It’s been a while since I wrote about my favorite oversized dome, but it’s been quite since Barry Bonds took most of last season off. Then spring training came around and all of the sudden it looked as if Barry grew a sense of humor and participated in a Giants Karaoke contest for the rookie donning a wig and playing the part of Paula Abdul even though the equal annoying Simon Cowell would have been the obvious choice. And just as everyone started to praise for actually participating with teammates for presumable the first time, the next day it came out this was just part of his new reality series for ESPN.
Then, almost on cue, Sports Illustrated posts excerpts from a new book, Game of Shadows, in the magazine and on its website that goes into great detail of Barry’s alleged steroid abuse. The book is by San Francisco Chronicle writers Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams the same guy that brought us the leaked grand jury testimony where Big Head Barry stated he never knowingly took steroids. In it the writers go through the laundry list of illegal substances that led to Barry’s oversized head including the now infamous Cream and the Clear, Stanozolol, the drug that was the result of Ben Johnson’s failed drug test, testosterone and human growth hormones, which Bond’s dealer, Greg Anderson, bought off of AIDS patients, insulin, Mexican beans, trenbolone, a steroid used in beef cattle, and my personal favorite Clomid, a drug doctors prescribe to women for infertility, which could explain why he would put on a dress to play Abdul.
But what could be the worst part of the book is not all the drugs Barry took, most people have come to realize some of the biggest names of the past ten years have been doing the same thing, it’s why he took them, jealousy. Throughout the nineties Barry was building up a resume of someone who could be in the talk with the all time greats racking up MVP’s and Gold Gloves with equal parts power and speed. Then in 1998 Mark McGwire shattered the single season home run record to much fan fare and Bonds became relatively forgotten. After that, Bonds knowing he was more talented than McGwire decided to start taking steroids like McGwire to even the playing field and once again put himself in the rightful place, on top.
This book will again be another stain for Commissioner Bud Selig who has made poor judgment after poor judgment throughout his tenure. Word is that Selig is considering suspending Bonds but it’s doubtful that will fly as the players association will shoot down any kind of suspension. But here’s a suggestion for Bud that could save his legacy, and I’m not referring to the lame World Baseball Classic, ban Barry Bonds, or Bar-roid as Jim Rome would say, from baseball. Yeah the entire book is allegations by people with questionable credibility, but weren’t Pete Rose’s ban based on allegations by equally shady people? And unlike Rose, Bond has physical evidence against him (see above). I don’t want to hear how steroid were not banded by baseball during Bond’s run, they were still illegal in this country and were known to give the user an unfair advantage. And I don’t care if they need to take down McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Pudge Rodriguez , Sammy Sosa, Jason Giambi and the rest of the Monsters to do it.
One of the best reality television ideas ever came back for a second season recently in Beauty and the Geek. I had reservations about this season because the greatness of the original was that neither subject sample really knew what they were getting into so you truly had a group of dumb token hot chicks and a group of uber-geeks. Know that everyone has seen the show, potential contestants know what to expect and could fake dumb at the audition to get on the show. I ever heard people suggest that Wes Wilson, or nerd who tracks monkeys with lasers, was a plant.
My suspicions were justifies as the show took a hit creatively this season. The geeks weren’t as interesting and the hit chicks weren’t as vapid. Josh Herman stood to be the breakout star of this season after his panic attack upon first meeting the bikini-clad beauties, but really calmed down from there and rarely had a spaz attack after that. And sadly Josh didn’t have an arch nemesis much like Chuck Munyon and Richard Rubin from last season.
But it was the females that really brought down the season. It became pretty clear throughout the season that many of them, including Cher Tenbush, Brittney Knott, and Sarah Coleman were not as dumb as they let on. I believe that many stated early in the season that they had even gone to college. Cher even said that she plans to go to med school with the money she won. But a god side product of this was the more intelligent Brittany lead, the hotter she got. She was my pre-season number three on the hottest scale, but if I were to reorder, she be number one with a bullet.
The challenges also weren’t as interesting this time around as they were last season when they had such tasks as fixing a car and the rocket science test. And what could have been the most interesting one in the karaoke challenge, got boring quick as the guys had to perform the exact same song. And having the girls play strip poker with the nerds clothing was just wrong on so many levels. Even the ploy of switching up the game fail miserably when they gave one team the chance to switch up ant team they wanted including their own. Chris and decided to end their partnership with Chris hooking up with Tristin Clow while Amanda took Brandon and both teams were promptly sent to the elimination room in the first week.
It looks like we won’t even get a reunion show either as Supernatural debuts in Beauty and the Geek’s timeslot starting next week. Word on the street is that Ashton Kutcher is already to shake up the game dramatically for the next season with the beauties being dudes who are teamed up with geeky girls. It will be interesting to see if this makes it to screen as the already filmed Average Joe spin-off, Average Jane, has yet to make it to the small screen. But if Rachel Lee Cook taught us anything in She's All That
, a female nerd is a makeover away from being homecoming queen, well, as long as she was hot before becoming a nerd.
Beauty and the Geek 2.x gets a ![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.
I have to come clean about something; I have never watched America’s Next Top Model. You’d think hot chicks where little to no clothing would be appointment television for me but alas, things like that don’t really peak my interest. But with ANTM taking over the Veronica Mars timeslot, Lost being a repeat and nothing worth watching at 8:00 on Wednesday (seriously, how is Freddie still on the air?), I thought I’d give the 6th Cycle a try. And therein lies the problem with ANTM is there has already been five season and the only winner I can name is the chick that hooked up with Peter Brady. Um, what was her name again? But anyways. I have watch a second of American Karaoke contest but I know Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.
