I Am Large, I Contain Multitudes

(1) Those of you who have heard me talk about the annual Popcorn Festival in my hometown (the Saturday after Labor Day)? This year's headline band is the Spin Doctors. I am so there! (etrace isn't impressed, but hey, he wasn't going to get within 10 miles of the Fest anyway.)

(2) Robert Downey Jr. started a legit personal Twitter feed back in April. Somehow, I only just found out about it this week. Seriously.

I suppose this is also a good time to mention for posterity the loss of Robin Williams on Monday, which hit me in a way that celebrity deaths almost never do. My deep and abiding affection for him dates back to the Mork & Mindy days -- and then particularly Dead Poets Society. This week, every time I saw someone preface a comment or headline with "O Captain, my Captain!", it about broke my heart. If only we could have all gotten up on our desks for him.

(We happened to watch the second half or so of The Birdcage recently, since it turned up on TV one night after our episode of Game of Thrones finished. And while I almost turned it off in the middle because of the aggravation of watching them all try harder and harder to be their false selves... I couldn't actually do it, because both Robin Williams and Nathan Lane are just so charming and brilliant even in the depths of their desperation. And then there was the happy and tolerance-affirming ending, if that's not a spoiler for anyone, so it all came right after all.)

In unrelated news, we finished watching Season 3 of GoT, which means I have now seen all the episodes to date (we watched all of Season 4 as it came out, intermingled with my first time through the series from the beginning). But of course we now have to watch Season 4 over again.

Okay, off to finish making Friday night dinner :-)

So, before I go on to any other state-of-the-chanaleh posts, I have been meaning to post a recap of How I Got To Sing [Backup For Idina Menzel] At Marvin Hamlisch's Funeral.

As I recently joined the choir at the synagogue where I've been going, the first rehearsal happened to be Tuesday the 7th, the day his Aug. 6 death hit the news, so it came up at rehearsal. A couple days later, the cantor forwarded around a message that a 400-person memorial choir was being assembled for the Aug. 14 funeral. The organizers had put out an open call for volunteer choristers, and anyone who was interested in participating should email the coordinator by midnight THAT NIGHT. So I did!

I didn't find out for sure if I was in until Sunday late afternoon, but they duly assigned us voice parts and emailed around rehearsal recordings and sheet music for three pieces: "What I Did For Love" (I'd totally called that one the instant I heard about it) and "At the Ballet" (also from A Chorus Line) and "The Way We Were" (in a really nice 4-part choral arrangement which I now have handy, if anyone wants to check it out).

It truly only occurred to me the night before that this was likely to be a significant celebrity-sighting event. They forbade us from bringing cell phones into the sanctuary (largely to prevent unauthorized/inappropriate camera use, I'm sure). But I told my mom that if I should see Barbra, I'd pass along her mental regards. :-)

I took a personal day from work. We had to be there before 8am to get in through security by 8:15am, rehearse 8:15-10:15 (seriously it was only about 10 minutes of music, but we were also rehearsing the processing in and out), and then re-enter the sanctuary at 10:30 for the real service at 11am. They had planned on 400 people in the choir. They ended up with over 600 -- the choir literally filled about a third of the sanctuary. Reportedly, the body of singers included Sheldon Harnick, Luci Arnaz, and Rupert Holmes. (Huh.) Oh, plus it transpired during rehearsal that the soloist on "At the Ballet" was going to be Idina Menzel, so now I can say I've sung backup for her, right?

In the end, it seems that Barbra was NOT there, but several other luminaries were in attendance (largely '70s-era: Liza Minnelli, Alan Alda, Susan Lucci...). I was excited to catch a glimpse of Bernadette Peters, but the moment my jaw really dropped was when they called up the speaker for the first of 8 eulogies, and it was President Clinton!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/arts/marvin-hamlisch-funeral-at-temple-emanu-el-in-manhattan.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-57493173-10391698/stars-attend-composer-marvin-hamlischs-funeral/
http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10013375.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody

And the whole thing was very moving. Apparently he was a real mensch and just a really great guy in person. They said several times what a tribute it was to have such a packed house. And it was. And he was only 68, which used to sound like a relatively reasonable age to attain, but now that it officially constitutes Younger Than My Parents, it's obviously Way Too Young. Life is short. And precious.

One more link: Remembering Marvin Hamlisch At His Funeral: "A[nother] member of the volunteer choir reports on the memorial tribute and gives her own personal remembrance of the Tony-winning composer."

Some weeks ago, my mom sent me a cover article from Parade magazine about the new Harry Potter theme park about to open in Orlando. I've stopped getting even the Sunday paper, so I hadn't seen it. In fact, this was the first I had heard AT ALL about the park, which opened on June 18.

I called her back that night, and not 20 minutes after we got off the phone, she emailed me excitedly: there was a news special on the building of it, airing RIGHT NOW and she was taping it to send to me!

I mentioned this to jessruth the next day, and she said "I know, I watched that this morning! I wanna go!" And I said, ( "Well, why don't we?" )

This is a two-part question (which I swear has nothing whatever to do with Sherlock Holmes, hot though that is):

• What accents do you find particularly sexy and/or appealing?
  (You can say "British", but I for one will probably scoff at you. Specific regions are acceptable. ;-)
• What movies present particularly good, squee-worthy, or toe-curling examples of same?

Here are my initial answers off the top of my head:

(1) Russian
• White Nights (Mikhail Baryshnikov as Rodchenko)

(2) Scottish
• Sliding Doors (John Hannah as James Hammerton; see also Four Weddings and a Funeral)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Katie Leung as Cho Chang)

Discuss!

As of ~1.5 weeks ago, kalessin and mercurysparkle are engaged!

As of last night, ablock and Meredith are engaged!

FAQ #1: NO, THERE WILL NOT BE A DOUBLE WEDDING. Though neither date is 100% confirmed, they're looking at Oct. 18 and Sept. 12 (after sundown), respectively. Yes, that is soon. Yes, it's going to be a busy summer/fall.

*hugs all around*