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 so here they are courtesy of YouTube. I advise you to watch them before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.
This is the story of two Kelly Clarkson’s. You have the Clarkson in white, who is definitely serviceable. Then there is the creepy Clarkson who makes you realize why the dude in the song would drop her for somewhere else. The video oddly reminds me of Owner of a Lonely Heart without the animals and unfortunately she doesn’t force the dude to jump off a building. And as I said before, the song is no Since U Been Gone (or Behind These Hazel Eyes for that matter) but there is something I like about the lyric, “Give me that Sunday school answer.”
Rihanna is good for at least one good song per album. Okay she is good for only one good song per album. But Umbrella definitely isn’t going to be that one for her upcoming release. And you really have to blame Jay-Z, ever since he unretired, everything he has touched has been sub par; Déjà vu with Beyonce was a cheap rip off of Crazy in Love; Kingdom Come was a massive flop, and this song just plain sucks. And as much as I like moderately attractive chicks naked, that body paint made me feel like I was watching some creepy soft-core robot porn.
I would much rather Tom Morello to focus more on continuing the Rage Against the Machine reunion, as his Nightwatchman isn’t nearly as good, but this video is a good watch.
Do we really need a serious song and accompanying video from Bowling for Soup? Probably not. The video is a little too soap opera-y, but effective nonetheless.
With the major project deadline still looming, I don’t have time to give a full write of the latest episode of Veronica Mars but here is a list of some of my favorite parts from last night’s episode. If you missed Un-American Graffiti, you can stream the episode over at CWTV.com, or download it through iTunes or Amazon Unbox.
- Really, any episode with Dick and Ronnie interaction is a great episode in my book. Ronnie’s comment about rather riding in a space elevator with Dick than going to Parker’s party was a great shout out to the alterna-prom episode. And Dick calling having his zipper down a “party ritual” may be the greatest Dick-ism ever.
- Second favorite part of the episode was the Van Clemmons sighting.
- Loved that Logan mocked the worst show in the history of television, My Super Sweet 16 and deliver the best line of the night: That reminds me, you don't know where I can get a dozen eunuchs do you?
- Vee giving the smackdown to a Middle School kid: classic
- Not sure what pop culture reference I liked more, Ronnie calling random stoner “Towelie” or the over exaggerated Tarintinoesque super slow-mo during the drive by.
- Loved Mac referencing cheesy 90’s movies, but her chumming it up with Logan was a little weird.
- The Mac-Max introduction may be the greatest introduction since Uma met Oprah. And poor guy know has to ask every girl he meets if his friends bought her.
- Much preferred the Keith case opposed to Ronnie’s. But how exactly did Keith know Piz’s first name? But the Biggie Smalls ID was great. I have a feeling that it will be just Keith and Sachs at the sheriff’s office next week.
- It was great seeing Chief Reilly in the episode. I wonder if this is part of some great television exchange program. Is Dick going to show up on Rescue Me next season in return?
There was an article in that latest Newsweek (5/7/07) totally ripping on The CW and how the first year is a failure. The first paragraph is dedicated to Veronica Mars and is the show that gets the most mention. Check your local newstands if you want to check that out.
In an unrelated story, a melancholy happy trails to Tom Poston who died last night. He was a little before my time, but I do remember seeing a few episodes of Newhart. It is good to remember a time in comedy where everyone didn’t go straight to raunchy in order to get a laugh.
It is the first of the month and that means it time for a new induction to the Scooter Hall of Fame. In honor of the band reuniting this weekend at Coachella, Rage Against the Machine, and their best album Evil Emipre will be this month's induction. The only problem is I with the semester coming to a close and a major project due Thursday, I just do not have time to do a right up. I will most likely have that ready later this week. Until then, here is my favorite Rage song, Bulls on Parade, from the Coachella set (which really is not that safe for work):
You know that the MTV Movie Awards have become a complete skill for the movie industry if you check out the category they stuck in at the end Best Summer Movie You Haven’t Seen Yet. Then the movie that garnished the most nominations, along with 300, was a movie that everyone panned, but who’s third installment in the series is also coming this summer. With that said, I’ll still be tuning in June 3rd mostly because for the first time in what seems like forever, an MTV awards show may actually have a host that may be funny in Sarah Silverman. Here are the nominations and you can always head over to MTV.com to cast your vote or Yahoo.com to vote for your favorite fan submitted spoofs:
Maybe it is a generational thing, but I have never understood the whole Borat phenomenon. Same with Will Ferrell, someone really needs to tell explain how they actually find them funny. But with that said, I have a feeling there will be a Borat sweep. Personally as a big fan of homoerotic history, 300 was the best movie here.
Who Will Win: Will Smith Who I Voted For: Gerard Butler
You can trace the point when the Movie Awards started to suck to when they started nominated the same actors that the academy awards did and here you have four actors nominated for the characters they have played. What ever happened to Most Desirable Female? But anyways. Even though he was great in the first, Depp seemed to be mailing it in with the second, so I go with Butler. But I got to wonder what was his gayer role, 300 or Phantom of the Opera.
Breakthrough Performance Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine Lena Headey, 300 Columbus Short, Stomp the Yard Jaden Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness Justin Timberlake, Alpha Dog
Who Will Win: Abigail Breslin Who I Voted For: Columbus Short
Justin Timberlake’s inclusion here begs the question how can you actually have a breakout performance in a movie no one saw? Not that it matter, Breslin will runaway with it because all the future stars of To Catch a Predator most likely liked her stripper routine a little to me. Since I’m against the exploitation of eight year olds, I went with Short not for Stop the Yard per say, but I loved his performance on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
Best Comedic Performance Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Will Ferrell, Blades of Glory Adam Sandler, Click Ben Stiller, Night at the Museum
Who Will Win: Sacha Baron Cohen Who I Voted For: Adam Sandler
Well Click was the only movie on this list that I actually saw so that is the easy choice. For further reasons why I would vote for Sandler, take a look at the name of this blog.
Who Will Win: Tobin Bell Who I Voted For: Bill Nighy
If I’m not mistake, Bell won last year and that will most likely continue not just this year but next. Hopefully there may be some Saw fatigue so Nighy wins as he was the lone bright spot in an otherwise bland movie. Although if he does end up winning, the award should also go to the CGI people that created his tentacle beard.
Best Fight Jack Black & Héctor Jiménez vs. Los Duendes (Wrestling Match), Nacho Libre Gerard Butler vs. The Uber Immortal (The Spartan/Persian Battle), 300 Sacha Baron Cohen vs. Ken Davitian (Naked Wrestle Fight), Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Will Ferrell vs. Jon Heder (Ice Rink Fight), Blades of Glory Uma Thurman vs. Anna Faris (Super Girl Fight), My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Who Will Win: Sacha Baron Cohen vs. Ken Davitian Who I Voted For: Gerard Butler vs. The Uber Immortal
Who would have though that Best Fight would be the gayest category ever? They might as while send these montages to the Secretary of Defense in hopes of overturning their Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.
Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet Evan Almighty (June 22) Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (June 15) Hairspray (July 20) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (July 13) Rush Hour 3 (August 10) Transformers (July 4)
Who Will Win: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Who I Voted For: Transformers
Yeah, this was pretty worthless. And where’s I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry?
Big News of the Week: May Sweeps in Full Swing: It’s is may and the networks are bringing out the big guns: Barney appears on The Price Is Right (How I Met Your Mother), the Heroes fast forward five years, Veronica Mars returns, My Name Is Earl has Smell-a-Vision (check the latest issue of TV Guide for your sniff card), Smallville goes noir, Tyra Collette returns to Supernatural, and next Sunday NBC gives us Saturday Night Live in the ‘90s: Pop Culture Nation. With all that, there will be only one Pick of the Week which you will have to wait until the end of this post.
One thing you won’t be seeing during May Sweeps is Drive which Fox pulled. I believe I called that before it ever aired. So you can add that show to The Lone Gunmen, Undeclared, Firefly, A Minute with Stan Hooper, Keen Eddie, Wonderfalls, The Jury, The Inside, Point Pleasant, Reunion. But anyways. And the 9th Green may even get into the sweeps fever with an upcoming contest. I haven’t gotten the prize(s) yet so I don’t want to jinx it by telling you what it is, but be sure to keep a look out for it. As a hint, even though the name may fool you, the prize has nothing to do with the dude who sang 3 AM. (Scooter's Note: If the deal falls through, I will disavow that the last sentence ever happened)
Heroes: Well that sucked massively. Yeah I knew from the moment the shard of glass entered Peter’s head he wasn’t actually going to be dead, but a fan of good acting can hope that he was actually killed of the show. Then the episode ended with a potential jump the shark moment when Hiro came face to face with Future Hiro. Anyone who has seen Back to the Future if you were to meet your future self it would rip a hole in the time/space continuum. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com.