My first thought while watching the show is why I haven’t watched this before. Maybe the whole hot chicks in little clothing wasn’t as overrated as I thought. First thing some of the girls did upon arriving at their new house was hop in the hot tub and get naked. Let me repeat that last sentence if you weren’t paying attention. First thing some of the girls did upon arriving at their new house was hop in the hot tub and get naked. I think Tek and Ruthie from Real World: Hawaii were the only reality cast mates to get naked faster. But here’s the problem with this is that once you’ve seen a chick wear nothing but blurred pixels, what else is there to look forward to?
The show starts off by narrowing the first thirty-two contestants solely by an interview process by Tyra and (what could be the best line I’ve heard in a week) Mr. and Mrs. Jay. The only thing of note here was how disturbing the chick from Ohio’s feet were. They were kick her out of bed disgusting.
Next they reduced the group that was left even more to the final thirteen by having the girls do their own makeup for a close-up photo shoot. And here is where the show really irritated me by dumping the self proclaimed conservative Dani from Texas. You got to give it up to any chick who stated she hates gay people when trying out for a profession that is filled with gay people. Then at dinner she insulted half of the contestants by saying black people wrongly get preferential treatment. Racism hasn’t been this hot since Kate Bosworth in Remember the Titans. Unfortunately she didn’t make the final cut as they instead gave a spot to a chick from New Orleans as Tyra stated how it wasn’t a pity selection, pretty much ensuring that it was, in fact, pity selection. Hopefully Dani gets picked up by another reality show soon preferable the Real World basically so we can see a showdown between her and Coral at a future Real World/Road Rules challenge.
It was all downhill from there, well asides from the hot tub scene. For their first assignment, the girls were to go bald. From the moment they mention this was the first shoot in the new evil TV Guide, I knew they wouldn’t shave the girls head and instead have them put on bald caps, and that was indeed the case (oh I almost forgot the coked up Janice Dickenson made an appearance during some press conference thing). And much like Natalie Portman, none of the girls could pull of the bald look and still be attractive. Instead most of them looked like castoff from a Coneheads sketch. In the end it came down to Furonda and Kathy, both who I pegged to be out early, with Kathy ultimately getting the boot. Here are some of my predictions:
Winner: NNenna
Backup Choice: Sara
Most Likely to Slap Someone: Jade
Next to Go: Mollie Sue
Axed Contestant I’d Like to Hang With: Dani
Contestant I’d Most Like to Have Dirty, Dirty Sex With: Kari (at right)
Verdict: Had they kept Dani around, I would have watched every second she was there, but know I may turn into Veronica Mars early to see if anything exciting is coming in the future.
I was less than impressed by the commercials for Sons & Daughters of course that could just be because I don’t really find a five year old saying “We’re going to hell because we’re Jewish,” all that funny. But with all the Arrested Development comparisons I decided to check it out anyways. Although, aside from the family aspect, the only one I could find was the wanna be actor involved in a sex-less marriage.
The show is the brainchild of Fred Goss from Bravo’s Significant Others which, like Sons & Daughters, was partially improvised. Both shows show why improvisation should be left to small skits involving Drew Carey because they are peppered with uncomfortable pauses where you assume the actors are trying to think of something funny to say. And this isn’t the same type uncomfortable pauses that makes The Office funny either, it’s the kind of pauses that make you want to look at your watch.
The cast boosts a litter of virtual unknowns as I only recognized Amanda Walsh from a recent stint on Smallville as a token hot chick in a bikini and Greg Pitts who is best known, and only known, for bringing the phrase “O face” into the vernacular. And if you don’t know what an O face is you really need to buy Office Space. But anyways. The show itself follows around Cameron and his family of misfits which features his Jewish wife and two kids one of which is named Ezra, yet no Better Than Ezra jokes were made yet. He also has a son from a previous marriage who might as well been called George Michaels. Then there’s his sister, the one in the sex-less marriage and her two children. One of which also likes to make inappropriate comments like asking to get a bikini wax. Did I mention she was thirteen? There’s also Cameron’s half sister (Walsh) who’s living with her parents and her kid apparently to get away from the baby daddy (Pitts).
Verdict: There were a few laughs in the first two episodes last night but I knew Arrested Development, and this, sir, is no Arrested Development, or My Name Is Earl, Everybody Hates Chris, or How I Met Your Mother for that matter. But at least it was better than Four Kings and Emily's Reasons Why Not.
During the lead up to the Live 8 concerts last year, the big new was the reuniting of Pink Floyd, well san a still missing in action Syd. Many faithful hoped that this may be the beginning of thing to come with maybe a tour or even a new concert. Even during the concert, the band mates seemed cordial, getting together with a bow at the end. Since then both David Gilmour and Roger Waters stated that Live 8 was a one time thing with Waters promptly releasing an opera and Gilmour a just released album.
On an Island is Gilmour’s third solo record, which comes long longer than once in a blue moon, his last was eighteen years ago. Like many Pink Floyd albums, this one starts off with an instrumental, but Castellorizon is clunky and in no way sets a good mood for the album. This then transitions into the title track that sound very much like a part from Shine on You Crazy Diamond but without the passion or heartfelt lyrics. Speaking about songs that rip off another with less passion, the same could be said for Take a Breath but with Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir.
