Monday, October 22, 2012

Will Obama's America Offer Real Solutions or More Slogans


2016: Obama's America

In a measure of full disclosure I should first say I am a registered Republican. I did not vote for Barack Obama four years ago and do not plan to vote for him in two weeks. Although I really do not go around announcing my conservatism much lately because my party has become a party of nutjobs who spout the most unbelievable things like our president was not born in this country and is a Muslim (even though four years ago he was anti-American because his Christian minister once said negative things about this country). 2016: Obama's America is supposed to be the thinking man’s attack on the president. There are no accusations of being a Muslim or even being born in Kenya or even hints at them (it even points out two separate newspapers in Hawaii that announced Obama’s birth).

The movie is based on the book by Dinesh D’Souza, The Roots of Obama's Rage which he wrote in 2010. The tagline claims, “Love him, hate him… you don’t know him”. Except after watching the movie, there really was not much of the movie that I found new. There was one guy that Dinesh called one of Obama’s “founding fathers” (along with people like the 2008 buzz person Bill Ayers) who was a registered communist. Except like all the other “founding fathers” (aside from Reverend Wright) there are no pictures of Barry with any of these people (even the liberal communist were able to find one picture of George Bush with Jack Abramoff). If he was so close to these people to the point they shape his policy, why is he never pictured with them. And Dinesh sure likes his pictures because the one of Barry smoking (something) is shown multiple times.

Even in the film, D’Souza features a cable show where he tells some talking head that accusing Obama as a Muslim and a socialist have not worked, so he has moved to attack number three: Barack Obama is anti-imperialist. Who knew there were imperialists left to be anti to? (Ironically the day after I watch this movie, I read an article by conservative commentator Niall Ferguson reporting a story where Chinese nationalist surrounded the US ambassador to the nation chanting “Down with US imperialism!).

Why is Barack Obama an anti-imperialist? Because his father was Kenyan and Barack wants to continue the Mau Mau uprising that kicked out imperialist British Army. To all of the even keel thinkers out there that are wondering, “You mean that Barry, who was raised by two Kansas women, was influenced by a man that abandoned him and only met once in his life?” And before you suggest that abandoned sons usually distance themselves from their absentee father, Dinesh finds a psychologist who specializes abandonment where the two men, who never met Barack Obama theorize that he is the an exception to the rule. Keep in mind earlier in the film Dinesh theorizes what would have happened had he stayed in his native India where he thinks he would have had been in an arrange marriage and the like, yet Barack, growing up in America, still ended up like his Kenyan father that he barely knew.

The first anti-imperialist argument that D’Souza is that the first thing Obama did after being inaugurated was to return a bust of Winston Churchill that the White House had since the 60’s to England. Except the reality is that the bust from the 60’s is still there, and the bust that was returned was loaned (note loaned, not permanently given to) to George W. Bush after 9/11 and was cleared out of the Oval Office with all of the other art and furniture that Bush put in there during his two terms. Obama’s supposed anti- British streak continued when D’Souza says that Obama supports Argentina gaining control of the Falkland Island but when I did a simple Google search most articles I read said that Obama is neutral on the issue.

After an hour of Obama history, D’Souza finally gets to theorizing what 2016 will look like if we reelect the anti-imperialist Obama which includes a world where Obama gets rid of all of our nuclear weapons because he is on the record of wishing we could live in a world without nuclear weapons (confessed Reaganite Dinesh conveniently omits that Ronald Reagan said the exact same thing). He also theorizes that because of Obama’s foreign policy that in four years we may see “The United States of Islam” that would stretch from Morocco to Pakistan (surprisingly his map leaves out Obama’s ancestral home of Kenya) even though many of the countries in Islam Fantasyland hate each other as much as they hate us.

The only potential doomsday scenario that Dinesh exposes that I agree with is that our debt will bring down the country, though I disagree that Obama wants it to happen because of his anti-imperialism. But this is not a Barack Obama problem; both Democrats and Republican have a spending problem that they need to reign in. One of the commentators that D’Souza speaks to even dings George W. Bush for his overspending. Granted Dinesh does conveniently omit in his stat that Americans have lost a large percentage of their wealth since 2006 that two of those years were under Bush.

Politics aside, 2016: Obama’s America just looks just a step above student film with hilariously staged dramatization and bizarre sound choices. While talking about a debate he had with Jesse Jackson, the dramatization actually depicts a black dude walking into what looks like a biker bar where the white patrons give the black dude a birthday cake. But still is not as funny as Dinesh doing the hula while researching Obama’s past. And it was were in a taped phone conversation, which looked more staged than one on The Hills, the sound would inexplicably change depending if the camera was on Dinesh or the person he was talking to.

When it comes down to it, 2016: Obama’s America will only make the people who already have an irrational hated of Barack Obama crazier and will make Obama supporters laugh more than they did for this week’s episode Modern Family. While people in the middle will not bother to watch it unless their crazy uncle forces them to. Just take the movie as it is, just something Dinesh D’Souza put out to make money. Actually, Dinesh may have changed my vote, I had no intentions of voting for Obama, but now I kind of want to see how wrong his movie is. And since I live in Ohio, my vote may very well decide the election.


