Yesterday was Veteran's Day in the US. Many people took the time to thank the people in their lives that had served and fought in the military. But it might be easy to forget that soldiers who travel to far-off places leave behind not only human loved ones, but beloved pets, as well.
OKAY! I have had enough! Today we're talking about good things, dammit. I've had enough of celeb DUIs, the Gosselins, Lindsay Lohan's tragic life and everything else we wake up to every day. So join me in a little celebration of simple pleasures, won't you? I'd like to talk about Improv Everywhere.
If anyone deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, it's the creators of the Internet Movie Database. Can you imagine how many arguments have been settled because of that site? And would you believe that it's been around 19 years as of this past Saturday?
Last night was the season premiere of Heroes, brought to you by Boston and clam chowder. I was excited. I was also tired after dealing with important parenting matters. Heroes was to be my escape. It was 2 hours long, now with an extra hour of commercials!
It turns out that I couldn't remember crap from last season. I was lost at times, but instead of a smoke monster I had a warm beer and a lot of questions. Apparently last season didn't leave much of an impression. I checked to make sure House was being recorded.
This week's edition of the bible of popular culture - aka Entertainment Weekly - features on its cover the three stars of a movie that actually won't be released until sometime in 2010, which scientific research shows is actually a reference to next year despite sounding like some make-believe time in the way-off, far distant future. The movie in question, of course, is Iron Man II, and features the improbably successful Robert Downey Jr. as the title superhero, Mickey Rourke as some superbadass, and Scarlett Johansson as... uh... someone who is apparently in the movie to piss off Gwenyth Paltrow. Personally I'm somewhat indifferent to the dynamics of Johansson vs. Paltrow, but if it features either one of them looking reasonably hot and wrapped up in spandex, then - if I may be so bold as to speak for the heterosexual males of North America - boo to the yaa.
Of course, not every superhero movie/comic book adaptation has been quite so star-studded, critically lauded and mainstream-embraced as the first Iron Man, or The Dark Knight, or.... well, you get the idea. Between the launch of the modern superhero movie with 1978's Superman and next year's Iron Man II, there have been a handful of less-renowned but nonetheless culturally essential films du genre worthy of your attention. And insofar as that the good people of MamaPop live to educate and enlighten, we hereby present you with a quick overview of some comic book adaptations that might have slipped past your otherwise foolproof radar.
For the second time this year, a sports team in my home city, Pittsburgh, won a major championship and provided me with at least a week of sports-related good mood when the Pittsburgh Penguins brought home the Stanley Cup. Of course, the win itself was awesome and capped off a truly exciting season and getting to celebrate has been terrific. But one of the best parts of a big sports event are the montages. I. Love. Montages.
"Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer has decided to take a break from social media. I guess she couldn't handle the MySpace.
Word on the street (and by the street, I mean the internet. Neither Stephenie Meyer nor I spend much time on actual streets with real people) is that once upon a time Ms. Meyer made great use of MySpace and spent a lot of time responding to fans.
Of course, at some point the whole Twilight went supernova. It exploded into four novels and movies and a religion.
Listen, Steph, it isn't that I don't understand social media burnout. I have learned to not even open up Facebook or Tweetdeck if I am trying to work on a deadline. Here is the thing:
Ever since they came out almost two years ago I have coveted my neighbor's Kindle.
Books and electronic handheld technology combined? It makes me all warm on the insides.
Since we can all agree that the best thing in the whole world is the iPhone, (Don't even try to deny it. The only people who disagree are people who don't have one. *she sings* I'd like to buy the world an iPhone and keep it company.) what is the one thing that would make Sarah the happiest in the whole world?
(Not including the ability to lose weight while eating bacon and drinking beer and watching Tampa Bay winning the Super Bowl whilst receiving oral sex, because clearly that would be better than what I am about to tell you about, but not by much.)
Behold: The Kindle App for the iPhone:
Look at me, I'm multitasking! I'm dang near multitasktastic! Huzzah!
