December 05, 2006
What really happened after the Death Star blew up?
If you are a fan of the Star Wars saga, this will be the funniest thing you watch this month.
I would love to find out who made this. They are geniuses.
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 01:14 PM | Comments (2)
November 28, 2006
Zune Squirting
Not too far off the mark. Please duplicate the image and post it wherever possible before I have to yank it for legal reasons. My apologies in advance to the artist who painted (or photographed) the man, as there could be no better source picture on the planet.
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)
June 03, 2006
Diggnation
Two guys drinking beers and talking tech — what could be finer?
Head on over to Diggnation and check out the latest humorous, yet informative rantings from Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht. It’s also available as an iTunes Podcast, which is a much easier way to download and view.
Not for little kids.
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 08:35 AM | Comments (0)
April 10, 2006
Questions for Fred Goss
I had the chance to pose some questions to Fred Goss, co-creator of Sons and Daughters. Here are my questions and his responses. In an effort to educate us as to your creative and production processes, I have some questions for you. Feel free to answer any if you have the time. 1. You have extensive production experience — having worn many different hats over the years — including editor. How much control did you have over the editing of Sons and Daughters? Were you allowed final cut? My partner Nick and I do have final say on the cut as much as two guys can who are making a TV show for a major network can actually have a final cut. We hand in the cut we want and the network gives us notes. Usually their notes are addressing story clarity, you know, whether or not a story is tracking clearly. If they think something is too off color or sheds an unlikable light on a character that they'd rather have likeable, they'll give notes on things like that. We always seem to reach a common ground. At least we always have so far : ) I'm not trying to kiss the network's butt when I say, it really has been a good relationship so far. They've let us make the show we wanted to because I think what we wanted is, at least regarding this project, the same thing they wanted; a different approach to a half hour network comedy. 2. I understand that most sitcoms run a tight ship when it comes to weekly schedules — i.e. Monday pitch, Tuesday write, Wednesday table read, Thursday block, Friday shoot. Did Sons and Daughters follow a weekly schedule? If so, how did that typically progress? We shoot an episode in four days. We take about two weeks to turn in a rough cut of an episode and then another two weeks to get the episode locked and ready for air. 3. I am a freelance consultant/designer/programmer, so I know what it's like to not know from whence the next paycheck comes, much as you probably do. In this “no man’s land” — where you play hurry up and wait to hear from ABC — do you, the other actors and production crew occupy yourselves with other gigs? I know you've been frequenting many boards to keep the spirit alive and to connect with the fanbase, so that’s obviously something that occupies your time. What else does a “Fred Goss” do work-wise while waiting for the axe to fall or not fall? Right now I'm developing new projects with my writing/business partner Nick. We hope that we get a second season of S&D, but if that doesn't happen, we've got a lot more up our sleeves. I'm also spending a lot of time with my three kids who have been very patient with their dear old dad over the last year and a half. 4. You have mentioned that Gillian Vigman is tied to your show if it is renewed for a second season (thank God). When an actor signs on for a show like Sons and Daughters, do they typically commit to a certain number of seasons? If so, how many is typical? The cast has a yearly contract that the studio has the right to pick the option up on once a year for a couple of years. If the show isn't going to get picked up, the fair thing to do is to let the cast move on to other projects. We'll know by mid may if we're coming back. 5. In most work environments, there are people you click with right away, some that are just “there,” and others that get on every last inch of one’s nerves. I’m sure that the dynamic is no different in the television industry. Was the production team for Sons and Daughters fortunate enough to get mostly “clicks” or were there some growing pains? The cast and crew on this show were magical. It was a pleasure going to work everyday. There really wasn't a lemon in the bunch. From the grips to the teamsters to props to make-up to wardrobe to craft service...everyone was a gem. Five is enough for now. Again, answer whatever you feel like. Those of us outside the television and film industries are perpetually fascinated by its inner-workings for some bizarre reason, so whatever you care to share will be enjoyed by all. Hope that answers your questions Nathan. FredPosted by Nathan Dickson at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)
April 05, 2006
Sons and Daughters -- Links
Interview with Fred Goss
Fred is a co-creator of Sons and Daughters and is the actor who plays Cameron in the show.
Out on a Limb
A blog moderated by Fred Goss about the show. Includes many postings by fans and critics.
Sons and Daughters at ABC.com
A mini-website which explains the show and the characters.
Tree of Nuts
The official independent website for the show. Includes video excerpts.
Sons and Daughters at Wikipedia
Basic show information and some show quotes.
Sons and Daughters at The Internet Movie Databse
Make sure you check out the IMDB message boards for this show. Fred Goss posts there regularly.
Sons and Daughters Forum at Television Without Pity
Fred Goss also frequents this forum, answers questions and explains aspects of the show.
