#russell howard's good news

[aestheticsyoutubers]

russell howard, russellhoward ↳ russell howard’s good news (series 10, episode 5)

#russell howard #russellhoward #russell howard's good news #series 10 episode 5 #aestheticsyoutubers #aesthetics #youtube aesthetic #youtube #comedians #tv #tv aesthetics #subscribbled #if your nickname is pigeon dick that is not a compliment

[lulusoblue]

From 06:57 to the end of the video and from the aptly named Irish comedian Andrew Ryan, I present to you a summary of the plot of BioShock.

"Where's me dad and where's me money gone, Brian?!"

#bioshock #andrew ryan #russell howard's good news #the main plot of bioshock is just an identity crisis involving an irish accent. daddy issues. and capitalism. #so yeah this comedy segment is a very good abridged version #Youtube

[call-me-casual]

#sportacus #lazytown #russel Howard #good news #russel Howard’s good news #I started cackling when I saw this

[panelshowsource]

hey frends!

just a lil update to say that i'll be moving soon, so over the next 2–3 weeks i'll be quite busy and won't be able to post a lot a lot (not that i usually post that much but i do try!)

now that many panel shows are wrapping up their seasons, it's not too much to keep up with the masterpost or anything, so i'll definitely keep that chugging, but gifs might be a little slow :') i have a few requests i'll work on, and it's fine to send those in; plus, i said i'd be making BIG gifsets for the recent taskmaster contestants and i'm definitely working on those! i wanna do a good job so taking my time :)

wanna remind everyone about some of the newer additions to the googledrive!

ed gamble — glutton (audiobook) (i'll be listening to this today while i'm packing! if anyone else listened pls lmk what you think!! i'm also wrapping up david's book and gonna post my thoughts soon hehe)

added the most recent alex horne/tim key celebrity pointless to the alex horne collection folder

a couple seasons of duck quacks don't echo upgraded to 1080p

bbc radio 4's hard to tell from 2011, with jonny sweet, charlotte ritchie, katy wix, etc.

complete british as folk, with fern brady, ivo graham, and darren harriott (any other homo reading this grow up absolutely and painfully obsessed with queer as folk? either version? oh man... this programme gets a 10/10 for the name alone, iconic)

live at the moth club

lots of fun new episode of growing pains, hignfy, taskmaster, outsiders :)

as well, there are a couple of new podcasts out: russell howard's wonderbox and james acaster's springleaf :)

i have a bunch of asks and i'll post them later! you guys are being so cute about taskmaster it's been so fun

hope everyone is having a great weekend!

btw... please don't feel obligated to anon me rude messages... i'm a little stressed with everything going on in Life, so maybe save those for the new year? i'll try to come up w witty retorts after i've had some sleep

it's funny, i've been hearing a lot about blog competition and fighting for notes and monopolising panel show content blah blah in my inbox recently. (i only included one here but there's genuinely been quite a few just in the last couple of weeks.) i don't know what might be going on on other blogs or discords or whatever, and i honestly didn't even know these were still convos people are having; i kinda thought we all agreed that this site isn't as big as it used to be, notes aren't as plentiful as they used to be, but by golly we'll just keep on posting anyways. i don't know if there are edit tags for any panel shows but i don't use them; i just post content here for my current followers and if you guys like it then that's all i wanted to do. i don't care if there are other panel show blogs with more followers or posts that get more notes or better gifs or better blogs or whatever. it's all fine. i don't care. i don't think about it. so you don't have to ask me that stuff — how to grow your blog or get more followers or more engagement, or how i feel about other blogs that post the same content as i do — i won't answer it. just post it because you want to; don't race to be the first one to get stuff at (especially at the expense of making content you're proud of!); don't put other people down; don't send anonymous hate. just be cool and worry about you. if you can't have fun here without validation in the notes then you're gonna be miserable. flopping is integral to being active.

#p

[thebeesareback]

Where to find multiple people from Taskmaster outside of the show

Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned: David Baddiel, Frank Skinner

Big Fat Quiz of the Year/Big Fat Quiz of Everything: Mawaan Rizwan, Judi Love, Noel Fielding, Dara O'Briain, Sarah Millican, Jo Brand, Romesh Ranganathan, Asim Chaudhry, Rose Matafeo, Mel Giedroyc

The Cleaner: Greg Davis, Asim Chaudhry, Sian Gibson

Cuckoo: Greg Davis, Asim Chaudhry

Doctor Who: Mawaan Rizwan, Ardal O'Hanlon

The Inbetweeners: Greg Davis, Joe Thomas, Susan Wokoma

Eight out of Ten Cats/ Eight out of 10 Cats does Countdown: Josh Widdicombe, Roisin Conaty, Romesh Ranganathan, Katherine Ryan, Richard Osman, Joe Wilkinson, Paul Chowdhry, Rob Beckett, Sara Pascoe, Lolly Adefope, Aisling Bea, Nish Kumar, Alice Levine, Liza Tarbuck, Jessica Knappett, Phil Wang, David Baddiel, Rose Matafeo, Daisy May Cooper, Johnny Vegas, Lee Mack, Morgana Robinson, Chris Ramsey, Judi Love, Sophie Duker, Fern Brady, John Kearns, Sam Campbell

Frankie Boyle's New World Order: Frankie Boyle, Sara Pascoe, Nish Kumar, Desiree Burch, Fern Brady

Feel Good: Mae Martin, Charlotte Ritchie

Fresh Meat: Joe Thomas, Charlotte Ritchie, Rob Beckett

Ghosts: Lolly Adefope, Charlotte Ritchie, Jessica Knappett, Katy Wix, Bridget Christie, Keill Smith-Bynoe

The Great British Bakeoff: Rob Beckett, James Acastar, Sue Perkins, Mel Gierdroyc

Hypothetical: James Acaster, Josh Widdicombe, Roisin Conaty, Liza Tarbuck, Phil Wang, Lou Sanders, Rose Matafeo, Guz Khan, Victoria Cohen Mitchell, Judi Love, Dara O'Briain

Have I Got News for You: Roisin Conaty, Dave Gorman, Mel Giedroyc, Nish Kumar, Alice Levine, Liza Tarbuck, Phil Wang, Jo Brand, Richard Herring, Desiree Burch, Munya Chawawa, Sarah Millican, Ivo Graham, Julian Clary, Lucy Beaumont

Off Menu Podcast: James Acaster (host), Ed Gamble (host), Greg Davis, Nish Kumar, Alex Horne, Dara O'Briain, Katherine Ryan, Joe Thomas, Joe Lycett, Lolly Adefope, Bob Mortimer, Jamali Maddix, Morgana Robinson, Bridget Christie, John Kearns, Keill Smith-Bynoe, Mae Martin

Outnumbered: Hugh Dennis, Katy Wix, Lee Mack

Late Night Lycett: Joe Lycett (host), Katherine Ryan, Daisy May Cooper

The Last Leg: Josh Widdicombe (host), Romesh Ranganathan, Lolly Adefope, Jessica Knappett, Johnny Vegas, Sophie Duker, Lucy Beaumont, Jo Brand, Frank Skinner, Joe Thomas, Katherine Ryan, Greg Davis, Russell Howard, Roisin Conaty, Aisling Bea, Joe Lycett, Victoria Cohen Mitchell, James Acaster, Sally Phillips, Nish Kumar, Alex Horne, Kerry Godliman, Phil Wang, Jamali Maddix, Guz Khan, Desiree Burch, Munya Chawawa, Susan Wokoma, Rose Matafeo, Kiell Smith-Bynoe

Miranda: Joe Wilkinson, Mel Giedroyc, Sally Phillips, Liza Tarbuck, Katy Wix

Mock the Week: Dara O'Briain (host), Hugh Dennis (every episode), Frankie Boyle, Josh Widdicombe, Romesh Ranganathan, Katherine Ryan, Al Murray, Mark Watson, Nish Kumar, Kerry Godliman, Rhod Gilbert, Ed Gamble, Desiree Burch, Chris Ramsey, Sophie Duker, Sarah Millican, Ivo Graham

Man Down: Roisin Connarty, Greg Davis, Mike Wozniak

Not Going Out: Lee Mack, Hugh Dennis, Tim Vine, Katy Wix

Parenting Hell: Josh Widdicombe (host), Rob Beckett (host)

Paul Sinhar's TV Showdown: Paul Sinhar (host), Rob Beckett

QI: Romesh Ranganathan, Katherine Ryan, Richard Osman, Dave Gorman, Sara Pascoe, Hugh Dennis, Lolly Adefope, Aisling Bea, Mark Watson, Nish Kumar, Tim Vine, David Baddiel, Jo Brand, Rose Matafeo, Johnny Vegas, Alan Davis, Desiree Burch, Victoria Cohen Mitchell, Bridget Christie, Dara O'Briain, Ivo Graham, Jenny Eclair, Julian Clary, Sue Perkins

Quickly Kevin, Will He Score?: Josh Widdicombe (host) (busy guy), Ivo Graham

Rob and Romesh vs...: Romesh Ranganathan (host), Rob Becket (host)

Russell Howard's Good News: Russell Howard (host) (obviously), Roisin Conaty, Romesh Ranganathan, Doc Brown, Joe Wilkinson, Aisling Bea, Iain Sterling, Lou Sanders, Ed Gamble, Chris Ramsey

The Russell Howard Hour: Russell Howard (host) (obviously), Paul Chowdhry, Jessica Knappett, Lou Sanders, Desiree Burch

Would I Lie to You: Richard Osman, Bob Mortimer, Phil Wang, Rhod Gilbert, Joe Thomas, Lou Sanders, Sian Gibson, Jo Brand, Katherine Parkinson, Lee Mack, Sarah Kendall, Desiree Burch, Ardal O'Hanlon, Judi Love, Munya Chawawa, Sarah Millican, Lucy Beaumont

Very Modern Quests: Alice Levine, Greg James, Joe Lycett, Phil Wang

Enjoy!

#taskmaster #taskmaster UK #Little alex horne #greg davis #baddiel and skinner unplanned #david baddiel #frank skinner #big fat quiz #mawaan rizwan #judi love #noel fielding #dara o briain #sarah millican #jo brand #romesh ranganathan #asim chaudhry #rose matafeo #mel giedroyc #the cleaner #sian gibson #cuckoo #doctor who #ardal o'hanlon #the inbetweeners #joe thomas #susan wokoma #eight out of ten cats #8 out of 10 cats #8 out of 10 cats does countdown #josh widdicombe

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I think this is the first time since season 10 that I’ve watched the first episode of a Taskmaster season without writing a liveblogging Tumblr post as I went along (in seasons 11-16, I stuck to varying levels of keeping up the liveblogs for the rest of the season, but I always at least did the first one). If I’m very honest, the main reason why I didn’t do it for this one is it’s the first lineup for which there was only person I was really really excited about. The other four I have varying levels of vague opinions about, from “broadly like based on the one time I saw her on Russell Howard’s show” (Sophie), to “quite strongly dislike based on seeing her promote stalking and harassment on Alan Davies’ show, but I guess it was probably just a joke that came off badly” (Joanne) to “never got into League of Gentlemen because the surreal vibe creeped me out a bit and BBC Sherlock put me off Mark Gatiss so I know almost nothing about him”. Oh, and I do actively like Nick, because I am one of the few people who’s found Mr. Swallow funny on Catsdown, but I didn’t much enjoy his Houdini special and Ted Lasso season 3 was so bad that it put me off everyone who had anything to do with it even though obviously it’s not Nick Mohammed’s fault, so those conflicting opinions balance out into a vague “I guess I like that guy”.

Anyway, I didn’t want to write a post that was meant to be liveblogging the whole Taskmaster episode, and have that post be 90% about John Robins, and lay out just how much John Robins was the only one I was really interested in, and I also didn’t want to try to make myself have more of an opinion about the rest of them than I actually did. So no liveblog post this time, I just watched the episode. Once it gets a couple of episodes in I will have an opinion on the rest of them, and then might start the liveblogs again because I will have a slightly more balanced view.

Having said that. I have now watched it and do have some new opinions:

- Sophie Willan: I expected the charmingly naïve chaos, based on that time she was on Russell Howard’s show, that’s exactly how she came across on there and it’s great. Funny and sweet just great fun to watch. I did not, however, expect this extreme level of incompetence. I find an extreme level of anything funny on Taskmaster, and this is no exception. Love that we’re going to have a good old fashioned disaster contestant and it’s been marked out so early. Love that she appears to have no idea what show she’s on. Obsessed with her decision to paint that actual fence even though she definitely saw the blinds.

- Steve Pemberton: The “old man who is far too well established in comedy to need this show” contestant actually trying in the tasks, that’s always a fun surprise. I mean, I enjoy it either way. Frankie Boyle, Alan Davies, Julian Cleary, Ardal O’Hanlon – all those guys stumbling through the tasks with bemusement is fun. But it’s a nice surprise when you get a Lee Mack, a Dara O’Briain, a thing that Steve Pemberton looks to be – an old man who doesn’t need this but decides to actually put significant effort into doing each task properly. The egg train was impressive. The stumble at the end was funny. The good-natured attitude in the studio is amusing. And John Robins being the competent competitive force I’m hoping for won’t be as much fun if there’s not another good player to challenge him.

- Nick Mohammed: That’s exactly what I wanted from him. It’s almost weird to hear him talk in a normal voice, which doesn’t make sense because it’s not like he was using the Mr. Swallow voice on Ted Lasso, but I think on some level, my brain operated under the assumption the Mr. Swallow voice was his “real voice” and he was just putting on a character for Ted Lasso. It is interesting to see him play himself, where it turns out, he’s not that far off from Mr. Swallow’s quirks, just with a lower-pitched voice. I liked the exchanged he had with Greg in this manner. I liked the pragmatic approach to getting hula hoops out of a river. I liked the dynamic with Steve. I liked it when he threw some bricks around.

