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Search Results for: Chris Farley

Veekend Video: Pye Rockets in Flight


in , Veekend Video

Way back in October, 1999, my company at the time decided to take the team to Maine for a good old-fashioned jump from 10,000 feet. We brought everyone with us, from senior management to the 20 Indian programmers on “loan” to us from our sister company in Chennai to the early-twenty-somethings like myself. I paid to have my ridiculously-rapid descent videotaped and about a year ago I digitized it, edited out the awful techno-music they’d dubbed over it all and uploaded it to YouTube – but I don’t think I ever mentioned it here on PITF. So with no further ado, enjoy 225 pounds of Pye hurtling towards Earth…

“Mom, Dad – All is forgiven.”

I edited out all of the promotional material the skydive company weaved in (it was originally over 10 minutes) and dubbed in a little De La Soul – the aptly named track: “Fallin’”. Enjoy my hard to hear but still brilliant one-liners like “See you on the ground”, “Mom and Dad all is forgiven” and my personal favorite, “See you in the next world”. There’s also a definite Chris Farley-influenced head jerk right before I shake the cameraman’s hand at the end, and at least one of my famous De-Niro face pulls. Possibly simultaneously.

Half of us had to sleep overnight in tents due to high winds canceling any more jumps around 4pm on the Saturday. Kyle, Gus, Colin and myself decided to rough it until Sunday and spent a memorable evening around the campfire getting to know the staff of New England Sky Dive – many of whom were from other countries. One Australian lad entertained us by lighting “devil sticks” on fire and then swinging them precariously close to his face. He escaped injury, but the worst bang-up wasn’t to happen until the next morning.

Most of the remaining BrainGEMmers jumped out of the same plane around 9am the next morning. Also on our plane, who jumped last, was a cool girl named Sarah we’d gotten to know the night before. She worked at the air field and was conducting her very first solo jump. After we’d landed safely on the ground, we watched in horror as she drifted off course and slammed into the side of a house several miles away. After we finished shitting corbels, we were told she was OK and began the long drive back to Boston. The next morning, however, Kyle found a news article online describing the death of a young female skydiver at that very location. It turned out to be a false report, but for several hours we were gutted and even went to far as to call SDNE to find out where we could send flowers.

In closing, you haven’t lived until you’ve jumped out of a rickety prop aircraft at 12,000 feet with a 7-foot German tied to your back.

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What Will I Nerd-Out Over Now? A New Ghostbusters Movie!


in Movies

Indiana Jones 4 came and went. It provided me with nearly a year of anticipatory nerdery, the likes of which I never thought I’d enjoy again. Today I’m glad to say I was wrong. From IMDB:

Steve Carell and Seth Rogen are to reteam for a new Ghostbusters movie, according to Internet reports. The funnymen are at the centre of a huge new movie rumour, which has been reported by DreadCentral.com. According to “a reliable source, who cannot be named”, Carell and Rogen will join the original four Ghostbusters, Dan Akroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson, for a third film. According to the website, the original GhostBusters stars will hand over their “proton packs” to the new guys, for what insiders believe will be a new run of spook-chasing movies.

I remember reading once that the GB franchise was going to be revived in the mid-nineties, starring Chris Farley and Chris Rock among other younger talent. And I know that there is a next generation console Ghostbusters game in development with Akroyd and others lending their voices and even helping to write the underlying story. Am I just a ginormous toolshed? Or is this really cool news? Maybe don’t answer that.

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Friday’s Quizzlet: Get By With A Little Help From My Lens.


in Monday's Quotelet

Appetizer: On a scale of 1 to 10, how funny do you think you are?
Let’s face it – people who think they’re funny, usually aren’t even close. People who are indeed naturally funny don’t have to try. People who say “just kidding” everytime they make a joke, are right up there with Colombian death squads and mosquitos on my list of things that must be eradicated immediately. I seem to have a good knack for making people laugh – but then we have to remember there are people like Jim Norton, Sean Cullen, Dave Chappelle and Dave Attell in this world. I think I can give myself a solid 7/10.

Soup: Name a local restaurant would you recommend to a visitor to your city.
There’s a little known, highly secret, hidden Greek restaurant near the Galleria called Desfina. I found it by chance when I was wandering around that neighborhood with a friend one day a few years back. Boston has some other Greek options – Meze being the foo foo, $100 a person venue, while Steve’s is tasty – but more of a lunchtime place. There’s also a decent stand in Quincy Market. But for a quaint, two-fisted Kourtaki Retsina drinking, casual, full dining and extremely affordable Greek feast you can get to on the T – Desfina is the way to go.

Salad: What’s a lesson you were lucky enough to learn the easy way?
This question is rubbing me the wrong way. I dunno, flashcards for my times tables? British Comedy rules? It’s better to watch somebody else get hit by a train? I was always good in English. That was pretty easy. Riding a bike? Blazing Saddles is the funniest film ever made? I give up. Maybe someone else can run with this one.

Main Course: Where would you like to be 5 years from now?
In the home office of a building I own working for myself. Listening to the Happy Mondays on the attached private roofdeck, before watching Blade Runner and falling asleep to play poker with John Belushi and Chris Farley. Yes, this is a blatant spidering exercise – but I added cool videos to all those lenses last night and you may want to check them out. The first sentence was genuine, anyway.

Dessert: If you could see the front page of a newspaper from June 2, 2106, what would you imagine the headline might be?
Dave Pye’s Cryogenically Frozen Head Finds Cure for Cancer; Tells Hepatitis to ‘Watch its Ass’.

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Better Late Than Never.


in


Still loved as much as he was on the day he died, Chris Farley has been given a star on the hollywood walk of fame. I wrote about Farley 4 years ago – and the bit still holds water – so I won’t retread too much of it here. Regardless of his excesses, Farley was, during his time on Earth, the funniest man on it. I’ve never been more saddened by a celebrity death. He is sorely missed.

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Where I Be.


in

I haven’t gone anywhere folks, I’m right here. Exciting things are afoot which are keeping me adequately slammed, and not in the good sorta Oz way. I hate blog posts like this, so how about some quick bulletpoints for discussion while I sort my shit out?

– Talledega Nights and Beerfest are both really funny.
– Next weekend I am going to attempt to ice skate for the first time in 20+ years.
– My 15 year high school reunion was excellent. As was the Thanksgiving week in general. I truly have some really great friends, and they are the best part of life.
– I start a new job, about which I am super-excited, on Monday.
– I turn 33 tomorrow. Farley and Belushi are rubbing their hands with anticipation.
– I am moving back to Toronto. Not immediately, but early 2007.
– I am going to become an American Citizen.
– Outlook 2007 is so cool it makes me want to touch myself.
– I got a new phone, finally. Same number.
– I am joining the North Station gym next week (for real).
– I got a nifty haircut today. I have far more hair than I thought I would at 33.

That’s a whole bunch of stuff, and life is good.

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