Weekly Song List: Friday, October 19th

In light of my seeing Beach House live in concert earlier this week, I knew that I simply had to begin this week's song list with a Beach House song.

And this led to some interesting things. I started adding different songs, all of which were by ladies. 3 songs in I decided to run with it. And so I give you this week's song list. Lady love.

1. 10 Mile Stereo. Beach House: By now you likely know that I saw these two live in concert earlier this week. Amazing show! Oh my sweet goodness. It was stunning. Energetic. This song has sort of been my "life line" to my memory of the show. For whatever reason, I can picture the stage in my mind when I hear this song. Love it. Love the drum machine. Love Victoria Legrand's voice.

2. Margaret vs. Pauline. Neko Case: I have so much love for this song and for the lady herself. So, so much love. The story of the song is so uniquely sad. "Two girls ride the blue line, two girls walk down the same street. One left a sweater sittin' on the train and the other lost three fingers at the cannery." Brilliant.

3. Skylark. K.d. Lang: I've been lucky enough to see K.d. Lang in concert not once but twice. I feel like she has one of those voices that could melt anything. It's so warm and rich and beautiful. This song is from the Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil soundtrack featuring the songs of Johnny Mercer. "Skylark" opens and closes the flim, if I remember correctly. Gorgeousness. Pure gorgeousness.

4. Melody. Blonde Redhead: This song is my American Horror Story consumed mind entering the mix. I don't know why exactly, but this song reminds me so much of AHS. The atmosphere. The drums. The story to some extent. At any rate, it's a great song.

5. Shotgun Down the Avalanche. Shawn Colvin: Gorgeous acoustic version of this song. Recorded as part of the Columbia Records Radio Hour. I heard it for the first time on my local folk radio station, and have listened to it a zillion times since. I love to sing along with this one.

6. Baker Baker. Tori Amos: This song breaks my heart every time I hear it. Between the lyrics   about hearts made of icing and Tori's voice, what other option is there but heartbreak?

7. The Hill. Marketa Irglova: From the movie Once. Simple. Beautiful. Again, with the heartbreak. Marketa's voice is so tender and seemingly on the verge of breaking but also so strong and full. If you haven't seen this movie, see it. Immediately.

Photo: Beach House

Until Next Week...

Fussy Gussy will be on a brief hiatus this week (and weekend, due to an unforeseen under-the-weather-ness), but I'll be back next week with a truly unforgettable Weekly Song List and lots of movie/book/TV show reviews.

And so, I leave you with this beautiful movie posted for the Judy Garland technicolor classic Meet Me In St. Louis. Great movie. Great songs. And Judy Garland is priceless.

Until Monday. Hope you have a lovely weekend!

And So It Came From 1989

"What in the world can make a brown-eyed girl turn blue?" This is the question posed by Swedish pop duo Roxette in the chorus of their 1989 hit "The Look".

I heard "The Look" today on my way home from the movies and it sounded kind of amazing?

I don't remember being that aware of the song when it came out. In 1989, I was an eleven year old obsessed with musical theater and old standards, which is why my reaction today was so surprising. It's not like I was reliving some feeling or moment from my pre-teens. The song just sounded really good to me.

It's a great sing-along-song too! I love it when this sort of thing happens.

Bret McKenzie + More Muppet Talk On NPR

I listened to yet another Muppet themed Fresh Air interview this afternoon, this time with Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords, who also wrote most of the music for the movie The Muppets.

I adore Flight of Conchords, and as you likely already know from my previous posts on the topic I'm a huge fan of the Muppets. I've loved them since I was a kid and I thought the new movie was just perfect.
McKenzie's song "Man or Muppet" (from the movie The Muppets) has been nominated for "Best Original Song" at the Academy Awards this year. The song is a duet between Jason Segel's character Gary and his Muppet brother, Walter. Both characters are trying to work out who they really are. "I reflect on my reflection and I ask myself the question, what's the right direction to go, I don't know. Am I a man, or am I Muppet?"

Unfortunately for all of us, the nominated songs will not be performed at the Academy Awards this year.

When asked about this during the interview, McKenzie said he didn't know why, but went on to describe what he might have done had he been asked to perform on stage at the Kodak Theater. His description surpassed my every imagining, bringing not only Jason Segel and Jason Segel's Muppet-self on stage, but also a background chorus of all of the Muppets. How awesome would that have been!?!

As for the song "Man or Muppet", Terry Gross (the host) very aptly (and with a surprising amount of seriousness) described the song as a "Muppet power ballad". Well, she asked McKenzie if he saw the song as a "Muppet power ballad", to which he answered in the affirmative. He said he listened to songs like "Without You" and "All By Myself" for inspiration. He even sang bits of them.

He then said something that had me practically choking on my breakfast tea, I was laughing so much. "I think that everyone's had this crisis at some point, trying to figure out whether their a man or a Muppet." I love this stuff!

