Manoli Vozos

Tumblr & News

2012-02-09T17:33:00.001-05:00

I continue to sign up for everything, so I'm on Tumblr now. Check it out http://manolivozos.tumblr.com -

Also, loyal followers, be on the look out for BIG NEWS about a NEW ****** ****** TEAM Coming Soon!

<3

Second January Show!

2012-01-02T20:48:00.000-05:00

Hey friends,

On top of this Saturday's 10th St live show at 9pm, I'm happy to announce the next stand-up show will also be this month, back at our unofficial homebase, The Crossroads in Garwood. It's a fundraiser for a great cause, the Douglas Michael Krueger Memorial Scholarship - in memory of a dear friend, and the first producer I ever worked for.

If you're a UHS alum, you'll recognize a lot of the names on the bill, and all will enjoy the very funny and generous line-up who've volunteered their talents for this great cause.

The show is Thursday, January 26th at 9pm. As always, $5.

Get Up, Stand-Ups at a NEW VENUE!

2011-12-29T12:39:00.002-05:00

50 in 2011: Update and (Possible) Final Book Review

2011-12-26T17:00:00.000-05:00

Hey, faithful readers, and by that I mean H_Ram and probably no one else. (That's okay, I write everything like I'm writing for H_Ram). I just finished Walter Isaacson's official biography of Steve Jobs today and when I went to update this with what I thought would be the 28th review of the year, I found a draft from a few months ago with books I hadn't mentioned yet. So, it turns out, while out of order, I've got a few more reviews that I thought:

#29, but really #26 - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain

One of the best children's books ever. The original "Goonies". I re-read this every year, along with The Great Gatsby, usually in the summer. A line from Twain's introduction that stuck me as both expertly written and creatively inspiring is:

Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account, for part of my plan has been to try pleasantly to reming adults of what they once were themselves and of how they felt and thought and talked, and what queer enterprises they sometimes engaged in.

Note: Twain's massive autobiography has been sitting in my to-read pile since last Christmas. I've been intimidated by it. But in writing this little piece about him, I think it may be time.

#30, but really #27 - Life Keith Richards

"Keef"'s got an incredible memory. While he often talks about playing for hours and practicing his craft, when you look at the life and works of the man from the safe distance of the future, knowing he survives to write about it, his talent seems more like a force of nature, like the kind that balances a tractor on top of a farmhouse in the middle of the night, despite all physics and math saying it could never happen. He shouldn't have made it though, but I'm glad he did. Like the subject of the next book on the list, he's obsessive over the quality of his work and I admire that. Also, his prolificacy is something to strive for.

#31, and actually #31 - Steve Jobs Walter Isaacson

I think it's the echo of the well-written biography mixing with the afterglow of the man's actual life and his legacy glowing in front of me right now. Integrating software and hardware in order to maintain excellence in the user experience is a philosophy I agree with (as I try to write/shoot/edit as much of my work as possible, I find it's his example I'm following, as often as I am an auteur filmmaker like Scorsese). Straddling the line between art and technology is also something I strain to do (while also relying on his work to execute). This message is written on an iMac, while my iPhone charges next to me. I will soon begin adding music purchased from the iTunes store onto the iPod my mother will listen to in her car. It's not the amount of products he made that I admire, but rather his passion to do things not only efficiently but with style and pride.

A lesson Jobs recounts his father, a woodworker, teaching him was to make sure the back of the cabinet was as sturdy and beautiful as the front. So too would the mechanics of his machines be as well worked and thought out as the screens and displays. So too would the fundamental traits of the CGI characters he helped breathe life into at Pixar need to be inherently right before the story could be complete. (Isaacson recounts how Disney brass interference led to cowboy Woody being a major jerk and more like a villain before Jobs and John Lasseter wrestled creative control back and found the right balance between him and Buzz Lightyear).

I admire his need to be surrounded by "A Players" and team with strong collaborators, something I wish and need in order to do the work I want to do.

When I read about his sometimes harsh and always critical treatment of friends, colleagues and employees, I don't think I should be emulating this man as much as I am right now. However, what Jobs' family and biographer both agree on, and what the man himself tried to make clear was that it was about the work. Let the work reflect a 100% effort and ability to adapt and flow. Let it be accessible and well-thought out. Let all edges be smooth (literally and figuratively). I can't argue with that. I hope that I find people to work with that feel the same.

Hoping to get one or two more into the "read" stack before the ball drops but we'll see. Fell into a rut for a few weeks but I think I'm back now.

Follow Up to the Follow Up

2011-12-02T14:28:00.001-05:00

Movember Wrap-Up

2011-12-02T13:11:00.001-05:00

Thanks to everyone who donated to our Movember campaign. At this time, it looks like our team, the NJ Lip Sweaters raised over $1700 for men's charities!

Here's a fun pic of me and my old man with our mo's:

And of the old man with his sash:

GUSU "Movember" Fundraiser - Comedy Show & Moustache Contest

2011-11-04T00:54:00.004-04:00

Time	Thursday, November 17 at 10:00pm - November 18 at 1:00am

Location	The Crossroads 78 North Ave Garwood, New Jersey

Created By	Manoli Vozos

More Info	Get Up, Stand-Ups returns to the Crossroads this November with a very special show, raising money for MOVEMBER, the moustache-growing charity project raising funds for prostate cancer and other male cancer initiatives. Check out http://www.movember.com/ for more information! We'll also have a moustache CONTEST where the audience will vote on the best moustache of the night and the winner will take home some sweet Movember prizes. Our awesome show features comedians with and without 'staches: Mike D'errico Steve Serra J.J. Jones Boris Khaykin & more Hosted by Manoli Vozos To make a donation, please support my team, the NJ Lip Sweaters athttp://mobro.co/ManoliVozos. THANKS!

50 in 2011: #28 Juliet, Naked

2011-10-19T21:07:00.000-04:00

Like the author of #26, Dennis Lehane, Nick Hornby has written several novels that have been adapted into great films. Movies are once again my introduction to one of this year's authors. High Fidelity is a great read and it's Chicago-set film is one of my favorites - it's that pedigree that attracted me to Juliet, Naked, the story of Duncan and Annie, a going nowhere couple who've lived together for years and never married, never done much of anything except discuss the work of reclusive singer-songwriter Tucker Crowe.

Tucker is Duncan's obsession. He heads a Crowe-related website and constantly converses with like-minded fans around the world (totaling about twelve).

Annie is realizing that she's aged out of motherhood before realizing it's what she wanted. This want is handled delicately and without the campy single-mindedness of a cheap rom-com. She's also grown tired of her life in Gooleness, a dead and dying village by the sea where she works at a library/museum and Duncan teaches at the local university. Both have deferred dreams for a life of lazy easy surrender and now they're bitter about it.

Tucker's been the figurative other man in Duncan and Annie's relationship, even sparking an American tour of sycophantic trivial locales somehow related to Crowe's seminal record Juliet, an epic break-up album something akin to Dylan's greatest work. In this universe, the almost-too-perfectly named Tucker Crowe is listed among artists like Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen, and Dylan himself, though the author smartly avoids trying to actually describe what that music might sound like.

What begins as a slow meditation on the role of hero worship and music in a modern pop life becomes a contrived, but still entertaining, redemption story by the end. Without giving up too much of the threadbare plot, the same internet that feeds Duncan's obsession and cyber-community ends up helping dissolve his relationship and bring their metaphorical love triangle into reality.

Also featured are several illegitimate kids, some tarty dalliances and a preserved shark's eye. Read it if you like HF and AaB and watch the inevitable movie in your head.

New video!

2011-10-18T15:43:00.000-04:00

Check out this new video from my PITtv house team "Arthur Warburton"!

The video was made as part of the PIT's co-sponsorship of this year's Quidditch World Cup, a live event coming up on Randall's Island this November.

If you're in the area, you should come through, I'll be an announcer at this year's games!

Credits:
Written by: Raja Rajanathan (The Documentarian)
Directed by: Emmanuel Vozos (Allwyn Grumpstock)

Lighting, Camera & Sound: Mij Corso & Ron Giameo
Make-Up: Alexis Steponanko
Music: Drew Nichols (Check out Drew Nichols at www.drewnicholsmusic.com)

Quidditch World Cup V
November 12 & 13
Randall's Island, NYC
WorldCupQuidditch.com

Arthur Warburton is Jonathan Desley, Scott Eckert, Katie Haller, Lucas Hazlett, Andrea Kornstein, Raja Rajanathan & Emmanuel Vozos.

50 in 2011: #27 And Here's the Kicker

2011-10-09T18:11:00.000-04:00

My next book was supposed to be Nick Hornby's Juliet, Naked but here we are, I'm still mid-way through that book and this collection has been bought, delivered and read. Inside, Mike Sacks has conducted interviews with many comedy professionals, of varying level of mainstream success but all talented and experienced. Pushing one or two questions past the usual surface level conversations had with writers, Sacks gets in-depth and personal responses from such comedy royalty as Buck Henry, Harold Ramis, Bob Odenkirk, David Sedaris, Robert Smigel and Marshall Brickman. While one common theme throughout is that you can't teach funny, this book goes along wau to inspire, advise and support young comedians in that awkward time before hobbies become careers.

It's probably too specialized in the craft for casual readers, but it does contain many funny and intimate memories from the beginnings of Caesar's Hour, Saturday Night Live, Annie Hall, The Simpsons and much more.

You know me. You know I loved it.

Will probably be starting a re-read stack soon, and putting this first.

50 in 2011: #26 Moonlight Mile

2011-10-09T17:54:00.000-04:00

I kicked off the second half of my adventure with Dennis Lehane's sequel to Gone Baby Gone, the gritty Moonlight Mile, the sixth in a series following PI's Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. I first heard of Lehane when his novel Mystic River was adapted by Clint Eastwood in 2003. I still hadn't read any of his work when I saw more adaptions, Scorsese's Shutter Island and Ben Affleck's directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone. MM was recommended by a friend and former co-worker from L+O, and it's ripe for adaptation in all the best ways.

MM picks up 12 years after the tough and wiley Kenzie returned the kidnapped four year old Amanda McCready to her deadbeat mother after a good-intentioned kidnapping (if ever there was one) by her uncle and some corrupt police, condemning her to a future with no hope. Still uneasy with this life-defining decision, when Amanda turns up missing again, he feels obligated to pick up the case, despite mounting personal and financial problems and the dread feeling that by delving back into the McCready's world, he's risking the safety of his wife and child and the progress he's made in his career since the case that made him famous for 5 minutes.

From a purists point of view, it's a shame I couldn't help but see the cast of GBG , Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan and Amy Ryan's faces, when I read their characters, but I'm not a purist and the book reads like a movie as well. Lehane's dialogue is gritty without being sensational or too smart and is begging to be performed by high-calibre actors like he's had in the past. If MM isn't a departure in style for Lehane, then I'm sure the plot-driven novel would make a great movie, without risk of losing thematic importance that comes with some adaptions. The themes are so tied to the actions of the characters that to miss them is to miss the point entirely.

Top notch crime drama and a very fast read.

50 in 2011: #18-25

2011-09-17T12:18:00.001-04:00

Note: I read the following eight books (and 2/3 of Tom Sawyer) while on vacation, on my sister's Kindle. It made things so easy. I like the feel of a real book in my hand as much as anyone, but there's no question the portability and long-battery life of the Kindle made it a new traveling essential. My carry-on had so much more room for snacks without the heavy weight of these books!

#18 - Writing Movie for Fun & Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too! Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon

This was fun and diverting. For someone who rips through industry books like I do, there was little new concepts in it, but the personal anecdotes were very fun and interesting. The stories about writing "Herbie: Fully Loaded" were especially funny, considering the seriousness the producers had with issues like "make the car smile".

The writers, choosing to focus on the readership of screenwriting books that think you can break through just by being a good writer, gloss over their time making their bones on the State and writing their own comedy - which led directly to opportunities like writing for Ben Stiller movies. This would have been the core of the book if I'd had my druthers.

Reminded me of the Steve Martin joke about how to be a millionaire and never pay taxes: first off, get a million dollars...

#19 - Where's My F*cking Latte (And Other Stories About Being as Assistant in Hollywood) - Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff

A sometimes funny, sometimes sick (over-the-top revenge) and sometimes poignant collection of real life horror stories. Came recommended through Amazon when I bought the above book for the Kindle. Fun read, but lacked a central emotion that tied things together. Even in a collection, a through-line is necessary and I was sometimes caught off-guard by a cold, dark sick tale of an extreme Hollywood producer or agent torturing their employees, coming off of a more laid-back "can you believe this shit?" story.

#20 - Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human - Grant Morrison

I've been reading Grant Morrison comics since I got into comics. His run on JLA in the late 1990s is what sucked me in and led to my love of DC comics and discovering other great creators like Mark Waid, Alex Ross, and eventually Alan Moore and Frank Miller.

The wordy title didn't prepare me for the big portion of the book that is devoted to a historical chronicle of the evolution of the super-hero comic as a genre and a cultural idea from the birth of the era with Superman, to the post-modern ultra-violent trends that the author speculates (and I hope) have already passed us by in favor of a new, aware optimism.

In typical Morrison fashion, he gets conceptual and psychological later in the book, especially in regards to his own life. I found it fascinating that he could tie the concept of the super-hero into "remaking" his own life - and not based on his profession. Moreso, he made changes based on the ideals that the genre of super-heroes has cultivated.

Highly recommended for comic fans. And philosophy fans.

#21 - Just Kids - Patti Smith

An honest and touching memoir from Patti Smith about her earliest days in New York City and her first and most important love, Robert Mapplethorpe. While paced along the development of their relationship, from lost strangers to soulmates, Smith also chronicles the changing scene of Warhol's New York into the punk era. Somehow, after all the heat of the emotions and cool of the art scene was absorbed, I realized I'd also read the personal and cultural origin of a distinct American artist. The author has a subtle hand and demonstrates that a storyteller can adapt to any medium; she a visual artist, poet and musician and now, too, author.

#22 - 24 - The Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins

Cotton candy action fare with really sub-par writing, in my opinion. Both the dialogue and narration from the main character are all heavy handed. Plot twists are telegraphed pages, and sometimes even books, ahead. However, the plot is engaging and I wanted to see how this new telling of the same story of "the one" wrapped up. Also, after Harry Potter, I wanted to experiment with reading a series before the movie, and tried to avoid all knowledge of the adaptation as I read the books. I did know that Jennifer Lawrence was cast as the main character though, and try as I might, I couldn't help but picture her battling it out for survival. Not that that's a bad thing.

#25 - The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling

One of the many free classics available on Amazon for the Kindle. I'd never read it before and only have vague memories of ever reading Kipling before; Gunga Din specifically. Also, aside from culturally osmosing "Bear Necessities" and loving "Tale Spin" as a wee lad, I've not seen much of the animated or live-action adaptations. I was pleased to find that this was not just about Mowgli in the jungle, but that there were also stories of seals looking for a safety from humans, army-trained animals resisting their masters and other, shorter stories. I wonder why Disney didn't continue adapting the stories to animation...? Anyway, Kipling lends the creatures epic, royal attitudes and dialogue - Shakespeare for the zoological set. Loved it.

Also, still chipping away at Keith Richard's autobiography (didn't bring it to Greece because the dang hardcover is huge and heavy) and my annual reading of Tom Sawyer, which never ceases to amaze me.

<3

50 in 2011: #15-17

2011-07-17T14:16:00.000-04:00

Delayed in updating, but somehow between working on this short film and prepping for camp, I've been able to get through a few more fun summer reads - all colorful in their own ways.

#15 - I'm With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie Pamela Des Barres

A chronicle of a big-eyed rock chick who probably broke a thousand hearts on her way to bedding a who's who of 1960s and 70s musical legends. "Ms. Pamela", as she was referred to by Led Zeppelin (among others), articulates well both the devoted idolatry and physical lust that accompanied her (and her fellow proto-Groupies, The GTOs) through the drug and alcohol addled free love days before overdose and disease started ending the good times. Aside from overtly and subconsciously dissecting the subculture of rock fandom, Des Barres manages to draw a path between the sweet Elvis-loving teenie-bopper and the glittering maternal den mother of Zappa's psychedelic love troupe. That the author lived this transformation is incredible enough; that she was able to put it in words without making it feel like a PSA for substance abuse is entirely different, and a credit to her skills as a writer. Definitely a must-read for fans of the era and hunters of the cool.

#16 - DC: The New Frontier Darwyn Cooke

The origins of the Justice League, as re-imagined in the Kennedy-era. Designed with a retro eye, and written with the attention to poetic justice and nostalgia that hindsight offers, this super-hero tale benefits from well-drawn out characters, each with a clear personality and motivation, that happen to have special abilities or work for certain organizations. The characterization is the strength of the piece (as well as the delightful artwork). The setting is a cool what-if scenario that would have gotten stale without the chops of Mr. Cooke fleshing it out. For fans of the Justice League, US history and Mad Men. The book receives special marks for a small, but excellent, Adam Strange cameo.

#17 - All-Star Superman (Vol 1 & 2) Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely

Yet another epic Superman reboot, but this time done with particular vision by Mr. Morrison, both a mind-bending conceptualist and also devoted fan of the super-hero genre. His sensibility allows this story to become more than another boring reboot and instead asks an answers some fun questions about the Man of Steel that we didn't know would make for a good story. He's able to keep the heart of the man grounded with Lois and the Daily Planet, while simultaneously introducing the cosmic back into Superman's world without losing the reader's attention or emotional involvement. Things like the Fortress of Solicitude and the Bottle City of Kandor are rejuvenated by Morrison's story-telling and perspective. Penciler Frank Quitely continues his expert work on Superman, being one of a few artists who can make Superman and Clark Kent look sufficiently different, but exactly the same. He doesn't scrimp on scale (Supes is always the largest in the room) but can also depict stature and body language without overdoing it. Another recommendation for Superman fans, especially fans like me, who love the character but often are left cold by boring retellings of the origin.

Up, up and away.

The Jay-Z Decoded Campaign I Scouted Got Some Cannes Love

2011-07-08T15:42:00.001-04:00

I was thrilled to find out that the virtual/live ad campaign I location scouted for last fall ended up getting some serious attention from the ad world. It was a promotion for Jay-Z's autobiography, Decoded, with Bing.com as a partner.

