This week in pop culture (some things old, some things new)

A good part of this past week was spent on the couch sick with the sinus crud, coupled with asthma, my lifelong enemy. We're in a weird weather pattern with one day in the thirties, the next in the sixties. It confuses a poor body. Having so much slug time with the kitters gave me time to reflect briefly on some current and past goings on in the world of entertainment. Many great discoveries were made by me all by myself and a definite tragedy. I will break it down like this:

1.) Radiohead rules the world

The most recent Rolling Stone has an incredible article on Radiohead and their latest album, In Rainbows. I think this is the band's best work since 1997's OK Computer. They bring sound sophistication to a whole different level than any band in my lifetime, with the exception of Sonic Youth maybe. Mark Binelli's well-crafted profile on the elusive quintet can be found here.

2.) Add Murderball to your Netflix cue

You won't be sorry. Although I'm a few years behind on this one, I'm still going to lump it in with recent pop culture (recent for me at least). A documentary, the movie revolves around the world of paralympic rugby. Some of it is shot here in Birmingham at the Lakeshore Foundation, one of the few paralympic training facilities in the country. A Birmingham man named Bob Lujano is featured and his story and abilities sure have made me think twice about the the pettiness I bitch about. It's well edited with a lot of outtakes on the lives and challenges of quadriplegics with a good dose of humor and a great soundtrack.

3.) And while you're at it add The Indian Runner as well

Sean Penn's 1991 directorial debut stars a young and sexy Viggo Mortensen in a role that reminds me much of James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause without trying too hard. David Morse and a young, smokin' hot Patricia Arquette also display some nice acting. It's a bit of a downer, but a really nicely shot, directed and acted movie about the struggles between good and evil that can exist within a nuclear family.


4.) Amy Winehouse's debut album, Frank

A younger, perhaps more sober Miss Winehouse released her first album in 2003 and its production is a bit more minimal than the 2008 Grammy-nominated Back to Black, but just as good. Talking with friend and music critic for The Birmingham News, Mary Colurso, last week we both commented on how heartbreaking it was to see this lady potentially go the way of Britney, mainly because she is so much more talented and worthwhile. At least she said yes to rehab.

5.) Shelby Lynne's new single "Anyone Who Had a Heart"

I accidentally came across her performance of this Burt Bacharach classic this past Thursday night on The Tonight Show. It turns out she has a brand new Dusty Springfield tribute album appropriately named, Just A Little Lovin' that was released just this past week. Raised in my dad's hometown Jackson, Ala., Lynn does white soul good justice in ways that her country sound never could, at least for me. You can hear a few clips off the album on her myspace page here.

6.) Annie Lennox's relatively new album, Songs of Mass Destruction

My aunt and uncle surprised me with this 2007 album in the mail before Christmas and I haven't been able to stop listening to it. Her voice seems to get better with age and the feisty Brit has got some political moments here with "Sing" (a song about mother-to-child AIDS transmission in South Africa) and an exceptionally fantastic ode to her new-wave roots with "My Coulored Bedspread." She just doesn't put out a bad album and for this I will love her as much as I did when I was 11.

7.) Dexter -- funny twisted meets macabre

The first season of Showtime's series Dexter is a series worth watching in back-to-back episodes. Michael C. Hall (Six Feet Under) is back with his quirky, but strangely charming style as a serial killer with a conscience. It's hard to describe without giving too much away, but it's definitely a series you'll like if you can deal with twisted humor coupled with a few gruesome moments (including, but not limited to the intro as a friend has pointed out).

8.) Rilo Kiley's "Under the Black Light"

This album, released last year, channels Fleetwood Mac's Rumors, as pointed out in Rolling Stone, with subtlety. The entire album, with the exception of a Miami Sound Machine tribute called "Dejalo" (a total wtf moment here), is beautiful and addictive. Jenny Lewis definitely made the right career choice by moving out of acting and into music.

9.) Leslie and the Lys

Hmmmm....image that nerdy girl on the school bus (a la Joan Cusack in Sixteen Candles) met up with Salt 'N' Pepa on the set of Lost in Space. There's no way to describe this Ohio-based trio in any other terms. Check out the funniest video I've seen in ages called This is How We Go Out. The home girl unit is coming to Bottletree Feb. 25 in all their bedazzled glory and I will be up front. Thanks again to my best boy Roy for turning me on to another unforgettable band.


10.) And one to avoid at all costs: Celebrity Appreciate

I knew this one would suck poison toads beyond belief -- duh. I enjoyed hearing TV critic David Bianculli tear it apart on Fresh Air in his year-end review and I guess I had to see the car wreck for myself. I have to admit that the first few seasons of The Apprentice were sort of addictive. Like The Amazing Race, some of the challenges were interesting and of course we all love to see some good back stabbing, especially when it's likely choreographed and doesn't involve us (go Omarosa DeVille!). However, this version of the show is pathetic and surely the career low-point for most of these B, C and D-grade celebs.

The saddest moment I think I have witnessed in recent television history was last Thursday's episode where Vincent Pastore (formerly the fed informant, Big Pussy, on my beloved The Sopranos) "recreated" his role as a rat, going between the two teams. The way the producers/creators tried to play off the hit show was such a pathetic rip-off right down to playing Journey's Don't Stop Believin' at the end of the show, as was done in The Sopranos' final season finale and stopping the song at the exact same point. GAG!!!!!! I believe David Chase has probably thrown up just a little by now.