The Clips & Quips Blog

Odds and Bends

2007-07-05T10:30:00.000-04:00

Backstage Live is launching very soon, and you'll hear about it first, (or second), right here! We're currently working on getting a theme song and opening sequence for the new show. If you have any ideas, let me know.

And stay tuned for another blog very soon on the Platform Animation Festival that happened right here in Portland!

And now, a very special clip from Sesame Street:

We're back!

2007-06-20T10:35:00.000-04:00

There's big news in Clips & Quips country. Just when you thought the end was near, Clips & Quips is moving cross country, getting a new name, a new look, and a new lease on life. At the end of August, we'll be joining forces with Groupee, (an awesome Seattle company), to launch Backstage Live. But you don't have to take my word for it. You can read Groupee CEO Ted O'Neill's blog about it here. So, to clarify- New coast, same host, new name.

Animators love Oregon

2007-06-14T16:41:00.000-04:00

Portland, OR isn't only a beautiful and livable city, (as though that weren't enough), it's also home to the new Platform International Animation Festival. The festival starts up in a few weeks and will be playing host to filmmakers and animators from across the globe. Head honchoes from Pixar, Aardman, Disney, Cartoon Network, and other studios will all be converging in the city of roses to talk shop and show off their newest work. Plus, there will be all sorts of funky installations popping up around town. So are you coming? Can't make it to Portland on such short notice? Well, don't worry. I'll be checking it all out, and I'll make sure to keep you posted...

For now, you can check out the festival's website.

2007-06-13T23:07:00.000-04:00

Minor league baseball

One more time...

2007-06-07T10:40:00.000-04:00

Last night I saw Knocked Up for the second time. It's still awesome, and I'm already getting pumped for the DVD, (which probably won't come out for a very long time...). Judd Apatow films lots of versions of each scene, so I'm sure a lot of of this will end up in DVD extras. Even if you watch the trailer, you'll notice different versions of scenes that aren't even in the movie.

To continue yesterdays list, here are a few more resons why celebrities are nothing like us:

• Biologically speaking, celebrities technically fall under the category of marsupials. This is because celebrity babies are born premature and continue developing outside the womb, (often in a furry pouch). Dakota Fanning has mentioned this a few times in interviews.

• Celebrities consist on a diet rich in gasoline. Their bodies burn the fuel and convert it into fame.

• Famous people see colors differently than the rest of us. Red looks sort of greenish, gold looks violet, and blue has sort of a pinkish hue. So an Academy Award actually looks purple to them!

Stars- they're nothing like us

2007-06-06T10:38:00.000-04:00

You always read in magazines how celebrities are just like us- they go shopping, they pump gas, they drink coffee, they have hands. Well, I am sick and tired of it, because it couldn't be farther from the truth. Famous people are not like us at all, and to combat those other lists, I've compiled my own list of examples to prove it.

• Famous people don't need to use the bathroom. It's unclear when this kicks in, but I've got it on good word that Jennifer Aniston hasn't visited a restroom since the second season of Friends.

• Famous people travel primarily through underground lairs in the earth's core. I guess it works sort of like those underground hallways they use at Disneyland so that two Mickeys will never run into each other. So does that mean there are two Lindsay Lohans?

• Famous people don't sweat, (or they may sweat gem stones- this is still being disputed). Meryl Streep stopped sweating partially when she won her Oscar for Kramer Vs. Kramer in 1980. Her sweat glands stopped production totally in 1983 when she won her second Oscar for Sophie's Choice. Tim Allen stopped sweating while recording the voice of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story, though he resumed sweating halfway through production of The Santa Clause 3.

• Famous people live their lives in five dimensions. What's in these other dimensions? None of our kind knows, but it might have something to do with how Jude Law was in six movies in 2004.

• Some celebrities are also shape-shifters. Some of them may even have various personas. Have you ever seen Denzel Washington and Helen Hunt in the same movie? Perhaps that's because they're just two of the many personas of John Stamos.

And that's just to whet your appetite. There will be even more convincing and shocking examples tomorrow...

New countdown...

