Remember in Ghostbusters when Dan Aykroyd sees Slimmer for the first time and just stands there with a cigarette barely dangling from his mouth? That was basically the same expression I had when I saw Carrie Underwood’s latest music video for Cowboy Casanova (except substitute a pretzel stick for the cigarette). Yeah, Underwood wouldn’t be winning any karaoke contests that took place on the radio, which is not to say she cannot put together a listenable song or two and Cowboy Casanova stands out as her best to date.
That may be thanks to Mike Elizondo, best known for his bass work with Dr. Dre, who engineered a song that gave Underwood some edge for the first time yet still manages to sound country while doing so. That even includes Before He Cheats because even with its anti-boy lyrics, you doubt the person singing it is capable of jaywalking let alone felonious destruction of property. But when Carrie says in Cowboy Casanova, “You better run for your life,” you lace up your Adidas and do your best Usain Bolt impression.
That song starts of Underwood’s third album Play On and the strong songs continues with Quitter, a whimsical banjo ode to finding that special person that makes you want to work at the relationship than your usually bailing after getting bored. On the flipside is When I Stop Loving You, a quintessential heartbreak country song and Underwood’s best ballad yet.
Unfortunately the rest of Play On doesn’t stand up to those three previously mentioned songs as Carrie is content on resting on her laurels and just recycle previous song on the remaining tracks. Change might as well be called So Small 2009. Temporary Home manages to be even more smaulzier than Jesus Take the Wheel. Songs Like This (as in “If it wasn’t for guys like you, there wouldn’t be…”) is just an extension of Before He Cheats. While Undo It (albeit the best of the rest) just repeats the lyrics, music and tone of Flat on the Floor with the exception of turning the title into eight syllables and manages two out of the word “lack.”
From her first album I thought Carrie Underwood had a great album in her. It is just she has continued to repeat her successes on her two follow ups. She may have been better off handing the reigns off to Mike Elizondo for the whole album instead of just the one song. Hopefully that kind of shake up happens for the fourth album, because her current shtick is starting to wear thin after three.
Every year in August and September we are bombarded by best new shows of the fall list which can be daunting. Add to that those list are typically only based on one episode of which the second one typically isn’t filmed until months later. That is why every November a corral up a cabal of television bloggers to see what live up to the hype and what what was a big a let down as the new Weezer album (*cough* Flash Forward *couch*). Then I throw in their ballots into my patent pending algorithm which so advanced that Sarah Palin accused it of being Communism. Here are the results and places to catch up if you missed the shows:
In a measure of full disclosure, here is my ballot:
1. Modern Family – ABC 2. Mercy – NBC 3. Community – NBC 4. Trauma – NBC 5. Rescue Ink Unleashed – National Geographic Channel
And in one last television tidbit, let me remind you that you still have until Sunday to enter in The Prisoner Contest where I am giving away one DVD and one Blu-Ray set of the classic series.
Greek: I can understand not letting Beth perform in Songfest (although I was allowed to be a ringer on my buddy’s frat intramural team a couple times)but why not let them use her dance? And how do they know if she choreographed it or not? A little silly plot point there. But the real competition for the episode was the showdown between Rusty and Dale with a soundtrack that sounded straight out of Over the Top. And I am certainly not very enthralled with the reintroduction of the Casey-Cappie-Rebecca-Evan love quadrangle that will most likely have to put up with for the rest of the season. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.
The Big Bang Theory: I’m surprised that the guys could be surprised that Sheldon would know something. There is nothing I would be surprised by Sheldon knowing except how to act in social situation. You can download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.
Castle: It was a little disappointing that they didn’t draw any comparisons to Sarah McLachlan whose song Possession was written about a stalker (who then sued her saying she stole lines from his letter to use in the song). You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes. Also be sure to check out my chat with Stana Katic.
Sons of Anarchy: So what happened to Skinner and the two fingered dude? The ending was left a little ambiguous to if either or both got out of the porn studio or not and neither was mentioned when Jax showed up the next day. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.
Modern Family: Hopefully everyone caught Claire wearing a “Claire and Present Danger” t-shirt. Presumably that wasn’t for the figure skating competition. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.
Survivor: Samoa: It may be a JV Survivor move to just vote out the other tribe one by one and Varsity Survivor to start scheming right after the merge, but a member of the NCAA Survivor would instantly crush the other tribe coming out of the merge, crushing their spirits by taking out their leader. When you are up eight to four you cannot let the minority tribe choose who is getting voted out because not only are you giving them hope, you are also sending a message to you own tribe that they could get blindsided at any time. Seriously, half of the majority tribe’s named were brought up for potential elimination. On the bright side, as a viewer, this should make the stretch run pretty exciting. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.
