Athens66

Ok, I saw this at the Culturist but I simply had to make my tribute to it as well (although a few days late). Last Thursday (April 8th) was the 20th anniversary from the airing of our all-time favorite TV show. Twin Peaks was first aired on the 8th of April 1990 and nothing ever since has managed to surpass it. It still gives me the chills every time I hear Badalamenti's opening track and memories of Laura Palmer start haunting me. Agent Cooper will always be there for us and so will Shelly, Donna, Audrey, Sheriff Harry Truman, Bobby, Big Ed, The Giant, The Asian Man, The Man from Another Place and of'course the mastermind behind this epic series, FBI Bureau Chief Gordon Cole aka David Lynch.

It's nice to see bands that you've spotted out slowly becoming more and more famous. We are referring to The Sweet Serenades who seem to have made their way to Grey's Anatomy latest episode. I can't say I'm really excited about the show (at least during the last couple of seasons) but at least it seems the quality of music they use remains high! The current track, titled Die Young, is taken from their album Balcony Cigarettes and is a charming duet with Karolina Komstedt from Club 8 (who are up for a new album in May...don't worry, we'll keep you posted on this one as well).

Hailing from Copenhagen-Denmark, this duo broke into the music scene with the TV advert of Apple's iPod Touch. They even played in last year's Roskilde Festival (although we didn't quite spotted that and naturally missed them). They continue the Nordic tradition of fun electro-pop groups with cheerful tunes and uplifting lyrics. Their single Around the Bend is dangerously addictive so be warned. They still only have a couple of singles out but it won't be long before they try to cash-in with their first full length LP. So let's wait and see if they manage to survive the sudden buzz and come up with a descent debut...

I’ve been keen to TV shows lately (probably due to the lack of any decent new movie or just my inability to focus for more than 40 minutes), especially comedy ones. Comedy shows however are usually in the form of short 20-minute episodes, which means I consume a couple of seasons in a week, leaving me constantly searching for replacements. As was the case, I run out of How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory episodes quite quickly and turned to CW’s new series The Reaper for comfort.
The Reaper is a mix of comedy and action, kind of My Name is Earl meets Heroes. The show is about Sam, whose soul was sold to the Devil by his parents and is obliged to work for him (catching souls that have escaped from hell). Along with his friends (who all work together at dead-end jobs in the local Work Bench home improvement store) he chases down and captures the escaped souls using a different vessel in each episode (provided by the Devil in a variety of forms ranging from vacuum cleaners to birds). As a co-plot, Sam is after his coworker Andi in a classic win-the-girl story.While the series debut was quite promising, it has quickly started to repeat itself. Each episode follows the same basic storyline:

• Observe new ability (related to the escaped soul)
• Check out new vessel
• Meet the devil and get some vague clues about the soul
• Mix in some futile attempts to start something with Andi
• First failed attempt to catch the soul
• Chased / threatened / almost killed by escaped soul
• Find way to use vessel in just the last minute
• Drop off vessel and finish the episode reminiscing about Andi

When you are able to foresee the storyline of the upcoming episode so early in the series, believe me it is the worst sign (except if you have Isaac Mendez’s precognition abilities). Too bad, cause the idea of the show was quite good and Ray Wise (from the our beloved Twin Peeks) is perfect as the Devil. I only continue watching this show cause I have nothing else to watch (and the slight chance that it will actually improve).

Amongst the other crap on the telly, I also spotted this Citroen C5 commercial (which will probably be playing back home as well). One thing only comes to mind, who the hell paid for such an ad? This is by far one of the worst commercials I've seen in a long time (how desperate are Citroen to beg people to see them as Germans?)

Besides sightseeing and endless (probably crappy though) photographs that I've taken during this trip, the other thing that really stands out is getting back in grips with british television. It was quite a flashback when (while zapping through the limited channels during one of my resting times back in the hotel) I show the opening title (and haunting music) of Eastenders. Some things I guess never change back here.

