Matthew Koon 'Got to Dance' audition and 'Billy Elliot' at the BAFTAs.

Anatomy of a wasted evening, or how I went from listening to a Scott Mills podcast (BBC Radio1 DJ) to the Billy Elliot video.

Scott Mills >> guests Adam Garcia and Ashley Banjo off reality dance competition Got to Dance >> Adam Garcia...hmm, cutie >> Ashley Banjo off of Diversity (dance team)...hmm, what does he look like? >> Diversity's final performance in Britain's Got Talent >> closer look at Ashley in Got to Dance auditions >> whoa, Chinese kid named Matthew Koon auditioning?! >> Matthew Koon is awesome, don't care about MM. Garcia and Banjo >> another Matthew Koon video on the youtube sidebar?! wait! Matthew singing Electricity - from Billy Elliot?! >> holy fuck, that's the same kid from Billy Elliot! >> Matthew singing my favorite song from the musical >> loads of Billy Elliots singing my favorite song from the musical at the BAFTAs to celebrate the award's 60th anniversary

Alternatively, things could have gone like this:

Scott Mills >> guests Adam Garcia and Ashley Banjo off reality dance competition Got to Dance >> Adam Garcia...hmm, cutie >> Adam Garcia as Fiyero in Wicked >> Taye Diggs as Fiyero in Wicked >> musicals...musicals...musicals

Sad, M. Diggs's version of Dancing Through Life, the best in my opinion, got pulled. But here he is with his wife singing As Long as You're Mine. Sweet.

One of my favorites. I've posted Heather Headley's Your Song tribute to Elton John for the Kennedy Center Honors in the past and it is supernatural. Ms. Headley joins Adam Pascal in Elaborate Lives from Aida.

Patrick Wilson leads the Full Monty crew in a...full monty at the 2001 Tonys.

BAFTA nods, and a brief case against 'Avatar'.

versus

BAFTA nominations are out. (Full list.) An Education, the little British film that could, takes on Avatar, the big bad American studio blockbuster. Also on the list is the Iraq War drama, The Hurt Locker, otherwise known as this year's critical hit that no one has seen. Honestly, what's the release date on this puppy? I bitch because I'm in Hong Kong. Precious, however, is slated for a February release here. Excited about seeing Mo'Nique's performance because she's raking in the awards (Golden Globes last Sunday, BAFTA nomination today) as well as Paula Patton's because, well, she's gorgeous. The gem of the day though is In The Loop's nomination for Outstanding British Film. Will it lose to An Education? Probable, likely. But will a dreamy dip into the pastel-kissed world of a 1961 ingenue exercise your cursing skills or abdominal muscles the way this neurotic political satire will? For someone of the Stewart-Colbert generation - no.

 

Some belated thoughts on Avatar.......I actually enjoyed it upon initial viewing, despite sitting two rows from the front. Maybe that was the problem. I was so close, I became cocooned in the movie's pronounced, and 3-D, liberal sensibilities. But as it goes, I soured with each award, and the nagging racial subtext that persists in Hollywood continues to bother me. Avatar is a billboard for progressive, anti-Bush politics, yet it clings to dated stereotypes that should have disappeared long before W.'s tenure. I don't take issue with the idea of an 'Other' transforming our (white) all-American ex-Marine hero into some tree-hugging peacenik. But must that Other take the form of a colored, literally, native people draped in dangly beads and strategically placed patches of animal skin? Must they engage in unintelligible chanting and swaying in order to emphasize their mystical union with nature? And must they all be voiced by actors of color? Typecasting doesn't disappear simply because the characters are blue and computer generated. The untamed liberal in me loves seeing the military industrial complex shat on by $237 million of Hollywood might, but golf claps until the industry stumbles into the 21st century and discovers that 'native' isn't a stand-in for all the peoples and cultures colonized by Euro-America. And can we please get a new model for casting our super summer blockbuster heroes? Why do they all look like this (and why are half of them Australian)?

(Chris Hemsworth - Star Trek, Red Dawn; Chris Pine - Star Trek; Sam Worthington - Avatar, Terminator Salvation, Clash of the Titans; Garrett Hedlund - Tron Legacy)

The TV BAFTAs v.2009

UPDATE: Ahh, Richard has appeared, presented, and left. The Armitage Army/Spooks boards will be quieted now. Time for some sleep.

***
I now understand the allure of Twitter. It's meant for things like updating sports scores and red carpet sightings. Not to be used by politicians to feign coolness and twit twatty jabs at one another. So I've been refreshing my pages every few minutes to get updates. Rubbish. How early 2000s of me.

They've given about half the awards, and the first one out - Best Drama Series. Result...Spooks lost! :( Admittedly expected because Wallander had the hype. I guess if The Wire never won an Emmy, we can live with great shows getting shafted. Anyway, there are more important things in life. I'm waiting for Richard Armitage to present an award but not sure how much longer I can hold out. Rupert Penry Jones has had his go. The things I want to say about him, and the presenters in general, must be put in context with the tone of the show and Graham Norton's Letterman-like performance. But I'm tired, so these thoughts will have to come once I've got my 8 hours.

Bits, Bobs, and BAFTAs for 4.26.09

Watching: Taye Diggs in Wicked
Listening: Taye Diggs in Wicked

News of the Day:

• UK's rich list takes a hit. I'm feeling punchy.
• Twitter + politicians.
• A longer than necessary article dissecting artistic achievement and beauty.
• Interesting commentary from Independent about US television's golden age (that would be now) and how Brit tv compares.
• Juice. Behind the Music: X Factor.
• What is wrong with real British spies?! Another major fuck up. Lucas North, show 'em how it's done.
• Whew. "Bob the Builder's close shave with the Village People."
• Eton opens its doors for the poor black kid. Good idea, bad idea?
  

TV BAFTAs are tonight! Richard Armitage and Hermione Norris are slated to present. French and Saunders are up for a special award so perhaps a little Harry Jasper Kennedy action? Also, Spooks is up for best drama series. If they don't win, I hope they send in Lucas North to set things right. No one seems to think it will, but The Guardian is a fan.

Meanwhile, the preview for episode 6 of Robin Hood looks...good. Richard Armitage and Toby Stephens? That's somewhat indulgent.