The Monkees: Daydream Believer
Of course, they had an excuse; it was the late 60s. Man, Davey Jones really makes Zac Efron look like a competent dancer.
(Want even more ridiculousness? Try the Daydream Believer pirate version.)
Friday, October 31, 2008
Friday Flashback
In honor of HSM, have something that is, essentially, a drug trip:
Of course, they had an excuse; it was the late 60s. Man, Davey Jones really makes Zac Efron look like a competent dancer.
(Want even more ridiculousness? Try the Daydream Believer pirate version.)
Of course, they had an excuse; it was the late 60s. Man, Davey Jones really makes Zac Efron look like a competent dancer.
(Want even more ridiculousness? Try the Daydream Believer pirate version.)
Saturday, October 25, 2008
HSM3: the Good, the Bad, and the Baffling
NOTE: This will contain MINOR SPOILERS. However, since essentially nothing happens in the movie, we wouldn't worry too much if we were you.
THE GOOD:
The Boys Are Back: Chad and Troy's adventure in junkyard dancing! This was amazing. Though we feel like it's kind of mean to make Zef dance with Corbin, seeing has how, well... Corbin can dance and Zef... Eh, you've read previous entries. You know.
I Want it All: It didn't make any sense and wasn't, musically speaking, a very good song, but OH MY GOD WHO CARES? The dancing! The costumes! The insertion of the rest of the cast into the Evans' twins elaborated wacked-out fantasies! SHARPAY AND RYAN IN EVERYTHING!
Every single time Chad and/or Ryan is on the screen. Because they're dreeeeeamy.
Continue to Bet On It: We have no idea what Troy's big number was called because we were too busy being amazed by its AWESOMENESS. Basketballs falling from the sky! Rooms rotating! Troy ripping his giant head off the wall! It was FANTASTIC.
THE BAD
Oh my god, Troy Bolton, be a bigger douche. WAIT, YOU CAN'T.
Disney's complete lack of understanding of how scholarships, college admissions, graduation, and anything resembling the real world works.
Not enough Sharpay: It seems like they just didn't know what to do with her. They didn't make her the villain, but then acted like she was, so that sucked. And seeing as how Tizz should certainly win the East High award for Most Improved, her lack of screen time was really sad.
HSM: The New Class. The new kids weren't funny, or charming, or any good at all. The future of the franchise is bleak.
THE BAFFLING
Everything that happened, what the fucking fuck was that movie about?
In conclusion, this carries on the tradition of HSM 1 and 2: the movie is delightful to watch, almost entirely without plot (and what plot it has makes no sense), and full of complete, wonderful insanity.
THE GOOD:
The Boys Are Back: Chad and Troy's adventure in junkyard dancing! This was amazing. Though we feel like it's kind of mean to make Zef dance with Corbin, seeing has how, well... Corbin can dance and Zef... Eh, you've read previous entries. You know.
I Want it All: It didn't make any sense and wasn't, musically speaking, a very good song, but OH MY GOD WHO CARES? The dancing! The costumes! The insertion of the rest of the cast into the Evans' twins elaborated wacked-out fantasies! SHARPAY AND RYAN IN EVERYTHING!
Every single time Chad and/or Ryan is on the screen. Because they're dreeeeeamy.
Continue to Bet On It: We have no idea what Troy's big number was called because we were too busy being amazed by its AWESOMENESS. Basketballs falling from the sky! Rooms rotating! Troy ripping his giant head off the wall! It was FANTASTIC.
THE BAD
Oh my god, Troy Bolton, be a bigger douche. WAIT, YOU CAN'T.
Disney's complete lack of understanding of how scholarships, college admissions, graduation, and anything resembling the real world works.
Not enough Sharpay: It seems like they just didn't know what to do with her. They didn't make her the villain, but then acted like she was, so that sucked. And seeing as how Tizz should certainly win the East High award for Most Improved, her lack of screen time was really sad.
HSM: The New Class. The new kids weren't funny, or charming, or any good at all. The future of the franchise is bleak.
THE BAFFLING
Everything that happened, what the fucking fuck was that movie about?
In conclusion, this carries on the tradition of HSM 1 and 2: the movie is delightful to watch, almost entirely without plot (and what plot it has makes no sense), and full of complete, wonderful insanity.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Countdown to HSM: Top 10 Best Things About High School Musical
10. Ryan's HSM3 doll wears a kilt
Becky: The costumes throughout HSM are pretty good -- except Kelsi's in the second movie, I think perhaps she ran over the costumer's dog or something -- but the best thing ever is actually on a doll. Ryan Evans, at least in plastic form, wears a KILT.
Jess: Why a kilt? Who cares! I, for one, hope this is a sign of a future HSM/DuckTales crossover, where Ryan and Scrooge McDuck go back to McDuck Castle in Scotland to have high campy adventures.
(Kilt picture from Molly.)
9. The homoerotic nonsense that is the Suite Life HSM episode
Jess: Okay, Suite Life is basically terrible, but for some reason the repeated joke of Maddie (Ashley Tisdale) insisting that she looks just like Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) and no one else believing her makes me crack up. Other enjoyable things: the ludicrous casting of fey little Slightly Better Sprouse as the slightly less fey Troy, "Floss: The Musical," and the use of a plot point from Singin' in the Rain, which you might have noticed I'm rather partial to.
Becky: I just like to think about the cross-dimensional aspect it brings to Disney. Miley Cyrus -- a real person -- appears in HSM2, so that puts those two in the same universe; but Hannah Montana appears on the Suite Life so that puts those two in the same world; but the Suite Life performs HSM, so...HUH? The pandimensionality is broken! HSM actually broke the universe!
8. Jump In
Becky: It's only fair that if we blame HSM for Camp Rock, we credit it for Corbin's movie, right? And while Jump In is hilariously bad, it's also adorable, and it's Corbin at his best -- playing smug, dancing, and telling a coming out story.
Jess: Did you know boys can double dutch? Thanks to Corbin, I now know they totally can!
7. As bad as the musical aspects are, the return of musicals to mainstream
Becky: Kids are eating the musical thing up, even though what they're being given is bad. SURELY movie makers will eventually catch on and start making GOOD movie musicals, right?
Jess: Oh God. That is my beautiful, beautiful dream. Hold me, Becky!
6. The fact that every little girl I know knows the "All In This Together" dance
Jess: The very first time I saw HSM, my sister jumped up during the finale and did the "We're All in This Together" dance. I've seen kids I substitute for do it, kids at the Disney Store do it, kids on the street do it. It's not brilliant or anything, but heck, anything that makes the world more like a musical is okay in my book
Becky: In fairness, though, Jess and I have been the people doing the dance in the Disney Store. Uh, it may be mildly less charming when it's a couple of 20-somethings. Especially if one of them is me. (Zac Efron and I are comparable dancers.)
5. The launching of Lucas Grabeel's career (hopefully)
Jess: Lucas is the only - I repeat, the only good actor in the first HSM, and remains the best in HSM2. He's the strongest singer in the cast (God, his voice!), and just behind Corbin in dancing. And he is completely adorable. Please let this boy become wildly famous, gods of the universe. Please.
Becky: As the shallow one, I feel obligated add: Lucas isn't exactly hard on the eyes, either. If anyone deserves to get out of this franchise alive, it's him.
4. The ultimate message: it's totally cool to be who you are, no one has to live in a single little box, and we should embrace our differences and still be BFF
Becky: HSM has been referred to as a new generation's Grease, but there's one major difference. At the end of Grease, Sandy gives up on who she is and what she believes in so she can get the dreamy boy (at least, if you're willing to believe Travolta is dreamy). So to give credit where it's due, HSM is much better -- if for nothing else than because at the end, it's all about being true to who you are.
Jess: We refer here to the first movie, of course - the message of the second movie seems to be "Don't do drugs, because you'll turn orange and start seeing giant clocks and crazy girls in wedding dresses and stuff."
3. Gabriella's understated independence
Jess: Vanessa's no great shakes as an actress, and I went into HSM2 not liking Gabriella very much at all. That changed when I saw her behavior towards Troy.
Becky: I'm now going to project my own issues wildly onto Gabi. See, when I was in high school, I had a boyfriend who I was desperately, passionately in love with, and he with me. Except he was extremely jealous and possessive, and as a direct result, I was miserable for well over a year. But I didn't get why, or what I could do about it -- hey, I was 15. And when the thought did flicker through my mind that maybe I would be happier without him, I was overwhelmed by guilt: I loved him, why wasn't that enough? He'd feel awful if we broke up; I couldn't do that to him.
So it actually means a lot to me to see Gabi as a role model for girls in the second movie. Because Troy is a complete tool, and blows her off, and treats her really badly. And she breaks up with him, because she knows that she deserves to be happy. Their exchange in "Gotta Go My Own Way" is actually really brilliant in that regard. She knows what's right, and she does it. She doesn't need Troy to be happy. And yes, that is what I want girls to see on TV.
Also, when refusing to buy into Sharpay's games, her disgusted delivery of, "What's the prize, Troy?" is pretty much accidental genius.
2. An ethnically and visually varied cast
Jess: Oh, and hey, speaking of good role models, how about a Latina heroine (Vanessa's multiracial but Gabi seems to be straight-up Latina, not that it matters) and two interracial couples (Troy/Gabi and Sharpay/Zeke, if the latter counts as a couple)? That's pretty cool. I hear Martha gets to be head cheerleader in HSM3, as well - that's pretty freaking awesome, even if KayCee kind of gives me a headache.
Becky: HSM actually as a cast that isn't 100% caucasian, heterosexual, and skinny. That shouldn't be an accomplishment, but you know what? It is. Let's hope the rest of TV follows.
1. Ryan Evans
Becky: We snark about how incredibly, mind-bogglingly gay Ryan is a lot on this blog. We have an entire category dedicated to it. And -- okay, we mostly do it because it's funny. But the punchline isn't, "Heh, heh, he's gay." The punchline is that Disney, a corporation not exactly known for taking progressive stances, has provided a beloved, respected, positively-portrayed character, who happens to be flamingly gay. And has aimed this character to kids -- kids who are still forming opinions on what is normal and socially-acceptable behavior. And I want to live in a world where no one thinks real kids who happen to be like Ryan Evans are anything but normal.
Jess: Yes, Disney will tell you that they're not dealing with sexuality in these movies and jump through endless verbal hoops to keep from admitting that Ryan is gay. And yeah, it really, really sucks that they can't just have him be gay and have that be the end of it (let alone let him have a love interest. I mean, outside of "I Don't Dance"). But hey. Ryan Evans loves what he does and who he is. Everyone should have a role model like that.
We'll be seeing the movie at a late showing tonight and will likely fall down exhausted as soon as we get home. So our review will be up at some point tomorrow. In the mean time, though, enjoy the best number from the franchise so far. (Will it be topped? We shall see tonight!)
