Remembering... Dinah Shore

For my last post during Black History Month I thought I'd complete two tasks with a single action, and so choose a duet by gospel legend Mahalia Jackson and birthday gal Dinah Shore.

Shore's career began in the Big Band era; although her auditions for the titans of the genre (Benny Goodman and both Jimmy Dorsey and his brother Tommy Dorsey) all flopped, her clear voice, wholesome image, and straightforward phrasing nevertheless shone through, making her an enduring favourite to this day, more than a decade after her February 1994 death.

Even more so than her recordings, film and television appearances, Dinah Shore's most enduring legacy may just be the golf tournament held every March in Palm Springs, which is a red letter day in any power lesbian's calendar.
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Friday Playlist: February 29th

Lenny Kravitz - "Mr. Cab Driver"
Billie Holiday - "Your Mother's Son-in-Law"
Concrete Blonde - "Walking in London"
Michael Jackson - "Wanna Be Starting Something"
John Mayer Trio - "Axis Bold As Love"
Fletcher Henderson - "King Porter Stomp"
Adam Ant - "Goody Two Shoes"
George Strait - "I Can Still Make Cheyenne"
Royal Crown Revue - "Zip Gun Bop"
Robbie Williams - "Rock DJ"
The Hollies - "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"
Joy Division - "I Remember Nothing"
Rufus Wainwright - "Harvester of Hearts"
Dead Kennedys - "California Uber Alles"
T-Rex - "Cosmic Dancer"
Kool & The Gang - "Jungle Boogie"
Joni Mitchell - "Impossible Dreamer"
Rachel Sweet - Theme from 'Hairspray'
Great Big Sea - "Feel It Turn"
The Prodigy - "Smack My Bitch Up"
Michelle Shocked - "Necktie"
King Missile - "Detachable Penis"
Michelle Shocked - "Hardly Gonna Miss Him"
Madonna - "Keep It Together"
Pansy Division - "Anthem"
Ozzy Osbourne - "Crazy Train"
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Happy Birthday James Ogilvy

1964 - traditionally considered either the last year of the Baby Boom or the first year of Generation X - saw something of a bumper crop of royal babies; in all, four were born during that twelve months, including HRH The Earl of Wessex, Lady Sarah Chatto (the daughter of Princess Margaret), Lady Helen Taylor (whose nickname in the Eighties was 'Melons'), and possibly the most minor of the so-called minor royals, James Ogilvy.


Despite his distance from the throne (at present he is 35th in the succession) and the fact that he possesses no titles whatsoever, Ogilvy is nonetheless a fascinating footnote in the history of the British monarchy - he is thought to be the only royal baby in history to be born a leapling.

Born to the Queen's cousin Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy and her husband Sir Angus Ogilvy at their home Thatched House Lodge outside London and married to Julia Caroline Rawlinson in 1988 (with whom he has two children, Alexander and Flora) Ogilvy is currently the publisher of Luxury Briefing, a magazine for those working the upper end of the carriage trade.

So low is James Ogilvy's profile that even a sycophant as panting as I was unable to find a picture to adorn this post, forcing me to make a reFoto to accompany the story.
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"Love Will Never Do (Without You)" by Janet Jackson

Featuring the ample talents of birthday boy Antonio Sabàto, Jr. and Djimon Hounsou, it's Janet Jackson's Love Will Never Do (Without You), the seventh single from her 1990 album Rhythm Nation, and directed with trademark aplomb by the late, great Herb Ritts.
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Gratuitous Brunette: Antonio Sabato, Jr.

He may in fact be the sexiest leapling ever; then again, since his is a variety (not to mention quantity) of hot that doesn't come around every day - especially at my place - it's apt I guess that his birthday should be a special event in more ways than one.

Born on this day in 1972 Sabato first emerged into the public consciousness the way ridiculously good-looking people with limited abilities often do - modeling. In 1990 he gained some notoriety for bringing New York's Times Square to a screaming halt at the sight of his twenty-foot tall abs and eight-foot long package, thanks to the ever-so-subtle marketing machinations of one Calvin Klein. Determined to demonstrate his range, he went on to star in a Janet Jackson video - Love Will Never Do (Without You) - which is essentially modeling with movement, but nevertheless, at least he tried.

