favorite song friday: egyptomania

Katy Perry's latest monster hit, "Dark Horse" has been predictably dominating the pop music charts lately. Is its popularity justified? Yes and no. Perry has delivered her usual cliché-ridden lyrics and even enlisted the help of Memphis-born (Tennessee, not Egypt) Juicy J for one of the worst inserted raps in a long time. But the song does have some atmosphere to it, and if you can ignore the predictable warnings from Perry's siren ...

Here, kitty, kitty ... Apart from the hot pink, they get the colors of Ancient Egypt pretty right

So you wanna play with magic
Boy, you should know what you're falling for
Baby do you dare to do this?
Cause I’m coming at you like a dark horse
Are you ready for, ready for
A perfect storm, perfect storm

Teen and tween girls will be copying this make-up — you've been warned

... Or Juicy's J's embarrassing rhymes ...

She’s a beast
I call her Karma (come back)
She eats your heart out
Like Jeffrey Dahmer (woo)
Be careful
Try not to lead her on
Shorty’s heart is on steroids
Cause her love is so strong

Love the sculpture queen come to life

... The tune can pull you in.

What "Dark Horse" really has going for it is its music video. Like other pop artists like The Bangles ("Walk like an Egyptian") and Michael Jackson ("Remember the Time")


Perry has realized the eternal appeal of ancient Egypt, and the colorful and creative video, directed by Mathew Cullen, is a lot of fun to watch. It's up to you to decide whether to turn the sound up or not.

michael, whitney, amy ...

I have been wondering from time to time why the passing of Whitney Houston seemed more like a blip on the radar to me than the death of Michael Jackson, which at times, still seems surreal. Or even Amy Winehouse, while though not unexpected, seems tragic. One doesn't want to show disrespect to the recently deceased, but I can't help but feel that the end to Whitney's story was inevitable.

Author Nury Vittachi explored the same questions in an irreverent way on his blog, The Curious Diary of Mr. Jam. Some will undoubtedly be offended by his juxtapositions of "facts" such as:

5) Her place in musical history.
New, approved factoid:
“Fans will never forget her concerts because they were so uplifting.”
Inconvenient original fact:
“Fans will never forget her concerts because she often failed to show and you had to queue to get your money back.”

Whitney's problems with drugs were so well-known that her death was not only not a surprise, but became almost an anticlimax to a career that she had been trying to kill off for years. I have complete sympathy for her daughter, for all she must have gone through with a mother with such problems, as well as for what she must be going through now. But Vittachi is right on when he critiques the media and the rest of us for our automatic lionizing or revising of a departed star's status. He takes this idea even further in a post about John Lennon and Princess Di.

Like Whitney, the undeniably talented Amy Winehouse was a fresh and welcome voice on the music scene, but her music came from the place of her demons, and her public trials were too well-documented to hope that her story might have a different ending. With all of the singing shows on television and all the starry-eyed hopefuls desirous of a music career, no one seems to be holding up these talented ladies as a warning.

Which led me to question myself and why I still feel a little sad, even surprised, about how Michael Jackson's story ended. Certainly part of the reason, if I'm truthful, that I am inclined to be more sympathetic to Winehouse and Jackson is that I prefer their music to Houston's. I have always loathed the kind of power pop "diva" singing that Houston popularized. Sorry Celine, Mariah, etc. Having to re-listen to Houston's songs on the radio is not something I look forward to. Or the endless tributes by shows like Glee and American Idol. Houston is responsible for a certain kind of female singing, with endless vocal runs and flourishes, that may have been impressive to some once upon a time, but I think has tainted pop music. It's de riguer for young female singers to try to out-Whitney a song. Bleccch.

So what about Jackson? His whoo-hoos and panting and grunts became just as much of a vocal crutch in his songs as Houston's trills. Is it because, despite all of his controversy and eccentricities, his death still seemed unexpected? He, like Houston, had been virtually ignored on current radio until his death. Now it seems like a day doesn't go by without some contemporary mix radio programmer slipping in a Jackson song like Man in the Mirror or Rock With You.

What made me realize how seriously Jackson took his music was catching the documentary Michael Jackson's This Is It on demand. The concert film, directed by Kenny Ortega, was originally intended as documentary footage of the creation of Jackson's This Is It tour. Ortega claims that the footage was never intended for release, but the quality of some of the filmed sequences suggest there was always an eye to use them for some purpose other than merely reference. The film follows Jackson through the staging of many of his most famous songs, such as "Black or White," "Human Nature," and "Thriller," showing him to be clearly in creative control, as well as a perfectionist. We see that he is human too, with a sense of humor, but the camera always keeps a polite distance, never getting too close to him.

Maybe besides the talent of these people, what still makes the loss of Jackson more poignant is that he was always a bit of a mystery. His private life was not only very private, but at times incomprehensible. His story remains a mystery. Why did it happen, how did it happen? What happened to Amy and Whitney and so many other talented people like them is all-too-familiar. There is nothing mysterious about their endings, just depressing predictability.

joyful noise

What is it about Queen Latifah? She has such a warm, pleasant screen presence. She plays against that natural glow a bit in Joyful Noise, as she plays a harried and cranky single mother, Vi Rose — single by circumstance, as her husband (Jesse L. Martin) has re-upped in the Army to escape a bad economy and his own guilty feelings at not being able to provide for his family.

Queen Latifah shines

Most of the internet chatter about this movie has been of the guilty pleasure variety. Critics have claimed to not want to like it. The plot is predictable, but then they admit to being swept away by the great music. And the movie is 75% music. Joyful Noise may be predictable, but most underdog movies are. Whether they are about high school football or basketball teams (The Replacements, Hoosiers), cheerleading squads (Bring It On), or church choirs — the protagonists will either win their competition or not. Either way lessons will be learned and romances will bloom.

My major hesitation in seeing this movie was Dolly Parton, who has been fighting gravity and age and anything resembling reality for a long time. But Dolly and the scriptwriters seemed well aware of such hesitations, and even worked it into her character, G.G., who is the only one in the choir who has her robes tailored to fit her voluptuous figure, and wears mile-high wigs and more make-up than the entire combined county population. She jokes about it herself, "Who cares if I've had a few little nips and tucks? God didn't make plastic surgeons so they could starve!" G.G. (and Dolly) may have had their faces lifted too many times to remember, but that's part of who they are, and they do it with such verve and humor it's hard to protest for long. Dolly did seem a little disconnected onscreen when she was in a scene where she was just one of the members of the chorus, but when she was the featured singer, her voice is as beautiful and affecting as ever.

Dolly Parton and Kris Kristofferson

Beneath all the crazy Dolly glitz and sentiment (a scene featuring a waltz with her deceased husband Kris Kristofferson was equal parts sweet and weird) there is, not surprisingly, a lot of heart and some great music. The pop tunes chosen for a much-needed update to the staid choir's repertoire are still appropriately inspirational (Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror and Sly and the Family Stone's I Want to Take You Higher). Both Dolly and Queen Latifah are in magnificent voice, as are the supporting players. There is young romance provided by Vi Rose's daughter Olivia (Keke Palmer) and Dolly's nephew Randy (Jeremy Jordan). The pre-requisitely quirky choir members also each get moments to shine.

The movie's characters seem a little more real than we are used to seeing in movies. Besides Dolly, the make-up is appropriately subdued for small-town folk. The town where they live, like towns where many of us live, have a lot of closed and bankrupt businesses. Vi Rose's son Walter (Dexter Darden) has Asperger's syndrome. Nothing gets too heavy, because it's main purpose is fun, and it's all about the music. But Joyful Noise does seem less crass than its cinematic predecessor (which is also an enjoyable guilty pleasure) Sister Act.


By the time the last note is sung it is impossible not to smile. Joyful Noise is just that. You may not have been a fan of gospel or church music when you walked into the theater, but Queen Latifah and company will surely have you tapping and humming along to the music on the way out.

all that jazz

Live like you'll die tomorrow, work like you don't need the money, and dance like nobody's watching.

I just rewatched All That Jazz, which is from top to finish a brilliant tour-de-force and self-fulfilling prophecy. The man had talent and major balls to stage his own life in this over-the-top fantasy. Roy Scheider was amazing and hateful and wonderful as Fosse's alter ego. What a movie.

  

In today's world, everything seems like some sort of long audition.

Quintessential Fosse, "Big Spender" from Sweet Charity (1969). The film is just OK - Shirley MacLaine, for me, is too cutesy to be a convincing dime a dance girl (cough, cough, prostitute). I guess it was the Pretty Woman of its time, except that no one bought it, as it flopped. But the musical numbers and Chita Rivera are of course, just great.

   

It's showtime, folks!

