Sunday, March 7, 2010 | by nathan

Oscar Post-Game

The year that I took Introduction to Film in college, only 40-something films were directed by women. Until tonight, no woman had ever won for Best Director, a point that you could still was stuck in Barbra Streisand’s craw pretty hard by her almost neurotic inability to let go of the Oscar while she was presenting it to Kathryn Bigelow. It was awkward, in exactly the way I like things to be awesome: someone with a huge ego who likes to pretend they’re not getting betrayed by aforementioned big ego. That moment was like candy.

I also really dug Sandra Bullock’s acceptance speech. I respect any woman with cojones big enough to refer to Meryl Streep as "my lover" from in front of a 1-billion-person microphone.

I dream of winning an Oscar – I imagine I’d do so for adapting one of my own novels into a manuscript. When I do, I’ll be sure to thank you.

Thursday, December 17, 2009 | by nathan

D’oh!

Today marks twenty years since The Simpsons premiered, which means that it marks nineteen years, three hundred sixty four days since it became fashionable to say, "The Simpsons isn’t funny anymore!" In all seriousness, I remember it well: when the show first premiered on Fox, I, like Bart, was a fourth grader. Now I’m about to turn thirty, and I still love the show. Brian and I watch it every Sunday; one of my favorite things about autumn is Treehouse of Horror. We may be out of the 1992-1998 golden era of the show, but the movie was fantastic and every episode of the current season has been solid. Salon has an interesting story about the anniversary today, (which I don’t entirely agree with, but interesting nonetheless). But in lieu of a long screed about what The Simpsons have meant to me and how I think that, in 1,000 years they will be studied as the archetype of turn-of-the-millennium American families, I’ll just present you with a few of my favorite clips over the years:

[Regarding the above clip: ever since this aired, any time it's cold and gross and windy outside, my brother and I will grumble, "Lousy Smarch weather."]

[And regarding that one, I have yet to come up with a better reply to homophobia and general gay-related psychological and/or religio-crazy phenomena than, "Oh, be nice!"]

And last, a clip from my favorite episode of the entire series’ run, "Lisa The Vegetarian":

You wouldn’t believe how many more clips I passed over; there’s some serious funny – and, I concede, a stash of serious lame – over the history of The Simpsons. But I’ve grown up with it, and though I’m sure it won’t be around forever, I’m nowhere near ready to see it end now. Okay, one more. This is Brian’s favorite:

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 | by nathan

Sweepin’ The Clouds Away

It’s weird to me to think that Sesame Street is 40 years old today, especially since I’m almost 30. It’s weird that in my lifetime I’ve gone from being raised on PBS shows like Sesame Street, The Electric Company and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood to cable, to internet, to … now. Because I remember when we had five channels and only rich people had VCRs. BEHOLD MY ADVANCED AGE.

That aside, I am, like many people raised from the 1970s onward, indebted to and grateful for the crazy experiment that is Sesame Street. Latter-day hippie Jim Henson created something truly unique and transformative. Who hasn’t seen Stevie Wonder’s performance of "Superstitious" from the fictional New York neighborhood:

Possibly my favorite Sesame Street memory, however, is a personal one. Jim Henson died just before I started the fifth grade, and for our spring concert near the one-year anniversary of his death, our elementary school music teacher thought it would be the BEST IDEA EVER to have a Sesame Street-themed concert, with 150 or so fifth graders singing songs from the show.

Now. As adults you might think "Oh how sweet!" Let me tell you something: as ten-year-olds, we were MORTIFIED. We were super-serious TEN YEAR OLDS, HELLO, and if we were still watching that show (which, cut the crap, some of us were), or any children’s programming at all, we were doing it in SECRET, thankyouverymuch, and most likely we had long since abandoned it for super-important adult shows like 90210, The Simpsons, and Fifteen on Nickelodeon (holla if you remember that one!) 

