"This the city, darling. Anything goes"?

According to Gizmodo, Kim Cattrall (Samantha from "Sex And the City" will be one of the voices that can be downloaded to TomTom GPS devices.

According to the TomTom press release, "In global partnership with Navtones®, Kim Cattrall is the latest celebrity to join the growing line up of celebrity and character voices available for use on devices made by TomTom, the world's leading navigation solutions provider."

Gizmodo opines, "Not only will her voice remind you of that horrible show every time you need to make a turn, but it'll throw in annoying non sequiturs like 'This is the city, darling. Anything goes' or 'Don't touch my Manolos' at random times for added irritation. Why, oh god can anyone tell me why?"

The list of voice downloads for TomTom includes:
* John Cleese ("Product contains language that some people may find explicit or offensive.")
* Burt Reynolds ("Calm, cool, and irreverent, Burt's a veteran of the street scene.")
* Dennis Hopper ("No self-respecting rider/driver would mount up without him, the original king of the road.") and
* Mr. T ("Don't be a FOOL! Even if you're not, Mr. T disagrees, as only he could. Obey his directions, or else...")

"Rent" cinecast

I went into the theater to watch the "Rent" cinecast with the assumption that it would be okay, maybe pretty good.

It was about ten times as good as I expected it could be. It was so good that it makes me wonder why they bothered to make a movie out of it. It worked so well as a filmed stage show that adapting it for the the same movie theaters seems kind of pointless.

We left the theater somewhat stunned and had trouble speaking coherently for about ten minutes.

We're even considering whether going back tomorrow would be excessive.

Please, please let there be a Blu-Ray and DVD release of this one. I've seen a couple of rumors online that there will be a DVD release at some future, undetermined date, and I sincerely hope that this is not just a rumor.

If you are somewhat inclined to go see it but aren't quite sure, just go. You won't regret it. There's one more show left, tomorrow, Sunday, September 28. Check your local listings for times. Here in San Francisco, the Metreon is showing it at noon, and the Westfield Centre is showing it at 2:00 p.m. (same schedule as today).

[UPDATE: I found this on IMDB: "At the moment, plans for a DVD are very likely. While in line for lotto tickets at the final performance of "RENT," some people had to sign a waiver so that they could be on a special feature. Currently, the plan with the DVD is to sell it on the 'Farewell Tour' and later distribute it to the public."]

[UPDATE: The DVD and Blu-ray disc are now available to order. More information here.]

Celebrities?

On the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue is a souvenir shop decorated with reproductions of iconic movie poster images.

Unfortunately, these reproductions are not very good.

Marilyn Monroe looks a bit like she has recently had a stroke and/or botched reconstructive facial surgery.

The two people in the "Casablanca" picture look more like Gary Shandling and Ava Gardner than Humphrey Bogart or Ingrid Bergman.

And Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh are equally difficult to recognize, except for their poses.

I guess it raises the question, "Is it a case of an inept artist, or is it this way deliberately to avoid potential lawsuits from the companies that own the copyrights on these images?"

Check out the detail (click to enlarge).

Naked Clown Calendar

Source: Contra Costa Times

The 2008 graduates of the San Francisco Circus Center's Clown Conservatory have posed for a 2009 Naked Clown Calendar to raise funds for Multiple Sclerosis.

Chad Benjamin Potter, who headed the project, says the calendar is not lewd. He says, "I am going to sell (the calendar) to my grandmother and I also want to sell it to my niece and my nephew."

[UPDATE: For more direct information, see the Naked Clown Blog.]

Irony

The irony of this video is not that the music is virtually indecipherable (would you believe it's intended to be the "William Tell" Overture, or the "Lone Ranger" Theme?).

The irony comes at the end of the video: "This road is in Lancaster Ca. Ave. K going W/B from 60th St. W. to 70th W You will be seeing more of these in the future" (my emphasis).

