2 long films about Bob Dylan

Dylan. Scorsese. Together again, for the first time? Oh yeah, The Last Waltz, which I saw a clip of once. Maybe PBS can show that too. Anyway, this new film is downright absorbing, kinda like how Year of the Horse was. The Departed must be on auto-pilot or something. Where does Scorsese find the time?
...it just wrapped up. Everything after 1966 is kind of a blur, apparently. See Mickey Jones also in Nadine, or Masked and Anonymous for more Old Dylan...

TGIF

Oh wait, still gotta work tomorrow too. Anyway, just saw this ad while checking my email. I assume this is a father and daughter driving to a wedding ceremony! But then again, the ad said "Invest better, live better" so maybe the implied third line was "Marry a younger model."

Anyway, they're promoting the hell out of "Good Night and Good Luck" but it's not opening this weekend! What were they thinking??

My Name is Earl

For once, all the critics were right! Low-brow finds a purpose. Also, the line between film and TV continues to blur. Anyway, the plot is, this character Earl Hickey is a crook who decides it's time to turn his life around, heeding the advice of Carson Daly who spoke of karma. Hopefully this season won't bring about that in-person guest appearance of Daly right away, or maybe he'll do it this next Tuesday and get it out of the way. And man! Was that Ethan Suplee? The Suplee of Blow and Evolution and that First 20 million debacle? I don't think so; he's entering his second career phase with a bang. I just hope Scientology can't take credit for his dramatic weight loss. One of my closest confidants pointed out that it looks a bit like 'Raising Arizona', and I whole-heartedly concur with that. What can you say? That film's still got legs!

Enjoyable enough show, and did you catch that little Guarantor of Longevity at the end? If he crosses off one thing off his to-do list per episode, we've got 257 episodes left already!! That's smart writing.

What else tonight? Saw a little of that future cable classic "Freaked", with Bobcat Goldthwait and Keanu Reeves in a guest shot. Only Keanu acts that way. As for Bobcat's character's untimely demise which seeming crushes that film's gentle spirit underneath the obnoxious exterior, I guess it was all worth it for the sock puppet man's last dying gasp; some stand-up comedian's idea has finally come to fruition. Also, it's about time to tear 'Death Wish' a new one, but we'll save that for later.

Simpsons vs. Family Guy

Speaking of Fox shows, now that Family Guy's back from its hiatus - they made their deal with the Devil and he said Okay, you can come back to Fox on one condition: your show must skew to the right. One liberal animated show is quite enough, thank you! Anyway, there was some review in some magazine... Blender magazine, if I remember correctly, and they said how great Family Guy is if you just want to sit back and laugh, as opposed to the Simpsons, where they deal with all those icky moral issues. Well, enjoy it now, because someday the worm will turn and the show's creators will long for something more than just the cheap laughs. There was one joke where the Homer clone meets the Ramsey family (of JonBenet fame, yes) and he says to them "I will not rest until your daughter's killers are brought to justice!" And they say "Oh, no, that's okay!" I couldn't help but reflect that the Simpsons are a little more careful than that. I mean, some may say the Simpsons are tasteless, but they're my flavor of tasteless, damn it.

The Battle of the Sexes: Are We Equal Yet?

The next new show after the Simpsons, "The War At Home" - well, if it's not Rupert Murdoch's worst nightmare, nothing is! Needless to say, the Battle of the Sexes got ratcheted up for me, no pun intended, when the wife says "Actually, I don't mind the porn. It's one less thing for me to worry about!" God bless you, Fox. Although, similar ground was blazed by "Married with Children" long ago, when Fox was a little more liberal. (let's see if anyone notices I left out those dot things!!)

Simpsons 17.1 - Bonfire of the Manatees

But first, a shout out to Jessica Alba who's got three big movies this year alone! See, honey, this is the nature of the biz. One typically starts out getting their career screwed by James Cameron, but after a couple years you bounce back in a big way. If Into the Blue is a #1 hit, your agent can take the credit! But the Maxim crowd will always love you, that's the main thing.

Anyway, a new Simpsons season is upon us, helping to dull the pain of September 11th. It's been a while since the season didn't start with the Halloween episode. I'm not used to it! The Simpsons movie is apparently still a couple years away, so we're stuck enjoying the show in the meantime. Alec Baldwin returns here, sans Basinger, as a manatee-loving biologist. The sultry teaser from the ads (snuggle films!!) is fortunately only in the first act, the repercussions of which were felt in the second and third acts.

How long can the Simpsons universe keep expanding indefinitely? It's still the most action-packed, joke-packed half hour on TV, one of the few things worth watching. I already forgot about the checkers-hustling chicken, but the football hobo was a hoot. "Thank you for your time."

New characters: Homer's country cousins, manatees, Alec Baldwin's character

The world of politics

Wow. Too good not to reprint. From the latest Bill Maher episode:

George of the Bungle
And finally, New Rule! America must recall the president. That's what this country needs - a good old fashioned California-style recall election, complete with Gary Coleman, porno actresses and action film stars, and just like Schwarzenegger's predecessor here in California, George Bush is now so unpopular he must defend his job against ... Russell Crowe, because at this point I want a leader who will throw a phone at somebody. In fact, let's have ONLY have phone-throwers. Naomi Campbell can be the vice president!
Now I kid but, seriously, Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you anymore. There's no more money to spend, you used all of that. You can't start another war, because you've also used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people. Listen to your Mom, the cupboard's bare, the credit card's maxed out and no one's speaking to you. Mission accomplished!
Now it's time to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk away, like you did with your military service and the oil company and the baseball team. It's time, time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy or spaceman? Now I know what you're saying that there's so many other things that you, as President, could involve yourself in. Please don't. I know, I know, there's a lot left over to do. There's a war with Venezuela, and eliminating the sales tax on yachts. Turning over the space program over to the church and Social Security to Fannie Mae. Giving embryos the vote, but sir, none of that is going to happen. Why? Because you govern like Billy Joel drives. You've performed so poorly I've surprised you haven't given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe that walks like a man. Herbert Hoover was a sh---y president, but even he never conceded an entire metropolis to rising water and snakes. On your watch we've lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the city of New Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky! (rousing applause) I'm not saying you don't love this country, I'm just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side. So yes, God does speak to you and what he's saying is take a hint.

Hurricane Katrina

Man, long time since posts! Well, the media's getting their spine back in regards to dealing with our high ranking government officials. For a second there I thought I wasn't living in America. And I still have my doubts. After all, they were just trying to save money; actually, this government takes things a step further and not only tries not to spend any money, but not do any work, either. Oh, but enough about that. I have your new Desktop Image, from an old SNL bit with the Muppets, a little bawdier than Sesame Street.

but the other big news...

Ah yes, after checking the Coens' separate IMDb entry every once in a while with no payoff, finally! Some new news. Apparently Charlie Rose was right after all, who knew? Hail Caesar is the boys' next prestige directorial project. What could it be? An homage to Hail the Conquering Hero? A Gladiator-type deal? A remake of that other Hail Caesar? After Wild Wild West and The Ladykillers, will Burger King sign on for this one, too? Will Paris, je t'aime ever get out of the editing phase? So many questions.

Oh yeah, the following seems to be the boys' official home page. Careful, the text reads like one of Ethan's cleaner short stories.

Busy night

Wow! What a night. It all started with the Holy Schnike 10th anniversary edition of 'Tommy Boy'. The movie, not the record label. Then we switched it up to that other Robert K. Weiss SNL production, The Blues Brothers. I was informed that Belushi apparently did a lot of blow during that movie, so we went to Blow after that, with a brief stop over at the Coen brothers' Blues Brothers, The Ladykillers.

Boy, big weekend! Constant Gardener, and I didn't even know A Sound of Thunder was coming out. Anyone seen ads for it on TV?

box office battle this week...

Well, it's the times we live in. Virginity trumps fantasy at the box office, albeit not by much. These days, virgins are more interested in ending their virginity than in their Dungeons and Dragons.
Or is that too broad a generalization?

