For some reason, network television still hasn’t figured out if you actually put quality television on during the summer, people may tune in. Instead during the summer months we get crappy reality show and scripted shows that the network figure no one would watch during the fall. So that left me only three shows to watch this summer, Rescue Me, Leverage and The Philanthropist while occasionally catching Raising the Bar, Royal Pains and Defying Gravity at my leisure. I am in no way complaining about the lack of television because it gave me to time to catch up on these shows via DVD:
Alias (Season 5): If my memory serves me correctly, the last season of Alias was moved to Thursday pitting it against Survivor, My Name Is Earl and Smallville and something had to give. The show always had some serious writing flaws, but Rachel Nichols was a great addition and Amy Acker surprisingly made for a good bad girl. Alias ranked in at #62 on The Greatest Television Shows of the 00’s.
Dead Like Me (The Complete Series): Thoroughly enjoyable series but Brian Fuller certainly perfected the jaded twenty-something with Wonderfalls. And the Desmond Hume staring movie wasn’t as bad as the fanatic would have you believe once you get beyond the fact that they ruined Daisy Adair with poor recasting. And the writing certainly did help things either. I wouldn’t be against more. Dead Like Me ranked in at #17 on The Greatest Television Shows of the 00’s.
Deadwood (The Complete Series): You really cannot boil down a series like Deadwood down to one paragraph but let me try to do so in one word: (expletive deleted). Nothing funnier on television possibly ever than when Al and Wu would try to communicate when he only knew three words, Sweargen, San Francisco and (expletive deleted). Good times. On the flip side, it was extremely weird to see Veronica Mars seduce Matt Saracen’s mom. Deadwood ranked in at #13 on The Greatest Television Shows of the 00’s.
The Secret Diary of a Call Girl (Seasons 1 and 2): A show where Billie Piper plays a hooker? Yes please. The Secret Diary of a Call Girl ranked in at #92 on The Greatest Television Shows of the 00’s.
Weeds (Seasons 3 and 4): One major problem with watching shows on delay is that you inevitably get spoilers and knowing that Agrestic burning down and Nancy ending up pregnant is included at that. Weeds ranked in at #90 on The Greatest Television Shows of the 00’s.
And since networks have been nice enough not to put anything on worth watching on Tuesday this fall I may be able to check up on some more television in the next few months. I recently won Mad Man season 1 and hopefully that lives up to the hype. And I will be checking out Dexter season 3 as soon as I can steal it from my sister after she buys it.
When a show has a bad season you have to wonder if it just an outlier or signs of what’s to come. The fourth season of Rescue Me just came completely off the rails with silly plots about baby stealing and Tommy being forced to date the chief’s daughter. But if there was one show that benefited from the writer’s strike more than any it would be Rescue Me which had a twenty month layoff between seasons. This apparently gave the writers enough time to get the train back on the track (for the most part) for the fifth season.
Part of the resurgence was song crafty casting that saw Alex P. Keaton turn into a hard drinking, wheel-chair bound tool that somehow landed Janet between the seasons. While an aloof Maura Tierney kept everyone, including the audience, guessing for the last couple episodes. And let us not forget the Garrity family who came to help Sean out during his cancer treatment, that caused the highlight of the season with Garrity musical numbers. By the end I was hoping that his big brother would stick in New York to keep tabs on Sean.
The big theme of the season was relapse. Shortly after getting his one year chip from Alcoholics Anonymous, Tommy found himself back at the sight of the former twin towers talking about his cousin who he hasn’t for that time, getting him back on the wagon. If only he knew this would be his downfall. And finding out his cousin had slept with his wife was the least of his worries from going back to the bottle.
Tommy’s reunion with the alcohol started a chain reaction that eventually contributed to the death of his Aunt. And despite Uncle Teddy only being married to her for a year or two, wanted to get away from her after he got out of prison, and let her get into a car drunk even though he was in prison for killing a drunk driving, he still blamed Tommy for getting almost the entire extended Gavin family back on the sauce. And so Teddy shot Tommy. Twice. In front of everyone at the bar. Leaving him to die a slow death as the season end leaving open what should be an interesting final season.
Next week is Labor Day which means one last hurray for summer; one last cookout before you start getting the patio ready for winter. And the last time the McGavin clan gets to pull out the croquet set for one more round. But before we break out the mallets for the last time in 2009, it is time to enshrine the sport in the Scooter Hall of Fame.
