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

Just checking in to remind everyone that I still exist and have not yet expired from either illness or overwhelming outrage. I am just exhausted. Do you think if we all agree to just take 2018 off and take a collective national nap, we could reach a bipartisan agreement? Even Republicans have to find this exhausting, don't they?

Health-wise, things are not too bad? Still not in remission, which my doctor was kind of hoping for when we started this latest medication (I mean, otherwise it's not really worth poisoning my liver and possibly giving me lymphoma) so another colonoscopy is in my near future. THIS IS NUMBER TEN, YOU GUYS. It's a big round number so I feel like I should mark the occasion somehow, lol. Maybe they will give me a little extra anesthesia to celebrate. 

I am still doing the online dating thing, but my dates have been more boring than weird or creepy, which on the one hand is good, but on the other hand, it does not give me many hilarious stories to report. However, one of my coworkers challenged me that we should both decide we're going to be married (to other people, not each other) by the end of 2018, so I guess I'll have to work a lot harder at this, lol. (You can tell he's a dude because he thinks less than a year is sufficient time to plan an actual wedding, NOT EVEN COUNTING the time required to meet someone, date, and get engaged.)  

I did, however, have an inadvisable hook-up (at the wedding I was kind of dreading but which ended up being really fun) and am now having inadvisable ~feelings. Nothing bad, really, just a guy I know is a player and probably not interested in a relationship at a time when I definitely am wanting one, even though I'm not even sure I want one WITH HIM but now I'm thinking about it anyway because a thing happened? Part of me thinks I just find online dating to be awful but I don't have other good ways to meet someone so I'm like, "Well, here's someone I already know! Let's date that one!" 

In other news, I am doing the job search thing again, and have had some interviews that hopefully will lead to a good announcement in the near future, but trying not to get ahead of myself. Also sort of scared to think about changing jobs because even though my current one is frustrating me, I do like most of the people I work with and I'm comfortable there and don't want to take chances with changing my health insurance, lol.

What else? I saw Mean Girls the musical. That was fun even though I am even really a big fan of the movie? (I've seen it once, it was funny but obviously not something I felt the need to rewatch.) I probably wouldn't have gone except a few of my friends really wanted to see it and I am the go-to musical girl, lol. I am planning a trip to BroadwayCon in January, which is exciting. (Yes, Broadway has its own con. I've never been but it seems like a thing designed especially for me.)

What is going on with all of you? Any exciting holiday plans coming up?

Before we get into the latest health debacle, here is a public service announcement: NPR is streaming the cast album of the new musical Hamilton for free before it's available to buy (Friday on iTunes). And you should totally go listen to it, because it's Lin-Manuel Miranda and Alexander Hamilton and hip-hop founding fathers, which totally should not work, but it's fantastic and frankly would have been worth puking my way through New York to go see it a few weeks ago (though fortunately I did not have to, because it was during my 10-day non-puking window, more on that later). 

Hamilton is the most talked-about musical of the year, and it's totally going to win all the Tonys, and it's sold out for months, so back in July when my theater buddy Christi suggested we get literally the last two available tickets for Labor Day weekend, I figured hey, why not? Maybe I'll be better by then. Which was foolishly optimistic, but again, no puking so it all worked out, I guess, and I'm really glad I got to see it.

So go listen and be jealous that I've seen it.

( And now the health )

 * TCA live-blogs continue, with The Americans and Louie. Plus, Brooklyn Nine-Nine has been picked up for a third season.

* Julianne Hough and Vanessa Hudgens will play Sandy and Rizzo, respectively, in Fox's live production of Grease. Yes, really. 

* Another interview with Michael Schur on the final season of Parks and Recreation.

* Larry Wilmore talks about The Nightly Show, which is taking over The Colbert Report's time slot. 

* Fox is making an American version of Luther, presumably with Idris Elba in the lead role again, but doing an American accent this time, because that is apparently a thing we do now.

* Here's another Hannibal casting announcement, related to the spoiler about who is getting married. Plus, first trailer for season 3!

* OMG there will be a karaoke episode of The Flash. It's not the musical episode we deserve, but at least we may get to hear Grant Gustin sing (I don't have much hope for Jesse L. Martin). Also, there is apparently going to be major time-travel this season.

* It's a superhero Super Bowl, with the Chrises Pratt and Evans making an adorable bet on the game. 

* Interview with Laura Benanti, goddess.

* CBS has found its Supergirl lead. 

I mean, yeah, whatever, Merry Christmas happy holidays blah blah, NOW ONTO IMPORTANT THINGS.

I saw it. I did not hate it. I did not love it, but I did not feel compelled to scream or throw things in the theater or otherwise cause a scene, so let's call that a win.

Short version: When the movie was over, my mom and I turned to each other and said, "Meh."

Long version: ( Read more... )

So, who watched Peter Pan Live! on Thursday night?

