Archive: February 2009 (241-250 of 448)

Feb 13 2009 01:00 PM ET

Jeff Probst blogs 'Survivor: Tocantins': episode 1

Jeffprobst2_l_2Mark my words. Survivor: Tocantins will go down as one of your favorite Survivor seasons. I know I’ve said that about other seasons in the past and check the records, haven’t I usually been right? Some seasons I’m not sure how the audience will react, so I say nothing, but when I’m sure, I scream it.

This is me screaming: YES! YES! YES! Say it with me. YES! YES! YES! Yes is my new favorite word. Life is so much more fun when you just let go of your fears and say ”YES” to whatever. Don’t believe me? Try it. Today, just say ”YES” to everything that comes your way. Let me know how it goes.

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Feb 13 2009 01:00 PM ET

Site of the Day: The 'Blog' of 'Unnecessary' Quotation Marks

Categories: Site of the Day

Quotemarksblog_lAfter perusing the hilarious "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks, I think it’s safe to say many of us never paid attention in elementary school. Grammar is (usually) never anybody’s favorite subject, and I know I’m not the only one who tuned out whenever topics like prepositional phrases and conjunctions were discussed. But, let’s be serious: Quotation marks are not confusing. Or, at least they shouldn’t be. Right?!

Blogger Bethany Keeley asks contributors to send pictures of people abusing and musing quotation marks, and oftentimes her snarky descriptors are just as funny as the pictures themselves. The posts range from the ironic (a 2007 post welcoming "President" George W. Bush), to the downright confusing (like the post that’s pictured.) There’s just so many things wrong with that "sentence," I don’t even know where to start. (Oh, see what I did there?)

What say you, PopWatchers? Are you guilty of any of these quote crimes? And what’s your favorite post on the blog? Don’t be afraid to "share" share.

Feb 13 2009 11:00 AM ET

Quote of the Day: 'Saturday the 14th' Edition

"Well, if you don’t trust me after 311 years of marriage…" –Waldemar (Jeffrey Tambor) in Saturday the 14th

Feb 13 2009 02:18 AM ET

'Survivor: Tocantins' premiere: Jeff Probst does the Twist!

Sandyburgin_lCagey Jeff Probst was at it again in the premiere of Survivor: Tocantins, throwing a twist at the contestants a scant five minutes into the game. The episode also featured a naked Mormon, random thoughts on Vikings, and a 53-year-old woman fondling her own boobs. The official EW recap will be up just after midnight eastern time, but for those of you jonesing to find out the 18th winner of the Sonja Christopher First Survivor Voted Out award, all will be revealed after the jump…(SPOILER ALERT!)

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Feb 13 2009 01:07 AM ET

Black Keys, Hold Steady, former Drive-By Truckers members go solo

Categories: Music

Below you will find a video of Black Keys singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and his uncle, James Quine, playing the first song off Auerbach’s just-released solo debut, Keep It Hid. That record — which in many (awesome) ways sounds suspiciously like a Black Keys record — is just one in a triumvirate of indie-rocker solo projects that are rotating through my CD player at the moment; I’ve also been spinning the eccentric Major General from mustachioed Hold Steady keyboardist Franz Nicolay, and the advance of former Drive-By Trucker Jason Isbell‘s eponymously-titled effort with his new band, The 400 Unit, which comes out next week.

Anyone out there in PopWatch land already digging these dudes? What are some of your favorite solo projects through history (holla, Into the Wild soundtrack)? And do you mind the moonlighting, or would you rather everyone — well, except Isbell, who I am learning to accept may never be coming back — just focus on their primary band objectives?

                                                  

More on Drive-By Truckers, Black Keys, Hold Steady:
On the Scene: Drive-By Truckers and the Hold Steady in L.A.
Austin City Limits report: FNL’s Jesse Plemons on the Black Keys
Bonnaroo Q&A: The Hold Steady
Review: Jason Isbell’s Sirens of the Ditch

Feb 13 2009 12:03 AM ET

'American Idol' contestant Nick/Norman Gentle: Not the one we want; probably the one we deserve

Categories: American Idol

Nickmitchellnorman_lI’m just gonna come out and say it: I am happy the American Idol judges put shiny-shirt-n-shorts creature Nick/Norman through to the Top 36. Because you know he’s just a sweet, shy kid (pictured, out of character) who dreamed up that persona while he was completely loaded one night, and his buddies were like, "DUDE YOU SHOULD SO TRY AND GET ON AMERICAN IDOL HEH HEH HEH [bong hit]," and so he did. And he pulled it off. And it wasn’t even that hard to pull it off, because the Idol producers love drama, and they love watching us out here in Teevee Land get all indignant about how they’re ruining the integrity of the "singing competition," when it was never really a "singing competition" with any integrity in the first place. We should all stop kidding ourselves. Nick/Norman has shown us the light, and done so brilliantly. It would be Andy Kaufman-esque were it not for his willingness to drop the shtick and turn into a wadded-up Kleenex for the producers every time they turn the confessional cameras on. So as much as I have a girl-crush on Ann Marie Boskovich, I hope Nick/Norman wins now. I hope VoteForTheWorst gets behind him and he wins the whole damn thing. Because when it comes to manufactured personalities who have no business being on the show, if given my druthers, I would rather support the man who’s coming at it from some weird, unfunny, inexplicable yet creative performance art perspective than the girl *cough*Tatiana*cough* who’s trying so hard to be what she thinks other people want that she’s lost herself entirely.

Note: the above-stated opinion is probably irrelevant, since my mother has a better chance of making the Top 12 than either of these people…right? What do you think, PopWatchers?