Full Discourse Notice: This DVD was given to me by Lionsgate for review.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 10/21/12


Once Upon a Time: I am still wondering just where did Regina’s mother go when she got pushed through the mirror. Are we going to get some sort of flashback? I guess I probably should stop caring because I doubt it really matters, there are the “writers from Lost”.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Revenge: I really cannot say I care for the new player all that much. I kind of wish he had just been crushed by the trash compactor. But I do wonder where they are going with Rebecca Logan because she clearly has a crush on the gay Nolan. Maybe he has a fluid sexuality or more likely she is going to go Fatal Attraction on him because Nolan does have a penchant for being tied up.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

The Walking Dead: Welcome back The Walking Dead and goodbye Hershel’s leg. Such a graphic ending I will forgive that apparently the group has be wondering in circles the last couple months even though the prison was less than a mile away from them in last season’s finale or that they did not just kill all the zombies via chain link fence instead of wasting their low stock of bullets.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

The Voice: Just last week I commented how surprisingly the coaches picked the right singer almost every battle. Well that only lasted a week because I disagreed with half of their decisions this week. Personally I would have gone with Terisa Griffin, Paulina, Benji, Lelia Broussard, Joselyn Rivera, Alessandra Guercio, and Emily Earle over who ended up losing to. Granted thanks to the save, three of them are sticking around. Except the save went to the wrong three people. It is befuddling to me that Joselyn, Terisa, and Alessandra are sticking around but Lelia, Benji, and Emily are all going home. I was a big proponent of the steal but four of the six steals have so far left me scratching my head (Collin McLoughlin being the other).

Aside from the newly instituted steal, really the only reason to watch the Battle Rounds is for the truly bizarre pairings. Last week it was Domo vs. Cody Belew and this week it was Julio Cesar Castillo vs. Terisa. (I am severely disappointed that we did not get to see the Beat Frequency battle because that had the highest trainwreck potential) And it certainly did not disappoint from the awesomely bad stand point. Just when you think it the pairing could not get weirder, Blake goes ahead and has them sing the rapid fire song Congo by Gloria Estefan, which, as Michael Buble correctly points out, is a song that no one knows the words to thirty years later. It was only made better by Blake picking the wrong person.

Speaking of poor choices, Cee-Lo picking MacKenzie Bourg over Emily was the worst decision since he picked Erin Martin over Shields Brothers. He was painfully bad. Everything Adam and Blake said were right (and the only positive things Christina bothered to say were visually not vocally which probably meant she did not like what she heard either) and Emily should have won easily. Though Emily does deserve a slither of blame. The best part of the song is when Carly Rae Jepsen goes "Whoo!" and Emily did not do the "Whooo!" Not singing “Whoooo” in Good Time is like not having the crunching guitar during Creep.

I really hope MacKenzie gets eliminated before the live shows or he could be this year's Pip, which would make Dez Duron this year's James Massone, two cute boys who were so bad, the producers had to create some lame rule last season to get rid of them so teen girls could not turn The Voice into the joke that American Idol is.

On a side note, did Billy Joe Armstrong seriously quote Spiderman (by way of Voltaire) in a battle between two bland teenage female pop singers? Again, I feel cheated that we did not get to hear any advice Billie exposed on Beat Frequency.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs from The Voice with the widget at right.

Sons of Anarchy: I am not sure if it is poetic or creepy that the creator of the show told one of the actresses on his show to get on her knees. Maybe both. But definitely creepy that he had his wife go down on another dude while that dude’s fake half sister watched.
You can download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Survivor: Philippines: I found it weird that they lingered on Probst snuffing Dawson’s torch, which only made weirder when she went and have him a hug and kiss. And how apropos that someone had to be medically evacuated on the season where three previous one returned. I wonder if Dana was faking in hopes of returning the next time they do it.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download Survivor: Philippines on iTunes.

Subugatory: The show is the funniest on television but the one misstep it takes is the crappy title sequence. Well at least I now that the title is the fault of Tessa’s mother.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Suburgatory on iTunes.

The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons: Not only this week TJ’s favorite, but trivia week is mine too. And it did not disappoint. Just when you think no one would top answering “Europe” for a which country question, some actually answered “23” when asked how many continents the show has been to. Quality entertainment. But I wish there had been less Challenge trivia and more spelling. And you have to start easier than “Narcissistic” (in Chet’s defence, I needed spell check to write the word).
You can download The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: The biggest disappointment of the ever expanding cast (Stuart was even promoted to full time this season) is there seems to be less and less Penny and Sheldon moments which is what made the first couple seasons great. It seems the last couple seasons their interactions are secondhand. This week’s episode just showed they need to force these two together more often. Penny pinning, then kissing Sheldon is one of the top five moments of the duo in the series, maybe even third after soft kitty and the time Penny broke her arm.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Best of the Week - 10/20/12


Quote of the Week: It’s true Marty, we grow gardens in the room next to our sleep chamber, you keep a sewer there. Yes I guess we are the crazy ones. (Larry Bird, The Neighbors)

Song of the Week: The Parting Glass – The Sisters Green (The Walking Dead)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: A Binder Full of Women: I really did not want to talk about the debates three straight week because I do not think they matter that much but unfortunately there really was not anything else big that happened this week enless you consider the cancelation of Animal Practice big (R.I.P. Annie’s Boobs). And let’s face it does not matter who wins but what are people talking about the next day. Supposedly Mitt Romney won big but how big could that win be if everyone spent the next day talking about Big Bird? And supposedly Barack Obama took this debate but really the only part of the debate anyone talked about was Mitt’s binder full of women so does it even really matter? One more debate to go, but again does it really matter, people already started voting anyway here in Ohio the state that is going to decide the election.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Who is not going to survive The A Train on the Pretty Little Liars Halloween special

