OK. So I’ve been reading all the reviews at various places like AICN. I’m scared. I really, really want the new Indiana Jones movie to be good. I don’t want it to be like the Star Wars prequels. It’s a fantastic summer for movies. (Iron Man, Batman, etc.) But Indiana Jones just holds a special place in my heart. Last Crusade was a bit of a disappointment to me. Not bad, but just lacking something… It just didn’t place it straight somehow. The way the first one did.
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You gotta have it, after all.
Spoilers below the fold.
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Well, I finally managed to get my TV hooked up to an HD DVR (thank you, Verizon), so expect the quality of my posts to increase proportionally. In all seriousness, it’s easier to catch the small details this way.

This episode had everything the last one lacked. And, you know, I didn’t miss Jack and Kate much at all.

Spoilers about tonight’s episode below the fold.

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OK. New list. Albums that have been out for some time that you just now discovered and love.
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Have you ever voted for a contestant?

Which show, which contestant, and how (phone, text, online)?

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1) David Archuleta
2) Syesha Mercado
3) David Cook
4) Jason Castro

Numbers 1 and 4 were easy to rank tonight, it was a toss-up for me between Syesha and David Cook. Archuleta just sounded very good. I would be interested to see the result numbers but I imagine he has at least a 20% lead over the next competitor. The fans just love that kid and of the remaining contestants he seems like the right fit for an American Idol winner, he’ll do the most with it. Syesha sounded pretty good though it was pretty awkward for me when she started the spinning and moving, it just seemed really cheesy. David’s first song sounded terrible, but I attribute that to what it sounded like the band’s volume wasn’t turned up (or on) so he was completely overpowering the song. He didn’t seem like he was interested in either one of the songs though. It makes me wonder if he’s trying to lose because for his music genre it would possibly be a curse to win the show. And then there was Jason Castro. I didn’t think he sounded as bad as the judges were making it out to be, but he was definitely the worst tonight. And when he forgot his lines was AWESOME!! My wife and I were cracking up, it was so funny. But like Susan has said, I don’t think he really cares at this point.

Who would you say?

First, some guidelines:
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As we left the theater, my wife said to me that Paranoid Park is a film about the moments that other films pass over. As usual, she’s on to something. (more…)

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This weekend I picked up Grand Theft Auto IV. My wife wasn’t super excited about the idea so I asked her why and she said because it’s so violent. I asked her why punching someone on the street and stealing their car was more violent than shooting someone in the back of the head. She said because it’s in the context of battle and defense and something about WMD’s and that’s when she started to laugh at the absurdity of the issue and said that the one just felt more violent than the other. (more…)

 Last night was the Elbow/Air Traffic show at the Depot in SLC.  I can’t begin to tell you how incredibly amazing this show was (Oh, Ok, I’ll try).   (more…)

Jon Favreau’s Iron Man belongs in the pantheon of great superhero movies along with Spider-Man 2 and Batman Begins. It doesn’t talk down to its audience, it respects the fanboys and includes strong performances. What more do you need to know? (more…)

Spoilers below the fold: (more…)

Maybe someone can explain to me what the episode’s title means, because I’m not feeling it. For whatever reason (and not just Bai Ling), I’ve never cared a lot for Jack-centric episodes, and this one was no exception. But it’s still LOST, so it’s still the best thing on TV, even if it was something of a let down from last week.

Spoilers from tonight’s episode and more after the jump.

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In this week’s AI post, MCQ said he doesn’t get my negativity towards David Cook. I decided to write a long, self-indulgent post to answer him rather than just reply in a comment. (And I’ll probably insult most everyone’s music tastes in the process. Bear with me. This should be fun.)

I don’t have anything against David Cook personally. Do I think he can sing? Yes. Does he have stage presence? Yes. Is he talented? For sure. He’s also an example everything that’s wrong with today’s rock music.

