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Archive for the 'People We Like' Category

I went with our friend PJ to a screening of The Last Airbender the other night and yes, indeed, it gave me the bends.  So now while I lie helpless in a hyperbaric chamber, trying to steal a bit more of the covers from Michael Jackson’s corpse, Peej has struck back with another of her classic One Minute Movie Reviews.

Click and enjoy the schadenfreude (then scroll down for her learned appreciation of the other Avatar).

Pro and Con Edison

Posted by scott on July 6th, 2010

The Hoosier Sage casually plucks the wings off a National Review piece about how CFL bulbs will make our women so unattractive in low light that Americans will stop breeding and commit race suicide.  But first, a few thoughts on the regulatory climate in the business friendly paradise of Indiana:

The shining example was Beer Baronage, the “right” of major (and out-of-state) breweries to designate a single Indiana distributor (by law, state-licensed and incorporated in Indiana, though, so far as I know, none is yet leading a crusade for the state to free them from the odious bonds of running an effective monopoly) for a particular region, allowing him to dictate prices for that product within his distributorship. [...]

[A] big driving force behind this was the Coors Brewing Company, formerly Coors & Mengele, which refused to bring its special proprietary blend of fermented pig feed and mule piss into our fair state until it got exclusive distributorships. Coors insisted it needed this–and I admit, they deserved it for being able to say so with a straight face–because its Pure Mountain Brewed product requires such special handling that only someone with trucks and a proper attitude toward vendor analingus could hope to understand it. This is akin to the ebola virus refusing to cross your state’s borders until your legislators adjust their views on vaccination.

And that’s before he gets indignant.

Aye, Candy!

Posted by Maryc on June 15th, 2010

In comments below at the Boone Bootycall, the always brilliant and highly perceptive BillS had this to say:

For those pictures, you owe us a pic of Bradley Cooper in all his furry-chested glory.

I agree, but since I can’t get my hands on any pics of Mr. Cooper, here is the less furry chested, but always gloriously gorgeous, Nathan Fillion:

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

He Just Didn’t Care

Posted by scott on May 12th, 2010

Mike-Ike.jpg

Friends of the blog are a pair of film-savvy, smart-mouthed stoners who specialize in dissecting movies so bad they can actually piss off a stoner. (They’re also the creators of my favorite non-Simon Pegg, 6-minute zombie flick: Surprise.)

Season 2 of their movie review show launched with a vivisection by video of The Vampire Bat (in which they were kind enough to cite as an influence or an irritant) and they’ve just posted their second episode, which takes on Larry Buchanan’s masterpiece-of-shit, It’s Alive, starring Tommy Kirk.

its alive tommy kirk.jpg

MST3K fans will fondly recall Buchanan’s The Attack of the the [sic] Eye Creatures, which, along with It’s Alive, was one of eight made-for-TV quickies the director cranked out down in Texas in the Sixties, most of them remakes of only slightly-less-cheap monster and sci-fi films that were cranked out in California in the Fifties. These included Zontar, the Thing from Venus, a retread of the Peter Graves/Beverly Garland anti-classic It Conquered the World, and Mars Needs Women, also starring Tommy Kirk, which we wrote about in BLTBM, in the chapter entitled Weird Sex, or: Making the Beast with Two Backs with the Beast with Two Backs.

Over the course of his baffling career, Buchanan proved himself a master of the unconvincing creature effect, but he surpassed all previous high water marks of hackery in It’s Alive, which I fervently contend features the single worst monster in the history of moving images, and I’m including a flipbook I made in Second Grade about a carnivorous fire hydrant that traps people like flies by spraying maple syrup, and whose mortal enemy is a baseball bat-wielding dog on a bicycle. Anyway, the thing that’s alive in It’s Alive is a forced perspective “dinosaur” that looks like a cross between Kulka and Ollie, and this doesn’t even begin to describe the horror. Seriously. It makes The Giant Claw look like that thing from Cloverfield.

So if you’ve got a moment, drop by and share a little THC-buffered outrage with the boys:

It’s Alive, Part 1

It’s Alive, Part 2

It’s Alive…!

Posted by scott on March 21st, 2010

Just a quick update on our friend Ivan from Thrilling Days of Yesteryear. He’s (temporarily) out of the hospital, and posted the following on his Facebook page:

Hello, all…

Sorry I couldn’t be a little more personal with this announcement, but rest assured those of you who have contacted with personal well-wishes I treasure each and every one of them. I know it’s kinda corny in this day and age to use a film like It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) as a teaching model, but I have long believed and will continue to do so that the wealthiest man is s/he with the greatest number of friends.

About four weeks ago I disappeared from both Facebook and my weblog (Thrilling Days of Yesteryear) because I thought I was just a little “under the weather.” What I thought was just a small cold or bit of flu that I’d shake off soon enough became a bit more serious—I ended up having to call 9/11 sometime around the first of March, and the emergency people took me to the nearest medical facility to be admitted for various diagnoses that included excessive calcium (one of my doctors said he’d never seen a count as high as mine) and kidney problems. I spent nearly three miserable weeks in the hospital…but I wish to hasten to add that the people who looked after me are nothing but the best…the miserable part rests with me, because I simply do not like being cooped up on the hospital.

