Courtesy of Mary as a contest entry, one new Wallpaper and three new Fanart items have been added to the site. I have also added seven new Icons as well.

Added 14 new pictures to the Rutland Weekend Television Gallery!

Dibs has been snagged away with a claim by Alyssa in Adopt An Eric. I have also updated the Thanks page.

~DECEMBER 30, 2005~

I come bearing... The first-ever Idleized Heaven contest! To end the year with a bang, I have decided to create a small contest where a single winner shall receive one fully-sealed, brand-new Eric Idle's Personal Best DVD.

The contest itself has already begun (as it was posted on the Eric Idle Livejournal Community a few days ago), and will end on Friday, January 6th.

But how does the contest work? Well, it runs like so...

Now, I'm always game for contributions to IH in any way. This can include icons... banners... wallpapers... fanfiction... fanart... you name it, I love it, and so do fellow visitors. So, the contest is simple: Create something for IH of high quality. I don't care what it is, just have it pertain to Eric Idle and/or Idleized Heaven. Then, on Saturday, January 7th, I will judge who put the most effort into what, and the person who I think spent the most time and did a really nice job with whatever they did will receive the DVD. (I will ship it to you in the mail, along with my thanks.) I'm sure you'll have a few questions, so here are a couple of pre-packed answers for you...

1. Can I make more than one item?

- Hey, the more the merrier! More items probably means more effort and time put into making them. However, if you're just dishing out a bunch of sloppy items, it won't increase your chances.

2. Why are you doing this contest?

- To be truthful, I was given the DVD, but already had one in my possession, and I don't know anyone to simply give it to. I'd like it to go to someone who'd really like to have it.

3. I feel it's unfair that you're measuring my skills.

- I'm not really measuring skills. I just like contributions to this website, and I figure, you give me something, I give you something in return. Tell you what- all those who enter will receive a free eric-idle.net email address, and the grand prize will be the DVD. ((PS- My 'free email address' offer will be ending on Jan. 1st. so if you'd still like an address for free, better hurry up and email me! There's still TONS left to go around!))

4. How do I enter?

When you entry is ready, you can either do one of two things: one, email it to me at Ewicismyidle@aol.com if it's a big file or a story or something, or two, you can post it on the livejournal communitiy, which is the preferred option. Just make sure to put 'DVD Contest' in the heading so I know that you're officially entering.

5. Do you feel dumb writing a questionnaire with your own questions?

- Yes.

Also, I have to mention that the DVD is Region 1, which means that I can only have US and Canadian contestants only (unless you're special and have a region-free DVD player). My apologies to other-country visitors!

The main page has been cleaned up a bit, and the Coming Soon and Upcoming Events sections have been updated. I've also added a much-needed new web poll, so vote away!

Added one new piece of Fanart, courtesy of Frannie, acting as a submission to the contest.

Added one new SPAM Club member. Welcome, Hanne! Also, Alyssa's SPAM profile has been put onto the page.

~DECEMBER 28, 2005~

Out of the blue, and with total surprise, the very rare item of The Mikado was released on Monday onto DVD by A&E Home Video! (Thus, naturally, making it not quite so rare anymore.) Extra features on the disc include 'A Source Of Merriment: The Making Of The Mikado' and cast biographies. The movie itself is two hours and ten minutes long, and has received an average of 4.5 stars rating from viewers.

The Official Spamalot Fanlisting finally received a much-deserved total update, including a new layout, version 2.0! If you've seen the show and enjoyed it, but have not yet joined, you should do so! (Our Idleized Heaven fanlisting would also like some love.)

On the Shopping Spree page, I have updated the link to the official Spamalot online store, as it had changed and now includes even more goodies so that you may empty your wallets.

Added one new SPAM Club member. Welcome, Alyssa!

~DECEMBER 24, 2005~

Added a new Comic for the holidays, courtesy of Claire!

Added 5 new Eric As Himself pics, and 1 new Miscellaneous Eric pic.

~DECEMBER 22, 2005~

Added one new Fanart picture.

Added one new SPAM Club member. Welcome, Rebecca!

Added an MP3 of Eric's and George Harrison's The Pirate Song.

I have completely redone the Idleography section and broken it into seperate pages of each section. This makes it a lot easier for me to update it, and a lot faster to load on slower browsers. Likewise, I added eighteen new items to the various lists, furtherly updating it. Edit: I have just added movie reviews for Holy Grail, To See Such Fun, Yellowbeard, and Eric Idle's Personal Best. More to come!

~DECEMBER 17, 2005~

Thanks to Jesskat and her friend Akril, 26 new Discworld 1 & 2 MP3 soundfiles have been added to the Music section. I also added 8 new song lyrics from the Rutlandf Isles CD. Enjoy!

HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON!! As a gift from IH to you, I'm giving away 100 totally free eric-idle.net email addresses! The email system used is Yahoo, and so if you'd like to have one, simply email me a request and include:

~Your name &
~The screenname you want (AKA the text in front of the @eric-idle.net)

That's all there is to it, so have at it! :)

I converted the last twenty or so interviews to 8.0, so now the entire Interviews page is complete.

~DECEMBER 13, 2005~

First off, the old old slideshow has been moved to the Erichive page, and a brand-new slideshow has been linked to on the Entertainment page! Also, Jenny has submitted a new Eric comic- go check it out.

Converted the next 20 interviews into version 8.0- the rest to follow this upcoming weekend!

~DECEMBER 9, 2005~

Yes, at last, the long-anticipated Holy Grail Gallery is here, sparkling with 116 glorious pictures!

Added 3 new Spam Club members. Welcome, Kerstin, Justin, and Eamonn! Edit: Added the December Spam fact.

Hooray! Eric has been nominated for a Grammy award for the Spamalot soundtrack. This is Eric's third nomination, his first two being for his audio book Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, and The Adventures Of The Owl And The Pussycat. Here are the standings for the category which is best musical soundtrack:

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Billy Straus & David Yazbek, producers; David Yazbek, composer/lyricist
(Original Broadway Cast Including John Lithgow & Norbert Leo Butz)
[Ghostlight Records]

Hair
Kurt Deutsch & Joel Moss, producers (Galt MacDermot, composer; James Rado & Gerome Ragni, lyricists) (The Actors' Fund Of America Benefit Recording)
[Ghostlight Records]

The Light In The Piazza
Steven Epstein, producer; Adam Guettel, composer/lyricist (Original Broadway Cast Including Victoria Clark & Kelli O'Hara)
[Nonesuch]

Monty Python's Spamalot
John Du Prez & Eric Idle, producers; John Du Prez, composer; Eric Idle, composer/lyricist (Original Broadway Cast Including David Hyde Pierce, Tim Curry, Hank Azaria & Sara Ramirez)
[Decca Broadway]

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Kurt Deutsch & Joel Moss, producers; William Finn, composer/lyricist (Original Broadway Cast)
[Razor & Tie/Ghostlight Records]

The awards themselves will be presented on February 8th, 2006- however, this category is not typcially one they show on television. Nevertheless, our fingers are crossed!

~DECEMBER 6, 2005~

Added 2 new Spam Club members. Welcome, Kamutan and Kerry Ann!

I have added a new affiliate to the Links page, The Website Of Aaarrgh! I have also awarded them with the first-ever Golden Spam Can Award, so thus their name has also been added to the Awards page. Congrats to them!

~DECEMBER 4, 2005~

Added 1 new Spam Club member. Welcome, Janine!

Converted the Naughty Gallery, the Dudely Do-Right Gallery, the Burn Hollywood Burn Gallery, and the Ella Enchanted Gallery into version 8.0. The conversion of galleries is now complete! I am currently working on a new gallery as we speak, too.

~DECEMBER 3, 2005~

Added 1 new piece of fanart.

Added 1 new Spam Club member. Welcome, Maggie!

Updated the Calendar for the month of December.

~NOVEMBER 27, 2005~

Added 1 new pic to the Eric As Himself Gallery, 1 new pic to the Rutland Weekend Television Gallery, and 2 New Pics To The Miscellaneous Eric Gallery.

Added four new items to the Idleography page.

The Aristocrats is being released onto DVD on January 24th, 2006.

Added 1 new piece of fanart.

~NOVEMBER 26, 2005~

Added 5 new icons, 1 new piece of fanart, and a new (Claire) comic.

Updated the Opinion Poll Section and the Eric E-Cards to version 8.0.

Added the new Eric Idle's Personal Best Gallery, 59 images in total!

~NOVEMBER 24, 2005~

Added 13 new Eric as Himself pics.

