Thursday, December 23, 2010

Mele Kalikimaka

I have been grossly negligent of late with regards to posting. This can be readily explained in three words: I'm in Hawaii.

Before I go on to anything else, I want to do a PIMP YOUR FRIENDS segment. The pimping, in this case, is of Croft and Pearce, a British comedy duo. They are gorgeous, hilarious, and also happen to be dear friends of mine. They've been gigging around London, and have just released their first YouTube video, which I think you should watch. It's the first in a series regarding Prince William's engagement. I think it gets even funnier with every repeated viewing.

I want to do a fairly epic blog post a'la Krakow (see Feb or March if you don't know what I'm talking about and care to read about my all-too brief travels to Poland), so I'll save that for a few days from now, when I'm in Boston, freezing and unwilling to do much aside from rehearse and hibernate. Oh, that's right, kids. Starting December 27th, I will be in snowy, slushy Boston, in rehearsals for NINE. I've been reading the script, and I'm SO excited!!! Not for the brutal weather, obviously, but singing this incredible music will more than make up for it.

The Marginally Christmas Cabaret went smashingly well! Thanks to all who came out to see us! Videos are currently being edited, and will hopefully be posted to my YouTube channel within the next few weeks.

So, tomorrow, I'll wake up in Honolulu for the last time. We'll see Pearl Harbor, my parents will go to the Baylor basketball game, and then we'll fly to Breckenridge, Colorado, for a family Christmas. December 26th, I catch a flight that puts me into Newark at midnight. I'll get home, unpack, REPACK, and catch a bus to Boston first thing in the morning for a 5pm rehearsal. Mercifully, I can sleep the entire next day. Then I'm in Boston through February 27th! Trident Booksellers & Cafe, here I come!

Some pics of The Big Island posted below!





Thursday, December 9, 2010

A Holiday Cabaret, You Say?

Is it a shameless plug if it's on your own blog? I didn't think so.

Next Wednesday night, the 15th of December in the year of 2010, I'm singing in a cabaret show I put together with my dear friends Alesia Lawson and Sarah Randall Hunt. If you're in the area and free that night, I suggest you check us out, because it's gonna be a grand old time.

A MARGINALLY CHRISTMAS CABARET!
We know what you boys and girls want this holiday season - SINGIN'! LOTS OF IT! Well, Santa ain't gonna let you down, kiddies. He's sending a magnificent triumvirate of funny ladies (and a couple of funny lads!) your way this December 15th! We will occasionally be embracing the fact that this cabaret show is mid-December, and throwing something Christmasy your way. However, as we really can't be bothered to Fa La La La La our way through an entire 90 minutes, the majority of the evening will be free of elves, trees, dreidels, reindeer, nativities, and references to the Claus family.

Vaguely holiday-related. Absolutely hilarious.

Suggested donation of $10. Anything we make over the first $200 is going to The New York City Coalition Against Hunger.

Featuring the glorious talents of:
Sarah Randall Hunt
Amy Jackson
Alesia Lawson

With guest performers:
Aaron Jackson
Hernando Umana
Kenneth Kyle Senn

Aaaaand the marvelous Michael Hopewell on piano!

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010 @ 7:00pm
The Producers Club - Royale Theatre
358 W. 44th St, just off 9th Avenue

Saturday, December 4, 2010

The Les Incompetents Edition

My favorite relatively new Thanksgiving tradition that my bro and friends and I have implemented over the past few years is to eat the Thanksgiving feast at real dinner time (approx 7:30 or 8:00pm - none of us care about football, which I can only assume affects the timing of everyone else's meals), and then watch HOME ALONE before we eat dessert. Watching HOME ALONE has now become our way of officially ushering in the holiday season, and this year, I decided to mark it in an even more official fashion: I tweeted it.

Live tweeting during particular events (The Academy Awards and the Tonys, if we're getting down to MY specifics, but it also works for shows like MAD MEN, various political speeches/debates, breaking news stories, etc) has really changed the way that said events are experienced. The feed for the #tonys this year was better than the actual Tonys themselves. ANYWAY, on Thanksgiving, I live tweeted all of the best parts of HOME ALONE, and, as there are many iconic moments, it got a bit epic.

For those of you who aren't regular users of Twitter, it may behoove you to know what a hashtag is. Basically, it serves a simple search function, so that anything I wrote with a (#) preceding it would show up in the general Twitter feed for those exact words. However, many people also use it to make jokes or somewhat sarcastic asides with. I love an aside. I use it every which way possible.

Anyway, here they are - THE 2010 #HOMEALONE TWEETS!


And now...my favorite part of Thanksgiving...#homealone!!!

