So, often on this blog, I just post reviews of movies I have seen as well as a commentary piece once in a blue moon, but my friend Kevin (who also has a great blog you should check out) has been doing recaps of things he liked every week and I figured that something like it might offer a nice change of pace here on the Max Havey Blog. It would allow me to talk about things that either don’t fit nicely into the boxes of film, TV and pop culture or aren’t really meaty enough to warrant an entire five-hundred word post. So, here it goes. It may not be anything like Oprah’s, but these are a few of my favorite things form this past week:
1. Greg Miller and Co. leave IGN
For those of you who don’t know, Greg Miller was sort of the spokesman/host of everything IGN until last Monday when he quit IGN, along with his roommate Colin Moriarty and senior video producers Nick Scarpino and Tim Gettys to focus on their YouTube channel Kinda Funny, full time. While this was surprising, I can’t say I didn’t see it coming. Last fall, when Greg visited Mizzou, his alma mater, he mentioned that he saw himself leaving IGN someday to focus on YouTube. I just didn’t think that someday meant the end of the year.
The Kinda Funny channel, formerly GameOverGreggy, has existed for the better part of three years and started just with Greg and Colin having stupid conversations with each other. It has now grown into a podcast that is one of the top 50 on iTunes and has a following of over 100,000 subscribers on YouTube, as well as making over $10,000 a month through the paid subscription service Patreon. This is really exciting, especially in the post G4/TechTV era. YouTube has become a haven for independent voices to talk about video games. Greg and the rest of Kinda Funny left secure jobs with benefits at a nationally recognized website to do their own thing. I for one cannot wait to see how things turn out for them, and will continue watching along the way.
2. WTF with Marc Maron and Paul Thomas Anderson
Marc Maron’s podcast can be hit and miss with many listener’s, but this week’s two hour long conversation with director Paul Thomas Anderson, who does not do many interviews, is a must for any film buff. Anderson is surprisingly laid back as he and Maron discuss everything form Anderson’s upbringing in the San Fernando Valley to what it was like to adapt the infamously secretive author Thomas Pynchon’s work for the screen in his latest endeavor, Inherent Vice, which released this past weekend.
Maron is perfectly at ease discussing film with Anderson and uncovers some gold in Anderson’s stories about his upbringing as well as making his movies. For example, his father used to be the booth announcer for the Carol Burnett show and used to get plastered with Tim Conway and pull pranks on each other. Or how making the film Magnolia helped him to cope with the death of his father. It is a must for any fan of Maron, Anderson or film in general! Plus, if you like that, Maron also did an episode last week with Richard Linklater that also worth a listen.
3. The triumphant return of the Celebrity Apprentice
Now I realize that this is not high art, but everybody has a a guilty pleasure. My guilty pleasure just happens to be bottom of the barrel celebrities being catty and fantastically oblivious to how things work in business.
What makes this season so great for me is the inclusion of “News Icon” Geraldo Rivera. He adds a whole new layer of nonsensical entertainment to the show with winning quotes like “I am Geraldo and I am not one to be trifled with,” or walking around in his underwear saying “I am very at ease with my body.” I realize that it’s a train wreck, but every show can’t be Fargo and Celebrity Apprentice is getting the job done for the time being.
Throwback: M*A*S*H
My dad and I recently sat down together to watch a film he has been urging me to watch for a long time, as well as one of his favorites, Robert Altman’s 1971 breakout hit M*A*S*H.
M*A*S*H is equal parts Catch-22 as it is Animal House and features wonderful performances from great actors like Elliott Gould, Donald Sutherland, Robert Duvall, Bud Cort and Tom Skerritt. It also introduced the world to the wild vision of Robert Altman, who would go on to blow audiences minds with films like Nashville, Short Cuts and The Player, among others.
M*A*S*H is kind of timeless in its portrayal of the chaotic bureaucracy of war, poking fun at Vietnam with a number of increasingly absurd episodes. Images that stick out in my mind include the “Pros from Dover” strong arming their way through a Japanese hospital, “Hot Lips” O’Houlihan misunderstanding how football works during a game with a rival unit and “Hawkeye” Pierce teaching a young Korean boy how to properly mix cocktails.
The film is a true classic and still holds up today. We are still at war and many of the themes like ineffective bureaucracy still ring very true. If you haven’t seen it, M*A*S*H is totally worth a watch.
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