Free Download of the Week: Make the World Go Away – Jamey Johnson featuring Alison Krause (iTunes)

New Album Release of the Week: The Haunted Man - Bat for Lashes

New DVD Release of the Week: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Video of the Week: Trapped in the Closet! Chapter 23!! Masterpiece Closet!!! Rosie the Noisy Neighbor!!!! Big Man!!!!! Pimp Lucius!!!!!! The Package!!!!!!! More new episodes coming November 23!!!!!!!! Can't wait!!!!!!!!! CAN’T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!


Next Week Pick of the Week: Mockingbird Lane, Friday at 8:00 on NBC: Just days after some internet site said the new Munster’s reboot was dead and NBC said no it is not, the network actually gave it a premiere date just in time for Halloween. Although do not expect any new episode after that any time soon because even if it does well, there are no more episodes filmed. So just enjoy it for what it is a one of special.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Around the Tubes - 10/19/12


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 Haunted, Outback Hunters, Defiance, Conan, L.A. Noir, Hot Seat, Check it Out!, David Letterman, My Life Is a Lifetime Movie, Roger Hodgson, Emily Katter, Downton Abbey, and Joan Jett.

- Tonight is the premiere of the latest Cinamax series Haunted. From The X-Files writer and producer Frank Spotnitz, the eight-episode series is set in the world of international espionage. Golden Globe nominee Melissa George (HBO’s In Treatment) stars as Sam Hunter, a skilled, gutsy operative for Byzantium, a secretive private firm involved in global intelligence and espionage. After surviving an attempt on her life that may have been orchestrated by members of her own team, she returns to work, but doesn’t know who to trust.

Haunted on Cinamax

- New show alert! Premiering this Sunday is Outback Hunters that follows a team of fearless Aussies that wade through the menacing East, West and South Alligator Rivers of Australia's desolate Kakadu coming face to face with the Salties, massive salt-water crocodiles. Check out a preview of the show, which comes from the producers of Swamp People, below:



- Defiance may not arrive on Syfy until April 2013, but you can now take a look at the show’s first trailer below:


- Have you ever watch Conan and thought to yourself, I could do that? Now you can becase the late-night talk show is inviting to re-create an episode through crowdsourcing. Head over to Team Coco for details.

- Not deterred by being unceremoniously dumped by The Walking Dead last year, Frank Darabont is getting back into the television game as TNT just greenlighted his new show L.A. Noir starring the dude who played Shane as well as Neal McDonough who as last scene getting his arm chopped off, surprisingly not on The Walking Dead, but on Justified. No premiere date is set.

- The season finale of Hot Seat airs Tuesday at 10:00 on Syfy and you can take a look at a sneak peak below:


- Out this week on DVD is the Adult Swim show Check it Out! Season 1 and 2 staring John C. Reilly.


- David Letterman is hooking up with Oprah Winfrey again this time at his alma mater of Ball State which will take place November 26. Admission to the event in the 3,300-seat Emens Auditorium is free, but seating must be reserved. The university anticipates high demand for seats. Tickets must be secured in advance and will be available on a first come-first serve basis at the Emens Box Office.

- Have you ever thought to yourself, my life could be a Lifetime movie? Well you could win $1,000 in a Lifetime Sweepstakes by explain what the title of your Lifetime movie would be in honor of the recent premiere of My Life Is a Lifetime Movie.

- Roger Hodgson is having Breakfast in America again starting this fall when he tours the country for his first major tour of the States in thirty years. Head over to rogerhodgson.com for dates.

- New music to give a listen to: pop singer-songwriter Emily Katter who’s new single Heart Explosion is out now.

- Cannot get enough of Downton Abbey? Now you can take the Sterling Silver tour built around the PBS show.

- Joan Jett & The Blackhearts recently signed on to play A Night of New York Class Gala October 23, 2012 to ban carriage horses in NYC. Head over to nyclass.org to grab a ticket that starts at $500.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Act Like Nothing’s Wrong, That’s What Mom Did



What do you do when all of your kids cancel on your family reunion the day before they are supposed to arrive? Well if you are Robert De Niro, you pack up a suitcase and take a cross country trip by train, bus, and even truck truck drive (from an all too brief cameo from Melissa Leo). Despite the cheery title Everybody's Fine (2009) and the smiles on the cover, the movie is not as humorous as it suggests. It is a family drama that will still have a few humor moments but your heart strings will be tickled more than your funny bone.

De Niro just lost his wife and this was the first time he was going to get together with all four children since she passed. The mom was the one that talked to the children while De Niro, who worked a menial job to give his children a better life, just got the Cliff Notes (hint, it is the title). So De Niro goes from New York City to Chicago to Denver to Las Vegas to catch up with his children, played by Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, and Drew Barrymore) to see what he was missing without the reunion. Sure the movie almost plays like a hundred minute version of Harry Chapin’s Cat's In the Cradle, but De Niro’s subtle performance makes the road less bumpy.