The Music page is now entirely version 8.0, including all 52 lyrics pages. Three new song lyrics have been added, including: Background To History, We Love Yangtse, and The Answering Machine Song. I have also added seven new audio clips, most of them Wav files. Last, but not least, I am finally putting my new server to work, and almost every single music-related file (and some of the video ones too) are now on my new server. Huzzah!

~NOVEMBER 21, 2005~

Added 1 new SPAM Club member. Welcome, Pavlona!

Added a new link to a really neat online store for Monty Python goods of all sorts on the Shopping Spree page.

~NOVEMBER 19, 2005~

Back on the 17th, Eric went to Las Vegas for the Earth To America! comedy show in the Colosseum in Caesar's Palace. Eric actually performed in the show, playing guitar alongside Steve Martin and Tom Hanks. The show itself will air tomorrow on TBS at 8/7 central (America).

((If anyone wants to be nice and tape it for me I'll pay them back for the tape and shipping and give them a free eric-idle.net email address since I don't receive the station. Please let me know ASAP if you could possibly do this. ^^))

Added 1 new Fanart picture.

Added 4 new SPAM Club members. Welcome, Felicity, Josu, Francisco-Maria, and Charlie!

Added 6 new Eric As Himself pics. Also converted the Greedy Bastard Tour Gallery into 8.0, and added 5 new pictures to that as well. Edit: Added 6 new pics to the Miscellaneous Gallery. Also converted the Life of Python Gallery, The Quest For Camelot Gallery, and the National Lampoon's European Vacation 2 Gallery into 8.0

Roger the Shrubber has been adopted by Francisco-Maria. Edit: Added one new Eric quote.

~NOVEMBER 17, 2005~

Added 1 new Fanart picture.

Added 2 new Eric As Himself pics. Also converted the A Concert For George Gallery, the Mr. Toad's Wild Ride Gallery, and the Miscellaneous Gallery into 8.0.

Added one new SPAM Club member. Welcome, Colleen!

Added 2 new Eric quotes.

~NOVEMBER 6, 2005~

Added 7 new Fanart pictures.

Added 3 new Eric As Himself pics.

~NOVEMBER 5, 2005~

Added two new SPAM Club members. Welcome, Valey and Anna! Also added the 22nd SPAM fact.

Added one new quote. The forum is now updated to version 8.0 as well.

~NOVEMBER 2, 2005~

A new silly fanfiction (play, actually) written by Jonas has been added, entitled 'Four Curds And A Block Of Cheese.' I highly recommend it, and consequently, the author decided to have me co-star. ;)

The Casper, Yellowbeard, National Lampoon's European Vacation, Too Much Sun, and Hollywood Homicide galleries are now all 8.0.

So, for those who have been following IH for a long time, you should recall that a while ago we had a section called Quotes, which was basically scripts of the different movies. But I ended up deleting that section, as it was never very popular, and a pain in the neck for me. However, I have brought back the quotes, but in a slightly different form. This time, I just have a small section of some of Eric's most famous quotes (not from movies or shows- just as himself) featured on the Eric Favorites And Facts page to spice it up a bit. Go and give it a looksee- they are quite amusing, and some, a little naughty.

~OCTOBER 29, 2005~

A new Eric Idle comic (Claire's) has been added.

Added two new members. Welcome, Josh and Michelle!

Added 27 new Eric As Himself pictures! Likewise, the Rutland Weekend Television Gallery is now 8.0.

The Calendar has been updated for the month of November.

Last week, for the first time since June, Eric attended some events. The first event was a 'gala' screening of "The Concert For Bangladesh Revisited Eith George Harrison and Friends" which was held on the Warner Lot in Burbank, California, on October 20th.

The second was at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. for the 'Mark Twain American Humor Award' which Eric's good friend Steve Martin received.

~OCTOBER 24, 2005~

A few things to report today!

To start with, Idleized Heaven has acquired a new guestbook. This new guestbook I have made with PHP, and it is ad and pop-up free, unlike my old one, which has been moved to the Erichive page in case people still wish to read it. My heart would be gladened if you would stop on by and say hello and leave a comment or two in the new book! :)

Secondly, I now have those email addresses that I mentioned earlier. I have almost 500 email addresses for sale for $15 each (one-time fee). If you'd like to purchase a @eric-idle.net email for yourself, a friend, a family member, etc., simply send me an email with the screenname you desire. I will then add it to a 'on hold' list, and will send you my home address to which you can pay me by either money order, cash, or check. (Cash preferred, it's only $15.) Once I receive payment, I will then promptly set up your email for you, and you will receive an email (in your original email box) with instructions on how to continue your set-up. That's all there is to it!

Some of you may question, however, why I'm charging anything at all. I might be nice and lower it to $10, but the reason I'm charging is because I spend roughly $500 every six months just to keep this place alive. That's a lot of money. So consider that small fee a donation to help with my expenditures. It would be much appreciated, I assure you. :) That- and you get one awesome new email addresses, yeah!

Next, some of you might have noticed that the menu on the lefthand side seems a tad longer- and it is. I had stupidly forgotten to switch over the 'Biography' page when I made the new layout, so it has just now been added to the list. Sorry about that! The page itself needs some serious updating (I assure you, I know *sigh*) but at least now it's there for you to access.

Last, but not least, I have given the Livejournal community a make-over. It's very, er... bright and fallish. Heh. Hope you like it, all the same. ;)

The Rutland Isles and the And Now For Something Completely Different galleries are now both 8.0. On the Adopt An Eric page, Eric the Jailer has been adopted by Campbell, and the Pointed Sticks man has been adopted by Sterling. Likewise, the Pied Piper has been added to the list of adoptees.

~OCTOBER 22, 2005~

Well, it seems we won't be going to a new server after all. I purchased it yesterday afternoon, and have been fighting with it tooth and nail since. Though it may have some nice features such as a lot of space and able to have PHP, its sidebuilder is nothing to compare to this one, and I don't have the time, energy, or patience to hassle with a crappy system.

So I'm just going to go back to what I had. I am purchasing an additional 50 MB of space for here, so hopefully that will allow me to expand a bit more. I will get back my www.eric-idle.net domain and its space, and will be putting the music files and such through there. It also comes with 500 email addresses, so I still might be able to do the whole '@eric-idle.net email addresses for yourself' thing.

Sorry that this has been such a pain. It'll teach me to try something new! lol!

Added five new Icons.

Huzzah, the Pied Piper Of Hamelin Gallery is now up and running! There are 68 images total. The Delgo Gallery and Eric Idle Exploited Tour Gallery are now 8.0, too.

Added one new SPAM Club member. Welcome, Lesley!

~OCTOBER 21, 2005~

Added one new SPAM Club member. Welcome, Mike!

Added one new Eric Idle comic.

I will probably be getting my new server today, I'll let everyone know when it is final!

~OCTOBER 17, 2005~

I have come to a very big decision about something. I have decided to move IH to a new server. I love the current server I'm on, but it is extremely expensive, and I'm running dreadfully low on the amount of web space it gives me. So I have found a new less expensive home where I will have an ENORMOUS amount of both web space as well as transfer space. I will also be given 100 email addresses when I switch, and knowing that I'll only be using a few of those myself, the rest I am considering selling for a small one-time fee (between $10-$15 if I decide to do it) so that some of you might have the chance to have your own @eric-idle.com email if you so desire. :) Switching over will also mean being able to put movie, music, and animation files on the site as well as more pictures. Also, it comes with PHP, and if I can learn it, I can code ad-free guestbooks and forums and maybe one day even skin the site itself.

However, the downside to this is that it will mean that I will have to transfer everything, page by page. I don't know how long this will take, but I'll do the best I can. I haven't acquired my new server yet, but it will be soon. And despite this meaning that there will be a time here soon where IH might be a little uh... unorganized... in the long run, it will be a serious benefit to us all.

I might update on here a little bit more until the transfer begins, but probably not. You are still welcome to visit the site- I'm going to try and make this as hassel-free as possible. Just don't be alarmed if one day, you get an error message, or the site looks funny, or the domain takes you somewhere different, etc.

~OCTOBER 15, 2005~

A new paperback book of Spamalot has been released. You may buy it now on Amazon for $12.21, or you can purchase it at the Shubert Theatre if you are going to see the play. The book includes 5 full photo-pages, and vocal selections from all the different songs.

