5 Spins Around the Record Shop – This Week in Music

Here are the top five pieces of important musical information I feel you need to know:

1. Jack White’s debut solo album:

Blunderbuss, is #1 on the Billboard Top 200 albums, and deservedly so. I have been a fan of Jack White since… well… since I can remember. In my opinion, although there are those who disagree, this is his best work. I think that Blunderbuss is exactly what Jack White has always wanted to do, and he is showing a large amount of confidence and an insane amount of talent.Everything Jack White touches seems to turn to gold. I am glad to see he is getting recognition for his work. I will be attending his concert on May 24th. I will definitely let you know how that goes.

2. Andre 3000 to Play Jimi Hendrix

According to Rolling Stone, Andre 3000 from Outkast will be starring as Jimi Hendrix in an upcoming biopic. All Is By My Side is currently in pre-production and is being filmed  in Ireland. The film will be about Hendrix in 1966 & 1967. The film will be Written and directed by John Ridley.

3. NO DOUBT’s New Album

No Doubt, one of my personal favorite bands, has a new album dropping this fall! According to the Hollywood Reporter, September 25th is the magical day! This will be No Doubt’s first album since 2001. After Gwen Stefani’s God-awful solo career, I can only hope she will not have much creative input for this CD.

4. 6 year old LMFAO Fan Suspended…for Sexual Harassment

“I’m Sexy and I Know It”. Pure poetry. The LMFAO song is all over the radio, TV, and the internet. Fun fact, there is a Sesame Street parody that my little nieces love! Is the title lyric alright to say in school, though? According to Guyism, a six-year-old little boy was suspended from school for quoting the tune. The Colorado boy D’Avonte Meadows was in the lunch line at school when he said “I’m sexy and I know it” to a girl in line, which according to the school is an unwelcome sexual advance. Should this little boy be looked at like a perverted monster if he is simply repeating what he heard? Do they think that he even knows what it means? The moral of the story is, if you are going to say you are sexy, take the stick out of your principal’s ass first.

5. Rihanna on SNL

And finally, so unimportant you are probably asking yourself why it is on the music news page, current pop slut Rihanna was recently the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. Her elaborate set involved a giant-ass spider-web and lasers. Is she a good enough artist to demand lasers? Regardless, here is a photo:

That’s it for this week’s music news. Join me next week for more melodic shenanigans.

NBC Thursday Nights Might Get Shorter, Possibly Less Funny

NBC really loves to do the short seasons so much that perhaps the only saving grace to everyone’s critical and cult hero yet ratings challenged darlings on Thursday nights might be the route they choose.

According to Deadline via WarmingGlow, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, and Community are in the running to get shorter seasons with 30 Rock leading the way with 13-14 episodes for the smaller and most likely final season. Alec Baldwin has been very vocal about this being his final season and some of the episodes have gotten stale in the last few years in my opinion. However, just like with Chuck, they appear ready to send the show off the right way instead of letting it fade out into the night with no resolution like Alf (seriously, most random end to a series because Alf is basically screwed at the end, go watch it).

Also on the short season path could be P-Rex (what the cool kids call it) and Community. However, the shorter 13 episode season seems to be more likely for P-Rex [Ed. Note – No one calls it that] as opposed to Community. They are saying the chances for Community still run at 50-50 so we shall wait until the NBC Upfronts happen and the mass panic about people’s favorite show that no one watches reaches the boiling point. All I have to say is that if they bring back P-Rex, that’s cool but it’s time to shut The Office down. Used to love the show, now it’s just buried in my DVR for the last 8 episodes. I cannot defend that show anymore. Steve Carrell, we miss you.

I can’t let the post end on a bad note though, Whitney is probably going to be put out of its misery. Rejoice in that I guess.

HBO’s Game of Thrones: 206 – “The Old Gods and the New”

Last night HBO gave us another excellent episode of what is arguably the best show they’ve ever produced. And that comes from someone who was a huge fan of both The Sopranos and Deadwood.

We opened on the taking of Winterfell, or rather the ‘just been took’,  by the young Prince Theon Greyjoy, who – like several other characters on the show – is quite obviously in over his head. What started as a ploy to win over his father, the taking of the defenseless castle where he was raised, quickly turns into unwanted bloodshed and the botched execution of the very man who trained him – Rodrik Cassel. This ham handed ordeal takes place right in front of everyone, and it’s something the youngest Stark boys aren’t likely to forget anytime soon. This was a real turning point for Theon, who in all likelihood will fail to win the respect of his father before Rob Stark kills him. After this, and under the cover of night, Bran and Rickon leave Winterfell with Hodar and Osha, and accompanied by each of their dire wolves. What more protection can you ask for?

The Stark girls are having an equally terrible time. Arya, still the cup barrier for Tywin Lannister (The evil dude from Last Action Hero), is proving herself smarter than your average slave and reluctantly engages in conversation with the Lannister patriarch. At one point he asks her about her father, and eventually what killed him. Her answer…

Brilliant. How can you not love this girl? But then something potentially terrible happens. Lord Petyr Baelish comes to meet with Tywin and recognizes the missing Stark girl. Baelish, not one to show his hand easily sits on the information and allows Arya to continue her ruse.  This however makes Arya jumpy and reckless, and with no idea how long she can stay hidden in plain sight, she decides to do her part and aid the war effort. She steals a letter off of Tywins table, information for Rob, and in her panic she runs right into Ser Amory Lorch, a man who can seal her fate. Lucky for her she has a 2 man balance still owed to her by Jaqen H’ghar and she cashes in one of them before Lorch can report back to Tywin. Narrowly escaping the reveal she so desperately needs to avoid.

As for Sansa, she’s worse off yet this week. What starts as pure joy for the audience…

…quickly becomes a riot with no shortage of limbs being torn off and Joffrey cementing his own fate. The backlash however sees young Lady Stark chased down an alley as several men who I can only assume smell terrible, attempt to steal away her virtue. That is until the hounds arrives…

And where is the good King while his dog rescues his betrothed wife (the only member of the Stark family that actually wanted to come to King’s Landing)? While be scolding by his uncle of course…

Tyrion attempts to explain to his Nephew/King the repercussions of letting Sansa die, and what that would mean for Jamie, who remains Rob Stark’s prisoner. Joffrey remains unconvinced he is not untouchable…despite getting slapped all the time. The kid just don’t learn.

As for Ned Stark’s other 2 sons, the hero and the bastard, things were less terrible than usual this week. Jon Snow is north of the wall, and his refusal to slay a woman has him stranded with her his prisoner. She seems none to upset about it either…

So while Jon Snow is spurning the advancements of a girl who seems far too attractive to be a wildling, brother Rob is getting straight up cock-blocked by Mama Stark.


So while the troubles of the older Stark kids range far and wide from aggressive attempted rape, passive aggressive rape, and cock blocking Mom, the younger siblings are left to handle the consequences of a war they are not even directly involved in, except for use as pawns.

Across the narrow sea however, the Mother of Dragons is having issues of her own. After the 13 have almost all rejected her request for ships, something more sinister happens. She returns to her lodging to find her people slain and her dragons taken.


It would seem as thought the creepy warlock dude from last week is behind these crimes, and will surely have to answer to Daenerys before all is said and done. Right? Ah, who knows. This is Game of Thrones, and worse acts have gone unpunished before.

Overall, the episode was great. Theon taking Winterfell, Osha getting naked, The Hound disemboweling rapists, Joffrey getting hit. Repeatedly. I can’t wait for next week. 4.5/5 Bears. 


GB Assemble! Let’s Talk ‘The Avengers’

The Avengers is a box office smash, having shattered records with a $200 million opening weekend. So when it came time for us to review The Avengers, we realized that pretty much every staff member and their dog (and Michelle’s cat Pepper Potts) had something to say about the film. So it only made sense that we provide a forum for us all to share our thoughts. Of course not all our thoughts were entirely positive. But most of them were. I also enlisted a few friends of the site to get their opinion on this monumental movie. Let’s get to it.

Dr. Kronner:

Well, after years in the making, my childhood imagination was finally given life this weekend with Marvel’s release of The Avengers. Writer/Director Joss Whedon took what was given to him from the previous 5 movies (Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger) and showed us that in this case, the sum is greater than the parts. With huge potential to epically fail from a creative standpoint (ala X3, Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Daredevil, Iron Man 2) as many people were concerned that it was just too many characters to gel together, The Avengers proved the to be Marvel Studios best film yet. And after the early vocal concerns about Mr. Buffy – Joss Whedon directing, it would seem he was actually the perfect man for the job. There was enough of a comic book feel to appease the readers, while remaining accessible enough not to lose the average movie goer.

The movie itself provided perhaps the best ever use of the Hulk on-screen, as it’s obvious that he works better in a supporting role than carrying a movie himself. And his interactions with Thor were immensely enjoyable. Mark Ruffalo I thought was also the most enjoyable Bruce Banner we’ve seen, at least since Bill Bixby on the 70’s TV show anyway. The scenes with Stark and Banner nerding it up while Thor and Cap struggled to follow along just felt right.

