Category: Entertainment

Eurovision Song Contest (the movie)

UncleScoopy

I watched it last night. The movie is way too long to begin with. Many of the acts, which might have been good for a laugh in snippets, go on for the entire duration of a song, thus dragging the film out for more than two hours. The basic thrust of the plot is almost completely predictable, and the jokes are too far apart. It’s an 80-minute comedy conveniently padded out with 45 minutes of bad singing.

The problem is that the Eurovision competition is one of those things that’s almost impossible to satirize, like Tiny Tim or The Gong Show, because it is already self-satirizing. It’s weird and campy and over-the-top. It’s more than a little creepy, and after all these decades, the acts still seem to take place in 1974. What can you really say about a contest where the contestants dream of being as good as ABBA? It’s like deciding to do stand-up in the hope of someday being as good as Pauly Shore.

Having noted all that, I’ll add that the woman who dubbed Rachel McAdams’s singing is pretty darned good, Demi Lovato has a solid cameo, Iceland looks like a pretty cool place, and I did get a few laughs from a weird sub-plot about how Icelandic elves are real.

WWE announcer Kayla Braxton says she had coronavirus twice

UncleScoopy

Was keeping it quiet but since everyone else is sharing, I feel like it is my responsibility to share this PSA: YOU CAN GET COVID-19 MORE THAN ONCE!” Braxton wrote on Twitter. “I had it back in early March and then thought I was invincible after I recovered. Not true. Don’t be dumb like me.”

Brooklyn Nine-Nine to Scrap All Episodes Written for Season 8, Terry Crews Says: ‘We Have to Start Over’

UncleScoopy

“Brooklyn Nine-Nine is going back to the drawing board in light of the recent nationwide protests against police violence.

The NBC cop comedy is already set to return for an eighth season, but cast member Terry Crews told Access Daily that the writers are scrapping all the episodes they’ve written for next season and starting from scratch. “

Director Joel Schumacher passed away at 80

UncleScoopy

There is one true and lasting cultural legacy that he left. I know because it was mentioned in every single obit I scanned: he added nipples to the Bat-suit.

He had an eye for talent, and a career almost anyone would envy. He made a great living by writing and/or directing a crapload of other films that rarely, if ever, involved Bat-nipples.

I never really gave it any thought, but now I realize I was not a fan. As I looked through his filmography, I realized that I’ve seen almost every film he ever made, and could not find a single one that I want to watch again.

RIP, Sir Ian Holm

UncleScoopy

Farewell to the ultimate supporting player. He was Bilbo in the Lord of the Rings films, and played Napoleon more than once. If I can name a favorite movie, he was probably in it: Henry V, Lord of War, The Sweet Hereafter, The Fifth Element, Brazil, Alien, Robin and Marian …

Although he may have been the greatest supporting actor of the past 40 years or so, he never won an Oscar for his efforts. He was nominated only once, long ago, for Chariots of Fire. He was nominated for six BAFTAs, but won only once, and that was 52 years ago (!!), for The Bofors Gun.

Jessica Biel in a wet-t-shirt

UncleScoopy

A .gif of a really great non-nude scene from Summer Catch (2001). Sample below.

image host
And a bikini scene from Summer Catch.

It seemed that the star of Summer Catch, Freddie Prinze Jr, was in every movie about 20 years ago, but I haven’t seen him in a movie in years and years. Seems like I turned my back for a second and he became a gray-haired guy, 44 years old, exactly double the age of his dad when he died. That kind of makes it seem as if Jr and Sr have reversed roles.

 

Previous Biel posts:

Outtakes from a 2017 photoshoot (see-thru).

Her famous see-thru dress from way back in 2002.

Jessica Biel in Powder Blue (2009). One more from Powder Blue. This was #3 on our Best Nude Scenes of 2009. That was her only appearance in our annual lists, which date back to 1995, the year the Fun House began.

Biel’s unrevealing topless scene in The Sinner (s1e6)

New Jersey Makes A Bid For Trump’s Relocated Convention

UncleScoopy

The venue of choice is Frank’s Banquet Hall in Paramus, where it’s always a far-right turn off the interstate.

