I’m going out of town this weekend, so I decided to clean out the 10 pound monstrosity that is my purse. While pulling things out, I thought it would make kind of an amusing blog post, so here goes.
Things I found in my purse: iPod Camera case- no camera ☹ Blackberry Storm Wallet Sunglasses case, no sunglasses Car keys Jump drive $1.47 in spare change (OK, so far so good…nothing too strange…)
One SC vs. Vandy basketball ticket 2 six inch strips of 16mm film leader 2 empty packs of Stride Gum one blank sheet of white paper, folded 3 one dollar bills 6, yes SIX different lip glosses 3 Pens too many receipts to count one ticket to REPO: The Genetic Opera a few packs of propel fitness water mix… ??? Lots of gum wrappers A baby sock full of pennies A ticket stub for Brokeback Mountain (seriously) A valet card A ticket stub for Milk A Jack Daniels drink stirrer from the New Pornographers show Eye drops 3 packs of Splenda
The following two youtube videos are my favorite news bloopers of all time. It's been at least a year since I've seen them and they never fail to make me laugh.
Being disappointed with the Academy Award nominees this year and having read about their INSANE nomination process in this Variety article, we've decided that Pop Cultured should have it's own Best Picture of 2008 vote. So to start we need some nominees.
Here's what you've got to do. Write down any five films released theatrically between Jan 1 and Dec 31 2008 in order of preference with #1 being your favorite and send it to popculturedblog@gmail.com. We will be accepting nominees through Feb 3, at which point we will tabulate the results using that wacky Academy rubric.
So if you think Beverly Hills Chihuahua was painfully underrated step up and make your voice heard.
If you're having trouble remembering films from 2008, a list of most theatrically released films can be found on Wikipedia HERE.
Feel free to make a case for your favorites in the comments!
PopCultured companion, and occassional contributor, Rebecca 'Soul Glo' Morrell left good 'ole Sparkle City, SC earlier this year to pursue a career in Hollywood. She got a cool new job doing something or other that has to do with this fabulous new Website- TheWrap.com. I suggest you check it out, and check it out often so Rebecca can feed herself and her dog.
As many of you probably know, I have an obsessive love for dogs, mostly my dog and any dog I've ever lived with--so I have a soft spot for any dog related story (which makes me wonder why I haven't seen Marley and Me...hmm). Knowing this, my roommate sent me this story by The Sports Guy, Bill Simmons.
I think my feelings about the 2008 Oscar nominations can be best expressed by this article. Don't worry, David and I will continue to bitch about the noms, right up to the actual ceremony. Oh how we long for the days of the less pretentious Academy...
Below are the films which received the highest number of nominations and the categories in which they were nominated. Note that The Dark Knight got 8 nominations without making headway into any of the major categories. And no, Ledger's pity Oscar doesn't count.
Meanwhile WALL-E got screwed over by the "Best Animated Feature Film" category. Also, what's up with Doubt... four performances nominated and a screenplay nod. When everyone in the movie is getting a nomination for Best Actor/Actress isn't that the definition of great direction? I'm usually all about Oscar but this is the most predictable pack of "meh" yet. With Hugh Jackman hosting this year... I may just be over it.
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," a Kennedy/Marshall Production (Paramount and Warner Bros.) (13 nominations) Brad Pitt - Performance by an actor in a leading role Taraji P. Henson - Performance by an actress in a supporting role Art direction Cinematography Costume design Directing Film editing Makeup Original score Best picture Sound mixing Visual effects Adapted screenplay
"Slumdog Millionaire," a Celador Films Production (Fox Searchlight) (10 nominations) Cinematography Directing Film editing Original score Original song - "Jai Ho" Original song - "O Saya" Best picture Sound editing Sound mixing Adapted screenplay
The rest, including the horribly overlooked The Dark Knight and WALL-E, after the jump!
"The Dark Knight," a Cape Road Limited Production (Warner Bros.) (8 nominations) Heath Ledger - Performance by an actor in a supporting role Art direction Cinematography Film editing Makeup Sound editing Sound mixing Visual effects
"Milk," a Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production (Focus Features) (8 nominations) Sean Penn - Performance by an actor in a leading role Josh Brolin - Performance by an actor in a supporting role Costume design Directing Film editing Original score Best picture Original screenplay
"WALL-E," a Pixar Animation Studios Production (Walt Disney) (6 nominations) Best animated feature film Original score Original song - "Down to Earth" Sound editing Sound mixing Original screenplay
"Doubt," a Scott Rudin Production (Miramax) (5 nominations) Philip Seymour Hoffman - Performance by an actor in a supporting role Meryl Streep - Performance by an actress in a leading role Amy Adams - Performance by an actress in a supporting role Viola Davis - Performance by an actress in a supporting role Adapted screenplay
"Frost/Nixon," a Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production (Universal) (5 nominations) Frank Langella - Performance by an actor in a leading role Directing Film editing Best picture Adapted screenplay
"The Reader," a Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production (The Weinstein Company) (5 nominations) Kate Winslet - Performance by an actress in a leading role Cinematography Directing Best picture Adapted screenplay
Going along with my theory that Jenny from Gossip Girl is actually Gossip Girl... it turns out that Taylor Momsen is in fact Spider-Girl. Yes such a character exists and she's much cooler than lame-ass Spider-Woman.
