Best of the Week - 2/16/13

Quote of the Week: I think Lynyrd Skynyrd is overrated, I know you are in Boyd’s pocket. (Raylan Givins, Justified)

Song of the Week: 9 To 5 – Dolly Parton (The Neighbors)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: State of the Union: Like every year before it, I skipped this year’s State of the Union because like always, you could find out of the president was going to say ahead of time and the pageantry around the speech is absurd where the hour long speech only involves about five minutes of actually speaking because of all the clapping and standing ovations, and the occasional shoats of “You lie!” And though we will never get rid of the State of the Union because it is ordained by the Constitution, can we please agree to get rid of the opposing party’s response? Best case scenario is that it is boring but more often the person looks like a fool like when Marco Rubio took a snack break in the middle.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Dallas "Trail and Error" Monday at 9:00 on TNT

Free Download of the Week: Restless Heart – Matt Hires (iTunes)

New Album Release of the Week: Jamie Lidell - Jamie Lindell

New DVD Release of the Week: Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season

Video of the Week: Last year the funniest new show was not on television but on the intertubes. Burning Love lampooned The Bachelor and this week, in time for Valentine’s Day, the second season debuted with it’s The Bachelorette parody. I was hoping that it would star Sally Draper’s teacher, but alas it was not to be as she was relegated to the "On the previous season" prelude with a very famous face. And maybe she will show up on the third season when they send up Bachelor Pad. Until then, here is the second season premiere of Burning Love and head over to the website where the first three episodes are already ready for your viewing pleasure.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Killing Lincoln, Sunday (tomorrow) at 8:00 on the National Geographic Channel: If you have not gotten enough of the sixteen president over the last couple months, you can commemorate the anniversary of his dead with a movie focusing on his killer. For a full review, check out Previewing Killing Lincoln.

Previewing Killing Lincoln

It is weird to think that Presidents Day lines up with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln but Friday marks the 148 anniversary of his death. And almost a century and a half after his death, Abe is having a banner twelve months with three separate movies made about him, the Oscar nominated Lincoln which is odds on favorite to clean up at the awards later this month, one that re-imagined as a Vampire Hunter, and this Sunday, a day before his shared holiday, the National Geographic Channel will be airing their first originally scripted drama, Killing Lincoln based on the book of the same name written by Bill O’Reilly.

Despite being the title character, Lincoln is almost a secondary character with John Wilkes Booth taking center stage for most of the film. Lincoln is even dead by the halfway point (spoiler alert for those that fell asleep during history class and ignored the title of the film). With the focus on the murderer, there are plenty of facts that are brought up that I was unaware of (keep in mind I never read the book) like Booth originally planned to just kidnap Lincoln, along with Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward. Killing Lincoln may be the first in-depth look on the man who was the first to assassinate a sitting president. Even the film The Conspirator, Booth was resigned to a background character.

In this installment Billy Campbell (The Killing) is the one who puts Lincoln’s top hat while Jesse Johnson (Don’s son) is the man behind the gun. It is hard to follow up Daniel Day-Lewis but Campbell play Abe with a calm cool while Johnson treats Booth as an overacting bad guy who pull everything from an actor’s arsenal short of twirling his mustache (probably because it is not long enough). The film is narrated by Tom Hanks who is show in what looks like an abandon stage set where he occasionally fiddles with plots I am not entirely sure ties in with what he is talking about.

But Killing Lincoln is a profound look at one of the darkest days in our counties history with plenty of new information for anyone who has just read the textbook in history class (like it was actually the Chief Justice who conducted the murder investigation). It is also interesting how they portrayed John Wilkes Booth because I do not think it is a coincidences there are a few monologues that Booth sound exactly like what you would hear from a Tea Party member (and, ironically an O’Reilly viewer) talking today about Barack Obama. Killing Lincoln is certainly worth watching and I have a feeling that O’Reilly’s follow up book, Killing Kennedy, will be on air by next Presidents Day.

