Spider-Man 3 with Guest Riffer James Lileks

[Crowmeus]

Tobey Maguire is a Skrull!

[Teaflax]

There's nothing in that quote that doesn't make sense...

Oh, lord... I'm glad you too have terrorist mind-reading skills. That might come in handy some day.

More humor from Lileks:

The new Spanish government will soon meet with Germany and France to craft a "European" approach to terrorism. Topic No. 1: How big should the white flag be? Oak or cedar for the pole?

Oh, my sides. They hurt from the laughter. You see it's funny, because every approach other than going to war with the wrong nation without a plan for how to secure the peace equals surrender. Bwahaha. It's funny because it's true, people.

[Conor]

Lots of funny stuff in this Riff.  Lileks has a lot of radio in his background and it made for some great riffing.

And Spiderman 3.  My god!  I had heard about the dancing, but I imagined that being typical overstated whining.  There's so much dancing!  And evil-Peter, whom you can tell is evil because his hair sort of dangles down in front of his eyes like Edward Furlong.  What the hell?  And Venom, probably the most anticipated and beloved Spiderman villain, shows up with 20 minutes left and isn't even identified by name, not that you really want him around that long because he keeps taking off his mask to remind you that he's Topher from That 70s Show.  A wretched movie, keeping with the trend of unneeded, bloated part threes.

[Fortis]

Lots of funny stuff in this Riff.  Lileks has a lot of radio in his background and it made for some great riffing.

And Spiderman 3.  My god!  I had heard about the dancing, but I imagined that being typical overstated whining.  There's so much dancing!  And evil-Peter, whom you can tell is evil because his hair sort of dangles down in front of his eyes like Edward Furlong.  What the hell?  And Venom, probably the most anticipated and beloved Spiderman villain, shows up with 20 minutes left and isn't even identified by name, not that you really want him around that long because he keeps taking off his mask to remind you that he's Topher from That 70s Show.  A wretched movie, keeping with the trend of unneeded, bloated part threes.

Spider-Man 3 was the first of them I saw in the theater.

One word:


Oops.

Spiderman 2 was good...

[Gaseous Snake]

There's nothing in that quote that doesn't make sense...

Oh, lord... I'm glad you too have terrorist mind-reading skills. That might come in handy some day.

More humor from Lileks:

The new Spanish government will soon meet with Germany and France to craft a "European" approach to terrorism. Topic No. 1: How big should the white flag be? Oak or cedar for the pole?

Oh, my sides. They hurt from the laughter. You see it's funny, because every approach other than going to war with the wrong nation without a plan for how to secure the peace equals surrender. Bwahaha. It's funny because it's true, people.

I don't understand how one could have so much hatred for someone they've never met. If you don't like him, why follow everything he says? Just ignore it.

[Fortis]

Spiderman 2 was good...

Yeah, all I meant was...I think I picked the wrong one to see in the theater.  It was just embarrassing and awkward. Like watching two people you barely know have a fight and break up over dinner. In front of you.

Well, I had gone to the midnight premiere for this movie, and had talked a friend into going, (a recent convert into the spiderman fandom) when Spidey started dancing down the street and pointing at girl's butts as he walked by, my friend leaned over and in a voice of great despair whispered. "why jacob, why?"

I didn't know what to tell him. And I think your analogy fits the movie perfectly. With both situations you have the innocent bystander try to break the tension afterwards by saying. "Well, that was fun."

So yeah, I'm glad to have this rifftrax, to say the least.

[Insert Coin(s) to Continue]

This movie has it coming. This is what RiffTrax is all about. I hope they're brutal on it.

[Gaseous Snake]

Spiderman 2 was good...

Yeah, all I meant was...I think I picked the wrong one to see in the theater.  It was just embarrassing and awkward. Like watching two people you barely know have a fight and break up over dinner. In front of you.

Well, I had gone to the midnight premiere for this movie, and had talked a friend into going, (a recent convert into the spiderman fandom) when Spidey started dancing down the street and pointing at girl's butts as he walked by, my friend leaned over and in a voice of great despair whispered. "why jacob, why?"

I'm probably the only person in the world that not only didn't mind "dark" Peter's dancing, but actually enjoyed it.

[Teaflax]

I don't understand how one could have so much hatred for someone they've never met. If you don't like him, why follow everything he says? Just ignore it.

Yeah, let's just ignore those who deliberately poison the well of popular discourse, foment division and stoke the fear of The Other from Limbaugh to Coulter with Lileks, Malkin and Goldberg pitching in on the sidelines. It's worked exceptionally well for a good 20 years, hasn't it? I find the last seven an especially sparkling success.

[Shamalama]

While I don't agree with Lileks' politics one iota he seems to have a pretty good command of comic book history.

I had never heard of the man before now so I browsed his sight some and came upon his "Dubious Moments in Comic History".

He seems to be the right man for the job of Mike's Sidekick (Or is Mike Lileks' Sidekick?) in this true to form third installment of Raimiman!

I say keep political humor out of my Rifftrax

[Gaseous Snake]

I don't understand how one could have so much hatred for someone they've never met. If you don't like him, why follow everything he says? Just ignore it.

Yeah, let's just ignore those who deliberately poison the well of popular discourse, foment division and stoke the fear of The Other from Limbaugh to Coulter with Lileks, Malkin and Goldberg pitching in on the sidelines. It's worked exceptionally well for a good 20 years, hasn't it? I find the last seven an especially sparkling success.

Pitching a fit about it here is really helping the cause. Please, keep at it. I bet James is reading your posts with tears rolling down his cheeks.

[Pak-Man]

On the movie: I liked it, actually. It wasn't able to outshine its predecessors, but it wasn't THAT bad. On the guest riffer: Political leanings don't affect a person's ability to be funny. If it turned out Weird Al was a neo-nazi, "Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota" would still be a funny song. If the man can read a joke, and make it funny, bring it on! If you really think you can't laugh at someone whose opinions difer from yours, you're robbing yourself of laughter. My suggestion: Don't.

[bettertomorrowamy]

I don't understand how one could have so much hatred for someone they've never met. If you don't like him, why follow everything he says? Just ignore it.

Yeah, let's just ignore those who deliberately poison the well of popular discourse, foment division and stoke the fear of The Other from Limbaugh to Coulter with Lileks, Malkin and Goldberg pitching in on the sidelines. It's worked exceptionally well for a good 20 years, hasn't it? I find the last seven an especially sparkling success.

Pitching a fit about it here is really helping the cause. Please, keep at it. I bet James is reading your posts with tears rolling down his cheeks.

I don't agree with these people, but they can be funny.  Disturbingly funny.  I don't see why we can't talk about his politics as long as we are civil.
But it's not like he is riffing on An Inconvenient Truth, so I think it will be fine.  I'm not a Weird Al fan, and that one was great.

[Jason Martian]

Well... I knew very little of the man (Lileks) prior to all this... and still feel I know little of the man. I had seen his (very funny) book "The Gallery of Regrettable Food".

While it sounds like I would disagree with the man's politics, I will watch the Riff... and perhaps comment farther after the fact.

I thought Spider-Man 3 was by far the silliest of the Spider-Man films and thought that it was filled with "Riffable" material galore!

[Teaflax]

I don't see why we can't talk about his politics as long as we are civil.

Indeed, but the long-running meme of their political opponents being traitors or - as in Lileks's case - the terrorists' and dictators' choice of candidate can not be described as being civil.

It's not that Lileks is a conservative - there are plenty of principled conservatives who do not argue from the standpoint of their opponents acting in bad faith, being traitors or wanting to turn the US into a Communist One-Party State. And there are funny conservatives - PJ O'Rourke comes to mind. And, evidently, Mike Nelson.

I'd have been similarly concerned if they'd chosen Michael Moore as a guest riffer, to be honest. So it's not just about the shade of politics, but about how it's been expressed over the years. I'll give Lileks props for supporting gay marriage and adoption, even if it doesn't remotely counter-balance his war cheerleading.