cannibalism joke: just replace "Meat Loaf" with "McDonalds")
Janet Weiss - Sarah McLachlan
Magenta - Amanda Palmer (I dare you to come up with a better choice)
Riff Raff - Alice Cooper
Rocky Horror - Eugene Hutz
The Criminologist (I had to look his name up; I was just going to call him "Narrator Guy") - John Flansburgh
Be seeing you.
-Sally
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Sun Goes Down, I'm Just Getting Up
Somebody recreated the Girls Of Rock 'N Roll scene from The Chipmunk Adventure in live action. I can't decide if it's awesome or not.
I'm leaning towards "Awesome," but something about it makes me kind of depressed.
Maybe I'm just sad that they'll never be able to recreate Gettin' Lucky; its really hard to find snakes that big who know how to dance:
Best song ever.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
I'm leaning towards "Awesome," but something about it makes me kind of depressed.
Maybe I'm just sad that they'll never be able to recreate Gettin' Lucky; its really hard to find snakes that big who know how to dance:
Best song ever.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Dozing Over Rows Of Whiskey Sours
I know a lot of people hate Barry Manilow, but I can't. Even if I wanted to, it's just not possible. First of all, I don't care what anybody says, I genuinely like the song Mandy (and I hope the urban legend that it's about a dog is true). He also used to write commercial jingles, a wholly underrated genre of music.
More than that, even if Mandy and the commercial jingles didn't exist, ol' Barry has an ace in the hole; the only other song by him I know is A Nice Boy Like Me:
Hell yeah! That song is Da Shizzle.
And, if you don't like the way Mister Manilow sings it, maybe you'll like the first performance of it I ever heard/saw, by Sandy Duncan on The Muppet Show:
Nobody can convince me that doesn't rock.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
More than that, even if Mandy and the commercial jingles didn't exist, ol' Barry has an ace in the hole; the only other song by him I know is A Nice Boy Like Me:
Hell yeah! That song is Da Shizzle.
And, if you don't like the way Mister Manilow sings it, maybe you'll like the first performance of it I ever heard/saw, by Sandy Duncan on The Muppet Show:
Nobody can convince me that doesn't rock.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
Russian Winnie The Pooh
Oh my god, this is painfully cute!
My favorite part is the song he sings at the beginning. I could watch that all day.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
My favorite part is the song he sings at the beginning. I could watch that all day.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
Mmm...Pancakes
You know what's really sad? I can't find any IHOP commercials with Cliff in them. He was the only official spokesman they had, and nobody has bothered to put his ads on Youtube.
He was so cool. "Cliff here at IHOP!" I miss that guy.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Glynis Johns Is Amazing
I dare you to not at least tear up at this. She's fantastic.
Be seeing you.
-Sally
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