A new addition to the planet! Henry was born between Canada Day (July 1) and the Fourth of July which is a perfect compromise given his mom being an American and his dad a Canadian. Both halves do enjoy hockey, this should come through in the little guy.
Henry is rocking in the onesie I scored him. Obviously it’s a tad too big but babies are always growing. He will also have more than two XP notches by then too. I’m looking forward to meeting him in person.
Brigsby is a comedy I need to preface with a warning. If you’re expecting fart jokes and other low brow crap that Adam Sandler, and not thought-through Will Ferrell vehicles, make. This movie isn’t for you. The humor is subtle, observational. Its focus is on the awkwardness of a 25-year-old man having to adjust to an alien world, ours.
Let me put the humor into perspective to the premise. James lives in a fallout shelter in the desert with his parents Ted and April Mitchum. Some kind of disaster happened so you can’t go outside without a gas mask, unless you want to die from skincer (skin plus cancer). To pass the time, James does chores, works on complex mathematics, reads and watches a TV show that has a new videotaped episode delivered to the shelter every week…Brigsby Bear Adventures. The program is part Teddy Ruxpin and part Doctor Who. Within it are life lessons for when James was young (hygiene) but currently there discussions involve the complex mathematics he is working on. BBA is James’ obsession too, there isn’t anything else to watch anyway. During any free time, James runs an Internet forum to discuss the “science” and other plot points.
Then one night while he’s outside (wearing protective gear) observing the stars, a half dozen police cars arrive and storm the shelter. The cops arrest Tim and April because they are not James’ parents. They’re the couple who kidnapped him from the hospital when he was a couple days old. When he discovered that Brigsby Bear Adventures was a show created by his fake dad and his fake mom controlled the “Internet,” he initially feels pretty dejected, manipulated, confused and incredibly untethered.
After all the fuss dies down, James is “returned” to his actual parents, Greg and Louise Pope. They’re beside themselves with joy to finally see their son. James’ younger teenage sister Aubrey…not so much. The Popes do everything to help him assimilate into a typical middle-class family. They take him to the movies, they explain how to operate a TV, Aubrey sneaks him out to a house party and he learns how Google can answer many questions. His sad state continues though.
Eventually he recalls Aubrey’s movie-making classmate Spence from the party. James gives Spence a crash course on BBA because he decides to make the Brigsby Bear Adventures finale. Producing the conclusive episode provides three things for James: a creative outlet, closure to his past and most importantly connection to his real family and new friends. Fear not, hilarity continues to ensue as James recruits the arresting officer to play a wizard, hunts down the waitress who portrayed both Smile Sisters and his dedication to practical effects leads to disaster.
Again, if you like the more vulgar, lowest-common-denominator humor Hollywood cranks out, you’ll find Brigsby dull. This movie caters more toward those he enjoy the subtleness in past comedies I’ve recommended like Cashback or Edge of Seventeen.
Alamo Extras: Thanks to construction on MoPac, on a Sunday of all days, I was under the wire. I don’t think I missed much, what they were wrapping up before the trailers didn’t appear related to the movie.
What looks like a clump of peat moss is really a fire ant colony floating around until they find dry land. If there really is a hell, these stinging little SOBs would be permanent fixtures. When there’s a flood, fire ants instinctively band together to make a “raft” to bob along indefinitely. It’s a trick they learned in their original habitat, the jungles and rivers of South America where sudden downpours can sweep away their mounds. If the first responders weren’t so busy rescuing people and pets, I’d like to hope they found a way to scoop up these little assholes to drop them into a furnace.
Be grateful my friends in the North. It’s too cold for them to thrive but with Climate Change heating up the Earth, they’ll be coming soon.
Tobe was an up-and-coming Horror director after the success of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, filmed around here in Austin. He then went on to do the TV movie of Salem’s Lot for CBS and the controversial Poltergeist. By now you’ve probably heard that the movie may have really been directed by Spielberg because Hooper lacked the talent and/or he was cover for Spielberg to get around the exclusivity clause in making ET. Then came one of Billy Idol’s more memorable music videos. The last big deal movie I recall him doing was Lifeforce. Afterwards it was bits and pieces on TV series, especially if they had a Horror element: Tales From the Crypt, Freddy’s Nightmares and Amazing Stories.
Thanks for the scares Tobe. I will always remember how grossed out I got from the bathroom scene in Poltergeist.
Here’s to the guy who is responsible for numerous characters in the big two which changed the industry.
For many, Jack was the art side (and to some extent writing) for Marvel’s breakout success with their early titles: The Fantastic Four, The Avengers, Hulk and reviving Captain America. He also worked at DC at least twice but when he left Marvel (over money, credit and other matters he deserved) to write/draw for DC in the late Sixties, he gave the Superman company great creations: The New Gods, The Forever People, Kamandi and OMAC. Contrary to how much gush on about those books, they didn’t sell as well as expected yet DC did integrate The New Gods‘ main villain into their universe, Darkseid. Darkseid has gone on to be a nemesis for the Justice League and The Legion of Superheroes. Kirby did a fantastic job on this character, Darkseid is based upon Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon.
Outside of comics, Jack provided model sheets and designs for Saturday morning cartoons like Thundar the Barbarian.
Spoiler Alert: Darkseid will be the enemy behind the scenes in the upcoming train wreck Justice League movie.
It was a slow news day until the big Orange Idiot decided to pardon a racist felon, so the news detailing Harvey working its way through Texas was overblown. I think Houston and/or Corpus Christi got hammered but again, nothing horrendous. I read that 250,000 people are without power and some Jesus bigot who said natural disasters were god’s wrath for gay rights…lost his house; but we’re doing fine in Austin. It’s been raining off/on all day. Flooding is our main concern. So far, nothing serious.
The above bit from The Daily Show back in May sums up my position about these Confederate statues. They’re monuments to traitors who fought against America. Davis and Lee are nowhere on the same scale as Jefferson, Washington or Roosevelt as the Right attempts the false equivalence argument. I don’t deny the Founders being slave owners which remains wrong, but they did much more to create America that lets them retain their statures. Much like Martin Luther King Jr. keeps his importance despite being a serial adulterer or Abraham Lincoln violating habeas corpus during the Civil War.
The University of Texas finally removing these White Supremacist/WASP monuments was long overdue and it was never appropriate to have them present at an institution of learning, aka a place dedicated to finding the truth be it Scientific, Historical or Existential. Statues of them are offensive to so many: Blacks, Mexicans, Women, Jews, Catholics, Atheists, Labor, Intellectuals and Yankees.
I only wish I were to celebrate their removal and to taunt the tiny-penis Ammosexuals protesting.
Jerry Lewis was one of those comedians you usually found funny when you’re a kid and as you get older, his schtick becomes lame. With him though, there was the addition of his unbearable actual asshole self you’d catch in interviews, etc. One thing he never was, was modest.
Going back to my childhood in Central IL there were always two separate weeks of Jerry Lewis movies on Channel 3’s Early Show. One week of movies with Martin and Lewis like Pardners or The Caddy, then later in the year, around Labor Day week it was Jerry’s solo movies offset by the telethon. How my brother and me laughed while Mom rolled her eyes in “pain.”
I had easily outgrown his “comedy” by high school and then pondered why the French thought he was funny. The best explanation I’ve heard was his schtick representing the worst exaggerations of Americans. I still have doubts. We can be loud yet we’re not super clumsy. I also learned Europeans (the non-English speaking) tend like physical humor more than we do.
In closing, I have to fall back on Kliph Nesteroff’s book again (I didn’t expect two major players in comedy history to pass away this soon). Seems that numerous contemporary comedians hated Jerry too. Unlike Chevy Chase, he did have friends but his sudden success at an early age puts him more in line with Dane Cook or Carrot Top. Plus Dean Martin ended their partnership 0ver Jerry demanding that Dean never had any funny parts. After rehearsals, Jerry would appropriate anything Dean got laughs from. The biggest demonstration of Jerry’s ego is told in great detail in The Comedians; ABC spent the budget of a mid-sized city on his disastrous talk show in the Sixties. Hint, it outlasted Chevy Chase’s attempt on Fox, but only due to it airing on Saturday evenings.
However, I do thank you Mr. Lewis. You did create tropes other comedians and writers used have applied. Professor Frink on The Simpsons, Jim Carrey’s physical performances both good (The Mask) and crappy (Ace Ventura, The Cable Guy) and his surrogate on Animaniacs.
Dick Gregory was the first Black comedian to gain wide acceptance with White America. Through him, the way was paved for Bill Cosby and to some extent, Richard Pryor and Flip Wilson. The Black label was rather narrow-minded too. To me, he’s more appropriately a contemporary of Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl in his satire, throw in Jonathan Winters as well for they all changed the rules.
The reason why Dick may not be as famous or as memorable like Cosby was his commitment to Civil Rights. He sacrificed a lucrative career to be more involved in getting his fellow citizens the equality they’re entitled to. This involved stints in jail and cancelling numerous appearances at the local comedy club or TV.
I have two personal connections to him. The first was learning more about him via Kliph Nesterhoff’s book The Comedians. Dick receives a lot of ink for being the pioneer to reach White audiences despite being less experienced than Redd Foxx. The other was via a gentleman I met who ran Dick’s web site. He was taken aback when I said I knew who the comedian was, I didn’t know much detail yet I was informed enough to state I knew he was famous for social reasons, aka Civil Rights.
In light of the idiocy we saw on display in Charlottesville, I want to thank you Dick for your sacrifice and I for one will do my part to make sure it wasn’t in vain. Meanwhile, you also deserve a big thanks for the jokes you told.
