Thank you for calling Overthinking It. If you’re here for unstructured discussion of pop culture, say “Open Thread.” If you have a question about billing, please say “Accounts.” Para continuar en español, dice “español”.
What goes on? “Weird” Al Yankovic aired his grievances on the Internet when Lady Gaga’s PR manager withheld permission for him to satirize “Born This Way”; Lady Gaga executed an immediate about-face and gave her consent. Coachella came and went earlier this week, featuring performances by Arcade Fire, Kanye West and Duran Duran (!). Len Wiseman’s Total Recall remake may feature Kate Beckinsale in the role pioneered by Sharon Stone. And Robert Pattinson has a new movie coming out where he plays a blood-drinking elephant or something.
BUT! These developments pale in comparison to the real news! One week from today, our American audience can see us in person as we bring back Overthinking It LIVE to ImprovBoston’s Geek Week V!
Join us at 11:30 PM on Friday, April 29th, or 8:00 PM on Saturday, April 30th at the ImprovBoston Theater in Cambridge, MA. A panel including Pete Fenzel, Dave Shechner and yours truly will present:
* Brand new material!
* A new music video by Mark Lee!
* And the debut of a special live feature – Beat the Clock with Overthinking It!
New material, presented live, plus a chance to meet the Overthinkers? There is no better deal imaginable. None.
Which of your organs would you sell to get to Boston in time to see Overthinking It Live? Or is there something we missed? Sound off in the comments, for this is your … Open Thread.
I’d sell my spleen. All it really does is store extra blood and who needs all that extra blood around? Selling it to see OTI Live would probably help me out in the long run.
That’s how science works. Right?
AI don’t have organs. I’m ashamed you failed to mention the attack on April 19th. (Lee, that was just for you.)
For some reason, Duran Duran and Kanye West at the same concert both intrigues and unnerves me. And I’m not a huge fan of Kate Beckinsale, so that’s not helping me get into the idea of this remake at all. But in other casting news, more confirmations about the next Batman flick came out. Not that I’m excited about it or anything, ahem…
But I’m glad you brought up Yankovic- I was going to, if you didn’t. I’m glad Lady Gaga gave him permission; it’s a refreshing surprise. Given the Art she produces, I’d half expect her to pull a Coolio and get all angry about it. But, then again, how can someone in a meat dress not think Weird Al is awesome?
David Brooks wrote a hilarious op-ed that basically says Donald Trump is none but a troll in the NYT. To quote: But, in every society, there are a few rare souls who rise above subservience, insecurity and concern. Each morning they take their own abrasive urges out for parade. They are so impressed by their achievements, so often reminded of their own obvious rightness, that every stray thought and synaptic ripple comes bursting out of their mouth fortified by impregnable certitude. When they have achieved this status they have entered the realm of Upper Blowhardia. The rest goes on to basically say Trump is just a jerk trying to piss people off for the lols, and, like those types on message boards and such, he thrives off of the attention- attention that is both negative and positive, since this douchebaggery results in an array of cheerleaders. I hadn’t really thought of it in that sense. I was thinking of him more as just the brash, blunt, badass, and ultimately un-electable candidate that the mucky-mucks in the party humor and allow on the ride, but that they eventually push aside, nonetheless. I equated his role to that of, say, Sharpton or Kucinich in the other party. (Sorry, that’s prolly dangerously political. But c’mon, “Upper Blowhardia” is made of awesome.) (My other favorite quote from there: Now he leads rallies that make Michele Bachmann events look like the League of Women Voters.)
Has anyone else watched the Mortal Kombat: Legacy webseries? Recall the “Rebirth” thing that went out a while back. So far, pretty good. It has the dude from BSG and Dollhouse, as well as Jerry Ryan from Star Trek Voyager. And the dude that played Spawn (and put the bounty on the Joker’s head in The Dark Knight.)
This is completely unrelated to anything but I finally saw Jane Eyre tonight. It’s not perfect storytelling or filmmaking but it puts forth a lot of interesting theories about femininity and identity and a lot of the visuals are really gorgeous. It feels like the children’s version of the novel (which is the only thing I’ve read) so if you have read the novel you’ll probably feel like huge chunks are missing. Still, lovely for what it is. I finally get it. The crazy woman who lives in the shadows and behind curtains is part of her and that is why she needs to die for the “happy” resolution. She needs to deny the parts of the outer shell that people read as her identity and have forced upon her in order to claim and own her true self. Also, there’s lots of shaky cam and walking in the rain…and walking in general…lots of walking.
Haha, I get it, we were talking about this last week or the week before or I don’t know…
Is it comparable to, say, the Pride and Prejudice made a few years ago, then? That one took a bunch of liberties, but they actually rather worked and made things a little easier to understand. (I mean, it’s rather easy for someone to completely miss the fact that Darcy has the hots for Elizabeth until the end if they’re reading.)
But, for clarification’s sake, did you actually like it or did it beat you over the head with that stuff about the crazy wife to the point where you got annoyed? I mean, SYYYYYMBOLISM! can sometimes be just way too overdone.
FWIW, I enjoyed Jane Eyre a bajillion times more than Wuthering Heights in hs. I know they’re by different authors, but I get annoyed with how the two get clumped together so much. IMO, they’re completely different novels in almost every way imaginable; and, further, that seems like a subtle way of diminishing the accomplishments of both women (and “women” being the key word there).
