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BEHIND THE FOAM

BEHIND THE FOAM… A deeper look at Ponceman’s Halloween Shotgun

SAP here…

Having a brother with Down Syndrome has affected my life on every level. The upside of these affects are the fact that the simple joys in life are more enjoyable when I experience them with Ponce. He makes me laugh harder than anyone on the planet. He makes me cry in the sweetest, most cathartic way a human should cry. He also frustrates the hell out of me at times, but that’s all part of the growth process for both of us. I’m learning to be more patient and get the perks of living with the most hilarious person on the planet, while Ponce continues to grow smarter, wiser, funnier, and also experiences things in life that a lot of us take for granted.

It’s what I call The Magic Straw Theory. Remember the first time you ever saw someone put their finger on the end of a straw and pick it up and the liquid inside STAYED IN THE STRAW!?!?! That was some mind blowing shit back then when we were kids. Then you realized that YOU, YOURSELF, had the magic power in your own fingertips to pick up the straw and keep the liquid in there, free to drop it anywhere you wanted to!?!!?!?!?! sure, later in life it becomes commonplace. Nothing new here. You’ve done the magic straw bit a thousand times, maybe more. The novelty wears off. We take it for granted.

But with Ponce, that simple act of keeping liquid in a straw by sealing your finger over the sippy part of it is always fucking awesome.  That’s the thing I try to keep alive in myself. I am still wowed by the magic straw, as small a miracle as it may seem to those who have move past the ages of 5 and 6, it’s still something that excites me because it encapsulates the wonders and joys that this life has to offer.

Which brings us behind the foam. Yes, the beer foam of Ponceman’s 1st shotgunning of a beer. Ponce is a social butterfly. He is a charmer, he is a constant entertainer, and he loves to make people laugh. He also loves to do all the Just One of the Guys things like hanging out, playing video games, and any of the other endless things friends do when they get together. The catch is, a lot of friends drink beer and booze. As Ponce says, he can’t drink alcohol because he becomes an asshole. Thank the mighty powers that be that Ponce is wise enough to see this in himself. I’ve lost too many friends who lacked this bit of self awareness.

Cameron Johnson Chugs A beer

So, how do you get to hang out with the boys and do one of the ultimate acts in guy-hangin’-out history, shotgunning a beer, when you can’t drink? Non-alcoholic beer. So simple, so cheap. You see, shotgunning a beer is not about the effects of the alcohol for guys. It’s about the process, puncturing the can, getting the hole the right size, and the speeds you can achieve sucking down the foamy goodness in a race with your buddies to see who can chug the fastest.

It’s pure, uncut, bonding. And Ponce dove into it headfirst, and chest first. He wears his first shotgunned beer like a badge of honor. And he went back for more. O’douls be praised, you’ve made Ponceman’s life a little more full, along with his belly. Watch the joy, the smiles, the fun that mighty Ponceman has with me and his friends in these little videos.

SAP out…

Come out and vote for Ponceman

For Los Angeles dwellers, there’s a wonderful weekly happening that makes our heart warm with cheesy joy. It’s Point Break Live! That’s right, the whole movie, performed onstage, every weekend, LIVE. The cool little twist… the audience votes for a fellow audience member to play the Keanu role of Johnny Utah… Ponce was born to play that role. Come out to the show and go nuts with us when he’s up there. Let’s make our Ponceman into an F.B.I. AGENT!

 

For the Ponceman Discount
AT THE DOOR…
So, for everyone who goes to see Point Break Live this Friday night, you get 2 for 1 tickets at the door by mentioning Ponceman.

This show might sell out, so…

For the Ponceman Discount
ONLINE…
Buy your tickets for the Friday Nov 20th 8pm show online here: https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/21401

When you checkout, fill in the “What ways did you find out about Point Break LIVE” box with PONCEMAN

When you pick up your tickets you will have a 2nd ticket free waiting for you.

We hope to see you there. More info Below.

Point Break Live!
The Dragonfly
6510 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90038

Ticket Price: $20.00
Tickets by Phone: 866-811-4111 (Toll Free)
Beer is served at venue – You must be 21 or over with proper ID to get in.

CLICK HERE FOR SYNOPSIS AND REVIEWS OF THE SHOW

Perry Brother Live Video Chats

Join us Today, Friday the 13th 5:30PM PST
GO HERE: http://ponceman.com/Ponceman/Chat.html

Perry-Normal Activity

PERRY-NORMAL ACTIVITY

SAP here…

For anyone who follows me on ye ol’ twitter or facebook, it should not come as a surprise that I didn’t really think that much of Paranormal Activity, the hit movie that is sweeping in the big box office moolah and will most likely continue to do so for a few more weeks.

All I really have to say about the flick is that it is NOT a story.  It IS a series of scenes laid out like a ride at Universal Studios.  Only thing is, I don’t pay for rides that have feature length running times.

The film is made with little effort in building any story whatsoever, but definitely takes a few brief moments to mention that “these types of things are random and probably don’t even make sense…”  their way of explaining away the need for a plot.

With that behind us now, we can all move on to digging our spoof of the film.  We hit a couple of the missing, Swiss cheese, plot points and have a damn good time making our own little scare/laugh fest.  Enjoy it, dig it, groove with it, and pass it on.

SAP & PONCE vs THE ENTERTAINMENT WORLD

photo by Eric Curtis www.ericcurtisphoto.com

SAP & Ponce here…

We have been laying low the past month or so.  Tons of reasons for this… between the day in/day out of just trying to pay the bills, some wacky idiot-helmed internet attacks, and the harsh reminder that YES, there’s no shortage of scumbags and douche-nozzles out there who will take advantage of anyone, including a sweetheart of a guy with Down Syndrome (and his retarded brother), when it comes to ego and the almighty dollar.

Everybody in this life goes through their own fair share of BS that drains them, drags them down, and, sometimes, crushes their spirits.  So how do we get through it all without sucking on the business end of a double barrel like the late, no more BS to deal with, Kurt Cobain did?

The trick to finding the upside, at least for us, is to make art out of it.

A lot of people try and positive-phrase things away… “It’s always darkest before the dawn…” “Anything in life worth experiencing is worth fighting for…” “If you love something, set it free, blah blah blah…”  These are easily learned and regurgitated sayings that keep people ignoring instead of actually examining their situations.

You know the phrase, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  Well, when life gives us lemons, we make something like this…

When Life Gives You Lemons

Sayings are black and white, life isn’t.  If you’re being tortured and you’r happy they chose the petite spiked dildo to use on your ass today instead of the usual jumbo size, a “look on the bright side” doesn’t really pan out as nicely in reality as it sounds like it does in word form.

There’s always an X-factor, an unforseen hiccup in everything we experience.  Some are so small they don’t even register, others can’t be ignored.  Having to crush the 9pound lemon-baby you just birthed to make lemonade is what keeps things in perspective for us.

We know we are not “PC”.  We cringe at the thought of sugarcoating things for the audience in an attempt to please everyone.  It will never happen.  No matter what you do, there’s always somebody out there who will hate everything you do.  And that is a reality that needs to be accepted.  Any attempt to win over that small percentage of haters is wasted energy.

We know that is a big reason the Networks and Studios are scared to give us a greenlight on the projects that we want to make.  They don’t want to give people reality.  They want to give them the pure, non dildo torture, brightside of things that they feel will translate into box office dollars or Nielsen ratings.  Sadly, this is what keeps people from growing and, sadly, keeps the quality of TV shows and Movies on a steady downward spiral towards mediocrity and forgettable garbage.

We aim a little higher.  We try a little harder.  We think people need to see a little reality in their entertainment*.  When you point out the ridiculousness, darkness, and harshness of things in this world, and somehow still manage to make it FUNNY… people not only relate to it, they relate to the rest of the world a little better because of it.

reality in their entertainment*
Note: We do not include “Reality TV Shows”.  If anything, the reality TV of today are some of the furthest things from reality and another reason our society tends to get dumber before they get smarter.

Join the Mingle Mob

My face, your face, we all fled from Myspace

My face, your face, we all fled from Myspace

PONCE here…

Hey everybody, I did my first directing on this video because I was bored and sick and wanted to make something funny for everybody. It’s some of my favorite catch phrases and I hope you like it. It makes me laugh and drives my bro crazy a little bit.

