I grew up with The Muppets like most kids in the late ’70’s/early ’80’s. I loved the show (The Harry Belafonte and Peter Sellers are still two of my favorite episodes), loved the movies, loved the new shows, and loved it when they went viral. If you didn’t see Forgetting Sarah Marshall (It’s great, by the way) then stop reading, go watch it and come back… All done? Ok. Now you see why Jason Segel is the perfect writer/star for […]
movies
“PJ20”: Or, Why This is Gonna Be an Awesome Year for Music Docs
I’m not much of a theater-goer, but I feel as though I’m gonna have to make quite a bit of time this year to check out music documentaries. As I’ve mentioned several times (most recently last week ), the Tribe Called Quest film, “Beats, Rhymes & Life”, is #1 on my must-watch list. However, another documentary that I recently got wind of is the Cameron Crowe-directed “PJ20”, the subject of which is one of my all-time favorite rock bands, Pearl Jam. A […]
The New Blerd Radio-Episode 3: May Flowers (Almost)
Episode 3 is in the books and on our latest podcast, Mike and Jesse discuss pop culture events including the new Beastie Boys album and video, Lady GaGa’s continued stranglehold on pop culture, and the debut of “The Voice”. Also discussed: “Fast 5” (which is out today) and it’s pretty cast, May’s potpourri of album releases, why no one should ever watch the first 10 minutes of “Up” , the rumored follow-up to “Garden State”, and Jesse gets the package […]
Give Me “Beats, Rhymes & Life”!: Tribe Doc Gets Release Dates
If you, like me, have been salivating for a viewing of the controversial Michael Rapaport-directed Tribe Called Quest documentary “Beats, Rhymes & Life”, then you’re in luck, as a national rollout was just announced. The film premiered at the Sundance festival earlier this year, screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC last night, and officially premieres in New York and Los Angeles on the 8th of July. Over the following month or so, it will hit most major cities […]
Pass the Popcorn: “Still Bill”
Bill Withers seems like an unlikely subject for a movie, right? Even if you’re a soul music fan, hell-even if you were a Bill Withers fan up until the point that “Still Bill” was made, his life seemed like it was one of the least likely for even a documentary. An unassuming, regular-Joe singer/songwriter, Withers amassed a string of hits over the course of a decade before abruptly retiring to concentrate on family life. No drugs, no paralyzing car accidents, […]
“Make Some Noise” for the Return of the Beastie Boys!
As one of hip-hop’s longest running hitmaking acts (second only to former labelmate LL Cool J), the Beastie Boys would be totally within their right to rest on their laurels and coast. Thankfully, they’re not-not even after MCA’s cancer scare a couple of years ago. With Hot Sauce Committee, Vol. 2 about a month away from release, the trio has unleashed the first single from the album, “Make Some Noise”. Mike and the Adams aren’t reinventing the wheel at all-it’s […]
Blerd Radio Season 2, Episode 1: Lesbians in the Echo Chamber
…and, we’re back!! After taking a bit of a holiday break, Blerd Radio is back and kicking off our second season! For the new season’s first episode, I brought in longtime friends Carletta and GG , and we were joined by our buddy (and Blerd Radio newcomer) Brittany . Over the course of 90 minutes, we cover a ton of pop-culture related topics, including: -The upcoming 10th season of “American Idol” and what it means for the future of the show. -Whether “Black […]
“Beats, Rhymes & Life”: Tribe is Coming to a Theater Near You
You’d think the relatively sedate history of A Tribe Called Quest would result in a fairly boring documentary, since there never seemed to be any bad vibes among the individual members. However, after seeing the trailer for the documentary “Beats, Rhymes and Life”, it becomes clearly obvious that this is a lot more than a movie about Tribe’s creative process. It’s dramatic enough that group leader Q-Tip has distanced himself from the project, saying that he won’t support it on […]
Spin Cycle: Quincy Jones “Soul Bossa Nostra”
The fact that “Soul Bossa Nostra” even exists is a bit confusing to me. Like, did this album need to be made? After all-it basically amounts to a huge slap on the back for Quincy Jones. Not to say he doesn’t deserve props-the man was at the top of his game for the better part of forty years and is an integral part of music history, let alone black music history. But I question the wisdom of letting a who’s […]
“Due Date” Official Trailer: Funniest Movie of the Year?
I’m kind of weird with movies. I can’t recall too many films that I didn’t enjoy, but I’m also not an active theater-goer. Blame it on me being cheap, blame it on me having no attention span. I actually don’t think I’ve seen one movie in a theater this year (except for “Howl”, which was a premiere, so that’s different…kind of). The first movie of 2010 that might get me to sit in a theater for two hours and eat […]
The 5ive at Five: Women Who Make Me Wish I Was Straight (A Little) #1
Some childhood crushes never fade… That said, I don’t think I had a thing for Lisa Bonet until I was 10 or 11 and her bad-girl streak rared it’s ugly head. There was the nude Rolling Stone cover (which probably made Bill Cosby swallow his cigar) and then there was her scandalous sex scene in “Angel Heart” (which I’ve still never seen in full because I had to leave the room when we rented the movie and it came on). […]
