OKAY...So I get off my 8 am, day before Thanksgiving flight, and see this nice lady sitting behind a folding table at the miniscule Dallas-Love airport bookstore. I do a double-take, and it's US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. I go the restroom, decide this is a photo-worthy event, and even better, an excuse to use one of the many lovely functions of my iPhone.

I could think of no pithy/politically provocative statements to make, so instead asked to take her picture, shook her hand, and asked her to keep doing a good job. L-A-M-E.

No, I did not buy a book. From what I can tell KBH is not high on the Al Qaeda hit list, either. She had one PR rep with her, from what I could tell, and I could have taken him easy.

The Search for Animal Chin (I of IV)

First 20 minutes of The Search for Animal Chin--the movie that changed EVERYTHING!

Hey yo. I just added links to my Pandora stations over on the left at the bottom. Pandora, if you haven't used it, is an excellent internet radio program and a great way to find new music.

Why We Fight

This is a nuts and bolts but well produced explanation of what the writers are striking for.

“The wave . . . is the only visible embodiment of what physicists tell us all matter is composed of, which is particles held together by some kind of magnetic or molecular force. And that’s what makes the waves move...And if God were trying to reach out to us, and teach us something about the deepest nature of matter, he might use some drugged-out surfers.”--David Milch



The show has been over for months. And I never did really think it was "good." But my how I miss John from Cincinnati.

Here's a not so flattering New Yorker piece on it: ">Dead in the Water.

Terrific video from screenwriter Harlan Ellison that explains dynamics of what writers are striking for.

The Office is Closed

The Office is Closed

Actually, The Office is on strike. This is a great video featuring writers, producers, performers from The Office explaining the strike.

I HEART THE INTERNET.

Amazing. My iPod broke. I got the sad iPod icon, meaning I had hardware "issues" and needed to send the thing in or bring it by a store. I wept.

Then here's a great example of the symbiosis between old and new media. Last night I check the NYT homepage and there's this article: Don’t Throw Out Your Broken iPod; Fix It via the Web


Then I find the page (this one on CrunchGear), and with the help of a Swiss Army Knife, and a folded up business card, my iPod works.

Sure, it's a little rough around the edges, but so am I.

Decline of Western Civilization

Eugene rules!

The Sopranos Final Scene

TRIUMPH OF THE WILL - RECENTLY DISCOVERED DIRECTOR'S CUT

Omigod this is funny. I'm not a skinhead, just a film nerd who likes hip-hop. Therefore, I can appreciate this nice bit of appropriation--though I have to admit I think it might serve to "cool" Hitler--which is scary.

At long last, fantasy football for television dorks!

Television Without Pity has created "TVBigShot" where you can buy TV shows and compete against other "network" line-ups. Too bad you can't play around with your own scheduling...that would really be fun. Basically, you're dependent upon Nielsen ratings, though there are some other ways your shows can get points. For example, if a star gets on a magazine cover, or an actor wins an award.

OKAY....I've finally found something parodic that I feel guilty about laughing at. Clearly this crosses a line or two...But it feels so good to cross those lines.

ONION NEWS NETWORK: MISSING GIRL PROBABLY RAPED


Missing Girl Probably Raped

ODE TO OWEN, PART ONE.

two greats who go great together...LIVING THE DREAM, LIVING THE DREAM...Now bring it in for the real thing.

Owen Wilson - Don't Give Up On Us

FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS ANGRY DANCE EP 12

Bret does the angry dance. Kicks Kevin Bacon butt. Nuff said.

TODAY'S THEME: 1990S MUSIC VIDEOS STARRING JOHNNY DEPP

"He got an agent and a roadie named Bart."

Lemonheads - It's A Shame About Ray

Look for Johnny Depp in this video...and really, it is a shame about Ray.

JUST BECAUSE I CUT MY HAIR. I NEEDED TO BE MORE AERODYNAMIC.

SCTV - Ingmar Bergman Movie

SCTV ON BERGMAN

Watch Count Floyd's Scary "Burgman" movie.

WOODY ALLEN ON BERGMAN IN NY TIMES:

"I have joked about art being the intellectual’s Catholicism, that is, a wishful belief in an afterlife. Better than to live on in the hearts and minds of the public is to live on in one’s apartment, is how I put it. And certainly Bergman’s movies will live on and will be viewed at museums and on TV and sold on DVDs, but knowing him, this was meager compensation, and I am sure he would have been only too glad to barter each one of his films for an additional year of life."

