Glen's Popcorn

9/30/09 Radio Show Notes - Turn off your cell phones!

CGlenWilliams — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:08:54 +0000

It’s been a busy week for entertainment news — so here’s what we covered this episode with links to confirming stories.

Why are television stations willing to cancel their most praised shows? Perhaps because, as a new study shows, nobody’s watching the commercials. Most of the Emmy nominees are caught on DVR and watched without commercials.
Speaking of deserving shows, The Big Bang Theory is doing quite well in the ratings, thank you very much.
General not-nice-guy and rape apologist Tucker Max opened I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell in limited release this past weekend. And by limited we mean “Chicago.” Having failed to sell the film to a foreign distributor, Max is encouraging folks outside the U.S. to pirate the movie. Oh — and, by the way, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell is in the exclusive fraternity of movies that rated “no stars” from the Chicago Tribune.
Michael Lynne, formerly of New Line Cinema, recommends that independent filmmakers stay independent.
This is It burns up ticket presales, setting records worldwide. Perhaps because it stars that Michael Jackson fella.
Barbie is headed for the big screen. For that matter, so is He-Man (again). Toys and boardgames are the new video games. Nobody tell Uwe Boll.
David Cronenberg’s The Fly will be getting the remake treatment from… David Cronenberg? Huh. That’s a new tactic.
Katie Couric is paid more in a year than the entire budget of NPR’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition. Combined. Because, y’know, it’s the U.S. of A, and nothing can be publicly funded.
Remember J.K. Rowling? Wrote a little series about a boy wizard that got American kids to actually be interested in books? Turns out she was considered for a Presidential Medal of Freedom. The George W. Bush administration decided not to, however, over fears that her books might promote magic and witchcraft.
In Overtime: We wanted to mention this story — we even titled the show after it — but it slipped out of the regular broadcast. So in the archived show, you can hear us talk about the now infamous video of Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig being interrupted in the middle of a stage performance by a cell phone, as well as Whoopi Goldberg’s response on The View.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Popcorn update without some word on upcoming DVD releases. Next week, you can watch for the releases of:

The Best of British Comedy: Comedy Trilogy starring folks from those Britcoms that the Yanks like to tune into every now and then on their local PBS station. Also, The Best of British Comedy: Cheers and Tears.
6 Teen: Season 1, Volume 1. The original, imaginative, and endearing Canadian teen cartoon comes to DVD.
Children of the Corn. You know what this movie needed? A SyFy Channel remake. And here it is.
Also on the remake front, It’s Alive — featuring Bijou Phillips.
Amy Lynn Best’s meta-horror comedy, Splatter Movie. Featuring friend of the show Elske McCain.
Fans of The Mary Tyler Moore Show despaired over the announcement that the rest of the series would not be released to DVD — especially since it meant fan fave “Chuckles Bites the Dust” would never get onto the shelves. Well, Season Five is headed to your local video store, featuring the story of the clown’s funeral at long last. In the meantime can somebody remind me what season had the infamous green dress episode? It’s not for me. It’s for a… friend. Yeah. That’s the ticket….
Christmas specials galore are hitting the shelves. Yup, at the beginning of the month. Halloween will come with plenty of holly and mistletoe in your DVD aisles. But, hey — at least you get another chance to pick up A Charlie Brown Christmas on DVD or Blu-Ray.

And in case you’re interested in the music we played today, here’s our playlist.

“Feel Like Making Love” by Rochelle House.
“Bill Waterson” by Lemon Demon (of the Funny Music Project).
“Pleasures” by Ten Year Vamp.

Missed it? Want to hear it again? Subscribe via iTunes, or stop by our archives at BlogTalkRadio.

9/23/09 Radio Show Notes

CGlenWilliams — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:36:08 +0000

Hey-hey! We’re back on the air! Web. Netradio. Whatevs. The point is, after a lengthy hiatus, we’re back in action to bring you news from the world of entertainment. You can listen to the show from our archives, and you can download episodes automatically by subscribing through iTunes or adding our feed to the RSS reader of your choice. Here’s what we talked about today with some links to confirming sources.

