The Webcast of Infinity

What not to do when you are webcasting (because it will utterly blow your mind, man).

[Props=B3ta]

Prius, Postus, What-Comes-Nextus

On Friday, Toyota’s chief executive revealed that the company was looking into complaints about the braking system on the Prius.

Bad brakes on a hybrid?! Is there no limit to the lengths that Prius owners will go to lower their carbon footprints?

The Palms of Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin was caught reading answers off of her hand during the Q&A of her recent speech to the Teabagger convention. According to high rez photos of the event, the words “Energy”, “Budget cuts,” “Tax,” and “Lift American Spirits” are clearly visible written on her left hand.

And the punchlines?

- She thought she’d make some off-the-cuff remarks.
- Someone told her to use her Palm Pilot.
- What is it the kids say? Talk to the hand.
- Reading off Sarah Palin’s palm is cheating off the dumbest kid in class
- Only four notes?! That’s one less than the number of colleges she attended.
- If the Q&A went longer than ten minutes, she would have had to switch to one of those big foam ‘#1′ hands.
- Powerline can’t comment on the authenticity of the notes until they’ve had a chance to examine the kerning.

[Props=commenters at La Figa and Huffington Post]

Reviews of Airplane Movies

The flight: Boston Logan to Amsterdam Schipol

The carrier: Delta

The movies: Pandorum, Where the Wild Things Are, Funny People, Whip It!

Pandorum
Capsule review: A mess.
Extended review: First, I tried watching Pandorum, which was last year’s much maligned sci-fi/horror hybrid from the producers of Resident Evil (should they really be putting that on the posters?). Like so much science fiction, it begins with a great premise before degenerating into a mess. In this one, a man wakes from extended hypersleep alone on a vast ship with no idea how he got there. And he’s NOT ALONE! The problem is that the movie is so poorly lit that it is literally impossible to tell what is going on. Which is really odd because the movie obviously had a decent budget, and the production design is pretty cool — it’s too bad you can’t see any of it. I only made it ten minutes with this one. (And before you tell me that it was because I saw it on a six inch screen on the seatback in front of me, I just watched the HD trailer on my computer, and it looked just as dark.) So I gave up on this one and tried . . .

Where the Wild Things Are
Capsule review: Probably good in English.
Extended review: This one was playing in Italian, and by the time I got it switched over to English, I was so frustrated I thought I’d better watch it another time. But the opening scenes were a lot darker and edgier than I expected; I can see why the studio was leery about this frightening kids. Will definitely see it. So then I tried:

Funny People
Capsule review: Apatow’s best, and that’s saying a lot.
Extended review: I don’t know why I resisted seeing this one. Something about it being Apatow’s grown up movie or something, I suppose, but it was a terrific. The story is pretty basic: A seriously ill, insanely wealthy comedian (Adam Sandler) hires an up-and-coming comedian (Seth Rogan) to be his assistant slash best friend slash confessor, and complications ensue. Sandler plays a barely disguised version of himself (a numbed out, household name comedian with a whole raft of moronic but highly profitable comedies under his belt), and what i admired about his performance is that he was willing to let his character be intensely unlikable in ways that seem quite uncomfortably close to reality (to major stars in general if not to Sandler in particular). His character is narcissistic, selfish, insecure, impulsive, mawkish, sentimental, and deeply childish, and yet there’s something deeply likable about him. And Seth Rogan’s character is equally complex, a Nice Guy schlub who wields his niceness as a sort of passive-aggressive cudgel. Add into the mix Jonah Hill from Superbad as Rogan’s roommate, who kills as always, jason Schwartzman as their successful roommate (who stars in a hilarious sitcom called “Yo, Teach!”), and cameos from seemingly every comedian in Apatow’s rolodex, and you’ve got the recipe for comedy gold. I know that Apatow probably gets a lot of crap for using his wife and own kids in his movies, but the fact is that Leslie Mann is perfect in this as the woman Sandler let get away, and his kids are a delight.

I am not an insider in the comedy world in any way, but I’ve never seen a film that gave a better glimpse into the weird mix of neediness and passive-aggressive hostility that drives people who try to be funny for a living. I’ve also never seen a movie that was more about the process of creating comedy, the actual sausage-making of developing and honing material and molding that into a cohesive comic persona. And these are thorny, discomforting portrayals — the characters in this film are not single, static ‘types’ but rather complex, frustrating people capable of both profound self-delusion and, once in a while, genuine change. Sandler is great, Rogan is great, Leslie Mann is great, Apatow’s kids are great. And on top of all that it’s funny as hell. I loved this movie and plan to watch it many more times.

