Wednesday, February 13, 2008

First (and Second) Impressions: Eli Stone


The cast of Eli StoneThere are four types of shows I do not watch: shows about doctors, cops or lawyers and anything on Fox. But from the promos for Eli Stone, you could get the sense that the show was going to be the greatest thing ever, or the worst. The show is definitely the latter. And I mean that in a good way. I mean you really can’t expect a lawyer who is haunted by George Michael songs to be the next Wonderfalls; at most you can hope for the next Sledge Hammer!.

Julie Gonzalo - I'd hit thatWhat the show excels at is its impeccable casting with a handful of “it’s that guy (gal)” moments in the first two episodes. My list includes Ms. Hendricks, Dr. Abbott (have I mentioned I met him?), Ed Stevens, The Shredder, and Mac’s roommate Parker (who definitely looks better with the short brown hair). Seriously, if Andrew from Buffy The Vampire Slayer shows up I may have to check to see if I also have an aneurysm. That is not to say the cast is perfect, I mean, the chick from Species? Certainly there was someone else out there that does not tower over the lead and is a more convincing human than alien.

George Michael out of a restroomSurprisingly the star of the show isn’t the title character Eli Stone, who really seems too nice and a push over to be a successful lawyer, but instead George Michael is the true star. Or at least his music is as his songs, Faith and Freedom were featured in the first two episodes with every episode being named after one his songs. Next week you can expect a Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go themed episode. Although considered that Stone is engaged to the boss’s daughter, I am a little weary for when Father Figure shows up.

Victor Garber singing for FreedomThe father in question is Victor Garber, finally out of the stuffy father role in Alias and can show his impeccable comic timing especially when he was the on Eli saw singing Freedom. But who could end up being the big scene stealer amongst so many of them is Eli’s acupuncturist who fakes his Chinese accent to get patients. Not so stellar is the writing that goes from hilarious, like when Eli asked his one night stand from college’s son was his for her to respond, “Yeah, I was pregnant for eight years,” to down right boring, like his voice over. It is almost as if the show was written by someone from Friday Night Lights but edited by a staff writer from One Tree Hill.

Verdict: Enjoy it why it last because I rank the chance of Eli Stone filming more episode than it has just slightly above Cavemen’s. But decent idea, great casting, suspect writing, and the post-Lost jinx does not bode well for the show. But as long as cheesy George Michael songs show up I’ll be watching. Eli Stone airs Thursdays at 10:00 on ABC. You can stream recent episodes at ABC.com or download the show on iTunes.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

First (and Second) Impressions: Lost


Not-Henry still doesn't tell us anything interestingIn what may have been a nod to the fanboys, Not-Henry promised to tell Locke anything he wanted to keep him from killing him and the first question Locke asked was at the top of everyone’s list, what the frak is that smoke monster thing. But in true Lost fashion, as everyone sits on the edge of the couches for the answer, Not-Henry said he didn’t know and proceeded to tell Locke every mundane fact about one of the new characters. Wow, all her siblings are chicks. Welcome back Lost, I missed you and your frustrating ways.

The Lawnmowerman, still crazy after all these yearsAlthough four seasons in I can’t say I’m that frustrated anymore. I made my peace last year that we are never going to get any answers and the few that we get will be two seasons too late or are so underwhelming I just do not care. And since I stopped caring I can enjoy the show for what it is absurdly funny. Dude takes to a spirit to extort money from a grieving mother. Sure, why not. The Lawnmower Man is convinced that a wedding rich couldn’t possibly fall off after being submerged for weeks. Of course not.

The big news of the first episode is there is an Oceanic Six that make it off the island. And surprisingly, according to voice over promo monkey we actually learn a fourth next week to add to Jack, Kate, and Hurley. Presumably four and five are the person Kate has to get back to (Sawyer), and the person who died (Locke). Which leaves one more; I put my money on Juliet. Of course the thing with Juliet is that she wasn’t actually on the plane so what if there are more people who make it to the mainland. I don’t think that the Others Redux will leave without Not-Henry, so what if ends up being the dead dude (whom I originally predicted)? And maybe there were up to eight people who made it off the island?

Or maybe more. What if Kate isn’t one of them either? You really think the government would let her off the hook for killing a dude and then fleeing the country just because she had to live on a deserted island for a couple months. Maybe she snuck back but Jack and Hurley are letting everyone think she is dead so she doesn’t have to go to jail.

Kristen Bell seriously passed on this roll?Then the second episode brought in the new question of who are these Others Redux and what’s with the black dude who assembled them? Are they Dharma out for revenge? And how did they get a picture of Not-Henry, has he left the island? How does Desmond, who they also had a picture of, fit into their plans? And why recruit the ghost whisperer, a scientist, an anthropologist, and a nut-job pilot? The most interesting is Charlotte and her dig with the Dharma polar bear. Did Kristen Bell seriously choose to slum it on Heroes with the lame Elle instead of taking this character? And can I possibly ask anymore questions in this post?

Verdict: Like I mentioned earlier, the show is much more enjoyable when you stop caring. I don’t think I have enjoyed two straight episodes since the first season. Lost airs Thursdays at 9:00 on ABC. You can stream the most recent episodes over at ABC.com.

