Midnight Movie/My Apartment @12:17 am Union Square I thought tonight we’d pop over to Union Square Park, get a couple shots and watch the MAD Friday night midnight movie. I’m still fine-tuning things here at MAD and I’ve decided to add a littel twist to it. When I tried to do the movie “After Hours,” I found I was taking too many shots and it would’ve taken forever to put up. Plus that many shots on one post really slows the page-loading process down. So from here on in, I’m going to try and show a movie using just ten key frames from the movie to tell the tale of the film. It’ll either work or it won’t, but most importantly, to quote Cool Hand Luke: “It’ll be something to do.” Okay, let’s check out the park and then start the movie. Oh, and speaking of the movie, it’s one of my favorites, “Reservoir Dogs.”
And here we go. Goddamn, it's still chilly out here. I can't wait for it to warm up.
Deja...
Vu.
Bravo!
Here's my corner. You know what? It's cold out here, we'll go to the park another time, I'm going home and starting the movie.
Shit, the only subtitles available are in Spanish. Oh bien, that's qué consigo para comprar esto de un vendedor ambulante. Hora para usted toda de ir a sus traductores en línea para el resto de la película.
Oh, y yo sepa there' s 12 enmarca aquí, pero el marco y la conclusión del título enmarcan don' cuenta de t. Buonas noches todos y le ve mañana después de obscuridad.
------------------------------- What I love about Reservoir Dogs is that it’s a dialogue-driven movie, much like the first MAD movie, Glengarry Glen Ross. Here’s some of my favorite lines.
So, you guys like to tell jokes, huh? Gigglin' and laughin' like a bunch of young broads sittin' in a schoolyard.
Of course not, you'd keep me for yourself, you sick bastard. Four years of fuckin' punks up the ass you'd appreciate a piece of prime rib when you see one.
Let me tell you what 'Like a Virgin' is about. It's all about a girl who digs a guy with a big dick. The entire song. It's a metaphor for big dicks.
I like her early stuff. You know, 'Lucky Star', 'Borderline' - but once she got into her 'Papa Don't Preach' phase, I don't know, I tuned out.
You don't need proof when you have instinct.
If you wanna know something and he won't tell you, cut off one of his fingers. The little one. Then tell him his thumb's next. After that he'll tell you if he wears ladies underwear. I'm hungry. Let's get a taco.
I don't give a good fuck what you know, or don't know, but I'm gonna torture you anyway, regardless. Not to get information. It's amusing, to me, to torture a cop.
If you shoot this man, you die next. Repeat. If you shoot this man, you die next.
But this tipping automatically, it's for the birds.
What's special? Take you in the back and suck your dick? I'd go over twelve percent for that.
All right ramblers, let's get rambling!
Somebody's shoved a red-hot poker up our ass, and I want to know whose name is on the handle!
Are you gonna bark all day, little doggy, or are you gonna bite?
I bet you're a big Lee Marvin fan aren't ya?
Excuse me, Mr. Pink, but I think the last fucking thing you need is another cup of coffee.
Cough up a buck you cheap bastard.
Where's the commode in this dungeon? I gotta take a squirt.
How about a little fire, Scarecrow?
Why am I Mr. Pink? Because you're a faggot, alright?
Toby? Toby Wong. Toby Wong? Toby Wong. Toby Chung? Fucking Charlie Chan. I got Madonna's big dick coming out of my left ear, and Toby the Jap... I don't know what - comin' out of my right.
Yeah, "Mr. Pink" sounds like "Mr. Pussy". Tell you what, let me be Mr. Purple. That sounds good to me. I'm Mr. Purple. You're not Mr. Purple. Somebody from another job's Mr. Purple. You're Mr. Pink!
The Donut Pub @11:07 pm Chelsea Okay, last night we found out that sometimes no destination can be an okay place indeed. But tonight I have a place to go to and I know it’ll be open, because it never closes. One of my fears doing the 365 blog last year was that I would have to work late some night and all the bars would be closed. Well, I had an ace up my sleeve and that card was the Donut Pub on 14th Street in Chelsea that's open 24 hours. It’s a “pub” so technically I wouldn’t have been out of bounds. Well, I never had to play that card, so tonight I’m flipping it on the table. It’s off to the Donut Pub we go.
Another shitty, rainy night out here. Blah.
Fuck you Dunkin' Donuts, I'm going to a real, LOCAL, donut shop.
This is a festive block in Chelsea, it's always lit up. We're almost there.
And here we are, The Donut Pub! I love their neon signage.
Just like the sign says, everything is baked here fresh.
Some muffins on display in the front window.
And since it's such a rotten rainy night, there's plenty of seats at the marble-topped bar.
The selection dwindles a little at night, but still a nice looking bunch of donuts and pastries.
And there's cookies too. I think they have the best black and white in town. But we're here for a donut tonight, so I ordered the marble glazed.
And this gentlemen brought it along with the diet Pepsi I ordered. If you're curious why I'm not drinking coffee, there's a story explaining it after the photos.
I see all...with the donut eye!
Delicious and fresh!
Some of the choices on the menu near the ceiling.
Another view of the bar.
Here's a painting in the back area of the Donut Pub. It's a cool painting, but I think somebody slipped a hit of acid into the painters jelly donut.
You can get your very own Donut Pub coffee mug right here.
I've never seen the donut cake, but have always been intrigued by the marvelous concept.
Here's an article from the Daily News about when Dunkin' Donuts moved in just a few doors down. Too bad the Donut Pub kicked that chain's ass all the way off the block! Everybody stayed loyal to the Pub and I was proud of my neighborhood for ignoring a chain.
A long shot of the marble bar.
There's a marble railing to set your donut down and lean on, if the bar is filled up.
Okay, its out the door...
And back into the rainy night. Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.
------------------------------- Coffee Talk
I don’t drink coffee. I never have and I never will. In fact I’ve only had one sip of java my whole life and that is truly a painful memory, but one I’ll share with you.
I think I had just turned 12-years-old and I remember sitting at the breakfast table with my family. I was drinking grape juice and my mom was making breakfast for everyone. All of a sudden my dad turned to me and said, “You’re getting to be a young man now, why don’t you have a cup of coffee?”
It felt nice to be singled out and I was pleased my dad thought of me as a young man. So I happily trotted over to the kitchen cupboard, got a coffee cup and poured coffee into it from the shiny, stainless steel pot on the kitchen counter.
“Blow on it a little, so you don’t burn your mouth,” My mom instructed.
I cocked my head to the left, rolled my eyeball’s towards heaven and all it allows and said, “Duh!” By the way, this was decades before Charlie Sheen made it the catchphrase of the moment. And I am in no way claiming to have invented, “Duh!” I’m just throwing that out there for the record.
So I blew on the mysterious, steaming, inky-black liquid, put the cup to my lips and I took a small sip. It took about one and a half seconds for the taste to kick in and when it did I ran to the sink to spit that foul shit out of my mouth.
Everybody laughed and my mom asked what was wrong.
“Coffee tastes horrible!” I said right before I rinsed my mouth out with water.
Once again my family laughed at me and my dad tried to explain coffee to me.
“You’ve got to acquire a taste for coffee,” he explained. “If you drink it every day, you’ll learn to like it.”
“I’m not going to, I’ll never drink coffee again,” I defiantly shot back.
My dad just wearily shook his head and said, “Fine, do whatever you want to do.”
I went back to my grape juice and grabbed the comics page out of the newspaper pile on the table. I turned to Beetle Bailey to get that horrific moment out of my head. I can’t remember the plot of that day’s strip, but it probably involved Beetle Bailey loafing and Sarge beating the shit out of the hapless Private. I’ve always wished that Beetle Bailey would grab an M-16 rifle and spray that fucking lardass Sarge with a liberal dose of “friendly fire.” Anyway, I digress, back to coffee.
I’ve never understood, “acquiring a taste to like something.” I guess if you ate mud every day it might eventually become palatable, but why if you don’t like it in the first place? I’ve had people give me attitude when I tell them I don’t drink coffee. Somebody once actually said to me, “You can’t be a real New Yorker if you don’t drink coffee.” And this person lives in Staten Island. I’m not even going to go there. Staten Island, that is!
Hey, if you like coffee, great, have a pot of it. Go swim in a pond of that shit and knock yourself right the fuck out. But quit trying to ram that foul fluid down my gullet and stop looking at me like I’m crazier than three fiddlers playing unstringed violins when I say, “No, thanks, I hate coffee, I never drink it and I never will.” If I need a caffeine boost, I’ll have a diet Mountain Dew, please and thank you.
Oh, and I’ve had people say to me (in superior tones, no less), “I bet you didn’t like beer the first time you drank that!”
And you know what? I didn’t. I’m still not that hog-wild over the taste of beer. I’d much prefer a cold lemonade over a cold beer, if we’re just talking taste. But beer has one little, teensy-weensy thing going for it: If you drink a lot of it you get really fucked up. If you drink a lot of coffee you just get edgy and your nervous system goes all Barney Fife on your ass.
So beer trumps coffee any old day of the week. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a review to write. Time for a diet Mountain Dew. -------------------------------
Review A Dunkin’ Donuts had the sheer audacity to set up shop just doors away from the Donut Pub a few years ago and got its ass kicked in by the Pub and now it’s shuttered. Score one for a local merchant.
The Donut Pub has been on the block for over 40 years and is one of the best donut huts in Manhattan. The place is sparkling clean and there’s almost always a seat at the bar to relax and enjoy the calm ambiance and fresh food that awaits. The staff is friendly and the crowd is mostly locals from the neighborhood, but newbies are always welcome and treated as warmly as the coffee that’s poured alongside the tasty, circular treats. I’ve heard that the java here is first-rate, but, ahem, I’ve never had any.
Donuts are the star of the show here and they’ve got pretty much everything covered here. Different varieties of old fashioned, donut rings, filled donuts, pastries, buns, muffins and twists are all on display behind the counter. In addition to sweet, there’s also savory with a nice selection of bagels, soups and nine different sandwiches including: chicken salad, ham & swiss, turkey and a ham, bacon and egg sandwich on a fresh roll.
Stop by and enjoy a slice of old school New York via a freshly frosted chocolate donut.
Tonight I have no plans, I think I’ll just wander up to Times Square and see what’s happening deep in the heart of touristville.
Goddamn, it's chilly out here and it's raining. Fuck.
I really don't feel like going to Times Square tonight now, after all. Hey, what's that over there?
O'Reilly's pub, that was one of my first stops on the old bar crawl. Maybe we'll make that tonight's destination. Let's go check it out.
Well! What a difference a year makes. The bartender told me I couldn't take photos and didn't seem too thrilled with the MAD blog after I explained it to him. Harumph! Last year I would've taken a lonely walk, found another place, even though I didn't feel like doing it and would go somewhere and try to be the life of the party and take pictures and mingle with people I really didn't feel like mingling with. I'm happy to announce that that shit is over with here at MAD. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. And sometimes you just feel like going home, so that's exactly what I'm going to do.
Sometimes it's not quite Times Square and that's okay. Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow, after dark.
---------------------------
Okay, just so I'm not being a total slacker today, I'll post some links up to some other blogs I check and comment on daily. They're all fine reads and you should really check them out. They're in no order and if I left you off, just send me an email and I'll put your link up. Happy trails and thank you very much for the aintree iron! Thank you very, very much!
And the greatest blog/website in the history of the internet, for pure genius simplicity and one "Big-Ass Message," Ladies and gentlemen put your hands together for...The Legendary EV Lambo!
Walking Down Fifth Avenue/fishwrap: The Zine Years @11:02 pm Fifth Avenue/My Apartment/Union Square Okay, it’s Tuesday night and that means it’s the night I walk home and write a short story. I thought we’d walk home via Fifth Avenue, because that’s a route I haven’t taken yet on this blog. And so, it’s off we go.
30th and 5th, a street I walked down many times at the 365 blog and the maiden voyage for this one.
A familiar sight as we head homeward bound.
Upcoming joke alert that will only be understood by people I work with and cp: Jesus Christ, it never ends!
I'm not the only one out on the streets with a camera. This is Stanislov who was taking some shots near the Flatiron Building.
Okay, home sweet home, computer, sweet computer. Last night being on the Upper West Side made me think about when I started my magazine fishwrap. However, it didn't start as a magazine, it started as a zine. Let me tell you all about it.
Fishwrap: The Zine Years I published, wrote and edited a magazine called, fishwrap, from 1993 to 2000. It evolved out of a fanzine I started which itself was born out of frustration at trying to get a staff-writing job here in New York City. When I moved to New York City I got some freelancing writing assignments right off the bat. However, I soon found out that it’s not so easy to get a staff-writing job. After having interviews at People magazine and Entertainment Weekly and failing to get a job at either one, I aggressively sent out portfolios and writing samples to editors at magazines and writers all over town. The response was as lively and loud as one hand clapping in an empty theater. I got close to a job at New York Newsday after writing three lengthy features for them, but my editor was shocked when I told him I hadn’t gone to college and he stopped communicating with me. After a few months and with my income going in the reverse direction of my expenses—it’s not cheap to live in New York, even if you limit your drinking to six packs of Meister Brau and subsist on a steady diet of macaroni and cheese and hamburger—so the writing was on the wall that soon I would have to get a night job. I was a little depressed, but at least I was in New York City and my writing was getting published.
I remember thumbing through magazines one day and thinking how stupid a lot of the articles were in them. A lot of the writing was just shameless, celebrity ass-kissing. It was that day I decided to do a zine that would be a big “fuck you” to the world of mainstream magazines and publishing.
Zines were big at the time (zine is short for fanzine), although most were published and written by kids decades younger than me. They were usually focused on one thing or subject matter that the publisher was interested and/or obsessed with. I was no different. I wanted to produce a zine that would ridicule all these magazines that refused to hire me. The catch-phrase I always used was, “I was going to bite the hands that refused to feed me.”
I had published and edited a magazine for three years in Peoria, Illinois called, POP, so I was no stranger to the publishing world. I had lost buckets of money on POP and was determined not to do that again. I decided to go the cheap fanzine route and drop it off and mail it to every single editor and publication that refused to hire me. I called my friend Clare who helped me with the art direction and layout of POP, told her my idea and asked if she was interested on working on it with me. Of course, I didn’t have to tell her there would be no pay. She loved the idea and said it sounded like fun. All I needed now was a name for this fanzine. I obsessed over it for a day or two and then it hit me, like so many good ideas, right out of the blue. The name “fishwrap” just popped into my brain.
“Perfect,” I thought.
I called Clare and she loved it. She started working on a logo and some layout and cover ideas and I started writing and coming up with ideas for columns and short feature articles. Within a month the first issue was done. I output it at Kinko’s (I had some problems and couldn’t use Clare’s logo on the first issue, which I always felt bad about) and took the master pages to a cheap copy shop in my neighborhood.
One thing about zines is, you had to be a little off your rocker to publish one and you certainly didn’t do it for the money. There may have been an exception to the rule, but 99% of all fanzines lost money. And unless you had a friend who owned a bookstore, the odds of getting some place to stock it was tough. And making a fanzine was a ton of work. Not only did you have to write everything, you had to lay out the pages, get copies made and then put the fucking things together.
For the first issue of fishwrap, I had to get a long stapler and it took me hours to staple and fold all the pages into separate issues. Finally they were all put together and I was pleased with them. The pages were packed with sarcasm, bitterness and even more sarcasm. Did I mention it was sarcastic?
There was one column called, “Other People’s Mail,” where I answered letters sent in to other magazines; “Page Turning’s” was a two page section that mocked writer’s and the bullshit they wrote, “The Questions Mark The Spot” was a page that made fun of interviewers asking stupid questions and there was a lot of other smartassery stuff packed in those twelve black and white pages. I made fun of writers, edtors and stories in Entertainment Weekly, People, Details, Playboy, Ebony and dozens of other magazines. I was happy with the writing and felt I had found a real “voice” while writing it. It was pretty abrasive, but always done with humor and a sarcastic edge.
I compiled a mailing list of about 150 writers and editors at magazines around town. Anyone who had ever rejected me was on the list, along with editors who had used me for freelance and friends of mine. On top of that I added anyone who I had made fun of in the first issue and picked some random writers and editors from mastheads.
I had mailing lables printed up at Kinko’s (this was pre-home printer days), stuffed the magazines into envelopes, plastered the labels on them and then I set the next day aside for dropping them off all over town. Like I said, this wasn’t an easy thing to do. It took me an entire day, but I got them all dropped off and those that weren’t in Manhattan I mailed. All in all, I think it cost me a couple hundred bucks. The reaction from most people I knew was universal. Everybody thought I was fucking nuts!
The most common comment I got from people was: “You’ll never get hired now.”
My way of thinking was I wasn’t going to get hired anyway, so I might as well tell them what I think of them and their sorry-ass magazines. Years later after fishwrap grew into a 48 page magazine, I told a writer who was interviewing me that fishwrap was kind of like a small child throwing a tantrum. In a way, I was a precursor to Charlie Sheen! I was winning!
I ended up getting a night job at a pre-press service bureau. The good news here was that I could output the master pages for free and the quality was better than Kinko’s. That alone saved me about 75 bucks per issue. Winning! The one thing most zine people had in common was that most of us worked in print shops so we could cut costs on our zines. That was another thing I liked about doing zines, there was a real community of people doing them and I got to know a lot of other zine publishers. Most of them were quirky, eccentric and really interesting people.
I had mainly heard from friends of mine I had mailed it too and was curious as to what the editors and writers thought of the first issue. A friend of mine was the receptionist at Spin and she told me that a lot of the writers there weren’t too thrilled with it. Especially the one’s I had made fun of. The editor of Spin, Bob Guccione, Jr. loved it though and sent me a note saying I was doing a great job with it and he found it hilarious. He told me he was putting me on their comp list and if I wanted to submit freelance ideas I was more than welcome. He told me to send a ptich list of ideas to one of the editors there, Jay Stowe.
The only problem was I had made fun of Jay Stowe in the first issue of fishwrap. I had mocked a review he had written of a Jimi Hendrix tribute album. I sent him a pitch list anyway and it came back almost in about two days (this was pre-email days.) The note he sent me along with my rejected pitch list was simple and to the point. It consisted of two words: “Forget it.” Poof, it looked like I had burnt some bridges!
After I had written and published three issues, I had been in New York for over six months. I kind of thought about stopping the production of fishwrap. It was costing me money and between working fulltime and doing fishwrap, I didn’t have much time to do freelance writing. Although by then, the thrill of a New York byline had long worn off. I had been published in a slew of the weekly papers and in the NY Daily News and Newsday, two of the biggest papers in New York and I wasn’t always happy with the cuts and edits that copy editors made. Sometimes I felt like they had wrecked what I had written, but my byline was there, so it looked like I wrote what the final edtied copy turned out to be. Truth be told, I was a lot happier losing money on fishwrap. At least it was all mine, along with Clare’s help in the art direction and page layout and I was proud of it. In the end, I did what I usually do. I just said, “Fuck it,” and kept doing fishwrap and working nights.
I had even gotten it into a store. There was a magazine and book store in the East Village called “See Hear” and they stocked all the best fanzines from all over the world. They didn’t take just any fanzine and I left one with the owner so he could check it out. He called me the next day and said he wanted to stock it and that really made me feel good. Not so much that it was going to be sold somewhere, but the fact he deemed it “See Hear” worthy. That gave me some status in the zine world.
Then one of the highlights of the fishwrap run happened. One of the magazine’s I consistently mocked was Sassy magazine. It was easy fodder and I ridiculed them from the first issue. In actuality, I actually kind of liked Sassy. I had never read it before fishwrap, but since I wanted a variety of magazines to make fun of, I included in the mix. The cool thing about Sassy was, it didn’t talk down to their teen audience and they wrote about things like drugs and birth control, which no other teen magazine would touch.
I had made fun of Sassy in every single issue, so imagine my surprise when I came home one morning after work and got a message from Christina Kelly, who was the managing editor of Sassy. In a voice that sounded like she was crying she said, “Marty, this is Christina from Sassy...why do you keep making fun of us?” Then she laughed and said, “Hey Marty, call me when you get a chance, we all think fishwrap is hilarious here.” She left her number, so I stayed up till ten in the morning and called her.
She was really nice and told me everybody at Sassy loved what I was doing. She said they didn’t know what to think when the first one came out, but after the second issue, they thought what I was doing was funny and much of the time was right on the money as far as my criticisms were concerned. Christina said they were going to make fishwrap the “Zine of the Month” and asked me a few questions. One thing she asked me was how much was a subscription. I told her it was twelve bucks for twelve issues, but that was a lot of money for a teenager. I told her that she could put in there that if anybody wanted a sample copy, I’d send them one for a buck. I didn’t really expect to get any replies, but I was excited to get the press. All of my friends made fun of me for being excited about being the “Zine of the Month” in Sassy, but I didn’t give a fuck. It was a national magazine and I was happy they got the joke and liked what I was doing.
I was anxious for the new issue of Sassy to come out and the day that it did, I ripped it open at the store I was in, flipped through it till I found it and there it was. “The Zine of the Month!” They used a cover for art and wrote a positive review of fishwrap, noting the fact that I made fun of Sassy and about every other magazine out there. They included a line saying Sassy readers could order a sample issue for a buck and put my address in there.
I was thrilled and bought six copies. I immediately called Clare and told her I’d send her a couple copies.
The next week letters started showing up in my mailbox. All of them had a dollar in them and most of them had hand written notes, with circles dotting the “i’s.” The average Sassy reader was between 13 and 15-years-old, I was probably older than a lot of their parents. Another Charlie Sheen moment! One letter was in pink magic marker and there was a drawing of a boy with Mickey Mouse ears. Below it, the caption read: “Marty.” Ha! One girl said she couldn’t wait to read fishwrap and asked what grade I was in. That one made me laugh out loud!
When all was said and done, I received over one hundred requests for a sample copy. I thanked all of them in a note when I sent the sample issues out and said if they liked it and wanted a subscription they could send me twelve bucks and I would send them the next twelve issues. I got over fifty subscriptions. Without really trying, I was hurled back into the publishing world.
A couple weeks after Sassy came out, I got a call from a guy who worked for a distribution company called Desert Moon. It seems some girl had pitched a fit in a Barnes and Noble because they didn’t carry fishwrap and she didn’t want to bother sending away for one. Desert Moon specialized in fanzines and the manager called to see if they had fishwrap available for distribution. He told me he’d like to see a sample copy, so I sent him one and got a distribution deal and fishwrap was being sold in stores. Desert Moon turned out to be crooks and burned me for about five hundred bucks, here’s another guy who got stiffed. But the guy who worked there quit and started his own distribution company and I got an even better deal with him and he wasn’t a crook.
After a year, I upped the pages, went with a four color cover and fishwrap morphed into a full blown magazine with national distribution. And yes, even though I swore it would never happen again after POP magazine, I lost buckets of money on the thing. But I loved doing it and how often in life do you get to do something you love?
I published fishwrap for about seven years and we got a lot of press: Spin magazine, NY Daily News, NY Post, Men’s Journal, The Chicago Tribune, USA Today and even my hometown paper the Peoria Journal Star all did positive stories about fishwrap. But my favorite piece of fishwrap press was always that Sassy piece. Some of the girls who subscribed told me they were going to start their own fanzines and I often wonder what they’re doing today.
Gray’s Papaya @11:33 pm Upper West Side Okay, the Papaya Wars continue tonight. So far we’ve gone to the Papaya in Penn Station, the one that got closed in Hell’s Kitchen and last week we hit Chelsea Papaya. Tonight we’re traveling to the Upper West Side to sample a dog at the first Papaya stand I ever hit when I moved to New York City. And tonight is a first, I’m going to try a Papaya drink for the first time in my life. The excitement is almost too much to endure! Well, not really, but let’s go anyway.
Okay, it's a little after 11:00 in the night and it's off we go.
We'll be taking the subway to the Upper West Side from the all-too familiar Penn Station.
And of course there's got to be some asshole walking down the escalator when there's a perfectly good set of stairs tight next to it. Asshole!
Through the turnstiles and up to the train we go.
This guy was wailing on the clarinet. I took his photo and threw him a buck.
And look at this, less than two minutes and the train is here! Looks like the start of a charmed evening!
The car is jam-packed, lots of people out on this Monday evening.
And here we are, 72nd and Amsterdam on the Upper West Side. The Papaya is just seconds away.
And there it is, right below the Sleepy's store. Let's go check it out.
Baboom! The Upper West Side Gray's Papaya in all its glory.
And there was entertainment as well. Brian was playing his guitar outside the hot doggery.
Get it? Not yet, but give me a minute to order and I will.
There's an STD joke somewhere here, but I'm not going near it.
Here's a window shot of Robert who was enjoying one of the fine dogs in this establishment.
Let's place our order and check out the dog and a papaya drink.
I had a bit of a communication breakdown with this gentleman. English isn't his first language and I couldn't speak the second one. He nervously posed for this photo. I hope it doesn't bring him any trouble.
And here's tonight's meal, a papaya dog and I ordered the pineapple papaya drink. I'm a little nervous about sampling the drink. It looks a little suspicious.
Okay, the hot dog was great, but the papaya drink was really horrific. If you've ever wondered what fermented rat piss tastes like, sadly, I now can tell you. Aaaahhhh!
This place is open 24 hours, so there's always a bundle of dogs on the grill.
Some of the signs on the wall inside.
Some of the vats that house the evil papaya drinks that I just sampled. I don't know if that taste will ever leave my mouth or mind. Yeccch!
And of course, we have to have the ebony and ivory mustard and ketchup shot. What's disturbing to me is that the kethcup is never labled in these places. It can't be Heinz and that makes me nervous.
They sell polite New Yorker buttons in here with Gray's Papaya at the bottom. After much negotiation and sign language, I bought one for a buck.
And after an even longer negotiation, I got him to snap a photo of me wearing it. Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.
This Gray’s Papaya is a popular place. It’s right across from a Subway stop and it’s got the best signage of any Papaya place we’ve been to so far. The crowd is ever-changing in here and it brings back good memories of when I first moved here. Gray’s Papaya has been featured in several movies including: Die Hard with a Vengeance, You've Got Mail, Fools Rush In and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. But they don’t sell beer and I don’t know if I’ll ever get that horrible taste of the papaya drink out of my mouth or mind. So, here’s my Papaya order so far (from worst to best):
4. Hell’s Kitchen Papaya because it’s not there anymore. 3. Chelsea Papaya, it’s clean, people were nice in there, but there’s no beer. 2. Gray’s Papaya, it brings back good memories and the signage is nice, but there’s no beer here and I don’t know if I’ll ever get that horrible taste of the papaya drink out of my mouth or mind. 1. Penn Station Papaya...they’ve got beer! Stay tuned to see who wins in the ratings of the Papaya Wars only here on MAD! Gray’s Papaya 2090 Broadway (between 72nd & 73rd St.) New York, NY 10023 212-799-0243
Tim "Clacky" Clack sent in this bonus photo of a meeting between himself and funny guy Billy Connolly! Check out more of his shenanigans at his fine blog, Tales From The Bunt's Side.
The Food Emporium/My Apartment @8:23 pm Union Square Live from New York, it’s Cheeseburger Sunday Night! Starring the Food Emporium and featuring the ready for prime beef player, Marty Wombacher. Ladies and gentlemen...please welcome the introduction to this post!
Okay, we couldn’t do Cheeseburger Saturday Night last night, because I wanted to go to the CineKink film festival and check out Leslie Hope’s film, GAYKEITH. So I thought I’d do the Cheeseburger thing tonight. The only problem is, it’s been raining all day and it appears to continue all through the night. I had a late lunch and don’t really feel like going anywhere and then it hit me: I could do the Cheeseburger Sunday Night at home. I’ve always liked to cook, but doing the 365 bars thing required me to be out every night and so I had a year of not cooking one single night. Well all that is about to change. Let’s go to the store and get the ingredients and start Cheeseburger Sunday Night!
Okay, it was just sprinkling when I left my apartment and now it's like a full blown monsoon out. Most of the pictures will be in color tonight, the city always looks like it's melting when it rains at night, and I want to capture that.
Union Square Park is about empty, it's really coming down now.
Ah, shelter from the storm, The Food Emporium.
Wow, it's empty in here, I guess people are staying in because of the rain.
I'm over in the meat section and listening to these two debate on what kind of frozen chicken they should buy. It's been over five minutes and I don't know what's more pathetic, the fact that they're debating about frozen chicken or the fact that I can't walk away from this.
Okay, they decided and now I'm all alone in the meat section and it's a little lonely here. I'm going to get the meat and get out of here.
I've never seen it this empty in here and it's kind of freaking me out.
Now I'm really freaked out! Who would put such a thing up! Let's get our stuff and get out of this place!
Sonyha was at the register and flashed a great smile for the MAD camera.
Okay, back outside, hopefully the rain has let up.
Goddamn, it's worse than ever out here.
A black and white shot of the trip home.
Okay, here's all the stuff I got: Sandwich Pal mustard, seasoned ground beef meatballs, Velveeta cheese slices, Coleman's mustard powder, a spatula and little onion buns. I decided at the store I'd make a couple mini slider cheeseburgers. I had a late lunch and I'm not that hungry, so it sounds perfect. Now time to start cooking, but first...
We must choose the proper music for the evening. I decided on the Hollies Anthology. They're one of my favorite bands.
And onto the boombox it goes.
And the first ingredient before we start cooking is beer! I think I'll have a large one, Veronica.
Here's the kitchen area of my apartment. It's small, but has everything I need for a cheeseburger meal.
I don't have an actual stove in here, but there's a microwave, an electric skillet, a crock pot and a toaster oven. All I need to put tonight's dinner together.
The burgers go into the skillet. They were already seasoned for Italian meatballs, so I just added some mustard powder and pepper to them and they're good to go.
I cut two of the onion buns in half and toasted cheese on them in the toaster oven. They look pretty good, right?
And the mini burgers are swimming in a sea of melted cheese, time to put this all together and plate it.
Burgers on one bun and some of the spicy mustard on the other.
Here's a slightly out of focus shot of them put together.
Very delicious, if I do say so myself and I just did.
And a closing obligatory bathroom mirror shot which also showcases my groovy polka dot shower curtain. Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.
I’ve never felt like the Hollies got their fair shake in the world of rock and roll. They were a great band and used some real different instrumentation in their songs: Steel drums, banjos, harmonicas and they had the best harmonies going at the time. And their drummer, Bobby Elliott was a first-rate drummer. Carrie Anne is one of my all time favorite songs by The Hollies and I think I’ve listened to it at least once a month since I bought the 45 in 1967 when I was all of nine-years-old. Graham Nash has said that Carrie Anne was a song about Marianne Faithfull, whom I have a sixth degree of separation story. A few years ago my friend David Dalton who’s a writer and knows everyone, he knows your uncle, you just don’t realize it yet, sent me an email and asked me for a favor. He said it was Marianne Faithfull’s birthday coming up and he wanted a poster of a photo of when she met Bob Dylan in the film, “Don’t Look Back,” to give to her as a present. He knew I worked at a printing place and wondered if I could output it for him. That’s one of the perks of working at a print shop, when someone needs a print for Marianne Faithfull, you’re at the ready to do it. I cleared it with my boss, printed it and sent it to David in Woodstock where he lives. I found it funny that Marianne Faithfull, a woman I had one of my first boyhood crushes on would be receiving a print from me for her birthday via David Dalton. I had a grilled cheese sandwich and then a beer or seven and promptly forgot all about it.
Then about a month later I got a notice from some international mailing service saying they were trying to deliver a package from London, England, but I wasn’t at home. Of course I wasn’t at home international mailing service, you stupid twits, I was at work, maybe you should start a night route, we don’t all work 9 to 5 you know! Anyway, for weeks this went on. I would sign a waiver for them to leave a package, they wouldn’t leave the package, my bell would ring while I was sleeping, a waiver would be left and it never got resolved. Finally the package was left and when I eagerly opened it, inside was a Marianne Faithfull CD. It was her doing duets with other people. I wasn’t sure why this came my way until a couple months later I was talking to David Dalton on the phone about something totally different. All of a sudden in the middle of the conversation he said: “Hey, did Marianne ever send you that CD?”
“I got a Marianne Faithfull CD in the mail, but I just figured it was some promotional thing,” I told him, having forgotten about the poster for her birthday.
“Goddamn her,” he spat into the phone, “She really liked the Dylan poster, so I told her you went out of her way to do it and asked her to send you the CD with a thank you note, because I knew you’d get a kick out of it. She didn’t include a note?” He asked.
“No,” I replied, “that would’ve really been cool.”
New York Screening of GAYKEITH at the Anthology Film Archives @7:30 pm East Village We interrupt “Cheeseburger Saturday Night," so we could bring you the following programming. Enjoy! Tonight I’m attending a screening of a film that’s part of the CineKink film festival here in New York. I’ve never heard of CineKink and it took a friend from Canada to help me discover it. Here’s the story, most of you will remember my friend Lex from the 365 Bar blog. She was visiting New York last summer and joined me one evening on the bar crawl. Her in-laws, Mary Ann and Morley joined us and we really had a lot of fun. We’ve kept in touch ever since and a couple weeks ago she emailed me and said her friend had a film in the CineKink festival here in New York. The movie’s called GAYKEITH and it’s written and directed by Lex’s longtime friend, Leslie Hope. I checked out the movie and it seemed really intriguing and it's based on a true story so I got a ticket and that’s tonight’s destination. I’ll go and take some pictures and write a review of the movie at the end of this. But first, Lex was kind enough to help me get in touch with Leslie and she was gracious enough to grant me the following interview. I’m going to run that first, so we can have some background on the writer and director of GAYKEITH.
-------------------------------------------------
The MAD Interview With Leslie Hope Photo by MaBelle Bray
Leslie Hope has had a successful career as an actress, writer, director and a producer and it all started as a lark when she was a teenager at school. Hope, a Nova Scotia native, was attending a boarding school and had dreams of becoming a lawyer and attending Harvard Law School. The school she was going to was being used for a film location and she ended up with a lead role in the movie, “Ups and Downs,” and was hooked by the acting bug. She decided she’d rather portray a lawyer on film, rather than in a real courtroom. After her debut in “Ups and Downs,” she met legendary writer, director and actor, John Cassavetes and he wrote a starring role for the young actress in his film, “Love Streams.”
Now, over two decades later, it looks like Leslie made the right choice. She’s starred in films such as “Talk Radio,” “Paris, France,”“Spreading Ground,”“Men At Work” and “Dragonfly.” Leslie’s also acted in numerous TV shows and movies, most notably as Teri Bauer acting opposite Kiefer Sutherland on the first season of “24.” Leslie has also acted opposite Kiefer’s dad, Donald Sutherland on the TV series, “Commander in Chief.” In addition, she also ran a theater company with Charlie Stratton for 10 years called The Wilton Project. While running the company, she produced, directed and acted in several productions, including the award-winning "Therese Raquin," "Slide" and "Ghost Stories."
Leslie has a short film that she wrote and directed called “GAYKEITH” that is making the rounds of festivals and screenings this year. It’s part of the CineKink festival here in New York and I'm attending the screening tonight. I'm going to take some photos and you can see them and read my review below. But first, Leslie was kind enough to grant an interview with MAD and here it is. Lights, camera...questions!
First off, thanks for doing this interview, Leslie, I know you’re busy and I appreciate you taking the time to do it.
Hi Marty, I'm so pleased you asked me!
Let’s talk about your current project first. You’ve written and directed a short film called, “GAYKEITH.” That’s an intriguing title, what’s the movie about?
GAYKEITH is the mostly true story of Scott: A big red-headed Canadian and a particularly lonely Christmas Eve night he spent in North Hollywood, trying to figure out whether or not he was gay.
One of the film’s trailers is very Monty Pythonesque. Were you a Python fan and is there a Monty Python influence in the film?
I grew up in Canada with a mum from Nova Scotia and a dad from England. Watching Monty Python as a kid with my family is still a fond memory. I thought the show was hilarious when I was 9 and still do, but I was entranced with Gilliam's animation. Melissa Bouwman, who was the animator on GAYKEITH, and I were very inspired by the 2-d cut out style of Gilliam's animated work and I thought that style really applied to how I saw GAYKEITH.
I see by the credits that you wrote this movie based on a true story by Scott Edgecombe. Edgecombe plays himself in the film. Did you find the story first or did you meet Edgecombe and he gave you the story?
Believe it or not, Scott was my son's 'manny'. I would take Scott with me on my acting gigs to look after my son while I was at work, and we remained friends well past my son needing a babysitter. Scott was a fellow Canadian struggling in LA and had written about this TRUE escapade in his life for an acting class monologue. Shortly thereafter, after YEARS of trying to make a go of it in LA, he decided to move back to Toronto. As luck would have it, I read the monologue as Scott was packing up to leave. I thought it was hilarious, and could only see it as a film. The gag was Scott did move back to Toronto, and we had to fly him down to LA to do his first starring role—in the story of his life.
Did you let Scott have any say so on the screenplay since it was based on a story that he had lived and then written about? Nope, I didn't. I bought the monologue outright from Scott and said I wanted to write the screenplay myself. I was adamant about it. That being said, I showed Scott all the drafts and my storyboards and was hopeful he approved. Rumour has it, he did. That being said, I readily encouraged his input as an actor, as I did with Ho-Kwan Tse, who played Keith. They were both very generous in participating in a real rehearsal process which I think was very valuable for all of us.
When you make a short film, I wouldn’t think you expect to make much or any money on it, a subject I’m well acquainted with. What’s the ultimate goal for a short film?
As a general rule, I don't know what the ultimate goal is for a short film, but I can tell you that for GAYKEITH I was determined to do whatever the hell I wanted, within the budget restrictions. I had recently completed a TV movie where I had surrendered my cut to the producers and I was not happy with that decision. I also felt quite strongly that since I was spending the money, and was answering to my husband (producer Adam Kane) and our company (Citizen Pictures) I better do what I wanted—I had no excuse not to. So, besides LOVING the story, that was my personal impetus—do whatever I could think of that was best for the movie. That being said, I was also anxious to work with animation, and this specific style of shooting and editing.
What’s the best thing that’s happened since the film has come out?
The best thing for me about the film has been that I still love it and it IS exactly what I envisioned it to be. It's a great freedom to be able to know that. The upshot is while it's always fun to share a laugh with somebody, I can quite contentedly laugh all by myself watching it. If somebody doesn't like it, or finds it in poor taste, or even offensive, I wouldn't say it pleases me, but I can say unapologetically that it's mine. I have no squirmy excuse to offer up, no measly reason why something didn't go the way I wanted because of an executive decision or wah wah wah Standards and Practices—and that's a great feeling. I hope to have it as a hired gun some day. On a pragmatic note, GAYKEITH has won several awards and nominations and been picked up for distribution by TriCon-—and the distribution thing? That's rare for a short film like this.
Anything else you’d like to say about GAYKEITH before I move on to other topics? I was incredibly lucky to have an extraordinary creative team and wildly generous crew. I literally couldn't have done it without them and I am very grateful to each person who helped me. Oh, and...GO, GAYKEITH, GO! Photo by MaBelle Bray
I read where you originally were planning on becoming a lawyer, with hopes of going to Harvard Law school and that you got into acting as a lark. I referred to that in the introduction, but can you tell us the story?
