Steve Eley, who we hear from briefly in the main program, and of whom there's a more extensive interview below, is the editor of Escape Pod. This science fiction literature podcast is one of the world's most popular.
Michael J. Nelson was the long-time host of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Since that show left the air, he's written several books. Now, he's putting his "mocking bad movies" cap back on to head Rifftrax, where he's recording comic MP3 commentaries for films.
Ron Moore spent ten years working on the Star Trek franchise's many incarnations before leaving frustrated. Three years ago, he co-created the SciFi Network series Battlestar Galactica. It's been hailed by critics as one of the greatest science fiction television programs ever. He and his colleague David Eick were recently awarded the prestigious Peabody Award for their contributions to broadcasting. Please share your thoughts on the show in the comments section!
Hopefully a best-of Cee-Lo collection will introduce people to what's actually good about Mr. Green. Decent track selection (although obviously the focus on his pretty-good solo work to the detriment of his great Goodie Mobb work makes it a little weaker than it would otherwise be).
That said, I'm pretty sure this is my favorite Cee-Lo song. When I heard this song the first time, I was pretty much ready to storm the record company for a Cee-Lo solo record. In fact, this song could be my favorite all-time Dungeon Family song, and the fact that it was never a single, and that the DF album never got any promo support when Outkast were at their hottest, was a crime.
Jordan covered the Jackass sequel's red-carpet premier last night, and it got me thinking about the franchise. Sometimes I think it's awful. Often, I think it's the (grotesque) height of New Sincerity.
As I read the small Times review of the new film, and realized it includes a prank (placing a leech on an eyeball) that may well be an allusion to the surrealist classic Le Chien Andelou.
I'm interviewing Ron Moore, creator of the new Battlestar Galactica, tommorow morning. I'm sure some of you all are much more familiar with the new BG than I. What should I talk to him about? What questions would a non-fan miss that would still be relevant to someone who hadn't seen the show? FEED MY BRAIN!
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One of my coworkers from my San Francisco day job was the very cool filmmaker Brady Moss. Brady's involved in a group called Rebar, who have created several "parks" in parking spaces around San Francisco. Today, they've built a mobil "park" in San Francisco and one in New York City. More information here. Like this post? Click here to subscribe to the blog.
My prize stash is piled high, so it's time for a contest! I'm giving away sweet prizes to folks who tell somebody about The Sound.
WHAT ARE THE PRIZES?
I've got DVD copies of the two shows which preceded Monty Python, Do Not Adjust Your Set and At Last the 1948 Show. I'll give them out as a set.
Just before I moved, this Arrested Development Season 2 box set that I gave away in the long-ago listener survey contest came back to me as undeliverable. That person's loss could be your gain, because I'm giving it away again!
We also have (courtest of Shout! Factory) a DVD set of the first season of The Bill Cosby Show.
Not to mention our "Lefty Pack": a paperback copy of The Sinner's Guide to the Evangelical Right by Robert Lanham and a DVD copy of "The Best of the Awful Truth."
All that, plus every winner will get a few Sound of Young America stickers.
HOW DO I ENTER?
This is the "tell-a-friend" contest, so you have to tell a friend. I'm going to list some different stuff you can do to enter the contest -- do more than one, and you'll have more than one entry in the random drawing. Two entries = double your chances, three = triple and so on.
Ways to Tell A Friend (in all cases, you can certainly mention the contest if you feel it's appropriate, no need to trick anyone):
* Send an email to 3 or more friends telling them about the show. Can be about a particular program they might like, or about the show in general, or about how you don't need an ipod to listen to The Sound (I'm getting sick of explaining that myself), or whatever you'd like. CC or BCC contest@maximumfun.org. There's an entry.
* Add a link to The Sound of Young America to your blog. Email your URL to contest@maximumfun.org. (by the way, if you have a link, it should point to maximumfun.org, because if I ever get my shit together, maximumfun.org will remain and blogspot will dissapear).