Pythonline has just announced a new pre-holiday season sweepstakes where you may enter to win Eric Idle and Michael Palin's Personal Best, as well as a cell sheet and booklet. Here is what you might win:

Four (4) First Prizes:

One (1) Eric Idle's Personal Best DVD (Region 1, NTSC)
One (1) Michael Palin's Personal Best DVD (Region 1, NTSC)
One (1) full color sell sheet for The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus - 16 Ton Megaset
One (1) full color booklet promoting Monty Python's Personal Best

Ten (10) Second Prizes:

One (1) promotional copy of Eric Idle's Personal Best (DVD, Region 1, NTSC)
One (1) full color sell sheet for The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus - 16 Ton Megaset

The contest has already begun and ends on October 30th. To enter, simply fill out the required information Here. (Please note that you must be eighteen or older to enter and must be a resident of the USA.)

I have converted the FAQ into 8.0 and added one new Miscellaneous Question. Likewise, the main Interviews And Articles page and the first twenty articles are now 8.0, and I have added two new articles: (2005) An Interview With Tavis Smiley, and (1996) On The Net With Monty Python's Eric Idle. Lastly, the Guestbook is now 8.0 as well.

~OCTOBER 13, 2005~

Added one new Fanart picture.

Added one new SPAM Club member. Welcome, Lisbeth!

Added 6 new pictures to the Eric As Himself gallery; likewise, the gallery, as well as the main galleries page, is now 8.0.

~OCTOBER 11, 2005~

Added the new ((very small)) Awards page, which consists of awards IH has currently won, and our own award that you just might be able to win yourself!

Added one new SPAM Club member. Welcome, Ben!

~OCTOBER 10, 2005~

The Movie Clips page is now 8.0, and two clips had to be deleted because they no longer worked. The Idleography pages (and the And Now For Something Completely Different Review) are now 8.0 as well, and Eric Idle's Personal Best has been added to the list. Lastly, my Autobiography page is now 8.0, and I have added a new feature on the page.

The Fairly Incomplete and Rather Badly Illustrated Monty Python Songbook was released in paperback today- go and check it out!

~OCTOBER 9, 2005~

Added one new Movie Mistake, and the Eric's Favorites And Facts page is now 8.0.

~OCTOBER 8, 2005~

Added one new SPAM Club member. Welcome, Erika!

The following pages have been converted into 8.0: Fanart, Fanfiction, 101 Reasons Why We Love Eric, You Know You're Obsessed When..., Movie Mistakes, and the Eric Idle Comic.

A new Eric Idle comic has been added.

~OCTOBER 7, 2005~

A lot in the creative department today... First, the Buttons and Icons page has now been officially renamed to Creativity, and I put the link to the Wallpapers in there as well. (One day I'll add a Livejournal mood theme in there, too.) It, along with the IH Buttons, Eric Buttons, Wallpapers, and Icons and Avatars pages are now all 8.0. I also added five new icons. And after desperately needing it, I cleaned up the Eric Buttons page a bit and got rid of some old things in there and added a bunch of new stuff as well. Go ahead and take a look!

Sorry for the delay, but the Calendar is now 8.0, and has been completely updated for the month of October.

The Entertainment and The Six Degrees of Eric Idle pages are now both 8.0. Also added links to two new future features (links not working yet- just put them on there). Keep your eyes open for another Eric comic soon, too.

A few of you may have noticed that the Eric Idle journal is gone. Apparently, some people were offended by it, so I have decided to delete it. Too many people were mistaking my silly ramblings for me actually being Eric, despite what disclaimers said. Nevertheless, it is gone now- sorry for those of you who enjoyed it!

~OCTOBER 6, 2005~

I have found two new fanmail addresses for contacting Eric through, both in the U.K., so now our United Kingdom viewers won't have to spend as much postage if they wish to write to Mr. Idle. Likewise, the Fanmail page is now 8.0.

~OCTOBER 4, 2005~

The Spamalot Video Contest finalists have been chosen... and... I am very ecstatic to announce... that I made it as one of the four finalists!!! So please, if you support IH and how hard I work on the site, please vote for me! I'm Finalist #1- you may Vote Here. Voting ends on the 17th, so make sure to do it before then! Your vote is highly appreciated- thanks so much!!

~OCTOBER 2, 2005~

Converted all the 'Tell Your Story' stories on the SPAM Club page converted into 8.0. All the pages within the Erichive have also been converted into 8.0, as well as the Links page. Also converted The Sidenotes/Disclaimers, Thank Yous, and Shopping Spree pages.

~OCTOBER 1, 2005~

I have added yet another item to the Suggestion Box. I also added a screencap of 7.0 to the Erichive, even though much of the site is still 7.0. The Erichive is now 8.0.

Two new SPAM Club members have been added. Welcome, Dennis and Kristin! Also, I added a new SPAM Fact for the month of October. The SPAM page is also now version 8.0.

~SEPTEMBER 30, 2005~

Welcome to... Version 8.0!!!

After going on seven months of having 7.0, I was growing a little tired of it, so thus, it was time for something new and fresh. I hope everyone likes 8.0 as much as I do.

I have made some alterations to the main page. The most prominent of these is probably our main news section that you are reading right now. To start off with- we now have a commenting system! Yes- now you can comment on any or all news / information / updates posted! Also, as you might have noticed, my "Stuff Recently Updated" box is gone. Instead, everything in there will now go in here, and will be more detailed, and a lot easier to access, as well as being more organized. For each type of update or news, a certain 60x60 button will be associated with it, so there may or may not be numerous buttons / types of postings within one day's worth of news.

As for other changes, another big one is the hit counter. I have finally decided to abandon my old hit counter and exchanged it for a Bravenet one instead. You might notice, however, that the number is a COLOSSAL difference from what the old one used to be. The number you are now viewing is the real total of hits we have had since we've been on this server. The reason the old one was not accurate was because in the past, whenever I changed the main page, the counter would re-set automatically, and I was unable to keep it from doing it, or able to alter the number. But with the new counter, this will no longer be a problem!

A few other minor things are the Did You Know? which is now scrolling and includes five different items instead of just one, a different webpoll, and I deleted the countdown feature due to space and lack of things to count down to, hah.

You might also notice that Wallpapers is missing from the menu, as well as Buttons And Icons. Buttons and Icons has now been re-named to Creativity, and will include buttons, icons, avatars, wallpapers, and eventually, colorbars and a livejournal mood theme. I have also added a link to what will become the Awards page. I had decided to NOT go for the Webby Awards for two reasons: one, I don't have the $200 entry fee, and two, the sites in my category that have won in the past were either run by businesses, or were official sites, and we're neither of those. So instead, I'm looking around for other online award groups, etc., and will be submitting IH to some of those.

But wait, there's more, so much more!!! I have some very good news. Yesterday, I purchased 4 GB's of web space to be able to use towards IH as compared to the current (and rapidly depleating) 350 MB's I have been running off of. Now, with this (seemingly endless) new space, I will be able to add new things I've always wanted to, meaning: More movie clips, Eric Idle music videos, music, large files, etc. And, to go along with this new space, I was also given: another domain name! So, www.eric-idle.net will also become a way to access IH (it'll be a redirectory, as the site itself is on .com, but any files put on my new space will be at .net). Huzzah!

I added one new item to the Suggestion Box, and converted that page into 8.0. Other pages will soon follow in conversions and updates.

~SEPTEMBER 1, 2005~

Although this update is small, there's just a few things I'd like to mention...

First off, now that the summer months have passed, my time is going to be more precious to me now than ever before. I will still be updating and adding to the site whenever I can- rest assured on that! Just don't expect an update daily. I'll do what I can. I did accomplish a lot over the summer, the biggest thing probably being that almost all of the site is now Version 7.0, save for a few things on the Entertainment pages and the Eric Biography. But other than that- we are 100% updated and fresh. And this makes for more efficient updating as well.

And that's about it for now! If I feel really bold and daring (and if I have the cash to pay for it) I just might enter IH into the Webby Awards- which is basically the academy awards of the internet. I've wanted to do this since IH opened, and I think now we're actually nearing a good stage for entry-point. If I do decide upon this, I will be entering in October.

~AUGUST 8, 2005~

Could it be true?! Yes, it quite possibly could!

Fanscape is hosting this new contest to allow two lucky people to be able to win a trip to go and see Spamalot- the trip beng three days long (two nights), and including hotel accommodations for two, two tickets for Spamalot, and if you live more than 250 miles away from NYC, airline tickets.

So what must you do to win this fabulous prize? you might ask. Make a video!

That's right. You must make a one-minute long music video featuring your favorite song from the Spamalot soundtrack that must include both the soundtrack / artwork, and a can of SPAM! But creativity is the key thing here- and for it to be funny. The videos will be judged and then on October 3rd six finalists will be chosen, and their videos will be posted on the contest's website and viewers will be able to pick the winning video. However, the video MUST be on CD or DVD- sorry, no tapes. The deadline for all submissions is September 15th. If you'd like to find out all the details and more information, as well as submission guidelines and contest rules, please visit the Video That Goes Like This Contest Website!

