Archive: March, 2010

How a Gray Whale Moved Down Broad Street

POSTED: Monday, March 29, 2010, 9:34 PM

Filed Under: Arts Arts Events

Courtesy of UArts

Church's whale

Through the month of April, people strolling down the Avenue of the Arts will be greeted with a curious site: three beached gray whales. Growing out of a gravel lot next to the Broad Street Ministry (315 S. Broad St.), the whales have ribcages of chicken wire and fence posts. Visiting University of the Arts artist Shay Church has been constructing the large-scale installation pieces for 10 days and on Sun., March 28th, he invited community members and students to coat the whales in clay. Despite the chilly temperatures and occasional drizzle, around 30 participants answered Church's call for volunteers. Wearing paint-stained clothes and ponchos, the mix of UArts students and locals severed off chunks of clay from larger blocks and attacked the whales' hulking frames from all sides. The three whales range from 35 to 55 feet, but the volunteers' combined efforts were able to coat the creatures within about six hours. The whales' skins were textured by fingerprints and the clay is expected to evolve: hardening, baking and cracking over time. "With my art, I want to build community and do community projects," Church said as he lent a clay-covered hand to a whale. While he is typically found in Virginia Commonwealth University's Craft and Material Studies department, Church has traveled across the U.S. erecting large-scale whales and elephants as part of his "Wet Clay Installation" series. But why whales and elephants? "I'm interested in relationships in nature and considering the effects of the absence of one part of the ecosystem," Church says. You can see a time lapse video of another gray whale creation on Church's site. The gray whale installation coincides with the beginning of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, coming to Philadelphia March 31 to April 3. Director of the University's residency MFA program in Ceramics Joe Girandola hopes this is the first of many site-specific installations. But for now, the whales will be on display for the next two to three weeks.

Shay Church's Gray Whales, Reception Broad Street Ministry, 315 S. Broad St. The reception will be held on Thu., April 1 from 2-6 p.m.

Jeffrey

Posted 2010-04-01 14:19:57

Such lovely beasts. I posted some more photos of them here: http://bit.ly/bvGLdV

Posted by Emily Currier @ 9:34 PM Permalink | Post a comment

THE SHOWDOWN: Bong hits on beaches

POSTED: Monday, March 29, 2010, 7:51 PM

Filed Under: Music The Showdown

A concert a day keeps the doctor away.

Monday: Get down with some dense, trippy weirdness with the Cleveland duo, mr. Gnome. They're fully equipped with gentle female vocals set against sandpaper guitars, driving drums and chanting choruses. They make songs that are dramatic and playful, and they'll probably put on the funnest show this week. With Pepi Ginsburg, Tristen, and Charles Latham, $8, 7 p.m., North Star Bar, 2639 Poplar St., 215-684-0808. Tuesday: The band City Center encourages fuzz to creep into their music. Instead of gritty, amped up guitars, they use the fuzz to produce a warmth to their storytelling tunes. They also use loops, bells and spastic noises, eliminating consistency and the possiblity of being background music. With Clean Equations and Controlled Storms, $5 - $10, 8 p.m., Danger Danger Gallery, 5013 Baltimore Ave. Wednesday: San Fran babies Citay play their spiraling pop at Kung Fu Necktie tonight. With their dreamy guitar wails, they're songs conjure up thoughts of late '60s classic rock, only Citay has filtered out nearly all of this lame parts of that era, kept a touch of the admittedly enjoyable cheese, and reinvented it into something appropriate for today. At 8 p.m., $10, Kung fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 215-291-4919. Thursday: Atomic Square are subtle. They are just barely too poppy — too radio-friendly — in some songs. While on other tracks they get more experimental with acid feedback and drifting bass lines. It sounds like they're not certain where they want to go, which could make their show a fun ride or an awkward paradox of pop and experimental. With Glowfriends, Pilot Cloud, and The Defog, $8, 8 p.m., North Star Bar, 2639 Poplar St., 215-684-0808. Friday: Badasses and murderous banshees, Gunslingers will be bruising drums tonight and — as their album cover suggests — getting blood on the guitars. They boast lightning fast licks, but that doesn 't mean they play songs that barely reach the one minute mark. With touches of black magic and Satanic rituals, they're an evil presence. But play they're albums backwards and it's all rainbows and kittens. With Gentlemen Christ, La Octracina, and This Temper, $8, 9 p.m., The M Room, 215-739-5577. Saturday: Best Coast is the relaxed, female version of Wavves. She makes warm, fuzzy lo-fi made for sunny days and heartbreak. It echos images of the bong hits on beaches with her lyrics of friendships turned relationships turned shit. With Reading Rainbow and Creepoid, $10, 7 p.m., Barbary, 951 Frankford Ave., 215-423-8342. Sunday: The singer of Leopold and His Fiction, Daniel James, has a voice that starts out unassuming, but will eventually grab you and demand attention. The warbley, bluesy and shaken vocals are driven by catchy guitar rhythms and a more than occasional southern rock vibe. At 8 p.m., $8, Khyber, 56 S. 2nd St., 215-238-5888.

