One of my friends turned me onto this very cool site that catalogues your entire DVD collection. The site is called DVD Aficionado and it rocks almost as hard as I do when playing Guitar Hero.
So, as I am wont to do with my crazy love of categorizing and organzing the things I own into neat little piles (some would say obsessive but I say "nay". Merely...more organized than the average person) I spent some time on one of my days off and entered my DVDs into it. Apparently I own in the neighborhood of 160 DVDs. Not too shabby. Some are grouped in boxed sets and such so the official number for entries is 154.
I think the one recurring theme of this excercise was: "why in God's name did I buy this?" This was often uttered when coming to the realization that I may or may not own more than one movie directed by Michael Bay and/or starring Will Smith.
I also take no responsibility for titles such as Benchwarmers, When a Stranger Calls, Final Destination as well as few others...I have a friend in the distribution biz and they were gifts. And no, there is no porn contained within. That's what the internet is for.
There are some definite warts in this collection (although not nearly as many as one might find hiding inside my iPod) but overall I think I have a nice mix of titles. God knows I can never complain that I don't have something to watch as there are at least 20 movies on this list that I know haven't even been taken out of the wrapping yet.
So if you've ever sat and wondered, "what the hell DOES John have in his DVD collection?" (and unless your my Mom, I can't imagine you have) you can click here to find out. I believe some titles are broken down more specifically and there are a few under just the "comedy/action/drama" links as well.
Like with anything, be careful of digging too deep...the results might not be pretty.
Thanks to everyone who came out to the Stand Up for a Cure show last night. It was a lot of fun and it looks like they raised a few bucks for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society which is always a good thing. I always try to do a certain number of charity events each year as it's a really amazing feeling to be able to help people out by doing something you love. Toys for Tots is the one I seem to do the most every Christmas.
Oddly enough, I had been so busy with acting and writing that I hadn't performed an actual standup set since a gig down at (my favorite name for a club and a little bone thrown out to my ever growing "monkey porn" audience) Hot Monkey Love in San Diego...in February!!! I think that may be the longest time I've ever had in between sets in the 14 years (shit, has it been that long?) I've been a standup comic. I didn't feel rusty at all.
I used to be of the belief that I had to get up onstage at least a few times a week to stay sharp. That was probably true when I was first starting out doing comedy. You need to get as much stage time as possible, honing your act and (sometimes more importantly) just facing as many different audiences as you possibly can. The confidence that comes from knowing what to do in almost any situation is priceless.
As you do more and more shows (and my peak was at about 200-250 shows a year) you can also start sliding into autopilot. The jokes start to lose their meaning to you and you can really get into a groove where you are telling them but barely listening to yourself. I think at that point you need to take a step back and take a few weeks off. You need to be at a point where you are actually considering the words coming out of your mouth. Really thinking about them and making them new each time. That's the trick.
I don't "chase" standup as much as I used to. I love it still (and last night's show gave me the bug to do it some more) and will always perform but I'm done with the road as a whole. Waking up in a different town each day but having to take five minutes to get your bearings as all hotel rooms start looking the same...well, that gets old really quickly.
Now I do standup because I want to do it...not because I feel like I have to. I pick and choose my shows and it makes each one very special to me. That makes a big difference in not only how I portray my act onstage, but also how I feel personally. That, I've learned in time, is much more important.
...or in English, I've had a nasty cold this past week and haven't felt much like writing or doing much of anything really. So of course, that means the Universe hands me a very busy week.
I ended up getting called in for a commercial audition (by the same casting people that called me in for that movie) even though I didn't necessarily fit the "type" they were looking for. They said they called me in because A) they like me and B) even though I was younger than what they were looking for, they still wanted to read me for my comedic skills. I ended up getting a callback for today and that went really well, so even though I didn't fit what the breakdown stated, they still dug me. That's always nice. On top of that, as I was waiting in the lobby with everyone else, the gentleman who owns the casting agency walked over to me and shook my hand, saying "hey John good to see you again." He remembered me from the movie audition. That's always a very good thing.
