Instant Classic: "The Room"

I consider myself quite a connoisseur of bad movies. If someone asks me to put together a list of the 10 worst movies of all-time, I feel I can make a list that's pretty authoritative. But I think it's a fact of life that they're just not making bad movies like they used to.

But that doesn't mean that there aren't exceptions. "The Room", from what I've seen from online clips, has me very excited. This movie, at least potentially, could be up there on the list of worst movies of all time.

Check out this clip (the "flower shop scene"):

Amazing. So it's got the "snappy dialogue" department covered, but how about this dramatic reveal:

GASP! Thrill to the intense conflict within this scene:

Amazing. I definitely need to see this movie.

Can You Feel the Love?

Here's hoping you can...

Celebrities + Gum = Art

Every afternoon Late Show writer Steve Young takes low quality pictures of celebrities as the arrive to the show. The window ledge from which the photos are taken has a wad of old gum on it which he is sure to capture in the photo. This interesting juxtaposition has given birth to a new blog: http://www.celebrigum.com/.

Here's a Q&A with the author:

Q. Tell us about Celebrigum. How did you conceive of the idea of juxtaposing celebrities with hardened chewing gum?

A. The juxtaposition was already happening; I just had to notice it. I think it was last fall or winter that I noticed the gum on the ledge, and eventually I came up with a boring conceptual art piece: I would photograph the gum each day for a year. I'd taken a few dull photos when one day I realized, hey, there's Celebrity X getting out of their limo in the background. After that I was off and running.

Q. There are rumors circulating on the internet that the gum is not actually there, that it's CGI gum. Care to respond?

A. As you know, most internet rumors are completely true. However, the CGI gum rumor is false. I've personally touched the gum and determined that it's real. Of course, if the gum were ever to be stolen by a crazed fan, CGI would be among my strategies for continuing. I could also put another lump of gum there, which might be simpler.

Q. Any calls from agents and publicists trying to get their clients on Celebrigum?

A. That's confidential; I'm not going to violate the CelebriGum-Client Privilege. But since nobody's talked to me, I guess it's safe to say no. My hope is that eventually celebrities will be aware of CelebriGum and will look up and wave at me as they arrive; it would be nice to actually get someone's face in a photo. And maybe someday CelebriGum will be such a sensation that A-list celebrities will swing by 53rd Street even when they're not booked on the show. "Say hi to Dave for us, Mr. Hanks!" "Oh, I'm not here for the Late Show, I'm just trying to get on CelebriGum."

Q. Any endorsement deals in the works with a gum company?

A. This is art! I absolutely will not sully its purity with crass commercialism!

Q. Long term plans. Any chance we'll be seeing a Celebrigum art museum?

A. I wouldn't rule it out. In the meantime, while nothing's official yet, I'm in negotiations for a CelebriGum book, movie, cologne, and line of childrens' pajamas.

Joaquin Phoenix Returns

Joaquin Phoenix returned to the Late Show last night for the first time since his infamous interview. It looked something like this:

I hope you watched the show or a full version of the interview turns up online because the clip above is an extremely cut down, edited version of the real interview which was entertaining and enlightening from start to finish.

I found it interesting that Dave claims he knew it was an act at the time. In the full interview they show a clip from the original interview which kind of "tips the hand" that it was an act. For most of the last half of the segment, Dave talks (seemingly quite seriously) about a possible impending lawsuit. It really ratchets up the tension but also I couldn't help but wonder (since that isn't normal interview behavior) if he's turning the tables - he's "playing a character" back at Joaquin.

At the end of the interview as the show went to commercial, Paul and the band played Sly and the Family Stone's song "Thank You". The lyrics to the chorus are "Thank you for lettin' me be myself again". He's still the master.

Rifftrax : Seven Little Ducks

Rifftrax (the writing core of MST3K now with a new company) have a new "short". I receive these new product announcements every once in a while and I always look forward to them because their video descriptions are so well written. The video description for "Seven Little Ducks" follows.

"When police inspector Launchpad McQuack receives a phone call that Huey, Dewey and Louie have gone missing, his initial inclination was to suspect the Beagle Boys - a suspicion that his neighbor Donald Duck was only too happy to go along with. But Donald seemed a little too concerned about keeping Launchpad away from his newly planted garden bed, instead plying the straight-laced cop with a dish he called "Diablo Pato." And that's when the first severed head turned up in a box on Launchpad's doorstep, pulling him down into a twisted web of intrigue, with the case growing more depraved and fiendish with each passing hour.

