Roger Ebert's blistering takedown of what he calls the "CelebCult" delivers a well-earned beating to magazines and web sites supported by what would, without the intervention of cameras and thus "journalism," be easily classifiable as stalking. It's bad for us all, dealing daily in the details of whether Suri Cruise will or will not wear pants. Let us agree on that premise.

But because Ebert has bitten off so much -- the publishing crisis, the AP's 500-word limit on everything from reviews to interviews, celebrity obsessions, the disappearance of critical critics -- the piece is a little bit...all over the place. One of the things he doesn't directly address came roaring to the front of my mind as I perused the Rolling Stone "Hot List" for 2008: I have come to view hotness as the enemy of everything about pop culture that I enjoy. I hate hotness.

Why hotness is a menace, and what it's crowding out, after the jump...

Continue reading "The Hotness Menace" >

by Glenn McDonald

Back in the halcyon days of the early 1990s, before broadband Internet and IMDb.com, my friends and I -- a small group of disturbed, minutiae-obsessed film geeks -- often killed time with something called The Movie Blurb Game. The idea was to think of a phrase that combined the titles of two or more films, then improvise a blurb for the movie that might appear in the newspaper. The other guy then had to piece together the title of the movie from the blurb.

I sense an example is in order:

In this cross-genre fairy tale musical from maverick director Terry Gilliam, Matt Damon and Heath Ledger star as 18th-century Chicago musicians on a mission from God to write timeless children's stories featuring the music of Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles.

Answer: The Blues Brothers Grimm

The only rules were that you could not use the actual words of the movie name in the blurb, you had to use theatrically released films, and you had to stick to that dopey style of breezy entertainment journalism. In this game, it's all about style. For instance, bonus points are awarded for:

- incorporating admirable brevity ("M. Night Shyamalan adapts Jane Austen" = The Sixth Sense and Sensibility)

- incorporating inspired lack of brevity ("Robert Altman directs this Jimmy Cliff reggae classic starring Cher and Sandy Dennis as devotees of a tragically deceased screen star of yesteryear" = The Harder They Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean)

- incorporating Cher

Remember that films can be mashed up phonetically (Nosferatu Kill a
Mockingbird) and definite articles can be dropped (The Maltese Falcon and the Snowman).

Go to it, have fun, and post your answers below. (First-time players, be forewarned that answers may, indeed, be posted below -- don't scroll down unless you want to cheat.)

+++

1. Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker star in Charlie Chaplin's classic silent comedy.

2. The Gotham franchise takes a dubious turn when Batman (Ben Stiller) moonlights as a security guard.

3. Michelle Rodriguez spars with Ed Norton.

4. In Robert Zemeckis' original time-travel classic, Angela Bassett enjoys a steamy, passionate affair with Michael J. Fox.

5. This strangest of chick flicks finds Christina Ricci, Rosie O'Donnell, Thora Birch and Melanie Griffith journeying upriver to assassinate a rogue colonel.

6.) Kurt Russell and Steve McQueen escape a German POW camp in Manhattan.

7.) Mike Judge's animated cult comedy stars Ron Livingston and Jennifer Aniston as primates shot into orbit.

8.) In this poorly received sequel, Arnold Schwarzenegger returns from the future to fight zombies, Robin Williams and painfully earnest prep school boys. (3 films)

9. In the quintessential heavy metal Elvis picture, the King teams with Jim Varney and Mark Wahlberg to join the Rebel Alliance. (4 films)

10.) Based on the Alice Walker novel, Steven Spielberg directs Prince in this touching tale of an autistic man and his brother, featuring Jim Carrey as comedian Andy Kaufmann, with Nicholas Cage and Cher as star-crossed lovers. (5 films)

Watch this space for future installments. (Next up: The Movie Blurb Game, Holiday Films Edition.)

Answers are after the jump, so don't spoil it for yourself!

Continue reading "Monkey See Introduces: The Movie Blurb Game" >

by Marc Hirsh

It's a good time to be Taylor Swift, as if there's ever a bad time. Last Sunday, she won an American Music Award for Favorite Female Artist, Country Music, which should sit nicely alongside her awards for Top New Female Vocalist (Academy Of Country Music), Video Of The Year and Female Video Of The Year (CMT), Breakout Artist (Teen Choice) and last year's Horizon Award from the Country Music Association. She also currently has the #1 album in the country, with her sophomore release Fearless topping this week's Billboard 200 chart. Plus, of course, the cuteness and the perkiness and teenagerness and the used-to-date-a-Jonas-Brother of it all.

Continue reading "Hey, Has Anybody Noticed That Taylor Swift Can't Sing?" >

by Todd Kliman

Looking to spruce up your Thanksgiving meal? Three words: cognac mashed potatoes.

