Southland Tales Revisited sort of...

Southland (revisited)

Not to be confused with Southland the TV show, which I liked.  

Recently, I tried rewatching Southland Tales again.  I left the TV even more confused even from the first time I watched it.  Grant it, we now live in that slightly crazier world with extremist groups on both sides taking on the government, but it doesn’t make up for the sheer crazy stuff literally floating around the movie.  

When your movie ends with the hero and his girlfriends getting killed by a guy on a flying ice cream truck, you’ve lost me.  The movie is a mess and not a wonderful mess like The Room or Freddy Got Fingered.  It is pretentious and confusing while hiding under being a political satire.  It does none of it right and just stumbles on its own ego and greatness.  Richard Kelly made this movie as a Donnie Darko on crack.  The one thing I did like was the casting of The Rock, but even he looks genuinely confused.  

Southland Tales is that douche bag on social media that poses with middle fingers in all his photos and claims he’s deep.  Actually, he comes across as annoying.  Despite the crazy world we live in today, the movie hasn’t gotten better with age.  Sorry.  

-Sarah Michelle Gellar looking very good in this flick:  Damn.  

-Why is Kevin Smith in the thing?

-Yes, pornstars now have their own shows and products:  Yes, pornstars now have admitted to raw dogging the President.  He called that one.  

-The left shifts to Marxism.  Again, the director predicted this one too.  

-Saturday Night Live reunion:  Why are there so many former SNL cast members in this movie?  This is not an SNL-backed film either.  Kelly really likes SNL actors.  

-Janeane Garofalo had most of her scenes cut from the movie, but they’ve been restored in the extended cut.  Interestingly enough, most of them involved Kevin Smith,  

Yes, a car f's another car.

Throwback Chips

  Went to one of the Kroger stores and noticed something I haven’t seen in a long time.  It was a bag of Lay’s Potato Chips with the old school bags n their classic style and logo.  It brought back memories of the 80s and I remember when Pepsi did a similar thing.  I got a bag for the heck of it. I am opening them up right now.

Famous Priest Pushed off Stage by Woman in Front of Thousands of Stunned...

Perhaps there was a cheeseburger under his shoe or something.  Damn, she pushed the hell, pun intended, out of him.  She can see she got a running start before pushing him.  You can see her smile as she jumps down to check her work.  I love how the camera cuts away and zooms in on the crowd.  Why the zoom?  

This happened back in 2019.  It is strange his wiki has little to say about the incident.  Despite having every right to press charges, the priest didn’t and our Miss Juggernaut was let go later. 

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication: Star Wars and Star Trek

I was driving home and feeling depressed.  What better way to feel even worse by listening to a bunch of Red Hot Chili Peppers songs?  Californication came on, and I was listening to the lyrics. I always caught the Star Trek reference in the second verse, but I never noticed the deep Star Wars reference in the same verse.  Check it…

((Space may be the final frontier but it's made in a Hollywood basement

And Cobain can you hear the spheres singing songs off Station To Station?

And Alderaan's not far away, it's Californication))

So, he mentions the doomed planet Alderaan in the verse.  Thus, giving it a dark looming/dooming threat.  “It’s not far away.”  That gives it a double meaning because the planet is filmed in Hollywood but also the fate of the planet.  I never caught the Star Wars reference before.  And, I caught the Kurt Cobain shoutout too.

Rowdy Roddy Pipper Looking back

 

I watched the A&E special that talked about Rowdy Roddy Piper.  I remember watching and hating the character from the 80s.  He was a major heel for the good guys such as Hogan.  I vaguely remember the whole Mr.T storyline, but I do remember the Cyndi Lauper angle and the MTV connection.  How about that Goonies' music video? 

His wife and children seemed to really love him, which is the opposite of many wrestlers during that time.  Watching his daughters and wife talk about him made me tear up.  He tended to keep his family and his WWE lives separate from each other. He knew how much people hated him as a heel and he didn't want his family to see or get the brunt of that.

I didn’t know about the super long fight scene from They Live until recently.  I think the Internet introduced me to the fight scene and I watched the movie later.  

The A&E special also went over the complicated relationship between Hogan and Piper.  I thought it was touching that Piper called Hogan before he died.  He left a message on Hogan’s phone. 

Remember when he showed up on the Mario Brothers show?

Cody Lane | Rest In Peace (RIP Carla)

Due to my referral links and search words, someone did a search on the term “Is Cody Lane dead?”  Come to find out, sadly, she died.  She was killed by a drunk driver while crossing a street.  She died a month later from her injuries.  Furthermore, she left behind a daughter.  I feel bad for the daughter.  

After retiring from porn, she ended up in and out of prison numerous times.  She has so many mugshots that you can see her age and change hairstyles.  So, she had some personal demons she had to get through, but her death wasn’t connected to those issues.  While her arrest lifestyle wouldn’t have ended well for her, she didn’t deserve to be killed by a drunk driver.  Last year in a car, I was hit by a drunk driver and my brother also got hit by one this year.  

No, I’ve never seen her “Blue Room” scene.  I’ve many of her scenes and her early stuff was pretty good.  Now, I’ve made fun of her a lot due to her living in the same city as me.  Heck, she worked at a New Albany strip club and I surprised our paths never crossed.  

Her final mugshot, taken a couple of months before her death is below.  Note the mask in the mugshot.  I’ll probably do a final mugshot post about her just because I’ve found even more mugshots. 

Wallach one of the worse

 Chris Hansen did a podcast about Chris Wallach, aka the pred that brought his son to the sting.  The kicker is his son was taken away from him and his wife, who stayed with him after the fact.  Chris did the right thing by not interviewing the guy.  

Our man Russ has a music video...

The model/dancer isn't bad and is pretty. The problem is the video is a bit bland. Now, I would have dumped everything after the MV and just posted your site and e-mail address. You make the video about your problems or disabilities and that will detract from what people want to see and hear. It needs to be a focus on your work and talent.

As I stated before, I WANT Russell to get better.  I want him to keep writing.  The problem is he keeps injecting himself too much into the work.  Given your shady past, you shouldn’t be forcing yourself into the work.  It is your skill and talent that needs to be at the forefront.  You have too many skeletons in your closet.  You want to portray yourself as this guy fighting against the odds, but the trolls and famous female singers are keeping you down.  

Furthermore, you have to expand your subject and content other than “I am trying to get this amazingly hot woman’s attention.  I hope she likes me.” The song isn’t bad and perhaps too modern for my taste.   As I’ve written before, you have to make some major changes in your life in order to break into the music writing business. 

Well, that was creepy

 

Well, that was cringe.  Clearly, this “Chad” read a few pickup artist books.  He is so aggressive with his approach that he doesn’t read her shock and disgust.  If a woman gives you that look, stop and retreat.  Nope, he just kept going. 

Digital Underground: Same Song revisited

 

I think this is my favorite Digital Underground track.  

Due to Shock G’s death, I rewatched the music video to Same Song.  I wrote a review of it years ago.  However, I gave it another look for today.  2Pac, Eazy-E, and Shock G are all dead as of 2o21.  That is really strange.  I also notice an outtake thrown into the editing of clips of Nothing But Trouble.  There is a shot of Chevy Chase looking at the camera and mugging.  That is not in the movie.  Some of the costumes are "problematic today, but this was filmed in the early 90s. I am not forgiving it for that just noting it.

By the way, I’ve never noticed that Dr. Dre and Eazy-E had cameos in the video.  A few years later, Eazy would be dead and Dre and 2Pac would be working on their California Love song.  

Since Humpty and Shock G are played by the same person, Shock G and Humpty share screen time together.  You even see Shock G push away Humpty.  I am guessing it was special effects.

So, how was this wonderfully fun song created?  Dan Aykroyd wanted DU to write a song for his strange movie Nothing But Trouble.  He asked them to make a song like The Humpty Dance.  “You know, the same type of song.”  DU took it literally and named it “Same Song” as a joke.  They even threw in a Humpty Dance reference during the organ solo at the end.  

Keep in mind this track came out in 1990 and that means it is 31 years old. It is good to look back at these old tracks.

Matilda and NC

Does following SJW clout and spending so much time on Twitter turn you into something completely different? When I look at Lindsay Ellis from her 2012 Matilda review, she looks happy and healthy.  You can tell she is having the time of her life analyzing a movie and hanging out with her former friend Mara Wilson.  

As stated in the video, Lindsay has become bitter, embattled, and pissed.  It shows how much she’s changed over the years.  A mere mention of a movie got her canceled and she looks haggard and stress. Is this what social media/excessive drinking do to you?

Martin Season 1 Breaking that wall

 

I talked to someone from work about interesting fourth wall breaks.  I mentioned this one because it is a reference within a reference.  I don’t like Sheneneh and some of Martin’s jokes on the show don’t land. While the clip cuts off, Sheneneh goes on to ask Kidd to hold kiss her like that “light-skinned” girl in House Party.  Kidd and Trisha Campbell were co-stars in that movie right along with Martin.   

 
 

 

Shock G passes away. So, long, Humpty

 

 

This death hit me hard and came out of nowhere for me.  Digital Underground is still important to what Hip stands for today.  Outkast and A Tribe Called Quest to have to pay tribute to this group.  Shock G, AKA Humpty Hump, was one of the founding members of Digital Underground.  He passed away a few days ago.   

 
 

Shock G was very important to me growing up.  He was the forerunner of modern hip-hop mixing 70s songs with a rap of the 80s and 90s.  I loved the piano and funk mixed in the jokey lyrics.  With structure and humor, It is something that is lacking in modern hip hop and rap.  Rap had charm, edge, and different aspects to it.  Humpty Hump was an alter ego to Shock G.  He envisioned a large group of rappers that would come in and out with some fake character rappers thrown in too like MC Blowfish.  With great songs like The Way We Swing, Humpty Dance, and Same Song, you have some excellent hits.  While I love Sex Packets, Sons of the P is just a perfect album.   

 

BTW, who can forget their movie debut in the strange movie Nothing But Trouble.  Oh, I got other songs I loved too.  I Get Around, Doowutchyalike, Rockin to the PM, No Nose Job,  Kiss You Back...