A Slice of Soul Flavored Awesome

Welcome back, I can tell you that I enjoyed France, and I will have a blog up about it tomorrow when I get some time to put the piece I hand wrote ( yeah, writing still exists) into word formatting.

But for now it's time to bring the awesome as only we do here, and I will putting on my flashy sequins suit and cutting a rug because we are going back to the 70's, kinda.

You see, one of the big film movements in the 70's was a genre called Blaxploitation. For the most part these films followed a set pattern, ghetto neighborhood and black hero/heroine got set to take on "The Man" who had someone brought an evil upon the community.

Some of these films like "Shaft", "Super Fly" and "Foxy Brown" are classics regarded for the viewing of any serious film fan, but aren't about the awesome here, we are all about the guilty pleasures at the Pizzeria, and luckily recent spoofs of the genre have given us our choices for a guilty pleasure.

Perhaps you are set with "Undercover Brother" with Eddie Griffin. It did a decent job of mocking all the hallmarks of the genre, but really is not as funny as the film I much prefer to it, the hilarious send-up known as "Black Dynamite"



"Dynamite" trapezes the spoof line expertly, balancing actual moments of awesome with tongue in cheek references to the genre it loving mocks. The child of Michael Jai White, the titular character is a cross between Bruce Lee and Shaft, a bad mofo with and afro, a black belt and a black militant who according to himself is "blacker than the ace of spades".

Although it clocks in at only 84 minutes, "Dynamite" was the most fun I had watching a movie l2 years ago, and that includes seeing Inglorious Basterds and all the other great films of 2009-2010. It should be required viewing for almost any film fan. I see you guys tomorrow with my France centered blog, warning, it's heavy stuff.

The Pizzeria Comes Back With A Slice of Tucked Sausage

So, we are back here at the Pizzeria after the week that was a week of Charlie Sheen and him winning at everything, but I know you don't want to hear about him anymore, since we have reached saturation with the poor man. So instead I'm going to talk about one of the great guilty pleasures on TV right now, RuPaul's Drag Race.

Before we get going with this, I would like to state this out front. I'm fine with people living their life's however they want. All jesting in this blog is to expose the cheesiness of the show, not to mock the drag environment or the LGBT community. Just wanted to get this out of the way to make sure RuPaul doesn't read this and shuts me down

Now, for those of you who don't know and if that's you I'm sorry for singling you out, RuPaul is one of, if not the greatest Drag Queen of all-time. Her hit song "Supermodel", which you can check out at the link was a top 50 hit during the grunge era of American Music. But we aren't here to talk about her past, we are here to talk about her present and future and that is her show "Drag Race"

Now, if you have ever seen a show like America's Next Top Model or Project Runway you kinda will find the show familiar. Most episodes open with the contestant receiving "Shemail" (can't buy subtlety like that anymore) that point them in the direction of the challenge they will have for the week. Then the lady of the hour steps in as a man, and aids our would be queens on their way to the challenge.

One challenge always good to draw a good laugh or two is the 'reading' challenge introduced in Season 2. Reading or Throwing Shade is the drag queen equivalent of a roast joke, or so I believe. Here's the footage from last season's reading.



Once a challenge is completed, the prospective drag superstars meet on the runway as Ru makes her decision on which queens are safe and the two queens that are now in danger of elimination. They will have but one chance to stay in the competition, and it is to Lip Sync for their Life!

So take that Top Model, you have pretty ladies just standing around and they get to win. Kudos Project Runway, you had someone make a skirt. The contestants on RuPaul's show not only have created their own looks, made them, but now they even have to lip sync for their life!

Oh and it is a moment of the highest drama. The tension is so think you can cut it with a spork. Below is one of the great moments of television, in my opinion, of the last 3 years. At the end of it you may laugh, you may cry, you make shake your head in amazement and wonder why I did this, but there is also something else you will do, you will think that when nothing is left, the human spirit will find a way to carry on above all other things. Ladies, Gentlemen, LadyBoys, and GirlyMen, I present to you, the triumph of Shannel's victorious Lip Sync.



And with then, the Pizzeria is closing it's doors for this week.I hope you all enjoy your Spring Break, as I know I will as I am off to France with a class. Perhaps the next slice you get might be something a little international for you. So until we see each other again I leave you with this RuPaul-ism.

"If you don't love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?"

Later!

The Pizzeria Gets Serious for a second

First, sorry for not coming through on my promise for a multipost week last week. That one is on me, and hopefully I can get you guys back on my side with a serious blog about the Charlie Sheen situation.

You see, my friend Andrew and I were having a discussion about one Mr. Sheen and we got to talking about his current predicament when I said that I felt sorry for the man. Andrew scoffed and told me that I had nothing to feel sorry about, that he had done it all to himself.

So why did I, a voyeur into the world of celebrity, feel sorry for Sheen? Is it based in the fact that many of us believe that celebrities are the most perfect representation of the self, reflected the what have been of the individual's full potential? Is it the fact that human beings always want to see someone fall, with the hope that they will pull through on the other end? Is it a natural thing that when we see someone in trouble we want to help them?

I'm not sure what I feel sorry for Mr. Sheen, but I do. You don't have to though, to each person their own.

But here's a post I found interesting from "Sprouting Daisies" about celebrity in this country and I think it works well as a companion piece. Check it out right here

Make sure you stop by later this week, maybe this weekend as I get back on the humor trail of things!

Oscar week kicks off with some Onions

So, this week I'm looking to be a little ambitious. That's right fans, I will be posting more than one blog this week! In honor of Oscar week, all of these blogs will deal with the film in the last 10 years that I feel best fit our flavors here and we start with tears and sad things, that's right we're dealing with onions.



And with that said, let me talk about my history at crying with movies. I cried at Jack Frost, I cried at The Santa Clause, basically I cry a lot at movies, regardless of happy or sad endings. But this blog isn't really measured by my tears, it's measured by the tears of my dad, who barely ever cries, except whenever we bring up this movie he talks about how sad it is.

That's right, the movie that will make my dad cry is 2005's Brokeback Mountain. The reasons why are numerous, but it basically comes down to the fact that this is a typical love story, told from an atypical viewpoint. That's a point that I say needs to be remembered here. Many people look down on this film because it deals with homosexuality and a love scene in a tent, but at it's core it's just a different way to tell the same story.

The thing though that really gets my dad is Gustavo Santaolalla's score. The ending scene of that movie is heartbreaking enough (No Spoilers though, see it yourself), but when you add the beautifully haunting tune "The Wings" into the scene it becomes a weep fest of epic proportions.

Later this week, I be looking at a film that will really make you question ever doing drugs from the brilliant mind behind "Black Swan " and a look at the worse best movie ever made. See you guys later this week right here in The Pop Culture Pizzeria

A Slice of Extra Cheese... with Mandy?

AH, STOP POINTING AT ME!! Seriously though, it seems only fair that with the recently passed Valentine's Day that we celebrate one of the best love song writers ever; the man, the myth, THE MANILOW!

That's right, the first super cheesy thing to be talked about is the great American songwriter Mr. Barry Manilow. If there is a greater definition of a guilty pleasure artist it would be Manilow. Hell, I'm a fan of the guy and I know that there are a ton of folks who are. We at the Pizzeria aren't about knocking something because it might be silly, we are here to celebrate the cheesiness of the things we profile here.

The one thing Manilow is known for are his moving ballads, sure we all have heard "Mandy", "I Write The Songs" and even "Copacabana" but the think that makes the cheese factor of Manilow so appealing is that you can go to any bar and see a poor soul belting out a Manilow hit for karaoke, and I've even done it too.

I'm sure what makes him so cheesy, maybe it's the lightly colored hair, maybe it's the total sappiness of his lyrics, maybe it that he makes us feel something greater than us, put it's probably because he brings the cheese...

Check out some Manilow here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN1nynLMRl8

Open For Business

Hello, and welcome to the opening of the Pop Culture Pizzeria, my name is Ryan and I'll be your chef for all the latest in pop culture.

As we are now open for business our toppings are limited, but here is what you can expect for the time being.

We offer slices with Extra Cheese; a look inside TV, Films, Books, and Music that are so good they are bad, a guilty pleasure if you will.

We also offer slices with Onions; things that will make you cry in TV, Films, and even Music

And right now our best sellers are our slices with Mushrooms; a look at celebrities with drug problems, aka I add to the ridicule of Charlie Sheen

We are always looking for new topping as well, so if you have ideas drop them in the comments below.

We appriciate your business and we hope you find our slices, filling, funny and delicious.

~RB