So rock on

- Ponce

Join the mingle mob: http://minglemob.ning.com/

Ponceman.com

SAP here…

When we posted our blog and video stating the reason we are no longer doing the Retarded Policeman (RP) series was because we had an agreement with MF (mediocrefilms) that was not honored, we were very pleased with all the positive response we got.  However, after MF posted their response blog and video, I was shocked at how many people attacked Ponce, a guy who is incapable of the things he was accused of… is just sad.  And even some of the violence threatened was quite surprising.  Take this little gem posted on the mediocrefilms2 comment section from:

JakkHack

I agree with aldiboronti.
Why were all the RP (Retarded Policeman) videos removed? HOW were they removed…!?
I demand to know why the Perry bros. haven’t yet been waterboarded and brutally murdered by the angry mob of MediocreFilms supporters! (which I am one of)

We also had some pretty nasty comments left on our video about the situation.  Bad things were said about us, bad things were said about MF.  And the majority of the comments, once MF posted their blog, did nothing but insult both parties back and forth, so we disabled the comments on our video.  Then we got slammed for disabling the comments.  Again, it is sad that there are so many people who just wanted to argue, insult, and threaten violence, and how few of them paid attention to what was being said in both blogs.  We didn’t change our blog at all, other than restating what we originally said, stressing that we had an agreement that wasn’t honored.  That is the bottom line.

We can’t figure out why so many people are accusing us of being greedy and that we want more money and that was why we pulled out of RP.  So, we want to fill in some of the blanks that might have led to this assumption.

We have NEVER asked for MORE money from MF.  We have only asked for the percentage we were promised from the beginning.

Late in late 2007, when we first talked about doing the RP series, we made a deal with MF that we would split everything we made from RP, minus-costs, down the middle.  This was before we ever shot one frame of RP.

Once the episodes took off, MF wrote us a few checks over the next year.  As artists, we were thrilled.  Something smart and edgy we were all making was also making a little money.  Win-Win.

Cut to November of 2008 at the YouTube Live event.  The lightbulb moment came after we started talking to some of the YouTube partners we met there.  Partners who had around the same amount of subscribers as MF and had videos with about the same amount of views.  When I heard how much they were making for these videos a red flag went up and I started getting a bad feeling in my gut.

The next few weeks, throughout most of December 2008, I researched like a madman trying to find some piece of info that would refute what I heard.  But I found only confirmation that we were getting screwed.  I had to talk to MF and give them a chance to explain.  I had to wait because MF was spending most of December in Paris and various other destinations.

Finally, in January, we spoke.  I asked point blank, How much money have the RP videos made?  The response went something like this: I have no idea… I wouldn’t even know offhand.

This is the moment the giant red flag not only went up, it smacked me in the head.  How could MF have no idea how much money RP was making?  At this time, RP was around 90% of all of the MF channel’s views.  Couldn’t he at least make a rough guess?  From there it was a steady downhill ride that finally settled at the bottom of We-Totally-Got-Screwed Valley.

We tried since January of this year to figure out a way to keep the videos up, to not let on what was happening, and to try to work out some deal with MF so we weren’t permanent residents of We-Totally-Got-Screwed Valley.  We tried to come somewhere in that same ballpark as our original split everything down the middle deal.  After trying to find lawyers, finding lawyers, changing lawyers, and eventually meeting face to face with MF, we were ultimately insulted (not just financially) and decided to throw in the towel on this fight.

For the record, we want to be clear on a few things that we realize have been completely misunderstood by some of the folks out there:

We did not “GET GREEDY” as some people have accused us of doing.  We had a deal to split everything made from the RP series down the middle.  We were never given access to how much that actually was other than assuming it was double the money MF gave us.  Over a year later when we got some rough numbers from fellow YouTube partners and confronted MF, that is the moment we realized there was some fuzzy math going on.

MF said in MF’s video that MF “happily shared a large percentage of the profits” with us and has paid us “thousands” of dollars.  This is also FUZZY terminology.  Let’s start with the word “thousands”… it means more than one thousand.  So, pick any number of thousands you want to pick that’s more than one thousand and go with us on this little math journey.  2,000… 10,000… 50,000… any number of “thousands” you choose will work.  Now, think long and hard about the claim that MF “… shared a LARGE percentage of the profits” with us.

Hmmmm... that's a little slice o' pie

Hmmmm... that's a little slice o' pie

To date, MF has paid us approximately 5% of the net profits made from the Retarded Policeman series.  Start doing the math there. Take your chosen “thousands” and multiply it by 20.  Subtract your chosen “thousands” from that total and you will see something that is hopefully as shocking and stomach churning as it was and has been for us.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!  We also have Retarded Policeman t-shirts and DVDs out there.  MF has paid us 0% of those profits.  ZERO!  Not one thin dime.  Also, note, that I, SAP, designed ALL the T-shirts, stickers, buttons… all the RP merchandise.  Ponce and I are also responsible for the photo shoot that the pics on the DVD covers and DVD face feature.  We have been paid NOTHING for any and all Retarded Policeman merchandise that has been sold.  All designs are original works by SAP and all of them feature the Ponceman’s smiling, wonderful face and charms.

