It’s not the first time that I’ve blogged about this. But a short film this good easily merits sharing more than once. And who knows, there might be some who have never had the pleasure of seeing it before.
Here is that brilliant, spot-on and hilarious spoof of Ron Howard’s Apollo 13 that Gene Kranz himself has taken to watching with his family as a holiday tradition.
Behold: Thanksgiving With The Kranzes…
In 1986, CBS Television was presented with the following roughly-animated proposal for a new Peanuts holiday special. Apparently it was decided somewhere that Charles Schulz’s classic characters needed upgrading to become more timely and “Eighties” in order to “reinvigorate the franchise”. Network execs saw the proposal – a short film by Jim Reardon – and immediately and quietly chose to bury it within the CBS vault. More than twenty years later and thanks to YouTube, it has finally seen the light of day! Here is Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown…
(For the real story of Reardon and his hilarious short, mash down here.)...
“Weird Al” Yankovic is hard at work on his new album and he couldn’t wait to share the first single from it! “Whatever You Like”, a parody of T.I.’s hit song of the same name, is a spirited anthem (or is that a dirge?) for the current economy…
Speaking of Weird Al, this month’s Wired magazine has an excellent article about his career and how he’s still finding gobs of new fans!
And if you enjoyed “Whatever You Like”, you can own it for yourself (and give Al some hard-earned cash) by buying it through iTunes or Amazon.com or Rhapsody or Napster!...
Yeah, I had way too much time on my hands this evening…
With kindest regards to Bob Peak, who did the amazing poster for Apocalypse Now for its 1979 release.
Wish I could have found a pic of McCain with water dripping down his face, to match the effect of the original poster....
Here is a dire warning for all of those tempted to pig out this Thanksgiving. From his 1988 album Even Worse, here is the video for “Weird Al” Yankovic’s song “Fat” (which is a parody of Michael Jackson’s “Bad”, right down to the same subway set!)…
Incidentally, it was one year ago tonight that Ronald Filer Price, “conservative candidate” for Rockingham County Board of Education, stole the campaign signs belonging to U.S. House member Brad Miller. And then a number of citizens – including a doctor – spotted Ron’s pilfering. Price admitted to the Reidsville cops that he had taken them, and claimed the following night on live television that he feared for his life because he was being chased by “goons”.
Price, now too morally-tainted to serve on the Board, wound up elected and he had the gall to get sworn in anyway (but come the swearing-in ceremony, he meekly had to admit that there was nobody to hold his Bible for him). Ron “The Con” has since gained a reputation as being the most arrogant, sneering member of the Rockingham County school board, looking down on those he brands as “bad for the community” ...
Just as I threatened to do a few days ago, here is the Ron Price Jack-o’-Lantern. Yes, I actually went ahead with my plan to carve a pumpkin in the likeness of Rockingham County’s most larcenous, arrogant and condescending school board member! Ron Price is now immortalized in pumpkin… or at least until the thing starts to rot and decay (to match Price’s moral principles).
Here’s a shot of it on our kitchen table. Note that Monday Night Live on WGSR is playing in the background. Yup, even in our home, I make darn sure that Price cannot escape the scrutiny of WGSR, which Price once said was “bad for the community” (and click here if you want to hear Price say it himself)…
Here’s a shot of the “Ron Price Political Protest Pumpkin” on our front porch…
With a bit of the light inside coming out…...
I really hate to say this, but righteous anger is something that has always helped me feel more creative so far as parody goes. If there’s something wrong out there in the world, I do what I can to point it out and try to make it right, using whatever talent that God has given me… and in a way that I hope will make people both laugh and think about things.
So now that Rockingham County Board of Education member Ron Price is apparently trying to start-up the school uniforms thing again, my creative juices have gone into overdrive. A lot of ideas have come to mind in the past day or so regarding the Piedmont’s #1 larcenous elected official.
Here’s my latest work: Ron Price as the Gravemind in a piece inspired by the Halo video game series…
It was a bit hard to do, because Gravemind ...
You’ve probably heard by now that O.J. Simpson is being investigated – along with several accomplices – for armed robbery at a Las Vegas casino. The very first thing that popped into mind was that “this sounds like Ocean’s 11!”
I couldn’t resist. This was screaming for a Photoshop job.
Instead of the 2001 remake with George Clooney and pals, I went with the original 1960 movie with Frank Sinatra and the “Rat Pack”, which I saw a long time ago and always liked.
So here it is: “O.J.’s 11” (or “O.J.’s Eleven” however you want to spell it out)…
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‘Nuff said…