Joanne McNally: I dislike her a bit. Which is a lot less than how much I disliked her yesterday. This episode has brought me from disliking her a lot to disliking her a bit. She was entertaining. I wish I hadn’t seen that episode of Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled, because it’s sending me into this season with a bias against her that may be too much for her Taskmaster persona, as entertaining as it is, to overcome. I like other comedians who've said worse things than that, because I can put those things in the context of all their other stuff and consider it just one badly judged story. Maybe Taskmaster will give me enough context for McNally to get past it. She was fun. I wanted to be able to enjoy her. But she does still annoy me.

John Robins: Here's an idea. What if I do the opposite of the post this would have been if I'd been liveblogging as I watched and had been honest about where most of my interest was (though that interest broadened out as the episode went along, it only takes a small amount of time at the beginning of a season for me to get to know the unknowns well enough to be interested in them too), and make this a post about everyone except John Robins? I'll just end this post here.

(He crashed a car with an egg and he brought in 19th Century literature and he thought through that live task so strategically and and his drawings were so much better than everyone else's and this is exactly the level of competence I was hoping for and I don't mind waiting a bit for the competitiveness-induced outbursts that I'm sure are coming later, because actually it was equally funny to watch him spend this episode just glaring and biting his tongue (and having his voice crack the way it sometimes does on the radio, it happened right at the beginning of this episode, and you always know we're getting something good out of John Robins when his voice starts cracking) whenever he got annoyed about something going wrong. And is adorable that his buddy Alex got a reference to his big award into the episode, especially in a way that says "You know, technically you're on the level with Steve Pemberton."

(The other reason I didn't do a liveblog this time is I was genuinely embarrassed reading back the one I wrote during s16e01, where I frequently transcribed my internal and/or external monologue verbatim as I was too into the episode to also put an edit between my thoughts and the typed words, and was really into backing Sam Campbell like a sports team and Taskmaster brings out the sports team side of me in general, which is how you had bits of that post with me writing things like "Yes Sammy C coming through" with what I hope any reader would (incorrectly) interpret as irony. It's for the best that I avoided that this time and didn't need to document the number of times the words "Come on Johnny you got this" came out out loud as I was watching him throw hula hoops at things. I have never referred to him by that name before, it's just the automatic sports-ifying of people's names that happens when you watch them like a sports team. I'm pretty sure words in parentheses don't count towards a post, so this one actually ended when I said it did two paragraphs ago.)

#taskmaster spoilers

[the-rewatch-rewind]

Another new episode!

Script below the break.

Hello and welcome back to The Rewatch Rewind! My name is Jane, and this is the podcast where I count down my top 40 most frequently rewatched movies in a 20-year period. Today I will be talking about number 15 on my list: Columbia Pictures’ 1940 fast-talking comedy His Girl Friday, directed by Howard Hawks, written by Charles Lederer (and uncredited Ben Hecht and Morrie Ryskind), based on the play “The Front Page” by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, and starring Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, and Ralph Bellamy.

After a four-month absence, reporter Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) returns to the office of The Morning Post to inform her ex-husband/boss, editor Walter Burns (Cary Grant), that she is about to marry insurance agent Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy), settle down, and quit the newspaper business for good. Desperate to win her back, both professionally and romantically, Walter entices Hildy to write one last great story for the paper, while doing everything he can to sabotage her relationship with Bruce.

I don’t remember any of my first impressions of this movie, or if I had seen it before I started keeping track. I assume it was one of the many old movies I got from the library relatively early in my foray into Old Hollywood, so I might have seen it in 2002. I definitely saw it once in 2003, once in 2005, once each in 2007 through 2009, three times in 2010, three times in 2012, once in each year from 2013 through 2016, twice in 2017, once in 2018, twice in 2019, and twice in 2022. I know that in 2010, I took a class at community college called “film as literature,” in which some assignments involved picking a movie and three different aspects of filmmaking, and discussing how those three aspects enhanced the story of that particular film. The instructor advised us to watch the movie we were writing about three times, focusing on a different aspect each time, and His Girl Friday was one of the movies I wrote a paper like that about (I focused on dialogue, props, and lighting), so that explains the three times in 2010. But I can’t think of a good explanation for why I watched it three times again in 2012, aside from the fact that it’s a great movie that I always enjoy watching. It’s also one that feels particularly appropriate to include in my annual Cary Grant birthday marathon, because it happened to come out on his birthday in 1940, so that’s part of why I watch it almost every year.

By far the best and most noteworthy aspect of this movie is its rapid-fire dialogue. Yes, a lot of old movies are very dialogue-heavy with people talking pretty fast, but like, His Girl Friday takes it to a whole other level. A typical movie averages around 90 words of dialogue per minute; His Girl Friday averages around 240. Many lines were specifically written so that the beginning and the end didn’t matter, allowing the actors to talk over each other, as people do in real conversations, without preventing the audience from understanding what was going on. All the fast, overlapping talking is particularly impressive given that multi-track recording hadn’t been developed yet, so they couldn’t adjust the volumes of different speakers separately in post-production; they just turned different overhead microphones on and off so the primary speaker was louder when they were recording, with some scenes reportedly requiring up to 35 switches – shout out to that sound department. At the time, the record for fastest film dialogue was held by the 1931 version of The Front Page, and director Howard Hawks was determined to break it with this adaptation, which he later proved he had done by screening the two versions next to each other. He also encouraged the actors to improvise, which made filming take longer – as it had with his earlier Bringing Up Baby – but helped the conversations feel even more authentic. Rosalind Russell felt that Cary Grant had more good lines in the script than she did, so she hired her own writer to help enhance her dialogue. Apparently at one point, after she did something unscripted, Grant broke character and said into camera, “Is she going to do that?” which Hawks really wanted to keep in the movie, but ultimately didn’t make the final cut. But several noteworthy ad-libs remained, including at least two, possibly three, amazing inside jokes. One is when Walter says, “He looks like that fellow in the movies…Ralph Bellamy” about Bruce, who did, in fact, look exactly like Ralph Bellamy, the actor playing him. And then there’s the part when the mayor says, “You’re through,” and Walter replies with, “The last man that said that to me was Archie Leach,” in reference to Cary Grant’s birth name – yes, he had the same birth surname as me, but we’re not related as far as I know. And the third, which has not been officially confirmed as an ad-lib or intentional reference but might have been, is when Walter calls the man hiding in a desk a “mock turtle,” which was the character Grant played in the 1933 Alice in Wonderland movie.

So basically, this film was made specifically for Cary Grant fans, and that’s a big part of why I love it. Walter Burns is one of his less likable characters – he’s selfish and deceptive and manipulative – but also one of his most fun to watch. Grant nails every beat of the breakneck-paced dialogue, knowing exactly when to pull focus toward himself and when to fade back to let his scene partner shine through. He still keeps going in the background, though, which helps make this movie especially rewatchable. As you can probably tell from the mere existence of this podcast, I enjoy rewatching movies anyway, but with His Girl Friday in particular, there are so many excellent moments that I didn’t notice until I’d seen the whole film many times, and I’m still noticing new things with every rewatch. While you don’t need to hear the overlapping bits of dialogue to follow the movie, once you’re familiar with the story it’s very fun to go back and listen for the parts you missed before. And several actors – Grant in particular – make some great reaction faces in the background that are worth watching out for. So if you’ve only seen this movie once, I would highly recommend revisiting it.

And it’s not just Cary Grant – Rosalind Russell is absolutely fabulous in this movie. Hildy Johnson was a man in The Front Page, but when Howard Hawks heard his female secretary reading the lines during auditions, he thought they sounded great coming from a woman and decided to turn Hildy into Walter’s ex-wife. It would have been nice if they could have changed one of the main characters into a woman without making her automatically romantically involved with the other main character, but we can’t have everything. Many actresses were considered but ended up either turning it down or being too expensive to hire. Russell knew she was not a top choice and was apparently very insecure about that, but she had no reason to be because she was perfect. All the reporters in the movie talk ridiculously fast, but she leaves them in the dust and makes it look easy. It took me many takes just to quote part of one of her many rapid monologues at the end of last episode without tripping over my words; I don’t know how she did it. And while she’s talking a mile a minute, she’s also portraying an incredibly layered and nuanced character. The wonderful character actors playing the other reporters do a great job of conveying that they have embraced the cold, detached mindset of caring more about the scoop than the story itself. Hildy shares this to a certain extent, but she hasn’t completely lost her sense of empathy the way they have. She fits in with the guys, but she’s also better than them, both as a journalist and as a human being, without seeming too perfect to be realistic, which is an incredibly complex and difficult balance to strike, but again, Rosalind Russell nails it. Much as I love Grant’s performance, Russell is really the glue that holds the whole thing together, and she commits to that role completely.

Hildy is such a strong character that I’m always disappointed when she goes back to Walter at the end. She is clearly a much better match with him than with Bruce, whose slow, deliberate speech contrasts rather jarringly with Hildy and Walter’s snappy patter. But Walter has learned exactly zero lessons by the end of the movie, and there is no reason to believe that any of the problems with their first marriage will ever be resolved. Throughout the movie, Hildy is torn between wanting the domestic life of Bruce’s wife and the more hectic life of a newspaper reporter that still has a hold on her. When Walter tells her she can’t quit because she’s a newspaperman, she replies that that’s why she’s leaving, so she can be a woman. But as much as she complains about it, she makes it pretty clear that she does love being a reporter. I think there is a part of her that genuinely likes the idea of settling down as a housewife, but it seems like the main reason she wants to do that is because society is telling her that’s what women are supposed to do. So I’m very glad the movie doesn’t make her marry Bruce. I also recognize that at the time it was rather radical to suggest that a woman should pursue a career in something other than homemaking if she wants to, let alone suggest that she doesn’t have to completely give up the idea of having a husband to do so. In 1940 it was highly unusual to show a man wanting his wife to also have a career like Walter does. So from that perspective it is kind of nice to see them get back together. But at the same time, he treats her pretty terribly, and it kind of feels like it’s saying that a career gal should be happy with any man she can manage to get, regardless of how slimy he is. Not that Hildy doesn’t also treat Walter pretty terribly too. I guess they show their affection by hurling insults at each other, which is a type of relationship that makes no sense to me, but they seem to be on the same page about it. Still, I would love to see Hildy walk out on both Walter and Bruce like the strong, independent woman she is. At least the movie makes it clear that, despite its title, she is nobody’s assistant, or “girl Friday.”

The progressive for 1940 but doesn’t quite work now theme extends beyond feminism. Besides the Walter/Hildy/Bruce love triangle, the other main storyline in the movie involves a man named Earl Williams, played by John Qualen, who is about to be hanged for killing a policeman, despite some legitimate questions regarding his sanity. Walter wants Hildy to do one final interview with Earl to show that he definitely wasn’t responsible for his actions, and that he’s being strategically executed a few days before an election so the incumbent sheriff and mayor will look tough on crime and win. Most of the reporters don’t seem to care, asking the sheriff if he can move the execution up a few hours so it can make their morning editions. The sheriff refuses, but it is very clear that he could not care less about upholding the law, and same with the mayor, because when a messenger from the governor arrives with a reprieve, they try to bribe him to leave and come back later so they can still execute Williams and pretend the reprieve arrived too late. And it’s not just the politicians who are corrupt. Hildy bribes a prison guard twice: first to get an interview with Earl Williams, and then to find out how he managed to get a gun and escape. Then when Hildy and Walter find Williams, they hide him, not because they think he’s innocent and want to save him, but because they want to be able to turn him in after they’ve written the story of how they captured him. The movie’s statements about the way American society treats working-class people on the fringes, like Earl, and the way the criminal justice system is easily manipulated for political or financial gain, are honestly still pretty accurate, for the most part. But in a bizarre twist, Walter tells Bruce and Hildy that the policeman Earl shot was black, and that the politicians are trying to get votes from black people by executing his white killer, which is just, so completely backwards from how anything actually works that it kind of detracts from the legitimate points the movie does make. Everything about this story just screams late 1930s/early 1940s, from the characters’ world views to the costumes to the current event references, which makes sense given when the movie was made, but is completely inconsistent with the written prologue at the beginning, which states: “It all happened in the dark ages of the newspaper game – when to a reporter getting that story justified anything short of murder. Incidentally, you will see in this picture no resemblance to the men and women of the press today. Ready? Well, once upon a time—” It’s like, nice try, but in 1940 you can’t pretend this is set in a bygone era and then talk about Hitler and the European war. I don’t think they were really fooling anyone, but at least this allowed the filmmakers to get away with criticizing journalists without getting sued or censored.

Speaking of being censored, one of the few female characters in this movie, Mollie Malloy (played by Helen Mack), kind of seems like she’s supposed to be a prostitute, but of course they weren’t allowed to say that so it’s not super clear. What we do know is that she befriended Earl Williams shortly before he was arrested and has visited him in jail, and that the press has been inaccurately representing the nature of Earl and Mollie’s relationship. I don’t know if it was partly because of the Hays Code that they specifically state that Earl and Mollie haven’t slept together, but regardless of the reason, I’m always a fan of platonic male/female friendship. And the way the movie shows that they care about each other deeply in a non-sexual way, while portraying the reporters as wrong for sexualizing their relationship, feels almost like it’s saying “asexual rights” and we love to see it. We don’t really know what’s going to happen to Earl and Mollie after the events of the film, but I hope that Earl gets the mental health care he needs – he won’t because it’s 1940 but we can pretend – and that Mollie fully recovers from jumping out of the window – we know she’s alive but not how badly she’s hurt – and that they remain close friends.

While this movie touches on a lot of dark themes, overall the tone is lighthearted. It feels like it’s exposing the world for the hellscape that it is and laughing at it. And while some of its attitudes feel very outdated and problematic, that mood is still relatable. His Girl Friday is hectic and chaotic and screwball, but it manages to remain at least somewhat grounded and real. So watching it can feel like either escaping from the real world or looking into a mirror held up to the real world, depending on what the viewer chooses to focus on. This makes it an appropriate movie to watch in many different moods, which helps explain why I revisit it so often. That and the incredible fast-talking performances that I’m still in awe of. And, of course, Cary Grant’s presence always helps.