The video was posted to YouTube on September 14. One week later, on September 21, the BBC posted a story saying ". . . some Lancaster residents are not amused. They say the noise from the road sounds more like a discordant screech than the Rossini overture. Officials have bowed to their views and have agreed to pave over the grooves. . . . Although the grooves were carved into the road only a couple of weeks ago, officials have announced they will resurface the quarter-mile (400m) strip on Tuesday. "

Evening View: Hollywood Boulevard

With apologies to Joe.My.God. for stealing his "Morning View" syntax.)

I've started carrying a small camera with me. So when I ventured out for supper tonight, I snapped a few quickies.

(They look better bigger (click them, they grow), but not superb.)

Going Hollywood

Things might be quiet around here for the next week. I have to go to Hollywood for business from Monday through Friday, and I'll probably be really, really busy most of that time, even in the evenings. It's that kind of job -- where you work at the client's office until 5 or 6 and then continue working at the hotel until midnight.

I'll try to find time to post things from the hotel room in the evenings, but new postings might be sparse next week.

WTF?

Within the last half hour, traffic on this blog has just suddenly turned into a flood. There have been fifty visitors in half an hour, where usually fifty visitors in a whole day is a really good day here. And everyone seems to be coming from blogger.com.

So what's the scoop? I don't see myself listed in blogs of note, so whence cometh the sudden flood of visitors?

This isn't a complaint, just curiosity. How did you get here? Click on "Comments" below and tell me.

Thanks.

P.S., While you're at it, go check out this entirely family-safe five-minute video I made. Find it on current.com or on YouTube.

Evil Dead: The Musical: The Movie

According to several different sources, "Evil Dead: The Musical" will be made into a movie.

In 3-D.

According to Screen Daily, Sam Raimi is being asked approve the filming of the musical adaptation of his 1981 film. They go on to say, "Featuring songs such as 'I’m Not A Killer' and 'Look Who’s Evil Now', the stage version featured an audience-participation area known as the 'splatter zone' Presumably the 3-D will yield similar if less sticky results."

Slashfilm says that it's a done deal, and that Raimi has given that approval.

So far, IMDB has not set up a page for this film.

Will this be the second movie be a movie musical based on a stage musical based on a movie (following "The Producers")? I guess not. "My Fair Lady" (both film and stage versions) owed a lot to Shaw's 1938 film adaptation of "Pygmalion" (starring Wendy Hiller and Leslie Howard).

Corpus Clock and Chronophage

via Gizmodo:

Here's the description from the YouTube page:

"Renowned scientist Stephen Hawking is going to unveil a remarkable clock that has no hands and shows time with the help of light.

"Known as the Corpus Clock, the machine has been invented by and designed by Dr John Taylor for Corpus Christi College Cambridge for the exterior of the college's new library building.

"The Clock will be unveiled on 19th September by Stephen Hawking, cosmologist and author of the global bestseller, A Brief History of Time.

"Dr Taylor, an inventor and horologist, has put 500,000 pounds of his own money and seven years into developing the clock, which has been inspired from a design by a clock made by the legendary John Harrison, the pioneer of longitude.

"Of John Harrison's many innovations, he came up with the 'grasshopper escapement, explained Dr Taylor, referring to the device used by Harrison to turn rotational motion into a pendulum motion for timekeeping.

"No one knows how a grasshopper escapement works, so I decided to turn the clock inside out and, instead of making the escapement 35 mm across, it is 1.5 m across, he said.

"He calls the new version of the escapement a Chronophage (time-eater) a fearsome beast which drives the clock, literally eating away time."

Dolphin bubble rings

Different versions of this video and similar videos have been around for a while. There's one in particular that's been making the rounds recently -- enough so that Snopes picked up on it and verified its authenticity. But the one being circulated has a smarmy instrumental version of "No One Is Alone" from "Into the Woods," so instead I dug up this story and accompanying video from an Orlando TV station's news department:

"Two young juveniles have been observed creating underwater bubbles with their blowholes. Then they use their rostrum, also known as their snouts, to manipulate and play with the bubbles.

"They're spinning them, making them smaller and larger, swimming through them and popping them.

