Movies' Mad Libs

I'm a film fan. Well, I'll be more accurate - a film crazed psycopath who's insatiable need for new motion pictures keeps me up at night. Literally. One of my favorite genres is both near to my apartment and my heart, in Hong Kong cinemas. When I was growing up, my favorite thing to do was watch Bruce Lee films from Hong Kong and laugh at the terrible English over-dubbing of the original Cantonese.

Flash to college. Working for the radio station, we found creative ways to over-dub Carlin's Seven Dirty words when they appeared in songs. We thought it clever to add a shout out for the station whenever these dilemmas posed themselves. So, we'd add our call letters, KJNB, wherever the FCC would want us to. For example: DJ Shadow's Walkie Talkie became "I'm a badass mother "KJNB" DJ!" Or on Ben Fold's Song for the Dumped, it became " Well, 'KJNB' you too! Give me my money back/ Give me my money back, you 'KJNB.' " Not all of them were this graceful, but you get the picture.

It was kind of like musical mad libs where certain words are underlined with 'expletive' written underneath.

I was just reading an article in The Rake Magazine, which is becoming my favorite free Mpls zine, about the dubbing on in-flight films. Namely, the use of 'Ashcroft' in place of 'asshole' when the film Sideways is shown on Northwest Airlines. The article offers an interesting insight to the world of over (as in too much) over-dubbing for captive audiences of all ages. It's a quick read and pretty 'darn' funny. If you think I'm trying to 'bullhonkey' you, check it out for your 'rootin' tootin' self.