A clever riff on hidebound holiday fare from Bobby Flay? A "kicked-up" concoction from Emeril?

Nope, the combination is the creation of perpetually stoned-but-improbably-functional rapper Snoop Dogg -- who else would think to fuse Yankee tradition with hip-hop chill? -- who shared his, uh, recipe when he did a guest turn this week on Martha Stewart. (A pairing so inspired, so hilarious, it makes Klugman-Randall look quaint -- and every other "reality" show look forced -- by comparison. Note to network execs: get this ultimate salt-and-pepper duo a slot in prime time.)

Me, I don't dare make them -- I still remember being blasted for futzing with the sweet potatoes one year -- but I'd love to hear from anybody who's got nerve enough to give it a go.

Now, a Cristal-spiked gravy -- that I could maybe get with.

Todd Kliman is a James Beard Award-winning restaurant critic and the food and wine editor of Washingtonian magazine. The Wild Vine, his book about the Rosetta stone of American wine, is due in 2009.

(See Part Two of the video, after the jump.)

Continue reading "A Sweet Side Dish" >

Too much turkey? Recover on the sofa — with a nice big book full of easily digestible pictures. iStockphoto.com

 

by Glen Weldon

And so it begins: Another noisy, stressful, cousin-crammed festival of starchy overconsumption. Tomorrow, you will feast. And drink. And listen helplessly as your great-uncle updates you on the medical status of his bowels.

And then on Friday morning, you'll stumble from bed a bleary, still-bloated mess. In your compromised state, the shopping mall may beckon. Ignore it.

Instead, do yourself a favor: Hie your tired, tryptophan-addled butt to the nearest couch.

And take a book with you. One that:

1. You can polish off in a single lazy afternoon, and yet
2. Is so thick it could drop even a particularly belligerent yak.

After the jump: Five thick-but-quick books made for long gray weekends like this one.

Continue reading "Five Hefty Tomes to See You Through Your Turkey Coma" >

by Linda Holmes

Holidays are made for family, ritual, and special episodes of television shows. Fortunately for all of us, Joost has gathered a bunch of Thanksgiving episodes in one place, meaning that if you wanted to, you could avoid your relatives for many, many hours without attracting attention to yourself. ("Gotta work," you could say, while hauling your laptop into a corner, plugging in your headphones, and enjoying the episode of Family Ties where Steven and Elyse get arrested on Thanksgiving.)

Joost is sort of like Hulu, with the disadvantages that the interface isn't as good, and the site requires you to sign up with an email address (everyone should have a free email account for exactly this kind of thing). The signup is easy, though, and once you're in the door, you can enjoy their Very Special Episodes, including -- seen above -- "The Late Thanksgiving," the episode of Friends where Rachel and Phoebe take baby Emma to the beauty pageant.

What's there, and what's missing, after the jump...

Continue reading "Turkey TV" >

by Linda Holmes

Thanks to Whitney at Pop Candy, I was reminded of the Elf Yourself site, where you can make your very own video of yourself doing a Christmas dance. Up there? That's me. Doing my little dance. You can include up to five elves of your own making, which made it very tempting to run around grabbing photos of NPR staff to dance in my video, but I chose not to appropriate anyone else's image. Happy Holidays! Frightening elf heads for everyone!

by Linda Holmes

• It's that time again -- tonight on ABC is the final performance show of Dancing With The Stars. The finale will feature former NFL player Warren Sapp, model and TV host Brooke Burke, and N*Sync veteran Lance Bass. (Could they be any more famous?) Above is Lance's surprisingly enjoyable jitterbug from last week -- watch for the shocking plot development around the 45-second mark. You never know what will happen on live television.

Continue reading "'Dancing' Heads For the Finish Line While 'Twilight' Opens Strong, In The Monday Roundup" >

The view from the cheap seats: Robert Pattinson of Twilight wore his good shoes for this appearance, most likely. Kevin Winter/Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

Robert Pattinson is a huge, huge star, capable of showing up at a Hot Topic store and drawing a crowd -- a crowd of teenage girls -- that was apparently menacing enough to get the event canceled by the police.

Most of these girls are fans of his work in a movie they have not seen yet.

Pattinson is the male lead in Twilight, the teen-novel adaptation opening this weekend after a period of anticipation so alternatively fascinating and irritating that it's creating just as much hostility among people who have never seen it as adoration among people who have never seen it. For every crowd of Pattinson fans who can't get enough Twilight, there is an equal and opposite crowd of people who have already had way too much Twilight, and who got there months ago. (For example, look at the comments to a recent Slashfilm post about the film.)

Call it frontlash: when speculative cultural saturation, either top-down or fans-up, builds a wave of anticipation that, in turn, causes a wave of equally ill-informed hostility.

Robert Pattinson's toes, an odd connection to a prior frontlash victim, and more, after the jump...

