Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Best of the Week - 11/17/12


Quote of the Week: I got a pretty weak stomach especially when it comes to gross things. In the middle of the intestine is a chunk of fat that big. So it is a (expletive deleted) tube wrapped around fat… and topped with a testicle. (Zach, The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons)

Song of the Week: Pure Imagination – Willy Wonka (2 Broke Girls)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: More Drama with Army Men Than on Army Wives: To be honest I have tried to avoid the David Petaeus scandal because I am just waiting for the inevitable Lifetime movie to get the full story, but apparently there are sordid e-mails, shirtless pictures, and of course, twins. When will people learn they should not transmit their dirst laundry across the internet because it will always come out eventually. Seriously, I learned this lesson from Vanessa Hudgens five years ago, how could the CIA director not figure that out yet?

Preview Picture of the Week:

Megan Fox on Wedding Band

Free Download of the Week: Green Hill Christmas Music Sampler

Deal of the Week: 100 Albums for $5: Grab Greatest Hits from James Taylor, Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, and Bill Withers.


New Album Release of the Week: Stronger - Kate Earl

New DVD Release of the Week: The Expendables 2

Video of the Week: This week ABC debuted The Gift of Revenge which had the characters of Revenge (not surprisingly minus the two leads) being led to a party hosted by Nolan for no apparent reason. Okay it turned out to be an extremely long commercial for… um, I do not remember. But it reminded me of the revolutionary “pods” that were going to air instead of commercials which, if I am not mistaken, only lasted a week before they went back to normal commercial breaks. So apparently The CW were just ahead of their times (maybe it is time for a Farmer Takes a Wife reboot). But I wonder just who wrote The Gift of Revenge: the normal Revenge writers? An ad company? Are the ads supposed to be considered cannon? Suburgatory also has its own in show sponsor, which begs the question what is next? Are we going to learn the aliens from The Neighbors are actually the alien race from Halo? Are the doctors of Grey’s Anatomy going to play the kids game Operation?


Next Week Pick of the Week: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Thursday at 9:00 AM on NBC: Thanksgiving morning for me is putting some cinnamon rolls in the oven and turning on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Sure in recent it seems like I know less and less of the performance. Case in point this year: Cody Simpson, Megan & Liz, The Wanted, and Jennette McCurdy. The festivities will also include Carly Rae Jepsen, Flo Rida (because who says turkey more than Flo Rida), Neon Trees, Colbie Caillat, Karmin while the Olympic Gymnastics team, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots will jump on the floats.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Best of the Week - 11/10/12



Quote of the Week: Honey, you are fighting for your future in front of a disciplinary committee, not entertaining the secret service. (Claire, Modern Family)

Song of the Week: Low Rising – The Swell Season (Castle)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Mackenzie Was Voted off the Voice!: Just kidding, the real big news was the election. I did not care for either candidate (is it too soon to put up a Huntsman 2016 yard sign?) so I knew the country would lose either way. But if there was a winner Tuesday it was Nate Silver of Five Thirty Eight. Even though I did not really cared about the outcome, I am a big stats geek and still poured over the daily polls, and Five Thirty Eight was daily reader. And after getting forty nine state correct in 2008, Silver correctly predicted all fifty states this time around (assuming Florida stays in the Obama column, but it is Florida, so we may not know until January). As a stat geek, I know actually correctly predicting the outcome of fifty states based on polls in itself is a statistical anomaly. Although it is a little depressing that after twenty months of campaigning, around twenty-five debates, and over a billion dollars nothing really changed in Washington: Obama got reelected, the Senate still belongs to the Democrats and the House is still being ruled by the Republicans. Seriously people, in 2014 stop voting for the “R” or “D” besides a candidate’s name, look for the “I” and then vote for the other candidate. That is the only way to get real change in Washington.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Wedding Band premiering tonight on TBS

Free Download of the Week: The Noise Trade Loft Sessions Mixtape – Rachael Yamagata

New Album Release of the Week: Lotus (Deluxe Version) - Christina Aguilera

New DVD Release of the Week: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Classic Series Collection

Video of the Week: When I heard there was going to be a romantic zombie movie, my first thought was, oh goodness no. Even worse it is coming from the same studio that released those horrible romantic vampire movies. Then I saw the trailer for Warm Bodies. It may be one of those movies where all the good parts in the trailer, but it at least will get me to watch. And bonus points for Teresa Palmer who should be more famous than she is.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Space Dive, Sunday at 7:00 on the National Geographic Channel: The world was captivated last month when Felix Baumgarter traveled up 120,000 feet to do a sky dive. And the National Geographic Channel documented the dive with more than twenty cameras and now you can se the whole jupm like you have never seen before in this special.

