Thursday, June 30

Glee Project Review

I've seen three first episodes of the new reality show of The Glee Project from Oxygen Network. I don't have Oxygen, I am able to see it on Hulu. 12 contestants compete singing, acting, dancing to be an character on Glee. The ones that stand out Damien (who has been in the bottom three thrice), Alex (openly gay African-American), Matheus (a real shorty), Emily (loud flirt) and Hannah (Plus size individual). Each episode they get an assignment like Individuality, Vulnerability and Theatrically. They get a homework song and got one line each and the guest host from the show (Darren Criss or other minor guest stars so far)--the guest picks a standout and they get focus in the music video they do in the middle of the episode. They record vocals with Nikki and then do a music video. From the music video, Robert (cast director) and Zach (choreographer) pick 3 weak links and then they have the bottom 3 sing a song each and they pick who goes home. Pretty easy huh? Well, singing, dancing and acting all together is not the easiest thing.

I won't reveal who has been cast out already, but we already got some personalities out. Like Lindsay, who everyone else feels is a bitch but she doesn't think so, and she just won't stop talking. How Mathias can work his sexy and maybe be a Diva.. or a Divo. Ellis, the negative-nelly. And Emily, who uses comedy to mask her hurt and is a heavy flirt. Alex, seems to be one of the big contenders to win, with his talent and winning personality and willingness to show his vulnerable side. Who I think might fade in the background are Samuel, McKynleigh, and Marissa. But we can always be wrong. I already love Damian and rooting for him and Hannah.


Thursday, June 16

Jem and the Holograms finally some action: Reruns on Hub

For years I wanted a live-action movie or a revival of Jem and the Holograms, which for a cartoon in the 80's that was made to promote dolls and fashions, had great music and awesome writing, mixing comedy, soap-opera drama, lessons and un-apologetic feminism. Hasbro (who made the toys) bought back the license two years back and now on their channel The Hub, the 80's cartoon has been airing since May. Hasbro has also registered 4 domain names that are Jem related: jerricabenton.com (which redirects to Hasbro's home page,) showtimesynergy.com, jemmovie.com, and jemandthehologramsmovie.com (these three do not redirect).

Christy Marx (who was given the task to create the cartoon and is loved by fans) has long expressed a desire to make a modern day revival of the animated series, but stated in a 2004 interview that there are a great deal of complications concerning the rights to the Jem

properties.

"I would like to see that happen. I don't want to go into a lot of detail, but the whole rights situation for Jem is very, very complicated. Believe me, if there were a simple straightforward way to do it, it would be done. But there are some very big complications that are in the way at the moment." --Christy Marx.

On March 23, 2011, Christy Marx announced that Shout! Factory and Hasbro are working together to re-release the entire series to DVD. I have the first set from Rhino, which was season 1 and 2. The Rhino DVDs were great, they had great box art inside and great menus. Given the recent success of G.I. Joe and Transformers, Hasbro is said to be considering a live-action movie with Universal, with whom Hasbro signed a six-movie contract last year, or a new incarnation of the animated series. Rumor is Christy Marx is working on the new project. November 30, 2010: Hasbro added the trademarks Jerrica Benton, Kimber Benton, Aja Leith, Shana Elmsford, Rio Pacheco, and Minx for "G & S: Dolls, doll clothing and doll accessories; toy figures and playsets for use therewith." The odd thing about the trademarks are the (Christy Marx-Sunbow) given names, not the original doll names. Very strange that the original Holograms, one Stinger (Minx) stage name has been added, but no Misfits.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/04/28/jem-is-back-on-the-hub/
http://www.wiredprnews.com/2011/06/16/hey-pop-culture-fans-jem-is-back-on-tv_2011061620002.html
http://www.fangirltastic.com/content/yes-hasbro-working-new-jem-and-holograms-movie-and-series

Official Site on the Hub:
http://www.hubworld.com/jem-and-the-holograms/shows/jem-and-the-holograms

The Hub states that since it's return to television, Jem and the Holograms is one of it's highest rated/watched programs. With this success, there is speculation of a 25th anniversary Jem doll toyline return along with related merchandise by Hasbro. The dolls started in 1985, the 25th anniversary would had been 2010 or early 2011.

Sunday, June 12

Tina Russo Duck

There is a new Cartoon Network's The Looney Tunes Show and other than bringing back most of the Looney Tunes brood, they also added some females. There is a new female duck Tina Russo, I thought I'd talk a little bit about a few female ducks that have been paired up with Daffy in the past.
Tina Russo Duck
Daffy's beautiful girlfriend in Cartoon Network's The Looney Tunes Show, though her name and design have been inconsistent. Initially referenced as "Marisol" during production, she was first renamed Tina Duck, then Tina Russo on the show's website. She works at a shop entitled "Copy Place", and claims to be attracted to her wacky boyfriend because she "loves a project." She is best friends with Lola Bunny (voiced by Kristen Wigg out of all people).

