From Darkness to Light (2024)

 

"From Darkness to Light" is a documentary which examines another movie, "The Day the Clown Cried," the lost Jerry Lewis movie that has now become legend because of the subject matter and because no one has seen it.

"The Day the Clown Cried" is a comedy that takes place in the holocaust - Jerry Lewis plays a clown who entertains children in a concentration camp, and at the end he leads them to a gas chamber.

I've been curious to see "The Day the Clown Cried" ever since I heard about it. This documentary is the closest I'm ever going to get to that (according to the documentary). It rightfully shows large portions of the actual movie in between interviews and narration. The documentary, astonishingly, also was able to get Jerry Lewis himself to open up and talk about it shortly before he died in 2017. It is a surprising development; when Lewis was in a press conference about when the movie would be viewable he replied "None of your goddamn business!"

And so "From Darkness to Light" is worth watching if you're interested in the subject. There are two aspects about it which I find perplexing. The movie goes through the motions of explaining that a comedy about the holocaust is a crazy concept and should never be done. They've apparently forgotten about "Jacob the Liar" (1974), "Jakob the Liar" (1999) and "Life is Beautiful" (1997). That is, until the end of the documentary when these things are revealed as a "twist" that is not a twist at all. "Life is Beautiful" won an Oscar, we remember. 

The other problem is that they imply that some people, including Harry Shearer, through access to a film vault, have seen a rough cut of the movie. So then the implication that the movie will never be seen is confusing - a copy exists out there, did something happen to it? We're just assuming a leak is impossible? Why?

Bob Dylan in We Are the World - Revisited

 Last year I jokingly posted this video.

A friend recommended "The Greatest Night in Pop," a documentary about the making of "We Are the World" and I have a theory about what's going on.

Quincy Jones was the producer for the song and when all the stars are assembled in their choir formation, he instructs them, if the song goes outside your range, don't make an attempt, don't sing a harmony, just stop singing. The idea is, there are so many voices, no one will miss any particular one so don't force it.

I don't think I can get inside Bob Dylan's head and predict what he thinks but it's possible that he thought, "There isn't a single note in this song in my range so I'm just gonna sit out."

The Video for L.A. is My Lady

There's a lot going on in the music video for Frank Sinatra's "L.A. is My Lady."

The song is yacht rock and the video resembles the Yacht Rock web-series. 

It features Donna Summer(?), James Ingram, Quincy Jones; Latoya Jackson is drinking with Dean Martin. Michael McDonald puts an orange in a grocery bag, the orange travels and disappears. There is an implied Michael Jackson but they couldn't get the real one, so they show archival footage. 

It's bonkers.

A Rad Documentary Trailer

A trailer for "A Rad Documentary" has been released on youtube.

Thanks to Vic for the news tip.

Rad Day is Next Week

 

You may recall that last year "Rad Remastered" was released to theaters on Rad Day. Well, they're doing it again. 

"Rad" will be re-re-released shown in theaters March 20th. Last year's iteration promised "new footage" and I speculated that the extra footage might be the Rad Documentary that was never released. While the extra footage last year turned out to be a new interview with some of the cast, this year's release will be a "double feature" alongside the world premiere of the never-before-seen documentary "A Rad Documentary."

I looked everywhere for a "A Rad Documentary" trailer and found nothing except this trailer for the double feature event has about 2 seconds of documentary footage.... in fact, it maybe 1 second.

I don't know how it's possible to release a movie in 2025 without a trailer on youtube, but ok, here's a BOOTLEG of the trailer that was shown in 2021:

The really exciting thing about the documentary, to me, is that, yes, it does include Hollywood Mike Miranda.

Bear in mind that Rad Day is officially March 21st, though the Fathom theatrical event is March 20th.

Rice Krispies Treats Ice Cream

 That's right, Mr. Falcon, Rice Krispies Treats Ice Cream exists and I found it and I tried it and now you're gonna hear about it.

This ice cream is very elemental, it comes down to 2 or 3 main features. First, it's a cheap artificial vanilla ice cream base - pretty much the same vanilla as the Eggo Waffle flavor, it's probably made by the same people. But to the base is added a light, sugary flavor meant to represent the marshmallow. Finally, it also has chunks of rice krispies. That's it.

Does this simulate Rice Krispies treats? Sort of. Rice Krispies treats are better, no doubt, but it's a hard thing to copy and this is probably as close as can be expected.

But forget about simulating Rice Krispies Treats because all the elements together are actually reminiscent of soft-serve ice cream with the yellow topping. Remember this?

I've had this topping a million times and have no idea what it's called. My research tells me that it's called "crunch coat," "crunch kote" (at Dairy Queen) and "peanut brittle crunch cone."

So, to me, that's a big win and enough to give this ice cream a thumb's up and recommend it. I am a big fan of the old days of soft-serve vanilla ice cream.

You may wonder if the "Original" on the label means that there are other kinds - there are not. Also, there are other cereal-themed ice creams - Apple Jack, Frosted Flakes, Corn Pops, Honey Smacks and Froot Loops. I won't be trying those because I don't find the ideas compelling, but be aware that they exist if that's your thing.