Archive for the ‘DaddyTube’ Category:
Sopranos for Fathers Day
Last year, HBO recommended an episode of The Sopranos for Fathers Day. It kinda makes sense, as long as you don’t watch it with your kids (depending on how old they are, of course).
The specific episode recommended by HBO is called “College” (Season One, Episode Five).
In it, Tony Soprano (played of course by the late and very great James Gandolfini) takes his daughter Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) on a trip to visit colleges. Since this is The Sopranos, Tony gets sidetracked by some unexpected business.
It’s an early episode of the show — it first aired on February 7, 1999, according to Wikipedia — and is very good. (Sorry! Forgot to say “spoiler alert.”) It certainly deals with father-daughter issues in a unique way, as did the show as a whole. One of the many great things about The Sopranos was seeing Tony try to be a dad while also conducting his, ahem, legitimate business dealings.
If you want to double-down on Gandolfini for Fathers Day, you can also watch the film Enough Said, which stars Mr. Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. (Catherine Keener is also terrific in a smaller role.) The two have great chemistry, and it’s a nice movie that is also parenting/dad-themed, and it has a fun twist. Here’s the trailer.
There is, of course, an extra note of sadness to the film because it is James Gandolfini’s last starring role.
You can watch The Sopranos and Enough Said via HBO Go and probably HBO Now. (I don’t have the latter and don’t want to say something that isn’t true.)
So if you’re looking for some dad-themed stuff to watch for Father’s Day, here are two solid suggestions… or perhaps we should say… DaddyTips.
Happy Father’s Day to all dads out there!
Related articles (Note: These are offsite links; DaddyTips takes no responsibility for outside content.)
Shatner on Sunny Side Up Show
He’s gone where no man has gone before, and now he’s on the kiddie TV channel Sprout. Ladies and gents, here it is — video of William Shatner on Sunny Side Up Show.
Apparently, Mr. Shatner is an expert on something called The Clangers. (Something tells me his appearance is mostly for the adults who have to watch Sprout with their little ones.)
But, y’know, Shatner. Is there anything he can’t do?
William Shatner’s star on Canada’s Walk of Fame (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Apparently he’s going to do some voice acting on The Clangers, which is a show we’ve never heard of but it seems that it used to exist and is being revived. (Michael Palin, of Monty Python fame, is also on it.) In addition to this, a quick news search tells us that The Shat will be on an upcoming NBC show with Henry Winkler (Ayyyy!), AND he’s driving cross-country on some sort of odd vehicle. You can read about all of that, as well as the fact that there’s apparently a fake Shatner on Snapchat, via the related links below. All this is in addition to the many other projects Mr. Shatner always has going on.
We hope to have half as much energy as ol’ Bill has at his age. Heck, I’d settle for having that much energy NOW.
Related articles (Note: These are offsite links; DaddyTips takes no responsibility for outside content.)
Watch These Creepy New Justice League Cartoons
I’ve said many times that I am a huge fan of the DC Animated Universe (sometimes called the Timm-verse, in honor of Bruce Timm). My personal favorite is Justice League, both regular and Unlimited. (Most people say Batman: The Animated Series is better but they’re wrong.) Now Bruce Timm has returned to his old stomping grounds… sort of. Here’s the scoop:
Justice League: Gods and Monsters is a full-length animated movie that will be released on Blu-Ray, DVD and digital download on July 28. But you don’t have to wait that long to get a taste of what it will be like. There are three shorts, two available now, one more coming on Friday. The title is Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles. Here are the first two episodes, “Twisted” and “Bomb”. Do NOT watch them with your kids. They are creepy. Seriously. I mean it. Read more »
Conan O Brien and Louis CK Talk Parenting on Letterman
David Letterman‘s last show is tonight, May 20, 2015. I tend to go to bed too early to watch Dave these days, but thanks to YouTube it’s easy to catch what you missed. Here are two fun video clips in which Conan O’Brien and Louis CK talk parenting on Letterman.
English: David Letterman hosting President Barack Obama at Late Show with David Letterman. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A couple of editorial notes: the above photo is from Wikipedia and they say it is in the Public Domain. It is not a photo from either of the clips embedded below. Also, for each of the two clips, I included a link to the part where they start talking about parenting stuff, in case you’d rather not watch the whole thing. Who says this isn’t the DaddyTips age of Internet Video Viewing Options?