"This is a phenomenon that has intrigued scientists watching dolphins in the wild and now is fascinating millions of guests at SeaWorld Orlando, according to the marine life theme park."

New use for DNA testing

Via BBC:

Petah Tikva (a city near Tel Aviv) is establishing a database of doggie DNA so they can tell who's not cleaning up after their dogs.

"Dr Tika Bar-On explains the process of getting the DNA

"Owners were reacting positively to the six-month trial programme, she told the agency, because they wanted their streets to be clean.

"At the moment providing a DNA sample was up to individual dog owners, but the city was considering making it compulsory, she added.

"Failure to clear up dog mess is not confined to Petah Tikva. In the UK, some councils have resorted to using CCTV and undercover patrols to identify offenders in particular trouble spots."

Gervais Podcast Season 5

My commute time today was long enough that I got through the whole series/season/whatever.

It's okay. It's not as outright hilarious as the earlier series/seasons, nor as consistently funny. The really funny moments are fewer and farther between. Karl completely disappears for a while in the third episode, leaving Ricky and Steve to talk amongst themselves for ten minutes or so.

I liked it better when it was in true, clear-cut episodes. It seemed kind of odd that Episode One ended, and Episode Two began with them picking up the discussion that they were having at the end of Episode One. There didn't actually need to be an episode break, except for the fact that about half an hour had passed since the start.

I won't spoil anything by transcribing or repeating the best jokes. I'll just say that the stuff about the Nazis was probably a little too serious overall, but the best parts were probably (a) the "Room 102" discussion and (b) the "Desert Island Discs" discussion. The gay marriage bit in the first episode was okay, but not quite as good as the stuff that followed.

It's probably the weakest link in the chain of five. But, on the whole, it's still funny, it's still worth a listen.

Life imitating The IT Crowd?

That's The IT Crowd's satire from a couple of years ago.

Then there's a real story from April of this year on the BBC site. When I saw the headline, "New non-emergency police number," I thought, "Maybe they established a second, equally-easy-to-remember number, like maybe 998 or 911." Then I read the story:

"Tayside Police have introduced a new number for all non-emergency calls.

"Residents should still dial 999 in emergencies but for all other inquiries should use 0845 600 5705.

"It is hoped the single number will reduce confusion among callers and also cut down on the amount of trivial matters being reported through 999.

"This is one of the first steps in moving to a single non-emergency number for use across all police force areas in Scotland."

What's that new number again?

0118 999 881 999 119 7253

Ricky Gervais Podcast: Season 5

Well, it seems to be out early. After rickygervais.com and Ricky Gervais's (other) podcast made repeated references to the new season's starting on September 16, the new season seems to be available now.

Since the podcast was scheduled to start tomorrow, I thought I'd check Audible tonight to see if there was any advance info (Audible rarely puts up advance info).

Lo and behold, it was there and already available for purchase. Not as a podcast (i.e., four weeks with a new half hour each week), but as a two-hour file with the description, "all four episodes are here as a single download. And not only is it available now, it shows a release date of September 5, 2008.

So it's on my iPod now. I guess I know what I'll be listening to on the way to work tomorrow. More details after I've listened to some or all of it. [UPDATE 9/16: The promised "More details" can be found here.]

The description attached to the Audible file also says this about the stars:

"Ricky Gervais, of course, is the award-winning co-creator and star of The Office (upon which the current NBC hit series is based) and HBO's Extras. Steve Merchant, who also stars in Extras, is his long-time creative partner. Karl is a pile of protoplasm that mimics the functions of a human being."

Disney. Period.

This lost Disney/Kotex co-production has been making the rounds quickly today -- Boing Boing picked it up from feministing.com, and it's been spreading like a virulent communicable disease ever since.

So let me pass it on to you.

Forbidden Broadway closing?

According to an article in the New York Times, Forbidden Broadway is taking a break in January with no immediate plans to start back up again.

