Dance Party

Well, hello, cinemaphiles. It's time for another offering at the Comfy Chair.

Sometimes you have to get silly. We Here at the Comfy Chair have had this idea rolling around in our head for some time, and finally set about getting out of our head and into computerland.

It goes back to one of our techniques from the old days.

And that's about all there is to say, except get a cookie and a beverage, relax, and enjoy "Dance Party."

(BTW, WHATCC are going to have to do something about embedding from You Tube. It seems to cut off one end of the picture. Or did on the last two movies.)

World Cup Soccer

Hello, moviegoers! Welcome to the latest offering at the Comfy Chair Cinema.

We Here At The Comfy Chair got a request last week from our friend Marla (MarlaMarla). After being told WHATCC had a few ideas stewing for movies, Marla suggested having some toys playing soccer. After all, it is World Cup Time.

Now, We Here At The Comfy Chair had a little soccer ball around the house somewhere, and unearthed it, and set about the task of fulfilling Marla's request.

A few problems arose. The first is that WHATCC don't really know anything about soccer. But what the hey, movies are for fun, right?

All the problems that came later were logistical, but with some cheesy music editing and a lot of trial and error, we muddled through.

Something WHATCC would like to mention about this evening's offering - it features our favorite movie set we've ever made. Lots of fun watching that come together.

So, sit back, get a beer, your team jersey, and a vuvuzela and enjoy "World Cup Soccer."

Milo Howls the Classics

Hello, there, Comfy Chairers! This is the last of four, yes, count them, I know you won't, uploads to the old Comfy Chair Cinema.

You know, old Milo (well, he's not old, maybe WHATCC should say ol' Milo) has been itching to get into a Comfy Chair movie. He can't act, he can't dance, he takes direction badly, and he only knows a couple of tricks.

However - he can sing!

In fact, he can sing so beautifully that the Record Offers On TV People came to us and asked if they could work in conjunction with We Here at the Comfy Chair to put together a special record offer for the public at large.

And we said yes.

So sit back, grab a handful of Hot Tamales from Ethel at the concession stand, and enjoy my little fella Milo showing off his musical ability in "Milo Howls the Classics."

Live Music!

Hello again, music lovers. OK, OK, now sit back down and put away your beers. This is not the kind of music you heard in the clip below.

This is culture, dammit!

The day after that great Hackensaw Boys concert, We Here at the Comfy Chair were to play our big-ass clarinet solo/duet with the mighty and feared Blacksburg Community Band. The band's spring concert was Sunday, May 4.

My clarinetting partner Mary and I practiced, together and with the band, for many a month bringing this together. Here are the fruits of our labor.

By the way, speaking of fruits, some nice Lemonheads would go great with such a performance. Be sure to visit Ethel at the concession stand and buy a pack.

Live Music!

Hello, music lovers! We at the Comfy Chair have a special treat for you.

As you know, We Here at the Comfy Chair are particularly fond of the Hackensaw Boys. WHATCC went to see them in the lovely town of Floyd, VA in May. A great day, great music, lots of dogs and hippies.

Below is a little song from The Boys as they strolled out into the crowd. It's a personal favorite, "We Are Many." (The line from Ward about "confiscating the camera" was a little joke to us, the Comfy Chair.)

Grab a beer, get it from your kitchen, the Comfy Chair doesn't have its liquor license yet, and dance around, please!

We're Back!

Peep Opp Ork Ah-Ah

Well, hello, cinemaniacs! Bet you thought we'd closed down the Comfy Chair Cinema for good, didn't you?

You were almost right.

See, something amazing happened here at the old cinema. We Here at the Comfy Chair adopted a dog. And sure, we could board him and go on trips and make movies of the giant rubber stamp, but as far as getting out a bunch of crap and actually making a movie? Forget it. And so our moviemaking has suffered.

But strangely enough, on the Easter Weekend, a weekend in which We Here at the Comfy Chair had an extra day off our day jobs, we sat down and made an actual movie. The doggie (Milo, for those of you keeping score at home), was surprisingly good throughout the entire process, which bodes well for later movies.

Last year WHATCC made a little short movie starring Peeps, the Easter Candy. It was called "Bollypeep!" Well, this Easter we decided to continue on a theme. And so we bring you this year's Easter offering, "Peep Opp Ork Ah-Ah."

Anyone familiar with the Jet Screamer episode of "The Jetsons" will know the song in question. It's our (here at the Comfy Chair) favorite Jetsons episode. It features the singing of no less a person himself than the wonderful Howard Morris.

