"Tastes Like Chicken!" at Oddball Films August 27, 2010

Event: “Tastes Like Chicken!”. Guest curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of chicken films. Whether they are food, pets, totems or cartoon characters- everybody loves chicken! Featuring The Colonel Comes To Japan, the often hilarious Emmy-winning profile of the expansion of Kentucky Fried Chicken into the land of the rising sun; Le Poulet, Claude Berri’s Oscar-winning short about a boy who falls in love with a chicken; Courtesy: A Good Eggsample, truly twisted stop-motion carton of eggs teaches good manners; Eggs; early industrialization of egg farming; An Egg Scramble, Farmer Porky Pig gives “Old Maid” hen Prissy one last chance to produce- or else; One Turkey, Two Turkey; turkeys get their say; PLUS! Kooky eccentric builds a chariot/trailer for his rooster and drives him all aver town, and many more chicken clips, bits, parts and morsels to keep you crowing through the night!
Date: Friday, August 27, 2010 at 8:30PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or [email protected]
Web: http://www.oddballfilm.com/oddballftp/Tastes_Like_Chicken_PR.pdf
"Tastes Like Chicken!”
Screens at Oddball Films

On Friday, August 27th, Guest Curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of films about chickens! We broil them, shake and bake them, fry them, braise them, stew them- the poor chicken doesn’t stand a chance! Which came first- the chicken or the egg? The answer will be revealed at this one-night-only program! Showtime is 8:30PM and admission is $10.00. Seating is limited so RSVP is preferred to: [email protected] or 415-558-8117.

Featuring:

The Colonel Comes To Japan (Color, 1984)
This Emmy-winning documentary was made 14 years after the opening of the first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise in Japan. Hosted by Eric Sevareid, it is often hilarious/ridiculous as Western fast food meets Eastern politeness and service seriousness. Many scenes invoke the farce of Itami’s Tampopo. Sensitively written, produced and directed by John Nathan (translator of Mishima and Oe and writer of many books on Japanese culture), with a nonetheless obvious eye for humor.

Le Poulet (B+W, 1962)
Influential French triple threat (director/producer/actor) Claude Berri's directorial debut, a boy "hatches" a scheme to save a chicken from becoming his family's Sunday dinner. Utilizing an economy and simplicity of design and featuring Tati-esque comedy, The Chicken is ultimately a heartwarming tale of father and son and the inherent goodness in man. Written by Charles Nastat, it features Jacques Marin, Viviane Bourdonneux and Martin Serre. Winner of the Palme d’Or and the1965 Academy Award for best short film.

Courtesy: A Good Eggsample (Color, 1976)
First meet Eggbert, a good egg, who helps his mother at home, apologizes for bumping into Mrs. White, and politely takes his place in line while waiting for the bus. Now meet Benedict, the "rotten egg," who pushes into line, is always late to class, and never respects the rights of others. It is only when Benedict falls and cracks his shell and Eggbert helps him up that Benedict realizes how important it is to be kind, helpful, and courteous to others.

Eggs (B+W, c.1950)
See the early industrialization of egg farming, which despite the hundreds of thousands of eggs produced looks positively benign compared to today’s monster farms.

An Egg Scramble (Color, 1950)
Farmer Porky gives “Old Maid” Prissy hen an ultimatum- produce or it’s the cooking pot. When she finally does produce an egg (actually placed as a trick by one of the other hens), she goes on a mad hunt to track it down before it becomes someone’s breakfast…

One Turkey, Two Turkey (Color, 1971)
The turkeys demand equal time- they even get their own song!

Plus! Many more crazy chicken shorts and clips!

(Reuters) - After nearly a quarter century at the bottom of a Japanese river, Colonel Sanders has come up smiling.
Ecstatic fans of the Hanshin Tigers baseball team tossed the statue of the Kentucky Fried Chicken mascot into the Dotonbori River in Osaka, western Japan, in 1985 when the perpetual underdogs won their first Central League pennant in 21 years. Tiger fans, who saw a resemblance between the Colonel and the team's bearded American slugger, Randy Bass, jumped into what was then one of the country's most polluted rivers when the losing streak ended -- and took the life-size statue with them.
The team went on to win the national championship, the Japan Series, that year but has never done so again, prompting some to suggest that the Colonel's disappearance put a curse on them. A diver checking for unexploded bombs from World War Two in the river as part of a clean-up found the Colonel's top half on Tuesday, minus his hands and glasses but still sporting his trademark string tie and grin. "When I heard the statue had been found, I felt that history had ended," Yoshio Yoshida, 75, Hanshin manager at the time, was quoted by the Asahi newspaper as saying. "Recalling 1985, I'd like them to achieve the dream of being Japan No. 1 again." The Colonel's smile might have widened if it could on Wednesday, when his bottom half was recovered and reunited with the top. "It's only a statue, but I felt as if I was rescuing someone," a worker told reporters after the lower half was found.
Curator Biography:
Pete Gowdy (aka DJ Chas Gaudi) is host of San Francisco’s Shellac Shack, a weekly 78 rpm listening party and a DJ specializing in vintage sounds: soul, jazz, country, punk and new wave. A graduate of the Vassar College Film Program, he is an associate producer of Marc Huestis Presents, the long-running movie legend tributes at the Castro Theatre.