I thought it was technically better than The Sound of Music - for one thing, Allison Williams can sing AND act, and she gave 110% enthusiasm-wise (meanwhile Christopher Walken was kind of just doing whatever the fuck he wanted, lol, which I'm not entirely sure was "acting," per se, but was definitely entertaining). The sets were fantastic (no cardboard Alps here!), and psychedelic crocodile notwithstanding, in general the production values were clearly higher, like they'd actually put some thought into the filming of it.

But overall it kind of left me cold? Mostly because I have zero attachment to the musical (this was actually the first time I'd ever seen it), whereas The Sound of Music has the nostalgia factor, and because you could probably write a whole doctoral dissertation on the creepy and occasionally bizarre gender narratives. (It didn't help that Williams as Peter came across very much as a grown woman pretending to be a prepubescent boy rather than actually capturing the childishness of Peter, which made the flirty scenes with Wendy seem like more of a story of lesbian awakening than anything else. Which, to be fair, is a much better story than "flying asshole kidnaps girl to clean up after his pack of bratty overgrown man-boys.") Oh well. At least they tried to make it less racist?

IDK, I think it was probably not the best choice of musical, so no matter how well done it was, it was never going to have the kind of impact The Sound of Music did. (In case you'd forgotten - like I did - NBC has already locked in The Music Man for next year.)

Anyway, links!

* Marvel casting announcements: Benedict Cumberbatch is Doctor Strange (which we all kind of assumed) and Krysten Ritter is Jessica Jones.

* Jed and Maurissa talk about Agents of SHIELD and the upcoming mid-season finale.

* A piece on the sad state of network sitcoms.

* Newly-bearded Aaron Tveit talks about playing John Wilkes Booth in Assassins.

* Interesting profile of Robert Downey Sr.

* The secret history of chocolate chip cookies! I had no idea it was so scandalous.

* Full audio of Anna Kendrick singing "On the Steps of the Palace." This is the one where Sondheim tweaked the lyrics because she was actually singing it on the palace steps rather than afterward.

* On Reese Witherspoon and our tendency to box movie stars into a particular image, and then be surprised when it turns out they are multi-faceted people, just like the rest of us.

* The Into the Woods cast is doing interviews. Here's Meryl Streep and James Corden (funny they both mention new songs that ended up getting cut), and Anna Kendrick. Plus, here's a Q&A panel with the whole cast.

( Under a cut because I blathered far too much )

* And more reminiscing from the original Broadway cast.

* It's confirmed: Michelle MacLaren will direct Wonder Woman.

* James Gunn has some good points about putting the cart before the horse in developing shared universes.

* Another interview with Natalie Dormer about Mockingjay and Game of Thrones.

* Here's the trailer for next week's Flash vs. Arrow crossover. The cast of both shows also did a Q&A at a special screening of the two episodes - here's part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4 of the panel.

* I think Matthew McConaughey would make an excellent Randall Flagg in The Stand.

* A series of interviews with Damon Lindelof about the first season of Lost.

* Here's a trailer for Agent Carter.

* The Jurassic World trailer looks hilariously ridiculous. Chris Pratt riding a motorcycle flanked by velociraptors! If at any point during this movie, he actually RIDES A DINOSAUR, automatic five stars.

* Peter Capaldi is confirmed to be coming back for the next season of Doctor Who. Not that anyone really expected he wouldn't, since there's usually much more fanfare when a Doctor leaves and a new one is cast, and also we just did that at the beginning of THIS season. But. You know. In case you were worried. No confirmation on Jenna Coleman, however.

* If you're a fan of The Americans or Masters of Sex, you may be happy to hear that The Millers was canceled, thus freeing up Margo Martindale and Beau Bridges to return to those (much better) shows.

* With Mockingjay coming out soon, Jennifer Lawrence and the rest of the cast are out in full force. JLaw talks about the crazy ways her life has changed since accepting this role and makes plans to fight crime with Stephen Colbert, or possibly commit crimes as part of her downward spiral. Director Francis Lawrence discusses the pressure of being Philip Seymour Hoffman's last film, Sam Claflin talks a lot about his hair, and Natalie Dormer is her usual fierce self as always.

* Marvel has cast Daniel Bruhl to play an unspecified villain in Captain America: Civil War. No idea who he's actually playing, but here's some speculation, which also indicates that the Winter Soldier will still play a major role in the film. You know, in addition to Tony Stark being around, and Cap possibly having a whole new team, and introducing Black Panther... Man, this is going to be one really crowded movie; I'm not sure why they're even bothering to call it "Captain America" at this point.

* This is why it took so long to get Dancing Baby Groot merchandise.

* Rob Marshall and James Lapine talk about adapting Into the Woods for the film. I do not appreciate being told to "chill out." This is only THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF MY CHILDHOOD YOU ARE MESSING WITH HERE. That is, like, barely an exaggeration, you don't even know.

