Oh boy. Just when you thought everyone possible had weighed in on Julie Taymor and Bono’s disastrous Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark… it’s time for Glenn Beck to have his say. And guess what? The Fox News host and amateur cultural critic freaking loves the musical, thinks that New Yorkers (with French accents, of course!) hate it because they’re snobby, and goes on to explain how it’s a huge, brilliant metaphor for everything he believes. As Benjamin Sutton at The L Magazine sums it up, according to Beck, “Turn Off the Dark, it turns out, is a musical blockbuster about the American academic-scientific industry’s god complex, the lies surrounding global warming rhetoric, and the villainous research funded by big government.” Aha. Listen to the whole, surreal rant after the jump and follow along as we pick out Beck’s craziest theories and funniest words of praise.
Christmas may almost be upon us, but viral videos never sleep. Hence the newest creation from the jokesters at Taiwan’s Next Media Animated — a very brief send-up of Julie Taymor and Bono’s Broadway catastrophe, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Prepare yourself for a superhero hospital in which a doctor has to revive a nearly dead “Script,” angry fans shaking fists at the show’s poster, and dudes in suits pulling a giant plug.
1. ArtsBeat is reporting that the opening of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Lights will now be pushed from January 11 until sometime in February. This will allow time for the creators to make several changes, including changing the final number, rewriting the dialogue, adding new music from the composers, U2’s Bono and the Edge.
2. Watch David Letterman’s hilarious tribute to Larry King, who hosted Larry King Live for the last time last night, complete with a Larry blooper reel. [via Gawker.tv]
3. Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman are pitching a new movie! According to the LA Times, “While the plot is being kept under tight wraps — it’s a pitch, so a script has yet to be written, and Kaufman movies are famously hard to describe in a few sentences anyway — two people familiar with the project said it has been making the rounds to independent financiers in recent weeks.”
4. Yesterday Anne Hathaway surprised the kids from the PS22 Chorus with the news that they’ll be performing at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony on February 27th. Watch a video of their reaction.
5. An anonymous LA street artist has put a new work in response to MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch’s decision to paint over another artist’s mural that he had commissioned: “The wheat-pasted mural depicts the face of Deitch on the body of an Iranian ayatollah holding an extension pole with a paint roller at the end — and it’s set against Italian street artist Blu’s now-controversial anti-war imagery.” [via Culture Monster]
For everyone who’s ever wanted to answer “How long must we sing this song?” with “Actually, I’d love it if you’d stop right now” comes Killing Bono — a real movie based on Neil McCormick’s rock memoir of the same name. While it isn’t actually about murdering the U2 frontman (we assume we would have read about that in the news), it does follow a young Dublin band struggling through the mid-’70s as their pal Bono rose to international mega-stardom. The trailer makes the film, which stars Ben Barnes, look pretty fun in that retro, across-the-pond rock way. And considering that it includes great puns like, “the other band always had… The Edge,” you will probably want to watch.
The Spider-man musical is about to open after eight years in the making — and we can’t say we’re too thrilled about it! The project, helmed by Julie Taymor and composed by Bono and The Edge, has received an amazing amount of negative press and commentary about its delays, dropouts and grandiose nature, all of which might become forgotten history once the show opens to cries of “Genius!” and “Spectacle!” There’s no denying that the show will be a feat, and perhaps a greatly-enjoyable one. But for now, there’s still a window of time in which to wonder why it can’t seem to find a way out of critical skepticism and cynicism despite its near-guaranteed awesomeness.
The $70 million dollar project was the subject of a conflicted profile in New York magazine this week, and while reading it, we finally understood why it’s so hard to muster enthusiasm about a project that will surely be majestic in scope and innovative in form. The profile contains a few key quotes that tell you all you need in order to understand why the Broadway world isn’t rallying behind this show with optimism, but rather plaguing it with cynicism — sometimes in contradictory ways.
There are a handful of charity singles currently floating around to help raise money for Haiti. We’ve rounded up a few of the biggest ones here, but be sure to add any that we’ve missed in the comments. Which do you plan on downloading?
What is it: A new version of “We Are the World” Who is involved: Quincy Jones, Lionel Ritchie, Barbra Streisand, Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Usher, Jason Mraz, Akon, Jennifer Hudson, Carlos Santana, Enrique Iglesias, Celine Dion, Jonas Brothers, Wyclef Jean, and Toni Braxton are among the 100 participants Release date: It will first be shown during the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics.
Last week, we watched in rapt horror as Haiti succumbed to a devastating 7.0 earthquake. And, if you’re like us, the first question on your mind was, “How can I help?” We trust you’ve already made an initial donation of money or time. But, now that there’s controversy over where exactly the money you donate to Wyclef Jean’s Yele is going, we thought you might be interested know about a variety of other opportunities to combine your concern for Haiti with your arts and pop culture obsessions. After the jump, check out how fans of Lady Gaga, George Clooney and even Team Coco can support relief efforts.
Today at Flavorpill, we ogled the new Google phone and bemoaned its $530 price tag. We found ourselves awed by the international drug trade’s liquid capital. We definitely felt the effects of good spelling rules in comic form after reading Pride & Prejudicein emoticons, then sicked ourselves out with hard evidence of just how much sugar is in a can of Pepsi. We considered enrolling in The Ethos of Lebowski 101 (though we like to think we’re at graduate level). A marriage proposal on The Weather Channel melted our cold, black hearts. We wondered whether farming can save Detroit and drooled over a prototype for spray paint with the full CMYK spectrum. We bid a fond farewell to Carl Kasell from NPR’s Morning Edition. And finally, we made a New Year’s resolution: to ring in 2010 with Bono and Swizz Beatz. Don’t know if you heard, boys, but we’ve got the hot tip on some good parties.
1. Word is that Bono’s Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark musical will live. Look for previews come July. Maybe. [via Vulture]
2. Anna Faris, Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake are all in talks to join the cast of Warner Bros.’ live-action/CG animated Yogi Bear. Faris would play a documentary filmmaker, while Aykroyd would voice Yogi; Timberlake, Boo-Boo. [via Variety]
3. Event organizers put up a barrier to prevent non-ticketholders from getting views of U2, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z performing at an MTV Europe VMAs concert celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall. [via The Daily Beast]
4. J.J. Abrams wants to direct the pilot of Undercovers, his new NBC show that channels Mr. & Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Identity. It will be the first time he’s directed for TV since the Lost pilot. [via Reuters]
5. Check out the trailer for Brothers, a family drama starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, and Tobey Maguire. [via Yahoo]