"'When I look at the seasons coming up, I don’t particularly think we’ll have a great opportunity to have really funny numbers about "Shrek" or another "Guys and Dolls" revival or some of the stuff that’s coming out,' [creator Gerard] Alessandrini said by phone . . .'When Broadway becomes too theme-park-like, it makes it difficult, and it just looks like it’s becoming overly commercial the next couple of years,' he said. . . .

"Mr. Alessandrini said that 'Forbidden Broadway' might return to New York one day, but that, if so, it would be with a new format. 'We may think about doing "Forbidden Broadway: in the future, but not on an open-ended basis, but with one edition at a time,' he said."

I also looked at http://www.forbiddenbroadway.com/, but most of the pages return "not found on this server" errors.

Manilow Jukebox Musical

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the theater.....

Here's how the story is described by one of the directors: "...the story centres around an aspiring young band who, on a visit to New York, come across an opportunity not to be missed - auditions for the latest reality TV show to find the next pop music sensation. When the TV company offers lead singer Tony a chance to appear on the show, the other band members give him their unconditional blessing. But before Tony can realise his dream, he is caught up in a tragic sequence of events which leaves him fighting for his life.

"Left with no memory his dreams are all but shattered. His only hope lies in the power of the music he loves and his feelings for a girl he once knew called Mandy… "

A message from God

I am, like, so totally bummed. While we were out buying gold Elvis shoes, God left a message on our answering machine. The one time in my whole life that God calls, and I wasn't home!

And to make matters worse, I can't even understand everything she said! I get the part where she says, "Hi. This is God. I'm sorry. You have missed your one chance to chat with God." I understand at the end when it sounds like she says, "So you might wanna hug your child" and is then drowned out by someone else screaming something unintelligible, so she repeats, "You might wanna hug your child more often. Good-bye." But I don't understand what she says in between.

Any ideas?

The most precious item in the universe

Coming soon to a Dixieland Dykes +3 gig near you!

Seriously, next time DD+3 plays a formal gig, I'm pulling out the gold bow tie and cummerbund to go with my new red and gold Elvis shoes.

Wes will be jealous of these.

Genius Playlists

One of the new features of iTune 8 is the "Genius Playlist."

"Play a song, click the Genius button, and iTunes creates a playlist of other songs from your library that go great together. "

I've played with it a little bit, but not a whole lot yet.

The options are these: (1) Limit list to 25, 50, 75, or 100 songs; and (2) If you don't like something about the playlist it produces, there's a "Refresh" button that gives you a new list.

So far, I've noticed a few things:

(1) It sometimes fixates on a handful of songs. For example, I created a "Genius" list based on Alison Moyet's song, "Dorothy." It produced a list that included Duffy's "Mercy" second on the list and Fratellis' "Mistress Mabel" third. I refreshed the list five times, and "Mercy" and "Mistress Mabel" did not move from second and third place.

(2) It sometimes produces bizarre juxtapositions, such as following Cake's cover of "I Will Survive" with Placebo's cover of "Running Up That Hill." Both songs were chosen as follow-ups to "Fidelity" by Regina Spektor. It can produce some reasonably decent playlists, but when it goes wrong, it goes stunningly wrong.

(3) Albums for which "This song does not have enough related songs to create a Genius Playlist" include Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work" (a B-sides and rarities collection only available in a box set ten years ago), David Byrne and Brian Eno's new album, "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today," "Infinite Joy," "Spring Awakening" cast recording (in fact, all cast recordings in general), and anything that I've encoded but given a new album title to. It cannot create Genius Playlists from these songs, yet it has no trouble incorporating these songs into other playlists. So when it uses these songs in other lists, on what does it base this? Artist name? An assumption about the era or genre based on who the artist is (e.g., assuming that David Byrne songs must be from the 1980s)?

(4) In the long run, it seems to be just as effective as "Shuffle" for randomizing music. Maybe even better, in that with "Genius" lists there's a greater possibility that the next song might actually fit well with the song you're listening to.

Overall verdict: Not bad. Not great. Useful, but far from necessary.

Home Movie Day, October 18th

Via Boing Boing

Home Movie Day is October 18th.