It wasn't very long before the soaps called, in this case General Hospital. A lot of people mock the soaps but they are very grueling and more often than not turn a pretty face into an accomplished actor (with an even prettier face). I mean, look at... It'll come to me... Alec Baldwin! He was in a soap too, and look how well he's done.

Sadly, that's not been the case here; in doing research for this post I watched an awful lot of dire clips that I can only assume weren't actually acted by Antonio Sabato Jr. but rather by his picture stapled to a plank. Even the dreadful made-in Vancouver (or is that a tautology?) Deadly Skies (2005) - in which he can be seen getting it on with another dude - is awful except for those scenes. Then again, it's possible the sound of blood rushing in my ears at the sight of his mouth moving just might have prevented me from a full appreciation of his oeuvre.
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POPnews - Leap Year Edition!

45 BCE - The first Leap Year was observed following the adoption of Julius Caesar's cleverly named Julian Calendar.

1704 - During Queen Anne's War French forces and Native Americans staged a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 100 men, women, and children.

1720 - Queen Ulrika Eleanora of Sweden abdicated in favour of her husband, who became Frederick I.

1936 - The character Baby Snooks, first played by Fanny Brice in vaudeville as early as 1912, made her radio debut on the program The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air; Baby Snooks proved so popular that she got her own show, beginning in 1944.

1940 - Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to win an Academy Award, Best Supporting Actress, for her role as Mammy in Gone With The Wind.

1972 - Hank Aaron signed Major League Baseball's then-richest contract - $200,000.

1984 - Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau announced his retirement.

1988 - Archbishop Desmond Tutu was arrested at an anti-apartheid rally in Cape Town, apparently.

2004 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned as President of Haiti following a coup.
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Pop History Moment: Crazy Does Crazy, World Goes Crazy

On this day in 2007, troubled American pop star Britney Spears shaved her head.

Nothing else to say about that really, except that the media acted in its typically subtle and decorous way.
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Looking Back, Looking Forward

One year ago today I published my one hundredth post; this is number 2128, a feat which even though I know to be a fact I still have trouble believing. It's been a little over a month since my last update of this nature, and seeing as I missed our second anniversary - which fell on January 26th, during my recent illness - this seems as logical a time as any to update my regular readers as to the progress (or lack thereof) of the Pop Culture Institute.

Of course, looking back on it, on this day last year I still had no idea how to make links, and had only just figured out the insertion of photos; clear evidence, at least, of the steepness of my learning curve these past twelve months. I'd say I was proud of myself at least for what I've learned, if only I were capable of it; nevertheless it pleases me that I did it. In addition to the conquering of ignorance, I've come a long way (at least I think I have) from that angry impatience of mine, born mostly of frustration at my own limitations, which to me suggests passion but which to everyone else suggests staying away from me altogether.

The format of posts (both in quantity and quality) is more or less in place, and the structure of individual days is there too, at least since the landmark date of August 5th; even though by far the majority of my readers seem to discover me while Googling some specific subject or other, it's important to me as well as to the future of the blog that I build each day thematically, even if that is an ongoing process which takes years. Variety, as they say, is the something or other - the seasoning of existence? - so it's most important that I keep myself interested, as I'm the one who spends 5-6 hours a day neck deep in the thing so that you may have a few moments of pleasant reading in your day.

At New Year's I had promised that I would be taking things more easily this year than last, and in that I think I have; thank you to all of you who stayed with me through those few days when all I published was POPnews because it was all I had the strength to do. Despite my fatalistic pronouncements, the problem seems to have been caused by an electrolyte balance; the fact that I was growing weaker by the day panicked me, it's true, but I tried not to let it affect the quality of my work here, even if I did let it reduce the quantity.

The challenge ahead is to take all the types of posts I have done in the past - profiles, reviews, commentary, news, and photography - and merge them all a little more thoroughly, while still investigating new forms, such as interview and documentary. While I don't always feel I've succeeded at every post I've written, believe me when I say I would never publish something that I feel will reflect badly on me or this blog, at which I've worked so hard.

By this coming Pride Day (the 1st anniversary of my one thousandth post is August 5th) I hope to be at 3000, the Gods, Blogspot, and my own stamina willing. Here's to it!

