What a SHame
If not a surprise. There are some fantastic people in that cast, and the original material is quite powerful, from what I've heard. Too bad it all got turned into this.

Hearing those rewritten lyrics and desexed interpretations made my teeth itch.

I mean, if it's going to succeed as theatre of any quality, a well-told story is generally pretty important. Or just not, you know, blatantly insulting the audience's intelligence.

No problem. I'm a little harsher than most, though—until a couple months ago I worked as a theatre critic. And even among critics, most people enjoy the show. I just really don't. Are you going with them?

Ugh
Has anyone actually seen this show? It's absolutely terrible. It's a great Four Seasons song and nostalgia-delivery system, but a terrible play. The storytelling is basically Behind The Music For Dummies, and the whole thing is filled with this really self-serving nostalgia. I sat there watching the Chicago…

@Chartex—If all you want is to hear Four Seasons songs and remember your glory days, you'l enjoy it. By any standards of good theatre, though, it's terrible. The book makes "Behind the Music" look positively deep, the whole thing is dripping with this really irritating "oh wasn't it great to be working clas and a REAL…

Fuck, that book. So damn good. I love you, Zadie Smith.

Fergie
She was one of the non-sucky parts of Nine, but I'd put her second, behind Marion Cotillard. Because she managed to sell both the poorly rewritten "My Husband Makes Movies" and the unnecessary new "Take It All" and make them actually sound good. And seriously, were you looking at anyone else when she was on…

I kept waiting for the weirdly femme member of the band (the drummer, I think? The one with the lip ring) to come out. Did that ever happen?

Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon. Not quite a badass, but certainly a dangerous guy.

I thought the exact same thing. I hope that show does get further attention and productions, at least. Especially one in Chicago. About time.

Best kind.

Sondheim Song
I would watch this movie if it featured Phoenix belting out "I'm Still Here" from Follies by Stephen Sondheim. Singing Sondheim is so much harder core than rapping.

Well, I hope that's as credible as most of what's in the National Enquirer. It would be a shame if it were true.

Shelley Duvall
What an awesome actor. According to imdb she hasn't worked since 2002 and lives reclusively in Texas. I wish she'd make another movie—she's such a magnetic performer. Always fascinating to watch onscreen.

Sadly, it's not actually true: http://www.snopes.com/busin… But it's a fantastic story.

I actually watched "Y Tu Mama Tambien" with my parents. We heard that it had explicit sex scenes, but we figured they were explicit by American standards, and thus pretty tame. We were so wrong. Brilliant movie, wrong context.

I'm on the "I loved these books, but don't really remember them" train with everyone else here. And I think that "Dear Mr. Henshaw" was my favorite of them, though I forgot the title until just now.

Go see a play. There's lots, and much of it is pretty cheap. Especially awesome suggestion: "Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind" at the Neo-Futurarium. 30 plays in 60 minutes, changes weekly. 11:30 Friday-Saturday, 7:30 Sunday, I believe. And full of awesome. Also, only a couple blocks from the bookstor where…

I read Three Trapped Tigers. Difficult as hell to get through, and probably not worth the effort. But I felt good when I finished it.