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"Daniel Frank is a very funny guy with a funny weblog." --- Mark Evanier.

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Friday, June 27, 2003

Posted by Daniel Frank at 12:40 PM

A clip I saw of the new Charlie's Angels picture has Demi Moore's character winning the Nobel Prize (This review confirms I didn't hallucinate it). The Nobel folk need to figure out a way to protect their trademark as too many fictional characters are being shown to be super-geniuses via the Nobel.

You ever notice that nobody in fiction is a Boy Scout or a Girl Scout? They're always Campfire Troops or Junior Woodchucks or whatever. The same principle could apply to the Nobel (assuming it's not too late to claim that protection which it probably is).

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Posted by Daniel Frank at 11:31 AM

This weekend, TCM is doing a tribute to special-effects genius Ray Harryhausen. You punk kids with your crazy computerized Hulk and your damn music should check out some real special effects wizadry.

Also this weekend, the Biography Channel is running Cult TV stars. Highlights include Jonathan Winters and Paul Lynde. Check your local listings as the Biography Channel's website does not include a friggin' schedule.

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Posted by Daniel Frank at 11:20 AM

From the Get Your Pictures For a Thousand Words Dept: A picture of the plaintiffs in this ABC story of the Lawrence v. Texas case explains why their neighbor called the cops on them and why the cops bothered to arrest them for breaking this rarely-enforced law. (via DenBeste)

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Sunday, June 22, 2003

Posted by Daniel Frank at 10:05 PM

Speaking of funny-book movies, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is finally, like I've been saying for months, clearly advertising that the film is a team-up of Captain Nemo, Jekyll & Hyde, and others.

The fact that less than a month before the film's release date, the film is still unrated is not a good sign. Probably due to the other bad sign, a rumor that Sean Connery has taken over editing of the film. Sounds like this film will be "The Adventures of Alan Quatermain and Some Other Dudes!". I realize the film wouldn't have been made if not for Sean Connery's being in it but maybe that would have been a blessing.

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Posted by Daniel Frank at 9:55 PM

On the way to going to see The Hulk today, I decided to stop at Nordstrom's, as they were having their twice-yearly men's sale. It's a good thing I was able to make it to the theater on time. If I had missed seeing the Hulk due to going clothes shopping, my geek license would have been revoked.

I liked The Hulk. It takes far, far too much time in a pointless attempt to give the Hulk a more "realistic" scientific grounding (It wasn't just gamma radiation that created the Hulk but gamma radiation, genetic experimentation by Banner's father, and superdupermicromedicananoids). However the Hulk scenes look great; Hulk jumping across the desert and smashing tanks looks exactly the way the Good Lord and Jack Kirby intended.

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Monday, June 16, 2003

Posted by Daniel Frank at 10:03 AM

Speaking of which, people have asked me more than once about my thoughts of AFI's Top 100 funniest comedies. Consider this, second place was Tootsie and first place was Some Like It Hot. This makes perfect sense. After all, what is funnier than a guy in a dress? Two guys in dresses.

By pure mathematical reason, Sorority Boys is the funniest movie in the history of cinema.

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Posted by Daniel Frank at 9:53 AM

There's a lady at the day job who describes everything as "the funniest thing ever." Everything, the picture of the kitty with the "lion cut", whatever. By my calculations, Duck Soup is now the 5,412th funniest thing ever.

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Wednesday, June 11, 2003

Posted by Daniel Frank at 9:59 AM

Page 6 reports how Robert Evans met his sixth, soon-to-be-ex-wife:

I asked her to have a drink one day and she burst out laughing. "My last two boyfriends together don't add up to your age," she said to me. So I grabbed her arm and said, "But did any one of them give you magic?"

More Evans nutsiness here and here.

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Monday, June 09, 2003

Posted by Daniel Frank at 11:39 AM

Speaking of I, Spy parodies, I saw an I, Spy episode recently where Russian (or vaguely Eastern European) agents train to impersonate Kelly Robinson and Alexander Scott. A very funny self-parody of the show (and/or possibly of the actors since supposedly much of the back-and-forth was ad-libbed). Featured in this DVD

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Posted by Daniel Frank at 11:32 AM

Reader Robin Jones notes two other impersonations in Get Smart: a Casablanca parody (#9 in this site's top ten favorite Get Smart episodes) featuring, again, a Bogart impression plus "Die Spy", a classic episode where Get Smart goofed on I Spy. In that epsiode, Max goes undercover as a world-travelling ping-pong champion with an African American trainer; any time he talks to the trainer, they go into a jazzy cadence a la Cosby and Culp.

