Blogs

Mark your Pocket PC calendars; Fall of 2007 was when television discovered the power of the Geek.

Oh, sure, they’d dabbled in nerddom here and there, mainly in the second-banana roles that sitcoms are so rife with (Urkel, Screech, Potsie, etc.), or on reality shows, some of them blatantly using the stereotype of the intelligent but socially awkward virgin-at-thirty (Beauty and the Geek, which really ought to have been named something more honest, like Airhead and the Geek, all fairy-tale wordplay aside.) Only the late, lamented, cancelled-but-brilliant Freaks and Geeks gave nerds the spotlight.

More

L.A.-based pop culturalist will present his kitsch-filled holiday slide show tonight from 7 - 9 p.m. at Steele Elementary School, 370 South Marion Pkwy., Denver. Check out this slide show preview sample of what you're likely to see.

A modest television commercial proposal for Camobooty, the Denver-based fashion craze that’s currently sweeping the nation:

FADE IN:

Two burly hunters, STEW and LEW, are lying on the forest floor, their rifles at the ready.

LEW: Darn it, Stew, there’s somethin’ different ’bout you today. Like you got yourself a little more class. Heck, like you downright got yourself a little more sass!

STEW: Well, Lew, didn’t you notice my camo?

Lew takes a good look at Stew’s camouflaged shirt and does a double-take.

LEW: Jumpin Jehosaphat! Them’s ladies on yer shirt! Naked ladies!

More

NBC's Chuck was picked up for the back-nine of a full-season order on November 26. That's a very good thing, because it's the best of NBC's new shows this season.

As part of TV Nerd-Rush 2007 (other notable entrants in this category include the CW's Reaper and CBS' The Big Bang Theory), Chuck is arguably the least realistic, which is saying something when one of your competitors actually works for the Devil to recapture escaped souls from Hell. But Chuck's world is one in which the guy running the Geek Squad at Best Buy—sorry, I mean the Nerd Herd at Buy More—is a super-genius, a walking Cray capable of internalizing an entire hard drive's worth of secret spy data, storing it, and recalling it when prompted to by external stimuli. He's also guarded by two super-spies, one of whom is gorgeous and obviously attracted to him. And they all live in a world in which secret uber-agencies control almost everything behind the scenes, creating the artificial and naïve world in which the rest of us non-governmental types live.

More

Let's give thanks that this past holiday weekend, Denver International Airport proved that it could handle crowds. (And what, exactly, was the airport waiting for? An engraved invitation from Mary Peters?)

But for once, I was sorry that I wasn’t stuck in an endless line while waiting to go through security. Because there’s an exhibit on the skybridge leading towards the Concourse A security checkpoint that’s definitely worth some time. “Fashion. Form. Function -- Then and Now,” a joint project between the airport and the Vail-based Colorado Ski & Snowboard Museum, takes you through decades of uniquely Colorado history.

More

Thanksgiving doesn't have enough TV specials. Oh, sure, it's got Charlie Brown, but I covered how weak that is earlier. And there's the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, but aside from seeing how cold and wet the Broadway dancers are going to be doing their thing in Herald Square, it's basically just a big long commercial. And then there's the Dog Show with Mr. Peterman from Seinfeld that NBC is trying to push as a Thanksgiving tradition. And really, what says Thanksgiving more than dog modeling?

But there's another option, a Thanksgiving classic from 1978 that's still as funny today as it was then. Maybe more so. Of course, I'm talking about the "Turkey Drop" episode of WKRP in Cincinnati.

WKRP is one of the best sitcoms of all time (though due to complicated music rights, only the first season is available on DVD). And there's no reason why this TV classic shouldn't be a Thanksgiving Day tradition—if not on one of the networks, then on TVLand or NickatNite or something. It's a natural. But enough of my pitch—see for yourself in the transcript below.

(And Happy Thanksgiving.)

-- Teague Bohlen

More

After 3 seasons of Project Runway, it seems evident that nobody does the wacky-artsy-type thing like an aspiring designer (though you can also catch some truly wacked-out antics on America’s Next Top Model, which is also on tonight). And nobody has perfected this craziness as much as this season’s yoga-lovin’, marionette-puppet-creatin’ designer Elisa, whose first creation would have actually been pretty fabulous had it not been for that whole “pooing fabric” effect that host Heidi Klum so accurately described. First Elisa rolls around on the grass in Bryant Park with her fabric to help infuse it with some earthy, grass stained, goodness. Then she crafts a dress that was so bottom heavy that her model couldn’t even walk. But at least by finishing early she was able to squeeze in a little nap while all of the other designers frantically worked to finish their designs.

More

Okay, maybe not ever. I'm not counting aberrations like and It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown, or You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown, or Try My Flugelhorn, Charlie Brown (and of those three, I only made one of them up). I'm talking about the big ones, the ones that we watched as kids prefaced with that giant CBS eye acid-trailing up at us "in Color!" You know, the classics. The Big Three: A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965); It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966); and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973).

Why are these the Big Three?

