I'll stop with all the trailers

but seriously.

We should have gone to Hawaii. This looks like a horrible joke.

Everybody's Fine!

It's basically The Corrections: The Movie. This is definitely a terrible trailer, again. Stop making these terrible trailers. I still would consider seeing it for the always delightful Sam Rockwell. Seriously, that guy could sell me on anything.

Poster

This is a poster that I made. It feels a lot more African than I wanted it to. Not my best work. Anyway, feel free to stop by.

The Corrections

When Alex said we should read The Corrections, outwardly I was like, "Okay." Inwardly I was like, ":(" because it had been sitting on my bookshelf, taunting me, for like two years now. I lugged that thing to college and back and never even opened it. I'd kind of resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't ever going to read it, but I'm glad that I did. Good book club choice, Alex! I ended up loving The Corrections.
Which isn't to say it was all roses. I don't really enjoy criticizing things, because as someone who's never written a book or a movie, I don't feel like I'm qualified to judge what someone else did. Which is why I was a horrible English major and would be a God-awful critic. Regardless, I had some serious problems with The Corrections when I began it. Namely,the violently anti-Midwest sentiment! Which, yes, I know, was part of Gary's character and not necessarily a reflection of what Jonathan Franzen himself thinks. But seriously. Take this paragraph:

"The midmorning light of a late-winter thaw, the stillness of a weekday nonhour in St. Jude, Gary wondered how his parents stood it. The sky was the same color as the salt-white pavement on which elderly St. Judean drivers obeying barbituate speed limits were crawling to their destinations: to malls with pools of meltwater on their papered roofs, to the arterial that overlooked puddled steel yards and the state mental hospital and transmission towers feeding soaps and game shows to the ether; to the beltways and, beyond them, to a million acres of thawing hinterland where pickups were axle-deep in clay and .22s were fired in the woods and only gospel and pedal steel guitars were on the radio; to residential blocks with the same pallid glare in every window, besquirreled yellow lawns with a random plastic toy or two embedded in the dirt, a mailman whistling something Celtic and slamming mailboxes harder than he had to, because the deadness of these streets at such a nonhour, in such a nonseason, could honestly kill you."

Well, okay then, what's the point of even living? I know I meant for this paragraph to illustrate how much I hated certain parts of The Corrections, but what this actually shows is that The Corrections is so depressing because it's so well written and so, unfortunately, true to life. It was a good book! But it made me sad. Here's hoping that The Moviegoer will be a bit lighter (figuratively. Literally it is about half the weight of The Corrections). As always, feel free to read along with us and check back at the end of the month for our super-insightful reviews (usually something like "I enjoyed this").

Winfrey Family Book Club: The Corrections

Going into The Corrections, I knew very little about the book other than that it was supposed to be really good and that most people probably don't really read it. I actually took the book with me on a Winfrey Family vacation. Obviously I didn't read it and that's probably for the best, because this book is a little bit of a downer. Like, maybe you'll be depressed for a couple days. That type of a downer.

You'll notice that there is no grade at the beginning or the end of this post. That's because Winfreys don't believe in assigning grades to art. But if I was going to assign a grade, you know, it would probably be an A+. It was really good. Yes, there were parts of the book that interested me much less than others. However, even these parts (Chip in Lithuania) that I tried to convince myself I was bored with, were still interesting. There were some really stressful parts too. Actually, the whole book was really stressful, but particularly Gary's house and the cruise ship. Of course there was some weird sex and **SPOILER ALERT** some weird talking turds, but that's to be expected.

The coolest part about the book was Jonathan Franzen's ability to write convincingly for such a wide variety of characters (which I guess is what writers do?) He also managed to write a novel about white-upperclass angst, and still make it seem interesting and important (and not dumb). One of my favorite scenes of the novel was when young Chip was forced to stay at the kitchen table and finish his dinner, which we often had to do.

