Is Crispin Glover Brilliant? or Just Plain Crazy?

Freddy recently finished up using "Back to the Future" to teach English to one of his high school classes. Crispin Glover, as the nerdy dad, George McFly, is always one of the favorite characters of the students. (As well as one of Freddy's all time favorites) When Freddy was in high school, he used to imitate Crispin Glover's attempt to ask out Lorraine Baines at the soda stand: "Yes, I'm George, George McFly, and I'm your density!... err uh, I mean destiny." This is one of Hollywood's all time greatest pick up lines.

Although Freddy was always a big fan of Crispin Glover, it wasn't until college that he discovered Glover's wide range of artistic endeavors. Soon after meeting his college roommate, Freddy was introduced to Crispin Glover's music album, "The Big Problem Does Not Equal the Solution. The Solution = Let it Be." Freddy was immediately enthralled with tracks like "The New Clean Song", Crispin Glover's interpretation of "These Boots are Made For Walkin'", "Clowny Clown Clown" (of which Freddy once did an interpretive
reading and dance backed up by an impromptu band) and of course, "Auto Manipulator". In fact, the Auto Manipulator song even inspired of Freddy's Auto Manipulator T-shirt design, which Crispin Glover has seen himself, and autographed. If you're not familiar with the album or the music, please enjoy this video of Glover's "Clowny Clown Clown" available on YouTube:


Freddy hadn't watched this video in quite some time and was just noticing that "Mr. Farr" actually appears to be Glover's character from one of his own films, "Rubin and Ed". Unfortunately Freddy has never had the opportunity to see this film, other than some of the clips that are available on YouTube. Here is Freddy's favorite YouTube clip from Glover's "Rubin and Ed"...



Perhaps one of Crispin Glover's most well-known appearances (aside from Back to the Future) is his 1987 appearance on Letterman, which is also all over YouTube. There are a lot of rumors out there that Glover did the appearance while he was on an acid trip. Based on his behavior, it would be easy to believe. Freddy"s personal opinion is that he was in the character of Rubin Farr (From his movie, "Rubin and Ed") Once you watch the clip, you'll also notice that the Rubin Farr character also appears in the Clownly Clown Clown video. In my opinion, Glover appeared "in character" for the interview. I do not believe he was on LSD. Crispin Glover's 1987 Letterman appearance:



About three years later, Crispin Glover appeared on Letterman again, this time as himself. He attempts to explain what happened back in '87, but the story takes too long and Letterman cuts him off before he can finish. From what Freddy can guess, it seems that Glover was trying to say that it was not actually him that appeared on the show back in 1987. He says that he was tired from doing several appearances in a row, and asked an acquaintance, who looked very much like him, Rubin Farr, to do the interview in his place. (Freddy apologizes for the low quality of the clip, it is the only one he could find of this interview)



Crispin Glover, himself, will not confirm or deny any rumors about his 1987 appearance on Letterman. He says he prefers to just let the incidents have a life of their own and let people think what they want.




Mr. Glover elaborates more on why he likes to let his work stand on its own, and why he sometimes likes to make people feel a bit awkward and uncomfortable (David Letterman?) in this interview with Tom Green:

Freddy is not surprised that Crispin Glover and Werner Herzog get along well. Freddy is also a Herzog fan, and even evaluated three of Herzog's films in a research paper for graduate school in Germany. Freddy would categorize both Werner Herzog and Crispin Glover in that weird genius category. Some other time, Freddy will probably write up a blog entry about Herzog as well.

Anyhow, one reason Freddy is a fan of Crispin Glover relates to what he talks about in one of the interviews. Glover mentions how he sort of enjoys the audience reactions to some of his quirky antics. (Freddy wonders if Borat is a Glover fan...) You see, in case you didn't know, Freddy designs weird t-shirts (mostly weird, at least). Freddy also enjoys watching the reactions from people on the street, who "don't get" the t-shirts. But that is an article for another day. Freddy doesn't want to get off topic. This is supposed to be about Crispin Glover. Well, the post has gotten too long anyhow, so perhaps he should close it up.

For those of you who are perhaps only familiar with Crispin Glover as George McFly from "Back to the Future", or as just some weirdo, Freddy hopes that he has been able to open your eyes to a different, more thought-provoking, intellectual side of his acting. There are all kinds of clips on YouTube with Crispin, from one of his very early roles on Happy days, to some weird Latina girl interviewing him. Freddy doesn't have time to post them all here, but if you want to know more about Crispin, please look for him on YouTube and visit his own website, perhaps he is coming to your town for a presentation of his slide show and film.

