Monday randomness

[yendi]

No, I didn't watch The Sopranos or Deadwood. I got 'em on Tivo, and watched the Tonys instead.

Loved the show. No real thoughts on most of the awards themselves (other than thinking that Avenue Q didn't deserve the best score, the only award I feel I'm in any position to criticize, since I've listened to both it and Wicked). But the speeches ranged from touching (all four actress awards) to classy (the two directors). The only ones that annoyed me were Hugh's (a bit too polished and lengthy), and whichever Avenue Q person made the bitchy "voted with your hearts" comment. Otherwise, they were all good. And the musical numbers were a blast. The only ones I disliked were the piece from Caroline and the Fiddler montage (why not give us all of such a great song). Hugh was just perfect as a host, and his number embarrassing Sarah Jessica Parker was just priceless.

The only serious flaws I found? First, neither Tony Bennett nor Mary J. Blige did justice to two of the great Broadway songs. Both are much more talented than the performances they turned in last night. And our local CBS outlet thought that it would be a great idea to cut into the performance of Big River to show a picture of George and Laura Bush getting off a plane in Georgia. Yes, they broke in to tell us that the President had de-planed, just as he was fucking expected to do. I have now left my first irate message on a local affiliate's answering machine. Motherfuckers. Break in with news, not fluff.

Other things from this weekend:

We put Elayna on the plane with her grandparents. She's up in Boston right now, and loving it, last we heard. House it strangely quiet, and the cats are trying, but failing, to match Elayna's noise output.

I read two books this weekend. The latest Charlaine Harris Southern Vampire novel, Dead to the World, kicks ass. The latest Tanya Huff Henry Blood novel (well, it's not really, since it doesn't have Blood in the title, and doesn't have Vicky or Mike, but it follows Tony and Henry, so it's in the same world), Smoke and Shadows, doesn't. But it does have a nice Good Omens shout-out, and it's still readable (but wait for the PB).

Before shopping yesterday, we swung by our old house to drop off the keys, and UPS had dropped off a package for me -- I won Love Actually! I have no idea who I won it from (I'm thinking ET or Extra), as I enter too many damned contests to keep track, and the return addy was a firm in NY that tends to serve as a clearing house for promotions. But hey, free DVD!

Looking at the latest Previews, two nifty things jumped out:

First, there's a Menchi plush (from Excel Saga)! My favorite anime character ever! Woohoo! :-)

Second, DC is releasing a collection of Cartoon Network episodes in a graphic novel, and they're shipping a Megas XLR DVD with it!

Comments

[bardiphouka.livejournal.com]

The Big River segment was fascinating imho. Wasn't too sure about Carol Channing doing a rap version of hello dolly..was a bit odd. The interesting thing here is that it turned out to be a broadway night. Before the Tonys one of our PBS outlets did the Lost Treasures of Broadway. And (puffing only slightly because I really had nothing to do with it) we won a Tony for best regional theatre. Huzzah. I was glad to see Henry IV win in at least one category also.

[kaine-maxwell.livejournal.com]

When's the Menchi plush coming out, same time as the box set next month? When's the Megas dvd coming?

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Fix your HTML, love. :)

[yendi]

Fixed. Thanks!

[theferrett.livejournal.com]

Either iTunes has a string of horrible thirty-second clips from Wicked, or you're just wrong, chief. I thought about buying Wicked, and none of the tracks really grabbed me, whereas Avenue Q has several of my friends singing.

I wasn't expecting it to win the Tony Awards, but it definitely deserved "Best Book." Wow, was that unexpected.

[theferrett.livejournal.com]

Sorry; best SCORE.

I hate the inability to edit these things.

[yendi]

I've listened to both extensively. Q is cute and catchy, but Wicked is beautiful.

[yendi]

And that last comment isn't to imply that Avenue Q isn't a great score. It's simply, imho, the second best this year (and leagues better than some winners in other years).

[xforge.livejournal.com]

The woman from Raisin in the Sun that just got her fourth Tony - is that some kind of record? Does that beat Hinton Battle?

The thought of Wolverine playing Peter Allen makes me want to laugh until I die.

[yendi]

Nope - http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/archive/dyk/ has info on that, but Julie Harris has five awards, and a few others have four.

[losgunna.livejournal.com]

How does the Harris compare to the others? I'm waiting for it to come out in paperback, since I'm broke, and trying to cut down on my hardcovers anway. But that's one I've been very eagerly awaiting.....

[yendi]

It's good -- adds a layer or two of the supernatural without fucking things beyond belief (a la LKH). Although the entire Bill plotline is on hold for the entire book, so if you wanted resolution there, you might as well wait. :-)

[losgunna.livejournal.com]

Eh, never liked Bill anyway. I was always rooting for Erik. :)

[yendi]

Well, this is a MAJOR Erik book.

[terracinque.livejournal.com]

Fun fact: Stephanie D'Abruzzo, who is Kate Monster in Avenue Q, is the friend of a friend. I've met her and we've exchanged email. She's all kinds of cool.

[yendi]

Cool! She seems damned talented.

Re: 2 things

[yendi]

The Menchi Plush is listed in the current previews. So figure two months before your comic store can order it.

As for the Southern Vampire series, I really enjoy them. I highly recommend them in order, as Sookie's growth as a person over them is part of what makes the series so nice.