My review of Repo! The Genetic Opera is live at Fantasy Magazine. I, um, had an opinion.

There’s a second page to the article that has video clips, which you should watch if possible. The theatrical trailer, especially, is an editing wonder. I would love to interview the people who put that together, because having seen the movie? They are artists.

Sure, the online Costume Institute database is a priceless resource for anyone who’s researching historical fiction, but let’s face it, it’s the least they could do after I worked their stupid Gala twice, jeez.

The online database, a little weird but searchable. I have taken the liberty of typing in “court”, which is proven to get the absolute maximum embroidery per result. (I often worry that if I had the money for an 18th-century court suit, I’d just wear the coat out to lunch – then again, if I could afford an 18th-century court suit, I bet I’m having lunch in Paris or something, so that would be fine.)

Today’s brain power and word count are going into actual writing, but I’m sticking my head above water long enough to share the most amazing video clip in the world.

I found it this morning. I don’t even know how I got here, and frankly, I don’t want to know.

This is from a soap opera. It’s five minutes long. Please note in this five minutes we have:

- The “look out, we’re about to be discovered!” kiss, which might work except they’re not in an alley or anything, they’re in someone’s house, which means that when they stop kissing the person they are avoiding is still five feet away. (I started laughing here and never stopped.)

- A dame of a certain age who wears a taffeta cocktail suit and diamond jewelry to go visit friends.

- The Mark of the Devil. Note: Mark of the Devil looks like the stamp they give you at the 9:30 Club so you can get back in if you go out for a cigerette. You go, Grams!

- A trust fund to be signed over to a Clearly Evil Man who, I guarantee you, grew a moustache and twirled it before this episode was over.

It has been the best five minutes of my day. Or, at this point, the best fifteen minutes of my day. You can’t watch it just once.

Every time I see a clip from a soap opera, I realize that Soapdish was not a comedy; it was a documentary.

I have been waiting for this exhibit since I heard it was coming; this is like my World Series of second-tier musuem exhibits.

America and the Tintype, on display through January 4, 2009, explores the venerated history of the tintype as a marker of blah blah blah political upheaval blah blah technology whatever. The copy on the website basically reads like that throughout, which is fine, because they know that just by looking at the main ad image for this campaign, you’re going to go.

Right? Who can look at this image and not IMMEDIATELY call a travel agent to get to this exhibit? Answer: people who are not living in 1964, which was the last year travel agents still had a purpose for the individual traveler.

Bonus, though: if you travel back in time to 1964 and ask for a flight to this exhibit in 2008, you can get a ticket for like, sixty bucks, since things were crazy-cheap back then. Unfortunately, it will probably be on the Pan-Am Bubble Spaceship or something, and you’ll still be stuck on the Chinatown bus. So, just take the Chinatown bus to this exhibit! Instead, use your time-travel marker to go back to ca. 1880 and ask this guy what the hell he did to his face. Then tell me.