We started by putting every single page of Jay-Z’s autobiography into media spaces around the world. The pages weren’t randomly placed; all 350 pages were put in locations relevant to each individual page's content. Fans around the world could actually walk Jay-Z's path, experiencing his story right where it happened.

Allow me to reintroduce myself...

The finished product, outside Marcy Projects.

The campaign used a variety of media. And if the media didn’t exist, we created our own. Everything from pizza boxes, plates, burger wrappers, jigsaw puzzles, t-shirts, to name a few. Fans sought out, discovered and interacted with this collection of unique small scale pieces. Even the smallest, traditionally overlooked items became precious collector’s items.

I was proud to work on this campaign because I think it represents a new and interesting way of marketing. If all creative launches had this kind of well thought-out, not condescending, involving marketing, I would certainly appreciate the constant barrage of advertising in the media more.

It was particularly exciting to location scout in a live, real-world capacity, which is VERY different from the film/TV world. It was fast-paced and really got me into the nitty gritty of Jay-Z's NYC.

This guy was a character. He was also missing a finger.

There are less independently owned newsstands in NYC than I thought.

The campaign won the Cannes Lions Titanium award this June.

"The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is the world's biggest celebration of creativity in communications. As the most prestigious international advertising awards, more than 24,000 entries from all over the world are showcased and judged at the Festival. Winners receive the highly coveted Lion trophy, presented at four award ceremonies throughout the week." - from their website

Waterfront property.

"The campaign won the Integrated Grand Prix and nabbed a Titanium Lion, winning over a jury that was “looking for the bravest idea.”" - www.fastcompany.com

Chelsea Guitars, these guys are awesome.

"We loved its bravery, its boldness, its innovation," said Jury President Bob Scarpelli, chairman of DDB Worldwide. "It's immersive. It's interactive. It's creating conversations with customers. It gave millions a reason to use Bing. They put every page of [Jay-Z's new autobiography] out in the world every day for a month in 13 major cities in the world. Fans could walk through J-Z's life." - creativityonline.com

Hollis, Queens USA - Custom Cadillac

Here's a dope slideshow with pics from the campaign, including my locations: http://www.fastcompany.com/pics/jay-z-decoded-32-pages-revealed

I scouted over 30 independent record stores for this project. It was a great job.

Microsoft’s search engine, Bing wanted to connect with a younger audience and needed to make their Search and Maps technology more culturally relevant. We used the launch of Jay-Z’s autobiography “Decoded” as a relevant moment in youth culture and an opportunity to create a deeper experience with it through Bing technology. The unique partnership brought Bing to the forefront of pop-culture and gave millions of Jay-Z fans a reason to use Bing Search and Maps.

Hard to find a non-corporate run jukebox in the city now, but when you do, cherish the jockey's choices.

- Jay-Z’s Facebook fans grew by one million during the campaign launch.

- Decoded went straight to the New York Times Best Seller list at #2 its first week

- Bing.com saw an 11.7% increase in visits the month of the campaign

- Bing.com entered the top ten most visited sites in the US.

- Bing earned 1.1 billion global media impressions.

50 in 2011: #14 Donnie Baseball - Mike Shalin

2011-06-12T17:23:00.002-04:00

Mike Shalin's authorized biography of Don Mattingly, the Yankees legend, current Dodgers manager and childhood hero of myself and many others from the NY/NJ area, demonstrates just why the stoic, dedicated no-nonsense All-Star was such a great player - and such a lousy subject for a book.

Mattingly, who began playing professional ball at a minor league level straight out of high school, made a career out of the game, playing hard, practicing often and leading his team day after summer day. This single-minded work ethic, combined with a fierce privacy over his personal life, make the events described in his biography little more than impressive statistics and complimentary quotes from teammates, coaches and opponents.

The book doesn't dish dirt, not that I think there's any dirt to dish. It barely mentions his first wife and kids, with the exception of "spending more time with his family" as the real reason he retired in 1997, deflecting attention from the chronically troubled back that cut short his brilliant playing career. Shalin skips over any mention of his divorce of his first wife, briefly discusses advice he gave his sons about playing major league ball, and mentions his second marriage in one sentence towards the end. There is a severe lack of personality in the bio.

Shalin, a sportswriter who followed Mattingly's playing career from rival Boston's newspaper columns, is overtly reverent of the Yankee captain and the praise gets to be too much. The "great player, bad back" story is repeated so often it gets boring, and it's too bad that there's much else to say about someone who meant so much by way of a baseball card for so many of us.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Donald Baseball during college at a signing, while he was hitting coach for the Yankees under Joe Torre, who would eventually take him to LA and lead him into his first managing position with the Dodgers.

50 in 2011: #12 & #13 - "When I Stop Talking You'll Know I'm Dead" Jerry Weintraub & "An Improvised Life" Alan Arkin

2011-05-21T21:49:00.001-04:00

These two new memoirs have as little in common as any books can have that were written by two Hollywood veterans. Weintraub, the Brooklyn-born producer, has spent over 50 years in the business, managing the likes of Elvis, Sinatra and John Denver before producing successful movies like the Karate Kid and Ocean's 11 (remake) series. Arkin, Best Supporting Actor Academy Award-winner for Little Miss Sunshine, chronicles his education as an actor and his experience as an improviser and instructor and how those experiences metaphysically relate to his real life.

"When I Stop Talking..." is a very entertaining and glamourous series of memories that describe in fine detail the life and times of a successful movie producer. It's done in the same PG-13 way that his blockbusters turn out, loose and relaxed, but often without any nitty-gritty. He glosses over a two-year drug addiction with a throw-away bravado reference to quitting cold turkey. That and the minor role his children play in this life story, lead me to judge the author for what he leaves out more than for what he put in.

I kept comparing it to the great Robert Evans memoir "The Kid Stays in the Picture", which pulled no punches and showed how the fights between masters of the universe resulted in memorable features like "The Godfather" and "Chinatown". I highly recommend that book for Hollywood insider fans.

"An Improvised Life" comes from the other side of the spectrum - that warm, encouraging place where creativity flows and people are unlocking truths about themselves and their own perceptions while performing. Accessing these inner feelings is Arkin's goal as an improviser and frequent improvisational workshop leader. The first part of his book is devoted to the life and times history of his career, from early education and street life (hitchhiking cross-country on the promise of a scholarship as one of two boys allowed at an all-girls college) to working with Oscar winners and amateurs and how they both taught him.

He also talks about how the road life can be hard on a family, and, like, Weintraub, had a failed marriage at the start of his career. Arkin, however, speaks fondly of his children, actors themselves, and recalls in great detail, how their growth in their craft, and as people, have continuously shaped him in his adulthood.

It is his constant quest for learning and growing that make Arkin's book a different kind of page-turner than Weintraub's, which is as light as an episode Entourage, if not more authentic. As an improviser, as well as someone who works in the corporate-machine area of the business, I found his perspective valuable. It's good to know that there are artists at every level still striving for something true - beyond the commercial lie.

As a part-time improviser and full-time TV crew member, I often straddle the line (in my own self-eggrandizing way) between the "art" (mucking around at the PIT with my friends) and the "commerce" (pasting up "To Set" signs at 5 o'clock in the morning). As a sometime small-scale video producer/director, some of Weintraub's anecdotes are helpful AND entertaining - I specifically cite the "Firing Ferguson" chapter, on how the author talked an edgy and emotional John Denver out of several all ties by firing the fictional employee "Ferguson". The psychology of working on set to get things done, the all-business angle, is something we have to deal with, no matter how grandiose our dreams of making art un-compromised are. This is the side of the spectrum that Weintraub's life and book exist.

On the other side is Arkin's, which makes me want to be a better person.

50 in 2011: #11 Tina Fey "Bossypants"

2011-05-04T21:14:00.000-04:00

What's the opposite of a tell-all?

This show-biz memoir is low on show-biz and memoirable material. There's little biographical stuff here that hasn't been picked up in interviews, or by osmosis through her work. The most interesting chapters involve her career with Lorne Michaels, both at SNL and on 30 Rock.

Like her mentor, she has a shrewd sense of not overstaying her welcome, and with in mind, I think, she has avoided delving deep into her psyche with her first book. It's all cocktail party chatter and while the observations of everyday life and motherhood can be stirring, and are always funny, the detachment is there that prevents a strong, emotional connection.

The praise of Alec Baldwin's acting talent and his marketability to audiences and NBC-businessmen feel like they were earned (we're all aware of his talent) but inserted into the book so that Baldwin's assistant can assure him the compliments are there (to ease the tension the next, inevitable heartless contract renegotiation - which Fey refers to in the book as "Irish ball-breaking"). I highly doubt these are Tina's real thoughts about her costar (or any of the subjects covered, really).

While she's quick to share embarrassing stories and admit to humorous and no-doubt true faux pas, the revelations are measured and feel sanitized (like her show itself feels lately). I feel like we haven't gotten below the surface yet. The book was very funny, with many laugh out loud moments, which means, whenever her next book comes, I will definitely be reading. I just hope to see more of the author behind the comedy that we all relate to so much.

Special mention to the moments she spends referencing and skewering her mother's Greek heritage and her upbringing. There is a very funny moment, when Fey is weighing work v more kids at the end of the book, where she shares a babysitting story from the old neighborhood with the moral: either way, everything will be fine.

Her worrying stirs empathy and her wit is endearing and that's what we get from Bossypants.

50 in 2011: #9 & #10 Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince/Deathly Hallows

2011-05-04T16:33:00.000-04:00

There were reports of people who suffered a sort of depression when coming down from the IMAX-3D experience of "Avatar". I felt a glimmer of it, myself, because the world was so fully-realized and engaging, I couldn't help it.

That has nothing on Harry Potter.

I was so excited to finish the series coming into the sixth book, I was more than half way through before I realized that the pile of completed HP books was much taller than the remaining unread. I was getting sad to finish but couldn't help but tear through them. For several reasons, I went through them as fast as I could comprehend everything: the obviously engaging page-turners that they are demanded it, hype for the final film installment was mounting and I was deathly afraid of over-done trailers and previews spoiling anything and also because preparation is continuing for this August's Potter-themed Camp Fatima session.

Thus, finishing this series was an uncontrollable act of simultaneous compulsive entertainment, self-preservation and research.

I've already noted that I've seen all the movies before reading any of the books, which means that the latter half (even less, page-count wise) of Deathly Hallows was the only part of the story that I didn't already know. I was desperate to avoid spoilers and probably rudely cut off more than a fair share of conversations about the novels (that I probably initiated). I hate spoilers.

It is rare today that a series earns the big moments it ends on and I am happy to say that I think Rowling certainly did so with DH. Though I'm used to things also ending nine times, it was refreshing that this one didn't. The battle. The resolution. The coda. The end. As a fan, I would love to see what happened to many of the characters not mentioned in the quaint little epilogue, but I respect the clean break the author is intending and her knowledge that she can't please everyone totally, including me (Where's Luna?).

This is the new Star Wars. I'm jealous of kids today who got this clean and weren't already disappointed by special editions and prequels. As books, movies and stories in general, they're of a higher quality and substance that Lucas ever could have imagined let alone executed. Yesterday's Jedi is today's wizard.

I could say more about this series (and probably will as the summer rolls in), but for now, I'm going to hop under my cloak and head home to Hogwarts - I mean - Union.

Mischief managed.

50 in 2011: #8 Neil Laundau with Matthew Frederick: 101 Things I Learned in Film School

2011-03-21T19:38:00.000-04:00

A stocking-stuffer from a cousin this past holiday season, I tore through this little number while making my through the pre-Hogwarts section of "Order of the Phoenix".

It's cute. One titular "thing" per page-turn, with accompanying illustrations. Some lessons are familiar technical jargon, like the rule of thirds or a summary of traditional three act structure. Occasionally, there's a great quote from a successful filmmaker that seems like something I'd want to write on the wall in my office (if my office wasn't the TV room in my parents' house). The authors, one of whom is the brain behind an entire "101 Things I Learned..." series, quote director Sidney Lumet: "All great work is preparing for the accident waiting to happen."

This was a fun little read that I think packs more punch than it's convenient title and packaging demonstrate. I'll be keeping this guy handy while hacking my way through my feature first draft next month.

[Note: Lumet himself wrote a very good memoir about his career and creative process called "Making Movies." -- highly recommended."]

50 in 2011: #7 David Sedaris: Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk

2011-03-19T10:43:00.001-04:00

Not a lot to say here. A good, short read that transplants Sedaris' usual ultra-dry, super-analytical yet soft footed prose into the world of the antrhropomorphized animal kingdom. With really direct and demented artwork contributed by Ian Falconer, this volume comes off like a cute and cuddly creature on the surface but contains the same unsparing emotional honesty that we all expect and demand from the prolific Sedaris.

Just because the awfulness of human behavior is told through the eyes of a vigilant rabbit or a motherless bear doesn't mean they won't get their comeuppance dished out by the author's clever sense of justice (poetic or otherwise). Since I've read a few other of his books and have come to know the author's style, the "game" of reading this book became waiting to find out how, in each story, he would mix human behavior and social structures and the known biological and ecological traits of the animals he was using as stars.

A piece clearly written by an author comfortable in his style and sharp enough in his powers to try something a little high-concept, I find Sedaris' work a bit more emotionally dangerous than most of his readers, or maybe that's just me. "Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk" might be disarming for those pet-lovers looking for heart-warming animal tales, but for fans of Sedaris, it's a freshly-decorated return to that familiar uncomfortable pause-filled land of "maybe I should try to be a better person" - this time, with paws.

50 in 2011: #6 Chelsea Handler: My Horizontal Life

2011-03-09T18:21:00.001-05:00

As H_Ram dwarfs my reading rate, I press on with this surprise entry into my 50, a comedic memoir of the author's exaggerated sexual exploits: Chelsea Handler's My Horizontal Life.

One of the effects of living with women is that occasionally, I can't help but ignore their literature. (I freely admit to not only not ignoring, but seeking out the occasional ladies' magazine. I love embarrassing stories about bad dates, what can I day?) My sister, of Engonoula fame, has been reading Handler's books. After reading some scathing but humorous things the cable TV host said about Angelina Jolie and Mariah Carey, I couldn't ignore her wit, and thought I'd give her one night stand anthology a look.

I'm over hateful comics. I don't think making fun of something is the highest form of comedy and rage comics turn me off fast. But, at least in this book, Handler's most frequent target is herself, and self-deprecating comics land higher on the list. She's her own worst critic.

The stories are fun and funny, sometimes embarrassing and always brief. [Like her relationships?] Overall, I liked it but wish she wouldn't inject jokes into what would be a funny enough set of events. You can tell when she's embellishing or writing just for a punchline and it feels hacky. It's much easier a read when she lets the events speak for themselves and keeps to her direct, personality-filled style.

It's a fast 213 page read, and I always enjoy an "insider" tale, even if this one has almost nothing at all to do with her entertainment career. (One anecdote concerns a libidinous friend of her first TV producer, who's recreational activities wreaked havoc on his lovemaking).

If you've ever enjoyed a good Cosmo, (drink or mag), you should check it out.

Hall Pass Revoked

2011-03-07T12:20:00.000-05:00

I'm going to try really hard to make the title of this post the only pun I make in this review.

Last night I third-wheeled into AMC Mountainside for the Farrelly Bros.' latest HALL PASS, with Owen Wilson & Jason Sudeikis. It was lackluster, tame and boring. Only at the very end did it come alive with the violent Farrelly mania that injected their past hits like Dumb & Dumber and There's Something About Mary with the kind of idiosyncratic energy that elevated them (in my eyes) past contemporary filmmakers like Kevin Smith.

Since their heydey, they seem to have lost a trick or two. HALL PASS takes an already sketchy concept and doesn't back it up at all - not even the protagonists believe in it strong enough to ignite any real debauchery before a desperate Richard Jenkins as the aging party-animal Cokely comes in on Day 6.

After years of chaotic Will Ferrell comedies, heartfelt Apatow exercises in earnest, and the shock-treatment of the Hangover, HALL PASS plays like the tame, TBS-version of itself. Owen Wilson, whose well-being I'm continuously worried about, plays the straight man again as in Wedding Crashers, when he's clearly more suited to the Hansel/Hutch type of eccentric wild-man. No one wants to see a Wilson brother play it straight.

I give credit to Jason Sudeikis for exercising his incredible commitment to character on the thankless role of Fred, the seemingly more wild but in reality more impotent of the two leads. He gets the most laughs of the movie (before a scene-stealing barista/DJ gets his shot - literally [fuck, another pun]).

The few dick & fart jokes shoe-horned in here are even obtrusive than usual because the tone of the film is more earnest and understated of all Farrelly movies. The opening, before the high-concept of the hall pass is introduced by the distracting cue-card reading Joy Behar, plays very cooly, funny but without "jokes". It reminds me of the beginning of Ghost Busters - how, once we meet Murray & Aykroyd, the movie could be about anything, though we already know it's about ghosts. The same happens here: we know we're in for a shit-stained, raucous trip from the Farrelly's (or so we hope) but they set it up slowly and Sudeikis & Wilson are the best in the relaxed opening, when they're two jerks. It's more strained later, when they're two jerks "on a mission". They try to justify the point of the movie, that they have a week off from marriage to party & cheat, but also play nice guy horndogs who can't even lay on a pick-up line without failing.

If you think about it, the very concept is too weak to sustain a feature and we've the evidence to prove it.

+ 2 points for the (apparently expensive) use of the Law & Order "dun-dun" sound effect.

+ 2 more points for a surprisingly potent runner about Kathy Griffin that pays off well

I could go on, but I don't want to. Next, Cedar Rapids.

50 in 2011: #5 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

2011-02-21T20:58:00.000-05:00

Here is my warning about reading on if you haven't read the book or seen its movie adaptation.

Adiou, Cedric Diggory, we hardly knew you.

The HP series finally gets deadly serious in this novel, as the life-threatening Triwizard Tournament comes to Hogwarts and the evil Lord Voldemort claims his first victims since reappearing from his body-less state.

In Goblet, Rowling really starts expanding the wizarding world she's created. From the Quidditch World Cup to the international students of Beauxbatons Academy and Durmstrang Institute, we start getting a taste of politics and cultural differences as they relate to our magical counterparts in Britain. (I'm aching for some information about what magic is like in the USA, but I doubt Rowling's going to touch that. Or has the American way of life tempted even wizards to sit on the couch and watch reality shows? America's Next Top Wizard with Gilderoy Lockhart?)

