Happy March, everybody!

Videos

I forgot to include this in last week’s post, but as mentioned in my Pop Culture Bucket List, I was in the studio audience for a Seth Meyers taping last Monday. It was an amazing experience, and my new goal is to attend Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert tapings in the future. Surprisingly, one of my favorite segments of the show was with Seth’s close friend, comedian Neal Brennan. Basically feeling like a stilted adult, Neal created an “In Memoriam” video for their friendship, as Seth is having a baby soon.

So, yes, the Oscars were a testy subject this year. Yet, I was still ecstatic when one of my favorite YouTubers, Casey Neistat, announced last Friday that he was attending and vlogging the ceremony. His Oscar Sunday vlog was great, as expected, and it really made me interested in the organization and running of the event.

Sorry not sorry – Fiddler on the Roof news will always attract me. The cast visited Stephen Colbert this week. It was wonderful and nothing hurt.

Articles

After feeling generally ‘meh’ about the Oscars, that (very long) night ended with me feeling more or less the same. This summary by The New York Times is pretty similar to my own thoughts.

I love J.J. Abrams simply because of his connection to Lost, and even though I have no credible authority on Star Wars at all, I think he did an amazing job with The Force Awakens. In this article, he addresses how he is incorporating more diversity among employees at his production company.

I’m tooting my own horn here, but I wrote about Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy this week and I’m quite proud of the final product.

TV

CBS is producing a modernized show centered around Nancy Drew, and the casting of their Nancy was confirmed this week. Firstly, I love how this casting wasn’t limited to just Caucasian actresses. Secondly, I was never a huge Nancy Drew reader as a kid (I loved the computer games though), but I think this show could be great because CBS has already had success with a similar formula of modern revamp in Elementary. 

Less than a week after its premiere, Fuller House was already renewed for Season 2. I’m still working on getting through the first season, but this news makes me so happy. So far, I’ve been so pleased with the show, and it’s still kind of bizarre to see these characters whip out their cell phones and make such modern references, but I love it!

Theater

In case you couldn’t already tell, I’m quite the nerd. So, despite its reputation as a bit of a stuffy musical, I got really excited over casting news for a 1776 concert performance. I mean, Santino Fontana as John Adams?! If anyone has to play a role perfected by William Daniels, he’s the best pick. 

A new stage musical version of Anastasia will be premiering in May at a Connecticut theater. According to this article, six songs from the movie have been kept and several new ones have been added. I’m hoping some of the theater websites post videos of the rehearsal process, because the idea of a stage version of Anastasia is perfect to me. It’s still one of my favorite films. Maybe this resurgence will finally get its non-Disney status into people’s heads?!