Boston Legal and The 40-Year-Old Virgin
This entry is part 18 of 33 in the series Essays / Analyses. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve published two essays: “Bromance and the Boys of Boston Legal” “The Best Sex in Contemporary Hollywood: Utopia, Ecstasy, and (Classical) Musical Number in The 40-Year-Old Virgin” Yes, that’s right: I wrote a scholarly article on The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Both projects were originally conceived for and presented at academic conferences, so I’d like to thank those people in attendance, whoever and wherever you are, for making suggestions, asking questions, and ultimately...
Read MoreSingin’ in the Rain: Duped Again
Earlier this month I learned that The Valentine Theatre, a “108-year-old, 901-seat facility” in downtown Toledo would be showing Singin’ in the Rain (1952) as a part of its “Silver Screen Classics” program. As a die-hard Gene Kelly fan, I was excited. But I was also skeptical because of what happened the last time a Toledo theatre said they’d be screening arguably The Greatest Film Musical Ever Made. Would this be another DVD/LCD-projector sham? Or would this be the real thing? Ultimately, I contacted the theatre and asked if its Singin’ in the Rain...
Read MoreTop Posts of 2010: Scars, Stars, Sex, Satire, Students, and Social Networking
According to my blog stats, these are Unmuzzled Thoughts‘s 20 most visited posts of 2010. They are listed in order, #1 scoring the most hits this year. Looking at the posts collectively, I realize that some are not my favorite, some I should’ve worded differently, and some arguably should not have received as many hits as they did (e.g., “Weird Ohio”?!). However, together they do represent a nice spectrum of what this blog aims to do: 1) comment on the occasionally frustrating but always fascinating world of academia, and 2) critically examine trends, ideas, and themes...
Read More“Did You Really Smoke Cigarettes?” and Other Questions: An Interview with Gene Kelly
Over the summer I received an unexpected and very exciting email from a fellow admirer and personal friend of Gene Kelly. Cynthia Millen Roberts, a Toledo native (who lives only 20 minutes from me!), dropped me a note after stumbling upon one of my blog posts on Gene. Among other things, she shared with me the following: Our family and I were personal friends of Gene Kelly, and my kids “interviewed” him in 1991 during one of our visits to his home. He was a brilliant, tender-hearted, wonderful man who had no patience with fools and was never afraid to argue his point. He was...
Read MoreFlow TV Conference 2010 (Glee Edition)
Last weekend, I attended the 2010 Flow TV Conference where I participated in a roundtable discussion on Fox’s musical phenomenon, Glee. Flow differs from other academic conferences in that panels consist of five to seven participants (rather than the typical three or four), each panelist is allowed only five minutes to present his/her argument, and audience participation is not only welcomed but sort of required. As a roundtable participant pointed out, our panel on Glee was the only one at the three-day conference that focused solely on one text. Other panels, which you can see on Flow...
Read MoreThe Thrill of the Long Shot
Over the weekend, The Film Dr. tagged me in a blog meme begun by Stephen Russell-Gebbett who blogs over at (the interestingly titled) Checking on My Sausages and MovieMan0283 who blogs at The Dancing Image. According to the guys, the person tagged is to submit a gallery of images that represents “the thrill of cinema,” however s/he interprets that phrase. The other rules are spelled out thusly: Pick as many pictures as you want, but make them screen-captures. Pick a theme, any theme. You MUST link to Stephen’s gallery and my post too. Tag [at least] five blogs. For my tags,...
Read MoreGene Kelly: Simply Irresistible
About a week ago, I learned that on Friday, July 30, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) would air Black Hand (Richard Thorpe, 1950), a little-known film noir that stars my favorite song-and-dance man, Gene Kelly. Even though Kelly and his screen persona are completely un-noirish, I set the DVR anticipating the best. Let’s just say that my excitement was short-lived; within the first 15 minutes, I was simultaneously amused, embarrassed, and bored. Mostly laughing while watching, I tweeted that Kelly’s character, an Italian seeking vengeance on the mobsters who murdered his father, spoke...
Read MoreLetters to the Editor: Gene Kelly
This morning, I came across two letters to the editor from the Pittsburgh: Post-Gazette, both of which concern one of my favorite stars/dancers/entertainers, Gene Kelly. The first letter comes from an 81-year old man who wonders why the town of Pittsburgh, where Kelly was born and ran a dance studio with his mother and siblings, can’t find room in its heart to erect a statue honoring the song-and-dance legend. After all, the author cries, a town in Illinois, “recently unveiled a statue of Superman’s girlfriend, Lois Lane,” so surely, Kelly’s hometown can pay...
Read MoreElation, Star Signification, and Singin’ in the Rain; or Why Gene Kelly Gets Me All Hot and Bothered
This entry is part 7 of 33 in the series Essays / Analyses.Aside from my spouse, four guys can elicit from me feelings of sheer elation. Two are deceased, one resides in the U.K., and one begs for food every morning at 6:35 AM. Those who follow my Twitter stream and/or my Facebook Page will likely deduce that William Shakespeare and Colin Firth occupy two of these positions. My cocker spaniel Baxter is the hungry fellow, and the fourth is dancer/choreographer/director extraordinaire Gene Kelly. Consequently, when I saw that the Maumee Indoor Theatre would be screening Singin’ in the...
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Professor of film and Shakespeare. Advocate of social media. Lover of popular culture,