To Send My Rhymes Out To All Nations. Like Ma Bell, I've Got The Ill Communications.

Quick Hitters and Random Thoughts

--Morgan Spurlock’s five-part series of 50 Documentaries to See Before You Die started this week with 50-41. At #50 was the awesome Spellbound which should have been higher up than Madonna’s Truth or Dare. I also think #48 should have been much higher up. That was The Kids Stays in the Picture. Robert Evans remains the coolest. That’s probably in my top five docs of all-time. Loved every second of it the five times I’ve seen it. Numbers 47-44 I had never seen. Those included One Day in September, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Decline of Western Civilization: The Metal Years and Burma VJ. Little Dieter sounds like a Netflix add. Spike Lee’s When the Levees Break was 43. 42 was Catfish which I didn’t like as much as most people and I don’t really consider it a documentary. At number 41 was the classic King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. As Morgan ran down the list he was heading to Orlando International Airport to meet the man, the myth, the Billy Mitchell. In the four years since King of Kong was released Billy has changed exactly zero. Same haircut, same tie, same arrogance. In other words, awesome. Billy has his own little arcade in the airport, but it doesn’t even have Donkey Kong or any classic game for that matter. It does, however, have Billy’s famous hot sauce in bottles as a prize in the claw game which is so Billy. Billy maintains he’s never seen one second of King of Kong. Yeah right. A man with that ego has that bad boy running on a loop somewhere inside his house. Good stuff so far from this show and now I know where Current TV is located. It’s in that mysterious land that holds many channels I never knew I had because they don’t end in HD.
@fidoz of ApeDonkey with a more comprehensive review.

--Writing of docs I enjoyed the four NFL docs on the new Hall of Famers though by far my favorite was Ed Sabol’s. It’s actually a little silly it took this long for him to be inducted. I don’t think you can overestimate the impact he had on the league while it was struggling for America to notice it. Great insight into how and why he wanted to show faces, slow motion, have John Facenda voiceover, etc. Deion Sanders’ was pretty good as well. So many good highlights and stories from his competitors and teammates. And how can you ever forget those M.C. Hammer “2 Legit 2 Quit” days? Hammer talked about how he and Jerry Glanville “connected.” Shocker.

Oddly no mention of Deion's music career.

--Nothing surprised me more this week than hearing Matt and Adam discuss how Seth Wand is in Raiders camp. What. The.

--I was wondering how Dane Cook was going to work in on Louie and I should have known it would be honest and brilliant. Great segment with both guys stating their arguments with both making good points, but Dane still seems delusional to the idea that he may have accidentally used jokes he’s heard in the past. Credit to him for doing the show. That can’t be Cook’s real security team, right? That’s more than Goldberg had for his WCW entrances.


--Chrissy Teigen is pretty much awesome. Looks, wit, common sense and cooking skills all on display in Esquire.


--I’m down with this American Horror Story upcoming on FX and not just because Connie Britton is in it although that certainly doesn’t hurt.

--Wilfie – “Now that I met Raffi how can I go back to bear? I mean sure Bear paid my way through obedience school, but does that mean I have to be unhappy for the rest of my life?” Wilfred flashing Monopoly money to Raffi was classic. He was on fire with his courtship of Raffi and relationship turmoil with Bear. I hope I never have to hear Jane Kaczmarek talk about her “wabbit hole” again.
Wilfie – “Jobs are for immigrants.”

--Cool look at how some of the special effects of Game of Thrones were shot. I’m now halfway through the latest book and I seriously don’t know what I’m going to do with my time after I turn the last page. Oh yeah, football, whew.


--Andie MacDowell looks fantastic for 53. I can’t believe she’s old enough to have a 21-year-old daughter, but I can believe that said daughter is hot.


--Obviously this Rachael Ray vs. Guy Fieri Celebrity Smackdown is among the worst Food Network ideas ever. I just hate to see favorites from long ago like Cheech and Lou Diamond Phillips in this debacle. Other “celebrities” include Joey Fatone, Aaron Carter, Summer Sanders, Miss USA 2011, Taylor Dane? and Coolio. Oh the joy.

--Hey are you gonna eat that?

Uhhh, nevermind.

--No offense HBO, but I’d rather have Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher than Ed Burns and Michael Rappaport.

--My initial thought was why the fu** would I want to read an interview with Joe Piscopo? Then I read it. Good stuff.

--Not solely because Major Winters from Band of Brothers is in it, but Homeland looks pretty strong.


--Why wouldn’t Val Kilmer have a Tumblr? He owned Jim Morrison and Doc Holliday like nobody ever will again.

--Someday when I’m rich I’m going to hit Revival Market a few times a week. I had some “filet” of watermelon the other day and it was damn good. Sticky, sweet goodness with the look of watermelon jerky. Best aftertaste to have lingering during this slightly hot summer.

--Interesting read in The Hollywood Reporter on AMC’s woes. Why you’d ever ask Breaking Bad to cut a season down from 13 to six or eight episodes is beyond me. @bcstagg told me last week critics didn’t like the Hell on Wheels pilot and the article echoes that sentiment.

--Oh so now it’s frowned upon to try and split atoms in your kitchen. Pft, whatever.

--Only two parts and four hours worth of the wedding of the century between Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries on E!? I think as a nation we deserve, nay, demand more coverage.

--Legos + LCD Soundsystem + All My Friends = Awesome.


Questions, comments or if you didn’t think you’d be DVR’ing All My Children again, but then you didn’t think David Hayward was keeping all the people who’ve died over the years alive…