In conjunction with MGM Home Video and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, we’re giving away three (3) copies of CELEBRATED WOMEN OF COLOR FILM COLLECTION on DVD.
Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, September 15th.
Official Rules
No member of FRED Entertainment or their immediate families may enter.
No Purchase necessary to win.
Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.
One entry per day, per person.
All submitted entries must be received by 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, September 15th.
The winner must allow 4-6 weeks after notification of win to receive the product.
Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, September 15th.
What possesses a right-minded comedian to quit the day job for life as a breakfast radio DJ?
‘I have always been very aware that millions of people truly appreciate the breezy banter and lively tone of the majority of breakfast broadcasting. I admit that on occasion I have been known to wake up in a good mood and feel quite chirpy. Unfortunately for me this happens one day a year at most”¦’ ““ Phill Jupitus
Why exactly would a nationally successful stand up comedian, chuck in the exhilaration and freedom of life on the road for endless Coldplay singles, arguments with BBC management, incredibly expensive coffee and an alarm clock set to 4.30am, five days a week?
When the BBC decided to launch a brand new digital radio station that would play alternative music for truly passionate music fans, their first port of call was to elicit the services of Phill Jupitus. With a record collection that ran the gamut from calypso to techno, and a love of radio inspired by his childhood hero John Peel, Phill seemed the perfect choice to launch 6 Music. Phill readily accepted, determined to do something different with such an unexpected yet brilliant opportunity. Little did he know what lay ahead.
With the weighty advice of such broadcasting behemoths as Terry Wogan, Steve Wright and Tony Blackburn ringing in his ears, Jupitus tried to shake up the world of breakfast radio for the better one tune at a time.
Were the public ready for something new? But more importantly, did they even want it?
In Good Morning Nantwich, Phill Jupitus not only discovers the answer but finds out what really makes the listening nation tick first thing in the morning.
-Phill Jupitus was born in 1962 and grew up above a pub in Essex with a free-spirited mother (who always remained close to the A13) and an extended noisy family. After realising work was not his strong suit, he carved out a career in stand up comedy and radio and today is a regular on TV and radio panel shows, including Radio 4’s I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue and QI with Stephen Fry. He’s also team captain on Never Mind the Buzzcocks and starred in the West End musical Hairspray. Phill lives in Leigh-on Sea with his wife and daughters.
Official Rules
No member of FRED Entertainment or their immediate families may enter.
No Purchase necessary to win.
Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.
One entry per day, per person.
All submitted entries must be received by 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, September 15th.
The winner must allow 4-6 weeks after notification of win to receive the product.
What happens when two young men let their love of movies, comic books, and all things “geek” take over their lives? They run away from their families, bringing only the most essential DVDs and comics to their secret, highly fortified underground bunker in sunny Southern California, where they start recording podcasts that will change the world.
Are they heroes?
No.
Are they geniuses?
Far from it.
Are they the future of this planet?
I sure hope not.
Simply put… Matt Cohen and Jesse Rivers are “Bagged and Boarded”.
BAGGED & BOARDED #66: Live! 2 – F*** Closets! –In which Matt is joined by his new Live! co-host Brendan Creecey, and the boys proceed to discuss Brendo’s insanely interesting past. Then everyone’s favorite bear, Malcolm Ingram, joins the conversation and one co-host is left forever different. Seriously. Like… Hardcore. Bagged and Boarded – Changing lives since 1632.
[CONTENT WARNING]:This podcast may contain some foul language and horribly off-color jokes. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
One of the shows that I was most looking forward to seeing this fall after hearing about it was NO ORDINARY FAMILY on ABC. If you’re a regular reader of this column this probably isn’t a surprise at all since the shows I like lean towards a geekier flavor and NO ORDINARY FAMILY certainly fits the bill.
Before viewing the first episode of NO ORDINARY FAMILY I understood the premise of the show since it is one very familiar to most comic book readers. A family survives a plain crash in Brazil and not long after they start to experience super-human powers. The premise at first sounds very formulaic and I for one was left wondering where they could go with this? What new ground could they cover? Is the ordinary people with extraordinary abilities story ready to be taken in again after so many were burned so badly by the recently departed HEROES?
After seeing the pilot I was extremely happy both with the way that the premise is being handled as well as the possibilities of the future of the show. These are not perfect people that have their lives improved by their new abilities. This is the typical family caught up in the modern age and all of the dysfunction that goes with it. JIM POWELL (MICHAEL CHIKLIS) is the dad who considers himself a failed artist that is now reduced to doing sketches of suspects who is trying desperately to keep his family together. STEPHANIE POWELL (JULIE BENZ) is the mom who is an over-achieving medical researcher who is losing the connection to her husband and family the more she is excelling at work. DAPHNE POWELL (KAY PANABAKER) is the typical teenage daughter and J.J. POWELL (JIMMY BENNETT) is the son who’s most critical issue appears to be poor academic performance. This show is not a case of THE BRADY BUNCH GET SUPER. In today’s society they are the snapshot of an ordinary family.
The pilot for the show sets all of the above up pretty well for us in a very quick manner. The important beats are hit and we are rushed quickly to the vacation, the plane crash, and back home so the main part of our story can be told. It goes without saying, I think, that the discovery of the super abilities is the funnest part of the pilot (at least for the sci-fi lovin’ types like myself). Many a comic reader have dreamed of the moment where they would first discover super-human strength or speed and the show deliveries on these moments in ways I’m sure most of us have pictured them. The show also addresses the confusion or frustration such discoveries might also cause. One of my personal favorite moments is after STEPHANIE has revealed to a co-worker her abilities and as they test them the co-worker asks the same real world questions the audience might be asking as well.
The possibilities for the future of the show are also shown to us in JIM’s exploration of his new abilities. His job is an obvious plot convenience since he works for the police department and helps make a natural progression in the direction of a possible crime-fighting super-hero. His best friend GEORGE ST. CLOUD (ROMANY MALCO from WEEDS) helps to push JIM in this direction and by episodes end establishes himself pretty well as the potential sidekick. The discovery of a villain that also has super abilities finishes off the foundation of the shows potential, at least in the crime fighting direction.
