Books
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Who would make the best big screen Ignatius J. Reilly?
Posted by Alex Woodward on Wed, May 23, 2012 at 12:52 PM
The trailer for Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby adaptation and the news that Zach Galifianakis may be cast as the hero of John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces broke almost at the same time — confirming many people in my Facebook feed haven't read much after high school.
Dunces has never, ever successfully made the big screen leap. Harold Ramis and, more recently (and infamously unplugged), David Gordon Green, tried and failed to adapt Toole's landmark mess. Terry Gilliam said it couldn't be filmed. (Read Kevin Allman's piece on Toole's latest biography in Gambit.)
Last night, Vulture reported that comedian and actor Galifianakis (who starts in the New Orleans-shot The Campaign) has been cast in an adaptation by Flight of the Conchords co-creator and The Muppets director James Bobin for Paramount Pictures. Vulture also says the script is helmed by Phil Johnston, who wrote 2011's Cedar Rapids and the forthcoming Alexander Payne (Election, Sideways, The Descendants) film Nebraska.
Casting Confederacy
Posted by Kevin Allman on Wed, May 23, 2012 at 12:36 PM
Confederacy is one of those books that people sometimes describe as "unfilmable" (I think a four- or six-hour HBO miniseries would be better than a regular movie), but trying to cast it is a fun, fantasy-footballish exercise. Here's my list (note: Spud McConnell has aged out of Ignatius territory, at least in the movies):
• Philip Seymour Hoffman as Ignatius
• Jessica Lange as Irene Reilly
• Estelle Parsons as Miss Trixie
• Becky Allen or Amanda Hebert as Santa Battaglia
• John Reilly as Patrolman Mancuso
• Jessie Terrebonne as Darlene
• Patricia Clarkson as Lana Lee
• Damon Wayans Jr. as Jones
• Neil Patrick Harris as Dorian Greene
• Zooey Deschanel as Myrna Minkoff
Any better ideas?
(Here's our recent cover story on Confederacy and Butterfly in the Typewriter, the new biography of Confederacy's author, John Kennedy Toole.)
Friday, April 20, 2012
Bobby and the Big Apple
Posted by Kevin Allman on Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 4:10 PM
How did the 45-minute speech (before dinner!) go? Take it away, Reid Pillifant of Capital New York:
Some people liked it."Bobby Jindal is inspirational," said Carl Paladino, the party's last gubernatorial nominee, after the speech. "He's rocking."
Others seemed less inspired. As the speech wore on, Jindal's applause lines drew less and less of a response, and tables broke out into their own visible side conversations, while Jindal joked about how the vacuums used to clean up after the Deepwater Horizon spill were the same ones used to empty "port-o-potties after a football game on a Friday night."
Dinner waited in the wings until he finished, right around the 45-minute mark.
"I can assure you that I will speak shorter than our prior speakers, because the food is here," said State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos when he finally took to the podium, to laughs and cheers.
$5,000 may seem steep for dinner, but then again, it's dinner in New York. Heck, even in the East Village, two measly pounds of crawfish will put you back $30. But you don't get a copy of Leadership in Crisis with the mudbugs.
EDITED TO ADD: Charles Maldonado points out this account of the evening from Newsday. After reading it, it sounds like Jindal went on too long, which is excusable, and that the hosts were breathtakingly rude, which is not:And, after a dinner break and Jindal’s departure, the next two speakers made pointed references. “I’m going to speak a little shorter than the prior speaker,” Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) said -- generating applause. “My father gave me some great advice, too,” Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb (R-Canandaigua), said referring to a part of Jindal’s speech. “Be brief and be gone.” Jindal’s team placed copies of his book, “Leadership and Crisis,” on the chairs throughout the Sheraton ballroom. Afterward, some New York Republicans joked about trying to give their copy away.
Monday, March 26, 2012
A Confederacy of Dunces: in search of the manuscript
Posted by Kevin Allman on Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 3:12 PM
There have been a couple of books written about John Kennedy Toole and A Confederacy of Dunces — one a charming personal reminiscence, the other unworthy of its subject — but we now have Cory MacLauchlin's Butterfly in the Typewriter, which is the first serious biography of Toole.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Walter Isaacson talks Steve Jobs at the New Orleans Public Library
Posted by Kevin Allman on Wed, Mar 14, 2012 at 4:41 PM
New Orleans native Walter Isaacson wrote the book on Steve Jobs — literally — and he'll be discussing it tomorrow at the New Orleans Public Library (219 Loyola Ave.) from 12:30-1:30 p.m. Admission is free.
Back in October, Isaacson appeared on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart:
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Play House Hunters bingo with Michael Ian Black
Posted by Alex Woodward on Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 10:00 AM
Michael Ian Black visited New Orleans at precisely the best and worst time, depending why you're here and how long. Black, a veteran of sketch groups The State and Stella and their respective TV shows (and a member of that deep rolling David Wain posse, with credits from cult favorite Wet Hot American Summer to the recently released Wanderlust), was in New Orleans on Lundi Gras to promote HGTV's popular series House Hunters — specifically, a bingo game centered on the program (which you can download here). The game tests viewers on some common words and phrases falling from home buyers' and Realtors' mouths. Black (who also is an author, standup comedian and renaissance comedy man) is very much a fan of the show, so much so he devoted himself to the game in New Orleans amid Mardi Gras festivities.
