Results tagged “dvd”

Nick Swardson, for those of you not familiar, is funnier than you. That’s pretty much all you need to know to enjoy his latest Comedy Central Special, Seriously, Who Farted?, as LAist was invited to do. Believe me when I say, if you have an even vague notion of who Swardson is before watching this special, you will be quite familiar with him once the hour is over. And if you are completely blanking on one of the best young funny men of this decade, don’t worry, he’s more than happy filling in those blanks for you.

Before you get too excited, let's get a couple of things right out in the open. First, while the "new" 90210 will indeed be back this fall on the CW, your weekly "Morning After Report" by yours truly will not, so you'll have to look elsewhere for the same level of snark, devotion, and attention to detail we gave you in the first season. That said, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, first plan your tomorrow around getting your hands on the complete first season of 90210 on DVD, watch all the episodes, review the LAist archives, and congratulate yourself mightily for your fortitude.

Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter, the comedy tandem we were first introduced to in the early 90s as members of "The State," a highly influential comedy troupe that has given us some of the funniest and most successful people in comedy writing, acting and directing, are back with their new series, "Michael and Michael Have Issues," which premiers tonight on Comedy Central at 10:30.

Not that there needs to be any more reason for a large line at Pink's, today they're giving away free "Pink Panther Dogs" and Pink Lemonade to the first 1,500 customers between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. today. It's all to hype the release of The Pink Panther 2 on DVD. If you go, you will need to score a pink (of course) wristband from the Pink Panther himself.

              

At a time when Hollywood has scaled back significantly on Web video productions, .

Hello, web readers. If you’ve managed to find this small bit of writing out there in the vast internet, then there’s a good chance you’ve also heard of YouTube. That is, unless you’re my grandmother, whom I send links to and she opens without questioning where she is being taken to, and couldn’t get to google if you spotted her the ‘-oogle.com’. And since you’re familiar with YouTube, you undoubtedly know the phrase ‘YouTube sensation’, as a label to anyone who has managed to make a name for themselves through their posted videos. From Lisa Nova to LonelyGirl15, BaratsAndBereta to Chocolate Rain, there’s no shortage of people who’ve managed to turn video views into financial viability. Welcome to the club, Bo Burnham.

If you live in Los Angeles and you like to see cheap comedy, more than likely you’re spending your time and money in the ‘alternative comedy’ scene, for better or worse. Now, I’ll be the first to promote the benefits of lesser known comedians in more intimate venues, but every once in a while it’s nice to take a step back towards more mainstream comedy, just to retest the waters and see if you really still find the same things funny. Enter Adam Ferrara. As a stand up comic, Ferrara has been around for years, honing his craft on stage in front of larger and larger audiences and, as of late, working on the the FX show Rescue Me. On June 12th, Ferrara will be taking a slice of airtime on Comedy Central to show his new stand up special, Funny As Hell.

With the heightened sense of urgency that exists throughout the world today, it is easy to be uncertain or afraid. There is a gimme gimme attitude, built partly out of necessity in today’s climate, but also out of generations of relaxed approaches to consumption and spending. That’s why it’s so refreshing to see true stories of unbelievably strong people sacrificing everything they can to help others, many of whom they have never (and may never) meet. With such an ambitious goal, the success is often not in the end result, but in the trying.

When deciding to take on a career in the arts, the one thing that will separate you from a herd of like-minded cattle is ‘finding your voice’. This, simply, means getting comfortable with yourself, your medium, and your material. Once you reach that easygoing level, you can maneuver within it to truly discover the reasons you were drawn towards your creative craft in the first place.

Release Date: 12/16/2008

As you read last week, New York-based pop band Fountains of Wayne begins a two-night acoustic stand at Largo tonight. LAist recently got its hands on a review copy of the quartet’s first DVD No Better Place - Live in Chicago slated for release in March.

       

NOTE: See LAist's coverage of world premiere and UC Irvine's Sociology 69: Sociology of Sexuality.

If $75 is too rich for your blood to see the Wu-Tang Clan tonight at the House of Blues, and most likely it is, consider the recently relesed Wu: The Story of the Wu-Tang Clan DVD as a much cheaper alternative to getting your fix of the 36 Chambers.

We are now deeply entrenched in that most wonderful time of year, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when we are thankful for so much of our past, and eagerly awaiting the presents of the future. But when it comes to gift-giving, there are desperately few options that celebrate a look back and step forward for ourselves. You can buy the LCD TV or the antique chest-of-drawers, but rarely do you find the item that combines the best of both so masterfully. That is, until now.

Los Angeles survives on its image, be it through tourism or the entertainment industry or the weather. Lots of people come here for lots of reasons; some stay, others move on. But the truth is, for anyone with family in a small town somewhere else, the reality of Los Angeles, day in and day out, is usually much more mundane. We all have to go to work, or to eat, or to pick up the kids from any number of unknown locations. There is a grind in LA that falls well below the radar once you leave the left coast. And it almost always slips by the movie industry.

The Governator. Gubenador. Ahhnold. The Schwarz. If you ask some Democrats in Sacramento, I’m sure our Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger could be called a lot worse, too. There is one little bit of nomenclature, however, that I am sure our state’s man in charge would rather not hear: steroid user.

Brutal Massacre: A Comedy

So when LAist agreed to review the Swamp Thing DVD that was released on Tuesday, we thought we were going to review an old-school, cheesy, black-and-white B movie. But we were wrong. What we got was 25, half-hour episodes of a not-that-old school, cheesy, colorized B TV series. And we immediately thought two things:

While many fans of Wong Kar-wai were disappointed by . If only his artistic instincts were as sharp as his pecuniary ones.

Most people have probably pegged Adam Carolla as little more than a snarky morning DJ, but .

Michel Gondry is one of the few major directors who still relies on almost entirely visual humor in his films. presumably mandated extensive shirtlessness. Kate Hudson's contract, sadly, did not.

World’s largest metaphor hits iceberg; drugs win drug war; hijackers surprised to find selves in hell. These are just a few examples of the headlines that begin The Onion Movie, the film based on and created by The Onion, the satirical fake news newspaper/website. Having finished filming back in 2003, the movie is just now being released straight to DVD this month.

Considering that Doug Liman has directed some seriously good movies (Go, Swingers, The Bourne Identity), to see how badly it can go.

Will? Please make Anchorman 2 while you still can! | Photo courtesy of New Line Cinemas

I liked , but I'm glad to see Woody Harrelson working again. Here's to hoping he finds something befitting his unique talents.

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If you're as excited as I am about was only a half-success.

I wasn't completely sold on the idea of having so many different actors portray Bob Dylan in makes much more sense.

If you somehow missed both had top-drawer casts and the imprimatur of quality. Both were also awfully dull. Tom Cruise takes another step down from his previous perch of box office invincibility.

Human Giant unleashed itself upon an unsuspecting public last year via MTV and the bell just rang for Round 2 - are you ready? There's sketch comedy, there's underground sketch comedy, there's in your face on-the-streets sketch comedy, and then there's Human Giant, a team that presents, in each episode, collections of bits that are more like experimental movies than the sketch comedy we've been seeing for the last 15 years. There's plenty of parody to be sure although none of it is familiar-feeling, "safe", or boring - which is perfect for Human Giant's 11:00pm slot (what, the kids can't handle this at 10:00pm?).