Saturday, November 03, 2012

Best of the Week - 11/3/12


Quote of the Week: You’ve dated plenty of men who were better looking and sexier, beefier and brawnier and more cut and darker skinned and longer hair and taller and richer and more successful and funnier and friendlier, who have more summer homes and foreign cars and motorboat and yachts, who are more well-traveled and know more languages than him. (Dalia, Suburgatory)

Song of the Week: Sussudio – Phil Collins (as sung by Tessa, Suburgatory)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Hurricane Sandy: If you can donate, head over to redcross.org.

Free Download of the Week: Ain't Messin 'Round - Gary Clarke Jr. (Amazon MP3)

Deal of the Week: 100 Albums for $5: This month’s five dollar albums include The Black Keys, Willie Nelson, Nas, and Oasis.


New Album Release of the Week: Most Of My Heroes Still Don't Appear On No Stamp - Public Enemy

New DVD Release of the Week: The Amazing Spider-Man

Video of the Week: I do not think endorsements move the needle at all and anyone who does so is really annoying (full disclosure, I have endorsed people in the past but have abstained this year mostly because there is no one worth endorsing) so really, if you are going to endorse anyone, you might as well make it entertaining, like when Avengers director and Buffy creator Joss Whedon endorsed Mitt Romney.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Election Coverage, All Day Tuesday on Most Channels: Yes election day is finally here, or as us Ohioans most care about, the day after the election when we do not have to watch any more of starting Wednesday (for those fortunately to be in a solid red or blue state, commercial breaks have been about fifty percent political advertising since the start of the Olympics). As I mentioned above I am not endorsing anyone this time around but I do know who I am voting for though I can be swayed either way. So I wonder just how much do celebrities care about their candidate because I am willing to vote for the candidate of their choosing. Keep in mind as I am in Ohio, this state has a 51.7% chance of deciding the election and my vote has a 12.3% chance of being the deciding vote. So I could be completely swayed by, say, a personal concert from the Dave Matthews Band. Or maybe Clint Eastwood could put me in his next movie. Or maybe Scarlett Johansson is willing to drive me to my polling place in her Black Widow costume. Or maybe one of the Koch brothers could part with a million dollars (which would be a drop in the bucket of the over billion dollars spent in this campaign on both sides). Mmm, I think I am going to go hit up Scarlett Johansson on twitter.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Will Obama's America Offer Real Solutions or More Slogans


2016: Obama's America

In a measure of full disclosure I should first say I am a registered Republican. I did not vote for Barack Obama four years ago and do not plan to vote for him in two weeks. Although I really do not go around announcing my conservatism much lately because my party has become a party of nutjobs who spout the most unbelievable things like our president was not born in this country and is a Muslim (even though four years ago he was anti-American because his Christian minister once said negative things about this country). 2016: Obama's America is supposed to be the thinking man’s attack on the president. There are no accusations of being a Muslim or even being born in Kenya or even hints at them (it even points out two separate newspapers in Hawaii that announced Obama’s birth).

The movie is based on the book by Dinesh D’Souza, The Roots of Obama's Rage which he wrote in 2010. The tagline claims, “Love him, hate him… you don’t know him”. Except after watching the movie, there really was not much of the movie that I found new. There was one guy that Dinesh called one of Obama’s “founding fathers” (along with people like the 2008 buzz person Bill Ayers) who was a registered communist. Except like all the other “founding fathers” (aside from Reverend Wright) there are no pictures of Barry with any of these people (even the liberal communist were able to find one picture of George Bush with Jack Abramoff). If he was so close to these people to the point they shape his policy, why is he never pictured with them. And Dinesh sure likes his pictures because the one of Barry smoking (something) is shown multiple times.

Even in the film, D’Souza features a cable show where he tells some talking head that accusing Obama as a Muslim and a socialist have not worked, so he has moved to attack number three: Barack Obama is anti-imperialist. Who knew there were imperialists left to be anti to? (Ironically the day after I watch this movie, I read an article by conservative commentator Niall Ferguson reporting a story where Chinese nationalist surrounded the US ambassador to the nation chanting “Down with US imperialism!).

Why is Barack Obama an anti-imperialist? Because his father was Kenyan and Barack wants to continue the Mau Mau uprising that kicked out imperialist British Army. To all of the even keel thinkers out there that are wondering, “You mean that Barry, who was raised by two Kansas women, was influenced by a man that abandoned him and only met once in his life?” And before you suggest that abandoned sons usually distance themselves from their absentee father, Dinesh finds a psychologist who specializes abandonment where the two men, who never met Barack Obama theorize that he is the an exception to the rule. Keep in mind earlier in the film Dinesh theorizes what would have happened had he stayed in his native India where he thinks he would have had been in an arrange marriage and the like, yet Barack, growing up in America, still ended up like his Kenyan father that he barely knew.