Posted by Julia West @ 7:51 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Cellophane Man Apprehended In Fishtown

POSTED: Sunday, March 28, 2010, 6:29 AM

This amazing piece of tape art was discovered hanging on Mercer Street Saturday morning. As you can see in this a/v presentation by Flickr user thebluegirl, the officers had a little fun taking the guy down.

Becky

Posted 2010-03-29 16:58:21

Yay Mercer Man!  I had to do a double-take when I walked out of my house and saw this out front.  I miss him!

Posted by Patrick Rapa @ 6:29 AM Permalink | Post a comment

PROJECT RUNWAY: Episode 10, Fabric-a-brac

POSTED: Friday, March 26, 2010, 9:08 PM

Filed Under: TV ProjRun

bloggingprojectrunway.com

Anthony, Emilio, Jay, Johnathon, Maya, Mila, Seth Aaron

This was by far the saddest week in a mediocre season of ProjRun. Even the judges shunning Mila's hideous, too tight dress wasn't enough to make me crack a smile in this bastardized funeral-isode. New York's most dapper, Tim Gunn, introduced the remaining — and certainly by now, exhausted — designers to some shnazzy technology that allowed the kids to design their own fabric. The high-tech "from desk to design" color me bad screen was incredibly fancy to say the least. The textiles created, however, were mostly lackluster.

Seth Aaron designed some ridiculous cartoon face grid sequence that he referred to as a British take on pop punk. He took that fabric and made a sharply tailored jacket and pants. It was a bust, yet the judges loved it, as per usual. Yawn, Seth Aaron, yawn. Maya's print was red and orange marks on black fabric. It looked like she closed her eyes and played around on MS Paint. And guess what? The judges loved this one as well. She put together a boring paneled dress that would have been hopeless if it weren't for the ruffly collar she attached. It was somewhere between an hoity toity Elizabethan collar and a roll of papery garland from the dollar store. Then there's was Mila's steaming pile of shit: a floor legnth dress that was so tight and restricting that the model had to take little baby model steps down the runway so as not to fall over. It was mostly white, with a diagonal panel of the fabric she designed. All she did was make different colored vertical lines on a white background. How painterly, Mila, you insufferable idiot. Go home already.

The winner of this challenge was the man who made a print that no one quite understood. Emilio Sosa made a blue, graffiti-inspired fabric that sloppily repeated ESOSA over and over. In place of the "O" was a heart. Each person who looked at it didn't understand that it said E. Sosa. The greatest moment came when TG came in and said he saw it as Seth Aaron, heart, Emilio Sosa. Take that, Em. Your torrid love affair with Seth Aaron was just exposed by none other than Tim Gunn. All that matters is that Emilio, at least in that very moment, felt stupid. It was a passing moment, though, since he won again, making it the second week in a row and his third win of the season. His '40s style dress was interesting enough with the solid black upper back that came around to a black V in the front. Meh.

