-By Paul Dini & Rashy
Paul Dini’s “Monkey Talk” (featuring his irrepressible sock monkey son, Rashy) returns with a trip to Blighty, as Paul, Rashy, and Super Rica take in the London sights…
Be sure to check out Rashy’s official site at LittleRashy.com…
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We here at Quick Stop Entertainment are true lovers of music, in all its forms. We’re also quite keen on the spirit of competition, and of spurring creativity through said competition.
To that end, we launched a brand new form of creative combat here at the Stop. You’ll find the very first of these competitions here.
In this age of manufactured and painfully earnest talent contests, we’ve decided to instead shine a light on the quirky, quixotic underworld of musicians that don’t get nearly the attention they deserve.
Ah, but I did mention that there was a competition involved…
A week back, we sent out the call for challengers. Hundreds of you heard the call and fought for a chance to be in the initial group. 20 were selected. Of those 20, only 13 responded in time (Them’s the breaks). You’ll find information about them below.
Like a songwriting version of Iron Chef, these challengers will now be presented with a very specific songwriting challenge. They’ll be given one week to complete their songs – however they see fit, within the parameters set forth – after which time the entries will be uploaded to Quick Stop to be voted on by you, the readers.
After one week of intense campaigning and voting, we’ll eliminate the bottom vote-getters – leaving only 5 competitors to move on to… ROUND 2.
So, what do we call this competition?
MASTERS OF SONG FU
For this edition of Song Fu, we’re bringing in four (well, 7, if you’re being technical) very special Masters who you’ll be going up against. Think of them as the iron chefs of Song Fu, and your ultimate challengers, as you’ll square off against one of them mano-a-mano in the Final Round:
JONATHAN COULTON
Jonathan Coulton on Jonathan Coulton: “In 2005 I left my day job writing software to pursue music full time. To keep myself busy I released a new song on this website every week for a year in a project called Thing a Week. A few of those songs became big internet hits (my folky cover of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back”, a funny video called “Flickr”, a song called “Code Monkey”), and I am now fortunate enough to make my living as a musician.
I write about a lot of geeky stuff because I am a geek. Some of it’s funny, but a lot of it’s not so funny, and even more of it is somewhere in between. I’ve been compared to They Might Be Giants, Barenaked Ladies, Loudon Wainwright III, and other musicians you REALLY LOVE.
I give lots of music away because I believe it helps my cause, and I love it when people use my music to create other stuff – music videos, pictures, remixes, etc. At the moment I’m unsigned, and I’m proud to say I’ve created this whole thing mostly on my own (with plenty of help from an amazingly supportive bunch of fans). But it certainly is getting busy… I will probably sell out and go Hollywood any day now…”
Official Website: www.jonathancoulton.com
PAUL & STORM
Paul and Storm are a comedy music duo, and they have been performing as a duo since 2004. Before that, they were one half of a cappella band Da Vinci’s Notebook for about 12 years. A Paul and Storm show is part music concert and part standup/improv comedy”“just enough of both to fit neatly in neither category. They like to engage the audience, and are known to award snack cakes and/or other prizes for good (and sometimes bad) behavior. Their show would be PERFECT as a cable special, and would make lots of money for whichever brave channel decides to air them first.
Official Website: www.paulandstorm.com
THE RIFFTONES
You know ’em as the RiffTrax trio, but here at Song Fu they are the mighty RiffTones…
MICHAEL J. NELSON – Michael J. Nelson is the creator of Rifftrax.com, and is the former host and head writer of the Emmy-nominated, Peabody Award-winning Mystery Science Theater 3000. Since that time, he has appeared on numerous radio and TV shows, penned a regular column for TV Guide, and authored best-selling books for both HarperCollins and Abrams.
His first book, Mike Nelson’s Movie Megacheese, thrilled critics, including Richard Schickel of Time Magazine, who said of Mike, “He’s more fun than a barrel of Val Kilmers… Smarter than a roomful of Patrick Swayzes… and almost as hilarious as Keanu Reeves.” Mike’s laugh-out-loud follow-up, Mind Over Matters, prompted Kirkus Reviews to enthuse, “From someplace called Minnesota comes a Nelson funnier than Ozzie, Ricky, Lord or Half,” and even dared to compare him to another legendary writer, saying of his Serious Speech to Business People, “[It] could easily precede [Robert] Benchley’s immortal Treasurer’s Report.” And Kirkus Reviews loved his novel, Death Rat!, saying, “Fast-paced, outrageous and funny, first-novelist Nelson’s mockery of media mendacity is as biting as La Dolce Vita or Network – only funnier!”
Mike speaks all over the country, is a frequent guest on radio and television, and along with Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy sells out theaters with his RiffTrax Live events.
KEVIN MURPHY – “I’m probably best known for portraying that ol’ squat loveable bubble-headed robot Tom Servo on Mystery Science Theater 3000. In fact I’m the only member of the cast and crew to have worked on every single episode of the series, probably because I tend to like everybody. I also got to sing at the drop of a hat and collaborated with the lovely, leggy Mike Nelson on many of the show’s songs.
Right now I’m back with Mike and Bill for www.rifftrax.com , where once again we sit in close proximity to each other and make fun of movies; unfortunately we don’t write a lot of songs… yet. To exercise my musical jollies I occasionally write and record solo and with family members, under the name The Revolutionary Communist Mountain Boys. Oh, and I’m also writing my first comic book series, symptomatic of my terminal case of Adult-onset Geekdom.
BILL CORBETT – Beloved by literally billions of people, Bill Corbett is a former writer for Mystery Science Theater 3000 on the Sci-Fi Channel, and previously on Comedy Central. He was also a performer on the show, providing the second incarnation of the robot Crow and embarrassing himself in grand fashion as other strange characters – including the all-powerful but clueless alien The Observer, a.k.a. “Brain Guy.” Bill has always been an amateur musician (cough cough HACK cough cough), performing with garage-less garage bands, and writing / performing songs for MST3K – including the beloved-by-literally-trillions CANADA SONG. He now works with former MST3K colleagues Michael J. Nelson and Kevin Murphy at Rifftrax.com.
Corbett is also a screenwriter and playwright. His plays have been produced at numerous theaters across the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, and (seriously) Japan. He wasn’t able to attend the latter, but assumes it was a live-manga concept.
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Corbett currently spends a lot of time in Los Angeles partying into the wee hours with stars like Skeet Ulrich, Harry Hamlin, and the late Red Buttons. But he actually lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife Virginia, their two young children, and a small Jack Russell Terrier who really runs the house.
He hopes someday to raise alpacas.
Official Website: www.rifftrax.com
DOC HAMMER
Doc Hammer was born in 1626 in Hamar, Norway, under the name Erik VonHamer. Being the son of a humble cobbler, not much was expected of the young man, other than to cobble and to not complain about all the cobbling. But Doc was destined for greater things. At 17, with nothing more than really well made shoes and a dream, he made his way to Antwerp to study oil painting under the great Rubens. Within a year, the two were at odds. Rubens spoke (infrequently) of Doc as “that creepy skinny kid,” and Doc spoke of Rubens’s work as “kinda unattractive if you really look at it.” By 1648, Doc had relocated to Leiden, where he found his master in Rembrandt. It was there, in his 23rd year, that Doc met “She Who Was To Deliver The Kiss Of Eternal Youth.” After a spicy courtship, “She Who Was To Deliver The Kiss Of Eternal Youth” and Doc were married. By 1650 Doc had grown weary of immortality and committed an unsuccessful suicide by burying his never-corpse in the basement of a Dutch cottage. In 1870, Doc again resurfaced. Using the name Vilhelm Hammershoi, Doc resumed his painting career with mild success. After thanking his bride for “the immortality thing” and nicely reminding her that he had “heard every one of her stories like a billion times,” “She Who Was To Deliver The Kiss Of Eternal Youth” and Doc split up in 1916. Again, Doc literally went underground until, now using the name Armond Hammer, he resurfaced and made a whole mess of money selling overpriced meds to the Russians. Sick of all the baking soda jokes, Doc faked his death. Biding his time till the MC Hammer thing had blown over, Doc again resurfaced as “Doc Hammer.” Today, Doc still paints in oils and writes, voices, and does other crap for The Venture Bros. (a show you can watch on cable TV).
Official Website: www.myspace.com/dochammer
In a moment, you’ll discover the details of the first challenge. First, though, here is the list of challengers:
THE CHALLENGERS
JEFF MacDOUGALL
The Deal: After 20+ years making music as a hobby, I recently wrote and recorded a song for my daughter. I got a little taste of mild success (hey, my mom liked it). So now I’m taking my music out of the closet, dusting it off, and seeing how it does in the sunshine. Who knew there was so much work in just attempting to do music for a living. I feel like I am opening a Subway franchise (Only opening a Subway franchise seems more fulfilling in a creative way).
Official Website: www.jeffmacdougall.com
RUN AT THE DOG
Run At The Dog are high energy, rock/pop, category-sluts with multi-gendered vocals and intricate arrangements. They are like Abba meets Faith No More meets Mos Def meets the Mormon Tabernacle Choir meets Steely Dan. The songs of this Minneapolis 5-piece are always written right away, with no respect for the calculating mind. Audience members are unsure whether to dance, laugh, or panic.
Official Website: myspace.com/runatthedog
JASON MORRIS
I suppose I am what you could call a “Multi-Instrumentalist”. That is a nice way of saying “Jack-of-all-trades, Master-of-none”. I began playing drums as a teenager and spent a great deal of energy during my 20’s trying to “make it” in the music biz. As a drummer, I have had the opportunity to play with some pretty incredible musicians, garnering literally DOZENS of fans over the years. In 2004 I joined the band Celestial Static, and spent several years melting some face with good friends Jeremy and Julie Elzerman. Once that ran its course, I decided to spend more time locked away in my studio, writing my own songs and learning to play guitar, bass and sing. It doesn’t pay the bills, but I have a good time doing it.
Official Website: www.jason-morris.com
EDRIC HALEEN
Edric has been writing music (off and on) for the past fifteen years. He wrote and directed a musical, The Pushcart War, based on Jean Merrill’s wonderful novel. He has written and/or arranged a number of songs for various friends – some commissioned, some as surprises. He loves acting in community theatre, and is inspired by the music of Stephen Sondheim, Jason Robert Brown, Adam Guettel, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty – and yes, Jonathan Coulton, who in addition to writing wonderful songs, also served as a portal to finding out about the Song Fu competition.
Official Website: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2arBC7f-6FY
“BUCKETHAT” BOBBY MATHESON
“BucketHat” Bobby Matheson is an awkward teenage accordionist and multi-instrumentalist who specializes in superhero-themed and “Comedy” music, and who works for minimum wage in the fast food industry. With his style varying from polka to folk, punk to pop, and then again from rock to bluegrass, we’re left unsure what to expect. One thing for certain is that Bobby doesn’t like talking about himself in the third person, and therefore will stop this silliness right now.
