Oh My Sweet Goodness, Supernatural Is Back!

This past Wednesday, my favorite TV show Supernatural returned for its 8th season. I don't want to spoil anything for those who have not watched, but let's just say it did not disappoint. The Winchesters are back to the grind and they're both as handsome as ever. Swoon.

Stylistically, this first episode of the season seemed a little different. Edgier, or something? Darker. There were some very funny moments (don't get me wrong), but in general it felt more somber. More dark. There's ample use of flashbacks which is very different, but works really well, I think. And the use of music was (as usual) fantastic!

I'm planning a second viewing over the long weekend, and I'm so excited for next week's episode!

P.S. A detail that I just remembered: there are lots of different locations in this episode, my favorite of which is "Kermit, Texas". I know that the use of the word "Kermit" exists outside of The Muppets, but for me it only exists in regards to The Muppets.

Ben Folds + Fraggles = Something Spectacular

This is one very happy, awesome Monday, and I have Ben Folds Five to thank for it. Not only is their new song "Do It Anyway"  (from their new album The Sound of the Life and the Mind) fantastically catchy and like a breath of fresh air, but the music video for the song features Fraggles! Yes, you read that correctly. Fraggles, as in Muppets who live underground and eat lots of radishes.

As you likely already know about me, I love the Muppets, and Fraggle Rock was one of my favorite shows growing up. Pair this love of Fraggles with a great song and a sincere yet humorous music video and you've got something that was destined to make me smile and swoon.

The video was produced by Nerdist Industries, and features actress Anna Kendrick, actor/comic Roy Corddroy, and Nerdist founder Chris Hardwick.

Happy Valentine's Day From Jack White

Yesterday was a great day because I got to hear Bret McKenzie talk about Muppets on NPR for maybe 20 minutes. And I got to hear him sing the chorus of Harry Nilsson's "Without You."

Today is a great day because Jack White's self-directed video for "Love Interruption" has been released and it's fantastic. It features Jack White, three lovely ladies, and a small dog.

One of these lovely ladies is Ruby Amanfu, who sings back-up vocals on the song. She's stunning. Absolutely gorgeous, and her voice is equally so.

The video itself is kind of soft focus-ish, but not entirely, and has moments of very bright, fuzzy light and then other moments of perfect crispness. It has a very sensual feel to it, and is in keeping with an aesthetic that Jack White seems to be building with Third Man. It's velvety and lush but also very simple and clear and to the point. And there's a lovely kind of old fashioned glamour going on that I (personally) really, really love.

As I wrote in my previous post about the song "Love interruption" Jack White's solo album Blunderbuss will be released on April 24th. He's also started announcing some tour dates, which has me totally on edge (but in a good a way). I am so excited to seem this man live and in person. Again.

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.

Jason Segel In My Neck of the Woods, Oh My!

Jason Segel was honored as this year's Hasty Pudding Theatricals' "Man of the Year" AKA he was not 3 miles from me on Friday afternoon/evening. In an effort of fandom, I actually went into Harvard Square to drop off my record player for repair, and decided to linger around for as long as I could take. Maybe I could get a glimpse and/or photo of the man himself? Rumor had it, Mr. Segel would parade through or around Harvard Square/yard at some point in the afternoon, while it was still daylight.

Two Starbucks-venti-mocha-hot-chocolates (with whipped cream) later, I had had enough. I lasted a total of 90 minutes before I caved and got in my car. I then sat there for a few minutes, going back and forth about whether or not to stay, and ultimately decided that I had to go home. Does this make me a terrible fan? Maybe I'm not a "fan" exactly, but more of an admirer??? I really do adore the guy. And I think he's crazy talented and smart, to boot. It would have been cool to see him, or maybe even get a photo or even a hug (I read that some students or something got hugs). Oh well.

Anyway, enough of that, and more about the awards ceremony. Hasty Pudding chooses both a man and woman of the year (every year), roasts said man or woman, presents them with the coveted "Pudding Pot", then treats them to a performance of their current theatrical production. Some previous "Pudding Pot" recipients: Justin Timberlake, Scarlett Johansson, Ben Stiller, Charlize Theron, and Robert Downey Jr. to name a few.

Oh, the Horror! And the Horror Again!

I had quite an eventful Sunday, though it had absolutely nothing to do with football or the New England Patriots, and had a lot to do with horror movies.

A friend and I went to not one but two horror movies yesterday. We ventured to one neck of the woods to the extravagant, overly huge cineplex to see The Woman in Black, then ventured to a whole other neck of the woods to what I refer to as a "golden age" cinema, which was a great deal smaller than the cineplex (and with about a gazillion times the charm) to see The Innkeepers.

Both movies had strengths and things that I loved. The Woman in Black was basically perfect to me except that the story, though terribly sad and creepy, never really hooked me. I had this same feeling when I read the book years ago. In fact, the one plot point that really struck me from the book was changed in the movie.