The 2009 film is on Blu-Ray for the very first time (which is a bit surprising considering even I had a Blu-Ray by then). It is light on extra; there is about ten minutes of deleted and extended scenes. There is another ten minute feature with Paul McCartney explains how he came to wrote the song that plays over the closing credits, (I Want To) Come Home.

Full Disclosure Notice: The Blu-Ray was given to me by Lionsgate for review.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Her Gift Made Her Obedient, but Her Heart Made Her Kind


Ella Enchanted on Blu-Ray

Before she was Catwoman, Anne Hathaway was America’s sweetheart, every girl wanted to be her and every boy had a crush on her thanks to kid friendly fare like The Princess Diaries. She followed that up with other kind of fairytale Ella Enchanted. Much like the Diaries, Hathaway charm is on full display. After watching the film I am reminded how good Hathaway is at comedy and it is a shame she does not do more films that show off her humorous side (really the only comedies that she has appeared in the flesh since was the best part of the otherwise forgettable Valentine's Day).

Hathaway plays the titular character that was given the “gift” of obedience at birth. Every time someone tells her to do something, she has to do it. The spell is so powerful that she even has to do it even if it is a sarcastic demand like the time a classmate learns the hard way it may not be wise to tell Ella to “Bite me.” Somehow she makes adolescences unscathed without anyone realizing her curse. That is until her father remarries and her new step-sister, Lucy Punch (in one of her first American films before going on to steal scenes in movies like Dinner for Schmucks), realizes Ella does everything she asks and decides to use it to her advantage.

In true fairy tale tradition, Ella head out on a quest, this time to find the fairy who gave her the give of obedience (a tipsy Vivica A Fox, Independence Day) and collects a rag tag group of fairy tale outcasts (elves, giants, and ogres, oh my) on her trip as well as a handsome prince (Hugh Dancy, who really has not taken off here in the states but will fill the shoes of Will Graham in the upcoming televised version of Hannibal) that Ella just writes off as a pretty face. But the infatuation grows the ire of his evil uncle (Cary Elwes who knows a thing or two about princesses) that wants the crown for himself.

With the resurgence of fairy tales on Once Upon a Time and Grimm, it may be time to give Ella Enchanted another look (or a first one in you missed the 2004 the first time around and perfect for any girl that has been born since then) and the film is more family friendly that the two show. And for those wondering about Hathaway’s singing voice with her upcoming role as Fantine in the movie version of Les Miserables, she actually sings two songs in Ella Enchanted including Queen’s Somebody to Love. It is also a plus that the film has Monty Python’s Eric Idle as the narrator.

This is the first time Ella Enchanted has been available on Blu-Ray and it is actually a combo pack that includes a DVD copy too. Both disks include the same features (except the DVD features some DVD-ROM features) including deleted and extended scenes. There is also an audio commentary with Hathaway, Dancy, and director Tommy O’Haver. There is a half an hour featurette The Magical World of Ella Enchanted as well as Ella Enchanted Red Carpet Premiere Special hosted by Jesse McCartney and Kari Kimmel although both features share a lot of the same video. Kimmel’s music video for It’s Not Just Make Believe is also included.


Full Disclosure Notice: this Blu-Ray was given to me by Lionsgate for review.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

We've All Had Nights in Our Life Where We've Made Mistakes for Free


Mad Men Season 5 Blu-Ray

Ah season five of Mad Men: Zoo Be Zoo, Betty gets fat, Don murders someone, Roger drops acid, Megan eats sherbet, Rory Gilmore gets naked, the triumphant return of Paul Kinsey, Sally becomes a woman, Joan becomes less of one, Peggy watched dogs having sex, and Lane punches Pete Campbell in the face. With the long hiatus, speculation abounds as to how the fifth season of the show would start off, but who would have guessed the show would return on a happy note? Don was basking in marital bliss while Sterling Cooper Draper Price continued to thrive.

Of course Matthew Weiner lulled us into a false sense of security because as the season drug on, the shine wore off and it because pretty clear to me that the theme of season five was getting old sucks. Don could no longer keep up with his young bride which he may or may not have realized while listening to The Beatles, Peggy had to leave her mentor, Pete was exiled to the suburbs as his hairline went further back, Betty got fat, Sally got bloody, Joan had to give up herself, and Lane could not start his Jaguar. Really the only person that got out untouched was Rodger and he needed a new drug to get by. Although, depended on how you took the look Don made in the final frame, he may have made it through to the other side.

And then there was the most shocking moment of the year: Don managed to stay with one woman the whole season. Yes, Dawn was his only secretary this season despite the weirdness of sharing the same name. But we will have to wait until next season to see if he finally gets around to bedding her, because as Allison taught us, if you stick around long enough, you get to have sex with Don Draper as a Christmas bonus. I will not go much further on the individual episodes, if you want to read my thought you can hit the Mad Men tag to see my thoughts.

