Lyrics Quiz: Food

Today is Blog Action Day and this year’s theme is food and I thought I would dedicate this month’s Lyrics Quiz to the subject. Although it was a bit harder than I thought as there are not too many songs about food outside of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s catalogue and of the few that are, about ninty percent of them are not so thinly veiled euphemisms for sex so I have also included some bands named after food. As always leave your guesses, both artist and song title, in the comment section or e-mail me. If you are correct I will un-bold the lyric and give you credit. Please keep in mind the lyrics quiz is for entertainment purposes only so please only use your own meandering mind to guess them.

1. Then my heart hit a problem in the early hours so I stopped it dead for a beat or two. But I cut some cord and I shouldn’t have done it, and it won’t forgive me after all these years. (Black Horse and the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall; guessed by Angie)
2. We bought some wine and some paper cups near your daughter’s school and we picked her up and drove to a cemetery on a hill.
3. I can taste you on my lips and smell you in my clothes. Cinnamon and sugary and softly spoken lies. You never know just how you look through other people’s eyes.
4. I don’t mind stealing bread from the mouths of decadence. But I can’t feed on the powerless when my cup’s already overfilled. (Hunger Strike - Temple of the Dog; guessed by Doug)
5. I poked my finger down inside. Made a little room for an ant to hide. Nature’s candy in my hand or can or pie. (Peaches - The Presidents of the United States of America; guessed by Angie)
6. Drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry. Them good ol’ boys were drinking whiskey and rye. (American Pie - Don MacLean; guessed by Doug)
7. I ain’t gonna wear the clothes that you’ll like. I’m fine and dandy with the me inside. One look in the mirror and I’m tickled pink. I don’t give a hoot about what you think.
8. I have never been so insulted in all my life. I could swallow the seas to wash down all this pride. First you run like a fool just to be by my side and now you run like a fool, but you just run to hide and I can’t abide.
9. In touch with the ground, I’m on the hunt down after you. Smell like I sound, I’m lost in a crowd. (Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran Duran; guessed by Doug)
10. So their eyes are growing hazy ‘cause they wanna turn it on. So their minds are soft and lazy, well.
11. How come you’re always such a fussy young man? Don’t want no Capt’n Crunch, don’t want no Raisin Brain. Well don’t you know that other kids are starving in Japan? (Eat It - "Weird Al" Yankovic; guessed by Angie)
12. I swore, I swore I would be true, and honey, so did you. So why were you holding her hand? Is that the way we stand? (Linger - The Cranberries; guessed by Angie)
13. All I can do is just pour some tea for two and speak my point of view. But it’s not sane. (No Rain - Blind Melon; guessed by Doug)
14. No more promise no more sorrow, no longer will I follow. Can anybody hear me, I just want to be me.
15. Realize I don’ want to be a miser. Confide with Sly you’ll be the wiser. Young blood is the lovin’ upriser. (Give It Away - Red Hot Chili Peppers; guessed by Doug)
16. Tell me something; tell me something that I don’t already know.
17. I know that a man ain’t supposed to cry, but these tears I can't hold inside. Losing you would end my life you see, ‘cause you mean that much to me. (I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Marvin Gaye; guessed by Angie)
18. I like mine with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and French fried potatoes. Big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer. (Cheeseburger in Paradise - Jimmy Buffett; guessed by Angie)
19. And homegrown and down-home, that makes one. Cooking up that old time, long lost recipe for me.
20. You got the peaches, I got the cream. Sweet to taste, saccharine. (Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard; guesse by Doug)
21. I’m so addicted to the loving that you’re feeding to me. Can’t do without it this feeling’s got me weak in the knees. Body's in withdrawal every time you take it away. (Candy - Mandy Moore; guessed by Angie)
22. I scream, you scream we all scream for her. Don’t even try ‘cause you can’t ignore her. (Cherry Pie - Warrant; guessed by Angie)
23. A million poppies gonna make me sleep. Just one rose that knows your name. The fruit is rustling on the vine. The fruit is calling from the trees. (Low - Cracker; guessed by Doug)
24. This is the straw, final straw in the roof of my mouth as I lie to you. Just because I’m sorry doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it at the time.
25. The fellas wanna have a barbeque tonight, I think it’s on about five. They say it’s gonna have plenty Daisy Dukes, and Les says it’s gonna be live. (Getto Jam - Domino; guessed by Doug)

