Oprah in Australia!

Underwater marriage proposals, Gayle and Oprah cuddling with Koala bears, soaring helicopter rides over the heart of the Great Barrier Reef? Whew…what’s not to love about Oprah’s Ultimate Australian Adventures this week?

Seriously, even dyed-in-the-wool Oprah haters like my wife would have to agree that this is damn fine daytime TV. Need further proof? Well, all the stuff listed above happened in the first half of the first episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show on Tuesday. Yep, and there are still three more days of shrimp-on-the-barbie Australian awesomeness to air! Yee-haw!

So, even if you missed the first couple of episodes, set your Tivo’s now. Because this week on Oprah is gonna rock so hard that I don’t even care if I sound like a total girl gushing about it. Go, Oprah!

2011 Golden Globes wrap-up

OK, after reading several, far better and far more in-depth accounts of all that went down at the Golden Globe Awards last night, I just have two things to add.

One, I thought host Ricky Gervais, though a bit crass at times, was even better as a host this time than he was last year. Yes, he pushed some buttons, but, man alive, some of his shit was hilarious. The bottom line is that he kept the crowd on their toes and I haven’t heard any of the Gervais-haters say they were bored by the show. So, kudos to you for keeping it real, Ricky!

The second thing is that I was really pleased, if not entirely surprised, by most of the winners. Everyone who won seemed really excited and honored to be there and that always makes for a good show.

And though I cheered out loud for several of the winners, I gotta say, seeing a dyed-in-the-flannel, 90’s alt-rocker like Trent Reznor collect a Golden Globe for his brilliant work on “The Social Network” soundtrack…wow…that was the highlight of the night as far as I’m concerned.

I downloaded Reznor and Atticus Ross’ soundtrack last week on Amazon and have been listening to it non-stop. The movie itself is collecting a little too many awards for my taste — if I have to see that smug-ass Aaron Sorkin pick up another award for his hugely-overrated screenplay, I might puke. Urgh! — but “The Social Network” soundtrack deserves every award it wins. So, rock on, guys!

And finally, if there was any doubt about who will not only be nominated, but also win Oscars this year in the major acting categories, it was wiped away last night. With the exception of a surprise Best Supporting Actress nod for the amazing Hailee Steinfeld for “True Grit” — which might give Melissa “The Fighter” Leo a real run for her money — I think everyone pictured here will repeat at the Oscars.

Yeah, Annette Bening is overdue for some Oscar gold, but her ham-fisted work in “The Kids Are All Right” is so not her finest hour on film. She’ll get another shot someday and if it makes her feel any better, she won’t lose an Oscar to Hilary Swank this time out. So, there’s always that!

Which means, we’ll have two royals in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories at this year’s Academy Awards: The extremely-deserving Colin Firth for “The Kings Speech” and Queen Amidala of Naboo herself for “Black Swan”. Yee-haw!

The Return of Alexa Chung!

Hooray! for the first time in, like, well…forever…NBC’s Golden Globe Pre-Show was actually worth watching. And it had nothing to do with a strangely-overdressed Natalie Morales or that stupid-old WGA scab, Carson Daly. Nope, this time, they had a real fashionista on the red carpet, someone who knew their shit and had a rocking sense of humor to boot. And guess who that fair lass was?

That’s right, my girl, Alexa Chung, has returned to American television, amigos! I don’t even know why they needed those other two layabouts, because when it came to hip, fresh, and fun red carpet interviews, Alexa Chung ruled the roost.

So, if anyone at NBC is listening, please, for the love of God, ditch the three-host approach and give Alexa full-reign over the red carpet next year. She’ll kill it!

Long live the new queen of all media, Alexa Chung!

The Elvis Sandwich @ Peanut Butter & Co., NYC

Last Saturday would have been Elvis Presley’s 76th birthday, and though we didn’t get to celebrate his big day like we usually do, we did ring in Elvis’ 75th birthday in high style last year. So, let’s just consider this post my 2011 birthday tribute to the King. Happy birthday, dude!

Last January 8th, Christine, Greta and I had just arrived in New York City for a friend’s wedding. There was snow on the ground and a definite chill in the air, but, it was Elvis’ birthday and we were determined to try the Elvis sandwich at Greenwich Village’s legendary Peanut Butter & Co..

I mean, sure, we’d had peanut butter and banana sandwiches before (at Graceland no less!) but the fine folks at Peanut Butter and Co. add two key ingredients which really set that freaking sandwich on fire: honey and bacon. It sounds kinda weird, I know, but, trust me when I tell you that this tasty-ass sandwich is a thing of rare beauty, amigos. Incredible!

Washing the whole thing down with a truly decadent Fluffernutter Shake — which consisted of peanut butter, milk and Marshmallow Fluff! — we scooped up a few jars of dark chocolate and honey-infused peanut butter to go, wished the King a happy birthday and set about touring Manhattan.

And when it came time for our last meal in NYC a few days later, guess where we headed? You guessed it, right back down the street to Peanut Butter & Co. for more of their savory/sweet Elvis-y goodness.

Now, if book-ending your first big family trip to New York City with Elvis sandwiches doesn’t spell true fan devotion, well, I don’t know what does.

Happy birthday, EP. We love you!

“Star Wars: The Complete Saga” coming to Blu-Ray this fall!

Even if you didn’t have a ticket to CES last week, self-respecting “Star Wars” fans everywhere felt a powerful disturbance in the Force when it was announced on Thursday that the “Star Wars” saga is finally coming to Blu-Ray Disc this September. Whoo-hoo, thank the maker!

No official street date has been announced, but, you can pre-order your “Star Wars” saga three different ways this time out.

Old School: in a set containing only the original three films and all the extras, New School: the Prequel Films only, with all the extras, or, you can go whole hog and get the Complete Collection of all six films in one big old boxed set for somewhere around $139.99. Hmmm…guess which one I have my eye on?

