It Takes a Girl to Understand

To be honest, if Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale both walked in on me right now I would be able to tell you which one is which. But apparently both were in the Disney Channel’s hit High School Musical which landed them both record contracts with Disney’s Hollywood Records, the label that has brought us albums from Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan. We’re not really talking Motown here, but anyways. Now one of the reason I can’t tell the actresses/singers apart is that I haven’t seen High School Musical for fear that is I got up to get a snack during a commercial break, Chris Hansen would be waiting for me in the kitchen. Hopefully just listening to the album won’t raise any red flags over at Dateline.

The first of the duo to get their album out is Vanessa Hudgens, apparently the brunette from looking at the album cover, with her album V which I assume isn’t a roman numeral or a nod the alien miniseries from the eighties but rather the letter as she is called “Baby V” a couple times on the album. The album is anchored by the lead single Baby Come Back that oddly samples Player’s sad love song of the same name and turns it into a dance track, but remains almost catchy. The album is your typical for pre-teen fair with songs about puppy love gained and puppy love lost along with your prerequisite girl anthem track Never Underestimate a Girl. But even though Drive comes close, nothing on the album is on par with any of Duff’s guilty pleasures, but on the bright side see does sound better than Lohan (which doesn't say much). Now I have a couple months to figure out which one is Ashley Tisdale before her album comes out.

Song to Download - Drive

V gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I Don't Care Whether You Like Me or Not

The Family Stone is one of those movies that were just improperly promoted. From the trailer, it looked like the movie was a romantic comedy centered on a wacky family over Christmas; almost as if one of the children in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation had brought home a longtime girlfriend he had intended to marry. But The Family Stone was just rarely funny. Now unlike many comedies in recent memories, the problem wasn’t that it was a comedy that just wasn’t funny, instead the movie is more of a family drama that just has some humorous scenes in it.

The movie centers on Durmot Mulroney (Angels in the Outfield) who brings his girlfriend Sarah Jessica Parker (Footloose) home to meet the family for the first time as he intends to get his grandmother’s wedding ring to give to Parker. But the couple doesn’t mess well primarily because Parker makes her character one-dimensional like she was in a bad sitcom while everyone else is multi-layered. There is a possibility that this wasn’t Parker’s fault, but a better actress here could have made the movie much improved.

Rounding out Mulroney’s family are the parental figures Craig T. Nelson (Coach), the go with the flow dad and Diane Keaton (Father of the Bride II), who makes it very clear that she doesn’t want Parker to get her mother’s wedding ring. Rachael McAdams (Mean Girls) is the moody sister mainly because she isn’t getting any and the resident scene stealer. Taking after his father is Luke Wilson (Legally Blonde) who tries to get Parker to get her fly her “freak flag.” Unfortunately they threw in two more siblings which only made things more clustered including a gay homosexual brother who also happens to be deaf (although his black boyfriend is a lot more entertaining) and an even more worthless pregnant sister who spends most of the time in the background with her daughter.

Feeling outnumbered, Parker calls on her younger sister, Claire Danes (Terminator III: Rise of the Machines) whom the Stones take to because, well, she is much more endearing than her sister. Things pick up upon her arrival, but I’m sure I would have liked the movie much better had I not expected to laugh while watching. So be warned if you check The Family Stone out, it’s much more a drama than a comedy.

The Family Stone gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Toss Up: Lost vs Veronica Mars week 1

The last two days saw the return of two of the best shows on television with Lost and Veronica Mars. So without further ado, here is the first Toss Up of the season.


New Chick
Lost: Juliet
Veronica Mars: Parker
Winner: Veronica Mars


Jealousy
Lost: Jack is of his dad (when he thinks he’s nailing his wife)
Veronica Mars: Piz is of Logan
Winner: Veronica Mars


Lounging
Lost: Not-Henry and Kate have a somewhat relaxing breakfast on the beach
Veronica Mars: Piz and Veronica hang out in lawn chair while the Welcome Wagon dude gets busted
Winner: Lost


Liquor Problem
Lost: Jack’s dad falls off the wagon after Jack attacks him
Veronica Mars: Dick never gets on the wagon
Winner: Lost


Good to See Again
Lost: Carol Vessey
Veronica Mars: Vinnie Van Lowe
Winner: Lost


Musical Choice
Lost: Juliet listens to Petula Clark’s Downtown
Veronica Mars: Parker listens to the Pussycat Doll’s Buttons (also Four Fifty One a.k.a. the Unwashed played Socks and Shoes)
Winner: Lost


Harsh Words
Lost: “It’s not who he is, it’s who you’re not”
Veronica Mars: “You were just his beard”
Winner: Veronica Mars


Undressed
Lost: Zeke forces Kate to shower in what looks like an all-female prison locker room
Veronica Mars: In their first meeting Parker changes in front of Veronica… twice
Winner: Veronica Mars


MIA
Lost: It would be easier listing who was in the episode
Veronica Mars: Weevil, Lamb
Winner: Lost


Back from the Dead
Lost: We see Ethan and Goodwin in a flashback
Veronica Mars: I swear I saw Not-So-Luck in Vee’s criminology class
Winner: Lost


College
Lost: Jack graduated a year before his class
Veronica Mars: Veronica just started up
Winner: Lost


