Anthony King: 2008

Bubble Burglar!

This article really makes me laugh.

Off-Broadway’s Gazillion Bubble Show Victim of Theft

A large quantity of the “soap star” of Off-Broadway’s Gazillion Bubble Show — the bubble solution that allows Fan Yang to dazzle audiences with his bubble magic — has been stolen.

Press representatives for the Off-Broadway production at New World Stages confirmed to Playbill.com that 3.4 tons of the liquid, which takes two months to make, were stolen. The Associated Press reported that someone broke into the North Bergen, N.J., warehouse June 10 and made off with the solution and 6,000 toys.

Performances will not be affected.

(However, performances will not include bubbles?)

BTW:

Fan Yang holds the Guinness world record for the biggest bubble ever blown, the largest bubble wall ever created and most bubbles within a bubble. In May 2006 he was able to encapsulate 22 people inside a single soap bubble on live television in Madrid.

Fan Yang breaks the world record for “Largest Land Mammal in a Bubble.”

That’s a picture of an elephant inside a bubble.

24 July 2008

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I did a Google Image Search for ADAM’S APPLE this morning.  This was the first result.

Ann Coulter!

24 July 2008

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MOVIE #10 - I really liked this movie.  It was a lot of fun watching Nolan work with complete control, made more exciting when it became clear at times that he wasn’t sure exactly what it was he was controlling.

I hope Hollywood takes away the lesson that an auteur’s vision unhampered by execs can make billions of dollars, even if it’s incredibly dark, unsettling, kaleidoscopic, and at times without hope.  American moviegoers really are smart enough to handle movies that haven’t had their subversive balls ripped off.

20 July 2008

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BOOK #17 - This read like a B-movie Kavalier & Clay (which I mean as a compliment).  Gold lost me about 2/3 of the way through the book, though, when he started trying to build tension by being coy.

But mostly I found myself wishing I had the patience and wherewithal to do the amazing amount of research he must have done to write this book.  I cheat too much and just write about myself - which is sometimes interesting, but never grand.

19 July 2008

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DVD/DVR #31 - I somehow missed seeing this for all these years.  I found it achingly sad.

19 July 2008

For Posterity

The setlist from last night’s “Last Play At Shea” Billy Joel concert:

Star Spangled Banner
Miami 2017
Prelude/Angry Young Man
My Life
The Entertainer
Summer, Highland Falls
Zanzibar
Allentown
Ballad of Billy the Kid
New York State of Mind (with Tony Bennett)
Root Beer Rag
Goodnight Saigon
Don’t Ask Me Why
Keeping The Faith
The Downeaster “Alexa”
This Night
Movin’ Out
Under The Boardwalk/An Innocent Man
Shameless (with Garth Brooks)
She’s Always A Woman
Captain Jack
Lullabye
River of Dreams/A Hard Days Night
Walk This Way (with Steven Tyler)
We Didn’t Start The Fire
It’s Still Rock ‘n Roll To Me
My Generation (with Roger Daltrey)
You May Be Right

Encore:
Scenes From An Italian Restaurant
Only The Good Die Young

Second Encore:
I Saw Her Standing There (with Sir Paul McCartney)
Piano Man
Let It Be (with Sir Paul McCartney)

19 July 2008

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Saw Billy Joel at Shea tonight.  It was three hours of pure awesome.

There were moments when I really thought Billy Joel may pass out or have a heart attack from exhaustion or heat stroke.  He looked beat-up and spent.  But he really gave everything, hitting high notes I have not heard him hit since the River of Dreams tour.  I guess you can do that again when you’re no longer drunk every night.

Oh yeah, he also had a couple special guests:

Tony Bennett, dueting on “New York State of Mind”

Garth Brooks, singing “Shameless” (written by Joel, but Brooks made it a country hit)

Steven Tyler, singing “Walk This Way” (I’m not sure Billy even stayed on stage for this)

Roger Daltry, singing “My Generation” (Billy smashed a guitar into pieces at the end of the song)

and

Sir Paul McCartney, singing “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Let It Be”

All the guests were amazing.  Billy didn’t bring Paul out until the second encore.  Then he sang “Piano Man” and brought Paul back out to sing the last song ever sung at Shea (“Let It Be”).

Pretty gracious to let someone else end your concert, but very fitting for Billy to let Paul sing the last song since (a) The Beatles played the first concert there 43 years ago and (b) Billy Joel has clearly always wanted to be Paul McCartney.

19 July 2008

15 SECONDS

Another video from UCBCOMEDY NYC

Written by Chris Kelly.  Directed by Mitch Magee.  Edited by Todd Bieber.  Starring Andree Vermeulen, Winston Noel, & Nate Shelkey

18 July 2008

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DVD/DVR #30 - There’s a lot of lipstick on this pig.  By which I mean, the movie looks amazing, but Sean Penn basically took a fascinating, multi-layered story and turned it into a series of cinematic cliches.  And he took 2.5 hours to do it.

18 July 2008

Billy Joel!! Shea Stadium!! Friday Night!!

The set list for Billy Joel’s concert at Shea Stadium Wednesday night:

- The Star-Spangled Banner
- Miami 2017
- Angry Young Man
- My Life
- Everybody Loves You Now
- The Entertainer
- Zanzibar
- Allentown
- Ballad of Billy the Kid
- New York State of Mind (with Tony Bennett)
- Big Man on Mulberry Street
- Root Beer Rag
- Movin’ Out
- Goodnight Saigon
- Don’t Ask Me Why
- This Is the Time (with John Mayer)
- Keepin’ the Faith
- Downeaster Alexa
- An Innocent Man
- Boys of Summer (with Don Henley)
- She’s Always a Woman
- Captain Jack
- Lullabye
- Hard Day’s Night/River of Dreams
- Pink Houses (with John Mellencamp)
- We Didn’t Start the Fire
- It’s Still Rock’n’Roll to Me
- Please Please Me
- You May Be Right
- Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
- Only the Good Die Young
- She Loves You
- Piano Man
- Souvenir

17 July 2008

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PLAY #7 - This was a lot of fun and not nearly as campy as I thought it was going to be.  Just a funny, ironic show with mostly boring pop songs and spectacularly funny performances from the entire cast.  Watching Jackie Hoffman is like watching a master magician - she’s in total control of her schtick and she’s always got you exactly where she wants you.

16 July 2008

I am a seducer, I’m a salesman. I’m trying to get people to buy my message. I do have a message. I’m as corny as Kansas in August. I’m as high as a kite on the Fourth of July. That’s from South Pacific, but yeah, I do have a message …

— Steve Guttenberg, in an amazing article in the NY Observer

16 July 2008

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Huffington Post with an adorable headline!

15 July 2008

POLCHEK’S SUBS

The third video from our re-booted UCBCOMEDY.COM NYC production arm.

Written by Jesse Acini.  Directed by Brandon Bassham.  Edited by Peter Schultz.  Starring Mike Still, Aaron Glaser, & John Frusciante.  (Also Scott Brown and I created the sub shop jingle).

14 July 2008

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DVD/DVR #29 - Boy this movie is long.  Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of Eugene O’Neill is particularly fun, but the whole thing is great, with a lot of nice directing and story-telling touches from Beatty as director.  But yeah, it’s very long.

12 July 2008