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Who Wore It Better? (Part Two)
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Posted in Pictures, Sports
Tagged Hamburglar, Kobe Bryant, Kobe Bryant Mask, Masks, McDonald's, Pictures, Robble Robble, Sports
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Who Wore It Better?
A valid question.
Posted in Pictures, Sports
Tagged Cody Rhodes, Kobe Bryant, Kobe Bryant Mask, Masks, NBA, Pictures, Silliness, Sports, WWE
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Awkward Moments in Entertainment History: Rock Me Tonite
As our cultural integrity continues to buckle under the weight of exploitative “reality” programming and mindless pseudo-documentaries, it’s difficult to recall that MTV (f/k/a Music Television) was once the arbiter of success in the popular music industry.
It isn’t merely the case that heavy rotation on MTV could enhance an artist’s career (especially ones who were visually appealing). MTV also had the ability to shine an unwelcome light on otherwise competent musicians who had faces made for radio. One-time Academy Award-winner and five-time Grammy-winner Christopher Cross is the quintessential example of a previously successful performer whose career suddenly cooled off and eventually deteriorated into obscurity thanks to the new visual component of the business.
The formula that determined an act’s commercial and popular potential had always included a variable accounting for personal attractiveness or style. That wasn’t a creation of cable television. Rather, the world-changing innovation provided by MTV was to affix a massive multiplier to that variable.
In its early incarnation, MTV was an all-powerful prism in which career trajectories could be altered for ill or for good as they passed through the channel’s airwaves.
This is the story of one career that did both.
Posted in Commentary, Music, Videos
Tagged 1980's, Billy Squier, Commentary, MTV, Music, Rock Me Tonite, The 80's, The Stroke, Videos
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SitCombat 3/1/12
The Office has hit an unexpected stride with a bifurcated workforce. The NBC demographic powerhouse has won two consecutive weeks despite the fact that half of the employees of the titular place of business have been in Tallahassee. The show even managed to assuage my fears of a turn for the soap-y by nailing an A-minus last week in an episode that incorporated a lot of personal relationship storylines.
Meanwhile, 30 Rock has been stumbling just a bit. These certainly haven’t been bad shows by any means. Just not good enough to topple Archer and the Office. Even shows a half-notch below the lofty standards set by what has been the best comedy on television over the last five years still make for great TV more weeks than not.
Archer hasn’t won recently, but the wacky cartoon comedy always seems to be lurking. Will this be the week that ISIS gets back on top? Let’s find out. This was SitCombat for March 1, 2012:
Posted in Commentary, Reviews, Television
Tagged 30 Rock, Adultophobes, Alexis Goodlooking, Archer, Commentary, Georgia Engel, Nikki Finke, Reviews, Richie Havens, SitCombat, Television, The Office, TV
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Time to Light the Fuse on this Rocket Ship
Today marks the final day of voting for Style Weekly‘s annual “Best Of” awards. Style has introduced an award for Best Richmond-based Blog this year. Actually, I’m not sure if this is the first year of the award. But who cares? I didn’t have a blog prior to last year.
Here’s the point: It takes all of two minutes to vote here, and you would be doing me a great favor (one I will never repay) by voting for the Axis of Ego.
Not from Richmond? Even better. Just skip through the nearly-innumerable categories until you get to Best Blog, which I believe is on page five. Then vote for the Axis of Ego. Never been to this blog before today? No problem. Just take my word for it. Couldn’t be simpler. Do it. Make it happen.
Remember: Whether you’re genuine or insincere, your vote counts the same.
I can’t promise anything in return, except my pledge that we’ll share a laugh together in the near future when the very idea of me attempting to win a minor local honor inevitably becomes hilarious.
Every journey begins with a single step and/or online award. This gold-plated bathtub isn’t going to fill itself with jewels. Every vote brings me one step closer to my lifelong dream of acquiring the services of a henchman (or, preferably, henchmen).
Voting closes at midnight. Get to it, people.