Official Website: www.myspace.com/buckethatbobby
INSANE IAN
Insane Ian is a comedian and writer from Baltimore, Maryland who specializes in all things nerdy, both in parody and original compositions. From Sci-fi TV shows and films, to video games, to comic books – no nerdy topic escapes his sardonic (and satiric) wit. Among his peers – such as Sudden Death, the great Luke Ski, Jonathan Coulton and, of course, “Weird Al” Yankovic – he is the only artist to have written this bio, and remains at the top of that list. Currently, his song “Guitar Hero” (from his upcoming album n3rds0ngs) is the number three most requested song on the Dr. Demento radio show for last month. Usually for a song, I.I. surrounds himself with talented people to make himself look better…and now is no exception, as friend and producer Mike S. helps on instrumental duties.
Official Website: www.insaneian.com
BRAM TANT
Hello everyone. I’m Bram Tant, a 19-year-old Belgian student who enjoys playing the electric/bass guitar, singing, and writing songs in his spare time. I’ve always dreamed of becoming a professional musician, and I’m psyched to have been selected for this awesome contest. Having greatly enjoyed the first edition, I want to test my humble songwriting Fu against other (hopefully) great artists. Unfortunately, I do not own decent recording equipment – all I have is a computer microphone. Still, I’ll try the best I can to record the best song I can write. About musical influences – lately I’ve been really awed at/inspired by the work of Jonathan Coulton, and I found out about this contest through his website/forum. Else, I enjoy a bit of everything. My musical style is a bit hard to define: I play a bunch of stuff like soft/hard/classic rock, punk, metal, folk, jazz, lots of improvisational stuff, and I seem to have a knack for writing love songs, probably because of a subconscious yearning for love… Anyway, I wish the best of luck to all the other competitors, and may the best win!
Official Website: studwww.ugent.be/~btant/
MICK BORDET
The phrase “jack of all trades, master of none” could almost have been invented to describe Mick Bordet’s musical existence. Writing and recording songs since the tender age of thirteen, a quarter of a century’s experience has failed to produce any music his family can relate to. This may be because he steadfastly insists on bouncing between and across genres at every opportunity like a hummingbird with ADD, or perhaps it’s the eclectic collection of instruments he utilises for his sonic palette, from guitar and ukulele to theremin, yobstick and electric harmonium. Mick is a founder member of “The Lunacy Board”, Scotland’s premier progressive avant-garde skiffle duo, and cites influences as diverse as Edgard Varèse, Ivor Cutler, Conlon Nancarrow, and Roy Harper, to name but four. The duo have recently released three debut albums, including one written, recorded, and mixed within a single day ““ perfect training for the Song Fu challenge.
Official Website: www.lunacyboard.com
STEVE CHATTERTON
Steve Chatterton is an independent musician living in the suburbs of Toronto. Known primarily for his jingle work on local television and his electronic project 11t1, he’s now putting all of his musical efforts into the ever-elusive self-titled singer-songwriter recording project he’s been wanting to get around to since he was 10-years-old and had just discovered The Beatles. Steve is an honors graduate of the jazz guitar program at Mohawk College, and has since performed in a wide array of bands that nobody has ever heard of. After retiring from performing to concentrate on raising his kids, he’s recently put together his own basement studio and has set a personal goal of producing at least one song a month.
Official Website: music.stevechatterton.com/
TOM ROONEY
Tom Rooney has participated under the band name Thomas F in the Record Production Month Challenge for the past two years, successfully completing an album of 10 new original songs within the month of February. The challenge provided a welcoming environment of diverse artists from around the globe all frantically striving to beat the end of the month deadline while encouraging and supporting each other. This experience has given Tom the confidence to put his music out there, for better or worse. Most feedback has been politely positive. Raving masses of fans still to come.
Official Website: www.virb.com/thomasf
NATE SHIVERS
Fun, Zesty, Acoustic, Energetic, Crunchy. Some of these words describe the Baritone-Ukulele-wielding N8 Shivers (the others describe Taco Bell’s newest food-like invention). He began writing songs at the age of two, and taught himself to play the uke a mere 17 years later. N8’s Family members claim he’s the best uke-playing song writer they’re related to. He enjoys Stand-up Comedy, Coen Brothers movies, Chilly sandwiches, and Canadian sitcoms. His Turn-offs include Banana Flavored Things, Republicans, and Mountain Dew. N8 is currently employed as a Wizard in southern Ohio.
Official Website: www.myspace.com/ncomma8
JEREMY PIERSON
Jeremy Pierson is a struggling artist of that so-called RenGen crowd. His passion for music has run deep through his veins since his earliest days of hearing The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Stevie wonder, and Marvin Gaye on his parent’s record player at home. As a songwriter, his influences cull from the likes of those legendary artists already mentioned, and include influences from Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jamiroquai, Earth, Wind & Fire, Curtis Mayfield, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Smokey Robinson, Bob Schneider, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Paul Simon. His greatest barrier as a commercially successful artist is clearly his lack of interest in limiting his musical creativity to any one genre. Jeremy also feeds his creative juices through his artistic work in photography, film, writing, illustration, and design.
Official Website: www.jeremypierson.com
JUTZE SCHULT
Johannes “Jutze” Schult (from Germany) likes to make songs about weird stories and situations. It’s all about creating a musical scenario that is somewhat original, yet believable by some stretch of imagination. Jutze used to play drums in a heavy metal band, and then founded his own pop band where he played guitar. These days he’s mainly doing solo work for the fun of it.
Official Website: www.jutze.com
ROUND 1 CHALLENGE
This is going to seem to be a rather straightforward challenge to kick off our second Song Fu competition. In actuality, it’s a pretty darn interesting way to give people a sense of just what your songwriting personality and style is. We’re taking a cue from a fellow named Paul Simon…
Your first challenge is to WRITE A SONG ABOUT THE MOON.
That’s it. The only other directive is that your song must run no shorter than 1 minute 45 seconds. Your song must be submitted in mp3 form (128-192kbps) either via e-mail (to songfu @ asitecalledfred.com – remember to remove the spaces) or a file upload service (like RapidShare or YouSendIt). Deadline for submission is 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008.
Voting on Round 1 submissions will commence on Thursday, August 21st, 2008.
Here’s Paul Simon’s song about the moon…
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If you triumph, not only will you win remarkable (and potentially off-putting) bragging rights and a clutch of fantastic mystery prizes, you will also become the proud owner of the magnificent, one-of-a-kind MASTER OF SONG FU TROPHY, designed and handcrafted by [adult swim] superstar Dana Snyder. Yes. Dana Snyder.
Good luck, and bring on the Fu.
We’re giving away, in conjunction with Paramount Home Video, three (3) copies of KENNY VS SPENNY: VOLUME 1 UNCENSORED on DVD.
Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, August 20th.
No member of Quick Stop 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, August 20th.
The winner must allow 4-6 weeks after notification of win to receive the product.
SModcast is the meandering palaver of a pair of dudes whose voices are so dull, they don’t deserve to be on the radio (and, hence, aren’t). Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier are SModcast.The best thing about SModcast? It don’t cost nothing.
SModcast 61: “Bridge Beach!” –
In which our heroes dream of private tutoring, catalogue questionable laws, survive a star cros’t love affair, rally against lawn art, and unwittingly seduce a funny-book merchant.
[CONTENT WARNING] SModcast features harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Listener discretion is advised.
DOWNLOAD: (right click to save)
SModcast 61 (MP3 format) – 48.59 MB
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SUBSCRIBE
Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes
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Wanna add your two cents? Spend it here, in the SModcast mailbag.
CLICK HERE FOR THE SMODCAST ARCHIVES
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We’re giving away, in conjunction with Paramount Home Video, five (5) copies of DEXTER: SEASON 2 on DVD.
Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Monday, August 18th.
No member of Quick Stop 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 Monday, August 18th.
The winner must allow 4-6 weeks after notification of win to receive the product.
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 Quick Stop Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…
Last year, Paramount released the first season of the remastered original Star Trek series as hybrid standard DVD/HD-DVD discs. As we all know, HD-DVD was roundly defeated in the high definition format wars by Blu-Ray, which left the future of the remastered releases a bit muddled. Well, Star trek: The Original Series Season 2 (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$84.98 SRP) is now available as just a standard edition DVD set. There’s no word on a Blu-Ray edition. The 8-disc set features all 26 episodes, plus the second part of the behind-the-scenes “Billy Blackburn’s Treasure Chest”, the “More Tribbles, More Troubles” episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series, and the “Trials And Tribble-ations” episode of Deep Space Nine. For some unfortunate, inexplicable reason, Paramount insists on presenting this set as double-sided DVDs stored in such a fashion that the discs have rub marks and scratches. Can’t we finally get rid of these bastard discs? Come on, Paramount – treat Trek with some class.
Why does it always seem that when my car’s battery decides it’s time to die, it’s always when it’s pouring down rain. It never fails. Also, after a childhood arcing incident, I’ve always been paranoid about opening up the hood and attaching the leads to the battery. Well, those days are done and gone with the Closed-Hood Car Jump Starter ($19.99). The beauty of this little doohickey is that you can jump your car simply by placing one end in the lighter socket of the jumping car, and the other end in the lighter socket of the car needing the jump. No popping of the hood required. Isn’t that great? I loves me some technology.
Although his smarmy, opportunistic, and ultimately destructive behavior became cartoonish in his last years as prime minister, it’s a film like writer Peter Morgan and director Stephen Frears’ The Deal (Genius, Not Rated, DVD-$24.96 SRP) that shows that Tony Blair was always a little Machiavelli. The film details the rise to power of Tony Blair, on the back of current Prime Minister Gordon Brown – from the broken Labour Party of the 80’s to their triumphant return in the 1990’s, and the understanding that Blair would step aside after a second term… which, obviously, he did not. Michael Sheen reprises his role as Blair, and David Morrissey is pitch-perfect as Brown. It’s a fascinating piece of political drama that is still having repercussions today. The DVD contains an audio commentary, as well as a conversation with Frears, which puts the events in context for an American audience.
As we approach the Beijing Olympics, why not take an unprecedented look across the cultural and geographical breadth of that nation with the documentary Wild China (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP). It’s a fascinating journey from the heights of the Himalayas to deserts, valleys, jungles – well, you name it. The 2-disc set features all 6 programs, plus a making-of featurette.
It’s not the first time its been released on DVD, but I’m safe in saying that the new 2-disc special edition of Lonesome Dove (Genius, Not Rated, DVD-$19.95 SRP) is the definitive. Completely remastered and presented in anamorphic widescreen with 5.1 surround, the bonus features include a making-of documentary, original set interviews, sketches, and interview with author Larry McMurty, and an interview with director Simon Wincer.