Continue reading "'Twilight' Becomes The Second Vampire-Adjacent Frontlash Victim Of 2008" >

My love for this video knows no bounds. This is the product for you if your bicycle is too compact, has too small a turning radius, or doesn't take up enough space in your garage. Or if your treadmill is too convenient to entertainment options, doesn't require you to put on enough protective clothing, or doesn't put you in the position of potentially being hit by a car.

This was sent to me by a friend who actually sent me to this page, where a lengthy discussion ensues in which nerds argue over whether it is, in fact, a ridiculous concept. They laughed at the Wright Brothers too, you know.

Happy Thanksgiving!: Believe it or not, this is not the weirdest anthropomorphic turkey photo we found. iStockphoto.com

 

by Todd Kliman

My friend Leslie has a term for certain foods. Delivery vehicles, she calls them.

As in: a hot dog is a delivery vehicle for spicy brown mustard and sauerkraut. Or: birthday cake is a delivery vehicle for thick layers of frosting.

Turkey, to Leslie, is the ultimate in delivery vehicles, a big fat excuse to wolf down mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, gravy and all the other starchy goodies that dominate the Thanksgiving table -- things she actually looks forward to eating.

Leslie, you see, hates turkey. "Doesn't everybody?" she asks. "I mean, secretly?"

She has a point -- how often do you roast a turkey the other 364 days of the year? -- though it's a good thing she's not running for elected office. Can you imagine? In the era of the flag pin, disavowing an allegiance to the great-American bird is a little like asking to be tarred as a godless socialist.

The reason Leslie hates turkey, I keep trying to tell her, is because she hasn't really had turkey.

"What have I had?"

"You've had Butterball."

How and why to escape Butterball, after the jump...

Continue reading "Butterball Is Not Turkey, And Other Thanksgiving Truths" >

The more things change...: "Friends, Romans, countrymen...wocka wocka wocka!" iStockphoto.com

 

by Marc Hirsh

Reuters reports that Monty Python's legendary "Parrot Sketch" draws on many of the same ideas found in a bit from a recently-discovered 4th Century Greek joke book. Of course, back then it wasn't pet birds that were being returned by irate customers but slaves (the Python routine having succumbed to the pressures of political correctness), but the concept was the same. We're not sure why that's news, though. It's long been an open secret that modern comedy is little more than a gloss on the classics. Hard to believe? Check out some more surprising examples:

* Saturday Night Live's "Land Shark" sketch originally involved an errant Charybdis.
* "You might be a minotaur if..."
* Bugs Bunny cartoons borrowed directly from the tales of the Norse trickster god Loki; famed "What's Opera, Doc?" nothing but a word-for-word retelling.
* Diogenes searched Athens in vain for an honest man, paving the way for Jon Stewart.
* Obscure myth of Pythagoras swallowing a bitter poultice to transform temporarily into Narcissus bears eerie similarity to plot of Jerry Lewis's The Nutty Professor.
* Like Steve Martin, ancient Roman gladiators often had arrows through their heads during performances. Also, lions' jaws.
* Penn and Teller's fork-in-the-eye trick pioneered by the Oracle of Delphi, though the splatter no longer used to predict the success of military excursions.
* "Your momma's so cheap, she makes King Leonidas of Sparta look like King Midas of Pessinus."
* The entirety of Jackass cribbed from the little-known Twelve Other Labors Of Hercules.
* "The 39-Year-Old Man" routine debuts to little fanfare in 1 A.D.; remains unsuccessful until Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks get a hold of it much, much later.
* Sisyphus:boulder::Charlie Brown:football. Actually, that one you can pretty much take to the bank.

Geek in Chief? Comics artist Alex Ross may have been prescient about the President-elect. © Alex Ross. Used by permission.

 

by Glen Weldon

So yeah, as previously noted, there was this article in Britain's Daily Telegraph, entitled "Barack Obama: The 50 Facts You Might Not Know." Here's another fact you might not know: That article created a bit of a stir last week among one specific and defiantly geeky sector of the populace.

Across the vasty funnybook blogosphere, that article's very first item — just eight little words — sent hearts to fluttering, tongues to wagging and computer pixels to ... um, doing whatever it is that computer pixels do. Phosphoring, let's say.

The eight little words? "He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics."

Actually, it wasn't all eight of those words. It was just the second one.

Collects.

That one verb sent a thrill up the leg of many a funnybook fan, and got us parsing away like so many Talmudic scholars. (If Talmudic scholars wore XXL X-Men tees.)

To wit:

Well, let's just start with that verb tense. As in: Present! As in: Continues-to-this-very-day!

To say nothing of the word choice itself. To collect, after all, is a fundamentally different prospect than, say, to read. Because packed neatly inside collect is the notion of cataloging, of alphabetizing by publisher, title or lead character.