We were FIFTH GRADERS, fergodsake, and far too old and important and grown up to be singing baby songs from a baby show. We were HORRIFIED. Our rehearsals were a string of unmitigated disasters. Our parents cooed and teared up to think how adoringly cute we were going to be. Our siblings taunted us endlessly. Our music teacher all but had to attach us to a cart and whip us like Iditarod dogs. We were like Sam I Am – we would not sing it in the rain, on a train, not on a boat, not in a moat.

I don’t remember any group of ten-year-olds ever being less invested in something, but come the day of the concert, we all showed up, sang as well as we could, had our photos taken, were told we were "cute" about a zillion times, and then breathed a sigh of relief that it was finally, finally over and we could get on with our super important adult fifth-grader business.

All that is to say, when I found this clip on YouTube, I got a tinge of nostalgia that has yet to go away:

Friday, August 28, 2009 | by nathan

I Can Go Anywhere

In a day marked with some sad local news, I also saw this on NPR.com:

""Reading Rainbow taught kids why to read," Grant says. "You know, the love of reading — [the show] encouraged kids to pick up a book and to read."

The Rainbow was one of my favorite shows growing up, raised largely as I was on PBS. I think that what John Grant says in the story is true – learning how to read was nowhere near as exciting as the first time you picked up a book and were unable to put it down, then finding that once it was over you wanted to read it again and again and again.

Thursday, August 6, 2009 | by nathan

“Sensitive Skin”

I mentioned this show once before, but I wanted to again because of how f***ing addicting it is. It’s a wonderful, but very, very dark comedy about an older, wealthy British couple. It stars Joanna Lumley, most famous for her portrayal of Patsy on one of my favorite shows ever, Absolutely Fabulous. The entire first series is available on YouTube, and I really, really think you should watch it. It may go without saying, but both videos are NSFW, though only just.

And just for the hell of it, here’s a great, classic Patsy moment. Note the contrast between the two portrayals; Lumley’s a seriously great actress.

Thursday, June 25, 2009 | by nathan

Streaks on the China

Now that I get home an hour after Brian does, I often come home to find him playing Wii in the living room. Imagine my delight to come home the other night to find him about to complete a puzzle on the mid-1980s video game edition of Wheel! Of! Fortune!, especially since I not only got to yell out "MISTER BELVEDERE!" really loud, but also to start up singing the theme song, which I remember very, very well, thank you:

Friday, June 12, 2009 | by nathan

I Shall Call Him … Mini-Me

So, I need to tell you that I hate American Idol. I mean, I loathe pretty much everything it stands for. Now, full disclosure, I don’t hate all of the artists who have come out of American Idol; I pretty much dig Kelly Clarkson’s new album – or part of it, anyway – and I really dug Breakaway. I rather like Carrie Underwood so far, and I sorta want to have Jennifer Hudson’s baby. Still, the show gives birth to so much mediocrity that I find myself able to list only two artists it has birthed that I hate – Daughtry and Clay Aiken – and anyway, that it launches mediocre careers gives me no more reason to hate it than I have to hate most of FM Radio.

So all that is to say, I don’t like the show. I don’t watch the show. I used to enjoy the first few episodes of each season, when people who genuinely believed themselves to be talented stood before Randy, Simon and Paula and warbled like asthmatic donkeys before seeing their "dreams" crumble before them. Even that stopped being fun after awhile; you suddenly realize that every single person in America has "dreamed" of being a rock star at one time or another, and it’s very sad that some people never had that moment of dawning realization where they realized, "Hmm. I seem to have little or no musical talent. It’s possible that I should not be a rock star." The members of Nickelback seem to have missed this realization, for example, as did Ashlee Simpson.

So I didn’t watch this season, though you’d practically have to have been living in a cave not to have heard something about it somewhere. Still, I guess I’m cave-adjacent, because I’d never heard Adam Lambert sing or speak until this morning when he was on Good Morning America. And I’m just wondering if anyone else has caught on to this similarity: 

On the left, Idol runner-up Adam Lambert. On the right, Garth Brooks’ late-90s alter-ego Chris Gaines. Now, I haven’t really heard enough of these two gents’ music to compare them, but the physical resemblance is a little uncanny, no?

