Something Old: The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979)
Something New: Semi-Pro (2008)
The Connection: Both are disco-licious basketball comedies – my favorite genre
I am a cynic by nature. I don’t go to church. I don’t play the lottery. I don’t read books that the general population agrees are good. I don’t watch Extreme Home Makeover. I don’t think Barack Obama can revolutionize America. I don’t believe in procreation. I don’t coo over puppies.
But one of the few things that can consistently penetrate my hard-ass realist exterior is an underdog sports movie. Seriously. I can’t explain it, but ever since Rudy, this cheesiest of movie genres has had the ability to burrow in to my stone-cold heart and leave me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside, and sometimes even a little teary-eyed. It’s embarrassing but true, and I take a special kind of guilty pleasure in indulging this ever-so-sissy aspect of myself.
And while The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh is certainly no Rudy, it does the double-duty of being a satisfying underdog sports film and a campy tribute to the disco age (YESSSS!). Set in, duh, Pittsburgh, the film centers around a pro basketball team called the Pittsburgh Pythons that’s on the brink of extinction due to their horrendous track record. In an attempt to save the team, the young waterboy contacts an astrologer (Stockard Channing) to ask for advice, and she determines that the key to success is to create a team of players born under the sign Pisces – hence, the film’s title. Read More »
Have you, gentle reader, ever entertained the thought of seducing John Krasinski – through the universal language of song? Yes. Yes, in fact, you have. But before you proceed, consider the sad example of Aimee Mann.
She tries to do just that, in this entertaining yet not-at-all timely mockumentary, which features Mann wandering around Hollywood in a succession of dapper ties, trying to book various stars for her annual Christmas spectacular.
(Before you ask why Aimee is releasing a Christmas mockumentary in mid-February, consider the larger mystery at play: she’s scheduling the show itself for November 30. Aimee Mann apparently has trouble figuring out when Christmas happens.)
The clip itself mostly features John K. honing his suprisingly well-developed skills of shifting around and making uncomfortable faces at the camera. (You know, if only there were some sort of SHOW where he could do this EVERY WEEK.) Yet, for Mann’s song alone, it’s well worth your time. Read More »
Anyone with a sense of humor can tell that Saturday Night Live has ebbed a little when it comes to being hilarious.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what has turned the once intensely entertaining show into an hour of slightly-too-long sketches that sometimes make a person laugh, but whatever the recipe that conjured the Eddie Murphy, Chris Farley and later Will Ferrell generation, today’s SNL could use it.
That being said, I’m not sure the holiday would be complete without a little visit from a vintage SNL clip that only gets funnier with age. The combination of public radio personalities, Alec Baldwin, and tasty, bite-size treats is pure comic genius.
I am always looking for new and different ways to waste time online. My recent favorite time-waster is Will Ferrell run comedy site, FunnyorDie.com. Ferrell along with Adam McKay started the site because “they had nothing better to do.” Videos posted are made by Ferrell and McKay along with user submitted clips. You may have seen the classic “The Landlord” which features McKay’s 2 year old daughter Pearl as a disgruntled landlord verbally abusing Will Ferrell.
The men behind FunnyorDie made my week today when they announced that Judd Apatow would be jumping on board to help create videos. Oh the sheer joy that ran through me when I heard this. I’m the girl who has seen”The 40 Year old virgin” more times than I can count, and I have enormous crush on Seth Rogan in all his hairy dorkdom. Word is Rogan will be making a few appearances in Apatow directed clips.
While enrolled in college one has to adapt to many changes in environment, surroundings, and vernacular. We all went through that fateful day when Mom and Dad dropped us off and we were suddenly thrust into a world of roommates, a brand new campus, and slang completely unique to the college atmosphere.
Call my (then) 18-year old self a prude, but if there’s one piece of advice I wish I had back when I started school it would be knowledge of the best (and worst) pickup line ever created:
“Hey, you wanna go watch a movie?”
