Story by Paul Biasco, courtesy of DNAinfo Chicago:
Old Town — Those stage-fearing comedians out there might finally have their path to stardom by way of ink.
The Second City announced a partnership with The Onion Tuesday morning to offer a new writing program that will be taught at the Second City's Old Town-based training center.
The first course offered at The Second City Training Center, 1608 N. Wells St., "Basic Writing with The Onion," will be taught by the founding editor of The Onion, Scott Dikkers.
That class sold out in 30 minutes.
Read the whole story at DNAinfo.
Old Town — Those stage-fearing comedians out there might finally have their path to stardom by way of ink.
The Second City announced a partnership with The Onion Tuesday morning to offer a new writing program that will be taught at the Second City's Old Town-based training center.
The first course offered at The Second City Training Center, 1608 N. Wells St., "Basic Writing with The Onion," will be taught by the founding editor of The Onion, Scott Dikkers.
That class sold out in 30 minutes.
Read the whole story at DNAinfo.
- 4/9/2013
- by Kim Bellware
- Huffington Post
Director Lulu Jarmen’s “Bad Meat” proves once again why it’s always a bad idea to send teenage delinquents to rehabilitation clinics in the middle of nowhere. If they don’t spend their time hooking up in grungy cabins, they tend to get eviscerated by people with nefarious agendas. I’ve seen it happen time and time again. Of course, Jarmen’s nasty looking horror movie shouldn’t be confused with Scott Dikkers’s bizarre Chevy Chase comedy “Bad Meat.” Trust me when I say you don’t want to confuse the two. Although I haven’t seen Jarmen’s film yet, I’m almost positive it’s better than the other “Bad Meat.” Read the DVD packaging very carefully before purchase. Here’s what the official press release says about the flick: Starring Dave Franco (“21 Jump Street”), Elisabeth Harnois (“Mars Needs Moms”) Jessica Parker-Kennedy (“Decoys”) and Mark Pellegrino...
- 12/5/2012
- by Todd Rigney
- Beyond Hollywood
It's been ridiculed everywhere, but James Nguyen's labour of love is anti-mainstream film-making at its most convincing
The question "What movies are you looking forward to?" is common enough in chats about film, but I've struggled with it this year. Over the past couple of months, however, I've found the answer: Birdemic: Shock And Terror.
Birdemic is already being hailed as one of the worst films ever made: the acting, dialogue, special effects, pretty much everything about it has been held up to ridicule. But while I am sure I'll be giggling along with the rest of the audience at the movie's shortcomings, that's not why I'm looking forward to it. I like what it represents. It's a truly independent production in times when "indie film" means as much as "indie music" – a tag, a label far removed from its original meaning; all the major studios have long had their fake indie imprints.
The question "What movies are you looking forward to?" is common enough in chats about film, but I've struggled with it this year. Over the past couple of months, however, I've found the answer: Birdemic: Shock And Terror.
Birdemic is already being hailed as one of the worst films ever made: the acting, dialogue, special effects, pretty much everything about it has been held up to ridicule. But while I am sure I'll be giggling along with the rest of the audience at the movie's shortcomings, that's not why I'm looking forward to it. I like what it represents. It's a truly independent production in times when "indie film" means as much as "indie music" – a tag, a label far removed from its original meaning; all the major studios have long had their fake indie imprints.
- 5/26/2010
- by Phelim O'Neill
- The Guardian - Film News
NEW YORK -- Satirical newspaper the Onion has entered the world of online video, debuting three Onion News Network clips on its site Tuesday.
"Video clips online have reached a critical mass," Onion editor-in-chief Scott Dikkers said. "It's a new medium that's crying out to be parodied, and the Onion is the perfect vehicle for it."
The clips will run one to three minutes and will be available at www.onion.com. The publication initially will post new clips each week with the ultimate goal of uploading videos daily to the site.
The premise is that the Onion News Network is a television station that has been around for decades and is now beginning to archive and present its clips online, complete with fake anchors and field correspondents. The first videos focus on current events, but future clips will showcase items from the "old Onion newsreels" of the '40s and '50s and even earlier radio reports.
The first batch of videos features a report on immigration in which a senior executive at Lucent Technologies loses his job to a Mexican who arrived in the country two years ago on the back of a melon truck and doesn't speak English.
"Video clips online have reached a critical mass," Onion editor-in-chief Scott Dikkers said. "It's a new medium that's crying out to be parodied, and the Onion is the perfect vehicle for it."
The clips will run one to three minutes and will be available at www.onion.com. The publication initially will post new clips each week with the ultimate goal of uploading videos daily to the site.
The premise is that the Onion News Network is a television station that has been around for decades and is now beginning to archive and present its clips online, complete with fake anchors and field correspondents. The first videos focus on current events, but future clips will showcase items from the "old Onion newsreels" of the '40s and '50s and even earlier radio reports.
The first batch of videos features a report on immigration in which a senior executive at Lucent Technologies loses his job to a Mexican who arrived in the country two years ago on the back of a melon truck and doesn't speak English.
- 3/27/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Having earned a loyal following as editor of the satirical publication and Web site the Onion, founder Scott Dikkers turns his attention to the irreverence-starved world of feature comedies.
Unfortunately, the resulting "Bad Meat", co-written with fellow former Onion scribe Michael Hirsch, bears little of the barbed wit that made for such memorable headlines as "Tenth Circle Added to Rapidly Growing Hell" or "Mr. T to Pity Fool".
Instead Dikkers and Hirsch have delivered a one-note, dumb/dumber black comedy about a pair of losers whose scheme to kidnap a corrupt congressman goes very, very wrong.
Apparently aiming for the deliberately bad but failing to achieve that highly elusive so-bad-it's-good status, the Los Angeles Film Festival narrative competition entry may have a limited future as a midnight movie cult item, but judging from the walkouts at its first screening, "Bad Meat" is an acquired stench.
Set in the meat-packing town of Butcher's Mill, Ill., home to the perennially unemployed Buddy (Lance Barber channeling Chris Farley) and wide-eyed meat-packer Earl (Billie Worley), the film follows the dimwitted duo's plot to kidnap the obnoxious Congressman Greeley (Chevy Chase rendered virtually unrecognizable with a terrible toupe and even worse teeth).
The fact that Greeley drops dead before they can get to him doesn't prove to be a deterrent. Neither does the additional fact that his snatched cadaver finds its way into the plant and gets ground up into bologna.
Speaking of baloney, there's seems to be an attempt to conjure up the perverse spirit of early John Waters here, but the tone gets old real fast and the irritation factor isn't helped by Dikkers' (presumed) deliberately incompetent directing style.
On the plus side, Chase may take some consolation in knowing that "Under the Rainbow" is no longer his worst film.
Unfortunately, the resulting "Bad Meat", co-written with fellow former Onion scribe Michael Hirsch, bears little of the barbed wit that made for such memorable headlines as "Tenth Circle Added to Rapidly Growing Hell" or "Mr. T to Pity Fool".
Instead Dikkers and Hirsch have delivered a one-note, dumb/dumber black comedy about a pair of losers whose scheme to kidnap a corrupt congressman goes very, very wrong.
Apparently aiming for the deliberately bad but failing to achieve that highly elusive so-bad-it's-good status, the Los Angeles Film Festival narrative competition entry may have a limited future as a midnight movie cult item, but judging from the walkouts at its first screening, "Bad Meat" is an acquired stench.
Set in the meat-packing town of Butcher's Mill, Ill., home to the perennially unemployed Buddy (Lance Barber channeling Chris Farley) and wide-eyed meat-packer Earl (Billie Worley), the film follows the dimwitted duo's plot to kidnap the obnoxious Congressman Greeley (Chevy Chase rendered virtually unrecognizable with a terrible toupe and even worse teeth).
