Dreams Of Noise

In case you haven't yet seen it.

I'm not even gonna bother with the links on this one -- it's just an eye-roller, and it shows the need for our alleged news media to create tension where there is none, even in situations that do not warrant tension.

See, if you go to Yahoo's main page, #1 in "Trending" is Sara Ramirez, who is going to sing on this week's episode of Grey's Anatomy. For some reason I simply cannot fathom -- it isn't in the story or anything -- the lead-in blurb to KABC-TV story from the Trending page ends, "Can she pull it off?"

The story itself notes that she won the frickin' Tony in 2005 for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (as The Lady of the Lake in Spamalot!).

"Can she pull it off?" < /disgusted, insulted snark, exactly the same tone that Bugs Bunny used when he jerked his thumb at Elmer and said, "Magic helmet." >

Why do they do this? Why do they say this? If they need to gin it up, they can say, "Sara hasn't sung much since her Tony-winning turn in 2005...." What asshole copy editor thought it necessary to even contemplate making it a possibility that she wouldn't sound marvelous?

And, yes, I know it's the entertainment news, which is even more shallow in some ways than the political news. But jayzus. It's like with Dan Radcliffe. He's doing How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying on Broadway soon, and all we've got so far is pictures of Harry Potter Singing! Either he's a complete flop as a singer and dancer, or (more likely) they think the surprise that he isn't a complete flop will be I*N*C*R*E*D*I*B*L*E! No matter how good he is, all they're really doing is setting him up for a variation on, "It's not that the bear dances well, it's that it dances at all."

Anyway. Sorry. Just had to go off for a minute. Carry on. How's your day?

YouTube took down the original, but Heidi posted it at Vimeo:

Defying Gravity Storyboards from Heidi Jo Gilbert on Vimeo.

Yahoo has "Ernest Borgnine" Trending right now.

My first thought was, naturally, "Oh man, I hope he's all right."

He is. He's getting a Screen Actors Guild lifetime achievement award tonight.

The article is a nice little overview of Mr. Borgnine's -- sorry, Ernest's career. But what really stood out for me was a quote from him on the art of acting:

If you watch [Gary Cooper], you can see him listening and then answering in turn. The same is true for Spencer Tracy. He listened before talking. That's what acting is all about. Many actors today don't listen. They speak because it's their turn to speak. I was lucky. I worked with actors like Bill Holden and Hume Cronyn. They were marvelous people and talented. They gave it their heart and soul. That's how they were brought up. Cary Grant was a beautiful person. Everything was in his facial expressions. You want to see real acting, watch the movies on TCM.

That's a beautiful thing.

Who here is, or has been, in community theater? (I know already of a bunch of you; I just figured a little roll-call wouldn't hurt. :)

Sadness. Character actor Pete Postlethwaite has passed away at the age of 64. I hadn't even heard he was ill....

Got to the con about noon, got badge with no trouble, got hugs right off the bat, all good. :) Anne and huskiebear showed up around 1:30. We meandered down to see part of Juanita's concert. She really is in fine form as of late -- I think not having to work a dealer's table has left more energy for her to channel into her performances.

Les mentioned that violinsontv had officially got a decently meaty part in a local production of To Kill A Mockingbird, and was hoping to get together with us for a celebratory dinner or somethin'. We started setting up for that just before my concert.

As I was getting up on stage, Alyssia (who has come to many of my concerts before) brought me a present: An official Tom Smith Plugged My Little Pony, with "WWFD" on the other side. It's adorable, and I put it up on stage with me. Grinning, I sat down to perform. And then I looked up.

They came.

My sister, brother-in-law, and their three kids, whom I love to death. And whom I have invited time and again to come see me actually perform at a local con.

They came.

I have a room full of friends and fans, Anne is just off to my left, and now my family.

They came.

I was giddy.

I think the concert went well. There was a lot of schtick, a lot of played-up interruption from the audience, a lot of oh my yes I am happy, and an occasional editing-out-on-the-fly of a bad word that might freak out my sister and her husband.

And I sold a little after, and I heard ladyat and bedlamhouse do a few very good numbers before I went out into the hall and found my family, birth and chosen -- and Karen was there by this point, no kidlet in sight, looking forward to an "adult dinner". I hugged my nieces and nephew, hugged my sister and BIL, hugged Karen, hugged Anne, man oh man I was a happy camper.

To celebrate, Anne, Les, Karen, and I went across the street to the pricy but excellent Leonardo's Italian Grill. Les's niece works there, and she took great care of us, and the antipasto was superb, and the seafood fettuccine was to die for (no, really, the alfredo sauce could inflict arterial blockage by proximity alone), and the company was beyond wonderful, and then we went back to the con.

Anne ended up going home. Les, Karen and I hung out for awhile, talking with sethb and dhstein and excellent folks like that, but we realized we were all getting damn bone-weary. I ended up leaving a bit after 8:30, and I swear to FSM I got inside the house and went straight to bed. Didn't even bother booting up, going to the bathroom, nothin'.

And now it's a lovely Sunday, and I'll be heading back to the con in a couple of hours. catalana has a concert at noon, and Juanita has another at 1:00. I offered to join her and tag-team it, so we'll have a little fun.

And how's your weekend?

Influential director Arthur Penn, who did a hell of a lot of fine work for the stage and also small, unimportant films like The Miracle Worker and Bonnie and Clyde, has passed away at the age of 88.

Sadness. Actress, dancer, civil rights activist, and especially singer Lena Horne has passed away at the age of 92. Besides her great talent, she was also an astonishing beauty, to the point that Lenny Bruce used her as an example of why racial prejudice is ridiculous:

You are a white. The Imperial Wizard. Now, if you don't think this is logic you can burn me on the fiery cross. This is the logic: You have the choice of spending fifteen years married to a woman, a black woman or a white woman. Fifteen years kissing and hugging and sleeping real close on hot nights. With a black, black woman or a white, white woman. The white woman is Kate Smith. And the black woman is Lena Horne. So you're not concerned with black or white anymore, are you? You are concerned with how cute or how pretty. Then let's really get basic and persecute ugly people.

I heard about this on NPR this morning, and then maiac had a link to it.

Tonight on Great Performances on PBS, there's a television adaptation of the 2008 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet, starring Sir Patrick Stewart as Claudius and David Tennant as the Prince of Denmark. You can watch a preview here, and after the broadcast tonight you can watch the whole episode online.

Who would you like to see do Shakespeare? Or, what existing production would you like brought to video? I'd love for them to release the 2003 production of Henry IV with Kevin Kline as Falstaff. The Harry/Hermione shipper in me would adore Romeo and Juliet with Radcliffe and Watson. Rickman as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice would be fascinating. And Jackman and Winslet (or Anne Hathaway or Keira Knightley) in The Taming of the Shrew -- or, better, Kiss Me Kate -- could be hysterical.