Did you hear about about this new Facebook game, FanSwarm, launching Saturday? It's based on the concept of Fantasy Sports except that instead your team is a group of celebrities and scores points depending on what is said about them in blogs and tweets. Whenever news is generated, players score points. Sounds wild.
Random coincidence time: so Tuesday night's The Good Wife was about an LMT, licensed massage therapist, and the day after on Jeopardy! there was a question about what the job description LMT stands for. Don't you like it when those strange timing things happen? Silly but cool.
This is awesome. A siesta contest was held in Madrid, Spain and a 62-year old man from Ecuador who slept in a busy mall for 17 minutes and snored very loud won the first ever Siesta Championship in Spain. Check it out.
Out Today...
Sex and the City 2
The Girl Who Played With Fire
Back to the Future: 25th Anniversary Trilogy
Alien Anthology
Star Wars The Clone Wars: The Complete Season Two
Out Today...
Speak Now by Taylor Swift
Living Proof by Buddy Guy
Crazy Love Hollywood Edition by Michael Bublé
The Essential by Dixie Chicks
Olympia by Bryan Ferry
The following dates have been announced:
Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J. on Dec. 14-15 and 17, and
Madison Square Garden in NYC on Dec. 18 and 29.
Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 10 a.m.!
Jealous!
Madonna is creating a chain of gyms under the banner "Hard Candy Fitness". I cannot make this up. However, since she is known to be a health and fitness nut it kinda makes sense!
is on NPR's Fresh Air right now talking about all sorts of tidbits about the Rolling Stones and his new autobiography, Life.
Yahoo is reporting today that Sony has officially "killed" the Walkman cassette player (although they continue to use the "Walkman" name for its mp3 players). I didn't know anyone still used cassettes! Earlier this year Sony announced it will no longer produce floppy disks. Good to know ;)
Saw a great musical this weekend based on the book by Jean Webster. With only 2 characters in the play, Daddy Long Legs tells the story about an anonymous donor who pays for a female orphan's college education in the early 1900s, her resulting development, and the relationship between them that ensues. Engaging story and phenomenal music.
This is crazy!!! Catcher Bengie Molina was traded to the Texas Rangers from the San Francisco Giants on July 1. So with Texas clinching their spot in the World Series last night, if the Giants clinch tonight, Bengie Molina will be guaranteed a World Series ring this year. He already has one from 2002 when he was on the Angels.
I just heard on the radio that today is the 20 year anniversary of Pearl Jam's first performance. Happy Anniversary! Wild stuff. Random fact -- then they played "I Am Mine" one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs.
Credit cards are in the process of getting a makeover such that they will have batteries, lights, buttons and a whole lot more functionality. How wild is that? Check it out.
Rick Springfield has a new memoir out, Late, Late At Night, which is on the New York Times Best Sellers List. The book details his many ups and downs. I just saw him interviewed and I had no idea how much the famed 80s "Jesse's Girl" singer had been through.
Google's Logo on its website is especially cool today in honor of Dizzy Gillespie's birthday. Check it out!
Penthouse founder, Bob Guccione, dies at 79 at losing a battle with cancer.
Right now Apple is presenting a live stream of its media event announcing new hardware and software. They've announced iLife '11 and have only demo'ed the new iPhoto and iMovie so far and the new features look amazing!
UPDATE: iLife '11 is out now and looks great. New MacBook Air laptops as well!
I was never a huge fan of Liz Phair, but generally liked her music. From what I've heard of her latest CD, Funstyle, it's really good. It's different and out there - sounds like she's the mad scientist messing in the studio.
Liz Phair Official Site
Funstyle on iTunes
Tom Bosley who, among a variety of roles, played Mr. Cunningham, Richie and Joanie's father on Happy Days, passed away. He was 83. Very sad. Such a part of the extended TV family of young Gen Xers.
Out Today...
Predators (2010)
Apocalypse Now (Three-Disc Full Disclosure Edition) [Blu-ray] (1979)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (35th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] (1975)
Psycho (50th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] (1960)
The Bionic Woman: Season One
Out Today...
Kings of Leon's Come Around Sundown
Elton John & Leon Russell's The Union
Glee: The Music, The Rocky Horror Glee Show
Rod Stewart's Fly Me To The Moon...Great American Songbook Volume V
Bob Dylan's The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964 (The Bootleg Series Vol. 9)
Bob Dylan's The Original Mono Recordings [Box set]
The rumor is that Prince is holding a press conference today at 5pm CST/6pm EST.
Stay Tuned!!
UPDATE: Prince DID hold a press conference today to confirm a tour...of sorts. He announced that he would play some concerts in New York, but didn't give exact dates (the rumor is December). Prince mentioned he would present a number of different artists and would act as a "master of ceremonies" as well as play with his band, The New Power Generation. Clear? Me neither, but if will be fun to watch it all unfold! Could be a road trip in the near future ;)
"Michael Jackson's Vision" Box Set will be released on Monday, November 22
It is being billed as "THE FIRST-EVER COMPLETE COLLECTION OF ALL THE SHORT FILMS PRODUCED BY MICHAEL JACKSON" and featuress 4 1/2 Hours of Content Across Three DVDs Showcasing More Than 40 Videos In Newly Restored Color and Remastered Audio"
Don't forget "The Michael Jackson Experience" come to Wii in November as well!
Out Today...
How To Train Your Dragon
Dollhouse: The Complete Second Season
C.S.I.: Miami - The Eighth Season
In Treatment: Season Two
The Tudors: The Final Season
Jonah Hex
Ladies & Gentlemen The Rolling Stones
Out Today...
Pink's new single, "Raise Your Glass"
Duran Duran Remasters (Each are double CDs with remixes): Notorious and Big Thing
Darius Rucker's Charleston, SC 1966
David Gilmour and The Orb's Metallic Spheres
Indigo Girls' Holly Happy Days
Al Pacino will play famous/infamous music producer Phil Spector in an upcoming movie. Al seems just crazy enough to be able to pull this off! H00-HA!
Saw The Town (a little late in posting about it). A little long in some places and some unrealistic dialogue. I thought it was good, not great. 'Nuff Said.
How would you like to spend one month straight in a museum? A recent Northwestern college graduate won a contest to do just that in Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. Sounds like it will be quite the experience. Check it out.
Fun fact: the attached article was written by Kara Spak, who just a couple of weeks ago was a 5 day champion on Jeopardy!. Pretty cool.
the SNL fake commercial for the app "Damn it, my Mom is on Facebook" filter? It is hilarious. Check it out.
For the second week in a row, The Social Network was no. 1 with just over $15 million. New releases Life As We Know It and Secretariat came in at no. 2 and 3 with over 414 million and $12 million respectively. Wes Craven's My Soul to Take came in at no. 5 with just under $7 million and other new release, It's Kind of a Funny Story made over $2,000 per screen in 742 theatres.
In limited release, Stone opened in just 6 theaters with $73,000. Nowhere Boy opened in just 4 theaters with $56,000. Inside Job opened in just 2 theaters with $42,000.
Fun fact: saw a preview for Inside Job before watching The Social Network this weekend (which I really liked). It looks fascinating.
Out Today...
The Karate Kid (2010)
Splice (2010)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
Caprica: Season 1.0 (2010)
Bones: The Complete Fifth Season (2009)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show: The Complete Seventh Season
Out Today...
John Lennon's Signature Box (Solo albums remastered)
KT Tunstall's Tiger Suit
Toby Keith's Bullets In The Gun [Deluxe Edition]
James Franco will be on NPR's Fresh Air program today at 2pm CDT discussing playing Allen Ginsberg in the new movie, Howl.
Fun Fact: For all of you Gossip Girl fans, Aaron Tveit who played Tripp van der Bilt on GG, is also in the movie along with Jon Hamm, Mary Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels, David Strathairn, Bob Balaban and Treat Williams.
The new book by Marc Feldstein, Poisoning the Press Richard Nixon, Jack Anderson and the Rise of Washington's Scandal Culture, sounds like a fascinating read. He was interviewed on NPR today and he really dug into the players involved with the scheming going on. While technology may have changed, the tactics that the paparazzi and journalists use today were happening 50 years ago. Journalism, scandal, politics -- mesmerizing stuff. Check out this review.
So I am liking the new show, The Event. Lots of storylines going on. Lots of twists and turns. Unexpected things happening -- just when you thought things would go one way they go another. John Ritter's son, Jason, is great as the main character in search of his girlfriend, uncovering all of the mysteries and trying to piece them together. That being said, viewership has been declining. Is anyone out there watching the show? What are your thoughts?
John Lennon would have turned 70 on Saturday. In his honor, Ozzy Osbourne is covering his song How to raise money for Amnesty International. Very cool. The song is available starting today on iTunes. Check it out.
Saw Social Network this past weekend and it was great! The acting was great and the score by Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross was perfect. At the end of the movie I felt as if I could build my own facebook! Go. See. This. Movie. It stands alone from all other movies this year.
-- Post From My iPhone
Have you ever gone to a charity event where there are tons of awesome silent auction items that noone is bidding on? Have you ever then thought to yourself, wow wouldn't it be cool to have these amazing items forgetting that writing your name down (and winning) means you actually have to pay for them? So yeah, hypothetically, I may know someone that that may have happened to recently.
Do you have any thoughts/helpful suggestions for someone like this? Just curious.
Jon Stewart was interviewed in front of a live audience for the Fresh Air program on NPR. Check it out today at 2 pm CDT.
Do you remember back in the day when we thought Polaroid cameras were the greatest thing ever? Coolest technology, instant pictures. What could be better? It is ridiculous what cameras can do now. 10 shots a second, special night lighting, HD video, GPS are just some of the amazing features on top of the see picture, immediately forward results that standard digital cameras now possess. Not to be a dork, but it seems like just yesterday that I was waving that Polaroid pictures around for it to dry, in anticipation of seeing the completed shot.