Sons and Daughters Forum at TV.com
Contains episode summaries and many memorable quotes.
Teaser Clips at ABC.com
Includes the classic “I know what ‘do it’ is” scene and the “we’re going to hell” scene.
TVSquad.com Review
Review of episodes nine and ten (see videos on an earlier post).
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 09:56 PM | Comments (0)
Sons and Daughters, Episodes 7 and 8
Here are episodes seven and eight of Sons and Daughters. You can refer to my prior post, titled Sons and Daughters -- The Players if you get confused about who is who. You can also click this link to open a separate window with the family chart. Please keep in mind as you watch these shows that the dialog is completely improvised. Fred Goss, the show's co-creator and the guy who plays Cameron, states that each show begins with a detailed storyline and that dialog is created by the actors on-the-fly to propel the plotline in that direction. As you watch, also keep in mind that Fred Goss's favorite editing technique is to focus on people reacting to what other people do or say. This is the funniest television show I have ever seen; even funnier than Andy Richter Controls the Universe. Every time I watch an episode, I laugh harder and louder. Episode seven, titled Hospital Visit starts out somewhat serious and dark, but then turns very funny about one third of the way through. This episode was more of a character builder than an all-out laugh fest, which really doesn't begin until the House Party episode.Episode 7: Hospital Visit
Windows Media 9 FormatSons and Daughters Hospital Visit.wmv Quicktime 7 Format
Episode 8: Surprise Party
Windows Media 9 FormatSons and Daughters Surprise Party.wmv Quicktime 7 Format
ACT NOW!
Because it was pummeled in the ratings game due to extremely unfair positioning, Sons and Daughters may not return for the 2006-07 season. However, ABC is currently on the fence about it and can be swayed by audience support. If you think this show is something special (as I do), then please let ABC know that you want it to be renewed for a second season. You can follow my lead and send a letter to ABC at this address: Sons and DaughtersABC Audience Relations
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521-4551 You can also navigate your way to ABC's Feedback page and let them know you want the show to continue. If nothing else, do it as a favor to me. : )
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 08:59 PM | Comments (0)
Sons and Daughters, Episodes 9 and 10
Here are episodes nine and ten of Sons and Daughters. You can refer to my prior post, titled Sons and Daughters -- The Players if you get confused about who is who. You can also click this link to open a separate window with the family chart. Please keep in mind as you watch these shows that the dialog is completely improvised. Fred Goss, the show's co-creator and the guy who plays Cameron, states that each show begins with a detailed storyline and that dialog is created by the actors on-the-fly to propel the plotline in that direction. As you watch, also keep in mind that Fred Goss's favorite editing technique is to focus on people reacting to what other people do or say. This is the funniest television show I have ever seen; even funnier than Andy Richter Controls the Universe. Every time I watch an episode, I laugh harder and louder.Episode 9: House Party
Windows Media 9 FormatSons and Daughters House Party.wmv Quicktime 7 Format
Episode 10: The Homecoming
Windows Media 9 FormatSons and Daughters The Homecoming.wmv Quicktime 7 Format
ACT NOW!
Because it was pummeled in the ratings game due to extremely unfair positioning, Sons and Daughters may not return for the 2006-07 season. However, ABC is currently on the fence about it and can be swayed by audience support. If you think this show is something special (as I do), then please let ABC know that you want it to be renewed for a second season. You can follow my lead and send a letter to ABC at this address: Sons and DaughtersABC Audience Relations
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521-4551 You can also navigate your way to ABC's Feedback page and let them know you want the show to continue. If nothing else, do it as a favor to me. : )
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 02:04 PM | Comments (0)
Sons and Daughters -- The Players
This show is brilliant; unlike anything else on television.
For those of you who have not had a chance to watch Sons and Daughters on ABC yet, I am posting some episodes from the first season here on The Brain.
To explain the relationships between the primary characters (there are many of them), I have created a cheat sheet. Refer to it if you get confused. In fact, I recommend you open this cast list in a separate window and use it while you watch the videos.
If you would like to know more about who plays these characters (you should immediately recognise some of them), you can view the cast bios at the Sons and Daughters link above.
The series is set in Hamilton, Ohio, located just outside Cincinnati.
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 01:46 PM | Comments (0)
March 12, 2006
Who Needs Donuts?
THE HISTORY
Back in 1974, when I was nine years old, I bought a book titled Who Needs Donuts? from a book club. I still have the book (thanks Shelley for keeping it safe all those years!). I bought this book because my dad already had a photocopy of it given to him by a coworker and I loved it.
I contacted Mark Alan Stamaty, the author, by phone back in late 2002 with the intention of persuading him to reprint the book. My timing was apparently inspired because a publicity director for Random House children’s books told him the same thing.
Mark Alan Stamaty, 2006
THE BOOK
So what is this book all about and why am I raving about it? It’s about a boy named Sam who learns an important lesson about love. Below is a scanned image from the cover of my original (and tattered) 1974 edition just to give you a small taste. If you click on the picture, another window will open with a much higher quality version.
Copyright © 1973, renewed 2001 by Mark Alan Stamaty. Reprinted with permission.
MY REVIEW
When Mark told me that the book had finally been reprinted, I penned a review on Amazon.com, which I quote:
Intoxicating, mesmerising, insanely detailed and puns galore
October 2, 2003You will never again find a book like this unless Mark is crazy enough to create a sequel. I find it amazing that he drew all the illustrations at the printed size — it must have given him quite a headache.
I was reading through it just now and found yet another very funny thing I don’t remember seeing before (and burst out laughing) even though I’ve spent many hours looking at this book since I was a kid.
Unbelievably and beautifully detailed, with a vibe and feel all its own, Sam’s world seems visually chaotic to us, the reader, yet Sam seems to fit right in as simply as can be. The story teaches against materialism and its pitfalls without being preachy or obvious, which made an impression on me at an early age.
This book is for adults as much as it is for children. My whole family competed for viewing time when I first bought it (at age nine) back in 1974. Now I get to share it with my daughters who seem to enjoy it as much as I have.
Now that Mark has gotten it reprinted, I have already purchased four new hardbound copies to add to my tattered perfectbound original, partly for friends, but also to just stick away somewhere should the book go mindlessly out of print again — it took me forever to find my old copy buried in boxes.
Thanks, Mark, for a delightful romp through a world full of horsebirds, stupid puns, witty social commentary, every kind of human charicature, and the absurdity of animals and inanimate objects with attached thought and speech bubbles. We need to come up with a website where people can list the minutiae found on those carefully crafted pages.
This is easily my favorite book of all time. Please, Mark, make a sequel.
AN INTERVIEW
Back in September of 2003, an interview with Mark Alan Stamaty appeared on a Blog titled Rands in Repose. In the interview, Mark explained his inspiration for the book and the way it all came about.
AUTOGRAPHED COPIES
Within two months of my Amazon.com review, because I was one of those who encouraged him to reprint the book, Mark was nice enough to autograph all four of those copies that I purchased. I gave three of them away for Christmas to my Dad, my sister Shelley and my late brother Daniel Trent. Shelley and Dad still have theirs, but I recovered Dan’s copy after he passed away in April of 2004. This is what Mark wrote — literally drew — inside Dan’s copy and my copy of the book:
SUPPORT MARK
Partly because Mark is such an innovative illustrator (heck, he probably inspired the entire Where’s Waldo series with the Donuts book), but also because the story is beautiful and simple and because Mark is such a great guy, you need to go to Amazon.com right now and buy this book. You will never regret the purchase. Well — you might regret it when everyone and his brother is fighting you to look at it.
On second thought, order more than one copy. That way you have a copy for yourself to savor and a copy for friends to spend countless hours finding hundreds and possibly thousands of hidden messages within the amazing drawings that fill every page.
DISCLAIMER
No donuts were harmed in the writing of this blog entry.
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 05:19 PM | Comments (0)
March 02, 2006
SNL’s Don't Buy Stuff
Saturday Night Live will always hold a special place in my heart, even though it has seen its share of ups and downs. This is most definitely an "up" moment, with Steve Martin, Amy Poehler and Chris Parnell in a very funny fake commercial. I will write nothing else except that, in this adolescent culture, we all need this very obvious advice. Below are links to three digital formats for this video: Windows Media 9, Quicktime 7 (h.264) and a form which is playable on the Apple Video iPods. Windows Media 9 FormatSNL Don’t Buy Stuff.wmv Apple Video iPod Format
SNL Don’t Buy Stuff.m4v (right-click and save the linked file to your hard disk) Quicktime 7 Format
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 08:41 PM | Comments (0)
January 27, 2006
A New Nation
This is an original:
Upon signing the Declaration of Independence, John Hancock turned to the assembled founders and proclaimed, “Gentlemen, Urination!”
