― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 13 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Michael Daddino, Sunday, 13 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Nicole, Sunday, 13 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Josh, Sunday, 13 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― chaki, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
i is brit and loving the mst3k. it can grate if you're not in the right mood, but fuck that for a game of toy soldiers. I also liked the film (riffing on This Island Earth -- fave bit is when the alien is explaining about the fate of his planet "a-huh, yeah, yup... got ya... a-huh"
― Alan Trewartha, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Michael Daddino, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Dan Perry, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Pete, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Anyway, I adored the show. Was a staunch Mike defender in the Mike v. Joel days, now I'm not so sure. Favorite bit (of all time): "Are You Happy In Your Work?"
― Colin Meeder, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Colin -- yeah, I remember you were torgotback@aol.com, but the stalking? No, not that.
The boards also attracted a number of true mental cases, most unforgettably KeijiKJ. He was similar to Gondola Blob in that he indulged in casebook net.kook behavior: delusions of professionalism, snottily dismissive of any random thing, threw around the word "clique" a lot. I've even heard stories that he scared the bejesus out of BB members during the first con. I personally had a thoroughly pointless argument with him about the population of the cities in California.
Concerning Mike, I'll say this: there are quite a few times during the Sci-Fi-era when he seemed to be sending out his performance via Fed Ex. Sad, because it was clear after CC he was capable of much better. But you know, a lot of the Sci-Fi-era episodes that initially seemed kinda minor and kinda eh to me now strike me as being thoroughly solid.
I'm waiting on Mike's next collection of essays and novel myself. The Megacheese collection was a scream.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Stalking resulted from an unfortunate IRL encounter with a nice enough person. I thought it was a lovely afternoon, she thought it was TRUE LOVE FOREVER. Eek. The story resolved harmlessly enough -- she found TRUE LOVE FOREVER again with another MSTie, and this time it was returned.
MST3K was never that big a part of my life - I watched it sporadically, and I always seemed to be in the wrong state of mind to truly enjoy it. I'll side with the Joel phreex, though, just because bald is sexy. (I'm getting sexier by the minute.)
― David Raposa, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
But wasn't Mike balder than Joel? I'm confused. No matter. I'm balder than both, and I agree with David.
― Brian MacDonald, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― ethan, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Nicole, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I think that my slight preference for Joel has something to do with a sense that the guy's a bit . . . off, where Mike is merely charming and funny.
― Colin Meeder, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Michael Daddino, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
But yes, Mike has the angst in there somewhere. He just tempers it very beautifully -- thus his legendary turn as Morrissey.
― Colin Meeder, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
To add to the book recommendations -- Mike N.'s general essay book Mind Over Matters is another fine read (the TV essay alone is some kinda genius, the mock 19th century novel even more so), while I very much liked Kevin Murphy's A Year at the Movies. Chris Piuma mentioned he felt it was fairly Joe Queenan-like and therefore not as distinct as it could be, but I think it was handled very well and worked as both microstudy of the moviegoing experience and general reflection. Certainly any of the ILF/film-going hounds on this board should consider reading/borrowing a copy, at least. Then there's Mike's new novel Death Rat, which I really need to order next month...
And praise to all the other castmembers doing things and the continual rolling out of more DVDs, though apparently Rhino says they've exhausted what they have the rights to right now and are looking into securing more, hopefully...
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 25 May 2003 15:08 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 25 May 2003 15:11 (twenty-one years ago) link
― mark s (mark s), Sunday, 25 May 2003 15:12 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Sunday, 25 May 2003 15:16 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 25 May 2003 15:21 (twenty-one years ago) link
― N. (nickdastoor), Sunday, 25 May 2003 15:24 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Nicole (Nicole), Sunday, 25 May 2003 15:34 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 25 May 2003 15:52 (twenty-one years ago) link
"Bad touch.""Does this mean I like guys now?""I feel ill.""Spanking time!"
http://www.mst3kinfo.com/satnews/catalog/Basement.htmhttp://www.mst3kinfo.com/daddyo/images/mrb5.JPG
― Ernest P. (ernestp), Sunday, 25 May 2003 15:58 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 25 May 2003 16:02 (twenty-one years ago) link
Keep in mind that the fidelity on these files is sometimes suprisingly good considering the size, and sometimes fairly bad, but even the worst files usually have more than enough detail for a person to get what's going on.
I'm hoping the DVD is a Santa Claus vs. The Martians/Santa Claus double fun pak. It is going to come out late 2003, after all.
Later I may want to say something about MST3K in light of Mark's venting on Zappa, but right now I want to go to Central Park and maybe the Malevich exhibit before it starts raining (again).
― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Sunday, 25 May 2003 16:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
goooch....goooch....
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 25 May 2003 19:29 (twenty-one years ago) link
This show got me through middle school.