Killing Lincoln premieres Sunday at 8:00 on the National Geographic Channel. You can also check out the extended trailer below or check out the Interactive Killing Lincoln page.

Best of the Week - 1/26/13

Quote of the Week: Break out the white sunglasses and the Dane Cook CD because you and I are going out raging tomorrow night with the Douchebag Twins! (Marty Kaan, House of Lies)

Song of the Week: One Week – Barenaked Ladies (as sung by Sheila’s Pets, Suburgatory)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Barck Obama Inaugurated... Again: Can someone explain to me why a sitting president needs to be swore in again at the beginning of his second term? Is once not enough? Just seems like a waste of time and money. But if there is one thing the government is good at it is wasting time and money.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Dallas Season 2 Premiere Monday at 9:00 on TNT

Free Download of the Week: True North – Bad Religion (iTunes)

Deal of the Week: Babel (Deluxe Edition) by Mumford and Sons for only $3.99.

New Album Release of the Week: Heartthrob - Tegan and Sara

New DVD Release of the Week: Pan Am - The Complete Series

Video of the Week: A week and a half until the triumphant return of Community (sans creator Dan Harmon and Chevy Chase who followed him out near the end of filming the season). To tide you over the final twelve days of its hiatus, here is a musical mash-up from the show.


Next Week Pick of the Week: The Americans, Wednesday at 10:00 on FX: As we enter this cold winter without Homeland, we have to find something to keep us warm until its return in September. Hopefully The Americans can fill the void even though instead of the CIA, it is the KGB… in the eighties. But if it is half as good as Homeland, or network-mate Justified, I will be happy. I just have a fear that Keri Russell will have me rooting for the Russians by the end of the season.

They Didn't Discover This Modern America, They Built It

We have all heard of Vanderbilt University, Rockefeller Center, Carnegie Hall, JP Morgan Chase, and Ford Motors, but there namesake had more to shape America than even your history teacher would have you believe. They became the first men in America more powerful than the president (and even bought one of them) and gave us what would become the foundation of America in the twentieth century: railways, oil, steel, electricity, and the automobile. Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford were the basis of History’s The Men Who Built America.

The series took place over the five decades in between the Civil War and the First World War when the industrial revolution propelled the United States into a super power it remains today. Spread over eight episodes (the series was originally aired in four two hour segments, but has been cut done to an hour for the home video release) it follows those five men as they compete with each other while using each other product in a battle to become the richest man in the world. Really it mainly follows the middle three as Vanderbilt dies early on and Ford does not show up until the last episode to introduce the same work practices that are used today.

The mini-series is narrator by Campbell Scott and features commentary from historian and some of today’s most notable entrepreneurs and businessmen like Donald Trump, Mark Cuban, Jack Welsh, and Alan Greenspan. Even though many of Men lived over a decade ago it is amazing the parallels to today. You have the liberal unions taking on the guns for hire conservatives of the Pinkertons. When Rockefeller testifies in front of Congress in defense of his shady business practices actually said he was just a figurehead at his own company during some illegal or just immoral times almost word for word excuses that Mitt Romney had when confronted about Bain Capital. But the most obvious parallel to these times was the election of 1896 where the Men Who Built America, in a rare bit of collusion, pulled their wealth together to buy the president, the difference being they actually were successful (that and the South voted for the Democrat while the Republican candidate swept New England). Ironically they were undone when their president was assassinated and his replacement brought anti-trust lawsuits against the big businesses at the time (which makes you wonder what modern day Roosevelt Republican will have the guts to brake up today’s too big to fail banks).

The Men Who Built America is a fascinating narrative on a period that is quickly rushed by near the end of the school year in history class. It is filled with plenty of fascinating tales, like how Carnegie recruited an elephant to prove that his bridge across the Mississippi, the largest at the time, was safe to travel across. Even funny at times, like Morgan and Rockefeller trading Christmas presents. And even horrifying like when Thomas Edison, as bankrolled by Morgan, invented the electric chair just to make his rival Nikola Tesla look bad. Which begs the question, when does Tesla get his own movie? He keeps showing up in during stories in this time period, ends up being the most interesting figure, but has never gotten the starring role himself.