Best of the Week - 10/14/11

Quote of the Week: This is the third Teenage Dream in forty-five minutes; why don’t I just close my nuts in the cashier’s door? (Garrett Morris – 2 Broke Girls)

Song of the Week: Torn – Natalie Imbruglia (as sung by Penny and her mom, Happy Endings)

Scene of the Week:



Big News of the Week: Hank Williams Jr. Is a Moron and So Is Anyone Who Tries to Despiser His Ramblings: Last week Fox and Friends had country singer Hank Williams, Jr. to talk politics because apparently Dick Cheney was unavailable. Like most people in America, Hank is fed up with our political parties and said about Obama’s golf game with Speaker of the House Boehner was, “Come on! It would be like Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu!” Naturally this made the talking head head’s explode thinking he compared Obama and Hitler. But really, trying to make sense of what Williams was trying to say only makes you dumber than he is. And to say Williams compared Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler would be like saying he compared John Boehner to Benjamin Netanyahu, which no one is saying but is just as absurd. Now if you excuse, I am going to go watch Fox and Friends because they are going to interview the dude from Wham not named George Michael about the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Free Download of the Week: Ole´ – Pearl Jam (iTunes)

Deal of the Week: Up to 55% Off Hit Movies and TV on Blu-ray (Earnest Scared Straight, Ghostbusters, Dawn of the Dead)

New Album Release of the Week: Beyond the Sun (2CD) - Chris Isaak

New DVD Release of the Week: Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest

Video of the Week: Showtime has released a new teaser for their upcoming show House of Lies and just like the last one that featured AC/DC’s Big Balls, the new one is also balls-centric.

Newton’s Cradle (ouse of Lies Spot)


Next Week Pick of the Week: The Walking Dead, Sunday at 9:00 on AMC: The first season of The Walking Dead is one of those shows that you think it is better than it really is (a staple for AMC). Sure the first season was epic with great characterizations, zombie makeup, and you really felt the sparseness and isolation of the post apocalyptic world. But looking back at the first season, it is hard not to think that the six episodes could have been crammed into just two. There are big reservations going into the second season after creator and showrunner Frank Darabont got unceremoniously canned by the network after the first episode in the new season. But for those that cannot get enough of the show, right after it airs, there will be a new series Talking Dead, a live after-show where Chris Hardwick (you know, the one from Singled Out not named Jenny McCarthy) discussing the episode with fans, actors, and producers (presumably Darabont will not be making an appearance) because why wouldn’t a serious drama steal an idea from MTV? But anyway. For more on the second season, check out the video below where Attack of the Show’s Grace Helbig visits the set of the show.

Game Reviews - E3 2012 - Movies and TV

Around the Tubes - 10/13/11

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Sing Your Song, A Game of Honor, ANA Alliance for Family Entertainment, Aim High, The Sing-Off, and Too Fat for 40.

- Harry Belfonte is the subject of HBO’s latest documentary airing Monday at 10:00. Check out a trailer for Sing Your Song below:



- Showtime has their own documentary A Game of Honor premiering Wednesday December 21 about the vaunted Army-Navy football game. CBSSports.com will be airing a companion ten week web series leading up to the film starting Monday. Check out a trailer below:



- Ever watch television and think to yourself, I could write something funnier than that show? Well dust off you screenplay because the ANA Alliance for Family Entertainment (who have put their support in the past behind Everybody Hates Chris and Friday Night Lights) is sponsoring a writing contest looking for a show about a modern American family. Head over to comedywritercontest.com to submit your script for a chance to win $5000 and receive input from producer John Wells (ER). The deadline is October 28.

- Next Tuesday, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution will launch the first ever social series from a Hollywood studio Aim High. The series will debut on Facebook and star Friday Night Light’s Aimee Teegarden, Jackson Rathbone and Greg Germann. If you watch, you can actually see yourself and your friends integrated into select scenes throughout the series.

- Let’s forget for a second that The Sing-Off will kick off their Guilty pleasures episode with a Lionel Richie song (if you feel guilty for listening to Lionel Richie, you have some serious problems), and focus on judge Ben Folds who recruited some familiar faces, and a lot of them, to promote his new best of album The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective (1991-2011).