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South Carolina: Expect The Expected

As expected, Barack Obama handily won the South Carolina primary, garnering 55 percent of the vote to Clinton's 27; still my favourite for dark horse candidate, John Edwards (who is - get this - a white man!) received 18 percent. The candidates' debate on CNN January 22 got the highest ratings ever for such a show, which may just be the silver lining to all the bitterness, resentment, and anomie currently inherent in the electoral process.

If Election 08 can get people interested and involved again, if it can overcome their apathy, maybe it can even get them to vote; because that is the real victory in a democracy... Each individual vote is a victory against the forces of tyranny, and using it is not only the best way to ensure you'll still have it to use the next time, but also that there'll be a next time for you to use it.

I've noticed that the creeping spectre of partisanship - which has long kept parties on either side of the aisle from working together - is lately beginning to creep into party politics as well, and threatens to thwart the Democrats' cake walk into the White House this coming November. Staunch supporters of Barack Obama seem to be as opposed to the potential candidacy of the would-be First Lady President as they ought to be to Christianist maniac Mike Huckabee, pretty-boy smarm-factory Mitt Romney, or John "Concierge at the Hanoi Hilton" McCain and vice versa.

So while it's true that both junior Senators (New York and Illinois respectively) have very different visions for how the United States can and should be run, the one thing they do agree upon - that a Republican cannot and must not be allowed to do it - doesn't even seem to be on the agenda.

What is on the agenda is much petty sniping - mainly, at this stage, about race. Rather than running against their opponents, both candidates seem to be running against their allies. Seeing minorities fighting amongst themselves is the sort of thing that Republicans love to watch - it's their porn - and whether they're at home, in court, or on a hook, nobody likes to see a Republican get off less than me.

A little bit of politicking is to be expected, since this is the part of the campaign when the individual candidates demonstrate their platform, interpret their vision of the party, show the electorate how they handle themselves under fire, and (to a much lesser, though more important, extent) how they will build their team if elected; but the blogosphere is fairly bristling with much commentary, even at this early date, about how theirs is the only candidate, and if their candidate loses how they're moving to a cabin in Iceland or some shit because life won't be worth living anymore.

Well, if a Republican wins the next election because Clintonites fail to support Candidate Obama, or vice versa, that's when things are really going to get ugly. I mean "Iran in 1979" ugly, Spanish Inquisition ugly, Rudy Giuliani in drag ugly...

The next primary is the big one - Super Tuesday - which takes place February 5th; 24 states will be up for grabs that day.
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Viscount Severn In Allergy Scare

James, Viscount Severn, infant son of the Earl and Countess of Wessex and the Queen's eighth grandchild, was rushed to London's Great Ormond Street Hospital Thursday following what was first described as "a mystery illness". This was later clarified to be an allergic reaction, which nonetheless necessitated an overnight stay for both mother and son and a visit by the Earl himself. It was business as usual Friday for the Earl, who attended engagements in the Midlands and was kept apprised of his son's condition while there via mobile.

A Palace spokesperson described the tests as "routine", stating that if it had been an emergency the five-week-old child would have been taken to the local hospital (where he was born, in December 2007) near where the Wessexes live, at Bagshot Park in Surrey.
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"Take It To The Limit" by Etta James

If there's one thing Etta James knows all about it, it's taking things to the limit; for more than fifty years she's been honing her own variety of soul that's been rubbed raw by losses in love, in a record industry that treats women badly and black women even worse.

Born on this day seventy years ago in Los Angeles, while still a teenager James formed a doo-wop group called The Peaches, who got their big break auditioning for producer Johnny Otis. Their first single - The Wallflower (Dance with Me, Henry) - was released in 1955 as an answer song to Hank Ballard's Work With Me, Annie; James would have to wait six more years to strike gold on her own, and when she did she struck a very rich vein indeed.

Her performance in At Last, inspired by her love for her new husband Harvey Fuqua, remains her signature tune to this day; having attained the penultimate position on the R&B charts, it made it all the way to 22 on the pop charts - far enough to guarantee play at countless sock hops, thus embedding it into the hearts of white and black kids alike.

It was followed by such hits as Trust In Me, A Sunday Kind of Love, and my personal favourite Tough Mary. Interest in James' career revived when her songs began showing up in television commercials in the mid-1990s, striking a sentimental chord in the generation who grew up listening to them and endearing her to a whole new audience at the same time.
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The Scanner What Ate My Brain

In case you've been wondering about the scarcity of posts the past few days, this is the reason, right here. This device, and these gawdawful 24 hour days, have conspired to make all my spare time just fly away.

