Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from: 

Best in Show (2000)

Scott: How tall are you?

Hotel Manager: I'm 6'4".

Stefan: I thought so. I feel

like Alan Ladd at Easter Island.

Scott: Where are you from, like

Nor... Norland? Norway?

Hotel Manager: Uh, I'm Irish-German.

Stefan: Like Robert Duvall in The Godfather. 

Scott: Bratwurst and shillelaghs. Paging Dr. Freud.

Happy 20 to Christopher Guest's greatest accomplishment, says me (and I'd know!) -- okay technically there are a couple of dates we could call its 20th anniversary, as Best in Show had its premiere on September 19th 2000, a limited release on September 29th 2000, and then went into wide release on October 20th, but I think it's possible I saw the film during its limited release here in NYC (only a couple of weeks after I'd moved here!) so I'm just gonna go with that one. If y'all want to gauge it by another date start your own blogs!

Okay I need a laugh, and I need one now.
What’s your funniest movie ever made? pic.twitter.com/KPsHbsYpT6

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) July 31, 2020

Anyway a couple of months ago I was desperate for laughs (hello, 2020) and tweeted out asking people for their favorite comedies -- I posted about this at the time, I am being redundant. (If you missed it though I recommend click on that tweet above, there are lots of fun recommendations.) But my point is the movie I ended up watching the second it was recommended was Best in Show, because it's probably my favorite straight comedy out there -- nothing makes me forget the world and just laugh myself senseless harder than the antics of these fussy dog lovers. 

This movie's so rich that every single time I watch it it's somebody new that jumps out - this time it's John Michael Higgins as that "Proud Mary" and Shih Tzu handler Scott, who's SO RECOGNIZABLE + SPOT-ON for a type of gay we've ALL met and been embarrassed by a dick joke from pic.twitter.com/SS0VD6oa2I

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) July 31, 2020

What struck me re-watching BIS for the 100th time this last time was a thing that strikes me every time I re-watch it -- that I always come out of it with a new favorite performance. And yes twas John Michael Higgins who really bit into my funny bone this last go-round. I used to have a bit of a side-eye towards this performance because him and Michael McKean are after all straight men giving really stereotypical camp gay performances... but I guess in my old age I've gotten to a place where I can just appreciate them for being funny. They are both really fucking funny. With the world the way it is sometimes you just gotta cling to funny like a life-raft. 

Anyway on another day I'd name Parker Posey, or Jennifer Coolidge, or Catherine O'Hara, as my favorite performances in the film -- just the other day on a Zoom call with some of my best friends we got to quoting Christopher Guest's speech about different kinds of nuts and laughing hysterically. It's a rich film full of perfect shit! What parts do you love? Tell me in the comments!

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Best in Show (2000) 

Christy Cummings: It's interesting, we have kind of a family dynamic going on here which pretty much mirrors what I grew up with: I'm the mommy slash daddy, the taskmaster, the disciplinarian. 

Sherri Ann Cabot: Mr. Punishment over here. 

Christy Cummings: Oh, but I also reward. And Sherri Ann is responsible for the unconditional love. 

Sherri Ann Cabot: And the decorative abilities. 

Christy Cummings: The heart and the soul which was what my mom did. That was her role. She was there for the unconditional love... and it worked for my family, you know... until my mom committed suicide in '81. 

Happy 56 to Jane Lynch today!

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I Am Link

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--- Knick Knick - Dunno if any of youse guys like The Knick, I haven't really talked about the show much here (save my lust for Michael Angarano wearing nothing but a top-hat and a grin), but the second season just ended this week with maybe its best episode ever, and The Playlist talked to Steven Soderbergh about the ending (so spoilery, natch) and what is ahead for the show. Summation -- it won't be back until at least 2017 and it will probably be somebody else directing everything, though he'll still produce. It could even skip to a new time-frame but I think that would be a mistake; the period informs so much of what makes the show peculiar and particular I'd hate to lose that. But my suggestion for an auteur to take the show over is Andrea Arnold, please!

