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Culture Shock

Peeling back the layers of pop culture to get to the soft, gooey flesh of things.

July 9, 2009

"DEATH RACE 2000" tomorrow in Greensboro!

One of my favorite terrible movies is on the big screen tomorrow at The Carousel on Battleground Avenue.

 

Roger Corman's classic sci-fi/horro/comedy/dystopia/hot rod/exploitation flick should not be missed. The late David Carradine stars with a lesser (but more naked) part by Sylvester Stallone. In a future gone mad they race, kill and die for your entertainment!

You may have seen the remake last year with Jason Stratham and while I didn't hate it, I have to say -- I missed the funny.

It's part of this summer's Attack of the B-Movies film series and organizer Joe Scott says you should order your tickets now because there's a chance there will only be 100 seats.

July 6, 2009

"You're killing people!" "No, I'm killing boys..."

Okay, NOW I'm excited about  Jennifer's Body.

 

Check out the not-worksafe trailer for the film here.

Penned by Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody and starring the dangerously beautiful Megan Fox (of Transformers fame), the high school horror flick centers on a teen alpha girl who is possessed by a demon and becomes a literal man eater.

Teen angst, deadly sex, witty dialogue, satanic rock bands...sign me up.

 

July 1, 2009

Judd Apatow, revenge artist

There's a great Playboy Interview with Judd Apatow this month (link is work-safe) in which he talks a little about the cancellation of his TV shows Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, which featured comedy superstars Seth Rogan and Jason Segal before they were famous.

PLAYBOY: Do you ever attempt to get revenge?
APATOW: I go so far as to attempt to turn every single person who ever acted on any show I’ve ever been involved with into a feature-film star just so I can prove I was right about the TV show. Sometimes the actors will say to me, “Wow, you must really think I’m good.” No, I don’t think you’re good at all. I just have to prove to that goddamn TV executive that he made a mistake. It’s not a sign of my support; it’s a sign of how insane I am. I’m the most arrogant man on earth, and I always need to be right.

 

On an almost completely unrelated note...

Kendra Wilkinson, one of Hugh Hefner's former Girls Next Door playthings apparently got married last weekend...AT THE PLAYBOY MANSION.

Wilkinson married NFL player Hank Baskett with Hefner, her ex-boyfriend-old-enough-to-be-her-grandfather, in attendence.

I guess the rich really are different. How much money and fame would you have to amass before it would stop being awkward to get married with the guy who used to use your fiance as a Viagra toy looking on?

 

June 30, 2009

Bourbon + Natual Cherry Flavor = Crazy Delicious

Finally, a way to get wary friends and family to understand my love of Bourbon.

Jim Beam has created Red Stag - a bourbon aged four years and infused with natrual Black Cherry flavor.

This, my friends, is what we call a gateway dram.

Will have to get my hands on some of this soon and report back on whether it can be recommended.

 

What might have been: Pushing Daisies edition

Many, many of my favorite shows have been shot out from under me after a season or two in the last decade.

A number of those shows have come from the mind of one man: Bryan Fuller, the writer/producer behind Wonder Falls, Dead Like Me and, most recently, the late lamented Pushing Daisies.

That's why I was glad to see this interview with Fuller, in which he talks a little about what might have been had Pushing Daisies gotten a third season.

Here's hoping those rumors that Fuller will continue the story as a comic book come to fruition.

 

June 25, 2009

Buzz Aldrin is so gangsta

 

Just in case you need another reason to love Buzz Aldrin.

 

 

 

June 22, 2009

John Hodgman pulls Obama's nerd card

In this clip from the TV & Radio Correspondent's Dinner, TV personality, computer pitchman, and author  John Hodgman  questions President Obama's nerd credentials at the TV & Radio Correspondents dinner.

The president fares better than I expected.

 

June 17, 2009

Father's Day Gifts for your dad's Inner Geek

Three days until Father's day and here at Culture Shock we're featuring two father's day gift suggestions (one splurge, one budget conscious) every day between now and Saturday June, 21 -- at which point, you're on your own.

Today's featured gifts:

STAR TREK DVDs ($64- $187)

Did excitement over the new Star Trek movie get your dad revved up about the old series all over again, or make him bitterly nostalgic for the Shatner/Nimoy era he felt was sullied by these snot-nosed young punks?

Either way, you can make his Father's Day with Star Trek DVDs. You can get the any of the first three seasons remastered (and I mean gorgeously remastered) on DVD for around $70, or all three for around $160.

If dad was a fan of the original movies, you can get an even better deal -- the first six movies in the series, featuring the original crew, for just $64.

 

 

PEEK PRONTO E-MAIL/TEXT DEVICE ($20 for the basic model)

Have a dad (or even a granddad) who hasn't yet upgraded to a smartphone? Having trouble convincing them to pay for service that will allow them to get e-mail and text messaging? Here's something of a gateway drug -- the Peek Pronto, basic model starting at $20 with unlimited e-mail (from 2 accounts) and text message service for just $20.00 a month. No contract necessary.

The Pronto - this basic model and its more sophisticated, more expensive cousin - is also available in a variety of different colors at Amazon and Target.

Buy this for him and maybe even get him a a few months of service (it's $16.65 a month if you buy the first quarter up front) and you could have him texting and e-mailing from everywhere in no time at all. I know from whence I speak -- a few years ago I couldn't get my mother interested in MP3s as she felt she'd had to switch formats too often in her life already. I bought her a small, basic MP3 player and today she's surfing the Internet on her iPod Touch, updating her Facebook status while she waits in line at the DMV and buying books from the Kindle store.

 

Questioning the iPhone scheme

Here's a great question that's apparently being asked by U.S. Senators:

Should AT&T be the only service allowed to sell the iPhone?

I still have a pretty low-end Blackberry that I got for free when I switched services. I know some folks who have iPhones and the consensus seems to be that the phone is terrific but the service (in Greensboro, at least) leaves something to be desired.

It is, indeed, bad enough that an artificial economy of overpriced phones "subsidized" by service companies traps users in long-term contracts and that unlike much of the rest of the world many of our phones don't work universally on any service we choose. But what ticks me off is that even if I laid out the ridiculous cost of an unsubsidized iPhone I couldn't choose to have service on it through any company but AT&T without hacking it.

What do you guys think? Have an iPhone? Love or hate the AT&T service?

 

 

 

 

June 16, 2009

Father's Day gifts for the golfer and movie lover

Four days until Father's Day, and here at Culture Shock we're featuring two Father's Day gift suggestions (one splurge, one budget conscious) every day between now and Saturday, June 21 -- at which point you're on your own.

Today's featured gifts:

PUTT UP OR SHUT UP RUG KIT FOR GOLFERS ($140.00)

I've always sort of been with Mark Twain on golfing -- I think of it as a good walk ruined. But many dads are hopelessly in love with the game. So hopelessly in love that they drive our mothers nuts putting down that artificial putting turf at home or in the office.

Give your dad an upgrade this year with this attractive modular rug designed to simulate the greens and the rough and configurable into par 3, 4 and 5 configrations.

 

GRAN TORINO on DVD ($12.99)

 

 

Many men grow up idolizing their dads. But many dads grew up idolizing Clint Eastwood.

The Academy Award-winning director is in front of the camera again this year as a grizzled Korean War veteran taking on the gangs infesting his declining neighborhood and earning the respect of neighbors through kicking ass and taking names. It's been a long time since Dirty Harry growled "Do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do ya?" -- but when grandpa Clint growls "Get off my lawn" from behind a rifle, that heartwarming, pants-wetting magic is still there.

Don't believe me? Check out the trailer here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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