Unfortunately, I can't find "The Running, Jumping, Standing Still Film" anymore, but here are a couple of videos that fans of classic British Comedy might enjoy.
Peter Sellers...it gets interesting about halfway through.
Jonatham Miller talking about Peter Sellers and Peter Cook (nirvana, indeed)
Stephen Fry's postmortem defense of Peter Cook
Barry Trotter (Book 1)
The Hogwash School for Wizards was the most famous school in the wizarding world, and Barry Trotter was its most famous student. His mere presence made sure that every year twenty candidates applied for every open spot, no matter how rapacious Hogwash's tuition became. As a result, Barry and the school had come to an unspoken agreement: regardless of his grades, Barry could remain at Hogwash for as long as he wished. He had just begun his eleventh year...Freshman
Sleepy with boredom and gassy from lunch, Hart Fox sat in the hard plastic chair outside his dean's office. A kid walked in the door, pink detention slip in hand, bobbing his head a little so that the purple spikes of his mohawk didn't get bent on the transom. He slumped down next to Hart. Hart nodded--he remembered tis joker from sophomore American History, constantly arguing in favor of anarcho-syndicalism. Was his name Henry?...Sophomore
Arcing lazily through the air, the Frisbee smacked against the window. “Ooo-oo!” a chiseled and shirtless boy teased as it wobbleplummeted to the ground. “Sarah's in troub-le!”The beauty-boy was righter than he knew: Of all the windows on campus to hit, this one was the worst. It belonged to Stutts’ Professor of Clandestine Affairs, Glenbard North, who had destroyed more students than there were blades of grass on the freshly resodded Old Quad below...Coming Soon!
All you really gotta know is, I'm writing new things constantly and the more I write, the better my books get. So if you've read my earlier work--and millions of you have--we should keep in touch. This fall, at least one and maybe two new books will be available: a Dickens parody AND a comic mystery loosely based on The Beatles. Drop me an email at mikesnewbooks[at]gmail[dot]com, and I'll be sure to let you know release dates, special deals, etc.Friday, September 25, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Funny Beatles humor from Mark Bazer
Humor columnist, interlocutor, and bon vivant Mark Bazer sent me the following. Since I'm a sucker for Beatles humor, I'm reposting it below.
Mike again. I just had a flash:
Charlie Manson is walking back to his cell at Vacaville, after finishing his one hour of daily exercise. The guard escorting him asks, "Hey, Charles--you heard these new Beatles CDs?"
"I'm over those guys," Charlie answers bitterly. "They've gone commercial."
The guard wipes his glasses. He's a big black fella, six-three and at least 250 pounds; next to him Charlie's a bleached twig. "Well you should get 'em anyway. The sound is fantastic, totally clear. In fact they sound so good"--the guard leans closer--"I finally understand."
Manson brightens; is he saying what I think he's saying?
"Right in the middle of the 'Helter Skelter,' one of 'em, I think it's Ringo, says, 'Why not pop over to Hollywood for a spot of killing people?'"
"Really?" Manson squeaks.
"Yeah. Right into the mic, clear as day."
Manson hops and claps like an excited child. "I'm so happy! I was beginning to think I was crazy."
They get to Manson's cell. "By the end of the song," the guard says, "I was thinking, 'I've been putting off that race war for too long. Monday morning, first thing.'"
Manson can't believe his ears. Vindication! "That's fantastic!"
"Not for you, white boy." Manson falls mid-giggle as the guard snaps his neck. "Nothing personal, Charles," he says, making a tick-mark on a list. "But you know, budgets don't balance themselves."
Meet The Piggies
By Mark Bazer
If you haven't heard lately from that friend of yours who is a huge Beatles fan, he's likely squirreled himself away to listen over and over again to the brand-new, incredible-sounding remastered versions of the band's albums. Or he's been in a terrible accident.
Last week, along with the much-anticipated release of a Beatles version of the video game "Frogger" in which you must manuever Ringo across a busy street, the band finally issued a corrective to the shoddy Beatles CDs that have frustrated fans and Charles Manson alike for years.
Most exciting is that you can now buy a $298.98 boxed set of the Beatles CDs in a "mono mix," or how the Beatles initially intended them -- which, I think, means Yoko's vocals have been removed from "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill."
As one of the biggest Beatles fans and the owner of a Sanyo boom box purchased for $60 at Target in the mid-'90s, I must say the remastered albums are a revelation. You've never heard "Yesterday" or "All You Need Is Love" or "Get Back" sound so clear. On the latter, you can practically hear the band breaking up!
But the true standout is the remastered version of "Piggies." The 12th song on the first disc of the "The White Album," the George Harrison-penned "Piggies" can finally be heard in its full glory. When George sings, "Have you seen the little piggies," you want to jump up and say, "Yes, I have!"
The "Abbey Road" album, however, has so far been the best-selling of the remastered discs, and it's easy to see why. This was the band at perhaps its most rocking, and songs like "Come Together" and "Oh! Darling" get a nice sonic boost. But let's get back to "Piggies."
The remastered "Piggies" should finally convince Beatles naysayers of the band's greatness -- and innovativeness. Indeed, when the song's pig sound effects kick in, you can, for the first time, picture swine in the studio alongside the band. Paul McCartney, in fact, says the new CDs "are more like what we heard coming out of the speakers as we made the records." That's quite an interesting assertion, and worth discussing in more detail. Unfortunately, with limited space here, more discussion of "Piggies" takes precedence.
Lennon/McCartney are often hailed as the 20th century's top songwriters, but this new "Piggies" calls into question whether they were even tops in their own band! And as the two-minute-and-four-second "Piggies" reaches its crescendo, George's voice booms with an intensity heretofore never experienced by this listener. "Everywhere there's lots of piggies/Living piggy lives," George tells us -- and, in this biggest gift the newly remastered Beatles catalogue has given us, nobody can any longer doubt this assertion.
Mike again. I just had a flash:
Charlie Manson is walking back to his cell at Vacaville, after finishing his one hour of daily exercise. The guard escorting him asks, "Hey, Charles--you heard these new Beatles CDs?"
"I'm over those guys," Charlie answers bitterly. "They've gone commercial."
The guard wipes his glasses. He's a big black fella, six-three and at least 250 pounds; next to him Charlie's a bleached twig. "Well you should get 'em anyway. The sound is fantastic, totally clear. In fact they sound so good"--the guard leans closer--"I finally understand."
Manson brightens; is he saying what I think he's saying?
"Right in the middle of the 'Helter Skelter,' one of 'em, I think it's Ringo, says, 'Why not pop over to Hollywood for a spot of killing people?'"
"Really?" Manson squeaks.
"Yeah. Right into the mic, clear as day."
Manson hops and claps like an excited child. "I'm so happy! I was beginning to think I was crazy."
They get to Manson's cell. "By the end of the song," the guard says, "I was thinking, 'I've been putting off that race war for too long. Monday morning, first thing.'"
Manson can't believe his ears. Vindication! "That's fantastic!"
"Not for you, white boy." Manson falls mid-giggle as the guard snaps his neck. "Nothing personal, Charles," he says, making a tick-mark on a list. "But you know, budgets don't balance themselves."
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
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