Thank goodness I decided to listen to NPR this afternoon. It made my day. Or better yet, my week!

P.S. Check out this duet version of "Life's a Happy Song" by Kermit the Frog and Bret McKenzie. It's so adorable.

Nativity! Is My New Favorite Christmas Movie

I've finally seen Nativity! I've had this movie on my "must see" list forever and a day, but it hasn't been available in the US...until now.

The movie was written and directed by my new hero Debbie Isitt, who also wrote and directed the hilarious (and apparently entirely improvised) wedding-competition movie Confetti (also a must see).

I think this lady is a comic/musical genius. She incorporates musical elements into both movies and a theatricality that is both charming and refreshing.

Nativity! tells the story of Paul Maddens, a primary school teacher who once had a love for acting, but lost this love when he lost his actor girlfriend (played by Ashley Jensen of Extras) to Hollywood. Word has it that she has become a famous Hollywood producer, and Paul feels sort of bitter and sad about this. We've also got Gordon Shakespeare (what a name!), a rival (private) school teacher and fellow actor. And lastly there's Mr. Poppy, Paul's child-like, enthusiastic new assistant teacher.

Both Gordon and Paul (much to his chagrin) are set up to put on a school production of the nativity story, and the hilarity ensues.

I don't want to give away too much of the plot here, but I do want to say that the kids in this movie are amazing. So cute. So funny. And talented, to boot! If you enjoy British comedies with dry humor, musicals in any capacity, and/or Christmas movies (or movies in general) that star Martin Freeman, you'll love Nativity!

Jason Segel On NPR + the Muppets

On opening day of the new Muppet movie called The Muppets, I was lucky enough to catch Jason Segel and Nick Stoller on NPR's Fresh Air talking about the movie, and let me tell you...I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. This interview was absolutely priceless.

Muppets feature pretty heavily in my life. I refer to people as Muppety all the time (I've done so on this blog!) The Muppets Take Manhattan is one of my favorite movies. I have an "I Heart Kermit" lunchbox. The Muppets version of "The 12 Days of Christmas" is on my Christmas playlist. All of my siblings (I'm the youngest of 7) say "the Muppets always remind me of you" aka, me!

And so, listening to like minded Muppet fans on Fresh Air was a real treat for me. Jason Segel and Nick Stoller (of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, another one of my favorite movies) wrote and produced the movie. James Bobin (who has directed episodes of Flight of the Conchords) directed the movie. And Bret Mackenzie (one of the stars of Flight of the Conchords) wrote many of the songs featured in the movie. When talking about Bret Mackenzie and his song writing style, Jason Segel said "He's by nature very Muppety". I have to whole-heartedly agree.

The general vibe of the interview was light-hearted, humorous, and (like the movie itself) smart and very sweet. On how they went about writing the movie, they said: "we wanted to be Muppet purests". I adore the idea of Muppet purests. I really, really like/admire Jason Segel. His musical sensibilities, his sense of humor, his love of Muppets. On the character of Walter, the wide-eyed, innocent Muppet-mega fan, and star of the movie, Segel said: "he reminds me of what Kermit was, maybe, before he became famous, you know when Kermit was still living in the swamp." This cracks me up! My favorite song from the movie is called "Man or Muppet" and features Segel as Gary, a Muppet version of Gary (which apparently the studios allowed him to keep and now lives at home with Segel and his other puppets), Walter (Gary's Muppet brother), and Jim Parsons as a perfect and very funny human version of Walter. They played the song during the interview. It's awesome.

If I don't stop myself now, I'm just going to ramble on about how much I love these guys and the Muppets, and the songs from the movie, and so on and so forth. And so, I'll end by saying this: I'm so, so happy that the Muppets are back, and thank you Jason Segel and Nick Stoller for writing such a touching, funny, and perfectly wonderful movie, just in time for the holidays.

I Finally Saw the New Muppet Movie!

I saw the new Muppet movie yesterday (simply named The Muppets) and it was everything I could have hoped for, and more! It was hilarious (that kind of goes without saying!), sweet, smart, thoughtful, and clearly made with lots of love for the Muppets. I'm definitely going to see it again at least one more time while it's in theaters.

The story is fairly straight forward. The world's biggest Muppets fan and his brother (and brother's girlfriend) have to reunite the Muppets and raise $10 million or the Muppet Theater in LA is going to be torn down so that the evil Tex Richman can drill for oil.

There are some amazing musical numbers, like the movies' show stopping opener "Life's a Happy Song" and "Man or Muppet" (my personal favorite!) Most of the original music is written by Flight of the Conchords' Bret McKenzie, so the songs are pretty hilarious and cleverly dramatic.

The movie is also chock full of celebrity cameos. Neil Patrick Harris, Feist, Zach Galifianakis, and Sarah Silverman, to name a few. Jack Black is also in the movie, but he plays more of a prominent role, as himself. It's a lot of fun!