The blu-ray (the press release who have me to believe the DVD version have the exact same features) features three disks with the first featuring the episodes A New War Begins, Oil Strike, A and Rivalry Is Born. The second hosts Blood Is Spilled, A New Rival Emerges, and Owning it All. The third disk has the final two episodes Taking the White House and The New Machine. Each disk features a couple never before seen on TV clips which combine to around twenty-six extra minutes.


Full Disclosure Notice: This Blu-ray was given to me by Lionsgate for review.

The Thirteen Events That Will Make 2013 Awesome

Thirteen is supposed to be an unlucky number, but there are a few things worth looking forward to the thirteenth year of this decade.

13. Detox – Dr. Dre: It is becoming an annual tradition to start off this list by saying this may be the year Dr. Dre finally releases Detox, but considering he was not able to get it out before the Mayan apocalypse, I think it is a safe bet to take the over on the release of Detox compared to any other event, be it the Cubs winning the World Series, a Veronica Mars movie, or Hayden Panettiere winning an acting award. It does not help that last year 50 Cent said that Dr. Dre is no longer interested in Detox (much like the general public) and it may just be released as an EP at some point.

12. The Mayans Were Wrong (Probably): Sure we are in the unlucky thirteen year, but hey, we are still here. Unless of course you did not think the world was going to explode in mid-December and instead the world would die slowly and we were too busy looking for some big apocalypse we missed the small catalyst that will being on the end of the world as we know it. Since you are still alive, make sure you go out and enjoy life this year. I would say that you only live once, but I do not want to get sued by Drake. Plus Nancy Sinatra is significantly better than Drake and she said you only live twice.

11. Sequels That Won’t Suck (Hopefully): The Last Exorcism 2 (March 1), Kick-(Expletive Deleted) 2 (June 28), Grown Ups 2 (July 12), RED 2 (August 2), Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters (August 16), Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (October 4), and Thor: The Dark World (November 8) all had entertaining to great original films and statistically speaking a couple of the seven will probably have a good serial. Okay I do not have high hopes for the second The Last Exorcism because, well, it is an oxymoron but hopefully the other live up to the first movies or at the very least half of them do.

10. S.H.E.I.L.D. the TV Series: Joss Whedon back doing television would be awesome enough, but continuing his work in the Marvel universe makes this doubly awesome. The only way it could have been more awesome is if Lizzy Caplain, who starred in the Item 47 short film, would have continued her character on the new show (she is otherwise busy, but more on her later). No superheroes on the television show (unless you count the reanimated corpse of Phil Coulson) and a cast of unknowns but I have full faith in Whedon. Hopefully the show will be ready by the fall and does not flutter out like the Wonder Woman reboot that never ended up making it to air.

9. No National Elections: I am sure most of those that live in the United States do care either way, but for those of us living in swing states, no political ads or robocalls are very welcome in this off election year. Unfortunately it looks like 2016 will be worse than last year because Sheldon Adelson, who may have been the biggest loser after backing numerous losing candidates with what is believed to be over $100 million (almost a dollar for every vote cast), plans to double down in the future.

8. Man of Steel: I am still cautiously optimistic about the latest Superman reboot. Zack Snyder’s last movie was so poorly received that there was a groundswell to kick him off the movie. I love Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies, but as executive producer of the movie I fear he may make Superman more serious than he should be. But on the flipside, it cannot possible be worse than the Krypton in the Atlantic Ocean plot from Superman Returns. Can it? We will find out June 28.

7. A New U2 Album: Ever since U2 released No Line on the Horizon in 2009, the group has been teasing that the session had enough songs for another new album which they even dubbed Songs of Accent. That album has yet to materialize but the group, but their record company announced that they would be releasing a new album this year. No word on if the album will be Songs of Ascent, work they have done with Danger Mouse, or a dance album they have also supposedly been working on.