I think the only bad news for hard-core fans is that we’ll have to buy the full set of “Star Wars” movies…again! I mean, shit, if you count Videodisc, VHS widescreen and full-frame, Laserdisc and DVD, I’ve bought these same damn movies like, five times over. But, hey, who’s counting?

If the rad-ass new trailer (above) is any indication, the Blu-Ray editions are gonna rock, so, start saving your Republic Credits now, baby! Yee-haw!

WGA Screenplay Nominees (2011)

Most years, I have a hell of a time narrowing the nominated films on my awards ballot down to ten, but, this year…well…let’s just say it was a struggle to find ten worthy films to nominate.

That’s not to say that there weren’t some really great movies released in 2010, but, the good ones (“The Social Network”, “Inception”, “The Fighter”, “Black Swan”) were so good that the rest of the nominees felt like total filler.

And when you couple that with the fact that several of the biggest Oscar-bait flicks this year (“The King’s Speech”, “Winter’s Bone”, “Toy Story 3”) were considered ineligible for WGA nominations, well, the list of nominatable films was pretty damn slim this year.

That said, this was the first year since I can remember that almost every single movie I voted for got nominated (rock on, “I Love You, Phillip Morris”!!) so, that’s kinda fun for a change.

In any case, congrats to all the nominated writers and here is this year’s freshly-minted list of WGA nominated films. Enjoy!

Original Screenplay

Black Swan (Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John McLaughlin)

The Fighter (Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, Keith Dorrington)

Inception (Christopher Nolan)

The Kids Are All Right (Stuart Blumberg & Lisa Cholodenko)

Please Give (Nicole Holofcener)

Adapted Screenplay

127 Hours (Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy)

I Love You Phillip Morris (John Requa & Glenn Ficarra)

The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin)

The Town (Ben Affleck, Peter Craig, Aaron Stockard)

True Grit (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)

Documentary Screenplay

Enemies of the People (Rob Lemkin & Thet Sambath)

Freedom Riders (Stanley Nelson)

Gasland (Josh Fox)

Inside Job (Charles Ferguson, Chad Beck, Adam Bolt)

The Two Escobars (Michael Zimbalist, Jeff Zimbalist)

Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)? (John Scheinfeld)

R.I.P. Pete Postlethwaite…

Oh man, I always get bummed out when actors we really love die before their time, but, this one took me totally by surprise. Apparently, Postlethwaite (who was 64) had been battling cancer for a number of years — which you could kind of see in his craggier-than-usual face in his recent films — but, I had no idea he had taken a turn for the worst…until tonight.

Strangely enough, Christine and I had literally just finished watching Ben Affleck’s “The Town”, which featured another totally unforgettable turn by Mr. Postlethwaite, when we heard the sad news.

Postlethwaite’s character was so vile and loathsome in the movie that we actually cheered when he very-deservedly got (SPOILER ALERT) his balls shot off by Ben Affleck at the end. I’m sorry, but the dude totally deserved it!

Always humble and a total gentlemen in interviews and such, Postlethwaite may have considered himself just another average bloke who got lucky in the movies, but, to me, he was one of the greatest character actors of all time. Seriously. If you need proof, pull up his IMDB page and randomly watch any movie he was in (even “The Shipping News”!) and I guarantee you that Postlethwaite’s performance will totally elevate the material.

And if that ain’t classically great acting, I don’t know what is. Rest in peace, Pete Postlethwaite, you will be greatly missed…

The WordPress/Make.See.Eat.Do. Year in Review (2010)

Happy 2011, everyone! With all the “year in review” wrap ups going on right now, I thought I’d throw my hat into the ring with this super cool Blog Health email I got from WordPress today.

Wow…who knew that people cared that much about Denny’s and the freaking KFC Buffet? Thanks for sharing, WordPress. You guys rock! So, without further ado, I give you our blog’s  first official Year in Review. Enjoy!

__________________________________________________________________

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how your blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads: Wow!

Crunchy numbers

About 3 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year. This blog was viewed about 53,000 times in 2010. If it were the Taj Mahal, it would take about 6 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 70 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 494 posts. There were 228 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 39mb. That’s about 4 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was February 9th with 432 views. The most popular post that day was Free Grand Slam Day @ Denny’s!.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were designdazzle.blogspot.com, nurserymuralsandmore.com, en.wordpress.com, flickr.com, and search.aol.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for the orphanage, kfc buffet, bettie page, baby nursery, and marla singer.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Free Grand Slam Day @ Denny’s! February 2009

2

Greta’s baby nursery featured on Unique-baby-gear.com March 2009
8 comments

3

“The Orphanage” October 2007
8 comments

4

The KFC Buffet August 2007
5 comments

5

Bettie Page (1923-2008) December 2008
5 comments

Some of your most popular posts were written before 2010. Your writing has staying power! Consider writing about those topics again.

See you in 2011!

2011 Golden Globe Nominations

Whoa, talk about an eclectic bunch of nominees. I mean, three nods for “The Tourist” would be shocking enough, but the fact that they came in the Comedy/Musical category? Crazy!

And Johnny Depp is cool and all, but, two nods for totally lame movies in the same category? Yikes, if the Hollywood Foreign Press wanted him to show up that badly they shoulda just cut out the middle man and  given him an honorary award already. Jeez! But other than that bit of typical Golden Globe-cheesiness, it was sort of business-as-usual this year at the HFPA.

After dominating the LA and NY Film Critics awards this season, David Fincher’s rocking “The Social Network” is looking like the one to beat with a very well-deserved six nominations. I know it came out a while ago, but “Social” is still one of the best things we’ve seen, and I’m happy to say that after taking a detour into straight-up Robert Zemekis hokumville with his last effort, the vastly-overrated “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, David Fincher is back with a vengeance, baby!

Also was thrilled to see “Inception” score several major nominations yesterday. Like I said before, this movie seriously rocked our world, so, here’s hoping it does the same with the Globe voters!