I don't generally write tech posts because... Well, you could put all I know about technology in a thimble and still have room left over for what I know about math, physics, and relationships. But I know what I like, and I like this. In fact, I like this a Hell of a lot more than the cheesy line that preceded this one.

Having spent the better part of four hours last night scanning some black & white negatives I haven't seen for fifteen years back to life I was struck by what a revelation it was to see people and places I hadn't seen in so long emerging pixel by pixel from the past. Then I scanned some photos from prints, made a few PDFs, and scanned a slide. By that point it was well after midnight, and somewhere along the way I'd lost another four hours.

I can see how this is going to quickly become my favourite toy; it's technical name is the Epson V350 but they call it Perfection. Now, so do I.
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Oscar Nominations Announced

Best motion picture of the year
Atonement, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster, producers
Juno, Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, producers
Michael Clayton, Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent, producers
No Country for Old Men, Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, producers
There Will Be Blood, JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, producers

Performance by an actor in a leading role
George Clooney in "Michael Clayton"
Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood"
Johnny Depp in "Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"
Tommy Lee Jones in "In the Valley of Elah"
Viggo Mortensen in "Eastern Promises"

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
Julie Christie in "Away from Her"
Marion Cotillard in "La Vie en Rose"
Laura Linney in "The Savages"
Ellen Page in "Juno"

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Casey Affleck in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men"
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Charlie Wilson's War"
Hal Holbrook in "Into the Wild"
Tom Wilkinson in "Michael Clayton"

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett in "I'm Not There"
Ruby Dee in "American Gangster"
Saoirse Ronan in "Atonement"
Amy Ryan in "Gone Baby Gone"
Tilda Swinton in "Michael Clayton"

Achievement in directing
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly": Julian Schnabel
"Juno": Jason Reitman
"Michael Clayton": Tony Gilroy
"No Country for Old Men": Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
"There Will Be Blood": Paul Thomas Anderson

Achievement in cinematography
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford": Roger Deakins
"Atonement": Seamus McGarvey
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly": Janusz Kaminski
"No Country for Old Men": Roger Deakins
"There Will Be Blood": Robert Elswit

Original screenplay
"Juno", by Diablo Cody
"Lars and the Real Girl", by Nancy Oliver
"Michael Clayton", by Tony Gilroy
"Ratatouille", screenplay by Brad Bird; story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird
"The Savages", by Tamara Jenkins

Adapted screenplay
"Atonement", by Christopher Hampton
"Away from Her", by Sarah Polley
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", by Ronald Harwood
"No Country for Old Men", by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"There Will Be Blood", by Paul Thomas Anderson

Achievement in art direction
"American Gangster": Art Direction: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Beth A. Rubino
"Atonement": Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
"The Golden Compass": Art Direction: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street": Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
"There Will Be Blood": Art Direction: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Achievement in costume design
"Across the Universe": Albert Wolsky
"Atonement": Jacqueline Durran
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age": Alexandra Byrne
"La Vie en Rose": Marit Allen
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street": Colleen Atwood

Achievement in makeup
"La Vie en Rose": Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald
"Norbit": Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End": Ve Neill and Martin Samuel

Best foreign language film of the year
"Beaufort" Israel
"The Counterfeiters" Austria
"Katyn" Poland
"Mongol" Kazakhstan
"12" Russia

Best animated feature film of the year
"Persepolis": Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
"Ratatouille": Brad Bird
"Surf's Up": Ash Brannon and Chris Buck

Best documentary feature
"No End in Sight": Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience": Richard E. Robbins
"Sicko": Michael Moore and Meghan O'Hara
"Taxi to the Dark Side": Alex Gibney and Eva Orner
"War/Dance": Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine

Best documentary short subject
"Freeheld": Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth
"La Corona (The Crown)": Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega
"Salim Baba": Tim Sternberg and Francisco Bello
"Sari's Mother": James Longley

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
"Atonement": Dario Marianelli
"The Kite Runner": Alberto Iglesias
"Michael Clayton": James Newton Howard
"Ratatouille": Michael Giacchino
"3:10 to Yuma": Marco Beltrami

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"Falling Slowly" from "Once" - Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
"Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted" - Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
"Raise It Up" from "August Rush" (Warner Bros.): Nominees to be determined
"So Close" from "Enchanted" - Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
"That's How You Know" from "Enchanted" - Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

Best animated short film
"I Met the Walrus": Josh Raskin
"Madame Tutli-Putli": Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
"Même Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)": Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse
"My Love (Moya Lyubov)": Alexander Petrov
"Peter & the Wolf": Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman

Best live action short film
"At Night": Christian E. Christiansen and Louise Vesth
"Il Supplente (The Substitute)": Andrea Jublin
"Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)": Philippe Pollet-Villard
"Tanghi Argentini": Guido Thys and Anja Daelemans
"The Tonto Woman": Daniel Barber and Matthew Brown

Achievement in visual effects
"The Golden Compass": Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End": John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier
"Transformers": Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl and John Frazier

Achievement in film editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum": Christopher Rouse
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly": Juliette Welfling
"Into the Wild": Jay Cassidy
"No Country for Old Men": Roderick Jaynes
"There Will Be Blood": Dylan Tichenor

Achievement in sound editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum": Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg
"No Country for Old Men": Skip Lievsay
"Ratatouille": Randy Thom and Michael Silvers
"There Will Be Blood": Matthew Wood
"Transformers": Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins

Achievement in sound mixing
"The Bourne Ultimatum": Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis
"No Country for Old Men": Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland
"Ratatouille": Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane
"3:10 to Yuma": Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Jim Stuebe
"Transformers": Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin

[A.M.P.A.S.]
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RIP Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger, the Australian-born actor popular for such films as 10 Things I Hate About You, Monster's Ball, A Knight's Tale, and of course Brokeback Mountain, was found dead in a Manhattan apartment today by a housekeeper and a masseuse at just after 3:30 PM local time. He was 28.

Romantically linked with Naomi Watts and Heather Graham, in 2005 Ledger became engaged to his Brokeback costar Michelle Williams; in October of that year the couple had a daughter, Matilda Rose. Ledger and Williams confirmed their split in August 2007, citing conflicting work schedules.

At the time of his death Ledger had just completed work as The Joker in The Dark Knight, to be released this July; his performance was (and, indeed, still is) eagerly anticipated. In fact, he was at work on The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus when he died; no word yet on what's to become of that production.

While rumour and speculation are rampant, Ledger's haggard appearance of late has most pundits predicting that drugs played a major factor in his untimely death. Ledger's demise comes just one week after the death of another young actor, Brad Renfro, 25, also due to drugs-related causes.

The Plot Thickens... The New York Times is reporting that Ledger was found not at home but in the apartment of Mary-Kate Olsen, near a copious quantity of sleeping medication. An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow; a spokeperson for Ms. Olsen insists the apartment (located at 421 Broome St. in the tony SoHo neighbourhood) belongs to neither her nor her sister.
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RIP Suzanne Pleshette

It was a voice by turns husky, smoky, and sultry; now it's owner, comedienne Suzanne Pleshette, is gone. Pleshette died Saturday of respiratory failure at the age of 70.

Born in January 1937, Pleshette attended Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts before going on to Syracuse University in upstate New York. The raven-haired beauty appeared in numerous movies in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, including Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 classic The Birds.

Pleshette's longtime marriage to Tommy Gallagher (1968-2000) was bookended by two shorter ones: her first - to fellow actor Troy Donahue - ended badly in 1964 after just eight months, and her third (to former costar Tom Poston) was a happy one cut short after six years by his death in April 2007.

Among her noted roles on television were six seasons (1972-8) on The Bob Newhart Show (for which she reprised her role in the famous final episode of his other sitcom, Newhart, in May 1990), and a TV movie based on the life of Leona Helmsley entitled The Queen of Mean (1990), which must have been a great training ground for her final role as Karen Walker's mother on Will & Grace.

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Clinton Ekes Out Nevada Win

Take that Obama! And... Those guys who are always hanging around behind Obama... NYAH!

Despite the tenterhooks upon which I sat during the evening of the Michigan Primary (which nobody bothered to explain to me beforehand wasn't a real primary at all - thanks guys!) Nevada was a real primary, although like Iowa they called it a caucus. Clinton managed to triumph by six points, earning 51% of the votes to Obama's 45%.

