currently with Seth Plattner

Reading: Lolita

Song of the moment: "Dominoes" The Big Pink

Albums on repeat: A Brief History of Love, Lost Channels, Glee, The Music: Volume 1

Phrase I'm Using Too Much: "of the what?"

Over it: regret

Girl Crush: Carrey Mulligan

obsession: Frosted Flakes!

Wicked + the gays = yeah. and?

While famed NYC gay hot spot Splash Bar can get just a wee bit seedy on most evenings (especially when those college guys get rowdy on Thursdays!), Monday night found the dance floor occupied by a decidedly mixed crowd all there to enjoy the weekly Broadway sing-along night deemed Musical Mondays. Though any Monday night is a good excuse to gather your gaggle, down a few drinks, and belt your lungs out to video-taped recordings of some of the Great White Way’s most famous performances, this particular evening held the especially high occasion of celebrating the six-year anniversary of the opening of Wicked. In honor of the show’s almost 2,500 performance run (and certainly counting) a handful of Wicked cast members took their night off from the Gershwin Theater to lend their voices to some memorable performances for a gathering of their most adoring fans.

Dee Roscioli (pictured), who plays Elphaba on Broadway, ripped through “The Wizard and I” as if the cold she was reportedly nursing didn’t even exist. Chelsea Krombach, currently the Elfaba understudy, blew our ears off with “Defying Gravity,” and Heather Spore, a Galinda understudy, did the dutiful role of bewitching the crowd with Wicked fan favorite, “Popular.” After a performance by the Wicked dancers and a crowed giveaway, night took a, uh, charmingly desperate (?) turn when Craig Jessup, the make-up artist responsible for greenifying Elfaba every night, sang an original number, “Date With Myself.” Naturally, almost everyone in the room identified. At least we’ll always have our musicals.

—Seth Plattner, Assistant Editor

from ELLE.com

forgot to import this

but I'm (still) reading it, so (still) apropos.

When faced with the decision of what book to read next, I’m always torn between whether to go light or heavy. I generally try to keep it even, indulging in something mindless yet entertaining (think the Twilight saga) and then making my brain sweat a little with, oh, say Goethe? But at my last literary crossroad, I found myself wanting both. A tough request some might say, but not impossible thanks to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith and, of course, Jane Austen. The book made the press rounds a couple of months ago at its release, and I finally decided to grab a copy knowing that hilariously desecrated high literature would be exactly what I’d been looking for. Elizabeth Bennet is everyone’s favorite classical tough girl, even more so when Grahame-Smith gives her action lines like this:

“Elizabeth lifted her skirt, disregarding modesty, and delivered a swift kick to the creature’s head.”

Chortle. I know there are P&P purists out there, but I for one think the zombie injection makes it a much more engaging read. Except I’ve never actually read the original text…which is making it kind of hard to know what’s from Austen and what’s from Grahame-Smith. Oh well. England and brains and death and innuendo and stuff!

—Seth Plattner, Assistant Editor

via ELLE.com

hm.

Had to repost to my blog because I am so intrigued, saddened, frightened, weirded out, excited about this movie:

Currently with Seth Plattner

Song of the moment: "Space Jam"

Phrase I'm Using Too Much: "You got cheesy blasters!"

Over it: "Run This town"

Girl Crush: Jean Thompson

Current obsession: Celtx

this made me smile this morning

Y3

an import from ELLE.com:

It always makes me chuckle when certain bands take the stage at Radio City Music Hall. I mean, it works for things like the Tonys or an orchestra or Rufus Wainwright (not a dig, Rufus. You know I love you.) but when I hear that groups such as Metallica or, as was the case last night, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, are performing, the kind of glitzy, kind of schmaltzy venue just doesn’t fit. Nevertheless, I wasn’t going to miss Karen O, Nick Zinner, and Brian Chase do their best to turn the Rockettes' home into an indie-rock dance party complete with fog, loads of confetti, and huge inflatable eye balls. And let’s not forget Miss O’s wild stage outfits of headdresses, vinyl bodices, some tentacles (I think), and capes.

While the main concert itself was rip-roaring with an alternated set of numbers form It’s Blitz, Fever to Tell and Show Your Bones, the real punch came at the end in YYY’s encore. We didn’t really get a word from Karen all night, but when they re-took the stage she open-heartedly dedicated the final set to not only their opener, ESG, but also the bandmates' parents. It was a tender moment that was made even moreso when, in an ode to their home city and crowd, she cathartically sang through tears and a choked up voice their first hit “Maps,” referring to it as “a New York love song.” It hit me hard as an almost-seven-year New Yorker always longing for something or someone. And though, yes, I’m typically inclined to indulge in that sappy side of, well, everything, I was pleased they ended the concert on a rager note with “Y Control” and “Date With the Night,” even smashing guitars and slinging microphones before exiting the stage. That was probably cathartic, too.

—Seth Plattner, Assistant Editor

Photo: Getty Images

this is why i love you

Bam. Stam.

more love.

Currently with Seth Plattner

Song of the moment: "Skeleton" Yeah Yeah Yeahs. And I guess "Bulletproof" by La Roux given the pertinence.

Phrase I'm Using Too Much: "You've got Braditude"

Over it: the Hachette email system

Girl Crush: Karen O

Current obsession: fried pickles

imma rollin

rollin rollin rollin