After over 20 years, watching the fourth season of Family Ties (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) is like putting on a well-worn pair of pajamas. It’s almost like pop culture comfort food. This is also the season that brought junkyard artist love interest Nick into the fold. The 3-disc box set features all 24 episodes, plus the movie of the week, Family Ties Vacation.
It was only a matter of time before somebody did a comedy with 64-bit videogame animation, and G4’s Code Monkeys (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$19.99 SRP) is it. Revolving around the bizarre misadventures of a pair of video game programmers working for the fictional 1980’s company GameAvision, the complete first season is now available. The 2-disc set features all 13 episodes, plus a behind-the-scenes featurette, pranks, commercials, tips, games, and more.
In the category of “there had to be a documentary on him eventually, and here it is” comes Pete Seeger: The Power Of Song (Genius, Rated PG, DVD-$24.95 SRP), which examines the life and influence of the iconic songwriter who inspired generations to write about the world around them, with an eye towards illumination and change. Paying homage are the likes of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, and more. Bonus materials include additional scenes and 6 short films from the Seegar family.
The second season of the BBC’s Robin Hood (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$79.98 SRP) still contains all of the bizarre contemporizing and oddball casting choices that made the first season of this Tudors in Sherwood rethink. Thankfully, I think they’ve begun to understand that the show isn’t capable of great drama, but certainly is capable of great kitsch. The 5-disc set features all 13 episodes, plus audio commentaries, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and character spotlights.
How much do you love the 80’s? A lot? Well, Paramount has taken a batch of their 80’s classics and rebranded them with “I Love The 80’s”, and included a bonus CD collecting a clutch of 80’s hits (A-Ha, anyone?). The flicks included in the rebranding are Pretty In Pink, Some Kind Of Wonderful, Top Gun, Footloose, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (Paramount, Rated PG/PG-13, DVD-$14.99 SRP each).
In my fondest dreams, I’d hope that the release of soundtracks from the animated direct-to-DVD Teen Titans: Trouble In Tokyo and Batman: Gotham Knight (La-La Land Records, $16.98 SRP each) would give us premium albums of the music from both the Batman and Superman animated series, as well as Justice League Unlimited, but those are just dreams at this point. For now, snag these two… And dream.
Get up to snuff on this year’s presidential nominees with the A&E Biography of both Barack Obama and John McCain (A&E, Not Rated, DVD-$12.95 SRP each). Take a gander, find out a little about their pasts and careers, and make an informed decision this November.
Joanna Lumley stars as woman whose retirement dreams with her husband are thrown into turmoil after tragedy strikes in the series Sensitive Skin (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP). Lumley’s turn as a woman adrift and discovering her way in the world at age 60 is a revelation for anyone only familiar with her work on AbFab. The 2-disc set features both the first and second seasons, but sadly no bonus features.
Robson Green and Simone Lahbib return as Dr. Tony Hill and Detective Inspector Alex Fielding in the fifth season of Wire In The Blood (Koch, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP), based on Val McDermid’s best-selling novels. Bonus features include behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew.
Soapier than a bar of Irish Spring, the Brits manage to bring an air of trashy class to their own little spin on Las Vegas, Hotel Babylon (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP). Featuring Brit-level guest stars and tales of rivalry, lust, and 4-star ambition, it’s a guilty-pleasure way to pass a weekend. The 3-disc set features all 8 episodes.
The animated adventures of come to a close in Ben 10: The Complete Season 4 (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP), as our hero faces off against the evil Vilgax with the fate of the galaxy in the balance, before being face with a return to school and the decision of whether to reveal his identity to his family and friends. The 2-disc set features all 10 episodes, plus featurettes and deleted scenes.
Flash back to 2004 with Sheryl Crow’s episode of the live performance show Soundstage (Koch, Not Rated, DVD-$ 19.99SRP). And yes, she does sing “All I Wanna Do.” You knew she had to.
Sir David Attenborough turns his cameras toward the slithery, slimy, and pebbled with Life In Cold Blood (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP) which – interestingly enough, explores the cold-blooded creatures f the world, from turtles to snakes to lizards, and more. Bonus features include a 10-minute behind-the-scenes featurette on each of the 5 episodes.
Let’s close out this week with a look at the Sideshow Collectibles 12″ “Smuggler” Han Solo ($64.99), costumed as he appeared in the very first Star Wars. Every time Sideshow unveils another of their figures – with its exquisitely tailored scaled-clothing and “Hey, that actually LOOKS like the actor!” head sculpts, I can’t fully express just how delighted I am that Hasbro isn’t the only one producing these. After years of Hasbro’s mangling at this scale, Sideshow’s work is a breath of fresh air. Here, now, is a look at the rogue, who’s available in a Sideshow exclusive edition featuring the cantina blaster pistol…
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…
-Ken Plume
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Adult Swim’s Dana Snyder and FRED’s Ken Plume set out to have a literate conversation between two pals, but inevitably devolve into a verbal, and funny, free-for-all full of bickering, infighting, and the special kind of male bonding that comes from conflict expressed through the podcast medium.
Actor/comedian/raconteur Dana Snyder, you’re certainly aware, is Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Master Shake, Squidbillies‘ Granny, Minoriteam’s Dr. Wang, and The Venture Bros.‘ Alchemist. Available for weddings and bar mitzvahs (bat availability pending), you can keep tabs on him via his website, www.eyeofthesnyder.com.
Ken Plume is the editor-in-chief here at FRED. He is a friend of Dana’s, as well as his arch-nemesis.
VISIT THE SNYDECAST EXPERIENCE
KEN P.D. SNYDECAST #55: Blessed’s Alive! – Ken & Dana return… Well, at least one of them do, for a very special – and particuarly odd – episode full of wit and whimsy. Really.
[CONTENT WARNING]: This podcast may contain some foul language and horribly off-color jokes. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
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Oh no! Just when you thought it was safe to hang out at the Quick Stop…
Cabin Fever (hosted by the twisted souls Brian Fitzpatrick and Aaron Poole) is the result of having too much time on your hands and access to your local community radio station.
Over the course of an hour, they manage to trawl the depths of good taste, plus throw some music in. How much more could you want from a podcast?… Quality? Oh… we didn’t think of that.
Enjoy! And we hope our cross Atlantic friends can understand the Irish accent 😉
Hugs and Kisses,
Aaron P. + Rev. Fitzy
CABIN FEVER #34: Holy Spoilerific Podcast, Batman! – Everyone’s least favourite podcast returns yet again, same Fever time, same Fever channel. Due to popular demand, our cabin dwellers discuss their somewhat jumbled impressions of THE DARK KNIGHT, which seriously eats into their bulls— time. Still, they manage to squeeze in talk of caffeinated food stuffs, Brian’s unhealthy desire to meet Hayden Panettiere at DragonCon, cursed X-Box 360 games, Macaulay Culkin’s “Oh” face, plus they throw in an update on one of their stories from yestercast. For those who still have not seen Chris Nolan’s latest offering, and want to remain in the dark (knight) about the plot, the spoilers start/end times are approx 18:00 and 44:15. Avoid that chunk of awesomesauce and you’ll be good to go. This week’s musical treats come from The Vinny Club and The Teddyboys.
[CONTENT WARNING]: Explicit contents! We say every naughty word you can think of. You have been warned!
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We’re giving away, in conjunction with Genius Home Video, one (1) copy of THE DEAL on DVD.
Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, August 13th.
No member of Quick Stop 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, August 13th.
The winner must allow 4-6 weeks after notification of win to receive the product.
BEVERLY HILLS – Dr. Drew Pinsky needs his medical license revoked.
This man has no business being in the detox business since he obviously hasn’t a clue what needs to be done with star patients. Andy Dick gets busted for sexually assaulting two teenage girls and possessing drugs. What’s his punishment? Dr. Drew wants to check the former star of Newsradio into his latest VH1 series: Sober Living.
Dr. Drew has gone from being a medical professional to the P.T. Barnum of celebrity trainwrecks. Is Jeff Conaway cured? Or is he merely ready to star in the latest Dr. Drew salvation series? This guy makes Dr. Phil look legit.
Does Dr. Drew understand what these people aren’t addicted merely to booze, pills and teenage hookers. They are addicted to seeing their reflection in camera lenses. They are addicted to flashbulbs. They are addicted to the notion that their lives are 24-7 TV shows. They think that all their outrageous actions can be forgiven because they are the star of a show. They’re just that wacky character adding life to a dull “average” reality and it’s in the script.
Nothing reinforces the “my life is a TV show” syndrome than round the clock camera crews covering your every visit to the bathroom. Dr. Drew tore into Conaway’s girlfriend for supposedly smuggling drugs into his elite rehab center. But Conaway indulged in a substance worse than sugar coated crack: videotape. He nodded back to the sets of Grease and Taxi when the warmth of a wireless microphone pack snugged against his ass. It’s like heroin to a washed up actor. You appeal to their distorted sense of reality by letting them know that it is news when they take a dump cause there’s two cameras and a boom mic following them into the toilet.
Can you cure narcissism with gilded mirrors?
Andy Dick won’t get any real help from enrolling in this program. He’ll get help fattening up his resume thanks to Dr. Drew. This will look great next to him judging on Comedy Central’s The Gong Show.
If Dr. Drew is smart, he’ll understand that Andy Dick is beyond help. He’s a lost cause. How many chances has this guy had to clean up his act? How many big star friends have sought to dry up their pal? How many times has he screwed them over? He’s going to play it up for the cameras to make us view him as this hurt little boy. But it’s all going to be an act. Look at his eyes in his most recent mugshot: He’s evil. Putting him on a TV show will only encourage his outrageous ways. He shall merely contribute to the show’s narrative instead of get himself straightened out. He’ll care more about getting screen time than sobriety. He’ll be drunk on boom microphones.
If any stars truly want to clean up their acts, they’ll forget Dr. Drew and check themselves into The Party Favors Rehab Center and Hardcore Fighting Academy. Andy Dick needs his clock cleaned before he can clean up his life. But Dr. Drew is only going to milk him for precious ratings points. Perhaps Dr. Drew needs to confess that he’s a video junky? Physician detox yourself.
As of this moment, Neil Patrick Harris has more right to convey medical knowledge on TV than Dr. Drew.
BOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG
After two episodes of Comedy Central’s The Gong Show, it’s safe to declare that the people who revived the classic gameshow never actually watched it. It’s a pathetic mess. While the show should be seen as the anti-America’s Got Talent, it’s pretty much on par with the network schmaltz show minus the power of David Hassellhoff.
The Gong Show set is dreary. There was a classless glitz to the original Gong Show. It had shiny parts to distract. The new place just seems like they stole parts of the sets from Mind of Mencia. The judges look like they’re stuck in a dentist’s lobby. The gong fades into the background. Make it pop, people!