Thank you for listening to me discuss another of my most frequently rewatched movies. Next up is the fourth and longest movie I watched 22 times in 20 years, which is also from the 1940s, so stay tuned for another oldie. It is also probably the most disturbing movie on this list, just to warn anyone who may be watching along. As always, I will leave you with a quote from that next movie: “Are you suggesting that this is a knife I hold in my hand?”

#his girl friday #cary grant #rosalind russell #howard hawks #the rewatch rewind

[unquietspiritao3]

New fic just dropped!

Pairing: Greg/Alex

Summary:

“Yes, I’m sure you’d like a big, sweaty, fat man to squish you into the mattress,” Greg says, in a deadpan tone reserved for completely ridiculous statements. Alex doesn’t want to make him uncomfortable, so he drops it. But he wishes Greg could see himself the way Alex sees him. (Mid-November 2018)

Additional Tags:

Greg Has Body Image Issues

Dom/sub

Master/Servant Roleplay

Service Submission

Hand Feeding

Bathing/Washing

Body Worship

Like a gratuitous amount of describing of Greg’s body and Alex just going to town on it

I felt dirty (in a good way)

Orgasm Control

Inspired by that Pantsdrunk segment with Russell Howard

Russell Howard is not in this fic but I promise he’ll show up in this series eventually

and we will finally learn if he and Greg have boned

#Experimenting with fic announcements here but I may delete them if they start to attract the wrong sort of attention #You’d think hand-feeding was one of my main kinks with how often I use that tag now lol #Okay my cat is very upset that I’m still awake so I’m gonna go to bed

[thatboredaroace]

"Nothing can make me dance"

Them five seconds later after I play them Russel Howard's Good News theme:

#It's Fast Fuse by Kasabian by the way.

[sodascherrycola]

Instagram Intros (Steven Roger’s Kids)

Alexander Joseph Rogers

DOB: August 7th 1936 DOD: June 18th 1959 (23 years old) Hometown: Brooklyn, New York Nicknames: Alex, Al S/O: Nancy Graham Kids: Eric and Allison Best Friend(s): Samuel Davidson and James Barnes Jr. Aesthetic: Very mature for his age, helped his parents with his younger siblings. Reminds many people of James Barnes Sr. when he was young. Very respectful and kind. Sadly was killed in the Vietnam War when he was only 23, leaving behind his young wife and two very young children Eric and Allison.

Sarah Florence Rogers

DOB: May 15th 1940 Age: 83 years old Hometown: Brooklyn, New York Nicknames: Sare S/O: Dennis Rowling Kids: Everett and Wesley Best Friend(s): Margaret Fitzgerald Aesthetic: The sweetest soul you’ll ever know. She was extremely close to her father and thought he was Superman (close enough). Her mother taught her how to cook and clean and do all that she would need to know to be a good housewife, however, she became a Lawyer instead. She was big into feminism in the 1960s. And yes, she burned her bras, and yes, her mother wasn’t happy. Her father was proud though.

Phillip James Rogers

DOB: July 24th 1942 Age: 81 years old Hometown: Brooklyn, New York Nicknames: Phil, Philly, PJ S/O: Kimberly Donaldson Kids: Daniel, Michael, Elise, Julian, and May Best Friend(s): Thomas Barnes, Peter Oswald, and Joseph Williamson Aesthetic: Phillip was his parent’s wild child. Always running crazy down the streets of Brooklyn. His parents often worried about him and when he was 14 years old they got him a job at his Uncle Bucky’s garage. He became obsessed with cars from then on. He even got gifted a red cadillac for his 16th birthday.

John Howard Rogers

DOB: April 16th 1944 Age: 79 years old Hometown: Brooklyn, New York Nicknames: Howie S/O: Maria St.Clair Kids: Ella and Jude Best Friend(s): Chandler Atkins Aesthetic: Howie was a total suck up to his parents (especially his mother) and would always snitch on his older siblings, until he had younger siblings who would snitch on him. His mother always adored him so, he was a very sweet boy to everyone. Never complained about putting a tie on for church or sitting patiently at the dinner tables, always saying his prayers. When he was a teenager he had all the girls, some during the same time, his father had to sit him down and have a talk. That’s when he met Maria and stuck with her.

Robert Nicholas Rogers

DOB: June 12th 1946 Age: 77 years old Hometown: Brooklyn, New York Nicknames: Rob, Robbie S/O: Susan Berry Kids: Marcus, Allen, Louis, and Michelle Best Friend(s): Matthew Barnes and Kenneth Baker Aesthetic: He was the cool kid from the very beginning, quite literally. When he was 3 he fell into a frozen lake and almost died, gave his mama a heart attack. He was obsessed with Elvis Presley and begged him daddy to teach him how to gel his hair like his, and he kept his hair like that until he was well into his twenties. Robbie always would dance in front of the television with Elvis, while his little sister would sit and stare. Grew up to be a singer just like him. Almost cried when he died.

Clara Jo Rogers

DOB: November 5th 1950 Age: 73 years old Hometown: Paterson, New Jersey Nicknames: Clare, CJ S/O: Harry Marx Kids: Russell, Rose, and Shelia Best Friend(s): Russell Barnes and Denise Lewis Aesthetic: Like her older brother, was also obsessed with Elvis. She was in love from the moment she saw him on the Ed Sullivan show in 1956. Her father wasn’t too happy but couldn’t do anything about it. She was always a girly girl which her mother adored. Since Sarah never wanted to do anything with her mama, Clara kindly stepped in. Loved going shopping with her mama at the mall, baking, and playing mom with her little brothers. Thought she was going to marry Elvis, but ended up meeting and falling in love with his roadie, Harry Marx. She met Elvis and freaked out, she was speechless and stuttering over her words.

Scott Ivan Rogers

DOB: December 19th 1951 DOD: December 18th 1969 (18 years old) Hometown: Paterson, New Jersey Nicknames: Scotty S/O: Maryann Mulder Kids: None Best Friend(s): David Barker and Peggy Moore Aesthetic: Scott was the pretty boy in his family. Not so smart but very good-lookin’. Girls were always following him since he was young. When he was 17 he was drafted into the Vietnam War, similar to his older brother he never met. His mother sobbed her eyes, while his father held him, the two crying themselves. They didn’t understand. There was a non-written rule that no two children could be drafted to the same war. It was just unfair. Turns out the president wanted to send Scotty to war to see if the super-serum passed down from his father. When his father found this out he beat himself over it. Never got over it after his death.

Timothy Leonard Rogers

DOB: February 18th 1956 Age: 67 years old Hometown: Paterson, New Jersey Nicknames: Tim, Timmy, and Leo S/O: Valerie Pratt Kids: Georgia, Whitney, Bethany, Ryder, and Ethan Best Friend(s): Jesse Barnes and Rodney Heffer Aesthetic: He was a surprise baby. Wasn’t planned whatsoever and it showed. His parents were getting older and was the glass child of his family. Because of this he was pretty close with his older sister, Clara. She loved him like a mother. She always looked out for him and whenever he got teased or picked on at school, you know damn straight she would hear and deal with it. Many suspensions later and they are still as tight as that.

