This month we’re proud to have Julian Ayrs, a film critic out of West Hollywood, CA, as our featured listener this month. Julian has several blogs and web sites where he tries to stay on top, and keep the public notified, of everything going on in pop culture.
Julian’s not much of a bowler, but hey, it’s not like we ever see The Dude actually bowl. His favorite films starring a Lebowski-actress are Hannibal and Boogie Nights. If you haven’t checked out P.T. Anderson’s films, Boogie Nights could be a good place to start. Magnolia is another excellent film of his starring both Julianne Moore and Philip Seymour Hoffman (Brandt). Well, before I start giving all his profile details away, I think I’ll just post the link. Thanks for getting involved with the podcast Julian! We always appreciate listener input and feedback.
We have a winner for the weekend pass to Lebowski Bowl-a-Rama taking place in Bangor, Maine this weekend. We had several entries, but Josh Christie’s entry was by far the best.
I “need” the weekend pass as a late Father’s Day gift for my Dad. My dad is a huge Lebowski fan - so much that he titled the last chapter of his book “The Dream Abides” and spent two paragraphs talking about how much he loves the movie. This is in a book about skiing, by the way.
His dad is a big fan and this is going to be a late Father’s Day gift. His dad even dedicated the last bit of his book on skiing to show much he loves The Big Lebowski. All I have to say is, "And a good day to you, sir!"
For those of you who have just stumbled upon us, and for you long time listeners who might not be aware, I thought I’d take the opportunity to point out some ways you can get involved in the sub-culture of The Big Lebowski besides just listening to the podcast.
Lebowski Podcast Blog - obviously you know about it already if you’re reading this post, but do you participate? Leaving a comment might seem like a trite or trivial thing, but it’s a real confidence booster to a blogger. I’ve been blogging since 2004 and feel I can say that with confidence. Comments also encourage conversation amongst other readers and can be both enjoyable and enlightening.
Lebowski Podcast Forum - sadly this is one part of this site that doesn’t get used very often. We’ve had several faithful users over the years, but it’s gets boring when I’m the only one responding. This is one place you can converse with fellow listeners or just talk about whatever’s on your mind.
MySpace - Just like Facebook, we also have a MySpace page. Honestly, we don’t do much with it, but it’s there if you’d like to befriend us.
Twitter - Tweeting seems to be the new sensation. I didn’t get on this bandwagon until earlier this year when I was tasked at finding useful ways to implement it at the university where I work. You can follow Chalupa at @lebowskipodcast and Liz at @LizBR.
Other blogs - There are many blogs on the interwebs containing pertinent information about your favorite films, actors and directors. Some of the blogs we read include:
Dudeism- This is a tongue-in-cheek religion created by Oliver Benjamin and based out of Thailand. Lots of deep thinking going on here.
Dudespaper- This is an excellent online magazine ran by the fellas at Dudeism and devoted to the lifestyle of the deeply casual. I must admit I’m a little biased because I’m not just a reader, I’m also a contributor.
Lebowski Fest - If you haven’t heard of the annual festivals ran by Will Russell and Scott Shuffitt yet, I’m afraid you might still have amateur status, but that’s OK. We’re here to educate you. These festivals used to occur only in Louisville, KY but over the years they have expanded their reach and are coming to 15 cities around the continental US this year. Hopefully you can find one near you.
These are just a few online resources I came up with off the top of my head, but is by no means comprehensive. You might also be interested in checking out our Links page where we’ve tried to compile many online resources we have discovered and have been told about by people like you. If you have any additions, please let us know.
In the meantime, we hope you’re able to enjoy the 4th of July weekend and please don’t blow your hands off. That makes it very hard to browse the internet and visit us later.
If you have listened to our most recent episode then you’re hopefully aware of Irish Monk’s band, Minds EyE. If you enjoyed the music we played we have some good news in store for you. Irish Monk emailed us to let you guys know their most recent album, Endeavour to Persevere, is available to download for free. Just point your web browser to
…and scroll down to the bottom of the page where their discography is listed. These are all free downloads, so even if there’s a "pay option," be sure to go with "free."
I’m no expert on bowling, but I think it’s fair to say we don’t see many technological improvements in the sport on a regular basis. Many of you have enjoyed the bowling available on the Nintendo Wii. Hopefully none of you have been one of those stories we’ve heard about where the user throws their remote across the room or into their TV. That’s what that little strap is for folks.
