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Friday, September 22, 2000
I was on the phone with Dave a little bit ago and I wish to relate a small portion of our conversation because I believe that it was much funnier than Dave gave me credit for:Dave: So what's new?
posted by LT2 8:21 PM ET | discuss | link
Lars: We're two weeks away from Vietnam.
Dave: Really? When are you leaving?
Lars: October 8th. (I don't think he could've blamed me if I'd answered "two weeks from now", but I didn't)
Dave: Hmm. You know October 8th is the anniversary of the Chicago Fire.
(((dramatic pause)))
Lars: Well... I'm glad I'm gettin' outta town then.
Now this is the kind of advertising activism I can get behind. 12-year-old girls saying they're "watching their weight"? That's pretty bad. Damare' made a good point to me the other day when she pointed out the "0 grams of fat" label on a box of Nerds candies. Nerds for goddsake!!!! Has anyone over the age of 7 ever purchased a box of Nerds!? Anyway, go for it DAD's, The Pen is with ya!As for the rest of ya, you may commence with the cries of "hypocrite!"
posted by LT2 7:32 PM ET | discuss | link
The US Government is taking steps to protect us from nasty bugs brought back from deep-space missions. But don't get out the gas masks yet, check out this quote about whether virulet, meat-eating viruses might exist in deep space:"Being a human pathogen on Mars right now is not a very good business to be in. You might find something that gobbles hydrogen…but it wouldn't pose a threat to humans."
And this one about how potentially dangerous samples will be handled:
"Nobody is proposing that cometary samples be brought back willy-nilly or handed around to kids in the neighborhood."
posted by LT2 2:22 PM ET | discuss | link
Last night I was watching the women's individual gymnastics competition and this one Romanian girl missed the pomel horse completely and landed on the far side of the horse, on her ass. She was fine, not hurt in anyway, but the reason I'm bringing this up is they kept showing cutaway shots of people in the crowd (parents, teammates, etc.) cringing as she hit the ground. This is going to sound really bad, but these shots were very funny. You could see everyone twisting their bodies trying to affect the way she landed. Great stuff. Anyway, after a while I said to Tony, "you know, I could watch shots of people reacting to that girl missing the horse for as long as they want to keep showing them." And Tony said "That says so much about you Lars."
posted by LT2 1:43 PM ET | discuss | link
Now I know we are still 2 weeks on the good side of Tri-Llama's Y2K travelog, BUT, it's never too early to start thinking about the next one... And, fresh from my experience last night with FEAR on MTV, I think I have a fantastic idea. OK, we fly to Northern Europe (sometime in the European Fall when the nights are long and start early and the weather is cold and creepy, and the trees are bare and stretch into the dark European night like clawed hands), I don't know Hungary, Romania or something... call it, the Haunted Castles of Northern Europe Tour, 2001. I'm sure that we could find, on the web, some guided tours of supposedly haunted castles that include overnight stays in said castles. That would be killer huh? I already have interest from my office-mate Garth.
posted by LT2 12:33 PM ET | discuss | link
I have found my purpose in life, and it is... to get on that MTV show FEAR!!! Who more than I, is more perfect to be on that show? Who more than those who know me best would pay real money to see me get a little of my own medicine? Man oh freakin' man, how can we get this done!?Any ideas?
posted by LT2 12:09 PM ET | discuss | link
Thursday, September 21, 2000
Jeez, I can't keep anything secret from you guys! First it was my presidency of Kent State University, then my stint as the DJ for the Beastie Boys, and now my acting career! Can't you leave me in peace!?!
posted by MES 8:59 PM ET | discuss | link
Anybody seen the promos for this new MTV reality show FEAR? I have GOT to get on this show!!!
posted by LT2 8:49 PM ET | discuss | link
Waaaaazzzz? Have you and your friends been dressing up like Monkeys again? What did I tell you about that!!!
posted by LT2 8:42 PM ET | discuss | link
It looks like Mike has found himself a side job.Thanks for the link Dave!
posted by LT2 8:34 PM ET | discuss | link
OK, this is really strange (potentially). When I was about five years old, I had this record album called "Sounds to Make You Shiver." It was a record of haunted house sound effects that my dad would play out the window on Halloween night. You could hear it up and down the street my dad would play it so loud. It was better than every album I've bought in the years since because it featured this creepy-voiced guy taking you on a tour of a haunted house, so rather than the sounds being on the album in a random, non-sensical order, this album had a story. The guy would say "and here we have a werewolf" and then you'd hear growling, and his female tourist would scream, and they would move on to the next item on the agenda. That sort of thing. Anyway, last time I remember seeing this thing was just after we moved into the house in Herndon where I did most of my growing up. I remember that the original LP had gotten all scratched-up and was no longer playable. So, when were were in Florida visiting Disney World, I picked up a copy of the DisneyLand horror sounds album and replaced it in the STMYS album cover.Flash forward about 25 years. I was driving to work this morning and I thought, I wonder if it would be possible to find that album on the web. So I searched Google.com and found a copy for sale by a woman who runs an antique and collectibles site. Here is the notation that goes with the entry on the site:
"Get ready for Halloween now! Look at the great album cover of this record "Sounds to make you Shiver!" The cover itself is in great condition, has great color and retention, and would be fantastic for framing; it's starting to come apart a little bit on the bottom edge. I assumed that this record would be inside, but when I looked I found instead a scary DISNEYLAND record, very collectible according to my book. The record has a "Disneyland" label and insignia of the Disney castle, and it's titled "Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House".