Posted in Commentary, Site Stuff
Tagged Commentary, RVA, Self-Promotion, Site Stuff, Style Weekly
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Something I Don’t Miss
I’ve gotten a wonderful head start on becoming an old man who constantly reminisces about how much simpler, purer—and, in many cases, better—life used to be before the ubiquity of the internet made us all navel-gazing babies who expect everything short of a home-cooked meal to materialize instantaneously whenever we click on a link or shout something into our smartphones.
I’ve earned that. But let the record reflect that there are things I do not miss about the latter portion of the twentieth century.
High on that list would be that vile species of creature known as the judgmental video store clerk.
For anyone reading this who happens to be under 20, video stores were physical locations in which customers would travel (often several miles!) in order to peruse a limited selection of films in the hopes that the movie the customer wanted to see happened to be available. If the movie in question wasn’t there, the customer would often select a movie he didn’t want—you know, because he came all that way, after all.
This resulted in a lot of would-be viewers of, say, Pulp Fiction, settling in for an evening replete with Hudson Hawk.
But the convenience aspect of services like my beloved Netflix aren’t even the best part about the modern home movie-watching experience[1].
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Posted in Commentary, General Culture and News
Tagged 1990's, Commentary, Eccentricity, General Culture and News, Humor, Hyperbole, Netflix, Neurosis, Nostalgia, Paranoia, The 90's, Video Stores
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SitCombat: 2/23/12
The Office turned in an outstanding episode with last week’s “Tallahassee,” topping solid efforts from 30 Rock and Archer in the process. Will Jim, Dwight, and company be able to turn in another superior episode with the workforce divided? Will Archer continue what looks to be its strongest season yet? Will 30 Rock give Katrina Bowden more than one line?
(Yes. Yes. No.)
More questions will be answered in this—SitCombat for February 23, 2012:
Posted in Commentary, Reviews, Television
Tagged 30 Rock, Archer, Commentary, Kelly Ka-Who?, Kelly Kapoor, Kelly KaWHO, Leap Dave Williamson, Leap Day, Leap Day William, Reviews, SitCombat, Television, The Office
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Injecting Unwanted Perspective
I do this sometimes.
Also: “Slamdunks?!?”
Posted in General Culture and News, Pictures
Tagged General Culture and News, Humor, Pictures, Poetry Slam, Sarcasm, VCU
1 Comment
Ranking the Dwarfs
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of the first edition of Snow White. Almost all of us are familiar with the Brothers Grimm collected story of the ongoing efforts of an evil queen to snuff out the only woman in all the land more beautiful than she.
What most people probably don’t realize is how Disney altered the plot in a critical way when it released its classic cartoon version of the tale in 1937. I don’t even mean the change to the written ending, which saw a reluctant Queen show up for Snow White’s wedding, only to be ambushed, locked into a pair of iron shoes that had been heated over hot coals, and then forced to dance until she died.
The change to which I’m referring relates to the Seven Dwarves (called the Seven Dwarfs by Disney and others). The Dwarfs were nameless in the original, referred to only as “the first one, the second one,” and so on. There was a more obvious need to name the Dwarfs for the purposes of non-literary versions of the story. For example, the 1912 stage production called them Blick, Flick, Glick, Snick, Plick, Whick, and Quee.
Disney, however, gave each of the seven a distinct personality, complete with a defining characteristic and names to match. However, some of these little guys made out better than others. For no reason aside from my own amusement, here’s a ranking from worst-to-first of Snow White’s seven companions.
Posted in Commentary, Movies
Tagged Commentary, Disney, Humor, Movies, Silliness, Snow White, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
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SitCombat: 3/8/12
Last week’s compliment of shows was one of the strongest since I’ve been running this little recurring feature. The Office came in THIRD with a B-plus. Archer put together probably one of its two best episodes of the season, yet still wound up bowing to an incredibly funny, Arrested-Development-caliber episode of 30 Rock.
This was SitCombat for March 8, 2012:
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