Sunday Morning Tuneage & Weekly TV (7/14/13)

It's that week - the short work week leading up to my annual trip to San Diego for Comic Con.  I think we're looking at over 10 years consecutive at this point.  Slow week previous and time to catch up a little today.  But I do have to work this afternoon for Freshman Orientation - hand out some flyers and talk to the 1000 gathered folks.  Just time to go get a quick workout in.  No Sunday Morning Tuneage next week - but plan on more posts and tweets than you can handle.  There will be a full link to a summary when I'm done.  Until I have to get out of the house - looking over some new iPad games for travel and listening to some tuneage . . .

SUNDAY MORNING TUNEAGE

JUICE NEWTON - IT'S A HEARTACHE.  This used to happen back in the day - the same song was released the same year by two separate artists.  The Bonnie Tyler version became much more popular in the US and set up her later success with "Total Eclipse of the Heart".  Juice had a minor hit with this slightly more Country version.  She'd also have to wait to breakout later in the 80s.  This 1978 single sounds good to me today and I'm surprised it didn't outsell the Tyler version.

"It's a fool's game.  Nothing but a fool's game."

SOMETHING RANDOM . . . Been waiting for Instagram to shoot in horizontal mode - here it is . . .  and I love these really random Netflix suggestions - like you loved 8 1/2 so you'll love 9.

DEADLIGHTS OF 2013. . . Douglas Dayton was part of a brother combo that founded most of the stores of my Mall going days - Target, Hudson's and B. Daltons . . . Joe Conley was Ike the storekeeper on "The Waltons" . . . Corey Montieth was Finn on "Glee" and I was quite shocked to see his name come up on deaths of 2013.  I enjoyed his performances and wonder what it will do to the slightly ailing show. . . 

QUICK LIST (a random, uninformed list off the top of Shawn's head)

BEST FRUITS OF ALL-TIME

11.  RASPBERRIES.  I just don't get enough of these during their season.  They are part of the Rose family and look like a heart.  One of the best fruits to add to cereal.

10.   STAR FRUIT.  It's got a bit of a pineapple taste with a mango-ish interior.  You can even find them at the local Wal-Marts now.

9.  BLACKBERRIES.  The darker the berry the sweeter the taste.  I love these mixed in a salad with other berries.

8.  ORANGES.  Lots of options with the orange and it's one of the fruits that very few people have any trouble with.  Very lovely.  I love the Clementine and Mandarin versions the best.  

7.  BANANAS.  I like a good simple banana and it's a great fruit for cooking - like it in bread and as a banana cream pie.

6.  APPLES.  Like the Raspberry - it's part of the rose family.  And the varieties seem infinite.  Every time I think I've sampled all the varieties - they come up with more.  It's one that I really only like best raw.  Sorry, but pie is okay but not as good as other fruits in this list.

5.  STRAWBERRIES.  I love when it's strawberry season and I love strawberry flavors in my foods.  Great on a salad and in your foo foo fruity drinks.

4.  PINEAPPLES.  Fresh and sweet pineapple might be one of the finest joys of life. There is little to compare.  But it goes well as a juice and belongs in every fruit salad you ever make.  

3.  PEACHES.  I love these Texas peaches.  One of my favorite flavors and they make some of the best desserts of all-time.  A little peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream and you are in Heaven.

2.  BLUEBERRIES.  They've always been a favorite of mine.  Just eating them raw is my favorite way to consume them.  It doesn't hurt that they are about the healthiest of all fruits too.

1.  CHERRIES.  It's cherry season right now and I miss my Michigan sweet cherries.  It's my go to fruit and my comfort food of choice.  A cherry pie is food love for me.  True food love.

Here's a secret - I like fruit better than vegetable.  There are few fruits that I don't like to eat.  There are some great ones that are safe flavor-wise but don't make the list like grapes, kiwi, plums and mangoes.  The worst?  Probably some weird ones that I haven't tried.  But the most overrated - the apricot is just not that great a fruit.  It's relatively bland in original state and doesn't make a good flavor addition to anything.

NETFLIX PLAY NOW OF THE WEEK . . . HIT & MISS is an awesome series with Chloe Sevigny from the "Shameless' creator Paul Abbott and one of my favorite shows last year . . . I still have yet to see the Ken Burns doc PROHIBITION but I can delete it off the Tivo because it's here for free.  Understand "Boardwalk Empire" better too . . .  and EXPENDABLES 2 is probably a ton of fun and a total fun waste of time . . .