New Place and Already Making “Friends”
Lost: Sawyer is quick to call the other dude in the cage names
Veronica Mars: Ronnie irks the TA when she was all douchebaggy for avoiding spoiler warning to beat is record
Winner: Veronica Mars


Gay?
Lost: If Kate is not Zeke’s type, that must mean he’s gay right?
Veronica Mars: Will Ronnie take Dream Lily’s advice and fool around with her boyfriend’s ex?
Winner: Hopefully Veronica Mars


Entertainment
Lost: The others gather for a book of the month meeting
Veronica Mars: Parker and Mac gather together to watch America’s Next Top Model
Winner: Veronica Mars


Surprise ending
Lost: We learn Not-Henry’s last name is, um, I don’t remember
Veronica Mars: Parker goes all Natalie Portman
Winner: Veronica Mars


A new season and Veronica Mars starts this one much like the last by beating Lost in the Toss Up, but was much closer this year. Lost was smart by spending the whole episode on the captured because the other main cliffhanger was less interesting because it’s safe to assume that Eko, Desmond, and Locke all survived. But the biggest cliffhanger was totally ignored. I originally though we were getting a glimpse of Desmond’s lady in the opening flashback, but alas, I was wrong. But we did get to see the Others in their natural habitat and it looks very suburban, yet in the middle of the jungle. How you get building supplies to the middle of nowhere is just another question to add to the massive list of unanswered questions on the show.

The three captives are separated and the guys look to be in left after sets from the horror movie Saw. With Jack realizing that he’s being held in a dolphin tank and Zeke’s joke that the bears figured out Sawyer’s puzzle in less time makes me wonder if they are held in an abandoned zoo. Was the Hanzo Foundation going to set up some massive Jurassic Park type zoo and they had to abandon it when “the monster” got loose? I’m still holding onto the warring faction theory where two entities (maybe Hanzo and the Others) fought for control of the island.

Then there was the dude across from Sawyer, he just screamed plant. His escape was just a test, and he failed. If he wanted to know how far away his camp was then make Sawyer go the other way when they escaped makes me very suspicious of him. But the big mystery was the dissention in the Other camp. I assume Not-Henry was the one not invited to the book club and it didn’t look like Juliet was too thrilled to be the decoy in the much rumored underwater hatch plan.

Then there was the return of two time Scooter Television Awards winner for Best Show, Veronica Mars. In one of the worst kept secrets of the summer, Veronica ended up at Heart College despite being accepted to Stanford. And if that was the worst kept secret, the second worst was that the first mini-season arc mystery would be that of the serial rapist Ronnie encountered last season. But before that happened, we got our first college level mystery of the week which involved Wallace’s new roommate Piz. Anyone find it odd that Piz is from Beaverton. Get it; Beaver-ton. You know; (Cassidy) “Beaver” (Casablancas)-ton. Oh, nevermind. Many great Vee moments following the mystery of the week with Ronnie speaking Spanish and futuristic languages, camping out in lawn chairs (such a college thing to do), and her anti-chick conversation with Mac.

Speaking of Mac, she also got a roommate, Parker, who quickly shot to the top of the list of contenders fore Best Cast Addition for next year’s STA’s. Her first scene with Ronnie brought back some fond memories of college (man I miss undergrad). Unfortunately it looks like we won’t get to see that Parker in future episodes of the show as she fell victim to the serial rapist. Too bad they didn’t hold the rapist storyline to the second or third arc of the season, because I would have minded see more of Perky Parker. But I wonder if Parker is supposed to Ronnie had Lily not been killed which means she might not have been raped either?

At least we got basically two years of classic Dick before he went on his downward spiral. And if you didn’t realized that was Dick in the Union Jack Speedo before he was unmasked then you must never seen the show. One thing I didn’t understand is why Dick had to shack up with Logan at the end? Did something happen to Casa de Killer II? But there was nothing more harsh spoken ever that his “beard” comment to Mac. I cringed ever time I watched it.

Whereas those storylines seemed written for newbies, the other storyline looked be more for the faithful with Keith chauffeuring the eldest Fitzpatrick to hidden away Not-Kendall. The ending here was more shocking than the other storyline with Kith between a rock and a hard place after it looked like Fitzpatrick took out Not-Kendall and left Keith for dead. Will Vinnie Van Lowe come to the rescue? Is Not-Kendall really dead? And most importantly, why did Keith leave his gun in the glove compartment while escorting a felon right out of jail? Here’s my harebrain theory: Not-Kendall was the one that hired Vinnie and is playing all the boys (and was wearing a bullet-proof vest) because she need something from Fitzpatrick before she reunites with her true love, Big Dick.

Now onto some superficial parts of the show. The new credits are slowly growing on me. The look of them are cool and may fit the show better, but my problem is they messed with the song. It just sounds wrong. Then there are the “pods.” Words cannot express how much I hated them. I mention back during my First Impressions of America’s Next Top Model that is they had tampon “pods” for Girls Tuesdays I’d be unhappy and those Aerial thing are basically as bad. Now if I were a guy who turned into the show for the first time to see what the hubbub is about, I wouldn’t have made it past the commercial break because of that. It’s really not a good idea to alienate half the population with a commercial. Plus it’s a complete insult to us dudes who already watch the show. Really I you need a guy to join the slumber party, shout me a holla.

Up next week on Lost, it looks like the Sayid and his party try to find the captive although how they think they will find them is beyond me. Then on Veronica Mars, Ronnie heads to sorority row. Seriously, how great is that episode going to be. Too bad Perky Parker, (presumably) won’t be in full perky mode for the festivities.

I Want to Stay in Love with My Sorrow

There have been a few changes in the band Evanescence since the releases of their six time platinum debut Fallen. Okay maybe a few changes is an understatement with the perceived musical leader in the group, Ben Moody, lived up to his last name by quitting the band mid-tour only to spend his time working with the likes of Avril Lavigne (Nobody’s Home), Kelly Clarkson (Because of You), and Lindsay Lohan (Fastlane). Then during the recording of the new album, The Open Door, Moody’s replacement, Terry Basamo had stroke. And if Amy Lee’s professionally life wasn’t in such disarray, her ex-boyfriend went into rehab just days after the release of the album’s first single Call Me When You’re Sober taking out any debate on whom the song was about.

But as Fleetwood Mac and their massive hit Rumours have told us, sometime turmoil can sometimes be turned into a critical and commercial success. Granted they stayed together through all of that turmoil. The blessing and the curse of The Open Door is that is sounds much like Fallen. It is a blessing because it redeems Amy Lee after many people thought that the band would fail because it was believed that Moody was the driving force behind the band. The curse though is, well, it sounds too much like what they have already down and very little growth on the new album. But some points should be awarded for not retreading the nü-metal pseudo-rapping in their first hit, Bring Me Back to Life.

Despite the familiarity of the songs, Sweet Sacrifice could be called Going Under II, the album is definitely front-loaded as the back half at times make you look at how much time is remaining wondering how much longer will the album will go on. But Call Me When You’re Sober is the band’s best non-power balled as it takes the best parts from Bring Me Back to Life and surrounds them with striking piano chords and biting lyrics that could send any scorned ex-boyfriend into rehab. Then there is Lithium (not to be confused with the Nirvana song) which tries to be this album’s My Immortal, but fall short of it’s predecessor’s emotion. Same with the album closer Good Enough which just features Lee on the piano. Even the Millennium Choir shows up on a few songs much like that last, but by the time they show up, the album has already become old hat.

Song to Download - Call Me When You’re Sober

The Open Door gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Nobody Ever Had a Dream Round Here

Of all the retro eighties synth-pop bands that have been trying to resurrect the sound in recent years, The Killers were the only ones that made songs that were listenable. The key to their success was they treaded lightly on the synthesizer sound while Brandon Flowers sang grandiose lyrics which where at heart kind of quirky. Some something happened between that first album and their follow up Sam’s Town and that change can be summed up in a name: Bruce Springsteen.

Now I would never be against anyone who would like to model their sound after the Boss, but when your original sound is far from it and works for you, I’m not sure it would be that good a decision to make that drastic change. Plus it hasn’t been that good of a summer for those making grand predictions for their next album (see Angels and Airwaves trying to channel U2 and Ludacris claiming his latest album being the one that will make everyone take him serious). And when Flowers claimed the album was influenced by Springsteen, apparently he only listened to albums with “Born” in the title because the album sounds like it’s trying to recreate the bombast of Springsteen’s most commercially successful albums. So on Sam’s Town gone are the quirky lyrics, unless you count the absurdly titled Bling (Confessions of a King), replaced by stories of Americana seen through those that live in Las Vegas.

With all the Springsteen talk, the album is bookmarked by a pair of songs that sound right out of Moulin Rouge with the Enterlude and Exitlude with their lounge act feel. Oddly enough, that album doesn’t even start with the Enterlude, instead it starts with the title track, the band’s first attempted to recreate a Springsteen arena rock anthem. But then for some reason during the break they have a chorus start singing, “I see London.” Maybe I’m just too sophomoric, but I can’ imagine anyone hearing the song for the first time and not think, “I see France” will be the next line.

There is a section in the middle of the album where the band goes back to its roots with eighties sounding songs that are more David Bowie than Springsteen starting with For Reasons Unknown, Read My Mind, Bones, and My List but are missing the fun lyrics that set the band apart from other bands of the genre, past and present. Bones itself is a morbidly creepy song which sentiment will most like only be increased by the Tim Burton directed video. But in the middle is the closest song the band comes to anything on Hot Fuss with Uncle Johnny. The crushing guitars of the song suggest something darker than the band has ever done and definitely doesn’t come from Springsteen but the choir at the end is reminiscent of the one at the end of All These Things I’ve Done. Unfortunately the band doesn’t hide the fact the rest of the album is mediocre at best.

Song to Download - Uncle Johnny

Sam’s Town gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

First Impressions: Heroes

There is a good chance that I was the last person to see Heroes. I wasn’t one of the lucky ones that got to see it at Comic-Con (on account that I wasn’t there at all) nor did I get the special code to view it a month early on iTunes. Then this past Monday I was too busy with the Veronica Mars Press Conference (see Chatting with Rob Thomas and Tina Majorino) to watch the premiere. Then Tuesday is my massively long class so I didn’t get to see the rebroadcast. And I have much better thing to do than watch the Sci-Fi channel on Friday night when they showed it once again. So instead I watched it this weekend on NBC’s streaming site which doesn’t have any cool name like other channels.