~AUGUST 3, 2005~

My email is back up again!

I'm sorry for the lack of updates. I've been working on this other big project as of late and it has been consuming all my time and energy. I promise some good stuff soon, though. :)

~JULY 31, 2005~

Unfortunately, once again my email server is down, so until further notice, please refrain from sending me any emails to this address: webmistress_diane@eric-idle.com. If you must send something, then please send it to EwicIsMyIdle@aol.com for right now. Please be aware that any forms sent and whatnot will not be able to be answered at this time.

I'll let everyone know when it's up and running again, which hopefully will be ASAP.

~JULY 26, 2005~

Firstmost, I'd like to get the bad news out of the way. Delgo, which we've been continually waiting for, has been pushed back ANOTHER year, to 2006. Exact release dates are still unknown.

However, now for the good news- SPAMALOT!

It seems that the national U.S. (and Canada) tour is finally getting pulled together. It will be taking wing March 7-April 15th at the Colonial Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts. Other already known stops will be at Chicago, from April 18th-June 4th at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, and then continue on to the National Theatre in Washington from June 7th-July 9th. There will, of course, be more veniues, but they are yet to be chosen. The casting for the show, also, lies completely open.

However, there is a bit more bad news... For some odd reason, the tour will not be coming to California, Arizona, or Nevada, according to the terms of agreement of the tour. Why this is, I do not know, since the West Coast seems to have good venues too. BUT, to combat it, Vegas hotshot Steve Wynn is bringing Spamalot to the city of entertainment and gambling. This new Spamalot, which will be cut down to only 90 minutes as compared to the current 120 minute show, will be set to run for at least ten years within the Wynn Casino And Resort. But it's not only going to be JUST a show- Spamalot will be getting it's own, custom-made, personalized theatre! That's right ladies and gents- The Spamalot Experience And Grail Theatre will be completely designed by Eric himself! The theatre will be seating about 1,600, and will also include a retail area as well as a restaurant. This 50 million dollar baby will be playing 12 shows a week, and ticket prices will range between $80 and $100. So this, at least, gives the West Coast a chance to see the show- or part of it, anyway.

Also, don't forget to go out and purchase Do Not Adjust Your Set and At Last The 1948 Show, both out on DVD today!

~JULY 14, 2005~

After about two months of having my new computer, I've actually decided to get in gear and start working on the rather tedious process of transferring all my files from my old computer, which I'm still using, to my new. So because of this, I won't be able to update a whole lot until I'm done. Yes, some things will still be updated, we're not going on hiatus or anything, all I'm saying is if it seems like there's a lack of updating, then this is why.

I've also noticed some problems on the tagboard as of late. I put that tagboard there as a shout-out for other Eric fans to get to meet one another, or to drop me friendly comments, etc. But since the tagboard seems to be abused a little lately, I am posting these rules or notions for all visitors to please be aware of and follow:

- No posting under double names. You might think it is funny. I do not. And how do I know if you're doing this? My tagboard tells me, that's how.
- No swearing. IH is a fairly clean site, and there are other places, such as the forum, designated for letting loose a little.
- No 'I hate Eric' or 'This site sucks'. Keep it to yourself, we don't want to hear it, and we really don't care. And if you hate Eric so much, then why are you here to begin with???
- What I say goes. If I post something on the tagboard, I am not to be over-ruled. I don't have the time or the patience for petty arguing. This is my site, and I will keep things under control.
- No warring. This basically means no arguing or riffs between visitors on the tagboard. It is not the place for quarrelling, honestly it isn't.
- No advertising. I don't care if you're advertising spyware or soda pop, and advertisement is an advertisement. This includes advertising your own website. The ONLY type of advertising allowed is news or info or facts, etc., about something related to Eric. If there's something you'd like to post, but are not sure if its acceptable, then just put it by me first, and I'll let you know. Usually I'm pretty nice.
- No scrolling posting. I think you know what this means, and if you don't, it's basically posting numerous unimportant, pointless posts all at once, like 'Eric's great.' 'I love Eric.' 'I could kiss him.' One posting is fine. Two is a little unsteady. But three or more, and that's over-doing it. Shout-outs of your devotion are great- I'm just saying don't over-do it to the extreme.

Any breaking of these rules will most likely end up in your posts being deleted from the tagboard, and a permanent banning. Littler things might get by wit ha few stern words, but it's best to just abide by the rules and just have fun instead.

With the Aristocrats film rapidly approaching, a new trailer has been released for you to be able to watch with snippets of some of the dozens of comedians appearing in the film- including our beloved! You may view the trailer here.

Also, it turns out that the Eric Idle's Personal Best DVD will also be becoming a television series on PBS within the States. The mini series is actually six episodes, each episode based on one of the six Pythons, and will be a mix of new footage as well as clips and bits from Flying Circus and their films. It is set to air this upcoming spring.

~JUNE 25, 2005~

Out of the blue, there are a ton of new Eric-related releases coming your way soon!

First off, The Aristocrats, the dirty, naughty, ‘disgusting’ comedy film featuring over one hundred comedians (including Eric) is being released in select U.S. theatres nationwide on August 12th. The running time is 86 minutes, and features numerous comics telling their own version of the ‘world’s funniest, dirtiest joke’. The rating on this film is not yet known, but it will probably be R for ‘suggested ideas.’

Secondly, A&E, who brought you Flying Circus to DVD as well as Monty Python Live and The Life Of Python are releasing a brand-new Eric DVD entitled ‘Eric Idle’s Personal Best’ on August 30th. Though not a whole lot about this film is known yet, it will have to do with Flying Circus, and I’m assuming featuring Eric’s favorite or best sketches that he performed in throughout the series. Interviews with Eric might be likely. More information on this film coming soon! You may go ahead and start pre-ordering it now at Amazon.com. Unfortunately, it is only being released on Region 1 (US and Canada) DVD.

Thirdly, the rare Fairly Incomplete And Rather Badly Illustrated Monty Python Songbook is being re-released on October 10th, this time in paperback for your convenience. This can be sure to contain popular ditties such as "The Lumberjack Song" and "The Galaxy Song", and many more of those well-known favorites.

Fourthly, Eric’s Greedy Bastard Tour Diary is also being re-released on March 1st, 2006 in paperback for those who don’t care much for the current hardcover version.

Lastly, there are rumors going about that Eric might be set for a role in Jerry Seinfield’s new Dreamworks animated feature "Bee Movie". There has been definite talk about a such role, and some reporters are claiming that he’s already agreed to do the film, but I am waiting for a more official confirmation first. He apparently went to the first reading of the script and was interested, and Jerry even wrote part of the script with Eric in mind, so an Idle role is very likely. I’ll notify everyone the moment I find out the actual answer.

~JUNE 5, 2005~

For those who are unable to see Spamalot in New York, or are having a hard time getting a hold of tickets, then this bit of news should be very pleasing to you. It has been confirmed that Spamalot will be going on a national tour sometime in 2006. I say sometime because the dates and cities ventured to are not yet known. Likewise, the show will be going oversees to have a run in London, England as well for those European Eric fans who've been dying to see the show.

But probably the most bizarre of all is that there's been talk (and it's almost certain) of creating Spamalot into a film. Now, I don't mean if this means putting a recording of the show onto tape, like Cats, or making it into an actual movie. I'll be trying to find out the best I can!

CONGRATULATIONS SPAMALOT!!!!!

For those who haven’t already heard, or didn’t watch the Tonys themselves, Spamalot came out victorious with three wins, including best director with Mike Nichols, best featured actress in a play with Sara Ramirez, and… drum roll, please… BEST MUSICAL OF 2005!!! Yes, you heard it- Spamalot took home the gold, the big one, the grand prize of them all!!! Sadly, Eric didn’t win in either of his own nominated two categories, but we’re still proud of him and WE know that that Tony was rightfully his! Nevertheless, they have the grandest of the grand, and now Sara can’t sing in the Diva’s Lament how she doesn’t have any Tony awards!

~JUNE 5, 2005~

The Tony Awards are here at last! Be sure to root on SPAMALOT tonight from 8:00 - 11:00 EST on CBS!

But before the show itself, there’s some things you can do to get yourself prepared for the main event! First off, you can watch clips from all the different nominated shows- including SPAMALOT! There’s also short clips of ‘meet the nominees’ including Eric, Hank Azaria, Sara Ramirez, and the rest of the nominated cast and crew! The link to these clips can be found here, and likewise I’ve added Eric’s interview and the Spamalot clips to the Movie Clips page.

