Monthly Archives: October 2013

Quote of the Day

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“Oh I would never dream of assuming I knew all of Hogwarts’ secrets, Igor,” said Dumbledore amicably.  “Only this morning, for instance, I took a wrong turning on the way to the bathroom and found myself in a beautifully proportioned room I have never seen before, containing a really rather magnificent collection of chamber pots.  When I went back to investigate more closely, I discovered that the room had vanished.  But I must keep an eye out for it.  Possibly it is only accessible at five-thirty in the morning.  Or it may only appear at the quarter moon — or when the seeker has an exceptionally full bladder.”

Harry snorted into his plate of goulash.  Percy frowned, but Harry could have sworn Dumbledore had given him a very small wink.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling

Friday Favorites: Favorite Songwriting – Beauty and the Beast

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Welcome to “Friday Favorites” which highlight some of my favorite movie-related things.

I’ve seen Beauty and the Beast more times than I could possibly remember, and have listened to the soundtrack even more frequently.  It’s one of my favorite song scores for film, particularly as its structure and styling is very reminiscent of traditional Broadway musicals, filled with reprises and cast cues that feel very familiar to those on the stage.  (It also helps that the songs for the film were largely recorded live with the orchestra, helping it to feel more like a Broadway cast album rather than a studio recording.)  Perhaps that’s one of the reasons its stage version was so successful.  However, until just this week I had never picked up on one of the most clever aspects of the song score.

During the opening number, “Belle”, we’re introduced to the film’s protagonist, who is viewed by the villagers as too dreamy and bookish for their tastes despite her beauty.  Continue reading →

Quote of the Day

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Jadzia Dax: None of Dax’s hosts, even Jadzia, had any musical ability.

Julian Bashir: Nobody said life was fair.

Jadzia Dax: Yeah, even if you had seven of ’em.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 3: Episode 4 – “Equilibrium”

Quote of the Day

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Sheldon: Oh, look! Saturn 3 is on.

Raj: I don’t want to watch Saturn 3. Deep Space 9 is better.

Sheldon: How is Deep Space 9 better than Saturn 3?

Raj: Simple subtraction will tell you it’s six better.

Leonard: Compromise. Watch Babylon 5.

Sheldon: In what sense is that a compromise?

Leonard: Well, 5 is partway between 3 and…never mind.

The Big Bang Theory, Season 2: Episode 8 – “The Lizard-Spock Expansion”

Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Eye-Spy”

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Last week’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. gave us our first peek into the deeper universe of the Marvel comics, by serving as an origin story for villain Graviton.  This week, we were introduced to a new character with ties to Coulson’s past, while the team continues to grow and evolve as they begin to find their roles.  This week’s episode, the punny-titled “Eye-Spy”, was written by Jeffrey Bell (one of the series’s showrunners and writer of my favorite episode of Angel, “The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco”) and directed by TV veteran Roxann Dawson (also known as B’Elanna Torres from Star Trek: Voyager).  Let’s jump right in! Continue reading →

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Quote of the Day

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Benedick: Your wit is as quick as the greyhound’s mouth; it catches.

Margaret: And yours as blunt as the fencer’s foils, which hit, but not hurt.

Benedick: A most manly wit, Margaret; it will not hurt a woman: and so, I pray thee, call Beatrice: I give thee the bucklers.

Margaret: Give us the swords; we have bucklers of our own.

Much Ado About Nothing – William Shakespeare

Trailer Tuesday: Grudge Match

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Welcome to “Trailer Tuesday” where I talk about trailers for upcoming movies, since I’ve always found them to be endlessly fascinating.

I’m a big fan of the Rocky film series.  The first one is nearly perfect, the next three are all good fun (the less said about the 5th one, the better) and I absolutely love Rocky Balboa, the 6th film in the series which was released in 2006 and featured an aged Rocky returning to the ring to face a young champion based on an ESPN computer simulation.  I also happen to like Raging Bull, the Jake LaMotta biopic by Scorsese which featured a tour de force performance by Robert De Niro.  However, I had no desire to see the two films combine into the travesty of a trailer that I was presented with at the theater this weekend.  Take a look and read on for my comments:

Continue reading →

Review: Machete Kills

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Machete Kills is in many ways inferior to its 2010 predecessor, Machete, which was itself based on a fake trailer from the Rodriguez/Tarantino double feature Grindhouse.  It lacks that film’s madcap energy, its strong ties into Mexican culture, and its emphatic political message.  The sequel heads things much more in the direction of a James Bond parody, which robs it of some of the unique spirit that made the first film feel so fresh.  It even tones back the gore, if you care about such things, though that was never what brought my interest to the series.  But despite all that, Machete Kills does some very creative and interesting things that allow it to stand out in an era of bland action movies full of computer generated destruction. Continue reading →

Quote of the Day

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Jenny Mills: If you don’t fight for the things you stand for, you don’t really stand for them.

Sleepy Hollow, Season 1: Episode 4 – “The Lesser Key of Solomon”

What if there was a Best Voice Performance Oscar? – 1993

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(Note: This is a fictional creative writing exercise, inspired by hours of contemplation of which animated performances have been most worthy of attention over the years.  This feature imagines that a Best Voice Performance category was added to the Oscars following Beauty and the Beast’s nomination for Best Picture at the 64th Academy Awards.  Each week I’ll cover the hypothetical nominees and winner from one year of animated performances.)

Following Robin Williams’ win of the first ever Best Voice Performance Oscar for his role as The Genie inAladdin, industry experts began looking ahead at 1993’s slate of animated films, trying to anticipate who the next winner might be.  Both the experts and the Academy were more than a little dismayed to find that not only was Disney not releasing a classically styled animated films along the lines of Beauty and the Beastand Aladdin, but that there were very few animated films lined up for the year at all.  There were calls from opponents to drop the category entirely, while even some supporters of the award thought it might be best to hold the award back and only bring it out on years with better prospects.  Nevertheless, the Academy decided to press on with the award as an accepted part of the ceremony, not knowing exactly what the nominations would bring. Continue reading →