It’s one of the most indelible scenes from one of the most memorable and quotable cult films in cinema history: John Goodman as the unhinged blowhard Walter Sobchak in The Big Lebowski, scattering the ashes of his newly-deceased bowling teammate Donny, eulogizes his friend after spending countless years of his life constantly telling him to shut the fuck up. The ashes are in a Folgers coffee can because the cost of an urn was too dear, and Sobchak utterly ruins the simple, two-person funeral with a pointless detour into his own Vietnam war shell-shock and by scattering the ashes all over the funeral’s other guest, Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski.

It’s easy to imagine that at least some among the film’s fanatical devotees—self-identified as “Achievers” after a throwaway detail early in the film—have envisioned using a Folgers can as a final resting place in homage to that scene, and if you’ve ever gone to a bowling alley in a bathrobe and ordered a White Russian, I might be talking about YOU. Well, you’re in luck. Purveyors of gorgeous handmade cremation urns Memento Memorials have tracked down the period-correct cans and mismatched lids (Folgers has never used blue lids, the one in the film is almost certainly from a Maxwell House can) and paired them with pedestals made of bowling balls to create replica Big Lebowski urns.
 

 

 

While there are plenty of Folgers coffee cans to be had on the internet, the exact version of the coffee can used in the movie was made in the mid 90s and not in the kind of quantities that make it easy to come by.  The style itself can be found with some effort but nailing down the “For All Coffee Makers” version is even rarer. There are size variations and condition factors as well. As an extra kicker, the blue lid is from a Maxwell House tin from the same decade that is just as difficult to source.

There are times when we have to buy a group of unrelated coffee cans in order to get the one sweet prize within in order to say goodnight to one sweet prince. We will accept cans that are “Automatic Drip” (or other grind styles as we find them), cans that are unopened and still have what might be coffee in them. Sometimes a seller is wise to the rarity and possible end use as a Big Lebowski Urn and jacks up the price.

 
This is apparently a key detail.

Because Memento Memorials can only sporadically procure the extremely specific cans and lids required, these urns haven’t been available very often, so instead of selling them outright, they’ve taken to auctioning them to benefit the Prevent Cancer Foundation. This month, they’re auctioning three of them. The individual auctions run from January 9-13, 16-20, and 23-27.
 

 
More after the jump…

 
The Big Lebowski is one of the enduring classics of 1990s cinema, an authentic grower that took several years to find its cult, which has turned into one of the most intense movie fandoms you can find. The protagonist (NOT the title character, who was actually played by David Huddleston) is “The Dude,” played by Jeff Bridges in what has become his signature role, and the magnetic and humorous portrayal of an ageing hippie out of his natural time has touched millions. “The Dude Abides,” indeed, and slogan and character alike are natural advertisements for an indelibly American form of Zen. 

It’s been well known for a while that the Dude was based on Jeff Dowd, a former member of the Seattle Liberation Front who was part of the “Seattle Seven,” as the defendants in a 1970 court case were called. The entire group did three months in prison for contempt of court, but the original charges of inciting a riot, intent to incite to riot, and conspiracy to damage the Seattle Federal Building were never successfully prosecuted.
 

 
Later on Dowd moved to LA and became active in the movie industry, producing Zebrahead, among other ventures. He met the Coens in 1982 while they were making Blood Simple, and he obviously made an impression.

To make sure everybody got the reference, the Coens threw some dialogue into The Big Lebowski to help people along. The Dude tells Maude that he was one of the original authors of the Port Huron Statement—“the original Port Huron Statement, not the compromised second draft”—the political manifesto hammered out by SDS in 1962. Then he asks her, “Did you ever hear of the Seattle Seven?” but it seems she has not.

More after the jump…

 
San Francisco-based designer Andy Stattmiller has certainly won my heart over with these excellent matryoshka dolls that pay homage to everyone’s favorite late-‘90s bowling-themed stoner movie, The Big Lebowski by Joel and Ethan Coen.

Die-hard fans of the movie won’t need to be told that the dolls represent, in descending order, Walter Sobchak, The Dude, Jesus, Maude Lebowski, The Big Lebowski, The Stranger, and the innocent marmot that gets tossed into the Dude’s bathtub.

Wait: No Donny? No Donny??

Actually, Stattmiller accurately points out that Donny is represented by the Folger’s can Walter is clutching.  Walter is also carrying ex-wife’s pomeranian, sans bowling shoes (I assume anyway, it’s in a carrier).
 

 
More after the jump…

 
Jeff Bridges has recently made available one of those inexpressibly peculiar albums that only a very famous and beloved movie star could release, a double album on the theme of the land of dreams and slumber called The Sleeping Tapes. Proceeds from the album will go to the charity No Kid Hungry; Bridges has partnered with Squarespace to set up an appropriate web presence for the album, where you can listen to it for free or purchase the album in a variety of formats in prices ranging from “pay what you like” for the digital files to $200 for an LP with a “180-gram golden vinyl plate” as well as a “debossed gold leaf pressed album cover.” There’s also an auction in which you can win 1 of 5 signed copies of the album.

By the way, be on the lookout for a Squarespace commercial featuring Bridges during this Sunday’s Super Bowl.
 

 
Track titles include “Sleep, Dream, Wakeup,” “Hummmmmm,” “Ikea,” “My Keys,” “Seeing With My Eyes Closed,” and “Feeling Good.” “I hope you dig the sleep tapes ... hope they, uh, inspire you do some good cool sleeping, some cool dreaming, some cool waking-up,” Bridges purrs in the opening track. Bridges recorded the album with composer Keefus Ciancia.

The album is rather easy to poke fun of, as evidenced by this not overly nasty thread on Metafilter. It’s a defiantly leisurely and lazy piece of work that nevertheless works on its own terms and fits within some kind of ambient lineage. I enjoyed listening to it, and I have some respect for the thought that went into it, but I suspect it won’t soon become a mainstay of my listening regimen.
 

 

 
via Nerdcore.de

 
I have to tell you, I adore pinball, and I’m very excited to make a trip to my local bowling palace sometime in the next year or so to try out the soon-to-be-released Big Lebowski pinball machine, duly licensed by Universal Studios and manufactured by Dutch Pinball. The machine retails for $8,500 (which can be broken up into four payments), excluding taxes and fees; if you would like to pre-order one, you can do it here. They aren’t kidding about the “Dutch” in “Dutch Pinball.” Ahem: “Residents of the European Union are subject to Dutch BTW (VAT). ... Customers living outside of the European Union are not required to pay Dutch VAT; however, you may be subject to an import tariff.”

The game has three levels, including a stunning re-creation of a bowling alley (“Licensed Brunswick Lane Design”) underneath the main level. The game will play songs from the movie, including Bob Dylan’s “The Man in Me,” Kenny Rogers’ “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In,” and Santana’s “Oye Como Va.”

Details on gameplay are not the easiest to come by, but the game features three “Character Modes,” two “Car Modes,” a “Mark It Zero” bonus, and three “Rug Modes” (you read that right). Marvelously, the game features a life-sized, actual goddamn White Russian that juts out of the playing field on the right-hand side and occasionally lights up.

When you speak of this—and you know you will—please resist the temptation to make a “rug ties it all together” joke, everyone’s already done that one.
 

 

 

 

 

 
“Attract mode lighting”:

 
Three more videos detailing the luscious Lebowski pinball machine, after the jump….

 
Even though this PBS YouTube clip of Jeff Bridges making a surprise visit to The Little Lebowski Shop has been around for some time (it only has a little over 100k views, tho), I thought I’d share it with you guys anyway. I’d never seen it before. It’s a big Internet, isn’t it?

If you don’t know what The Little Lebowski Shop is, it’s a wee store located in NYC dedicated to all things Big Lebowski. And I do mean everything Big Lebowski. What a hipster hoot.

I found Jeff Bridges to be a real charmer in the short clip. He seems like a really nice, likeable, easygoing guy. Someone you’d want to shoot the shit with. Drink a brew or smoke a joint with. A dude!

One revelation in the video is where Bridges admits that he had serious reservations about taking on the role of “The Dude” and how he it thought it might affect his girls’ perception of him. I think his daughters gave him the right advice. I just can’t imagine anyone else playing “The Dude,” can you?!

 
With thanks to reddit

 
From the good people at Lebowski Fest, the Treehorn Doodle Pad! Only five bucks. Anyone who is a fan of the Coen brothers’ mastepiece The Big Lebowski will have no trouble summoning to mind what scene the Treehorn doodle pad appears in, and what rude message Jackie Treehorn (producer of Logjammin’) writes on a page that we never actually get to see…...

The 13th annual Lebowski Fest takes place in Louisville, Kentucky, on July 11-12, 2014 if you’d like to attend.
 

 
Thanks to Carol Schumacher Yachanin for the tip!

 
A few months ago Tara did a post on 1A4STUDIO’s brilliant 60-second version of Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas—in doing so she remarked that “One of the YouTube commenters is asking for a minute-long version of The Big Lebowski. That would be good, too.”

I’m happy to report that 1A4STUDIO has followed through on Tara’s request—and it’s far better than the Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas one, in my opinion. The entry of Maude Lebowski is pretty fucking fantastic, as is the Valkyrie bowling dream sequence and the scene where the nihilists dump a ferret into The Dude’s bathtub.

So, so, so good.
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Amusing ‘The Big Lebowski’ poster starring Frank Zappa, Iggy and Bowie
‘The Big Lebowski’ bowls a strike with Quincy Jones’ ‘The Dude’
The Big Lebowski toilet set
Minute-long ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ is a 60-second drug binge

 
Holy hell, while twisted and marvelous, The Dude as an Ood is something to… behold!

This remarkable costume was spotted at the annual Doctor Who convention, Gallifrey One, in Los Angeles.

Via Neatorama

 
A custom-made Big Lebowski-themed toilet seat by devientART-ist Valoree. You too, can chillax on yer throne just like The Dude!
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Doctor Who ‘Weeping Angel’ toilet decal

Handy tips on using the toilet

Heil Shitler: Hitler’s Toilet lives (in a New Jersey auto-body shop)

Puzzling set of toilet instructions in India

Via Neatorama

 
I think The Dude would totally lose respect for me if I spent the asking price of $200.00 for this Cowichan knit sweater.
 

 
Via This Is Why I’m Broke

 
I really like this Game of Thrones meets The Big Lebowski screenprint, available through Gallery 1988 for $40.00.

Via reddit

 
I had a good laugh with this one.
 
Via Retrogasm

 
Nobody fucks with the Jesus!
 
(via Nerdcore)

 
Edited by Jeff Yorkes.