Thursday, October 20, 2005

Set the TiVo! (Well, Maybe...)

Overnight this weekend (late Saturday night, early Sunday morn), NBC is rerunning a Saturday Night Live from November 9, 1985 hosted by Madonna, with musical guests Simple Minds. This was the season where the cast included Randy Quaid, Joan Cusack, Anthony Michael Hall, Jon Lovitz, Dennis Miller and others, and I don't recall this episode as being that wonderful. The highlight was probably the water tank card trick by special guests Penn and Teller.

Also, next week, the E! Channel's SNL reruns include the 1992 episode hosted by Nicolas Cage. This is the one that includes the sketch I mentioned here wherein Mr. Cage, who just named his kid Kal-El, plays an expectant father rejecting proposed baby names because they'll cause his kid to get beaten up. It runs Tuesday night at either 10 PM or 1 AM depending on what time zone you're in.

• Posted at 10:28 PM · LINK

Good Advice Costs Nothing (and it's worth the price...)

The Rhino Handmade website still doesn't have a real announcement about My Son, the Box, the Allan Sherman compilation for which we are all jonesing...but they have put up a tiny squib that says it's coming soon. They also say it's $120, which is twenty bucks cheaper than the Amazon listing. Aren't you glad you followed my suggestion not to order it yet from Amazon?

• Posted at 9:38 PM · LINK

Thursday Afternoon

Where are these indictments I keep hearing about?

Okay, there's Tom DeLay. Good start but it's only one and knowing him, he'll probably slip out of that charge...make some kind of plea bargain that admits no wrongdoing in exchange for which he'll do five minutes of community service — the first and last of his life. (I don't think he'll be so lucky in the Jack Abramoff matter...)

But people keep saying there are going to be indictments. Massive indictments. Shocking indictments. Indictments that are going to shake Washington to its core.

Okay, where the hell are they?

Every morning now when I awake, I hurry to my computer here and log into one of my favorite newssites to see the indictments...and there aren't any. This morning, everyone was talking about another hurricane and I thought, "No...we don't want another hurricane. We want indictments."

Of anyone. I'm not fussy. It would be nice if it were Karl Rove or Scooter Libby...although I have a hard time believing that any special prosecutor is cold-hearted enough to indict a guy named after a Muppet. But I'll settle for an indictment of just about anyone not in my immediate family. Geraldo Rivera would be nice. Or Carrot Top. How about a nice, juicy indictment of everyone currently producing a reality show? And while you're at it, that rude checker at the Whole Foods Market near me. And Bill O'Reilly, just because.

Come on...there are plenty of people out there to indict. Let's get on with it.

• Posted at 5:33 PM · LINK

Deep Freeze

As readers of Marvel Comics know well, Captain America is alive today only due to a freakish miracle. During World War II, he was involved in an accident involving an airplane. He plunged into icy waters where his body was frozen, only to be thawed out many decades later. Or at least, that's the way Stan Lee and Jack Kirby presented it in the comics.

Me, I've always found that story kind of hard to believe. I buy the one about the guy getting transformed into a hulking green monster because of gamma ray bombardment. I believe the one about the kid gaining spider-like powers after being bitten by a radio-active spider. And of course, I believe that Thor, God of Thunder, comes down the rainbow bridge to visit Earth and arrest bank robbers. That's all highly credible. But a World War II combatant frozen in a glacier for all those years? Ridiculous.

...or is it?

• Posted at 10:46 AM · LINK

Hello, Ma Baby!

Michigan J. Frog, as we all know, has been a drinking glass, a cookie jar and even a pair of scissors. He's also been a candle, a plush toy, a few thousand t-shirts, a pillow, a tape dispenser, a salt and pepper shaker and many other things, including the spokesfrog of the WB Network.

It may surprise some of you to know that he was also once the star of a very good animated cartoon entitled One Froggy Evening. There is now a website devoted not just to that cartoon but to a history of the famous songs sung by the warbling amphibian in what I believe to have been his greatest appearance. That is, if you don't count the Michigan J. Frog cheese grater.

• Posted at 1:06 AM · LINK

Gabba Gabba Hey!

I first became familiar with The Ramones from a wonderful little low-budget 1979 film called Rock 'n' Roll High School. I kinda liked their music and to date, I have bought a grand total of zero Ramones albums. This is because a one-time lady friend left hers behind when she exited my life. I almost bought their newest release — a CD box set — but lucky M.E., I got a free review copy of Weird Tales of the Ramones, the first-ever Ramones collection of its kind, compiled by Johnny Ramone just before his death last year. What do you get in this thing? Well, there are three audio CDs with a combined total of 85 Ramones tracks...about all anyone could ever need. There's also a DVD of rare footage and music videos and there's a pair of 3-D glasses and, best of all, there's a gorgeous comic book featuring the artistry of, among others, Sergio Aragonés, Scott Shaw!, Matt Groening, Bill Stout, Carol Lay, Xaime Hernandez and Mary Fleener. The book's worth the price all by itself.

What else can I tell you? Well, I can provide an Amazon link to order your copy today. Otherwise, all I can say is that if you like the Ramones, you have to have this collection. And if you don't like the Ramones, get it for the comic book.

• Posted at 12:38 AM · LINK

October 21, 2005 • Current • October 19, 2005