While it was wonderful to see Mila in the bottom three, the two that accompanied her set things in motion for an unhappy ending. Elimination came down to Anthony and Jonathan. The latter did his usual thing and made something pale with a design that was barely visible, paired with a reverse (meaning worn backwards — Criss Cross-style) gold shrug. What? Yeah, for real. This is where things get really, really upsetting. Like some miserable, fat, pockmark-riddled bully on the playground, Michael Kors starts picking on Jonathan's design. Rather than be constructive and tell him what he can do to improve it, Kors just said that the dress looked like a dirty tablecloth. To further insult the man in front of his peers, Kors then called the weird shrug a "disco straitjacket." The model took the shrug off to show the entire dress and when Jonathan helped her get it back on Kors, that meanie, chuckled and said, "Oh, your husband helps you into your straitjacket," and the judges all laugh edabout it. They were like hyenas, all of them, with Michael Kors' jiggly face leading the pack. It was painful to watch. Thankfully Jonathan stood up for himself (which Heidi later commented on, in a negative way) and said that the "dirty tablecloth" comment was "preposterous." Unfortunately, that word was too big for Kors to understand. Jonathan stood strong and made it through one more week, though.

My favorite Sassy Southerner made an uninspired black and purple dress with a peculiar sleeveless shrug-something-or-other. It looked like he was inching away from his flowy femme dresses with this, a piece that was slightly more graphic and edgy with the print. We all knew the day would come when Anthony would need to pack up his bags and head back to Atlanta. It was clear from the beginning that he wasn't going to make it to Bryant Park, but we love him regardless. He left with such tact that you would think he was going back home to teach etiquette school. Anthony left saying, "You don't need to have the crown to be the queen!"

You tell it, sister.

Sossy

Posted 2010-03-27 09:07:04

Oh, PLEASE! Somebody on the sane side tell us why MILA has not yet been eliminated????  Okay, here's an assignment for the judges (who apparently haven't reviewed fashion history beyond the late 80s or old B&W movies).  Check out the designs of the late 60s and early 70s, and you'll see what Mila is producing. Problem is, she is not 'inspired' by those looks, she's stuck in the era and coming up with really, really BAD mimics. Her dress was clearly the worst in this competition, and it's not the first time she's been on the downside of bad. Her technical ability might be okay (heck, after Ping, anyone who can halfway use a stapler and glue gun looks skilled), but as Michael Kors said a week or two ago, she's a one-trick pony.  

I'm so sorry our sweet Anthony got nuked instead of Mila. Props to him for the graceful and positive way he bowed out.

rosie

Posted 2010-03-27 14:49:46

It was a shame they let Anthony go.  He was, by far, the most entertaining designer on this season's shows.

The judges should stop the snarky comments.  Not pleasant for anyone and they are making a lot of money from the show.

Nina Garcia should buy some scarves to cover her neck.

Posted by Julia West @ 9:08 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Behind the scenes at this year's Style Issue

POSTED: Friday, March 26, 2010, 8:00 PM

Filed Under: Shopping Fashion

Last Monday, I worked on the photoshoot for this week's Style Issue. By help, I mean I held the photo reflector for a few hours with photog Neal Santos, Shopping Spree goddess Felicia D'Ambrosio, and art department head Reseca Glasser. It was interesting to see what goes into a City Paper photoshoot. You can see outtakes from their work above.

But I didn't really understand the goal of the shoot, what Felicia — who also worked on last year's style issue — was trying to achieve. I caught up with Felicia this week to get some background on the shoot and Philadelphia's fashion scene.

City Paper: What's the inspiration for the models and the shoot?

Felicia D'Ambrosio: Carrie Collins comes from Philadelphia's bike culture. She dressed Brown [aka Jeff Cuellar], who's very independent-minded, but he works for Urban, so there's an interesting juxtaposition there. Donja Love and Keisha Kay — Donja is a little harder, his influences are very diverse; he pulls from high fashion, street style, from hip-hop, from films and television. He's sort of an assimilator of styles. He dressed rapper Ethel Cee for our style issue last year, and I was so impressed by his personal style that I wanted to feature him and have him photographed, because he's just very original. The Topstitch girls [Linda Smyth and Tina Nguyen] are designers, and they have their own stories.

CP: How did you guys come up with the location?

