WacGyver Episode 6: Trumbo's World!

This episode is crazy.  Mac heads deep into the jungle with his good friend Charley to find out what is freaking out the local birds.  Is it a Governor who dresses like a casual Nazi?  Is it Trumbo, a guy who refers to all of his workers as, "My Indians"?

Nope, just a shitload of ants.

The world gets turned upside down when Mac faces his toughest villains yet, an ton of ants.

Listen to it here!

DJ Snake ft. Lil' Jon - Turn Down for What?!

The anthem of my summer has come. I was on Reddit late Tuesday night and I came across a strange post. A video, by DJ Snake & Lil Jon, Turn Down For What,  that is so infectiously crazy that I couldn't help from dancing or hitting the repeat button.

The vid was up on the web for 2 days but is now set to private. Hopefully, you will get to see it's glory but until then I'll fill you in. The video starts out by flying up on a high rise to reveal a man on the roof. He is grimy, in sweat pants, and about to get wild. The song builds up to the chorus with Lil Jon yelling "Fire up, get loud, and let the body shots!" ((BASS DROP)) "Turn Down For What?!" Then the song goes off. The guy in sweats jumps up and body slams his junk into the floor, crashing through the ceiling and bringing the party at the same time. Crashing through the ceiling begins the turnt up twerk fest. He wildly gyrates in every way, crumping on the couch, and violating the t.v. All the while there is a girl in the room freaking out. She calls the cops and is on the line. Sweatpants dances over grabs the phone and yells "Turn down for what?!" which melts the officers FACE OFF just like the Nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. THEN he takes the phone and slams it on his junk, disintegrating the phone.

and guess what... that was the first 30 seconds of the video. It only get weirder and wilder from here on.

Lil Jon only says the two phrases but DJ Snake takes over with turntable excellence mixing and scratching over the thick bass line. With all the bass drops in the song and screwed up dance faces in the video I could only expect this song to be a club hit.

Crank it up, get loud, and get nasty because Johnny said so.

***UPDATE***

Here's the video link, courtesy of WorldStarHipHop...you're welcome.

WacGyver episode 5: The Heist

In this episode of WacGyver we skip the "Opening Gambit," and get into Mac's enemy of the week, Jack Catlin.  Catlin is a diamond thief, who apparently loves his day job as a casino manager.  Mac needs to figure out a way to get into that casino and steal back some already stolen diamonds.  Join Chris, Tim, and special guest Joe Degand for, "The Heist!"

WacGyver episode 5

Lovely Ladies of New Zealand

It looks like I need to move to New Zealand.  I love Peter Jackson, Flight of the Conchords, and apparently their high export of female singers.

Primarily, I'm a rock and rap guy, liking mainly mid to extremes of both, and a little of the pop side from time to time.  I'm basically an old curmudgeon who scoffs at the possibility that any music made after 1999 could be better than what came before it.  So I turned into an old guy.  At least I'm aware that it's probably just me.  About 3 years ago, all of that changed.  

February Misses

Welcome to March. It's still cold and snowing, so ain't nothin' new other than this music that I'm about to hit you with. February started off slow. The first few weeks of the month, finding 10 songs that were good enough to post about seemed like a challenge, but around the mid-way point, the ball started rolling and the jams started to be unleashed.

I don't know if it was because of Valentine's Day, but February released a lot of good R&B. This list is very R&B heavy, and that's with me leaving off solid tracks from Alicia Keys and Marsha Ambrosius. The February Misses are also somewhat nostalgic, with homage being paid to Michael Jackson, Anita Baker, The Fugees and Shalamar. Enough talky-talky, go ahead an check out what you missed. You're welcome.

Trade Review: Batman Earth One

Writer: Geoff Johns

Artist: Gary Frank

Earth One is a series that does re-interpretations of DC heroes origins. Superman and Batman have both gotten the treatment, and Wonder Woman's is due soon.

Everyone knows the story of Batman.  His mother and father are murdered right before Bruce Wayne's young eyes, and from that day forward he dedicates his life to fighting crime.

The story opens with Batman pursuing a man in a tuxedo across the rooftops of Gotham City. Batman tries to fire a grappling hook over to the next roof, but the gadget fails.  He hastily attempts a jump and falls short, catching himself on a wobbly air conditioner before crashing to the streets below.  Limping away from the alley, Batman sees a crime in progress and does nothing about it. This lets us know that he's still a little rough around the edges.

We are brought back in time to Wayne manor, where a party is being thrown by Thomas and Martha Wayne in anticipation of Thomas being elected Mayor of Gotham City.  We are introduced to Alfred Pennyworth, who is Thomas's friend from a war or something, but definitely not there to be a butler.  Thomas tells Alfred that he doesn't trust anyone, and that is why he brought him all the way to Gotham City.  Lil' Bruce runs through announcing that, "THEY'RE GOING TO BE LATE!" and now Thomas has to go, leaving this party and Alfred, who is NOT a butler, to continue to rage on at Wayne manor.

The Wayne family goes to the theater to watch a movie.  As soon as they get in, the power goes out. A theater employee enters letting everyone know that because of the outage, the theater is closed.  He asks for everyone to come through the front of the theater.  Bruce tells his parents that they should stay.  His parents tell him they'll try another day, but Bruce wants his Oompa Loompa now, and runs out the emergency exit into the alley.  Typical rich kid stuff.

In the Alley, Bruce runs into a hoodie wearing tough who tells him to "watch where he's going."  Bruce tells that dude he doesn't have to do anything, because "My parents are the richest people in Gotham City!"  Thomas and Martha run into the alley where hoodie Joe Chill is now holding a gun to Bruce's head and demanding money from them.  For whatever reason, he impatiently throws Bruce to the ground, lunges toward them, and then murders them.  This was a dude who was just walking by.  I'd hate to live in Gotham City, but you'd think rich people would be able to arrange a screening of Zorro at a much better theater.  It is supposed to be a "modern telling" and all.

So there you have it.  A brooding Dark Knight is born.

We learn that Alfred has been named Bruce's legal guardian, even though he'd literally arrived right before they were murdered.  Martha had never even met him.  Thomas was amazed that he had actually come to visit.  This was probably Alfred's worst vacation.  He sits down with Bruce to console him, but Bruce is having none of that.  He demands to know why he should even listen to Alfred, which is met with one simple reply, "I'm your butler."  What?  He wouldn't even listen to his own mother and father, who cares about a guy claiming to be a butler?

Batman has begun. It seems that the man he was chasing at the beginning of the book was a corrupt cop who worked on his mother and father's murder, and then retired a few weeks later to live the good life.  There were some discrepancies in the police report, and Bruce needed answers.  Was the defining moment in Bruce Wayne's life actually an assassination?  Were the radical politics of the Wayne family a threat to the corrupt system that was currently running Gotham?  Batman has emerged from the shadows to expose it all.

I really wanted to like this book, but I had some real problems with it.  For me, it was basically the CW TV pilot equivalent of an origin story.  Johns really tries to pack in as many Batman nods as possible, and it is very distracting.  There are nods to Arkham, Batgirl, and The Riddler for little to no reason.  The Penguin is the Mayor, and was the man Thomas Wayne was trying to dethrone.  Harvey Dent makes a brief appearance, and in this story has a twin sister.  Harvey Dent becomes Two-Face, so now he has a twin.  Get it?  Yeesh.

This is just a lot of added stuff for a book that really needs to show us Batman learning to be Batman.  Not the worst thing I've ever read, but not great either.

I'd say skip it, and if you are interested in a Batman origin story, go read Batman: Year One by Frank Miller.

WacGyver Episode 4: The Gauntlet!

In this episode, we learn that a map can be a sled, a weapon, and can even patch a hot air balloon!

Even RDA doesn't believe it!

WacGyver Episode 4!