What about you, PopWatchers? Are we all being too harsh, or will you be joining us on the No Thanks train?
Archive: June 2009 (361-370 of 438)
Jun 4
2009
10:22 PM ET
'The Listener': I hear 'no'
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Jun 4
2009
09:25 PM ET
Whitney Houston: Ready to give her another chance?
Jun 4
2009
08:28 PM ET
Francis Ford Coppola, may we hug you?
"What?" the writer asked.
"I saw the coming attractions for Sherlock Holmes, and at first I thought, 'What the hell is that? Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr.?' And then I watched it, and I thought it was really interesting. Have you seen the attraction for it?"
He still calls trailers "coming attractions"! You kinda want to hug him now, too, right? I love hearing veterans of the business talk about something that managed to surprise them. I just got an image of me, Coppola, a bottle of wine, and a print of Sherlock Holmes in a screening room… Wait, did I just fantasize about Francis Ford Coppola? If you want to hear more from the director, whose new film Tetro hits theaters June 11, check out the series debut of Hollywood's Best Film Directors tonight (Reelz, 8:30 p.m. ET).
Jun 4
2009
08:16 PM ET
'America's Got Talent' winner Neal E. Boyd's debut: It takes two to review it!
Slezak: Okay, Mandi…did you head over to People.com and listen to the debut single from Neal E. Boyd? Literally, he's covering "God Bless the USA."
Mandi: I did, Slezak, because I've loved that Lee Greenwood song since I participated in a scholarship program in high school and had to do a production number waving a tiny American flag to it. What did you think?
Slezak: Well, I can't comment on your group performance, though I'm sure it was legendary, but as for Mr. Boyd, um, let's just say I think the guy has essentially taken a giant cheese plate of a song and slathered it with an additional heaping portion of melted gouda. I mean, what's with the "Lite FM chorus" in the background and the total lack of driving percussion? (Actually, I'm not really being fair to the Lite FM format. It's come a long way, yo!)
Mandi: Initial reaction: Anyone who WANTS to listen "God Bless the USA" is not lactose intolerant, so pile it on… Also, the opening drums make me feel as patriotic as Paul Wylie's figure skating routine to the JFK soundtrack — which is to say very. But you are right: The drums fade and it loses all momentum. He shouldn't have "made the song his own" by employing a symphony that doesn't know when to crash a cymbal! That is the best part of this song, and it's gone!
Slezak: Oh, sorry. I was listening to the song again and I started dozing off. Also, I think I just heard a harp.
Mandi: Key change at the 2:48 marker!And at 3:04, NO CYMBAL!
Slezak: In all seriousness, though, and setting aside the fact that dude has selected one of the most brutally hammy compositions in the American songbook as his first single, I don't hear anything distinctive or interesting in the vocals or the arrangement. It's a totally "seventh inning stretch at the Triple-A baseball field" performance.(Triple-A, that's a kind of baseball league, right?)
Mandi: Um, yeah. I think you might be a bit harsh on the vocals. Would I prefer to belistening to Josh Groban right now? Yes. (Oh s—, that's in print.)But this isn't the worst vocal I've ever heard.
Slezak: No, it's not a terrible vocal, but it's dull as dry toast. And how come he always chooses a booming note over a quiet one? The only way this cover can be redeemed is if Mr. Boyd makes a video in which tiny children are shown raising flags to the sky at video's end.
Mandi: That would be a beautiful sight. From your mouth to CMT's rotation.
[Note from Mandi: In a phone chat that occurred a good 15 minutes after this IM conversation, Slezak spontaneously burst into the chorus of "God Bless the USA." Also, both of us admitted to swaying in time to the music while listening to Boyd's rendition. Could it be that the America's Got Talent champ achieved exactly what he wanted with this cover?]
Jun 4
2009
07:21 PM ET
ShePop: An ode to Gay Best Friends
After watching the clip below, I'm feeling a little bad about calling my closest homosexual male companion "my gay" with some regularity. Sorry, it's quick and simple and it makes the point…but apparently it's also totally make-funnable, I admit. (Though my gay happens to be even better at fixing stuff than giving fashion advice — take that, stereotypes!) Anyway, I'm loving "That's Gay," the new close homosexual male companion to Sarah Haskins' "Target: Women" on Current TV's infoMania … Enjoy:
What do you think? Are you over the Gay Best Friend character? Who's the best GBF on TV? I think I'd like Scotty from Brothers & Sisters to be mine.
