Who doen't want to see Tom Selleck's belly button?

Thanks, Tom!

Cheer Up, Charlie!

Check out this music movies quiz I wrote for my friends at gurl! How could I pass up a chance to profess my love for The Wiz, educate teenage girls about the dystopian future of 1994, reference Cheer Up, Charlie, crack up thinking of midgets trampling Stonehenge, and quote Nietzsche! I should be paying them! (Aside to gurl: don't get any ideas, okay?)

You've been stumped!!!!!!!!

So, I had a tough week. But a week where I find Operation Kitten Calender can't be that bad right?

Xanadu watch 2007!!!!!!

Walking around midtown after work and what did I see?

Really? Could we see Starlight Express style skating again on Broadway? I didn't want to get my hopes up too high (my eyes have deceived me in the past), so I went in for a closer look.

You'll know I'll keep an eye on this developing story. It has to fair better than High Fidelity, right? Right?

A bottle of gin is not like love!!!!!

"I was sitting in the Townhouse in midtown Manhattan, a tony gay piano bar with pictures of racehorses on the wall. I was listening to the pianist grapple with Stephen Sondheim songs, and I thought 'I really should get into theater music, because I'd be good at it.' Half the songs I like were written for the theater, and you know, I'm a show tune kind of guy. I decided I'd write one hundred love songs as a way of introducing myself to the world. Then I realized how long that would be. So I settled on sixty-nine. I'd have a theatrical revue with four drag queens. And whoever the audience liked best at the end of the night would get paid." [source] So says Stephin Merritt of my latest obsession, Magnetic Fields' thematic opus, 69 Love Songs.

I know I am a bit late with this (it did come out in '99, after all), which just goes to show how uncool I really am. My recent exuberant love for 69 Love Songs has its genesis on an early spring morning with sand between my toes and a too cold ocean nipping at my feet. The boy had his iPod on him and we shared his headphones to listen to "Love is Like a Bottle Gin." Total back of the bus in middle school moment, sans Bryan Adams. I came home and realized I already downloaded the album mere days ago. I have the attention span of a goldfish sometimes. (Also, way back in library school days, our cataloging professor had us create a MARC record for 69 Love Songs, but that story's not nearly as saccharine.)

ANYWAY the point of this post is that I found a neat wiki site for 69 Love Songs. Check it! Also, 33 1/3 (I love those books!) published a field guide this past December. Get the straight scoop on your favorite songs, like "You're my Only Home", for instance.

Demon barber of Fleet Street!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know how I missed this, but Tim Burton is directing Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd! Of course it stars Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. But, seeing as Sweeney Todd is almost an opera, Johnny Depp and company will do their own singing! Which Depp has never done before, not even in Cry Baby. Also, Alan Rickman(!!!!!) and Christopher Lee(!!!!!!) are teaming up with Burton for this macabre tale.

If you're not too familiar with Sweeney Todd, I'll give you the speedy synopsis. Todd (Depp), who for all we know may be a hair styling genius, ops instead to kill people who come in for a hair cut. His fellow tenet, Mrs. Lovett (Bonham Carter) bakes the remains of his customers into delectable pies, which sell VERY well. (I did have a joke about just desserts in here, but I took it out for all of our benefits.)

Anyway, if you have time, you should totally catch up Christopher Lee's Wikipedia page. For instance, did you know that Lee narrated and sang for a musical group called the The Tolkein Ensemble? Also, when he showed up to do his voice over bit as King Haggard in The Last Unicorn, he brought his own copy of the book marked through with plot points he believed must not be omitted. Fascinating! (picture via IMDB)

Weekend Weekend Weekend!

I'm going to be out of town this weekend, but IF I WEREN'T I would totally go to the opening of Williamsburg Fashion Week tonight. The great Alisha Trimble sent me this email:

Announcing the First Williamsburg Fashion Weekend May 4th, 5th and 6th. This event is three days of fashion as performance, including dance, and live music acts. It will be held at Secret Project Robot at Monster Island. 210 Kent Ave. at Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn. Come support designers who are cutting across the grain of corporate fashion.

What: Williamsburg Fashion Weekend
When: May 4,5,6, 2007
Where: Secret Project Robot at Monster Island.210 Kent Ave. at Metropolitan Ave. Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Who: Over a dozen of the freshest Williamsburg fashion designers
More info: http://www.secretprojectrobot.org/

Alisha says thing will get started at around 7:30 tonight, so you should totally go in my place!

Other things I will have to put off until next weekend: taking a trip to Pies N thighs, if my stomach can handle it. I tried the raspberry pie after eating a good share of the fried chicken box on Wednesday and I am still full. Also on deck: enjoying the frozen margarita machine at Daddy's, which is put back in commission on Cinco De Mayo. Seriously, frozen key lime margaritas from Daddy's are the key to the summer.