The word collect is redolent of the chase, of the perpetual, never-to-be-slaked thirst for completeness that is the very engine of full-on geekery.

So yeah, it's an intriguing prospect, a fanboy POTUS; I get that.

But I hereby caution my geek brethren and sistren to curb the collective enthusiasm until we know more.

After the jump: We coldly examine the evidence ...

Continue reading "A POTUS Among Us: In Obama, Comics Fans Spy a Fellow Traveler " >

Rolling Stone asked members of a "blue-ribbon panel" to name their favorite vocalists, and from their responses, it compiled its list of the 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time. Top of the list? Aretha Franklin.

It's an interesting list, and provided you understand that it's not terribly broad (as commenters quickly noted, there are no great vocalists who sing primarily in other languages?), it makes a nice, compact collection of mighty vocalists.

Be warned: They show a "playlist" for each artist, and it's very nice that they went to the trouble of setting it up, but it isn't ordinary streaming -- it plays through the Rhapsody music service. Rhapsody will give you 25 free streams a month, but you have to install their software, so think of the playlist as a nice idea more than a functional add-on for the average surfer.

Top Chef judges: "What do you think? You think we should change it to 'grab a pillow and go'?" Bravo

 

by Linda Holmes

While thoroughly embarrassing myself by watching the first episode of Lifetime's new series Blush: The Search For The Next Great Makeup Artist (the second episode airs tonight; the first is available online), I found myself pondering the line uttered by host Vanessa Marcil when she eliminates contestants: "I'm sorry; that was your last look."

It's not much of a kiss-off line, honestly.

The perfect kiss-off is an absolutely integral part of a good -- or at least enjoyable -- competitive reality show. It tends to signal the show's entire personality, if it has one, or its stupidity, if it doesn't. Don't believe me? Let's review a few:

"You're fired." (The Apprentice) The most famous kiss-off in reality-show history was also one of the simplest, and it became part of the show's iconography. Had Donald Trump told his aspiring corporate weasels "Adios, amigo," there probably would have been no second season. "You're fired" not only had simplicity going for it, but it embraced the show's fundamentally silly idea that this was a job interview rather than a series of bizarre attempts to impress a temperamental weirdo.

Heidi Klum, poor Jonathan Adler, and the evil of the pun, after the jump...

Continue reading "Farewell Lines: The Good, The Bad, And The 'See Ya Later, Decorator'" >

A Quick "Set Your DVR" Alert: TCM is running two nights of "Leading Couples" films, tonight and next Tuesday. The lineup tonight: To Have And Have Not (starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall) at 8:00 p.m., Adam's Rib (starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn) at 9:45 p.m., Top Hat (starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers) at 11:30 p.m., and A Night At The Opera (starring the Marx Brothers) at 1:15 a.m. A darn fine schedule.

Next Tuesday: Cleopatra (starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton) at 8:00 p.m., Rio Grande (starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara) at 12:15 a.m., They Died With Their Boots On (starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland) at 2:15 a.m., and Viva Las Vegas (starring Ann-Margret and Elvis Presley) at 4:45 a.m.

The President-Elect: Can't get enough facts about him, even if you have to write them yourself? We're here to help. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

 

by Glenn McDonald

The UK Telegraph recently ran an intriguing piece called "Barack Obama: The 50 facts you might not know." As you may be aware, a certain percentage of Europeans -- the technical term is Pretty Much Everybody, I think -- was overjoyed at the notion of an Obama presidency. So the list runs down some rather endearing facts about our next president.

For instance, he collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics. His favorite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees. And he took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing on their first date. (All true.) (According to the Telegraph, anyway.)

Here at NPR HQ, we decided to apply our vast editorial (and, um, creative) resources to the task, and have come up with a bonus 25 More Facts You Might Not Know About Barack Obama.

- He can not only turn water into wine; he turns it into 1787 Chateau Lafite.

- A renowned spot shooter at Chicago pick-up basketball games, his specialty is a 3-pointer made by bouncing the ball off Mayor Richard M. Daley's forehead.

- His tears can regenerate severed limbs.

- Whenever a Republican strategist cries, Obama gets $10 richer, somehow.

A lot more facts we totally do not stand behind, after the jump...

Continue reading "You've Got Obama Facts; We've Got Space For Them" >

Wait for it, wait for it: Life star Damian Lewis has a really nice smile. We swear. Adam Taylor, NBC

 

by Kim Masters

I have friends and colleagues who regard me with a jealous eye because I cover the Hollywood beat.

But it's not all red-carpet premieres and outrageous, Wolfgang Puck-catered parties (like the one I went to last week). Much of the time I'm wrestling with "suits" and other high-maintenance personalities who don't want to tell me anything — and who cannot be compelled to do so, because there's no Hollywood Freedom of Information Act. (If you've seen Ari Gold on Entourage, bear in mind that he's based on a real person.)

