Mickey Makeover

Posted on November 6, 2009 at 3:59 pm

Mickey Mouse is my favorite animated character. Part of the reason is historic — he starred in the first movie to feature a synchronized soundtrack, “Steamboat Willie.” And he was the first character and later the emblem for what would become Walt Disney Studios. Walt Disney lost the rights to his successful Oswald Rabbit character and decided to start his own studio with a new idea. As Disney said,

We thought of a tiny bit of a mouse that would have something of the wistfulness of Chaplin — a little fellow trying to do the best he could. When people laugh at Mickey Mouse, it’s because he’s so human; and that is the secret of his popularity. I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by a mouse.

My favorite Mickey appearance is in “Fantasia,” where he plays the sorcerer’s apprentice who gets into trouble when he tries to perform a little magic.

But Mickey has not been much more than a logo for quite a while. What I like best about him, his perpetually cheery outlook, is a challenge for film-makers. It is easier for them to write stories for characters who are frustrated (Donald Duck), clumsy (Goofy), or mischievous (Chip and Dale). As he gets ready to turn 81 on November 18, Mickey is getting more attention — and a bit of a personality change. The New York Times reports that Mickey will star in a new video game and is getting a new look to go with a more aggressive persona. The game is “Epic Mickey, in which the formerly squeaky clean character can be cantankerous and cunning, as well as heroic, as he traverses a forbidding wasteland” battling none other than Oswald Rabbit. Players will be able to decide whether their Mickey character will be helpful or “selfish and destructive.”

I understand that Disney wants to make Mickey Mouse relevant to a new generation. But I hope Disney remembers what makes Mickey so appealing. And I hope Disney pays attention to the lessons of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” about how much trouble you can get into messing with magic.

Movie Review from the Twitterverse: TwitCritics.com

Posted on November 4, 2009 at 8:00 am

Can you review a movie in 140 characters? TwitCritics thinks you can. This site assembles tweets about current releases and distills them into a rating. You can follow them by RSS feed, on Facebook, or, of course, on Twitter. The reviews so far seem to skew more positive than other aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes, probably because tweeters are more motivated to post when they are feeling enthusiastic. Civilian reviews in general tend to be more positive because people only buy tickets to movies they want to see so there is a selection bias. It is fun to see how the fans react, just another way Twitter is becoming the go-to real-time temperature-taker for the hive mind.
Thanks to my beloved nephew Dante for this suggestion!

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Irene Cooking With the Stars

Posted on August 14, 2009 at 3:59 pm

You know the old saying “No matter where I serve my guests, they seem to like my kitchen best?” Well, that’s what I think of when I watch Irene and her new cooking show, Irene Cooking With the Stars. She is an award-winning actress and comedian who has cooked for much of Hollywood and now they will be joining her on her online show. Her warm and winning personality will make you feel like you’re sitting in her kitchen and can almost smell the food. A sneak peek from the first webisode, featuring Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx, is available now.

IRENE COOKING WITH THE STARS SNEAK PEEK

Follow Irene on MySpace and visit her new interactive website for recipes, blog posts, and information and on Twitter at Irenecooking to learn about fun, healthy, and affordable cooking. She even features “Top Ramen Fridays” to help families save money.

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YouTube Reporters Center

Posted on July 5, 2009 at 8:00 am

YouTube has a fascinating new section with top reporters explaining how they get, organize, verify, and tell their stories. Katie Couric explains how to conduct an interview. Bob Woodward talks about investigative journalism. NPR’s Scott Simon talks about how to tell a story. Ariana Huffington explains citizen journalism. Tavis Smiley talks about “digging deep and getting more.” This is an outstanding resource for anyone who wants to understand — or make — news.

Interview: Mike Nelson of MST3000 and RiffTrax

Posted on June 2, 2009 at 3:58 pm

Michael J. Nelson is the former host and writer of the Emmy-nominated, Peabody Award-winning Mystery Science Theater 3000 and the author of the hilarious Mike Nelson’s Movie Megacheese. His witty commentary on movies is wildly funny but also very clever and perceptive. He spoke to me about his website, RiffTrax, where you can download his commentary to play along with your own or rented DVDs and upload your own to share with everyone else. He was every bit as much fun to talk to as I hoped.

How did you got started being snarky?

It came from watching movies. Midwestern people are almost by their nature snarky. And I came from a snarky family. My brothers and I always did that kind of thing, making smart-alecky comments about what we were watching. A lot of people do that but it falls away as you grow up and mature. My parents were very strict about bedtime, but they would put us to bed and then my dad would wake us up to watch some late night movie. My mom just rolled her eyes.

Did you get in trouble as a kid?

Well, someone once said, “Do you think you can make a living watching TV?” And I did!

What makes a movie a good candidate for comic riffing?

It has to take itself seriously. And it should probably have Keanu Reeves in it!

The main thing is that it is not boring. A lot of people don’t realize that truly bad movies are really boring and no one wants to watch them. There’s only so much that you can elevate with your comments. The baseline of entertainment has to be there. We’re enhancing and hopefully improving what is already there. I would have thought that sci-fi uniquely lends itself to what we do but if you carefully write something and work on it, it can be done on many different kinds of films. There’s subject matter that you can’t do but we’ve done dramas and other genres.

Are there actors you especially enjoy making fun of?

We’re big Patrick Swayze fans. We also give a lot of grief to Hayden Christienson — he didn’t take to the green screen acting very well.

Is there a movie that has such a devoted following that it can’t be riffed?

We did “Twilight!” That has both passionate fans and passionate detractors. A bunch of guys were dragged to it and wanted revenge on it in some way, to have us rescue it for them. The slow pace, and mopey, gothic overtones made it work — it became one of our fan favorites.

Tell me about RiffTrax.

It’s a full service comedy commentary site. We sell separate commentaries, video on demand, and shorts. People are constantly doing it themselves and wanted an outlet so we let people make their own and post them and compete with each other. That makes it possible for us to check out things we’d never do because the movie is too obscure for us. There are people out there who think we’re just picking on the mainstream and so they do films we’ll never get to.

We’ve been doing it for three years and it is growing. It has exceeded my expectations, and I’m especially happy to see so many younger people on the site. A goal would be to get a team of writers, people who want to do this. It is so much work. It takes so much time, we can’t quite keep up with the releases. A goal is to look at the uploaded tracks to see if there are people we can use, maybe get us close to doing all major releases.