Bill and Kevin celebrate Paul (of Paul and Storm)’s birthday

You might recall the names Paul and Storm from the Tron Rifftrax entry, which they performed with Jonathan Coulton. You might recall it, and hopefully you do, as their names have resurfaced once again in MSTdom. See, it was Paul’s birthday recently, and Storm sought out recorded messages from their friends for a special video birthday present. Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy, among others, answered the call.

Bill went for a somewhat more straightforward message than most of the other participants, and you can find him around the 7-minute mark. Kevin, on the other hand, decided to go any which way but straightforward, dusting off the United Servo Academy Men’s Chorus name (or in this case, the academy’s “Liturgical Ensemble”) and serenading Paul in (I believe) Latin. It’s at the end of the video, around the 13-minute mark, and well worth a listen.

The rest of the video is pretty funny and, assuming you like funny (you do), you would probably do well to watch it as well. If you’re as big of a fan of the United Servo Academy as I am, this is a really nice surprise.

Mike Nelson racing an RC car at Rifftrax HQ

Yep, you won’t find a more descriptive post title this side of the Internet, let me tell you what. I’m not really sure why posting this is at all relevant, but since when has being relevant ever been relevant? The Internet is for internetting!

(via TorgosPizza’s twitter)

Next on Rifftrax: Paranormal Activity

The next Rifftrax commentary, out today, is Paranormal Activity. In other words, it is something I will never watch, because I’m a huge pussy when it comes to horror films. As such, I have selected a header image to encourage happy thoughts and not evil ghost-demon-monster thoughts. You’re welcome.

You can pick up the DVD here… IF YOU DARE!

So, Comic-Con happened — and I got to go!

Well, Comic-Con 2009 is officially over, and what a great time it was! There’s something very special about seeing so many geeks in one place, and this year was no exception. The convention hall was filled to the brim with various nerd treasures, from comic books to elaborate figurines, and even Star Trek perfume!

But of course, the real draw for me  (and Deep Ape!) were the various Rifftrax events that were going on over the weekend. Click past the break to read about it!

Hey. So, Comic-Con is happening…

Heh. Once again, it looks like I’m the slowpoke. I was preparing to type up some sort of Comic-Con post, and the good folks at Satellite News beat me to it, as usual. Instead of rehashing the specifics, I’ll just give you a general rundown of what MST3K-related shenanigans are going down this weekend, and then point you over to the Satellite News post for more details.

Friday, July 24th @ 2:30pm: Mike Salva’s Max The Hero animated short will be shown in room 26AB. The well-received short features the vocal talents of Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett. (Here’s my original post about the short.)

Friday, July 24th @ 3pm: Immediately following that, Mike, Bill, and Kevin will be in Sails Pavilion AA8 signing autographs. There’s something about there being a “line ticket drawing” at 10:30am, so you may have to do that first. On Saturday, July 25th at 12pm, there will be a second autograph session in Sails Pavilion AA6. Both sessions will last a couple of hours.

Friday, July 24th @ 7:15pm: It’s a Rifftrax Live show! The usual trio of riffers will be mocking an unnamed short in-person, in Ballroom 6D/E. Presumably, there will also be a Q&A session of some kind, as The Internet’s Veronica Belmont is listed as hosting the panel.

Sunday, July 26th @ 10:30am: You can catch the sole official Comic-Con appearance by a Cinematic Titanic crew member by attending this live performance of The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd podcast, in room 8. TV’s/DVD’s Frank Conniff will be performing one of the show’s characters, as he’s done before.

And throughout the weekend, Rifftrax/Legend Films will be at booth #3251 in the Exhibit Hall. They’ll be peddling plenty of merchandise, and you may even see Mike, Bill, or Kevin lingering around like the unemployed bums they are. Furthermore, if any of this information is still relevant to you, you’re probably at Comic-Con right now and I’m jealous and I hate you.

(Image taken from Amanda Palmer’s Twitter.)

Rifftrax DVDs hit Amazon

Those aforementioned ten Rifftrax DVDs have been up for sale on Amazon. They’re quite affordable, at just under $10. If you feel like picking them up, please do so via this link. It would help feed the children — or more specifically, me — and I would appreciate it muchly. (Sorry for the short post. It’s hot and my back hurts and stuff.)

Oh hi, Deep Ape — I’m back!

Did I ever tell you guys (that is, if anyone is still reading) that I was going to be Internetless for a while? Well, I was, and now I’m back! Try not to get too excited! I managed to make it out to a Cinematic Titanic live show in Philly, so you can expect a recap over the next couple of days. I’m in the process of moving, so bear with me, but I hope to return to normal operations soon.

In the meantime, the guys from Rifftrax recently released a commentary for The Room, a movie that I (somehow) didn’t even know existed. It looks glorious, as you can see in the above preview clip. Enjoy!

New Rifftrax DVDs exist, by the way

While I’ve been off doing science and magic, the folks at Rifftrax have been wading deeper into the DVD pool, bringing their total number of Rifftrax-on-a-disc to nine — and soon to be ten. These are pretty self-explanatory, effectively playing out like The Film Crew DVDs, with Mike, Bill, and Kevin’s commentary already synced up with the video. Yeah, you know the drill. Here’s the full list:

• Carnival of Souls
• House on Haunted Hill
• Little Shop of Horrors
• Missile to the Moon (not the Fred Willard commentary)
• Night of the Living Dead
• Plan 9 from Outer Space
• Reefer Madness
• Rifftrax Shorts: The Best of, Vol. 1
• Swing Parade

All of the DVDs feature the newer commentaries with Bill and Kevin joining in, not Mike’s older, solo commentaries. And if you’re afraid of giving the Internet your money, these DVDs will be available at brick-and-mortar retailers on June 16th. Furthermore, there will also be a second volume of shorts coming soon, though they’re “not exactly sure when.” Here’s the tracklist, as it stands now:

• One Got Fat
• Lunchroom Manners
• Each Child is Different
• Why Doesn’t Cathy Eat Breakfast/Petaluma Chicken
• Act Your Age
• Harm Hides at Home
• Coffeehouse Rendezvous
• Are You Popular?
• Good Health Practices

Of course, those shorts can also be found in digital form here, if you want to pick-and-choose and save a few bucks. (No word on whether or not Vol. 2 will have any exclusive content.) But still! DVDs! For your DVD player of choice! Buy!

Happy Birthday, Bill Corbett!

Today is Bill Corbett’s 89th* birthday! Looks good for his age, doesn’t he? Why not shoot him a birthday tweet on Twitter and tell him that you don’t hate Crow’s new voice? Deep Ape salutes you, sir.

* Give or take 40 years.

Mike Nelson’s bacon diet makes the local news

If you’ve been keeping up with Brain-related news — and hopefully you have, despite my prolonged, shameful absence — then you know that Michael J. Nelson has been eating nothing but bacon, for the entire month of February. Why? Because the internet kids love the dead-pig product, and Mike Nelson loves the internet kids.

Evidently, the stunt caught the attention of the local news, and San Diego’s NBC affiliate did a story on Mike’s pork-fest. It now seems that what, to the naked eye, would appear to be suicidal madness, is actually turning out to be kind of beneficial: Mike’s lost some weight, and his blood pressure’s even gone down.

So, assuming that Mike survives the month, what should the Rifftrax crew tackle next? Should March be Bill’s month of chicken? Or maybe Kevin should spend April supping on Slim Jims? Will Cinematic Titanic counter with a month of veggies?

Rifftrax Live! For free! Everywhere!

Are you as fed-up as I am about living in a part of the country devoid of Rifftrax or Cinematic Titanic live shows? Well, now we can complain slightly less, as Mike, Bill, and Kevin will be performing a live riffing of the short Self Conscious Guy via the interwebs, 100% free-of-charge!

The performance is tonight (Thursday, January 15th, for the inattentive) at 9pm EST, and will be broadcast here. There will also be a Q&A session with the guys afterward, utilizing the Ustream chat interface here. So, uh, be there. Or don’t. But you should.

The MSTie’s 2008 Holiday Shopping Guide

Hi, guys! Remember me? There hasn’t been a whole lot to report of late, but I wanted to stop in and recap all the MST3K-related merchandise available for the MSTie on your holiday shopping list. Of course, as usual with me, it’s coming a little late, what with 9 days until Christmas. Still, if you’re in need of some last-minute shopping, give this humble guide a look, after the cut.

And yeah, if you wouldn’t mind clicking on my links for your Amazon shopping, I’d appreciate it. I only blatantly whore myself out once or twice a year, so bear with me. It will help put food in the mouths of all those children I don’t have. That said, I still encourage you to shop around and not take “too expensive” for an answer.

Hey, you — GO VOTE. YES, RIGHT NOW.

Well, gang, if you’re anything like me, you’ve had a love-hate relationship with politics, this year. I’m really sick of all this nonsense, and after tonight it will effectively be over, but I’ve never been more interested and personally invested in an election. So, I’ll resist the urge to be partisan, and I’ll simply say that — as Joel would say — I abhor you to vote. This is your country, so go have your say.

Up above, you can find one of my favorite skits from MST3K. Right here, you can find your local polling location. Riff the vote, baby! Kevin says so.

Happy birthday, Kevin Wagner Murphy!

Yes. Wagner.

Our very own Tom Servo No. 2 was born 52 years ago, today. Kevin’s been a favorite of mine, ever since I read his delightful (yes, delightful) A Year At The Movies. Seems like a really awesome guy with a tremendous passion for cinema. So, fellow MiSTies, please join me in saying I HATE TOM SERVO’S NEW VOICE happy birthday to Kevin!

Enjoy some random Kevin-filled videos, after the break.

Rifftrax Live recap: Good news and bad news

Fresh from the Rifftrax crew’s pair of live performances out in Santa Monica last night, Mike Nelson has made a short post on the Rifftrax blog reporting “mission accomplished.” Uh, with some casualties. Oops.

(I mention this only because it strikes me as ridiculously amusing.)

Expanding…