I’m out on a temporary reprieve but I’ll have to return soon for an operation that I won’t go into detail about because every time’s it’s described to me it scares the !@#$ out of me. Activity both here on Facebook and the blog will, as a result, slow down a bit…I’ve asked one of my longtime online friends to wash and road test the blog every now and then which she has agreed to do. I’m going to do my darndest to make certain I keep in touch on a regular basis—I just wanted to take another opportunity to thank those of you for keeping me in your thoughts and to learn from my example of hedonistic pleasures (if you’re drinking Hawaiian Punch in excess…stop!) Thanks for allowing me to bend your ear.

Wishing you all the very best:
Ivan

And wishing you the same, Ivan. Get well soon.

Get Well Soon, Brother Ivan!

Posted by scott on March 10th, 2010

I received some more bad news, in a month that already seems saturated with it, about Ivan G. Shreve, Jr., proprietor of the indispensable blog on classic films, TV, and radio, Thrilling Days of Yesteryear. As you may already know, TDOY hasn’t been updated since February 25, and while this isn’t unprecedented — Ivan will occasionally suspend blogging while he works on liner notes for an upcoming DVD release, or some other paying gig — he usually posts a Gone Fishin’ sign before he disappears. So I’ve been getting a little worried.

The very resourceful Stacia, of She Blogged By Night was kind enough to track me down on Twitter and let me know that Ivan has been hospitalized. We don’t know how serious the situation is, or how long he’s likely to be laid up, but she has since posted a bit more information on her blog:

“Ivan is in room 5401 of the Athens Regional Medical Center and there is no set release date as of yet, but from what I’ve heard, I’m reassured he’ll be back to blogging soon. Which is good, because Thrilling Days of Yesteryear provides at least 50% of my online Jack Benny intake. Ivan’s hospital has an e-greetings system here that you can use to leave him a note if you want.”

Not only is Ivan a witty, gracious, and highly informative writer, he’s a very old friend of World O’ Crap — one of the earliest of early adopters, going back to WO’C's first days at the old Salon blogs — so this hits particularly hard. Ivan has often remarked that he got into blogging because of Sheri’s example, and since the same can be said of me, I’ve always considered him a blog brother. If you can spare a moment, please click the link above and send Ivan a little note.

Thanks.

Turn Off the Lights

Posted by scott on January 14th, 2010

Teddy Pendergrass
Born: March 26, 1950. Died: January 13, 2010.
Teddy was the lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, and went on to a successful solo career throughout the late ’70′s and early ’80′s, even after an auto accident that left him paralyized in 1982.
Here he is singing his biggest solo hit, ““, in a live performance from 1979.

So Pat Robertson’s still here. Rush Limbaugh — still up and walking about. But we lose this guy.
Life ain’t fair.

–Bill S

At the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day…

Posted by scott on November 11th, 2009

Flandersfield.jpg

The Hoosier Sage has surpassed himself with a beautiful and trenchant post on the meaning — and the lost meaning — of this day: The Old Lie.

While at the State Fair, Senator Al Franken appeared on Minnesota Public Radio, and during the segment, drew a map of the United States.  Free hand.  From memory.

I’ll tell you one thing — if the junior Senator from Minnesota ever invites me to play a friendly game of Simon, I’m going to politely decline.

Grandma Kills the Death Panels

Posted by scott on August 16th, 2009

We’re adding a new blog to the roll: Margaret and Helen.  It’s a conversation between a pair of octogenerian gals who are fed up with all the stupidity they see around them, and who’ve taken to calling “bullshit” in the most doily-draped, ladylike fashion.  Here’s a sample of the latest post: I remember an America where black men didn’t grow up to be President.

I remember that America.  In that America people screaming at public gatherings were called out for what they were – an angry mob.   Of course, they wore sheets to cover up their bad hair.  Let’s be clear about something:  if you show up to a town hall meeting with a gun strapped to your leg, the point you are trying to make isn’t a good one.  Fear never produced anything worthwhile.

And what’s all this crap about killing your grandmother?  Are you people honestly that stupid?  This has become less an argument about healthcare reform and more a statement about our failed education system.  Margaret, I don’t know what plans you’ve made up there with Howard, but down here with Harold, we have living wills to determine how we will leave this world when the time comes.  Mine states that unless the feeding tube is large enough for a piece of pie, I don’t want to be hooked up to it.  Harold, of course, says his can only be connected to him if the other end is connected to a bottle of single malt scotch.

The entries below are well worth the scroll.  For instance, the post entitled Sarah Palin Called a Family Meeting and the Rabbit Lived…

Margaret, I watched Sarah Palin’s resignation speech and all I have to say is, “What the hell was that?”   My God that woman is an idiot.  I have said this before, but I feel the need to say it again.  Her problems did not come because the media was against her.  Her problems come because every time you stick a microphone in front of her mouth a whole lot of stupid falls out.

Things are getting tough and once again she is trying to hide behind that dysfunctional family of hers.  She actually stood there and talked about how the Palins had a family meeting and everyone agreed it was time for her to step down as Governor.   Well, I call bullshit.  The only family meetings the Palins have usually involve someone peeing on an early pregnancy test stick.

They don’t post daily, but a couple of salty old gals who personally experienced a good chunk of the 20th century offers a perspective, if not an antidote, to the historiography of scholars like Amity Shlaes and Jonah Goldberg.

h/t to The feed.