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 07:53 PM | Comments (0)
December 08, 2005
SNL's Taco Town
Even when it experiences a slump, Saturday Night Live is still the best. Here are Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis and Bill Hader in a brilliant swipe at Taco Bell called Taco Town. I had posted this fake commercial a couple of months ago, but there was a problem in the SNL switching room. Fortunately, Lorne Michaels aired the segment again this past weekend sans glitches.4.6.2006 Addition: Please support the new show Sons and Daughters by visiting my Sons and Daughters video pages, watch the content, review the players and provide appropriate feedback to ABC. I would love to see this show continue.Below are links to three digital formats for this video: Windows Media 9, Quicktime 7 (h.264) and a form which is playable on the Apple Video iPods. Windows Media 9 Format
SNL_Taco_Town.wmv Apple Video iPod Format
SNL_Taco_Town.m4v (right-click and save the linked file to your hard disk) Quicktime 7 Format
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 10:46 AM | Comments (5)
November 27, 2005
SNL's Happy Fun Ball
If you are like me, then you mock television advertising qualifiers that end most medicine commercials and some others. This is the ultimate "qualifications" ad from Saturday Night Live. There are three versions of this video: Windows Media 9, Quicktime 7 and a form which is playable on the Apple Video iPods. Windows Media 9 FormatSNL_Happy_Fun_Ball.wmv Apple Video iPod Format
SNL_Happy_Fun_Ball.m4v (right-click and save the linked file to your hard disk) Quicktime 7 Format
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 05:28 AM | Comments (0)
November 21, 2005
SNL's Schmitts Commercial
This is one of the top five Saturday Night Live commercials ever aired and definitely the funniest of the 1991-92 season, which I am calling Schmitts. There are three versions of this video: Windows Media 9, Quicktime 7 and a form which is playable on the Apple Video iPods. The original airing of the commercial included the song "Beautiful Girls" by Van Halen and was subsequently changed to a generic rock riff, which basically sucked. Via some technical slight of hand, I have restored the original Van Halen soundtrack. Windows Media 9 FormatSNL_Schmitts.wmv Apple Video iPod Format
SNL_Schmitts.m4v (right-click and save the linked file to your hard disk) Quicktime 7 Format
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 12:42 PM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2005
Picked Up From School
Here is another Saturday Night Live commercial, which I am calling Picked Up From School. This video is designed to be watchable on one of the new Apple Video iPods. If you are familiar with commercials that are typically airing these days, this will be very funny. That's all I can write without spoiling it. You will need Quicktime 7 to watch this video.Posted by Nathan Dickson at 09:46 PM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2005
Nathan Dickson Missed the Universe
I consider myself a late bloomer, a late adopter, somewhat out-of-the-loop when it comes to television shows. It took me a few years to find Seinfeld, didn’t really get into Cheers until its last year, held off on Frasier until about year four or five and didn’t become a huge Roseanne fan until year four. I chalk up that lack of commitment to wanting a life apart from television. I’d rather watch a “proven” show than waste my time on crap. Unfortunately, because of this philosophy, I sometimes overlook the occasional gem that only lasts a season or two. Seinfeld, the most successful sitcom ever, barely made it past season two. I was doing some experimental television signal recording on my PowerMac G5 last night when Andy Richter Controls the Universe came on the regular HD.net station. After a few minutes of not really paying attention to what was recording, the show caught my eye and I started paying attention. Within about three minutes I had my first full-on thirty second gut-busting laugh. I was hooked and watch the rest of the show, which did not disappoint. How the hell did I miss this absolutely hiliarous show? How the hell did it only last eighteen episodes? Rather than attempt to persuade you with rhetoric, I submit for your approval the entire episode that I watched. This is the eighth episode, titled “Twins,” which originally aired on December 8, 2002 on the Fox Network. If you watch this, please email me to let me know what you think of it. As always, you will need Quicktime to watch this video.Posted by Nathan Dickson at 06:58 AM | Comments (1)
May 30, 2005
I am not making this up
I was making mention to one of my two daughters about how cute they both happened to be when they were born. She told me that they were made to watch a video in health class earlier this year. The video was apparently of a live birth as part of the middle school’s sex education curriculum. Believe it or not, the health teacher's name is Mr. Highmen. The jokes started flying through my head, none of which I can repeat here.
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 10:38 AM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2005
Michael Jackson
WARNING: This is not for childrenHaving warned you in advanced not to let children watch this, the Daily Show did an incredibly funny piece on the Michael Jackson trial. Here is a fairly large Quicktime movie containing the entire segment. |
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 02:43 PM | Comments (0)
Fred Armisen
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 02:37 PM | Comments (0)
Multiple Choice
In the picture above, the man is . . .
A. Happy
B. Sad
C. Frightened
D. Blitzed
Brought to you by an Olympus C2500 digital camera held in my very own sweaty palms.
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 02:26 PM | Comments (1)
Before and After
 |  |
Have you ever been to a party and had a little too much to drink? Or maybe not too much to drink, but just enough? This happened to me a few years back. Fortunately, digital technology was there to preserve for posterity the amazing difference that four white russians and three beers can make.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not a lush. I just enjoy not realizing how many drinks I’ve had that evening because I’m so preoccupied with having a good time with friends.
Can you guess which picture was taken at the beginning of the evening and which one near the end? I’ll give you two hints: the picture at the beginning shows my smug, aloof self-control; the picture near the end shows me when I don’t care what I look like.
Yes, in one of the pictures I am indeed wearing a plastic fireman’s helmet.
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 02:12 PM | Comments (2)