I was hanging out with a group of friends the other night and they were all referencing this over-the-top ridiculous television spot for some home gym I’d never heard of. A tidal wave of presumptively hostile Staten Island accents and aggressive muscle flexes crashed into the rocks that were my unprepared eyes and ears from every other body in the room. This unsettled me as I watch TV pretty much all day and have an inhuman degree of focus and retention for advertisements, especially the ridiculous ones. And then, last night, during a post-midnight airing of the Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget, there it was… the Body By Jake Tower 200:
You’re Doing It Wrong: Body By Jake Tower 200
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010Checkpoint 2010: Three More Great Things This Year To Come
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010There’s a lot to look forward to in the next few months. Let’s get right to it:
The Summer of Scott Pilgrim
Back when I was first talking to Bryan Lee O’Malley about his upcoming “Scott Pilgrim” book series in 2004, neither of us ever imagined what a huge sensation it would become. International best-seller, lauded by critics and media outlets, a cultural touchstone for an entire generation of slacker hipsters. Even with all that’s come before, though, summer 2010 will be remembered as the summer of Scott Pilgrim. It all starts next week with the release of the sixth and final volume in the series, Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour, wherein all questions will be answered, all plot threads tied up, and we’ll all have to move on to something else. A mere three weeks later sees the release of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game on the Playstation Network. The 16-bit River City Ransom homage sports squeal-worthy art direction by acclaimed animator Paul Robertson and an original soundtrack by Brooklyn’s own chiptune power group Anamanaguchi. Fandom is sure to reach an all time high, though, with the August 13th release of the major motion picture adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, directed by Shaun of the Dead‘s Edgar Wright and starring a cavalcade of hip young actors from everything cool in the past decade.
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Checkpoint 2010: The Three Best Things This Year So Far
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010It’s been an active year in media so far. There have been a lot of great albums, videogames, movies, books and tv shows so far in 2010 and more to come. With half the year behind us, it’s time to stop and reflect. Here are my three favorite pieces of pop culture from the first six months of 2010:
Toy Story 3
It’s hard to look past the history of the Toy Story franchise. The very first entirely computer-animated theatrical release, the original Toy Story captivated audiences fifteen years ago. It’s sequel in 1999 met with universal acclaim, a surprisingly existential family film that provoked thought and feelings in a way uncharacteristic of summer blockbusters. Toy Story 3 had started as a Disney project independent of creators Pixar, but when Toy Story 1 & 2 director John Lasseter became chief creative officer of Disney animation studios in 2006 his first duty was scrapping the entire production and putting Toy Story 3 back in the hands of Pixar to start from scratch. The result is the most emotionally poignant film I’ve seen in years. The final thirty minutes has the entire audience in a constant stream of salty tears.
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Coming Soon: Yo Gabba Gabba! Comics
Monday, April 19th, 2010Perhaps the biggest surprise of this weekend’s C2E2 comic convention in Chicago was critically acclaimed indie publisher Oni Press announcing Yo Gabba Gabba! Story Comic Book Time Vol. 1 (really, nobody cares about vampire X-Men). A full-color 128-page hardcover comics anthology starring Muno, Foofa, Toodee, Brobee, Plex and DJ Lance Rock from the wildly-popular Nickelodeon children’s show, this book is sure to absolutely rock both the all-ages comics and children’s picture book scenes later this year.
Why I’m Pumped For Parenthood
Monday, March 1st, 2010
The Olympics are over and it’s time for our misplaced patriotism to be shoved back into its shoebox in favor of original scripted television drama again. God bless America! While I’m of course psyched for tonight’s return of Chuck Meets The Cast Of Superman, I’m more interested in tomorrow night’s premiere of Parenthood, which is odd considering how little I’ve seen advance footage or reviews on the ‘net so far. But rest assured, there are good reasons to be excited for this show. Let’s go over my favorites:
Why I’m Giving Celebrity Fit Club A Chance
Monday, February 15th, 2010
I tend to lose interest in “reality tv” shows after a couple of seasons. The third seasons of Rock of Love was horrendous, sixth season of Project Runway was painfully boring and Last Comic Standing lost all its charm when they stopped making the comedians live together, but I loved everything that preceded those events on all three.
With VH1 playing in the background while working last week a commercial came on for the seventh season of Celebrity Fit Club. Seventh. Oh lord, this can’t be good. Casting former dancer and guy-who-finally-turned-Britney-Spears-into-straight-up-trailer-trash Kevin Federline against longtime sitcom actress and KFed’s baby momma Shar Jackson is clearly the hype magnet VH1 is banking on this season, completely ignoring the already-tired-on-the-reality-scene washed up music stars Bobby Brown and Sebastian Bach, but I was sold when I realized the sassy dude with glasses in the promo was none other than Project Runway winner Jay McCarroll. Apparently Jay isn’t famous enough to actually get namedropped in the promo, but he’s known to be as entertaining as two well-dressed koalas fighting over a pack of eucalyptus cigarettes with only interpretive dance as their weapons. Dammit, VH1, you’ve done it again (although that koala show would be pretty sweet). Alright, let’s give this a shot…
What is up, women of Top Chef?
Thursday, November 19th, 2009When I was in high school, one of the local access stations aired dubbed broadcasts of the Japanese Iron Chef. It was fascinating. Prior to this, the only food preparation I’d ever witnessed on television were on the morning news or Martha Stewart. Then came the suburban pornography that is Food Network. Food-based programming was the next big thing before vampires were the next big thing (again). Even the Travel Channel seems to be more about exotic foods these days than actual travel. Years of food-focused television have shown me that the majority of chefs on TV claim the greatest food they’ve ever had has been family dinners prepared by mothers and grandmothers. Maternal figures around the world seem to thrive off of the satisfaction of their clan’s collective mastication. So why do women seem to have such a hard time on the most popular food competition in the US, Top Chef? It seems like every time a decent female chef makes it anywhere in that competition, they always shoot themselves right in the foot.