--- And Speaking of the auteurs slide to the little boxes, David Fincher is slapping himself across another smaller-screen project - he's going to direct an adaptation of the nonfiction book Mind Hunter: Inside The FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit for Charlize Theron to star in (I think; the wording is vague, she could be just a producer), which is about you gussed it tracking down serial killers. David Fincher's never done anything like that before! Seriously though Fincher + Theron is killer. This would be for HBO, by the way. But seeing as how Fincher's had two television projects fall apart in the past year we will not be holding our breath.

--- Delayed High - I've been so busy the past week or so I haven't been able to do one of these posts in a bit (they're time consuming, in case that isn't obvious) - point being a few of these news-items are a little creaky. Like here is the trailer for Ben Wheatley's High-Rise, which has been out for a week and which I really really really shoulda been all over since I've been clamoring for this movie, which stars Tom Hiddleston and Luke Evans and Jeremy Irons and Elisabeth Moss and is based on a neat-sounding JG Ballard book which I still haven't gotten around to reading even though I've said I was going to read it months and months and months ago when I first heard about this. Oh & PS I haven't even watched this trailer myself; that's where I'm at!

--- The Big Furry - Somehow I had totally forgotten that Netflix had given Christopher Guest the cash to make a brand new mockumentary, bless them, and over at DH they talked to Guest regular Jane Lynch about the project, which is about those folks who wear team mascot costumes, and is called, appropriately, Mascots. Be forewarned she gives away some of the gags surrounding her character and she probably shouldn't have - I imagine they will play funnier on-screen than they do just having them laid out in front of us in written conversation. But still I was glad to be reminded!

--- His Joy - We should have posted this link the other day when we posted that attractive (is there any other kind) picture of Edgar Ramirez, but hey two Edgar Ramirez mentions won't spoil anybody's fun -- here's an interview with Edgar talking about his role opposite Jennifer Lawrence in David O. Russell's film Joy, which is out this week, and which I will probably watch in the next 24 hours.Oh and here's an interview with him talking Point Break, which he's pretending will warrant a sequel, the adorable fool. (thx Mac)

--- And Bringing together several strands from above, speaking of Old News and Netflix Projects hey didja hear about how Netflix is making a new movie starring Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, and Bette Midler? Yeah I know of course you did, and I really have nothing new to add to the conversation, except my own weak little "Hooray!" I'm not even the biggest fan of The First Wives Club (as far as 90s lady projects it's middle of the road but it has some very fun moments) but I do love these actresses and it'll be fun seeing them reunited. And since it's not a First Wives Club sequel they can bring back Stockard Channing too, right?

--- Ring Out The Awesome - Nathaniel's doing his spectacular spectacular "Year in Review!" over at The Film Experience this week through next and he's already covered a ton o' 2015 fun -- the year's worst movies, the years best fashion, the year's best animals. It's non-stop hootenanny, cinematically speaking. I will have my own list of something or other to add next week to it, so stay tuned (I will definitely link up) for that.

--- And Finally just when you think James Franco can't top himself (unlike his brother Dave who is quite excellent at topping himself) with the gay stuff he goes and announces that he's remaking the Tori Spelling classic garbage flick Mother May I Sleep With Danger for Lifetime. That is the gayest thing he has ever done. That is gayer than letting Michael Shannon butt-fuck you, that is how gay that is.

I Am Link

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--- Office Ranger - I guess it's time for casting rumors for the new, fourth Jurassic Park movie to begin - MovieWeb is throwing the name John Krasinski out, with as far as I can tell absolutely no source or even faked source, or anything, all they say is they're "hearing" he's up for a role... a role that the director explicitly stated yesterday is not part of the film. Annoying non news. But I actually could believe John Krasinski as a dino-scientist (and he has good legs for short shorts) so why not.

--- Teeth Marks - Want to know what the five best vampires of all time are? Then you should probably click on over to Final Girl, because Stacie applied some rigorous scientific technique towards figuring it out. It came up nearly half canine. Of course it did. Science works.