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I put an old mix cd on in my car and a live acoustic version of “Everlong” was on it. I really love some of the Foo Fighter’s songs, I think Dave Grohl is a really talented songwriter. He’s able to do that thing I love—make songs that are both energetic and melancholy at the same time.

But they’ve never been a band that I listen to very much. Besides one of their early albums that got a lot of play at an old workplace, I don’t think I’ve ever sat through an entire album. (That early one was really good, though.) I love certain songs, though—and although most of them got grossly overplayed, I’ve never gotten sick of them.

My very favorite is one that wasn’t a hit, I don’t think—”Stacked Actors.” It’s the angriest song I know by them. (If anyone knows of any other songs they have like this, please fill me in.) I’ll post it to the radio.blog.

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1) David Cook
2) Brooke White
3) David Archuleta
4) Syesha Mercado
5) Jason Castro

This was a weird show. It’s nice to have more than just one song to judge them on but this was too rushed. There wasn’t an obvious winner and I only put Cook at the top spot because neither of his performances were that bad. Brooke’s first performance was bad but her second one was really, really good. That’s her element and where she thrives. Archuleta’s first wasn’t terrible but America was terrible and I can’t believe the judges were saying it was good. That song is way too much for him. Syesha was pretty good, but neither performance was great. And I think it’s time for Jason Castro to go. He’s not doing anything interesting, all he’s doing is just standing there singing (I know that’s the point, but I just don’t think he does it particularly well).

1) Tetris
2) Minesweeper
3) Bejewelled
4) Snood
5) Hexic

Runners up: Dr. Mario, Welltris

So here we go. Spoiler and all that below the fold.
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I’m going to apologize up front for the poor quality of tonight’s LOST post. Script Frenzy is sucking up all my free time and energy. Rather than neglect LOST entirely, I’ve decided to just do a half-arsed job. So there you go. Spoilers and such about tonight’s episode after the break.

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Some of my fondest memories of my childhood involve staying up late with my father and playing Space Invaders on our Atari 2600. For some reason, Dad loved that game. We figured out the cheat where if you held down the reset button while you powered up the console, the game would give you double missiles. But when we weren’t playing Space Invaders, we were usually watching really bad movies on late-night television. As we sat there, we’d mock the shows we were watching and die laughing. To us, alone, late at night, it was hilarious. Years later, when I first saw “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” I knew immediately what was going on. The show captured the mood of our experience exactly, along with a goofy sci-fi premise. The show was both legitimately hilarious, no matter what time of day you watched it, and about ten times more clever than expected. Random, often obscure, pop-culture references were peppered throughout. It was immediately familiar and yet unlike anything I had seen before. I loved it.

So when I recently had the chance to interview the creators of MST3000, who have revived their shtick for a project called Cinematic Titanic, which will be released in individual episodes on DVD and direct downloads, I jumped at the chance.

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You know, I go to a lot of shows, and I take videoclips at almost all of them. And I upload those clips to youtube. I have quite a collection going—over 150 live band clips. My camera somehow does really well with the ultra loud sound at shows. It doesn’t come out all distorted like a lot of live footage you see on youtube.

What’s funny is what my most viewed clips are.
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1) Brian’s Song
2) Beaches
3) The Passion of the Christ
4) Old Yeller
5) Terms of Endearment

Runners up: Steel Magnolias, My Life, Fried Green Tomatoes, Where the Red Fern Grows, Sophie’s Choice, Bambi

1) Syesha Mercado
2) David Archuleta
3) David Cook
4) Brooke White
5) Carly Smithson
6) Jason Castro

Now is when it’s starts to get tricky. This round definitely goes to Syesha. This is her element and she was really, really good. David gets second only because he’s a good singer, not because he’s a good performer. David Cook was alright, though a bit forgettable. I thought Brooke’s performance was actually pretty good but she gets docked for her mess-up at the beginning. Carly isn’t impressing anymore and Jason who is usually good was dreadful.