Lake Neuron

My brother, after reading my last post, pointed out that some of the short subjects I referenced are available on YouTube. After the jump, in two parts, you will find one of them.
(more…)

While looking for another video tape today, I found my old VHS copy of “Mystery Science Theater 3000: Shorts,” the first volume of short subjects from MST3K. Although the show’s meat and potatoes was making fun of full-length movies, sometimes they’d have time to work in a short subject, usually an educational film from the 1940s or 1950s — and the humor that Joel (or Mike) and the ‘bots use during these shorts was often darker than the full-length features. I love a scene in “The Home Economics Story” when the young female protagonist is wondering what college will be like. Joel or one of the ‘bots interjects, “….will I smoke thin black cigarettes and reject the triune God?” For some reason, that line always makes me laugh.

In addition to “The Home Economics Story,” the collection includes “A Date With Your Family,” “Junior Rodeo Daredevils,” “Chicken Of Tomorrow” and “Why Study Industrial Arts?”

“A Date With Your Family” is about how children should be polite to their parents at dinner. (”Emotions are for ethnic people,” interjects Crow T. Robot.)

Newscoma found this … a promo clip for one of a couple of similar projects from alumni of the late and lamented MST3K:

This project, Cinematic Titanic, features Joel Hodgson, the creator and original host, along with Trace Beaulieu, who played Dr. Forrester and was the original voice of Crow, and “TV’s Frank” Conniff. The second host of MST3K, Mike Nelson; the voice of Tom Servo, Kevin Murphy; and the second voice of Crow, Bill Corbett, have a similar project called The Film Crew.

What we all really want is new MST3K, but all of the participants say that various rights issues make that unlikely to ever happen.

Let me be the second (after Newscoma) to wish you a very Patrick Swayze Christmas:

…. TV’s Frank (Frank Conniff of “Mystery Science Theater 3000″) will weigh in on the writer’s strike:

And now, your unnecessarily anal-retentive commercial review of the week.

The new Old Navy commercial drives me crazy. It promotes their women’s sweaters, and in the background there’s this song. Thanks to the Internet, I have discovered that this song is entitled “The Way I Am” and is sung by Ingrid Michaelson. I’m not familiar with Ingrid Michaelson, and so I don’t know if that’s actually her singing in the ad, or if the ad agency got someone else to cover the song. In any case, here are the most notable lyrics from the song as it’s used in the commercial:

If you are chilly, here take my sweater….
Cuz I love the way you call me baby.
And you take me the way I am.

OK, so, here’s my problem. Who is offering their sweater, and to whom? The woman we see on screen (and she is a beautiful woman, so I should probably just shut up and keep watching) is wearing what are clearly women’s sweaters. Speaking on behalf of men, I have to say that we would freeze to death in the Yukon before putting on one of these sweaters, even if it were offered to us by the woman in the Old Navy commercial.

But of course, how many couples do you know where the guy gets chilly and the gal offers him a sweater, Old Navy or otherwise? I’ll tell you how many: zero.

The other possibility, I suppose, is that the song is supposed to refer to one woman offering another woman a sweater because she loves the way the second woman calls her “baby.” If so, that doesn’t match up with the visuals, which clearly feature a man and a woman. (Although, in the visuals, no one offers their sweater to anyone.)

It’s at times like these, that I have to sing another song — a theme song — which contains these wise words:

“Repeat to yourself, ‘It’s just a show — I should really just relax.’”