Although removed (so no telling how long the video stays up), the President’s campaign team released a great commercial today spoofing Mitt Romney’s ridiculous comments that defunding PBS would somehow create a major dent in the country’s deficit. Take a look below:
King Kong: The Musical, which is being touted as one of the most technically sophisticated productions to ever grace the stage, is quickly moving forward in Australia. The show’s producers recently announced that principal casting for the lavish production had been completed and producers posted an enticing video of a press conference complete with a sampling of songs from the show on its Web site (http://kingkongliveonstage.com). According to Playbill:
The new musical features a book by Craig Lucas. Composer and arranger Marius de Vries, whose credits include the soundtracks for “Moulin Rouge” and “Romeo + Juliet,” will create and oversee a a score that will feature revamped versions of 1930s Broadway classics like “Get Happy,” “I Wanna Be Loved By You” and “Brother Can You Spare a Dime” as well as new and existing songs from a mix of contemporary artists: Robert Del Naja from Massive Attack, Sarah McLachlan, Justice, Guy Garvey from Elbow and The Avalanches. A key collaborator on the musical landscape for the show is Stephen Pavlovic from Modular People; Michael Mitnick has contributed lyrics to several new compositions.
Director Kramer said in a statement, “Its tempting to focus on the spectacle of King Kong himself. But it is only through the humanity of the life around him the people of New York City, the comic megalomania of filmmaker Carl Denham, the stubborn opposition of first mate Jack Driscoll, and the grace, beauty and power of our leading lady, Ann Darrow that he truly takes life. After three years of auditions and workshops, it is an honour to introduce the world premiere cast of King Kong.”
The musical, according to press notes, “has gone back to the source the novella of the original film by Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace in this world-first adaptation as a large-scale musical. Featuring a cast of 49 actors, singers, dancers, circus performers and puppeteers; a crew of 76; and arguably the most technologically advanced puppet in the world – a one-tonne, six-metre giant silverback – King Kong will be an epic and dazzlingly original theatrical experience.”
The character of King Kong, according to producers, will be “an imposing, stylised silverback of exaggerated proportions…a highly sophisticated animatronic/marionette hybrid that will be controlled by the integration of hydraulics, automation and the manual manipulation from a team of puppeteer/aerialists (The Kings Men) on stage, and off.”
King Kong: The Musical arrives at the Regent Theater in Melbourne on June 13, 2013. Excerpts courtesy Playbill.com.
Swedish pop-rock duo ROXETTE, who recently completed their first US tour in over 20 years, gave an amazing interview to CBS This Morning last week. Mainly focusing on Marie’s battle with brain cancer and her miracle recovery that allowed the group to reform, begin recording new material, and launch a worldwide tour–the interview is a great look at this comeback team! I was able to see ROXETTE on Sept. 2nd in NYC. Seeing them live was a dream come true and was something I wanted to do since I became a fan at the young age of 13! The show was absolutely fantastic! See the video of the group’s interview below:
The UCF Knights (3-2; 1-0 C-USA) kicked-off their last season in Conference USA with a crushing 40-20 defeat of the Pirates of East Carolina (3-3; 2-1 C-USA) Thursday evening in-front of a nationwide audience (the game was televised on CBS Sports Network) and about 33,000 Knights fans at Bright House Networks Stadium. The Knights will depart C-USA next season for the Big East; and winning the Eastern Division title and becoming Conference Champions one last time remains the Knights’ #1 priority. Paul Tenorio reports for the Orlando Sentinel:
The opening drive of Thursday nights game appeared a notch past worrisome for UCF. East Carolina plink and plunked its way down the field. Quarterback Shane Carden completed 6 of 7 passes for 40 yards and the Pirates rushed six times for 35 yards including a 7-yard touchdown to take a 7-0 lead. It only got worse on the next drive a one-play, 76-yard strike that made it 14-0.
While Quincy McDuffies 99-yard kickoff return undoubtedly turned the momentum of the game, a more subtle adjustment by the Knights defensive staff may also have altered the outcome. UCF went on to beat East Carolina 20-40.
The most obvious issue during those first two drives was a lack of push up front by UCFs defensive line. That led to plenty of time in the pocket for Carden, who was patient and efficient in waiting for his receivers to get open, never more glaring than when Pirates receiver Justin Hardy sprinted by UCF cornerback Brandon Alexander on the long touchdown pass.
It was mistakes on our half and not more so what they were doing, said senior defensive lineman Troy Davis, who had six tackles and two quarterback hurries. And we just needed to make corrections as far as the defensive scheme and we got it done.
After those opening two drives, UCF allowed just six points. Of the Pirates 362 total yards, 141 came on those first two of ECUs 11 drives. The pass rush undoubtedly was a factor. Carden rarely had time to sit in the pocket; he was sacked twice and hurried another six times.
UCF coach George OLeary said it was simply a numbers game.
They were keeping seven-man protection in there and we were rushing four guys, OLeary said. So it was two-on-one right across the board. So we started sending an extra guy all the time and at least you get two guys with singles so you can hopefully beat someone.
I wish we would have contained the quarterback better, there would have been about eight or nine sacks out there.
Story and Photo Courtesy Orlando Sentinel.
The UCF Knights football team (2-2; 0-0 C-USA) lost 21-16 to the Missouri Tigers (3-2; 0-2 SEC) at home today at Bright House Networks Stadium. Although the Knights put up a strong offensive during most of the first half, their failure to score on Mizzou’s 3-yard line in the final 2-minutes of the second quarter set-up the offense for a sputtering second half. The Knights take-on East Carolina (3-2; 2-0 C-USA) this coming Thursday at 8:00pm at home. The game will be nationally broadcasted on CBS Sports Network.
Brenden Sonnone writes about the loss to Missouri in the Orlando Sentinel:
UCF senior linebacker Ray Shipman planned to rub salt in some raw wounds. After the Knights suffered a 21-16 loss to Missouri on Saturday at Bright House Networks Stadium, Shipman planned to watch hours of film chronicling the Knights’ latest squandered opportunity. “We let another winnable game get away,” Shipman said. “That’s pretty much all I have to say about it right now.” There wasn’t much else to say. Saturday’s home game, played in front of an announced crowd of 35,835, had the potential to be a statement game for a program that still lacks an abundance of marquee wins. Things began to unravel for UCF (2-2) just before halftime. Leading 10-7, the Knights were outplaying Missouri and could have seized control of the game by taking a two-score lead. However, quarterback Blake Bortles was sacked for a 6-yard loss on third down. With no timeouts remaining, the clock ran down and the half ended, along with the good will UCF had compiled. “It was a big shift of momentum,” UCF running back Storm Johnson said. “Obviously, we were on, what, the 3-yard line? We want to score or at least get a field goal out of it. To get no points, that was a big momentum switch, but I don’t think it should have changed our pace of the game. But it did.” New life was injected into the Tigers on both sides of the ball. Missouri took what seemed to be UCF’s best shot and trailed by just three points. The Knights started a drive at their own 12-yard line and efficiently marched downfield. UCF was facing first-and-goal from the 3-yard line with 13 seconds remaining in the half. With renewed energy on defense, Missouri forced UCF into two three-and-outs to start the second half. Johnson had 84 rushing yards in the first half, and the Knights possessed the ball for nearly 22 of the game’s first 30 minutes, but UCF’s offense became stagnant in the second half. With a 14-10 lead, Missouri never looked back. Running back Kendial Lawrence would score on a 10-yard run with 9:31 left in the fourth quarter to put Missouri up 21-10.
It looked as if UCF might pull out of the nose dive just in time. More punting meant more opportunities for Tigers tailback/return specialist Marcus Murphy, who embraced the frequent reps by returning a punt 66 yards for a touchdown midway through the third quarter. After UCF forced Missouri to punt, the Knights took over on offense with 2:44 left in the game, but Godfrey fumbled the ball after a 7-yard reception, ending any chances of a UCF comeback. Sophomore wide receiver Jeff Godfrey hauled in an 18-yard touchdown pass from Bortles with 4:34 remaining in the game.
“They’re losses,” UCF head coach George O’Leary said of the narrow defeats to teams from automatic qualifying BCS conference teams. “They win, we lose, that’s how we look at those games. … But I think we can grow on, correct some of the mistakes. I think we had it going early in the game.” Again, it was another missed opportunity for UCF, which lost at Ohio State earlier this season 31-16 in a game that was competitive outside of self-inflicted mistakes. Defensively, Shipman had eight tackles and a tackle for loss, defensive end Troy Davis had 1.5 sacks and safety Kemal Ishmael had six tackles and an interception. UCF was led on offense by Johnson, who finished with 93 rushing yards. Bortles, who was not made available to the media after the game, threw for 267 yards and two touchdowns. “It’s just dull,” Ishmael said. “We were inconsistent on offense and defense. We had chances to capitalize, but we just have to move forward now.” Ishmael said he will soon forget the painful loss and concentrate on Thursday’s Conference USA opener at home against UCF.
Story and Photo Courtesy Orlando Sentinel.
The Austin Police Department recorded one of the best “It Gets Better” campaign videos I’ve seen to date. The video really pulled at my heartstrings and brought some tears to my eyes. Started by Dan Savage, the It Gets Better campaign started in the aftermath of multiple gay youth suicides that occurred across the country about 2 years ago. Take a look at their touching video below:
One Direction, the sensational Euro-Irish pop music group released a new single this week. Entitled “Live While We’re Young,” the video presents a tongue-and-cheek homage to famous boy bands of the past who loved to frolic in the fun of youth. Take a look at the video below:
Les Miserables, one of the biggest Broadway success of all-time, is being made into a giant (and what promises to be phenomenal) motion picture that will release at Christmas. Led by an all-star cast that will actually sing live during filming, this stage-to-screen story has a TON of promise. Hugh Jackman (Valjean), Russel Crowe (Inspector Javert), and Anne Hathaway (Fontine) are the main leads of the movie. Take a look below at a behind-the scenes video of the production. Les Miserables releases on Christmas Day from Universal Pictures.
After a seemingly endless world tour and production of a Broadway musical based on their masterpiece American Idiot, musical rock band Green Day will release their first of three newly studio recorded albums next week. The album, entitled Uno will be released on Tuesday September 25th. If the music is anything like the first single “Oh, Love” the album promises to be more of a return to their punk rock roots rather than the musically lush songs found on American Idiot and their previous studio album 21st Century Breakdown (released in 2009). Dos, the second album of the series, releases on November 13th while Tre, the third in the series streets on January 15th, 2013. All three of the albums will be released through Reprise records. Take a look at the video for “Oh, Love” below:
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