Because If She Were A Goddess, I Would Be Her High Priest

Wait for the chorus. You'll see.

UPDATED: Now her stupendousness is embeddable.

Doing Your Bidding...

Although I am, of course, a blog superhero, by day I work as a mild-mannered arts administrator, working behind the scenes to protect culture and civilization from the onslaught on the evildoers (aka, the stock market). To that end, we're throwing a little party on Monday night (which is why ModFab won't have a post on Tuesday, kids...just warning you now. I'll be exhausted and hopefully drunk as a skunk).

Tickets for the event are a fortune, as these things usually are. But even if you can't attend, you might want to bid on some of the great deals in the online auction. Sure, some of the big vacation packages are already going high, but there's a number of really amazing prices (especially on the second page, so click thru). Among other things, there are celebrity meetings/private lunches with Stephen Colbert, David Hyde Pierce, Cynthia Nixon, Bill Irwin, and Big Bird (who is part of the Sesame Street set visit). Bidding goes until midnight tomorrow, and will continue on Monday night, where the online bids setting the bar. So why not? It'll make you feel good in three ways: you'll help the arts, you'll get an excellent treat for yourself, and you'll get it all for a steal!

Disco Friday: Sophie Ellis-Bextor "Take Me Home"

Cher lives! Or at least, a Cher knockoff, working some serious fashion and even more serious eyebrows. (Such pluckage!) I can't ever tell if Ms. Ellis-Bextor wants to be Kylie, ABBA, or Linda Evangelista....or some weird mashup of all three.

The Top Ten Songs In The Universe

via WikipediaAntony and the Johnsons : Kiss My Name
Dunproofin : Livin' On Breaks
Farley Jackmaster Funk : Love Can't Turn Around (Sidechains Mix)
Kish Mauve : Lose Control (White Noise Mix)
Moulinex & Xinobi - Disco Texas Theme (Esto! Mix)
Muscles ft. Reija : Sweaty (Shazam Mix)
My Morning Jacket and Nicole Atkins : Islands In The Stream (Live)
Of Montreal : First Time High (Reconstructionist Remix of an Eluardian Instance)
Saint Etienne : Method of Modern Love
Spinnerette : Sex Bomb (Adam Freeland Mix)

Classic of the Universe : Eurythmics : Julia
Another of the Universe : Martha Wash : Give It To You (Momo's Klub Mix)
Yet Another of the Universe : Pretty Poison : Catch Me I'm Falling (Dance Mix)
Album of the Universe : Donna DeLory : Best and Beautiful Songs

The Contradiction That's Not

Not sure I agree with all of it, but it's smart and well-reasoned.

The Monday ManScan

Just Beautiful Men : The Bromancer
Made In Brazil : Caua Reymond In 3 Looks
ManWatch : Boys In The Hood
Most Proper: Sunday Soldier
The Pretty Boys Club : Inauguration
Sexy Black Dudes : Marcus Randall
Simple Answers... : Hot At 5'6"
The Daily Slab : The Future Is Here
Troy : 1.5
XO's Middle Eight : MGMT Pretty Boys

Showtune Sunday: "A Catered Affair"

More and more, I think that history will prove that A Catered Affair was the great musical of 2008. Perhaps it's not for everyone, and perhaps the Broadway incarnation was flawed. But once this gets to the regionals, its complex emotional landscape and its common-man story could make it a staple. Yes, Harvey isn't a very good singer in the clip above of "Coney Island", one of the great songs in Bucchino's score. But listen to that lyric...it's really something.

Disco Friday: Erasure "Love To Hate You"

This is how sad my life is -- I found myself singing this song, out loud, strutting through Rockefeller Center last week. In my own world, I was having a ball, scatting along with Andy Bell and this "I Will Survive" gloss, bouncing in time to the beat. I only noticed this fact because people were staring at me as they walked past...and for New Yorkers to stare at you, you know you've gotta look like you're dangerously insane. Ah, well...c'est la vie.

You Just Got Patti LuPWNed!

If you've followed the messageboard drama about Patti LuPone's rant against a photographer last month during the next-to-last performance of Gypsy (Steve On Broadway's been doing a magnificent job covering it), you know that ModFab's favorite leading lady is a force to be dealt with. Now, for your listening and viewing pleasure, is Miz LuPone's tirade...remixed!



Brilliant.

