Jeblog

DirecTV adds AMC-HD, finally

2011-09-08T21:17:00.000-05:00

Early this year I switched from cable to satellite because I got a new HDTV, and Comcast's HD lineup is almost nonexistent in my hamlet. SD is fine on SD televisions, but it stinks on an HD set; I avoid it if possible. I tried Dish first, but the installer said there was no line of sight, so I ended up going with DirecTV. And the one sinking feeling I had about that came when I realized AMC was not offered in HD.

That's changing tomorrow morning (Friday, Sept. 9), as AMC-HD launches on DirecTV. I'm stoked for two leading reasons:

One >> The annual marathon of Halloween movies lasting a week or two, 24 hours a day (minus infomercials, probably). This is good fun and excellent background fodder around Halloween. And if I decide to watch Jeepers Creepers 2 or Corridors of Blood, they'll look crisp and lovely.

Two >> The return of The Walking Dead, which is set for Oct. 16. Tired as the zombie subgenre is, this series works beautifully because it's character driven in a very Stephen King-miniseries kind of way. I'd love to see AMC continue to move in this direction and become the de facto horror network of choice.

Now, if only Direct would add BBC America, IFC, GSN, E!, Reelz, etc. in HD …

30-Day Song Challenge: A song you can dance to (day 9)

2011-09-08T17:57:00.000-05:00

Banjos and fiddles set to a Eurodance beat — brilliant! I remember hearing Rednex' take on the traditional song "Cotton Eye Joe" (or "Cotton-Eyed Joe") on the radio a few times back in '95 alongside mid-90s chestnuts like Nicki French's dance cover of "Total Eclipse of the Heart." It's all executed with a wink and a nod, but some snooty folks who apparently don't like to have fun have seen fit to include this one on some worst songs lists (what is the point of such an exercise, other than to denigrate?). A couple of years ago I was taking photos at a summer festival in Iuka, Miss., and came across a local square dance group performing to this song, which I found a tad surprising and surreal.

30-Day Song Challenge: A song you know all the words to (day 8)

2011-09-08T15:42:00.000-05:00

I could only think of one, and it might be a little bit of a cheat: "The Samurai in Autumn" by the Pet Shop Boys. I do, indeed, know all of the lyrics, which are thus:

It's not as easy as it was

Or as difficult as it could be

For the Samurai in autumn

And no more than that in this largely instrumental track. Certainly not difficult to remember, and I have always imagined that the lines are about the boys themselves in their late career period, when only the diehards care anymore (although, knowing Neil Tennant, it probably has to do with an historical figure).

I've always found this to be the highlight of their Release album (2002), which turned off the hardcore synthpop crowd with its "rock" aspirations. This peppy yet moody dance number, plopped midway through amongst dense, boring guitar slogs like "Birthday Boy" and "Love Is a Catastrophe," feels like PSB doing what they ought to be doing; it even evokes the brilliant experimental vibe of Relentless.

30-Day Song Challenge: A song that reminds you of a certain event (day 7)

2011-09-05T14:36:00.000-05:00

Sean Kingston's "Fire Burning" was ubiquitous on the radio in the summer of 2009. I'm not his target audience, but this synthy, RedOne-produced jam is breezy fun. It became tied in my mind to shopping excursions for and the eventual purchase of a new car that summer after driving a 1989 Pontiac well beyond its reasonable years of use. Kingston set the dancefloor on fire as I drove to the dealership; while I did my test drive; and when I eventually drove home in a sexy new car. What I don't like is the lyrical use of "shawty;" it's time for that one to be retired.

Season of the Witch

2011-09-04T15:46:00.000-05:00

1.5 out of 5

Despite a lot of bad reviews, I approached this Nicolas Cage vehicle with an open mind, because it's a horror movie and I have previously come to the defense of his similarly maligned The Wicker Man. The plot finds Cage and Ron Perlman, a pair of medieval swashbucklers, charged with transporting an alleged witchy woman on a long journey to meet her judgement. This is preceded by a series of battle sequences that show Cage and Perlman tiring of their bloody adventures while engaging in supremely hammy dialogue about things like who's buying the drinks tonight. The movie fails to do much with its villain; a sequence in which Cage's entourage tries to get her carriage across a decaying bridge is more entertaining than anything she conjures up. There's also a twist in play here, and it's not uninteresting, but it is the most blatantly obvious twist I've ever seen. I'm not one of those types who's always bragging that I had it figured out in the first 30 minutes, but I pretty much saw it coming right away. The movie climaxes with an action-filled throwdown, but the best I can say for all of this is that some of the scenes look terrific in 1080p. Note that the movie has no connection to George Romero's 1976 movie of the same name or Halloween III: Season of the Witch from 1982.

30-Day Song Challenge: A song that reminds you of somewhere (day 6)

2011-08-31T19:54:00.000-05:00

I've always loved music and I often marvel at how certain songs become attached to a random moment or place in time — even the mundane moments that have no reason to be memorable. Today's tune, Robert Plant's "I Believe" (which could also fit day 14 — a song some might be surprised that I love), is one of those songs. Whenever I hear its plaintive melodies, I always remember a specific moment when I heard it on the radio in 1993. I was driving home from college (Ole Miss) at the end of a semester after taking my last exam, packing up and hitting the road to Corinth. I was on the twisty snake known as Mississippi Highway 30, somewhere in the edge of or a little east of the Holly Springs National Forest, where the two-lane highway bobs and weaves amongst kudzu-covered northeast Mississippi hills. And the image that's attached is the setting sun beaming through the trees as Plant elegizes his lost son, who died as a young child. "I Believe" has a hypnotic, dreamy quality that sticks with the soul, and the pain that birthed this beauty is evident:

Big fire, on top of the hill

A worthless gesture, and last farewell

Tears from your Mother, from the pits of her soul

Look at your Father, see his blood run cold

Like the wind, you are free

Just a whisper, I hear you, so talk to me

30-Day Song Challenge: An obscure song that you love (day 5)

2011-08-29T20:35:00.001-05:00

(Note: I'm asking readers to indulge me today as I'm exercising some editorial discretion and replacing "a song that reminds you of someone" with today's alternate category of my choosing.)

The production triumvirate of Stock, Aitken & Waterman was responsible for some pop gems and some awful music in the late '80s. One of their happy accidents was Carol Hitchcock, who got no further than the release of a single, "Get Ready," in 1987. The song hit #56 in the UK and, best I can tell, missed the Billboard Hot 100 entirely. That's a shame, because it's a cracking cover of the Motown classic, with SAW in top form and Hitchcock, whose bald look unfortunately became the most notable thing about her in terms of pop history, pulling off a competent vocal performance. But what I'd like to call your attention to is the single's B-side, Hitchcock's take on "More Than Words Can Say," a SAW ballad that had already appeared on Mel & Kim's SAW-produced album and that would also go on to be butchered by Hazell Dean as her B-side to "Love Pains." The Mel & Kim version sounds like a weak Rick Astley album cut — in other words, chintzy. Judging by the few comments on the YouTube video below, however, I may be in the minority in believing Hitchcock pulled off the definitive version of this track, thanks to a convincing vocal and a rare moment of restraint on the part of SAW, who approach the ballad with a delicate touch, playing up the guitar riffs and setting aside the dance track. This effective song could have been something in the right time and place — I can easily imagine an established chanteuse like Laura Branigan singing it and Casey Kasem counting it down.

"More Than Words Can Say" by Carol Hitchcock

30-Day Song Challenge: A song that makes you sad (day 4)

2011-08-25T16:10:00.000-05:00

Alanis Morrissette regained my attention in a big way with 2008's Flavors of Entanglement, which was partly inspired by the end of a relationship. This wrenching ballad, which serves as a companion piece to the equally brilliant single "Not As We," mourns the moment that Alanis has to lay down her torch for the one she loves. What really gets me is how it memorializes love in the small details, the things that she will remember when she is alone and that will cause a tear to slip down her cheek:

I miss your smell and your style
And your pure abiding way
Miss your approach to life
And your body in my bed
Miss your take on anything
And the music you would play

It admittedly has Morrissette's perhaps overly familiar lyrical structure involving a list of things, but I think it's one of her finest moments as a songwriter.

30-Day Song Challenge: A song that makes you happy (day 3)

2011-08-22T18:04:00.000-05:00

There are songs you like, and then there are songs that make you feel something. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's "(Forever) Live and Die," a #19 hit in 1986, has always been one of those for me. And despite lyrics about "why you make me want to cry," it does give me a happy feeling, because there's just something powerfully evocative in that lovely synth and brass production (props to Stephen Hague) and those ascending vocal harmonies. The feeling it evokes is also tinged with nostalgia, although the only thing it really reminds me of is standing at the door waiting for the school bus while the song played on VH1 in the background. I didn't own the song until many years later when I got an OMD compilation; I had no idea what the name of the song was, in fact, although the tune had stuck with me through the years. I particularly like the dreamy, lilting intro, and the brassy instrumental bridge. It all somehow combines to feel like a perfect autumn day spent on a carnival ride, holding hands with the one you love.

30-Day Song Challenge: Your least favorite song (day 2)

2011-08-21T15:11:00.000-05:00

As with choosing a favorite, there are so many possibilities, and I strongly considered Warrant's "Cherry Pie" and Nickelback's "Photograph" before settling on "One Sweet Day," Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men's record-holder for most weeks at number one (16) on the Billboard Hot 100. Given the song's earnest sentiment, this may seem cold, but I truly hated this inescapable, overwrought treacle from the first time I heard it. My animosity towards it also reflects my loathing of that time in mid-90s radio, when R&B had taken over and every chart-topper seemed to be there for 10 weeks or more; it was as if radio decided we would only listen to about 40 songs per year. I have equal loathing for Boys II Men's "I'll Make Love to You" and "End of the Road." Before I'm accused of being a hater, it should be noted that both artists have songs that I do like, and Mariah hovers just outside the top 50 on my last.fm artist chart.

30-Day Song Challenge: Your favorite song (day 1)

2011-08-20T17:48:00.001-05:00

Seriously, how do you pick just one? I could spend a year whittling it down to a short list of possibilities. So, I've chosen one of the standout songs, "Alive," from my favorite album of last year, Goldfrapp's Head First. It's a little more sunny and positive than the typical 'frapp tune, and it's arguably the best example of the album's brilliant melding of synthy '80s pop sounds into their modern, elegant dance music. The cheeky video complements the upbeat vibe with an odd mix of vampires, zombies and '80s workout video; you wouldn't be surprised to see Olivia Newton John suddenly pop out, dressed in the spandex from her "Physical" video.

With this post, I'm kicking off the 30-Day Song Challenge, which has been a popular Facebook meme. I'm rarely on Facebook, so I didn't stumble across it until checking out Daft Monk's blog, where he's just wrapped up the challenge. Check out his answers for a good read. I'm already well intrigued by how these deceptively simple categories make you stop and consider the music that defines you. One caveat for my list — I do plan to swap out a handful of the categories for something I think is more interesting; there are a few of them for which I simply don't have an answer.

Insidious

2011-08-20T14:30:00.000-05:00

2.5 out of 5

The extent to which this movie got generally favorable reviews suggests that our collective craving for a thoughtful, frightening movie has gone unsatiated of late. Competently and stylishly executed, Insidious certainly is better than the typical horror abomination of the week such as Darkness Falls, which I had the misfortune of watching on satellite a few nights ago, but it doesn't earn a spot on the top shelf, either. The trailer gave away the movie's best line — "It's not the house that's haunted" — and this plot centering on a troubled child is definitely not staking out original territory. In fact, I couldn't help thinking of Poltergeist, given that both have a child trapped in another realm, a paranormal investigation team that comes in to assist, and a rescue attempt by one of the parents. It doesn't help that we have a villian that looks like a Sith lord lost from the set of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace; with Saw director James Wan at the helm, it isn't surprising that subtletly gets lost. The best part of the movie is the fairly brief appearance of the paranormal investigators led by Lin Shaye, who brings a certain gravitas, even if she is no Tangina. A couple of bumbling and bickering assistants provide some comic relief, but, by this point, the movie is trending more silly than unsettling.

Erasure's forthcoming album art

2011-08-14T16:12:00.001-05:00

I've long been a fan of Erasure's sleeve art as well as their music, with some rare exceptions, such as the uninspired, cheap-looking artwork for the Other People's Songs campaign. It got a big dodgy again for the last album, Light at the End of the World; I remember someone commenting that it looked like a Zale's jewelry circular. And now, the artwork for Tomorrow's World, which looks like a fairy's heart exploded butterflies, is leaving me cold. Based on sculpture by Kate MacDowell, it looks like something that would be on the cover of a 12-year-old girl's diary. I'm not feeling it, but at least buzz is good for the Frankmusic-produced album.

The folly of Netflix streaming

2011-07-14T13:10:00.000-05:00

For a company that has gotten things so right most of the time, Netflix's new price hike seems punitive and incredibly boneheaded. Customers will now pay the price, literally, for the company's misguided placing of all its eggs in the streaming basket as the studios demand higher and higher fees for streaming rights.

I'll be switching to the $7.99 DVD-only plan with Blu-Ray. Streaming plus DVD plus Blu-Ray is no longer a deal after two price increases within the space of months.

And it's not that I'm a streaming naysayer. I got a Roku late last year, thinking that I'd love it. I have enjoyed it from time to time, but the streaming selection is notoriously mediocre, and there's the larger problem of picture quality. I have a cable broadband connection, but I almost never get an HD stream. I've invested in a quality home theater, and I don't care to watch VHS or less quality on my new HDTV. I think many people agree with me, whether it's because of broadband issues or the desire to have top-notch picture quality. Netflix has made a surprisingly large miscalculation in its attempt to jettison the DVD side of its business.

It may be a few months down the road, but I predict Netlix backs off the new pricing and cuts the fees to some middle ground.

GSN brings Lingo back from the grave

2011-06-08T21:39:00.001-05:00

Verdict: 3.0 out of 5

No love for Chuck Woolery? Such is the state of game shows in the 2010s, an era in which game show hosts get by not on their polished presentation skills but on their resumes as comedians or C-list personalities. Classic-era host Chuck Woolery helmed GSN's 2002-2007 revival of Lingo, a relatively obscure format that had a single syndicated season in the late 1980s, and it is somewhat surprisingly back (given that GSN seems to think tawdry relationship shows is now its bread and butter) in a slightly tweaked version now helmed by "blue-collar comedian" Bill Engvall. Illogical a pick as the new host may be, he has brought some appreciable deadpan wit to the format, a combination of word game and Bingo in which teams try to guess five-letter words to earn the right to draw a couple of balls which can help them score a Lingo on a numbered field set up like a Bingo card. Adding insult to Woolery's exit is that the show has now added a clue for each word in a style ripped from NBC's Scrabble, hosted by Woolery for the duration of its exceptionally enjoyable run of 1,300-plus episodes from 1984 to 1990 and again briefly in 1993. While the new, genreric rock music theme is another dubious move, GSN deserves kudos for making some overdue changes — correct guesses and Lingos now earn cash rather than points for the winning team, and the cable network has finally made the obvious move of including prize balls amongst the drawing lot, as well as a wild ball that, when selected, can be used to fill any open slot on the Lingo card. I'd also suggest a progressive jackpot ball — those side elements can break the monotony of a highly repetitive format (think Super Password's always-fun Cash Word). GSN has remade Lingo's end game in a way that boringly excises the Bingo element; the teams just try to breeze through five words in 90 seconds to collect $100,000 — an awful lot of loot for a simple, if compelling, word game. And, unfortunately, the game has stripped away a level of Woolery-era class by wallowing in inuendo. It needs "enema" as one of its five-letter words (I'm not making that up) as much as it needs Big Money Syndrome.

Lingo airs at 7 p.m. (Central) weekdays on GSN

First impressions: Lady Gaga's Born This Way

2011-06-05T19:07:00.000-05:00

I'm still getting to know Born This Way, but here are some initial impressions of some of this Event Album's tracks (using the special edition):

Born This Way // While I don't agree with the lazy comparisons to Madonna's "Express Yourself," the lead single didn't particularly excite me. Not to say I don't like it — it has grown on me and I especially admire the positivity — but it feels a bit overcooked, and, in the long run, I don't think it's a song I'll revisit often. I actually prefer the earthy Country Road Version to the hyper album and single mix.

Government Hooker // Gaga has said she's awfully fond of this one, but I'm inclined to skip it.

Judas // Insistent, addictive and deserving of better than its chart performance thus far. If we could fix the first half of the bridge, it would be Gaga/RedOne perfection and possibly a bigger radio hit.

Scheibe // Annoying; a likely skip.

Bad Kids / Fashion of His Love // I'm finding I like the latter stretch of the album better, starting with these two.

Highway Unicorn (Road to Love) // Apart from "Judas," this is the one that really grabs me right out of the gate … if I had to choose one favorite at the moment, this is it. That "we can be strong / we can be strong" refrain really digs in.

Yoü and I // This rock-ish, Queen-assisted ballad feels like a future hit, even if it's easy to imagine Shania Twain doing it on her Come on Over album (hello, Mutt Lange! Didn't expect to see you here!). I would have flipped its position with "The Edge of Glory" and made this the album closer.

Granted, the special edition throws in several extra tracks, but can we agree that the album is too long? Chopping three or four tracks could make this a better listen … think of how powerful The Fame Monster is in its brevity. Some free advice: With no single really asserting itself after "Born This Way," I'd make a big push for "Yoü and I."

Review: The Rite

2011-05-28T19:37:00.000-05:00

Verdict: 2.5 out of 5

Exorcism flick The Rite may lack spewed pea soup, but it does have Anthony Hopkins doing his thing, and doing it well. It seems to have become fashionable to trash the bulk of his latter day output, but I'm content to feast on these morsels in anticipation of the next pleasant surprise, such as the excellent thriller Fracture. Somewhat similar in tone to The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Rite, directed by Mikael Håfström, who helmed the so-so adaptation of Stephen King's 1408, is one of those movies that easily sets itself apart from the baser majority of horror films while, at the same time, failing to ever be truly compelling. It's set in Rome with Hopkins as a veteran exorcist who's given an apprentice of sorts — an American seminary student (Colin O'Donoghue) who is coming down with a bout of atheism. The church has decreed more exorcists are needed, and the student's mentor decides a tour of duty with the exorcist will cure what ails him. The movie offers two exorcisms, the first centering on several sequences with a young girl who contorts and gets fiesty, and the second serving as a twisty curveball in the movie's closing stretch and the ultimate test of the student's doubt. Neither takes us anywhere we haven't been before, but it pushes some of the right buttons over the course of its too-long 120-plus minutes, and Hopkins, as always, is worthy of our faith.