Chipper heard and saw things but they were all in his head. After three hours, the objects surrounding him were as drained of flavor as old bubble gum. His mental states were strong by comparison and overwhelmed them. It would have taken an effort of will, a reawakening, to summon the term "place mat" and apply it to the visual field that he had observed so intensely that its reality had dissolved in the observing, or to apply the word "furnace" to the rustle in the ducts which in its recurrence had assumed the character of an emotional state or an actor in his imagination, an embodiment of Evil Time. The faint fluctuations in the light as someone ironed and someone played and someone experimented and the refrigerator cycled on and off had been part of the dream. This changefulness, though barely noticeable, had been a torment. But it had stopped now.

In conclusion, this book probably did everything that it was supposed to do, and I'm not smart enough to really say anything else about it. I like it a lot, and I'm glad I read it.

NEXT MONTH'S BOOK IS THE MOVIEGOER by WALKER PERCY. Kerry and I have yet to determine the weekly page amount, but it will be significantly less than what we did for The Corrections.

It's Halloween Weekend.

I hope everyone has a good one!

Bob Odenkirk

Bob Odenkirk is such a tragic figure. He's like, one of the funniest people on the planet, and yet he has trouble getting projects made. I was reading an old blog entry of his, and he was talking about how he was so excited that he was working on a new show with David Cross. Because I am from the future, I know that this show did not get picked up. Also, he always talks about how much he loved Derek and Simon: The Show, but no one watched it. Well guess what, Bob. This clip's for you.

Watch it, and like it.

Wowza, this looks bad.

Thank god it vibrates, right? Dumb joke alert.

Michael Caine

Do you remember a long time ago, when I said I was turning this into a fashion blog where I would highlight my favorite men's styles? Well, I forgot about that. Until now.
This is a favorite look of mine (and Alex's). It's Michael Caine in Hannah and Her Sisters, one of my favorite movies (and not one of Alex's).

There aren't even words for that hairstyle. And this coat?


Get outta town. That coat's amazing. I only wish I could find footage of him running while wearing it.
Michael Caine: fashion icon. Maybe someday this look will appear at Urban Outfitters, and all the young dudes will start looking like Michael Caine...but probably not, because I can't imagine anyone wearing that coat. Maybe this sweater, though!

It's these jokers again.

This time they review a Karen O song from the Where The Wild Things Are soundtrack. They like it, which is kind of rare.

Zelig

I done did it: I got a Netflix account. Now I'm wondering why I didn't do this long ago. I've filled my "queue" (I hate that word) with some real gems, like Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (written, of course, by the great Roger Ebert). But my first choice was Zelig by Woody Allen.
It's not the most popular Woody Allen film, likely because it's really weird. It's a mockumentary about Leonard Zelig, a "human chameleon" who finds himself transforming into whoever is near him, be that person obese, handicapped, or an entirely different race. Woody Allen used bluescreen technology to place himself, as Zelig, into historical footage with old movie stars, sports stars, and, in one instance, Hitler. Mia Farrow plays a lady-doctor who takes on Zelig's case and, as is true of most Woody-Mia stories, ends up falling in love.
It's hard to come up with an opinion on this. On the one hand, it's clear that an enormous amount of time went into Zelig. In just the time it took to edit the film, Woody Allen made two OTHER movies (he is nothing if not productive). In addition to the technical aspects, there are multiple songs written about Zelig, as well as interviews with such literary greats as Susan Sontag and Saul Bellow. On the other hand, the movie doesn't really do a lot. I mean, there isn't much of a plot, really, but it's supposed to be a documentary. I laughed a lot, though, and Alex probably would too if he didn't hate Woody Allen so much. That's a shame, because the silly humor is pretty similar to David Wain's.
Here's a clip of some of the famous people interviews at the beginning of Zelig. I'm not sure who posted this video on youtube, but if you read the information on the page it seems like it was posted for a school assignment, possibly for an English as a Second Language film course. What a weird movie to watch for that purpose. And, really, the discussion question ("Do you like Woody Allen movies? Please explain") is a little weak.

This picture blew my mind.

I already thought that Edgar Wright looked a lot like Jason Reitman, and then I found this picture. The dudes are identical. They should just go as each other for Halloween. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is going to be great. Don't believe me? Watch this video.