The Top Ten (Vintage) Songs in the Universe

via WikipediaCeCe Peniston : Somebody Else's Guy (David Morales Classic Old School Mix)
Dusty Springfield : In Private (Shep Pettibone Mix)
Liza Minnelli : Losing My Mind
Love and Rockets : So Alive (Radio Edit)
Marc Almond : Broken Hearted and Beautiful
Prince : I Hate U
Red Flag : Russian Radio (Glasnost Club Mix)
Terence Trent D'Arby : Let Her Down Easy
Thomas Leer : Heartbeat (Extended Mix)
Wet Wet Wet : Wishing I Was Lucky (Extended Version)

Classic of the Universe : Erasure : A Little Respect (Extended Mix)
Album of the Universe : Nomad : Changing Cabins

After The Pulse Of Morning

via WikipediaI've been quiet through the Obama inauguration festivities of the last week, and it's been noticed by some earnest, concerned readers. I don't mean to be absent on the subject; it's just because I've found myself very thoughtful, and concerned, about this moment and what it means. About the media's extravagant, 24-hour coverage of every single element. About the hysteria over the "end of racism" and "Martin's dream fulfilled" (which is the dumbest and most ignorant meme of our time...racism and prejudice are FAR from over, people). Mostly, about our collective need for this time, this President, this changing-of-the-guard to have mythic proportion, a complete turnaround of American fortune so grand and glorious that we can barely contain all of the great things inside it.

This is not what I voted for.

Obama is undoubtedly a historic figure, with the potential to become a legend, an icon for the ages, a hero. But as I write this sentence, he's been President for nine hours. It's so woefully early, and so potentially damaging, to lay these expectations on him. ("Save us, Barack!" was what I heard one woman yell out on the Mall, watching the jumbotron. As if he were from Krypton, indestructible and godlike, here to save us from an ecology-decimating asteroid or something.)

Do I think Obama is up to the formidable task of righting our nation, and getting us our of our bankruptcies (economic, spiritual, ethical)? Yes...or at least, I like his chances better than anyone else who wanted the job. But as one of the first bloggers to throw his support behind Obama, waaaaay back in 2007, I guess I'm more concerned with what he does tomorrow and the next day than the parties, pomp and celebration he'll be enjoying today.

I realize that this is about me; I'm in a different headspace. I'm watching friends throughout the theatre industry lose their jobs, great companies close up shop, people abandon their leases and homes. I'm concerned about my own job; I'm experiencing firsthand the shocking, devastating reality that all charities, including the arts, are being abandoned en masse by the wealthy. (So much for Reaganomics and the "trickle down," huh?) I'm watching hundreds of billions of dollars given scot-free to banks, who then use it to protect their rich investors, not jump-start the economy. And despite the sea change in leadership in the White House, at least on January 21st, we're still fighting two useless and morally bankrupt wars, the planet is still being deep-fried, and I still don't count as a person legally the way my heterosexual friends do. There's a lot to do, and I'm ready for Obama to get to it.

Watching the inauguration, I was moved, of course, by Obama's words and the carefully crafted images on CNN. But thankfully, cutting through the feel-good bullshit...was Rick Warren. As I listened to Ricky's prayer, his big swollen face barely hiding his black prejudiced heart, I was reminded that even Obama isn't the big-tent guy his publicity team claims. Sure, he brought Republicans into the fold...he found space for them by tossing out those who believe that marriage is a right for everyone. Sure I can "disagree without being disagreeable" on policy positions, but this is MY LIFE, not an esoteric political argument. I pay more in taxes and have no financial protections because my marriage isn't legal. That is the very definition of prejudice.

(Side note: If I were famous, I wonder if Obama would have let me speak today, and mention my belief that churches should be taxed as businesses. Could we have all "disagreed without being disagreeable" on that? Could Warren accept such heresy coming out of the mouth of our new president? Or if we wanted a real "big tent" philosopher, what if Warren's evangelic bluster had been accompanied by prayers from a rabbi, and an imam, and a Mormon elder, and a shaman, and a priest? Why were only Protestant Christians allowed at the national table?)

So....this is why I've been quiet. You'll find no bigger supporter than me of our new leader...even when he supports policies diametrically opposed to my own well-being. But it's time for some of that Change he promised. Time to get to work. Time to fix what needs fixing in America. Enjoy the party, but then, roll up your sleeves, Mr. President. Do what you came here to do.

Stage Addiction: Buck Up, Kids, It Ain't So Bad

That the world's global media turned its all-seeing eye two weeks ago, ever so briefly, to the glut of Broadway closings might be taken as a sign that the world actually cares about the fate of the theatre industry. But don't be fooled. The reportage, in general, was weak and uninformed, blaming the rash of closings on the economy...which is only partially true at best. As regular readers of Modern Fabulousity know, January closings are an annual ritual for limited runs and aging shows that choose not to struggle through the lean winter months. The truth is that many of the closed shows were (sad as it is) reaching the end of their natural lifespans; their audiences had begun to dwindle well before the economic downturn started. You might be able to blame the economy for the premature ends of Broadway's tourist traps (Spamalot, Hairspray, Grease), but it's an overreach to think Spring Awakening, Gypsy, Young Frankenstein and others would have made it much longer, recession or not.