Also this weekend, my friends Kurtis, Mitch and Scott celebrated their birthday with a big bash full of booze, food, karoake and...oh yeah...Guitar Hero. Jeff and I pretty much battled all night and as you can see in this picture to the left, he was obviously in awe of my prowess on the axe, clearly asking himself "damn, how does John rock so hard?"
It is true. Once, I rocked so hard I nearly killed a man.
I was kicking some serious ass and everything was going along just fine until he decided to pull some funky ninja eye laser move, rendering me helpless and burning a hole in my side of the screen so I couldn't see and would lose. If that's the way he has to win, fine. Hollow as it may be.
All in all, it was a good time despite the fact that I had to run to blow my nose every 10 minutes or so. Happy birthday to all and to all, well, I guess a Happy Birthday...but I already said that.
You can also check out my snazzy new headshot in the blogger header. What'cha think?
For those of you who have been asking (thanks Mom!), I will FINALLY be doing a show inside Los Angeles city limits. It takes a special cause to get me out of my house and up onstage without having to drive 2 hours or get on a plane, but this seems like the one. On Sunday August 27th, I'll be performing at Stand Up for a Cure at the Pig 'n' Whistle in Hollywood to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
So if you've been bitching to me about "when are you gonna do a show around here" this is your chance to see my tired old act live onstage. I don't want to hear any excuses and it's for a good cause. So whattaya waitin' for? Go buy a ticket for Pete's sake!
Had a good weekend, nothing too exciting. Saw Little Miss Sunshine as well as Taladega Nights and loved both of them. Ironic that both have, in my opinion, two of the best comedic actors working today. Steve Carell is brilliant in Sunshine and really underplays his role. Will Ferrell on the other hand, can play his character totally over the top. Both are funny and feel hooked in. I think these two, along with Bill Murray, are in that special category where they are just funny. They don't try to be. They just are.
Also watched my recently purchased DVD American Splendor which ranks up in my top 10 of favorite movies. Paul Giamatti is such a great actor and the mix of documentary and narrative, with the actors weaving in and out and sometimes intermingling with the actual people is so innovative it makes me pissed I didn't think of something like that first.
Last night I played in a charity poker tournament for AIDS PROJECT LA, which was a lot of fun. It was a $50 buy-in with $40 going to the charity and the rest to the pot. I think 30 people played and I came in eigth (snagging some free Jamba Juice cards which were given to everyone making the final table). I found out during this tournament that apparently I don't play poker for the money. I'm just really competitive. I had every intention of giving any winnings I got back to the charity and was taken aback that I was just as pissed at losing as I would have been if I was going to keep the money. I just hate losing and love winning. Plus, I really love to just play poker. The entire ritual of it. I got to bullshit with friends, make the dealers laugh with some of my odd comments (When my friend John was just about to be knocked out and then went on a killer run: "Why do you keep winning?! Just take your free juice and go home!!") and just had fun helping out a good cause.
Rewatching Popeye and typing up the blog last week got me in a nostalgic mood. I was tooling around on Ebay looking for those Popeye newpaper reprints and I came across the listing pictured here. It was advertising the 6 bendable figures featured in the picture and the freaky thing to me is that I had EVERY SINGLE OF THEM! Even the two creepy rabbits (I used to pretend the carrot was a microphone and he was the host of whatever show I was putting on at the time. I figured he already had the suit). It was as if someone had reached back to 1980 and dipped into my toy box, placing the booty on Ebay for anyone to purchase.
I had a huge collection of those bendable figures. Pink Panther, Popeye (of course!) and Olive Oyl (the smaller ones came together inside a plastic spinach can), Easter bunnies, cowboys, Santa...you name it. I even had a bunch of Bullwinkle bendables. One early memory was that of leaving poor Mr. Peabody behind in a highway rest stop bathroom. Needless to say, Mom was not too thrilled that I made her turn around and go back for it. In fact, I seemed to leave toys like that all over the place. I had a great Underdog who was permanently frozen in "flying position" with a wheel on his belly. You could pull him back and rev up the wheel and he would scoot along the floor. I think that one is at a Woolworths somewhere in Mass. I may have had the whole set and I'm sure that they would be worth some cash except for one small fact: I played with my toys.