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Countdown to HSM3: Top 10 Worst Things About High School Musical
10. The roller coaster/wave in Summertime
Becky: I'm pretty sure if you looked in some kind of film making encyclopedia for "awkward shot" you'd find this sequence. (Uh, an online, interactive encyclopedia, I guess.) It's not good.
Jess: Kenny is great at getting kids to feel comfortable around him and dance their little hearts out. Experimental cinematography? Not so much.
9. Mr. Fulton
Becky: There are so many things wrong with Fulton -- like how he spritzes after talking about Sharpay (whaa?), how everyone acts like he's super mean and scary (um, he would like employees to clock in and out on time, HOW UNREASONABLE), how he's not a very good actor... But what's really wrong is his name.
Jess: Or, more specifically, how similar it is to "Bolton," Troy's last name. Kenny would have done well to make his poorly-enunciating little brood practice saying these names with mouths full of marbles a la My Fair Lady, but since he didn't, we spent the movie hearing characters mumble "...lton" and going "Huh?"
8. The possibility of future HSMs
Jess: No. Just no. Especially without the main cast.
Becky: And the main cast really, really should not come back, Zefron. So: no more movies. Okay? Okay.
7. Zef's dancing
Becky: An easy target, but... He's just SO BAD.
Jess: Again, a superior film (like, oh, say, Hairspray) would have figured out a way to cunningly hide him during dance numbers so you didn't realize that he barely danced at all. HSM features his move-screwing-up and Crazy Zef Dances. HSM, dare I say, is not a superior film.
6. Darbus
Jess: Darbus is a bad teacher and a bad director, but she's supposed to be. However, she's also played by a terrible actress who keeps saying "musicale," so there's absolutely nothing redeemable about her whatsoever.
Becky: The only thing that would have possibly redeemed her in any way was the conceptualized duet between her and Coach Dad, but a) it didn't happen, an b) ... well ... scroll down the list.
5. Coach Dad
Becky: Coach Dad sucks. He's possibly a WORSE actor, and he's terrifyingly badly written.
Jess: Watch him scream angrily at his team, demanding to know where Troy and Chad are! Watch him have a tender, discomfort-inducing moment with his shirtless, hairless, Bonne-Bell-Lip-Smackered son! Watch him grope his son's underage friends, inexplicably hang out with his team/students during summer vacation, and tell his son that it's totally cool and not morally ooky to psuedo-date his boss's daughter for money! And watch him do it all very, very poorly.
4. Troy
Jess: I hate Troy. This is not the first time I've said it and it will not be the last, but he's the most wooden, self-involved, consistently douche-baggy protagonist I've ever seen in a kids' franchise. From the moment he gets Gabi detention in her first period of her first day at East High without once thinking "Hmm, maybe I shouldn't call her in class," to the crowning height of douche-baggery when he decides to fix all his mistakes by dropping out of Sharpay's show and thus screwing her over but not reporting in to work or attempting to get the regular show back on, thereby making nobody but himself happy, he proves himself incapable of thinking about anyone else for even a second.
Becky: The franchise really lucked out in casting Zac Efron -- Jess doesn't like him, and he can certainly come across as a douche, but he also can be quite charming and adorable. He manages to bring some of that charm to Troy, especially in the first movie; and he and Vanessa actually are attracted to each other, so that comes across, too. Without those two lucky strokes, the movies would be unwatchable, because Troy? Well, Troy is a complete and total douchebag.
3. Camp Rock happened
Becky: Camp Rock was created in the hopes it would be the next HSM. So, if there was no HSM, there would be no Camp Rock, and I would have two hours of my life and god only knows how many brain cells back.
Jess: Not to mention we'd have to look at Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers a lot less. That would be a better, kinder world indeed.
2. The franchise's relentless marketing to kids as young as 3
Jess: Look. I get that Disney wants to merchandise their stuff, and hey, we had some joyous giggles over Becky's Ryan- and Chad-flavored (we can only assume) gum. But constantly shilling toothbrushes and toy microphones to preschoolers - that's not okay. Give them a few years before stamping all over their foreheads with brand logos, okay, Disney?
Becky: Here's a thought: how about we don't train a new generation of toddlers to be consumers who'll buy whatever has a designer label on it? How about we don't manufacture so much useless junk they don't need, which clogs up the world with pollution as it's made and fills up dumps when it breaks? It's not that we want to live in a world where you can't buy bubble gum with Chad and Ryan holograms on the package, it's that Disney has never heard of moderation, and ultimately that's bad for everyone.
1. HSM's status within and relationship with the musical genre
Becky: So I love HSM and all, but I'm not really a musical theater person. Uh, Jess is, though. And I have the sneaking suspicion that she's been holding back a very strong opinion all week, waiting for this moment.
Jess: *breathes*
There are a lot of things that anger me about the way the High School Musical films approach, well, being a musical. The weak (Tizz, Monique, Corbin) or nasal (Tizz, Vanessa) singers who don't know how to put across a song (Vanessa, Zef) in a way that conveys character and emotions. The third-rate pop songs that consistently fail to advance the plot or character development (show me one thing "Bet On It" adds to the movie, I dare you). The complete ignorance as to how actual musical theater is conducted.