But wait, there’s more! If you go onto TonyAwards.com at 6:15 EST, you will be able to watch live coverage of the celebrities’ arrivals at Radio City Music Hall, including presenters, nominees, and special guests. Likewise, if you have cable, a similar event will be shown on the TV Guide Channel at 7:00 EST and will also show red carpet arrivals. Then, if you stay online at the website, you’ll also be able to view the exclusive live broadcast of the first nine awards being presented, which will not be shown on the main show broadcast. This particular online viewing will begin at 7:00 EST as well, and will last about 45 minutes long.

Also on the Tony Awards website, some predictions of the winners were made. SPAMALOT has received seven predicted wins in total…

Predictions

Best Musical
Fan prediction: Monty Python's Spamalot

Best Book of a Musical
Fan prediction: Monty Python's Spamalot - Book by: Eric Idle

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Fan prediction: Monty Python's Spamalot - John Du Prez & Eric Idle (music); Eric Idle (lyrics)

Best Revival of a Musical
Fan prediction: La Cage aux Folles

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
Fan prediction: Norbert Leo Butz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Fan prediction: Victoria Clark, The Light in the Piazza

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
Fan prediction: Dan Fogler, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
Fan prediction: Sara Ramirez, Monty Python's Spamalot

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Fan prediction: Tim Hatley, Monty Python's Spamalot

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Fan prediction: Tim Hatley, Monty Python's Spamalot

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Fan prediction: Christopher Akerlind, The Light in the Piazza

Best Direction of a Musical
Fan prediction: Mike Nichols, Monty Python's Spamalot

Best Choreography
Fan prediction: Jerry Mitchell, La Cage aux Folles

Best Orchestrations
Fan prediction: Ted Sperling, Adam Guettel and Bruce Coughlin, The Light in the Piazza

And as for the Broadway.com results, Spamalot only got a couple of prizes, Christian Borle winning for favorite featured actor in a Broadway musical, Sara Ramirez for favorite featured actress in a Broadway musical, and Sara Ramirez again for favorite breakthrough performance.

~MAY 24, 2005~

To begin with, SPAMALOT is up for MORE awards- but this time, you can help! They are the Broadway.com awards, and the winners are based on a poll conducted by the audience, and that means YOU! So go here with great haste, Broadway.com, and vote right away, because unfortunately, the voting ends tomorrow (Wednesday) night at midnight.

And speaking of awards, the Drama Desk awards were held back on Sunday, May 22nd, and SPAMALOT brought home three awards, including an award for Eric for Outstanding Lyrics!! Here they are…

Outstanding Musical:

Altar Boyz
The Audience
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The Light in the Piazza
Monty Python’s Spamalot ((WINNER!!!))
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Outstanding Lyrics:

Gary Adler & Michael Patrick Walker, Altar Boyz
Douglas J. Cohen, Children’s Letters to God
Rick Crom, Newsical
William Finn, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Eric Idle, Monty Python’s Spamalot ((WINNER!!!))
David Yazbek, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Outstanding Costume Design:

Lez Brotherston, Play Without Words
Tim Hatley, Monty Python’s Spamalot ((WINNER!!!))
William Ivey Long, La Cage aux Folles
Jeff Mahshie, Hurlyburly
Anthony Ward, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Catherine Zuber, The Light in the Piazza

Also, apparently, Kim Howard Johnson has written up an article for June issue #335 of science fiction magazine Starlog all about Spamalot- about the show itself, and about Eric and John Du Prez. It is five fully-illustrated pages long, and is already out on sale now!

After much debating and shopping, price-comparing and system-scoping, I have myself a brand-new Sony computer! It is very nice, and is state of the art, with all the space, power, and functionality that I could ever hope for. With the help of this new computer, Idleized Heaven can continue to expand and grow without me having to delete other things on my computer to make room for it! But apparently, the system I use to build my sites is being finicky and doesn’t feel like allowing me to upload my builder onto my new computer just yet, so for the meantime I’m still using my old one. Don’t worry- we’re NOT going to be going through any sort of ‘shut-down’ period, or revamping, or anything of that sort. I simply have a lot of transferring to do.

Also, I decided to have rename the Eric’s Favorites page to the Eric’s Favorites And Facts page instead. I’ll be continually adding facts and tidbits that you might not have known about previously to the page from time to time.

Lastly, I know that many of you are still waiting for a Spamalot review from me. I have been very busy and haven’t had time to do it quite yet (though I have started it) so since I’ve waited all this time, I’ve decided to just wait until I get my photos developed as well so I can add them to the page and give it some color and flavor.

~MAY 18, 2005~

I have just heard word that two of the original television series Eric was involved in pre-Python, Do Not Adjust Your Set and At Last The 1948 Show, are being released on DVD in Region 1 (AKA North America and Canada) on July 26th! Many of these shows have never been seen before by our current generations, so it will be a treat indeed!

Also, I’m sorry for posting these late, but Spamalot lead the way with the Tony nominations, grabbing FOURTEEN spots, more spots than any one play OR musical received! They even have a pretty good chance at taking home the Best Musical award. Anyways, here are the nominated categories and people within them…

Best Musical

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The Light in the Piazza
Monty Python's Spamalot
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical

Hank Azaria, Monty Python's Spamalot
Gary Beach, La Cage aux Folles
Norbert Leo Butz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Tim Curry, Monty Python's Spamalot
John Lithgow, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical

Dan Fogler, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Marc Kudisch, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Michael McGrath, Monty Python's Spamalot
Matthew Morrison, The Light in the Piazza
Christopher Sieber, Monty Python's Spamalot

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical

Joanna Gleason, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Celia Keenan-Bolger, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Jan Maxwell, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Kelli O'Hara, The Light in the Piazza
Sara Ramirez, Monty Python's Spamalot

Best Direction of a Musical

James Lapine, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Mike Nichols, Monty Python's Spamalot
Jack O’Brien, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Bartlett Sher, The Light in the Piazza

Best Choreography

Wayne Cilento, Sweet Charity
Jerry Mitchell, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Jerry Mitchell, La Cage aux Folles
Casey Nicholaw, Monty Python's Spamalot

Best Orchestrations

Larry Hochman, Monty Python's Spamalot
Ted Sperling, Adam Guettel and Bruce Coughlin, The Light in the Piazza
Jonathan Tunick, Pacific Overtures
Harold Wheeler, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Music & Lyrics: David Yazbek
The Light in the Piazza, Music & Lyrics: Adam Guettel
Monty Python's Spamalot, Music: John Du Prez and Eric Idle; Lyrics: Eric Idle
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Music & Lyrics: William Finn

Best Book of a Musical

Jeffrey Lane, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Craig Lucas, The Light in the Piazza
Eric Idle, Monty Python's Spamalot
Rachel Sheinkin, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Tim Hatley, Monty Python's Spamalot
Rumi Matsui, Pacific Overtures
Anthony Ward, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Michael Yeargan, The Light in the Piazza

Best Costume Design of a Musical

Tim Hatley, Monty Python's Spamalot
Junko Koshino, Pacific Overtures
William Ivey Long, La Cage aux Folles
Catherine Zuber, The Light in the Piazza

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Christopher Akerlind, The Light in the Piazza
Mark Henderson, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Kenneth Posner, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Hugh Vanstone, Monty Python's Spamalot

The Tony Awards themselves will be airing on CBS on June 5th (as I’ve said before) live from Radio City Music Hall, New York City, and will be hosted by Hugh Jackman. Below is a picture of Eric with Sara Ramirez at the Nominees' Press Event.

Also, back on the 13th, the Drama League Awards were held. Unfortunately, Spamalot lost best musical to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, but Mike Nichols did win for best director. Here is a pic of Eric and some of the Spamalot crew at the after-party luncheon.

Well, I've been back from my trip for a few days now, and am rather tired, but I had fun! However, because I took a week off, I'm now swamped with work, so there's going to be a further lack of updates for a while. But in about sixteen days all that work will be over, and summer will emerge, so I’ll have many opportunities to dedicate myself to IH for a few good months and try and get it nice enough to enter the Webby Awards.

Unfortunately, my email is still down, and is becoming a very difficult problem to solve. But hang in there. I really don’t want to start having to use my personal email for all my site stuff, but if worst comes to worst, then that’s what I’ll do.

I’ve decided that between my recent computer problems, and the fact that my hard drive space is almost filled, I’m going to buy myself a second computer, enabling me to have more space for Idleized Heaven and any other project I might have going on. (I do run three websites and four fanlistings.) I wanted to purchase the new computer within the week, but I have a feeling it won’t happen until June. And hopefully, on the new computer, my email will work again too, so that dilemma would be solved…

Also, I redid some HTML configuring here on the main page, so hopefully the pictures align with the text now. It’s only slightly different than what it originally was, but please let me know if you continue to have problems, or you can tell me if you like it better and it’s working for you. Other than that, just wait out till June. I’ll be adding things here and there as always, but my big updates will be then. For those that love the photo galleries, my (rather enormous) goal is to get every single gallery up and running by the end of summer. I’ll also be opening the new Adopt An Eric page soon, as well as revamping the forum, adding to and revising the Entertainment section, creating the new Thank Yous page, etc. etc. There’s a lot to look forward to, so please bear with me for a few weeks, and we’ll get rolling once more!

~MAY 9, 2005~

A couple of things to report... First off, I'm going on a short trip to California for my birthday, and I fly out tomorrow. I won't be back home until late Saturday evening, so if you're wondering why there's a lack of updates, that's the reason.

Secondly, please don't send me any emails to my webmistress_diane@eric-idle.com email right now. It's been malfunctioning for about a week now, and I don't know what the problem is, but I've been contacting my server host and am working to get it fixed. Hopefully it will be up and running by the time I return. But if you need to send me something right now, send it to EwicIsMyIdle@aol.com.

Also, I've begun work on the new Adopt An Eric pages and they're about halfway done. If you've adopted an Eric in the past, a long time ago, there's a possibility that I might erase you because either your email is now faulty, or I haven't heard from you. If you still wish to keep an Eric you've adopted, please notify me. (Note: Those in possibility of being erased are a minority, however.)

Lastly, I was just on a computer of a different resolution and I discovered that my photos didn't align correctly with the text on the main page. So, I'm going to have to see about changing this when I return next week. I apologize if you're one of those people who are seeing it incorrectly.

~MAY 8, 2005~

In the post below, I announced the nominated spots for the Outer Critics Awards. Well apparently today the actual awards were given, and SPAMALOT took home four of their eight nominated categories, including the following:

Outstanding Broadway Musical

All Shook Up
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The Light in the Piazza
Monty Python's Spamalot ((WINNER!!!))

Outstanding Direction Of A Musical

Walter Bobbie, Sweet Charity
Mike Nichols, Monty Python's Spamalot ((WINNER!!!))
Adrian Noble, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Jack O'Brien, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Bartlett Sher, The Light in the Piazza

Outstanding Costume Design

Tim Hatley, Monty Python's Spamalot ((WINNER!!!))
Junko Koshino, Pacific Overtures
William Ivey Long, La Cage aux Folles
Anthony Ward, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Catherine Zuber, The Light in the Piazza

Outstanding Featured Actress In A Musical

Sarah Uriarte Berry, The Light in the Piazza
Joanna Gleason, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Jan Maxwell, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Kelli O'Hara, The Light in the Piazza
Sara Ramirez, Monty Python's Spamalot ((WINNER!!!))

Congratulations SPAMALOT! ^^ They deserved to win.

Also, back on Friday, the whole Idle family went to the Lint Roller Party, an event that promotes / benefits Los Angeles animals, sponsered by Best Friends.

~MAY 6, 2005~

First off, SPAMALOT has received MORE nominations for awards, this time grabbing eight spots for the 55th Annual Outer Critics Circle Awards. Here are the nominated categories:

Outstanding Broadway Musical

All Shook Up
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The Light in the Piazza
Monty Python's Spamalot

Outstanding Direction Of A Musical

Walter Bobbie, Sweet Charity
Mike Nichols, Monty Python's Spamalot
Adrian Noble, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Jack O'Brien, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Bartlett Sher, The Light in the Piazza

Outstanding Choreography

Wayne Cilento, Sweet Charity
Gillian Lynne, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Jerry Mitchell, La Cage aux Folles
Jerry Mitchell, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Casey Nicholaw, Monty Python's Spamalot

Outstanding Set Design

Robert Brill, A Streetcar Named Desire
Tim Hatley, Monty Python's Spamalot
Scott Pask, The Pillowman
Anthony Ward, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Michael Yeargan, The Light in the Piazza

Outstanding Costume Design

Tim Hatley, Monty Python's Spamalot
Junko Koshino, Pacific Overtures
William Ivey Long, La Cage aux Folles
Anthony Ward, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Catherine Zuber, The Light in the Piazza

Outstanding Lighting Design

Christopher Akerlind, The Light in the Piazza
Mark Henderson, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Donald Holder, Gem of the Ocean
Brian MacDevitt, The Pillowman
Hugh Vanstone, Monty Python's Spamalot

Outstanding Actor In A Musical

Norbert Leo Butz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Tim Curry, Monty Python's Spamalot
Raúl Esparza, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Cheyenne Jackson, All Shook Up
Denis O'Hare, Sweet Charity

Outstanding Featured Actress In A Musical

Sarah Uriarte Berry, The Light in the Piazza
Joanna Gleason, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Jan Maxwell, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Kelli O'Hara, The Light in the Piazza
Sara Ramirez, Monty Python's Spamalot

Also, as for the Tony Awards, those nominations will be announced on May 10th, but I will be posting those a tad late since I will be on holiday during them. Don't forget to watch the Tonys on June 5th though!

Secondly, for all you Eric fans in the Los Angeles (California) area, you have a chance to meet the man himself on Tuesday, May 16th, at the Writer's Guild Theatre at 7:30 PM. Eric will be there talking about the Greedy Bastard Tour Diary and SPAMALOT. If you're interested in attending, tickets are $20 per person, and you can email your ticket request to reservations@writersblocpresents.com. For more information about the event, you can visit the Website.

Lastly, apparently back on April 27th Eric, along with John McEuen and Kevin Nealon, appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show and did a bit of guitar playing. Here is a (very small) picture from it...

~APRIL 29, 2005~

First off, Wednesday night Eric appeared on CBS on 60 Minutes for an interview about SPAMALOT. It was a combination of interviews with Eric, clips from the musical itself, and a small interview with Mike Nichols.

Also, SPAMALOT, true to my predictions, has begun raking in the award nominations! It has two nominations for the Drama League Awards in the Distinguished Production of a Musical category and Sara Ramirez is up for a Distinguished Performance award. It also has TWELVE nominations in the following categories: Outstanding Musical, Hank Azaria for Outstanding Actor In A Musical, David Hyde Pierce for Outstanding Actor In A Musical, Christian Borle for Outstanding Featured Actor In A Musical, Michael McGrath for Outstanding Featured Actor In A Musical, Mike Nichols for Outstanding Director Of A Musical, Casey Nicholaw for Outstanding Choreography, Eric Idle for Outstanding Lyrics, Eric Idle for Outstanding Book Of A Musical, Larry Hochman for Outstanding Orchestrations, Tim Hatley for Outstanding Set Design Of A Musical, and Tim Hatley for Outstanding Costume Design!!!

Here is who is up against who:

Distinguished Production of a Musical

Altar Boyz
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The Frogs
Ghetto Superstar
The Light in the Piazza
The Musical of Musicals!
Monty Python's Spamalot
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Outstanding Musical

Altar Boyz
The Audience
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The Light in the Piazza
Monty Python’s Spamalot
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Outstanding Actor in a Musical

Hank Azaria, Monty Python’s Spamalot
Mike Burstyn, On Second Avenue
Norbert Leo Butz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Matthew Morrison, The Light in the Piazza
David Hyde Pierce, Monty Python’s Spamalot
Bill Thompson, God Hates the Irish: The Ballad of Armless Johnny

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical

Christian Borle, Monty Python’s Spamalot
Gregory Jbara, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Norm Lewis, Dessa Rose
Tyler Maynard, Altar Boyz
Michael McGrath, Monty Python’s Spamalot
Denis O’Hare, Sweet Charity

Outstanding Director of a Musical

Matthew Bourne, Play Without Words
Jack Cummings III, The Audience
Mark Dornford-May, The Mysteries
James Lapine, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Mike Nichols, Monty Python’s Spamalot
Bartlett Sher, The Light in the Piazza

Outstanding Choreography

Matthew Bourne, Play Without Words
Christopher Gattelli, Altar Boyz
Barry McNabb, Sailor’s Song
Jerry Mitchell, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Jerry Mitchell, La Cage aux Folles
Casey Nicholaw, Monty Python’s Spamalot

Outstanding Lyrics

Gary Adler & Michael Patrick Walker, Altar Boyz
Douglas J. Cohen, Children’s Letters to God
Rick Crom, Newsical
William Finn, The 25 th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Eric Idle, Monty Python’s Spamalot
David Yazbek, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Outstanding Book of a Musical

Nell Benjamin and Laurence O’Keefe, Cam Jensen
Kevin Del Aguila, Altar Boyz
Mark Harelik, The Immigrant
Eric Idle, Monty Python’s Spamalot
Jeffrey Lane , Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Rachel Sheinkin, The 25 th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Outstanding Orchestrations

Steven M. Alper, The Immigrant
Larry Hochman, Monty Python’s Spamalot
Doug Katsaros & Lynne Shankel, Altar Boyz
Kim Scharnberg, Little Women
Ted Sperling, Adam Guettel, Bruce Coughlin, The Light in the Piazza
Harold Wheeler, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Outstanding Set Design of a Musical

Lez Brotherston, Play Without Words
Tim Hatley, Monty Python’s Spamalot
Scott Pask, Sweet Charity
David Rockwell, All Shook Up
Anthony Ward, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Michael Yeargan, The Light in the Piazza

Outstanding Costume Design

Lez Brotherston, Play Without Words
Tim Hatley, Monty Python’s Spamalot
William Ivey Long, La Cage aux Folles
Jeff Mahshie, Hurlyburly
Anthony Ward, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Catherine Zuber, The Light in the Piazza

The Drama League Awards will be presented on May 13th at noon at the Broadway Ballroom, Marriott Marquis on 45th and Broadway. The Drama Desk Awards will be held on May 22nd from 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM at the LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center. Good luck SPAMALOT!!!