Opening Music: “There is no Dana, Only Zuul” by Raymond and Scum
The Emmys suggest that if television is dying, it may well be their own fault. They canceled “Pushing Daisies” this year, which turned out to come in fourth in the Emmys race, netting Kristen Chenoweth an award. All the winners are listed here.
Doctor Horrible was even recognized as a possible early sign of television’s demise, albeit in a skit that couldn’t seem to make up its mind as to whether it thought the internet was a fad or if television truly was dying. Either way, “Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” walked away with an Emmy for “Outstanding Special Class — Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program” and with an official announcement that a sequel is in the works. Please tell me Felicia Day plays her own evil twin….
Sherlock Holmes will have a sequel. Yes, that Sherlock Holmes. The one that hasn’t even been released in theaters yet.
Oh. Yeah. Disney owns Marvel now. You might have heard. (”Marvel Poppins” by The Great Luke Ski feat Carrie Dahlby)
Night of the Living Dead is being remade yet again. This time, it’s as a 3D CGI film that tells the backstories of the characters in an “American anime” style.
Rob Zombie, who once railed against remakes, has signed to remake The Blob. Although, interestingly enough, without “a big red blobby thing.”
Diablo Cody is adapting Sweet Valley High. Really, I have nothing to add to that.
House brought in 16.5 million viewers. “Heroes” slumped to 6 million, and Leno doesn’t seem to be faring well in the 10 o’clock slot.
Had we but world enough and time, I would have mentioned that the BBC will invest $40 million dollars in quality children’s programming. Because they have a public television system that’s actually funded. But we ran short, and the story was cut.
New reports that show in order to fight off skin cancer, your body needs plenty of vitamin D. How do you get vitamin D? By exposure to the sun. Yes, all of the “no sun exposure” hype is a little oversimplified. So get out of the movie theaters and get some sun, already!
Closing Song: “Cthulhu Ftaghn” by Tom Smith with The Great Luke Ski
Bonus Track: “Blow Me Down” by Moneyshot Cosmonauts.

And the DVD releases for this week included:

30 Rock: Season 3
Wallace and Gromit: The Complete Collection (also on Blu-Ray)
The Anna Nicole Smith Story. Listed because, hey, we could.

Next week’s releases also include:

Monsters vs. Aliens (also on Blu-Ray)
Billy Jack remastered on Blu-Ray
A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa so that no Muppets fan may ever forget the tragedy….

Interested in hyping your film project on Popcorn? Leave your news item and/or promotion in the comments, and it may be selected to be an item on a future episode!

Back from Hiatus!

CGlenWilliams — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:13:43 +0000

In 45 minutes, Popcorn Radio will be breaking its lengthy hiatus with 30 minutes of entertainment news and commentary. Tune in live here!

A Movie You Have To Read

CGlenWilliams — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:15:45 +0000

Among other things, my time has been occupied of late by reading an advance of James Dawsey’s Masters and Savages and writing a treatment for him to sell the book as a possibility for adaptation to film. The book is a thriller set primarily on board a transport ship hauling “laborers” (technically distinct from but still little better than slaves) to the plantations started by the Confederados (Confederates who fled the American south post-Civil War to found a “new south”).

It’s a period of history we don’t see depicted much, and particularly in fiction (although James M. Dawsey also co-edited The Confederados, a non-fiction book on the subject).

What “Quark” Can Teach Us About Storytelling

CGlenWilliams — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:42:33 +0000

The 1977 television series “Quark” was created by “Get Smart” co-creator Buck Henry and starred Richard Benjamin (featured in such varied films as Westworld, Love At First Bite, Catch-22, and The Sunshine Boys, and TV shows ranging from “Doctor Kildare” to “Pushing Daisies”). The series lasted a grand total of eight episodes before fading into sci-fi camp obscurity. The entire series is widely available, however, on a single DVD that sells at a bargain price.

“Quark” is the continuing story of Commander Adam Quark and the hapless crew of his galactic garbage scow. Following the orders of Otto Palindrome (Conrad Janis, who also played Mindy’s father in the first season of “Mork & Mindy”), the crew finds itself time and time again entrusted with the fate of the known universe, in spite of being on the bottom rung of the social ladder.

The series is far from a television classic, and one could be forgiven for writing it off completely on the evidence presented by its first two episodes. At the third episode, however, the series hits its stride and becomes a fun romp through a strange science fiction world. Sadly, it was too little too late for the series. But the result of this rapid arc and the series’ short life is that its first three episodes are able to teach us volumes about the way stories are told — not just on television, but in any medium.

Episode 1: “Quark”
The Lesson: Hit The Ground Running

The “Quark” pilot gets the series off to a very rough start. In a perfect world’s entertainment industries, pilots — which are largely sales pitches to the networks — would never air. Unfortunately, they often do. This particular pilot is a disorganized mess of a show that barely introduces the base concept of “we think science fiction is funny.” The plot, in which Quark and his crew find themselves in the path of a galactic cloud of digestive enzymes, is little more than a framework from which hackneyed, unfunny science fiction jokes are hung with aggressive application of canned laughter.

