Podcast Summary for Monday, March 16, 2009

Today I was lucky enough to convince Brien Travis to pop in on part of
the podcast.  Now he has no issue with singing for thousands of
people, but it takes a great deal of convincing, some would call it
whining, to get him to stop by for just a few minutes of his precious
time.  He is, after all, recording a new album called Dead Famous.  It
will be available digitally in July.  There Brien, it’s in print and
we’ve broadcast it so finish that puppy up.

But we had more important things to talk about. Like the new Star Trek
movie.  Star Trek XI is in theaters and our butts will be watching it
together May 8.  My Irregulars and I are all about some sci-fi.  Now
the thing you need to know about this Star Trek movie that has us all
aquiver is that JJ Abrams is behind it.  He is the creator of Lost,
one of my favorite shows.  And he says he was more of a Star Wars guy
growing up.  And this is, wait for it, wait for it, an odd numbered
Star Trek.  We all know that the even numbered StarTrek movies have
been better historically. Starting with Wrath of Khan.  Until Star
Trek X.  Which blew.

Oh, sure, I enjoy even the sub par Star Treks on some level.  Just
like I enjoyed the Star Wars trilogy prequels on a certain level.  Not
on a level of them being good or anything, but they still have a
special place in my heart.  After all, it’s still Star Wars.

However, Brien and I are in a tizzy over Star Trek.  So much so we’ve
been drooling over the official website and repeatedly watching the
trailers.  Now, we don’t go to the conventions.  Not that there’s
anything wrong with that.  Just wanted you to know how deep we were
into it.  Into it, but not so much as to name a child Riker.  The
difference is subtle, I know.  And what’s with Brien not realizing
that Leonard Nimoy, the original Spock, is in this film?  Whhaattt?
How many times does the clue bus have to drive by?  You thought the
voice in the trailer sounded familiar?  Sigh.

By the way, if you’re not into Star Trek, JJ Abrams says you will
still enjoy the film.  Well, one would expect him to say that.  But
he’s making this from the very beginning.  When Kirk and Spock and
Bones first got together.  So you don’t have to have any advance
knowledge to understand the Star Trek universe.  Though, seriously, I
don’t know how you cannot know these names.  But I know such people
exist.

There are even more who are unfamiliar with Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
I had to beg Brien to watch the TV show because he had seen the movie
and had been so under whelmed.  Well, he’s thanking me for it now.
Another addiction.  Luckily the entire series is on DVD now.  And it
rocks.  Vampires have long fascinated me.  Especially how their myth
came into being.  Bram Stoker made them uber popular but he didn’t
come up with the concept.

What I found really interesting is anthropologists have just found the
remains of a plague victim buried with a brick in her mouth.  You
know.  The Plague.  That was back in the day when people did not
understand how the body decomposed.  And they certainly didn’t
understand what caused the plague.  Anyway, the dead bodies looked
like they had blood coming from their mouths so, in order to stop them
from rising from the dead and “feeding” a non-edible thing, like a
brick, was allegedly put in their jaws.  So in Venice it’s pretty cool
that they found proof of this practice.  Proof from an anthropological
point of view of course.  Vampires aren’t real.  Though I do like how
in books and movies they’re always so fashion conscious.

We haven’t seen Race to Witch Mountain--yet--but it was number one at
the box office over the weekend and made about $25 million.

How refreshingly different of Charlie Sheen and his wife Brooke to not
have given their newborn twin sons whacked out names.  They have named
them Max and Bob.  Charlie has a 24-year-old daughter named Cassandra.
And he has a 5-year-old daughter named Sam and a 3-year-old named
Lola.  I can spell and pronounce all of those names with ease.  I am
sure their teachers will thank Charlie and the three different women
who bore these children and who, no doubt, had something to do with
the naming process.  Way to go regular names.  Of course, you would
expect that kind of talk from someone named Jane.  So be it.

No matter how irritating your boss is, don’t ever, ever, put
tranquilizers in their coffee because you feel they need to “chill
out.”  Some chick in Arkansas did that.  Not a smart move on her part.
The guy is OK.  He noticed his coffee tasted off right away.  I am
curious, however, did he really need to chill out?  What I have found
with people I have worked with in the past, just drugging them would
not have solved the problem.  Oh sure, for a few hours.  But what they
really needed was an entire personality transplant.  Drugging your
boss and co-workers is wrong people.  Don’t do it.  Even if they seem
to be begging for it.  Be strong.

Celebrity Apprentice is hopping with Dennis Rodman in the mix.  When
Trump had to decide whether or not to fire him or Tom Green, he chose
Tom.  Who was surprised at best.

Christie and Jodie, the chicks who came in first last week came in
last on the Amazing Race.  But they were not eliminated.  They will
just have to perform a speed bump.  A task that only they will have to
do during the next leg of the race.

I watched the movie Penelope over the weekend.  I have every single
movie channel there is on my dish.  Which is why I so rarely go to the
theater to see one.  It will eventually come to my own hi def TV.
This was a pleasant little movie with Christina Ricci who had been
cursed to look like a pig.  Well, really just her nose and ears.  It
has a great moral in that you need to like yourself for who you are.
In that, it reminded me of the original Shrek.  It’s not animated by
the way.  It’s quite pleasant.  There’s a rakish piano player in it as
well.  You should watch it.

Dancing with the Stars is on tonight.  And tomorrow is St. Patrick’s
Day.  The day when everyone’s Irish, even when they’re not.  Lucky for
you, I am.  Legitimately.