MySpace


MySpace.com | rss | sign in
Michael

Michael Shashoua


Last Updated: 8/1/2009

Send Message
Instant Message
Email to a Friend
Subscribe

Gender: Male
Status: Single
Age: 37
Sign: Aquarius

City: Rego Park
State: NEW YORK
Country: US
Signup Date: 5/30/2005

Blog Archive
[Older      Newer]
 /  / 
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 

Category: Writing and Poetry
Between the lines of the stories told in “Oops I Did It Again: True Tales of Transgression,” a program of short comedic monologues that followed the Kol Nidre Yom Kippur service at City Winery on September 28, was a universal behavior pattern we’ve probably all experienced.

That’s the feeling of knowing you’re going down the wrong, obsessive path, but being unable to stop yourself even as you’re doing it. Monologist Carl Kissin revealed this in his story of love gone wrong, describing how “I knew I’d gone too far when I was calling her analyst to try to get them to broker a truce between us.”

Comedian and monologist Ophira Eisenberg confessed to multiple calls to an ex, recounting her chirpy “Hi, David!” excitement on the phone then his sigh in response before even talking, and repeating that he still is with another girlfriend now. It still wasn’t enough for her though, she went on to say, adding how she went to a Haitian witch who gave her instructions for how to cast a spell to bring him back. “Because that’ll work,” Eisenberg said, in a knowing tone that only time can bring.

Just to be clear, self-flagellation wasn’t the only topic of the monologues that night. Rob Gorden delivered a vivid tale of craziness at a friend’s wedding ceremony; Mindy Raf peppered her atonement-themed song with Tiny Tim-like vocal flourishes and off-kilter lyrics, proving very entertaining; and Steve Zimmer had the most high concept atonement story about a transgression cheating on a science fair project in grade school, then finding unlikely forgiveness for this long-ago sin years later.

But really, as someone who does their atonement, or at least browbeating, all the time and has trouble summoning the desire to focus on Yom Kippur, the universal truth in this comedy show might have been enough.
12:21 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Thursday, August 27, 2009 

Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

When I posted online that I was seeing “Taking ..Woodstock..,” a few people were asking me how it was, and so ... I thought about this originally as a blog item, but it really turned out to be a full fledged review. Will add to my main site later.

“Taking Woodstock,” seen Aug. 26 in its early release in New York, is an entertaining, light take on the true story of Elliot Tiber, the proprietor of the upstate New York hotel who arranged for the legendary rock festival to come to his town after being run out of a few neighboring towns afraid of a “hippie invasion.” The movie falls a little short of being considered a four-star classic, but is a fun diversion nonetheless.

 

Dramatically, “Taking Woodstock” could have put a little more real conflict into Tiber’s struggles, as played by Demetri Martin, with trying to help his parents and figuring out his closeted homosexual life back in New York City. The filmmakers and studio deserve credit for not wiping this aspect out of the movie entirely, although the marketing omits that, pitching the movie straight down the line as Woodstock 40th anniversary nostalgia.

 

Comedically, the movie sometimes turns to cartoonish slapstick in the form of Elliot’s parents, especially his mom, played by Imelda Staunton, who runs the dilapidated hotel aggressively, pinching pennies at every turn – and gets a lot of laughs in going after a couple of mobsters who attempt a shakedown when they see all the business the hotel is getting because of the festival.

 

Most other times, the movie’s humor comes out of little line readings here and there, and the characters’ reactions to each other. Liev Schreiber is a fun surprise as Vilma, the imposing transsexual who shows up to provide security, at the ready with a baseball bat to chase off townspeople who are angry with the Tibers for bringing the festival there.

 

The movie’s best scene, comedically or dramatically (maybe both), comes when Elliot’s dad, played by Henry Goodman as a weary, quiet man, tells him to go off and enjoy a little bit of the festival when it’s underway. It’s probably the one poignant, touching moment in a movie that could have had a couple more.

4:08 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Saturday, August 01, 2009 

Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
The Just For Laughs Montreal Comedy Conference had a wealth of panels and discussions of interest to comedy fans, and before closing the book on all Jester's coverage, I'd like to get just two more little pieces out there:

In a panel discussion on the history and activities of the Upright Citizens Brigade, co-founder Ian Roberts pointed to the key selling point for the theatre’s now-vast training program. “We’re not just trying to make money with endless levels of classes,” he said. “The levels that we offer are there because that’s what we have to teach.”

