Best of the Week - 2/5/11

Quote of the Week: It’s like accidentally walking into a gay bar and then having no one hit on you… It happened to a friend of mine. (Raj, The Big Bang Theory)

Song of the Week: Push It – Salt-n-Pepa (as performed by Jeffster, Chuck)

Big News of the Week: The Ice Storm: There are very few things I dislike more than shoveling snow, power washing my deck may be the only thing, but hey, it is the few times during winter when I actually exercise. I found out something even worse than shoveling snow from the driveway: chipping ice from the driveway thanks to the freezing rain that pelted the area for most of Wednesday. I could rest in the solace that Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow earlier this week but it turns out since 1887 the oversized rodent is only right thirty nine percent of the time. At least I can stay in and watch the Cavs’ record breaking season. KMN.

Gratuitous Token Hot Chick picture of the Week:



Free Download of the Week: Lonely Hearts Valentine's Day Sampler (AmazonMP3): Just in time for Valentine’s Day next week, Bloodshot Records has released this free sampler featuring Old 97’s and Alejandro Escovedo.

Deal of the Week: 100 Albums for $5: This month you can pick up albums from John Mayer, Norah Jones, The Black Keys, Carrie Underwood and more.



New Album Release of the Week: The Sing-Off: The Best of Season 2

New DVD Release of the Week: You Again

Video of the Week: Last month would have been Ronald Reagan’s 100’th birthday and Monday at 9:00 HBO will debut the Eugene Jarecki documentary Reagan which follows the 40th president from the small town to the White House. Check out a clip below:

Scene Clip

Next Week Pick of the Week: Justified, Wednesday at 10:0 on FX: We left off last season with Raylan joining up with arch nemesis Boyd Crowder leaving as one of the best shows on television. Season one started out with the coolest opening scenes in the history of television, hopefully season two is just as good.

Around the Tubes - 2/4/11

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 Kristen Bell, Big Love, Dallas, Explorer, The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway, Potrlandia, Outsourced, Savannah Music Festival, SunRay, Celebrity Beach Bowl, The Cape and I Spit on Your Grave.

- Kristen Bell is returning to television as the former Veronica Mars has joined the cast of Showtime’s House of Lies with the previously announced Don Cheadle. Bell will play Jeannie Van Der Hooven, a razor-sharp, Ivy-League graduate who works at Cheadle’s firm. No word when we can get a peak of the show.

- I recently just started catching up with season four of Big Love (so far it is not as bad as Chloe Sevigny would have me believe) but for those all caught up and watching the fifth season as it is airing Sundays on HBO, here is an inside look at the most recent episode.



- In other casting news, the Dallas redux will be seeing some new and old faces in the city. TNT announced that the cast will include original series stars Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray while newbies Josh Henderson (Desperate Housewives) will play John Ross and Jordana Brewster (Fast & Furious) will play Elena, who is involved in a love triangle with Christopher and John Ross.

- Have you ever wanted to build a beating heart? Well you are in luck because Explorer is looking in on just how to do that. Tune in Money at 10:00 on the National Geographic Channel to find out. Here is a sneak peak:

The Re-Animator


- Pee-Wee Herman recently wrapped up a stint on Broadway (no, seriously) and HBO had their camera there and will be airing a special on the show March 19 called The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway. Below is a teaser.



- Tonight the new episode of IFC’s Potrlandia will feature Sarah McLaughlin and Amiee Mann. Fans of the show should head over to Put a bird on it to do just that.

- The stars of Outsourced have answered a few fan questions in the video below where you can hear Anisha Nagarajan speak in her normal, non-whispering voice.

Outsourced Fan Questions


- Savannah Music Festival recently added The Avett Brothers, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Band of Horses, and Citizen Cope to their lineup. That’s a pretty good lineup. So if you are going to be in Georgia between March 24 and April 9 you may want to check one of them out. Click the link for more acts, tickets are on sale now.

- Just in time for the Super Bowl, SunRay, a national home solar company, counted down the top ten greenest stadiums in America with Seattle’s Quest Field coming in at number. Surprisingly my home town Progressive Field came in at number 9. But apparently I have been drinking out of cornstarch cups while taking in an Indians game.

- If you need some football fix before the big game, DirecTV will be hosting their Fifth Annual Celebrity Beach Bowl on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 2:30 featuring Duhamel, Hayden Panettiere, Chace Crawford, Tom Arnold, Marisa Miller and more, along with special coaches Eli Manning, Alex Rodriguez and future Super Bowl MVP Colt McCoy. Directly following will be a performance by Maroon 5. Viewers can watch the pre-game show, Celebrity Beach Bowl Kickoff and Maroon 5 concert on Livestream and on Facebook.

- And of course the Super Bowl is the biggest betting day of the year. Head over to Bookmaker.com to bet on items such as will Ben Roethlisberger be accused of a crime before Super Bowl Sunday.

- Chad Lindberg will be busy next week. On Monday he will be guest staring on The Cape as Hicks. Then on Tuesday see the release of his movie I Spit on Your Grave (I am assuming by the title it is not kiddie friendly) on DVD and Blu-Ray. The cast of the latter will be signing autographs on the release date at Dark Delicacies Bookstore in Burbank.

I Want My Music Television - 2/3/11

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.


What the Hell - Avril Lavigne



Avril Lavigne should go back to her faux-punk routine because this sex pop act does not work at all.


Rill Rill – Sleigh Bells



Well that Sleigh Bells got violent out of nowhere. Yet I still find the lead singer oddly attractive.


Untitled – Lykke Li



But weirdest video of the week goes to Lykke Li who poses the question do you really need music to make a music video?


Crazy for You – Best Coast



And for all the cat lovers out there, the latest from Best Coast.

Feed Your iPod vol. LIV: C U When U Get There

Over the weekend I was listening to a mixtap that my college roommate made and dude had an eclectically weird taste with everything from Vanilla Ice to Fleetwood Mac to Metallica to the theme to Dukes of Hazard. One song that stood out in an I can’t believe I forgot the awesomeness of this song was Coolio’s inspirational track C U When U Get There. It was also the first rap song that I can remember sampling classical music, Pachelbel's Canon - Christmas - A Love Story. Coolio slowly slipped into obscurity afterward accepting every reality show offered to him and even wrote a cookbook, no seriously, I even own Cookin’ with Coolio: 5 Star Meals at 1 Star Prices. I reccomend the Bro-ghetti with the Strawberry Fields Banana Muffins Forever for desert.

C U When U Get There - Coolio

Memories Can Be Distorted, They're Just an Interpretation

There are plenty of good films that you want to watch again and again but very few movies that once they end, you hit play again because you have to see what you just saw was in fact what you thought you saw. Memento is one of those films. Under most directors, the telling a story in reverse would be a gimmick at best, but in the hands of Christopher Nolan it is a masterful art of storytelling.


Guy Peirce (Bedtime Stories) stars as a guy with no short term memory after a blow to the head in an attack that left his wife dead. Trying to hunt down the person responsible is hampered by Guy’s ability to only remember the past fifteen minutes which has led him to tattoo everything that has to do with the case all over his body coupled with various Polaroids of the key players. These include a creepyly moustached Joe Pantoliano (The Fugitive) and mysterious waitress Carrie-Anne Moss (Red Planet).

Then after all the twist and turns as we go backwards three day, we get on major5 shocker of an ender that demands that you rewatch the movie right then and there one more time. For that Memento landed in at number two on my list of The 100 Greatest Movies of the 00's and is this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame. And look out for the 10th Anniversary edition on Blu-Ray coming out later this month.

2011 Winter Music Preview

Winter has been dead for the music industry for a couple years and it managed to get worst this year with multiple albums have broke the dubious distinction of the worst sales for the number one album in the Soundscan era and we are just one month in. And looking ahead, that record is not very safe. But it may pick up soon with many high profile acts set to release albums later in the first quarter, but not many have not set a street date yet, just a vague “Spring” release date. Here are some albums that you may have to look forward to while watching the snow melt: Click on the album name to pre-order at Amazon, or the artist name to do so in iTunes.