Stay tuned for more about the Muppets! I listened to an amazing NPR interview with the movie's writers (Jason Segel and Nick Stoller), and I have some priceless tidbits to share.

The Muppets Are Back!!!

The Muppets opened today in theaters, and Jason Segel and Nick Stoller were on NPR's Fresh Air to talk about the movie and their love of Muppets. It's been a very good day!

I'll write more about the Fresh Air interview this week (there are so many little tidbits that I have to share!), but I'd like to say for the record that I have not laughed so hard and so consistently over a half-an-hour period in a very long time. Hearing these guys talk about the Muppets was sooooo hilarious. Hearing them talk about the Moopets was equally hilarious.

As you may well know, I love Muppets and have been waiting for this movie for a long time now. One of my very first posts on this blog was about a favorite movie of mine Forgetting Sarah Marshall and about how Jason Segel may or may not be bringing back the Muppets. Well, it's happened. And I am one very happy girl. Can't wait to see it!!!

Camelot

Richard Harris and Vanessa Regrave, as seen in the movie-musical Camelot. I can definitely see the resemblance between Richard and his son (see my post below about the lovely Jared Harris), especially in the chin and jaw line.

Speaking Of Jared Harris

As a result of my feverish Mad Men-athon this past week, I did a little research on Jared Harris, the lovely British actor who portrays my favorite Mad Men character, Lane Pryce. As it turns out, he's Richard Harris' son! This is totally blowing my mind, while simultaneously making me very, very happy.

I've always really liked Jared Harris, though I've never had a specific reason why. I just enjoy watching him in movies and TV shows, I suppose. He's a great actor, he's got that perfect strawberry-reddish hair, and he looks fantastic with a beard.

And so, when I read that he's Richard Harris' son, it somehow all made more sense, or came together in some odd way. I adore Richard Harris, and he made quite an impact on my childhood. Camelot was a staple in my house, and A Tramp Shining was my father's favorite album.

As an adult, I also quite enjoy Harris in Orca, The Killer Whale. And A Tramp Shining is now one of my favorite albums. I especially love the songs "Paper Chase" and "Dancing Girl"...and "MacArthur Park", of course.

The other interesting tidbit is about Jared Harris' mother, Elizabeth Rees-Williams. She was married to Harris through the late 60s, and then married Rex Harrison. He's another one of my childhood favorites. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir is one of my all time faves, and who can forget My Fair Lady.

It's interesting, I think. And to get back to subject at hand, Jared Harris will be killing it (in a good way!) in the role of Professor Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, to be released in Decemeber of this year for the holiday season.

Sue Sylvester + SPLITS! Magazine

Just watched last week's episode of Glee, which opens with Jane Lynch's character (the highly competitive-cheerleading-coach-antagonist of the show) approaching Mr. Schuester in the teacher's lounge holding a copy of SPLITS! Magazine. SPLITS! Yes, a cheerleading magazine. I am still giggling about this an hour later.

♥Glee♥

I'm sick and it's totally getting me down. I LOVE to watch movies and TV, but just lying there on the couch all day can be a bit much. Luckily though, Glee was on last night!!! I just love this show. It totally cheered me up last night and as usual, made me laugh. Especially Sue Sylvester and the always adorable Kurt. Seeing him sing "Defying Gravity" was a real treat. What a gem!?! And Sue without fail always makes me belly laugh. She's completely outrageous! Thank goodness for Jane Lynch and her dead serious delivery.

Honestly though, I'm fond of everyone on the show. Quinn might be the only exception, though I feel for her, I don't appreciate her lying and dragging Finn down with her. I just hope she comes to her senses and tells the truth. But, I digress.

The seemingly impossible romance between Shue and Emma breaks my heart. In fact, until last night I thought that 80% of why I liked the show so much was because of this romance. BUT, last night's episode did not even feature Emma and I still really enjoyed it. So, I must love the show for the amazing musical numbers, great sense of humor, and clever take on the high school experience.

I ♥ LOVE Cupcakes + Cakes

Isn't this shop window the greatest!?! While exploring the London neighborhood of Chelsea, I found this shop aptly called LOVE, and fell in LOVE with their extravagant cakes and cupcakes. Oh the magic that a select few can do with cake and frosting! I especially like the High School Musical cake. Very cute. Their cakes are tasty too! I left the shop with four of their mini cupcakes in tow. Yummy!!!

If you find yourself in London, and walking the King's Road in Chelsea, definitely pop into this kitschy gem of a cake shop.

♥Only Love Can Break Your Heart♥

L.O.V.E. this movie!!! Especially the Dracula/muppet/puppet plot points. Muppets (and puppets) and Dracula all hold very special places in my heart. Check out this scene, in which Jason Segel performs a song from the rock opera A Taste For Love. The song is titled "Dracula's Lament" and it's both charming and bittersweet (and very, very funny...)