How About Friday? Is Friday Good For You?

Lani and I had our State of the PopD lunch at Panera today, and we came away with good stuff thanks to your feedback.

First, we’re switching back to Fridays. It’s going to be awful for some people, but I wanted my Saturday nights and for a lot of people, Saturday is date night/family night/church night/gig night, etc. Beginning or ending of the weekend is just better than middle of the weekend.

Second, we agreed that the podcasts need more structure so we’re focusing on writing comedy in April, taking the four guy comedies apart according to a specific outline that hits things like protagonist and goal and structure, but all in terms of comedy. We’ll still ramble–we’re ramblers–but at least it’ll be focused rambling. Kind of. I like the idea of the fifteen-minute-after-chat, too, because then we can steal ideas from you all.

We also decided that since we’re really curious about self-publishing in e-format, we’re going to do the PopD RomCom book ourselves as an experiment. You all will have no need for it because we’ll be recapping what we did here and you were here for it, but it might be nice for other people who want to write romcom or just know why the hell it’s so broken as genre right now.

Finally, we picked a theme for the six weeks after the Guy Comedy month: Heists and Capers. Movie list to be posted shortly.

So it’ll be Friday at 7 (chat at 6:30 with longer chat after the movie if Lani okays it), more organized podcasts, and a PopD e-book.

How’s that gonna work out for you?

Jenny

33 responses to “How About Friday? Is Friday Good For You?”

  3. Isn’t Inside Man about a cop?
    We’re looking for protagonists who are pulling the heist or caper.

    Possibilities so are are:

    Pocket Full of Miracles (1961)
    Gambit (1966)
    Ruthless People (1986)
    A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
    Sneakers (1992)
    Out of Sight (1998)
    The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
    Ocean’s 11 (2001)
    Leverage (Pilot and a later episode/88 minutes) (2003)

  4. Wanda, Sneakers, Thomas Crown and Oceans 11 – already on my keeper shelf. Very cool.

    I’m fine moving back to Friday, but Netflix has Weekend at Bernies on ‘long wait’ so I don’t think I’ll be on this week. I think we broke netflix again:)

  5. Well, INSIDE MAN is about the heist. Denzel’s the cop, but he shares the limelight with Clive Owen, who pulls off the heist. If you haven’t seen it, you would enjoy it. I loved this film. [I guess if push came to shove, I’d have to give Denzel’s cop the role of protagonist and Owen as antagonist, but really, it’s just as easily viewed the other way around.] Really. Loved. This. Film. Terrific structure.

    I would also agree with Thomas Crown Affair (excellent) and Ocean’s 11.

    It’s been a while, but Michael Mann’s HEAT was extremely well done, too, and it’s about the guys pulling off the heist.

  6. Sounds great. didn’t get a chance to post to other entry, but wanted you to know that i have learned a lot from you both this past year. i watched a movie last night that i think did a good job of telling a romance. it was a good focus and i could point out certain elements in the romance. the nice thing was that i was able to do the analysis afterward not during. sorry for the lack of capitols – have an injured index finger that is just really messing with my ability to type. keep it up ladies!

  8. Maybe we should do a Cop Movie series.
    In the meantime, I’m going to watch Inside Man next chance I get. Thanks!

  9. Inside Man is one of my favorite movies, too, toni. It’s like a love song to New York, in a way– all those great characters. Really a different way of doing a heist movie, but it still qualifies, I think.

    The Italian Job (either one)

  10. Saw Hopscotch not too long ago and was wondering if that would be considered a “caper”.

    Another genre you could do someday would be Romantic Suspense– a la Notorious and To Catch a Thief.

  11. Fridays are hit-and-miss for me. I won’t be able to join this Friday’s PopD, since I’ll be playing drums at a country club where the last time I played there, one of the customers flashed me – yes, at a country club. Anyhoo, I hope to make it to most of the others.

    If this is definite, don’t forget to change the dates in your Coming Soon section on the right side of the screen. Thanks for being so flexible!

  13. Perfect. I usually can’t join for the movie anyway. I like the new focus, especially interested in finding out more about comedy craft.

    Thanks you both rock

  14. Hopscotch is one of my faves, although the last I time I watched it, Bob was here and when we took it apart we realized that the pacing seemed slow because the antagonist was so dumb. But I still love it. To Catch a Thief is marvelous.

    Keith, if you’ll give us up for the chance to be flashed at a country club, there is no hope for you. Now if it was a guarantee . . .

    Kelly, yep, this Friday, April Fool’s Day. WIll change the coming soon. Thank you all!

  15. I’m guessing Keith is making good money at that gig. Have you clicked his name and seen who he has played with? Freakin’ impressive. Hence the boob flashes wherever he goes.

  17. LOVE heist/caper movies. Never thought of Pocket Full of Miracles that way before, so should be interesting. I always think of it as a Christmas movie or a Damon Runyan movie. And the Brosnan Thomas Crown is one of my all time favorites. Wanted to put Entrapment on the list of possibilities.

  18. Capers? You are doing “The Sting”, aren’t you? It sets the bar for all future capers!

  20. I like Inside Man too. Good heist. And I would say that the bank robbers get only slightly less screen time/importance than Denzel. Really solid movie. I think it would fit well into the Heist/Caper category.

    Also, put me down for votes on Ocean’s 11 and Sneakers. To Catch a Thief is a great movie but I’m not sure the central focus is a heist/caper so much…I haven’t seen that one in a few years, tho. I liked the new Italian Job better than the old one. Is that blasphemy? It’s just the ending of the old one pissed me off.

    Other suggestions:
    I haven’t seen it yet but isn’t Inception a Heist film (among other things)?

    Since you’re doing Leverage, have you thought about one of the episodes of Firefly? They pull a lot of Heists, after all. I LOVE the episode where they rob the hospital or the one where Saffron returns?

    What about the Great Muppet Caper? It even has “caper” in the title! (I’m only half-kidding…)

  21. Trust me, the flashing thing is overrated, and can get to be a real pain. I can only shop for groceries if I’m wearing a disguise, and I had to give up going to church entirely, after a few really awkward incidents.

  22. I vote for Leverage, Thomas Crown, Sneakers, and A Fish Called Wanda.

    Sadly, I have never liked The Sting. My parents love it and thus I have seen it a thousand times and I still completely and utterly zone out in total boredom on that movie until the last scene, so therefore I have no idea what they are doing or why 😛 Yes, I’m sad.

  23. Jennifer, I rewatched The Sting this year, and was underwhelmed. I’ve found many movies from the 70s haven’t aged well with me – even ones I remember absolutely loving back in the day.

    Snatch is another option to consider – I think it qualifies as a caper, and I’m always up for re-watching it!

  26. If we’re doing Leverage, what about some White Collar?

    I’ll try to make it on Fridays (Sundays got sucked up by my life) but the time slot is tough for me since it’s 6 my time, plus Fridays are our date nights. We’ll see what I can work out. 🙂

  27. Sierra – Have E watch too – movie at home and then dinner out afterwards. Still a date. 😉

  28. Only problem is—6:30 eastern translates to 5:30 central, 4:30 mountain, 3:30 pacific, etc. Am I the only one who’ll still be at work on a Friday?

  31. I would say that Inception isn’t really a heist movie (for the main plot they are trying to plant something rather than steal something) but aside from that, it’s got the characteristics of one- could be described as a caper movie, but slightly more serious.

    I just looked up wikipedia for a definition of caper movies and they include Inception there – and also Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells, which is definitely a heist movie, I would say, and a very good one.

    Friday nights are good for me – it’s Saturday morning, about 9:30, so some days I’ll be able to make it (I’ve really been a bit of a popd lurker)

  32. I vote for The Sting and my brother votes for Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. I can’t wait!

  33. Man, I miss you guys. Fridays are not working out for me at all. 🙁

    Is there any chance we may eventually go back to Sundays, once Lucy is done teaching that class?