On Tuesday, January 8th at 5:00 AM, David Bowie, on what was his 66th birthday, gave his fans around the world an unprecedented gift by suddenly releasing a single, with an accompanying video and new photograph, on his web site and for immediate download purchase on iTunes.
The song was simply added without any notifications or press releases.
As I saw the video and listened to the song, with those incredible, familiar sounding chords, I knew that, for myself, 2013 was already off to a great beginning. For here was never expected new music from one of my top 5 favorite artists that I have revered since I was an inquisitive little child staring at the strange alien-like being depicted on the American LP cover for his Space Oddity album.
Presented was this fantastic surprise that is truly one the best kept secrets to ever have been tucked away by any legendary mega-selling. hugely influential musical performer long thought to be retired and finished with making music.
Especially in this era of instant reporting, gossip leaks and everyone as a news photographer with their cell phone cameras, it is all the more remarkable that Bowie, who had last released a studio album of new recordings ten years ago with his album Reality, was able to record undetected over what is now said to be the last two years in New York City.
On his web site appeared a single called "Where Are We Now?" and a video for the song that was directed by past Bowie collaborator, New York multimedia artist, Tony Oursler. There was also a link to purchase the song or pre-purchase the forthcoming album entitled The Next Day on iTunes.
What?! A new album with track listings and a release date too!
Back when I could afford to go out to eat, I could usually be found at my local dive Mexican restaurant with a pile of nachos in front of me and a pitcher of margaritas beside me (those were lush times I tell you). But those days are long gone now that the economy has tanked and my supplemental income from writing highly-detailed anal sex porn stories has, no pun intended, dried up.
So now, when I want a plate of nachos, it's store brand tortilla chips microwaved with Cheez Whiz complete with a side of depression.
But you know what? Maybe I should cheer up and learn something about my favorite food stuff that will increase my enjoyment of it if I ever get to a place where I can finally afford the food of the gods again. Read more »
We need to talk about Edith. She really is the Jan Brady of Downton Abbey, the forgotten middle child desperate to shine and desperate for love and affection; but as always, the cards seem stacked against her. She gets little-to-no respect from her family and friends, is vexed at every turn by her glamorous sisters’ far more glamorous trials and tribulations, and when it comes to love, she has enough bad luck to fill several Lifetime TV movies.
She even has her own absurd (but hilarious) Tumblr, “Edith With Googly Eyes.” Poor girl can’t even get a break in the twenty-first century!
Or even get married to the war-rattled older man with the gimpy hand, it seems. In the course of the series so far we have seen her lose cousin Patrick in the sinking of the Titanic, Sir Anthony Strallan the first time as part of Mary’s payback, the kindly farmer John Drake, the horrifically scarred but perhaps alive cousin Patrick, and now Sir Anthony Strallan again, this time at the altar. Oh Edith, our hearts truly bleed for you; you really don’t deserve the gargantuanly bad luck at love you seem to be cursed with.
After the Great War there were few eligible young men for England’s ladies to choose from, especially after the enormous death toll and serious injuries suffered that left more than a small minority unable to have a proper romantic life. So it’s no wonder that Edith clings to Sir Anthony with a fervor that would make even Jane Austen uncomfortable; the sad fact is, the men of England are not exactly queuing up for her outside of Downton’s elaborate front doors. It just adds insult to injury that poor Edith really can’t manage to even make it - literally - to the actual altar without things turning to shit.
But if there is one thing in Edith’s favor, it is that she is a survivor.
She has known great depths of pain, and out of this pain has come a strength and resiliency that will certainly aid her not only in the immediate heartbreaking aftermath of another failed relationship, but in the years to come as England shifts inexorably toward a more modern and less traditional way of life. In his fantastic article in a recent issue of New York magazine, Matt Zoller Seitz makes an illuminating comment that can be applied to Lady Edith as well as the rest of the Downton clan, upstairs and below. “On some level, every line in Downton Abbey is about accepting hard reality and adapting accordingly, to bend without breaking,” he writes. “Every conflict between characters and their institutions, beliefs, or traditions always comes back to the same basic question: Should we continue doing things as always and hope for the best, or should we be pragmatic and change as much as we’re able?” If Lady Edith is anything, she is pragmatic, able to bend without breaking, or at least so far.
