Thursday, October 08, 2009

Thursday Odds & Ends: Nobels, vooks, Tudyks, Phantoms and origami

+ The Nobel Prize for Literature was announced today, and yet again I was shut out, apparently disqualified for not actually having written a "book" of any kind. Luckily, the Swedes had a back-up author handy and awarded the prize to Herta Mueller, a Romanian-born German writer. Her win prompted what I find to be a hilarious headline from Entertainment Weekly: "Another obscure Nobel Prize literature winner! Sigh." I know, I can't believe J.K. Rowling and Nora Roberts were shut out again this year either. Damn it!

+ While we're on the subject of books and such, have you guys heard of a Vook? It's a book that incorporates video into the narrative. So if you're reading "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" on your Kindle or iTouch, you might see Quasimodo pop up on your screen and wave seductively at you. Or something like that. As the reviewer mentions in the linked article, you can see how this might work well in a non-fiction or how-to book, but it seems really weird and unnecessary to me for fiction. Don't you think?

+ Time Out London has a nifty list of the 50 Greatest Animated Films, compiled with help from director and former Monty Python animator Terry Gilliam...so you know the list will probably be very odd and go on for at least 10 films longer than it should. (I say that with love, of course. "Brazil" is one of my favorite movies.)

+ Speaking of Pythons, have you ever wanted to see Alan Tudyk doing a Monty Python sketch in drag? Of course you have! And now's your chance because he's starring in a show called "An Evening Without Monty Python" at the Town Hall in New York. I think the purse goes quite well with his eyes.

+ And while I was reading about Tudyk and Python and Broadway, oh my, I also stumbled upon this little newsy nugget: an "Addams Family" musical starring Bebe Neuwirth and Nathan Lane is opening in March on Broadway. It could be fun -- although to me, no one will ever top Raul Julia as Gomez Addams. He was dreamy in those movies.

+ Okay, I seem to have turned into a theatre obsessive this morning, but I promise this is my last piece of news about the Great White Way or Shark or whatever it's called. I had no idea this was happening, but apparently, there's a "Phantom of the Opera" sequel set to debut in London on March 9, 2010. It's called "Love Never Dies," it takes place after the events of "Phantom" and I swear this is what the article says, it "continues the story of the obsessive Phantom, who has moved from the Paris Opera House to haunt the fairgrounds of New York's Coney Island." Somewhere, Gaston Leroux is triple-lutzing in his coffin. I don't think I'll be seeing this show unless it stars a pantsless John Barrowman and even then, well...okay, I'd be pretty interested in seeing that.

+ In other ridiculous news, Oscar-winning actor Adrien Brody has decided to further tank his career by signing on to star in the new series of "Predator" movies, produced by Robert Rodriguez. Oh man, as if "King Kong" wasn't bad enough...

+ Check out this trailer for a documentary called "Between the Folds" which profiles 10 artists and scientists who have devoted their lives to origami. Really some gorgeous work...

5 comments:

Cassandra said...

Re: Phantom sequel

There's even a sex-bot Christine! No joke.

Liz said...

Seriously??? Please tell me this sequel is some sort of campy comedy. The sex-bot joke only worked on "Buffy." I can't imagine Sir Andrew pulling it off.

Mel said...

Um, actually Terry Gilliam didn't pick ANYTHING, he merely commented on a couple of their choices. 50% of which were either totally obscure, or completely ridiculous. Beavis & Butthead? Seriously???

hoppytoad79 said...

@Liz: Sorry, not a joke. I sincerely wish it were. The sex-bot Christine is icing on an already horrible cake. If you're feeling brave and a bit masochistic, try to find a copy of 'The Phantom of Manhattan' by Frederick Forsythe because it is, for the most part, a novelization of the musical. No sex-bot in the book, though. Sir Andy made some changes after he and Forsythe parted ways.

Leroux is not only doing a triple lutz, he's putting on a whole freaking show in three acts. I think the biggest sin committed by Forstyle and Lloyd Webber is when, in the novel, the narrator says Leroux didn't get it right in his account of what happened. *twitchtwitchBOOM* The creator of a 'verse does not get it wrong. Period, end of story.

@OP: If you have any love for PotO, DO NOT go see this. I don't think even a naked-for-the-whole-show John Barrowman would be--well, maybe you'd consider that worth having to suffer through the travesty that is 'Love Never Dies', but I doubt you'd consider a pantsless Barrowman enough compensation for your suffering. ;)

agent57 said...

I'm working at the broadway theaters in Chicago, and really looking forward to the Addams Family pre-tour! I used to be a huge musical geek, and while it's calmed down a bit over the years, I love Lane and Neuwirth. Hopefully I'll get to see the whole thing some night, and not just listen from the lobby.