Legendary Scenic Designer Eugene Lee

A great interview with the legendary designer Eugene Lee... who's been designing sets for Saturday Night Live since it started in 1975!

Oh, and little shows like Wicked and Sweeney Todd for Broadway.

On Vox HERE.

Sounds like the pace of live TV would kill me...

US versions of UK stories

Why do we insist on translating English stuff for us American-English speakers?

Drives me nuts.

Or as a BBC Brit might say, "It drives one mad!"

Public domain image by Anne Pratt HERE

This "translating" happens all the time with books.  The title of the first Harry Potter book was changed from HP and the Philosopher's Stone to HP and the Sorcerer's Stone; presumably because we colonials weren't up on our alchemy.  Or one of my recent discoveries - really good urban fantasy / police proceedural novels - had the first in the series retitled from The Rivers of London (with intriguing cartographic style cover) to Midnight Riot (with suggesting-violence-but-downplaying-ethnicity cover).  The second book kept its UK title, Moon Over SOHO, but again switched an edgy for a cerebral cover.

A little insulting.

And the number of TV shows "reimagined" for the American Market is staggering.  The Office is one example.  Some rewrites work, many fail because something essential is lost in translation.

The latest straw for me yesterday was watching the US remake of Being Human, a terrific Brit vampire/werewolf/ghost flat-share dramedy (you know the trope, mismatched roommates a la The Odd Couple, but with more gore).

The UK version is terrific.  And I think perfectly cast.  The werewolf character, in what you might call "plain clothes," is wonderfully quirky in looks and behavior.  The ghost is charming and ditzy.  While the vampire, Michell, is a version of that rock-n-roll classic the edgy lead singer, all leather-jacketed swagger and sex appeal.  As a bonus, the guy is also funny/scary/puppy-dog-eyes on cue and has Irish Charm TM.

Whereas the US version...

I'm sure these are all good actors, but casting succumbed to that American tendency to pick Breck-Hair people.  The werewolf looks quirky... only to the extent of a bad haircut (or messy hair); in behavior, he's more whiny than endearingly odd.  The ghost seems bland too, but that may be just losing the accent.  As for the Homecoming King, er, vampire...  Contrast between US and UK versions couldn't be greater: the US actor must be six feet taller than the UK's; instead of dark curls and a mercurial face, he has Eagle Scout hair and a chin Mt. Rushmore can't match.  More heroic high school quarterback than transgressive rock star.  Prince Charming with an iron deficiency.  Fangs?  Probably caps.

That classic, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, starred vamps of exactly these two types in rock-star Spike and quarterbackish Angel, but the former was the secret good guy and the latter had the charming Irish accent and a wide swath of dark-side.

I much prefer the UK version of Being Human.   (Compare for yourself on Netflix.)

I guess the tipping point annoyance for me was realizing that the US vamp was given the name "Aidan" - which is the UK actor's.  (Aiden Turner, now playing one of the "boy band" dwarves in The Hobbit.)  As if the name alone would translate the charm:

O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet...

Or vice versa?  Or not.  

I do wish we'd stop "translating" English into American. Next it'll be Downton Abbey as Biltmore, all among them rural land-owning Vanderbilts or something.

BTW That verse is by Shakespeare.  You'd think us Americans would trust those Brits to write by now, wouldn't you?

Day of Rest? In Theater?

Ha.

Today was the strike for Ruth at Kitchen Dog.

A large number of Dogs were there to dismantle the set - which went pretty quickly.  As a set designer it always amazes me how much faster a set comes down than it goes up.  Poof!  and you're back in a blank black theater - as if the show never happened or hasn't happened yet or, given the word-haunted nature of theaters, is continually happening in some invisible, inaudible time-loop.

But there was a certain amount of resting today too: Movie Day!


Don't you love an ice-cold movie theater on a hot day?

Today's feature was the quirky time-travel-romance Safety Not Guaranteed.  Definitely an off-beat, not-high-budget film... which I really enjoyed.  Much more about the people than the sci-fi, though that was there too.  Another recent satisfyingly quirky feel-good flick was Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom.  Frankly, I have never gotten his humor before this, but because of its young protagonists, this film was more accessible (at least for me) and I really liked it.

Of my "bigger" movie viewings lately, I enjoyed Men in Black III - much better than a sequel should be - and The Avengers - still fun on a second viewing.

And just to catch up on months of TV while I'm at it: I've enjoyed the (now canceled) eccentric spin-off from Bones called The Finder; the forensic procedural show Bones itself; the writer-n-cop show Castle; catching up on 30 Rock (I'm still way behind); and Vampire Diaries (also a season behind).  I've enjoyed several British shows: Doctor Who of course, the grumpy doctor show Doc Martin, and another quirky time-travel story, a police show called Life on Mars.

Time travel - it's everywhere.

Believed public domain image.

If You Film It...

Sometimes people will see it.

On the heels of good news about one friend fund-raising on Kickstarter for his short film Perfectly Normal, comes an email from another friend, one who has been filming documentary footage about kids and mentoring.  They just got a little bit of footage on their local news, a piece about a Hawaiian educational non-profit called Grow Some Good: . http://www.flickr.com/photos/southmauischoolgardens/6903708954/

Image from Grow Some Good.org

I guess the moral here is to just DO whatever it is you feel called upon to do - trusting that there will be someone else out there interested.  Finding that audience is obviously the tricky part.

Books - Tina Fey

I hate to admit that my first real introduction to writer/actress/general-asset Tina Fey was through that lame movie Date Night, but that's the sad truth.

Since then I happened across her funny Saturday Night Live version of Sarah Palin.  Then - only embarrassingly recently - I started watching her weird and wonderful TV show 30 Rock.  (I've finished season two and heading on into the more-recent-past of season three.)  Now I've finished reading her very funny memoir Bossypants.  Good stuff.  Some very funny, serious, life-as-I-recognize it ridiculousness.  I would seriously suggest you read it - like, last week already.

Paperback cover of Bossypants by Tina Fey

In case you need a more authoritative version of my "Read this! Read this!" plea, HERE's the NY Times review.

Smash

Last night was the premier of a new TV show called Smash, about the creation of a new Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe.  I'd read good reviews.  It really was an interesting show - good situations, characters, voices, and (I no real judge) what seemed like good music and lyrics.  Some of the characters I swear I've met in real life.  And there was one scene, where one of the show's creators was complaining how awful one critic was then - when he liked her work - she suddenly switched to saying how intelligent the critic was.

Been there, heard that.

Heck!  I've said it myself.

Anyone involved with show biz or a fan of it will probably find this show of interest.  On NBC.  (And, probably online somewhere or other.)

Public domain image messed with

And, speaking of TV, did you see the Super Bowl's amazing half time show?  I read that Madonna admitted to being nervous.  No wonder.  I liked the show and it certainly filled the field with spectacle - which is the real trick - but I was amazed once again at the sheer slickness of the setup and take-down of what had to be gadjillions of dollars of sets, lights, costumes, and cast.  Wow.  (HERE's last year's Super Bowl post.)

Book and Film Catch-Up

Don't you love the pile of Christmas books and DVDs?  I'm slowly making my way through some well-chosen gifts.

Among the books: Three Men in a Boat (and its companion piece Three Men on a Brummel) by Jerome K. Jerome.  This laugh-out-loud tale of three buddies on a boating trip was first published in the 1880s: some aspects now appear rather quaint - though funny - others are as timeless as the author's riff on the way you can so carefully and neatly coil a rope, only to find it, minutes later, in a maddening snarl.

Believed public domain image messed with

I've also been dipping into The Complete McAslan by George McDonald Fraser.  Best known for his Flashman books, Fraser's stories of life in a Scottish battalion just after WWII are long-time favorites of mine.    His memoir of the British campaign in Burma, Quartered Safe Out of Here, is one of the best from WWII.

Films?  I've just finish the new PBC documentary on Woody Allen - a must-see for a fan.  Also the first season of 30 Rock which is great.  How did I miss this on TV?  I'll keep my eye on Tina Fey from now on.

I hope you're having as much fun with your holiday stockpile!

TV Catch-up

After avoiding television for fifteen years, then discovering that, in fact, there HAD been a few things on worth watching, I'm slowly and carefully catching up.

My latest catch-up is on 30 Rock.  I'm the last one in North America to discover this, but it's pretty funny.

Link to NBC's 30 Rock site HERE.  

Image not mine, of course - will be removed by request.

Rewatching

Like rereading... it lets you really appreciate the good stuff that flew past on first viewing.

At the moment I'm starting to rewatch the TV teen noire private eye show Veronica Mars.  Really well written!  A second viewing is a real test of any mystery because, after all, the mystery is gone, leaving only the characters, the emotions, and the wit.  Veronica has all that.

Earlier post HERE.

Believed public domain image messed with.

While I rewatch this mystery, I'm also first time reading Death Comes to Pemberly, P.D. James's mashup of mystery and Jane Austen.  There is a slight re-read-y flavor to this too, in that I can recognize slivers and shards of Austen, particular phrases, characteristic turns of thought.  Fascinating.  Too soon to tell yet, but I'll let you know how the mystery goes...

Retro TV

After hearing about the charm of the '80s show Moonlighting for literally decades, I figured I ought to see for myself.

I only sampled a little of the first season.  Plots were nothing special - though situations got a little more ridiculous and physical-comedy than usual - and evil-doers were not scary by today's standards - the pilot's bleached, Mohawk-haired punk looked silly - but the chemistry between the stars was immediate and charming and obviously The Whole Point.  (Though '80s fashions make a fun side dish.)

Young, young Cybil Shepard and Bruce Willis are worth visiting.

Image borrowed from ShareTV

Film Fest - Catch-Up

Movies I hadn't got round to mentioning:

Charlie Bartlett (played by Anton Yelchin) is the hero a sweetly odd film about a high school student with, it seems, a real calling as a shrink... or maybe as a drug pusher?  Robert Downy Jr. as his unhappy Principal with a daughter.

The Tale of Despereaux is the animated quest of a brave mouse and a down on his luck rat - with a who's who of name actors doing vocals.  A good story and the first G rated movie I've seen in a while.  Luckily little kids don't fully understand the threaten-the-princess-with-eating-alive-by-rats thing, huh?  Or the death-in-Colosseum-by-cat thing either.  I liked the soup theme.

Image borrowed from Thany's Thoughts Blog, which has a good comparison of book to film

Something's Gotta Give with great performances by beautifully ripe Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson.  (Who knew Keanu Reeves could be so charming?)

And on TV: watching the new season of Castle (the first ep is startlingly serious) and waiting on Bones (having finally caught up).

Conclusions?  All of these were, in their separate ways, worth watching.  Strange to say, but no duds in this bunch.

Book to TV

I'm kinda fascinated with the way a story is transmuted from one form of storytelling to another; in how books like the Lord of the Rings or Pride and Prejudice, for example, change as they become films or minseries, musicals or radio plays etc.  (Earlier post on this phenomenon re: Atonement.)

The latest such translation I've seen are the mysteries of author and forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs.  After enjoying the TV show Bones, loosely based on her life and writing, I decided to read her first mystery Deja' Death.  One book is not enough to judge from, but I have noticed a few things:  the TV show, being a visual medium, emphasizes the "Ick!" factor of seeing the body-of-the-week, while the book emphasizes the deep cruelty and perversity of its crimes in a way the show skims over; the TV series is an ensemble piece, while this book at least, is a loner's story; and the book's main character, Dr. Temperance Brennan, is a pretty normal person with caught-in-a-thriller problems, but the Temperance of the TV series is more damaged, frozen emotionally by the circumstances of her upbringing... which adds a great deal of depth and room for character development.

So far I like the TV show better, mostly because of the secondary characters, but I'll definitely be reading a few more of the books.

Film Fest - Rediscovering TV

For 15 years I didn't watch TV.

I'd watched all the lame television I could stand: episodic, formulaic, stupid... Total waste of time.  So, for a decade and a half, I only watched movies on the cinema's big screen or my small screen courtesy of VCR tapes, then DVDs.

What changed my mind?

I went to see the movie Serenity.  (I see any science fiction film that has the least hope of being watchable.  I root for sci-fi.)  I loved Serenity - especially its characters.  I was told there was a previous TV show, Firefly, that concentrated on the characters.  Watched it.  Loved it.

I thought, if this TV show is so good by this Whedon guy who did Buffy the Vampire Slayer... maybe I should try that?  Slippery, slippery slope...  I've now followed various actors or writers or show creators or critic's recommendations to a whole galaxy of enjoyable shows (and a few that faltered).

Here are my favorites:

Firefly - humanistic space-saga/western with snappy dialogue and terrific characters.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - snappy teen-speak  plus monster-of-the-week... that grows deeper over its run.  This is long-form TV that rewards the dedicated viewer.
Angel - a spin-off from Buffy with a darker tone.  Must-see if you liked Buffy (just slog through Evil Cordy)
Battlestar Galactica - superior sci-fi with an operatic feeling and scope.  (Earlier post here.)
Veronica Mars - teen detective show that reminded me of Buffy minus vampires. (Earlier post.)
Castle - mystery writer plus cops, formulaic idea, yet good fun
Bones - forensic mystery with character development
Dead Like Me - weird premise cable show
Sherlock - present day version of Holmes.  Terrific!
Dr. Who - gotta watch the latest Doctor
Torchwood - a spin-off from Dr. Who with a dark, sexy tone.

The enjoyed-until-it-faded or didn't-quite-work shows I'm glad I watched:
Glee - I heard so much from theater folk I had to watch.  Liked it until I decided Will wasn't a nice man.
Chuck - unlikely spy story (fun until Chuck turned pro.)
Moonlight - cheesy vampire detective (Angel-lite)... Guilty pleasure.
True Blood - a heck of a lot of fun until I found I didn't like the characters anymore.  (Earlier post.)
Dexter - dark, dark, dark to find yourself rooting for a serial killer, yet fascinating.  I lost heart after the Rita thing.

Dollhouse - Whedon's latest TV venture, interesting but uneven (at the beginning... just... huh?!)

I suppose I'll end up watching "classic" shows I missed during my self-imposed exile.  Sopranos maybe? Twin Peaks?  There's a real advantage to catching shows later: sure you miss the watercooler chat, but you weed out worthless shows and watch good ones at your own pace - able to rush to resolve cliff-hangers (a real bonus on Battlestar Galactica!). 

Film Fest - True Blood Binge

I'm having a bit of a TV-athon here, catching up on the latest True Blood DVDs.  I'm enjoying them, but think I like the books better.  Comparing the two fascinates me!

The two forms of the stories run parallel, not identical - the general direction of the plot is shaped by the Charlainne Harris's books, but with substantial differences.  (The TV show includes one great character killed off in the first book.)  The TV show is an ensemble, with multiple characters and interlocking plots, while the books follow Sookie Stackhouse.

The show AS a show?  Stylishly done with appealing actors and constant surprises...  but "gory" just doesn't describe it.  The gore has reached such sticky depth it distracts me, pulling me out of the story.  Vampires die in a messy way that has me calculating clean-up and how many buckets of faux blood the prop master mixed - how many gallons of corn syrup? of Hershey's?  In one episode, no two episodes!, when non-vamps were all blood-smeared and biting and worrying at other characters' necks with wimpy civilian teeth...  I found myself wondering what that rubbery bit was meant to be... a vein?  This during what was, I assume, meant to be a horrifying and dramatic moment.

I don't think this is because I'm involved with theater.  I'm not professionally involved with any of that stuff on-stage and am the easiest target for the simplest effect or illusion - the first of an audience to gasp, sniffle, wince, or wipe my eye.  No.  I think True Blood jumped some bloody shark somewhere.

Reynard Parish was always a gory, campy, vampy, Grand Guignol of an alternate Louisiana - now it's sunk into kinda silly.
 

High School Noire

I just finished Veronica Mars at lunch.  A really good TV show.   (Seasons 1 and 2 better than 3, though it perked up.)  Imagine Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe reincarnated as a petite blonde walking the mean hallways of Neptune High, a town with no middle class, just millionaires and the little people who work for millionaires... maid, gardener... Veronica gets to be a barrista.  And a precocious private eye.  There's a Buffy flavor to the teen setting and snappy dialogue and it's funny, but this cup of Joe is strictly non-fat-non-vamp, an expresso-dark detective show, with an extra shot of class consciousness and nihilism.

Veronica is tough enough to handle it.  But, as her BFF Wallace points out:


"You really think I'm gonna let you get away with that?  That might play with the masses, but underneath that angry young woman shell, there's a slightly less angry young woman who's just dying to bake me something.  You're a marshmallow, Veronica Mars.  A Twinkie."