“VP Mike Pence will love our beautiful mayonnaise fountain”

Frank’s Banquet Hall is a running joke on Colbert’s show. Every time Trump pitches a hissy fit about being unhappy with some venue, Frank’s is there for them. So far they have offered to host the G-7, the State of the Union and The Republican Convention.

Misty Rowe topless .gif

UncleScoopy

Misty Rowe in Goodbye, Norma Jean (1976), a disrespected, low-budget film about the beginning of Marilyn Monroe’s career. (2.9 at IMDb)

That’s pretty much a typical IMDb rating in the career of auteur Larry Buchanan, who directed 12 films rated below 4.0 at IMDb. He made another, even worse Marilyn Monroe film about a decade later (Goodnight, Sweet Marilyn) which used footage from this one in telling about the end of MM’s career.

When Buchanan died in 2004, the NY Times obit read, “One quality united Mr. Buchanan’s diverse output: It was not so much that his films were bad; they were deeply, dazzlingly, unrepentantly bad. His work called to mind a famous line from H.L. Mencken, who, describing President Warren G. Harding’s prose, said, ‘It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it.’”

RIP, Herb Stempel, 93

UncleScoopy

A former champion of the quiz show “Twenty-One,” Stempel blew the whistle on that rigged competition, leading to exposure of the entire crooked game-show industry in the 50s. Much of America watched Stempel’s winning streak end with a loss to Charles van Doren in 1956, but the entire scenario turned out to have been scripted. Even the prize money was fake. Stempel had allegedly won $69,500 on the broadcasts, but that was all for show. He agreed to accept a lower amount as part of his negotiations with the show’s producers.

He might have been hailed as a hero for having exposed corruption, but was not, because his confession was a matter of revenge rather than conscience. The producers had made some promises to him as part of a crooked bargain which required him to miss a question intentionally. Those promises were not kept, so Stempel went public.

After the scandal, Stempel lived a quiet life in modest circumstances, basically forgotten until the early 90s, when Robert Redford decided to make a movie about the quiz show scandals. Stempel was portrayed by John Turturro in that film (“Quiz Show”), which brought him new fame, but pigeon-holed him as a hapless nerd.

Kara del Toro naked

UncleScoopy

From her appearance, I’m going to guess that she is related neither to Guillermo

nor Benicio

Either that or she is the only non-goblin in the extended Del Toro family.

By the way, to be fair, Benicio used to be very handsome, but aged poorly.

On the other hand, I’m pretty sure Guillermo always looked like he should be pursued by villagers with torches and pitchforks. In fact he looks better now than when he was young. But I do love many of his films!

Whatever happened to Yahoo Serious?

UncleScoopy

As you may know, nobody knew where the hell he was for a decade.

Mr. Serious, aka Greg Gomez Pead, “is living an anonymous and humble life in one of Sydney’s most affluent suburbs … in a modest two storey home.”

He looks like a normal suburban person, very fit and handsome for his age! (63 when the pics were taken, 66 now.). Yahoo lives alone except for a Jack Russell terrier. (Adorable pic of him and his puppy!)

So Young Einstein is now Elderly Einstein? Tempus Fugit. (And I guess Patrick Fugit as well.)

///

Side Track:

Man that Jack Russell guy sure gives away a lot of dogs. Lots of people seem to have his old pets.

Kidding aside, Jack Russell was a real guy, and he did have a lot of dogs.

How Karen became a meme

UncleScoopy

A ‘Karen’ is someone who throws a tantrum over any slight or inconvenience, often, but not necessarily, for racist reasons. Karens call the police on harmless non-whites and always ask to speak to the manager. They never mind their own business about somebody breaking a rule, even if the offender represents no problem of any kind.

Bill Maher explains:

The article mentions that some people consider the Karen concept sexist, but it isn’t really. While a Karen is usually an entitled, white suburban mother, anybody can be a Karen. For example, in that confrontation between the black birdwatcher and the angry white dog walker, they were both Karens, although the woman called the police for no reason, lied to them, and did so to report a harmless black man, which means she went FULL Karen.

But even a young black man can be a Karen because this is a country of equal opportunity. It’s such a great country that a Karen can even become President.