6. Warm Bodies: After Zombieland I declared the 10’s (the tens? The teens? What exactly are we calling this decade?) the decade of zombies. Since then there has been numerous movies, even the kids in The Cabin In The Woods ended up summoning zombies, The Walking Dead is crushing cable ratings records, and thanks to the bath salt epidemic that created actual living zombies. Of course there would eventually be someone who would come along and bastardize zombies with a crappy Twilight with zombies type movie. At least that is what I thought Warm Bodies was going to be until I saw the trailer and, surprise, not only did it not look painfully bad, it actually looked like it will be good. Warm Bodies, coming February 1, is not the only major zombie movie making its way to theaters this year as the oft delayed Brad Pitt World War Z is set to premiere this summer.

5. The Evil Dead: Does the world need a reboot of The Evil Dead? No. Even if Sam Raimi is involved? Not really. Does it need one where Ash is a chick? Goodness no. Even if it is the chick from Suburgatory? Probably not. Will I get excited if this movie leads to Tessa Altman vs. The Army of Darkness? Frack yes!

4. More From The Black Keys: The duo just released El Camino thirteen months ago but it does not sound like we will have to wait very much longer for the next album as the band expects it to be done by the end of Spring. It seems like only Rihanna releases as much music (seven in eight years), but where a Rihanna album is lucky to have one to three catchy songs, The Black Keys always release great albums. No word yet if the album will again be produced by Danger Mouse, who did two of the band’s last three albums.

3. Gangster Squad: After watching Crazy, Stupid, Love, I decreed that every movie should star Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. Apparently someone was listening because the duo will be playing opposite each other in the period piece set to hit theaters next week. I am sure the duo could even make an Innerspace reboot awesome (McLovin of course would then play Martin Short, make this happen Hollywood).


2. Grand Theft Auto V: After all the massacres, people wondered if the upcoming Grand Theft Auto will be the last of its kind. It is doubtful as long as there is money to be made. And it is always cheap to blame entertainment for society’s ills when it is the parents that should be accountable for letting their kids to watch or play such violent games. I have played all four GTA games released on the two Playstation games and remain fiercely anti-gun. Plus the games are not all bad, you can also steal ambulances and cop cars and do good through the city. GTA V takes the game out west to San Andreas for the first time in modern times and the first modern game to take place outside of Liberty City. Little else is known about the game except it is supposed to be even bigger than the fourth installment and it is expected to be released sometime this spring.


1. Masters of Sex – Seriously, Lizzy Caplan is starring in something entitled Masters of Sex. The show cannot premiere soon enough (but will probably hit Showtime no sooner than April).

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 12/16/12

Quote of the Week: What are you even doing here? Why don’t you go live with that crazy woman and leave alone. (Dana, Homeland)

Song of the Week: Good King Wenceslas – Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Four years ago there was a boost of gun sales among the gun nuts fearing that the newly elected Obama would take away their guns or at least make it harder to purchase guns. Except he did not introduce one anti-gun legislation and even ignored a question asked at the debate. Not after someone shot up a mosque. Not after a nutjob dressed up like The Joker and shot up a theater in Colorado. Someone even shot one of his colleagues in the Congress in the face and he did nothing. So I doubt that a bunch of school children will even get Obama to become the anti-gun president that the gun nuts feared. But something needs to be done. Can we please at least reintroduced the bill to again ban assault riffles and other guns that make it easy to kill hundreds of people without even reloading. I am sure that arming school children like some of the gun nuts suggest is the solution.

Preview Picture of the Week:



Homeland: Sure Carrie is clinically insane, but I just do not understand how this Carrie, who absolves Brody of the murder of the Vice president of the United States of America, is the same Carrie who ignored her superior’s order so she could stand over Body and tell him he is a disgrace to his country while detaining him for being a terrorist. But anyway.

