(A GREAT Dane in a MINI Cooper, get it?? Hahaha, classic!)

Hey, remember that episode of The Simpsons where Homer became a voice on Itchy & Scratchy?  For Poochie, the super-cool dog?  The makers of Marmaduke sure do. *triple fakie kickflip rail ollie*

“We’ve approached the movie like a John Hughes movie with dogs,” Director Tom Dey says.  “Marmaduke is a teenager, and he’s trying to find his way in the world,” Dey says. “It’s a boy-meets-girl story, a coming-of-age and cautionary tale.”

Oh, and did I mention dogs that surf?

“I asked [the trainer] if he could teach the dog to surf,” Dey says. “Mike said he didn’t know if he could even get the dog in the water. The Danes he’s worked with in the past have not wanted to go into the water.”
So a plot point is Marmaduke, who hates water, being forced to enter a surf competition to save face for his owner.
“Mike started to work with him,” Dey says. “I was amazed. I actually went out with him when he was training him in the water. I saw him get on a wave and ride. That was unbelievable. I don’t think anyone’s seen a Great Dane surf before.” [USA Today]

Only in my wildest, most cocaine-fueled beer-commercial-idea brainstorming sessions.

Daily Circle Jerk Links:

Exhausting a Meme: A Gallery of Falcon Punches |Unrealitymag|

Messed-up TV commercials from the 1960′s |ScreenJunkies|

Ferrets: The Pursuit of Excellence |WarmingGlow|

There’s a Twilight sex toy.  It sparkles. Buy one to display on your sanitary pad shelves (safe for work) |Cinematical|

The 5 Worst Sports Excuses. Wait, I don’t see, “She told me she was 19″ anywhere on here. |OpenSports|

The Sony PS3 is getting smaller, cheaper. |SmokingSection|

New Sexman video: “I Don’t Know What the Hell Boba Fett Is.” |Heeb|

John Hughes tribute: a video retrospective of boobs (NSFW) |Buzzfeed|

~ robopanda [picture source]

At first no one cared when Matt Austin-Sadowski (a former actor on “Power Rangers: S.P.D.”) made a 75-minute Roger & Me-style documentary about his search for the reclusive John Hughes (entitled Don’t You Forget About Me).  But less than a day after John Hughes died, Austin-Sadowski was fielding calls from distributor’s. “Are you serious?” he’d ask. “Serious as a heart attack,” they probably didn’t say.

By noon Friday, world rights to the low-budget doc had been snapped up by Alliance Films of Montreal with a U.S. deal in the offing. Thesps interviewed in the doc include Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Mia Sara, Kelly LeBrock and Andrew McCarthy. Molly Ringwald, perhaps the actress most associated with Hughes’ hits, refused to take part in the project.  Austin-Sadowski said he hopes the buzz translates into renewed interest in Hughes’ films. “That’s what’s important to us. It’s not the deal. It’s not more exposure for us.” [Variety]

Really?  People needed a documentary to remember John Hughes films?  Say what you will about them, they weren’t exactly underappreciated.  Nonetheless, I respect this guy’s foresight and I’m hoping to follow his example.  I just don’t know which is more likely, Michael Bay dying in a freak C4 accident or Brett Ratner choking on a nacho.

Jeez, I leave for 10 minutes to walk the dog (masturbate) and I come back and now John Hughes is dead?  What the hell.

The 59-year-old was taking a morning walk in New York when he went into cardiac arrest, according to Michelle Bega. He was in Manhattan visiting his family. [BBC]

John Hughes was the man responsible for:

- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
- Uncle Buck
- Planes, Trains & Automobiles
- The Breakfast Club
- Weird Science
- Sixteen Candles

…among other things.  I’d venture to guess I’ve seen Ferris Bueller roughly 600 times, and spent much of my childhood trying to be that cool.  I often wake up thanking God I had Ferris Bueller (a hero of a high school movie who was witty and popular, imagine that!) to emulate and not… who the hell do kids even idolize these days?  Zac Efron?  Shia LaBeouf?  Stifler?  I don’t even know.  Bottom line, he will be missed. Death is a cruel bastard who never takes the ones who deserve it, like Danny Masterson.

The trailer for Sundance darling American Teen (from the director of The Kid Stays in the Picture), a critically acclaimed documentary about an Indiana high school, is now online (watch it after the jump). 

As you can see from the picture above, it’s billing itself as a real-life Breakfast Club. But judging by the popular-guy-dates-girl-who-paints plotline, it looks more like a real-life 16 Candles.  Or maybe it’s like a real-life High School Musical without the singing and the queer stuff.  

Either way, they bill one guy as "The Geek" at the beginning of the trailer, but by the end they show him holding hands with a girl.  What the fuck, man, where I’m from that was like third base.