Reasons to Survive This Week 10/3/11
Oh my god, you guys, we made it! We survived another week. Well, I assume we did. This may all be some crazy purgatory island with two weird dudes playing chess for the souls of a bunch of airplane crash survivors with more questions than could ever possibly be answered desperately seeking a way off and finding redemption along the way. Either way, mystically undead folks gotta play, read, watch, and listen to stuff too, so here’s our list of things that we’re psyched for this week.
OR IS IT?!?!?
(Cue violins, crash sound effect)
Monday
Frank Angones- Can’t Color Inside the Lines
Chances are a good number of you may have hung up a piece of Drew Struzan art without ever even knowing it. The iconic movie poster artist is responsible for some of the most indelible images in the last 40 years of cinema history, including defining images for Back to the Future, The Thing, The Goonies, and the Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter franchises. Today sees the release of Drew Struzan: Oeuvre, a lush hardcover that seeks to be the definitive collection of Struzan’s works. While a few hardcovers of Struzan’s art are floating around out there, including the excellent “The Art of Drew Struzan,” which details the making of stories of some of the master’s favorite works, this book includes all of his most famous images as well as lesser known promotional material, concert art and personal images, including his recent (and gorgeous) interpretation of the original James Whale Frankenstein film.
Shane O’Hare- Bane of Major Record Labels Everywhere
Besides having the epic MLP billboard go up, electronic music producer Skrillex has done the Main Theme Song for Syndicate. The song is released FREE on Syndicates Facebook. It’s pretty impressive and I like to see more and more of this kind of music getting the attention it deserves.
Tuesday
Eugene Ramos- Once Got a “Fast Five” on Prom Night
Fast Five (on Blu-Ray and DVD today) is the best of the car-racing series. So good my friend named her first child Dominic after Vin Diesel’s character. How can you go wrong with a smack down, drag ’em out, dirty fight between Diesel and The Rock? And it has one of the craziest car chases ever. Ever! And did I mention Jordana Brewster?
Jonathan London- Lead Guitarist for Jam on Fire
NBA Jam On Fire Edition comes out on PSN on Tuesday and XBL on Wednesday. I’ll be getting the XBox Live version because their online is a bit healthier than the Playstation’s… maybe. Because the NBA will be striking this year, I might just get it for the PS3 so I can watch it on our big screen in lieu of those normal headed games I won’t be watching. Hopefully this edition turns out to have all the bells, whistles and roster updates that last year’s retail version didn’t. I at least know that it does have Honey Badgers…
Shane O’Hare- Liked Jam on Fire Before They Sold Out
RAGE is coming out on all consoles and PC. What’s not to like about this game? Top tier graphics engine. Next level co-op. Bringing you a play environment that Borderlands tried to achieve. I cannot wait to install my 22GB on Tuesday.
Matt Kelly- Professional Liker of Things
I’ve always loved pop punk music. And yet I love of cover songs even more. So imagine my joy when I realized that my favorite pop punk band Relient K is releasing an all cover album “K is for Karaoke”. Covering such random songs as Motorcycle Drive By (Third Eye Blind), Inside of Love (Nada Surf) and Baby (Justin Bieber), it promises to be a fun blend of classic 90’s songs, 80’s favorites and modern… annoyances. If you’ve never heard Relient K before, this might be a perfect album to check out and see if they’re sound is something for you.
I love horror movies; one of my all time favorites is Scream. I strongly believe that film has the best script in horror film history. While the sequels have always received mixed reviews, I found them mostly enjoyable. While there was a lot of naysayers about it’s ‘return’ this year with Scream 4 (on Blu-ray and DVD today), I was extremely excited for it. I was beyond satisfied with its blend of horror and comedy. Check it out, the first 10 minutes are the funniest 10 minutes in horror history.
Joshua Jackson- Sleeper Hit
Dark Souls is the upcoming sequel to the PS3 sleeper hit, Demon’s Souls. To anyone who played the original, this means more traps, more dungeons, more monsters and lots more death. Demon’s Souls had a reputation for being brutally difficult, with nerd rage reaching its peak with so much dying going on. Dark Souls is going to continue that tradition, but dungeon crawlers can still help each other by leaving hints or joining other adventurers online. And this time around, it’s on 360 as well, so more gamers can get in on the frustration… erm, I mean fun!
Expect new controller sales to go up this month.
YuGiOh Legendary Collection 2 is gathering all of the greatest cards from the GX generation of the card game and putting them in one set. If you didn’t check out my preview here, it’s coming packaged with a series of brand new cards as well as reprints of the most popular cards of that era. But most importantly, it has all the tools that I need to complete my Elemental Hero deck. 8 year olds will quake in fear as they see me strolling down the street with my deck in hand. I can smell their fear already.
Mark Bovenzi- Knows How to Spell “Galifianakis”
Coming out this Tuesday is Bored to Death Season 2 (on Blu-ray and DVD today), one of the funniest, smartest shows that you’re not watching. It stars Jason Schwartzman, Zack Galifianakis, and Ted Danson with hilarious and awesome guest appearances by John Hodgman and Oliver Platt. If you like crime shows done in a hilarious style and outrageous scenarios, this is for you.
Russell Sherman- Disney Enthusiast (Not In A Creepy Way…Yet)
Beauty and the Beast! The best Disney movie of all time is now in glorious high definition! Beauty & the Beast is like my hey Star Wars, Disney can keep re-releasing and I’ll keep buying it.
