Catches thieves just like flies! Look Out! Here comes the Spiderman...Maybe?

Ok, so I guess maybe someone connected with the musical read my blog from a few days ago when I gave my review of "Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark" because here is an update: The show, which was set to open next week, has now been postponed for the SIXTH time! Just when I figured out how to upload pictures from my cell phone to my blog!

Wait a minute! It gets better! Now it's being reported in the press that Julie Taymor, the director, has been, essentially, let go. Although they say she will be be working in another capacity with the show. So what I'm wondering is: will this show ever officially open? The producers are saying that it will open "sometime" in early summer!

Speaking of "producers", a friend of mine (who also saw the show the same night I did) pointed out to me that in the Playbill there are 3 1/2 pages of individuals and/or organizations listed as "Producers." This makes me think: maybe there is some truth to that old saying "too many cooks, spoil the broth!" Maybe the problem why this musical is such a mess doesn't have anything to do with the Director? Perhaps the problem lies with having so many "producers" having their input in the piece!

Who knows who they will find to direct this musical. I know! Why not get Charlie Sheen to direct it? I hear he may be looking for a job! Besides, he couldn't do any worse than the mess they have on their hands already! Seriously! Even if they take out all the dancing "Spider-ladies" (yes, you read that correctly), I doubt that I would ever pay to see it again. Fool me once, shame on you; fool, me twice, shame on me!

Something else occurred to me while I sat in the audience watching the train wreck unfold last Friday that reminded me of musical that I liked. Maybe Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark was "produced" by "Max Bialystock" & "Leo Bloom" - the fictional lead characters of THE PRODUCERS? Maybe Spider-Man (the musical) was their very real, SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER? Except, unlike that musical within THE PRODUCERS that became a hit, this really was a truly horrendous nightmare on stage! Hmmm....

I can't wait to see the Marc Webb film "The Amazing Spider-Man" starring Andrew Garfield as the superhero and my favorite actor with the last name Sheen: Martin. It's set to be released next year. Let's hope by then, the musical will be a footnote in the history of failed $63 million dollar Broadway shows!

Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark! 2-1/2 Hours of my life I WILL NEVER GET BACK!!!

BE WARNED: No Spoilers (because, for the life of me, I wouldn't know were to begin).

I just got back from the theater after watching the new Broadway musical SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK. Officially it's still in previews and has been set to open on March 15th. What is there not to like when it has so much going for it?:

• It has music by one of my favorite bands in the world (U2 - Bono and The Edge)!
• It's directed by one of the most visionary directors on Broadway today - Julie Taymor! (Who directed Broadway's "THE LION KING" and films like "ACROSS THE UNIVERSE", "FRIDA" and "TITUS")
• It's one of most popular superheroes ever created by Stan Lee!
• A theatre that has been renovated to accommodate lots of stunts at the expense of $63 million!

What could go wrong? A HELLUVA LOT - THATS WHAT! First I must say I read the early reviews (all bad) and thought to myself "they are a bunch of haters!" Boy, was I ever wrong!

Two weeks ago I went with my friend Douglas (who was on visiting from Africa) to see the musical THE LION KING! Now I sometimes think of myself as a jaded New Yorker and nothing ever "Wows" me these days. But I stand corrected. This was the first time I have seen this show. Yes, I know, it's been running on Broadway for over a decade now - but I never got around to seeing it (plus it is NEVER up at TKTS). I must say, I was blown away! The imagery and staging was so simplistic that I really felt like I was there in the bush in Africa! Now THAT is a show you MUST SEE if you are visiting NYC! (Also Avenue Q - but that's another story)

So I was really looking forward to see the Spider-Man musical! I don't think it's giving anything away by saying Peter Parker aka Spider-Man has the hots for Mary Jane Watson. If you haven't seen the Sam Raimi films (Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, and uh, Spider-Man 3) with Tobey Maguire then you must be living under a rock. One of the plot twist that made the films quite entertaining was the love triangle/friendship between said couple and Harry Osborn (James Franco). I can't tell you what was on stage tonight at the Foxwoods Theatre except to say it was A HOT MESS!

