Around the Tubes: 7/21/2017

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 Meg Mac, The 2017 MTV Video Music Awards, Shalom Italia, Snatchers, and AllThat.TV.
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Melbourne artist, Meg Mac arrives with her long awaited debut album, Low Blows; available from 300 Entertainment. The record debuted at #1 on the Australian overall iTunes and Alternative charts and #6 on the US singer/songwriter charts.

- The 2017 MTV Video Music Awards launched the first promo spot that’s the first piece of many creative elements in a multi-platform campaign going back to the roots of the VMA. All the work was done in house by the MTV Marketing and Creative Group.


- Amid hearty Tuscan meals and sweeping landscapes, the octogenarians’ quest unexpectedly swells with humor and clashing memories in Shalom Italia. Directed by Tamar Tal Anati, the film has its national broadcast premiere on July 24 at 10 p.m. (check local listings) on the PBS documentary series POV (Point of View). POV is American television’s longest-running independent documentary series, now in its 30th season. The feature film will follow the Oscar®-®nominated short Joe’s Violin, in which a donated musical instrument forges an improbable friendship between a 91-year-old Holocaust survivor and a 12-year-old Bronx school girl.

- Snatchers is the teen horror-comedy from Stage 13/Warner Bros. Digital Networks that is streaming on go90. Series is bingeable as of August 10; we have been releasing episodes every Thursday since June 22.

- Award-winning TV Host, Journalist and Author Roland Martin has launched a lifestyle and information website called AllThat.TV. The site will be a daily digital destination for national news, pop culture, politics, lifestyle features, health and wellness, cooking segments, faith-based content and a weekly motivational series.

- Stefano de Stefano, a free market Republican and Houston-based energy attorney, emerged Monday as the sole Republican primary challenger for Sen. Ted Cruz’ seat in the U.S. Senate. "Texas Republicans deserve a big-tent alternative who can bring private sector know-how to bear against the gridlock in our federal legislature," said de Stefano.

I Want My Music Television: 7/17/2017

The Story of O.J. - Jay-Z


I remember reading an article a few years back where the reviewer in Rolling Stone calling every single album R.E.M. released in the new millennium the best R.E.M. since the mid-nineties. Basically trashing all the albums that at the time they were calling R.E.M.’s comeback. That came to mind after all the reviews calling it Jay-Z’s latest album the best since The Black Album. Now I have not listened to the whole album because I am certainly not signing up for Tidal to listening to it, but from what I heard, it is about as good as the post nineties R.E.M. album: not very.


Po-Dunk – Kid Rock


People have been theorizing who Trump would inspire to run for political office with no experience other than being famous. The Rock has teased a few times but Kid Rock is the first to actually say they are putting their hat in the ring. Sure hee has not officially signed any paperwork and his Rock for Senate website redirects you to his merch page on his label’s website, but I am a little worried. Of course a video like this may play in the South, but isn’t this just an advertisement as why not to vote for him in states above the Mason-Dixon Line, including Michigan, the state he is running for Senate?


OMG - Vic Mensa feat. Pusha T


Do no ask me why Vic Mensa recruited Carl Gallagher for his video, but thankfully he recruited Pusha T for the song because King Push makes everything better.


Sweat - The All-American Rejects


Does the world need an eleven minute music video featuring the dude from The All-American Rejects in drag? Probably not.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 7/16/2017

Claws: Are we really getting a second, oh wait Roller really is not dead, for the second time in three episodes? Ugg. Really an up and down episode, the opening was great (though I have to question why the doctor did not take off the pillowcase in the trunk). The parts with Desna’s brother is always a drag, but it was paid off with a great sequence where they cut back between the murders and the weirdly choreographed dance sequence. But to end with the tease of Roller not being dead again was a huge let down.
You can download Claws on iTunes.

Fear the Walking Dead: Poor hot chick, she was gone this whole time and does not even get her own episode; it was just one segment where we learned how she joined the Indians. And of course she was a Trojan horse. Plus that was a horrible cover story to boot. And what is with this mid-season crap. The main show does it to avoid Christmas, but a break in the summer is just silly and exploitative and just builds into the narrative that the franchise can only do premieres and finales and everything else is boring.
You can download Fear the Walking Dead on iTunes

I’m Dying Up Here: Oh hey, Bill’s dad is still around? Hasn’t been months? But that got dark real quick. And poor Johnny Carson, the first up and coming comic after a dude walks into bus tried to OD in his green room.

Preacher: So after a century in Hell, Hitler has turned into a pansy? Are we really supposed to feel bad for Hitler?
You can download Preacher on iTunes.

Casual: There is no television cliché I hate more than start an episode at the end and then show the x amount a time before place card. But this was weird because it had no bearing on the episode. It was almost like they thought, well we are paying all this money for a Fleetwood Mac song, might as well play it twice. And does Tommy not listen to Nice and Smooth because if he did he would know too much of anything makes you an addict.
You can stream Casual on Hulu.

The Bold Type: This may already be my favorite horrible show on television. Sorry Supergirl.
You can download The Bold Type on iTunes.