Around the Tubes - 9/16/11

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Living for 32, The Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen, CBS.com, How to Make it in America, Bar Rescue, TNT Mystery Movie Night, Lorena Sarbu, Progressive, Txchnologist, and The Sing-Off.

- Tonight Showtime will be premiering Living for 32, a documentary where a Virginia Tech shooting survivor goes undercover to gun shows across the country in an attempt to prove how easy it is anyone to buy a gun and bypassing the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (commonly known as the Brady Bill) in the process. Living for 32 (in honor of the number of students that died that day) airs tonight at 8:00.

- It is a shame The Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen does not air an hour earlier next Monday so it could go head to head against the season premiere of the Two and a Half Men reboot. Maybe Charlie was too afraid of losing. But anyway. Here is a promo featuring a special guest:

SheenRoast: Sheenpocalypse


- Speaking of CBS, they officially launch its fall schedule next week and to honor the occasion, they just revamped their website cbs.com. The site features easier access to the most recent full episodes, improved social media outreach, this week’s schedule at-a-glance, improved promotional capabilities through multiple promo elements/sections (both for entertainment programming and now links to CBS News, CBS Sports and the Shop), “inline” video via the upper marquee (one-click and video plays on grayed-out home page), one click to play video (when user clicks show sub marquees, CBS Library show image, etc, they will be delivered to show page and video will play right away), and tablet friendly – all site elements except full episodes will be available via tablet browsers,

- HBO has recently released character posters for the upcoming season of How to Make it America and here is one for Rachel:



- Spike TV recently announced that it picked up a second season Bar Rescue, which just hit a series high rating this past Sunday. Production of the new ten episodes will begin this winter and will air in the Summer of 2012.

- TNT’s Mystery Movie Night starts up Tuesday November 29 at 9:00 and here is its first promo:



- Carrie Underwood will be performing It Had to Be You with Tony Bennett in an upcoming episode of CBS’s Blue Bloods wearing Lorena Sarbu. Check out a picture from the episode below:



- Flo from the Progressive commercials was recently nominated for Advertising Icon, head over to Buzfeed to vote for her or the other nominees.

- We have all known someone touched with cancer and this study at Txchnologist finds that music therapy can lower anxiety and pain.

- And just because, an acapella version of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air Theme to promote the new season of The Sing-Off premiering Monday at 8:00.

Fresh Prince Performance

Lyrics Quiz: Survivor

In honor of the return Survivor last night, I thought I would take the only pop song ever inspired by the show (Destiny Child’s Survivor which they wrote in response that the group kept voting out members like the reality show) and run it through iTunes’ Genius feature and these are the songs that came back. As always leave your guesses, both artist and song title, in the comment section or e-mail me. If you are correct I will un-bold the lyric and give you credit. Please keep in mind the lyrics quiz is for entertainment purposes only so please only use your own meandering mind to guess them.


