Sadness and the City

So I saw the movie over the weekend, and I have to say that even more shirtlessness could not have helped this film. I was genuinely excited to have some fun on a Saturday afternoon in my Manolos and my party dress, and yet I emerged as bored as Ms. Parker and Mr. Noth look above. One of the main platforms of this blog (and may I say movement) is that good shirtlessness makes everything better. I shudder to think what SATC 2 would have been like without the Australian soccer team taking off their shirts at the pool. I don't think I have ever been more grateful for good male shirtlessness in my life.

My list of why I hated the film is long and not really to the point of what IMS is all about, and so I will only say that I don't understand why the entire cast talked so slowly. SATC the series was known for its snappy dialogue which made the pregnant pauses between every single line of the movie incredibly dull. To fill those pauses with conspicuous consumption and stereotypes of the Middle East did not help. I literally came home and watched some of my favorite episodes from the series to remind myself of why I went to the film in the first place.

On this Memorial Day, I am going to try to turn my mind from the 2 and a half hours of my life that I paid $13 to waste and think about how much I hope we will no longer be at war next Memorial Day. I wish for all of our soldiers to come home soon. Until then, I am...

Yours in shirtlessness,
Nandita
President
IMS

SATC 2, More Shirtlessness

Well, at last Memorial Day weekend is upon us, and I am looking forward to relaxing a little bit in between cleaning jags and seeing the new "Sex and the City" movie. I don't care about the reviews. I want to see the girls get some shirtlessness. Hurrah! Apparently, Samantha has two love interests, cutie Noah Mills, and the above, Max Ryan. Of course if anyone is going to have two shirtless love interests, it would be Samantha. Power to her!

It has been an extremely stressful few days of trying to get a handle on various writing projects before I go away for the summer to do a show. I've lost an actor from a workshop, found out via email that my play is being re-written in rehearsal, and am generally swamped with annoying tidbits of information that don't really help me. I deserve two and a half hours with the girls being frivolous. Then I will get back to business.

At least there is some good news to report - Daniel Craig has purchased an apartment in Tribeca! This means that I will be spending a lot of time in Tribeca, wandering the streets, looking for IMS Poster Boy 2007. I hope he leads the trend of good shirtlessness in NYC. Until then, I am...

Yours in shirtlessness,
Nandita
President
IMS

Shirtlessness in the City 2

According to the publicity, the "Sex and the City" sequel contains a lot of shirtlessness, even though much of the storyline takes place in Abu Dhabi. Go figure. I don't really care, as long as there is some good shirtlessness to follow up the extremely delightful male torse of Gilles Marini from the last movie. I thought I had had enough of SATC after the last movie, but every time I see a trailer or commercial for the film, I notice that my heart rate increases. Now I actually can't wait! And knowing that this man, Noah Mills, is in the film as Samantha's love interest assures me that I will not be disappointed. My Manolos are ready to go to the movies this weekend!

Mr. Mills is apparently making his screen debut in the film after a career of modeling, mostly shirtless. I'm thrilled to see that Samantha keeps getting hotter and younger guys which offers a little bit of hope to all the fabulous single ladies out there. Of course, I am blushing because Mr. Mills was born in 1985, but I'm sure I'll get over it in time for the movie. Whoo hoo!

Yours in shirtlessness,
Nandita
President
IMS

Desperate Shirtlessness

Here's a little something from last Sunday, a shirtless picture of actor Sam Page who plays Rex's illegitimate son on DH. Before coming to Wisteria Lane, Mr. Page had spent some time on shows like "Hang Time" practicing his shirtlessness. IMS VP made me think to investigate him a little further, and now we know that he does practice good shirtlessness!

I do have to hand it to GA. It's rare to have a show consistently have amazing season finales (see DH), and yet last night, I was completely riveted. This is the show that had me holding the VP's hand when Burke got shot, and screaming "It's George, it's George!" when I figured out who the mangled patient was last year. I did not have high hopes for last night. I'm grateful that McDreamy didn't die because to have him and Rob Lowe die in one week would have been too much for me. But I thought the story was really interesting and unfolded in a different way than the usual season finale format. I loved the negotiation scene between Derek and the shooter as well as all the stuff between Meredith and Christina. I'm a sucker for female friendships portrayed in a realistic and positive way on television, and this episode was it for me. Avery was quite enjoyable as well, and I hope they find him someone to love next season so that he can take his shirt off. And Bailey, Bailey will probably win another Emmy for her performance last night. My only question is why everyone on ABC is dying with their eyes open. It does remind me of Hindi movies.

In any case, now that the season is finished, I am open to suggestions for new shirtlessness. Please do not suggest any Bachelors from the Bachelorette since that series is officially on my "No" list. But now that the good weather is here, I am ready for good new shirtlessness both in person and the media. Until then, I am...

Yours in shirtlessness,
Nandita
President
IMS

Thank you, Rob!

Spoiler alert to those of you who did not watch last night, Rob Lowe exited "B&S" in almost Hindi movie fashion. He died with his eyes open. Let me just say that I have long been a fan of Mr. Lowe's, having hosted a Rob Lowe film festival at my house in the eighth grade, but in the past two seasons of B&S, I have always thought that he didn't really care to be there. I will give him props for rallying in the last few weeks of this season by providing consistent shirtlessness and acting as though he cared about any of his fellow characters. His final monologue choked me up a little, which is big for me since I hate breathy monologues at the end of shows. I hope that in whatever vehicle that ABC finds next for him, he will continue to balance shirtlessness with wearing tuxedos and well cut suits. Au revoir, Rob!

Aside from the preposterous car accident at the end of the show which involved an overturned semi and an exploded car 50 yards from each other with all of the Walker clan in between, I do have some complaints about the episode. First off, why make Gilles a legal resident and live in lover of Sarah if they never do anything together? It's hard for me to feel sorry for Sarah when she has sexy, sexy Luc offering to make her an omelette. Am I supposed to believe that she would rather watch soaps on a campaign bus with her mother and sister than stay home and watch her French boyfriend mop the floor without his shirt on? I have suspended my disbelief for many an ABC show including watching interns perform autopsies and going with the storyline that a mother could hide her criminal son in the basement, but this is where I draw the line. I hope that Gilles will take a lesson from Rob next season and find reasons to play Scrabble shirtless and that Sarah will have the good sense to like it. I hate when good shirtlessness is wasted.

I will save my thoughts on DH for another post since we now have the long dull summer ahead. Needless to say, I was disappointed with the lack of shirtlessness on this finale, since DH was the host mother so to speak of IMS. It just makes me long for Jesse Metcalf a little bit. But I digress. Looking forward to the finale of GA this week and hoping that McDreamy and McSteamy dodge the bullet. Until then, I am...

Yours in shirtlessness,
Nandita
President
IMS

Fair Shirtlessness

As I was crashed out on my couch Tuesday night, I suddenly began receiving messages like "Run, don't walk to get the new Vanity Fair." What was it all about? Well, here you have it, the shirtless World Cup cover by Annie Leibovitz. I am not a sports person, but I don't think you need to be to appreciate the shirtlessness. It's pretty fantastic! There's even a video about shooting the cover on the website. VF has an article about "The Luckiest Photgrapher on Earth," Walter Iooss who has photographed the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated for years, but after this cover, I wonder if perhaps the luckiest photographer on earth isn't Ms. Leibovitz. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for this shoot. And I know the vice president of IMS would definitely have volunteered to run towel service for the event. All in good time...

I missed GA last night after forgetting to tape. I think I will have to break down and upgrade my cable soon because DVR would make my life much easier and more pleasant. I also recently got a new television with all kinds of new technology, and apparently what new technology does is make you need more new technology. So my beautiful flat screen LED tv has a nice picture that would look better if I had HD cable. It's a never-ending cycle. The saving grace is that shirtlessness looks much better even without upgraded cable.

So even if this Sunday's season finales feature no new shirtlessness, I know that I will have my Vanity Fair to curl up with after. It's good to have a sure thing once in a while. And for what it's worth, I buy Vanity Fair for the articles! I am...

Yours in shirtlessness,
Nandita
President
IMS

Wrestling Shirtlessness

Last week, I wrote about seeing Kristoffer Diaz's play "The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity," and the playwright was kind enough to direct me to this video promo of the show which I share with you. There is a lot of good shirtlessness in this show along with a biting commentary about the racial dynamics of corporate America and a very touching glimpse of one person's intimate relationship with his job. If you live in New York, I strongly suggest seeing this show at Second Stage Theater before June 20th.