Worse than that, though, is the mocking position HSM takes in relation to the genre. "God," it seems to say, "musicals are so stupid. Like, they're called things like 'Twinkle Town Musicale' and the people who love them are all mean, intermittently stupid, and shallow, or downright crazy, and why couldn't our heroes just sweep in and take the leads? I mean, it can't be that hard or require effort or dedication." The people who love the genre - Darbus, Ryan, and Sharpay - are villains or morons or both in the first movie and not much better in the second. (I would argue that Kelsi doesn't fit into this category because she doesn't love musical theater so much as she loves music.) Troy and Gabi display no skills beyond those required for karaoke. The show they are apparently auditioning for is incoherent and stupid. The auditioners are mocked mercilessly for...knowing ballet and opera? How dare they! And both films treat tap dancing, the musical theateriest of all dance forms, with utter disdain and ridicule, despite the fact that the director's mentor was Gene freaking Kelly.
If this were a highly forward-thinking or experimental series, I could see where they were coming from. I don't think being dismissive and insulting towards those who have gone before you is indicative of maturity or quality, but I guess if you're written the greatest musical ever made, you can afford to be a little haughty. Neither HSM is the greatest musical ever made. Neither would break the top 100. I am fond, obviously, but y'all, these movies are bad. The writing is bad, the acting is (for the most part) bad, the singing is uneven...all they've got going for them is costumes and dancing (minus Zef, of course). Even the staging sucks - the line of spasmodically jumping backs to the audience in "Everyday" makes me want to scream.
So where the hell does anyone involved in HSM, from the producers all the way down to Manley's personal assistant, get off insulting classic musical theater tradition?
But the thing that makes me angriest and saddest and most scared of all, is that crap like this is what kids today are being taught is musical theater. Look, I was born in the 80s, which was a pretty dry spell for the genre too, but I was raised on Gene Kelly and Shirley Temple and Rodgers and Hammerstein and I know the heights the genre can attain. The ravenous way young people from preschool up through high school are devouring HSM (and Camp Rock and Hannah Montana and every teenybopper who both acts and sings and anything else that even hints of musical theater - plus superior fare like Hairspray and Enchanted) shows that they are desperately hungry for musical theater, stories told with glorious, soul-soaring moments of song-and-dance. I don't want them thinking High School Musical is the best they can get. They deserve something more.
Becky: *applauds*
Here, universe: let Gene, Donald, and Debbie show you how it's really done.
Becky: I'm pretty sure if you looked in some kind of film making encyclopedia for "awkward shot" you'd find this sequence. (Uh, an online, interactive encyclopedia, I guess.) It's not good.
Jess: Kenny is great at getting kids to feel comfortable around him and dance their little hearts out. Experimental cinematography? Not so much.
9. Mr. Fulton
Becky: There are so many things wrong with Fulton -- like how he spritzes after talking about Sharpay (whaa?), how everyone acts like he's super mean and scary (um, he would like employees to clock in and out on time, HOW UNREASONABLE), how he's not a very good actor... But what's really wrong is his name.
Jess: Or, more specifically, how similar it is to "Bolton," Troy's last name. Kenny would have done well to make his poorly-enunciating little brood practice saying these names with mouths full of marbles a la My Fair Lady, but since he didn't, we spent the movie hearing characters mumble "...lton" and going "Huh?"
8. The possibility of future HSMs
Jess: No. Just no. Especially without the main cast.
Becky: And the main cast really, really should not come back, Zefron. So: no more movies. Okay? Okay.
7. Zef's dancing
Becky: An easy target, but... He's just SO BAD.
Jess: Again, a superior film (like, oh, say, Hairspray) would have figured out a way to cunningly hide him during dance numbers so you didn't realize that he barely danced at all. HSM features his move-screwing-up and Crazy Zef Dances. HSM, dare I say, is not a superior film.
6. Darbus
Jess: Darbus is a bad teacher and a bad director, but she's supposed to be. However, she's also played by a terrible actress who keeps saying "musicale," so there's absolutely nothing redeemable about her whatsoever.
Becky: The only thing that would have possibly redeemed her in any way was the conceptualized duet between her and Coach Dad, but a) it didn't happen, an b) ... well ... scroll down the list.
5. Coach Dad
Becky: Coach Dad sucks. He's possibly a WORSE actor, and he's terrifyingly badly written.
Jess: Watch him scream angrily at his team, demanding to know where Troy and Chad are! Watch him have a tender, discomfort-inducing moment with his shirtless, hairless, Bonne-Bell-Lip-Smackered son! Watch him grope his son's underage friends, inexplicably hang out with his team/students during summer vacation, and tell his son that it's totally cool and not morally ooky to psuedo-date his boss's daughter for money! And watch him do it all very, very poorly.
4. Troy
Jess: I hate Troy. This is not the first time I've said it and it will not be the last, but he's the most wooden, self-involved, consistently douche-baggy protagonist I've ever seen in a kids' franchise. From the moment he gets Gabi detention in her first period of her first day at East High without once thinking "Hmm, maybe I shouldn't call her in class," to the crowning height of douche-baggery when he decides to fix all his mistakes by dropping out of Sharpay's show and thus screwing her over but not reporting in to work or attempting to get the regular show back on, thereby making nobody but himself happy, he proves himself incapable of thinking about anyone else for even a second.
Becky: The franchise really lucked out in casting Zac Efron -- Jess doesn't like him, and he can certainly come across as a douche, but he also can be quite charming and adorable. He manages to bring some of that charm to Troy, especially in the first movie; and he and Vanessa actually are attracted to each other, so that comes across, too. Without those two lucky strokes, the movies would be unwatchable, because Troy? Well, Troy is a complete and total douchebag.
3. Camp Rock happened
Becky: Camp Rock was created in the hopes it would be the next HSM. So, if there was no HSM, there would be no Camp Rock, and I would have two hours of my life and god only knows how many brain cells back.
