“What’s today?” cried Scrooge, calling downward to a boy in Sunday clothes.

“Today?” replied the boy. “Why,

Christmas Day!"


Merry Xmas

This is the 20th time I have written a Fun House on Christmas Day (the site itself will turn twenty next November). That's a helluva long time. Thank you all for being a part of my life.

And, if you are Christian, Merry Christmas.

If you are not Christian, may you still experience and share good will toward men.


The Interview

Has any film ever received more free publicity than this one? Just in case you've been living in bin Laden's old cave, I'll tell you that the plot centers on an interviewer who normally specializes in celebrity gossip ("A video in which Matthew McConaughey seems to be fucking a goat? Get me that goat!"), but who somehow lands a live face-to-face with the reclusive Kim Jung-un. This is a major international event, of course, so the CIA knows of it and opts to use it as an opportunity to assassinate the North Korean strongman. The spy agency recruits interviewer Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his producer (Seth Rogen) to pull off the hit.

The North Koreans actually agreed to the interview because they figured that Skylark was the one major interviewer whose brainpower was so limited that he would be an easy target for their propaganda. Skylark and Kim spend an entire day together, shooting hoops, doing drugs, having sex with Kim's comfort women, and bonding over their daddy issues. Skylark is so taken by the Supreme Leader that he decides the he will call off the assassination and simply do the scripted interview mandated by the North Korean spin doctors.

Unfortunately, Kim slips up in a pre-interview party so badly that even the dim-witted Skylark can see he is batshit insane. Skylark realizes that he must not only abet the assassination, but must also humiliate the dictator by going off the script during the interview.

The film walks an uneasy balance between silly, scatological comedy and "other," meaning that it also dabbles in bromance, serious political commentary, and violent action. I didn't get much pleasure from the "other," but I enjoyed the occasional inspiration in the lowbrow comedy, which is mostly inspired by the sheer stupidity of the Skylark character, as played with hyperbolic gusto by the ubiquitous Franco, as he interacts with the mad Kim, played with smarmy relish by Randall Park. Oh, sure, co-author and co-director Seth Rogen is not Sacha Baron Cohen, so you will not find the film to be very impressive if you insist on evaluating it as a would-be scathing satire, but you should enjoy it if, like me, you watch it for some cheap, dumb laughs.

The last twenty minutes (or so) of the movie are essentially plot-driven and humorless, and the conclusion probably tries for greater depth than the authors could muster, but by that time I had laughed out loud several times, so it didn't matter so much that the film failed at being profound, because it had already succeeded at being profane.

There is nudity from the guy who plays Kim Jong-un, as well as from these random North Korean floozies.


TV Recap

The ladies of Naked News did a Christmas special on Christmas Eve. A naked Isabella Rossini sang a seasonal song, and all the available anchors exchanged presents - while naked, of course.

Stay current

Check Other Crap for updates in real time, or close to it.











 


"Defiance"

1920x1080

today: season two, episode two

Jaime Murray and Katie Douglas














TV and Film Clips

Alicia Vikander in Son of a Gun (2014) in 720p



Brooke Adams (aka wrestler Brooke, nee Brooke Tessmacher) in Bikini Destinations (2008) in 720p



Anna Tikhonova in Milyy drug davno zabytykh let ("A dear friend of forgotten years long ago"; 1996)



Patricia Charbonneau in Call Me (1988) in 720p




Shelley Duvall in Thieves Like Us (1974) in 720p





Pics/Collages

Charli XcX



Lola Kirke in Free the Nipple