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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

This sucks.

Campus Ladies is possibly the funniest show ever and it doesn't get the play it deserves. It's about two lady pals in their 40s in need of some starting over who go back to college and live in the dorms. You are right to be frightened by the premise, plus the fact it's on Oxygen, but seriously, it's hilarious and raunchy. Watch some video samples here, including the entire pilot episode. A new season starts tonight, and it looks like there's even more excellent guest stars than the first season. Hooray!

I want to have kids for the sole purpose of exposing them to Yo Gabba Gabba. With Biz Markie! (via Drawn)

From the Mormon couple who brought you Napoleon Dynamite: Nacho Libre, in which Jack Black goes on the Mexican wrestling circuit to save an orphanage. Loosely based on a true story!

Crazy Japanese commericals for pachinko starring Nicholas Cage, via the essential Retrocrush podcast (episode 60 to be precise, which also includes video game quarter-insertion sound effects)

This election day, I am thinking of a genius King of the Hill Episode from four years ago, "The Perils of Polling," in which Hank becomes disillusioned (to the point of existential crisis) with George W. Bush because of the presidential candiate's weak handshake. So on election day, instead of voting, Dale Gribble and Hank take off for a day of shopping at the outlet mall, and Dale attempts to assure Hank's subversion by driving into Mexico. There are also subplots involving Bobby saving a diving pig from drowning, the futility of fringe candidates, Luann's flirtation with the Communist Party, and Peggy running a polling place from the Hill's garage. Here are quotes from the episode.

But this is interesting: the episode is not listed on the offical Fox.com KoTH site. It was "get out the vote" special aired outside of the regular season, as far as I can tell, but still numbered as part of Season 5. Could Fox be trying to erase this episode from history?

Movieoke is my new favorite. Except you're not allowed to call it Movieoke, because they don't want to go down the path of Mr. Sinus Theatre. It's videoke. Videoke! Anyway I made my debut last night doing Jennifer Aniston in this scene from Office Space. Friend Kevin was Mike Judge. Performers were judged on synchrony with the clip, sound effects, and ... something else. Movement? Props? Embodying the actors? Something like that. We didn't win. But I will. Someday. Oh, I will.

Movieoke! hopefully coming soon to a nightclub near you and I. (via Metafilter)

Oh wait: It has!

Petitition to help save Home Movies. Make Home Movies the Cagney and Lacey of the new millennium!

Related: Brendon Small's website, and an interview with him on Citizen Robot.

What up with those Quizno's creatures? Slate has all the answers. (via Scrubbles)

I didn't know the Quizno's creatures were an internet phenomenon before they were sandwich mascots. Where was I? I was here, but I don't know, something must have happened. Anyway, everyone I talk to thinks the Quizno's songs are "annoying." They're also scared of biting into one of these furry rodents with bulgy eyes as they eat their toasted submarine sandwich. I kind of am too, but think the songs are the best and will be more choosy with the company I keep in the future.

Yay! A whole website dedicated to this year's best American Idol auditionee, William Hung, and who cares whether or not it's a put-on. I hope someday there is a compilation video/album/tour of contestants like this, and it shall be called American Outsider.

Daniel cashes in on The Price Is Right. (real video link, via Boing Boing) There used to be site called "The Price Is Right's Greatest Wins!" that appears to be defunct. This would be the king of them all, though.

The real inspiration for "The Dude" character from The Big Lebowski bowls at a festival in his name.

"Now 53, The Dude has remained friends with the brothers and had parts of his past infused into the character.

'That's the moment that Joel and Ethan were capturing,' said Dowd, who remains a fixture in independent film consulting. 'When we were just kind of hanging.'"

When the world gets too complicated, you can always count on cats chasing mice, and mice running from cats, and how funny the whole thing is. Here's a Tom and Jerry site with sound clips, like the one where Tom tries to woo his girl with a song, or the episode when he sings about Texas.


And, of course, whatever your political feelings are on her, there's always the glorious Mammy.

The Austin episode of Insomniac with Dave Attell airs tomorrow. Featuring our local all-girl roller derby league and maybe my friend Anne, who ran into the crew at the Red Eyed Fly.

American Splendor trailer, official site, and Harvey Pekar's weblog (via ToT). Also: Harvey Pekar's archive of articles written for the Austin Chronicle. When I worked there he called a lot, and the building-wide pages were often ignored by their recipients. I always wanted to pick up and talk to him, but never did. Regrets!

(Liar's Club 1978)

Game show ads culled from 20 years of TV Guides (via Incoming Signals)

"I feel like the government just took a shit on my chest": Last night's Daily Show segment on the Halliburton deal (click on "Bill of Might" ... can anyone figure out how to link directly to it?)