Jess: Not to mention we'd have to look at Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers a lot less. That would be a better, kinder world indeed.
2. The franchise's relentless marketing to kids as young as 3
Jess: Look. I get that Disney wants to merchandise their stuff, and hey, we had some joyous giggles over Becky's Ryan- and Chad-flavored (we can only assume) gum. But constantly shilling toothbrushes and toy microphones to preschoolers - that's not okay. Give them a few years before stamping all over their foreheads with brand logos, okay, Disney?
Becky: Here's a thought: how about we don't train a new generation of toddlers to be consumers who'll buy whatever has a designer label on it? How about we don't manufacture so much useless junk they don't need, which clogs up the world with pollution as it's made and fills up dumps when it breaks? It's not that we want to live in a world where you can't buy bubble gum with Chad and Ryan holograms on the package, it's that Disney has never heard of moderation, and ultimately that's bad for everyone.
1. HSM's status within and relationship with the musical genre
Becky: So I love HSM and all, but I'm not really a musical theater person. Uh, Jess is, though. And I have the sneaking suspicion that she's been holding back a very strong opinion all week, waiting for this moment.
Jess: *breathes*
There are a lot of things that anger me about the way the High School Musical films approach, well, being a musical. The weak (Tizz, Monique, Corbin) or nasal (Tizz, Vanessa) singers who don't know how to put across a song (Vanessa, Zef) in a way that conveys character and emotions. The third-rate pop songs that consistently fail to advance the plot or character development (show me one thing "Bet On It" adds to the movie, I dare you). The complete ignorance as to how actual musical theater is conducted.
Worse than that, though, is the mocking position HSM takes in relation to the genre. "God," it seems to say, "musicals are so stupid. Like, they're called things like 'Twinkle Town Musicale' and the people who love them are all mean, intermittently stupid, and shallow, or downright crazy, and why couldn't our heroes just sweep in and take the leads? I mean, it can't be that hard or require effort or dedication." The people who love the genre - Darbus, Ryan, and Sharpay - are villains or morons or both in the first movie and not much better in the second. (I would argue that Kelsi doesn't fit into this category because she doesn't love musical theater so much as she loves music.) Troy and Gabi display no skills beyond those required for karaoke. The show they are apparently auditioning for is incoherent and stupid. The auditioners are mocked mercilessly for...knowing ballet and opera? How dare they! And both films treat tap dancing, the musical theateriest of all dance forms, with utter disdain and ridicule, despite the fact that the director's mentor was Gene freaking Kelly.
If this were a highly forward-thinking or experimental series, I could see where they were coming from. I don't think being dismissive and insulting towards those who have gone before you is indicative of maturity or quality, but I guess if you're written the greatest musical ever made, you can afford to be a little haughty. Neither HSM is the greatest musical ever made. Neither would break the top 100. I am fond, obviously, but y'all, these movies are bad. The writing is bad, the acting is (for the most part) bad, the singing is uneven...all they've got going for them is costumes and dancing (minus Zef, of course). Even the staging sucks - the line of spasmodically jumping backs to the audience in "Everyday" makes me want to scream.
So where the hell does anyone involved in HSM, from the producers all the way down to Manley's personal assistant, get off insulting classic musical theater tradition?
But the thing that makes me angriest and saddest and most scared of all, is that crap like this is what kids today are being taught is musical theater. Look, I was born in the 80s, which was a pretty dry spell for the genre too, but I was raised on Gene Kelly and Shirley Temple and Rodgers and Hammerstein and I know the heights the genre can attain. The ravenous way young people from preschool up through high school are devouring HSM (and Camp Rock and Hannah Montana and every teenybopper who both acts and sings and anything else that even hints of musical theater - plus superior fare like Hairspray and Enchanted) shows that they are desperately hungry for musical theater, stories told with glorious, soul-soaring moments of song-and-dance. I don't want them thinking High School Musical is the best they can get. They deserve something more.
Becky: *applauds*
Here, universe: let Gene, Donald, and Debbie show you how it's really done.
Very Important Things
Thing the first: High School Musical 3's Ryan Evans still a coded gay character -- another article from AfterElton about how Ryan is totally gay. Aaaaand a certain little blog I know of totally gets a shout out in the second page. (Thanks to the various people who pointed this out to us!) Which of course led to this email exchange:
Jess: What do I love most about the AfterElton.com article? The confirmation that Ryan has NOT been hetted up, the fact that he randomly yells "Dance!" for no reason, or the fact that they think we're teenagers?
Becky: I feel that "Dance" and "Not dance" should be our new exclamations of joy and disappointment respectively. "We're doing a conference at work so I will have to work this weekend. It's so not dance."
Jess: On the other hand, I'm eating an amazing Cadbury bar that is dance enough to be worth the $2.25 I paid for it.
--
Thing the second: Today's Zac Efron career update. Pirates 4 is apparently just a rumor (hopefully, then, so is HSM4), but Zac is actually slated for the Kevin Bacon role in a remake of Footloose
Ahem.
ZACHARY DAVID ALEXANDER EFRON. No more movies with dancing! Stop it! You are really really really really bad at dancing! Seriously.
Example: In Work It Out, Zef does what we refer to as A Crazy Little Zef Dancetm and it looks like Disney's Zefron Bot 3000 has gone haywire and may start killing all humans at any moment. Then Corbin and Kaycee do the exact same dance and it looks like a thing that was actually competently choreographed.
Seriously. This will be epically bad.
