Lady Gaga - Artpop

With the official release of Artpop earlier this week, and Lady Gaga's press thrust about the new album, some interesting news has come out regarding the star. She is apparently addicted to marijuana claiming to smoke up to 15-20 doobies a day. Wow. That's a lot. Granted she says it was because of breaking her hip earlier in the year, but still… she's either exaggerating or just really really messed up. In the Madonna/Salvador Dali tradition of "There is no such thing as bad publicity," stupidity is always the exception. Either that, or she's the new Snoop Dogg.

Before we get to the album, Lady Gaga has also released an app to go along with the album called, what else, Artpop. It's very psychedelic and possibly, if you'll excuse the pun, drug driven, and attempts to interact with the user and allow them to interact with other little monsters.

You begin your journey with the album's opening song and concept, "Aura." The app appears that it should be able to play other tracks from the album as well, but that never worked on my iPhone at least. I guess this is a bit fun, and useful if you want connect with other monsters, but otherwise it's only fun in an "Oooh, shiny" kinda way.



On to the actual album, Artpop, I have to say I'm not all that impressed. That said, when I first heard the advance single "Applause," I hated it, then days later it had grown on me to me my favorite song of that moment. "Venus" hit me the same way, at first dislike, but then growth. Weird.



Not fond of the second single, "Do What U Want" with R. Kelly, either. The love song to "Dope" kinda stands out because of Gaga's comments, but doesn't seem like a hit to me either. Only "MANiCURE" and "Gypsy" show any first listen promise to my ears. Artpop is sadly full of fairly standard and substandard dance music. I've been a little monster since the beginning, but unless all the other songs on this collection start playing fungus and growing on me, I think she may have stumbled with this effort.

Nuclear Family

I know I am late to the party on this one as it was made two years ago. But let's be honest, how often does anyone peruse the Syfy website or phone app? Unless they're looking for the next giant crocodile movie starring Debbie Gibson - nobody. Nobody but me, I suppose.

"Nuclear Family" stars Corin Nemec as the dad, who along with his wife are searching for their son in a post nuclear apocalypse world. They were on the brink of divorce as they see the mushroom cloud, the ties that bind, eh?

However, nothing is ever as it seems in this terrific plot-twisting mini-mini-series. Ray Wise, who previously and delightfully played The Devil in "Reaper," is the prime bad guy here as well. His evil is delicious and Emmy worthy.

Like the other SyFy online mini I loved, "The Mercury Men," I wish they would make more programming like this, and actually broadcast it.

HBO Digitals

I love HBO Go, absolutely love it. Since I installed it in my iPhone, I have watched the entire runs of "Big Love," "Deadwood," and "Oz," all awesome television in their own right. Recently, while exploring HBO Go, I found a section hidden off in the Comedy category called HBO Digitals. These are mini-shows, could-have-beens I guess. There are four, and they are really something special. I would almost want to watch these mini-series than some of the real stuff that does make it to 'real' TV.

"Garfunkel and Oates"

If you've seen this terrific musical comedy duo, you know what to expect. I love them. They are sly and funny, and even better in their own three to five minute mini-episodes. The episodes are more or less frameworks for their songs, but still, damn funny. Oh, and sooo not work or family safe.


"The Boring Life of Jacqueline"

The opening episode is a test in cringe - how long will you hold out? Yes, when they say boring, they mean boooring. It is almost like a dare gone too far, or a staring contest. If you get past the first episode, it's worth it. The show does kick in eventually and becomes a rather disturbing picture of a lonely but pitiful, and suicidal sociopath. Jaclyn Jonet plays an out of work actress obsessed with the building maintenance man. Don't let the description or first episode scare you off, this is wonderful and subtle brilliance from Mike White, and deserves a spot on HBO's regular line-up.

"Brody Stevens: Enjoy It"

This one is about BS, a comedian, manic depressive, compulsive Twitterer, performance artist, stalker, baseball player, and god knows what else. You might know him from "Chelsea Lately," or the Hangover movies. I don't really know what this program is about, besides Brody Stevens wrecking his life, even after a half-dozen episodes, and I like that about it. He's abrasive, specializes again in cringe humor, has animation, and always surprises. Co-produced, co-written, and co-starring Zach Galifianakis. It's fun, not for everyone, but fun.

"Single Long"

At first this seemed like a failed hipster/slacker sitcom about a dating site, but eventually it turns into a sweet love story between two reluctant friends. Like "Jacqueline," it takes a while to kick in, but it's well worth it. The show is fully saved by the charisma of spunky Sarra Jahedi. I just can't get enough of her. All great finds on the iPhone with HBO Go.

Cobra Woman

Cobra Woman ~ My friend Dan turned me on to Maria Montez and Jon Hall. I was aware of and knew about them but their films are not all that easy to find. Imagine my surprise recently when cruising HBO Go on my iPhone one late night looking for something to cure my insomnia when I came across Cobra Woman. On HBO of all places! Insomnia hell, I settled in for the long haul.

