Today’s news from the “Spider-Man” front isn’t really news as such: Patrick Healy and Kevin Flynn in the NYT recap the troubled history of the musical.
Didn’t someone think it was a bad omen when the first producer literally had a stroke as they were about to sign the contract? (He died two days later.)
The full quote, for Lawrence:
This has turned out to be one chaotic morning, but I wanted to quickly note the latest news on the “Spider-Man” front:
Some things worth noting in the NYT on this fine day:
Michael Ruhlman reviews Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking
Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider
Never mind.
You may ask yourself, “Why would someone pay $20,000 for a replica of an Eric Clapton Stratocaster, ‘complete with every single nick and scratch, including the wear pattern from Mr. Clapton’s belt buckle and the burn mark from his cigarettes’?” You would probably answer that question, “Because they’re a moron.” The NYT would like for you to know that evolutionary psychology suggests you’re wrong:
Yesterday was election day in Bell, California. How did things go?
Noted: Austin now has a Peruvian restaurant. (Okay, technically, Pflugerville.) Yes, I’m thinking Saturday Dining Conspiracy. No, not right away; we generally give places three months after opening before reviewing them.
Slow. Slow. Slow. And WordPress ate the first draft of this post. Argh. “Introduction to Literary Studies” is finished, but “Applications in Business Programming” fires up tonight.
So where were we?
Ken Hoffman in the HouChron on more rodeo food. The chocolate covered pickle makes us gag.
The NYT reports that Julie Taymor and the “Spider-Man” producers are “negotiating”. “Negotiating” in this case apparently means either “work with a newly expanded creative team” or “pack your <stuff> and get out”.
Speaking of art, damn it, art!, Lawrence has brought us happy news for those of you who own iPhones and are fans of Guy Debord, Karen Eliot, Monty Cantsin, and the Karen-headed Smile Monty (see also): there’s an app for that.
By way of Tam, we have learned that the Department of Homeland Security, which is apparently not satisfied with not actually catching terrorists, is going around confiscating Nissan Skylines. The Skyline is a car we were previously unfamiliar with, perhaps because it was never officially imported into the United States. One of Tam’s commenters provided this link to an excellent article about the rise and fall of a Skyline importer in California, which we commend to your attention.
Speaking of commenters, “Bob” (thanks, “Bob”) posted in this thread and provided a link with some new information about our good friend, the spamming scumbag Sven Alstrom. That link, in turn, led us to this one, which also has some good stuff about Sven. We were particularly amused by these two comments from LJWorld staff members:
and:
Sven makes friends everywhere he goes, doesn’t he?
Does anybody have a digital version, or a pointer to one, of “Throw Him Down, McCloskey”?
I can find the lyrics and even the sheet music online, but I’ve been unable to find a recording of someone actually performing the song. I will be happy to pay money for a recording, but I’ve been unable to find one in either the iTunes or Amazon stores.
I think the lessons here are:
…can be found here. Briefly, they’ve hired Paul Bogaev, who is described as “a veteran musical supervisor and conductor”, to “help improve the performance, vocal and orchestration arrangements, and sound quality of the songs and numbers”.
The NYT speculates that the opening, currently scheduled for March 15th, might be delayed again. The paper also reports rumors that the producers are talking to “script doctors”, and may be looking to hire a “co-director”.
Marian Elliott-Said is recovering from breast cancer. WCD extends our best wishes to her.
By the way, Marian Elliott-Said is perhaps better known as “Poly Styrene”, front woman for the X-Ray Spex. After the jump, we’ll embed some X-Ray Spex video.
Meanwhile, Lady Gaga claims her new perfume smells “like an expensive hooker”. If someone told her this was an effective advertising strategy, they were wrong.
And something a bit more pleasant to think about than Poly Styrene and Lady Gaga: the NYT has a longish piece about the Internet Music Score Library Project and some of the copyright issues experienced by the site.
We wonder if the growth of the iPad and other tablet devices is going to result in more groups replacing sheet music with electronic devices. Not that we’re music experts – we tend to rely on other people (ahem) for that – but we can see some possible advantages to going all tablet, all the time.
Interesting article in the NYT about the state of the Houston Grand Opera, focusing in particular on their recent productions of “Dead Man Walking” and “Lucia di Lammermoor”.
Good to know.
For some odd reason, I have this song stuck in my head. And I don’t even like it that much. So I’m going to make you guys suffer along with me.