Friday, March 25, 2011

Well I'm M.C.A. - I got nothing to prove. Pay attention - my intention is to bust a move.

Quick Hitters and Random Thoughts

--You’ve probably heard this by now, but it’s still awesome. Obviously Kyle Lowry and Chuck Hayes had triple-doubles in consecutive games this week. It’s been since 1996 that two different players on the same team had triple-doubles in consecutive games. Those players were Chris Childs and Shawn Bradley with the Nets.

--The two early games on Thursday night were tight and wrapping up when The Office was closing up shop with the proposal. Yeah, we could have paused Office to watch the basketball finishes, but how could you push pause on Michael and Holly after everything we’ve seen Michael Scott go through in his love life through the years? No chance. Fantastic and sweet proposal and even though we’ve all known Michael was leaving for sometime now seeing the surprise jolt it sent through Dunder-Mifflin jolted me and made his leaving real for the first time. Did any non-Michael and Holly stuff work for me? No, but who cares? That was some damn fine television.

I highly recommend checking out Childish Gambino's lyrics in hipster pic form at hipsterchildishgambino.tumblr.com
Cannot wait for Donald Glover at Warehouse Live.

--I can see how this week’s Community could be a polarizing one. It had all the promise of a Pulp Fiction theme, but all of that was essentially relegated to a montage at the end. Instead of laughs it delivered emotional punches. And I’m not complaining one bit. Abed was really scaring me with his Cougar Town story and how it turned around his life. No pop culture Abed would make me question my own addiction to pop culture and I have zero interest in doing that obviously. It had Jeff questioning why Abed was dressed like Mr. Rogers and talking like Frasier. It was one of the most heart felt conversations on Community ever and Jeff went from typical Jeff with his, “Nine out ten lies occur within six inches of a mirror” to wearing heart on his sleeve Jeff with, “And honestly by the time it was over with I was just happy they thought I was pretty.” Danny Pudi deserves special mention for this episode because he was simply fantastic. It all worked for me especially once we got Abed’s explanation for the homage.

And thanks to Troy all wine shall henceforth be known as “no-no juice.” Also thanks for THL (tight, heavy lid) which I will be using as often as possible.

--I really don’t know what words or actions Ron Swanson or Andy could say or do that wouldn’t make me bust out laughing. I don’t even think Andy laughing at the identity theft was a particularly funny bit, but he’s laughing and that’s just infectious coming from him. Ron, well Ron had me at, “What the fu** is a German muffin?” And Parks, l-i-t-e-r-a-l-l-y, found a way to bring back Chris that didn’t totally suck. Still, when Ann Perkins told the camera she had to leave that place I don’t think anyone in the audience was saying, “no.” I feel bad for Rashida Jones because she was obviously a major player in the show in its infancy, but as it realized what all it had in the ensemble her role has grown smaller and now Jerry draws more good lines or laughs than she does.
Ron – “Jerry scared away all the fish with his personal stories.”
I would like to live in Tom’s tent especially if I can have the services of DJ Roomba!

--I don’t want to jinx it, but I haven’t heard Charlie Sheen’s name mentioned since Tuesday.

--First let me say that it is awesome that Corey Feldman wears his Dream A Little Dream jacket around still. Second if I saw that jacket on a table at the House of Blues I’m totally stealing it. Someone else felt the same way at the Hollywood House of Blues. Damn I need to find my cassette of that soundtrack. Rock on!

Meredith Salenger...

--Writing of classic movies from back in the day, and make not mistake Dream A Little Dream is a classic. The Sandlot and Stand By Me are out on Blu-ray this week.

--And then there were two. Mike Isabella is all that stands between Richard Blais and his redemption. The last couple of weeks Blais has knocked it out of the park and I can’t see that changing. I liked the challenges this week and hope the cooking the last supper of a renowned chef makes future appearances in the show. Antonia having to cook for Morimoto was clearly the toughest of the three challenges. When it came to the single bite-off between Mike and Antonia, judging by how it looked and the judges’ reactions I would personally have preferred Antonia’s dish. Alas she was chopped…or told to pack her knives, sometimes it’s hard to keep all these straight. She joined us on "Southbound Food" this week and could not have been cooler. She has a cookbook for working parents that she’s currently working on. You can follow her on Twitter @chefantonia. Good follow.

--I loved seeing David Morse on Lights Out this week which had the best ending of any episode thus far. Morse was all Memento-like, but was still able to help Patrick like he wanted, get himself some live-action boxing and make a few bucks. I don’t see any reason Hal Brennan would want Lights to handle the councilman situation seeing as how Lights has a payday coming up, but regardless it made for a fun little ending except for the innocent cop who got bashed. Yeah, sorry about that.
Two episodes left so I hope Lights gets to, you know, train. I guess all we need is one training montage and he’ll be ready for Reynolds. I sure wish Ed Romeo was going to be in Leary’s corner though.

As you probably know by now this season is it for Lights Out and while I was hoping it would be better this isn’t surprising news. Or even news to get pissed off about like canceling Terriers and Rubicon was. I like it and all, but it wasn’t up to those other show’s levels. Still there’s just so much reality or repetitive crap on it’s a shame the end of Lights Out is two hours away.

