LilSugar

Oprah Reunites Sound of Music Cast, Favorite Moment

Heather Maddan — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 04:00:14 PDT

Everyone has a Sound of Music story! The iconic film about a wanna-be-nun, a widower, and his big brood has been loved for generations. Oprah aired the cast's 45-year reunion yesterday and there was singing! Though I've seen the movie a few dozen times with friends, family, kids I babysat, and my own children, I'll never forget the first time I watched Fräulein Maria belt out her song on the mountain top. We were at my grandparents' house and after Thanksgiving dinner my siblings and I sat in silence as Liesl and Rolfe danced in the garden and Gretl bid her father's party guests goodnight. What is your Sound of Music memory?

Why Didn't Anybody Tell Me: Life's a Musical

LilSugar — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 12:00:13 PST

Johnson & Johnson couldn't have said it better when they came up with the tagline, "Having a Baby Changes Everything." But beyond falling for your baby, childproofing your house and taking on diaper duty, you may find yourself in the midst of a musical.

Think The Sound of Music minus the von Trapp children in curtain clothing, well - unless you can sew. So you aren't Julie Andrews and you may even be tone deaf, but once you deliver you'll find yourself sporadically breaking out in song.

While I'm not sure why this happens, I think it has something to do with being sleep deprived, hormonal, or just wanting to get your child dressed or in the tub and singing seems to speed up the process.

And, songstress isn't the only title you'll take on, songwriter will also be added to your repertoire since you don't really know all those songs you thought you did and repeatedly singing "Pour Some Sugar on Me" sober during daylight hours is draining. Sorry Def Leppard.

read more If you're worrying about performance anxiety, it's a thing of the past. Just wait until your kid pitches a fit in public and then you have to choose between belting out a few rounds of "Wheels on the Bus" or dealing with heavy sighs and head shaking. I'd like to tell you that this musical mama mode is a phase that ends, but it doesn't. In fact, it's contagious - my daughter is nearly four-years-old and already chimes in on duets. So get humming. Source

What's Buzzworthy: Your Favorite Movie Musicals

BuzzSugar — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 07:45:45 PDT

I used to think I wasn't all that into movie musicals, but after seeing all your excellent picks for this week's Buzzworthy challenge, I've been swayed. I'd forgotten about many of these, and I'm happy to have been reminded. Thank you to everyone who participated! Here are some of the ones I found most noteworthy.

Bugsy
swwonder says of her pick, "One of my favourite films ever. I always wanted to be Tallulah!"

The Wizard of Oz
audreystar has this to say about her pick: "Who can get enough of the beautiful voice of a young Judy Garland as Dorothy or her three sidekicks? The music now is embedded in my brain as with most people. And 'Over the Rainbow' is one of the best and beautiful songs ever written or sang."

Three more greats if you

read more West Side Story See, here's an example of one I forgot all about. I used to love this movie. Apparently, so did WhiplashGirlchild who writes, "My mother forced me to watch this when I was a little kid. I threw a tantrum because I didn't want to watch an "old" movie. Boy, was I eating crow... this has since been one of my favorite movies ever."
The Sound of Music Chosen by missyosigirl and swwonder. I have to admit, I'm a sucker for this one, too.
Oliver! This is Linda McP's selection, and she says, "This Oscar winning adaptation of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist is a classic. Great score includes 'As Long As He Needs Me,' one of my all time favorites."

Watch the Music Video For Taylor Swift's Hunger Games Song "Safe & Sound"

Shannon Vestal — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:35:21 PST

Today is full of treats from The Hunger Games! First, we got to see the full tracklist for the soundtrack, and now we have the music video for one of the singles from the movie, "Safe & Sound" by Taylor Swift. Though there is no footage from the film, the video seems like it nails the tone of the books. Swift is dressed simply amid a woodsy, very District 12-like backdrop, and in the most direct reference to the movie, she grasps a mockingjay pin. The song, which also features recent Grammy winners The Civil Wars (who you can learn more about here), has won me over with how haunting and pretty it is, and Swift's vocals of "just close your eyes; you'll be all right," feel appropriate to the subject matter of The Hunger Games. Watch now.