Man, did I ever play with them. I beat the hell out of them. All of the bendable figures would eventually need replacements because the skeletons would weaken and snap, causing Pink Panther to suffer a compound fracture of the tibia with a metallic, almost adamantium "bone" poking through his rubbery skin. I think I went through about five Panthers.
Star Wars figures were another passion of mine. I was actually one of the first people to purchase the figures. If you've ever seen the documentary "Empire of Dreams" they speak about the first batch of Star Wars figures not being ready for Christmas, so you got a cardboard standup and certificate that says "you will get the figures in March" or something like that. So I had the stand and around my birthday, I got the figures. There were four: Luke, Leia, Chewie and R2D2. Not too exciting as no one thought to create a bad guy for them to fight with. So the early days weren't so thrilling.
I had a ton of the figures. I had Boba Fett and Yoda from Kenner giveaway before Empire Strikes back came out. I even had people who were barely in the movie. I have no idea what possessed my young mind to want a General Nadine figure. All he did in Jedi was show the rebels where to attack on Endor. Fantastic, he can point at stuff.
I always had fantasies of owning thousands of Stormtrooper figures to stage immense battle scenes. Instead, I could afford one or two at most and had to have them die and come back in battle like extras in a low budget movie. Thank God they made those "accessory" packs because I think I lost every gun that ever came with the figures. They all looked pretty much the same anyways, except for Han Solo's gun, which was very unique. That one I took extra pains to not lose. Plus he had the cool bent arm that actually meant his gun pointed forwards. Everyone else had these curved hands the guns pointed off perpendicular to their bodies. Awkward. I still say it was the GI Joe figures, with their articulated elbows and knees, that killed the Star Wars figures. The Star Wars ones were really stiff.
I got this flood of memories rushing back to me as I was checking out that Ebay auction. I didn't make a bid, though...they look kinda nasty.
I'd love to hear any other childhood toy memories from people reading this!
I was flipping through the channels the other night and came across one of my favorite childhood movies: Popeye.
I know, most people consider this right up there with Heaven's Gate and Ishtar as one of the biggest cinematic disasters of all time. Sure, the plot is "eh" and there are certainly some cringeworthy moments in it but overall it's pure movie goodness to me.
I don't know how I got started on it, but ever since I can remember I was a Popeye fanatic. As a little kid, my mom would buy me Popeye comics and the paperback books written and drawn by Bud Sagendorf (himself with a name that sounded like one of Popeye's "misprununskiations") and I would even draw my own comic strips starring the one-eyed sailor, Olive Oyl and J. Wellington Wimpy.
I was staying with my grandparents down Cape Cod and they took me to the Buck a Book store as I was (and still remain) an avid reader. I always have to have something to read and will usually have about 3 books in progress at any given time. In going through the racks I came across what would become one of the most cherished possessions of my childhood: A Kitchen Sink Press reprinting of the Popeye daily paper strips from 1936. This wasn't the Popeye from the later cartoons where every episode boiled down to him getting his butt kicked by Bluto until he ate the spinach and saved Olive. These were the classic "Thimble Theater" and had actual running storylines, double entendre, social commentary and an unparalleled cast of characters. This book had the storyline of Popeye's search for his father, Poopdeck Pappy, which would become the storyline (albeit much altered) of the movie. I loved this book and the strips in it so much that when I later in life I found that Fantagraphics had published The Complete EC Segar Popeye which reprinted the entire run from the newspapers I hunted down all 11 of the out of print books (I'm in the midst of an auction on EBAY right now for the last one to complete my set). Just great characters and storytelling.
Some of the big differences from the comic strip and the later cartoons:
Popeye started off as a supporting character in Thimble Theater. The strip was originally about Olive's brother Castor (Oyl, get it?) for 10 years and in 1929 and Popeye was hired to ferry them to Dice Island to gamble. This was his first appearance ever.
Popeye rarely used spinach (a lot of people point to him hating spinach in the movie as one of the reasons they don't like it) and he got his nigh-invulnerability from a magical creature called "The Wiffle Hen" in his first adventure.