I think there will be a happy ending to Edith’s story; she is too plucky and has too much drive to go down without a fight. She is hardly unattractive, but compared to her stunning older and younger sisters, she is less gifted than would seem genetically possible, or fair. But she has brains and a fire in her belly (and she’s the only Downton female who can drive a car or a tractor!), and if anyone can channel that into something productive, Lady Edith can.
It's Sunday, January 13th, and its time for the first award show of the year, THE 2013 GOLDEN GLOBES! It's the 70th Anniversary!
That's right, The People's Choice Awards DO NOT COUNT because that bullshit is a total set up. Come on, you guys know that they ONLY INVITE THE WINNERS so they guarantee them showing up, right? Well, now you know.
Anyway, I refused to watch the 18,000 hours of pre-game crap on E! And I JUST turned in the NBC "Arrivals" special, with 30 minutes to go. I got sucked into a "Mental Head Games" L&O SVUmarathon on USA Network, which is tough to turn away from.
Okay, so here's Matt Lauer interviewing Richard Gere…was he in a movie last year? Oh, Al Roker is talking to Adele! Damn he's so short! She looks GREAT in a custom Burberry dress, 50's chic!
Whether the comics are inspiring or disappointing, I read them all.
Welcome to The Pull List.
And, as always...Spoilers ahead!
Star Wars #1 Writer: Brian Wood Art: Carlos D’Anda Colors: Gabe Eltaeb Cover: Alex Ross Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $2.99
Dark Horse has published a cornucopia of Star Wars comics since 1991, covering an array of time periods. From the “Dawn of the Jedi” to 100 years after the Battle of Endor, and everything in between, nothing has been out of bounds as some of the most creative minds in the business have brought their talents to this beloved franchise.
Brian Wood’s midas touch produces some of the best books in the game today and his turn with the pen on Star Wars is simply comic book nirvana. Nothing else has occurred other than “New Hope.”
It's two months after the “Battle of Yavin" and the Rebel Alliance is in desperate need of a new base while the Empire is hot on their trail.
Various writers have put their own spin on various aspects of this space opera, but Wood’s interpretation impeccably nails the true essence of these classic characters. Luke Skywalker is still a Jedi in progress, while Princess Leia is a woman of action, and Han Solo is a credit grubbing scoundrel with a heart of gold.
Did you ever want to be a fly on the wall when the Emperor chews out Darth Vader due to the Death Star’s destruction? We finally get the chance to witness this key event for the first time. While Leia is the symbolic leader of the alliance, we are reminded that Mon Mothma is it's actual leader making the crucial decisions and tough choices.
The expertise in which Carlos D’Anda draws his illustrations makes you feel you are watching Episode 4.5. The dialog and page layouts help in this endeavor, but it’s the imagery that truly brings this feeling home. The coloring of Gabe Eltaeb is aces as the reflective light of a blue planet glistens off the glass of an X-Wing’s during it's voyage in the outer rim. A close up of a Star Destroyer suddenly dropping out of hyperspace as Tie fighters quickly emerge from its docking bays gave the adventure a sense of danger you don’t experience too often while reading a comic book.
The detail in everything from the characters, to the vehicles, to the weapons and the uniforms… everything was impressive, to say the least. The depiction of Chewbacca’s face kind of makes him look like an older Wookiee. Darth Vader’s presentation will strike fear in the hearts of any Jedi. His leaner and more muscular build topped off with a modern styling given to Ralph McQuarrie’s early design of Vader’s helmet gives the Sith Lord more of a menacing presence.
It is hard for me not to be romantic about Star Wars when a comic book like this comes along. This theater of imagination was executed to perfection in every aspect of it's being. The reader is in the unique position of knowing the characters' fates before they do. While various prequels give us that experience, Wood's makes that knowledge mean even more. This is one of the best comic books I’ve ever read. I read it five times because I wanted to keep experiencing the adventure that took place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
I love when you come into the office the day after an Awards show and everyone wants to ask "what did you think of them?" Or being "that guy" in the office that sees every movie and watches his fair share of television, I get the question more than others in the office. So, for this morning I typed up the following recap of last night's Golden Globe awards to both catch anyone up that missed it, and give them my own special personal opinion on the matter.
