Comments on: Impossible is the Opposite of Possible

Impossible is the Opposite of Possible

dhammond — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 00:14:51 -0800

"I'm a Gemini, and my favorite food is pizza." Michael Cera (of Arrested Development) submits his resume, Aleksey Vayner-style [previously]. A short film by Nicholas Jasenovec from McSweeney's Presents: The World, Explained.

By: zardoz

zardoz — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 01:11:46 -0800

Ha! Great stuff. I saw only a few episodes of AD, but I remember this guy was great as the nervous kid with a crush on his cousin.

By: disillusioned

disillusioned — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 01:19:49 -0800

You have got to be fucking kidding me. I was going to submit this yesterday. Gah. Well played, sir.

By: slimepuppy

slimepuppy — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 01:27:24 -0800

The first link was hilarious. Thanks for that.

By: now i'm piste

now i'm piste — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 02:12:09 -0800

Bona Cera!

By: lodurr

lodurr — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 03:13:02 -0800

Amusing, but there are some good missed opportunities here. For example, "Successful people think in very specific patterns, which then create opportunties for them...." Patterns like "How much can I take this old lady for? She looks like she might have a couple gs in the bank and she's so talkative I'm sure her kids aren't paying attention." (Disclaimer: I am not a comedy writer. And it shows!) I fear (and I do fear, cuz I love the guy) that Cera is just too dry for the American TV market....but then, I probably would have said that about Eugene Levy or Harold Ramis back in '80.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 03:13:42 -0800

... er, quote is from the original Aleksy...

By: I Foody

I Foody — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 04:23:14 -0800

Cera will be the next Tom Hanks.

By: Tenuki

Tenuki — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 04:27:16 -0800

Or Ron Howard.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 04:49:55 -0800

But hopefully not the next John Candy. [.] (For my money, he's definitely more Howard than Hanks. Hanks is nowhere near that twisted. Howard, by contrast, is the guy who insisted that the Simpsons team depict their 'Ron Howard' character as a martini-swilling narcissist.)

By: amarynth

amarynth — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 05:45:27 -0800

I love this kid. I think that I've freaked more than a few of my friends out whenever we discussed AD and it was revealed how emphatically I love him, but, really, I just think he's incredibly talented.

By: mammary16

mammary16 — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 05:52:10 -0800

At first I thought this was a riff on yesterday's Corey Haim video - then I saw the second link.

By: The God Complex

The God Complex — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 06:08:13 -0800

First link is fantastic. Thanks for that.

By: phirleh

phirleh — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 06:19:30 -0800

I worked on a kids show in Canada about 7 years ago called "I was a 6th Grade Alien" that he was on. Even though he wasn't the star, his character, Larrabe Hicks, was always the best thing about that show.

By: hal9k

hal9k — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 07:17:29 -0800

About 20 years ago I was an AD for a series of motivation tapes with speakers from the "up yourself" bureau. A brusque oilman decided he was going to make millions off selling these on late night TV informercials, popular at the time. He bankrolled everything and was the emcee introducing each speaker. We had the couch-and-fern set onstage and a line of 12 speakers who would give their motivation speech, twice in one day. Very tight schedule with a quick lunch. All would go on in the morning, then we'd move the cameras and audience and shoot from different angles in the afternoon, the better to make an interesting edit. Doris was a retired schoolteacher who was very popular on the speaking circuit with her carpe diem speech which built to a climax and finished with no dry eye in the house. I can't do it justice but basically it ended with: Her mother was deaf and they had had a terrible argument but made up just as Doris was leaving her parents home. In her rear view mirror as she drove away she saw her mother sign "I love you" from the middle of the street just as a teenager in a car sped around the corner and hit her from behind. Never heard it coming. She was thrown far, to the neighbors house in fact, and died. It is afternoon now in the redundant half of our day; the second time everybody's heard this sad tale and they're grabbing their chairs and biting their lips for the emotional conclusion. Doris is only now just starting the car and will soon glance in the rear-view mirror for one last look. The teenager is gunning the engine. It is at this same moment we find bossman/emcee backstage impatient and pacing. Next speaker whispers to him if he has time to go to the bathroom. Boss answers: "Good grief! She's just about finished! Doris' mother is about to hit the wall!" His wireless mike was on.

By: mike3k

mike3k — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 07:18:44 -0800

I really miss Arrested Development. He was just perfect on that show as George-Michael.

By: escabeche

escabeche — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 07:57:01 -0800

While we're talking young actors who delivered undiluted comic genius in sadly cancelled TV series, it should be noted that Martin Starr is one of Cera's weight-spotters at about 2:50 of that video.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 08:01:58 -0800

Brilliant.

By: nola

nola — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 09:03:26 -0800

this kind of reminds me of some of the stuff i've seen on timanderic.com like this wmv link

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 09:56:39 -0800

Yeah, Cera and Starr are both in the upcoming Super Bad, directed by this chap Mottola who worked on Undeclared and ArrestDev.

By: escabeche

escabeche — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 10:41:33 -0800

To be fair, Starr is listed at the very bottom of the credits as "Dude #5," so I'm not sure how big a role he'll have in this. But it's co-written by Seth Rogen and produced by the Judd, so that's enough for me.

By: good in a vacuum

good in a vacuum — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 12:40:38 -0800

George Michael is probably my favourite character on Arrested Development. Not such an obviously over-the-top character like Buster or Gob that grabs your attention right away when first watching the show, but consistently and subtly hilarious with his perpetual wide-eyed panic and hopeless wardrobe. The first link is great, thanks.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 14:10:45 -0800

... perpetual wide-eyed panic ... You know, thank you. Thank you. I just couldn't put my finger on it before, but THAT'S IT: George-Michael is in a constant state of panic, constantly struggling to please people but forced to exist in the living hell of intermittent reinforcement and plain ole crazymaking that is the Bluth family. In short, he's Michael as a young man.

By: sparkletone

sparkletone — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 23:39:12 -0800

This is hilarious. He truly is Mr. Manager.