0% of 100 is how much?

0% of 100 is how much?

MF also stated in MF’s blog, “I have tried to be fair, reasonable and generous, but at the same time I cannot allow myself to be taken advantage of.”

Well, again I say, do the math.  See how those words ring afterward.  Fair, reasonable, generous… and taken advantage of.

Back to being accused of GREEDINESS, I would like to point something out on this issue.  How is wanting what you were promised in any way shape or form being greedy?  Also, if we were greedy, we would not be walking away from a series we gave our heart and souls to that continues to make money everyday.  But that is exactly what we are doing.  We would love to make more RP episodes, but we clearly cannot make them with the situation as it is now.

This is a tough, evil, snake-filled business and we know that sometimes we are gonna get screwed over.  As far as RP goes, at least we can be proud of the work we did and the series we helped create.  A series, despite what MF says, was inspired by and created for Josh the Ponceman Perry.  Even though MF now claims that MF is the sole producer/creative force behind the show, we know the truth.  We are not claiming to be the sole anything on this series.  It was always a team effort between us and MF.

We would like to point out that there are some missing RP episodes on YouTube.  Racial Profiling, Mime, Casual Friday, Nalts, and Underage Girls were pulled months ago.  They were pulled by MF, not by us.  Why?  Because SAP has writing credit on them.  SAP also has director credit on some of them.  And also, we would like to point out that there are 3 RP episodes that SAP wrote, produced, directed, and edited entirely on his own.  One of them is the Lesbians episode on the DVD that we have not received any profits from, one is the Underage Girls episode, and the other, Demon Child, will sadly never see the light of day.  It stars our niece, Kaylyn, and our sister (her mother) will never allow MF to touch it as long as this situation remains unresolved.  We would never allow it either.  What sane, loving family member would?  On 3 of the 4 SAP penned episodes, MF was not present in any capacity of the production other than approving at the scripts before they were shot.  Those episodes were paid for, cast, shot, directed, produced and edited by SAP and Ponce.  Odd that those are the ones that have been removed from YouTube, again, NOT BY US, but by MF.

Can you find the bully?

Epilogue.  We make our way in this world one day at a time.  It is not easy.  It is especially difficult to make ends meet in this business when you are a struggling actor, writer, artist… but we do it.  Sometimes by the skin of our teeth, sometimes with the help of a loving family and a mother who is willing to max out her last credit card so we can have an air conditioning unit in our  apartment.  And we have to fight against stereotypes and ignorance the whole way.  Point is, it’s hard enough just trying to get by without the nasty punch in the gut of realizing how many people out there are willing to take advantage of someone as trusting as Ponce.  He has more love in him than anyone I’ve ever met which is a rare and beautiful thing in this world.  We know the odds of “making it” in this business are very small.  But we don’t stop, and we won’t stop.  The sickening truth is that no matter how talented Ponce is, no matter how many times he proves a stereotype wrong, or shows his amazing charm and brilliance, there will always be people out there who will take advantage of his condition without hesitation and, even more sickening, without remorse.  It happens more often than you can imagine.  This does take the wind out of us occasionally, but it will never stop us.

Ponce has a magical gift and, cheesy as it sounds, I believe he can help make the world a better place with that gift.  We have tons of letters from people who tell us how happy they are to have discovered our work.  There are parents of children with Downs, people with their own disabilities, and people who tell us they would never have even taken the time to talk to a person with Down Syndrome had they not witnessed Ponce’s onscreen magic for themselves.  Ponce gives people hope.  Which gives us hope.  So whenever we do get knocked down, taken for a ride, or just plain screwed over, we take a step back, take a deep breath, and hopefully, learn enough from the last smackdown to keep us on our feet when the next one comes along.

Join the Perry Brothers Mingle Mob: http://minglemob.ning.com/

OCT 1, 2009, 7PM PST – 10PM EST
Sluggo Radio Network
http://www.sluggoradionetwork.com/listen.php

CALL IN. Talk to us. Or talk dirty to us.
712-432-3100 Ext. 548034

We will be announcing…

  • a BOOK
  • a Web Series
  • a Feature Film
  • a TV show

… and in general, shooting the shizzle with the hosts and whomever calls in.

So, YouTube yanked our Inglourious Basterds parody because SOMEBODY claimed it was copyright infringement.  Let’s get a few things nice and sparkly clear here:

ALL MUSIC, IMAGES, PERFORMANCES, AND GRAPHICS INCLUDING THE BLOODY TITLES WE SHOT FOR THIS PARODY, ARE 100% ORIGINAL.

