Seen and Heard update

It's been a while since I've done an update on the things I've been watching and the music I'm listening to, so here's my chance to catch you up:


Sex and The City: The Complete Series

After holding out on purchasing individual seasons, I rewarded myself with an early Christmas gift and purchased the entire "Sex and the City" DVD catalog. That's right, all six seasons--94 episodes worth--along with bonus features in one beautifully packaged pink suede album. All for a great bargain price (gotta love Costco!). As Steph said, for SATC fans, this is like the Holy Grail.

This is a great moment to tout the wonder of TV-on-DVD, as this week marked the sad announcement of Arrested Development's cancellation. It's always been a scary possibility, but it appears that this week FOX really gave the Emmy-award winning show the ax. It's such a shame, because I really think it's one of the most creative and entertaining shows on TV right now. Hopefully a diehard fan campaign can convince those FOX execs to keep it going. At the least, we'll have 3 seasons of DVDs to watch and enjoy...


Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

I finally saw this Tim Burton flick last night, and damn was it good! I mean, totally weird and occasionally dark and not really for kids, but that aside, it was really well-done and Johnny Depp really shined as the quirky and slightly freaky Willy Wonka. The two-disc deluxe edition DVD set was a nice purchase, as the bonus features offer some great insight to the making of the movie. Deep Roy, who I found out is only 4'4" tall, plays every one of the 165 Oompa-Loompas in the film, and the DVD offers a behind-the-scenes look at just how much work he put in to make that happen (while also giving you a chance to learn all his choreographed dance moves!). Another exciting bonus was a featurette on how the crew actually trained squirrels to star in the movie as nut-crackers. That's right, in a world of computer animation and special effects, that crazy Tim Burton insisted on getting 40 squirrels to learn how to act. Pretty amazing, if you ask me. Anyway, despite being a diehard fan of the 1971 version of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," I was definitely entertained and impressed by Burton's adaptation of the original novel.


Cat Power :: The Greatest

Having never been a Cat Power fan in the past, but knowing that she (Chan Marshall) was big in the indie scene and also a Matador Records artist, I was not surprised when I heard and loved samplings of some of her new music from her upcoming album, The Greatest. I've been playing the title-track on repeat for the past few weeks...It's at the top of my current nightly On-The-Go playlist. As I understand it, this new album is a departure from her earlier sound, but as a new fan, I'm really digging it and will be sure to check out her older stuff.


Arooj Aftab :: Hallelujah

Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands is a fantastic music blog, and last week there was a great "Hallelujah Showdown" post in which a different versions of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah were posted (including his original). I'd heard most of them, and I still think Jeff Buckley's version reigns supreme, but I was impressed after hearing Arooj Aftab's beautiful rendition. Arooj is an aspiring musician from Pakistan, currently studying at Berklee College of Music. My guess is that through Internet buzz, she'll be getting some great press soon enough. From the sound of her voice on this song, she shows some great potential.