The Producers.

Okay, it was great. I LOVE total Broadway cheese...the top hat, the exhilarating key change at the end of the song, the way the dancers walk stylishly down the staircase, one stair at a time...step, kick, step, kick...the overdone melodramatic way that the actors burst into song for no reason. I love, love, love, that crap.

The Producers started as a 1968 film, written by the incomparable Mel Brooks and starring Gene "Best Willy Wonka ever" Wilder and Zero Mostel. It became a Broadway musical in 2001, and the 2005 movie is based on the stage version.

Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick reprised their stage roles as Bialystock and Bloom. During the first 20 minutes of the film I was mildly annoyed, because it was so obviously..."stagey". It was more like watching a play than a film: over-the-top dialogue, stagey blocking, obvious physical comedy (to the point of shtick), and single camera editing. After a while my head kicked into "stylized effect" mode and it was all good.

Nathan Lane is amazing. He has the most incredible energy, especially for a zaftig 49-year-old. Wow. He is a consummate performer; you can really see how comfortable he is in this genre. Roger Bart as Carmen Ghia stole every scene he was in.

I was a touch disappointed with Uma Thurman. She has the perfect look, and her acting was good, but it's pretty obvious she's had no vocal training. Especially when she was supposed to belt it out. Oh well. I don't suppose anyone was looking at her vocal chords in that scene, anyway.

Ah, to have two or three or ten lives. Then I could travel every path.

Billboard Album of the Year.

The Billboard Music Awards named 50 Cent's "The Massacre" as their 2005 album of the year. Here is a list of the official winners.

I've got to be honest here; I am not familiar with the compositions of Mr. Cent. So I found the lyrics online to the songs from "The Massacre".

Here is a sample from the award winning album:

This is 50

I got a hit ya, its ya trigger finger, n**** its a killa in me not to spray that sh*t
I got enough ammo shots to blow I up a hole in every mothaf**** out this b*tch
I unload then reload, when you get hit I supposed you gon' be strong enough to take this sh*t
I'm in the hood ridin' round with a chrome fo' pound, can you see thru the windows see tints
I do dirt, the gat bussa, get to kickin' up dust, 'fore the jakes come around here kid
n****s get knocked if they start askin' question, my name end up in all types of sh*t
I be a gangsta, a n**** till I die fo' sho', whether I'm poor or I'm filthy rich
Now what you know about movin' that ?? and flake for that cake, I get rid of them bricks

I don't know what you take me for
I don't really play that sh*t
I ain't got to get you hit
I get out myself and spray that sh*t

Inspiring. Truly an artist at work here. I especially like the way he cleverly rhymed "sh*t" with "sh*t".