Hooray for Captain Spaulding |
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Saturday, August 30, 2003
Posted by Daniel Frank at
10:00 AM
Meanwhile, Matt Welch has Bill O'Reilly using the Oui story as an opportunity to act like a loon about the Internet again. # | | Friday, August 29, 2003
Posted by Daniel Frank at
1:10 PM
# | | Wednesday, August 27, 2003
Posted by Daniel Frank at
10:57 PM
Bush's approval rating was hovering around 50 percent on the morning of September 11. Indeed, Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden have done so much for Bush's presidency one might reasonably suspect they're being held in a witness protection program.Reasonably? Reasonably? # | |
Posted by Daniel Frank at
10:49 PM
This page gets more specific on the matter: For some reason, many people have the impression that there are only ten commandments. Everyone has heard of the "Ten Commandments," or at least they've heard of the movie. # | | Thursday, August 21, 2003
Posted by Daniel Frank at
11:48 AM
# | | Tuesday, August 19, 2003
Posted by Daniel Frank at
4:16 PM
# | | Monday, August 18, 2003
Posted by Daniel Frank at
2:00 PM
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Posted by Daniel Frank at
8:14 AM
# | | Thursday, August 14, 2003
Posted by Daniel Frank at
3:27 PM
I see Kate Hudson as the woman, Ben Stiller or a Wilson brother as the actor, Jerry Stiller and Mary Tyler Moore as the woman's parents and Eugene Levy as the actor's favorite uncle who needs some nature of expensive medical treatment (hence his being part of the deception). There will be a montage of wacky people applying for the gig (I'm thinking a cowboy, Tony Randall, a burly Russian guy (with fur hat), the butler from Joe Millionaire, a fat guy, a gay guy, a rude New Yorker, a guy with a mohawk, Tony Randall again but with a fake handlebar moustache). The idea will be so crazy that it just might work. And, of course, someone will be standing in the rain shouting that falling in love wasn't part of the deal. The sad part is that this is actually the best gig in the tv/film/video/radio jobs section or at least the only one that seems to guarantee payment. I'm tempted to reply just so I can ask "Is falling in love part of the deal? I don't want to be saying it wasn't part of the deal and then finding out that it's covered in the fine print. I'm not saying I'd turn it down if it were part of the deal. I just want to know where I stand." UPDATE: Craig's List has since removed the ad. # | | Wednesday, August 13, 2003
Posted by Daniel Frank at
10:20 PM
I'm attacking it a week early, though, because its particular type of awfulness deserves attention — and advance warning...[Court TV's] taken a concept that was close to perfect to begin with, and dumbed it down into something idiotic and unwatchable. # | |
Posted by Daniel Frank at
10:11 PM
Actually, the music licensing may also be the other reason why they're starting with the NBC 90-minute shows. According to Flaherty, when the show started , they didn't concern themselves about music clearance. If they were doing a Towering Inferno parody, they'd just use the theme to Towering Inferno. They were a dinky little Canadian show and nobody noticed. It was only now that it was causing trouble. Flaherty also noted that back when NBC was rerunning SCTV at 1:35 AM, he'd wonder why they chose the episodes they did to broadcast. He figured out that music rights was the main deciding factor. # | | Friday, August 08, 2003
Posted by Daniel Frank at
1:03 PM
Stop telling me how “cool” Austin is. I finally went there this year, if only to make people stop telling me that I had to go to Austin. Well, I was not impressed. The music scene! So many places to see bands! So like any other largish city in America! I can go to several clubs in Los Angeles and see professional musicians play music I like. # | | Monday, August 04, 2003
Posted by Daniel Frank at
1:11 PM
Vivendi wanted to move as much existing Universal home video stock as possible... increase cash, decrease inventory... and make the balance sheet look better. Universal had too many Hope tapes in stock and distributor consignments from their late '90s releases (which did not sell well).Then Hope died and all that was available for AMC and TCM was public domain, MGM, and other non-Paramount Hope movies. To my mind, this is slightly short-sighted on Universal's part. A person wondering what the hoopla's about may have wanted to sample Hope's work on TV and would have not gotten the best examples. This person's resulting low opinion means he's less likely to buy a Hope DVD set. But what the hell do I know? # | |
Posted by Daniel Frank at
1:07 PM
This episode is available on Carson's site on DVD and video. I may have to buy it for myself as a birthday present. # | | Saturday, August 02, 2003
Posted by Daniel Frank at
10:24 AM
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Posted by Daniel Frank at
10:14 AM
Hitchens's comments are based on the elder Hope. While perhaps justified, I would note that his criticisms could apply to any of his counter-examples in their elder years. Woody Allen hasn't made a good movie in years. Mort Sahl became obsessed and unfunny after JFK's assasination (possibly his comedy has improved since). John Cleese is well-paid to appear in terrible movies (He seems as sharp as ever but any quotes of funny Cleese lines are going to be from Python or Fawlty Towers). Milton Berle was arguably as funny in his old age as he was in his youth but one could also argue that if you do primarily hoaky jokes and slapstick (albeit very funny), it's not hard maintaining that level. Certainly there were those who didn't think elder Berle was funny; see how SNL treated him. The fact of the matter is also that Hope influenced Hitchens's counter-examples. Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl had careers because Hope was the first comedian to just come out and tell jokes about topics of the day. Before Hope, a joke teller would often have to juggle or carry a violin or something to justify his standing on stage. And Woody Allen's original screen persona is a direct (and acknowledged by Allen) lift of Hope's cowardly, wisecracking shnook (as I noted before). And to answer Hitchens's challenge, here are two funny jokes that can be attributed to Hope:
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Posted by Daniel Frank at
9:40 AM
My friend "Rocking Robin" Jones points out that last-minute tribute specials that ran on our local PBS showed more Hope humor in the hour or two than the entire day of Hope movies. # | |
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