The Rite is available now on Blu-Ray, DVD and pay per view.

Cheap Gaga

2011-05-23T22:37:00.000-05:00

I had no doubt Lady Gaga's new album Born This Way would pop out a little early, but seeing Amazon pimp it for 99 cents since around midnight is a surprise. It's an obvious pick for deal of the day, which is sometimes as low as $1.99, but this redefines "loss leader." It's probably a smart move by Amazon, which is looking to goose its share of digital music sales, since this will likely be the biggest album release of the year, and the gimmick price will lure sales and a flurry of blog posts.

A quick look over at iTunes reveals they're having none of this madness, with the regular edition going for $11.99 and the special for $15.99, with a bonus remix of "Judas" by Thomas Gold available (hope it's better than all the other ones — sorry, Hurts and Goldfrapp).

I'm wondering: Would it be silly to buy the regular edition for 99 cents and then individually download the missing special edition tracks? Yeah, it probably would. Looks like I'll be going with the special edition on Amazon for $12.99.

MTV's Skins

2011-02-21T21:58:00.000-06:00

I'm all for MTV giving this a go, but these are my impressions:

• It feels like taking a four-and-a-half star movie from two years ago and reenacting it with lesser actors for no good reason and with embarassing results. (In a similar vein, Let Me In takes a five-star movie from a couple years ago and reenacts it … but with excellent results.)

• The removal of a straightforward equivalent of the Maxxie character feels like pandering to American male tastes in the worst possible way.

• Watch the BBC original and forget this mess.

Guiltless Pleasures, or, 2010's top albums

2010-12-26T15:52:00.001-06:00

Goldfrapp takes album of the year.

My top 10 scrobbled albums of 2010 per Last.fm again reveal that I am mostly out of synch with popular tastes, but who can blame me when the likes of Ke$ha and Katy Perry rule the chart? I like to go with a scrobbling recap rather than devising my own top 10 partly because I'm lazy but also because I like to consider everything current. That said, however, my favorite albums from this year are exactly where they should be on this list.

10 Christmas EP • Pet Shop Boys // Helped the boys retain their usual spot as most-played artist this year.

9 Information Society • Information Society // Had the big single back in the day but never got the full album until this year. The ballad "Repetition" is much better than I remembered.

8 Don't Stop / All Night EP • Annie // I'm throwing in the EP as well because I culled the best tracks from the two into one album of electro-pop goodness. It straddled the end of '09 and early '10, or it would have been closer to the top.

7 Kaleidoscope • Tiesto // The hardcore fans dismissed it as a pop sellout, so naturally I loved it, particulalry "I Will Be Here (Wolfgang Gartner Radio Edit)."

6 The Fame Monster • Lady GaGa // Whether you choose to view it as the second album or an EP, clever pop songs like "Bad Romance," "Monster" (how was this not a single?), "Dance in the Dark" and "Telephone" make it essential.

5 La Roux • La Roux // La Roux put out one of the best Erasure albums of all time, and songs like "Fascination" and "As If By Magic" left me slobbering for more. To boot, it was gratifying to see that synthpop like "Bulletproof" can still be embraced by the wasteland of U.S. radio.

4 Fixin' to Thrill • Dragonette // I'm a sucker for melody and an '80s sensibility.

3 Body Talk • Robyn // Had the full album emerged earlier in the year, this sly dance album would have made a run at number one.

2 Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Darryl Hall and John Oates • The Bird and the Bee // Why didn't they just use the brilliant working title, Guiltless Pleasures? That sums it up perfectly in contrast to the bloated, over-compensating title it released under. Nevertheless, this concept worked, with The Bird and the Bee's electro lounge pop marrying perfectly with H&O's pop chestnuts. "One on One," with its mesmerizing synth filigrees, is a song that seems like it ought to be left alone, frozen in the perfect moody '80s production H&O bestowed upon it, but Bird and the Bee manage to create something equally evocative in its own way. However, for me, "She's Gone" is the crowning achievement here. I do wish there had been a less predictable song choice or two — throw me a "Missed Opportunity" or "Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid" for fun. Also around the same time they gave us a soundtrack offering, a very groovy cover of "I'm Into Something Good." Now, who's up for Interpreting the Masters Volume 2: A Tribute to Depeche Mode?

1 Head First • Goldfrapp // My expectations were lowered after the folktronic nirvana of Seventh Tree, but they needn't have been. Golfrapp veered back toward the dancefloor but did so with a set of hypnotic, danceable songs that reference the synth of '80s pop in a most satisfying way; I don't think I've heard music that is so satisfyingly now and 1985 at the same time. Brilliant stompers like "Rocket," "Believer" and "Alive" glisten alongside satisfying slow-burns like "Head First" and "Hunt." More, please.

iTunes store extends song previews to 90 seconds (check your scrobbling)

2010-12-11T19:48:00.000-06:00

You may have heard or noticed by chance, as I did, that Apple in the last few days has extended song previews from 30 to 90 (!) seconds in the iTunes store. The first time I noticed it, I did a double-take, thinking I had somehow accidentally bought the song.

One undesirable side effect that I noticed: In some cases, depending on the song length and your preferences settings in Last.fm's Audio Scrobbler, the preview may be long enough to count the preview as a full play and add it to your profile on Last.fm. I've got my Scrobbler set at 75 percent to count a song as a full play, and that was enough to add two preview plays to my profile. For the stat-obsessed, this could be quite the nagging annoyance.

So, the result was Bananarama's "Baby It's Christmas" and Double You and Friends' cover of "Do They Know It's Christmas" from Super Dance Christmas Party Vol. 3 showed up on my Last.fm history merely from listening to the iTunes samples. I deleted the scrobbles on principle (not because those song selections are anything of which one would be ashamed, of course).

On the plus side, a 90-second sample is a much better taste of a song — you're less likely to get those clueless samples that only feature the intro of a song or some middle breakdown that is unrepresentative of the whole — and an unexpectedly generous move on Apple's part.

Apocalypse

2010-12-04T20:33:00.000-06:00

Katy Perry's Teenage Dream album has been nominated for a Grammy award for album of the year.

That's it, folks. It's all over. If she walks away with a Grammy, I'm quitting music.

If you're looking to nominate a pop album in this category, how does this trash get nominated over Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster?

Review: Teeth (2007)

2010-10-31T20:59:00.000-05:00

Verdict: 4.0 out of 5

Teeth is one of the most twisted movies you'll ever see. Its subject matter, at once laughable and horrifying, is sufficiently scandalous that major movie chains wouldn't carry it. The story of our young heroine, a somewhat self-righteous "promise ring" wearer, is wickedly humorous as it skewers that mindset while she stumbles through a series of disastrous encounters with young men who want to get in her pants. The twist in this story is that she is in possession of a vagina dentata, a concept rooted in folk tales of many cultures, and it proves to be a weapon she can wield against masculine aggression. The movie drops none-too-subtle hints of the source of her situation as shots of a pair of enormous smokestacks near her home repeatedly appear , and her mother is dying, presumably of cancer. As fear builds in her of what she is, a mixture of dread and anticipation builds in the viewer for each successive encounter. And to the movie's credit, each tops the previous in over-the-top outrageousness. Whether or not you care about the feminist statement bubbling throughout, it's a surprisingly compelling shocker. And you will be shocked.

Review: The House of the Devil (DVD)

2010-02-15T18:52:00.000-06:00

Verdict: 3.0 out of 5

If your fondest horror movie memories take you back to the early 1980s and movies like Halloween, you'll want to have a look at The House of the Devil, which meticulously recreates the look and feel of horror cinema of that era. Directed by Ti West, whose resume includes such nuggets as Cabin Fever 2, it also indulges in the nearly lost art (at least for the horror genre) of the slow burn, taking its sweet time to get to the payoff.

College student Samantha (Jocelin Donahue), desperate for cash to pay her first month's apartment rent, snags a phone number for a babysitting gig from a bulletin board on campus. When she gets the job and shows up at the middle-of-nowhere address, she finds herself in a dark, cavernous old house with a mysterious old couple (the briefly seen but effective Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov) who would have fit right in with the Rosemary's Baby crowd. Samantha is then left to her sitting duties, and the movie finally begins to amp up the tension with a few bump-in-the-night noises and … well, not much else, really, until the climactic scenes, which center around a lunar eclipse and a rather unconventional ritual.

To be such a long time coming, the denouement is neither original nor particularly compelling, but that's also not the point in a movie that gives you Dee Wallace (the mom in E.T.) as the landlady and a soundtrack that includes The Fixx's "One Thing Leads to Another" played on cassette through a Walkman. Satisfying as those nods to elder horror fans may be, it's equally disappointing that the movie mostly squanders the frightful opportunities of Samantha wandering tentatively around that big scary house — it's a slow burn that never reaches a boil.

Review: Surrogates (DVD)

2010-02-13T19:19:00.000-06:00

Verdict: 2.5 out of 5

The recent box office misfire Surrogates is based on a graphic novel with a clever premise: The world's populace sits at home in virtual hibernation, connected to sensors and diodes, operating robotic representations of themselves out in the world with their minds. I like this hook because it's really not that far removed from spending a day connected to a video game controller, something millions of people do more often than not. In this world, the death of a surrogate by an accident such as getting hit by a car while crossing the street leaves the hibernating owner untouched. Want to look sexier than you really do? That's possible here, too. The conflict in Surrogates arises when a couple of surrogates are "killed," and the action results in the deaths of the owners, as well. Enter Bruce Willis and his surrogate with really bad hair to tackle the case, which involves the remorseful inventor of surrogates, a military weapon and a protagonist steadily awakening to the dulled human existence of the surrogate world. The action intensifies as Willis casts aside his surrogate and reenters the world in his own skin. Although Willis spends some scenes trying to spark a renewed real-world connection with his wife, the movie lacks a compelling emotional anchor and ends up feeling much like the surrogates look — a bit too plastic and polished with nothing genuine underneath.

2009's top tunes, part two

2010-01-28T16:00:00.001-06:00

My 11 most played artists in 2009, according to last.fm:

1 Pet Shop Boys // Fueled by Yes, its b-sides and the Christmas EP.

2 Lady GaGa

3 Erasure // I didn't get the anniversary rerelease of The Innocents, but they made it near the top anyway.

4 Alanis Morissette // Producer Guy Sigsworth helps revitalize Morissette on Flavors of Entanglement. It's no doubt his influence that sees some of her denser rock pieces replaced by the toe-tapping likes of "Giggling Again for no Reason."

5 Madonna // She can't buy a hit these days, but "Celebration" and "Revolver" were welcome if not mind-blowing offerings.

6 Lily Allen // Allen didn't take hold the first time around, but second album It's Not Me, It's You is stuffed with the thoughtful ("The Fear") and hilarious ("F*ck You," "It's Not Fair"), all of it deadly catchy.

7 Tori Amos // My interest in some of Tori's newer material has cooled, but Abnormally Attracted to Sin, an impressively cohesive piece considering its 17-song length, provided a welcome thaw.

8 Annie // Had the really good Don't Stop appeared earlier in the year, Annie likely would have made the top three. "Hey Annie" is hypnotic, and the Berlin Breakdown Version of "Anthonio" is a fun throwback to '80s balladry.

9 La Roux // I haven't listened to the album as a whole a great deal, obsessing instead over individual tracks such as the sublime "Fascination."

10 The Bird and the Bee // Their second full-length, Ray Guns Are not Just the Future, which included a couple of previously released strong tracks amongst the new songs, failed to click with me (an ode to David Lee Roth — seriously, TBATB?), but standout songs "Love Letter from Japan" and "My Love" helped TBATB just squeeze into the top 10.

11 Michael Jackson // The list goes to 11 for the sole purpose of a nod to MJ, who fell so sharply off the radar in the late '90s and all of the 'oos that he had become out of sight, out of mind. It's sad that it took his death to get us all to rediscover the magic. The soothing "Human Nature" emerged as the song I listened to most following his death.

2009's top tunes

2010-01-22T21:01:00.003-06:00

Courtesy of the statistics compiled by last.fm, here's a roundup of my most listened to tracks of 2009 (tried to post this New Year's Eve but had strange Blogger issues … quite a bummer when you've spent an hour formatting it all pretty):

1 Not As We and Not As We (Jack Shaft Radio Edit) – Alanis Morissette // For me, Morissette's Flavors of Entanglement is a triumphant return to form in terms of being listenable beyond a single or two, and this harrowing breakup ballad (she's talking about you, Ryan Reynolds!) is arguably the best song in her catalog. It's also one of only two songs that could improbably top PSB in one of their most fruitful years ever.

2 Paparazzi and its various remixes – Lady GaGa // It's the best of the The Fame singles in my book, although Poker Face was a real grower.

3 This Used to Be the Future – Pet Shop Boys // The Yes era brought one of the most rewarding PSB years ever, and this complex track – ridiculously tucked away on the bonus disc – is my favorite of the new songs. It's thought-provoking, delicious modern electronic music, and it boasts the vocals of the usually mute Chris Lowe, which is always a treat, and The Human League's Phil Oakey.

4 Love Etc. – Pet Shop Boys // Yes' lead single is certainly a grower, but it gradually pulls you in as all those contrasting, mesmerizing song parts, courtesy of producers Xenomania, weave a beautiful sonic tapestry.

5 Zero – Yeah Yeah Yeahs // The singer sounds a lot like Chrissie Hynde to my ears in this relentless stomper.

6 King of Rome – Pet Shop Boys // It's the slow-burn masterpiece from Yes; the "Liberation" of its era.

7 The Way It Used to Be – Pet Shop Boys

8 After the Event – Pet Shop Boys // Arguably the crème of the Yes b-sides.

9 Building a Wall – Pet Shop Boys

10 Vulnerable – Pet Shop Boys

11 Torch – Alanis Morissette // More perfectly crafted heartache.

12 Eh Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say) (Pet Shop Boys remix) – Lady GaGa // A masterful example of a remix breathing new life into a song by enhancing — not deconstructing — its strengths.

13 We're All Criminals Now – Pet Shop Boys

14 Legacy – Pet Shop Boys

15 More Than Words Can Say – Carol Hitchcock // A b-side to a non-hit from the somewhat obscure batch of late '80s Stock Aitken Waterman productions that hit iTunes this year, and I couldn't stop listening to it. It's the b-side to a fine tune called "Get Ready." If you've seen Hitchcock's photos — she was a personal trainer or some such — you can imagine men might be frightened when she sings, "Get ready, 'cause here I come."

16 All Over the World – Pet Shop Boys

17 The Fear – Lily Allen

18 Summerboy – Lady GaGa

19 Did You See Me Coming? – Pet Shop Boys

20 Quicksand – La Roux // Striking and irresistible, this was my introduction to the Yaz-indebted newcomer.

More free Erik Hassle

2010-01-21T20:19:00.004-06:00

I'm expecting Erik Hassle to be one of the big breakouts on my playlist in 2010 when his album Pieces is finally released in the US on Feb. 22. He's already buzz-worthy on my charts thanks to a free download of the AMAZING "Don't Bring Flowers" and the lovely acoustic cover of Robyn's "Be Mine" with Ellie Goulding. Now, a free download of the Prison Penguin Remix of single "Hurtful" is available free for the tweeting.

Going Ga Ga (The Fame Monster)

2010-01-21T19:57:00.006-06:00

Verdict: 4.5 out of 5

Ga Ga struck me as little more than a passing curiosity when "Just Dance" crashed onto the radio early in 2009, setting up an incredible run that probably no one at the time would have believed was to come. Then the song perched at number one — a rare achievement for unapologetic dance music — piquing my curiosity as to whether she could parlay that success into something more. At first glance, "Poker Face" just sounded like a retread of the previous hit, and it took a while for it to win me over. I found those menacing male voices — "mwah mwah mwah mwah" — an odd reminder of the Eurodance styles of Ace of Base and Real McCoy. Around the time "Poker Face" was topping the Hot 100, Amazon was pimping the The Fame CD for five bucks, and I thought, "What the hey."

Turns out The Fame is a magnificent piece of work, bottomless with potential hits, and I enjoyed getting to know it while Ga Ga emerged as one of the more creative and engaging forces in pop in quite some time. Songs like "Paparazzi," "Summerboy" and "Poker Face" display an impressive knack for pop songcraft, and I can overlook the occasional uncanny similarity in sound (particularly on "Summerboy") to Gwen Stefani. Around the time I got the album, the stunningly good Pet Shop Boys remix of ballad "Eh Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)" appeared, and I was hooked. Another pivotal moment was the SNL appearance with its intimate piano performance that clearly demonstrated the spark and gravitas of something more than a manufactured pop star.

I think it's premature to declare Ga Ga the new Madonna, but the early appearance of a strong second album when probably a couple of more hits could have been milked from its predecessor does nothing to counter that notion. She gets bonus points, as well, for making The Fame Monster a proper album rather than making it one of those lame re-releases with a couple of calculated singles tacked on.

Lead single "Bad Romance" encapsulates everything that clicked so well for her first string of hits while setting the stage for another impressive run of singles, and it's tough to predict which those will be, given that it's all radio-ready.

Seventies-tinged balled "Speechless" would be an adventurous single choice that could bolster her credibility among those eager to dismiss her as a disposable dance pop diva. It's hard to imagine the unshakable "He ate my heart" chant of "Monster" not making it to radio, and "Dance in the Dark" is emerging as the irresistible "Paparazzi" of The Fame Monster. Word is she'll release a third album late in 2010, and I can't wait to see where her Abba-esque knack for melody and Madonna-esque knack for style and production will take this superstar in the making.

Survivor: Samoa's wtf conclusion

2009-12-22T20:52:00.002-06:00

Never before has the vote for a Survivor winner — let alone any other moment on Survivor — left me as conflicted as that of Survivor: Samoa.

And not just conflicted but speechless, flummoxed and furious, plus a dozen other adjectives.

Like many others, I couldn't believe that evil mastermind Russell Hantz, who often in aside interviews referred to his fellow contestants as dumba**es and made this one of the great Survivor seasons, had not won the game.

If he didn't win in this three-way final vote, it appeared that genial physician Mick would be the obvious winner. Certainly not aw-shucks Natalie White of Arkansas, the ultimate coattail rider.

Wrong. She easily collected the million bucks and title of sole survivor, and even Survivor host Jeff Probst has expressed dismay with the vote on his blog.

The irony of my fury at this result is that I immediately loathed Russell, who seemed like a classic jackass as he emptied canteens and burned socks around camp and displayed utter contempt for anyone or anything other than his advancement in the game. But the truth is his unscrupulous schemes became a joy to watch as he made shady deals with almost every player and pulled off amazing feats such as finding hidden immunity idols before it had even been disclosed that they were in play. My feelings for him evolved from loathe to love to hate to pulling for him in a Dexter or Hannibal Lecter antihero kind of way.