Now I can explain the characters and their abilities but I won’t for two reasons, there a good chance you already know and secondly, Ain’t it Cool News gave a better description than I could ever com up with:

The guy from Tokyo discovers he can teleport himself, just like Nightcrawler. A cheerleader discovers she can heal herself, just like Wolverine. A cop discovers he can read minds, just like Professor X. A nurse thinks he might be able to fly, just like Storm. An artist thinks he can see the future, just like Destiny. The stripper can kill people by summoning a dark psychic force, just like Phoenix.

Yep, on the surface, the show seems like a blatant rip-off of the X-Men, whom the Asian dude even name drops, but without the cool costumes and more importantly without any archvillains (or are there some). And X-Men may not be the only “inspiration” as the main characters crossing paths even though some are in different time zones has a very Lost during flashbacks feel to it. And didn’t Surface center around a cast that didn’t actually know each other when the show started? And what happened to that show? Of course when I first heard about the show my first thought was the short lived Courtney Cox show (that I had to search imdb to find) Misfits of Science. But you know something’s obscure if they don’t even cover it on any of the I Love the 80’s.

But what hurts the show is the characters in the massive cast are poorly written and are executed even worse by the actors. Aside from the Asian dude, none of the characters are worth caring about or at all entertaining. And the Asian dude can get old real quick if he doesn’t learn English soon. I watch television to avoid reading. The poor casting is highlighted Milo Ventimiglia who single handedly ruined America Dreams as well as headlining The Bedford Diaries. Seriously, how bad do you have to be to only get a half a season on The WB? Then there is Ali Larter, who is best known for bringing the world the whip-cream bikini, so she is excused for her very dry performance and a webcam stripper. The cast is rounded out by the bland Hayden Panettiere (Bring it On 3, yes there up to three of them, don't ask when the second one actually happened) as the bland cheerleader and two ethnic guys who I have yet to be able to tell apart yet. Then there is Greg Grunberg who gets most of his work because he knows J.J. Abrams has yet to show up yet.

But among the bad writing and acting, the biggest crime against humanity for Heroes is that they relegated Shaft to just a dude in a coma without any lines. C’mon, this is Shaft, he should be out having sex with white woman and being an all around bad mother… well maybe I should just shut my mouth. But Shaft should be denigrated like this.

Verdict: After seeing the episode and all the reviews that are extremely hot or cold with very little in the middle, I understand the deviation. The positive reviews are coming from comic-book nerds while the negative one comes from fans of television. So figuring out which side of the fence you reside on will most likely dictate whether you will watch or not. Maybe it was because Heroes was disappointing and Runaway was much better than I expected, but Runaway (see my First Impressions) may be the better new show. Heroes airs Mondays on NBC at 9:00 and you can stream the latest episode on the NBC website or buy it on iTunes (see below).

Life Is Like a Box of Chocolates…

Back when I first got a DVD player, there were two movies on my shopping list my next trip to Best Buy, the movie that spawned the title of this blog, Happy Gilmore and the other being Forrest Gump which is this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame. Being a huge history buff, the latter movie was right up my alley as the title character traveled through the decades and somehow taking parts in some of the biggest events and meeting everyone from Beatles to presidents. All along the journey we were all captivated by Tom Hanks portal of the simple man.

Even though Hanks could have carried the movie all by himself, it’s the surrounding characters that made the movie more memorable most of which were introduced to us during Forest’s tour of duty in Vietnam. The equally simple minded Bubba became the yin to Gump’s yang and gives the most interesting monologue on shrimp ever. Then there’s Lieutenant Dan who continues to bump into Gump throughout the movie whether he likes it or not. Of course this was also the breakout role Gary Sinise as he totally hit his mark as Gump’s legless wingman for the later half of the movie.

But with all the passing buddies, the movie is still a love story at heart with Forrest and Jenny. Robin Wright (now Penn) brilliantly plays Jenny switching between the girl next door and the girl next door that ends up in Playboy. And some of the best lines come from the two interesting; who at some point of their life said some variation of “Run Forrest run” or “I think I ruined your roommate’s towel”? Another big part of the movie was the soundtrack. At the time the movie came out, I still hadn’t dove that deep into musical history yet, so the movie helped me discover new tunes. Like at the time, I thought Lynyrd Skynyrd only had one song, but I now realize they only have two, granted the second one being a song they like to play in concert for forty-five minutes.

The movie even inspired me to pick up the Winston Groom book it was based on. There were plenty of discrepancies between the two including Forrest being 300-pound plus in the book and Jenny makes it through it too (although she does bite the dust early in the sequel Gump & Co.). And there many more adventures that didn’t make the movie either, not that we will see a movie sequel anytime soon as Groom thought he was short-changed from the profits of the movie. He even starts off the book’s sequel by having have Gump warn people never let anyone make a movie on your life.

First Impressions: Dexter

In a measure of full disclosure, I do not subscribe to Showtime, so I will not be watching the show I’m about to describe basically because I have no desire to subscribe to any premium channels because I’ll just waste all the hours in my day watching every single movie just to get my money’s worth. With that said, the kind people over at Showtime were nice enough to give me an advanced screening of their latest attempt to crack HBO’s dominance in original programming.