But the bi-annual McGavin family croquet match isn’t you stuffy great aunt’s croquet, like every competition at McGavin gathering (euchre, poker, horseshoes are other favorite),the game is very cutthroat with a lot of trash talking and we are not above cheating just to beat the six year olds playing. And it seems like new rules get added every year to suit different player’s cause.
And don’t even try winning if you are a newcomer to the clan. In fact plenty of boyfriends have been one and done after a round of croquet with the uncles in the family. One in particular actually made it all the way through the course to be the apparent winner only to be told we play poison ball in where anyone that finishes the course becomes poison and then can only be eliminated if they hit a wicket then the last ball standing wins. So flustered, dude hits a wicket and is never heard from again.
But nothing is more entertaining than when someone drunkenly tries to send somebody’s ball only to whack their own foot with their mallet. Good times.
When a reality show has an absurdly entertaining first season like Tool Academy did, there are really only two routes it can take. One can hope that it ends up like Survivor, a decent concept that along with the right casting can still be watchable nineteen seasons later. Then there are the reality shows that end up like Beauty and the Geek, a great concept, but one the cat is out of the bag, not even great casting can salvage subsequent season from being as great.
After the first season ended I was pretty sure Tool Academy would take the Beauty and Geek route, but after the first episode it is clear that there are plenty of tools that are stupid enough to think they have been chosen to compete to be a party king to be entertaining for years to come. Personally I would have been tipped off by the Her energy drink sponsorship which I was shocked to turn out to be an actually drink.
They even found some new kinds of Tools including the Old Tool, Tat-Tool, Hillbilly Tool, and my personal favorite “Special” Tool (their quotation marks, not mine) who may also win this season’s hottest girlfriend contest in Shannon. Although there are Guy-liner Tool, Manscaping Tool, and Spray Tan Tool which basically all of them are all already. And, well, they are all tatted up too, but Tat-Tool still overdoes it more than the rest. But there is still a high probability that this cast gets the Tool Academy logo tattooed at some point this season like the previous cast.
With a show like Tool Academy, it is hard to predict a winner because their rules for elimination seems to change from episode to episode, but I will be rooting for Ohio’s own Dre P., the B-Ball Wannabe Tool to win, who may have had the best line of the night, “Leah was so pissed to the highest pissisity.” Although the Giant Tool blaming his behavior on a “Schick coma” maybe the greatest excuse ever in the history of excuses.
The first challenge may have been better than any of the inaugural season where they had to bail water from a sinking ship. But it was amazing that of the twelve Tools competing; only one of them had the brain power to think, hey maybe I should stick a finger and/or toe in this hole. Then we had an elimination show expositive, the host flipped his lid and just started yelling at the Tool to leave. Luckily this wasn’t the Guy-liner Tool because he almost came to tears and that would have not been pretty.
If there was one complaint of the first season of Tool Academy it would be there were just too many chicks who took their Tools back after being eliminated. And much like last season, the first to go was taken back by his girl despite his huge hissy fit he threw. And not to mention she was already slumming with the guy who was way out of her league. But considering the preview for next week that promises a shocking ending that may finally change this season. Of course in true VH1 fashion, they ended up giving away that shocking ending two seconds later. I really need to stop watching VH1 promos.
Muck like last season, all these guys are definitely Tools, but not all the girls are squeaky clean again like last season which begs the question, when will we get a female version of the show? The biggest obstacle most likely is a name because not of the female equivalent of Tool are really television appropriate. But how about B-Girl Academy? And if you don't know what “B” means, let us explain: “B” stands for Broncos, Benzes, BMWs, bass, bangles, and a pair of bars. We see you pulling up down the alley; you all act like we are stars. We're not trying to make a joke, we’re just trying to make it known that people in the world that we call B-Girls like bars on a Cadillac Brougham.
Back in middle school, I won the alphabetical lottery when I was partner up with Lisa Mack, the absurdly hot new chick to the school as lab partners in science class. Unfortunately for me, one of the first experiments that year was that we swab our cheeks, put it underneath a microscope to see all the germs living in your mouth. Not surprisingly after seeing all the germs that came from my mouth, we never made out while slow dancing to More than Words at the proceeding eighth grade dance.
I bring this up because I had flashback to traumatic experience while watching The Human Family Tree where the National Geographic Channel swabbed the check of about a hundred Queens residents that partook, it wasn’t to see how many germs they had but to get some DNA that they could then trace their heritage. And the results of the five year study were so interesting it almost made me want to swab my cheek for the first time since middle school. Almost.