RW/RR Challenge: The Inferno III: I probably laughed a little to long after Rachel lost to Jenn. Really, how can you lose three straight after being up 2-0? She was definitely right to leave in shame without saying goodbye to anyone. Check out the latest episode over at MTV.com or download at iTunes.
Lost: Yawn. Have Sun and Jin ever had an interesting flashback? But that’s not to say the episode was a complete wash with the return of Eyepatch dude. I theorized a couple weeks ago that Miss Cleo was a little to eager to commit suicide and that that they knew they would come back. Even as far back as season one I theorized that Boone, Ethan, and the Federal Marshall would be what was down in the hatch. But I backed off those theories realizing that then they couldn’t possibly bring everyone back. But there was Eyepatch dude and I really doubt he just so happened to have an eyepatch over the same eye.
The other big news was random chick from the skies’ reveal that the flight was already recovered with no survivors which brought back all the purgatory rumors. My theory is that whoever wanted the plane to crash in the first place staged a fake crash so no one would keep searching foe them. Check out the latest episodes over at ABC.com.
Survivor: These have got to be some of the dumbest contestants in the history of Survivor. Which is a good thing because you never know what they are going to do leading to many unpredictable episodes this season. First you had the Alex/ Mookie braintrust who, upon finding Yau-Man’s immunity idol, come up with a plan to out Yau instead of just stealing it for themselves. That may have been the dumbest move ever.
Then you have the weakest alliance ever. Yau and Earl are tight. Then you have Cassandra who is loosly ties to the Earl/Yau tandem and to Dreamz. Then there is Stacy and Boo who are complete outsiders. It should be interesting next week to see if they stick together or someone aligns with Alex to gain control of the game. Check out the latest episode on Innertube.
My Name Is Earl: Certainly there was going to be a drop off after the hilarious Norm MacDonald episode last week, but not by much. It was great to see Earl issue out his own brand of karma this week including inadvertently helping the teachers blow up a student’s care. And as grating as Randy sometimes gets, him pouring out some chocolate milk in memory of a fallen teacher was classic. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com or download at iTunes.
Next Week’s Pick: Veronica Mars, 9:00 Tuesday, The CW: The latest talentless female with a name no one knows has been added to a group that won’t be around in two to three years so that means it is time for the best show on television to finally comeback. If you have yet to check out the show, there is no better time than this week to give it a try (you can always download the whole season on iTunes). It has been eight weeks since Ronnie has solved the Dean’s murder and Parker and Logan looked like they were becoming more than friends. And we will get are first taste of a standalone episode of the show. All leading up to the season finale which some who have\ seen it are calling the best episode in the history of the show which is high praise considering the two previous five star season finales, as well as A Trip to the Dentist and Donut Run and this years gold standards, Spit and Eggs and Mars Bars. Naturally Vee and crew are also the Promo of the Week:
We are not even halfway through the first round and there are some great moments in this year's NFL Draft. Most notably being the Detroit Lions taking a Wide Receiver in the first round (all top ten overall picks) for the fourth time in five years. I don't care if Calvin Johnson was supposedly the best overall talent in the draft, you can't make that move if you are Matt Millen. I have a feeling all GM's got together and made a pact not to trade up to force Millen to draft Johnson. The other enjoyment this year is trying to figure out who looks more disappointed, Brady Quinn or his girlfriend. You can tell she is visualizing her engagement ring shrink smaller with each passing pick.