The fact that Greeley drops dead before they can get to him doesn't prove to be a deterrent. Neither does the additional fact that his snatched cadaver finds its way into the plant and gets ground up into bologna.
Speaking of baloney, there's seems to be an attempt to conjure up the perverse spirit of early John Waters here, but the tone gets old real fast and the irritation factor isn't helped by Dikkers' (presumed) deliberately incompetent directing style.
On the plus side, Chase may take some consolation in knowing that "Under the Rainbow" is no longer his worst film.
Having earned a loyal following as editor of the satirical publication and Web site the Onion, founder Scott Dikkers turns his attention to the irreverence-starved world of feature comedies.
Unfortunately, the resulting "Bad Meat", co-written with fellow former Onion scribe Michael Hirsch, bears little of the barbed wit that made for such memorable headlines as "Tenth Circle Added to Rapidly Growing Hell" or "Mr. T to Pity Fool".
Instead Dikkers and Hirsch have delivered a one-note, dumb/dumber black comedy about a pair of losers whose scheme to kidnap a corrupt congressman goes very, very wrong.
Apparently aiming for the deliberately bad but failing to achieve that highly elusive so-bad-it's-good status, the Los Angeles Film Festival narrative competition entry may have a limited future as a midnight movie cult item, but judging from the walkouts at its first screening, "Bad Meat" is an acquired stench.
Set in the meat-packing town of Butcher's Mill, Ill., home to the perennially unemployed Buddy (Lance Barber channeling Chris Farley) and wide-eyed meat-packer Earl (Billie Worley), the film follows the dimwitted duo's plot to kidnap the obnoxious Congressman Greeley (Chevy Chase rendered virtually unrecognizable with a terrible toupe and even worse teeth).
The fact that Greeley drops dead before they can get to him doesn't prove to be a deterrent. Neither does the additional fact that his snatched cadaver finds its way into the plant and gets ground up into bologna.
Speaking of baloney, there's seems to be an attempt to conjure up the perverse spirit of early John Waters here, but the tone gets old real fast and the irritation factor isn't helped by Dikkers' (presumed) deliberately incompetent directing style.
On the plus side, Chase may take some consolation in knowing that "Under the Rainbow" is no longer his worst film.
Unfortunately, the resulting "Bad Meat", co-written with fellow former Onion scribe Michael Hirsch, bears little of the barbed wit that made for such memorable headlines as "Tenth Circle Added to Rapidly Growing Hell" or "Mr. T to Pity Fool".
Instead Dikkers and Hirsch have delivered a one-note, dumb/dumber black comedy about a pair of losers whose scheme to kidnap a corrupt congressman goes very, very wrong.
Apparently aiming for the deliberately bad but failing to achieve that highly elusive so-bad-it's-good status, the Los Angeles Film Festival narrative competition entry may have a limited future as a midnight movie cult item, but judging from the walkouts at its first screening, "Bad Meat" is an acquired stench.
Set in the meat-packing town of Butcher's Mill, Ill., home to the perennially unemployed Buddy (Lance Barber channeling Chris Farley) and wide-eyed meat-packer Earl (Billie Worley), the film follows the dimwitted duo's plot to kidnap the obnoxious Congressman Greeley (Chevy Chase rendered virtually unrecognizable with a terrible toupe and even worse teeth).
The fact that Greeley drops dead before they can get to him doesn't prove to be a deterrent. Neither does the additional fact that his snatched cadaver finds its way into the plant and gets ground up into bologna.
Speaking of baloney, there's seems to be an attempt to conjure up the perverse spirit of early John Waters here, but the tone gets old real fast and the irritation factor isn't helped by Dikkers' (presumed) deliberately incompetent directing style.
On the plus side, Chase may take some consolation in knowing that "Under the Rainbow" is no longer his worst film.
- 6/25/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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