SCORSESE ON ANTONIONI IN NYTIMES:

"The people Antonioni was dealing with, quite similar to the people in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels (of which I later discovered that Antonioni was very fond), were about as foreign to my own life as it was possible to be. But in the end that seemed unimportant. I was mesmerized by “L’Avventura” and by Antonioni’s subsequent films, and it was the fact that they were unresolved in any conventional sense that kept drawing me back. They posed mysteries — or rather the mystery, of who we are, what we are, to each other, to ourselves, to time. You could say that Antonioni was looking directly at the mysteries of the soul. That’s why I kept going back. I wanted to keep experiencing these pictures, wandering through them. I still do."

This about sums it up, doesn't it?

ANTONIONI is dead, but this scene from BlowUp remains one of my favorite film moments ever. I think it's mesmerizing. I love how the crowd is all standing super cool, staring at the band. And Jimmy Page kills. Then the crowd goes nuts. The protagonist stumbles out, carrying the broken guitar neck, and the movie goes on. Awesome.

You will want to be heading on over to "simpsonizeme.com" in order to upload a photo and, yes, simpsonize yo self. It's worth it. Tell your friends you met Matt Groening and he did it for you. Suffer their wrath when they find out any sap can go to this site sponsored by Burger King and do it themselves.

Vin Diesel - Breakdancing Machine

This video is kinda cool because it's Vin Diesel breakdancing, but it's REALLY cool because you can pick up some sweet dance moves from the directions.

I've got a post up on In Media Res (part of the Media Commons site) on South Park. Please check it out. It's in reference to an essay I've written about South Park as carnivalesque sitcom, and the carnivalesque as a cultural mode which can treat controversial content while appealing across political categories...basically.

The essay is part of a book I'm co-editing with Jonathan Gray and Jeffrey Jones, currently titled The State of Satire and the Politics of TV Parody. If you can come up with a snappier title, I'm all ears! We just got a contract from NYU Press, happily.

Anyway, check out the clip and comment. The clip is actually from a CNN story about the "Snuke" episode of the show.

IS A SNUKE IN A SNIZ MORE THAN A SNUKE IN A SNIZ?

1 FutureSex/LoveSound Justin Timberlake 2 Heinrich Maneuver Interpol 3 Computer Camp Love Datarock 4 No Cars Go Arcade Fire 5 Hotel Song Regina Spektor 6 Icky Thump The White Stripes 7 Tonight I Have to Leave It (Kleerup remix) Shout Out Louds 8 The Underdog Spoon 9 Going Missing Maximo Park 10 Workinonit J Dilla 11 I Am A Tree Guided By Voices 12 Apartment Story The National 13 The Only One I Know Ft. Robbie Williams Mark Ronson 14 To Hell With Good Intentions Mclusky 15 Postcard From A Dark Star (Arkham Remix) Merz

VIRTUAL FUNERAL CRASHING

So, check this out...

World of Warcraft hardcore gamer dies. In real life.

Gamers friends who can't attend "real" funeral decide to stage funeral online for her, with caveat that no one is allowed to bring weapons.

Other gamers get wind of this. Show up, definitely with weapons, and massacre the mourners. Then make a video about it and put it on YouTube.

Awesome.

Live by the virtual sword, die by the virtual sword.



check out the discussion at In Media Res:

Check me out, the star of the local TV news.


http://www.kiiitv.com/news/local/8623022.html

The story is in response to a study suggesting teens don't pay attention to the news as they did in the past. My point: Did they ever?

Click on the link for video and watch me do my magic.

The Plimsouls - A Million Miles Away (Valley Girl - 1983)

A great song...keep an eye out for some early Oakley blades on a crowd member...

TUNE IN TO KEYS WEEKEND MAGAZINE

1440 AM
11:00 am for the Movie Hour

The Film Crew will discuss Valley Girl, a movie that is a true 1980s time capsule.

I am suggesting the creation of a Valley Girl Drinking Game.

Someone says "like" - Drink
Someone says "tubular" - Finish your drink.
If you're wearing a polo shirt, turn up the color, tuck it in, and finish your drink.

Further suggestions welcome.

Surf-Side Realty Commercial

Television overflow, RULES! Keep it up, HBO. And hopefully put some more effort into making John the great show it should be.

Flight of the Conchords: ''Most Beautiful Girl in the Room''

No. Really. YOU COULD BE A PARTTIME MODEL. Really.

TO ALL MY SOUTH TX PEEPS...

