Flashback

On this day, 19 years ago, two things happened. First, I turned 14. Not a big deal, really. The second thing is more important. Just after midnight on August 27th, 1990, the helicopter carrying Stevie Ray Vaughan crashed into a hill, ending the legendary blues man’s reign as greatest living guitarist. Fortunately for us he left his music behind. So let’s take a few minutes and pay tribute to the king of Texas blues, and my favorite guitar player of all time.

“Rude Mood”, unplugged, on an effing 12-string

Read the rest of this entry »

In a perfect world today would have been Theodor Geisel’s 105 birthday. Unfortunately this imperfect world has to find a way to muddle through without his shining presence, since he died in 1991. Fortunately he left behind enough works to keep us stocked up on magic and wonder for years to come. Let’s take this opportunity to take a look back at some of my favorite Seuss works.
Read the rest of this entry »

This guy is directing a
Muppet movie…

The motley crew that revolves around Judd Apatow is set to take on their next challenge: a new Muppet movie. Jason Segal, who played one of Seth Rogan’s friends in Apatow’s Knocked Up, and is the lead in the upcoming Forgetting Sarah Marshall, is set to direct a new episode in the Muppets canon.

Segal promises that the movie will be closer to The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper than Muppets in The Old West or Muppets from Space. He plans to bring back the Muppet tradition of lots of cameos, with Apatow regulars Seth Rogan, Jonah Hill, and Paul Rudd already on board. No estimate on a release date yet, as Segal has another project ahead of it on his schedule.

Via MTV

File under “BOOOOOOOOO”….

Apparently the fact that Will Arnett does commercials for GM means he can’t be the voice of the new Mustang-powered KITT. Arnett bowed out of the role citing a conflict of interest. So who replaces him? Iceman himself, Val Kilmer. I’m sure Kilmer will do a very professional job as KITT, but I was really looking forward to what the former Gob Bluth could bring.

This bad news of course comes on the heels of the news that an Arrested Development movie is in the works.

Evel Knievel, the only daredevil to transcend sideshow spectacle and penetrate the national consciousness, has died at age 69. Probably best know for his spectacular successes and failure on Wide World of Sports, Knievel never failed to entertain. Check out some of his best and worst performances:

First it was Alfonso Ribeiro. Now it’s Vin Diesel. Apparently break dancing videos were HUGE back in the day, because both of them made videos to teach you how to be the hippest of hoppers. Looking back on this it’s hard to believe anyone actually thought this was cool…

“We don’t make mistakes here, we just have happy accidents. We want happy, happy paintings. If you want sad things, watch the news. Everything is possible here. This is your little universe.”

These are the immortal words of Bob Ross, the ultra-mellow painter whose happy little trees and puffy little clouds actually made PBS fun to watch. Bob died in 1995, but if he was alive today would have been his 65th birthday. Many people retire at 65, but something tells me Bob would have kept on painting, and kept on encouraging others to do the same.
Read the rest of this entry »

Three Chinese dudes who have too much time on their hands have paid homage to Michael Bay’s uber-craptacular film adaptation of Transformers by building a full-sized Citroen Transformer. It doesn’t actually transform or anything, and it cost $8,000 to build. So really it’s just a statue. Bo-ring! Call me when it transforms…

More photos and info at Weird Asian News

UPDATE: There’s another one in West Hollywood

Remember Reading Rainbow? It was the show where LeVar Burton tried to convince you to read, WHILE YOU WERE WATCHING TV. Yeah, not a great concept. But this clip is great. It’s rap pioneers Run DMC on the show, rapping for reading:

Via BoingBoing

NBC is bringing the 90′s classic American Gladiators back to TV. The network has picked it up for at least six episodes, starting in the middle of the TV season. The show will be the same basic format as the original, but with updated events.

I for one think this kicks ass. I caught a couple of the original episodes on ESPN Classic a while back and I was amazed how much fun the show was, even though it’s been almost 20 years since it debuted. It really took me back to my childhood.

Variety has the full scoop