Tonight at 9 p.m., House Hunters premieres its New Orleans episode, in which a couple with a young son and a baby on the way looks to "New Orleans suburbs." But, as per HGTV, "they're on different pages when it comes to their wish list. Will they be able to find a home that makes them both happy?"
Below, Black gives Gambit some bingo tips and tricks and lessons in comedy in the 21st century.
How did you become a self-described superfan?
One thing my wife and I are able to enjoy together is yelling, at the television, when people pick the wrong house on House Hunters, which they do every single time. I don’t know what’s wrong with these people.
So in coming to New Orleans to do a bingo show, you get to act out some of that rage?
One of the nice things about bingo is you can play it aggressively. You’ve got a stamper, and you can really go to town on a bingo board if you need to. Bingo doesn’t need to be passive. It doesn’t need to be grandma’s sport. It can be a down and dirty, bloody, sweaty endeavor.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Jonathan Franzen appears at Tulane tonight
Posted by Lauren LaBorde on Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 3:26 PM
The author has graced the cover of Time, won the National Book Award for The Corrections (which is being adapted for an HBO series), and has been subject to a slew of soaring accolades as well as criticism.
The free reading is from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Tonight: Darrell Hammond at House of Blues
Posted by Alex Woodward on Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 1:45 PM
Back for an encore, Darrell Hammond, he of Saturday Night Live and last year's best Fresh Air interview fame, joins the All-Star Comedy Revue at House of Blues tonight.
Host Leon Blanda also gathers local comics Dane Faucheux, "Principal Daniels" (CJ Hunt), and Chris Trew, with house band Adam Bock and the Wheels of Fortune — and it's a free show.
Hammond's best-selling 2011 memoir God, If You're Not Up There, I'm F—ed paints a haunted portrait of the long-tenured SNL alum and comic kingpin. (Read a generously long excerpt here.)
Hammond starred as the resident impressionist on SNL for more than a decade, beginning with a freshman class that included Will Ferrell and David Koechner (and writer Adam McKay), and leaving the show as current cast members Bobby Moynihan and Abby Elliott joined the fray. His Al Gore, Sean Connery, Donald Trump and Bill Clinton impressions were among the more than 100 he performed on the show.
His heartbreaking memoir (and subsequent interview with Terry Gross) details his mother's violent outbursts of abuse, addictions, his self-cutting (often before stepping on stage), and personal breakdowns.
The All-Star Comedy Revue begins 8 p.m. tonight at House of Blues. Admission is free.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Wizard World Comic Con, other comic book events begin
Posted by Alex Woodward on Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 5:20 PM
The 2012 Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con opens its doors tomorrow at 11 a.m. But tonight, the weekend comic rager begins with a meet-and-greet with Marvel Comics founder and nerd world demigod Stan Lee (6 p.m. to 7 p.m.), followed by a kick-off party at The District (177 Tchoupitoulas St.) from 8 p.m. to midnight.
But unofficially, the weekend also begins tonight at Crescent City Comics, where the shop hosts the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF), which aims to protect first amendment rights for comics creators. The shop will also feature appearances from comics artists and authors, and there are raffles for art, signed books and more to benefit the CBLDF. The party is 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Crescent City Comics (4916 Freret St.), and there's a free keg.
And the main event: the showroom-bursting, convention hall-style takeover of nerddom, with more than two dozen costuming and fan groups, comics vendors, 10,000 fans and a one-stop shop for the sci-fi and pop culture obsessed. (Read Gambit's preview here with Comic Con guest of honor Lou Ferrigno.)
Other pit-stopping celebrities include the William Shatner, and many others, from cult status heroes to pen-and-ink award winners.
Find the full schedule of events here — highlights? How about a lightsaber instruction masterclass (noon Saturday and Sunday) or a Q&A with hometown heroes Rob Guillory and John Layman of the Eisner award-winning series Chew, with Kody Chaberlain of the New Orleans-set Sweets (11 a.m. Saturday).
Check the full schedule of events here. Single-day tickets are $30 and weekend passes are $45.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Cooking under the (Louisiana) influence
Posted by Ian McNulty on Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 2:59 PM
Mitch Rosenthal is the chef and owner of four popular restaurants on the West Coast, but it’s easy to see his affinity for Louisiana food in his new cookbook “Cooking My Way Back Home.” Right on the cover, in fact, there’s a photo of “angels on horseback,” or fried, bacon-wrapped oysters, dabbed with remoulade.
Familiar local flavors run through “Cooking My Way Back Home,” though it’s hardly a traditional Louisiana cookbook. Rather, recipes like Rosenthal’s rendition of chicken and andouille gumbo (he adds smoked ham hock) and a peacemaker po-boy appear next to instructions for cooking sea urchin with butter sauce or preparing hamachi tartare. The recurrence of Louisiana flavors (Tabasco in his clam chowder, tasso crusting his pork chops) is more a tribute to how formative and influential even a brief tour of duty in New Orleans kitchens may prove.
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the bad thing about this is that Ricky Mathews and Advance Alabama/Mississippi. (Advance Publications, the…
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Great minds think alike Tara!
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It's inevitable that this would happen someday. The TP/SI has alienated a good portion of…
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