When reading a book like this one, wherein the author draws on fine details established in prior volumes for great dramatic effect, I often cannot help visualizing the author furiously flipping through the pages of the first few books, looking for characters and spells to bring back. "What did I call that wizard two books ago?"

Handsome Hufflepuff seeker Cedric Diggory was established in prior books, as was the fate of Neville Longbottom's parents that so dramatically changed my view of the character, even in a book that had less than normal amounts of Neville in it.

I really enjoyed this book and the somber subject matter didn't stop it from delivering thrills, especially during the three tasks challenged to the four champions competing in the tournament. The freak-of-week part of the formula is pleasantly familiar, but the later-chapter reveals in Goblet feature a lot of monologuing and "Oh, the cleverness of me."-revelations that are fun and interesting but also only necessary because the author insists they are necessary.

Maybe in the next book, Order of the Phoenix, there'll be some scenes of the awkward getting-to-know-you phase between Harry and the real Mad-Eye Moody, who spent this whole novel trapped in a trunk. If memory serves from the movies, we pretty much have to assume that Pollyjuice Poser Barty Crouch Jr's approximation of Moody was close enough to not warrant an extended amount of relationship-building in the next chapters of the saga.

My pace has dropped off. I'm going to have to pick it up if I'm going to make 50 this year.

Happy Birthday, Alan Rickman!

50 in 2011: #4 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

2011-02-06T22:41:00.000-05:00

Before the eye-melting 3.5 hr live tweet of the Super Bowl this evening, I polished off the third book in the HP series and my fourth of the year, Azkaban.

This was the first HP movie I saw in theaters and got me immediately hooked. As I have found with the other books in the series, this one is richer and more complex than its respective adaptation. I did, however, notice that some streamlining done by the filmmakers is actually more economical and makes the story more direct. [I am almost always in favor of economizing language, characters and plot devices in books and movies. If you do it in one scene, with two people, do it in one scene with two people, otherwise it becomes about gilding the lily.]

Speaking of plot devices, Rowling enlists the narrative aid of time-travel this go 'round, and should be commended for using it cleanly. She creates a natural reason for this magical element to be introduced in the ambitious Hermione's desire for a major course load. Later, the author conjures a further use for the temporal gimmick that not only explains the mystery set up in earlier chapters of Hermione's double-classes, but also heightens the stakes of the conflict ("Two innocent lives can be saved").

The Quidditch matches work in the novel because they are a natural part of their world and the confines (or lack thereof) of the novel format encourage us to feel time and conflict in a flexible manner, wherein a film, the second Quidditch match might have felt like a lowering of the stakes or distraction from the momentum of the movie towards the mystery of Sirius Black.

I'll withhold judgement until I've finished the series, but the reveals shared within the Shrieking Shack and the Prongs Patronum are my top two moments in HP-dom.

50 in 2011: #3 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

2011-01-31T21:02:00.001-05:00

Just seconds ago I completed the second installment in the Harry Potter series. I suppose after the third book, I'll have read enough to start calling my observations trends, but I am noticing a few things.

The details and subplots contained in the books (versus the streamlined movies) are helpful in rounding out what sometimes seemed like overly deus ex machina endings. This is particularly true of Dumbledore, who is just such a good wizard, it's a wonder why everyone's so concerned with Harry. The wrap-up after the finale in the Chamber of Secrets is both positive (for most characters) and rewarding because the book takes the time to develop its characters.

I enjoy populating my imagination with the faces and design of the movies, but I do wish I had read the books first. I trust I'll feel the same way if I ever get around to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This situation reminds me of how when it comes to oft-covered songs, it's usually that which the listener hears first that they forever associate as "best". (This also applies to James Bond actors). The one exception to this has been the song "Blinded by the Light" which I first heard in the trippy, synthy Manfred Mann version. I eventually over time and many listens grew to love the Springsteen original better, despite not hearing it until high school. Maybe if I reread the HP series often enough, things will stop looking like the movies.

One more anecdote on this subject: One of my favorite books is Tom Sawyer, and, two summers ago, my imagination was in overdrive because of traveling, being in Greece, and otherwise being pretty unconnected from the numbing effect of TV and computers. Rereading the book then was really amazing, and I vividly saw the events of the novel play out in a sort of animated watercolor painting that was informed by the illustrations in a Reader's Digest edition I'd read as a wee lad, but had evolved into a unique style that only I experienced while reading. Power of the printed word.

50 in 2011: #2 Boardwalk Empire

2011-01-27T14:30:00.000-05:00

Just finished my second book of the year, Nelson Johnson's history of Atlantic City Boardwalk Empire.

Last year I slogged through A History of Organized Crime in America, which glossed over the development of Atlantic City as corrupt gambling mecca and mobster playground. Then HBO adapted Johnson's book and the stellar first season really piqued my interest in the city that my uncles so often frequent.

Nelson Johnson (no relation to Enoch Johnson, on whom Buscemi's "Nucky" is modeled) has crafted a breezy textbook on Atlantic City 101. Instead of a pulpy mob story, B.E. is instead a chronicle of a city's development and an evolution of the corrupt machine politics that has both plagued and nurtured the city from Philadelphia's playground to dilapidated slum to a world class resort.

The book moves fast, starting with the city's founders and ending, some 250 pages later, with the Trump Era and the current state of things. I wasn't expecting it to cover such a long span, since the HBO show is centered soley on prohibition-era A.C. I was surprised that only two chapters from the book even covered the Nucky-era.

The author, a native of the Atlantic City area, is clearly influenced by the glamour and notoriety of the Prohibition gangsters, which is understandable (no wonder HBO found it), but threatened to undermine the objectivity of the work. It wasn't until I finished the book that I found the apocryphal information condensed in a "source notes" section. This was a relief, as, until then, the book had a certain "take my word for it, I'm from there" attitude that was distracting. That the author postponed all footnotes until the end felt like over-editing. It's a historical book, readers should be okay with footnotes and not distracted by tiny numbers.

If you're interested in history, politics and organized crime, then you would do well to check out Boardwalk Empire. It's a good introduction to the world. Maybe after I knock off a few more books from my post-Christmas pile, I'll research another book and continue my education of Prohibition-era NJ.

New Show Announcement!

2011-01-25T17:39:00.001-05:00

I'm happy to announce that I'm performing stand-up next month at Croke Park (the sports pub in Molly Maguires) as part of my man, Ben Kelly's regular entertainment slot there, energetically dubbed "The Get Down". If you're in or around Clark, NJ, swing by and check it out.

Hosted by Paul Maurer | Bass Interludes by Vegas OnBass / Featuring CAN'T SLOW DOWN

Performing:
Vitreous Humor (Sketch Comedy Troupe)

Stand-Up Comics:

Brett Druck, Manoli Vozos, Brian Monaghan,
Sean Struss, Natty Bumpercar, Rachael Parenta

Croke Park (The Sports Pub in the basement at Molly Maguire's) in Clark, NJ - 1085 Central Ave.

21+ / $5 cover / $3 domestic drafts

Remember, God made DVR so we could see live comedy.

Garden State of Mind

2011-01-24T17:32:00.000-05:00

This SATURDAY comes my first sketch appearance at the new PIT. It's in a NJ-inspired sketch comedy show called GARDEN STATE OF MIND and it's directed by my good friend Gary DeNoia. If anyone is in the NJ/NYC metro area, please come by and check it out. You'll be doubly-impressed, once by the brilliance of scripted comedy, and secondly by the beauteous new theater. Bring a friend!

Click the picture for more information & $5 ticket info!

50 in 2011: #1 Harry Potter

2011-01-24T17:02:00.002-05:00

My friend and fellow blogger, H_Ram, of RamBlog notoriety, has inspired me to read 50 books this year. The first book I've actually completed is not Nelson Johnson's Boardwalk Empire as I previously expected, but Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone. In the future my recaps will probably be more in depth, but due to the ubiquity of the series, I'm not going to beat a dead unicorn and recap that again.

I will say, it was comforting hearing Robbie Coltrane and Michael Gambon's voices when reading their characters' parts in the book. [Yes, Richard Harris was Dumbledore in the first films, but, since then, Gambon has taken over ownership of the role - similar to Dennis Miller v Chevy Chase in the case of the Update Anchors.]

I should probably be done with B.E. in the next two or three days, so stay tuned for more.

Thanks for reading.

The [New] Peoples Improv Theater!

2011-01-23T23:30:00.001-05:00

My favorite venue to perform at and study, The Peoples Improv Theater, has moved to a luxurious new space on the east side of the city complete with a cafe/bar, giant stadium-seating performance space, additional basement performance space and ground floor entry (those of us with older relatives know the benefit of that!).

The new spot is located at 123 E.24th St (Park & Lex). You should stop in for cheap, delicious coffee during the day, and grab a beer and a show some night.

Might I recommend coming by this SATURDAY, January 29th at 7pm to see me in GARDEN STATE OF MIND - the sexy new sketch comedy show featuring all NJ-themed bits, including an HBO spoof and a Greek Diner game show, written by yours truly? TICKETS, anyone?

Congrats to my TFM-mates Gary De Noia & Meghan Conda for making it to the PIT's house teams!

New Year, Fresh Update

2011-01-06T11:36:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year, everyone!

I suppose my resolution should be to write in this more often and keep it updated...

Here's what's new: I'm almost done with LEVEL 5 IMPROV at the PIT, and will be having two class shows in their brand new space this month. They are Thursday, January 13 7pm and Monday, January 17 at the shiny, new PIT, at 123 w.24th st, between Park and Lex.

Also, there's a new Get Up, Stand-Ups Show on Thursday January 20th. As always at the Crossroads in Garwood, this one is a tournament of champions between the last three months winners: Pete Elias, Nick Landy and Mike D'errico. For more information, check out the GUSU Page.

On January 29th, the snow-delayed GARDEN STATE OF MIND sketch comedy hour will finally hit the stage at the new PIT. Come check out a slew of brand-new NJ-inspired sketches, just as the latest herpes-filled season of Jersey Shore hits the TV.

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In other news, my good friend and fellow blogger H_Ram over at RamBlog has inspired me to read 50+ books this year. Check out her site for the chronicles of her reading. Look for book reviews to pop up here as I finish. First up, Nelson Johnson's Boardwalk Empire (the factual inspiration for the HBO show), followed by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone!

--

And finally, on the video front, please check out some of these great videos I've worked on in some way:

Here is the video stream of the sketches and stand-up performances from the Holla-Ween Jamboree Comedy Show. All the video was done by the fine folks at Soundwaves Academy.

I'm also excited to have co-starred with my good buddy Danny Schoch in TWILIGHT COWBOYS, a class project for my talented friend Ron Giameo. It's Twilight, but with cowboys, you see?
Check out more of his videos on his YouTube page.

Fall Comedy Update

2010-11-02T12:08:00.000-04:00

Thank you to everyone who came to the Halloween party. The DVD is being edited now by the expert hands at Soundwaves and pretty soon we'll have a luscious hi-def video commemorating the wonderful sketches by my allies in The Foolhardy Manor as well as the terrific stand-up sets by Brian, Pete and Boris.

In case you missed it, here's the brand-new video TFM debuted at the show: MY DINNER WITH CTHULU.

November brings a much-welcomed breather with TFM - the only show I've got this month is the November G.U.S.U. show at the Crossroads on Nov 18 with headliner Mike D'errico and featuring musical guest "I Am Fighting". Look for more information on that soon, including a full list of the performing comics as we kick-off the second round of friendly competition.

November brings a new class for me: Improv Level 5 with PIT-owner Ali Farahnakian (IO, UCB, SNL). I'm very excited to study under such an experienced instructor and hope that through this class, I will be able to reach a new level of honesty in my performing (and, indirectly, my writing).

TFM will be back in mid-December with two improv shows at the PIT. Stay tuned for more information on those shows and other news.

Halloween Show

2010-10-03T14:03:00.002-04:00

BE THERE

FRIDAY OCT 29th

for the most fun, gruesome, hysterical, high-energy Halloween event of the year!

Check out the Get-Up Stand-Ups "Tournament of Champions"
Three of our Headliners will perform!
BRIAN MONAGHAN
PETE ELIAS
BORIS KHAYKIN

The Foolhardy Manor will bring their unique style of wicked sketches and videos!

DJ Jason K will keep us dancing into the night!

Free Food! Cheap cash bar!

COSTUME CONTEST! PRIZES!...and much more!

TICKETS

emmanuel.vozos@gmail.com for any questions!

FACEBOOK EVENT

The New Fall Line-Up!

2010-09-03T20:58:00.000-04:00

There are so many upcoming shows that I want to see you fine people at!

GET UP, STAND-UPS COMEDY

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16TH AND THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7TH

THE CROSSROADS IN GARWOOD NJ - 78 NORTH AVE

Mark your calendars! Set your DVRs! Get ready for a Foolhardy Fall!

TFM has been accepted to the PIT's SketchProv competition! Last year we made it to the Quarter-Finals and this year we're looking to take home the Grand Prize of $2500 cash and a scheduled run in the new year at the PIT!

Our first appearance in the preliminary round is SUNDAY, SEP. 19th at 7pm!

Watch as we put on 20 minutes of our best sketch-comedy against the funny and talented group "Boat".

If we advance, the next rounds would be: Quarter-Finals Thurs 9/23 at 8/9/10pm, Semi-Finals Fri 9/24 at 8 or 9pm, and the FINALS are Sat 9/24 8pm!

Remember, the audience vote counts every show, so be there and help make a difference! We can only advance to the next round with your help!

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE! -- please double-check your dates

and coming in October...

This Halloween season, THE GHOULHARDY MANOR returns to NY/NJ! For two spooky Saturdays this fall, the PIT becomes the spookiest place in town. The Foolhardy Manor has been redecorated. Enter The Ghoulhardy Manor to be haunted by an all-new character-driven and one-of-a-kind improvised spook-tacular from your Foolhardy friends. You'll regret it if you ignore our house while trick-or-treating this year. If you see that there's a scarecrow waiting outside, don't worry. He won't jump at you. Or will he? Is that a person in there, or what? I'm not getting near that thing. Come on, just do it. You'll laugh when it's all said and done.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 9th at 7PM & SATURDAY OCTOBER 16th at 7pm

Tickets are $5 online and $8 at the door!

COME IN COSTUME!

SATURDAY 10/30

ALSO COMING IN OCTOBER, TFM WILL BE PERFORMING AT THE END-ALL BE ALL OF HALLOWEEN COMEDY EVENTS IN NJ. - (DETAILS TBA)

Superman Sketch

2010-08-26T15:35:00.000-04:00

Caesar

2010-08-22T21:29:00.000-04:00

Playing with my tablet while watching Gladiator.

Change is coming...August 19th

2010-08-01T22:35:00.000-04:00

Me [too], On Shuffle

2010-07-18T13:06:00.007-04:00

In November, 2007, ESQUIRE magazine featured the latest in Chuck Klosterman's AMERICA series "Me, On Shuffle," an exploration of the stake the one's music has in defining them. The tagline for the article was:

"True or False: The music a person listens to reveals many truths about that person"

The full article is available here.

Klosterman postulates that while it is usually posed in the innocuous and time-filling forum of chit-chat or first-meeting, the question "What kind of music do you like?" is an unfair way to assess the type of person one is and whether you'd get along, be friends or more. The unfairness is based on the assumption that the questioned party "consciously knows why he appreciates those specific things or harbors those specific feelings." Klosterman feels this position is "predicated on the principle that you know why you like certain sounds or certain images, because that self-awareness is how we establish the internal relationship between a) what someone loves and b) who someone is."

Klosterman took to answering the above indicting question without mentioning genres, eras or albums but, simply, "Music that sounds like the opening fourteen seconds of Humble Pie's 'I Don't Need No Doctor,' as performed live on their 1971 album Performance: Rockin' the Fillmore." This technique would either stop the conversation dead in its tracks or incite further questioning - either way, would someone know the man any better?

What does your music say about you? Can you control it?

This was so thought-provoking, it's taken nearly three years for me to discover that the proper way to appreciate it was not to keep it clipped, with so many other never-read-again articles, in a filing cabinet, to yellow with age and be pondered unnecessarily by scrutinizing family members and detectives upon my death. Instead, I've recently decided, the best way to appreciate it would be to take the author's method and apply it to myself.

I'm certainly a victim of a self-afflicted condition: iPod shame. You know the symptoms: misleading playlist titles [my emo, lay in bed and sulk, need a good cry mix is "Playlist 1"], never letting the damn thing simply shuffle in the car for fear of the embarrassing revelation that you drive to parties blasting the soundtrack from Hairspray, or lowering the volume below a comfortable listening level on the train lest your neighbor detect you like to prep for your day at the office with ABBA's "Take a Chance on Me". For this reason, Klosterman's investigation was of great interest to me. I've grown to "own" my selections without fear of humiliation ["You don't like the orchestral score to "The Goonies"? Your loss!"]. Despite that confidence, I still want to know what it is about my varied choices that makes me like them.

While Klosterman seems to attach himself to early-seventies boogie rock, I think my anchoring sonic attachment goes farther back.

"Nice to meet you, Manoli. So, what kind of music do you like?"

"I enjoy music that sounds like the end of the Ronettes' 'Be My Baby' - from the repeat of the opening "Bum...BumBum," especially the drum-rolling and final staccato snare series before the fade out."

It's there, literally, in the acoustics. I love the "Wall of Sound", Phil Spector girl groups. I love that the song wraps me up and doesn't let me go, body and mind, for its duration. I love that the clean instrumentation doesn't push me away, but invites me in. I love that the lyrics, and Ronnie Spector's singing of them, are simple, direct and dripping with love.

I love that is sounds like its recorded in a real place by real people and not in some digital wonderland where all things come from now, in outer space.

Klosterman looked for a "unified field theory" that would somehow explain the connections that music could form in his brain. For me, the rationale is more visceral. The music I love, and the 'types' all have one thing in common: I love them because they incite an emotional response in me. Also in that bucket:

- The piano flourishes Danny Federici would insert into the opening of Tenth Avenue Freeze Out when the E Street Band would play it live.