Even though this new bowling ball controller looks pretty awesome, and has a wrist strap, I’m afraid we might need to take out an insurance policy on our living rooms if we’re planning on using it. The way it works is you crack open the ball and place your Wii controller inside. After that, you can enjoy any one of your favorite Wii bowling games and try not to destroy your house.
Have you ever gotten a couple of actors or actresses mixed up? I used to get Julianne Moore (Maude) and Gillian Anderson (Scully from The X-Files) mixed up way back in the day. It’s an easy thing to do. Take any two actors you don’t know very well and if they sort of look alike, it’s easy to confuse them. I’m always amazed at how often people mix up Jeff Bridges (The Dude) and Jeff Daniels (Harry from Dumb and Dumber). Other than the fact they share a first name are they that similar? A couple years ago when we still lived in Indiana there was a radio show out of Indianapolis that kept advertising Jeff Bridges would be joining them on the show soon. I think it was around the time when Ironman was new so it made sense. Turns out it was Jeff Daniels promoting a different film. I understand where the casual film enthusiast confuses a couple actors but these people at the radio station were reading off announcements. You’d think they could get it right.
So the whole point of this is I came across a post at Hollywood Fail where they posted an image of seven Hollywood actors and are asking you to choose the "real" Jeff Bridges. I immediately knew all but one just by glancing at it. Is this that hard?
Just posted our 30th episode earlier today. Other than gearing up for the 8th Annual Lebowski Fest, we will also be giving away our first item from Entertainment Earth next month. That’s a picture of it up above. If you’d like to enter to win, all you have to do is send us an email telling us why you deserve, want, or need it. Pretty simple.
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Next Saturday BangPop! will be hosting the first ever Lebowski Bowl-a-rama in Bangor, Maine. They have asked us to give away one weekend pass to someone through our website. All you need to do is send us an email or reply to this blog post telling us why you need this weekend pass.
Vegas-style pop-music performer Richard Cheese will be the main attraction on July 4th along with a showing of The Big Lebowski at the Bangor Opera House. July 5th will feature a bowling party with all the fixins at The Sports Arena in Hermon, Maine. For more information please visit http://www.bangpopmaine.com/lebowski/
We will choose a winner at 5pm EST on Wednesday July 1st.
I used to be ignorant enough to think the word "feminism" was a bad, bad thing. I don’t think I’ll ever come to a point in my life where I quit being embarrassed about something I did or said in the past. That’s a good thing though. I used to associate the word "feminism" with man-haters and crazy women who think the world would do just fine without the other half of the human race around. While it is true to say this group exists, I don’t think it’s fair to say this is the face of the Feminist Movement. This would be the same is saying the Muslim religious zealots who have been terrorizing the world in the "name of God" represent all Muslims and followers of Islam. The is the same reason why I often try to distance myself from Christians in the news who go on record saying ridiculous things about God hating groups or classifications of people. That sounds crazy, right? Well it is.
I recently came across an article online at CinemaBlend.com titled Guy Power: 10 Movies That Didn’t Need Girls. The Hangover, a recent "guy movie," was the first film to be talked about along with 10 other films. Around the middle The Big Lebowski was listed with this clarification and picture of Julianne Moore playing the character of Maude.
Considered by some to be too well written for raunch comedy classification, the Coen Brothers’ masterwork is a rambling, guys night out flick with swearing, boobs and drug use, the holy trifecta of hard R-Rated laughers aimed at men. From pedophile bowlers to abusive Malibu Beach reactionaries, there’s no character too weird for Los Angeles Country circa Desert Storm–except maybe one, Julianne Moore’s Maude Lebowski who provides her share of humorless, uncomfortable moments as the daughter of the real Jeff Lebowski on the hunt for babies and rugs with sentimental value. Vagina, vagina, vagina, she screams, asking The Dude if the word makes him uncomfortable. It doesn’t bother me so much as makes me miss Walter. Shut the f* up, Donny. I miss you too.
First time glancing at the article I thought they were saying these 10 films would have been better without female characters in them. When I started at the beginning and started at the top, I was getting the impression that these are films better watched without females in the room. Apparently it’s something to do with the lads when you’re off being manly.