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 25 May 2003 19:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
― luna (luna.c), Sunday, 25 May 2003 19:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Sunday, 25 May 2003 20:40 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Vinnie (vprabhu), Sunday, 25 May 2003 23:19 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 26 May 2003 00:08 (twenty-one years ago) link
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 26 May 2003 00:32 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Monday, 26 May 2003 00:48 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Chris P (Chris P), Monday, 26 May 2003 00:52 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 26 May 2003 01:09 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Chris Barrus (Chris Barrus), Monday, 26 May 2003 06:09 (twenty-one years ago) link
Hodgman seems like a good dude who really loves the thing he created & just really wants to keep doing that. I bear him no ill will for trying. There are far worse offenders
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 26 November 2023 18:57 (ten months ago) link
Assume you mean Hodgson. Though John Hodgman would make a good Mad.
― Judi Dench's Human Hand (methanietanner), Sunday, 26 November 2023 19:03 (ten months ago) link
Original MST3K was an unrepeatable coalition of talent, time, and place. I sincerely feel that the Minnesota-centeredness of the original, because from cast to writing to production it was all done in a small cow town (as they called it) and not farmed out across the continent, by a small team who all knew each other from the same small relatively supportive scene, made all the difference. They were writing all the jokers in the same room. Seeing in, for example Rifftrax, the camaraderie (not that there hasn’t been tension behind the scenes) among the cast and especially between Mary Jo Pehl and Bridget Nelson, is part of the fun. Everything we’ve learned about how nu-MST is made works against that.
― deep wubs and tribral rhythms (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 26 November 2023 19:07 (ten months ago) link
And Joel’s heart is obviously in the right place and he had some good talent working with him on the revive. But maybe he needs to tweak the approach?
― deep wubs and tribral rhythms (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 26 November 2023 19:11 (ten months ago) link
ugh hodgson yes xxposts
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 26 November 2023 19:20 (ten months ago) link
Can we as a culture please just let something be a pleasant memory instead of trying to make it exist forever.― deep wubs and tribral rhythms (Boring, Maryland)
― deep wubs and tribral rhythms (Boring, Maryland)
it doesn't have to exist forever, just, like. what's joel hodgson supposed to _do_ now?
― Kate (rushomancy), Sunday, 26 November 2023 19:49 (ten months ago) link
this ^
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 26 November 2023 20:03 (ten months ago) link
Anyone remember TV Wheel? I liked that. Plus I’d see him do standup in a heartbeat.
― deep wubs and tribral rhythms (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 26 November 2023 20:04 (ten months ago) link
Can we as a culture please just let something be a pleasant memory instead of trying to make it exist forever.
― deep wubs and tribral rhythms (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, November 26, 2023 1:53 PM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
bingo
that said, I too would watch a Joel standup special
― Paul Ponzi, Monday, 27 November 2023 01:56 (ten months ago) link
This is good a time as any to bring up Joel's early '80s prop comic guest shots on SNL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z7CKzk5o2U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5igaf4JKVI
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 27 November 2023 02:12 (ten months ago) link
i mean that's the truth of it, isn't it? mst3k isn't the thing hodgson is best at. the thing he's best at is _prop comedy_. in the '90s calling someone a prop comic was an insult. today it's like calling someone a rakugoka.
― Kate (rushomancy), Monday, 27 November 2023 15:25 (ten months ago) link
Yes, but he was seemingly respected by the "real" comedians in the 90s. Probably because he was clearly doing his own thing.
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Monday, 27 November 2023 15:42 (ten months ago) link
Which, in the form of the invention exchange, also included prop comedy
― active spectator of ecocide and dispossession (Eric H.), Monday, 27 November 2023 15:51 (ten months ago) link
Nothing wrong with attempting to keep the concept alive, but it's just the recent execution doesn't seem to be made with the focus or taste required to capture the magic.
For me the performances FEEL like modernizations such as the seemingly conscious attempt to "emulate the sensibilities of youtube/tiktok personality-driven comedy to appeal to younger audiences", but it might also just be the style of the new cast members rather than some deliberate approach based on marketing goals or whatever. Paired up with the revived thematic framework, as I mentioned, it overall has happened to come out way more juvenile than it needs to be... Like all the ingredients are thrown in the pot but upon tasting the spoon it's clear that it's not coming out the same and also not to my taste. Maybe other people like it though!
― Evan, Monday, 27 November 2023 16:56 (ten months ago) link
Yes, but he was seemingly respected by the "real" comedians in the 90s. Probably because he was clearly doing his own thing.― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes)
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes)
i think it's more of a cultural thing, the way polka was derided by a generation even though there's nothing really wrong with polka per se. prop comedy: the polka of comedy.
― Kate (rushomancy), Monday, 27 November 2023 17:10 (ten months ago) link
I ask this with some trepidation, but is there a form of comedy that's currently going through its "prop comedy in the '90s" phase?
― active spectator of ecocide and dispossession (Eric H.), Monday, 27 November 2023 17:11 (ten months ago) link
Jim Breuer-style comedy? Where you make a lot of silly noises instead of jokes.
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Monday, 27 November 2023 17:15 (ten months ago) link
cishet white dude edgelord comedy.
― Kate (rushomancy), Monday, 27 November 2023 17:18 (ten months ago) link
cishet white dude edgelord comedy
I mean, yes, and I hope that remains out of fashion forever
― active spectator of ecocide and dispossession (Eric H.), Monday, 27 November 2023 17:20 (ten months ago) link
in a better world ricky gervais would be up on stage smashing pumpkins into small piles of putrid debris
the only thing that kept cishet edgelord white dude comics remotely relevant was dick jokes, and trans women have _way_ better dick jokes than any of them do
― Kate (rushomancy), Monday, 27 November 2023 17:24 (ten months ago) link
I've really tried with the reboot, but every time I sit down to watch it, I don't last five minutes.
― Paul Ponzi, Monday, 27 November 2023 17:26 (ten months ago) link
Where have all the edgelords gonelong time passingWhere have all the edgelords gonelong time agoWhere have all the edgelords gonegone to Netflix every one
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Monday, 27 November 2023 17:31 (ten months ago) link
i love the show but in the years since its return i've been kind of shocked at how much money and creative energy seems to go into the non-riffing elements. i get how that stuff is more in his creative wheelhouse than movie riffing itself, and that it was obviously an extremely fun part of making the show in the 1990s. but if the difference between doing it and not doing it is raising a big budget to pay for a cast of all these different side characters and a big workshop for robot designs and sets and all this other stuff, ffs get out of your own way dude. if someone asks me what mst3k is i dont start describing the story of a space janitor who got kidnapped from the gizmonic institute, i talk about movie riffing. he doesnt need to do it alone in his basement on twitch, but there certainly is a middle way where it doesnt have to cost half a mil per episode.
― waste of compute (One Eye Open), Monday, 27 November 2023 17:36 (ten months ago) link
One of many reasons I'm not into the nu MST3K
― a very very unfair (Neanderthal), Monday, 27 November 2023 17:38 (ten months ago) link
It's with that stuff where the scope creep becomes a problem. Too many "oh! what if we..." ideas.
At least the guard rails are firmer with the riffing portion of the show.
― Evan, Monday, 27 November 2023 17:41 (ten months ago) link
I will say this: I've gone to all the nu-MST3K live shows in my area and enjoyed them. They also were kind of loose and fun and definitely less tryhard. The woman who plays Mega Synthia hosted one and she is genuinely funny.
― deep wubs and tribral rhythms (Boring, Maryland), Monday, 27 November 2023 17:52 (ten months ago) link
yeah all that hamminess works much better in a live setting with an audience
― Evan, Monday, 27 November 2023 17:57 (ten months ago) link
the live show was fantastic, I went to one in....2021, i think?
― a very very unfair (Neanderthal), Monday, 27 November 2023 18:23 (ten months ago) link
― deep wubs and tribral rhythms (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, November 26, 2023 6:53 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
― Ste, Monday, 27 November 2023 18:40 (ten months ago) link
Yeah the last live go-round was end of 2021 and that was a damn treat, with the Emily-led crew and Megasynthia. (The just pre-COVID tour that was Joel's bowing-out from live touring also pretty sharp.)
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 27 November 2023 19:11 (ten months ago) link
I remember this show being a thing but had never actually seen it until I watched the dreary German Hamlet episode a couple of months ago and laughed my ass off.
― Deflatormouse, Tuesday, 28 November 2023 04:05 (ten months ago) link
The last time I felt that ol' mistie magic was the Cinematic Titanic live shows. Really felt like "a night out" and everyone was enthusiastic and present.
― kurt schwitterz, Tuesday, 28 November 2023 17:45 (ten months ago) link
Cinematic Titanic was great, I even traveled to go to their shows. Now there’s apparently bad blood between Joel and Trace/Frank so that’s unrepeatable.
― Tapioca by Jean Sibelius (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, 28 November 2023 19:06 (ten months ago) link
I'm glad they were still on speaking terms when I caught Cinematic Titanic roughly a decade ago
― active spectator of ecocide and dispossession (Eric H.), Tuesday, 28 November 2023 19:18 (ten months ago) link
Thought there was rumor that issues between them had been resolved at some point within recent years
― Evan, Tuesday, 28 November 2023 20:29 (ten months ago) link
"I'd shoot Donald Regan to prove my love for Lisa Foster.”
― omar little, Wednesday, 27 December 2023 01:11 (nine months ago) link
Cave Dwellers is top notch still.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 27 December 2023 03:06 (nine months ago) link