Ultranormal

Category: entertainment

  • New Television To Watch And Enjoy

    The television season is now several weeks old, but I hadn’t caught up with enough new shows to make recommendations. Now, I have, and we have some winners!!! They are:

    1. Rome – It’s different, and aside from the sex, it’s not your typical HBO Sunday night. It’s political, familial, and conniving. Like other HBO shows, there really are no heroes, which is fine with me. Heroes always disappoint, while villains are at least entertaining. The acting is top notch, and it doesn’t really feel like I thought it would. It’s done for Antiquity what Deadwood did for the Old West – it’s put the life back in the statues, and isn’t afraid to treat the legends like real people. It’s definitely worth checking out, especially for Ray Stevenson’s portrayal of Titus Pullo, fatally flawed, goofy and vicious. He’s the antihero that all other antiheros aspire to be. And, lucky you, HBO is re-running the first 8 episodes this week.
    2. Threshold – I had low expectations for this show, and I’m not sure how far they can stretch the premise, but so far so good. This is sci-fi bubblegum, with just enough creep factor to keep me coming back. It’s a little like The 4400 but with some Andromeda Strain and X-Files thrown in. Good stuff, and the cast is great fun. It’s great to see Charles S. Dutton on TV again.
    3. Invasion – Kind of slow, and sometimes the acting isn’t great, but this one is interesting enough to put make TiVo keep recording it each week. The cast is pretty stock ensemble with very few recognizable names (unlike Threshold which screams indie movie fan as casting director). It is nice to see William Fichtner, but he’s really the only cast member I recognize from anything. If you like LOST but think it moves too fast, then Invasion may be for you.
    4. Extras – It’s by the guy who did The Office. If you like your comedy extremely painful, you’ll love this show.
    5. One Night Stand – It’s back!!! YAY!!!! I frigging love this show. A new comedian every week, and it’s only 30 minutes. Had a bad day? Watch Flight Of The Conchords and all your troubles are gone.\
      It’s not really a “new” show, but this season’s Amazing Race is so much better than I thought it would be. I was afraid they wouldn’t do anything with the families, and they haven’t left the country yet (crossing my fingers for this week), but it’s a lot of fun. It’s a good mix of in-laws, siblings, parents, teenagers, and kids… and they’re all a mess in some ways. It’s guilty, but it’s too much fun not to watch.\
      Set your TiVo’s now. You’ve been warned.

  • I just can’t stop

    From an article in the Toronto Star, Joss Whedon about Veronica Mars:\
    “I was on fire. We had just watched the last five episodes in one day and I was just freaking out,” he says, wild-eyed. “I understand Buffy fans better watching that show and so does my wife. There’s so much pain and there’s so much humour and the stories are so tight and the characters are so well-drawn and you just. Care. So. Much. And to have all of that in one package is so rare. I was a junkie. I just had to share how cool it was. And I’ve realized if you do that, people notice. It’s nice. Somebody else will go, `I just love Veronica Mars.’”\
    “When people said they’re calling this the next Buffy, for once I actually thought it was a compliment.”

  • The Perfect Milkshake

    Jen decided that we needed pizza and milkshakes for dinner tonight. Since I’d recently scored a sweet blender from Woot! and we had lots of ice cream in the house… we were all set. They turned out so well, I thought I’d share the process (since milkshakes are kind of hard to get “right” at home… and I’ve tried).\
    Makes three awesome servings.\
    h4. Ingredients

    * 1 ~~gallon~~ half gallon (or whatever their round regular container holds) of Edy’s (or Dreyer’s, or any other creamy ice cream – Breyer’s probably wouldn’t work because it’s too icey) Cookies and Cream ice cream.

    * 3 cups of milk

    * 3 small bags of Mini Oreos

    * Some chocolate syrup.

    * 3 straws

    * Whipped Cream\
    h4. Directions

    1. Pour the three bags of oreos in the blender and pulse on the chop setting until they’re broken up.
    2. Add about half of the ice cream into the blender.
    3. Pour in one cup of the milk.
    4. Liberally apply chocolate syrup (if you like that sort of thing).
    5. Pulse in 3 second bursts on the highest setting, about 10-12 bursts.
    6. This should give you a really think mess of wonderful, and it should have brought the ice cream down to a level where you can add the rest of the ice cream (whatever will fit and still give you enough room to add the rest of the milk).
    7. Pulse again in 3 second bursts until the rest of the ice cream and milk are incorporated – should take about 10-12 hits.
    8. Split it up among three cups, stick a straw in it, and douse it liberally with whipped cream.
    9. Enjoy\
      I have never heard such happy noises from my family. We even let Brian have a little bit and he cried when it was all gone. It was awesome. It is the only milkshake that has made me want to cry. I think I might have actually shed a tear when it was all gone.\
      Oh, and the measurements are all approximate. I don’t measure stuff… sorry if I guessed wrong, but you’ll still get a milkshake out it, so how bad can it be?\
      Tomorrow night, mint chocolate chip.

  • The Music Max

    This started out as a response to Katie’s comment from Kevin’s most recent post, but I decided to make this a post on its own.\
    I have a friend who only listens to kids music in the car, but I refuse to do that. The car is my domain. I listen to what I want and just turn the station if I hear an inappropriate song. When my oldest was 2, I realized he was singing along to “No Sleep Til Brooklyn.” Apparently the radio had played it enough that he knew the words. We sang it together at the top of our lungs. I knew then that I was either a really great mom or a really bad one.\
    A couple of months later we went to visit my parents and I roped them into singing too, cuz how could they say no to their adorable, little, 2 year old grandson? One of the highlights of my life is seeing my 50-ish year old parents singing the Beastie Boys.

  • A Tip For Cheering Up

    Need another pick-me-up? Go listen to some old They Might Be Giants, or watch their documentary: Gigantic (A Tale Of Two Giants). It shows up on IFC every month or so. It’s funny, and will make you smile.\
    You can’t listen to any song on Flood, Don’t Let’s Start or Subliminal and not smile. It’s a physical impossibility.

  • Need A Happy?

    I sure do. If you’re in need of a pick-me-up, go grab the latest episode of Coverville. It’ll cure what ails you. It’s an all a cappella set of covers and is wiping the grimace off my mug.\
    Enjoy.

  • Joss Whedon is Veronica fan too!

    I have gone on and on about Veronica Mars all summer, trying to get more people to watch it. Well, I am in some fabulous company because Joss Whedon loves it too. Here is an excerpt, in which he calls it the Best. Show. Ever:\
    bq. Joss Luvs Veronica.\
    bq. I just finished a crazed Veronica Marsathon, and I can no longer restrain myself. Best. Show. Ever. Seriously, I’ve never gotten more wrapped up in a show I wasn’t making, and maybe even more than those. Crazy crisp dialogue. Incredibly tight plotting. Big emotion, I mean BIG, and charsimatic actors and I was just DYING from the mystery and the relationships … laugh all you want, I had to share this. These guys know what they’re doing on a level that intimidates me.\
    This is what I have been saying too! And this from the man who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, and is a god to many. So this is high praise indeed.\
    Don’t you want to watch Veronica Mars and see what all the talk is about? Now is the time to tune in to Veronica Mars. These last episodes set up everything to come and answer everything from before. Tune in Wednesdays at 9pm on UPN or check local listings for a weekend rereun.

  • The Aristocrats

    After reading Salon’s review, I have to go see it. I’m all about jokes you shouldn’t tell, and smart ways to gross people out.\
    When I lived in Tucson, my friend Jim and I used to play this game where we one-upped each other until one of us gave and did the “here’s the line, and here’s you” pantomime thing. It was great fun, and I don’t really get to play that game anymore (because really, how do you find those people who like playing those games without offending everyone?).\
    This game was even more fun when we did our public access TV show with Brain and the gang. A whole room of people up for the game, late on a Saturday night, with three phone lines, a camera and lots of stupid props. It was way too much fun, and I miss it. It was silly and juvenile, and we loved every minute of it.\
    And if you know me… that’s pretty much what I live for.

  • This One’s For Heather: Podcasts and Mashups

    This one’s for Heather. Max and I went to dinner with my mom, brother and sister last night and we ended up talking about mashups and podcasts. Heather wanted me to send her some links, but I’d hate to go through all that effort only to repeat it when someone else asks me. So, this post will get e-mailed around to folks (hi, folks) when they ask me what a mashup or a podcast is or how they can get some.\

    <dl>
    <dt>mashup</dt>
    <dd>Taking any musical work or works and turning them into something else. This isn’t a cover, which is someone performing a song. It’s usually taking the recorded version of the song and combining it with other recorded elements (usually other songs… you know, mashing them up!).</dd>
    <dt>podcast</dt>
    <dd>Recording an audio file and posting it to a website. I know, it’s more than that, but that’s it, really. The real hook to podcasting is syndicating those audio files and producing them on a semi-regular basis so people can use their feed reader of choice to download them automatically to their iPod (hence “pod”casting) or to their music player of choice.</dd>
    </dl>
    \
    I’ve only recently gotten into listening to podcasts, and have just a couple favorites:

    # Radio Clash: This is first for good reason. Tim puts together a fun show, with just the right balance of talk and music. He picks the best mashups out there and throws them together with interesting conversation about what’s going on in his world. Good stuff. Show 38 (the most recent) isn’t a good representation of a “normal” show, so you might want to start with Show 37

    # Coverville: Not mashups, but this guy is funny, and he picks some hilarious covers to play. Covers are another secret passion of mine. It all started in Tucson listening to KXCI (the best radio station ever) and hearing Social Distortion‘s cover of Ring of Fire followed by an accordian-laden cover of the same. I was hooked.

    # Odeo: They don’t make ’em, but they’re the easiest way I’ve found so far to find ’em and download ’em.\
    As for mashups, there are a few folks who produce world-class stuff (at least that I’ve found). Here are my faves:

    • The Kleptones – A Night At The Hip-Hopera is probably my all-time favorite mashup. I can listen to it for hours and hours.
    • Pheugoo: Some really good techno mashups, my favorites being La Naughty Femme, Dip It Joe and Roses for Lindy.
    • DJ BC (link not working at the moment): dj BC and The Beastles is priceless. He mashed Meet The Beatles with The Beastie Boys and it’s magical.
    • Pop Razors: They’ve got some stinkers, but Climbin’ Deeper is unbelievable. You will shake much booty.\
      Of course, the music industry hates mashups and it’s not quite sure what to do with podcasts. But, they hated the CD at first too, and same folks thought that the VCR would kill them. They don’t have a very good track record with being right, do they?\
      Enjoy ’em while you can!

  • I’m a pimp

    I finished the latest Harry Potter book and am sad to say that I was disappointed. I have no qualms about any of the plot points, so this isn’t bitterness talking. It just seems that the book is 3/4 filler of back story without any action or moving the story forward. Kev said that it is a “fourth act” book. While I think all Potter fans should read it, don’t expect too much from it.\
    In other news, CBS has agreed to air four episodes of Veronica Mars!

    • Friday, July 29th (8:00pm to 10:00pm, two episodes)
    • Friday, August 5th (8:00pm, one episode)
    • Friday, August 12th (8:00pm, one episode)\
      (Normally the show is on UPN on Wednesdays at 9pm and rerun on the weekends)\
      Check it out!