Close Encounter of the Warhol Kind

THE FUTURIST! regularly listens to the HND@Grassroots podcast featured on an irregular basis on The House Next Door blog. It is hosted by John Lichman, Vadim Rizov and Keith Uhlich. The trio entertain and question guest indie movie makers and film critics, drink excessively, taunt each other and use the word "didactic" a lot. They represent, to THE FUTURIST!, his theory of The Disney Buddy Plot Equation; that being, for a good tale you need the equivalent of Mickey, Donald and Goofy as your central characters. They define the three aspects of the human psyche. In this case, Vadim is the Donald, Keith the Mickey and John the Goofy; as well as animatedly inebriated. This is by no means to demean them, of course. Sometimes the identities shift a bit. John Lichman has, of recent note, slowly shifted into a very bitter Donald with still a hint of Goofy. Vadim is is the darkest of Donalds (he would be a very black mallard) and Keith is Mickey with an ascot and loves his Henry James and Terrence Malick more than he does Minnie. Well, in his case, he isn't into Minnie at all. Anywho, THE FUTURIST! wants the trio to know that he writes all of the former descriptions with love and admiration. They are all interesting and very intelligent men and entertain THE FUTURIST! very much. There is a "snob" factor to the podcast, but THE FUTURIST! loves a really entertaining snob. Especially, a snob that doesn't really know he is a snob and doesn't make you feel small. And that is how he feels about Lichman, Rizov and Uhlich. Oh, that is unless you say anything bad about the latest Indiana Jones installment; then, Keith Uhlich will attack with full polysyllabic force and slice your spleen out with a Tiffany Sterling Silver Melon Spoon.

Now, in regards to one third of the trio, John Lichman, the currently unemployed free lance film writer, who is drinking too much and entering Malcolm Lowry territory (J.L. is looking for the Brooklyn equivalent of the bar in Under the Volcano), THE FUTURIST! would like to direct your attention to his column on SpoutBlog. Recently he posted this fascinating video of a younger Stephen Spielberg being interviewed by Andy Warhol and Bianca Jagger in a hotel room on a bed. Please watch this and wonder if Mr. Spielberg was not slipped an E.T. (Extra Transporting) hallucinogenic by Andy. If only Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Shia LeBeouf was this intriguing.




Thank you, John Lichman, for finding this video.
And thank you for following THE FUTURIST!'s blog.