NYC TODAY BABY

Milkshake, Boys,Yard Friday Links

We have officially entered crunch time for NYC trip/Nicholas & Alexandra reading extravaganza. I don't have much else to say besides that. This time next week, I'll be in NYC. In between now and then, I have to show a reel, finish editing a pilot, figure out my place, where I'm staying in NYC, hang with Scottish pals in LA, pass off my car, rewrite a song, go to therapy (bless) get a wedding gift, and come to terms with that fact that (other than that one time where I drove Kiki Vandeweghe's Mercedes SUV without a license) I'll be driving in Manhattan for the first time ever. 

Also, I have placed the milkshake in the yard. So far, no boys. 
Your links:

- Brides Throwing Cats. You're welcome. 
- Pretty cool NY story about a theatre & the rent controlled apts that go with it
- Alice Munro, ol' girl! Way to win that Nobel!
- Old movies more creative than new ones. No shit?
- Walter White's getting a real funeral
- Everything my Franzy currently hates
- I can't wait to read Michael Hastings' novel!
- I finished Dave Eggers' The Circle in less that 48 hours. 
- I love this Guardian review of it. 

En Puntas - Javier Perez - Knife Ballerina

You guys. I am reading a disturbing book at the moment and feeling a lot of feelings. So is Amelie Segarra in this amazing performance En Puntas. Certainly, it is the point of art to provoke feelings, and to illicit a kind of visceral reaction. But with our level on inundation, how often does that really happen? Rarely. Even for me. And I'm ripe for the picking. I'm basically standing, waving my arms up and down and begging for you to manipulate my emotions!

Which is why it's so nice to see something that actually blows my hair back... or in this case, makes me gasp and clutch at my throat. No reaction I thought I would have from what I assumed was nothing more than a visual statement. OH NO, my friends. That is a sore underestimation. 

Watch for yourself Spanish artist Javier Perez's beautiful, arresting video. And his others. 

Javier Pérez - EN PUNTAS (extracts) from Javier Pérez on Vimeo.

Tori Amos & The Light Princess at the National Theatre London

Of all the new musicals I've been eagerly awaiting this past year, London-premiering "The Light Princess" is the one I'm kicking myself I'll miss. With music by Tori Amos and based on Scottish Fairytale by George MacDonald, it basically has the potential to be perfect.

As produced by the National Theatre, I'm not sure it is though. 

There are already some interesting similarities between the storyline and The Little Mermaid-- and I don't just mean a red-headed heroine. But one thing I'm sure all theatre-goers can agree on is that no show should share production design with The Little Mermaid. Especially not this one. It, like TLM, seems to vacillate between up-scale ethereal, and plastic toy cartoon. For the record, I think the first is the way to go. See above. And the lowest photo below. 

It's interesting because Tori's aesthetic is pretty much perfect. But then again, knowing personally how little control most musical theatre writers have over design elements, I suppose it's not surprising she'd lose at least a few creative battles. 

 Anyone have a bootleg? I'd kill to hear some of this.

Tigerlily Tuesday - Pigtails & Ballerina Buns

Music Monday - The Other Guys - St Andrean Skies

Favorites The Other Guys perform the original commission by Oscar Foxley for St Andrews 600th Anniversary, "St Andrean Skies." 

I was never a fresher, or an undergrad at St Andrews at all, but I remember those first few lit-on-fire days there. The wind whipped up every possibility I'd ever considered for myself. I remember my friends, knocking on my door, calling me out from within myself, to new places. I remember frolicking on steep hillside slopes with my hair blowing everywhere, my wellies sinking in the sand, beneath a huge Northern moon and ripped open, flood lit, St Andrean skies. Even at midnight. Even in Autumn. You could see everything. And nothing.

I often wonder if I'll ever have a year as happy as that. But the seeds of that time continue to crop up every day. Even here in Los Angeles. 

What I'd give to relive the days spent 'neath those St Andrean skies...

