Where in the world...

Where in the World is Matt Lauer is back on the Today show, and where was Matt this morning? Everett, Washington... Well, it's not the international locale I was expecting, but at least he's in the Pacific Northwest. Maybe he'll go to Portland tomorrow?

Also, I've had this idea for a while, so a few months back Jon Gabrus and I got together and finally produced an episode of The Portable Talk Show. Take a look:



Special thanks to Peter McKay for filming and Justin Tyler for creative consulting and some incredible voice-over work. Want to see a second episode? Where do you think we should go? Should Judd Apatow be the next guest? Let me know...

The C&Q Attic

It's hard to believe the third season of Clips & Quips is soon coming to an end, and at this point it looks like this might also be the last season of C&Q. I'm heading off to Los Angeles in the fall to explore some other opportunities, and ABC Daytime and I couldn't come to an agreement to keep the show going. It will be a fun last few months though, and hopefully there will be new exciting projects coming soon. In honor of the occasion, let's take a look at a clip from the very first episode of Clips & Quips, when Tara Reid and I explored the possibilities of the satellite interview.


Also, Lost was pretty good last night, and the last minute of the show sort of blew my mind. I can't wait till next week...

Diggers: The Interview

So here it is, the interview with Paul Rudd and Ken Marino. Ken wrote the screenplay, produced it, acted in it, and recruited his buddy Paul to star in it. To refresh your memory, (and to quote wikipedia):

Diggers is a coming-of-age story directed by Katherine Dieckmann about four working-class friends growing up in Long Island, New York, as clam diggers. Their fathers were clam diggers as well as their grandfathers before them.

And here's the segment:


And we never did get back to how Ken Marino broke a rib. Ken, are you still reading the blog? Can you tell us what happened?

Diggers: The Junket Report

This was one of the most efficient junkets I've ever been to. I barely had time to finish my fruit plate when I was whisked away to talk to Ken Marino and Paul Rudd. Ken and Paul remembered me from previous interviews, and we chatted a little about Judd Apatow and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Paul's heading to Hawaii for one day this week to film his part in the film. The camera guy gave me the cue to really start the interview, and I shifted to Diggers. Ken based the screenplay on his hometown and memories he had from when his own father was a clam digger. Paul had to get a serious clam-digging lesson, although he's still not a fan of the mollusks. He likened eating one to having a loogie(sp?) in his mouth. The interview should be up today or tomorrow.

Still no word on whether we'll be covering the Knocked Up junket, but I'll keep you posted...

Diggers: The Early Junket Report

Just got out of the Diggers junket. Paul Rudd and Ken Marino were paired for the interviews, which was a lot of fun. And Paul confirmed that the email from Judd is legit. Sorry for doubting you Judd... Ken Marino admitted to reading the Clips & Quips blog too, and apparently he know what's up. One of the first things he said to me when I walked in the room was, "I bet you're going to ask something about Judd Apatow."

I'll post a longer junket report later from the office, but I just wanted to keep you up to date...

Is the Judd-a-thon over?

Well, I think it happened... For about a week, I've been mentioning Judd Apatow in the blog everyday in hopes that he stumble upon it, and now I think he has. I got an email yesterday afternoon from Judd, and he he said that our little scheme here made him laugh. He's in Hawaii now, preparing to start production on Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Judd's producing the movie that was written by Jason Segel, (of Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared), and is being directed by Nicholas Stoller, (a former writer on Undeclared). It stars Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Paul Rudd, Bill Hader, and Jason Segel, (he writes and acts!).

To be honest, I'm still a little skeptical, but the email seemed pretty legit, so I guess Judd really did find us. I'll try to confirm with Paul Rudd at the junket today. And to think that our little blog has been graced by Judd Apatow's presence...

Diggers: Pre-Junket Report

Tomorrow morning I'll be sitting down with Paul Rudd, Ken Marino, and Katherine Dieckmann to chat about their new film, Diggers. Marino wrote the script, and David Wain was initially supposed to direct, but then he got too busy with Stella on Comedy Central. So Dieckmann, (who's directed a lot of REM music videos), took over. Rudd's the star, playing Hunt, a clam-digger who's father just passed away. Marino's in it too, playing a loving/angry father/husband. I interviewed Paul Rudd and Ken Marino at Sundance in January, and I'm looking forward to seeing them again. And this will be my fifth time interviewing Paul, so I'm hoping he invites me to dinner with Judd Apatow. Have any questions for Paul, Ken, or Katherine? Let me know...

