Well, dear readers, our very first Unseemly Question and Answer Live Chat with the delightful and lovely Melissa Errico was a lively and sparkling affair. We had a roomful of people, it went very smoothly indeed (especially for our first time doing it, and especially because just as we were getting started AOL did one of its usual freezes – but we’d planned for that and dear reader Craig took right over until I got back). The questions were interesting and varied and Melissa’s answers were refreshingly forthright and fun. We shall be doing more of these in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.
I must keep these here notes short because I must run off to a morning meeting and then a lunch. But, tomorrow’s notes will be long because today is Ask BK Day.
Last night I watched Chicago, the movie, again, and I felt exactly the same as I did when I watched it the first time. It is very enjoyable, but relentless, and I wished it would have stopped to breathe every now and then. Funnily, the one number that drove me crazy was Nowadays, which is not cut frenetically like the rest of the film. It starts out with a beautiful circling dolly shot with no cuts. Then, thinking that the audience would tire of such a shot (they wouldn’t – see Crazy World in the film of Victor/Victoria, a very similar shot), the editor begins cutting for no reason to a variety of similar but different shots and angles. The cuts are meaningless within the number, they do nothing but call attention to themselves. Edits should be invisible or there should be a point to them (whether one likes the fast cutting in the numbers or not, there is a style and point to them – in this number there isn’t). I still liked Renee Zellwegger very much, liked Catherine Zeta-Jones, liked Richard Gere a bit less (he has never been one of my faves) but liked John C. Reilly a bit more the second time around – oh, a Cahn and Van Heusen reference. As to Queen Latifah, I guess I just don’t “get” her, because I didn’t find her performance interesting at all (although she does sing her song well). And I do hope the DVD has one angle versions of the numbers as a special feature because it would be nice to see the dances in full – I’ve always been a big fan of Rob as a choreographer (especially Kiss of the Spider Woman).
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I mustn’t be late to my morning meeting or people will look at me askance and we can’t have that now, can we?
Here is another of my Gym musicals from my old column. I call this one Into the Gym. And it goes something like this (to the tune of Into the Woods):
Into the gym
To exercise
To firm the butt
And tone the thighs
Take my advice
Lay off the pies
They have too many fat grams.
Into the gym
To sweat and strain
Remember this:
No pain, no gain
When in the gym
You must remain
To do the total workout.
Your muscles ache
Your body’s sore
But you must make
Yourself do more
You lift a big weight
You get a big lift
And afterwards you wanna
Go sit inside the sauna
Into the gym
Today’s the day
At your age
It’s the only way
Into the gym
Without delay
To work the abs
To use the treadmill
To pump
To press
To push
To pull
To puff
To pant
While using the Stairmaster
Into the gym,
Into the gym,
Into the gym,
Then out of the gym
And home to collapse.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must go to my morning meeting and then my noon lunch, I must write, I must make various and sundried phone calls and whatnot. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask your excellent questions. So, ask away and discuss anything else you like, and I’ll be back later to check in on the goings on.