So please, sit down, relax - we bet you haven't relaxed in ages! - grab some popcorn from Ethel there at her post, and watch "Peep Opp Ork Ah-Ah."

The Giant Rubber Stamp!

Hello, cineophiles. Welcome to a new opening at the Comfy Chair.

And yes, we at the Comfy Chair have yet another travelogue movie for you tonight. It came about during another trip to Cleveland, one we took last weekend with Mr M. Oh, but this isn't snappy car banter - this is something else!

See, back in 2005 we at the Comfy Chair had the chance to see the Giant Rubber Stamp in Cleveland. Of course we were awed, but we didn't have the Comfy Chair Cinema at that time, and couldn't give it its due. So we did just that this time around.

And in a stunning twist of events, this movie ends with a bang - a surprise none of us was expecting. So be sure to stay tuned until the end!

As with anyone's home movies, pop some popcorn (or buy some from Ethel at the popcorn stand - remember, she didn't get a raise in Social Security this year) and get a cold drink. Then sit back and enjoy "The Giant Rubber Stamp!"

Triple Feature!

Hello, movie lovers, and welcome back to the Comfy Chair Cinema.

We here at the Comfy Chair know we've been gone a while. It's easy to explain. We at the Comfy Chair got a doggie.

It's very hard to make movies when there's a puppy bounding all over the sets, and we've been trying to get some footage together to turn the puppy into the movie, but so far when we've pointed the camera at him, he simply looks at us and goes, "Huh?"

But never fear!

We've made up for the lack of movies with a triple feature. The Cleveland Trilogy, it is, and it's a travelogue of Bet & Mr M's weekend trip to Cleveland to see the Big Air Show. And with three installments all over six minutes, there's enough to here to keep you occupied for some time, hopefully until the doggie stops looking at us and gonig, "Huh?"

So sit back, relax, get a snack and a drink (sold in the lobby for a nominal fee), and enjoy "The Road To Cleveland." Parts One, Two, and Three.

Ciao!

Hello, movie lovers, and welcome to the opening of another offering at the Comfy Chair cinema.

Talk about happy accidents. The latest film, "Ciao!" is just that.

See, the movie started out as nothing more than an experiment. We at the Comfy Chair have seen a thousand times old movies where a character is driving, and it's quite obvious that the "driving" is simply the character sitting in a stationary car and has a screen behind them containing the road and background.

And we here at the Comfy Chair wanted to see if we could do that for ourselves.

Last week WATCC got invaluable technical assistance from friend the DeepFatFriar (who will be appearing in the credits as "boa"). He came up with the camera placement idea and made it work. Afterward we had 25 minutes of car trip around B'burg that was beautiful - all that remained was editing it to a suitable length, putting a car and driver in front of it, and letting the good times roll.

However, the good times, which consisted of Comfy Chair favorite Sherman in his convertible, did not roll. Filming the finished product was fairly miserable, but was completed, edited, given titles, and wrapped up. The Comfy Chair was left with a finished movie that was over seven minutes long and not making us happy.

But sometimes things take a turn, movie lovers, and on Saturday while in B'burg, that turn came. See, we here at the Comfy Chair had gone to B'burg with more toys in tow, for we had the idea of a little "extra" to have as a companion piece to the original driving video. It would be about a minute of Sherman on his Vespa toodling through town.

WATTCC took a few minutes to film that, brought it back to the Comfy Chair Labs, and started playing with it. And realized that our seven minute original was not the newest Comfy Chair movie - this was. And so the Comfy Chair went all out and played with it some more and here is your new Comfy Chair offering.

So sit back, relax, get a snack (sold in the lobby at a nominal fee - please, we need the revenue, and after attending the real cinema last week, we at the Comfy Chair realize we're underpricing our snacks), and enjoy Sherman in "Ciao!"

What's on TV?

Hello, Comfy Chair friends, and welcome to a new feature at the cinema.

This movie, "What's on TV," was a long time in the making. It also features some new things for me. It's certainly the most stop-motion I've ever done at a stretch. It's the first time I've built scenery. It's also the first time I've tried to time the action to the music. And the first time I've tried to link scenes together instead of doing one long continuous scene.

It features my toys, most of them are the toys I have around my office at work, a couple are from home.

And now that it's done, I'm going to go rest.

So get a snack from the lobby (sold at a nominal fee), relax, and check out "What's on TV?"

Bollypeep!

Hello, Comfy Chairers, and welcome to a new movie at the cinema.