2007-06-05T13:45:00.000-04:00

So Knocked Up is out and it's already recouped it's budget in the first weekend. That means Judd Apatow has more money to hire me! Right? So I figured it's time for a new countdown on the Official Clips & Quips Countdown Widget. So let's count down till Willowbrook, (the daycamp I work at), starts. Nineteen days to go...

2007-06-04T12:09:00.000-04:00

Back on the train again- this time to seattle

Today's the day...

2007-06-01T11:39:00.000-04:00

If you check out that widget on the lower right side of the page, you'll notice that the countdown is over. That's right- Knocked Up is now in theatres! So what are you waiting for? To get you excited, here's the trailer:

2007-05-31T20:28:00.000-04:00

Home sweet home

2007-05-31T12:50:00.000-04:00

2007-05-31T12:24:00.001-04:00

Columbia river

2007-05-30T23:07:00.000-04:00

Whitefish montana

2007-05-30T18:19:00.000-04:00

Wide open spaces

2007-05-30T09:36:00.001-04:00

Morning in minot

2007-05-30T08:36:00.001-04:00

Welcome to north dakota

2007-05-29T17:37:00.001-04:00

2007-05-29T12:41:00.001-04:00

Millenium park in chicago

2007-05-29T11:04:00.001-04:00

2007-05-29T06:26:00.000-04:00

Toledo

2007-05-28T20:15:00.000-04:00

Somewhere upstate

2007-05-28T15:48:00.000-04:00

So long penn station...

Cleaning up...

2007-05-27T09:40:00.000-04:00

Odds and ends I found as I was cleaning up the Clips & Quips offices.

Farewell Clips & Quips...

2007-05-25T17:37:00.000-04:00

It's odd and strange and a little sad and a little exciting that Clips & Quips is coming to an end. I had a lot of fun with the show; met a lot of interesting people and got access to a lot of places and opportunities that I wouldn't have otherwise been able to experience. And when I say interesting people, I don't necessarily mean the "celebrities" I've interviewed, (in fact, some of them were pretty boring). From the always accommodating publicists at International House of Press and Falco, to the contact people at JetBlue, Ramada, and Thrifty, (who made our Sundance trip possible), to our pals at Furilla, Pass the Pigs, and Kazoobie Kazoos, (who made sure we always had plenty of fun toys to give people). Clips & Quips was only a success thanks to these and other people who believed in our show and helped us out in many ways.

Clips & Quips started as an answer to the frustration that Evan and I had over the lack of student programming on college tv stations across the country. We had worked together on On the Cusp, a weekly late-night talk show that aired on NYU TV for three seasons, and during that time created a show that not only occasionally entertained, but also started a dialogue between NYU students and created a little community of viewers on the often isolated NYU "campus." We wanted to take what we learned from that experience and go national with a show that incorporated student ideas and content, provided entertaining segments, and brought college students across the country together... or something like that. The show launched in January 2005 at a dozen or so schools with an episode chock-full of student filmmakers and musicians and interviews with Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, Tara Reid, and others. By the beginning of the second season the next fall, we were airing at over forty schools and scoring awesome interviews with the likes of George Clooney, Keira Knightely, Pierce Brosnan, and others. People were really starting to hear about us and we were developing a serious web presence with upwards of 100,000 hits per month. We covered the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT, and interviewed a slew of fascinating filmmakers, writers, and actors. It seemed like good things were happening, but we still had a big problem- we weren't making a profit. I like to think of myself as a creative person, but I'm the first to admit that I'm not quite as effective when it comes to making things profitable. I sent out tons of proposals and made many phone calls, but I couldn't find someone to provide the show with a budget. Working on the show was so much fun though, that I figured as long as we kept on creating a fun product that money would follow.

As we started the third season, we toned down the affiliate front, (because self-distributing a national show was taking a lot of time and getting expensive), and concentrated on the weekly web show. I contacted many new potential sponsors, and although there were some promising leads, in the end nothing solidified. It soon became clear that unless some funds suddenly appeared this would be the last season of the show. We wanted to go out with a bang though, and we covered some more LA junkets, (thanks to Evan's persistence), and covered another action-packed Sundance Film Festival. We even had some reunions when I interviewed Rainn Wilson and Ryan Gosling for the second time and Paul Rudd for the third and fourth time.