I'm not suggesting that the economy isn't hurting the theatre...it is. But it's unfair, in my view, to write doom-and-gloom scenarios without admitting that there is good news as well. A number of shows remain at or near capacity (Wicked, Jersey Boys, Billy Elliot, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, etc.). There are success stories aplenty, from the seemingly unstoppable August: Osage County to the healthy In The Heights to that little musical that could, Avenue Q, now celebrating its fifth year of confounding expectations.

And despite all the closings, there's a tidal wave of shows opening to fill all those empty theatres. Just in the last week, in fact, there were announcements of star-studded spring dramas, like Exit The King with Oscar winners Geoffrey Rush and Susan Sarandon, The God of Carnage with James Gandolfini, and Waiting For Godot with Nathan Lane, Bill Irwin, John Goodman and David Strathairn, which will open a week earlier due to brisk sales. The Broadway transfer of Hair seems to have come together, and a bevy of big-name projects will open in the next 90 days: 33 Variations, 9 To 5, The Story of My Life, Impressionism, West Side Story, Irena's Vow, Blithe Spirit, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Mary Stuart, Guys and Dolls, Accent on Youth, Rock of Ages, Reasons to be Pretty, Hedda Gabler and Irena's Vow. Want stars? We've got Jane Fonda, Joan Allen, Jeremy Irons, Angela Lansbury, Will Ferrell, Rupert Everett, David Hyde Pierce, Marsha Mason, Colin Hanks, Zach Grenier, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels, Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis, Christine Ebersole, Oliver Platt, Craig Bierko, Lauren Graham, Andrea Martin, Lauren Ambrose, Tovah Feldshuh, Samantha Mathis, Allison Janney, and Malcolm Gets on Broadway stages by May 1. Broadway's far from dead, and very far from empty. So when will the media notice?



Tapeworthy shared with us the first photo from the new Guys and Dolls, which answers two questions. One: this is what Lauren Graham looks like as a blonde. Two: Oliver Platt is never really a handsome dude.

New musical fans, take note: there's a new show in town, and you're going to want to see it. Happiness, up at Lincoln Center come February 27, has a talent roster that makes me moist: book by John Weidman (Assassins), music/lyrics by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie (Grey Gardens), directed by Susan Stroman (The Producers), with a cast that includes Hunter Foster (Urinetown), Joanna Gleason (Into The Woods), and Ken Page (Ain't Misbehavin'). Wowsa. (You might also want to check out The Toxic Avenger, which features the zany antics of Urinetown's Tony-nominated Nancy Opel.)

Random thought: Doesn't Mary-Louise Parker look like the chickens have escaped from the henhouse in this picture? Girlfriend, pull it back.

The best annual fire sale in town, 20@20, is back beginning January 26th. It's simple math: 20 shows offering $20 tickets, for two weeks. Included on the hit list this year are Altar Boyz (which is also doing a pay-what-you-can performance tomorrow), the experimental buzz hits Architecting and Freshwater, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Shipwrecked!, Fuerzabruta, and This Beautiful City. Who says theatre has to be expensive?

If you are interested in supporting a worthwhile organization that I have a history with...we're throwing a party on February 2nd. Want to come?

Cute.

[shamelessly stolen from Multiple Personality]

Showtune Sunday: Eartha Kitt Sings Sondheim

A treat for the show queens! During the 1987 London run of Follies, Eartha Kitt replaced Dolores Gray. That means that a rare few got the campy thrill of seeing Kitt's "I'm Still Here"...which is already campy enough on its own. Filtered through Eartha's purrrrring vibrato, though, the song becomes a tragi-fabulous moment of disaster. I love it. It's like an out-of-control speeding train vibrating its way right off the tracks, and crashing into a mountain of mascara. Enjoy...

The Loss of a Lifehacker

Cover via AmazonGina Trapani, the insanely brilliant editor of Lifehacker, has stepped down after nearly five years. Web burnout is hitting a lot of the first-generation bloggers these days, but the loss of Gina will be felt deeply. I'm glad she won't disappear entirely, but even so, I'll miss reading her every day. Good luck, Gina!

The Gilgamesh Variations: Or, What I've Been Doing When I Wasn't Blogging

See? I have a life offline, too. The first of FIVE shows in THREE months. And they say people are paralyzed by this economy! (MadShag)

The Top Ten Songs In The Universe

via WikipediaThe Bird and the Bee : Don't Stop The Music
The Black Keys : Girl Is On My Mind
Boyce Avenue : 4 Minutes
Coconut Records : Nighttiming
Dame Shirley Bassey : Diamonds are Forever*
Estate : Write To Make (Gigamesh Mix)
Ladyhawke : Paris Is Burning (Cut Copy Mix)
The Presets : This Boy's In Love (KIM Mix)
Royksopp : Happy Up Here
Twiggy Frostbite : Heroes

Classic of the Universe : The The : Love Is Stronger Than Death
Another of the Universe : Jomanda : Got A Love For You
*possibly the Greatest Song In The Universe Ever

Really? A Blind Guy?

Nothing against the guy, but boy, American Idol reeks of desperation. And as ratings ploys go, this one was rather, well, shameful in its obviousness and in its calculation.

The Monday ManScan

Argentine Men : Rodrigo Guirao Diaz
Beautiful : Veni, Vidi, Vici
Black : 379
Cisoto Fotos : William Levy's Apples
Definition of a Man : Chad White Is Icarus
Dude Flesh : Scott Andreasen Revisited
eMackinations : Man Action
Fantasies of a Virgin : Alan Valdez
GuyCandi : Ryan Kwanten
Hoodsworld : Shawn

I'm Sick and in the Bed, But Quickly...

...on the Golden Globes, which went far better last night than I expected. Go Kate, Go Anna, Go Slumdog, Go Mickey, Go Wall-E, Go Gabriel Byrne, Go Mad Men, Go Lauras (Dern and Linney)! Rarely am I this happy with the winners at an awards ceremony...I can't even work up much energy to hate on Vicky Cristina Barcelona or the over-awarding of 30 Rock (but there are other comedies in the universe, people).

Now if SAG will help us along, we'll be all set...

Showtune Sunday: "City of Angels"

In the past, I've mentioned my belief that this is one of the musicals most in need of a revival...it's magnificently entertaining, with great parts and songs inhabiting a cheeky conceit that doesn't run out of steam. We're also in danger of losing Cy Coleman to the mists of time...and as one of the great American composers of the 20th century, we need to keep him in the popular consciousness. (And if Randy Graff could reprise her role, I'd be over the moon!)

Disco Friday: Swing Out Sister "NotGonnaChange"

Corinne, the Voice of the Gods. Should have been a worldwide smash. Sadly, it only achieved that status on my iPod.

The Top Ten Songs In The Universe

Electric Valentine + Ultraviolet Sound : 2 Of Hearts
The Energies : Born Again Runner (Fred Falke Edit)
Friendly Fires : Lovesick
Girls Aloud : Something Kinda Ooo (Live at The Local)
Hayes Carll : She Left Me For Jesus
Morrissey : Something Is Squeezing My Skull
Studio : West Side (Klumpfisk Mix)
Surkin : White Knight Two
The Twelves : Works For Me
Ultra Nate : Free (Sidechains Mix)

Classic of the Universe : Maxwell : Til The Cows Come Knockin' (Uncut)
Another of the Universe : Brand New Heavies : Touch Of Your Love
Album of the Universe : The Chimes

A Sneak Preview of "Caprica"

SciFi has released a "sneak peek" scene from Caprica, the upcoming prequel series to Battlestar Galactica that will follow that show's final season after it ends in March. Check it out. I spent a chunk of the holidays reading the bootleg script of Caprica's pilot episode that's been floating around the internet, and I gotta say...it's really impressive. It's a far remove stylistically from the first series, and only tangentially related to its predecessor thematically. (Caprica purports to document the birth of the Cylons, decades before the destruction of the titular planet.)

But the ideas of faith, family, and power are still potently mixed together in the new script; you see the fingerprints of Galactica creator Ron Moore everwhere. If I were choosing a sneak preview to release, I doubt I'd have chosen this scene...but it does give you a sense of just how different Caprica's going to be.

First, though...January 16 and the end of Battlestar. If you haven't been regularly checking out the surprisingly good webisodes and the mystery site, I suggest you get to it!

Blogcrushing On The Weblog Award Nominees

Congrats to our dear friends Electroqueer, Fizzy Pop, JoeMyGod, Just Jared, Rod 2.0, and Towleroad on their much-deserved 2008 Weblog Award nominations. Four years ago, ModFab was nominated for one 'o them there awards...but that's like a century in blog years, and ModFab's not the young, blond, sexy, pretty, slutty bitch it once was. I'm so glad to see these blogs still shaking it out on the dancefloor, giving the young whippersnappers what for!

