Category Archives: TV / POP CULTURE

Pittie Party

25 Tuesday Feb 2014

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Pit Bulls and Parolees
Saturday Nights on Animal Planet

Obsession.  No, I’m not talking about Tia Torres’ obsession with pit bulls; I’m talking about my obsession with her.  She’s the coolest chick on the planet, or at least Animal Planet, and undoubtedly the most unaffected person on reality TV.  You’ll jump on the pittie party yourself if you watch her show, “Pit Bulls and Parolees,” where Tia and her motley crew of devoted offspring and just-out-of-prison parolees run the largest pit bull sanctuary in the world.  There, in New Orleans, it’s all about second chances – for the pits and the ex-cons. There is no dog rescue too daunting for her, no days off, no overly-white teeth and hugs of comfort on display (sorry, Cesar).  Instead, she’s disarmingly blunt and as brash as her kooky hair color, and at the end of each show, I always feel like putting my dog in the car and driving south to the Big Easy …. not for Mardi Gras!

Walter White = Best Acting Ever

22 Saturday Feb 2014

Posted by in TV / POP CULTURE

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Jesse: “Yo bitch, Sir Anthony Hopkins digs us!  I mean you, I mean, all of us, yo!”
Walter:  “What the hell are you talking about, you idiot?”

I’m talking about my new #1 reason why people must watch “Breaking Bad”.  And for those who have, why they now must consider it the best thing on TV, ever.  Here’s why:
In the mid-80’s, I saw Anthony Hopkins in a brilliant David Hare play in London called “Pravda” and I remember walking out, thinking, “That’s the best acting I’ve ever seen!”  Almost ten years later, I saw the movie “The Remains of the Day,” and I thought, “That’s the best movie acting I’ve ever seen.”  Way to go, Sir Tony!
Well just recently, Sir Anthony Hopkins penned a fan letter to Walter White himself, Bryan Cranston, and here are some excepts:

Dear Mister Cranston.
I’ve just finished a marathon of watching “BREAKING BAD” – from episode one of the First Season – to the last eight episodes….. I have never watched anything like it. Brilliant!
Your performance as Walter White was the best acting I have seen – ever.
You and all the cast are the best actors I’ve ever seen.
Congratulations and my deepest respect. You are truly a great, great actor.
Best regards,
Tony Hopkins.

I didn’t make that up!  So by my reasoning, the man whose performances I thought were the best acting ever, thinks that Bryan Cranston’s performance in “Breaking Bad” was the best acting ever.  So, Bryan Cranston as Walter White = Best Acting Ever. (Yo.)

Trauma

08 Saturday Feb 2014

Posted by in MUSIC, TV / POP CULTURE

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Electronica with an organ riff??  Yes, please. I’ve loved this jazzy dance track for years; it’s soulful and naughty with just the right amount of funk.  Imagine my surprise, then, when I was flipping channels the other night and there it was, perfectly accenting the chilling last scene of an old “ER” episode.  Remember when cutie-pie Carter and his impressionable intern Lucy were stabbed by a mental patient?  Carter falls to the ground in pain and suddenly sees his young charge staring back at him, motionless on the floor in a puddle of blood. “Trauma, trauma, trauma…” goes the soundtrack.  Brilliant!

Lo Fidelity AllStars (Featuring Pigeonhead): Battle Flag

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http://www.allmusic.com/song/battle-flag-mt0010512225

He shoots! He scores!

17 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by in THE SPORTING LIFE, TV / POP CULTURE

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“He makes that play, and it’d be a whole different game right now,” said an ESPN anchor during a football game last night.  Then, on the local news, “If Carmelo passes rather than take the shot, we’re in overtime.”
Um, don’t mean to be a school marm or anything, but haven’t these plays taken place in the past?  Shouldn’t he have said “If he made that play…” and “If Carmelo passed … we’d be in overtime”?

I watch a lot of sports on TV and this happens all the time.  Why do sportscasters seem to get a pass on bad grammar?  Is it that they only need to appear brash and authoritative and not necessarily smart?  It reminds me of the time I moved to Spain without speaking a word of Spanish besides “Átame!” and “Hable con ella,” and a friend told me just to speak in the present tense and begin each sentence with “ayer” (yesterday) or “mañana” (tomorrow).  In other words, to take the easy way out while learning Spanish.  So should Al Michaels start his Sunday Night Football broadcast with“Ayer… “ or do I need to move back to Spain and keep living in grammar oblivion?

Hate-watching

04 Saturday Jan 2014

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Do you still watch Grey’s Anatomy but roll your eyes every time another “Life Changing!” storm hits Seattle?  How about that silly “Initiative” plot line on Revenge, yet, five bucks says you can’t give it up?  Then what you’re doing, ladies and gentlemen, is hate-watching TV.  And I do it too.  A lot.  I’m pretty sure the term was first coined in the not-too-distant past for that NBC debacle Smash, because what theater-loving TV viewer didn’t tune in to this wreck-with-the-best-intentions, only to cringe every time the kids started singing in a bowling alley or Debra Messing ran into yet another Broadway belter in Times Square?  It became more and more outrageous with each passing Monday, but still, we tuned in.  And still do.  Because it’s Bombshell on Broadway!  It’s Meredith and Derek!  It’s Emily, or is it Amanda?!  Oh god, I need a life.