'Twilight' Becomes The Second Vampire-Adjacent Frontlash Victim Of 2008

The view from the cheap seats: Robert Pattinson of Twilight wore his good shoes for this appearance, most likely. Kevin Winter/Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

Robert Pattinson is a huge, huge star, capable of showing up at a Hot Topic store and drawing a crowd -- a crowd of teenage girls -- that was apparently menacing enough to get the event canceled by the police.

Most of these girls are fans of his work in a movie they have not seen yet.

Pattinson is the male lead in Twilight, the teen-novel adaptation opening this weekend after a period of anticipation so alternatively fascinating and irritating that it's creating just as much hostility among people who have never seen it as adoration among people who have never seen it. For every crowd of Pattinson fans who can't get enough Twilight, there is an equal and opposite crowd of people who have already had way too much Twilight, and who got there months ago. (For example, look at the comments to a recent Slashfilm post about the film.)

Call it frontlash: when speculative cultural saturation, either top-down or fans-up, builds a wave of anticipation that, in turn, causes a wave of equally ill-informed hostility.

Robert Pattinson's toes, an odd connection to a prior frontlash victim, and more, after the jump...

Continue reading "'Twilight' Becomes The Second Vampire-Adjacent Frontlash Victim Of 2008" »

8:49 AM ET | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

Genius, I Tell You, Genius!

My love for this video knows no bounds. This is the product for you if your bicycle is too compact, has too small a turning radius, or doesn't take up enough space in your garage. Or if your treadmill is too convenient to entertainment options, doesn't require you to put on enough protective clothing, or doesn't put you in the position of potentially being hit by a car.

This was sent to me by a friend who actually sent me to this page, where a lengthy discussion ensues in which nerds argue over whether it is, in fact, a ridiculous concept. They laughed at the Wright Brothers too, you know.

12:53 PM ET | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

Butterball Is Not Turkey, And Other Thanksgiving Truths

Happy Thanksgiving!: Believe it or not, this is not the weirdest anthropomorphic turkey photo we found. iStockphoto.com

 

by Todd Kliman

My friend Leslie has a term for certain foods. Delivery vehicles, she calls them.

As in: a hot dog is a delivery vehicle for spicy brown mustard and sauerkraut. Or: birthday cake is a delivery vehicle for thick layers of frosting.

Turkey, to Leslie, is the ultimate in delivery vehicles, a big fat excuse to wolf down mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, gravy and all the other starchy goodies that dominate the Thanksgiving table -- things she actually looks forward to eating.

Leslie, you see, hates turkey. "Doesn't everybody?" she asks. "I mean, secretly?"

She has a point -- how often do you roast a turkey the other 364 days of the year? -- though it's a good thing she's not running for elected office. Can you imagine? In the era of the flag pin, disavowing an allegiance to the great-American bird is a little like asking to be tarred as a godless socialist.

The reason Leslie hates turkey, I keep trying to tell her, is because she hasn't really had turkey.

"What have I had?"

"You've had Butterball."

How and why to escape Butterball, after the jump...

Continue reading "Butterball Is Not Turkey, And Other Thanksgiving Truths" »

11:31 AM ET | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

"A Nymph, a Naiad and a Satyr Walk Into A Bar..."

The more things change...: "Friends, Romans, countrymen...wocka wocka wocka!" iStockphoto.com

 

by Marc Hirsh

Reuters reports that Monty Python's legendary "Parrot Sketch" draws on many of the same ideas found in a bit from a recently-discovered 4th Century Greek joke book. Of course, back then it wasn't pet birds that were being returned by irate customers but slaves (the Python routine having succumbed to the pressures of political correctness), but the concept was the same. We're not sure why that's news, though. It's long been an open secret that modern comedy is little more than a gloss on the classics. Hard to believe? Check out some more surprising examples:

* Saturday Night Live's "Land Shark" sketch originally involved an errant Charybdis.
* "You might be a minotaur if..."
* Bugs Bunny cartoons borrowed directly from the tales of the Norse trickster god Loki; famed "What's Opera, Doc?" nothing but a word-for-word retelling.
* Diogenes searched Athens in vain for an honest man, paving the way for Jon Stewart.
* Obscure myth of Pythagoras swallowing a bitter poultice to transform temporarily into Narcissus bears eerie similarity to plot of Jerry Lewis's The Nutty Professor.
* Like Steve Martin, ancient Roman gladiators often had arrows through their heads during performances. Also, lions' jaws.
* Penn and Teller's fork-in-the-eye trick pioneered by the Oracle of Delphi, though the splatter no longer used to predict the success of military excursions.
* "Your momma's so cheap, she makes King Leonidas of Sparta look like King Midas of Pessinus."
* The entirety of Jackass cribbed from the little-known Twelve Other Labors Of Hercules.
* "The 39-Year-Old Man" routine debuts to little fanfare in 1 A.D.; remains unsuccessful until Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks get a hold of it much, much later.
* Sisyphus:boulder::Charlie Brown:football. Actually, that one you can pretty much take to the bank.

5:41 AM ET | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

A POTUS Among Us: In Obama, Comics Fans Spy a Fellow Traveler

Geek in Chief? Comics artist Alex Ross may have been prescient about the President-elect. © Alex Ross. Used by permission.

 

by Glen Weldon

So yeah, as previously noted, there was this article in Britain's Daily Telegraph, entitled "Barack Obama: The 50 Facts You Might Not Know." Here's another fact you might not know: That article created a bit of a stir last week among one specific and defiantly geeky sector of the populace.

Across the vasty funnybook blogosphere, that article's very first item — just eight little words — sent hearts to fluttering, tongues to wagging and computer pixels to ... um, doing whatever it is that computer pixels do. Phosphoring, let's say.

The eight little words? "He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics."

Actually, it wasn't all eight of those words. It was just the second one.

Collects.

That one verb sent a thrill up the leg of many a funnybook fan, and got us parsing away like so many Talmudic scholars. (If Talmudic scholars wore XXL X-Men tees.)

To wit:

Well, let's just start with that verb tense. As in: Present! As in: Continues-to-this-very-day!

To say nothing of the word choice itself. To collect, after all, is a fundamentally different prospect than, say, to read. Because packed neatly inside collect is the notion of cataloging, of alphabetizing by publisher, title or lead character.

The word collect is redolent of the chase, of the perpetual, never-to-be-slaked thirst for completeness that is the very engine of full-on geekery.

So yeah, it's an intriguing prospect, a fanboy POTUS; I get that.

But I hereby caution my geek brethren and sistren to curb the collective enthusiasm until we know more.

After the jump: We coldly examine the evidence ...

Continue reading "A POTUS Among Us: In Obama, Comics Fans Spy a Fellow Traveler " »

5:19 PM ET | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

Are These The 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time?

Rolling Stone asked members of a "blue-ribbon panel" to name their favorite vocalists, and from their responses, it compiled its list of the 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time. Top of the list? Aretha Franklin.

It's an interesting list, and provided you understand that it's not terribly broad (as commenters quickly noted, there are no great vocalists who sing primarily in other languages?), it makes a nice, compact collection of mighty vocalists.

Be warned: They show a "playlist" for each artist, and it's very nice that they went to the trouble of setting it up, but it isn't ordinary streaming -- it plays through the Rhapsody music service. Rhapsody will give you 25 free streams a month, but you have to install their software, so think of the playlist as a nice idea more than a functional add-on for the average surfer.

7:11 AM ET | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

Farewell Lines: The Good, The Bad, And The 'See Ya Later, Decorator'

Top Chef judges: "What do you think? You think we should change it to 'grab a pillow and go'?" Bravo

 

by Linda Holmes

While thoroughly embarrassing myself by watching the first episode of Lifetime's new series Blush: The Search For The Next Great Makeup Artist (the second episode airs tonight; the first is available online), I found myself pondering the line uttered by host Vanessa Marcil when she eliminates contestants: "I'm sorry; that was your last look."

