This is weird

On stage like you've never seen him before. Well, I've never seen him, much less on stage. It's pretty obvious that this guy likes Ben Franklin and also is pretty boring to talk to at a party.

One of my Favorite Songs

Alex went through a serious Herb Alpert phase in high school (you know how teenage boys are), and I definitely suffered from secondhand Alpert. Except I wouldn't call it suffering. I have a casual like of all things Alpert, but I fell hard for this song. I don't listen to it too much anymore, but there was a time in my life where I listened to it multiple times daily. I think that if my life had a LastFM page, this song would have the highest play count. There's just something about it. It's much more restrained than most Herb Alpert songs, although it still features the bombast and horn sections you'd expect. It's rich in 70's schmaltz while still being sweet. Naturally, it was written by Burt Bacharach. Also, this video is bananas.

I Will Always Love Dolly

We were playing a trivia game this weekend (I'm exciting) and the question was, "Who sang I Will Always Love You?" My love of Dolly Parton caused me to give the "wrong" answer, but that trivia game can just suck it. As far as I'm concerned, the Whitney version doesn't even exist! This clip from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (which I haven't seen, for some reason?) makes me get a bit emotional. I think it's the Burt Reynolds.

I've long said that if I could look like anyone in the world, it would be a young Dolly Parton. Those nails! That hair! For her part, Dolly doesn't much care that Whitney Houston is the name usually attached to her song, because she's made a lot of money off of it. And I guess I don't care, either, because I ended up winning the trivia game in a sudden death tie-breaker against H.

It Really Is That Bad.

I watched it out of curiosity. I did it so you didn't have to, but if you must...here it is.

This Video

http://www.davidwain.com/video/petition.htm

This is one of my favorite videos. I guess it was written for The State, but they never filmed it. Thank god they finally did. I think one of the best things about this video is that song. Try not getting that stuck in your head! Are you trying? No dice! Anyway, I think this is funny.

Alicia Silverstone

I've been on what could be called an "Alicia Silverstone kick" lately. Mostly I started reading her INSANE website, which seems like it might be written by a five year old. I don't really mean that as an insult, because Ms. Silverstone is just SO ENTHUSIASTIC about her vegan lifestyle, and really, what's so wrong with that? All of this led me to her book "The Kind Diet" because, I'll admit, I wanted to make fun of it. Also, I wanted some veggie recipes! I was left not so much with many recipes (have you ever seen daikon in your local market? Me neither), but I did learn a lot about Alicia.

1. Alicia Silverstone makes friends very easily.
"Deciding to follow a plant-based diet has introduced me to the most amazing individuals--so many of them kind, interesting, and awake. Wonderful people like Woody Harrelson...Right after becoming vegan, I was feeling sort of alone and disconnected. I had bumped into Woody at a number of events, but we'd never really talked, so one day I called him. "Woody," I said, "I'm so frustrated. I keep learning about food, and the planet, and I feel like I'm going crazy!"
After a moment he said, in his Woody way, "I'm taking a trip to Peru, down the Amazon. Wanna come? We're trying to save the rainforest."...Two months later, I met Woody Harrelson officially, for the first time, in the Lima airport. Three days later, he and Christopher were racing canoes down the Amazon, stark naked and paddling furiously...Vegan friends are the best."

2. Alicia Silverstone doesn't like what meat does to your insides.
It gets stuck down there, creating a funky, stuck, acid environment.

3. Alicia Silverstone recommends skimming the foam off your beans.
This foam is farty.

4. Alicia Silverstone will always tell you the truth.
Every time you purchase organic plant-based food, you are protecting the quality of the soil and participating in a more equitable distribution of resources. Conversely, every time you buy a mass-produced steak--packaged in Styrofoam and plastic--you are feeding a huge, unsustainable, toxic death machine. This may sound harsh, but it's the truth!

She is crazy and I love her. Obviously I'm not a vegan (there are these things called fried egg sandwiches), but I admire her enthusiasm. And the way she is a total weird hippie.
Somehow, this really funny video slipped by me. Whatever, Alicia Silverstone is the best!

My Mother's Red Hat w/Alicia Silverstone & Alanis Morissette from Alicia Silverstone

Movie Review

So, I am friends with a person on facebook that I do not really know personally. I only know of him. But this kid posts statuses like nobody's business, and they are all solid gold. I've really been meaning to share some of them with you guys, but tonight's (probably 5th) status pushed me over the edge. Here it is. The Lovely Bones reviewed.