The result, airing tonight at 9:00 traces everyone back to a tribe in Africa and in much detail shows how are human family tree branches out slowly until our ancestors found their ways to as far flung places as Europe and South America thousands years before fuel made it easy to travel by ground, water or even air. And really who better to narrate how we are all connected than Mr. Six Degrees himself, Kevin Bacon.
If there was one compliant to be had about The Human Family Tree is that we don’t get that much reaction from the test subject and any reaction is saved for the final eight minutes of the program. And by then you almost forget the African-American model may have more in common with Southeast Asians in the study than those Africans that never left (or the group that left Africa then found itself back to the continent) by the time you get his reaction which is fleeting anyways as they then go on to the next subject’s reaction. Check out a preview of the show below and the Human Tree map:
Coalition Links of the Week: With his new series, What Would Brian Boitano Make?, Brian Boitano proves that while the famed figure skater may not be a master chef, he is cute as a button. (TiFaux)
With September fast approaching, so to are 75 new and returning TV shows. And here to ensure you don't miss a moment of your favorite (or soon-to-be favorite) show is theTVaddict.com with our printable and downloadable season premiere calendar. (The TV Addict)
Hot blood suckers playing football? See, we told you The Vampire Diaries was nothing like Twilight! (TV Fanatic)
This week, Sandie interviewed 90210's newcomer Trevor Donovan. (Daemon's TV)
Afro Jazz. Capoeira. Disco that doesn't suck. This is the So You Think You Can Dance Canada Top 20, eh! and Vance rates the season 2 batch. (Tapeworthy)
This week, Jace offered an advance review of USA's fantastic and stylish upcoming drama series White Collar, starring Tim DeKay and Matthew Bomer. (Televisionary)
Raising the Bar: In two season, this may have been the first time any of the public defenders didn’t believe in their defendants when Lindsay Wagner passed the pregnant drug addict. Naturally Zach Morris got all high and mighty when they tried to keep her in jail when everyone else on the planet knew what was best for mother and child was some forced rehab. It seems like every other episode Zach gets a DA to do a favor yet he never compromises on anything, and if there was one case he could have, it would have been this one. You can stream current episodes over at TNT.tv. You can also download Leverage on iTunes.
Rescue Me: Bummer, I had Damian in the who was going to bite it this season office poll. Oh well. And could Ellie’s death been any more telegraphed? She just had to pick up the dog after downing a whole glass of alcohol? You would think, despite being a family of drunks, none of the Gavin clan would be stupid enough to get behind the wheel considering what happened to Conner. You can stream current episodes over at Hulu.
Leverage: It was bound to happen that the gang would run into their doppelgangers and it certainly lived up to the hype besides the silly car alarm fight the computer geeks had. Too bad they won’t turn up to battle each other later, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some of them individually again. Hopefully the main guy gets a new crew together to get Nate back for double crossing him. You can stream current episodes over at TNT.tv. You can also download Leverage on iTunes.
Free Download of the Week: Acoustic EP – Kate Walsh (Amazon MP3)
Video of the Week: I am not sure how VH1 could possibly top the inaugural season of Tool Academy, but they are trying starting tomorrow. As looking at the supertrailer, there may be more violence this time around, and a Tool so toolish, he says he would even hook up with a girl’s brother if he had a nice, um, well, just check out the video:
Next Week Pick of the Week: Rescue Me, Tuesday at 10:00 on FX: It was revealed this week that the show has an end date of 2011, a decade after 9/11 with nineteen episodes spanning over the next two years. Oddly enough co-creator Peter Tolan says Maura Tierney may also return. But the current season comes to a close Tuesday and something big likely coming down as both Janet and Sheila were conspicuously absent last episode.
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 Dark Blue, Dominick Dunne, Rehab: Party at the Hard Rock Hotel, WrestleMania, Community, and Alone in the Wild.
- Here is a treat for fans of Dark Blue, today at 1:00 you can chat about the show with star Dylan McDermott on TNT.tv or the Dark Blue Facebook page.
- Also today on TruTV they are running a thirteen hour marathon to pay tribute Dominick Dunne who passed away earlier this week starting 3:00. His show Power, Privlage & Justice premiered back in 2002 back when the station was still known as Court TV.