The acts presented were rather painful. Shoving a needle through your arm is so Jim Rose from a decade ago. A woman singing about her wet shaved pussy while holding a bald cat is cute, but predictable. The hula hoop girl was interesting, but really worth winning?
The only good part of the show is Dave Attell. The former host of Insomniac displays a little bit of Chuck Barris’ charm as he bridges between the acts and the judges. But even he seems lost on this undeveloped revival. He has that “is it over yet” stare when sneaking off the stage. He also needs clothes that weren’t stolen from Don Johnson’s wardrobe from the fifth season of Miami Vice.
There’s a chance for the show to work, but at they need to quit casting it with Howard Stern style acts. Wasn’t Queen Laqueefah already rated by Beetlejuice? You have to mix the innocent with the bizarre before sliding us the grotesque.
HE’S DEAD, JIM
Looks like CBS is completely giving up on Swingtown by moving it to Friday nights. If the network really cared about the show they would have changed the title to CSI: Swingtown. Each week the crack crew would have to piece together how different swinger met their fate. Plus tawdry lust moments at the lab to fill in the gaps. This short series better come out on DVD in time for Christmas. It’s the perfect gift to give your neighbors you want to hump.
KING OF BLAHS
How pathetic is it that Budweiser has been bought by InBev? The home of the Clydesdales has been snagged by a beer company based in Sproutland and operated by guys who enjoy picking up transsexuals after soccer matches. Rumors are already swirling that the new owners want to streamline the company. People will be fired shortly after Ms. Bud signs over her shares. What’s worse is the fear they’ll be dumping the amusement park arm that includes SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Sesame Place.
They’re going to kick Elmo to the curb!
You won’t see me yelling for a boycott of Budweiser beers. Why? Because I’ve done my best to avoid Budweiser ever since they destroyed my once beloved Rolling Rock. Those rat bastards in St. Louis decided that the precious horsehead concoction blessed by the fine waters of Latrobe, Pennsylvania could be slopped out in Newark, New Jersey. That means when you now drink a Rolling Rock, you could be sipping the decaying flesh of Big Pussy.
I’d rather drink a liquidized urinal cake than sniff the “King of Beers.” Thankfully around here the better bars do carry Yuengling on draft.
It’ll be sweet music a few years from now when the folks who once ran Budweiser complain about how InBev screwed them and ruined their brewery. Who knew karma could have such a frothy head?
DVD SHELF
Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin’ with the Godmother reminds us of the dangers from being a pen pal. Charles Cosby was a street hustler in Oakland when he wrote a fan letter to Griselda Blanco. She had recently been locked up in a nearby women’s prison after causing the bloody cocaine wars in Miami. Instead of merely getting an autographed headshot, the Godmother wrote him back a love letter. This relationship changes Cosby’s life. He visits her in jail and she sets him up with his own cocaine connection. He quickly becomes her lover and legs. She has him going all over the country to keep the white powder flowing. However he quickly learns that she’s not a really good girlfriend since she killed her last three husbands. What’s a street hustler to do with such a woman?
Director Billy Corben and his crew from Cocaine Cowboys illustrate the interviews with the dealers, hustlers, lawyers and cops with limited animation. The best cartoon moment is when Cosby explains how a Federal case was completely derailed by secretaries with severe cases of Jungle Fever. It’s like a scene from Heavy Metal. If you enjoyed the original documentary, you’ll be more than enraptured by this West coast tale of love and blow.
The Executioner’s Song: The Director’s Cut tells the story of Gary Gilmore, a homicidal guy who was executed by firing squad in Utah. He fought to keep others from preventing his execution. This was a movie of the week, but it had more talent on both side of the camera than most Tori Spelling epics. A very young Tommy Lee Jones plays Gilmore. Rosanna Arquette is his girlfriend. Christine Lahti and Eli Wallach (Babydoll) also beef up the acting. Oscar winning cinematography Freddie Francis (Glory) and editors Tom Rolf (The Right Stuff) and Richard A. Harris (Titanic) makes this film look and feel like a theatrical feature film. The director’s cut is 135 minutes so it’s tighter than what ran on two nights back in 1982.
Surfwise is about how Dr. Dorian Paskowitz skipped the straight world and lived by the waves. He and his wife raised their eight sons and a daughter inside a camper for nearly two decades. They traveled randomly across the country living in pure poverty. The kids remember how they didn’t have enough clothing for all the kids to be dressed at once. They become legendary for their surfing lifestyle. While the film demonstrates a blissful vision of Doc, we discover that the Paskowitz family resembled The Jacksons on the waves. When the kids finally get old enough to leave the camper, they quickly discover they aren’t ready for the world of humans with their lack of education. How will they survive? This is an amazing documentary with an emotional roller coaster of events.
Family Ties: The Fourth Season takes the Keaton clan to England. They have the entire movie of the week with Alex going to Oxford. He gets tangled up with a spy ring. It’s also an important season for Michael J. Keaton since his future wife Tracy Pollan plays his girlfriend. Alex actually finds a woman that can hang with is neo-con ways. This is also the season when Nick (Scott Valentine) shows up to date Mallory. My brother once worked on a Corman film with Valentine. He didn’t mind it if you called him Nick by accident. Only three more seasons left.
Star Trek The Original Series – The Complete Second Season (Remastered) brings you the recent Hi-Def version of the Kirk and Spock era show. This time you don’t have the HD-DVD on the flipper discs. The big thing is that they replaced a lot of the old spaceship models with CGI action. It’s a much cleaner frame than old optical effects. If you love “The Troubles with Tribbles,” you’ll over dose on the fuzzy wonders. They include the episodes from Star Trek: The Animated Series and Deep Space Nine. Plus plenty of Tribble bonus features. They overrun the boxset. The 26 episodes look much better than the transfers used on the previous season sets.
The Boston Strangler: The Untold Story takes us back to the murder spree that inspired the Rolling Stone’s Midnight Rambler. David Faustino is Albert De Salvo. That’s right, Bud Bundy is the Boston Strangler. Or is he? The film wants us to believe that De Salvo merely confessed to crimes he didn’t commit. It’s an interesting take on the true crime. Corin Nemec from Parker Lewis Can’t Lose plays Stuart Whitmore.
Love Boat: Season One, Volume 2 is my truly guilty pleasure. This collection can be summed up in one word: Hambone!!! This has the episode where Scatman Crothers brought Hambone mania to my bus stop. Kids stopped worrying about doing the hustle and tried to slap their hands with Hambone action. Scatman was at the top of his game with Hong Kong Phooey and The Shining making him a superstar. But when he whipped out the Hambone to show Doc, Julie and Issac, he became a music sensation like Andy Gibb. You get the final TV performance of Bob Crane as he plays a disgraced ex-captain reduced to being staff on the Pacific Princess. Plus Frankie and Annette appear, although in different episodes.
Dexter: The Complete Second Season keeps up the bloody goodness on Showtime. Michael C. Hall is perfect as the serial killer who works on the Miami Police force. This new batch has him become the target of an FBI profiler played by Keith Carradine. Things get complicated when the profiler works his mojo on Dexter’s sister. Can Dexter quit his sinister urge to keep from being busted? He enters a 12 step program although he doesn’t quite tell the folks in the room his real trouble. This is one of my favorite shows on TV.
Perry Mason Season 3, Volume 1 brings another dozen cases to your DVD player. Another dozen chances for Perry to beatdown foolish prosecutors. This is still the gold mark for legal series. He knew how to discover those special clues that made his client innocent in the eyes of the jury. My favorite file is “The Case of the Garrulous Gambler.” A guy gets angry during a Poker game and cold cocks a player. He’s told that he killed the guy and the other players bribe him to keep quiet. Things go extra bad when the ring leader turns up dead. Did the gambler decide to double down on homicide? This is perfect viewing for those glued to the World Series of Poker on ESPN.
Nightmare Before Christmas is getting the Blu-ray love with plenty of time before Halloween or Christmas. You can have this before the Jerry Lewis’ Labor Day Telethon for Muscular Dystrophy. The bonus feature that excites me the most is “What’s This? Jack’s Haunted Mansion Holiday Tour.” See what the folks at Disneyland did to give the classic Haunted Mansion a little Tim Burton action. Dana Snyder should approve of this. They also include the “Frankenweenie” and “Vincent” shorts made by Burton during his early Disney days.
Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds: The 3-D Movie is a title as long as the film. There’s only one major question: How can this 3-D technology be applied to Christina Hendricks’ scenes on Mad Men? There is only one reason to care about this film – cause your ten year old niece is going to pester you until Christmas if you don’t get it for them. Is it wrong that I kept thinking the Naked Brothers Band were the same as the Jonas Brothers? Disney just keeps cranking out the music. I can’t really call it noise since my childhood consisted of being crazy for Einstürzende Neubauten. Blixa was such a tricky fellow although he didn’t swap identity like Hannah and Miley.
Dave’s World: The First Season is a conflicted show for me. The series turned the life of newspaper columnist Dave Berry into a sitcom. I hate Dave Berry’s writing. He’s such a simp. He makes Larry King’s column look cutting edge. But they cast Harry Anderson (Night Court) as Dave. He does great geek magic. How could they do this? They turned Shadow Stevens into his friend. Shadoe is best known for taking America’s Top 40 away from Casey Kasem. This show still plays like a light version of Roseanne. Fans of the series need to know that Southside Johnny’s cover of Billy Joel’s “You May Be Right” has been removed as the theme song.
Caroline in the City: The First Season should not be confused with Sex In the City. Lea Thompson seems to be the lady who writes the Cathy comic strip. She’s got the boyfriend problems while she’s working her career as an cartoon artist. The best reason to watch is Amy Pietz. She’s the hot friend who has to look more screwed up than Lea. She discovers her life keeps popping up in Caroline’s work. What a thief.
Be Kind Rewind is a major mess of a movie. When I first saw the trailer, I thought the VHS rental store was from 1998 when DVDs hadn’t truly taken over the market. But then as they scan the shelves, there’s a copy of Harold and Kumar Go to the White Castle. That VHS came out in January of 2005. The tape cost more than the DVD. Danny Glover isn’t saving cash by refusing to swap his store over to digital. This guy’s business deserves to get shut down. I predict box office gold for a movie called, Jack Black Gets Beaten Senseless.
Muhammad Ali: Made In Miami covers how the city transformed the Gold medal Olympian into the Heavyweight champion of the world. The PBS documentary provides plenty of vintage footage and photos of Ali during the early ’60s. He was a boxing champ knew how to charm the camera and reporters. On the Jack Paar Show, Ali meets his match in the clench of Liberace. They even collaborate on a musical moment. Can today’s boxing belt holders can hold their own against Randy Newman? He clowns around with the Beatles for a photo shoot. Ali talks about how pro wrestler Gorgeous George influenced his attitude. The documentary does a great job of balancing the rise of the boxer and the sunshine capital. It’s a perfect prequel to When We Were Kings.
SMOKING ROOM
Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg are going to spend $500 million dollars to stop people from smoking all over the world. Here’s a suggestion: Give me the $500 million dollars.
Why do I deserve half a billion bucks? Cause I don’t smoke. Do Gates and Bloomberg realize that for decades, we’ve grown up with warnings about the dangers of smoking? The side of cigarette packs should be enough to scare a sane person from picking up
the habit. The Surgeon General deathly diagnosis doesn’t spook a soul. People still smoke. Smart people who know better still smoke.
The Insider was considered a great anti-smoking film. People chain smoked on that set. They knew the hard truth of what they were sucking down in the dangerous cigarettes, but refused to snuff out their smokes. They might as well had wasted their time filming Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man Meet Joe Camel. Congress killed Joe Camel and kids still love to smoke. Did you know that monkeys, chimps and apes love to smoke?
Gates and Bloomberg are burning their cash if they think their Great Butt Out of 2009 will cause those Xtreme Redbull Kiddies to see the error of their ways. At minimum Gates and Bloomberg should give me a million bucks for coming up with the name “Great Butt Out” as way to connect with the snowboarders around the world. Donnie Deutsch doesn’t give out big ideas like that for free.
The sad part is that Cigarette manufacturers seem to be the only American businesses that haven’t been bought out by foreigners. Gates and Bloomberg want to put fine people of Richmond and Winston-Salem onto the free cheese line. They want to snuff out the dreams of Americans. Why destroy the one good thing that’s working in this snafu economy? They need to give one American the simple dream of half a billion dollars. Call now. My operator is waiting.
We here at Quick Stop Entertainment are true lovers of music, in all its forms. We’re also quite keen on the spirit of competition, and of spurring creativity through said competition.
To that end, we launched a brand new form of creative combat here at the Stop.
In this age of manufactured and painfully earnest talent contests, we’ve decided to instead shine a light on the quirky, quixotic underworld of musicians that don’t get nearly the attention they deserve.
Ah, but I did mention that there was a competition involved…
We have 20 slots open to any and all musicians across this here internet. All you have to do is be one of the first 20 to apply via the form below, and you’re in. THE LIST OF CHALLENGERS AND THE FIRST TASK WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 12th.
Once those 20 participants have been announced, the showdown will commence.
Like a songwriting version of Iron Chef, the 20 competitors will be presented with a very specific songwriting challenge. They’ll be given one week to complete their songs – however they see fit, within the parameters set forth – after which time the entries will be uploaded to Quick Stop to be voted on by you, the readers.
After one week of intense campaigning and voting, we’ll eliminate the bottom 15 vote-getters – leaving 5 competitors to move on to… ROUND 2.
That’s when things get crazy…
Oh, and what do we call this competition?
MASTERS OF SONG FU
To mix things up a bit, we’ll have our usual complement of very special Masters who you’ll be going up against in this edition of MASTERS OF SONG FU. Think of them as the iron chefs of Song Fu, and your ultimate challengers. We’ll be revealing the Masters on August 12th, when the Challengers are announced.
If you triumph, not only will you win remarkable (and potentially off-putting) bragging rights and a clutch of fantastic mystery prizes, you will also become the proud owner of the magnificent, one-of-a-kind MASTER OF SONG FU TROPHY, designed and handcrafted by [adult swim] superstar Dana Snyder. Yes. Dana Snyder.
Remember, you must be able to realize a song both lyrically and musically. This competition is open to both singer/songwriters and bands – but since space is limited, only enter if you truly accept the challenge. As stated above, we’ll be accepting the first 20 valid applications we receive.
Are you ready to bring your Fu? If so, fill out the form below:
THIS ROUND IS CLOSED,
Note: Competitors will be notified via e-mail of their selection.
If you have any problems submitting your entry via the form above, you can also e-mail the entry information to songfu @ asitecalledfred.com (taking out the spaces, naturally) with the subject line “Song Fu”.
We’re giving away, in conjunction with Nickelodeon and Paramount Home Video, a SIGNED AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER POSTER to celebrate the release of AVATAR BOOK 3 VOLUME 4: FIRE on DVD. The poster is signed by the show’s creators.
Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Tuesday, August 12th.
No member of Quick Stop 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 Tuesday, August 12th.
The winner must allow 4-6 weeks after notification of win to receive the product.
SModcast is the meandering palaver of a pair of dudes whose voices are so dull, they don’t deserve to be on the radio (and, hence, aren’t). Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier are SModcast.The best thing about SModcast? It don’t cost nothing.
SModcast 60: The Clone War –
In which our heroes marvel over Pillow Babies, thwart an attack by Stalin’s man-apes, and face off over the love of a human Xerox.
[CONTENT WARNING] SModcast features harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Listener discretion is advised.
DOWNLOAD: (right click to save)
SModcast 60 (MP3 format) – 60.56 MB
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Wanna add your two cents? Spend it here, in the SModcast mailbag.
CLICK HERE FOR THE SMODCAST ARCHIVES
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We here at Quick Stop Entertainment are true lovers of music, in all its forms. We’re also quite keen on the spirit of competition, and of spurring creativity through said competition.
To that end, we launched a brand new form of creative combat here at the Stop.
In this age of manufactured and painfully earnest talent contests, we decided to instead shine a light on the quirky, quixotic underworld of musicians that don’t get nearly the attention they deserve.
Ah, but I did mention that there was a competition involved…
We sent out the call for challengers. Hundreds of you heard the call and fought for a chance to be in the initial group. 20 were selected. Only 19 responded in time.
Like a songwriting version of Iron Chef, the challengers were presented with a very specific songwriting challenge.
At the very end, there stood but one Challenger – who faced off against one Master of Song Fu.
The Master was Jonathan Coulton, and the Challenger was Jeff MacDougall. Both met the Final Challenge head on, and then left their creations to be judged by you, the public. At the end of the day, in a very close race – with a vote count of 397 to 316 – the winner is JONATHAN COULTON.
As the winner, Jonathan wins remarkable (and potentially off-putting) bragging rights and a clutch of fantastic mystery prizes, as well as becoming the proud owner of the magnificent, one-of-a-kind MASTER OF SONG FU TROPHY, designed and handcrafted by [adult swim] superstar Dana Snyder.
Ah, but there’s also something for Jeff MacDougall. While it’s not an “I Fought A MASTER OF SONG FU And Did Pretty Damn Well” t-shirt, he also gets a clutch of fantastic mystery prizes for making it this far. Hopefully, he’s also gained the confidence and support of you, the public, and will continue making music with the knowledge that there a whole bunch of new listeners eager to hear what the future holds.
And, since many of you have written in wondering…
SIGN-UP FOR THE SECOND MASTERS OF SONG FU COMPETITION WILL BEGIN ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 5th, 2008.
Below, you’ll find the history of the inaugural MASTERS OF SONG FU competition…
The initial entrants were given one week to complete their Round 1 songs – however they saw fit, within the parameters set forth below…
ROUND 1 CHALLENGE
You must do a song in the style of a classic television show. Not only that, but this song is the theme for a fictional television show about yourself (or your band). By “classic television show” theme song, we mean the type of themes found in shows from the 1960’s – 1980’s (ie Gilligan’s Island, Cheers, The Fall Guy, Diff’rent Strokes, Welcome Back Kotter, Greatest American Hero, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, The Facts Of Life, Green Acres, Gimme A Break, The Monkees, etc.). Your theme song must include both lyrics and music. It must run no shorter than 30 seconds, and no longer than one (1) minute.
When all was said and done, only 16 of the 19 Challengers were able to send in the songs in time. You voted HERE. The TOP 7 vote getters then moved on to Round 2. Here’s the challenge given to our 7 Semi-Finalists…
ROUND 2 CHALLENGE
Here’s where we step things up a notch. Your challenge is to write a song that utilizes a repeating syllable (ex: la, na, doo, etc.). The syllable must repeat at least 5 times in a row (ex: la la la la la). The resulting “repeated syllable” phrase can appear anywhere in your song, but must be repeated in full at least 3 times within the song. Also, this challenge includes a thematic element. Your song must feature a conflict between two (2) elements, provided below. You must choose one (1) element from COLUMN A and one (1) element from COLUMN B.
COLUMN A
—————
Santa ClausMiami Dolphins
Stephen Hawking
A Beach Towel
High School Physics
Albania
The Color Orange
A Toothpick Factory
Marc Singer
Hydroponics
———————————————————————–
COLUMN B
—————
DraculaLinux
Pudding
Coupons
Scabies
Cosplayers
Your Kindergarten Teacher (must be named)
Albert Camus
Non-Alcoholic Lager
Doc Hammer
Your song must be at least 1m45s in length. Finally, your song must be an ORIGINAL CREATION, both music and lyrics, and can not utilize or sample a preexisting work.
You also voted on the contributions of our three Masters, eliminating one. Two Masters remained, and they were presented a special challenge of their own. Their entries were also be voted on by you, the readers. The winner of the Masters Challenge is the one who dueled with the winning Challenger.
ROUND 2 MASTERS CHALLENGE
The following challenge applies to our Masters of Song Fu only. As Masters, it is expected that they have achieved a musical voice all their own – but does their mastery extend to assuming the voice of another artist? With that in mind, Each Master is tasked with writing a song in the style of their opponent. The Masters will be judged on how accurately they write a song in their opponent’s style without it becoming a simple parody. When listening to their entries, you must genuinely believe that they were written by the original Master. Got that? The Master’s songs must also be no shorter than 1m45s.
Well, you voted on the Round 2 Challenge HERE. Your Challenger was Jeff MacDougall, and the Master he had to face was Jonathan Coulton. They were both presented with a final challenge…
FINAL CHALLENGE
THE REIMAGINING (aka THE RECKONING): For this final duel between Master and Challenger, we’re going to combine a little bit of all the previous challenges. For this ultimate show of skill, adaptability, and personality, you will be given a preexisting song. Your task is to completely reimagine that song with your own lyrics and music – while retaining the same basic story and at least some sonic “cue” or “quote” from the original tune (a short phrase or series of chord changes; the key word here is “brief”). THIS IS NOT A COVER – you are crafting something more akin to an homage, but with your own creative voice. Here is the song you’ll be reimagining:
DAVID BOWIE: “SPACE ODDITY”
You will be judged on how closely your reimagining hits the basic “story points” – spaceman goes up, spaceman talks with control, spaceman goes for a walk, spaceman disappears – but beyond that, anything goes.The song must be at least 1min 45sec, and must be an original creation.
And that brought us to the Final Challenge songs from both Jeff and Jonathan, which you’ll find below (as well as the lyrics and some background on their creative process).
