Marvel comics produce two sorts of movies: entertaining/ingenious ones, such as X-Men 2 or Hulk, and crappy ones, like all the rest. With a clunky script, awful special effects and wooden acting, X-Men Origins: Wolverine belongs solidly in the second category. (more…)
Tonight’s episode was Faraday’s time to step into the spotlight, and what we got was a very entertaining, very satisfying episode of Lost. Spoilers and more below.
Give it up for the best and most authentic show about firefighters since…well, ever. (more…)
5) Matt
4) Allison
3) Adam
2) Kris
1) Danny
(more…)
I think you definitely should. (more…)
Just as the series finale answered the question “what if someone crossed Battlestar Galactica with Lost?” this direct to DVD movie (soon to be a pilot) answers “What if BSG was crossed with Dallas and the Sopranos?”
(some small spoilers below the fold).
This edition of “Name These Tunes” has songs that reference photography in their lyrics or their song titles. There are clips from 17 songs. Have fun.
Used to be “The Wire.” But now it’s “Breaking Bad.” (more…)
Now that everyone with an internet connection has seen her performance on Britain’s Got Talent at least once, and Susan Boyle has begun her stateside media tour, there’s an emerging meme that maybe she’s not all that she seemed. Reports are flooding in: she lied about never being kissed! She was caught wearing a leather jacket! She’s started trimming her eyebrows!
The subtext—and, in some cases, the text—of these reports is that there may be a backlash coming if her fans feel they’ve been snookered. I’d like to go on the record now that if it turns out Susan Boyle knew what she was doing all along, my admiration for her will increase exponentially: she goes from being a dowdy-looking English Scottish** villager with a good singing voice to a dowdy-looking English Scottish villager with a good singing voice and an amazing ability to exploit pop-culture media expectations. The latter is much more interesting and, yes, even admirable.
Go back and watch that clip again and see Simon Cowell’s reaction. If you look into his cold, dark eyes, you can see him figuring it out. There are very few people more media savvy than Simon, and he knows something’s up. That doesn’t stop him, of course, from giving Boyle a standing ovation—maybe that’s why he gave her one.
**Edited to account for my typical American ignorance of British sensitivities.
7) Lil Rounds
6) Matt
5) Anoop
4) Danny
3) Adam
2) Allison
1) Kris
(more…)
If I do say so myself.
Steve said I should plug it here, but I don’t know what to say about it other than I have a new boyfriend. And he’s spectacular!
http://flatliberace.strangepulse.com
So come check out the adventures of Flat Liberace, if you like. And watch for some special appearances by Flat Fergie eventually, too.
Taking advantage of the relatively slow news day here:
Manfesto Demo: Improved 3D from InsightVR on Vimeo.
(more…)
This edition of “Name These Tunes” has songs that contain the word “baby” in their lyrics or their song titles. There are 14 13 songs. Have fun.
At last, the long-awaited and highly anticipated (by me, anyway) Miles-centric episode.
Spoilers from tonight’s episode after the break.
7) Anoop
6) Matt
5) Lil Rounds
4) Allison
3) Danny
2) Adam
1) Kris
This was a good week all around. Now that Scott is gone we can start to get serious. I have Anoop being last, but it was still a pretty decent performance. Matt once again sounded very good, but he is just not dynamic enough to be memorable. Lil Rounds always sounds good but she is still suffering. Allison was stellar, but still doesn’t crack the top three. Danny was as good as always, though I wonder if he’s started to sound the same, like he’s doing the same kinds of songs. And I could have gone either way on Adam and Kris, but I think Kris wins because he performed a song I absolutely love. Adam chose a difficult song and he made it rad. That dude is just a great entertainer. The surprise of the night was Quentin Tarantino actually having intelligent things to say to the singers. Very odd.
Band of Skulls is a new 3-piece british band that has recently released its debut album, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey. You can listen to the whole album on their website. This band is getting a lot of attention right out of the gate and for good reason. Bassist/vocalist Emma Richardson looks and sounds like a young Chrissy Hynde (but hotter). Guitarist/vocalist Russell Marsden sounds like a cross between Caleb Followill and Jack White (but hotter). Drummer Matt Hayward is intense without being overwhelming (but he’s not quite so hot). This is definitely a new band you will want to check out and will keep listening to for a long time to come. They are going to be huge (remember, you heard it here first).
I’m blogging-friends with a couple of sisters, both of whom comment here—gabby and shazbraz—and they inadvertently got me thinking about people’s musical universes. They’re both into 80s music, having been teens in the 80s, but I think they’re slightly younger than I am, so their 80s music is not quite my 80s music. It’s been weird for me to discover all these bands that they know of from the 80s that I never heard of, or can’t remember. It’s like we lived in parallel music universes back then.
I have really diverse taste in music these days. I really do like basically anything, and I hesitate to ever say I don’t like something, because I know from experience that if I spend enough time on music I don’t initially get or like, I’ll grow to appreciate it. It’s always puzzled me that other people don’t like some music. But we all live in our own musical universes. What shaped yours?
Ben, the Smoke Monster and more island adventures. What’s not to love?
Spoilers from tonight’s episode below.
8 ) Scott
7) Kris
6) Lil Rounds
5) Danny
4) Anoop
3) Matt
2) Allison
1) Adam
(more…)
Addressing the crowd for the first time in the evening, Robyn Hitchcock announced that he would be playing “all old songs, or songs that sound like they are old.” Playing to a mostly older crowd, with a band (the Venus 3) made up of veteran musicians, including Peter Buck (REM), Scott McCaughey (The Young Fresh Fellows, The Minus 5) and Bill Rieflin (formerly of Ministry), it would have been easy for the show to slip into nostalgia, like one of those Vegas-and-State-Fair acts composed of one surviving member of a Motown band, plus others. Perhaps partly because Hitchcock’s music can’t be pegged to any one time period—it’s equal parts ’60s British Invasion psychedelia, ’80s new wave and a guitar-driven surrealism that sounds timeless—nothing about the show seemed dated. Instead, the show was vibrant, energetic and satisfying, though it could have been longer and I wouldn’t have complained.
(more…)
Loading ...
