The Starlost is on DVD!!!! Oo! Oo! Do you have it? None of my libraries do.

Corey Haim’s death reminded me of this: http://www.cracked.com/article_16478_7-movies-based-true-story-that-are-complete-bullshit_p1.html

Who is Harry Kellerman and Why is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Mecould’ve been called Look at Dustin Hoffman’s Giant Nose! I swear they emphasized it. Did they make it bigger prosthetically or was it just camera angles? I knew Shel Silverstein had one of my favorite voices, and that he wrote for Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show (did you know he wrote A Boy Named Sue, too?), but hearing him sing was a treat. I love the conversation Georgie has with his father– and then his mother– at breakfast. It reminded me of in Forman’s Hair, when Berger goes home to get the money to bail the others out of jail. The dubbing was a bit annoying in spots. Some of the music reminded me of Paolo Nutini’s stuff. Jack Warden reminds me of the Vogon Captain in the Hitchhiker’s Guide BBC series. Lots of good quotes:
“In New York, there are no more dragons left so slay. So I shot you a taxi.”
“Watch the skies for low-flying starlings!”
“Midgets in there… having a picnic.”
“Be careful of my mother. She lives in the linoleum and moans all night.”

Speaking of Hair, did you know about the hotel arson when the traveling show was in Cleveland? People fucking DIED. I learned about it from Hair: Let the Sun Shine In.

Also speaking of Hair: they’re making a movie about Jobriath!

Possibly my favorite (of sooo many) movie references in The Simpsons: Lisa skating at the end of Mypods and Broomsticks.

I watched Gumby Dharma shortly before Art Clokey’s death. Highly recommended! The short film Mandala is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrwFGU3oAvU. I never noticed the keyhole eyes! I kept waiting for them to mention Eddie Murphy.

I finally re-saw (since I was little) The Caterpillar episode of Night Gallery! It’s the one with the earwig. The protagonist strongly reminded me of Howard Moon.

Cactus Flower was cute. “There’s no such thing as a friendly kiss on the neck!” I liked the Fortune Cookie reference, too.

The Princess Mononoke dvd offers “literal English translation.” What’s the difference?

One of my favorite things about Inglorious Basterds is that the Germans speak German! I hate American movies in which non-Americans speak English– but with the accent of their country! “I don’t look calm to you?” Do you think the schnapps ordering was a direct reference to the “Orange whip?” scene in The Blues Brothers? BJ Novak = LOVE

Circus of Horrors (1960)

A Kiss in the Dark was a little too broad for my taste. But I can’t pass up anything with David Niven. Also, it was Maria Ouspenskaya’s last movie.

I <3 the Sundance Channel. You must see Peter Templeman’s short (19 minutes) movie The Saviour. Clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z517wtEK1FE Thom Campbell is excellent!

Any cat owners out there familiar with World’s Best Cat Litter? http://www.worldsbestcatlitter.com/ I currently use (well, Pyewacket uses) silica litter. But corn is tempting.

This seems like a great idea: http://www.slammernews.com/.

Have you seen Disney’s The Princess and the Frog? Haven’t seen it yet, but I like that it is a NOLA story. They need more tourism there these days. But I hope this movie doesn’t make it more alluring for families to visit with kids. Look what getting kid-friendly did to Vegas! Ugh. What we need now is a U.S. vacation destination which emphasizes “adults only.” Not necessarily in a sleazy way, but just as a haven for folks who want to get away from hordes of screeching little responsibilities.

Whenever I hear the word “lurid” now, I think of Circus of Horrors. I want Melina’s orange dress with gloves! Not so much the hat, though.

Manda Bala made me want to start a frog farm. It is visually enchanting, but its treatment of race and poverty seems overly simplified. Class seems to be more the issue, in Brazil’s case. Although I suppose race and money go together with class. The doctor seems pretty Germanic.

Like Gaslight, In the Cool of the Day was worth watching if only for Angela Lansbury. I love the scene of her smoking in bed! Her character’s story is the same old “I’m going to punish him for the rest of his life” modus operandi which many real-life wives inflict upon their husbands. But AL carries it off with aplomb. The airplane’s lounge was delightful, too.

I would love to see Peter Stormare as The Devil, but don’t know if that’s enough to make me watch Constantine. My favorite PS role is Dixie, the “fifth Beatle” in Million Dollar Hotel!

I haven’t read either book but I only recently figured out that Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a WWII Mary Poppins. It even features David Tomlinson. Angela Lansbury is delightful as Miss Eglantine Price. The animal king is prejudiced against humans. I like the hookers and Caribbean regiment on Portobello Road.