And it became easier to pull for him as many of the other personalities emerged — the selection of likable people has not been a strong suit of Survivor casting of late. The cast was also so huge that we never really got to know a number of them. Brett, who became a key figure, got minimal screen time before beginning his immunity run.

Further irony is that I really, really love it when the underdogs — Natalie being a prime example — pull off an in-your-face coup over the often cocky and arrogant alpha males who are accustomed to dominating the game. I love to see them taken down a peg, because the weak are often targeted as useless and unworthy.

That's the brilliance of Survivor — the way it's a simmering little microcosm of all the human prejudices and foibles exposed for the world to witness in all their naked glory. I love those exit interviews of ousted contestants in which they essentially say, "Well, I was obviously so great that they were afraid of me, and they had to get rid of me. They're all going to die of hunger now and lose all the challenges."

Right. Whatever gets you through the night.

Survivor is very much a social game, and Russell failed to balance the drive to control the game with the necessity of maintaining goodwill. Probst is right that a bitter jury robbed Russell of the million, but it's also critical to remember that a vehemently bitter jury in season one rewarded Richard Hatch, a similarly diabolical figure, with the million because they could admit that they had been outplayed. Samoa's jury, on the other hand, failed to set aside its ego. It's an incredibly tough sell to say that Natalie outplayed Russell, and that's why the gut feeling that this result was simply wrong won't go away. The producers better hope that angry fans don't go away, as well.

Review: Paranormal Activity

2009-10-24T22:08:00.003-05:00

• It's the Blair Witch of the 2000s, and almost as good.

Stars: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat
Director: Oren Peli
Rating (out of 5): &&&1/2
Run time: 1 hr 39 mins

Paranormal Activity, the shoestring-budget movie riding a crest of Blair Witch-sized buzz, is getting a bit overrated, but it's still a movie that every horror fan should make a beeline to see. In a time when empty horror films come and go at the multiplex just about every weekend, this movie proves there is an appetite among audiences for something more than f/x and torture porn, and it's nice to see a fright flick with a brain get some attention. It's been reported that DreamWorks bought the movie with every intention of doing a big-budget version but decided that the lo-fi version was too effective to discard. The movie's rudimentary production style is certainly reminiscent of that of The Blair Witch Project, which, in my opinion, remains the superior of these two movies.

By now, you probably know the basics of the plot — a young couple early in their relationship are having unusual experiences in their home, and the male half (Micah Sloat) decides to set up a camera and audio recorder in the bedroom in an attempt to capture whatever may be happening while they sleep. Early on, we learn that the happenings are attached to the female half (Katie Featherston) and that the noises they both hear and the whispers she hears are the work of a sinister presence. Micah's interest in playing with the electronics is deeper than his conviction that something is really going on until he begins to catch things on tape and the occurrences begin to escalate. Wanting to defend his woman, he also becomes provocative toward the force as the movie goes on, breaking one of the cardinal rules of dealing with the paranormal. It is here that the movie uses one of the staples of the haunted house tale — tension between a couple breeding negative energy that serves to escalate the activity. For all this movie does to cleanse the palate of so many bad horror movies in the 10 years or so since The Sixth Sense and The Ring, it still turns to some familiar devices such as a Ouija board, things that go bump in the night and a snowy television screen. I even found its occasional use of a jolting noise reminiscent of the classic The Haunting, the quintessential horror movie in which the unseen is powerfully frightening — a technique that has been sadly forgotten by too many movie makers.

The best horror movies are those that play on dread and anticipation in unique ways, and Paranormal Activity achieves this in presenting everything from the point of view of Micah's video footage, focusing primarily on a wide view of their bedroom and the hallway. In the beginning, the viewer gets nothing more than a little tease in the overnight footage, which is often time lapsed, but the payoffs gradually increase. By the time the camera captures shadows and footprints creeping into the room, viewers are squirming at the edge of their seats, and the final payoff is truly creepy — almost enough to forgive the grating bullheadedness of Micah's character.

I love the '80s … 1880s!

2009-10-17T14:03:00.003-05:00

Simpy the most hilarious thing I have seen in a while:

Give them a marketing award STAT. The CD is currently on offer for free — yes, FREE — at Amazon MP3.

Don't know much about Erik Hassle …

2009-10-12T19:35:00.006-05:00

… but I know that he has big hair and I really, really dig his synthy song "Don't Bring Flowers," which sounds very 1986 but also very now, which works for me in a way that Nickelback and Taylor Swift would never understand. Even better, I nicked the song as a free download off Popjustice. While it has the retro thing going, the song also has smart lyrics. The refrain of "Don't bring flowers after I'm dead / Save your givings for the living instead" has burrowed with sinister fashion into my brain. In the press materials, Hassle (only 20 years old!) says the song deals with a person who didn't make much of an impression in life, yet everyone is at his funeral. “And that’s like regular life," he says, "where you’re treated like sh*t then people worry about it afterwards. You can’t just stand by not caring: who are you to mourn, don’t touch me when I’m in my coffin.”

Indeed.

The Swede's album is called "Hassle."

Snow Leopard: How many gigs did you gain?

2009-10-12T19:20:00.004-05:00

I've just done the update to the latest version of the Mac OS, 10.6, or Snow Leopard. This svelte update promises to not only be sexier (as always) but to take up less space on your hard drive. The literature says to expect the installation to free up 7 or 8 gigabytes of space. Interestingly, my available space before Snow Leopard was 179 gigs; after the install, it's 202. That's a gain of a whopping 23 gigabytes! At first, I nervously checked to make sure all my files were intact, but nothing is amiss. Anyone else seeing gains like this, or have an idea why this might be?

A night out with the (Pet Shop) boys

2009-09-14T18:43:00.004-05:00

It was a fantastic show Saturday night at the Chastain Park Amphitheater in Atlanta … really happy that we weren't left "wondering why we traveled so far."

We got to meet them in the pre-show meet and greet. As we approached and the previous group was getting their last few seconds, Chris seemed to be saying that The Weather Channel is the greatest thing on American television — "It's nothing but the weather all day long!"

When our turn came, Chris, apropos of nothing, welcomed us with a hyper, "Are you from Nashville!?!?" I told them we're from Mississippi, near Tupelo, ("Such pretty names these places have," Neil observed) and told them we'd love to see them play Memphis sometime. They were sure that they've never played Memphis because they would have gone to Graceland. "We've been in Mississippi," Neil said, and proceeded to describe some geography to Chris.

I asked if they would be doing any more television while on the U.S. tour, and Neil said that there is a possibility they might be on the new Jay Leno show (yuck — they should go on Craig Ferguson's show again). "I don't think it's going to happen, though," he said. Chris commented that American TV doesn't seem to be very interested in them and said that Late Night with Jimmy Fallon didn't want to provide them video screens for last week's performance, so they ended up purchasing televisions for the performance.

I also told Neil how much I love the "Love Etc." video with its video game influences.

And that's that. Never thought I'd meet them nor have my favorite CD signed. Amazing.

I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing

2009-07-05T21:50:00.003-05:00

I've never been a big concertgoer — not many good shows come within easy reach of me here in the relative boonies — but I've managed to see a few interesting ones. In September, though, I will add what for me is the ultimate live performance to the list: The Pet Shop Boys Pandemonium tour at the Chastain Park Amphitheater in Atlanta.

Like me, the PSBs aren't getting any younger, and these opportunities won't come around forever. I've wistfully watched their U.S. tour dates come and go since Nightlife, thinking each time that I ought to go, but never acting on it. So, come Sept. 12, I and the two friends I have who wouldn't give me a strange look for going to a PSB concert — who implicitly understand why I need to have this experience — will make the five-plus hours drive to the big city.

The previous shows I've seen are a wildly mixed bag:

• Tori Amos at The Orpheum in Memphis in 1998.
This was around the time the excellent From the Choirgirl Hotel, with the stomping "Raspberry Swirl," was released, and I remember that song being the highlight of the show. Tori has lost me in recent years; the magnificent To Venus and Back is her last disc that gets any spins in my playlist.

• Amy Grant in Tupelo.
Don't remember the year, but I went with the parents because they had a spare ticket. I was a casual fan of her pop hits, particularly "I Will Remember You." She should've made an electronic album.

• The Eagles in Tupelo.
Don't remember the year, but it was early 2000s. Thought my ears were going to bleed before it was over. The highlight for me was the performance of Don Henley's synthy solo hit "Sunset Grill" — always loved that one.

• Elton John at Tupelo.
This was a great experience, shared with my mother and a friend who has since drifted out of my life. Elton gave 200 percent for several hours, and the real treat for me was that he opened with one of my favorites, "Simple Life," a minor hit from The One. Wouldn't have bet on that in a million years.

Now, more than 20 years after my fandom began, the PSBs will join this list. It's costing me an obscene amount of money (yes, three "VIP" seats), and my mind is filled with all the things that could go wrong: What if it rains? With my luck, a hurricane will come ashore and sit over Atlanta. What if there's car trouble on the long drive? Can't just take a taxi to Atlanta. What if a seven-foot-tall drag queen sits in front of me? What if the sound quality is hideous? The possibilities seem endless.

But some experiences in life are worth throwing caution to the wind. With Very and all the others in my heart, I'll make the journey and hope to be rewarded with a red-letter day.

Remembering Michael Jackson

2009-06-26T14:36:00.006-05:00

Michael Jackson's Bad was one of the first CDs that I owned, alongside Actually by the Pet Shop Boys and Jody Watley's self-titled solo debut. As a 14-year-old drawn to the embarrassment of riches of electronic pop filling the airwaves, I wasn't impressed by the first single from Bad, the rather sappy ballad "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" with Siedah Garrett, but most of the rest of the album offset that first impression. Bad became a hot topic at school, and I can remember trying to work out the lyrics to "Smooth Criminal" with my friends: "Eddie are you walking? Are you walking? Are you walking, Eddie?"

File that one under famously misheard.

Those were the days when a big hit album could easily go four or five singles deep, and Bad went no less than seven, with five worthy chart toppers. And, in the U.S., some of the best tracks weren't even tapped as singles. In retrospect, the prescient "Leave Me Alone" seems like a no-brainer choice to have been one of the first few singles off Bad. Even if it was a CD-only bonus track, why leave it on the table and release an obviously weaker song, such as final single "Another Part of Me"? "Speed Demon," too, with its muscle and bluster, seems an obvious single. I can easily imagine the music video, with Jackson zooming around in sunshades at night on a motorcycle, working his "bad" routine.

While I certainly noticed "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" in the early 1980s (and they are arguably better songs than anything on Bad), I wasn't yet a music consumer, and that leaves 1991's Dangerous as the only other Jackson album I own. It was a peculiar mixed bag and overrun with the influence of "New Jack Swing," a style that I generally found underwhelming. Tracks like "Why You Wanna Trip On Me" and "Keep the Faith" simply felt like Jackson was trying way too hard, although "Who Is It" is a paranoid gem and "Jam" is hard-driving fun. With Nirvana's Nevermind following Dangerous at number one early in 1992, I associate the album with a time when the public was turning its back on the styles that I loved.

In a sign of how sharply his fortunes changed, I can't recall even hearing a single from 2001's Invincible on the radio. Anything is possible, but it's hard to believe there was another big hit in Jackson's future. I would love to have been proven wrong, though, and yesterday's loss feels as if a cornerstone of the world of pop has been yanked away.

Belatedly, 2008's top tunes

2009-03-09T20:13:00.004-05:00

Is it too late for a retrospective post on 2008? Hope not, because this is the first of two or three.

According to the statmeisters of last.fm, the following songs are my 20 most-played of 2008:

20 Road to Somewhere – Goldfrapp
It was very much the year of Goldfrapp on my playlist. I first crossed paths with Goldfrapp via a free iTunes download of "Ooh La La" from Supernature, but it was 2008's folk-tronica release Seventh Tree that led to Goldfrapp scaling my artist chart. Easily my favorite release of the year, it propelled Goldfrapp from the lower reaches of my top 50 artists to number four.

19 Holiday Road – Lindsey Buckingham
Theme from the great National Lampoon's Vacation.

18 Nikita – Elton John
I tend to fixate on random '80s songs such as this, #17 and #15 for periods of time.

17 Hold Me – Fleetwood Mac

16 X-Files (UNKLE Remix) – UNKLE
The movie I Want to Believe, while not altogether bad, was certainly not what the franchise needed at this point. This new interpretation of Mark Snow's classic theme, however, is simply brilliant.

15 I'm Your Man – Wham!

14 You Never Know (Live in London) - Goldfrapp

13 So You Say – The Bird and the Bee
The retro-modern bliss of songs such as this, "Birthday" and "Polite Dance Song" made The Bird and the Bee my second-biggest breakout of the year.

12 Birthday – The Bird and the Bee

11 I Told Her on Alderaan (Richard X Andress Mix) – Neon Neon
I have no idea what this song means, but it's really catchy pop with a strange Star Wars reference.

10 Light Years – Kylie Minogue

9 Some People - Goldfrapp

8 Happiness - Goldfrapp

7 Underneath – Alanis Morissette
Alanis had steadily been losing me to the point that I never bought the last album, although "Everything" was a nice single. The new album is — dare I say it — a return to form.

6 Little Bird - Goldfrapp

5 4 Minutes - Madonna

4 Clowns - Goldfrapp

3 Number 1 - Goldfrapp

2 Give It 2 Me – Madonna
I had myself all psyched up to hate Hard Candy based on the stylings of Timbaland and Timberlake and the fact that Confessions on a Dancefloor was a creative peak, but I ended up really digging it. This, the second single, is a perfect example of why. The "get stupid" breakdown is killer. It's a shame that it has become so in vogue to dis Madonna.

1 A&E – Goldfrapp
Absolutely sublime. It's disheartening that a song this amazing gets completely ignored in the U.S.

BMG Music Service calls it quits

2009-03-09T18:59:00.005-05:00

Another sign that the world is moving on arrived in my e-mail box today: A note from BMG Music Service informing me that the music club is folding as of June 30. I guess this time they really mean it when they say the offer for that stack of CDs comes "with nothing more to buy … ever."

They're replacing the club with a new service, yourmusic.com, which sounds like a boneheaded, cue-based Netflix approach, except you don't send the music back.

I've been a member of BMG since the early '90s. Like everybody else, I couldn't pass up those dozen CDs for a penny deals, and it was a decent way to boost a music collection, even if their editions were sometimes dodgy. I can remember some of the cassettes I got back in the day didn't include liner notes. And it was a pain to have to mail in that card declining the featured selection that you wouldn't want in a million years.

Steep shipping charges and the delay for new releases were always problems, but a bigger obstacle in recent years has been lack of selection. There have been numerous times when, lured to the site by an offer of 60 percent off with no shipping and handling, I would have bought something if there were anything I wanted. Looking for Goldfrapp's back catalog? Go elsewhere.

Of course, BMG deals in physical media, which can't catch a break these days. Really, though, when Amazon MP3 sells a hot new album for a few bucks on release day, it's not a surprise that the era of the music club gets an obit this year.

Love Etc.

2009-03-08T15:45:00.004-05:00

On the first couple of listens to "Love Etc.," the Xenomania-produced lead single from Yes, the forthcoming Pet Shop Boys album, I was shaking my head "no." I wasn't feeling it. With a couple more listens, it started to make sense, and it had firmly taken hold by about the sixth listen. I'd even say it's probably their best lead single since Very. It's the killer melody of the whole "Boy it's tough getting on in the world" bit that seals the deal. They're right to say that it doesn't sound like anything they've done before, although the percolating rhythm vaguely recalls "Can You Forgive Her?"

If we needed another sign that Yes may be the proper pop-tastic successor to 1993's Very that the pre-release buzz had wrongly suggested 2006's Fundamental would be, the animated video is at least a small one, as it recalls the computer-generated beauty of Very singles such as "Liberation." This homage to side-scrolling video games is beautifully and cleverly constructed; it's arguably weird but undeniably inspired.

The U.K. gets the album on March 23; the U.S. has to wait until April 21.

Pet Shop Boys vs. Flo Rida

2009-01-12T19:06:00.004-06:00

Item number one:
My reaction to the Pet Shop Boys' new album being titled Yes: No.

I seem to be in the minority of fans who dislike the title, but it feels like they're not even trying. For something in the affirmative, I'd go for a title such as Definitely. Pet Shop Boys, Definitely. It's more true to the spirit (holy trinity?) of Please, Actually and Very.

Apparently this album will drop in the U.S. on March 24, and that works out quite nicely: It's my birthday. : - )

Item number two:
I'm as much about silly pop songs as the next music fan who never grew up, but it hurts my music-loving heart to see something as asinine as Flo Rida's "Low" become the number one song of an entire year. It was bad enough to see the song sit atop the Hot 100 for 10 weeks, and to see it as Billboard's number one song of the year is an insult to music, particularly all the great stuff that never gets radio exposure. But that's coming from someone who started to feel my love affair with the top 40 was out the window around the time "Rump Shaker" sat on the top five.

Movies: Oliver Stone's W.

2008-12-07T12:42:00.002-06:00

Verdict: &&&1/2

It turns out that George W. Bush and I do have something in common — a taste for Dr. Pepper, that most addictive of beverages (even if I'm now confined to the caffeine-free version). It's one of the rather mundane details that director Oliver Stone makes clear in W., a film in which I believe Stone has fairly pure intentions (this is no Michael Moore-style ambush). I went to the movie seeking a bit of catharsis — a purging of some of the emotional disappointment of the past eight years — as well as perhaps a few insights into how Bush II came to be. Check the expectations at the door, and there's fun to be had here.

Weaving past and present, Stone shows us the young W. as a man who indulged in the privileged fun life while continually struggling to gain the approval of his accomplished father. Fast-forward to the 2000s, and the current W is seen planning the war in Iraq, devising the "axis of evil" rhetoric and puzzling over those elusive WMDs. One of Stone's missteps is focusing almost exclusively on Iraq and ignoring the highly disputed and suspect election outcome in 2000.

A serious challenge for this movie is that it's just about impossible to stop evaluating the cast's approximation of their respective characters and fully give in to Stone's narrative. Josh Brolin, at least, owns his character; the first time he did the Bush laugh, it was so true to life that I wanted to rewind and hear it again. Also precisely on the money is Scott Glenn as Donald Rumsfeld; in a great scene in which the principles are commiserating about the absence of WMDs over lunch, Rumsfeld is singularly focused on the pleasures of a fabulous slice of pecan pie. Toby Jones also rises to the occasion as political weasel Karl Rove, the man who knew how to help Bush push the people's buttons (at least before 2008, anyway). From there, it's a decidedly mixed bag: Thandie Newton, as Condoleezza Rice, turns in a sub-Janet Jackson-on-SNL effort; Jeffrey Wright makes a reasonable stab at Colin Powell's voice of reason; and James Cromwell is impossible to separate from James Cromwell in the role of George H.W. Bush.

