If you’re not watching It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, you’re missing out.  In its fifth season, this FX comedy never fails to make me LOL… srsly.

(SIDENOTE: The overuse of LOL pisses me off, because very often, I don’t think people are really Laughing Out Loud.  GMS might be more accurate, as in, Gets Me Smiling.  Or TTWH – Thought That Was Humorous.  Or simply S, for S’a'ight.)

Anymilksteak, there’s a trend amongst directors on that show, and I wonder if that plays any part in its biting sensibilities.

POP QUIZ!  What do these guys (Matt Shakman, Fred Savage, and Jerry Levine) have in common?

I just gave you a clue.  They’re some of the directors on Always Sunny.  But as you can also see, they were all child(ish) actors.  Shakman was on Just the Ten of Us, Savage was on The Wonder Years, and Levine was in Teen Wolf, amongst other things (including a TGIF show on ABC that replaced Just the Ten of Us).

This leaves me to wonder… what are their sensibilities behind the camera?  Does the show seek out the directing talent of failed former famous Actors! because they bring experience?  Or does the show succeed because the directors are failed former famous Actors! (because writing has nothing to do with it, right… TTHW)?

(SIDENOTE TOO TWO: There is always a third scenario – the Actors! are simply following the career paths of those before them, i.e. Jodie Foster, Sean Penn, and the king, Ron Howard.  But that’s neither here nor there, nor Coinkydink nor Coinkydonk.)

Another of the show’s directors (and Actors!) is David Hornsby.  He got his start on the fake reality show (which GMS on so many levels), The Joe Schmo Show, and since then he’s had limited success until Always Sunny.  His co-star on that show fared a bitter better…

So let’s get down to brass tacks (a phrase I’ve been hearing more frequently, and that’s S)…

BONUS COINKYDINK OR COINKYDONK: Some of the previous CorC’s flow into one another.  Sam Jones was in Smallville, which was produced by Jeph Loeb, whom wrote Teen Wolf which featured Jerry Levine.  Consider your mind blown…

MAGIA, ESPADA Y FANTASÍA (IV)

Las cosas como son: la película ha envejecido lo suyo desde aquel lejano 1987 de su estreno. Pero quienes la vieron en su momento y se encontraban en la frontera entre la infancia y la adolescencia, o incluso en ésta, la recuerdan como parte de aquel periodo, como quizá el último cuento de hadas que se tragaron sin sentirse ridículos o estúpidos. Lamentablemente, hay que echar mano de memoria y de nostalgia para que esas sensaciones negativas no se recuperen súbitamente ante un visionado del mismo film a edad ya madura. Pero dejando la puerta abierta a los recuerdos es posible que el espectador pueda reencontrarse con aquél que fue un día y que era capaz no sólo de ver cosas como ésta, sino de disfrutarlas.

Rob Reiner, director discreto (es autor de eso llamado El presidente y Miss Wade) con algunos notables puntos a su favor (Cuenta conmigo, Cuando Harry encontró a Sally, Algunos hombres buenos y, sobre todo, Misery), se encumbró a finales de los ochenta gracias a esta amable fábula de aventuras de capa y espada en un mundo mágico conectado con la realidad a través de la lectura que un abuelo (Peter Falk) hace a su nieto enfermo (Fred Savage, aquel niño imbécil de la serie Aquellos maravillosos años), de una historia contenida en uno de sus libros favoritos, con el fin de ayudarle a sobrellevar la convalecencia y apartarlo de los incipientes videojuegos. Esa historia entre leída e inventada (según el anciano percibe de reojo el interés creciente o decreciente del chaval en lo que le cuenta) que el abuelo va relatando al muchacho nos traslada el legendario reino de Florin, en el que gobierna el malvado tirano príncipe Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon) con ayuda del malévolo Vizzini (Wallace Shawn). Humperdinck, maloso que es, rapta a la bellísima Buttercup (tacita de mantequilla, interpretada por Robin Wright Penn mucho antes de ser Penn) para convertirla en su prometida, lo cual no gusta nada a la muchacha ni al campesino humilde del que estaba enamorada (Cary Elwes). Éste, con ayuda de un aventurero español, Íñigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) y de un gigante de manazas enormes (quien escribe siempre ha pensado las vueltas que podría dar la cabeza de cualquier mortal tras recibir un bofetón de semejante explanada llena de dedos) luchan contra los malos para rescatar a la joven y para que Íñigo logre vengar la muerte de su padre (“Hola. Mi nombre es Íñigo Montoya. Tu mataste a mi padre. Prepárate a morir.”).

Película de carácter indudablemente juvenil, destaca sobre la mayoría de los productos de su género por varias notas características que la diferencian favorablemente. En primer lugar, su estética colorista, dinámica, de hermosos paisajes, de escenografías de cartón piedra, de dirección artística al servicio de la fantasía con efectos especiales que van desde lo estimable (para 1987) a lo deliberadamente cutre, que hace que la cinta sea la traducción más acertada, incluso hasta la fecha, de los clásicos de dibujos animados de Disney al cine de carne y hueso. En segundo lugar, la música compuesta por Mark Knopfler, hoy en día un tanto anticuada por su producción demasiado ochentera, pero uno de los trabajos más recordados de su autor en solitario. En tercer lugar, la ironía: es una película que, como los buenos cuentos infantiles, consigue contar historias violentas y truculentas, sórdidos episodios de brujas y gigantes, de ogros y pérfidos y crueles príncipes, con un tono ligero, casual, en el que, en este caso, abunda el humor, tanto en la estrafalaria caracterización de algunos personajes, incluido el héroe, más bien atípico, como en la brillantez de ciertos diálogos, que pueden ofrecer a un tiempo frases lapidarias y gracietas de cierto mérito. A este respecto, conviene recordar que el guión es obra de William Goldman (autor igualmente de guiones como Harper, Dos hombres y un destino, El carnaval de las águilas, Todos los hombres del presidente, la propia Misery, Chaplin, Poder absoluto, El indomable Will Hunting o Corazones en Atlántida), y que adaptó su propia novela.

