The New 'Avatar' Trailer

I didn't realize there was a new trailer for the blockbuster. Apparently, though, there is, and my friend Cracker Barrows found it for me. Enjoy:

Drive-By Rudy's Tonight

Before I moved to this area, my former colleague Jeff Petrin, who loves Counting Crows, booked Drive-By Truckers to play Rudy's in New Haven. Of course, Jeff was way ahead of the curve, because that was before tons of big-time places were calling the group the best American band and stuff.

Boy, I would have liked to see that show. Well, tonight DBT returns to Rudy's, sort of. You see, a local woman, Sarah Henderson, won a contest to host a listening party to celebrate the release of the band's "The Big To-Do," which comes out tomorrow.

I've had an advance of the disc for a little while now, and let me just say that I think it's the band's best record in a while, since 2003. I won't say too much because you need to read Weekend Friday, of course.

Anyway, so this party goes down from 8-11 tonight. I assume they'll just play the record through three times, since it's about 54 minutes long. And you'll get to drink all the good beer that Rudy's always serves. Fun stuff. From what I gather, you won't be able to buy "The Big To-Do" at the bar, but you can get excited for buying it tomorrow. Woo hoo.

If you want to hear "Birthday Boy" from the disc— and that is one of my absolute favorite tunes on it — well, you're in luck:

$10 Million? Really?

This is what's wrong with America:

From The Associated Press
NEW YORK – A former model says she's appalled that her nearly decade-old bikini photo became a randy prop in the film "Couple's Retreat."

Irina Krupnik filed a $10 million defamation lawsuit Thursday in a New York City court against NBC Universal. It distributed the 2009 Vince Vaughn comedy.

Krupnik acknowledges she gave rights to the 2001 picture to a stock agency, which apparently sold it to the filmmakers. The lawsuit says a character in the movie uses her photo as a sexual aid.

Krupnik's lawsuit says she never would have allowed the picture to be transformed from "a commonplace swimwear ad to softcore pornography." The 30-year-old makeup artist says it's hurting her reputation.

NBC Universal says it had the rights to use the photo.

OK, so let's start with the obvious. If anyone wants to buy a photo of me in my swimsuit and then use it in a movie, let's start the bidding at $2. And if you miss out on winning, don't worry because I can always take more pictures. So everyone wins!

But, more to the point, in the last few days, I've seen more wire stories about frivolous lawsuits than I care to think about. How you can claim that Vince Vaughn or whoever pretending to masturbate to a photo of you in a bikini is worth $10 million? I just don't get it. If that was the case, I'd be sneaking Vince Vaughn photos of myself in a bikini. I might even not wear the top. Wow. Don't get too excited out there.

Seriously, who wakes up and thinks this? My favorite part is the woman admits she sold the photo. Then what the hell do you have to complain about? People ... I went to the World Wide Web to try and find a photo of this woman .... Sorry, I failed.

Not The Same Without Haim

Corey Haim never won an Oscar. Corey Feldman never won an Oscar.

Corey Haim hasn't been in a movie that didn't go direct to video since I was about 12. Corey Feldman hasn't been in a movie that didn't go direct to video since I was about 13.

Corey Haim's done a lot of drugs. Corey Feldman's done a lot of drugs.

Corey Haim liked drugs. Corey Feldman liked drugs.

Corey Haim was never as popular as Corey Feldman. Corey Haim wasn't in "The Goonies." Corey Feldman was in "The Goonies."

Pat Ferrucci really likes "The Goonies."

Corey Hain is dead. Corey Feldman is not.

I have no idea what I'm going on about, really. I just thought it was important to mention Corey Haim dying. I think I was probably about two years too young to really grasp the popularity of the two Coreys when I was a wee child, but that doesn't mean I don't have distinct memories of watching "License to Drive," "The Lost Boys" and, especially, "Lucas" when I was like 8 or something.

There was definitely a period when "Lucas" was my favorite movie. And I still have nightmares about "License to Drive" because Little Nicholas used to watch the damn flick over and over and over. I can still remember very specific scenes and lines, even though I haven't seen it since 1991 or something. "Lucas" is also responsible for the film debut of Winona Ryder, who, in 1994 or thereabouts, was the best-looking woman to ever walk on this planet.