Not only is The Hangover’s fundamental premise about a guy’s night out, it’s about a bachelor party, a retreat for men to go off by themselves to do coke and grind against the daughters of America. The fairer sex needs to be involved in this carousing, most definitely, but not women of respect, moral discipline or upstanding credibility. There’s a time for the wife and a time for the whore, and for a raunch comedy to work, a really skuzzy, emotionally depraved, felony-ridden raunch comedy, the men need to be separated from women they care about so they can embrace their most juvenile, disgusting proclivities. This isn’t to say women should be excluded from the debauchery. I love a woman who laughs at a funny sex story or participates in a case race, but the real seediness, the turn off the filter, take out the boner and roll up the hundred dollar bill absolute depravity has to take place without girls that matter. You never let the girl you love see you at your worst, and that’s the essence of a good raunch comedy. Men at their absolute worst. Their hilarious, selfish, horny, common sense-less worst.
The Hangover kept its women out of the fun, but here’s ten Classic Phil R-Rated raunch comedies which couldn’t find the right balance…
Couldn’t find the right balance? What does that exactly mean? At face value I can see this argument for this Coen Brother masterpiece. The cast is mostly men. When you think about it Maude is the only woman with a prominent role with the exception of Bunny, who doesn’t actually have that many lines. Off the top of my head other female speaking roles are the Nihilist’s girlfriend, played by the amazing musician Aimee Mann, Pilar the wife/caretaker/nanny (do we really know what her role was?) at the Seller’s residence, and Lou the waitress at the diner who asked Walter to calm down. So what balance wasn’t found? Are they saying there weren’t enough female roles? Are they saying the female roles included were too much? Was Maude too much? Are we supposed to apply the Madonna/whore dichotomy to everything?
One thing I don’t like about the Lebowski pop-culture is how so many see it just as some raunchy stoner comedy. In the past I’ve said it’s sort of like that, but it’s not really. I could go into a long diatribe about content vs. purpose, intent and why film is an art form, but you probably don’t want to hear about that. In fact, we’ll probably save some of that for a future podcast episode because what we’re talking about right now are women’s roles in film.
Can you imagine this film with Maude not being, well, Maude? Here at the Lebowski Podcast we have even theorized that maybe Maude was the "Great Oz" behind the curtain pulling all the strings. She knew everyone involved, and It’s like Lenin said, you look for the person who will benefit. And uh,uh, well I lost my train of thought there. So what exactly is this balance that’s not quite there? And what’s this about Maude not being funny? Maude is hilarious. The whole front she poses with her made-up accent/affectation and high society ways, you’d think she’s at the core of feminism, but I think that’s what Joel and Ethan were poking fun at.
What this really comes down to is Jackie Treehorn’s style of treating objects like women man. Am I just over-reacting here? Maybe it’s because I just don’t enjoy the raunch movies like this article supposes all men do. Is it really that great to complain about a film that brings in some humanity and feelings with its female characters? I would call that a redeeming factor, but I’ve gone on and rambled quite enough for now. What do you think about it?
We’ve mentioned this barber shop several times before. It’s down in the sunny state of Florida, Tampa to be exact, and we’ve been hearing little snippets here and there from people who drove by, or from others who have visited and posted articles on their blogs. We now have some links to a couple articles talking about this fine Lebowski-themed establishment.
Now before we get too far, I think it’s fair to say while this barber shop is Lebowski-themed, these guys aren’t fanboys. The place isn’t decked out to look like The Dude’s bungalow or Jackie Treehorn’s palatial estate. It’s just a barber shop ran by a couple of fans. It’s definitely a place for men to congregate, get their hair cut, and enjoy being a man. I think barber shops are something that have definitely gone the way of the buffalo, at least in the classical sense. Maybe they still exist in bigger cities, but I personally have never been to something you see on television shows and movies. Barber shops are places where a guy can get away from it all for an hour or so and congregate with his fellow man. If those fellow men happen to share the love for a classic film like The Big Lebowski, then all the better.
Maybe it’d be easier to list some of the features you could expect if visiting:
Wide-screen TVs to watch the game or The Big Lebowski upon request
Pool table
Air hockey
Foosball
Indoor golf driving range
Leather furniture
Internet access
Haircuts
Manicures
Chair massages
Shoe shine
Beverages
Leather furniture
And of course, a rug to tie the room together
This is basically a place "designed to appeal to young guys in their 20s and 30s looking for a place that women haven’t invaded." I’m sure you can all empathize with the need to get away from the special lady friend for a while. Sometimes you just need sometime to be with the guys. If you’re interested in stopping by…