The very things that may have endeared you with the films, is the exact opposite in the musical. I really, really, really wanted to like this show. But it was so confusing! A "Greek chorus" and a mythical creature both telling the story? WTF? The very fact that the time of the piece was jumping all over the place was most annoying. It dawned on me midway through the first act: maybe all the IN-YOUR-FACE theatrics is there to put you off that the plot is totally lame (i.e. nonexistent)! I had the absolute best seats tonight (center orchestra) but that didn't make up for the fact that the show was like a bad accident you just wanted to be over with! There was a little boy (about 10-years old) sitting next to me with his mother. During the middle of the second act I heard him say to his mother, "When is this gonna be over?" That's exactly what I was wondering!

Someone once told me that "The Olive Garden" was Italian food for people who don't know really good Italian food! That is to say, when you live in New York City (or the outer-boroughs) why would you settle for a chain restaurant, when there are tons of really great Italian restaurants around? Thats how I feel about Spider-Man! Once you get over all the bells and whistles, you realize you could've watch the DVDs (Including the abysmal Spider-Man 3) instead!

Now I will say that the art direction was PHENOMENAL! Some of the costumes were very "cutting edge". The choreography was exceptionally good! Matthew James Thomas and Jennifer Damiano, as Peter/Spider-man and Mary Jane Watson, both had great vocals! However, such elements as these do not mean a hill of beans if the story sucks!

Unless they rework this entire show, I doubt that it will ever open. If it does open, in the present incarnation, it won't be open for very long! If you are visiting New York City or if you live here and want to see a really good show: AVOID "SPIDER-MAN:TURN OFF THE DARK" LIKE THE PLAGUE!

The Good and The Bad

Two Issues!

1) Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE to read. I always have a book on me. I just got a nook eReader from Barnes & Noble - but thats another story for another time. So I recently began collecting the leather-bound classic collections of authors that can be purchased from Barnes & Noble! They are great books for any collector. They are beautiful books with ribbon bookmarks and gold or silver binding. At last count I believe I have 19 volumes total. If they sell more than that, then I haven't found it yet. Some of the titles include, The complete works of William Shakespeare, Complete works of Edgar Allan Poe, C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, 7 novels by H. G. Wells (all in one volume), etc. They also have contemporary novelists like Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, Gregory Maguire's Wicked and Son of a Witch, and Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park and The Lost World.

I sent a letter to Barnes & Noble to suggest other authors they may want to add in the future. Here is some of the letter that I sent snail mail and emailed to the corporate headquarters:

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to express my appreciation for a your company releasing the Barnes & Noble Leather-bound Classics!

I've have ordered online or purchased in store the complete 19 volumes. I hope I did? Although I never would have thought of Gregory Maguire and Michael Crichton as classic authors, I guess some day future audiences, will view their work as classics.

My question to you is: do you anticipate releasing even more author collections in the near future? If so, can I suggest some authors that would be a great addition to my wonderful collection? How about considering these authors next time around:

• Mark Twain
• D. H. Lawrence
• Oscar Wilde
• E. M. Forster
• Geoffrey Chaucer
• L. Frank Baum
• Ernest Hemingway
• F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Zora Neale Hurston
• James Baldwin
• Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Truman Capote
• Maya Angelou
• John Steinbeck
• Willa Cather
• Joseph Conrad
• Toni Morrison
• William Faulkner
• Edith Wharton
• P. G. Wodehouse
• George Orwell
• Virginia Woolf
• Philip Roth
• Stephen King
• Raymond Carver
• John Irving
• Evelyn Waugh
• Annie Proulx
• Henry James
• Marcel Proust
• Raymond Chandler
• Ray Bradbury
• Walter Mosley
• Amy Tan
• Ian Fleming
• Patricia Highsmith
• Charles Bukowski
• James A. Michener

Leather-bound collections by these authors would be a great addition to anyone who wishes to cultivate a well-rounded library. You may want to forward this to the office that makes such decisions.

I'm sure that if you're like me, you can think of some more authors that should be on this list that you'd like to see in a leather-bound collection on your bookshelf. Suggestions? If you are like me and would like to see more of these books, drop them a letter like I did:

Barnes & Noble, Inc.

122 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10011

2) I also like to watch films. Good, bad, whatever! I have been a member of Netflix for many years now. Recently I had a problem with a DVD that I kept getting in the mail broken or cracked, thus rendering my visual experience: unwatchable!

Something should have told me that maybe this isn't meant to be. Now with Netflix, you can't just send them an email and if you call it's never a person picking up. So instead I wrote a review of the film. Here it is:

Review of YOU ONLY DIE ONCE: I have yet to see this film. That's not to say that I haven't ordered it. In fact I ordered it 3 times and EVERY SHIPMENT has been cracked or broken. I guess I should have read the reviews before I put this film on my queue, but I always like the underdog and wanted to judge for myself. After the 3rd broken DVD was delivered to me, I figured somebody was trying to tell me something! It must be bad when Netflix doesn't even bother to make this film available for streaming instantly. Oh, well maybe it's just isn't meant to be.