The first thing that hit me just in the opening credits was just how brilliant and striking the Technicolor was. Very bright, very crisp. The other thing that surprised me was that both Miso and Get Glue, the two apps I use to post on social media what I'm watching, had no recollection of the flick. This truly was a forgotten movie.

Sabu, who was Mowgli in the original Jungle Book the year before, gets third billing in this 1944 cult classic from Universal after Montez and Hall. Lon Chaney Jr. is also in there as well. The exotic Montez plays dual roles as kidnapped bride and her evil sister, high priestess of Cobra Island, Hall is the heroic groom, and Sabu the plucky sidekick.

Cobra Woman is pretty typical fare for Universal horror of the time had it been in black and white, but the lush and lavish Technicolor raises the bar on this one. The set design and the costumes more than make up for the clichéd story and adequate acting. Well, less than adequate acting for Montez, but her dazzling beauty helps to erase that.

Adventure, horror, romance, musical, and spectacle - why don't they make movies like this any more? If you get a chance to see it, don't miss Cobra Woman.

Immortals

Immortals ~ Okay, I've admit it. I've had this DVD sitting on my coffee table for at least two months. I'm not lazy or careless. It's just that with Netflix's streaming service to my iPhone, my Nook, my laptop, and the PS3... well, the snail mail discs sort of get forgotten. Immortals sure did, like I said, for at least two months. So if you're still doing it by mail on Netflix, and have been waiting for Immortals, yeah, it's me, I've got it. I'm a bad Netflixter. I'll send it back shortly, I promise.

At this point I don't even remember much about it. I know it's mythology based. I know it was released theatrically on 11-11-11, a hard date to forget, and that the date morphed into the title in the previews. I also know it's got a lot of motion capture in it like 300, Watchmen, and Sucker Punch. Beyond that, I don't remember much, let alone why I put it on my Netflix queue.

Ten, fifteen, twenty minutes and more into the film, it is dark, and boring. Yeah, I know. They have taken something that I love, mythology, and made it boring. Adding to the difficulty of the task, they have fictionalized it, added state of the art special effects, and made mythology boring. Although, to say they are really sticking to the myths in question would be a kindness. Loosely based is the broad term here. Did I mention how dark the film is? At times it was almost like a radio production.

I was pleased to see John Hurt for the short time he was on screen. He was playing the old guy, you know the Hollywood star of yesterday they always have in these bad myth movies. He at least acts. I am now very worried for the upcoming Man of Steel film, because the cardboard cut out that plays Theseus here in Immortals is cast as Superman. That film could be worse than the last one based on Henry Cavill's performance here.

I didn't recognize Mickey Roarke until halfway through the movie. Stephen Dorff equally phones it in. I guess the actors thought that because no one would actually be able to see this movie because it was so dark, they could just phone it in. I didn't like Immortals, even a little bit. I didn't hate it, I was just bored. I guess it's good for a nap.

The Nature of Spoilers

Since I've gotten my iPhone, with the miracles of streaming Netflix and HBO Go, I have been stripping entire TV series before I go to bed instead of reading myself to sleep. I have gotten to see some pretty cool programs, stuff like "Oz," "Avatar the Last Airbender," "Nip/Tuck," "Sons of Anarchy," "Big Love" and "Deadwood." Great stuff, just amazing television. And also through apps like Miso and GetGlue, I'm able to let folks know what I'm watching.

My most recent project has been "Six Feet Under," and a friend of mine saw I was watching it and offered his opinion that the first season was great (of which I'm only almost done), the second was only okay and that the third and fourth seasons jumped the shark. Now I know that "Six Feet Under" is more than a handful of years old, but it got me thinking about spoilers, and when is it safe to talk about something after it happens without spoiling it?

I would think that news and sports would have the absolute shortest shelf life. News travels at the speed of light nowadays with Twitter. Sports would be only as long as you can keep a secret I suppose. I have a friend, seriously not into sports, who used to make it a game to see how long he could go without knowing who was playing in the Super Bowl each year. He used to do quite well, but this was back in the days before the Super Bowl was about more than football. Now it's more about middle-aged women exposing themselves or which ancient rocker was going to break a hip in stage this year.

In my tiny world of comic books, where the new titles come out on Wednesdays and most folks don't buy them until Friday, mid-weekend seems to be safe harbor to talk without spoilers. For TV, even in the age of DVRs and OnDemand, it seems a good idea to avoid the water cooler and not speak until at least the next episode airs.

Movies are a little different and I think fall into my "Six Feet Under" problem. Everyone knows Rosebud is a sled, but how many folks know the calls are coming from inside the house, Deckard might be a replicant, and that Bruce Willis is really dead - or do they?

Should it just come down to a matter of courtesy? If you know someone hasn't seen something, just be cool and don't spoil it, or should there be a statute of limitations on entertainment? What are the rules for spoilers?