The first anti-imperialist argument that D’Souza is that the first thing Obama did after being inaugurated was to return a bust of Winston Churchill that the White House had since the 60’s to England. Except the reality is that the bust from the 60’s is still there, and the bust that was returned was loaned (note loaned, not permanently given to) to George W. Bush after 9/11 and was cleared out of the Oval Office with all of the other art and furniture that Bush put in there during his two terms. Obama’s supposed anti- British streak continued when D’Souza says that Obama supports Argentina gaining control of the Falkland Island but when I did a simple Google search most articles I read said that Obama is neutral on the issue.

After an hour of Obama history, D’Souza finally gets to theorizing what 2016 will look like if we reelect the anti-imperialist Obama which includes a world where Obama gets rid of all of our nuclear weapons because he is on the record of wishing we could live in a world without nuclear weapons (confessed Reaganite Dinesh conveniently omits that Ronald Reagan said the exact same thing). He also theorizes that because of Obama’s foreign policy that in four years we may see “The United States of Islam” that would stretch from Morocco to Pakistan (surprisingly his map leaves out Obama’s ancestral home of Kenya) even though many of the countries in Islam Fantasyland hate each other as much as they hate us.

The only potential doomsday scenario that Dinesh exposes that I agree with is that our debt will bring down the country, though I disagree that Obama wants it to happen because of his anti-imperialism. But this is not a Barack Obama problem; both Democrats and Republican have a spending problem that they need to reign in. One of the commentators that D’Souza speaks to even dings George W. Bush for his overspending. Granted Dinesh does conveniently omit in his stat that Americans have lost a large percentage of their wealth since 2006 that two of those years were under Bush.

Politics aside, 2016: Obama’s America just looks just a step above student film with hilariously staged dramatization and bizarre sound choices. While talking about a debate he had with Jesse Jackson, the dramatization actually depicts a black dude walking into what looks like a biker bar where the white patrons give the black dude a birthday cake. But still is not as funny as Dinesh doing the hula while researching Obama’s past. And it was were in a taped phone conversation, which looked more staged than one on The Hills, the sound would inexplicably change depending if the camera was on Dinesh or the person he was talking to.

When it comes down to it, 2016: Obama’s America will only make the people who already have an irrational hated of Barack Obama crazier and will make Obama supporters laugh more than they did for this week’s episode Modern Family. While people in the middle will not bother to watch it unless their crazy uncle forces them to. Just take the movie as it is, just something Dinesh D’Souza put out to make money. Actually, Dinesh may have changed my vote, I had no intentions of voting for Obama, but now I kind of want to see how wrong his movie is. And since I live in Ohio, my vote may very well decide the election.


Full Discourse Notice: This DVD was given to me by Lionsgate for review.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Best of the Week - 10/20/12


Quote of the Week: It’s true Marty, we grow gardens in the room next to our sleep chamber, you keep a sewer there. Yes I guess we are the crazy ones. (Larry Bird, The Neighbors)

Song of the Week: The Parting Glass – The Sisters Green (The Walking Dead)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: A Binder Full of Women: I really did not want to talk about the debates three straight week because I do not think they matter that much but unfortunately there really was not anything else big that happened this week enless you consider the cancelation of Animal Practice big (R.I.P. Annie’s Boobs). And let’s face it does not matter who wins but what are people talking about the next day. Supposedly Mitt Romney won big but how big could that win be if everyone spent the next day talking about Big Bird? And supposedly Barack Obama took this debate but really the only part of the debate anyone talked about was Mitt’s binder full of women so does it even really matter? One more debate to go, but again does it really matter, people already started voting anyway here in Ohio the state that is going to decide the election.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Who is not going to survive The A Train on the Pretty Little Liars Halloween special

Free Download of the Week: Make the World Go Away – Jamey Johnson featuring Alison Krause (iTunes)

New Album Release of the Week: The Haunted Man - Bat for Lashes

New DVD Release of the Week: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Video of the Week: Trapped in the Closet! Chapter 23!! Masterpiece Closet!!! Rosie the Noisy Neighbor!!!! Big Man!!!!! Pimp Lucius!!!!!! The Package!!!!!!! More new episodes coming November 23!!!!!!!! Can't wait!!!!!!!!! CAN’T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!


