Best of the Best

It's time for the FIRST ANNUAL GIGS AWARDS, or FAGA for short (Next year will, of course, be SAGA.) Each day between now and the new year, I will post my favorite in a category such as movies, songs, fictional character, etc. And of course you have the opportunity to tell me what you favorite is. Please keep in mind the winners are what I saw, read, heard this year, not what actually was released this year. So without further ado, today's category:

MOVIES
"Hey, baby, you look like you could use a stiff one!"

As if you couldn't guess, ( "Is it charm, is it poise?), no it's Hairspray." No other movie this year made me laugh as much as this one. Who would have guessed that Travolta's return to the musical oeuvre ( I love that word!) would be dressed as a woman, and a woman who wore the coolest dress, made of pink sparkles! And how bout that Nikki Blonsky? How amazing was she? No doubt that this might be the only movie she wil be in, but what a way to break into Hollywood! And that supporting cast! Bynes, Walken, Snow, Efron, Latifah, and Marsden! Could your big break BE with better actors?!??! But the real prize should go to Adam Shankman, who has been a Gigs fav since he choreographed the Buffy musical episode. For an added happy, watch the movie with Adam and Nikki's commentary. You'll learn that, yes, it was alluded that Corny got that girl pregnant at the beginning of the movie, and that Nikki is indeed a very comfortable girl on her 4'11" frame. What a great role model for teens (better than, ahem, any of the Spears clan. Or anyone in Hollywood for that matter).

Runner Up:
The Lookout with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Wowee! Talk about nail biting! One of the BEST young actor working today. The other being Ben Foster. Put these two onscreen together and watch it explode!!!!!

I Want My MTV back!!!!!

Remember when you were a teen (or younger) and you had to sneak cigarettes so your parents wouldn't find out? I don't b/c I never did. I sneaked music videos! A friend and I were reminiscing about music videos from the 80's. The conversation started by him mentioning Cradle of Love by Billy Idol. I used to sneak watching that one, b/c it was very risque for it's time. A girl come to her dorky neighbor's door with a tape, asking to use his tape player and proceeds to dance to the song through his living room, on his bed, while wearing-GASP- a black bustier and skirt. This is so tame by today's standards.

That got me thinking about all the videos I grew up on...well, until 1987, when my parents had MTV scrambled off our cable b/c they didn't like the content. My parents were so forward-thinking! Before it was cool to hate MTV, they were already doing it! Anyhoo, here's a list of my favs in no particular order:

Land of Confusion by Genesis
anything by Madonna
Cold Hearted by Paula Abdul (another one i had to sneak)
Goin' Crazy by David Lee Roth
Simply Irrestiable by Robert Palmer
When I Think About You by the Divinals ( keep in mind I was 8 and had NO IDEA what this song was really about).
Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper
anything by Poison
Dancing In the Dark by Springsteen
that Paul Simon video featuring Chevy Chase

There are more....TONS more...but I want to hear about the ones you remember watching.

The End is Near

The title of this post is based on the fact that the sky is falling, hell has frozen over,a giant meteor is headed for earth that even Ben Affleck can't save us from, and the weekend box office top movies. Yes it's no big surprise that I Am Legend took the top spot, and the Golden Compass slipped to number 3, but the BIG SHOCK was the number two movie of the weekend! Any guesses? Yes those adorably creepy CGI'd chipmunks beat out a talking polar bear to gross $45 mil! That's not even mentioning the ginormous amount between Alvin and Compass--Compass only made $9 mil this weekend. Guess people are getting sick of the is it or isn't it blasphemous Compass. And Enchanted made only $6 mil! Isn't this family movie viewing season? Though given the choices I'd see Legend,too. Enchanted is a close second, tho.

But this is all nonsense. Let's talk about the next GREAT movie I just can't wait to see.....Cloverfield! What's it about, you ask? I have NO IDEA! NO ONE DOES!!!!! Don't believe me? Check out the trailer. But it's written by Drew Goddard (of Buffy and Angel) produced by JJ Abrams (you must know that name by now) and directed by Matt Reeves (who co-created Felicity with JJ). So that is where I will be on Jan 18. What movies can you not wait to see?

"Just a Sprig of Holly"

It's officially Christmas Movie Viewing Season! I kicked off the season with probably my absolute favorite holiday flick, Love, Actually. I still cry at the sappiest of scenes: the one with Juliet and Mark, the one where Jamie asked Aurelia to give him her hands, and of course when Rufus gift wraps the perfect gift in that perfect way. Course, that last one are tears of laughter. And how bout John and Judy's meeting as, ahem, stand ins. And the most perfect use of my fav xmas carol, All I Want for Christmas Is You. Lest we forget the amazing Colin Firth. He made a great movie so much better. Doesn't every girl dream of being proposed to in front of her whole town, with her intended bumbling his way through her language.

"I've come here with a view of asking you to marriage me. I know I seems an insane person - because I hardly knows you - but sometimes things are so transparency, they don't need evidential proof. And I will inhabit here, or you can inhabit with me in England."