Or maybe it's a viral Nike promo. I prefer to think Momsen is a mutant.
Michael Bublé's brilliant song from last Thursday's 30 Rock is on YouTube. Listening to it this way is so much easier than rewinding my TiVo over and over again.
Jack and his girlfriend take her elderly, patient on their date and musical montage brilliance ensues.
Today is an historical and joyous day in US history, as one of America’s least favorite leader’s is leaving office and a new, promising administration enters. But January 20th will always be kind of a sad day for me, because my grandmother, Lala, passed away exactly one year ago today. I’m not writing this to get “so sorry…” blah blah blah (if I wanted that, I’d post it on twitter or facebook), but I just think Lala deserves a little pop culture related note on the blog.
Like every other adult in my life, Lala exposed my siblings and me to many classic films when we were little. One instance of this included Bambi. My mother hated Bambi for obvious reasons, and forbade us from watching it. One day, when my Grandmother asked my sister if she wanted to watch Bambi, she was surprised to hear that we weren’t allowed, and asked what movies our mother did let us see…my sister’s answer was Terminator 2. Yeah, weird family…
Anyway, I learned a great deal from her, most importantly, that smoking will age you faster than drinking from the wrong grail in an Indiana Jones film. Another lesson Lala taught me came before I went to college: never drink anything purple at a fraternity party. Well, I technically followed this rule, but those sneaky Kappa Alpha’s changed their recipe, and made that dangerous drink she was warning me about red… I unfortunately partook in this beverage several times, and in hindsight, Lala was very right to warn me--but that's a story for another day... :)
I don't know if there's anything I can add to this one. Some girl's retelling of the Star Wars trilogy, which she's never seen, is animated. It's pure genius.
The following commericial is one giant WTF?!? This woman is "so sick of boiling, drying, and reusing old catheters," which has got to be the biggest overshare in the history of television. And she was "nervous" about "calling strangers"?!? But these strangers "quickly became her friends." They bonded over catheter resupply.
I was reading ESPN.com on my cool new phone, and came across this little passage in the Bill Simmons "Sports Guy" column. . Of course I had to mention it in Pop Cultured because it references and praises one of my favorite movies of all time, Teen Wolf.
Q: If you could have the best seats in the house for any sporting event of the past century, which would you choose?
SG: The only answer can be "USA 4, USSR 3." A tougher question: Which sports-movie event would you choose? I'd pick the game in which Michael J. Fox first turns into Teen Wolf. Name me a more stunning sports-movie moment. Fans in the stands are frozen for, like, 45 seconds. You're not topping the experience of being in a sparsely attended high school hoops game in which one of the players turns into a monster, then dunks on everybody. I'm sorry.
You have to agree though, being in the gymnasium with Boof, Styles, and Mr. Howard watching the Beavers that day would have been frackin’ awesome. Maybe a little something like the video I've provided after the jump. If you were wondering, the title of this post is derived from the song that plays during said basketball game, and can be seen here.
I cry from laughing every time I watch this. How is it possible that so much awesome is packed into 50 seconds? Thank you interweb. You're far, far too good to me.
I spot two wonderfully obscure future facebook statuses in this short.
American Idol came back yesterday and so did Kelly Clarkson. Her new single, MyLifeWould SuckWithoutYou, is a return to the poppy, scream-a-long goodness of Since U Been Gone. Knowing my man, I imagine I'll know all the words to this one soon enough.
I don’t know if anyone that reads this blog even watches Gossip Girl, but since it’s a show that’s blog themed, I, of course, adore it. One of the reasons I love GG so much is the voice of Gossip Girl is Miss Veronica Mars herself, Kristin Bell. But the other reason is of course, that God among high school boys, Chuck Bass. Even that name—“Chuck Bass” is so sexy…who wouldn’t love a name that brings to mind images of ground beef and fish?
Anyway, if you’ve ever seen an episode, any description of Chuck is inadequate, so you might as well stop reading now. He is played by Mr. Ed Westwick from jolly old England, but does an amazing American accent with a certain, how the French say, I don’t know what…BUT his delivery is always dry, mean, cynical, and generally hilarious. David hated Chuck at first, but only because Chuck tried to rape lil’ J—I mean give the guy a break, lil’ J was probly askin’ for it. Let it just be known that I return to Gossip Girl every Monday night with my eyes batting at Chuck, and the meaner he is, the more I love him.