Taylor Swift - Safe & Sound - Music - More Music Videos

5 Things to Know About Joy Williams of Grammy-Winning Duo The Civil Wars

Tara Sharp — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 18:48:00 PST

If you didn't know who Joy Williams was before tonight, we guarantee you will be hearing a lot more about her in the months to come. Joy's one half of folk duo The Civil Wars with Johnny Depp lookalike John Paul White, and the first-time nominees won two Grammys tonight: best folk album and best country duo/group performance for their 2011 album Barton Hollow. They are also one of the performing groups to hit the Grammy stage tonight! Here are five things you should know about this woman who rocks (including her Taylor Swift and Adele connection!):

Hailing from Santa Cruz, CA, Joy was 17 when she signed a recording contract with Reunion Records, balancing a singing career with finishing up high school. She began her career as a contemporary Christian music artist before leaving Reunion and founding Sensibility Music with her husband. Then one of her first songs on her own label, "Charmed Life," appeared on the season finale of Grey's Anatomy in 2009.
Joy's been married since 2004, and it's not to her Civil Wars partner. Joy's happily paired up with her manager and Sensibility Music cofounder Nate Yetton.
In 2009, Joy formed The Civil Wars with John Paul White, whom she met at a songwriting session in 2008. Their first studio album, Barton Hollow, was released in 2011 and debuted at No. 1 on iTunes's album sales chart and at No. 12 on the Billboard 200. The band even opened for Adele's 2011 North American and UK concert tour.
Joy, 29, and her husband are expecting their first child in June. Joy announced the pregnancy on Twitter Friday, saying, "My baby bump & I will see you on the red carpet."
Fellow singing starlet Taylor Swift gave Joy and The Civil Wars a helping hand when she included the band's song "Poison and Wine" on her official iTunes playlist, saying, "I think this is my favorite duet. It's exquisite." And now Joy and Taylor have a song together for The Hunger Games soundtrack called "Safe and Sound." The music video debuts tomorrow!

Check out photos of Joy and The Civil Wars at the Grammys now!

Share What You're Listening to With SoundTracking For iPhone

Kristen Hawley — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:00:47 PST

If you want to share thoughts, photos, links, or just about anything else with friends, there is a small army of social networking apps that help you get the job done. From Twitter to Facebook to Instagram to FoodSpotting, online friends and contacts can easily see what you're sharing. And now a new app for iPhone lets them hear the music you're listening to.

SoundTracking allows you to share the music you're listening to as you're listening. First, sign into the app via Twitter, Facebook, or Foursquare; friends using the service are automatically pulled into your feed. Then, identify what you're listening to using search, the app's song-recognition feature, or even what's playing on your iPod app at the time. Then tag your location - right down to a specific venue if you're listening to live music. You can even check in on Foursquare at the same time.

Users can also add photos to posts, like and comment on other friends' selections, and see which songs and locations are trending. SoundTracking is available free from the App Store.

How to Throw a The Artist-Themed Oscar Viewing Party

Shannon Vestal — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:30:00 PST

The Oscars air on Sunday, Feb 26, and any movie lover already has the date penciled in. In case your plans are even grander than simply watching the show and you want to throw a viewing party for friends, then why not pick a theme based around one of the best picture nominees? I'm suggesting The Artist as inspiration, the delightful silent film that's been creating a deafening award season buzz. Here's how to pull it off.

How to decorate: All your decorations should be black and white, with art deco accents. Play The Artist movie soundtrack or big band music while guests are arriving. And if you know anyone who owns a Jack Russell Terrier, borrow him and pretend he's Uggie.
How to dress: In glam 1920s Old Hollywood garb. Think tuxes for men, and flapper dresses or diaphanous gowns and long pearls for women.
What to serve: Lots of champagne, of course, along with Manhattans and Sidecars, cocktails popular in the '20s.
How to act: Ask everyone to be as silent as possible, but expressive with their face and hands. It sounds crazy, but at least you won't have to shush anyone when the show starts.

Photo courtesy of The Weinstein Company

The Muppets' Music Man Bret McKenzie on His Oscar Nod and Taking a Silly Job Seriously

Lindsay Miller — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:50:41 PST

Bret McKenzie is up for an exceedingly rare honor this year, with his ballad "Man or Muppet" earning one of just two nominations in the Oscars' best song category. I caught up with The Muppets' musical supervisor today at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank to chat about the awards attention and the unique experience of penning music for Kermit and company. The New Zealand native talked about fighting the temptation to use the word "motherfrogger" in his songwriting and the roundabout way he came on board The Muppets project in the first place. Bret - who previously was best known as one half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords - also shared his hopes of bringing FOC to the big screen. Check out our conversation below:

PopSugar: It's got to be an honor to be nominated for an Oscar, but also in a year when the Academy only bothered to nominate two songs.
Bret McKenzie: They barely nominated anyone! When I found out, it sounded like there'd been a mistake, and yeah, it's a huge honor. It's great and it's really exciting, and I'm not complaining that there's only two nominees the year I'm nominated. I mean, this is the best chance I'll have of winning an Oscar, ever. It couldn't have been better, unless there was just one nomination, and then it would be a very dull ceremony . . . There's a lot of legendary musicians - tunesmiths - in that list of possible nominations. So it's all very surreal to think that I got in ahead of Elton John.

