Here’s a fun/depressing game: Go to YouTube. Notice how they show you five videos that are being watched at that moment. If you refresh the page, you’ll see five different videos being watched at THAT moment. Now notice how many of them are either a) Sarah Palin or b) Tina Fey’s impression of her on Saturday Night Live or c) any other impersonation of Sarah Palin. My highest score is four out of five, and I’ve never gotten lower than one.
So in the middle of the Built to Spill concert last Thursday, I noticed that a lot of the more passionate fans were all holding their arms over their heads and chopping the air along with the chugging backbeat of the song “Velvet Waltz.” It seemed to be unconscious like they were under a spell. The concert was a special performance of their album “Perfect From Now On” which is one of the all time best titles I’ve heard! I had never heard the album and barely knew the band. Tabitha and I were there because Kate Hess, a devoted fan of the album, had invited [...]
Charles Pottamous, the Second Fattest Man in the World, was a web pick in this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly. Charlie Sanders created the character and the piece. I filmed it the night before I left for the conventions and edited it the day after Obama’s speech. And just like Obama’s speech it’s going to change the world.
And check this out! The sketch group Derrick made a movie and I’m in it! In the trailer! I play “Reasonable Principal.” Doesn’t that movie look amazing? It does.
As I read about an actual commercial bank failing, and wonder if we have truly entered another economic depression — I also have to wonder — is the world economy just reacting to the end of Mother?
Being sentimental about improv always feel lame. But the community has the memory of a fish and if I don’t say it now no one will even know what I’m talking about in six months. Some bunches of people are going to start their first improv classes next week and they will never see Mother in their regular run, and I sort of can’t believe you’re allowed to study improv in NYC when Mother isn’t doing a show somewhere.
What I think of [...]
9/11/2001 was so crazy and big and scary and world-changing, certainly New-York-City changing, that I would not think to try and explain it.
What I CAN explain is 9/11/2002 — because on that day, when everyone was super-conscious it had been JUST ONE YEAR SINCE 9/11 — the Brooklyn Academy of Music offered free screenings of the movie “Manhattan” as a sort of “let’s just see a movie and feel good about our city” thing. So I went. My life was a mess. The city was a mess. But the opening to this movie really did put me in the best mood. Rhapsody in Blue, great shots of the city and funny narration from Woody Allen, in that order. So [...]
So here’s how it works: every so often in order to clear out room on my bookshelves I give away books that a) are not gifts and b) I’m not likely to read again. I’m trying to avoid becoming an old man with rooms full of books and newspapers and hair.
This time I’m giving away some comic books! Holy crap! And some really good Alan Moore stuff! Not Watchmen — what do you think, I’m crazy? But good stuff. Click the picture above and see what I’m giving away. Claim what you’d like in the comments (NYC area only) and we’ll work out a way to hand them off.
There are [...]