Sometimes I do get to have a little fun, though. When we noticed that there are a lot of actors from overseas starring as Americans on TV dramas, it seemed like an opportunity.

Who opened up when opportunity knocked, after the jump ...

Continue reading "True Celeb Confessions, and Other Notes from Within the TMZ" >

• For my money, this weekend's Saturday Night Live, hosted by Paul Rudd and featuring appearances by Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake, was one of the most consistently entertaining episodes in quite a while. Above is Timberlake's appearance on "Weekend Update," where he imagines what next week's show would have been like if he'd been free to host.

Sarah Palin's book deal, James Bond's big numbers, and more, after the jump...

Continue reading "Paul Rudd, Justin Timberlake And Our Growing 'Twilight' Worries, In The Monday Roundup" >

Roger Ebert: Despite some hard times, the guy (seen here with his wife Chaz) has been trying out a more mischievous, free-form sort of writing, and this time, he wants to tell you about rice cookers -- and it's pretty great. Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

 

by Marc Hirsh

Roger Ebert's blog isn't exactly breaking news -- it was recently named the second-best-written blog on the Internet by this site -- but if you haven't checked out "The Pot And How To Use It," then you're in for a treat. (Literally, perhaps, if you're a read-along-and-do kind of person.)

More about the many things Roger Ebert can teach you, after the jump...

Continue reading "Roger Ebert Has Gone Nuts. Please, Nobody Stop Him." >

I'm going with: "And then she said, 'But he's my boyfriend!" And then I said, "But you broke up with him already!" And then she was like, "I don't care we're supposed to be best friends it doesn't matter what you say you aren't my friend anymore!" And then I said, "Well if that's the way you're going to be then just get out anyway, because shut up and who cares about you?"

Wolfgang Puck: He has a few things to say about the new president, the governor of California, and not using old olive oil. Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

 

by Todd Kliman

Yesterday, I sat down to lunch with the irrepressible and always busy — 300 days on the road every year — Wolfgang Puck.

He'd breezed into the nation's capital for a wine dinner at the D.C. outpost of his 95-restaurant empire, The Source. The sleek, Asian-themed restaurant is a favorite of President-elect Barack Obama's, and a short stroll down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.

Having long since built a reputation as the chef to the stars — his Oscar and Grammy parties are legendary, Spago remains the neighborhood restaurant for Hollywood royalty, and Sidney Poitier is the godfather to his children — Puck seems well positioned to be the go to chef in Hollywood-on-the-Potomac, if the predicted New Camelot materializes.

Over a three-hour-plus lunch at the excellent Ethiopian bistro Etete — a fitting choice, since Puck's new bride is Ethiopian — we feasted on lentil-filled sambusas and the Ethiopian beef tartare called kitfo, and the elfin master chef weighed in on a range of topics including: Obama, Schwarzenegger, foie gras, the faltering economy, Jessica Seinfeld, Leo DiCaprio, and his secrets for the perfect Thanksgiving turkey.

On Obama
"I hope for Obama that he will be interested in food. You had Clinton walking around with a hamburger, and I hope you don't see that. You know, I cooked for Obama in L.A. at David Geffen's. It's exciting. I think more than anything for me, it's how America is changing by not reelecting a follower of George Bush. I think in the long run it will do us a lot of good. I hope he'll be good for food. If the president goes out for good food, it sets a great example."

More about...well, everything, after the jump...

Continue reading " 'Eating a Bone-In Filet and Listening to Pink Floyd': My Lunch With Wolfgang" >

That's a one-minute trailer for a remarkable thirty-minute film available through Folkstreams.net. The movie is called Gandy Dancers, and you can stream it live on your computer. (Another great thing to do instead of getting work done.) Gandy Dancers were railroad workers, almost exclusively African-American, who used music -- including spiritual, nonsensical, and raunchy songs -- to coordinate their track work. Long-retired workers not only explain how the whole thing worked to both practically synchronize movements and inspire very tired guys, but they demonstrate, as old men, what they did as young workers. It's about a half-hour long; watch it if you get the chance.

Hat-tip to Metafilter.

Strolling through Rangoon: Guy Delisle's Burma Chronicles Drawn and Quarterly

 

by Glen Weldon

Resolved: The best travelogue you'll read this year is a funnybook. About a not particularly funny place.

Writer-artist Guy Delisle has previously documented his stays in Shenzhen, China, and Pyongyang, North Korea, in two well-received graphic novels.

Both books are marked by Delisle's deceptively simple, cartoony style, by his eye for architectural detail, and by an easy, unforced sense of humor.

And, when you put it all together, some of the most effective and fully realized travel writing out there.

