Normal Rockstar

"Celebrity Apprentice": Trace Adkins is my Man!

I never thought I would hear myself say this, but I've become a fan of Trace Adkins over the last few weeks - not his music (his music videos are not usually appropriate for MEN to be watching, period!) but the person... at least the person being characterized on "Celebrity Apprentice". I believe I will be watching the finale this Thursday night to see if he can win the whole competition. It's been fun to watch, as Mr. Trump has set up a battle between the "good, American cowboy" and the "evil, British media star". Anybody else watching? As a sidenote, I was pleasantly surprised with how well Stephen Baldwin represented his faith - I didn't find myself cringing TOO many times when they would cut to shots of him...

[This post is participating in Watercooler Wednesday... Check it out!]

Mid '90s Pilot Episode of "24"

For those of you who are in "24" withdrawals these days as I am, I thought I would post this for you. Enjoy! [HT: Victor]

Football: America's Cultural Obsession

Canada has hockey; America has football. The NFL has just completed it's 4th week of regular season play, and things are really heating up. I was talking with someone on the road this weekend about how much football is available for Americans to watch every week: there's Sunday Night Football on NBC, Monday Night Football on ESPN, a game or two on Sundays on Fox... and that's just the NFL! Saturday is chock full of college football games - I have friends who allow their whole day to be ruined if their alma mater loses a game.

Just for the record (and for any new readers) I am Canadian and hockey is my first love. However, I will admit that I look forward to the start of football season every year for the simple fact that I enjoy the cultural elements it produces. It's fun to relax on Sunday afternoon with friends and watch a game - the only times I can justify eating a hamburger are either Sunday afternoon or Monday night, depending on which night we're watching a game (the exception to that rule is when I'm in California - In-N-Out Burger is a must stop then!). And the best part of it is that my wife is a fan too - we can enjoy the games together.

So having said all that, this is some of what I'm following this year (and I'm talking NFL - there are too many teams in college football for me to keep track of, and I don't have any ties to ANY of them, so I'll just enjoy watching the upsets):

1. The Tennessee Titans: There's really two stories here I'm enjoying. One is Vince Young - he's the guy everyone's talking about and for good reason: he's just exciting to watch. He's been able to lead this young team to a better start than I think many of us had expected. The second story I've been enjoying with these guys is that of Jeff Fisher, now the NFL's longest-tenured head coach. I always respect a coach/athlete/pastor who can commit for the long haul - and Fisher has done that with the Titans and just recently agreed to another 4 years. Good stuff!
2. Brett Favre: I've been rooting for this guy for a long time. He's a great leader, well respected among his peers, and is nearing retirement (I'm pretty sure he's been toying with it the last couple of off-seasons). He comes back this year and starts out winning his first 4 games - at 39 years old. He broke a touchdown pass record too - and every time I saw him interviewed about it he would deflect the attention and talk about his teammates instead. Just classy - I hope this is the season that will allow him to retire on top.
3. Go Lions!

What are you following this year?

Kathy Griffin and the Emmy Awards

Here's an interesting one [HT: Brock]. It obviously did the trick for her - now everyone's talking about a D-list comedian/actor. Thoughts?

"Invincible" the New "Rudy"?

The other night my wife and I watched "Invincible" with Mark Wahlberg and Greg Kinnear. It's a Disney feel-good movie, but I got choked up again - and this was at least the second time I've seen it! I guess I've got a soft spot in my heart for this type of sports movie - the one that celebrates the underdog. It's right up there with "Remember the Titans" and older classics like "Rudy" and "Hoosiers".

In case you're unfamiliar with the movie, it's the true story of Vince Papale, a 30 year-old bartender who made the 1976 Philadelphia Eagles after attending an open tryout. If you haven't seen it yet, pick it up - it's a safe, great date-night option. Read an interview with the real-life Papale here. Let me know what you think once you've watched it!

Technorati Tags: football, greg kinnear, mark wahlberg, movies, walt disney

NBC to Leave iTunes

This is interesting: NBC has decided to end their relationship with iTunes after Apple refused to up the price on their shows from $1.99/episode to $4.99. Read Apple's story here - and get NBC's side of the story here.

