INXS

So I just watched the finale of Rockstar INXS, the reality show to find the new singer of INXS. The show was great, but the winner, JD Fortune, stinks. Too bad. No INXS for me. Not that I am a crazy wild INXS fan or anything, but I do like them. They were actually one of my favourite bands when I was a teen. I used to listed to "Listen Like Theives" over and over again while moving our massive "lawn", singing at the top of my lungs as I rode the mower, confident that my cooning would be enveloped by the roar of the engine. I used to imagine that I was at an INXS concert and that Michael Hutchence was so enraptured with my singing that he pulled me up to join him on stage. Ahh, the memories. Memories I can relive by watching my INXS live DVD.

So when this new show came along I gave it a chance, despite its unfortunate choice of hosts (note to producers - next time think credibility and see your ratings rise!) And I liked it. One of the best aspects of the show was the 'behind the scenes' episode that aired every Sunday night -- a show that got moved from ABC to VH1 from some unannounced reason. I got to like some of the singers, and hate others.

The last 4 singers were all ok, with 2 standouts, Suzie McNeil, and Marty Casey. Of course, neither of these singers won, the prize instead going to a generic rocker who emulated Michael more than the rest. Makes sense I suppose for the band, but not my bag. Too bad -- guess I have to find something else to find to mow the lawn to.

(Like the new Tegan and Sara, hint, hint.) (And by hint, hint, I don't mean I want it, I mean I have it, and so should you.) (And JD was the singer I hated most, by the way.)

Project Greenlight

So I was flipping around the TV dial a month an a half ago or so, and came across a show that caught my interest, specifically because it seemed to be a direct rip-off of another show I like. Actually, that's not entirely true. In fact, I lied not once, but twice my intro sentance. Nice! First, I wasn't flipping through the TV dial. Besides the fact that my TV doesn't have a dial, since I have Tivo, I never "flip" anymore. 90% of the time I just watch something off of TiVo; the other 10% I look through Tivo's guide to see what is on. So, I wasn't flipping -- I believe what happened was I turned on the TV, and this show was on. That happens (random stations on) because TiVo is constantly changing the channel to record different things. Rarely is the TV on the last station you were watching. In this case the station was Bravo.

The second lie is the fact that the show caught my interest. I guess that's not completely a lie, but I actually said "What's this? A rip off of antoher show that I like and will name soon? This new show sucks!" So my "interest" was more "disgust" than interest.

In any case, this show appeared to be a documentary on the making of a movie ala project Greenlight on HBO, a show I watched the first two seasons of and loved immensely. I watch a couple of minutes then turned it off in my previously mentioined, and well established, disgust.

Then, a week or so later, I turn on the TV to find that TiVo had once again turned to Bravo, and was once again prompting me to watch this new show. This time however TiVo had wisened and decided that rather than intice me with the show itself it would instead lure me in with a promo. And what did my eyes and ears behold but words that startled and warmed my heart at the same time: "Project Greenlight, now on Bravo"! Holy Batman, Robin! This copycat show was infact the original! One of my favorite shows jumping ship and leaving me behind! My poor TiVo all ready to record the right show on the wrong channel! (Note to TiVo -- send people a message when their shows have changed stations!)

Needless to say, I updated TiVo and have now watched the entire new season of Project Greenlight thus far.... and loved it! I actually think the people on the show are better this year, although the show itself seems to be going faster than usual (shorter season?). The premise of the show is that there is a contest where they pick a screenplay to make into a movie, and a director to direct said movie, from all of the people who submitted their work to the contest. The screenplay this year is a horror flick, and the writers are pretty interesting; one goofy and annoying, the other seems pretty cool. The director, however, is the real star of the show. In a suprising move they selected the more timid of all the finalists, who also happened to be the most talented. He is a super nice guy who has trouble verbalizing his ideas in certain situations, namely, when uncomfortable. Which makes for interesting TV when his crew can't figure out what he wants them to do. I think one of the reasons I am drawn to the director is because I am a lot like him in the sense that I too have trouble getting the words out when I am in a strange or new situation, or dealing with new people. It always takes me a bit of time to read a person and to become familiar enough with them to be able to interact comfortably. Pain in the ass really, but what you gonna do? The director seems to be the same way, and has become more comfortable as the series has progressed.

So that's it. If you have Bravo start watching. If you have TiVo get programming. Go find out how movies are made, and how people work together in stressful circumstances.

April Previews Picks

Howza 'bout a new feature? Howza 'bout something other than TV for a change? Howza 'bout comics? Howza 'bout you bet?

Yes, this is the first in what I hope to be a long line of entries regarding the latest and greatest in the world o' comics.

First the history.