Next Week Pick of the Week: Mockingbird Lane, Friday at 8:00 on NBC: Just days after some internet site said the new Munster’s reboot was dead and NBC said no it is not, the network actually gave it a premiere date just in time for Halloween. Although do not expect any new episode after that any time soon because even if it does well, there are no more episodes filmed. So just enjoy it for what it is a one of special.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Best of the Week - 8/13/12


Quote of the Week: You can kiss my decision as it’s walking out the door. (Rayna, Nashville)

Song of the Week: If I Didn't Know Better – Sam Palladio & Clare Bowen (Nashville)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: The Vice Presidential Debate: Or so I am told this happened because I fell asleep when both debaters started to sound like the adults in a Peanuts special. It is really silly to have the Vice Presidential candidate to debate anyway. As John McCain famously said, the only job of the Vice President is to check up on the health of the President every day. But I am told that one person used the world murlocky while another lied a bunch. Yep I did not miss much.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Otto is back on Sons of Anarcy

Free Download of the Week: Live Sampler (Recorded at the Filmore) – Punch Brothers (Noise Trade)

Deal of the Week: Up to 55% on TV and Movies Blu Rays - The Walking Dead, Halloween, Piranna 3DD, Alien Anthology

New Album Release of the Week: Red - Taylor Swift

New DVD Release of the Week: Mad Men: Season Five

Video of the Week: One debate that I did enjoy this week was the one between Kid Rock and Sean Penn. Seriously, there are very few things more entertaining that hear two white dudes argue over who is less racist.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Suburgatory, Wednesday at 9:30: Easily the biggest surprise of last season was how funny Suburgatory was. It was barely on my radar before the season started and turned out being the best new show on network television last season. It finally returns this week and even gets the cushy post-Modern Family timeslot. I am sure Dalia will still be scarier than anything you will see on the premiere of The Walking Dead later next week.

Saturday, October 06, 2012

Best of the Week - 10/6/12


Quote of the Week: Twitter is stupid, and Instagram is Twitter for people who can't read. (Max, 2 Broke Girls)

Song of the Week: Sailing – Christopher Cross (The Neighbors)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: The First Presidential Debate: Supposedly Mitt Romney won the first presidential debate (of course John Kerry reputably won his first debate by 22 points) but it is not a good sign for the “winner” that the next day the only part of the debate that anyone is talking about was how Mitt wants to put Big Bird in the unemployment line. Seriously Mitt, it does not help the consensus that you’re a soulless businessman who likes to fire people to tell Jim Leher on national television that you will put the guy (and Big Bird) out of work right to his face. Personally I cannot vote for anyone who even suggests cutting funding to PBS. How dare they take away my right to watch Bob Ross reruns? And the PBS argument is just silly. Defunding PBS to lower the debt is like trying to pay off your mortgage by searching your couch cushions for change, it is not even worth the trouble.

Preview Picture of the Week:

The League Season 4 premiering Thursday on FX

Free Download of the Week: Quit You – Tristan Prettyman (iTunes)

Deal of the Week: 100 Albums for $5: This month’s discounted albums on Amazon include Bruce Springsteen, A Tribe Called Quest, Audioslave, and Dave Matthews Band.


New Album Release of the Week: Glad All Over - The Wallflowers

New DVD Release of the Week: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Anniversary Edition (Combo Pack: Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet)

Video of the Week: You know you have a star studded movie when Kristen Bell, Uma Thurman, Jason Sudeikis, and Tony Shalhoub do not even make the trailer. But star studded does not necessarily mean good and usually end up being convoluted (see Valentine’s Day or New Years Eve) so I am hesitant for Movie 43. On the other hand Movie 43 is R rated, and by the red band trailer, it is very R-rated.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Nashville, Wednesday at 10:00 on ABC: I have some good news and some bad news: the good news is that Tami Taylor is back on television. The bad is she is sharing the screen with Claire Bennett. I could go on about the show, but you want watch the premiere yourself right now on Hulu or download Nashville on iTunes for free.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Best of the Week - 9/22/12


Quote of the Week: Of course he's in pain. Women are conniving soul crushers and if he realizes that,he'll be okay. He has a chance. (Hank, Parenthood)

Song of the Week: The Heart of Rock and Roll - Huey Lewis and the News (Go On)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Mitt Romney Hates 47% of Americans: I asked it before and I will ask it again, I wonder if Mitt Romney actually wants to be president because the guy does not talk about. Last week during the Middle East kerfuffle, Mitt sent out a press release that turned out to be extremely incurrent when all the facts came out. Naturally Mitt doubled down on his stupidity instead of admitting a mistake. The gaffe machine kept going this week when a tap was released talking at a $5000 a plate fundraiser that 47% of the population are dependent on the government who will vote for the president no matter what. Way to right off half the population Mitt. But as it turns out 81% of that 47% have full time jobs. And nine of the top ten states with the most 47%ers are in the Deep South, from South Carolina to Texas (the other being Idaho) which are the most conservative states in the nation with the exception of Florida. So it makes me wonder if Mitt even wants to become president because he is going up against an incumbent that does not deserve to be reelected and will probably still end up losing.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Motocross Champion Ashley Fiolek on Switched at Birth

Free Download of the Week: The Boys’ Club Live EP – Erin McCarley (NoiseTrade)

New Album Release of the Week: Babel - Mumford and Sons

New DVD Release of the Week: Marvel's The Avengers

Video of the Week: You would think Daniel Day Lewis playing Abraham Lincoln would be epic, but I was left after watching the trailer that it needed more scenes with Lincoln slaying vampires.


