No. Just...No.

I'm officially beyond adjectives on this one. The mind boggles.

I was already staring in horror and then a cold chill went up my spine when Phantom Planet's "California" started. They had to drag The O.C. into this? Lee Pace and Judy Greer weren't enough? Good grief.

Why, ABC Family, WHY?!?

I know I've made my feelings about unnecessary remakes known before, but I saw this while watching ABC Family this evening, and was kind of appalled. So you take a classic late-90s teen movie ostensibly based on a Shakespeare tale...

...and you get this? Who thought it was a good idea to remake a 10-year-old movie with what appears to be terrible acting and a significant drop in charisma? Yikes.

Mood Music XV: Palate Cleanser

I felt compelled to post this following Danny Gokey's mind-blowingly awful performance of "Dream On" during tonight's American Idol rock-themed show.  I don't have sufficient adjectives for how bad it was.

If Gokey stays around another week (which he doesn't merit), I hope that next week is when they do the "Clive Davis picks a song for you" thing, and that Clive Davis (who signed Aerosmith to Columbia way back in the day, and thus enabled that record's distribution to the masses) shames him publicly for doing such a grave disservice to such a sterling piece of rock music.

"Did that hurt, or is that ethnic?"

I'm really, really trying not to pre-judge this movie, but it's so hard.

First - Fame didn't need to be remade.  Fame is fine just the way it is - there's always a degree to which good stories about teenagers will remain fundamentally true in the emotions and situations they depict, even if the fashions or music are dated.  Fame, in my opinion, is one such story. I was probably about eleven or twelve when I saw it for the first time (on PBS, weirdly) - it's the first 'R' that sticks in my mind as one that I loved.

Second - That remix/update of "Fame" towards the end, whatever that is, demonstrates yet another thing that didn't need to be messed with.  The original song won an Oscar, for Christ's sake. Leave it alone!

Third - It's hard to tell from a trailer, but this movie seems awfully...upbeat. 

Like, the director talking about hard work showcasing talent? Sure, that's an element of the movie, but that's not what I love about Fame. My favorite thing (okay, maybe second favorite, see #4) about the movie is the "Senior Year" section, when most of the characters get slapped in the face by reality. When I first saw Hillary's monologue about her abortion, I remember the feeling of having never seen something like it before, and even though it's been nearly thirty years since Fame came out, the topic is still rarely addressed with that kind of candor in popular culture. If they end this movie with some sort of "Kid A went to Hollywood...Kid B is dancing on Broadway" epilogue instead of the original's disconcertingly ambiguous ending, I am going to be so disappointed and rant about it so hardcore...

Fourth - Originally, I said that "Senior Year" was my favorite part, and then I realized that my most favorite thing about Fame is "Out Here on My Own," probably one of my favorite movie scenes, like, of all time.  Now, I have no complaints with the way it's sung in the trailer - it sounds nice, the song is recognizable.  The song, though, is only half of why I love this scene.

The way Lee Curreri gazes at Irene Cara while she's singing this song makes me swoon more than anything, like, ever. Back in the pre-YouTube days, sometimes I would fast-forward my VHS (!) just to watch this scene, for real. 

Okay. So I'm totally pre-judging. Sigh. Why not make a "teens in the performing arts" movie and just NOT CALL IT FAME?!?! Must the name of a perfectly good film be tarnished?

Screw You, ABC

No, really. I mean it.

When I was watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and Kristin Chenoweth came on singing a cheery Christmas tune, tears sprang to my eyes just thinking about Pushing Daisies. Listening to her sing, I recalled how much I want Alfredo to come back so she and Raul Esparza can sing the beautiful duet of my musical-theater-loving dreams. But that will probably never happen now. Screw you, ABC. I mean, the fact that they didn't use the summer to show reruns of the strike-shortened season (of which there were only nine episodes. Nine.) just demonstrates the lack of regard they have for this show.

Gah!

On a partially related note, Ms. Chenoweth is not the only phenomenally talented member of the cast. I just watched this movie again, and, well, damn.

Tell me that man shouldn't be on my television all the time.

Sigh.

So Wrong

So I was watching this show online and this was the commercial repeated during that show:

So wrong! Not only does this look like significantly less fun than Rock Band, but the choice of song as relates to the concept of "Ultimate Bass" is no good. Maybe I'm being a semi-obsessive fangirl, but you, bass player, should not be jamming out. You should be standing off to the side, gazing with a half-bored, half-bemused expression at those flailing around you, as though wondering how you fell in with this band of psychopaths.

I mean, come on now.