Jess: What do I love most about the AfterElton.com article? The confirmation that Ryan has NOT been hetted up, the fact that he randomly yells "Dance!" for no reason, or the fact that they think we're teenagers?
Becky: I feel that "Dance" and "Not dance" should be our new exclamations of joy and disappointment respectively. "We're doing a conference at work so I will have to work this weekend. It's so not dance."
Jess: On the other hand, I'm eating an amazing Cadbury bar that is dance enough to be worth the $2.25 I paid for it.
--
Thing the second: Today's Zac Efron career update. Pirates 4 is apparently just a rumor (hopefully, then, so is HSM4), but Zac is actually slated for the Kevin Bacon role in a remake of Footloose
Ahem.
ZACHARY DAVID ALEXANDER EFRON. No more movies with dancing! Stop it! You are really really really really bad at dancing! Seriously.
Example: In Work It Out, Zef does what we refer to as A Crazy Little Zef Dancetm and it looks like Disney's Zefron Bot 3000 has gone haywire and may start killing all humans at any moment. Then Corbin and Kaycee do the exact same dance and it looks like a thing that was actually competently choreographed.
Seriously. This will be epically bad.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Countdown to HSM3: The Top 10 Things We'd Like to Say to the Cast
10. "Anyone who plays an East High faculty member, right on down to the principal and the pregnant science teacher: Stop. Just stop. You're a terrible actor and no one likes you. Go away."
9. "Monique, you are super cute and sassy. We should be BFF. Call us!"
8. "Manley (director Kenny Ortega's dog, who plays Sharpay's dog): man, what is your life like? Cheetohs for dinner and watching Anchors Aweigh every night, am I right?"
7. "KayCee, CALM THE HELL DOWN."
6. "Baby V, you need to stop singing through your nose. Also, you need to stop calling yourself Baby V."
5. "Okay, Kenny, you're not technically a cast member, but whatevs. We appreciate the homoeroticism in everything you make. Keep up the good work! But maybe let the HSM thing end while it's still joyously bad, before it becomes just plain old bad."
4. "Lucas, you are way too good for this shit. You should pretend you don't know that, though, because because this shit is the primary reason you're going to go on to have a decent career, so don't behave like a jackass."
3. "Corbin, honey, someday all those tingly feelings you get around cute boys - and your love of leopard print - will make sense."
2. "Tizz. All the plastic surgery in the world will not turn you into Reese Witherspoon. You are smart and funny and you need to give up on the Rom Com Princess dream and start making a career that works for you. Might I suggest teaming up with Josh Peck to make a series of wacky comedies penned by a couple of bloggers? Just throwing that out there!"
1. "Oh, Zefron. Perhaps you should consider more movies where you are not singing and especially not dancing. Because you are very, very bad at dancing. AND DO NOT MAKE A FOURTH MOVIE. NO MATTER WHAT FRANCHISE THEY PROMISE YOU. IT IS CAREER DEATH."
And in the spirit of getting things off our chests...
9. "Monique, you are super cute and sassy. We should be BFF. Call us!"
8. "Manley (director Kenny Ortega's dog, who plays Sharpay's dog): man, what is your life like? Cheetohs for dinner and watching Anchors Aweigh every night, am I right?"
7. "KayCee, CALM THE HELL DOWN."
6. "Baby V, you need to stop singing through your nose. Also, you need to stop calling yourself Baby V."
5. "Okay, Kenny, you're not technically a cast member, but whatevs. We appreciate the homoeroticism in everything you make. Keep up the good work! But maybe let the HSM thing end while it's still joyously bad, before it becomes just plain old bad."
4. "Lucas, you are way too good for this shit. You should pretend you don't know that, though, because because this shit is the primary reason you're going to go on to have a decent career, so don't behave like a jackass."
3. "Corbin, honey, someday all those tingly feelings you get around cute boys - and your love of leopard print - will make sense."
2. "Tizz. All the plastic surgery in the world will not turn you into Reese Witherspoon. You are smart and funny and you need to give up on the Rom Com Princess dream and start making a career that works for you. Might I suggest teaming up with Josh Peck to make a series of wacky comedies penned by a couple of bloggers? Just throwing that out there!"
1. "Oh, Zefron. Perhaps you should consider more movies where you are not singing and especially not dancing. Because you are very, very bad at dancing. AND DO NOT MAKE A FOURTH MOVIE. NO MATTER WHAT FRANCHISE THEY PROMISE YOU. IT IS CAREER DEATH."
And in the spirit of getting things off our chests...
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Countdown to HSM3: The Top 10 Biggest WTF Moments
Tonight's list deals with some of the most ridiculous moments in HSM. But that seems to have been the theme of the day, because ZOMG, have you seen the alleged news? Zef may just have let himself get blackmailed into doing HSM4: in exchange for that (plus a crapload of money), he seems to be signed on to co-star in Pirates of the Caribbean 4. So he can take over the franchise from Johnnie Depp. Whaaaat?
Top 10 Biggest WTF Moments
10. Troy Bolton wears capri pants
Jess: And slides. Listen, Troy, just because it's cute when Chad and Ryan switch clothing doesn't mean you should switch with your significant other too.
Becky: It isn't the worst fashion offense in the movies. But it it is one of the most hilarious.
9. Sharpay's role as understudy
Becky: Okay. I give you that some schools with hard core drama programs may bother with understudies -- mine didn't, but my school was about 11 people and some cows -- but even if your school does, doesn't the second best actress usually get the...you know...secondary female role?
