Switchblade Comb

Before Adult Swim made bizarre animated comedy mainstream, there was Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. And in the winter of 1999, the show was responsible for the greatest half hour I’ve ever witnessed in the technology’s existence. The episode was ‘Fire Ant,’ where during the show’s funniest interview (with Conan O’Brien), Space Ghost left to follow an ant. For 10 minutes.

After screening what I believe was only that one time, the episode cut that precious piece of brilliance to fit the 15-minute Adult Swim timeslot and shows like Sealab 2021 and Wondershowzen made this odd waste of television time commonplace. But Space Ghost did it first, and did it best.

Fast forward to now - Williams Street just released Space Ghost: Volume Five on their website, and the episode is included in its entirety, along with episodes involving Tenacious D, Willie Nelson, Hanson, Bjork, Thom Yorke, Jon Benjamin, and more. It’s awesome. Order it HERE.

‘Fire Ant’ Part One

Part Two

Part Three

When they were kids, The Mystery Team was Oakford’s kid detective agency, solving pint-size mysteries like “Who stuck their finger in the pie?” Now it’s senior year of high school, and The Mystery Team is still solving mysteries the exact same way.

“Mystery Team” is the first full-length feature film written, produced, and directed by Derrick Comedy.

Director: Dan Eckman

Starring: Donald Glover, D.C. Pierson, Dominic Dierkes, Aubrey Plaza, Matt Walsh

Release Date: Hopefully soon.

Trailer

From LP3; out now.

Update: The Paul Feig reading at Barnes & Noble tomorrow has been cancelled. They are working on re-scheduling. Thanks to Josh for the email.

……….

Paul Feig is the creator of the short-lived television classic Freaks and Geeks. He also wrote and directed a few eps of other shows you may have heard of: Undeclared, Arrested Development, The Office, 30 Rock, Weeds, and Mad Men. He’ll be in the ‘burbs next week to read from his new children’s book Ignatius MacFarland, Frequenaut.

Paul Feig
Wednesday, October 1
Barnes & Noble (Roseville)
Roseville, MN
7:00 PM | FREE | AA

When I was in Portland a few months ago my friend Laura was raving about a local band out there called The Builders and the Butchers. Looks like they’ll be taking their indie rock/bluegrass tunes on the road later this November.

The Builders and the Butchers - 2008 Tour Dates:

09.30 - 400 Bar - Minneapolis, MN
10.15 - Nuemo’s - Seattle, WA
11.12 - Mercy Lounge - Nashville, TN
11.14 - The Orange Peel - Ashville, NC
11.15 - Lincoln Theater - Raleigh, NC
11.16 - Variety Playhouse - Atlanta, GA
11.18 - 930 Club - Washington, DC
11.21 - Webster Hall - New York, NY
11.22 - Theater of Living Arts - Philadelphia, PA
11.24 - Paradise Rock Club - Boston, MA
11.25 - Paradise Rock Club - Boston, MA
11.29 - Mr. Smalls Theater - Millvale, PA
11.30 - Mod Club - Toronto, ON
12.02 - The Magic Bag - Ferndale, MI
12.03 - Metro - Chicago, IL
12.05 - First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN
12.06 - Bluebird Theater - Denver, CO
12.08 - Murray Theater - Murray, UT
12.12 - Wonder Ballroom - Portland, OR
12.13 - Harlow’s - Sacramento, CA
12.15 - Bimbos 365 Club - San Fransisco, CA
12.16 - Henry Fonda Theater - Los Angeles, CA

(Thanks to More Cowbell for the heads up about tonight’s show in Minneapolis.)

Off of Another World, out October 7.

Shot in Los Angeles.

“Dance Dance Dance” is from Lykke Li’s Youth Novels; out now.

A Ukrainian immigrant, A.K., finances his dreams of ‘trans-continental superstardom’ with his band, Gogol Bordello, by turning tricks as a role-playing cross dresser. As A.K. literally whips the privileged of London into shape, he also secretly pines for the object of his affection, Holly, an aspiring ballerina looking for her big break while moonlighting as a slippery stripper. Meanwhile, Juliette steals medicine from her pharmaceutical job in hopes of quenching her dreams of helping Africa’s youth.

Director: Madonna. Yep.

Starring: Eugene Hutz, Holly Weston, Vicky Mclure

Release Date: October 24 in Minneapolis at the Lagoon Cinema.

Trailer

Watch it before it gets taken down.

Screw John Hughes - this is the greatest high school comedy ever made. The legendary deleted scenes cut to make the original version PG-13 are on this 10th Anniversary Edition disc, along with a new commentary (and the fantastic original) and three new featurettes. Huzzah!

UPDATE: Nevermind about those deleted scenes . . . there’s only a tiny handful, with nothing involving Amber Benson’s ’stoner girl’ and only a brief glimpse of the subtitled ‘crying girl.’ Alas. The featurettes are pretty neat though. Read about everything (still) cut over HERE.

OTHER NOTABLE RELEASES

- Criterion release of Yasujiro Ozu’s An Autumn Afternoon
- Fantastic steroid documentary Bigger Stronger Faster
- Erotic Spanish vampire horror Blood Splattered Bride
- Legendarily awful Butterfly
- Shaw Bros kung-fu Deadly Duo
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall with Russell Brand
- The totally awesome Iron Man
- Irsaeli indie Jellyfish
- Port-a-potty mockumentary Kenny
- Restored version of F.W. Murnau’s classic Last Laugh
- Concert performance Lou Reed’s Berlin
- The Mask, Canada’s first and only 3D film
- Comic documentary The Mindscape of Alan Moore
- Bruce Bickford documentary Monster Road
- Breaking-into-Hollywood doc My Big Break
- Oh boy, another mumblecore . . . Orphans
- Crazy Sam Neill sexual thriller Possession
- Forgotten sci-fi series The Starlost
- Oscar-winning documentary Taxi to the Darkside
- The Thing on Blu-Ray, but who wants to see this crisp and clean?
- Studio 4°C anime spin-off Tweeny Witches the Adventure

Can’t Hardly Wait - Trailer

To quote Andrew McCarthy, “Um . . .”

Off of Make Amends, For We Are Merely Vessels, out now.

“Slow Show”

“Apartment Story”

Courtesy of Bandwidth.

Berlin’s Barbara Morgenstern has scheduled a short tour in support of her upcoming record BM, due out November 18.

The Minneapolis show is free! With support from Norway Twin and Little Boxes.

Barbara Morgenstern - 2008 Tour Dates:

09.28 - Sacramento, CA - Javalounge
09.29 - Portland, OR - Holocene
10.02 - Minneapolis, MN - The Whole Music Club
10.06 - Boston, MA - The Middle East
10.08 - New York, NY - Galapagos End

Barbara Morgenstern - “The Operator”

Directed by Caleb Stine and Eric Diga.

From If Children; out now.

Yacht Rock’s JD Ryznar tells us the drunk history of President William Henry Harrison.

The Joe - Starring Paul Schneider of David Gordon Green movie fame!