Of course all thirteen season five episodes are included in the three disks Blu-Ray (surprising Megan and Joan are pictured along with Don) though the two hour premiere is presented here as one episode. Like previous Mad Men seasons, there are bonus features aplenty (this is a review of the Blu-Ray, but the press release say these are also on the DVD release with four disks but I have to wonder who gets a picture on the fourth disk: Peggy? Pete? Roger?). There is Mad Men Say the Darndest Things where the writers on the show talk about some of their favorite one-liners. The take a deeper look at artist Giorgio de Century whose work inspired the Blu-Ray cover with What Shall I Love If Not the Enigma? None of the Mad Men got invited to Truman Capote’s Black and White Masquerade Ball (who knows what Roger would have done in the back room) but it is talked about in The Party of the Century. We also get to go into the studio with Scoring Mad Men: Inside a Session where composer David Carbonarra, orchestrator Geoff Stadling, and sound engineer explain the sound of the show. There is also a pictorial time line about The Uniform Time Act of 1966 which is not as boring as it sounds. I knew Daylight Saving Time was instituted during World War II, but did not know that it got revoked afterwards until 1966. Hopefully it gets abolished again. There is also Newsweek Magazine Digital Gallery that looks at some of the top stories of 1996.

The Blu-Ray also features twenty-four audio commentaries. Yes, each episode gets not one, but two separate audio commentaries. Usually one commentary is Matt Weiner and other behind the scenes people like writers, directors, costume designers, while the actors are resigned to the other but sometimes they mix it up. So if you wonder what Megan Draper thought about her dance sequence or what Lane Price thought about the penultimate episode, give the commentaries a listen. And it is not just castmembers, commentaries also feature guest stars Rory Gilmore, Julia Ormond (but not for the episode where Sally learns that grown up life is dirty), and Paul Kinsey who gets to watch his episode with Harry Crane who nails his onscreen girlfriend and explains why he had to shave his head twice for the show. The is so much content here that there should be plenty extras to hold you over until season six air even if the show goes on another eighteen month hiatus.


Full Disclosure Notice: This Blu-Ray set was given to me by Lionsgate for the purpose of review.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Lyrics Quiz: The Power of We: Blog Action Day


Today is Blog Action Day and this year’s theme is “The power of We”. In honor of the day, this month’s Lyrics Quiz will feature songs that have either the word “Power” or “We” in the title. 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. I’m living in that 21st century. Doing something mean to it. Do it better than anybody you ever seen do it.
2. We’ll fight the powers of be just don’t pick our destiny cause you don’t know us you don’t belong.
3. What we need is awareness, we can’t get careless. You say, “What is this?”
4. Fall is here, hear the yell, back to school, ring the bell.
5. We’ll walk hand in hand, we’ll walk hand in hand, we’ll walk hand in hand someday.
6. They say you are a snuff queen. Honey I don’t think that’s true.
7. I got needs just like you. Give me conversations, good vibrations through and through.
8. Buddy you’re a young man, hard man shouting in the streets, gonna take on the world someday. (We Will Rock You - Queen; guessed by Kevin)
9. What you’re problem? Let’s resolve them. We can solve this, what the cause is. Its officials, you got issues; I got issues.
10. Ninety miles outside Chicago. Can’t stop driving, I don’t know way. So many questions I need an answer. Two years later you’re still on my mind.
11. She spends his Franklin's at the malls with her friends, material girl, living in a material world. But it’s alright cause it's Saturday night.
12. You might stop a hurricane. Might even stop the driving rain. You might have a dozen other guys, but if you wanna stop me baby, don’t even try.
13. One two, tell me what you got. Let me slip my quarters inside your slot to hit the jackpot. Rev me up rev me up my little buttercup.
14. Hang onto the world as it spins around. Just don't let the spin get you down. Things are moving fast. Hold on tight and you will last.
15. Yellow diamonds in the light. And we're standing side by side. As your shadow crosses mine. What it takes to come alive.
16. Maybe it's a sign of weakness when I don't know what to say. Maybe I just wouldn't know what to do with my strength anyway.
17. You don’t need money, don’t take fame. Don’t need no credit card to ride this train. It’s strong and it's sudden and it’s cruel sometimes. But it might just save your life.
18. I’d kinda like to be the president, so I can show you how your money’s spent.
19. That’s great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane. Lenny Bruce is not afraid.
20. Am I more than you bargained for yet? I’ve been dying to tll you anything you want to hear ‘cause that’s just who I am this week. (Sugar, We're Goin Down - From Under the Cork Tree - Fall Out Boy; guessed by Kevin)
21. Radical mind day and night all the time. Seven, fourteen, wise, divine. Maniac, brainiac, winning the game. I’m the lyrical Jesse James.
22. Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline. Ayatollah’s in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan.
23. Let’s not fight, I’m tired, can’t we just sleep tonight? Turn away; it’s just there’s nothing left here to say. Turn around.
24. If we keep up on this fooling around. We’ll be the talk of the town. I’ll tell the world I'm in love any time. Let’s open up the blinds ‘cause we really don’t mind.
25. People they come together. People they fall apart. No one can stop us now.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 10/14/12


Once Upon a Time: I am a bit surprised that Sleeping Beauty does not recognize Snow White. Maybe she does not recognize her without wearing a bad wig. I guess this is a different place than the Enchanted Forrest because Regina’s mom is there (I assume she got sent to the real world). And with Mr. Gold really lose all his previous life memory if he crosses the city limits; he knew who he was even with the curse in tack. But the most surprising was the mass exodus of everyone just because the Evil Queen got her magic back. Is everyone really ready to forget everything just because they are scared of her?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Revenge: Holy Rebecca Logan sighting! She should really wear glasses more often. But that Grayson clan is very messed up. I am not sure who is more evil, Victoria for coming up with a plan to frame the White Haired Man by having Conrad beat the crap out of her or Conrad following her orders. But how could Emily trust the White Haired Man, he killed her father, of course he was going to try to tie up any loose ends that could get him exonerated.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

