First Look: What An Institution! The Story of Police Academy

Hey, you got 10 minutes? That’s about how long this sizzle reel is:

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What An Institution! The Story of Police Academy (2019) Exclusive 10-minute Preview at YouTube.

What An Institution! The Story of Police Academy is in production now. The team is still collecting interviews, but here’s a list of confirmed participants:

  • Paul Maslansky, Executive Producer
  • Bobcat Goldthwait, “Zed“
  • Michael Winslow, ” Jones“
  • Leslie Easterbrook, “Sgt. Callahan“
  • Shawn Weatherly, “Karen Adams“
  • Marion Ramsey, “Hooks“
  • Art Metrano, “Captain Mauser“
  • Brant Von Hoffman, “Blankes“
  • Peter Van Norden, “Schtulman“
  • Tim Kazurinsky, “Sweetchuck“
  • Charlie Schlatter, “Connors“
  • Matt McCoy, “Nick Lassard“
  • Julie Brown, “Chloe“
  • G. W. Bailey, “Captain Harris“
  • Brian Tochi, “Nogata“
  • Donovan Scott, “Leslie Barbara“
  • Scott Thomson, “Copeland“
  • Lance Kinsey, “Proctor“
  • Gregg Berger, “Talinsky“
  • Andrew Paris, “Bud Kirkland“
  • P. J. Ochlan, “Lester Shane“
  • Don Lake, “Mr. Wig“

The film is scheduled for release in 2019. I’ll post updates here from time to time, but if you’re on Facebook, you can follow the project here.

Winona Ryder as Dinky in Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael

Winona

Winona Ryder is back with a new movie, and in New York City two theaters are marking the occasion with events. The Quad is presenting a 16 film retrospective and Alamo Drafthouse is having a 4 film marathon. It seemed fitting to make this the Song Of The Day. Winona is a track from Matthew Sweet‘s 3rd studio album, Girlfriend. The performance presented here was recorded at City Winery in NYC in July, 2014.

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ONE ON ONE: Matthew Sweet – Winona July 18, 2014 City Winery New York at YouTube.

 

The Truth About Dr. Jekyll title card

The Truth About Dr. Jekyll

The Quad Cinema is showing Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde as part of their Hammer Films retrospective, giving me another excuse to recycle some old material, a clip that was recycling old material to begin with. Back in 2006, I produced a video podcast (before the format had really been established or anyone knew what it was) called Potluck: Substance Over Style. The person I was supposed to interview backed out last minute, so I had to come up with an episode on the fly. I pulled out some old videotape of my mom, a couple of other old tapes and some digitized public domain film and put this together. By the way, my mother has never even seen Tim Burton’s Ed Wood, believe it or not.

 

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Remember that time I was a puppeteer?

Ten years ago this weekend, I was the host / emcee of The New York Infringement Festival, a series of plays and one person shows held over Labor Day weekend in Greenwich Village. Someone (I forget who) had created this large puppet called Bushiva to parade around Washington Square Park. I don’t know if they had any specific performance planned, at least, I wasn’t given any direction when I was asked to help operate the puppet.

Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans that weekend, and if you remember, the initial government response to the crisis was far from adequate. Consequently, there were a lot of activist groups and politically minded individuals demonstrating when we arrived with this giant George W. Bush head. I decided to give Bushiva a voice right there on the spot and started fielding questions from pedestrians, offering satirical commetary on the policies and practices of our then president.

I’m not sure who shot and edited the video below, which was posted to YouTube some years ago and I came across recently. Even though the general public’s questions prompting the responses aren’t included, you can still get the idea. It would be great to have a look at the raw footage since I’ve never seen it, but I’ll take what I can get.


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Bushiva at YouTube.

A still from the music video of the song “Sorry” by the band, “Nerf Herder"

Sorry

My Song Of The Day subscribers may have inadvertently been sent one of my recent MoviePass posts because it was tagged incorrectly. Here’s a song to apologize.

Though Nerf Herder is probably best known for providing the theme music for the Buffy The Vampire Slayer television series, this was the song that initially blew them up (at least in California) and most likely got them the Buffy gig. This shit was all over the radio when I was on the West Coast back in late ’96 – early ’97, and it always stuck with me, because it’s genuinely funny. Happy Thanksgiving (if you’re in America, otherwise, Happy Thursday)!


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Nerf Herder – Sorry at YouTube.

MoviePass Review Banner

Beat the Clock & Buy Advance Tickets with MoviePass

The title says it all, doesn’t it? In this video, I explain and demonstrate how to get around MoviePass‘ Countdown Clock and why it works. This doesn’t violate MoviePass Terms Of Service, either; I explain that towards the end, but once they get hip to this, I’m sure MoviePass will make some changes. Most ironic is that while MoviePass may not be too thrilled about this video, it’s the smoothest MoviePass transaction I’ve ever recorded. Seriously, I wonder how many MoviePass users have ever checked in and got their ticket that fast.


If the embedded video doesn’t load, click to watch
Beat The Countdown Clock and Buy Advance Tickets with MoviePass at YouTube.

I can’t front, I’m feeling pretty Damian Sandow-ish right now, but this is so face palmingly simple that I’d honestly be amazed if I was the first one to come up with it. You’re welcome.

Please be sure to check out the other articles in my series on MoviePass: