All My Friends Have Big 'Buts'...

That's one of my favorite lines from PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE. Came to mind tonight when I was thinking about the last time the VH1 Show "World Series of Pop Culture" had an open call for contestants. All of my savvy friends thought that it sounded great... but none of them were available to hop in a car and head to Chicago with me for tryouts.

My question... are you game? Here's an excerpt from the press release:

VH1 and Entertainment Weekly are traveling the country AGAIN to find 16 three-person teams who think they've got what it takes to compete in the most intense pop culture trivia tournament known to man, The World Series of Pop Culture.

The tournament, which will be taped to air on VH1 in summer 2007, will happen in mid-March in New York City.

Do you think you and your cohorts have the pop culture smarts to beat out the competition? Then come meet us in person and prove it!

Casting Calls followed by Regional Qualifying Games will be held by appointment only in the following cities on the following dates:

• New York: January 19 - 21
• Los Angeles: January 26 - 28
• Chicago: February 2 - 4
• Austin: February 9 - 11
• Orlando: February 16 - 18

If you're up to being one of my teammates, drop me a line before the end of the week. I'd love to go kick some ass -- or try to.

There Is A Place In Hell

I remember why I stopped reading Rolling Stone.

I recently picked up one of the 33 1/3 books -- they're a series of books that explore various "important" albums. The one I got was on Doolittle by The Pixies. It's a tiny tome with one half being a mini "story of The Pixies" and the second being a break down of each song on Doolittle.

The Rolling Stone connection comes in the interpretation of lyrics. Both the author of The Pixies' Doolittle, Ben Sisario, and too many writers for the staid rock rag feel an obligation to pick apart lyrics and provide meaning where none may exist -- or where a completely different meaning my lay.

I can't tell you how many songs were ruined for me by reading Rolling Stone and having their cockamamie interpretations pop into my head upon each listening of a tune. And now, after reading Sisario's bloody book, I have to fend off his lamewad need to explain every line that Frank Black penned for Doolittle. There is a place in hell for those people who feel the need to interpret lyrics.

I Started A Joke...

I was talking to Rich Osmond about the Michael J Fox commercial that's running in Missouri. This is the infamous spot that Rush Limbaugh mocked on his radio show, claiming that Fox is faking his disease. "I feel so bad for him," Rich said, speaking about Fox, "jerking back and forth."

"Isn't that a song?" I asked, thinking of the old Devo tune.

A lightbulb went off and I decided to make my first YTMND animation.

It ended up being my second one -- an in-joke about Persian poet Rumi was my first. But little did I know that the Fox clip would cause a flurry of controversy on the YTMND site. Though not intended as a political statement that's how some people took it. I dunno, I think it's pretty funny -- both in its inherent comedic value and that it's raising the hackles of stem cell advocates pro and con.

Call me heartless but I still find it funny. But I'm also the kind of guy that laughed at the Terry Schaivo Blog.

YouTube and MySpace -- More Useless Web Tech?

Just kidding. YouTube is definitely one of my most favorite sites around and it's getting to the point where it's becoming so oft-used that "YouTube" has become a part of speech -- not sure if it's going to be a noun or a verb yet. I never thought that "Google" would jump ship to a verb from its original mathematical connotation...

It's becoming apparent that YouTube is getting more like MySpace and vice-versa. Now there is MySpace Video and I won't be surprised if there Video Blogging available on YouTube -- there kind of is already but I don't think that it's referred to as that. Now you need a profile on MySpace and a "channel" on YouTube. Not one to buck the system... Here's my YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/cashiers. Finally, a place where I can keep track of all of the goofy shit that I find so fun to watch repeatedly or that I find of potential historical interest.

I may try to use/abuse my channel as a place where folks can experience clips or previews of the more obscure things I discuss in the pages of Cashiers du Cinemart or I may not. Looks like it's just going to be a good place for motion-based effluvia.

All right, now get down to it, boppers!

Super Mario Kill Bill

Before anyone asks; no, I didn't do this. I just think it's pretty brilliant.

Emperor Tomato Catsup

Mucho psyched today to learn of two big DVD releases coming out. First off is the Shuji Terayama Experimental Film Collection! Finally -- a higher quality version of EMPEROR TOMATO KETCHUP! I felt a little guilty when I was subtitling the VHS version of this film since the picture quality could have stood an upgrade. Let's hope that this is the release that this classic film deserves. Maybe 5MinutesToLive.com will upgrade their bootleg release. Maybe they'll even steal my subtitled version like they did my VHS! :)

The other big news is the release of the "Definitive Version" of Mel Gibson's PASSION OF THE CHRIST. I'm hoping that this two disc special edition has all of the deleted scenes we've been hearing about including the now infamous "Peter's Rampage" sequence where Peter not only cuts the ear off the Roman soldier but slaughters an entire squadron of centurians with his tricked out baby cart.

What THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST needed was a good musical number and some kung fu. It also needed a peppier, happier Christ. I mean, the guy's got super powers, you'd think he'd be pleased with that. Rather, he just got so mopey and let those Romans walk all over him. Who would want to worship a pussy savior like that? Give me the Jesus from Lee Dembarbre's JESUS CHRIST VAMPIRE HUNTER any day. He sings, he saves, he slaughters the children of the night. That's the kind of guy I can respect.

The weird thing about the relase of this new PASSiON OF THE CHRIST set is that it comes out in February. Um, hello? Seems like this might be a good fucking CHRISTMAS present! Or has a deal been struck to not take away cash from the other goody good Christian movie coming out this holiday -- a little ditty named THE NATIVITY STORY.

The preview for THE NATIVITY STORY is a hoot -- at least the cut I saw. The "biblical origins" of the story are pretty well hidden for the first half of the preview and then it's supposed to dawn on the audience, "Oh... that's Mary, like the Mary..." Luckily, I know my magi pretty well and got it right off. Not sure if that was Caspar, Melchior, or Balthasar in the opening part of the preview but maybe I can find a screen grab...

How I got from Melchior from Terayama, I don't know. I guess that's the miracle that blogging with Jesus can bring.

Together for days in all that leather...

It's "Blaxploitation Month" over at my favorite Torrent site so I thought I'd share one of the torrents I posted up there -- it's kind of a homemade "best of" Blaxploitation soundtracks.  You'll see that it's glaringly missing BLACK SHAMPOO and BLACK BELT JONES cuts.  Still waiting on the official soundtrack release of both of those -- especially Gerald Lee's tremendous score. 

Download Here

Theme Of The Mack	Willie Hutch
Coffy Is the Color	Roy Ayers
Slaughter Theme	James Brown
Trouble Man	Marvin Gaye
Theme Of Foxy Brown	Willie Hutch
The Boss (From The Black Caesar Soundtrack)	James Brown, JB Horns
Make A Resolution	The Impressions
Across 110th Street	Bobby Womack & Peace
Are You Man Enough?	The Four Tops
Pusherman	Curtis Mayfield
Express	B.T. Express
Big Papa	Edwin Starr
Truck Turner (Main Title)	Isaac Hayes
Willie D	J.J.Johnson
We Be's Gettin' Down	Larry Graham & Graham Central Station
Expansions	Lonnie Liston Smith
People Get Up And Drive Your Funky Soul	James Brown
Theme From Shaft	Isaac Hayes
Blowin' Your Mind	Smith & Co.
John Shaft	Sammy Davis Jr.

Mistaken Identity

It was funny the first few times it happened but, to quote The Smiths, "That joke isn't funny anymore."

I'm getting sick of being mistaken for people who I'm not. I continue to get fan mail in my PO Box for the Mike White who wrote CHUCK & BUCK and who is half of "Black & White Productions" (with Jack Black as the other half).

I'm half-tempted to change my name from "Mike White" back to it's original "Michael Kittle". That is the name I was born with but it was legally changed back when I was a tyke -- maybe in second grade. I took the last name of my step-father. He never adopted me and didn't marry my mother until I turned 18. My mother and I took his last name to "appear" that we were a family. I sometimes doubt that we ever were.

Mr. White and my mother divorced a few years back -- seven or eight now -- and afterwards he and the majority of his family severed all ties with me. They were the only family I had growing up and now I'm on the outs with all but a handful of them. So, maybe keeping his name isn't the best idea in the world. And it's a bit disrepectful to my biological father.

At least I don't have to worry about the Kittles being mad about it. I see fewer Kittles than I see Whites. Like James Spader's keyring in SEX, LIES, AND VIDEOTAPE, I have managed to pare down my relatives to as few as possible, just my matrilineal line and a few other stragglers.

Hello World

Thanks for taking the time to come check out my blog. I've been trying to use the blog feature of Myspace.com and, well, it leaves a lot to be desired unless you like cute animated kitty cats and big chunky text.

I may change the look/feel of this site though I figure by using a Zeldman template, I can't go wrong. You see, I'm a bit of a web geek. Not so much as others, mind you, but I've been lurking around the W3 for over a decade now and love it so much that I've been working in the industry for most of that.

I'm still not so sure if I'm into this blogging thing -- I don't abuse the "cool stuff" alias at my job too often and I think I send out fewer mass emails of either stupid or personal shit than some of my friends -- though that point may be argued. Anyway, without a central focused topic like my unnatural love of pillowfights or my intense avoidance of the color brown there might not be enough life to fill a space cruiser on here -- but I'll try.

For now, enjoy this comparison of THE WIZ and DESTROYER. I've been hanging out at The Knock*Off Project too much lately.