Jun 4
2009
06:00 PM ET
Our favorite sites for summer
Could anything be better on a lazy summer afternoon than kicking back with a glass of iced tead and a baseball game on the radio? MLB.com streams the live feeds of every team’s local play-by-play guys, from the mighty New York Yankees to the hapless Washington Nationals. – Chris Nashawaty
Whether it’s Bruce Springsteen at Bonnaroo or Lily Allen at Glastonbury, the exhaustive Musicfestivaljunkies.com (pictured) has all the latest news, reviews, dates, and lineups for the season’s best fests. — Leah Greenblatt
Here’s the scoop: At Davidlebovitz.com, Paris-based food writer Lebovitz—a former pastry chef at San Francisco’s Chez Panisse—regularly dishes up delightfully imaginative recipes for homemade ice cream. (Most recent concoction: Absinthe with chocolate truffles.) Just try not to drool. — Kate Stroup
Summer always brings back memories of piling into the family car and heading out to the local drive-in for a double feature. It’s a viewing experience that’s getting harder to find each year, but the state-by-state locator at Driveinmovie.com helps steer me in the right direction. — Dan Morrissey
As the summer heats up, I want my coffee to cool down. But I hate making decisions! Ugh. Thanks, Is It Iced Coffee Weather?, for your cheeky a YES or NO, depending on the temperature in your zip code. — Margaret Lyons
Surf’s up! Or is it? If you’re looking for local or international wave reports, then paddle over to Surfline for shore updates (everywhere from Ventura, Calif to Northern Chile). Most radical of all? Some breaks even include a live web cam. — Dalton RossOkay, PopWatchers, what are your sites of summer?
Jun 4
2009
05:42 PM ET
Would you pay for Hulu?
According to Daily Finance, News Corp.'s new chief digital officer Jonathan Miller envisions a future in which at least some of the TV and movies at Hulu will be available only to subscribers. Say what?! He said this: "I don't see why over time that shouldn't happen." For PopWatch's official two-second reaction to this, press play below.
I like Hulu precisely because it's free, though I can see how some people might at some point agree to a minimal monthly or one-time subscription fee, provided it got rid of the annoying ads. (I do not want to attend the University of Phoenix and you can't make me!) But if Hulu really did start to charge, EW.com would presumably have to stop embedding Hulu's content in our blogs. Is that what you want, Hulu? Is it? Actually, it's probably what our international readers want. We know some of you can't view Hulu on PopWatch, so we try to embed from the networks or YouTube whenever we can. So if you're Canadian, just ignore that useless rectangle above. It's nothing.
Is Hulu's freeness its main appeal, P-Dubs? If you suddenly had to pay for it, would you be more likely to find/download what you want somewhere else?
Jun 4
2009
05:11 PM ET
'Sex and the City' bomb scare: Write your own zinger!
Samantha: "I've been known to get excited about a suspicious package myself, but I draw the line at dialing 911!"
Badum-bum! Okay, folks, it's your turn. Head down to the comments section and come up with your own best SATC quip. I'm betting (or at least hoping) you can beat my punch line.
Jun 4
2009
04:31 PM ET
Jonas Brothers' mom: 'They are men. They have desires.'
The Jonas Brothers and their mother, Denise, grace the cover of Good Housekeeping's July issue, and in the article, Denise says things that make us cringe almost as much as we do anytime Joe Simpson speaks. Though to her credit, her message is one of unconditional love and not her offspring's cup size.
Speaking about her sons' chastity vows, Denise tells the magazine, "They are men. They have desires. They have testosterone. If they make a mistake, I'm not going to hate them." Mortifying for Kevin, Joe, and Kevin to read, we imagine, but nice to know that they can talk to their mother about anything. She continued, "I don't think they are above or below being seduced. I would be foolish if I thought that. They are tested and tested, like every one of us. I pray for them."
She's totally witnessed women girls trying to seduce her sons, right? Do you think she shares those stories with Good Housekeeping? 'Cause that is an article I would read.*
P.S. How old do I feel now that a woman whose teen idol was Kristy McNichol is on the cover of Good Housekeeping?!
* I would also read a piece on how Joe Jonas got such great thighs.
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