About Oddball Films
Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.  
Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educationals, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.

Date: Friday, August 27, 2010 at 8:30PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or [email protected]
Web: http://www.oddballfilm.com/oddballftp/Tastes_Like_Chicken_PR.pdf
"Tastes Like Chicken!”
Screens at Oddball Films

On Friday, August 27th, Guest Curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of films about chickens! We broil them, shake and bake them, fry them, braise them, stew them- the poor chicken doesn’t stand a chance! Which came first- the chicken or the egg? The answer will be revealed at this one-night-only program! Showtime is 8:30PM and admission is $10.00. Seating is limited so RSVP is preferred to: [email protected] or 415-558-8117.

Featuring:

The Colonel Comes To Japan (Color, 1984)
This Emmy-winning documentary was made 14 years after the opening of the first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise in Japan. Hosted by Eric Sevareid, it is often hilarious/ridiculous as Western fast food meets Eastern politeness and service seriousness. Many scenes invoke the farce of Itami’s Tampopo. Sensitively written, produced and directed by John Nathan (translator of Mishima and Oe and writer of many books on Japanese culture), with a nonetheless obvious eye for humor.

Le Poulet (B+W, 1962)
Influential French triple threat (director/producer/actor) Claude Berri's directorial debut, a boy "hatches" a scheme to save a chicken from becoming his family's Sunday dinner. Utilizing an economy and simplicity of design and featuring Tati-esque comedy, The Chicken is ultimately a heartwarming tale of father and son and the inherent goodness in man. Written by Charles Nastat, it features Jacques Marin, Viviane Bourdonneux and Martin Serre. Winner of the Palme d’Or and the1965 Academy Award for best short film.

Courtesy: A Good Eggsample (Color, 1976)
First meet Eggbert, a good egg, who helps his mother at home, apologizes for bumping into Mrs. White, and politely takes his place in line while waiting for the bus. Now meet Benedict, the "rotten egg," who pushes into line, is always late to class, and never respects the rights of others. It is only when Benedict falls and cracks his shell and Eggbert helps him up that Benedict realizes how important it is to be kind, helpful, and courteous to others.

Eggs (B+W, c.1950)
See the early industrialization of egg farming, which despite the hundreds of thousands of eggs produced looks positively benign compared to today’s monster farms.

An Egg Scramble (Color, 1950)
Farmer Porky gives “Old Maid” Prissy hen an ultimatum- produce or it’s the cooking pot. When she finally does produce an egg (actually placed as a trick by one of the other hens), she goes on a mad hunt to track it down before it becomes someone’s breakfast…

One Turkey, Two Turkey (Color, 1971)
The turkeys demand equal time- they even get their own song!

Plus! Many more crazy chicken shorts and clips!

(Reuters) - After nearly a quarter century at the bottom of a Japanese river, Colonel Sanders has come up smiling.
Ecstatic fans of the Hanshin Tigers baseball team tossed the statue of the Kentucky Fried Chicken mascot into the Dotonbori River in Osaka, western Japan, in 1985 when the perpetual underdogs won their first Central League pennant in 21 years. Tiger fans, who saw a resemblance between the Colonel and the team's bearded American slugger, Randy Bass, jumped into what was then one of the country's most polluted rivers when the losing streak ended -- and took the life-size statue with them.
The team went on to win the national championship, the Japan Series, that year but has never done so again, prompting some to suggest that the Colonel's disappearance put a curse on them. A diver checking for unexploded bombs from World War Two in the river as part of a clean-up found the Colonel's top half on Tuesday, minus his hands and glasses but still sporting his trademark string tie and grin. "When I heard the statue had been found, I felt that history had ended," Yoshio Yoshida, 75, Hanshin manager at the time, was quoted by the Asahi newspaper as saying. "Recalling 1985, I'd like them to achieve the dream of being Japan No. 1 again." The Colonel's smile might have widened if it could on Wednesday, when his bottom half was recovered and reunited with the top. "It's only a statue, but I felt as if I was rescuing someone," a worker told reporters after the lower half was found.
Curator Biography:
Pete Gowdy (aka DJ Chas Gaudi) is host of San Francisco’s Shellac Shack, a weekly 78 rpm listening party and a DJ specializing in vintage sounds: soul, jazz, country, punk and new wave. A graduate of the Vassar College Film Program, he is an associate producer of Marc Huestis Presents, the long-running movie legend tributes at the Castro Theatre.

About Oddball Films
Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.  
Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educationals, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.