February 1
Musica + Alma + Sexo – Ricky Martin
Go Down Under – Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

February 8
Mondo Amore – Nicole Atkins
Tell Me – Jessica Lea Mayfield
The World Is Yours - Motörhead
The Sing Off: The Best of Season 2

Slaughterhouse EP - Slaughterhouse

Febuary 15
Go-Go Boots – Drive-By Truckers
People’s Key – Bright Eyes
What If – Mr. Big

February 22
21 – Adele

March 1
The Valley – Eisley
Blessed – Lucinda Williams
Wounded Rhymes – Lykke Li
Going Out in Style – Dropkick Murphys

March 8
Collapse into Now – R.E.M.
Lasers – Lupe Fiasco
Goodbye Lullaby – Avril Lavigne

March 15
Rome – Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppe
Scandalous – Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

March 22
Stone Rollin’ – Raphael Saadiq
Live on I-5 - Soundgarden

March 29
Gimme Some - Peter Bjorn and John
Doggumentary Music – Snoop Dogg

April
TBD – Foo Fighters
So Beautiful or So What – Paul Simon
Time of My Life – 3 Doors Down
Blood Pressures – The Kills

May 3
In Your Dreams – Stevie Nicks

Unknown Date
Watch the Throne – Kanye West & Jay-Z
Songs of Ascent – U2
Hot Sauce Committee parts 1 & 2 – Beastie Boys
Codes and Keys – Death Cab for Cutie
BlakRoc II – BlakRoc
TBD – Fiona Apple
TBD – Red Hot Chili Peppers
Fleet Foxes LP2 – Fleet Foxes
Black and White America – Lenny Kravitz
Euphoric Heartbreak – Glasvegas
TBD – Mary J. Blige
Lifestyle – Nelly Furtado
TBD – The Ting Tings

And what would be a music preview without the prerequisite maybe this is the quarter we get to hear Detox which is rumored to drop, when else, 4/20.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 1/30/11

Chuck: Seems a little naïve that Mama Bartowski has been working to bring that Volcov for two decades but Sarah thinks she can do so in short order. But if next week truly is the final showdown between Chuck and Volcov I will miss Timothy Dalton who has been a short in the arm this season. If Mama Bartowski goes down with him, I won’t be as sad to see her go. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Holy Meg Manning sighting! One thing that has bugged me since the show returned is that the final scenes I have always been under the impression what we are seeing is the scene through A’s eye. Like this week we see what I assume is A picking up his (her? But they looked kind of manly) coat and gloves from Aria’s mom at the dance. Here is what bugs me, last season; we see what we assume to be A destroying Allison’s memorial. But at the start of this season, nerd boy admitted to destroying said memorial. Does that mean he is A or is the last scene not necessarily always A? You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Greek: From the first segment, I was hoping that they were actually going to cram Beaver into every scene Lost style, but alas the writers were not clever enough to figure out how to make that happen. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.



The Cape: So it has all but said our load that Orwell is Chess’s daughter, but how long has it been that Chess couldn’t even recognize his own daughter even behind a thin mask? Is this a Superman glasses situation? You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Cape on iTunes.

Castle: I found it a little creepy that Castle was all but professing his love for Beckett while she was trying to solve her mother’s mother. But we did get another puzzle piece. Which begs the question who is behind it all, the chief of police, a politician, Castle’s buddy, the mayor? You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Harry’s Law: If they added Shooter McGavin to the cast, I would watch this show every week. He would make a much better foil for Harry than the balding dude. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.

Lights Out: I bet that the person slyly taking a picture of Lights giving a gift to the DA’s kid will come out in the near future. Once you owe a favor to a guy like that tends to never go away. Hulu. You can also download Lights Out on iTunes.

Community: I wonder if Pierce saving Annie is sowing the seeds for the group to move into his house at some point when they cannot conceivable have the whole study group in the same classes every year. You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

Outsourced: I’m with Todd that the fart-o-matic is hilarious. But not as funny as Rajiv’s attempt at making a joke that turned out to be a math problem. And I swear the nameless guy at the lunch table is really just C. Thomas Howell circa Soul Man. Also, bonus points for the sitar infused version of Is She Really Going Out with Him? while Todd was revealing to Charlie that yes, she was really going out with him. You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Outsourced on iTunes.

Best of the Week - 1/29/11

Quote of the Week: The rich girls steal, the pretty girls lie, the smart girls play dumb, and the dumb girls spend their days trying to be all of the above. (Caleb, Pretty Little Liars)

Song of the Week: When the Night Comes - Dan Auerbach (Lights Out)

Big News of the Week: Keith Olbermann Fired: After the shooting in Arizona there was a lot of talk about civility, and I thought it was just that: talk, and it would die down and we would be back to politics as usually within a month. Surprisingly last Friday MSNBC fired the biggest offender of lack of civility (and their highest rated talking head), Mr. Worst Persons in the World himself Keith Olbermann. Now if only Glen Beck, Sean Hannity and Rachel Maddow follow him into the unemployment line we can actually get back to civility.