Being that this is a premium channel, Dexter is definitely something you would never see on network television and you really won’t be able to edit out all the profanities to get into syndication. The show follows Michael C. Hall (from the equally morbid Six Feet Under where he was nominated for an Emmy) in the title character role that works forensics for the Miami Police Department’s homicide division and moonlights as a serial killer. Before you start to think the guy is completely evil, he only kills other killers, the ones that the cops can’t nail. But to keep him from being totally redeemable, we become well aware that he enjoys the hunt and the kill a little too much. In the first episode they dig deep into his back story to help explain how he became who he is today and makes Dexter completely believable as a guy who puts on the charade for strangers yet is empty inside.

But Dexter isn’t completely cut off from society as his foster sister played by Jennifer Carpenter (don’t think less of her for her appearance in White Chicks) works Vice in the police department, insert your own Crockett and Tubbs joke here. Surprisingly Dexter is in a long term relationship with Julie Benz (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) who seems as much emotionally challenged as Dexter thanks to her crack head ex-husband. The rest of Dexter’s coworkers seem to be their basically for comic relief including the Lieutenant that constantly hits on him and a sergeant that is the only one that correctly pegs Dexter’s creepy demeanor but acts like something out of a blaxploitation film.

In the first episode, we watch Dexter do his thing on two criminals that the cops couldn’t keep their charges to stick. On top of that it looks like we are introduced what seems to be a season long arc focusing on another serial killer. If I were a betting man, I would put money on the other serial killer turning out to be Dexter’s real father who was never mentioned here in the first episode, but Dexter’s foster parent, who also worked for the police department, didn’t seemed to phased after finding out hid kid’s penchant for blood. But even if the mystery is that easy, Hall is still able to carry the show balancing his cheerful façade with his disturbingly creepy inner-monologue.

Verdict: If you already have Showtime this may be worth checking out if you have the stomach for. If you don’t, much like every other show, it’s not worth subscribing to check it out but could be worth buying or renting when (or if) it is released on DVD if you are a fan of horror or suspense. But if you are like me and are not a Showtime subscriber, you can check presumably the first two episodes during Showtime’s free preview October 6th thru the 13th. For those with Showtime, you can check out the premiere of Dexter on October 1st at 10:00.

Next Impressions: Supernatural / Smallville

There is nothing I hate more than cliffhangers. Yeah they are interesting the week after the season premiere and the week before the next season’s premiere, but the waiting in-between is just annoying. And there was no more annoying cliffhanger in recent memory than that of Supernatural. The season finally was going along; looking like the Winchester family was going to get their revenge on the shiny demon that took thee life of the family matriarch (as well of one’s girlfriend) only for it to get away in the last minute and causing a car crash leaving the viewers wonder all summer which of the protagonist would survive. After spending all season watching the boys hunt down the shiny demon only to fail left such a bad taste in my mouth I was ready to jump ship, and would have had Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (See my First Impressions) stayed at the originally announced timeslot against Supernatural. But since Studio 60 moved to Mondays and nothing else worth watching at that timeslot (well aside from watching what I tape out of Survivor, Smallville, and My Name Is Earl) I decided to give it another chance.

The season naturally started where the show left off at the scene of the accident with Sam being the lone conscious one. Apparently the demon that hit them wasn’t the Big Bad anyways. Oh well. At the hospital, Daddy dearest also makes it out okay, but Dean got hit so hard by the truck, it knocked his soul out of his body which gave him the opportunity to hunt down death that borderlined on complete rip-off of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode where Buffy spent the night in the hospital. At least Supernatual had the sense to make death extremely hot. I don’t think I’d give up much of a fight if death looked like that when it was my time to go.

Back on the corporeal plain, Sam and daddy fight to save Dean in their own ways, with daddy being the one that is able to do so as he surprisingly makes a deal with a devil. Not surprisingly the other thing the demon asked for asides from the colt and the final bullet was for his own life. We will have to see his he had something else up his sleeve that the shiny demon wasn’t expecting plus there were his last words he whispered to Dean. The shiny demon said that daddy dearest knew something about Sam that he didn’t tell him, was that what he told Dean? I’m sure we’ll have to wait awhile to find out.

Verdict: Buffy rip-offs asides, the show looks to be on track with daddy gone, although did I see killer clowns in the preview for next week? Oh and some news for Veronica Mars fans, you may want to turn into the killer clown episode next week as my sources tell me none other than the dearly departed Meg Manning will make an appearance (hopefully not as a killer clown). If she sticks around than I will undoubtedly will too, and let’s face it, the show could benefit from more familiar faces from week to week.


-----------------------------------------------

Speaking of cliffhangers, none are more dramatic than those of Smallville. At the end of every season, all the townspeople of the farm town are in imminent danger, yet come the following year, everything is back to normal by the start of the second episode. We left off with Zod taking over Lex’s body with Lana at his side, Lionel and Chloe were being trampled in a riot after being pulled out of his limousine, Lois and Martha were in a plane that was going down somewhere in the artic, and Clark was banished to the Phantom Zone. Naturally by the end of the episode, Clark, Lois, and Martha made it back to Smallville, Zod was cast out of Lex’s body, Lionel and Chloe made it out with barely a scratched, and Lana did her usual stand around and look hot thing, not that there is anything wrong with that.

