"AHS" by Request

Uncle P has only ever done one post by request before, and then it was simply a title that was requested. But when a friend publicly challenged me on Facebook, I felt I had no choice but to respond. So, here is the first content-requested post on Caliban's Revenge.

When it premiered last month, I immediately fell in love with FX's "American Horror Story," though a few folks took some time to warm up to it (Mr. Romano? I'm talking to you). As the story has progressed, the mysteries have only deepened, though we have been given more and more information about the house and its history with every episode. We know who the last owners were (who knew Zachary Quinto would be so good as a bitchy queen?) and have some insight into the first owners (a drug-addled abortionist and his status-hungry wife). We've learned that the alternately frumpy/sexy maid was murdered by the next door neighbor and that a pair of nursing students were killed by a psychopath who hated nurses. We've watched psychiatrist Ben Harmon (Dylan McDermott) slowly lose his mind; bury his former lover under a gazebo he built to hide her grave and drive the most boring woman in the world to attempt suicide. We know that his wife Vivien (Connie Britton) hates him; is pregnant with a child that is... (well, we'll talk about that in a moment) and is desperate to sell the house. We've seen their emotionally disturbed daughter Violet (Taissa Farmiga) cut herself to relieve her emotional pain. And we've seen their possibly insane neighbor Constance (the incomparable Jessica Lange) make cupcakes laced with Syrup of Ipecac (among other unpleasant things).

This week's episode gave us all kinds of answers (while asking more questions). We now know that Ben's patient Tate (Evan Peters), perpetrated a Columbine-style school shooting and is actually one of the many ghosts haunting the house. We also know why the ultrasound technician fainted; that Tate is/was another of Constance's children; why Constance told Moira "Don't make me kill you again" and (maybe) why the house is obsessed with babies. Of course, we haven't been told who (or what) the 'Rubber Man' is or what the fang-toothed, long-clawed monster lurking in the basement may be. And what of burn-scarred Larry and the truth about his back story? This week's most disturbing moment? Well, that had to be the scene in which Vivien eats a raw brain with relish, only to find herself puzzled at having done so. Of course, the subplot involving Ben's latest patient ("Modern Family" alum Eric Stonestreet) as a man terrified of urban legends, ended with a deliciously ironic "Twilight Zone" twist ("Here, piggy-piggy-pig-pig!"). And we now also know that Vivien may actually be carrying a demon child.

Referencing classic horror movies like The Haunting; Psycho; Rosemary's Baby; A Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween (among others) while adding it's own twists, "American Horror Story" pushes the envelope unlike any other show on television. Disturbing; creepy; gross; sexy and just plain weird, "American Horror Story" may actually supplant "The Walking Dead" and "Fringe" as my TV favorite show. If you are a regular reader of Caliban's Revenge and aren't watching "AHS," you should be.

It has already been reported that "AHS" has been picked up for a second season. I only hope the showrunners can maintain the creepy and often terrifying atmosphere they've managed to create in these first few episodes.

 
More, anon.
Prospero

The Gayest Things You'll See This Week

That's Major League Soccer player David Testo in a still from an interview with the CBC's Radio Canada, coming out publicly. OutSports.com has the story (via). Testo, who until recently played for the Montreal Impact, was a soccer star at both the University of South Carlina and North Carolina and played professionally for the Richmond Kickers and the Columbus Crew before being drafted by the Vancouver Whitecaps. He was just let go by Montreal and is looking for a new team. He says he regrets not coming out sooner and that living as a closeted gay man was "incredibly difficult" (Ya think?).

Uncle P has always thought that soccer (while boring as hell) has the hottest players. I can only hope that other gay athletes will follow Mr. Testo's lead and come out. The more that do, the easier it will get for others who are afraid, including LGBT youth who need as many inspirational folks to whom they look up, as possible. It really is getting better...

In other LGBT news, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the "Respect for Marriage Act" in a 10 to 8 vote, moving the repeal of DOMA that much closer to reality. Of course, the repeal of DOMA would pave the way for national Marriage Equality. I am sure that the morons at NOM are having apoplectic fits over this news. You can read all about it over at Towleroad.

Finally, while not particularly gay, TV's gayest show "Glee" has an upcoming mashup of gay icon Adele's "Rumor Has It" and "Someone Like You" featured on next week's episode (Hmm... maybe it's pretty gay, afterall). Anyway, gorgeous "Glee" cast members Amber Riley ('Mercedes') and Naya Rivera ('Santana') tear it up:

Wow! After this week's "West Side Story" episode, I can't wait to see next week's show. 

More, anon.
Prospero

Writing for Me

Man, I miss 'Calvin and Hobbes.' It always made me wonder how Bill Waterston was able to access by childhood.

Any-who... I've decided to take a night to work on that damned screenplay and try and to figure out an Act III that makes sense and wraps the whole thing up. I've already dumped two attempts. Of course, I keep having dreams that have potential of becoming screenplays that are totally unrelated to the one I'm trying to finish. 