We haven’t seen “The King’s Speech” yet, but, it looks amazing and we love everyone involved with it, so, kudos to them as well. If there’s any justice in this world, two of our favorite actors of all time, Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter will finally win awards this year for their work. Go, Brits!

I was also glad to see David O. Russell finally score a nomination (for directing “The Fighter”) of any kind after years of creating crazy-cool, fantastically-quirky movies. I know a lot of people hate it, but, I still “Heart Huckabees” to death. So, even if you are a big old a-hole in real life, congrats on joining the ranks of the nominated, Mr. Russell!

The TV side of things was pretty cool too, with many of last year’s nominees returning for a second chance at the gold. My favorite nomination though has got to be “The Walking Dead” for best TV Drama. That show is insanely-good, so, really glad to see it represented here.

Oh, and finally, how cool is it that NIN’s Trent Reznor scored a Best Original Score nomination for his dreamy “Social Network” soundtrack? Reznor’s thumping, trance-like music made the movie, man. So cool!

To see the full list of this year’s Golden Globe nominees, click here. And don’t forget to watch the big show on Sunday, January 16th, 2011. Ricky Gervais is back as host, so, you know it’s gonna be fun!

Missing Martha Stewart…

While putting up our classically cool, white-on-white Martha Stewart Christmas tree this past weekend, Christine told me that she suddenly realized that she really missed being able to watch Stewart’s daytime show “Martha” on a daily basis. I think she said “profoundly missed”, but, I could be wrong.

Either way, there is a void in our lives this holiday season and it is all due to the fact that Martha Stewart moved her show to the freaking Hallmark Channel. Urgh! No offense, Hallmark Channel, many of your made-for-television movies look awesomely bad, but, come on, why you gotta bogart the Martha?

I mean, who even gets the Hallmark Channel?? I know we don’t and I don’t think very many other cable carriers down here do, so, who is watching “Martha” in our absence? Well, according to a recent LA Times article, no one. Stewart’s show is tanking in cable obscurity and it’s just not right!

So, for the love of all things good and baked and hand-made this holiday season, ditch the Hallmark Channel while you can and come on home to network television, Martha. The holidays are so not the same without you…

Anne Hathaway & James Franco to co-host the Oscars?!

Wow…what a strange and kinda shockingly-cool pick. We’ve always loved Anne Hathaway and she has been game for anything on a number of award shows recently.  And James Franco is just plain cool in anything. Seriously, he even managed to make a guest-starring gig on “General Hospital” cool.

Yep, he was on a soap opera, like, all last summer. I’m just saying, the dude is cool, not to mention totally versatile. He writes short stories too!

So, yay for both of them. Who knows, maybe their combined newbie host energy will make the Academy Awards a lot more fun? The only weird thing would be if Franco snags a Best Actor nomination for his rocking turn in “127Hours”. What does he do, like, excuse himself and hurry out into the audience to hear his name read? And better yet, what if he actually wins? Does he hold the award next to him the rest of the night? Weirdness.

Either way, kudos to the Oscar producers for thinking completely outside the box with this year’s Academy Awards host picks. Too cool!

“Surely, you can’t be serious…”

First Mrs. Cleaver, and now Leslie Neilson?! Yikes, people from the cast of “Airplane” need to stop dying already! I know he made like, a million movies in his day, but, Leslie Neilson will always be my man for his iconic roles in the “Airplane” and “Naked Gun” movies.

Hell, they even renamed the most recent DVD release of “Airplane”, the “Don’t call me Shirley” Edition. And if that isn’t testament to the staying power of Mr. Neilson’s crackerjack delivery of an awesome line, I dunno what is!

RIP, dude. Surely, you will be missed…

Cookie Monster’s “SNL” campaign!

Best. Idea. Ever! Hell, if Betty White can get the gig via that now-legendary Facebook campaign, why not Cookie Monster? And seeing as how totally lame the “SNL” season has been thus far, maybe a 40-year old muppet host will be just what the ratings doctor ordered.

Ooo…and just imagine how cool it would be if they had that old “Muppet Show” rock band on as the musical guests! Animal on drums, that sultry, big-lipped Janice singing harmony? Sheer televised awesomeness!

Alright, everyone say it together now: “Me want Cookie Monster!”

“Inception”

OK…I know we’ve only seen like three of this year’s big award-season contenders (“Toy Story 3”, “Hereafter” and “The Social Network”, which were all awesome, by the way) and therefore, we probably shouldn’t be making any broad, sweeping predictions yet, but, mark my words, amigos, Christopher Nolan will win an Oscar for “Inception”.

Whether it’s for writing, directing or producing is still to be determined, but, the mad genius behind “Memento”, “The Prestige” and the Christian Bale “Batman” movies has really outdone himself with “Inception”, and for that reason alone, I see many gold statues in Nolan’s future. And boy does he deserve them!

Taut, suspenseful, positively gorgeous to look at, and populated by the coolest indie cast this side of Sundance, “Inception” is the best movie we’ve seen this year. Yep, I said it, the best. Of course, most of you probably already know this since you saw the movie when it came out, you know, last summer.

But, babysitters being increasingly hard to come by, Christine and I didn’t get to see “Inception” on the big screen until last week at Warner Brothers and lemme tell ya, it blew us away. To say that our heads were swimming (in the best way!) for days afterwards is a serious understatement.

This was no mere movie, amigos, it was total immersion in a completely original and boldly realized new world. And we loved every crazy second of it!

I know I geek out over things a lot, and tend to overhype stuff that I really love, but, I kid you not, I haven’t felt this way about a sci-fi movie since we saw the first “Matrix” or “Terminator” flick way back when.

The dazzling technical elements aside, “Inception” is that rare breed of totally game-changing screen stories that will inspire whole generations of nerdy kids to wanna make movies. For me, it was “Star Wars”, for Generation Whatever, it’ll be Christopher Nolan’s “Inception”. Again, mark my words.

