Stephen Baldwin, lame costumes, and some of the worst visual effects in the history of light? I’m in heaven!

Two preview clips from my feature-length Video On Demand iRiff, available Nov. 5 at Rifftrax.com.

I have an idea for a mind-blowing sci-fi story about a man who discovers a small Time Hole in his closet. Only a few inches in diameter, it’s not large enough for him to pass through. He determines that it must be a portal to the past, because through it wafts the scent of homemade cornbread. He decides to send a potato through the portal, and does so with much pageantry and fanfare. For two years he wanders the streets, looking for the slightest sign that his interaction with the past has altered history in any way. Alas, not a single detail seems to have changed. Then one day, in a video store, he happens to glance into the bargain bin. There he discovers a worn VHS copy of a feature length movie version of Rob Schneider’s “You like-a da juice?” character from the Greek restaurant sketches on Saturday Night Live in the mid 90’s. “That’s funny,” he thinks, “I don’t remember them making a movie about that character…” Soon after he is fatally run over by a recreational vehicle.

The reader is left to draw his/her own conclusions. It’s called “The Guy Who Stuffed a Potato Through His Time Hole.” All rights reserved.

Every day on my break I walk around the campus here at Nyack College and regard the famous “gate to nowhere.” If I had more free time and/or was British I’d write a series of whimsical children’s novels about it. Then those books would be turned into bloated feature films with shoddy merchandise and Burger King tie-ins. Then I’d buy Canada.

Apparently this is old, but it’s new to me. From a Norwegian comedy show.

I can’t decide whether my love for this video is ironic or not.

The group is Sonseed. Hat tip to steev richter.

Richard Wright of Pink Floyd

The man who wrote “The Great Gig In The Sky” and “Us and Them” has passed. Pink Floyd’s Richard Wright is dead at 65 after a “short battle with cancer.” I suppose this is the final word on a Floyd reunion tour. God bless his family.

Michael Palin: a wholesome, religious man.

According to Twitter and Facebook, lots of people hate this founding member of Monty Python. C’mon, gang, give him a break!

Howdy, folks! I had the great honor of contributing material to the latest “Rifftrax Presents” release, Spider-man 2 featuring guest riffer Josh Fruhlinger (A.K.A. The Comics Curmudgeon). Yes, this one was a real Josh-splosion.

If you’re a fan of action and/or crying emo wusses in red spandex, check it out! Here’s the thrilling YouTube sample clip.

Look for more Rifftrax-exclusive Fun With Shorts (and Flicks!) content coming soon, as well as more YouTube freebies.

Faerie Worlds is kind of like a Renn Faire on some sort of psychedelic drug… I showed up in a little face paint and glitter and a fairy shirt, as I only found out we were going a little bit before the fact, and figured there would be plenty of “Norms” there.

Wrong!

Literally EVERYONE was in costume, from the littlest Centaurs to the elderly Elven folk. Even the parking lot attendants were in character “A hundred years of servitude to the Faerie Queen… park the cars, she says…”

The festival consists of booths upon booths of wings, armor, dolls, masks, elven clothing, jewelry, food, tents filled with harem cushions to sit and eat, wings, furniture, wings, artists, writers, wings… and music. Very loud, very goblin-ey music from groups like “The Wicker Men” and Celtic artists.

The Froud family are very loyal contributors every year, and come in costume to sell and sign merchandise. They also offer various levels of doll making, puppet making, and goblin construction workshops. Brian, Wendy, and Toby were all very pleasant to speak with, and Brian especially took time with folks to speak with them, and comment about their lovely costumes.

One of the things done best was the area to listen to music and dance about was large enough to hold the giant dancing faerie population (who knew?) and the designated smoking areas were located away from the dancing, which was nice. Also, the main VIP guests, such as the Frouds and Amy Brown, were easy to find and quite central.

The worst thing about the festival, was that they seemed to lump all the mask people together, all the caricature artists… so vendors seemed very competitive and unhappy, although apparently wing sellers did the best of all the vendors, despite the amount of them.

All in all, it’s a great event to attend for people watching, everyone goes all out on the costumes, and if you like the fantasy genre, it’s literally like being in the fairy market in Stardust.

Another awesome Comic-con has come and gone. Photos are up on my Flickr stream.

This is a small yard in Cape May, NJ filled with fascinating junk sculptures. This goat was my favorite.

More at my Flickr stream.

Brian Scolaro and pals are still at it. Check out VooDooWop.

This site has had a turbulent few months, but I intend to settle here at the old domain for good. Through much blood, sweat and tears I have found the best possible compromise between the old and the new: I’ll be using WordPress from here on out, but I have managed to import ALL of the old JoshWay.com content (INCLUDING the comments!).

I am now in the arduous process of cleaning up the rather messy import, deleting double posts, fixing bum links and YouTube embeds, and cooking up a unique WordPress template of my own. So if you see anything screwy, I appreciate your patience.

ATTENTION OLD-SCHOOL JOSHWAY.COM MEMBERS: You can post comments on WordPress without having an account (I think?), but please know that your old account has been imported to this site. To reclaim your old identity and account, use the “Log In” link on the right-hand side of the site, then enter your email address (the one you used to sign up for JoshWay.com) in the “Forgot Password” form to get rolling.

Thanks, gang!

Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole is one of his best and most overlooked satires. Kirk Douglas plays a newspaper man named Chuck (hmm…) who slithers into Albuquerque and a job as a reporter. After months of patiently biding his time, he seizes the opportunity of a mining accident to exploit both the victim and the local residents.

Ace is satire but not comedy, and it’s about as dark as you can get. I went into it expecting fast-paced, cutesy dialog and a flawed-but-charming protagonist. I didn’t expect a portrait of malice and exploitation that says things about the media which are even more relevant today than they were in 1951. Between the disingenuous and lascivious wife of the man trapped in the mine (Jan Sterling), the corrupt local sheriff (Ray Teal) and Douglas’ shameless Chuck Tatum, Ace in the Hole makes its point with a pretty brutal honesty.

Oh, and it’s really good. Available in a nice special edition from the Criterion Collection.

Cartoon Brew’s Jerry Beck has announced this year’s ‘Worst Cartoons Ever’ event for 9:30pm on Friday, July 25th at San Diego Comic-Con. We’ve caught this painfully funny show the last two years and it’s a hoot. Glad to hear it’s back this year, and that it won’t conflict with the epic MST3K panel. Between these events, the live Rifftrax show, and the usual shenanigans, it’s gonna be a juicy con this year.

UPDATE: The book is now for sale! Go here to buy a copy or pre-order the artist’s edition.

The Chronicle book is here! The proof copy of the Chronicle book just arrived in the mail, and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. Not only is it the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, it’s a darn good-looking book.

I was unsure how it would turn out, since the PDF I sent contained all vector-based artwork imported directly from Adobe Illustrator. Turns out that was a great way to go, as the artwork and text are reproduced with extreme clarity. These strips look better than they do online. More details and photos after the cut…

Tonight I will give the entire book one last proofread and upload a new PDF to the printer if needed. By the end of the week it will be available for purchase online. The cost is $10 plus shipping. The “artist’s edition,” which will include a personalized sketch, will be available shortly thereafter directly from me for $20 plus shipping.

For those of you planning to attend San Diego Comic-con, I won’t have a booth this year but I’ll be there with books in my knapsack. I’ll post more details about how to track me down closer to the con. Here are some more pics, though they don’t do justice to how great this book came out:

Here’s a brief sample from the X-Files Rifftrax. Why not head over to Rifftrax.com and grab the track right now?

[BUMP AND UPDATE] - The track is now available for purchase and download. It’s only $3!

Phew - I can finally talk about this!

Mike Nelson’s “Rifftrax Presents” just announced a new commentary featuring Bill Corbett and Mary Jo Pehl (of the legendary Mystery Science Theater 3000) taking on the original X-Files movie “Fight the Future.” This track is especially… special to me because, well, I helped write it.

Bill contacted me and asked if I would be interested in contributing some jokes as part of an experiment as Rifftrax attempts to expand their catalog. I was one of three contributing writers on this track, the other two being Courtney Enlow and Sean Thomason. Here’s Bill’s forum post announcing our involvement.

So if you’re reading my blog and you’ve never taken Rifftrax for a spin, maybe this could be your gateway track. Release date is June 3.

Together, we can put the stupid Future back in its place!

Attention Nyack alums and likers of good music. Our buddy Steev Richter and his band Jameson Steinway will be playing in Nyack on June 7th. Be sure to check out their MySpace page for more Jameson Steinway.

I thought Harvey Korman and Tim Conway were the funniest people on the planet when I was a kid. Even though Conway does all the work in this sketch, Harvey always cracks me up with his fight to keep a straight face.

I bet you didn’t think you were gonna see an awesome table today, didja?