Saturday, June 21, 2008

Catch THE SLIP

While I'm not an industrial music fan, when I heard that Nine Inch Nails was giving away its latest album The Slip online, I had to try it out.

I listened to it yesterday, and I had to say I liked it more than I thought I would. I really liked track #2 "1,000,000". And while the rest wasn't completely my cup of tea, it was pretty good.

I've read a couple of reviews of the album, and most of them agreed this was the best NIN album since Downward Spiral. I listened to (most of) Downward yesterday as well, and I have to say Slip is the clear winner between the two. Take that for what it's worth (again-- I'm not an industrial fan, and I have very little knowledge of it), but it's what I've got to say about it.

So check it out. I like that NIN let us download the entire album instead of giving us a listen through MySpace or YouTube or whatever. My computer speakers are adequate, but I have to say, being able to get the album into iTunes and then burning it to CD to listen to through the Bose stereo in my car allowed me to have about the best way to listen to it.

Sure, there was probably a purpose for the "stunt": giving people who would never have tried their music a chance because of the price, but it's also a really cool thank you to fans who have bought previous album, and would have plunked down their money for this one. So hat's off to the band for doing it.

Like I said, it's being given away. There isn't even a "if you feel guilty, you can give us a few bucks" button. It's absolutely free. Click the link below, give your e-mail address, and an e-mail with the link to five download options will arrive in your inbox.

Here's the link:
http://http://theslip.nin.com/


And since I'm talking about Nine Inch Nails, here is the a link to one of the craziest YouTube concoctions I've ever seen. Take NIN's "Closer" (you know, the one that states "I want to [f-bomb] you like an animal.") and mix it with Star Trek with Spock acting amorous (pon far, maybe? And I'm not claiming that I'm even close. I'm too lazy to look it up out in the InterWeb.)

I like Trek, but I thought this was pretty funny-- even if this thing doesn't put the characters in the best light. Just remember: it's funny. That's all it is.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3uxTpyCdriY

Premieres and Notables; June 23-29, 2008

Monday, 6/23

101 Cars You Must Drive; Speed. 8 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Sounds pretty straightforward. The Plymouth Superbird gets the focus in the premiere.

Wimbledon; ESPN2. 6 am CST. Sports.
ESPN2 gets the tourney all week, then NBC picks it up on Saturday.

And I want to give a shout-out to a show I'm really starting to like: Travel Channel's Lawrence of America. Englishman Lawrence Beldon-Smythe travels to American cities to look at distinctly American customs and places. So far he's seen Vegas strip clubs, Civil War reenactments, sorority houses, a NASCAR weekend, college football games, NASA, and many more.
Just a few days ago, I kinda talked it down to a friend; but since then, I watched a 3 ep marathon, and I really am starting to think it's worth mentioning. It's not flashy or even great, but Beldon-Smythe is very witty, and I just love the way he goes about talking about the things he's witnessing as if he was watching some lost jungle tribe in some instances and overemphasizing things in other instances.
It airs on Travel at 10 and 10:30 pm on Tuesdays, and in an odd move for a cable network, it doesn't air the eps again at all during the week, so 10 & 10:30 pm Tuesdays are currently the only time to catch the show.
It's worth a look.

Tuesday, 6/24

Wipeout; ABC. 7 pm. Series Premiere.
You know those Japanese obstacle course game show imports G4 and Spike air? This is the American version.

I Survived a Japanese Game Show; ABC. 8 pm. Series Premiere.
You know those Japanese game shows that air on G4 and Spike? ABC is sending 10 Americans to Japan to try 'em out.

Primetime: The Outsiders; ABC. 9 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Rescue Me; FX. 9 pm. Minisode.
Since the show doesn't return until next year, you can get your fix the next ten weeks with these five minute mini-sodes.


Wednesday, 6/25

Baby Borrowers; NBC. 7 pm. Series Premiere.
Adolescent couples gets a taste of adult life when they get children to watch over.

Primetime: Crime; ABC. 9 pm. 2nd Season Premiere.

Shear Genius; Bravo. 9 pm. 2nd Season Premiere.

Wife Swap (ABC; 7 pm). Season finale.
Farmer Wants a Wife (CW; 8 pm). Season finale. [This show was, seriously, still on?]


Thursday, 6/26

Hopkins; ABC. 9 pm. Series Premiere.
Six-part look at the doctors of Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Instant Star (The N; 7 pm). Series Finale.


Friday, 6/27

Dance Machine; ABC. 7 pm. Series Premiere.
Yet another dance competition. But wait!-- there is something different here. You see, these contestants have to use props. Yeah. Suck on that, So You Think You Can Dance.


Saturday, 6/28

Groomer Has It (Animal Planet; 8 pm). Season Finale.


Sunday, 6/29

The Singing Office; TLC. 8 pm. Series Premiere.
Joey Fatone, who has never met a reality competition he didn't like, apparently, and Mel B. look for singers in offices to compete against each other in a sing-off.