More about Mr. Bass, and a video after the Jump:
Here’s Chuck’s Wikipedia background: "Charles Bartholomew Bass was born to the late Bartholomew "Bart" Bass, a self-made billionaire who owns the New York Palace Hotel, where Chuck resides. Both of his parents are now deceased, as of It's a Wonderful Lie, leaving Chuck with only his step-family, the van der Woodsens and uncle, Jack Bass. Chuck attends the prestigious St. Jude's School for Boys with long-time best friend Nate Archibald. He is the resident bad boy of the Upper East Side, originally portrayed as a Casanova type. After sleeping with Blair Waldorf in Victor, Victrola, he has taken on a softer side, and is often shown to be nearly monogamous in light of his love for Blair. He is the male version of Blair when it comes to manipulation and revenge, the two often coming together to form cruel and sometimes elaborate plans for vengeance and self-gain. Fan-favorites, they have proven to be the sharpest, wittiest characters on the show, and are thus often described as equals. In the second season, Chuck reveals to Dan Humphrey that his mother died giving birth to him. With the tragic death of his father, Chuck has essentially come full circle in his character development, now the same dangerous lothario he was introduced as at the start of the show."
The following Amazon customer review for "The Secret" is a brilliant little piece of literature and unequivocally the best endorsement of any product ever.
Tomorrow night American Idol is coming for you whether you like it or not. Season Eight kicks off with back to back episodes on Tuesday and Wednesday night and I could not be more excited. Sure it'll be weeks of crappy auditions, but they swear there will be less this year. An extra week of the Hollywood round will be added in place of one week of auditions.
To get myself pumped up I decided to take a look back at my favorite moments from last season. Starting with my absolute favorite performance:
Syesha Mercado - One Rock and Roll Too Many
Syesha always had quality vocals but it wasn't until she started playing characters on stage that she had a personality. I love, love, LOVE this performance, the studio version of which is the fourth most played song on my iPod. Stop judging me!
"Too much ringing that bell..." *ding*
More great performances and a few god awful train wrecks after the jump!
Kristy Lee Cook - "God Bless the U.S.A."
Holy crap. My jaw hit the floor when Kristy Lee Cook picked this song for "Inspirational Song Week." It's BRILLIANT pandering. She'd had a lot of crap performances up to this point. Though her really spastic double-time countrified version of "Eight Days a Week" has grown on me. This song moved her out of the bottom two thanks to a hoard of teary-eyed viewers in flyover states that couldn't help but vote for her repeatedly.
Simon says it best: "The most clever song choice I've seen in years."
Fantasia - "Bore Me"
A spectacular train wreck of a "performance," the highlights of which are Fantasia's crazy, bestial clapping 2:19 and Simon's reaction to the whole affair at 2:43. I actually have the studio version of this single on my iPod and love it but before I knew the words I used to imitate the performance with random noises: "Bejubba jubujja bejubba jubujja bejubba jubujja jabo!"
Renauldo Lopuz - "I Am Your Brother"
A year later.... I still don't understand. Thankfully he got to come back and reprise this one with a marching band at the finale.
And the Winner is David.... Cook
The most satisfying moment of the whole season was watching little Porkchop's dreams crushed live in front of an audience of millions. Cook certainly deserved it. His brilliant performances are too many to list but some of my favorites were: "Hello" "Billie Jean" "Eleanor Rigby" "Day Tripper" and "Always Be My Baby."
It's a new year and that means new beginnings... for TV programming. I just programmed my TiVo for all the series coming back and debuting for the winter. Here's a quick list of what I've added and when they start. I have to say I'm excited. Almost everything I'm really looking forward to is starting in Winter this year. And there's 16 episodes of 30 Rock left this season, compared with the 6 aired before Christmas.
So this has nothing to do with pop culture really, but I saw this ornament and it posed so many questions. First off, notice that the frog is riding a turtle. Why? Though the frog is encumbered with his gift, one would still assume that the frog could move faster than the turtle. Second, why has a frog domesticated a turtle for riding purposes? Why a turtle? Why not a lizard? and how did the frog domesticate the turtle? I realize the frog has been "humanized" because he is wearing a Santa hat, has a gift, and put a nice little bow on his pet turtle...but still, how does one train a turtle? and finally, where are these two mysterious reptilphibians going? Any thoughts?
Two former Film Studies students, who live in New York, NY and Washington, DC and spend all their time online talking to one another, sharing their many geeky obsessions. We don't have lives so you don't have to... not have a life? Something like that.
We're also the #1 Muppet/Same-sex Marriage Activism/American Idol/SNL blog on the web.