Keep.Com Friday Links

This was a week of rebalancing for me, and it felt good. I normalized some routines, switched some up, made chili and baked an almond apple whisky crumble for friends and neighbors that was delicious, got locked out of my apartment and hung out with my neighbor Camellia who turned me on to some new music, decided to seriously shake up my bedroom (turns out it's gonna be like zero work,) deleted my okcupid profile (again) and started to allow myself to get excited about the workshop of Nicholas & Alexandra later this month. Huzzah!

Each changing of the seasons is a dual re-set, renew. Both normalizing and radicalizing, if necessary. Duality is good. 

Here are your links.

- The Painted Ladies of LA
- Even more reasons to love it here: Taco Day!
- I'm a fan of almost all of these 20' slang terms. "Bank's Closed, Guys!"
- This chair.
- Bullfighting in France
- Did I already post this? It's the scariest thing I've ever read about being a mother in the US
- Scottish children portraits! (I'm kind of tempted to buy these??)
- Writers on failure.
- Subscribe to this amazing Vimeo channel
- This is amazing. How Rhett Butler was the original Silver Lake Hipster.

- This has been making the rounds. And I super agree. Hocus Pocus is the best! And I'm not just saying that because I'm going to Vinessa's house later. Hey, girl!

- Keep.com. I love it! It's like pinterest, but with a built in purchasing mechanism like luvocracy. My bank account might not love it as much as my brain does. 

Nils Frahm: Live in concert from Louisiana Channel on Vimeo.

REIGN Takes on Mary Queen of Scots

Let's just say that the mixture of excitement and extreme skepticism I feel about CW's Reign, the quote unquote untold story of Mary Queen of Scots rise to power, mirrors my feelings when I found out they were turning Gone with the Wind into a musical. (And I don't just mean annoyance that I'm not the one writing it!)

As you know, it's tough to say which I love more: musicals or Gone with the Wind. Costume dramas or Scotland (and esp. the problematic Mary Stuart). HOWEVER. To use the comparison I used back in the day for GWTW musical, it's like introducing your childhood best friend to your best friend from college. You love them both. They're both AMAZING. And yet, you have the nagging suspicion that they are NOT going to get along. (Spoiler alert: GWTW as a musical was about as bad as it gets.)

So, I mean, listen. Almost everything about this show is historically inaccurate. Like, everything. To the point that it's not even worth detailing all the many and egregious inaccuracies. And while, I'm mostly ok with that, I'm not thrilled about the casting. I like Adelaide Kane kind of, ya know, in general. But I just am not digging her as Mary (wrong coloring entirely!). I'm really not thrilled about the men. I don't mind making Francis kind of hot. But just... I dunno. Maybe they'll grow on me. And, I know it's not the history channel. It's the CW. That's fine. 

And OBVS, despite my misgivings, I'm still going to watch the shit out of this show. 

The most appealing factor, based on the below extended preview is Mary's relationship with the very historically accurate 4 Marys (Beaton, Seton, Fleming & Livingston, though in Reign, they're condensed to 3 and given insane names like Kenna and Greer) which lasted throughout her life. I like the idea of these 5 (4) women navigating the waters together. 

The least appealing things I can surmise from the below is 
1. Please get someone else doing your copywriting for those text tags in the promos. They are ominous, but do not even make sense.
2. Why do all the French people sound just plain old British? I mean, I guess really they're all speaking French including her, because that's her first language,  in which case British is just the standard, okay. It's murky territory, but it bugs me. I'll elaborate further once I see how they handle some things re: using French at all. 

Reign premieres Oct. 17 at 9 p.m. on the CW.

"Cups" in Gaelic

Nothing cheers me up when I'm down like group singing and Gaelic. When an entire group of grown, elected, old politicians refuse to work together (or bother to learn how bills work) it's nice to think of large groups (600!) of Celtic kids coordinating cups and harmonies together in my favorite language. These kids are Irish (from a school in Conamara), not Scottish, but no matter.

Makes me long to live again in a country where people don't shut down the government about the right to affordable, universal health care. SIGH.

Bonus: "Can't Hold Us" in Gaelic.
PS- I'm off to see Frighted Rabbit. Oh, how I love them.