Here's why: Delisle's words and pictures neatly capture the sense of bemused alienation travel bestows. He's alternately fascinated and frustrated by those around him, yes, but he manages to depict them without falling into any of The Three Traps of Travel Writing.

That is to say, he never:

A: Idealizes
B: Condescends
C: Imagines that millennia-old cultural barriers can be crossed in a matter of months. By him. Because he's soooo much more sensitive and insightful than any stupid tourist.

After the jump: How all that comes together in Myanmar ...

Continue reading "Burma by Baby Carriage" >

Top Chef returns: This is the least stressed-out you will ever see this woman look. Bravo

 

by Linda Holmes

With Project Runway the subject of a massive food fight between Bravo and Lifetime in which future seasons hang in the balance, Bravo has to be looking for a strong performance from Top Chef, Runway's less famous but equally compelling younger sibling. Top Chef's fifth season, which is set in New York, starts tonight at 10 p.m.

A look at some of the new contestants and what's to come, after the jump...

Continue reading "'Top Chef' Returns: Gentlemen, Start Your Product-Placed Ovens!" >

This video is extremely silly, but it poses an interesting question. What movies have sat the longest in your home after arriving from Netflix? Come on. We've all done it. Is it a classic? Is it episodes of a TV show you never got around to starting? You can tell us.

The Mayor of Castro Street: Gus Van Sant's upcoming movie Milk has people talking Academy Awards. But did you know that the story of Harvey Milk (left) has earned Oscar love once before? GLBT Historical Society

 

by Matthew Forke

With the growing Oscar talk about Sean Penn's performance in the upcoming movie biography Milk, it's worth noting that this extraordinary story has been told once already -- nearly a quarter-century ago -- and to great acclaim.

In 1985, The Times of Harvey Milk won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, and deservedly so, for its adept assemblage of news footage, archival photos and then-current interviews chronicling one of the most chaotic periods in San Francisco history: the '70s gay rights movement.

Why it's still a classic, after the jump ...

Continue reading "As Buzz Builds for Penn and 'Milk,' It Feels a Little Like Old 'Times'" >

Avoiding fan disappointment: Don't assume you'll meet the famous people, and then you won't feel let down if they only talk to each other. Peter Larsen/Getty Images

 

According to CNN, attendees of the Dallas reunion event at Southfork Ranch were bitterly disappointed when, because of gatecrashers and a lack of security, people who hadn't paid the entrance fee -- which was hundreds of dollars -- got to shake hands with Larry Hagman and other stars, while people who did pay were left standing in the back.

Now disappointed fans are crying foul because they were promised "access to the cast" and didn't get it. There is an easy solution to this problem: STOP PAYING TO SHAKE HANDS WITH FAMOUS PEOPLE.

Why fan gatherings are great, but a bounty on a picture of yourself and a star is not, after the jump...

Continue reading "Dear America: Stop Paying To Shake Hands With Famous People" >

Beyoncé as Wonder Woman: Not even she looks entirely sure she's ready for the invisible jet and the bracelets. Dave Hogan/Getty Images

 

• I agree with Slashfilm's Peter Sciretta that I'm not sure how to feel about the possibility of Beyoncé Knowles playing Wonder Woman, but I do think it's odd that no one has taken on Wonder Woman at all, given the number of superhero adaptations that have floated by in the last few years. Two Hulk movies and no Wonder Woman? I think it's time for Wonder Woman to file with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The surprisingly successful film debut of the weekend, more on CNN's terrible hologram, and what it feels like to be the "Why Obama Can't Win" guy, after the jump...

Continue reading "Wonder Woman And More In The Monday Roundup" >

You know, I always say the world doesn't have nearly enough robots playing musical instruments while wearing hats.

It's a pretty amazing story, what with all the technology that went into the lips and the lungs. I'm not sure I'm buying the idea that a robot with a face painted on him and a hat plunked on his head is "a contender for concert performances," but there are other uses for this technology than this very literal thing. Let's face it: if there weren't, this would be a lot of work to put into a flute-playing robot.

This makes two "Flight Of The Bumblebee" references in one day. It's a fine day to be a very fast piece of music.

Heroes: Can you see Billy the Invisible Hero? He works cheap. He's on the right, next to Kristen Bell. NBC Universal

 

by Linda Holmes

Variety is reporting that ABC Studios, which produces shows like Lost and Desperate Housewives, has been asked to cut production costs by 2 percent, and that NBC Universal is looking to slice 3 percent from its across-the-board cuts. Turns out not even deserted islands populated by plane-crash survivors are immune from the struggling economy.

So how will they do it? How will producers of your favorite shows start to cut their budgets? Not to be smug, but we have some pretty good ideas. And we're offering them at no charge. You're welcome, major television studios!