With so many students, not everyone can be a star, even as UCB as a training ground is spawning more and more performers who are making the leap to TV and movies, or at least producing creative web comedy. The UCB training program has even gotten some criticism of “favoritism” or “cliquishness,” Roberts said. “C’mon, why would I be out to get someone? I want the people who are good on our stage. If you’re good, you’ll be up there.”

Also in the conference, Todd Phillips director of the mega-hit "The Hangover," generously gave of his time for a one-hour conversation including a Q&A with conference participants. … A pressing question, at least for this blogger, was how such seemingly different performing styles of the three leads -- Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Bradley Cooper all coalesced. Simply a lot of hanging out before shooting, Phillips explained:

“We would all just constantly hang out together all the time, before production,” he said. “… and figure each other out so they could see where their roles fit with the others. … That’s a crucial part of directing when you’re making an ensemble film.”
Currently listening:
Friendly Fire (CD+DVD)
By Sean Lennon
Release date: 2006-10-03
5:43 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Saturday, July 25, 2009 


http://www.superu.ca/content/1034

saw this in the Just For Laughs film festival shorts program last night ... really funny!

2:48 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Friday, July 24, 2009 

Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
At this morning's panel in the Just For Laughs Montreal Comedy Conference, on "Adult Animation Grows Up," Dino Stamatopoulos, creator and writer of the obscure show "Moral Orel," deftly hijacked the entire panel from the start (which included Dave Willis, co-creator of 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force'), snoring audibly into his microphone as the helpless moderator, Athena Gerogaklis, a Canadian TV animation production manager posed her first question on how all the animation show creators first pitched their ideas.

Stamatopoulos then proceeded to stroll off into the audience with his mike, rambling about a car accident and some other oddities, before getting around to his answer, without failing to note that before pitching, he had been drunk around the pool of the trendy L.A. hotel, the Standard. For all his unkempt appearance, Stamatopoulos did grasp inherently how panel discussions can get dull and sought to shake this one up. He didn't always quite succeed but at least got one laugh with the comment, "That's how DaVinci sold his 'Mona Lisa' show."
Currently listening:
America Eats Its Young
By Funkadelic
Release date: 1991-07-01
5:15 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Friday, July 24, 2009 

Category: Travel and Places
I thought at first I would break these all up into separate blog entries, but it may just end up being multiple stream-of-consciousness entries -- when it comes to covering the non-public business-side events and panels billed as the Just For Laughs Comedy Conference here in Montreal this week, that complement all the evening performances for the industry's participants.

In the first panel today, concerning comedy writing and how changing economics and distribution, especially through the Internet, are affecting how comedy writers do their work, I heard a word used I normally only hear in my other life as a financial industry trade publication journalist, and that is "fragmentation." The industry professionals on this panel, including the writer of "Tropic Thunder" and "Madagascar 2," a producer for the "Sarah Silverman Program," and Tami Sahger, a writer for "30 Rock" and respected improv performer, expressed and explored concerns about "audience fragmentation," as a result of the seemingly infinite choices of cable channels and the Web for comedic entertaiment.

The panelists debated the depth of comedy on video as a result of having to capture and cater to ever shorter attention spans. But they did have kind words for the technological advances' affect on comedy for making it easier for performers to gain exposure by shooting material on their own and on the cheap, just to get it out there.

Running out of steam a little right now, but will likely follow up on this entry with a look at the second panel heard today, which delved further into the Internet's potential as a new frontier for comedy.

3:51 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Thursday, July 23, 2009 

Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
In the previous entry, I came down pretty snarky on HBO's misleading promotion of a new website, comedyfetish.com. But this has nothing to do, I must admit, with the level of innovation found in their shows, I should make clear.

That point becomes all the clearer when it comes to comedy, catching up with episodes of "Eastbound & Down," a short six-episode series that ran a couple months ago. It features Danny McBride, a Will Ferrell associate, who stars as a former star baseball pitcher humiliated by a slow decline out of the major leagues, back in his hometown and trying for a comeback.