The primary lesson of this episode is that the worst possible way to begin your series is by dawdling over obvious jokes and commentary. Goofy looking space pet is more interested in eating its owner than its pet food? Check. Food is dispensed through tubes? Check. Robots are inefficient and have attitude problems? Check. Mad scientist is more mad and less scientist? Double check. An entire season’s worth of groaners are packed into a tight 26 minutes, leaving no room for such trivialities as character, plot, or originality.

Taken individually in episodes spread out over an entire series, these groaners would be momentary distractions. But when the episode offers almost nothing else, the jokes become so tiresome as to tax your ability to last through a half hour. Pilots more often than not wind up airing, no matter how many changes are made before the start of the regular series. If you’re going to tell a story, then hit the ground running. Give your audience a reason to want to listen to you through the end of your story — and to anticipate your next story.

Episode 2: “May The Source Be With You”
The Lesson: Offer Something Original

If the pilot got things off to a slow start, “May The Source Be With You” brought things to a grinding halt. A plodding parody of Star Wars, it follows the formula to the letter. Perhaps the most damning comment that can be made is that in terms of entertainment value, “Source” ranks at most as equivalent to “The Star Wars Holiday Special.” Aside from a few chuckles to be found as Quark bickers with the whiny, egotistical Source and the first appearance of a halfway interesting character — Ficus, the evolved plant who replaced the pilot’s mad scientist — there is nothing of interest to be found between the opening and closing credits.

The problem with a by-the-numbers parody is that it offers nothing new. Just as the pilot was loaded down with predictable jokes, practically every moment of “Source” is a moment that can be predicted from the very start. Your story can’t depend on the tried, because the tried and true quickly becomes the tried and tired. Offer your audience something new, or you’ll find they’re tuning you out at record speed.

Episode 3: “The Old and the Beautiful”
Set Your Own Pace

For the third episode of Quark, Commander Quark finds himself with a plush assignment for once — an extended romantic interlude with a princess — only to find himself infected with a virus that ages him at the rate of two years every hour.

The change in the direction of the series is blatantly obvious. What had been a bland, lifeless slog through unengaging science fiction parody suddenly becomes entertaining, evoking actual laughs. Beyond that, the series starts to show signs of life beyond the jokes. Story and character suddenly take a priority in the series, and it’s a change for the better.

The quickest way to sum up the change in the series is that it finally finds its format. It’s at this point that Quark ceases to be a science fiction parody and becomes a comedy in a science fiction setting. Its stories stop depending on hackneyed jokes and instead become solid science fiction ideas executed with a sense of humor. Essentially, it becomes the sitcom of “Star Trek” (in fact, borrowing a couple of plots from that series and taking them in new directions).

Even more importantly, the series sets its own pace. Part of the evidence of this change is the fact that the laugh track has less and less of a presence until it’s almost unnoticeable. Some scenes manage to pass without a punch line or with only the most fleeting of jokes. It’s as though the format change, from simple parody to sci-fi comedy, frees the writers to actually focus on story.

Which is the final lesson of the first three episodes of “Quark.” When telling a story, set your own pace. Figure out what the story calls for, and don’t try to rush it through. Every story has a speed of its own, and every storyteller has a speed at which they work.

Perhaps if “Quark” had learned this lesson from the first episode, it might have had more than eight episodes to make its case with audiences.

Copyright Madness!

CGlenWilliams — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 03:33:51 +0000

From the Blip.tv feed — I present Copyright Madness! With commentary.

Coming Never

CGlenWilliams — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:40:30 +0000

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Anne Rice is to Blame!

CGlenWilliams — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:22:48 +0000

As are The Lost Boys, Twilight, True Blood, P.N. Elrod, Poppy Z. Brite…

Announcements regarding Popcorn coming soon….

A Bollywood Preview

CGlenWilliams — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:11:58 +0000

Classic Bollywood tragedy Hare Rama Hare Krishna — the original film to feature “Dum Maro Dum” by R.D. Burman — is available to watch free (but ad-supported) at Jaman.com. And for those of us who are monoglots, it is subtitled in English.

Hare Rama Hare Krishna

The most independent indie film. EVER.

CGlenWilliams — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:48:27 +0000

The Dirty Garage - watch more funny videos