Thumbs Up- Slaughterhouse 90210
This blog presents mash-ups but instead of mixing together different songs, it takes screen shots of television shows and putting them together with quotes from literature. Although some people might doubt the power of mixing low and highbrow entertainment, the quotes add an interesting perspective on the situations of the show. You don’t need to know the quote to get them, but it does help to know the shows. Here are a couple of my favorites:
“To remain alone did not seem to me a terrible fate, no worse than being falsely joined to another person.”
— Curtis Sittenfeld, American Wife
“If there’s one thing girls’ parents don’t want to see in you it’s whatever it is their daughters see in you.”
—Martin Amis, The Rachel Papers
“He created his own Kool Aid reality and was able to illuminate himself by it.”
— Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America
“Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”
— Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights
Check out the rest at http://slaughterhouse90210.tumblr.com/.
Childish Gambino – Thumbs Up
Community on NBC became my favorite comedy this TV season, surpassing The Office and Parks and Recreation, and narrowly edging out Modern Family. It is one of the few shows that actually makes me laugh out loud on a regular basis. It has the perfect balance of goofiness and believability that lets its fantastic writing really shine through.
I originally tuned in because I met Joel McHale, the best known actor from the show, a few years ago, and chatted with him about the NFL (how the Packers were doing and how there is no team in LA). I had no idea who he was at the time and my sister had to tell me he was the guy from The Soup. I then had to Google The Soup to figure out what she was talking about. However, Joel is no longer my favorite actor on the show. That designation is now held by Don Glover, who plays the character Troy, a former high school football star.
It wasn’t Don’s acting that propelled him into Thumbs Up territory, but rather his rapping under the name Childish Gambino. I was introduced to his music a week and a half ago, and have been listening to it non-stop ever since. Because of his comedy background (Don was also a writer for the 30 Rock) Childish Gambino’s lyrics are probably the most clever and funny that I have ever heard (“Stay hard like my suit made by Tony Stark/This kind of music make your balls drop, Dick Clark.”) At the same time, he delivers them in a believable way, something which other rappers with a comedic edge oftentimes fail to do.
Check out my two favorite Childish Gambino songs below:
Vuvuzelas – Thumbs Down
The vuvuzelas, the horns that soccer/football fans were blowing at the Confederations Cup tournament for the past two weeks in South Africa, deserve a big thumbs down. They were given away free to fans, and the fans blew them constantly throughout the game. It made the broadcasts of the games sound like a giant beehive. They reportedly drowned out some TV commentary on certain networks, although I didn’t have a problem watching the USA vs Brazil final on ESPN.
FIFA,the world football governing body, has stated that they will address the vuvuzelas before the start of the 2010 World Cup, also held in South Africa. Players, coaches, commentators, and fans have called for the ban of these horns claiming that they are annoying and making it difficult for the players to communicate and concentrate. On the other hand, the vuvuzelas are part of the local football culture in South Africa and the president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter stated, “We should not try to Europeanise an African World Cup.”
My take on the matter is that the horns are probably a lot of fun to use and might improve the live atmosphere at the game, but for the World Cup, which draws huge television audiences worldwide, the vuvuzelas negatively impact the viewing experience too greatly to justify their use. One option that I’ve heard thrown around is to allow them for games in which South Africa, the host country, is playing. I would recommend this course of action for FIFA to take, as this would allow the local fans to use them in support of their country, but would avoid the annoying beehive noise during the majority of television broadcasts.
LOST Book Club – Thumbs Up
Full disclosure: I’m a huge LOST nerd. Staying true to form, I was checking out the LOST website on ABC.com one night. Eventually, I stumbled upon a link to the “LOST book club.” Intrigued, I clicked on.
Essentially, the LOST book club is a collection of books that are in some way connected to the show. On The Road, by Jack Kerouac, for example, is featured because Ben Linus assumes one of the main character’s names in a fake passport. Island, by Aldous Huxley, is included because the Pala ferry is named after the eponymous island.
The books on the list certainly won’t contain any major revelations on the show – reading Walden Two can’t tell you the nature of the smoke monster – but they do allow the reader to draw interesting thematic connections and see which works have inspired Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, the head writers of the show.
As shallow as it sounds, the LOST book club gave me a good reason to pick up some classic literary works that I hadn’t gotten around to reading yet. It is a fine reading list that will undoubtedly keep me occupied for many lazy summer afternoons. I’d recommend checking it out to anyone looking for a way to pass some time this summer. At the very least, reading them will provide for an enriching experience. Besides, there’s only so much Hal0 3 you can play every day.