But, as I said, other than this, the movie was really great. The grey, misty, wet atmosphere of the book was brought to the screen brilliantly. There's even a scene in the bog which is pretty sticky. I loved the way in which Eel Marsh House was envisioned. Lots of dark, richly painted walls (think deep, royal purples and blues and crimson reds). Tons of candles. The cast was fantastic. And to be honest, I kind of expected to be thinking about a certain boy wizard the whole time, and only once did he enter my mind. Daniel Radcliffe is without glasses in this role, and his bright blue eyes are very hard to miss. I thought to myself "did Harry Potter, the character from the books, have blue eyes?" And that was that. No more thoughts on the subject. I would definitely recommend The Woman in Black to anyone who loves a good ghost story set in the English countryside at or around the turn of the century. The 19th century, that is.

Ti West's The Innkeepers was entirely different than what I'd expected, though I should have had some idea having seen House of the Devil, also written and directed by West. The story is pretty straight forward. Supposedly haunted inn called the Yankee Pedlar is closing for good, and the staff has been scaled down to two: Claire and Luke. I'd say the movie is far more about these two than any ghosts, and not just because one of them in is every scene. Claire is really adorable and kind of a spazz (to use my friend's very apt description). She screams a lot, but in a comedic, Muppet-ish kind of way. Luke seems bored out his gourd and kind of grumpy, but clearly crushing on Claire. I really liked these two.

As for the horror element, it's there, though subtly. I was definitely startled a few times, seriously spooked once. On the whole, I found the movie funny and relatable, and more sad and tragic than scary.

All in all, it was a pretty intense (and fun!) Sunday. Next on the movie front: Kill List.

Jack White + Colbert = A Rock Odyssey

In June of 2011, The Colbert Report aired a three part series called 2000 and 1...and 1: A Rock Odyssey (if you watch, you'll know why I wrote the title in such a long, odd, broken up way). The series follows Stephen Colbert on his quest to record a follow up to his 1980s song "Charlene (I'm Right Behind You)". He enlists the help of Jack White, and the deadpan hilarity ensues. I haven't laughed so much since the NPR Muppets interview with Jason Segel.

The best part of this series (though) is the outtake aptly titled "Catholic Throwdown". It features Jack White and Stephen Colbert trying to out-Catholic each other. It's priceless.

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!!!

Flaming Lips At The State Theater

Monday, October 24th, what a night! After work, I hopped in my car armed with two new mixes, both chock full of Flaming Lips songs.

A couple of hours later I was in Portland, Maine at the State Theater watching Wayne Coyne rolling around (on top of) the audience in his magic human hamster ball. It was so awesome!

Having read about the Lips' live shows, I knew a bit of what to expect, but it was so much more theatrical, beautiful, and colorful than I could have imagined.

The show was wicked noisy, which I loved. They sounded fantastic. "See the Leaves", "Pompeii Am Gotterdammerung", and (what I'm fairly sure was) "Is David Bowie Dying??" were my faves. "Do You Realise??" was also amazing, of course. It closed the show. Someone fainted a few rows ahead of me. Very dramatic and confusing.

There were tons of oversized balloons, confetti, oversized balloons filled with confetti, green lasers, and plenty of fog/smoke (from fog/smoke machines, of course). Wayne Coyne was wearing his usual dress pants and button down shirt, as well as a very cozy looking fur-type neck warmer/stole. He was quite a joy to watch, let me tell you. Very funny. Charming. Sweet. He has a wizard-meets-circus-ring-master kind of vibe, with a smidge of Fraggle, and/or any member of The Electric Mayhem.

I adore the Muppets, so any comparison to Fraggles or Muppets is a huge compliment! I really, really love Muppets. They're charming and adorable! I think this vibe has a lot to do with his wildly curly hair, and general playfulness and energy.

I'm still buzzing from it. Can't wait to see them next time they're in my neck of the woods!

The above photo was taken by a friend of mine who was also at the show (we went together, and danced our hearts out!) It captures the balloons, confetti, and fog/smoke very well. Beautiful, and magical. Thanks for the pic!

Thank Goodness For Sesame Street

As some of you may know, I am a huge fan of the Muppets. I loved them when I was a kid, and I love them now.

As some of you may also know, I love spoofs of vampire TV shows and/or movies, especially involving Muppets or puppets of any sort. In this case, the HBO series True Blood.

And so, when I came across this Sesame Street spoof called True Mud, I HAD to give it look. It's HILARIOUS. How could it not be!?! Check it out ♥Here♥ and enjoy!

Segel + Muppets = Something Fantastic

On Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel recently, Fussy Gussy favorite Jason Segel talked about how he is writing the new Muppet movie, and in turn, "trying to bring back the Muppets". Please do!!! And which Muppet movie did he reference, you might ask? Only one my favorite movies, The Muppets Take Manhattan. This has made my day.

Mr. Segel himself

♥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...)