All this, of course, while directing and acting in a new show. 

All hell is breaking loose in the very scary place that is my mind. Let's just hope that translates to the page.

More, anon.
Prospero

Turn Off the Weird

All over the place in weird and odd entertainment news today. Let's start with news (via) that megalomaniacal director Julie Taymor is now suing the producers of the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. After months of accidents and horrible pre-opening reviews, Taymor was fired from the show and replaced by director Phillip McKinley (The Boy from Oz). The Guild of Directors and Choreographers has filed the suit on her behalf, claiming the show (which is raking in over $1M a week) has failed to compensate her for continued use of her work and is seeking $300,000.00.  Long-time readers know how I feel about this entire project. I have not seen the show in any of its incarnations (nor do I ever intend to do so), so I have no idea how much of Taymor's work is actually used in the production that is running now. I do know she co-wrote the original book, but a writer from Marvel was brought in to fix it after she 'left.' Still, it seems to me that $300k is a measly price to pay to be rid of her, once and for all. If I were her, knowing that I'll probably never work on Broadway again, I'd ask for more.

Speaking of megalomaniacal directors, creepy Brett Ratner (the man who single-handedly ruined the X-Men franchise), has resigned as producer of the 2012 Oscars after making a homophobic slur at a question and answer session following the premiere of his latest cinematic turd, Tower Heist. When asked about rehearsals for the film, Ratboy replied "Rehearsals are for f*gs." He then went on Howard Stern's satellite radio program where he claimed (among other things) that he was "very, very good" at performing a certain oral sex act with women. After some pressure from GLAAD, he issued a lame apology. Today, after many LGBT reporters, industry insiders and performers called for his firing, he resigned, saying in part (via):

"So many artists and craftspeople in our business are members of the LGBT community, and it pains me deeply that I may have hurt them. I should have known this all along, but at least I know it now: words do matter. Having love in your heart doesn’t count for much if what comes out of your mouth is ugly and bigoted. With this in mind, and to all those who understandably feel that apologies are not enough, please know that I will be taking real action over the coming weeks and months in an effort to do everything I can both professionally and personally to help stamp out the kind of thoughtless bigotry I’ve so foolishly perpetuated.

"As a first step, I called Tom Sherak this morning and resigned as a producer of the 84th Academy Awards telecast. Being asked to help put on the Oscar show was the proudest moment of my career. But as painful as this may be for me, it would be worse if my association with the show were to be a distraction from the Academy and the high ideals it represents."

I say: "Good riddance to bad rubbish." The man is a pig. He looks like he smells bad and I have never seen a single one of his films that I could, in good conscience, recommend. Really - does this look remotely funny to you?

In other lawsuits (also via), an Oregon man named Bilal Ahmed is suing Lionsgate over use of his image in the 2010 Russell Crowe (another Hollywood asshat) film The Next Three Days (I barely remember it existed, too). Ahmed claims that since his picture was used without his authorization in a group of photos depicting terrorists, his job prospects have been diminished and he has been forced to change his appearance (cutting his hair and beard) so that he won't be associated with actual terrorists. There's no indication as to where the filmmakers got his photo. Here's the trailer for the movie from overrated director Paul Haggis (Crash):

And finally, while not an Industry related story, this sounds like the plot of a horror movie. 45 year-old Russian historian Anatoly Moskvin has been arrested after he was discovered to have the remains of 29 young women in his Moscow apartment, dressed in brightly colored clothing and posed in a bizarre tableau. The Miami Herald reports that Moskvin had several books on doll making and was caught after a long investigation into a series of grave-robberies in the city. A linguist and expert on Celtic culture, Moskvin reportedly claimed that his fascination with the dead started when he was a boy and was forced to kiss the corpse of a young girl in a passing funeral procession. Eeeeeewwwwwww!

Well, I hope I haven't given you (or myself) bad dreams, with that last item. If I did, I apologize in advance.

More. anon.

Prospero

Cherokee Rose

SPOILER ALERT. If you haven't seen this week's episode of "The Walking Dead," read no further.

Now that Carl seems to be on the mend, and the others have arrived from the highway, the group at Herchel's farm hold a funeral for Otis. When Otis' widow asks Shane to speak, he is almost overcome with guilt, but manages to make his through a lie at the cairn they've built in Otis' memory.

Dale asks Maggie about water and she tells him there are several wells, pointing him to the one they use for the cattle and assuring him it's just as pure as the house well.  Daryl heads out to search for Sophia on his own, finding an abandoned house where she may have spent the night and an unusual flower growing outside.

Meanwhile, T-Bone and Dale are drawing water from the well when Dale looks in it and stops T-Bone from drinking a big ladle of water. It seems there is a 'swimmer' in the well - a bloated, water-logged Walker trapped at the bottom. Deciding that shooting the Walker will contaminate the well (if it isn't already), they try to lure it with a canned ham on a rope. When that doesn't work, they send Glenn down as live bait but the pump they're using as to hold the rope gives way and Genn is sent plunging down the well. They work feverishly to haul Glenn up and find that he managed to lasso the Walker, anyway. They pull the Walker up but it gets stuck halfway out and the bloated corpse rips in half, sending legs and offal back down where it came from, leaving the upper half to claw at them. T-Bone smashes the Walker's head in as Maggie turns away in disgust.