As a naive freshman you may think to yourself, “Of course! Wow, college guys sure are nice,” but truth be told, “watching a movie” is probably going to involve a surprising amount of time in a bed. It’s truly the best cop-out come-on any adolescent guy can imagine. “Wanna go watch a movie?” has it all. Who doesn’t want to watch a movie? It’s benign enough to sound like a nice guy who’s just down to hang after a particularly awesome night of partying, but has enough sexual undertone to keep guys from feeling completely guilty when some poor girl starts to freak-out mid makeout. If he actually gets you through the front door? The hard work is done. Read More »
Both of my best buds are just some skinny bitches. Always have been, always will be. But their eat anything and still stay small bods are just not happening for a lot of the rest of us, and even at my best weight I probably wouldn’t be as small around as either of them. Ever since I hit puberty I haven’t been able to break below a size 10 at my best, though I haven’t been much past a size 14 at my worst.
I always assumed, however, from everything I saw on TV and in Hollywood, that in order to be considered beautiful as a female, I had be half the size I am.
Now I’m not going to give you some bull about how I’m perfectly happy with my body, I’m not. I’d definitely like to tone up and lose that tummy flab, but on my own terms, and in the meantime is it too much to ask to at least feel comfortable in the noteven overweight body I’m in? But I have to face the facts; I am an average sized girl living in a skinny mini world, and the days when my weight would be considered acceptable and even hot (i.e. Marilyn’s day) are long gone.
Or so I thought. All my life I’ve been told that the thinner you are, the happier you are, the richer you are, and the prettier you are. Well if that’s the case, then why is it, in iVillage’s 10 Stars Over Size 2, every single one of those women are grinning their phat faces off? Umm, maybe it’s because they’re all rolling in the big bucks, and not starving or cutting themselves up with surgery to do it. Read More »
And nothing says hilarious like Will Ferrell, Will Ferrell’s new perm, and a swearing two-year old named Pearl.
Apparently, Funnyordie.com is a website that was started by Adam McKay (who co-write and directed Anchorman and Talladega Nights), a tiny place in cyberspace where he and his buddies post strange/funny short films. McKay seems to understand the very fine art of making adorable kids say crazy things while Will Ferrell reacts. Sure, it’s been done before, but for my money, it never gets old. I could watch pumpkin-faced toddlers swear until pigs fly, or at least, until their mother’s come home and realize what their fathers are teaching them to say…
Like most people, I saw Blades of Glory over the weekend. For those of you who haven’t, I suggest you do for a good laugh.
While it’s not quite as solid as recent college favorites, like Anchorman, Old School, and Wedding Crashers, this movie will have you cracking up and asking, “what the f$#&?” after everything Will Ferrell’s character, Chazz Michael Michaels, says. Most of the time, he makes no sense – but that’s what makes him the funniest character in the movie.
Jon Heder plays the straight man in Jimmy MacElroy, and does a pretty good job. Every so often, Napoleon shines through and leaves you wanting a good, “Tina, eat your ham.” But alas, there is no Tina, and there is no ham. There is only a funny blonde haircut and some sweet reactions to Ferrell’s comments.
The hidden gem in “Blades,” for me, is Nick Swardson. He plays Hector, MacElroy’s crazy-stalker-fan who wears amazing one-piece ski suits from the ’80′s. I love this guy. He’s funny in everything, especially Grandma’s Boy. Another college favorite that slipped under the radar in the box office, it recently became popular to stoners, frat boys and partiers alike, as a rental. Watch it!
So, if you’re looking for a fun date movie or wanna catch a flick with the girls, go see Blades of Glory. Then, when your friends tell you they wanna “get inside your face” or say, “You’re welcome, Stolkholm,” you’ll appreciate the references.
Something Old: The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979)
Have you, gentle reader, ever entertained the thought of seducing 
While enrolled in college one has to adapt to many changes in environment, surroundings, and vernacular. We all went through that fateful day when Mom and Dad dropped us off and we were suddenly thrust into a world of roommates, a brand new campus, and slang completely unique to the college atmosphere.
Both of my best buds are just some 
Like 
Reality Shows We Miss
Comedy is So In This Season
New Round of Shops at Target!
Unscripted With MIB 3
Most Controversial Comedies
