And neither of them featured Billy Barty!

Here's your random movie fact for today: According to the IMDb Multi-title search, The Terror of Tiny Town (1938) and The Wizard of Oz (1939) share zero actors in common.

Just how many friggin midgets were working in Hollywood during the late thirties, anyway?

"There's a lot of space in this mall."

I've been watching an old favorite on DVD this afternoon, and at the risk of stealing blog themes from my pal at Red and White, allow me to make a suggestion to the video game industry: Instead of launching a video game based on the Ghostbusters movie, how about something on The Blues Brothers?

It would be strictly a racing game. Create a big-ass sandbox simulation of Chicago, give players simple missions of getting to a particular gig at a particular time, and then let'em go nuts. Of course, the longer you take, the more cop cars are in pursuit of you. And you can get extra points for particular stunts and what have you. With the movie license, you can play awesome music during the chases and just throw in quips by Jake and Elwood at random times.

Am I just crazy? Wouldn't this be an awesome game to play? Plus, even though their still criminals, they're a far cry from the thugs at GTA, so you could get a lower rating for it. Besides, parents don't have to worry. They're on a mission from God.

Jesus' Son

Ten years ago, I saw an indie film in the theater called Jesus's Son. It's a great little flick about a drug addict who's constantly trying to get his life in order (and coming across some quirky characters along the way). The thing that impressed me most at the time was the film's tone. Depressing indie films about drug addicts are a dime a dozen. So are indie films brimming with "quirky characters". Jesus's Son manages to tread that fine line between the two and be very touching as well as entertaining.

When the movie got released on DVD, the studio decided to just recycle the movie poster for the cover. This is not surprising as it was a small film that didn't make much money, so why spend any extra effort on it. Besides, the poster art was just dandy:



OK, so we're not talking Anatomy of a Murder here, but the poster is tasteful and gets the job done.

I came across a review of the re-release on DVD Talk this morning. According to the reviewer, the disc is exactly the same. Only the cover art has changed. Here's what it looks like:



The recycling of old DVD's into new packages is nothing new, but this is just bizarre. The reviewer observes that Jack Black is now more prominently displayed both in name and (poorly photoshopped) image. True enough, but more baffling to me than their elevating his bit role to costar status is the design concept as a whole: The "Big Lebowski" color scheme. The 3-D title. The mischievous grin on Dennis Hopper (he does not play a comic role, folks). People who pick this title up expecting a sunny comedy are going to sorely disappointed.

There is something to be said for fooling people into seeing something they would not see normally. Either way, the movie is definitely worth a look. Just know what you're getting into.

P.S.: The soundtrack kicks ass, too.

"I can't breathe!"

I haven't bothered to go back and see if I posted this before, but it's good enough to post again. Seriously, this Youtube video has made me laugh harder than most others:



It really is a crime that QI isn't broadcast on BBC America.

Boom Boom Boom Boom

So instead of talking about all the typical first-time father stuff here on my sixth day of said title, I'll just briefly mention the oddest detail: When I find myself holding little CC (which I'm choosing as her nom de plume for this blog), I have the desire to sing a lively little song that I can bounce her to. What song does my mind always go to?



Beer commercials from my childhood being sung for hers. Welcome to Pop Culture, little baby girl!

Say "Hello" to the little baby Mosley

Born at 10:01pm EST on July 7th, 2009. Mother and baby are doing fine.

Waiting. Still Waiting.

Still no baby, so let's throw out another quote. This is one of my most recent favorites from Mimi Smartypants:

The kitchen torch came with a crème brûlée cookbook, which I also have never used, although yesterday all of my cookbooks fell off of their kitchen-window-ledge shelf (more on this in a minute) and as I labored to set things right I noticed that under the large title CRÈME BRÛLÉE the tagline read, "America's Favorite Dessert." Which I think is stretching the truth an awful lot, because nothing with three different diacritical marks is ever going to be America's Favorite anything.

4th and centimeters

Some doofus over at CNN just wrote a piece on the election of Al Franken and the creation of a filibuster proof 60 seat majority in the Senate. Here is the headline (click to enlarge):


So let me get this straight: After all these years of Conservative dominance in Congress and the utter financial and physical ruin that the United States has suffered because of it, the best this guy can come up with as an argument against liberal power is... the friggin metric system?!

No laughing matter, indeed. The GOP really is that pathetic.

Roscoe Lee Browne Quote of the Month: July 2009

Mrs. Mosley is now five days past her due date and could deliver at any moment, so you'll forgive if, once again, I skip the backstory and just give you a quote. Anyway. Oliver & Company. Enjoy:

Francis: "Isn't it rather dangerous to use ones entire vocabulary in a single sentence?"