We at the Comfy Chair have been away for way too long. Life calls, we answer. But hopefully things are slowing down a bit and we can keep the cinema going, thus giving Pops the usher and Ethel the popcorn lady a job. I'd hate to let them go, what with Pops and his gout and Ethel and her trick hip and all.

Well. Tonight's feature, "Bollypeep!" is brought to you by the Claymation Studio program we were given for our birthday (thanks, Stennie) and the new webcam we bought this weekend with the last of our Christmas bonus.

It's a rollicking dance number featuring everyone's favorite Easter marshmallowy snack. It's short, but really, would you want it to go on any longer than this?

So sit back, relax, get a snack, and tap your toes to the sounds of Mohammed Rafi for "Bollypeep!"

Live Music!

Hello, Comfy Chairers, and welcome to another week at the cinema.

We here at the Comfy Chair spent this past weekend enjoying the love that is The Hackensaw Boys. And in an effort for you to get out of your shells and go out and enjoy the love that is The Hackensaw Boys yourselves, we're posting some videos we took of Saturday's show.

This one features Shawn, known to the fold as Plang Tang Hackensaw, singing an old number called "Hope I'll Be Lucky Some Old Day." (And if one clip isn't enough for you - and really, it's not, you know it - head over to Betland to see another.)

So grab a snack (sold in the lobby, etc etc), and don't sit back as usual - we're clearing the aisles for this one so you can get up and dance.

Kitchen Dance

Greetings, movie lovers, and welcome to another new feature at the Comfy Chair.

We at the Comfy Chair had an interesting weekend. We spent Sunday making this week's movie, "Kitchen Dance." We had an idea, a piece of music, and we prepared to let the good times roll. And we did, but things came to a dead halt when we saw our finished product. The Comfy Chair Still Camera was on the wrong setting, the lighting was bad, and the Comfy Chair's finger made several cameo appearances in the film.

And so we scrapped it. But were we at the Comfy Chair upset? Well, yeah, a little. But not so upset that we gave up. For we liked the idea and knew we could do better. And so after a very long day today, we tried again. And we think we got it.

"Kitchen Dance" is just that. It's Dance Night at The Egg, which is the name of the kitchen at the Comfy Chair's humble home, the Poderosa. And the lovely Ms Leopardskin Flask is looking to dance. And dance she does!

So sit back, grab the snack of your choice from the lobby (Lemonheads are half off this week), and enjoy this week's offering, "Kitchen Dance."

Another Parade, More Wind-Ups

Well, hello, movie lovers, and welcome to a new week at the Comfy Chair Cinema.

It's been an odd weekend. It culminated in two important things. The first was we at the Comfy Chair admitting to our benefactor the nice new camera he gave us just doesn't work for certain things. Comfy Chair movies among them. (The benefactor was very nice about it.) And while that left us filming with the beloved Flip camera, it also left us with no program that recognized it.

However, that all-important second thing. Somewhere around midnight last night, WATCC did yet more research and may have found an answer to our problem. And we were so excited about that we just started putting together a movie then and there, which kept us up till about 2:30 am, which isn't so good as the Comfy Chair has to go to work at 9:00.

But there is a new movie, and so, well, screw work.

This week's movie is a sequel to our earlier "Wind-Ups on Parade." This time the wind-ups are from Mr M, friend and patron of the Comfy Chair. Not much to explain here, just wind them up and let them go.

So sit back, get a nice snack in the lobby (sold at a nominal fee, of course), and enjoy "Another Parade, More Wind-Ups."

Girl

Hello, movie lovers, and welcome back to the Comfy Chair Cinema.

We here at the Comfy Chair are still learning about our new camera, and in fact had a rather frustrating weekend trying to get things the way we wanted them. But we've soldiered ahead and are opening this week with a new movie, "Girl."

Our last film featured the dynamic Barnyard Singers. The Barnyard Singers are good boys. Nice boys. This film features - well, just like Pat Boone had his Elvis and the Beatles had their Rolling Stones, this film features the scruffy, scary rivals of the Barnyard Singers, the Guds.

The Guds are a video away from taking America by storm, and this just may be the video.

So sit back, have a snack (Ethel's popcorn is extra good this week), and enjoy the Guds in "Girl."

Another Grand Re-Opening!

The Barnyard Boys

Whew, it's been a while, hasn't it?

Well, we here at the Comfy Chair Cinema were starting to wonder if we'd ever open our doors again. Windows Vista didn't like the Flip camera, other video editing software didn't like the mental capacities of we at the Comfy Chair - it seemed hopeless.

And then we were benefacted with a new camera.

Which we still haven't learned all the ins and outs of.

However!

Has that stopped us before? Of course not. And so the Comfy Chair has opened its doors here on the first day of 2009 with a new movie.

"The Barnyard Boys" features a dynamic new act, The Barnyard Singers, that we at the Comfy Chair discovered on the shelf of a local Barnes and Noble. I'm sure you'll enjoy their immense vocal talents and stage presence.

Is it the best movie-making you've ever seen? Noooooo Waaaaay. But it's a start till we at the Comfy Chair can read our camera directions more and play around with the equipment in our spare time.

But please, give "The Barnyard Boys" a little of your time. 4 minutes, to be exact.

(Not So) Grand Re-opening!

Googly Eyes

Well, that wasn't much of a vacation.

Yes, we here at the Comfy Chair Cinema are back, video problems solved, at least in the short term. We're back with a new movie-editing program, and we'll see how that goes. But welcome back.

We're re-opening the cinema tonight with possibly our silliest feature since "It's a Wonderful Pickle." It's called "Googly Eyes," and the premise is simple. What would some of our old familiar Comfy Chair stars look like - with googly eyes?

Well, you'll find out. Why googly eyes? I found them in a bin at Wal-Mart for 97 cents. When you find a shitload of googly eyes for 97 cents, you just can't pass them up.

So come back on in, grab some snacks in lobby (sold at a nominal fee), wave hello to Ethel at the popcorn machine, and settle in for "Googly Eyes."

Comfy Chair Temporarily Closed

Sure, I could say it's Ethel and her hip again (sitting at that popcorn machine must be torture), or we're polishing the floors and mending the curtains, but the truth of the matter is that we here at the Comfy Chair Cinema are having a hell of a hard time making movies.

Apparently, the Comfy Chair's beloved Flip digital camera is roundly hated by Vista's version of Movie Maker. We here at the Comfy Chair have sweated, worked, cursed (well, we curse in good times and in bad), and tried everything we know to rectify the situation. It remains unrectified.

So we here at the Comfy Chair are exploring other movie-making options. Something will work, we will hit upon that magic solution, and all will be well again. We know this to be true.

So please, keep checking back, this closing is only temporary. We promise.

In the meantime, please check out our sidewalk sale of treats formerly sold in the lobby at a nominal fee, now sold on the street in front of the Comfy Chair Cinema. And hurry. The Goobers and Raisinettes are melting.

In the meantime, a trivia quiz - who spotted the blaring gaffe in our last movie, and what was it? (We here at the Comfy Chair [WHATCC] only spotted it a few days ago, and hung our head in shame.)

A Moveable Feast

Hello, movie lovers!

Well, we here at the Comfy Chair have taken quite the break, haven't we? To be quite honest, "2001 (Sort Of)" just wore our asses out, and we were out of ideas.

Then we were flush with ideas, well, an idea, and lost our internet for a while.

But never fear, cineophiles. We are now back with Ethel at the popcorn stand, Pops taking tickets, and lots of new (sold at a nominal fee) snacks in the lobby.

Oh, and a new movie. This one's called "A Moveable Feast," and, well, if ever there was a literal title to a movie, here it is. It's the Comfy Chair's most ambitious try yet at stop-motion photography. (Attempt #5, if we're not mistaken.) Somewhere around 500 pictures for the 2:30 minutes of action. And it is action, it's some serious action.

So please, make yourself comfortable (after all, it is the Comfy Chair Cinema) and enjoy "A Moveable Feast."

2001 (Sort Of)

Hello, friends and moviegoers, and welcome back to another week at the Comfy Chair Cinema.

We here at the Comfy Chair have been mulling over this week's feature, "2001 (Sort Of)," for quite a while. For a couple of reasons. First, we've been wanting to do a sort of movie parody, something not from our own minds, and second, because the film "2001: A Space Odyssey" has been a film that has perplexed the Comfy Chair for a long time. The Comfy Chair saw this film in the theater when it was released, when the Comfy Chair was just a small girl.

No offense meant, or maybe a little, but we here at the Cinema have never understood this film, never liked it, and never seen its greatness. But that's just us. If someone asked us to describe the movie, here's what we'd say:

"Well, it starts with some apes, a bone turns into a spaceship, a computer sings 'Bicycle Built for Two' and kills a man, there's a light show, and an old man turns into a baby."

If, many years from now, someone asks you what "2001 (Sort Of)" is about, you can answer the same way.

This week's movie features more stop-motion photography (our longest segment yet), and something completely new for us - location shooting. What the people in our little town must have thought of the Comfy Chair.

So sit back, get a nice snack in the lobby, and join us for "2001 (Sort Of)."