How I Met You Mother: Ted and Robin trying to burn each other on who had the better relationship is one of the dumber bits the show has done. And that is saying something.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Voice: Sure the Battle Round still is a drag, but I really do love the new Steal for a couple reasons. Of course what is great the some good talent that got to advance even though they lost because their coach put them up against a strong opponent or just chose the wrong singer. But my favorite inadvertent part of the steal is that point where Carson says the loser is available for a Steal and the cameras cut to the coaches staring back blindly. It is also funny how Caitlin Michele shunned Blake not once but twice. I wish they would add another steal to the Knockout Round so she could shun him a third time.

I do not know if the Steal is the cause, but it did seem the coach picked the winner more wisely this season. I was really shock that Cee-Lo made the right decision and picked Cody Belew over Domo, I thought he was going to be this season’s Erin Martin. Really the only battle this year I think the coach got wrong is when Adam picked Melanie Martinez over Caitlin, but Caitlin eventually got snatched up by Cee-Lo. And where Caitlin and Amanda Brown go rightfully picked, I had to scratch my head as to why anyone wanted to save Collin McLoughlin (especially when they let Nelly's Echo go by the wayside). Collin is so boring and bland, you could have told me he had one American Idol in the past couple years and I would have believed you.

The Voice also took another one of my suggestions by breezing through the Battle Rounds by resigning some of them to a montage. Although they should have also gone back to the four battles per hour because three per hour just drag on. Does anyone care about rehearsal time. Even though I enjoy the blander battles being resigned to the montage, you have to feel bad for someone like Lisa Scinta who managed to make it to the second round but only got about ten seconds of screen time. Hopefully they just montage the rest of Christina’s team because after the hot chick that did the backwards shimmy in the Blind Auditions, she really does not have anything left. Nathalie Hernandez was her best teen girl and she already went home.

Hopefully Nathalie is a cautionary tale to all the other fifteen year old girls out there. Natalie did have an interesting voice, but she was just way too young and lacked the experience Had she waited until she was twenty, or at the very least old enough to vote, she could have gone much further in the competition, instead she ended up just being lucky that anyone bothered to turn around for. It was also not a very good sign for that her coach’s final thought on her was that she probably should have chosen Blake instead.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs from The Voice with the widget at right.


Castle: I think this is the first time we have seen the new Captain not act like a sourpuss. Of course Castle had to go and break her toy which means she will probably be back to her old self by next episode.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Parenthood: The Braverman’s must not care about the recession because yet another one quit their job. Maybe the whole clan will end up working at the recording studio. Although I would guess that Julie and Joel will end up switching roles with Julia being the homemaker and Joel will go back to work.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Sons of Anarchy: I am not sure I will be able to watch the next season of Justified after seeing Boyd Crowder with humongous breasts riding a dude with a belly that was even better.
You can download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Survivor: Philippines: This season got boring quick. Just have the one dude go to one tribe and the chick to the other and let’s just essentially start this season over.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download Survivor: Philippines on iTunes.

Modern Family: So is Haley going to be resigned to webchats for the rest of the season? Seriously, why not just spin her off with her and Dylan living together?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Modern Family on iTunes.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Best of the Week - 8/13/12


Quote of the Week: You can kiss my decision as it’s walking out the door. (Rayna, Nashville)

Song of the Week: If I Didn't Know Better – Sam Palladio & Clare Bowen (Nashville)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: The Vice Presidential Debate: Or so I am told this happened because I fell asleep when both debaters started to sound like the adults in a Peanuts special. It is really silly to have the Vice Presidential candidate to debate anyway. As John McCain famously said, the only job of the Vice President is to check up on the health of the President every day. But I am told that one person used the world murlocky while another lied a bunch. Yep I did not miss much.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Otto is back on Sons of Anarcy

Free Download of the Week: Live Sampler (Recorded at the Filmore) – Punch Brothers (Noise Trade)

Deal of the Week: Up to 55% on TV and Movies Blu Rays - The Walking Dead, Halloween, Piranna 3DD, Alien Anthology

New Album Release of the Week: Red - Taylor Swift

New DVD Release of the Week: Mad Men: Season Five

Video of the Week: One debate that I did enjoy this week was the one between Kid Rock and Sean Penn. Seriously, there are very few things more entertaining that hear two white dudes argue over who is less racist.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Suburgatory, Wednesday at 9:30: Easily the biggest surprise of last season was how funny Suburgatory was. It was barely on my radar before the season started and turned out being the best new show on network television last season. It finally returns this week and even gets the cushy post-Modern Family timeslot. I am sure Dalia will still be scarier than anything you will see on the premiere of The Walking Dead later next week.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Around the Tubes - 10/12/12


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 Pretty Little Liars, Kiss, The Hero, Get Out Alive, Last Break, King of the Nerds, Empty Orchestra, Marcus Goldhaber, The Rolling Stones, Gummibär: The Yummy Gummy Search For Santa, The Mentalist, LT: The Life and Times, The Cup, and The Christmas Pageant.