So anyway, here's the "Lucas" trailer, in memory of Corey Haim who, while not having made a good movie since the NES was popular, was a whole lot of young people's favorite actor in the late '80s. Him and Feldman were kind of like the casts of all those crappy vampire and goobly-goblin flicks now. Sort of.

Yeah, um, here's "Lucas":

And since this entry is about mourning someone, I'm going to pass on the link that Little Nicholas sent me this morning. It's a touching and soulful song from Macho Man Randy Savage about the pain he'll always feel when he thinks about the late, great, Mr. Perfect.

I Have To Charge And Wear What?

Tomorrow, a couple major electronics companies will begin selling 3-D televisions to consumers. If you read this story, buried in the middle of the piece, you'll find this nugget:

"The 3-D effect requires viewers to wear relatively bulky glasses that need to be recharged occasionally. They're not like the cheap throwaways that have been used in theaters since the 1950s. When you're wearing these 3-D TV glasses, room lights and computer screens may look like they're flickering, making it difficult to combine 3-D viewing with other household activities."

Um, really? Does this sound exciting to anyone?

I know "Avatar" made mountains of cash, but does this mean I want to watch Charlie Sheen in 3-D or something? I don't want to watch Charlie Sheen and his crappy TV show in 1-D. Maybe I'm missing the point, but this all seems like a sure-fire failure. Who's going to buy this but the same people who ran out and got LaserDisc machines?

I like to do other things when I watch TV. You will rarely ever find just propped on the couch staring at the television. I'm reading, eating, surfing the Web, contemplating alcohol ... I'm doing something else. I feel like I'm in the majority. I won't be able to do any of these things with bulky glasses.

I'm sorry. I don't understand.

Well, actually, are they going to make porn in 3-D? I feel like that might work ... some of those shops will have to open more rooms in the back.

New Of The 'World'

I'm more excited than you can imagine for that wonderful day when I walk into the office, sit down at my desk and find that the fine people at Pytheas Recordings have sent me a review copy of Josh Ritter's upcoming "So Runs the World Away." As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of Ritter, and picked his last record, the impeccable "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter," as the best album of 2007. The last few months have just been an absolute onslaught of great music. There's honestly so many amazing CDs hitting my desk that I feel like I'm neglecting some. It's kind of sad. But, anyway, here's a preview of the Ritter record:

Oscar's Finest Moment

I don't think there's any doubt that the funniest moment during last night's Oscar ceremony came when some woman dressed as Barney stormed the stage and Kanye-ed an acceptance speech.

I mean, I liked Charlize Theron's dress and all, but Barney crashing the party was clearly the best part of the evening. You can read all my thoughts on the show in Friday's Weekend, but here's Barney running on stage. After you watch the video, read the story about why it happened.

In Like A Lamb, Out Like A Lion

The headline for this entry is my motto for this blog, this month. We shall see if I'm able to follow through. As you all know, this is the semester when I teach two classes, which makes me feel like I have two full-time jobs. Come to think of it, I do have two full-time jobs.

Oh, I'm making excuses again. Stupid me. Anyway, the Oscars are tonight. Woo hoo. I'm very excited to write a running diary of the 13-hour show. Here's hoping there are some funny moments. If there aren't, I'm sure my friends and I will mock enough people that it'll be funny either way. Here are my predictions.

This week's Weekend was really tight, and I don't mean that in a mid-'90s hip-hop kind of way. Well, I guess it was still tight in that way, but I would never call it tight like that because, you know, that's not how I roll or something. When I say tight, I mean that there wasn't much room, which meant I didn't run my album reviews. I just want you all to know that I think Peter Gabriel's "Scratch My Back" is just wonderful. Honestly, it's the best covers record I've heard. Gabriel makes all the tunes his own, and the results are startlingly beautiful. Seriously.

That's about all I got for today. But, I absolutely promise I'll be updating every day this week. You ready for it? What I'll leave you with is this two-part review of "Avatar." It pretty much sums up what I think about the gloriously mediocre film. My friend Matt told me to check this review out, and he's a smart boy. Also, keep in mind, there's some bad language in this, so kiddies, don't you click on it. Here it is: