GROWN-UP WORDS: Ice Breakers for Non-Parents

How to talk to your friends with kids.

 

GROWN-UP WORDS: Ice Breakers for Non-Parents from Kevin Maher on Vimeo.

Episode 3 of Kevin Maher's GROWN-UP WORDS, an original video series created for NICK MOM. 
Featuring Kate Jones, Anna Moore, Don Hooper, Rob Kaye, Ryan Fidrick and Polly Simon. 

Editor: Eric Hendricks. 
Director of Photography: Jeremy Carr. 
Wardrobe consultant: Alison Roberts.
Additional Material: Rebecca Rogers Maher and Ritch Duncan.

 

Traumafession: my first entry at Kindertrauma

Kindertrauma is one of my favorite places on the web. While most "retro" culture sites look at movies with an air of superiority, Unkle Lancifer respects the power of old media. (In my case the traumatic power of a Saturday morning cartoon.)

It's easy to ridicule a cheap b-movie for its cheesy special effects, bad acting or implausbile plotlines. But the writers at Kindertrauma recognize that there was a time when a simple TV commercial was the stuff of nightmares. 

I'm happy to have made a contribution to the site, you can read it here. I write about a scary episode of SuperFriends where the heroes are turned into Hobbit-like trolls.

related links: 

Kevin Maher's Oddest Hobbit moments in pop culture

Awesome Trailer, Not So Awesome Movie

Sometimes even a bad movie has a good trailer. 

And then there's the bad movies with GREAT trailers. 

I put together a list of five such films for TheFW.com 

Watch them here and let me know if there are any you'd add to the list. 


Related Links: 

This podcast episode from "The Vault of Horror" blog, where Kevin chats with Brian Solomon about the "killer machine" subgenre. 

Kevin & Rusty talk "Maximum Overdrive" on this video review show.

GROWN-UP WORDS: Dodging Advice

Look out, people want to give you parenting advice!

 

GROWN-UP WORDS: Dodging Advice from Kevin Maher on Vimeo.

Episode 2 of Kevin Maher's GROWN-UP WORDS, an original video series created for NICK MOM. 

Featuring: Wendy Mays, Bill Farrow, Robert Ankers, Ramen Cromwell, Michele Carlo, Lisa Hinshaw, Shyaporn Theerakulstit. 

Editor: Eric Hendricks. 
Director of Photography: Jeremy Carr. 
Additional Material: Rusty Ward, Rebecca Rogers Maher.
Wardrobe Consultant: Alison Roberts.

GROWN-UP WORDS: Decoding Disinterest

Here's the first episode of my new video series GROWN-UP WORDS.

 

GROWN-UP WORDS: Decoding Disinterest from Kevin Maher on Vimeo.

Episode 1 of Kevin Maher's GROWN-UP WORDS, an original video series created for NICK MOM. 

Featuring: Shyaporn Theerakulstit., Eric Hendricks, Kate Jones, Polly Simon, Robert Ankers, Ramen Cromwell, Michele Carlo, Jo Ann Kamuf Ward and Sheilah Smiley. 


Editor: Eric Hendricks. 
Director of Photography: Jeremy Carr.
Wardrobe Consultant: Alison Roberts.

GROWN-UP WORDS: teaser

Here's the teaser for my new video series GROWN-UP WORDS. It's airing on NICK MOM and NickMom.com 

But you can watch all the videos here, without commercial pre-rolls. 

GROWN-UP WORDS: Teaser from Kevin Maher on Vimeo.

Hobbit Fever!

. 

Over at theFW.com I wrote about some of my favorite examples of Hobbits in popular culture, including the unproduced Beatles movie, a disappointing theme-restaurant and, of course, my favorite Leonard Nimoy novelty song. 

You can read the full article here.

Who Sang it Better? BATMAN edition

I just came across this odd coincidence: Both Adam West and Burt Ward performed covers of Nat King Cole's ORANGE COLORED SKY.

Here's Adam West performing as Batman in the television variety show "The Hollywood Palace" (This aired October 8, 1966.)

Now here's a recording of Burt Ward speak-singing the same ditty, recorded in June 1966. In his memoirs, Boy Wonder, My Life in Tights Ward humbly calls himself "the world's worst singer."

The Ward recording has a bit of a cult following, partly because the record was arranged by Frank Zappa. "Orange Colored Sky" was the b-side to the novelty tune "Boy Wonder I Love You" (and you can hear young Frank as one of the screaming teenage girls.) 