As for my team, the Cleveland Browns, like I said earlier this week, with a playoff drought (one appearance in over a decade), the Draft is pretty much the Super Bowl for us. Here a look at their picks (will be updated throughout the weekend as they pick):
1st Round (3rd Overall): Joe Thomas - OT Wisconsin: First I'd like to say thank you to the Browns for taking my advise to pass on Quinn, although I wouldn't be against trading up to get him at this point. Great pick with Thomas to help sure up one of the worst O-lines in the league. The reason why the Browns are near the bottom in passing and rushing is not because of the personnel (totally), but the defense gets to the ball too quick. This should plug one of the many holes.
1st Round (22nd Overall from Dallas): Brady Quinn - QB Notre Dame: I'd like to say I called it and thought it was a good move, until I heard the terms of the deal. The Browns gave up the 2nd round pick and their first round pick for the 2008 draft. Bad decision considering that the Browns most likely won't be picking 22 or higher next season. I guess when you were heavily thinking about picking Quinn at three, it is worth giving up next year's number 1 unless we end up with a top 2 pick next year.
2nd Round (53rd Overall from Dallas): Eric Wright - CB UNLV: After they traded away their second round pick to Dallas in the Quinn deal, I though the Browns first day was over but checking out the draft this morning I saw they made another trade with the Cowboys this time giving up their third and fourth round pick and swapping six rounders. I was hoping the Browns would focus on the aging front line because the more pressure you get on the QB, the better the backfield gets. And not surprisingly a dude named after Eazy-Z comes with characters issues stemming from an alleged rape, charges that were later dropped but led him to transfer to UNLV from USC. But looking on the bright side, in the two years he lived in Las Vegas, he not once made it rain at a strip club, so he has that going for him.
Now I understand that many of my readers are not big sports fans and for those that are may not care about the Browns, so here is a little something extra for you and Reason #69 to watch Veronica Mars: Dick Casablancas. Enjoy (and don't forget to tune in May 1st).
With Rage Against the Machine, Tom Morello help create the hard rock/rap mash up genre that got ruined by lesser bands in the late nineties. Then he took a step back in time with the seventies arena rock of Audioslave. Now he is going even further back in time musically with his latest outfit, The Nightwatchman. As the one man band, Morello is channeling such folk heroes as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. The Nightwatchman came to fruition during the Audioslave era when Morello needed an output during the Bush administration with lead singer’s Chris Cornell’s moratorium on political songs.
So between Audioslave gigs, Morello would go to local coffee houses and sign up for local mike nights under the moniker The Nightwatchman with songs about the war. And with Audioslave on indefinite (and it looks now like a permanent) hiatus, Morello had time on his hand to make an album of these songs called One Man Revolution. And just like Audioslave was pretty much how you expected a combination of Rage Against and Soundgarden, The Nightwatchman is pretty much what you would expect Morello would sound if he unplugged and did his best Bruce Springsteen circa Nebraska impression.
With his weapon of choose, the guitar, rendered useless by going acoustic, Morello has to rely on his voice and lyrics to get his point across without a front man to do it for him. To hear him sing is at first a little jarring with the deep baritone. The lyrics are hit and miss as Morello isn’t adept to writing folk songs yet and even clumsily steals the line, “three times I shot the sheriff, but I did not spare the deputy.” And with the little background noise, you will notice Morello’s out there political views, which is something you can overlook with Rage because, well, the rock.
Though hearing anti-war songs from Tom Morello are much more palatable than ill-advised ones from Maroon 5 or Sum41 who just seem like jumping on the “Yeah we hate Bush too” bandwagon because it is in vogue. Although oddly enough the only administration aide Morello calls out by name is Colin Powell who is long gone but Morello never cared about letting the lesser of two evils off the hooks as Rage famously protested the Democratic National Convention. But as anti-war albums, Neil Young’s Living with War is still much better than One Man Revolution.
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 so here they are courtesy of YouTube. I advise you to watch them before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.
Another week, another video from Snow Patrol. Even though the song is much better than Signal Fire, the Spiderman themed video is much better than the, um, whatever this video is supposed to be. But at least there aren’t any scenes from a crappy television show intertwined with the performance. You can check out my review of the album at The Final Word in the Final Sentance.
Apparently when not providing the soundtrack to Zach Braff’s life, the boys in The Shins are doing their part to make the world a better place by releasing balloons back into their natural habitat. This video may actually funnier than anything Braff has ever written. You can check out my review of the album at Born to Gaze into Nigh Skies.
