August 8-13, 1999

It's been a slow week for this weblog, I guess, and a narrower one than usual as topics go. Sorry about that. Been busy alternately fighting a cold, going on job interviews, and seeing movies. More next week, I'm sure. I've accumulated some links already, just haven't the time to get into 'em today.

Oh yeah-- I saw Bowfinger on Thursday night at a sneak preview, it opens today (Friday). I laughed out loud more than I have at a movie in a while. Bowfinger ain't art, but it doesn't claim to be. Fun. 'Course it helped that I was in a crowded theater . . . it's the kind of summer movie best seen with a crowd. Silly fun.

(Still though, y'all know that if you go to a movie this weekend, it should be The Iron Giant, right? Just checking. :-) I'll stop being a broken record next week, maybe).

If you aren't on the snail mail Moxy Früvous mailing list, you can still read the latest edition of The Quill online. I smiled when it showed up in my mailbox last week, heralding the new album, of course.

It would take weeks, perhaps months, to provide you with a real-time run-down of what we've been up to over the past few months, so in the interests of time allow us to summarize. After we finished the record in April we chilled out for awhile and replenished fluids. Then we set about converting the complex orchestral arrangements of the songs on the album into dumbed-down versions we could pull off live, all the while honing our already-impressive on-line gaming skills to almost military levels.

Good news and some fine t/h/r/e/a/t/s/ ideas:

We have just been informed by a reliable source (an executive at NBC) that we will be performing live on Late Night With Conan O'Brien this September or October. Check our website or your local listings for the exact date. AS much of a coup as it will be to kibitz with the lanky redhead, we'll still need your help in transforming this album from a grassroots fave into a going concern on both sides of the border. In a spare moment, threaten a local radio station with property damage if they don't play our current single; in a spare hour, construct an effigy of a bandmember and show it off to guests. Bugging record stores and playing the album for friends also helps. Remember, whenever a radio station is playing a Früvous song, it means they're not playing an 'N Sync song.

More new stuff at fruvous.com about the new album, plus there's now fruhead.com, too.

I got the new album yesterday, it's one of their more mellow ones (a la Wood) again, but I like it. Still . . . the album I'd recommend to anyone new to Moxy Fruvous remains Live Noise (one of my favorite albums of the decade, seriously).

Oh no! Andy Richter is leaving Late Night w/ Conan O'Brien. :-( Was mentioned on last night's broadcast, Aaron Barnhart mentions it today at TVBarn. I truly adore Andy and Late Night won't be the same without him . . . here's hoping he finds great success doing something else (that we all can watch and enjoy).

If you live in/near the selected 50 cities and get to the website quicklike, you can get free movie passes to an advance screening of the film American Beauty. (Did I mention that Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening are in the film? It sounds cool apart from that, but hey . . . I know plenty of folks who'll go just to see Spacey and/or Bening). Here's where you sign up [via ain't it cool news]. Here's it's IMDB entry.

Speaking of previews, I'm seeing a screening of Bowfinger tonight (Thursday), will be sure to let y'all know what I think.

Scott Thompson is a founding member of The Kids in the Hall, a comedian, and an actor. Oh yeah, he's a hilarious talk show guest. At any rate, years ago I heard him plug his website on Late Night w/ Conan O'Brien . . . the site was interesting then, and it's still darn interesting today. Impressive, even.

Check out ScottLand if you haven't yet (or lately). Note that it's pretty graphics intensive and requires Flash, RealPlayer, and such stuff. And free registration.

Court TV to air special double Homicides on Saturdays. They'll air both parts of two-part episodes each Saturday. Sounds like without any of the usual cuts for syndication, too (a girl can dream). [via hlotslinks]

Remember my TV Picks? My featured picks will be included at Aaron Barnhart's fab TV Barn website. I'm honored to contribute to such a cool site and to be in such fine company. Other contributors to the site include Andy Zipperer, Greg Hall, Andy Ihnatko, Sue Trowbridge, and Tom Heald.

More regionalisms? Do you keep butter in the refrigerator or elsewhere?

Lileks:

It might be a Midwestern trait. In Fargo, the family butter spent its life on the counter under a small ceramic cover -- it would be slumped like an old barn, surrounded by a moat of butter drool; its color brought to mind a jaundiced bar of soap, but it spread well and didn't kill anyone. I ask no more of supper than that.

The California case against Kevin Mitnick has been dropped and Mitnick has finally been sentenced. Finally. Details, as always, at the Free Kevin site.

New issue of The Onion. I'm behind the times, still laughing at the August 4th edition. Especially 80 Billion Tons of Jar Jar Merchandise Now 70 Percent Off:

To deal with the massive overspill of goods, many retailers are offering a "bucket of Jar Jar" deal, in which customers who bring their own trashbag can take away "as much Jar Jar crap as they can carry" for a nominal fee, often one dollar or less.

