top 25 sesame street guest appearences

ah, another list. this time, the top 25 musical/actor guests on sesame street. click here to see all of them. I just picked my faves:

1.

2.

3.

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4.

manic pixie dream girl

so on the A.V. Club blog (don't ask), this dude wrote a column in 2007 and in it, he coined the term, "manic pixie dream girl," aka the girl in a movie who pulls the sensitive, brooding unhappy male out of his slump to see that yes, life IS wonderful. the guy writes that,

The Manic Pixie Dream Girl exists solely in the fevered imaginations
of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young
men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures.

Like the Magical Negro, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl archetype is
largely defined by secondary status and lack of an inner life.
She's on hand to lift a gloomy male protagonist out of the
doldrums, not to pursue her own happiness.

the A.V. Club just came out w/ a top list of movies that feature the MPDG (manic pixie dream girl). since debwa loves lists and since I am in awe that somebody was clever enough to coin a phrase describing this annoying, unattainable, wish-that-was-me-but-also-despising-the-stereotype creature, I am only listing the movies I agree with/have seen/ and some that aren't on the list but I think holds true.

1) Garden State ft. MPDG natalie portman

2) breakfast at tiffany's ft. MPDG audrey hepburn

3) annie hall ft. MPDG diane keaton

4) along came polly ft. MPDG jennifer aniston

5) almost famous ft. MPDG kate hudson

6) eternal sunshine of the spotless mind ft. MPDG kate winslet


7) pretty woman ft. MPDG julia roberts

and finally, the Honorable Manic Pixie Dream Guy goes to: Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic.

any other suggestions? international MPDGs perhaps?

probably the worst thing about the MPDG is that it projects this unrealistic expectation that 1) just by the MPDG being in your life, you will be a) happier, b) more joyful, c) more thankful, and the dreaded d) "open my eyes/I can see clearly for the first time/etc," which is ridiculous and perpetuates the myth that you should look for outside fufillment in order to feel whole, and 2) I wish I was a MPDG. fuck. why do I let movies stipulate my life feelings. motherfucker.

ps I don't know what the "magical negro" is but I really want to.

top 8 moments in the price is right

somebody (a genuis, if you may) made a top 8 video list of the price is right . . . and it is amazing!
some of the videos include "greatest reaction ever" and "worst bid ever," but I personally thought this one was funny

"420 guy"

and that reminded me about a thing on the soup about a (recent) price is right where the person is a complete idiot. it is hilarious. you know how it is a strategy to bid one dollar over the person before you? I think this lady got a bit confused.

I really want one of these for my IH!

I think there is something star wars-related coming out soon, b/c I keep hearing things about star wars (aka carrie fischer boned harrison ford), and this is the latest thing --- I guess in the late 80s/early 90s there was a huge panasonic/star wars ad thing going on in japan, some amazing posters/billboards came out of it, and somebody recently made a top 10 list of it.
here are my favorite ones.


I really would love any of these to frame and put up at my IH, especially the first one:

mista rogers

I was looking around google images for a tattoo of a pin-up bride of frankenstein and I came across this --

15 Reasons Mister Rogers Was the Best Neighbor Ever

by Mangesh - May 23, 2007 - 1:52 PM

Back when I was in 7th grade I stood up in front of my English class and delivered a tongue-in-cheek, poorly researched presentation on why I thought Mister Rogers should be the next President. I ate up the first few minutes zipping up my cardigan, and putting on some sneakers, and then I proceeded to mock him roundly. It was a riotous success. Fourteen years later, I’m using this post to repent. The following are 15 things everyone should know about Fred Rogers:

1. Even Koko the Gorilla loved him

Most people have heard of Koko, the Stanford-educated gorilla who could speak about 1000 words in American Sign Language, and understand about 2000 in English. What most people don’t know, however, is that Koko was an avid Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood fan. As Esquire reported, when Fred Rogers took a trip out to meet Koko for his show, not only did she immediately wrap her arms around him and embrace him, she did what she’d always seen him do onscreen: she proceeded to take his shoes off!

2. He Made Thieves Think Twice

According to a TV Guide piece on him, Fred Rogers drove a plain old Impala for years. One day, however, the car was stolen from the street near the TV station. When Rogers filed a police report, the story was picked up by every newspaper, radio and media outlet around town. Amazingly, within 48 hours the car was left in the exact spot where it was taken from, with an apology on the dashboard. It read, “If we’d known it was yours, we never would have taken it.”



3. He Watched His Figure to the Pound!

In covering Rogers’ daily routine (waking up at 5; praying for a few hours for all of his friends and family; studying; writing, making calls and reaching out to every fan who took the time to write him; going for a morning swim; getting on a scale; then really starting his day), writer Tom Junod explained that Mr. Rogers weighed in at exactly 143 pounds every day for the last 30 years of his life. He didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, didn’t eat the flesh of any animals, and was extremely disciplined in his daily routine. And while I’m not sure if any of that was because he’d mostly grown up a chubby, single child, Junod points out that Rogers found beauty in the number 143. According to the piece, Rogers came “to see that number as a gift… because, as he says, “the number 143 means ‘I love you.’ It takes one letter to say ‘I’ and four letters to say ‘love’ and three letters to say ‘you.’ One hundred and forty-three.”



4. He Saved Both Public Television and the VCR

Strange but true. When the government wanted to cut Public Television funds in 1969, the relatively unknown Mister Rogers went to Washington. Almost straight out of a Capra film, his 5-6 minute testimony on how TV had the potential to give kids hope and create more productive citizens was so simple but passionate that even the most gruff politicians were charmed. While the budget should have been cut, the funding instead jumped from $9 to $22 million. Rogers also spoke to Congress, and swayed senators into voting to allow VCR’s to record television shows from the home. It was a cantankerous debate at the time, but his argument was that recording a program like his allowed working parents to sit down with their children and watch shows as a family.



5. He Might Have Been the Most Tolerant American Ever

Mister Rogers seems to have been almost exactly the same off-screen as he was onscreen. As an ordained Presbyterian minister, and a man of tremendous faith, Mister Rogers preached tolerance first. Whenever he was asked to castigate non-Christians or gays for their differing beliefs, he would instead face them and say, with sincerity, “God loves you just the way you are.” Often this provoked ire from fundamentalists.



6. He Was Genuinely Curious about Others

Mister Rogers was known as one of the toughest interviews because he’d often befriend reporters, asking them tons of questions, taking pictures of them, compiling an album for them at the end of their time together, and calling them after to check in on them and hear about their families. He wasn’t concerned with himself, and genuinely loved hearing the life stories of others. Amazingly, it wasn’t just with reporters. Once, on a fancy trip up to a PBS exec’s house, he heard the limo driver was going to wait outside for 2 hours, so he insisted the driver come in and join them (which flustered the host). On the way back, Rogers sat up front, and when he learned that they were passing the driver’s home on the way, he asked if they could stop in to meet his family. According to the driver, it was one of the best nights of his life—the house supposedly lit up when Rogers arrived, and he played jazz piano and bantered with them late into the night. Further, like with the reporters, Rogers sent him notes and kept in touch with the driver for the rest of his life.

7. He was Color-blind

Literally. He couldn’t see the color blue. Of course, he was also figuratively color-blind, as you probably guessed. As were his parents who took in a black foster child when Rogers was growing up.



8. He Could Make a Subway Car full of Strangers Sing

Once while rushing to a New York meeting, there were no cabs available, so Rogers and one of his colleagues hopped on the subway. Esquire reported that the car was filled with people, and they assumed they wouldn’t be noticed. But when the crowd spotted Rogers, they all simultaneously burst into song, chanting “It’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood.” The result made Rogers smile wide.

A few other things:

9. He got into TV because he hated TV. The first time he turned one on, he saw people angrily throwing pies in each other’s faces. He immediately vowed to use the medium for better than that. Over the years he covered topics as varied as why kids shouldn’t be scared of a haircut, or the bathroom drain (because you won’t fit!), to divorce and war.

10. He was an Ivy League Dropout. Rogers moved from Dartmouth to Rollins College to pursue his studies in music.

11. He composed all the songs on the show, and over 200 tunes.

12. He was a perfectionist, and disliked ad libbing. He felt he owed it to children to make sure every word on his show was thought out.

13. Michael Keaton got his start on the show as an assistant– helping puppeteer and operate the trolley.

14. Several characters on the show are named for his family. Queen Sara is named after Rogers’ wife, and the postman Mr. McFeely is named for his maternal grandfather who always talked to him like an adult, and reminded young Fred that he made every day special just by being himself. Sound familiar? It was the same way Mister Rogers closed every show.

15. The sweaters. Every one of the cardigans he wore on the show had been hand-knit by his mother.

I can’t sign off with out citing: Tom Junod’s wonderful profile of Fred Rogers and his obituary for him. They are two of the most lovely pieces I’ve (re)read in a very long time. Our researcher Kara Kovalchik also deserves credit for digging them up on an internet archive located here.

science fair!!!

this was on gawker.com so you may have already seen it, but i am posting it anyway because i think it's the best. top 10 science fair photos! and guess what! i won my science fair in 7th grade at school, and at the state competition! i'm a huge nerd!
"code of the meniscus"

"juicy beans"

"crystal meth; friend or foe?"

"animal magnetism"

happy vd day kd!

to my girl across the pond, here is a special valentine's day list just for you, not made by me:


The Top 10 Non-Zombies in Zombie Movie History


10. Trash - The Return of the Living Dead (1985)



We salute you, Linnea Quigley. By stripping naked and dancing in a graveyard, you helped kick-start puberty for legions of young males in the 1980s. And all while looking and sounding like the girl who works the cash register at Hot Topic.



9. Murder Legendre - White Zombie (1932)



In addition to having the coolest name in horror movie history, Legendre—as played by the immortal Bela Lugosi—commands a virtual army of mindless walking dead. Granted, they’re more of the Haitian voodoo variety than modern-day gut-munchers, but I still wouldn’t mess with them.



8. Charlie - Land of the Dead (2005)



Although the weakest of Romero’s series thus far, Land of the Dead did give us one of the director’s strongest characters. Loyal to the end to his buddy Riley, and a dead shot to boot, Charlie seems like the kind of guy I wouldn’t mind sitting down with for a beer or two. Now if only we could find a bar that was still open…



7. Father McGruder - Dead Alive (1992)



Many of us may aspire to it, but the venerable Fr. McGruder is the only man who kicks ass for the Lord. In a scene that answers the question, “What would a horror movie made by Monty Python look like?”, McGruder lays a holy smackdown upon a gang of undead hooligans. Unfortunately, he meets his demise, after which he goes on to sire the world’s first zombie baby. You rock, padre.



6. Steve - Dawn of the Dead (2004)



Proof that metrosexuality can thrive even in the face of human extinction, this latte-sipping douche nozzle is one character I’d love to have seen ground up and served to the undead in Turkish rolls with curly fries on the side. But I’ll settle for a bullet in the head from Sarah Polley. Thanks, love!


5. Mr. Cooper - Night of the Living Dead (1968)



The quintessential horror movie a-hole, to whom all others owe a debt of gratitude. Is there any more satisfying moment than when Ben barges back into the cabin and slugs this lily-livered coward in his sweaty mush? Normally I’d feel sorry for a guy who gets his arm eaten by his own daughter, but not in this case.



4. Ed - Shaun of the Dead (2004)



Ah, Ed. If most of us had access to a computer that was kind of like the old holodeck on Star Trek: The Next Generation, in which you could program your ideal best buddy, this is the bloke who’d come walking out those swooshing doors after we pressed “ENTER”. Such a heartbreaker when Pete takes a chunk out of him, but at least Shaun didn’t let that get in the way of their friendship.



3. Rhodes - Day of the Dead (1985)



Speaking of horror movie a-holes, the one and only Capt. Rhodes takes a backset to no one in that department. In the role of the maniacal and sadistic military commander, Joe Pilato deserves credit for inspiring blind hatred in the hearts of countless splatter fans, who cheer in approval as a horde of ghouls plays tug-of-war with his pancreas.



2. Peter - Dawn of the Dead (1978)



If and when the undead apocalypse happens, this is the guy I want to have my back. Ken Foree plays the prototypical zombie epidemic survivalist, taking no quarter and practically securing an entire shopping mall on his own while Roger is hot-dogging and Flyboy is busy sipping champagne with his pregnant downer girlfriend.


and finally, the most memorable non-zombie in zombie movie history…



1. Ash - The Evil Dead (1981), Evil Dead II (1987), Army of Darkness (1993)



Is The Evil Dead a zombie movie? I guess not by the strict definition, but for some reason it’s always been included in the subgenre, and who am I to argue with tradition? I’ll leave that debate to those who argue whether or not Greedo shot first. I’d rather spend my precious time glorifying the single greatest example of manhood and heroism American cinema has ever produced. Hail to the king, baby!



source: http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/11124