For your viewing pleasure, last night’s 207 video game review of Rock Band 2 where we jam out with Pat “The Strat” Callahan.

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You may have noticed that I like to filter my (in)Decision 2008 (”Cluster%^$#^%$ to the Poorhouse”) coverage through the Daily Show on Comedy Central (usually followed up by a reality check via the Colbert Report ).

This piece on the stupid vote is great.

By the way, as a ‘Resident Alien’ I can’t so I’m exempt.

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No, I don’t mean those in your wallet, or that were in your wallet before the whole banking gone boom fi-freaking-asco. I mean the TV drama-comedy-black-comedy-vehicle-for-Eddie-Izzard-to-be-on-the-TV. The series, telling the ultimate story of identity theft, was full of plot holes, but as a fan you learned to accept many of them. Obviously, Fox/FX realized that not enough people were buying the hoax and decided to axe it after 1 3/4 seasons. I say 3/4 seasons because of the shortened filimg of season 2 due to the California Wildfires.

Am I upset? A little. I used to go over to my best friend’s house on Mondays and Tuesdays to watch it, and it had some great moments. The tone was kept tense throughout- Who’s sneaking around their door? Does someone know their true identity? Will Wayne Malloy put on a dress (no, but his son did regularly). I wonder if Eddie Izzard will return to his roots and don a pair of black leather pants and lipstick again, now that he doesn’t have to be the suit and tie Riches lead any longer.

And what about Minnie Driver? She was phenominal in her role as Wayne’s wife Daliah. Good enough to earn Emmy nominations for her role. Easy on the eyes, too, but that’s a whole other story. Now it sounds like she’s got more time to spend with the newborn instead of working on Season 3.

The good news is, Fox and FX can now start their latest two TV shows, “What Animal Attacks Next?, “American Steroid Monsters” and “Oww, You Just Kicked My Balls”. Those are the shows that America really wants to see, I guess. Looks like Bill Hicks was right.

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NEW YORK—In a stunning reversal of their long-stated reluctance to take it, members of heavy-metal band Twisted Sister announced Monday that, after 24 years of fervent refusal, they are now willing to take it. Read More

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If you didn’t catch the opening segment of SNL this week you can thank Hulu that you’ll be able to watch it now. Tina Fey nails Sarah Palin again, but not enough has been made of the other characters in the sketch, Jason Sudeikis as Biden and Queen Latifah as Gwen Ifill.

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I finally finished the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer…WOW. It was pretty awesome. Ok, I’m am slightly embarrassed that I’m reading the same thing as my 15 year old babysitter, but I guess I was a late bloomer and still have a soft spot for teenage romance. Despite the fact that this was written to a “young adult” or YA audience, Stephenie did manage to create a little bit of heat.

Well maybe a tiny bit.

The author profusely defends her YA audience and claims that she was writing books her kids would read, and eventually movies would be made that her kids would see. Phoey! My sister, Leila, who is about to begin the 4th and final book, and who began the series upon my insistence has complained loudly and numerously to me about the lack of heat, and “when are they going to get it on”, “hurry up and make her a vampire already!”.

Well I won’t spoil it for those who may still be working their way through. I will say that that I found the end satisfying. Although not in the happy ending sense.

Now, I’ll quickly mention another book that I read in the days following my completion of Twilight. And it’s party due to my sister who came to visit this past weekend and watched “True Blood” with us on Sunday night (HBO). Now that is a show with some heat, and chemistry.

More vampires, again with the human girl and vampire guy…but this show is not for the young adult crowd. It’s kind of vulgar and spicy (caliente)…directed by Alan Ball (our man from Six Feet Under). So anyway, Leila told me that she envisions Bill when she’s reading Twilight and pictures him as Edward. This got me thinking about envisioning characters while reading a book. I decided that since I like the characters Alan Ball cast for his show, I should go and read Charlaine Harris’s books that are the basis for his show.

The first book “Dead Until Dark” provides the basis for pretty much the first season, I’m told. And even though I know how it turns out and ‘who dun it’, it was way satisfying in the happy ending sense. So for those of you adult fans of the Twilight series who are looking for a little more punch, I would strongly recommend Charlaine Harris. I can vouch for her first book, I have no doubt that the other 8 in her Sookie Stackhouse series are just as good.

Cybele, vampire groupie

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….Was to do something for his birthday that he actually wanted to do. This year, my significant other booked a mecca for us: we are headed to Lebowskifest NYC 2008 . If you don’t know what Lebowskifest is, you are forgiven. Here it is in a nutshell:

This is a place where a man, and not just any man, but a man of his times can bowl amongst friends he just met, dress like someone from a movie without having to clunk around with fake pointy ears or a light saber, and view the triumph that the Coen brothers titled “The Big Lebowski”. More to come…… just let me find a cash machine…

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Russel Brand is big back home. I haven’t really seen enough of him to decide what I think of him. I did buy my 18 year old niece his Booky Wook for Christmas last year and she said it was very funny. There’s plenty more of him on YouTube.

Be forewarned some of his language may offend.

Sorry, you’ll have to click through to watch, Auntie doesn’t let you embed the player……..

Oh, Britney made an appearance too. Quality Television.

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The US Open is where Jimmy Connors won 5 titles and went from american psycho (apologies to Mr Bateman) to american hero. It’s also the place where John McEnroe showed Bjorn Borg that it was nearly impossible for him to win a Grand Slam title outside of Europe. Chris Evert and Martina Navratiliova, Billie Jean King and Margaret Court, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles had epic battles on the women’s side to show that tennis should be played one way- all out, hold nothing back.

I’ve been to the US Open twice, and loved it. I love the feeling of the big tournament where the worlds best get together to knock a fuzzy yellow ball around and then whine about if they kept it in the right spot. Great atmosphere for the most part, matches going on somewhere on the grounds that’s worth watching, and if not, you can see the pros at the practice courts (which is better than watching them play an actual match in some cases)

So why do I title this “The bottom rung of the Slams?”

I’ve watched coverage on TV, and (especially this year) in the middle of a match, its necessary for the network to turn to a celebrity in the stands and ask them questions for 20 minutes instead of keeping the camera on the match. I have no interest in what Jeremy Piven is doing on Entourage, how the NY Giants are going to do this season, or if Cameron Diaz is with her boyfriend or with her…”boyfriend”.

I’ve sat next to spectators who have no problem yelling directly to a player and ask them to “do something sexy”, in the case of Maria Sharapova from a guy sitting next to me in the front row, instead of thinking “Holy deity of your choice, she’s crushing the ball!” The last time something like that happened at Wimbledon, security escorted the lady out. She was streaking, but thats not my point.

Scheduling for the matches leaves players starting close to midnight, leaving the court at nearly 3am. Wimbledon and Roland Garros (the artist formerly known as the French Open) don’t have lights, and can’t do this, and many matches have gone into a 5th set or 3rd set on the women’s side at……..8:00pm (gasp) and had to stop and start again the next day at 11:00am (double gasp..ahh….I’m winded). At least there’s some sense, though, for the thought that players might not want to to playing tennis at 3am. I know its there job, but the last time I worked an overnight shift I got paid time and a half and the loser of these late matches isn’t getting paid time and a half. He or she is making, with one match, about what I made in a year at that time without time and a half. Thats not really my point, though.

It just seems like at the other three Slams there’s a sense of importance that the US Open used to have. Maybe it’s just in my mind, but when I see US Open results on the 4th page in on the sports section of the local rag, it starts to tell me where tennis and the US Open stand.  At least if I watch Wimbledon or, by some strange alignment of the stars I get to go, I won’t be treated to next season’s spoilers for Entourage.

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For you Stephen King fans out there, and you graphic novel fans, you should check out N is Here, an “original video series” which appears to be an adaptation of a graphic novel which is an excerpt from an upcoming King novel. Which perhaps is based on the Broadway musical that was based on the original movie which came from the non-musical off-Broadway play. Adapted from the Shakespearean play, Taming of the Shrew, or the movie Dial N for Nurder.

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