Lyrics Quiz: Beautiful Day

If you are a World Cup fan, you have undoubtedly been inundated with U2 music lately and I thought I would take one of their most summer (which starts up next week officially) ready song through the Genius feature in iTunes and here are twenty-five songs it gave back to me for Beautiful Day. As always leave your guesses, both artist and song title, in the comment section or e-mail me. If you are correct I will un-bold the lyric. Please keep in mind the lyrics quiz is for entertainment purposes only so please only use your own meandering mind to guess them. Now onto the lyric quiz:


1. I was lost, I was lost, crossed lines I shouldn’t have crossed. I was lost, oh, yeah.
2. Let’s go and see the stars, the Milky Way, or even Mars. Well it could just be ours.  (Fly Away - Lenny Kravitz; guessed by Rebekah)
3. Sunday all the lights in London shine and the sky is fading red to blue. And I’m kicking through the autumn leaves and wondering where it is you might be going to.
4. Andy are you goofing on Elvis (Hey baby)? Are we losing touch? (Man On the Moon - R.E.M.; guessed by Rebekah)
5. Step outside the summertime’s in bloom. Stand up beside the fireplace. Take that look from off your face.
6. And when the worrying starts to hurt. And the world feels like graves of dirt.
7. Boy, one day you’ll be a man. Oh girl, he’ll help you understand.
8. Her friends are so jealous. You know how bad girls get. Sometimes it’s not so easy to be the teacher’s pet. (Don't Stand So Close to Me - The Police; guessed by Rebekah)
9. I don’t want to call my friends; they might wake me from this dream. And I leave this bed, risk forgetting all that’s been.
10. She parks her car outside my house, takes her clothes off. Says she’s close to understanding Jesus. (Round Here - Counting Crows; guessed by Rebekah)
11. Driving in on this highway. All these cars and up on the sidewalk, people in all directions. No words exchanged; no time to exchange them. (Ants Marching - Dave Matthews Band; guessed by Rebekah)
12. So slide over here and give me a moment. Your moves are so raw.
13. Steak Knife. Caro Shark. Con Job. Boot Cut.
14. Heaven holds a place for those who pray. Hey hey hey. (Mrs. Robinson - Simon and Garfunkel; guessed by Rebekah)
15. Do they know wher we go when we’re grey and old? Cause I have been told that salvation lets their wings unfold.
16. I sank into Eden with you alone in the Church by and by. I’ll read to you here, save your eyes. (I Alone - Live; guessed by Rebekah)
17. How many train wrecks do we need to see before we lose touch of? We thought this was low, well; it's bad, getting worse.
18. The embers never fade in your city by the lake, the place where you were born.
19. This is what you get; this is what you get when you mess with us.
20. You are the bearer of unconditional things. You held your breath an the door for me. Thanks for your patience.
21. You Catholic girls start much too late. But sooner or later it comes down to fate. I might as wel be the one. (Only the Good Die Young - Billy Joel; guessed by Rebekah)
22. You live in a church where you sleep with voodoo dolls. And you won’t give up the search for the ghosts in the halls. (Building a Mystery - Sarah McLachlan; guessed by Rebekah)
23. I’m coming down, the world turned over. Angels fall without you there.
24. Hey, don't let it go to waste. I love it but, I hate that taste. Weight keeping me down.
25. This is a call to the colorblind, this is an IOU. I’m stranded behind the horizon line.

I Want My Music Television vol. LXXXIV

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.


Not Afraid – Eminem



The Real Slim Shady was extremely catchy but with every passing album, the lead single from Eminem has been increasingly lame and predictable: skewering of pop tarts, Elvis costumes, peppy beat. So it is refreshing that he actually changed it up this time after admitting that Relapse was “eh.” Though he vocal style isn’t as annoying as the one he used for much of the last album, this song really isn’t much of an improvement from then.


Bang, Bang, Bang - Mark Ronson and the Business INTL featuring Q-Tip and MNDR



Sure the video is cheesy (which I guesswas the point) but sign me up for any Mark Ronson / Q-Tip collaboration.


Getaway – Michelle Branch featuring Timbaland



I can’t remember the last time I physically cringed when hearing a song from an artist I actually like (well unless you count to listening to the new Christina Aguilera album as a whole), Timbaland really needs to stop going outside his genre. Really, if you strip the song down to just the acoustics from Michelle Branch, it might be a great song, but Timbaland just has to go and make his Timbaland face and ruin everything. Hopefully there is an acoustic version of the song out there somewhere.