"just finished watching lovely bones with the wife and boy does it gets a D + for Dumb. The girl(who died) was stupid for talking to a stranger(weird neighbor who killed her), the mom runs a way(so weak), the little sister took her time to show her parents who killed her sister, the killer got away killing all those girls and dies because an icicle falls down his back then he falls off a cliff and dies?!"

Summer Jamz

I'm gearing up for summer. I'm tanning my body by walking to classes. I'm exercising by walking to classes. I'm dieting by eating fewer Junior Mints while walking to classes. But, most importantly, I'm gettin' out those sweet ass summer jamz. This is some stuff I've been listening to a lot lately.

This song is a gem. Don't bother to send me an angel. I've already got one, and its name is this song.

What Do You Do With A Problem Like Harmony Korine?

At this point, the amount of time I spend thinking about Harmony Korine is inversely proportionate to how much I like what he does. That is to say, I do not enjoy his films. I'm trying, though. It really irritates and saddens me when people don't attempt to like, or at the very least understand, a film, book, or piece of music. I majored in English and took a film class, and it was amazing to me how often people would come to a work with a closed mind, prepared to hate it. At least in my lit classes, people were generally so desperate to appear intelligent that they were willing to analyze and seriously consider just about anything. But an attitude that came up a lot was, "I don't understand this, so I don't like it." I don't ever want to be like that, so I really do try hard to appreciate a film or book as something that a person (or many people) spent a lot of time on. I mean, wouldn't it be depressing to go through life hating everything? It totally would.
That being said, I COULD NOT WATCH JULIEN DONKEY BOY.

Yikes, you guys. I was being semi-serious with all those pretentious ramblings above, but the point I want to make is that even with the best of intentions, that is a hard movie to get through! I've said it before and I'll say it again: Harmony Korine, what is your deal?
The Believer's recent film issue has an interview with Mr. Korine himself, and he manages to confuse me even more. He is married and has a kid. He edited Trash Humpers entirely on a VCR. A VCR! He loves to tap dance. He may or may not be a compulsive liar? Also, he looks like Steve Perry.

This post was mostly an excuse to post that picture.

Dancing!

This was on Julie Klausner's blog and I knew Alex would like it. No explanation would do it justice, so go ahead and watch it.

If you don't want to watch the whole thing, just start at 2:37.

Pretty Good

This is the type of mashup created solely because the title works. 99 Luft Problems. In this case, the song actually works though. This is old, but I just recently found it. It's silly but it's fun to listen to.

Attention All Men

I've got a hypothesis, and it goes like this: No straight man under 30 (possibly even under 40) knows who Carol Channing is. Back when I posted about the great Julie Klausner's Mommy Time, I found out that H. had no idea who Carol Channing was. I chalked this up to him just not knowing much about pop culture of the past in general. But then I found out ALEX didn't know who she was, either! Since then I have tested only one other male, but I've come to the conclusion that men just don't know who she is. Gay guys probably do, but maybe not. I plan on asking every man I encounter this very important, pressing question: Do you know who Carol Channing is? I can only hope that someone proves me wrong.
Carol Channing in doll form:

Carol Channing in real life:

I must say, I like this.

Jason Jones is a funny guy. Usually, when I see a Funny or Die video featuring a celebrity (?) I frown and then watch it and my frown doesn't go away. This time though, my frown was turned upside down, and I couldn't be happier. Now, I don't expect you to watch all of this. It's seven and a half minutes long! You people have lives! But what I'm recommending is, maybe do watch all of it? The execution of it is kind of weird, but there is some real gold in this. The basic concept of the video, a hero whose special ability is shooting people with a shotgun, pretty much wrote video itself. That concept sat down at its typewriter and dashed this one out. Good job, everyone!

Shotgun Harley with Jason Jones from Jason Jones

If Chase Had a Blog

Chase is pretty good at doing an impression of Dana Carvey doing an impression of Mickey Rooney.

Michael Nesmith

Holy S you guys. This video is nuts! This song is nuts! They just don't make 'em like the used to.

I found this song through my Michael Nesmith research. Dude was in the Monkees! While I do "like" Cruisin', I LIKE Joanne. I've been listening to this nonstop!

Pill Wonder

Wishing Whale by Pill Wonder.

I like this song a lot, and Pill Wonder seem like a pretty fun band. Keep your ears open. Basically I posted this until I can wrap my mind around a post about Fitzcarraldo.

