Category Archives: TV and movies

Saturday video break: When an evil boy meets an evil girl

It’s the age-old story. May your Valentine’s Day be filled with maniacal laughter, robot armies, and anything else your heart desires.

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Saturday video break: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

The other day I heard Olivia saying – trying to say, anyway – fourteen-syllable words are quite the mouthful – that fabled construction from “Mary Poppins”, “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”, to Audrey. I sang her a verse of the song, and they were … Continue reading

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Special Friday video break: Dash away all

Once more with my favorite narration of “Twas The Night Before Christmas”: Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

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RIP, Blake Edwards

The man who gave us the one true “Pink Panther” movies has passed away at the age of 88. One of Hollywood’s most successful specialists in comedy, Edwards was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1922 and started out as an … Continue reading

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No film commission incentives for you!

Noted for the record. The Texas Film Commission has denied incentives for “Machete,” the controversial immigration-related feature film from Robert Rodriguez’s Austin-based Troublemaker Studios. In a brief, formal letter dated Dec. 1 and released Wednesday by Katherine Cesinger , a … Continue reading

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“CSI:San Antonio” would be far preferable

Oh, hell no. According to The Hollywood Reporter, CBS is planning a neo-Western crime drama from executive producer Anthony Zuiker called “Desperado.” It focuses on a group of lawmen who enact cowboy-style justice in modern times on criminals in San … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: It’s never wrong to mash up “Star Trek”

Some things don’t require an introduction, others defy the very attempt at one: Beam me up, Scotty. UPDATE: This can happen when you draft stuff in advance. Go here to see the video. Sorry about that.

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RIP, Leslie Nielsen

As Mel Brooks said when his friend Harvey Korman passed away, the world is a more serious place today. Leslie Nielsen, the actor best known for starring in such comedies as Airplane! and the Naked Gun film franchise, died Sunday … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: Won’t I get a reputation for being soft on turkeys?

President Bartlett, doing his Constitutional duty: There’s also the classic Butterball hotline sequence if you want more. Happy Saturday!

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Cutting the cord on cable

I have no plans to change the way I watch TV any time soon, but a lot of other people are at least thinking about it. The Convergence Consulting Group of Toronto predicts that about 1.6 million U.S. households will … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: This is Halloween

And this is how you celebrate it: Happy Halloween!

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“For the Sake of the Song: The Story of Anderson Fair”

From the inbox: Gish Creative (www.gishcreative.com) and Southwest Alternate Media Project/SWAMP (www.swamp.org) have come together to celebrate the arts and cultural landmarks with a public screening of “For the Sake of the Song: The Story of Anderson Fair” (www.andersonfairthemovie.com) on … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: For excitement, and emotion

School starts Monday in these parts. In honor of that, here’s a little Schoolhouse Rock: We have one of the Schoolhouse Rock DVD sets. I need to play it for Olivia, I think she might be old enough to appreciate … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: Fireworks

At times like this, we turn to Schoolhouse Rock for answers: Happy Third of July, everybody.

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Saturday video break: Life’s great mysteries

For those of you of a certain age, the following needs no introduction: I don’t know about you, but I didn’t even know there was an extended version of this commercial. Truly, the Internet is a marvelous thing. In case … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: Re-Micks

So we spend a fair amount of our TV-watching time on stuff the TiVo has recorded off the Disney Channel. They don’t run commercials, so to fill the out their time slots they do a lot of promos of other … Continue reading

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Special Sunday video break: What cats have to say about “Lost”

“Lost” re-enacted by cats in one minute: There are some actual spoilery bits in there, so if you’re not prepared to watch the finale, click at your own peril.

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Saturday video break: Squirrels in my pants

Don’t you hate it when this happens to you? If you’re not a fan of Phineas and Ferb, you should be. See more of their music videos here. I recommend the Evil Love Song as a starting place: Who says … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: Birthday time

One of the things you learn when you reach a certain age is the extent to which children’s television has completely taken over your brain. It’s the times when you’re by yourself and you find yourself humming or even singing … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: Happy Presidents Day!

Monday is Presidents Day, which normally means no mail delivery and mattress sales. But it should mean a bit more than that, so here’s a little song to help you celebrate: Obviously, a newer version is needed now, but it’ll … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: “Lost”, as explained by people who could have been my neighbors

Every once in awhile, I am reminded why the Internet exists. It’s for stuff like this: You can’t stop awesomeness like that. You can only hope to contain it. Via the nearly as awesome Therese Odell.

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Saturday video break: Do the android!

I don’t even know how to introduce this one, so let’s just dive right in. Don’t be distracted by the fact that it starts out in French. It’s totally worth it, trust me. What can I say? It was the … Continue reading

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Night Before Christmas video break

I’ve embedded this before, but it’s worth running again because it just rocks: Now go get your kerchief and cap ready for that long winter’s nap.

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Saturday video break: I triple dog dare ya!

A little snow on the ground, and my thoughts turn to this: The secret to getting unstuck, as I understand it, is to pour some warm water over the affected area. I do not know this from personal experience.

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Special Friday video break: As God is my witness…

I give you the 1970s precursor to “The Office”, the wonderful and underrated “WKRP In Cincinnati” and their all-time classic Thanksgiving episode. Seriously, if you’ve never seen this, you really need to watch it all the way through. If you … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: But that trick never works!

Fifty years ago this week, “Rocky and His Friends” debuted on TV. Thanks to the magic of the internets, we can watch that first ever episode You can see a bunch more here at Hulu. For more on Rocky and … Continue reading

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RIP, Soupy Sales

Soupy Sales, the world’s funniest pie-in-the-face man, has passed away at the age of 83. As the star of “The Soupy Sales Show,” he performed live on television for 13 years in Detroit, Los Angeles and New York before the … Continue reading

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More Alamo Drafthouse locations on tap

Some news of interest from Nancy Sarnoff’s new blog. The two Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas in the Houston area are being sold to an investment team that plans to open at least seven more in Texas. Triple Tap Ventures LLC will … Continue reading

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The best idea you’ll hear for what to do with the Alabama Theater

How about turning it back into a movie theater? And not just any theater, either, but an Alamo Drafthouse theater. I wholeheartedly endorse the concept that ‘stina enunciates in her letter to the Alamo Drafthouse corporate office. I don’t know … Continue reading

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Bourdain on kids’ TV

Anthony Bourdain gives a rundown of what’s on kids’ TV these days, mostly stuff on Noggin and Nick Jr. We are quite familiar with most of what he and his daughter watch – Olivia in particular loves “Lazytown”, somewhat to … Continue reading

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Tom DeLay to dance with the stars

I’m speechless. The news this morning that former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay will be a contestant on the upcoming season of “Dancing With the Stars” triggered a mixture of chortling and bemusement as it whipped through cyberspace. “Also: Denny Hastert … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: A John Hughes twofer

“Twist and Shout”, from “Ferris Bueller’s Day off”: And the original video to Simple Minds’ “Don’t You Forget About Me”, which was used in “The Breakfast Club”. Thanks to Steven Goldman for that link. And if you haven’t read this … Continue reading

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RIP, John Hughes

John Hughes, iconic 80s movie director, has passed away from a heart attack at the age of 59. A native of Lansing, Mich., who later moved to suburban Chicago and set much of his work there, Hughes rose from ad … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: Buffy versus Twilight

Need I say who wins? I found this here. You can read more about the creator’s intent here.

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