September 26, 2013
Danny Tamberelli (b. 1982) is an American actor, comedian and musician. Tamberelli played Jackie Rodowsky on the television series ‘The Baby-Sitters Club’ shortly before more notably playing Little Pete on the Nickelodeon television show ‘The Adventures of Pete & Pete’ and provided the voice for Arnold in ‘The Magic School Bus,’ as well as appearing in the films ‘Igby Goes Down’ and ‘The Mighty Ducks.’ Many may also know him for his work on Nickelodeon’s ‘All That,’ as well as ‘Figure It Out’ (and his famed ‘head flip,’ where he would flip his head back after getting slimed to cover the audience in slime).
Tamberelli was born in Wyckoff, New Jersey. He is a graduate of Hampshire College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Arts focusing on music performance and booking management. He is the bassist and vocalist for the rock band Jounce, formed in Northern New Jersey. They released an eponymous debut album in 2006, followed by their sophomore effort, ‘These Things’ in 2009. Tamberelli is also a member of the sketch comedy group ‘Man Boobs Comedy’ with co-creators Brendan O’Rourke and Jeremy Balon. Tamberelli appears in the 2013 video game ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ as Jimmy De Santa.
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September 21, 2013
Erwin Wurm (b. 1954) is an Austrian artist; since the late 1980s, he has developed an ongoing series of ‘One Minute Sculptures,’ in which he poses himself or his models in unexpected relationships with everyday objects close at hand, prompting the viewer to question the very definition of sculpture. He seeks to use the ‘shortest path’ in creating a sculpture — a clear and fast, sometimes humorous, form of expression. As the sculptures are fleeting and meant to be spontaneous and temporary, the images are only captured in photos or on film.
Most Recently, Erwin Wurm has worked on a series of sculpture titled ‘Fat Car,’ which depict ‘puffy, obese, life-size sculptures that bulge like overfilled sacks.’ The first of this series was developed with Opel designers but they were unsuccessful in achieving the kind of shape that Wurm had in mind. In order to create the quality of fat, the artist uses polyurethane foam and styrofoam covered with lacquer.
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September 20, 2013
‘See You Next Wednesday‘ is a recurring gag in most of the films directed by John Landis, usually referring to a fictional film that is rarely seen and never in its entirety. Each instance seems to be a completely different film. Landis got the title from ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’; it is the last line spoken by Frank Poole’s father during Poole’s videophone conversation.
In Landis’ first film, ‘Schlock’ (1973), SYNW is mentioned twice and shown as a poster. Brief casting and plot descriptions are given each time it is mentioned, making it clear that this is in fact two different films both titled ‘See You Next Wednesday.’ In the sketch comedy film ‘The Kentucky Fried Movie’ (1977), the film is a melodrama presented in ‘Feel-Around,’ a technique where an usher stands behind each movie patron and does things to them as they occur in the film, enhancing the movie-going experience, at least until the scene where the woman puts a knife to the man’s throat.
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September 20, 2013
A parody religion or mock religion is an imitation belief system that challenges spiritual convictions of others, often through humor, satire, and/or burlesque (literary ridicule). They are frequently created to address specific religions, sects, gurus, cults, and or new religious movements, but may also be a parody of no particular religion, instead parodying the concept of religious belief itself. In some parody religions, emphasis is on making fun and being a convenient excuse for pleasant social interaction among like-minded, e.g. the Church of the SubGenius. Other parody religions target a specific religion, sect, cult, or new religious movement.
Several religions that are classified as parody religions have a number of relatively serious followers who embrace the perceived absurdity of these religions as spiritually significant, a decidedly postmodern approach to religion. For instance, in Discordianism (begun in 1965), it may be hard to tell if even these ‘serious’ followers are not just taking part in an even bigger joke. This joke, in turn, may be part of a greater path to enlightenment, and so on ad infinitum.
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September 18, 2013
The I-V-vi-IV progression (the pop-punk chord progression) is a common chord progression popular across several genres of music. It involves the I, V, vi, and IV chords; for example, in the key of C major, this would be: C-G-Am-F. The V is often replaced by iii (‘Price Tag’), III (‘If We Ever Meet Again’ chorus), ii (‘Halo’), I (‘Doesn’t Mean Anything’), bVII (‘Firework’ first verse), II (‘Try Too Hard’ by P!nk), IV (‘I Gotta Feeling’).
It can also be used in the form vi-IV-I-V, which was dubbed the ‘sensitive female chord progression’ by Boston Globe Columnist Marc Hirsh. In C major this would be Am-F-C-G (Am-F-C-G/B voicing is very common in modern pop music). Hirsh first noticed the chord progression in the song ‘One of Us’ by Joan Osborne. He claimed it was used by many members of the Lilith Fair in the late 1990s.
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September 13, 2013
Pon farr is a Vulcan mating ritual and biological condition. Every seven years, Vulcan males and females become aroused. They undergo a blood fever (‘plak tow’), become violent, and finally die unless they mate with someone with whom they are empathically bonded or engage in the ritual battle known as ‘kal-if-fee.’ The idea is based on the mating ritual of animals on earth, notably the female ferret that also dies if it has not mated by the end of the season.
In the rebooted ‘Star Trek’ (2009), Vulcans also mate outside of pon farr, and with species other than Vulcan even if not mentally bonded with them. A common misconception associated with the series (and Spock in particular) is that Vulcans only have sex once every seven years. However, pon farr is not coincident with the sex lives of Vulcans, and they are able to have intercourse without the affliction.
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September 13, 2013
Kirk/Spock (K/S) refers to the pairing of James T. Kirk and Spock from ‘Star Trek’ in slash fiction (erotic fan fiction), possibly the first slash pairing according to media scholar Henry Jenkins. Early on, a few fan writers started speculating about the possibility of a sexual relationship between Kirk and Spock, adding a romantic or a ‘sexual element’ to the friendship between the men.
As of 1998, ‘most’ academic studies on slash focused on Kirk/Spock, as ‘Star Trek’ was one of the most accessible titles for academics and their audience, and as the first slash pairing, K/S was developed independently from the influence of other slash fiction.
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September 8, 2013
‘Holy cow!‘ is an exclamation of surprise used mostly in the United States, Canada, Australia and England. It is a minced oath or euphemism for ‘Holy Christ!’ Similar expressions such as ‘Holy buckets’ and ‘Holy underwear’ employ a play-on-words, ‘holy’ implying ‘riddled with holes.’
According to the ‘Dictionary of American Slang’ (1960): ‘It is also the common oath and popular exclamation put into the mouths of teenagers by many screenwriters, and, is universally heard on radio, television, and in the movies. It was first popularized by the ‘Corliss Archer’ series of short stories, television programs, and movies, which attempted to show the humorous, homey side of teenage life.’
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August 31, 2013
Twerking is a dance move that involves a person, usually a woman, shaking her hips in an up-and-down bouncing motion, causing the dancer to shake, ‘wobble’ and ‘jiggle.’ According to the Oxford Dictionary Online to twerk is ‘to dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance.’
Twerking carries both gendered and racialized connotations. The word is of uncertain origin. Possibilities include a contraction of ‘footwork,’ or a portmanteau of twist and jerk. Comparisons have been made with traditional African dances, for instance the Mapouka from West Africa which was banned from the television of Ivory Coast due to its suggestive nature.
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August 30, 2013
‘Cool as Ice‘ is a 1991 American musical romance film directed by David Kellogg and starring rapper Vanilla Ice in his feature film debut. The film focuses on the character of Johnny Van Owen, a freewheeling, motorcycle-riding rapper who arrives in a small town and meets Kathy, an honor student who catches his eye. Meanwhile, Kathy’s father, who is in witness protection, is found by the corrupt police officers he escaped from years ago. The film was developed as a vehicle for Vanilla Ice, and was commercially and critically unsuccessful.
The role of Kathy was offered to Gwyneth Paltrow. Her father Bruce Paltrow forbade her from accepting it, due to the script’s sexual content. The Director of Photography of the film was future ‘Schindler’s List’ and ‘Minority Report’ cinematographer Janusz Kamiński. The film’s soundtrack album contained four new songs by Vanilla Ice, as well as other material. It peaked at #89 on the Billboard 200.
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August 28, 2013
Gil Gunderson, a.k.a. Ol’ Gil, is a character on ‘The Simpsons’ voiced by Dan Castellaneta that first appeared in the ninth season episode ‘Realty Bites’ as a real estate agent with Lionel Hutz’s Red Blazer Realty. He is a spoof of actor Jack Lemmon’s portrayal of Shelley Levene in the 1992 film adaptation of the play ‘Glengarry Glen Ross.’ (Lemmon himself voiced a character similar to Levene in the eighth season episode ‘The Twisted World of Marge Simpson’). Show runner Mike Scully said that the writers thought that Gil would be ‘a one-shot thing’ ‘Dan Castellaneta was so funny at the table read doing the character,’ Scully elaborated, ‘we kept making up excuses in subsequent episodes to put him in.’
Writer Dan Greaney said that it was a great take-off on Levene to make Gil more desperate than he was. Even so, the writers like to write Gil with ‘a little bit of the old sparkle’ left in him. With the retirement of the character Lionel Hutz (after voice actor Phil Hartman’s death), Gil has been working as the Simpsons’ lawyer in later episodes. He had several jobs but inevitably fails at any endeavour, often tragically. For example, he was shot on his first day as a security guard in the bank. As revealed in ‘Natural Born Kissers,’ he lives in a balloon..
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August 25, 2013
Saul McGill, known almost exclusively by his professional alias Saul Goodman, was a character on the TV show ‘Breaking Bad’ on AMC. He was portrayed by comedian Bob Odenkirk and was created by Peter Gould, a writer of the series. Saul is a criminal lawyer and can be easily found in the yellow pages of Albuquerque.
His made up surname ‘Goodman’ is a play on words to better attract clients: ”S’all good, man!’ becomes ‘Saul Goodman.’ (Additionally, he claims his clients feel more comfortable with a Jewish lawyer instead of a generic white guy.) He is also known for his low-budget commercials in Albuquerque, where he advertises mainly under the tagline ‘Better Call Saul!’
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