This video is a PARODY which falls under FAIR USE in copyright law.  IF this video is truly copyright infringement then so is Scary Movie, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans, Airplane, Hot Shots, Spaceballs, The Naked Gun and all the other Parodies that are out there.  Is anyone filing copyright infringement against those films?  No.  Why not?  Because they are PARODY.

I have to say, the fact that Youtube reviewed the claim and pulled our video and DID NOT CONTACT US before yanking it is quite disturbing.  Especially since it is clearly parody.  In addition, when the video was first uploaded we filled out the YouTube form that states all the material is original.

Sadly, we can’t get anyone from youtube to talk to us since this whole Retarded Policeman BS started back in January.  All the partnered channels have some youtube contact they can talk to, but for some reason we don’t. Maybe it’s because we aren’t PC… wait a sec.  Retarded Policeman isn’t PC, yet youtube talks to MF (Mediocrefilms).  MF does have over 240,000 subscribers and we have a little over 27,000. Kinda feels like the playing field is not level… and not level in several areas.  This is a patchy, uneven playing field! We want a refund! (tantrum tantrum… picks nose… is grossed out immediately by nose picking… Ponce and SAP begin wrestle in a fit of rage.  Ponce pulls SAP’s armpit hair, SAP counters with a double butt cheek pinch… ear yank Ponce, nipple twist SAP, Ponce farts, SAP passes out.  While SAP is unconscious from Ponce’s deadly fart smell, Ponce takes picks of him topless with a cowboy hat and says it’s an homage to Bro-Back Mountain.)

Ponce's Brokeback Mountain Tribute "BRO-BACK MOUNTAIN"

Ponce's Brokeback Mountain Tribute: "BRO-BACK MOUNTAIN"

For the record, we know we are the small fish in this battle.  We’re a minnow facing a giant sea monster.  But we also know we are in the right.  We won’t stop fighting until we are proven right.  Please watch our Inglourious BasTARDS spoof on Vimeo while we fight the false claim.  And remember when you watch it that “the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Alliance Films claiming that this material is infringing:”

And please,sign up for a free Vimeo account when you watch it and leave us some comments there, and here if you like.

Thanks – The Perry Brothers

We Shall Do No More...

We Shall Do No More...

UPDATE: 9/21/09

Mediocrefilms posted a blog in response to our video and this blog.

We have nothing to add to our video our this blog other than to stress the fact that we DID have an agreement with mediocrefilms before we ever shot one frame of the Retarded Policeman.  That agreement was NOT honored.  The negotiations we had this past year with mediocrefilms were to get them to honor our original agreement or at least get them in the same ballpark as our original agreement.  Sadly, we hit a wall.

There is no overnight remedy to situations like this. We believe that time will tell and the truth will shine brightly on us.  It just might take awhile and we ask that our true fans stick with us.

We also want to clarify that we NEVER called for any boycotting or unsubscribing to the mediocrefilms channel and for people to please read our blog below again.  We simply answer truthfully as to why we are no longer doing the Retarded Policeman series.  The blog response that mediocrefilms posted does not change what we state below in anyway.

Once again, thanks for your support.  Stick with us… eventually the truth will shine through.

- SAP & Ponce


SAP & Ponce here…

We want to say, with all sincerity, that we love the Retarded Policeman series.  It was awesome being such an integral part of creating some great comedy that pulled no punches and also had a heart; a big, smiling Ponceman heart.  The series was something our entire family and our friends not only embraced, but became an essential part of.

The simple answer here is that we had an agreement with mediocrefilms that has not been honored.  Since the begining of this year we have tried to work things out but, regrettably, we have reached an impasse. We cannot allow our work on the series to be exploited any longer without our original agreement being honored and all of our attempts to “work something out” with mediocrefilms have been fruitless.

We greatly apologize to the all the fans of the show.  We truly hate this situation as much, probably a little more actually, than anyone out there.  We want to reassure our friends and all the fans of the show that we have tried everything in our power to rectify this situation and continue with the series.

It was exciting to watch the Mediocrefilms’ subscriber numbers grow from 30,000 to over 200,000 since the debut of the Retarded Policeman series.  We are truly humbled that the Retarded Policeman series has gotten over 50 million views.

We welcome your comments, as always, here and on our videos.  We’d love to hear what you have to say.  Thanks so much to everyone for all the support and we promise there are more laughs in the works.  We are going to move on and continue doing what we do.

Rock on

The Perry Brothers

The mediocrefilms blog response: http://mediocrefilms.blogspot.com/

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