Musings - Brothers Grimm

Well, I hope the Brothers Grimm does well. Coudln't be any worse than the Brothers Grunt. But the critics will probably have a field day with it: "Very 'Grimm' Brothers...", you know, that kind of thing.
It made me think of Time Bandits, which made me reminisce about the 80s a little. For example, we need a new VH1 where they show only videos, like Madonna's 'Material Girl' where at the end she makes out with that Jerry Bruckheimer-looking dude. What was up with that??

When the critics make news

Poor Ebert. Well, this is nothing compared to 'The Brown Bunny', I suppose. In regards to this new film 'Chaos' that's out, every once in a while you can look at the filmmakers' resumé and see if they're consistent. In the case of David DeFalco, he's consistent all right, just not used to getting publicity. Do not confuse the Whatever it Takes (1999) that he worked on with Whatever It Takes (2000) with the hunky James Franco. See Franco in the new release The Great Raid. Don't spoil it for me, though! I haven't seen it yet.

Axe Effect Ad

side view

Axe Effect Ad

Anyway, so there's this Axe / Tag Body Spray ad I'm obsessed with now, but now that I've made this image file I think I can move past it. Besides, there's already new ones to ingest and develop an immunity to. They've had some colorful ad campaigns along the way, the Axe/Tag people. The DVD collection of them may make a ripping Boxing Day gift. (Wow! The complete First Season with commentary!) I kinda like the one where we see the Tag Body Spray molecules working their way through the food chain until they get down to maggot level, and the maggots form a heart shape. They've since stopped the creativity and the subtlety of those ads and have now focused on the fundamentals, and so I finally get it now: they're selling the world's first Date Rape perfume. A perfume that gets women to just leap on you. Wow! Foregoing all that touchy feely crap in between. That can only be a positive thing, right?
As for this particular ad, what can I say? Why can't I live in a building with plumbing like that? Ladies discount: "Okay, this is the main living area. There's this shower pipe right in the middle of it, but on the plus side, you can use it as a stripper pole! Turn this place into a nightclub, hire a bouncer, cover charge, serve drinks, help pay the rent." Shyeah, right.

Re: Top fifty films for children up to the age of 14

Just found out about this when waiting in line at my local, unfranchised video rental store. Actually, it's called 'The British Film Institute's Top 50 films every child should see before the age of 14'. Although, some of the things like the fiery ending of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'... what would be the appropriate age for that? Who knows. It's still pretty cool. Of the big Silent Era 3, it figures Chaplin would make the list. Keaton and Harold Lloyd did not. 'The General's no good? Of course, kids shouldn't be spending too much time watching movies these days, should they? As for 'Edward Scissorhands', kids just shouldn't be exposed to Anthony Michael Hall until at least age 16. Beetlejuice on the Disney Channel might be good.
Anyway, the point is, good idea for a list! It's out there on the web. Me myself, I've seen 18 of the things on the list, but it's less if you're only counting things seen within the last 5 years.
Man, that video store was something else. So much crap to watch. Why didn't I get a job there?

The political times we live in

Well, if THIS doesn't get some comments, nothing will. Adam Carolla on his new show got a couple of boos when he said the President doesn't like black people. He had to say "Hey, it's not just me. Check the record!" For example, he's never gone to speak before the NAACP. I think at this point in his career, or as some might call it, his presidency, people want to see him do things he doesn't want to do, like meet with Cindy Sheehan. Or say something like "Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow." Get a head start on that Baseball Commissioner career he's always wanted.

That ad!!

I still say it's Jasmine Guy.

The Roast of Pamela Anderson

Well, at least I don't have to buy it on DVD now. Although, it'll probably have cool commentaries and extra ... goodies like that. As one of my co-workers pointed out, it was a parade of a bunch of comedians I don't like. Most of Jackhole Industries was there. I could tell Roastmaster Jimmy Kimmel was thinking, this world then the Oscars! Adam Carolla, well, what can you say? Hardest working man in show biz. His new show after The Daily Show, there hardly seemed to be any joy of a premiere to it. Just more of the same. As for Pam, well, a recent Playboy poll still ranked Marilyn Monroe #1, and this was an all-time poll. How binding is that? On the other hand, we need someone living, damn it!