I love the film Cabaret, but seeing Alan Cumming with Natasha Richardson in the 1998 revival on Broadway was phenomenal, too. Although choreographed by Rob Marshall, Fosse's influence was everywhere. As it is on so much dance to this day.

 

Don't dance for the audience; dance for yourself. 

Michael Jackson loved him, too. And obviously took lessons:

"His baldness was the reason that he wore hats, and was doubtless why he put hats on his dancers." He used gloves in his performances because he did not like his hands. — Wikipedia

I would never discriminate against someone's talent because they showed the poor taste to like me.

Fosse was more than a great dancer and choreographer, he was also a great director. Cabaret (1972), Star 80 (1983), Liza with a Z: A Concert for Television (a 1972 TV special which I still have fond memories of seeing), Lenny (1974) and the aforementioned All That Jazz (1979).

Quotes from imdb

remembering elizabeth

Article first published as Remembering Elizabeth Taylor on Blogcritics.

Liz Taylor died Wednesday. She had health battles her whole life, and many recently, so I can't exactly say I was surprised to hear of her passing, but it still feels as if one of not only the old guard, but the guardians of what made Hollywood special, is now gone.

She was beautiful, a fierce and faithful friend, a woman who believed in romance, even after 8 or so marriages (I lost count). She was larger-than-life. She was a damn good actress, with an extremely impressive resume, although her beauty probably clouded that fact for some. But all you have to do is watch Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf if you have any doubts. Yes, Cleopatra was silly and campy at times, but it's also one of the few spectacles still worth giving a look. I love the early scenes with Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar. And it gave Liz Richard Burton and vice-versa.

She is one of the few actors who had a consistently successful career from childhood. From child roles in Lassie Come Home and National Velvet to teen roles in Little Women and Father of the Bride to her adult career, Taylor was always fascinating to watch. We may have lost Liz, but thanks to cable and on-demand programming there are still plenty of opportunities to catch some her most iconic moments on film.

I grew up watching Elizabeth Taylor on television — one of my earliest memories of her is from a Here's Lucy episode where Lucy tries on the famous and ostentatious diamond ring, the Taylor-Burton diamond, and then can't get it off her finger. Co-star Gale Gordon urges her to cut it off. Lucy is horrified at first that he means to damage the ring, but he corrects her — he meant her finger, "There's only one ring like this, and you will still have nine fingers!"

TV is also where I first saw Taylor's movies, although later I was lucky to see some of her greatest films in revival houses in New York. I especially remember the epic Giant, which I saw sometime in the late 80s or early 90s in huge Cinemascope. I was there to see James Dean, but walked out loving his relationship with Taylor in the movie. She really had an amazing empathy as an actress, and also seemed to be drawn to the lost puppies in life — I think she could really relate to Dean, like she also connected to Montgomery Clift and later, Michael Jackson.

I love her in The Mirror Crack'd, so vulnerable with co-star Rock Hudson and bitchy as all get out with rival Kim Novak. She and Montgomery Clift are both so amazingly beautiful in A Place in the Sun it's hard to keep in mind while you're watching the film that it is supposed to be a tragedy. You want to see them in love, on the screen together as long as possible. Suddenly, Last Summer, although completely over-the-top in its psycho-sexual subject matter, is still fun to watch, as much for the overwrought performances by Taylor and Katharine Hepburn as for watching the troubled Montgomery Clift post-accident to see if glimmers of his brilliance can still shine through. Taylor helped the almost unemployable Clift get the role. She was a true-blue friend.

Taylor will always be remembered as a beautiful, much-married actress with violet eyes, but her true legacy may be her charity work. She was the first to have the guts and the brains to realize that we needed to fight AIDS, not just sit back and watch friends and family die. She helped found the American Foundation for AIDS Research after the death of her dear friend, Rock Hudson. She also founded her own foundation, the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation.

She was quite a dame, literally. And she knew how to make an entrance.

Related articles

• "Montgomery Clift on Elizabeth Taylor: "You know how it is when you love somebody terribly but you can't describe why? That's how I love Bessie Mae."" and related posts (sheilaomalley.com)

the little girls understand

Article first published as Movie Review: Justin Bieber: Never Say Never on Blogcritics.