The only interesting aspect of the album is that it fulfills the fantasy of wondering what a band named Crosby, Gilmour, and Nash would sound like with Dave harmonizing with the other David and Graham on the title track. Almost makes you wonder what Pink Floyd would have sounded like if the recruited Stephan Stills instead.
The main problem with this album is, whereas Pink Floyd songs you just lay back and soak in the lengthy arrangements, many of the songs for On an Island leave you looking at your watch wondering if this is still the same song. But in the end if you already have all the Pink Floyd albums, this would make a good companion, if not, you’d be better off plugging your holes in your album collection. And if you don’t own Pink Floyd albums, I suggest you start off with Wish You Were Here and Dark Side of the Moon in that order.
Song to Download - On an Island
On an Island gets a ![Terror Alert Level: Guarded [BLUE]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzCbHfExiuXqojow1zxkBUX6j-9BHg9IyrfzqR77jnja2Xq6dbv-7iiqMFzp_UKXGcUF9FyAHqCkNxa5uitXa5Xu2Q1OboN9-TLjsaeI1a2eoGLORU4vkTQ54l1C-_cZyn81QHyQ/s400/small_guarded.png)
on my Terror Alert Scale.
I didn’t really plan on watching the Oscars last night. I thought I’d just turn in to see John Stewart’s monologue and turn off, but I ended up keeping the television on even though I didn’t really pay attention to the whole thing. Too bad they didn't do the awards in the isles or have everyone on stage bit like last year, that was the best part. But anyways. Best line of the night, “For those keeping track at home, Martin Scorsese: no Oscars, Three 6 Mafia: one.” Here are some other thoughts from last night.
- I typically hate those lame Brokeback Mountain jokes but having Chris Rock poking out of the tent during the “And now your host…” opener with Billy Crystal had me laughing for a while. Granted after that the skit just went too long, and how could they not have Letterman being too busy babysitting Uma and Oprah or at least cardboard cutouts of them.
- You know it’s going to be a bad night when they scan the crowd at the beginning and in lieu of nominees they bust out shots of Will Smith and Jennifer Lopez instead. - Even though both are old hat, the Dick Cheney shooting Björk joke was hilarious. Also the look George Clooney gave after Stewart made fun of him was priceless almost as good as when he brought up Batman in his acceptance speech.
- Yeah, the Were-Rabbit bow-ties were creepy.
- It’s odd during the Dolly Parton performance it was only her while the other two got weird interpretative dance including the re-enacting of the molesting scene from Crash. But Dolly wrote a song for a transsexual movie; Willie Nelson just released a song entitled Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly (Fond of Each Other), what’s next? Is Toby Keith going to duet on Don’t Go Breaking My Heart with Elton John?
- For those keeping track at home, the stars they brought in to present that will never even be nominated for an Oscar includes Ben Stiller, Luke and Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lopez, Will Ferrell, Steve Carrel, and Jessica Alba.
- The bio-flick montage was lame. I really wish they’d put a ban on those types of movies.
- The very clothed Rachel McAdams gets relegated to the technical Oscars. Ouch. Maybe had she gotten naked for Vanity Fair she would have been invited to the big show.
- The slander pieces were great especially how it made Reese Witherspoon look mortified afterwards.
- How can they reunite Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves and not mention Speed. Why even put the two together if you don’t?
- During the big “Issues” montage, why was Thelma & Louise featured. And the liberal Hollywood types still clapped like mindless drowns afterwards.
- I love how Stewart mocked the token old dude (the academy president) and he didn’t even realize it. Then token old dude for some reason rails against DVD’s saying how movies are meant to be seen on the big screen with strangers not realizing that most of us have big screens and hate how those strangers constantly talk during the movie.
- During the “Epics” montage - Grease and Back to the Future. Um, yeah, okay.
- And the most entertaining moment of the night has to go to the Three 6 Mafia performance and win leading to many Stewart jokes including “Why are they the most excited ones here tonight?” I loved how the spanned the crowd after the win and everyone was laughing. It’s like the autistic kid that’s been on ESPN recently who got in to play some garbage time and ended up hitting six three pointers in less than five minutes. But I was a little disappointed that they didn't work "Whoop that trick" into their performance, that was the best part of the movie (well I mean the trailer, I didn't see the movie). And was I hearing things or the chick say "ship" at the end of the chorus instead of another s-word? And anyone who was in third grade knows what happens when you hold your tounge when you say "ship."
- Jennifer Garner's appearance made me think of this song. (opens iTunes)
- So let me get this straight Charlize Theron is a South African-American. For a community that is so liberal I love how the avoid calling her just an African American.
- The best part of the Reese Witherspoon acceptance speech was watching Ryan Phillipee sweat while hoping he doesn’t become the next Chad Lowe while Reese rambled on without naming him.
- Crash wins. Wow that movie sucked (see my review - The Closest You Ever Came to Being Black Was Watching the Cosby Show). Horrible end to a boring awards show.
A couple weeks ago, I was watching one of the better hours on television this year, the Veronica Mars episode where Duncan rides off into the sunset. Near the end of the episode when Veronica walked along the ocean reminiscing about the boyfriend she would never see again (or so they would have us believe), they played one of the best songs I’ve heard in a long time. It turned out the song was Adelaide by Old 97’s who also contributed the bar brawling Four Leaf Clover in the same episode. I ended up downloading both songs with the former getting massive play on my iPod.