Pero sobre todo si destaca por algo esta película por encima de otras fábulas juveniles es por el amor al cine de aventuras que destila, a los tiempos de Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn o Gene Kelly, a clásicos como Robín de los bosques, El zorro, El capitán Blood, El corsario negro o El pirata. Tanto la construcciòn de la historia, en particular de algunas secuencias, como las coreografías de los duelos a espada remiten directamente a aquel tiempo dorado del cine de aventuras, desconocido por supuesto para quienes en los ochenta eran (éramos) unos críos de la edad de Fred Savage. A ese gusto por el cine clásico de aventuras que rememora hay que añadir la defensa que supone del libro como concepto, como puerta abierta a la fantasía, como vehículo de ocio que tantos y tan buenos ratos puede ofrecer. Esta película, junto con otras del mismo estilo (sobre todo La historia interminable, sobre el libro de Michael Ende), ha hecho mucho por el acercamiento de buena parte de los jóvenes de los ochenta al mundo de los libros en un tiempo en que las maquinitas de botoncitos made in Japan avecinaban lo que iba a venir en décadas posteriores.

Nostalgia a raudales, humor, duelos a espada, acrobacias, sorpresas, peligros, criaturas extraordinarias, buena música, alguna que otra interpretación curiosa y/o aceptable (Billy Crystal, sobre todo, pero también Christopher Guest, Peter Cook o Carol Kane), fantasía, emoción, gente feliz que come perdices y malos que pagan sus fechorías: una vuelta a la infancia, a la ingenuidad, a la magia de los cuentos leídos a la luz de la mesita de noche por una voz cálida que nunca olvidaremos.

Boy Who Could Fly, The (1986)
Written by Nick Castle
Directed by Nick Castle

FIVE WORDS OR LESS
Flying boy falls in love.

GRADE
B-. This has got to be the most ridiculous premise for a teen movie but with Jay Underwood at the helm, what do you expect? It seems he is tied to the most ridiculous teen movies ever.

NOSTALGIA
87%

WHEN TO WATCH
Saturday or Sunday. 4 PM.

CHECKLIST
_ Best Friend
_ Classroom
_ Fat Kid
_ Game
_ Gym Class
_ Gymnasium
_ High School
_ Little Brother
_ New Kid

T & A
No, but that doesn’t mean the flying boy failed to get any action.

REASONS TO WATCH
1. “Back of the Bus” music video
2. Feels like an afterschool special for spring.
3. The G.I. Joe graveyard. I think all little brothers had one. Mine used to immerse them in tupperware full of water and freeze them.
4. The one-braid clique.
5. Big Wheel.
6. This movie is a guilty pleasure.

CHOICE DIALOGUE
“You can’t fall in love with a retard. It’s just not done.”
- “There ain’t no water in this gun.”
– “So what’s in it?”
— “Piss!”

TEEN MOVIE CONNECTIONS
1. Jay Underwood Not Quite Human, The Invisible Kid

ADD TO YOUR TEEN MOVIE COLLECTION
The Boy Who Could Fly (DVD)
Boy Who Could Fly (VHS)

VIDEO POSTER

Politics is ugly, and can be a bit much for even people like me who follow it regularly.  Blogging about politics can also be a bit much, and sometimes one needs a break.  Like I promised when I started this blog a few weeks ago, it wouldn’t be all political ramblings or commentary.  And so I’d like to begin a series of posts; a confessional, if you will; about music.

Far more than politics, music has greatly influenced my life.  As I mentioned in my introductory post, after years of struggling, I almost made a career for myself in music.  I was the original bass player in a band that will soon be famous.  Maybe I”ll reveal who it is when they finally hit the mainstream and are on TV, the radio and wherever else bands go now that the Internet has ruined the music business.  Or maybe I won’t.  But one thing I can safely say is that my time almost making it in the music business was fun, bitter, dream-like, nightmarish, exhilarating, depressing, but ultimately unsatisfying, mainly because I feel like I left a lot of unfinished business.

“What?!” you may be thinking,   “he’s a conservative–and a Christian, no less!– and was in a rock band?!  Get out of here!”  But it’s true.  I was, and still am, a musician, though I feel, now that I’m in my late twenties that I can put music into perspective better now than I could then.  My story is pretty interesting, often funny, and I feel that now is a  good time to share it.  It’ll make for some good blog posts, and spark some discussion.  After all, isn’t that what being a writer–and a blogger, especially–is all about?

So why write (right?) now?  Good question.  Yes, I am still a little bitter about the whole situation–especially considering that former good friends decided to scrub me out of the band’s history and have cut me out of their life, though I bear some of the blame for that (but can you blame me?  They tried to screw me out of my equipment!)–and who wouldn’t be?  The rug was unceremoniously and, in my opinion, unfairly pulled out from under me right when the breaks finally started going our way, breaks I was, in large part, responsible for.  But this isn’t necessarily be about therapy.  While it will be somewhat cathartic to write about these experiences, mainly I think that it will be fun to write about something other than politics.  But first, some background information is in order.