When Run D.M.C's video It's Tricky debuted on MTV it encompassed two very important love affairs I had back in 1986: Hip-Hop and Penn and Teller (okay, so that's three but whatever).
As a suburban white girl who toted around a huge Sony Walkman loaded with a mixtape of Raising Hell by Run D.M.C, Licensed to Ill by The Beastie Boys and Hot, Cool, Vicious by Salt 'n'Pepa (and who also had a thing for tall magicians with a seriously fabulous pseudo-mullet- Hello Penn) this combination proved highly masturbatory and led to a series of love poems written in a pink diary about Jam Master Jay and the silent Lothario Teller that will forever be hidden away from a public who couldn't appreciate the depth of my adolescent longing.
But alas, those days of innocent hard-core crushes are long gone and now I am left with only a video and the nostalgic pang of desire so fierce that I can almost smell the Love's Baby Soft fragrance that scented those times back when crimped hair was the height of fashion.
As a Jewish person living in 2013, there are very few things that cause distress amongst the community. I don't keep Kosher, which means I mix milk and meat, I eat shellfish and bacon (which is so amazing, it almost becomes a question of theology) and I don't rest on the Sabbath. Then again, I don't expect married women to wear wigs or expect them to dip in a communal bath after menstrating (bonus points: that same bath is used to purify untensils received by a gentile). But I have committed a bold atrocity.
I have never seen Schindler's List.
Keep in mind. I've bought it previously on both video and DVD. And I'm going to pick it up again on Blu-ray. The film is supposed to be phenomenal. So why haven't I watched it? I have a feeling it's going to be a bit depressing and to be honest, I've never felt, I'm too happy today, what could I watch to totally depress me? Wait -- I know...
Check out the press release after the jump and let me know if you want to watch it together after it comes out. I'll bring the purified utensils...
Up first, though, we have The Last Stand, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first starring role in a decade. As with the new Die Hard, the trailer didn’t leave me panting for more, but I still held out some hope as I walked into the sneak preview recently.
Well, let’s keep our fingers crossed that Sly and Bruce fare better. Graced with a good, pulpy premise and a strong supporting cast, including Luis Guzman, Forest Whitaker, Eduardo Noriega and John Patrick Amedori, The Last Stand winds up being barely passable entertainment, even with a responsive crowd. Still, it’s not without its (meager) pleasures.
Arnie plays a retired LAPD Narcotics officer who left the excitement of Los Angeles to play sheriff in a tiny Arizona border town where nothing ever happens. Of course, the sleepiness of the town is about to be disrupted by the nefarious plans of a ruthless drug kingpin, who has escaped the clutches of the FBI and is headed for Mexico.
The villain has a small army of vicious thugs who consistently embarrass (and murder) FBI agents and cops. How can Arnie and his small band of deputies be any match for them?!
Well, as luck would have it, Johnny Knoxville is the local goofball/gun nut who happens to have a huge, illegal (and ludicrous) assault weapons arsenal. Whatever your politics, it’s a little disconcerting to see an unhinged good guy character caressing and obsessing over his massive handguns and assault rifles so soon after Sandy Hook. I know it’s a little unfair, as the film was made long before the shootings and is aping the attitudes of the Eighties-era shoot-em-ups that I loved as a teen (many of which I still love). Still, it left a bad taste.
Batman has his batarang, Rocky Balboa has his glove and me? Well I have a sock full of nickels underneath my pillow, but unfortunately, Moxy Creative House did not design a print featuring MY weapon of choice (which is kinda disappointing since I wield it like a frakking ninja). But they did include a few dudes whose iconic doo-dads are just as famous as they are (who would Darth Vader be without his lightsaber?).
Personally, I think the prints would look quite lovely grouped together on a living room wall where they can be appreciated by all who entered your abode...of course, a wall dedicated to weapons of death and destruction could be construed as a sign that a lunatic resides there, but that is simply a chance one has to take to live with great art. Read more »
Love him or hate him, there’s one thing no one can deny about Brian Michael Bendis—the man was responsible for the complete overhaul of The Avengers at Marvel.