More

Check out this slide show of graffiti murals we spotted on a recent trip to Denver's West side.

Festival audiences are generally more generous than traditional theatrical crowds. It's a double-edged sword. Some films that will never see the light of day, or the darkness of theatrical release, find audiences who are willing to set aside their critical opinions and just enjoy a film for mere competence of craft, a lone performance or the nimble work of an up-and-coming cinematographer. We're willing to dole out A's for effort.

After seeing Being Michael Madsen on Saturday, I was guilty of thinking a mediocre movie had merit. I found myself muttering to a friend shortly thereafter, “I think it was a pretty effective recitation on fame and privacy and ...” I trailed off, unable to sustain an argument for which I knew I was about to be asked to provide evidence when there was none.

Being Michael Madsen is a mockumentary in which Michael Madsen plays not himself, but a fictionalized version of himself. He has a run in with a paparazzo, exacts revenge by hiring a documentary crew to out-paparazzi the tabloid photographer, and what the audience ends up watching is supposed to be a documentary about that fictional documentary.

And for this effort I'm only willing to dole out meta-points for what-could-have-beens and a litany of decent ideas poorly executed that I won't get into here. In-studio-interview-heavy and overacted in a way that Christopher Guest would probably cringe at, Being Michael Madsen was a chore to watch.

Sure, a few stellar seconds here and there from Virginia Madsen and Harry Dean Stanton (both personal favorites, both playing themselves, sort of) brought a smile to my face, but I just don't see this film playing well to anyone who lives outside the cat-and-mouse game the film attempts to mock. If it does get theatrical release, it will only be because a distribution exec has the money to invest in his own myopia. Which probably means it will hit multiplexes this spring. -- Sean Cronin

Earlier this week, we interviewed party promoter Charlie Morrison by phone while he was drying out in the forced confinement of Denver C.A.R.E.S. Charlie's surely out by now, but we thought we'd pop in to his club night at Bender's Tavern, Night of the Living Shred, to see if we could catch anyone else on their way to the drunk tank. Check out this slide show from last night's Night of the Living Shred. Photos by Jim Narcy.

Earlier this week, we talked about how Northern Exposure is airing on KBDI-Channel 12 Monday through Thursday nights at 7PM. But what's the big deal? Why does this nearly twenty-year-old television series merit not one but two blogs?

Ah, my friend, I'd give it ten, if I could. (One on Janine Turner alone.)

And this show is worth it. This is not hyperbole. I don't need no stinkin' hyperbole. Northern Exposure sells itself. Which is good, since I've only got 300 words here. So instead of summarizing a five-year show — let's just stipulate that it's worth watching, want to? — I'm going to talk about the things about this show that make it special.

More

Check out a slide show of Frock Out.

For the past few months, twelve Denver fashion designers have been hard at work creating their own version of Project Runway, and now a piece by each of these talented tailors is on display at the Denver Public Library's Central Branch for DPL's Frock Out Denver: Independent Designers Challenge. From now until December 5, you can pop into the library for an up-close and personal look at the fabulous winter party dresses that the designers have created.

More

You've got nothing to do tonight, right? Skip another night of must-see TV and head over to the best Denver cultural event of the year, the Denver Film Festival. We've compiled some reviews and profiles of filmmakers and suggest, if you can, that you check out one of the following.

Iron Ladies of Liberia, which screens at 7 p.m., follows the first year in office of Africa's first elected female head of state, and was co-directed by Denver documentarian Daniel Junge.

The Memory Thief tells the tale of a man whose obsession with the pain of the past ultimately consumes him. It's really good and screens at 9 p.m.

End of the Line is a fun, stupid and gross horror/suspense flick that screens at 9:45 p.m.

The Memory Thief
Director: Gil Kofman

It's going to take a long time to digest this film. For me, the entire experience was thrown off by the woman in front of offering information on her colonoscopy to no one in particular. Shortly after that, Songbird, the short film from director John Thompson, put everyone in a disturbed mindset for viewing a truly disturbing feature. Songbird, a recitation on battered women's syndrome, featured the decaptitation of two animals, and eleicted gasps from several in the audience. Including yours truly who has a fairly iron stomach for that kind of thing.

And then we got to the main event. The Memory Thief is a captivating tale from director Gil Kofman about a dissaffected young toll booth worker whose past is a mystery. To fill in the gaps of his own lost history, and kill the pain of whatever it is that disturbs him – in a brilliant move of omission, the audience never finds out what – Lukas (Mark Webber) finds himself becoming more and more obsessed with the plight of Holocaust survivors. As we watch his haunting descent into madness, Lukas adopts the most painful identity he can find as his own to consequences that are as hard to watch as they are powerful and moving. Certain elements of the film seem a bit contrived, there are certain narrative neccessities – such as Lukas' introduction to Hitler's Mein Kampf, a text we're supposed to believe he's never heard of before – seem a little forced. But with a genius performance from Webber and deft editing from Curtiss Clayton, Kofman's obsession with obsession is one of the more affecting films I have ever seen.
-- Sean Cronin