Last night saw the last pre-strike episode of Friday Night Lights (hopefully not the last one ever, much more on that tomorrow) and thanks to Explosions in the Sky, the show has some of the most distinctive music on television. As for the non-instrumental music, there are some great picks that you may have heard of most notably Devil Town by Tony Lucca featured at the end of the first season finale. There really isn’t a good version of the song on YouTube so I thought; I have this Hulu account that I rarely use so why not just feature that whole episode. And if your iPod or mp3 player, any and all episodes of Friday Night Lights are worthy of some space on it.
Back when Survivor trotted out their first All-Star edition I thought it was a bad idea that would end all bad ideas. And it turned out I wasn’t wrong as it is the worst season to date. All the contestants knew what to expect from the game and their competitors and they even had two people up and leave, more than all the other seasons combined. So I was a little queasy when they announced this Fans vs. Favorites season. Then I became extremely queasy when I learned that enormous douchebag Johnny Fairplay was among the favorites.
And he wasn’t the only questionable Favorite castmate. Lesbian/Barista Ami? Turn coat Jonathan? Speed talking Eliza? It is never a good sign when Jeff Probst said that this experiment will either be extremely great or absolutely horrible. Not very encouraging words considering he already knew how it was going to turn out already. Not that it will keep me from watching as they brought back some decent eye candy in the form of Parvati Shallow, Eliza Orlins and from the picture to the left we can tell what Amanda Kimmel spent her runner up money up on. Seriously, I didn’t even recognize her initially. Although I have to say I am extremely disappointed they didn’t bring back Danielle DiLorenzo from Exile Island.
Then the show focused way too much on the Favorites but I guess that is because they were the tribe going to Tribal Council, but it would be nice to see some of the newbies. Then these veterans ended up being dumb they really were by letting Fairplay be the swing voter. Have none of them ever met the dude before? And where was Cirie in all this? But the bizarre twist was Fairplay actually asked to be voted out in some weird alternative universe type tribal council where I didn’t believe what I was seeing. Not that I have a problem with him not being around anymore. And hopefully the Fans dominate and pick off the so called
Verdict: I am very unpleased with the start of the game, but feel a little better knowing I won’t have to see Fairplay’s mug again until at least until the reunion show. As a prediction, I think one of the Fans will win but since we didn’t get to see much of them, I will have to go out on a limb and say Jason Siska and his seventies David Cassidy haircut will win. Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites airs Thursdays at 8:00 on CBS. You can stream past episodes on Innertube or download them on iTunes or Amazon Unbox.
There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form so here they are courtesy of YouTube. I advise you to watch them before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.
A very clever video from Mark Ronson (featuring the dude from Phantom Planet) poking fun of the overtly serious Radiohead video for the song they are covering. For those that do not remember the orginal or you young’ins that never saw it in the first place, see below:
Yeah, the video is pretty nondescript but it is another great song from the undervalued Jimmy Eat World.
Believe - The Bravery
Sometimes when a song that rocks like this song from The Bravery, you do not need some high concept video and a performance piece (okay, with a couple bells and whistles here) will do. Some of you may recognize the song from the Friday Night Lights promos at the beginning of the season, if not; well you really need to start watching the show.
…And I would write 1000 more just to be the man who wrote two thousand post to fall down at your door. It was exactly three years and two days ago that I wrote the very first post here at the 9th Green back before it was even called the 9th Green. (Fun Fact: This place was originally called Scooter’s Blog.) And today marks the big 1-0-0-0. Know it was approaching I was thinking of something profound and the best I could come up with was to announce my retirement from the 9th Green. Well that is until I saw this video:
After seeing this, I want to use my one thousandth post to announce that I am now supporting Barak Obama. No, I am not supporting him because of his national heath care plan, not because he was against the war from the beginning, not because he wasn’t a corporate lawyer for WalMart, not even because he would appoint Mitt Romney the Secretary of Lookin’ Good. No, I am now supporting Barak Obama because he is Ashley Banks approved. But I wonder if this is going to put strain on the Banks household because you know Carlton is a Republican. Either way am invigorated to write another 1000 posts.
Jack Johnson may be the most unlikely multiplatinum artist this decade. He hasn’t had a radio hit with only the Curious George assisted Upside Down cracking the Top 40. He rarely cares enough to film videos with only two Ben Stiller assisted ones that were not performance based one. You can tell he would rather be surfing or strumming the guitar than be part of the machine of endless self promotion which leads to many people like my sister to have never heard of his name. What makes things worse is that everyone should know two Jack Johnsons and she knows none.
But despite the low Q-Rating from my sister and others who don’t know artists that do not get played on the radio, each of Jack Johnson’s albums have sold over a million copies. And there is no reason his latest Sleep Through the Static won’t do the same. The album is of note in that it was recorded exclusively on solar power, the first of which Johnson recorded outside of his home state of Hawaii.
If you are familiar with Johnson, you know what you are getting on the album, mellow, campfire melodies and sing-a-longs with a minimalist approach to most songs. There in lies the disappointment for the album. That was the basic formula for his debut, but he was able to expound on that mellow vibe with weird and odd mini songs sometimes in French. But for the most part the risks are gone on Static unless you listen really carefully. But even his songs from the Curious George Soundtrack took more chances.
That is not to say the album isn’t serviceable in an if it is not broke don’t fix it kind of way. There is a maturity that wasn’t on the first album and has been building ever since. Gone are songs about pancakes and toes. He takes on the current administration and their war plans on the title track.
The most adventurous song on the album, If I Had Eyes, is a playful tune and sounds exactly like what you would expect from someone who has a couple more miles under his feet after writing Bubble Toes. But Johnson excels when ever he slows and strips it down on songs like Enemy, What You Thought You Need, and Go On. Songs where you just want to cuddle up with someone on the beach at night next a bonfire when listening to.
Before I get into the best television had to offer last week, let me remind you that you still have a week to enter to win Dirt Season 1 on DVD starring Courteney Cox. Click the link or the banner to see how to enter.
Quote of the Week: I was thinking, you know, hit the museum, yoga, library for a bit. Then again I might just do the usge. You wanna get a beer? (Tim Riggins, Friday Night Lights)
Song of the Week: Faith - George Michael (Eli Stone, or at least I am assuming that the show featured the song from the ads. I haven’t watched it yet)
Big News of the Week: Worst Super Bowl Loss Ever: I have good news and bad news for Patriot fans. The ’85 team no longer has the worst lost in Super Bowl history. I never thought anything would be worst the huge blow out, The Fridge scoring on them, and even the back up QB calling out the team in the Super Bowl Shuffle. Of course the bad news is the ’07 Patriots replaced them. ’85 was just straight up embarrassed, with this loss the ’07 lost their perfect season in the last game, are no longer in the discussion for the best team ever or the best dynasty ever, Bill Belichicken losses his genius tag and to add insult to injury there is still Arlen Spector snooping around and the former filming technician for the team that says he has even more dirt on them that will taint the Super Bowls they did win pitting them in Big Head Barry territory. And one thing I didn’t learn today that need to be added to my post yesterday (see: Suck It Bill Belichicken) Billy again just showed again how classless he was by walking off the field with one second left. Now wonder he was so eager to trade for Randy “I take off plays when I want to” Moss who pulled the same classless move when he was in Minnesota.
Coalition Links of the Week:
Buzz suggested some books for fans missing their Gossip Girl, Brothers & Sisters, Heroes, and more. (BuzzSugar)
This week, Daemon's TV introduced their new regular feature, DVR (Daemon Video Recap), a fun video recap chipmunk-style of your favorite TV shows. (Daemon's TV)
Liz enjoyed a hefty dose of manufactured drama (with some crazy (expletive deleted), to boot) on the Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency. (Glowy Box)
Be it mere Sports Night nostalgia or something greater, Mikey is digging Thursday's session with In Treatment. (Mikey Likes TV)
Marcia explained why Supernatural is one of the most underrated shows on television. (Pop Vultures)
Feeling nostalgic, Rae recalled favorite childhood TV shows and moments from Buffy and Dawson's Creek among others with a TV meme. (RTVW)
Vance admits to liking guilty pleasures like the movie 27 Dresses, the new single by OneRepublic and the TV show Carpoolers. Yes, Vance is that one person watching that show. (Tapeworthy)
This week, Jace was all about Lost, with exclusive interviews with Matthew Fox, Josh Holloway, Elizabeth Mitchell, Michael Emerson, and Yunjin Kim, advance reviews, and morning-after analysis. (Televisionary)
TiFaux got naughty and kinky this week by offering up the Top Ten TV-Related Safe Words. (TiFaux)
Tube Talk celebrated the new season of Lost with a hilarious parody starring the Lost action figures. (Tube Talk)
Raoul found out the crazy things people say when they file complaints to the FCC about your favorite shows (TV Filter)
Thanks to some shameless in show advertising, the TV Addict deems NBC "Nothing But Commercials" (TheTVaddict.com)
Breaking Bad: I really do not get this show, this episode was even less entertaining than the first. I think one more episode may be my limit. Actually, was there a new episode yesterday that I missed?
American Karaoke: I inadvertently watched my first ever episode of the national karaoke championships ever this week. I was sitting in a room with two televisions Wednesday and I had just turned on the Republican Debates when the cleaning lady came in and turned the other television on American Karaoke and proceeded to turn up the volume up so loud I couldn’t hear the television I was sitting in front up. Yeah they is something ironic of seeing Ron Paul but hearing someone butcher Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting, but actually the show was somehow even worse than I ever thought it would be. Seriously, how can so many people be that obsessed with horrible singers butchering mediocre songs? It is obviously not because of the music because all the former karaoker are getting dropped from their record labels.
Super Tuesday Democratic Debate: Wow, was that boring. After the wrestling style smackdown in South Carolina, I expected much more. It was like two librarian debating. With that said, it was a really good week for me, Bill Belichicken lost he genius label, Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the race, and now all I need is for Hilary Clinton to get crushed tomorrow to complete the trifecta. For those that need any more reason not to vote for Clinton: she received an endorsement from biggest right wing nut job, and that says a lot, Ann Coulter (who Keith Olberman affectionately calls Coultergeist). Then on the far left of things, the most recent Rolling Stone (with Tom York on the cover) called Clinton the new Nixon. I wonder if that makes Bubba Spiro Agnew.
Also one thing that seemed to get lost last Wednesday with Giuliani and John Edwards dropping out, Arnold endorsing John McCain, the Republican debate, was that Ralph Nader launched an exploratory committee for a presidential launch.
Lost: Haven’t seen it yet. Maybe tonight unless I decide to watch and rewatch Welcome to the Captain.
Friday Night Lights: It says a lot that when I got home late on Friday and the one show I watched wasn’t the season premiere of Lost but Friday Night Lights. Even though I haven’t seen Lost yet, I bet I made the right decision because this week’s episode of FNL was better than anything Lost put on in its prime. So much to love from the hilarious (Matt trying to turn into Riggins, Landry, Matt, and Smash at lunch, Julie driving, Tyra and the alternative chick fighting over Landry) to heartbreaking (Mrs. Taylor missing her driving test, Smash losing his scholarship, Coach’s tough love with Matt). Check out the latest episodes over at NBC.com.
Super Bowl Commercials: One of the few years where the game was actually better than the commercials to the point I really don’t remember most of them, but here is my top five of those I did remember today:
1. Bill Frist and James Carville bond over Coke 2. Shaq as a jockey 3. Alice Cooper and Richard Simmons caught in the headlights 4. Charles Barkley harassing Dwayne Wayne 5. Lizards dancing to Thriller
Honorable mentions to the Adriana Lima one for obvious reasons and the trailer for Don’t Mess with the Zohan because you know anything written by Adam Sandler, Jude Apatow and Rober Smigle (who you may know better as the dude who’s hand is up Triumph the Insult Comic Dog’s bottom) has to be classic.
Next Week’s Pick: Grammy Awards at 8:00 on CBS: Last week the writers guild gave the Grammy’s an exemption so luckily we will get to hear four month old Amy Winhouse jokes that they have been storing up since the strike began. Yeah. But the Grammy’s were, and will be about the music and this year expect performances by Alicia Keys, Feist, Brad Paisley, Beyoncé, Foo Fighters (with special guest conductor Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones), Carrie Underwood as well as tributes to gospel and The Beatles. Need more reasons to watch? How about a performance by Rihanna. Now you may be thinking to yourself, “but Scooter I have seen her perform on the Movie Awards, VMA’s and countless other awards show last year, what makes this special?” Well how about that she will be backed by a reunited The Mother Frackin’ Time.
Maybe next year if you steal some more signals, have Rodney Harrison do even more HGH, teach your team to be even dirtier have Randy Moss (allegedly) assault more women, have Tom Brady knock up Gisele Bündchen and leave her by the time she makes it to the maternity ward, maybe next season you will not blow a perfect record.
Or maybe this was the classic example of cheaters never winning. Have fun talking to Arlen Specter Bill.
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promos at the beginning of the season, if not; well you really need to start watching the show.
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