Stone comes closest to revelatory in the scenes in which W. consults with his church pastor, seeking to light his inner fire. Someone who went so single-mindedly in the directions Bush did must have felt some divine anointment. Stone aims to tie it all together in a series of fantasy interludes in which Bush stands before a stadium full of roaring baseball fans. It's high-concept and a noble attempt, but it's not the grandiose spiritual revelation audiences crave, particularly when it leaves the movie feeling as if it doesn't have an ending.

The new Keane album for $2.99, omfg

2008-10-14T12:47:00.003-05:00

• Some days it's fun to be a consumer.

So I go to do my daily check at Amazon's MP3 store to see what's today's deal, and I did a spit take with my coffee upon seeing Keane's new album, Perfect Symmetry, which hit stores today, on offer for "the unbelievably low price" of $2.99!

It's the kind of release I normally would have pre-ordered, counting on Amazon to get the physical CD to my mailbox on release day or the day after. Glad I didn't go that route this time.

iTunes is playing hard for this one, as well: Apple's music store is offering the deluxe edition, which includes a bonus track, a whole album of demos and some video stuff, for $12.99. But it's saddled with DRM and lesser audio quality -- one of the big reasons iTunes is steadily losing me to Amazon.

This is the first time I've noticed a major new release offered as the MP3 deal of the day. Will we be so lucky next month when the new Killers album drops?

Giving Perfect Symmetry its first spin right now. "Spiralling" is a hot jam, and I love the geometric art design for this release.

DVD: Shutter

2008-10-12T23:35:00.002-05:00

• Joshua Jackson tries bad horror.

Genre: Horror, remake, J-horror
Director: Masayuki Ochiai
Run time: 1 hr 25 mins
DVD released: July 15, 2008
Cast: Joshua Jackson, Rachel Taylor
Verdict: &1/2

This unnecessary J-Horror knockoff (it's actually a remake of a movie from Thailand) answers the question of whether Dawson's Creek's Pacey (Joshua Jackson) can carry a horror movie. Not that there's anything particularly wrong (or right) with his acting (that goes for his role in FOX's mediocre new X-Files wannabe, Fringe, as well), but I kept expecting Dawson or Katie Holmes to come 'round the corner. With its Vengeful Female Spirit and Secrets from the Past, this movie feels as if it were made by someone whose only cinematic references are The Ring and The Grudge and all the lame imitators that followed. The Jackson character and his new wife, played in full I-want-to-be-Naomi-Watts mode by Rachel Taylor, begin to find ghostly images in their photographs — both casual snapshots and in the professional work of Jackson's character. And that could be mildly interesting, but the movie can't even nail ghostly photos in a compelling fashion. The one almost-frightening moment involves a boy gazing at a window reflection on a subway train, and the rest you'll anticipate before it even happens. Shutter is one of those tired movies that leaves you wondering why anyone bothered; it's a picture totally out of focus. // DVD NOTES // Nothing like a steaming pile of cinematic dung gussied up with a dozen self-important featurettes, is there? Everything from shooting in Japan to tips for ghost hunting is covered. Alternate and deleted scenes, including an alternate ending, and audio commentaries are also needlessly included.

DVD: Sex and the City - The Movie

2008-09-28T15:51:00.003-05:00

• Can 'Sex' last too long?

Genre: Comedy, TV/book adaptation
Run time: 2 hrs 25 mins (!)
Director: Michael Patrick King
Cast: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon
Verdict: &&1/2

The Sex and the City movie explores a most probing question: Can sex last too long? Turns out that, as much as I enjoyed catching SATC for the first time in reruns on TBS, the movie felt about as fun as going to church. All the necessary elements are there, but with a run time befitting heavier fare, the first big screen foray for these NYC ladies seems never-ending and a bit self-indulgent; perhaps it needs that half-hour sitcom structure to keep its comedy and drama sharp and taut. The plot finds Mr. Big doing exactly the kind of dithering you'd expect as his wedding date with Carrie Bradshaw looms, while Miranda gets the real downer subplot as Steve screws up. Samantha, as always, is funniest in her lively sexcapades, such as when she covers her body with sushi, although her relationship will also reach a turning point (get out the tissues, ladies). Ultimately, I just wanted them to get on with it all. The movie feels a good hour too long; the universal appeal of SATC has been neutered into a treacly chick flick. // DVD NOTES // You'd expect some deleted scenes or outtakes, but a director's commentary and trailer are all you get.

Preview, review: The Ex List & Gary Unmarried

2008-09-24T19:58:00.004-05:00

The Ex List (Fridays, 9e / 8c, debuts Oct. 3)
The premise of this new Ghost Whisperer neighbor feels more like a movie idea than a network program: Bella Bloom visits a psychic who informs her that she has already met the perfect mate, which sends her mind reeling to all the men who have come and gone before. Each, presumably, will fill an hour-long episode. In the premiere, it's a geeky warbler whom Bloom dumped rather unceremoniously years ago. Now on a mission to find her soul mate, Bloom first looks up that former paramour, only to find that he's transformed into a studly rocker. Will he get over Bloom's cold dis of yore and give love another shot? Their tango proves surprisingly entertaining. As a partner to the mom-friendly (that is, not very good) Ghost Whisperer, the show aspires to a sort of sexy dramedy feel, surrounding Bloom with an assortment of young hotties getting up to silliness like shaving their privates, and it nails both fairly effectively in the first outing. Premiere episode: &&&

Gary Unmarried (Wednesday, 8:30e / 7:30c, debuted tonight)
Former SNLer Jay Mohr anchors Old Christine's timeslot partner in CBS' bid to launch a Wednesday comedy block. He acquits himself well in the premiere of this new sitcom, which is competent if not particularly distinguishing in a first episode that finds the recently divorced Gary (Mohr) sparring with his ex, Allison (Paula Marshall), over issues such as whether teenage son Tom (Ryan Malgarini) is being appropriately supervised while he has a young female visitor in his room. Meanwhile, Ed Begley Jr. is trotted out as the couple's marriage counselor and Allison's inappropriate new love interest. It's pleasant enough in its debut, but it may need more than the lovely Christine's uncertain ratings coattails to hang around. Premiere episode: &&&

Pictured: Gary Unmarried's Mohr and Marshall / CBS

Preview: CBS' Worst Week isn't the worst premiere of the new season

2008-09-21T21:01:00.004-05:00

Worst Week (Monday, Sept. 22, 9:30e / 8:30c)

CBS rather undersold this new Monday night sitcom with those commercials showing Sam Briggs (Kyle Bornheimer) standing on a doorstep in what looks to be a big ol' diaper with a dorkified look on his face. Based on that, I had dismissed it as a likely asinine sitcom and an unworthy successor to the previous occupant of this time slot, the excellent New Adventures of Old Christine, which has been unceremoniously bounced to Wednesday night's new comedy hour. But the premiere episode is really a cleverly crafted exercise in misfortune and misunderstanding endlessly piled one upon another as Briggs tries in vain to impress the parents of his knocked-up girlfriend, Melanie (Erinn Hayes). Clever, even if urine does figure into the episode. Who knows if the show can sustain the momentum of the first episode, but the cast is a hoot, thanks largely to Kurtwood Smith, the stern and disapproving father from That '70s Show, hamming it up as Melanie's — you guessed it — stern and disapproving father. The gentler condescension of My Name Is Earl's Nancy Lenehan as Melanie's mother, Angela, is equally hilarious. Premiere episode: &&&1/2

Pulling 'Teeth'

2008-05-18T14:12:00.003-05:00

So I walked into my local Movie Gallery yesterday afternoon all stoked to rent Teeth, the horror movie/cautionary fable about a teen girl with a toothed hooha (seriously). I couldn't find it on the shelf among the new releases, so I asked the clerk. She instantly knew what I was talking about. "Nobody has it," she informed me. "They've pulled it." It's certainly up for sale on Amazon, so I'm wondering if this is a regional thing -- I couldn't find any references on-line to stores pulling the title. Apparently the subject matter is too hot to handle, at least here in the puritanical South, where no one has ever seen, touched or thought about a female's hooha. Better to be thinking about guns and some more ways that we can divide ourselves by race, religion and eye color.

The clerk hit the nail on the head: "It makes me want to see it even more." You go, girl. I'll be placing my order soon.

View the trailer for Mitchell Lichtenstein's Teeth, which received uniformly positive reviews, here: TEETH TRAILER

Books: The Water's Lovely • Ruth Rendell

2008-05-03T12:48:00.004-05:00

Genre: Mystery, psychological suspense
Released: July 17, 2007
Verdict: &&&

Having read about two dozen novels by Ruth Rendell and her alter ego, Barbara Vine, I've never felt I could sense the old master pulling the strings of her hapless characters until The Water's Lovely. At the heart of the plot is a dark family secret — no surprise there — involving the death of a stepfather-to-be of a pair of sisters. It's not giving anything away to say that one of the sisters had a hand in his death, and it casts a shadow over the rest of their lives and drives their mother to madness. Repercussions of that murderous act surface later in life as the two court prospective mates. Meanwhile, Rendell's wicked, deadpan sense of humor is in rare form, and she's having nearly too much fun with a character who is consumed with hypochondria, a young lady who sits with the elderly while plotting to get in their good graces and then kill them for their fortune, and a character who encounters the miseries of dating in late middle age. It's all spun with her usual skill and elegant prose but feels a tad contrived when measured against late-period peaks such as A Sight for Sore Eyes.

Incidental >> Rendell's next novel, Not in the Flesh, an entry in the venerable Wexford series, is due June 10.

Summer of (M.) Night

2008-03-09T22:41:00.004-05:00

Remember a couple months back when I waxed optimistic about what’s shaping up to be a great summer at the cineplex? Of course you don’t, but there’s another addition to the list, M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening. Setting aside the mild disappointment of The Village and the near-apocalyptic disappointment of Lady in the Water, M. Night’s work is still must-see in my book. I’m also setting aside concerns about apparent similarities to Stephen King’s Cell, which has already seen an alleged copycat in The Signal, a movie that hit limited release a few weeks back. Nevertheless, The Happening should have a strong lead in Mark Wahlberg. The somewhat obtuse trailer, complete with some au courant raving about the disappearing bees, can be seen here.

This is our revised essential summer viewing:

Speed Racer • May 9
Sex and the City • May 30
The Happening • June 13
The X-Files 2 • July 25

Rolling up the charts

2008-03-08T15:14:00.003-06:00

Now that Last.fm has been tracking my listening habits for a good while, I thought it would be fun to take a look at my rolling three-month chart to see what's been gaining steam in my iTunes of late (I've culled out a couple of Christmas tunes, just because). There's always something in my top charts that surprises me a bit, so here goes:

10 MGMT, "Time to Pretend (Radio Version)"
Probably my second favorite new song of the year thus far, this anthemic stomper quickly gets under the skin, as do its cheeky lyrics.

9 Will to Power, "Fly Bird"
Will to Power came back to mind last year when I drug out the old cassette single (cassingle) collection. I had their first eponymous album on cassette, but I never had the second album, Journey Home, which spawned the top 10 single "I'm Not in Love," a cover of the 10cc tune. The album is plentifully available from Amazon sellers for a penny, so I snagged a copy out of curiosity. It's fairly awful, but "Fly Bird," an empowerment ballad that bears some musical similarities to their big hit, "Baby I Love Your Way / Free Bird Medley (Free Baby)," soars to similar heights and is their one lost, shoulda-been hit.

8 Icehouse, "Crazy"
The opening wash of moody synths and guitar absolutely slays me — it is '80s perfection and a wonderful lean-in to a great pop song.

7 Goldfrapp, "A&E"
The song of the year thus far for 2008, it's lyrically fascinating. She's in a backless dress on a pastel ward, and I can't get enough of this folky electronica.

6 Goldfrapp, "Number 1"
I never bought Supernature but have gradually been downloading the tracks; this is the latest. The only artist to appear twice in the top 10 — she's my Saturday; she's my number 1.

5 Madonna, "Keep It Together (single remix)"
Following the lead of "Like a Prayer" and "Express Yourself," here's another single mix that easily one-ups the Like a Prayer album version.

4 Jermaine Stewart, "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off"
I didn't give this song a second thought back in the '80s, but it's really a great jam, even if it seems to owe a large debt in production style to Whitney Houston's "How Will I know." And the lyrics are funny-clever: Not a word from your lips / You just took for granted that I'd want to skinny dip.

3 Bryan Ferry, "New Town"
Ferry's "Kiss and Tell" is a classy pop single that just grazed the top 40 in 1987 when it was featured in the Bright Lights, Big City soundtrack and Ferry's Bete Noire album; "New Town" is a hypnotic selection from the latter.

2 Lindsey Buckingham, "Holiday Road"
This one is the result of one of my obsessive quests to obtain a hard-to-find track — in this case, Mavis Staples' "Christmas Vacation," the perfect slice of giddy, holiday pop that is the theme to the movie of the same name (best Christmas movie ever, too). It's extremely difficult to get, and I snagged it on the 10th anniversary Christmas Vacation soundtrack release, of which only 20,000 were pressed and sold only at the Six Flags theme park (don't ask me why). Bunches of them show up on eBay around Christmas. Among the bonuses on that disc are Buckingham's wonderful "Holiday Road" and "Dancin' Across the USA" (two more that aren't out for download) from the 1983 movie National Lampoon's Vacation, whose soundtrack may or may not have ever been released, depending on whom you believe.

1 The Killers, "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town"
Sawdust has been a bit overrated in some quarters — it's a really uneven listening experience — but this live take on the Kenny Rogers and the First Edition classic is a real treat. Some of the first albums I listened to were Rogers' The Gambler and one of his hits collections, and this affecting story-song was on the latter. You've painted up your lips and rolled and curled your tinted hair / Oh, Ruby are you contemplating going out somewhere? Vocalist Brandon Flowers pulls off a tricky one, and the band does a fine interpretation of the music.

Learning about The Bird and the Bee

2008-03-06T15:37:00.003-06:00

Apart from Goldfrapp, my newest crush is The Bird and The Bee. I discovered them courtesy of iTunes, which offered the slightly curios duo's wispy, beautiful rendition of "The Carol of the Bells" as one if its free downloads in the run-up to Christmas. Their breezy, meticulously arranged electronic sound is peppered with retro influences and lifted by Inara George's voice flowing like silk in the breeze. Two EPs, Please Clap Your Hands and One Too Many Hearts, followed their first album, The Bird and The Bee. They are perhaps best known for the provocatively named "F*cking Boyfriend," a song title that belies their breezy, sunny pop disposition. My favorites are "So You Say," an irresistible, '60s-infused pop stomper from Please Clap Your Hands; "Again and Again," one of their most addictive, gentle melodies from The Bird and The Bee; and "Birthday," the danceable opener of One Too Many Hearts. Also fun is their sweet-sounding yet winking take on the Bee Gees ballad "How Deep Is Your Love;" their humor also shines in song titles such as "Polite Dance Song." The four-track EP One Too Many Hearts is officially out March 31, but it is already available for download at iTunes.

Scary: NBC preps 'Fear Itself' horror anthology

2008-03-03T15:05:00.003-06:00

Let's hope this turns out better than TNT's Nightmares & Dreamscapes, which started strong and then tanked: NBC and Lions Gate are prepping Fear Itself, a 13-episode horror and suspense anthology to air on the impatient network at a date yet to be slated. The two have just announced the writing, directing and acting talent attached to the project, which was created by Mick Garris.

Among the biggest names are directors John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), Darren Bousman (Saw II, III and IV [torture porn on network TV, anyone?]) and Brad Anderson (The Machinist). If those names leave you unimpressed, the list of actors, drawing heavily from TV shows such as Heroes, Boston Legal and Judging Amy, will have you nodding off. The writers, however, include folks behind worthy entertainments like 30 Days of Night and Wind Chill, among many others.

Here's a sampling of installments:

Eater // A rookie cop must spend her first night in the precinct watching over a serial killer dubbed "The Eater" (Stephen R. Hart, Shoot 'Em Up). When her fellow cops start acting bizarre, she quickly learns that no one is who they seem. Are they ever?

Spooked // While on a stake out in a haunted house, a private eye (Eric Roberts) is made to confront the demons of his past. Aren't they always?

Community // This one's directed by Mary Harron, who did American Psycho, so that's a promising start. When a young married couple finds the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood, their lives seem ... well ... perfect. But as the dark underbelly of their neighborhood creeps to the surface, they soon realize that their neighbors will go to any extreme — even murder — to make sure that they comply with their twisted sense of conformity. Brings to mind that great X-Files where Mulder and Scully pose as the married couple in a too-perfect suburban neighborhood, doesn't it?

Red Snow // When four criminals find themselves stranded in an old, snow-covered fort, they slowly discover both the fort and the seductive trio of sirens who reside there are filled with deadly secrets. Again, aren't they always?

New Year's Day // A young woman wakes up in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by horrifying zombies. Really, zombies? Again?

I'm a bit surprised to see NBC dipping into a horror anthology. Of course, if the series turns out to be any good, it will surely suffer the fate of Kidnapped and quarterlife and get yanked after one to four episodes.

Not in Kansas anymore

2008-02-23T18:44:00.004-06:00

Don't you hate those "this is why I haven't posted in forever" blog posts? Well, this is one of those posts, more or less.

It was the week of Super Tuesday that derailed me — a week of high drama on many fronts (and I don't mean the Survivor Fans vs. Favorites premiere). I was dispatched to Oxford, Miss., for the week to cover a double-murder trial that had been moved from a neighboring county — plenty of drama in and of itself, but the week proved to be a whirlwind — literally — of other big news.

No offense to the Oxonians, but my foremost thought whenever I am in the town where I attended "Ole Miss" back in the early to mid-'90s is usually, "When can I leave?" And on Super Tuesday, after a full day on a stiff court bench, I had no intention of venturing out and missing coverage of a presidential race that is perhaps the most interesting I'll see in my lifetime.

But nothing much went as planned that week. As promised, storms were brewing as I arrived back at the luxurious Days Inn, and, as I began pecking out the day's trial news on my laptop, the tornado sirens began to blare. While I never saw more than darkly threatening skies above my picturesque view of a covered swimming pool, an EF-3 tornado was blowing through just north of town, upending some people's lives while I contemplated what I might have for dinner. Other tornados hit Memphis and Jackson in Tennessee, and an EF-1 tornado passed just a few miles west of my home base in Corinth, Miss. (you can see the storm tracks here; look towards the bottom for Oxford and toward the right for Corinth). It was a crazy night of switching back and forth between hysterical Super Tornado and Super Tuesday coverage and a frenzy of phone calls with family and friends.

I left Oxford on Friday with an improbably hung jury (11-1) and a weariness that has only begun to lift in the past week or so. Stepping away from the blog for a few weeks has probably been a good thing, anyway. I don't know where Toto is, but I'm ready to roll again.

Falling for Goldfrapp

2008-01-24T13:11:00.000-06:00

I guess I've had my head up my ass, because I've yet to buy a Golfrapp album. I got the feisty "Ooh La La" as a free download ages ago, and I later added "Fly Me Away," which sticks in the brain like a magnet and makes me try to dance (not a good thing). Now comes "A&E," the first single from Seventh Tree, due Feb. 26. The buzz is that this album changes direction, but "A&E" is an instantly lovable tune with a fine video centering on Ms. Golfrapp in a dancing forest. I should just give it up and go place my preorder for the album now …

TV preview: Welcome to the Captain

2008-01-23T22:33:00.000-06:00

• CBS unveils another strong Monday comedy.

Premiere: 8:30/7:30c, Monday, Feb. 4
Verdict through two episodes: &&&1/2

It's hard for any sitcom in the 2000s to shake that sense of laugh-track insincerity and stake out original ground, but it doesn't take long for Welcome to the Captain's charms to do the trick. Aiding the cause is an impressive cast with the likes of Raquel Welch, Jeffrey Tambor (The Larry Sanders Show) and newcomer Fran Kranz, who eases gracefully into his leading role. (There's also Chris Klein [American Pie], who comes across like Jim Carrey Jr. — overly expressive to the point of absurdity). These characters are residents of a storied Hollywood apartment building, El Capitan (known by residents as "The Captain"), where Josh (Kranz) has just moved in and is eyeing another new tenant, Hope (Joanna Garcia). Recurring themes include Uncle Saul (Tambor) and doorman Jesus (pronounced like the Christian figure) busily gossiping over the goings on in The Captain and Saul attempting to woo veteran starlet Charlene (Welch). Josh spends much of the first two episodes trying to endear himself to Hope, an aspiring acupuncturist. The second episode, "Weekend at Saul's," finds Josh hiding out with Saul in his vacation getaway (it's in the upper reaches of the same building), and is the stronger of the first two installments. The ensemble is intriguing, and the pacing doesn't match the predictable ebb and flow of the typical sitcom — the funny is laced with genuine melancholy, as it should be. Cutely quirky (in a good way), Welcome to the Captain feels, right out of the gate, like a show that ought to be around for a while.

TV: The Moment of Truth

2008-01-23T21:08:00.000-06:00

• This 'truth' isn't pretty as FOX lowers the bar.

Airs 9/8c Wednesdays on FOX
Verdict: &

Even setting aside the dubiousness of awarding cash for answers based on responses given during a lie detector test, The Moment of Truth is a vile concept for a television program in which contestants answer a series of increasingly uncomfortable questions. Sometimes the query might be a tad funny — a football player is forced to admit that he sneaked a peek while in the shower — but that does not excuse the more volatile questions whose answers could literally change people's lives. The same contestant is later asked if he has put off having children because he is not sure that his wife will be his lifelong partner. With said wife sitting onstage to provide reactions (and, if she chooses, force a question to be tossed out), he answers "yes," and the uncomfortable conversations that will occur later between this couple can be felt hanging in the air. It's like watching a horrific traffic accident staged for the purpose of entertainment, and just because it is there does not mean anyone should partake. It's a shame to see talented host Mark L. Walberg, who should have been tapped to helm the syndicated game show Temptation, involved with this atrocity, which features another of those boring pseudo-Millionaire sets and tired pseudo-Millionaire money trees. The fact that this format is being produced in 23 other countries, as FOX touts on its website, only proves that pandering for ratings is universal.

This week: New Stephen King, Burnout

2008-01-20T21:06:00.000-06:00

• Notable entertainment product in stores Jan. 22 and a movie in theaters Jan. 25.

Books
Stephen King • Duma Key // What's the last really good King you read? Insomnia? An early Dark Tower selection? The Shining? The last couple novels — Cell and Lisey's Story — have given me some hope that the mid'90s to '00s slump of books like Rose Madder and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon might be waning. Like Lisey's Story, Duma Key appears to be another of his Serious Writer efforts, and that's OK if it's as rich as Lisey's Story, which has its dead weight but is a step in the right direction.

Music
MGMT • Oracular Spectacular // If the album is half as good as the first track, "Time to Pretend," which opens like a bad Erasure track but quickly redeems itself, this will be a must. "Time to Pretend" has been a free download at iTunes.

Natasha Bedingfield • Pocketful of Sunshine // Will she forever be remembered as Daniel Bedingfield's sister and the chick who churned out one great pop single, "Unwritten"? Herein may reside the answer.

Movies
Untraceable // The trailer seems to reveal 90 percent of what happens in the movie, a torture porn twist in which Diane Lane tries to stop a killer who broadcasts his unthinkable handiwork on the Internet, making everyone who looks an accomplice.

DVD
In a quiet week on the DVD front, I'm a tad ashamed to say I would watch The Simple Life: Goes to Camp (10 episodes), and proud to say I wouldn't watch Saw IV (how many more?).

Games
Burnout Paradise (Playstation 3, Xbox 360) // The first incentive I've seen to actually buy a PS3: a title billed as a reinvention of the amazing Burnout series, a racing game focused on crashing and destruction that is a singularly brilliant catharsis.

TV preview: The New Adventures of Old Christine

2008-01-20T13:17:00.000-06:00

• Finally, Christine returns.

Premiere: 9:30/8:30c, Monday, Feb. 4, on CBS
Verdict, episodes 1 and 2: &&&

One of this series' burning questions — will Christine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) ever hook up with Mr. Harris (Blair Underwood) — is answered in the new season's first episode, in which Christine frets over whether she's good in bed and Matthew (Hamish Linklater) decides to quit medical school after an old neighbor shows up in class as a cadaver. Don't get too cozy with the idea of Christine dating Mr. Harris, because she's dating a college boy, albeit unintentionally, by the second episode. The familiar elements of Christine are in place — the pair of snooty school mommies and the very talented Trevor Gagnon as Ritchie, Christine's bright-eyed, inept son. It's disappointing this highlight in the currently bleak comedy landscape and CBS' Monday comedy block didn't get a full-season order from the network, but its return is comfort for those of us longing for some new adventures of old Elaine.

DVD: Joshua

2008-01-18T22:56:00.000-06:00

• This lost 2007 thriller is one to relish.

Genres: Horror, psychological thriller
DVD released: Jan. 8, 2008
Director: George Ratliff
Cast: Jacob Kogan, Sam Rockwell, Vera Farmiga, Celia Weston, Dallas Roberts, Shianne Kolb
Verdict: &&&&1/2

Joshua may owe a debt to movies like The Omen and The Good Son, but it is smarter than either and a welcome, witty addition to the bad seed subgenre. If it is to be called a horror film, it is because its thrills are grounded in the horror of reality — that of screaming children, sibling rivalry and the quicksand of familial despair. Young Joshua (brilliantly portrayed by Jacob Kogan) seems the perfect child for perfect young couple Brad (Sam Rockwell) and Abby Cairn (Vera Farmiga), who have just experienced the birth of their second child, Lily. A bright piano prodigy, Joshua exhibits a quiet aversion to the new arrival, although his emotions become more apparent (at least to the audience, if not the parents): During a family gathering as relatives preen over the infant, Joshua projectile vomits. Soon, sweet Lily begins to cry incessantly, prompting Abby to take the child to the doctor and to gradually come unhinged as Joshua exhibits increasingly bizarre behavior — performing an Egyptian ritual on a stuffed animal and playing a whacked-out rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" on the piano at a school recital are a couple of mild examples. Brad, who is struggling with sinking fortunes at work, eventually becomes wise to the nefarious doings of his son (the revalatory moment, involving a videotape and a whispered, "No one will ever love you," may be the movie's creepy peak), and some finely tuned cat-and-mouse ensues. Adding layers of richness is the movie's endless wit; moments of tension are perfectly balanced with the darkest of humor, and supporting players Celia Weston and Dallas Roberts mine this territory with diabolically good results. The movie got bumped around the 2007 release schedule and never made it to wide release, but that's no surprise — the abruptly provocative ending would incense Friday night popcorn audiences. But, for viewers who appreciates a cerebral thriller, Joshua will be a topic of lively post-viewing discussion and debate on several levels (Hey! You never actually see him do anything bad!), a sure sign that a flick is well worth your time.

// DVD NOTES // Surprisingly, the disc offers a dts soundtrack. A few deleted scenes are mildly interesting but not illuminating, and the same is largely true of the interview material. The theatrical poster, shown here, is so much better than the DVD cover.

// ABOUT THE RATING // The cumulative effect of bad horror movies has taken its toll: Joshua, Stephen King's The Mist and 30 Days of Night have all been rated 4.5 here, but they would have been 4's back in the blog's early days, before all the bad ones made me feel a little more generous toward the really good ones.

Cassingle rewind: Toni Childs • Don't Walk Away

2008-01-12T19:13:00.000-06:00

Label: A&M Records
Hot 100 peak: 72 in 1988
"What was I thinking?" index: 0 (none)
Tracks: "Don't Walk Away," "Hush"

// A SIDE // Not to be confused with the nose-chain-wearing Jane Child of "Don't Wanna Fall in Love" fame, Toni Childs is a would-be pop starlet whose excellent debut single was not in the right place at the right time. She was fleetingly a member of Berlin ("Take My Breath Away") before that group produced its first album, so she twice dodged hitting the big-time. "Don't Walk Away," from the album Union, is certainly one of the most obscure selections in my cassingle collection; the song stalled in the lower reaches of the Hot 100 and was her only appearance on that chart, although she did resurface with a dance chart hit in 1994. I only heard "Don't Walk Away" a few times on VH1 while watching for the school bus in the morning (so the cable network was good for something besides I love the 80s), and Childs' commanding delivery of the title lyric, combined with a synthy and brassy, driving pop-rock melody immediately seized the attention of a young pop fan. Listening to the song now for the first time in probably 17 years, I'm reminded of how striking it is, thanks in large part to Childs' big, distinctive voice; with the proper nudge, this well-honed tune surely would have scaled into the top 40. It's essentially a song about love and longing: "Time passes slowly, time passes on / Waiting for my man to call / When there's no man at all /Do I stand here waiting / For the earth to turn to dust," etc.

// B SIDE // The extra track, "Hush," has more of a world music feel; it's not a stretch to imagine Peter Gabriel singing it. "Hush" shares the same knack for melody as "Don't Walk Away" and sounds like something that might show up in the soundtrack to a female-oriented TV drama. This one isn't a B-side exclusive — it also appears on the Union album. For whatever reason, the extra track isn't named on the single's sleeve.

// C SIDE // A couple of other albums and compilations followed Union, and Childs is well represented at the major download sites. After playing the cassingle again (the wheels still turn, and it still sounds good!), I couldn't resist downloading "Don't Walk Away" — how much more broke would the music industry be if we didn't buy the same music in different formats?

More X-Files for the X-philes

2008-01-06T20:58:00.000-06:00

• Finally, Mulder and Scully get a second movie.

Setting aside most or all of season 9, I can't get enough of The X-Files, so the recent news of a second movie finally moving ahead is as exciting as a new season following a devastating cliffhanger at the end of the last.

Slated for July 25, the movie got a release date after Chris Carter and FOX finally cleared up their lawsuit ugliness. I would wager that dispute doesn't hold a candle to the fracases that go on in this house over merely watching The X-Files, because half of us refuse to watch mythology episodes, preferring instead to watch only the stand-alones, and particularly the "monster" ones. I have considered gifting my co-viewer one of those mythology episode collections out of pure meanness.

At least going to see the movie will be an easy choice, because it is confirmed to be a stand-alone (although I'm rooting for at least a cameo from some of the old mythology favorites — the mysterious Smoking Man, weaselly Alex Krycek or the slinky Marita Covarrubias). But the ongoing dispute has meant I'm getting through The X-Files DVDs at a snail's pace as we bicker over what to watch. While many of the non-conspiracy episodes are among my favorites — the Loch Ness-esque "Quagmire," the forest suspense of "Detour," and that one about the brain-eating boy, "Hungry," for a few examples — nothing compares to the complex wonder this series built in the prime of the conspiracy episodes. (Except maybe the new Battlestar Galactica. Get back to me on that after I've seen seasons three and four.) Doesn't matter that The X-Files didn't reach a wholly satisfying conclusion; the journey was its own reward, and now we have the hope of resolution in a future movie.

With Mulder and Scully on board, it's shaping up to be great fun at the cinema this summer. I can't remember the last time I was looking forward to summer movies this much, thanks to these must-sees:

The X-Files (untitled sequel) • July 25
Speed Racer (directed by the Wachowskis) • May 9
Sex and the City • May 30

Eleven things I loved in 2007

2008-01-04T22:09:00.000-06:00

A bit belatedly and in something of an order, although several of these could occupy the number one spot, here are the favorites of 2007:

11 iPhone
With no apologies to the haters, it's the best $399 I ever spent. I love having easy access to the Internet in my pocket, not to mention the pure beauty of it.

10 Stranger Than Fiction
Moving and existential, Stranger than Fiction is undoubtedly the cleverest movie that will ever have the "starring Will Ferrell" tag.

9 Music downloads
Buying music on-line is as addictive as ever, thanks to Amazon trying to under-price iTunes and DRM use limitations appearing to be on the verge of full retreat — both developments are wins for consumers. I'm having more fun shopping for music, too, thanks to song samples, free downloads and the broad selection. Kudos to Radiohead (there's something I never expected to say) for stirring debate and mixing it up with its pick-your-price stunt for its release of In Rainbows.

8 Family Guy
I know: I'm a million years behind on this one, but this show finally ensnared me for good. While snarky baby Stewie and the other characters are a hoot, it's the devastating pop culture parody that kills. Prime example: Peter is given a copy of the cursed videotape from The Ring, and it contains the movie Mannequin, which leaves him a face-contorted victim.

7 30 Days of Night
Sometimes the critical mass is wrong, and this stylish, modern take on vampire lore cleverly set in Alaska's month-long darkness is a prime example. It's arguably the best pure horror film of 2007 and one whose reputation will rise with time, even if the sun doesn't.

6 / 5 30 Rock and The New Adventures of Old Christine
With network comedy on the ropes, these feisty female-fronted laughers sharpened beautifully in their second seasons, giving me a reason to watch at least part of NBC Thursday again and sweetening CBS' pretty good Monday block (excepting the stale How I Met Your Mother).

4 "Remind Me" by Royksopp
I haven't saved a bundle on my car insurance, but I am thankful to Geico's marketing for turning me onto this hypnotic 2003 single, which has taken a place among my all-time top 10 played tracks.

3 The Riches
All the good drama is on cable now, isn't it? FX found something funny, moving and original in this tale of a family of thieving gypsies / travellin' folk / con artists who assume the lives of a newly deceased wealthy family. It was particularly rich when delving into the gypsy subculture, and its second season begins in a few months.

2 Fracture
A mainstream thriller this smart and absorbing is a rarity, and it boasts Anthony Hopkins displaying a fascinating, refined Lecter-ish kind of menace we had no real reason to expect to see again.

1 Stephen King's The Mist
Here's something I'll wager no one really expected from this adaptation of a King novella: a smart exploration of the way people divide themselves and the best King adaptation since Misery.

// Previous favorites // 2006 • 2005

Pictured: As a bible-beating, aspiring martyr, Marcia Gay Harden enlivens Stephen King's The Mist.

TV: ABC's Duel

2007-12-23T15:10:00.000-06:00

• ABC tries another game show. Emphasis on 'tries.'

Finals air tonight, 8/7c
Host: ESPN's Mike Greenberg
Verdict: &&

By the time the announcer promoted a sponsor's soda containing ginseng and twice the caffeine during the premiere of ABC's Duel as the show went to commercial, I felt as if I were watching an SNL parody of today's big-money primetime game shows. With the dark set and faux drama of ominous music and endless pregnant pauses, it embodies all the clichés of post-Millionaire game shows. And, though I've said it a dozen times before, it must be repeated: Duel is yet another European import, proving again that there's not an original idea left for game shows in the U.S. entertainment industry. To ABC's credit, there's a mildly interesting premise at the heart of the game, in which two players face off with 10 chips in their possession. To advance, a player must place a chip next to the correct answer to a multiple-choice question. The twist is the contestant can place a chip next to one answer, all four possible answers, or somewhere in between to cover the educated guesses. Don't cover the correct answer or run out of chips and you're finished. The questions aren't particularly interesting but are at least tougher than average for today's game shows; I liked, "A mosquito can detect your presence from how far away?" The show's tournament format also mixes things up a bit compared to the familiar single-person Q&A, although it doesn't help that most players are winning one faceoff (and then breaking into sobs). Like Greed, the first Millionaire imitator, Duel feels like a bombastic wannabe, although I did find myself watching the whole episode.

Survivor's China resurgence

2007-12-16T17:47:00.000-06:00

• The reality icon restores faith in season 15.

Survivor may no longer be a top 10 ratings powerhouse, but the reality king's 15th season has been a smashing return to form, thanks partly to choosing a genuinely interesting location, something that seemed to become an afterthought in recent years. Maybe I just really needed the break that I took from the show by skipping last season's Fiji excursion, but, for the first time in six or seven seasons, I have watched each and every challenge without fast-forwarding through them, even if that near-pornographic mud wrestling early on was obviously calculated to titillate. In anticipation of tonight's finale, a few thoughts:

• Ultra-cynical waif Courtney, one of my favorite contestants ever, produced one of the greatest Survivor quotes of all time when discussing the castaways voting habits regarding the incredibly annoying and self-congratulatory poker player Jean-Robert, Courtney's nemesis: "Jean-Robert is the Susan Lucci of tribal council … his name is always up there but it never quite happens." (I'm pulling that from memory, so give or take a word.)

• From the beginning, I've felt the hidden immunity idol is a gimmick that smacks of ratings desperation, but it, too, was a source of great comic relief and irony this season as Jaime, obliviously convinced she possessed a hidden immunity idol, confidently played it at tribal council. Host Jeff Probst revealed it was nothing more than set dressing and, stoking the moment perfectly, tossed it into the flames. Priceless!