Now the lead singer of Old 97’s, Rhett Miller (the band’s on hiatus), is back with his second solo album, The Believer (well technically third but Mythologies is pretty obscure unless you want to drop $249 on Amazon). With the south of the border rock sound, I immediately thought of one of my favorite bands from college, the Refreshments, but without the quirky lyric. Miller does get in some good one-liners such as, “Sex in wartime is sweeter then peace, yeah it’s the one sweet thing about war.” (My Valentine) Also with his alt-country pop, Ryan Adams circa Jacksonville City Nights is another easy comparison. And fresh off his work with Kanye West, Jon Brion leave his mark playing multiple instruments throughout the album.
The closest song that comes close to brilliance of Adelaide is the duet with Rachael Yamagata on Fireflies where a couple looking back on a failed relationship hoping they make it work again. The album caps off with two other powerful songs including the Elliot Smith inspired title track and does a goof job capturing the late singer. That is followed by the solemn acoustic Question that makes a decent lullaby to end the album with lines, “Someday somebody’s gonna ask you a question that you should say yes to once in your life, maybe tonight I got a question for you” which would make for a proposal someday.
Song to Download - Fireflies (Don’t forget to pick up Adelaide too)
The Believer gets a ![Terror Alert Level: High [ORANGE]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhebDZ0qqwOVKMZj7oFSUe8Hm3ax54U9Hp1fThJPgiddTyzcdwx_5SV6E3b7hkKyxbaDiym4COmUXT2YJnsKCUjBHI_a2xZtNoY7qFQRslP5AGO5gLkJwn2ZbO0wIF80ycbKrgPPA/s400/small_high.png)
on my Terror Alert Scale.
Today I have my first of many in depth stories from the set of Veronica Mars. Since we are a week and a half away from the next episode and over a month from the first new one, I thought I would start off with a story that really doesn’t pertain to the show itself. Just a little back story, the first time I watched the show and saw that the show was created by Rob Thomas I thought to myself, “this is from the same dude who wrote 3AM?” I came to realize that they were two separate guys, so when we sat down to lunch I though I’d break the ice with a softball question by asking Rob, “How much do you hate Matchbox Twenty jokes?” Here's his response (Thanks to Magnolia for help with transcribing):
I don't really get that many jokes, actually. The only annoying thing about it is showing up places and realizing that they're disappointed that it's you; checking into hotels, you know they've been looking at that reservation and hoping, or stewardesses on airplanes. But I actually got a note from the other Rob Thomas because people were going on the Matchbox Twenty website and talking about his books and the show. And this would have been a while back he was friend with somebody at 20th Century Fox when I had a deal there and he sent me a note on a wedding napkin that said ‘Rob, if people come up to you and say that your band sucks, it's all yours, but if they say you're great, let them know it's me.’ So I liked him more for that note.
Check back later for even more tales from the set of Veronica Mars including a Scooter McGavin exclusive that you won’t see anywhere else. But next up I will regale you with a story about the infamous Shelly Pomroy so look out for that. And don’t forget to check out for an all new Veronica Mars on March 15th.
There are two things that without them, it wouldn’t seem like March, first are Shamrock Shakes, the other being this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame, Denis Leary’s No Cure for Cancer. The ultimate Irishman of my generation released the album during my formative years and me and my friends had the whole thing memorized for years to come. And you just have to play Traditional Irish Folk Song every St. Patrick’s Day. In fact the song was the inspiration on my answering machine my freshman year with the lines,
We drink and we sing
And we drink and we sing
Hey!
We drink and we drive
And we puke and we drink
Hey!
We drink and we fight
And we bleed and we cry
Hey!
We puke and we smoke
And we drink and we die
Hey!
Then we finished things off with Leary’s “Thank you for calling. Thank you for calling” from the stand up portion of the album.
I can also thank Leary for keeping me off drugs. After blaming his bell bottoms and other poor judgments on weed I knew I should stay away from the stuff. As Leary once said “never do a drug named after your own (expletive deleted).” Plus I also learned from him at an early age that the bet drugs are the legal ones. I always look forwards to cold season so I can start taking NyQuil and sing “NyQuil, NyQuil, Nyquil, we love you, you giant (expletive deleted) Q.” And I would never have learned about whippits had it not been for Leary. And thanks to his soliloquy on meat, I didn’t eat a salad until about three years ago.
Even though he’s best known for drugs and smoking, I think the best part of the album was when he went on his musical diatribe:
Explain it to me. Heavy Metal bands on trial because kids commit suicide? What's that about? Judas Priest on trial because “my kid bought the record, and listened to the lyrics .....” Well that's great! That sets a legal precedent. Does that mean I can sue Dan Folgerberg for making me into a (expletive deleted) in the mid-70's. Is that possible, huh? Huh?! "Your honor, between him and James Taylor, I didn't get a (expletive deleted) 'till I was 27 years old. I was in Colorado wearing hiking boots eating granola."
But thanks to the uber-depressing grunge music, I typically change it to Eddie Vedder and Kurt Cobain while in Seattle wearing flannels shirts and drinking cappuccinos to fit my experience. And whenever election time rolls around and I debate on whether I should vote I think of two things Joe (expletive deleted) Walsh.
So with St. Patrick’s Day quickly approaching, stop by McDonalds, pick up a Shamrock Shake and throw on some Leary and sing along to the Traditional Irish Folk Song.