Anyway, I don’t wanna give anything away by going too much into the plot or anything, but, trust me, you don’t have to love sci-fi or even Leo DiCaprio to love this mind-bending little jewel of a movie. Simply put, if you like movies, “Inception” will knock you flat on your movie-loving ass. You have never seen anything like it. EVER.

So, you best get busy on that acceptance speech, Mr. Nolan. The clock is ticking…

“Hi, Sally!” clips…

Oh, man…I am such a dick! It just occurred to me that by blaming the heat wave for the fact that celebrities were “dropping like flies” last week, I inadvertently mocked the heat-related death of the late, great film editor, Sally Menke. See, last week, it literally was the heat wave that killed Sally Menke as she was hiking with her dog in Griffith Park.

Urgh…so sorry, Sally. I totally suck. Here’s hoping this mini-tribute will more than make up for my earlier lameness…

Over the years, Sally Menke worked with such big-name directors as Billy Bob Thornton and Oliver Stone, but, she is probably best known for the films she edited for Quentin Tarantino. The two began their fruitful collaboration on Tarantino’s first film, “Reservoir Dogs”, when Tarantino hired Menke because she was “cheap”. From then on, they were inseparable, with Menke being QT’s go-to editor on everything he’s worked on since.

Scoring Oscar nominations for editing “Pulp Fiction” and this past year’s rocking WWII sage “Inglourious Basterds”, Menke was often referred to as more of co-writer than an editor by Tarantino, who was always quick to give Menke credit for her vital role in shaping the plot and pacing of his movies.

Another cool thing Tarantino did for Menke was to make sure to shoot several outtakes during production with the cast and crew calling out “Hi, Sally!”. This became a tradition between the two of them and the footage is often hilarious. My favorite is a shot of the chick from “Grindhouse: Deathproof” hanging onto the hood of the car for dear life and chirping “Hi, Sally!”. So awesome!

Anyway, in honor of the passing of the sweet-faced, badass known as Sally Menke, here are just a couple of the best “Hi, Sally!” clips from YouTube. Enjoy…

“Bonnie & Clyde: Ultimate Collector’s Edition” on DVD

Wow…I was gushing over Arthur Penn so hard in my last post that I totally forgot to mention that after years of being relegated to a horribly-grainy, extras-free, pan-and-scan DVD version, “Bonnie & Clyde” was finally given it’s due back in 2008 with the absolutely gorgeous “Bonnie & Clyde: Ultimate Collector’s Edition” DVD.

Remastered, restored and packed full of totally awesome DVD extras, this is the version to buy or, you know, receive as a lovely gift from your friend Ginger (thanks again, chica!). Disc one features a lush, widescreen transfer of the film that will really knock your socks off. Trust me, if it looks good on our old-ass TV, the image quality will positively dazzle on a good HD set!

Disc two features such super cool extras as “Love and Death: The Story of Bonnie & Clyde”, a History Channel documentary on the real-life Bonnie and Clyde, two deleted scenes, Warren Beatty’s original wardrobes tests, a replica of the original road show press kit, and a beautifully put together documentary entitled: “Revolution! The Making of Bonnie & Clyde”. Featuring outstanding interviews with every principal member of the cast and crew, this is the thing that really makes the second disc soar.

Warner Brothers may have taken their sweet time releasing a home video version worthy of this cinema classic, but, wow, they certainly did a bang-up job of it! One of the funniest things I learned from the extras was that Morgan Fairchild (who is interviewed in the “Revolution!” documentary) was actually Faye Dunaway’s stand-in on the shoot. Wow…who knew?

Oh, there is also a miniature folded reproduction of the original telegram that WB studio head, Jack Warner (who was never a fan of the movie, even after the acclaim) sent to Beatty and Penn on the first day of production, wishing them well. I know it sounds completely geeky, but, man, I love that little folded telegram to death. So cool!!

But all that awesomeness aside, my favorite extra in this slick, elegantly-appointed boxed set — even the DVD’s themselves are cool with little bullet holes over each of the stars faces! — is the 36-page collectors book of photos. Usually the so-called “books” included in collector’s edition DVDs are more like pamphlets, but, not this time. This is a genuine article book here, folks, loaded with some of the coolest behind-the-scenes pics you’ll find anywhere. Amazing!

And, hey, even if you don’t dig all the groovy extras, the pristine new print of the movie alone will, pun intended, blow you away. So, light a candle for the late, great Arthur Penn and get thee to a video store…

Arthur Penn’s “Bonnie & Clyde”

Wow, man, I don’t know if it’s the heat wave or what, but, celebrities have been dropping like flies this past week. Old Rose, Tony Curtis, stand-up comedian Greg Giraldo, Tarantino’s kick-ass film editor Sally Menke, and now, the visionary director Arthur Penn. Sad!

Like many directors of his generation, Penn began his career directing stage plays on Broadway. And even then, he broke all the rules. Using bold, minimalistic sets and lighting, and cultivating a raw, naturalistic acting style in his actors, Penn literally changed the way we watched modern theatre.

And when he turned that eye towards television and, eventually, film, he truly revolutionized the way movies are made. The stage and screen versions of “The Miracle Worker”, “Little Big Man”, “Alice’s Restaurant”, “Night Moves”, and the little-seen, hipster-noir classic “Mickey One”, Penn’s filmography would be impressive even is he hadn’t directed “Bonnie & Clyde”. But lucky for us, he did, and the world is a better place because of it.

I know I go on about the movies I love, but, “Bonnie & Clyde” isn’t just a movie that I love, it is a movie that rocked my world the first time I saw it. I remember my brother Ryan and I literally trembling while watching it on TV for the first time. Seriously, we were in awe, man. The perfect cast acting at the top of their game, the darkly-hilarious script, that bad-ass, hillbilly soundtrack, and all those crazy jump cuts…whoa…we just about died.