Given that Burt Ward had recorded it first, I really wonder what was going on with the Adam West cover. Was it a coincidence, an inside joke, a rip-off or a put-down? 

What do YOU think, dear reader? 


Related links: 

More Than Super-Friends

Fantastic Planet episode of AMC's The Sci Fi Department

SHARKS VS. SUPER-HEROES

In 1975, after JAWS defined the term "summer block-buster" there were dozens of B-movie rip-offs rushed into production. But there were also some JAWS-inspired comic books, here are a few...

12 SHELVED MOVIES THAT YOU MAY NEVER GET TO SEE

I wrote an article about lost movies that were made but never released. The list includes a Bill Murray musical comedy, a Texas Chainsaw sequel, an early Louis C.K. feature and the Ed Wood screenplay that was produced 20 years after his death.

Read it here.

12 Sequels You (Probably) Didn't Know About

I wrote this article about lesser-know sequels and direct-to-video follow-up films. 

I insisted they title it "12 Sequels You PROBABLY Didn't Know About" because I have a lot of respect for the mouth-breathers who read pop-culture blogs. 

Also, I dropped the ball by failing to include AMERICAN PSYCHO 2 on the list. I've actually seen that one, but it's pretty forgettable. 

Anyway, read it here. 


Related posts: 

10 Movies that Promised Sequels that Never Happened

12 Lost Movies You May Never Get To See

LIVE TAPING: Andrew 12-Sided Dice Clay

Join me for a very special show. 

We're video-taping stand-up to be used in the ANDREW 12-SIDED DICE CLAY series. 

Plus, I'm recording a few routines for my own digital download. (Which is like a comedy album) 

Andrew 12-Sided Dice Clay: Nerdy n' Dirty

*** A LIVE TAPING ***

Thursday November 15th @ 8:00pm

UNDER ST. MARKS - 94 St. Marks Place 
(between 1st Ave and Avenue A)

$10 

Star Wars of Italian Dish?

Here's a video I appeared in for TheFW.com, we went to New York Comic Con and asked if a given name was something from the Star Wars universe or Italian food. 

Written by Nick Nadel. Produced by Nick Nadel and Ryan Simmons. Edited by Ryan Simmons. 

Post-Apocalyptic Trivia Quiz!

At New York Comic Con I co-hosted Emmy Laybourne's show POST-APOCALYPSE NOW!

Here are trivia questions from the show -- along with a bunch we didn't use.  (Scroll to the bottom for the answers)  

Q1. What Garbage Pail Kid shares his name with the hero of a post-apocalyptic trilogy?

Q2. What big-budget post-apocalyptic adventure was completely ignored because it came out shortly after STAR WARS?

Q3: The dog from A BOY & HIS DOG also appeared on what classic TV sitcom?

Q4.What futuristic novel has been adapted into 6 theatrical films, a TV series, a Saturday morning cartoon and several comic books?

A's for APOCALYPSE: #7 in a series of pop culture primers

In honor of this Saturday's NY Comic Con show POST-APOCALYPSE NOW! I wrote a poem about post-apocalyptic fiction. Click here for event details. 

A's for APOCALYPSE with mushroom clouds

B is for the BOY, he makes the man proud

C is for COMETS that bring on the end

D is for the DOG, a boy's bestest friend

How to Lose An Election

Here's why I could never run for office.

This was shot and edited by William Scurry.  We taped in my actual neighborhood. And those are my real kids.

NERD GRAFFITI

Related Posts:

CORRECTION

COOKIE MONSTER isn't saying "Nom Nom Nom"

He's saying "Numb Numb Numb" 

(and self-medicating with food)

Kevin Geeks Out About The Post-Apocalypse

Goin' to New York Comic Con? 

Then come to the panel I'm doing called POST-APOCALYPSE NOW!

Emmy Laybourne (author of the New York Times Editor's Choice novel, Monument 14) and I will explore the end of the world and the destruction of society in film, TeeVee, cartoon shows and literature. 

Saturday October 13th at 1pm

at the Unbound Stage 

We'll focus on examples from the past 10 - 12 years, explore why post-apocalyptic stories are so popular these days and how they're being marketed. 

But if you want to look at older examples, these videos have it covered: (videos appear after the jump)

This Friday - come to the Banned Book Party

I became a fan of Mike Edison after reading his wild memoir I HAVE FUN EVERYWHERE I GO: Savage Tales of Pot, Porn, Punk Rock, Pro Wrestling, Talking Apes, Evil Bosses, Dirty Blues, American Heroes and the Most Notorious Magazines in the World.