MASTER OF SONG FU
JONATHAN COULTON
I write about a lot of geeky stuff because I am a geek. Some of it’s funny, but a lot of it’s not so funny, and even more of it is somewhere in between. I’ve been compared to They Might Be Giants, Barenaked Ladies, Loudon Wainwright III, and other musicians you REALLY LOVE.
I give lots of music away because I believe it helps my cause, and I love it when people use my music to create other stuff – music videos, pictures, remixes, etc. At the moment I’m unsigned, and I’m proud to say I’ve created this whole thing mostly on my own (with plenty of help from an amazingly supportive bunch of fans). But it certainly is getting busy… I will probably sell out and go Hollywood any day now…”
Official Website: www.jonathancoulton.com
FINAL CHALLENGE SONG: “Space Doggity”
“You’re right, I almost went with the first monkey in space, but I didn’t want to be accused of going overboard with the monkeys. So I went with the first dog in space instead.
Her name was Laika and she went up in Sputnik 2. In doing my research I discovered that Russian scientists recently released the truth about what happened to her during the launch, which is that she died just a few hours into it, and not after a week as they originally claimed. She died from stress and overheating (the cooling system malfunctioned and it was 104F in there) but mostly she died from being LAUNCHED INTO SPACE IN A FUCKING ROCKET.
I thought it would be much nicer if instead Laika gave scientists the finger, stepped out in a spacesuit and then disappeared. Whereabouts unknown…”
Lyrics:
The cage is very small
A tiny silver ball
That makes you a hero
The moment you step inside
The world is watching you
What you’re about to do
Will live on forever
Even though you’ll be dead
And gone
Buckle up
We’re about to turn the engines on.Boyoyoing
Hello from Sputnik 2
I am receiving you
Thanks for the dog food
I’m somewhere above you now
Guess what Malashenkov?
I took the collar off
I’m holding my own leash
And walking myself outside
This door
I don’t think
I want to be a good dog anymore.Now I’m floating free
And the moon’s with me
And it’s bright enough
To light the darkAnd it’s so high up here
And the stars so clear –
Are they close enough?
Will they hear me bark from here?Moscow to Sputnik 2
I think we’re losing you
Your life signs are fading
We can’t really say that we’re
Surprised
It’s a shame
There is always something that gets compromisedNow I’m floating free
And the moon’s with me
And it’s bright enough
To light the darkAnd it’s so high up here
And the stars so clear –
Are they close enough?
Will they hear me bark from here?ROUND 2 SONG: “Big Dick Farts A Polka (in the style of Paul & Storm)”
ROUND 1 SONG: “Monkey Shines“
THE CHALLENGER
JEFF MacDOUGALL
The Deal: After 20+ years making music as a hobby, I recently wrote and recorded a song for my daughter. I got a little taste of mild success (hey, my mom liked it). So now I’m taking my music out of the closet, dusting it off, and seeing how it does in the sunshine. Who knew there was so much work in just attempting to do music for a living. I feel like I am opening a Subway franchise (Only opening a Subway franchise seems more fulfilling in a creative way).
Official Website: jeffmacdougall.com
FINAL CHALLENGE SONG: “High”
“When I first read the final challenge I was, at once, excited and scared. Such a great song to use for inspiration and also, a very high bar to get over. I mean, trying to measure up to a Bowie song is bad enough, but trying to do it and do it better than Jonathan Coulton?… yeah… no problem… I’ll get right on that.
Right away I decided to do try something grand, to keep in the spirit of the original. Whether or not I achieved that remains to be seen. I didn’t want to try to be funny because A) It’s not really a funny story, and B) I’m not going to do funny better than my competition. I’m just not. So here you go… the end result. To sum it up, I just really tried to re-do the song with my own song writing and production style. I think I achieved that… for better or worse.”
Lyrics:
Safe in the capsule,
gonna leave here soon.
Nothing around me,
though there’s not much room.It’s quiet. It’s calm.
Can you hear me? It’s Tom.I’m high!
Can you see me?
I’m the blink in the night sky.I’m not afraid.
So much to fear.
Hey, I can see my house from here.No air to speak of
and still my hand is on the door.I give it a shove
and I’m out into the clear.
Don’t want to take a fall from here.Out of the capsule,
gonna leave here soon.
And the stars look very different today.
And I’m floating in a most peculiar way.I’m high!
Can you see me?
I’m the blink in the night sky.I’m not afraid.
Everything’s clear.
There’s nothing left to engineer.I’m high!
Can you see me?
I’m the blink in the night sky.I’m not afraid.
Everything’s clear.
Tell my wife no need for tears.ROUND 2 SONG: “A Brief History Of Pudding”
ROUND 1 SONG: “Jeff MacDougall Dot Com“
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FINAL CHALLENGE RESULTS
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The Fu Shall Return.
We’re giving away, in conjunction with Comedy Central Home Video, three (3) copies of SOUTH PARK: SEASON 11 on DVD.
Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Friday, August 8th.
No member of Quick Stop 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 Friday, August 8th.
The winner must allow 4-6 weeks after notification of win to receive the product.
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 Quick Stop Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…
After years of begging, pleading, and borderline groveling, Warners has finally answered all those pathetic pleas with the long-awaited first volume of Tiny Toon Adventures (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$44.98 SRP). They’re tiny, they’re toony, and they’re finally coming to our TVs with the first 35 episodes, plus a newly-produced retrospective featurette. Volume 2, now!
So, you’ve got a pair of computers and you want to transfer files between them quickly and easily. Sure, you could try and create a network connection, or send things over a instant messenger service in a pinch, but most ISPs are painfully slow on uploads, and you might not even have the option. No, the easiest piece of kit I’ve ever encountered is the Crossbox Data Transfer Device ($39.99), which connects to the 2 systems via USB ports, has built in drivers, and transfers data lightning fast. Brilliant.
It’s not nearly the groundbreaking revelation that was Scorsese and The Band’s The Last Waltz, but The Rolling Stones: Shine A Light (Paramount, Rated PG-13, DVD-$34.99 SRP) is still an incredible document of a defiantly energetic gig by the foursome, with guests Jack White, Christina Aguilera, and Buddy Guy. Bonus features include a quartet of additional performances and a behind-the-scenes featurette. A Blu-Ray edition (featuring the same bonus materials is also available.
The Blu-Ray train has reached Clancy station (yeah, I just typed that – I may need a vacation), and that means we’ve got a quartet of high-definition, stunning looking versions of The Hunt For Red October, Patriot Games, Clear & Present Danger, and The Sum Of All Fears (Paramount, Rated PG/PG-13, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP each). The bonus features all carry over from the standard editions, and include cast & crew interviews, an audio commentary on Hunt, commentaries and behind-the-scenes featurettes on Sum, and theatrical trailers.
Spawned from the same animated era that gave us Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, and Pinky & The Brain, I always thought that Freakazoid! (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$26.98 SRP) was a blast. Granted, I wasn’t a regular viewer, but every episode I ran across was a fun, madcap delight. Judge for yourself with the 2-disc first season set, featuring all 14 episodes, plus a retrospective featurette, launch promos, and a trio of commentaries.
Take the highway to the danger zone in gloriously crisp, high definition Tony Scott vision with the Blu-Ray edition of Top Gun (Paramount, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP). In addition to the uber-quality, you get the bonus materials from the recent special edition DVD release, including an audio commentary, making-of documentary, featurettes, galleries, music videos, and more.
Like most effortless surprise cult hits, the sequel to Harold & Kumar Go Two White Castle suffers from trying too hard. That’s not to say that Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay (New Line, Not Rated, DVD-$34.99 SRP) – which finds our stoner heroes mistakenly on the wrong side of the law and locked up as terrorists – isn’t an enjoyable comedy. It is. It’s just that it doesn’t quite live up to the goofball charm of the original flick. The 2-disc unrated edition features audio commentaries, a behind-the-scenes featurette, additional scenes, and a PSA.
Has it really been 10 years since Dark City? Before The Matrix, this underrated little gem brought us a fascinating but flawed piece of sci-fi noir, that deserves another look-see. There’s no better way to do that look-see than with the newly remastered Blu-Ray edition (New Line, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$28.99 SRP) featuring both the original theatrical and an extended director’s cut of the film, audio commentaries, documentaries, galleries, and much more.
It may be mired in its mid-80’s time period, but there’s a great ticking clock fun to War Games (MGM/UA, Rated PG, DVD-$14.98 SRP), which now has a 25th (!) Anniversary Edition. Bonus features (in addition to a nicely remastered picture) include a retrospective documentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and the original theatrical trailer. Sadly, no Badham/Broderick commentary.
Fans (and Paul Sabourin) will rejoice in the fact that not only will they get to re-watch the stunning conclusion of the saga, but the fourth and final volume of Avatar: The Last Airbender Book 3 – Fire (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$16.99 SRP) features audio commentaries from the creators, cast, and crew.
Anglophiles wishing to get a wonderful primer on the sceptered isle’s history will want to pick up a copy of Simon Schama’s in-depth A History Of Britain (History Channel, Not Rated, DVD-$39.95 SRP). The 5-disc set features all 15 episodes, charting its earliest beginnings through Roman occupation, the Norman conquest, the rise of empire, and right through the 20th century.
Plunge back into the Fox vaults with a box set devoted to the 30’s George Clooney with the Tyrone Power: Matinee Idol Collection (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP). The 5-disc set features Girls’ Dormitory, Love Is News, This Above All, Day-Time Wife, The Luck Of The Irish, Café Metropole, That Wonderful Urge, Second Honeymoon, Johnny Apollo, I’ll Never Forget You. Bonus features include spotlights on Power and his leading ladies, deleted scenes, a poster gallery, and more.
Start refreshing on the original before the new series launches this fall with the complete fifth season of Beverly Hills 90210 (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP). With Shannon Doherty gone, this was the season that saw the arrival of Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, who practically jetted right from Saved By The Bell. The 8 disc set features all 31 episodes, but not a single bonus features.
If getting the series in separate sets wasn’t appealing to you, you can now get the entirety of Robin Of Sherwood (Acorn Media, Not Rated, DVD-$99.99 SRP) in one easy package. The 10-disc set contains all 26 episodes, plus audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes documentaries, outtakes, and more.
In the annals of great cooking shows, a special place must be reserved for one of my favorites – Britain’s Two Fat Ladies (Acorn Media, Not Rated, DVD-$59.99 SRP), which brought together outsize chefs Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright and sent them traveling the country in a motorcycle and sidecar. It was fun and funny, and the two were engaging hosts. The 4-disc set features all 24 episodes, plus a documentary tribute to Paterson.
With season 7 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP) hitting shelves, we’ve just about caught up with the current season. The 5-disc set contains all 22 episodes. Can I say how much the continued existence of this series delights me just because it keeps Richard Belzer’s Homicide character alive?
Spawned in the desperate post-Buffy bid to launch any kind of female action-hero series the networks could get their hands on, Witchblade (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$69.98 SRP) only lasted a single season. Which I’m perfectly fine with, as it was a lackluster adaptation of a comic book I really didn’t care for. Ah well. The 7-disc box-set features all 24 episodes, plus trivia, casting tapes, featurettes, and more.
Growing up, the name James A. Michener meant incredibly massive TV miniseries based on equally massive books set in some period of America’s past. Such is the Wild West tale Centennial (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP), which spanned 26 hours. The 6-disc set features also contains a retrospective documentary.
And now, we’ll close this week’s shopping guide with something you can’t buy in stores. In fact, the only way you can get it is by collecting 4 of the stickers featured in Hasbro’s line of 12″ Indiana Jones figures and mailing them in for what has to be one of the coolest looking mail-aways ever – a highly-detailed 12″-scale Ark of the Covenant. See for yourself…
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…
-Ken Plume
##
Adult Swim’s Dana Snyder and FRED’s Ken Plume set out to have a literate conversation between two pals, but inevitably devolve into a verbal, and funny, free-for-all full of bickering, infighting, and the special kind of male bonding that comes from conflict expressed through the podcast medium.
Actor/comedian/raconteur Dana Snyder, you’re certainly aware, is Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Master Shake, Squidbillies‘ Granny, Minoriteam’s Dr. Wang, and The Venture Bros.‘ Alchemist. Available for weddings and bar mitzvahs (bat availability pending), you can keep tabs on him via his website, www.eyeofthesnyder.com.
Ken Plume is the editor-in-chief here at FRED. He is a friend of Dana’s, as well as his arch-nemesis.
VISIT THE SNYDECAST EXPERIENCE
KEN P.D. SNYDECAST #54: Wiki Or Won’t He – Ken & Dana return with post-Comic-Con tales of gift giving etiquette, reminders of competitions past, declare themselves the world’s most “Multi-poded” podcast out there, and cry out for a crazy uberfan. Oh, and to hell with those bastards at Wikipedia.
[CONTENT WARNING]: This podcast may contain some foul language and horribly off-color jokes. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
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Oh no! Just when you thought it was safe to hang out at the Quick Stop…
Cabin Fever (hosted by the twisted souls Brian Fitzpatrick and Aaron Poole) is the result of having too much time on your hands and access to your local community radio station.
Over the course of an hour, they manage to trawl the depths of good taste, plus throw some music in. How much more could you want from a podcast?… Quality? Oh… we didn’t think of that.
Enjoy! And we hope our cross Atlantic friends can understand the Irish accent 😉
Hugs and Kisses,
Aaron P. + Rev. Fitzy
CABIN FEVER #33: Turty Tree and a Turd – This week the lads get perplexed by a man’s sexual habits, get shocked by what two girls do with their Wii, and get a little spoiler happy with the new X-FILES movie. There is music from Moth Complex and, as always, plenty of things you won’t want your kid to listen to. Disgusted? So are we.
[CONTENT WARNING]: Explicit contents! We say every naughty word you can think of. You have been warned!
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Hello children. Georgia Malone reporting from my first Comic Con – and not just San Diego. I’ve never seen anything like this before. But, as a favor to a friend, I agreed to give you a report from the only panel I felt sober enough to attend, The Zack and Miri Make a Porno panel hosted by Kevin Smith.
Kevin showed a clip of the upcoming film featuring two surprise casting choices which resulted in cheers, giggles and gasps of disbelief!! “OMG!!! NO WAY!!!! SPOILER!! The Mac guy is Superman’s boyfriend!! And WTF?? They just totally kissed!!!”
After the clip, Kevin took the stage as moderator and introduced his panel: Scott Mosier, Ricky Mabe, Justin Long (Surprise!), Katie Morgan, Traci Lords, Jason Mewes, Seth Rogen, and Elizabeth Banks. He immediately began taking questions.
That’s all I have for now, kids. If you need me, I’ll be in the bar.
-Georgia
SModcast is the meandering palaver of a pair of dudes whose voices are so dull, they don’t deserve to be on the radio (and, hence, aren’t). Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier are SModcast.The best thing about SModcast? It don’t cost nothing.
SModcast 59: Frosh Meat –
In which our heroes battle bargain-hunters, jealous lovers, the danger of dills, and misty, water-colored memories of the way they were.
[CONTENT WARNING] SModcast features harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Listener discretion is advised.
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We’re giving away, in conjunction with Fox Home Video, two (2) copies of NIM’S ISLAND on DVD.
Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Monday, August 4th.
No member of Quick Stop 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 Monday, August 4th.
The winner must allow 4-6 weeks after notification of win to receive the product.
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 Quick Stop Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…
The Brits have a knack for taking the tired old sitcom format, blowing it up, and creating some absolutely brilliant television. Those bastards. Most definitely to be included in their long line of triumphs is Spaced, a show about a pair of twenty-something slackers – Tim & Daisy (Simon Pegg & Jessica Stevenson) – who pose as a professional couple in order to get a North London apartment. Sure, Tim could be a comic book artist if he tried, and Daisy’s quite a good writer, but being successful in either of those careers would mean applying themselves… By, of all things, *working*. Gah! With a gaggle of off-the-wall friends and acquaintances, if you think of it as a twenty-something Seinfeld with a postmodern pop culture twist (there are frequent surreal diversions) you wouldn’t be far off the mark. After much legal wrangling, fans and soon-to-be fans in the US can now pick up Spaced: The Complete Series (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP). In addition to the audio commentary, outtakes, feature-length behind-the-scenes documentary, deleted scenes, trailers, raw footage, and galleries found on the original UK release, the US set also includes brand new commentaries featuring special guests Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, Matt Stone, Diablo Cody, and more. Try out the show – I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Those clever bastards.
I have a massive photo and slide archive. Ridiculously large, actually. And like anyone in this modern age, I’d like to digitize it. Unfortunately, digitizing that much material with old-school flatbed scanner adapters or standalone scanners has been a pain ass. Well, get one of these nifty 35mm Slide & Negative Digital Converters ($99.99) like I did and burn through scanning those archives. It’s got an easy-to-load film & slide caddies, fast scan time, and a snappy interface – plus it can scan at up to 1,829 DPI. Perfect.
If you want a sure sign that an action figure line has gotten traction, a good indicator would be that they’ve been successful enough to begin releasing a second wave. Such is the case with Bif Bang Pow!‘s incredible line of figures based on the cult classic Flash Gordon movie. The first of those second wave figures to hit the street features Flash himself in his iconic T-Shirt, along with the green football-like thing from Mongo ($16.99 SRP). The sculpt – based on a design by Alex Ross – is about as movie-accurate as one could hope for, and only gets me more excited to see where this line will go.
Every comic book series seems to be getting the snazzy deluxe treatment nowadays – with some bewildering choices – but certainly deserving of the honor is Mike Mignola’s Hellboy. The clothbound, hardcover Hellboy Library Edition: Volume 1 (Dark Horse, $49.95 SRP) contains the first two Hellboy mini-series – “Seed Of Destruction” and “Wake The Devil” – printed in oversize 12″x9″ with brilliant reproduction. There are even a clutch of bonus materials, including a sketchbook. Perfect for the library, and you’ll be counting the days until the release of volume 2 this Fall.
After months and months of taunting and numerous delayed release dates, finally – FINALLY – we see the release of Comedy Central’s short-lived surreal gem, TV Funhouse (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$26.98 SRP). Created by Robert Smigel and Dino Stamatopoulos, it was a bizarre, low-rent Saturday morning kiddie show for adults, featuring appearances from Smigel’s Triumph, The Insult Comic Dog. The 2-disc set features all 8 episodes, plus audio commentaries, outtakes, behind-the-scenes footage, video commentary, and more.
I admit to really loving the deluxe, hardcover, archival editions that Dark Horse has been releasing of titles I never thought would get that kind of treatment – namely the Gold Key runs of both Doctor Solar and Magnus: Robot Fighter. The complete run of Solar is contained within 4 volumes (Dark Horse, $49.95 SRP each), and the totality of Magnus is in 3 (Dark Horse, $49.95 SRP). All 7 are lovingly restored and presented, and ready for a place of honor on your shelf. They’re pure 60’s bliss… Think of them as the Mad Men of comics.
Before Family Guy decided to jump on the bandwagon, Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken decided to venture into a galaxy far, far away for a bit of a good-natured puncture. With full cooperation from Lucasfilm, Robot Chicken: Star Wars (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP) left no Wookie unturned. The special edition DVD features an audio commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes, galleries, panel presentations, and more.
There’s no Kurosawa quite like overlooked Kurosawa, and that’s what makes his taut, high-tension High And Low (Criterion, Not Rated, DVD-$39.95 SRP) such a delight. Starring Toshiro Mifune as a wealthy man who’s plunged into a ransom nightmare when his family is kidnapped, it plays like a Japanese Hitchcock flick. The newly-remastered 2-disc Criterion edition features an audio commentary, a making-of documentary, a video interview with Mifune, trailers, and more.
Set in a dystopian Los Angeles in the not-too-distant future, Duck (Westlake Entertainment, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP) stars Phillip Baker Hall as a man who sets out on a quest to find purpose and a sense of community in the urban sprawl, accompanied only by a mallard named Joe. Bonus features include an audio commentary, interviews, and more.
Certainly living up to its name, Earth: A Biography (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP) is an in-depth look at the history of the planet upon which we all reside, from its formation to its current state, with all of the serendipity, change, and cataclysms in-between.
James Caan may have departed, but Tom Selleck more than fills his shoes in the fifth season of Las Vegas (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP), which by this point has become a Sin City take on The Love Boat. It’s a shame that this also proved to be the show’s final season, as I’m still interested to see how Selleck’s reinvigorating presence would have shaken things up. The 4-disc set features all 17 episodes, plus an effects featurette, gag reel, and NBC.com webcasts.
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…
-Ken Plume
##
Adult Swim’s Dana Snyder and FRED’s Ken Plume set out to have a literate conversation between two pals, but inevitably devolve into a verbal, and funny, free-for-all full of bickering, infighting, and the special kind of male bonding that comes from conflict expressed through the podcast medium.
Actor/comedian/raconteur Dana Snyder, you’re certainly aware, is Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Master Shake, Squidbillies‘ Granny, Minoriteam’s Dr. Wang, and The Venture Bros.‘ Alchemist. Available for weddings and bar mitzvahs (bat availability pending), you can keep tabs on him via his website, www.eyeofthesnyder.com.
Ken Plume is the editor-in-chief here at FRED. He is a friend of Dana’s, as well as his arch-nemesis.
VISIT THE SNYDECAST EXPERIENCE
KEN P.D. SNYDECAST #53: Fleet Feet And All You Can Eat – Ken & Dana return with another installment to both baffle and alienate, as they launch into a discussion of the late, great Jack Benny before announcing the potential launch of their own little nerd Olympics. Then they answer the great buffet debate, before winding things down with a very special message.
