Quote of the Week: See, nobody understood where my brother was coming from when he said I’m not kissing Mr. Boston. I mean (expletive deleted) dude, they got strippers and pornstars on their team. They used to kissing on men, woman, and having orgies, and threesomes, and ménage a trios, the whole (expletive deleted) nine, having sex with goats. You know what I mean, man? They’re immoral. (Real, I Love Money)
Big New of the Week: Comic-Con: All the nerd have descended on San Diego this weekend and unfortunately I couldn’t get my Storm Trooper suit in time to go. Well that and I am what the US government likes to classify as poor. But for those like me that did not have the money to make the pilgrimage or are just scared of Trekkies, NBC.com is sharing all video footage (panels, interviews, reveals, etc) from Comic-Con on their website so head over there to check up on Chuck, Heroes, new show Kings, and, um, The Office? So head over there as they are updating all weekend.
Coalition Links of the Week: Buzz's adventures at the TCA press tour included interviewing Brian Baumgartner, hanging out on the ER set, getting some scoop on Chuck's second season, and much more! (BuzzSugar)
Plattie celebrated the opening of The X-Files movie with a look back at the pilot that started it all. (Pop Vultures)
Vance thinks So You Think You Can Dance is totally "A"ces! (Tapeworthy)
Following some of Jay Leno's unfortunate antics at a press event, Dan decided to tell a story to illustrate the importance of bowing out with class. (TiFaux)
Raoul tried - and failed - to get into Generation Kill. (TV Filter)
I Love Money: I think I would have had the same reaction as Chance and Real to the thought of kissing Mr. Boston. And it was this episode that I realize that Chance is basically a long lost Chappelle’s Show character. You can download episodes of I Love Money on iTunes.
The Middleman: Wait, Varsity Fanclub is a real boy band? Alrighty. But I have to say there is nothing funnier than a tween with a mouth, literally, like a sailor. You can download episodes of The Middleman on iTunes.
My Boys: Holy Martin Mull sighting! Catch up on recent episodes over at TBS.com. You can also download My Boys on iTunes.
Free Stuff of the Week: While mentioning how you could download She and Him’s new song for free after showing the video (see I Want My Music Television vol. XXXI), I realized there is a lot of cool free stuff out there if you know where to look. So each week I will be highlighting the best of the free stuff out there. If you find anything cool for free in the future feel free to drop me a line and maybe I will feature it here. Just keep in mind everything I will be featured if legally free, so do not send me torrent links and the like. Also some things I post may be time sensitive so it would be better to get the stuff sooner than later.
With Comic-Con this week it is apropos that the first Free Stuff of the Week is Watchmen Motion Comics: Chapter One on iTunes based on what some consider to be the best graphic novel ever which will also be a motion picture next March.
As a bonus for this first week, you can also download Murder in the City by The Avett Brothers at Amazon MP3. You may remember their song, If it’s the Beaches used on Friday Night Lights when Landry dumped the creepy chick and hooked back up with Tyra.
Promo of the Week: If you have watched any news channels in the last week you have undoubtedly seen famous oil man T Bone Pickens talk about the advantage of wind. If you haven’t made it over to pickensplan.com, here is his complete plan:
Pick for Next Week: Shark Week, July 27-August 2 at 9:00 on Discovery Channel: For information on Shark Week head over to sharkyourself.com.
As Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog taught us last week that if you make a quality project, people on the internet will flock to it. The next to try to harness the power of the intertubes is Rosario Dawson (He Got Game) and the Green Arrow from Smallville in Gemini Division a new online series for NBC.com. My sources describe it as, “Like Lonelygirl15, Gemini Division is a female first-person confessional — in this case, about biotech run wild. Dawson plays Anna Diaz, a New York City detective having a crazy fling with a guy who's tall, blond, and ripped… and a little bit ‘off’.”
A sci-fi version of Lonelygirl15. Um, yeah, alright. And if that description didn’t wet your palette, well, then take a look at the trailer:
Okay, a little more interesting than the description, but still looks to have a production value of a web only video. And sci-fi is all about its look. Should be interesting to she how the show is received (if at all) and Wired.com has a very extensive article on the show with behind the scenes info. Wondering around GeminiDivision.com I did notice the lack of an RSS feed. Hopefully this is because the show doesn’t debut until August 18th because a website without an RSS feed is pretty useless. If you want me to watch something at least let me know when a new episode is up.
NBC is really getting into the online content this summer, aside from Gemini Division, the Heroes Webisodes I highlighted earlier this week (see: Next Time Don't Mess with the Mailman), there is also The Office webisodes, the third of which debuted yesterday. Head over to NBC.com to see Kevin in Exposed Wires.
There has not been a more provocative album title in recent memory than Hip Hop Is Dead. On one hand Nas hit the head on the nail as the ringtone rappers killed off the genre that had been slowly dieing all decade. But on the other hand, that album actually proved otherwise and that hip hop still had a couple more breathes in it.
So how do you follow-up a controversial title album? Well name it something that usually reserved for Jesse Jackson spoken on Fox News. But when it looked like the album wouldn’t be getting shelf space almost nowhere, Nas decided to change the album to, well, nothing. Or as Nas says himself in Hero: “Try telling Bob Dylan, Bruce, or Billy Joel they can’t sing what's in their soul! So "Untitled" it is. I never change nothing” This begs the question was naming it months in advance all a publicity stunt to get people talking without hearing a note?
Where Hip Hop Is Dead was a loose concept album on how and why the genre needed a funeral and who killed it, the new album is a loose concept album on race relations. Throughout the album are thoughts about how blacks are perceived in the media (Sly Fox), stereotypes (Fried Chicken), and a half hearted endorsement of Barack Obama (Black President), and even though it is no longer the title, a certain six letter word shows up in two song titled claiming that n*****’s are not black people but the uneducated.
Throughout the album, Nas is on point when not inexplicably name dropping Jessica Simpson or giving props to ringtone rappers he put on blast less than two years ago. The album falls flat thanks mostly to the company he keeps. You have to do a double take at seeing Chris Brown on the guest list and the song is about as juvenile as Brown’s age suggest.
Aside from the Polow da Don produced Hero; the production value is moderate at best. Even Mark Ronson, who had been batting 1.000, had a rare misstep on the snare heavy Fried Chicken that is too downtrodden than his usual upbeat horn infused throwback. Nas recently stated that he wants to drop two albums on the same day. One exclusively produced by D.J. Premiere who he hasn’t work much with since Illmatic, the other by his The Firm associate Dr. Dre. With the mediocre at best beats that pepper this album, that drop date cannot come soon enough.
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.
Well that was disturbing. Granted Zooey (half of She & Him, M Ward being the other half) was always the darker Deschanel sister. Creepy videos aside, at least the song is catchy. And if you like the song, I have been given permission to let you, my loyal readers, download the song for free for a limited time. And by I, I mean Border.com, so head over there for the free mp3.
John Mellencamp made two videos for this song, this being my favorite if only for the replay value and the George Bush cameo. Wait, why is George given the “believe” frame exactly.
So let me get this straight, a bunch of Wisconsin country fans booed Jessica Simpson, born and raised in Texas, for not being country enough. Um, alright. Of course it may have been residual booing from the unwatchable Dukes of Hazard remake (a brunette Daisy Duke is blasphemy). And this song isn’t bad for a country song which, granted, doesn’t mean much.
Hope - Jack Johnson
Like most Jack Johnson videos not involving Ben Stiller, Hope is not that interesting. But it is a great song.
This summer NBC.com is hosting a bunch of webisodes which looks like what Heroes: Origins was supposed to be if it had no budget. The latest episode just hit the intertubes and here are both if you missed the first one.
Well that was about as entertaining as the main show. Maybe even more thanks to the creepy weird moving bald dude. Too bad he won't be showing up in the main show. One person that will be showing up on the main show is Hayden Panettiere. And since I cannot get enough of it, here is Wake Up Call video again.
The Espy's are so foolproof, even when they get athletes to host it still is pretty entertaining. That adage is put to the test this year when they get Justin Timberlake, who bombed when he team hosted with Stifler at the MTV Movie Awards a couple years back. But let us star t off with the pre-show first.
- Holy Chris Connelly sighting!
- Erin Andrews has to be one of the most underrated hot chicks out there today. Any of those lame lists by lame magazines that countdown chick and don’t have her in the top ten just isn’t credible. With that said, someone should tell her that the word “bling” died five years ago.
- The Top 5 Meetings need to make it on YouTube sooner than later.
- How does Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo make the Dynamic Duos list? She is the reason his team lost.
- An Under Armour CEO interview? Seriously?
- Adrian Peterson had his draft position drop just by wearing his hat like Antwain Merriwheather.
- Wow, the Espy’s actully started on time this year.
- I know I say this every year, but no award show’s clip package comes close to the ESPY’s.
- Justin Timberlake may not be able to tell a joke, but the Bill Belichicken was funny.
- As much as I love seeing the Giants beat the Patriots over and over again, but Appalachian State was the true biggest upset. And the won on the opposing team, not a neutral site like the Super Bowl.
- They don’t even show the nominees for Best Record Breaking Performance, just give it to Brett Farve. I guess having Big Head Barry also in the category doesn’t make you want to acknowledge him.
- It is not a good sign when you are out acted by Greg Oden. Can we get him to host next year? And that musical number went way too long.
- Who was the nerd sitting next to Kristen Bell? If they need a nerd next to her, why not ask me?
- Suggesting to dig up Harry Carey: not funny.
- Have I ever told the time I met and annoyed Posh Spice?
- Now for the best part of every ESPY’s the Arthur Ashe Award of Courage. But why is Tom Cruise narrating the story of Tommy Smith John and Carlos. Tom aside, the package had a History Channel feel to it.
- Is it ironic that Jason Taylor saying he was doing something to piss off Bill Parcells the day he got traded?
- Jimmy V Award for Perseverance presented by Robin Roberts, someone who know a little about Perseverance. Be sure to check out Jimmyv.org.
- I have no clue what Adriana Lima was doing at the ESPY's, I am just glad she was.
- On the other end of the spectrum, who invited Fergie?
- In the end the New York football Giant complete their sweep winning Best Sweep, Upset, Play and Team. Wait, what, they actually did not win Best Team? Did not see that one coming. But that going to the Boston Celtics does not help the ESPN criticism that they have a New York/Boston bias.
Recently John Mayer released a live album, Where the Light Is and even if you have Any Given Sunday, the new live album is also worth picking up. It is really three sets in one, an acoustic one, a blues rock set with the John Mayer Trio, and a full band set. The latter features the highlight. Slow Dancing in a Burning Room. The version is so epic I had thought the song was going on for ten minutes or so even though it really clocks in at under six. The Where the Light Is version isn’t on YouTube currently (it is at MSN video but it is not embeddable. You think if they make you sit through a commercial the least they could do is let you is embed it. But anyways. Click the link to see that) but below is another live version. But you definitely want to check out the WTLI version because like I said, the solo is just epic, even more so than the one below (but below he does work in some a Tom York song).
by The Avett Brothers at Amazon MP3. You may remember their song, If it’s the Beaches used on Friday Night Lights when Landry dumped the creepy chick and hooked back up with Tyra.
![[Untitled] - Nas](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519yccU78DL._SS500_.jpg)
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