- In stores Tuesday is Kevin Smith’s Too Fat for 40 on Blu-Ray and DVD. In addition to the original two hour special is the uncut three and a half hour Q&A session and over five hours of content.

First Impressions: Last Man Standing

As a child of the late eighties and early nineties, naturally I was a big fan of ABC’s TGIF lineups: Full House, Family Matters, Boy Meets World, I even watched Just the Ten of Us. But at the turn of the century, the family sitcom seemed to die out or just were not funny (seriously, According to Jim ran for the entire decade). Now in a new decade, the family sitcom is making a comeback and naturally on ABC, although it is not their Friday lineup, but on Wednesdays with The Middle, Suburgatory, and Modern Family dominating in the ratings.

Oddly the comedy night is anchored by Happy Endings while new family sitcom Last Man Standing airs Tuesdays, with a similar man-themes show instead of a family block (what a great lead in for Dancing with the Has-Beens). Tuesday also happened to be the same day Tim Allen’s old show; the perennial top ten rated Home Improvement aired for almost a decade.

For Last Man Standing, instead of three boys, this time around Tim has three girls: the single mom (Alexandra Kronsey, Lost’s young Eloise Hawking), the whiny one (Molly Ephraim, Paranormal Activity 2’s adopted daughter), and the tomboy (Kaitlyn Dever, Justified’s Loretta McCready, who managed to go toe to toe acting wise with Timothy Olyphant and Margo Martindale despite only being in middle school). Patricia Richardson has been traded out for Nancy Travis (The Bill Engvall Show). Instead of a television show, this time around, Tim makes rants on the internet for his sporting goods store. No Al or Wilson equivalents, but some extra Y chromosomes are provided by Hector Elizondo (Valentine's Day) who show up as Tim’s boss and Christoph Sanders (Legally Blondes) as one of his employees who Tim accidentally set up him up with the wrong daughter.

For better or worse, Last Man Standing is basically what you would expect what Home Improvement would look like if Tim had girls instead of boys, there are plenty jokes about gender roles and how man no longer acting like men. The jokes are cheap, the situations cheesy, and the characters over the top and I laughed constantly. Last Man Standing may be a show straight out of the nineties, but I have absolutely no problem with that. Hopefully Loretta can get her buddy Raylan Gibbons to make an appearance sometime.

Last Man Standing airs Tuesdays at 8:00 on ABC. You can stream the show on Hulu. You can also download Last Man Standing on iTunes.

Nobody has to Cry to Make it Seem Real

Ryan Adams was the most prolific singer of the last decade releasing ten albums, even doing so by taking 2009 off. Actually, aside from three albums worth of leftovers, it has been three years since Adams has released new material. In that time, Ryan married Mandy Moore putting some worry that the songwriter who makes the greatest extremely depressing songs in modern times may become too happy.

For those drawn to Adam’s music by his sad sap side, despite his newlywed status, his new album Ashes and Fire may not hit the lowest lows as albums like Cold Roses or 29 do, but the new album is filled with plenty of sad songs to help mend your broken heart (or break it in more pieces depending what you expect to get out of listing to sad songs). And if these types of songs are your favorites, skip straight to Save Me which will have your forgiving him for making you wait three years for his latest batch of depressingly sad songs. And sure the marriage may have given him a more positive outlook on life, I Love You but I Don’t Know What to Say manages to be heartbreaking and beautifully uplifting at the same time.

The other big change in-between record was Ryan broke with frequent collaborators The Cardinals who played on four of his last five albums. Without his backing band on the album, Ashes and Fire maybe his most sparse album yet with most songs featuring Ryan on guitar, some drums and the occasional piano courtesy of Norah Jones who also does some backing vocals on the album. Aside from his usual depression songs, the standout tracks are the two that open the album when Adams goes back to his alt-country roots for Dirty Rain and the title track. After such a long layoff, Ashes and Fire is a nice return and I look forward for Ryan Adams to get back to his regular recording schedule and his next album which presumably be out sometime before Christmas.

Song to Download – Ashes & Fire

Ashes and Fire gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I Want My Music Television - 10/10/11

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

Someone Like You - ADELE



I love the sparseness of the video to go with the sparseness of the song. Though it is still at its best when you just close your eyes and listen to the voice of Adele.


Countdown – Beyoncé



Seizer alert! I do not know if Beyoncé went with a frantic video to distract from her baby bump, but it seriously hurt my head. And maybe I miss it in the middle of my convulsion, but this video was seriously missing a Boyz II Men reference (for the kiddies who do not know what I am talking about, head over to iTunes and download Uhh Ahh).


The Walk - Mayer Hawthorne



Hot chicks and guns: it as if Mayer Hawthorne made this video just for me. I am too lazy to look it up, but I am pretty sure that is the Token Hot Chick from The Event. Even though it is an obvious Mr & Mrs Smith homage, they are both such a bad shots, they might as well have been in an episode of The A-Team.


Shake it Out – Florence + The Machine



If this song is any indication, the new Florence + The Machine album should be epic, but am not really digging the Eyes Wide Shut styled video.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 10/9/11

Pan Am: I wonder if we ever seen the former spy again? If there were a real spy show, I’d put the over/under at Christmas, but this show seems to be taking a more realistic approach, so she may be stuck in Kansas for the rest of her life.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pan Am on iTunes.

How I Met Your Mother: Again, the writers are just messing with us with actual characters saying they are talking way too long to get to the end of a story. That is the second time this season.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Sing Off: Scanning the playlist prior to the show I was dreading the “current hits” but give it up to a capella music to make most of them at the very least listenable, although how does Whataya Want From Me qualify as a hit if Adam Levine had never heard it before? Naturally the second half was way more enjoyable with Urban Method pulling out the best performance of the night with Dance to the Music, a song I could have sworn only had one line and one note, but they killed it (I feel as if I should give TJ Lavin royalties for saying that). And a not to future Sing-Off contestants, unlike Kingfolk 9, do not hold your best performance for your Swan Song. Then next week on The Sing-Off, Antoine Meriwether and his boys sings a song about balls. Blaine Edwards has to show up for some commentary on that.



You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs from The Sing-Off on iTunes.

The Lying Game: Holy Beck Sproles sighting! To think how much better the show would have been had she shown up much earlier. Hopefully she follows not-Emma around for a while. But I am beginning to wonder if Laurel’s boyfriend in part of the twin’s mystery, he was nosing around the photo book a while, and maybe Sutton and Emma are actually not twins, but actually triplets. Dude being a blonde kind of hurts this theory especially if my other theory that either the adoptive dad or the guy from Heroes is actually the biological father of the brood.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.

Castle: Frozen heads and no Futurama references? Boooooo.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

The Playboy Club: I have long asserted that the show was not a Mad Man rip off (despite Eddie Cibrian stealing everything from Don Draper) but American Dreams for adults. Case in point: the first guest singer on American Bandstand on the show was Leslie Gore. Not that any of this matters anymore. Although I hear that NBC is shopping the show around to other, possibly more skin friendly, networks, but I think “we’re shopping it around to other networks” is code for “please do not send us crap in hopes that we revive the show.”

Parenthood: It is not enough to make a drinking game out of, but this show really enjoys making Michael Cera references, two by my count in this episode along. “You’re like my musical soulmate” was a direct line from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Sons of Anarchy: I completely forgot the Tom Arnold storyline even existed. Seems a little random to bring it up now.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Survivor: South Pacific: First off I would like to apology to Brandon for repeatedly calling him a psychopath, it was wrong of me and hopefully he forgives me as I try to become a better man. Look out for next week when I end up apologizing to Stacey for laughing at how she said she did such a great job at the challenge when she could not outlast the scrawny Dawn at a weight holding challenge.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



Happy Endings: When I was previewing the season I mentioned that Megan Mullally shows up at some point as Penny’s mom. Well, that episode is coming up this week and will also feature one hundred percent more Natalie Imbruglia.

Revenge: I was a little disappointed that Amy Abbott waited until off screen to release the love child to the press, c’mon, make it part of his speech where the viewer can see the embarrassment.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: My favorite part of the episode was when Penny had to explain to everyone that the handicap were inherently nice people. Though I am not entirely sure why Raj could talk in front of the deaf chick, I thought the mere presence of them made him mute; the ability of not being able to hear him just seems silly. But not silly good.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

Community: It is a surprised with all its homages; it took them to the third season for a “noir” episode.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

Best of the Week - 10/8/11

Quote of the Week: Because you don't have a girlfriend? Good Lord, if that becomes a reason not to play Dungeons and Dragons this game is in trouble. (Sheldon, The Big Bang Theory)

Song of the Week: Hot in Herre – Nelly (as sung by Caroline, 2 Broke Girls)

Scene of the Week:



Big News of the Week: The Ax Finally Drops: Just last week the president of NBC said he came from cable where shows can build a fan base, this week he canceled both The Playboy Club and Free Agents (yet giving pull season orders to the unfunny Up All Night and Whitney). The Playboy Club suffered from poor writing and worse acting while competing against both Monday Night Football and wrestling, the two of the biggest male audiences on television. Even more painful was The CW got into the action by pulling the plug on H8R before my episode of H8R where the producers of H8R ambush me for H8Ting on H8R even aired. CBS sort of had a cancelation; the network headscratchingly had Rules of Engagement by itself on Saturdays but before it aired its first weekend episode, it has been moved to Thursdays behind The Big Bang Theory with How to Be a Gentleman banished to the Saturday timeslot, essentially canceling it when it runs out of episodes. So let’s cue up It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday and take one last look at Amber Heard in her bunny suit.



Free Download of the Week: No Strings – Mayer Hawthorne (iTunes)

Deal of the Week: Plenty of decent albums this month including a few noteworthy Greatest Hits packages from Huey Lewis, The Steve Miller Band, Styx, and possibly the greatest title for a Greatest Hits album from Jimmy Buffet: Song(s) You Know By Heart.



New Album Release of the Week: Ashes & Fire - Ryan Adams

New DVD Release of the Week: Chuck: The Complete Fourth Season [Blu-ray]

Video of the Week: Monday sees the return of Swamp Men at 10:00 on the Nat Geo Wild for third season and in the first episode back a novice gator handler learns to catch one with his bare hands while the other handlers try to rescure a baby alligator. Check out a preview below:

Baby Alligator Rescue


Next Week Pick of the Week: Last Man Standing, Tuesday at 8:00 on ABC: On paper this show does not look particularly good, nor does it look particularly good in motion either, yet for some reason I may end up watching this. It does star Loretta McCready, so maybe Raylan Gibbons may show up at some point. I and for the degenerate gamblers out there, I bet Vegas is already taking bets on when Zachary Ty Bryan and/or Jonathan Taylor Thomas show up.

Around the Tubes - 10/7/11

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on G4 Special Report: Steve Jobs, Enlightened, 31 Days of Halloween, SuperBeam, The Last Play at Shea, Nurse Jackie, Conan, Arrested Development, The Rolling Stone Years, Taylor Swift's Road to Fearless, Killer Karaoke, and the results to the Comic Book Straw Poll.

- In honor of the life of Steve Jobs who passed away this week, G4 is airing G4 Special Report: Steve Jobs which chronicles his impact on modern technology today at 1:30 and 3:00.

- New show alert: Enlightened starring Laura Dern as an ambitious executive at a global conglomerate premieres this Monday at 9:30 on HBO. Check out a trailer for the show below:



- Syfy is currently on their seventh day of 31 Days of Halloween with the premiere of the new season of Sanctuary tonight at 10:00. Tomorrow sees the premiere of the original movie The Terror Beneath starring Adrian Pasdar (The Lying Game). Head over to http://www.syfy.com/Halloween for the full rundown.

- Grimm will naturally debut the Friday before Halloween and here is a look at what you can expect:

Prince Charming


- If you are like me and seem to go through headphones and earbuds easily, Andrea Electronics has just launched a SuperBeam Headphone Sweepstakes where they wil be giving away four pairs of your chose of SuperBeam headphones or earbuds every week for the end of the year. Head over to their Facebook page to enter.

- Showtime has been securing a bunch of music specials lately and the latest is The Last Play at Shea, the concert by Billy Joel that closed Shea stadium in New York with special guests Tony Bennett, Roger Daltrey, Steven Tyler, Garth Brooks and John Mayer, among others. Look out for the premiere on Friday November 11 at 9:30.