(16mm frame from Multiple Sidosis)

"Sid Laverents writes, directs, stars in, edits, and shoots his own films. He even builds his own camera equipment. Now 93 years old, Sid has labored over his ever-expanding, four-part, autobiographical series, THE SID SAGA, for more than 30 years. Last year his 1970 tour de force, MULTIPLE SIDOSIS, was listed on the National Film Registry as the pinnacle of the home-movie art form."

So introduces PBS's Egg: the Arts Show website. See the segment here (scroll down to "The Sid Saga - Sid Laverents"). The San Diego Amateur Moviemakers Club has more information on Mr. Lavernts, including info on how to get in touch with him to buy Multiple Sidosis on video.

A couple Tuesdays ago while flippin channels we came across ACAC (that's Austin Community Access Center) channel 16, which was showing a low-budget music video featuring an older man playing in a rock band with a couple of young girls against a backdrop of psychedelic swirlies. I believe the girls were singing. It was very crazy, and Bryan and I were dumbstruck.

A little further viewing revealed that the man's name was Reverend Ricky and the girls were his daughters. The music video served as a bumper between the Reverend's religio-political rants. These weren't your average public access TV rants, though ... well, maybe they were. But he delivered them with a toilet seat hanging around his neck (a John Lennon reference) and sitting behind a plaque that read "Greatest Stud." He made frequent references to "Dr. Laura's Testicle Crushing Machine." All I could tell that he was anti-gay, anti-feminist (yet anti-Dr. Laura as well), anti-Baptist, pro-Beatles, and extremely pro-sex. He made use of lots of props. Witness:

More photos, taken off the TV with our cheap digital camera, are here. We searched for Reverend Ricky on the web to no avail, and he seems to have disappeared from ACAC's schedule. Even though his views are mostly opposite my own, I was drawn to this Reverend Ricky because, damn, what a weird mix of hobby horses. Let us sing the praises of public access TV, hallelujah. Plus, I am hoping to see that band again, somehow, some day.

The Price Is Right's Greatest Wins! There has got to be some fetish associated with this stuff. (via Defective Yeti)

Starcade, an early 80s game show involving Geoff Edwards (above) asking trivia questions about arcade games to pimply faced kids then pitting the contestants in hand-to-to hand arcade game combat, is online and on the new and superfluous cable television channel G4!

(via Lots of Co.)

Yahoo's Picks of the Week recently spotlighted the long-running site NewsRadio and the Comedic Art, dedicated to one of the few sitcoms in television history that really deserved the "comic genius" designation. The essays there (cf. How It Came to Pass That True Greatness Was Not Recognized in Its Own Time, Physical Comedy and the Visual Gag, Morally Expressive Art) elevate this site above your everyday fan forum/episode guide thingy. It seems almost all the cast members have gone downhill since the show ended, but what do you expect. Well, except Stephen Root, whose King of the Hill character Bill Dauterive at least approaches the genius of Jimmy James, and maybe makes up for The Country Bears.

Hopefully the shows (NewsRadio and King of the Hill) will be available on DVD someday.

Charles Nelson Reilly Alert! He's one of the Old Troupers That Late-Night TV Has No Use for Anymore, laments the Wall Street Journal. (Thanks, Merlin.) He's also The Queen of the Match Game! Naw, it's really Betty White, but, duh. Don't miss the video link to the right -- Jane Clayson asks CNR and Brett Somers if the celebrity panel was drunk all the time, and Gene Rayburn's long skinny microphone is brandished! I can safely declare that, in terms of the recent spate of old TV show reunions (that has mercifully died down lately), this one is almost not butt-cringingly embarrasing ... and Ms. Clayson is the only one to blame for tipping the scales.

Here's some Saturday morning nostalgia brought to you on a Sunday morning. The ABC Health and Nutrition commercials of the late 70s have been somewhat eclipsed over the decades by its cousin Schoolhouse Rock -- the latter having been celebrated with an anniversary DVD and a CD featuring indie rock stars covering the songs. However, if you're hovering near the age of 30, their anti-condiment, pro-cheese philosophy is probably burrowed somewhere deep in the recesses of your subconscious. The star of these Saturday morning public service announcements was Timer, who originally led a neice and nephew on an edu-delic journey into the innards of their lard-ass uncle in 1973's The Incredible, Indelible Physical Mystery Trip. Timer was the blob who "Hanker[ed] for a Hunk of Cheese" and persuaded sugar-crazed kids into enjoy frozen juice cubes instead (this page has the "Sunshine on a Stick" commercial in realaudio).