Here's my two cents: it boggles my mind that NBC actually thought the consumer would be willing to pay $4.99/episode when they can get episodes from other networks for $1.99. I mean, really - these days the consumer doesn't have to look very hard to find free episodes to download. I would guess that raising the price to $4.99 would push more consumers to hunt for those free episodes instead of paying for them and the company would end up losing money anyway.

What do you think? Would you pay $4.99/episode for your favorite TV show?

[This opens a whole other can of worms: the iTunes effect on the music industry. Any thoughts? If you've come across any blogs recently discussing this, let me know - I'll be posting something this week on this as it's kind of fresh on my mind.]

All That Is Wrong with American Television Programming

Last night I experienced one of my greatest frustrations with American television programming. My wife and I were relaxing in our hotel room after an evening show, and I stumbled upon a CFL football game - Canadian Football League, for the uninformed. There are varying opinions on whether the CFL is better or worse than the NFL - I do not intend to debate that here other than to say that I think the CFL is a more pass-friendly game as the teams are only allowed 3 downs. (If you actually care about the differences between the two leagues, 13thMan.com has a great comparison.)

We had a great time watching the end of the game which went in to overtime. As they were wrapping up the game, the announcers said, "And now we're going to take you to the second game in our double-header between the BC Lions and the Saskatchewan Roughriders." I was thrilled - I grew up rooting for both of these teams.!What were the chances that I was actually going to get to watch them play in a hotel room on the top of a mountain in Georgia?!?

Well, as Dave Ramsey says, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. And such was the case last night. Promptly after they made that announcement, the screen read "We now return to regular programming already in process" and they switched to who-knows-what kind of lame show (I was so disgusted and shocked I just sat there in disbelief for a few seconds before simply turning off the TV).

Oh, you evil American TV programmers... you have no respect for your Canadian viewers.

Child Obesity & Shaq's Family Challenge

I heard quite a sobering fact last night on TV: more American children die every year from obesity-related illnesses than guns. In other words, it's not guns in schools that's killing our kids; it's the vending machines, corndogs in the cafeteria, fast food, and lack of parenting that's killing them.

Shaquille O'Neal, the 7 foot-tall star basketball player for the Miami Heat, is trying to do something about this. Along with his personal trainer and high-school basketball coach and mentor, Shaq designed a program for six overweight middle-schoolers in Florida and then invited the cameras in to follow their progress, resulting in the ABC summer series "Shaq's Big Challenge". I've only watched one episode, but it seems to me like Shaq actually cares about the health and well-being of these kids - he even visits their homes and families to get in the parents' faces, challenging them to take responsibility for their children's health.

The show is cut/edited really well; I even found myself getting choked up once or twice. Tune your TiVo or DVR to record it next Tuesday night on ABC at 9/8c - it might open your eyes to some of the challenges your children are facing in the fight for their lives.

Jordin Sparks & American Idol Finale

Well, it's official - Jordin won the 6th season of American Idol last night after garnering the majority of the 74 million votes cast. Erin and I joined the other 160 million viewers and watched the whole two hour finale (with the exception of the final 2 minutes - including the coronation of the new winner, because the show went overtime and our DVR stopped recording!), and I've got to say that overall I was quite impressed. There were some great performances, some not-so-great performances; Ryan did a fantastic job of keeping the night moving. Here are my observations:

Highlights

• Taylor Hicks performance (including harmonica moments!)
• Blake's beatboxing duet with Doug E. Fresh
• Melinda singing with BeBe & CeCe Winans
• the John Lennon vocal tag at the end of Green Day's performance of "Working Class Hero"

Lowlights

• Bette Midler's performance of "The Wind Beneath My Wings" (as Randy would say: "pitchy")
• Carrie Underwood's performances... nothing to write home about (although having a 6x certified platinum record - 6,000,000 albums sold - IS)
• Sanjaya - please, just let us all forget!

All in all, I was quite impressed. I have not been a huge American Idol fan and this is honestly the first season I've followed even remotely. But as far as season finales go, I was entertained throughout the whole show... enough so to make me watch next season (once the top 12-15 are selected!).

What did you think?