So… What are you watching and/or reading?
I had a full weekend (for me, anyway). On Friday Night, I watched both Duck Soup and Horse Feathers and, yesterday, I watched Knucklehead.
The evolution of comedy is one of those things that probably deserves an essay all its own… Duck Soup was not particularly successful in 1933 but, today, it’s seen as brilliant political farce. Knucklehead… well, let’s just say that folks 78 years hence will not be watching it (despite it being quite funny in places).
I’m fishing.
So far, we’ve only caught bait.
Hey. Free bait.
“I’m fishing”. This is an outrage! Vulgarity will NOT be tolerated at this site!!!
What did we watch? My kids had me take them to some movie about a Harry Something-or-Other. A low budget indie thing, pretty much under the radar.
Worth the 10 bucks?
Actually, I was surprised how much I liked it. And the excitement of the boys was worth so much more.
Started The Pacific last night. Watched the first two episodes and the jungle/night combat scenes are terrifying.
It’s all about the British Open and the Women’s World Cup.
Oh, and I saw Ben Folds in Vegas on Friday.
Ben Folds gives great show.
It’s the second time I’ve seen him. The first was with the Utah Symphony in Park City so it was rather subdued, first because it was with a symphony, second because it was, well…Utah. I’m not sure how well his flipping off the entire strip over the big screen at the Cosmopolitan and singing a song about “douchebags on the street” would have gone over in Utah, even in Park City.
But yeah, he went for two hours non-stop, pounding like hell on that piano. He has a lot of bandaged fingers.
I just learned that a colleague went to school in Fredonia [1]. Much hilarity ensued, at least on my part.
1. An upstate campus of SUNY.
From Wikipedia:
Also, the residents of Fredonia, New York, protested because they feared that the similar-sounding nation would hurt their city’s reputation. The Marx Brothers took the opposite approach, telling them to change the name of their town to keep from hurting their movie.
When they did A Night in Casablanca and Warner Brothers complained about doing another Casablanca movie first, the Marx Brothers sent a letter complaining that they had been brothers first so Warner’s should change their name.
That’s a great story, Rufus. I remember a story where Groucho was going to join some very swank country club and they said he couldn’t because Jews were not allowed to use the swimming pool. (You just know a great retort is coming!) He then asked if his son could use the pool and swim in water only up to his knees. I hope I have it right, but you get the idea of Marxist humor at its very best. It almost always is–Night At The Opera is my second favorite–it’s got everything!
I put up tomorrow’s essay a little bit early because there’s a PPV tonight and I’m hoping to go to bed, like, immediately afterwards.
So that’s how the weekend ties together over here.
As for Duck Soup, it’s probably the best comedy film ever made. At least, it’s my favorite and why I wound up with Rufus as a nickname for the past 22 years. I’ve shown it to a lot of people you see.
I wholeheartedly agree–Duck Soup IS the greatest comedy ever made. Do you remember the painful wait for it to finally be screened? Why was that? Obviously, a wait worth waiting for– just absolutely a great, great (do I dare say, sublime?) movie.
Thanks Rufus–I’m going out right this very second to rent it!
Do you remember the painful wait for it to finally be screened?
You’re think of Animal Crackers, the rights to which were in dispute for about 20 years.
Thank you, thank you Mike! This would have driven me nuts–the right and left hemispheres of my brain would have had a fight to the death arguing over which was which–a totally unforgivable sin in Marxist philosophy.
Ah, Mr. Firefly, it all makes sense now. Famous gay vice-president William Rufus DeVane King just wasn’t budging the meter.
To answer and today’s question, I decided to watch the pilot for The Flash TV series. Very comic-booky in aesthetics, but still works in its own way. And does a good job of walking the audience through what it’s like to realize that you have super-speed. I know they kind of had to write her off, but their handling of Iris West left a little to be desired, though. I’d rather they just given the character a generic name. And what’s with Linda Park? But it’s still fun geekery.
To answer yesterday’s question, the above nudged me to go back and listen to Jim’s Big Ego, starting with “The Ballad of Barry Allen” and working my way around.
Also, I’m skimming through the last couple Harry Potter movies in preparation for seeing the last.