And if you're wondering what's with the seemingly random Judd Apatow reference, then take a look at the past few days. For five days now, I've been mentioning Judd Apatow in the blog in hopes that he stumbles upon it while googling himself, (according to some interviews, Judd is an occasional self-googler). So Judd, if you're there feel free to shoot me an email at boaz(at)clipsquips(dot)com.

Girls, take out your notepads...

It's sort of depressing that this constitutes entertainment or maybe even "entertainment news." Are these People magazine's hard-hitting questions? I'm just glad I'm not the person who had to ask them...



I wonder what Judd Apatow would think about this?

Fracture: The Ryan Gosling Interview

Here it is- the interview with Ryan Gosling. To recap, Fracture, (according to IMDB), is about:

An assistant DA (Gosling) who is caught up in a game of cat-and-mouse with a man (Hopkins) who tried to murder his wife, but is set free on a series of technicalities.

Any thoughts? Or any thoughts on Judd Apatow? Are you there yet Judd?

National HIgh Five Day!

I almost forgot- today is National High Five Day! You can check it out here. So I guess you should go out and do some high-fiving. Or maybe you can read articles and watch clips of one specific world record high-fiver? I wonder who Judd Apatow is high-fiving today...

Internationally yours...

I'm still trying to set up interviews with the cast of Knocked Up, but at this point it looks like all the press events are happening in Los Angeles. I'll see if I can get out there for the junket though. I've been reading up on Judd Apatow recently, and a number of interviews with him said that he often googles himself. Well, maybe it's true and maybe it's not, but from now on I'm going to mention Judd everyday in hopes that he comes on the blog. Maybe we can finally get together to write and produce the first television series about homeless people. It would be just like Cheers, but instead of the bar they'll always meet at a big dumpster and Hobo Jim and Transient Sally will have a Sam Malone/Rebecca Howe thing going on. Judd- are you there? If so, feel free to email me at boaz(at)clipsquips(dot)com.

I recently signed up for Sitemeter, (thanks to Evan). Now I have more stats than I ever needed about the people reading this blog. In the past two days, this blog's been visited by readers from New Zealand, Jamaica, Beijing, France, the UK, and the US. One guy (or girl?), found this site by searching for 'graduation quips' on google. I wonder if he found what he (she?) was looking for...

Fracture: The Junket Report

Just got back from the Fracture junket. There was no Anthony Hopkins as they warned me yesterday, but I did get this large red T-shirt. Any takers? Two people from New Line had called me yesterday to remind me to be at the junket early, but I still had about an hour wait before my time was up. During that hour I did a crossword, ate fruit, and watched the trailers for Martian Child, (it's about John Cusack taking care of a kid in a box), Hairspray, (John Travolta- in a dress!), and Fracture, (well, that's why I was there...), again and again and again.

Finally, right after Emily Frances, Neil Rosen, and this nice young guy I've never met before, it was my turn. I walked into the room, and Ryan Gosling stood up to greet me, (which is surprisingly rare- only Clooney, Bettany, and Brosnan have done that before). I introduced myself, and he actually remembered me from way back when I had interviewed him for a small indie film- The United States of Leland. So I already liked him. We chatted about the film, working with Anthony Hopkins, (he really called him Tony), and his next film, Lars and the Real Girl, in which his character in love with a blow-up doll. He's a big fan of 'Tony,' and went off on how multi-talented Sir Hopkins really is- he draws, writes, paints, composes, and does a darn good dog bark. Ryan was very nice and genuine, though it was clear he's been talking about this film a lot lately. And before I knew it, my four minutes were up, (yes, thats right- four minutes). Five minutes used to be the standard, and it wasn't unheard of to get six or seven occasionally. It's not easy to have a meaningful conversation in the same amount of time it takes me to brush and floss, (ok, fine- I don't really floss very often). Maybe eventually they'll have you submit your one question beforehand so they can ask it as you come in the room, saving valuable time.

Next up, the press day for Diggers with Ken Marino and Paul Rudd. Although I don't know how many more junkets I have left in me. Maybe I can ask Paul Rudd to hook me up with Judd Apatow and then the three of us can make a tv show together- a tragicomedy about press junkets...

Denied...

I just got the call- no Anthony Hopkins tomorrow. It's not just me though, apparently he's not coming to New York at all for press. It's sort of a downer, but at least I still have Ryan Gosling, who I've interviewed before, and isn't an Oscar winner, and isn't a classically trained British actor who's worked with Laurence Olivier, but I guess you can't win 'em all...

