There’s a great article about Jon Brion in the new LA Weekly. You can read it here. If you’re not familiar with Jon Brion, he’s produced a variety of different artists, among them Kanye West, Fiona Apple, Aimee Mann and Elliott Smith. Brion has also scored many films, including “Punch-Drunk Love,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” and “I Heart Huckabees.” Basically he’s a musical genius. Here are some of my favorite songs of his:
Ruin My Day
The Boys Are Back in Town
Knock Yourself Out

Here are some Zach Galifianakis videos that I like. Zach’s going to be on a show called Dog Bites Man on Comedy Central next month. The show also stars A.D. Miles, who’s been in a bunch of Stella stuff, and Matt Walsh, from the Upright Citizen’s Brigade. It’s written and produced by Dan Mazer, who is the main writer and producer for “Da Ali G Show,” which gives me some hope. It’ll air June 7th at 10:30.

That’s from one of my favorite sites, plrds.com. There’s a bunch of found polaroids on there, as well as some amazing polaroids taken by a variety of people. The main man behind it, Mike Brodie, recently added a new section, which has a lot of new 35mm photos he has taken, as well as a large collection of his favorite polaroids, you can view it at ridindirtyface.com. Both are highly recommended.

Sorry about the lack of updates. I’ve been away in Southern California. A very strange place. I’m not sure I’m used to it yet.

Anyway, it was a good trip. I got to see a lot of friends and do some fun things. I stayed with Jordan and we ended up watching quite a few ytmnd videos. I had seen some before, but I had no idea what “ytmnd” stood for. Take a guess. “You’re the man now, dog.” That’s the inspirato. The line was spoken by Sean Connery in “Finding Forrester.” To hear Sean say it to a muppet typing, click this. We also got a lot of enjoyment out of Captain Picard’s art lesson.

And check out this video that J had a hand in crafting:

And here’s some songs I got off his computer that I’ve been enjoying:
Manitoba-Jacknuggeted
Nobody and Mystic Chords of Memory-When the End Meets the Beginning
The Cardigans-Iron Man
Sven Libaek-Music for Eels

Quite possibly my favorite UCB sketch.

This just makes me want to ride my bike. Happy early birthday to Nichole. Thanks for the pic.

MP3 of H. Jon Benjamin calling a radio show and posing as a Smirnoff Ice ad executive. H. Jon recommends drinking the following drinks: Smirnoff Ice Shackleton adventure (Smirnoff Ice and ice cubes), Smirnoff Ice Mexican Jam Session (Smirnoff Ice and a shot of tequila), Smirnoff Ice Canterbury Tale (Smirnoff Ice and a fig leaf), Smirnoff Ice Detante (Smirnoff Ice with a shot of Absolut), Smirnoff Ice Bomb (Smirnoff Ice and a shot of Hennessy) and my personal favorite, The Jew Nose (Smirnoff Ice in a tall glass only about half full). Many more on the MP3. I’ve listened to this probably about 5 times and it never gets old.

Awhile back I came across the short films of Adam Elliot, an Australian animator who won an Academy Award in 2003. His films are incredibly simple, poignant, sad and funny all at the same time. He relies on claymation and a narration that is the very defintion of droll. Here are 3 films entitled “Cousin,” “Brother,” and “Uncle.”

The following is a Wendy’s training video from the 80s featuring a dude rapping about how to properly cook burgers. Watch for the guitar solo on the spatula and the singing meat.

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That’s Patton Oswalt with his dog Grumpus up top, James Ellroy below and you can probably figure out the rest.

Patton Oswalt is tied with Zach Galifianakis for my favorite comedian slot. I saw him a few years ago with David Cross and I have never laughed that hard before. The man’s a genius, seriously. I’ve since seen him around 8 times and he never disappoints. Here’s some of his best bits:
Black Angus
Robert Evans
Dr. Pepper Open Mic

James Ellroy is the author of The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential, and many other great books. I recently finished The Black Dahlia and loved it, and am now on The Big Nowhere. For some reason I decided to ask Patton on his Q and A thread if he was a fan of Ellroy. Patton responded a few hours later with this:

“I really love James Ellroy.

Ever since BLACK DAHLIA. Despite being a comic book nerd, movie buff and wine drinker, I don’t “collect” things. I tend to give away books and comics, sell DVDs and CDs for store credit, and drink my wine.

But I own signed, hardcover first editions of the L.A. sextet (soon to be “septet”). I’ve met him twice, both at readings in the early 90s. My copy of WHITE JAZZ says, “Beware the comedy of the patriarchy on the skids.”

Another thing James Ellroy said to me (and 200 other audience members at a reading in S.F.): “It says in the Bible, ‘Judge not lest ye be judged’. Which means, ‘If you’re willing to be judged, and judged harshly, judge on, motherfucker’.”

Doesn’t that last bit sound like something Paul “The Rooster” Sedaris would say? It warms my heart that Patton is such a fan of Ellroy. I recommend both of them.

Word on the street is that it’s just like a sequence in Truffaut’s “Day for Night,” which I can’t verify since I haven’t seen that. But it’s still pretty cute nonetheless.