Overall, Loki made a solid villain, even if we are never really clear what his powers are, and the last 30 minutes of the movie were non-stop awesome. The humor was well-timed, and while things started a little slow, the payoff was well worth the wait. I’ve gone twice already and I loved it both times.

MY FAVORITE PARTS (Possible Spoilers)
– Thor Headbutting Iron Man
Hulk vs. Loki
– Stark and Banner in the Lab
– Hawkeye shooting Loki out of the air

– Cap stopping the Thor/Iron Man fight.

Avengers Shirt

SupaScoot:

I’ve never been happier to be a nerd. I’ve been a fan of The Avengers since I was old enough to read, and like many fans never imagined I would ever get a chance to see the team on the big screen. Then the Iron Man  post-credit scene opened the door and the little fanboy inside of me rejoiced. The Road to the Avengers was a long one, and we witnessed some great entries and some not-so-great entries, but they were all leading to what I now consider my Holy Grail. All they needed was the right director to put it all together. And they found him.

Whedon delivered a breathtakingly awesome portrayal of some of my favorite characters. I was practically near tears at a few moments throughout the movie, and my emotional roller-coaster didn’t stop until well after the final scene of the film.  While it started off a little slow, I never felt that the exploration of the characters bogged the movie down at all, and it all led nicely to the ridiculously action packed third act of the film. As a comic fan, I was overjoyed to see a little more development of Black Widow’s character, as well as probably the best Bruce Banner I’ve ever seen. Kudos goes out to Mark Ruffalo for absolutely nailing it. The Big 3 (Thor, Cap, Iron Man) were very consistent with their characterizations and were enjoyable, but what really stood out for me were some of the supporting cast. Obviously Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye (Agent Barton as he is most commonly referred to) was a high point of the movie for me, but I really enjoyed Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson and Cobie Smulder’s Agent Hill.  I left the theater feeling more satisfied then I have at any summer blockbuster I can remember, and that feeling continued even after I saw it a second time.

I don’t even know If I can look forward to future movies. The Avengers might have just spoiled me as a movie lover. The Dark What? Who’s Batman?

MichelleLynn61:

Although I knew that The Avengers would be a star-studded, explosion-fest, I had very low expectations. After some pretty bad Marvel blunders (Spider-man 3, where Peter Parker looks like he is a member of Fall Out Boy, and “Ghost Rider” which had an equally terrible sequel) I was terrified for what they might do with this film. After seeing The Avengers, I would say this movie not only exceeded my expectations greatly, but it is the most fun I have had at the movies in… well… since I can remember. Aside from the teenagers clapping every time Tony Stark said something, The Avengers was an amazing movie experience.


One of my favorite parts is when Thor shows up. The three-way battle between Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor was absolutely amazing. Also, there’s Loki catching Hawkeye’s exploding arrow. However, of my favorite parts, I would have to say that the most hilarious was when Hulk treated Loki like a rag-doll. “Puny God!” There has got to be a way to get a GIF of that (Check the link above in Dr. Kronner’s piece). When I left the movie theater, my face literally hurt from smiling. I am very pleased with this film. Joss Whedon- I love you.

The Wozz:

The Avengers is a project that isn’t meant to work in Hollywood: Four different movie franchises culminating into one team-up action blockbuster. It’s a concept that would essentially read as fan fiction were it not already an established concept in source material. The amount of scheduling, policing, planning and communication that has to go down just to make it happen is astounding. Having it succeed would be nothing short of superhuman.

Enter the seventh Avenger, Joss Whedon, whose penchant for writing characters has earned him an almost mythical reputation in the Nerdscape. Whedon has an uncanny ability to isolate the most interesting elements of his characters and bounce them off one other, and that’s just what he does here. The fact that superheroes by nature have such bold, highly concentrated personalities makes every line of dialogue crackle with electricity, and every character arc feel attended to. This is the foundation of The Avengers success. We’ve seen countless action movies crumble under the weight of too many characters, or a convoluted script.  The Avengers manages to tie everything down and keep the story grounded.

I could go on and try to summarize The Avengers experience for you, but I could never say it better than Patton Oswalt did on Twitter:

joey123mo:

Despite keeping my expectations low for this film, The Avengers is, from its first scene, underwhelming in every way. With a script littered with excuses for a plot, and an exposition that lasts far too long, The Avengers doesn’t only take a few pages from the Transformers: Dark of the Moon Handbook; it steals the handbook and uses every page. Mark Ruffalo is fantastic and the Hulk keeps the film grounded in some realm of human emotion, but The Avengers is too busy setting up for yet another Marvel movie to take a minute and reflect on how far it’s already come. Furthermore, The Avengers is just proof that Loki needs a hug.

Fister Roboto of LeftHandHorror:

Nerds everywhere owe Joss Whedon an enormous ‘thank you’. Not only has he satisfied critics and hardcore comic fans with his adaptation, but he’s given the film a soul as well. Every scene smacks of his signature witty and snarky dialogue; a welcome element to a team of super serious heroes. If the film felt effortless and organic to you, we can once again thank Joss for turning his love of The Avengers comic into a passionately well-crafted film. The Avengers is everything we’ve ever wanted in a comic book movie. Packed with action, great banter, citywide property destruction, mesmerizing special effects and a rampaging Hulk on the loose – The Avengers cements Whedon into geek infamy forever. This film is a true rarity of success and substance.

Christopher Brown of ModernBro:

Two words: HOLY. SH*T.

Avengers could possibly be the best comic book movie of all time. Not only did they achieve exactly what the fans wanted, but they did it with style, humor, and a boatload of action. For a two and a half hour movie, it flew by, never dragging or lagging, always entertaining and always faithful to the characters’ characterizations. Everything about this movie was great, in my opinion, and each character had his or her charm and appeal (though Hawkeye and Black Widow seemed a bit flatter than the rest of the characters). Without spoiling anything, I think that The Hulk flat out stole the show with some of the most amusingly badass – and flat out hilarious – scenes. I’ve got a definite new found respect for The Hulk as he was done RIGHT in this movie.

This one’s definitely being added to the collection, and I can’t wait to compare The Dark Knight Rises to it. It’s going to be extremely difficult for anyone – including Marvel – to top this…and yet, the extra scene after the credits makes a BOLD promise that they intend to try. And for that, Marvel, I salute you with a good old fashioned Stan Lee “Excelsior!”

Tim of Tim’s Film Reviews

Joss Whedon you beautiful man you. Well he has done what many thought would be impossible creating a film with six superheroes without it being a total mess. The film is not only not bad but in my opinion pretty damn perfect. By perfect I mean I honestly don’t have any complaints, no stupid stuff, no boring scenes, it’s just a great action film.The characters are surprisingly well performed by the cast and were written as being more human than any of their own films have portrayed before (especially Bruce Banner).

The avenger’s first contact with each other certainly was kept true to the characters created in the films and comics meaning there was plenty of clashes involving all the heroes.There are a few things Joss Whedon does very well and you see two of them a lot in this film, the first would be brilliant character development meaning in this film that each of the characters in this massive film had their own screen time without one being more important than any other(even lesser characters got their time on the screen). The second is making smaller film sets get packed with massive stories and characters which looks and works great (action scenes within flying fortress, fight between Iron man and Thor within the woods), he obviously feels more comfortable on smaller sets because of his work on TV and lower budget films but he knows how to make these look just as good as in the open landscape scenes. This film is great for anyone to watch and I hope it does as well as it deserves.

So a pretty resounding success for Marvel Studios and the cast of the film. I guarantee you that as the numbers were rolling in for the opening weekend Keven Feige and Co. were spinning out new movie ideas left and right. Which is a good thing in my eyes.

So what does everybody else think? Let us know your thoughts on the movie in the comments section below!

Chris Meloni and Scott Foley Join the Cast of True Blood!

Summer time is right around the corner, and so is the premier of the 5th season of HBO’s True Blood.  We’ve covered some of what we know about season five, let’s get caught up to speed on the rest of what we can expect!

Continue reading Chris Meloni and Scott Foley Join the Cast of True Blood!

‘End of Watch’ Trailer Gives Cops the Shaky Cam Movie We’ve All Been Asking For

Shaky cam!!!

Jake Gyllenhaal is back on our radar with a new cop movie (Co-Starring Michael Peña, who is awesome in general by the way). It is a story told through dash cams, eyewitness phones and cameras, yada, yada, yada. It is supposed to be gritty and organic and realistic. Reality television, only not as corny right? I mean, it looks okay to be honest. As long as it does not come off as gimmicky as it sounds, it could be a good movie.

Plus is that Anna Kendrick? I’d watch a movie with her that’s not Twilight. And Natalie Martinez from Detroit 187? Yeah, I watch that, I need my Detective Sanchez fix.

End of Watch, Anna Kendrick, Natalie Martinez

Too bad they had to be like “from the writer of The Fast and the Furious.” Because that was possibly the worst dialogue for a movie not released direct to DVD. – “I smell…skanks. Why don’t you girls pack it up before I leave tread marks on your face.”

You know what’s worse than that line? Having Michelle Rodriguez deliver it. So yeah…we’ll see about this movie.