And speaking of which, I also dislike how Anne Brontë tends to be overlooked nowadays, I’d imagine because her style was so different from that of both Charlotte and Emily. It’s telling that for all the dozens of Jane Eyre adaptations, there are only two (both BBC miniseries) of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
Okay, I feel like a total hypocrite (again) because I haven’t read anything by Anne. And I don’t think I’ve even seen either adaptation of her book. I’m guessing you like it?
Hmn. Well, I did not love the Keira Knightley P&P. Then again, I’ve only made it 100 or so pages (about 1/4 in my version) through P&P because I just hate all the characters except Charlotte. To me it was as if you had read the book, had a theory about what it was about, and then used film instead of an essay to convey your thesis. For clarification’s sake, I loved it. It was definitely “identity”, “Identity”, “IDENTITY”. That guy over there? Fairfax Rochester? He’ll say some romantic awesome things occasionally but really it’s about her. It’s a female fantasy film in that the guy is this ideal who has flaws but not “real” flaws and in the most important ways he wants what she wants and he helps her to get it in a plot device-y way. And as bad as this is when it’s a guy’s fantasy, at least there’s some equality, right? I loved it. The major issues were that it felt a little Masterpiece Theater-y and they wasted a bunch of time in the middle and the beginning backstory is really choppy. It helps if you go in knowing something. If you do, it’s fine.
I only read half of Wuthering Heights. This is kind of what happens when I decide to read things on my own without the pressure of class/deadlines. I stopped when she died. Seriously, what’s the point afterwards? I’m going to start Jane Eyre this summer if classes don’t occupy all my time so I’ll let you know what I think. I don’t find that the two books get clumped together unless the conversation happens to be about female writers or female romantic/gothic writers of a certain time period. Gab, if this were something frivolous (instead of a well-respected text ripe for analysis) I would suggest that we collab on a post. Alas…do you watch Gossip Girl? That is full of female identity issues that no one ever seems to bring up. *hint hint*
Eh, maybe you should read P&P&Z, instead. At least there are swords. ;p Charlotte is a pretty great person. I like Daddy Bennet
I think that’s what I was getting at about the “Bronte Sisters”- that’s exactly how I often heard them name-dropped in academic settings, instead of brought up as individual authors. But I’d totally do a guest post with you! ;)
Alack, alas, I don’t watch GG, even though I listen to the podcasts (I watch Glee, unfortunately). I know you do, though, so you should be a guest on that some time to bring up those female identity issues. *hint hint*
BTW, have you seen Bride and Prejudice? Bollywood P&P.
If I could get them to let me on the podcast, you know I would. Instead, I write long rambling emails. Um, yeah, I’ve seen Pride and Prejudice. It is currently on my shelf as I’m typing this and the CD is on my iPod.
Sorry, I meant Bride and Prejudice.
Cat, it’s on my shelf, too. My way of pulling friends into watching it is by pitching the notion that they can watch Sayid from Lost sing and dance. The dudes are intrigued because he’s so macho in the show, and the ladies are intrigued because, well, yeah… ;p
You may not like Kanye West with Duran Duran(I was equally shocked and possible mind blown that these two people are in the same concert. It seems so awkward.), but then there is Arcade Fire. It was pretty weird that not a lot of people know them. They are a really good band. I actually like Arcade Fire and Kanye West. I was pretty excited when I saw those two names, but when I saw Duran Duran, it just seemed so weird.
I actually saw Mortal Kombat Legacy and it seems good so far. I think it avoided not so good storylines by choosing to show an origin story instead. It changes the way you look at the story considering almost no one cares about the story in a fighting game.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I like all of the above groups. And, in all honesty, when my music is set to random, it can get incredibly random like that: just yesterday, I went from an indie rock song to mid-nineties pop to Christian worship to Brahms. But at a concert, on the same stage- I guess I never thought of randomness to that degree. Although, I can think of at least one way Kanye West is like Duran Duran: being somewhat over-the-top with high production values.
But actually, I’m a big fat hypocrite, because if I could, I’d totally give up an organ or two (see what I did there?) to attend Hangout Festival 2011. Look it up. That one’s pretty eclectic, too. And there are enough bands on that list in which I have interest ranging from acknowledgement to flat-out fandom that I wouldn’t get to see everybody.
Oh yeah, and I agree. There is an actual story going on with Legacy right now. It not, in fact, being a tournament, helps a lot.
The old movies do hold a special place in my heart. ;p
Does anyone really believe the story out of Lady Gaga’s camp about the parody? That her manager turned down the request without even running it by her? It seems about a hundred times more likely that she turned it down, and then when Al released the song on Youtube anyway the fan reaction to it got her to change her mind.
I don’t get why, especially after the whole Collio misunderstanding, Al just doesn’t arrange to meet with the artists directly to get their permission. Surely he has enough contacts in the music industry that he can arrange a meeting with just about anyone.
I’d like to buy that they’re telling the truth, although, come to think of it, you’re probably onto something there. Sad.
I can see why Al would want to avoid meeting the artists in person. He’s probably less likely to get stipulations or restrictions on the content he produces if everything goes through third, fourth, etc. parties. “Well, you can parody my song, so long as you don’t do X. And make sure you include Y.” Not to say that won’t happen elsewise, but I get the feeling if he’s talking to them face-to-face about it, they’d have more opportunity to do so.
Damn I wished I lived somewhere near Cambridge.
I’d sell my teeth, as my organs and skeleton are being persevered and put on display at my community college alma matter ala Jeremy Bentham’s Auto-Icon. FYI, NSFW if you image search Jeremy Bentham.
Another FYI, don’t trust those diy mail in organ black marketers with the late night ads, do it in person and help support one of the plenty unlicensed surgeons with gambling debts in your town, think globally act locally.