You can imagine how honored I feel to be included in Mike's BANNED BOOK PARTY (which takes place this Friday night.)  I'll be talking about an especially dopey bout of pop culture hysteria, I'll do a short slideshow, read from a "controversial" novel and screen one of my all-time favorite film clips. 

Details are below, don't miss this mad monstrous party.

Coming Soon...

FLASH GORDON and me

I took my kids to see FLASH GORDON (1980) on the big screen!

My boys are roughly the same age I was when I first saw the movie (over and over) on HBO.  So I was  really excited for them to see it.  But I was worried that the guys would be bored by the slow pacing of the campy film. So before the film I talked it up and brainwashed them into thinking they already loved the movie.

As the film played I wasn't worried about them being bored but I was worried about some of the sexy stuff. Even when FLASH GORDON isn't overt it's a kinky space opera. Being a young boy watching FLASH GORDON is kind of like climbing the rope in gym class.

I'll admit I'm one of those Dads who tries to recapture the best aspects of his childhood and share it with his kids. When Dino DeLaurentiis made the movie, he was trying to recapture his childhood influences.

He's made KING KONG and then FLASH GORDON (and he'd also wanted to make a feature film version of MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN starring Jack Nicholson.)  Now we're onto the third-generation, with me sharing those movies with my kids.
My older son is wearing the FLASH t-shirt I won during the pre-show Prince Vultan sound-alike contest. I won! (I think my full-beard helped.) You can't hear him, but he's shouting "YEAH!" just like Flash does at the end of the movie.  Fun-fact: when they filmed the ending, it felt kind of flat. So actor Sam Jones came up with the idea that Flash should shout "Yeah!" and leap into the air. that was all him.

Lastly, FLASH GORDON holds a special place in my heart because it was the subject of my first AMC web-show "The Sci Fi Department" -- you can see it below.

JAWSFEST 2012 and the BROOKLYN OBSERVATORY screening

This summer I did two performances of KEVIN & MATT GEEK OUT ABOUT SHARK MOVIES:  One show at the Brooklyn Observatory and another at JAWSFEST in Martha's Vineyard. 

Here are some photos from the events: (including winners of our JAWS 2 COLORING BOOK Contest) 

Also, here's New York Magazine's piece on JAWSFEST including a chat with Matt. 

Coloring Book Contest at KEVIN & MATT GEEK OUT ABOUT SHARK MOVIES

This Thursday night, Matt Glasson and I will celebrate Shark Cinema. 

Here's a contest for you! 

Print one of these coloring book pages and color it in. 

Bring your page to the show and we'll give a prize to the best page.

You could win passes to the New York Aquarium and other shark-related prizes. 

JAWS joke

Did you know the swimmer from JAWS had dandruff?


They found her Head & Shoulders on the beach. 

Countdown to JAWSfest

I'm counting the days until JAWSfest in Martha's Vineyard. (I'll be there to co-host a Shark Movie Geek Out at Flatbread Pizza on Friday Night's Shark After Dark.)

To get ready I've been re-watching the JAWS movies and reading Patrick Jankiewicz's excellent book JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE: A JAWS COMPANION.

Here are some "fun facts" that demand to be shared:

Universal had wanted Charlton Heston to play Quint.

In Peter Benchley's novel, Hooper is having an affair with Ellen Brody and he is eaten by the shark.

Mrs. Kitner's poster notes that her son Alex was killed by the shark on June 29th -- the same day Quint says the Indianapolis sank.

"You're gonna need a bigger boat" was ad-libbed by Roy Scheider.

Director Jeannot Schwarc was hired to direct JAWS 2 based on the strength of the earthquake scenes he directed in William Castle's BUG

An early draft of JAWS 3-D revealed that the shark was the same burnt-faced shark from JAWS 2. 

Actor Mark Gilpin (Sean Brody in JAWS 2) remembers his co-star Donna Wilkes: "Donna had a lot of pressure, because she's the one who had to freak out so much in the film. Donna kept to herself on JAWS 2, because she had to constantly psych herself up."

Shark Movie Mayhem at the Brooklyn Observatory

Do you like SHARK movies?
Then join Matt Glasson and me (Kevin Maher) as we GEEK OUT about Shark Cinema!  It's Thursday August 9th at the Brooklyn Observatory.

A "LOST" LATE NIGHT CLIP: Bobcat's Trouser Snake on The Arsenio Hall Show

Long story short: I've worked for basic cable clip shows and pop culture websites. (I've written about it here.) These low-paying institutions rely on the internet for examples of pop culture's greatest moments.  But the sad thing is, if a moment in TV history isn't on youtube, it's as if it never happened.

Case in point: I was working on a CNN show that looked back on "Interviews Gone Wrong" -- and my research turned up plenty of familiar moments (I'm sure you can predict the classics):  

• Crispin Glover kicking David Letterman
• Robert Blake being freaky with Larry King 
• Quentin Tarantino vs. Jan Wahl
• Fist-fights on the Morton Downey Jr show
• Marlon Brandon acting weird with Larry King
• Bobcat Goldthwait setting fire to a chair on The Tonight Show

Now the thing is, I wanted to use another great moment with Bobcat, but I couldn't find it anywhere. 

HERE'S A DESCRIPTION OF THE CLIP -- if you have it, please post this "lost" video to youtube: 

After Bob Goldthwait was banned from the Leno Show, he became a frequent guest on The Arsenio Hall Show. This was towards the end of Arsenio's run, so Bobcat wasn't promoting stuff he'd just come out to liven things up a little. 

One time Bobcat made a joke that he wanted to do something crazy -- he said he'd considered coming out and removing a live snake from his pants, joking that it would guarantee he'd appear in any "Best of" episodes. 

Ha ha, pretty funny joke, right? 

Then they did a 5-6 minute interview. 

And at the very end of the segment, Bob stood up and removed a live snake from his pants. 

It was an amazing little moment of TV, but as far as I can tell, no record of it exists online.  (That's why I'm posting this here.) 

Now whenever there's a  bizarre interview moment (like Joaquin Phoenix being weird on Letterman)  

pop-culture bloggers do a retrospective of the weirdest interview moments, but remarkably Bobcat's pants-snake never makes the list.  It's as if it never happened.  (By the way, this would be an appropriate use of the term Orwellian, because it has to do with popular memory being shaped by mass media. People normally say a surveillance camera is Orwellian, but I think this would be a more appropriate use of the phrase.) 

The is because the collective memory doesn't remember it.  But it happened. And it was great. 

I hope other people will keep the oral history of Bobcat's Trouser-Snake alive. 

Or better still, I hope someone posts the video online.  I'd love to see it again. 

Upcoming shows

I've got some upcoming events that the world needs to know about...

This weekend, I'm heading to Boston for GEEK WEEK! 

On Saturday night, I'm doing crash-course on shark-cinema with KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT SHARKS.  (get tickets here) 

Later that night Mark Douglas appears as ANDREW 12-SIDED DICE CLAY (I wrote his stand-up material, which will include a slide-show of Flat Stan Lee)
Get tickets here.  

On Sunday afternoon I'm leading a workshop titled TRUE TALES FROM THE WRITERS' ROOM: The business and craft of writing, click on the link to sign-up. 

In May, I'll return to NYC's 92Y Tribeca with an all-new comedy variety show called KEVIN GEEKS OUT: THE GREAT GRAB BAG SHOW (click here for details) It'll cover a variety of topics including NYC's secret history of pinball, Turkish Cinema's Greatest Hits and an appreciation of Vanilla Ice.  

10 Promised Sequels that Never Happened

For a long time I'd wanted to compile a list of movies that promised a sequel (usually in the closing credits) but the sequel never got made.

Ironically my list was like one of those un-produced sequels -- it never happened... until my friend Nick Nadel asked me to contribute to a website he's editing.

So here is a run-down of 10 movies that promised sequels -- including video clips like Skeletor speaking German and the opening titles of REMO WILLIAMS, the TV series.

Enjoy -- and let me know if there's any films I've forgotten.

A IS FOR ANDRE

note: this poem was first shared at KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT WRASSLIN'

Be sure to check out the other pop culture primers (see below)

A is for ANDRE, he has a posse

B is for BOBBY brainy and bossy

C is for CM, straight-edge represent!

D’s DIBIASE, wrestling’s 1%

10 People Who Missed their calling in the WWE

Admit it, all these people could work in professional wrestling.  They each have that special something. 

A IS FOR AEON: #5 in a series of pop culture primers

 A is for AEON, I’d tap that cartoon

B is for BETTY, with black and white poon

C’s for the CAPTAIN, patriotic and pensive

          

D is DICK TRACY, his sidekicks are offensive