Really, who needs treadmills when you have friends in multicolored shirts? Certainly not Canadian songstress Feist. And just a reminder, her album, The Reminder, comes out next Tuesday, May 1, which just happens to be the day that Veronica Mars come back with all new episodes.
Nobody in recent years had a bigger buzz leading up to the release of their album than Arctic Monkeys. Then the album was released and they were met with general indifference. Yeah, not even the Beatles could have lived up to that kind of hype, but Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not was a good album (that landed at number 14 on my 50 Best Albums of 2006). Who know why the band was ignored, my guess is that, even though most people lose their accents when singing, Alex Turner’s vocals still sounds very British.
And if the British thing is what kept Americans from jumping on the bandwagon for the first album, it’s doubtful the second will change their mind, right down to the extra British “U” in the album’s title, Favourite Worst Nightmare. The disk may even be less palatable to the general audience here as the disk is distinctly harder and faster as evident with the album opener first single, Brianstorm, a jarring sound of guitars that will command your attention right from the start.
But much like on the last album, the band is at its best when it goes into the mid-tempo area with quirky lyrics that cleverly rhyme and nowhere on Favourite Worst Nightmare is that displayed than of Florescent Adolescent a song about a girl gone wild who is wild no more as she, “used to get it in your fishnets now you only get it in your nightdress.” With two good albums in as many years, the Arctic Monkeys may be providing those who like real music for years to come, long after the current crop of dudes wearing eyeliner are resigned to VH1 reality shows.
There are three different reasons why someone would watch VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club: 1) For good heath tips, 2) Like other “celebrity” reality shows, to see has-been’s try for one last chance at the spot light, 3) to watch addicts go through withdrawal. As much as I’d like to say the reason I occasionally check out the show if for reason number one, the third is more realistically the reason. And lets face it as much as America wants to deny it, food has become an addiction.
Now it’s fifth season, Celebrity Fit Club for the first time will be split between Men and Woman. It is somewhat surprising the show has lasted this long as when it started I doubted they could continually find even C-Listers that would be willing to come on a show that basically is meant to show how fat they have become. But you really have to admire anyone who would come on a show like this because it shows they are willing to overcome the humiliation in order to try to live a healthier life. This years cast includes:
Maureen McCormick: I’m not sure what is more surprising, that Marsha Brady (the third Brady to be featured on a VH1 reality show) has packed on the pounds or that she is fifty. Although I have a feeling that news is worse for people actually alive when The Brady Bunch was on the air.
Tiffany: The former Mall Rat is just four years removed from appearing in Playboy (seriously? Her?). Just goes to show everyone how quick you can gain weight.
Da Brat: On her second tour of VH1 reality shows. How soon until she drops in on the Hogan family?
Kimberley Locke: I’ve never heard of her before this show but how bad of a karaoker do you have to be if you lose to Clay Aiken?
Dustin Diamond: Every season has their obligatory psychotic jackass, see Daniel Baldwin (his appearance makes his brother’s recent phone call seem reasonable) and Jeff Conaway, and it looks like Screech will be this one.
Warren G: There’s always a contestant every season where you go “No not him/her” and Warren G is that for me this season. Regulate is one of the Top 10 greatest rap songs of all time.
Ross the Intern: Again I have no clue who this is but I’m surprised that Ant would let someone on the show that is gayer than he is.
Somewhat of a lackluster cast, c’mon, where are all the morbidly obese “celebrities” this time around? For people who watch the show for the second reason, some of the most entertaining moments, and most weight lose, come from these people like seeing Bruce Vilanch doing the long jump are seeing Big Pussy take as much time to run a quarter of a mile as it does for some people to run a whole mile. And there was a little shake up with the judges as Linda Papadopoulos and her too much makeup is released and is replaced by the seemingly more no-nonsense Stacy Kaiser. Luckily Harvey Walden IV, the best token grumpy judge in all reality television, is back as the trainer. Hopefully he will literally smack Screech around this season.
Verdict: Not really must see TV, but I always get some good helpful hints on how I, myself, can live a healthier lifestyle, even if I tend to be eating potato chips whenever I turn the show on. Celebrity Fit Club: Men vs. Women airs Sunday at 9:00 on VH1.
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