Thank you for reading all the way to the end. If you enjoyed the post, perhaps you would like to visit my store:
Entropic Tees
If you like the t-shirts, don't forget to vote for the Deers is Mammals Tee at T-shirt countdown.
Vote for Deers is Mammals

And of course, don't forget to visit again...

If You Like Bluegrass Music..

... then you may be interested to keep reading. Well, it's nothing big, but Freddy was taken down memory lane a few days ago by some old, bluegrass-lovin' college buddies. For about two years when Freddy was in college, his Saturday nights were always reserved for the Old Man Roscoe Jamboree. Freddy and his friends would get together and play hot, passionate bluegrass for 2 hours or more, till the neighbors complained. It was a group of friends, ranging from as few as 4 or 5, sometimes up to 20 or more, who would crowd into Freddy's little college apartment, bringing guitars, banjos, violins, stand-up basses, flutes, percussion, anything you could play music on. Those who didn't have an instrument brought their voices. Old Man Roscoe was our founder, who only a few privileged members had actually met. Those who had met Roscoe were sometimes lucky enough to have convinced Roscoe to teach them a song. Some of the favorites were: "Where do Babies Come From? (I don't know, I don't know)", "Skinny Dippin'", and "'59 Chevy". Some of Freddy's favorite old standbys were "Drill ye Tarriers, Drill", "Rocky Top", "Old Joe Clark" and many more. Those were good times.

Most of the members of Roscoe have spread out across the Midwest, but occasionally several will find themselves in close proximity and happen to have their instruments with them. When that happens, it is likely that there will be an Old Man Roscoe Revial meetin'. About a year ago, Freddy had the chance to have one at his house. It was good times. Just a few days ago (well, it was June, actually) it seems that there was a jamboree in Chicago with a few of the old members. They were nice enough to put it up on YouTube, so Freddy's gonna share it with you!


Purely through coincidence, shortly after watching this video, Freddy saw a "crazy Japanese T-shirt" as he was walking down the street in Japan. (Freddy likes crazy Japanese stuff) Anyhow, the T-shirt Freddy saw had a guitar and banjo on the front, with the text, "Let's Go Crazy" over the top of the image. Well, since Freddy like it so much, he made his own design.


This is Freddy's own Bluegrass T-shirt design. If you like it, please consider purchasing one. Or perhaps you don't like it, but you know someone who might? Freddy would be very grateful if you passed it on to them. You may see the full range of products with this design at the following link:

Let's Go Crazy - Bluegrass T-shirt

And now Freddy just spilled coffee all over his desk (#$%*!) and no, that is not a euphemism! So He must go and clean it up. Great way to start the day!

You Could Never Show This on American TV!

Freddy read a week or so ago that Japanese game shows were starting to make their way into the US TV market. Freddy wonders if they will be showing original Japanese game shows, or trying to make their own shows to be like Japanese game shows. If it is the latter, Freddy thinks they will never get close to producing the same ...er... quality of game shows. Besides, some of them would never make it past the censors. They are just to crude or violent, or both. Freddy will share a crude and violent game show with you, but first let him tell you about a fun and creative one.

Freddy doesn't have time to watch TV as much as he used to, but when he last lived in Japan, about ten years ago, he still remembers some of his favorite game shows. One was more of a reality TV show. (The Japanese were doing "reality TV" long before Americans ever heard the term). Anyway, it was quite entertaining. Two non-Japanese were shown a 5000 yen note. On the back of the note is a famous view of Mt. Fuji. There is a certain spot where this picture was taken and many tourists will stop there to take pictures. The two contestants were told that they had to find their way to this spot and the first one there was the winner. I believe they started off somewhere in Osaka/Kobe. Of course, neither spoke Japanese and they didn't even give them a 5000 yen note to help them out. They had to get there completely on their own. Freddy remembers one of them made it to Kyoto, and was just wandering around Kyoto station asking in a loud voice, "Does anyone speak English?" "Does anyone have a 5000 yen bill?" It was an entertaining program and eventually, they both made it to the goal.

Sometimes, though, Japanese TV producers just go for the lowest common denominator (which is usually sex, violence, or ... well, poop and farts) In this case, they went for the farts. Now, those who know Freddy will know that Freddy loves a well-timed fart, and the more embarrassing, the better it is. Like in this YouTube Clip, for example (it disappeared for awhile, but Freddy is glad to see that it is back)

Ha ha ha, that never gets old.

Anyhow, the Japanese game show was again a traveling show. Two contestants (this time, Japanese) were given a goal to reach. They were given no money, so unless they could get some, they had to walk there (not impossible, but would have taken more than a day to walk all the way.) They were actually given a way to earn money, though. Every time one of them farted, they would get 50 yen or something like that. Freddy thinks it actually depended on the volume and the length of the fart. So if they farted enough, they could earn enough for the bus fare for part of the way, or to buy a drink or snacks or something like that. So the whole show was following these two fellows on their journey and watching them as they rejoiced every time one of them tooted his trouser trumpet.

Well, the traveling trouser trumpet show is a bit crude, but Freddy thinks it still might make it onto the US networks. But this final game show likely goes a bit too far (and this is not the worst, by the way.) Freddy found this by mistake a year or so ago while searching for clips of a different game show. The contestants here are given a tongue twister, and a time limit. If they fail to say the tongue twister without any mistakes, or they go over the time limit, they are ... physically harmed. (The ladies will likely enjoy this more than the men)


Funny Japanese Tshirts

A Nerd's Wet Dream - Monty Python Juxtaposed with Star Trek

Someone Freddy follows at twitter posted a link where Freddy found this video. The nerd radiation levels are simply incredible. Be careful if you are a hard core nerd. The combination of Monty Python and Star Trek might just overload your pleasure circuits. Watch with caution.



I hope you enjoyed and please pass it on to your friends.

Several foreign language videos sure to make you laugh.

Freddy is a lingophile. He loves to learn and speak languages. Freddy learns German and Freddy learns Japanese. Freddy even learned Spanish for a bit one summer. Of course, Freddy's love for foreign languages serves as an inspiration for some of his t-shirt designs. But Freddy is not writing to advertise today. Nor is he even writing to pass on Jennifer Laycock's latest SEO tips. Freddy is just going to provide some enjoyment for you today.

Freddy forgets how he found this video, but it made him chuckle the first time he saw it. It's in English, but there's a bit of German at the end.



Then there are the Berlitz ads. Freddy found this one a few years ago, and when he was teaching German, his students used to love it. (Unfortunately, though, some of them just said, "I don't get it")



Since Freddy is on the topic of German, here are some more. A few years ago, Freddy had the privilege of attending, and then hosting several concerts by Uwe Kind. Uwe is wonderful advocate for learning German and it is amazing how he can motivate even an auditorium full of very reluctant, self-conscious teenagers. Uwe is also quite a funny fellow and because of him, Freddy discovered clips of "Verstehen Sie Spass", which is a German Candid Camera type of program. Uwe first sent me this clip:



There are many more, and here are a few of my favorites:




and this one is maybe not quite as good, unless you can understand German:


So learn German.
Freddy could endlessly embed "Verstehen Sie Spass" videos, but if you are enjoying these, it is probably better for you to just search for "Verstehen Sie Spass" at YouTube on your own.

Oh, Freddy forgot his favorite one:


Of course, the Japanese spots are a whole different monster, but Freddy will save those for next time. Enjoy the German, and don't forget to come back in a week or so for more.

Freddy

Two things you should be aware of ... ok, at least one

Freddy has been away for a bit. He hasn't been out of town, but he has been learning about Search Engine Optimization and web promotion. Today Freddy wants to pass on to you a fun tip and a valuable person, if you are also someone who has a website, blog, business, or whatever, to promote.

The first thing is actually a person. Her name is Jennifer Laycock. She writes for Search Engine Guide. In fact, she is the editor of the whole site, it would seem. Freddy discovered her wonderful article series, Zero Cash, a little talent and thirty days while looking for ways to promote his Cafepress shop, Entropic Tees. Jennifer gave herself the challenge to start an online business with virtually no money and turn a profit within thirty days. In the article series she documents her successes and failures every day. In the end, she was highly successful and turned a profit of nearly $327. Many readers of her series have called the experiment somewhat unrealistic because of her already established base of readers and broad networking capabilities. Nevertheless, she attempted not to use those advantages and keep things as average as possible. Unless you already have connections like her, you probably won't see $300 + in the first month. Still, the series is full of helpful hints and common sense SEO stuff that you might not think of, especially if you are new to online marketing.

A friend of mine (who already is webmaster for several highly ranked websites) even found the series helpful. He said, "Freddy, thanks for sending me the link to the boob lady, I read the whole series through once, and now I'm reading it again and taking notes." As you can see, it was even helpful for an experienced web marketer. Ah, now Freddy knows you are more interested in why he called her the boob lady. Don't get too excited. It is merely because the CafePress store she set up for the experiment featured designs promoting breast feeding. She has lots of humorous designs, Freddy suggests that you have a look.

Jennifer's usefulness goes beyond this one article series. She writes an update nearly every day on web marketing and SEO and Freddy has been slowly reading his way through all her articles. She is sooooo easy to read. She doesn't use jargon or complicated computer lingo. Of course, there is some web specific language, but if you are somewhat familiar with the Internet, it really isn't so bad. What's more, she writes in a way so that you feel like she is a close friend, so even if you don't understand exactly what she is talking about, you can still enjoy the article.

This brings Freddy to the second thing he wants to tell you about. On a tip from Jennifer, he signed up for Twitter. Now Freddy first heard about Twitter a long time ago, and he checked it out, but didn't do much more than that with it. Freddy does have accounts at other social networking websites like myspace and facebook, but Freddy couldn't really understand what the deal with twitter was. (not that he is any good at using Myspace or Facebook either) That is, until he read another article series by Ms. Laycock. Freddy has learned to trust and respect Jennifer from the other articles he's read by her, so he figured if she endorsed it, he ought to give it a try. (She does more than just endorse it, in fact, she calls it one of the two social networking sites you cannot do without) Freddy is still working to build up his following and his friends on Twitter, but he will admit, that he finds a lot more fun than Myspace or Facebook.

Well, Freddy has done enough writing for today. Please check out Ms. Laycock, Please look for Freddy on Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, and of course, please stop by and browse the T-shirts at Entropic Tees. There were several new philosophy designs added just last week.

Two Crazy Japanese T-shirts

Living in Japan, Freddy sure sees his share of crazy Japanese t-shirts. He first became aware of the Japanese fetish for non-sensical English while reading Dave Barry's "Dave Barry Does Japan" about 13 years ago. Mr. Barry mentions several T-shirts he observed while spending a Sunday afternoon in Harajuku's Yoyogi Koen area, where bands line the street a play bad music. Some of the shirts Freddy remembers said things like "Nurse Mentality", "Circuit Beaver", "King Fucker Chicken". Then, several years later, Freddy discovered a site called engrish.com, where there is a treasure trove of funny Japanese English submitted by people mostly living in Japan. One particular T-shirt from this website that Freddy remembers was submitted by a user who saw a 13 year old boy walking around wearing a shirt that said "Future F.A.G" Although engrish.com is an amusing site, the owner, unfortunately feels that some of the "engrish" needs further explanation and he always adds his own commentary beneath the pictures. More often than not, the picture was funnier before he said anything. Freddy once even wrote to him to suggest that he let the "engrish" stand on it's own and it didn't need further explanation. Now Freddy took a friendly, non-confrontational tone in his message, a sort of, "Why don't you..." or "Have you considered ..." type of suggestion. Yet, the owner took on a very defensive mood in his response, explaining to me that everyone loves his comments and they were not going anywhere. He even directed me to a FAQ regarding this topic, where he says "a clear majority of the site visitors prefer that the commentary stays. Freddy just wonders if so many people enjoy the commentary, why he needs to post a FAQ addressing the issue. Well, clearly, there is a significant amount of people who don't enjoy the commentary as well. Anyhow, Freddy is becoming distracted. He will just let the Engrish.com website owner continue to live in his own special world, where he is the funniest guy around.

He meant to tell you all about two or three fun Japanese T-shirts he has recently seen. Two of them belong(ed) to his son. The first one, he has grown out of, but it was one of Freddy's favorites. It was a shirt for a 1 year old, with a picture of a little bird on it and the text which said, "It is a shameful thing, the bird which soils it's own nest." What a perfect, uplifting message for a baby. Actually, Freddy thinks the most impressive thing about this shirt is that there is actually no grammar mistakes on it. Perhaps someday, Freddy will get around to making his own version of this desgin for EntropicTees. The other Tee also belongs to his son and he just got it the other day. It has a lady bug on the front, and the text says, "I am a justice". Freddy thinks it would be a bit better if it just said, "I am justice", but it's not bad. Freddy thinks this is a great shirt for a two year old. See below.

The other shirt Freddy saw was worn by another father at his daughter's kindergarten and it illustrated that Japanese sometimes have no idea what they are actually wearing. In fact, Freddy was close to being shocked at seeing this t-shirt, especially since it was at church, on a Sunday morning, worn by a member of the church. (Freddy's daughter's Kindergarten is run by the church). Anyhow, the shirt had a picture of a gang member holding a cop in a headlock from behind and the text said, "Make me come, faggot!" This desgin is not likely to ever make it into Freddy's store.

Freddy did add two new designs to his store this week. Visit the new products section to have a look.