  

Film Festing

A funny assortment of film and TV today:

I made my first visit to Austin's famed Alamo drafthouse last weekend (the S. Lamar venue) to re-watch the latest Pirates movie.  I liked it better the second time: I wasn't distracted by waiting for things I hoped would be in the movie, thus free to enjoy what actually was but, most importantly, the goofy pre-show pirate theme film clips (of the Disney Pirates ride, a You Tube-ish ad for home-made pirate capes with a charmingly bored kid modeling them, a baaaad pirate music video, a cardboard boat captained by a real cat in a pirate hat etc.) and the silly 3D glasses put me in the proper mood for this romp.  Plus my burger was very good.

I watched a weird alien-attack film called Skyline that, up to the end, was a not that memorable B or even C movie with remarkably silly alien biology that required human brains... but the ending!  (See end of post for Spoiler, if you like.)

Still working my way through Battlestar Galactica - and the writers still keep their mastery of The Cliffhanger, curse them.  My fingernails are getting sore with all this nail-biting and cliff-hanging!  Also working through Veronica Mars, a show I'm enjoying more and more.

And the latest Woody Allen is out!  Midnight in Paris.  And sounds good!!  Must See!!!

BIG SPOILER for SKYLINE: All that silly brain removal?  The film actually ends with the good guys getting sucked up into the alien ship and the Hero's brain removed and "his" alien (the one with his brain) recognizing the Girl and...  mind-blowing.  Almost enough to make 2 hours of lame dialogue and action worth the kick at the end.  Weird!

TV Vampire Fest

For some reason opaque to me, our civilization is in the midst of a Vampire Kick.  From Goth fashions to best-sellers, the undead are unavoidable.  So - purely as a cultural commentator, you understand - I've been sampling this trend.  (Such scholarly plodding research.)

Lately I've been watching the short-lived TV show Moonlight.   Enjoyed it.  As much because of the cheesy dialogue, I think, as because the main vamp character is cute.  I liked his best vampire buddy a lot (following him to Veronica Mars, a good and well-written teen-detective show that's surprisingly vamp-free.)  Really, Moonlight's vamp-detective idea is just Angel-lite.  I would strongly recommend first watching the it'll-be'classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer then its spin-off Angel.  Angel the vampire has his followers, but for me, his show and Buffy are really the Spike Show.  More vamp-y goodness (with more sex and gore) at True Blood.  I haven't caught Vampire Diaries.

So what is this fascination?  Some of it is the pure hotness of recent TV and Film and Lit vamps, the whole forbidden romance with edge o' danger thing - very attractive to young human females.  (And to the not so young, please, ladies, skip the Team Edward T-shirts, they ill-become you.)  But I think some of it may be a wish that our modern world have more mystery and magic than it seems to.  Religion and superstition used to fill this gap - nowadays we get by on a thin ration of crystals, yoga CDs, and supernatural-romance novels.

Link to earlier Vampire Film Fest post and to a goofy supernatural stories kinda Squidoo site.

Battlestar Galactica

I've decided that Battlestar Galactica is an opera...

No one happens to sing, that's all.  But it has all the heightened (not to say mildly-crazed) emotions, the surging music (drums mostly) scoring under the dramatic bits, the on-the-verge-of-bathetic crises...  Opera.

Compulsively watchable opera.

Miscellany

Bits and snippets from the set design life:

Yesterday I helped the carpenters hang upstage fabric drape/flaps for Marvin's Room (they played "carpenters", I played "eyeball"), plus that Production Meeting.  Hanging around Fort Worth as two 100 mile trips in one day seemed, um, dumb.  So yesterday was teach-myself-computer-graphics day.  (See yesterday's post for the results.)  I've been sketching fly-in windows for As You Like It - next I need to finish those paint elevations.

Books: Still plugging away at Mark Twain's Autobiography.  Good, but a dip-into kind of book.  Meanwhile also rereading a charming old D.E.Stevenson semi-autobigraphical novel, Mrs. Tim Christie, about a 1930s British Army wife.

TV/Film: Still enjoying Battlestar Galactica.  An addictive show.

Too Cruel!

Those Battlestar Galactica writers...
A Three Part "to be continued"?!  Boy am I glad I'm not watching this with week long breaks between episodes.  How will Galactica get out of this mess?  Cliff-hangers drive me nuts.