Elsewhere/Neil Young on Conan O'Brien/Infomercials
Over at Chromewaves, Frank has posted a lovely song by My Morning Jacket. It's a live cover of "Suspicious Minds", recorded last year in Washington D.C.
Frank also brings us the news that Neil Young will be performing on Late Night With Conan O'Brien for four nights, Nov. 1-4.
So I scrounged up the press release. This is the best part: "I wanted two solid months of Neil Young, but he told me it was, quote, 'getting creepy,'" quipped O'Brien.
MP3:Neil Young - It's a Dream (from Prairie Wind)
Linkage:Highlights from U2's recent "takeover" of "Late Night"
Troy at Shake Your Fist has posted his favourite songs about T.V.. Good tunes... However, while admitting to a "deep and intense affection" for infomercials, he neglected to name which one(s) he likes best, leaving readers free to wonder whether he has a fondness for some really embarrassing sort of program-length ad that he fears would somehow make him lose some "street cred". I did some googling, and got really excited for a minute -- not just from googling, although that's fun too -- but because I thought I might have found the answer: an infomercial for the "Al Rocker 5-Minute Ab Machine." I thought anyone might well be embarrassed of an extreme fondness for the infomercial for that product... unless he liked it in an ironic, mocking way. Unfortunately, I misread the name; it's the "Ab Rocker 5-Minute Ab Machine". That name is also pretty silly, but it's just not as good without the built-in cheesy celebrity factor. I now mourn the absence of a product that never was. It could have been some sort of rocking-chair-based device featuring a picture of Al Rocker, perhaps with a built-in tape player to provide instructions and encouraging messages.
My actual guess is that Troy's fave is one of those demonstration-based food product infomercials, like for a handy device that scrambles an egg while its still inside its shell. Hmmm. Electric Food Dehydrator? Instant Ice Cream Machine? (I understand that it's the "IT'S THE EASIEST ICE CREAM MAKER AVAILABLE!") Have studies determined that capital letters are more persuasive? Advertising has so much to teach us.
GOOD STUFF OVER AT CHROMEWAVES AND SHAKE YOUR FIST, Y'ALL.
updated to note that Al Roker is probably too busy trying to sell his unscripted program about dogs to a network to make infomercials for exercise equipment. The program features hidden camera footage of dogs behaving in ways "celebrity dog trainer" Tamar Geller disapproves of, followed by segments in which Geller attempts to alter this behaviour.
MP3:Robyn Hitchcock - Television (from Spooked)
Frank also brings us the news that Neil Young will be performing on Late Night With Conan O'Brien for four nights, Nov. 1-4.
So I scrounged up the press release. This is the best part: "I wanted two solid months of Neil Young, but he told me it was, quote, 'getting creepy,'" quipped O'Brien.
MP3:Neil Young - It's a Dream (from Prairie Wind)
Linkage:Highlights from U2's recent "takeover" of "Late Night"
Troy at Shake Your Fist has posted his favourite songs about T.V.. Good tunes... However, while admitting to a "deep and intense affection" for infomercials, he neglected to name which one(s) he likes best, leaving readers free to wonder whether he has a fondness for some really embarrassing sort of program-length ad that he fears would somehow make him lose some "street cred". I did some googling, and got really excited for a minute -- not just from googling, although that's fun too -- but because I thought I might have found the answer: an infomercial for the "Al Rocker 5-Minute Ab Machine." I thought anyone might well be embarrassed of an extreme fondness for the infomercial for that product... unless he liked it in an ironic, mocking way. Unfortunately, I misread the name; it's the "Ab Rocker 5-Minute Ab Machine". That name is also pretty silly, but it's just not as good without the built-in cheesy celebrity factor. I now mourn the absence of a product that never was. It could have been some sort of rocking-chair-based device featuring a picture of Al Rocker, perhaps with a built-in tape player to provide instructions and encouraging messages.
My actual guess is that Troy's fave is one of those demonstration-based food product infomercials, like for a handy device that scrambles an egg while its still inside its shell. Hmmm. Electric Food Dehydrator? Instant Ice Cream Machine? (I understand that it's the "IT'S THE EASIEST ICE CREAM MAKER AVAILABLE!") Have studies determined that capital letters are more persuasive? Advertising has so much to teach us.
GOOD STUFF OVER AT CHROMEWAVES AND SHAKE YOUR FIST, Y'ALL.
updated to note that Al Roker is probably too busy trying to sell his unscripted program about dogs to a network to make infomercials for exercise equipment. The program features hidden camera footage of dogs behaving in ways "celebrity dog trainer" Tamar Geller disapproves of, followed by segments in which Geller attempts to alter this behaviour.
MP3:Robyn Hitchcock - Television (from Spooked)
posted by trill42 | 12:04 PM
4 Comments:
Hey Trill, I'll tell Troy he needs to bring your ruminations to a rest. As I explained to him, I hate infomercials but find guilty pleasure in Lifetime ("Television for Women"!!!) movies. Sadly, I wasted last Saturday afternoon watching "Dancing To Die." If you're familiar with the genre, you'll know from the title alone that it's about an anorexic teenage ballerina. Good stuff.
Thanks, Amy. We have to go without answers to so many of the great mysteries of life... it's nice to be able to satisfy our curiousity about some of the medium-sized mysteries such as this one. ;) My weakness is pretty much the Mark Burnett oeuvre, though I wouldn't watch his boxing show and sat out Survivor for a few seasons I deemed... well... unwatchable. Never gotten into infomercials or watched "Television for Women". I feel so... unwomanly. I like the titles though. I think Tori Spelling had a TV movie called "Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?" 'Cause who hasn't asked their mom that?! Hint: saying "may" instead of "can" makes her more likely to give you the go-ahead!
The "Dancing To Die" movie reminds me of those old afterschool specials...
hey trill--responded to your comment over at SYF--i was trying to be brief in the post so i apologize for leaving it up to speculation. no "street cred" to lose over here anyway :)
Ah yes, "Mother May I Sleep With Danger." It's the seminal (irony noted) film of the genre. The work to which all other Lifetime movies refer--consciously or unconsciously. The Velvet Underground of Lifetime movies, if you will.
BTW, the actual piece of fluff I watched last weekend was "Dying to Dance," not "Dancing to Die." A moment of dyslexia on my part.
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