The character is similar to the pompous without reason tae kwan do instructor McBride played in the recent cult favorite movie, "The Foot Fist Way." A sequence in the first episode finds McBride offending just about every interest group, race or creed native to whichever city he played after being traded around repeatedly on his way out of the majors. And the focus of the rest of the episodes, the attempt to come back, features Andy Daly of UCB and MadTV as a perfect foil, the unctuous middle school principal engaged to the hometown ex-girlfriend McBride thinks he's going to win back.

Forced to become a substitute gym teacher in Daly's school, McBride is regularly and hilariously foul-mouthed as he talks down to the kids -- just one example of the actor's genius at playing this kind of part. If McBride is nothing like this in real life, it's all the more laudable.

4:51 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Sunday, July 12, 2009 

Category: Web, HTML, Tech
Occasionally, passing by all the bills posted on scaffolding around the city, something sinks in as worth checking out. In the past couple weeks, I saw all these intriguing posters touting "ComedyFetish.com." Thinking this was a new comedy site, along the lines of Funny or Die, or SuperDeluxe, I finally got around to checking it out, and was disappointed.

ComedyFetish.com is just a collection of clips from various HBO comedy series, grouped by themes such as "Huge Misunderstandings," "Tantalizing Truths" and "Foreign Exposure." The whole thing is basically just one big promo for HBO series on DVDs, done under the very dishonest bait-and-switch of setting the whole thing up to look like it's new original content. Thumbs down, or 'boo,' or nominate them for Keith Olbermann's "Worst Person in the World" award, or however you want to pan the site.
Currently listening:
Baby Got Back
By Sir Mix-A-Lot
Release date: 1992-02-27
10:29 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Thursday, July 02, 2009 

Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
I can't really put this up as a full review because it's already been out a couple weeks, but I do want to give a quick take on "Whatever Works," the Woody Allen movie starring Larry David, momentous for being a meeting of comedic minds.

I enjoyed a lot of the film, but I have to say, that especially for those who are more fans of David, it really loses steam after the first half, when David's character gets sidelined for awhile as Allen's script gets more into the machinations involving the other characters. This is after David, with his trademark dark comic bile, has thoroughly energized and sparked the movie, especially with a few long rants delivered directly into the camera, speaking purposefully to the audience with a knowing wink.

What could have been a four or five-star movie starts to fall a bit short of that, and closer to the category of being a more minor Woody Allen work, as the focus strays away from David. It turns out to be more of an entertaining experiment and less momentous as a movie than "Vicky Christina Barcelona" or "Match Point," out of Allen's recent films.
12:26 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Wednesday, June 17, 2009 

Current mood:  contemplative
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
Now this may sound like a joke to you, but I'm throwing my hat in the ring early by saying "The Hangover" deserves to win Best Picture at the Oscars next year.

Here's my argument: Why does it always have to be the multi-hour-long prestige films with serious drama, lofty takes on history or tearjerking dying/misunderstood saint-like character performances that always win these awards? Why can't the Best Picture be a movie that is purely entertaining through and through, and yes, a comedy, and funny?

"The Hangover" had all of this. Yes, it's rude, transgressive, dirty-minded but consistently and constantly surprising and funny all the way through. That's good screenwriting too. In fact, it's probably harder to pull off. [Spoiler alert]: And what other movie are you going to see this year that would have an effeminate naked Asian crime boss pop out of a car trunk and start viciously assaulting the main characters?

And where other comedies may have great dialogue and scenes for about three-quarters of the way, they tend to fall into the last act trap of neatly tying everything up so the nominal hero has everything work out for them. "The Hangover" does have everything working out in a way, but not in the pat way you would expect, maintaining the surprises and the fun right into its closing credits.

So, a memo to the Academy, come nomination time, put aside your Benjamin Buttons, your Sean Penns -- and the need to reward, as Kate Winslet once famously put it on "Extras," "playing a retard" -- and give "The Hangover" its due. I'll bet you won't find a more solid, re-watchable movie in all the high-minded stuff that hits this fall.

Currently listening:
Elvis as Recorded at Madison Square Garden
By Elvis Presley
Release date: 1992-04-14
1:37 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate