Spontaneous Musings

1. Tonight is the The Met Gala, which is always the first Monday in May, where the rich and famous dress up in outlandish and pricey outfits and strut their stuff like large peacocks up a green carpeted stair case, while photographers snap photos. Once inside, it's just a huge party, where they wander about the Museum in all their finery. (Some take it off and change into something else, or so I've been told.) Food is served. Entertainment provided. And Journalists for Vanity Fair, Vogue and Elle write everything down, but no photos are taken inside the Museum for understandable reasons. Each year has a different theme - that everyone is supposed to follow, or strongly encouraged to (they don't have to and some don't dress up at all) - this year's theme is ""Superfine: Tailoring Black Style". Here's the photos from Parade. The Gala is an invite only benefit to raise funds for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Zendanya showing how it is done, strutting herself in tailored white.



And no, I've never been - nor have I gone to watch the red carpet. Tonight? It's raining.

This is Celine Dionne in the rain...
( Celine )

( more iconic photos )

Each year there are chairs - who put it all together, and review the theme - this year it was Anne Wintoure (of Vogue Magazine - basically the inspiration for the Devil Wears Prada), and her co-chairs, Colman Dolman, and Pharrell Williams, Colman is shown below.



For more? Go HERE

2. In other news, my church played a remastering of this song by George Harrsion, which I found comforting. George Harrison may be among the most underrated of the song-writers out there - his songs are simply beautiful.

( lyrics )

Paul McCartney Singing the Song

George Harrison playing it

Remastered version of George Harrison singing the song

The song basically says it's temporary, be grateful and let it go, all at the same time. Reminds me a little of Let It Be, in tonal quality.

3. Another song for a rainy Monday ...

Rainy Days and Mondays...by the Carpenters - this song kind of fit me today. It's how I'm feeling today.

( lyrics )

Music has a lovely way of making me feel less alone, that somewhere out there at this very moment in time, someone feels exactly the same way - and that song resonates for them as well.

Music and art connect us, I think, to each other, and to the world around us.

1. Well, I submitted pandemic sunflower to the Brooklyn Art Museum Open Admission site. It's not really a contest - or it is - but the prize is being exhibited in the museum with a lot of other artists and having your work shown.
( Read more... )

I'm proud of myself for submitting it. It's the first work of art that I've submitted to an exhibition in a very very long time, since I was a kid, actually.

2. Television

* Been binge-watching Resident Alien on Netflix, starring Alan Tudyk, there's two seasons of it available. Made it through about six episodes. They are about thirty minutes each and being Netflix, when one ends, the next one begins with barely a credits roll.

Set-up? ( vague spoilers - except all happen in first two episodes ) Think fish out of water tale such as Northern Exposure - except the fish out of water is an alien trying to destroy the human race, and failing miserably at it.

It's a comedy.

Started on Syfy, now on Netflix as well. Much easier to watch on Netflix.

* X-men '97 - Disney + - this is a reboot of the 1990-1996 Fox X-men Animated Series. I saw about two or three seasons of the 90s series back in the 90s. And it's really when the X-men became mainstream. Most people know about the X-men from the Fox 1990s series. (Ugh). The Fox 1990s series is not bad, it's actually better if you've not read the comics first. If you've read the comics first and remember them well - it will irritate you. The animation of the Fox 1990s series is on the clunky side (it was good in the 1990s however), but better than most cartoons. And the dialogue on the cheesy side. Cyclops is written kind of stiffly and not well at all. He's boring in the 90s series, the most interesting characters in the series are Rogue, Storm and Wolverine, Jean is kind of dull and poorly developed, as is Cyclops and Jubliee. Gambit is kind of edgy and creepy. That's the 1990s cartoon.

The 2024 reboot - or X-men '97 which was written and created by the (recently fired) Beau DeMayo is actually pretty good. And a vast improvement over the original. It has two episodes that have dropped. And it focuses on the late 1970s/early 1980s comics but - with big changes. Scott/Cyclops is written a tad better, as is Jean, Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Jubliee, etc. And they've brought back Morph. Xavier is gone, and Magneto is taking over.

What's odd is they fired the creator, and he's left social media entirely. Hasn't posted since the firing in early March, two weeks before the premiere.

No one knows why. Except he was posting semi nude pictures of himself - posing on Xitter - and well, he's Black and Gay. And it is Disney. But I'm hoping they had a better reason and guessing it was a legal one? No one knows, and no one is happy about it. The first two episodes were done well.
All the characters were written and drawn better, as were the action sequences.

On Beau DeMayo Firing and Where Things Currently Stand

Marvel is working towards rebooting the X-men films, and doing that through a reboot of the animated series, and the comic series - the X-men is its most popular flagship series, since it has the most diverse characters and the most diversified audience and ahem, appeals to women, LGBTA, trans, and not just nerdy heterosexual cisgendered fanboys.

And I foresee a Bridgerton rewatch in my future. Also the 3 Body Problem is on Netflix.

3. Almost forgot... Cillian Murphy forms a new production Company, Big Things Films

" EXCLUSIVE: Cillian Murphy, fresh off of the massive global success of Oppenheimer — and as he gets ready to debut Small Things Like These (in which he stars and he produced) as the opening-night gala of the Berlin Film Festival next week — has set his next starring and producing gig with Steve.

This adaptation of Max Porter’s novel Shy also officially launches Murphy’s production company, Big Things Films, with longtime collaborator Alan Moloney."

The article contains a discussion with Cillian and his producing partner.
Also Cillian is starting filming on a Peaky Blinders movie for Netflix in September.

This is the team that did Breakfast on Pluto, Intermission and Delingquent Season.

" An independent, story-driven company, Big Things was initially created to produce Small Things Like These, and aims to collaborate with singular filmmakers, writers, actors and directors, both new and established, who have something to say and are passionate about what they do. Big Things will collaborate with like-minded financiers, studios, distributors and streamers in both film and television.

The company will seek material in which Murphy will act, but not exclusively.

Projects will be designed to provoke, inspire and explore themes that take audiences to places that can sometimes be uncomfortable, but more often reveal core truths about who we are, regardless of genre or format, the partners say.

Meanwhile, Berlinale opener Small Things Like These is based on the Booker Prize-shortlisted novel by Claire Keegan with a screenplay by Enda Walsh. Murphy, Eileen Walsh and Emily Watson star in the story which takes place over Christmas 1985, when devoted father Bill Furlong (Murphy) discovers the startling secrets being kept by the convent in his town, and some shocking truths about his own life as well. "

So good news for Cillian Murphy fans.

Ryan Gosling is starring in Project Hail Mary - the Andy Weir novel adaptation, which I will most likely skip, because it has a friendly alien spider race in it. I can handle that in a book, I cannot handle looking at alien spiders on screen.

Sigh, it's that time again - off to bed.