I remember the exact moment when I decided I wanted to be a rock musician.  And yes, befitting the true nature of rock n’ roll, it’s a thoroughly stupid moment.  I was ten or eleven years old, hanging out in the basement of the house I grew up in, watching an episode of The Wonder Years where Kevin Arnold befriends a hippie-ish guitar playing kid at his school, and joins his band.  It was called The Electric Shoes, or something stupidly era-appropriate like that.  I got a vicarious rush out of watching Fred Savage playing Kevin Arnold belting out power chords and exulting in the sheer power of rock n’ roll.  That’s three layers of vicarious living, for anyone keeping score.

The second big moment was my tenth or eleventh birthday, when my godfather–a die-hard Beatles fan–made me tape copies of their entire catalog.  I must have listened to those tapes daily for the next five years, before I was finally able to buy my own copies on CD.  For a few years there, I wanted to be George Harrison, still my favorite Beatle.

The third big moment made me really want to play the bass.  I was in the fifth grade watching MTV with my brother, back when MTV showed music videos.  We saw a live clip of Primus playing “My Name Is Mud.”  The sounds Les Claypool got out of his bass, and the way he mangled it, made me fall in love with what is, let’s face it, the lamest of all rock instruments.  That might say something about me.  But one doesn’t play the bass to get famous, and I dare anyone to argue otherwise.

Finally, the fourth big moment was when my dad started replacing much of his vinyl with CDs back in the mid-90s, when record companies finally got around to remastering and re-releasing some of their classics.  The albums he brought home from Circuit City that fateful night were Live Cream Vol. I and Vol. II by Cream, and Live at Leeds by The Who.  Cream’s “N.S.U.” and The Who’s “Heaven and Hell” absolutely blew me away.  Listening to Jack Bruce and John Entwistle, respectively, was a light bulb moment if there ever was one.  ”Aha!” I thought while I listened to their fantastic bass playing.  ”That’s what I want to play!”

And so, I can safely say that Paul McCartney, Les Claypool, Jack Bruce, John Entwistle, and . . . uh . . . Fred Savage/Kevin Arnold made me want to be a rock n’ roll bass player.

Now, I have a love-hate relationship with rock n’ roll.  I agree with Pete Townshend that it is very, very important and very, very ridiculous.  I mean, most of it is poorly written and performed, violent, anti-social, drug-fueled, and misogynistic.  And that’s just the good stuff!

Wait.  I meant, most of it is poorly written and performed, violent, anti-social, drug-fueled, and misogynistic.  And that’s just The Rolling Stones!

Argh.  Let’s try this again.  It is poorly written and performed, violent, anti-social, drug-fueled, and misogynistic, but I like it anyway.  There is something primally satisfying about the loudness, the drums, the screaming, the anger . . . it’s enough to hook any teenager.  It is like a drug, or more accurately, a religion.  Rock and roll is the answer, and the musicians are its priests and apostles.  Who wouldn’t want to be an active participant in that religion?  I don’t quite buy Diana West’s argument that rock ‘n roll is the root of all that is evil in America today, but now that I’m an adult, I can better understand how messed up and, yes, stupid it all is.

So after a year trying to convince myself that I wanted to play the guitar by practicing on my mother’s old acoustic, I got a bass–a Beatle-bass copy–and a tiny Epiphone amplifier for my fourteenth birthday, and my love-hate relationship with rock n’ roll was in full swing.  Where it would take me, I had no idea, but from the first, I knew it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Such are the dreams of youth.

-Mister Person

PS If anyone reading knows what band(s) I used to be in, please don’t say so here.  I’m not here to name names or passively-aggressively get back at anyone.  I just want to tell a story.  Thanks!

I’ve been recommending this small TV show (a Starz original) to everyone recently, and now I am recommending it to you.  I’d been hearing about it a lot, so when it suddenly came up on Netflix Instant Watch I instantly checked it out.  And just like that I was converted.  Not that I was against it in the first place or anything.  I was convinced.  Enchanted.  Whatever, people, follow me blindly!

For those who haven’t heard of that of which I write, Party Down is a show following a catering company and it’s small band of heroes, all of whom are, of course, really trying to be actors, writers, and otherwise employed in the entertainment industry.  That is, except for their fearless team leader, who just wants to be the best team leader out there…and to get through a night without puking, getting caught with his pants down, or offending the client.  And to open a Soup N’ Crackers.  What can I say, it’s a dream.  Each episode follows one self-contained and clumsily-catered party, and the roster of special guests is pretty awesome, on top of the already awesome cast.  Oh, and 5 or so episodes are directed by Fred Savage.  Yes, this is what he’s been doing since Daddy Day Camp.

Besides the fact that that paragraph alone should have you reaching for your computer and Netflix account, here are…

10 Reasons You Should Totally Check Out Party Down!

1. It’s Bill!!!!!

That is to say, it’s Martin Starr, also known as Bill from Freaks and Geeks.  I am sad to report that it took me something like two and a half episodes to realize why I knew this guy, but when I did, I shrieked with joy!  It took my friend Carrie about two and half seconds.  Shut up.

Anyway Martin Starr is always amazing and hilarious, plus his character is the cater waiter struggling to be a screenwriter, so maybe I’m just excited because I got all of his jokes.

2. Jane Lynch is amazing and…wait for it…different!!!

Jane Lynch is always pretty amazing, but I feel that she often gets pigeonholed into the same type of roles – the lesbian dog-training, Cheerio-coaching, slightly agressive and psycho roles – for which she has become known and loved.  But I know she’s more than that and she proves it in Party Down.  She’s not only really funny, but refreshing.  And not just “Jane Lynch,” but her character.

3. The rest of the cast is amazing as well!

That may not sound like the most exciting section heading, but it’s true.  With such a strong core group, they can throw them into truly crazy situations, and all of them are really talented comedic actors.  And the cast includes that girl from Mean Girls (all growed up and pretty) and that guy from Wet Hot American Summer (it also took me a few episodes to realize why I knew Ken Marino). 