* First promo for Peter Pan live. Apparently, they are making quite a few changes from the original musical, but some of that's about making it less horribly racist, so I think even the purists would find it hard to argue with that one.

* Fantastic discussion of Connie Britton's career and magnificent hair.

* Interesting piece on how certain casting choices provoke outrage, what the threshold is for authenticity, and why some ethnic minorities get lumped together.

* Mandy Patinkin sings and talks really fast and says the Inigo Montoya quote on 60 Minutes.

* Agent Carter has an official premiere date, plus here's a preview that aired during Tuesday night's Marvel TV special.

* Hayley Atwell may also be appearing in Ant-Man, presumably in a flashback and not her Winter Soldier old lady make-up.

* This article on how Agents of SHIELD got good touches on some of the same things I mentioned in my last post.

* Showtime is developing a TV series in which partisan divides bring America to the brink of civil war. So, practically a documentary.

* Eddie Redmayne talks about playing Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.

* Jon Stewart talks about his directorial debut, Rosewater.

* Neil Patrick Harris did a fascinating podcast interview promoting his book, in which he talks about... pretty much everything.

* Toy Story 4 is definitely happening, y'all. Start stocking up on tissues now.

* Here's an oral history of Sports Night.

* The new Into the Woods trailer actually features singing. You know, I had a dream (nightmare?) last night that I went to see it with my parents and it was AWFUL. And we ended up walking out, and I asked my mom how long we lasted and she looked at her watch and was like, "Twelve minutes." But it had felt like HOURS.

OMG just finished Arrow season 1 and I sort of feel like I've been cheating on Marvel this week but it's really, really good so I had to get that in before we get into all the Marvel stuff. Also, one thing I neglected to mention in my last post - OLIVER'S GREEN FACE PAINT. I find it endearingly ridiculous that, while suiting up for superheroing, this boy apparently stops to APPLY HIS EYE MAKEUP (because that is doing SUCH a good job of concealing his identity, what a humungous dork). On the other hand, I want whatever makeup remover he uses, because DAMN he can get that stuff wiped off quickly when reverting back to civilian Oliver.

ANYWAY. In case you missed it, earlier today Marvel announced what we all will be doing for the next five years, and the big news is that it includes Black Panther and Captain Marvel solo movies! \o/ Now we just have to wait until frickin' 2018 for the first female-led Marvel film. There's also the expected subtitles for Captain America 3 and Thor 3 (Civil War and Ragnarok, respectively), and confirmation that Avengers 3 and 4 will be a two-parter dealing with Thanos, subtitled Infinity War. Here's a live-blog of the announcement, at which RDJ and Chris Evans appeared and did an adorable little fighty thing, introduced Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther, then played Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide whose side he'd be on in the Civil War.

Other Marvel stuff:

* No confirmation of the rumor that Benedict Cumberbatch has been cast as Doctor Strange.

* An embargo on Age of Ultron interviews was apparently lifted this week as well, because there are interviews with the Chrises Evans and Hemsworth and with RDJ and Mark Ruffalo from the set. Also, here's a detailed breakdown of basically every frame of the trailer.

* Lots of info on the upcoming Agent Carter series from NYCC. I'm guessing it'll be yanked by the time I get this post up, but for now, here's the first TV spot for the series. I'll update when there's an official one released on YouTube.

Non-Marvel:

* NPH is getting a variety show on NBC.

* TVD's Malese Jow is joining the cast of The Flash. Also, Wentworth Miller talks about playing Captain Cold on the show.

* John Rogers talks about creating the team for The Librarians. (As the creator of Leverage, he knows from teams.)

* The first extended look (with actual singing!) at Into the Woods, plus some of the costume inspirations that came from the cast.

* Here's a trailer for Kyle Chandler's new Netflix series, Bloodline.

* Laura Benanti talks more about her role on Nashville.

* There's going to be a Twin Peaks book that comes out in advance of the new season on Showtime.

* Neil Patrick Harris is hosting the Oscars! \o/

* Jeremy Renner talks more about Kill the Messenger.

* Archie Panjabi is leaving The Good Wife, which means they won't have to keep awkwardly avoiding ever having Alicia and Kalinda in the same room.

* If you've been hoping for a la carte TV or streaming-only services, you may be happy to hear that HBO is planning an online-only subscription, and CBS just launched theirs.

* Warner Bros. announced their DC comics film schedule through 2020 - including a Wonder Woman stand-alone in 2017, which, unless Marvel steps up, will be the first female-led superhero film in either shared universe. They may also be introducing a female sidekick if Jena Malone is really playing Robin in Batman V. Superman.

* Wow, Alan Cumming's story about his parentage is crazy.

* I am all for making The Last Unicorn into a Broadway musical, but lol Josh Duhamel is involved?

* New Mockingjay trailer in which Katniss returns to District 12.

* A Veronica Mars blast from the past via frelling_tralk: Teddy Dunn (who quit acting and is a lawyer now!) talks about Duncan Kane and why he left the show.