I was in a university prep school and being groomed, as all the kids there were, for the rest of my life. I was pissed off at what I perceived to be learning by rote disguised as education. I was mouthy and opinionated and wanted a big life and I couldn't see how I would fit all that in a tidy Harvard law package. I actually didn't know what the hell I was talking about, so nothings really changed...on all counts. Declaring myself an actress was most likely more of an f.u. than a considered decision. It's only chance that had a movie choose my school as a location, and only luck that I got a part. I was actually a terrible actress then. But that gig and that experience and those relationships were what I needed to start my life. I've never regretted not graduating high school and not going to university. Not now, not then.
Your second acting job in 1984 was for the John Cassavetes’ film, “Love Streams.” He’s a legendary writer, director and actor who is known as the pioneer for independent film-making. What was your experience like on that film and what was it like to be directed by John Cassavetes?
Working with John Cassavetes remains one of the great experiences and true privileges of my life. Truth be told, I have spent my career trying to find a way back to him and that time and his way of working. John was brilliant and generous and kind and true. He gave me the huge gift of including me on that film as if I belonged there, and he also allowed me to overstay my welcome and work on the crew once my acting gig was up. It was a thrill to be in his presence and of course Gena Rowlands' as well. I was 18 years old when I worked with John. It took me a while to figure out what a lucky bastard I was to have shared time with him. To this day, his work inspires me. You’ve worked with an array of respected and well-known directors and actors including, the aforementioned John Cassavetes, Oliver Stone, Dennis Hopper, Matt Dillon, Gena Rowlands, Alec Baldwin, Donnie Wahlberg, Kevin Costner and, gulp, Charlie Sheen. Any stories or anecdotes you’d care to share about working with such iconic actors and directors?
I worked with Dennis Hopper on a small movie in Toronto. By the time we got to my big scene with him—he's my dad, my mom is dead, our DOG is dead, and I want him to love me and I'm supposed to be bawling—the director and d.p. and Dennis were no longer speaking to each other. Standing two feet away from each other with the assistant director between them, the director would say something and the a.d. would have to tell Dennis who was also standing right there. Dennis would answer the a.d. and he would repeat what Dennis said to the director, and they were ALL standing right there. It was ludicrous. I remember thinking that I was on the side of the movie, which in my world was Dennis, and the rest of them were nuts. Two am downtown Toronto and a bunch of grown men acting like junior high schoolers. Later I worked with Dennis on "24" and I don't even think he remembered who I was. I remained a fan of his though.
Oliver Stone was giving me the gears on "Talk Radio". Some version of "You know the real actors, the ones from New York, are blowing you out of the water. You're a wallflower in this movie compared to them." "Yeah?" I answer, "Well, you won the Academy Award, Oliver. Why don't you pull it out of your ass and use it so I won't be so awful?". Shoving back Oliver seemed to be the best way for me to work with him. Not my favorite way to fly, but whatever gets you through. I mean he sure was doing something right. I think Talk Radio is a really good movie and I think Oliver is a great director.
Matt Dillon is one of the most kind generous actors I worked with. He was and is senselessly beautiful and really, really talented.
Gena Rowlands is a QUEEN of acting. She is a treasure. She used to smoke and drink like a true broad but she was always the classiest of ladies. I was fortunate enough to work with her as a teenager on “Love Streams” and then as a grown up on “The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie.” She was so kind to me and I was moved to tears when she shared a few John stories with me.
I worked with Charlie Sheen a long time ago but we share a friend in Kiefer Sutherland and the producer of Major League, Chris Chesser. I found Charlie to be a truth-teller and a stand up guy.
I love Donnie Wahlberg. We worked together on a series “Runaway,” playing husband and wife. I thought he was a great actor and had no idea of what he'd done before. It was after a month or so of working together that I'd read some blurb on him in a trashy magazine that made some reference to music. I said, "Donnie, did you used to be in some band?" I had no idea. Later when we were working the publicity circuit and I watched grown women (ad executives, studio honchos, various big shots) trembling and crying to get his autograph and one woman even weepily talked about her Donnie pillow case from when she was a teenager...THEN I started to get the picture.
Okay, now on to something you may be sick to death of talking about, no pun intended. You were on the first season of the runaway hit TV show, “24,” playing Jack Bauer’s wife Teri. That season was my favorite one and I was shocked at the end of it when you were killed. I couldn’t believe they would kill off a major character after just one season. When did you find out that your character got killed and how did it feel knowing that was the end of “24” for you, after it had become so popular? I loved that job on "24" and consider it to be a highlight of my career. I found out they were 'killing Teri' a couple of weeks before we shot the episode, but didn't really KNOW until right before they aired it. We had shot an alternative ending where Teri lives, but even as we were filming it, I think we all knew the better ending was 'dead wife'. I was of course sad to leave a job I loved but mostly because of my strong personal relationships with Kiefer, Stephen Hopkins and the crew—I loved working with them. The popularity of the show was not really an issue for me. The fact of the matter was that although the show had been critically well received and there certainly was a committed fan base, the show didn't really explode until after that first season, summer re-runs and vigorous dvd sales. I honestly don't think that even if it were a hit my feelings would have been that different. I thought it was a great ending to a great season of TV and I am proud to have been a part of it. You’ve been involved in all facets of film-making. You’ve acted, written, directed and produced. Do you prefer one to another, or are you just happy to have the work and the opportunities to ply your craft in so many ways?
I love making stuff. Typically that means directing for me. I feel like my shoes fit when I'm directing. I like writing and producing and have lots of ideas I am happy to hand over to better hands to make right. If I have an opportunity to act with a great director/producer/cast then I can love acting too, but nowadays those scenarios seem harder to come by. When they do, i.e. "24", it's a great ride.
This is pure speculation, but if you went the lawyer route, where do you think you’d be today?
Up on charges for repeatedly being in contempt of court.
And now for the final question I’m going to get all James Lipton on your ass. What’s your favorite curse word?
Cunt.
Ha ha ha! Perfect!
--------------------------------------------------------- Okay, we're off to the East Village, about a twenty minute walk. And it's not freezing out tonight, a pleasant reminder that spring is about to be sprung!
Free eyebrow or lip? Well, I guess I'd go with the eyebrow. People say I'm lippy enough as is. Ha!
Oh and I've decided to make a change here at MAD. The last couple posts have had color shots in them and I realized I kind've missed the color. I like the black and white for outside shots like this and some portraits of people...
But I've never been totally satisfied with the black and white neon shots. So while the majority of the outside and street shots will remain black and white, some of the inside shots and things like neon will be in color. It'll give the blog a 50/50 look that I think will be better.
The Anthology Film Archive building at 2nd and 2nd.
There's a lot of people milling around outside.
And here's the front doors, let's go inside and see what's shaking.
Here's the box office, I was directed to go upstairs.
Looks like I'm headed in the right direction.
The lobby's packed, they got a good crowd for tonight.
I met Frank and Jim while waiting for the doors to open and we had a nice chat about New York and blogging.
Jim offered to take my picture and here I am with my CineKink booklet. I like myself better in black and white.
However we'll leave Elizabeth in living color. She was taking tickets for the movie.
And the doors open up. I got a shot of the theater before the seats filled up. Very nice!
And here we go with GAYKEITH! I was going to take a shot of the closing credits, but I got so into the film I forgot. You'll have to go see it yourself.
Some of the directors and cast members were in the theater and they fielded some questions from the crowd.
And now I'm homeward bound.
On the way home I saw this little shrine in the window...
In a laundromat in the East Village. I love New York! Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.
Review
This is my first time attending the CineKink festival and it definitely won’t be my last. The festival runs for six nights and they have several screenings of multiple films every evening. The six films I saw were presented under the banner of “Pride and Predilections” which CineKink describes as: “A fun and festive assortment of shorts about sexual orientation, identity and one’s place in the world. The line-up of films were presented in this order: Chained!,Baby Cake, GAYKEITH, Butterfly Caught,Turning Japanese, Freak and Love, Hugs and Kisses, Sissy Stephanie. They were all great original films, done in different styles but they all had one thing in common, they made you think while entertaining you at the same time. I’d love to review them all, but there’s beer in the refrigerator and I can’t start drinking it till I’m done with this, so I’m going to spotlight the film that got me to the festival in the first place: GAYKEITH.
GAYKEITH has roller coaster legs and a rollickingly funny Monty Python heart with a touch of slapstick and poignancy thrown in for good measure. Writer/Director Leslie Hope drew inspiration from Terry Gilliam’s ripped-paper, jerky-quirky animation style and made it her own with GAYKEITH. The film is an entertaining, fast-moving ride from the Pythonesque opening montage to the closing credits. GAYKEITH is based on a true story, originally written by one of the film’s two stars, Scott Edgecombe. And it’s got to be true, because I don’t think you could make this up if you tried. The film is one man’s hilarious journey on a dark and confused Christmas Eve night to find out if his sexuality veers out of his comfort zone, which he describes as: “A Canadian sexual deviant.” Edgecombe has a Silly Putty face that morphs into endless expressions and he stars with Ho-Kwan Tse, who brings what can only be called a manic-calm to the film and provides a dose of poignancy towards the end. I suggest you try and see it twice if you can. The audience was laughing so loud at the screening at CineKink, I missed some of the dialogue. Come back to New York soon, GAYKEITH! Further Reading: Mavervol Media, Cinema Diverse, Work On Internet and IMDb.
My Apartment @2:31 am Midnight Movie—“After Hours, Part II”
It's really after dark tonight, I'm still at work and it's almost 2:00 am. Tonight is midnight movie night, even though it's long after midnight. Let's go home and then I'll tell you what's going on.
Finally, I'm out of work. It's a little after two...
I got a few hours of overtime tonight, so I'll be fucked if I'm walking home. Taxi!
And here we go, before you know it, it'll be show time.
Last week we watched the first half of the movie, “After Hours,” and I said it would be continued tonight. Okay, I told you then how in the first Midnight Movie I cut large chunks out and still made it work. I'm so tired, I'm going to do that tonight. Last week gave you a good set-up, so I'll try not to cut out any key parts, but still keep it short enough so I don't fall asleep in the middle of putting it together. Okay, now it’s time to say: “Roll ‘em (and whoever just pulled out rolling papers, I hope you have enough for all of us)!”
I told you it was going to be quick!
Sorry about today’s post, but as I’ve said before, that’s the beauty of MAD, every once in a while I can just take it easy. So, sorry today’s post was a bit of a gyp, but tomorrow’s post will be epic. I’m going to a screening of a movie and I have a great interview with a woman who is the writer and director of the film. She’s acted in films and TV with actors as diverse as Alec Baldwin, Gena Rowlands, Kiefer Sutherland, Dennis Hopper and Matt Dillon. So who is this mystery guest being interviewed at MAD? I’ll never tell, you’ll have to tune in tomorrow and it’ll be an epic post to make up for this turkey. And as opposed to most nights where I go out and do something, come home and go to sleep and post it around noon the next day, this one is being posted in real time, because I’ll probably sleep the whole day away tomorrow. So tonight when I say, goodnight everybody, I really mean it! See you tomorrow after dark. Further reading: IMDb, NY Times and Rewind.
"The Patty Duke Show" came up in yesterday's comments and I said I couldn't remember the hot dog thing. Well, the coolest DJ in the world, Gidget, sent in this video and it explains it all. "A hot dog drives her wild!" And why shouldn't it? Thanks Gidget! and don't forget to tune in to Woody Radio for the Secret Weapon show from 10am to 5pm! "Boris" picks the tunes and Gidget interlaces movie lines. The best show on radio! Now Check out the video.
I thought tonight we’d pop over to Union Square Park, get a couple shots and watch the MAD Friday night midnight movie. I’m still fine-tuning things here at MAD and I’ve decided to add a littel twist to it. When I tried to do the movie “After Hours,” I found I was taking too many shots and it would’ve taken forever to put up. Plus that many shots on one post really slows the page-loading process down. So from here on in, I’m going to try and show a movie using just ten key frames from the movie to tell the tale of the film. It’ll either work or it won’t, but most importantly, to quote Cool Hand Luke: “It’ll be something to do.” Okay, let’s check out the park and then start the movie. Oh, and speaking of the movie, it’s one of my favorites, “Reservoir Dogs.”
And here we go. Goddamn, it's still chilly out here. I can't wait for it to warm up.
Deja...
Vu.
Bravo!
Here's my corner. You know what? It's cold out here, we'll go to the park another time, I'm going home and starting the movie.
Shit, the only subtitles available are in Spanish. Oh bien, that's qué consigo para comprar esto de un vendedor ambulante. Hora para usted toda de ir a sus traductores en línea para el resto de la película.
Oh, y yo sepa there' s 12 enmarca aquí, pero el marco y la conclusión del título enmarcan don' cuenta de t. Buonas noches todos y le ve mañana después de obscuridad.
What I love about Reservoir Dogs is that it’s a dialogue-driven movie, much like the first MAD movie, Glengarry Glen Ross. Here’s some of my favorite lines.
25 Comments
