grab bag of awesome

LINKS AND THINGS!

in no particular order:

ONE. Eric, The Foreign Exchange Student by Shaun Tan. This story is so flipping cute yet weird and I love it. Watch the slide show at the link above, but remember it's also viewable on paper pages in his book Tales from Outer Suburbia, which would probably make a lovely gift for someone you know. (via Neil Gaiman)

TWO. Catherine and Heathcliff audition for Twilight

THREE. Jenny Crusie's RomCom Rant: it's provocative and awesome in its scorched earth honesty. It's her opinion and I don't agree 100%, but I love that she calls it like she sees it. I've only seen the first movie in question (The Proposal) - the second (The Ugly Truth) looked so toxic from the ads I've no desire to ever see it. The comment thread is great too, although I don't know why Love, Actually is on so many people's favorite movie list. I hated that movie and left the theater wishing it ended with instantaneous death by lightning to all. Maybe I should watch it again. I'm very fond of Four Weddings and a Funeral and large parts of Notting Hill, so it's not like the mere thought of Richard Curtis makes me want to stab pens in my eyes or throw ensemble casts into volcanos. (unlike, say, You've Got Mail. Relatedly, I rewatched Sleepless in Seattle recently and realized that Nora E. is 2/3 of her way to a stalker romance trilogy!)

FOUR. I cannot stop listening to: BiRd-BrAiNs by tUnE-yArDs. I've been reading about it here and there (okay, Fluxblog and various links from Fluxtumblr), liked what I heard and bought the whole thing. IT IS AWESOME! This record makes me feel good from the inside out - it contains such creative spark that just listening to it lights fires elsewhere. It's got a wild private swagger - not that she isn't in control, but that she didn't worry about what anyone else might want and made it exactly her way, which as it turns out is just what I wanted to hear.

FIVE. Parks and Rec: I'm usually watching Fringe when this is on so I've missed it till now. (Yes, I started watching because Meg Cabot mentioned that there was a library feud episode and the library dept. was called a bunch of "punk-ass book jockeys." Ha! I've since watched all the other episodes that were available on demand.) POEHLER! I've missed you! "in case something bad goes down, I wore my sharpest rings. This one will tear you up." hee hee.

SIX. Double Feature: First Daughter (2004, starring Katie Holmes and Marc Blucas)/ THE APPLE (1980, starring a bunch of people in itchy looking gold lame with hologram stickers on their foreheads) - First Daughter started promisingly enough, but it tanked after First Daughter did her drunken bewigged cowboy hoochie dance. I was kind of hoping for a good old fashioned Teen Movie (which would have only gotten better after a drunken bewigged cowboy hoochie dance), but this was not that. (Do great teen movies really only come around every 10 years? Am I missing some recent great teen movies? All I can think of is the High School Musical franchise and the Saw movies, neither of which scratch my Teen Movie itch.) (not that I've watched Saw because I would have nightmares for 100 years.) Is it Harry Potter and Twilight? No prom scene unless it's for Vampire Prom or Wizard Prom?

The Apple was insane. I'd heard of it, but never seen it... UNTIL NOW. It's like the singing, dancing, running, nonsensical, evil-goatee, budget-glam love child of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Logan's Run. Everyone (except the cave hippies) wears stickers on their forehead. There's singing, there's dancing, there are hallucinations (OR ARE THERE?)! I kept saying "they should sing this one on Glee" or "They should do this for a group dance number on So You Think You Can Dance." I was surprisingly vindicated when the credits rolled (after... well, you really have to see it to believe it) and saw that Nigel Lythgoe (aka: Mr. SYTYCD) was the choreographer! ha ha ha! I'm sure that there are clips on youtube, but I recommend just watching it without further warning if it sounds like your cup of crazy, possibly drugged tea. If you need a little more information, I think the trailer tells you everything you need to know to help you come to a reasoned decision.