Let me start this week’s Toss Up at the end of Lost: what was up with Eko’s beard trim? I’ve seen all the Lost faithful rave about last night’s episode yet none of them mentioned the whole scene. Lost has had a bunch of head scratching moments throughout its run, but the Eko scene wins the most odd award. So let me get this straight, Eko takes out his knife that makes us think he’s going to kill the Other (and yes he was an Other, more on that later), but then puts the knife to his own neck making us think he was going to repent by taking his own life, only just to chop of the weird goatee thing you would normally see at a Phish concert. Yeah right.
But beside that whole sequence last night was up there with the Hurley and Eko episodes, but then again that’s not saying much. Now back to Dorothy’s uncle (get it Henry Gale, oh never mind) it became obvious that he was an Other with the comment he made to Locke about Jack being the leader. This is you classic divide and conquer plan. I don’t think some random billionaire would think of this quickly after being torture or would even think that doing it would help him.
Speaking of the Others, it seemed my theory of two opposite tribes that habitated the island pre-crash, a group of Others and a group of Them (see it in depth: Toss Up). Basically it stated that Ethan was separate from Zeke but as we saw in the Claire flashback that the two are working together, and I didn’t even need to see Kate discover the fake beard to know that was Zeke who summoned Ethan because his voice was very distinctive. But this just begs the question why is Zeke, and presumable his homies, dressing up like an extra from Deliverance?
Then we have our very first flashbacks that took place exclusively on the island (and I’m not counting The Other 48 Days because that was a recap, not a flashback to get technical). They did a really good job with the first couple flashbacks making the audience wonder if it were in fact a flashback or just Claire’s mind playing tricks on her. They also made us assume that we also got our first glimpse of Alex, Rousseau’s kid, but I’m not to quick to assume that.
Back in present day, the chicks found, presumable, the third bunker mention in the orientation film. Although I was a little disappointed that we didn’t run into Michael or Desmond (remember them?) inside the bunker. And with the entire bunker stripped bare, why would Zeke leave the Deliverance outfit there. Since it’s only been a couple of days since the confrontation with Locke, Sawyer, and Jack, it means he’s been back there recently, so why take everything, but continue to stash you beard there? Just another question in the long list of questions that the show still needs to answer.
Veronica Mars aired its last repeat of the season yesterday and now we get all new ones starting March 15th (America's Next Top Model gets a two hour premier next week). Then we are moving into what Rob Thomas call the best stretch of episodes (this is paraphrased) in the show’s history capped off with episode 18 (the one we sat in on) which Rob said is up there with A Trip to the Dentist, his all time favorite episode not to mention the inaugural winner of the Best Episode awards at the Scooter Television Awards. I hope Rob wasn’t too disappointed that I didn’t have a trophy for him.
I’m hoping to have my picture problems solved by the weekend, and I’ll also sort through my taped interviews and transcribe a few of them this weekend too. Until then, for those interesting in what’s upcoming on the show, all I’ll say is I (heart) Dick. Stay tuned this weekend for more.
I was going to throw some pictures of the Veronica Mars Blogger Press Day except I seem to be running into some problems. For the trip, I borrowed my mom’s digital camera so I wouldn’t have change film plus I upload the pictures to my computer right away without having to get film developed. As Tony from Pardon the Interruption would ask, “How’s that working out for ya?” The answer is an obvious not very well as you can tell by the lack of pictures.
First it took her until today to find the cord that connects the camera to the computer. Then when I connected the camera to my computer it said the hardware was not compatible with XP. This officially sucks massively. Tomorrow I’m going to try to download the pictures to my mom’s computer and e-mail and hopefully that works. If you are itching to see some on-set pictures there are plenty up from the other people on the trip. The links are at the bottom of the previous post. Hopefully I will have some pictures along with my weekly round up of Lost and Veronica Mars. And without a new Veronica Mars last night and there won’t be another one until the Ides of March, I may regale you with an in-depth story from the set.
And since I spent most of the day unpacking and fooling around with the camera I didn’t have time for this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame (I knew I should have wrote that before I left for San Diego). So with my usual Toss Up tomorrow, I will save the induction for Friday.
Finally woke up, but still a little drowsy so I’m just going to give you all a run down of what happened yesterday on the set of Veronica Mars (some things may be out of order due to lack of sleep, but I think this is everything) and fill in the details in the days and weeks to come.
First off the plane ride to San Diego was fun in a driving over potholes for four hours kind of way. On my connecting flight I sat next to a dude who must have been one pound under the limit under the weight limit where they make to buy two seats. Then after a hour and a half in Atlanta, where I ate lunch at the dirtiest table I’ve ever seen, I was going back to Cali. The plane ride was a little bumpy as the fasten seat belt light was only off for about a half an hour. I saw Walk the Line, and by saw, I mean as I was on a window seat, the overhead compartment blocked about a fourth of the screen. And I don’t think the dude beside me was too happy that I continually kept leaning over.
Upon arrival I hopped into a taxi but my driver wasn’t exactly sure where my hotel is. It’s never a good sign when your driver asks you for directions. And it didn’t really help that I couldn’t understand half the things the dude said or him with me. Luckily he guessed right and I then took a long shower, met up with my contacts from the show, and had dinner. Then I settled in for the night and caught the Closing Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics which including a performance from Avril Lavigne. Um, yeah, okay.
Unfortunately my inner clock woke me up at four AM PST, but luckily I was able to get back to sleep until 6:30. I had a nice buffet for breakfast, and headed back to the room for a shower. Then after bleeding profusely after thirty minutes after using the razor the hotel provided for me, I met up with the other bloggers on the trip. But after everything that went wrong up to that point (does anyone have fun traveling?) what came next totally made up for all of that.