Sooooo you might have heard by now that I've gone cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs over this Dollhouse show, to such a degree that I'm practically harassing the internet about it. The internet might have to take a restraining order out on my ass, in fact. I mean, I am after all a documented stalker. BOO! FEAR ME!!!!
Oh c'mon, please? sigh.
But to give credit and/or blame where credit and/or blame is due, I watched almost all of Dollhouse entirely by way of Hulu.com, that new-fangled TV on the internet thing all the kids have been talking about. And it's really quite remarkable. TV! On your computer! It's like we're living in the 21st Century or something!!! Oh, wait...
The AV Club has another fantastic and thought-provoking, loosely list-based article that asks its writers and readers to list "Things we want to experience again for the first time."
Unlike my fellow goth cougars - and goth cougars in training (I get it Dana, you are not, OMG, ew, old) - here at MamaPop, I did not purchase the Twilight DVD this past weekend. Not that I didn't want to - I hear that the commentary track is pretty freaking hysterical - it's just that I was busy doing other things, like playing with my kids and reading the entire archives of a wiki-blog devoted entirely to all things Twilight. Which, at the time, seemed way funner that watching Robert Pattinson defies the laws of gravity and physics with his hair.
What was even funner? Following the links from the aforementioned wiki-blog to some insanely funny discussion threads between people speculating upon and acting out the life of the Cullen family, pre (and eventually post) Bella. IMfic! OMG! LULZ!
Have finally embraced terminal geekdom. It was good knowing you.
Exciting news for pop culture junkies: VH1 is producing brand new episodes of their classic series, Behind the Music, which will premiere this summer.
LA Weekly raves: "Of all the movies shot in a garage this year, this one is definitely the garage-iest."
Listen, I'm not usually a person who's prone to hysteria or anything, so it should actually mean something when I say the following to you: OH MY GOD YOU GUYS, I FOUND THE MOST AWESOMEST AWESOMETASTIC WEBSITE CONSTRUCTED FROM 100% PURE GRADE-A AWESOME EVAR!1!!! (PS: AWESOME!!!!)
No really, it's quite good.
But before I unveil the AWESOME!! in question, be warned: once you click over to this site you will lose whole hours, nay, most of an entire work day, to what you find there. It is not a place for people who have any intention of being "productive" (which, ehh, probably doesn't describe most MamaPop readers (or writers, for that matter), so whatevs). Regardless, I think it only right and fair to say upfront: TIMESUCK WARNING AHOY!!! and stuff. Word? Alrighty then.
As someone who might be, ehh, just a wee bit addicted to Twitter, I was pleased to discover that recent technological advances have been brought to bear on Twitterdom that will now allow me to conveniently stalk hunt creepily shadow follow en masse all notable (and some not-so-notable) celebrities presently using the site.
God I love the internet. So much so, in fact, the internet might have to take out a restraining order against me!
Oh, Criterion. How do I love thee? You release stunning remastered DVDs of every awesome movie ever, from Amarcord to Dazed and Confused. As soon as I hit the lottery, I'm buying every single movie in their collection.
If they weren't already awesome enough, Criterion has joined the league of sites to offer free streaming media online.
Being asked to compile a best-of list always makes me happy that I have a blog, because I can never remember anything, not even pop culture that I've enjoyed in a 12-month period. But I have a "plop culture" category that I spent a few minutes perusing this morning and I said a lot of things like, "Oh, YEAH, that WAS awesome!"
MAMAPOP IS SMART POP CULTURE ANALYSIS, COMMENTARY, MERCILESS FUN-MAKING AND OTHER SUNDRY AWESOME, DISHED UP DAILY BY PARENTS, FOR PARENTS, AND ANYONE ELSE WHO UNDERSTANDS THAT PLAYTIME IS BETTER WITH VODKA. PLEASE TO ENJOY. READ MORE...