The part of the show that I think will prove to be more entertaining is more of the real life conflict that may come from having these super-abilities. High school is complicated enough but DAPHNE’s new ability could further isolate her from the people around her. J.J.’s ability is certain to raise some eyebrows that will cause headaches for his parents both in dealing with him and as the school system itself feels the possible repercussions.
Since I already raised a semi-comparison early on I can certainly say that the beginning of NO ORDINARY FAMILY is far less mysterious and frustrating than the original pilot of HEROES. This show makes me want to watch to see what might not happen next and not because I feel I have to in order to understand what is going on. The show also feels more accessible than NBC’s upcoming THE CAPE which, from the trailer, looks more like a show you might see in Saturday syndication rather than network prime time. NO ORDINARY FAMILY is a family friendly show that I’d definitely recommend you all take in when it premieres Tuesday, September 28th.
With all of that said let’s move on to what viewing options are(n’t) recommended for this week.
MONDAY
NBC – 8:00 PM: I only mention this special installment of MINUTE TO WIN IT because the contestants are former MISS USA and UNIVERSE winners who are playing for charity. At this point NBC’s ratings might be considered the charity.
ABC FAMILY – 8:00 PM: I only mention THE SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER because everyone forgets AMY’s birthday, which was the plot of SIXTEEN CANDLES and MOLLY RINGWALD plays AMY’s mom on this show. That is all.
LIFETIME – 9:00 PM: I only mention BOND OF SILENCE because GREG GRUNBERG is once again playing a police office and this time he has no special mind-reading abilities like he did on the aforementioned HEROES.
MTV – 10:00 PM: It’s the season finale of THE HARD TIMES OF RJ BERGER but don’t worry folks, he’s been renewed for another season.
TUESDAY
ABC – 8:00 PM: I only mention WIPEOUT tonight because it’s not every day you get to write, “Are the Wipeout Weenies going to replace the Big Balls tonight?”
FOX – 8:00 PM: Tonight’s GLEE-peat is SECTIONALS, which was originally supposed to serve as the first season finale before the the show blew up. It served that purpose very well and I’m probably going to watch it again out of respect.
SYFY – 9:00 PM: The WAREHOUSE 13 agents try to have a relaxing weekend but wouldn’t you know it, one of those pesky artifacts get in the way. This is almost as surprising as well GILLIGAN and the castaways almost get off the island and something keeps them stuck there at the last minute.
WEDNESDAY
CBS – 8:00 PM: Tonight on BIG BROTHER the veto competition is held and this is one of the ones where the House Guests must suffer to win. Tune in with me and enjoy their pain.
E! – 8:00 PM: I still haven’t seen the cable edited version of KNOCKED UP yet. Probably not going to tonight as well.
ABC – 9:00 PM: It’s another painfully barren night of programming so I’m recommending a repeat of MODERN FAMILY simply because even at its worst it’s better than most (and this episode is great).
BET 9:00 PM: Grab your only friend, Abba Zabba, and watch HALF BAKED when it’s on cable for free.
THURSDAY
USA – 6:00 AM: If you love BURN NOTICE and don’t have to work today then you are in luck. An all day marathon kicks off with the last few shows of last season at 6 AM with the current season starting at 10:00 AM. All of this leads up to the season finale at 9:00 PM.
NBC – 8:00 PM: Tonight’s episode of COMMUNITY is one of the shining examples of why this was one of my new favorite shows of last season.
CBS – 8:00 PM: Fans of BIG BROTHER will revel in tonight’s double eviction as they play out an entire week of the show’s eviction process in one night. The best part is that the House Guests have no idea that it’s coming.
DISNEY – 9:00 PM: Did I say something about super-hero families? How about gathering up the family for tonight’s airing of THE INCREDIBLES?
FRIDAY
SYFY – 9:00 PM: Other then tonight’s episode of EUREKA tonight’s schedule is a house of horrors. Don’t believe me? Let me demonstrate.
FUSE – 8:00 PM: The painful and horrific GLITTER staring Mariah Carey.
AMC – 8:00 PM: STEVEN SEAGAL’s scarily acted OUT FOR JUSTICE.
TNT – 8:00 PM: The bloody train-wreck that is the ADAM SANDLER’s remake of THE LONGEST YARD.
USA – 8:30 PM: The horribly unfunny WELCOME HOME ROSCOE JENKINS.
FX – 10:00 PM: The terrifyingly bad MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND.
At this point I’m writing off Friday folks.
SATURDAY
NBC – 8:00 PM: If you can stomach it for two hours NBC promises that tonight all will be revealed in what is sure to be the series finale of PERSONS UNKNOWN.
BBCA – 9:00 PM: ANNIE helps a psychic speak to the dead in tonight’s episode of BEING HUMAN.
SUNDAY
NBC – 8:00 PM: Schedule dominance is probably a shoe in tonight for NBC with the 62ND PRIME TIME EMMY AWARDS.
ANIMAL PLANET – 9:00 PM: Speaking of award shows, remember when THE COVE won the Oscar and they cut away because one of the producers held up a sign? Well, you can watch the award winning documentary tonight.
CBS – 8:00 PM: The Eviction Nomination ceremony on tonight’s BIG BROTHER won’t stand a chance against the EMMY’s I’m sure.
ABC – 8:00 PM: The Alphabet Network is really hoping you’d rather watch DANIEL CRAIG as JAMES BOND in CASINO ROYALE instead of that silly award show.
Welcome to Hands Down, FRED’s own look into the world of the folks that frequent this sordid world of geekery. Follow Aaron, Brian and Colin (and a menagerie on the way) as they traverse the light fantastic or some such nonsense… What? It’s an online fortnightly comic strip, what kind of description did you expect?
I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.
In this episode, I have a chat with writer, performer, and the host behind WFMU’s legendary Best Show, Tom Scharpling, as we place Angela Lansbury in deadly peril…
Just before I go into the finalists, I want to take a quick moment and look at something that has made me laugh this week. John James.
What’s the matter McFly? Chicken?
I have never seen a grown man piss himself so quickly and so satisfyingly (for me) than John James during the prediction task. He went from thinking he has a hard man after trying to make a girl cry to wanting to break the world record in distance running. He literally had the fright of his life. And you know what? Served him right.