Bluto only appeared once in the comic strip for it's entire run.
So having explained all of this, you have to understand that to my 8 year old imagination this live action Popeye movie starring Robin Williams was akin to Lord of the Rings making it's way to the silver screen for die hard Tolkein fans. I flipped out!
If you've never seen the movie or saw it once as a kid and hated it, it might be worth another look. Director Robert Altman creates a mind blowing 'world' with sets and costumes that look like they leapt right off the comic pages. He also incorporates his trademark overlapping dialogue and the double entendre from the original Fleischer studio cartoons (Popeye after getting taxed at the movie's opening: "I yam disgustipated. If you pays your taxes you should get a cervix"). There's a lot going on in the movie and it's a lot of fun if you take it for what it is...a live action cartoon. Lots of slapstick, odd songs and prosthetics forearms. Might not be for everyone but I still love it to this day.
And as Robin Williams once said regarding his first foray into motion pictures: "If you watch it backwards, it does have a plot".
Jeff thankfully photographed PROOF of the fact we were not and have never been "partners", despite what the Town and Country Resort may claim otherwise!
Since when did San Diego get humid? It was close to a hundred degrees and rampant humidity in the Saturday of Comic Con. It was the type of hot where you get out of the shower and you can't get quite dry. Where you step outside and immediately begin sweating. It was very, very hot.
We head out of our hotel and downtown to the Convention Center. After about 20 minutes of driving around, looking for a parking lot that had a spot open, we opted to drive about 15 blocks away and park at the same lot we parked in last year. It was one of those lots where the spaces are numbered and you pay using a credit card and logging in the space number. Unfortunately, Jeff told me the wrong number so space 28 got a free ride, but we had to pay twice for our little home in space 26.
Walking up the Convention Center (and having lost about 5 pounds on that journey alone) we were met by a teaming mass of people. The line to buy tickets was at least 3 hours long. Luckily, we had pre-registered so we were in the place within 10 minutes. I don't know how the other people did it. I'm impatient on the best of days but with it as hot as it was there would be no way in hell I would stand in that line. I don't know how they did it. Especially the dude dressed in full Star Wars X-Wing pilot gear.
As a side note...you really have to be in good shape to wear the X-Wing Pilot getup. If not, everyone is just going to call you Porkins (the fat X-Wing Pilot who can't hold it together and gets shot out of the sky during the Death Star run). You can try to tell people "no, man I'm Rogue Leader". Uh uh, I don't think so. Eat a salad Porkins.
The convention has gotten way too big. I had heard there was an estimated 100,000 people including exhibitors, fans and guests. It gets bigger every year and feels like it's going to implode under it's own weight. It's almost impossible to stroll along the floor, taking in the exhibits and booths. Instead, you're fighting through the massive crowds and being herded along like sheep. It stops being fun and just becomes overwhelming.
We met industry people I'm friends with, dropped off some samples of the comic (receiving very positive feedback and comments) and then fought our way to one of the lecture halls to listen to Kevin Smith do a Q&A. Unfortunately, he was stuck in traffic so he never made it. We got to find that out...after an hour of sitting there. Rosario Dawson came out and did a little Q&A of her own, trying to stall for him. She started singing "Sing a Song" which was really odd, surreal and apropos of nothing. She was asked about her time on Clerks 2 and Sin City and pretty much responded that it was "fantastic" and "amazing". In fact, she responded with this to every questions. Everything was "fantastic" and "amazing". It was like her mantra. I need to remember that when I become famous.
I ended up playing in Jim Lee's poker tournament that night. Kevin and Jay Mewes were supposed to play in it but didn't and the tournament itself was just messed up. We had 50 people crammed into a hotel suite at the Marriott and the rounds started off at Limit Hold Em then changed to Pot Limit and then No Limit. I made it to the high 20's but the weird rules of the game (and the obscenely low chip stack you started with) didn't make for an enjoyable experience.
I had a good time though as I always enjoy getting a chance to hang out with Jeff and just geek out and goof around. We know what the next steps are for 60 Minute Broadway and are on our way to taking those now. Everything else?
