Ed Debevic’s: Sassy Servers and Tasty Burgers
Have you ever heard of Ed Debevic’s in Chicago? It sounds like my kind of joint. Maybe yours too. Check out the two videos below and see what you think.
15 Fab Facts About “Help!”
Sarene Leeds and Mental_Floss present 15 Fab Facts About Help! Here are three of my favorites…
1. HELP! WAS ALMOST CALLED EIGHT ARMS TO HOLD YOU.
At first listen, “Eight Arms to Hold You” sounds like a nice idea: who wouldn’t want to be held by all four Beatles, right? But when Lester reveals that the Ringo Starr-suggested title was in fact a reference to the multi-armed statue of Kaili that appears in the film, and not a teenage girl’s fantasy of being cradled by The Fab Four, much of the romantic element fades away. In the book accompanying the film’s 2007 DVD re-release, Lester claims that he had wanted to call the movie Help from the get-go, but the title had already been registered. Luckily, thanks to The Beatles’ lack of enthusiasm to write a song called “Eight Arms to Hold You” and a legal loophole involving an exclamation point, the film was able to proceed as Help!3. THE MOVIE’S INTERNATIONAL LOCALES WERE REALLY JUST AN EXCUSE FOR THE BEATLES TO TRAVEL.
While A Hard Day’s Night stuck to the familiarity of London, Help! was a veritable travelogue, sending The Beatles to such far-flung destinations as the Bahamas and the Austrian Alps in their attempts to evade the evil Clang (Leo McKern) and his cult of Eastern sycophants. But as Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr revealed in Anthology interviews, the film’s travel budget was increased mainly because they wanted to go to the aforementioned locales. McCartney recalled how they would say to the writers, “We’ve never been to the Bahamas—could you write that in?” and “I’ve never been skiing. I wonder if you could write in a scene with skiing?”But The Beatles learned the consequences of their actions the hard way: the weather in the Bahamas was freezing at the time (“It was absolutely bloody cold,” said Starr), and their crash course in skiing consisted of, according to the drummer, little more than being “edged down the mountain.”
10. THE MUSICAL NOTES IN THE “TICKET TO RIDE” SEQUENCE WERE PRODUCED OUT OF NECESSITY RATHER THAN CREATIVITY.
There’s a cute moment in the “Ticket to Ride” sequence where The Beatles are skiing in the Austrian Alps and they appear to ski right underneath part of the song’s musical score (it starts at around 1:27 in the above video). But as Lester explained in the 2007 documentary that accompanied the film’s DVD release, the decision to add musical notes came from the fact that the lads were skiing under some unsightly “telegraph wires” (Lester’s words; for all we know they could’ve been telephone wires). Since he couldn’t remove the wires digitally—this was the pre-CGI era, after all—he figured they’d make an ideal musical staff instead!
100 TV Themes Songs Played on Guitar
See how many of the 100 TV Themes Songs Played on Guitar you can name. You might surprise yourself.
The “Longmire” Season 4 Trailer is Here!
Longmire returns September 10th on Netflix! The trailer is here!
22 Fresh Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”
Hollywood.com presents 22 Fresh Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Here are three of my favorites…
1. The show was nearly canceled after the fourth season. During the season finale, Will returns to Philly with the Banks to visit his mom and he decides to stay. Fresh Prince fans were so outraged by the show’s cancellation that NBC brought it back for two additional seasons.
7. Will Smith would memorize and mouth the other actors’ lines so that he could remember his own. If you look closely you can see him doing this in various episodes.
12. Alfonso Ribero who plays Carlton Banks in the series credits Eddie Murphy’s “white man dance” in Delirious and Courteney Cox in Bruce Spingsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” video for his iconic Carlton Dance.
Would You Swim in the Sky Pool?
Would you swim in the sky pool located between two London high-rise buildings ten stories above the street?
While it would be a cool experience, I don’t think I’d make a habit of it.
Source: The Guardian.
Big Beatty, Mitch Hyman and the Infinity Toy and Comic Show
I spent the day yesterday with my buddy, John Beatty at the Infinity Toy and Comic Show in Orlando, Florida. When Big John wasn’t selling prints of his art or signing autographs for fans, much of the day was spent conversing with Mitch Hyman [in the photo above]. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so much.
The Infinity Toy and Comic Show had a nice turnout and some surprisingly great cosplayers [for such a small show]. The show was big enough that it took up three hotel meeting rooms — and that may have been the biggest downside. I generally prefer one room for shows and my guess is most folks do as well. That aside (and it is a small quibble), the Infinity Toy and Comic Show made for a fun day. Of course hanging with Beatty and Hyman didn’t hurt either.
15 Fiery Facts About “Barton Fink”
Roger Cormier and Mental_Floss present 15 Fiery Facts About Barton Fink.
1. THE COEN BROTHERS WROTE IT WHILE STUCK ON MILLER’S CROSSING.
Writer-director siblings Joel and Ethan found themselves struggling with the script for their next project, 1990’s Miller’s Crossing, so spent three weeks writing a movie about a screenwriter with writer’s block. From the beginning, they knew that they wanted John Turturro involved in Barton Fink, and they planned to feature the concept of a “huge abandoned hotel.”14. IT FORCED THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL TO CHANGE THEIR RULES.
Barton Fink won the Palme d’Or, Best Director, and Best Actor honors at Cannes. Because of the hat trick, the rules were changed so that no movie could ever win all three awards again.15. THERE MIGHT BE A SEQUEL.
Joel said it would be called Old Fink, and they’re waiting for Turturro to be old enough to play Fink in 1967, after turning friends over to the House Un-American Activities Committee.
“The Six” by George Pelecanos & Andrew Ewington and Mack Chater
I am going to be all over this one.
From master author George Pelecanos, (HBO’s The Wire, The Pacific, Treme), comes a searing tale of warfare at its worst and fighting soldiers at their best. When the wife of a former Marine buddy finds herself a target of a vicious Mexican cartel, she ends up turning to her husband’s old squad for help. Sergeant James McQuade and five former members of the Five-One Sand Scorpions find themselves outnumbered and outgunned against the most lethal and unpredictable enemy they ever went head-to-head with. It was someone else’s war but it was their fight. Just the way they like it.
The Six, written by George Pelecanos with Andrew Ewington, art by Mack Chater from Michael Bay‘s 451 Media Group this November.
Source: Bleeding Cool.
Why It Works: “28 days later”
One of my favorite horror/zombie movies is 28 days later. Brian Bitner and JoBlo.com explain Why It Works: 28 days later.
The “H8teful Eight” Character Posters
If you’re a fan of Tarantino and The H8teful Eigtht, then click over to /Film and check out the full set of The H8teful Eight character posters.
Enforcer by Artyom Trakhanov and Brian Funk
Artyom Trakhanov posted the art above for a comic he’s developing with Brian Funk called Enforcer. This looks like one to keep an eye on.
Bryan Singer Remembers “The Usual Suspects”
It’s been twenty years since the release of The Usual Suspects. Bryan Singer talks about the making and years since with Entertainment Weekly.
21 True Facts About “The Matrix”
Who besides my wife doesn’t love The Matrix?
Hollywood.com presents 21 True Facts About The Matrix. Here are three of my favorites…
1. The Wachowskis risked the film’s entire budget just to make it the way they wanted.
The original budget that the Wachowskis pitched Warner Bros. was over $80 million. Warner gave them $10 million, so they used all of it on the opening sequence with Trinity. The opening scene impressed executives at Warner so much when they showed it, they green-lit the original budget.
2. The film differentiates the Matrix and the real world through color.
The scenes that take place within the Matrix are tinted green; those that happen in the real world have more of a normal coloring. The fight scene between Neo and Morpheus has a yellow tint, since it takes place in neither.
12. Other actors considered to play Neo were Nicolas Cage, Tom Cruise, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
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Thankfully, Keanu won out. He’s really the only Neo we can imagine. #canttouchthis
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15 Immortal Facts About “Highlander”
Jake Rossen and Mental_Floss present 15 Immortal Facts About Highlander.
Before I present my three favorite facts, let me tell you I am a HUGE fan of Highlander. The sequels were bad and I never watched the tv series. For me, “There can only be one!”
2. THE ROLE WAS ORIGINALLY OFFERED TO KURT RUSSELL.
At the time, Russell was a former Disney kid star who had gotten some notice for his genre work with John Carpenter in Escape From New York (1981) and The Thing (1982). Highlanderdirector Russell Mulcahy met with him for the film; though he appeared ready to take on the role, Mulcahy told Cinefantastique that Kurt’s then-girlfriend, Goldie Hawn, talked him out of it.4. LAMBERT BARELY SPOKE ANY ENGLISH.
Aside from grunts, Lambert didn’t have much dialogue as Tarzan, so Mulcahy was unaware that his English was limited at the time he was cast in Highlander. In the end, his unique accent—Lambert was raised in Switzerland—worked for the character, who was supposed to have immersed himself in various cultures over his 400-year existence.12. FANS AREN’T BLAMELESS IN THE SENSELESS TRAGEDY OF THE SEQUEL, EITHER.
According to producer Bill Panzer, the idea of exploring the origins of the Immortals was a result of fans constantly asking about it after the 1986 original. “The question we were most asked by fans after the first film was, ‘Where did the immortals come from?’” he told Video Watchdog. “It made sense to answer that question in the second film. What we didn’t realize at the time was that the fans didn’t really want to know their … origins because then the romanticism and mystery of the story was stripped away.” Good job, fans.
