LOST, Big Balls, the Heel of the Week, the Resevoir Dogs Video Game, and the Curse of the Sopranos. You can’t afford to miss this installment.
Songs that Should Never be Covered, Ever (part one)
This isn't 411 music, so stop acting like it is. I'm not going to fill up your ear-hole with ramblings about bands you've never heard about, nor will I use analogies that mean nothing to you (as in "This album was fresh and exciting, it had the discordant basslines of Pony Girdlestain's early work, combined with the ambience of DJ Guy Who Works Here's seminal debut album "I'm Telling You Man, I Don't Work Here.")
What I want to do here, from time to time is throw out the name of a song that should be put onto a list of songs that can never be remade by another band. Ever, under any reason.
It will be a very short list. Remakes, or cover versions, can be good. Usually they aren't, but sometimes they are. There are some songs that are so perfect, however, that they should never ever ever be recorded by anyone else. (Playing it live is one thing, but to record it is another)
My first choice is…
"Big Balls" by AC/DC from the album "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap."
I have heard bands do covers of this song, and they simply do not work. The beauty of "Big Balls" isn't the high school-clever lyrics or the simple guitar riff, it's in the nuanced vocals of Bon Scott. Bon sounds every inch a dirty motherfucker, and he certainly makes the song seem much filthier than it really is. In short, Bon is the only one that can deliver this song the way it should be delivered, and Brian Johnson is the only guy who is even allowed to try.
The Idiot Box Proper
Stupid Announcement of the Week
Eidos announced it was priming a videogame version of Quentin Tarantino's cult classic Reservoir Dogs for release this fall on Xbox, PS2 and PC. The game will closely follow the plot of the movie, with the player following the progress of the planned diamond heist through any one of the main characters, accompanied by the film's original soundtrack. The movie's Mr. Blonde, Michael Madsen, will be on hand to unveil the game at E3 May 10 in Los Angeles.
Are you kidding me? Don't get me wrong, I love the movie, but how the hell does it translate into a game? Is the first-ever dialogue-based crime game? Does the entire game take place in one set?
Between this and "Godfather" and "Scarface" and "Sopranos" video games, I'm already burned out on the genre and I haven't played any of them yet.
the Curse of the Sopranos
The Sopranos actors John Ventimiglia and Louis Gross have both been arrested on unrelated charges. Ventimiglia - who plays chef Artie Bucco on the hit TV show - was arrested in the early hours of Monday morning on suspicion of drink driving and possessing cocaine. The 37-year-old was pulled over after the Volkswagen car he was driving swerved without its headlights on. The arresting officer said the actor smelled of alcohol and his speech was slurred. Subsequent tests found a blood alcohol level of 0.12 per cent - the legal limit in the US is 0.08 per cent - and Ventimiglia was allegedly carrying a small plastic bag containing the residue of a white powder believed to be cocaine. Ventimiglia protested his innocence and has been released while a court date is set. His lawyer Benjamin Petrofsky says in a statement: "John feels terrible and embarrassed. Until we gather all the information we will have no further comment." Louis Gross, who portrays bodyguard Perry Annunziata, was arrested on Sunday for allegedly breaking into a New York City property. Gross was released on Monday without bail. He told reporters, "I don't know nothing. I'm innocent. I'm always innocent." Ventimiglia and Gross are not the first Sopranos to really fall foul of the law. Star Vincent Pastore pleaded guilty in November to attempting to assault his girlfriend, while Lillo Brancanto Jr. - who played an up and coming mobster - faces murder charges after a police officer was shot dead following a bungled robbery.
It's a coise! A coise, I says!
Seriously, does anyone else think this is an outside-the-box PR plan to help get the Sopranos even more street cred? Maybe there are execs urging actors to start doing some crimes, maybe just feel it out and see how it goes… and then BAM they call the pigs and capitalize on the newspaper headlines to help attract a more criminal fan base to the show?
No, I guess that sounds pretty crazy.
So crazy it MUST be true!
Remember, you read it here first.
Kill these Shows!
Among more than 30,000 voters, 61% wanted Scrubs, which is winding up its fifth season, to continue; just 14% wanted it gone, according to online and mail-in ballots.
It's "a high note in an otherwise dismal land of bland television," says Karen Armbruster of Cleveland. "Clever writing. A top-notch ensemble of actors. Humor and defeat."
UPN's Veronica Mars, vying for a spot on the new CW network, was the second-most-liked show, favored by half of voters to return, with 17% wishing it gone.
Having more supporters than detractors were five other shows among the 22 in the survey: Commander in Chief, Everwood, Invasion, Reba and The King of Queens. Save Our Shows voters were most vocal in their defense of Commander, but ABC yanked the series this week, making its return next season even less likely.
From usatoday
Kill all those shows. Kill them all! Ever since "Arrested Development" and "Carnivale" got canned, I'm bitter as hell. My fave shows got axed, so screw all those other underground hit shows.
Heel of the Week
Michael Lloyd, as played by Harold Perrineau
"LOST"
The initial installment of the Heel of the Week feature was an easy choice to make – it comes from what is easily the best episode of "LOST" all season, and one of the best episodes they have ever done. After several weeks of repeats and boring, foot-draggingly slow episodes, they finally had things start to come to a head. The entire episode was fast paced and was, for once, displaying a singular storytelling purpose.
This one episode reminded me why I love this show to begin with.
And all that came before the boffo ending, in which longtime face Michael Lloyd, who just returned from going after the Others to regain his kidnapped son, grabs a gun and kills two people. He then opens the hatch to presumably let Henry Gale escape, and shoots himself in the arm. Fade to black.
Why did he do it? Unknown.
How could a man act so totally out of character? It's called a heel turn, baby. When it is done right, it comes out of nowhere and leaves you reeling. The Horsemen used to execute heel turns with this kind of brilliance.
Now, a second-string face has in one scene become a main-event heel.
Way to go Michael, and way to go LOST.
Pimping the 411
Make time to browse over to "Warped News" where star writing Cris Murphy is working injured. That's commitment, people. Cris just got out of surgery – they removed the "h" from his first name. I keed, I keed – it was really a "Chris Benoit Neck Replacement Special."
I'm using the blog to post updates and chapters on a crime novel. It's tough, violent, brutal in spots, even – but there is more going on then crime. Check it out
And after that, head over to theGainesville Sun
, where I write a weekly movie review column, and have for about the last five years or so. The latest review pretty sweet, if I do say so myself –
It is a Do It Yourself Movie Kit (trademark pending) so that you, yes you, can create your own sci-fi epic! It only takes a few minutes to fill out the form, and then BAM, you've got yourself something better than "Aeon Flux" and "Matrix 3"
Off the same page you'll find a bi-weekly Podcast, featuring yours truly expounding upon B movies, music, and dumb shit with a couple of actual journalists. It's called Scene and Heard. Look for it!
