Kit Kat Bits

I've been going to see the Dumpsta Players for most of the fifteen years they've been around. I just have to say that last night's performance of the Kit Kat Bric-A-Brac Broadway Revue was the best ever. And I've seen tons of Dumpsta shows. This was the best and my favorite.

DJ K-Tell and the gang kept it simple - candy bars singing Broadway tunes, and the bizarre juxtaposition worked so well. Elaborate costumes, all homemade, found or thrift bought (thus the Dumpsta name) highlighted the show which featured Broadway both old and new including songs from Oklahoma, Spring Awakening, West Side Story, Cabaret and even Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Coolness.





The Dumpsta Players return to Bob and Barbara's in April for the much anticipated 14th annual Promtrash!

Dollhouse - Epitaph One

Here's a sneak peek at the unaired episode "Epitaph One" guest-starring Felicia Day from Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse." It will be available on the Season One DVD that drops on July 28th.


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2009 Tony Awards

CBS aired the 2009 Tony Awards live tonight. Neil Patrick Harris, Dr. Horrible himself, hosted (my main reason for tuning in), and he did not disappoint.

The opening number was spectacular. "Billy Elliot" took home fifteen Tonys, including best musical and three best actor for the three leads in the title role. "God of Carnage" got best play. Frank Langella and Geoffrey Rush both tried to be funny but failed. Bret Michaels and Poison performed, as did Sir Elton John, but only Bret got hurt. James Gandolfini was unamused. Anne Hathaway had a ball. Angela Lansbury looked good and won her fifth Tony. Liza Minnelli won one too but looked pretty scary. A mispronounciation in-joke proliferated. Lots of fun all around.

And of course, the highlight of the evening was that NPH sang to close out the show. Witness the brilliance:




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Dollhouse Saved

After a couple tense weeks, the news is out that Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" has been renewed for a second season on Fox.

Now there are folks who live and die by the word of Whedon, while a fan, I'm not one of them. I will be the first to say that "Dollhouse" is not one of his best productions. It's no "Firefly," (another Fox show by Whedon that was killed by the Friday night scifi death slot) and it certainly isn't "Buffy," but it did have its moments. Unfortunately those moments were few and far between. And I'm not just talking about Eliza Dushku.

We've seen twelve episodes so far, excluding the unaired pilot and the episode featuring Dr. Horrible star Felicia Day, and not many of them could keep my attention. I liked the one that riffed on "The Most Dangerous Game" and the ones that concerned Alpha, but that's about it.

And I think the problem is that all the episodes should have been about Alpha and the workings of the Dollhouse specifically. I found the episodes about the actives' missions to be boring standard TV fare but I was spellbound by the Alpha subplot, and the episodes that focused on that. Give us the good stuff, Joss, not the fluff we can get anywhere. Congrats and here's to better second season.


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Best of 2008: Everything Else

In my opinion, the best movies of 2008:

High School Musical 3, Mamma Mia!, Iron Man, Wall-E, Speed Racer, 21, Hancock, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Premonition and Justice League: The New Frontier.

Movies not from 2008, but I saw for the first time this year and loved: Déjà Vu, Last Holiday, Man of the Century, Girl 27, Crash (2004), Shoot ‘Em Up, and the absolutely brilliant The Man from Earth.

The best things from the internet in 2008:

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Stephen King’s "N," Watchmen Motion Comics, BloodRayne A Fan Film, Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips podcast, Derrick Ferguson and Thomas Deja's Better in the Dark podcast and The Writing Show podcast.

The best comic books of 2008:

Jonah Hex, Trinity by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley, Geoff Johns' Action Comics, Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's Fantastic Four, Gail Simone's Wonder Woman, Lone Ranger, Countdown to Mystery, Brave and the Bold, Joe Casey's Godland, and Garth Ennis' brilliant revival of British space hero Dan Dare.

The best music videos of 2008 in my opinion:

"4 Minutes" by Madonna and Justin Timbalake w/Timbaland, "Rockstar" by Nickleback, "Dream On" and "Konichiwa Bitches" by Robyn and Pink's "So What."



Folks and things I’ve discovered in 2008 that probably didn’t actually happen in 2008:

Robin Renee, Os Seminovos, the “Coverage” album by Mandy Moore, Lacuna Coil, Hollywood Undead, Vitamin String Quartet and just how really good Suzi Quatro was and is.

Best of 2008: Music

Here are my top twenty-five songs of 2008:

“4 Minutes” by Madonna and Justin Timberlake w/Timbaland
“Sandcastle Disco” by Solange
“American Boy” by Estelle w/Kanye West
“Handlebars” by Flobots
“Handle Me” by Robyn

“Pocketful of Sunshine” by Natasha Bedingfield
“More Than Enough” by Bryan Hawn
“Should’ve Said No” by Taylor Swift
“Crushcrushcrush” by Paramore
“Chinese Democracy” by Guns N’ Roses

“Bleed It Out” by Linkin Park
“I’m Good, I’m Gone” by Lykke Li
“In Which Moaning Myrtle Moans” by the Moaning Myrtles
“Astropop” by LOURDS
“Future Ex-Boyfriend” by Rocket

“Solo Impala” by The Fashion
“Love Me Dead” by Ludo
“Five Days” by Jana Losey
“Brand New Day” by Neil Patrick Harris
“Dashboard” by Modest Mouse

“Stop” by Against Me!
“Mercy” by Duffy
“Holler Back” by The Lost Trailers
“Re-Education (Through Labor)” by Rise Against
“Bad Girlfriend” by Theory of a Deadman


And my top ten albums of 2008:

“Robyn” by Robyn
“The Rokomonie” by Robyn
“Speed Racer” by Michael Giacchino
“Funhouse” by Pink
“Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” by Various

“Spring Awakening” by Duncan Sheik and Various
“Mamma Mia!” by Various
“19” by Adele
“Raising Sand” by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
“Riot!” by Paramore

Dr. Horrible on DVD

Now finally on DVD, you can watch Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog anytime on your TV. For those of you living under a rock for the last year or so, Dr. Horrible is quite possibly the best entertainment to come out in and around 2008. While not exactly a movie or a TV show, it’s a new form of entertainment that is - up until the DVD release – was dependent on the internet.

Available in iTunes, this metahuman drama/musical/online vlog tells the tale of Billy aka Dr. Horrible, a wannabe mad scientist/super-villain out to join the Evil League of Evil, and get the attention of Penny, a girl at the Laundromat he crushing badly on.

Former Dougie Howser and current star of "How I Met Your Mother," Neil Patrick Harris brilliantly fills the title role, with Felicia Day as Penny, and Nathan Fillion of "Firefly" as Horrible’s arch-nemesis superhero Captain Hammer. Speaking of "Firefly," the whole shebang is the brainchild of Joss Whedon. If you liked his work with that short-lived series or his "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," you’ll love this. I think this is the best thing Whedon has ever done, and that’s saying a lot.

See it here, with, as they say, ‘limited commercial interruption.’ See it, buy the DVD, live the blog – you’ll love it.