Lost on iTunes


Monday, February 11, 2008

We on Award Tour: 2008 Grammy Awards


In contrast of award shows, The Grammy’s decided to kick off their fiftieth anniversary with Alicia Keys dueting with a youthful Frank Sinatra while MTV decided on their twentieth Video Music Awards to instead go with the train wreck that is Britney Spears. And this is why the Grammy’s keeps getting better and better why the VMA’s has slipped further and further since the last time Chris Rock hosted. And the Grammy’s were wise enough to stick their over hyped train wreck (i.e. Amy Winehouse) near the end of the show just in case it backfired. Here are some other thoughts from last night’s festivities:

Cariie Underwood - I'd hit that- Another reason why the Grammy’s are always worth watching is because they get artists to take their songs in a different direction and that was most evident with the Carrie Underwood, doing her best Nancy Sinatra impression, being backed by Fat Albert’s Junk Yard Band and still made it work.

- Someone should have told Rihanna just because she was performing with The Time didn’t mean she had to get the Morris Day haircut.

- Performance of the night had to go to Kanye West. I actually preferred the slowed down version of Stronger than the album version and it was visually stunning as he brought the Daft Punk pyramid complete with Daft Punk inside. Then Hey Mama was just heart wrenching. Not sure why he continued to wear that glow in the dark vest all night though.

One is Rihanna, one is Morris Day, can you tell which is which?- Too bad John Legend had to slum it with Fergie, couldn’t they let him sing one of his own songs for having to stoop so low.

- I wonder if Cher and Tina Turner had a contest to see who face could move the less last night. When will people realize that you look much creepier with Botox than with wrinkles? Odd that Tina performed a song she help made famous with her ex-husband who just died without a mention. As for the guy who wrote it, I really couldn’t tell if John Fogerty liked the preference or not.

- I don’t remember the show ever performing outside the venue and not only did they have Amy Winehouse perform via satellite, the Foo Fighters performed in the parking lot. Luckily they didn’t spend as much time as last year hyping the My Grammy Moment this year but more Jason Bateman isn’t that bad. And did I miss what exactly the girl won? Aside from being at the front of the stage, it didn’t seem that much prestigious than the rest of the orchestra.

Kanye West goes dark and glowy- Yet another reason not to listen to hillbilly music, the song Brad Paisley performed about searching a chick for ticks. And I didn’t think anything would be stupider than the song about how tractors are sexy. My IQ needs to drop about forty points before I can start enjoying those types of songs.

- In a rare misstep in Grammy performances, that was an odd bit from Feist. I’m not for sure, but I think they cut out a verse. Her performance on Saturday Night Live was actually much better and cooler with the massive band and choir she had with her. Really, the “whoa-o-o-o” is the best part. Less people on a bigger stage just didn’t work.

- Speaking of things that didn’t work, Keely Smith (who won the first Grammy) and Kid Rock? Umm, yeah, no.

I am glad they did not perform Lesson Learned- Just when I started to get tired of No One, the new spin on it from Alicia Keys made it better again. Performing with Frank Sinatra and John Mayer in the same night? Good work if you can get it.

- Seeing Amy Winehouse singing about not going to rehab when she is on leave from rehab (name dropping her incarcerated husband twice during the song) just makes the performance a little weird. And seeing how she reacted to winning Record of the Year making me wonder if the current treatment is taking.

- Token Old Dude Alert!: Nothing better than an old dude who probably made more last year than I’ll make in my lifetime complain about money.

- Earlier this evening, Grammy’s went to the narrator of Pushing Daisies and Barak Obama who beat out Bill Clinton. No, seriously.

- Will.i.am’s little bit was, um, interesting to say the least.

- And the Grammy for Album of the Year goes to… of, course, the oldest guy in the category. Anyone who says their shock by Herbie Handcock beating out Kanye and Winehouse obviously has never seen the Grammy’s before even if it were the second jazz album to ever win the award.

- My two favorite performences of the night:







Sunday, February 10, 2008

57 Channels and Only This Is On vol. XIX


Quote of the Week: Everything I know about women you can stick in this damn coffee cup. But I do know you got to have trust and honesty and without trust and honestly it is not gonna work. (Coach Taylor, Friday Night Lights)

Song of the Week: Freddom '90 - George Michael (As performed by Victor Garber and a childrens choir, Eli Stone)

Big News of the Week: Ben Silverman Is a Humongous Tool: Back when I was a freshman, the varsity soccer coach said to me, “Hey you.” Apparently I had a deer in the headlights look because my JV coach said, “Don’t worry, if you were in trouble, he’d know your name.” I bring that up because until Thursday I wouldn’t have been able to distinguish Ben Silverman from Ben Stein or Jonathan Silverman. That was until Jo pointed me to this article from Radar Online (which name dropped my brother Shooter) where a reporter asked about Friday Night Lights to which NBC President Silverman said, “Start watching 30 Rock.” Then proceeds to say no one watches FNL. Um, I’m sorry Benny Boy; I totally missed how 30 Rock was this ratings juggernaut. And most of its few viewers are ones that are just too lazy to switch the channel between My Name Is Earl and The Office. I bet if you put 30 Rock in-between 1 vs. 100 and Las Vegas it would have even less viewers than Friday Night Lights.