~APRIL 17, 2005~

Back on Monday morning Eric appeared on the popular Ellen DeGeneres Show, talking about things such as spending his birthday laying on a beach in Mexico, and running around Scotland in a kilt. On Tuesday night he also appeared on Craig Ferguson's The Late Late Show and promoted his diary and SPAMALOT both.

Also, for those anticipating the SPAMALOT soundtrack CD, you can listen to clips from all the different songs here: Spamalot CD Tidbits.

~APRIL 4, 2005~

Don't forget that tomorrow Nuns On The Run is being released on DVD! So far I don't know of any special features that accompany it, but it will be widescreen.

Also, yesterday on Britain's Channel 4 they aired a three-hour show called "The 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches Of All Time", with Monty Python snagging five spots and At Last The 1948 Show stealing a place as well. Eric's own Nudge Nudge sketch ranked in at #31. Here is the complete list:

1. Lou and Andy (Swimming Pool) - Little Britain
2. Petshop/Dead Parrot - Monty Python's Flying Circus
3. Tubbs and Edward (Road Men) - The League of Gentlemen
4. Vicky Pollard (Swimming Pool) - Little Britain
5. Four Candles - The Two Ronnies
6. Going For An English - Goodness Gracious Me
7. Acorn Antiques – Victoria Wood, As Seen On TV
8. Breakfast - The Morecambe and Wise Show
9. Ted and Ralph (Drinking Game) - The Fast Show
10. Good Aids/Bad Aids - Brass Eye
11. The Slobs (Brown Baby) - Harry Enfield and Chums
12. The Spanish Inquisition - Monty Python's Flying Circus
13. Silence of the Lambs - French and Saunders
14. Papa Lazarou (The Circus Comes to Town) - The League Of Gentlemen
15. Ministry of Silly Walks - Monty Python’s Flying Circus
16. Previn Plays Greig - The Morecambe and Wise Show
17. The Only Gay in the Village (Daffyd's Coming Out) - Little Britain
18. The Pool - The Day Today
19. Michael Jackson's Crib - Bo Selecta!
20. Suit You! Tailors (New Job) - The Fast Show
21. Masterchef - The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer
22. Singing Match - Smack the Pony
23. Job Seekers (The Interview) - The League Of Gentlemen
24. History Today - The Mary Whitehouse Experience
25. Mastermind - The Two Ronnies
26. One Leg Too Few - Beyond the Fringe
27. Two Soups - Victoria Wood, As Seen on TV
28. Gerald the Talking Gorilla - Not the Nine O'Clock News
29. Mr Cholmondley-Warner (Women Know Your Limits) - Harry Enfield's Television Programme
30. Stoneybridge Olympic Bid - Absolutely
31. Nudge Nudge - Monty Python's Flying Circus
32. Craig David on Tour - Bo Selecta!
33. Constable Savage - Not the Nine O'Clock News
34. Singing in the Rain - The Morecombe and Wise Show
35. Alan Partridge (At the Races) - The Day Today
36. The Dagenham Dialogues - Not Only But Also
37. Thatcher and Cabinet - Spitting Image
38. Damn It! - A Bit of Fry and Laurie
39. Saying Goodbye - Smack the Pony
40. Class Sketch - The Frost Report
41. The Pandas (Japanese Tourists) - Who Dares Wins
42. Cissy and Ada, Babysitting - The Les Dawson Show
43. Two Flies - Alas Smith and Jones
44. Jockey Safari - Big Train
45. A La Carte - The Tommy Cooper Hour
46. The Four Yorkshiremen - At Last the 1948 Show
47. Slade in Residence (Christmas Day) - The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer
48. Rod Stewart's Bum - The Kenny Everett Television Show
49. The Lumberjack Song - Monty Python's Flying Circus
50. Smashie and Nicey (Radio Quiet) - Harry Enfield's Television Programme

~APRIL 1, 2005~

Yesterday, Eric announced that this summer he would be trekking out on his third American tour, this time hitting all the states he missed with his last tour. This new tour will be titled, "Fuck Me I'm British" and will be running from June 22nd-August 29th and will be hitting places such as Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Wyoming, and Utah. Tickets will go on sale this Sunday!

EDIT: APRILS FOOLS!!! Sorry folks, this is only a joke!

In other news, a little over a week ago on March 24th, Eric did a book signing of The Greedy Bastard Tour Diary to promote his new book at Brentwood Bookstore in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, California.

~MARCH 23, 2005~

I just wanted to let everyone know that tomorrow I'm leaving in the big silver bird for New Jersey and New York City so I can become one of hundreds to witness the wonders of Eric's SPAMALOT. So, to say the least, there won't be any new updates for at least a week. I will, however, try my best to come back with first-hand information on SPAMALOT along with pictures and souveniours galore!

In the meantime, you can check out the two new links I added, a link to Eric's new site for the Greedy Bastard Tour Diary, www.greedybastard.com, and my very own official SPAMALOT fanlisting, www.eric-idle.com/spamalot.

~MARCH 18, 2005~

Well, as you have most likely been able to guess, once more I have decided to change the layout! (It's a bad habit, really it is.) The real problem behind the consistent changings are two major things: A) I'm learning new web skills all of the time and am improving my talents, and B) I'm also learning more techniques and styles between a combination of layouts and web designing programs I own that I fiddle with daily.

For a very long time now, Idleized Heaven has been a very "blue" website with a heavy navy, blues, grays, and whites theme. In the past I've also used *cringe* purple, black, and red w/ yellow. Yes... I know... not wise choices. (You'd probably be very afraid to see some of our first layouts ever, when I started web designing. Even the version I asked Eric to view was hideous!) So, I'd grown quite fond of the blue... it worked well, was easy on the eyes, and I know that Eric likes blue.

So why all the GREEN? To be quite honest, I don't know. Maybe it has to do with St. Patrick's day? Maybe it has to do with the fact in Eric's The Greedy Bastard Tour Diary he wrote, "An executive once told me to wear more green." Or maybe it has to do with spring? Or perhaps the fact that green is my own birthstone color? *shrugs* It remains a mystery, but the point is, I ike it for now. Hopefully, if I decide I like it enough, I can have everything all polished and sparkling by October when I stab an attempt at trying to win a Webby award. (October? Did I just say 'October'?!) I'd like to know, too, what you think of it as well. Please just drop your opinion in the web poll below!

You might have already noticed a few changes, however. For example, "What in the heck is the news area doing on the main page?!" Well, a couple of reasons. First off, many other websites do this, with all the news right there for people to be able to read. Secondly, I was tired of my main page consisting of nothing really but a tagboard and a 'Coming Soon' section really (which I've still kept, but they are less dominant now). Thirdly, I just thought it'd look nice here, and be a lot more convienent.

So for now, the Daily Dirty Fork page will (soon) become an archive page for all past yearly news and events, and a storage area for past DDF issues.

I've also deleted two items off of the menu: The Chatroom, and Quotes. I deleted quotes because it was originally going to be just scripts of all the movies he's been in, but believe me, I've tried sitting down and writing (or typing if I have my laptop with me) word for word what is said, and let me tell you, I'd much rather be sitting HERE updating something else. It's just a pain in the ass, to be blunt, nor do I really have the time for that. So it's chopped. The chatroom was chopped because no one used it, and half of the people who try to use it anyway can't get in because their computer doesn't support the chatroom. So it's a mute point, you see.

