One Special Lady for Another Special Lady on Her Special Day: Doris W.

Oh raspberries! It’s a special occasion for Doris W.  Mr. Lousy just celebrated one, and right on its heels comes another.  So much May mirth just as the month closes and summer opens wide.  While Mr. Lousy may be singing the praises of Tatum Channing, Channing Tatum, there is another Channing always ready to pounce:

Parks & Rec One-Off Joke Exposes Superviewers

Also in the running: all the places name-checked by the Beach Boys in their horrible 1988 song Kokomo.

In the stupendous fourth season finale of Parks & Rec, April panics after she believes she has accidentally mass-deleted documents in the office, and after making an emergency phone call to Andy (who arrives and says something like, “First of all, you did the right thing by hiding under this table”), the two of them brainstorm lists of places where they could begin life as fugitives to escape the consequences of the deletions: worst in April’s mind is a long lecture from Leslie Knope about

Dollhouse – Why Aren’t Joss Whedon’s Female Leads as Good as the Cast?

Ok Raul. I’ve watched the first three episodes of Dollhouse. I’m going to wait till I watch the whole season before I write about it in full but I thought I’d give you updates along the way. By the way, I’m glad I waited until the third episode to even look for

Leslie Knope in the Voting Booth

I wasn’t sure how this year’s Parks & Rec would play out with most of season centered on Leslie Knope’s election bid for city council of Pawnee.  It turns out that the outcome was especially important to Leslie, as Pawnee city law states that if there is a tie, a male candidate is elected and a woman candidate would be thrown in jail.  This is consistent with Pawnee history, as

Dan Harmon Fired from Community – and I Am Distressed

Community showrunner Dan Harmon with primate performer portraying Annie’s Boobs.

I’ve long felt that Community should be a four-season series.  It’s college after all, and community college is supposed to be for only two years.  I suppose they could stretch it out with some sad-but-true employment/economic commentary, but in this Thursday’s trio-episode season finale (rushed to close out May sweeps thanks to a woefully delayed season premiere from NBC), I started to feel more strongly the “been there, done that” conclusion voiced by Jeff Winger.  Okay, you’ve learned to be friends –  again – and you’ve learned that friendship requires some self-

Donna Summer Slumber Party Zenith

I feel faintly ridiculous whenever I find myself mourning a public personality.  But today I feel mournful and I can’t get around it.   Donna Summer died on Wednesday.

When I got the RIP email, I was seized by a flashback – the moment of sadness instantly routed by a kindly brain circuit to a distant memory of sheer exhilaration.  The summer of 1978.  A crazy slumber party.  The 45 rpm of Last Dance spinning on the record player

It’s the Drive-In! Rejoice!

The drive-ins opened last month.  Spring is really, really here.  And my weekend is shaping up to be rather fantastic.  I don’t even care if The Avengers or Dark Shadows disappoints – because I’m seeing them at the drive-in.

Zapped! features the pre-Charles in Charge duo Scott Baio and Willie Aames, plus SCATMAN CROTHERS. My brother owns the soundtrack on vinyl. He may mention this within minutes of meeting you.

There isn’t really that much in the world I enjoy more than the drive-in experience.  It was a small but quintessential part of my childhood: my parents taking my brother and me to  James Bond triple-features and Apple Dumpling Gang/Witch Mountain/Kurt Russell Disney movies.  It also provided a stretch of greatness through high school: riding in the trunk to get in

The Simpsons Breaking Bad Mashup Makes Me Miss The Simpsons – for Raul

I wanted to post some photos which apparently requires a new post about The Simpsons Breaking Bad Mashup.

That Simpsons opening makes me still love The Simpsons. Even though the opening wasn’t theirs, they still got it on air and, I am sure, had to flex considerable muscle to do so.

The opening was done by Banksy. His signature all over the billboards during the traditional opening is intentional. Have you seen Exit Through the Gift Shop? It’s good and an art piece in every sense. This episode was called Exit Through the Kwik-e-Mart and features Bart becoming a street artist, plastering Springfield with posters a la Shepard Fairey’s Obey but with

The Cabin in the Woods: Self-Sacrifice of Youth or Rebellious Nihilism of Constrained Characters – Decide Quick! The Ancients Await!

I’ll get to the movie.  Give me a minute.

In considering Joss Whedon’s TV series, Dollhouse, I recognized that the Dolls could easily be interpreted as Whedon’s meta-commentary on his creation, use, and sometimes disposal of characters, particularly female ones.  (I’ll never forgive him for what he did with Cordelia on Angel.)  Joss Whedon is acutely aware of his position as creator and how his faithfully, or obsessively, his fan base follows his creations.  After Buffy, Angel, and Firefly, he was due some navel-gazing with Dollhouse.

Yet I chose to watch the show from more of a sci-fi perspective than from the standpoint of how a creator considers his creations.  I found the questions raised in Dollhouse about humanness,

The Simpsons Breaking Bad Mashup Makes Me Miss The Simpsons

There’s a YouTube video out there with clips from The Simpsons dubbed with lines from Breaking Bad.

It’s a great mashup – funny, clever and proof that the creator is a fan of both shows. My favorite detail is that even the opener is a mashup of both the Breaking Bad logo and The Simpsons font. They could have been lazy here but they went all the way. All the details are great – Bart Simpson as chronic fuck-up Jesse Pinkman, Maude Flanders as Skyler White, Cleetus and Brandine as meth heads, Lionel Hutz as sleazy Saul Goodman is spot on, Mr. Burns’ beloved teddy bear Bobo as the bear from the airplane crash and episode openings for season two, the barfing frog prince as junkie Jane is inspired and of course Ned