Shawn's fave movies according to FLICKCHART

#142 - Dawn of the Dead
#185 - Some Like It Hot

#336 - Brubaker

RANDOM PROJECT UPDATE -   The BUFFY project.  Making my way through Season 5.  I was a little taken aback by the sudden introduction of a "sister" for Buffy - Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg).  But I did enjoy the double Xanders in "The Replacement" - it's a fun story with monsters - just why I love the show.  I'm still 60 hours away from finishing the series and then to get around to the "Angel" episodes. We'll see how this season goes - I'm really only tired of Riley - can we ditch him yet?

SHAWN'S TOP ALBUMS OF ALL-TIME (a tribute to the art of the album)

#30  NEW ORDER - POWER, CORRUPTION & LIES (1983)

For this album, I'm including the extra songs that were originally on the singles and part of the Collector's Edition CD.  I was really conflicted what album to put in this spot.  It could easily have been "Low-Life".  But this album came hard with the synth vibe compared to their previous album.  Their 2nd album broke ground in 1983 that most of the Universe wasn't ready to accept.  I didn't catch up with it until 1985 and even then I was barely ready to understand what was going on.  The album produced singles that define the last half of the 80s decade for me and still resonate today - "Blue Monday", "The Beach" and "Confusion".  But you can start with the classic "Age of Consent" and "We All Stand" that start the album to know that this is a classic.  The strength of "Age of Consent" that I heard one Saturday night at Schoolkids Records is what got this album into my collection.  I feel like it isn't as strong from top to bottom as some of the surrounding releases but the strength of the singles make it a Top 30 album for sure.  

Age of Consent

The Beach

Confusion

Previous Rankings

#31 - Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV (1971)

#32 - Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)

#33 - Parliament - Mothership Connection (1975)

#34 - Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (1989

#35 - U2 - The Joshua Tree (1987)

THIS WEEK IN TELEVISION

MONDAY

TEEN WOLF (MTV)  Didn't see the first season, saw the second season and I'm not sure there's much reason to watch this third season.  Lost of good lookin' shirtless dudes.  But the special effects and stunts aren't up to the TV quality I expect.

THE WRONG BOX (TCM)  A hilarious and often missed film  with Michael Caine, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore among others.  The Brits make funny comedies about inheritance.

TUESDAY

WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? (CW)  The show moves to the CW without Drew Carey.  You still get Wayne, Ryan and Colin but with Aisha Tyler hosting.  I'm curious.  I've missed the show - good ideas for party games.

MLB ALL-STAR GAME (FOX)  I used to like watching it - then I fell out  of interest in it.  But after getting burned by the whole Home Field Advantage thing in two of the past three years - now I'm a little more interested.  Go American League.

WEDNESDAY
HER COMES HONEY BOO BOO (TLC)  I don't really care for this show - meaning positive or negative, I don't care.  But the idea of a "Watch 'n' Sniff" episode is disturbing and worrisome.

SEVEN FACES OF DR. LAO (TCM)  Not the comedy that I originally thought it would be.  Actually quite hard to put within a single genre.  But you watch it for Barbara Eden and the awesome makeup effects on Tony Randall's character.

THURSDAY
PROJECT RUNWAY (LIFE)  Not sure how this show made it to Season 12 - there is little about this show that makes me want to watch it - especially once you've seen a RuPaul show.

FOODOGRAPHY (COOK) Fun show that actually informs - this week Ice Cream is the subject.

FRIDAY
THE SOFT SKIN (TCM)  Not sure I've seen all of this Truffaut film about an adulterous affair.

DINERS, DIVES, DRIVE-INS (FOOD)  Not everybody enjoys this show - I usually like watching these marathons but I see "the cast of GROWN UPS 2" on this week. Really???

SATURDAY
THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER (AMC)  Have I mentioned how cool this John Wayne and Dean Martin film is?  It's airing most of the month on AMC.

GASLIGHT (TCM)  Classic thriller with Ingrid Berman who goes insane and her husband, Charles Boyer, who help her along the way.

SUNDAY
TRUE BLOOD (HBO)  Haven't watched one second of this season - still stuck on last season.  But I'm hearing that it's back in good graces again.  I'll probably finish last season when this season ends.

MODERN TIMES (TCM)  The 1936 Chaplin film is about his most complete and really feels like one that any fan of "film" should have on their resume.

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR . . . Samsung has outdone Apple lately as far a making fun of the competition . . . 

This Samsung ad shows how you can change a baby and talk on your Smartphone at the same time . . . 

Need to replay this awesome ad from earlier this year with the great Johnny Cash song and the puppy dog . . . 

"How does it feel to treat me like you do?
When you've had your hands upon me
And told me who you are."  - New Order

Walk down to the beach.  Stay hard.

sb