Lookin’ Fly – Redman



Redman playing tribute to Michael Jackson. Alrighty. The hook is taken from The Jacksons Heartbreak Hotel.

57 Channels and Only This Is On vol. CXXXIV

Quote of the Week: Because I am just one jackass comment from doing some serious damage and if that happens I will lose my job. And I love my job, you get me? (Coach Traub, Friday Night Lights)

Song of the Week: Crazy – Patsy Cline (Friday Night Lights)

Big News of the Week: Obama Has His Biggest Pop Culture Week Since Being Sworn In: Barack Obama was everywhere in pop culture running for president but that has been slowing down ever since he was sworn in. But he was back in a big way this week. First we learned that he may or may not have been in the music video for the early nineties rap anthem Whoomp! There it Is! (I was more of a Whoot! There it Is fan). But it wasn’t all fun with Obama’s other pop culture reference of the week when he drew the ire of Jersey Shore weirdo Snookie who claims she no longer uses tanning beds because “Obama put a 10 percent tax on tanning.” I guess we now know why Republicans recently won the governorship of New Jersey for the first time in a decade). More disturbing is that John McCain actually responded to Snookie, who went on to say, “McCain would never put a 10 percent tax on tanning, because he's pale and he would probably want to be tan,” via twitter saying, “u r right, I would never tax your tanning bed! Pres Obama's tax/spend policy is quite The Situation. but I do rec wearing sunscreen.” Well actually someone poising as Senator McCain said that because, let’s face it, he cannot even turn on a computer.

MTV Movie Awards: My viewing of this award show can best be summed up by the look on the face of the dude from Inglourious Bastards after losing who had a I Came All Here Just to Lose Best Villain to Some Twelve Year Old who Looks Like a Young Ellen DeGeneres face. MTV should realize that they are losing more viewers by catering to the Twilight crowd than gaining from it. And how pathetic were all the crowd shots and they kept a heavy rotation of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Mike Tyson. Did any presenters bother to stay for the whole show? But I bet most of the viewers left too.

Happy Town: I am quite befuddled by the big twist of the week. So Mama Haplin pays an absorbent amount of money to keep Henley from exposing a murder weapon, but one of her conditions is to keep a person who knows about said murder weapon in her hometown. Um, why? You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Happy Town on iTunes.

Friday Night Lights: With every passing episode, Becky Sproles is moving further up my list of favorite characters on television. I just love after her long winded speech at the end of the episode; Tim just cuts her off and says, Becky… shut up… please.” But considering how amazing they dealt with sending off former castmembers last season, the two that left this week weren’t so much. Lyla comes back just for another romp with Tim including a weird interaction with Becky. While Matt was this weird open ended ride off in the sunset where we are not sure if it was a proper goodbye, or just a short (or long) joy ride.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.



Free Download of the Week: Pretty Little Liars Pilot (iTunes): You can also find the episode for free on Amazon Video on Demand.

Deal of the Week: The Big DVD Sale (Blu-Rays) (The Dark Knight, Band of Brothers, True Blood)

Video of the Week: True Blood returns for a third season tonight at 9:00 on HBO and from the video below, the marketing team at the station went a little overboard in promoting the show. And for fanatics of the show who have found the previous 11, below the video is the 12th and final collectable poster that HBO has been releasing over the past twelve week leading up to the return.





Next Week Pick of the Week: Persons Unknown, Monday at 10:00 on NBC or Pretty Little Liars, Tuesday at 8:00 on ABC Family: I recently did a Toss Up between the shows, but take your own pick for yourself.


One last television note for the week, I had originally planned to include the unaired pilot for The Big Bang Theory that hit the web this week, but by the time I wrote my blurb about and when I was posting it, Warner Brothers had it taken down. I have seen a couple others uploaded and taken since then. If you haven’t caught it yet, I recommend trying to find it before WB does because it is an interesting view. Try typing “The Big Bang Theory” and “unaired pilot” or “Amanda Walsh” into You Tube or your favorite video sharing site. Below is what I originally wrote about it.

Every year pilots are filmed and are almost always reshot for tinkering or cast changes, even if it is just a couple scenes and in some cases completely new episode. Such is the case of The Big Bang Theory which hit the internets this week and it surprising just how much is changed; no Kaley Cuoco, Raj, or Howard and, gasp, Sheldon actually had sex and even adhered to the profound theory posed by the great sociologist Dr. Sir Mix-a-Lot PhD. that guys are predetermined to like big butts. The unaired pilot is actually funnier than the one that aired on television but it is good they did make the changes because Katy (the Penny precursor played by Amada Walsh) is pretty unlikeable here and the boys actually having a female friend (who was likely the basis of the Sara Gilbert character) is just weird. But not as weird as Sheldon actually having sex.