Tune in this Saturday at 10 pm to KEDT, Channel 16, for the third episode of THE TERRITORY. Goodness knows you have nothing better to do on a Saturday night. This is an excellent episode..."Geopolitics and the Personal"

Includes "Offside" a great short film about a border showdown with only a soccer game as narrative soundtrack..."Les Skateurs" an observational doc about teen skaters in Morocco..."Sadiq" another great short film about soldiers holding a prisoner..."Silent Companion" another great short film from the mideast about tradition in the midst of war..."Souvenir" an interesting combination of low technology and high form...PLUS LOADS OF PROVOCATIVE INTELLECTUAL COMMENT FROM ME, Bill Huie, and Deborah Fullerton.

ALSO, tune in to the KEYS Weekend Magazine Film Hour at 11 am this Saturday, 1440 am.

MISSING SCENE FROM KNOCKED UP:

TAKE THAT, ANG LEE!

Very candid conversation about what's missing in Brokeback Mountain.

Kudos to John Frankfurt for sending me these links to the lost clips from John Cassavettes' Shadows, one of my favorite movies. The evil Gena Rowlands won't allow these to be released officially. Highly annoying watermarks, but what are you going to do?


Opening

Next Clip

And another

YO JO-JESSICA!

I'm finally taking this video down off my myspace profile, but not before posting it here.

SNL - Hip Hop Kids

Don't miss George McGovern's smackdown of Big Dick Cheney. Here is a man with some things to get off his chest.

Here's a taste: "We, of course, already know that when Cheney endorses a war, he exempts himself from participation. On second thought, maybe it's wise to keep Cheney off the battlefield — he might end up shooting his comrades rather than the enemy."

This Saturday at 11 am, I will be on the KEYS 1440 AM Weekend Magazine discussing Dr. Strangelove.

Also, this years airdates for the Territory are as follows:

KEDT, Channel 16, Saturdays @ 10pm.

May 19
May 26
June 16
June 23
June 30

Alec Baldwin is great on 30 Rock, but man do his parenting skills suck. Listen to his phone message to his daughter: "You don’t have the brains or the decency...I don’t care that you’re 12 or 11 years old.” Ouch! But hey, those Hollywood kids are so damn precocious, she can handle it.

Interesting backstage footage of Colbert Report with Colbert talking (out of character) with John Kerry. Colbert: "I will be in character. I am an idiot." This is from a TalkingPointsMemo.com interview with Kerry, so it's a couple of minutes before you get to the footage.



enjoy.

PULITZER PRIZE WINNERS: HOT OR NOT?

Cormac McCarthy has now won the Pulitzer for The Road, but how many stars does he rate on a hot or not scale? Entry from The Huffington Post rating the relative hotness of the Pulitzer winners.

I watched Battlestar Galactica the miniseries this weekend, and it was great. I watched it all in one sitting on Saturday afternoon, and I was really impressed. I can’t imagine that I’ll have anything academically interesting to say about it, so for now I’m turning off the critic switch and just enjoying it. It’s such great entertainment--the combination of drama/soap and action and FX is just great. Plus, it’s way sexier than I imagined. I expected some man/robot love, but I didn’t expect it to be so hot! I love all the characters...nuanced, compelling, and interesting dynamics between them. So, needless to say, the rest of series 1 is in my Netflix queue, my DVR is set to record all episodes, and I think I’ll make 1 and 2 in by the time I’ve got all of them to watch. Maybe they’ll do a parody episode I can write about...

After one week of resistance, I broke down last night and re-subscribed to HBO. I couldn’t download the new episodes of the Sopranos as easily as I hoped, so I’m back onboard. And it’s great as well. I’m showing last night’s episode in class today, along with the Tom Ford/Jeff Koons episode of Iconoclasts. It’s “quality TV” week, and next week is “postmodern TV” so those seemed like good choices. I’ve been dying to do something with the Ford/Koons thing for a while.

That Cormac McCarthy book, The Road, that makes a nice companion piece to Children of Men, got anointed by Oprah’s Book Club, and now it’s the number one bestseller. I hope he doesn’t go all Jonathan Franzen elitist and balk at Oprah. I think he’s too old to do that, probably. As a matter of fact, I think I might pair The Road and Children of Men for a week in my Media War seminar next year.

My new favorite song is “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne. I heard her perform it on SNL, and immediately got up to download it. I tried to temper this with also downloading the new Nine Inch Nails. Not that shameless pop music needs tempering. I will quote an unnamed colleague on this: “on the one hand this a reaffirmation of our masculinity through pop connoisseurship--but no doubt it is also a reaffirmation of our lechery through pop tart connoisseurship.” There it is, indeed.