- The Pretty Little Liars Halloween special does not air until Tuesday October 23, but you can check out an exclusive clip below.


Video Platform Video Management Video Solutions Video Player


- Just in time for Halloween, Kiss unleashed their Monster this week, their twentieth studio album which features the lead single Hell or Hallelujah which recently hit the active rock chart, their first song to do so in fourteen years.

- A couple weeks ago, I mentioned the new reality competition The Hero starring The Rock, for those interested in applying, open calls are starting this weekend in Los Angeles. Head over to TNT.com for other city and dates.

- For those missing Man vs. Wild, you will soon get some more Bear Grylls in your life because NBC just green-lighted Get Out Alive (working title) a new, larger-than-life and extreme adventure reality-competition series headlined by world-renowned adventurer Bear Grylls.

- Derek and Liam go head-to-head in this first episode of Last Break, the second-chance challenge series that can be found exclusively on golfchannel.com.

The Big Break


- King of the Nerds, the new competition show for TBS, does premiere until January, but you can take a look at the first promo below:



- New music alert! Empty Orchestra released their new album One More Time, All Together Now... for fans of Band of Horses.

- The Rolling Stones have a new Greatest Hits package out this fall and with it there will be a new song Doom and Gloom which is now on iTunes and marks the first time Mick, Keith, Charlie, and Ronnie have been in the studio together for seven years.

- YouTube sensation Gummibär is making his film debut later this year and you can watch the trailer to The Yummy Gummy Search for Santa below and click the link to preorder the DVD over at Amazon.



- To understand the driving force behind Patrick Jane, the title character in the hit drama The Mentalist, one need look no further than the brutal murderer who has plagued his nightmares since the series' first episode. On Monday, Oct. 22, TNT is going to take viewers on a journey through those nightmares with The Mentalist: The Hunt for Red John, an all-day marathon of episodes centering on the serial killer whose long line of victims includes Jane's own family starting at noon.

- LT: The Life and Times, a feature length documentary film chronicling the spectacular on-field Hall of Fame NFL career of Lawrence Taylor, as well as his tumultuous off-field life, comes to SHOWTIME® in early 2013. The documentary will be the first-ever in-depth look focusing on Taylor’s life with never-before-heard stories from Taylor, his family, his former teammates and coaches on his playing days with the Giants, his infamous off-field activities and the troubling times that have plagued him throughout his life.

- Coming out on DVD next week: The Cup starring Brendan Gleeson (Albert Nobbs) and Stephen Curry (Rogue). Also out Tuesday is The Christmas Pageant starring Melissa Gilbert and Robert Mailhouse.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

It Wasn't Done for a Man to Reject a Woman who Freely Gave Herself


30 Beats

Really, what else is there to do on a hot summer days in Manhattan than to hook up with people? That is essentially the plot 30 Beats where ten extremely attractive New Yorkers get it on with each other one by one. No, this is not five vignettes of the characters pairing off. Instead the movie starts with two characters hooking up, and then one of them leaves to find a new person to spend special time with and so on until we meet all ten people in the film.

The cast has some familiar faces including Justin Kirk (Weeds), Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies), Jennifer Tilly (Bride of Chucky), and Paz de la Huerta (Boardwalk Empire). But do not expect to see much of any of them because no one gets more than ten minutes of screen time in the whole movie. Which also means it is hard to invest in any of the characters because by the time you start to care about them, they are already done with their part. I even thought they may pop up Lost style in other people stories, but that rarely happens during the film.

For a movie about ten people having sex with each other, you would think it would veer into Skinamax territory, but surprisingly every time two characters start to get down to business, the screen fades to black, and picture does not come back until some post- coitus time. Do not worry, the film is not completely void of skin, you will get to see plenty of beautiful French actress Vahina Giocante, and for the ladies, you will get to see Kirk getting into a bathtub.

30 Beats is the thinking (wo)man’s softcore porn movie, but without the actual sex being shown. Sure you take out the sex and most people will not care, but if you are into arty films about the human psyche, you may enjoy the film. For those that have seen it already and are thinking about adding it to your collection, be warned the only bonus feature on the DVD is the theatrical trailer, so you will not be getting anything new out of it.


Full Disclosure Notice: This DVD was given to me by BH Impact to review.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Previewing Chicago Fire


The cast of Chicago Fire

There was a time when Rescue Me was my favorite show on television; this of course was early on before Denis Leary’s ego went out of control. So it is hard to watch Chicago Fire and not compare it to that previous firemen show. There are similarities, like how a fireman goes down on duty in the first episode, and differences, instead of Probie, the new guy is call the clunkier Candidate. The most notable difference is that the characters on Chicago Fire are significantly less interesting. There are no hot heads like Tommy, idiots like White Shaun, really, most of the characters are just pretty boys like Franco. If the show had not cast one brunette and one blonde I probably would not be able to tell the two leads apart.

Another big difference is that firehouse on Chicago Fire has an in-house Rescue Squad and EMS team, just do not ask me the difference between the Rescue Squad and the normal firefighters because I have not figured it out myself other than the Rescue Squad members seem to be slightly more egotistical. The EMS team seems to be included only to up the female quotient. But the problem is whenever I see them on screen I cannot help but thinking the previous one and done Trauma a couple seasons ago was much better. And it was odd that they made one of the lone females on the show a lesbian (the usually absurdly hot, but needs to go back to being a brunette Lauren German) which eliminates any chance of any inter-department hanky-panky.

On the bright side the always awesome Eamonn Walker (Oz) plays the chief and is his usually epic self. I really wish they would spend more time on him than the bland pretty boys. The show was also able to wrangle a local celebrity to make a cameo in the premiere. But do not get excited sports fan, it is not Mike Ditka, Michael Jordan, or even the big head of Sammy Sosa, but a local politician. If there is a reason to watch future episodes of Chicago Fire it would be my sources tell me that at some point Shiri Appleby will be showing up as German’s ex-girlfriend. Okay, maybe making German a lesbian was not the worst idea in the world.

Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 10:00 on NBC. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Chicago Fire on iTunes where you can currently download the Pilot for free.

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Previewing Nashville



Sadly some people wrote off Friday Night Lights thinking it was a show a about football, a game they just did not care for. But the show was not about football, it was family and a small town whose population just happened to gather together every Friday night to watch the town high school play football. In fact the football scenes were the least interesting part of the show. I do not bring this up in relation to the new show Nashville because Connie Britton played the great Tami Taylor on the show. I bring it up because I fear people not bother to tune into Nashville simply just because they do not like country music or even music that can described as alt-country, punk but more cerebral.

But much like Friday Night Lights is about people, some of which just happen to play football, Nashville is about the people of the town, some of which just happen to play country music. Britton plays the reigning Queen of Country on the downside of her career, think Reba Reba McEntire who has to watch a less talented Hayden Panettiere (Remember the Titans), a evil(er) version of Carrie Underwood, get more and more attention from their record label who thinks the two should co-headline a tour. Of course Hayden wants Connie’s producer, band leader and guitarist and will do whatever she can to get them.

But Nashville is not just about music, there is Powers Booth (Tombstone) plating Britton’s father , who doesn’t like the hillbilly music, but does like controlling the politics in Music City and does not mind playing dirty. This includes handpicking Britton’s husband, who lost most of his money in the economic downturn, to run against one of Connie’s good friend. Not surprisingly she does not like her husband under the wing of her estranged father that leads to a great confrontation in the first episode.

But much like the football was the least interesting part of Friday Night Lights, the new music on Nashville just is not good (full disclosure notice: I have never been much of a fan of traditional country music). Hayden is presented as a pop music crossover in the vein of Taylor Swift, but her songs in the first episode are the same bland country music that Connie sings. The background music, by Eli Young Band and Miranda Lambert is much better country music. The only “new” song on Nashville that is any good is an unreleased song by The Civil Wars. If we are lucky, the music will improve throughout the season, T-Bone Burnett, the guy who brought back the folk rock trend of the past decade by producing the O Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack, serves as the music executive producer with songs written by Elvis Costello, John Paul White of the Civil Wars and Hillary Lindsey who has written some of Carrie Underwood’s biggest hits.

But as I mentioned in the intro, the show is much more about the people. And these people like to get around and have some deep dark secrets. Just in the premiere they set up a couple of love triangles (and other polygons), bed hopping, drug use, plenty of nepotism, paternity questions, backstabbing, and Hayden show how she got so big with such minimal talent (hint, it is not just the auto-tune). Really the only thing missing is some hair pulling (you gotta save something for the rest of the season). By the end of the year Nashville may just overtake Dallas as the juiciest city in the world.

Nashville airs Wednesdays at 10:00 on ABC. You can steams recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Nashville on iTunes where you can currently download the Pilot for free.

Monday, October 08, 2012

Previewing Secret Access Week


They call it the Secret Service for a reason. Even though we are all familiar with the dudes in suits, sunglasses, and earpieces that surround the president, there are also members of the Secret Service that we never see; the counter assault team that walk among us or out of sight of everyone making sure no one is successful at harming the president of the United States of America. Tonight the National Geographic Channel takes a look at these brave men who are willing to take a bullet to preserve the nation with Secret Service Files: Protecting the President to kick off its Secret Access Week.

The special tonight looks at a couple specific instances with both President Bush’s and Clinton like when George Sr. found himself in the middle of a Panamanian riot, or when Clinton was surrounded by over two million mourning Moroccans as he and many other world leader walked in a two mile procession to bury the Moroccan president that quickly got out of hand. I was most surprised with the tale of a Georgian (of the country not the state) threw a live grenade and W. at a rally in Georgia (also the country). You would think that would have been bigger news her, but mercifully it did not go off. The series interviews secret service members who were part of each event, as well as President Clinton, explaining how they got out of these sticky situations.

Secret Access continues Tuesday with Top Secret where cameras go inside Plant 42. If you have not heard of it, you are not alone as it goes inside America’s “black world” of off the record projects, some that are so confidential some are said to not exists which include futuristic aircrafts, stealth weapons, and propulsion systems. Then Wednesday you are going to go Inside Cocaine Submarines, the latest way Colombian drug lords get their products stateside under the watchful eye of the DEA.

The on Thursday National Geographic will take you inside America’s Money Vault. Nope, not Fort Knox, actually one fourth of the world’s gold supply is underground in New York City. It is a place where it takes three people to open one door making it impossible for an employee to walk out with a gold brick. Closing out the week on Friday is American Mansion: Secrets of the Rockefeller Estate. All specials start at 8:00.