Saturday, January 28, 2006
I Love The Weekend
Yay. It's 2:23 AM on Saturday morning, and I get to sleep late. Weekends are a gift from heaven Here's a quick update:
My Nanny McPhee review can be found here.
Also, it looks like things with the podcast are finally starting to really get moving. We've been having trouble lately keeping to schedule, mainly because of the long time it takes for Erik to edit the shows. For example, we recorded a very long 2005 recap while I was in El Salvador, but that probably won't ever be posted. It just takes too long to edit. And that's not the only show to have fallen by the wayside. But luckily, he just picked up a new multi-track mixer for recording, and that will also tremendously improve the time it takes to edit. We're talking doing in 2 hours what it would take 20 to do the old way. Hopefully now my news segments will actually be posted.
So yeah, that's going well. My Nanny McPhee review was just posted, and the website has been redone and much improved. Clickie.
I saw The Aristocrats. It was as vulgar as expected (forget PG-13 stuff, this is definitely NC-17), but not as funny as I'd hoped. Basically, it's a documentary about the dirtiest joke ever, and how different comedians tell it. The majority of comedians all know it, but they rarely perform it in front of an audience, simply because it involves getting so vulgar. It's a unique joke in that it's not about the punchline - truth be told, the joke isn't even that funny. It's about what the comedian can do with it. As they say in the movie, it's like jazz - there are certain notes that have to be in there, but the melody in general is completely up to the musician. This is a joke that lives or dies on the comedian's presentation of it, and how far to the extreme they're willing to go.
I don't know. I was expecting more. Once you hear the same joke a few times, it doesn't matter how vulgar the next guy makes it. You get the point. Bob Saget was completely insane though...I think he probably wins the award in terms of how far you can go with it. It's a joke that relies completely on shock value, and once that's gone (which it probably will be after you hear it a few times) the only interesting things in the movie come from people talking about the joke or people re-structuring or modifying the punchline.
The segment with Gilbert Gottfriend is fascinating, though. It's not that his telling of the joke is funny, it's what's going on as he says it. He told it to an audience at a Comedy Central roast to Hugh Hefner three weeks after September 11. He went on, told a 9/11 joke, and nearly got booed off the stage. So he responded by telling The Aristocrats. The room was full of comedians, and they all knew the joke, but something about the situation and the way he told it had them falling on the floor, laughing. One guy later said he almost died because he couldn't breathe. It was incredible. People went on record as saying it was one of the most amazing tellings of a joke they'd ever seen in their entire lives, and that it was almost a spiritual experience, because it immediately united everyone present. It makes you think: What qualifies as vulgar? Can vulgarity ever been a good thing? How far is too far? Is there a limit in comedy?
After seeing that, I came back here and watched The Fifth Element with Cherry. It's a so-so movie, good if you just want to shut your brain off and watch Bruce Willis do his thing.
Oh, and Thandie Newton has been cast as the new Bond girl. Whatever small hope I had for Casino Royale has just vanished. First they get a blonde guy for Bond, and now Thandie Newton? Are they retarded? I mean, yeah, she's sorta attractive, but it's not like she's an awesome actress (though I did like her in Crash). And if they just want someone to stand there and look hot, there are better girls out there. Scarlett Johannsen, Keira Knightley, Eva Longoria...I mean, really. Thandie Newton isn't exactly near the top of the list of "Hot Women Who Would Make Good Bond Girls."
*sigh*
Quote of Da Moment:
"I think you can put people to death for what goes on in the best versions of this joke."
My Nanny McPhee review can be found here.
Also, it looks like things with the podcast are finally starting to really get moving. We've been having trouble lately keeping to schedule, mainly because of the long time it takes for Erik to edit the shows. For example, we recorded a very long 2005 recap while I was in El Salvador, but that probably won't ever be posted. It just takes too long to edit. And that's not the only show to have fallen by the wayside. But luckily, he just picked up a new multi-track mixer for recording, and that will also tremendously improve the time it takes to edit. We're talking doing in 2 hours what it would take 20 to do the old way. Hopefully now my news segments will actually be posted.
So yeah, that's going well. My Nanny McPhee review was just posted, and the website has been redone and much improved. Clickie.
I saw The Aristocrats. It was as vulgar as expected (forget PG-13 stuff, this is definitely NC-17), but not as funny as I'd hoped. Basically, it's a documentary about the dirtiest joke ever, and how different comedians tell it. The majority of comedians all know it, but they rarely perform it in front of an audience, simply because it involves getting so vulgar. It's a unique joke in that it's not about the punchline - truth be told, the joke isn't even that funny. It's about what the comedian can do with it. As they say in the movie, it's like jazz - there are certain notes that have to be in there, but the melody in general is completely up to the musician. This is a joke that lives or dies on the comedian's presentation of it, and how far to the extreme they're willing to go.
I don't know. I was expecting more. Once you hear the same joke a few times, it doesn't matter how vulgar the next guy makes it. You get the point. Bob Saget was completely insane though...I think he probably wins the award in terms of how far you can go with it. It's a joke that relies completely on shock value, and once that's gone (which it probably will be after you hear it a few times) the only interesting things in the movie come from people talking about the joke or people re-structuring or modifying the punchline.
The segment with Gilbert Gottfriend is fascinating, though. It's not that his telling of the joke is funny, it's what's going on as he says it. He told it to an audience at a Comedy Central roast to Hugh Hefner three weeks after September 11. He went on, told a 9/11 joke, and nearly got booed off the stage. So he responded by telling The Aristocrats. The room was full of comedians, and they all knew the joke, but something about the situation and the way he told it had them falling on the floor, laughing. One guy later said he almost died because he couldn't breathe. It was incredible. People went on record as saying it was one of the most amazing tellings of a joke they'd ever seen in their entire lives, and that it was almost a spiritual experience, because it immediately united everyone present. It makes you think: What qualifies as vulgar? Can vulgarity ever been a good thing? How far is too far? Is there a limit in comedy?
After seeing that, I came back here and watched The Fifth Element with Cherry. It's a so-so movie, good if you just want to shut your brain off and watch Bruce Willis do his thing.
Oh, and Thandie Newton has been cast as the new Bond girl. Whatever small hope I had for Casino Royale has just vanished. First they get a blonde guy for Bond, and now Thandie Newton? Are they retarded? I mean, yeah, she's sorta attractive, but it's not like she's an awesome actress (though I did like her in Crash). And if they just want someone to stand there and look hot, there are better girls out there. Scarlett Johannsen, Keira Knightley, Eva Longoria...I mean, really. Thandie Newton isn't exactly near the top of the list of "Hot Women Who Would Make Good Bond Girls."
*sigh*
Quote of Da Moment:
"I think you can put people to death for what goes on in the best versions of this joke."
# posted by Andrew Johnson : 1/28/2006 02:20:00 AM 
