random movie trivia of the day..

In the 1982 film Poltergeist, a personal favorite, did you know that those hands pulling apart the bad-chicken-leg-victim's face in the bathroom were Steven Spielberg's?!

Although publicly denied by Steven, rumors developed that Spielberg's influence was so overwhelming on this production that he, rather than Tobe Hooper, directed the film. One can't deny he literally had a hand in it.

ode to a 'stak...

Today's dvd release of 'Stak Attack from Rhino does absolutely nothing for my unparalleled fear of these green-eyed freaks of 70s television.

When I was about 8, a Sleestak took me, my sister Holly, and my brother Will hostage for about five days in their monolith.

If it wasn't for the fearless exploits of a chimp-like being named Cha-ka, who may or may not be related to Star Trek baddie Khan Noonien Singh, I might be dead now.

pretentions of advertising, part 5...

Saw this sign today and it just doesn't seem right.

It does, however, remind me of how when I left home for NYC my parents gave my car to "some charity for people who don't have cars and need them."

Where the hell was that charity when I was in High School?

The Sounds Like A Frog Podcast

listen

This week on BEWARE OF THE BABYLON...

- how can you tell when your favorite place is gonna close?

- go back in time to Rachel's Karaoke party

- advice on double booking during the VMAs

- what does a wooden frog sound like?

AND WE ANNOUNCE THE


CLICK HERE TO SEE RACHEL'S SHORT FILM

CLICK HERE TO SEE TODD'S SHORT FILM

flash! a, ah, king of the impossible

The big news in the city is the woman who took the R train only to discover it was the rated R train containing a flasher.

The fast thinking babe snapped a photo on her camera phone of the flasher (also illegal by the way) and posted it to Flickr.

Anyway, the best part is others are having the same hot flashes on the subway as well. Well, not really that hot, but you get the idea.

pretentions of advertising, part 4...

Dolce & Gabbana's new "pubic pants" are so the bomb.

I can't tell you how long I've waited for a low-slung jean with a plunge that shows off my pubes.

Maybe I'll wear them backwards and show off my crack pubes.

pretentions of advertising, part 3...

I just saw that creepy ad for e harmony where this guy you see pictured on the right says something like "aren't smiles precious" as some straight couples make out for you on screen.

So, it got me thinking, why the hell are there so many creepy representatives of companies as on camera talent for their products? Does this work for people?

They scare me.

Other cases in point:

New York City's Acne Guru Dr. Z
Do you want this guy popping your zits?


Sharpest Knife in the Shed Ron Popeil
What doesn't he sell?


The Men's Wearhouse Guy
Quite possibly the devil.


Lee Iacocca
With his mind on his money and his money on his mind.

i gotta take me on a permanent vacation...

According to this morning's New York Times, the President has vacationed 339 days at his ranch since he took office. That is nearly a year's vacation.

How many days do you get off from work?

pretentions of advertising, part 2...

I just got this preview CD in the mail with selections from some new musical coming to broadway called In My Life.

The CD sleeve boldy states LISTEN TO THE BEST MUSIC YOU'VE HEARD IN YOUR LIFE!

What an offer!

So, I slip in the CD, click on track two titled I AM MY MOTHER'S SON, and get THIS SONG.

Pretty sure that's one of the worst songs I've ever heard in my life.

It gets better though.

The musical is desribed as this...

A musician with Tourette's syndrome and a Village Voice journalist with obsessive compulsive disorder meet at a grocery store--with some help from above--and begin an unlikely romance that proves that life's greatest affliction is the one they share: true love. With a score by Joe Brooks, the songwriter behind "You Light Up My Life," In My Life promises to be a truly touching theatrical event.

Now I'm sold.

pretentions of advertising...

If there's one thing I have learned in my ten years in Entertainment Marketing, it's how to speak to your target audience.

I'm pretty sure that I never once thought to call them pussies.

Click here to see what I mean.

stand up for edgar...

I'm often hard-pressed by the media to define my political causes.

"Todd," people say, "why don't you get more political on the podcast or blog? It's time you took a stand on something."

To that, my fellow Americans, I offer you the most important thing you can possibly do for our great nation.

Please sign the online petition to get Electric Dreams released on DVD.

sing. sing a song...

Last night's birthday bash for Rachel was an incredible festival of fun, folks, and me doing a really bad Karaoke rendition of Almost Paradise.

CLICK HERE to see highlights from the night.

merde jovi...

Again, on the subject of feeling a little older.

Let me just point out the following by means of another visual.

man, did she love chachi...

It's the little things in life that make you realize you're getting older every day.

Case in point, the opening credit sequence of Joanie Loves Chachi was always so sweet and innocent at the age of 10.

At the age of 33, however, it's become clear to me that Joanie's really just making fuck-me eyes at Chachi.

grimm reaped...

For those of you about to spend your hard-earned $10.50 on a certain new release at next weekend's box-office, I warn thee with an equation... Shame on you Mr. Gilliam! You were the chosen one!

The Ravages of Age Podcast

Todd and Rachel are back from hiatus, downing wings and fine drinks at BAR 89 in soho.

This week on the podcast, find out:

- dirtier jokes than "The Aristocrats"

- how to be ten years younger

- what is "too much" to pay for a haircut

- the ravages of age

- how much does Elizabeth Berkley pay for a haircut?

If you haven't already done it...
click here to subscribe to the podcast on ITUNES.

Or if you just want to hear it from here...
click here to download the podcast and listen.

Steve Jobs' wet dream caught on tape!

I can't figure out if THIS NEWS CLIP is funny or not funny.

The "mother of the one-year-old baby" is my favorite.

just follow your nose...

Today a blind man asked me where the Ben & Jerrys was on 23rd street.

Lucky for him I had just passed one so I tried to explain that it was "just on the left up a few stores."