4. Amazing guest stars too!

Over-usage of the word “amazing?”  You decide.  And yes, that so totally was the brother from Wings playing a Russian mafia soldier recently released from a murder sentence…with a lazy eye. 

5.  Tight episode structure.  Tight writing.  Tight…um…shirts (sometimes).

6. They go there.

It’s Starz, so there’s leeway for some swearing, indecent references, drugs, a porn star awards show party, and way too much puking.  But I swear it’s all well done, including just the right amount to be fun.  Well, maybe there’s a little too much puking.  Mostly done by Ken Marino.  Poor Ken Marino.

7.  If somehow you are not gathering this from what I am writing, let me say it again – It’s funny!

8. It made me think of all the things that are good about The Office.

It’s filmed along the same vein, but not as a mockumentary.  Which is not to say I don’t like a good mockumentary, just that it’s not exactly the same.  No cameras following them, but it is reminiscent of the style of The Office.  Plus, now that I’m thinking about it, it does have a cute girl and guy couple (whom you want to get together) being the voice of reason, while surrounded by a bunch of crazies.  So there’s that too.

9. Did I mention Fred Savage directed this?

10.  Short and sweet.

I was in the process of writing something here about how one good clean season is better than a long stretched-out storyline or a sophomore slump, when I discovered that our raggle taggle crew is going to be back for more!  So, instead, my point will be that when you finish the show in love and wanting more, as I know you will be, there will be more episodes coming soon.  Bring on Season 2!

(also, may I point out that I just used “raggle taggle” in a sentence?  Word!)

As workplace comedies like The Office start to run their course, it’s series like Party Down that bring a freshness to the screen.

Half-hour comedies are based on one thing – character. With that trailer you can see this has plenty. Be warned, the comedy is little over the top. It also has many scenarios that we’ve seen before, but it works brilliantly because it’s based around these people who are at the bottom and craving to be at the top.

Each episode follows a L.A. catering company as they work events from a college conservative union caucus to an after party for the adult film awards. Working for the company are different actors, has-beens and wannabes, who are waiting for their big break. Until then, they’re stuck with each other.

Haven’t heard of this one? Well, that’s because it’s a Starz original series (the same guys who make Crash). But even though the season’s over, it’s easy to catch up on all ten episodes. The second season doesn’t start until April 2010, so you have lots of time to check it out.

And you’ll probably recognize some of the names involved with Party Down. The series was created by John Enborn, Dan Etheridge, Rob Thomas, and Paul Rudd – yes, that Paul Rudd. Out of the ten episodes, the directing job is shared between two men: Bryan Gordon and Fred Savage – yes, that Fred Savage.

Leading the cast is Adam Scott who you’ll remember playing Will Ferrell’s jerk, alpha male brother in Step Brothers. Scott plays an actor, Henry, who is returning to the company after one successful stint on a beer commercial. But even with that one gig, he has that “face” that people recognize but can’t place.

The two ladies in the group are played by Lizzy Caplan and Jane Lynch. Caplan’s character is an out-of-work comedian who is constantly arguing with her husband on her cell. She’s known for her roles in Cloverfield and Mean Girls. Lynch, who is currently in Glee, continues to show us that she is the funniest woman over 40. If you know of someone funnier, please let me know.

But it’s Ken Marino who steals this show. Once, a hardcore partier – a man who made a bong out of cheese – is now the boss to all these unenthusiastic caterers. He has all the scenes which are excruciatingly funny. The following clip isn’t one of them but it works because it rings true with his character.

“Made footless… by pot.” Need I say more?

Usually, when I’m web surfing, I’m channel surfing.  I needed to state that so you can understand why stumbling across these two discoveries blew. my. mind.

It may not be fair to say these beloved sitcoms were Just Shitty, and through the powers of the TripleDoubleU (and outstanding do-gooders uploading to YouTube), they magically became The Shit.  I’m merely pointing out that the, um, points of contention these two videos address were Just Shitty moments from the original programs.

Who out there really thought the closing theme from Frasier was The Shit?  Maybe Skittle Man, but I’d venture to guess not too many others.  But if you slap it up, flip it, rub it down, you get this:

Likewise, The Wonder Years focused heavily on voice over work, courtesy of Home Alone baddie, Daniel Stern.  Narration is perceived as a big, lazy, no-no in screenwriting, so imagine how ahead of the curb the 80’s classic would have been if Danny Stern had been left out of the equation.  (It’d be tantamount to The Hills, only without the pop music filler…)

“What would you think if sang out of tune,
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song
And I’ll try not to sing out of key.

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends”

- Joe Cocker (originally written by the Beatles)

That’s how every episode of the Wonder Years began, and I still love that version of the song to this day. Anyway, let’s see what Kevin, Winnie, & others are up to these days:

Fred Savage (Kevin Arnold):

