BLUE MAG

Summer is usually the time of year for reruns and not much else. Since the networks started selling shows on DVD or making them available for downloading (off the interweb or whatever) there has been less of a demand (if there ever was such a thing) for seeing shows a second time around. Now we have a glut of new shows running exclusively during the summer to keep us drooling monsters happy until of fall season of bliss returns. Anyway here’s what I’ve been watching: Continue reading Summer TV

My favorite tidbit in the announcement yesterday from NBC about new web initiatives it is undertaking is “NBC Fantasy Talent Scout”:

Participants can build their own talent roster from three online agencies featuring characters from all NBC shows. By actively playing a subset of their roster each week, users will earn points and enter for a weekly cash prize, as well as a quarterly top prize of $100,000. Each character has an assigned phrase or action, and if the characters do or say this action or phrase - players earn points. For example, if a user has chosen Michael Scott (Steve Carell, “The Office”) in their active roster and in that week’s episode he says “That’s what she said!,” they earn points.

As sad as it might be to admit, I have always wanted a “fantasy TV” game and although this is strictly NBC, hey, it’s something.

I’m going to do this before the nominations come out on Thursday, because TV is all about my hopes and dreams, so I want to compare who I hope will win the Emmy statuettes with the sad reality of who will actually probably maybe win. Although I am a terrible predicter of these things so we’ll see how it goes.

Continue reading Emmy hopes and reality

We’re midway through the summer season of blockbuster extravaganzas so here’s a brief recap of what has spilled across the silver screen and into my brain. Summer is usually about these huge big budget spectacles but I’ve thrown a couple of smaller films in there just to spice it up. Continue reading Summer Movies: Part One

Fred’s list, like the man himself, was admirable and accessible. As I am regrettable and prickly, here’s my list of great new music (conflicts of interest aside):

*Frog Eyes: Their new one, Tears of the Valedictorian is a flat out brain-melter. Allow me to quote myself for more detail.

*Thee More Shallows: After moving from beloved Bay Area label Turn Records to indie hip hop mainstay Anticon, they turned in another blistering creep-out with Book of Bad Breaks.

*Mermaid Blonde: The Decemberists make lovely, lilting music about the sea and that’s all well and good. Mermaid Blonde churn out dark, hopeless sea shantys for sailors knowlingly about to perish into the murky void. If I ever finished it (couldn’t get past the LONG technical middle), I might say that Mermaid Blonde sounds like Moby Dick (the novel, not the drum solo).

*Minmae: again, allow me to quote myself for more detail.

*Count Dracula’s Weed Smuggling Jam Engine: the only begotten son of the Doors and Will Farrell’s Neil Diamond impersonation. Someone painted a dragon on your bed…