Around the Tubes vol. LIV

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 the World Cup, ScatterTunes, Ice Road Truckers, American Pickers, Blacksocks, Johnny B. Homeless, and Friday Night Lights.

- World Cup starts today and there have been plenty of great commercials celebrating the event and Dodge Challenger (which just launched its Facebook page) is going to feature a game specific ad for tomorrow’s Revolutionary War rematch between the United States and England. Here is a sneak peak of what you can expect tomorrow when the full ad airs.



- If you are looking for non-stop online coverage of the World Cup, try Terra.com.

- For the gamblers out there, Spain is currently the favorites according to Bookmaker.com at +385 (21%) with Brazil close behind at +400 (20%). Head over there for all the wacky bets too like Total Red Cards which they have the Over/Under at 18.5.

- For those like me that still prefer CD’s to MP3 because you like to leaf though the booklet while listening to your new purchase, there is a new way to listen to music called ScatterTunes. They come in two forms, V-Albums and V-Wraps (for those that alright bought some songs from a certain album) both feature the highest-quality (320kbps), non-DRM MP3 tracks (which means you can play them in iTunes and any mp3 player), multi-page digital booklets, liner notes, photos, lyrics, videos and other bonus materials. For those that want to test this about before actually buying it, the site is giving away 100,000 free Taylor Swift Fearless – Platinum Edition V-Wraps (they were still available as lof last night; keep in mind this is pretty worthless unless you have already bought songs from the album). Including Swift, just added include Jewel's Sweet and Wild and Sweet and Wild (Deluxe Edition), Justin Moore's Justin Moore, and Reba McEntire's Keep On Loving You.

- New episode of Ice Road Truckers at 9:00 this Sunday on History. Here is synopsis: “Failing trailer brakes and trash talk over the CB threaten to derail Lisa's comeback. Newcomer Greg races to reignite his rivalry with Jack, before a devastating wreck slams the brakes on Greg's need for speed. In the meantime, with a damaged fuel tank to deliver, Jack isn't giving up the load-count crown without a fight. Alex tries to build on his lead on Hugh, but treacherous conditions send him to the edge of disaster. Hugh "the Polar Bear" Rowland returns to Alaska at last and has to face down his other haul road nemesis: chaining up. Engine troubles leave rookie driver Ray Veilleux broken down, and all alone, in twenty-below temperatures.” If you need to catch up on the previous season, Ice Road Truckers: The Complete Season 3 was released earlier this week on blu-ray and is currently cheaper than the DVD version (which I may have more on at a later date).

- Another History show new to DVD is American Pickers: The Complete Season One. “In small towns, and along America's back roads, treasures are waiting to be uncovered--valuable relics from our history that are hidden in junk piles, buried in barns and stacked in garages. It takes experts to find them...and turn rust to riches.”

- Need a last minute gift idea for Father’s Day? Try Blacksocks.com which features, well just as the website suggests from ski to athletic socks. They also have underwear and shirts available too.

- I have mentioned it before, but just a reminder, the premiere of the Keenan Thompson featuring web series Johnny B Homeless this coming Tuesday on Atom.com. The show will also be featured on Atom TV, the half hour late night series on Comedy Central.

For those that need a 2 minute replay from last week’s terrific episode of Friday Night Light, here you go:

Toss Up: Persons Unknown vs Pretty Little Liars

Though they have had success with reality shows, television networks have yet to come with a summer scripted season that anyone wants to watch. Yet on the cable side, from FX to TNT to even smaller stations like AMC have created buzz worthy shows most of last decade. The problem has always been for the major network, their summer show have always seemed like series they are burning off in the summer because they were not good enough during the normal television season, while the cable networks have such a small slate of show, most all of them are treated like flagship shows.

Two new shows debuted this week, one network and one cable, and look like they would have nothing in common. On the network side looking to buck the trend is Persons Unknown, The Prisoner meets Lost for NBC; while ABC Family offers up the Desperate Housewives for the Gossip Girl set Pretty Little Liars. On the surface the two shows would have nothing in common, but at the heart of both shows is an overarching mystery.

For Persons Unknown, the big question is why these people were brought to this deserted town and where exactly is this town. The show started out very much like it could have Lost but instead of an island, the castaways were landlocked in the middle of nowhere, but instead of waiting until the end of the second season to see anyone off the island, we learn of a reporter investigating one of the missing persons. “Others” also show up shortly in the form of a catering Koreans and a night bellman, neither of which give us much information so far.

