Before he spent even one day in retirement, Jay-Z predicted he would eventually come back to rap when he said, “When I come back like Jordan wearing the 4-5.” The problem was when Hova finally did make his return with Kingdom Come, he wasn’t wearing a Bulls uniform, he had already skipped to the Wizards phase of his career. And the follow up wasn’t that much better. For his third stab at a comeback, is drawing up another Blueprint, the first of which came out exactly eight years ago today, the same day the Twin Towers fell.
Apparently the new Blueprint for Jigga is indie music (which we can probably thank the newly emo-loving Kanye West who produced half the album), the album even open up with a guest spot from one half of the alternative group Empire of the Sun on What We Talkin’ About. The album is then bookended with a guest electro artist Mr. Hudson on Young Forever that borders 80’s new wave cheesedom.
And Jay-Z really needs to avoid songs about age (remember how he tried to convince us that 30 is the new 20?) because it only emphasizes how old he is in a genre based on youth. And by including next big things Drake and Kid Cudi on a couple songs, it is hard not to think of Jay playing the part of Mathew McConaughey in Dazed & Confused. The multiple Frank Sinatra references do not help either. Which is a silly comparison anyway, Sinatra was a triple threat, Jay-Z is barely a single threat anymore.
The Blueprint 3 can best be summed up by the first unofficial single D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune). You get really excited at the concept and if anyone can put a death nail in the vastly over abused studio, technique, it is Jay Hova. But when you actually heard the song you wanted to like it more than you actually did. The lyrics don’t actually kill Auto-Tune, it is at best a flesh wound. And the lame hook is amplified considering he is the third act this year to lift the Steam chorus behind Wale and Kristinia Debarge.
What Jay does have going for him on The Blueprint 3 is his best post-retirement song Run This Town featuring Rihanna and Kanye (well it is either that or Brooklyn (Go Hard)). It has his most adventurous flow in recent memory but still not as tongue twisting as when he spit over Timbaland beats on the original Blueprint albums. Sadly though there really is only one more song of note on the set, the Alicia Keys assisted Empire State of Mind. Maybe it is time Jay-Z complete his Jordan prophesies and begrudgingly resigns to the front office position for a crappy NBA team. On the bright side he will have time to lower his handicap like MJ.
Jay-Z drops his latest Blueprint tomorrow (except in the places where you can already buy it which kind of defeats the special release date, but anyways, look for a review tomorrow). In the first official single Run This Town, Jay spits, “Please follow the leader. So Eric B. we are microphone fiend.” This of course is a reference to the classic Eric B and Rakim track. Odd that Jay shout outs Eric B in the song, even though it is Rakim that is the Microphone Fiend. But here is the other track Jay mentions from the seminal rap duo. And if we are lucky, we may see the long awaited Rakim solo album actually released October 20.
Being a guy, I don’t think I have ever watched anything on We TV which if I am not mistaken stands for Woman’s Entertainment. And it really isn’t a sexist thing because I haven’t watch Spike TV since they stopped airing The Dukes of Hazzard rerunswhen they converted from The Nashville Network. But We TV does have a couple shows of note airing this weekend.
First up is The Locator back for its third season with a special one hour premiere where Troy Dunn tackles two cases at once. First up is a cancer stricken woman with months to live hopes to track down her father after her mother left town before she was born and again when during a brief reunion with her father when she was thirteen. The other focuses on father trying to reconnect with his daughter after her mother left him back when he was strung out on different additions.
Naturally the show is right up the alley of anyone that likes heartwarming tales such as Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and doesn’t mind that their television makes them cry. And cry you will when you hear about the mother of four that grew up without a father and now only has months to live.
The other storyline has a weird segment after Troy hunts down the daughter and leaves her alone with her friends with the camera rolling which is eerily reminiscent of The Hills. The daughter even kind of looks like a brunette Lauren (what is sad is that I have never actually watched an episode of The Hills yet I know what it looks like and all the characters).
Right after the season premiere of The Locator is new series Adoption Diaries which is exactly what the title implies. The show follows two prospective parents as they try to add to their family through an open adoption, one where the biological and adoptive parents meet each other and match up. It is also reminiscent of another MTV show that I have never watch, yet somehow know too much about, 16 and Pregnant, at least the episodes where the mother goes into knowing she is going to give her kid up for adoption. But Adoption Diaries naturally focuses on the adoption process and seems geared more to the adopting parents more.
