|
Post by Mighty Jack on May 19, 2015 2:20:18 GMT -5
I always loved Norm MacDonald (though he can get pretty foul mouthed on his pod casts), his humor doesn't suit everyone, but I thought he was brilliant.... never knew he could be so emotional as well. What a nice moment...
David Letterman is another not everyone likes, but he was my favorite stand-up comedian growing up. And I was there for his morning show, and followed him when he moved to Late Night. I lost track of the show after a while, when it headed to CBS. It just wasn't the same without Brother Theodore and Pee Wee and Chris Elliott. And when Larry Bud Melman passed, that was the end of an era for me.
But I'm trying to keep an eye on these final shows. Have to see Bill Murray (his first ever guest) on Tuesday, as well as the finale on Wed.
Thanks for all the laughs Dave, you were a big part of my entertainment life when I was a teenager.
|
|
|
Post by nondescript spice on May 19, 2015 14:40:19 GMT -5
oh man, that was incredible. a co worker already told me about this, so i knew i was going to watch it. norm macdonald, the king of smarm, breaking down on live tv? wow. that was some heartfelt sh*t.
i was a huge letterman fan when i was in my 20's, as i think most people are - or at least back then in the early days they were. jimmy fallon recently did his own tribute to dave, and he said all there was back then was carson - then here comes david letterman, dropping watermelons off rooftops. no one else was doing the stuff he did. i mean, carson was king back then, but could you imagine him doing stupid human tricks?
my dad and i had an apartment together in those days, after the death of my mother. we'd order pizza and watch letterman together and it was the best thing ever. we got to trade our grief in for just plain silliness for an hour and it was extremely healing. i just loved how straight up goofy the man was.
i was in the hospital around '89-'90, in icu, and my sister brought me a copy of the first top 10 list book. i was hooked up to all these doohickeys and the nurse kept coming in to check them because my laughter kept setting something off.
i got out of watching letterman years ago, though. maybe it was when he made the move to cbs; maybe life just got in the way. but i always liked knowing he was there. i'm glad i was around during his early days - he was a great presence in tv history. and am i the only person who finds it slightly amazing that letterman is such a huge pearl jam fan?
|
|
|
Post by Mighty Jack on May 20, 2015 6:08:34 GMT -5
Nice stories. And I loved those Top 10 Books too. Yeah I think your right about life getting in the way. I don't watch any of the late night talk shows any more. (tough to do when you work graveyard shifts)
My girlfriend back in the day loved Dave as much as I, and that's one of my fond memories. We'd get Slurpees or make nachos, curl up and watch Late Night.
Last nights ep was great fun. Bill always made an entrance on this show, and this was no different. Rupert was on as well - man did Dave make him do some terrible/embarrassing things. And Bob Dylan! I feel so ancient seeing these guys I loved and grew up with who were young when I was young. And now we are all old men.
End of an era.
|
|
|
Post by Mighty Jack on Jun 9, 2015 2:57:52 GMT -5
My Facebook share of the day...
|
|
|
Post by nondescript spice on Jun 9, 2015 11:07:18 GMT -5
ha - i got nothing but love for the gingers. they never go gray, the bastards. here's my favorite:
|
|
|
Post by Mighty Jack on Jun 9, 2015 12:25:28 GMT -5
Ha! That's hilarious. Gingers rock!
|
|
|
Post by Mighty Jack on Jul 3, 2015 2:02:07 GMT -5
Searching for "The One" - “And the Felix for best picture goes to…” I've got a few DVDs to watch, and after I finished with them I'm going to post my pick for the best of the best at my Alternate Oscar Blog. Though truth be told, I knew who my "The One" was for 2014 months ago... I just wanted to get in as many of the critically praised movies as I could, just in case. It's funny about "The One". We always have to have one, “one”: In sports, in pageants, in top 10 lists. Though in fact sometimes there isn't just one "The One", some years there are several ones. And some years there are no “ones”. 2013 was the later. With each passing month I'd collect and add a new great nominee type film to the list. But at the end I came to realize that I had not found "The One", and would be tasked with picking something from my, "Not the One, but pretty darn good anyway" group. Sometimes a movie will tease you into thinking it's the one. As each minute passes your pulse begins to race because this might, could be, yes... no... No it was just another also ran. Not "The One". This happened in 2013 with The Great Beauty.Sometimes critics and cinephiles will get all a twitterpated over a movie. "We found "The One!"", they cry! This happened with Boyhood in 2014. And when I sat down to watch it I was -at first- pumped. But as it played it was quickly evident that it wasn't "The One". Hell, it wasn't even one I'd give a nomination too. Not that I was worried, I had a strong candidate with Under the Skin. A disturbing, arty/Indie movie that would do wonders for my elitist snob cred had I awarded it the Felix. But then I saw "The One" -- and it frankly came out of the blue for me. In truth what I read in reviews didn't inspire much confidence in its "One-nesses", and neither previews or interviews delighted me. And when it won the Oscar for Best Picture... well, that was an odds killer. Felix and Oscar have only agreed on about 10 occasions. Yup, I let the cat out of the bag. When I actually watched Birdman it knocked my socks off. And at the end I had that glowing feeling of certainty when you find "The One". 2014 actually offered up 3 strong contenders. Under the Skin, Birdman, and the animated feature, Song of the Sea. After 2 years of struggle, I finally had a movie season that made it easy on me and gave me several "The One" options.
|
|
|
Post by Mighty Jack on Nov 13, 2015 6:33:42 GMT -5
In a few days time I’ll finally get to see Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy. And I am so very excited about this. Sometime in the early 70s pristine copies of the films masters were sent somewhere safe to be preserved... so of course a fire broke out. Goodbye Apu.
Some 40 years later Criterion restored them, and Amazon put the BDs on sale for half price. And on Tuesday they will be in my hot little hands. After which I plan to have a marathon and maybe, rewrite my alt Oscar blog.
The run down…
1955: Pather Panchali My Best Picture: Les Diaboliques There's a strong chance I’ll change this - if not for Apu, then for Ordet, which I recently re-watched and enjoyed even more than the first time. I still adore Diabolique, but it never was on solid footing as my #1.
1956 Aparajito My Best Picture: The Searchers Very unlikely I’ll make a change, but you never can tell.
1959: World Of Apu My Best Picture: North by Northwest Possible – NBNW is a great movie, but it’s not invincible. I also plan to watch Bunuel’s the Nazarin again as that really left an impression the first time I saw it.
* I'm also going to watch Chinatown and Phantom of Liberty back to back. Chinatown has always been my #1 motion picture from 1974, always! But then I read an interview with Fellini in which he named Phantom as his favorite Bunuel movie. The flick received mixed notices (though Ebert loved it), but I had to give it a go. And when I saw it I was knocked out. Maybe even enough to dethrone a king like Chinatown.
I wanted to wait a few years and watch them again, to see how I felt about them. And now seems a good time to do that.
So I have some classics to look forward to this month. It should be a blast.
|
|
|
Post by Mighty Jack on Feb 14, 2016 21:24:31 GMT -5
I’ve been in movie mode for quite a few months. Yay for fun! I knew when the Apu Trilogy was released that I was going to revist the blog, maybe expand it (since many a silent feature had been discovered, cleaned up and released over the years) So I made a few changes… I added another 4 years. While there are still bunches I need to see, I felt good about what I selected. Oddly, I found that I don’t like Griffith as much as others do (fantastic production values and innovation, but I found him rather weak and soapy as a dramatist. Plus the 2nd half of Birth of a Nation made me sick) A link to the 1913-1917 expansion page… The Felix 1913-17In 1920-21 I made a change and named Chaplin’s The Kid as my best picture. (it's there at the bottom of the page if your interested)… Felix 1917-21It feels right to finally have a Chaplin film as Best Picture on the blog. Other great features from the Tramp were tripped by my love for Bunuel and later, the great Astaire/Rogers romcom Swing Time. The Kid impressed me on a recent viewing, and stood out as the years best. So, yay for Charlie! In 1924 I switched to Sherlock Jr. after watching it again and basking in its genius. Felix 19241927 went to Metropolis. When I began the blog the best restoration on the flick had not yet been released. And with Lang’s magnum opus, it always felt like I was only getting the hint of its greatness. But with the upgraded 2010 release it was like seeing the movie for the first time. Felix 1924-271955 I named my second tie. I could not chose between Ordet and Pather Pachali Felix 19551959 I watched Hiroshima Mon Amour and fell absolutely head over heals for it. I was so gaga with it that I couldn’t wait for the next 50% off Criterion sale and bought it immediately (I got it and La Dolce Vita at Jet for $17 each - for being a new customer. I can live with that price) Felix 1959As for 2015? I’ve actually been disappointed with a lot of the critical darlings I’ve seen. So far the leading contenders are Ex Machina and Inside Out. With movies like Sicario and Room still on the docket. And thems my movies thoughts and such! Yay for 'and such!'
|
|
|
Post by Mighty Jack on Jan 1, 2017 1:47:37 GMT -5
Happy New Years everyone! Phew, 2016 was pretty sucky and I don't know that 2017 is going to be any better. All I can do is bury my head in comic books and movie screens and music and disappear. I have't posted here in ages as I've been thoroughly engrossed with Letterboxd. However I have visited the forum a lot - Collecting film reviews, diary notes and such. They just boosted the stats and added an All Time page, and I've been marking tons of movies as watched to make my stats more accurate (though it would take me forever to make it complete). I was happy to see that... My most watched actor is Buster Keaton with 79 (all those shorts) My most watched Director is Alfred Hitchcock with 50 These are my stats so far.
|
|