Overnight, “Bonnie & Clyde” became one of my favorite movies. And in the many years since I first saw it, my appreciation for the film and its renegade director has only grown. I mean, shit, “Bonnie & Clyde” could have easily been just another cheap genre picture, a lurid, pulpy, crime drama for the drive-in theatre market. Actually, that’s what Warner Brothers expected to get for their money, but man, were they ever in for a surprise!

Working with an Oscar-nominated screenplay by David Newman and Robert Benton, Penn and producer/star Warren Beatty, crafted a genuine cinematic masterpiece. And unlike some of the celebrated films from the past, “Bonnie & Clyde” is no dusty relic, revered solely for it’s groundbreaking technique or subject matter. No way, baby, watching “Bonnie & Clyde” today is just as vivid and electric an experience as it must have been in the summer of 1967. Um, you know, minus the drive-in theatre part.

And though there are many things that make this movie great, I have to say that Arthur Penn’s direction was crucial to pulling it all off. Finding the right tone was key…funny and sexy one minute, dark and disturbing the next, Penn walked a tightrope in every scene and the movie crackles with excitement because of it. In fact, that’s probably what makes “Bonnie & Clyde” so modern and relevant today. Crazy tone shifts happen all the time in movies nowadays, but, Penn and company pioneered that shit, yo.

And sure, some might grouse that Penn borrowed liberally from the French New Wavers (who, hello, borrowed liberally from pulpy American genre movies to begin with) but with “Bonnie & Clyde”, Penn didn’t just make a great New Wave film…he actually made New Wave mainstream. And in doing so, Penn and company ushered in a whole new era of raw, gritty and most importantly, personal, American filmmaking. Suddenly, it wasn’t just OK for your big name, A-list leads to be antiheroes, it was cool too! The revolution had begun…

And the violence? Oh, man…forget about it, that shit is insane! Slow motion, fast motion, bullets flying everywhere, it was positively operatic and again, it changed the way violence was depicted onscreen forever. Some might say that’s not such a good thing considering the overuse of hyper-realistic onscreen violence today, but, lemme tell ya, when Penn did it, it was golden, baby. Dying in a hail of bullets never looked so gorgeous. Mmm…

So, thank you, Arthur Penn. You turned the film world on its ear 43 years ago with a little movie called “Bonnie & Clyde”, and for that, and so much more, we are eternally grateful. RIP, brother…

Trailer Thursday: “Sharktopus”

Wait…did I just say summer was over? Well, hold up, amigos. Because after watching this hilarious, awesomely-bad trailer for the new Sy-Fy Original movie “Sharktopus” (airing Saturday, September 25th @ 9:00PM) I must say that the end of summer can surely wait another week.

Other than that it was produced by Roger Corman and stars Eric Roberts, I don’t have a clue what the storyline is here, but, I gotta tell ya, I don’t care…they had me at the title. And that theme song?? OMG, don’t get me started, I’m already making space on our shelf for the soundtrack. “Sharktopus” 4eva!

End of summer blues…

Some people say it’s the way the days grow ever shorter, or the subtle chill in the air at night, but for the past twelve seasons, there is one sure-fire way to know that summer has ended in our house…and that’s when “Big Brother” airs it’s season finale. And seeing as that happened on Wednesday, well, I’d say the summer of 2010 is officially over.

So, goodbye road trips, plane trips and warm summer days at the beach, but most of all…goodbye to the positively radiant Chenbot.

Seriously, did any of you see Julie Chen in action this season? Chenbot was looking fine, yo. Motherhood clearly agrees with her circuitry. Wow…

Anyway…now that the show is over and all the sunny, summer distractions are slowly winding down outside, maybe, just maybe, I’ll get back to blogging again on a regular basis. Hooray!

Countdown to London 2012…

Yesterday, our friend and fellow Olympics-nerd, James, mentioned on his Facebook page that the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England are due to begin exactly two years from now. Hooray! I know it’s a little early to set up a season pass on our Tivo — seriously, I would if I could — but, it’s never too early to start talking about the latest Olympic mascots!

Introduced to the world back in May, the official mascots for the London games are a pair of strangely-hideous, one-eyed blobs named Wenlock and Mandeville.

And while they are not nearly as cute as the Fuwa Friendlies from the Beijing games, or the epically-cool Quatchi and friends from the recent Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Wenlock and Mandeville do have a pretty interesting origin story, and the animated clip explaining it all (below) is even cooler!

I won’t spoil it for you by giving any of the plot away, but, their names do carry great meaning for folks in the UK and the story behind how they were “born” is really kinda cool. And on top of all that, the clip holds up very well on repeat views. We’ve watched it dozens of times already on YouTube — Greta is obsessed with the rainbows! — and I still get misty-eyed at the ending every time.

Anyway, though I probably won’t be dashing across the pond to buy plush figures of these new mascots (if they even come in plush!) when the games begin, I do heartily approve of them in concept.

So, check out the first of what I’m assuming will be many videos celebrating the world’s next big Olympic mascots…and by all means, let the countdown to London 2012 begin!

Trailer Thursday: “Somewhere”

Well, so far, the only comment I got about the launch of Trailer Thursday were in regards to the name. So…I’m guessing you guys aren’t as excited about “Never Let Me Go” as I am. And that’s totally cool…see, the best thing about a regular weekly blog post about movie trailers is that eventually, you will be excited about one of my choices. Um…I hope.

That said, this week’s offering is the trailer for the upcoming film “Somewhere”. Written and directed by “Lost In Translation” Oscar-winner Sofia Coppola, “Somewhere” stars Stephen Dorff as an actor who’s life in the fast lane is thrown off course by a visit from his daughter, played by Elle Fanning. Hmmm…kinda makes you wonder if Sofia making a movie about Daddy, doesn’t it?