1. Keep talking that mess that’s fine. But could you walk and talk at the same time? And it’s my name that is on that Jag, so remove your bags, let me call you a cab. (Irreplaceable - Beyonce; guessed by Rose)
2. I need a boy to take it over, looking for a girl to put you over. (What's My Name? - Rihanna; guessed by Rose)
3. See my days are cool without you, but I’m hurting while I’m with you, and you know my heart can take no more, I keep on running back to you.
4. The twenty-second of loneliness and we’ve been through so many things. I love my man with all honestly, but I know he’s cheating on me. (Creep - TLC; guessed by Doug)
5. Girl you are close to me you’re like my mother, close to me you’re like my father, close to me you’re like my sister, close to me you’re like my brother. You are the only one my everything and for you this song I sing. (All My Life - Love Always - K-Ci and Jojo; guessed by Doug)
6. Pour the wine, light the fire, girl, your wish is my command. I submit to your demands. (I'll Make Love to You - Boyz II Men; guessed by Doug)
7. Tears on my pillow wherever you go. I’ll cry me a river that leads to your ocean. You never see me fall apart. (Emotion - The Bee Gees; guessed by Doug)
8. Now you wonder why woman hate men: the sleepy silent men, the punk domestic violence men. Quick to shoot the scene, stop acting like boys and be men. (Doo Wop (That Thing) - Lauryn Hill; guessed by Angie)
9. Y’all didn’t have no kids, didn’t share no mutual friends, and you told me she turned trick when you broke up in ’96.
10. She has no idea what she’s doing in college. That major that she majored in don’t make no money. But she won’t drop out, her parants will look at her funny. (All Falls Down - Kanye West; guessed by Rose)
11. Thought that she was the one for me. ‘Til I found out she was on her creep. Oh she was sexing everyone but me. (U Remind Me - Usher; guessed by angie)
12. Broken heart again, another lesson learned. Better know my friends or else I’ll get burned. Gotta count on me cause I can guarantee that I’ll be fine. (No More Drama - Mary J. Blige; guessed by Doug)
13. I can’t get it out of my mind. Wow. I think about the girl all the time. Wow, Wow. (No Diggity - Blackstreet; guessed by Doug)
14. Girl I’m in love with you, this ain’t the honeymoon, we’re past the infatuation phase. (Ordinary People - John Legend; guessed by Rose)
15. I keep your picture beside my bed. I still remember everything you said. Always thought our love was so right, guess I was wrong.
16. Why do some people break up? Oh, turn around and make up? I just can’t see, you’d never do that to me. (Let's Stay Together - Al Green; guessed by Doug)
17. Love, love will come find you, just to remind you of who you are. Love, it will forsake you, threaten to break you. Take what you got.
18. What’s your problem? Let’s resolve it. We can solve it, what’s the causes? It’s official, you got issuses, I got issues.
19. I want your body ‘til the very last drop. I want you to holler, when you want me to stop. And who can love you like me? (Nobody - Keith Sweat; guessed by Doug)
20. Every night, on my knees I pray, “Dear Lord, hear my plea: Don’t ever let another take her love from me or I will surely die.” (Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me) - The Temptations; guessed by Angie)
21. Music is a world within itself with a language we all understand. With an equal opportunity for all to sing, dance and clap their hands.
22. Like Dr. Zhivago all my love I’ll be sending and you will never know ‘cause there can be no happy ending. (The Hardest Thing - 98º; guessed by Doug)
23. But how many heartaches must I stand before I find a love to let me live again? (You Can't Hurry Love - The Supremes; guessed by Angie)
24. I left out in a cloud of taillights and dust. Swore I wasn’t coming back. Said I’d had enough. Saw you in the rear view standing, fading from my life. But I wasn’t turning round. No not this time.
25. That’s why fake (expletives deleted) get fake (expletive deleted) digits and fake (expletive deleted) players get a real player hating ‘em.

The Twenty-Five Dumbest Survivor Contestants Ever

To show you just how shocked that Ozzy and Coach were the ones brought back for this season of Survivor, after the show announced they were bringing back Redemption Island I was so convinced that the show would bring back Matt from last season (and probably Andrea with him as the two people that returned from Redemption Island) that I started working on a list of the Dumbest Survivor Contestants Ever because Matt trying to rejoin the tribe who already booted him was one of the dumbest moves ever. Instead of going with obvious selections, apparently Jeff Probst randomly pulled two names out of his hat to come up with Ozzy and Coach. Luckily neither of them are the smartest tools on the beach so here are a list of the Dumbest Survivor Contestants Ever:



1. Erik Reichenbach (Fans vs. Favorites) - Giving up immunity his Immunity Necklace to Natalie; promptly gets voted out (please note Erik is like the Johnny Vander Meer of Survivor, this is a record that will never be broken. To do so, one would have to get voted out with an Immunity Idol in their pocket, go to Redemption Island, come back into the game and proceed to give someone the Immunity Necklace and promptly get voted out to move Erik from number one on this list).

2. Tyson Apostol (Heroes vs. Villains) - Flipping votes for absolutely no reason and prompltly getting voted out because of switching votes.

3. James Clement (China) - Getting voted out with two immunity Idols in his pocket.

4. JT Thomas (Heroes vs. Villains) – It is hard to put some who has won on this list, but dude gave his Immunity Idol to Russell which was then used to vote him out.

5. Matt Elod (Redemption Island) – Going back to his former Ometepe after returning from Redemption Islandonly to promptly getting sent right back there by them.

6. Jason Siska (Fans vs. Favorites) - Thinking a piece of driftwood was an Immunity Idol, convincing that Eliza that she should play the driftwood, then getting voted out with a real Idol in his pocket.

7. Lex Van den Burghe (All-Stars) - Saving Amber because Boston Rob asked him to, then gets voted out by Rob because he lost the numbers by keeping Amber.

8. Colbie Donaldson (The Australian Outback) – Not choosing the easy win over Keith, instead loses to Tina in the Final Tribal Council.

9. Ometepe Tribe (Redemption Island) - Letting Boston Rob win by putting up no effort, instead playing for second place.

10. Russell Hantz (Heroes vs. Villains) - Playing a type a game that guarantees he would never win enough votes at the Final Tribal Council.

11. Yau Man / Andria "Dreamz" Herd (Fiji) Yau Man stupidly gave Dreamz a truck if he promised to give him the Immunity Necklace if he won it. Dreamz reneged and was rewarded with zero votes at the Final Tribal Council.

12. Ian Rosenberger (Palau) - Quit the final three immunity challenge (after parcicipating for twelve hours) then asked to be voted out.

13. Jonathan Penner (Race Wars) – Mutinying, then getting voted out by his new tribe.

14. Saboga Tribe (All-Stars) - Building their shelter by digging a hole in the sand.


15. Amanda Kimmel (Heroes vs. Villains) - Giving Danielle the Hidden Immunity Idol clue back (not to mention her poor performance in her two final Tribal Councils).

16. Zapatera Tribe (Redemption Island) - Throwing a challenge to get rid of Russell, then going on to lose three of the next four challenges going into a merge where they were outnumbered.

17. Randy Bailey (Ghana) / Jamie Dugan (China) - Playing fake Hidden Immunity Idols.

18. Burton Roberts (Pearl Islands) - Throwing a challenge then promptly gets voted off.

19. Marty Piombo (Nicaragua) - Giving Sash his Hidden Immunity Idol.

20. Sean Kenniff (Borneo) – Using an Alphabetical voting system which his competitors used against him.

21. Clay Jordan (Thailand) - Berating jury members at his Final Tribal Council, a vote he could have won.

22. Brendan Synnott (Tocantins) - Announcing he has an immunity idol, does not play it, gets voted out.

23. Jolanda Jones (Palau) - Picking the only tribe to never win an Immunity Challenge and being first voted out by her tribe.

24. Rafe Judkins (Guatemala) - Releasing Danni from their promise of taking each other to the Final Tribal Council, gets voted out by her.

25. Lillian Morris (Pearl Island) – Choosing to take Sandra to the Final Tribal Council over the despicable Johnny Fairplay.

Survivor: South Pacific premieres tonight at 8:00 on CBS with an expanded ninety minute episode. As for a preseason pick, I’ll go with Sophia Clarke but will be rooting for Rick Nelson, father of the twins in Nelson, because he has gown the most awesome mustache since coming back to life.

You Might Find it Cheap but You’re Never Gonna Find it Free

Blitzen Trapper were one of the bands that made my recent Best of Neo-Folk sampler and like most of the bands on the list, calling them just plain folk is going a disservice to them because they do more than just down with an acoustic guitar and churn out mellow tunes. The group’s latest album American Goldwing is their most eclectic to date with early eighties Tom Petty rock (album opener Might Find it Cheap), fuzzed out sixties garage band (Your Crying Eyes), seventies freak-out rock (Street Fighting Sun), alt-country from the late nineties (the title track), and possibly the greatest song The Band never recorded (Fletcher).

But the standout tracks are when the band slows things down and brings out that folksier sound. The mellowest tracks are Taking it Easy Too Long and album closer Stranger in a Strange Land, both of which are storytelling at its best. While Love the Way You Walk Away is the band at its friskiest and is song that just begs to play the next time you are out driving though your local country roads, preferably at night. Astronaut is a sweet ballad that turns into a country tune halfway through before returning back to how it started.

Song to Download – Love The Way You Walk Away

American Goldwing gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I Want My Music Television - 9/12/11

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

Michael Jackson – Das Racist



Maybe because the Das Racist track is pretty weak, their video tribute to Michael Jackson was not as entertaining as it should be, at least not the first last supper for dictators scenes. It does get better at the end because how can you not enjoy any morphing sequence and I swear I saw Alan Tudyk in there somewhere.


Sparks Fly - Taylor Swift



Here is a drinking game for all you degenerates out there: take a shot whenever Taylor Swift whips her hair; double if it’s in slow motion.


Marvin & Chardonnay - Big Sean featuring Kanye West & Roscoe Dash



Remember back in the 90’s all you need was Hype Williams to direct your video to break you? Ah the good old days. Although this Big Sean video stylistically looks a little too much like Kanye’s Golddigger video, I’m pretty sure I saw one of the same chicks from that video too.


Holy Holy – Wye Oak



Here is a fun video from Wye Oak for an amusement park theme. To think it has been over fifteen years since Mariah Carey flawlessly lip-syced on a rollercoaster in the Fantasy video (as if learning Pearl Jam’s Ten recently turned twenty years old last month didn’t make me feel old enough already).