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News, commentary and humor about bicycling and other topics of the day

 

Sean Penn as Larry? Hmmm!

OK, I know this is supposed to be a bicycling blog. But since I lead a bicycle ride called the Tour de Stooges and -- as of Monday -- own all 90 Three Stooges shorts featuring Curly and 16 of 70 shorts with Shemp, I think it's appropriate for me to comment about the upcoming Three Stooges film being made by the Farrelly brothers.

For about a decade, the Farrelly brothers have been trying to make a movie about the classic comedy trio, and they finally may be close to getting it done.

Variety reported that MGM and the Farrelly brothers have signed Sean Penn to play the role of Larry. Negotiations are under way with Jim Carrey to play Curly, with the actor already making plans to gain 40 pounds to approximate the physical dimensions of Jerome "Curly" Howard, and with Benicio Del Toro to play Moe.

If everything goes as planned, Variety reports production will begin in early fall for a release sometime in 2010.

The choice of Sean Penn to play Larry is an interesting one. "I resemble that," is what Penn might say to comparisons between him and Larry Fine. I'm wondering how he'll do, however, in a second-banana role, as Larry normally played to Moe, Curly and Shemp. Maybe the Farrellys will more fully develop Larry's persona to fit Penn's talents, but to me, Penn seems more of a Moe than a Curly as far as demeanor goes.

Some Stooge purists say it's a horrible idea to try to make a new Three Stooges movie. The jury still is out for me.

I consider myself a student of the Stooges of sorts, and a close viewing of early Stooges films reveals they were somewhat risque for their day, particularly with double entendres. And yet, the Stooges also had a sense of innocence about them. The challenge for the Farrellys will be to get the proper balance of the risque, the innocent and -- of course -- the slapstick to make it work.

Below is a clip of the original Three Stooges. You be the judge!

Labels: Three Stooges

Roger 0 comments links to this post 9:53 PM

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!

One of my friends on my MySpace page -- yes, I have one, but only primarily to bring people to this site (And, no, I am not too old to have a MySpace or Facebook page!) -- encouraged people to stop dwelling on the bad things or things that need improvement and try just being thankful for what you do have and that you are alive.

In addition to being alive, I'm grateful for:

• My family, whom I'll see tomorrow for Thanksgiving and the joint celebrations of my nephew and oldest niece, both of whom turn 17 this year.
• My friends. My odd hours keep me with connecting with you as well as I would like, but be sure you are frequently on my mind.
• My ability to ride a bike.
• My ability to play a leadership role in the Tour de Stooges and the Belleville Area Bicycling and Eating Society.
• My job. Even though the newspaper industry is going through a difficult transition as more people rely on the Internet for news and advertising, it still gives me a lot of satisfaction to design a strong front page that draws people to read our paper.
• My faith, which keeps me anchored when things get a bit crazy.

I'm sure I can think of more if I had time, but I need to get back to work. I wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S.: For those of you who live in the St. Louis area, KPLR-TV, Channel 11, will be having a Three Stooges marathon from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. CST Thursday. Thanksgiving is a great day for TV viewing -- if you're a guy!

Labels: family, friends, Thanksgiving, Three Stooges

Roger 0 comments links to this post 6:51 PM

Friday, June 29, 2007

StoogeMania

Just in case you didn't get enough of the Three Stooges on May 5 at the Tour de Stooges, KPLR-TV, Channel 11, in St. Louis will be presenting 14 -- count 'em -- 14 hours of Three Stooges films.

The Stooge marathon takes place from midnight to 2 p.m. CDT. You can see the commercial for StoogeMania here: http://cw11tv.trb.com/kplr-stooges,0,4946619.blurb

It's good to see the Stooges back on Channel 11. That's where I watched hours of Stooges films from the 1960s into the 1990s.

Speaking of the Stooges, we mailed the final batch of Tour de Stooges T-shirts this week. We apologize in the delay in getting the shirts out because of circumstances out our control, but we hope those of you in the St. Louis area will have your shirts in time for StoogeMania!

Labels: Three Stooges

Roger 1 comments links to this post 2:01 PM

Friday, May 11, 2007

'A Girl Who Loves the Stooges'

A big tip of the hat to Belleville Area Bicycling and Eating Society mainstay Dave Weidler to introducing me to Terry Adams' new song, "A Girl Who Loves the Stooges."

I just can't imagine how Dave thought of me when he heard that song this morning.

DJ Steve Pick played the song today on his Sound Salvation show on KDHX-FM 88.1, a community radio station in St. Louis. Here's how Pick describes Adams' album, "Rhythm Spell" and the song:

"This solo album from the NRBQ keyboardist is a hoot and a half. Here, he searches for that ideal woman, the one who loves The Three Stooges."

You can listen to the streaming audio of the show here: http://www.kdhx.org/stream.php?id=37&show=5313

The song is about 42 minutes into show. Before you get to "A Girl Who Loves the Stooges," you get to hear such tasty nuggets such as Kate Bush's "Mrs. Bartolozi," Pete Townshend's "The Sea Refuses No River," Wilco's "Hate It Here," and Willie Nelson and Ray Price's "Lost Highway."

All I can say is how can you not like a song that has lyrics such as "sabatoogie" and "say a few syllables."

And, are there any girls who love the Stooges?

Labels: music, Three Stooges

Roger 0 comments links to this post 7:20 PM

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Just catching up

I know it's been about a week and a half since my last post. I no longer have BubbaFest as an excuse for not posting, so here's some random notes:

Happy Birthdays: My sister Teresa's son, Julius, and my late brother Wes' daughter, Ani, are celebrating their 16th birthdays this weekend. Julius turned 16 on Thanksgiving, while Ani turns 16 today.

After the Thanksgiving meal Thursday, my family got to watch "Tour de Donut: Gluttons for Punishment" for the first time. The film inspired Julius and Teresa to want to come down to Staunton, Ill., next July to give Tour de Donut a try. Julius is convinced he can eat 20 doughnuts, while I think my sister can do well in her age division next year. If Julius would ride and eat well enough to win, it would be the second Tour de Donut on "Old Blue," the blue Cannondale I rode to victory in the 1995 Tour de Donut.

Ani, meanwhile, played for the Belleville West High School junior varsity girls tennis team. She most likely will be on the varsity roster next year, so I'm hoping to see her name in the Belleville News-Democrat often the next two seasons.

Great biking weather: It seems as if I brought some warm temperatures home with me from Florida. The high temperatures in the St. Louis area will be in the 60s this weekend, so I plan to get some miles in today. I should have been biking Friday, but I didn't because I put Christmas lights up for my duplex and because I was fighting a bug that left me tired. I finally turned the corner Friday evening, so there's no excuse for me not to ride today.

I want to get a short ride in Sunday morning before I go to the St. Louis Rams-San Francisco 49ers game with my nephew.

Still thinking about Florida: I hope to post my official account of BubbaFest sometime next week in the main section of the Web site. In the meantime, I'm posting a photo taken by my good friend Doug Kaufman during the trip.

Our buddy, John Chester, needed to get a tire fixed during the course of the ride at the Big Pine Bicycle Center. It turns out that the owner, Marty Baird, may be a bigger Three Stooges nut than I am, if you can imagine that.

Not only does he own the jersey pictured here, he also has 146 Stooges episodes on tape and gobs of Stooges memorabilia. It was only appropriate Marty and I recreate a classic Stooges scene for the cameras. I told him about the Tour de Stooges, but he won't be able to make it up north for the ride because it's his busy season. I will try to make sure he gets a shirt for his collection.

Just starting out: Friend and former News-Democrat colleague Emily Priddy, the hippie of the Red Fork Hippie Chick blog, is writing about her efforts to become a cyclist after finishing two marathons and four half-marathons. She asked me not to laugh at her humble Thanksgiving Day ride.

I'm not laughing.

We've all been in Emily's shoes sometime in our cycling lives, and I applaud her efforts to become a cyclist. In a matter of time, she should be able to cruise her bike up those hills she now walks.

Labels: bicycling, Thanksgiving, Three Stooges, vacation

Roger 1 comments links to this post 12:21 AM