• A mostly likable cast helped, though there are a few notable exceptions. Frosti joined Jean-Robert on the "wouldn't pee on him to put out a fire" list with his graceless parting comments, in which he lamented getting beat by the flight attendant (Todd) and lunch lady (Denise). Along with Courtney, they are an unlikely triumvirate in the final four (although Denise is likely to be voted out first tonight), which is wonderfully free of self-adoring alpha males.

• It's always tough to predict the winner, but I'm giving the edge to Amanda, who has largely taken the under-the-radar approach. Todd is the kind of strategic mastermind who doesn't win the hearts of jury members, although the ladies may wise up and take him out in the fourth or third slot. Denise is too much of an outsider, in addition to being the odd woman out of the remaining alliance. Courtney's acerbic candor has ruffled some feathers, and some will find her undeserving because of her lack of physical prowess — people are funny like that. That leaves Amanda to cruise to a million bucks.

I can't wait to get wrapped up in another season of Survivor, and I don't remember the last time I felt that way. Verdict for Survivor: China, thus far: &&&&

Movies: I Am Legend

2007-12-16T15:02:00.000-06:00

• A much-anticipated blockbuster is steeped in overly familiar themes.

Genre: Horror, sci-fi, adaptation
Run time: 1:40
Director: Francis Lawrence
Cast: Will Smith, Alice Braga
Verdict: &&&

It's unfortunate that a movie adapted from classic source material — Richard Matheson's 1954 novel — can end up feeling derivative of countless other zombie, virus and zombie-virus movies, but that's the fate of I Am Legend, which never musters the depth to make the viewer feel much more than the predictable tension of jump scares and chase scenes. Scientist Robert Neville (Will Smith) is, or thinks he is, the last person left alive after the cure for cancer goes terribly wrong (a clever touch), transforming the populace into vampire-like creatures that feed on human blood and do not mix with sunshine. Immune to the virus, Neville, with his dog friend, an emotive crutch for the movie, hunts deer by day on the car-littered streets of New York City, where the only sounds are those of birds and bugs. He works on a cure for the virus in his basement lab, using rodents and captured mutants as test subjects. He entertains himself with a fancy TV, visiting a video store daily to pluck new selections from the shelves and to interact with the mannequins he has placed along the way to make the world feel less empty. His wristwatch alarm is set to remind him when it's time to retreat to the security of home, where windows and doors are covered with steel barriers. As Neville appears to be on the trail of a cure, his circumstances take an increasingly desperate turn as the infected become wise to his location. While his encounters with the infected do build suspense, the movie fails to make the viewer truly feel the depths of isolation and desperation that would have tormented the man's fragile emotions, leaving this a less moving story than it could have been. Still, with this movie and, particularly, I, Robot, Smith deserves kudos for bringing smarter ideas to the blockbuster movie.

// DID YOU KNOW? // I Am Legend is the third movie based on Matheson's novel, following The Last Man on Earth (1964) and The Omega Man (1971).

Amazon and Radiohead: Shaking up CD vs. MP3

2007-12-12T15:06:00.001-06:00

I'm already a compulsive iTunes user, but when it comes to buying digital music, I've been a "single" man thus far, plucking favored tracks here and there rather than buying complete albums. But the grip of the physical CD may be loosening — at least for artists other than the few I'm completely obsessed with — as I've downloaded two MP3 albums in the past week.

It was probably just a matter of time until Amazon truly grabbed my attention with its music downloads, and it officially happened last weekend as I was ostensibly shopping for Christmas gifts but secretly plotting to buy the new Killers CD, Sawdust. As part of a sale on certain download albums, the whole 17-track affair was on offer from Amazon for $7.99, and there was no passing that up, especially with a track list that throws in a remix of "Mr. Brightside." Amazon offers a downloader application to ease the process, and it came with a free track, to boot, by The Apples in Stereo. The downloader is a sleek and efficient app that — no surprise here — downloads the purchased songs, but it also automatically adds them to the library of your iTunes or whatever player you might be using. A couple minutes later I was enjoying The Killer's lovely cover of Kenny Rogers and the First Edition's "Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town" and the synthy-rock magic of songs like "Sweet Talk." With high-quality DRM-free tracks at prices that often beat iTunes (and, for me, have the added advantage of no sales tax), Amazon is poised to effectively challenge iTunes, which recently eliminated the premium pricing of the DRM-free iTunes Plus tracks. Consumers stand to benefit as the two compete and DRM is (I hope) shown the door.

Then there's Radiohead's pick-your-own-price gimmick with its download of a full album, In Rainbows. Although Radiohead doesn't appeal to me a great deal, I decided to give it a shot before the closing a few days ago of the download site, the only place where the album was available. My chosen price? One pound, or about $2. You can view that in two ways — that it's too cheap and an insult to the artist, or the point of view that I take — it's two bucks Radiohead never would have gotten from me any other way. It's clever marketing that is exposing some casual and non-fans of Radiohead to the band's music and potentially inspiring them to buy other Radiohead albums.

In Rainbows is a pleasant listen, rather moody and far from the kind of in-your-face rock that generally turns my stomach. I disliked the track "Bodysnatchers" off the bat but liked "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi," "Reckoner" and "House of Cards" on the first listens.

And aside from the convenience and quality of these digital albums, there's another bonus: two less discs to add to my mountain of CDs.

200th post: By Friday, life has killed my blog

2007-12-10T23:41:00.000-06:00

I missed posting on the Jeblog's second anniversary back in the summer, so I'm taking advantage of this 200th post to engage in some personal and behind-the-scenes thoughts, something rarely done on this blog:

• If this blog were going to die, it would have happened a long, long time ago, like in mid-2006. I try to not ever go longer than a week without giving new postage, but occasionally it happens. Fortunately, my niche comes with a never-ending fount of material. If it weren't for the darned necessity of earning a living at a job that consumes most of my day and often much of my will to live, I'd be posting nigh daily.

• Speaking of the niche, I sometimes think this should have been just a horror blog, or the horror aspect should have been a separate blog. But I'm not the only person on the planet whose favorite entertainments are electronic pop music, horror movies and game shows, am I? OK, maybe I am.

• Regular visitors may have noticed the roundup of new movies and weekly product of note (CDs, DVD, books and occasionally a video game) has waffled between sidebar content and a full post. This is likely to continue, as some weeks, like these at the end of the year, don't bring much new stuff. But new releases will continue to be teased and updated one way or the other on Sundays, unless I'm really hung over, because I need to know if there's a good scary movie or a new Enya album to anticipate in the coming week.

• Overall, I think the Jeblog's tone and direction have sharpened in 2007, and I hope my blog friends would agree.

• Link love is very appreciated, and it's a great way to get into my highly exclusive sidebar.

• When I'm feeling introspective, I like to think of my life in contrasting segments: pre-blog / post-blog, for example. My post-blog life contains some notable ones: pre-Katrina / post-Katrina, pre-heart murmur / post-heart murmur.

We all have our burdens. And life — and posting — goes on.

From the vault: Dark Shadows (1991)

2007-12-09T14:08:00.000-06:00

• 1991 saw a brief TV remake of the classic vampire soap.

Genre: Horror, vampire, soap, remake
DVD released: Oct. 18, 2005
Cast: Ben Cross, Barbara Steele, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jim Fyfe, Roy Thinnes, Michael T. Weiss, Lysette Anthony
Verdict: &&

With the successful daytime serial Dark Shadows (1966-1971) and movies such as Burnt Offerings, the late Dan Curtis was a reliable purveyor of genteel drawing room horror. He returned to the well in 1991 with 12 primetime episodes of Dark Shadows for NBC, a series of which I was surprisingly unaware until coming across this DVD set (perhaps the Gulf War preemptions at the time kept it off my radar). With some exceptions, it follows the general story arc of the original series, which produced more than 1,200 (!) episodes, and the 1970 film House of Dark Shadows. In each series and the movie, vampire Barnabas Collins is on the prowl, and Curtis introduced a clever wrinkle into the standard vampire lore with Collins' desire to untether himself from his cursed existence. In the '91 version, this happens with the aid of Dr. Julia Hoffman (Barbara Steele), who learns of Collins' nature and proposes a cure — Curtis surely gave us one of the earliest examples here of the reluctant vampire, an idea that continues to repeat in stories such as CBS' current Moonlight series. Coinciding with Collins' experiment, Victoria Winters (Joanna Going) has become governess at Collinwood Manor, where Collins passes himself off as a relative from England. As in the original series, an old nemesis, Angelique, confronts Collins, and a séance in episode six transports Victoria to 1790 while a stranger from 1790 appears in her place. For modern audiences, the show may jump the shark here, as the same actors we have watched through the first five episodes now play different roles during both time periods (it should be noted, however, that the original series' actors often played numerous roles, although Steele's French accent in the 1790s role is ridiculously over the top, even if she turns in one of the stronger performances overall). The midpoint sag in storytelling and believability is somewhat redeemed in the final episodes, which find the fiery Reverend Trask (Roy Thinnes, hamming it up beautifully) on a crusade to convict Victoria of witchcraft. Some lapses in production judgment are painfully evident throughout — numerous night sequences are clearly shot during the daytime hours, making it impossible to hold on to the thread of believability (the original series did this as well, though I haven't seen enough to know if the results were better). The cast is actually pretty good; Cross is a more charismatic villain than the rather weaselly Jonathan Frid of the original series, and, somewhat amusingly, 3rd Rock from the Sun's Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes one of his earliest TV appearances as a mischievous youngster, one of Victoria Winter's pupils. The series stands as a curiosity of early '90s television and is markedly of its time in choices of obscene sweaters and big, frizzy hairstyles — ironically, the show picked up an Emmy for hairstyling but, unsurprisingly, nothing else, although it did earn some genre awards.

// DVD NOTES // The transfer is fine, but the complete lack of extras is disappointing. Can't we have a nibble, at least comments from a few participants?

// RELATED // House of Dark Shadows (1970 movie)

// MORE DARK SHADOWS? // A new feature-film Dark Shadows adaptation is in development by Johnny Depp's production company. Much of the original series is available on DVD, and a pilot for a 2004 WB series was shot but not picked up for series.

Movies: Stephen King's The Mist

2007-12-04T19:55:00.000-06:00

• The Mist is a crown jewel compared to many King adaptations.

Genre: Horror, sci-fi, adaptation
Director: Frank Darabont
Run time: 2:05
Cast: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher, Toby Jones, Frances Sternhagen, Nathan Gamble
Verdict: &&&&1/2

There's plenty of fodder to argue that Stephen King sometimes wants for originality, but Stephen King's The Mist is too well-crafted a movie to even go there. If it weren't for 30 Days of Night a few weeks ago, I'd be calling this the best horror movie since The Ring, although, like the most successful King adaptations, it succeeds by focusing as much on the human elements of the story as on the supernatural. With The Mist, Director Frank Darabont, who also helmed The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption, has crafted one of the truly great King adaptations and possibly made it even more enjoyable than the original novella from the Skeleton Crew collection, which had a verve lacking in many of King's latter-day short stories. The tale takes place in a small Maine town where a severe storm is followed by a thick, creeping mist. David Drayton (Thomas Jane), his young son and his combative neighbor set out to the local grocery for supplies after the storm. While there, the fog settles in just as an old man bleeding from the nose runs in shouting about "something in the mist" taking a man. It is here that Darabont expertly seizes the potential of the story: The grocery contains a motley crowd of folk who are now isolated together, and, as they are tested, their worst traits rise to the surface — it becomes Survivor: Food Mart. The first time we glimpse what's in the mist, it verges on hokey, but the movie continually picks up steam from there, and the later encounters with what lurks in the mist are incredibly intense, action-filled, edge-of-your seat nail-biters. Those segments are brilliantly woven with the character drama. While coping with fear and the injured, the group must also contend with Mrs. Carmody (perfectly pegged by Marcia Gay Harden) — a nagging yet solicitous bible-thumper who immediately begins to spout scripture and predictions of doom. Initially met with guffaws and derision, Mrs. Carmody becomes a powerful figure as the situation increasingly descends to hopelessness (the movie's tagline, "Fear changes everything," is oh-so perfect). The story becomes as much about the way people divide themselves and cling to any hysterical shred of hope as it is about the supernatural and unknown — it is about the horrors of the human mind, which King often captures with rare insight. An engaging cast of actors such as Laurie Holden (The X-Files' mysterious Marita Covarrubias) supports Jane as a strong lead, the family man trying desperately to hold it all together and comfort his terrified son. A relentlessly dark movie all the way to the bitterly cold ending, Stephen King's The Mist is a jewel among the King adaptations and an absolute must-see for anyone with an interest in the genre.

// DID YOU NOTICE? // A couple of bonuses for loyal King fans include a prominent shot of a painting of The Dark Tower and the gunslinger in the opening scene and the presence of the great Frances Sternhagen, who played the sheriff's wife in Misery, as Irene, a retired teacher who is among those hiding in the store.

Cassingle rewind: Will to Power • I'm Not in Love

2007-11-21T15:34:00.000-06:00

Label: Epic
Hot 100 peak: #7 in December 1990
"What was I thinking" index: 0 (none), although the parent album is at least a 3 (could live without it)

// A SIDE // Still basking in the glow of their 1988 number one, "Baby I Love Your Way / Free Bird Medley (Free Baby)," Will to Power went with another sleekly produced ballad for the first single from the 1990 follow-up album, Journey Home. Covering the psychedelic 10CC tune, the duo achieved another top 10 hit on the strength of the plaintive and evocative melody and Elin Michaels' strong vocal performance, although this version doesn't approach the trippiness of the 10CC version.

// B SIDE // This almost-four-minute reprise of "Fly Bird" soars on an instantly catchy, anthemic chant of "We've got to turn it around to see what's goin' down" delivered by a high school chorus. Curiously, that bit doesn't even appear in the song "Fly Bird" on the album, making it less a reprise than another song sharing some of its melody.

// C SIDE // Will to Power was well-positioned to extend its run of pop hits, but it wasn't to be. Journey Home's second single, an awful cover of "Boogie Nights," deservedly missed the Hot 100 altogether. The other potential hit was "Fly Bird," a rather blatant attempt to recapture the glory of "Baby I Love Your Way / Free Bird Medley (Free Baby)," and I'll wager that it would have at least charted had it been tapped as the second single. The rest of the album is quite bad, failing to recapture the easily listenable dance-pop spirit of their self-titled debut, which spawned the solid mid-chart dance hits "Dreamin'," "Say It's Gonna Rain" and "Fading Away."

Halloween hangover

2007-11-20T23:18:00.000-06:00

With nothing recent of interest on the video store shelves (Dead Silence or The Invisible just weren't going to cut it), our Halloween viewing this year consisted of three vintage 1980s titles (no, not all on the same night). At least then when they're bad, they're '80s bad. Here's a recap, and I'm also throwing in The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which I just caught on TNT on my lazy Sunday evening.

Witchboard (1986)
For a movie that includes a little Ouija board inside the DVD case, there's precious little Ouija action in the film, and what there is isn't scary. Tawny Kitaen ("infamous '80s vixen," the box copy says) gets pestered by a demon and ultimately possessed, but much of it feels more like a high school grudge movie than a horror film as her boyfriend (Todd Allen) and former squeeze (Stephen Nichols of General Hospital and Days of Our Lives) butt heads. Verdict: &&

The Evil Dead (1982)
The best thing about The Evil Dead is its authentic backwoods location in eastern Tennessee. The movie goes for visceral shocks as a young party of five, looking to enjoy a weekend in the woods, conjures up death and demons by reading from a "book of the dead" found in the impossibly huge basement. Early on, one of the squealing girls runs through the woods in the middle of the night and is held down by limbs and vines for what appears to be a sexual assault. Everything else here is pointless blood and gore, and the characters are as blank as the cabin's furniture, but this somehow propelled director Sam Raimi to a career. The DVD booklet includes a fairly lengthy interview with the three screaming lasses, while the dts-ES soundtrack is utterly wasted. Verdict: &

The Entity (1981)
Easily the best of our Halloween batch, The Entity boasts a strong concept backed by potent performances. Barbara Hershey is single mom Carla Moran, who one evening notices things moving around in her bedroom and then is molested (common theme!) by an unseen force. The subsequent haunting activity is low-key (it was smart not to try to outdo The Exorcist) but completely effective, and the movie smartly pits the phenomena against the world of psychiatry as a doctor (Ron Silver) tries to convince Moran, who is tormented by fear and shame, that the experiences are not really happening. Ultimately, parapsychologists attempt to lure the entity into a trap. Based on a "true" story as novelized by Frank de Felitta, who researched the case, it is thoughtful and engaging in a way that few horror films ever try to be anymore. Verdict: &&&

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
Fusing a sedate legal drama with exorcism horror, this one, based on a "true" story (common theme!), is competently made and certainly more sophisticated than the flood of teen-oriented horror dominating the mid-2000s. Anticipating climbing the ladder at her firm, defense attorney Erin Brunner (Laura Linney) takes the controversial case in which a priest (Tom Wilkinson) is charged with negligent homicide after performing an exorcism on Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter). The movie delivers a few chills here and there as Rose first encounters the entity in her room and later becomes a screaming, wall-clawing banshee, but the most effective moments are arguably those in which the skepticism of Brunner is shaken. It's mildly entertaining on an idle evening, but the court scenes begin to drag between the high-energy demon scenes. Verdict: &&1/2

Radio Me at Last.fm

2007-11-19T23:13:00.000-06:00

If you're anything like me, you need to know that your number 20 most-played track in your digital library is "Forever Live and Die" by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.

OK, maybe you're nothing like me, and that's probably a good thing. But if having loads of statistical data about your listening habits tickles your fancy, you should run, not walk, over to Last.fm, sign up and download the Audioscrobbler. I've always had a bit of a fetish for music charts — I think they appeal to the obsessive side of my mind — and now I can endlessly pore over my weekly, rolling and overall charts, as well as those of others. Of course, looking at Last's weekly charts compiled from all users just reminds me that I'm old and far from hip, because there's nary a Radiohead song in my library (although I am vaguely tempted to download the "pick your price" album just out of curiosity), and the kids today don't have multiple (or any) Roxette albums in their top 30.

It's true that iTunes charts your music, but Last does it with more flair and in far more ways. Plus, it counts plays from CDs as well as anything you listen to on the Last.fm radio. I also like that I can tell it when to count a play of a tune — a minimum of 75 percent of the song, 90 percent of the song or 58 percent. Whatever rings your bell.

Last also has free downloads — I snagged a good one by Under the Influence of Giants — and blogs. And while its music offerings are a helluva fun playground for music nuts, Last deftly weaves that into the context of social networking. That is one aspect of the Internet that has failed to set me on fire; MySpace couldn't be clunkier and less inspired in function and design if it tried. It's a compliment to Last that the site has piqued my interest in linking to more friends.

So go add me and see what's number one or number 118 this week. I'll be grateful.

DVD: The Reaping

2007-11-18T15:02:00.000-06:00

• The Reaping's harvest is a mixed bag.

Genre: Horror
Director: Stephen Hopkins
Cast: Hillary Swank, David Morrissey, Idris Elba, AnnaSophia Robb, Stephen Rea
DVD released: Oct. 16, 2007
Verdict: &&1/2

This biblical plagues tale is far from immaculate, but neither is it the complete abomination most critics deemed it upon its theatrical release. Theology professor Katherine Winter (Hilary Swank), whose faith was squashed by the sacrificial murder of her daughter and husband while the family carried out missionary work in Sudan, now gleefully debunks alleged religious phenomena. Summoned to the tiny Louisiana backwater of Haven, where Something Mysterious is afoot, Winter sets out on a Skeptics R Us road trip with her assistant and plunges headfirst into a river of blood. Literally. The local river has gone blood red, and all the fish have died and washed ashore. While investigating and shacking up in a nice guy's plantation house, she witnesses a series of apparent plagues — the cattle die off; the kids get head lice; locusts descend. While Winter goes down her list of possible explanations, the local populace is all too willing to be swept up in the apocalyptic signs and channel their rage at a young girl — isn't it amazing how often it's a young girl? — who seems to be connected to the events. The Reaping at times reminds of various other works: The whole premise is rather X-Files; the scenes in Sudan and the ravings of the priest (played with expert skittishness by Stephen Rea as the character attempts to warn Winter of some bad Signs) bring to mind The Exorcist; the glimpses of the little girl evoke Don't Look Now and, if we want to get especially cynical about it, the remake of The Wicker Man; and the scenery and culture of rural Louisiana make this a suitable companion piece to that recent hoodoo movie, The Skeleton Key. The first two-thirds of The Reaping successfully engage, however. The plagues are well-choreographed, and it's always fun to watch skepticism collide with the hysterical will of the masses. But what tension the movie sows in the early going is squandered on a complete fumble of an ending that goes insanely over the top with biblical mumbo jumbo and pyrotechnics. // DVD notes // If you care to go there, a featurette explores the plagues.

This week: Seinfeld on DVD wraps; The Gunslinger exposed

2007-11-04T21:37:00.000-06:00

• Notable releases in stores Nov. 6 and movies in theaters Nov. 9.

Books
Stephen King, "The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born" // Essentially a comic series collected in hardcover, this story delves into the past of Roland, King's Dark Tower protagonist and arguably one of his finest achievements. I fell off the train and didn't read the last few volumes … what does he expect when they come out 18 years apart? This title is out Wednesday rather than the normal Tuesday.

DVD
Seinfeld: Season Nine // Aching to relive that tedious series finale? I didn't think so.

Seinfeld: The Complete Series // For the true Seinfeld obsessives, here's a 32-disc set that includes a new roundtable discussion with the complete cast. Now, that's something.

Wings: Season Five // Must-see Thursday memories, although this show eventually wore out its welcome.

Movies
P2 // A woman (Rachel Nichols) is stalked in a parking garage on Christmas Eve. Deck the halls!

Pet Shop Boys, exclusively

2007-11-04T19:57:00.000-06:00

Christmas has come early for PSB fans: Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe are apparently feeling in a generous mood, digging into the vault to share some unreleased material that leans toward Fundamental demos and alternate versions. To stream the songs, go to the official site, select "product" from the navigation menu, and then select "exclusives." A few thoughts on the previously unheard (by legal means) material:

God Willing (rough mix) // It has a long intro that precedes the starting point of the version that appears on Fundamental and includes a section in which the reading of junk e-mails is played backwards. It was intended as the opening track of Fundamental, and I've always felt it should have been, in either form.

A Powerful Friend // From the Disco 3 sessions, it's a down-tempo track with some lovely guitar accents.

Sorry (PSB minimal mix) // Brings to mind some of the disappointing remixes of PSB songs by other mixers — this was best left unreleased in favor of their amazing maxi-mix.

Indefinite Leave to Remain (demo) // This mid-tempo shuffle sounds like what you'd expect them to do with this song as opposed to the lush masterpiece that found its way onto Fundamental. I could listen to either version of this ballad all day; it's absolutely worthy of single release.

The Sodom and Gomorrah Show (Unreleased single mix) // This sounds exactly like the version performed on The Late Late Show, right down to the lovely pizzicato strings in the bridge.

Tall Thin Men // Originally slated to open the Closer to Heaven musical, this, on the surface, is exactly the kind of camp thing I don't want my PSB doing (although I do enjoy "If Love Were All" and "Can You Forgive Her? (Swing Version)", but this gets bonus points for the sly Madonna reference and cleverly scathing lyrics.

I Made My Excuses and Left (Demo) // The demo of this meticulously crafted winner doesn't sound far removed from the Fundamental version.

Love to Love You // A solid cover of the Donna Summer tune with Sam Taylor-Wood (aka Kiki Kokova) doing some of the same obscene groaning she does on the brilliant and underappreciated "Je T'aime … Moi Non Plus."

Bright Young Things (Demo) // No major differences here from the "Numb" b-side version.

Luna Park (Rock mix) // The differences here, as well, are rather subtle, although the description says this take was deemed "too rock." I don't see it, particularly alongside songs like "Sodom."

No Time for Tears (Orchestral Mix) // Potemkin is one of those PSB sidetracks that just doesn't engage me.

Jack and Jill Party (Extended Dance Mix) // Odd lyrics, and the whole thing sounds rather menacing.

Now, if only we could get these on CD, I'd set this up as my alternate version of Fundamental:

God Willing (rough mix) / Psychological / The Sodom and Gomorrah Show (Unreleased single mix) / I Made My Excuses and Left / Minimal / Numb / Luna Park (Rock mix) / I'm with Stupid (Melnyk Heavy Petting Mix) / Casanova in Hell (Live with Rufus Wainwright) / Integral (PSB Perfect Immaculate 7-inch) / Twentieth Century / Indefinite Leave to Remain (demo)

// Also see // Review of Fundamental

The weekly menu

2007-10-28T18:52:00.001-05:00

• Notable releases in stores Oct. 30 and movies in theaters Nov. 2.

Games
Buzz!: The Mega Quiz (PS2) // Get your game on quiz-show style in the latest installment of this party game series utilizing a set of actual buzzers in place of the control pads. Sounds more fun than the Atari 2600's paddle controllers, at least.

Movies
Bee Movie // Is an animated flick what anybody wants from Jerry Seinfeld? Those promotional shorts airing on NBC would be cool if they were funny. A Bee Movie tie-in video game for all the major systems is on shelves Tuesday.

Martian Child // John Cusack's adopted six-year-old thinks he's from Mars, and it all seems too precious for its own good in the trailers.

DVD
Captivity (unrated) // Another poorly reviewed entry in the torture porn genre stars Elisha Cuthbert as a fashion model.

CSI Miami: Season Five // Five seasons, and David Caruso hasn't left yet! The problem I have with the CSI shows is that you can't ever really guess who did it, and those little wrap-ups in the last three minutes are too contrived and often anti-climactic.

The Outer Limits: The Original Series, Vol. 3

Scrubs: Season Six

Spider-Man 3: Special Edition // I don't do superhero movies, but, if I did, it would be one of the Spider-Mans.

Twin Peaks: The Definitive Gold Box Edition

Music
Backstreet Boys, "Unbreakable" // Really, isn't it just time to let it go?

Britney Spears, "Blackout" // Really, isn't it just time … and what an awful sleeve design.

Joy Division // Special editions of Unknown Pleasures, Closer and Still.

Books
Peter Hoeg, "The Quiet Girl" // I read Smilla's Sense of Snow back in the day and found it … cold.

Clive Barker, "Mister B. Gone" // I read a handful of early Barker selections in the late '80s and early '90s. He had some intriguing ideas in novels like The Great and Secret Show, but I found his tales to be wholly uninviting. Here, Mr. Barker offers a demon's memoir.

The weekly menu

2007-10-21T23:15:00.001-05:00

• New stuff in stores Oct. 23 and movies in theaters Oct. 26.

Movies
Only two new movies hit wide release this week, including Saw Part 17. If you're looking for chills, see 30 Days of Night instead.

DVD
The Shining: Special Edition (2-disc set) // The buzz on this one says expect a few new featurettes and improved sound quality.

Mr. Brooks // Kevin Costner tries sinister.

The Stanley Kubrick Collection: Director's Series (10-disc set)

Tales from the Crypt: Season Seven

Saw III: Unrated Director's Cut // I'm still meticulously avoiding the horror subgenre that Entertainment Weekly recently dubbed "torture porn."

Hostel Part II: Unrated

The L Word: Season Four

I Love Lucy: The Complete Series

Music
Dave Gahan, "Hourglass"

Books
Patricia Cornwell, "Book of the Dead"

Movies: 30 Days of Night

2007-10-20T14:03:00.000-05:00

• A clever premise aids the outstanding vampire flick 30 Days of Night.

Genre: Horror, vampire, adaptation
Director: David Slade
Cast: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Ben Foster, Danny Huston, Mark Boone Jr., Mark Rendall
Verdict: &&&&1/2

It's such a simple yet brilliant idea, one marvels that it hasn't been done before: Set a vampire tale in the land where the sun doesn't rise. The result, 30 Days of Night, is brutal, engrossing, and one of the best horror films of the 2000s.

Based on a horror comic series by Steve Niles, it takes place in tiny Barrow, Alaska, a frozen landscape made more uninviting by the setting of the sun for a full month. As the "final" sunset approaches, young Sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett, instantly likable here as the amiable town caretaker) has his hands full with odd occurrences of vandalism in his chilly burg, and his unease escalates as he visits a kennel where all the dogs have been knifed and the town diner, where a mysterious stranger (Ben Foster) requests a bowl of raw red meat and comes to blows with the sheriff. From his jail cell, Foster is exceptionally creepy as he warns that "they" are coming and wonders aloud who'll be killed first — Oleson's younger brother, Jake (Mark Rendall); his grandmother/dispatcher; or his estranged wife, Stella (Melissa George), who missed the last flight out of town and will be forced to reevaluate her relationship with Oleson.

The stranger proves to be right; these opening scenes build a palpable sense of dread that is realized as a band of vampires begins a full-throttle feeding frenzy. Attacking with unbridled ferocity, the vampires quickly take out much of the town, leaving little hope for anyone to survive the onslaught. Sheriff Oleson and a small group hole up in a well-hidden attic, aiming to stay out of sight. It's not giving away too much to say that various circumstances will expose certain members of the group, and the numbers gradually dwindle. As the unlucky survivors transform, the genial sheriff is forced to do unthinkable things to hold the group together.

The forbidding location, with blowing snow and sub-zero temperatures, heightens the overwhelming bleakness. The movie's portrayal of the blood-soaked vampires brings nothing radically new to the table, but it is so tautly crafted that it doesn't matter. A lesser movie wouldn't dare go where this one does in the final act; I wanted to shout "No!" at the screen. I'm glad I didn't look at the critics' reviews before going to this movie, and I'm frankly puzzled by the negative reactions — it baffles me that anyone who has watched some of the awful horror movies of the last couple of years can carve the knives over this stylish entry in the vampire genre. 30 Days of Night is simply a must for anyone who enjoys thoughtfully executed horror.

Pictured: Sheriff Oleson (Josh Hartnett) takes matters in hand.

DVD: 1408

2007-10-16T22:29:00.000-05:00

• 1408 fares better than par for a King adaptation.

Genre: Horror
Director: Mikael Hafstrom
DVD released: Oct. 2, 2007
Cast: John Cusak, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack, Jasmine Jessica Anthony
Verdict: &&&

With a haunted hotel room, a writer protagonist and the idea of an evil room or dwelling, 1408 is very much a case of Stephen King deja vu. Based on a tale from the latter-day short story collection Everything's Eventual, this better-than-average horror flick finds a jaded writer, Mike Enslin (John Cusak), compiling a travelogue of quaint haunted inns. He's seen every mom and pop bed and breakfast with a half-baked ghost story to attract attention when he receives a postcard tipping him to the Dolphin, a stylish New York hotel, and its room 1408 (the numbers add up to … 13). The movie is most effective here, building palpable anticipation as hotel manager Gerald Olin (Samuel L. Jackson, almost redeeming himself for his awful performance in The Phantom Menace) attempts to change Enslin's mind, telling him of the room occupants' horrible deaths and the many natural deaths that never made the press. But there's no stopping Enslin, who sets out to be the first person in modern times to last more than an hour in the room. As with many modern horror films, 1408 lacks subtlety; although it is psychological horror to a great extent, the effects spectacle soon takes over. The room knows and exploits Enslin's weak spot — the hotel is in New York, where he once lived with his estranged wife and daughter, who died after a difficult illness — and uses it to wear him down. There are some clever moments throughout 1408 — I loved the recurring use of the song "We've Only Just Begun" by The Carpenters — but the anticipation built by the opening scenes gradually checks out as Enslin checks further and further into the mind game of 1408. // DVD notes // Feel free to skip the single-disc edition's pair of alternate endings and commercial-like featurettes.

The weekly menu

2007-10-14T22:20:00.001-05:00

• New releases in stores Oct. 16 and movies in theaters Oct. 19.

Movies
30 Days of Night // In an Alaska town where the sun doesn't rise for 30 days, something vampire-like lurks. It's a clever idea based on a series of horror comics.

Rendition // With Meryl Streep among the cast, this thriller looks like a must-see.

TV
The Price Is Right (CBS, 11 a.m./10c) // Fire up the VCR: Drew Carey introduces his first item up for bids and a sexy new set design.

DVD
The Reaping // A likely bad horror movie that might at least be better than …

The Invisible // … which also received savage reviews. Not making it easy this Halloween, are they.

That '70s Show: Season Seven

Books
Joe Hill, "20th Century Ghosts" // Son of King offers a collection of creepy stories previously published in magazines. It doesn't fall far from the tree, etc., does it.

The password is, "Don't screw this up"

2007-10-11T16:11:00.000-05:00

• CBS launches another game show.

If you've been wondering what classic game show format will get butchered next, CBS today announced the answer: Password, Password Plus and Super Password. The network has ordered six one-hour episodes of Million Dollar Password from FremantleMedia North America with Regis Philbin hosting the midseason revival of the Goodson-Todman classic.

"With new twists, higher stakes, a $1 million grand prize and the one-and-only Regis Philbin at the helm, we're confident viewers will tune in to rediscover the format that helped to define the game show genre as we know it," said Cecile Frot-Coutaz, head of FremantleMedia North America, in a news release.

Here's hoping viewers won't be nauseated by what they see. Password is brilliant in its deceptive simplicity; it doesn't need to be dressed up in a big money format with unneeded new twists. The show will at least stick with the classic set-up of two teams, each with one celebrity and one civilian. CBS says the winning team "will then have to decide whether or not to keep their earnings or move on to a tension-building final round, where one word can potentially win a $1 million grand prize."

That suggests another tired variation of the money tree is in the offing.

"I'm thrilled to be part of this great show that I remember so well from a few years ago," Philbin said in the news release. "It was a very classy production and Allen Ludden was so terrific. I hope I can continue that tradition on Million Dollar Password."

Surely the great Reege wouldn't get involved with a crap version of a classic.

My favorite of the old Password shows was Super Password, a Bert Convy-hosted staple of NBC's excellent daytime game show blocks, running from 1984 to 1989. It is currently a fixture on the schedule of GSN, formerly Game Show Network.

When it comes to old favorites, the hardest password to accept is often "change." Skepticism aside, I'll be tuning in, hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

The weekly menu

2007-10-07T19:02:00.000-05:00

• New releases in stores Oct. 9 and movies in theaters Oct. 12.

DVD
28 Weeks Later // A sequel to the pretty good effort 28 Days Later, this entry in the tired zombie/virus genre received reviews that were all over the map.

Poltergeist: 25th Anniversary Edition // If ever a horror film screamed for a maxed-out special edition, Poltergeist is it. By all accounts, however, this edition, which offers the movie in remastered form, is nothing special in terms of extras.

Rise: Blood Hunter // Lucy Liu does horror — and that seems perfectly natural, doesn't it?

Apartment 1303 // A 2007 Japanese horror film based on a story by the novelist who penned The Grudge.

Stargate SG-1: The Complete Series Collection // For those who have money to burn, a 54-disc set. Yes, 54.

Twilight Zone: The Movie

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season Three

Family Ties: Season Two

Music
Fatboy Slim, "Late Night Tales"

Movies
All of this week's interesting flicks are in limited release — Control, a biopic about the suicide of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis; Lars and the Real Girl, in which Ryan Gosling is a man who falls in love with a sex doll; and Sleuth, in which Michael Caine and Jude Law struggle over the affections of the elder's wife.

Price tag

2007-10-03T22:56:00.000-05:00

Deliciously retro, isn't it? I'm loving what I see of the new set design for The Price Is Right, and I'm a little shocked by the degree to which the producers decided to embrace the retro goodness. The Oct. 15 premiere with new host Drew Carey is shaping up to be a must-see. Check out a slide show of set elements here.

The weekly menu

2007-09-30T17:17:00.000-05:00

• New releases in stores Oct. 2 and movies in theaters Oct. 5.

Music
Annie Lennox, "Songs of Mass Destruction" // The diva's last album, Bare, was a massive disappointment that left me completely cold, but it only took one listen to lead single "Dark Road" to convince me to add this one to my cart.

Erasure, "Storm Chaser" // Fans should be reveling in the duo's new prolific phase. Here we have a nine-track remix treatment of songs from the very good current album Light at the End of the World, plus a new track with Cyndi Lauper. An additional two remix tracks will be available via iTunes, and another concert CD due before year's end will keep the ball rolling.

Depeche Mode, "Ultra" and "Exciter" // Two latter-day DM albums get the deluxe treatment with DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes.

Siouxsie, "Mantaray" // Is Siouxsie without The Banshees better than no sushi at all?

Bruce Springsteen, "Magic"

Matchbox Twenty, "Exile on Mainstream" // Judging by awful lead single "How Far We've Come," listeners may want to set aside that disc of six new songs and focus on the disc containing the hits.

Amy Grant, Greatest Hits // If you secretly like to dance around the room to "Every Heartbeat," I won't tell anyone.