- In other TruTV news, the second season of Rehab: Party at the Hard Rock Hotel premieres this coming Tuesday at 10:00. Here is a preview:
- Who better to hype the world premiere of The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania which airs tomorrow at 9:00 on NBC than former Real World/Road Rules Challenge stand out and current WWE superstar The Miz:
- In the countdown to the premiere of Community, the college on the show has released Greendale’s Second Straight A: Affordability:
- A couple weeks ago I mentioned Alone in the Wild about someone who trekking across Canada. Recently Ed had to shorten his stay in the Yukon Providence for health concerns. You can see what Ed has to say about it in his video blog over NationalGeographic.com. And despite the setback, the channel still plans to air the journey in its entirety in September.
I rarely talk about it here on the 9th Green, but I spend a lot of time following politics. Whenever I need a good laugh, I’ll watch Fox News, if I want to be agitated I’ll watch MSNBC, and if I want the closest thing that passes as credible news today I’ll tune into CNN. Last fall during the conventions I spent most of the time on MSNBC because their talking heads legitimately hated each other and I thought there was a good chance someone would punch Keith Olbermann live on television.
Unfortunately that never had, and even more disappointing was during Hardball there was some nutjob with a megaphone who would repeat “9/11 was an inside job.” The liberal communists like to portray George Bush as the dumbest person ever to walk the Earth, yet somehow some actually believe he was able to pull off the conspiracy in history just so he could invade Iraq. And somehow George Bush is the moron; anyone who actually thought he blew up the towers is the idiot.
This coming Monday at 9:00, the National Geographic Channel looks into these conspiracy theories and runs forensic investigations to see if any of them have weight and then sit down three of the most prominent “truthers” (why do all the nutjobs put ‘er’ at the end of some absurd idea?) and prove once and for all if their claims have any validity. Below is a preview of one of the test to see if jet fuel can actually reach temperatures to damage the integrity of the steel beams enough to collapse:
Not to spoil their finding, but let’s say hypothetically National Geographic finds, beyond a reasonable doubt, that it was two planes flying into the towers that brought them down, it is clear no matter the findings, a few of the Truthers are never not going to believe 9/11 was some diabolical plot which leads into the second, and more interesting part of 9/11: Science and Conspiracy where the program looks into the psyche of Truthers and other conspiracy theorist as to why, despite conclusive evidence, they still believe that they are being lied to.
9/11: Science and Conspiracy airs Monday at 9:00 on the Nation Geographic Channel, to get more information and Director’s Diary videos, visit the National Geographic website.
Colbie Caillat broke onto the scene two years ago with songs so sugary and saccharine, had she had been five years younger you’d expect them to come alone with a Disney Channel show. Not that there was anything wrong with that because songs off of Coco became quintessential mellow California sound from a female perspective for the new millennium. But if there was a down side to her debut was that it was too mellow.
For the recording of her second album Breakthrough, Caillat traded one beach for another, going from California to Hawaii. From the first single Fallin’ for You, that she had an extra bounce in step on the islands as it was her most upbeat, and better than any song from Coco. And that sediment is transferred to some other songs on Breakthrough such as Begin Again, You Got Me, and Running Around.
But even though I Don’t has the defiant title, the song about not accepting that a friend isn’t more. And the rest of the album pretty much sound like outtakes from Coco. There is something to say her most adventurous songs to date the duets Breathe with Taylor Swift on Swift’s Fearless (Caillat’s song Fearless on Breakthrough is completely different for Swift’s title track) and Lucky with Jason Mraz. But where Breakthrough can get repetitive, especially if you grab the seventeen song deluxe version, the songs individually are still as stronger than her debut and much like those songs, they would be better listened to if you download them to your computer and listen on shuffle and the songs would occasionally come and put a smile on your face before going onto a different artist.
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.
A better song than D.O.A. but Jay-Z is continuing the obscure movie theme to the video off The Blueprint 3 and Run This Town has a The Warriors by way of Mad Max feel to it but with more face covering with Rihanna coming off as a Mortal Kombat character ion the beginning.
I never understood why Pearl Jam gave up making videos after their first album because they did were performance pieces anyways (sans Jeremy) and that is just what this is but with extreme close ups courtesy of Cameron Crowe.
Considering her last name and being produced by Babyface, the first couple singles from Kristinia DeBarge have been disappointing and adding to that, how can you do a video for a song called Sabotage and not feature someone named Cochise?
Of course the original Sabotage is up for the Best Video to Never Win a Moonman which got me thinking, what actually beat Sabotage. It lost to Cryin’ by Aerosmith (can’t complain too much as Alicia Silverstone owned MTV in the mid-nineties) with Heart Shaped Box and Everybody Hurts also in the running. Compare that to this year that features Lady Gaga, Britney Spears naked, Kanye West singing, Beyoncé in a leotard and Eminem dressing up like Bret Michaels. Um, yeah, I think the children are officially no longer the future.
My buddy Doug cued me on a project he is doing to find ever song DJ Premier ever produced which is a pretty lofty task. For those that are wondering, “Who is DJ Premier?” he is the production half of the seminal rap group Gang Starr. And for those who are wondering, “Who is Gang Starr?” – shame on you. I used “seminal” for a reason. Here is a primer for those that don’t know, Mass Appeal which coincidentally was probably the group’s biggest hit.
Listening to the debut album from Parachute is reminiscent to hearing Augustana for the first time: an Americanized version of Coldplay, lots of crushing chords and catchy melodies. But with Augustana, they had a few radio ready hit songs like Boston for anyone to latch onto but most of Losing Sleep sounds like the filler tracks on most albums that just blend into each other. Decent enough pop-rock songs, but nothing worth hitting the repeat button. The only song that comes close to being a stand out track on the album is She Is Love a sweet song that you get two versions of, the acoustic original and a Full Band version at the end of the album.
Christian music can be a mixed bag. Most focus too much on overtly religious lyrics while forgetting to make memorable music with hooks and melody. Sarah Reeves does not fall into that category. Sure there are those obvious lyrics like when she begs “Come Jesus, come awaken us,” but there is musicianship throughout Sweet Sweet Sound that can make the album enjoyable to secular and pop fans alike. Reeves saccharine voice, sounding like the lead singer of Sixpence None the Richer, is a great compliment to songs such as the breezy title track, the lovely Come Savior, and the guitar heavy Fresh Anointing and Let Us Rise wouldn’t sound out of place on any adult contemporary station.
Sweet Sweet Sound gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.
Swan Feathers by Leslie Mendelson has such an old time feeling, you can almost hear the vinyl scratching even on a crystal clear CD. And the keyboards that start off the first couple songs put her right in the coffeehouses of seventies New York. The jazzy songs even conjure up comparisons to modern day folks like Norah Jones. Each song has a mellow smooth groove that may are perfect for Mendelson’s sweet voice. But sometimes the album gets too mellow as you might find yourself drifting off while listening to the album if you are not paying close attention. There is an extremely slowed down cover of Be My Baby that is so slowed down that it may take most people until the chorus to even recognize the song.
Quote of the Week: Oh, Eric with a “C”, nice and friendly. Erik with a “K”, evil. (Parker, Leverage)
Song of the Week: Pony (It’s OK) – Erin McCarley (When in Rome trailer, see Video of the Week below)
Big News of the Week: The Beatles Break Up: Or at least that is what constitutes big new over at Rolling Stone as their cover story this week is Why The Beatles Broke Up. Almost forty years after the fact. Very timely guys. I wonder how much the Rock Band guys, who will be releasing The Beatles edition next month, paid for a Beatles cover story (and yes there is an ad for the game in the edition). And people wonder why print media is dying. Another sign comes in the other periodical I subscribe to, Newsweek, who released two double issues in a row. When I first subscribed, they only released two a year, in the summer and the year end edition, both you could tell by the six were double issues. The last two you wouldn’t know unless you saw the fine print that it was. If you are going to keep on releasing multiple double issues, at least double up the content if you want me to continue to subscribe.
