Something next to normal, that's the thing I'd like to try

* Well, even if the rest of it's a hot mess, at least we know the Into the Woods movie will have great costumes.

* Vince Gilligan has a new (non-spinoff) series in the works now that Breaking Bad is ending. Here's another interview where he talks about both shows.

* Jon Hamm and Amy Poehler cemented their awesomeness by hosting an after-party for Emmy losers.

* Check out this weird, cool, clever short film (or really long Volvo commercial) starring Robert Downey Jr., Robert Downey Jr., and Robert Downey Jr.

* An interview with Ming-Na Wen on Agents of SHIELD, in which she weighs in on the excessive punctuation issue (obviously, I remain a rebel).

* 26 Things You Didn't Know about The Princess Bride.

And a meme, courtesy of Tumblr:



So I am The Printer, with my sonic water bottle and the catchphrase, "Do they have names yet?"

Headed to Chicago for work today. Woo! Here are some interesting things to read while I'm gone:

* Live blog of the Agents of SHIELD panel at the TCA Press Tour.

* New trailer for Thor: The Dark World.

* Tom Hiddleston and Cookie Monster.

* Jason Dohring will be appearing on The Tomorrow People (aka Julie Plec's OTHER new show this season).

* Okay, the casting for the Into the Woods movie was already pretty side-eye worthy, but this just took it into full WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCKING FUCK ARE YOU FUCKING THINKING territory. I am legit disturbed thinking about Johnny Depp and this little kid singing "Hello Little Girl." She's like EIGHT. SO SKEEVY.

* Damon Lindelof has some interesting things to say about the state of Hollywood blockbusters and how they've gotten themselves into this self-perpetuating downward spiral by always needing to top the last big thing.

* By now, everyone should have heard about the casting for the next Doctor, but if you didn't follow the BBC live blog of the announcement, it's totally worth a read. The snark is just OFF THE CHARTS.

* 27 Problems Only Introverts Will Understand. Because yes.

So, this is what happens when I go away for the weekend while Comic-Con is happening? I mean, HEIDI IN NEXT TO NORMAL obviously takes priority, but... yikes.

* Jake Gyllenhaal is no longer playing a Prince in Into the Woods, possibly being replaced by Broadway vet Billy Magnussen. If only Johnny Depp would have a scheduling conflict...

* Ever wonder why all those Hollywood blockbusters seem like the same movie? It's because they are.

* Lots of cool detail work happening in Catching Fire. This just made me SO EXCITED for the movie to come out. I... kind of think it will be better than the first one?

* I have been waiting for someone to put this together since I started watching Game of Thrones, lol.

* Bunheads is officially canceled. :(

* Someone is making 12 Monkeys into a TV series on Syfy. I loved that movie, but... why.

And now Comic-Con:
( This got REALLY long )

* Here's a preview of SMG's new show The Crazy Ones. Am I the only one who thinks it's odd that James Wolk is now in two different shows about advertising agencies? It is my new headcanon that this character is the son of Mad Men's mysteriously chipper Bob Benson.

* You know, I was actually feeling naively hopeful after the HIMYM season finale, but apparently the entire final season will take place during the 56 hours leading up to Barney and Robin's wedding. Because they truly hate us and want us to suffer.

* May this oral history of The Office remind you of a time when The Office was actually a good show.

* CBS announced its fall schedule today.

* The SHIELD cast was out doing interviews at the upfronts, while revealing very little.

* Wondering why Tony Stark didn't have any help from the Avengers in Iron Man 3? This is why. (No spoilers, just funny.)

* You can now see clips from the vampire movie Only Lovers Left Alive. And I thought Tom Hiddleston's Loki hair was bad...

* Chris Pine and Jake Gyllenhal to play the two princes in the Into the Woods movie? I just... why.

* This is probably of interest to no one but me, but my girl-crush Heidi Blickenstaff is playing the lead role in Next to Normal! YES THAT IS THE SHOW I NAMED MY JOURNAL AFTER. GOING TO VERMONT NOW, KTHXBAI.

* OH MY GOD WE HAVE ALL BEEN PLAYING MONOPOLY WRONG ALL THIS TIME. Mind = blown.

* Someone at Google Maps is a Lord of the Rings nerd. Heh.

Non-Marvel news:

* The Into the Woods movie will be filming in London, and they're still looking for a Little Red Riding Hood. I am available and I already know all the lines. Just saying.

* Max Greenfield will be popping up in the Veronica Mars movie.

* Michael Fassbender and Natalie Portman starring in a movie adaptation of Macbeth? Er, they are not the first two people that come to mind for those roles, lol.

* What would you consider a "victorious" ending to Breaking Bad?

