That Darn Hitler

The vast majority of the Downfall subtitle videos are crap, but this one is pretty good. I'm not chomping at the bit to trash Avatar but I can't say I was especially impressed by the theatrical trailer. Then again, everyone expected Titanic to fail and look what happened.

I still think the gold standard of the Hitler videos is this one, though:

RIP Reading Rainbow

Reading Rainbow aired its final episode yesterday.

On one hand I'm crushed; on the other hand, I had no idea the show was still going on. Were they just re-airing old episodes? Producing new episodes?

If you're looking for a scapegoat, you can turn to everyone's favorite contemporary villain: George W. Bush. According to NPR, the Department of Education decided that the show wasn't focusing enough on the nuts and bolts of how to read and instead focused too much on all the cool things books had to offer. According to another NPR article, "Of the nearly 8 million children entering kindergarten and first grade this school year, up to one-third will arrive with little or no familiarity with the written word." It's increasingly up to PBS to teach kids how to read.

But that's another story, one for a pissed off sociologist. The show spanned 26 years and 155 episodes and will soon be gone without a trace. The show's website claims that 153 of those episodes are on DVD, but I have no idea how commercially available they are. The sets listed on Amazon seem to be out of print, so I guess a re-release would be doubtful.

It's been over 15 years since I've watched the show but I can still remember some of the episodes, although my memory is a tad foggy. There was one about science fiction that I really liked (naturally, it went into LeVar Burton's stint on Star Trek: The Next Generation) and another about pottery made from volcanic soil. One about mummies freaked me out because it described the embalming process and how all the organs got put in jars.

And even though I wouldn't have needed YouTube to refresh my memory, I really loved this musical number (now that I'm older, the first thing I notice is how LeVar Burton gets the easiest dance moves):

Let's Talk About Posters

I've never counted the exact number but I get something like 100 cable channels, most of which I never watch. For reasons that escape me, I don't get SyFy or TCM. Not a huge tragedy, but it's still kind of annoying. So when TCM does something brilliant like this, I get a tad bit jealous. I don't know who did these, but they're Criterion Collection-worthy.

Meanwhile, the Lost brain trust has created a series of limited edition posters to commemorate the final season. They're way out of my price range - seriously, 50 bucks? - but so far they're pretty awesome and the one for Locke is the balls.

Top Chef Las Vegas 8/26

Keeping it short again, since there are far too many contestants and dishes to really dive into things.

- I'm no opponent of gay marriage, and I know this is Bravo, but Ashley was laying it on a little thick tonight with the "I'm bitter because I can't get married" routine. And it's a little funny how she and the other lesbian were singled out as having two of the Elimination Challenge's worst dishes. Take that, gays!

- Saw Eve's exit coming a mile away. I found her voice annoying anyway.

- Bryan looks like he has a broomstick perpetually stuck up his ass.

- Who pairs a dish with a shot?

I Like the Cut of Their Jib

Woofer, the anti-Twitter website that mandates all entries be at least 1,400 characters long. It's a one-note parody website but the idea made me chuckle (the posts, however, not so much).

(found via Digg via Network World)

Top Chef Las Vegas... eh, whatever

No power rankings, no in depth-analysis (not that I've done any so far, anyway). Heck, I don't even know these people's names. There's Pale Chubby Beard Guy, French Guy, Douchey McDouchington, the Jew, etc. It's a fools errand talking about the first episode of a reality show like Top Chef because half the fun is talking about the contestants and their personalities, and we hardly know who these people are. All I know is that this slate of contestants has more ink than a Bic factory.

That said, I'm glad Stretched-Out Earlobe Lady got booted because I can't stand the sight of those things.

Also: none of the women have been outed so far, but I'm guesstimating that two of them are totally gay.

Top Chef Masters Finale

RICK FUCKING BAYLESS, BITCHES

Yeah, I'll Say It

I'd bone the creepy pale Palm Pre girl and I'm not ashamed.

And I Can't Get It Out of My Head

Datarock: "True Stories"



(One of these days I'll write something more than a few sentences long. I swear, I'm practically on Tumblr.)

I Do Loves Me Some Mad Men

There's no point in me trying to analyze the new season of Mad Men. There are other (real) critics out there and they do a much better job. But I can do my part and pass this on, for anyone who missed it last year.

Everything Is Terrible

The fine folks at Everything is Terrible had a screening in Chicago last night that I attended. The big event of the evening was a viewing of the 1993 direct-to-video crapsterpiece Arcade, starring that kid from A Christmas Story, Seth Green, and Q from Star Trek. It was written by The Dark Knight scribe David S. Goyer, proving that you gotta start somewhere. I left sometime before the climax - for a movie that's only 85 minutes long, it sure feels longer.

But I come to praise Everything is Terrible, not to bury it. They showed some clips at the beginning of the night that are more exemplary of their found footage ouvre. In my opinion, the highlight was the montage of informercials, but you can't go wrong with this series of clips from a film awesomely-titled Stunt Rock.

A Situation Where We All Lose

Maxim's hipster douchebag soundboard.

They say that the enemy of your enemy is your friend, but can frat douchebags ever be your friend?

Dear Internet: Stay Out of Real Life

"How Fail Went From Verb to Interjection," as seen in the New York Times.

Top Chef Masters power rankings (8/6)

1. Bayless
2. Keller
3. Lo
4. Chiarello

I don't get it. Lo's botching of her first dish was understandable in that her imagination was two steps ahead of her palate. But presentation has been one of her strengths, so why did her dish for the Elimination Challenge look so dreadful? That kind of performance bumps you down a few notches. Bayless and Keller continue to do their thing, and while Chiarello pulls up the rear, it's certainly not for lack of a good showing.

I can't wait for next week. The glimpse we saw of Dale being pissy in the preview caused me to cackle with glee.

Two books enter, one book leaves.

Chris Anderson's Free: The Future of a Radical Price

versus

Ellen Ruppel Shell's Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture

FIGHT!

What's the Use?

I was considering making a post knocking Taylor Swift's latest song, but really, what's the point? It's the intellectual equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel. With your brain. Or something.

I will say that it's hilarious how she paints herself - yes, herself, she co-wrote it - in "You Belong With Me" as some sort of social outcast. Everyone jokes about Avril Lavigne's sanitized punkness, but she's way more convincing in that outsider role than Swift. The line that amuses me the most is "I'm listening to the kind of music she doesnt like." Just what's that supposed to be, exactly? Does Taylor Swift listen to Sigur Ros? Talib Kweli? GWAR?

Crappy song of the moment that I like: "Good Girls Go Bad"

I get dumb catchy songs stuck in my head every now and then - who doesn't? Cobra Starship's latest single isn't that egregious of an offender but it earns serious demerits for featuring Leighton Meester. Her name bugs me (seriously, that's a real name?) and she's on Gossip Girl. Otherwise it's another harmless number custom-made for the dancefloor, and there's not much more to say about it than that. It's easy on the Auto Tune and not as stupid as "I Gotta Feeling" so even in losing, it's won.



I'm no music expert by any means, so I can't figure out what genre it belongs to. I'll probably have to make one up. Bubblegum electropop? Scenepop? Kids these days and their music, I tell ya.

On a side note, it's funny what music you can't get out of your head. I was digging up an old song from Sesame Street the other day - long story - and now it's stuck in my brain.

Is Ken Jennings a New Pornographers fan?

http://ken-jennings.com/blog/?p=1340

I'll have to do a little digging but right now all signs point to "yes."

That's right, America's most likable know-it-all and I are devotees of the same band. HELL FUCKING YEAH.