• Source – “Acting career – Savage’s first recorded performance was in the 1987 video Dinosaurs!. He then appeared onscreen in The Boy Who Could Fly and several television shows, including The Twilight Zone and Crime Story before gaining national attention as the grandson in the 1987 film The Princess Bride opposite Peter Falk. In 1988, Savage appeared as Kevin Arnold on The Wonder Years, the role for which he is best known. His tenure in the show resulted in two Golden Globe nominations and two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series; at the age of 13 he would be the youngest actor ever to receive these honors. He would remain on the show until it ended in 1993. During this period, he appeared in several movies, most notably Little Monsters, Vice Versa, and The Wizard. After The Wonder Years, Savage primarily did guest and supporting roles, such as the show Boy Meets World (which starred his brother Ben) and in the film Austin Powers in Goldmember as Number Three. He has lent his voice to several animated projects, including Family Guy, Kim Possible, Justice League Unlimited, Oswald, and Holidaze: The Christmas That Almost Didn’t Happen. His two lead roles since The Wonder Years were on the short-lived sitcoms Working and Crumbs. Savage appeared as a serial rapist on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and as a womanizing professor on Boy Meets World. He ranked at #27 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Kid Stars. In July 2008, Savage guest-starred in the web series The Rascal on Crackle. Behind-the-scenes career - Beginning with episodes of Boy Meets World in 1999, Savage began a directing career in which he helmed episodes of over a dozen youth-oriented series. His credits include Drake & Josh and Ned’s Declassified for Nickelodeon, as well as That’s So Raven, Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place for the Disney Channel. Besides directing several episodes, Savage co-produced the Disney Channel Original Series Phil of the Future. In 2007, he was nominated for a Directors Guild award for the Phil episode ‘Not-So-Great-Great Grandpa’. More recently, he has served as a director for several episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.’”
• My response: Ol’ Fred had a ok career. Looked pretty good til I saw he produced Hannah Montana… But I do remember watching the sitcom Working and Boy Meets World…and by the way, he was not Number 3 in Goldmember, he was MOLEY MOLEY MOLEY MOLEY MOLEY!!!

Jason Hervey (Wayne Arnold):

• Source – “Acting – In his early career, Hervey had small parts in films including Back to the Future and Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and Meatballs Part II, and a guest stint on the television show Diff’rent Strokes. His big break came as a cast member of the successful family drama The Wonder Years, as the older brother of Fred Savage’s character. He ranked at #71 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Kid Stars for the role. Hervey’s role on The Wonder Years led to a later guest appearance on the animated show Justice League Unlimited. He appeared alongside Savage in the episode “Hawk and Dove”, where Hervey provided the voice of the younger, more passive brother Don Hall, opposite Savage’s role of the older and more aggressive brother, in a complete role reversal from The Wonder Years. Hervey was the voice of Eddie McDowd on the Nickelodeon sitcom 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd for season 2. He made a brief appearace in the 1993 adventure game Return to Zork as the troll king. Public Relations – Hervey served as the head of public relations for HealthSouth Corporation in Birmingham, Alabama during events that would lead to a massive fraud scandal. He later sued his employer, demanding $300,000 in compensation. Producing – After a guest appearance on World Championship Wrestling television during his tenure on The Wonder Years, Hervey obtained a backstage position as an executive producer for WCW, which he held until the company’s demise in 2001. During this time, he became friends with then-WCW Vice President Eric Bischoff, with whom he formed Bischoff/Hervey Productions. Their company has produced several sports and reality television shows, including I Want to Be a Hilton, Scott Baio Is 45…and Single, and “Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling”, alongside Hogan. Hervey is credited in “The Eddie Guerrero Story: Cheating Death, Stealing life” with coming up with the idea for the “Latino World Order” (LWO). Reality Shows – Hervey appeared in an episode of Hogan Knows Best (“Twilight”) alongside Eric Bischoff, talking about energy drinks, and in several episodes of Scott Baio Is 45…and Single. In 2002 he made a brief appearance on the VH1 special I Love the ’80s. Along with Baio, he co-hosts VH1’s Confessions of a Teen Idol, a reality show in which former teen idols attempt to revitalize their entertainment careers.”
• My response: Wow. Wonder Years, Wrestling, then Reality Shows. My best guess: he’ll be doing celebrity boxing. Getting trashier by the moment. Good for him, I hated him on the show.

Josh Saviano (Paul Pfieffer)

• Source – “Joshua David Saviano (born March 31, 1976) is an American lawyer and former actor who played Kevin Arnold’s best friend, Paul Joshua Pfeiffer, in the situation comedy The Wonder Years…Biography – His role in The Wonder Years was one of his few television or movie roles. His first television appearance was a one-liner role in a commercial for Aim toothpaste. Other roles were as Kid Belz in the movie The Wrong Guys in 1988 and Max Plotkin in the made-for-TV movie Camp Cucamonga in 1990. The latter was his last film or television role other than his role in The Wonder Years, which he played until the show’s end in 1993. He also guest starred on the show The Ray Bradbury Theater in 1989 as Willie and on Reading Rainbow and Fun House as himself. Similarities between Saviano’s character Paul Pfeiffer and The Simpsons character Milhouse Van Houten have been observed, both in terms of their appearance and their roles as the geeky side-kick friend to the protagonist. Saviano majored in Political Science at Yale University where he became president of Sigma Nu Fraternity. Upon graduation in 1998 he worked for a while as a paralegal for a New York City law firm. In 2000 he worked for an Internet firm before entering Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in August of the same year. He was admitted to the bar in New York. He is currently an associate with Morrison Cohen LLP. He is in the Corporate Department and Intellectual Property Group where he works on issues related to mergers and acquisition and intellectual property. Urban legend – For some time, an urban myth circulated that Saviano grew up to be singer Marilyn Manson (whose real name is Brian Warner), but there is no truth in this. Saviano himself has addressed the urban legend, stating that in college he received as many as twenty emails a day asking about the subject, and that he considered himself honored that people associated him with a rock star rather than a geek.”
• My response: A lawyer? Wow. I’m a little disappointed that he didn’t do anymore acting, he made a great geek.

