"That's Tatiana!"

AP (and no doubt various other sources) has reported that adult star Marilyn Chambers has died at age 56. Now granted, I shouldn't care about this. The majority of her "work" was before my time, I can honestly say that I haven't seen much of it at all, and even the later, less racier stuff occurred mainly during my teen years.

...

And I clearly wouldn't have seen that then, either. And that's the story I'm sticking to.

Still, the woman was heralded as one of the groundbreaking stars of her genre. If anything, she helped make ye ol' pR0n more mainstream, and there can't be too many people that are upset about that.

(And yes, I realize that there is, in fact, only one person I know of that might get the quote I used in the title of this post. But if you happen to, then you realize exactly why I used it.)

"Knowledge is Power... For Real!"

News of the passing of Ron Silver today got me to thinking about the various things I know him from. He's one of those actors that was bound to pop up in almost anything, and no doubt I'll spend the next year or so playing a game of, "Hey, that's Ron Silver!" I recall him most recently from his recurring role on West Wing, but that's mostly because I've been watching reruns of that show.

But of the odd variety and a personal favorite of mine was a show he appeared in by the name of Heat Vision and Jack. It was basically an unaired pilot, and it wasn't particularly spectacular. Honestly, it reminds me of something that early era FOX television would have shown. But between Rob Schrab (of Channel 101 fame) spearheading the show, Jack Black and Owen Wilson leading the series, and Ben Stiller doing both an intro and a brief (and useless) cameo, it's hard to point out any of the oddball antics as extraordinary. Peep said opening...



But we had Silver, who was noted as playing "himself" but was clearly not an ordinary human. The joke, of course, was that Ron Silver was just that bad of a man. It didn't take much digging for to find this, which is quite honestly my favorite line of the entire pilot.



RIP Ron. In my world, I will always be afraid to shoot you in the back.

Edit: Of course, the one time I don't double-check my embeds, I end up posting the same clip twice. I like the scene, but not that much.

The New Face of Hip-Hop?

Half the joy of stumbling onto Letterman late at night is sometimes running across nonsense like this. But after seeing his interview last night, I've come to one of two possible conclusions:

1) Joaquin Phoenix has had a psychotic break and is, in fact, bat**** crazy.

2) Joaquin Phoenix is Andy Kaufman's secret love child.

Because either he has no idea what's going on in his life right now, or he's pulling a tremendous prank on the world. I'm hoping it's 2), because otherwise someone close to him should have him checked out by someone soon.


Late Show - Where's Joaquin Phoenix? - 2/11/09

I Don't Like Tyler Perry.

There I said it. I feel better getting that off of my chest.

What? I should elaborate? But if I don't, it would be my shortest post ever. Fine, fine.

I get what the guy does, and I even respect him for making his money. But at the same time, I just don't enjoy all of his work. To be fair, a good deal of his work floats around a genre that I don't particularly enjoy, either. You know the one. That hybrid, traveling comedy show/gospel musical that isn't entirely uplifting. Okay, so maybe it's not a hard and fast genre, but you know what I'm saying.

I completely understand that I'm going onto an island here. Given said shows' success and popularity (they have to make money, or else every second tier singer/actor wouldn't be part of them), I can only imagine that most people do enjoy them. Of course, one could argue that a good deal of Tyler Perry's initial success is based on people's desire to purchase bootlegs, but that's a separate topic altogether.

For me, it's a perfect storm of indifference. I don't really enjoy Madea as a character, so right off the bat we're in the hole. I've always found the "down home" humor that most of his stories carry to be just a hair away from taking a step backwards culturally, but that's just my personal feeling on that. Still, strike two. And then of course, if at any point in time your story(ies) work towards pointing out that either A) black men can be faulty or B) black women can be crazy... well, you've just lost me.

Just for the full devil's advocate on this one, I haven't been horrifically exposed to his work. I've seen a few stage shows, I watched most of Diary of a Mad Black Woman (which somehow made me a pissed off black man), and I somehow got dragged into watching a few episodes of House of Payne (which TBS swears that a ton of people are watching). Like I said, they have their moments, but they just don't grab me.

Which seems like a shame, because Tyler Perry sounds like he should be a cool enough guy. I guess he'll just have to settle for being a cool guy that works in a genre I don't enjoy. Yeah. That guy and all of his fame and money. I think he'll sleep okay at night.

"Khaaaaaan!"

From the AP:

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Ricardo Montalban, the Mexican-born actor who became a star in splashy MGM musicals and later as the wish-fulfilling Mr. Roarke in TV's "Fantasy Island," died Wednesday morning at his home, a city councilman said. He was 88.

Of course, many people will remember him from his role as Khan in the original Star Trek series, a role he repeated later in the motion picture Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan (Which I actually saw long before his appearance in the series). Others still will remember him as Mr. Roarke, the charismatic and slightly dark fulfiller of wishes on the original Fantasy Island.

And of course, the really noteworthy among you will remember him as the voice of Guitierrez in the animated series Freakazoid. Not necessarily his greatest performance, but I still remember being impressed that he was involved at all when watching it in my younger days.

Retro Friday: Holdiay Edition

I'm going to take a bit of a sidetrack from what I would normally post for retro clips here, but 'tis the season (really, I got to stop saying that so much...). First, in honor of the jolly holiday season (and in part because of my love of comics), here's an oldy but goody. I never read the Lobo Paramilitary Special, but if it was 1/8th as great as this fan film adaptation, it was beyond awesome.



And in honor of a departed actress, here's a little Eartha Kitt Catwoman for you. If nothing else, enjoy Catwoman's brilliant escape maneuver. And jeez, Batman. What exactly is worse than death?

R.I.P. Eartha Kitt

From AP:

NEW YORK - Eartha Kitt, a sultry singer, dancer and actress who rose from South Carolina cotton fields to become an international symbol of elegance and sensuality, has died, a family spokesman said. She was 81.

Why are so many people I like trying to check out at the end of the year? Godspeed, Eartha. Everyone else may have put on a costume, but you were always Catwoman to me.

To Boldly Go...

"If you love Star Trek so much, why don't you marry it?"

Only one woman can ever say that she stepped up to that challenge, and now she's no longer with us. As AP reported yesterday, Majel Barrett Roddenberry AKA "a handful of lovable Star Trek characters" passed away at age 76. She had leukemia, which I feel bad for not knowing (unless it's one of those things that wasn't widely known, in which case I guess I feel fine about it).

Most people will remember Lwaxana Troi from TNG, and true fans will remember Nurse Chapel from the original series, but I always remember her as the voice of the computer. And not the newer computer where her voice was clearly recognizable, but the older model where she was clearly working her best robot voice. Think fondly of her every time you watch the old show and hear that infamous blinking, clicky box chirp out, "Working..."

Wanda at Large... Indeed.

So, I'm sitting on a slow news day, as usual, and something inevitably comes out of the blue and clobbers me. Case in point, in the aftermath of the Prop 8 vote in California, Wanda Sykes has decided to come out in favor of gay marriage. Actually, she's decided to come out. Period. Here she is at a rally speaking her mind:



This falls in pace withan old familiar pattern with me. Because unlike every woman in America who is lying, I actually do find a sense of humor attractive. Which is why I am almost bummed to run into of female comedians that I have found in some way attractive only to find out later that they are lesbians. But it's not like I had a real shot with her to begin with it, so it's not a huge loss.

(Thanks to Sam Johnson for the news link above. You're my buddy, and I commiserate with you and point that although we both had no shot, you had even less of one. Because even in a girl-on-girl world, the lure of the Mocha King still eclipses all other males.)