I know that you probably already read these great sites; you should vote for them as well. (I'm especially hoping that Joe or Andy kick GayPatriot's ass in the Best LGBT category, and that Jared triumphs for Best Gossip Blog over He Who Shall Never Be Linked.) Congrats again, gang!

ModFabulous 2008: The Best In Cinema

I've made no secret of the fact that I wasn't thrilled with cinema in 2008. Part of it was, perhaps, an evolution in myself, and I'll admit that I've skipped a few of the highly-praised critics' choices (see below). But the disappointment I found each time I sat down in a movie theatre was pervasive...it has been rare, these past twelve months, when I felt my intellect engaged with complex material, and rarer still when my heart was moved.

In their year-end wrapups, a few other critics have mentioned a similar disaffection, so I don't feel completely isolated. (It'll make it easier to withstand the withering comments of my film buddies, who will tell me in no uncertain terms to get over myself.) But am I alone in finding the energetic, blubbering raves for (to take but one example) American Teen symptomatic of a season utterfly defined by mediocrity, struggling to find bright spots? Maybe it's true that people found those tedious high school stereotypes enlightening. Me, I just wished I was watching The Breakfast Club.

Who in the hell was at Sundance last year, anyway? How could anyone be amused by the inane brain-dead comedy of Hamlet 2 (which wins our 2008 Biggest Waste Of A Great Premise Award)? And don't get me started on The Dark Knight; it's a good film and yes, I'm sad he's dead too. But the Citizen Kane comparisons are a bit much, people.

Ach, enough with the bitching. There were some bright spots in 2008...not as many as usual, and not as bright as in past years. Here's what I loved, liked, and loathed:

The Modern Fabulousity Top Ten Movies of 2008:

10. The Wrestler (The ModFab Review)
One of the big trends in 2008: movies that were really excuses for a character study. Few, though, examined their subject with the savagery and tenderness of Darren Aronofsky's amazing comeback drama. Much has been written about the confluence of character and actor here, and it's true that Mickey Rourke's own life bleeds subtextually into the burned-out title character. For me, however, the most astonishing realization? Rourke is one of America's finest actors, when he tries to be.

9. Australia (The ModFab Review)
For the life of me, I'll never understand the bashing Baz Luhrmann's period western took at the hands of critics and audiences alike. Were they expecting Moulin Rouge: The Gunsmoke Years? Frenetic jump cuts, musical numbers and drag-worthy costuming? Maybe. But I went looking for something with a directorial flourish, and I found it: the cinematography powerful, the actors interesting, and the resonant influences of Hollywood's Golden Age intoxicating.

8. I've Loved You So Long (The ModFab Review)
Mickey Rourke wasn't the only actor who had a stellar year...for me, Kristin Scott Thomas was the big return of 2008. As an ex-con integrating back into society, Thomas had the courage to mine deep, pervasive sadness with the proficiency of a master tragedian. Films these days often seem hellbent on happiness; I've Loved You So Long proves that other emotional states can be mesmerizing as well.

7. The Reader (The ModFab Review)
It may seem strange, but Stephen Daldry's surprising coming-of-age story reminded me most of Neil Jordan's 1992 classic, The Crying Game. The stories couldn't be more dissimilar, but the tone and the way the films changed direction mid-stream resonated deeply in me. David Kross, as the young boy enraptured by an older woman, gave 2008 its best international screen debut. And The Reader was one-half of the convincing case made that Kate Winslet is the world's greatest actress.

6. The Visitor
Watching Thomas McCarthy's assured, quirky, and surprising follow-up to The Station Agent was one of the great pleasures of last spring. Like a Russian nesting doll, The Visitor shed layers of meaning and metaphor: first a story of personal awakening, then a drama of immigration policy, then a September romance. No film in 2008 felt more like a full, satisfying meal.

5. Milk (The ModFab Review)
Like The Wrestler and I've Loved You So Long, Milk struck me as more of a showcase for Sean Penn than the well-rounded ensemble picture it halfheartedly attempted to be. But there are few heroes in the world in more need of hagiography than Harvey Milk, and more the millions who didn't previously know his story, the importance of this well-executed biopic can't be overstated.

4. Slumdog Millionaire
I sat in the darkened theatre, thinking to myself, You know you shouldn't like this. You can see the structure in the writing. The acting is fine but rarely exceptional. You can guess the ending. But then I told myself to shut up, sit back and enjoy Danny Boyle's stirring, vibrant ride. It isn't that Slumdog breaks new cinematic ground; it's that it tells some of our oldest and most important stories -- rags-to-riches, eternal romance, personal redemption -- in a new and dazzling way. Bravo.

3. Revolutionary Road (The ModFab Review)
On a different day, Revolutionary Road could have easily been my number one. Because despite its melodramatic leanings and high style, it boasts the finest acting company of the year in any movie: the stunning Kate Winslet (who deserves that Oscar, now please!), Leonardo DiCaprio (unlikeably likeable), Kathy Bates, David Harbour, Zoe Kazan, Kathryn Hahn, Richard Easton, Dylan Baker, and most stupendously, Michael Shannon (Bug), whose performance easily trumps Ledger, Brolin, Hoffman and others for Best Supporting Actor this year. Of all the films I saw in 2008, this is the one I'll probably revisit time and time again. It is a grandiloquent lesson on how not to be married...something we all need to be reminded of, ever so often.

2. Tell No One (The ModFab Review)
Released in 2006 around the world, but only hitting American shores this year, the superb French thriller written and directed by Guillaume Canet had me on the edge of my seat for most of its two-hour running time. And it did so through nothing more than taut storytelling, shaped and re-shaped to confound expectations and propel its central mystery. It had some help from its excellent cast, including two brilliant supporting turns from Marie-Josée Croze (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) and, yes, Kristin Scott Thomas, in her second French-speaking role of the year. If there was ever a reason for Netflix, people, Tell No One is it.

1. Wall-E
I can't tell you how much I've fought the impulse to name Wall-E my favorite film of 2008. It's a cartoon, after all, and I suffer prejudice against the form like any respectable art snob would. But it's time I got over it; if I'm being totally honest, I only felt the rapture of the movies -- that moment where your mouth falls open in wonder, and you hold your breath in exaltation -- once this year. During the air propulsion ballet, there was a grace, a beauty, a deft understanding of the power of visual imagery, that eludes most filmmakers in any genre. Coming as that section did, after the nearly wordless first hour that blended Chaplinesque charm with ecological message, I was helpless under Wall-E's spell. It belongs not only in the canon of great animated films, but in the masterworks of all time.

Honorable Mention (In Alphabetical Order): Bigger, Stronger, Faster, Burn After Reading, Cadillac Records, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, I.O.U.S.A., Iron Man, Kung Fu Panda, Noah's Arc: Jumping The Broom, Quantum of Solace, Sex and the City

The Ten Worst Movies Of 2008: 10,000 B.C., 27 Dresses, Cloverfield, Get Smart, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Mamma Mia!, RocknRolla, Speed Racer, What Doesn't Kill You, You Don't Mess With The Zohan

Really Wish I'd Seen These (aka, The NetFlix Queue): Ballast, Blindness, Bolt, Boy A, Brideshead Revisited, Choke, Chris & Don: A Love Story, Elegy, Frozen River, Funny Games, Gran Torino, Happy-Go-Lucky, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, Last Chance Harvey, Man On Wire, Miracle at St. Anna, My Blueberry Nights, My Winnipeg, Paranoid Park, Religulous, Savage Grace, Shotgun Stories, Still Life, Synecdoche New York, Towelhead, Traitor, Trouble The Water, Transsiberian, Turn The River, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Waltz With Bashir, Were The World Mine

Better Than You Think: The Duchess, Gomorrah, Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, Pageant, Stop-Loss, Wanted

Good, But Seriously Overpraised: American Teen, A Christmas Tale, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Doubt, Flight of the Red Balloon, Frost/Nixon, In Bruges, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Rachel Getting Married, Reprise, Tropic Thunder, Wendy And Lucy

Good Ideas (That Should've Been Better): 21, Baby Mama, Be Kind Rewind, Che, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Defiance, The Forbidden Kingdom, Hamlet 2, Hancock, The Incredible Hulk, Jumper, Leatherheads, Nothing But The Truth, Redbelt, Son Of Rambow, Valkyrie, Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden?

Open Call for Modern Fabulousities

Image by pbird10 via FlickrIt's time for the annual update of our Modern Fabulousities List...the one time each year that we take reader suggestions for worthy additions to the blogroll. We're looking for the most fabulous new blogs our readers can recommend, for addition to the sidebar (and regular linkage in articles).

So if you...

1) Have a really great new blog you're reading, or...
2) Write a really great blog and want to be a Fabulousity, or...
3) Think I've missed an older blog that warrants Fab status...

...send an e-mail with the blog's name and HTTP address. We'll check them out, and choose the best to our modern, fabulous honor roll!

My Entire Life, In Only Eleven Words

From the nihilist geniuses at A Softer World. It's amazing how well they seem to know what I'm thinking.