I e-mailed the woman to see how she came to be in possession of this copy of the record, but how weird would it be if it's the same one. Here's the picture of the album art.
posted by LT2 8:23 PM ET | discuss | link
I went to the Rose Bowl last night to see the Galaxy win round one of the MLS playoffs, kicking the Christ out of "Big Mama" Diallo and his band of motley Mutineers 5-2!!! The Galaxy look tough man, those DC United had better watch o--- oh right, they're not in the playoffs are they? In the words of Nelson... "Ha ha!"
posted by LT2 11:50 AM ET | discuss | link
Wednesday, September 20, 2000
Well, now that the year is drawing to a close and we are very close to the three month blitz of probable Oscar contender, I think now would be a good time to take a snapshot of the dismal movie-going year and identify the two or three films from the first 9 months that we think have a shot of squeezing into the Best Picture pack along with all the fall/winter probables.My picks are as follows:
Almost Famous (Picture, Director, Writer, Actors (Crudup, Fugit), Actress (Hudson), Sup. Actor (P.S. Hoffman))
The Contender (Picture, Writer, Director (Rod Lurie), Actress (Joan Allen), Actor (Oldman))
Wonder Boys (Picture, Writer (Kloves), Actor (Douglass), Sup. Actor (Maguire, Downey Jr.))Anyone care to agree or disagree?
posted by LT2 11:19 AM ET | discuss | link
Tuesday, September 19, 2000
This is disgraceful. I don't know how many of you may have seen this commercial (I'm guessing not many since Nike has pulled the ad), but apparently, NBC in particular was flooded with complaints that this commercial advocates violence against women. huh!?!?!? I am truly stunned by this claim! Anyone who has EVER seen a slasher movie knows that it's a running gag that no matter how fast the final surviving heroine runs away from the slasher, she never seems to get anymore than a few steps away from the guy (though she does better than the men, who are always killed, I might add). For godssake people, it was a recurring joke in the Scream series and is no doubt poked fun at in Scary Movie. What the hell!? Don't you freaks have anything better to do?Who actually picks up the phone and makes a call like that?
For the record, I laughed when I saw it and given how much the scene resembles many actual scenes from the Friday the 13th series, it never even entered my mind that the ad might be anything other than a spoof. Ugh! I'm really getting tired of this bullshit!!!
(To the Post: check your facts, the slasher in the ad is wearing a white rubber face with black hair, signature style of Michael Meyers from Halloween, and not a Jason-style hockey mask, as the article linked here claims)
posted by LT2 7:51 PM ET | discuss | link
Mike, check this out. Wanna save a little space in your Vietnam backpack?
posted by LT2 7:38 PM ET | discuss | link
This just in: William Baldwin will remain in the United States regardless of who wins the election.
posted by LT2 6:23 PM ET | discuss | link
Here are some pictures from the current flooding going on in the Mekong Delta.
posted by MES 2:17 PM ET | discuss | link
Here's a very brief story/picture from AP talking about some of the improvements currently underway at Dulles International Airport, including "a forth runway, a network of people movers and underground trains". That all sounds pretty cool. I suppose the "forth" runway will be in addition to the three "back" runways they currently have?
posted by MES 2:05 PM ET | discuss | link
"What a week I'm having!" Of course, I mean that in the exact opposite way from they way Eugene Levy did when he said it. Talked to John Milius. Won my fantasy football game. Got a huge bonus. Paid off my cradit card debt. Won a T-Shirt in a raffle at an Irish Pub last night. Could a date be far behind?Let's go to Vegas!!!
posted by LT2 12:18 PM ET | discuss | link
Monday, September 18, 2000
We were discussing Terminator 3 this morning when someone predicted that this would be Ah-nult's last big payday, which promted me to suggest, as a poster tag line: Terminator 3: This Time, It's Financial!
posted by LT2 8:59 PM ET | discuss | link
For the first time in about five years I am 100% credit card-debt free. Praise Gawd!!! And I intend to stay that way (mental note: no more girlfriends in New York... for a variety of reasons:-)).
posted by LT2 7:13 PM ET | discuss | link
The last sentence of this article is disturbing and, to me, patently obvious. I think this is a key point about the use of military force that every potential President should be forced to understand. Cheney knows it, Gore, Bush, and Lieberman, do not.
posted by LT2 2:27 PM ET | discuss | link
Almost Famous is a fantastic movie. Really, really good. I might have to put Cameron Crowe up in the Ed Zwick range of top directors at pushing Lars' buttons. Man oh man. I think I'll see it again before it leaves the theatres.
posted by LT2 11:11 AM ET | discuss | link
On the (more or less) two year anniversary of Europe '98, here's a little something to take y'all back.By the way, just as a reminder, the travelogues and Halloween photo essays are always available right over there on the left.
posted by LT2 10:56 AM ET | discuss | link