Mac Culkin is TINY!!! #homealone

Kevin, you are what the French call "Les Incompetents."#homealone #freakingclassic

When I grow up and get married, I'm living alone! #homealone #freakingclassic

First pizza delivery to the McAlister house. #homealone #freakingclassic

This pizza boy is gay. #homealone #freakingclassic

Fuller! Go easy on the Pepsi! #homealone #freakingclassic

Look what you did, ya little jerk!!! #homealone #freakingclassic

Goodnight, Kevin! #homealone #freakingclassic

WE SLEPT IN!!! #homealone #freakingclassic

Run, Run, Rudolph playing in the airport sequence....Let's face it. It's #freakingclassic. #homealone

This entire house is completely red & green, even though the family is in Paris for Christmas. #logical #homealone #freakingclassic

Even the creepy furnace is green! #spooky #homealone #freakingclassic

Jumping on the bed/trashing the house sequence. Undeniably, a #freakingclassic moment in cinema. #homealone

Buzz, your girlfriend! Woof! #homealone #freakingclassic

Keep tha change, ya filthy animal. #angelswithfilthysouls#homealone #freakingclassic

KEVIN!!! #homealone #freakingclassic #whoops

Sledding down the stairs, inspiring millions of kids to injure themselves at home! #homealone #freakingclassic

Daniel Stern, there you are!!! Welcome! #homealone

Hope Davis with a magnificent French accent and long blonde hair.#homealone

Shaving cream. Enough said. #homealone #freakingclassic

Escaped Tarantula! Noooooooooooo! #homealone #freakingclassic #majorplotpointlaterinthemovie

I'm a criminal. #homealone #freakingclassic

The best part of the movie!!! Mac Culkin screaming, his face inches from the van the bandits are driving. #homealone #freakingclassic

Rockin Around the Christmas Tree large-scale subterfuge!!! #homealone #freakingclassic

The gay pizza boy returns! #angelswithfilthysouls #homealone #freakingclassic

Bing Crosby lip-synching in a towel and shaving cream part two!#homealone #freakingclassic

Simultaneous grocery bag breakdown. #homealone #freakingclassic

Wet Bandit attempted smackdown! #convenientlyplacedfireworks #homealone #freakingclassic

I think we're gettin scammed by a kindegahdnuh! #homealone #freakingclassic

Moments of learning and growth for dear young Kevin McAlister!#homealone #freakingclassic #talkswithacreepyoldman

Oh, child! It's time for some serious #carolofthebells here on #homealone! This movie is getting INTENSE!!! #freakingclassic

This is MY house. I have to defend it! #homealone #freakingclassic #whereismybattleplan?

Oh. It. Is. ON! #wetbanditsandkevinhowdown #homealone #freakingclassic

Iron to the faaaaace!!! #iwouldthinkthatwouldknockyououtbutthatisjustme #homealone#freakingclassic

Singed head! #morepainfulthanfunnyreally #homealone #freakingclassic

Covered in feathers! #morefunnythanpainfulreally #homealone #freakingclassic

You guys give up, or you thirsty for more? #howaretheynotdeadyet #homealone #freakingclassic

You burglars are morons. #homealone

Brick wall to the face. IT IS TIME TO GIVE UP, WET BANDITS!!!#homealone

All I'm doing is sitting here, thinking about how long Daniel Stern had to be in makeup every morning to get that iron imprint. #homealone

Wet Bandit Crackdown! HaHA! Thwarted for THIS Christmas, Marv & Harry! #homealone #freakingclassic

John Candy, you are a symbol of the early 90s. This may be poor consolation, but there it is. #homealone

That bed looks so cozy, I'm contemplating buying myself bright red sheets. #homealone #suggestiveselling

A beautiful Christmas family reunion!!! #homealone #catherineoharaissogood #freakingclassic

I went shopping yesterday! I got the milk, eggs, and fabric softener!#homealone #freakingclassic

A grandfather/granddaughter reunion! Beauteous! #homealone

Kevin!!! What did you do to my room??? #homealone #freakingclassic

Now that #homealone is over, it's time for PIE!



Hope those were at least moderately enjoyable to someone. By the way, the title of this post refers to the fact that certain movies (I'm lookin' at you, PRINCESS BRIDE) have different special editions available for purchase. I'm pretty sure most of them are identical in content, it's just a matter of whether you'd rather have Buttercup, Humperdinck, or Westley immortalized on the DVD cover. In keeping with this theme, we were rather disappointed to discover (a few years ago now) that HOME ALONE only offered the "Family Fun" edition. We thought this was a load of crap. The special features are great, sure, but we wanted a little more flair. Who wouldn't rather get to choose between the "Les Incompetents," "You Little Jerk," and "Keep the Change, Ya Filthy Animal" editions? Or even between the versions entitled "The Wet Bandits," "Hyper on Two," and "The Polka King of Chicago"??? AM I RIGHT? "Family Fun," huh? LAAAAME!