Current Events: "Joe the Plumber" Megamix
Last Wednesday night, a blue-collar hero went down in history. Toledo, Ohio’s own Joe Wurzelbacher—aka “Joe the Plumber”—was invoked no less than 26 times, making him more central to the third presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama than anything else, including taxes, education, the war, terrorism, the environment and energy independence.Seeing as how a playlist about plumbers would’ve been pretty short, today’s Current Events megamix will focus simply on great songs about guys named Joe. Here’s to you, plumber man! ... read more
TV Detail: Pushing Daisies review. Episode 2.03—"Bad Habits"
Well, I feel silly. I've been pretty explicit in expressing my indignation over some of the story lines set up in the second season of Pushing Daisies, but I stand corrected. Last night's episode, "Bad Habits," miraculously wove all the separate plot lines together in a profound and transcendentally touching way. It was not only one of the best episodes of the entire series, but one of the best episodes of any show on television in recent memory. Period.... read more
Presidential Debate/Project Runway Live Blog
It's always frustrating when there are two really important television events are happening at the same time and you don't have one of those cool TVs from the '90s with the screen-within-a-screen. I hear they've come out with something called a "DVR" for these situations, but I don't think it would even be compatible with the ancient television my wife and I inherited from her grandmother several years ago. Instead, I've got to rely on the remote control with my instinct alone to guide me. Tonight, the Project Runway finale is on at the same time as the final presidential... read more
TV Detail: Dexter review. Episode 3.03—"The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
Very much a transitional episode, this week’s Dexter spent more time progressing the season’s central plot than it did staking out new ground. The exception is that Dexter decides to stay with Rita and raise their child when it’s born, but who does that really surprise? Dexter’s father—who has been dead since before the show started—continues to show up in dreary flashbacks even now that we know about his past, so the show will inevitably find plenty of material in the idea of Dexter as a father. ... read more
Phillip Toledano’s Inspiring Photography
I’m excited to share my boyfriend’s current photography obsession. It’s a heartbreaking photo essay by Phillip Toledano called Days With My Father. ... read more
Trailer Stash: Twilight, The Unborn, Defiance
And now, a brief look at a few of the latest movie trailers to hit the web:... read more
TV Detail: The Starter Wife review. Series Premiere
When The Starter Wife ran as a six-episode miniseries last year, it garnered 10 Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Miniseries, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries (Debra Messing) and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries (the delightfully wry Judy Davis). The original ran on the USA network, the home of Friday night's two-hour premiere episode of the new regular-series adaptation.... read more
TV Detail: Samantha Who? review. Season 2 Premiere
Samantha Who? was one of the breakout shows of 2007, the highest rated new sitcom of the fall season and earned Jean Smart an Emmy for Supporting Actress in a Comedy. Not too shabby for a show that had to endure a huge writer’s strike in it’s first season. Although it left the air in December, the show returned in April to finish out a shortened 15-episode run but was eventually picked up for the fall 08-09’ season. ... read more
This American Life on this American economic strife
If Nick Marino's 5 Songs to Assuage Your Bailout Blues did no such thing, or if you're still wondering what got you into a situation where you had bailout blues to assuage in the first place, then I suggest cozying up to your iTunes, fireside chat-style, and listening to what Ira Glass and his pals over at This American Life have to say about it all.... read more
TV Detail: Dirty Sexy Money Review. Episode 2.2—"The Family Lawyer"
Tripp Darling is a magnificent bastard. There is no other way to describe a man who is as manipulative and conniving as Tripp. The second installment of Dirty Sexy Money proved that the Darling patriarch is capable of playing his entire family like a skillful game of chess. The ease at which he pits his children against one another would be scary in reality, but sure makes for ridiculously fun television.... read more
Wolf Blitzer loves music, so I love Wolf Blitzer
CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer gets a lot of flak, but I like him. He’s got a badass name, he’s an accomplished political and international reporter, and he loves to talk about music.... read more
Watch amazing Oscar-nominated short I Met the Walrus
In 1969, 14-year-old Beatles fan Jerry Levitan tracked his idol, John Lennon, from a Toronto airport to his room at the King Edward Hotel. Inside, he convinced Lennon to do an impromptu interview. Thirty-eight years later, Levitan teamed with director Josh Raskin to create and edit a five-minute short film entitled I Met the Walrus based on the interview. Amazing, right?... read more
TV Detail: Will Kath & Kim be any good?