I've been reading comics since... hm, must have been around freshman year of high school, but I could be mistaken. I started collecting comics along with my brother Scott. Whenever possible we would head off to Gnu Books in Ajax Ontario, or to the Book Between in Oshawa to check out the latest in the world of superheroes. Fast forward to college. Around this time my interest became more focused on music and such, and my comic collecting waned. Post college, and after getting a job and some loot, I started picking up books here and there. Mostly filling in gaps in my collection from quarter bins and various Graphic Novels. Along the way my brother and I always made it to the annual Chicago Comicon, but neither of us really kept up to date on the current trends.

Fast forward to... I dunno, more recently. More recently the industry has seemed to have hopped on the Graphic Novel bandwagon, so there's tons of great stuff I've been picking up. So much so in fact (and fueled by the discount deals available on the internet) I've begun to peruse the latest comics listed in Previews each month.

So without any further ado, here are my April Picks:

NEIL GAIMANS NEVERWHERE #1 - I have the book, I have the DVD set, I might as well get the comic (plus it's only $0.75 at DCBS).

WE 3 TP - Heard good things about this... we'll see. Cyborg animals or something. Written by Grant Morrison who did Animal Man, so there you go.

CONCRETE VOL 1 DEPTHS TP - A cheap collection of early Concrete comics. A no brainer. Did I mention that my Concrete watercolor I got for ridiculously cheap online is one of my prized possessions? Cuz it is.

HOUSE OF M #1 - again, $0.75. Marvel's next big thing I gather. I think by Brian Bendis who I don't really like as a writer (yes, I prefer his art, even though he's made his fortune off of the writing.)

LIFE AND TIMES OF SCROOGE MCDUCK TP - Oh, yeah... a new collection of Don Rosa Scrooge McDuck comics. I haven't ever read these but can't wait.

AEIOU GN - Pick of the month! The third of the Jeffery Brown
"girlfriend" trilogy. Genius! The first two volumes are Clumsy and Unlikely. Jeffery's work is scribbly and honest, and sometimes I like him and sometimes I want to punch him in the face. Mostly the former. My only complaint is that sometimes he comes off like a braggart, even if he is bragging about self-deprecating things. Kind of like being show-offy about how lazy you are. Not that Jeff's lazy. And not that I won't get this. I will. I love this stuff. It's my pick of the month, remember?

STREET ANGEL VOL 1 TP - Heard good things and liked the preview I read online. Getting it due to the hype. Sucka.

MARGES LITTLE LULU TP #2 - I used to like Richie Rich, Little Lulu and Little Dot comics so I figure I'll enjoy this collection of original comics put out by Dark Horse Comics (following in Fantagraphics Peanuts steps?). There are 4 of these out now, I'm starting with #2 cuz it was cheaper than #1 and I'm a #1 cheapskate. Now where are the Richie Rich tpb's? Seriously! Let's get with it people - it's Richie Rich, he's very popular! They made a couple of movies for pete's sake! Get with the program! Cummon Fantagraphics! Cummon Dark Horse! Cummon Image! Get it on!

That's it. See you next month.

Fight Reality TV

I've been meaning to write about this for a while, but have been preoccupied with the birth of my Daughter (something else I have been meaning to write about)...

There are two television shows on currently, that I watch, that, while different, are very much alike.

The shows are the Contender, on NBC, and The Ultimate Fighter, on Spike TV.

Both are similar in that they are both "reality" shows about fighting, Boxing, in the case of the Contender, and Mixed Martial Arts, in the case of the Ultimate Fighter. On both, a group of fighters are competing against one another to attain money and fight contracts, or somthing to that effect. They are different in that one is a huge prodution starring a huge movie celebrity, and the other is a low(er) budget production, with no celebrities other that those in the world of Ultimate Fighting.

I've watched both programs religiously since they began. The Ulitmate Fighter (UF) beat the Contender to the air waves by two months, so by the time the Contender premeire I was already fully ensconced in UF.

A bit of history first -- I've never really been a huge fan of Ultimate fighting, or Mixed Martial Arts, as it is know. I watched a few UFC videos years back, but never thought it more than a exercise in violence for the sake of violence. Then I watched the documentary "The Smashing Machine," which is the story of a MMA fighter named Mark Kerr. That documentary, which I consider to be one of the top 5 of all time, let me see that while the sport may be violent, at its heart it is just regular people just trying to get by. It also showed me that the sport had advanced to the point of "sport" reather than just violence. There were more rules now to protect the fighters, ala boxing. Actually, the documentary made me miss some of the old violence that was allowed, but that was just the power of the movie.

Fast forward a couple of years. When I saw that there was going to be an Ultimate Fighting reality show I immediately thought of the Smashing Machine, and knew I had to watch it. I went in with huge expectations, and am happy to say I was not let down. The show is a great mix of stories of the fighters and their thoughts and lives, and of straight on fighting. Top notch all the way.

Then the Contender appeared. My expectations, being set by the Ultimate Fighter were high, and... I was unfortunately let down. Not that the Contender is a bad show, Ultimate Fighter just does it all much better. I should also point out that there was another boxing show on eariler in the year, which I assume died an early death. I should also point out that I find it humorous that everyone was comparing these two shows, to determine which would come out on top, when in reality the unknown black horse would trump them both.

First the similarities:
On both shows there are two teams that compete. The winning team gets to chose a person on their team who will fight the opponent of their choice from the opposing team. At the end of the show they show the fight. The loser goes home. On both shows fighters have had to leave due to medical reasons, and elliminated players were chosen to return.

The differences:
On Ultimate Fighter each team is led by one of the top 2 light heavyweights in the UFC. Awesome. On the Contender, i'm not sure who the team leads are, I don't think there are any. On UF the lead coaches give advice and provide opinions on the fighters and the developing story.

On Ultimate Fighter they show the entire fight at the end of the show. The fight is in the facility where the fighters train and the audience consists of people involved with the show, and three judges. On the Contender, the fight is in a huge venue with packed house and the whole package. Unlike the UF, they only show a "highlights" version of the fight, with added sound effects!

This pretty much illustrates the main difference between the two shows -- the Contender is like a movie, the UF is more concentrated on the fighters and the fighting.

Interestingly, while the Contender does focus more on the 'movie' factor to drive stories, the story lines in UF are actually much more compelling. The likeable fighters are more likeable, the hateable fighters are more hateable, and I overall care more about the Ultimate fighters than I do the Contenders. After an episode of the UF I feel like I know the fighters who have fought. After the Contender I feel I have been given a few minor glimpses into their lives.

Not that the Contender approach doesn't have its merits -- some of the fights have been great, and some of the stories very inspirational. But the UF is just more real.

One other major difference that puts UF ahead once again is the fact that on the UF all of the fighters live in the same house, so that we are able to see the evolving relastionships between the fighters. On the Contender I feel like we see the fighters in their natural environment occasionally, but I don't have a real feel for any of the fighters, or feel that there is any story developing.

So hurrah for UF, for beating goliath. Kudos to all.

Actually, extra Kudos to the UFC president Dana White, who appears on the show, for (I assume) comming up with the show. Not only is it exposing UFC to a wider audience, but the main fight on the next UFC PPV is none other than a fight between the two coaches on the show - Chuck Lidell and Randy Couture, both awesome fighters! Talk about hugh publicity! Nice!

In the end, I'm still going to watch both shows, but I'll only be buying The Ultimate Fighter on DVD (if the extras make it worth seeing again.)

Juggling con't

Well, they bumped 4 of the Juggling shows to Feb 2 because of tennis... what's wrong with people? And when are the new shows going to show up on Tivo? Grr...

Juggling

Woo-hoo! Juggling competition on ESPN2 Jan 27-28! Woo-hoo! Now I become depressed at my pitifully amateur juggling abilities...

World Juggling Federation

Carson and Love, Actually

First off, I don't know why people are so confused, or off put by the fact that the Johnny Carson dvd's are selling like hotcakes now that he's passed. Make perfect sense to me - Johnny dies, it's in the news, people go "oh, poor Johnny (how old was he?) I loved his show, I wonder if it's out on DVD? Oh, look, it is!"... and hotcakes are born.

I actually wouldn't mind seeing them DVD's myself come to think of it. I never really watched his show (don't watch any of the current batch either,) but I'm sure I'd enjoy a best of. Time to hit the library I guess, well, after the death rush that is...

Second, just thought I'd recommend a movie I watched last night called "Love Actually". It was probably pretty popular when it came out... lets see... $60 million, not bad. I Tivo'd it in Nov and finally got around to watching it last night. Actually, love, I began watching it on Sunday, then decided to watch another installment last night (no, not the best method of watching a movie, I admit, in fact probably the worst, but I've been short for time lately and poor Tivo is jammed to the gills...) So I begin watching the movie, with plans to turn it off and head to bed in half an hour. An hour and fifteen minutes later I think to look at the clock and notice the time. Yikes! Way past my bedtime. Apparently I had gotten so engrossed in the movie that I did not realize the passage of time, nor did I have the inclination to glance at the clock. Now that's an endorsement if I ever heard one! At this point there was only 20 minutes or so left in the film so of course I watched it all. And loved it.

No, it wasn't perfect, but it was quite lovely. And chock-full of stars! Hugh Grant, Rowan Atkinson, Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley, Tim from The Office (Martin Freeman), etc. That's a lot of star power.

Um, good stories, and written, apparently by the guy who did Four Weddings and a Funeral, a bunch of Rowan Atkinson stuff (Bean, Blackadder), and some other brit goodies. All the stories are about love and relationships, both sad and heartwarming. Quite a bit of swearing and some mild nudity for those who care; nothing shocking or obscene, just adult. I recommend. And that 11 year old kid was super. Go kids!

More TV

I've started watching the TV show "House" recently (since in re-runs it doesn't conflict with other shows) and must say it's quite good. Hugh Laurie's character is great. Now on with the Alias, man.