*Bonus* Blog - Hula - Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World from Scott Pilgrim The Movie on Vimeo.

Hall and Oates!

Winfreys love Hall and Oates. It's one of the few things we can all agree on. But I realized that I don't really know much about Mr. Hall and Mr. Oates; I just knew their beautiful harmonies. Until I found this article, which is itself about another article, one from a 1985 issue of Rolling Stone where Daryl Hall makes some weird, incriminating statements about the band and his sexuality. Oates, for his part, shrugs it off (actual quote: "Oates shrugs it off.").
The weirdest statement comes from Hall after the interviewer asks if he and Oates ever hooked up (an aside: why would you ask that question? Aren't we all better off assuming that they did not?): "The idea of sex with a man doesn't turn me off, but I don't express it. I satisfied my curiosity about that years ago. I had lots of sex between the ages of three or four and the time I was fourteen or fifteen. Strange experiences with older boys. But men don't particularly turn me on. And, no, John and I have never been lovers. He's not my type. Too short and dark."
Strange experiences with older boys? Tell us more, Hall! Alas, the interview quickly turns to different subjects, most of them just as controversial (Hall says he's the best singer he knows, he compares the duo to the Beatles), some not so controversial (did you know they did a tour sponsored by a chewing gum?). Through it all, Hall eats pasta. Oates shrugs. It's compelling stuff.

Those were different times.

This movie got a PG rating. I don't think a movie can get a PG rating if it even has "blood" in the title today. Also, is this the best narrator in the history of movie trailers? I think so.

American Movie

American Movie is a really amazing documentary, and you can watch it online for free! Check it out if you haven't seen it before.

Pretty Neat

Interlude I—Dream Sequence in Subi Circumnavigation from Asthmatic Kitty on Vimeo.

I wonder if Chase knows about this yet. It's been around for a while now. It won't be long before someone tries to recruit Sufjan Stevens to do a film score. He'll probably say no.

Makingof

Makingof is one of my all time favorite websites, and I've meant to make a post about it for a while, but I keep forgetting. It's such a great website! Who came up with such a great idea? Oh, Natalie Portman.

She's an angel. Anyway, this could become the greatest website in the world. Interviews are something that I spend way too much time on, whether it's podcasts or commentaries, and now there's this website. Thanks Natalie Portman. I really hope that they keep adding to all of these great interviews. Here's an interview with my favorite director, David Gordon Green.

So what?

This song's old. That doesn't mean I haven't been listening to it a lot lately.

I've got some things to say.

I've been seeing this trailer a lot. Every movie I go to shows this trailer, which makes sense, because who's the audience for this movie? Anyone they can trick into going to see it. I've been feeling a lot of hate toward this movie, but yesterday I realized that all of this hatred was unfair. I still don't care about this movie, but I don't hate it. I realized that if this movie were to come on television, and it was raining or something, I might watch it. Kathy Bates is in it. I could see myself being drawn into the story the same way I am drawn into AOL news stories (Is this costume offensive?) I realized that everything that made me upset was based on the trailer alone.

Let's look at the trailer. It could be placed in an episode of SNL that Sandra Bullock was guest-hosting, and I think it would get some serious laughs. It does everything the movie does. This thing is practically a short film! A trailer should not have this many people in it! At this point, I know every character in the film, and every plot point. I'm sure John Lee Hancock is a proficient director and everything (did anyone see The Rookie? I didn't), and I'm sure his film is okay, but who did this? Someone was payed to create this trailer. It's disgusting that they have so little respect for their audience. What happened to trailers you guys?

It's hard to believe that there was ever a time when this was an acceptable trailer. Isn't Alien great?

Winfreys recommend.

I was home this weekend, and you'd better believe I did some cooking. I decided to go with Michael Symon's recipe for Honey Brined Chicken with Lemon and Sage, and it was so good. Also, it was really easy to make. Just put it in the brine the night before you cook it, and then put it in the oven. It was extremely tender and flavorful. Simple and delicious. A tip of the hat to you, Mr. Symon. I also made buttermilk biscuits, and some roasted asparagus. For dessert, I made Tyler Florence's chocolate mousse, which was also very good.