The Monday ManScan

The Daily Slab : Hungry
Dude Flesh : On The Tracks
Fantasticsmag : Present Tense
Get Ur Pantz On : Joshua Levi
Gym Fanatic : Being 2
Hoodsworld : Ulisses
Manwatch : August
Paris City Boy : Duo
The Pretty Boys Club : We're Back
Sexy Muscle Dudes : Jon Cossu

Supporting Actress Blogathon 2008

Stinkylulu's Supporting Actress of the Year blogathon is one of the few traditions in the cultural blogosphere that just can't be missed. And even though 2008 won't go down in history as a great year in cinema, there's still a number of actreses who deserve to be singled out for praise...and who might not get it otherwise. So yay Stinky...and thank you!

I'll leave it to others to praise Oscar frontrunners like Penelope Cruz (for Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler) and Amy Adams (for Doubt...but more on Adams later). After culling my list -- and yes, the ModFabulous Best Films of 2008 will appear tomorrow, don't fret -- I found ten women whose supporting work was worthy of attention. But who to choose for the Blogathon?

Let's narrow the list first. I loved Kristin Scott Thomas' understated poise in Tell No One, Evan Rachel Wood's histrionics in The Wrestler, Ari Graynor's inebriation in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Debra Winger's frostiness in Rachel Getting Married and Vera Farmiga's passion in Nothing But The Truth...but not as much as others.

That left me five. I'll forgo the trio of women who will probably make it to Oscar night, and get plenty of attention between now and then: Taraji P. Henson, who takes a trite part and spins gold from it in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Kate Winslet in The Reader (really a Lead performance, but included only because the Academy deems it Supporting); and Viola Davis, an actress of exceptional ability who blows Meryl Streep (briefly) off the screen in Doubt.

Which leaves two. My runner-up is Amy Adams, who like Ms. Davis is also getting attention for her supporting turn in Doubt. I, however, felt her charms much more palpably in the period comedy Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day; Adams pulled off a comedic twist on the ditzy moll stereotype that benefited greatly from her genuine, unguarded perkiness.

But at the end of the day, there was one actress who fit the spirit of the Supporting Actress Blogathon, carrying a large chunk of her movie and making it better...and who needs some flowers thrown at her feet, and who has been largely ignored: Hiam Abbass.

And I hear many readers saying...who?



Hiam Abbass is an Arab-Israeli actress who is known globally for her work, but rarely noted in the United States. This year alone, she's won the Israeli version of the Oscar and been nominated for a European Film Award for Etz Limon (Lemon Tree). Americans might recognize her from 2005's excellent terrorist drama Paradise Now, or from her roles in Steven Spielberg's Munich and Catherine Hardwicke's The Nativity Story. This year, she underscored and elevated the tense drama of Thomas McCarthy's The Visitor as Mouna Khalil, the stoic, passionate mother of an illegal immigrant (Haaz Sleiman) who warms up to her son's friend and benefactor, an aging professor (Nathaniel Jenkins).

Stoic and passionate...that's an incredibly difficult contrast to pull off, and one Abbass does with sublime, elegant grace. The Visitor, one of the most underappreciated films of the year, thrives in its ability to find such grace, haphazardly throwing strangers together and discovering their common humanity. By the time Abbass appears, the film has become a stinging indictment of post-9/11 profiling and the U.S.'s deplorable immigration policies. A stranger in America, Mouna must navigate the laws, New York City, her son's girlfriend (Danai Gurira) and her own survival while waiting for the freedom of her son from a detention center. There's no tearfully dramatic tour de force scene to lean upon, no emotionally wrought monologue to support her. It's just Abbass, suffering the way women have suffered for their children since time began, struggling to make sense of an indefensible cruelty by the U.S. government.

Abbass may be destined for global stardom yet; she's one of the stars of Jim Jarmusch's upcoming film, The Limits of Control, alongside Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, John Hurt and Gael Garcia Bernal. Until then, however, I'll be content with being her biggest fan.

Showtune Sunday: "Hairspray"

A fond farewell to Hairspray, which closes after six years on Broadway, a hit film that is spawning a sequel, and a roster that, among other things, launched the careers (as you'll see here) of Xanadu's Kerry Butler and The Light in the Piazza's Matthew Morrison. (It also, notably, reinvigorated the performing career of the first lady of Broadway, Harvey Fierstein.) I hope you return to New York soon, kids of Baltimore....

And Ours Would Equally Suck, Kelly Clarkson

No more moping, eh, Kelly? Back to being a pop star, are we?

I'm thrilled, personally. She's too good for music to lose her to the whims of the industry.