Wednesday
Frank Angones- Will Schism Your Falchuk for Free
X-Men: Schism has proven to be a refreshing rarity for big, status-quo changing event, particularly those centering around the Inscrutable X-Men: a simple, self-contained blockbuster that stands entirely on it’s own, despite its tie-in books. Jason Aaron has been killing it by imbuing the story of the oncoming rift between Cyclops and Wolverine with big, Morrisonian bombast and simple, character-based focus. He seems to be setting up ol’ One-Eye and the Canucklehead as the second coming of Magneto and Charles Xavier over the issue of “how young is two young to be thrown at a pack of Sentinels?” with each taking surprising sides. Last issue led to the end of any civilities, with today’s #5 promising a continuation to the all-out, drag-down fight between lasers and claws during a Sentinel invasion of Utopia. This book has managed to impossible: it’s gotten me excited about X-books again.
After The Walking Dead proved that horror-based TV series could draw massive crowds, several networks jumped on the jumpscare bandwagon, developing their own shows that go bump in the night. First out the gate is American Horror Story (10 PM EST, FX), the story of a family that moves into a haunted house from Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. Yes, co-creators of Glee Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. But the duo was also responsible for the significantly twisted FX show Nip/Tuck, and between those two programs, Murphy and Falchuk have proven themselves adept at broad, shocking moments, slick visuals, and over-the-top grotesques. Time will tell if this show can live up to the promise of the spectacular, heart-wrenching, eerie, (and sadly, shut-down) haunted house pilot, Locke and Key, but the creators wisely snagged a post-Friday Night Lights Connie Britton as one of their leads. Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT SPANDEX GHOST DOING TO THAT PREGNANT LADY!!!!!
Thursday
Noel Nocciolo- Gently Weeping for Jam On Fire
Wednesday and Thursday will see the two-part premiere of the Martin Scorsese-directed documentary, George Harrison: Living In The Material World (Pt. 1 Wednesday at 9 PM EST, Pt. 2 Thursday at 9 PM EST, HBO). Along with a book of the same title, the film was carefully overseen and endorsed by Harrison’s widow, Olivia, and features interviews by Eric Idle, Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Terry Gilliam and others.
As much as I adore Paul McCartney’s contributions to The Beatles, his impressive solo work and Wings’ overall badassness, I still name George is my favorite Beatle, thanks to his incredible 1970 double LP, “All Things Must Pass.” He was the first pop-music musician to explore philanthropy by way of the large-scale charity concert, his Concert For Bangladesh, which occurred forty years ago at Madison Square Garden, and can be found on DVD. “Something,” “Here Comes The Sun” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” are a handful of my favorite Beatles songs.
Speaking of favorites, Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Waltz,” is one of my favorite films. Scorsese’s first look into the world of seventies rock and roll with The Band’s last performance, (with a little help from their friends) on Thanksgiving Day, 1976. (For those looking to put into timeframe context: after Taxi Driver and before Raging Bull).
I am ecstatic that this film has been made.
Friday
Shane O’Hare- Optimist
Two words. Real Steel.
Frank Angones- Incredulist
Six more words. It’s actually supposed to be great…?
Russell Sherman- Realist
I have to respectfully disagree with Shane here, Friday is all about The Ides of March. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood how could you go wrong. Not to mention you’d get to see George Clooney and Ryan Gosling share the screen together making that spit-roast fantasy easier to picture.
Oh…goodness, look at my wrist. I gotta go!
Alexander (Monstar) Raymond- Analyst…Heh…”Anal”…
Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence. When I found out about it showing this Friday, I bought tickets immediately. I saw the first movie and it was… an experience. I’m sure you’ve heard about Human Centipede: First Sequence; a mad man wants to create, well…a human centipede, and does so by sewing up three people mouth to um..anus. Director Tom Six is back and supposedly turning things up a notch in flick. I’ve avoided spoilers, trailers and reviews of this movie, a media blackout if you will, so I can go into this screening with no expectations other than it’s going to be one big shockfest. You can watch the trailer here if you want.
Saturday
Tanya Tate- Doesn’t Realize This Event Is Probably A Massive Covert Drug Bust
Krofft appearance at the Hollywood Collector Show. October 8th & 9th in Burbank is the Hollywood Collector Show. It’s a small convention of sorts where celebrities from older film and television make appearances and sign autographs. I’m excited about this particular show because Sid and Marty Krofft will be there! If those names are not familiar to you, you may know the shows they created of produced. H.R. Pufnstuf, Lidsville, Land of the Lost, Electra Woman & Dyna Girl, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters to name a few. Speaking of Electra Woman, both she and Dyna Girl will be at the show as well. For the first time ever Deidre Hall and Judy Strangis will be signing autographs together. If you saw my video from San Diego Comic Con, you’d know that I’m a big Krofft fan (I was dressed as a sexy Electra Woman.) So, you can imagine I’m thrilled about this! More info on the Krofft website.
Sunday
Frank Angones- Badly Broken
Do I seriously have to tell you guys to check out the Breaking Bad Season Finale (10 PM EST, AMC)? Surely you’ve already heard how it’s the best, most addictive show on television right now. But you’ve also got to realize that every season of this show ends with a two-to-three episode roller coaster train wreck of insane consequences, epic brutality, and more “How the fuck are they going to get out of this one?” moments than the cast of Mike and Molly in a Porta Pottie. This season hasn’t focused too much on Bryan Cranston’s Walter White, the straight-laced chemistry teacher slash crystal meth cook supreme on the road to degradation, opting instead to flesh out the motivations of some of the supporting cast, but the last few episodes have snapped focus back to Walter and his punk sidekick Jesse Pinkman with a world of shit heaping down upon them. It’s familiar ground for Breaking Bad, which makes it the shakiest ground of all.