Finally!

The A.V. Club interviewed Bronson Pinchot. The entire thing is great, but what really surprised me is what a nice, normal person he sounds like. He's just very laid back, but also unafraid to shit talk people that are jerks. My favorite quote: "It’s a good lesson, because anything that looks “charming,” if you scratch the surface, there’s going to be fudge." How true.

Dr. Dog

I went to two shows this weekend. That's not a normal thing for me. Alex already covered the Sunset Rubdown show, and the only thing he left out was how I was super sleepy and could barely keep my eyes open at the end. I'm old! The other show I went to this weekend was Dr. Dog at the Beachland in Cleveland. The Beachland was very weird, old, and slightly dirty looking, but very nice in its own way. Which is kind of how I feel about Cleveland as a whole.
This was one of the best shows I've ever been to, and I've seen Weird Al in concert so that's saying something! But seriously, I've also seen Dashboard Confessional! BUT FOR REAL. Dr. Dog were phenomenal and, strangely enough, really high energy. If you read anything about them on the internet, you can't escape the Zombies/Beach Boys comparisons, but they have a lot more edge than a straightforward pop band. They're like the most melodic Beatles song and the trippiest Beatles song and the hardest Beatles song all put together. They started out with Worst Trip, which was the best song to start with. It also would've been the best song to end with, and the best song to have in the middle (it's the best song). It took awhile to grow on me for some reason, but I love it now.

They also played a sped-up version of Oh No, which I liked better than the album version, which you can watch here at your own risk.

The crowd was into it and only about 10 percent douchebags. Most of the girls looked like this

and all the guys looked like this

and the lead singer dressed like Andy Capp

Baby Fartz

Just noticed the baby and fart shortage on the blog. Killed two birds with one fart.

Where The Wild Things Are

Winfreys have a weird relationship with film criticism. We love reading movie reviews, but few things make us more mad (at least this Winfrey). At this point, we've all seen Where The Wild Things are, and we realize that it was a really great film. Well, I've been slowly stoking the hate fire all weekend by reading reviews for it. I loved this movie. It's definitely an important movie, and people that don't like it just don't like it, and that's fine or whatever.

What's not fine or whatever is people that don't understand film criticism. You can't give this film a negative review because it isn't something else. This is like asking Papa Winfrey what he thought of the pork chop he had for dinner. He's not going to like it, and nothing he says about it is going to change the pork chop, and he realizes this. Obviously people are going to have opinions and feelings about a movie (especially an adaptation), but regardless of what they say, the film is in its final form, and it will never change.

There are people that say the film isn't whimsical enough, or don't like the furry suits, or didn't like the narrative structure, or didn't like the color scheme. There are entire reviews that consist of, "Well the hipsters are going to love this one." And shouldn't people review this as a film, not as whatever they would have done with the adaptation? It's so frustrating to see a movie that is so completely different from anything that you've ever seen before, and then go home and read reviews that criticize everything that is unique about it, and go on to make suggestions on how to improve the film. I always wonder what the detractors of classic films had to say when they were first released.

I really do feel like this will become a classic film. It's one of the most visceral and emotionally complicated movies that I have seen in a long time, and I'm sure that you've already all seen it, but if you haven't you really should. Even if you don't like it, it's something pretty to look at for 101 minutes.

Sunset Rubdown: Live

Kerry and I went to see Sunset Rubdown on Sunday, and it was a sweet show. It was also a really weird show. Every road in Columbus was closed. A girl passed out at our feet, and I had to spring into action (go get a bartender). Also, Fred Armisen was there (at least someone that looked like him). The guy behind me occasionally wafted BO into my face, and it smelled like hotdogs. The venue was super weird, and I don't know if I would really recommend it. The sound wasn't the best, and you couldn't really see anything.