On Sarah Palin Caroline Kennedy

via DaylifeAm I the only one that thinks we are trying to have it both ways when it comes to Caroline Kennedy?

Hey, I love the Kennedys as much as anybody: they are our collective national soap opera, our shining royal family, our 20th-century iconography. But if we argue (as I did, and most sane people did) that Sarah Palin was patently unsuited to step onto the national stage because of her lack of experience and qualification, don't we have to admit that Caroline Kennedy is equally unqualified...if not more so? I mean, at least Palin was a governor and a mayor. Kennedy has never held ANY office, never shown even a little interest in national service before last June. Her press interviews of late have been disastrous and reveal a person with a unformed political awareness. She isn't ready, not by a country mile.

I think Caroline is pro-gay, pro-society, and supports most of what I believe. But I don't see how I can possibly support her candidacy for the U.S. Senate...especially when there are many qualified alternatives (Andrew Cuomo, Nita Lowey, and Kirsten Gillibrand leading the pack). The idea that Kennedy should receive it because of bloodline (and some inherent political skill that resides in her DNA), or because she's nakedly and shamelessly campaigned for it, strikes me as the height of progressive hypocrisy.

On some level, it's terrible of me to even say that. But at the end of the day, I didn't believe Palin was a worthy presidential successor to the legacy of Hillary Clinton. I don't believe Caroline Kennedy should be her senatorial successor, either.

Disco Friday: Pebbles "Mercedes Boy"

By rights, this song shouldn't work. It's barely more than a hook, and much less than a song. But boy, when you're feeling slutty at 3AM at the bar, this is the perfect courage booster...the tune that can convince you to go against your better judgement AND your capacity for rejection, and take a shot at that guy across the dance floor who is clearly, seriously, majorly out of your league. Ahhh, the good old days...

ModFabulous 2008: The Future's So Bright...

Enough with all these end-of-year lists...let's look forward, into 2009, and what's in store for us.. We've scoured our notes to find the cultural highlights the next 12 monthst:

A YEAR OF FABULOUS MOVIES
Notorious (January)
New York, I Love You (February)
Watchmen (March, Hopefully)
State Of Play (April)
Star Trek (May)
The Taking Of Pelham 123 (June)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July)
Inglourious Basterds (August)
Nine (September)
Where The Wild Things Are (October)
Planet 51 (November)
Avatar (December)

TEN FABBY UPCOMING ALBUMS
Antony and the Johnsons, The Crying Light
D'Angelo, Title TBA
Depeche Mode, Title TBA
The Gossip, Title TBA
Kelly Clarkson, New Release
Lily Allen, It's Not Me It's You
Maxwell, Black Summers' Night
Morrissey, Years of Refusal
MSTRKRFT, Fist of God
U2, No Line on the Horizon

SIX FABULATING TV SHOWS
Battlestar Galactica (SciFi)
Dollhouse (Fox)
United States of Tara (Showtime)
In Treatment (HBO)
The Beast (A&E)
Lost (ABC)

FIVE FABBERATIONAL DANCES
Parsons Dance with the East Village Opera Company, Joyce Theater (January)
Eifman Ballet, City Center (May)
DD Dorvillier/human future dance corps, Dance Theater Workshop (January)
Complexions, International Tour (2009)
So You Think You Can Dance (June)

FOUR FABULATIONIST THEATRICALS
The Third Story (Lucille Lortel Theatre, January)
Guys and Dolls (Nederlander Theater, February)
An Oresteia (Classic Stage, March)
The Singing Forest (Public Theater, April)

THREE FABULISIMMO OPERAS
Antony and Cleopatra (City Opera, NYC)
Brief Encounter (Houston Grand Opera, TX)
Porgy and Bess (San Francisco Opera, CA)

TWO FABALATIONAL MUST-READ
The Little Stranger, Sarah Walters (April)
Juliet, Naked, Nick Hornby (TBD)

ONE FABULOUS THING TO LOOK FORWARD TO...
President Barack Obama. Hells yes.

Happy New Year, Bitches!

via WikipediaWherever you are, whatever you're doing, whoever you're with, I hope you're having a completely spectacular new year. We're celebrating at home, but even so the champagne will be flowing freely at ModFab HQ. (I plan to be stone drunk by, oh, 12:04 AM). Before I start to tipple, though, I wanted to tell you how incredibly thankful for all of you who make Modern Fabulousity more than a blog.

Having a community of friends, fellow writers, and incredibly passionate readers makes ModFab one of the most special experiences of my life. Next May, this site turns five years old. Our success belongs to you, and is only possible with your help and enthusiasm.

Best in 2009...and thanks again.