#marvel #marvel oc #marvel introductions #alexander rogers #sarah rogers #phillip rogers #john rogers #robert rogers #clara rogers #scott rogers #timothy rogers #esme rogers #Steve Rogers #40s steve rogers #instagram introductions #marvel next generation introductions

[ayeforscotland]

Seeing your post about the Daily Fail reminded me of a stand up segment on Russell Howard's Good News a few years ago. A comedian made a song about what that paper said could cause cancer and what would prevent it: coffee appeared on both lists 🤷‍♀️

Aye, it’s just a shame Russell Howard is an insufferable wanker.

[mejomonster]

I love reading.

I frequently select novels which are just So Long it takes me weeks to months to finish them. Making speed reading through a couple a week (my dream) unobtainable. I mean, I like reading nonfiction too, and maybe because of old college cramming skills I can read 2-4 400 page nonfiction books a week if Im okay with feeling tired all week.

Which, I have some niche recs if you're into non fiction: Stalking the Wild Pendulum by Bentov, When the Body Says No by Gabor Mate, Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn, The Reality of ESP by Russel Targ if youre into remote viewing history, Psychic Discoveries beyond the Iron Curtain by Ostrander and Schroeder on archive.org if youre into parapsychology and looking for other names to look into further since tbh this book is more journalism-entertainment than nonfiction reference also this books fairly old now, Immortal Remains - from a philosophy angle it was okay but frustrating to me except i got some good sources for further reading mentoned... but I prefer the UVA youtube lectures and the research they do since i just tend to prefer reading collected information myself, The Emotion Code - not necessarily informational in a verified sense but if youve ever considered paying money for an emotion code practitioner i liked the book cause i could just Learn the method and try it myself... free... and test and decide for myself regardless of if ifs placebo if its actually helpful to me or not, The Ancient Science and Art of Pranic Healing - this book doesnt have studies sourced as its more about teach The technique but i like that it lists sources for further reading - and its another case of "well i can just learn, test it on myself, see if its helpful or not" also im an absolute nerd about older books and the considerations that went into X book at Their time compared to now... if you ever saw my language learning textbooks collection from 1800s books to 2023 books youd know.

Speaking of here are some Fascinating Language Learning books. If youre curious about the Nature Method as in learn a language IN the lamguage by comprehensible context I recommend Ayan Academy playlists on youtube and the books: English by the Nature Method, Lingua Latina, La Francais Par Le Methode Nature, L'Italiano Secondo il Metodo Natura, Poco a Poco. (I also have many a youtube channel lessons recommendation for this learning method as I prefer it). For textbooks to learn primarily with graded reading materials Ive got: Beginning Chinese, Intermediate Chinese, and Advanced Chinese by John DeFrancis, Spanish for beginners by Charles Duff, French for Beginners Charles Duff, A Japanese Reader: Graded Lessons for Mastering the Written Language by Roy Miller (steep learning curve but decent preparation for reading actual novels and news which is great because i find a lot of japanese textbooks hover at beginner-intermediate but dont bridge all the way to necessary skills to understand complex texts). Cool books: Chinese Self Taught by The Natural Method by John Darroch (old af and some information is outdated and the pinyin system Hurts so focus on actual hanzi - but the grammar explanations are the easiest ive read and enjoyed reading), Japanese in 30 Hours (its basic japanese but it explains basic grammar understandably and helps you get a basic mental framework for the language making further study, i felt, much easier to adjust to, and its a short quick Study Up Basics book - id especially recommend it to people planning to learn using immersion/comprehensible input asap as it will give them a little bit of a skeleton to lean on), japaneseaudiolessons.com is an interesting introduction to audio flashcard lessons (fun fact glossika is just an expensive version of audio flashcard study which are just... audio in target language then a language you understand so you comprehend the sentence meaning and can learn new words/grammar from it by listening) and the site has a free grammar book to accompany it AND the site makers made kanji teaching books that come the closest to providing prewritten mnemonics for meaning AND pronunciation of japanese kanji in book study form. Something i appreciate since heisig books make you Make Up Your Own mnemonics so i find his books useless, and many japanese kanji teaching books that use mnemonics focus on meaning and skip teaching pronunciations since its harder to include multiple pronunciations in a mnemonic. For Chinese hanzi study, my favorite book is Tuttle's Learning Chinese Characters: (HSK Levels 1-3) A Revolutionary New Way to Learn the 800 Most Basic Chinese Characters, the book provides mnemonic stories for pronunciation including tone, and meaning, and example words. Its the backbone of how i learned the first few hundred hanzi and Learned How to personally remember more which made continuing to learn hanzi much easier. Since that Hanzi book, ive been desperate for a similarly written book for japanese kanji and... japaneseaudiolessons.com has the most similar kind of kanji books, but theirs is a drier and therefore harder read.

Anyway wow I got lost ToT back to my older point ayy. I have no time to read these fucking long ass fiction books I keep wanting to read ;-; my focus can resolve to read a nonfiction book in a frantic 6 hours of Research Mode then burn out and lose focus until im up for the next book. But i pick these long ass fiction books, and oddly i seem to read fiction slower so maybe im like savoring it idk. But i took like 2 months to finish Silent Reading by priest so. Yeah i WISH i was getring through these novels a touch faster ;-; i have so many i wanna read. Perplexingly i also read manga super slow, so i guess any fiction i slow down and savor or something

Books im trying desperately to read, to finish, or to get to after finishing my current books: Observations by janon (a fanfic but a great one and im only 30% done after 1 week intensively reading), kamikaze girls (1/3 done then i forgot the book so its been a few months), Old Fashion Cupcake (1/4 thru and the single volume is LONG), Devilman (1/8 through maybe), Sudden Silence (this book is like 200 pages frankly i have no idea why i didnt manage to finish it in a few days), Game of Thrones book 1 (in my defense its an audiobook so im only in like chapter 3 theres a cool youtube guy who does different voices and music for the chapters), The Expanse (i just started), The Dark Forest (book 2 of three body problem series im half done then i forgot it), In The Dark book 1 (1/3 done and its just... not quite getting my attention as well as other stuff i recently read), Little Mushroom (likely to start more solidly once i finish Observations), 2ha (i got volume 4 babey!!), Can Ci Pin (id like to restart and read in earnest im in a sci fi mood lately so i think ill get obsessed with this once i start), Breaking Through the Clouds (my instincts tell me this is most likely the only crime mystery novel thats going to manage to catch my attention after Silent Reading by priest impressed me so damn much its like in my top 5 books i ever read now), discworld (im just reading little snippets as i have time), Final Girl Support Group (1/4 done then i got busy and forgot it - this is by Grady Hendrix and so far ive loved everything they write, I highly recommend My Best Friends Exorcism it was great), Guardian (i have the english translation but im... eternally chugging away at the chinese and at the end of the First Arc which ive reread in chinese like 4 times now i need to just GET PAST THAT PART TO NEW PARTS and i dont really wanna read the english translation until ive read the original so i can compare), so many fucking novels by priest in my to read list... sha po lang, jinse, huai dao, guomen, lord seventh, faraway wanderers, the blue seal, tai sui, liu yao, lhjc, and again Can Ci Pin... then I have Peach Blossom Debt and Imperial Uncle, and Golden Stage on the to read list too... and Thousand Autumns, Peerless. And Wu Chang Jie, and Nightfall (evernight). Oh I also started reading Vampire Hunter D omnibus and that fucker is like 800 pages. Frankly most books i buy are 400-1200 pages. Usually 600 at minimum. Oh i also started reading One Piece manga, got to Sanji's introduction arc, then like most things... i forgot i was reading it and havent picked it back up for weeks. Basically... i try to get through a book but if it takes me more than 3 days (nonfiction usually takes me 1-2 days) then i risk forgetting i was reading it, forgetting for months, picking it back up and having to start over cause i forgot it for too long -.-;