PS: And Madonna. Those two had a little rivalry going on.
BM: I know. I got nervous about what Elton John's husband was going to say about me. It's crazy, and it's great for The Muppets film, because we're all really proud of the film and it wasn't ever really going to get a best actor. Hey, Jason's good, that's not what I mean, but Kermit, Miss Piggy - they can't win these awards - and comedies don't generally get recognized at these awards ceremonies, so it's kind of cool. It's almost like the film as a whole is being recognized with this category.

For more from our chat with Bret, including what he says about his plans for a Flight of the Conchords film, coaching Jason Segel, and the pressure he felt on the project, just

read more! PS: What was the biggest unexpected challenge for you writing music for the film? I know you talked about one draft of a song where you referred to a Muppet as a piece of felt and were told you couldn't do that. BM: Yeah. Little piece of felt, and you couldn't say things like motherfrogger, even though it's very tempting. There were lots of hard parts to it. The Muppets can't sing certain notes. They can't sing too high or the voice changes and doesn't sound like the right character. There were so many weird things. I spent hours recording penguins and rats, and what's weird is that it's such a silly job, but you have to take it very seriously. So I would be in the studio for days, maybe a whole day recording penguins, and then I'm like, "I'm not happy with how the penguins are sounding! Where's penguin four?" You know, getting demanding. "We lost penguin track four! I can't hear the penguin!" PS: I was watching the movie again last night and watching Jason Segel's performance of "Man or Muppet." Did you coach him on any of his rockstar moves? Because he pretty much nailed it. BM: He nailed it. That's my favorite moment in the film. When he buckles down in the rain, that was one of my favorite shots. I was so proud of what James [Bobin, the director] and those guys achieved, because I wasn't there on set, I just saw them syncing the video, and I was like, "Wow, guys. You nailed it." What we did do in the studio, as Jason and I had a technique where I would sing a line, and he'd watch me through the window, and then he'd sing it back. So we did this thing where, I was really into the drama of it. So, I was like, "Am I a Muppppettt?" [balling his hands into fists] And he'd be like, OK, record. "Am I a Muppppettt!" So we kind of worked together to get that style. PS: Did it shatter some of your childhood illusions to have the guy that does Miss Piggy's voice come work with you [in the recording studio]? BM: Yeah. Well, it wasn't Frank Oz. The guy Eric, who does it now, yeah. That was strange. And the day that we recorded Kermit the Frog doing "Rainbow Connection" - I was sort of pinching myself, because that was probably one of the real moments for me where I realized that my world had really changed. That I'd come from New Zealand, I'd grown up with Kermit the Frog, and now I was in Hollywood in a studio recording Kermit the Frog. It felt like worlds had collided. PS: Was there pressure knowing there was already this great catalog of Muppet songs? To try to add to that or top it in some way? BM: I knew I wouldn't top "Rainbow Connection," but I was very intimidated, but the way I worked on the job was it actually started with me just writing one song, so I didn't feel the pressure of writing the whole movie. I think it would have been different if I'd been hired from the outset to do all the music. So I wrote one, then another, and gradually wrote more and more, so that helped. PS: What song did you write first? BM: The opening song. That's the one they needed, that's the one James asked me to write first. The script was probably on a second draft, and they were in preproduction, so I came in quite late. And the way they were doing it was, they got 100s of demos submitted from all sorts of songwriters, and surprisingly - even though they got some really great people to do demos - people weren't quite hitting the right tone. The Muppet tone. I'd just come off the Conchords tour and I had some time, and James asked if I was interested in doing that opening song, because he had a kind of specific thing he needed from that song. He needed it to be really Muppet-y, that song, and he had a great idea for the whole town joining in, it starting off small and becoming a big musical number, and that came together really well. PS: Is this experience maybe something you want to bring to a Flight of the Conchords movie? BM: Yeah, exactly. Having done this movie now, we're in a much better place to do a Conchords film, because James is more experienced - well, we're all more experienced. Not specifically, but James Bobin - well, we're all very keen to do another studio musical, because I really enjoyed being able to do comedy musical numbers on such a grand scale, and I think next time, I really think it will just get better and better. Because it's such a fun genre, and we've done like 50 songs for TV now, and now The Muppets movie, and I feel like we've accidentally sort of become musical comedy experts. PS: What do you imagine Bret and Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords are up to these days, in their universe? BM: In the Lower East Side? That's a good question. I reckon they probably got a regular gig now. Like, at a Chinese restaurant. Photo courtesy Disney