So now the biggest boogyman of the series, Abu Nazir, is dead but we still have one more episode left. I know I said this prior to the first season, but Brody cannot make it to the next season, right? I do not see any way out of it for him except if Saul goes to the press with Estes assassination of a sitting Congressman plot. Even then, Brody would end up in jail with a mountain of evidence (and certainly someone will realize that he was along with the Vice President when he died and get suspicious). Granted, why is Brody not dead already? Why did Quinn not kill Brody in between his house and Carrie’s? Seemed like a good time for a “car accident” which makes me think Brody will inexplicably make it to season three. Either that or Carrie will kill him when she realizes Brody is still a terrorist.

The Voice: Somewhat uneventful week because it was clear it was time for Trevin Hunte to go and he did (not that it always works out that way because Trevin should have went home two weeks ago instead of Amanda Brown). I guess the most shocking revelation was that the show would have a final two. Sure Mark Burnett has an unhealthy obsession with final threes even though everyone watching hate them (see Survivor) but me thinks that they made have done it this way so Blake would be the only coach with a contestant in the finals.

Speaking of Blake’s final two, when Carson first said they were going to sing Little Talks, my first thought was, is there some classic rock song I am forgetting that is called Little Talks (this is Terry McDermott who was singing) because they certainly are not going to perform that weird indie pop song. But they did sing the weird indie pop song which was very high on my list of songs I never thought I would hear on a karaoke show. And just when you think it would not get any weirder, Carson announces Of Monsters and Men were randomly in the audience (which begs the question, why did they have them sing the song).

This week we also got to see the triumphant return of RaeLynn although, I much prefer when she is stomping around like a grown up version of Toddlers and Tierra’s. No more mid tempos and ballad RaeLynn. If Cee-Lo is managing Juliet Simms, she needs to find new representation because her new song was a train wreck. And Chris Mann still sucks massively. Christina’s claim of him being the most commercially successful when the song he performed could not even crack the top 100 on iTunes when RaeLynn made it into the top 25. Even Juliet’s train wreck got into the 40’s. But I did predict last season that RaeLynn would be the most successful of the first two season and it looks like I am going to be right.

No Power Rankings this week because Cassadee Pope is the inevitable winner, the only question is who is second (I am hoping for Nicholas David).


You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs from The Voice by clicking on the artist’s name.

How I Met Your Mother: The show has had some pretty bad ideas in its run, but family with benefits has to be the worst hands down.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

Parenthood: Of course they did not let Kristina die because I would have started a riot. I now it is not realistic, but they better they better just cure her in the next episode because I am not sure I can deal with it anymore.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

The Neighbors: This episode really made me yearn for a Weekend at Bernie's reboot.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Neighbors on iTunes.

Survivor: Philippines: After one of the best season in recent memory, it is kind of a boring foursome for the finale. Sadly nobody believed Abi-Maria’s fake Immunity Idol story. But do know what Abi, it may not have been the best strategy to call someone who hope to vote with you a moron and an idiot multiple times.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download Survivor: Philippines on iTunes.

The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons: I was three episodes behind because Time Warner Cable and / or MTV forgot to add that episode to the On Demand which finally was uploaded this week. And of course the episode they waited three weeks to upload was not only the best episode of the season, it may have well been the single greatest episode ever in the history of The Challenge. Seriously, the whole house got in a twenty minute fight culminating in what is now my favorite insult of all time when Frank said Dustin just has “porn Muscles”. Awesome. Not so awesome was the following week when Marie tried to get in on the action, clearly doing it solely for the cameras. Hopefully she never gets asked back because faking crazy for the camera is not entertaining. Whereas Nany is legitimately crazy should be asked back to the next five seasons. And it is amazing over the course three episodes that Trishelle went from certainly going home because her partner Alton basically quit to probably going to win the whole thing (I really doubt Devyn or Sam will be able to make to the end).
You can download The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons on iTunes.