* Lots of post-season interviews around last night's finale of The Americans, including Matthew Rhys (I love the speculation about his cover identities' prospective porn careers), Noah Emmerich, and Margo Martindale. 

* What Homeland could learn from The Americans - a really interesting look at the similarities, and more importantly, the differences between the two shows.

* Also, Martha earns the dubious honor of being TV's Saddest Character.

* The Good Wife also wrapped up its season this week. You guys, what a totally underrated show this is. Okay, they fell down hard this season with Kalinda, but I don't think comparisons to Mad Men are unwarranted.

* Mike Schur talks about tonight's season finale of Parks and Recreation, which he's pretty confident will be back for another season next year.

* Game of Thrones and Parks and Recreation, as imagined by each others' showrunners: "Daenerys holds a public forum to discuss the park. The Starks think the park should have a wolf run, the Targaryens want more fire pits, the Lannisters don’t want to pay for it."

* Orphan Black has been renewed for a second season. Is anyone else watching this show? I haven't had a chance to talk about it, but I've really been enjoying it - more than Doctor Who, actually. (For Being Erica fans, Dr. Tom's daughter plays the main character(s), and she's excellent.)

* LOL Theresa Rebeck, just because season 2 of Smash isn't doing well, that doesn't mean you're not still to blame for season 1 sucking. The problem is that season 2 sucks in entirely different ways. But I still find it more entertaining than season 1 - mainly because it spends a lot more time actually being about the process of getting a show to Broadway and not soapy melodrama involving characters I hate.


And all the Marvel stuff:

* RDJ on the Tonight Show. OMG now I want to take him to Lancaster and introduce him to spaghetti pizza.

* Kevin Feige talks about how Iron Man has come full circle and gives a thumbs-down to Spiderman joining the Avengers. Sorry, Superfamily nerds.

* Don Cheadle hates the Iron Man suit. Actually, the phrase he uses is "torture chamber."

* More bookmarking this for myself than anything else, a spoileriffc review of Iron Man 3 that should really be read after the movie.

* That rumor about Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in Avengers 2 is true (until the next rewrite, lol... as I recall, the Wasp was a huge part of the original draft of the first Avengers, and we see how that turned out).

* Here's a rundown of what's to come in Marvel's Phase Two.

* Semi-related: IM3 director Shane Black is apparently the king of hilarious screenplays. No, not the dialogue. The in-between bits.

This will probably be of interest to no one but me, but whatever. I'm having fun. Anyway, there's a movie version of my favorite musical ever, Into the Woods, being made, and it's now confirmed that Meryl Streep will play the Witch. Earlier, there was a screenplay reading with lots of big names, some of whom may end up in the movie, but Meryl wasn't involved so obviously none of them are sure things.

Because I am me, I decided to do my own cast, since I know this musical better than anyone else ever, with the possible exception of Stephen Sondheim. (Literally, I cannot remember a time when I had not seen Into the Woods, because I started watching it at such an early age. Which was probably bad parenting on my mother's part, but most of the sex jokes went over my head.) I was going to make a picspam, like my genderswaps, but caps of the original Broadway production are nigh-impossible to find and what's out there is pretty poor quality (granted, the thing was filmed in, like, 1987, so what do you expect?).

To give myself a bit more of a challenge, I made an arbitrary requirement that, for the movie, everyone must have some prior film or television experience, otherwise I could just cast the whole thing with Broadway stars and be done with it. I also tried to inject a little diversity since, much as I love the Broadway cast, that is a very white show. Here we go!

( Read more... )

So, apparently, I'm stealing this idea from snickfic, because lord knows LJ could use an injection of fun and happy lately. And who doesn't love musicals? (Those people are banned from my LJ! :-P) I suspect Snick and I have very different taste in musicals, so there probably won't be much overlap.

Anyway, let's talk about my very, very favoritest musical ever: Into the Woods. I've probably seen it about a thousand times. (That's not hyperbole - how many watches does it take to wear out a video tape?) I've talked about it before, particularly in this post, but it's more fun with videos! It's Stephen Sondheim, which tells you a lot right there - complex melodies, clever lyrics, dark themes, all threaded with brilliant humor. In this case, he takes the fairy tales you think you know and turns them on their heads. It's all about growing up and getting what you want and finding out it's not what you expected. Happily ever after isn't the end of the story; it's just the beginning. And be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.

Apparently, copyright enforcement prevents me from viewing a lot of the good clips on YouTube, but I still had trouble picking my favorite part to show you. I went with "Giants in the Sky," in which Jack muses about his adventures up the beanstalk.

Sometimes I wonder...

