Hail to the Chief

Once again I was going to blog about ROCKY BALBOA and what a good movie it is, and how I'm glad Philly's being used in Hollywood;but alas, another death overshadows the pop culture topics of this blog, and I can't in good conscience not mention the passing of the 38th President of the United States, Gerald Ford.

Quite simply he was the first US President I ever saw live and in living color as he addressed my High School way back in 1987, at the time being 16, I casually dismissed the viewing not realizing how priviliged it was to be in the presence of even one ex-President of the US. He wasn't an overbearing or really charismatic presence, but he did command a sense of calm, which coincidentally reflected the main purpose of his Post Watergate Administration. He did pop the auditorium as a student asked him what he thought of the current crop of Jingoistic action films, most notibly "Rambo"...He paused, and said directly that the only show he liked watching was the sitcom "Kate and Alley" which provoked warm laughter in the room. As for the rest of the powerhouse questioning that most of the eggheads at my school kept asking him in regards to Foreign affairs, the Nixon Pardon and other events during his administration i don't remember, but of course the TV one always stuck.

The only other I saw live was his successor, President Jimmy Carter whom I saw as I was working on the Tonight Show about ten years later. That show was pretty cool to be working at live and yeah,also being ten years older and a little wiser I have to admit feeling somewhat patriotic to be in Carter's presence.

I also think that was the same year The Simpsons aired an episode where at the end of it Gerald Ford moves in next door to Homer. The joke being that Ford was a klutz. Furthermore, President Ford's clumsiness did provide the fodder for all of Chevy Chase's pratfalls on his only season on Saturday Night Live, the irony being that Ford was a total jock in his youth. I bet that Ford had the CIA (he was on the Warren Commisson for the JFK assassination) tamper, and destroy Chevy Chase's film career in retaliation. Now that's funny.

Rest in peace, Mr.President.

HEEEYYYY OWWWW! Keep it Funky Forever now....

This started off as a very positve review of ROCKY BALBOA, but after a searching the web for pix, I saw on CNN that The Godfather of Soul James Brown had passed away at 73 years of age.

The dude changed R&B, Funk and Soul.

I remember buying his "Greatest Hits" as a kid and "Slaughter's Big Rip Off" with the hit "The Big Payback" later on when I noticed how cool the Blaxsploitation genre was, however it was the "Live at The Apollo" album that really got me hooked.

Let's not forget his performance in THE BLUES BROTHERS and ROCKY IV. Classics

I guess he's getting funky now with Sid Barrett, Hendrix, JohnDenver and Jerry Goldsmith somewhere.....with John Bonham on Drums.

Keeping it rrreal....and rrrepresenting....a true BLACK musician who worked his ass off and used real instruments.

God bless you James, The Hardest Working Man in Show Business!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS !

Wishing everyone health, happiness, and well....watch....

VIVA LA SNAKE!

Kurt's back playing a psycho stunt driver who runs over hot women in "DEATH PROOF" directed by Tarantino....

Thank god someone's gonna kick Snake's ass into high gear ! Now the taste of yesterday's post has finally left my mouth.

WTF?

Underdog- THE MOVIE (2007) Thurs.8pm on TBS. Starring Snoopy, MacGruff the crime fighting “Take a Bite Outta Crime” Dog, Jet Li as a Martial Artist with a Dog Collar, and Nicole Ritchie as a Bitch. Underdog fucks a bunch of Pound Puppies (doggie style) while trying to save the day, and spawns a litter of superpowered dogs who shit all over New York City. Jet Li plays a Dog sensei who teaches the superpowered pups martial arts, while Bob Hoskins screams at him from outside a cage. Look for the classic finale where Snoopy final kills that goose stepping asshole the Red Baron!

Featuring the hit single “Dog Wienniez” by Snoop Doggie Dog

Directed by the Spawn of Satan, Michael Bay. 88mins.

PLAYDATE

I did this short in 1992. Quite honestly it was one of the best shooting experiences I ever had. Plus I improvised most of it while shooting.

Practicing the same "deal goes down wrong" in just about most of my shorts makes it really easy.

Thanks again Keegs and Lori, and kudos to Kenny and Stephanie!

The original YOUTUBE link is right here:

PLAYDATE

SCARY MOVIE

I bought MONSTER HOUSE on a whim, while shopping for more important items like food and baby stuff, and even tried to cover it up with the missus by saying that it belonged to the customer ahead of me and somehow ended up with our stuff.

MONSTER HOUSE creeped me out, and that's not easy to do. The story's simple enough- a kid JD sees that the neighbor's house does some creepy things, goes to investigate it with his best buddy Chowder, and a spunky red headed girl (who reminds me of my wife) named Jenny. Without over hyping this thing, this is as good as it gets, and I found a Halloween movie for my family that'll never get stale. It's the sort of movie like ELF, or Moulin Rouge that I went to with a gut feeling, and thankfully got rewarded with some geniune good old fashioned Hollywood magic.

Kudos to Zemeckis and Spielberg who seem to still have small doses of genius in them.




Shelley got animated.