2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Nominees
September 24, 2008 by Danny
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced the 9 induction nominees for 2009:
Jeff Beck
Chic
Wanda Jackson
Little Anthony and the Imperials
Metallica
Run-D.M.C.
the Stooges
War
Bobby Womack
Only 5 of these artists will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in January 2009. The museum (known by its cooler name ‘Hall of Fame’) sends out 500 nomination ballots and determines who will be inducted. My 5 choices? Well, the first would be rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson who has only recently received the attention she deserves for her role in ’50s rock and roll. Next would be the Stooges, who have been nominated SEVEN times — i believe it’s time for them to take their rightful spot in the Hall of Fame. Le Freak c’est Chic, and let’s give disco its deserved place in the music canon. Not this year for Metallica, they just released a new album last week and they’ve got plenty more years to accomplish things — I say, save the induction for an artist that actually needs archiving in a museum. Say for instance, Run-D.M.C. or Little Anthony and the Imperials.
Creative Arts Emmy Awards 2008: Recap
September 19, 2008 by Danny
Last weekend the Creative Arts Emmy Award show was held in Los Angeles. The Creative Arts Emmy differs from the Primetime Emmy Awards because it “recognizes technical and other similar achievements in American television programming. They are commonly awarded to behind-the-scenes personnel such as art directors, costumer designers, cinematographers, casting directors and sound editors.” These shows are usually untelevised (highlights from the show will air September 20th on E!) and recognize all the people that actually make a television show what it is.Nevertheless, HBO cleaned up with 8 Creative Arts Emmy awards last night with the series John Adams - where Paul Giamatti plays the 2nd US President in this historical drama.
Other noteables include Cynthia Nixon earning an Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Janis Donovan, a woman pretending to have multiple personality disorder in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Mad Men walked away with Outstanding Main Title Design, while Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List won the Outstanding Reality Program award for the second year in a row. The super inspiring documentary Autism: the Musical, follows a group of young kids with autism in Los Angeles as they produce their own musical play won Outstanding Nonfiction Special.
A Pirate’s Life for ME!
September 19, 2008 by Bob
Ahoy me gentlemen o’ fortune and beauties,
Today be the 7th year since Dave Barry speak of the ‘International Talk Like a Pirate Day’ celebrated each year in September. Well, shiver me timbers, but TODAY is that day. Take out ye olde Jolly Rogers and booty of pirate things and celebrate this day in style.
First, ye start with the films: Pirates of the Caribbean on Blu-ray, and then there is The Ultimate Pirate Collection. Don’t forget Real Pirates of the Caribbean and Pirate Cinema Classics.
Aye! Maybe ye don’t have a DVD player aboard yer ship. Well me matey, there are plenty of books to entertain. The new book Pirate Life will help you get in touch with yer inner pirate, and The Pirate Primer looks at pirate talk, syntax and all!
Me favorite is Pirate Tattoos - these are temporary pirate designs perfect for yer one day a yaaaaaaar (read: year) that ye can be a pirate. Don’t know what to do? Check out The Great Pirate Activity Book for ideas on how to be a swashbucklin’ pirate.
Re-design yer ship using Stencil Pirates a book including tips and actual stencils on pirate art. And listen to music from the Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy while yer gettin’ in the spirit of ITLAPD (Int’l Talk Like a Pirate Day).
Yo ho ho me mateys, it’s time for me to walk thee plank.
Emmy Awards 2008: Part I
September 13, 2008 by Romy
The Emmy’s are coming! Are you ready? Have you been making a list of winners and checking it twice in anticipation for this year’s awards? Or is it just me…?
I’ve decided that over the next couple of days I’ll blog about the nominees and BOLD and italicize my predicted winners. Anyone who dareth oppose my choice is welcome to comment, write-in or simply disagree.
Outstanding Drama Series
Boston Legal, House and Lost are all nominated for their forth seasons. I’m not going to give detailed show synopses (I mean, if you don’t know already - where have you been for the last 4 years?!) but suffice it to say Boston Legal “follows the personal and professional lives of attorneys” living in Boston, House is about cranky-genius Dr. House who diagnoses random diseases based on few facts and Lost is about dramatic and bizarre lives of people stranded on a mysterious island in the Pacific. Dexter (played by Michael C. Hall, of Six Feet Under yet another TV series about death) is an orphaned sociopath who loves to kill - don’t worry, he only kills the deserved. Mad Men is the critically acclaimed series about 1960s New York Madison Ave. ad-execs and is the only ‘historical’ television show nominated. Man Men is also the only series nominated this year for its first season.
Outstanding Comedy Series
This category is a little tougher to predict than Outstanding Drama. Like OD, there are three series nominated for their fourth seasons: Entourage, The Office and Two and Half Men. 30 Rock, Tina Fey’s series about comedy writers won last year for its first seasona and it’s unlikely it will receive the same attention this year. Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm is nominated for its 6th season, but it remains to be seen whether this season will actually earn an outstanding comedy award. Two and Half Men, Charlie Sheen’s sitcom loosely following an About a Boy plot (read: bachelor’s life is interrupted when domesticity moves in) is up against too many other strong comedic shows to win an award. Steve Carell and cast in the fourth season of The Office remain as hilarious as ever, but it seems that Entourage was the series most talked about this year. HBO’s Entourage is the series following the life of an actor and his friends making it big in Hollywood. Jeremy Piven has received a Golden Globe and 2 Emmys for his role as the egocentric Ari Gold, but the series itself has yet to be recognized.
The Final Countdown: Breaking Dawn Is Nearly Here
July 29, 2008 by Danny
Less than one week from now, you may hear a very loud and collective sigh of relief. Fans of the Twilight novel series will finally stop holding their breaths waiting for the fourth installment of this popular vampire-romance young adult fiction written by Stephenie Meyer. Breaking Dawn will be released August 2, 2008.
Recap: the previous three books have focused on protagonist Isabella (known as Bella) as she falls in love with a curious and mysterious young boy named Edward, who just happens to be a vampire. Don’t be scared: Edward is a new-wave vampire, he only drinks animal blood, not human. In the first book, Twilight, Bella and Edward start to develop their relationship amidst growing tension from other vampire clans.
The second novel in the series, New Moon, introduces the new and loveable character of Jacob Black, who was born a werewolf. Bella befriends Jacob and they become instant BFFs. More romantic drama with Edward, and more of the good stuff. I don’t want to give too much away.
Number three – Eclipse. Bella finds out that you can’t date a vampire and be BFFs with a werewolf – apart from popular belief. Not only are these books fun to read, they’re full of useful tips. I know now to never invite my vampire friends and werewolf friends to the same party! Stephenie Meyer was really looking out for me there! Anyway, Bella has to choose between her vampire lover and werewolf friend - I’m not going to tell you who she chose – but let’s just say the other person is reeeally upset.
AND NOW! The New Upcoming Release: Breaking Dawn
What to expect? It’s hard to say. One thing is for sure: the book will be a lot of fun to read. Meyer has been pretty tight-lipped about the latest installment, but we do know that the first chapter is entitled “Engagement” AKA somebody’s getting married!!
The coolest part of this series is that Stephenie Meyer’s includes playlists to go along with while you’re reading the series. Isn’t that dreamy!? Some of the artists in the playlists include: Muse, My Chemical Romance, Coldplay, Armor for Sleep and Travis, to name just a few.