Glenn and Maggie are sent to retrieve medicine from the local pharmacy (and a special request from Lori), where the two have a very intimate moment ("You're not the only one who's lonely," Maggie tells him). Herchel tells Rick that once they find Sophia and Carl is well-enough to travel, they must leave but Rick later passionately entreats him to let the travelers stay. Herchel agrees to think about, if they all follow his rules (something I don't think will happen). 

Daryl brings a flower back to Carol, telling her the story of the Cherokee Rose, which supposedly grew from the tears of the Native American women on the infamous Trail of Tears, in an attempt to comfort her over the still-missing Sophia. Glenn and Maggie return and Lori sneaks off in the night to use the item she asked Glenn to be discreet about. It's a pregnancy test, which confirmed what I thought Jenner whispered into Rick's ear just before they escaped the CDC.

With only one (exceptionally gross) Walker kill and lots of sturm und drang, "Cherokee Rose" was an interesting though less-than-exciting episode (unless you count Daryl exploring the very creepy abandoned house). But I have faith that they're setting us up for some heart-pounding drama to end the demi-season. Much is being made online about how slowly the story is being told. Personally, I think that's a good thing. It only makes the major moments that much better and sets up some major plot twists yet to come.

"The Walking Dead" isn't the kind of show that resolves an issue every hour. Like "Lost;" "The Sopranos" and "Breaking Bad," it's taking its time to deliver major plot-point reveals so that when they do come, they are all that much more effective. Would you prefer that Scarlett learns everything about Rhett in the first 20 minutes of Gone With the Wind? I thought not.

More, anon.

Prospero

Joey, Do You Like Movies About Gladiators?

Henry Cavill ("The Tudors" and the upcoming Superman re-boot Man of Steel) is Theseus  in Tarsem Singh's lavish take on Greek mythology The Immortals, opening next weekend.

Tarsem (as he likes to be known) directed one of the most interesting Sci-Fi movies of 2000, The Cell, about a child psychologist (Jennifer Lopez) who uses hypnotic techniques to enter the mind of a comatose serial killer (Vincent D'Onofrio). Using state-of-the-art effects, Tarsem manged to take us into a visual world we'd never seen before.

2006's The Fall was an epic fantasy as told by an injured stuntman in 1920's Hollywood. Critics were divided, though once again, Tarsem demonstrated a visual style unlike any other director working today.

Along with Cavill (who can be seen shirtless all over the web, these days), Immortals features Mickey Rourke; Frieda Pinto; Stephen Dorff; openly gay actor Luke Evans; John Hurt and Kellen Lutz. Dear D and I are currently trying to find a time this upcoming weekend to see this film. Once we have, you can be sure I'll be posting my review. That is of course, once I recover...

Below are the trailers for all of Tarsem's films.

The Cell:



The Fall:



Immortals:

Tarsems's next film is the 2012 untitled live-action version of Snow White, starring Julia Roberts; Armie Hammer; Sean Bean; Lily Taylor and Nathan Lane. I'm surprised he took on another film so quickly, given his usual 5 or 6 years between projects.

More, anon.
Prospero

Some More Shameless Self Promotion

I can't believe it's already time for the JTMF Winter Event, featuring a staged radio play. To your left is the gorgeous poster for Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol,' which will have 4 performances: December 2nd and 3rd at 8:00 PM and December 3rd and 4th at 2:00 PM. 

Anthony E. Palermo's adaptation features all the characters we know and love; Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, in a radio version with a live Foley (sound effects) crew.

The cast includes 8 JTMF regulars, including Dear D; K; Q; Matty; Maddie and (appearing in a JTMF show for the first time in 8 years), Uncle P himself as Marley, Fezziwig and the Ghost of Christmas Present. Tickets are $14 to $18 and can be purchased online at www.kelseyatmccc.org; by phone at 609-570-3333 or at the Kelsey box-office. Last year's production of It's a Wonderful Life sold out quickly, so order your tickets early to ensure the best seats.

Partial proceeds from our Winter Event benefit The Trevor Project, a toll-free 24-hour suicide prevention hot-line for LGBT and questioning youth. Our annual June production benefits The Open Arms Foundation; The James Tolin Memorial Scholarship at MCCC and The Trevor Project. Stay tuned for more information about our upcoming 10th Anniversary and our co-production with the MCCC Performing Arts Department of Hairspray (in which it is rumored that Uncle P will playing - God help me - Edna Turnblad).

Seriously, if you are in the Northeast, stop by to not only see a pretty terrific show, but help out some pretty terrific causes, as well. If can't attend, but want to help, you can always make a safe and secure donation via PayPal at www.jtmf.org, though we'd love to see your butt in one of our seats!

More, anon.
Prospero