In which I am a teensy bit manic

[cleolinda]

A sleepy day. Gave the dogs haircuts, because they had lost their faces. Struggling through some of the later Sherlock Holmes stories, because, while I love them, "The Adventure of the Three Gables" is just bad. Next up is "The Sussex Vampire," though, and I'm really excited because I've actually never read the last collection of Holmes stories, so they're all new to me.

Hey, linkspam is pretty easy when you keep it daily and manageable. Huh.

Film director Jules Dassin dies at 96.

Jazz singer Nancy Wilson hospitalized. Not Nancy Wilson of Heart, to be clear.

(Speaking of Heart, since we're here anyway, I have to say, I am all about Carly Smithson's American Idol cover of "Crazy on You" at the moment. She seems to be suffering from some confidence problems here mid-season, but earlier this year she tore the walls down on "Crazy on You." And I can't help but root for her because she consistently picks songs I love, although I wish I had a studio recording of "I Drove All Night," because she's a little shaky in the live version. Be confident, Atreyu Carly!)

(And since I haven't mentioned it before--if you follow American Idol, you may have heard of the Great Billie Jean Brouhaha. For the record, Ryan Seacrest did say "And now, here's David Cook with the mumbly-mumble version of 'Billie Jean'!" I turned to my mother (shut up, we watch Idol together) and cried out, "Did he say Chris Cornell?!" Because there is only one distinct cover arrangement of "Billie Jean" that I know of, particularly one that Cook would want to get his Creed on with, and that's the one. So it was acknowledged at the beginning of the performance that it was someone else's arrangement. It just wasn't acknowledged as audibly as it should have been, and--more to the point--the judges either didn't hear Seacrest or they're idiots, because they proceeded to rave over David Cook's "originality." I actually really liked the performance--it's a bit smoother than Cornell's, or at least the live Cornell version that I heard--but it got my back up a bit when Simon said it was "the most original performance ever" on the show, because that title will pretty much always belong to Blake Lewis's beatbox arrangement of "You Give Love a Bad Name." Which was his own, and completely unique--although yes, I totally admit that it wasn't the first time he'd done it, and he wore the beatbox thing into the ground by the end of the season, but for that moment in time, it was mind-blowing. ANYWAY. I do think the David Cook "Billie Jean" was great [the live performance is actually better than the studio cut], and actually pretty brave for a show like Idol--most of the controversy could have been avoided if the judges hadn't had their heads up their collective ass regarding who to credit. Which I think was Chris Cornell's own problem with the situation, not the cover itself. Anyway: now you know.)

Fire damages author Clancy's home.

KYLIE HAS A NEW ALBUM OUT? omg I am so excited.

The new Sweet Valley High books are already leaving a sour taste.

What Copyright Ruling Really Means For Superman.

Newsweek: Patrick Stewart loves his Trekkies.

McShane Joins NBC's 'Kings' Cast.

The '80s Stay Alive for BBC Time Travel Drama "Ashes to Ashes."

Daniel Craig Is GQ's Best Dressed Man... Again.

Howard Shore scoring 'The Hobbit'?

Disney Preparing to Dump Chronicles of Narnia After the Trilogy? UPDATED! Short answer: Despite rumors to the contrary, no.

Latest on The Dark Knight Viral - Clown Travel Agency and April 1st News!

Overwrought Monster Opera coming soon! YAY! Of course, if they don't get a move on, some of us may just rip it off the movie credits on the DVD. HURRY UUUUUUP.

'X-Men 4?' Probably Not. Well, now I'm just sad--X3 was a crap way to go out.

Keanu Reeves Says He Turned Down ‘Watchmen’ And ‘Speed Racer’ Roles.

20 scariest movies ever.

The Asylum Unveils Mandatory 'Indiana Jones' Knock-Off.

Jason Segel Reveals New Muppets Movie Details.

Exclusive 'Twilight' Set Photos.

Rumor of the Moment: Madonna Wants to Remake 'Casablanca'... set in Iraq. You know what, that's not actually all that terrible an idea. I mean, love triangle, old flames, war-torn country that's hard to get out of: it's a basic enough formula that I think you could do it. It's Madonna being in it that I have the issue with.

'Fanboys' Protest Fizzles.

'Juno' Gets a Second Disc of B-Sides.

Gigs Off the Big Screen -- Johnny's Condoms and Kiefer's Music Video. "According to the Daily Star in the UK, [Johnny Depp] has been offered a whopping $10 million to be the face of Trojan condoms. Oh, yes. He's been an advocate of safe sex education, and should he agree to be the face of rubbers, he would appear in 'a series of offbeat TV commercials.' "

Comments

[etherealshores.livejournal.com]

Wow, I was just talking to a friend of mine and I said I hoped Howard would score the Hobbit. There is really nobody else that can do it justice like he can.

Oh gawd, my childhood is ruined. They should have left SVH alone. :(

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Ugh, that news about the Sweet Valley update makes me want to punch someone.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Oh, God, tomorrow is April Fool's Day, isn't it? Maybe I should just disconnect the Internet for 24 hours. I just don't have a good feeling this year. The first three months have been made of epic fail and go home already, so I'm not optimistic about what happens when people start intentionally making things worse ("Worse? Or better?").

Here's the thing -- if you remake 'Casablanca' in Iraq, and you involve Madonna, I think that's all you need for it to no longer be 'Casablanca.' Call it that if you like, but...gah.

Patrick Stewart wins. As per usual. No gnus there.

[etherealshores.livejournal.com]

Agreed, I don't see any good coming out of tomorrow at all. Ugh.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah... did I ever write about why I hate April Fool's Day? If I did, I need to link to it. This year, I'm stupidly, giddily focused on the fact that 1) Sweeney Todd comes out tomorrow and 2) the pink poodle is the April Pet of the Month at webkinz.com, so I finally get to "adopt" mine and collect my in-game rare items. Because I need to focus on something fun and not icky.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

[comment deleted, but the email notification should be in your inbox]

In which I am a teensy bit manic

It needs to be said, so...just another manic Monday?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Done. Man, Sin City was three years ago?

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

I know! Do you realize that I've known you for almost five years now? By internet standards, that's like centuries. I don't think I know anyone else online but yarha and malenky_devil for as long.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I'm just shocked about Sin City because I remember already being pretty well-established on LJ by that time and being all excited about the movie and talking about it for a long time and then of course we were all (and by "we" I may mean "I") obsessed with that song in the trailer, and that was three years ago.

Also, I just realized that LOTR finished up FIVE years ago, and now I feel REALLY old.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Oh, the Cells song? I don't think it was just you, although it wasn't me. A lot of people were into it. Also, we're not allowed to feel old until November (in my case) or December (in yours) when the big number changes.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

Oh, I was totally obsessed with it, too.

...And now I'm trying to remember how long I've known both you and particle_person...I mean, I know I knew you before Sin City, so at least 3 and some years. But I feel like it's been longer.

Now it's going to bug me.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

The thought of Madonna trying to play an Iraqi refugee fills me with horror in relation to any movie. And that's what I keep thinking: if you update this film to any current conflict it's going to look incredibly wrong if you cast a bunch of white people to play the central cast. Which is probably what they'd do.

And the later Holmes stories aren't that good. Doyle was sick of writing them and it shows. This was one of the reasons why the later Granada ones also deviated so much from the plots - they just didn't have much to work with.

[tundraeternal.livejournal.com]

But i thought Madonna was Latina (http://www.foxnews.com/photoessay/photoessay_917_images/madonna_evita.jpg)!!! I mean, she was SO convincing in Evita...

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

And the later Holmes stories aren't that good. Doyle was sick of writing them and it shows.

This is why I get irritated with the whole game that Holmes is real. I mean, he's a fantastic character, but Conan Doyle didn't care. There's no point in fanwanking all the inconsistencies and discrepancies (say, the way you can with the Harry Potter universe, generally speaking), because ACD really just didn't care. I'd rather discuss him as a writer and the stories from a literary perspective than pretend that he was Watson's agent.

[tundraeternal.livejournal.com]

re: SVH... Maybe someone's brought this up already, but haven't sizes shifted since the original series came out? I mean, when i was in high school, i wore a size 8. And now, i'm the same size i was then, but i'm a four almost anywhere i shop. And i definitely don't remember any 0-size girls in my locker room discussions, but they seem to be everywhere nowadays. So maybe preteen girls today think of size 4 the way we thought of size 6?

[stepliana.livejournal.com]

I can all but guarantee I went to high school with someone who put out Tom Clancy's fire.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

... That sounds like a euphemism for something.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

The wyld Kylie! Awesome!

[idrach.livejournal.com]

Heck yeah! I ♥ 2 Hearts.

Re: Sweet Valley High Updates

[cupcakery.livejournal.com]

But sizes are larger now than they were in the early nineties (when I read SVH and they were size six), so it's conceivable that the twins are a size four now, as opposed to a six.

(Clearly, I have too much time on my hands to think this through)

Re: Sweet Valley High Updates

[camisado.livejournal.com]

I had this thought too.

Re: Sweet Valley High Updates

[lyricalnights.livejournal.com]

To me the problem is that the reissue of the books would be a great opportunity to not make one of the defining factors of the twins their perfect petiteness. Why does their dress size need to be the lead-off paragraph in the first place?

Re: Sweet Valley High Updates

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

Because then tween girls might not develop self-esteem issues about their bodies, and we can't have that.

Re: Sweet Valley High Updates

[syneblue.livejournal.com]

I finally realized why I hate the "Gossip Girl" books so much...they remind me of reading Sweet Valley High when I was eleven. It was the first time I remember actually wanting to stab a book.

[scornedsaint.livejournal.com]

Next up is "The Sussex Vampire," though, and I'm really excited because I've actually never read the last collection of Holmes stories, so they're all new to me.

I have not thought of that story in years. I had this book-on-tape from when I was little that had a bunch of abridged Sherlock Holmes stories for kids on it (I don't remember the titles of any, just the plots), and that was one of them. It totally freaked me out when I was little. You'll have to type up something about it when you're done just so I can see how different the real story is from the safe-for-kids version I heard.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oooh, will do.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

I'm interested too.

[jcipa.livejournal.com]

The Patrick Stewart comment about Trekkies (er, Trekkers) was very nice. More fuel to add to the fire of the eternal Kirk vs. Picard debate.

[allie-meril.livejournal.com]

Oh, good. Even though I have plenty of doubt about the changes they'll surely make to The Horse and His Boy, I still hope desperately that they'll make it... That book is my favorite in the series, and I *really* want to see Aravis and Shasta onscreen.

Deleted/reposted to fix html.

unfortunate mental image

[rorqual.livejournal.com]

In re: Depp being 'the face of rubbers'...okay, because now I am picturing his face on the tip of a condom, and while I don't think I'd mind Johnny Depp coming at me.....that's really not the manner I was envisioning. Oh my.

Re: unfortunate mental image

[lylassandra.livejournal.com]

Since the last movie I saw him in was Sweeney Todd, the whole concept isn't as appetizing. =) He doesn't exactly ooze sexuality in that role, you know? I mean, Cap'n Jack would be an excellent 'face of rubbers', but if Joanna even thought of sleeping with a boy, Sweeney would stick the offending body parts in a pie, not a condom.

[coolcuban.livejournal.com]

I just saw this and thought you needed to see it.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23814032?GT1=43001

[all-ephemera.livejournal.com]

JOhnny Depp doing condom commercials. I cannot freaking wait.

[sunni-sideup.livejournal.com]

Totally agree about "You Give Love A Bad Name." Gosh, that *still* blows my mind. The whole time I was watching David Cook's "Billie Jean," my mother was FREAKING OUT. "Is that Michael Jackson... he's... that's Michael... but... not." We finally figured out that it was the Cornell version. I really love David, though. He sang it beautifully, regardless of how original it was.

[enid-keaner.livejournal.com]

I don't care what anybody says - "The Ring" is not scary. At all. I spent that entire movie thinking "Damn, I want Naomi's haircut".

And if Madonna actually remakes "Casablanca" I will cut her. Casablanca needs to be left the fuck alone.

[chrryblssmninja.livejournal.com]

Richard Widmark a week ago, and now Jules Dassin? One of my favorite movies is Night and the City, so this is a double-hit of cinema-related sadness.

[somewhatmoot.livejournal.com]

The top 20 horror films is a little rough. The Ring and Silence of the Lambs is questionable, but they get props for including Jaws(scariest movie ever, btw) and the Evil Dead. I just hope that wasn't in order, otherwise it'd be really, really bad.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

No, they don't ever seem to list things in any particular order.

[fuchsoid.livejournal.com]

Fingers crosssed that the Madonna story is just a date-related joke.

[meandstuff.livejournal.com]

Can't sleep....unexpected American Werewolf extreme close-up will eat me.

[wirrrn.livejournal.com]

SHERLOCK HOLMES- I do hope to hear your opinion on my two favourites, "The Lion's Mane" and "The Speckled Band"- which, read in my childhood, got me on the road to Horror fiction, oddly enough...

X-MEN 4 must happen, to erase the craptacularness of X3. Plus to bring back Cyclops and cast Mike Vogel a beautiful blond actor as Angel...

SCARIEST HORROR FILMS: Ahh, all the usual suspects. My own Scariest. Film. Ever remains Gary Sherman's 1982 DEAD & BURIED, in which the late Jack Albertson (Grandpa Joe in the original CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY) gives you nightmares with his portrayal of senile, doddering and relentless evil...

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

Aw, I really want another X-Men movie, but, hey! At least we'll get Wolverine. That one's going to have DEADPOOL in it. *squees*

Johnny Depp as the "face of condoms"? HEEEE.

...That Fanboys stuff is ridiculous.

[oatmeal-queen.livejournal.com]

and that's why i love patrick stewart. because even fangirls/boys make total and complete sense to him.

that and he used the word 'snigger' in an interview.

[theengineer.livejournal.com]

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (which is what I assume you are reading) is pretty weak. The only story in it that really stands comparison to the early Holmes stories is The Problem of Thor Bridge.

I found the Marazin Stone (the only Holmes story told in third person) to be almost unreadable.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, "Mazarin Stone" was pretty horrendous. The second half of this volume is that story collection, yeah--the ones where Holmes is suddenly this goofy wisecracker are painful. I actually think the only reason I dislike "Three Gables" even more is because of "Black Steve." Man, that whole bit is just... yow.