Tim's Tips March 2013

Dateline: London, UK March 10 and it’s Mum’s day here in jolly ol’ England and it's frigin' freezing. Everyone in the Crescenti family is grooving nicely around the world, albeit Colleen and I miss the kids hugely. But Kelli is having a great time teaching in South Korea; she has first-graders in this cycle, her favorites. Daniel and Casey are holding things down nicely in California, well except for the TV dying and a new dishwasher needed. Chris and Brandi are rockin’ it in the literature world and ABC’s of TV news. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ On the Small World front, expect some HUGE FRIGIN’ news in next few weeks, taking us to a whole new level. Thank you Content Media Corp partners and Ricky Ricardo. Plus The Fan has a debut date in Sweden of April 1 on TV4, titled Fantasterna which will be a Dragons’ Den/Shark Tank game-changer for us. The Night Patrol has doubled ratings in Norway. Miss Country Girl is in production in Thailand. Japan Game Show Invasion is in pre-production for Canada-US co-pro. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ New and retro music to spin: Emeli Sande’s “Our Version of Events”, damn good infectious vocal-driven R&B Pop that will leave you humming immediately. Check out her tracks Where I Sleep, Mountains, Heaven… and what movie was it that featured Jim Croce tracks recently? Revisit Jim Croce Greatest Hits to whet your ear-petite to get into more Jim Croce….also Dave Grohl and Elton John’s newest favorite band is The Strypes who are 16-year old Irish lads who really play and sing, and I mean play and sing R&B like Otis and Bo Diddley….loving the new Justin Timberlake track and video Suit and Tie. What can this guy not do? Bastard. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Gigs we digs: we had a blast at the Sara Petite (thank you Lisa Holt) last night at intimate club Libertine where she performed acoustically and splendidly. Upcoming: Tim McGraw at the O2 next Saturday. Great scotts! Country music in Great Britain! _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Books in various stages of pages: finished the Rod Stewart autobiography and what a fun, funny and insightful read; sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll debauchery to the fullest. You know Rod really wrote it too. Many fascinating stories involving his passion of football (he has a real football pitch in his London backyard, used by his favorite football team Celtic for an emergency practice), and scale model trains which Rod has built phenomenal train cities. He even travels with a railroad kit, constantly building in his down-time. Plus a hilarious story when to celebrate his performances at Wembley, his record label decorated Piccadilly Circus square with “Rod the Mod” football big balloons. His longtime friend and nemesis Elton John hired a marksmith to obliterate them…... I’m also in the middle of The President’s Club, by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, a terrific historical read yet has such a personal touch on the relationships in the most exclusive club in the world. I learned that Herbert Hoover may not be regarded as a successful president during his term, but damn, what an MVP he was to Truman. Ike? I don’t like Ike. He was not a good person….And for something completely different, The Best of Archie Comics, is a blast. I forgot they plugged into social themes of the 60’s and 70’s with women’s rights, bilingual importance and even TV legend Fred Silverman pops up with the fun fact that he pushed the “Archie’s Variety Hour” which spawned The Archies and their # 1 hit “Sugar, Sugar.” Sweet! ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Flicks that deserve your tix (yes, family that rhymes, like Kobe and Kodee): I’ll Give it a Year, released a few weeks in London and a very funny romantic comedy, or sort of anti romantic-comedy. If you liked Love Actually (and if you don’t like Love Actually, you need professional help) then you will dig this. Unsure if Robot and Frank opened in States yet, but Frank Langella is superb in this very hard-to-describe yet wildly original and entertaining film….As for the post Academy Awards reflections, I keep thinking this is like 1938, the classic year of movies, Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach, Wuthering Heights, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninothchka, Of Mice and Men (holy schmoly I can’t believe these were all in the same year!) Argo, Lincoln, Les Miserables, Django, Life of Pi, Zero Dark Thirty, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Silver Linings Playbook (and not-nominated The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) will rival that year. For me, Argo was the best film of the year; Anne Hathaway gave an actor’s tour de force beyond-textbook performance; Life of Pi did the book more than enough justice; Daniel Day-Lewis was grand but Hugh Jackman gave a 360 degrees performance. Colleen and I were worried about Django Unchained with the mixed reaction of critics and race pontificators (not you Spike Lee) and horrific violence (yes, we loved Pulp Fiction); however, it was worth the price and more. Bummed to read in Entertainment Weekly magazine that my favorite movie writer, Lisa Schwarzbaum is departing after 22 years there. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Stage to get the rage: our two goals are the new Helen Mirren play The Audience and Heather Headley in The Bodyguard. Stay tuned…. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Lastly we found the best Mexican food in London. You can read that sentence again if you need to. At Canary Wharf, check out Tortilla for spot-on tortillas, veggies, salsa, refried beans. Also at Oxford Circus area