It was still awesome, and there was no crowd surfing (a legitimate fear of Kerry's). The band that opened was Newvillager, but don't let their name fool you, they don't suck. Seriously, I liked them a lot, but they only have two songs on the entire internet, so good luck finding their music. They sounded really cool, and I really want to listen to more of their stuff. Finally Sunset Rubdown came out. People shouted "Sunset!" Then they began playing Silver Moons, but I missed the beginning of it, because that was right when that weird girl passed out. They played pretty much all of Dragonslayer, and they also played The Mending of the Gown! It wasn't even the slow version that they play all the time! I would definitely recommend seeing Sunset Rubdown live. Even though the sound in this place wasn't the best, they still sounded very good.

Phil Collins

I have a long, long list of female comedians I admire, but Chelsea Peretti is near the top of the list. She covers all the bases: funny, awesome hair, talks about being depressed a lot. This video made me laugh out loud (I really did LOL, you guys):

When I used to have to listen to soft rock at work (I don't think I've mentioned yet on the blog that my soft rock days are through), Phil Collins was a staple. Like, an every-hour staple. Soft rock is such a slippery beast. This song seems ridiculous and funny, but if you listen to it every day it becomes horrible and soul-crushing. But then after a few months it becomes ridiculous and funny again! Either way, here is the actual video if you need something to listen to while you study.

Bingo.

Listen, Lexie, I know you are busy studying or whatever it is you do at cowledge, but do you think you could find time to watch this movie? It shouldn't have happened to a dog! But it DID!

Actually really insightful.

Finally got some answers.

Alton Brown

Alton Brown is a weird character. Some people love him, some people (Mother Winfrey) hate him. He's definitely got his own thing. Anyway, there was a pretty good interview with him on the A.V. Club where he talks about foodies ruining food and how he's not a chef.

I can admit when I've made a mistake.

When I realize I've done something wrong, I like to come out and just admit it. I don't want people to dig up any dirt on me. Nope, this guy's pretty much an open book, which is why I'm not afraid to admit that I was wrong about meatball sandwiches. For the majority of my life, up until just recently, I did not like the meatball sandwich. Why? I don't know. I honestly don't know. Let's look at the facts. I love sandwiches. I love meatballs. Somewhere in my brain, the logic train was derailed. I'm sorry meatball sandwich. I plan on making up for lost time.

Disappointment

I'm just stopping by my apartment on my way to The Land of No Internet, a.k.a. Winfrey Family HQ, a.k.a. La Casa del Winfreys, a.k.a. my parents' house. Today at work while I was entering data (like I do), I started thinking about how much I loved Making Friends with Chelsea Peretti, because Chelsea Peretti is hilarious. I can even kind of remember the theme song. So I thought I'd just pop in here and post that, but guess what, you guys? Since Superdeluxe.com doesn't exist anymore, neither does that video! I'm sure it's somewhere, but I'm too lazy to look for it right now. When you try to search for it, all you will find is the Adult Swim website. I give up.
So anyway, I decided to post a Variety Shac video instead. I kind of forgot about these ladies! I hadn't seen this one yet, and it made me laugh out loud several times. Also, the subject is pertinent to our one reader. Heather Lawless is (unfortunately) not in this one, but you should recognize Andrea Rosen from every commercial ever (literally).

Working Girl

I caught part of Working Girl on TV awhile ago, and I'm not ashamed to tell you (okay, I'm a bit ashamed to tell you) that when I was a little girl, I thought my life would be pretty much exactly like this:

I'm not saying that I assumed I'd be saying things like, "I've got a head for business, and a bod for sin," but I did think that being a secretary was, like, the most glamorous thing in the world. Sometimes I still think that. Then I realize that I'm not wearing shoulder pads, I don't have a business-sexy haircut like Melanie Griffith, Joan Cusack is not my sassy, sexually-aggressive best friend, and Harrison Ford is nowhere in sight. A girl can dream, though, right?

This One's For the Brosef

I know Lexie loves Halloween music, but there just isn't enough of it. Luckily for all of us, Ryan Gosling agreed. While he wasn't busy being really classically attractive, he recorded some Halloween music with his band Dead Man's Bones. You can stream some songs on the band's Myspace. They're playing a show in New York on October 15th. Apparently it's already sold out, but I'm sure that someone could find a way in, possibly make out with Ryan Gosling, and then report back on the experience. Let us know if you find a way to make this happen!