We started out the day with a limo ride to the set, yes a limo. There were about nine of us in total including a reporter doing an article on the even and an official UPN photographer taking pictures of us throughout the day. We were guided around by a couple of nice ladies from the studio and network, one whom which gave me my daily "Has anyone told you you look like the dude from The Notebook" comment. Needless to say I busted out my usually, "Yeah, now if only I can hook up with a chick as hot as the chick from The Notebook." I never get tired of this. Unfortunately though, no one involved was looking for a dude from The Notebook type for an upcoming project. But anyways.
When we arrived on the set, they took us right into the courtyard set where the characters eat lunch which actually doubles as the front of the school. We walked in during rehearsal involving Beaver and Veronica. We got a seat off set about twenty feet away from the action and when they offered one of us headphones to listen in on the action I jumped at the opportunity. Unfortunately they made me pass them around, but as soon as they came back around to me I claimed a monopoly on them for the rest of the visit.
We then made it inside the school and wandered around the hallway with the hall leading to the school’s office, a classroom, and the infamous bathroom, where the stall still has “Jackie is a …” written on the door that was inscribed during the last episode.
Back in our seats, I saw Ryan Hansen, or as I like to refer to him as Little Dick, come around the corner, and once he saw us he made a B-line to us and say hi. He even mention another Dickism that he just said earlier that day, and you will have to wait until the show to hear it (barring it not getting it past Standards and Practices) but I’ll just say it’s classic Dick. And who doesn’t love Dick? He even stuck around to make an extra apperence as an extra in the scene that was filming that may or may not make it into the show.
Later show creator Rob Thomas (not the dude from Matchbox Twenty, great story coming later this week on that) stopped over to quickly say hi and producer Dan Etheridge also stopped by to welcome us. They ran through the scene we watched about six times and changed the camera angle. While the moved the camera, Kyle Gallner, a.k.a. Beaver who was extremely tired came over to say hello. Then the girl of the hour herself, Kristen Bell came over to chat. Unfortunately she had to go once the cameras were set and I was unable to ask my number one burning question. Hopefully I’ll get another chance to ask that at a later date. But when it comes down to it, it was nice that the namesake of the show was able to devote anytime for us.
Once the scene was wrapped, it seemed Kyle (his grogginess in no way showed up on what I saw on the monitors) finally woke up and he and Ryan spent a couple minutes goofing around with each other, spent some more time talking to us, and took a lot of pictures with us.
Then came our tour of the sets that included Java the Hut, which looked very different in person, but that may have been due to the little lighting that they had. Then we went around to Mars Investigation then to the apartment including Veronica’s bedroom (I totally forgot to see if the Lost numbers were still around to take a picture), the little seen Keith bedroom, and the Living Room, where Rob met back up with us and then took over the tour. He then took us the police station (guess who Deputy Sacks has a file on), the penthouse suite and then took us to the new PCH hangout that will be utilized in future episodes, but I believe we saw in the scene where Weevil was kicked out of the gang.
Then came lunch with Rob where I luckily got to sit right across from him. The food was really good as I had some pasta and chicken. While eating Percy Daggs (Wallace) stopped by to pick up lunch and even chatted for us along with his mom, who is equally as nice.
After lunch we stopped by the wardrobe truck and had a chat with the Salvador, the costume designer. This is the point where Rob had to go. After hanging out at the courtyard again, we made a pit-stop at the make-up trailer which had a bunch of pictures of actors that have been on the show which was the only time they told us we were not allowed to take pictures of throughout the whole day aside when they were filming. Then I saw Jason Dohring pass by the door and then we got to go outside the trailer and have a chat with him. This got everyone else on the trip all really excited (all day all I heard was I hope we get to meet Jason, oh I was the only person there who liked chicks). After some questions and pictures it was time to leave.
We headed back to the airport, but I had to wait about six hours until the planed boarded and they wouldn’t even let me check in for another hour or so. Luckily there were a couple other people on the trip who shared my flight. So we hung out, had a couple drinks, some dinner and talked about how our wait was similar to Tam Hanks in The Terminal. On the way back to Atlanta they showed Elizabethtown and even though I watched the whole time I really can’t remember much of it. Then I said bye to my fellow travelers upon arrival as they were both from Atlanta and had to wait another hour before making it back to Ohio.
Now a wise man once said “There’s nothing wrong with Ohio except the snow and the rain,” and there was plenty of the latter on the ground when I got home. Oddly enough while watching the news in San Diego they talked about a Winter Storm that was coming but apparently a Winter Storm in California just rain. I was offended that they would call rain a Winter Storm, Winter Storms included either sleet, snow or freezing rain.
I will go into more detail including interviews and pictures in the days and weeks to come including my exclusive content. I would like to thank everyone involve in creating this set visit as well as the cast and crew who were great hosts and I hope this becomes a common occurrence especially I didn’t get to ask Kristen any questions and even though I got most of the questions asked I thought up before the visit for Rob, I’ve since thought of even more. Plus since we missed them yesterday, it would be nice to meet Keith, Weevil, Jackie or even some of the bit players like Mac, Lamb, or Clemmons. For more on the visit check out these sites that were also with me:
The Attractive Nuisance
DuckyXDale
Give Me My Remote
Magnolia
Pass the Remote
Random Acts of Television
siklilgrl
The Vast Wasteland
Oh, and one more thing, I love Dick, um, I mean REE-chard.