Danica McKellar (Winnie Cooper)

• Source – “The Wonder Years McKellar had a leading role in The Wonder Years, an American television comedy-drama that ran for six seasons on ABC, from 1988 to 1993. McKellar played Gwendolyn “Winnie” Cooper, Fred Savage’s main love interest on the show. In an episode entitled “The Accident” and in the final episode, it is stated that every important event in Kevin’s life somehow involved Winnie. She lives on the same block as Kevin. Their first kiss plays an important part of the pilot episode, as does her older brother’s death while serving as a soldier in the Vietnam War. In one episode, her parents decide to get separated because of their grief over the death of their son. According to the epilogue in the final episode, Winnie studies art history in Paris. Kevin and Winnie write one letter to each other every week for eight years until her return. Despite their life-long romance, they never marry. McKellar’s first kiss was with Fred Savage in an episode of The Wonder Years. She later said, “My first kiss was a pretty nerve-wracking experience! But we never kissed off screen, and pretty quickly our feelings turned into brother/sister, and stayed that way.”Adult Roles – McKellar has admitted the transition from “child actor to adult actor was a little bumpy.” Since leaving The Wonder Years, McKellar has had several guest roles in television series (including one with former co-star Fred Savage on Working), and has written and directed two short films. She briefly returned to regular television with a recurring role in the 2002–03 season of The West Wing, portraying Elsie Snuffin, the step-sister and assistant of Deputy White House Communications Director Will Bailey. McKellar appeared in lingerie for a pictorial in the July 2005 edition of Stuff magazine after readers voted her the ’90s star they would most like to see in lingerie. McKellar explained that she agreed to the shoot in part to obtain “grittier roles”. In June 2006, Lifetime Television announced that McKellar will star in a Lifetime movie and web-based series titled Inspector Mom about a mother who solves mysteries. In an interview in the November 17, 2006 issue of TV Guide, McKellar said that two TV movies and ten webisodes of Inspector Mom were being produced. McKellar has provided the voices for characters in two video games: Jubilee in X-Men Legends (2004), and Invisible Woman in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (2006) and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (2009).On the August 1, 2007 edition of the Don and Mike Show, a WJFK-FM radio program out of Washington, D.C., McKellar announced plans that the producers of How I Met Your Mother were planning to bring her back for a recurring role (she guest-starred on the show in late 2005 in “The Pineapple Incident”). She appeared in the October 8, 2007, episode titled “Third Wheel”In 2008, she starred in Heatstroke, a Sci-Fi Channel original movie about searching for alien life on Earth. McKellar, as of June 23, 2008 (2008 -06-23)^[update], is one of the stars commenting on the occurrences of the new millennium in VH1’s I Love the New Millennium, and as of 2009 is the math correspondent for Brink a program by the Science Channel about upcoming technology.”
• My response: Probably the most successful of the group. Check out her page at IMDB to see her career listing. She also graduated summa cum laude in 1998 from UCLA in mathematics. Pretty impressive if you ask me. Also impressive:

So there it is, the ‘What happened to…’ version of the Wonder Years, cue Joe Cocker.

And BTW, Winnie is a FOX!

“She is alive, or was an hour ago. If she is otherwise when I find her I shall be very put out.” ~~Prince Humperdinck

Giants and monsters and evil wayward kings, sword fights, gallant gentlmen on noble steeds, lovely damsels awaiting rescue, perfectly magical kisses and the prospect of love everlasting — it’s enough to put a person’s gag reflex to the ultimate test. But let not your esophagus revolt and your stomach turn, for “The Princess Bride” is not that sort of fairy tale. Not in the least. Oh, sure, Rob Reiner’s absurdly clever film about the courtship of Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright Penn) and lowly stablehand Westley (Cary Elwes) contains all these expected elements. But every single one of them gets a little tweak, a shot of sly wit that blasts off the dust and cobwebs of yore and makes “The Princess Bride” the kind of feisty creation that feels fresher and funnier with every viewing. 

So how, exactly, does this “Extreme Makeover: Fairy Tale Edition” play out? How can it enrapture and intrigue us in ways that don’t feel like a quirky rehash of “Cinderella”? For starters, there are the characters, who fill the standard roles but refuse to play to type. Princess Buttercup, though lovelorn, isn’t quite the garden-variety lady-in-distress. She’s got a mouth on her, a temper and a brain too — and she’s not shy about using them all. Westley’s neither a boorish Healthcliff nor a mindless Prince Charming. He’s more apt to shred his foes with ”you warhog-faced buffoon” than cry about lost love. There are sidekicks, but they do not serve merely as boring spacefillers; Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) and Fezzik (Andre the Giant) have enough issues to get Freud’s head spinning. And the villains, including Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon) and Count Tyrone (Christopher Guest), spend as much time being droll – who but a perfect scoundrel could pull off “please consider me as an alternative to suicide”? – as they do plotting evil deeds. Everyone who shows up in “The Princess Bride” has a distinctive personality that’s just a shade left of center, just enough to subvert our expectations.

Based on William Goldman’s equally fantastic book, the story itself, though, supplies intrigue aplenty. “The Princess Bride” employs that story-within-a-story method, with a wiseacre grandfather (Peter Falk) reading to his sick young grandson (Fred Savage), who’s really worried there will be too much smooching and not enough sword fights. There’s plenty of both in the tale Grandpa reads, an entertaining yarn about Westley and Buttercup, lovers separated by his quest to seek fortune on the seas. Prince Humperdinck takes the heartbroken Buttercup as his bride-to-be (he has his own motives, and all of them are unsavory), but there are hiccups in the sneaky prince’s plot, not least of which is Buttercup’s kidnapping by Inigo, Fezzik and their shrill employer Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) and the appearance of the mysterious Man in Black/Dread Pirate Roberts. Throw in an impending mawwage*, a life-sucking torture machine and a miracle man (Billy Crystal) with the power to rise the Nearly Dead, and you’ve got yourself a story so interwoven in its complexity that it makes “Syriana” seem like “Son-in-Law.”