It's not much of a kiss-off line, honestly.

The perfect kiss-off is an absolutely integral part of a good -- or at least enjoyable -- competitive reality show. It tends to signal the show's entire personality, if it has one, or its stupidity, if it doesn't. Don't believe me? Let's review a few:

"You're fired." (The Apprentice) The most famous kiss-off in reality-show history was also one of the simplest, and it became part of the show's iconography. Had Donald Trump told his aspiring corporate weasels "Adios, amigo," there probably would have been no second season. "You're fired" not only had simplicity going for it, but it embraced the show's fundamentally silly idea that this was a job interview rather than a series of bizarre attempts to impress a temperamental weirdo.

Heidi Klum, poor Jonathan Adler, and the evil of the pun, after the jump...

Continue reading "Farewell Lines: The Good, The Bad, And The 'See Ya Later, Decorator'" »

8:59 AM ET | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

TCM Looks At 'Leading Couples'

A Quick "Set Your DVR" Alert: TCM is running two nights of "Leading Couples" films, tonight and next Tuesday. The lineup tonight: To Have And Have Not (starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall) at 8:00 p.m., Adam's Rib (starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn) at 9:45 p.m., Top Hat (starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers) at 11:30 p.m., and A Night At The Opera (starring the Marx Brothers) at 1:15 a.m. A darn fine schedule.

Next Tuesday: Cleopatra (starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton) at 8:00 p.m., Rio Grande (starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara) at 12:15 a.m., They Died With Their Boots On (starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland) at 2:15 a.m., and Viva Las Vegas (starring Ann-Margret and Elvis Presley) at 4:45 a.m.

8:12 AM ET | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

You've Got Obama Facts; We've Got Space For Them

The President-Elect: Can't get enough facts about him, even if you have to write them yourself? We're here to help. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

 

by Glenn McDonald

The UK Telegraph recently ran an intriguing piece called "Barack Obama: The 50 facts you might not know." As you may be aware, a certain percentage of Europeans -- the technical term is Pretty Much Everybody, I think -- was overjoyed at the notion of an Obama presidency. So the list runs down some rather endearing facts about our next president.

For instance, he collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics. His favorite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees. And he took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing on their first date. (All true.) (According to the Telegraph, anyway.)

Here at NPR HQ, we decided to apply our vast editorial (and, um, creative) resources to the task, and have come up with a bonus 25 More Facts You Might Not Know About Barack Obama.

- He can not only turn water into wine; he turns it into 1787 Chateau Lafite.

- A renowned spot shooter at Chicago pick-up basketball games, his specialty is a 3-pointer made by bouncing the ball off Mayor Richard M. Daley's forehead.

- His tears can regenerate severed limbs.

- Whenever a Republican strategist cries, Obama gets $10 richer, somehow.

A lot more facts we totally do not stand behind, after the jump...

Continue reading "You've Got Obama Facts; We've Got Space For Them" »

9:48 AM ET | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

True Celeb Confessions, and Other Notes from Within the TMZ

Wait for it, wait for it: Life star Damian Lewis has a really nice smile. We swear. Adam Taylor, NBC

 

by Kim Masters

I have friends and colleagues who regard me with a jealous eye because I cover the Hollywood beat.

But it's not all red-carpet premieres and outrageous, Wolfgang Puck-catered parties (like the one I went to last week). Much of the time I'm wrestling with "suits" and other high-maintenance personalities who don't want to tell me anything — and who cannot be compelled to do so, because there's no Hollywood Freedom of Information Act. (If you've seen Ari Gold on Entourage, bear in mind that he's based on a real person.)

Sometimes I do get to have a little fun, though. When we noticed that there are a lot of actors from overseas starring as Americans on TV dramas, it seemed like an opportunity.

Who opened up when opportunity knocked, after the jump ...

Continue reading "True Celeb Confessions, and Other Notes from Within the TMZ" »

9:15 AM ET | permalink

comments () | | e-mail