Thursday, May 14, 2009 | by nathan

Storm Color

Brian got home from out of town last night, and the plan was to get together with friends and watch the Lost season finale (AND OH MY GOD CAN YOU BELIEVE IT OH MY GOD OH MY GOD). For over an hour before it started, however, there was the customary wall-to-wall weather coverage that is a part of every Oklahoman’s life in the spring. Usually this is fun, but here we were talking about freaking LOST, people! Brian and I cleaned up the house a bit and then got hung up watching the evening rerun of the Simpsons until our friends arrived. They dragged us outside to look at the clouds that were forming ahead of the storm, and I’m so glad they did, because check these suckers out: 

The local station did leave its weather coverage precisely at 8, and we got to see the first 75 minutes or so of Lost before the National Weather Service declared a tornado warning in Oklahoma County, at which point we were cut off again. We were bummed – pissed even – but then we just started MST-ing the weather coverage and though I’m sad I had to wait until this morning to find out what happened to the castaways (OH MY FREAKING GOD), I have to say I don’t know when I’ve had more fun watching weather coverage.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009 | by nathan

I Love Jesus, But…

Holy Cow does this make me LOL. This is EXACTLY the kind of old person I plan to become:

Monday, December 22, 2008 | by nathan

2008 In Rearview (Part 3)

BEST/WORST ART/ENTERTAINMENT OF 2008:

ALBUMS OF 2008: (links open into iTunes)

I adored Adele the second I first saw and heard her, and her album 19 (and its remix job by Mick Boogie, titled 1988 and available here for free download), has been a delight this year, though new releases by Coldplay, Ghostland Observatory and The Killers were pretty great. I’d be remiss not to mention how much I loved the new releases by K.C. Clifford (Pockets Full of Hope) and Dr. Pants (the cusack-loggins e.p.), not just because they contain great music by my buddies, but because they’re some of the best that Oklahoma musicians had to offer this year.

Still, probably my most-played new albums of 2008 are the new releases by the B-52’s (Funplex) and Cyndi Lauper (Bring Ya To The Brink), because it’s been a year of fun-jump-around music, and these two albums have exemplified it, proving that just because it has a beat and you can dance to it doesn’t mean that it has to be stupid or Britney.

Worst (new release) album of 2008? I hate it, but I have to hand that one to Madonna, for Hard Candy. Sorry, Madge; it’s possible I was spoiled by Confessions on a Dance Floor, which I loved, but I was not a fan of this one. I’m also still sorta so-so on the new Kanye West, mostly because he’s been choosing style over substance of late, and he’s better than that.

BOOKS OF 2008:

This is a tough one, too, though it was definitely the Year of the Graphic Novel for me. I don’t think I read *too* many terrible books this year, but I did read a whole lot of great ones. I loved loved loved Persepolis and Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Boy on Earth, and would recommend either to anyone I met. I’d also be remiss not to recommend Cringe to you one more time, because it really is a gem.

It’s a toss-up for worst book for sure, though Choke, Angel: After the Fall and Americana all sucked so hard it would be difficult to choose, and definitely enough that I’m not linking here to either one. I didn’t love The Time-Traveller’s Wife either, though I sorta blame that on it being an audiobook; still, I have no plans to revisit it in print.

MOVIES OF 2008:

I didn’t see a whole bunch of movies this year because my tastes have angled more toward television. The Dark Knight was, of course, fantastic, and I loved Wall-E and Baby Mama. I probably shouldn’t have even brought this up, because I haven’t been deeply crazy about movies of late. If anyone has recommendations I’d love to hear them.

It doesn’t count as a movie exactly, but if you haven’t seen Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog yet, you have missed probably one of the best things about 2008. Felicia Day is going to be a huge star; you saw her here first. (Or, second, if you were as addicted to Buffy Season 7 as some of us).

TELEVISION OF 2008:

Tina Fey. Tina Fey. Tina Fey. Tina Fey. Tina Fey. Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, Tina Fey in 30 Rock. Tina Fey on Letterman, Tina Fey on the plane with Oprah. Tina Fey on strike with the writers. Tina Fey hosting SNL.