1. Change name of show to 27 Rock.

2. Make Pushing Daisies into infomercial featuring extremely hard sell on extravagant floral purchases.

3. Get The Office's Steve Carell to make Evan Almighty sequel called Evan The Love Guru; wait for salary demands to drop.

4. Require Matthew Fox of Lost to get by with two stubble valets instead of three.

Even more great ideas, after the jump...

Continue reading "Cost-Cutting Proposals: Welcome To Television's Cheapskate Future" >

Check out the latest installment of Mo Willems' mind-bending attempt at becoming a cartoonist on the radio. Also, we're still looking for more caption submissions for the next four segments. Leave your caption suggestions along with the cartoon number in the comments section.

Cartoon #1 Leave your caption in the comments section. Mo Willems

 

Three more cartoons after the jump ...

Continue reading "Go Ahead, Try To Out-Caption
Mo Willems" >

Hands-on guy: Darren Lynn Bousman (foreground, with actress Alexa Vega) is putting personal time into the online marketing of his latest movie. He hopes Repo! The Genetic Opera will inspire a Rocky Horror-style cult. Photo: Steve Wilkie

 

by Beth Accomando

When Darren Lynn Bousman makes a movie, he usually gets a marketing budget. (Duh: he's responsible for three of the five installments in the highly successful Saw franchise.)

But with Repo! The Genetic Opera, he essentially had no money to promote the film. And in an odd way, that's turned out to be a plus.

It's meant that Bousman has had to turn to the Internet, which costs him nothing but his time.

Connecting with the fans, generating a buzz, after the jump ...

Continue reading "'Repo' Man Darren Lynn Bousman, Trolling For Fans On the Web" >

Gumbo He Can Believe In: Barack Obama prepares to enjoy some gumbo in a New Orleans restaurant. What kind of First Eater can we expect? Emmanuel Dunand; AFP/Getty Images

 

by Todd Kliman

So, okay: We know where Barack Obama stands on taxes, on Iraq, on torture, on health care. But what kind of First Eater will he be?

As the great gastronomer Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin said: "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are."

At this point, it's too soon to predict what an Obama cabinet will look like, much less guess at the contents of the Obama cupboard, but we do know this: In matters of taste, as in matters of state, the bold-minded president-elect rejects the false dichotomies (black/white, red state/blue state) that too often are used to divide and conquer.

Regular guy or arugula guy?

Republicans roared with delight when candidate Obama suggested to a group of Iowa farmers that they grow this pricey, peppery green, so beloved by the Whole Foods-set (there are no Whole Foods stores in Iowa). This was the first of many "-ists" to be pinned on him, in the innocent days before "terrorist," "socialist," and "redistributionist."

More recently, a New York Post Page Six item spread the (erroneous) word that the Obamas spent a night at the Waldorf Astoria and ordered lobster, champagne and Iranian caviar (not just caviar; terrorist caviar).

These stories tell you a lot more about the sticky residue of the culture wars than they do about Obama. At best, he's a foodie. But even that definition seems unlikely. He hates beets and asparagus. His favorite food is fried chicken, his favorite recipe is chili, and he's no stranger to the foods of deprivation -- In Dreams from My Father, he confessed that he ate grasshoppers, dog and snakes during his boyhood in Indonesia.

Conclusion: His tastes are as catholic as his sensibilities.

On the prospects for booze, pizza, and dining out, after the jump...

Continue reading "Barack Obama: First Eater" >

by Linda Holmes

David Letterman and other late-night shows have lost a lot of their...buzzability, to use a word I'm happy to say doesn't actually exist, to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. But David Letterman still has some pretty great moments. The man who once brought you the Monkey-Cam and the soft drink delivered by a line of Rockettes has a new game.

It features stunts like the one above, called, "How Many Guys Dressed Like Spider-Man Can Fit In A Jamba Juice?" (Jamba Juice is a ubiquitous New York smoothie chain, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it.)

Spider-Man costumes are not hilarious, and neither is Jamba Juice, but Letterman's great love of pranking New York -- of baffling New York -- has always been one of the best parts of his show. Part of the genius is his understanding that there is a certain way New Yorkers react to the absurd, with jaded weariness, like, "Oh, great, 20 Spider-Men; what do you want to bet they're all going to want to sit next to me on the D train?" Try to watch the whole thing, even though it's eight minutes long, because it's one of those comedy bits that builds on its own absurdity.

Oh, and if you like that, you might also enjoy How Many Sarah Palins Can Fit Into A LensCrafters?

Word's getting around about the death of Jurassic Park author (and ER creator) Michael Crichton, who'd been battling cancer but had kept it mostly quiet.

The news was announced earlier today at Crichton's Web site. (Which is apparently crashing under the traffic hit -- as I'm typing this, it's timing out and refusing to load.)

We'll have an appreciation in a little bit Here's an appreciation, courtesy of our guy Linton Weeks.