Also by the team of David DePatie and Fritz Freleng (who also created the Pink Panther cartoons and a number of other big-name series together) was "Yuck Mouth," who did not brush; "Beans and Rice" (is nice, once or twice or even thrice); "Don't Drown Your Food"; "Exercise Your Choppers"; "Watch Out for the Munchies" ("soon you're not just bored, YOU'RE FAT!"); "Have a Quickfast," and maybe others? I also recall "Have a Saturdae," which imparted the recipe for a healthy yet pornographic sundae alternative involving a banana, a pineapple ring, and yogurt, but I'm not sure it was part of this series.

Sidebar: McSweeney's popped up again during my research. From the list archives: "Honest-to-God Trivia Questions From "TV Guide's TV Game," a Board Game Manufactured in 1984."

"Will this work on people who are on drugs?" TV Heaven reviews ridiculous infomercials.

Yay!

Four Word Film Reviews. If you thought I was going to write a four-word comment about this site, you'd be wrong, my friend.

Instead, let's play guess the movies!:
"'Home Alone' for lesbians."
"Lust redeems suburban jerk."
"Little door, big head."
"Evil jewellery attempts takeover."
"Doogie Howser turns Nazi."
"Doesn't sink fast enough."
"Two directors - bad mix."
"Chan's hilarious Eastern Western."
"Lynch. Some assembly required."
"Big dongs, disco songs."
"Ghost doctor. No fee..."
"Still paranoid when swimming..."
"Hilarious quote machine fairytale."
"George should've stopped here."
"PLEASE stop greenlighting Smith."

(via Metafilter)

The Spoilers Game: an oldie but goodie. See if you can come up with a film's title based on its spoiler.

A page chock full of El Chapulin Colorado screenshots. As you may or may not recall, he is the real-life Mexican TV insect that inspired the the Simpsons' Bumblebee Man.

I decided that I would start a cable channel devoted to documentary films, but some other people beat me to it. The Documentary Channel, "Dch," appears to be aiming for a 2002 debut, but its website has the air of neglect, so maybe that funding never came through. Just another way in which the Canadians are more advanced than us.

Down in Mexico I discovered that the Simpsons Bumblebee Man is based on a real Latin American TV character, El Chapulin Colorado (the Red Cricket/Grasshopper). According to this source:

El Chapulin Colorado is a parody of traditional superheros like Superman and Batman. ... His "super power" was to take a pill and become tiny, allowing him to penetrate criminal hideouts and such. His catch phrase was "No Contaron con Mi Astucia" (They didn't count on my astuteness). [El Chapulin actor] Roberto Gomez Bola–os is also called "Chespirito" which is how some people refer to the Bumble Bee Man. He also played other comedy characters like "El Chavo Del Ocho" (The Kid from The 8th), who was a funny homeless kid who lived in a barrel.

Bryan spotted a Chapulin Colorado cake-topper in a shop, and later I went on a quest to buy it while he was recovering from el diahhrea explosivo. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the shop. Ay, el estomago! Dios no me ama!

I just saw this on TV and knew it would be online somewhere. Karate chop kickin chimp.

Court TV's exposŽ of Miss Cleo's psychic network. Nothing that you couldn't arrive at through good old common sense, but it's interesting reading (and listening) nonetheless.

Last week brought the only Saturday Night Live skit in the last decade that qualifies as truly hilarious. Argue if you will, and you will probably win this argument, since I haven't watched the show in the last decade. (I just heard somewhere that bold, sweeping, even overgeneralized statements make for more compelling writing.) This skit featured Tracy Morgan as Astronaut Jones and Britney Spears as Kragellera, Queen of Ropeelians, in a fake little TV show called Astronaut Jones: Destination Moon. Poopoochoochoo captured the moment and made an mp3 of the theme song. Look for it there. It is so nice. Note: This doesn't mean I think they should make a movie out of it.

Rip Taylor's website ought to be used as a weapon of some kind. Read Rip's patriotic message. Ordering a back issue of Mean Magazine #14 is worth it just for their interview with Rip. (Or you could axe me nicely and I'll send you a photocopy.) And their interview with Roger Lodge, host of Blind Date, the popup videos-meets-dating reality show that has spawned so many imitators.

Oh cool! Snopes.com has filmed a pilot for a possible series covering (re-enacting?) urban legends. (via Travelers Diagram.)

Reader Mail.

Hi!

I came across your journal, very interesting reading. I am writing to ask if you will put a link to OprahCallDave.net in there too!?

I'm new, just put my site up this week, but the petition is doing really well, over 150 signatures in the first few days, and all the links out there help a lot. Anyhow, just thought I'd ask, hope you have a nice day and thanks for your consideration!

Stacie
. . . . . . . .

Dear Stacie,

Yes I shall link to your site. Together, we can WILL make a difference.

Love,
the Excitement Machine
. . . . . . . .

There's a .com version too, of course.