This is sort of a sequel to yesterday's post, when James Corden did a "Crosswalk the Musical" sketch of Cinderella with the new film's stars Camila Cabello, Idina Manzel and Billy Porter. This sort of, kind of picks up after, as the three of them cram into a car (Cabello with more difficulty, given her hugely-flouncy Princess Dress), and Corden drives them off to the film's premiere, as they all do a Carpool Caraoke. (I would be surprised if this actually took place after filming the "Crosswalk the Musical" segment -- though it could have, with a long delay. But it does appear like they actually were driving to the premiere, because of the street signs as they get to their destination. Of course, those could have been set up, but given how they're all dressed, it seems like this is, in fact, the premiere. Regardless, it's fun.) It's a bit different from most, with the choice of songs, but that helps make it very entertaining. And all the more so because the conversation gets around to Idina Manzel talking about her various reactions to John Travolta's infamous introduction screwing up her "Adele Dazeem" name as she was about to sing before a billion people.
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I’ve been following the Democratic mayor of Miami Beach Dan Gelber for a while, and keep getting impressed. In part I’ve paid attention because he comes across as smart, thoughtful, fair-minded, open, polite, blunt and concerned with the best interests of the public. But the other reason is because I know people who know him -- who have said what a really good guy Dan Gelber is. Which is how he comes across. He probably came to the most attention recently he appeared on CNN and was asked about a video of Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis dismissing concerns about safety measure during the COVID spike. His response was pure Gelber – deeply blunt, yet fair-minded, thoughtful and even polite, considering his openness. He said – “I mean, listen, our governor went to Harvard and Yale, but that was absolutely moronic. Honestly, he should be out there trying to get people to wear masks. Every, you know, sort of major medical group, including pediatricians, have said it is healthy. When you talk about letting people have a choice, letting them do whatever they want, you have to stop at a stoplight." Over the weekend, he was a guest on a local CBS show, Facing South Florida, hosted by Jim DeFede. There’s not overly special about this, but it’s just 12 really good minutes with a mayor who is smart, thoughtful, fair-minded, open, polite, blunt and concerned with the best interests of the public. In the heart of one of America's biggest and irresponsible COVID spikes. It’s been over 18 months since James Corden has had a “Crosswalk the Musical” on his show since the pandemic. But it’s back – and not terribly shocking that the first one they’re doing is Cinderella. After all, the new musical version on Amazon was based on his idea, he served as one of the producers and played one of the mice. The score was largely made up of already-existed songs (although there were a couple of new numbers), though what stands out more here than usual is the sketch material surrounding it all. And joining the Crosswalk company are stars from the film, Camila Cabello and Idina Manzel – as well as possibly Billy Porter, unless James has his way… So, as far as I can tell, people who refuse to get vaccinated for the good of society do so because they proudly stand behind what they claim is "personal choice," rather than social responsibility. But when they are faced with a requirement at their job to be vaccinated, they don't see that as the personal choice of their employer -- let alone a matter of social responsibility -- but rather, apparently, some form of unfairness against their decision.
But, then, that's how personal choice works. It's personal. And you don't get to claim it's fair when it's your choice, but unfair when someone else's personal choice. You don't get to invoke other people's personal choice. If you believe that "personal choice" tops everything, than you must embrace and even applaud it when others make their own personal choice. It's all personal choice to you, after all. Of course, if you want to complain that another person's action is an imposition on you, that's fine and fair -- the problem, though, is that when you accept the fascinating concept that "other people" can be affected by a Personal Choice, you're acknowledging that society exists and are then entering into Social Responsibility Land. Which opens up the argument of what is the common good and best for society. Which sort of undermines your whole "it's a personal choice and that's the only thing that matters" gambit. Which brings us back to your employer making a personal choice to require vaccinations. Or the government requiring a vaccination. It's quite a viscious circle. Though actually, it's not -- because you have the right to make a Personal Choice of getting vaccinated or leaving your job. It's all up to you, your choice. No one is guaranteed a job, after all, it's not a constitutional right. So, it falls to you what Personal Choice you choose to make. And the choice often isn't as problematic as that -- because often the choice isn't whether to get vaccinated or find a new job, but instead merely whether to get vaccinated or have a weekly test to see if you're negative. It's your personal choice. But whatever you choose -- if you believe in the total sanctity of Personal Choice, then you can't complain when someone else invokes theirs. Even when "they" is your employer.
From the archives, this week's contestant is Eli Robbins from Peachtree City, Georgia. I was able to get the composer style quite easily, which is rare for me. Both the contestant and host Fred Child were stumped as for the hidden song -- as was I. That's because it is SO well-hidden. With a hint and bringing it out more the second go-round, the contestant got it -- but I still couldn't hear it. Only when composer Bruce Adolphe played it all through for a third time, was I able to focus it on it.
Today is one of the more offbeat holidays of the year, International Talk Like a Pirate Day. And as always, Talk Like a Pirate Day gets me to think about the quite-wonderful video I've posted here before, Ahaarrrr.. This is one of my favorite videos that I've ever tracked down. As I've written here in the past, it's a little British film, 13-minutes long, which I came across back in 2010 and have been passing it around since -- mostly to friends of my who do voice-over work, on either side of the microphone. Oh, boy howdy, do they ever empathize with it... And now I post it on this site every year. I don't know very much about its history or the wonderful creative mind behind it, Jonathan Kydd, who wrote and stars in the short film (impressively, as both the voiceover artist and the director! I didn't even realize that the first half-dozen times I watched it). But it did win the (Mid Ulster) Critics choice at the DIY Festival LA. As it happens, I also know very little about that festival -- other than that sentence I just typed. I do see on the iMDB that Mr. Kydd deservedly has had a long career with a great many acting credits -- not shockingly, most over the past 20 years in voiceover work, notably eight Harry Potter video games, as well as the Toy Story That Time Forgot video. And for the animated series, The Adventures of Paddington Bear, he provided the voice of Paddington. But yes, mixed in among that and especially before getting involved with voiceover acting, he has also done a good deal of live-action, on-camera TV work. As the description below says, this is indeed the voice over session from hell. But for the rest of us, once again, a total joy. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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