Well, even if it’s not a big old juicy expose about Papa Coppola, it is definitely a movie about fathers and daughters, and, as you can imagine, I’m all over that shit lately. So, sign me up!

And on top of all that, the movie looks absolutely gorgeous. Great new music from Phoenix, loads of hipster Hollywood locations, and Stephen Dorff finally getting a chance to prove he was worth all that early-career mega-hype…what’s not to love? Oh, before you answer that…Elle Fanning looks great too.

But more than anything, I just really dug the vibe of this trailer. Even in her lesser efforts, Coppola has always had style and mood to burn in her movies and “Somewhere” looks like it’s cut from the same dreamy, effortlessly-cool cloth. I mean, shit, even the poster is cool.

So, again, I cannot vouch for the movie itself until I see it this December, but, judging by the clip, I’d say the Oscar race has just gotten a lot more interesting. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Greta and I are gonna try and sneak into the pool at the Chateau Marmont…this heat is killing us!

Trailer Thursday: “Never Let Me Go”

Thanks to a certain video clip that our friend Danielle recommended for Greta, I have been spending a lot of time on YouTube these days and…wow, there are some cool-ass movie trailers out there! So, starting today, I am going to share my favorite new movie trailers with you every Thursday. Pretty exciting, huh?

To launch this bold, new venture I’ve chosen a trailer for the upcoming Oscar-bait drama, “Never Let Me Go”. Based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro — one of Christine’s favorite novelists, Ishiguro is probably most famous for writing “The Remains of the Day” — “Never Let Me Go” follows three characters from childhood to young adulthood in a mildly futuristic England where human clones are “grown” to adulthood and then harvested for their parts.

Most of that stuff is hinted at in the trailer, so, I hope I’m not giving too much away, but, wow, this book absolutely floored me! Yes, Wendy, I read a book, and it was beautiful. I actually dreamt about  this one several times while reading it and even now, I am totally haunted by the strange, delicate beauty of this novel. Seriously, if you haven’t read it, amigos, you gotta check it out. Amazing…

Or, you could just wait for the movie, which, judging by this awesome trailer, seems to capture at least some of the wistfulness of the book. My only concern about the movie is that it’s directed by Mark Romanek, who is a former music video guy and that always scares me a bit.

But when you have Oscar-nominees Carey Mulligan and Kiera Knightley starring alongside the dude who will be the next “Spiderman”, and a script from “The Beach” and “28 Days Later” scribe, Alex Garland, it’d be pretty hard for Romanek to screw this one up. That said, great books become horrible movies everyday in this town — um, hello, “Atonement” anyone? — so, you never know.

Either way, this trailer rocks. So, enjoy!

A night at the Saturn Awards…

I should start off by saying that, sadly, “Not Forgotten” came home from the 36th Annual Saturn Awards empty-handed on Thursday night. Sorry…

But one of the things I learned about attending my first big-time award show (as a nominee!) is that it really is an honor just to be nominated. I know that sounds cheesy, but it’s true. And seeing as the folks who put on the Saturn Awards are some of the coolest, geekiest, sci-fi, fantasy and horror fans imaginable (people like me!) I was even doubly honored.

Seriously, I have never felt more at home in a room full of Hollywood phonies, and that’s because these people were not your everyday Hollywood phonies.

No way, man, these folks were the real deal. That Starlight Ballroom was busting at the seams with talented, creative, film-loving freaks and geeks of every shape and size…and those people know how to party, yo!

This year, the Saturn Awards were held at the Castaway Restaurant in the hills overlooking Burbank…and if there was any doubt as to where you were when you got out of your car, the scads of little alien heads at the bar and the life size astronaut suit on the red carpet totally clued you in.

Still wondering what award show you were at? Well, perhaps you should ask that fellow over there in the Samurai Stormtrooper costume, or the man driving the moon buggy in a grungy space suit. I swear, amigos, I never stopped smiling all night…that place was fanboy heaven.

Rubbing shoulders with people like Sam Raimi, Leonard Nimoy, Billy Dee Williams, Guillermo Del Toro, Malcolm McDowell, the lovely Anna Torv from “Fringe”, cast members from “Heroes”, “Chuck” and “Breaking Bad”, iconic “The Greatest American Hero” star himself, William Katt, and actually being touched by the dude who played touch-happy Jacob on “Lost” (Mark Pellegrino)…I mean, shit, who needs an award with a line-up like that?

Of course, we would have loved to have won our category — we lost to Rod Lurie’s “Nothing But The Truth”, which includes no sci-fi, fantasy or horror to speak of — but, we were having too much fun to dwell on the loss for long. I mean, the food was great, the bar was wide open — Daddy had three mojitos and a chocolate vodka martini, but who’s counting? — and the vibe at the Castaway was awesome, so, what’s to complain about?

And on top of all that coolness, I managed to score two gift bags at the end of the night. Sure, I felt a little greedy lugging them around the after-party in the courtyard, but what can I say, I loves me some free shit. And when that free shit involves “King Kong” and “Avatar” DVD’s, well, all the better!

Thanks again for the nomination, guys…long live the Saturn Awards! To see a full list of this year’s Saturn Award winners, please click here.

And to see more of my super-nerdy pics please click here.

Debbie Gibson vs. Tiffany!

OMG, someone has hacked into my dreams and stolen one of my passion projects! How else could you explain the fact that my favorite 1980’s-era teen-pop princesses, Tiffany and Deborah “you’ll always be Debbie to me, chica” Gibson will be facing off in an upcoming movie on The SyFy Network?

That’s right, amigos, the two hottest “singers” of the 80’s are gonna face off in a SyFy Saturday Night Movie entitled “Mega Python vs. Gatoroid”. Yes, that is the actual title…but wait, it gets even more awesome. This is the outline of the film’s plot as revealed in yesterday’s Hollywood Reporter:

‘Gibson will play a fanatical animal-rights activist who frees illegally-imported exotic snakes from pet stores, sending them into the Everglades, where they grow to mega sizes. Tiffany will play an overzealous park ranger who uses dangerous methods to save endangered alligators. In the script, the pair brawl at a party, then take matters outside into the swamp.’