Okay, thats enough for now. Cheers!

Why Billy Can't Sleep?

Yesterday I finally came to the realization that what is meant when they say "you can pick your nose, you can pick you ass, but you can't pick the family your born into!" Because believe me if I could pick my own family, I would be an only child or maybe I'd like to have a brother. Either way I guess I'm stuck with what I got even if I never say another word to my mother's other child again, I can be a happy man! Let's put it this way, if my sister was on fire, I wouldn't piss on that bitch! I have had it!

We had a difference of opinions on certain thing and I have since washed my hands of all the ugliness that it entails. Some people are just so narcissistic that it just doesn't warrant continuing any relationship with them at all. But I digress....

I'm writing this post at 2:45am because I can't sleep. I recently found out, after participating in a sleep study, that I have sleep apnea. This is a disorder that cause me to stop breathing in my sleep. Needless to say, it can be deadly. My doctor prescribed a CPAP machine to help me with my sleep apnea. This contraption looks sorta like a elephant trunk connected to a small box. This will not only correct me from breathing interruptions during the night but it will guarantee that I will never have any romantic life in my bedroom. It's hideous and I wish there was some other way... oh well!

Haven't posted in a while. Saw "The Social Network", "True Grit", "Black Swan" (did anyone catch the sketch on SNL with Jim Carrey? - TOO FUNNY), and "The Kids Are Alright" recently! Excellent performances in all these films and I recommend them to anybody. Oh, I also saw "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow, Part 1". I quite enjoyed it even though there were some truly frightening scenes in it! By far, I think it's the best of the franchise. I eagerly await part 2!

I finally got around to reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Its my first eBook that I downloaded on my nook reader that Santa gave me for Christmas! Pretty good so far...

Okay, I'm going to sleep now. My sleeping pill is starting to kick in! Oh, one more thing: never take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night!

I'm Back! Has it really been a year?

It's been over a year since my last posts! I've been going through a lot of life changes but I'm well now. So much has happened in a year's time. Where to begin? Okay here goes: BP Oil spill in the Gulf! Those poor animals and the people whose lives depend on the tourist! My heart is goes out to you!

True Blood-LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT! Who won American Idol this year? Who cares! Adam Lambert ROCKS that's all I know! LOST went off the air! As well as 24, The Tyra Banks Show, ER, Law & Order (the original one).

Ricky Martin came out! Good for him! But really, was that REALLY that much of a surprise? I love you RICKY! iPhone, iPad, iPod, iCARUMBA! But if Steve Jobs wants to send me a iPad I am totally okay with that! The world has gone iCRAZY! Wendy is still going strong (even though she is on hiatus until the new fall season starts! Still love you WENDY my Bewigged Goddess!

Movies: The Hurt Locker was the best movie last year that so few people saw. I did see it on DVD and I can understand the hoopla! I loved The Princess & the Frog, but found PRECIOUS very disturbing! Great performances though!

Food: Did somebody say SHAKE SHACK!? (Madison Square Park for NYers, Times Square 8th Ave @ 44th for tourist) I had my first Shake Shack burger and nearly came! It was the best burger I've had in a long time! And yes it's even better than my former favorite The Little Burger Joint (inside the Parker Meridian Hotel on 57th Street) I still love my cupcakes! Billy's (9th Ave at 21st street) (of course!).

Books: I've read many books since the last time I posted I cant think of anything that sticks out that much besides Michael E. Schiefelbein's VAMPIRE series (Vampire Vow, Vampire Thrall, Vampire Transgression, Vampire Maker). VERY SEXY!!!! Why doesn't somebody make a series about these Vamps? Oh, that's right, it's not for tweens but for adults! Believe it or not the only vampire novel I read prior to these was the Bram Stoker. Another book I recommend is Rodney Lofton's No More Tomorrows: Two Lives, Two Stories, One Love! It hit me like a ton of bricks!

I hate using the computers at the public library. Right now I'm on my laptop. Two weeks ago I was in the library on the computer and this guy next to me was surfing the web watching porn! I don't even want to know what he was doing under the jacket draped over his lap! That's not the place for that kind of nonsense! I complained to security but they said that they could do nothing about it because they can't block websites! Funny, but when I was going to school, the IT dept did just that! What has gotten into people?

Music: did I already talk about that? Loved Soldier of Love (SADE) and BlackSummer's Night (Maxwell), The Fame Monster (Lady Gaga) and The Element of Freedom (Alicia Keys)!

Nuf said!

Never Can Say Goodbye

It's been 13 days since the passing of the King of Pop and it still hadn't sunk in until today when I was watching the funeral on television. Mariah Carey and Trey Lorenz came on and sang the Jackson 5 classic "I'll Be There" and I lost it! I know this sounds funny but it really feels like I've lost a relative, a strange one, but a loved relative nonetheless.

It's almost as if I can "Remember the Time(s)" of my life all set to a soundtrack by this great artist! I can remember a time back in the 70's when I wanted to BE a Jackson! I had the fro and everything! I remember the day when my dad brought home as a gift for my sister and I the Jackson 5 album (this is what we had before they made "CDs") "Maybe Tomorrow" and my sister and I played it over and over until my father insisted that we stop playing it or he would return it back to the store.

I remember when my sister and I and some of the kids in our neighborhood would make a "Soul Train" line in our back yard (since we couldn't play in the street) and would do our very best "Robot" off of the song "Dancing Machine"! I remember in college when my friend Kendell and I would play "Thriller" and I would play Michael dancing around her "overstuffed" Ola Rey as we dance around the dorm blasting the song over and over!! And there is not a person alive who hasn't tried to Moonwalk while listenting to "Billie Jean!" Ya'll know you did!

Despite his eccentric qualities, I will really miss the artist known as Michael Jackson! As a song from his "Dangerous" CD goes, he really is "Gone Too Soon"

I LOVE GUS VAN SANT

This week I received the Gus Van Sant film "Milk" from Netflix! Last night I finally had the chance to see it! And I want to let the WORLD know how much I loved this film. For anyone who doesn't already know, it is the story of the first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk. He is to LGBT people, what Martin Luther King Jr. is to Black people. And I can say that because I am both! He fought for gay rights when it wasn't popular and he set the precedent by which we still fight today in the rights for equality. I am so glad that Gus Van Sant, an openly gay filmmaker himself, has finally brought this story to screen. It has to be said also that the writing, by Oscar winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black was very worthy of the Academy Award that it did receive! He also gave an amazing Academy Award acceptance speech when he won this year! Nice going Lance!

One of the reason's why I loved the DVD is because of all the extras on included with this disc. It contained several featurettes, however in particular was the "Remembering Harvey" short. This featured many of the people who were with Milk during his historic rise to fame in San Francisco during the 1970's. Many of these same people are portrayed by younger actors in the film itself. Cleve Jones, who many people know as the man who conceived of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, talks about Harvey with much affection and the impact that he had on him as well as the gay community then. In the film he is brilliantly played by Emile Hirsch.

Speaking of acting, I have to say that Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, James Franco as Scott Smith, and Josh Brolin as Dan White were excellent! It's always a treat when actors can so immerse themselves into a role that you forget that they are the actors themselves. The entire cast was great! Gus Van Sant has done a fine job once again!

Many of you may already know that I am a BIG fan on Mr. Van Sant's work as a director (with the exception of his remake of the Hitchcock classic "Psycho") Hitchcock should be emulated and paid homage to but NO DIRECTOR (myself included) should ever REMAKE an Alfred Hitchcock film (except Alfred Hitchcock himself like he did for "The Man Who Knew Too Much") but I digress. Ever since "My Own Private Idaho" I've been hooked on Van Sant! Of course I feel somewhat of a kinship with him being an openly gay filmmaker too! He, much like Harvey Milk, uses his artistry to send a message with the media of film. I hope to continue this same concept as I embark on my film career.

It's funny, but I saw similarities between Harvey Milk and myself. Like me, starting my film career in my 40's, he didn't start his gay activism until he turned 40. I never knew how much his actions in the 70's have contributed to me being the man I can be today! It's also very fitting that this film should be released in this particular time when California conservatives have passed Proposition 8 which prohibits same-sex marriage in that state. Coincidence? I don't think so! That being said I hope that Gus Van Sant continues to put out great works such as this. He is one of my many inspirations and I hope that one day I can win an award and thank him and Harvey Milk for all that they have done for our community!

Now, GO rent (or buy the DVD to add to you Gus Van Sant film collection like I am). You won't be disappointed!