For Pretty Little Liars, the big mystery is who is sending all the title characters messages that only their missing friend would know. All these secrets are pretty familiars for shows of this ilk: hooking up with a teacher, same sex attraction, hooking up with a sister’s boyfriend, eating disorder. Not surprisingly the end of the episode the body of the missing girl shows up dead because the title sequence features the girls gathered around a casket. Seriously, is this the first time a title sequence featured a major spoiler?


Another thing the show share is not a particular strong cast. It may not be a good sign when your show is headlined by Cameron Frye. As seen by his recent spot on Justified, he can make a decent guest turn, but he cannot lead a series like Persons Unknown. On the other hand, Pretty Little Liars is full of actors that can barely pass a college students let along sixteen year olds. C’mon, Bianca Lawson was playing that age thirteen years ago when she was on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, when her current character was three years old.

In terms of a toss-up, I am going and call it a tie because Persons Unknown is the superior show with a better set up of its mystery. And being a thirteen episode miniseries, there shouldn’t be the too many to count loose ends that hampered Lost. But being on cable, Pretty Little Liars has a much better chance of extending past thirteen episodes.

Persons Unknowns airs Mondays at 10:00 on NBC. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Persons Unknown on iTunes. Pretty Little Liars airs Tuesdays at 8:00 on ABC Family. You can stream, recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes of which you can download the Pilot currently for free as well as Amazon Video on Demand:

Feed Your iPod vol. XLVI: God's Gonna Cut You Down

Asides from my yearly countdown, I rarely talk about mash-up even though I am constantly search for new interesting combinations of songs. Here is one that topped my list of Best Mash-Ups of 2006 list which is unlike your standard mash up which typically takes the vocals from one track and puts it over the music of another one. On his version of God’s Gonna Cut You Down, DJ Schmolli takes the Johnny Cash vocals, but instead of one song to put it over, he stripped down four different songs to one part to create a new instrumental. The backing track included the drums from Led Zeppelin’s When The Levee Breaks, the bass from Beastie Boys Sabotage, the guitar from Ted Nugent’s Cat Scratch Fever, and the lead guitar from The Beatles Come Together. To download the complete product, head over to Mashup Town.

You Make Me Pull, I'll Put You Down

There may not have been a cooler beginning of a television show than having the protagonist walk up to a bad guy twenty-three hours and fifty-five minutes after telling said bad guy he had twenty-four hours to leave town or he would shoot him. Unfortunately for Raylan Givens of Justified, the shooting got him transferred from sunny Miami to the one place he didn’t want to: home. He spent his whole life distancing himself from his father and even when back in Kentucky stayed away from him until of course he got in trouble with the law. It didn’t help that his ex-wife moved back to the area with her shifty new husband.

Now there is a premise that Seth Bullock could get behind and thankfully Timothy Olyphant doesn’t seem to care about typecasting as Givens might as well be the great grandson of his previous Deadwood character. We even get a couple of Deadwood reunions in the first season of Justified most notably with Bullock trading wits one more time with Dan Dougherty who played an escaped convicted holding hostages in Bullock’s office.

Aside from former Deadwood cohorts, there was plenty of other great casting choices including Stephan Root as a judge who wears little under hid robe but a gun. Alan Ruck as an informant turned on the run dentist. And then there was MC Gainey as the local kingpin, father of the guy Raylan shot upon return to Harlan, and former father-in-law to the girl Raylan bedded upon returning home.

Aside from the casting, another strong point for the show was the case of the week that never sank into the same rut of “ripped from the headlines” of other procedurals. Some of which featured criminals of the week so stupid that some even tried to out draw Raylan even knowing of what happened in Miami.

But it was the overarching storyline of Raylan and the one person that survived his bullet, Boyd Crowder. After coming out of surgery saying he was a changed man, Boyd still straddled the line of morality the rest of the season using whatever means necessarily to get everyone on the right path. Even if that means blowing up a truck full of meth supplies meant for his father (and not so coincidentally shipped by an associate of the man Raylan shot in Miami and unsuccessfully tried to have him killed twice already this season).

Raylan may have 99 Problems, at least two of them are female thanks to Ava seeing his ex leave his room last week. Everything comes to ahead tonight when the first season comes to a close. The Givens and the Crowders have been crossing each other paths all season and with Bo’s shipment getting blown up by Boyd and Raylan wanting Arlo to wear a wire to bring the Crowder clan down, there are plenty of double crossings going down tonight.