From day one it appeared that John James has a problem with women. Especially women who care about their appearance. Because Rachel was considered attractive by the other housemates and because she expressed an interest in modeling, he took this as an affront to humanity. He took every opportunity to degrade her publicly and even create a few chances out of thin air too. I never liked her myself but his comments were always over the top and vicious.
We saw the same treatment with Corin. She kept out of his business (and lets face it everyone else’s too) but he could not stop himself from picking a fight with her whenever he felt there was an opening. And when he picks a fight with someone he will not let it go. Like a dog with a bone he will repeat himself until he is blue in the face. Hence why we heard his paranoid ranting about everyone being fake and wanting to win.
Well, you flew to the other side of the world to get on this show and you’re claiming you don’t want to win it? Fuck off crab eyes. I’m glad you lost. Now fuck off.
Seriously guys, I can’t tell the difference
On to happier things now with a quick run down on my thoughts of the finalists.
ANDREW
Nice guy but creepy when it comes to girls. I’m putting my money now on him getting charged for some sort of sexual deviancy in about ten years. Saying that though, he has been funny and unlike most has tried to stick up for people he likes (ok, he stuck up for Josie purely because he wants to get his geek on with her).
JJ
zZzZzZzZz. I wonder what he’ll do for the next four days without John James to agree with? He got here via mathematics.
DAVE
Glory. I hate Dave and I’ve made no secret of that. Glory. While people think he is a nice guy, I’ve seen him bitch about everyone with Ben, John James and anyone else who will listen. Glory. For someone supposedly so loving he has a negative thing to say about everyone. Glory. I really hope he goes early on Tuesday. Glory.
MARIO
I said early on in this blog that his mole status was going to do him the world of good in the long term but I’m not so sure I was right about that. He got a little bit moody a few weeks ago and could have gone if the nominations were different. However, he has recently perked back up and has shown the sensitive, quirky side of his that made me warm to him at the start of the show. I like him a lot and hope he comes second.
JOSIE
I know she is going to win. You know she is going to win. She had John James under her thumb and pointed out all his failings this week with a nice bit of gusto. Her main problem is that she is desperate for companionship so much that it really affects her ability to hold a grudge against anyone who is mean to her. It’s probably not a problem for her but watching it I would have liked to see her have a few enemies because she can argue with the best of them. Shame. It will be interesting how her “home advantage” against the new Ultimate Big Brother contestants works come Tuesday.
– Aaron Poole
Follow Aaron on Twitter – @AaronFever
I’ve heard a lot of folk say that this is their favourite time of the year. They like the fact that it’s still pretty warm out, the fact that the leaves are starting to turn a little bit brown, the fact that the nights are a little bit cooler and it’s easier to sleep but it still stays bright to a pretty reasonable hour so the days still feel a little bit longer. But me, I love this time of year for a slightly different reason.
Anyone who’s been paying attention will know that San Diego Comic Con happened in the course of the last few weeks. And no matter how you feel about the ever increasing movie and media presence at this “Comic Con”, you can’t help but deny that the convention is a fantastic source of information and generator of anticipation for the TV shows and movies that will grace our screens later in the year.
Every year, Comic Con seems to mark that start of the overload of information about what we’ll be watching and reading in the year to come. In the last week or so, I’ve been eating up every morsel of information that I can get my greedy little hands on about my favourite shows. And there’s a part of me that loves the run up to the return of the shows more than the actual return itself, because this time of year holds the unspoiled promise of what has yet to come.
Comics are obviously still a huge part of what Comic Con does, but the comic book world already has a pretty well established promotion machine. Comic books are solicited at least two months ahead of their release dates. Other comic related good like statues or the forthcoming “Earth One” graphic novels are announced and hyped months ahead of the time that they’ll be realized onto the retail market for public consumption. I think that a part of the reason for this is that the world of comic books exists on a pretty long timeline as almost all of the regular titles are released on a monthly basis. TV shows live week to week and they tend to live or die on the spin of a dime so announcing too far ahead of time what’s going to be happening isn’t usually possible.
But just like Christmas there comes a time once a year when the American TV Networks pimp their shows for all they are worth, sometimes for even more than they are worth. So in that beautiful area of time in between the “media event” that Comic Con has become and the Season Premieres we get teased, we get small glimpses of what has yet to come, tacit promises are made and we build up hopes that may take twenty episodes to be fulfilled. I’ve seen trailers and read teasers and vainly tried to avoid spoilers for the shows that I love. Normally I try to avoid an overload of spoilers, but the news that we get bombarded with at this time of year tends to be general for the entirety of the next televisual year. In no particular order of chronology or importance, these are the shows that I’ve been looking forward to the most and the news that has me anticipating them all the more.
HOUSE
One of the main pieces of news that we’ve received about the new series of House is something that delights me and deeply saddens me all at the same time. We’ve been told that when House picks after the Season break, House and Cuddy will still be a couple. Think about all the shows you’ve seen where two characters who plainly love each other just can’t seem to find a way to make it happen. We’ve seen it in Star Trek: TNG with Picard and Crusher, we’ve seen it in Smallville with Clark and Lana, we’ve seen it in Firefly with Mal and Inara. Hell, we’ve even seen it with Jessica Fletcher and every gray haired guy within a thousand miles of Cabot Cove. The general wisdom is that romances don’t work for the main characters of a TV show. In fact one of the only times that I can think of a TV couple actually getting together was in the 90’s Superman show “Lois & Clark“. Despite the fact that the main focus was always supposed to be on the relationship between Lois and Clark more than Superman himself, the producers and writers of the show seemed to be unable to cope with the corner that they got painted in to by the fact that Lois and Clark got married in DC Comics’ continuity. Let’s just say that it didn’t end well. And the less we speak about “Myrtle Beach”, the better off we will all be.
But with the sixth Season of House which premieres at the end of September, I honestly believe we’ll see a relationship that can work. It won’t work because DC Comics says it has to, or because a focus group says that it should, it’ll work because five years of foundation has been written into this, because it’s what the viewers have wanted since day one, because it’s what the characters have wanted since before day one. But most of all, it’ll work because it has to.
In fact the only thing that I’ve seen about the next season that I don’t like is the fact that I’m already being presented with (sigh) “Huddy”. Mankind has done many amazing things in the past few million years. We’ve invented fire, we’ve conquered flight, and we’ve been to the stars. But for some reason we still cannot resist defining two people in a relationship with one reductive, insulting name. “Huddy” sounds like a sexist marketing device to sell Hummers to women who can’t drive.