Wow…in my version they faced off in a mall, but a swamp totally works for me too. Seriously, I’m so excited about this thing, I’m setting my Tivo as I type. Awesome! And to the creators of what just might be the coolest TV movie ever, you’re welcome…and please stop hacking into my dreams.

Fake Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear commerical

OK, so, I’m sitting at my laptop nerding out on Facebook before bed tonight and I happen to see this very strange, totally retro commercial for something called a Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear. The first time the ad aired, I was like, weird, why are they playing that grainy ass-commercial on NBC? Then, fifteen minutes later, it played again and fifteen minutes after that, it played again!

At that point, I got kinda spooked (did I mention it was late at night?) and decided to Google this crazy toy I had never heard of…and guess what? The reason I have never heard of this cuddly little ’80’s icon is because he is actually a fictional toy/character in the upcoming Pixar release “Toy Story 3”! That’s right, amigos, Disney/Pixar has gone viral. Coolness!

And what a viral ad it is! The grainy VCR-era static, the costumes, hell, even the actors, I was convinced that this was some long-forgotton toy that I had never heard of. Seriously, the toy-collecting geek in me was all outraged that I never owned something as awesome as a freaking Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear, with strawberry scent no less! Crazy, I know, but it looked that real.

So, kudos to the rocking team at Pixar for crafting such a hilariously-real ad campaign for a fake toy from the ’80’s, and if you like the American commercial, check out the equally-realistic Japanese one below. So cool! I can’t wait to see what role the little ball of cuteness plays in the new movie…even he does turn out to be the villain!

John Waters night @ the Aratani

OK, I’ll say it…last night kinda rocked. Not only did Christine manage to score my friend Arturo and myself two free tickets to a super cool John Waters reading and booksigning event downtown, but, in between the reading and the signing, Mr. Waters was interviewed onstage by none other than Princess-freaking-Leia herself…Carrie Fisher!

Waters started the night off by reading some very funny selections from his new book “Role Models”, which is his literary tribute to the people, both famous and not, who inspired him during his lifetime. And the list of inspirational people truly runs the gamut here, with legendary crooner Johnny Mathis sharing equal space with a buxom Baltimore barmaid. Awesome!

And then, the real fun started when Carrie Fisher took the stage and the two talked like the old friends they are for the rest of the night. There was a brief Q&A peppered with the usual wacky questions from the crowd — one chick asked Waters about the quality of the mussels at some dive in Baltimore! — and then all the crazy folks in the Aratani/Japan America Theatre (myself and Arturo included) got into line to get their books signed.

Unlike most booksignings I’ve been too, Waters really took his time with his fans and lemme tell ya, they ate it up. People brought him gifts of food, music, movies, you name it, it was there on the table beside him.

So, yeah, we waited in line for a long-ass time, but, wow, what a line it was. Drag queens, older gay men, younger gay men, lesbians, hipsters, Hollywood types, four very strange people in wheelchairs, two people hobbling around on broke-ass crutches, Johnny Knoxville (yep, he was there too!) and a morbidly obese one-armed woman in a halter top. I’m not kidding, amigos, that line looked like a John Waters movie come to life!

When we finally reached the amazing Mr. Waters he looked a little tired from all the craziness, but, ever the trooper, he not only signed, but, personalized both of our books, posed for individual pics with each of us and even signed my DVD copy of his film “Cecil B. Demented”. Hooray!

Now, if I could have just talked Carrie Fisher into signing the lightsaber collection in my backpack, all would truly have been right with the world…

“Not Forgotten” on Showtime

Just found out that “Not Forgotten” had it’s pay-cable debut last night on Showtime. Yay! We don’t have Showtime, but, for those who do, “Not Forgotten” plays several times over the next couple of weeks on the networks of Showtime and will be available at Showtime On Demand through the end of the month.

Finally, those of you who missed “Not Forgotten” on the big screen and on DVD and Blu-Ray will have one more chance to see my movie. Whew! 🙂 Oh yeah, and if you really don’t know anyone with Showtime, you could always watch it on NetFlix On Demand, like my brother-in-law did today. Thanks, Rob!

To see the complete schedule of “NF” air dates on Showtime, click here. And if I could just say one last super nerdy thing before I sign off…how cool is it that my movie was the lead-in tonight for groovy, award-magnet shows like “Nurse Jackie” and “United States of Tara”? Awesome!!

Woody Allen @ Cannes (2010)

I know I said I wouldn’t geek out too much about Cannes this year, but, just wanted to post some pics of my boy (or should I say, old man) Woody Allen, who premiered his 41st motion picture over the weekend at the festival. Forty-one movies!? Wow, even if half of them suck ass, that is some batting record, man…

Entitled “You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger”, Allen’s latest stars Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, Gemma Jones and “Slumdog Millionaire” hottie, Freida Pinto. And like several of the Woodman’s recent flicks, this one was shot in London, so, here’s hoping it’s more like “Match Point” than his God-awful “Cassandra’s Dream”. Urgh…that movie suuuuucked!

Another interesting thing I read today is that Allen’s movies always screen out of competition at Cannes at his request. Cool, huh? I mean, say what you will about the dude, that is a very non-Hollywood thing to do…so, rock on Woody!

Emerging from a curling haze…

Aside from their crazy-lame handling of the Closing Ceremonies last night, Christine and I loved everything NBC aired from Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Games, but most of all, we loved the curling. It might not get the prime time coverage it totally deserves, but, trust me, amigos, this was the year that curling finally came into it’s own.

I know that on the surface it looks like kind of a goofy Olympic event — I mean, seriously, aside from Quidditch, what other sport involves prominent broom-usage? — but sit down and watch a match or two, learn the basic rules and the marquee players and I guarantee you, you’ll be hooked.