Just back back from the Veronica Mars set, but since I've been up since 6AM PST (and I'm way too tired to figure out what that is on the east coast) on Monday, I'm getting somw sleep. As soon as I get up I'll share some things with everyone, as I have enough material to last a couple weeks. And I may even have some Scooter McGavin exclusives. In fact I may have something so exclusive, that you won't even see it on Veronica Mars itself. But you'll have to wait a little bit for that. But anyways, Dick rules.
I am currently heading out the door to catch my plane to San Diego for my Veronica Mars set visit. As I type this it is 19 degrees here in Ohio, and according to the weather channel, it will be 61 by the time I step off the plane in Cali (LA? I don't think so). Unfortunately this warning is on the San Diego page:
...A STRONG PACIFIC STORM WILL AFFECT SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA MONDAY AND TUESDAY...
That could put a damper on things. Hopefully I'll be back in the airport by the time that hits. So I won't be posting anything tomorrow and depending if I get any sleep on the Red Eye (hopefully I get to sit next to Rachel McAdams and not Cillian Murphy) I may post something about my trip when I get home Tuesday. If I need some sleep, I may not put something up until the evening. Until then feel free to go deep into the archives (I hear 07/10/2005 - 07/16/2005 was particularly a good week) or check out the highly recommend blogs in my sidebar.
In one of the most innovative promotion used by television network, NBC has put up their new show, Conviction, for free download thru iTunes a couple weeks before the show airs on its own network. It will be interesting how this endeavor works out for the network as I assume they will take a hit in revenue because I doubt advertisers are not lining up to buy time on a show that people can download without commercial for free. Plus I bet NBC is also picking up the bandwidth cost for the download. And will people show up to watch the second episode when they saw the pilot whenever they saw fit or be willing to drop $1.99 to buy the next episodes on iTunes?
Since I’m a sucker for gimmicks and free download that won’t get me sued, I went ahead and watched the show even though I’m not the biggest fan of procedurals that don’t feature Ice-T, not that I’m entirely sure which Law & Order show he’s currently on. Since the show is from the creator of that franchise, Conviction could have been easily been named Law & Order: Grey’s Anatomy but instead of attractive, young doctors, we have attractive, young lawyers with both show focusing as much on character development as much as they focus on their cases. Much like the doctor show, Conviction starts off with one of the lawyers waking up from a one night stand except it didn’t turn out the stranger turned out to be the dude’s boss.
The dude in question showing up on his first day on the job is played by Jordan Bridges, in his first major role. And much like many of the other actor, he has a guest appearance on one of the Law & Orders on his IMDB page. Stephanie March, who was in the cast of one of the shows, resumes her role of Alexandra Cabot for this show. Maybe she will enlist the help of Ice-T in the future. Julianne Nicholson (Little Black Book) plays someone who’s been in the office for a while but just got her first trial that naturally doesn’t go too well. J. August Richards of Angel fame dusts off Gunn circa the Wolfram & Hart days with the super sized brain for his cocky Billy who is more the glad to mention how he’s never lost a case. To fill the token hot chick quota there is Milena Govich, last seen as the escort who scammed Kenny on Rescue Me, who is apparently the office bicycle.
Then there is Eric Balfour, who is the poor man’s Skeet Ulrich, who in turn is the poor man’s Johnny Depp, as the office playboy. It befuddles me how this dude can still get work, especially as a playboy, he can’t act and I’ve never met a chick that finds him remotely attractive. Filling out the cast is Anson Mount who many of you won’t remember as Britney Spears love interest in Crossroads. And after watching Conviction, if you’re lime me, you may not remember from the show either because I’m having trouble remember his character.
Okay now I’m going to get into some spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the episode yet, you may want to skip the rest of this post.
The show did a relatively good job at finding a balance between furthering character development and telling the story of the trials that were going on in the episode. And the major storyline with the drug dealer trial was very well done even though it was pretty obvious when the new guy told the random dude on the phone where they were having dinner that someone was getting shot. The show also did a good job balancing the humor, like with Nicholson’s debacle of a trial, and the more seriousness of the death of the DA. And they did a very good job with the music selection too having David Grey’s Alibi playing over a pivotal scene.
Verdict: As I said earlier, I’m not the biggest fan of lawyer shows and I’d like to think I have better things to do on Friday. But if Ice-T ever makes a cross-over appearance, I’ll be sure to set my VCR. Or maybe they should just add the next best thing to the cast by bringing in Too $hort or Ice Cube, that would be must see TV for me.
There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. I advise you to watch them first (the links to the video are the bold headers, inside the post will lead you to iTunes where you can buy the song and in some cases the video itself) before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things.
Kanye West - Touch the Sky
Say what you want about his music or outspokenness, but Kanye West is one of the most entertaining video artists today. His latest venture is a take off of Evil Knievel’s famous jump across the Grand Canyon with a nod to Kanye’s most famous line about leaving your chick for a white girl. The white girl in question in this video is Pamela Anderson; insert your own Hepatitis C joke here. Kanye even got Nia Long to appear in the video even though he rhymed her name with “sheets I skeeted on.” Maybe, Nia, much like my censor, doesn’t know what “skeeted” mean (and for you old people out there, it is very, very dirty). And not one to pass up beating a dead horse, Kanye even alludes to his Bush comments too. You can also check out my album review here - You Gotta Love it Though, Somebody Still Speaks From His Soul.
Death Cab for Cutie - Crooked Teeth
The main reason why this is entertaining is the obvious Sledgehammer comparison. Sadly there are no dancing chickens in Death Cab for Cutie’s update. You can also check out my album review here - A Melody Softly Souring Through My Atmosphere.
Santana - Just Feel Better
Now this one didn’t make too much sense and had to watch it a couple time to see if I missed something. The video almost seems like a reject idea from Aerosmith’s Alicia Silverstone era. So let me get this straight, chick gets groped by, meets dude in the principal’s office, goes with dude to a party, party gets busted, dude dies in car crash, chick flees back home and is welcomed with open arms from mom, then everything is back to normal at the end as chick is back in the class of the teacher that groped her. Did Steven Tyler tell Santana that as long as they put a token hot chick in as little amount of cloths as possible, no one will question the lunacy of the premise? Plus since he’s Steven Tyler, he makes out with a chick in a bar that has nothing to do with the other story. And I could be wrong, but I think the token hot chick is Nikki Reed. You can also check out my album review here - Your Fire Fills My Soul.
Cat Power - Living Proof
I have absolutely no comment on this video by Cat Power. In fact if you figure out what’s going on in this video, please pass that information onto me. I’m sure there’s some artsy undercover here, but it just went over my head. Oh, if you are a religious fanatic, you may want to skip this video. You can also check out my album review here - No Wind or Waterfall Could Stop Me.
This week, both Veronica Mars and Lost trembled in fear of dudes singing karaoke and chicks skating around a track again and again so there is no Toss Up this week. Lost will be back next week as Claire finally decides to try to get her memory after seemingly not caring for the past month on the island. Of course now she has a psychologist at her disposal with the arrival of Libby. And considering they are putting off a Libby-centric show, one can expect it will be a biggy much like the last flashback of the original cast with Hurley and the introduction of the numbers. What’s in store tailie? Many have speculated she is an Other, which I doubt. I still lay hope that she’s the person Jack’s wife left him for, but I think she too will have a major connection to the numbers and Hurley’s nut house buddy, Leonard.
We are still about three weeks until the next new Veronica Mars, the one with the chick from Get This Party Started Laguna Beach (see the press release - Toss Up 10 1/2). Next week (3/1) is another repeat of Ahoy Mateys, the one where Mac inadvertently tries to pick Vice Principal Clemmon’s kid.
But the big new in the world of Neptune, is that I will me making a visit this week. I’ve been racking my brain recently about what I should ask. Should I slyly bring up that I’m an award winning actor? Should I make a Matchbox Twenty joke upon meeting creator Rob Thomas? Should I bring up Pooty Tang if I get to meet Kristen Bell? Or the better question is if I can keep from staring at her after seeing those Maxim pictures? But anyways. I just got my itinerary for the 1st Veronica Mars Blogger Press Day and here is what my day will look like for next Monday:
9:15 am - Meet PR escorts in the lobby.
9:30 am - A Veronica Mars production van will take everyone to the set.
10:00 am - Observe Veronica Mars production scenes.
1:00 pm - Crew lunch with Rob Thomas.
2:30 pm - Depart set.
Now my plane doesn’t take me back to Ohio until 10:50 so maybe they will take pity on me and le me hang around the set a little longer, but I’m not holding my breathe. And just a heads up, because of the trip, there will be no posts on Sunday or Monday and I will return Tuesday with a few stories and pictures and will have a couple updates throughout the week, so keep your eye out for that.
Many people will remember Shawn Mullins for being the only person who name dropped Bob Seger in a Lullaby. Or maybe you just remember the video for that song because it featured an under aged Dominique Swain in a bikini. Either way, the gravely voiced singer seemed to slip back into obscurity just as fast as he escaped from it. But even though he has fallen of most people’s radars, Mullins still continues to release music including the new album, 9th Ward Pickin’ Parlor.
The album as a whole sounds as if it could have been recorded long before the advent of the CD, or cassettes and 8-trackd for that matter. Except for Beautiful Wreck that sound like something that should have been included on Bo Bice’s album, and that’s not a good thing. The opener, Blue as You envisions sitting on a porch in a rocker with your guitar while watching the sunset. Lay Down Your Swords, Boy sound like a missing track from the O Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack.
Sometime the old time music doesn’t work out too well as in Cold Black Heart where Mullins utilizes a fiddle but still isn’t able to pull off the country song. Find Love sounds like a poor attempt at a Hawaiian folk song and hearing a folk song about going to Alaska while playing the banjo just seems wrong on Talkin’ Goin’ to Alaska Blues. All Fall Down sounds as if Mullins was re-imagining Jeff Buckley as a bluesman. The album ends with an actual old song, a remake of The Animals House of the Rising Sun an obvious chose when the song is about a place in New Orleans and this album’s title alludes to the area. Only the great thing about the original is the driving organ which is virtually gone from the new version and replaced by some soft acoustic strumming. The song, much like the album is a good idea that just doesn’t hit all the right notes.
Song to Download - Lay Down Your Swords, Boys
9th Ward Pickin’ Parlor gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.
It’s been a while since I wrote about my favorite oversized dome, but it’s been quite since Barry Bonds took most of last season off. Then spring training came around and all of the sudden it looked as if Barry grew a sense of humor and participated in a Giants Karaoke contest for the rookie donning a wig and playing the part of Paula Abdul even though the equal annoying Simon Cowell would have been the obvious choice. And just as everyone started to praise for actually participating with teammates for presumable the first time, the next day it came out this was just part of his new reality series for ESPN.
