The Morning News

Watching • Video Digest: July 7, 2006

When Strangers With Candy premiered on Comedy Central, I felt like it was an inside joke I didn’t completely understand. And apparently, that’s true. As FourFour: The Revenge explains this week, Amy Sedaris’s character Jerri Blank is based on eccentric motivational speaker Florrie Fisher, reformed hooker and drug addict. Not only does Sedaris look like Fisher, but her character also affects the same gutter-bum stories of “boozing and using.” Before you see the new Strangers With Candy movie, meet the woman who inspired Sedaris’s loony character.







Of course I already realized that SWC was inspired by those ‘80s after-school specials about the perils of angel dust, speedballs, and divorce. I know all about those shows. Why? Because I was raised by a television set. I like to think of myself as 1/4 television set, on my mom’s side. So this montage of ‘80s commercials is like coming home (alone).




These days, kids don’t give a crap about Ataris and Care Bears. That’s because they’re too busy killing Nazis in some role-playing game on MySpace. Here’s a GameTrailers feature on the top 10 video game weapons of all time. “First, it attaches to the enemy’s head. Then it drills into their skull. Then it sends their gray matter scattering with the blast.” And that’s only #10.




Speaking of adolescent angst: A few years ago, Chuck Klosterman wrote a fascinating Spin article about Morrissey’s huge popularity with Latinos. L.A. filmmakers Jessica Hundley and Jonathan Miertschin used that same head-scratching phenomenon for a documentary short called “Viva Morrissey,” which has recently been making the festival rounds. A trailer for the film below.




And now, the question we’ve all been asking ourselves: “How is fish’s weight that Dora’s cat can carry?” You don’t have to speak Japanese, or Bad Translation, to understand that this experiment involving cats carrying fish is truly groundbreaking stuff. You’re also allowed to skip to the end. Because, really, do you have 10 minutes for this?




 —Sarah Hepola, Jul. 7, 2006
SHARE THIS • EMAIL THIS

» Advertise on TMN via the Deck

Partnership

Find more books at The Staff Recommends

« Older

Mp3 Digest: July 5, 2006

Digest

Newer »

Book Digest: July 10, 2006