Also, here's this:

Tell 'em, Coach: Denzel Washington is the sum of all metaphorical things. Walt Disney Pictures

 

by Trey Graham

Aaaaaand the post-election film geekery begins in 3, 2 ... no, wait, it started hours ago.

Both Slashfilm and the MTV Movies blog weighed in this morning -- earrrrrrrly this morning, for MTV Movies' Shawn Adler -- about the music the McCain and Obama campaigns used to play their principals off the stage after their big speeches last night.

There's some it-wasn't-that-it-was-this sass in the comments at Slashfilm, but the verdict seems to be: themes from Crimson Tide and Remember the Titans.

The long version -- plus an analysis that ends with the observation "This confirms what many of us already suspected: Denzel Washington embodies every politically compelling narrative known to man" -- over here and here.

'A Death In the Family': Your trusty comics blogger? He's responsible for this outrage. DC Comics

 

By Glen Weldon

Now that the last balloons have dropped, we as a nation can take comfort in the knowledge that, one again, millions of us exercised our right to vote and so set in motion the peaceful transfer of power that is the hallmark of this, our American democracy.

And let me note one other thing: That this latest round of quadrennial participation in the Grand Experiment resulted in not even a single masked, pixie-booted young crimefighter getting beaten to a bloody pulp with a crowbar.

And then blown up.

By an evil clown.

Just moments after he'd been reunited with his long-lost mother.

All worth noting, because that's pretty much exactly what happened the first time I ever voted, just over 20 years ago. My vote -- and those of my like-minded fellows -- killed Robin, the Boy Wonder.

And we'd do it again.

After the jump: The day a surprisingly tiny number of geeks (and a 900 number) accomplished what even Gotham's greatest villains never dared to dream.

Continue reading "Post-Election Funnybook Roundup: Who Killed Cock(y) Robin? I Killed Cock(y) Robin. " >

by Linda Holmes

It was a late night for a lot of people, including me, but I think it's safe to say that the pop-culture story of the election coverage last night -- unrelated to the outcome -- was this very weird use of "hologram"-style technology by CNN to project an image of someone in the studio.

This is...about how it looked on live television, which is to say: weird. And it was used in only two settings that I personally saw: this bit, and a later appearance by will.i.am, the musician who famously created a video for Barack Obama that went widely viral.

It might have felt more special if it had been...you know, a person who couldn't possibly be in the studio, like Cindy McCain or an Alaska candidate who was actually watching his own returns from his living room. But for this, it just wasn't clear...why.

Why a hologram instead of just a talking head on a screen? I understand the constant drive for more sophisticated election-coverage doodads -- not that many of us didn't find ourselves missing Tim Russert scribbling on a whiteboard -- but this one seemed like a flop.

It looked remarkably real, I guess, compared to a cardboard cutout of a person. But it did not look realistic. It looked like the first pass at a CGI sequence from a movie called Wolf Blitzer: The Revenge. I give it an F-minus.

My guess is that for many of you, this is a day when your minds are elsewhere. Depending on the lines at your polling place, your feet may even be elsewhere. Mine, too. But for your possible diversion, here is a lovely tutorial in touch-screen voting machines, featuring Mr. McFeely of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood fame. My favorite part is where he chooses "Betty Boop, Independent."

The ongoing saga that is Saturday Night Live's remarkable 2008 season continued this weekend, as you have probably heard, with John McCain's appearance in both the opening sketch about QVC fundraising and Weekend Update. Here's the QVC piece, including -- for perhaps the last time -- Tina Fey as Sarah Palin.

Stephen Colbert: He's both a suck-up and an arch-conservative on his show; which means more to him? Comedy Central

 

by Marc Hirsh

Elections are easy. Comedy is hard. Especially comedy that hinges more or less directly on the outcome of elections. Jon Stewart has repeatedly mentioned, both recently and in 2004, that he would much rather struggle to fill four half-hour shows every week than have current events provide The Daily Show with the easy material it's had for eight years. For her part, Tina Fey has said that she'd like to pack up her wickedly brilliant Sarah Palin impression after November 4.

Stephen Colbert, of course, has it a little bit easier. Where Stewart plays the role of the last sane man in a world gone mad, Colbert takes it in the other direction, mocking the lunatics by out-crazying them as much as possible. The fact that he's clearly playing an outsized character on The Colbert Report (unlike Stewart, whose on-air persona seems to be distilled, at least to some degree, from his actual attitude and political leanings) gives him the ability to ride out the election to whichever outcome and overreact accordingly.

If McCain wins, of course, then it's business as usual. But the prospect of an Obama victory raises a much more interesting dilemma: how will "Stephen Colbert" react?

Continue reading "Your Principles Or Your Obsequiousness: Which Would 'Stephen Colbert' Choose?" >