I received the official e-mail just as I was nearing quitting time yesterday…I have been accepted to attend Southern New Hampshire University online. Now before you start giving me the Marge Simpson disapproval look with her trademarked “hrmm” noise. This place is a real university which has done a good job proving their legitimacy, hell, I bet they got into the online stuff early being NH is a small place.
What am I pursuing? My second BA in Math. I had to hunt down my transcript for this. Oh those memories of what grades I earned. Some I was blurry on yet I have always remembered the low one I received from Dr. Masson in Theism/Atheism. I’m confident I would’ve gotten the D even if I didn’t call him a Catholic apologist who could find ways to attack Freud’s arguments against organized religion.
I’ve gotten follow up with my new team manager and HR over the next steps. According to my student advisor, a nice dude named Alex, I have to take these classes upfront:
I think I can crush three out of four. Rather bummed that my PHIL 001 from Marquette (their version of Logic) didn’t count. And so much for COPA 001 and 002 counting for those English equivalents.
There has been a run of old shows being rebooted or picking up where they left off. I really don’t have any informed opinion about the trend on how well it’s being done beyond feeling that it’s best to let some programs be (King of the Hill ran its course). When it comes to DuckTales, I think the premise was strong enough to handle the revival. The original didn’t have any continuity or timeliness to it. In short the show is an animated version of Carl Barks’ contribution to Disney’s empire: Uncle Scrooge McDuck.
I was in college during the first DuckTales, a syndicated package for weekday afternoons. I often caught it on TV while I was at my grandmother’s or parents’ house trying to kill my boredom until I could return to college. The show and many of the others which followed (Chip n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers, Tale Spin and Darkwing Duck) were surprisingly well done. I guess the people at Disney thought these shows were too good to keep locked up on the Disney Channel (it used to be a pay channel like HBO until the late Nineties) and past weekday cartoons were done on the cheap: He-Man, GI Joe and Tiny Toons readily come to mind. Thus, it should be no wonder Disney XD found a generation raised on this wanting to bring it back and put their spin on it.
Disney pulled out all the stops too. Scrooge has a real Scotsman doing the voice, David Tennant and individual actors for the triplets; thanks to the redesigns, I can finally tell them apart too…green is Louie, red is Huey and blue is Dewey. Webigail is back along with Launchpad. The butler is replaced by a housekeeper who is Webigail’s grandmother.
The pilot is an origin story of how the boys meet Uncle Scrooge and convince the old miser to quit retirement to go on adventures again. (DuckTales always was a duck-centric version of Indiana Jones.) Little do they know their expedition to find Atlantis is a race against Scrooge’s rival Flint Glomgold, an even stingier billionaire duck. Now I want to see how they retool my favorite nemeses of Scrooge, the Beagle Boys.
If you have cable or any access to Disney XD, I highly recommend DuckTales for all ages. It’s the best show they’ve had on since Star Wars: Rebels. I know many love Gravity Falls and Fineas & Ferb, but I’ve never neither of them enough to have a strong opinion.
This character actor passed away last Sunday. Joseph had played many roles, often villains or heavies but for he’ll be remembered for three big parts.
There was more to his career than acting if you check his imdb.com page.
Thanks for all the funny memories.
The Force is strong in these beerfighters.
A co-worker recently went to a Sci-Fi-Comic Book-Fantasy convention in Bell County. It’s north of Austin and very south of Dallas. Probably closer to Waco culturally. He had numerous cool pictures but I had to show off the Star Wars models made from Lone Star Beer, the real thing subbed by Alamo Beer in King of the Hill. I’ve never really consumed Lone Star, it’s cheap and watery like most American swill. Still, I’m glad to see good things came of the empties. These models also say “very Texan.”
I have a feeling this one lacks a vulnerability.
After being Dragon’s Lair Round Rock for six years, the DL owner sold off this branch to Randy and David and probably some other investors…then they renamed their store Rogues Gallery, probably in honor of the Flash. I didn’t get there early enough to see the fun with the little fans so I decided to show off Nick’s latest creations.
Starlord jamming outside the store.
A music store named after the cat from Saga.
Next door is a dojo for the heroes to practice their moves.
Iron Fist frustrating his sparring partner.
Look at all the advertising above the dojo!
Right behind the dojo is a coffee shop.
Five hundred (genuine) comments!
Picayune moving to the blog format has been a mixed bag. The upside is the immediacy for posting new stories/reviews/whatever. The downside has been not much conversation has happened. Well, if I had the old-fashioned message boards, maybe it would take place there. Given how many major publications have jettisoned them because they became an unexpected expense and a magnet for assholes hiding behind smug handles.
I want to congratulate and thank my friend Mark (aka Mark M) as the winner. He receives the prize I promised. A $20 card to Amazon, which is what he wanted.
I hope that incentivizes more of you since I’ll do this again for comment #600.