Tweets, The New Grey Gardens, And The Unveiling Of The Wolverine Wax Figure

Just got back from a Vegas vacation! Two weeks of being blinded by either the sun or intense flickering lights, and it was a blast! On the trip I had noticed that Twitter had really blown up in the news so I decided to try it. Sure, it might be seen as lame and trendy to some, but I dived in because I can be lame, and trendy with the best of them!

I got the Twitter application on my Facebook account and attempted to get a steady stream going of trip tweets. Some of said tweets: "wished David Brenner didn't hog George Wallace's spotlight." "loves the looks people give him when he's wearing his Elvis sunglasses." "had a good time @ old downtown Vegas despite losing a little money. Now we are having some late dinner at Augustus Cafe @ Caesar's Palace" "full of Italian food again from that place (Battista's) that looks like a mob hangout with multiple Michael Landon pictures on the wall - that damn angel musta ate there a lot." "is watching Close Encounters on HDNet in this kickass Venetian suite." "just took a shower in a glass shower that looks like some kind of sci fi pod - thought I was going to be cryogenically frozen."

I mean my life isn't very interesting enough normally to constantly comment on but this trip was full of fun activities so, of course, my friends and family immediately knew when I was going to whatever show - Penn & Teller, the Cirque du Solei Beatles "Love" deal, "O" (also Cirque), George Wallace, etc.), where I was dining, when I met Mary Tyler Moore (@ NAB - Las Vegas Convention Center on 4/20) and, ahem, when I got married (around 8:00 PM 4/28). 

So now that I'm back my tweets will be less interesting (mostly just about what movie I'm watching I bet) but you're welcome to follow them. Just look up @filmbabble on Twitter and follow. We took a little time away from Vegas to drive to Sedona, Arizona, which was beautiful. after a full day of looking at art, visiting Montezuma Castle, and walking trails in the red rock country we relaxed in our sweet suite. After viewing too much reportage on the Craigslist killer through much channel flipping I was happy to see the new telefilm GREY GARDENS on HBO.

If you're not in the know it's based on the 1974 Maylses bros. documentary (also named GREY GARDENS) about Edith "Big Edie" Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edith "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale who were the aunt and first cousin of Jackie Onassis. Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore, respectively, portray the ladies living in absolute squalor in their rundown mansion in Easthampton, New York. With flash backs to Little Edie's New York lavish lifestyle as an aspiring actress before being sucked into her Mother's Hell hole habitat we get little in the way of true insight but plenty of pleasurable kitsch.

I've often thought Lange brings an element of mental unstability often to roles that don't require it but here she that more than works in her favor. Barrymore hasn't quite matured acting-wise but since she's playing a bad misguided showbiz wannabe she seems to somehow pull it off. Jeanne Tripplehorn (Big Love) has a great understated cameo dead on as Jackie O. with Ken Howard (The White Shadow - oh, forget it, nobody remembers that show) and Daniel Baldwin filling out the small cast as the socialite ones that got away. 

While the new GREY GARDENS is an entertaining, and fairly moving melodrama. I must recommend seeing the original documentary first for proper context. A new Criterion version is available which contains the follow-up film THE BEALES OF GREY GARDENS (2006) which I have yet to see. A friend also recommened the musical, in which he said Christine Ebersole was awesome in (comments via Facebook status updates of course), so there's that too. 

On our last day in Las Vegas we decided to check out Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum. We knew it would be cheesy but we thought it would be fun to see all those famous likenesses; some of which were awful - Springsteen with blonde hair, and a highly unrecognizable Brad Pitt for a few examples. What we didn't know was that we walked in just in time to see the unveiling of the new Hugh Jackman Wolverine wax figure on what they dubbed "Wolverine Wednesday," a promotional event for the new Marvel movie, X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE. I filmed this happening, and since it was so delightfully stupid I decided to share it with you fine folks:

 

Now that's one way to start off the summer season which gets under way with X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE today. Hope the movie is better than that intensely unconvincing statue.

More later...