* Make a post about The Sound of Young America on your blog, LiveJournal, Myspace Blog, whatever. Email the URL to contest@maximumfun dot org
* Here's a good one that makes a big difference: post about The Sound of Young America in an online forum or message group that's appropriate and on-topic (please don't just spam any boards). It can be about a particular show (I got a lot of hits on the Brendon Small show from a couple metal forums, for example). Send the URL to contest @maximumfun.org
* Put The Sound of Young America in your MySpace top 8 or send a bulletin about the show to your MySpace pals.
* Play the podcast promo on your podcast. (Thanks Sam)
* Tell a friend about The Sound of Young America in person, and take a picture of yourself doing so. Email the picture to contest@maximumfun dot org.
Let me emphasize here that anything you do in public should be tasteful and on-topic. I don't want people signing up for some motorcycle racing forum and posting "OMG ROTFL@TSOYA" in the Motocross section. Everybody hates that s**t. That said, I think you probably like the show, and people will believe you that it's good much more than they'll believe me, since I invented it. So it's nice to have that coming from you.
Oh, and if you've already done one of these things, feel free to send it in, but consider doing something else as well. And if you just want to enter without doing any of these things, well, go ahead, I'm not gonna stop you.
ISN'T THIS BRIBERY?
Basically, yes. But it's for a good cause, right? I mean, I think it is.
ARE YOU USING ME FOR YOUR OWN FINANCIAL GAIN?
I hope, one day, to achieve financial gain. To this point, I am a total failure in that regard. In the meantime, I will settle for a cult following.
WHEN DOES THIS AMAZING OPPORTUNITY END?
You until the end of September... GO!
WAIT, IS THAT IT? ISN'T THERE ANOTHER, CRAZIER CONTEST AS WELL?
Absolutely not! Absolutely! I will also accept any other crazy idea you can think of (bake a cake with our URL on it and send it to your grandma, paint it on your drag car, whatever). Put Crazy Idea in the subject of your email, and I will send a TSOYA FUN PACK to whoever does the awesomest thing. This pack will include a TSOYA T-SHIRT and an AUTOGRAPHED copy of the new edition of John Hodgman's Area's of My Expertise and maybe some other stuff I haven't even thought of yet.
Jordan and I were watching this sketch and sharing a few yuks the other day, and I found myself wondering whether it was on YouTube, so I could SHARE IT WITH THE WORLD! It is. And it's delightful. You may recognize Hugh Laurie from "House," and Stephen Fry from "being pretty brilliantly hilarious."
Reviews are starting to trickle in from average Joes across the country who saw the Borat movie last night. Here are some quotes from folks over at aspecialthing.com (please note that there is no dissent in the discussion -- these are not the cream of the crop, but rather the crop itself):
"Just got back from the DC Premiere. Won't spoil a thing, but I found it to be the funniest movie ever ever ever made. Holy crap. "
"I went and it is one of the few movies to actually make tears run down my face from laughter. The fight scene in the hotel is one of those iconic moments in cinema that will be remembered forever."
"I just got back from the Philly show. My body hurts from laughing. I have a headache. This movie was nothing short of amazing. There were so many great scenes. Sometimes the laughter was so loud you couldn't hear the movie. Certain scenes got applause because they were so insanely funny. The fight sequence kept going on and it only got funnier. Even when you thought it couldn't be any better it went over the top. I defy anyone to watch this and not laugh. I don't think people will be divided over this at all. "
"This movie is still making me laugh because I was laughing at maximum laughter during certain scenes that deserved more laughter than I could laugh. "
"I will add in chorus that this was the funniest movie I've ever seen. Unbelievable."
The incomparable Glen Goins on the lead vocals. Goins died in 1978 of Hodgkins Disease, shortly after leaving P-Funk because of poor treatment from George Clinton. He was purportedly given six months to live before even joining the Funk Mob, then lived a further two and a half years.