- The driving progression in The Four Seasons' "Opus 17 (Don't Worry 'Bout Me) and just before the end when the high harmony comes in

- The fast-rhyming middle section of The Cure's "Friday, I'm in Love" when Robert Smith pinpoints the site of his lover eating as one of the reasons he loves them.

- Prince's invocation at the top of "Let's Go Crazy".

- The moment in 'Dream On' when Steven Tyler becomes 'Steven Tyler'.

- Everything about Cyndi Lauper. "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough" (and everything else).

- The wistful backing strings/winds behind Frank Sinatra's heart-breaking vocals on "It Was a Very Good Year".

- In Queen's "We are the Champions", between the second and third reps of the chorus, there is a short squeal sound that connects them that amps me up like no other.

- The way "Flesh Failures" organically becomes "Let the Sunshine In" on the Hair soundtrack.

If I were to attempt to use science and math to break down and understand why these songs illicit a reaction from me, it might produce a chart somehow reconciling high-pitched vocals, driving rhythms and emotional lyrics. One might deduce that I spent a significant amount time listening to my mother's radio selections and oldies stations as a child and therefore my musical taste is almost anachronistic today and woefully nostalgic when it comes to appreciating new music.

Furthermore, there is an incalculable relationship between my autobiographical history and the context in which some of these songs were first heard. If a song was first heard in a time and place that the listener later looks back on fondly, it is reasonable to predict that the listener's inner-workings will begin to associate the sound of that song to happiness, thereby making an aural pleasure criterion from an autobiographical causality. Some songs crossed the thin line from hate to love only after certain real-life experiences (such as the music of Journey, which I only realized I loved after the anointing of Don't Stop Believin' as a Camp Fatima anthem, as well as it's inclusion in the finale of The Sopranos, my favorite show). These connections, briefly mentioned in HIGH FIDELITY, are perhaps the only true way to judge your own music collection or taste at all.

Klosterman was somewhat acerbic in his reaction to the original question and the subsequent impossibility of accurately categorizing someone based on their answer. I find the exploration of that answer to be the grander pursuit, the results of which might allow the listener himself to further understand what makes him tic and reach enlightenment, or, at least, have an easier go the next time he visits the record store.

Tape stop.

FAT HIPSTERS PREMIERING LIVE AT THE MATT FRIED HOUR JUNE 24th 2010!!!!

2010-06-20T13:17:00.008-04:00

Hey guys, while we're still a month away from TFM's next show (a live IMPROV performance at the PIT!), we're excited to announce that we'll be appearing next week as guests on THE MATT FRIED HOUR, a live late-night style show at the PIT.
As part of our appearance, we'll be premiering our brand-new original video "FAT HIPSTERS",
Come see it before everyone else does and you too can get bragging rights and claim to have known about us before we sold out and put our video on YouTube.

THE MATT FRIED HOUR!, "Best described as “Conan O’Brien on a $50 budget”. Host and comedian Matt Fried welcomes to his late night talk show an unparalleled variety of celebrities, yet-to-be-discovered comedians, and the best, unsigned indie music.",

THURSDAY, JUNE 24th, 2010
THE PEOPLES IMPROV THEATER,
(154 West 29th Street, between 6th &amp, 7th Avenues, NYC),
9:30 PM, http://www.ThePIT-nyc.com/,

Tickets are $5 if you order them online, $8 at the door:
http://tinyurl.com/MFHourAtThePIT

Join us for fun and hilarity!
Other guests scheduled include: JENA FRIEDMAN, MICHELLE WOLF and RUE BRUTALIA.

--

THURSDAY July 15, get ready for another great STAND-UP COMEDY show at the Crossroads in Garwood!, Come have a drink and spend a summer Thursday laughing with:, RICH ARNOLD, JIMMY GLENN, MICHELLE DUFF, TEDDY YOON, STEVE SERRA, BRIAN MONAGHAN, GARY DeNOIA, and the Get Up, Stand Ups debuts of, PETE ELIAS, KRIS BRANDYBERRY, &, MIKE GUDZY,
Hosted by yours truly and featuring videos and more!,
9PM - $5 Cover at the Door!

--

One week later, on July 22nd, THE FOOLHARDY MANOR returns to the Peoples Improv Theater with some never-before-seen and never-to-be-seen again scenes of IMPROV!, We've been doing mostly sketch for some time now, and I'm really excited to get back to some good ol' fashioned make-em-ups., Showtime is 7pm and tickets are $5!

Trailer Trash: Somewhere

2010-06-15T08:53:00.002-04:00

Writer-Director Sofia Coppola returns to the Lost in Translation font one more time with SOMEWHERE.

The very indie-feeling trailer introduces us quickly to action movie-star Johnny Marco, Stephen Dorff, who's coasting through life but isn't satisfied (we can tell this by his scowl while beautiful women throw themselves at him) - we see him in hotels, at press junkets and red carpet events just going through the motions. He hurts his arm somehow (I'm guessing drunken night or on-set accident) and the first sign of love in the trailer is when his daughter, appearing in his hotel room to his understated surprise, Sharpies a little heart on his cast.

Dorff, while never having broken through (beyond Blade) is likeable and certainly looks the part of a weathering movie star, willing us to accept his (or Marco's) stardom. Elle Fanning plays Cleo, his daughter, and seems suitably awkward-stage and realistic. Those Fanning girls have such gentle, expressive faces - what will we do now that they're getting to be all grown up? (Probably sexualize them, as in The Runaways).

The hardest throw-back to Coppola's Oscar-winning heretofore masterwork LiT is a brief shot of Dorff and Fanning at some sort of Italian awards ceremony, where the movie star is being honored for something but doesn't understand what's going on around him.

I like a good Hollywood insider tale, and while this is more about feeling that wheeling & dealing, it's an accessible world to set a fairy tale. I'm in.

The movie hits theaters 12/22 and is brought to us by Focus Features. The trailer is available on APPLE.com.

S

COMEDY NEWS!

2010-05-21T12:18:00.000-04:00

Hey friends,

I hope you've enjoyed the last few TRAILER TRASH installments. Show some love in the comments when you read 'em. Thanks to those who have!

I am excited to share some new live comedy news - this weekend, THE FOOLHARDY MANOR takes the stage again at the PIT with our latest sketch show SECOND FIRST SUMMER BBQ. Last week we sold out and it went pretty awesome - this week should be no different!

Also, I have Facebook-Page'd my stand-up comedy venture GET UP, STAND-UPs, so why don't you mosey on over there and "Like" us. Essentially, GUSU (which I won't be calling it out loud) is for the stand-up shows. It isn't TFM but, like my good friends at Jamber*Tronix, we're all related.

Check out the sexy banner to the right for all upcoming show info!

Trailer Trash! LOVE RANCH

2010-05-20T23:28:00.002-04:00

Joe Pesci is back, ladies and gentlemen! After a little tease a few years ago with his cameo in DeNiro's Good Shepherd (the only compelling part of that movie) - the biggest little man in Hollywood is back, and in Nevada, no less, the scene of his last great performance.

In Taylor Hackford's LOVE RANCH, Mr. Pesci plays opposite Dame Helen Mirren as the proprietors of one of Reno's many profitable and legal brothels, the titular desert abode. Based on the very, very plot-informative trailer, the duo are long time partners/lovers/spouses who've made it through a lot of ups and downs and have a twilight-years denouncement involving a young boxer Pesci tries to promote, an anti-prostituition movement in Nevada and the melt-down of his and Mirren's relationship.

Some of the hookers are played by Gina Gershon, Bai Ling & Taryn Manning - in the least surprising casting decision this side of a Tim Burton's crooked playhouse.

*Also of note, America's favorite drug dealer Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston is listed in the cast, though unseen in the trailer.

The caliber of talent in the leads makes this a must-see. I would've thought the plot could go anywhere, but now I have a much, much better idea, based on the revealing trailer, which eliminates the element of surprise. It was, in a cheap way, exciting to see that the movie does get violent, intense and extreme - and doesn't dwell in that 'aren't we kooky' high-concept, low-intensity blah-ville that's reserved for HBO movies not produced by Steven Spielberg or somebody named David ____.

TRAILER IS AVAILABLE ON iTUNES & APPLE.COM

Trailer Trash! EASY A & SECRETARIAT

2010-05-18T11:43:00.000-04:00

Yes, friends, there's a new TRAILER TRASH today. It's been a while and I'm too lazy and embarrassed to go look at just how long ago the last installment was. Things have been busy lately (even moreso for Dick Wolf & co. - who are still fighting for a last ditch mini-series or TV movie to finish out the Jack McCoy legacy). For me, they've been busy because of The Foolhardy Manor and our upcoming show, "Second First Summer BBQ" - which you should come to!

First up, today is a little movie I hadn't heard about called EASY A. In it, the lovely Emma Stone (Superbad, Zombieland) plays a teenager who pretends to sleep with her gay friend to help his cover story. She ends up fake-screwing a bunch of guys in her high school for various reasons, until she real falls for Gossip Girl's Penn Badgely (who looks too old to be a teen but too young to be in Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps). It looks clever enough. Every so often these little teen sex comedies come and go (much like the copious amounts of teen sex HORROR movies, that somehow get wider releases and always suck). This looks pretty funny, especially because of a supporting cast that includes Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as her parents, Thomas Haden Church as her teacher, Amanda Bynes as her god-loving, popular girl rival, as well as Lisa Kudrow and Malcom McDowell. When this eventually crosses my path, I will definitely watch it.

The trailer's cut pretty standard plot-explanation style. Some good one-liners from the parents and excellent usage of an outdated Lady GaGa track (who remember's "Poker Face" - really?).

Trailer available at IMDb.

----

Next, the latest installment in Disney's inspirational family movie sports series: SECRETARIAT.

This movie, based on "the impossible true story" of the legendary Triple-Crown winning racehorse and the plucky, determined, moral and Good bunch who toiled to get the horse to the track promises to push all the same emotional buttons as those that've come before: (including these films, also made by the film's producers: Invincible - Mark Walhberg plays the horse, Miracle - Horse Hockey, & The Rookie - Quaid Horse)

I find these movies interesting because they are so Plug-&-Play, yet the filmmakers, with their use of familiar actors and (usually) popular music, seem to always hit the right buttons so at least the 1.5-2 hrs you're watching this drivel seem to go by fine. But, like the cheerleader who lets the quarterback into the endzone because he's a winner, afterwards I feel strangely empty and cheated.

This time around, the all-star cast is led by Diane Lane, John Malkovich (who seems to be starring in "Being Christopher Walken" lately), Fred Dalton Thompson (L&O waddup), the guy from Nip/Tuck and some kids.

*Also, even if the real-life person that Diane Lane is playing was blonde and blue-eyed, when making a ridiculous fairy-tale out of the "facts", there's no need to cover her natural beauty with a wig and blue contacts. It looks fake and it's gilding the lily. Seriously, she's gorgeous, just point the damn camera at her.

If you're inclined, Apple's got the trailer HERE.

Happy Mother's Day! SNL style

2010-05-08T22:06:00.000-04:00

In honor of Mother's Day and moms everywhere, here are some fun Mom-related sketches from SNL that I love.

Make sure you tune in tonight for Betty White!

THE UPCOMING SHOW POST!

2010-04-28T01:00:00.005-04:00

Hey, friends. Here's a list of my upcoming comedy shows. I really hope you can make it.

May 6th - 9:00PM GET UP, STAND-UPS with STUPID CAT
VENUE: The Crossroads - Garwood, NJ

**Myself & fellow TFM-er Gary DeNoia, as well as Brian Monaghan, Steve Serra, Rich Arnold, Michelle Duff & Teddy Yoon all take the stage and do STAND-UP COMEDY at this awesome bar followed by a bitchin' cover band who are gonna make it good times. Come enjoy!**

$5 at the DOOR - Make sure you say you're there for ME!

May 15/22/29 - 9:30pm THE FOOLHARDY MANOR presents SECOND FIRST SUMMER BBQ

VENUE: The Peoples Improv Theatre - Manhattan

TFM rocks the last three Saturdays in May with a full hour of BRAND NEW NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN sketches. They are so fresh and ready to start your summer!
TICKETS

May 24 - 7:00pm WARREN TALBOT'S HAIR-RAISING VARIETY HOUR

VENUE: The Peoples Improv Theatre - Manhattan

This random assortment of bits and performers will feature myself and other TFMers as well as many other awesomers doing solo work!

TICKETS

Mentösse

2010-04-22T23:38:00.001-04:00

Hey friendlies, check out this great new video from American Human Comedy,
featuring yours truly in a small roll. It's a spin on "The Freshmaker"!

They have more fun stuff up at the above link, so check it out!

Let me know what you think in the comments!

Operation 238 or How I Learned to Stop Stopping & Get Going

2010-04-20T19:52:00.000-04:00

This week I started with a personal trainer. Eating right and getting into shape is something I've always wanted for myself but have never been motivated to do, but recently, after quitting smoking (for the millionth time) in January and observing the subsequent appetite explosion, the idea (the GOAL) of getting into shape stopped feeling like a possible reality and started feeling very, very impossible.

"Someday" became a laugh and a smirk, usually with a mouthful of shitty food I probably wasn't even hungry for. That's when I knew something really serious needed to be done.

Someone once the hardest part isn't day one, it's day two, and that's a fact. Continuing the process past the first, highly-motivated, "get me outta this rut" experience is the real struggle. Changing life and habits, etc.

For the most part it's all common sense. Sure, if you want to target certain body areas or have strength/endurance goals, techniques and exercises are key, but as to leading a clean and healthy life, well, every day we look at convenience culture in the face and let it dominate us - at least I have, and that's the change I need to make in myself.

Now I think I'm finally ready to stop taking the easy, lazy route and really make a change. I've never been that into fitness and the culture surrounding going to the gym a lot will be a shock (my trainer and I have found little common ground entertainment-wise, with the exception of mutually appreciating Gladiator) but in time, maybe I, too, will appreciate Ultimate Fighting or regularly follow a professional sports team...who knows? Don't worry, I'll be careful - Joe Piscopo knows that nobody likes a diesel comedian.

This blog is titled Operation 238 because of the goal I have of dropping back to my lowest adult weight, which was in college. That is a long way to go, and if I continue these posts, I'll elaborate then. It is not some glory days dream, though, but a straw-man argument I plan on breaking down on my way to a new, and better tomorrow.

Thanks, guys, for reading through a different kind of blog today. But it's all relative. After all, it is called the Manoli Vozos Project for a reason. I love you.

New Posters for a New Show!

2010-04-20T19:05:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Roger Ebert for referencing (via his Twitter) the very talented and mind-blowing Japanese graphic artist Tadanori Yokoo. Ebert linked to this page, over at io9.com, which inspired me to create some new posters for the (ubiquitous on this blog) upcoming shows by my comedy group, The Foolhardy Manor*. Please read the below entry for info on our shows in May.

And, for jollies, I centered one on THE DEEP, a (fictional?) persona of one of the members of TFM.

Please, friends, patronize the comments section and let me know what you think. If you like these little Photoshop jazzies, I might be convinced to create more, maybe inspired by a different artist or genre (but probably all to promote TFM shows or those of my friends and creative neighbors).

While researching Yokoo, I came across Peter Max. He might be next for me!

*If there were enough readers of this blog to constitute a party, and one collected said readers in one room, served booze and read aloud the entries, one might suppose a drinking game could be developed; drinks triggered every time TFM is referenced. As most readers of this blog are either a. members of tfm b. bored of hearing about it or c. my immediate family, said drinking game is sadly unlikely.

A Brand New TFM Promo

2010-04-08T23:26:00.002-04:00

UPCOMING SHOWS!

2010-04-07T13:15:00.003-04:00

I'm happy to announce the latest dates for THE FOOLHARDY MANOR, the wonderful sketch & improv comedy group I am 1/8 of.

After last year's Memorial Day smash, FIRST SUMMER BBQ,

TFM is back at the PIT to kick start the summer with

SECOND FIRST SUMMER BBQ!

This time with THREE (3!) shows!

May 15/22/29 at 9:30PM

Tickets are $10 and available online!

Ladies and gentlemen, you are cordially invited to The Foolhardy Manor's Second First Summer BBQ! Their hysterical brand of delightful sketch comedy is guaranteed to help you kick off the summer with an extra large helping of funny. Slather that first hearty meal of the season with the Manor's unique brand of high-energy, super-smart, and tangy, house-bottled sketch sauce. Come around the back when you get to Stately Foolhardy Manor and take a seat by the pool, because we're gearing up for a cannonball that's sure to make a big splash. Come on, you're not looking!

CHECK OUT THIS EVENT ON FACEBOOK

Hot Tub Time Machine!

2010-03-28T22:36:00.003-04:00

dir. Steve Pink
wri. Josh Heald, Steve Anders & John Morris

starring: John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke

Well, what would you want from a movie called Hot Tub Time Machine?

10 things you'll get if you see the new Cusack production are:

1. Another awkward set-up where funny guys from different sides of the Hollywood scene have to act like they're old buddies in the cinematic equivalent of a transporter accident. When we first see Cusack and Robinson, they/re high school buddies that haven't been in touch for a while and the awkwardness works, but when they fondly reminisce about the "old days" it feels like Day 1 at acting school. I hate these awkward scenes but understand that they're necessary to facilitate what can end up being inspired casting for comedies (that aren't produced by Apatow & Co).

2. Chevy Chase uses his crazy grandpa persona of late to remake Don Knotts' role from Pleasantville.

3. Cusack slipping into his morose romantic shoes again. One of the many 1980s shout-outs includes getting him decked out in a Lloyd Dobler trenchcoat and prattling on with psuedo-poetic doomsday break-up rhymes.

4. Rob Corddry swinging for the fences in one of the most high-energy performances I've seen in a while. I'll admit, I'm not a Daily Show watcher and have only had minor knowledge of his work before HTTM, but it's his movie - and Cusack's glum characters always work better with a manic counterpark (Jack Black in High Fidelity, Jeremy Piven in GPB)

5. More Craig Robinson than ever! I always want more from the guy with one of the best delivery styles in the business, and he provides in this movie, especially in a late-movie roof-raiser that makes me happy.

6. Crispin Glover creeping you the fuck out by playing a nice guy.

7. A politically incorrect embracing of drugs, alcohol, sex & Poison.

8. Five-ten minutes of the awesome Lizzy Caplan.

9. One of the villains is named Blaine. Another is played by a cameo-ing classic 80s villain who I won't name here.

10. Totally Awesome references to Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Karate Kid, Back to the Future, and many more 80s trends, styles & songs.

This is a fun movie that won't win any awards. It's a good time, probably for one time. Worth seeing with friends for the big laughs, raunchy gags and general pot-head writing on a napkin ridiculousness.

Line of the movie might be from Crispin Glover's accidentally knocked down bellhop: "Are you raping?!"

FOPAS.

Kramerica Follow-Up

2010-03-27T10:52:00.000-04:00

I've run into him again. Next day. Same spot. Yes, Boba Fett was there too. 

It was surreal. Mr. Richards was staring at a real-estate poster and I commented on how there were some really nice apartments around there that we'd shot in. I mentioned the penthouse we recently shot in - with the all-white everything and the windows. He replied with something like "Of course the penthouses are nice." I wanted to fire back something about how he could afford it because he's probably crazy rich, but then I froze, because I was being presumptuous (Madoff?) and I didn't want to hurt his feelings (because the next time we meet would be the third date - and, well, I want it to go well). 

He said he liked my Superman T-shirt, and I said I liked dressing for the job I want (super-hero). We chatted about looking the part is important and how people call him "sir" when he's in a suit. We went our separate ways...he disappeared fast.

I'm still not sure I'm not the secret guest of a new hidden camera show: "So You Think You're Not Dreaming".

Yesterday we were in Far Rockaway and he wasn't there. I hope I see him one more time...I think he's the kinda guy you bring home to the folks, you know?

Me & Mike

2010-03-24T16:01:00.001-04:00

On my walk into the office, who should I run into completely out of the blue? Michael Richards, in black, with Fedora and tripod-ed Nikon D-SLR, standing, STARING at a street performer dressed as Boba Fett, playing the accordion. True story.

We chatted for five minutes. About my job (and how he thinks its cool), about his job (not working on anything - "they're scared of me...they're scared of their own shadow!"). We also discussed living in NY (too expensive) and if he goes to comedy clubs anymore. He was cool, totally engaged and interested in Locations work (not in working in it, but in the way it works).

My favorite part was when I asked if he'd work on old buddy Jerry Seinfeld's new show "The Marriage Ref" and the generally aloof and spacey Mr. Richards snapped into complete lucidity, scoffed and said "I'd never do that."

It took me a minute to realize I wasn't being punk'd or something (because he wasn't moving, he was just chilling, totally immersed in the Bounty Hunter's act) - when I did come to my senses, I suggested a photo and was overwhelmed by the amount of technology I had on me and took an awkward MySpace-style jam with the DSLR (first draft came out chinny and he judged me). I should have used Flip, but I didn't think of it in time.

Yes, I gave him my info and invited him to a show. He'll be sitting with Robert Smigel in the "Hell's Frozen Over" Section, with all celebs I've invited.

Rich Arnold, Movie Star

2010-03-21T21:31:00.000-04:00

This is my friend, Rich:

He is a secret movie star.

The Best Photo I've Ever Taken?

2010-03-21T21:27:00.001-04:00

From a recent event that I helped shoot, an awards dinner celebration: 

This is without any digital embellishment. 

Poetry

2010-03-16T00:01:00.001-04:00

Among the many things I've abandoned since entering the work force (drowning) is writing poetry. A little positive reinforcement went a long way when Mrs. Caponegro raved over a poem of mine about a snowflake (ecstatic crystal) in middle school. I always fancied myself a poet and even was pretty prolific for a few years, when my ego was inflated enough to even submit some of that bloated sing-song to be read & published. Ah, Academia - so accepting. Now, I feel like that was another life, when I was more creative and had the energy to look back at passages like this one and mow trite phraseology out of them with extreme prejudice. I'd like to be that hungry again - that focused. But alas, only time will tell.

Shutter Island Review (SPOILERS)

2010-03-01T11:39:00.003-05:00

Early release for good behavior recently, so I caught Scorsese's Shutter Island with my sister (her second time seeing it in four days).

Mr. Scorsese, (I hesitate to call him 'Marty', even in the comforts of my own site), is obviously a student of cinema, as well as one of the staunchest promoters for archiving and preserving classic films. With Shutter Island, and to a certain extent the pulpy B-movie that was The Departed, the maestro has taken to immersing himself in bygone genres and bringing them back into the public consciousness by executing them according to code, with a tailored amount of personal flourish.

In addition to demonstrating his reverence for Hollywood's yesterday, Scorsese is also declaring that "yes, they do make em like they used to, and they can be that good." It can, and should, be taken as a call for filmmakers to stop trying to reinvent the wheel and just focus on making damn good wheels.

Shutter Island is great film noir with all the trimmings: spooky locales, untrustworthy characters and plenty of wafting smoke. Its also a Hitchcock-like, or even Serling, mind-warp with a couple whoppers that will lead to debatable interpretations and does it make sense linear logic failings.I'm starting to really understand and embrace the idea that movies (tv, etc) occur in "a" sequence, but not chronological or logical sometimes, and not only is it okay, its better. I cite John Travolta's last-act resurrection in Pulp Fiction as crowd-pleasing but certainly not literal or chronological.

It is our adherence to linear perception that can be confounding during and after Shutter Island. Leo's Teddy Daniels is an unreliable narrator, but is our only choice. For the first chunk of the movie we are so with him: apprehension of the island, his a-ha deconstruction of the former Nazi doctor played by Max von Sydow & the sudden paranoia of the mausoleum scene. Once he admits his ulterior motives for taking the case, we start to disengage from him, realizing that the character hasn't been truthful to his partner, and the filmmakers have been keeping secrets too.

When the island, and its inhabitants, start to wear on him, distance spreads between our hero and our perception until we lose him completely. As Teddy gets more and more unhinged (and somehow ends up alone in a succession of spooky sets) we are still claustrophobically trapped with the Marshall in Shutter Island's Ashecliff, but we can no longer trust that our hero is going to get us out safely.

It feels stale to simply praise Leonardo DiCaprio yet again for a fine performance. In this film he plays a very distinctly layered character and even once the reveal has occurred, I still feel like DiCaprio was never dishonest with the audience. The movie may lead you in a labyrinthine journey, but his Teddy is convincing as both what he is and what he thinks he is. He really is a ferocious actor and you can see when he brings his talent to the next level (for Scorsese, and others) that he is demanding that quality of performance from the cast and crew he's working with. He's been the sharpest point in his last two Scorsese films and as always, I look forward to what's next.

Mark Ruffalo continues his string of remarkably solid work, without pomp and circumstance, as Leo's partner, Chuck, who is also not what he seems. He's so subtle and immersed in his character. His accent is strong, especially when he loses his cool (a point where Leo's accents start to falter).The resolution of his character is jarring, but logically sound, and features more subtle work that shows you how textured his (and DiCaprio's) performances have been, to that point. Did anyone else think he resembled Desi Arnaz with that zoot suit?

I have to admit that when I read that Ben Kingsley (The Sopranos) and Max Von Sydow (Judge Dredd) were cast in this project I was afraid of more third-act "whoops, look who's the villain" red-herring-itis that is so common in film and serial television these days. You know, the kind that plagues Law & Order and has kept Gene Hackman and John Voight in the black since the late nineties. I was happily surprised when not only did they not end up being criminal masterminds, but also their characters had more dimension and flesh & blood than they would have in any other iteration of this haunted house mystery. I can't believe Von Sydow's virility at 80 years old. Kingsley, with shaved pate and goatee, is a combination of the crazed evil-other Arab from the period of noir and also, anachronistically, the sleek, modern gangster he's so often played lately. His psychiatrist is supposed to be modern and sensitive, and he hits all the right notes. The end result of his character is also gratifying for someone who's tired of seeing good actors turn into psychopaths with 10 minutes left in a movie.

Michelle Williams is so off-kilter and crazy-eyed in her final scene that she completely animates what amounted to little more than macabre posing and whining. Playing a dream image can be a thankless role (unless you're Phoebe Cates) but she's great in it. Her crime is so horrible though.

Featured performances from Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson, Jackie Earl Haley & Elias Koteas are mile makers on DiCaprio's road to hell; flashy, pulpy mile-markers dripping with mystery and mood. (Sin City and the countless other neo-noirs might take a lesson - as should their actors).

The last shot of the lighthouse is memorable, and much more subtle then the CGI rat from The Departed that rubbed so many audience members the wrong way. We've seen the inside, empty and dark, without "ghost"-making labs or evil Nazi workshops, but its still gloomy and looming over the craggy rocks and unfriendly waters. Is it what it seemed? No. Is it still creepy? Yes. What really does go on in there? Probably sewage treatment, as the guard stated earlier.

The largest role, undiscussed to this point, is that of Scorsese, filmmaker, and "Scorsese" the brand, which the man, in collaboration with longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker and a succession of the best in the business, has cultivated in the ironic internet age, to represent not only quality film-making, but the subtlest wink, and over-flourish of style, that some critics would consider "directing like himself." This is also a common critique of Tim Burton and any other idiosyncratic filmmaker with a distinct visual style. When we first arrive on Shutter Island, we're given the nickel tour of the three wards, complete with classic Scorsese whip-pans, that popped out even more than usual. The cuts within the pans were more evident this time around then in similar instances in The Departed. Quick series of shots/sounds, such as the doors opening in Ward C later in the film are also tools in the work-belt of the man, who lately has been looser with them then before.

And only he can get away with that. Is that fair? No. Is it fine? Yes.

The man makes big movies with personality. If, and when, he chooses to narrow his focus and give us an intimate look at a human soul again (Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, The Aviator) he will tighten up and be spartan in his adherence to story over substance. Time will show, though, that this period, his DiCaprio period, is about style & substance. His willingness to be the film-maker AND passenger on the ride.

Trailer Trash: Leaves of Grass

2010-02-14T10:45:00.000-05:00

Tim Blake Nelson (Clooney & Turturro's cohort in O Brother, Where Art Thou?) has jumped behind the scenes, writing and directing this farce, starring, as two twin brothers, Edward Norton, one of whom sells pot. So,...a pot comedy starring Edward Norton? It actually looks pretty good! Apparently, it's had a long road to the big screen after its production in 2009 (but then again, some great movies never get a shot).

Based on the small budget and unsellable subject matter, this seems like a favors-called-in sort of casting job, which might allow featured players like Susan Sarandon & Richard Dreyfuss to cut loose and have a lot of fun. Keri Russel is the hometown, country girl that straight-laced Norton 1 falls for when he returns home to the country after the (faked) death of his twin, who owes money to crime-boss Dreyfuss.

99% of the time I cannot stand Edward Norton. I acknowledge he is a talented actor, technically proficient, and very able to lead a movie; However, something about him takes me out of the movie and back into the theater/living room watching him. However, this looks like a fun movie and might be a corner turner for my audience relationship with Norton.

I'll On-Demand this.

'Leaves of Grass' trailer on Apple

Testing Blogaway Ap for Droid

2010-02-11T17:20:00.001-05:00

I found this cute little ap today after successfully using the Droid's Wordpress Ap to update The Foolhardy Manor 's site from work out on the street's of NYC. So far, so good.

Now I can update this blog, TFMs site & the L&O blog while on location! Ain't technology grand?!

While I have your attention, be sure to check out the aforementioned site for that post, which features all sorts of info on our upcoming shows at the P.I.T.

Trailer Trash: Cop Out

2010-02-09T22:31:00.000-05:00

So, a few weeks ago the trailer for Kevin Smith's new film "Cop Out" was released (The working title was "A Couple of Dicks") and it was decent if not underwhelming. Obviously someone in an ill-fitting suit changed the name. Kevin Smith has been touting this as "Fletch"-like and like a 70s/80s buddy comedy on his twitter alot recently, and now, with the release of the Red-Band trailer, I'm starting to see how the classic-or-cliche set-up of staggeringly different partners who work so well together and make wise-cracks will work with the always amazingly random Tracy Morgan (30 Rock) and Bruce Willis (Everything awesome.) I see some improv, some action and some movie star-mugging and a lot of fun. I will definitely be seeing this. Looks very funny and features Seann William Scott, who's better than just being "Stifler" forever and rocked so hard in "Role Models".

Side Note: Tracy & Stevie Wonder's VW commerical was my favorite of the Super Bowl.

Trailer Trash: City Island

2010-01-30T08:53:00.001-05:00

This little bugger crept up on me when I was perusing Apple for updates. City Island is a new Italian family comedy written & directed by Raymond De Felitta, whose only other work has seemingly been Italian family comedies (stick with what you know).

Andy Garcia & Julianna Margulies play a long-married couple who break each other's balls alot. They all have secrets: the daughter isn't in college on a scholarship anymore (she's stripping), neither of the parents quit smoking like they said, Andy enrolled in an acting class (with Alan Arkin playing the teacher)...etc. Comedy of errors the Gabagool way.

Pretty funny trailer with some stand out moments including (you'll get it when you watch it) the Brando moment, Andy's handcuff reaction and pretty much everything Julianna Margulies says.

Here's the link to the Apple Quicktime trailer.

I'll see this (but I doubt I'll find it until OnDemand).

Trailer Trash: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

2010-01-28T20:59:00.000-05:00

Alright kiddies, a quickie because I have to go to bed. Epic day tomorrow in the teens/20s of degrees.

The trailer for Oliver Stone's latest, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps has hit IMDB (here). I must admit that I've never seen the original, only parts, but having culturally osmosed most of the deal of it, as well as reading about this new one, I think I get the gist: Michael Douglas plays Gordon Gekko, the king weasel of NYC money world, he leads people to their financial ruin. A young idealist (Charlie Sheen in the 80s, Shia LaBeouf now) squares off. Battle/sex/yelling/cops/NYC.

Based on the trailer, I think it looks good. With MD looking pretty good for 7 facelifts (unconfirmed) and Shia looking young and flashy, as well as Josh Brolin & a very angry Frank Langella for two frames, I think we're in for a treat, performance-wise. The cast list boasts some big names we don't even see, like Susan Sarandon & Eli Wallach.The plot itself might not be too surprising, because since Wall Street came out we've seen a thousand versions of young man/old scoundrel financial/business/political thriller with sexy shots of NYC in it. Mr. Stone knows how to shoot a movie, and him returning to NYC after 20 very serious years is an intriguing sell for this film. MD looks like he's ready to be back in the saddle, too.

Say what you will about Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but Harrison Ford looked livelier and more present than he had in years. As does Michael Douglas in this trailer. Perhaps Shia carries in him some secret Fountain of Youth canteen OR he really is as good as all the major directors who keep casting him insist, and he makes these old tireds step their game up....Let's get him with Pacino/DeNiro/Nicholson ASAP.

I'll see this.

Blogging via Android?

2010-01-28T09:26:00.000-05:00

this will be helpful the next time the mood really grabs me.

have a great snowy thursday, friends.

love you

Fantastic Mr. Fox

2010-01-24T21:44:00.003-05:00

Just saw Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, a stop-motion adventure based on a Roald Dahl book. I never read the original, but it does have the feel of other Dahl adventures, especially James and the Giant Peach (although that connection is probably also magnified by the stop-motion of that book that I saw when I was a wee lad...).

This is a fun, wild adventure for adults. It's not dirty, lewd or anything inappropriate for children, except that very mature, well-rounded adult relationships are presented (albeit between clay animals) and the humor is as dry as any other Wes Anderson movie. George Clooney and Meryl Streep were excellent as the man and his wife. Anderson regular Jason Schwartzman does fine work as Ash, their son. Other fun voice-work from Willem Dafoe (great character, his Rat) and Michael Gambon as one of the villainous humans. And, naturally, W.A.'s muse, Mr. Bill Murray, as Badger, a lawyer.

It's a very hip movie, but not in the ways that make Diablo Cody so irritating, though haters could dismiss it as too hip to be real. I felt the coolness, the style of it, but I wasn't taken aback by it, instead it welcomed me and invited me in to have a good time with the world they were creating. The pop music cues work because its a W.A. film (and we know that) and because it's all soaked in that "ooh yeah" ipod sensibility that makes things easily digestible now. I wonder if this movie were made 20 years ago what kind of score it'd have...?

I definitely recommend it, as well as Up in the Air, for two fine Clooney performances this year.

See this movie!

Welcome to 2010

2010-01-22T18:31:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone, just did some minor cosmetic changes on the site. What do you think of the place?

I resolve to update more and more, as often as I can. That's why this New Year's post is coming to you 23 days into the latest and greatest decade.
---
Last night, I made my stand up comedy debut at The Crossroads, where my comedy gang threw a sexy party for Haiti relief featuring stand-ups and music and improv. It didn't all hit the bullseye, but it was well worth it.

We raised $332 for the American Red Cross!

I'd like to post some video of it soon. Then you all can fwd it to each other and I'll go viral. BAM. That's how it happens: with a blog named after yourself.
--

In all frankness, thanks to my family and friends for constantly supporting my creative endeavors. I love you all. I am blessed with a life where by day I can work in television and by night I can work on my own projects. It's impossible to measure the happiness a given work of art can generate in an audience and how that happiness affects other people, but just knowing it does in any small portion makes me not only satisfied with what I do, but also proud.

Best.

TFM's Post-Christmas Show!

2009-12-24T14:42:00.001-05:00

Hey, friendos, this Saturday 12/26, The Foolhardy Manor returns to the People's Improv Theater for our amazing, improvised POST-CHRISTMAS SHOW! Come check us out at 8PM and stay for A VERY ROOSTER CHRISTMAS at 9:30PM, featuring TFM's own Gary DeNoia!

Buy tickets here!

Here are three brand-new promos from TFM to get you pumped for the upcoming show!

Happy Holidays to you all. See you Saturday!

Trailer Trash: NINE

2009-12-01T14:47:00.004-05:00

Chicago's Rob Marshall returns to the big screen with his adaptation of the stage-version of the film 8 1/2 by Frederico Fellini. "Best Actor Ever" Daniel Day-Lewis is a man in lady-land as Guido, a film director who's lost his inspiration and is swamped with visions of all the ladies in his life, played by Nicole Kidman, Fergie, Sophia Loren, Marian Cotillaird, Penelope Cruz, Kate Hudson, Dame Judi Dench and a leggy ensemble.

