Sunday Song

stars by meprovine

I heard this song mentioned by two people in conversation Friday, and the next afternoon I heard it being played in St. Louis on The Point's Wayback Weekend of all 90's alternative music. "Stars" by Hum from Champaign, Illinois - from their 1995 major label debut album "You'd Prefer and Astronaut"

Hum is classified in the "space rock" genre... Bands that use experimental guitar riffs, synthesizers and other instruments, with psychedelic, sci-fi, or alien themes... Space rock goes back to Pink Floyd & Jimi Hendrix, and evolved through the years with acts like David Bowie & The Steve Miller Band, ...re-emerging in the 90's with Hum, Monster Magnet, The Flaming Lips, Spacehog, Muse, and many more.

Bang for your buck

Forbes Magazine has released the top 10 overpaid stars in Hollywood, & the top 10 most bankable stars. These lists aren't based on opinion -it's Forbes, not Entertainment Weekly- they're based a formula that uses the box office take vs. the actor's cut in the last 5 years...

The 10 most overpaid actors in Hollywood are...
1) Will Ferrell (the "worst")
2) Ewan McGregor
3) Billy Bob Thornton
4) Eddie Murphy
5) Ice Cube
6) Tom Cruise
7) Drew Barrymore
8) Leonardo DiCaprio
9) Samuel L. Jackson
10) Jim Carrey

The flip-side of this list are the actors offering studios the most return on their investment...
1) Shia LaBeouf
2) James McAvoy
3) Michael Cera
4) Daniel Radcliffe
5) Robert Downey Jr.
6) Javier Bardem
7) Ryan Reynolds
8) Christian Bale
9) Aaron Eckhart
10) Dennis Quaid

September 11 Museum

Is it just me, or does the The National September 11 Memorial & Museum look like one of the World Trade Center buildings that has been tipped over? At least from the angle in this rendering. Whoops.

Pirate Radio

With '2012' raking in $65 million dollars, and thanks to a limited release, most people didn't see 'Pirate Radio' this weekend. (#11 at the box office!)... The US release of the May 2009 UK comedy 'The Boat That Rocked' was excellent and has an awesome soundtrack featuring several acts from the last 60's, like The Who, The Stones, and this song, Elenore by The Turtles...

A great ensemble cast set in the swingin' 60's, this based-on-a-true-story story follows a pirate rock radio station broadcasting rock to the British masses, who otherwise can't hear it thanks the to the stuffy government. Back to '2012' ...better than I expected, but still ridiculous. The scientific and continuity errors, and logic, are all so far off, it could actually trigger the end of the world, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. But yes, it was entertaining if you suspend belief and just take it for what it is... A ton of special effects for your brain to process all at once.

Interesting note, the ending of Pirate Radio and the ending of 2012 were nearly identical to each other, and that is not a joke.

Who's the boss...

The Daily Show's Steve Carell wasn't the first choice for the role of Michael Scott on The Office... Paul Giamatti was first suggested for the role, but he turned it down. Giamatti famous as we all know, of course, for being the son of Major League Baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti.

Hank Azaria was interested in the role, which would've taken away The Simpsons best asset, had he got it.

Martin Short was interested, but thank goodness that didn't happen. I would've been a shame for the show to be canceled so soon.Bob Odenkirk was interested as well. I think he would have worked out great. He already proved he could play a great boss, time & time again on Mr. Show.

And finally, Rainn Wilson, who actually auditioned for the role of Michael Scott. It was described as a "terrible Ricky Gervais impersonation" but his audition for the role of Dwight was pretty good.

Luckily for Steve Carell, NBC's mid-season replacement sit-com, "Come To Papa" was canceled pretty quick, and he took the job.

It's the end of the world as we know it...

...and I feel fine." Is that what REM was singing about?

Probably not, but I feel fine despite the world ending in 2012. Why? Because it's not. People have such short memories. The world was supposed to end at the stroke of midnight 2000, and a couple other times when we underestimated our dumb ol' computers... Christians weren't raptured away in 1792, 1844, 1977, 1981, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1993, or 1994... The planetary harmonic convergence of 1987, plus two visits by Halley's comet quietly came and went. No nuclear wars, alien invasions, orbital failures, all predicted year after year by prophecies, scientists, astrologists, Indians, priests, evangelists, and hobos. Liberals survived Bush, Conservatives, yes, will survive Obama. We'll all look back and laugh, like we have since people started forecasting the end of the world thousands of years ago... So when can we start to worry? Try to find me when my Cubs win the World Series... I'll be in a bunker, scared to death.

Mehhhhh...... I'm a crab.