Some casting news about the new Season also indicates that Olivia Wilde will be absent for part of the Season due to movie commitments and Jennifer Morrison’s character of Alison Cameron will be returning roughly around mid-season. And without spoiling too much….she won’t be alone.
There’s also a part of me that’s really curious as to whether or not House will be rocking a new cane this Season, and if he does, will it be as instantly identifiable as the flame cane he used in half of Season Three and through all of Season Four.
DEXTER
OK, there’s not one single person in the entire waking world who saw the close of the last Season of Dexter who isn’t frantically anticipating the start of the new Season. What intrigues me the most about the new Season is that it picks up immediately after the events of the most recent episode.
If you’ve seen the last episode of the last Season, you know exactly what events I’m talking about. But what always fascinates me about shows that pick up immediately from the previous Season is the logistical issues involved. Yeah, I’m a nerd, but just humour me on this one.
Dexter has traditionally employed a “three months later” device when going from Season to Season. This allows for the actors to get new hairstyles, get tans etc. without having to explain why the characters suddenly look different. Back in the halcyon days before SDCC, one of the first things that I heard was that Julie Benz would be appearing in the new Season and that her appearance wouldn’t be in a flashback and that it wouldn’t be as a Harry-style ghost. If I’d put any amount of thought in to it, it would have made sense that Julie Benz would be appearing as the same character in the same time frame as before. The only other scenario that I could come up with was that she might be in a video journal with the kids of some description. Hey, nobody ever said that I was a creative genius.
But what I’m most excited and terrified about in the upcoming Season is the inclusion of the fantastically talented Irish singer and actor, Maria Doyle-Kennedy. Anyone who’s ever seen The Commitments knows that Doyle-Kennedy can act rings around most anyone and has a wonderful, natural Dublin accent (yeah I’m biased here). This is the reason that I’m excited, the reason that I’m terrified is that there’s a fierce tendency to use a stereotype when portraying the Irish on TV in America. I still weep when I think of the scenes in Heroes a few years ago that were set in Cork where Peter got involved with some gangsters who were looking for their stolen OiPods.
But keep your fingers crossed that the writers and producers will keep their wits about them and let Maria do what she does best. Also, if she happens to break into a rendition of “Son of a Preacher Man”, I won’t be overly upset either.
STARGATE: UNIVERSE
There was a time when I wasn’t sure if there actually would be a second Season of Stargate: Universe Don’t misunderstand me, I loved the show right from the start, but we live in a world where Firefly can get cancelled, so it’s best not to be overly cocky about the survival of any good science fiction show.
The first piece of news that came out about the new Season is that the Season’s recurring villain is going to be played by Robert Knepper who played T-Bag in Prison Break. The character that he’ll be playing is designed to butt heads with Louis Ferreira’s Colonel Young. Though that’s not to say that things between Young and Robert Carlysle’s Doctor Rush will get smoother any time soon. We learn pretty soon into the new Season that Rush has made a pretty huge discovery relating to control of The Destiny. But Rush keeps the discovery to himself and the eventual revelation brings major conflict between the two characters and leads to a scene that runs to eleven pages. That scene won’t be happening until the seventh episode of Season Two but it’s going to be worth the wait, that much is almost guaranteed.
Before the advent of SDCC this year, there was a half-news item what was released by the producers of Universe revealing that there would be a Universe / Atlantis crossover roughly mid-way through Season Two. There was no indication at that point as to exactly what cast members from Atlantis would be appearing on Universe or even in what capacity. At SDCC, it was announced that the two guest stars would be David Hewlett and Robert Picardo. Hewlett was sort of obvious, seeing as his character is the most loved character from Atlantis and has more in-series knowledge of the technology than anyone else in the world.
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
I don’t think that there’s ever been a time when I wasn’t looking forward to the next episode of How I Met your Mother. But this year, the writers and producers basically went out in front of the world’s press and admitted that they screwed up on some things in the last Season. I’ve publicly declared my love for How I Met Your Mother, and it’ll take an awful lot for me to fall out of love with the show, but I will admit that there did seem to be an absence of forward momentum in the area of finding out who the Mother is in the last Season.
The producers have stated that there will be more forward momentum in the new Season, and they’ve also gone out of their way not to confirm or deny the possibility that the Mother will be introduced at some stage and that the show will keep running after the revelation and introduction.
But for my money, the biggest and best announcement about the new Season is that there will be a new future. Not an alternate future, just a look at a different timeframe in Ted’s future. This could potentially be amazing. We might get to see Future Barney, we might get to see Future Robin and if I’m at all correct, we might get to see that Future Barney and Future Robin are a couple. We still don’t know exactly how far in to the future the new scenes are going to be, but I have a feeling that they are going to give us answers to some old questions, answers to questions we didn’t even know that we had. Mostly though, we’ll be entertained and we’ll get to see that it doesn’t matter how you tell a story, and that sometimes different parts of a story need different details.
So what shows are you looking forward to in the upcoming year? What storylines? What guest stars? Let us know!
The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the FRED Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…
(Please support FRED by using the links below to make any impulse purchases – it helps to keep us going…)
It’s been years – YEARS! – since fans were left in the lurch after the release of the third season, but the waiting game comes to an end with the release of Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Complete Season 4 (Classic Media, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP). Gone are the lovely bonus features, but at least we get 19 more episodes of remastered hilarity.
You want not only the ultimate remote control, but also the ultimate wireless keyboard? You know, the kind of keyboard that allows you to do anything from a distance, in ridiculous comfort? Well, the ProMini Wireless Keyboard with Trackpad ($69.99) fits the bill, allowing you to pretty much do whatever you’d want to do with your electronics. It’s almost scary.
While I didn’t dislike it, I was certainly disappointed in Ricky Gervais’s The Invention of Lying. It just never seemed to gel into the kind of transcendent piece he was capable of. Well, Gervais and co-writer/co-director Stephen Merchant have hit all the right notes with the elegant, elegiac Cemetery Junction (Sony, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$30.96 SRP), a period piece about a trio of friends in a dead-end town in 1970’s England and the difficulties in dreaming yourself out of a bleak future. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, interviews, featurettes, deleted scenes, and bloopers.