Clips & Quips changed quite a bit from the initial idea that Evan and I came up with, but I think we stayed true to the spirit of our mission. And what is that spirit exactly? I'm not exactly sure. But I always tried to treat my interviews as conversations, and interact with the interviewees as I would with any other person. I think if you watch the interviews we get at junkets versus what the "other shows" get, you'll find that our interviews are more honest, less "canned," more casual, sometimes more awkward, but always more genuine. I never really knew if viewers noticed this, but thanks to youtube comments and emails it's clear that people do notice the difference. Sometimes they don't like it, like jlisashaw on youtube who commented:
"you have no control of the subject or the interview," but then there are others like ummxduhh, who commented on a Rupert Grint interview: "Rupert seems so much more comfortable in this then he does in other interviews." And Chopin65 posted: "Its amazing how stars come off as just regular folk when you talk to them in the way you do." Then a few hours ago, I got another email from Deniz, a viewer in Germany, who wrote, "This kind of interview is really needed and unique. Keep doing it like that!" So at least some people get it- right?

But I think the end of Clips & Quips comes at exactly the right time. If I had to attend another NY press junket, I think I might throw-up in the impeccably clean Regency Hotel bathroom. Yes, junkets are a great way to gain access to actors whom I otherwise would not have the opportunity to interview, but they're also a great way to make you feel like cattle. You're stuck in a room, (where there's often not even enough room for everyone to sit), waiting at least an hour for a four minute slot, (five minutes if you're really lucky), with a person who often feels as trapped as you do. It's the worst possible situation for an interview, yet that's where most of them are happening. I don't know if I have a solution or any helpful suggestion to fix the junket situation, but I'm just glad I'm getting out before they cut the interview time down to three minutes.

It's weird to think that I've interviewed literally hundreds of authors, actors, musicians, comedians, filmmakers, chocolatiers, toy inventors, and other interesting individuals. And although most of them probably wouldn't remember me, I think I remember most of them. Clips & Quips has been an incredible learning experience, and I have a feeling that the groundwork and friends we've made through the show will keep playing a role in my life.

So what happens to the blog now? I'm not really sure... I'll be pretty busy this summer, so I'm not sure how often I'll be able to post and I'm not sure what I'd post about. Any ideas? Write in and let me know.

The End is Near

2007-05-22T11:55:00.000-04:00

A few more days to go before the Clips & Quips blog closes up shop... So in honor of the occasion, here's my top list for my favorite Clips & Quips moments-

• Covering the Sundance Film Festival for the first time in 2006. I saw over a dozen movies, interviewed dozens of filmmakers and actors, crashed a party, got lots of free drinks and snacks, got a free razor for biting into a fuzz-covered kiwi, and got hugged by Steve Carell, (which was then reported on incorrectly by New York Magazine). Click here for a clip of some of the action.

• Going behind the scenes of Family Guy, and hanging out with Mila Kunis for an hour (while doing dramatic readings of her fan mail). Click here for the clip.

• Wearing footsie pajamas to the premiere of Night at the Museum, and getting a lot of attention from Ricky Gervais because of the outfit. Click here for the clip.

• When Judd Apatow wrote into the Clips & Quips blog.

• Teaching Peter Sarsgaard, Sam Mendes, and others to play kazoo. Click here for the clip.

• Interviewing Ira Glass for a whole twenty minutes and then hanging out with him at a Showtime party at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

• Sharing puns with anyone who will listen.

• Getting stranded on Liberty Island during the doomed-from-the-start premiere of Fantastic Four, (complete with pouring rain, lightening, giant flying bugs, and panicked crowds).

• When after finishing up a fun interview with Sam Rockwell, he genuinely commented "That really made my day. Thanks." Yes, this sort of stuff has happened more than once, but for whatever reason this one is particularly clear in my head.

In non Clips & Quips news, here's an awesome band that does covers of TV theme songs. Maybe they want to do a cover of our song?