richardrushfield

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Last call at the Idoldome (at CBS Studio)

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Liam Hemsworth hates it when you call him Chris.

Even when you don’t.

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Louis Virtel speaks!

We have a funny and attractive women shortage, Michael Eisner?

Oooooooorly?

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No Coketalk! No Peace!

#FREECOKETALK

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“F--K That S--t” Jack Black’s high school musical.

From the film “Too Far From Norm” Directed by classmate Montage of Heck Director Brett Morgen at Crossroads School in Santa Monica in 1987.

Brett Morgen discusses the making of Norm, in my interview with him on the “Education of Documentary Film’s Mad Scientist” at Hitfix.

Jimmy Fallon’s bandleader Questlove happened on the video - debuted last week with the Morgen interview, and used “Fuck This Shit” as the intro music when Jack appeared last week.

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Tumblrs own Liana is an author.  Not to brag - or yes to brag.  I have read this book, which makes my life much more charmed than yours.  The funniest book you’ll ever read.  Every page. Hilarious.  Too much funny!  Where will you store all that funny in your head!  Order it now!

Oh man, I wrote a book. If you happen to feel inclined, you can order the shit out of it here.

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Tumblr 2009 Reunion Week!  Who's in!?

I just logged into Tumblr for the first time in, like, 6 months because a) morbid curiosity and b) I finally upgraded to a browser that doesn’t crash due to all the GIFS and bells and whistles, so I guess I’ll start posting again semi-regularly? Or at least I’ll catch up on what you guys are...

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Welcome to stage 5 #melbrooksday

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He's alive!!! Unveiling Mel Brooks day on the Fox lot

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Ominous whiteboard haiku

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Cherry lime rickeys and Suzy Q fries served here no more. One last RIP Dolores'

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Any list of ranking Batman films that doesn't put James Batman (1966, Phillipines) at the top is broken.

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10-6-14. RIP Dolores'. The day the Westside died

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When Generation Wuss creates something they have so many outlets to display it that it often goes out into the world unfettered, unedited, posted everywhere, and because of this freedom a lot of the content displayed is rushed and kind of shitty and that’s OK—it’s just the nature of the world now—but when Millennials are criticized for this content they seem to collapse into a shame spiral and the person criticizing them is automatically labeled a hater, a contrarian, a troll. And then you have to look at the generation that raised them, that coddled them in praise—gold medals for everyone, four stars for just showing up—and tried to shield them from the dark side of life, and in turn created a generation that appears to be super confident and positive about things but when the least bit of darkness enters into their realm they become paralyzed and unable to process it.

Bret Ellis' "Generation Wuss" Essay should be nailed to the door of every schoolroom and website.

Technically, I prefer "Generation Yay" but I won't quibble.

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Whens a journalist going to deep dive into who was this woman and why was she so mad about Mary throwing her hat in the air?

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Is it too early in the season for the Paul Lynde Halloween Special? Featuring KISS?

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Book Report: Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure by Artemis Cooper

While still in his teens in 1934, Patrick Leigh Fermor, high school drop-out, unemployable gadabout decided to walk from Amsterdam to Constantinople, and bathed in an ancient Europe that was crumbling, literally before his eyes.  The trip was set down on paper 40 years later in A Time of Gifts and Between the Water and the Woods, for my money the greatest travel books ever written, if for nothing else how they recorded the intellectual journey of a young man falling in love with the idea that everything around us is the seed of things that happened far back in the mists of time, and there is no calling more fascinating than tracing back those branches.

PLF grew up to become probably as close to the model for Indiana Jones as any human ever did: a classicist, linguist, adventurer, war hero, perpetrator of an untold number of crazed love affairs. A humanist in arms; passionately apolitical and conscious of how the manias of modern politics are likely to trample on all that is noble and uplifting in society.

Put simply, any young man who reads about Patrick Leigh Fermor and doesn't want to be him is not to be trusted.

Artemis Cooper has written a beautiful and touching biography of our hero. Having known him towards the end of his 90 plus year life, her sympathy for him radiates through the book, but an fearless historian, she lets him get away with nothing and his many, many faults are diligently cataloged.  Which is frankly how I like my heroes, full of faults.  Perfection is for statues, and not very good statues at that. Believing your heroes are perfect is for political zealots, simpletons and publicists.

Most pleasing was it to hear about the epic procrastinations Paddy would undergo, handing in magazine assignments years late; books could take a decade and require him to look himself away in monasteries to finish. The internet didn't invent procrastination apparently.

The final chapters brought me to constant tears I must say. Not that anything terribly tragic happened - he died peacefully and comfortably in his 90's, but the specter of someone so brimming with life and intellect slowing down was horrible to take in. Devastating when he finally leaves us at the end.

And I didn't know enough about Artemis Cooper before this, but she is apparently the wife of Anthony Beevor and the daughter of John Julius Norwich as well as the author of some fascinating looking books in her own right.  I will investigate further.

Very lovely book.  To be read after reading Time for Gifts.