This looks like a lot of fun. I'm sure it will look pretty, and since I very much enjoyed the original film, I can't wait for this. Especially because of the mesmerizing female cast Marshall has put together to help illustrate Guido's life & times & neurosese.

Wish we had a glimpse of DDL singing in the trailer. Penelope looks amazing. As does Sophia, as always.

A note on naming: "The film's title refers to 8½ being Fellini's eighth and a half film as a director. His previous directorial work consisted of six features, two short segments, and a collaboration with another director, Alberto Lattuada, the latter three productions accounting for a "half" film each." * The adaptation of 8 1/2 as stage musical Nine is 1/2 step a work...so wouldn't this now be 9 1/2? - probably too hard to market...

Trailer in Quicktime

*BBC Review

No/Mo Wrap-Up

2009-12-01T14:07:00.001-05:00

Movember

I participated in Movember, a month-long moustache-growing movement, in order to raise money for prostate and testicular cancer charities. Thanks to the generosity of my friends, family and co-workers, I raised $200.01. Next year, I hope to dominate that and help find a cure. Maybe I'll start a team. Anyone interested? Thanks again to the donors!

As of this morning, I am stache-less and back to stubblia. I think I'm going with the stubbeard this Christmas season.

The Stubbeard's back and it's better than ever, for Christmas this year, the Stubbeard is here!

Foolhardy Activity
In case you hadn't heard: My improv/sketch group THE FOOLHARDY MANOR performed three times this month. The first, as a competitor in live comedy game-show JACKPOT at Crash Mansion, on Tuesday 11/24. We didn't win, but we did show off Astro-Teens to a great new audience and met some fantastic people in the industry, including the super-cool organizers and judges!

Last Saturday was also our 2 SHOWS/ 2 STATES/ 1 NIGHT blow-out featuring improv sets at NYC's The People's Improv Theater and NJ's The Crossroads in Garwood. Both shows had great turnouts and lots of love and support. Thanks to those who made it to those shows, especially those who made it to BOTH.

Georgia's Birthday
November was also the birth month of my sister, Georgia, who we celebrated in style at Chammps' before the strangest late-night citizens on patrol drunk-driver-following incident in Springfield, NJ. I ought to elaborate on this, but I won't, for now...

I'm hoping December to be happy, healthy, fun and productive for all!

Enjoy the last month of the first decade of the new millenium, friends (nerds argue my time-stats...NOW)

<3

Trailer Trash: Green Zone/Date Night/ Prince of Persia

2009-11-15T21:01:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone, I'm still working on how to structure this column, so this round'll be a little different. This time I'm talking about several upcoming movies (whose trailers are available HERE.)

The Green Zone stars Matt Damon and is directed by Paul Greengrass, the team behind The Bourne Supremacy/Ultimatum. My impression of this trailer is that they've gone overboard on the politics and Damon plays the Only Man in the US Armed Forces Who Questions His Sources and somehow goes on a one-man mission. Greg Kinnear plays the stuffed suit who's after him. Brendan Gleeson does a good US accent. Other than that, it feels like Bourne has become a genre outside of itself (including the new Bonds and Batmen) and this is the latest movie in that genre. It looks like the Bourne movie that finally cuts loose. Still suffers from that Middle-East vaguely current, vaguely political backdrop that bogs down a lot of would-be ball-busting action movies lately. 

http://www.greenzonemovie.com/

Date Night features two NBC headliners, Steve Carell and Tina Fey, as a married couple who've stalled out and go on weekly date nights as part of their routine. A case of mistaken identity one night leads to a series of misadventures that get more and more action movie-esque as the trailer progresses. I thought it was going to be something akin to Couples Retreat, when I saw on IMDb the cast included Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Leighton Meester and James Franco.I totally expected something different from what I knew before the trailer, which is basically the first sentence of this review. However, based on the talent these two have on TV, and a hope that it'll go slam-bang nuts in the last acts and turn into total craziness like Adventures in Babysitting and If Looks Could Kill, I'll definitely be giving this one a chance.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/datenight/

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time looks laughably bad. I am anti-snark and pro-positivity but I'm also common sense and this movie looks like crap. Jake Gyllenhaal, a very talented actor, and also formerly-dreamy in the young urban sneaker wearing way, stars in this Disney/Bruckheimer production, which basically means he poses and gets digitized into one CGI sequence after another. This trailer kinda reminds me of when actors "star" in video games. I wish I could have been present during the meeting where Jake's people talked him into this project. What kind of penis-envy was he feeling when he signed up for a series of his own? Clearly, Disney's feeling the pain of no longer having Pirates to keep their summers afloat and their aching for a new tentpole series. Yesterday's theme park ride movie is tomorrow's video game adaptation. This looks less believable than the Scorcher trailers in Tropic Thunder.

Prince of Persia Official Site

That'll do it for this session. Watch the trailers! Let me know what you think; agree, disagree, think I'm nuts, think I'm right on? Let's have a discussion.

Trailer Trash: Kick-Ass

2009-11-11T14:05:00.001-05:00

The trailer's hit for Kick-Ass, the adaptation of the Mark Millar comic book that wasn't done being written when it got picked up for film. The ultra-violent post-modern (Not-Watchmen) story is basic: kid wants to be a super-hero, kid dresses up, kick gets ass kicked a lot, starts meeting other wannabes, starts getting some attention, pisses off a bad guy - and that's pretty much where the comic was when it went into production under director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake) for Marv Films. 

Kick-Ass

Trailer Park | MySpace Video

Knowing the basic story going in, it's exciting, but for the many millions and millions who know nothing about this comic book, does the trailer make me want to see it? 

It's too early to tell.

The one-scene trailer style is a welcome departure from the "epic montage featuring scenes from every part of the movie and if you look close and know anything about the movie you know we just blew the ending for you"-style. We, as trailer viewers have to be so discriminatory against late-period trailers because they blow everything. There are too few teasers these days.(The problem is fueled by a study I can't find - poor writing, I know- that polled audiences and found  that knowing the ending of a movie wouldn't stop them from seeing it. So now every movie's ending is fair game to be blown by a trailer/teaser/tv spot). 

Since the movie doesn't come out until April, the creators are being careful not to kill their nascent buzz too early. For example, the biggest stars shown in the trailer is the kid from Sex Drive and McLovin with a lesbian haircut. IMDB tells us that not only does it feature said young-round-dwight schrute and kate gosselin-plasse, it also features the king of crazy, the man who's wanted a super-hero movie since before they were Hollywood currency, Mr. NICOLAS CAGE. Nic Cage brings the crazy, as evident in the trailer for his upcoming quasi-remake Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, and if Kick-Ass goes to the violence is so-bad-it's-good satirical places that it should go to (instead of being just super-hero blood porn), Nic's the right guy for the job.  

The rest of the cast list is unfamiliar to me, with exception of Michael Rispoli, who was so excellent on The Sopranos as Jackie Aprile, Sr. and also in Invincible and many other working man roles.

Stay tuned for updates on Kick-Ass as new trailers are released.

Trailer Trash: The Wolfman

2009-10-21T16:33:00.004-04:00

This is the first of a new regular series here at the E-manual: TRAILER TRASH! Here I'll be reviewing the previews for upcoming movies. I probably won't embed anything because I think everything should be seen in glorious Quicktime, and thus I'll be sending you to apple.com/trailers or maybe yahoo trailers to check them out. Apple doesn't embed. Yahoo might.

It's probably best to watch the trailers first and then read the article. I'll be talking about THE WOLFMAN.  

I'll start with the new trailer for Spielberg-protege Joe Johnston's (Jumanji, The Rocketeer, Jurassic Park 3) THE WOLFMAN, starring Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) and Hugo "Agent Smith" Weaving.

The new trailer has a very exciting momentum to it and seems to promise multiple transformation scenes with great SFX. I expect some combination of the moody & manic Del Toro, and some scenery chewing from Anthony Hopkins. Weaving's role is ambiguous, but I bet it's something of a lawman. He's got the silver bullets...I hope the lovely Emily Blunt has something more to do than pout, be confused and run.

Rick Baker does the special make-up effects. He worked on Michael Jackson's Thriller video, and has previously wolfed out on: Wolf, with Jack Nicholson, An American Werewolf in London, & The Howling.

Apparently there's been some release date issues; I hope that's not a hint at mediocrity, since I'm ready for a quality werewolf film. No, I don't think the Underworld movies are good. 

I definitely want to see this one.


This post is brought to you 
by Citizens for a Foolhardy Halloween.  

And now, for something completely Python

2009-10-19T09:57:00.003-04:00

Terry Jones, of the seminal sketch comedy group Monty Python, held a writing seminar this past Saturday at the P.I.T. Some of my Foolhardy Man-friends and I were in attendance. Now, I must admit that I am not the world's foremost Python fan and I can neither quote nor cite much of their work. Sloppy, I know, but honestly, as a wee ignoramus I resisted it because of fear of stiff-upper-lip-itis and the dryness of British Comedy. (With the exception of Mr. Bean, who was quiet, physical and readily available via HBO).

The seminar remedied my lack of knowledge with a multitude of video clips from the different work of Mr. Jones, including some rarities and never-before-seens. I think too much of the roughly 2 hr event was filled with watching clips, though, and we never really broke the ice. He answered questions plainly and humorously, but there was a lack of detail and insight into the promise, at least for my expectations of a 'writing seminar'. It was more like an episode of 'Inside the Actor's Studio.'

- While discussing Mr. Creosote from Meaning of Life, he expressed the same concerns that amateurs will feel: "Will people think this is funny?"

- He promoted writing with a partner, as a springboard and someone to say "that is funny." It breaks the 'closed circuit' in your head and gives fresh perspective....Also, he mentioned that John Cleese works solo with his sketches. Different strokes...

- The pressure of submitting new sketches: Do we "dare the exposure of the group!"

- He showed his first film as a wee lad "Deck Chairs". A Stop-Motion of chairs doing it. It reminded me of "Back in Time" and some of the other shorts my cousins and I used to make.

Mr. Jones & some of the Foolhardies

Check out www.TheFoolhardyManor.com for the outcome of our SKETCH-PROV Prelim show, Thursday and possible FRIDAY NIGHT SHOW!

Speaking of sketch-comedy, tickets are still available for our Halloween show!
Buy online for cheaper tickets and a shot at winning great prizes at the party!

CASTING CALL for Northern NJ SONY shoot

2009-10-02T20:14:00.002-04:00

Hey friends,

Midnight Media, a very cool video production company in Millburn, where yours truly got his start in pro video production with an internship during my college years, is working a corporate video for SONY next week.

The shoots are Tues-Thursday NIGHTS at the Garden State Plaza Mall. I am told it'll be in shifts of about 10pm-3am and 3am-8am or something like that. If you are unavailable for overnight work, this probably isn't for you.

They're looking for all types, so please send your contact information, availability and a photo to:

Sherry Bloom
201-869-5336
sherry@mmgi.tv

Please don't send stuff to me because I'm not personally casting this project.

http://www.mmgi.tv/index.php

PLEASE PASS THIS ALONG!

U2 twice

2009-09-25T15:42:00.006-04:00

Last night, I attended the second of two U2 shows at Giants Stadium this fall. This was also the second U2 show I've seen this summer, and second ever. The first was the second show of their 360 tour in Barcelona this past July, on the 2nd of July. Whoa. Whoa.

My cousin Aris and I arrived with third tier tickets that we eventually switched and upgraded and blah-di-blahed into General Admission. (This would also be the second time I'd see U2 from the floor). I heard Muse, the openers, distantly from the parking lot and wish I'd seen them. Noticed they played Hysteria and Time is Running Out.

This time around I avoided the mistake I made at the Barcelona show and brought a camera. I wasn't at nose-hair distance this time, but still very close. (Pictures a'comin).

They flew threw a set of about 2hrs in length and included Breathe, Get on Your Boots, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day, No Line on the Horizon, Magnificent, Elevation, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Unknown Caller, Until The End Of The World, Stay, Unforgettable Fire, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy - Remix, Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On, One, & Where The Streets Have No Name, in that order. And then an encore of: Ultraviolet, With or Without You & Moment of Surrender.

From the show report on U2's site:

Sir Mick Jagger, Phil Ramone, Kanye West, Rick Rubin all got shout-outs from Bono tonight, and the near 85,000-strong audience made it a night to remember.

Stand-out moment ? Probably when another youngster got invited to lap the stage for City of Blinding Lights.
The band also smashed the house record tonight at Giants Stadium. The previous attendance record was held by Pope John Paul II after his visit to the stadium in 1995.

With gig goers in excess of 84472 it was a fantastic night at Giants. Speaking from the stage at the end of the night Bono said, "News just in. We've broken every record for attendance in this stadium - including the Pope. Sorry Bruce - we know its your birthday and all". Before adding later, "I know they're knocking this place down...we probably won't be here again before the wrecking ball but it was a magic place for us as well as the Giants"

A good time! A good time! Love shows. Love shows at Giants Stadium. Hope the new one is as good.

Indiana Jones and the Binder of Nerd

2009-09-13T22:44:00.005-04:00

Right now, I am making my way through a transcription of a conversation between George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Laurence Kasdan that was the beginning of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'. Before they were the infallible titans of blockbuster cinema, they were California boys who hadn't done their research yet but knew a good concept when they saw one. Fleshing out ideas and characters, coming up with bits we wouldn't see for years, cracking on each other. It's hundreds of pages long and I printed it and bound it. I'm a nerd. And a geek. I'm human, and now, I read, so were they.

2009-09-05T13:44:00.001-04:00

Toy Movies

Atom.com: Funny Videos | Animation | TV & Movie Spoofs

The Cat-Pillow Experiment

2009-09-03T15:33:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow, one-night-only, THE FOOLHARDY MANOR takes the stage at the People's Improv Theater, in lovely NYC, for an hour of comedy, off-the-cuff humorism, critical analysis, and Catskills humor.

FACEBOOK! Event Details

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=145659978652&ref=nf#/ical/event.php?eid=145659978652

TICKETS! On Sale Now*
*Tickets are $10, plus a $1.24 service fee - this is how the theater chooses to sell tickets. Some standby tickets are available at the theater before the show, but they are first come/ first serve, so if it looks like you're going to come, buy early, because, also, it helps us get our mojo up knowing people are coming. Thanks. I said mojo.

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/78944

The Foolhardy Manor Promo

2009-08-31T13:53:00.001-04:00

The Cat-Pillow Experiment Promo

2009-08-31T13:51:00.000-04:00

What's good, Manoli? Well it's funny that you ask..

2009-08-29T16:00:00.003-04:00

The news at 4pm:

I have registered for a Twitter account. Aren't I cutting edge? If you are inclined, by all means follow my ramblings throughout the course of the day. Too often I am away from a computer and unable to update my cubicle-bound or otherwise mobile device enabled web-surfing friends on my otherwise unknowable thoughts, opinions or situations. No longer will I withhold such knowledge from you. For knowledge is power.

http://twitter.com/manolivozos

News re: THE SUPREME COURT comedy group

We are changing our name once again. Surprising, I know. For those with the scorecards, it's Vile Bros > The Supreme Court > and now......

THE FOOLHARDY MANOR.

That's us. We're great. Love us. Friend us. Follow us. Fan us. Be there for our shows. Watch our videos. Come on, you know you want to.

Thanks to those who came out to our live show Friday at OTTO'S Shrunken Head on 14th St (b/w Ave A & B). It was a fun sketchprov set along with some other cool groups (and one uncool).

Upcoming show: This Friday, September 4 at The People's Improv Theater:

THE CAT-PILLOW EXPERIMENT
For one night only, a rag-tag group of scholars will be performing an unscripted show. That's right, an entire theatrical piece created before your very eyes. They'll be using your suggestions, which they will so gladly welcome. Worlds will be created and characters will be born. It is one-night only. It is improvised. It is The Cat-Pillow Experiment.

Click the name of the show for tickets.
Tickets should be bought in advance, only stand-bys available at the door.

SKETCHPROV

The Foolhardy Manor is applying for The PIT's SKETCHPROV competition:

"Improv teams and sketch teams will compete in rounds of competition that will challenge them to do the comedic art they know best in round one and to stretch into the lesser known after that. For groups that make it past round one, improv teams will do improv AND sketch, sketch teams will do sketch AND improv. Teams that advance to the finals will try their hand at Sketchprov, using the Second City routine called "The Pad."

In “The Pad” the team comes out onstage, gets suggestions from the audience for locations, activities, character motivations and so forth, jots them down on a pad - hence the name, then goes backstage for about 10 to 15 minutes while another group is performing a scene. Backstage, the team plans out the basic beats of a sketch, then returns to the stage to improvise the story they've already mapped out. "

The application goes in Monday and we'll know if we make it through soon. Wish us luck!

Thanks!

Also, friends, family, lovers and stalkers, please take some time to check out and download the new demo from WEST THE DEFENDER!

After a great debut last night at Crossroads in Garwood, the gentlemen of the mysteriously named quintet will no doubt be rocking stages in the area very soon. Fan them here on Facebook so you're guaranteed to not miss any news and information. Glad to hear the boys back in top form.

Thanks for reading, friends.

So I Forgot to Tell You...

2009-08-17T14:09:00.003-04:00

I am going away in June and not coming back until August. Sorry about that.

Hi, I'm back now. I spent 6 weeks in Europe (hate on), came back, then went to Camp Fatima, the best place in the world for a week of fun, love, magic and green airbrushing. I went there under the impression I was going to be Donkey in the week's Shrek-themed plays, instead, I got the call to the big show and was an airbrushed, super-sexy by Greek Shrek.

So, now, here I am, back at work. My toe nails still have green specks on them and my throat is a little hoarse, but I'm all the better for it.

For the uninitiated "Camp Fatima is a not-for-profit, non-sectarian organization designed for children and adults with developmental disabilities. " That's the description from the website, but it doesn't come close to describing the love, humility, sacrifice, humor, perspective, energy and magic shared by the campers, counselors, volunteers, parents & donors that make up the community. It's the best thing going on in my life and I'm already looking forward to next year's week.

For two one week sessions in August, (and other weekend events throughout the year) Camp Fatima is a get-away for campers, providing outdoor playing, one on one attention and the love and care necessary to create a great atmosphere for the campers while they are away from home. Camp also provides for the families a much needed breath of fresh air and a chance to spend time with their other children or to provide an atmosphere unavailable at home.

More info: http://www.campfatimanj.org/campfati/

If you're interested in volunteering, please check out the link above or comment below and I'll be in touch with you. It's a worthwhile experience and if you think it's something you'd enjoy doing, you probably will, and I'd love to help get you there. Same thing if you have a family member or friend who might be camper material.

To quote long-time volunteer Patti G,
"Reach your hand up as high as you can.
Now reach a little bit higher.
-- We can always do more."

Everywhere we go, people want to know, who we are, so we tell them, we are Fatima, Mighty Mighty Fatima, Yes we are, Yes we are!"

In the style of stylefyles

2009-05-26T15:45:00.006-04:00

Thanks again to everyone who came out to The Supreme Court's sketch show last Saturday. Another great show. Another sell-out crowd. I am so grateful for the support of my friends and family...

But enough of this gooey sh-ow of emotion. Here's what I wore:

Somebody's going away for the summer - and that somebody's a big boy who needed new clothes + Tinton Falls Outlets w/ Memorial Day Weekend Sales = New Threads. The pants are Tommy Hilfiger $21.24, shirt Kohl's (yeah, I said it) Urban Pipeline $15. Shoes VINTAGE MANNY VOZOS VANS (complete with homegrown small toe-area tear that allows for proper ventilation). Thanks Mary, I love you.

For the real-deal in style, check out stylefyles.com

Thanks to IMattMyPantalones for photo help.

Apatow & Apatowian

2009-05-20T15:07:00.008-04:00

Within the trailer for Judd Apatow's latest film, Funny People, I detect a slight choice in marketing copy that I think is an attempt to seperate Apatow's written/directed films from the many similarly-vibed & casted comedies that have been coming out since he broke out with The 40 Year Old Virgin (some involving Apatow in a producing or co-writing capacity, others two degrees away or more).

The Tell-Tale Caption: The Third Film from Judd Apatow Director of "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up". This caption is presented right before the first dramatic turn of the trailer, as The Postal Service's "We Will Become Sillouhettes" kicks in, cueing "this isn't raunchy, this is real" feelings from audience members who buy it.

I think this trailer is trying to jump ahead of the pack and say hey, look, we can be better. I hope it will be better than the rest of the pack including Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I Love You, Man, Pineapple Express, Superbad, Role Models & Step Brothers, but it's got to prove it's more than a collection of clever jokes and fun personalities wrapped around the same tired cliches. This formula (which has been covered before by others) is the same for most, and Apatow isn't the first or the last to latch onto it: The Slacker-Done-Good has been in play forever, since Jackie Gleason and the entire sitcom genre.

The difference lately is the casual comedy, funny to hang out with vibe that the extended ensemble of these movies offers.

Regarding both types of movies, I enjoy how these movies take the cliche moments and plots and turn in funny scenes with their distinct improv/pop culture reference/shlubby hero comedy - but I don't think they need to include the exact moments of cliche in them, bc they're still cliche.

For example, in Sarah Marshall, when Peter and Sarah face each other in the lobby of the Hawaiian resort, both realizing the awkwardness to come and both refusing to lose ground in the 'love-is-a-battlefield' square-off, that movie's magic girl*, Rachel (Mila Kunis) goes out on a limb to book Peter the deluxe suite for free (another unexplained bit of magic). This scene allows the plot we know is coming to go into action, but all it does is point out how flimsy it really is - same as the falling in love scenes between Heigl & Rogen in Knocked Up or the third act dope-done-good montages in both of those films.

*The Magic Girl (n. a beautiful, young, intelligent lady who is both above the typical materialism of other girlfriends, able to eat hot dogs and drink beer, and happens to be attracted to sloppy, overweight losers who don't have jobs, and is usually criminally unaware of her hotness. ie: Mary, There's Something About Mary, Allison, Knocked Up, Jules & Becca, Superbad, etc). This character type is as essential to these comedies as the shlub himself.

The exception to the Magic Girl rule is Mrs. Judd herself, Leslie Mann, who is not only one of the gang but is above the gang with her ability to filet co-stars with her sharp tongue. Her performance in Funny People is perhaps the one I am most anticipating, since she does so wonderfully in smaller roles that I think she'll ease into leading lady territory very well. She and Sandler have great bickering chemistry in Big Daddy (though she wasn't his belle in that movie, that was Joey Lauren Adams). Mann as the one who got away is ripe for heartbreak and of all the slob wishfulfillment that comes with these movies, I hope they don't scrimp on the reality of how hard it is to break up a marriage and give the two an easy happy ending. A hard-earned happy ending would be acceptable but hard to pull off.

The helpful dose of magic in these films offsets what could be really heady circumstances for the protagonists. Themes like teenage sexuality, unplanned pregnancy, unemployment, and now terminal illness (not to mention extreme Peter Pan syndrome) are made entertaining by the lightest nudge from bitter to bittersweet. "Marriage is like a tense, unfunny version of Everybody Loves Raymond, only it doesn't last 22 minutes. It lasts forever." - Knocked Up.

The mix of heart and raunch is a tightrope - one bodily function joke too far and you've dehumanized your characters (Zach & Miri might have done this) Even the benchmark, the Farrelly Bros' There's Something About Mary doesn't occur in as real a world as the Apatow films, but it's a fun world and sometimes better presented then the narrow-visioned world of the A-world, where no one ever needs to work.

Most Apatowian films are fun enough diversions from other derivative dreck being released. No, snobs, they are not reinventing the wheel, but they are fun movies and sometimes even elicit great emotional response. (David Wain's Role Models transcends the label - with an ending made of pure bliss - it is strongly connected because of Paul Rudd starring and writing, but he was a Wain-man before becoming Apatowian). The difference being non-directed Apatowian films are usually more silly, high concept (Talledega Nights or Zohan) and lack the sincerity and I-don't-have-all-the-answers admission that keeps his movies honest.

Funny People is one my most anticipated films this summer and I hope it does well and is up to my expectations.

It's too bad beautiful young ingenues haven't fallen for shlubby sketch comics from NJ, but then again, Judd hasn't read my new script yet...so we'll see what happens in a few months.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

NBC Renews Law & Order; Changes Time Slot

2009-05-19T20:45:00.003-04:00

NBC has finally gotten their act together and renewed Law & Order for a record-tieing 20th Season:

On Fridays in the fall, the enduring drama "Law & Order" will return

for its record 20th season (tying "Gunsmoke" as the longest running

drama series in primetime) and will lead off at 8-9 p.m. (ET)

while "Southland" follows at 9-10 p.m. (ET), building a great crime block.

Unfortunately, My Name is Earl and Medium were cancelled. Other switcheroos were pulled and they've booked a Thursday night timeslot for SNL Update prime-time specials. (during a non-election year? that makes me nervous...don't dilute the brand)

The full text of the Press Release can be found here.

Supreme Court Sketch Comedy

2009-05-19T19:26:00.004-04:00

Hey, friends, in case there are friends who read this who were also in attendance last Saturday at the People's Improv Theater for our first show as The Supreme Court, I wanted to extend my thanks for your ongoing support and attendance at out events.

The show was a rousing success and I hope it's just the beginning of many great shows, at the welcoming P.I.T. and other spaces. (If you know of any place...)

I'm axiously awaiting some photos to come in from the show and I'll post some highlights here when they come in.

There's some photos and a video from the show available here.

If you're interested in seeing our stuff, check us out at the link above.

You can also buy tickets for THIS SATURDAY'S show here.

Thanks again!

Concert: Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band at Nassau Colliseum

2009-05-05T23:55:00.003-04:00

Once again, Bruce and co. rocked my socks off...This time, and for the first time, while I was in the pit!

Through a serious of fortuitous circumstances a very dear friend of mine, code-named Alexis, had a ticket for me to go to this show. I was instantly in.

For starters let me say that as a reference I'm using the Backstreets website - a great site for Bruce fans.

The three hour show was a high energy festival that incorporated classics, rarities and new stuff. The Boss also took requests from home made signs that made it into the arena, including a bitchin cover of Expressway to Your Heart by The Soul Survivors.

Setlist:
Badlands
No Surrender
Outlaw Pete
She's the One
Working on a Dream
Seeds
Johnny 99
The Ghost of Tom Joad
Raise Your Hand
Expressway to Your Heart
For You
Rendezvous
Night
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
The Promised Land
The Wrestler
Kingdom of Days
Radio Nowhere
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Born to Run
* * *
Hard Times
Jungleland
Land of Hope and Dreams
American Land
Dancing in the Dark
Rosalita

"For You" by request was slower than I like and less hustler-rambly as the old version...probably my least favorite of the stellar set, so still a great crack at the song. Rendezvous-into-Night was a treat during the request portion of the show. I love that he's pulling signs out of the crowd and whipping out old B-sides or soul classics. I want to see them do the Detroit melody live soon.

The second song of the encore, Jungleland, the finale of the Born to Run album, was incredible and provided the kind of out of body experience we often hear about occuring at shows that hasn't happened to me in a long time. The crowd was in the palm of the band's collective hand during this song and Clarence's majestic sax solo was storytelling and sexy. Yes, sexy at 70, especially with his braids and Macho Man style hat & trenchcoat w/ tassles and flares combo.

The image that I will always associate with an E Street show is turning away from the stage at any point (especially house-lights-up "Born to Run" or "Rosalita") and seeing seas of thousands dancing and waving in time.

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture" - so just check their show out the next chance you can. Which will be soon! - May 21 & 23rd before they take off for Europe.

Concert: Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Celebration at M.S.G.

2009-05-05T23:24:00.004-04:00

Who is Pete Seeger?
And why should you care?
Well, for those of you who don't know (and I didn't know until this show came up): Pete is an American folk singer and political activist. He has been active in many causes including the environment, civil rights and anti-war causes.

Some of the most popular songs he's written are "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?", "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)" and "Turn, Turn, Turn" - a big hit for The Byrds in the 1960s.

He's got a hell of a story, you can read up on him HERE. The show was a fundraiser for Pete's Hudson River Sloop Clearview Project - aimed at keeping the Hudson River clean and providing activities and opportunities for children all around the NY area to enjoy and preserve the river. Some (I think most) tickets were $19.19 to commemorate the year of Pete's birth.

The show had a monster line-up of guest performers (all working for free) including:

Bruce Springsteen, Arlo Guthrie, Dave Matthews, Joan Baez, Richie Havens, John Mellencamp, Ani DeFranco, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Morello, Rufus Wainright (unbilled surprise), Roger McGuinn (of The Byrds), Ben Harper, Steve Earle & many more who I am disrespectfully not including... Most played 1-2 songs, all labor, work, spiritual, folk, revivalist tunes.

Joan Baez led a great version of "Jakob's Ladder"...Dave Matthews nailed "Rye Whiskey"...Ritchie Havens killed it on "Freedom" - I must look up more of his music. Bruce came out last and performed his song "Ghost of Tom Joad" and recalled how Pete Seeger was an inspiration to that song and the labor/hard times feelings were something the Pete was connected to. He described him as "your grandfather...if your grandfather could kick your ass."

Also awesome was a cameo by Oscar the Grouch on the song "Garbage." (Makes sense.)

As I mentioned earlier, I didn't know Pete Seeger before this event (minus some of his songs). I was fun to celebrate anyway, and as the night went on I got more and more into it. I wasn't fully immersed in the hero worship of him nor the hyper-liberal politicals sometimes expressed (Pete himself is super-lib) but it was still groovy.

So, what did I learn from the jaunt? Good entertainment can be found in NYC for under $20 if you look hard enough. (For more on this phenonmenon please click here, thanks.)

Ritchie Havens doing "Freedom"

Bring them Home - Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, Warren Haynes, Band of Horses' Ben Bridwell and Tyler Ramsey, Drive By Truckers' Patterson Hood and Preservation Hall Jazz Band

These videos and many more from the event can be found (at least for now) at this YouTube page.

Theater: Rutger's Cabaret Directors' Scenes

2009-05-05T10:56:00.006-04:00

These last few days my cup runneth over with quality entertainment.
I sure would like to tell you all about it.

Saturday - Rutgers' Cabaret Theatre Spring 2009 Directors' Scenes
Sunday - Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Celebration at Madison Square Garden
Monday - Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band at Nassau Colliseum

Directors' Scenes
A few of us converged on New Brunswick to see this collection of shorts. My very good friend Diana Fiegeles wrote and directed "The Fortunate Recreation of a Tragic Love Story." It was a stand-out of the bunch, presenting a modern, savvy romance in a post-Shakespeare narrative with enough references to keep the Facebook generation and the Academics grinning throughout. The cast was quick and confident and owned their roles. Congratulations to Diana her cast!

Other scenes included a confusing adapation of "The Last Supper" (apparently a 1995 film) that got lost somewhere between black comedy and moral righteousness, a pretty good version of "The Zoo Story" (memories of the SHU production crept back into my head, perhaps unfairly to the latest version). Also fun were "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist" from Avenue Q and two fun in the school house shorts ("Doug & Devra Meet the Teacher" - kinda meandering, but saved by its funny leads and "Baby with the Bath Water" which reminded me of Wayside School is Falling Down). The only clinker was the scene of "Drums in the Night" by Bertoit Brecht (which apparently means opaque, boring and pretentious).

A showstopper ending of 'One Day More' from Les Mis (I know, seen/done it all before, but it was still awesome). Production value was minimal but the performers were so into it, it was infectious. Great home-grown theatrical ending.

The space is small but comfortable and seems to be well-maintained and cared for by the students who work there. If you get a chance to check something out there, you should.

The Cabaret's website seems to be down, but you can find info by calling (732) 846-2134.

Sunday in the Park with George Steinbrenner: An Expose on the Effect of the Steroid Scandal on Youth OR Baseball: The National PastCrime

2009-05-01T13:35:00.005-04:00

Last month, at my family's Easter celebration, most of the boys and man-children, including yours truly, took to the yard for the annual baseball w/a racquetball and whiffle-ball bat game. First base is the aptly placed Red/Yellow children's car that everyone (but me) had as a child. Second base, a hand on the demented soccer goal and third, the tree stump by the bushes. This unofficial contest is full of those ageless rites of childhood untampered with by modern times. Things like steady batters for older cousins who sway the team's strength, pinch runners for surgically operated on backs, "hey run inside and get me a water", and, my personal favorite, the grunts, whines and insults of pre-pubescent males taunting each other and crying out when their team falls behind.

This game was no different, and, according to the contradictory rules of family sports, this athletic endeavor was done on an extremely full stomach, with those of us who are 21+ probably imbibing and, of course, an abundance of candy, chocolates and baked treats to fuel up with.

Here is where the plot thickens: The tell-tale bag of community Sweet-Tarts, family-sized, being shared by all the players and described by my one cousin, aged about 8, in a devastating reveal, as: his STEROIDS.

Stepping up to the overturned wheel-barrow strike zone with shoe-marked dust spot home plate, he shoved a grimy handful of Sweet-Tarts into his mouth and prepared for his at-bat.

Where is the innocence of the PF Flyer days? Hell, I'll settle for the seadiness of David Wells' hangover perfect game - which now, in light of all these scandals looks like the kind of trouble-making in line with what we used to condone for rascally Little Leaguers.

These are the kids who have grown up post-Canseco/Maguire/Sosa/Bonds/Palmeiro/Rodriguez/Etc./Who's Next? These Metro-area kids haven't seen punishment for thier fallen Yankee, only a micron less off a penalty than for being an adulterer and kissing a mirror in a magazine spread (also A-Rod)! The players have a responsibility to their fans and the institution of American baseball to be clean, play fair and promote healthy life-styles.

Consciously or not, these cheaters are telling the next generation of high school and college ballplayers that it's okay to cheat, to take drugs and to inject needles into your arm, because there are no consequences. If I was caught injecting anything illegal into my body AT WORK, I'd be fired immediately.

I admit, I have selfish reasons for bringing this up. I don't want my cousins looking up to lying cheaters and emulating their disgraceful behavior with candies. "Hey, come and get more Steroids before you bat!" is something I'll never forget hearing.

These players should be fired and banned. If the league had any integrity, it would institute harsher punishments and random testing. If the players don't like it, I'm sure there are some left among the up-and-coming ranks who'd be willing to play if playing meant playing clean. Let's get them in the league, and on posters and baseball cards, before there's no one left to look up to.

Derek Jeter, don't fail us now.

Movie: The Road

2009-05-01T12:43:00.005-04:00

The other day, my sister and I braved the subway and the movie theater line (only recently am I growing to fear the simple sound of a cough) in order to sit in the audience of a preview/survey/focus group scenario for The Road a new film from director John Hillcoat (The Proposition) and starring Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron and Kodi Smit-McPhee. The movie is adapted from the novel by Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men).

If you're concerned about me revealing plot points or twists, the maybe you should wait until the reported October release date.

The movie is set in the near future and the events occur after an unidentified natural (or possibly man-made) disaster has slowly destroyed the ecology of the planet. Plants aren't growing. Animals are gone. Earthquakes occur randomly. The humans that remain are forced to scrabble for food, shelter and provisions while fighting to maintain their humanity. Gangs of cannibals are armed and roaming for victims, but Viggo's character refuses to succumb and cross the line.

He and his son, he explains, "carry the fire inside" and in doing so, continue to be "the good guys." In this world, suicide is understandable and, for many, a favorable alternative to the slow starvation and moral dillemas tied into being the last people on the planet.

Time isn't wasted in concocting shaggy-dog scientific explanations for the predicament. No viruses, no eco-terror or nuclear winter. All of those could be true, but that's not what it's about. It's tightly focused on The Man and his Son, will they survive and will they compromise their morality in order to do so?

There's an old theater saying that goes something like "If you show a gun in the first act, you've gotta fire it by the third." The creators of this movie know how to do a lot with a little as The Man (Mortensen) carries a pistol with only two bullets left: their last resort when facing certain death at the hands of cannibals or other "bad guys." Viggo knows that they're slowly rotting from the inside and starving to death, so he tries to instill a survivalism and clear sense of perception into his son before the end.

Much of the movie is spent with the men on the road, traveling down to the coast (they're vaguely east coast of USA) where they believe their chances of survival will be greater. The son was born at the onset of the new, broken world and doesn't know a world of animals, Coke and other anachronisms that seperate him from his haunted father. In one moment where the divide is evident in certain goods they fortunately come across, the Man asks "You think I'm from another world, don't you?" - and he is.