In fact I would like to point out that Friday Night Light outsells 30 Rock in Unbox Downloads and FNL season 1 is outselling 30 Rock season 1 in the Amazon DVD store (currently 144 to 407 respectively in overall sales to put things in perspective). And keep in mind Amazon numbers are actual hard numbers of people buying unlike the Neilson Ratings which is a glorified poll that is so shady it doesn’t even release its margin of error.

So everyone out there that watches Friday Night Lights be sure to boycott the Knight Rider movie that comes on sometime soon because if it does well they will be making it into a series for some reason even though the debacle that was resurrecting Bionic Woman should still be fresh in their heads. Do not watch My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad whenever that premieres for the same reason (not to mention it will most likely lower your IQ). You can also sign the Best Week Ever petition. And if you want to express to Silverman why he should keep on the Lights here is address (although you may want to avoid calling him a humongous tool even though he is):

Ben Silverman c/o NBC Studios
3000 W. Alameda Ave.
Burbank, CA. 91523

Keep the Lights On!  Sign the Petition!  Friday Night Lights



Coalition Links of the Week:

Buzz wonders how many '80s TV references you can pack into one little Ben Lee music video. (BuzzSugar)

Araya tells us why Friday Night Lights is number 2 on his Top 10 TV Shows list. (Daemon's TV)

Mikey was relieved to see Ricky finally get auf'd on Project Runway, but he still has considerable beefs with the current season. (Mikey Likes TV)

Pop Vultures interviewed writer Eric Estrin and got his perspective on the WGA strike. (Pop Vultures)

To explain her love for Anna Fricke, Rae channeled her Dawson's Creek fangirl of television shows gone by. (RTVW)

Vance skipped The Super Bowl but loved all the super bawling on Friday Night Lights which deserves a bit of that 97 Million Super Bowl football audience. (Tapeworthy)

Jace was all about advance looks at British telly this week, with reviews of new series That Mitchell and Webb Look and Last Restaurant Standing on BBC America. (Televisionary)

Dan interviewed Tonight Show writer Michael Jann about the WGA strike as part of the Adopt a Writer project. (TiFaux)

Jennifer questioned whether Nip/Tuck should be renamed “Nip YUCK,” after the latest developments. (Tube Talk)

Kate picked the five best and five worst looks from this season of Project Runway. (TV Filter)


Welcome to the Captain: Not really the funniest thing I have seen in a while but then again that is what I thought about The Big Bang Theory and it turned into the second funniest thing on television. And a show with George Bluth Sr. and some Hispanic dude named Jesus who pronounces it the Anglo-Saxon way, not the Spanish was has to get better right? You can download Welcome to the Captain on iTunes.


Super Tuesday:It is funny that for months the pundits have been suggesting that the Republican nominee would be decided by a brokered convention but now it is the Republican that have the nominee all but picked and the Democrats are heading for a brokered convention. Not only that, it is plausible that Barak Obama wins more delegates but Hilary Clinton gets the nomination because of the superdelegates (you know because Hilary is pimping out her daughter by making Chelsea call these superdelegates looking for support).

Then all day Saturday, the pundits try to make a big deal out of Mike Huckabee beating John McCain in the Nebraska primary. They all talked about this was conservatives sending a message to McCain but never talked about the real reason: if you are a McCain supporter why bother voting? It is the middle of winter and your candidate is basically a lock why leave your house. I’m not bothering to vote in March in the Republican primary opting to vote in the Democratic one because it will actually mean something.


Lost: Finally got around to watching the first two episodes of the season, but they really deserve their own posts. Look out for that later this week. You can catch up on Lost on iTunes.


Friday Night Lights: Wait, Jason Street nailed that waitress? How did I miss that? And if there were a reason to have another season it is because of his miracle baby. Seriously, only Friday Night Lights can pull off a miracle baby and not make it seem lame (yes I’m talking to you Lost and The X-Files). Anotyher reason there has to be another season is so we can follow Smash down to Whitmore. The scene with him and the two coaches ranks up there as one off the best this season. I’d like Silverman point out any specific scene from 30 Rock better than scene. Check out the latest episodes over at NBC.com.


Promo of the Week: Thanks to the writer’s strike, CBS is importing the Showtime killer drama Dexter to network television premiering next Sunday at 10:00. The show is actually less gruesome so I’m not sure what exactly is going to be cut because the show has a longer runtime than network shows. Below is a promo for the show:



Next Week’s Pick: Flavor of Love 3, Monday at 9:00 on VH1: Okay, to be honest the only reason I am excited about this is because it may mean more contestants for a possible second season of Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School. Although I am really hoping for a Flavor vs. Rock version of Charm School or possibly a Battle of the Sexes with the dudes from I Love New York.




Saturday, February 09, 2008

Feed Your iPod vol. XIV: Devil Town


Last night saw the last pre-strike episode of Friday Night Lights (hopefully not the last one ever, much more on that tomorrow) and thanks to Explosions in the Sky, the show has some of the most distinctive music on television. As for the non-instrumental music, there are some great picks that you may have heard of most notably Devil Town by Tony Lucca featured at the end of the first season finale. There really isn’t a good version of the song on YouTube so I thought; I have this Hulu account that I rarely use so why not just feature that whole episode. And if your iPod or mp3 player, any and all episodes of Friday Night Lights are worthy of some space on it.

Devil Town - Tony Lucca Tony Lucca - Friday Night Lights (Original Television Soundtrack) - Devil Town






Friday, February 08, 2008

First Impressions: Survivor: Fans vs Favorites


The FavoritesBack when Survivor trotted out their first All-Star edition I thought it was a bad idea that would end all bad ideas. And it turned out I wasn’t wrong as it is the worst season to date. All the contestants knew what to expect from the game and their competitors and they even had two people up and leave, more than all the other seasons combined. So I was a little queasy when they announced this Fans vs. Favorites season. Then I became extremely queasy when I learned that enormous douchebag Johnny Fairplay was among the favorites.

Amanda KimmelAnd he wasn’t the only questionable Favorite castmate. Lesbian/Barista Ami? Turn coat Jonathan? Speed talking Eliza? It is never a good sign when Jeff Probst said that this experiment will either be extremely great or absolutely horrible. Not very encouraging words considering he already knew how it was going to turn out already. Not that it will keep me from watching as they brought back some decent eye candy in the form of Parvati Shallow, Eliza Orlins and from the picture to the left we can tell what Amanda Kimmel spent her runner up money up on. Seriously, I didn’t even recognize her initially. Although I have to say I am extremely disappointed they didn’t bring back Danielle DiLorenzo from Exile Island.

The FansThen the show focused way too much on the Favorites but I guess that is because they were the tribe going to Tribal Council, but it would be nice to see some of the newbies. Then these veterans ended up being dumb they really were by letting Fairplay be the swing voter. Have none of them ever met the dude before? And where was Cirie in all this? But the bizarre twist was Fairplay actually asked to be voted out in some weird alternative universe type tribal council where I didn’t believe what I was seeing. Not that I have a problem with him not being around anymore. And hopefully the Fans dominate and pick off the so called

Verdict: I am very unpleased with the start of the game, but feel a little better knowing I won’t have to see Fairplay’s mug again until at least until the reunion show. As a prediction, I think one of the Fans will win but since we didn’t get to see much of them, I will have to go out on a limb and say Jason Siska and his seventies David Cassidy haircut will win. Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites airs Thursdays at 8:00 on CBS. You can stream past episodes on Innertube or download them on iTunes or Amazon Unbox.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

I Want My Music Television vol. XVIII


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.


Just - Mark Ronson



A very clever video from Mark Ronson (featuring the dude from Phantom Planet) poking fun of the overtly serious Radiohead video for the song they are covering. For those that do not remember the orginal or you young’ins that never saw it in the first place, see below:


Just - Radiohead




Always Be - Jimmy Eat World



Yeah, the video is pretty nondescript but it is another great song from the undervalued Jimmy Eat World.


Believe - The Bravery



Sometimes when a song that rocks like this song from The Bravery, you do not need some high concept video and a performance piece (okay, with a couple bells and whistles here) will do. Some of you may recognize the song from the Friday Night Lights promos at the beginning of the season, if not; well you really need to start watching the show.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

I would write 1000 posts…


…And I would write 1000 more just to be the man who wrote two thousand post to fall down at your door. It was exactly three years and two days ago that I wrote the very first post here at the 9th Green back before it was even called the 9th Green. (Fun Fact: This place was originally called Scooter’s Blog.) And today marks the big 1-0-0-0. Know it was approaching I was thinking of something profound and the best I could come up with was to announce my retirement from the 9th Green. Well that is until I saw this video:



After seeing this, I want to use my one thousandth post to announce that I am now supporting Barak Obama. No, I am not supporting him because of his national heath care plan, not because he was against the war from the beginning, not because he wasn’t a corporate lawyer for WalMart, not even because he would appoint Mitt Romney the Secretary of Lookin’ Good. No, I am now supporting Barak Obama because he is Ashley Banks approved. But I wonder if this is going to put strain on the Banks household because you know Carlton is a Republican. Either way am invigorated to write another 1000 posts.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

There’s Still Hope Between the Dreams


Sleep Through the Static - Jack Johnson

Jack Johnson may be the most unlikely multiplatinum artist this decade. He hasn’t had a radio hit with only the Curious George assisted Upside Down cracking the Top 40. He rarely cares enough to film videos with only two Ben Stiller assisted ones that were not performance based one. You can tell he would rather be surfing or strumming the guitar than be part of the machine of endless self promotion which leads to many people like my sister to have never heard of his name. What makes things worse is that everyone should know two Jack Johnsons and she knows none.

But despite the low Q-Rating from my sister and others who don’t know artists that do not get played on the radio, each of Jack Johnson’s albums have sold over a million copies. And there is no reason his latest Sleep Through the Static won’t do the same. The album is of note in that it was recorded exclusively on solar power, the first of which Johnson recorded outside of his home state of Hawaii.

If you are familiar with Johnson, you know what you are getting on the album, mellow, campfire melodies and sing-a-longs with a minimalist approach to most songs. There in lies the disappointment for the album. That was the basic formula for his debut, but he was able to expound on that mellow vibe with weird and odd mini songs sometimes in French. But for the most part the risks are gone on Static unless you listen really carefully. But even his songs from the Curious George Soundtrack took more chances.

That is not to say the album isn’t serviceable in an if it is not broke don’t fix it kind of way. There is a maturity that wasn’t on the first album and has been building ever since. Gone are songs about pancakes and toes. He takes on the current administration and their war plans on the title track.

The most adventurous song on the album, If I Had Eyes, is a playful tune and sounds exactly like what you would expect from someone who has a couple more miles under his feet after writing Bubble Toes. But Johnson excels when ever he slows and strips it down on songs like Enemy, What You Thought You Need, and Go On. Songs where you just want to cuddle up with someone on the beach at night next a bonfire when listening to.

Song to Download - What You Thought You Need

Sleep Through the Static gets a Terror Alert Level: High [ORANGE] on my Terror Alert Scale.



Jack Johnson on iTunes


Monday, February 04, 2008

57 Channels and Only This Is On vol. XVIII


Win Dirt Season 1 DVDBefore I get into the best television had to offer last week, let me remind you that you still have a week to enter to win Dirt Season 1 on DVD starring Courteney Cox. Click the link or the banner to see how to enter.

Quote of the Week: I was thinking, you know, hit the museum, yoga, library for a bit. Then again I might just do the usge. You wanna get a beer? (Tim Riggins, Friday Night Lights)

Song of the Week: Faith - George Michael (Eli Stone, or at least I am assuming that the show featured the song from the ads. I haven’t watched it yet)

Big News of the Week: Worst Super Bowl Loss Ever: I have good news and bad news for Patriot fans. The ’85 team no longer has the worst lost in Super Bowl history. I never thought anything would be worst the huge blow out, The Fridge scoring on them, and even the back up QB calling out the team in the Super Bowl Shuffle. Of course the bad news is the ’07 Patriots replaced them. ’85 was just straight up embarrassed, with this loss the ’07 lost their perfect season in the last game, are no longer in the discussion for the best team ever or the best dynasty ever, Bill Belichicken losses his genius tag and to add insult to injury there is still Arlen Spector snooping around and the former filming technician for the team that says he has even more dirt on them that will taint the Super Bowls they did win pitting them in Big Head Barry territory. And one thing I didn’t learn today that need to be added to my post yesterday (see: Suck It Bill Belichicken) Billy again just showed again how classless he was by walking off the field with one second left. Now wonder he was so eager to trade for Randy “I take off plays when I want to” Moss who pulled the same classless move when he was in Minnesota.


Coalition Links of the Week:

Buzz suggested some books for fans missing their Gossip Girl, Brothers & Sisters, Heroes, and more. (BuzzSugar)

This week, Daemon's TV introduced their new regular feature, DVR (Daemon Video Recap), a fun video recap chipmunk-style of your favorite TV shows. (Daemon's TV)

Liz enjoyed a hefty dose of manufactured drama (with some crazy (expletive deleted), to boot) on the Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency. (Glowy Box)

Be it mere Sports Night nostalgia or something greater, Mikey is digging Thursday's session with In Treatment. (Mikey Likes TV)

Marcia explained why Supernatural is one of the most underrated shows on television. (Pop Vultures)

Feeling nostalgic, Rae recalled favorite childhood TV shows and moments from Buffy and Dawson's Creek among others with a TV meme. (RTVW)

Vance admits to liking guilty pleasures like the movie 27 Dresses, the new single by OneRepublic and the TV show Carpoolers. Yes, Vance is that one person watching that show. (Tapeworthy)

This week, Jace was all about Lost, with exclusive interviews with Matthew Fox, Josh Holloway, Elizabeth Mitchell, Michael Emerson, and Yunjin Kim, advance reviews, and morning-after analysis. (Televisionary)

TiFaux got naughty and kinky this week by offering up the Top Ten TV-Related Safe Words. (TiFaux)

Tube Talk celebrated the new season of Lost with a hilarious parody starring the Lost action figures. (Tube Talk)

Raoul found out the crazy things people say when they file complaints to the FCC about your favorite shows (TV Filter)

Thanks to some shameless in show advertising, the TV Addict deems NBC "Nothing But Commercials" (TheTVaddict.com)


Breaking Bad: I really do not get this show, this episode was even less entertaining than the first. I think one more episode may be my limit. Actually, was there a new episode yesterday that I missed?

American Karaoke: I inadvertently watched my first ever episode of the national karaoke championships ever this week. I was sitting in a room with two televisions Wednesday and I had just turned on the Republican Debates when the cleaning lady came in and turned the other television on American Karaoke and proceeded to turn up the volume up so loud I couldn’t hear the television I was sitting in front up. Yeah they is something ironic of seeing Ron Paul but hearing someone butcher Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting, but actually the show was somehow even worse than I ever thought it would be. Seriously, how can so many people be that obsessed with horrible singers butchering mediocre songs? It is obviously not because of the music because all the former karaoker are getting dropped from their record labels.

Super Tuesday Democratic Debate: Wow, was that boring. After the wrestling style smackdown in South Carolina, I expected much more. It was like two librarian debating. With that said, it was a really good week for me, Bill Belichicken lost he genius label, Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the race, and now all I need is for Hilary Clinton to get crushed tomorrow to complete the trifecta. For those that need any more reason not to vote for Clinton: she received an endorsement from biggest right wing nut job, and that says a lot, Ann Coulter (who Keith Olberman affectionately calls Coultergeist). Then on the far left of things, the most recent Rolling Stone (with Tom York on the cover) called Clinton the new Nixon. I wonder if that makes Bubba Spiro Agnew.

Also one thing that seemed to get lost last Wednesday with Giuliani and John Edwards dropping out, Arnold endorsing John McCain, the Republican debate, was that Ralph Nader launched an exploratory committee for a presidential launch.

Lost: Haven’t seen it yet. Maybe tonight unless I decide to watch and rewatch Welcome to the Captain.

Friday Night Lights: It says a lot that when I got home late on Friday and the one show I watched wasn’t the season premiere of Lost but Friday Night Lights. Even though I haven’t seen Lost yet, I bet I made the right decision because this week’s episode of FNL was better than anything Lost put on in its prime. So much to love from the hilarious (Matt trying to turn into Riggins, Landry, Matt, and Smash at lunch, Julie driving, Tyra and the alternative chick fighting over Landry) to heartbreaking (Mrs. Taylor missing her driving test, Smash losing his scholarship, Coach’s tough love with Matt). Check out the latest episodes over at NBC.com.

Super Bowl Commercials: One of the few years where the game was actually better than the commercials to the point I really don’t remember most of them, but here is my top five of those I did remember today:

1. Bill Frist and James Carville bond over Coke
2. Shaq as a jockey
3. Alice Cooper and Richard Simmons caught in the headlights
4. Charles Barkley harassing Dwayne Wayne
5. Lizards dancing to Thriller

Honorable mentions to the Adriana Lima one for obvious reasons and the trailer for Don’t Mess with the Zohan because you know anything written by Adam Sandler, Jude Apatow and Rober Smigle (who you may know better as the dude who’s hand is up Triumph the Insult Comic Dog’s bottom) has to be classic.


Next Week’s Pick: Grammy Awards at 8:00 on CBS: Last week the writers guild gave the Grammy’s an exemption so luckily we will get to hear four month old Amy Winhouse jokes that they have been storing up since the strike began. Yeah. But the Grammy’s were, and will be about the music and this year expect performances by Alicia Keys, Feist, Brad Paisley, BeyoncĂ©, Foo Fighters (with special guest conductor Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones), Carrie Underwood as well as tributes to gospel and The Beatles. Need more reasons to watch? How about a performance by Rihanna. Now you may be thinking to yourself, “but Scooter I have seen her perform on the Movie Awards, VMA’s and countless other awards show last year, what makes this special?” Well how about that she will be backed by a reunited The Mother Frackin’ Time.

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Suck It Bill Belichicken


Maybe next year if you steal some more signals, have Rodney Harrison do even more HGH, teach your team to be even dirtier have Randy Moss (allegedly) assault more women, have Tom Brady knock up Gisele BĂ¼ndchen and leave her by the time she makes it to the maternity ward, maybe next season you will not blow a perfect record.

Or maybe this was the classic example of cheaters never winning. Have fun talking to Arlen Specter Bill.


Saturday, February 02, 2008

I Want My Music Television vol. XVII


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.


Honey - Erykah Badu



We have our first year contender for video of the year. Although, despite the great concept, it could have been taken a little further as there are many classic albums Erykah Badu didn’t try recreating (someone really needs to do a rock version of this concept). But of the ones she did, Paid in Full has to be my favorite.


Steer - Missy Higgins



As Russ said about this song from Missy Higgins, “Get ready to hear Steer on every TV show in existence.” Well, maybe that would be the case if there were any actually television in the near future, but his sediment is point on with this catchy ditty. And the crash test dummy theme is brilliant.


A-Punk - Vampire Weekend



Interesting visuals for this quirky song from Vampire Weekend. You can check out my review of their album here: All Your Diction Is Dripping with Distain.


I Want Those Flashing Lights (Kanye West Remix) - Colin Munroe



Kanye West said he had a video coming up for Flashing Lights, I just never expected this was the outcome from some random dude by the name Colin Munroe. But the video is cool in a Bittersweet Symphony kind of way. You can also download this song for free from the dude’s MySpace page.

Friday, February 01, 2008

You’re So Money and You Don’t Even Know It


Swingers

There is no more annoying holiday than Valentine’s Day. If you are coupled up, you have to fret with what you have to give them and if not you care constantly reminded foe a week how lonely you are. Whenever I fell in the latter category I would have a Valentines routine of playing Love Stinks by the J. Geils Band on a loop capped off with a showing of Swingers. Not so coincidentally Swingers is this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame.

Swinger completely sums up dudes in their twenties. Where most movies that try this end up being drug and sex romps with wild parties and unrealistic plot lines, Swingers hits every subtle nuance of the time. It is hard for any guy to watch the golf scene and think, “yeah, that’s exactly how I add up my strokes.” And the movie was the first film I remember that show guys sitting around playing video games that end up in blood both on and off the television.

The film is at its best when the guys are sitting around arguing about the most absurd things like how long you should wait to call a girl after getting her number (Industry Standard became an integral part of my vocabulary after the film). And they even nail the heartbreak of the end a long relationship and the buddies helping him get back on the horse again. Even the new dictions and the addiction to swing they invent for the film eventually doesn’t stand out while watching. Speaking of swing, I think this may be the last time a movie effectively shift pop music after its release, albeit for a short time.

Swinger also launched the careers of Jon Favreau, who also wrote the film, and Ron Livingston (Office Space). But the film really belonged to Vince Vaughn who, after trying to transition into a serious actor with range (seriously, the Psycho remake?) has finally embraced Trent and now only plays slight variations of him. C’mon, like you weren’t watching Wedding Crashers and thinking that was Trent a decade later. But the most astounding break out star of the film was Heather Graham who actual landed quality roles for a year after Swingers before people realized she couldn’t act.



Thursday, January 31, 2008

Feed Your iPod vol. XIII: Catalyst


I doubt anyone was actually reading back then(if you were you rule), but on my list of the Best Albums of 2005, topping that list was Wreck of the Day by Anna Nalick. My review for that album was so long ago, it was the fourth ever on the 9th Green, it even predated the Song to Download at the end of the review. It I had it back then, Catalyst would have been it. Many of you may have figured out that I love the uber depressing sad songs and there are not many sadder than this song. The crescendo at the end is just heartbreaking as her voice starts breaking as she goes into falsetto. No proper video for this song so I hope you like the Spike from Buffy The Vampire Slayer/Angel theme that I found on YouTube.

Catalyst - Anna Nalick Anna Nalick - Wreck of the Day - Catalyst




The reason I bring this song up now is because a new song from Anna hit the internet this week and Shine definitely stands up with anything on Wreck of the Day and is definitely more powerful than anything on that album. Someone has already made a really cool video for the song as seen below:



The line “There are times when the poets and porn stars align and you won’t know who to believe in, well that’s a good time to be leaving” is in early contention as the best lyric of 2008.

Just in case it is gone by the time the next 57 Channels comes around, recently Jo pointed out that Season 3 of Veronica Mars recently dropped below $20 recently. In fact all seasons are on the cheap. Sometimes these sales last a month, sometimes a week or less so check the ads below to see if they are still at bargain bin prices.



Tuesday, January 29, 2008

All Your Diction Dripping with Disdain


Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

If you rock out in your minivan to Daughtry or whatever your local Clearchannel adult contemporary station makes you believe constitutes as rock these days, you probably have never heard of Vampire Weekend. The band is the latest internet buzz band that is declared by the holier than you music blogs as the next big thing. Of course, keep in mind none of the previous next big things actually became big.

Of course, much like Daughtry, it is hard pressed to call Vampire Weekend a rock band in the sense of U2 or The Clash, but are better classified under nerd rock after all the band met each other when they were attending Columbia (yeah they are smarter than you and don’t seem to mind letting you think that). They would have been a perfect fit for 120 Minutes or college radio in the late eighties put in-between They Might Be Giants and Violent Femmes.

Vampire Weekend’s self titled debut album sound as if They Might Be Giants tried to be a little more serious by listening to Paul Simon’s Graceland and early The Police on repeat for a whole year. Sure there is some quirkiness still in tack thanks to name dropping Lil’ Jon and Peter Gabriel while rhyming together Louis Vuitton, Reggaeton, Bennetton and really all you need to know about One is the subtitle is Black’s Got a New Face which you will be singing along with eventually if you listen to it enough.

But there is a musicianship on the album that was lacking in many college rock acts which is mostly what kept them on college radio and off the mainstream stations. The problem though is the album starts dragging near the end which isn’t good for an album just over a half an hour long. But, hey, it is much longer before Daughtry starts to get grating (which is only about five seconds).

Song to Download - Oxford Comma

Vampire Weekend gets a Terror Alert Level: Elevated [YELLOW] on my Terror Alert Scale.



Monday, January 28, 2008

Contest: Win Dirt Season 1 DVD


Sorry, this contest has ended and the winner has been contacted. If you are still interested winning the DVD, you can check out the Dirt contest Tube Talk Girl is running that does not end until Friday.

In just over a month (Sunday, March 2 at 10:00 on FX to be exact) Dirt returns for its second season and for those who would like to relive the first season or would like to check it out for the first time with the lack of scripted shows dwindling I am giving away the Complete First Season of Dirt on DVD. There are three ways to enter:

Win Dirt Season 1 DVD1. The show is about a tabloid, which real life tabloid king or queen would you like to make a cameo on the show?

2. Or which tabloid king or queen would you like to see stricken from all the magazines in the supermarket checkout aisles?

3. Mention and link this contest on a blog or message board. (Any link must be posted at least 48 hours before the conclusion of the contest and only one link per message board or blog; feel free to use the badge to the right).

You can e-mail your entries to ScooterKSU(at)aol(dot)com (subject: Dirt). If you link the contest, make sure you let me know you did in your e-mail where so you get credited with an entry. You may enter the contest up to three times (once each way). The contest ends Monday, February 11 at 11:59 PM EST. The winner will be picked at random from all eligible entries and will be contacted shortly after. Also this contest is only open to people with shipping addresses in the Untied States. And if you win you will have two to three weeks to review or catch up on the show before the premiere in March. Here is what you can expect on the DVD in terms of features:

- Available Subtitles: English
- Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
- All 13 episodes from the 2007 season on four discs
- Celebrity Couple Gets Dirty
- Through a Lens, Darkly
- Tabloid Wars: Totally true stories from the celebrity trenches
- Deleted scenes


You can also double your chances of winning, you can check out Tube Talk Girl who is running the same contest. If you do not win and still want to catch up, you can download the first season of Dirt on iTunes or Amazon Unbox or buy the DVD below. Be sure to look out here for more on Dirt as the season premiere approaches.



Sunday, January 27, 2008

57 Channels and Only This Is On vol. XVII


Quote of the Week: I’m afraid that I may have to send my 95 year old mother over and wash Chuck’s mouth out with soap. (John McCain, responding to Norris’ comment that he is too old to be president)

Song of the Week: Love on the Rocks - Neil Diamond (Chuck)

Big News of the Week: It Is Bitterly Cold: No seriously, when is this global warming stuff supposed to kick in?

Gratuitous Token Hot Chick Picture of the Week:

Yvonne Strahovski in a fight


Bonus Gratuitous Token Hot Chick Picture of the Week:

Yvonne Strahovski getting dressed


Coalition Links of the Week:

Buzz shared tons of stories from the Freaks and Geeks reunion in San Francisco. (BuzzSugar)

Sandie interviewed Sophia Myles who plays Beth Turner on Moonlight (Daemon's TV)

Liz watched writers from The Daily Show and The Colbert Report stage a hilarious mock debate on the strike. (Glowy Box)

Fergus looked at five shows that never made it to the airwaves, much to our disappointment. (Pop Vultures)

To kick off the Adopt A Writer project Kelley interviewed Jasmine Love, a writer with credits from Moesha, The Division, and The District. (RTVW)

Vance is going to miss Betty and Chuck during the strike hiatus. (Tapeworthy)

Jace was all about British TV this week, from an advance look at Torchwood's second season opener to the awe-inspiring finale of Life on Mars. (Televisionary)

Dan had some misgivings about Carson Kressley's tepid new show How to Look Good Naked. (TiFaux)

Raoul interviewed Rachel and TK from The Amazing Race. (TV Filter)


South Carolina Debates: Who better to host in a debate sponsored by the Black Caucus on Martin Luther King Day than Wolf Blitzer. And did they seriously ask Barack Obama on MLK if Bill Clinton was the first black president. Were in the middle of two wars, at the start of a recession, heating bills are through the roof, and these are the types of questions they are wasting? I would have said John Edwards won the debate for pointing out the real issues after Obama and Hilary Clinton sparred for ten minutes on the stupid Ronald Regan question, but he started going negative later too. There was so much mudslinging I had to take a shower after it was over. And did I hear correctly that Hilary was on the board at Wal-Mart. After some research it looks like Clinton sat on the board of Wal-Mart from 1986-1992, so if you vote for Hilary you are un-American because Wal-Mart is the evil empire. Oh and guess who had their picture taken with the slum lord, that they attacked Obama for working with. Yep, both the Clintons have.

And looks like Hilary’s opponents are finally talking what will help them the most, The Big “E” electability. Obama said that in a general election, all of her supporters would support him, but not all of his supports would not necessarily vote for her in a national election. Which gets at a bigger notion that after all the race baiting the Clintons have done lately, if she is the nominee could the blacks stay home or even consider voting for a Republican? This could be possible if Mike Huckabee, who openly courted the group as governor and who social programs help and the lone Republican who participated in the Martin Luther King day festivities, is on the ticket (albeit it would most likely be on the bottom of the ticket).

John Edwards also pointed out this week that he would beat John McCain in a national election where Hilary would get trounced by McCain head to head. Okay this is a silly assertion considering such a vote is still ten months away and polls are generally stupid. Although after the New Hampshire polls debacle, the media unveiled a new polling devise this week, the Keith Number which is the margin of error plus the percentage of undecided. For instance, the Keith Number in yesterday’s South Carolina primary was 16, which is pretty worthless.


Chuck: Much like My Name Is Earl a couple weeks ago it was hard to get into the show knowing it was the first and last episodes that we will see for a couple months. Not to mention the hour gap in-between and it has been over a month since the last episode. Speaking of that last episode, wasn’t the lasting image was Casey being told that they will soon dispose of Chuck with the new intersect getting close to being replace? That wasn’t addressed at all this week. As for stuff that actually happened, the first was definitely better with the Casey-centric theme with his ex resurfacing. Although did I miss when she explained how she survived the blast? Seems like a gaping hole to the plot.

Oh, and one more thing, Morgan still needs to die a horrible death sooner than later. Check out the latest episodes over at NBC.com. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.


Florida Republican Debate: Maybe the most boring yet. I never thought I would say it but I miss Fred Thompson. You know he would hade gone after somebody during the ask another candidate portion where everyone else went softball. Although a thought of a Chuck Norris vs. Sylvester Stallone debate would be great. If only Saturday Night Live was still on. That sketch writes itself.


Friday Night Lights: Now that the rape/murder plotline has been cleared up, it looks like the Riggins/meth dealer plotline has replaced it as the please end as soon as possible plotline. What is worse is that every time I think it is over, the creepy dude just shows up out of nowhere. At least the volleyball stuff was thoroughly enjoyable. Check out the latest episodes over at NBC.com.


Promo of the Week:




Next Week’s Pick: Lost at 9:00 on ABC: The highs and lows of this show are well telegraphed with an amazing first season the sputtered to a boring finale and the show really hasn’t gotten back on track for a long period of time since. The third season ender looked like it was going down with the same tedium as the first until the jaw dropping twist of the flash-forward. Granted, despite the faithful that try to tell you otherwise, a hundred and ten minutes of dullness, plus a mind blowing ending still doesn’t make for a great episode. Not that I will stop watching. Yet. Get caught up with the show by downloading the free videos from iTunes with the banner below or just tune in an hour before the premiere with a recap show.

Lost Free on iTunes