The big new of the season was Lois finally got rid of those tacky bangs with the ugly highlights. I remember seeing her on the CW promo, not recognizing her, and thinking “she must be part of the new show’s cast” only to realize it was her since she was next to Clark. In other big new, Troy Vandergraff (looks like next Thursday will be a Veronica Mars day on the CW) show up as Jimmy Olsen and somehow has the ability to make Chloe totally forget about the future Superman. But how soon will it be until Jimmy starts pining after Lois which we all know will become the basis of the Jimmy Olsen's Blues.

Verdict: Just your typical Smallville premiere, not that there’s anything wrong with that. I got to wonder what is left for Lana this season. I still think her death will be the straw that finally turns Lex into the supervillian we all know he will become. As for the rest of the season, it just a matter of guess which superpowers Clark discovers and which superfriends will show up next (that’s if you don’t know already).

On a related note, nowhere on the CW Thursday did I see one of the revolutionary commercial “pods”. Did they give up on them already or are they just on certain days?

Toss Up: Lost vs Veronica Mars: Season Two Edition

Two years ago, not only were Lost and Veronica Mars the two best new show of the season, they were the best two shows on television, period. Of course the TV Gods thought it would be funny to have the two shows air opposite of each going into their sophomore season which spawned my Toss Up series. But even though this year they are back to a day apart, I will continue to bring you the weekly Toss Up every Thursday (as long as they air new episodes) to see which show comes out on top. Now I am aware that they are a few Lost fans that haven’t yet caught Veronica Mars that check out the Toss Ups, well now here’s your chance to get into the show by heading over to MSN to see the first episode of the new season. I’ve seen it myself, and really the slate has be wiped clean so you don’t need to see the first two season to jump in (but that doesn’t mean you can’t go back and check them out on DVD later). So if you have forty-five minutes go check that out. Now onto the season two Toss Up:


Death Toll
Lost: The Token Hot Chick, Ana Lucia, Libby, Henry Gale (the real one), Goodwin, Nathan, Kate’s dad, Eko’s brother
Veronica Mars: Evil Beaver, Meg, Mayor Goodwood, Aaron Echols, Felix, Not-so-Lucky, Cervando, Peter Ferrer, Marcos Olivares, Betina
Winner: Veronica Mars


Daddy Issues
Lost: Kate wished her dad left her alone
Veronica Mars: Jackie wished her dad was there more
Winner: Veronica Mars


Obligatory Psychotic Jackass Bootie Call
Lost: Sawyer got down and dirty in the jungle with Ana Lucia
Veronica Mars: Logan had essentially a high price hooker Not-Kendall
Winner: Lost


4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42
Lost: What has to be typed into a computer ever 108 minutes.
Veronica Mars: True Love Stories Never Have Endings
Winner: Veronica Mars


Knocked Up
Lost: Sun by, um, yet to be determined
Veronica Mars: Meg by Duncan
Winner: Veronica Mars


Not
Lost: Not-Henry
Veronica Mars: Not-Kendall
Winner: Lost


Music
Lost: Charlie is a one hit wonder and sings to anyone who wants to hear
Veronica Mars: Veronica was serenaded her namesake’s song title by the dude from Spoon
Winner: Veronica Mars


Setting
Lost: Deserted island jungle
Veronica Mars: Urban jungle
Winner: Lost


Faction struggle
Lost: Passengers of 815 vs. the Others
Veronica Mars: 09’ers vs. the PCH’ers vs. the Fitzpatricks
Winner: Veronica Mars


Guest Stars
Lost: Carol Vessey, Peggy Bundy, Zelda Spellman
Veronica Mars: Silent Bob, Joss Whedon, Zena the Warrior Princess, the chick from Laguna Beach
Winner: Veronica Mars


Doctor with a Problem
Lost: Jack’s dad with alcohol
Veronica Mars: Hannah’s dad with coke
Winner: Veronica Mars


Hot Dead Blonde
Lost: Shannon
Veronica Mars: Meg
Winner: Lost


Shooting Blanks
Lost: Jin (maybe)
Veronica Mars: Lucky
Winner: Lost


Best Nicknames
Lost: Zeke
Veronica Mars: Ronnie
Winner: Lost


On the Lamb
Lost: Kate before the plane crashed
Veronica Mars: Madison Sinclair
Winner: Veronica Mars


It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye…
Lost: Michael and Walt
Veronica Mars: Duncan and Jackie
Winner: Lost


On the Internet
Lost: You can download the season two finale on iTunes for free (while supplies last)
Veronica Mars: You can stream the season three premiere at MSN a week before it airs
Winner: Lost


By the End of the Season We Learned
Lost: What happens when the button isn’t pushed
Veronica Mars: Who crashed the bus
Winner: Veronica Mars


Cliffhanger
Lost: What will happen to Kate, Jack, Sawyer, Eko, Locke, Desmond?
Veronica Mars: What was in Not-Kendall’s briefcase?
Winner: Lost


So there you have it broken down numerically, Veronica Mars just eeks Lost out to have the better second season but be sure to check back every Thursday to see who wins that week. Veronica Mars premieres Tuesday, October 3rd at 9:00 on the CW. Lost premieres Wednesday, October 4th at 9:00 on ABC. And don’t forget to check out the Veronica Mars press conference transcripts - Chatting with Rob Thomas and Tina Majorino.