FD'A: Our original idea was to put the seamless backdrop out on the street in the Italian Market. W wanted to make the clothes pop against a white background so they'd be really clear, but we wanted to capture a little of Philadelphia, too. The weather was pretty rough out there, so at the last minute, the weekend before the shoot, Reseca went out and scouted some locations that were indoors but still gave off that Philadelphia feeling. The boxes of produce added a kind of authenticity there.

CP: How would you characterize fashion in Philadelphia?

FD'A: Philadelphia doesn't really have an institutionalized fashion industry like, for example, New York. Our fashion comes from the fact that this is an art school town. We have lots of fashion design programs, we have lots of artists and people that are printers, people who are always kind of making things. So a lot of the style comes up from the street rather than down from the designers. When we do have designers, they tend to be smaller and more independent.

You have lots of people who work for Urban Outfitters, so you have that influence too, where people are working in style but it's a much more organic style than New York. So there's no real authority on fashion in Philly. Vintage has its own trend trajectory, freestyle has its own trajectory and then you have other people who are interpreting high fashion in their own way.

Posted by Sam Kaplan @ 8:00 PM Permalink | Post a comment

THEATER REVIEW: Ses Voyages Sauvages, 3/25 @ an undisclosed West Philly apartment

POSTED: Friday, March 26, 2010, 7:09 PM

Filed Under: Arts Theater

appliedmechanics.blogspot.com

With its commentary on ideas about home, Ses Voyages Sauvages is fittingly, and cleverly, staged in the interior of an apartment. Around 7:45 p.m., a group of people gathered on the porch of the West Philly row house, making small talk while waiting for the doors to open. Had I known how much these people would be part of the performance, I may have made more of an effort to mingle with the crowd of avid theatergoers and performers. This tone of informality and vague awkwardness remained throughout the entire performance, even after we were led up three flights of stairs to the Arctic.

To transform five rooms into different terrains, the set designer made a smart decision in employing materials commonly found around the apartment. The living room was transformed into the Arctic with cardboard boxes painted white and plastic tarps, the kitchen became a mountain range of elaborate papier-mÃ¢chÃ©, and other locales were constructed with fabric and converted furniture. While the scenery was convincingly portrayed, the found materials reminded the audience of the constant presence of home wherever you go.

appliedmechanics.blogspot.com

The cast of six young actors agilely interacted with the set and each other in meandering plotlines revolving around their own personal quests. Audience members were unleashed on the play without any guidelines about how to watch and were able to follow any character they felt inclined to. Instead of being spoon-fed a story, the audience was given their own agency. Unfortunately, most people uncomfortably clogged the hallways instead of venturing into any of the biomes. Unless there was the invitation of free food or alcohol, they were unwilling to break the typically prescribed fourth wall. The actors, meanwhile, remained intensely wrapped up in their quests, even with the audience voyeurs constantly getting in their way.

Though they ran through the storyline twice in the performance, I left Ses Voyages Sauvages wanting a longer engagement in this lucid, poetic world. But, as the actors and occasional plot holes echoed, "Why must you dream your dreams and have them, too?"

RELATED >> Agenda Pick: Ses Voyages Sauvages

Sally Bowie

Posted 2010-03-26 17:08:22

Fascinating review !  Makes me want to see this.  Sounds like the reviewer might want to return for a second experience.  Those of us who haven't yet seen it benefit from her observations and descriptions and may be guided into fuller participation.  Thank you.

Posted by Emily Currier @ 7:09 PM Permalink | Post a comment

CRITICAL MASS WEEKEND OMNIBUS: Filthy Weekend

POSTED: Friday, March 26, 2010, 6:00 PM

Filed Under: Weekend Omnibus

Have a Divine weekend

Friday: Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Cry-Baby: You know John Waters' work. You love John Waters' work. But now get to know/love the man when he hits up Bryn Mawr College for his presentation of This Filthy World. (Do you think he'll hang with Serial Mom star Kathleen Turner while she's in town playing Molly Ivins? Fingers crossed!). Or go to a tribute for another great storyteller: monologist Spalding Gray. Stories Left To Tell, a tribute put together by Gray's wife, happens all weekend at the Painted Bride.

