TV Detail: True Blood review. Episode 2—The First Taste
The second episode of True Blood is better than the first. As stilted as Stephen Moyer was as Bill Compton in the pilot, he and Sookie’s budding romance seems more grounded this time. Bill is confounded both by Sookie’s innocence and her absence of fear. He lost his wife and children in the 1800s and has returned to Bon Temps to try to build an inconspicuous life, reclaiming the old Compton manor. Sookie has spent her life trying to quiet the voices in her head, but always feeling different. A moral compass and the gutter minds of her horny customers... read more
SNL Live Blog for 9/13/08
Check back here at 11:25 p.m. EST for a Saturday Night Live live-blog, where I'll be joined by Paste publisher Nick Purdy. Will Michael Phelps be funny? Will Lil Wayne meet FCC standards? Will Barack get an SNL bounce? And will Tina Fey come back to play her doppelgänger, Sarah Palin? (She looks more like Palin than Laura Roslin). We're just glad SNL doesn't suck these days.11:25pm: Well, Barack's not going to be a part of the show - Hurricane Ike making it in appropriate according to his spokesman....still thinking TIna Fey will do Palin but we'll have to wait... read more
TV Detail: Fringe Review
DHARMA Industry’s got nothing on Massive Dynamic, whose slogans ominously proclaim, “What don’t we make?” and “Your world is our world.” In J.J. Abrams brand new series Fringe, a large mysterious corporation is again at the center of conspiracy, intrigue and just plain weird occurrences. Fringe is the X-Files without the aliens, subtlety or skepticism—and with a healthy dose of grandeur. In the first episode that aired on Fox last night, “the pattern” of events that have occurred in the last year include small plane emitting high frequency that was responsible for the tsunami that killed 80,000—the same rough number... read more
TV Detail: True Blood review
Anytime I come across a TV show based in the South, I do so with a little fear and trepidation, always half-expecting the locals to be made into yokels. But what better place to set a vampire series than rural Louisiana? Alan Ball's new HBO series True Blood has an interesting concept—after a Japanese company manufactures a synthetic blood, vampires are finally able to “come out of the coffin” and into public view. Ball introduces this concept right off the bat with a vampire lobbyist on Real Time with Bill Maher.How the existence of vampires will mesh with Southern religion... read more
Of Montreal and the Magazine Office Olympics
People sometimes ask me what a typical day looks like for the editor-in-chief of Paste, and all I can think is that there are few typical days. But I'd like today to be typical. As I write this, I'm sitting in our a/v studio, watching Kevin Barnes pose for our November cover. One of my favorite photographers, Jeremy Cowart, is in town from Nashville, and Kevin is dressed like he's ready for Cirque de Soleil. We're listening to a mix of Shuggie Otis, Isley Brothers and Danger Doom on the stereo, and a filter casts magenta lighting across the... read more
5 Biggest Libertarian Musicians
We believe in equal time here at Paste, so after naming the biggest Republican and Democratic musicians earlier this week, I thought I'd look into who's supporting third-party candidates. The libertarians claim some fine musicians, including the first one I ever interviewed back in 1990—Mojo Nixon.... read more
5 Biggest Democratic Musicians and 5 Biggest Republican Musicians
photo by Danny ClinchPaste has tried hard not to turn our magazine or website into a platform for our own various political opinions. We recognize that people look to us for cultural guidance but generally think there are better places to find political commentary than a music magazine. For the sake of full disclosure, I'll be voting for Obama/Biden, but beyond that, I'll just refer you to The Economist. But music at the conventions is fair game, and it's hard not to note that last week in Denver featured pro-Obama concerts from Death Cab For Cutie, Stevie Wonder, Nada... read more
Dragon*Con 2008: A Video is worth 1,000 pictures
Our crack A/V department has put together the following video from Dragon*Con. If I look at a loss for words from time to time, it's because I'm at a loss for words. Next year I'm going to the parade.... read more
Dr. Horrible & The Buffy Horror Picture Show
Once more, with feeling... Having missed all panel discussions Friday at Dragon*Con (including the intriguingly titled "Lake Monsters I Have Known," "Becoming a Goddess" and "Lights! Camera! Cthulhu!"), I decided to take a break from the awesome people watching and jump wholeheartedly into the Whedon Universe. First I joined hundreds of people for a live version of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Despite the fact that Nathan Fillion was at the fest, amateur actors filled the roles of Dr. Horrible, Captain Hammer and the whole Sing-Along gang, while the original video played on a screen beside the stage. The crowd indeed... read more
Best Costume at Dragon*Con 2008
OK, apologies to Lego Man, Rosie the Riveter and the Yip-Yip Martian Muppet, my vote for costume of the year at Dragon*Con 2008 (at least on Friday) goes to this Aaron Eckhart look-alike, who shaved part of his head, singed his collar and spent a couple of hours putting on his latex mask. All in the name of looking exactly like Harvey "Two-Face" Dent.... read more
20 Things I Learned at Dragon*Con 2008
I attended my first Dragon*Con (or anything remotely like it) yesterday with no idea what to expect. Here's what I learned:1. That the costumes generating the most excitement among fans are sometimes the most simple and innocent—like the Yip-Yip Martian Muppet or Lego Man. 2. That the woman walking around carrying this is very disturbed.... read more
Prepping for Dragon*Con 2008
Today, I head downtown to explore new worlds, seek new life and civilizations, and boldly go where, uh... I've never gone before. I'm headed to Dragon*Con, and I'm simultaneously excited and little scared.... read more
September Movies That Look Promising
I've only seen a couple of these ahead of release, but here's my premature opinion on what we've got to look forward to in September:... read more
Call+Response Trailer
I've said it so many times, but it still sounds surreal: There are more than 27 million slaves on this earth, more than existed in during any point in the trans-Atlantic slave trade 200 years ago. About 80% of those are women and children. No government officially condones it, but even in America, kids are trafficked from other countries or from state to state, forced into prostitution with the threat of harm or death. My own city of Atlanta is one of the Top 10 in the nation for human trafficking. There have been several good fictional films dealing with... read more
6 New Fall TV Shows That Actually Might Be Good
With a new fall TV line-up, comes a new hope for quality shows. Call me an optimist if you like. I did have hope that Obama and McCain would offer a higher level of discourse to our political landscape, and we can all see how that's working out. But here are five shows that could maybe, possibly have an off-chance of being good:... read more
Good Day Atlanta at the Paste Office
Fox 5 came to the Paste offices this morning for live coverage of The Bridges, one of the cover subjects of our Best of What's Next issue that just hit newsstands. The three sisters, one brother and one cousin from Oxford, Alabama, showed up at 6 a.m. on the dot this morning ready to play, and they were a joy to have in the office. Fox 5 studios cut live to us several times throughout the morning, including a couple Bridges songs. You can watch three of the segments on the Fox 5 site now. You can also watch my... read more
Paste Favorites with New Records
Years before there was a Paste magazine, there was a website called PasteMusic.com. We sold CDs of independent artists we loved. The idea was that there were a lot of great musicians out there that no one seemed to know about. Each had built a modest fanbase, and we wanted to connect good music to fans who would appreciate it. Early artists included Pedro the Lion, Vigilantes of Love, Over the Rhine, Michelle Malone and Sufjan Steven's first band, Marzuki. Though we had no money, we figured out a way to buy out another website that had a similar vision... read more
10 Best Songs in Commercials During The Olympics
Since the advent of the DVR, sports are about the only thing I watch live on TV. So the Olympic Games have reintroduced me to the TV commercial, something I've managed to avoid outside of college football season and the occasional Braves game. And the quality of music has been a pleasant surprise (even a crappy beer like Bud Light—or Bud Light Lime—has the sense to use Santogold). Here are the best songs in commercials running during the Olympic Games:... read more
8 Best Free Music Apps for the iPhone
Sure, the best thing about the iPhone is that it's an 8- or 16-gig iPod Touch. But when Apple rolled out the 3G and opened up its platform to outside developers, iPhone users started getting more and more benefits each day, especially with last week's release from SimplifyMedia. Here are the 8 Best Free Music Apps for the iPhone:... read more
Short Films and Beer Commercials
I've been enjoying a four-week film series here in Decatur that kicked off last week with the first film from Krzysztof Kieślowski's The Decalogue. I was on the "expert" panel, but despite my lack of expertise when it comes to Polish cinema, it was enlightening to discuss the film afterwards. Everyone had different insights, and I left with a much deeper appreciation than after watching it by myself on DVD a few years back.Last night was particularly good since two of the three filmmakers whose works were shown were actually there to discuss their shorts, Brandon McCormick and Jackson Walker.... read more