I switched tagboards as well, since the other one was causing HIGHLY annoying pop-ups, which irk me especially because I pay big bucks to keep this site ad-free. So if the new tagboard starts going pop-up crazy on you, please let me know.

Last, but not least, I'm on the lookout for a code that you can type in all this text and it picks one at random every time you open the page. You know, kind of like a quote generator. (Please, don't send me HTML Gear though, or anything that wants me to sign up for it or will give me pop-ups.)

Well, there's a TON of Ericness bursting up all of a sudden with the coming of SPAMALOT, so here's just a few things that have gone on, and are coming your way...

To begin with, last night was the official grand opening night of SPAMALOT, held at the Broadway Shubert Theatre in NYC, in which many celebrities attended. And when I say celebrities, just to name a few are Whoopi Goldberg, Steve Martin, and Lauren Hutton. But even more importantly, ALL OF THE PYTHONS WERE THERE! Yes, for the first time since their Aspen show in 1998, all of the Pythons gathered together to see the show and came up onstage afterwards.

Eric was on the Today Show today (no pun intended) along with Tim Curry, Hank Azaria, and David Hyde Pierce and was interviewed by Katie Couric by being surrounded by cans of SPAM and knight armor. At the end of the show, everyone sang and whistled to "Bright Side" while Eric played the old guitar.

To go along with the increasingly successful SPAMALOT, a couple of weeks ago Eric's Greedy Bastard Diary was released (the online journal he kept throughout his 2003 fall/winter tour, 1/3 of which has been re-written with a new forward and afterward). If you haven't read it yet, believe me, you should. It's witty, it's comical, it's emotional, and some parts are even tearful, and it's Eric at his best telling about his life without some camera stuck in his face. The long-awaited sequel, The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch, was also just released, and includes an hour of a continuation from the first film with all new interviews, such as Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, James Taylor, David Bowie, Billy Conolly, and Robin Williams. Not half as restricted as the first film (which was originally made for television), this new Rutles is a lot more naughty with jokes like "Why don't we 'do it' in the road?" and a whole long segment on "the tight trousers." The movie even includes some lovely scenery of Eric's Californian backyard, and a quick cameo of his daughter Lily jumping into their pool.

But that's not all for releases! On May 3rd, the cast-recording of SPAMALOT is being put onto CD by Decca Broadway. Here is a list of the cast and the numbers on the track:

CAST

Historian, Not Dead Fred, French Guard, Minstrel, Prince Herbert.....................CHRISTIAN BORLE
Mayor, Patsy, Guard 2.......................................................................MICHAEL McGRATH
King Arthur................................................................................................TIM CURRY
Sir Robin, Guard 1, Brother Maynard....................................................DAVID HYDE PIERCE
Sir Lancelot, The French Taunter, Knight of Ni, Tim the Enchanter..........................HANK AZARIA
Sir Dennis Galahad, The Black Knight, Prince Herbert's Father....................CHRISTOPHER SIEBER
Dennis' Mother, Sir Bedevere, Concorde..........................................................STEVE ROSEN
The Lady of the Lake...............................................................................SARA RAMIREZ
French Guards..............................................................................THOMAS CANNIZZARO, GREG REUTER
Minstrels.................................................................................................................BRAD BRADLEY, EMILY HSU, GREG REUTER
Ensemble: BRAD BRADLEY, THOMAS CANNIZZARO, KEVIN COVERT, JENNIFER FRANKEL, LISA GAJDA, JENNY HILL, EMILY HSU, ABBEY O'BRIEN, ARIEL REID, GREG REUTER, BRIAN SHEPARD, SCOTT TAYLOR

SONG ORDER

1 Tuning - Orchestra
2 Historian's Introduction to Act One - Historian
3 Finland / Fisch Schlapping Dance - Mayor, Villagers
4 Monks Chant - Monks
5 King Arthur's Song - King Arthur, Patsy
6 He Is Not Dead Yet - Dad, Lance, Robin & Bodies
7 Come With Me - King Arthur, Lady of the Lake
8 Laker Girls Cheer - Laker Girls, King Arthur, Members of the Ensemble
9 The Song that Goes Like This - Sir Galahad & Lady of the Lake
10 All For One - King Arthur, Patsy, Sir Robin, Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad & Sir Bedevere
11 Knights of the Round Table - Lady of the Lake, King Arthur, Patsy, Sir Robin, Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad, Sir Bedevere & Ensemble
12 Find Your Grail - Lady of the Lake, King Arthur, Patsy, Sir Robin, Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad, Sir Bedevere & Ensemble
13 Run Away! - French taunters, King Arthur, Patsy, Sir Robin, Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad, Sir Bedevere & Company
14 Historian's Introduction to Act Two - Historian
15 Always Look On The Bright Side of Life - Patsy, King Arthur and members of the ensemble
16 Brave Sir Robin - Sir Robin & Minstrels
17 You Won't Succeed On Broadway - Sir Robin and Ensemble
18 Diva's Lament (Whatever happened to My Part?) - Lady of the Lake
19 Where are you? - Prince Herbert
20 His Name Is Lancelot - Sir Lancelot, Sir Robin, Sir Galahad, Prince Herbert and Ensemble
21 I'm All Alone - King Arthur and Patsy
22 Twice In Every Show - Lady in the Lake, King Arthur
23 Act II Finale - Company
24 Always Look On The Bright Side - Company Bow

But wait- there's MORE! I just received word today that the classic Handmade Films movie, Nuns On The Run, is being released on DVD April 5th! And then later, on May 31st, the corny sci-fi flick Mom And Dad Save The World is ALSO premiering on DVD for the first time!

~JANUARY 6, 2005~

Happy 2005! I hope that everyone is having a great new year so far. Hopefully IH can make it a very Eric-filled new year!

So, here are some of our resoultions:

- Add All Of The Movie Reviews
- Finish The Music Page
- Add More New Galleries!
- Increase Our Visitor Stats (Even though they have tripled in the past few months!)
- Make A Tee-shirt Designs Page
- Introduce The New Adopt-An-Eric Pages
- Do Another SPAM Club Project / Activity
- Get Prepared To Enter For The 2006 Webbys
- Earn A Starpages Award (Please, vote for us!)
- Expand The Fanlistings And Livejournal

Hahaha, just a few things! ;)

I can't really say when the next big update will be. My next holiday is Easter, but I shall be away... in New Jersey and New York... SEEING SPAMALOT!!!! Yes, indeed, I am seeing the show Easter Day. I'm highly looking forward to it! :)

If you have previously adopted an Eric, I will probably be contacting you to have you confirm whether or not you wish to maintain a claim of your character, so if you receive an email from me saying 'confirmation blah blah blah', please don't panic.

Remember, if there's something you're interested in seeing on the site, or improved, please drop a note in the Suggestion Box. However, do bear in mind that this site is for Eric Idle, and Eric alone- no Neil Innes, or Michael Palin, or whatnot. So be logical about what you ask for, IE, DON'T plead for pictures of Eric and Michael together as 'closet lovers.' (Yes, I did get a request for this, as utterly obsurd as it is.) Nothing rude, either. Keep it clean, alright? (Or at least, somewhat!)

On New Year's Day, on the show The Comedian's Comedian, they conducted a show, hosted by Jimmy Carr, that ran for 3 hours and gave the list of the top 50 comedians of all times. Eric himself came in as number #21, beating Michael Palin by nine spots, but Cleesey winning overall with second place. Here is the complete list:

1. Peter Cook
2. John Cleese
3. Woody Allen
4. Eric Morecambe
5. Groucho Marx
6. Tommy Cooper
7. Laurel and Hardy
8. Billy Connolly
9. Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer
10. Richard Pryor
11. Chris Morris
12. Tony Hancock
13. Bill Hicks
14. Peter Sellers
15. Steve Martin
16. Ronnie Barker
17. Steve Coogan
18. Charlie Chaplin
19. Eddie Izzard
20. Paul Merton
21. Eric Idle
22. Peter Kay
23. Larry David
24. Rowan Atkinson
25. Bob Hope
26. Harry Hill
27. Victoria Wood
28. Spike Milligan
29. Christopher Guest
30. Michael Palin
31. French and Saunders
32. Eddie Murphy
33. Bob Monkhouse
34. Rik Mayall
35. Steven Wright
36. Ken Dodd
37. Les Dawson
38. Chic Murray
39. Stephen Fry
40. Joan Rivers
41. Joyce Grenfell
42. Phil Silvers
43. Jackie Mason
44. Eric Sykes
45. Robin Williams
46. Paul Whitehouse
47. Bill Cosby
48. Mike Myers
49. Ricky Gervais
50. Mel Brooks