The scenes where they encounter others are economically used and pack punch. Every time we meet another one/ones, we witness the philophical conflicts facing them: Is feeding another wandering person and cleaning his wounds equal to killing yourself faster? What is justice when everyone's trying to survive?

Along the way they encounter a brittle old man, a desperate thief and many cannibals and their victims (an incredible scene - edge of my seat - occurs in a plantation home of some survivors where Viggo and son take refuge, before some dangerous men and women return)

If you've made it this far and are thinking "Boy, this sounds heavy!" - you're right. This is a very intense movie but it's also well-made. It's not just a slow philosophical ramble. There are scenes of extreme intensity and while action/violence is used sparingly, when it is used, it is done with a sure hand for maximum audience connection. In fact, despite the tone, there are some bright moments with laughs. They ease the tension and allow us to breathe and relax.

This is Viggo's showcase. He does it all in this film and is one of the small amount of leading men I can think of (Sean Penn, Daniel Day Lewis are others) who are totally committed to their character from head to toe. Every inch of him is in character and is suffering like the man, his son and their earth. The Boy, Kodi Smit-McPhee is also very emotive and looks every inch the son of Charlize Theron (memorably seen in flashbacks as the Wife). Robert Duvall is great as the Old Man and Michael K. Williams (The Wire) is haunting as The Thief. Every performance is memorable and utilitarian - no words, expressions or reactions are overdone.

We were told it was a 'work-print' and that some audio/music, effects and coloring weren't complete. With that in mind, I hope they don't try and sex it up and trim it up before release. It's a solid two hours and that's not too long.

When October rolls around, I highly recommend this movie. While I can't wrap my head around what goes into nominations and awards, I hope that the filmmakers and Viggo are recognized for their strong work in this film.

The movie is brought to you by Dimension Films, MGM & 2929 Productions. It is adapted by Joe Penhall and features music by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis.

Book: The Beats

2009-05-01T11:54:00.003-04:00

Recently, I visited lovely Pittsburgh to witness the baptism of my newest cousin, Thomas, into the faith. Wonderful trip, maybe I'll write about it (and bad drunken dancing on my part). One thing the 6-hr drive offered was plenty of time to read. On the trip I tore through the next installment of my reading list, The Beats: A Graphic History by Harvey Pekar (American Splendor), et al.

A varied and distinguished group of writers and artists have come together for this book, a collection of short stories about the leaders and luminaries of the Beat generation, as well as some lesser known writers and lovers that were a part of the gang.

The first section of the hardcover comic book is devoted to Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg & William S. Burroughs and certainly contained the most familiar information to me, a loose Beat reader. These black & white stories are refresher/introductions to the men whose work you've probably read if you've read (if you've read Beat books). A stand-out of this section was descriptions of Kerouac's athleticism and active life (you mean he wasn't always a drunk, amblin' traveler, sipping wine and sleepily seducing women? - yes!) He spent time in the Navy, after rejecting football scholarships and helped cover up a murder. Ginsberg was the more confident of the Beats, generating his own forward-motion, taking on the US governement's assault on his Howl and any other opponent. Burroughs was a raving lunatic, moreso than the others, and actually shot a poor woman in the face while the two played a delirious game of "William Tell." They also wrote.

The second, and possibly more interesting section, Perspectives, is devoted to lesser-knowns in 2-3 page shorts. Covered in this section are "The San Fransisco Poetry Renaissance", Gregory Corso, LeRoi Jones (later Amiri Baraka), Charles Olson & sections devoted to the ladies of the Beat movement, the Jazz & Poetry connection and the City Lights book store in San Fransisco that first published and sold Howl.

Of this section, my favorites were the Beatnik Chicks story, about the often neglected, left-behind and cheated on wives who always took the backseat to the wild seeking of 'art' of their men, who would leave randomly to pursue living or ride with Neal Cassady. The solo piece on Jay DeFeo, a Beat artist, who's art killed her (she slowly poisoned herself while working on the still unfinished piece, The Rose, by using lead paint and licking the tips of her brushes to produce a point.) The story of Tuli Kupferberg, lead singer of the Fugs, who wrote bad, angry protest songs set to the tunes of popular music, were covered by the Beatles and lasted longer than you think.

This book is fun and should be considered as part of any introduction to the Beats offered in school's or for personal research. It would be a great reference too, while reading Kerouac, who often refer back to each other using pseudonyms from book to book. If you're into it, check it out.

Jack Kerouac on The Steve Allen Show in 1959

Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan and David Cross as Allen Ginsberg in "I'm Not There"

Book Reviews in Random Thought Format

2009-04-23T15:41:00.004-04:00

Tom Davis' : 39 Years of Short Term Memory Loss

The latest SNL insider book I've torn through. Some thoughts:
- People perpetually seem unable or unwilling to bite the hand that feeds them, aka Lorne Michaels...which either means he's worth the hype, or he's got the power to crush.
- Tom Davis is an outsider and always has been...even when he was that close to the inside.
- He and Ackyroyd are very close.
- Davis' life has been full of adventure but his carreer is pretty much Franken-SNL-post-SNL chilling...including the Coneheads movie
- Reading a slacker's opinion of what's become an institution is interesting because aside from not really whipping Lorne, he can be pretty frank and truthful

Michael J. Fox Always Looking Up
Fox's second memoir...heroic and tear-inspiring
- Like Steve Martin, MJF's writing style is so close to his speaking voice that you can 'hear' him writing the passages...tragically, that includes the quiver and waver we've heard as his symptoms have worsened.
- To hear him tell it, we're thisclose to curing PD and other diseases, if the government would help.
- He doesn't go in depth on his career (his first book Lucky Man included passages about his films right before his diagnosis) ... Some time is spent on MJF leaving Spin City and developing his successful foundation.
- His recollection of the Tour de France, with appearances by Robin Williams, John Cleese and Lance Armstrong is very memorable and demonstrates hs journey but also his humility.

If you're interested in entertainers' memoirs, I recommend both of these books. The first for a different opinion of a monument that seems so universal ('used to be classic, now it sucks' - every season since the second)...the latter a devastating but inspiring book broken up into sections: Family, Faith, Work, Politics - that all blend together.

manoli's daily dose

2009-04-23T15:38:00.004-04:00

for gabe. as ever.

8:45 AM - coffee. water. grapes.
11:00AM- egg whites with turkey and vegetables. coffee. banana. yogurt.
2:00PM - greek salad with chicken and egg whites. 1 BBQ rib, 1 slice BBQ steak

Good Friday

2009-04-18T10:56:00.004-04:00

We started the shoot at 5am in TriBeCa, Duane St. Most of the day spent in a vacant building we fitted to be "The Boland Initiative", a non-profit the script called for to be the workplace of our Season 19 finale's victim. (Bonus points for the Seton Hall connection, in name only).

After lunch, as we soaked in some of the beautiful weather and avoided pigeon-bombs, who should walk by but Michael Imperioli, late of "Life on Mars" AND masterful on "The Sopranos" as Christopher Moltisanti. Briefly, I expressed my sadness to hear about the cancellation of 'Mars' - moreso for my friends and former co-workers on that show than for him, since I'm sure he'll hop onto another project soon, maybe even David Chase's new project at HBO "Ribbon of Dreams" Michael left quickly. He worked on this show while Jesse L Martin shot the Rent movie. I was very happy to have met him, but as it goes with sightings and meetings, I wish it was in a setting where I could talk to him about his work.

Yadda, yadda, yadda...We finished the shoot, started wrapping out and I was back on the road by about 9:30. Cruising back to Union to be ill-equipped for and 80s-themed event at Geppetto's...I think my days in tights and eye-liner are over. Thank God. Usually Friday night foolery, but without the Union Idol Kareokery provided by Kevin Glackin. Made some connections, some reconnections. Talked. Stayed a while, played a while.

Beefed it in the parking lot while experimenting in my new hobby: skateboarding. Yes, friends, I have embraced my inner 12 year old, the Marty McFly I left behind, to try my hand -or feet- at the Tony Hawk Experience. Make no mistake; I am not good at it. But it is fun, very fun, and since I am at the point in the learning curve where every time I try, I am learning a new element of the basics, it's still interesting and keeping my attention. The only thing I ever did when I first had a skateboard was ride down my driveway on my belly. My fear kept me from eventually becoming the Jeep-trailer hoverboarder I'm sure I would have been. Now I am affording myself that opportunity, despite my age, inexperience and belly-smile.

So, with a bleeding forearm and a smile on my face, I headed onto the main artery, Morris Avenue, to head home. Stopped at the light, I look to my left at the car next to me and Mood Bar/Club/Sushi/Oh Yeah clearing out beyond it and am surprised to see my cousin Elia driving home as well. His family lives about a block and half away. His hair was much longer than the usual buzz he wears and he was wearing all white, a strange figure in the night. As I figured, and would later confirm, he too was coming home from a party after work. Sharing bemused but exhausted expressions, we rolled down our windows and he asked me, straight-faced, the question of the night: Why weren't you at church?

Editorially, I am wondering if I should elaborate on how these unconnected events all crescendoed with that question, or leave it there, fact-based and without analysis for any interested reader to examine themselves. By publishing these things online, they stop being mine and belong to the reader, to make of what they will.

I suppose the goal of this whole project is to gain insight; hoping that by writing things out, a clearer sense of who the writer is will be gained...Right now, though, I haven't made enough progress and I am still scraping my elbows.

The Supreme Court presents Bread Line! (Smile! Smile! Smile!)

2009-04-15T13:28:00.004-04:00

Some of you may recall the merriment that was had late December when The Vile Bros, including yours truly, debuted on the stage of The People's Improv Theater in lovely Manhattan with their show Santa's Uneaten Cookies - a sketch comedy romp through the holidays.

Well, now we're back and we're bringing along some new (old) friends and changing our name.

I happily announce:

The Vile Bros are now

The Supreme Court in

Bread Line (Smile! Smile! Smile!) at

The People's Improv Theater in

New York City on

May 16th at

7pm for

$10.

This Whitman's Sampler of sketches comes fresh from the pencils of Matthew Allen, Chris Aurilio, Phil Casale, Meghan Conda, Gary De Noia, Dan Keck, Anik Sood & your favorite Greek-American and is loosely based on the current economic crisis that people talk about on shows my dad watches and also teenage space travel, sex toys and dreams! (and that's already saying too much!)

Check out the event on Facebook!

and while you're there, be our friend!

The Laptop Lives Again!

2009-04-13T10:12:00.003-04:00

"I'm too old for this shit." - Roger Murtaugh, Lethal Weapon

I am typing this on my freshly refurbished IBM Thinkpad R52, now and forever wiped of it's Setonian crapware and freshy-fresh thanks to the technical skills of Jason, the husband of L&O's Bahston-bred Location Coahdinatah, Crista. A million thanks to Jason for making it that much easier for me to babble on-and-on on this infernal machine.

I understand it took some elbow grease, like taking out hard drives and making images and transponsters and other things I don't know about, saving me from the walk of shame to the basement of Corrigan Hall, an evil sex-dungeon of computerization that I thought I'd left forever, to beg for a reimage.

Three cheers to Jason!

Hip-hip hooray! Hip-hip hooray! Hip-hip hooray!

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming!

PS Does anyone else out there in Bloggywood find it frustrating formatting entries with pictures...The Aykroyd post drove me bananas trying to format and I still wasn't happy with the result. Everytime I change one thing, the whole thing conks out. What gives?

That's great! Actual, physical contact! Can you move?

2009-04-08T20:18:00.012-04:00

Through the magic of convenient timing, Schoch and myself were able to get through crawling traffic and Holland Tunnel magic in time to meet original Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Player, Blues Brother and once and future Ghostbuster, Dan Aykroyd at his bottle signing in Elizabeth, NJ.

There were lots of people, but after about half an hour we got our minute in front of Beldar.It went something like this:

M: Hello, sir. My name's Manny and I also do sketch comedy.
D: Oh, yeah?...Who should I make this out to?
M: Manoli. M-A-N-O-L-I.
D: Where do you work?
M: Well, right now I work at Law & Order but I want to be on Saturday Night Live.
He sort of chuckles and hands me back my photo.
D: Thanks for coming out...Stick with it!
We shake hands.

Manoli, Rock on! Dan Aykroyd (Ray)

Eventually, I hope to get all four GBs to sign the photo.

He signed photos for Dan and I, and we snapped these shots. There wasn't really time to get 1-on-1 photos but that's okay. The Liquor Store was playing Blues Bros. music and there were fans of all ages there with BB tees, DVDs of Trading Places and Ghost Busters. A pre-teen had memorized a BB sketch for school, but we weren't privy to a performance. We chatted with other fans about where, geographically, Dan, Chevy, Bill & Lorne were from, while in aisle 8 (beers).

Seeing him in three dimensions was powerful. It makes it real. It's good to know real people are the ones creating the material that has been entertaining and inspiring so many people, including myself for over 30 years. Obviously, I wish there was an opportunity to spend more time, but we got in there right before the end of the event and the already brisk pace was really flying by the time we turned down aisle 7 (chips/soda), the home stretch. So many questions I would've liked to ask. About the work, advice. About the stories I've heard about and read about and about Tom Davis' recent book that includes two loving chapters about 'Danny' and his family and most importantly, about comedy and writing and performing...but there'll be another time...

For now, I'm sticking with it.

Reading List

2009-04-05T23:14:00.006-04:00

Right now the pile is only in size order, not of when I'll be reading them. Let me know if you've read any of them and what your thoughts are. It'll help me decide an order....

Right now, unpictured, I've launched into Tom Davis' memoir about his career at SNL in the very beginning of the series, 39 Years of Short Term Memory Loss. It's the latest in my recent binge on SNL books, including the oral history Live From New York, The Chris Farley Show, and Jay Mohr's Gasping for Airtime. It'll be interesting to get a survivor's view. And now to the list:

Sandman Keck left these in my car recently and I'm going to read them (Thanks, Dan). Standard borrowing comics etiquette applies. I hear these are legit classic comics, so I'm excited to finally read the first 3 volumes.

Flowers for Algernon One of those school reading list mainstays that I never was assigned. The book was a gift and I'm looking forward to reading it eventually, but I don't feel an urge yet. Also...Matthew Modine?

Visions of Cody The latest in my foray into the Beats (one day I'll tell you about the year it took me to read Kerouac's The Subterraneans...) I'm impressed by his prose style but also his perspective on having creative people around him and his generosity with them: of love, attention, and sharing of ideas while at the same time enjoying the moments as they come.

The Art of War An 'essential' to navigating the professional world, I've made my way through the main text, now I'm onto the annotated section with commentary.

Clapton A Sal. Army snag. Patty Boyd. Tears of Heaven.

An actor prepares Method. Another Sal. Army snag. Emotions. pretention. Strasberg

Middlesex Oprah rears her powerful head. Recommended by a co-worker, this one seems demented and also is written by a sympatrioti, so I'll check it out.

Always Looking Up Michael J Fox's second memoir...he is an very powerful person, with strength, love and perspective. I'll probably cry.

Nobody Belongs Here More Than You I've not given this back to whom it belongs in a long time. I think she replaced it. So I'm going to finish the 2-3 stories I've yet to read and then put it in my bookshelf where it hasn't lived yet.

The Greek War of Independence you know.

The Beats an impulse buy...a graphic history of the movement...I don't know much about it, except there are drawings of some authors I read and plenty of faces I don't know yet either...wondering where I'll land on this when I'm done...Also, makes me think of how they'll visualize the film of On the Road that is being developed for film

Elia Kazan I'm working through this one now, but I've slowed down. Directed some powerful films...hoping this biography will breathe life into the asterisk next to his name in history

McQueen A biography of one of the coolest. It belongs to my uncle from when he used to live here, along with several other Hollywood insiders I'm slogging through. I've watched a doc on him and loved it. Robert Evans The Kid Stays in the Picture featues a memorable, heated exchange between Evans & McQueen over the former's son and the latter's stepson (after McQueen and Ali MacGraw ran off together while shooting a film, The Getaway)

The Yankee Years Joe Torre's NYC memoir - my uncle left it here recently. Since it's here, I'll read it.

The vertical books aren't actively in the list. The film one was a graduation gift. Eventually, I'd like to have seen all the movies featured in it. The poetry book was the text for a poetry class I took in college. I never traded it in, but also haven't opened it nor read a poem in some time.

Pickiness Basket

2009-03-31T13:43:00.004-04:00

A moment for pickiness. For indecision. As I was debating the subject for today's writing, it came to mind that I have a constant pickiness that is crippling when selection is necessary.

When I was a wee lad, and my sister and I would rent movies from Pathmark, we'd peruse the racks for ages, often the entire span it took my mom to select her groceries. There we were being babysat by the tattered paper boxes wrapped around Highlander sequels, unseen Robocops and favorites Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and A League of Their Own.

The time would come to choose and the struggle to pick would overwhelm. If it wasn't one of those two favorites, it would be impossible to decide! What if it was a wrong move? Once we got home, would I still have the urge to watch the movie I've grabbed now?

That paralyzing fear is not limited to movies but extends to music choices (i've had the note to self "new playlist" for weeks now, taunting me), menu items (before i defeatedly order my usual Greek salad w/ chicken, no cheese), outfits, evening plans, vacation destinations, friends, partners, which story to write next, which blog topic to explore, etc.

The time has come to move past this fear and to just go, go, go. So what if I don't like the movie? The book? The lunch? The date? Not all blogs are winners and not all evenings out are autobiography chapter headings, but indecision is a killer and I'd rather err than miss another window of opportunity.

Ray, we'd like to shoot the monster could you move please?

2009-03-29T20:01:00.003-04:00

Hey friends, if you're like me, then you pray at the altar of Saturday Night Live. Well, one of the legends is coming to town and unfortunately, I won't be around to meet him. But that doesn't mean you won't:

Dan Aykroyd, Beldar Conehead, Elwood Blues, Ray Stanz himself is coming to Elizabeth, NJ next Wednesday, April 8th to sign bottles of his Cristal Head Vodka at Bayway World of Liquor from 4pm-7pm.

I hope the work schedule might allow a little love time between me and Mr. Harry Sultenfuss, but if not, please SOMEBODY go and get me some sweet Aykroyd love.

His website is http://www.danaykroydwines.com/ , but it doesn't have info about his public appearances.

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