Further Studies in Joan Crawford

I always assumed Joan Crawford was a camp icon just because of Mommy Dearest. Then I saw the Trog trailer. And later still, I found this! Say what you will about this trailer, but I like the check boxes. Sometimes it's hard for me to figure out if I should see a movie, and a detailed questionnaire in the trailer is a thoughtful feature.

It's too bad I can't figure out the name of this movie! Oh well. It's October, you guys, so get ready to see a lot of horror movie trailers here on TTWF.

GOSSIP.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about what it will take to make this blog hit The Big Time. We're amusing, right? And we routinely scoop other sources on the really important stories, like Werner Herzog's film school and Crispin Glover's weird music video. But we still only have one reader. Do you think it has something to do with the fact that we only write about our weird niche interests? Well, I am through with that, and I'm going to drive traffic to our blog the old-fashioned way (is it old-fashioned? I don't know): Celebrity Gossip! I have about 4 items of celebrity gossip (I'm sorry, I actually mean "celebrity gossip") that I can't wait to share with you. We are going to set the internet on fire. I hope you're ready for what you're about to witness. Here is some gossip:


My source tells me that before she hit the big time with Everybody Loves Raymond, Patricia Heaton visited his church. Apparently she grew up in the area and came back to see her family. My source approached her and told her that he loved her work in Beethoven, which had recently come out, and she was very gracious.
So Patricia Heaton seems nice! Or at least she did about 10 years ago! GOSSIP!

Review Time

I wrote out a review of House of the Devil, but I wasn't feeling it, so I'll just tell you that you should definitely see it. All the reviews you have read have been true. It's an amazing film and I hope that it does really well.

Wow. They did not do a very good job.

I think this list does more harm than good. First of all, most of those are like, a-duh. Second of all, only a few of them are great films. I'm looking at you Point Break.

Thursday night, and the feeling was right.

Thursday night TV is killing it this year. Last nights episode of Parks and Recreation was the funniest episode I've seen. If the rest of the season was terrible, I'd be like, "Man this su...oh, but there was that one really good episode." It was that good! Anyway, remember last year, how that had that really funny Scarecrow Boat website? Well now they have an awesome Duke Silver website. Someone over at Parks and Rec knows how to use the internet.

Even scarier.

These are some commercials from Canada. Apparently in Canada, you can stop accidents from happening by just telling people to be more careful. Also in Canada, they're willing to spend a ton of money on an ad campaign about accident prevention. If these kinds of accidents happen all the time in Canada, then I never want to go back there.

Tis the Season

Halloween is just around the corner, and by that, I mean at the end of the month. It's a very exciting time of the year for everyone. I found this weird clip to get you in the mood, and hopefully scare Kerry (it's not hard). I hope you enjoy.

Fartfully yours,

Alex

He Wolf

I read about this in Entertainment Weekly last week (or maybe it was the week before), but didn't get around to watching it until just now. DON'T MAKE MY MISTAKES! I know you've seen Shakira's She Wolf video, so now watch He Wolf.

EW tells me he did this in 3 days and on a 40 dollar budget. Apparently three days and 40 dollars will get you pretty far. In a specific area, I mean. Like if you want to feed all the world's starving children, then no, 40 dollars will not get you too far. But if you want to recreate the best music video of all time, then yes. 40 dollars will buy a lot of crinkly paper to put on your walls.
I'm pretty sure when we first saw She Wolf, Alex mentioned doing this with one of his friends. You snooze/don't spend 40 dollars over a period of three days, you LOSE.

I mean...

Where to begin? There's something kind of nice about this. Everyone had a good time on Frasier! I'm afraid to start, because there's so much to write about here that next thing you know this blog will be entirely dedicated to Frasier! It's a slippery Grammer-filled slope.

