Online today…

- If you’ve ever wondered what’s going through the mind of a big-shot television writer, here’s your chance to find out. Chuck Lorre (The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men) puts a “vanity card” at the end of each episode of his current shows. He’s been doing this for years and some of them are pretty funny.

- Taylor Swift is my hero. Other than the slightly creepy feeling I got when Joe Elliot looked right at her and sang “You’re all I want/My fantasy,” this performance is pretty envy-inducing! On a side note, what’s up with Joe’s hair? Eek!

- Two Clint Eastwood movies coming up! Changeling, which he directed, and Gran Torino, in which he stars and directs. I think Clint Eastwood is one of the finest directors of our time and it makes me so excited to get two movies from him this season.

- Wow! At over six minutes, this French “Thriller” video may set some sort of record for impressively lengthy tracking shots. I’m impressed at the planning and blocking this must have taken!

Peace. Out.

“She can run the White House, just not her own house.” Or, things that made me pause online today…

I had a lot of downtime today, so I ended up surfing the Internet quite a bit in between phone calls and emails. Here are the things that caught my attention:

- The Southern Baptists are apparently having a bit of trouble with Sarah Palin’s VP nomination. Considering they don’t approve of women acting as leader of a household or a church, can they really be okay with a woman leading the country? Apparently, it’s fine. Just as long as it doesn’t take away from her duties at home.

- It was fun to relive some of Jim’s best Office pranks. The faxes from Future Dwight have long been a favorite of mine.

- I always think I’m going to like The Colbert Report because I like Stephen Colbert himself so much. But then I watch it, and I’m reminded that he really annoys me as a host. I feel like he’s matching his tone of voice and sentence structure to Jon Stewart’s, almost pitch for pitch. Here’s his kind of crash-and-burn interview with one of my all-time favorites, James Taylor.

- Being somewhat disappointed in the Colbert interview, I was prompted to seek out other clips of James Taylor on YouTube. My favorite:

You also might like to check out ol’ James’ sweet dance moves. Or listen to him sing my favorite song. Or my second favorite song. Or one more. Okay, okay. I’ll stop. But you just heard some sweet music. So quit complaining!

- Finally, here’s the winning entry in the Tropfest NY 2008 short film competition. It was shot completely on a cell phone. Entire film budget – $57. It’s one of the most beautiful, heart-wrenching things I’ve ever seen.

Peace. Out.

Keith E. Urban…

I had the opportunity to see the Carrie Underwood/Keith Urban “Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride” tour twice in the last two weeks (thanks, Rudy!). I loved Carrie Underwood’s first album and I’m a pretty big Keith Urban fan in general, so I was excited to see the show.

Carrie Underwood sounded amazing, but she’s clearly not comfortable on stage yet. As she was singing, it looked like she was thinking, “Shoulder in, shoulder out, shoulder in, shoulder out, and wave…wave….now walk, walk, walk, walk, and smile….smile…” She looked like she wasn’t able to spontaneously move or connect with the audience. But she looked very pretty and sounded great.

Then, there was Keith Urban. What…a…rock star! I was totally impressed with his stage presence, interaction with the crowd, and performance. I love that he was able to pull off all the stuff he does on his albums, vocally and on the guitar. He literally ran himself ragged during both shows and was clearly thrilled to be there.

Buy Carrie’s albums and go see Keith live. I promise you’ll enjoy it!

Peace. Out.

2007 Favorites…

Looking back over the last year, these were some of my favorite things…

Favorite Movie: Waitress
Other Favorites: Zodiac, Surf’s Up, Evening, Transformers, The Darjeeling Limited, Michael Clayton, and Dan in Real Life
Most Disappointing: The Simpsons Movie, American Gangster, and I Am Legend
Yet To See: Gone Baby Gone, We Own the Night, Into the Wild, The Kingdom, No Country For Old Men, Juno, Atonement, Charlie Wilson’s War, Walk Hard, and Sweeney Todd

Favorite Album: White Stripes – Icky Thump
Other Favorites: Anberlin – Cities, Bruce Springsteen – Magic, Feist – The Reminder, Maroon 5 – It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, the Once Soundtrack, Paramore – RIOT, Seal – System, Ryan Adams – Easy Tiger

Favorite Book: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Honorable Mention: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

Favorite New TV Show: Burn Notice
Other Favorites: Chuck (which had to grow on me, but now I love), Gossip Girl, Big Shots (RIP)
Most Disappointing: Pushing Daisies, Bionic Woman

Peace. Out.

46 Days…

I didn’t get to see them then…

 

But I’m going to see them now! The Police are coming to Charlotte!!