"The first cut is the deepest, baby I know the first cut is the deepest. 'Cause when it comes to being lucky he's cursed, when it comes to lovin' me he's worse. But when it comes to being loved he's first, that's how I know the first cut is the deepest, baby I know the first cut is the deepest." ~cat stevens (performed by p.p. arnold)

I've seen a handful of movies lately (The Master, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Sessions, Argo, Seven Psychopaths) and the song above is in Seven Psychopaths. The movie has a good soundtrack, and I think the music is an integral part of a movie. I had to see it because I'm kind of obsessed with Martin McDonagh. He's best known as a playwright (windowcards from many of his plays are hanging on my living room wall), and this is his second movie (he wrote and directed it). I enjoyed it; it's better than McDonagh's first movie (In Bruges) but not as good as most of his plays. My favorite recent film is Argo. I think Ben Affleck is an incredibly talented director (I'm pretty sure I wrote a gushing post around the time The Town came out).

Funny observation on the Emmys: I've met three of this year's female winners (Claire Danes, Julianne Moore, Maggie Smith).

I love this video. I've been following the growth of this adorable panda cub in San Diego, and he's just too cute. He's starting to walk!
 


Next post will probably be a huge theater post; I've seen a TON of shows lately.

 "I'm not here looking for absolution, because I found myself an old solution. I'm not here looking for absolution, because I found myself an old solution." ~florence + the machine

This is my fall TV post. Here's my initial take on the season's new shows as well as my returning faves.

New Shows:

The new show I'm most excited about is Nashville, which premieres this Wednesday. Based on everything I've read, it seems like it'll be the new biggest hit. It'll be weird to see Connie Britton as someone other than Tami Taylor/Mrs. Coach (oh, how I miss Friday Night Lights), but I love her and am sure she'll be amazing. And I generally love anything in which T Bone Burnett is involved. This show looks like it's right up my alley, and I'm super excited to see it.

Elementary: I'm surprised at how much I like this one. The chemistry between Lucy Liu and Jonny Lee Miller makes this modern day Sherlock Holmes tale (set in NYC) worth watching.

Ben and Kate: I wish this show were on during a different timeslot, because I think it's a cute show and would like to stick with it. Right now, though, I already watch Hart of Dixie at that time and probably won't be able to keep up with Ben and Kate. But I like the relationship between this pair of adult siblings, and Maggie Elizabeth Jones is absolutely adorable as Kate's daughter (and she's not too precocious, which I appreciate).

The Mindy Project: This is another sitcom about which I'm cautiously optimistic. Mindy Kaling is a smart, hilarious writer who has created a flawed lead character you can't help but root for. The supporting cast is really strong, too (I love Anna Camp and Chris Messina).

The New Normal: Meh. I wanted to like this show because it stars so many people I've seen onstage (Andrew Rannells, Justin Bartha, Ellen Barkin), but most of the characters seem like two-dimensional stereotypes. Although I do have to give the show props for honoring Grey Gardens in one episode! I loved that.

Go On: Here's another one I want to like because of the cast (I like Matthew Perry, and I love theater vets Julie White and Laura Benanti). I'll stick with it for awhile, but it hasn't really grabbed me yet.

Revolution: It's hard to tell now where this will go, but I like it so far. Billy Burke is the standout for me, and it's an interesting premise. I'm really curious to see where Elizabeth Mitchell's storyline is going, and curiosity is a good thing.

666 Park Avenue: Another "meh." I like the cast, we'll see where it goes.

Returning Shows (no spoilers included):

Homeland, Homeland, Homeland. This is my favorite show ever. I seriously think it might be the best TV show ever made. Have I talked about the Emmys yet? I watched them with Nicole and I think I scared her with my insane excitement at all of Homeland's wins. I mean, the show won best drama series in it's first year of eligibility (stealing the crown from Mad Men, which had won four years in a row). Of course Claire Danes won for best actress (that was a given). I didn't think I could love her more than I already did, but her acceptance speech managed to convince me otherwise. "Mandy Patinkin, holla!" Oh, Claire. I wish I could work that phrase into all of my conversations. "Mandy Patinkin, holla!" indeed. But I really lost it when Damian Lewis won best actor in a drama series; that was an upset I never could have predicted (everyone thought the race was between Bryan Cranston, who was three for three in that category, and Jon Hamm, who has never won for Mad Men but whom many considered deserving). I literally jumped up from the couch and screamed in joy. So anyway, Homeland won big at the Emmys and I believe the show was 100% deserving. This season is already off to a riveting start (and I've heard the third episode brings the show to new heights, if that's even possible).

Revenge: I have the season 1 DVD and rewatched the entire first season before this season began in preparation. It was great to be reminded of everything I love about this show. My favorite thing about it is the relationship between Emily and Nolan, and I can't wait to see more of their scheming in season 2. I'm especially excited about Jennifer Jason Leigh joining the show.

Parenthood: I'm surprised that the storyline I'm enjoying the most so far this season is Julia and Joel's. I want to see more of how Victor is fitting into their family. I like Ray Romano's character, although I'm wary of his growing relationship with Sarah.

Grey's Anatomy: I'm not sure why I still watch this show; I guess it's just a habit that I can't break. It seems silly to give up at this point. I'm just sick of all the disasters and deaths and catastrophes.

Scandal: I'm liking this season so far. They manage to dole out information at a good pace; they give you just enough and still manage to keep you interested and curious.

Hart of Dixie: I really liked Lemon in this season's premiere, and I think (hope) she'll have a good arc this season. I'm a bit annoyed at how the love triangle (square?) from last season's finale was "resolved," but I still am eager to see what happens.

The Amazing Race: The twins! I love the twins! They're hilarious!

Survivor: I like this season so far! I'm on Team Denise; I'd love to see her win. She reminds me of my mom (I realize in some ways they're very different, but I see similarities).


Chuck has left a gaping hole in my TV life, but I'm managing.

Thank you for 19 wonderful years, Chipper.

"I'm looking to the sky to save me, looking for a sign of life, looking for something help me burn out bright. I'm looking for a complication, looking 'cause I'm tired of trying. Make my way back home when I learn to fly." ~foo fighters

Again, I have so much to write about and not enough time/energy! Here are highlights; I'll revisit some topics in more detail later (like the Global Festival).

On Monday I got to hear the Avett Brothers in Central Park. I saw them in Radio City Music Hall two years ago, and this was a different but also entertaining experience. They played all three of my favorite songs of theirs. I didn't bring my recording gear, but I recorded two songs with my Google Nexus tablet, and it worked surprisingly well. Here they are:

Laundry Room:


January Wedding:

On Wednesday we didn't have school because of Yom Kippur, so I spent the day at the theatre. I went to the matinee of Cyrano De Bergerac, which I found to be a pointless revival. The show was done less than five years ago (with Kevin Kline giving a great performance). This current production doesn't present anything new or exciting; it's a different translation of the play, but it's not a fabulous one. Douglas Hodge plays Cyrano, and he's great, but I still don't think this show needs to be on Broadway right now.
In the evening I went to see Enemy of the People, which was much more enjoyable. I remember reading Ibsen's play in college and was excited to see it onstage. Boyd Gaines is a four-time Tony winner, so I was eager to see his Dr. Stockmann. His portrayal was passionate, even though it wasn't exactly what I pictured when I read the play. I thought the character would be quieter and a bit less self-aggrandizing. Anyway, I was very glad to see this production.

Tonight I went to the Global Citizen Festival on Central Park's Great Lawn. The Great Lawn is a crazy place to see a concert (and it's very rare for concerts to occur there; the only other one I've been to is Bon Jovi). The line-up was a great collection of artists. We got to see K'Naan, Band of Horses, Foo Fighters, the Black Keys, and Neil Young with Crazy Horse.

I'm going to be a jerk and start with the complaining. I promise I'll get over it and get to the good stuff; I just need to vent first. First of all, I was supposed to go with my brother; I invited him a month ago and he said he'd love to come. I emailed him this Thursday so we could plan ahead and I asked him when he was coming into the city. I never heard back. I texted him this morning (the morning of the concert) to see what was up. He finally called me, the day of the concert, and said he couldn't come. And the excuse he gave was something he had to have known about for at least a couple of weeks. Thanks for the notice. I wanted to go into the concert at a decent time to get a decent spot, so I didn't have enough time to find someone else to take the ticket (there wasn't enough time for any of my friends in NJ or upstate NY to make it into the city, and the people I asked who live in the city already had plans). My friend Kim had wanted to come visit me this weekend, and she could have actually come and gone to the concert with me if I had known in advance (even the night before) that I would have an extra ticket. Anyway, I went by myself. I was fine by myself; it made it easier to sneak through the crowd and get a good spot. But I'm never inviting my brother to anything ever again; I just think it was really rude and inconsiderate of him. When I won the tickets I was torn over whom to invite, and I obviously chose the wrong person.

