It's delightful, it's delicious, it's dlevy!
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Why is it that Netflix is working just fine on my computer and my phone but will not work on my Roku or my Blu Ray Player. Is this a Time Warner Cable conspiracy?
Sometimes you just want a stupid, fun gay movie with some nice full-frontal. Longhorns is that movie, and it’s streaming on Netflix.
Skins is one of my favorite television shows. The final episode of the first series might be the best hour of television I’ve ever watched. (staylorellis, if you’ve never watched the first series, you should. The episode in question culminates with an amazing queer temporality musical number but you need to see the entire season for it to matter.)
For those of you who’ve never seen it — and in this category I include anyone who’s only seen the American version — part of what makes the show incredible is that every two years, nearly the entire cast turned over, so the writers were free to make whatever choices best served the story without worrying about how they might affect the overall longevity of the show/cast/status quo. That led to incomparable, fearless storytelling.
When I finished watching series four, Netflix was only offering series five (but not six) for online viewing, so I decided to take a break in order to extend my time with Skins (because I know the show was not renewed beyond series six), but also because once I get started watching, I go into a frenzy and I didn’t want to finish series five and not know how long I’d have to wait to get to six.
I started watching series five today. All new cast, as far as I can tell, but every bit as good as the two that came before. I fucking love this show.
I barely ever watch TV, and yet I’m paying a ridiculous amount of money for a service that doesn’t even get me all the channels I might theoretically watch* if I had time to watch more. And the cable doesn’t extend to the tv in my bedroom where I watch most of my television (via Roku).
So I think I’m going to cancel cable and instead subscribe to Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime (total cost: $14/month compared to the $46/month I’m currently paying for cable) on top of the Netflix Instant I already get and see if that satisfies my needs.
This feels like a bigger deal than it probably is. All I need now is for Amazon Prime to create a Wii interface and I’ll be totally set.
* This post was inspired by Bunheads because apparently I don’t get ABC Family.
Cleo Laine: “Paree”
from Colette (1980 London Cast Recording), music & lyrics by John Dankworth
I snapped up this album because I thought it was the Schmidt & Jones score, but I was wrong — that starred Diana Rigg, was two years later, and was an American production. However, this other musical version of the life of Colette written for Laine by her husband. Dankworth, who died in 2010, was best known as a jazzman, and the best parts of the score reflect this. Much of the score, at least on the cast recording, has an unfortunately dated sound, but there are some lovely moments.
This song has an unfortunate verse, but stick with it — once the main section kicks in, it’s a lot of fun.
Laine’s leading man in the show was Kenneth Nelson, better known for his roles in The Fantasticks and The Boys in the Band. I coincidentally just saw Making The Boys, the documentary about The Boys in the Band. If you’re a fan of theater or interested in the history of the gay rights movement, you should definitely check it out. You can watch it streaming on Netflix.
The filmed version of the Broadway musical Memphis is now available to watch streaming via Netflix.
I know the show has its detractors, but I loved the show when I saw it on Broadway. It has an original book and score, which already puts it miles ahead of most of the “new” stuff in my book, and it tells a compelling story. While the score isn’t particularly memorable, in context it works. And the two leads, Montego Glover and Chad Kimball, are giving A+ performances. I haven’t seen the filmed version yet, but it’s going to the top of my queue.