Come in Hip-Hop We've Come to Resurrect You

As a hip-hop purist, I believe that the art form should only be preformed by young black men from New York City. There are very few exceptions to this rule including the Beastie Boys and Kanye West. The latter from Chicago, a city that is poised to become an exception to the rule by itself as Chi-Town has also brought us Common and Rhymefest. The latest from the Windy City is Lupe Fiasco who made a name for himself last year jumping on West’s Touch the Sky. 

West then returned the favor by producing The Cool off of Lupe’s debut album, Food & Liquor. The album itself breaks two of the most annoying rap clichés of recent years one of which is rapper no longer seem able to holds it down for complete albums instead bringing in guests for more than half their album. But on Food & Liquor, the newly un-retired Jay-Z, who tried to sign Lupe to Def Jam, is the lone marquee name. The other cliché Fiasco avoids is the content as it is refreshing to hear a rap album that doesn’t rely on stories of gangbanging, drugs, or denigrating women all of which Lupe avoids thanks to his strict Muslim upbringing. 

 There are a few major names behind the scenes. Aside from Kanye, The Neptunes produced the standout track I Gotcha. Then Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park fame handles the boards for The Instrumental that have a very LP feel thanks to the chorus by Jonah Matranga (Lupe and Jonah both made guest appearances on Shinoda’s side project’s, Fort Minor, album). But for the most of the album Fiasco is on his own developing his own style. The sound of the album is diverse melting pot of musical sounds from the rock of Real, to the horns of the skateboard anthem Kick, Push, to the staccato piano of I Gotcha to the sixties R&B of Daydreamin’ featuring Jill Scott, and one of the few samples is one of Burt Bacharach on He Said She Said.

The problem with the album is that it is missing that one big track. I Gotcha can pull you in, but there really isn’t anything that will keep the casual fan around. And you can completely skip the ten-plus minute track where Fiasco is basically reading his thank you page from his liner notes. But Lupe really needs to hook up with a producer that can better mold his sound much like underground legend Common did on his latest album when he brought Kanye West. Once that happens, Lupe will be a rapper that we can look forward to listen to for years to come. 

Song to Download - I Gotcha 

Food & Liquor gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Chatting with Rob Thomas and Tina Majorino

Last night I participating in another Veronica Mars press conference this time Tina Majorino (Mac) joined creator Rob Thomas (see No, Not That Rob Thomas if you’re thinking the dude from Matchbox Twenty). Much like the last one, I got two questions in so here are the transcripts of my questions. Now there are some very minor spoilers so proceed with caution if you completely avoid all spoilers. I also sprinkled some pictures from the season premiere which you can watch right now on MSN unfortunately Tuesdays are bad for me so I’ll may have to wait until tomorrow to watch).


Scooter McGavin: One of the things I really like about the show is how some of the characters show up again and again, like with Mac, for instance you saw her one time and she would come back. I was just wondering going into college, are we going to see any other of Neptune Alum show up at Hearst College and along those lines for Tina would you like to see the Mac-Butters relationship continue into college?

Rob Thomas: Butter is supposed to be still in high school, he was a junior last year, he won’t be in college, no plans on bring Butters back right now. We are finding that whenever there is somebody we really like we just keep using them and using them again and again. Last year in one of the episodes when Veronica and Wallace visited Hearst College we met the president of the Phi Sig fraternity Chip Diller and he’s in a bunch of episodes this year. We just cast a couple of guys, one plays an expert on everything dating [I think that’s what he said] in college that we’re really digging using so I have a feeling he’ll pop up from time to time. The best example of it would be Ryan Hansen who plays Dick Casablancas, he was guy who had one word in the pilot which was, “Logan” and then two words in his next episode which were, “all fours,” and we just fell in love with the guy and now he’s a very key player on the show. When we find an actor character we like we tend to just go back to them.

Tina Majorino: As far as Butters goes, I think it was really fun to play with the actor who plays Butters. But think they way that Mac feels about Butters that he is very strange and annoying (Rob laughs) so I don’t think that that relationship will work out but I think that there was a lot of good comedy with Butters [something inaudible].


SM: I remember from last season Logan was interest in having Tom Welling [from Smallville] play him in the Aaron Echols Story. I was just wondering now that you are on the same network would you be interested in giving him a call to do a guest spot?

RT: Well it’s interesting because Diane Ruggiero since the CW, who’s one of the writers here and now the only female left on the writing staff, has been begging for that crossover since we had the CW launch party and she saw him in person and I’m not sure she started breathing again. It would be so tough to do; it would be like someone asking Kristen Bell to guest star on their show. We work Kristen so hard and her free time is so valuable to her I imagine the same is true for Tom. The network would love it, they would adore it but I don’t think they would go to Tom as say, “please do Veronica Mars” just because they know just how hard he has to work on his own show. My wife and Al Gough’s [Smallville creator/producer/writer] wife are friends we actually have dinner from time to time and I may actually send a test buoy out on that particular question because I think it would be great for us. But I wouldn’t hold my breath on that.