Background: sevvy_o made a big post about musicals, and in response, I mentioned one of my favorite musicals of all time - Into the Woods. Here's how I described it (copied from my comment):

"Into the Woods is kind of a fractured fairy tale. It's about a baker and his wife who were cursed by a witch and need to gather ingredients for a spell to lift the curse - including Jack's cow (from Jack and the Beanstalk), Cinderella's slipper, Little Red Ridinghood's red cape, and Rapunzel's hair. So they interact with all these fairy tale characters, but my favorite part is that the "happily ever after" comes at the end of Act 1. All the stories that we know conclude there (Cinderella marries her prince, Jack slays the giant and ends up rich, etc.), and then Act 2 is what happens after the happy ending. It gets much darker and people die and the characters turn on the narrator. It's awesome."

Anyone who is even remotely familiar with me and my fic can probably figure out why the "what happens after the happy ending" thing appeals to me. But as I'm sitting here, and these connections between BtVS fic and Into the Woods are percolating in my brain (not for the first time - someday I should post my character match-up), I'm replaying this scene in my head and imagining the BtVS characters coming to life and attacking Joss Whedon for all the horrible things he's done to them:

Narrator: "It is interesting to examine the moral issue at question here. The finality of stories such as these dictates..."

(he looks upstage and notices everyone staring at him)

Narrator: "Sorry, I only tell the story. I'm not part of it."

Red Riding Hood: (brandishing a knife) "That's right."

Witch: "Not one of us."

Baker: "You're always on the outside."

Narrator: "Well, that's my role! You must understand, there must always be someone on the outside!"

Prince's Steward: "Well, you're going to be on the inside now."

Narrator: (as they all gang up on him) "You're making a big mistake!"

Cinderella's Stepmother: "Nonsense."

Narrator: "You need an objective observer to pass the story along!"

Witch: "Some of us don't like the way you've been telling it."

Heh. There's a crackfic in there somewhere.

BtVS/AtS

8/12/08: I should have a Xander icon... (Xander's character arc)

8/15/08: Cordy/Angel meta

12/2/08: Spike has two doors!

3/4/09: Food for Thought (comparing Riley's "As You Were" speech to Spike's "Touched" speech)

5/7/09: Spike... again (AtS S5)

6/1/10: Not Fade Away

7/13/10: Yeah, I'm going there (season 8)

8/19/10: Comics wank, must be... a day ending in y (BtVS/AtS crossovers)

8/25/10: "That was real." (Cordy/Angel and Spike/Buffy)

10/16/11: Book review: Whedonistas!

12/2/13: Meme: December 2 (Favorite season)


Dexter

6/8/10: Dexter (season 1)

6/10/10: Dexter, Part 2 (season 2)

6/22/10: Dexter, Part 3 (season 3)

9/13/10: Dexter - it's been a while (season 4)

9/29/10: Final (?) TV premiere round-up (5.01)

1/6/11: Let's talk about Dexter! (season 5)

9/27/13: Beginnings and Endings (series finale)


The Hunger Games

1/29/11: The Hunger Games (Finally!) (book)

2/12/11: OMG YOU GUYS!! (Catching Fire book)

2/27/11: Epic Mockingjay review (book)

3/26/12: The big epic Hunger Games review (movie)

11/24/13: OMG Catching Fire (movie)


Lost

8/12/10: I'm Freeeeee (1.01-1.02)

8/13/10: More Lost thoughts (1.03-1.09)

8/17/10: Even more Lost thoughts (1.10-1.16)

8/18/10: I has finished season 1! (1.17-1.25)

8/23/10: Lost season 2 (2.01-2.10)

8/26/10: Yep, more Lost (2.11-2.18)

11/20/10: Super-huge pop culture round-up (2.19-2.24)

12/5/10: Hey, remember when I used to watch Lost? (3.01-3.08)

3/20/11: "Remember when I used to watch Lost?" 2: Electric Boogaloo (3.09-3.16)

3/26/11: Lost season 3 thoughts! (3.17-3.22)

3/31/11: Lost Season 4

4/10/11: More Lost talk (5.01-5.10)

4/31/11: Incoherent Lost flailing (5.11-5.17)

5/22/11: Yes, I still watch Lost! (6.01-6.10)

6/23/11: I has more Lost thoughts! (6.11-6.15)

6/28/11: The epic Lost post (6.16-6.18)

12/9/13: Meme: December 9 (Juliet's work with the Others)


Marvel/DC

7/2/13: So I finally saw Iron Man 3

12/7/13: Meme: December 6 (oops) (Why you should love Captain America)

5/26/14: State of the (Marvel) universe

10/14/14: Well all righty then (Captain America 3 and the MCU)

10/27/14: So I started watching Arrow

10/30/14: Let's talk about TV! (The Flash and Arrow)

11/2/14: Linkspam and TV talk (Agents of SHIELD and Marvel vs. DC)

