Cold War Kids, one of The Blot’s favorite bands, is launching a new North American fall tour, and it thankfully includes Houston! While the CWK have played Texas a few times over the past two years, they’ve never made it as far south as the H before. I can’t complain too much as I’ve had the opportunity to see the Cold War Kids in concert three times now, at Lollapalooza the past two summers and once at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC, and they have only gotten better each and every time.
Honestly though, I really can’t understand why the movie wasn’t funnier. On paper the cast was a strong comedic ensemble and surprise appearances by Bill Murray and Patrick Warburton were stellar. But in the end, the movie was just OK and the best line wasn’t even uttered by Carell or co-star Anne Hathaway. Instead it was by Alan Arkin’s The Chief before he was almost accidentally killed by Carell’s Maxwell Smart. Don’t worry, I won’t ruin the movie for those of you who still haven’t seen the film and still eventually plan to.
Oh yeah, be on the look out for Get Smart’s Bruce and Lloyd Out Of Control, the straight to DVD Get Smart sequel starring Oka and Torrence, in stores on July 1st. Bruce and Lloyd were such great characters that there’s a reasonable chance this movie is at least as good as, if not better, than Get Smart.
I know I should have written about the legendary comic’s passing on Monday, but there was so much media coverage on George Carlin’s death that I wasn’t sure I had anything to add. It’s weird, while I wasn’t the biggest Carlin fan, you can definitely see his influence everywhere. I can still remember as a little boy watching his stand-up comedy specials on HBO. It feels like he’s been around the landscape of pop culture forever.
There are very few comics that have had as big of an impact on our culture as Carlin, and it wasn’t just in the comedy world. While there have definitely been bigger comics, like Richard Pryor or Bob Hope, it is hard to argue with Carlin’s significance and his impact on the nation. Without his comedy shtick the “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” we would have never had the 7 words you really can’t say over the air. Who else has sparked an issue so big that it went to the Supreme Court, where the nation’s high court ruled that the government did have the power to ban broadcast material it deemed indecent. Without Carlin’s comedy who knows what we might have been watching/listening to for the past 30 years.
Well, The Blot proved highly unsuccessful in my pursuit of the pink YO! MTV Raps x Puma First Round sneakers in a size 14. Maybe that was a blessing in disguise, because there was some discussion of whether or not I could actually pull off the shoe. Thankfully Puma is releasing a new version of the YO! MTV Raps x Puma First Rounds in the sneaker line’s fourth wave of shoes. The new YO! MTV Raps x Puma First Round B4 sneakers are much more my style, and while they still have some pink to them, they are predominately black, white and green.
One item I thought looked particularly cool on the SDCC Exclusives List was the limited edition Mighty Muggs t-shirts. There are two different designs, an Indiana Jones Mighty Muggs t-shirt featuring an Indiana Jones Mighty Mugg on a brown t-shirt and a Star Wars Mighty Muggs shirt with a Darth Vader Mighty Mugg on a Gray/Black t-shirt. Surprisingly, Hasbro did not make a Marvel Mighty Muggs t-shirt even though the shirts are debuting at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con. Maybe no one told them of the importance of Marvel’s Super Heroes to the San Diego Comic-Con crowd. While the price and size run of both shirts are not known yet, we do know that the shirts will come in small, large and x-large sizes. (link)
The official Action Figure Exclusives List has been provided by the official San Diego Comic-Con website. It’s a pretty extensive list and has a ton of details on each product including pictures and run size of the item. While it says it’s an action figure list, it also includes t-shirts, bobble heads, dolls and statues. For anyone attending SDCC 2008 or is hoping to buy some exclusive limited edition items after the convention wraps up on July 27th, you should definitely check out the list here to see what kind of goodies will be available. It even has more in detailed pictures of the limited edition G.I. Joe Suited Cobra Commander action figure by Hasbro, which you can see below.
Speaking of Joel and Ethan Coen, for all the Coen brothers fans out there in the Houston, TX area (and specifically fans of my favorite Coen brothers film, The Big Lebowski) you should check out Houston’s very first Lebowski Bash celebrating the movie's 10th Anniversary. It’s this Saturday, June 21st, at the Caroline Collective and it’s completely free. The event follows in the footsteps of the highly successful Lebowski Fest, which has been held yearly in Louisville, KY and around the country for the past 7 years.
The internet is a buzz on the release of Girl Talk’s (a.k.a. Gregg Gillis) new album Feed the Animals. The DJ’s 2006 album Night Ripper was one of the coolest, most creative albums released that year and was in constant rotation on my iPod and in my home for a ridiculous amount of months. With his latest album, Girl Talk has decided to follow the Radiohead model by allowing purchasers to name their own price to download Feed the Animals, which you can do so here.
For those of you not familiar with Girl Talk’s work, “he specializes in sample-based remixes, in which he uses at least a dozen elements from different songs to create a ‘new’ song.” (link) Surprisingly, neither Gillis nor his label, Illegal Art, have been sued from his use of samples on albums he sells. While many have speculated it is because he uses so many samples to create each new song that he really is creating new works of art, I am guessing it’s because there is not much money to get and most artists actually like his work. Night Ripper was amazing and from the reviews I’ve read, Feed the Animals is even better. As I type this, I’m heading over to the Feed the Animals website to download the album. I hope you do the same after reading this post.