I didn’t think I’d much care for it, but I was pleasantly delighted by Emma Thompson’s Nanny McPhee (Universal, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$26.98 SRP), which has a verve and fun energy that elevates it beyond just a Mary Poppins clone. It’s now in high definition, with an audio commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes, and a gag reel.
It’s the full text – a rarity in filmed form – and one can certainly say that Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$34.99 SRP) is an epic, star-studded undertaking. Whether one can say it’s entertaining is a matter of taste – personally, I tend to drift in and out of it. Still, it does look incredible in high definition – as it was filmed in 65mm. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, introduction from Branagh, the 1996 Cannes Film Festival promo, and the theatrical trailer.
Claire Danes is wonderful as the lead in the biopic Temple Grandin (HBO, Not Rated, DVD-$26.98 SRP), about a young woman who didn’t let autism – a mysterious condition during her childhood of which little was known – stand in her way, as she eventually became an expert in animal behavior. Oh, just watch it. Bonus features include an audio commentary and a making-of featurette.
Never really watched One Tree Hill (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP), but I’m sure there’s a dedicated fanbase eager for the complete 7th season set, where they’ll also be rewarded with deleted scenes, featurettes, audio commentaries, and a gag reel.
Despite knowing the creators/showrunners, I’ve never been able to get into Courtney Cox’s MILF comedy Cougar Town (ABC Studios, Not Rated, DVD-$39.99 SRP). Maybe it’s because the writing just seems so forced (something the creators/showrunners suffered from on the latter seasons of their previous show, Scrubs). Either way, the first season set contains featurettes, deleted scenes, and bloopers.
Take a group of overweight Brits, dress them in period clothes, and make them participate in weight loss regimens commensurate with those periods. What do you have? The documentary series The Diets That Time Forgot (Acorn, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP).
Saved from the ax by DirecTV, the 4th season of Friday Night Lights (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP) changes things up in its truncated 13 episodes, bringing in new characters in the aftermath of the splitting of the school district. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, deleted scenes, intros, and a trio of featurettes.
It’s been a slightly bumpy road the past few seasons, but everything course-corrected and ended exactly as everyone thought it would in the fourth and final season of Ugly Betty (ABC Studios, Not Rated, DVD-$39.99 SRP), as Betty steps out of her awkward, ugly duckling phase. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, webisodes, featurettes, deleted scenes, and bloopers.
The fine folks at Sideshow continue to deliver tremendously spiffy collectibles to Disney fans, following up on their incredible premium format Evil Queen from Snow White and The Rocketeer with an absolutely massive mquette of Fantasia‘s Chernabog ($299.99). Clocking in at 18″ high and an expansive 13″ wide, the piece contains a light feature that illuminates the underside of the demon’s front section, and the Sideshow Exclusive edition also contains one of Chernabog’s minions.
So there you have it… my humble suggestions for what to watch, listen to, play with, or waste money on this coming weekend. See ya next week…
WAKEFIELD, NC – Deep in the woods of Raleigh, I felt the ghost of Glenn Gould. He’s been dead since 1982, but there he was at a grand piano playing the first of Bach’s The Goldberg Variations.
His body wasn’t hunched over the keyboard on his collapsible chair. He wasn’t humming away as he played. But it was unmistakably Gould. The keys of the Yamaha DCFIIIAPRO were stuck in his iconic way. His music filled the classical music concert hall covered in maple and cherry wood.
How can this be? Who conjured the Canadian classical music genius? Zenph Sound Innovations figured a way to make dead fingers play. This isn’t merely a piano roll, fake stereo treatment or a new noise reduction that goes beyond Dolby.
There is no other way to describe the technological miracle except in spiritual terms. This is the closest we’ll ever get to truly experience Gould without Zenph inventing a time machine. Dr. John Q. Walker and his team developed a program that can take a sound recording, isolate the various instruments, accurately determine the notes and timing and put them through a Yamaha piano with the ability to exactly play the recorded notes with the proper timing and inflection.
This isn’t like that rickety player piano they had at Shakey’s Pizza. It’s not just playing notes like your elderly music teacher insisted. This computerized system replicates the emotion found in the art. It revives the nuance, the timing, the sorrow and the joy given the music by the original musician. If this isn’t quite making sense, here’s a little video about the magic they are doing in the concert hall that’s part of Walker’s house.
Does that help you grasp what Zenph is about? And what an amazing concert space. When we went from his kitchen into the music room, it was like roaming around the TARDIS.
Walker introduced Art Tatum’s as his next “guest.” During the song, the piano gave itself thundering key slaps as if a hand whacked them. Tatum’s music goes beyond the piano when his playing gets transferred into a techno dance song. The thing is that after several hours of the artist’s work is digitized into the computer, the program can decipher the artist’s style. This allows the computer to determine how they’d play a new piece of music. How do you think Glenn Gould would play Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance?” The answer might be coming. Zenph allows the artist lives through his art and stakes a claim to the present. Someday Sun Ra might return from Saturn with Zenph as his co-pilot.
The biggest thing they’re doing now is letting the artist reclaim his past. When Sergei Rachmanioff recorded in 1921, he wasn’t captured with an electric microphone. They used a horn and recorded directly onto the master disc. It was a very primitive process with barely any audio dynamics. Zenph was able to take this limited resource to allow the piano to truly play what Rachmanioff’s hands touched that day nearly 80 years ago. Instead of making excuses and accepting limitations, the robot piano gave us the majesty of the Master. The quiet passages are no longer buried under the crackle of a 78 shellac. The beauty shines. A strange bi-product of the process is the computer creates accurate sheet music. Zenph discovered that Rachmanioff held back on nearly 30 percent of the notes between what he published and what he played. Classic music publishers are extremely excited about finally getting the real deal to sell.
Zenph is creating methods to recreate a variety of instruments instead of just sticking to the piano. They’ve recreated a plucked double bass using a strange device from Germany that looks like a Tesla creation. We were treated to a virtual duet featuring Ray Brown on the techno double bass and Oscar Peterson on the robot piano. In the future, you can have all star bands with ghosts mingling with their breathing members. This isn’t merely the trick of playing along with an old tape of a dead artist. The missing musicians won’t be limited by their past. Soon there might be singing. Voice is the one thing they really want to crack. Imagine how it would be to finally liberate Enrico Caruso from his 10 inch cell? This is a few years down the road so don’t line up for Kate Smith sings Kiss yet.