We've been seeing previews for NBC's Kath & Kim for nearly two months now (ever since the Olympics, remember those?!). But tonight's the night, folks: At 8:30 p.m. Paste time, we will finally know for certain whether this show is a really big piece of crap, or just a regular-sized piece of crap.... read more
TV Detail: Pushing Daisies review. Episode 2.02—"Circus, Circus"
My fear with Pushing Daisies from the start was it would become stale. How many times can Ned, Chuck and Emerson sleuth around and solve murders before it becomes, well, boring? Each episode is essentially the same—transposing one exotic locale for another (like say a beehive-shaped office for a vibrant three-ring circus) alongside an array of colorful characters (and possible murderers), interspersed by the witty repartee between its lead characters. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be a recipe for longevity. And as much as it pains to say, the second episode of the season—"Circus, Circus"—was even more lackluster than its... read more
The Everybodyfields cover the Everly Brothers in Chattanooga, Tenn.
I was half-passed out on a couch in Austin when the Everybodyfields played in my hometown two weeks ago, so I missed Sam Quinn and Jill Andrews' incredibly sweet cover of the Everly Brothers "All I Have to Do is Dream." The population of Texas should thank YouTube user billfive for taking this video. Had he not, I'd be trading all y'all and your tacos and barbecue for a time machine so I could zap back in time, battle I-75 up from Atlanta and crash at my parents' house to see it myself. (Watch out, I still might.)Vague personal threats... read more
TV Detail: Dexter Review. Season Premiere and Episode 3.02
The first two episodes of Dexter’s third season open with the kind of uncharacteristically contrived setups that brought the first two seasons to their hasty conclusions. In the premiere, Dexter (Michael C. Hall) is briefly at the cheeriest we’ve seen him in some time after he avoided detection late last season with the kind of dumb luck he’s been taught his whole life to avoid. His escape was liberating in that sense, with the mythology surrounding his father apparently settled and a new sense of possibility ahead of him. ... read more
Top 10 new band names, per the 2008 Vice Presidential debate
Much to our suprise, Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin's debate last Thursday yielded far fewer ridiculous band names than did their top-of-the-ticket counterparts' parley the week before. We pulled out ten pretty servicable ones (seriously, someone please start one of these bands, we'll put you on the Sampler or something*), though we're resigned to this being, at best, only the second-funniest thing to be inspired by the 2008 election's first and only Vice Presidential debate. ... read more
Live Review: The Avett Brothers @ Georgia Theatre, 10/3/08
Before last week, I'd only seen the Avett Brothers live in festival settings-- all rife with dust, sweat and unsuspecting patrons about to have their notions of the banjo's hokey limitations fully obliterated-- so maybe a certain trend I noticed Friday night in Athens is a long-standing, midsize-venue-specific one that I just never had the opportunity to witness before. Or maybe, like the Grit and the Polish Sausage Man and the Dawgs, it's just unique to that great little town. Either way, hanging in and around the Georgia Theatre that evening was a notable number of young gentlemen dressed in... read more
Current Events: Phish for non-phans, a reunion playlist
An introduction to the loved—and loathed—jamband, on the occasion of its recently announced reunion...Sure, some of their fans are obnoxious, stoned idiots. Rich-kid runaways strung out on MDMA and just enough misconstrued New Age philosophy to make them unbearably self-righteous. And, yes, the band’s hour-long atonal vamps on a song called “Tweezer” make most people want to take said grooming tool and remove their ear drums.... read more
TV Detail: Ugly Betty Review. Episode 3.02—"Filing for the Enemy"
The second episode of Ugly Betty attempted to right all of the wrongs of the lackluster season premiere. The show works best when Wilhelmina is squaring off against the Meades and Betty is tasked with the job of mediator. This episode put the action back at Mode where it belongs.... read more
The 50 Best Movies on Netflix Instant
The 25 Best Movies of 2012 (So…
The 50 Best Movies of 2011
The 30 Best TV Shows on Netflix…
The 50 Best Movies of the Decade…