After coming home from seeing a friend's play reading at the Public Theater last night where I sat next to one of the actors that I posted a few weeks ago(!), I watched both DH and B&S and had rather opposite reactions to each show. I always get excited for the season finale of DH because lots of mysteries wind up coming to head in the last weeks, making for very exciting television. This season will be no different with two mysteries getting solved next week. I must say after the number of murder plots and escaped criminals that have been found out on Wisteria Lane, I have to wonder why none of the housewives think to move! Of course, I'm glad that they don't.

On the flip side was B&S which again featured no shirtlessness even with the addition of Gilles to the cast and involved everyone in the Walker family yelling at each other. When Tommy becomes the voice of reason, you know you have a problem. I liked the relief that Paige's video offered, but honestly, why can't they all just get along? Clearly Rob Lowe is going to die next week, and then we will have to suffer through more teary monologues delivered by Calista Flockhart who miraculously beat cancer in three weeks only to have the love of her life taken from her in his prime. Even the VP of IMS left me a message last night asking me "Really?" Really, ABC? Have you run so short on plot lines that you have to resort to making us watch an hour of bickering every Sunday night?

Still I'm hoping for the best in the week of finales. I hope you will too. Until then, I am...

Yours in shirtlessness,
Nandita
President
IMS

Mmm-mmm Mehcad!

I can't help that I like Mehcad Brooks and still mourn his lack of shirtlessness on DH several seasons ago. Although this picture looks like it is from DH with the foliage and the white picket fence, it's actually a still from "True Blood" where clearly the writers understood how to accentuate the positive on Mr. Brooks. If only I had HBO! In any case, I'm happy to post him here since there was no new shirtlessness on tv last night to report, although it seems that Eric Dane has started taking shirtless pictures with his daughter for magazine covers. Go figure!

I'm in a grump place these days for various reasons, big and small, but I am trying to accentuate the positive myself. For one thing, I'd like to note that of the 4 plays I have seen in the last two weeks, three featured shirtlessness. In fact, in the last play I saw, "The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety" written by my friend and colleague, Kris Diaz, every character except one spends long periods of time shirtless. It's pretty great! I wonder if soon, I will only have to make note of plays that do NOT feature shirtlessness! I do highly recommend "Chad Diety" which is playing at Second Stage Theater right now. Not only does it feature good shirtlessness and plenty of it, it's also wickedly funny and smart. IMS members would certainly appreciate it.

Now that the weather has returned to spring in New York, I seem to have come down with a cold which makes me blue. I might just have to lay on my couch and watch the lake scene in "Pride & Prejudice" to make myself feel better. Until then, I am...

Yours in shirtlessness,
Nandita
President
IMS

How to Make Things Better

Okay, this is not a great picture, but it was the only one I could find of Andrew Lincoln who plays Keira Knightley's secret admirer in "Love Actually." I actually found this storyline very annoying in the movie when I first saw it, and my distaste has only grown since. So I did in fact fast forward through all of their scenes. But, I realized his confession would have been so much more interesting if he had simply taken off his shirt for most of it. Shirtlessness can make a lot of things better. Not everything, but many things.

In any case, as I laid on my couch on Saturday night after my 13 hour day in Tribeca, I enjoyed watching the many facets of love portrayed in the film and even cried a little bit for the grand romantic gestures at the end. I'm not sure that such things do exist in real life, but they made me weepy in a film, possibly because I had been standing on my feet in the crazy heat all day. I did figure out, though, why I had no recollection of the Roderigo Santoro-Laura Linney storyline. It was never resolved, and so I couldn't really hook into it. So while shirtlessness does make a lot of things better, it needs a good storyline to be truly memorable.

I'm happy to report that of the three plays that I saw this week, two featured shirtlessness. I really do believe that we at IMS are onto something with our efforts. Good male shirtlessness can make a bad play tolerable, and a good play really excellent. I really do have to go back and see how I can add shirtlessness to every single play I have ever written. A writer's work is never done! Until then, I am...

Yours in shirtlessness,
Nandita
President
IMS