Matthew Dessem

SH-101-51: This is the serial number of our orbital gun.
SH-101-51: Can you go ahead and escalate this case? I’m pretty sure the service agreement is still active.

An Interview with Gheorghe Zamfir, Master of the Pan Flute and Film Soundtrack Hero The famed Romanian musician discusses his contributions to the world of film.

ICYMI: thereveal.film/an-interview...

I like to think if you bought anything they sent you everything.

Sinners and Inside Llewyn Davis.

A bunch of screenshots from old tv ads of the ubiquitous “how to order!” screen, all with (800) 257-1234 as the number.

Apparently (800) 257-1234 was used for all kinds of products. An untapped gold mine!

I called the 800 number in an old ad for Zamfir: Master of the Pan Flute and it was no longer in service. So if you want to sell LPs and cassettes of Zamfir: Master of the Pan Flute, you should see if the phone company will assign you (800) 257-1234. Easy money!

I have always enjoyed the fact that none of the people who make “go back to your small town!” movies would ever go back themselves. Brett Ratner made one!

Finished (mostly) cable management on my TV setup and now it’s time to figure out why nothing is working.

A journalist from a prestigious media outlet enjoying a hack comedy construction? Now that’s what I call a high-low switcheroo!

The thing that seems to focus him and awaken his brain is the sight of a building without his name on it.

The Trump family stuff in Iron Fist is extremely unsubtle, but I did love the sequence where Trump returns from the dead and wanders around Manhattan like Frankenstein. (They do a riff on the cigar scene, with Trump scalding his hand while trying to grab a hot dog from a vendor’s stand.)

There should be an update for RDR2 where you can hunt and kill the characters from HBO’s The Gilded Age

Here’s my recipe:
1 oz. blood orange juice
1 oz. Carpano Antica
1 oz. Johnny Walker Black
.5 oz Cherry Heering

Shake over ice and serve up, garnish with flamed blood orange peel. My favorite fall / winter cocktail!

The problem with reading The Confidence-Man in 2025 is I would be delighted to purchase the scam products Melville describes. A 19th century stock certificate from a fake business called the Black Rapids Coal Company? Sold! A bottle of something called “Samaritan Pain Dissuader?” Don’t mind if I do!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you can’t trust Zero Cool!

Or maybe I’ve just been looking at too much home movie footage, where that kind of lighting is commonplace!

It was the rare shot where they had to make a visual compromise instead of the typical digital flat and even light on everything and it was striking and out of place because of it. I’m not one of those “flaws are the purest form of beauty” guys but *some* link to the physical world is a good thing.

Paused to figure out why a single shot in the middle of a visually unremarkable TV show looked way better and more cinematic than the rest of it; it was a medium close up where the character was inside but in front of a window. It looked better because the light made them underexpose the foreground.

It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday
The unholy thing shambles in
He’s too big for the chair sitting next to me
And he makes an unbearable din

Sing us a song, you’re the piano man
Your skin is a wooden facade
You’ve brass pedals for hands
And your hair’s copper strands
Give unbearable insult to god

Psychic spies from China try to steal your mind's elation
And little girls from Sweden dream of silver screen quotation
And if you want these kind of dreams it's…

I apologize for the errors in my previous statements, and I appreciate your patience. Upon reviewing my responses, I realize that you have put down your weapon and are no longer in violation of penal code §1.13 section 9. Thank you for pointing this out! You now have five seconds to comply.

A newspaper clipping reading: THE SEVERED HAND Who's is It? How the Question is being Answered.

Well, the first thing you do is you look for people who are missing a hand.

LOL, it’s extremely okay. I often wonder how much of the shoplifting facilitated by self-checkout is just people screwing up a job they were never trained for.

just saw bigfoot walking kinda quickly through a field; he shrugged at me and said "eh, it's a living!" No idea how he profits from this.

As with self-checkout, I’ll ring up my own bar tab on the condition that I get paid, just the same as any other grocery clerk or bartender.

A Closer Look at Euron Greyjoy’s Big, Big Gun An absolute unit.

No matter what misfortunes I may face in the future, I was once paid real United States dollars to write a 1,500 word dick joke.

A headshot for Alex Winter, circa 1991, and the first page of a biography circulated by his PR reps. It reads: BAKER WINOKUR RYDER Beverly Hills • New York ALEX WINTER BIOGRAPHY As an actor, writer and director, Alex Winter's driving ambition has lifted him to an impressive level of success in each of these areas. He has had starring roles in several feature films, including Orion's huge hit BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE and the cult favorite THE LOST BOYS. He has also co-founded Stern Winter Productions with partner Tom Stem, in conjunction with Propaganda Films; a production vehicle for projects the duo write and direct together. The recently released sequel to BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE-BILL AND TED's BOGUS JOURNEY--has made Alex a household name. He has been equally successful since childhood--acting on and Off-Broadway and in radio and television commercials. Born in England, Alex began his study of dance in London at age four, due largely to the fact that his parents were active and influential participants in Europe's nascent modern dance movement. His family then emigrated to St. Louis. In their new home, Alex's mother headed Washington University's dance department. At age ten, he landed a role opposite Vincent Price in the St. Louis Opera's production of "Oliver," which in turn launched his career.

Hey, @alexwinter.com, you were in the archival files I cataloged today.

… will also turn their heads as if it would help them see better. Almódovar’s camera stays fixed in place, but in the shot from Bellissima on the TV screen, *Visconti’s* camera pans left as Maura turns her head and the audience leans, revealing an interior hallway and doorway. (2/2)

Noticed a cool shot in “Volver” last night: Carmen Maura is watching “Belissima” on TV when someone knocks at the door, behind and to the left of the viewer. Maura turns toward camera and cranes her head to get a look at the doorway—that standard Rosemary’s Baby thing where the audience … (1/2)

More about prose style than methods! I think projectile weapons are the only execution methods that unambiguously have a wrong side.