--- The Son Will Come Up - The swords n' sorcerer flick The Seventh Son with Julianne Moore vamping it up as a witch with a fondness for eye-liner opposite pretty young things Ben Barnes and Kit Harington (and somewhere Olivia Williams fits in there too) was supposed to be out in January (always a sign of quality, that) but now it has gotten caught up in the split between Legendary and Warner Brothers and we dunno when it'll be out. Universal, who will be partnering with Legendary now, will release the film... some time. (thx Mac)
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--- Take A Whack - A couple of new pictures from Spike Lee's Oldboy remake are promising the greatest hits (ha) from Park Chan-wook's movie have made the transfer - I see a hammer! I see a live octopus! If only they showed a pair of scissors and a severed tongue, we'd be set.

--- Miss Celie's Blues - Last evening Nat got his piece on The Color Purple up for this week's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" at The Film Experience - you can read mine here - and it's one of my favorites from him; I grew up with the film so I forgive it a lot, but I see now in adulthood pretty clearly that it is a flawed, flawed film, which he delves into beautifully. I second his mention of the make-up excellence though; that really stood out watching this time. And Whoopi is far better than I remembered her being (and I remember her being great). Anyway find links to all the entries on Spielberg's film right here.

--- Hit The Mat - The new movie from Capote and Moneyball director Bennett Miller is one we've been keeping track of - mainly because it promises Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo parading around in wrestling singlets (see here and see here) - so we're happy to see it's gotten a release date before the end of the year, even though it is getting dropped in among a billion other movies we want to see, too. (A point Nat addressed well upon hearing this news last night.)

--- Divorce Follies - The cast for this A.C.O.D. movie is so excellent - Adam Scott, Amy Poehler, Catherin O'Hara, Richard Jenkins, Jane Lynch, Mary Elizabeth Winstead - I can overlook that terrible title, I can overlook Jessica Alba, hell I can watch the trailer with the sound off and still get excited. I mean I originally was just watching it to see if Adam takes his clothes off, but then I saw them all and was like hey, look at all these people!

--- Creed's Apollo - The writer of Minority Report (good) and The Wolverine (uh, from what I heard not so good) has been hired to rewrite the script of Asassins's Creed, the video game adaptation that will star Michael Fassbender. Somebody break into this writer's house and whisper "full frontal nudity in the first reel" in his ear over and over!

--- Baby Makers - Kristen Wiig might be making an eensy little Brooklyn indie comedy called Nasty Baby from director Sebastien Silva (he made the recent Michael Cera double-whammy of Crystal Fairy and Magic Magic) about a gay couple (Silva and TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe) who are trying to have a baby with their friend, played by Wiig.

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Be My Big Bro

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I don't watch Glee anymore - even with the wonder of Jane Lynch I only lasted a few episodes into the first season before the happy faces and jazz hands drove me back into the wilderness - but that doesn't mean I don't know who Darren Criss is, or that I don't enjoy the news that Matthew Bomer will be guest-starring on the show as Darren's older brother for all its surely-will-remain-imaginary but awesome-all-the-same incesty possibilities.
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Today's Mood

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Gayle Sweeney (Jane Lynch), Role Models

"Me and the judge have a special relationship... I don't
wanna get too graphic, but I sucked his dick for drugs."

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Quote of the Day II

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If I were to write any words here they would betray my enthusiasm and immediately jinx any and everything involved, or it could just be a string of exclamation points, or I could find a way to make the pixels of your computer screen extend themselves outwards and turn into hands and grab you by the collar and shake you and shake you and shake you some more until you understood how fucking exciting this is to me. But I'll just present the quote from Party Down creator Rob Thomas as is, it speaks for itself.

"People are talking to us about doing a Party Down movie. We are pretty far down the deal-making process with that, so we’re hopeful that there will be a Party Down movie. Ideally, if it works out we could be shooting in television hiatus time next spring. Hopefully that deal will close, and we’ll all tweet about it when it does."

Shake shake shake! (via)

Today's Mood

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In Case You Were Worried, Like Me...

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... by the trailers for Paul, out this weekend, director Greg Mottola 'splains:

“That high-low comedy [Simon pegg and Nick Frost] have works on a couple of levels,” Mr. Mottola said. “It’s silly but also smart.”

Ordering another tall glass of beer, however, Mr. Mottola wondered whether audiences would see it that way. He worried about the latest trailer, which portrayed Paul as an extraterrestrial frat boy.

“Probably every puerile joke is in there,” he said. “They’re obviously in a different context in the movie because the character is irreverent. He doesn’t respect authority.”

He added, “I’d like to believe it’s a slightly more soulful movie than people expect from the trailer.”

Yes, I would like to believe that too! Not that anything will keep me from seeing a movie that has Sigourney Weaver, Kristen Wiig, and Jane Lynch in it.
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Pick a Pegg of Paul

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It seems weird to me that I've hardly heard much of anything from Greg Mottola's Paul yet and it's out on March 18th - that's only 71 days away! Get with it, people! Oh wait here's a trailer, nevermind. Watch it at Apple. Here are a couple of frames that boarded me onto its chuckle train, woo woo. (Sigh.) Still no sight of Sigourney yet though...

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I Am Link

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--- Mister Green Briefs - If you missed this over the weekend Entertainment Tonight previewed the first footage from The Green Lantern and it looked sillier than I expected but it also has Ryan Reynolds in tighty-whities so I kinda blacked out for most of it. Hopefully we'll get a nice big juicy HD trailer soon so we can get some nice big juicy clear screen-caps of this. Since this is obviously the most important thing going on here.

--- The Boy Bilbo - Want to hear what Martin Freeman, who works all the time but will always be Tim from the original Office to me, thinks about playing Bilbo Baggins? Here's an interview. I know I just said he'll always be Tim to me but I just realized there probably will come a day when he'll always be Bilbo to me, won't there? Huh. Change.

--- Map Porn - This is terribly geeky of me but it brings my inner map-geek (not to mention my outer geek-geek) a whole lot of pleasure so wtf ever - io9 takes a look at a map of the kingdom of Westeros (Westeros, you might know if you're as geeky as me in this regard, is the fictional land of the Song of Ice & Fire books by George R. R. Martin) and while that's not new, I geeked over it on Facebook a couple of months back, what is new is their comparison of the kingdom's size compared to Europe, and the way the two sort of overlay... blah blah blah, geek.

--- Felt Gods - It's so exciting that they're actually filming a new Muppet Movie, isn't it? We all owe Jason Segel a blow job, every last one of us, for making this happen. Here's some pictures from the set! It's filming now! Also, Jane Lynch is in the cast now. How perfect does Jane Lynch interacting with a Muppet sound? It's one of those perfect things out there waiting to be realized - a platonic ideal of Muppetry, yo. ETA - Aww it's not to be, no Jane Lynch. SUCK.

--- Take Two Wolvy - So this is really happening? Darren Aronofsky really is directing the sequel to Wolverine? He talked about it some over here. It will be called The Wolverine, it won't really have any connection to the first film, and it'll tell a stand-alone-ish story set in Japan.

--- Where Went The Thing - DH gathered up some of the news on how The Thing prequel just got snatched off the calendar for next Spring and hasn't gotten a new date yet. Rumor has it it's just so the director can have his time making the movie right. Which might be spin but it's the spin I'm choosing to believe, because even though I fear this thing wills think I'd like it not to, I really would.

--- Roslin's Stab - I stumbled across what could have been a horribly spoilerish picture for Scream 4 last week so I'm not clicking on picture links for the movie anymore now, but Stale Popcorn offers up our first glimpse of President Roslin in the film, as well as a link I'm not clicking on to other shots. She really ought to know better than to press her head to a door when there's a Ghostface around.
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I Am Link

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--- Fassy For Smaug - I should probably read The Hobbit again some time. I think the last time I read it was when the Lord of the Rings movies started coming out, and that's nearing a decade ago if you can believe that. The movies finally got green-lit at the end of last week, shooting's to begin in February, Peter Jackson's officially announced as the director, and now casting's hitting high gear with Martin Freeman's name as Bilbo seeming pretty much a lock, which awesome! Other names being bandied about? David Tennant and one Michael Fassbender, which is why I need to reread the book - who the hell would Michael Fassbender be playing? No idea. But I'll take all the Fassy I can get, anywhere, any time.

--- Sexy Fill In The Blank - Dunno how I never properly blogged this news last week - I did tweet about it! - but Paul Verhoeven is making a sexy succubus movie next, called Eternal. The description sounds perfect fit for all the wonders Verhoeven's capable of.

--- Stab Stab Stab Stab - Last night some shitty cell-phone footage of the trailer for Scream 4 that showed at the Scream Awards popped up online and resident internet Scream expert Stale Popcorn took it apart bit by bit so go check that. All I have to say is LEAVE GALE ALONE YOU BULLIES. Ahem. Like Glenn says the awards show airs tomorrow night so a better copy of this will be online after that, I guess.

--- Remembering Ripley - Haven't read all this yet but STYD's got a long talk with Sigourney Weaver on all four Alien films. (via Nat)

--- The Babe-arian - You can see some rather pretty images from the new Conan movie over here, including our first look at Rose McGowan in the movie. Needs more shirtless Jason Momoa.

--- And finally, here's the teaser trailer for Paul! (via) That's the alien-comedy starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and an alien voiced by Seth Rogen (as well as Sigourney Weaver and Jane Lynch and Kristen Wiig) and directed by the director of Superbad and Adventureland.

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One Of Them "Of Course!" Reactions

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That's what I had - after the initial "Hooray, he's back!" - reading the news that Christopher Guest is setting up his next movie and this time he'll be focusing in on crazy collector folk. OF COURSE. Why had the thought never occurred to me before? Perfect. I've found myself around these types of folks the past couple of years - my boyfriend ever so slightly tilts in that direction, and so I've spent some time at flea markets - and there is so much Guestian humor to be wrought from those folks it is funny.

Now he just needs to convince his wife to join his cult of personalities, right? I keep hoping to see Jamie Lee mixing it up in one of his films. And Jane Lynch better find time to slither in, too. Glee needs to step off!
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Happy 50, Jane Lynch!

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Tonight Tonight Jane Lynch Tonight

I can't believe the second season of Party Down is over tonight, it feels like it just started, but there it is, the cold hard truth. Done! Except not, because we have tonight's finale with Jane Lynch returning, hooray! And here's a clip via PopWrap:

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And here's an interview with Party Down star Adam Scott where he talks about the show's uncertain fate - Starz still hasn't said if there'll be another season or not - and how that drove him into the loving embrace of Parks & Rec, aka another great fucking show. Tough choices, dude!
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I Like To Pa-Pa-Party Yeah

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Party Down starts its second season tonight! It fills me with sadness that I can't include a picture of Jane Lynch above since she's off becoming a superstar and is only gonna show up for a single episode, allegedly. Fingers crossed that Megan Mulally brings her A-game. But still, the rest of the gang will be there and they're all worth much love. Plus Kristen Bell's gonna show up again! Hooray!

Oh and you can already watch the first two episodes online! Right here, yo! The second one appears to involve a certain Mr. Steve Guttenberg! I haven't watched them yet but I marvel at the possibilities already.
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Picture Of A Beauty Queen

Alright alright, so I've made it clear in the past that I can't really stomach all the jazz hands on Glee. But I still sometimes watch the show, only fast-forwarding through the musical numbers and main bits just to watch me some Sue Sylvester because, as the world is finally beginning to notice, Jane Lynch is a god. So how could I not post this video? Every other blog on Earth will post it today too I'm sure, but MNPP's "Jane Lynch" section would be empty without it.

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Plus I'm not ashamed to admit - okay, I am a little ashamed to admit - that I've always has a soft spot in my black heart for this period of Madonna songs, since I was at a very susceptible age when this shit was being put out there. ("Like A Prayer" is my jam, yo.)

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Damn! Damn! Damn!

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Molly Shannon is joining Glee. As Jane Lynch's nemesis.
Fine, you bunch of bastards! I'll watch! Goddamnit!
But I'm fast-forwarding the second somebody starts to sing.
(Unless it's Lynch, or Shannon, or Chenoweth shows up again.)
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I Am Link

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--- The Lady Uhura - There's a fantastic piece over at Planet Waves from Martin Luther King Jr. Day yesterday detailing a meeting between King and Nichelle Nichols, the actress that played Uhura on the original Star Trek, that y'all gotta read. I'd never heard this story before and so hearing it straight from her was a treat.

--- Re Activity - A writer and director team has been chosen for the sequel to Paranormal Activity; apparently it's only being produced by Oren Peli, the original director. The director did Saw VI (mmhmm) and the writer did some Law and Order and Millenium episodes.

--- Speak of the Butler - Yesterday as I waxed poetically about Gerard Butler's waxed behind, I made mention of the fact that all he ever makes are shitty movies and how that'd slipped my crush onto life support. Well as if he heard me, today comes news of a somewhat interesting project. Well at least when compared to shitty Aniston rom-coms. Via Cinematical:

"Butler will be starring in Machine Gun Preacher, a big screen version of the life and work of Reverend Sam Childers. He has attracted director Marc Forster who is happily taking the helming job.

Childers' life story is detailed in his book, Another Man's War. A biker attracted to drugs and violence, he experienced a religious awakening at an Assembly of God church, and actually received a prophecy that he would work in Africa. Whether it was destiny or not, Childers made his first trip to Sudan, and took up what has become his life's work -- protecting children from Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army. In addition to forming an orphange, he has put together a militia to protect Sudan's children -- hence the Machine Gun Preacher nickname."

I grew up in the Assembly of God, and certainly have mixed feelings about it (ha ha that's called understatement). But this fellow seems to have led an interesting life, and if it ain't sugar-coated it sounds like it could be more of a challenge than Butler usually works with. Forster, director-wise, could go either way. We'll see.

--- Horrible Glee - I still can't watch Glee - well if Jane Lynch is on-screen I'll watch; otherwise it makes my skin crawl - but there's no doubt I'll be watching the episode Joss Whedon's directing, because hello geek. Anyway now I've got even more reason, since it's been announced that Doc Horrible himself, Neil Patrick Harris, will be guesting on Joss'; episode. Hell yeah.

--- V Frank - Over at AICN they got word from The Man himself - Bruce Campbell, that is - on what he's doing next. Says The Man:

"Hello everyone. Bruce Campbell here. This urgent message is short, because my keystrokes are monitored and I fear for my life. My partner at Dark Horse comics, Mike Richardson (normally a very rational and talented man), threatened to have his foot soldiers "crush my spleen" if I did what I am about to do. But the fans deserve to know, so with great trepidation I officially announce Bruce Vs. Frankenstein, the sequel to My Name is Bruce. Principal photography begins this fall in Oregon. I'd like to live long enough to see the cameras roll, so please, for the love of God, do not tell anyone - I can't risk this announcement getting back to Mike! Thank you."

I saw Mr. Campbell in person at the screening of My Name Is Bruce here in NYC and that was a delight. Seeing him; the movie... notsomuch. Still, you keep chugging along, BC. You are love.

--- And finally, I don't trust that Channing Tatum's doing anything but yanking my dick here (gosh I like that sentence), but he's telling people that he is planning on making a film about his days as a stripper. For him to star in.

Yeah I will believe that when I see that and if I do see that I will keel over right away before I'm able to believe what I am seeing, the end.
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There's Good News, There's Great News...

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... and then there's orgasm-torrent-unleashing news right here. Via here:

"Ain't no party like a Party Down party!

Kristen Bell knows it. So does Jane Lynch. Which is why, even though they're kind of a big deal now (news flash: K.Bell on the big screen and J.Lynch on Fox's Glee), we can tell you exclusively that both bold-ass blondes will be coming back to Starz's thoroughly entertaining comedy Party Down."

Click the link for further, kinda spoilery details about their returns.

Anyway, hooray! Hooray times infinity! I haven't blogged much about Party Down - just here and here really - but I totally totally worship the show and can't wait for it to come back and I was worried Jane Lynch wouldn't come back now that she's on that big-time song-n-dance show so her return (although it's brief) is delight distilled down to its very essence. Dingleberries! (thx Joe!)
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