Check-ch-check-check-check-ch-check it out . What-wha-what-what-what's it all about .
Quick Hitters and Random Thoughts
--So Don Draper likes getting slapped around by whores? Welcome back Mad Men. So nice to see the gang all back together and such a cool shot when they enter their new office with its mystical second floor. Loved seeing Anna Camp who was the preacher’s wife on True Blood last season. Don’t sweat that you didn’t close that deal Don, it took Jason Stackhouse a little while too. I gagged along with Sally Draper when Betty stuffed that marshmallow from the sweet potatoes into her mouth. That sh** is nasty. And I can’t believe it took Don this long to kick Betty out of the house. Does anyone have a bleaker future than Betty? Well, maybe Sally and Bobby because those kids are going to need A LOT of therapy. Writing of, where was the littlest Draper? Loved the John/Marsha bit.
Alan Sepinwall interviews Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner.
Oh and ummm, can we get a little Alison Brie in this week? TIA.
--HBO with a trailer for the second half of True Blood…
--As much as I want to go to Comic-Con next year my life wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Pacey-Con.
Awesome. Pacey is doing just fine between Fringe and Diane Kruger.
--I like the Serendipity outside of Caesar’s in Vegas for a quick, cold snack, but that’s the only one I’ve been to. Serendipity III in NYC is offering up a $70 hot dog. This bad boy is an all-beef foot-long that’s grilled in white truffle oil and served in a pretzel bun (doesn’t get better than pretzel buns). There’s some foie gras involved along with black truffle Dijon, heirloom tomato ketchup and other goodness.
--I absolutely loved reading "Live from New York: The Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live" by Jim Miller. So I’m looking forward to his book on ESPN.
--I thought I knew of everyone who has made it big since their roles on Freaks and Geeks, but seeing Rashida Jones totally surprised me. I wonder if The Office named her “Karen” in that as a nod to her “Karen” in Freaks.
--Very promising trailer for Dexter’s upcoming season.
--I don’t think you can truly develop intensity and that “like a tiger” feeling on the field. You either have it (Cushing, Pollard) or you don’t (Mario, Amobi). Bob McNair probably didn’t need to publicly air his wishful thinking, but it was hardly anything to get worked up about. Players are who they are. Cushing and Pollard have a certain swagger to their play and you’d like to think their brashness rubs off on some of the players and maybe allows them to play with more confidence. But I don’t think that intensity can ever rub off enough to become a true part of that player’s personality and mentality. I could care less if Mario and Amobi scream and act demonstratively on the field, I just want to see production.
--Linda Hamilton as Chuck’s mom. Perfect.
--Spin with its Top 125 albums over the last 25 years. Spoiler alert: U2’s “Achtung Baby” is #1. I’m as big a fan of U2 as can be, but I’m going with #5 Radiohead’s “OK Computer.” Elsewhere around the Top 25. I like Beastie Boys’ “Paul’s Boutique” getting #14. Public Enemy’s “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” at 6. Nas’ “Illmatic” at #25. Eric B. and Rakim’s “Paid in Full” at 22 while Daft Punk checks in “Discovery” at 23.
--I watched Inception again, but I wish I had this handy infographic I saw on FilmDrunk via DeviantArt.
--A Rocky Horror themed Glee episode? Of course.
--Pretty good interview from Eater with GZA from Wu-Tang talking about his vegetarian lifestyle, the “raw diet” he’s been trying and pot, lots of pot talk.
--How about that Tour de France this year? Riveting.
--Burn Notice keeps coming with the awesome guest star list. Last week alone had Burt Reynolds, John Doman/Rawls from Wire and Richard Kind. All in all the best episode of the season, but how could it not be with Burt freakin’ Reynolds? And yeah Burt reacts about as quickly as a snail in molasses, but it was just fun to see him.
--Big shock, but Friday Night Lights is finishing strong down the stretch. So glad Coach and Mrs. Coach finally got Emmy nominations. But please Saracen, don’t call Julie again. I can’t handle it. Just leave us alone.
Dillon is going down this week to East Dillon!
--Good news America! Amanda Bynes isn’t retiring from acting.
--I am so bidding on something from Lost.
--As I was wondering last week or so about how John Oliver was going to fit in Community we found out at Comic-Con. I’d hardly call this a spoiler, but if you don’t want to know skip ahead….okay….John Oliver’s character is essentially last season’s Mr. Chang although Mr. Chang will now be in the class with everyone else.
--Finally got around to watching Avatar and I can see how it would be incredible in 3-D. Not bad in Blu-Ray, well except for the whole story thing.
--Okay Astros let’s get to trading. Stop messing around and start thinking more than one day ahead. Oh, but uh get more for Roy Oswalt than what the Diamondbacks got for Dan Haren.
--Houston’s stadiums made out pretty well in this fairly exhaustive report on stadium concessions. But you sure as hell don’t want to eat at a stadium in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. 62% of vendors had critical violation at The Ballpark. 40% at America Airlines Center. A disgusting 72% at Cowboys Stadium which for being open just a year seems ridiculously high. Apparently one stand had hot dogs at 71 degrees which is barely half the required holding temperature for those disgusting things anyway. Congratulations to Verizon Center where the Wiz and Caps play for its perfectly imperfect 100% score. In a completely related note I can’t remember the last time I ate anything other than peanuts at a game.
Questions, comments or if another reason you think you picked the right girl is that she never asked you to go see that stupid corpse flower…