Next Week Pick of the Week: The Neighbors, Wednesday at 9:30 on ABC: It is premiere week and there is no show I am looking forward to this week that is premiering more than The Neighbors (please note I have already seen Last Resort and you too can on Yahoo). The show harkens back to the days when television executives were clearly on copious amounts of cocaine, aka the Gorlden Era of Awesomely Bad Television. The Neighbors features a human family who moves into a neighborhood of aliens and hilarity will ensue (presumably). And if we are lucky, we may even get to see our first male giving birth scene on television since that one episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Just remember that The Neighbors is on after Modern Family for one week and moves to 8:30 next week.

Sunday, September 09, 2012

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 9/9/12


Quote of the Week: Ask Osama bin Laden if he is better off than he was four years ago. (John Kerry, The Democratic National Convention)

Song of the Week: Ronan – Taylor Swift (Stand Up 2 Cancer; proceeds of the song go to cancer research)

Big News of the Week: The Democratic National Convention: It is weird to hear every talk about how great a president Bill Clinton was, even may conservative talking heads considering the guy was so toxic back in 2000 Democratic nominee Al Gore treated his boss like, well, like Mitt Romney treated George W. Bush at his convention. Seriously people, if you have forgotten, go Google Monica Lewinski, Paula Jones, Vince Foster, and / or Marc Rich.

I have a longstanding voting strategy to never vote for incumbents because the longer politicians stay in office, the more corrupt they become. But I would have totally voted for Barack Obama had his convention speech just been him walking up to the front of the stage, say, “I shot Osama bin Laden in the face.” Drop the mic and watch off the stage while Bob Marley’s I Shot the Sheriff played in the background.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Switched at Birth wedding

Switched at Birth: I actually thought they were going to have Bay forgive Emmitt in less than one episode. That should be unforgiveable, especially for a teenage and ABC Family is not known for its eaklthy relationships (*cough*Aria/Ezra*cough*) so thankfully they have Bay a backbone (for at least one episode). But speaking of unhealthy relationship, that cannot possibly have Daphne hook up with her boss (who I swear is the Kennish’s lawyer with a haircut) can they? Ew.

Grimm: The episode featured a zombie virus that makes you horny. Awesome.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Grimm on iTunes.

MTV Video Music Awards: This year has to rival the painfully bad Vegas year (the one where Britney Spears laughably started the show) as the worst VMA’s ever. Really the only thing worth talking about is how the botched the MCA tribute. C’mon, last year Amy Winehouse gets a ten minute tribute including a performance even though she released just one great album and no memorable videos and never received a VMA or even performed on the show. But the Beastie Boys were one of the top five video artists ever (arguable number two behind Michael Jackson), gave one of the most memorable VMA performances ever with Sabotage, and was one of only a handful of artists to win the Video Vanguard Award. But all MCA gets is about five seconds of No Sleep to Brooklyn played over the loud speaker. MTV should be ashamed.


Free Download of the Week: Everything Is Embarrassing – Sky Ferreira (Rcrd Lbl)

Deal of the Week: Big DVD and Blu Ray Sale: The Big Bang Theory, New Jack City, Gremlins 2

New Album Release of the Week: Away From The World (Super Deluxe Limited Edition CD/DVD) - Dave Matthews Band

New DVD Release of the Week: The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Fifth Season

Video of the Week: It seems like every couple months a new movie trailer pops up that makes me go, that has to be a fake Funny or Die trailer because no way anyone would actually make that. When I saw the title Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters I assumed it would be a trailer parody of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, but then Jeremy Renner pops up and I realize this is an actually serious movie. Alrighty.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Parenthood, Tuesday at 10:00: NBC’s staggered start of the fall season with the debut of its Monday and Tuesday lineups (sans Revolution which gets its premiere next week so they can air The New Normal and Go On pilots which are both currently online if you cannot wait; same with Revolution and Animal Practice). And the best show premiering this week is easily Parenthood. If my memory is correct Crosby and Jasmine got married, Julia and Joel got a kid (but sadly they did not adopt the coffee girl and her baby like I hoped), and Adam thankfully did not fire the absurdly hot secretary even though she kissed him. I am most interested in which Friday Night Lights alum pops up this season following in the footsteps of Lyla Garrity and Vince Howard. What is Becky Sproles up to these days?


Sunday, September 02, 2012

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 9/2/12


Quote of the Week: Things just went from worse to worser. (Hanna, Pretty Little Liars)

Song of the Week: In My Veins – Andrew Belle featuring Erin Mcarley (Pretty Little Liars)

Big News of the Week: Lying Liars and the Lies They Tell: I am a big fan of Pardon the Interruption and one aspect of the show I really like is at the end of the show, Statboy pops up and cleans up all the errors Tony and Mike make even though it is a silly sports show and who really cares if they are off by .005 on someone’s batting average? I watch a lot of political show and have always wished that after these shoutfests they would bring in their own Statboy to tell you what the talking heads got wrong.

