FOX's Family Guy, Version 1.0

In 1995, RISD student Seth McFarlane put together a 10-minute, animated show reel to serve as a proposal for a series called "The Life Of Larry".  The show centered around a cantankerous guy named Larry, his nasally wife Lois and a talking dog named Steve (all voiced by Seth).  Sound familiar?  The "Life of Larry" turned out to be an early prototype for McFarlane's hit animated FOX series "Family Guy".  


Watching this original show (recently posted on YouTube), you can see the origins of the "The Family Guys'" trademark rapid fire style of dialogue and absurdist humor as well as McFarlane's pop culture obsession, showcased here with a spot-on Star Trek spoof.  Required viewing for any Family Guy Fanatics...like myself. :)

The MPAA Strikes Again

In recent years, the 40 year old MPAA has been the subject of some controversies over their increasingly bizarro ratings system.  Last week, the romantic comedy "It's Complicated" was stuck with a surprise R rating for, and I quote, "pot smoking with no bad consequences".  Unbelievably, that is a direct quote. Suddenly, the MPAA thinks it's 1934 and they have enacted the arcane rules of the Hays Code in their ratings "system".  Back in the 30's, bad guys could be really really bad, but only if they got their comeuppance.  


There is a wonderfully angry article about this latest ratings travesty in the LA TIMES which gets to the heart of the matter which is that the ratings system makes no sense.  You can blow someone to smithereens and get a PG but if you show a bare breast or, god forbid, a penis you are R.  Any kind of homosexuality used to mean an instant R but the Board has let up on that in some cases.  But this latest ruling re; the pot is absurd.  First of all, marijuana is actually legal in California so why should bad consequences be expected? 


The MPAA needs some serious recalibration of it's system and the way it operates.  Or, in the case of this movie, the way that it doesn't.  

NetPix: Tulpan

Critics are putting together their year-end lists of the best films of 2009.  One of my personal favorites has popped up on a few lists, namely topping the list by the New York TIMES' Manohla Dargis.  It is probably a movie you've never heard about as it had a very limited release here in the US.  But it is one of the most unusual, bleakly beautiful and cinematically incredible films you will ever see. There is also a scene about halfway through that is the most unbelievable 15 minutes I have ever seen in a movie.  Ever.


The movie is called "Tulpan" and it's a romantic dramedy set in the steppes of Kazakhstan.  OK--I know that one line description is likely setting off alarm bells.  But trust me...this movie takes you to a place you will likely never go in your life and makes it something of an adventure.  Basically, "Tulpan" is a love story at it's heart about a family's attempt to marry it's daughter while raising some very peculiar animals on a wind swept plain.  With a stark realism and a simply told story, this movie is almost documentary-like in its clear-eyed look at a way of life that is hard and hard to describe.  


Currently, "Avatar" is everywhere, promising to take you to a world you've never seen before.  Sure...but it's a world that doesn't exist.  Remarkably, Kazakhstan is an actual place on this planet with real people and a group of animals with more personality than a Pixar barnyard.  The only warning I need to give is that this movie is long and takes a certain amount of patience. It also helps if you have a massive TV to appreciate the film's epic landscape and  gorgeous cinematography.  But I guarantee that if you stick it out, this movie and the people in it will stay with you forever.  

Merry Christmas Video

Today's special Christmas clip is from the website EverythingIsTerrible, connoisseurs of the worst video of the 70's, 80's and 90's. They did a fun holiday compilation which even includes clips from the infamous and rarely seen Star Wars Holiday Special. Here's wishing you a great Christmas!

A Charlie Brown Christmas--Director's Cut

For a while, the only online version of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" was a 21 minute version which was less than half the original show's length.  In the spirit of the holiday, ABC has finally posted the full show to Hulu for your holiday entertainment.

It's easily my favorite Christmas special of all-time. I think I enjoy it even more now as an adult than as a kid.  And with lines like "Christmas is a commercial racket run by an Eastern syndicate", it's not hard to see why.  It's also now available on Blu-ray too....which makes me think the show itself has become a commercial racket too. 

The Physics of Space Battles

Ever since seeing Star Wars as a kid, I've been a sucker for a good space fight.  However, when I was in sophomore chemistry class, it was pointed out to me that fireballs in space were a total Hollywood creation.  Fire needs oxygen, something the chasm of intergalactic space lacks.  Not that physics ever stopped George Lucas....