We’ve been fans since Nagano, but this is the first year we were able to Tivo and watch every match — probably because this was the first year the networks of NBC actually aired EVERY match — played at the Vancouver Olympic Centre. And if you think I’m kidding about the “every” comment, take a look at our poor, battered Tivo next time you come over. I swear, man, that thing was smoking at one point last week…insanity!

Anyway, having watched every match, I can tell you with some authority that this was a hell of a Curling Bonspiel, my friends. I kid you not, those games were dramatic as all get out.

When the American Men’s Team starting losing too many games in a row, their slacker team skip, John Shuster was benched. Benched! Crazy. And guess what happened then? The American Men actually won a game. Even crazier! But instead of sticking to the new lineup for a few games, the men brought Shuster back for the following game and the men ended up losing every other match-up at the Olympics except for one fluke win over Sweden.

In fact, they were such awful curlers (and such bad sports about it!) that Shuster was actually heard uttering the phrase: “Man, I hate this stupid game.” during their last match with Team China. Are you serious, dude? If you hate the game that much, then QUIT! But while you’re wearing a freaking microphone on the world stage…shut the hell up already! Yikes…stuff like that makes us all look bad.

The American Women weren’t much better, but they did seem to have some genuine team spirit and their skip, Debbie McCormick was kind of a cutie, even if she curled for shit. So, after the American teams went down in flames, Christine and I began rooting for some of our other favorites from past Olympics.

The Veterans on the Men’s Team from Great Britain rocked, but the real story from the UK was the 19-year-old Women’s skip, Eve Muirhead, who was not only cute as hell, but she was also a damn fine curler. She was really fun to watch — not to mention listen to, her Scottish accent ruled! — and I’m sure Muirhead and her team will only get better as they gear up for Russia in 2014.

Also very fun to watch was the Japanese Women’s Team, who had more spunk and spirit in their little black brooms than our American Men and Women’s Teams combined. Seriously, these girls rocked it on the ice!

But the biggest story of the Bonspiel were the two Canadian teams. Led by their bad-ass skip, Kevin Martin, the Canadian men took home the Gold for Canada after one of the most exciting Gold Medal matches in history. Wow, their final game with Norway was a real nail-biter…so exciting! And the Norwegian Team’s already-legendary pants made the whole thing even more so. Gotta love those guys too…crazy pants or not, they are some damn fine curlers!

The Canadian Women rocked it too, but ended up taking home a Silver Medal after their shocking last-minute loss to Team Sweden. And though we felt bad for Cheryl Bernard and her girls losing the Gold on home turf, I gotta say, it was really exciting to see our favorite team of all time take home their second straight Olympic Gold Medal.

That’s right, amigos, Team Sweden, led by their epically-talented skip, Anette Norberg, made curling history by winning their second straight Curling Gold. Crazy, huh? I don’t even think any of the men’s teams have done that yet! Awesome. And they thought they were rock stars before…I can only imagine the reception that Norberg and her girls got back home. Wow…go, Sweden!

Oooo…and speaking of Sweden, I gotta give props to the Swedish Men’s team too. All of the dudes on that team are under 25-years-old, which is really young in curling, but those guys kicked butt. Sure, they lost the Bronze to Switzerland, but they played like curling God’s out there. So cool to watch…I can’t wait to see them come back even stronger in Russia when they’ll all still be well under 30-years-old. Wow…wish I could say the same!

Anyway, anyone who has actually bothered to read to the end of this post must be a curling superfan like ourselves, so, feel free to comment away. We’d love to hear what you thought of the games and which teams you were rooting for in Vancouver…even if you don’t agree with us!

NBC blows it again!

Allow me first to set the scene…Greta was asleep, Christine and I were sitting on the couch a good two-and-a-half hours into NBC’s coverage of the Closing Ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympic Games. We were tired, bleary-eyed from laughing, crying, and realizing that tomorrow morning we would have to emerge from our Olympic cocoon and face real life.

And then, just as Michael Buble (wow, is everyone Canadian?) and hundreds of hot, dancing Mountie chicks were wrapping up a rousing version of “O, Canada”, Bob Costas informed us that the network was now cutting away from their coverage — yes, you heard me, cutting away from their fake-live coverage! — to air a sneak preview episode of Jerry Seinfeld’s cheesy-ass new reality show, “The Marriage Ref”. What the hell? Say it ain’t so, Bob!

But, sadly, it was so…and like millions of American television viewers, we did not set our Tivo for NBC’s impromtu hour-long intermission, so, we missed the entire last hour of the Closing Ceremonies. Thanks, NBC!

What really pisses me off is that I checked the Tivo on Saturday night and there was no mention of a one-hour break in the Closing Ceremonies coverage at all. Which means that NBC, in their never-ending quest for total ineptitude decided to make the old switcheroo at the last minute and force feed their loyal Olympic viewers a meal of straight-up dog shit. Sorry, but that’s how it felt. After sixteen days of watching nothing but the networks of NBC, having them pull a stunt like that was like a freaking slap in the face…

And the worst thing was that our Tivo cut-off midway through “The Marriage Ref”…actually, that’s probably a good thing because that show looks super lame. But I’m sorry, NBC, you just don’t cut off something like the Closing Ceremonies at the Olympics to air a reality show. It’s disrespectful to your viewers, to Canada and hell, to the freaking Olympics in general. Seriously, I wanna write a letter to the IOC and get the games switched to another network next time…yikes…

On their website last night, the AP called NBC’s decision to cut off the Closing Ceremonies “spectacularly wrong-headed” and continued on to say that: “those enjoying the festivities were told to come back in an hour — at 11:30 p.m. on a night before work or school — for the conclusion. Incredible that NBC would wrap a show it has high hopes for, and one of its biggest stars, in ill will.”

We could not agree more. Suck it, NBC…