More Polanski Talk, Sorry

FINALLY, someone has the balls (i.e., the public forum) to say what we've all been thinking (i.e., what I've been bitching about): that stupid "Free Roman Polanski" petition is NOT signed by a bunch of "Hollywood insiders." The vast majority of those people don't live in Hollywood, and even the ones who do are super out-of-the-mainstream weirdies. It's just a factual error that bugs me everytime I see it, which is often. Especially on the Fox News headlines that pop up on Google News. They always say something to the effect of, "Hollywood elite rally behind Polanski." Well, okay, except that no real big-money-making directors have signed it. And the big names that have mostly are New York based. You know how Woody Allen is, always making films about Hollywood and how much he loves it! Oh wait. That is inaccurate. Oh well, put it in the article anyway. (That was my impression of someone who writes news articles.)
Anyway, the guy that wrote "A History of Violence" wrote an essay about it, and it's interesting.

Sarah Haskins is My New Hero

For some reason, I never really watched the Sarah Haskins videos they were always talking about on Jezebel. I was like, "I'm sure those are funny, but I'm busy!" Who was I kidding? I am not busy! But I was right in that they are funny. In these vids (short for videos, sorry, didn't mean to lose you there!), Sarah Haskins looks at advertisements directed towards women. Hilarity ensues. Even H. liked these, and he typically hates everything made for, by, or about women.
Here's one of my faves. But they are all my faves.

Rumor Alert!

I heard they were making the Rush Hour bloopers into a full length movie.

Bestie by Bestie

Jenny Slate is at the top of my list of personal heroes (heroines, I guess), along with Carrie Brownstein and Amy Sedaris. You've probably all seen this video already, but it's always worth a rewatch, right?
Bestie by Bestie

More Free Ideas

This is just another great idea that we've had, although this one is ruined a little bit by Kelsey Grammer.
A couple of years ago, I was reading Charles Bukowski's "You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense." It wins the award for having a great title, but it was depressing. Not really depressing in the way that all of Bukowski's poems are depressing, but depressing because it was written near the end of his life and it definitely reflected that fact. About half of the poems were about how he didn't have anything to write poems about. The rest of them were about things he did when he was younger, how much he used to drink, and setting his garbage can on fire. Throughout the poems, his wife hovered on the periphery, not really doing anything but occasionally yelling at him or something. Naturally, this all spelled one thing to Alex and I: SITCOM!
Each episode of Untitled Bukowski Project would begin with Bukowski sitting at his desk, pencil in hand (never a computer. He called them "electric typers"). Some Bukowski-ish stuff would happen over the course of the next half hour. He would set the garbage can on fire and his wife would have to put it out. That would be the great catchphrase: "I don't know why you're always setting this garbage can on fire." And at the end of each show, Bukowski would recite one of his poems to the camera while the audience (because each episode of Untitled Bukowski Project is filmed in front of a live studio audience) laughed.
Obviously, I planned on calling this show HANK. But I guess Kelsey Grammer beat me to it. You win this one, Grammer.

TROG

For some reason I can't figure out, Alex posted this trailer as his facebook status instead of putting it on the blog. Duh, Alex! We have a blog! It is made for this kind of thing. It's a trailer for the film TROG, starring Joan Crawford (the trailer will not let you forget this fact):

Yes, please! I love it. Those poor kids on the playground. They're gonna get it and they don't even know it. Apparently this was Joan Crawford's last film, which is weird (to say the least). In Alex's status, he asked if anyone had seen it. Well, maybe you should've read the Youtube comments, because user "dingdongs4" said:
"i saw that movie retarded"
There's your answer! I saw that movie retarded, indeed.

House of the Devil

We love horror movies here at The Talented Winfrey Family. You probably know that, and you probably do too. Who doesn't? Kerry and I have sat through some real stinkers (I'm looking at you Let's Scare Jessica To Death) but we've also found some awesome movies (that's right Pieces). Anyway, the reason I'm saying this is because often times, when we're watching these movies, Kerry will ask, "Why don't they make movies like this anymore?" because she's someone's grandparent. Now there's House of the Devil, which looks like a great homage to these movies without being annoying and campy.

Seriously, this movie looks great, and I've heard a ton of good reviews. You can rent it right now on Amazon iF yOu DaRe!!!