He took a mid level selling title, shook it up with Disassembled, added unconventional members like Luke Cage, Spider-Man, and Wolverine, and turned it into a massive franchise that can support multiple titles a month on a regular basis for the first time in its illustrious history.
And without his assistance in transforming The Avengers into the commercial powerhouse they became, it’s doubtful Marvel would have had the balls to go all in with their cinematic projects as they did.
He turned Luke Cage from a C-Lister to a leader of the Avengers. Sweet Christmas, indeed.
But after more than half a decade, the Avengers (and New Avengers) are being written by someone other than Bendis and he’s taking a crack at the first mainstream monthly X-Book of his career. Sure, he had a run on Ultimate X-Men, but this is Marvel 616, the real deal.
Back in elementary school when you were starting to form yourself into an actual human being, there came a time when an old man or lady entered your classroom, wheeling in a cart filled with bacteria-soaked musical instruments that no one in their right mind would ever want to play: the recorder, the triangle, and a desk-sized xylophone.
From these beginnings you were introduced to the world of making music- albeit, bad music- and it is during these "music" classes where you would be forced to spend the next few years of your scholastic life playing epic renditions of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Jingle Bells until the sight of one of these torture devices would turn your soul cold (or, until you discovered the drums or guitar...whichever came first)
But sometimes, even from these humble beginnings and lack of good instruments, a phoenix will rise and turn a boring school performance (of what I believe is When We Were Young by Fun) into a moment of such epic proportions that you can only look upon it with glazed eyes.
For this, my friends, is how one should play the xylophone. Read more »
When I reflexively opted for 1988 as the focus of this Round Number Anniversary Edition retrospective, it was under the likely mistaken notion that things such as movies, books and songs are considered classics once they endure twenty-five years. Or is it twenty? Thirty? I’m not sure about the consensus, but twenty-five years seemed about right to me.Though it had not immediately occurred to me while I browsed the titles released in 1988, that year marks the pivotal point in my life when I first began writing movie reviews for my college newspaper.
The job of a movie critic entails a juicy perk: the privilege of getting to see free sneak previews of films, often days—sometimes weeks, occasionally months—before general release. This afforded me an endless opportunity to devour as much cinema—all the popcorn, all the crap and all the FILM—as I could digest.
I saw a lot of movies. Everything I was invited to.
Reviewing the 1988 roster of major studio and independent releases, I remembered many titles as amusing or guilty pleasures which doubtlessly appeared on my VHS shelf at one time or another. I was further struck by how many others I had seen but completely forgotten about—once viewed, never rented or seen again. But there were, as expected and hoped for, several strong genre-defining films that truly stand the test of time and remain relevant twenty-five years later.
I'll be honest with you, I'm not a huge fan of Girls. Maybe it's because I'm about to turn 39 years-old and can no longer enjoy things in life due to the high amount of cynicism and artery plaque build up that is slowly destroying my once vibrant body...I don't know.
But I do like the possibility of people being murdered in their shower stalls so, yeah, this version of Lena Dunham's Girls might actually do it for me.
The year was 1994. The eight-year-old version of T.J Martinez was a diehard professional wrestling fan. I was all about everything WWF. Posters, action figures, toy championship belts and video games would supplement my weekly commitment of watching every match on every Saturday morning recap show, programs in syndication, and Monday Night Raw. I even had my parents buy me a copy of WWF Magazine every single month. I had to have my hands on every thing WWF and that unfortunately leads us to this week’s column.
Pro wrestling would not be the same without music. Many wrestlers or sports entertainers, whatever you want to call them, would not be who they are without their theme songs. There’s nothing like hearing “Real American” and watching the immortal Hulk Hogan run in to save the day, or the glass shatter and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin comes in ready to open a can of whoop ass. It adds to the excitement and brings the characters portrayed in the ring a little bit more to life. I think we all wish we could have a theme song play whenever we enter a room. The President gets “Hail to the Chief.” Closers in baseball, notably the Yankees’ Mariano Rivera with “Enter Sandman,” get pumped with their music and the crowd’s roar to shut the opponent’s door at a baseball game. So the eight-year-old me assumed (and you know what happens when you assume) that the 1993 WWF music release, Wrestlemania: The Album would be an incredible musical experience. It sure was an experience.
To sum it up quickly and as less-painfully as I can, Wrestlemania: The Album is not a collection of wrestler theme songs. Whether I thought it was before getting it from my parents, I’m not so sure. That part of the story is a bit foggy. But it is a collection of songs inspired by and actually “performed” by WWF superstars. Performed, in parentheses, because a lot of the songs are just instrumentals with the wrestlers talking over them or sound bites from broadcasts spliced in.
"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, The Nasty Boys, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, The Undertaker (!!), "Macho Man" Randy Savage (!!!), Tatanka, Mr. Perfect and The Big Boss Man all lend their angelic voices to the cause. I can’t believe that someone, in the building formerly known as Titan Tower in Stanford, Connecticut, thought this would be a good idea. I guess they were thinking, at the very least, to make some money and strike while the iron was relatively hot. They got me hooked for a while. I would listen to the album on the Walkman which I would take with me everywhere. I remember our family was out west in the summer of 1994, taking a trip from Seattle to Nevada. I remember my uncle letting me play the tape in the car he rented as we partook in this journey. We’re cool now, he and I, but I wonder to this day whether he ever resented me for this? I also remember being at my godmother’s house for a family party. I was playing this tape and one of the other kids, an older one by a few years, was making fun of me for listening to Wrestlemania: The Album. He kind of burst my bubble, brought a touch of cynicism to my ears, and I started to realize the album was indeed crap.
So, 18 years later, here I am telling you about this crap, song by song.
In a world where I can't afford a large coffee at McDonald's, someone has gone ahead and created a gold-dipped pill filled with 24-karat gold so mankind can crap precious metals (why haven't the Kardashians started shilling this product yet?).
And, even more of a bitch slap to my financial maladies, is that one pill will set you back a whopping $425...ONE PILL! $425! Read more »
Last night the new season of Being Human premiered on the Syfy Channel. I love this show. I think the concept is great and I love the characters. The premise is built around the a vampire and a werewolf who share a haunted apartment with a ghost. Although the series takes a lot of liberties with the traditional supernatural mythology, it's easy to dismiss, as the great execution of each episode makes me continue to come back for more.
When last season left off, Sally (the ghost) was in Limbo, Aiden (the vampire) had been buried alive as punishment, and Josh (the werewolf) and Nora, his girlfriend (believe it or not, also a werewolf), were in the woods in a fight for their lives with Ray, the hillbilly sire-werewolf.
In one of the opening scenes we see Nora at a table with a supposed medium. We don't know who she's trying to contact. She starts to call Josh's name, and we wonder "What happened to Josh?!" Well, Josh is right around the corner, being bored and irritated as usual. We soon find the reason for Josh's current angst is because this is the umpteenth psychic the two have seen in the last year on a quest to find Sally and Aiden.
Would you like to see Iron Man enter the Grand Theft Auto World and just destroy everything in his path (including innocent food cart workers) with repulsor beams and a lack of morals that only Tony Stark could justify?
Season 2.5 of Suits premieres this Thursday night at 10 on USA Network which means you have just enough time to tear through all 22 episodes online, On Demand or on Hulu!
And to celebrate, we're giving away a Suits prize package ($100 value) containing:
Suits Custom Messenger Bag
Suits Season One DVD
Suits Character 6 piece Magnet Set
Suits T-Shirt Set
Suits Can Opener
To enter, please send an email with the subject header "SUITS" to geekcontest @ gmail dotcom and answer the following question:
Suits co-star Gabriel Macht has appeared in two films based on comic books. What are they?
Please include your name and address (U.S. Residents only. You must be 18 years old).
Only one entry per person and a winner will be chosen at random.
Contest ends at 11:59 PM EST on February 3rd, 2013.
On Tuesday, January 8th at 5:00 AM, David Bowie, on what was his 66th birthday, gave his fans around the world an unprecedented gift by suddenly releasing a single, with an accompanying video and new photograph, on his web site and for immediate download purchase on iTunes.
