TV Show: Superstars

Fail! I was very much anticipating this as a good show to watch with the boys. Both Mrs. Sexy and I told the boys of our fond memories of watching this show and Battle of the Network Stars when we were their age. It was light-hearted and it was neat to see all the sports and tv celebrities doing doing different competitions. Of course, I loved the the Laff-alympics too. That Dasterdly Dog always got his in the end...

The Superstars included a pretty D-List of athletes and celebrities. The only real star is Terrell Owens. On my athlete dislike scale, he falls somewhere between Chad Ochocinco and Chris Pronger. I only want bad things to happen to him but I gotta get in line behind karma, who has a laundry list of T.O. butt-kickin to do. I am going to admit I liked his I Love Me Some Me t-shirts from Hard Knocks last year. It is telling that my favorite team might be Jeff Kent and Ali Landry. I have always disliked Jeff Kent. Perhaps unfairly as it all started with the Giants trading my favorite baseball player, Matt Williams for him. Then it continued when he was a tool. I had to IMDB Ali Landry. I've heard her name, but she didn't look familiar. You know what I found out. She hasn't been in anything! She seems nice though.

It really wasn't the contestants that makes this suck. It is the horrible production value. John Saunders is over selling the play-by-play. He needs to loosen up and have more fun with it. The editing is poor, but most of all, I HATE when a show teases what's coming up every 5 minutes and when they come back from commerical shows you the last 5 minutes of the show. The show is 90 minutes long and it has to be about 15 minutes of actual show.

The Big Sexy says AVOID. 2 D-List Stars out of 5.

Band of the Month: The National

"I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders... I'm the new blue blood, I'm the great white hope. I won't fuck us over. I'm Mr. November!"

It seems like every month I have a band that I can just not stop listening too. I will listen to them at work, in my car, on the eliptical and doing chores. When I'm not listening to them, I'm singing some of my favorite passages, like the one above, from the band off key. This month's Big Sexy Band of the Month is The National.

The National have been around for several years. They were critically acclaimed and when their latest release came out a couple years ago, I gave it a cursory listen and then dismissed it. But the more you listen to them, the more they etch into your soul. Matt Berninger sings with a very soulful baritone, that is not immediately appreciable. However, he is a strong poet. The meloncholy yet catchy rhythms of their songs highlight the emotions in the songs. I am a big sucker for excellent lyrics and it seems like every song has a line or two that lands somewhere between cool and brilliant.

Check them out!

Previous Big Sexy Bands of the Month...

January - Kings of Leon
February - Lifter Puller
March - Radiohead
April - Kings of Leon
May - Green Day

Movie Review: Up

I love going to the movies. Even kid movies. For the most part, I would want to see most of the kid movies even if I didn't have kids. While I have been suckered into a few very bad kid movies over the years (I'm looking at you, Speed Racer), I have more than made up for it by seeing absolutely wonderful films. One of these wonderful films is the newly released Up.

Up is the latest jewel from the fabulous Pixar studio. I usually like the Pixar films, but this is right up there near the top for me. I'll admit, I completely missed the boat on Wall*E. I got the message there, I just didn't care for it. Yet it garnered scads of spectacular reviews and won an Oscar. Therefore, despite knowing good reviews going in, I wasn't confident it would find a place in my heart. I was wrong.

Up isn't based on a marketing strategy or distributed with the focus of selling more Happy Meals or action heroes. The story is a very heartfelt one about an old man dealing with his last years and the loss of his soul mate. It felt deep and layered. The essense of the story was much more than just the action scenes involving his flying balloon house or being chased by dog. The real message here is that your life is an adventure. It doesn't matter what you possess or where you go. As long as you are with the people you love, life is all the adventure you need. That is such a great message!

I loved the wordless montage at spans Carl and Elly's life together through her death. It isn't often at an animated picture that you cry more than once. The movie has remarkable animation that I have come to expect from Pixar. There are also many funny lines and good action for the kiddies. I love Doug the Dog whose collar allows him to speak his thoughts. He's very cute and funny.