Anyway my point

#rant #theres some nonfiction and fiction recs under tje cut but #its also just kind of a rambling mess lol #rec list #if you have any favorites in that fiction section let me know #it might help me prioritize what the fuck to read next lol #apthough i predict im gonna be reading observations for another month first

[popentertainment-moviereviews]

THE LITTLE MERMAID (2023)

Starring Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, Noma Dumezweni, Art Malik, Javier Bardem, Melissa McCarthy, Jessica Alexander, Martina Laird, Emily Coates, Christopher Fairbank, John Dagleish, Jude Akuwudike, Russell Balogh, Adrian Christopher, Lorena Andrea, Simone Ashley, Karolina Conchet, Sienna King, Kajsa Mohammar, Nathalie Sorrell, Jodi Benson and the voices of Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina and Jacob Tremblay.

Screenplay by  David Magee.

Directed by Rob Marshall.

Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. 135 minutes. Rated PG.

We are not going to debate whether or not there is any reason for Disney to film live action versions of pretty much every one of their classic animated films other than just as a way to make money.

That is just a given. Disney is raiding their own vaults to make longer, live-action versions of most of their classics. There have been over 20 in the last few decades. In fact, Peter Pan and Wendy came out mere weeks before this film. There are also two more planned for next year (Snow White and a Lion King sequel) and ten more in varying levels of development.

And, honestly, while most of these reboots are not as good as the films that inspired them, many of them have been pretty entertaining.

The good news is that The Little Mermaid is one of the better ones – as usual not as good as the animated version but getting decently close.

The original The Little Mermaid was the film that pretty much jump started the last classic wave of Disney animation, after about a two-decade dry spell of forgettable likes of The Rescuers, The Fox and the Hound, Pete’s Dragon, The Black Cauldron and Oliver & Company.

The Little Mermaid was the first film to include the music of Alan Mencken and Howard Ashman, who also did the music for the next two Disney Classics – Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. (Ashman died of AIDS way too young while working on Aladdin.) Mermaid ended up including three tunes that became Disney standards (“Part of Your World,” “Under the Sea” and “Kiss the Girl.”)

It was also the one which returned the films coming out of the Disney Inking and Painting building to critical success. It also did fairly well as far as box office, but it wasn’t until Beauty and the Beast that the Disney films started becoming smash hits again. Following The Little Mermaid was an entire slate of classics: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995) and the debut of PIXAR computer animation with Toy Story (1995).

 I’m not going to lie, I’m not as familiar with The Little Mermaid as I am with the likes of Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. And, perhaps, that is why this film feels so close in quality to the original to me, because I am not as invested in the source as I was for those films. (The live action versions of Beast and Aladdin, while both great fun, were a bit of a disappointment compared to the real deal.)

However, the effects in The Little Mermaid are often stunning, the storyline hews fairly closely to the original (as far as I can remember), the music is wonderful (although “Kiss the Girl” may have been done a little too close to the vest) and the young, mostly unknown cast is impressive – particularly Halle Bailey as mermaid Ariel. Plus, Melissa McCarthy has loads of fun as the over-the-top, tentacled villainess Ursula.

What can I say? I really dug this new version of The Little Mermaid. In a world where IP is king, it's got gadgets and gizmos aplenty. It's got whosits and whatsits galore. You want thingamabobs? It’s got twenty.

Who could ask for more?

Jay S. Jacobs

Copyright ©2023 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: May 26, 2023.

#The Little Mermaid #2023 #Movie Review #Halle Bailey #Melissa McCarthy #Jay S. Jacobs

[panelshowsource]

i agree that the podcast really is so interesting — and imo it's a lot of plain gossip and tv criticism masked as "professional insight", which i live for lmao — but there are times she is really too much... she often mocks or eye-rolls things in a way that, again, doesn't feel constructive and comes off as very rude. mean girl energy. it also bothers me how she will talk at richard instead of engaging in a back and forth, and sometimes that turns into an episode in which she speaks 80% of the time. then again, as content cycles throughout the year, sometimes what's on/hot atm is just more in her wheelhouse than his, so we just have to wait for new taskmaster, new bbc comedies, new doctor who, whatever interests him, and then hopefully he'll have even more opportunities to shine... i do cherish when he gets a chance to speak lmao

but fr take a shot every time she says "a friend of mine who works at _______ told me blah blah"

i'll work on tracking that down!! it would be fun to watch more of them 😋

aren't they too much? i was just thinking how amazing would it be if they were a pair on pointless celebs ...........

you know how once you notice an actor then suddenly you start to see them everywhere? (especially on uk tv which is not as big a pool as you'd think it would be...) that was me and charlotte ritchie! it was like wow this girl is everywhere!

anyways, i'm not sure what her aims are atm... she's done quite a bit of comedy but am i the only one who thinks she would body a crime series? or something like broadchurch?

glad you got a chance to catch my response and watch some fun things! i was thinking a little more about what else to recommend, and i think if you enjoy the quirky nature of repertoire then you should check out huge davies, and if you enjoy the storytelling format like greg davies typically does then you should try out dara ó briain and russell howard (maybe the 2021 lubricant special to start) :) enjoy!!

hahaha this is funny... it's a good question 😅 there are a few reasons... he's good bantz! he doesn't take himself too seriously, laughs at himself, can be teased, isn't mean spirited. people really appreciate that. plus, he represents a lot of people who aren't otherwise on tv — not primetime bbc, at least. there starts to be an issue when he just...doesn't try, doesn't contribute. he's fallen asleep on like three different shows? didn't he just...not show up to the second-half of his bakeoff special? often he's got nothing to say? mo really carried the convos on his talk show, his teammates carried him on bfq, and so on. he just doesn't seem to have the interest or perhaps the stamina (orrr perhaps the respect) for long records 😅

anyways, he was being pushed for a little while, but that appears to have stopped. he's hasn't been around too much lately 🤔 (tho ngl idk what he's up to!)

yesss this is a great video and i'll link it here in case anyone wants to check it out! it reminded me that i really need to seek out his celeb hunted episodes hahaha

when the news came out he would be playing an 'egon spengler type' i was like yep lmao

he and ed mention quite often how many auditions they go to, especially james, for big movies like wonka and ghostbusters — no surprise to me imo! especially since it seems he's focused on films over tv 🤔

can't say i saw ghostbusters tho i'm sorry 😭

WELLLL now that it's out how have you been enjoying it? 😊🥰 where is your review, anon !!

susie dent gifs are high on my list, working on those for this week for sure!!! it's just...how to choose...she's just too pretty....

but i love ALL of your suggestions, duly noted 😍

—

PANEL SHOW WATCH LINKS / NON-PANEL SHOW WATCH LINKS FAQ / TAGS / ASK

#a

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

My journey through John Oliver's IMDB page that I've been doing in the last few days (summary: his old Cambridge doc got taken off YouTube, I got paranoid about how I'm glad I'd saved that but this is a reminder that nothing stays on the internet forever so you need to save the stuff you want to keep, this escalated too quickly into me buying a new external hard drive just to see how much of his IMDB page I can download and put in one place) has brought me through a documentary about Russell Howard from 2021. I previously knew that documentary existed, but I hadn't watched it because even before Russell doubled down on the Jordan Peterson thing enough for me to be done watching his stuff (I ignored the mild comments for months before he actually invited Peterson onto his show and made ignoring it impossible), I didn't need to see a documentary about how the pandemic made life difficult for an extremely rich and successful touring comedian.