- In other Showtime news, Nurse Jackie will not be returning until sometime in 2012 and expect Rosie Perez to check in for one episode when it comes back.

- Fans of Conan O’Brien will want to head over to his YouTube page to watch the third episode of Cone Drone entitled Gym Rat where he shows you where you can get a body like him.

- I wish people will stop talking about an Arrested Development movie until they actually start filming something, but for those that do not, below Ron Howard, creator of the show, sat down with Kevin Pereira on Attack of the Show and revealed exclusive details on the upcoming season and movie. Wake me up when I can actually watch something.

Video Games - E3 2012

- Rolling Stone’s first chief photographer Baron Wolman has gathered his classic photographs and tells their inside stories for The Rolling Stone Years out now.

- For those unavailable to make it out to her tour this year, now you can bring Taylor Swift into your own living room this Tuesday when Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless hits shelves featuring thirteen performances from her three albums.

- Sure there are countless amounts of karaoke shows littering the networks these days, but only Killer Karaoke, which was just picked up by TruTV, boasts Steve-O as host. The show people trying to sing under extreme conditions. Think of it as American Karaoke meets Fear Factor. No word yet on when it will air.

- A couple weeks ago I wrote about the comic book straw poll and now we have the results, not surprisingly Barack Obama came in first as the only Democrat while the recently announced non-runner sold the most among Republicans while Ron Paul was the highest of those still in the race. On the low end was Rick Perry who came in last. Unfortunately Jimmy McMillan was not included. For more information head over to decision2012comics.com.

Previewing Brain Games

Recently I have been singing So What'cha Want by the Beastie Boys a lot because every time I misplace something or enter a room and forgot why I went there I sing to myself, “I think I’m losing my mind this time, this time I’m losing my mind. That’s right…” And it seems the times I break out the song are doubling every year since leaving college. My memory has gotten so bad I recently got called out by a neighbor who realized that I called everyone by their last names so I would only have to learn one name instead of two to six names.

The fact that I am losing my mind is what makes the three hour block of Brain Games on the National Geographic Channel so interesting to me. The special, if I remember correctly, keep in mind I watched a screener last weekend (which was unfortunately sent along with a Rubik’s Cube which was the bane of my existence because it was the one puzzle I could never conquer and now I have a new one to mock me), shows the inter working of the brain and explains why some of us have these senior moments even if we are decades away from collecting social security and some steps to lower the amount we have. All three special are narrated by Neil Patrick Harris.

The first hour, Pay Attention! brings in David Copperfield and other illusionists to explain just how you can be a victim of a pick pocket even when they are talking to you while taking the scarf off your neck and putting it around their without you even noticing. And if you have ever driven with anyone who insists to talk on the phone while driving, or actually do it yourself, you and they need to watch this special because anyone who sees the segment on multitasking will never do that again and may even make you write to your politicians to get it outlawed in your area if it is not already.

The second hour is entitled Watch This! and explains all the optical illusions that have amused you for years. Not only with you “watch this” using your eyes, during this hour you will even meet a blind man who “sees” using sonar and teaches you how to do it yourself. Though much like learning a new language, it is much easier to learn if you are younger. I personally do not have the patience even though my eyes seem to be going faster than my mind.

The last special is right up my alley: Remember This! And who better to guide us through the episode than a mental athlete. No, seriously, there is such a thing and the dude is a world champion who can memorize the order of an entire deck of cards. He even gives me a good tip at remembering people’s names which I will have to break out at next year’s block party. During this episode we also follow a crime to see just how reliable eye-witness testimony is, and let me spoil the outcome a little bit by saying if I ever find myself wrongfully accused for a crime I didn’t commit, I am bringing in this episode as exhibit A.

Brain Games is one of those educational shows that is actually entraining and can be watch by the entire family, and watching it in a group actually makes it more fun. And as the title suggests, each special has games you can play along with at home with your television to see just how well you pay attention and tests your memory. I highly recommend recording the show so you can go back and watch certain scenes because some tricks and illusions are worth rewatching. And who knows, after watching you and I will be singing less Beastie Boys in the future.

Brain Games airs Sunday at 8:00 on the National Geographic Channel. Check out a preview below with the previously mentioned David Copperfield.

Brain Games! With David Copperfield

Previewing Mad Scientists

Last week the National Geographic Channel premiered Rocket City Rednecks (which I declared the best new reality show since Tool Academy) and after new episodes tonight, there is a premiere of a great companion show for the redneck MacGyver’s in Mad Scientists. Much like the show it precedes, Mad Scientists features people building weird, and sometime, useful new toys.

The show follows professional builder John Bowler as he searches the country for eccentric engineers who build new creations in their garage and then challenges them to upgrade their inventions. In tonight’s premiere John heads to California looking for a guy who built his own all terrain vehicle. And not being content with that, John bets the inventor to make his machine stand, and drive, standing up (see picture above).

Stick around for back to back episodes because the second one is even more entertainment when John travels to an abusement park. And no, that is not another one of my misspellings; they actually call it an abusement park. Oh, yeah, and the roller coaster was built by a guy and his friends in his back yard. And naturally John ends up getting the guy to trick out one of his rides, an air compressor fueled roller coaster that John want to put on a monorail track, and do it within forty-eight hours.

Also this season, John looks to make weird contraptions even weirder like a 40-foot-long counterweighted teeter-totter, a drag-racing super-machine converted from a minivan, Gyroplanes built from scratch, and an off-roading wheelchair that shoot pellets like a machine gun.

Mad Scientists airs Wednesdays at 10:00 with back to back episodes on the National Geographic Channel. Check out a preview from tonight’s episode below:


Speedcult Abusement Park

Fall 2011 Music Preview

I usually do a “Most Anticipated” list here but overlooking the scheduled lists of album being released in time for Christmas, I really cannot say I am overtly excited for more than two or three of them. Please note while looking over the list for yourself, twenty years ago last weekend, Nevermind, The Low End Theory, and Blood Sugar Sex Magik were all released on the same day (that does not even include the very first CD I ever bought: Waking Up the Neighbours - Bryan Adams by Bryan Adams). Unfortunately most of the albums I am most looking for are in the dreaded “TBD” section which usually means if they do not have a release date by now or even a title; we will not likely see them until early next year at the soonest. For those that want to pre-order the album on Amazon, click its name, or the artist’s name to be taken to iTunes.

Today
Metals – Feist
People & Things – Jack's Mannequin
Siberia – Lights
Chicago XXXIII -O Christmas Three – Chicago
Lie, Cheat and Steal – Us3

October 11
Ash and Fire – Ryan Adams
Evanescence – Evanescence
How Do You Do – Mayer Hawthorne
Chesapeake – Rachael Yamagata
New Blood (Special Edition) (2CD) – Peter Gabriel
Awakening – James Morrison
The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective (3 CD) – Ben Folds
Still Winning – Johnny Gill
Anar – Marketa Irglova
Crazy Glue – Fishbone
Deeper Into Dream – Ben Lee

October 18
Beyond the Sun (2CD) – Chris Isaak
Songs of the Ungrateful Living – Everlast
Revelation Road – Shelby Lynne

October 24
Mylo Xyloto - Coldplay
Stronger (Deluxe Version) – Kelly Clarkson
Divine Providence – Deer Tick
Twenty – Boyz II Men
A Very She & Him Christmas – She & Him
Bad As Me [Limited Deluxe Edition] – Tom Waits

November 1
Ceremonials – Florence + The Machine
Lulu – Metallica and Lou Reed
The Smile Sessions Box Set – The Beach Boys
Four The Record – Miranda Lambert
Ambition – Wale
Invisible – Skylar Grey

November 8
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds [Deluxe Edition] – Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

November 15
Camp – Childish Gambino
Love After War – Robin Thicke
We Found Love – Rihanna

November 21
Fallen Empires: Deluxe – Snow Patrol
My Life II: The Journey Continues – Mary J. Blige
Dreamer the Believer – Common

TBD
Undun – The Roots
Blakroc II - BlakRoc
West Coast Time – Michelle Branch
Born and Raised – John Mayer
Rise of the Phoenix – Tenacious D
Daddy Fat Sax: Soul Funk Crusader – Big Boi
Mumford & Sons
The Black Keys
The All-American Rejects
Fiona Apple
The Album Formerly Known as Songs of Ascent - U2

And let’s not forget the obligatory, this may be the quarter where Dr. Dre finally drops Detox.