HOTEL MANAGER: What was it? Will there be any more of them?
STANTZ: Sir, what you had there was what we refer to as a focused, non-terminal repeating phantasm or a Class Five Full Roaming Vapor….A real nasty one, too.
VENKMAN (Starts writing a bill): That’ll be $4,000 for the entrapment plus $1,000 for proton recharge and storage.
Harold Ramis Tribute: Stripes
Press Clippings: A couple of final clips, both from from Stripes, the military comedy that Ramis co-wrote wrote and in which he co-starred with long-time buddy Bill Murray (the rather brilliant John Candy was also in the film). The clip above is the now (in)famous signup scene, in which Murray and Ramis visit an Army Recruiter. And, to send Harold off…the comically surreal cadence marching scene.
Harold Ramis Tribute: Ghostbusters
Press Clippings: One of the great, out-there comedies ever: Ghostbusters. A look back at the genius of Harold Ramis who co-wrote the script (with Dan Akroyd–you can spot the Akroydisms when you listen carefully) and starred in the film.
Harold Ramis: Groundhog Day, The Review
Press Clippings: The last two posts have been about Harold Ramis, the great comic writer/actor/director, who left us way too early at age 69. (I would have loved to see what he could have done with the rich comic material of old age). Ramis’ influence was penetrative and subtle and so deft that even the most sophisticated movie reviewers missed the full impact of what he was doing. Recalibrate and celebrate Harold Ramis by reading Roger Ebert’s review of Groundhog Day, a Ramis classic. One more thing: Ebert himself was a very talented observer and writer, as your reading of his piece on Groundhog Day will certainly reveal.
Harold Ramis Playlist
Press Clippings: Harold Ramis was a national treasure–writing, directing, and acting in films that defined both a culture and a generation. Here’s a short list of his contributions to our time and a link to an overview of his amazing career.
Stripes
National Lampoon’s Vacation
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters II
Baby Boom
Groundhog Day
Caddyshack
Analyze This
Bedazzled
Stuart Saves His Family
National Lampoon’s Animal House
Meatballs
Back to School
Harold Ramis
Press Clippings: Harold Ramis passed away this week. He was 69 and one of the funniest men on earth…..think about that for a second: one of the funniest men on earth. There are many other, wonderful tributes to Ramis in the media now and there’s no need to repeat what’s being said elsewhere here. So, instead, we’re going to honor Harold Ramis in the best possible way: by revisiting some of his very great work, and having a good laugh. We’re starting with a classic from his SCTV days….also: please turn it up. This is an old piece of video and the audio is not at a very high level. Special thanks to YouTube and SCTV for allowing all of us to share this.
Olympic Briefing: The Final Medal Count
Press Clippings: We came. We saw. We faltered–at least in FIgure Skating and Speed Skating. Oh well. The Russians took the top spot with the most medals, but, well, it does seem a little fair–they were the hosts and they spent $50 billion turning a seaside resort with close-by mountains into an Official Olympic Winter Games site. Good for them, good for us, and good for the viewing audience around the world. Here’s how the medal count breaks down for the Top 5 Countries:
2014 Sochi Winter Olympics
Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
Norway 11 5 10 26
U.S. 9 7 12 28
Russia 13 11 9 33
Netherlands 8 7 9 24
Canada 10 10 5 25
The final medal count of the top 5 countries from the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Surprise: there is a home field/track/hill/run advantage! For the detailed breakout on the finances and other metrics of the winning countries, we kindly direct your attention to our friends at Bloomberg, who knocked it out of the park (an old Olympic saying) with their final medal listing.
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Olympic Highlights : Get Lucky
Press Clippings: Who would have thought of this…The Red Army Choir (officially known as the Alexandrov Ensemble–which includes not just the Men’s Choir, but an orchestra and a dance ensemble)singing Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” , a wonderfully decadent Western Capitalist dog song, at the opening ceremonies to the Olympic Games. You cannot make this stuff up….brilliant in so many ways. (and yes, this version is not HD and is a little jumpy, but you’ll get it). A certain Olympic highlight.
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“You have enemies? Good. That means you stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
Olympic Briefing: 23 February 2014 (The Last Day)
Press Clippings: A schedule of events for Sunday’s last day of competition and events at the Sochi Olympics, from the BBC. Times are GMT; adjust times for your own location. Check back here for updates and videos. Special Thanks to the BBC for developing this very comprehensive listing.
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