Daddy Like!!

[Gary Rabuzzi]

30 Rock - finally, the return of one of the three funniest shows on television! I may talk a lot of s*** about Jessica Alba, and Megan Fox, and whoever the hottie of the week is, but in the long run, I can barely watch most of the stuff these girls are in. Tina Fey, on the other hand, is more like the woman I want to spend my life with. Not only is she super-librarian sexy (It's like loving Sarah Palin, without all of the liberal shame!), but she's smart as a f****** whip, and funny as hell! And Alec Baldwin is a goddamn comedic (and dramatic) genius, maybe the most underrated guy in Hollywood. The rest of the cast are also pretty good, too. I especially like Tracey Morgan's over the top impersonation of, well, Tracey Morgan (Every time I see the fake movie poster on his dressing room wall of "Who Dat Ninja?", I damn near piss myself...), and Will Arnett's recurring guest spots as the closeted exec wit the hots for Kenneth, the bumpkin page. Great show...

The Joker - First things first - the new hardcover graphic novel, about the Clown Prince of Crime was NOT influenced by his depiction in "The Dark Knight". Artist Lee Bermejo started this project two years ago, and drew the Joker as a mutilated psychopath, way before the first unsettling images of Heath Ledger were ever leaked onto the 'net. But damn, if it don't feel like the sequel, folks. Writer Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets) wrote what amounts to a great crime story, and maybe destined to be one of the defining pieces of the Joker mythos, along with Alan Moore's "The Killing Joke". Told from the POV of Johnny Frost, a low level Gotham skell who longs to be in the Joker's gang, for his shot at the big time. What Johnny doesn't realize, is that the life expectancy for a member of the Joker's entourage is short. Azzarello, like "Dark Knight" director, Christopher Nolan, does a good job of conveying the real menace of the Joker. That's the fact that he has no agenda. There's no method to his madness. He can, and will, turn on you in a half a heartbeat, for seemingly no discernable reason. I believe the line in "Dark Knight" was "I'm a dog, chasing cars". A true sociopath. And everyone surrounding him (in the case of the graphic novel, that means The Penguin, The Riddler, Killer Croc, and Two-Face) is constantly on edge because of it. Bermejo's art is true perfection, moody, and grimy, and nightmarish. The shot of Joker walking out of Arkham Asylum reminds me of the shot of DeNiro leaving prison in "Cape Fear"! Think comics are for kids? Pick up this one. You'll change your mind in a hurry.

Prima Donna - After Hours - I saw these LA cats close the Mad Juana show at the Divebar in September, and even though I could only stay for a few songs, I knew I loved their sound right away. I finally got around to ordering their cd, and it only ROCKS, is all! I swear, it may as well be a lost Johnny Thunders record. The sound is a complete love letter to the kind of sleazy, swaggering, obnxiously lovable slop that Thunders and his old cohorts the Dolls dished up. There's also a touch of early Stooges thrown in, so you don't think that Dolls records are all they own. The vocals on "Double Crosser" especially have that pre-Berlin era Iggy yowl. The songs are filled with the hand clapping, the "ooh-oohs" and the "Sea Cruise" sax hooks that you expect from this type of rawk, and the guys all look like early '70's era Ronnie Wood (except the bass player, who looks like Hyde, from "That 70's Show"), smeared with lipstick, and decked out in leopard print fur. Hail Hail rock and roll!

Rock and Rolla - the new Guy Ritchie flick is pretty much a return (and a welcome one, at that) to his earliest work ("Snatch", and "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels"). I liked the head-trippy "Revolver", but this is more meat and potatoes Ritchie. Eccentric, villainous criminals, speaking in impenetrable British accents, mush mouthing hipster criminal dialogue, starting at far flung corners of the Universe, and being dragged inexorably into each other's paths, through a series of hyper-violent, highly improbable coincidences, and machinations. This time the cast includes Gerard Butler (300), the gorgeous Thandie Newton (who MORE than made up for her terrible performance in "W."), Tom Wilkinson (who looks like a British Carl Reiner to me...), Jeremy Piven and Ludacris. Convoluted, funny, violent, pure Guy Ritchie. Thank God that Madonna business is over!

Celebrity Rehab - I normally don't watch much of that reality celebrity puke-a-thon, sign of the Apocalypse type s***, but when I heard that this season's celebrity rehabbers were going to include Uber nutjob Gary Busey, and Guns n Roses trainwreck Steven Adler (He's a friend of a friend, and I have heard quite a few sordid little anecdotes about him already...), I had to tune in. Add in returning drooler Jeff "Kenickie" Conaway, and you gots yourself a heaping helping of batshit stew! These three seem to be in a race for wierdest junkie ever, and it's an awful tight race to call. Adler is coke stroked and slobbery, Busey is wild eyed and confrontational, and Kenickie is just a doddering invalid. It's a shame. Kenickie actually predates Indiana Jones, as my very first hero! It's hard to turn this show off, and even harder to watch. Conaway's drama queen Godzilla of a codependent girlfriend seems hellbound to derail any and every chance he has of recovery, and Busey, miraculously, doesn't even seem to know there's anything wrong with him! Chemical dependency is a sad f****** path, kids! Stay in school, and drugs aren't cool! (Well, an occasional toke or painkiller won't hurt...)

Dixie Dooley's show at the Royal Hotel - I din't even know this place still existed, until my old pal Dixie called up, and asked me to come down and dig his new show. Dixie Dooley is a dying breed- an old school magician/escape artist whose act is a throwback to 1920's Atlantic City Boardwalk type stuff. It's charming as hell, and he really is a good up close magician. He's a Vegas warrior, too- this is about the fifth place I've seen him do his act in twelve years. He'll pull s*** out of his top hat on the back of a truck, if he has to. He's got a real PT Barnum streak. He even does some old school ventriloquism, which is kind of creepy. And I gotta say, he's really packing them in over there. The room he performs in is small as all hell, but packed to the rafters, and apparently every night. He must get a lot of tour bus trade, because who even knew this place existed? And, I must admit, I have kind of a crush on his assistant, Julie. I have to bite her somewhere, every time I see her. Good news, she's a hot ass magician's assitant. Bad news, she's his wife. That's right. She's Julie Dooley. Ain't it always the way?

Zack And Miri Make A Porno - A hell of a lot of movies came out this week, so Eric and I made it a two movie day (with Capriotti's sandwiches in bewteen flicks! Yay for Capriotti's!). This was second on the hit list, the new film written and directed by Kevin Smith ("Clerks", "Chasing Amy"), and starring Seth Rogen (every movie that came out last year). Faced with financial ruin, a couple of platonic roommates (Miri is played by the adoreable, and soon-to-be-everywhere Elizabeth Banks) decide to make a porno, in an effort to stave off starvation and homelessness. Great, raunchy comedy (Laced with Smith's trademark acerbic wit, and bellicose dialogue), strong performances by a cool ensemble cast (Especially Jason Mewes as the painfully un-selfconscious porn star, Jeff Anderson as the camera man, and Justin Long's hilarious cameo as a gay porn star), and underneath, a sweet sticky center. Real sticky. Smith reminds all the Apatows and Jonah Hills of the world that he was the first of this new crop of gross-out humor artistes, with a scene featuring jeff Anderson that had everyone in the theater groaning out loud - you'll know it when you see it. My only gripe with the flick is that the sweetness was a little TOO sweet, a little too on-the-nose. But a small matter.