Pop Culture Curmudgeon pop culture roundup

Pop Culture Roundup, June 24

Want to skip directly to the Supernatural stuff? Here you go.

The Golden Age of Hipper Than Thou CD Fetishization Begins Now
Remember when our parent all claimed records were way better than CDs? Now, we can tell our kids that CDs are way better than these silly digital files.

An Industry Split in the Comcast/NBC Universal Deal
The Director’s Guild of America and the Writer’s Guild of America have diverging viewpoints on whether the Comcast/NBC Universal merger is a good idea. Both sides have valid points, but I can’t help but think too much consolidation is a bad thing. I mean, I still can’t get Comcast Sports NW in the northwest unless I subscribe to Comcast cable, so I can’t help but think that putting Comcast in charge of NBC will eventually mean less access to NBC on other cable/satellite providers.

Your Ex-Boyfriend, Pop Culture, and You
This blogger started watching True Blood with her ex, and kept the show after she dumped him. What about you: what new tastes did you pick up from your exes, and which things can you never watch or listen to again?

Television Review: Memphis Beat
It was nice to see Earl back on the screen, even though Earl looked weird in a sport coat. And, yes, I am implying that Jason Lee’s new character needs a little work before it is distinct from Earl, other than the different look. Did you watch Memphis Beat? If so, did you like it? I’m not sold yet, but I’m also finding myself much more discriminating about my television shows these days.

Sage Professor Blends Pop Culture and Academia
Why did they not have classes like this when I was in college? I mean, I took some great classes, such as Media Theory and Criticisim and Women, Minorities, and the Media. And my State and Local Politics class somehow got co-opted into All Malcom X, All the Time (the movie came out that term). But, I never got to take a class where I could discuss current popular literature, let alone anything with sci fi, fantasy, or supernatural elements.

TV Review: The Gates
I finally caught an episode of Pretty Little Liars, but I missed The Gates this week. I am going to have to get more comfortable watching my TV shows online, because nothing seems to work with my schedule, and I know it’s just going to get worse after the baby is born. Anyway, I know our loyal reader Katie was not blown away by the gates, but I’d love to know what the rest of you thought of it. Or if you even bothered to watch yet another vamp show.

Amanda Bynes: Is Her Retirement Real?
So, this is the weirdest story of this week. Who retires on Twitter?

True Blood Stars Maintain Their Sexy Reputations
Ryan Kwanten is releasing a sex guide, and Alexander Skarsgard will star in Battleship. When I first heard about Battleship, I decided that Hollywood was much too desperate for new ideas. But, if Eric Northman is there, so am I.

Supernatural News

The Winchester Brothers Get Animated in Alleged Supernatural Concept Art
I like the Sam concepts, but Dean doesn’t quite work for me. But, I’m not really the target, as I’m not a big anime fan.

Supernatural Lead Actors Voicing Two Episodes of Anime Adaptation
More on the anime show. Everything is so up in the air with these details that it is hard to know what it true. But, I think it would be great of the boys provided their voice talent–good for the anime series, and good for the boys’ earning power.

Early Look: Supernatural Season 5 Blu Ray and DVD
Looks like there will be some fun special features on the disc set. Are you going to replace your older DVD sets with the new Blu-ray editions as they are released? Or will you just keep them and switch to Blu-ray with this season?

Also, there are some spoilers coming out, so visit the spoilers page if you want to know.

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Pop Culture Roundup, June 17

Want to skip directly to the Supernatural stuff? Here you go.

Superfan Lindsay Lohan Not Wanted on True Blood
Schadenfreude? Yes.

Sam Raimi Circles Wizard of Oz Prequel
Well, it’s probably not the worst idea. (A remake of Arthur is the worst idea.)

Game Changer? Paramount & Red Box Enter Pact to Release Day and Date in the Sell-Through Market After 10-Month Test
Well, that title, possibly the longest ever, sums it up. The execs at Paramount realized that Red Box is not the reason for poor DVD sales. People who would buy won’t be affected by the availability of rentals. Hopefully, the other studioes will follow suit and will craft the same agreements with Netflix.

Pretty Little Liars Bucks the Trend, Retains 100% of Its Premiere Audience
I admit it: I haven’t watched Pretty Little Liars yet. And I don’t know why. It looks like I will love it.

Feminism and Pop Culture
This looks like a book I will enjoy. I’ll have to check to see if we have it at our library.

Supernatural News

Could Jensen Ackles or Nina Dobrev Win an Emmy?
Well, I don’t think any of us expect such a thing to happen, but it is nice to see the network get behind its popular shows and campaign for them to get an Emmy nod.

Teen Choice Awards 2010: Supernatural Nominated as Best Fantasy/Sci Fi TV Show
This is an award that is a little bit more likely. Visit the post for a link to the voting–you can vote once per day.

Supernatural: Confirmation that Jensen Ackles Is Directing an Episode
It’s always fun to see the results when a star moves behind the camera.

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Pop Culture Roundup, June 13

The good thing about being late posting this is all of the weekend stories I can include.

Want to skip directly to the Supernatural stuff? Here you go.

Karate Kids Double-Kicks A-Team’s Butt
I did not see this one coming. I didn’t think The A-Team movie would do so well–I mean, no movies have done that well so far this summer season–but I had no idea that Karate Kid would be such a winner. Good for the Smiths and everyone else involved.

The most interesting part of the Deadline.com story, though is the section in which Nikki Finke discusses Hollywood’s continued reliance on tired remakes (I hate the term re-imaginings). If you have to do a remake, pick one where you really can make it better (not just different), it continues to have some level of cultural relevance, and it was successful in the first place. Otherwise, we’ll be seeing Uncle Buck and Harry & the Henderson’s remakes soon.

True Blood Ready to Flow Again
This is the show I’m most excited about this summer. I absolutely love True Blood, and I am eagerly awaiting my weekly Lafayette fix. How about you? Is True Blood your go-to summer show? Or are you a fan of something else?

The Twilight Body: Keeping Up with Supernatural Fitness
Well, there is one thing we fans of paranormal romance know: The dudes are always super-fit. Here’s a look at one of the Twilight actor’s does to fit that role.

Teen Soap Pretty Little Liars Stretches the Truth
What? Everything on TV is not an exact representation of real life? Actually, I would argue that the perspectives of teen shows (absent/unimportant parents, focus on sex and other vices) are actually quite true, from the teen perspective. I firmly believed that my parents had nothing to do with my life. And I cared about only superficial things. How about you?

How 3D Movies and Television Can Impact Our Eyesight
Curious about the effects of technology on your peepers? Watch this video for the scoop.

TV Gal Signs Off
Perhaps my sadness over this is the reason I put off my roundup this week. I have been a long-time fan of Amy’s column, and I will miss it. I wish her and her family all the best, though!

Special Focus on Sports
So, the sports world has been abuzz this week with talk of the college sports re-alignment. I don’t know how I feel about Oklahoma and the like being considered “Pacific” teams, but it doesn’t look like I have much choice in the matter.

Supernatural News

Supernatural Becomes a Japanese Anime from the Creators of Death Note
Again with the big surprises. I never even thought about SPN’s anime crossover potential. But that is why Kripke is the creator: he did.

Summer for Supernatural: News, Rumors and Speculation
Some ideas of what might be coming to our show next year.

Glee’s Cory Monteith” Supernatural Monster’s Midnight Snack
Desperate link bait or not, I thought this was interesting enough to make me watch Wendigo again. And, yeah, that toally was Finn. Sadly, it was not one of those cases where I could say, “No wonder he looked familiar!” Monteith didn’t make enough of an impression on me. However, when hubby watch Four Brothers this weekend, I was able to say that about Ed O’Neill’s wife on Modern Family. She had quite a large role in that film, and she really did look familiar to me on the Modenr Family pilot.

Review: Supernatural Novel, The Unholy Cause
Another SPN tie-in novel. Would anyone be interested in a contest for these types of books here?

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for a copy of One Bloody Thing After Another by Joey Comeau. The winner will be announced Tuesday.

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Pop Culture Roundup, May 27

ABC called the Lost finale the TV event of the decade, and the interwebs certainly support that assertion. I did strive to include stories about things other than Lost this week, though.

Lost Recaps/Reactions
Other TV Stories
Supernatural

Lost Recaps/Reactions

Let’s Talk Lost: The Series Finale
Viewer comments on the series finale. It seems like a lot of people think they all died in the plane crash. I think they all died at different times, as we saw in the show, then their spirits found each other in the sideways world. And, yes, that means I believe everything that happened on the island was real. I mean, Christian said something about how “now” doesn’t matter here and that some died before Jack and some died after. What do you think happened?

Lost: The End Finally Arrives in the Series Finale
Ryan’s last Zap2It recap. He shares his reactions more than a scene-by-scene recap of the episode, and his insights are always great fun to read. I will miss Ryan’s recaps almost as much as I miss the show. He reminds me of, well, me when I used to talk about Twin Peaks with my friends, both in person and online, about what we all thought the various details of the show meant. Ryan got to share his thoughts with a much wider group than I did back in 1990-91, though.

Lost: Behind the Numbers of a TV Phenomenon
A look at the economics of Lost and its ability to continue to draw viewers (and dollars) even through it highly serialized nature and increasing complexity.

‘Lost’ Exclusive: ABC Sets the Record Straight about the Series Finale’s Plane Crash Images
ABC, not the show creators, was responsible for the plane crash images at the end of Lost. They hold no meaning relevant to the finale.

Other TV Stories

SoapNet Will Go Dark to Make Way for Disney Junior
TV is our cigarettes. (Yes, I’m referring to the smoking toddler from Indonesia.) The last thing we need is more impetus for kids to sit in front of the TV more hours at a young age.

Interview: Chuck Co-creator Chris Fedak Post Mortems Season Three
What did you think of this past season of Chuck? Compare your opinions to Fedak’s.

Hilarie Burton Heads to White Collar
Finally, a former CW star who is moving in the right direction, unlike our other friends who have gone on to soap stardom, including Sheriff Lamb from Veronica Mars and a couple people from Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill.

Supernatural

Castiel & Bobby to Return in Supernatural Season Six, Plus Spoilers
It seems a little early for season 6 spoilers, but apparently here some are. Don’t click the link if, like me, you prefer to remain unspoiled.

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