SM: As a follow up, Tom Welling aside, if the CW came to you and you could have a pick of the litter of any actors on any show to do a cross-over, who would you pick?

RT: For me, it would be personally mercenary, who would get the most people watching our show? If we could get Lorelai (Lauren Graham) from Gilmore Girls on our show, that would be fantastic. That would be a crossover I would bend backwards to happen.

TM: I like her too, she’s fantastic.

SM: Would you be willing to send your actors out, like you like to see Lamb and Logan go at it in a steel cage match on Smackdown?

RT: (Laughs) Well I would love that, I would absolutely love that.


Some other comments of note:

- The friendship with Veronica is one of Tina’s favorite part of the whole show.

- Once again Ducky wanted to know if more gay homosexuals would be worked into the show. I’m beginning to think that what he really wants to know if the would incorporate a gay dude who goes by the name of Ducky into the show.

- Rob mentioned that fans ripped apart Deputy Leo and Hannah, but I have to say, Leo is my favorite Ronnie beau, c’mon, he picked her up while dressed like Crokett and their first dance was to the Spandau Ballet’s True. Ad Hannah was just the cutest thing ever.

- When asked about more bands being on the show Rob, said “Right now I’m writing the episode nine, there is definitely a space for a band. I’’m gonna direct the episode as well and should I try and get a “name” band? If you get too big of a band like you have Radiohead play a frat part at Hearst College it doesn’t make sense. Having a band adds five shooting hours, which really slows us down in an already jam packed already. Last year we wanted to do it a lot more, that plan was to have over twenty-two episodes, six different artists and have them do karaoke but what we found is that it so production down so much we really couldn’t afford to do it.”

- The Tube-Talk Girl asked about the three story arcs and if he had planned them out yet to which Rob replied, “We do know what the three mysteries are going to be. I can tell you that they’re all three going to have a different feel. I think most people know because I’ve been willing to share the first one is the ongoing mystery of the Hearst serial rapist. I want the second one to surprise people. You’ll get introduced to the second mystery in the last episode of the first mystery. I’ll tell you a little about the inspiration for, which will only make sense if you see what it is. But Steven Soderbergh did a low budget digital video murder mystery called Bubble. There are pieces of it, a way that’s it’s set up that I really like. I wanted to have a mystery, in which for the first time on Veronica Mars where we start seeing the build-up to it, as opposed to being introduced to the crime after it.

- The good people over at GMMR asked Tina about the difference between TV and film, Tina responded, “Working on TV, you get a chance to be so much closer to everyone that’s been working on the show because you’re working with them for a whole nine months; you get to see everyone everyday and you get a little more familiar with them. With film it’s 3 months and then it’s over with. It’s also nice knowing that you get to go to work everyday it’s a little more consistent. It’s nice to know where I’ll be going each day.”

- The TV Addict asked about if Rob was consciously changing things because of the new network and the Gilmore Girls lead-in, Rob had to say, “In the first episode I will freely admit that I think the first episode is Veronica Mars for beginners. The case is pretty straight ahead it’s not high incident case, it’s a case used largely to meet our new characters. I’ve tried to really front load the episodes with fun breezy banter that would play nicely with the Gilmore Girls audience, and sort of inviting them into the show. The episode starts feeling more like our show in the final five minutes; it’s not a huge departure for the first forty. The second episode which honestly ranks with some of our best ever, is Veronica Mars at its best.

- Tina will continue to guest on Big Love in its next season.

- Siklilgrl asked if Rob checked out Gilmore Girls yet, which he hasn’t just because his wife says it’s too girly for him but saw a chunk of one when the GG’s Logan was filming an episode of VM.

- The CW execs are thrilled by what they have filmed so far according to Rob.

- As for the music he picks for specific scenes, Rob explained, “The studio/network hates when I talk about it. One of the reasons we didn’t do a soundtrack this year is that when we’re over budget, the first place we have to make a cut is in music. In year one we were getting in 4 or 5 songs per episode, this year the number went down to 2 or 3. There’s been less music in the show which is something I’m not happy about. I tend to write with songs in mind. I sit there with iTunes open, as I’m writing and songs are occurring to me I put them in a playlist for that episode and keep that on play for hours while I write. I write to music a lot I think I’m the only writer here who does that and the post-production people always know when it’s my script because I’ve written all my songs into it. For the episodes I don’t write the editors tend to temp music that I will sometimes replace. One of our editors has just fantastic musical tastes; maybe it’s not fantastic maybe I think it is because it is kind of the same as mine. When he places music it tends to stay in the show. We also have a great music supervisor from Warner Bros. where I can say ‘I need a song for a sorority party what are the kids dancing to at sorority parties these days’ and she’ll send me a disk with fifteen songs of new artists who are breaking and fit the budget and I’ll drive along in my car for a few days and pick the songs that way.”


So there you have it, again if you want to check out the first episode of the season head over to MSN to do so or just turn into the CW next Tuesday at 9:00. I’ll be doing both. And since both Veronica Mars and Lost start op next week, next Thursday will be my first Toss Up of the season, but before that, make sure to check back Thursday for a season two Toss Up of the show to gear up for their third season premieres.