I knew this one was going to be impossible to beat, so I went small, and checked out . . .

Whip It!
Capsule review: A lot of fun.
Extended review: Take Juno and Maeby from Arrested Development, add some roller derby, a dash of small town Texas quirkiness, and a mom who just don’t get it, man, and you’ve got the makings of a winning little movie in the Little Miss Sunshine mold. Whip It! tells the story of Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page), an indie girl being raised in a debutante world whose sanity is saved when she discovers roller derby. It was written by Shauna Cross (from her own novel) and capably directed by Drew Barrymore. Sadly, the last ten minutes got cut off by our descent into Amsterdam, so I didn’t get to find out what happened in the big championship match (I’m guessing that the Holy Rollers “whip” themselves to victory, and that dad and mom show up at the match to cheer Bliss on). The conflict with the mother is a bit by-the-book, but this was a very enjoyable little flick.

Ghost of a Boy

My friend Dave Champoux published a novel. Should you read it? Hell yes, but more importantly, you should buy it.

It’s called Ghost of a Boy and it’s a cool coming-of-age story about a girl who becomes obsessed with the death of boy she didn’t know.

Here’s an excerpt:

“The most important story? You sure you want to know? The most important story from the night of the Sophomore Dance is to say exactly where you were when you first heard that a boy from the next town over had died. That was the news that spread like an airborne sickness last May 5th. All of us in our prom dresses and tuxedos, shouting from limousine windows: Did you hear it? Did you hear? Some kid from Westfield was murdered tonight.”

Here is the link to order.

The Avatar Blues

Are jokes about Avatar still funny? I wrote this sketch a month ago when it was still relevant but, due to various technical issues, wasn’t able to upload it until now. Oh well, it’ll be relevant again when Avatar cleans up at the Oscars. As for its, um, technical limitations, don’t think of it as amateurish, think of it as ‘embracing a low-fi aesthetic.’ I’ve got to say that Annie kills in her role as ‘Distraught soccer daughter.’ She’s pure Method.

Oh, thanks to Mat for the camera.

New TSA Regulations

Given that I am flying today, perhaps this is not the day to post this, but here it is anyways. At least, now I know where to pack those extra batteries. One weird thing about this vid is that there’s an ad tacked on the end — what’s up with that Landline TV?

Chutzpah, Thy Name is Hennessey

The sudden conversion of Republicans into deficit hawks is a sight to behold. Of course, their profound dedication to fiscal restraint flies in the face of eight years of Bush. Over at The New Republic, Jonathan Chait fisks Keith Hennessey for the first of what will no doubt be many attempts to expunge the record of fiscal recklessness that was the Bush Administration.

When Clinton was president, Congress had to operate under pay-as-you go budget rules, which meant that any new tax cut or entitlement increase needed to be offset by an entitlement cut or tax hike. In 2001, Congress waived those rules in order to facilitate passage of the Bush tax cuts, which had no offsets. In 2002, Congress let those rules expire, over Democratic objections. It’s also worth noting that Democrats in 2001 tried to force Bush to account in his budget for the prescription drug benefit he had already endorsed, but were defeated by the GOP.

If the Republicans had not brushed aside the budget measures the Democrats had been using (and have since put back into place), the Medicare benefit would have needed spending cuts or tax hikes to be enacted. Indeed, if you’re wondering why the GOP had an easier time with its 2003 Medicare entitlement than the Democrats have had with their 2010 health care entitlement, the main reason is that the former put the whole thing on the country’s credit card while the latter have had to find unpopular offsets for every dollar they spend.

I’m Not Sure the Obama Administration Can Survive Much More of This Withering Conservative Comedy

More razor sharp conservative humor from Pajamas TV. And Pat Boone?! Now they’re bringing out the big guns. Ooch, that smarts! Over at Sadly, No!, HTML Mencken claims he watched it all the way through and now his DNA has begun to mutate.

[Props=Sadly, No!]

Employees Really Need to Wash Their Hands Before Returning to Work

A restaurant in Toronto, Canada is hosting an unusual Valentine’s Day Special. Visitors to Mildred’s Temple Kitchen are being invited to have sex in the restaurant’s bathrooms. “We’ve always had little trysts in our bathrooms,” co-owner Donna Dooher told The Toronto Star. “We’re taking it to the next level on Valentine’s weekend.”

I can only wish that the management of the Chuck E. Cheese in Passaic, New Jersey was half as open minded.