The character has also had several visual overhauls; at first given lavender feathers and purple hair, she was more recently redesigned to have yellow feathers and brown hair.

Melissa Duck appeared in adult form in the original Looney Tunes short Chuck Jones's The Scarlet Pumpernickel (1950) which was, in 1994, voted number 31 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. In the cartoon, she appears as a blonde damsel-in-distress and Daffy Duck's love interest. The plot followed Daffy attempting to save Fair Lady Melissa from having to marry the evil Grand Duke Sylvester with whom she is not in love.

Baby Melissa Duck
In Baby Looney Tunes (2002-2005), Melissa Duck often sticks with Petunia. She is a highly ambitious, but at times she can be a control freak and get on the others nerves.

Daffy Duck has also appeared married in other Looney Tunes cartoons. For the most, Daffy's wife, usually referred to as Mrs. Daffy Duck, holds dominance over him in the marriage, forcing him to take an interest in their eggs or ducklings. Most of them have been referred to as Mrs. Daffy Duck.

Wednesday, June 8

Dire Straits - Money For Nothing -- Homophobic??!

I grew up with the Dire Straits - Money For Nothing song that came out in 1985 and loved the 'I want MTV' line and loved the music video--one of the firsts to use computer graphics. If you don't know, this is the song that says 'Microwave ovens' and 'I want my MTV.' But I listened it today on the radio (103.5 FM) and my dad thought it was a remix and it was actual the original song because it says 'faggot.' I was shocked to hear the word 'faggot' on the radio. I was shocked but yeah, this song has been controversial for years, for it being homophobic, sexist and more other stuff.

Monday, June 6

Bridesmaids Movie Review

A delightful and funny bust-out comedy, with the director Paul Fieg ("The Office", "Arrested Development" and played Mr. Eugene Pool in "Sabrina the Teenage Witch") with a script written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumulo. Kristen Wiig plays Annie, who has the task of being her childhood friend Lillian's (Maya Rudolph) maid of honor. We barely see Lillian's groom to be Dougie (Tim Heidecker of Tim and Eric). My best friend says she feels something is missing without Eric around. Tim barely speaks. Anyway, Annie lost all her money in her dream bakery and lost her boyfriend and is now living with two fat weirdo siblings and working at a jewelry store, having to see happy couples. She butts heads with Lillian's new friend Helen (Rose Byrne) who seems to be perfect at everything. She meets Officer Nathan (Chris O'Dowd) who is Irish but they never mention it, just about his accent. Of course when we first meet him, we know that they are going to get involved but the journey is interesting, he is an interesting and fully fleshed out character.

The men don't get much talking. Most of the roles are filled by comedians in this movie. Other than Tim Heidecker, Andy Buckley (David Wallace of "The Office") plays Helen's husband but gets zero lines. Supposedly he is Dougie's employer. Anyway, that's not important. What is important are the scene stealing Bridesmaids, a good mix: Wendi McLendon-Covey (Reno 911) as Rita, Lillian's cousin; Elie Kemper (The Office) as Becca, Lillian's young newlywed co-worker and the super talented Melissa McCarthy as Megan, Dougie's sister. Everything manages to go wrong for Annie, to not say much: the engagement party speech outranking, bridesmaid dress fitting becomes a diarrhea-laugh-o-rama, bacholerette party airplane trip to Las Vegas gone awry because of Annie's plane-obia and Helen's backstabbing one-upswomanship.

At 2 hours and 5 minutes, the movie is really a heart-felt movie, also with laugh-out-loud gross-out scenes and lots of cursing, but it has well-written dialogue that you must listen to but also has a lot of sympathy. Annie is really at a crossroads, when she thinks that things can't go bad, they do and sadness does become dark but like any heroine, she gets out of her funk. By the end of the movie, not all her problems are solved and the end does make one believe that this world will continue and she will find happiness and fulfill her dreams, like all of us. Ah yes and I must mention Jon Hamm as her fuck buddy who is a jerk. I know people find him hot, but to me and my friend, not much. Shirtless, he is pale and full of birthmarks and kind of chubby. The movie opens up with her and him fucking around and then her doing the walk of shame.

She wears heart earrings in the movie, I pay attention so much to props and details. She wears heart earrings in the normal and devastating moments of the movie. In some pivotal scenes, she wears round circle earrings. In the scene where she has sex with Nathan, where she makes up with Lillian and in the final wedding scene where she wears pearl earrings.