matthew gray gubler

Dunce Flash: Halloween, Shy Ronnie and Newsies

in: the press, in: viewing room

Happy Halloween, readers!

There’s so much to talk about today, of all days. It’s Halloween, first of all, the most splendid of teeth-rotting holidays! I’m thrilled. My costume? Suri Cruise! Last year, I went sans costume, and the year before I was Lady Stardust, and the year before that, I was Gilda Radner. I’m getting more and more clever and more and more obscure.

Google celebrated this Halloween with a five panel Google Doodle. The full thing is below and is totally excellent. It chronicles the ultimate Scooby Doo mystery – the search for a candy thief. Gotta love Google and Halloween.

Google Doodle, 10/31/2010

And, for good measure, a Halloween tune. Or, at least, a song called “Halloween.” It’s more about a party and about relationships and about a bout of sadness. And, I suppose, my Halloween weekend was full of heartache and sadness – and rollicking fun and acceptance and hilarity too – , so it seems rather appropriate. It’s too much to go into now, but this weekend, I hope, I’ll tackle The Third Year Thirty in a more concise manner.

Happy listening.


“Halloween,” Matt Pond PA

The return of Shy Ronnie

Perhaps my favorite SNL skit of the last year, “Shy Ronnie,” a digital short co-starring Rihanna and Andy Samberg, returned to Saturday Night Live this week in the Jon Hamm episode.

The sequel to the video takes place in a bank in a hold-up called “Ronnie and Clyde” and is seriously gut-clutchingly funny.

Check out the video to the sequel below or watch the original “Shy Ronnie” on Hulu.

Vodpod videos no longer available.
“Shy Ronnie,” Saturday Night Live

Seriously. “Shy Ronnie” brings me such joy.

In other news

– Never thought I’d say it, but poor Christine O’Donnell. Gawker, you’ve left me a journalist ashamed. [Gawker]

– Dear Marie Claire writer,

At our worst, we may all think it. But never in a million years would we write it.

Sincerely,
The Girl with the Dunce Cap [Marie Claire]

– I’ve been meaning to say this for months – Matthew Gray Gubler, I love your new haircut. [Hell Yeah Matthew Gray Gubler]

The Dunce Cap: June 21, 2010

in: heavy rotation

Terry Richardson photographs Matthew Gray Gubler

The Dunce Cap, Vol. 13: Turns out I was a vampire myself in the devil town. (mix via 8tracks)

1. “Devil Town” – Tony Lucca
2. “Your Hand in Mine” – Explosions in the Sky
3. “Muzzle of Bees” – Wilco
4. “I Made a Resolution” – Sea Wolf
5. “Carmensita” – Devendra Banhart
6. “Sci-Fi Kid” – Blitzen Trapper
7. “September Gurls” – Big Star
8. “Political Scientist” – Ryan Adams
9. “Gene Autry” – Beulah
10. “Rewind” – Stereophonics
11. “The Light” – The Album Leaf
12. “Eyes” – Rogue Wave
13. “Hard Rain” – Shout Out Louds
14. “Walk Over Me” – Dirtie Blonde
15. “Bang a Gong (Get it On)” – T. Rex

So, to be fair – the photo with this mix has nothing to do with this mix. Really, it’s just a launch pad for me to talk about Terry Richardson and Matthew Gray Gubler, as well as to complete my weekly trifecta of pin-ups. Now, this isn’t a gossip blog. It’s not the springboard for me to coo and fawn over the foxy celebrities of network television. Two weeks ago, The Dunce Cap celebrated freaks and geeks alike, and this week’s edition has a decidedly different theme.

The Dunce Cap, Vol. 13 features 15 tracks (it’s an edition and a half!) about football. Good ol’ rough n’ tough Southern football. Each of these tracks is from the soundtrack of NBC’s television drama, “Friday Night Lights,” from the first season and a half (of which I have watched 27 episodes in the last 48 hours). “Friday Night Lights” follows a high school football squad in the fictional small town of Dillon, Texas, where football reigns supreme, but it’s more than just a show about football. It’s a show with heart and with a killer cast – the characters exude charm and genuineness that extends past the petty fights and forlorn heartbreak of adolescence. The realistic nature of the show even survived the melodrama of a terrible murder subplot.

The show is fantastic. And what surpasses even the show’s eye candy, the plot twists, the characterization and the pretty awesome athleticism is the music. Yup, it all comes full circle. The soundtrack is replete with instrumental post-rock from – where else? – Texas, courtesy of Explosions in the Sky, and Tony Lucca‘s cover of the Daniel Johnston‘s eerie and haunting “Devil Town” appears multiple times throughout the first season and in a fairly titillating season three promo. Coach’s daughter Julie is an indie fangirl, convincing boyfriend Matt Saracen to see the Old 97’s and The Decemberists, and the music taste her fictional character boasts translates into a really well-rounded and interesting soundtrack.

Check out a small slice of the music from the series, and watch the rebroadcast of season 4 (originally shown on DirecTV Channel 101) on NBC Friday nights (when else).

And, for your eyes’ delight, check out two of the show’s original stars, Taylor Kitsch as fullback/running back Tim Riggins and Northwestern alumnus Zach Gilford as quarterback Matt Saracen. I apologize in advance for my salacious behavior, but yummy.

Taylor Kitsch of "FNL"

“I apologize to everyone here, and if you can find it within yourselves to let me make it up to you in the showers, I’d appreciate it.” – Tim Riggins, Season 2

Zach Gilford of "FNL"

“You don’t have to worry about me, in a fight I just kinda stand in the back and just yell stuff. ”    – Matt Saracen, Season 1

Happy listening.

Oh, and p.s. Matthew Gray Gubler portrays the nerdily inept  Dr. Spencer Reid on “Criminal Minds.” Terry Richardson is an allegedly handsy (but very talented) celebrity photographer. FTR.