Submit your 8mm, Super 8 and 16mm home movies before October 3 for inclusion in this worldwide home movie festival.

Local venues include the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley and the San Francisco Media Archive on Capp Street.

On the Home Movie Day website, John Waters is quoted as saying, "There's no such thing as a bad home movie. These mini-underground opuses are revealing, scary, joyous, always flawed, filled with accidental art and shout out from attics and closets all over the world to be seen again. Home Movie Day is an orgy of self-discovery, a chance for family memories to suddenly become show business. If you've got one, whip it out and show it now."

Sponsored by The Center for Home Movies, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization.

Very cute.

Clever animation.

A relatively short "making of" video can be seen at oktapodi.com.

The blogs/websites/portfolios of five of the six directors are here, here, here, here and here.

If the player above doesn't work for you, here's a high quality YouTube version.

LA Opera's "The Fly"

Yes, it's exactly what you think. David Cronenberg's 1986 remake of the 1958 horror movie, "The Fly," has been turned into an opera. The 1986 movie is the one that was advertised with the tagline, "Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid."

Like Shrek: The Musical, The Fly: The Opera has an impressive set of people behind its creation: Howard Shore, who wrote the score for the movie, has written the score for the opera; David Henry Hwang has written the libretto; David Cronenberg is directing the opera; Placido Domingo is conducting; and the sets are designed by Dante Ferretti (Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd").

The opera played in Paris this summer and is now at the Los Angeles Opera. There's been no shortage of pre-show news coverage: The New York Times, NPR, KNBC, the Los Angeles Times.

The review in the LA Times, however, was not flattering: "...[I]n L.A. Opera's ongoing monster mash (the commission before "Grendel" was Deborah Drattell's 'Nicholas and Alexandra,' which featured Rasputin), music has ranked in importance somewhere below makeup. I'm sorry to have to agree with the French critics who saw 'The Fly' first and began the string of bad buzz jokes. The premiere was two months ago in Paris at the Théâtre du Châtelet, which co-commissioned the work. The reaction was unkind....And yes, the film's famous line, 'Be afraid, be very afraid,' is heard, and more than once -- the first time with squealing music underneath that all but begs for a laugh."

The AP review is also not positive: "...[A]n opera thrives on the composer's creation, and Howard Shore's score is background music with few highlights."

And the NY Times review is blunt: "Now and then the music grabs you, as in an extended love duet for Brundle and Veronica. Finally, here are captivating lyrical phrases that flow with halting, elusive restraint, cushioned by bittersweet orchestral harmonies. Mr. Shore has clear strengths as a composer and may have a good opera in him. 'The Fly' is not it."

Acting improves brain health in elderly

According to the Chicago Tribune, studies show that acting exercises and acting classes can help improve the functioning of elderly people's brains.

"You watch, and you can see, they are listening. That's what an actor does. He doesn't pretend to listen; he listens. Then you add imagination. . . . That total involvement—it's not just 'pretending,' but getting deeper into a scene—has made a difference, as the statistics show. Among people who have completed the course, improvement has been shown in comprehension, problem solving, verbal fluency and word recall. The biggest increase was in problem-solving skills, with a 52 percent improvement (by comparison, for those with no treatment, there was a 15 percent decline in ability)."

The studies are being conducted (and have been conducted for nearly fifteen years) by Drs. Helga and Tony Noice. Elmhurst College reported in 2005, "For 11 years, on two continents, Helga and Tony Noice have demonstrated that theatre training can improve older adults’ cognitive performance. They have shown that interacting with others in a dramatic situation – with its mental, emotional, and physiological aspects -- activates the brain, which can slow down (or even reverse) cognitive aging effects. . . . 'What is different about our approach is that we don’t target one specific ability (e.g., reasoning ability),' Tony Noice stated. 'Our aim is to improve overall cognitive functioning -- everyday mental skills, like memory, understanding, and problem-solving. These are the skills required to help people have fulfilled, independent lives.'"

La Princesse summary videos

Day One


Day Two


Day Three (Finale)



YouTube has tons of videos by people in the crowd -- just search for "La Princesse," and you'll find many of them.

Here's the ever-changing Wikipedia entry on La Princesse, including several links to various stories about the event, including a BBC page linking to all their stories and videos about all the "Capital of Culture" events.

Alison Moyet at the Warfield

Alison Moyet is playing at the Warfield on Sunday, October 26th. (For a full tour schedule, click here.)

Tickets went on sale this morning, and I actually managed to buy some before the scalpers and ticket brokers bought them all. [1]

So we go see Dar Williams on Wednesday the 22nd, then go see Alison Moyet four days later. That'll be a busy, music-laden week.

-----------------

[1] I know, I know. Saying "scalpers and ticket brokers" is both redundant and repetitive...

Spring Awakening national tour

The national tour of "Spring Awakening" is about to open in San Francisco. Official opening is Sunday, September 7 -- the first three days are previews.

The two biggest things not related to tonight's performance but pertinent to the theater-going experience were: (a) Steven Sater (who wrote the book and lyrics) was two rows in front of us and across the aisle, sitting with a legal pad and taking notes; and (b) there was a 4-point-something earthquake late in the first act. At first I thought it was someone kicking the seats, and then I wasn't sure that it might not have been an earthquake. Then at intermission, the woman sitting behind us said, "Did you feel the quake?" So I guess that answered THAT question.

The show itself is very cool. It stays reasonably true to its source material, Franz Wedekind's play, "Spring's Awakening" -- it has no bizarre plot additions or omissions or alterations. Oddly enough, my only minor problem with the show was actually more a problem with myself -- for some reason, I felt that I would have enjoyed the show more if I was not familiar with the source play or with the songs. Knowing the material, I had some expectations. And whenever you have expectations, there's a strong likelihood that some of them won't be met. Which is not fair to the performers, because it means you're sometimes judging them based more on your expectations than on what they're actually doing.

The kids in the cast are terrific, both as singers and as actors. The two male leads have both performed these roles on Broadway, but most everyone else is either fresh out of school or "thrilled to be making their national tour debut."

The character who came across the most child-like was Moritz. Both Melchior and Wendla had a slightly more adult demeanor and self-awareness, but Moritz had a kind of innocent, sheltered, "growing up with a narrow world view that he hasn't quite figured out is so narrow" quality about him.

For the tour (or at least for the San Francisco run), the onstage seats sell for $30 each and are made available two hours before the performance each day, first come, first served. For more info, see the SHN website.

Spider update - "La Princesse"

This video gives some of the backstory of the spider (known as "La Princesse"), stating that the "scientists" are going to wake up the spider using music, movement and light.

Here's additional backstory from another YouTube video:

"Yesterday commuters arrived at Liverpool's Lime Street Railway Station to find a gigantic mechanical spider clinging to a derelict building next to the station. A group of French specialist researchers announced that they have been observing the creature, apparently made of steel and wood and a thousand times the size of anything in nature. It appears to be female, around 13 metres tall, and has been dubbed 'La Princesse' by the team. The scientists believe the creature may be about to hibernate, and are attempting to prevent it falling into an inert state, as they are concerned at the potentially catastrophic results of the spider laying up to 1000 eggs. Scientists have therefore removed the spider from the building and taken it to a research base established at the ACC, at Albert Dock in Liverpool. On Friday 5th September it is expected that they will attempt to wake it, under controlled conditions, at 11:30am."

And here is video from the BBC of La Princesse starting to walk through the streets of Liverpool (which can be linked to but not embedded). Here's the same video on the BBC player (better quality picture, but the player doesn't work for everyone). Here also is another BBC story from earlier today.

What does your musical taste say about you?

From the BBC:

Professor Adrian North of Heriot-Watt University has released the results of his study of the links between personality and musical tastes. The study included 36,000 people from all over the world.

Professor North is quoted in the BBC story as saying, "The general public has held a stereotype of heavy metal fans being suicidally depressed and of being a danger to themselves and society in general. But they are quite delicate things."

The article includes a table giving a brief guide to finding your own personality disorder.

Of course, I would never definitively say that I like, for example, Country more than I like Jazz. So I guess that would put me in the "indecisive personality" category. Or maybe not. I don't know.

I also notice that "Brass Band" is not on the list.

You can guess what my choice of photographs says about me.

Final performance of Rent will be shown in movie theaters

After 12 years on Broadway, Rent is closing this Sunday, September 7.

Sony is "cinecasting" the final performance in theaters across the country on September 24, 25, 27 and 28. Go here to find a list of all participating theaters and to buy tickets.

Tickets to the show at the Metreon are $20 each.

Skankin' for Jesus

I've never heard Christian Ska before.

"He is like a Mountie. He always gets his man, and he'll zap you any way he can. (ZAP!)"

(Via Boing Boing)

Fruit Fly

And here's the trailer for "Fruit Fly," the new musical from H.P. Mendoza, the writer of "Colma: the Musical."

Starring an ACT classmate of mine, Michael Curtis, who's moving to LA in a few days.

"Milk" Trailer

The trailer for Gus Van Sant's "Milk" (official movie site here) is available in several places:

(1) YouTube version (the link takes you to the one embedded here -- there are several different versions, but this one looks the best. You might consider going to YouTube and watching it in high quality);

(2) The Official trailer site (the "IPOD/IPHONE" link did not work for me, but you can watch an embedded QuickTime version of the trailer); and

(3) The iTunes store (go to the Movies store and then click on "Movie Trailers," it's currently featured in the "Exclusives" window and in the "Featured HD" window. You can also click on "Focus Features" and find it quickly. There are seven sizes: iPod, small, medium, large, HD 480p, HD 720p and HD1080p -- all the same trailer, just different resolutions.)

The trailer says it will be released in "November," but the trailer site says "November 26." Milk and Moscone were assassinated on November 27, 1978, so the opening is one day before the thirtieth anniversary. Not a coincidence, I assume.

Personal trivia: Four of the five (or six [1]) scenes that I was an extra in are represented in the trailer in quick little snippets -- the parade, the post-parade speech, the "No on 6" victory party and the candlelight march.

---------------------------------------------

[1] Depending on whether you count a single shot of a crowd turning a corner as a "scene."

Giant robot spider in Liverpool

The European Capital of Culture is a city chosen by the European Union to spend a year showing off its arts and culture. For 2008, the city chosen was Liverpool

As part of the Liverpool European Capital of Culture 2008, Liverpool is host this weekend to an installation by La Machine in conjunction with Artichoke.

A fifty-foot mechanical spider has been hanging from Concourse House. Thursday evening, it will be moved to Liverpool's new arena, and on Friday, it will come to life and "explore the city."

According to a BBC story, "It will form part of a huge piece of street theatre throughout the city at various landmarks, culminating in what organisers are calling a 'spectacular finish' on Sunday.Tens of thousands of visitors are expected to flock to Liverpool to get a glimpse of the mechanical beast."

Artichoke was responsible for "The Sultan's Elephant," a theatrical event in the streets of London in 2006 in which a "vast, time-travelling mechanical elephant, and a giant girl, twenty feet high" that "visited the capital for four days, delighting up to a million onlookers."

La Machine's site also has an extremely large and detailed photo of the spider.

"13" by Jason Robert Brown

Okie dokie.

Jason Robert Brown has written the first ever "all-teenage cast" musical, which starts previews on September 16 and opens officially on October 5 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York.

My question is this: Will this be (as the "13" website says) "a hilarious, high-energy musical for all ages about discovering that cool is where you find it, and sometimes where you least expect it," or will it turn out to be a Disney Channel movie waiting to happen, a successor to "High School Musical"?

In other words, is its target audience really everyone from 8 to 80, or everyone from 12 to 16?

Personally, I would hope for the former, but, just judging by this video, I would guess the latter.

I like Brown's writing very much, so I'm hoping for good things for and from this show.

...totally looks like...

see famous look-a-like faces


Yet another site from the people who brought you I Can Has Cheezburger and FailBlog:

"Totally Looks Like."

I already knew that John Hodgman totally looks like Dr. Bunsen Honeydew -- I've been saying it all along. But I did not know that:

Jack White totally looks like Michael Jackson.

Trent Reznor totally looks like Severus Snape.

Quentin Tarantino totally looks like Squiggy.

and (hold onto your socks)

Clark Kent totally looks like Superman.

Barack has two daddies?

I guess this is what can happen when newscasters try to talk off the cuff.

Oops...

From Channel 5 in St. Louis:

A young woman took out a protective warrant against her ex-boyfriend, Derrick Harris.

Harris showed up at the courthouse for the hearing. As Harris pulled the subpoena out of his pocket in order to ask directions to the courtroom, a baggie also came out of his pocket and fell to the floor.

A deputy picked up the baggie and found that it contained marijuana.

Deputies escorted him to the courtroom for his hearing. His ex-girlfriend had failed to appear, so he was released from the hearing, at which point he was arrested for possession.

Missed news

Here's a news story that didn't quite make national headlines a few weeks ago.

Rocky Mountain News ran a story on August 4th reporting that, in preparation for the Democratic National Convention, Denver's City Council passed an ordinance that would ban the carrying of feces and urine for nefarious purposes

The ordinance made it illegal to carry "certain items," including chains and padlocks and "noxious substances." In the public hearing about the ordinance, the two most often cited examples of "noxious substances" were "buckets of urine" and "feces bombs."

"Councilman Doug Linkhart . . was quoted in the New York Post as saying that a source told him that he knew of a home being used to store urine."

"'The intent of this ordinance is to try to smear protesters and make them look as if they are somehow criminal or somehow going to engage in some kind of gross conduct,' said Glenn Spagnuolo, an organizer with the Re-create 68 Alliance. . . . 'The only feces that I'm concerned about is the (expletive) that comes out of [Linkhart's] mouth.'"

On August 3, the NY Post carried this article that says, "Denver law-enforcement authorities are searching for a warehouse where they believe urine and feces are being stockpiled to throw at police by protesters at the Democratic National Convention.

"Denver City Councilman Doug Linkhart told The Post a source has 'told me that he knew of a house where protestors were accumulating urine. We are trying to ban these things in advance, so we can actually confiscate the materials ahead of time.'"

According to USA Today, "Members of Re-create 68, Unconventional Action and Tent State University say the ordinance is overkill because they have signed an agreement not to use excrement."

Yeah, that's the ticket.....

Via The Telegraph, via QI:

According to an article in the Telegraph, elephant.co.uk (for which I get an "Address not found" error) posted a collection of some of the best insurance claims they've received in recent months.

Highlights:

A woman accidentally poured shampoo into her gas tank because she thought the container held gasoline.

A driver reported that the car's windshield was cracked by a squirrel throwing a nut at it.

A naked man jumped on the hood of a car, climbed onto the roof, jumped up and down and then ran away.

Pedantry wins again!

Have you ever been in the express lane and fumed quietly to yourself that the sign saying "10 items or less" is horribly, horribly wrong and setting a poor example for our kids?

Tesco has.

In fact, Tesco has taken it one step farther. They are taking down all their "10 items or less" signs and replacing them.

What with?

I bet you thought "10 items or fewer."

You were wrong.

The new signs say "Up to 10 items." That's in order to stop people from arguing about whether "less" or "fewer" is correct.

To give credit where credit is due, it was The Plain English Campaign that suggested the change.

If you've got a few spare moments, go dig on the Plain English Campaign's website. If nothing else, check out their annual awards -- "Foot In Mouth" (baffling comments by public figures), "Golden Bulls" ("year's 'best' examples of gobbledygook"), "Inside Write" (government documents that obfuscate), Media Awards (publications that do not rely on big words and complex constructions), Plain English Awards (best documents of the year that explain their concepts in plain English without resorting to gobbledygook), and the Web award (web sites with plain and proper English)..