[CONTENT WARNING]: This podcast may contain some foul language and horribly off-color jokes. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
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We here at Quick Stop Entertainment are true lovers of music, in all its forms. We’re also quite keen on the spirit of competition, and of spurring creativity through said competition.
To that end, we’ve launched a brand new form of creative combat here at the Stop.
In this age of manufactured and painfully earnest talent contests, we’ve decided to instead shine a light on the quirky, quixotic underworld of musicians that don’t get nearly the attention they deserve.
Ah, but I did mention that there was a competition involved…
A few weeks back, we sent out the call for challengers. Hundreds of you heard the call and fought for a chance to be in the initial group. 20 were selected. Only 19 responded in time.
Like a songwriting version of Iron Chef, the challengers were presented with a very specific songwriting challenge. They were given one week to complete their songs – however they saw fit, within the parameters set forth below…
ROUND 1 CHALLENGE
You must do a song in the style of a classic television show. Not only that, but this song is the theme for a fictional television show about yourself (or your band). By “classic television show” theme song, we mean the type of themes found in shows from the 1960’s – 1980’s (ie Gilligan’s Island, Cheers, The Fall Guy, Diff’rent Strokes, Welcome Back Kotter, Greatest American Hero, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, The Facts Of Life, Green Acres, Gimme A Break, The Monkees, etc.). Your theme song must include both lyrics and music. It must run no shorter than 30 seconds, and no longer than one (1) minute.
When all was said and done, only 16 of the 19 Challengers were able to send in the songs in time. You voted HERE. The TOP 7 vote getters then moved on to Round 2. Here’s the challenge given to our 7 Semi-Finalists…
ROUND 2 CHALLENGE
Here’s where we step things up a notch. Your challenge is to write a song that utilizes a repeating syllable (ex: la, na, doo, etc.). The syllable must repeat at least 5 times in a row (ex: la la la la la). The resulting “repeated syllable” phrase can appear anywhere in your song, but must be repeated in full at least 3 times within the song. Also, this challenge includes a thematic element. Your song must feature a conflict between two (2) elements, provided below. You must choose one (1) element from COLUMN A and one (1) element from COLUMN B.
COLUMN A
—————
Santa ClausMiami Dolphins
Stephen Hawking
A Beach Towel
High School Physics
Albania
The Color Orange
A Toothpick Factory
Marc Singer
Hydroponics
———————————————————————–
COLUMN B
—————
DraculaLinux
Pudding
Coupons
Scabies
Cosplayers
Your Kindergarten Teacher (must be named)
Albert Camus
Non-Alcoholic Lager
Doc Hammer
Your song must be at least 1m45s in length. Finally, your song must be an ORIGINAL CREATION, both music and lyrics, and can not utilize or sample a preexisting work.
You also voted on the contributions of our three Masters, eliminating one. Two Masters remained, and they were presented a special challenge of their own. Their entries were also be voted on by you, the readers. The winner of the Masters Challenge is the one who dueled with the winning Challenger.
ROUND 2 MASTERS CHALLENGE
The following challenge applies to our Masters of Song Fu only. As Masters, it is expected that they have achieved a musical voice all their own – but does their mastery extend to assuming the voice of another artist? With that in mind, Each Master is tasked with writing a song in the style of their opponent. The Masters will be judged on how accurately they write a song in their opponent’s style without it becoming a simple parody. When listening to their entries, you must genuinely believe that they were written by the original Master. Got that? The Master’s songs must also be no shorter than 1m45s.
Well, you voted on the Round 2 Challenge HERE. Your Challenger was Jeff MacDougall, and the Master he had to face was Jonathan Coulton. They were both presented with a final challenge…
FINAL CHALLENGE
THE REIMAGINING (aka THE RECKONING): For this final duel between Master and Challenger, we’re going to combine a little bit of all the previous challenges. For this ultimate show of skill, adaptability, and personality, you will be given a preexisting song. Your task is to completely reimagine that song with your own lyrics and music – while retaining the same basic story and at least some sonic “cue” or “quote” from the original tune (a short phrase or series of chord changes; the key word here is “brief”). THIS IS NOT A COVER – you are crafting something more akin to an homage, but with your own creative voice. Here is the song you’ll be reimagining:
DAVID BOWIE: “SPACE ODDITY”
You will be judged on how closely your reimagining hits the basic “story points” – spaceman goes up, spaceman talks with control, spaceman goes for a walk, spaceman disappears – but beyond that, anything goes.The song must be at least 1min 45sec, and must be an original creation.
Below, you’ll find the Final Challenge songs from both Jeff and Jonathan, as well as the lyrics and some background on their creative process. You will then be able to place your final votes and determine Round 1’s MASTER OF SONG FU!
MASTER OF SONG FU
JONATHAN COULTON
I write about a lot of geeky stuff because I am a geek. Some of it’s funny, but a lot of it’s not so funny, and even more of it is somewhere in between. I’ve been compared to They Might Be Giants, Barenaked Ladies, Loudon Wainwright III, and other musicians you REALLY LOVE.
I give lots of music away because I believe it helps my cause, and I love it when people use my music to create other stuff – music videos, pictures, remixes, etc. At the moment I’m unsigned, and I’m proud to say I’ve created this whole thing mostly on my own (with plenty of help from an amazingly supportive bunch of fans). But it certainly is getting busy… I will probably sell out and go Hollywood any day now…”
Official Website: www.jonathancoulton.com
FINAL CHALLENGE SONG: “Space Doggity”
“You’re right, I almost went with the first monkey in space, but I didn’t want to be accused of going overboard with the monkeys. So I went with the first dog in space instead.
Her name was Laika and she went up in Sputnik 2. In doing my research I discovered that Russian scientists recently released the truth about what happened to her during the launch, which is that she died just a few hours into it, and not after a week as they originally claimed. She died from stress and overheating (the cooling system malfunctioned and it was 104F in there) but mostly she died from being LAUNCHED INTO SPACE IN A FUCKING ROCKET.
I thought it would be much nicer if instead Laika gave scientists the finger, stepped out in a spacesuit and then disappeared. Whereabouts unknown…”
Lyrics:
The cage is very small
A tiny silver ball
That makes you a hero
The moment you step inside
The world is watching you
What you’re about to do
Will live on forever
Even though you’ll be dead
And gone
Buckle up
We’re about to turn the engines on.Boyoyoing
Hello from Sputnik 2
I am receiving you
Thanks for the dog food
I’m somewhere above you now
Guess what Malashenkov?
I took the collar off
I’m holding my own leash
And walking myself outside
This door
I don’t think
I want to be a good dog anymore.Now I’m floating free
And the moon’s with me
And it’s bright enough
To light the darkAnd it’s so high up here
And the stars so clear –
Are they close enough?
Will they hear me bark from here?Moscow to Sputnik 2
I think we’re losing you
Your life signs are fading
We can’t really say that we’re
Surprised
It’s a shame
There is always something that gets compromisedNow I’m floating free
And the moon’s with me
And it’s bright enough
To light the darkAnd it’s so high up here
And the stars so clear –
Are they close enough?
Will they hear me bark from here?ROUND 2 SONG: “Big Dick Farts A Polka (in the style of Paul & Storm)”
ROUND 1 SONG: “Monkey Shines“
THE CHALLENGER
JEFF MacDOUGALL
Official Website: jeffmacdougall.com
FINAL CHALLENGE SONG: “High”
“When I first read the final challenge I was, at once, excited and scared. Such a great song to use for inspiration and also, a very high bar to get over. I mean, trying to measure up to a Bowie song is bad enough, but trying to do it and do it better than Jonathan Coulton?… yeah… no problem… I’ll get right on that.
Right away I decided to do try something grand, to keep in the spirit of the original. Whether or not I achieved that remains to be seen. I didn’t want to try to be funny because A) It’s not really a funny story, and B) I’m not going to do funny better than my competition. I’m just not. So here you go… the end result. To sum it up, I just really tried to re-do the song with my own song writing and production style. I think I achieved that… for better or worse.”
Lyrics:
Safe in the capsule,
gonna leave here soon.
Nothing around me,
though there’s not much room.It’s quiet. It’s calm.
Can you hear me? It’s Tom.I’m high!
Can you see me?
I’m the blink in the night sky.I’m not afraid.
So much to fear.
Hey, I can see my house from here.No air to speak of
and still my hand is on the door.I give it a shove
and I’m out into the clear.
Don’t want to take a fall from here.Out of the capsule,
gonna leave here soon.
And the stars look very different today.
And I’m floating in a most peculiar way.I’m high!
Can you see me?
I’m the blink in the night sky.I’m not afraid.
Everything’s clear.
There’s nothing left to engineer.I’m high!
Can you see me?
I’m the blink in the night sky.I’m not afraid.
Everything’s clear.
Tell my wife no need for tears.ROUND 2 SONG: “A Brief History Of Pudding”
ROUND 1 SONG: “Jeff MacDougall Dot Com“
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FINAL CHALLENGE VOTING
And now, it’s time for that all important voting, where you’ll decide who has shown the most Fu in the final challenge. This person will not only win the remarkable (and potentially off-putting) bragging rights and a clutch of fantastic mystery prizes, but also become the proud owner of the magnificent, one-of-a-kind MASTER OF SONG FU TROPHY, designed and handcrafted by [adult swim] superstar Dana Snyder. Please remember, you can only vote FOR ONE song – so choose very carefully. You may only vote once, so make it count. VOTING CLOSES AT 11:59pm EST on THURSDAY, JULY 31st.
[poll id=”4″]
Good luck, and bring on the Fu.
Oh no! Just when you thought it was safe to hang out at the Quick Stop…
Cabin Fever (hosted by the twisted souls Brian Fitzpatrick and Aaron Poole) is the result of having too much time on your hands and access to your local community radio station.
Over the course of an hour, they manage to trawl the depths of good taste, plus throw some music in. How much more could you want from a podcast?… Quality? Oh… we didn’t think of that.
Enjoy! And we hope our cross Atlantic friends can understand the Irish accent 😉
Hugs and Kisses,
Aaron P. + Rev. Fitzy
CABIN FEVER #32: Worst. Episode. Ever. – Despite the fact that we have a good song from Bad Poetry Minute playing out the show… there’s not much else about the show this week that went well. Sure, we have a another taste-test. Yeah, we have some odd news from around the world. We even announce the start of the Cabin Fever Fantasy Premierleague competition. But try as they might, these morons just can’t figure out what’s wrong. Help us diagnose this mess by listening.
[CONTENT WARNING]: Explicit contents! We say every naughty word you can think of. You have been warned!
DOWNLOAD: (right click to save)
Episode #32 (MP3 format)
[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/cabinfever/cabin_fever_32.mp3]
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