Robin Jones runs the Fake Radio show every month here in LA. Sunday, June 15th at 8:00 pm is a Jack Webb double-feature where I will be reprising the role of Sheldon Leonard. I was waiting for the web site to have my name on it or at least this month's show but I guess that's a fool's game

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Sunday, June 08, 2003

Posted by Daniel Frank at 11:48 PM

Ken Layne is wondering why a newspaper is explaining what a prairie dog is. Newspapers often assume little knowledge. I recollect a "lighter side of the news" article back in 1991 about how since President Bush had waited until the last minute to decide to participate in an environmental summit, many of his staffers had to stay in hotels that charged hourly rates. The article then proceeded to explain why someone would only want a hotel room for an hour.

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Posted by Daniel Frank at 11:44 PM

For what it's worth (and perhaps as a harbinger for Jayson Blair), I saw Stephen Glass's The Fabulist with a 50% OFF sticker at a Waldenbooks.

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Posted by Daniel Frank at 11:32 PM

The website of J. J. Bittenbinder, the real life basis of Mr. Show's F.F. Woodycocks ("Shake the crime stick") who can be seen on the righthand corner of Bob and David's site (Hit Refresh until it is).

Now...who wants ice cream?

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Saturday, June 07, 2003

Posted by Daniel Frank at 3:18 PM

In case, the meaning of the Don Adams reference was unclear, Adams was impersonating William Powell when he did Maxwell Smart's voice. This is why there was more than one episode where Max would gather suspects of a murder into a drawing room and force a confession from the murderer (a la the Thin Man series, the precursor to the wisecracking male-female detective teams).

Don also did, on the show, a Ronald Coleman impression when he portrayed the King of Caronia and Humphrey Bogart when Max went undercover in a Treasure of the Sierra Madre parody.

Here's a site which lists every record, TV show and commercial done by Don Adams.

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Posted by Daniel Frank at 3:08 PM

I was watching Rendezvous, a serviceable 1935 William Powell movie where he's a cryptographer who breaks up a ring of WWI spies. In it was the absolute worst ADR I've ever seen. William Powell is talking and suddenly it's not his voice and is as far from being his voice as is possible without being redubbed by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I'm curious what Powell was doing that they couldn't get him to re-record the dialogue. Hell, get Don Adams to record it!

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Friday, June 06, 2003

Posted by Daniel Frank at 2:58 PM

LACMA (The Los Angeles County Museum of Art) is running great, old Bob Hope movies for the next three weekends. The schedule is here and an LA Times article on the festival here. I noted the similarities between Woody Allen's screen persona and Bob Hope's here.

To my shame, I realized that if I go to any of these show, that will be my second time at the museum. The first was for a retrospective of Frank Tashlin-directed cartoons.

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Monday, June 02, 2003

Posted by Daniel Frank at 3:18 PM

McDonalds is suing an Italian critic for insulting their food (article here). Said critic is part of the slow-food movement. After having tried to buy food at a McDonalds recently, I would argue that McDonalds is joining the slow-food movement as well.

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Posted by Daniel Frank at 9:15 AM

Bob Dole's rejected proposal for yesterday's Dole-Clinton point-counterpoint (from the Washington Post):

Mr. President, tonight I'd like to talk about the danger of unemployment . . . for me and you! CBS is considering pulling the plug. And, I'll tell ya, no matter how big the Bush tax cut, I need the work. With your legal bills, I know you can use the cash, too.
Every week, hearing how everything was just swell when you left office, the critics say the show's dull. I admit debating the V-Chip makes me long for a good old Senate filibuster.
Look, this is a crisis. I know, before when you had a crisis, you just bombed Saddam Hussein or let Newt Gingrich get near a reporter. But they're both retired. What are we going to do? How about this: Use the next 45 seconds to do something totally new. Admit you made even one mistake in office. If you have time left over, just plug Hillary's book.

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