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 April 22, 1998 In this issue: |
 Tools Of The Trade Digging In The Dirt Hepcats Three Swimming With Scripts Kitchen Thrills |
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I'm completely unappreciated around here. I realize that flying with the
bombers of Department Lemur ain't like piloting one of those flying
elephants at Disneyland, but I need a number of items - Bryan the GM dares
to call them "concessions" - to put my thing down in the manner to which I'm
accustomed. I don't think a credit line at the local Zuka Juice outlet, a
helium tank and a black tuck-and-roll lounger with attached espresso maker
is asking too much. Hell, Rob Morse probably has five of everything with
more cheese.
Whatever. It's a dinky market, Earth. I always have my feelers out for
something better. Here's the pop culture report, you feckless bipeds.
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SUNDAY BEST
"A man don't need justification if he's got a good car," snarls Brad Dourif
in John Huston's "Wise Blood." At long last, someone has capitalized on that
timeless truism. Dirty Shirt Company sells a number of cool T-shirts devoted to hot rods, hard liquor, fast women
and white-knuckle action. If you can honestly say you've never had the
slightest urge to touch a cocktail named for a sex act, if you've looked at
Claudia Schiffer and said "That girl could use some meat on her," and if
you've ever wished spontaneous combustion on the glib yahoos at Spago, then
Dirty welcomes you. If you haven't, just go back to your elephant beer and
reindeer goat-cheese pizza and leave Dirty's classic shirt designs, pin-up
girls and hangover cures to us hardcases. |
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THREE-HEADED MONSTER
Medeski Martin & Wood first caught the Passenger's ear
at last year's Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle; the funky jazz trio opened
for breakfast cereal fetishist Beck and really gave the kid a run for his
money. Now, with their recent signing to classic jazz label Blue Note,
there's no stopping this rolling groove beast. Their lineup is basic - John
Medeski finesses the keys, Billy Martin pounds the skins and Chris Wood
slaps the upright bass - but together, they make sounds that become dance
before your feeble brain can even register the level of artistry involved.
Their official site will tell you everything you need to know. And, baby,
you NEED to know. |
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INTERIOR: CAVE
What happens to feature film scripts once they leave the writer's desk?
That's a rhetorical question; the Passenger wants to know why script doctors
exist, why brilliant screenplays go unproduced and why Akiva Goldsman
("Batman and Robin," "Lost in Space") still breathes the same air we do.
(The Passenger pictures Goldsman - an honest-to-God servant of evil if one
ever existed - forced to live in a cave, with no writing implements
whatsoever and it makes him very happy indeed.) Drew's Script-O-Rama doesn't answer any of the big questions, but
it does have a peerless archive of links to feature film, television and
anime scripts, many of which are first drafts. If you want to check out
Kevin Smith's rejected draft for "Superman Lives" or want to make sense of
Stanley Kubrick's "2001" by reading the Arthur C. Clarke/Kubrick treatment,
the dawn of creation awaits. |
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WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE? Get out the baking soda, corn syrup and ammonium dichromate! Man of Science Brian Carusella has provided a much-needed resource in Bizarre Stuff You Can Make In Your Kitchen, a website devoted to all the Mr. Wizardry you may have absorbed growing up. Make a hurricane in a box, mix up a batch of invisible ink or build your own volcano with the stuff in your kitchen and garage. Many of the projects are easy enough to make with kids or by yourself if you, like the Passenger, have no skills for alchemy or mechanics whatsoever. Be sure to ask your mom's permission before dirtying her pots and pans. Get cooking, junior scientists! Well, I've got the upholsterer on the phone, so I've got to cut out. Even if Bryan won't pony up the money, I can no longer work in this "desk chair." Talk to you next week, with a mouthful of Zuka. Cheers!
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