Gaslight was so rather obvious to me that pert Angela Lansbury was all that kept me watching. Am I jaded? What the hell did she like about her husband to begin with?

Did Celebrity Deathmatch ever do Lee Marvin vs. James Coburn? Robot Chicken?

When is the new Futurama going to start? I must say I found the greedy aliens of Bender’s Big Score to be rather offensively Jewishy. And why did they have to include Fry’s dead dog? I would have preferred more of Kif. I love that Santa’s elves are making Binky toys!

Are there lines out the men’s room doors at Tim & Eric’s live shows? I wonder if afterward the janitorial staff of those venues find the men’s rooms much cleaner than normal.

Is there an episode guide for It Takes a Thief? Sometimes it’s fun just for the Italian scenery.

Werckmeister Harmonies has such great pacing and tempo. That’s what makes the super-long shots bearable. It wasn’t till 1:25 that I had any idea of when it takes place. Where did they get those people to be the followers? Those faces! You can’t do that with makeup.

I like Hitchcock but Family Plot was boring for the first 1:20. Karen Black with William Devane is like a no-talent contest.

Manoushe made me think about making Gypsies my film studies focus area. I like folklore and ethnic studies. I love how the witch in Night Watch is sort of an urban gypsy. When she and Anton see each other again in Day Watch, he’s like, “hey grandma, thanks for ruining my life.” And she says that because of him she did time as a toad. Manoushe’s chicken with a baby doll head reminded me of Night Watch, too. Its seventies-style sound effects are hilarious, but the sets and (sweat-stained) costumes and the moon– the food! Is that a chocolate neckalce?! The unibrowed princess! Were the filmmakers filling some sort of little person quota? Was it really made in 1990? It seems much older. Kind of reminded me of Tuvalu, but I’m not sure why.

Held on my forty-second birthday, February 7, 2010.

Here’s the line-up (I think) in chronological order:

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, 1981 BBC Series (from start through Vogon announcement) – In honor of my new age.

Zip -A-Dee-Doo-Dah segment from Song of the South (1946).  I remember seeing it in the theatre as a little kid and finding it sad.

Web Soup episode airing November 10, 2009.  I was mistaken in thinking this was the episode featuring the Slow Loris and “I’m Fat and Nobody Likes Me” but it wasn’t.  Nobody minded!  I heart Chris Hardwicke.

Match Game ’77 – I don’t have episode info, but it’s the one where the stupid contestant doesn’t get why the Indian fakir said, “my snake is not moving, but my blank is rising!”  Even though Gene and Betty White tried to act it out for her.  Oh Dickie Dawson, how I adored you on Match Game, Hogan’s Heroes, and Family Feud.  I don’t care if you were drunk and fresh.

MGM cartoon: The Blue Danube (1939).  Delightful.  I watched it twice before realizing the blue fairy (presumably not the same one who chided little rabbit foo-foo) is naked.

Cartoon Planet episode (1995?) from More Extras on The Brak Show DVD.  Ree ree ree ree ree!  Damn, I wish I could do Brak’s voice.

Two segments from Love American Style Season Two, Episode 19, original air date January 30, 1970: Love and the Nervous Executive, featuring my favorite Paul Lynde playing a guy so distracted by his (female) secretary’s beauty that, despite her super-efficiency, he can’t get any work done.  And Love and the Hitchhiker, in which Bob Denver plays the mainstream character for a change.

From Cartune Xprez 2006, #1 Slow Dance Recyttal (sic) by Peter Burr, Christopher Doulgeris and Cassandra Jones.  Trrrrripy!

Kenneth Anger’s Rabbit’s Moon (1950).  One of my all-time favorites.  Mooooon!

From Matthew Barney’s Cremaster Cycle:  The Order (2002).  Riveting, although the molten vaseline was pretty gross.

Psychomania (1973).  This was one of those movies I watched on tv as a kid when I was too young to fully get it, but its creepiness stayed with me.  Now, it’s no so much creepy as hilariously bad.  I love that the guys in the gang’s names are Hinky, Gash, Chopped Meat, Hatchet, and Bertram.

Did I forget anything?

Thanks, everybody who came and celebrated with me!

Next time (probably next month) will include an episode of The Richard Pryor Show, segments from Electric Edwardians, and  Shaun the Sheep.

Not surprisingly, Monsieur Clay had a history in mime.  There was an article in The Columbus Dispatch a few months ago about the decline of mime as an art form.  I don’t think of myself as a mime fan, but Kenneth Anger’s Rabbit’s Moon (1950) is one of my all-time favorite films.

I love when BB&C shows Pyewacket’s pov!  And Gillian’s red velvet dress.  Too bad they slapped the make up on Jimmy Stewart with a trowel.  He was only fifty!