Reefer Madness live-tweet recap

On 420, I live-tweeted the original 1936 version of Reefer Madness. The movie's so boring I wanted to jump out the window like that overacting pot dealer lady at the end.

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In a few minutes, I'm live-tweeting Reefer Madness. I haven't heard Nelson/Murphy/Corbett's RiffTrax of it. I bet it's hilarious.
12:01 PM Apr 20th via web

#ReeferMadnessLiveTweet starts now. This propaganda piece is apparently a classic in the drug-scare genre.
12:05 PM Apr 20th via web

The movie paved the way for such drug-scare gems as the Dragnet "Blue Boy" episode and the Quincy punk episode.
12:06 PM Apr 20th via web

The Quincy punk episode? Yeah, punk isn't a drug, but...
12:06 PM Apr 20th via web

... Jack Klugman, at his most self-indulgent and toupeed, preaches against punk as if it's a drug.
12:07 PM Apr 20th via web

MTV now reruns movies like the Star Wars prequels and The Matrix. But back when the channel was about videos...
12:07 PM Apr 20th via web

... this public-domain piece of shit was the only movie MTV could afford to broadcast.
12:08 PM Apr 20th via web

The opening credits begin. "Marihuana is that drug--a violent narcotic..." Just like cokane and hairrowhen.
12:09 PM Apr 20th via web

"Marihuana" finally leads to "acts of shocking violence"? Someone is feeding you bad intel, opening credits guy.
12:10 PM Apr 20th via web

A violent stoner is like a black Gossip Girl viewer. They don't exist.
12:10 PM Apr 20th via web

The best new TV theme right now, hands down

If you're wondering about that terrific Bill Withers joint that opens episodes of HBO's new Big Apple fashion industry dramedy series How to Make It in America, it's not by Bill Withers. Like all other great TV themes (and most of them these days belong to shows from ad-free HBO, where opening themes are actually allowed to last more than 10 seconds), the tune beautifully sums up the show's premise and tone, even though it wasn't written especially for HTMIIA. It's the very timely "I Need a Dollar" from Stones Throw soul artist Aloe Blacc's not-yet-released album Good Things.


"I Need a Dollar" is also one of the tracks on what has to be a first in both TV history and hip-hop history: a mixtape (instead of an official soundtrack) of a show's featured songs that was circulated by one of its cast members (in HTMIIA's case, Kid Cudi) before the show even premiered. The full version of Aloe Blacc's HTMIIA theme can be heard during "The F Zone" on A Fistful of Soundtracks (Mondays at 4-6am, 9-11am and 3-5pm and Fridays at 5-7am, 9-11am and 3-5pm). To log on to AFOS, hit the "Play" button on the widget on the right side of this blog.