DVD
1408 // I took a pass on this in the theater, given the mixed bag of latter-day Stephen King short stories and the even more mixed bag of movies based on King stories, but it should go down nicely during the run-up to Halloween.

Misery: Collector's Edition // Apparently it's Stephen King week. With commentaries and featurettes, here's a welcome special treatment of one of the best King adaptations — possibly the best — based on one of the richest psychological suspense novels ever written.

Species: Special Edition

Species IV: The Awakening // Surely this is one or two too many.

Shark: Season One // On the strength of James Woods, it's surprisingly good.

Jericho: Season One

How I Met Your Mother: Season Two

Elton 60: Live at Madison Square Garden // Two-DVD set of the Elton John concert.

Movies
It's another quiet week, with one entry in the adventure/fantasy category, The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, centering on a young man who learns that he is "the last of a group of immortals dedicated to fighting dark forces of evil."

TV
30 Rock (8:30/7:30c Thursday, NBC) // The best network comedy returns with no less than Seinfeld guesting. Must-see.

Cassingle rewind: Electric Blue • Icehouse

2007-09-29T17:34:00.000-05:00

Label: Chrysalis
Hot 100 peak: #7 in March 1988
"What was I thinking?" index: 0 (none)

// A SIDE // I just freeze every time you see through me and it's all over you … "Electric Blue" was one of the first singles I purchased, along with "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" by Information Society, at a mall record store, possibly a Record Bar. I was just becoming seriously interested in music right at the tail end of the era of vinyl singles; I can remember purchasing two 45s — "Tell It to My Heart" by Taylor Dayne and "Valerie" by Steve Winwood — just before everything went to cassettes, or "cassingles." On the heels of the excellent top 20 hit "Crazy," Icehouse's "Electric Blue," a synth-laced pop-rocker, climbed to number 7 in 1988. Singer Iva Davies' warm voice, used to great effect in the chirpy background vocal, was a perfect fit for the song, which was co-written with John Oates — it's not a stretch to imagine a Hall & Oates rendition of the song. It sounds just as inviting today as it did in 1988, and I'm surprised it hasn't become more of a staple for '80s radio flashback shows. The band never again reached the U.S. top 40.

// B SIDE // The synthesizers were largely absent in extra song "Over My Head," yielding a grittier sound. It's pleasant enough but ultimately forgettable.

// C SIDE // The Australian band's music is conspicuously absent from iTunes, and the album, Man of Colours, is not one of those you can snag off eBay for 99 cents.

Books: The Resort • Bentley Little

2007-09-26T21:06:00.000-05:00

• Don't call for room service.

Genre: Horror
Released: September 2004
Verdict: &&1/2

I was on the verge of granting Bentley Little a sidebar tag until making a reservation at The Resort, where the guests, like the roaches, do check in, but often don't check out (sorry — I always loved the marketing of the Roach Motel). It's the third title I have read by Little (his latest, The Vanishing, just hit stores in August), who cooks up some interesting ideas in better novels such as The Ignored and Dispatch and demonstrates a consistent flair for dark comedy and the absurd. The Resort contains plenty of the latter but not so much the great idea part. About two-thirds of the way in, the story meanders and the ship is never righted, failing to reach a conclusion that satisfies on any level. The resort in question is The Reata, a luxury complex where guests find themselves amongst strange doings: The activities director recruits guests into games of basketball that end in bloodshed and severed limbs. A giant, sideways-leaping spider torments a magazine writer in his room, where he often hears the sounds of an all-night party or gunshots in an adjacent room that the staff tells him is empty. A teenager spots a golf driving range where women are tied to poles and pelted by iron shots. Although they realize things are amiss, the guests find themselves under a sort of hoodoo and are powerless to leave. The uninspired denouement sadly goes the clichéd and violent route. I'll give Little at least one more shot with The Store, a 1998 novel that takes discount store culture to new levels of evil and is now in development for a feature film.

The Weekly Menu

2007-09-23T12:45:00.000-05:00

• New releases in stores Tuesday, Sept. 25, and in theaters Friday, Sept. 28.

DVD
The ramp-up to Halloween is amply evident in this week's batch:

The Hand // A 1981 horror film directed by Oliver Stone and starring Michael Caine! Seriously! Unfortunately, it's about a severed hand running around wreaking havoc.

Someone's Watching Me // A 1978 made-for-TV heroine-in-peril suspenser from John Carpenter as he basked in the glow of Halloween's success. Starring Lauren Hutton.

Deadly Friend // A 1986 Wes Craven effort.

Eyes of a Stranger // One of the earliest Jennifer Jason Leigh appearances, this is a 1981 slasher wannabe.

Twisted Terror Collection // This six-disc set includes several of the titles being released individually this week.

Cujo: 25th Anniversary Edition

Bug: Special Edition // Moving to 2007, this one is more psychological suspense than horror, and I think people tend to quite enjoy or quite loathe it. I fall in the former camp; see the review here.

Babel: Special Edition

Books
Playing for Pizza • John Grisham // The bestseller tries the sports novel. I live in the Southern region where Grisham's early novels are set, and even that didn't help me find his writing interesting.

Shoot Him If He Runs • Stuart Woods // I read a pair of Woods novels circa the early '90s, and the only thing I remember is that one of them, Under the Lake, had a sex scene that made an impression. Does that say more about me or Stuart Woods?

The Witchery • James Reese // Final volume of the Herculine trilogy of witch tales.

Music
Obligatory Villagers • Nellie McKay

Movies
This week's wide releases offer a choice between a Feast of Love and vehicles for The Rock and Jamie Foxx. What's that? You'll be heading to the rental store? I thought so.

Quick takes: Fall TV

2007-09-22T19:58:00.000-05:00

Back to You
FOX, Wednesday 8/7c
Know what I liked most about this show? The retro-chic opening title sequence, which had an endearing, classic feel. Whether anyone would say the same about the sitcom that followed is in doubt. On the upside, it boasts the ever-reliable Kelsey Grammer (Cheers, Frasier) and the affable Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) in a broadcast newsroom environment, which is rich with comedic possibilities. On the other hand, the premiere, which was funny if somewhat crass, lacked the appealing warmth of Frasier — both the long-running character and the series. // Verdict: &&&

Moonlight
CBS, Friday, 9/8c (Premiere date: Friday, Sept. 28)
Another variation on the well-worn reluctant vampire theme may struggle to be met with open arms — Lestat and Barnabas Collins are probably chuckling at the notion in their coffins. But the charm with which Alex O'Loughlin embraces the character, who works as a private investigator, goes a long way toward melting viewer resistance, and the premiere episode displays considerably more cleverness than its Friday-night partner series, Ghost Whisperer. // Verdict: &&&

Survivor
CBS, Thursday, 8/7c
The producers go to the trouble of taking Survivor to a refreshingly interesting locale, China, but still set the action on another island? That disappointing move is matched in episode one by the players, as one of the most potentially interesting characters, Chicken, is promptly voted off. At least there's the consolation of knowing sly New York waitress Courtney and predictable Christian radio talk show host Leslie are destined to come to blows. // Verdict: &&&

Pictured: Grammer, Heaton and Fred Willard ham it up on FOX's Back to You

Cold fear

2007-09-19T15:52:00.000-05:00

• Wind Chill is a little-seen but worthy fright flick.

Genre: Horror
Director: Greg Jacobs
DVD released: Sept. 4, 2007
Cast: Emily Blunt, Ashton Holmes, Martin Donovan
Verdict: &&&

Cold isolation pervades not just in setting but also in the two principal characters for much of Wind Chill, a George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh-produced horror film that saw limited theatrical release in April. At the winter break, a college student (Emily Blunt) catches a ride toward home with a classmate she doesn't know (Ashton Holmes). They get off to an icy start that only worsens as he makes strange statements and takes a turn off the highway onto a scenic route. It's a classically stupid horror film move that ends in the two becoming stranded on the side of a haunted stretch of road where past highway horrors still stir. As darkness sets in, the two struggle to keep from freezing to death and become increasingly aware that they are not alone in the remote countryside. Further complicating their fate are his injuries and an unfriendly highway patrolman. As the situation deteriorates, relations between the two begin to thaw, and a sweet love story emerges from the overriding chill. My viewing partner, who is often harder to please than I, couldn't sit still during some of the scenes, much to my surprise. The movie genuinely chills on several occasions, making excellent use of Brenda Lee's song "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," as it effectively builds a sense of isolation and desperation. But, while this better-than-average horror movie is a worthy rental, it ultimately feels a bit slight in plot and originality that could have warmed a heartier recommendation. // DVD NOTES // The disc offers commentary and a behind-the-scenes featurette.

TV preview: Swimming with Shark

2007-09-17T22:04:00.000-05:00

When: Season 2 premiere airs at 9 p.m. Central Sunday (Sept. 23), the show's new timeslot, on CBS.

Premiere episode verdict: &&&

James Woods' snarky performance as a jaded defense attorney seeking redemption on the other side in the district attorney's office helped make Shark a somewhat surprise hit last season. The second season brings a few cast tweaks, with Jessica Devlin (Jeri Ryan, Star Trek: Voyager's Seven of Nine) out of the DA's office, having just been ousted by the voters. Judging by the season premiere, however, viewers will still see plenty of sassy borg goodness bouncing off Sebastian Stark. Taking her seat as DA is slimy Leo Cutler (Kevin Pollak), another calculated foil for Stark, and joining Stark's team is Danny Reyes (Kevin Alejandro), an overly aggressive punk who wandered over from the Organized Crime Unit. The season two premiere, centering on a double homicide case in which the witness is killed by a car bomb, is far from the smoothest Shark installment to date, but Arnold Vosloo is effective as a perfectly chilled Russian mobster, and Stark's relationship with his daughter continues to provide a welcome warm counterpoint to Stark's shyster antics.

Pictured: James Woods as Sebastian Stark

A remake's sequel remade

2007-09-14T16:10:00.000-05:00

DVD: The Hills Have Eyes 2 Unrated

Genre: Horror, remake, mutants, bad horror movies
DVD released: July 17, 2007
Director: Martin Weisz
Cast: Michael McMillian, Jessica Stroup, Daniella Alonso, Jacob Vargas, Flex Alexander, Lee Thompson Young, Eric Edelstein
Verdict: &1/2

Is it a sequel, a remake or both? Turns out the original The Hills Have Eyes also had a sequel, The Hills Have Eyes Part 2, released in 1984 and directed by Wes Craven. Its storyline, however, involving bikers, bears no resemblance to this pointless addition to the Hills filmography, on which Wes Craven and Jonathan Craven share producer and screen-writing credits. Here we have a cast of unlikable National Guard members probing the same rocky desert of Sector 16 as the doomed family of the far more watchable 2006 movie, reviewed here. Early on, there are a few decent moments of anticipation as this green bunch gets split apart, loses its bearings and becomes vulnerable to the inevitable (one in particular while seated in a portable potty). The first kill is the best, with a cocky member of the crew getting pulled through a tiny cave opening in a scene that might make you squirm. From there, it's terribly predictable and never engaging, and the viewer wonders why anyone with nothing fresh to add wants to rehash this same kill-'em-off scenario again and again. // DVD NOTES // Extras include a handful of deleted scenes, an alternate ending, several featurettes, a Fox Movie Channel special and a slight gag reel, which was the only one of the extras for which I could muster any interest. The unrated cut is, of course, more graphic than the theatrical cut.

Single no more

2007-09-13T20:59:00.000-05:00

Did anyone actually call these things "cassingles"? I came across my collection of them between stacks of books and magazines while going through the closet and couldn't resist dragging them out. Most were immediately familiar, but I was surprised to see one I didn't remember at all by an R&B group called Riff. As artifacts of a bygone era in music, they make me feel old; my first few singles purchases came at the very tail end of the vinyl era, and I've since lived through cassingles, CD singles and the complete death and Phoenix-like rebirth of the singles market. And these cassingles remind me of what's lost with the digital single — tangible qualities such as sleeve design that help to make these little time capsules (in the case of this batch of singles, circa 1988 to 1991) and objets d'art. I also realized this is a goldmine of blog posts waiting to be written: I plan to post on each of these individually in the coming weeks and months as I put on the headphones, revisit the songs of my youth and get to know those B-sides again.

Crash and prizes

2007-09-11T22:04:00.000-05:00

• Two new games began syndication runs this week.

Verdicts: Merv Griffin's Crosswords: &&
Temptation: &&&

If crossword puzzles tempt you, you might be drawn to Merv Griffin's Crosswords, in which contestants answer brain-teasing word clues for a shot at walking away with a whopping $3,000 to $4,0000, on average, and possibly a trip on top of that if they're lucky. While I admire Crosswords for not dumbing down the material — even the most erudite will be stumped by some of the clues — Crosswords is, at heart, a broken format. Two primary players up front are gunning to buzz in for the correct answer, but behind them in later rounds are three "spoilers" who can buzz in and steal a front spot if neither of the two front players buzz in with a correct answer. That means a spoiler can do nothing for the entire game and buzz in with a single correct answer just before time runs out, move up to the podium with the higher score, and win the game. Bzzzt! That's unfair and unacceptable, and this show isn't worthy of being Griffin's parting gift to television. Better is Twentieth Television's Temptation, a remake of the internationally successful Sale of the Century format (notable runs included NBC, 1969-74 and 1983-89, and Australia's 9 Network, 1980-2001 and 2005-present [the latter under the title Temptation], among numerous others), although this one, too, is problematic. I've already said quite a bit in this post about what's right and wrong with Temptation, a three-person quizzer in which contestants build up a bankroll over multiple days with which they can buy marvelously discounted merchandise (a $35,000 Jaguar for $936 is one top prize), but the overriding problem is that Sale was always a classy and serious high-stakes format, and Twentieth has transformed it into a handbag-waving, "let's go girl!" affair that will likely scare off some male viewers and disappoint those who remember the tense games in which the champion played for "the lot" — all the prizes and the big cash jackpot — something which isn't offered here. Further souring the bargain, straightforward questions have been tossed out the window in favor of a series of mini-games that is over and done with by 16 minutes into the show; it simply screams for more game (such as … duh … some straightforward questions). The quiz element focuses on pop culture, and I'm generally OK with that; I like the new Knock-Off game, which rips off an old '80s syndie game called Wipeout, in which the contestants choose the multiple right answers to a question from a list that includes wrong answers. On the other hand, I hate the new Fame Game, which uses hangman in favor of Sale's classic "Who am I" question and suspenseful pick of the board for a boost to a player's score or a prize. That said, the essence of the format remains, and I've still enjoyed what I've seen thus far; the producers just need to learn how to work with the drama that's right under their fingertips and stop selling it out in a clueless grab for handbag-waving ratings. Somewhere, Jim Perry, NBC's Sale host from '83-'89, is rolling in his recliner.

Pictured: Crosswords host Ty Treadway holds the big board at bay.

DVD: Fracture

2007-09-10T20:28:00.000-05:00

• Hopkins chews the scenery with savory results.

Genres: Thriller, courtroom
Director: Gregory Hoblit
DVD released: Aug. 14, 2007
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling, Billy Burke, David Strathairn, Rosamund Pike
Verdict: &&&&

A good number of Net surfers have landed on this blog in the past few months after searching for something along the lines of "Ryan Gosling wristwatch fracture." I can't tell you what kind of stylish watch that is he's wearing in the movie, but I can tell you that Fracture is a smart, stylish thriller of a caliber that doesn't come around too often. Upon a second viewing just as enjoyable as the first, I've bumped it up to four medals. Hopkins may be riffing on Hannibal Lecter, but you'll want a ringside seat for this legal chess match in which the viewer knows from the beginning exactly whodunit. See the Jeblog theatrical review here. // DVD NOTES // Deleted scenes focus heavily on an excised love scene between the Ryan Gosling and Rosamund Pike characters. The disc also offers two mildly interesting alternate endings, both of which show Gosling's assistant district attorney confronting Hopkins' villain at his home, as he does in the theatrical cut, but in both alternate endings we see cracks in the Hopkins character that simply don't ring true.

Going once … Going twice … No sale?

2007-09-08T12:07:00.000-05:00

First look: Temptation

Someone in a forum I frequent said Temptation (The New Sale of the Century) should be the Battlestar Galactica of game shows, and that really sums it up perfectly. The Australian version is, in fact, worthy of such praise. The U.S. Temptation that was previewed Wednesday night on MyNetworkTV is decidedly not, although the seeds of a solid remake of Sale are certainly there.

Here's a look at some ups and downs based on these two "celebrity" episodes (the alleged celebrities were former American Idol Karaoke contestants):

GOOD: The set, largely in the style of the Australian show, is modern without mimicking Millionaire for the billionth time. A dominant color other than black on a new game show? Wow!

GOOD: It's actually using the original shopping format, in which a contestant's score goes into the bank toward the purchase of fabulous prizes (we know a Jaguar (!) is available for $941). It always created such drama on '80s Sale when Jim Perry would declare, "Alice needs to win today, and she needs to win with $82 to take all the prizes we've got plus that cash jackpot of $86,000!"

BAD: There doesn't seem to be a cash jackpot or a chance to play for all the prizes. Drama killer!

BAD: The theme music is an absolute abomination and an insult to a classic format.

BAD: The classic buzzer sound from NBC and Aussie Sale, still used on Aussie Temptation, is gone.

BAD: The co-hostess has always added charm to Sale as she introduces the contestants and instant bargains, and here we have none.

BAD: The show has done away with straightforward questions, forcing everything into a "round." The result is a series of mini-games: Speed round, instant bargain, knock-off, speed round, instant bargain, etc. It feels completely awkward and against the grain of Sale.

GOOD: Host Rossi Morreale showed salesmanship potential on the instant bargains, when the player in the lead has a chance to purchase, for example, a $1,400 television for $13 off her score.

BAD: Giving the player a five-second countdown to decide on the purchase of Instant Bargains is just wrong. Jim Perry's salesmanship made the show on the instant bargains. "Going once, going twice, no … What if I add another $500?" Having a shot clock shut outs out the fun and drama of the haggling.

BAD: The Fame Game has been turned into hangman with a series of clues and a flat addition to the score for a correct answer. Wrong! Getting rid of the pick of the board, where a player could hit $10, $15, $25 or an assortment of kitchen utensils, is a misstep on par with the theme music.

BAD: The game-ending speed round has been slashed to a slight 30 seconds; it has been 60 on all previous versions of this format. Sixty seconds allows a lot of questions and possible comebacks; 30 seconds is barely time to get going.

Temptation debuts Monday in daily syndication (check local listings). It's too early to declare this a disaster, but it's rather hard to stomach when compared to Aussie Temptation's excellence.

// More here on Temptation and Sale of the Century //