Looking Elsewhere: November 20, 2005

Sunday’s specials:

SATAN WILL BE “WHATEVER YOU WANT HER TO BE”
Thanks to Chattaway for catching this alarming quote from Tilda Swinton, who plays the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:

Disney is counting on the film to lure mainstream audiences while holding a special appeal to evangelical Christians, who the studio expects will respond to Lewis’s biblical allegories.

But when the issue of religion surfaced at Thursday’s promotional event, Swinton played it safe. Asked by one child if her character Jadis, the White Witch, represented Satan, the actress answered: “You can read it however you want, and it can grow in your mind. So, I can be whatever you want me to be.”

Huh. That sounds so much like something the White Witch herself would say. I wonder if she then handed him some Turkish Delight.

DRUNKARD’S PRAYER IN STOCKING CAPS
My friend Todd Truffin, a whimsical writer with impeccable taste in music, reports from Belleville, Ohio, where Over the Rhine and Kim Taylor endured the cold to deliver a warm and wonderful set.

URBANIAK ALERT
Rumor has it that the new Aaron Sorkin-scripted series Studio 7, which follows the SportsNight approach except that it focuses on a sketch-comedy show, may star James Urbaniak, who was fantastic in Henry Fool and American Splendour. Woo hoo!

HARRY POTTER AND THE OPENING DAY OF FIRE
Think of the millions more who are going to rush right out and start studying witchcraft!