This week, there is a thorough debunking of the myths of space combat perpetrated by the movies over at Gizmodo.  The writer, Joseph Shoer (who happens to be a PhD candidate in aerospace engineering) discusses how dull and slow space combat would actually be.  And that there wouldn't be colorful lasers shooting around like some disco in space.  The energy to generate laser beams would be enormous and, again, not exactly practical on board a spacecraft.  Also another big problem is getting troops to fight on a distant planet.  The energy to land a bunch of Intergalactic Marines on Mars isn't the problem...the real challenge is getting them off the planet and up through the thick, Martian atmosphere.  In fat, it's that exact problem which has been holding up a manned mission to the red planet all these years.


So for the time being, until there's some breakthrough in FTL drives or transporters, space combat is going to be strictly something for the big screen.  Which is probably for the best, given that here's enough real combat on this world already.

Krampus And The Evil Side of Christmas

In some parts of Europe, namely Austria and Bavaria, Christmas is not all jolly present giving.  There's Krampus to contend with a.k.a. the evil side of Christmas.  Krampus is a mythical, incubus-esque creature with horns who drags some rusty chains around and scares the crap out of all the bad kids.  If they're really bad, legend has it, he will even drag them to the gates of Hell and drop them into the fiery eternal furnace.  Merry Christmas!  Leave it to the Germans to turn Christmas into horror story.

Anyway, here in the US, the tradition of bad children getting coal seems to have fallen by the wayside.  It seems that today's kids get tons of gifts no matter what.  So Krampus has now landed on US soil, with his own website and everything, to get today's lazy, shiftless toddlers in line.  

A couple weeks ago, he made an appearance on the Colbert Report where her terrorized the host and smashed a plate of cookies with his chains.  Personally, I found it a little hard to be scared of the beast, knowing that underneath all that fake fur was my friend Mark Sam, who got the gig due to his fluency in Germanic cursing.  Still, I think Krampus would be a fine addition to the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, scaring all the European tourists in midtown.  Oh what a joyous holiday scene that would be! 

Chaos 'n Candy 'n The True Meaning of Christmas

Tonight I'm attending the 8th annual incarnation of Adam Dugas' downtown Christmas pageant known as "Chaos and Candy". This celebration of the true meaning of Christmas, set to a rock beat and filled with glamour and glitter, started out in a Williamsburg warehouse in 2001 and has now moved the respectable stage of the Abron Arts Center. It is my newest and funkiest holiday tradition and one that is always truly entertaining.

If you're in the city, it's definitely worth checking out. If not, I've included a clip from the '07 CnC of Angela DiCarlo singing "Country Christmas Trolls". Yes Virginia it's true...they will put Cream of Wheat in your stocking!

Don't Stop Believin' (x5)

To deal with my GLEE-withdrawal, I was trolling around on YouTube last night when I found this popular cover (3 million plus hits!) of the GLEE version of "Don't Stop Believin'". What's unique here is that one very talented Yale junior, Sam Tsui, sings all five parts. Sam and his producing partner, Kurt Schneider, are totally adorkable, grew up on the same street together, went to high school and then Yale too. No word on whether they're an actual couple, but their creative collaborations on this and other pop songs are super cute.

Cate Blanchett IS Blanche Dubois

Last night, I went to BAM to see the new production of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire". Simply put, it was stunning. I have read the play many times, seen more than a few productions and watched the movie countless times but last night I felt like I was seeing it all for the first time. And most of that is due to Cate Blanchett's remarkable performance as a character that too often becomes a caricature, Blanche Dubois. That was not the case in this production, masterfully directed by Liv Ullman. Blanche is real...almost too real. Which, in the end, makes this play the epic American tragedy it was always meant to be.

Blanche is played here as a fairly competent, cheerful and together woman (after all, she WAS a schoolteacher for all those years) who just now is beginning to teeter and fall under the weight of a lifetime of lies, disappointments and delusions, not to mention a healthy appetite for whiskey. Blanchett lives this transformation in a stunning three-hour tour plus de force of acting, as we watch her struggle with the demons and madness that slowly start to swallow Blanche whole.

However, this is not to say this "Streetcar" is a one woman show (another trap that other versions fall into). All the characters here are drawn out equally well and there are some unusual new twists to the interpretation of Mitch, Blanche's suitor, and Stanley, Blanche's pursuer. As Ben Brantley states in his eloquent review, this is not played as the battle of Stanley v. Blanche....it's more Blanche against herself. And when she loses, it is truly heartbreaking.

When a buzz show like this becomes a "hot ticket", I am usually wary of the hype. In this case, I can honestly state that the hype doesn't get the half of it. Cate is truly remarkable but as another playwright once said, the play is the thing. And here Tennessee Williams' "Streetcar" is restored with its author's original intent fully realized. This is powerful stuff and, if the theatre gods (aka Equity) have any mercy, the show will hopefully end up on Broadway next year for many more to see.