This isn't always bad though. Cause I got another (enjoyable this time) flashback when I saw O'Sullivan and Hendry battling it out at the Crucible. To be honest, it was no battle this time with pure genius O'Sullivan just cruising through to the final (he's already managed to produce a 147 maximum during the tournament).
Amongst the other things spotted on the telly, a number of lame british comedies and dramas (whose names thankfully I don't recall), the local elections (with Labour facing a big loss and Boris ruling over London), Graham Norton still doing his show and Anne Robinson still torturing players at the Weakest Link.
At least I got to finally see an episode of The Big Bang Theory (although American; another harmless comedy about geeks and chicks which I'll probably download since I've finished How I Met Your Mother) and also Balls of Steel from C4 (great comedy show with nuts people trying to impress the host with how far and how stupid they can be to make people laugh; definitely going on my download list).

There has been quite some buzz around 15-year old singer/actress Miley Cyrus for some time now. The daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus and star of Disney’s Hannah Montana has taken America by storm (and especially the parents). With an upcoming movie and a successful tour behind her, it seems that the young star is cashing in on family values. At least until a few days ago, when Vanity Fair’s photographer Annie Leibovitz did a “provocative” shoot of her for June’s issue. Miley was wrapped in what appeared to be a bedsheet in an otherwise quite normal photoshoot. This has led to controversy especially amongst her “motherly” audience who found this too sexual for their children’s 15 year old idol. Although this led to Miley apologizing to her fans, she has definitely caught our attention (those of us that have never seen her teen series but wouldn’t mind seeing more of her in the near future). Are we (once again belated) discovering our new Lolita?

As a quick follow-up to one of my previous posts, here's something that will bring back memories!!! (Barney just had to have a blog...a must!)

In my quest to find something to fill the gap left behind by Six Feet Under and Sopranos, I’ve zapped between a number of different TV series. This led up to last week when I decided to watch How I Met Your Mother and give comedy another chance.

The series has been referenced by some as yet another Friends substitute. Thank god this is not the case (who would want to suffer yet another season of the yuppie branch). The show is about Ted (Josh Radnor), who in the year 2030 narrates to his children the story of how he met their mother (or more precisely how he met all other girls except their mother…well at least during the first season). So, in the form of narrative flashbacks, we get into Ted’s world, where he lives with his best friend Marshall (Jason Segel), his fiancé Lily (Alyson Hannigan – American Pie but most importantly Willow from Buffy) and hangs out (usually down at McLarens’ bar) with legen-you know if you’ve seen the show-dary Barney (Neil Patrick Harris – yeap Doogie Howser/Harold & Kumar) and girl-of-his-dreams Robin (Cobie Smulders).

So, in brief, Ted is a hopeless romantic who is searching for his dream girl/wife to settle down. Marshall is still studying law and fully in love with his 9-year (and only) girlfriend/fiancé Lily. Robin is a news reporter for local media channel and Barney is the typical single successful womanizer (ironically Neil is gay in real life) friend.

While the show is not introducing anything really new in concept (another bunch of friends in NY) and the script is not always at its funniest (with some very cheesy jokes at some points) it has a number of good things going for it. Foremost, it is based on some solid character building and this does actually hook you into watching the next episode. The script also has a number of twists and at some points it actually does hit the right spot for laughs. It is also very easy to watch (I actually saw all 22 episodes of season 1 in just two days without even realizing it), and at the end, that’s what it’s all about; 20 minutes of entertainment without any other fuzz. I’ve already started Season 2 and I must say it does get even better (shame it won’t last me more than another week max). And the Barney character is just legen-you know if you've seen the show-dary and worth checking out the show only for that.

Suit up bro!!!

I was browsing through some of the old Saturday Night Live clips this morning at hulu (including some beloved Belushi clips) and stumbled upon the classic Natalie Portman gangsta rap. Although old, it still makes me laugh.

Although most homemade version of series finale uploaded on Youtube are usually crap (to say the least), I just came across one that combines two of my favorite TV series and was quite enjoyable.

After quite some searching and tweaking, I was able to test drive the new service from NBC Universal, hulu. The service is supposed to bring TV to the internet (how many times have we heard that before) through free and legal streaming of TV shows and movies. To be honest, after the crappy content offered by the likes of Joost I didn’t have high hopes. However, hulu is offering really quality content due to its agreement with providers such as FOX, MGM, Sony, Warner Bros and of course NBC Universal itself. In other words, you can actually see full episodes from series such as The Simpsons, The Office, Prison Brake, Saturday Night Live and hundreds more (really amazing collection). You can also watch full-length movies such as The Usual Suspects, Big Lebowski or classics such as The Amateur. I must say, the movie collection is still quite small but the episodes list is really impressive.

I have to admit, I’d love to have hulu working for outside US as well (the tweaking worked but with unavoidable delays due to the proxy usage). I know most just download their favorite series through torrents (who doesn’t), but some of these series offered by hulu are really hard to find. If you add the fact that you can just click and watch your favorite episode without waiting for 10GB to download only to realize that Buffy is dubbed in Polish (with Swedish subtitles), then you can understand why I found this service a real joy. And it’s all legal! (like anyone cares..)

I think I’m the only one in Athens66 posting any kind of lists. I'm sure however that there are a lot of people out there (including myself) addicted to all kinds of “Greatest” lists showing up from place to place. It is the pure joy of reading down the list only to reject and mock at the choices of the editor (too ashamed to admit that you actually agree with some of them). From greatest music, best independent productions, greatest books, hippest fashion items of all time to most famous character, best kick-ass hero and most annoying politician ever, the lists are endless (including meta-sites concentrating only at best-of-lists).

So, is there a point to all this gibberish about “Greatest” lists? Yes, although I’m not here to impose my own personal list but rather share my interest on the new IFC and Nerve “50 Greatest” list. After “The 50 Best Date Movies Ever”, which included classics such as Heathers [45], Run Lola Run [38], Kicking and Screaming [37], The Science of Sleep [33], High Fidelity [29], Manhattan [20], Chungking Express [19], The Graduate [13], Donnie Darko [11], Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind [8], Barbarella [5], Say Anything [3], Casablanca [2] and Some Like It Hot [1] (a bit too old-fashioned top-2 for my taste, in an otherwise interesting list) and the more popular “50 Greatest Sex Scenes in Cinema” with scenes including Ken Park [50], Sex, Lies, and Videotape [46], Breaking the Waves [45], Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! [43], Shortbus [38], The Last Seduction [33], Storytelling [31], 9 songs [29], Sex and Lucia [19], Y Tu Mama Tambien [13], Secretary [8], Risky Business [4], Mulholland Drive [3], A History of Violence [2] and Don't Look Now [1] (much better top-3 this time).

But once again, I’m just reproducing yesterday’s news, so here’s the new list (only a week old, which is quite fresh compared to my other posts): 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches. The list includes picks from some of my (and almost everyone’s ) favorite shows like Kids in the Hall, In Living Color, Chappelle's Show, The State, Second City Television and of course the classics that just fill most of the list, Saturday Night Live and Monty Python. Check out the list for some great laughs (I would personally put Saturday’s Night Live “The Olympia Restaurant” right at no.1 , with Belushi just plain hilarious).

And here are some of the best laughs out of the list. Best way to start the day…

40. Citizen Kane - The Kids in the Hall

26. Great White North, SCTV

18. He's Rick James - Chappelle's Show

11. Jaws II (Land Shark) - Saturday Night Live

3. Argument Clinic, Monty Python

Continuing with my retrospective blogging (and living I suppose), I just saw the series finale of Six Feet Under. Having watched numerous series and endless TV episodes, I just have to admit that SFU was probably the best one ever (with the exception of Twin Peaks). And the series finale was equally impressive, although two episodes back was the real dramatic climax for me. TV as it should be, from the genious screenwriter Alan Ball. And with an equally impressive soundtrack including tracks from the likes of Radiohead, Interpol, Death Cab for Cutie and (our beloved) Arcade Fire. I guess it's back to crap like Heroes and Prison Break now (as everyone else).

Sia Furler - Breathe Me
(song from the final sequence...it's the music video not the series...wouldn't want to ruin that!)