The Friday Link for 2/24/23

Hey all!

This week we start off with The trailer for the upcoming Oscars broadcast with Jimmy Kimmel.  Kimmel does a good job, and I imagine will bring the laughs. I will say, them suggesting Steve Harvey...THAT would be incredible, but I won't miss Kimmel either. 

Next up this week is a fantastic little short horror film called 'Laboratory Conditions.' ALTER has a pretty big collection of short horror films on YouTube, but it is a bit of a mixed bag.  Some are really good, but some miss.  I think what makes this film very enjoyable is the acting of Marisa Tomei and (the forever on my top 5 list) Minnie Driver. The rest of the cast does well and it ends up giving the viewer a believable plot and a good scare too. 

Finally tonight, is 'R' a vowel?  I know that might seem to be a very strange question, but it's not nearly as cut and dry as it sounds.  'R' does follow all the rules of vowels in some languages.  And this video will help you explain the Boston, New York, and Southern accents a little. Dr. Erica Brozovsky at 'Otherewords' takes it from here:  

Have a great weekend! Please make sure you keep up to date on your vaccines.  And since I get to go see the University of Minnesota men's hockey team this weekend, let me also add "Go Gophers!"

The Friday Link for 2/17/23

Howdy all.

First off, let's start with a palate cleanser from The Dodo.  These are very cute foxes. 

Also tonight is the podcast SmartLess.  My friend Chuck told me a year ago to start listening to it, and with me now having to walk a few miles every day, I finally started.

The podcast is a side project the actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett started two and a half years ago to get through the pandemic.  The premise is simple; one of the three finds a guest, the other two do not know who it is, and they have a conversation. I've listened to about 40 of the episodes so far.  Not all of them hit the target, but most of them are a riot. 

My favorite part is hearing the three hosts bring up the entertainment industry to the guest and talk about it in terms that come across more like a factory gig than the sunny side of Hollywood.  The Robert Downey Jr., Ron Howard, and Bryan Cranston episodes are great on that.  

But the show has really gotten a lot of guests far bigger than just Hollywood talk.  President Biden, Paul McCartney, Bono, and Stephen Spielberg have all been guests.  Jason, Sean, and Will get them to open up and talk very openly about their lives and careers. It's good listening.

The George Clooney and Stephen Colbert episodes have moments where I was laughing uncontrollably.

There really isn't a video portion to this podcast, but I am going to post the Tom Hanks interview.  He also is very interesting when he talks about the inner workings of Hollywood, but it's also Tom Hanks, who seems like one of the most approachable and level-headed people to ever come out of Hollywood.  Enjoy.

Have a great weekend everyone.  Get vaccinated and stay safe! 

The Friday Link for 2/10/23

It is Super Bowl Weekend and the Friday Link starts off with a pretty comprehensive video montage of the best of funny Super Bowl ads.  I'm not the biggest fan of the Tide one, but many of the others are really good, especially Terry Tate, Office Linebacker (I've mentioned that one before). 

I will also go to my grave insisting the funniest one of the last 20 years was Jason Bateman for Hyundai.

Also tonight the insanely funny Bad Lip Reading of the US House of Representatives. They get so much right here. The Roll Call scenes are spectacular! 

That's it this week!  Please get vaccinated and be careful in large crowds.  Have a great weekend everyone! 

The Friday Link for 2/3/23

Hi everyone.  I hope you've had a good week.

With Trump announcing he's running in 2024, he hit the road for a get-together in South Carolina.  So did The Daily Show's Jordan Klepper, who went down to talk to the people attending the shindig.  

What's terrifying is how Trump's supporters have made a completely fake reality to offset narratives they dislike, truths they want to dismiss, and facts that any sane person would not question.  This is disturbing to watch as these people believe the insanity coming from their mouths. 

WOW! Speaking of infections, The Last of Us!  If you have not caught the exceptional HBO adaption of the video game, where fungus evolves to take over humans like they currently do with some insects, it is stark! But it is also so well done.

The Zombie genre has been tapped out.  I remember how good the first few seasons of Walking Dead were, chaotic story lines, surprise character deaths, and a real fatalism conveyed to the viewer that this was the end times indeed, but the entire genre went off the rails due to a lack of creativity and a substitution of jump scares for intelligent though process.

The Last of Us takes us to a new even more terrifying version of the Zombies, ones where the people only wish they were dead, where the remaining people seem to debate how they keep going. 

The next two videos are the opening scenes from the first two episodes of the series, acting as backstory to the eventual end.  Some of the images in the second one are a little rough, but it is a good series.

And finally, on a fun note! 

Ze Frank returns with a very funny True Facts about The Smartest Slime!  Warning, adult content! 

Have a wonderful weekend.  

Please make sure you're vaccinated!