Edited to add this bonus footage of Glen calling down the Mothership:
Over on AST, Louis CK has responded the Lucky Louie's cancellation by HBO:
Lucky Louie has been cancelled by HBO
HBO decided not to pick up Lucky Louie for a second season. Here's all I have to say about this right now..
Lucky Louie IS NOT DEAD.
Lucky Louie is the best thing I ever did. It is a great show. People love it.
I will be fighting for the next weeks to keep it alive.
I thank HBO sincerely for giving me the first 13 episodes. I LOVED working with and being on HBO.
BUT...
It's just not in the cards that we go down like this. No way.
Funny shows don't go away.
If you weren't laughing, you were wrong.
More later.
LCK
Of course, we've got Louie's back. Lucky Louie was by no means an unqualified success, artistically or commercially, but it was one of the bravest and most intelligent shows on TV. All it's problems, in my view, were of the sort that tend to sort themselves out over time. I hoped HBO would agree, but apparently not.
Showrunner Mike Royce agreed to an interview for this blog a couple weeks ago, but put it on hold till the news came down. I imagine he's pretty busy, but hopefully we'll get him on the line and ask him some questions soon.
In the meantime, let's hope somebody has the sense to open a second chapter to this saga.
NBC has announced the cast for Saturday Night Live's next season. Looks like Finesse Mitchell, Horatio Sanz and Chris Parnell are out. Sorry to see Parnell go, but I imagine (hope?) he's got opportunities on the horizon.
Current cast is: Fred Armisen, Will Forte, (Sound of Young America listener) Bill Hader, Darrell Hammond, Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, Kenan Thompson and Kristen Wiig.
Poehler will continue to co-host Weekend Update alongside an as-yet-undecided co-anchor. I honestly don't think WU plays to Poehler's (prodigious) strengths, but I ain't too worried.
Seth Meyers will return as co-head-writer. Staff writers Andrew Steele and Paula Pell will join him in the job.
It's a very talented group. Even the performers I'm less enthusiastic about (I'm not gonna name names, but they're Darrel Hammond, Maya Rudolph and Kenan Thompson) are by no means without their talents and charms.
My sweetheart is in law school, and has been stunned by the general lameness that surrounds her every day. Yesterday, she was waiting to wash her hands in the bathroom, but was blocked by two girls standing at the mirror and tugging at their hair.
From their mailing list: "After ten years of popular demand, The State is available again! The first season of the critically acclaimed 1993-95 MTV Series will be released on iTunes Music Store, starting Tuesday, September 26th. Depending on how many people download, MTV will release subsequent seasons, and then eventually, hopefully, a DVD.
The first season includes introductions of favorite State characters Doug, Louie, Barry & Levon. From the minds that brought you RENO 911!, WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER, and STELLA: Kevin Allison, Michael Ian Black, Ben Garant, Todd Holoubek, Michael Patrick Jann, Kerri Kenney, Thomas Lennon, Joe Lo Truglio, Ken Marino, Michael Showalter and David Wain."
Congratulations to past Sound of Young America guest and all-around awesome guy George Saunders, who won a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (aka The Genius Grant) . He'll get a hundred thousand dollars a year for the next five years, which he can use to (and I'm quoting directly from the grant language here) "do whatever the fuck he wants."
It's pledge drive time on the show, so we desperately whore ourselves in the name of public radio. Will someone really make a $50 pledge to go on a date with us? Also: a visit from Petey the Penguin (candidate for president)'s running mate, A Dinosaur. Additionally: Dating for Dullards.
Fox is entering the Late-Night Wars (as I like to call them, since I have no sense of perspective) with a new show called "Talk Show with Spike Feresten." They've been working on it for quite some time, and just premiered it this past week. Anyone watch? Thoughts?
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"Rust, a fungus disease, sapped the
wheat crop. Production of durum wheat dropped from the 10-year average
of 31,547,000 bushels a year to 4,976,000 bushels."
coming through on the YouTube tip once again. (Slightly awkward transitions due to the clips from Live at the Hollywood Bowl being edited out for time).