My Brain on Shuffle

For reasons I don't entirely understand, my brain's been like an iPod on shuffle lately. Songs will just pop into my head without any cues...songs I haven't heard in years, songs I loved, songs I hated, whatever. Even though I didn't fall in love with this band, I really, really loved this song when I was in college. I'm glad my scattered brain brought it back to me.

FINALLY.

I've been going crazy for upwards of a year trying to figure out what song MSTRKRFT sampled in their remix of Usher's "Love in This Club." It is really hard to Google an instrumental song. Anyway, I found it. I don't know why I didn't just take to the Youtubes earlier, but oh well. Sanity restored.

Negative Nancy Part Deux

I saw Hot Tub Time Machine this weekend. I had extraordinarily low expectations going into it, so I figured that I couldn't be disappointed. I'm a pretty easy moviegoer to please; anytime I can zone out and watch some lowbrow humor I'll probably have a decent time. Kerry from a few years ago would've said she liked this movie. She would've said that because there were funny guys in it, and because the guys in the theatre liked it, and because saying you DON'T like a movie that's crass, filled with boobs, and maybe just a bit misogynistic gets you labeled a prude or a humorless bitch. But present day Kerry is emboldened by reading Julie Klausner's awesome book. Also, I remember Amy Poehler saying in a speech directed towards young girls, "Just because a boy says something is funny, it doesn't mean you have to laugh." This is all a roundabout way of saying that Hot Tub Time Machine seemed like something I would've seen on a date when I was 19, back when I still pretended I liked things (metal music, terrible remakes of horror classics, hanging out in basements) to impress guys.
But it did have my boyfriend, Clark Duke, as well as a very funny Chevy Chase and a relatively clever gag involving Crispin Glover. Also, the great Lizzy Caplan was in the movie for about 5 minutes, but she managed to elevate the whole thing with her husky-voiced charm. I love her! This movie, not so much. I love a good vomit joke (see: Paul Rudd in I Love You, Man) as much as the next guy, but just the mere sight of vomit does not count as a joke.
As Alex mentioned in his previous post, we try not to spend too much time here talking about what we don't like, so I found something really positive that came out of this situation. One of the trailers we saw was for this Queen Latifah vehicle (also starring Common).

Queen Latifah is such a tough trainer, you guys! I love that this trailer packs in so many great rom-com cliches. My favorite: a joking physical tussle that leads to a moment where the characters, now precariously close, stop and stare into each other's eyes. If I ever write a romantic comedy, you'd better believe I am using that one. I really hope Alex will see this with me.

Negative Nancy.

Here at The Talented Winfrey Family, we like to keep things classy by trying to be positive. What I'm saying is, we're no A.V. Club (horrible assholes half the time). BUT I have been meaning to make a post about this for some time. It's something that I never like. I am, of course, referring to time lapse photography in film. I've never seen it used in a film and thought to myself, "Hey, that was pretty cool." It rarely, if ever, services the story. Oh, I get it, it's a busy city. Oh, time is passing. It's kind of virtuosic, and no one but the photographer enjoys it. What do you guys think?

Good job.

Good job everyone involved. While I initially looked this up to hear how weird Alice Walters's voice was, I was thoroughly entertained. We got some big, weird personalities here. Side note: make sure you're all watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. It's so easy to invest yourself in that show.

Norm Mac

One of my favorite comedians, my high school crush, secret boyfriend, and all around coolest man in the world Norm MacDonald has an interview on the AV Club. As if you needed more reasons why he's so great:
I don’t go on shows to promote anything, for one thing. When I was young, I’d watch guys on The Tonight Show, Buddy Hackett, guys like that, where all they’d be is funny. Later, I remember, on Late Night with Letterman, I remember he’d have Jay Leno and Richard Lewis as first guests and the entire point was to entertain and be funny, and I think talk shows have kind of lost that. It’s mostly about super famous people telling long, dull stories about their swimming pools or something.

Ghost Busters

I don't have a lot to say about this really. Good luck not having this horrible song stuck in your head.

Somebody Went To Marketing School

What an idea. Needless to say, I'm buying that album.

Still funny after all these years.

Some things just never stop. This is one of those things.