**SIGH** Colin, I will inhabit anywhere with you.
To get you in the mood, check out this wonderful snippet:




So tell me, what are your favorite Holiday movies?

Engaged Couples-Take Note

Check out this clip my sister sent me. No, I am not planning a wedding any time soon, but if you're sick of all those smaltzy first dances at weddings, this is the clip for you. And if you are planning a wedding, take note:

Jamie needs to record a Christmas Album

Has it really been 3 weeks since my last post??!?? Where has the time gone? Hope I didn't lose any faithful readers, but you know how the holidays are. And, yes, according to Al Roker, who lit the tree in Rockefeller Center last night, the Holidays are officially here!

I thought Thanksgiving was the start of the Holiday season. Retailers seem to think it's Halloween. And Boston lit their tree the weekend before Thanksgiving. So, methinks NYC is a bit late this year. Or trying to hold onto their glory days as the best city to be decorated for the holidays. Actually,I think they still are. I went to London over Thanksgiving, and was surprised to find that there weren't trees on every corner, lights on all day and night. I expected it to look like that scene in Love, Actually. Sloane Square was done up nicely, Harrods looked nice, but no better than Macy's in Times Sq.

Let me tell you about my trip. For the first time in ages, I didn't visit any bookstores (unless you count the mini-Borders at Heathrow, which I don't), libraries, and I didn't worry about my job or what was waiting for me when I got back! My desk was not piled up with notes that I did not understand, my mailbox was not overflowing. Sure I still had lots to do, but not overwhelmingly so. Don't get me wrong: I miss my friends (very much) at SPL, but that was a real treat, walking into my office and seeing it just as I left it.

Course, our office was closed the Friday after Thanksgiving (and on the weekends), where the library is open all weekend! That does not seem fair...I really think having the library be closed on Black Friday would assist the economy. So next year I propose closing all public libraries on Black Friday, not for the staff to enjoy their day after cooking and hosting 30 people, but to boost the economy.

But back to my trip. I spent the whole time walking the city with my sister, we saw Jamie Cullum in concert, and even managed to get tickets to see Mary Poppins (another musical--what a surprise). We also shopped, went on the London Eye, and ate! The fruit in England is AMAZING! I don't know how it can be so fresh in the middle of November. I hope to go over again for another fun girl's weekend--maybe next summer.

So, how was your holiday? As exciting as mine?

STRIKE DRAGS ON FOR SECOND DAY! IS THIS THE END OF WRITTEN WORD?-Joss Whedon

So let's talk about this strike. Every night this week, there's a blurb on the news about day __ of the writer's strike. Are they gonna do this every day of it? Cuz I think this one is going to be a doozy. 25 years ago they went on strike, but not much changed. 2 years ago, they were planning on it, but it never happened (I believe that it was the actors' union that time). But this one...well, they are doing it for a reason I can get behind. Y'know how cool technology is? How you don't have to choose between Heroes, Chuck, and sleep on Mondays at 9? That's because we know that we can always go online an see what we missed. Networks are streaming their shows on their website--so awesome. AND, now you can buy individual episodes on iTunes, so you can take them to go on your iPod.

But here's the thing...while the actors, directors, producers, advertisers, and just about everyone else involved gets some sort of payment for their work, the writers aren't making a cent off of additional showings of their work. So for example, Keifer Sutherland gets paid for his work on 24, then if the show goes online and to iTunes, he gets another check. THEN, if the show goes into syndication (which it has) he gets another check for that.

Writers get money for the original show and syndications, but not that middle, "new technology" stuff. Now please don't misunderstand me...Hollywood has enough money. I stopped watching Friends when the stars demanded (and got!) one mil an episode, somewhere around the 4th season. But writers have a long history in Hollywood for being neglected, so I understand their reasoning.

Hopefully this will all end soon (an in support of the writers!). As it is, most of the late nite talk shows are in reruns, 24 has been postponed, and there will be no more new episodes of our favorites. The Heroes team has reworked an episode to serve as a season ender, in case the strike continues for longer than a few weeks. Lest we forget what this may do to views of shows like Lost: they've already lost (haha) many fans due to the convoluted storytelling ( I am not one of these fans--I learned long ago to trust JJ Abrams and his team and just enjoy the ride). What will a strike mean to shows depending on their fans? And most people who know me, know I feel that the writers are the stars of the shows--Joss, JJ, Tim, and Josh, you're the reasons Buffy, Alias, Heroes, and Chuck/Gossip Girls work. Oh sure, the actors and everyone else are important, but every show begins with a word, and it comes from you guys.

Note to strikers: feeling that writing bug bite? Try your hand at writing a YA novel! I'd love what some of you would do in the publishing field (I'm talkin' to you, Tina Fey!)

And the worst part of all this? More "reality" tv--as if they weren't stealing enoughs jobs from actual actors and writers!

Penny's boy Nick Lachey is 34 today. He's had such a hard time after his divorce, and would really appreciate it if you showed your support by buying his cd, right Pen? Yuck!