The Locator airs Saturday at 9:00 and is followed by Adoption Diaries on We TV. You can download episodes of The Locator on iTunes. If you have someone you would like to reunite with head over to TroytheLocator.com. I wonder if Troy works on such shallow cases like me wanting to hook up with my Middle School crush Lisa Mack.
Sons of Anarchy is hard to get into. No, not because it is graphic in nature, it certainly pushes the standards and practices department at FX. No, it is hard to get into because of the casting. One of the first people you see on screen is a tatted up Assistant Director Skinner in a wife beater that shows off his swastika tattoo prominently on his chest. Then later in the season, Peg Bundy beats down the chick from that Britney Spears movie with a skateboard.
The actual lead of the show is the British theater student from Undeclared. Also in his motorcycle gang as a prospect is the annoying kid from MTV’s Now What (anyone else remember that horrible show?). Throughout the season you get to see Hellboy armed to the T with various an assortment of high powered weapons. And we all know Hellboy prefers to fight you on like an, beat you down with his hands and bodyslam you. Charlie Utter has been reduced to a Barny Fife cop on the take. And one guy in Charming whose moral compass is pointing due north: Danny Boyd of all people.
Once you get past all those actors in a new light, Sons of Anarchy is an enthralling take of Hamlet on a motorcycle. And as the shows gears up for its sophomore outing, it is posed to go into overdrive now that Jax suspects that Hellboy put a hit on his best friend leading to the death of his wife leading to a power struggle for the lead of SAMCRO with Peg Bundy caught in-between her boy and her man.
This won’t be an easy task for Jax to pull off with the 9’ers, the Mayans, and Skinner’s Nords still lurking around the borders of Charming. And to make things even harder is the appearance Adam Arkin (Halloween H20 - Twenty Years Later), a more assimilated white supremacist that isn’t happy with SAMCRO supplying to the brown and black. And with all the casting that took some time to get used to, here is one that doesn’t, Henry Rollins as Arkin’s white-hand seems just right. Arkin also brings his daughter, Sarah Jones (Big Love) to town. Racism hasn’t looked this hot since Kate Bosworth in Remember the Titans.
Another good bit of typecasting is Tom Arnold (Soul Plane) who shows up in the second episode as, well, I don’t want to spoil the reveal. But once you see him you with think, yep, it is totally believable to have Tom Arnold play this part. And even though her case against Bobby Elvis dissolved after her witness too a one-way ticket out of town, Ally Walker (Kazaam) seems to be sticking around Charming for a little bit to harass SAMCRO some more.
Sons of Anarchy airs Tuesdays at 10:00 on FX. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes and Amazon Video on Demand (see below):
Tomorrow is Labor Day which means summer is unofficially over. At least for those that the season didn’t at the first bell of the school year. Nothing better brings in the season for fall, especially for those whose autumn begins with that first bell, then We’re Going to Be Friends which chronically the first day of school and even starts off with the line, “Fall is here, hear the yell, back to school, ring the bell.”
Quote of the Week: Leah was pissed to the highest pissisity. (Dre P – Tool Academy)
Song of the Week: Tracks of My Tears – Smokey Robinson and The Roots (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon)
Big News of the Week: Teen Wolf Remake in the Pipeline: I really cannot take credit for there being a Teen Wolf remake because let’s face it, everything will be remade in the new future. But I would like to think that me mentioning it a couple times last month put it on the fast track. But oddly it is not being remade into a movie (yet), but as an MTV show. Sadly that probably that means the budget won’t be enough for my casting suggestions of McLovin as the Wolf and Juno as Boof.
Coalition Links of the Week: This week, we checked back in with your favorite doctors at Seattle Grace and have a early review of the Grey's Anatomy season premiere to share with you. (The TV Addict)
Which reality will Fringe take place in when season two premieres? The TV Fanatic can't wait to find out. (TV Fanatic)
We got yet another amazing Weeds finale this week. Buzz wonders: of all the seasons, which finale has been your favorite? (BuzzSugar)
This week, Eric shared some pictures from the season 6 premiere of The Office. (Daemon's TV)
Nigel picked his Top 15. Vance picked his Top 25 dance routines EVER from So You Think You Can Dance. (Tapeworthy)
This week, Jace offered an advance review of the first three episodes of Season Seven of HBO's painfully hilarious Curb Your Enthusiasm. (Televisionary)
Greek: It was nice to see Cappie turn down Casey’s advances because the Casey-centric love polygons are extremely annoying at this point. Pick a dude and stick with it. Or just fly solo and stick with it. And there were few thing more telegraphed than Rebecca (who suddenly looks absurdly hot this season) mystery guy turning out to be Fisher. And her “that’s just who I am” excuse is so lame it single handedly ruined the character. You can stream current episodes on Hulu.