Justified 1.x gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Previewing Neighbors from Hell

Looking over the press release from Neighbors from Hell you have to wonder what is the odder paring: “Series from the producers of South Park and Madagascar” or the married couple being voiced by Mad TV’s Will Sasso and Saturday Night Live’s Molly Shannon. One you wouldn’t think in the same sentence and the other being rivals for many years (or at least their shows were). But anyways.

Neighbors from Hell, TBS’s first animated comedy, wants to be an animated version of an eighties sitcom. All the clichés are there, nuclear family, wacky uncle, wise sidekick, evil boss and of course neighbors from hell both figuratively, the neighbors are extremely annoying, and literally because the family depicted is actually demons from Hell.

See Balthazor Hellman is your regular, television loving demon (only in Hell could anyone enjoy Two and a Half Men) who is chosen by the Devil to go up to Earth posed as a normal family and get a job from a drill company and sabotage their most sophisticated drill from reaching their homes. Naturally Balthazor has his family watch shows life Growing Pains to see how to assimilate among the humans. Though watching Alf may have been a bad idea as the wacky uncle takes to eating cats.

Animated shows by nature are overthetop, but Neighbors from Hell takes it too far, the Hellman’s neighbor ia so annoying you hope that one of the demons actually kills her. And Balthazor’s above ground boss (That 70’s Show Kurtwood Smith) manages to be even more immoral than his one down under. The kids are just caricatures of teenagers today but with green skin and the ability to perform magic. The one bright spot is the dog like pet as voiced by Patton Oswalt.

Neighbors from Hell airs Mondays on TBS.

57 Channels and Only This Is On vol. CXXXIII

Quote of the Week: Yeah, come to think of it I do recall sitting for a couple hours in jail with someone by that name. I don’t know how I got there considering my friends were with me at the time. Kevin and wait, what’d you say your name was? JD McDick? (Luke, Friday Night Lights)

Song of the Week: 6th Avenue Heartache - Jeanne Newhall (Happy Town)

Big News of the Week: Death in more than Threes: It has always been a morbid game to group celebrity death into three (I have been guilty of this) even if you had to span months to make it work, but it seems in recent years it has been much easier and sometimes it is even hard to confine the list to three. Just in the past month we have seen the passing of Dennis Hopper, John Wooden, Gary Colman, Rue McClanahan, Ronnie James Dio, Jose Lima, Lena Horne, and the bassist for Slipnot. This is probably becoming the norm as before the sixties they were very few big name celebrities so celebrity deaths had been far and few in-between but celebrity became more popular when the baby boomer came of age who are now reaching retirement age they are starting to pass on at a quicker pace. Hopefully if that is the case, the truly talented get their just due and not just crammed together like I just did.

Justified: This was just one of those edge of your seats kind of episode. When I saw Boyd get his hands on another bazooka I could think of a number o places who could be targeting, but the one that didn’t cross my mind was papa’s truck of meth. Daddy cannot be to thrilled with how that happened (unless he has been pulling Boyd’s strings all along which I can see happening). Also something I didn’t see coming, Wynona knocking on Raylan’s door. This should make for an explosive finale even if Boyd runs out of ammo. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

Happy Town: I wonder if the show if running too many concurrent mysteries. I could do without one or two of them even if it turns out they are intertwined as it really hurts the pacing of the show. Like I could care less about the creepy detective and whatever he is doing. But the cliffhangers like the hot6 chick just waltzing into the Haplin home with a bloody hammer will make me keep tuning (well that and nothing much else on right now). You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Happy Town on iTunes.

Friday Night Lights: I hate when promo monkeys proclaim an episode is a “powerful hour of television” but this was a powerful hour of television and every second of that Matt was on screen was heartbreaking (except when he slammed the door in the McCoy’s faces which had me applauding). But why did Lyla come back from Vanderbilt to attend the service? I do not remember one conversation she and Matt had in the previous three seasons. Not that I am complaining because I am for any screen time I can get with Lyla. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.



I mentioned a couple days ago about the premiere of Expedition: Great White which is on tonight, but I would also like to add for anyone who is interested that the National Geographic Channel is giving away a chance to join the crew of Expedition Great White for a day. One lucky winner of the "Expedition Great White Big Catch" sweepstakes will receive a five day/four night trip, plus accommodation, to San Diego, California, and a one-day excursion with the crew of Expedition Great White. Your readers can enter the "Expedition Great White Big Catch" sweepstakes at http://www.natgeotv.com/bigcatch starting today.

Free Download of the Week: Always Will Be EP – Raining and OK: I was sent this video earlier this week and found it pretty cool and even offered the song for free on their free EP for you the readers. Check out the video below and for more on the band, head over to rainingandok.com.



Deal of the Week: DVDs as Low as $6.49 (Blazing Saddles, Wedding Crashers, Maria Full of Grace)

Video of the Week: It seems like all the World Cup ads this years have been really inspiring (though ESPN could bump their Bono spot down from one a half hour to less than once a day; you know an ad is overplayed when you can recite the script in full) but this Adidas ad may be my favorite as it combines sport with Star Wars and music. See if you can spot all the cameos.



Next Week Pick of the Week: Justified, Tuesday at 10:00 on FX: Everything is coming together in Harland for the season finale of Justified and it is hard to imagine everyone will be coming out alive as everyone seems to be conspiring against Raylan except for the guy he shot, who claims to be on the same side.

Around the Tubes vol. LIII

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 Expedition: Great White, Drop Dead Diva, Robert Klein: Unfair and Unbalanced, and Neistat Brothers.

- If you remember the special I mentioned a couple months ago which featured Paul Walker as a deckhand for a sharking expedition, that special is now becoming a full series, Expedition: Great White premiering this Sunday at 9:00 with back to back episodes before the show settles into its regular timeslot at 10:00 the following week. Here is a preview of the premiere episode:



- For those that need a quick refresher of the first season of Drop Dead Diva before the premiere this Sunday, here it is:



- Fun fact: the very first HBO standup comedy special was Robert Klein. Thirty-five years later he is back with his ninth one man show Robert Klein: Unfair and Unbalanced Saturday June 12 at 10. Here is a preview:



- Tonight on HBO is the premiere of Neistat Brothers, an eight-episode series consisting of experimental short films from the art-world brothers of the same name. Check out a clip below:

I Want My Music Television vol. LXXXIII

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.


The Ghost Inside – Broken Bells



The latest Broken Bells video just may be the greatest Outer Limits episode never to air and even stars Firefly vet Christina Hendricks who is no stranger to outerspace.


Half My Heart – John Mayer



I am really disappointed that with the absent of Taylor Swift we were deprived of some cheesetastic scenes that harken back to when Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks would share microphones during their duets. Instead we just get John Mayer sulking around as if he just got accused of being a racist.


Holiday – Vampire Weekend



Oh those wacky Ivy Leaguers of Vampire Weekend going all Victorian on us. Well done boys.


Rockstar 101 - Rihanna



If Rihanna is teaching Rock Star 101, who is the professor for 102, Pat Boone?

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooal!

As much as I hate the laziness in Hollywood, I resigned that they won’t stop cranking out remakes because they have run out of original ideas long ago (though I still which I had a Hot Tube Time Machine so I could un-see The A-Team trailer). I even occasionally try to help them out with some casting ideas for remakes. Like isn’t it time for a Victory for a new generation? Instead of Allied soccer players betting their freedom against their German, a group of female soldiers get ambushed by the Taliban and have to show that woman are just as capable as them to secure their release. Get Mia Hamm to replace Pele, Queen Latifah to sub info Sylvester Stallone and Angelina Jolie take over for Michael Caine.

Maybe because of the sport depicted, Victory has gotten lost in the discussion of great sports movies of all time. But how can you not love a movie where the allied forces beat those darn dirty Nazis at a sport they love. Sure having a midget like Stallone as a goalie is one of the biggest stretches in sports movie history (it’s like having Carlton Banks starring in the Patrick Ewing story), but the eighties cheese of it more than makes up for it.

Though one of the scenes still makes me squeamish just think about it, where they break the current goalie’s arm just so they could have Sly play in the big game, probably not a scene anyone who is still in single digits in age should watch like I was when I first saw the movie in my youth. But the movie is still worth of being inducted into the Scooter Hall of Fame. Now can we have Victory in Afghanistan ready for the next World Cup in four years?

Life Is Sweet

There is really no better advertising for Life, the BBC Earth miniseries which recently aired on Discovery, then “From the Makers of Planet Earth” which is one of the things on top of the list of reasons you should upgrade to an HD television set. Where Planet Earth focused on ecosystems around the worst, Life, out today on DVD and Blu-Ray, takes a look at the species that inhabit them from the jungles of Africa to under the arctic shelf.

© Barrie Britton

The first episode of Life is a primer for the series with the closing one takes a look behind the scenes of the humans (who show up only once in the other episodes) that were given the tasks to film in such remote locations. In-between each episode is dedicated to Classes such as Reptiles and Amphibians, Mammals, Fish, Birds, Insects, Plants as well as some subsections including Hunters and Hunted, Creatures of the Deep, and Primates.

© Stefano Unterthiner

If there is one complaint I have heard about Life it has been the narration from Oprah Winfrey, which could get bland at time and lacks the emotion that corresponds with the beauty that is presented on screen. If you were one of those that thought that during the Discovery telecast are in luck because both the DVD and Blu-Ray feature a music only viewing option. Both sets are also available with original British narration from David Attenborough; in fact the DVD is actually two dollars less than the Oprah version.

©Neil Lucas

If there was another complaint I could come up with it would be dedicating a whole episode to plants. Sure the Venus Fly Trap and other insect eating plants are entertaining, but watching a vine taking days to climb up a tree: not so much. Even more disappointing is the Behind the Scenes companion for the episode that shows much of what made it to screen was actually a blue screen with most of the plants actually were film inside.

©Rupert Barrington

Oprah haters may also want to pass on the Behind the Scenes episode because there are extend versions of each segment presented as bonus features, a ten minute behind the scenes look at each episode on how the filmmakers got the shots that ended up in the show. We also get to see cameramen struggle with gets great shots such as a komodo dragon hunting a water buffalo who takes a week from receiving a poisonous bite from the dragon until he is sick enough to eat. Or another that took three weeks of squatting to catch on film two birds mating which in total took less than a minute. One camerman even gets too close to a school of flying fish that choose to spawn on him. Also included in the set is eighteen minutes of deleted scenes, most of which were cut from creatures featured in the original series as well as a new segment on grass.

© Hugh Miller

As the above mention of the water buffalo, animal lovers be warned, the hunting scenes do get quite graphic and you may want to watch the series with a finger on the fast forward or next chapter button and skip the Hunters and Hunted episode altogether. But it is worth it to check out the rest of Life for its awe-inspiring shots from around the globe of 130 (54 of which have never been filmed before) different stories of species and the mate, find food (and avoid being that for others), and adapt to their environment. All presented in an entertaining package that you will not want to turn your eyes away from, especially when it is presented in HD.

Previewing Are We There Yet?

Earlier this decade, UPN was the place for urban comedies, but it then closed up shop the two sitcoms that got grandfathered to The CW were quickly banished to the Friday death spot and then quickly canceled. Now TBS looks to be the spot for the niche genre with two Tyler Perry productions already on the air and on Wednesday it adds Are We There Yet?, a remake of the 2005 Ice Cube flick. Though the sequel got a name change (Are We Done Yet?) the new show doesn’t despite the family being domesticated in Seattle without anywhere to go.

It is easy to get your hopes up for the sitcom version of Are We There Yet? because of the involvement of Ali Le Roi who was the show runner for Everybody Hate Chris. And he even brought in the patriarch from that show Terry Crews to fill in for Ice Cube while his female counterpart, another UPN expat, Essence Atkins from Half and Half. And though Crews is as entertaining as usual (albeit even more tamed down than Julius) there is just something missing: actual funny lines. Even token white dude Christian Finnegan (Best Week Ever) fails to bring the funny.

The show does have its moments; mostly in next week’s 9:30 episode where Crews and his new son argue over what is the better football, American or European (what we call soccer) which leads to some entertaining physical comedy from Crews. And whenever Ice Cube shows up as his new SWAT officer brother-in-law is comedy gold just because Cube goes over the top in his acting as if he only watched eighties sitcoms to prepare for the role. But it is not enough funny to tune in every week.

Are We There Yet? airs Wednesdays with new episodes at 9:00 and 9:30 on TBS.

57 Channels and Only This Is On vol. CXXXII

Quote of the Week: You strike at the shepherd, and the sheep may scatter. (Boyd Crowder’s congregation, Justified)

Song of the Week: Blaze of Glory – Jon Bon Jovi (as performed by Jeffster, Chuck)

Big News of the Week: A Melancholy Happy Trails to Gary Colman: As a child of the eighties of course I watched Diff’rent Strokes, a show that could have only been made that decade (rich white dudes adopts two kids from the ghettos, if they did it now, it would probably be foreigners a la Angelina Jolie). I was really young at the time so I really do not recall much else about the series except of course for, “Whacha talkin’ ‘bout Willis.”

Gratuitous Token Hot Chick Picture of the Week:



Chuck: So Papa Bartowski gets shot near a laboratory where they were able to bring Shaw back to life (after being brought all the way back from Paris) and no one thought to give it a try for daddy. Keep in mind selectively using Claire’s blood on Heroes is one of very many things that made that show unwatchable. And how is a guy as paranoid as him not wear a bullet proof vest? But still it is hard to complain about am episode that included a Jeffster music video (except that they haven’t yet released a full version to the internets). Although the duo better not be on the run for very much next season in order to shed some budget. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.

