what a weekend of entertainment

• Is Paris Hilton our Marie Antoinette? She seems to have said "let them eat cake" in her own way. She is someone who flaunts her privilege and wealth in a blissfully ignorant way. (And for this, she has fans who are so admiring of her ability to, um, have a good time.) CW Nevius in the Chron has it right, this is comeuppance. Well now, we relish her modern gentle beheading, albeit one with less finality (4 weeks, sheesh it'll be over in a flash). Is this is as close as we get to class warfare in America, enjoying celebrity pain?
  
• It's Tony Week! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Kidding kidding. It's hard to get too terribly excited about an awards ceremony that by its rules excludes the vast majority of theater being produced. But there are people working on Broadway that certainly deserve some network televised accolades. Still, I think the stats broken down by The Playgoer pretty much say it all. But then again, what awards ceremony out there actually does get it right? The Grammy's? The Academy Awards? Look how wishy washy I am. Someone produce Hunter Gatherers on Broadway, please! It doesn't have a chorus of 40, but I think it could still be appealing..
  
• On a related note, Salon is "looking back over the year on Broadway" this week. Which is interesting because I don't think I'd ever seen them print a theater article ever before. So that's exciting, I think. They're starting off on a positive note by printing an LA actor's frustration with theater in general. It's an interesting and frustrating read, where I found myself sort of agreeing and then being a little mystified by his assertions (his article states that writers have more creative freedom in TV than in the theater. Um, what? Is that why every episode of Law and Order is so crazy and different? Is the constructive feedback provided by 14 layers of Network execs optional? I would argue that writers go to TV because it's the one of the few mediums where they can be paid what they are worth) The article successfully captures the cliche stereotype of theater, asks for theater to be more culturally relevant (amen) and then pines for the days of Mary Martin. ?? I wish it was a more thoughtful read because keeping theater as a "popular art form" is something that interests me greatly. The letters in response are fun, especially the periodic snide insults from "anonymous," who strangely enough is the only person defending the author. Hmmmmm.
• To continue on that note, I think the more interesting question is how does theater adjust to the new cultural vocabulary that is being defined by TV and Film. How does that change how audience members are processing stories and information? Not to make theater like TV and Film at all, they are equipped to tell certain stories extremely well, But i think there are advances being made in that field in how information is served. (I loved that article in NY Times about how new TV shows like Sopranos or the Wire force an audience to be following 10-15 story lines at once. )
• I'm excited for the Sopranos finale. What a great great series.
  
• I'm still loving LCD Soundsytem. The new Tegan and Sara tracks on myspace sound damn good. The Bjork album's growing on me.
• OK Gotta poop n playwright now.