Also, who's excited about Trick 'r Treat?

Following Kerry's Lead

Kerry made a post about one of her all time favorite songs. Not to be outdone, I want to share with you one of my favorites. The song is The Mending of the Gown by Sunset Rubdown. I never get tired of this song. This is a live version where you can't see anything, but it sounds great.

Oh yeah, I might get to see them perform in a few weeks. Boner alert!

Last Christmas

It's starting to get cold, the leaves are beginning to fall, and you know what that means. It's that time of year again. Not for pumpkins or apple cider or whatever BS you're into...it's time for Last Christmas.
Somehow, I've never mentioned my love of Last Christmas on the blog. Love doesn't even cover it. I have around 45 versions of Last Christmas on my computer, and that is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of how many versions are out there. But nothing even comes close to the original by Wham! When it starts to get cold outside, I begin listening to Last Christmas and watching the video a couple times a day. Not that I don't feel like doing this in the summer, but it just seems more acceptable when it's cold.
Last Christmas is my favorite song in the world, but I don't normally tell people that because I don't think they believe me. But listen, it's perfect. It's a Christmas song, but there's nothing in the music that signifies Christmas, aside from some bells. And it's sad, which is definitely a must for any great Christmas song. And the video is just ridiculous and confusing and beautiful. See for yourself!

This is obviously the best non-traditional Christmas song ever written. Much better than that awful Mariah Carey jam the girls in my freshman year dorm always used to blast. I love Mariah as much as the next girl, but come on. That song is awful.

Remember what I said about Andy Daly?

Well I meant it. David Bowie and Chocolate Pudding.

New vid.

I made this video last night in like, 30 minutes. Needless to say, I uploaded it to my second (secret) youtube channel: meanmrspanky. With a name like that, it must be good. Enjoy.

It got kind of messed up and cut their heads off for some reason. I didn't feel like fixing it.

This kid needs our help.

The world of weird, computer program based youtube videos is ripe for parody, but so few people know about it. This is one that I thought was really funny.

Someone at the AP is a really good writer

I'm really awful at coming up with titles for anything, and I always have been. But let's get real. This is an actual AP headline:
"Letterman is Target of the Kind of Jokes He Tells"
That is really great. It's definitely not a super-awkward, obvious statement.

Also good, but not from the AP:
"Letterman Should Have Kept it in His Worldwide Pants."
These are great, credible news sources. Keep up the good work!

When Alex Watched When The Levees Broke

So, I'm watching When The Levees Broke for a class. I need to write a paper about a ten minute segment of the film. I'm a little surprised that I like it. Not in a weird way. Not like my facebook interests are, "9/11, The Holocaust, Hurricane Katrina". I don't like watching it, but now that I've started it, I feel kind of compelled to finish it. All four hours of it. Remember? It's a Requiem in Four Acts? For the most part it's really well done. There are some issues with it, one being that it's four hours long. Four hours of anything can become tedious. Four hours of this would probably get old. Anyway, you should probably watch it and learn about some horrible stuff. Stuff that these people apparently did not learn. Some people are fucking dicks. Did they really watch all four hours of this?

Amazing Opportunity.

What's that picture doing up there? Oh, I don't know, maybe it's the selection for the first official Winfrey Family Book Club. Get on board or get left behind. Just kidding. I know the type of crowd that this blog attracts. You all read The Corrections when it came out in 1925. You're in the loop. Anyway, we chose it because:

1) It's good.

2)Kerry has a copy.

3)I could get a copy at the library.

4)It's not The Lobster Chronicles.

5)There were at least four solid reasons to choose it.

I'm not announcing the rate that we will read it yet, but it will be nothing short of lightning fast. Someone on Amazon read it in a night! Yeah right. I'll give y'all some time to get your copy ready.

Yes. We remember.

"Remember that animated show I was on called Sit Down, Shut Up? Remember how it got cancelled after airing four times? Remember how FOX realized they spent a shit-ton of money making it and shouldn’t just bury it? Remember they did the closest thing possible to burying by airing it at 12 midnight on Saturdays?"

-Nick Kroll