I mostly loved the election, mostly, especially the part where I didn’t have cable and couldn’t watch the droning heads on CNN and MSNBC, so I got to watch it on PBS instead. I loved the Democratic National Convention; I still listen to Obama’s speech there on my iPod at least once a week. When the worst, most annoying person on PBS is David Brooks, you know they’re doing something absolutely right.

Pushing Daisies was great and will be sorely missed, Lost and Heroes were good once again, The Office continued to be fantastic, as did Ugly Betty.

Worst television of the year? Hands-down Grey’s Anatomy. At the end of last season, Brian and I lay in a huddled, exhausted mass on our sofa, swearing off this train wreck of a show and promising never to come back. That’s right, we’ve missed the whole "Denny is Dead but Not Dead Because Look Here He Is" fiasco and have been happier for it. Watching that show is like hanging out with drama geeks – you have a great time and experience a range of emotions and flavors but at the end of it you’re exhausted and bitter and you don’t care if you have to set yourself on fire, you never, ever want to see those people again for the rest of your life. And since May, we haven’t, and we’ve been so much richer for it.

CONCERTS OF 2008:

It was a year of fantastic concerts; the year started off with the Flaming Lips’ New Years Eve show at the Cox Center (going again this year; who else is going to be there?), and that was excellent. I was pleasantly surprised by the Kelly & Reba show, but blown absolutely off my gob by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss at the Zoo, not only because it was so unexpected that they came (thanks, Gustav!) but because of how wonderfully unexpected their collaboration was in the first place.

Of special note was the night K.C. recorded her live album (see link above under "ALBUMS"), because there was a really great energy at the Blue Door that night and the album turned out fantastic.

I got to see Tina Turner this year; that’s worth mentioning because it’s very likely the last time that will ever happen, and for that reason alone it was kinda awesome. But it wasn’t the best concert of the year.

I think that honor must go to the True Colors Tour in June, if only because I can’t remember the last time I had that much straight-up fun at a concert, not to mention the fact that I got to finally see live a bunch of acts I’ve wanted to see since childhood, including Cyndi Lauper, the B-52’s and Joan Jett, as well as seeing Margaret Cho again. Also, Cyndi Lauper grabbed my hand, and I danced so hard against the metal fence blocking off the VIP area (BOLLOCKS) that I hurt my knee.

Worst concert: it pains, pains, pains me to say this, but this has to go to Ghostland Observatory at the Dallas Observer St. Patrick’s Day After-Party. The band was tight, but the crowd was so terrible that they cancelled all the great energy going on on stage. It was hands-down the worst crowd I’ve ever seen; most of them had no idea who this excellend band was, and they were cutting in line at the beer tent, and not dancing, and they were pretty much the definition of Dallas Douches, writ large. I’d like to see Ghostland again with a friendlier, cooler crowd, because as I said, what was going on on stage was ace.

SPORTS IN 2008:

As an Oklahoma Sooners fan, it’s almost impossible to choose my favorite sports moments of this year, though anything involving Sam Bradford comes immediately to mind; especially seeing him fly feet-over-head through the air and into the sidelines, a moment that probably won him the Heisman.

This was also the year that Oklahoma City entered the big-leagues, so to speak, with the arrival of the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Ford Center:

It’s been a lot of fun going to the games, and I look forward to the rest of the season and next.

Worst sports moment of 2008? Easy: Colt McCoy trips over his own stupid feet on the sidelines and suddenly the Sooners lose 30 yards in "roughing" penalties, which cost us at least a touchdown in the Red River Rivalry. Also, Mack Brown’s tiresome campaign to get his team into the Big 12 Championship, acting as if his win over us somehow trumps his loss to Texas Tech, out of whom we kicked the crap. So you’ll pardon me if I gloat that Bradford won the Heisman and we’re going to the Championship game. Have fun at the Fiesta Bowl, losers.

What a fun year this has been!