5/18/15: Avengers: Age of Ultron


The Vampire Diaries

9/30/10: The Vampire Diaries, take two (season 1)

10/12/10: The Vampire Diaries, take three (up to 2.05)

11/6/10: Semi-belated Vampire Diaries thoughts (2.07-2.08)

1/30/11: Let's talk Vampire Diaries (2.10)

9/16/11: TVD Thoughts (3.01)

10/14/11: The Ghost-pire Diaries (3.05)

10/14/11: This is an actual reaction post (3.05)

1/6/12: TVD thoughts (3.10)

3/23/12: What's that? A reaction post? (3.17)

10/17/12: TVD 4.02

1/3/13: Linkspam + rambling (The problem with Klaus as a villain)


Other TV

11/10/09: Friday, December 13, 1963. Four guys shot their own legs off. (Mad Men 3.13)

2/9/10: Proof that shippers are stupid everywhere... (Chuck)

4/1/10: Caprica (season 1)

4/10/10: This is a ranty rant (Bones 5.16)

6/28/10: Doctor Who (season 5)

6/29/10: Dead Like Me (season 1)

7/8/10: Dead Like Me (again) (season 2)

7/14/10: Because I really needed another TV show to watch... (Huge 1.01-1.03)

8/24/10: Six Feet Under season 2

9/10/10: Huge (1.10)

9/20/10: Last night's Mad Men... (4.09)

9/25/10: Community is back!!! (2.01)

10/18/10: Catching up (Mad Men 4.13)

8/1/11: Let's talk Sports Night

8/31/11: The Tudors

9/29/11: Faaaarscape! (1.01-1.09)

10/9/11: Farscape meta, part two (1.16)

1/29/12: Chuck thoughts (for real this time) (season 5)

1/22/13: British TV! (Wallander and Party Animals)

7/15/13: I watch things (The Newsroom)

12/14/13: Meme: December 13 (oops again) (Friday Night Lights favorite female character)


Movies

9/5/07: Shadow Undies (Shadow Puppets commentary)

6/16/10: Boys from the Dwarf (Red Dwarf: Back to Earth)

6/18/10: Strictly Sexual (note: review is access-only)

7/9/10: I did a stupid thing... (Dead Like Me: Life After Death)

1/19/11: Black Swan

12/29/12: The big Les Miserables review

3/16/14: Worth Every Penny (Veronica Mars)

11/26/14: Thanksgiving linkspam (and Into the Woods angst)


Books

8/19/09: Head-scratcher of an ending (the Sevenwaters trilogy)

8/31/10: Book Review: Swordspoint

9/1/10: Book review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

9/23/10: Book review: The Fall of the Kings

10/21/10: Feeling like I'm always playing catch-up (To Say Nothing of the Dog)

10/22/10: Book review: The Passage

12/15/10: Book review! (Finally) (Doomsday Book and Blackout)

1/8/11: Book review: The Privileges

1/11/11: More book reviews! (Miracle and Other Christmas Stories and All Clear)

4/14/11: Stuff I did (The Privilege of the Sword and Speak)

5/3/11: Book Reviews! (Heir to Sevenwaters and Freedom)

5/14/11: More book reviews (The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and Seer of Sevenwaters)

7/16/11: End of Semester Book Reviews (The Art of Choosing and Pearls, Politics, and Power)

7/21/11: More book reviews! (Big Girls Don't Cry)

9/27/11: Book Reviews (The Handmaid's Tale, One Day, and Delirium)

8/14/12: Wanted: Friends! (MWF Seeking BFF)


Theater

9/2/10: Review: Billy Elliot

9/8/10: Review: A Little Night Music

9/12/10: Review: In the Heights

9/19/10: Musical Sunday! (Next to Normal)

9/26/10: Musical Sunday! (Next to Normal)

7/12/11: At long last! (Next to Normal)

4/23/12: The Newsies Review

9/15/13: The (brief) return of Musical Sunday! (Miss Saigon)

11/25/13: If/Then

2/2/14: First Date


Multi-Fandom

11/14/09: In which I prove I think too much (BtVS/Into the Woods parallels)

9/20/10: It's like my perception is warping back to normal... (high school shows)

9/27/10: The Vampire Diaries, or Why Buffy is the Best (the use and abuse of dramatic irony)

10/2/10: Romance =/= Geometry (love triangles)

12/16/10: Being Erica! (S3 finale, parallels with BtVS)

3/3/11: I have a one-track mind (Hunger Games/Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Next to Normal parallels)

5/27/11: Whee! (Is Katniss a Buffy or an Angel?)

6/25/12: Where are all the female anti-heroes?

12/4/12: My advice? Don't watch for the plot (Homeland, Lost, and the importance of plausibility)