The Factory; Spike. 9 pm. Series Premiere.
A partially-improvised sitcom about four factory workers.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Premieres and Notables June 16-22, 2008

First, a little thing people forget about: if you're typing a blog post that's lengthy, make sure it's auto-saving-- or save it manually-- as you type. I lost 45 minutes of genius, and I'm sorry to say I'm not going to duplicate the efforts because I don't have the time. There are lots of things to note; I'm just going to keep my comments sparse this time around...

Get ready for the bombardment...


Monday, June 16


The Middleman; ABC Family. 7 pm CST. Series Premiere.
This based-on-a-comic-book family-friendly series about a super agent who teams up with an artist sounds a lot like Men in Black. I've heard good things. Worth checking out.


Intervention; A&E. 8 pm CST. 5th season premiere.

Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal; A&E. 9 pm. Series Premiere.
I have no real idea what this show is about, but I'm going to guess the title is a little clue...


Weeds; Showtime. 9 pm. 4th season premiere.

In the third season finale, wildfires threatened Agrestic, Nancy's grow house was discovered by the Feds, and Nancy torched her home to get rid of any evidence. Time for the Botwins to move... to a border town. Highly recommended (*snicker* I said "high").


I've heard lots of good stuff about this season: the series moves away from the played-out suburbs. The family moves to Nancy's father-in-law's (Albert Brooks) house near Mexico. Kevin Nealon's Doug finds a reason to tag along. And Nancy now has an even more troubling decision to make: whether to take the next step and move into harder drugs (the concept was Nancy started dealing weed-- and just weed-- to support her family after her husband's death).


The bad stuff: possibly less of Elizabeth Perkin's Celia with the new locale (although the trailers I've seen of the new season has her defending herself; sounds as if everyone believes she was the pot dealer in Agrestic).


The terrible stuff: one of the coolest quirks of the show was the opening credits for seasons 2 and 3, where they used many different singers/bands to sing the "Little Boxes" theme song is now a thing of the past with season 4. I'll withhold my final grade until I see what they do with the opening credits tomorrow. Maybe it'll be even cooler.

The kick-ass stuff: Julie Bowen has a recurring role. Oh, and my cable company now includes Showtime HD in my package. That means Mary-Louise Parker in high def. I don't think I need to explain further.


Secret Diary of a Call Girl; Showtime. 9:30. Series Premiere.
By 9:38 CST, expect to hear a collective moan caused by a nerdgasm when Doctor Who fans see the Doc's former partner in little-- if any-- clothing. In all seriousness, I've read that Billie Piper is very good in this series imported from the U.K. Sure, it's about being a high-class prostitute, but it's also about her trying to juggle that with her personal life. I've heard good things.


Tuesday, 6/17

America's Got Talent; NBC. 8 pm. 3rd season premiere.

AFI's 10 Top 10; CBS. 7 pm. Special
AFI throws another list at us; this time the top ten movies in ten genres: animation, courtroom drama, epic, fantasy, gangster, romantic comedy, science fiction, sports, and Western.

Black Gold; TRU TV. 9 pm. Series Premiere.
Yet another dangerous job series. This one looks at Texas oil drillers.
I wonder if anyone will say "I drink your milkshake!," during the season. If someone does, I swear I'll watch it...

Flipping Out; Bravo. 9 pm. season premiere.

Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood; Oxygen. 9 pm. season premiere.
They've sold the inn and moved back to Hollywood. Raise your hand if you give a crap.


Wednesday, 6/18

Tyler Perry's House of Payne; TBS. 9 pm. Return.


Thursday, 6/19

Live From Abbey Road; Sundance. 9 pm. 2nd season premiere.
The prem has Mary J. Blige, Dashboard Confessional, and James Blunt

MVP; Soapnet. 10 pm. Series premiere.
This Canadian hockey team Footballers Wive$ didn't even score a second season Up North.

Penn & Teller's Bullshit! Showtime. 9 pm. season premiere.
Notice how I can fully spell out the title in this blog? Suck on that, Entertainment Weekly!


Friday, 6/20

Camp Rock; Disney. 7 pm. Special.
Before The Mouse milks High School Musical completely dry, they're trying on a new franchise. This one stars the Jonas Brothers and all sorts of Disney Channel vets. They've been hyping this movie for months, and I expect it to be huge.

Daytime Emmy Awards; ABC. 7 pm. Special.
Here's how much faith ABC has in this program:
1. It's airing on Friday (Kiss of Death)
2. It's airing in the summer (Kiss of Death Pt 2)
3. They're putting it up against their sister channel's tentpole movie (Camp Rock)


Sunday, 6/22

I Can't Believe I'm Still Single; Showtime. 10:30. Series Premiere.
Actor-writer Eric Schaeffer (Starved; Century City) hits the road to find love in this tongue-in-cheek docu-series.

Inspector Lewis; PBS. 8 pm (check local listings). Season premiere.

The Two Coreys; A&E. 9 pm. 2nd season premiere.
Sounds like Haim and Feldman are on the outs. But not enough to keep them off this little television gem... Hey, if Paris and Nicole could work a series together while separate, so can the Coreys.