Zenph is not merely working in the concept. They’ve already released several records under their “Re-performance” title that have been Grammy nominated. Violinist Joshua Bell has a duet with Rachmaninoff. For the Glenn Gould Re-performance of the 1955 version of Goldberg Variations, they placed stereo microphones where Gould’s head would have been. When you put on the headphones, you’re hearing what Gould heard behind the keyboard. They’ve also taken their show on the road to let audiences hear a glorious sound that goes beyond Memorex. Their Art Tatum: Piano show at the Apollo in 2008 had actor Paul Butler (Crime Story) as a club owner working with Tatum’s ghost at they keyboard. By the end of the run, the place was packed. How would the artist feel about such an event? Glenn Gould quit touring at the height of his fame in 1964. He hated the touring process. It’s pretty much certain he would have sent out the robot piano to collaborate with symphonies around the world. If you want to see the technology in a concert setting, Zenph is planning a show at New York’s Lincoln Center.
Zenph represents a strange new world of music where an artist is no longer limited by their recording technique. They’re no longer limited by death. They can continue to have an active career working with the top artists of the day. Sting has expressed interest in a duet with Louis Armstrong. I couldn’t help thinking the ultimate band to devise a complete album with this technology is Steely Dan. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen could allow themselves to be haunted with the ghosts of jazz and classical greats without being overwhelmed. Now there’s no reason they can’t play with their idols instead of merely paying tribute to them. Although eventually Walter and Donald would be the ghosts for the next pair of cynical kids eager for a collaboration.
This isn’t all about superstars being revived. The technology can become personal with the ability to upload tapes of a loved one to hear them play once more on your home piano. We always say art is immortal, but now people can truly become immortal thanks to their musical artistry thanks to Zenph. At the end of the presentation, I kept looking around to see Thomas Newton lurking behind curtains.
PAWNDERING
How can TruTV run a series called Hardcore Pawn that isn’t about Ron Jeremy selling off various parts of his collection? The new series that’s going after the Pawn Stars audience is about a Pawn store in Detroit. How depressing. Maybe we’ll get to see how much dreams and an Edsel hubcap fetch? Although this concept could have worked with Kid Rock unloading Pam Anderson’s used strap-on collection. Or Iggy Pop seeing how much he can get for his “first edition” groupies.
COMING SOON
When will we get to see Scott Pilgrim Versus Michael Cera’s Clone Army? Or maybe just Michael Cera Versus a Door Knob?
THAT DOESN’T RING
How come in Goodnight Moon, the bunny refuses to say goodnight to his telephone? Who leaves a telephone next to a little kid’s bed? This simple book has so many questions. How am I supposed to sleep without the answers?
FOOD OF THE GODS
The fine people of Food Lion have put Quisp back in the cereal aisle. The cereal is a spin-off of Cap’n Crunch. It’s just retro joy in my stomach. Run down and get a box so they’ll keep stocking the outer space morning surprise.
Now if only someone would revive Freakies.
Also be quick as Mountain Dew Throwback is delivering the sugar coated goodness. Expect to see blowback from the corn syrup lobby.
ALIEN AROUND THE CORNER
Can they hear you scream in 1080p?
BLU-RAY HEAVEN
Dexter: The Fourth Season was the reason to have cable last year. The Showtime series had its best season yet. Dexter has become sleep deprived with the arrival of his baby. He’s now a father and husband. It’s eating against his serial killer nature. He’s supposed to be a lone wolf. He attempts to get back in the killing game when he meets the Trinity Killer (John Lithgow). Instead of merely killing the killer, Dexter assumes an identity to learn how this guy manages being a husband, father and sociopath. Their friendship goes really wrong. Dexter is a show that just improves with each season. Lithgow makes you forget he was ever in Third Rock from the Sun. The 1080p imagine brings out the details when Lithgow and Michael C. Hall goes the distance. You might want to watch this on a weekend cause you aren’t going to want to go to bed early or wake up for work. You’ll also feel queasy when driving past a Habitat For Humanity site.
CORMAN-VISION
The latest batch of Roger Corman Cult Classics has arrived and it’s worthy of Drive-In glory. This series from Shout! Factory covers his output at New World that covered the 1970s and the early ’80s. He quickly created a studio that rivaled American International Pictures in the world of low budget cinema. They’ve created fresh transfers off the original film elements so these look so much better than the previous video releases.
Piranha: Special Edition is much better than this upcoming Piranha 3D. Joe Dante established himself as a director who knew how to mix dark humor and grotesque violence without diffusion. A military scientist has created intelligent piranha that can swim outside the Amazon river. A couple stupid people release them into a river. They head downstream to a kiddie summer camp and a brand new aquatic park. There’s more blood and guts in this film than Jaws. The great Richard Deacon even appears in the film. Paul Bartel was robbed of Oscar glory for his uptight camp counselor that wants all the kids in the water – no excuses. This Special Edition brings together all the bonus features of previous DVDs along with more extras to juice up the experience. The Making of documentary lets Joe talk about how his budget got slashed right before the shoot. Even under such tight restraints, he figured out how to shoot around water without turning into Waterworld.
Humanoids From the Deep is an eco-horror film. Turns out a local salmon fishery has been messing with hormones. Instead of bigger fish, the science creates mutant underwater men that are intent on two things: killing men and breeding with women. But the most horrifying thing on the screen is the perm on Vic Morrow (The Bad News Bears). He’s a redneck fisherman who doesn’t like the local Indians. He uses the aqua-attacks as a disguise to go after the friends of Doug McClure (The Land that Time Forgot). The action explodes during the Salmon festival on the docks. The monsters attack Miss Salmon and she fights back. Turns out the original director cut back on the monsters’ breeding moments so Corman sent a second crew to capture the unnatural bonding. This also explains why there’s no director’s commentary. But there are dozens of interviews including composer James Horner. Even though he’s made a fortune with the soundtracks of Titanic and Avatar, he remains proud of his Humanoid notes. If you only see one film about mutant salmon, let it be Humanoids From the Deep.
