Is this good?
Will this be good?
Every movie trailer answers or challenges those 2 questions. The ham-fisted rebuttal comes swiftly, however: no you don’t need to always see a movie to know it’s tank.
Do you really need to sit through a Michael Bay Transformers movie to know for sure? Tank is Tank. And Fresh…well Fresh is always Fresh. I’m down like I’m Brown for that.
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My Summer Lair Chapter #118: When You Think Of A Magician What Do Picture In Your Head?
Maybe a top hat…a magic cane? Harry Potter? David Copperfield? David Blaine?
Jonah Babins is working to change that faulty perception. He wants to reveal to you a casual magic consumer the diversity and beauty of magic: beyond the tropes but also including the craft.
It’s not enough to just do the whole pick a card, any card bit. This is a performance…magic as a medium warrants that standard of excellence. In this interview I compare it to stand up comedy. Really it’s a discussion on craft which is not limited to magic.
And! Stay to the end as Jonah performs a magic trick which is a) amazing! and 2) something you can follow along at home as you listen. WHAT?! Now that’s magic.
Is this good?
Will this be good?
Every movie trailer answers or challenges those 2 questions. The ham-fisted rebuttal comes swiftly however: no you don’t need to always see a movie to know it’s tank.
Do you really need to sit through a Michael Bay Transformers movie to know for sure? Tank is Tank. And Fresh…well Fresh is always Fresh. I’m down like I’m Brown for that.
Read the rest of this page »
Recently finished a Mel Brooks biography (Funny Man: Mel Brooks). Biographies (slash memoirs) make up a large portion of my reading…before Mel Brooks I finished a bio on Dr. Seuss (Becoming Dr. Seuss)…the next one on my desk is Norma Lear’s autobiography published in 2014.
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Management emailed us detailed instructions and responses to active attackers/shooters. First response is of course GET OUT. While I may not be a D cup jammed into a tight white tank top I’ve seen enough horror movies to sensibly make a mad dash for the front door. Shout out to the Scream movies!
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My Summer Lair Chapter #117: Name Thing One You Know About Dr. Seuss!
To my credit I conducted this interview with Brian Jay Jones about his current Dr. Seuss biography and I only used the word whimsy once. Not bad, right?
Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination is out now; it’s fascinating because I knew nothing about Dr. Seuss the man; I only knew his exceptional work.
Becoming Dr. Seuss is captivating because it precisely documents the odd tensions of being a children’s writer. There’s this weird baggage that children’s books are “supposed to have some sort of moral or character edification” eh the usual fare…don’t lie, be good…don’t steal. What…why?
It morally never made sense because we never question the children’s books writers: why do we willingly and blindly elevate these writers to the level of priests and pastors? Where does that cheezy morality impetus come from?
Really that morality burden never made sense because that’s typical not why people read. The Simpsons consistently ridicule this notion often when they come to the end of an episode they’ll hash out what the moral of the events from the past half-hour were. And inevitably they’ll conclude there was no takeaway; there’s no moral it was just a bunch of (funny) stuff that happened. So good at curing the kind of nonsense that we accept without question.
By sidestepping that unnecessary morality Dr. Seuss fulfilled his one goal: to make reading fun. Now that is an astonishing and enduring legacy.
Beyond that Brian’s fabulous writing is a deft archaeology of yet another pop culture architect. I dig Brian’s previous bios: Jim Henson: The Biography is extraordinary which preceded the most excellent George Lucas: A Life (which oddly stands out for the simple idea that Lucas didn’t do it. How does Star Wars boy view his legacy?).
From those subject matters you can tell Brian is one of us treating his subjects with care; dedicated to unearthing patterns and engaging stories behind the work we all adore. So grateful I was able to talk to him and get a glimpse into the world of biography.
This has been a notable audio moment hand picked from My Summer Lair a podcast hosted by Sammy Younan. Visit My Summer Lair Dot Com for all the delightful details.