--In something ripped from a Shameless plot…Keith Gruber reported to a New York court 90 minutes late for his felony DWI hearing. Whoops. He brought a sixer of Busch with him. Double whoops. He was already drunk and working on a can when he finally stepped in front of the judge. Yeah, that’s about right.

--Writing of Shameless, this last episode was my favorite of the season. Usually Frank’s storylines bring the show to a screeching halt for me, but taking Deb and Carl around town to show them the Gallagher ropes was nice. Nicer would be an entire hour of Amy Smart and Emmy Rossum trying on clothes.

I need to watch that scene again in case they actually said something of worth. Good to see Tony has a darker side and had no problem kicking the crap out of Steve even if it backfired on him with Ian and Lip’s arrest. Ian had his moment of realization that as dysfunctional as it is it is still his dysfunctional family and the bonds may not always be strong, but they’re always there.
The one thing I could do without is Karen and her Dune nose necklace or whatever the hell that thing is. I’ve just really never warmed up to her, her mother or her dad. Less them, more neighbors please. Next week is the finale and I’m very much looking forward to it.

--Like this little nugget from Rob Neyer – Josh Levin – Bill James…Tim Hudson and Sandy Koufax have the same career record. 165 wins and 87 losses.

--Every week I watch Chuck and every week I wish it had ended with this scene.


--I missed Hines Ward on Dancing with the Stars, but saw the important people like Ralph Macchio and Kirstie Alley. Also saw some guy who is on a show with Dr. Drew pull a score of 13. He said his name was not Master P, but his score would indicate otherwise. You have to be pretty untalented to get a lower score than Wendy Williams. We all know Daniel-san is going to bust out the crane, it’s just a matter of when.
Reference lost on everyone this week was when Carrie Ann dropped a Ben Vereen on Sugar Ray Leonard.

--One of my favorite authors is Bill Buford. Okay, I’ve only read two of his books, but they were both fascinating reads that I tore through like "Where The Red Fern Grows" (What? One of the dogs had my name?) "Among the Thugs" was about his fun being immersed in soccer hooliganism. "Heat" chronicled his interest in cooking that led him to kitchens of various chefs including Mario Batali. Heat is getting a film deal. I’m not sure how it’s going to translate to film, but if you like good writing, appreciate food and/or ever worked in a kitchen it’s a must-read.


--Perfect Couples out and The Paul Reiser show in. Uh, Perfect Couples suddenly doesn’t seem so bad. And how did it get axed before Outsourced?!

--I don’t see how this movie is going to be any good and I liked the book, but apparently there’s some positive buzz about Moneyball.

--Every guy remembers his first because it combines so many emotions like anticipation, nervousness and excitement. Obviously I’m talking about that first time buying condoms. Many of us still needlessly buy a pack of gum, bag of chips and/or sodas to go along with the condoms. It’s tradition, at least for me. Many others just try to steal the condoms which is why I presume they’re locked up at a lot of places. In Washington a guy broke into a closed down sports bar and took things a step further by stealing its condom machine. Now that’s what you want to have in your bathroom if you’re a single guy. A condom machine with a roll of quarters next to it. Classy.

--Maybe it was because I watched last week’s 30 Rock takedown of Real Housewives and its ilk, but that sort of reality paint by numbers was what took away from Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen premiere. Too many reality staples like the interviews, pre-planned sound bites and not enough about the food. Because as cool as the food is I’d rather watch an hour of Dinner: Impossible. Actually I’d rather just watch a half hour of Marcel doing nuts and bolts stuff in the kitchen.

--Haven’t seen charcuterie today? Get your fix at Charcuteroulette.com which is exactly what it sounds like.

Questions, comments or if you’ll be live at LCD Soundsystem’s second to last concert next week and then you’ll come home and watch the final concert on Pitchfork’s stream!

5 comments:

  1. Ben Vereen references are not lost on me my friend. A brilliant jazz dancer. Particularly excellent in Fosse's Pippin as the leading player.

    You're surprised about moneyball positive buzz? Remember when sorkin was going to write a facebook movie?

    Outsourced has audience believe it or not. And people swear it's gotten better.

    I was really expecting a link to the wire in 19th century literature form

    Also no thoughts on Casey Abrams almost dying on the American idol stage?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think some retweets from celerities crashed the site, but here's a google cache link to 19th century The Wire http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:OknQr5ux00gJ:hoodedutilitarian.com/2011/03/when-its-not-your-turn-the-quintessentially-victorian-vision-of-ogdens-the-wire/+hooded+utilitarian+omar+comin&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=safari&source=www.google.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. I was saving that Wire read for the airport this week. Looks awesome.

    It was more the audience reaction to Ben Vereen, just dead silence and they clap wildly for anything on that show.

    Good point on Moneyball, but I don't know. I'm sure I'll be proven wrong but I never thought movie when I read the book.

    I have no idea what happens on AI. Never watched a second of it and really won't now with Tyler and Lopez. Now The Voice is a different matter...not really.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nelson7:29 AM

    WTH? No love for Justified again? They killed it again this week. They took what could've been a weak story with the money and made it an amazing tv. It is about to get crazy in Harlan with the coal company throwing their hat in the ring with boyd.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yeah, Justified keeps getting pushed back on my schedule. Last week's bank robbery with the most exciting slow chase ever was classic. Still gotta watch this week. Such an awesome show. Hard to believe the thought going into last season was to have Boyd die in the pilot. Whew.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.