Saturday: Oyster House hosts a shucking contest tonight for pros and amateurs alike. So either go, or think of how many hilarious ways you can replace with 'fuck' with 'shuck.' Mama Omnibus prefers mothershucker, but get creative with it (maybe post some possibles in the comments below...). Then Gemini Wolf crashes Sugar Town, asking Philly artists to redefine their own songs. If you don't go for that, go for newcomer Attia Taylor, who joins GW

Sunday: Class it up on the cheap by hitting Tony's on Third for this fantasticalismo Trash and Treasures sale, where you can pick up Dior, Versace and some terrible romper-looking contraption (hey, Mama didn't say it was all treasures, did she?) so you can be the fanciest person Hive 76's Linux install class. Aw, screw it, you just wanna see Hot Tub Time Machine, don't you? Rob Corddry wants you to go too.

Posted by Molly Eichel @ 6:00 PM Permalink | Post a comment

SXSW 2010: Liner Notes and Last Words

POSTED: Friday, March 26, 2010, 5:15 PM

Filed Under: Music Philly Bands

Final observations from my first SXSW.

Photos | Patrick Rapa

The SXSW swag bag: Here, you recycle this for me.

People I Felt Kinda Bad For

The ladies whose job it was to beckon pedestrians into some kind of creative ideas lounge thing sponsored by Zone bars aka Zone Perfect Nutrition Bars aka chocolate covered granola bars. What bland terrors lay within that windowless storefront? I never dared to find out.
The dude whose personal gimmick was walking around in an apron. Lots of people on Sixth Street made unique fashion/social decisions in the name of personal expression. Kinda like college.
The people with the "Free Hugs" signs. There were several groups with signs like these. Why is this a meme? (I did appreciate the dude scratching his beard and offering "Free Bugs.")
The drunk lady I think I gave the wrong directions to by mistake. I hope you made it to Wye Oak. Sorry. I was drunk too.
The people who stood in that huge line for the Pitchfork show and didn't get into whatever was in there.
The Virginia photographer who thought her wristband would get her into Best Coast.
The guy who got into a fight with that chair-stealing psycho at the Hole show.
The guy working security at the one Superchunk show; that douchebag was a douchebag to you.
The plastered woman who got off the shuttle when everybody else was getting on. I hope you figured out what hotel you were staying at.
The people of the future who will one day have to deal with the mass of plastic left behind by 2010 SXSW. All those cups and bottles and lanyards are not worthy of immortality.

People Love the Cupcake Truck.

Celebz! omg

Apparently there was a moment where, like, Bill Murray was outside some indie show handing out $100 bills and Woody Harrelson was running around looking for him...? It's just so weird. I wish I'd have seen that. And, by now you've seen the thing about Bill Murray tending bar. I saw Matthew McConaughey and Nardwuar the Human Serviette at Hole. Saw Eugene Mirman and Bryan Dilworth in the airport.

Bands Whose Shows I Missed But Heard Were Good:

Street Food

Austin is all about (expensive) walk-and-eat food sold from trucks, windows and booths: $4 bucks for a slice from the pizza truck, $3 for a cupcake from the cupcake truck, $2.50 sodas, etc. Best deal was for pulled pork and/or brisket sandwiches, which can be purchased at every single store/venue/cart. Sweet Texas barbecue.

Wired Hearts Philly

Wired magazine named nine bands that blew them away at this year's SXSW and two Philly bands made the list.

Dr. Dog:

I was a fan before I saw them live but now they are a must-see band for me, up there with The Walkmen and Stephen Malkmus.

The Notekillers:

I happened into this gig with some friends fairly early one night, and ended up buying a CD-R and a T-shirt despite having no good way to carry the merch (and having not bought a shirt with a logo on it in years). Veteran Philadelphia- and Brooklyn-based band Notekillers is, in one sense of the word, sick.

When Were People Watching Videos?

Apparently there was a vote for Best Video of SXSW. The winner was "Luv Deluxe" by British band Cinnamon Chasers. It's an instrumental ambient-dance-pop-Run Lola Run situation.

