Author Archives: Mike

NBC Ends Life

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damien-lewis-life_l

If you weren’t at an NBC press conference back on May 4th, the news that Life (starring Damien Lewis) was being cancelled probably flew in under the radar.  For those who didn’t follow the show, this is no big deal.  Afterall, Jay Leno needs his new show…

But for those of us who were loyal fans, this might easily have been the best shows on television (yes, Chuck fans.  Charlie Crews would kick Chuck Bartowski’s butt!–House gets the overall nod for me because of the time I have invested into it).  I didn’t anticipate being a fan of Life, though.  Back before the writer’s strike I saw a couple commercials on NBC about the show.  It was advertised as a show about a cop who spent 10+ years in prison for a murder he was framed for committing.  DNA evidence was found exonerating him and now he wants to get revenge on the people who set him up…oh, and he wants his job back plus a $60+ million settlement (which he gets).  Season one was cut short because of the strike, but season two was even better.  However, NBC started it off on Fridays (not a great time slot) and then they moved it to Wednesdays (promising).  The season (now series) finale was FANTASTIC!  I still have it recorded on my DVR and I have watched it several times.  The best part, however, was it was left open for more awesome plot lines revolving around the mystery of the LA PD and Charlie Crews.  Well, that’s dead unless another network picks it up (doubtful since it will be difficult to carry the series on a new network with all the background required to obtain a new audience on top of the old one).

In short, if you haven’t watched the series you need to get on Hulu and watch Life.  Once you’ve seen it, you’ll be just as upset as I am that it didn’t get another shot.  Damien Lewis’ Zen charm is Emmy worthy and the beautiful Sarah Shahi shares my birthday. 

In the meantime, now that ER is gone, NBC can fall off the planet now.

Oh, and I don’t even watch Lost, but I am upset about what they did to Elisabeth Mitchell.  Maybe not Life upset, but upset nonetheless.  Can I blame NBC for that?

NBA is FAN TASTIC…unless you don’t live in LA, Boston, or Cleveland

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Raja Bell took a Kobe elbow to the face a few plays before this altercation.

Raja Bell took a Kobe elbow to the face a few plays before this altercation.

Did anyone else catch all of the apologies coming out of the NBA Front Office lately? Ron Artest’s Adam’s Apple hit Kobe’s elbow prompting a technical on Ron. Then a hard foul by Artest later in the game resulted in a Flagrant II and automatic ejection. The league later rescinded the call the next day saying that it wasn’t a flagrant foul. That was nice of them. But Houston still lost and nothing happened to Kobe for his elbow. A couple days later Dallas was up with a few seconds left and had a foul to give. They intentionally fouled the Nugget player, but forgot that the NBA referees don’t like to call fouls in the playoffs…even when you are intentionally trying to foul. As a result, Anthony hit a game winning 3 pointer. The league office apologized for that too.

Where were all these apologies when the Suns were in the playoffs? The Suns have experienced some REALLY bad calls in the post season and all they got was an early exit (even a lousy shirt would have been nice). I especially remember a game in 2006 when Nash was attacked and (surprise) fouled intentionally and no foul was called. Instead, (New York Restaurant Owner) Bennett Salvatore called a jump ball (even though the Laker who was tied up with Nash (Barry White impersonator Luke Walton) was standing out of bounds). This led to a Kobe moment that we all get to see in those FAN TASTIC NBA Playoff commercials. There is no justice I guess.

The NBA: Where fan money is sucked into a dark abyss so that the pockets of David Stern can grow happens.

The NBA: Where at least we aren’t the NHL happens.

The NBA: Where you shouldn’t get your hopes up if you live outside of LA, Boston or Cleveland happens.

The NBA: Where I hope Booyor’s Internet starts working again soon happens…

HSM3…2…1…BOOM!

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On Friday teenage girls across the nation (and their easy to manipulate boyfriends) will be attending the opening of High School Musical 3: Senior Year. This phenomenon has embodied HSM, HSM2, HSM3, HSM: The Concert Tour, High School Musical: The Disneyland/World Stage Show and HSM: Stage Musical…ALL IN LESS THAN TWO YEARS! I have to admit, I am waiting for HSM: The Flame Thrower and other marketing merchandise. To give you an idea of the magnitude of this feat, it took JK Rowling almost 12 years to write all 7 of her Harry Potter books. Disney has matched that is one sixth of the time. Amazing! For every Harry Potter book you’re getting almost 7 versions of HSM. Because HSM1 was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good.

I am not against Disney making movies. I am not against the idea of a movie about high school musicals (I’m a Theatre teacher who directs musicals…I like musicals). But I am against Disney milking something until it’s dead. Within two months of the release of HSM1, Disney released the rights for high schools around the world to produce their own staged version of HSM. In fact, there were advertisements telling students to ask their high school drama teachers to produce the show. To the average Joe Six-Pack this was not a big deal. But it impacted my world. For the rest of the year I had to hear <whiny teenage girl voice>”Let’s do HSM! PLEASE, LET’S DO HSM!” </whiny teenage girl voice>. I even had a 70 year old woman (substitute teacher) decide to usurp my lesson plans and show HSM. Yeah, working on that study guide for their midterm exam wasn’t as important as the elderly’s love for Zac and Vanessa. But I digress…

I used to work for Disney and I know how they work. They say it’s “not about making money, but giving a high caliber product to their family audience.” (That was taken from my 1st training session as a “cast member”). But milking the same story into 7 different versions doesn’t just extend an overused subject, it completely destroys the magic of the first film. Case in point, HSM won several awards in 2006. Nothing has been won since. In fact, Disney was so desperate to continue the franchise after HSM that it completely ignored its stance on its performers maintaining a wholesome image and allowed Vanessa Hudgens to keep her role despite very racy (AKA naked) photos of herself being released on the internet and later stated that they were intended for her fellow cast mate boyfriend Zac Efron. But who needs standards?

HSM is not “the great American Musical.” I know that. But when there are so many great works of film and television, it seems like a direct slap in the face to the consumer when Disney milks these franchises for all they are worth. I am still waiting for a similar parody by South Park that will mirror what they did to Spielberg and Lucas for what they did to Indiana Jones.

Btw, didn’t Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale’s character) have a “break a leg” moment at the end of HSM1? Why was she still trying to breakup Gabriella (Vanessa) and Troy (Zac) in HSM2? Disney had told me and other audience members that people apparently don’t learn from their mistakes. How pessemistic. I’m sure Sharpay will figure it all out in HSM3.

Also, the TV, film and stage franchises of HSM are just the tip of the iceberg. Checkout the DVDs, the Ice Tour, Book series, and 5 video games. Thankfully, HSM: the Reality Series (Get in the Picture)failed after one season (11 episodes). God is still looking out for us.

Ohio: Where a nation’s fall begins…

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKXPhPrd_As

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?!?!?

Remember when you were at Boys State and you wanted your guy to win the election for Governor, but the Boys State paper decided to endorse the other guy and illegally hand their paper out at the polling site? Then your guy lost? Well, imagine the same thing, but the paper decides that they are going to also pick the voters up, give them some food or money, and then walk them over to the polling place with instructions on who to vote for. 

Please! This isn’t getting out the vote. It’s voter fraud. And it proves that the founding fathers knew what they were talking about when they created the electoral college.

Our priorities are straight, thank you!

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Every night around 10pm (11pm when in daylight savings–or is it when not in daylight savings? Man, I love living in Daylight savings free Arizona), I go to one of my favorite shopping websites: www.woot.com. I would be lying if I said I just look and never buy. Since March of 2006 I’ve made 17 purchases. Most of them were either birthday or Christmas gifts, but occacionally I splurge on myself with the Excalibur Plug and Play 6 Player Texas Hold’em Poker.

Basically, Woot has a deal every day. The website sells only one item a day and it’s cheaper on that site than anywhere else. Best part? Shipping is always $5.00. Doesn’t matter if you’re buying a huge flat screen HD TV (yes, those pop up every now and then). Shipping is only $5 and it’s pretty fast. I think I once had to wait 5 whole business days. And one of my favorite parts of the site is the witty writing in their blog. They spare no expense to entertain you while you look at the deal of the day.

But every now and then you get that odd deal. And when I say odd, I mean just disgustingly worthless. The sad part? You still want to buy it! Which brings me to today’s Woot Deal of the Day.

Ballfinder Scout Digital Golf Ball Locator $79.99 + $5 shipping

Ballfinder Scout Digital Golf Ball Locator

$79.99 + $5 shipping

Sure, we could be using our technology to invent better non-gas burning cars. Or enhance solar technology. But some guys REALLY need help finding their golf balls in the grass. The sad part is, I REALLY want this. But I have enough self control to say: “ask for it at Christmas.”

Glendale Has Made It! Idol Auditions July 25th!

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On July 25th American Idol will be rolling into my home town of Glendale, Arizona for part of this year’s auditions.  It’s very fitting since 2007 winner Jordin Sparks also calls Glendale her home.  It’s also a signal that Glendale has made it!  What better way to say “you’re #1, Glendale, AZ!” then by having American Idol auditions here.  Forget the Superbowl.  AMERICAN IDOL!  Yeah, I’m disappointed too.   In fact, I have no clue who won American Idol last year.  In fact, I stopped watching the “auditions” (arguably the best part of the show) after the Ruben and Clay did their thing.

The only reason I care this year, is because one of my former students is auditioning.  This is actually her second time.  She auditioned last summer in California.  She gave me the dirt on how these auditions work.  It turns out that if they are running out of time and still have people left to audition, they pick the people according to how they are dressed.  Why?  Because they want the freaks.

You complete me.

So while you’re all laughing it up when Jimmy the eccentric gay man is crying because he doesn’t realize how bad he really is, remember those who are very talented and won’t get a shot because Simon and Company ran out of time auditioning the freaks.