October 2007 Archives

An interesting story comes out of the Foo Fighters’ sixth album, “Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace,” which was released in late September.

Band leader Dave Grohl — formerly the drummer of grunge band Nirvana — formed the Foo Fighters after Kurt Cobain’s death in 1994.

During a recent NPR interview, Grohl discussed the instrumental “Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners,” which appears on the album.

He wrote it for two miners who, while trapped underground in an Australia mine collapse, asked rescuers to send down an iPod loaded with the Foo Fighters last album, “In Your Honor.”

Remember the fictional film, "Medellin," from HBO's "Entourage?" The show's characters spent months shooting the biopic about Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar and debuted it at the Cannes Film Festival. Apparently, more than one Hollywood director is working on a real-life Escobar film. I had been secretly hoping that some studio or maybe even HBO would make a real version of "Medellin." Maybe i'll get my wish. Until then, I'll just keep watching "Medellin's" fake trailer.

It just wouldn't be Halloween without the Peanuts gang. Watch as Linus waits in a pumpkin patch, Charlie gets invited to a party for once and Snoopy dresses up as a World War I flying ace. "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" airs at 8 p.m. Oct. 30 on ABC.

I got used to a solid hour of "The Office" on Thursday nights. I don't know why NBC decided to make the first four episodes longer, but it was awesome. Unfortunately, it was also a tease. Last night was the first half-hour episode this year and it just wasn't long enough. I was left wanting more and wondering why NBC didn't switch here-today-gone-tomorrow "Scrubs" to another night. By the way, did you know that Scranton, Pa. is hosting an "Office" convention this weekend? Check out this site for details.

All of you Clay-mates out there, this one's for you:

Former "American Idol" contestant Clay Aiken will be be joining the Broadway cast of "Monty Python's Spamalot."

He's aptly cast as brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Robin (The not Not-quite-so-brave-as-Sir-Lancelot), who "nearly fought the dragon of Angnor," "nearly stood up to the vicious chicken of Bristol," and "personally wet himself at the Battle of Badon Hill."

And might we add: Who nearly enjoyed fame and adoration by mom's worldwide for his fresh-as-a-baby face, and sweet, sweet voice.

All over Maryland there are red boxes at McDonald's and other retail locations that advertise $1 DVDs. Upon further investigation, I found out that these are operated by a company called redbox and you really can rent a DVD for $1 a night. You can return it to any redbox. New releases come out on Tuesdays and all you have to do is swipe your credit card.
Good news, the boxes are now in York. I saw the one at Shoprite in York Township. You can search the Web site here to find locations near you. There also have redboxes at Giant in West Manchester, Springettsbury and York Townships. Happy renting!

If you're a film lover, York County can be rough.

We're always sure to get the blockbusters, but those smaller, intimate and — in my opinion — flat-out better films don't make it onto a big screen here very often.*

Allow me to offer a solution:

The beautiful Charles Theatre in Baltimore, about an hour's drive from the heart of York.

Is it me, or do these four entertainers have an eerily similar look? Not that they're identical, exactly, but more like they could be interchanged with one another without much notice? You know, like Queen Amidala's decoys? ("Star Wars Episodes I and II" anyone?)

Actress Ellen Pompeo, 37, of ABC's "Grey's Anatomy"

Actress Sonya Walger, 33, of HBO's "Tell Me You Love Me"

Singer Fergie, 32, of "Fergalicious" fame

Actress Michelle Monaghan, 31, of "The Heartbreak Kid" and "Mission: Impossible III"

For anyone who follows Kohr Bros. seasonal flavor changes like I do, I have news. The pumpkin and cinnamon are now in stock.
I know, it's crazy, but soft ice cream is my fav and you can only get chocolate, vanilla or twist at most locales. However, Kohr's has my heart. When they don't have peanut butter and chocolate (their usual third tasty treat) they have pumpkin and cinnamon in the fall and chocolate and mint in the winter. Yay for Kohr's soft ice cream treats!

I woke up this morning to a beautiful fall day and decided to celebrate with my seasonal favorite- a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks. While waiting for the barista to whip up my beverage, I picked up one of the cards scattered on the counter and scored a free download of a John Legend song from iTunes. This made my morning extra-sweet. You too can get free music download cards at Starbucks through Nov. 7. Happy listening!

So I went to see the "Heartbreak Kid" this weekend. My fiance's penchant for awkward situations bears an uncanny resemblance to most Ben Stiller movies, so we generally try to catch anything he's in.

While Stiller usually plays the bumbling nice guy (like Greg in "Meet the Parents") or bumbling idiot (like Derek in "Zoolander"), you always end up rooting for him. Because underneath his foot-in-mouth persona, you know he's a good guy.

In "Heartbreak Kid," he's not a good guy though. He's kind of a self-centered jerk.

So after hearing from our very own entertainment reporter Erin McCracken about Radiohead's new album I eagerly stopped by the Web site and named my price --- about $10, about what I'd pay on iTunes.

My first thought that it's rather strange that I'm basing my purchasing on what Apple deems an appropriate price. Since when did iTunes become the standard?

I won't dwell anymore on how much I spent on the album though.

Tune into Hip Hop Honors 2007 at 10 p.m. tonight on VH1. Britney won't be there, so this awards show is safe to watch. Hilarious ex-SNL star Tracy Morgan hosts the event and helps give props to rap, hip-hop and R&B talents from yesterday and today. Look for appearances by Snoop Dogg, Timbaland, Pharrell and T.I.

Radiohead is so clever. Instead of trying to fight illegal downloading, the English rockers have come up with a brilliant scheme to see if fans will pay for music. The band is letting people name their own price for its new CD, "In Rainbows," due on Oct. 10.

Yup, Britney lost custody of her kids. It didn't seem like she was trying too hard to hang onto them. She went out partying all the time and was involved in multiple car accidents. Her drug and alcohol abuse issues were no secret. I'm actually shocked this didn't happen months ago, when her mental health was in question. It's time people started to say "poor Jayden and Sean" instead of "poor Britney." The kids are the victims here if their mother can't even take care of herself. Will KFed's parenting skills be any better?