Realizing that was probably the worst description of where something was ever spoken to him, I just grabbed his arm and said "let me show you?"

Passing the wonderful smell of hot donuts, I told him for future reference the Ice Cream was next to the Krispy Kreme. "Basically, this is the healthy block of Chelsea," I humored him.

After leading him to the door and parting ways, I realized not only did I do a good deed, but I really should have gotten a Vanilla Malt.

calling all friends of Craig...

I desperately need your help.

Last night I tried to make sorbet in his Ultimate Chopper (no really, get your mind out of the gutter) and it broke. The crappy thing just broke in many ways.

So, he is literally sitting on the couch right now repeating the phrase, "I'm gonna get it" while staring at the Magic Bullet infomercial.

God help us.

I want my five dollars!

Last week Sony Pictures paid $1.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the studio of citing a fake movie critic in ads for such classic gems as Vertical Limit, A Knight's Tale, The Animal,Hollow Man and The Patriot.

$5 ticket reimbursements will be offered to filmgoers duped by fake ads that claimed (by fake critics) that Heath Ledger is "this year's hottest new star!" or my favorite one, "The producing team of 'Big Daddy' has delivered another winner!"

Seems Miramax didn't get the memo. I have not seen it yet, but The Great Raid claims tell a "story that has never been told." However, at the bottom of the poster it claims to be based on two books.

Since when did a story only become "told" when it's a movie.

motown remixed...

According to the Bay Area Center for Voting Research in California, DETROIT IS THE MOST LIBERAL U.S. CITY.

You go, D-town with your bad self!

Being a Michigander, I am amazed a this turn-around or, as the conservatives call it, a flip-flopping.

the game wasn't that bad...

I can't believe that jerk who jumped into the box seat saftey net from the upper deck at Yankee stadium last night.

When I was a kid I used to have this recurring dream where I would climb to the top of Michigan Stadium, look over the edge, and fall. It was a total fear of mine.

Great, now I'm afraid of midgets and the upper deck at Yankee stadium.

don't believe the hype...

New from Aquafina (which in layman's terms is Uncarbonated Pepsi Water) is their water product FlavorSplash.

The disturbing FlavorSplash ads exclaim "there's something in the water - favor!"

I've had the Citrus FlavorSplash and I can tell you first hand that there is something in the water - Splenda. Not much flavor, but plenty of that Splenda taste, yuck.

On a more related note, I found myself impulse-buying the new exfoliating scrub from got2b called BUFF OFF, which contains carrot, wheat germ, and something they call olive stone (I assume that is the positive way to say olive pitt).

Only now do I realize the subliminal reason behind my purchase as being the two spoonfuls of wheat germ I've been adding to my breakfast in the morning, that carrots are my new binge snack of choice, and I'm a really big Oliver Stone fan.

Talk about your suggestive selling.

i was just thinking...

D.C. is really a small town.

are you in or out?

I don't know if this look is specific to the DC area, but last night strolling through Georgetown we saw a dude with his long-sleeve, button up shirt half tucked in.

By this I mean one side was tucked in, the rest of the shirt was hanging out.

Is this the new polo collar up?

Is this the "on the fence" of the corporate-casual set?

Does the side your shirt is untucked on signify where you hang?

put up your dukes...

I just saw the new Dukes of Hazzard movie tonight and I'm not afraid to admit it's really not that bad.

Here's the proof:

you get to see Willie Nelson knock out Burt Reynolds

Jessica Simpson's part is limited to 5 words per sentence

a flamboyant jail-bird tells Boss Hog he shouldn't be wearing white before Labor Day

a chase sequence with AC/DC's "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)"

the Dukes are chastised by Atlanta liberals for having a Rebel flag on the General Lee's roof

a kinky Rip Taylor cameo in the outtakes

Low-brow doesn't get any higher than this film.

like Nuts without Babs...

I just got back from a screening of the feel-good tragic love-story of the year, Asylum.

It's your typical boy meets girl, girl marries boy, boy moves girl into the country to work at an asylum, girl meets patient, patient mates with girl, girl looses boy, patient looses mind (again), boy catches patient, girl looses mind, boy looses girl story.

Hands down my favorite part was when Craig turns to me during the opening credits and says, "oh, I read this book!" Classic.

yogurt's gonna stop us now...

So Craig and I were waxing poetic about how last night on WPLJ's 80s at 8 radio show some woman called in and said play anything by the Go Gos, 'cause "it reminds her of high school and being young." That instantly depressed us, so we decided tonight to have our own 80s flashback this evening and get some frozen yogurt,

I couldn't have scripted better what happened as we walked into "Yogurt Plus" for our tasty treats.

Picture this:

A fantastic woman in her 40s wearing a hot pink t-shirt, feathered hair circa 1987, dances in place singing along to "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Jefferson Starship as she awaits her order.

This was only trumped by the moment I turned to realize Craig was pretty much doing the same crazy sing-along/dance in place. I give up.

FUN FACT - "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" is guilty of one of the great absurdities of modern cinema: an oscar nomination for Mannequin. The academy was not so kind to Mannequin 2: Mannequin on the Move.

the final frontier - bad for the hair...

Did you see the Shuttle crew this morning reporting in to mission control?



I've heard of bed-head, but don't these people sleep vertically? Man, that zero gravity is a bitch on hair. Get that crew some Studio Line!

On the other hand, I can't figure out which lesbian hair-style is worse, pre-flight or space-hair.

with six you get eggroll...

Wal-Mart's first Shanghai Store has opened, making humanity one step closer to complete homoginazation.

Although the products are completely customed to the culture, the store is the same shitty warehouse with deep blue overtones and, as if there isn't enough crowded foot traffic in China, aisles are stacked to the ceiling with crap.