Freaked

Bill S. Preston, Esq., brings you this timely meditation on the price of fame. Washed-up actor Ricky Coogan sells out to endorse lethal chemical Zyglot-24 for the EES corporation. In the course of attempting to seduce an activist protesting the product, he ends up getting captured and freakified by circus showman Randy Quaid.

Countless sight gags and cameos abound as Ricky attempts to save his fellow freaks (including Mr T as the bearded lady, and Bobcat Goldthwait as a man with a sock-puppet for a head) with the help of his annoying troll soulmate, Stuey. Incidentally, Freaked contains some of Keanu's finest acting in an uncredited role as Ortiz the revolutionary dog-boy.

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Freaked (IMDB)

Wince : [****_]
Flinch : [*____]
Retch : [**___]
Gape : [****_]

Beerequisite : [****_]
Pornability : [*____]
Obscurity : [***__]
Explicability : [***__]

Memorable lines:
"Ugly enough to burn the nose hairs off a dead nun."
"I just laid a turd that's the spitting image of Kim Basinger. she's naked too!"
"Rastafar-eye!"

Apathy and other small victories

Pail Neilan's Apathy and Other Small Victories is the kind of book one loves to hate. A first-person narrative of a self-deprecating but narcissistic slacker, with no plot or character development to speak of: this is the type of book of which there are too many, all done poorly.

Except Neilan is hilarious. The book opens with a darkly humorous tone that is maintained consistently throughout the book, even when trying to wrap up the story through exposition (always a bad sign!) at the end. No mean feat.

It is difficult to describe this as a good book, but it is a quick and very enjoyable read. Easy to lend out, even to non-readers.

Carny

How many times have you said to yourself, "Boy how I wish that Jodie Foster ran away from her folks at the end of Taxi Driver to join a circus and become a burlesque dancer" ? I know, I know, it's the same with me: lots.

Well, here's your chance. A young Jodie foster runs away from her invisible mother and gruesome boyfriend to live the carnival life with Gary Busey. She becomes part of the carnival crowd, taking different jobs until she finds one she likes, and expands her relationship with Busey to include his friend, Patch. At about this point the movie picks up the pace as the local mob decides that the carnival's payoff wasn't big enough.

While aimless, and leading to no great insight for any of the characters (except possibly Jodie Foster), this is a decent film with some very solid performances by Gary Busey (seriously!) and Robbie Robertson. There is an authentic feel to the hustles pulled in the carnival, and to the community built up in the carnival itself.


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Carny (IMDB)

Wince : [**___]
Flinch : [**___]
Retch : [**___]
Gape : [**___]

Beerequisite : [**___]
Pornability : [**___]
Obscurity : [**___]
Explicability : [****_]