By now we’ve covered what catapults “The Princess Bride” leaps and bounds above other fairy tales. Wa-hoo. But why does this movie deserve a place on our shelves and in our hearts? There’s no easy answer to that question. The script is full of piquant wit and infinitely quotable quips like “I spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocane powder” and “You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.” Maybe it’s because the likes of Patinkin’s damaged but resilient Inigo Montoya, set on avenging his father’s death, and Fezzik, a sad pariah plucked for a dreadful life of unemployment in Greenland, feel sweetly and surprisingly real to us. Or perhaps we return to “The Princess Bride” again and again because there’s some deep, primal, frightfully uncynical part of us that wants to believe in the happy ending, the world in balance, the magic.

And if there are a few Rodents of Unusual Size thrown in? Well, that just sweetens the deal.

*It’s what brings us togevuh today.

C’est l’temps de voter ma gang de p’tit cochon d’inde angora! Vos idoles de jeunesse … en adulte!

Neil Patrick Harris

ou

Fred Savage

Check out this link from OOJECT detailing a history of failed gaming consoles.

A legacy of crushed marketing aspirations pining for geek love.   Which ones did you own?

On the topic of geek love, I was sorry to see that the Nintendo Powerglove was not here; though it was more of a controller.  I really wanted one of these as a kid… despite not owning a Nintendo Entertainment System.  Think of it as the great grandfather of the Nintendo Wii system.

Please check out this classic clip featuring non other than Fred (Wonder Years) Savage to understand this desire.  The movie is called “The Wizard”.

AUGUST 8, 2007—Showing Cuba Gooding, Jr. the money probably was the worst thing to happen to the Jerry Maguire Oscar winner.

Gooding seemed to make one bad choice after another in the years following his electrifying turn as pro-footballer Rod Tidwell. Rather than try to build upon his breakthrough performances in Boyz N the Hood and Jerry Maguire, Gooding instead elected to make a slew of mediocre thrillers (Chill Factor, End Game, Instinct, A Murder of Crows) and embarrassing comedies (Boat Trip, The Fighting Temptations, Snow Dogs) that overshadowed the fine work he did in Dirty and Men of Honor.

After seemingly swearing off comedies, Gooding’s attempting a comeback of sorts that’s predicated on again trying to make audiences laugh. Hot on the heels of starring opposite Eddie Murphy in Norbit, Gooding replaces Murphy in the new Daddy Day Care sequel, Daddy Day Camp.

Building on his recent dramatic turns in the little-seen Dirty and Shadowboxer, Gooding will join Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe in Ridley Scott’s crime saga American Gangster. He’s also completed two thrillers, Hero Wanted and Linewatch, and is about to shoot the high school comedy Harold.

Gooding spoke with me about inheriting the Daddy Day Care franchise from Eddie Murphy, being directed by The Wonder Years’s Fred Savage, and trying to put his post-Oscars mistakes behind him.

Why replace Eddie Murphy as Charlie Hinson in Daddy Day Camp?
I don’t do sequels to my own films, let alone Eddie Murphy’s. I’m not in that business. But when I read the script, it not only had heart, but it also explored a troubled father-son relationship and the healing process. My father (singer Cuba Gooding) and I were estranged after my mother split. So it hit home, and because of that issue being in the script, it didn’t feel like a sequel or a re-imagining [of Daddy Day Care]. It made a really a fresh statement. In fact, we joked on a set that if we did another sequel, it would have to be called Daddy Day Camp II.

Granted, Charlie Hinson isn’t as beloved or iconic as Axel Foley, but how tough was it for you take possession of an character already established by Murphy?
I was invited to participate in a page-1 rewrite. I’m telling you, everything changed, including references to the first movie. There’s jokes about Star Trek in the first movie. When we were filming, I didn’t get why we had this Star Trek joke. I was told it was in reference to the jokes in the first movie. But it wasn’t funny, and I had the complete freedom to remove it. So this process helped the character speak to me.

You worked with Murphy on Norbit. Did you ask for his blessing to take over the franchise?
I got the offer [for Daddy Day Camp] during the last week of shooting Norbit. But I read the script when we finished Norbit. I asked the obvious question about why Eddie passed on it—it was a scheduling thing. But I never felt the need to call Eddie and ask for his OK to do it. It was a wonderfully told story, so I had to be involved in it.

What did you first think when you heard The Wonder Years’s Fred Savage was in the running to direct Daddy Day Camp?
When I was given the list of directors, he was among the first of three I agreed to see. I had some resistance. I wanted a feature director, not someone from TV. We brought in him, and at the end of the two-and-a-half meeting, I felt he was more like a director than an actor. He was the best choice. Watching him work with the kids, you could tell how much attention he paid to what was going on on the set, as he knew what they were going through. [The child actors] did not understand the rehearsal process, or that you had to shoot things time and time again. And there were times when we had to do off-camera dialogue, and they wouldn’t be paying attention or they would be picking their nose. He helped them stay focused.

You told the New York Times last year that, “I thought people wanted me to make them laugh. But I was wrong on so many levels.” That statement was clearly made in reference to such career-threatening comedies as Boat Trip, Rat Race, and Snow Dogs. What made you change your mind about doing another comedy so soon after making that statement?
I had been introduced on film in Boyz N the Hood, which had a very heavy subject matter. I had a lot of success with Men of Honor, Radio and definitely Jerry Maguire, which also had a lot of seriousness to my performance. I tried to tackle comedy with Snow Dogs and Boat Trip … and then I tackled a couple films with a lot of heavy material, including Dirty and Shadowboxer. It really brought stillness to me. When I did that interview, I was still in a period of discovery, at where I was in my career, what position I was in, and what roles were available. I’m blessed to be able to go back and forth [between comedy and drama], and that’s the product of doing work in both areas. The movie that made me become an actor was Superman. How beautiful was Marlon Brando and what would have been his take on his role [as Superman’s father] had he been 27? The older you get, the more you realize your job is to entertain. I can be a court jester, but I’m also comfortable doing different roles.

You also told the New York Times that, “As a commercial entity, I know my stock is low.” How do you think Norbit, Daddy Day Camp and your upcoming films will change this?
It’s like writing a book—you don’t know if people will read it. My job is go to work and it’s someone else’s job to evaluate it. The producers of The Wizard of Oz might have thought it failed when it was released, but now it’s a classic. I don’t want to put that onus on how my career’s going to go—I want to find new ways to do my work. I’m working now. I have four films in the can, and I’m about to start working on two movies, including Harold, which I’m producing and starring in.

What is Hero Wanted about?
Hero Wanted, which is with Ray Liotta, touches on the psychology of instant celebrity. We don’t know the background of these people. Rodney King took a beating, people praised him, and then he turned out to have an interesting past. I also did a film with [All About the Benjamins director] Kevin Bray, Linewatch, about a border patrol officer. It’s another physical movie, so I’ve followed one edgy thriller with another.

What stands out the most to you about winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Jerry Maguire?
It’s like when you win a radio all-you-can-grab giveaway. You don’t stop and think—you just throw all the shit you can in the cart. I was given so many awards, and the Oscar was the crème de la crème. I went on a European tour with Tom Cruise, flying in a private jet. The commercials kept coming. I was just running with it. It wasn’t until three or four years later that the heat started to wane and the box office potential waned, that I realized how many opportunities I didn’t capitalize on. It took a while to come off that high. I liked being in the eye of the storm, and there were so many people coming in and out of my life. It was a whirlwind. And it was tough on my wife. She would come home followed by the paparazzi.

Is there such a thing as an Oscar curse? Or is that just a lazy and convenient way for some actors to explain why their careers have cooled off in the years after winning an Academy Award?
Curse is inappropriate. When I think of that, of think of something supernatural. It suggests there are forces beyond our control. It does force a rift in the production of work from an actor wins. An actor celebrates his success. It’s a time to reflect. Hollywood decides what the win means as far as your quote goes. And there’s a real tangible risk to the process. You know, you read a script that’s brilliant. But it takes a year or two before the film goes into production. So if you don’t read a script for eight months, it’s going take two years before your next film hits the screen.

How do you think your win paved the way for such other Academy Award-winning African-American actors as Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Morgan Freeman, Jennifer Hudson, Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker? With Hudson and Whitaker’s win this past year, it almost seems as though Oscar voters have finally seen past the color of the nominee’s skin.
It’s nice to be among a handful of African Americans who have been recognized for their work, but when it comes to starring in a colossal tent-pole movie, there is still a short list of black actors who are acceptable as a leading man. The Academy changed its tune because … sexually and racially, it’s has a different complexion. That’s what’s brought about the open-mindedness. The Academy’s no longer just made up of elite members of the film community with a certain mindset on voting for their peers. The face of the Academy has changed. It would be interesting to see a survey how ethically and sexually diverse the Academy now is. But the criteria of what is a good performance has changed; it’s no longer what’s the race or sexuality of the person.
This interview was previously posted Aug. 8, 2007 on Film South Florida.com.

The City of New Bedford has finally raised enough money for a fireworks display after not having the funding for the annual Fourth of July celebration this year. The lights in the sky will happen sometime later on this summer, but If I were Mayor Scott W. Lang, I would put the Ruiz Family of Dartmouth in charge of the celebration. Who are the Ruizs? They live near Massasoit Road in D-Town, and put on a spectacular, 2-hour fireworks display Saturday night in their neighborhood. It was better than the fireworks shot off a barge in Marion the night before. … What’s more American, Toyota or Ford? Of course it’s Toyota. Recent studies have showed that the Japanese automaker uses more American parts in its products that Ford or GM. In fact, the Toyota Camry is the automobile that features the most American-made parts in the world. … So the Blue Jays are shopping ace Roy Halladay. Look out if he gets traded to a National League team. The guy’s been amazing for years while facing the Red Sox, Yankees and Devil Rays every week. Imagine how good he would be against San Diego, Cincinnati and Washington? … Speaking of Halladay, my Red Sox preview predicted he’d get traded to the Dodgers. I also picked right on four Sox All-Stars (Papelbon, Youkilis, Pedroia and Beckett). Not bad pick-wise, but then again I wasn’t actually going out on a limb like picking the Rockies to win the 2007 World Series in 6 games. … Wow, that Michael Jackson star-studded public funeral party concert remembrance on Tuesday was really something. … Trivia: Who was the 12th President of the United States? Zachary Taylor, who died 16 months after bring elected head honcho in 1848. With family and coroner permission, his body was dug up in 1991 and tested for poison levels as people have always speculated he was murdered (the official cause of death was gastroenteritis). The test showed he was not poisoned. … Happy 18th birthday to Spencer Elden. Who? When he was a baby, a picture of him swimming naked graced the famous cover of the Nirvana album “Nevermind.” … Happy 33rd birthday to Fred Savage. This decent dude got to bang Winnie Cooper in “The Wonder Years” and was mega decent in the movie “The Wizard.” He’s a director now, having done episodes of Hannah Montana and Boy Meets World, but the only movie he has ever directed, Daddy Day Camp, made only $3 million in its opening weekend and received a very rare “F” grade from The A.V. Club. … I’d like to wish Tubesteak a happy, relaxing and decent summer hiatus. While he’s off munching hairy muff and giving himself cups of cheese, Helmet Head and I will be keeping it decent for everyone and trying some new things along the way. Stay tuned.