Jess: I'm more confused by why, if Sharpay was Gabi's understudy, Gabi didn't suffer a Showgirls-esque pushed-down-the-stairs "accident" on opening night. Presumably because Gabi is too prim to do anything Showgirls-esque.
8. Troy getting everyone jobs at Lava Springs
Jess: I guess I can buy that Sharpay has enough pull to get Fulton to hire Troy plus anywhere from seven to 50 of his friends (although what happened to the people who were supposed to hold those jobs?), but why didn't Troy tell his friends when he found out?
Becky: Also, when did this happen? We hear him extolling Gabi's many virtues, but then he hangs up and looks smug. Did he secretly call Fulton back later to demand Lava Springs hire more of his cronies or the "Hire me and my girlfriend and we'll show up but not really do any more work" deal was off?
7. Everyone else's investment in Troy and Gabi's relationship
Becky: You know, when my friends have gone through break ups, it sucked. I try to cheer them up, because that's what friends do. I don't think I've ever engineered a convoluted scheme to shoehorn them back into a seriously flawed relationship, though.
Jess: Do these people not have their own lives? I mean, even Ryan gave up his show - his first creative endeavor that was all his - to provide Troy and Gabriella with a terribly staged, infuriatingly bad duet. Kids, even if Mommy and Daddy break up, they still love you.
6. Darbus keeping people out
Jess: Darbus seems completely opposed to the idea of people trying out for and/or being in her musical(e). Gabriella was thirty seconds late deciding she wanted to audition, so Darbus refuses to let her do it? What? What?
Becky: Well, she also decided the school should do a big show that was entirely written by a high schooler -- a talented one, I guess, but could they not get the rights to Bye Bye Birdie or something? -- that seems to involve, like, a tree and a camel and a giant moon. So perhaps that's just how Darbus rolls. You know. Crazy-style.
5. Chad scores the winning run
Becky: Yeah, so there's no actual, possible way that that should have happened. They went to all the trouble to show us Ryan winning home field advantage, so Ryan should bat in the BOTTOM of the inning. Meaning that if Chad scored a run in the 9th that put his team ahead, Ryan's team should go bat. There is no way to do a walk-off in the top of the ninth! That's not how baseball works!
Jess: I think from that you can all tell which one of us is the crazy baseball fan, but seriously, even I know that's wrong. (Although I think wasting time breakdancing when you're about to be tagged out is also a pretty egregious violation of baseballular principles.)
4. The whole audition process
Jess: Okay, for anyone who's never auditioned for something before (which, for the record, should not be ANYONE INVOLVED IN MOVIE-MAKING), you do not have to audition in pairs, because that makes no damn sense. What if one person is good and the other stinks? You audition BY YOURSELF, possibly reading lines with someone else if necessary. Callbacks happen a day or two later, not WEEKS, and don't require a) costumes, b) an audience, or c) THAT YOU WRITE AND ARRANGE A BRAND-NEW SONG. And you have to be able to do more than just sing.
Becky: On top of which, just as a general note, I kind of feel like we need to ask why, why, WHY Sharpay and Ryan seem to play romantic roles against each other -- or at least audition for them. And for that matter, what happens to their drama club groupies, who are never seen or heard from again?
3. Sharpay and Ryan participate in We're All in This Together
Becky: So Sharpay (and to a lesser extent, Ryan) have just spent several days doing their best to sabotage Gabi and Troy, right? But then they lose. So... Everyone is friends? I guess? I'm not sure why or how or when that happened, but apparently at East High, "I will destroy you if you get in my way," is more or less equivalent to, "Hi, let's be BFF!"
Jess: Let's hope so, because the SAME EXACT THING happens in the second movie. And all the junior novels. Uh, so I hear. *cough*
2.
Jess: Giant. Troy. Head.
Becky: I like to picture some artsy, alternative kid being forced to paint that wall while ranting about how Troy Bolton is emblematic of everything that's wrong with high school. Except no one exists at East High who doesn't love Troy Bolton, so I guess that can't happen, alas.
1. Everything about employment at Lava Springs
Jess: How many of the junior staffers are Wildcats anyway? Why were they all in uniform BEFORE getting job assignments? Why are they so surprised and angry to learn that they have to work at their JOBS? Why was Gabriella lifeguarding and Jason washing dishes before they got their assignments? Why did Kelsi think it was acceptable to start eating the club's food the minute she got there OH MY GOD I WANT TO PUNCH HER IN THE FACE? Who was supposed to wait on the audience if the entire junior staff was in the show? Who wound up waiting when they all went out to perform? How did Troy not get fired, when we only see him working three time during the whole movie and he always always ALWAYS clocks in late? Why does he stop to talk to Gabriella BEFORE clocking in when he is ALREADY late? Why do they think Fulton is scary? Why is Zeke angry about getting his dream job? Why does Chad think putting his feet in a bucket of ice will make them feel better, and why are we supposed to believe that he's in pain when a) he's an athlete and b) the Evans parents walked just as much as he did? Where are their supervisors? Why does no one train them? Aren't there requirements to becoming a lifeguard besides first aid training and being a straight A student? What exactly is Taylor's job?
Becky: *backs away from Jess slowly* And yet, NONE of this is the most insane thing that happened at Lava Springs. You know where this is going, don't you? Cue video.
Top 10 Biggest WTF Moments
10. Troy Bolton wears capri pants
Jess: And slides. Listen, Troy, just because it's cute when Chad and Ryan switch clothing doesn't mean you should switch with your significant other too.
Becky: It isn't the worst fashion offense in the movies. But it it is one of the most hilarious.
9. Sharpay's role as understudy
Becky: Okay. I give you that some schools with hard core drama programs may bother with understudies -- mine didn't, but my school was about 11 people and some cows -- but even if your school does, doesn't the second best actress usually get the...you know...secondary female role?
Jess: I'm more confused by why, if Sharpay was Gabi's understudy, Gabi didn't suffer a Showgirls-esque pushed-down-the-stairs "accident" on opening night. Presumably because Gabi is too prim to do anything Showgirls-esque.
8. Troy getting everyone jobs at Lava Springs
Jess: I guess I can buy that Sharpay has enough pull to get Fulton to hire Troy plus anywhere from seven to 50 of his friends (although what happened to the people who were supposed to hold those jobs?), but why didn't Troy tell his friends when he found out?
Becky: Also, when did this happen? We hear him extolling Gabi's many virtues, but then he hangs up and looks smug. Did he secretly call Fulton back later to demand Lava Springs hire more of his cronies or the "Hire me and my girlfriend and we'll show up but not really do any more work" deal was off?
7. Everyone else's investment in Troy and Gabi's relationship
Becky: You know, when my friends have gone through break ups, it sucked. I try to cheer them up, because that's what friends do. I don't think I've ever engineered a convoluted scheme to shoehorn them back into a seriously flawed relationship, though.
Jess: Do these people not have their own lives? I mean, even Ryan gave up his show - his first creative endeavor that was all his - to provide Troy and Gabriella with a terribly staged, infuriatingly bad duet. Kids, even if Mommy and Daddy break up, they still love you.
6. Darbus keeping people out
Jess: Darbus seems completely opposed to the idea of people trying out for and/or being in her musical(e). Gabriella was thirty seconds late deciding she wanted to audition, so Darbus refuses to let her do it? What? What?
Becky: Well, she also decided the school should do a big show that was entirely written by a high schooler -- a talented one, I guess, but could they not get the rights to Bye Bye Birdie or something? -- that seems to involve, like, a tree and a camel and a giant moon. So perhaps that's just how Darbus rolls. You know. Crazy-style.
5. Chad scores the winning run
Becky: Yeah, so there's no actual, possible way that that should have happened. They went to all the trouble to show us Ryan winning home field advantage, so Ryan should bat in the BOTTOM of the inning. Meaning that if Chad scored a run in the 9th that put his team ahead, Ryan's team should go bat. There is no way to do a walk-off in the top of the ninth! That's not how baseball works!
Jess: I think from that you can all tell which one of us is the crazy baseball fan, but seriously, even I know that's wrong. (Although I think wasting time breakdancing when you're about to be tagged out is also a pretty egregious violation of baseballular principles.)
4. The whole audition process
Jess: Okay, for anyone who's never auditioned for something before (which, for the record, should not be ANYONE INVOLVED IN MOVIE-MAKING), you do not have to audition in pairs, because that makes no damn sense. What if one person is good and the other stinks? You audition BY YOURSELF, possibly reading lines with someone else if necessary. Callbacks happen a day or two later, not WEEKS, and don't require a) costumes, b) an audience, or c) THAT YOU WRITE AND ARRANGE A BRAND-NEW SONG. And you have to be able to do more than just sing.
Becky: On top of which, just as a general note, I kind of feel like we need to ask why, why, WHY Sharpay and Ryan seem to play romantic roles against each other -- or at least audition for them. And for that matter, what happens to their drama club groupies, who are never seen or heard from again?
3. Sharpay and Ryan participate in We're All in This Together
Becky: So Sharpay (and to a lesser extent, Ryan) have just spent several days doing their best to sabotage Gabi and Troy, right? But then they lose. So... Everyone is friends? I guess? I'm not sure why or how or when that happened, but apparently at East High, "I will destroy you if you get in my way," is more or less equivalent to, "Hi, let's be BFF!"
Jess: Let's hope so, because the SAME EXACT THING happens in the second movie. And all the junior novels. Uh, so I hear. *cough*
2.
Jess: Giant. Troy. Head.
Becky: I like to picture some artsy, alternative kid being forced to paint that wall while ranting about how Troy Bolton is emblematic of everything that's wrong with high school. Except no one exists at East High who doesn't love Troy Bolton, so I guess that can't happen, alas.
1. Everything about employment at Lava Springs
Jess: How many of the junior staffers are Wildcats anyway? Why were they all in uniform BEFORE getting job assignments? Why are they so surprised and angry to learn that they have to work at their JOBS? Why was Gabriella lifeguarding and Jason washing dishes before they got their assignments? Why did Kelsi think it was acceptable to start eating the club's food the minute she got there OH MY GOD I WANT TO PUNCH HER IN THE FACE? Who was supposed to wait on the audience if the entire junior staff was in the show? Who wound up waiting when they all went out to perform? How did Troy not get fired, when we only see him working three time during the whole movie and he always always ALWAYS clocks in late? Why does he stop to talk to Gabriella BEFORE clocking in when he is ALREADY late? Why do they think Fulton is scary? Why is Zeke angry about getting his dream job? Why does Chad think putting his feet in a bucket of ice will make them feel better, and why are we supposed to believe that he's in pain when a) he's an athlete and b) the Evans parents walked just as much as he did? Where are their supervisors? Why does no one train them? Aren't there requirements to becoming a lifeguard besides first aid training and being a straight A student? What exactly is Taylor's job?
Becky: *backs away from Jess slowly* And yet, NONE of this is the most insane thing that happened at Lava Springs. You know where this is going, don't you? Cue video.
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