I was telling myself that taking my daughter to Justin Bieber: Never Say Never in 3D was proof of my undying love for her. And I do love my kid. But truth be told, it was actually entertaining, even for a mostly uninitiated adult. Bieber has a natural musical talent and his family has been videotaping him from an early age, so the filmmakers found it easy to supply the documentary evidence. The film was directed by Step Up 3D's Jon Chu, but only the concert scenes had any real 3D action, with the rest of the film containing documentary-style clips or interspersed with the family's fuzzy-quality home video. The episodic 3D actually works, as the moments when Justin reaches out to the audience give the little girls a surprise and an extra opportunity to squeal. And there were some squealers in the audience, as well as some dancing in the aisles towards the end. Ah, youth.

The film is structured like pretty much every rock documentary. Some "origins of the band" material (in Bieber's case, maybe more baby photos than most), a crisis (what will the doctor say about his vocal chords?), celebrity endorsements (Usher, Snoop Dogg) and plenty of concert footage. It's interesting that Bieber has come up at a time in pop music when he can fully embrace all musical genres, including hip hop, yet not be another Vanilla Ice. Stars like Usher and Ludacris not only endorse but embrace the kid. His personal road to stardom is also cleverly contrasted and combined with other young stars like Miley Cyrus and Jaden Smith, who got their careers jump-started through nepotism and the Disney machine.

I can't say that any of the songs stayed with me except "Baby," but that's probably because I had heard it so many times before. I'm not sure why synchronized cheerleading dance moves are still de riguer for every popular musical artist—isn't anyone else as sick of that as I am yet?—but Bieber dances and  moonwalks cheerfully and the little girls go wild.

As much as Bieber owes his fame to the power of social media and young girls' allowances, it was surprising to me to learn how much anti-Bieber buzz there is to be found on media sites, both in articles and comments. And that's even before the Rolling Stone interview came out, with questions that seemed set up to make the kid trip over himself. Seriously, does anyone, apart from his core audience, who are probably not Rolling Stone subscribers, care to hear a seventeen year-old's political and cultural opinions?

It's hard to understand why so many people's panties get in a twist about this kid. He's talented, he's cute, and he's completely age-appropriate for his demographic. Why do adults feel that girls are plain silly or crazy to like him? They obviously don't know or haven't recently spent much time with little girls, who are plain silly and for the most part, like things that are pink and glittery and cute. Bieber is all of the above. There's nothing wrong with girls having crushes on a "safe" idol. They're not ready for much more at their age, and as their idol grows, so will they. They will either grow out of him, or grow with him. Bieber's in a similar situation to a young Michael Jackson. Jackson and his fans grew up together. Bieber could either follow in his footsteps or, if the pop idol scene wanes for him, he is talented and driven enough to become a producer or some other music professional. After watching this film it is clear that he's definitely going to be in the music business for a long time.

The kid smiles a lot, but his puppy-dog cutes can't hide the fact that he is very driven and dedicated. Footage features a young child barely big enough to sit on the drum kit stool, intermixed with street corner busking in Canada, and current-day dance-move rehearsal in front of the mirror before a show. It's all the same kid, trying to perfect his moves, going for brass ring after ring. As much as the film tries to give a step-by-step of how Bieber broke through to the big time, it might gloss over the sheer ambition that is matched with the talent. Yet he still seems a pretty normal kid. Sure hope he stays that way.

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always look on the bright side of life

This has been a tough year in so many ways. Actually, the year before this one had its moments too, but who's counting . . .

One of my personal strategies of the past year or so has been to look in the mirror first thing when I get up and flash a big, bright smile (no matter how tired or not bright and shiny I felt at the moment.) The reasoning behind this is that if I smile more, I might actually feel more . . . you know, happy. You are what you put out there, right? Except, according to this article on my new favorite blog of the past ten minutes, smiling may soothe those outside of you, but heal thyself? Not so much. Hmmm . . .





If you are not smiling the Duchenne way, i.e. smiling not just with your mouth but with your eyes, then supposedly you really aren't smiling at all. The article links to a "spot the fake smile" quiz. After reading the article I got 16 out of 20 right. I wonder if I would have done so well if I had taken the quiz first . . . How did you do? Somehow the surreality of taking this quiz brought back Michael Jackson's face-morphing Black or White video. Jackson also covered Charlie Chaplin's classic, Smile. Was Charlie Chaplin wrong? Should we not smile when our hearts are breaking?

The eyes, or at least the little crinkles around the corners that so many overpriced beauty products are trying to conceal, may indeed be the windows to the soul, an answer to how a person is feeling, to the truth behind that Mona Lisa smile. The eyes truly do have it . . .

these are a few of my favorite things

Part Grace Jones, part James Brown, Janelle Monae makes me smile all the way through this fun song. Michael Jackson would even enjoy her moonwalk. Robots, vampires—what more does a great video need?

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the man in the mirror

Over the next few weeks there will be, I'm sure, even more revelations about Michael Jackson's death and glimpses into his life. But will anyone ever be able to unravel the mystery that was Michael Jackson? Could Michael himself?

The tributes keep coming, with opportunities to listen to his music through the years and watch his videos, many of them long-form mini-musicals. His physical transformations become clear (and progressively more disturbing) after watching many at one time, as I did the other night, as opposed to watching him change gradually, incrementally, through the years.

As early as Rock with You Michael had made some adjustments, clearly narrowing his nose, using eyeliner, and possibly even pancake make-up to enhance his skin tone and appearance. But so what? He was in showbiz. And who walks around this earth exactly as they came into it? We all cut our hair, sometimes dye it, some straighten our teeth, some our noses. The bigger question regarding Michael's transformation is why didn't or couldn't he stop there? He was still adorable. Was that the problem? Was he trying to escape his adorable Jackson 5 lead-singing face?


In video after video Michael looks less and less like his younger self, more and more like - well at one point, he's got a distinctly Peter Pan-ish nose, later a very square cleft chin, ultimately hardly a nose at all, he looks more and more like an anime character. What also comes through very strongly in his videos is anger - when we do get to see his face he is frequently scowling and grimacing and looking generally pissed off. When I originally watched these short films years ago I assumed he was trying to act more masculine, but after watching twenty in a row, his anger is palpable, overpowering.

What also comes through again and again is his desire to hide. He was constantly changing and adjusting his face, but he also was showing it less and less - hiding it under SFX make-up in Thriller, under hats in Smooth Criminal, hard-to-see in animation in Leave Me Alone. In other videos he took a back seat and let others provide most of the visuals: Black or White, In the Closet.

Where Michael really wanted our attention was on his feet. Taking a cue from Gene Kelly, he wore white socks to draw attention to his feet while he was dancing. His love of old Hollywood musicals stands out in each video as he got to be a Jet or a Shark in his own personal West Side Story. Admittedly, the choreography can get a bit repetitive, but there's no denying that the man could dance. He constantly underlined his Hollywood fandom by populating his videos with bits by Movie Stars: Marlon Brando, an animated Elizabeth Taylor, and Vincent Price narrating Thriller. He "gotta dance."

Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson Scream

It has been theorized in the past that Michael was trying to deny his roots by transforming himself from a person of color to a white man. As each small change was gradually revealed, I can see why some might have thought this, but after watching a video marathon I am convinced that was not truly the case. Whenever Michael cast himself as the romantic lead in his songs his love interest was always a woman of color - African-American, Hispanic, Asian. His dancers were a mix of all of the above. And he didn't look "white." His skin was pale, ultimately unearthly - check out Scream. But it was more kabuki. As he sang in another song, "it don't matter if you're black or white." It's a great message and a pretty great song. But like Judy Garland, it's hard to look at Michael Jackson and not see the tragedy of a lost childhood, of self-abuse, of a talent twisted by fame and god knows what else. Tragic, but endlessly fascinating, because it's so human. Stay tuned. I know I will...

off the wall

OFF THE WALL MICHAEL JACKSON

I was never a huge fan of Michael Jackson, but I did love this song. I remember how cute he was when the record came out, and dancing to it.

I guess everyone has tried to "moonwalk" since the 80s, but no one did it like him.

He truly was a phenomenon, in every sense - unique, creative, and highly unusual. But I probably liked him best as the exuberant lead voice of the Jackson 5. I can even picture his cartoon version.

Sadly, as we all know, his adult life sometimes took on bizarre, cartoon-like dimensions. No matter whether he did what some accused him of or not, there was no denying that he was odd, taking his persona and his lifestyle to Howard Hughes-like strangeness.

I have been guilty in the past, like many, of scornfully referring to him as Wacko Jacko. Did he make it too easy? Did he really never have any experience of a "normal" life? It's all too sad. 50 is too young.

Johnny Depp is destined to play him in the Tim Burton biopic (Willie Wonka was just a rehearsal.) I just keep thinking about the kids. No normal life for them, either, I'm afraid. Maybe Michael's "ex," Lisa Marie, can step in and give them some perspective, as she has been in an eerily similar position.

I can't help it, I keep thinking of Elvis dead at Graceland, Michael in his Neverland. Why does anyone want to be a "star?"