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All posts for the month September, 2016
The Appointments of Dennis Jennings
Won Best Live Action Short Film Of 1988
I remember watching this on HBO in 1988 or 1989. I recorded it on my super snazzy hifi vhs recorder. I was all about recording back then. Boxes of tapes. Simpsons, The Young Ones, Blackadder, HBO comedy specials…. these are the days my friends. It could be Franky. It could be very fresh and clean.
… but I digress. The Appointments of Dennis Jennings is a bleak, stark, monotonous piece of dark humor, that has (unfortunately) fallen off the radar of pop culture. It’s a shame because it is brilliant. Grim. That is the vibe that carries through this piece. Funny is another word. It’s really, darkly, cumulatively so, but funny nonetheless.
“Why would anybody sleep with a parachute on?”
I hadn’t watched it in at least 20 years, maybe longer, but I was reminded of it and thanks to YouTube, it’s available for all.
Steven Wright does his whole monotone deadpan thing, to perfection. Laurie Metcalf, who was hilarious on Roseanne, and Rowan Motherfucking Atkinson (Blackadder, Mr. Bean) are brilliant. This film takes time to put together, but it’s really rewarding, and completely deserving of an Oscar.
It has the dread and unease of a Terry Gilliam film, like 12 Monkeys but with none of the danger, tension, or life.
Brazil sans whimsy.
It’s kind of like a mashup of the non scary parts of Jacob’s Ladder and The Lobster.
It’s absolutely worth the half hour to watch it. After all, it won an Oscar. 🙂
Many people forget that before the mid 1970s, Fleetwood Mac was actually a pretty hard rock/blues band. There are about 5 iterations of the band other than the Stevie Nicks/Lindsey Buckingham days. Christine McVie was in the band for several lineups, moving from blues/hard rock gradually to the smooth, impeccable, California pop that was the Rumours lineup.
This song is from the Peter Green era of Fleetwood Mac. Green Manalishi is by all rights a metal song. It was covered by Judas Priest for Christ’s sake. In places this could be Black Sabbath, but it isn’t. It’s a top notch band playing stratospherically well, in that way that only the 1968-1972 era really contains.
It’s long. Like 15 minutes long, and from what I glean from the comments, this version is better than other (canonical) versions. I can see why. This is great. Heavy but still delicate. Out there but not too far. Yes, it’s super indulgent with the ten minute plus solo, but did you know much of that solo was played on a Fender Bass VI? That makes it cooler.
Basically, I’m sharing this because I recently discovered it, and it’s so damn good it should be heard by everyone. Enjoy.
An absolute legend.
Mel Brooks & Conan O’Brien
Serious Jibber Jabber From 2013
This 90 minute conversation between Mel Brooks & Conan O’Brien is pure gold. I love Mel Brooks. I love his movies (most of them), I love his humor… I love him! He’s wonderfully dynamic and energetic, even at the age of 87. He still is quick as a whip.
Serious Jibber Jabber is a web series done by Conan in which he does an old fashioned (think Dick Cavett, or David Frost) long format interview. No commercial breaks. No band. Just the subject and the host.
Thankfully we have a good host and a spectacular subject in Mel Brooks & Conan O’Brien. Mel’s career is long and legendary. He wrote for the Titan of modern comedy, Sid Caesar, in which he worked with Carl Reiner, Woody Allen, and other luminaries. THEN he wrote for Jerry Lewis (which I didn’t know until I watched this), and created the great spy parody series, Get Smart. So many funny!
Mel Brooks has been popping lately in my feeds, mainly due to the death of Gene Wilder, and is own 90th birthday. 90 is the new 70. Stan Lee is in his 90s and still working. In fact he’s in Portland right now, for ComicCon.
Yes, people are living well, and living well, into their 90s, but it still means that our time with them is short. Take the time to appreciate a man who honestly had a hand in shaping our culture. (for better or worse)
My Hungover Friend
Asks Galactus To Reschedule
Friends like these are keepers.
My dear friend Dale, with whom I write on MoviePilot, and share a blog, has a routine. Every Friday night he has revels. Revels means booze and bad things. This means that as payment for a wonderful night of debauchery, Saturday is a day or recovery.
I will usually get a text mid afternoon Saturday saying, “My hangover is vast.” Then he orders a floppy pie (pizza) and comes back to the land of the living.
This time I went another way with it and Dale went with me. Good stuff.