Feb 12 2009 11:15 PM ET

Joaquin Phoenix just one of many bizarre Letterman guests

Categories: Television

So Joaquin Phoenix last night? With the weirdness? And the mumbling? It was definitely bizarre and uncomfortable, but it’s far from the first time someone’s put on nine pairs of crazypants for his or her Letterman appearance. If anything, it’s something of a tradition, and Phoenix’s performance isn’t even the mumbliest, grimiest, or just plain strangest of the bunch.

You want weird? Crispin Glover will give you weird.

Hey, don’t worry that Joaquin seemed a little spaced out. Compared how Farrah Fawcet seemed on her ill-fated appearance, he was the world’s most focused, lucid human.

Harmony Korine was definitely less coherent then Phoenix, though Dave’s dad-like irritation at insolence is in full force. Remember, kids, if you’re going on Letterman, put on a suit and dont chew gum.

I don’t think I’d really call that a classic so much as a personal pick. Actual classics, including the It’s-Obvious-But-I-Have-To-Mention-It Madonna Meltdown after the jump….

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Feb 12 2009 10:47 PM ET

Robert Pattinson is following us...

Categories: Tech, Twilight

Robertpattinson_l…on Twitter, that is. OMG! Okay, maybe it’s not THE Robert Pattinson, but whoever it is tweeting as FakerPattz is close enough to the real thing, if not better (he even writes back!). Recent tweets include:

"Day 127 of not washing my hair."

"I love showing up at Twilight premiers. Now if onlyhot girls my age would throw me panties instead of scary Twimoms."

It turns out Rob Pattinson is all over the Twittersphere: A quick search turned up a slew of streams, many by folks claiming to be the pastey-faced thesp, but most content to offer minute-by-minute updates of breaking Rob news. All are required reading for Twihards. Here are some of our favorites:

Rob_Pattinson turned us onto the Twilight Makeover Game, which allows young girls (and underemployed adults) to cut and style Rob’s hair, change his clothes and apply tasteful amounts of foundation, mascara, and lipstick.

RobPattzNews features links to paparazzi shots, gossip, and even EW’s excerpt from Catherine Hardwicke’s Twilight diary.

By the way, are you following PopWatch on Twitter yet? Get on it. We’re friends with Rob Pattinson.

Feb 12 2009 10:39 PM ET

Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger: Good or bad for fans?

Categories: Deals, Music

Ticketmasterlivenation_lThe first and biggest question about the proposed Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger is whether it will even happen. The Justice Department said this week that it’s opening a probe to see whether the two music-industry giants would be creating an illegal monopoly if they join forces. (Live Nation is the world’s biggest concert promoter, Ticketmaster runs the event ticketing game, and the companies already have their hands in a few other areas of showbiz, too.) It’s unclear just how that will shake out. But even if the government ends up okaying the merger, there’s another important question in the air: How will this move affect you, the ticket-buying, concert-attending consumer?

It’s impossible to answer that question definitively unless and until the merger actually happens. Personally, though, I’m pretty skeptical of anything that involves centralizing corporate control over an entire field of business this way. Executives from the two companies did their best to persuade fans that they’re on our side in an L.A. Times story today: “We’re not looking to gouge the public with higher ticket prices,” said Ticketmaster honcho Irving Azoff, while Live Nation head Michael Rapino promised, “In my business, the cheaper the ticket price the better.” That’s all well and good, as long as Azoff and Rapino keep to their word — which we have no way of knowing that they will.

Am I being too cynical here? Maybe. But that Times story is long on rhetorical arguments (Rapino: “If we don’t do something, where will the innovation come from?”) and very short on concrete ideas about how this merger could actually help fans. And given the shenanigans that my friends and I experienced when we tried to buy tickets to Bruce Springsteen’s tour last week, I guess I’m not in the mood to extend a whole lot of benefit of the doubt toward these companies. How about you? Are you wary of the Ticketmaster/Live Nation deal, or do you think it could be the start of something great for live music fans? Or do you even care?

More on live music:
Reader’s Choice: The Concert Bucket List
2008 Flashback: Top 10 Priciest Concerts
Madonna was 2008′s top music money-maker. Surprised?

Feb 12 2009 09:47 PM ET

'Street Fighter' movie: Where's Ryu and Ken?!

Chunli2_lWait, there’s a Chun-Li movie? Like, Chun-Li from Street Fighter? Considering how much Street Fighter II I played on Sega Genesis — so much, you guys — I kinda expected someone from Capcom to call me. Personally. And thank me first for my thousands of hours of dedication, and then apologize for not making a Sagat movie first, even though Sagat is obviously the best character to play as, and then we could talk about why Blanka and E. Honda are basically the same, and someone could explain to me why anyone would ever play as Balrog, and wow, do I still have some strong feelings about SFII. Anyway, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li opens Feb. 27.

Smallville‘s Kristin Kreuk (pictured) stars as our lightning-kicking heroine, and the film is, roughly, the story of how she came to battle M. Bison (Neal McDonough) and his evil minions. Balrog (Michael Clark Duncan, which…amazing) and Vega (Black Eyed Pea Taboo) are both in it, but, gasp, no Ryu and no Ken. (No Dhalsim and no Sagat, either, so I’m going to have to hope yoga fire and tiger up-per-cut are in the sequel.) The full trailer is aqui, and while it looks to be your pretty basic martial arts action movie, it has gotten me thinking about other secondary videogame characters I’d like to see in full-length features. Toad, Yoshi, it’s time to call your agents.

What other videogame characters have been overlooked by Hollywood?

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