Okay, complaint number two. I promise I'll stop whining soon. They really needed to organize some things better. The website said you could bring in food and empty water bottles to fill up inside. Despite what the website said, they made us throw away all food and water bottles (even empty ones) at the gate. First of all, at a concert that's trying to end poverty, it seems incredibly wasteful to make everyone throw out their food (even sealed stuff, like granola bars). Anyway, since they made people throw out food and drinks, they must have known that everyone going into the concert (all 60,000 of us) would need to buy food and drinks inside, considering we'd be there for about 8 hours (doors opened at 2pm, concert ended close to 10pm). I waited in line at the concession stand for over an hour. They really should have been better prepared to handle all the people more efficiently. Luckily I was there early and got my food and water before the concert started.

We were divided into pens (yes, they really called them pens; there were signs everywhere), and I was in Pen 1. I realize this makes us sound like livestock, but it actually worked well because each pen had its own concession stand, porta-potties, and merchandise table. Once a pen was filled, they started filling the next pen. This was nice because even though I waited in the concession line for over an hour, I wasn't stuck with a terrible spot because I was already in my pen and people who came in after me were sent into other pens, where they had to stay.

I'm sorry for the whining; I realize I sound like a complete jerk. Because of everything I just complained about, I wasn't in the best mood when the concert started. But by the end of K'Naan's set, my mood had completely turned around. He was a great choice to open the concert because of his upbeat music. He closed with a beautiful performance of "Wavin' Flag," and after that it was impossible to feel down.

Band of Horses were next. I love, love, love Band of Horses. If I hadn't seen them live before (at MSG), they would have been the band I was most excited about seeing tonight. Their set was too short, but it was really good. They played some of my favorites, including "No One's Gonna Love You."

The Black Keys followed. They really are very impressive live. Every one of their songs sounds like it was meant to rock a crowd of 60,000. They got the crowd up and moving.

Foo Fighters were my favorite. It seems like most people were there to see them; everyone was singing along and moving with the music. Dave let the crowd sing a few lines of "My Hero," and it really is amazing to hear 60,000 people singing together. Dave talked about this being their last show in awhile. He said, "Without making a big deal out of it, we don't have any shows after this. This is it, man. This is the show where we come out and we play as many songs as we can in a short period of time, because honestly I don't know when we're going to do it again." I hope they do keep making music together and tour again, but I'm really glad I was at this concert because I don't know if I'll have another shot at seeing them again.

Neil Young with Crazy Horse was last. A lot of people left right before his set, so I was able to move from the back of Pen 1 up to the second row of the pen (so only the VIP section was in front of me). It was cool to see such a legend perform.

There are already some videos online from the live stream, and I'm sure a bunch more will pop up soon, so I'll continue to share my favorites. For now I'll just share this one, Foo Fighters' "Learn to Fly". And below are some of my bad pictures.
ETA: More videos added!
(BTW, anyone who finds me in any of videos from this event gets a prize. :D )

K'Naan (Wavin' Flag): 

Foo Fighters (Best of You):

Band of Horses (The Funeral) (I was one of the three people who knew the song):

Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse, The Black Keys, Foo Fighters (Keep on Rockin' in the Free World):
Foo Fighters (Learn to Fly):

K'Naan:

 Band of Horses:

 John Legend (he sang "Imagine"):

 Olivia Wilde:

 The Black Keys:

 Foo Fighters:

 Neil Young with Crazy Horse:

"You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone. You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone. Racing shadows in the moonlight, taking chances on a hot night. And for a second there we'd won, yeah we were innocent and young." ~the killers



I've been super lucky lately and have attended some awesome events in the city (scroll down for a few, and I still have more to write about, like improv with Justin Long and Ben Schwartz!). Today, though, I have a short post about my most recent awesome event. Last night I went to see The Killers tape an episode of Live On Letterman. It's filmed in Letterman's studio, but it's not an episode of the talk show; it's an actual concert. I love The Killers. I first saw them live more than seven years ago, when they were touring their first album. I've followed them closely and have been impressed with what they've done since then.

The band released their new album, Battle Born, on Tuesday, so they're currently promoting it (the song posted above, "Miss Atomic Bomb," is from the album). I went with my friend Bill, and we got really lucky; we ended up in the front row on the side. It's a long story about how we got those seats, but all that matters is we ended up with a perfect view. The concert will be streamed online soon, so I'll post a link when it's up. They played a bunch of older songs, which made me happy. I was lucky enough to end up with a setlist from the show, and I got Ronnie to sign it! I love "When You Were Young" as a closer (it's such a good song), and I was so glad to hear songs I haven't heard them play live before, like "Spaceman," "Reasons Unknown," Human," and "Read My Mind." So it was a great night.

 

My view: