Tuesday, December 04, 2007
SIGNS OF THE STARBUCKALYPSE
Ever be standing in an elevator, and somebody says something that makes you bite your lip until you get off the elevator so you don't laugh hysterically?
This just happened to me. I got on the elevator at work and held the door open for two ladies who were each holding Starbucks coffee cups. One of them says to the other (in reference to their coffee): "How's yours?"
And she answers: "A little too sweet. I may have to put some coffee in this."
WHAT???? You have to put coffee in your coffee? And on top of that, you're going to use whatever the office machine is belching out to thin out the sweetness of a so-called "Tall" (read: small) cup of coffee that shouldn't have all that caramel/peppermint/mocha/whiskey/egg nog/pineapple/pork dumpling shit in it anyway? A $1 drink that you just paid $27 for?
Yeah, you go put more coffee in it. Then maybe this afternoon, when you order pre-sweetened tea with your lunch, you can take the edge off with a little Splenda.
------
Everyone has movies that, for whatever reason, make them stop and watch whenever they see them on TV. No matter where in the story you pick it up, no matter what you were planning to do or watch before you discovered it was on, all that takes a back seat to the movie.
For me, that movie is "Young Frankenstein." I can't explain it, but it's just, for me, the perfect comedy. Laughs in every scene.
But, if I may paraphrase Arlo Guthrie, that's not what I'm here to tell you about.
I'm here to tell you about movies that fall right underneath that level. Movies that you'll watch, gladly, if you really have nothing better to do. Movies that fascinate you for one reason or another.
For me, one of those movies is "Singin' in the Rain." It was on TCM the other night and I hadn't seen it in ages, so I watched it again.
I'm not a big fan of Hollywood/Broadway musicals. I've been IN quite a few of them, back in my high school and college days, but there's a big difference between being in them and watching them.
I think the reason I like "Singin' in the Rain" is because the subject matter of the plot pokes fun at Hollywood -- specifically the transition from silent movies to sound. It's obvious that most of the guys who worked on the movie (it came out in 1953) clearly remembered, and probably worked in, silent movies. So the gags were easy to come up with. Consequently, the movie works. It's called a five-star movie on a five-star scale. (Personally, I dock it a star because the whole "Broadway Melody" thing is clearly in there to pad the movie.)
But the title song sequence, which when you think about it must have amounted to so much water torture for Gene Kelly, is simply one of the best sequences ever filmed. And Donald O'Connor's "Make 'em Laugh" steals the freakin' movie.
You could make an argument that "Singin' in the Rain" is the best musical hollywood ever produced, and I wouldn't be able to argue, because like I said, I don't like musicals much.
It's definitely better than "South Pacific," a play I have had the privilege of performing in twice. I've always felt that "South Pacific" lacks a discernable plot. It plays more like a "MASH" episode, which is odd because the play was nearly 30 years old when MASH came on to TV (itself being based on a book and a movie).
But you sit there watching all these sailors and nurses and wacky guys, and hear all those songs, just to get to the major plot point that white trash Nellie Forbush from Arkansas can't bring herself to marry the man she loves because he has interracial children with a long-dead Polynesian woman? We waited three hours for that?
In both productions that I've been in, neither actress playing Nellie was able to convey that they were even slightly ANNOYED by such a situation. Why should they? People had come a long way since the 1940s by the time we were hoofing it in the 1970s. And it also appears that Rogers and Hammerstein were not exactly comfortable with portraying the star of their show as a bigot. This particular plot point isn't even addressed until about 15 minutes before the final curtain and the scenes are amazingly awkward.
So scratch that one off your "best musical" list. (Especially the movie, where Mitzi Gaynor, who was getting a bit long in the tooth, plays naive young Nellie, and Methuselah -- Er, Rossano Brazzi -- plays Emile. They go together like peanut butter and sardines. Plus, the movie seems to last almost as long as the war itself.)
But "Singin' in the Rain?" That's some cool, funny stuff...
------
This Friday is the first Friday of the month, so I will be playing at not one but TWO events downtown for the First Friday festivities: at 7 p.m. I'll be doing half an hour in front of the YMCA on Fillmore. Then, at 8:30, I'm due to play at the BRAND, SPANKING NEW location of the Willow House on West Van Buren. Get the addresses for both at www.myspace.com/tomtuerffmusic
Hopefully I'll see you there!
TT
Ever be standing in an elevator, and somebody says something that makes you bite your lip until you get off the elevator so you don't laugh hysterically?
This just happened to me. I got on the elevator at work and held the door open for two ladies who were each holding Starbucks coffee cups. One of them says to the other (in reference to their coffee): "How's yours?"
And she answers: "A little too sweet. I may have to put some coffee in this."
WHAT???? You have to put coffee in your coffee? And on top of that, you're going to use whatever the office machine is belching out to thin out the sweetness of a so-called "Tall" (read: small) cup of coffee that shouldn't have all that caramel/peppermint/mocha/whiskey/egg nog/pineapple/pork dumpling shit in it anyway? A $1 drink that you just paid $27 for?
Yeah, you go put more coffee in it. Then maybe this afternoon, when you order pre-sweetened tea with your lunch, you can take the edge off with a little Splenda.
------
Everyone has movies that, for whatever reason, make them stop and watch whenever they see them on TV. No matter where in the story you pick it up, no matter what you were planning to do or watch before you discovered it was on, all that takes a back seat to the movie.
For me, that movie is "Young Frankenstein." I can't explain it, but it's just, for me, the perfect comedy. Laughs in every scene.
But, if I may paraphrase Arlo Guthrie, that's not what I'm here to tell you about.
I'm here to tell you about movies that fall right underneath that level. Movies that you'll watch, gladly, if you really have nothing better to do. Movies that fascinate you for one reason or another.
For me, one of those movies is "Singin' in the Rain." It was on TCM the other night and I hadn't seen it in ages, so I watched it again.
I'm not a big fan of Hollywood/Broadway musicals. I've been IN quite a few of them, back in my high school and college days, but there's a big difference between being in them and watching them.
I think the reason I like "Singin' in the Rain" is because the subject matter of the plot pokes fun at Hollywood -- specifically the transition from silent movies to sound. It's obvious that most of the guys who worked on the movie (it came out in 1953) clearly remembered, and probably worked in, silent movies. So the gags were easy to come up with. Consequently, the movie works. It's called a five-star movie on a five-star scale. (Personally, I dock it a star because the whole "Broadway Melody" thing is clearly in there to pad the movie.)
But the title song sequence, which when you think about it must have amounted to so much water torture for Gene Kelly, is simply one of the best sequences ever filmed. And Donald O'Connor's "Make 'em Laugh" steals the freakin' movie.
You could make an argument that "Singin' in the Rain" is the best musical hollywood ever produced, and I wouldn't be able to argue, because like I said, I don't like musicals much.
It's definitely better than "South Pacific," a play I have had the privilege of performing in twice. I've always felt that "South Pacific" lacks a discernable plot. It plays more like a "MASH" episode, which is odd because the play was nearly 30 years old when MASH came on to TV (itself being based on a book and a movie).
But you sit there watching all these sailors and nurses and wacky guys, and hear all those songs, just to get to the major plot point that white trash Nellie Forbush from Arkansas can't bring herself to marry the man she loves because he has interracial children with a long-dead Polynesian woman? We waited three hours for that?
In both productions that I've been in, neither actress playing Nellie was able to convey that they were even slightly ANNOYED by such a situation. Why should they? People had come a long way since the 1940s by the time we were hoofing it in the 1970s. And it also appears that Rogers and Hammerstein were not exactly comfortable with portraying the star of their show as a bigot. This particular plot point isn't even addressed until about 15 minutes before the final curtain and the scenes are amazingly awkward.
So scratch that one off your "best musical" list. (Especially the movie, where Mitzi Gaynor, who was getting a bit long in the tooth, plays naive young Nellie, and Methuselah -- Er, Rossano Brazzi -- plays Emile. They go together like peanut butter and sardines. Plus, the movie seems to last almost as long as the war itself.)
But "Singin' in the Rain?" That's some cool, funny stuff...
------
This Friday is the first Friday of the month, so I will be playing at not one but TWO events downtown for the First Friday festivities: at 7 p.m. I'll be doing half an hour in front of the YMCA on Fillmore. Then, at 8:30, I'm due to play at the BRAND, SPANKING NEW location of the Willow House on West Van Buren. Get the addresses for both at www.myspace.com/tomtuerffmusic
Hopefully I'll see you there!
TT
Comments:
Have to agree with you on Young Frankenstein. As far as musicals go, I'll gladly watch and enjoy Singing in the Rain, but there are others I would pay money to see (and have).
J.D.
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J.D.
# posted by 
: 6:21 PM
: 6:21 PM