Next it's on the South Carolina, where race is likely to be a factor, and it remains to be seen if the recent flap over the issue will remain to haunt the efforts of the would-be First Lady President. They are set to take place January 26th.

On the other side of the aisle, Mitt Romney didn't campaign in South Carolina in favour of Nevada, where he handily won; this cleared the way for John McCain's narrow win over Huckabee in the first Southern primary, which must have been a sweet victory, as it was here where Karl Rove's dirty lies cost McCain the state in favour of George W. Bush in 2000.

[Read more...]
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Bette Midler Channels Sophie Tucker

From day one a sizable (not to mention crowd-pleasing) portion of Bette Midler's act has been the telling of "Soph" jokes - that is to say, jokes that were told by Sophie Tucker on adult-oriented "party albums" she recorded in the 1950s and derived from her performances in burlesque.

This is where I first heard of Sophie Tucker, and I'll be forever grateful to Bette Midler for that (among many, many other things); the above clip is, of course, derived from the film of the Divine Miss M's 1980 concert Divine Madness.
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In Theatres Now: "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"

The creative genius that is Tim Burton continues to plumb the hidden "Depp's" of his onscreen muse in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street; the stylish, gory movie also features the abundant talents of Burton's wife Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, and Sacha Baron Cohen as well as newcomers Jamie Campbell Bower and Edward Sanders.

Stephen Sondheim's 1979 stage musical had been begging for a cinematic treatment since its debut, but as usual delayed gratification has been its own reward; having just come from seeing it, I can think of no other director working today whose style suits the story being told like Burton's. Able assistance from veteran production designer Dante Ferretti recreated a vision of Victorian London as macabre as the source material inhabiting it. Squeamish as I am - and this movie offers plenty of squeam - I am simply unable to look away from really good art direction; so there I sat, transfixed, as throat after throat was slit.

Johnny Depp seems to have done the impossible in creating a performance both low-key and bravura, often at the same time; his Sweeney is a man bent on revenge for the wrongs done to him, and since he's already dead inside his crimes don't unsettle his conscience in the least. Nor should they bother those of the audience either; it's not much of a spoiler to say that only the innocent survive in this movie, and they are a very select group indeed.

This may be the best chance Depp has had yet to nab himself an Oscar, and Burton and Bonham Carter as well; given how enthusiastically the Academy has embraced the re-emergent musical genre in recent years, I don't imagine even Sweeney Todd himself would slit my throat for saying so.
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Happy Birthday Your Potential Highness

It's been an on-again, off-again year for Kate Middleton and her royal beau, but the British papers are indicating that Kate and Wills are very much on-again. In fact, she's moved into his apartment at Clarence House, fuelling rumours that a Royal Wedding is in the offing, possibly next summer. Naturally, my gay nerves are all in a tizzy over this possibility.

Eager not to repeat the marital mistakes of Princess Margaret, The Prince of Wales, The Princess Royal, and The Duke of York, the Palace appears to be allowing the couple to move at their own pace; they've been together now for four years.

William will enter the Royal Air Force soon (and thereafter the Royal Navy), to continue his training to be King, which means they'll have to endure a separation; still, Kate has proven herself a discreet and resilient sort, although she's recently been the subject of her first negative coverage - another crucial test on the road to royal status.
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First We'll Take New Hampshire...

Given the momentum Senator Barack Obama of Illinois had going into today's New Hampshire primary (as evidenced by much gloating on the part of his supporters throughout the blogosphere following his surprise upset in the recent Iowa caucus) Hillary Rodham Clinton's victory keeps hope alive (audacity or no) for those looking to elect the First Lady President.


Former President Bill Clinton moved one step closer to selecting centrepieces and entertaining the wives of visiting dignitaries Tuesday with his wife's surprise victory over the former Democratic front runner and Ann Coulter's favourite punching bag John Edwards.

On the Republican side, the marginally better than the others John McCain bested Mitt Romney, and Iowa caucus victor Mike Huckabee came a distant third; Rudy Giuliani's name was nowhere to be found, for which we can all be thankful. Ron Paul - the Republican Dennis Kucinich - brings issues to the campaign without being a serious threat to any of the front runners.

Next up is the Michigan primary on January 15th.
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