Free Download of the Week: Free Holiday Songs from Amazon MP3

Deal of the Week: Best Selling MP3 Albums for Just $2.99: Amazon MP3 announced their latest batch of super cheap albums, and there are a bunch of soft rock hits from the 00’s including John Mayer, Coldplay, Jack Johnson, and Taylor Swift.


New Album Release of the Week: 12-12-12 The Concert for Sandy Relief - Various Artists

New DVD Release of the Week: Pitch Perfect

Video of the Week: I love the Nolan The Dark Knight Trilogy, but to be honest, I prefer my superheroes with a side of kitsch so I am not sure if we really need a super serious, super dark Superman series. We definitely do not need a Superman with a Ben Affleck in Argo beard. With that said, superheroes are only as good as his nemesis so the trailer did need more Zod in it so I should hold my judgement until we se more of him. And it definitely needs more Amy Adams as Lois Lane. But I have a feeling this will be another one and done movie from the Superman franchise. I hope I am wrong.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Homeland, Sunday (tomorrow) at 10:00: Abu Nazir is dead, Vice President Walden is dead, Roya is in prison. But we still have one more episode left so there will be one more explosion left. Will that explosion go thanks to Brody or will Quinn explode Brody’s head first. And let’s not forget that Brody also blamed Estes for Issa’s death so his safety is not guaranteed especially after blackmailing Saul. And I have not even brought up crazy Carrie yet, I have long stopped trying to guess what she will do.

Best of the Week - 12/8/12

Quote of the Week: “I'm not destroying lives, Amanda, I'm righting wrongs. (Emily Thorne, Revenge)

Song of the Week: High Hope – Glen Hansard (Parenthood)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Debt Ceiling Crisis: The democratic ran on taxing the rich and painted the Republicans as pandering to the rick at the expense of the Middle Class. So what is the first thing the Republicans do after the election, so no increase on the top two percent even if that means letting all the taxes increase, even on the middle class. Seriously Republicans, you really need to get your stuff together by 2016 unless you want another four to eight years of President Clinton, and that is certainly something I do not want to see because as we learned from the Bushes, the sequel is always significantly worse than the original.

Preview Picture of the Week:


Free Download of the Week: Rising Stars of 2013 Sampler

Deal of the Week: R&B and Classic Soul MP3 Albums for just $2.99: A lot of good ones here including greatest hits packages from Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, James Brown, Sam Cook as well from contemporary artists like Amy Winehouse, and just in time for the holidays, Christmas albums from Boyz II Men, The Temptations, and the twenty-five song A Motown Christmas (which comes to about twelve cents per song).


New Album Release of the Week: Music of Nashville Soundtrack

New DVD Release of the Week: Mankind: The Story of All of Us

Video of the Week: Ray Donavan starring Live Schreiber and Masters of Sex starring Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan (yes, Lizzy Caplan is starring in a series entitled Masters of Sex, the Mayans better not be right) do not debut until some indeterminate date next year, my best guess is one or both will begin whenever the next Shameless season comes to an end sometime around March, but Showtime is giving you a first look. A first look at Lizzy Caplan in Masters of Sex. In the immortal words of Bart Scott: Can’t wait.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Survivor, Wednesday and Sunday at 8:00 on CBS: After a couple failed experiments (Redemption Island, One World) Survivor went back a more tradition fame, except three tribes for the first time is a long time. They also brought back three contestants who were medically evacuated (of course there was one of those this season) and it turned out to be one of the best seasons in recent memories. We are now down to three hours left (and a reunion show) and five contestants; two separate alliances with Abi, who was once aligned with Lisa and Skupin) sitting in the middle. Will Lisa finally get to blindside Malcolm? Will Malcolm over think things and give his Immunity Idol to Denise? Can Abi somehow weasel her way into the Final Council? Should make for an interesting final two episodes.

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:


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.

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:


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.

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.