my favorite huckster

Okay, yes, the SHAMWOW!! infomercials have been all the rage for a while now.

At first I rolled my eyes and tuned out VINCE. Another annoying pitchman, another 'not sold in stores' item nobody needs that they do carry in stores. I have astonished my husband with my inability to hear or notice something on TV right in front of my face if I'm not interested, so it was easy enough to Not Pay Attention to VINCE.

Then one day I actually watched some of it. And again. And suddenly it was hilarious! I couldn't believe such a shady-looking, shyster-type huckster (thanks for the word idea, shannon!) was LEGIT. Who would buy anything from this guy?? My favorite bits are when he says "I'm gonna do this in real time!" As though one can do something NOT in real time - what is he, a time traveler? EVIDENTLY NOT. Plus "You know the Germans always make good stuff!" and just the pace of the whole thing. Cut it in half, use it on your dog, olympic divers use these, and incessant use of the word COLA.

Suddenly I LOVE it!

Then my husband said he thought he saw VINCE in another infomercial pitching some OTHER product. NO NO VINCE would not two-time his beloved SHAMWOW!!, I thought.

Then on metafilter the other day someone posted some links! all about VINCE!

First of all, of course, there's VINCE's wikipedia entry. Imagine my surprise when I learned that VINCE apparently OWNS SHAMWOW!! and the other thing, which is THE SLAPCHOP!!

Coincidentally, just a day or two later friend Shannon sent me the youtube link to VINCE'S commercial for THE SLAPCHOP!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUbWjIKxrrs

I will not even ruin it for you by quoting my very favorite line of the whole thing. But my other favorite thing is when VINCE offers to throw in a second gadget for free if you buy THE SLAPCHOP!! When I saw the name of this second gadget, I had to pause the video while I laughed for a while. HYSTERICAL.

Going back to the metafilter links, I was surprised to see two very different takes on VINCE and his life and career:

This person portrays VINCE as 1. maker of one of the worst movies ever and 2. a loser who deals with failure by blaming others via lawsuit.

Whereas this person offers a VERY DIFFERENT TAKE on VINCE and portrays him as a budding filmmaker and entrepreneur STRUCK DOWN IN HIS PRIME by a prudish CULT!

The hell of it is that I now feel the overwhelming need for both the SHAMWOW!! and THE SLAPCHOP!! based on VINCE's superior pitchman skills. Not to mention the Second Gadget referenced above!!!

Marty Robbins/Steve Martin mashup

Our conversation over dinner last night: Los Straightjackets led to Freddy Fender, Freddy Fender led to Marty Robbins, and a vague-but-hilarious childhood memory led me to the wikipedia and the imdb and, eventually, to the google and this video from Steve Martin's 1980 TV special. How I can possibly remember it I don't know, and truthfully I'd always envisioned Galapagos tortoises instead of a much larger animal, but here it is! I'm just glad to have its existence confirmed.

As when I was 12, I'm still not sure whether it's the most hilarious thing ever or not. But it's, well, different.

(also my first attempt to embed a youtube video, so good luck to us all.)

Driveshaft

If you're a Lost fan at all, or if you're a fan of the band Driveshaft, do check out the website created by my insane friend marie siu and an equally insane friend of hers, driveshaftband.com.

From the beginning, they designed the site with complete straightforwardness, as though Charlie-from-Lost's band Driveshaft were real and he were a real rock star who'd gone missing in a real airplane accident. I love the idea of a site reflecting events around the TV show, but never seen on the show - just in the same universe, kind of, but as consistent as they could make it. As events unfolded in the TV series, they went back and recreated backstory to match. Which made things quite hectic for them sometimes! Shannon even got to meet hobbit-guy once and gave him a mix cd she'd made, and the site got a bit of national attention.

Particularly hilarious are guestbook entries insisting "it's just a TV show! What's the matter with you FREEKS!!!11".

Anyhow, due to recent events, the site has seen its last update. But what a brilliant, cracked, twisted, and totally mad idea.