Sorry about that, that would be the plot of Se7en Little Ducks. Seven Little Ducks on the other hand is a good-natured short about a brace of ducks. You might assume that there would be seven ducks, but you would be a moron for expecting the good people at Coronet Films to do something as logical as naming their educational short in accordance with how many ducks are actually in said short.

The ducks are owned by Carol, who is played by a Gamorrean Guard. Carol has mastered basic duck-care skills such as feeding them gravel and strangling them. The ducks detest their cruel owner, and led by the hideous Father Duck, whose skin condition makes Two Face look like a Noxzema model, plan a coup. I'm sorry, I'm also being informed that that should be "Coop", and is not a bloody takeover, but rather the enclosure within which the ducks reside.

Obviously we can't get our details right about the content of the short, so just tune in to Seven Little Ducks along with Mike, Kevin and Bill and see for yourself. Quack. "

Addictive Television

It's 3 Am and I'm still up because I just watched the entire first season of "Celebrity Rehab" in one night. At first I was just going to watch one episode but that lead to another and another and I didn't know how to stop. It's almost like a... it's like a strong undeniable, uncontrollable impending urge.. thingey. Not sure about the exact term or how to stop it.

My comical (was it though?) lead-in should not obscure the fact that there is NOTHING funny about the show or the subject matter. And it really throws the usual preconceptions down the drain. In almost any other context, this kind of a group of "celebrities" given on a "reality show", is the kind of thing that you would not only avoid watching but wish that the TV station broadcasting the show gets bombed by Albanian submarines. But instead they're stripped down and seen as real people, real people with problems, imperfect human beings that you root for and, actually care for about as much as you can care for a person behind the wall of the television screen. At least I did. Anyways, no time for any more analysis. It's 3:40 and I have work tomorrow.

Extremely interesting, compelling and emotional show.

A Phoenix Rising From The Awkwardness

Big Late Show news. From their website:

"Is Joaquin Phoenix here?

That's the question everyone was asking after his must-see television appearance with Dave in 2009 that is now part of the upcoming documentary, "I'm Still Here."

On Wednesday, September 22nd, Joaquin returns to the LATE SHOW for his first television appearance since the incident. In anticipation of Joaquin's return, the LATE SHOW will rebroadcast his original appearance on Thursday, September 16th."

This is just the latest "First Interview Since..." interview - a line that includes the return of Crispin Glover after his drug-induced craziness, return of Madonna after her profanity-laced sound off and the return of Farrah Fawcett after her trip to space.

It ought to be interesting to hear the explanation as to whether it was all an act. My guess is he'll dodge the issue as much as possible in order to get people to watch the documentary that he's promoting. Crispin Glover kind of did the same thing. To this day, he refuses to say whether his interview was just an act because that would spoil the post-modern performance art integrity of the blah blah blah... I stopped listening after a while.

Classic Roots Choice #21

Jon Glaser was on Late Night recently and the Roots played him on like so:

[Video Removed]

And people in the know WERE cracking up. Jon Glaser now has his own show but he started out as a writer for Conan O'Brien. During his time there he performed in a comedy trio known as "The Slipnutz". I was going to explain the history of the trio but youtube actually pulls through on this one:

I'm always surprised to see the footage of Slipknot fans actually booing The Slipnutz - it's not like Slipknot fans to have bad taste. My best guess for the reason is this: The Slipnutz weren't wearing masks. The entertainment value of any music is increased 100 fold when the musicians wear masks (every Slipknot fan knows this).

Jon Glaser must of learned this lesson, for in his new show, he wears a mask and that fact causes the show to be different and better than all the other shows. It's called "Delocated" and it airs on Adult Swim.

An Idiot Abroad Episode 0

The zeroeth episode of the new series "An Idiot Abroad" starring Karl Pilkington has been posted online. The show chronicles Karl Pilkington ("a shaved monkey") as he travels the globe and experiences the Seven Wonders of the World.

Sorry for the screen width cut off, just double click to watch it on youtube. Warning: NSFW.

9/02/10

Yeah, that's today's date. I'm celebrating by exuding the kind of "rebellious" attitude that the Walshes despise.

Miscellaneous Web Videos

Apparently filming a propeller with a certain type of cell phone yields this kind of stroboscopic effect:

Conan announces the title of his new show (premiering Nov. 8th):

Jimmy Fallon does 10 second impressions (watching his show, it's struck me how many various impressions he does (not just comedians) yet you never think of him as an impressionist):

Note to self: never get Sharon Osbourne to count 10 seconds. She doesn't factor in pauses for audience applause. It's not an everyday problem though probably. On the plus side, his Steven Wright joke is such a perfect Steven Wright joke. Though he probably wrote it beforehand.