However, I learned today that John Oliver had a credit in the documentary, so obviously I immediately downloaded it. To be honest I haven't watched the whole thing, I just skipped through it in search of the John Oliver bits. Because I have given up on Russell Howard, but his former connection to the Chocolate Milk Gang, and my hobby of cataloguing all Chocolate Milk Gang history, is the only thing that will make me temporarily suspend my closely held principles such as a hard line against all Jordan Peterson apologists. I did the same thing with his recent podcast, rolling my eyes when I first saw it announced because surely he doesn't need another platform and Britcom doesn't need another bland podcast, until I saw that there would be a John Oliver episode and obviously I listened to that one.

Anyway, the point is that there was some fun Chocolate Milk Gang history in the documentary, I've cut out the relevant clip:

The Chocolate Milk Gang goes by many names. Andrew Maxwell apparently called them "the guys with the bags". Stewart Lee has called them "The hanging around gang". In a discussion with Richard Herring they were labeled "the nerds of the circuit". But here we have a new one: the golden generation. A name coined by Russell Howard and then immediately and entirely justifiably ripped apart by John Oliver, what good stuff. I greatly enjoyed that. Someone should make a Chocolate Milk Gang documentary. I could probably cut together a Chocolate Milk Gang documentary from all the media files I've hoarded. See how many names they've been given over the years.

Based on the ten or so minutes I watched, I think I might genuinely be capable of putting together better videos than the person who made this Russell Howard documentary, the editing on it looks surprisingly amateur-ish for a film about such a huge mainstream star. However, it did provide me with very slightly (only very slightly, but still) higher quality versions of a couple of CMG-related images I had seen before, but had only seen in terrible quality, so it's nice to have those a little clearer:

And I hadn't seen this one before, I don't think Andy Zaltzman changed in appearance at all between 2003 and about 2017.

Oh and Steve Hall shows up at the end, which is fun. I like that guy. I like Steve Hall probably too much, given the fact that the main thing I've heard him do is be quite gross on several episodes Daniel Kitson's radio show in 2007-2008. But it was really funny. Those episodes made me laugh almost constantly and I recommend them to absolutely no one, no one should ever hear that. Though it's not the only thing I've heard him do. I have to be the only person in the world who watched the We Are Klang sitcom in 2023 just for one actor, but that actor was not Greg Davies. Oh and Steve Hall was in that Late 'n' Live recording from 2007, but that's not a lot better for making him respectable. He writes on The Russell Howard Hour and on some level I know he was probably involved in bringing in Jordan Peterson and probably if I asked Steve Hall to tell me all his political opinions I wouldn't be able to enjoy his old sitcom anymore, but luckily he doesn't have a big enough platform to tell us all his opinions so I'll just assume it's fine.

@lastweeksshirttonight, tagging you in case you don't happen to see this post because you'll really enjoy that video clip, it is relevant to your interests.

[byneddiedingo]

Paul Robeson, Irene Dunne, Hattie McDaniel, and Helen Morgan in Show Boat (James Whale, 1936)

Cast: Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson, Helen Morgan, Helen Westley, Queenie Smith, Sammy White, Donald Cook, Hattie McDaniel. Screenplay: Oscar Hammerstein II, based on his stage musical play from a novel by Edna Ferber. Cinematography: John J. Mescall. Art direction: Charles D. Hall. Film editing: Bernard W. Burton, Ted J. Kent. Music: Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics), P.G. Wodehouse (lyrics), Robert Russell Bennett (incidental music). 

Productions of Show Boat over the years are almost a barometer of the changes in racial attitudes. In the original 1927 Broadway production, for example, the opening song, "Cotton Blossom," sung by dock workers, contained the line "N------s all work on the Mississippi." The 1936 film changed the offensive word to "Darkies," which today is not much less offensive, so contemporary performances usually change the line to "Here we all work on the Mississippi." Today, we wince when Irene Dunne as Magnolia appears in blackface to sing "Gallivantin' Aroun'," a number created for the film, and we have to acknowledge that minstrelsy was still prevalent well into the mid-20th century. But Show Boat also presents structural problems. It is front-loaded with its best Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II songs: In the original production, "Make Believe," "Ol' Man River," "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," "Life Upon the Wicked Stage," and "You Are Love" all appear in Act I, leaving only "Why Do I Love You?" and "Bill" for Act II, among reprises of some of the other songs plus some oldies like "After the Ball." The film doesn't solve that problem: In fact, it omits "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" and "Why Do I Love You?" entirely, except as background music. It replaces them with a few new songs, including "I Have the Room Above You," a duet for Magnolia and Gaylord Ravenal (Allan Jones), and "Ah Still Suits Me," a somewhat too racially stereotyped duet for Joe (Paul Robeson) and Queenie (Hattie McDaniel), but they're still part of the first half of the film. And the plot seems to dwindle off into anticlimax after Gaylord leaves Magnolia. But James Whale's film version is one of the most successful translations of an admittedly imperfect stage musical to the screen. One reason is that it gives us a chance to see two legendary performers, Paul Robeson and Helen Morgan. Robeson's version of "Ol' Man River" is not only splendidly sung, but Whale also gives it a magnificent staging, beautifully filmed by John J. Mescall, that emphasizes the backbreaking toil that Robeson's Joe sings about. Morgan's performance as Julie makes me wish that Kern and Hammerstein had given her more songs, but her "Bill" is extraordinarily touching, and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" becomes, after her introduction, a lively ensemble number for her, Dunne, McDaniel, and Robeson. It's also good to see McDaniel in a role that gives her a chance to sing -- she began her career as a singer. Too bad that Queenie's big number, "Queenie's Ballyhoo," was cut from the film. MGM remade Show Boat in 1951, with Kathryn Grayson as Magnolia, Howard Keel as Gaylord, and Ava Gardner as Julie, under the direction of George Sidney. Lena Horne wanted to play Julie, but the studio chickened out, fearing the reaction in the South. (Gardner's singing was dubbed by Annette Warren.) MGM also tried to suppress the 1936 film, which is vastly superior. Fortunately, it failed.

#Show Boat #James Whale #Paul Robeson #Irene Dunne #Hattie McDaniel #Helen Morgan