Clips That Bring Me Joy, Vol X

 We could always use some more joy. I love these clips, and I hope you do, too.

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lists

The Movie Musical is Back Baby!

I finally saw the new adaptation of West Side Story, and this really caps off a great year for the movie musical. I mean, In the Heights, Tick Tick... Boom!, and West Side Story were tremendous. Even the, shall we say, less well received movies give me hope, like Cinderella, with Camila Cabello, and Dear Evan Hansen, which I have many thoughts about. After they were released there were no think pieces about the death of the movie musical. Everyone just moved onto the next movie musical.

Now there has been hate against movie musicals, that people just can't believe that people will break into song and dance. But people can suspend their disbelief for superheroes, and all the impossible things that happen in those movies, you can suspend your disbelief for a musical number. It's fun!

Also, you just can't get the emotional highs that you get in musicals that you can't get from other kinds of movies. From "96,000" to "Somewhere", and everything in between. And you don't get much better moments like Stephen Sondheim's voicemail to Jonathan Larson in Tick Tick... Boom! anywhere else.

Hopefully after the reception to both the good and the bad, studios will realize there is a market for the movie musical and greenlight more. Because I. Want. Them. All.

cinema, thoughts

Can't. Compute. Narrative.

Thanks to work and its long hours, when it came to watching television or movies, I needed things I didn't have to pay attention to, so my brain could wind down from the day and could get me to sleep. Attempting to process and follow a narrative would have sent my brain into overload. Which means I'm behind on Succession, Sex Lives of College Girls, and so many others that I'm forgetting because I'm just not plugged into what was on tv. Forget movies.

Now that job has ended, and I still can't process narrative. I'm assuming it's cause my brain hasn't adjusted back just yet. And I don't want to start a show or movie I'm looking forward to in fear of getting halfway through and turning it off, never going back and finishing it. Just letting it languish in my continue watching queue. 

I just need to find a low stakes piece of entertainment to get me back into the groove of paying attention to a story. Maybe it could lend to me picking up a book, too.

journal

Earworm: An Evening With Silk Sonic by Silk Sonic

Just some good funky music. I love this lane Bruno Mars has carved out for himself. And I hate to admit that I'm not familiar with Anderson .Paak's music, but I know that he has the most popular Tiny Desk Concert, so he might just be my next deep dive on an artist.

The song I'm digging the most off the album at the moment is "Fly As Me" and I loved their performance at the Soul Train Awards. It's what a Soul Train performance looks like and it's awesome.

earworm

Little Mix are Taking a Break and I'm Fine (No I'm Not)

It's taken me a few days to process this since they made their announcement.

I love Little Mix, and I genuinely think they are one of the best girl groups of all time. They have earned that distinction over the last ten years, starting with being the first group to win X Factor UK, and breaking the girl group curse while they were at it, and ending with becoming the first girl group to win Best Group at the BRIT Awards in its 43 year history.

They were an act in the British Invasion of the 2010s that, along with their fellow X Factor UK contestants to try to break the US, lived in the shadow of One Direction. But, while they never truly broke America, they do have a strong fan base here.

So now I’m sad, but they’re still touring next year so we’ll get to see them perform. And I’d like to hear the new arrangements now that that fourth member has left the group.

I am looking forward to what Perrie, Jade, and Leigh-Anne do next. They’re all expected to do solo music. Perrie and Leigh-Anne have their babies and fashion lines. Leigh-Anne just made her acting debut in Boxing Day, a new holiday rom-com. But the girl I’m most interested in following is Jade, for many reasons. The first one is the obvious one, she’s my favorite and has my favorite voice in the group. The second reason is that she is the member that has been making more moves as a songwriter during her time in Little Mix. She signed a publishing deal and has sold songs to other artists, including one to K-Pop girl group TWICE.

I will be mourning the group, but I have hope that we'll see them together again. And until we do, I can't wait to see what each member does next. 

journal, thoughts

Musicals That Should Get the Live Broadcast Treatment

With Annie Live! airing on NBC, the live musical broadcast is back! And it’s got me thinking about the next musicals I’d like to see get this sort of treatment.

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lists, the telly, the theatre