Fracture: The Screening

I guess Fracture is a thriller, (though not exactly an 'on the edge of your seat' thriller). Anthony Hopkins plays a married engineer who learns that his wife is cheating on him. He shoots her, is arrested, but for various circumstantial reasons he can't be convicted. Ryan Gosling plays the hot-shot assistant DA who's trying to get him behind bars, (when he's not being distracted by a tempting new job in corporate law). Hopkins' part is reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter in the I'm-a-killer-but-I'm-creepily-pleasant-and-mild-mannnered way. He's great at playing that type of character though, and this is no exception. It's amazing how even though we know he's a killer, the whole audience still loves him. There's a surprising amount of humor considering how dark a lot of this movie is, though I saw this with a rather rumbunctious crowd of people and they laughed at a lot of things. Ryan Gosling is great too, as is the supporting cast of Billy Burke, Rosamund Pike, and Embeth Davidtz. I did enjoy most of this movie, although I felt it dragged a bit towards the end and some of the late realizations seemed a little cheezy. I guess it's a bad sign when I solve the crime a good fifteen minutes before the main character does...

In the press notes for this film, the director refers to Hopkins' as 'Tony' in all his quotes about the actor. Isn't that weird? Would you ever suspect that Anthony Hopkins goes by 'Tony?' Or maybe the director doesn't like him and this is his way of getting back at him. I'll look into it tomorrow when I interview both Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. Anyone have any questions you want to ask them?

TV is My Teacher

I think I watched too much TV yeterday, but it was all so worth it. I laughed, I yelled, I learned- it was truly a roller coaster of entertainment.

First I caught up on two episodes of Ricky Gervais' Extras. I really enjoyed them, and in my opinion it doesn't get any better than Andy Millman wearing that wig and glasses in When the Whistle Blows. And then there's this:


I'd been hearing about Discovery Channel's Planet Earth for a while, but this is the first time I watched it. Wow. It's so incredible to watch all this awesome and intimate footage of things I never even knew existed. The only catch is the commercials that seem to cut in every three or four minutes. But who knew there were swimming and diving monkeys in Indonesia or that there was a place in India where crocodiles and otters live in the same river, (and groups of otters can even intimidate 12 ft. crocs), and then there's this six-foot-long salamander in Japan:


I was ready to turn the TV off after Planet Earth ended, but then Man Vs. Wild came on and I was hooked. I'd never even heard of this show before, but I'm now a hardcore fan. It's hosted by Bear Grylls an adventurer/survivalist who served on some secret special forces unit in the British Army. In each show, Bear parachutes into a new harsh environment and must find his way out with help only from a few supplies, (in the episode I watched: a cup, a bottle, and piece of flint). Last night he trekked through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, impressing me the whole way. Bear climbed down a cliff without any equipment, built a makeshift raft out of driftwood and grapevines, rafted down a river in said raft, caught a snake and ate it, made tea out of pine needles, built a wooden hut, killed a rabbit with a well-thrown stick, cooked said rabbit over a spit, and tried to tame a wild horse. It was incredible. It all seems so impossible and then Bear just goes ahead and does it. Are you skeptical? Then watch this:


I think I'll hold off on TV today. I'm on a strict diet of NPR and print media...

Even the NY Times knows it...

First up, I'm really pumped for Knocked Up, Judd Apatow's new film coming out this summer. You probably remember him some of the previous projects he's directed or produced including Feaks & Geeks, 40 Year Old Virgin, and Anchorman. A lot of people have already written in, asking for some segments on the movie so I've been trying to book something with the cast. Hopefully we'll be able to set something up...

And now- the quote of the day:

Its vibrant downtown overflows with urban pleasures like chic restaurants, funky nightclubs and spritely neighborhoods crackling with youthful energy, but nobody's boasting. That's another nice thing about Portland.

Hopefully you've already seen this, but if not- check out this article. It's a great travel piece from the NY Times about, (do you really not know?), Portland, Oregon.

Back in NY

I just got back a few hours ago, greeted by fog and rain showers. Let me bask in the warmth of some left over pictures from my cell phone- I promise I'll be back on topic tomorrow...

Another beautiful day...

Portland just doesn't get any better than this...



I've been keeping busy hunting for treasure in Camas, Washington, but more on that later...

Portland...

I'm still in Portland, but I'm making some plans for when I get back. Stay tuned for interviews with Ryan Gosling, Anthony Hopkins, Lauren Ambrose, Maura Tierny, and others. And it looks like they'll be yet another interview with Paul Rudd, (which makes #5?). Any burning questions you want to ask them? Let me know.

And here are some camera phone pictures from my time in Oregon so far: