Speaking of things I love...(updated to add fanvid)

Ex-TSCC Showrunner/Executive Producer Josh Friedman, on the sinking of his brilliant show.

On the nature of the loss:

Losing your show is ... like a surprise divorce where you get served papers in the morning and your (ex)wife is fucking Human Target by three in the afternoon using the same time slot your child was conceived in and also where she did that one thing that one time on your birthday.

On being reunited with the wife you haven't seen for a couple of years cos you've been busy on the show:

WIFE: Oh...It's you.
EX-SHOWRUNNER: Hey baby.
WIFE: You look...different than I remember.
EX-SHOWRUNNER: I've gone a little grey.
WIFE: Or a little fat.
EX-SHOWRUNNER: Pretty sure it's grey.
WIFE: Pretty sure...fat. Was I...drunk?
EX-SHOWRUNNER: Drunk? When?
WIFE: I don't know. The whole time?

On leaving the lot:

ME: Frank! I'm that someone! It's my show! I am the someone that I'm looking for!
GUARD: Wait. Who are you?
ME: I'm Josh Friedman, Frank! And until I drive past this guard shack I am the Executive Producer of this tv show! I am the someone! Can't I give myself permission to leave?

Have I mentioned how much I'm gonna miss this guy's show?

For those of you who may have wondered whether my love for the Saw series knows any bounds...

I understand why you wonder. With the fervor of a recent convert, I can even find things to enjoy in Saw V, which objectively is not a creatively successful movie. (And I did believe how it ended. I was happy w/how it ended, but I believed it).

And I've seen the goriest of 'em (III) enough times I could use it as a lullaby.

So, I understand why you wonder. Does my love for the Saw series know any bounds?

...why yes, yes it does.



This is pointless...

I' ; le VE s'est demandé, combien font le MIT de you...com vous-même ? Attrapé dans le piège. Il ne finit jamais…

Saw, in one panel

As more than one reviewer, professional and blog alike, has observed, as the Saw films go on, for the plots to work, you have to believe that Jigsaw can correctly predict what anyone is going to do at any given time.

And that he can do so far in advance, given that most of his traps tend to take just a little time to set up. Unless you happen to have handy, say, a device that both gouges people's eyes out and tears off their limbs.

So, this...



...this would explain a lot.

Dude, seriously: Shut the fuck up.

It may not have escaped your notice that I do not like Marilyn Manson a whole awful lot. Not to put too fine a point on it, I believe I may have used the words "unrelenting evil" to describe him.

I'm not even talking about his music. True, I don't like it, but that's a matter of taste. No, what I really don't like is his habit of dating talented young women who he makes look exactly the same and then disappoints.

Now, however, I think it's time for me to swear one of my occasional vows. This will be the last mention of Marilyn Manson in any of my blogs for quite some time. Why? Because it's been made clear to me (again) that all this attention is just what he wants.

How was this made clear to me?

Like this:

"I essentially lost everything because of Columbine but, if it happened now, it just wouldn't have the same impact. There has to be that first person who takes the arrows in the back and I guess that was me.
"If there was a Grammy Award for death toll, it would be mine. I don't think anyone has been blamed for as much violence as me."

Dude, seriously: Shut the fuck up. You "lost everything," if indeed you have, because people lost interest in your son-of-Alice-Cooper act. That's all I have to say to you.

Neil Innes of Python and Rutles fame

Further to previous entry

And because i'm still pissed at how Not Cool this is.

From Daily Kos:

Purely as a political matter, this is a campaign promise that it makes sense to keep -- and the quicker the administration takes concrete steps forward, the better.

More importantly, as the President himself said during the campaign, this is about doing the right things. You can't have half-equal rights. Everybody knows we might not get there overnight, but until we're moving in the right direction, it won't feel like it's happening at all.

It's time to start delivering on those campaign promises.

Ever feel really, really lied to and used?

Keep fucking around, President Obama.

in a legal brief submitted to a federal judge, Obama's Department of Justice, writing in the name of the United States government, whose CEO is Barack Obama, argues that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act is appropriate, carefully balanced and justified by reason, and not by animus toward gay people. A lot of the same rhetoric used to justify actual discrimination against gays is cited in the brief as a reason why DOMA is necessary. (Child abuse precedents, all of that.) The brief even resorts to the argument that DOMA doesn't deny gays anything because they're still entitled to all the benefits that heterosexuals get -- if they act heterosexually.

That's it. Really. Just keep fucking around.

Suck it, CSI: Housewives; Monk & Betty!

'House' is the most popular TV show in the world.

US drama "House", starring Britain's Hugh Laurie as unconventional medical genius Doctor Gregory House, out-gunned rivals in 2008 to become the world's most watched show on television.

According to ratings agency Eurodata TV Worldwide, House and his team of canny diagnosticians last year gathered more than 81.8 million viewers in 66 countries, representing a potential 1.6 billion viewers.

That was far more than the 2007 and 2006 winners in the same TV drama category, "CSI: Las Vegas", about a team of forensic experts, and its spin-off "CSI: Miami".

In the TV comedy category, the US female-star cast of "Desperate Housewives" for the second year running beat "Monk" (US) and "Ugly Betty" (US), attracting 65.3 million viewers worldwide in 2008.

Senator Obama calls on President Obama to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Here's a good pandagon entry by Pam Spaulding on the reaction of too many "progressive" bloggers to being reminded that when it comes to equality for all citizens, President Barack Obama thus far has been cowardly (at best).

The response of those bloggers is best described as "Now is not the time," which more than ever, begs the classic response if not now, when?

There are many things that he could be doing, and isn't, things that would help this nation. Things like putting a halt to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which he promised to do during the campaign.

And which more than 70% of Americans now want repealed, BTW, so it's not like there'd be any heavy political cost.

Talking of cost, he could also put much-needed money into our coffers, and regain what goodwill he's lost here, if he believed in totally equal marriage rights.

But, at least he's been honest (I think) about the fact that he doesn't.

Repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," on the other hand...

The long, needlessly drawn-out fight to get Minnesota a second Senator today has an offshoot that ought to raise at least a grim smile

Norm Coleman owes Al Franken $95,000 in court costs.

As someone says in the comments on that page, though, it's really only funny until you reflect on the reality of the thousands of dollars and months of time wasted.

And all this because Coleman didn't want to give up the fight even after court after court, and recount after recount, told him he had fallen short.

Sheesh...

G.I. Shmoe?

If rumors are to be believed, director Stephen Sommers has been fired from the G.I. Joe movie while others try to edit it into a releasable status.

Sommers has made some good...well, maybe not good, but dumb-but-fun movies (the first two Mummys, Deep Rising). And "dumb-but-fun" is mostly all I was expecting from a G.I. Joe movie.

So, I have no idea A if this is true, and B, whether the firing is deserved if it is true. What I do know is that if they gave a "Razzie" for the worst trailer, this would win in a heartbeat.

First...try not to notice that eighth Doctor Who (I don't count McGann) actor Christopher Eccleston is apparently in this, something I either didn't know or had forgotten. I guess he wanted to know what it was like to do a big-budget, small-ideas project for a change.

Second, notice how the global icon destroyed is the Eiffel Tower so the John-Kerry-looked-French crowd won't be offended.

Third, ask yourself if this doesn't look as if it had been made by somebody who didn't know that Team America: World Police ...was a satire (more effectively of '80s action movies than of 21st century politics, IMO, but that's another post).

Fourth, take a drink every time there's an explosion and/or bodies go flying. If they crash through a window of any kind, take two drinks.

Fifth, dig the incredibly clichéd end-of-an-action-movie trailer, where everything gets louder and LOUDER until suddenly it all stops, someone says something meant to be portentous but only pompous, and then the explosions start again before the opening date appears on the screen.



Phew!

I Never Met a Rose

This is from the film of Antoine De Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince. The music was written by Frederick Loewe, the lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. Rather dismissed in its day, it was also the subject of criticism by Lerner, who felt director Stanley Donen had interfered with the music to its detriment.

It has since attracted at least a small cult of fans, of which I am one, based on the strong performances of the actors and the very enjoyable (despite Lerner's criticism); memorable score.

The actors include Richard Kiley, who you'll see in this clip, Bob Fosse, in his definitive performance onscreen as a mature dancer and Gene Wilder, as a sensitive fox.

Steven Warner, who played the titular Prince, only made one other film, one I've never seen and I'm quite sure that no one remembers, only I do because it was featured in Dynamite magazine and I have that kind of memory. I remember being told I looked quite a bit like him when I was 8.

Oh, and I should mention that the only clip of this song I could find is from a dubbed version. But luckily, only the dialogue is dubbed, not Kiley's rich, Tony Award-winning (he created the lead in Man of La Mancha) singing voice. It's the song I really want you to hear anyhow.

Enjoy.

I definitely preferred Letterman over Leno as a late night host, but I've got nothing against Conan...

It would appear as though Conan O'Brien is not doing as well as NBC must've hoped.

For First Time, Dave Tops Conan
By Bill Carter

Just seven days into the new competition in late night, there was a new leader Tuesday night, at least in the preliminary ratings, as David Letterman passed a still-sliding Conan O’Brien to take over first place among the late-night shows.

Mr. O’Brien’s numbers fell in the so-called overnight ratings for a seventh straight night since his premiere as the host of NBC’S “Tonight Show” on June 1. Mr. Letterman, meanwhile, scored some of his best recent ratings with a Tuesday show that featured Julia Roberts and the Black-Eyed Peas.

There have been times when of all the late night guys, Conan was the only one I'd think of watching even if I didn't like the guests. (Now, Craig Ferguson has that distinction.)

I watched the first couple episodes of Conan's Tonight Show, and for one thing, Mark Evanier is right: They're not making the best use of Andy Richter. Sit him down next to Conan and let 'em trade stories about their families for a few minutes each episode, I say.

If better material comes out of the time with the guests, the Conan & Andy stuff can always be cut, but I think it could be really funny and charming. I'm basing this on some of Richter's returns to Late Night as a guest.

But anyway, my point is, I have no interest in seeing Conan fail; I hope he finds a way to make the show his own and succeed, as he did on Late Night. However. With the same ghoulish fascination that causes us to slow down at the scene of an accident, I have to admit I am at least mildly tickled to see NBC's fortunes failing.

You see, when the network decided to give five hours of Prime Time a week to Jay Leno*, they took away five timeslots that could've gone to, oh, hmm, gee I don't know...Life. And now they're dying on the vine.

Is it wrong for me to savor the sweetness of that taste?

*Leno has this in common with Ellen DeGeneres: In both their cases, their doglike "Like me, like me, like me, like me, like me!" shtick periodically has the effect of making me not like them.

One more nice random thing I found on them interwebbys

(her name is Jamie Lawrence)

My Side of Your Story

Does it really surprise anybody to learn that my response to this bit of statuary is...

"Get away from the dragon, you big bully!"

So...confused...so...confused!

See, I have here a dilemma.

On the one hand, I like Mary-Louise Parker, I think she's a very rewarding actress (esp. as Amy on West Wing) as well as just, let's not kid ourselves, a vixen.

Despite this, I have never really taken her series Weeds to my heart. I tried it back when I had Showtime, and it just didn't give me that much pleasure.

Maybe because I don't and never have smoked the pot, tho I've yet to hear many reasons that make sense why it should be illegal.

I think green is a really pretty color, as you may know. I am also an arachnophobe. I think it stems from a glimpse of Tarantula on TV at way too early of an age, like when I was about five or sumthin'.

So, taking all of the above in mind, maybe you can understand why my reaction to this photo...


...is one of utter, utter confusion.

Four out of five ain't bad

You Are Imaginative

You are a creative, innovative person. You're not afraid of great risks. Right now, you are seeking peace and tranquility in your life. You are drawn to people who are philosophical and thoughtful. You feel like there is nothing in your life that needs to be changed. You find that any decision you have to make needs to be slept on... often for multiple nights.

The Jungle Test

And now...a few words on behalf of the sane