Let’s see, we had the title of my previous, February 24th blog being “Like In That Beatles Song”, and the very next day, February 25th, Supreme Court Justice Alito renders a decision by putting things in the context of what it might mean to reference a John Lennon song. I consider myself very much on the left of the political spectrum, generally (though I don’t always accept conventional definitions of what issues fall where on the political spectrum, preferring to use my own mind), however, there is a substantial history of major Republicans referencing my material: George W. Bush, Trent Lott, Rudolph Giuliani, John McCain. Perhaps it’s word of mouth, related to the fact that everybody everywhere references my material, from rock superstars to film directors to TV shows to leaders of foreign nations to Democrats. All of this weighs very much in favor of the conclusion that Alito’s action the day following my action, both actions not merely regarding references to Beatle songs, but rather the concept of referencing Beatle songs, was apropos of my previous blog title.
If that was a difficult one to follow, this next one will certainly throw you.
- I begin by drawing your attention to my videoclip regarding the final episode of the TV show “Friends”, which starred Jennifer Aniston and others. Ever since my 1998 “Gosk 2” sci-fi comedy video, which included in a starring role someone who was friendly with Arquettes and other “Friends” people, there were quite a number of references to my material on that show (only a few prior to “Gosk 2”, including an entire storyline contained within the initial “we were on a break” episode). On the referenced videoclip, they made a game of using one of the made-up words in “Gosk” a few episodes prior to the final one, and then on the final episode gave center stage importance to the power of a made-up word to catalyze events. The question was thereby raised of whether a new made-up word (or possibly not new for viewers of “Gosk”) would get Rachel off the plane the second time (as a made-up word had at one point in that episode), to reunite with Ross for the climax of the series (I said series, not episode). Had such a word been called into play, we can be certain that it would be a word instantly made part of the English language, for its “Friends” significance. Had such a word demonstrably originated with me, I imagine it would have become trivia difficult to suppress.
- Jason Lee’s show, “My Name Is Earl” is the result of a story idea I submitted to the person (Sean Daniel, first person from whom I learned of CalArts, the school I attended) who produced the first big movie Lee was in, “Mallrats”, which was itself named after my video, “Mall Man”. As mentioned in a videoclip posting of mine on YouTube, that several-page story idea of mine contained six references to chipmunk talk. The announcement that Lee would be in the movie, “Alvin And The Chipmunks”, came years after my story idea that led to his “Earl”.
- Jack Black often makes references to my material, in his work and his talk show appearances. Some see Black as part of the Stiller/Cornfeld group (Cornfeld is referred to in a few of my other blogs).
- When Aniston and Black together presented an award during the Oscars a week ago, I was struck less by what they said as much as by the omission of a word. Black began by saying that this year in animation we’ve seen talking squirrels. Squirrels are so close to chipmunks, that in the movie, “Alvin and the Chipmunks,” the association of the two species is referred to several times. I was left wondering why Jack Black of all people should be off by one word this way, off, that is, in terms of missing a chance to make an inside reference to things related to my material. It took several days, but it finally occurred to me, he must have learned this from Jennifer Aniston.
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