Rob Bowman (of Star Trek: The Next Generation, The X-Files, etc) to direct the film Riptide. The script was written by Jon Cohen and is being rewritten by Paul Attanasio (creator of Homicide: Life on the Street). Cool.

The Matrix is available on DVD. Yay! It's also still showing at finer late run theaters throughout the country. If you haven't yet seen The Matrix, get thee to a theater (trust me, it's worth seeing on the big screen. And yeah, it's a science fiction movie classic. IMHO).

Chuck is back from vacation, which means more new stuff @ Looka!.

I saw The Thomas Crown Affair (the new one, that is) on Monday night. It's surely gorgeous to look at, pure eye candy (and no, I'm not merely talking about Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo). Fine scenery, some fine shots, gorgeous clothes, spiffy museum sets, cool locations, and so on. I've a weak spot for caper movies and for the two stars of this film, so 'twas pretty clear I'd end up liking it. No real surprises and I found myself wishing for more dialogue between the characters, didn't feel like we got to know much about them other than their penchant for playing games. But it's fun. I'm sure some will find it slow, but these days somenoe always finds films slow as some are used to the breakneck pace of things. A pleasant, sensual, film. You'll want to see it if you're a fan of Brosnan and/or Russo and/or of caper films; others may want to see it at bargain prices (matinee, late run). Worth seeing on a big screen.

The new album from Moxy Fruvous is now available in the US. It's called Thornhill. I don't have it yet, but will get it within the week.

There aren't that many folks whose albums I've gotta get the first day or week of release, it's become a (relatively) short list. In case anyone's curious, the folks on that list (off the top of my head) are: Peter Gabriel, Richard Thompson, Bob Mould, John Wesley Harding, Jane Siberry, Lyle Lovett, Sinead O'Connor, Richard Shindell, and Moxy Fruvous. I'm sure I'm missing some and I'm also leaving off artists who, for whatever reason, are no longer putting out albums.

Glen Morgan and James Wong sign a big development deal with Dreamworks and NBC. They're putting together 13 episodes of a mid-season series called The Others. Morgan and Wong are best known for writing early episodes of The X-Files, creating Space: Above and Beyond, and exec producing the second season of Millennium.

Well I like them ('course I like the others, too). Jon Carroll:

Let me say that the People want more cat columns. "Enough with the political crapola already," they remark. Some people bookmark my column on the Web, thinking it's going to be a feline laffathon, and they are ever so irritated when Orrin Hatch and Barney Frank wander through the doors.

Thus: another fine circulation-building cat column.

Oh that wacky David Duchovny. I guess there've been a few articles about DD's remarks at the TV critic shindig. Some kind soul posted an actual transcript of the Q&:A session which is interesting (for what DD says and also just to see the actual Q&A which spawned the various articles. Interesting to see the takes different writers had on it).

I know there are a ton of movies out right now. If you haven't seen The Iron Giant yet, go see it. Seriously. Don't be scared off by anything. Just go. Check your local movie listings, find a theater that's showing it . . . and go. Drag your friends, your family, whoever you can.

Why am I pushing the film like this? Because it's really good. Because it's had next-to-no-marketing (and what there has been is awful). Because it's not doing well at the box office and I fear it won't last long in theaters if people don't go Now. You'll have plenty of time to see those other popular flicks later.

What can I do to convince you? If you're unsure, email me any of your questions and concerns and I'll be sure to knock 'em out of the water. I was skeptical before I went even though I'd heard lots of good things (sometimes that just makes me more skeptical). I'm a convert. It's one of my favorite films of the year and it's a movie I wanna see again and one that I'll be buying when it's released on video. I think it's a classic. I want the soundtrack. I want the toys (of which there are few, but the ones there are seem pretty darn cool).

The Iron Giant website.

Screensaver, funky retro wallpaper, pix, realaudio selections of music from the movie, info on the filmmakers, etc.

"Jim Crow Hollywood" by James Collier. Excellent (in other words, go read it already).

I am not naive enough to think that putting a few more black characters on TV will solve the ills of society. It won't. I am not fool enough to think that the same industry that puts out drivel like Jesse has the wherewithal to tackle the lack of diversity on the airwaves. It doesn't. No, this is about the principle of it all.

If the television industry can get away with ignoring sizable portion of the population, what does it say about us as a society? What does it say that advertisers can use public airwaves to target only young, white and affluent viewers? What does it say when this injustice is largely met with a shrug by the majority?

What are you doing reading this when you could be at a movie theater seeing The Iron Giant? Go already.

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