Related >>Five Shows That Ruled SXSW 2010

Related >> SXSW Day 1: Mess With Texas

Related >> SXSW Day 2: The Labelmakers

Posted by Patrick Rapa @ 5:15 PM Permalink | Post a comment

FINE PRINT: A viking ship takes to NoLibs today at 8 p.m.!

POSTED: Friday, March 26, 2010, 4:30 PM

Photo | Courtesy of Educational Technology Clearinghuse

Viking ships are cool!

Bringing you more Philagrafika 2010 coverage.

OK, Vikings were not the coolest of guys, but Viking ships are awesome.

Critical Mass just got word that, as part of Philagrafika, Dennis McNett and a crew of artists will be building a Viking ship from scratch today in the parking lot across from the Crane Arts Building (1400 N. American St.). The wooden frame is up, but there's still lots of work to do, including covering the ship with wheat pasted-prints. All of this will be taking place between now and 6 p.m., and anyone's welcome to watch.

Then, at 8 p.m., the ship will be paraded around Northern Liberties (!) — most likely between the Crane Arts Building and the Piazza at Schmidts, says Philagrafika's Rebecca Mott.

Jeffrey

Posted 2010-03-27 13:09:26

My coverage of the Viking Ship:
http://postnonprofalyptic.blogspot.com/2010/03/barbarian-invasions-at-crane-arts.html

White and proud

Posted 2010-11-13 10:43:18

Fuck you, Vikings were awsome.

Posted by Holly Otterbein @ 4:30 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Q&A with Hot Tub Time Machine's ROB CORDDRY: "Yes, I was African American as a teenager."

POSTED: Friday, March 26, 2010, 2:15 PM

Filed Under: Interview | Movies

Rob Corddry in Hot Tub Time Machine

Former Daily Show correspondent Rob Corddry takes on one of his first starring roles in the oh-so-amazingly titled Hot Tub Time Machine, playing lovable jackass Lou who sets the back track in motion to 1986. Corddry called us to talk about getting tanked with Martha Stewart, his '80s butt cut and how John Cusack grounded a movie called Hot Tub Time Machine in reality. City Paper: So I heard you were on Martha Stewart recently? Rob Corddry: (laughts) I was, yeah. CP: You don't really seem like the craftiest of guys. Do you have a secret knitting fetish or something? RC: My obsession with knitting is no secret. My mother is actually a huge knitter and she told me and Nate, my brother, that if we ever have a TV show, we should mention knitting on the TV show because of its rabid fanbase and it will guarantee you show-saving numbers. See, her perspective means a lot. I was given the choice to either cook or craft and I chose to cook. CP: Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the episode. What did you cook? RC: I cooked Mexican tortas, chicken tortas and beer margaritas. CP: Beer margaritas? That sounds really gross. RC: Yeah, I enjoyed a beer magarita with Martha Stewart. CP: Is she a big drinker? I bet she can throw it back. RC: She looks like she's been around the block, the way she tucked into that margarita. CP: To get into the movie: I think everyone has the same reaction when they hear the title Hot Tub Time Machine, which is amazing title. So you see the script for the first time, see the title and, before you even read it, what's your first reaction? RC: I was right on board immediately. You either get it or you don't. The title page said, "Hot Tub Time Machine: Based on the Incredible True Story." I think we really missed the boat. CP: I don't think you can lie that much on movie posters. Just a little bit. RC: I guess (sounds disappointed). CP: Because this is such a buddy comedy, did you know who you were going to be up against when you initially read it? RC: They had gave the script to me and Craig [Robinson] first. I didn't know Craig but we shared the same publicist. We were kind of circling around it a little bit before we knew what the other was going to do because we both liked each other and we're fans of the other. We just waited it out. Clark [Duke] came on and they were looking for someone big. Then Cusack came on and it became a completely different movie. CP: I think it's funny you mention Craig's involvement first. In the movie, I think you play off of him the best. Your comedic styles play off each other very well. But he's so different from you — you're so energetic while he's more of a laid back deadpan. RC: We both have similar sensibilities. We're the same age, we have the same influences. He's from Second City, I'm from the Upright Citizens Brigade. We're related in our way. We both did improv. And, Clark, the refreshing thing about Clark, is that he's only 25-years-old. But he may as well have come up with us. He's very smart and very down-to-earth and really shared sensibilities. Cusack just brings a completely different vitamin to the whole thing. CP: Yeah, you say he changed the movie when he came on board. RC: I don't mean change the movie, although he did. He just made it more real. He brought some heart to it, some — dare I say it — reality that the movie was missing. Before he came onboard, it was a complete ... my character excised a lot of the ... oh boy, it's all unbelievable stuff because we go back in time in a hot tub... Like, my character is ridiculous, but in a pre-Cusack version of the script, while back in time he rents a DeLorean thinking it's going to contain a Flux Capaciter. That's just stupid. Who would do that? Even the biggest imbecile wouldn't do that. So we definitely got rid of that element. Suddenly my character was a catalyst for the journey and there was reason to take the journey, which there wasn't before. CP: It's weird, because John Cusack ends up like a cynical Lloyd Dobbler. RC: What's funny about Cusack is he's played a lot of cynical characters as of late. A lot of the characters he plays now are sort of what I imagine Lloyd Dobbler became. Lloyd Dobbler was way too wide-eyed and optimistic, way too good to ever stay intact. I've got to believe that Ione Skye moved on and Lloyd Dobbler was ruined and became the guys Cusack plays in some the other movies. CP: Going back to how completely ludicrous your character Lou is. I have this theory about Daily Show correspondents: You all take your characters and translate to bigger things when you leave the next. Stephen Colbert, clearly, Ed Helms and Steve Carrell on The Office are all versions of their Daily Show persona. I see Lou like that too. He's an asshole but he's lovable and you're just glad that he makes it through the movie alive. RC: Well, Helms and I started the same day. And we just imitated Colbert for about a year until we founnd our own way. We sort of just became our own guys. Playing a character named Rob Corddry, you're going to have a little of yourself in there. That's not to say I'm an asshole. It's very comfortable for me to play assholes. My manager is very fond of saying that I make creepy accessible. CP: Why are you so good at playing the asshole? RC: That's something I don't want to think about. I feel like if I think too much about it, I'll break it. And I enjoy playing the asshole (laughs). CP: Do you feel the need to overcompensate when you're not being a douchebag in real life? RC: (laughs) Well ... yes and no. Not because of who I tend to play in movies and TV. I was told once by one of my best friends, Seth, whose from Northern California. You know, grew up with hippie parents, really laid back and I grew up in Boston where everyone is sarcastic and thinks they're the class clown. I used sarcasm as a defense most of the time and he called me out on it one day and said, "You know, you're not being very nice." And I was like, "Nice? What means this word nice?!" I just learned that sarcasm is a fear-based defense and I don't like to go there anymore, though I can exercise it in my characters. Because it's a lot of fun. And I'm really good at it. But it's not very nice. CP: You went back to your youth a bit. In 1986 [when the bulk of Hot Tub Time Machine takes place] you're 15-years-old. Explain 15-year-old Rob Corddry to us. RC: I had a full head of hair. It was really something, by the way. CP: Oh, I bet. Did you go for some Farrah wings, maybe a jheri curl? RC: Yeah, I had a jheri curl. Yes, I was an African American as a teenager. No, I had your typical early '80s butt cut. Parted down the middle, feathered. Although, like everything about myself in the '80s it wasn't quite right. I just couldn't get the bangs right. I was really trying to be cool and fashionable and always just missing a little bit. CP: Awww. RC: There was something a little bit off. Like your shoes aren't tied just right. Or I'm wearing Tough Skins, not Levi's. My shirt's from Marshall's and it fits awkwardly. That was basically my teenage years. CP: So you don't want to go back in time and 15 again? RC: Nope, I'm good.

Josh

Posted 2010-03-26 09:17:12

Good stuff!

Posted by Molly Eichel @ 2:15 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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ICE CUBE: In Memoriam: Joe Tartaglia
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About this blog

Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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