I bring this up because Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan managed to tell only two true statements during his speech at the Republican National Convention according to professional fact checkers. In comparison, FactCheck.org found five flat out lies. Everything else was your run of the mill politicians stretching the truth or conjecture. Unfortunately with no Statboy, you have to wait until the next day to sort these things out. C’mon, it is 2012, how can we not have real time fact checks on screen Pop-Up Video style?

Of all of Ryan’s lies, his most egregious was his claim that an auto plant in his district that Obama promised would stay open. Except it turned out that the president did not make any promises and was not even the president when it closed, that happened under George W. Bush. You can read all about this particular lie on Politifact. To give Ryan some credit, he did back off a little on this lie by saying that maybe, kinda, it might be possible that it could be that jut maybe Barack Obama may not have, possible, not the reason the plant closed. Almost.

Please note I am not trying to pile on the GOP (I am a registered Republican, or as Rush Limbaugh would call me a RINO), and there will be plenty of lies and mistruths next week at the Democratic National Convention, so be sure to bookmark Politifact and FactCgeck.org to get the real truths. And please stop it with the “You didn’t build that” crap, that was also given a “false” by all the fact checkers and anyone who listened to Obama’s full speech with a least one full brain cell can tell the thing that you did not build were the roads and other infrastructures.

Oh yeah, and Clint Eastwood talked to a chair.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Switched at Birth premiere Monday at 8:00 on ABC Family

Leverage: When Sophie stood at the “real” DB Cooper’s grave who died during Vietnam, I thought, c’mon, dude totally Don Drapered somebody, just check who else was in his platoon. Apparently the writers thought the exact same thing.
You can download Leverage on iTunes.

Grimm: As I have started way too many time, amnesia is one of my three least favorite plot devises on television. The only thing worse is selective amnesia. So Juliet remembers some random dog from her office, even remembers Monroe as if he is some great friend even though she has only met him about three time, but does not remember her fiancé. Alrighty. Hopefully they whip up a potion soon because I really hate amnesia.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Grimm on iTunes.

Perception: Just when I starting thinking out just how bad Eddie Furlong is looking these days, in walks Tom Sizemore.
You can download Perception on iTunes.


Free Download of the Week: Amber Waves – Erin McCarley (iTunes)

Deal of the Week: 100 Albums for $5: It looks like Amazon’s weekly $3.99 deals are being retired with summer so you will have to pay an extra dollar (and a penny) for the music deal, which this moth include Scooter Hall of Fame inductees from Eric Clapton and Pearl Jam, John Mayer’s latest, and Sam Cooke’s Greatest Hits.


New Album Release of the Week: Sun - Cat Power

New DVD Release of the Week: Safe

Video of the Week: I am not the biggest fan of medical dramas because I am not very good with blood especially the realistic kind (humorous excessive blood in horror movies do not bother me that much) so not surprisingly I did not make it very far into the reality show Chicago Medical premiering this Tuesday at 10:00 on the National Geographic Channel. It did not help that the first patient came in with bullet wounds to his thigh, scrotum and penis. Ouch. If you can make it through the clip below (it should go without saying, with a title like Penis Bullet Wound, viewer discretion is very advised), maybe you will enjoy Chicago Medical more than me.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Stand Up 2 Cancer, Friday at 8:00 on NBC, ABC, Fox, and CBS: One again this year, all the major networks and a couple cable channels will be devoting an hour to cancer awareness and telethon where you can donate to cancer research and maybe even talk to Julia Roberts, Samuel L. Jackson, Emma Stone and more if you call in to donate. There will also be performances by Alicia Keys, Taylor Swift, Coldplay, and Tim McGraw.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 8/25/12


Quote of the Week: You are not the first girl to fall for Downton Grabby. (Spencer, Pretty Little Liars)

Song of the Week: Rainbow Connection – Weezer and Hailey Williams (Bunheads)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Legitimate Rape: Remember the good old days when the political buzzwords were things like “Aqua Buddha”? Instead this cycle we are forced to debate things like “legitimate rape”. Didn’t we decide in the eighties that “no means no”?

Preview Picture of the Week:

The Great Escape Season Finale

Leverage: When I learned that the Leverage team would be going to Washington, it never crossed my mind that the reason they tried to “steal a congressman” would involve cheerleading. And after this episode I really hope they do a whole season in the capital next season. The storylines are endless.
You can download Leverage on iTunes.
Weeds:

Grimm: We may have learned more about the Captain in this episode than in the entire first season. So he is a bastard prince (charming?) who is barely human and very far from pure at heart who looks kind of like Jonah Hex in his pure form. Alrighty.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Grimm on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: How dare Erza’s brother besmirch the good name of Hootie & The Blowfish? Blasphemy. And how dare Erza defile Alex Mack? Can we just kill off the entire Fitz(Gerald) Clan please?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.


Free Download of the Week: Year of the Dragon – Busta Rhymes: Yes you can download the entire new album from Busta Rhymes for free. Sure it is essentially a mix tape which means you will delete all but one or two songs after one listen, but hey, what do you expect for free? Quality?

New Album Release of the Week: Welcome To: Our House - Slaughterhouse

New DVD Release of the Week: Homeland: The Complete First Season

Video of the Week: Someone actually made a movie about butter carving. Welcome back Alicia Silverstone.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Pretty Little Liars, Tuesday at 8:00 on ABC Family: After a month of hyping, the BetrAyal is finally happening this week in the summer finale. The last couple episodes have focused on Paige who was found to be in possession of the missing casket earring and even the shady Jenna warned Emily about her. Of course all that means is that Paige is probably just a red herring. Other likely candidates are the growingly violent Maya’s cousin and Erza who could dump Aria and get back with his baby mama Alex Mack. But that would be more of a run of the mill betrayal, not much of a betrayal (unless Alex Mack joined the A Team to get back at Aria for dating her baby daddy). I m still hoping that Aria goes full WWF heal turn, smacks Spencer over the head with a folding chair, rips off her blouse to reveal a t-shirt underneath that reads “I’m the A-Team”. It is really a shame the how has not hired me as a writer yet.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 8/18/12


Quote of the Week: No One Takes Khaleesi's Dragons. (Michelle, Bunheads)

Song of the Week: One Day – Matisyahu (Covert Affairs)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Paul Ryan: A couple Fridays ago, AMC announced just hours before the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics that they were not renewing The Killing for a third season. It is common practice to release bad news late Friday in hopes that people will forget to be angry by the time the weekend concludes and to do it as the Olympics starts helps to bury it further. I bring this up not because I enjoy pissing on The Killing (even though I do) but I found it a bit odd that Mitt Romney chose Saturday morning on the last weekend of the Olympics to announce his running mate. What exactly was he hiding (besides what is in his tax returns), making the announcement at a time when most people are trying to bury news? Why not wait until Monday when you can own the new cycle instead of a time when people would rather talk about Usain Bolt or why didn’t Noel Gallagher jump out of the crowd during the Closing Ceremonies to punch Liam in the face when he was performing Wonderwall? Sometimes I wonder if Romney really wants to be president or if he has already resigned himself to losing.

Another sign that Romney may not want the presidency was his selection for Vice President. Paul Ryan is a super wonk who’s claim to fame is his budget that is supposed to save the country from financial ruin by slashing Medicare, lower taxes (mostly for the uber-rich) but will actually increase the debt according to a non-partisan economist. The guy is part of the most hated Congress in the history of polling and one of the bigger reasons why the country hates this Congress. This was clearly a pick to shore of the base of the party, but if you need to shore up your base by your vice president pick, you have pretty much already lost (see 2008). But on the bright side Ryan is a fan of Rage Against the Machine who will hopefully be invited to play the Republican National Convention later this month. Not surprisingly Tom Morello is not fond of his latest fan calling Ryan “the embodiment of the Machine our music Rages against”.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Falling Skies season finale


Leverage: Hardison biting that one dude (after actually warning him he was not above biting) has to be the funniest scene in the history of the show.
You can download Leverage on iTunes.

Falling Skies: I was all excited about the trip to Charleston this season, but I did not like all the politics when they got there (a dictatorship overthrown by the military; yeah). And even with running, heated water (which is not explained how they could keep the electricity going for an underground mall 24/7) Tom decides to keep the ratty beard. Alrighty. And wasn’t Weaver’s daughter going north to the mountains? How did she beat them to South Carolina?
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Grimm: Where most people spend up-fronts hoping the shows they watch get renewed, I secretly hope they all get6 canceled. I really did not need a second season of Grimm, but here it is and a month before everything else. I always liked the idea of the show way more than the acting (the dude from Road Rules? The chick from Quaterlife?). They need to find some compelling leads and quick.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Grimm on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: With her absence this week, I have come to the realization that CiCi is my favorite character on the show. Granted it does not take much to be the best character on the show. All she has to compete with is whenever Hanna goes H*A*M on people., which is not nearly enough
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.


Free Download of the Week: Go On / Animal Practice (iTunes): If you missed their preview during the Olympics, you can download the new comedies for free.

Deal of the Week: Blu-Rays Under $10: The Expendables, Total Recall, The Terminator)

New Album Release of the Week: Last of a Dyin' Breed - Lynyrd Skynyrd

New DVD Release of the Week: Revenge: The Complete First Season

Video of the Week: The season two trailer of Homeland was just released and not surpisingly it looks all shades of awesome. Despite being unceremoniously booted from the agency, Carrie is back, in some cases with new hair and eye color, but unfortunately it looks like she is back on her meds. And just when you thought things could not get any more moody, they had to go and add a children’s choir to make it more epic. Remember The Social Network with Creep? And yes the Scala & Kolacny Brothers version of Every Breath You Take is available to download. Hopefully that does not last long. Homeland returns Sunday September 31 at 10:00.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Falling Skies, Sunday (tomorrow) at 9:00 on TNT: The first season was a bit rough at times and tiresome at others, but it seemed to hit its strike this season as it finally had a direction (and that direction was towards Charleston). But now there are there, now what? Apparently political drama as the series closes out its sophomore season.

Speaking of rocky first seasons, Bunheads also draws to a close this week. Hopefully it finds its foot too in the next season (it was recently renewed along with Melissa and Joey and Baby Daddy).

Saturday, August 04, 2012

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 8/4/12


Quote of the Week: The Russians just moved in two doors down. The wife’s a real sizzling piece of (expletive deleted). The guy is terrifying real Eastern Promises (expletive deleted). Each tattoo is someone he killed. (Doug, Weeds)

Song of the Week: The Man Comes Around – Johnny Cash (Dallas)

Big News of the Week: Chick-Fil-A: With every argument there is usually a right side and a wrong side, sometimes there is some grey area, and in some rare occasion, both sides are horribly wrong, the later is the case in the recent Chick-Fil-A controversy. For those unaware, last week, Chick-Fil-A COO came out against same sex marriage. Not the best idea to alienate a large percentage of the population, but dude has his freedom of speech.

That should have been, for those that were offended by the statement should have just found another fast food place to make them morbidly obese. But no, the opposition had to go just as absurd, organizing sit-ins and same-sex-kiss-ins which only raised the chain’s profile (this was the first time I had ever heard of Chick-Fil-A) and they actually reported record breaking sales. Even worse, politicians in Boston and Chicago set out to ban the chain from their cities. You should never ban any company for saying stupid things, if they forbid certain groups from buying their product, then you can step in, but all Americans are in their right to say stupid things.

But in the end, anyone who argues about, or eats fast food (which I have not done in four years) is a complete moron. Seriously, put the Big Mac down and make yourself a salad.

Preview Picture of the Week:

JR on the Dallas season finale

Weeds: There are very few things I needed to see less that Sugar from Survivor fully naked.

Pretty Little Liars: Um, why are they making Ezra’s mom out to being evil, she is completely right. Their relationship is completely wrong. Take the money and run Aria. And he is not even the creepiest old dud on the show because the doctor has to be way older than him. Erza is plausibly twenty-two, but the doctor has to be pushing thirty and has already made out with two teenagers. Chris Hanson needs a cameo on this show stat.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Dallas: After being a bit of a bore the first half of the season, Rebecca is getting more and more interesting by the episode. I am guessing I am not the only one who assume that her “brother” (who shockingly is working with Cliff Barnes’s rent boy) was the mastermind of the operation , but he implied is was Rebecca who came to him. I cannot wait to see what is revealed about Rebecca next (c’mon, you know she is not the one who gets the bullet even though he has about fifty more pounds on her right). In fact I could not wait, and watched the finale immediately after I watched this week’s episode, and learning her complete(ish) back-story is quite jaw dropping.
You can download Dallas on iTunes.


Free Download of the Week: Lolapolooza Sampler (Google Play): Get free tracks from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Miike Snow, Afghan Whigs and more.

Deal of the Week: $2.99 Albums: This week Amazon has some deeply discounted album from those on tour this summer including Dave Matthews Band, The Back Keys, Bruce Springsteen, and Jimmy Buffett.


New Album Release of the Week: Lost In Transition - Sixpence None the Richer

New DVD Release of the Week: Grimm: Season One

Video of the Week: I thought the first two Paranormal Activity movies were well made, even if they were the least scary Scary Movies of all time. But I was out with the VHS enhanced third movie and feared a reel to reel version fourth installment. Well my fears were unfounded (for now) as the fourth movie is the first that takes part after the original movie. Aside from the introduction of iChat, it looks like it will be the exact same movie.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Olympics All Week on the NBC Networks: One week down, one more to go. And since it was so successful last time, NBC is using the Olympics to launch shows (sure it infuriated everyone that they switched away from the Closing Ceremony to air the crappy Marriage Ref, but it pulled in big numbers). Animal Practice, which has the best Olympic themed ads this year, gets the post Closing Ceremony treatment next Sunday while the Chandler Bing starring Go On will air after primetime coverage this Wednesday. And to carry momentum from the games, the Monday after they are over NBC will be premiering new show Stars Earn Stripes followed by the second season premiere of Grimm.