I’ve often talked about my admiration for Jay Smooth’s eloquent and deeply insightful vlogs. NPR’s All Things Considered did a great profile on him on June 29.
Give it a listen and then head over to his site to learn a few things about race, hip hop and politics in a quickfire witty way. He laces the words together with a certain rhythm that none of the political talking television heads could ever dream of imagining.
If they’re keds shoes, he’s the classic pair of Jordans.
I have never, nor will I ever, sign up for MySpace. I missed the boat when it was white hot, and by the time I was finally wise to social networking, I was getting ready to go to college and Facebook was the site for undergrads.
Point of that statement is that when you google “Kristina Lopez” any MySpace page that pops up in the results will never be me. Now I hate to admit it, but as vain or dirty as it sounds, I Google myself every few weeks just to see what makes up the search results and to find out what other Kristina Lopezes do. You can see the results below.
The first result is for a MySpace page, which I never really gave any thought. For a while the first result was a Bebo profile of a 20-year old girl from Brooklyn — go figure — in a classic MySpace pose.
At the time, I was more amazed at the fact that Bebo was able to get a top hit in a Google search than the fact that potential employers might associate me with her. Then eventually MySpace just became better with SEO for their profile pages and the Bebo entry disappeared from the first few pages of the Google search.
So finally I decided to check out just exactly who this 23 year-old Kristina Lopez from Minneapolis was. The profile photo hadn’t loaded yet and Lady Gaga was already blaring from the page. Then there it was in full glory, the profile picture of a skinny man clad in a micro skirt.
So yeah, there are over 195 Kristina Lopezes on Facebook and even more on this wide earth. However, that doesn’t mean I have to fade into obscurity. If anything, the drag queen Kristina Lopez made me realize that I have to make my name work for me.
I just came out of the movie three hours ago and I have some notes on ‘Up’:
The beginning is sad. Very sad. There’s a general tone that carries out through the film and affects both of the main characters. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t tear up a few times. This is worse than the beginning of ‘Finding Nemo.’ Yes, Nemo had a little handicap fin, but at least he was a happy kid. This beginning just punches you in the gut and flicks you a few times more just for good measure.
This isn’t a great Pixar movie, just a good one. It’s entertaining, heart-warming, and balances joy and sadness, but it’s pretty rudimentary at its core. It’s not as bad as ‘Cars’ or ‘A Bug’s Life,’ but it’s nowhere near the level of ‘Wall-E,’ ‘Finding Nemo,’ or ‘The Incredibles.’
One of the most important events of last night’s MTV Movie Awards was the trailer for the new ‘Twilight’ film ‘New Moon.’ The film had a few stumbles in the production process with its new director and the casting troubles with Taylor Lautner.
Now Lautner’s back, buff, and showing off his ripped abs for every tween to pass out at the sight of. This trailer was haphazardly cut together in time for the awards. The CGI on werewolf Jacob looks a bit unpolished, but the biggest trouble is Robert Pattinson.
Béla Lugosi’s dead corpse would’ve done a better job at delivering those lines than the Tiger Beat cover boy R. Patz does in the trailer. Yes, the character is technically dead but his delivery doesn’t have to be. Is Edward on anti-depressants now for the second book? He’s got this nonchalant “Whatevs bro” attitude toward Bella. His inflection is completely devoid of emotion or any sort of indication that he cares about what he’s saying.
“You’re my only reason to stay…alive…if that’s what I am.”
If you don’t know what Keyboard Cat is you should check out these videos here and here. Although the real story of the Cat was uncovered by CNN, this is a funnier and more deserving take on the meme’s story.
It’s a really well-done parody that mimics the style of the old “E! True Hollywood Story” perfectly, all the way down to the Ken Burns effect on fake photos of Keyboard Cat imposed in historical events.
It’s either a slow day over at the iTunes music store or an indication of just how successful ‘Glee’ will be in the fall. The show managed to top the iTunes singles chart with their cast recording of “Don’t Stop Believing” featured on the show’s premiere. Considering that the ‘American Idol’ finale was last night, it’s a bit shocking that Kris Allen isn’t at the top of the chart.
I usually hold off on judging a show by it’s pilot because of how many wonderful shows had terrible pilots *cough* The Office *cough*. The problem with pilots is that origin stories and seasonal storyline set-ups often weigh the episode down. So Fox kind of left me with little choice, since the next episode of Glee won’t air until a few weeks from now.
The show, brought to us by Ryan Murphy creator/producer of ‘Nip Tuck,’ is about one of the least popular groups in high school: the Glee club. I felt myself a little against the show at first because it had so much buzz before people even saw a single scene. I thought, “How could this show be good? It’s a musical show! Look what happened with Cop Rock and Viva Laughlin. It’ll never work!”
It was the final scene of ‘The Office’ season 5 and while you might think the ultimate reveal was a weak note to leave the episode on, or a formulaic path to take the characters down, the scene and the action spoke volumes to me about both the character of Jim Halpert and Krasinski’s spot on portrayal.
The sense echoed ‘Casino Night,’ the finale of season 2. Jim reveals feelings to Pam, only to be shot down. In a similar fashion, we see Jim tear up from heartbreak. Jim’s come a long way from there hasn’t he? Through Jim we get to see something rarely portrayed in television, the sentimentality of men and their travels through adulthood. Jim isn’t the man with the gruff exterior chasing down bad guys or cracking a beer open with his buds. He doesn’t need a death or extreme tragedy to cry, which is what generations of boys are conditioned to believe, that they have to be unnaturally stoic or strong.
Ed Note: Even though I’m late on reviewing this, I feel like it’s still a useful review and will feature other reviews on movies you can find streaming on the Web.
If for some reason I come down with an acute case of aphasia and start confusing the word “movies” with “salsa” I hope that my brain adjusts accordingly and uses terms like hot or pequeño to rate the “salsa.”
In that case I’d rate ‘Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock’ as mild.It’s not a great documentary by any means. The message gets lost in the muddle of characters that inhibit the art world (which are the villains of the story) and the old trucker woman who doesn’t take no for an answer.