How I Met Your Mother: See my Parenthood review. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: A female Sheldon is cool for a one off thing but I fear that Blossom may return again next season might be too much of a good thing. And I would have liked to see some failed matches before they got to the female Sheldon. Sheldon on a blind date with a normal person has to be the highest of high comedy. You can download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

Parenthood: Not so fun fact: I once dyed my hair black. I couldn’t wait long enough to get rid of that hair soon enough that I got a premature buzz cut so I had brown roots up the sides and the black still up top. Needless to say I got ridiculed as much as Ted dying his blond. Too bad the season ended before we could see Haddie’s dyer’s remorse. But my favorite part of the episode was when Zeke laid into Timm for having an extra latter in his name. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Justified: Good old Dewey, getting deputized. If he gets banished from the church again I wouldn’t mind seeing that as a spin-off. Though I was hoping that was going to Be Stephan Root coming to the VFW with a court order to come inside. But everything seems to be coming together (I wish the previously on portion was actually longer) and we may be looking at some big blowup between Raylan, Boyd, and Bo, and I would be surprised if all three are still alive by the end of the season. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

Free Download of the Week: Matador Records - Intended Play 2010 (Amazon MP3): Artist included on the sampler include Cat Power, Pavement and Ted Leo.

Deal of the Week: Blu Ray Spotlight for Dad (Iron Man, Sin City, Planet Earth)

Video of the Week: It was pretty clear for a long time that Lost wasn’t going to answer all the questions it posed throughout it series run, and below is a rundown of a few of them. Keep in mind the video is produced by a site called College Humor, so some are asked for humorous effect, and some were actually answered if you were paying attention and of course they missed quite of few questions (but if you made that video with every unanswered question it would be a couple hours). But still a good watch. And of course you acn also check out my series review of Lost: Whatever Happened Happened.



Next Week Pick of the Week: It’s Memorial Day, turn off your television and enjoy the great outdoors.

Around the Tubes vol. LII

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 Drop Dead Diva, Life, True Blood, Stadium Slugfest, Team Coco presents Writers Live, and the Worls Cup.

- Need something to watch this long weekend, Lifetime is running a Drop Dead Diva marathon of its first season Sunday starting at 10:00 AM. For those with an adverson to commercial, Drop Dead Diva season one comes out on DVD next Tuesday. Look out for season two the following Sunday. Here is a preview:



Also coming out on DVD, as well as Blu-Ray, June 1 is the BBC miniseries Life which you may have caught earlier this year on Discovery hosted by Oprah Winfrey. I should have a full rundown by then, until I do, check out this preview clip:



- Also next Tuesday at midnight (9:00 for you west coasters) HBO will host the True Blood Ultimate Fan Experience, featuring a live Q&A via satellite with creator Alan Ball and select main cast members, a screening of the True Blood: Season 2 finale episode and a sneak peek of what's to come with an extended Season 3 trailer. The event will take place simultaneously at movie theaters in 50 markets across the country. There are two ways to get passes to the screening event:

Win a VIP pass through the True Blood Ultimate Fan Facebook Sweepstakes at www.facebook.com/trueblood.

Register for general admission passes at www.truebloodultimatefan.com. Passes are available on a first come first serve basis.

Can’t make it; check out a two minute preview of the new season below:

Season 3 Clip Preview

- In other HBO news, the channel will be hosting the very first ever pro boxing match in Yankees Stadium next Saturday (6/6) at 10:15 between super welterweight champion Yuri Foreman and three-time world champion Miguel Cotto.

- Conan O’Brien fans in Chicago, tickets go on sale today at 10:00 AM for his one hour special tentatively titled Team Coco presents Writers Live and will also feature longtime sidekick Andy Richter. The special will be taped on Thursday, June 17, at 7 p.m. (CT), and premiere on TBS Sunday, June 27, at 10 p.m. (ET/PT).

- Are you ready for some football? No spring practices for the NFL, but the world’s football with next month’s World Cup. If so, you will want to check out Terra.com a bilingual digital media company catering to U.S. Hispanic soccer fans. There is even a fantasy game you can sign up for.

Feed Your iPod vol. XLV: Delicate

My head still hurts from the Lost finale and my lengthy write up of the show (see Whatever Happened Happened). While I have Lost on my mind, I thought I’d go back to one of my favorite song placements from the show, Delicate by Damien Rice that closed out a season one episode where Hurley humorously ran out of battery life. Below is the clip from the show and under that is the song as a whole.

Delicate – Damien Rice