I recommend Up to every type of person, regardless or their age or political affiliation. Even Republicans would like it! I'm giving it 4 big, colorful floating balloons (out of 5).

TV Review: Glee

I never thought I would love a show that was based in a high school. I have never even watched the TV show Friday Nights Lights and I loved the book and enjoyed the movie. I know it was only one pilot episode so I should maybe allow the show to breathe a bit and grow some legs. The pilot episode of Glee was outstanding! I'm ticked that Fox screwed with me by not having another show of Glee ready until the Fall. They just wanted to tease me. F'ing Fox.

Some shows about high school make you fondly recall your high school days. They make you relive your own experiences or imagine yourself in situations you wish you would have been in. That's not the case with me. Maybe if there was a 40 year old version of high school, I would try out for some kind of theater but I never had any wish to have done that back in the day. Glee is just a good opportunity to mix television and musical theater. It has never been sucessfully done but I hope this is one that makes it.

I'm not a big fan of network tv. Sure, I LOVE 30 Rock. I like-like How I Met Your Mother. I've decided to remain friends (with benefits?) with The Office despite a rough stretch. I was ready to be mildly amused by, but be able to take or leave Glee. I am actively taking right now! It is right up my alley. The only negative I have with it right now is I don't really like any of the characters. Not that I dislike any of them.They all have their foables, but maybe that will make them that much more three dimensional as the show grows.

The pilot episode introduced us to a collection of characters and some of their motivations and situations as we currently find them. I'm not sure if a big glee club competition actually exists or if high schools even have glee clubs. When I think of Glee Clubs, I think of fancy-pants ivy league gents forming clubs with name like "The Aca-fellas". But on Glee, the collection of high schoolers from a variety of backgrounds and motiviations are forming a club to win the district title and save the club from elimination. The stage has been set for many paths to follow of the ensemble class.

I love musical theater. My favorite musical of all time is Spring Awakening. It is coming to Sacramento in November as a special birthday present to me. I am very nervous about the set and production at the Community Center Theater after seeing it twice on Broadway (once from on the stage =o) ). I strongly urge you to check it out while it is in town.

Subset list... Big Sexy's Top 5 Musicals

1. Spring Awakening

2. Rent

3. Jesus Christ Superstar

4. Avenue Q

5. Chicago

Back to Glee... The pilot episode (and I expect each episode) includes a glee club version of a couple of songs and some snipets of others. They rocked Don't Stop Believin by Journey as the main piece but also Rehab by Amy Winehouse. Clearly the best singer is Lea Michele. Lea plays the student who has been groomed for this all her life. She shined on Don't Stop Believin! It made the hairs on the back of my back stand up. And I'm not surprised. Lea was the female lead, Wendela, in, wait for it, Spring Awakening.

I'm giving Glee 4 1/2 High Notes (out of 5). Can't wait for new episodes!

DVD Review: Happy Go Lucky

I wanted to like this movie. I wanted to see it when it was at Tower. It just screamed "feel-good" movie to me. I knew I would finish seeing the movie and be a happier and better person for the experience. Looking at all of that, how could a little British movie not be a little disappointing? It had to be. Sorry for the pressure, mates.

Happy Go Lucky centers around Poppy, a 30 year woman who is unendingly positive and happy. There isn't too much of a story so much as her interactions with various types of people in her life. I would expect that through these interactions either Poppy or the people that crossed her life would change, for better or worse. Thing was, they really didn't. Pricks were still pricks, homeless people were still crazy and she was still living with rose colored glasses. I suppose that is a testament to it being good filmmaking and not something that ended up being cliche'.

I very much appreciate her outlook on life and I try to a positive and happy outlook on my own life. But not very long into the movie, Poppy was very annoying. It wasn't her positivity or joy, per se. There was just something about her that made me want to choke a bitch. I was surprised it took more than 90 minutes into the movie that someone actually acted on my impulse.

Overall, it was an ok movie. It didn't make me unhappy but it didn't move me as I'd hoped. I'll give it 3 smiley faces (out of five).