Deathsport/BattleTruck Double Feature is perfect for a post-apocalyptic night out. Deathsport brings back David Carradine for more futuristic wheeled mayhem after Death Sport 2000. He’s part of a modern primitive society that gets kidnapped by a technoid group. They force him and Claudia Jennings (Gator Bait) to enter the arena to be slaughtered by guards on supercycles. But the duo aren’t going down like that. Not only do they win, they escape with the bikes. This turns into a complicated pursuit that doesn’t quite make sense, but who cares. I recommend a few drinks before hitting play. The commentary track lets the director explain the behind the scenes issues with the shoot. BattleTruck was made in New Zealand at the same time The Road Warrior was being shot. This isn’t a rip-off although it involves a huge truck and a fight for gas. Michael Beck (The Warriors and Xanadu) is the loner who can help the downtrodden locals from a menacing gang that steals gas. One of the downtrodden is John Razenberger (Cliff from Cheers). The film looks great since the DP is two time Oscar winner Chris Menges (The Killing Fields and The Mission).
DVD SHELF
Max Headroom: The Complete Series finally lets me see the show without it being on a decade old crummy dupe tape from Bravo. What a great series. Edison Carter (Matt Frewer) zips around a decaying society that has been zombie-ized by cable news networks. Sounds pretty much like today. He gets his memory scanned into a computer which evolves into the computer generated Max Headroom. They only made 14 episodes. They don’t have the British pilot movie: 20 Minutes Into the Future. This was remade as the “Blipverts” episode so you’re only missing out on the English cast that wasn’t brought to ABC. While Shout! Factory couldn’t license the numerous Max Headroom related video like his New Coke commercials, they interview so many folks to give a complete oral portrait of the faux-CGI talking head. The series really gets extremely scathing about what TV channels will do in the future although it didn’t predict flat screens.
Ugly Betty: The Complete Fourth and Final Season is a bit of a shock. How could a show that started out with such a head of steam completely collapse? It’s not like they cut Betty’s hair. Doesn’t help when the network decides to move the show to Friday nights (home of the corpses). They do give Betty a promotion to associate features editor at Mode magazine. The finale has more nervous news. In the end, this shouldn’t have been too much of surprise since the magazine market is suffering. Think of how many titles have vanished from the airport newstand. At least they didn’t cast Anthony Anderson as the new publisher (he’s the 21st Century Ted McGinley).
Cougar Town: The Complete First Season finally lets Courteney Cox unleash her inner vixen. She’s a new divorcee eager to make up for all the time she was stuck being the good wife and mother. She’s ready to work all the young men in her Florida town. She’s a desperate housewife without all the soap opera. The only thing that causes tension in her life is when a young guy says he loves her. She’s not eager to return to that life. Although she’s got no problem getting a little action from her ex-husband. The show was created by the guy behind Scrubs so it has that quirky factor going in the comedy. This is so much better than Dirt.
Numb3rs: The 6th Season is really the final season. This was the last go around for the math based FBI show starring Rob Morrow, David Krumholtz and Judd Hirsch. The producers bring the show to an end with major betrayals and bumps in the 16 episodes. Morrow ends up losing his gun. The people who find it go on a crime spree. Is this ugliness going to ruin his engagement? There’s lots of brutal crimes with brainy solutions. John Michael Higgins pops up on “Dreamland.” Lou Diamond Phillips (La Bamba) takes one of Morrow’s men hostage to prove he’s innocent in “Ultimatum.” Henry Winkler (The Fonz) gets brought back to help on the DB Cooper case. Believe it or no, William Katt (Greatest American Hero) appears in “And the Winner Is….” A good run for a show that made geeks capture goons.
90210: The Second Season brings us back for more high school dramatics at West Beverly. The CW series does a good job at updating the ’90s late night soap by letting the kids text message and talk about youtube. Naomi Clark (AnnaLynne McCord) rebounds from her break up by hooking up with a married guy. That’s got to be nasty when you have to tell your wife that you need to attend your mistress’s JV Prom. Even in this free living part of America, the kids still get upset when their steadies kiss the wrong person. There’s pregnancy and cancer scares hitting them. The final episode has Mr. Cannon sexually assaults Naomi. Who will believe her side of the story? There’s 22 episodes spread over 6 DVDs.
NCIS: The Complete 7th Season once more makes me feel happy that David McCallum is on a hit series. His role as Medical Examiner Ducky Mallard has lasted longer than his iconic tenure on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. The unit is run by Mark Harmon so David’s not carrying the show. The season starts off with Ziva being released after her capture where terrorists wanted to know about NCIS. “Reunion” murders three guests at a bachelor party including a hanging, alcohol poisoning and a toilet drowning. This can’t be a coincidence. “Child’s Play” has a military intelligence officer using baby geniuses to crack codes. The end of the season has Mexican druglord action. Everybody wants a piece of NCIS. The bonus features include Cast Roundtable, 150th Episode, and a commentary track with Mark Harmon, Arvin Brown & Gary Glasberg. The 24 episodes are spread over 6 DVDs.
The Good Heart brings together Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood) and Brian Cox (Zodiac) as two unlikely friends. They meet up in the intensive care unit of a hospital when the homeless Paul hangs himself and the cranky tavern owner Brian has his fifth heart attack. While mending the two bond. Brian decides this wayward youth might be the perfect person to mold into the future tavern owner. There’s a lot of learning moments for Paul since Brian has major rules when it comes to the business. The place is a complete dive with nothing to fancy for his regulars. Paul breaks the number one rule of what makes a success when he gets involved with Isild Le Besco. She’s a French stewardess who has been overcome by a fear of flying. It’s three damaged people inside a decaying bar. Cox and Dano need to work again in a cleaner space.
George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead: 2- Disc Ultimate Undead Edition brings more zombie nation action to the screen. Over 40 years after his Night of the Living Dead, Romero keeps up the creep action. This time we’re taken to Plum Island where two families feud over what to do with the walking dead. One side wants to kill them while the other holds out hope for “curing” them. How can you cure a zombie other than leaving them in a smoke house with a salt coating? The families are like the Hatfields and the McCoys in the time of zombies. Can there be peace on this island between the living people? What really matters is the numerous cool ways the Romero has the zombies and a few of the living snuffed. The bonus action on this set includes the documentary “Walking After Midnight,” lots of footage of Romero at work, the HDNet special and a guide to creating your own zombie bite. Who wouldn’t want to wear a zombie bite for Halloween?
Check out my other column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on TWITTER under the name: Stipp
Innocence Mission- Interview
I remember taking a cab when I lived in the city of Chicago to see The Innocence Mission in 2006. It was a cold night, and they were playing a small club, but I couldn’t have been more excited. The band was riding a small wave of popularity with a couple of singles, most notably Bright As Yellow which became ubiquitous as their signature song around this time. Meeting them after the show was done I was struck with how disaffected they were with popularity. Meeting lead singer Karen Peris and talking with her I’ll never forget simply because of how low-key and genial she was, the moment captured with a ballpoint autograph on a CD single I brought with me.
Her personality is the person you hear coming through the speakers and as they went from playing clubs to touring with Natalie Merchant when she broke from the 10,000 Maniacs they never conformed to any logic that dictated that you needed to change your “sound” with every progressive release. It’s almost a cliche at this point to hear how bands say “this” release is a real departure for them or that the band has never sounded better. But with every album Innocence Mission has released since 1995, 6 albums in total, they’ve kept things just as they’ve always been. With a sound that has been compared to The Sundays, I would say they possess a sound that is wholly their own. With an emphasis with muted percussion and deft guitar work, with Karen’s vocals languidly smoothing everything out, they are neither folk nor are they easy listening. The newest album out now, My Room in the Trees, is a testament to their power as a group that produces catchy, low-key songs that embody everything good about what’s possible with modern music that evokes the music you would play on a rainy morning or a gentle Sunday afternoon spent relaxing. The band answered some questions I submitted about their process and what it has been like to be together over two decades.
My Room in the Trees is available now.
CHRISTOPHER STIPP: What drives you to keep putting out albums? Many bands from the mid-90’s who had some popularity are all but extinct yet you keep producing quality material.
THE INNOCENCE MISSION: It is really just a love of music, and an on-going searching for ways to express things that can’t really be expressed. Also it’s partly because of the kind letters we’ve received that we keep recording the songs and sharing them out loud. Otherwise I think I would just sings the songs to myself. But this way, it is like joining in a conversation with other people. That’s the way it feels to me, anyway.
CS: Does age slow your desire to play live? I saw you on a few dates during Natalie Merchant’s solo tour many many years ago and I recently found myself hoping you would get out of the house more often.
TIM: Well, not really age, as much as circumstance. Not wanting to leave our kids made me take a long break from touring, and then, maybe because of not using it in that way, my voice has sort of un-adapted itself to singing for long periods of time. Performing is a whole other discipline, so different from writing. The thing I miss is being able to meet and be with such kind people in different places. It really was a privilege that I enjoyed for a lot of years. Maybe we can do concerts again someday.
CS: The creative process. Has it gotten easier with the band being together for as long as it has? I would assume that the well you go to for inspiration constantly changes but are you finding there is always something new to write about?
TIM: Yes, I think there is always a lot to write about. But I am not always as aware of this. And then some days I feel that I want to try to write about every small aspect of a single moment, I get excited about words, about trying to see the words, and mapping out poems. It goes like that. Music is different, though. Music is more immediately discoverable. It is almost always easy to become absorbed in composing something new.
CS: The actual recording process. Some people go to exotic locations, mess with the physical ways they lay down tracks, work with an arcane producer who is convinced they can get “something new” out of the band, but you don’t seem to share any of those notions. Do you have favorite method when you have a batch of songs that need recording?
TIM: We used to travel to record and that was nice, too. But recording at home has been better for our music, I think. It is just us here, in our studio, and so we can take the time to really hear and to try to do our best with every song. I don’t know if I have a favorite method, other than thinking that just about every song should have pump organ on it.
CS: Is there an Innocence Mission sound? I hear many bands talk about wanting to reinvent themselves after album, after album but you’ve, delightfully, stayed consistent. Do you ever feel pressure that you should change it up?
TIM: Well, we really don’t think about the songs in that way. We don’t talk about changing or not changing. We just try to strive for the sounds that we’re hearing for each song. The first two albums are dramatically different from what we’ve made over the last twelve years or so, since Birds of My Neighborhood.  It took a little while for us to find our way.
CS: The world consumes music differently than it did when you first came onto the scene. Do you see people’s shifting methods to getting music as a benefit to where you are today or are you finding yourselves on the outside looking in because of how fractured the marketplace is? Has it even mattered to you at all, the business of getting your music out into the world?
TIM: I have to admit, I don’t really think about it that much. I do see that new music in general is more accessible to everyone now, which is great.
CS: What does it take to stay together in a band like this? Is it easy for a group best known for its delicate arrangements? I would imagine any fighting is done politely and with the kind of manners usually reserved for those at a swanky dinner party.
TIM: That’s funny. Well, we don’t usually have fights about music. And if we do, it’s always Don’s fault. (Kidding). Working together on recordings has always been such a big part of our friendship and marriage. It’s not something I have to question, but I am grateful for it.
CS: This album in particular, what was the impetus for making it? Was there any great event that hurried you into the studio or was it a slow, progressive build-up of material?
TIM: It was just the enjoyment of writing and making the recordings. It does seem to take a long while to have a group of songs that we still feel close to over time. But that’s okay. It always seems better not to be in too much of a hurry to finish a record.
CS: What are your hopes for the future of this band? Do you see yourselves continuously putting out new material every now and then?
TIM: I hope to be able to keep writing.  I hope the songs will be worthy of sharing. That’s about it.
Welcome to our weekly round-up of featured giveaways here at FRED. Every week, we’ll present a new clutch of DVDs, books, and other cool stuff you can take a shot at winning. All you have to do is click on the graphics below to be taken to their respective contest pages. And good luck!
I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.
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CHRISTOPHER STIPP: What drives you to keep putting out albums? Many bands from the mid-90’s who had some popularity are all but extinct yet you keep producing quality material.
TIM: Well, we really don’t think about the songs in that way. We don’t talk about changing or not changing. We just try to strive for the sounds that we’re hearing for each song. The first two albums are dramatically different from what we’ve made over the last twelve years or so, since Birds of My Neighborhood.  It took a little while for us to find our way.