First up: Conan O’Brien in 2012. Obviously he discusses the NBC Tonight Show kerfuffle. But about halfway through, Conan tells a hilarious story about the time his family got to meet the President, but almost didn’t because, you know, kids.
Next: Louis CK, January 26, 2015. At the 9:50 point in the video, they segue nicely from Deflategate into what values you should teach your children.
See? It’s just three fathers talking about their kids. Celebrities are just like us!
Even though I’m usually in bed by the time Dave’s show starts, I’m sorry to see him go, and not only because it means I’ll never get to be one of his guests. He’s had a great career, and brought a pleasantly caustic sense of humor that will be sorely missed. Congratulations, Dave. Enjoy your retirement.
Related articles (Note: Some of these are offsite links; DaddyTips takes no responsibility for outside content.)
Robert Downey Jr. Brings Georgia Boy Bionic Arm (DaddyTube)
The line between Robert Downey Jr. and Iron Man is growing slimmer every day. Here is a video of the actor bringing a Georgia boy named Alex Pring a real bionic arm.
It’s OK if you get a little misty-eyed. We’ll wait.
The important bit here is that a group called The Collective Project made a bionic arm for a child, Alex, who was “born with a partially developed right arm,” according to the video. The arm was made by Albert Manero, “a college student who builds and donates low-cost, 3D-printed bionic limbs to kids around the world,” according to the YouTube video. Here’s a quote from the Fox 5 DC story where we found this:
“The arm doesn’t have a lot of supernatural powers, but it makes life easier on Alex both physically and mentally.”
The two then compare arms, with Downey pulling his out of a case with the Stark Industries logo.
Which brings us to what we were talking about when we said the line between Robert Downey Jr. and Iron Man is getting slimmer every day.
Remember in 2012 when we posted that Robert Downey Jr surprised kids at Comic Con? (Heck, remember 2012? I’m not sure I do.) Here’s what we had to say back then:
…Marvel could easily drop this footage into ‘Iron Man 3‘ if they want to. … Have the kids shouting out “IRON MAN!”, people cheering when Downey Tony Stark shows up… Free idea from me to you, ‘Iron Man 3? filmmakers. I’ll take a special thanks and perhaps a repulsor ray if you’ve got an extra one lying around.
(They didn’t take my idea. Maybe for Iron Man 4, or a future Avengers movie.)
The second best thing about this new video (the first, of course, is the kid getting the arm, because that’s actually real-life awesome) is the moment when someone off-camera asks Alex, “Do you know who that is?” “Iron Man,” Alex replies, to the delight of everyone in the room (and us home viewers). But then comes the follow-up:
“What’s his name?”
“Robert.”
Downey does nothing to correct Alex, nor does anyone else. In Alex’s 7-year-old mind, Robert Downey Jr. is Iron Man. To Downey’s credit, he’s a good enough actor that playing the super-rich Avenger has not hampered his film career; he can play other roles just as convincingly as he always has. But if he keeps this up, he might have to change his name to Tony Stark. Or maybe Marvel will just change Iron Man’s name to Robert Downey Jr. Both are about as likely to happen as me turning into Thor. But this particular blurring of fact and fiction is fun to watch.
On a more serious note, huge, massive, supremely large shout-outs to Albert Manero, who is apparently making bionic arms for kids who need them (it’s OK if that makes your head explode a little bit), and to Mr. Downey Jr., whom we like both on and off screen. And best of luck to Alex, a young man growing up in very interesting times.
‘Iron Man’ surprises boy in Georgia – DC News FOX 5 DC WTTG.
Related articles (Note: Some of these are offsite links; DaddyTips takes no responsibility for outside content.)
DaddyTips Comment 12-20-14 (Video)
The third DaddyTips Video commentary has arrived. Today, 12-20-14, I’m talking about NFL football.
Because this video is a little bit longer than usual (it’s about 3 minutes long; the other two have been closer to 2 minutes), and because I wrote it out rather than improvising, I’m going to include the full text here. It’s still faster to watch the video, unless you happen to be a speed reader. But if you don’t watch, you miss out on my stellar wit and brilliant facial expressions.
So here we go. This is fun. If you like the video, please share it with anyone and everyone.
Thanks for reading/watching/sharing, and most of all thanks for just being you. Happy holidays!
(Text of video follows.)
<singing>
The NFL, The NFL
Today I’ll be talking / about football-all-ell
</singing>
Today is Saturday, December 20. There will be 2 football games, billed as a special Saturday edition of Thursday Night Football. Despite the fact that that phrasing is a sign of the apocalypse – kind of like midnight movie premieres that are actually at 7pm – I like football enough that I’m going to watch the games.
Today’s comment is not about one of the Saturday games, it’s about the Bears/Lions game, which is on Sunday.
Apparently the Bears are going to start Jimmy Clausen instead of Jay Cutler. This quote is from an article on Michigan’s MLive.com written by Kyle Meinke, titled “Golden Tate hopes Jimmy Clausen ‘stays safe’ against Detroit Lions defense“.
“He may give us a spark. Who knows? We’re not sure, but I think it was a good time to take a look.”
That’s Chicago Bears coach Marc Trestman talking about his decision to start Clausen instead of Cutler.
NFL coaches are an intriguing breed. Generally they live and breathe football. They spend endless hours studying tape, coming up with plays, and thinking of ways to motivate their players.
“He may give us a spark. Who knows?”
Compare this to Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians, who, when asked if his team could win the Super Bowl with their backup quarterback, said yes. To be fair, he was ASKED. He didn’t make a proclamation like Rex Ryan, the sometimes crazy coach of the hapless New York Jets.
The Cardinals have suffered a pile of injuries to key players, including starting quarterback Carson Palmer. They are currently 11-3, first place in their division, the NFC West. They are also the ONLY team in the NFC that has clinched a playoff spot.
The Bears are 5-9. That’s LAST place in the NFC North. They haven’t lost their starting quarterback. Until Sunday, when they plan to put in a guy who hasn’t started a game since 2010. Because they’re out of the playoffs.
Maybe coaching does matter.
It was suggested to me by a friend that I end these videos with a Tip, since they are being posted on – wait for it – DaddyTips.com. My tip today is:
Be more like Bruce Arians than Marc Trestman. I don’t follow the Cardinals closely, but from what I’ve heard and read, Arians appears to do everything he can to help his team win, including convincing his players that they CAN win, no matter what. Trestman – you know, the guy who said “Who knows?” when asked if starting Jimmy Clausen would help the Bears beat the Lions, would seem to be cut from different cloth.
My point? Buck the odds. Say “why not me?” instead of “who knows?”
Happy holidays.
(Note: The music used at the end is “I Am A Bear In A Lady’s Boudoir” by Cliff Edwards, recorded circa October 25, 1933. It’s in the Public Domain and available for download at the invaluable Internet Archive.)
Previous DaddyTips Video comments:
Related articles (Note: Some of these are offsite links; DaddyTips takes no responsibility for outside content.)
DaddyTips Comment 12-16-14 (Video)
Here it is, DaddyTips second semi-daily video commentary. On this day, 12-16-14, we talk about Hobbits and Hanukkah.
By the way, for those playing along at home — we shaved!
Thanks for watching. Once again, please let us know what you think, publicly or even privately if you prefer.
DaddyTips Comment, 12-16-14 from Brett Singer on Vimeo.
Here are the links mentioned in the video.
Xmas in Frisco, the terrific Internet Radio station that has been playing Electric Menorah songs during Chanukah for the past… 10 years? Is that possible? I think it’s been 10 years. Many thanks to them. Note: the station is not safe for work listening (depending upon where you work, of course) because sometimes they play songs with dirty words in them. Anyway, here’s the link: somafm.com/xmasinfrisko (They have other good stations as well, but this is the only one that plays our music.)
The Hobbit: Book and Film Differences is a really great blog that delivers exactly what the title describes – the differences between The Hobbit films and The Hobbit book. Note that I said “films” and “book”. There’s only one book but there are three films. Have I mentioned that? I’ve actually really enjoyed reading this site, written by someone who goes by the handle Quoggy. Well worth checking out if you have even a passing interest in the subject matter. Here’s the link: hobbitdifferences.blogspot.com
Last, but certainly not least, make sure to go to facebook.com/brettmusic and click the button that says “Like”. That way we’ll know that you like us, you really really like us.
Happy Hobbit Hanukkah!
