Doctor Who, Martha, Tenth

Movie Night: Electric Dreams (1984)

This evening I showed Greg one of my favorite movies: Electric Dreams. It came out in 1984, and my brother and I watched it multiple times.

It's romantic comedy about a love triangle between a cute, nerdy architect (Lenny Von Dohlen), a cellist (Virginia Madsen), and the architect's computer. As you can imagine, the treatment of computers in the film is both dated and ridiculously far-fetched, but that just adds to its charm.

Electric Dreams also has a great soundtrack, which features Giorgio Moroder, Phil Oakey, Culture Club, Helen Terry, Jeff Lynne, and Heaven 17. Definitely check out both the soundtrack and the movie.
Doctor Who, Martha, Tenth

Brief Theater Review - [title of show]

On Saturday some friends and I went to see the Speakeasy Stage Company's production of the musical [title of show]. I'd been wanting to see it for ages, so I was really psyched.

[title of show] describes itself as, "a musical about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical [they're also joined by two actress friends]", and that's exactly what it is. In addition to being possibly the most metatextual things I've ever seen, [title of show] is also awesome and hilarious, with a great, memorable score and a funny, well-crafted book.

In the original production stars Hunter Bell, Jeff Bowen, Heidi Blickenstaff, and Susan Blackwell played themselves. Joe Lanza, Jordan Ahnquist, Amy Barker, and Val Sullivan play them in the Speakeasy production, and they were all great (and cute, in the case of Lanza and Ahnquist) in their roles. My favorite was Val Sullivan, who was especially funny as the eccentric, cynical Susan.

Who should see [title of show]? - Anyone who truly appreciates musical theater will love [title of show]. The show does contain some obscure references, but there's a helpful glossary in the back of the Speakeasy's playbill, as well as this handy guide from the New York Times. Warning: [title of show] is not for people who insist that a show must have helicopters, chandeliers, elaborate sets and costumes, or Disney characters to be worthwhile.

Is [title of show] okay for kids? - [title of show] is okay for kids over 12 if 1) They're already into non-Disney, non-Webber musical theater (see above), and 2) You're okay with them hearing jokes about masturbation as well as lots and lots of swearing.

[title of show] is playing Jan. 15 through Feb. 13, 2010 - don't miss it!
  • Current Music
    The Thompson Twins - Into the Gap
Doctor Who, Martha, Tenth

Quick Review: Demons on BBC America (no spoilers)

I watched the BBC America show Demons today and was underwhelmed, to put it politely.

It's a complete Buffy ripoff (youth learns that his destiny is to fight monsters), which isn't in of itself a bad thing. As they say, it's not the tale but the telling. The telling, however, just isn't very good in this case. Nothing sparked my interest and made want to watch more.

Philip Glenister, who was so good in the UK version of Life on Mars, is wasted here, playing the mentor character (who they had the unmitigated gall to name "Rupert") with an American accent. Why write him like that, fercryinoutloud? - I watch BBC America to avoid those harsh tones.

To give you an idea of just how uninteresting I found Demons, I didn't even care that reasonably good-looking leading man Christian Cooke spends a fair amount of time with his shirt off.