Community: Though the song may not be as catch as In the Moonlight from Dylan and the Rusty Zippers, I cannot help going around all day singing, “She’s a B, she’s a GDB.” You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.
Big News of the Week: ’09 Elections: Well that was boring (on the bright side I can now become a gambling degenerate without leaving the state even though I voting against it). That is not that the news stations tried to make it into a bigger story. But it is hard to make to make any grand assumptions when the Republicans won only four percent of the governorships. Wake me up next year when a third of the Senators and the entire House is on the ballot.
Free Download of the Week: The Prisoner (iTunes): Do not forget I am giving away two copies of the original The Prisoner (one DVD, one Blu-Ray, click the banner at right to enter), and for those looking forward to the upcoming AMC version, iTunes has a nine minutes preview to download for free.
Video of the Week: Vaughn and Peirce are certainly no Dylan and the Rusty Zippers, but that hasn’t stopped them for making a music video for Gettin’ Rid of Britta.
Next Week Pick of the Week: Tool Academy, Sunday at 9:00 on VH1: With the group down to its final two tomorrow we find out who is the most reformed Tool. Either way, here is hoping for a reunion special because they tend to be the best episode of VH1 shows. As a prediction, I would put my money on the Tat-Tool.
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 Saturday Night Live, Lopez Tonight, the Olympics, Losing It, Sanctuary, and Southland.
- It is not even Saturday yet when Taylor Swift is set to host Saturday Night Light (as well as performer) and she is already getting hit with Kanye West jokes. I’m putting the over/under for Kanye jokes Saturday at five. But anyways. Check out the promo below:
- Lopez Tonight debuts Monday and his friends like Eva Longoria and Katie Couric are wishing him luck:
- 98 days until the Olympics come to Vancouver and a heads up not to bother me when Curling is on. Here is a look at some of the big names from the last one talking about their experience:
- The Biggest Loser is getting its own spin off show, Losing It featuring Jillian Michaels. Head over to nbc.com to apply.
- All new Sanctuary tonight at 10:00 on SyFy. Here is a preview:
- And let me be the last to inform you that TNT has picked up Southland and will air the premiere episode starting Tuesday January 12 at 10:00. The seven episodes from the first season will run and then TNT will air the six unaired episodes from the second season after that.
Let me first off say that I think that the 2012 Doomsday scenario is just a campfire story created by the white man to make the Mayans seem like this ancient philosophers to make stories more interesting than they actually are (see Nostradamus). I expect December 21, 2012 to be as exciting as Y2K turned out to be. With that said, I am still fascinated with all the hullabaloo and undoubtedly see the John Cusack movie coming out soon.
As the story goes, the Mayan believe in a 5,200 year cycles where the flawed creation has to be destroyed for the world to be born again, the latest cycle set to end in three years. Before you put any weight in this folklore, the previous cycles featured human made of mud and wood. So keep that in mind when you are stocking up on end of the world supplies.
But still Princeton University scientist Adam Maloof to find in validity that the world as we know it or just another excuse to let Roland Emmerich blow up the world again for 2012: Countdown to Armageddon. Maloof travels to heart of the Mayian culture as well as South America and Europe if we would indeed witness a catastrophe that would affect every single person on Earth.
One particularly fighting theory is a polar shift where within hours New York City would be under arctic ice caps while Alaska will be split by the equator. You will have to tune into 2012 this Sunday at 8:00 on the National Geographic Channel to see if Maloof can disprove this theory or if you should start looking for land to buy in Alaska. Before then, check out this clip below:
(Scooter's Note: This contest has ended. Congratulations to Nick from Illinois and Nikki from Florida for winning the Blu-Ray and DVD respectively.)
Coming later this month to AMC (you may now it better as that channel that airs Mad Men) is the six part miniseries of The Prisoner staring James Caviezel (Jesus) and Ian McKellen (Gandalf). The series is remake, and if you have never heard of it before is because it was probably aired before you were born (1967) and in Britain. Fret not young Americans that are predated by the show, it was recently released in the States on DVD and Blu Ray and I am giving away one of each. And even if you are not a fan of oldies television, with Christmas around the corner, maybe there is someone on your list that is.
To enter the contest, send me an e-mail me, ScooterKSU(at)aol(dot)com (subject: The Prisoner), and tell me what television show you would like to be see remade next. Also be sure to let me know if want the DVD or Blu-Ray version. The contest ends Sunday, November 15 at 8:00 PM EST (which just so happens to be when the new version premieres on AMC). The winners will be picked at random from all eligible entries and will be contacted shortly after. Also this contest is only open to people with shipping addresses in the United States.
If anyone wants a bonus entry, link to this contest on their blog or twitter account or link it on a message board. If you do all three, you can get up four entries into the contest. If you do this, the link must be posted by Thursday November 19. And make sure you e-mail and let know you have done so.
Some information on the box sets, both DVD and Blu-Ray include all seventeen complete episodes, the rare, alternative edit of the episode “The Chimes of Big Ben,” original broadcast trailers and much more. The DVD is presented over ten disks, fully restored and remastered. While the Blu-ray includes newly remixed 5.1 surround sound for every episode (in addition to the original mono tracks) along with over three hours of bonus features. Head over to shop.history.com for more information on the release.
Listening to their debut a lot recently, it is easy to see why Weezer’s latest album Raditude falls flat, and it is not just the silly title (almost as silly are some of the song titles I’m Your Daddy and The Girl Got Hot). With all its geek tendencies the original Weezer just rocked with shredworthy licks throughout every song while most of Raditude, the guitars are just blended into an overproduced wall of sound. Their first album was chalk full of songs that were sing-a-long-worthy even after one listen, whereas on the latest Rivers Cuomo’s voice is also victim of the overproduction and just fades into the music.
As embarrassing as some of the song titles are, there are some songs on the disks that are even more cringeworthy. The Polow da Don produced (yes you read that right) Can’t Stop Partying featuring Lil’ Wayne (“It’s Weezer and it’s Weezy, it’s upside-down MTV,” seriously) sounds like a darker version of Beverly Hills after Cuomo got accepted by the culture. Hearing Cuomo talking about homies a decade and a half ago was quirky; hearing the forty year old version do so on Let it All Hang Out is just corny. Then there is Indian influenced Love Is the Answer which is just too tree hugging hippieish for a Weezer song. I don’t know if they were trying to make a U2 song, but whatever the case, it fails miserably.
There are some sparkles of hope on the disk; Put Me Back Together is classic Weezer, from the love gone wrong lyrics to the guitar feedback that ends the track. Trippin’ Down the Freeway bounces along in typical Weezer fashion with Rivers sounding like Billy Joe Armstrong of Green Day at certain points of the song. And first single (If You’re Wondering if I Want You To) I Want You To may be the greatest Cheap Trick song they never wrote. But that isn’t enough to save a lackluster album.
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.
Coming off their induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame, Weezer has a new album out tomorrow which means we get another thoughly entertaining video from the band. And the Weezerville theme certainly doesn’t disappoint thanks in part to the moderately attractive Odette Yustman.
Alicia Keys is pulling doubles duties with her first single off her upcoming album and providing the hook for Jay-Z who definitely has the better video of the two. But if Jay goes back to the black and white video, it should have been for a song on par with 99 Problems, one of his best ever.
After suffering through three years of grunge, fun started to creep back into rock in 1994. Beck made everyone who didn’t select Spanish as their foreign language requirement regret it, the Beastie Boys picked up their guitars (and ill fitting wigs) to Sabotage us. Then there was Weezer who were one of the few rock bands that didn’t mind choosing glasses over contacts. Hey, it even gave then a good idea for a song considering the glasses made them reminiscent of the last famous male rocker who wore them, Buddy Holly.
Sure the band sang about Dungeons and Dragons and twelve sided dice, but don’t lump them in with other nerd rock of the nineties like Barenaked Ladies. What set them apart was their love for hard rock (Rivers Cuomo even calls Kiss his favorite band during In the Garage). Sure there are quirky songs (Buddy Holly), bizarre songs (Undone – The Sweater Song), and the depressing sort (Say it Ain’t So) but in every song the band makes sure there is at least one shredworthy solo with crushing guitars throughout most of the songs.
All the while each and every song is power pop heaven with required sing-a-long lyrics no matter if they are upbeat (No One Else) or not (The World Has Turned and Left Me Here). “I made love to your memory one thousand times in my head,” a lyric from the latter, made the former teenager hit repeat multiple times. But it is those singles that will stand the test time.
Even at the height of alt-rock, you are not to find much bigger hits more odd then Undone –The Sweater Song with its two word per line verses with background voice splitting them up and its spastic ending. Not that it matter because when it came to the chorus, it all became who could shout it the loudest. Buddy Holly instantly because one of the greatest video of all time thanks to its Happy Days infusion. And for whenever your parents kept you up fighting, all you had to do was to slip on your headphones and let Say it Ain’t So (which was inexplicably was flipped recently by Asher Roth for his ode to college) and down them out. Which is why the original Weezer album is this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame.
Quote of the Week: A, there are no cows in space and B, didn’t you wear that like five years ago? So don’t you think it’s time to move on? (Alexis, Castle)
Song of the Week: CNR – “Weird Al” Yankovic (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Big News of the Week: Trauma Not Getting Renewed: Of course right after its best episode of the season, NBC announced that they were not going to order up any more episodes and if essentially done after its initial thirteen episode order. And if my math is correct, that puts its run over just before Christmas (assuming all of them get filmed by then). This means that we will most likely see Chuck, which got ordered up six more episodes, early 2010. And I as stated earlier, premiering Chuck before the Olympics is not a bright idea.
Trauma: Nothing like a Halloween episode to finally kick start the show. Although it may not be a good sign that my favorite character on the show in the fairy intern who isn’t actually part of the main cast. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Trauma on iTunes.
Greek: Oh, crap, we really are going back to the lame love triangle (quadrangle if Rebecca is going to be included). And the ending just ruined what was turning out to be one of the show’s best thanks to some entertaining one liner’s courtesy of Rebecca Logan. Really the only way the ending could have been worse is had Evan walked in on the two kissing and the show ended with shock on all three faces (or four as Even would be there to walk Rebecca home). You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.
Castle: The baby egg gave me some bad flashbacks. The period before I was supposed to hand mine in for eighth grade health class I leaned a little to my desk while Lil’ Scooter was in the fanny pack and cracked it making me settle for a D. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes. Also be sure to check out my chat with Stana Katic.
Modern Family: I have when networks think we’re stupid. Seriously, we just saw Manny and Luke get in a fight last week and now it’s the first day of school? If you are going to air episodes out of order, at least make sure there are no glaring continuity errors. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.
Survivor: Samoa: A fairly mundane episode, but judging from the previews, next week will more than make up for it. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.
Community: Whoa, they gave Star Burns some lines. You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.
Free Download of the Week: Brushfire Records Fall 2009 Sampler or Lost Highway Sampler: T For Texas T From Tennessee (Amazon MP3): In the first sampler, you have Jack Johnson’s label featuring himself G Love and Special Sauce and Zee Avi. On the other there is more of a southern rock with Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett and one of my favorite songs of the year, Sugarfoot by Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears.
Video of the Week: Being Halloween today, here is a little Hallowwen cheer courtesy of Ryan Adams:
Next Week Pick of the Week: Greek, Monday at 9:00 on ABC Family: The last episode before the show takes a hiatus until January and hopefully we see Casey reject Cappie (or at the very least make him buy a razor to shave off that silly fuzz on his face) so he are not stuck back at the beginning of the series with Cappie and Evan fighting over Casey. Also let’s hope that Heath gets a better send off then Fannie got.
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 Rescue Ink Unleased, Explorer: Inside LSD, Alice, Dexter, The Office, Lopez Tonight, and Mercy.
- Tonight at 10:00 on the National Geographic Channel is the season finale of Rescue Ink Unleashed. The boys are on the trail of a shady bulldog breeder, what may be a puppy mill for horses, while Big Ant and Batso try to fix up a run down Ambulance for the boys to use. In other National Geographic Channel news, tune in next Tuesday (Nov 3) Explorer: Inside LSD as the first human trails in thirty years of the drug start up again.
- After the successful sci-fi version of Wizard of Oz two years ago, Tin Man, SyFy is giving Alice in Wonderland a sci-fi makeover in a two night event, December 6 and 7. Here is a first look at the trailer:
- As I mention a few weeks ago, Showtime is launching a new webisode Dexter: Early Cuts chronicling in animated form of the teenage years of Dexter Morgan. It has now gone live so head over to sho.com to watch it. In other webisobes news, The Office spinoff Subtile Sexuality featuring Kelly’s girl group with Erin with cameo’s from Andy and Ryan has also gone live with its first three episodes and a music video that can be found at SubtleSexuality.com.
- As the premiere of Lopez Tonight inches closer, which will feature the likes of Eva Longoria Parker, Jessica Alba and Arsenio Hall in the first weeks, here the profile of musical director Michael Bearden who recently worked with Michael Jackson on This Is It:
- As I mention a couple weeks back, Elizabeth Moss will be guesting on an upcoming episode of Mercy and that episode comes this Wedensday. Here is a clip:
- Also, I may be getting my hands on some prizes to giveaway so keep your eyes out in the next couple days especially if you are a fan of classic television.
The very first year I played fantasy football I somehow lucked into the first pick and quickly snatched up Barry Sanders. That season it seemed like every game Sanders would rip off fifty yard runs only to be tackled inside the five where the Lions would turn the ball over to Tommy Vardell (who my friends mockingly called Touchdown Tommy to point out how he had more TD’s than my number one pick). After owning the cellar for the first half of the season I managed to put on a run ending up with second place. Since then I rarely even finish above five hundred.
With that decade and a half of futility, there were high hopes for The League, the latest attempt at comedy from FX. Although despite the show’s title, it seems like the show is more about thirty somethings who refuse to grow up and participating is just one sliver of that extended childhood. Sure the draft takes up a chuck of the premiere episode (including a novel idea of coming up with the draft order) but past that, it seems like fantasy football gets pushed to the background except for the occasional blackmailing induced trade that is made (Adrian Peterson gets acquired in a disturbing way).
The League is actually a fairly small five players, supposable there are two players who were on auto draft and another on the phone that go unseen so far. Mark Duplass (Humpday) is the two time reigning champ who has no problem choosing fake football over his wife, Leslie Bibb (Private Parts). The commissioner of the league Stephan Rannazzisi (Paul Blart: Mall Cop) has resulted to consulting with his wife Katie Aselton (The Puffy Chair). His brother Jon Lajoie (internet star) seems to care the least which is why he does so well. Rounding out the cast are Best Week Ever alums Nick Kroll, who isn’t above stalking a fantasy genius even is he is underage, and Paul Scheer who manages to draft a retired player at least once a year.
The League seems like it would have been a decent idea for a web series that changes along real-time with the current NFL season every week. Since The League is already filmed and in the whole I bet there may be some continuity error from actual football which is probably why they steer away from football for the most part during the second season. But for those that don’t mind crass humor of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, this may be a decent companion for the hour.
The League will air six straight Thursdays at 10:30 on FX (except Thanksgiving) starting tonight. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.
when Dan Aykroyd sees Slimmer for the first time and just stands there with a cigarette barely dangling from his mouth? That was basically the same expression I had when I saw Carrie Underwood’s latest music video for Cowboy Casanova (except substitute a pretzel stick for the cigarette). Yeah, Underwood wouldn’t be winning any karaoke contests that took place on the radio, which is not to say she cannot put together a listenable song or two and Cowboy Casanova stands out as her best to date.![Terror Alert Level: Elevated [YELLOW]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6-iVFV0hXCTSYP16K_V0Rrxp3GqFrtBIJKeTUyQ2LpxZQ9XKHFj6QGtqqa7oxhLadLV8vUj8R84AftD8IKUSfN0u_u0CYDtJwhrpCPN2DBWquAIDv0jbVlhZL0mDFKlPKluGyxw/s400/small_elevated.png)
on my Terror Alert Scale.
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(Sledge Hammer!, Head Case, Flavor of Love)
![Terror Alert Level: Guarded [BLUE]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzCbHfExiuXqojow1zxkBUX6j-9BHg9IyrfzqR77jnja2Xq6dbv-7iiqMFzp_UKXGcUF9FyAHqCkNxa5uitXa5Xu2Q1OboN9-TLjsaeI1a2eoGLORU4vkTQ54l1C-_cZyn81QHyQ/s400/small_guarded.png)
on my 
or 
(Amazon MP3): In the first sampler, you have Jack Johnson’s label featuring himself G Love and Special Sauce and Zee Avi. On the other there is more of a southern rock with Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett and one of my favorite songs of the year, Sugarfoot by Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears.
, SyFy is giving Alice in Wonderland a sci-fi makeover in a two night event, December 6 and 7. Here is a first look at the trailer:
) is the two time reigning champ who has no problem choosing fake football over his wife, Leslie Bibb (
). The commissioner of the league Stephan Rannazzisi (
) has resulted to consulting with his wife Katie Aselton (
). His brother Jon Lajoie (internet star) seems to care the least which is why he does so well. Rounding out the cast are Best Week Ever alums Nick Kroll, who isn’t above stalking a fantasy genius even is he is underage, and Paul Scheer who manages to draft a retired player at least once a year.
, this may be a decent companion for the hour.