Leverage: One has to wonder if Iceman’s accent was supposed to be bad or if the actor’s British accent was so bad that they just wrote in into the script. Either way it was hilarious. But the Sophie sub plot was a little odd and out of place. You can stream current episodes over at TNT.tv. You can also download Leverage on iTunes.
Free Download of the Week: Fall TV Preview (iTunes): iTunes has preview clips of many of the returning shows from network and cable including previews of ten new shows.
Deal of the Week: TV for Under $20 (The Big Bang Theory, Chuck, Pushing Daisies, Chappelle Show)
Video of the Week: It is a shame that no one goes to see live action movies by Mike Judge. In fact Beavis and Butt-Head Do America made over five times more money at the box office than Office Space and Idiocracy combines. Maybe that is why be brought back the animated duo to hock his latest movie Extract.
“I would pay a chick to pay me to have sex.” Huh, huh, that’s cool.
Next Week Pick of the Week: Leverage, Wednesday at 9:00 on TNT: The summer finale features a guest appearance from Jeri Ryan. And if you are a fan of the show, which you should be, you will be happy to know that TNT has renewed the show for the third season. Expect the show return to finish off its second season sometime this winter and the third to air Summer 2010.
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 E-Mail Order Brides, Smokey Robinson, Trauma, The Biggest Loser, and the most hotly anticipated returning fall shows.
- How many of you were watching Rescue Me this season when Chief Needles got himself a mail order bride and thought to yourself, “Mmmm.” And if you are a red-blooded American boy, one look at his bride and you did. Well I have a show for you E-Mail Order Brides coming Wednesday September 9 at 9:00 on the National Geographic Channel. The special follow two guys as they try to pick of foreign wives. Here is a clip:
- If Tool Academy ever would have a spin off called Douche Academy and that in turn would spin off Celebrity Douche Academy (and being VH1 which has a Surreal Life family tree of about twenty shows, this is certainly possible), then Jimmy Fallon most definitely be on the first season. But if there is one thing he has ever done right it was to hire The Roots as his house band which has led to some incredible performance (I recommend trying to hunt down them performing Let’s Go Crazy with Incubus). Here is a web exclusive of the band backing up Smokey Robinson doing my personal favorite, Tracks of my Tears:
- Trauma premieres Monday September 28. Here is the latest promo:
- The Biggest Loser has video profiles of all sixteen contestants over at nbc.com.
- TVGuide.com has released a list of their most hotly anticipated returning fall shows. Topping the list: NCIS. Um, yeah, alrighty. For the new shows, the most anticipated, again according to TVGuide.com is, wait, this has to be a joke, NCIS: Los Angeles. Are the only people voting over 65?
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.
. The multiple Frank Sinatra references do not help either. Which is a silly comparison anyway, Sinatra was a triple threat, Jay-Z is barely a single threat anymore.![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.
rerunswhen they converted from The Nashville Network. But We TV does have a couple shows of note airing this weekend.
. The daughter even kind of looks like a brunette Lauren (what is sad is that I have never actually watched an episode of The Hills yet I know what it looks like and all the characters).
in a wife beater that shows off his swastika tattoo prominently on his chest. Then later in the season, 
beats down the chick from that 
with a skateboard.
. Also in his motorcycle gang as a prospect is the annoying kid from MTV’s Now What (anyone else remember that horrible show?). Throughout the season you get to see 
armed to the T with various an assortment of high powered weapons. And we all know Hellboy prefers to fight you on like an, beat you down with his hands and bodyslam you. 
has been reduced to a Barny Fife cop on the take. And one guy in Charming whose moral compass is pointing due north: 
of all people.
), a more assimilated white supremacist that isn’t happy with SAMCRO supplying to the brown and black. And with all the casting that took some time to get used to, here is one that doesn’t, 
) to town. Racism hasn’t looked this hot since Kate Bosworth in 
.
) who shows up in the second episode as, well, I don’t want to spoil the reveal. But once you see him you with think, yep, it is totally believable to have Tom Arnold play this part. And even though her case against Bobby Elvis dissolved after her witness too a one-way ticket out of town, Ally Walker (
) seems to be sticking around Charming for a little bit to harass SAMCRO some more.
made over five times more money at the box office than 
and 
combines. Maybe that is why be brought back the animated duo to hock his latest movie Extract.![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)
by way of 
feel to it but with more face covering with Rihanna coming off as a 
character ion the beginning.