Coalition Links of the Week: This week, Jace had an exclusive interview with True Blood's Anna Camp, in which they discuss Sarah Newlin, Camp's original audition (for the role of Sookie, no less!), the love triangle between Sarah, Jason, and Steve, Sarah's darker side, Camp's theatre work (opposite Daniel Radcliffe in Equus), whether the Newlins are gone for good, Mad Men, and lots more.. (Televisionary)
TV Fanatic doesn't care if FlashForward is a rip-off of Lost. Each preview looks better than the one before. (TV Fanatic)
It may be summer vacation, but TiFaux was back in high school this week with three separate posts about the new DeGrassi: The Next Generation. For one, Marisa provided a "Where Are They Now?" for some of the more notable DeGrassi alumni. (TiFaux)
Buzz is thrilled to see some new pics from the upcoming season of How I Met Your Mother! (BuzzSugar)
This week, Sandie took at first look at Wil Wheaton guest starring in Leverage's new episode "The Two Live Crew." (Daemon's TV)
GMMR has been sucked into summer reality shows in a big way this week. Big Brother has been crazy, America's Best Dance Crew has been hot, and now we get new episodes of Project Runway - a blessing or a curse? (Give Me My Remote)
It's not TV related but Vance loved the new production of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Donmar Warehouse in London starring Rachel Weisz. (Tapeworthy)
Rescue Me: One thing the show likes to do is have absurdly long scenes and when they work, like when the ghosts started to revisit Tommy this season, there is nothing better on television. Then you have the bedroom scene this episode which was just excruciatingly painful to watch. And is there anywhere I can bed that the chick Franco ends up fighting is his ex-girlfriend? You can stream current episodes over at Hulu.
Leverage: It looks like another television show might be tapping my phones as I had the theory that people putting “K” in their names where “C” should be as being evil for over a decade. If the show ever brings up my theory of chicks who put “I” at the end of their name instead of “Y” I may have to call my lawyer. You can stream current episodes over at TNT.tv. You can also download Leverage on iTunes.
Deal of the Week: Movies as Low as $6.99 (Shaun of the Dead, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Friday Night Lights: The Movie)
Video of the Week: As a dude, I am preconditioned to not like romantic comedies, and for the most part I do with a few exceptions that mostly involve John Cusack. But from the look of the trailer, When in Rome may join that list. C’mon, it features Veronica Mars and Ned the Piemaker as old flames. Throw in Gob Bluth and Danny DeVito as guys who have a love spell put on by Ronnie. Although does guy really need some magic to fall for Vee?
Next Week Pick of the Week: Leverage, Wednesday at 9:00 on TNT: Please note that many outlets have this week as the Leverage Summer finale, but TNT announced this week that they were extending it two more episodes so make sure you mark your calendar for September 2 and 9 as there will be new episodes on those days.
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 Sons of Anarchy, Community, Ghosthunters, Alien Earth, Naked Science: Hawking’s Universe, Miss Universe, the Hope Diamond and the Dreadnots.
- I recently started watching the first season of Sons of Anarchy and it is real epic. For those that are already caught up and ready for the season premiere Tuesday September 8 at 10:00 on FX, here is a preview of the second season:
- Speaking of Sons of Anarchy, fans of the show or those that want to get into the show, head over to FX.com to enter the Gear Pack Giveaway that includes the first season on DVD and all the goodies below:
- We are about a month until the premiere of Community and in addition to the Greendale Community College website, there is now an orientation video to go along with the college which touts its straight A’s, first up is Accessibility (as someone who’s dorm room without it, I appreciate that air conditioning is an upcoming one):
- A new season of SyFy’s Ghosthunters premiered this week and here is a promo for the new season Wednesdays at 9:00:
Two new specials hitting the National Geographic Channel this Sunday. Starting at 9:00 is Alien Earths where astronomers predict what far off planets may look like using CGI and if they could possibly host life. Then at 10:00 there is Naked Science: Hawking’s Universe which looks at Stephan’s contributions to the science field. Here is a clip from the latter that deals with Hawking’s speech software.
- Ever want to be a beauty pageant judge? Well here is your chance as you pick Miss Photogenic for the upcoming Miss Universe contest. And the photos they used just happened to be from the bikini competition. Then turn into the contest this Sunday on NBC and Telemundo.
- The Hope Diamond will be celebrating its fiftieth year in the Smithsonian this year and to commemorate, it is getting a new look as chosen by you. Head over to Smithsonianchannel.com to see the choices and to vote.
- How about some “good music for a bad economy”? For fans of what they call psychedelic hip-hop, you will want to check out the free download of Dreadnots Robotic Hands of God: Voice of the Last Days.
Two people that Kate Earl probable hates hearing about are Sarah Palin and Jewel as the newcomer is also from Alaska and those two are the only people to make a name for themselves in Continental US since Steward’s Folly unless you are a basketball fan that knows Carlos Boozer is also from the state. Like Jewel, Earl is a singer-songwriter and no she has never spent anytime living in a car. And Earl’s self titled album definitely isn’t some coffeehouse fair like her Alaskan predecessor.