14 Geeky Languages to Learn With Your Love

Kelly Schwarze — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:15:00 PST

Love may be a universal language, but we're not sure that phrase includes the sci-fi alien races and fantastical creatures that rule the far depths of the galaxy, who express love in words beyond our human comprehension. When you're thinking of a unique way to woo your valentine this year, plan a tutorial to learn together one of these 14 geeky languages. While several of these Trekkie, Tolkien, or computer gaming-inspired languages have enough depth to warrant a university level class, many are not fully realized, so have fun discovering select words and phrases to bring to future geeky date outings.

Wookie - Made up of three dialects, the main Wookie language is Shyriiwook. As you'd expect it consists of lots of barks and grunts, but don't you dare say that to Chewbacca. The Star Wars Christmas Special has detailed examples of this mystifying tongue.
Klingon - The language of Klingons, the sometimes ally of the Federation, is arguably the best known of the imagined star languages. Described by its Hollywood creators as gutteral in tone, dedicated Trekkies maintain the Klingon Language Institue, preserving the galaxy's "fastest growing language."
Vulcan - Known as the language of Spock, one version of Vulcan looks like musical notes. Much of the language is available online today as Gene Roddenberry was insistent when making Star Trek: The Motion Picture that the Vulcans receive their own linguistic treatment.
Romulan - As biological cousins of the Vulcans, the Romulan language is difficult to differentiate from Vulcan to the untrained ear. The Central Institute of the Romulan Language ensures you get the right training to one day know the difference.
Cardassian - Residents of the Alpha Quadrant, Cardassians are a fearsome foe of the Federation. Little is known of their language, maybe because of its rectangular-shaped letters and script.
Andorian - The blue-skinned moon species from Andora appeared throughout the Star Trek series and would of course show up in the directory of a PADD.
Elvish - With a background in linguistics study from Oxford, Tolkien did not take the creation of the Lord of the Rings languages lightly. Based on Welsh and English, you can study Liv Tyler's Arwen in the film trilogy for pronunciation and read the many online Elvish resources, including an English to Elvish dictionary.
Dwarvish - Also called Khuzdul, Tolkien is said to have drawn inspiration for the secret language of the Dwarves from Hebrew, reflecting many of the same sounds and structure. As many Lord of the Rings languages, it's been almost fully realized and you can study up with the Dwarvish dictionary.

Check out even more languages to geek out over after the jump.

Michelle Williams Shows Skin, Talks Heath in the New GQ

Allie Merriam — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 07:08:56 PST

Michelle Williams showed some skin in lingerie for the Feb. cover of GQ - see all the Michelle Williams in GQ pictures. The actress is fresh off a big win at Sunday's Golden Globes, where she won best actress in a comedy or musical for My Week With Marilyn. She toasted her new statue at The Weinstein Company's afterparty, but was spotted at LAX yesterday afternoon ready to take off for her next adventure. She opened up to the magazine recently about her experiences channeling Marilyn Monroe. Things also got more personal, as Michelle spoke about Heath Ledger, their first meeting, and more. She told GQ:

On why she and Heath were drawn together: "There's an answer that I know, but I don't want to say . . . Our initial meeting, the circumstances of how we first met, were cosmic or something . . . Yeah, a lot of things happened at once. It's a bit like: we had a lot of things to do because we didn't have a lot of time, or something."
On dealing with his death: "Moments that were strung like beads on a thread . . . and they were very far apart from each other. I mean, it sounds so silly, but a just-right cup of tea. I spent a lot of time taking baths. A lot of tea and baths - double warm."
On giving up the idea of giving Matilda a close sibling: "I really wanted, and I really expected or imagined, that Matilda would have siblings that were close to her age. I wanted that for her. But I couldn't make that happen. And now that she's six, that isn't even a possibility anymore. So something that was making me feel impatient, that's been removed. For whatever reason, that's not our luck, or our path."