Ironically, shortly afterwards it was announced that Aaron Sorkin was working with HBO on a series about the backstage of a cable new show much like Countdown with Keith Olbermann, note that Olbermann former gig on Sportscenter was the inspiration for Sports Night.

Gratuitous Token Hot Chick picture of the Week:



Free Download of the Week: El Camino - Amos Lee (Amazon MP3): If one free Amos Lee song is not enough for you, you can also get his song Violin for the low, low price of nothing on iTunes.

New Album Release of the Week: Live Forever: The Stanley Theatre, Pittsburgh PA September 23, 1980 [2 CD Deluxe Edition]

New DVD Release of the Week: Let Me In

Video of the Week: Just in time for his departure, Michael Scott met his British counterpoint David Brent on The Office this week. For those that missed it, below is the meeting of the minds.



Next Week Pick of the Week: Super Bowl XLV, All Day Next Sunday, Fox: Even if you a fan of one of the teams playing, it is wise to stay in the comfort of your own home and watch the game on your HDTV because word on the streets of Texas that there is a rapist in Arlington and he’s climbing in your windows, he’s snatching your people up trying to rape them. So y’all need to high your kids, hide your wife. In fact you may want to hide your husband ‘cause they’re raping everybody out there. After the big game is a new episode of Glee which I’ll probably have to skip because I liked the show a lot better when it was called Kids Incorporated.

Around the Tubes - 1/28/11

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 Ultimate Factories, Restrepo, Still Bill, Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, Life After Film School, Lizzie Olsen, Operation Repo, One Born Every Minute, Discover and Travel Channel DVD's, and Archer.

- Car fanatics will want to turn into the National Geographic Channel next Thursday at 10:00 for the new series Ultimate Factories. The first episode will follow the making of the making of Dodge Challenger in the first episode and will later feature Maserati, Mercedez-Benz, Dodge Viper, and Bentley. Check out a preview below:

The Paint Shop


- In other National Geographic Channel news, for those that missed it when it originally ran, the channel is re-airing the now Oscar nominated documentary Restrepo Wednesday at 8:00. You can also go back and read my original Preview of Restrepo.

- One of my personal favorite soul singers of all-time, Bill Withers is getting a documentary treatment on Showtime next month. Next Friday on Showtime, tune into Still Bill will feature concert footage and interviews with music legends, peers, family and his closest friends.

- After all the hype, what may be the greatest movie ever (or the least greatest ever made for basic cable movie) premieres tomorrow. Of course I am referring to Tiffany / Debby Gibson showdown, Mega Python vs. Gatoroid. Below is a preview of the throw down between the former teen idols.



- This Sunday Justified executive producer and showrunner Graham Yost will be the guest on Fox Movie Channel’s Life After Film School. And do not forget Justified returns for its second season Wednesday, February 9.

- Who better to cover the Sundance Film Festival than the Sundance Channel? Below is an interview with Lizzie Olsen, star of Sundance films Martha Marcy May Marlene and Silent House (and, yes, she is the sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley).



- If you enjoy TruTV’s Operation Repo you will want to head over to Facebook to like the show because if they reach 500,000 “likes” by the end of the season in April, truTV will create and present a bonus, full-length, fans-only episode on the Operation Repo Facebook fan page.

- Lifetime has a new series premiering next week. One Born Every Minute takes an in-depth look at life inside the maternity ward at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Here is a promo of the show that will air eight episodes Tuesdays at 10:00.

One Born Every Minute Trailer


- Discovery Communications has a couple DVD’s hitting shelves next month including Eyewitness to Jesus, out 2/8, which follows Matthew D’Ancona of Magdelena College in Oxford on his journey from Egypt to the Holy Land in search of evidence that can prove this papyrus was, in fact, written during the life and times of Jesus. Then Speed of Life, out 2/1, exposes life invisible to the naked eye by using modern technology to manipulate time, light, and size to reveal the hidden splendor of nature.

- Travel Channel is also releasing some DVD’s of their own including Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern Collection 4/Part 2 and Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, both out now.

- Just in time for Archer’s return yesterday, Pandora has created a Archer Horizontal Mambo Mix.