Kate Earl should fit in pretty well with the other female singer-songwriters of the decade with songs like Melody fitting perfectly between the latest from Coblie Caillet and Sara Bareilles, but Earl has an music appreciation that seems to date back to the girl groups of the sixties as Only in Dreams could have fit on the radio back in the sixties between Diana Ross and Martha Reeves with Earl paying tribute to doo-wop in the middle of Melody. Basically Earl sounds like Cat Power had she ever cared about pop sensibilities.
But Kate Earl is plenty diverse, besides the present day pop hook of Melody and classic sound of Only in Dreams, All I Want and When You’re Ready have heavy dance beats to them. Nobody and Can’t Treat Me That Way are sleek songs that could fit in at the local cabaret. Golden Street is a clap heavy jam with a great synth groove to it and Learning to Fly sounds like an updated version of The Wall of Sound. While Impossible is your token girl anthem for the album. All the while with the introspective lyrics that are as good as any of her contemporaries. Soon we may have a third Alaskan for us in the lower forty-eight to point to.
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.
UNICEF, MTV and The Killers teamed up this thought provoking video to shed the light on human trafficking. Hopefully since they are involved, MTV actually shows the video sometime other than times when normal people are not sleeping.
Back in 2000, I would have pegged David Gray to end up being one of the artists of the decade. As we close out the ’00 that sadly didn’t turn out to be the case aside from my own record collection as most people were turned off by his dark turn on A Day After Midnight. But still color me excited for Draw the Line out next month.
iTunes use to find a lot of gems with their weekly free Single of the Week, but this year has been mostly misses. But that turned around this week where you can get this song from Kate Earl for the low price of nothing. As long as the banner below is of Earl, you can still get it for free. As for the song itself, I love the subtle doo-wop in the middle of the song.
In a story I broke last week, tonight sees the American premiere of The Jon Dore Television Show on IFC at 10:00. The show is hard to describe as it is a little mix of things. You really cannot call it a reality show on Dore’s life because some of the bits are obviously scripted, we even get to see inside the writers room. But it also seems to be heavy on improve especially his “interviews” that are reminiscent of the ones conducted by The Daily Show where the interviewer are not being all that seriously though acting like it while the interviewees are trying to give the most serious answer they can come up with.
IFC will be show the first two seasons of The Jon Dore Television Show straight, twenty-six episodes in all, as they have already aired in Canada. Being a Canadian show be warned there are a lot of Canadianisms like people mispronouncing words like “aboot.” Oh, those silly Canadians. The first episode follows Dore while he goes to a fertility clinic to see if he can have kids. Later in the series Jon battles alcoholism, smoking, STD’s and even tries to get in shape in order to audition for a softcore porn role. And dude had a serious spare tire that he disturbingly likes to show off.
The Jon Dore Television Show is a quirky series that is reminiscent of another Canadian comedy import, Tom Green, but more polite, less annoying and better budget. When it is on, there is plenty of chuckling, but it seems if Dore would have done better in short form of a webseries that featured his interviewing skills as the episodes do go a little song for a twenty-two minute show with Dore taking many pit stops, much that are not as funny as the interviews, on his episode journey.
The Jon Dore Television Show airs Tuesdays at 10:00 on IFC and is repeated Saturdays also at 10:00.
Eric Clapton is one of those artists that it is nearly impossible to have one favorite song of. His catalogue is so extensive and diverse; you really cannot single out one. But with a gun to my head, I may have to go with Broken Hearted. While the album version (which the link below goes to) came during his electronic era where he became fascinated the drum machine (which was to rock bands in the late nineties, what the auto-tuner is for rappers today: overused). But where the song truly shines is in the acoustic setting where the video below come from with some help from John Mayer.
Quote of the Week: Miss Gilardi, I don’t like conspiracy theories. I don’t think Princess Diana was murdered by the Royal Family. I don’t think they dissected aliens in Roswell. And I’m pretty (expletive deleted) sure that the grassy knoll in Dallas, just a grassy knoll. (Judge Albert Farnsworth, Raising the Bar)
Song of the Week: Walk Away - Dropkick Murphys (Rescue Me)
Big News of the Week: Oz’s Ernie Hudson Joins Heroes: Okay, nothing Heroes does anymore can be considered “Big News” because no one, including myself, watches it anymore. The big news is the title itself where everywhere across the internets wrote just that: “Oz’s Ernie Hudson Joins Heroes.” I had to do a double take each time I saw that thinking, “was there another Ernie Hudson that happened to be on Oz?” because when I think Ernie Hudson, I think Ghostbusters. Is there really anyone out there that hears the name Ernie Hudson and thinks Oz first?
Coalition Links of the Week: It's summer, it's hot, and Vance's brain can no longer think in more than 140 characters. He hasn't blogged much lately, but he's twittered the summer away. (Tapeworthy)
This week, Jace had an exclusive interview with Bones showrunner/executive producer Hart Hanson about what to expect from Season Five of Bones, Booth's mental state, Brennan's Guatemalan trip, Angela's celibacy vow, a possible return to London, Stephen Fry, and much more. (Televisionary)
Design Star -- it's no Project Runway, but it'll do during the summer doldrums. Also, Nathan and Dan are good enough eye candy to keep tuning in. (TiFaux)
Dr. Gregory House trying to actually connect with people?!? Matt is excited to see if this House spoiler become a reality. (TV Fanatic)
Buzz geared up for Mad Men's third season with a little quiz about the first two years of the show. (BuzzSugar)
Sandie interviewed Michaela Conlin, who plays Angela on Bones. (Daemon's TV)
Rescue Me: That may have been the most low key wedding ever in the history of television. Made even more shocking with the knowledge that the hooker is apparently loaded. I still don’t see this ending well. You can stream current episodes over at Hulu.
Leverage: It was pretty funny that they ran a Nancy Grace commercial during an episode that called out her and her ilk for being shady and corrupt. You can stream current episodes over at TNT.tv. You can also download Leverage on iTunes.
The Philanthropist: Well that was a surprised that Madestone turned out to be the governor’s brother. Surely didn’t see that one coming. You can stream current episodes over at NBC.com. You can also download The Philanthropist on iTunes.
Free Download of the Week: Fire Escape – Diane Birch (Rcrd Lbl): If you saw my review of the debut album from Diane Birch, Bible Belt (if not see: Love Makes the Price Good Enough to Wanna Pay) then you may have noticed the Song to Download was Fire Escape which you can download for free.
Video of the Week: Just a reminder that CTRL is still airing new episodes (I think they have two more left). The latest, where Buster Bluth learns what CTRL-Z does, may be the funniest yet. Or click the link to view the entire series so far.
Next Week Pick of the Week: Shaq Vs., Tuesday at 9:00 on ABC: Every week the newly Cleveland resident will be taking on other athletes in their sports with Shaq getting a handicap. Hopefully he shows his city’s loyalty by getting in a cheap shot to the knees of Ben Roethlisberger. Also expect Shaq to go up against Michael Phelps, Serena Williams, Oscar De La Hoya, Albert Pujols, Kerry Walsh and Misty May-Treanor.
![Terror Alert Level: High [ORANGE]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhebDZ0qqwOVKMZj7oFSUe8Hm3ax54U9Hp1fThJPgiddTyzcdwx_5SV6E3b7hkKyxbaDiym4COmUXT2YJnsKCUjBHI_a2xZtNoY7qFQRslP5AGO5gLkJwn2ZbO0wIF80ycbKrgPPA/s400/small_high.png)
on my Terror Alert Scale. Rescue Me came in at #11 on 
, a great concept, but one the cat is out of the bag, not even great casting can salvage subsequent season from being as great.
– Kate Walsh (Amazon MP3)
(Miami Vice, The Office, House)
![Terror Alert Level: Elevated [YELLOW]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6-iVFV0hXCTSYP16K_V0Rrxp3GqFrtBIJKeTUyQ2LpxZQ9XKHFj6QGtqqa7oxhLadLV8vUj8R84AftD8IKUSfN0u_u0CYDtJwhrpCPN2DBWquAIDv0jbVlhZL0mDFKlPKluGyxw/s400/small_elevated.png)
on my 
by way of 
feel to it but with more face covering with Rihanna coming off as a 
character ion the beginning.
guys, who will be releasing The Beatles edition next month, paid for a Beatles cover story (and yes there is an ad for the game in the edition). And people wonder why print media is dying. Another sign comes in the other periodical I subscribe to, Newsweek, who released two double issues in a row. When I first subscribed, they only released two a year, in the summer and the year end edition, both you could tell by the six were double issues. The last two you wouldn’t know unless you saw the fine print that it was. If you are going to keep on releasing multiple double issues, at least double up the content if you want me to continue to subscribe.
. Is there really anyone out there that hears the name Ernie Hudson and thinks Oz first?