hearts and bones

I can’t think of anyone else I know who loves Batman more than my father. As a child I never read any comic books, but I knew the stories like the back of my hand, got to watch the movies as soon as we had enough money to buy a VCR. My bedtime stories weren’t fairy tales or something out of children’s books; Batman’s war on crime and continual struggle for justice was what I heard before going to sleep. I wanted to grow up to be Catwoman. I still do.

My dad loves Batman and passed that love on to me, so when I saw that the AMC near me was running not only midnight showings of The Dark Knight Rises, but were screening all three of the Nolanverse movies in succession, I made sure that I got tickets.

SMASH is an exceedingly mediocre series on NBC right now about the creation and production of a Broadway musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe. We watch the show from the point of view of several different characters involved in this production, including Julia and Tom, who write the book and music, Eileen, who is trying to produce the show against insurmountable odds, Derek, the abrasive and demanding director and choreographer, and Ivy and Karen, both of whom are competing for the lead role.

It isn’t a good show…but it’s not bad, either. Think Hart of Dixie, but with more singing. Or Glee, if Glee had anything remotely resembling realism in its production values.

You can find all the episodes at hulu.com (linked above), or here at the show's website. I'm sure there are free downloads out there, too, but I wouldn't know about that. You'll have to do a little digging on your own if you want to find them.

And as per usual, my watching this trashy musical soap opera is entirely Harper’s fault…and also because The River, while awesome, has ended for the season and I was bored. But mostly, Harper’s fault.