Dance Movies v. Movies With Dancing

A long time ago, during some summer when I was home from college, Alex and I started one of those massive projects we enjoy so much. We planned to watch all the dance movies from the 80s, and we wrote up this all-encompassing rating system to definitively figure out what was the BEST 80s dance movies. We wrote it in this spiral bound notebook that has, I think, been lost to time, but I do remember two categories: Butt Shots and Visible Nipples Through Clothes. After we watched and rated Fame, we kind of lost interest in scoring things, but our project lives on. We still watch dance movies every chance we get. When we watched Road House over his spring break, Alex mentioned that he couldn't believe he'd never watched Dirty Dancing, since it involved Patrick Swayze AND dancing. But is Dirty Dancing really a Dance Movie...or is it just a movie about dancing? And what's the difference? Really, there's no better way for me to explain this than by comparing a classic movie with its "sequel."
Saturday Night Fever seems to be remembered as nothing but dancing and tight pants. It's such a relic of an era that its impossible to separate the movie from disco. But, really, that movie doesn't need dancing, at all. Dancing is Tony Manero's escape from a life that is somehow both mundane and violent. The movie deals with family pressure, class, religion, sexy pizza eating, rape, suicide, and that's just a quick summary. I found the movie to be incredibly dark and depressing. Tony Manero doesn't necessarily find "success" in the end, as it is traditionally defined in a Dance Movie; that is to say, he doesn't find happiness through winning a dance competition or score a Broadway role or showing his parents Who He Is on the Inside. And then there's THIS exchange:
Tony: "Are you a nice girl or are you a cunt?"
Annette: "Can't I be both?"
Tony: "No. It's a decision a girl's gotta make early in life, if she's gonna be a nice girl or a cunt."
Here's the trailer, which reminded me that Fran Drescher is in the movie! Love her. I think this trailer pretty accurately portrays the movie's tone:

In contrast, SNF's "sequel" was Staying Alive, which could only say in the opening credits that it was inspired by characters from the original. That's a pretty good way of putting it. There isn't really a plot to this movie, just scenes and dialogue that enable more dancing. Staying Alive is about how Tony wants to be a successful dancer and then he is. The end. Finola Hughes is this sexy dance star that Tony thinks he wants, but then it turns out she is a huge bitch. Luckily for Tony (and the viewer), he is ultimately the superior dancer, as we see in this final dance scene. This is, honestly, one of my favorite scenes in all of cinema and I can't even count the number of times I've seen it. Sometimes at work this song gets stuck in my head and then I have to do AR with a chorus of "Fire fire fire!" in my head.

So, in summary, Staying Alive is a Dance Movie. Saturday Night Fever is a movie with dancing. The easiest way to tell is that Dance Movies almost always have a choreographed group dance. Also, montages.

Mo to the...

Just something Alex and I were talking about today...

Excitered.

Winfrey Family favorite, Dr. Dog, just released their new album, Shame, Shame. Get out there and purchase it legally (make sure you get the deluxe edition)!

Book Club: Snow Angels

How is everyone doing with this month's Book Club selection, Snow Angels? Just kidding, I already talked to Alex about the book today. Although if anyone wanted to hop on the Book Club train, this would be a good month to do it, because Stewart O'Nan is a holy-moly good writer. He's the kind of good that creeps up on you, the kind of unpretentious writing that doesn't stand you up and make you take notice. You'll just realize, all of a sudden, that you're seeing exactly what he's describing. This isn't an "upper," though, so be warned. I'm eager to watch the movie after I finish the book because Alex says it's slightly different. The trailer looks absolutely wonderful, and very Midwestern...the book's set in Pennsylvania, but it has a real Ohio feel to it.

Waiting on a Friend

I just like the Rolling Stones. If I hear a song of theirs, I will always be happy to hear it, but I probably won't put on one of their albums of my own accord. When I SEE the Rolling Stones, however, I love them. This video for Waiting on a Friend isn't embeddable, but you should watch it anyway. Mick Jagger's outfit is totally a Nerdboyfriend-worthy ensemble. My favorite part is when he (very literally) says, "I'm just waiting in a doorway," and then purses his lips.

Post Grad

I love romantic comedies (duh). I love movies about people trying to get their lives together. I love movies with female protagonists. I also love Gilmore Girls. So it should follow that I would love last year's quickly forgotten Post Grad, right?

Actually, yeah! I loved this movie. I mean, it was definitely not dealing with any heavy shit, which was why I used it as a palate cleanser before watching Fitzcarraldo. Also, it seemed like a movie made for families with children, like something Papa Winfrey would watch on the Hallmark Channel some Saturday afternoon, even though the subject matter (college graduate looking for a job) would bore most families with children. This movie was totally cute, and you don't have to take my word for it, just listen to Roger Ebert, who, as always, totally gets it:
"Apart from a few words and attitudes, this movie, directed by Vicky Jenson and written by Kelly Fremon, could be a throwback to more innocent times. It contains no drugs, no angst, no bitterness, no generation gap, no big family problems, and it doesn't even seem to know how blessed it is. Sometimes you get out of a movie and feel like you've just worked a desperate overnight shift on the homicide detail. You get out of this film, and you have a good feeling."
Also, it's worth noting that this movie contains my #1 favorite-of-all-time romantic comedy plot: a best friend who is madly in love with the protagonist, but the protagonist just can't see it. I've never been in love with my best friend (mostly because all of my close friends have always been either female, gay, or guys I've known since I was literally five years old) and none of my best friends have ever been in love with me, but it has to be a common fantasy, right? That the person who knows you best in the whole world is also the one you get to spend every day with? In reality, I can't see this ever working out; usually the protagonist only realizes they should be with the best friend after being worn down and pleaded with, and who wants to be with someone they have to convince? But still. I love this plot. I love the drama and the way it necessitates a tearful fight, a montage of memories, a sudden realization, and then a dramatic resolution. Even if it would never work in real life, at least in the movies you know it always will. Unless you're watching Pretty in Pink, or My Best Friend's Wedding. Or kind of a lot of movies, I guess.
Another thing I found quite charming about Post Grad was the emphasis on family. As someone who comes from a very close, very strange family (perhaps you've noticed), I really appreciated the celebration of the familial unit. Also, Michael Keaton TOTALLY reminded me of Papa Winfrey. Actually, the whole family reminded me of us:

Mom and Dad are Michael Keaton and Jane Lynch. Alex is Alexis Bledel, just tryin' to get his life together. Chase is the kid with the sock puppet. And I'm Carol Burnett, because OBVIOUSLY.
Also, in general, I will like any movie that earnestly make proclamations like, "What you're doing with your life is only half of it; the other half is who you're with when you're doing it." And that's it, because I can almost guarantee Alex has not read this far, and is just now skimming through the post, seeing his name, and reading this last line. Bottom line: This is a good bad mood movie.

Good Morning!

It is six in the morning! I should be getting ready for work, but I'm watching Youtube videos. Here's a live version of George Michael singing "What A Fool Believes." I guess there is no real reason for this, but I'm glad we live in a world where this exists. He is pretty faithful to the song, but I feel like he changes it up enough that if this were a performance on American Idol, Randy Jackson would be like, "For me, for you, I feel like you took some real risks with the melody but IT PAID OFF, DAWG!" That was a pretty great Randy Jackson impression, me. Also, I think Randy Jackson would be like, "I'm not sure how you got through to this stage of the competition, as you clearly already have a recording contract."

The Zombies

The Zombies are such a weird band, you know? I think that the song they're most famous for is Time of the Season, which is a good song and all, but I don't think it really represents the fun, poppy, dreaminess that I like about them. Yet they just look like The Beatles during their Ed Sullivan performance here. The chicks are going crazy for them, though.

Paul Simon & A Kid

I know Sesame Street still has musical guests, but do they still allow children to improvise their own lyrics to classic songs? I certainly hope so.

What happened?

It's weird that things like this just don't happen anymore. Like, sure, it was on Broadway. Whatever. Did you even listen to those songs? It was like Mama Mia all over again. How can you take such a funny, nice sounding song and make it sound so bland and shitty. We need more weird collaborations in our musical films. Let's get on it guys.

I just wanted to post this song.

Revanche

I recently watched Revanche. I'd only heard of the movie briefly when it was released, but it recently came out as part of the Criterion Collection, and, of course, it had a cool cover. It also had a very pretty trailer. Oh, and I guess it was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year at the 2009 Oscars or some such bullshit. I really enjoyed the film, and I would recommend it. Mostly I just wanted to post that trailer, because damn, that trailer's lookin' fine. There are some movie trailers that just get things so right they should donate a little bit to other trailers that don't quite have the goods. I guess what I'm saying is, really good movie, really great trailer (and cover).

Side note. Why does Criterion Collection kill it every time with their covers? Let's get these guys on every DVD cover.

Just in case

I know y'all probably already saw this, but just in case.