Lone Star Canned Already?

If you can't tell from the few posts I have posted here on Media Hero, I am not really into many shows that show up on your network stations. Lie to Me is a decent show but the lack of a real running story kills me, I am a fan of the dramatic story lines that carry on from week to week like that of Breaking Bad or Dexter. Every week you are left waiting for the next weeks episode to start. Most shows on network television don't do that for me, and the ones that try I just do not get into (Lost, 24). Every new television season I ask for input from my 'media friends' on new shows that they are hearing about and then I check them out if they sound interesting to me. A guy I work with suggested I check out Lonestar, a show about a Texas con-man, that is shot right here in Dallas and all over the state. So, I set the DVR, and I decided late Saturday to get the pilot out of the way before I set the rest of the season up to record.


This show was amazing. The pilot did exactly what a good episode of Dexter or BB would do, it left me waiting for Monday night's episode 2. Bob Allen, a conman who specializes in ripping people off with oil drilling leases and mineral right contracts, leads two lives with two women and two different yet similar money making schemes. He is married to one women in Houston and by the end of episode one is running off to Vegas to marry a lady from Midland. The plot twists and turns are all centered around his father in law's, played by the great Jon Voight, oil company "Thatcher Inc." and Bob's response to a job he is offered there. Long story short, he is going to try to rip off one of the largest oil companies in Texas. The first two episodes remind me of how I felt after two episodes of Breaking Bad. I still had no real clue of what was going on but I definitely wanted to keep watching to see what would happen.


Then the hammer came down yesterday, Fox has officially canceled 'Lone Star". Fox made the mistake of putting a first season show up against the powerful Monday night line up. In my opinion, they also dropped the ball on the advertising of this show. The only reason I knew about it was because of a friend telling me. They need to take hint from the people over at AMC and get the word out. AMC visually raped people's faces with their new show Rubicon. Every commercial break it was Rubicon and the Shake Weight. While Rubicon is a decent show that fills my time when nothing else is on, it is not the powerful show AMC is used to running out there like BB or Mad Men. It still got ratings though.



My hope for 'Lone Star' is that we aren't done seeing it, I hope the producers reorganize and pitch the idea to a cable network and we see it come back on TNT or AMC or anywhere. The show had potential to have a few good seasons, because lets be honest eventually the story would crash and burn because you can only do so much to keep the two lives separate.



My pick for next show dead is "No Ordinary Family" or whatever it is called, that just looks dumb and I don't think that the star power of Rita and the dude from 'The Shield' can save that crap idea for a show.

Coming Soon....

So, this time of year for the average guy is all about football, beer and brats. This guy is more than excited about the Cowboys, fantasy football and tailgating but I am more excited about five huge movie debuts, new series debuts and even a video game or two. Its gonna be a great fall season!

1. Dexter Season 5

So after the speed dating version of season 4, I was not happy that I had to wait 4 months to see how the life changing event left our friend. My speed dating attack of Dexter Season 4 was a 2 week nightly binged with Caty so I could finally be all caught up. Once the finale hit and Caty quit crying, we both wanted to jump straight into season 5 and see what happened. Dexter is going to a completely different character this upcoming season. Dealing with being a single father, a serial killer, and dealing with the fact that he caused the most traumatic event of his children life. My gut tells me that this season is it for the loveable Dexter. I just do not see how he can get himself out of this mess. We have seen him weasel his way out some complex situations but nothing like this! Dexter is the serial killer we love to support, kinda like the drug dealing badass that is Walt on Breaking Bad. To borrow an overused and misinterpreted saying of my high school students... this season is going to be uber epic.


2. Call of Duty - Black Ops

I know I am almost 30 and all that but I still love me some video games. It's strange but its like an amazing stress reliever for me after a frustrating day at work or a bad baseball game. I just want to get online and either shoot fake terrorist or dominate some 16 year old acne ridden punk in Madden. Yeah I said it, it makes this almost old guy feel good to whoop up on teenagers in video games! This Black Ops game is expected to be the biggest release of the year. Its the follow up to Modern Warfare 2. Although it is produced by a different gaming developer, and their releases have been less than appealing in the past, I still plan on purchasing this game and giving it a run through the old xbox. I will play with my 40-something year old brother, which his addiction to this game is WAY more embarrassing than my addiction, and his police buddies. We will lose to the little youngins, we will beat them sometimes, but overall we will just escape into the virtual world for an hour or two a night to relax from a crazy day.


3. The City

When we went and saw Inception, which I swear I will eventually give my review for (Kinda want to see it again), there was an action packed trailer for a new flick coming out that had me all sorts of excited. Then I saw who is directing it and I got nervous. Ben Affleck is directing himself again in a heist movie, but then I remember that Affleck directed Gone Baby Gone, which is in my top 5 all time movies. So I am expected big things out of this movie. Maybe my expectations are going to be to high, but I don't care. The trailer showed a few plot twists already and everything I am hopes it isn't going to fall into the category of the "trailer showed all the good parts" type of film. Jeremy Renner is also in this movie and after his performance in "The Hurt Locker", I have a man crush on him. He is an outstanding up and coming actor. This movie is going to be SICK...... I hope!


4. Mavs Kickoff New Season

Yeah so what if I am letting my sports side jump on the screen again here at MH. The Dallas Mavs are my team in the NBA, and other than baseball, basketball is my game. I enjoy a good football game don't get me wrong but I would rather sit through 3 and a half hours of baseball or a basketball game ANYDAY. The critics say the Mavs got worse but standing still in free agency, but me I see it as just more time for what looked to the best team in the NBA for a month or so to gel in the off season. We shall see, either way, if they go 82-0 or 10-72, I am still going to watch and still cheer. So hurry up Basketball season

5. Texas Rangers Playoff Baseball

Do you know how long it has been since the Rangers have played playoff baseball? Do you know how long it has been since they won a series in the playoffs? Both answers are very depressing in my opinion... BUT the night that the Rangers dumped champagne on each other in honor of their divisional championship, the new owner Chuck "Baseball Jesus" Greenberg stated this: "This is what success looks like, and be ready to see this often Rangers fans". I am geeked up that the new owners are so in touch with their fanbase. It's Time! Rangers Baseball! Get Healthy Josh.

30 for 30 - Jordan rides the Bus

As many of you know I am huge sports fan on the side and occasionally write on a few different sports blogs around the interwebs. Basketball has always been one of my favorite sports but by far my passion has always been baseball. ESPN, or as we call it The Network, is celebrating their 30th anniversary with a documentary series entitled 30 for 30. This week they finally returned to covering stories that are relevant to my sports love. They covered Michael Jordan's transition from basketball to minor league baseball. They looked at how Michael responded to the murder of his father and the transition from jumbo jets to riding the charter bus with a minor league baseball team. I saw the promo for this episode of 30 for 30 and immediately set the DVR to record.

Watching the first 20 minutes of this I seriously found myself a little upset with Jordan for making this attempt. By the way I am typing this as I watch the show so if my opinion changes dramatically don't jump on me. I have no clue what to expect. But anyways, I found myself very upset with Jordan. Some people try their entire lives just to make a name for themselves in baseball, a name that may make a kid get excited to get their baseball card. Jordan tried to show up and get that without any outside struggles or hardships. It looked like a huge publicity stunt by the White Sox and a major stretch for Jordan himself. Now I realize he says that his family issued the challenge to him to become a baseball player and I respect that but this whole circus they keep showing in this video is pretty insane.

The camerawork and editing in this documentary are very impressive, but the story so far is NOTHING new that hasn't been talked about. They were hyping this thing up to be the "insider" into Jordan's real days in Baseball. Not so much, ESPN hits on his father's murder, then his gambling problem, and then the relationship between the gambling and his father's murder. ALL things that have been talked about for years. Please give me something in depth here.

The second half of the documentary is more centered on the baseball 'career' of Jordan. I do like the mix of interview and authentic footage from back in the day but was it necessary to do interview the old real estate lady that got him his house in Birmingham? She makes people in that town look like country idiots. I will say that the interviews of his former teammates was very cool hearing about how they never made the majors but they felt like big leaguers when he was around.

My overall impression of this documentary was somewhat positive. I expected ALOT more from this but I definitely enjoyed it for the most part. For someone who has always played baseball and watched it, this was automatically interesting. Jordan's baseball career was insanely short but he did chase a dream/request of his murdered father. I applaud that dedication to his father but I also see it as somewhat of a media stunt just to keep his name in lights for a year or two until his big comeback in the NBA. Thats where Jordan belonged. In the NBA, dunking on people... not on a bus or wearing baseball pants. This may not be the usual Media Hero post but this is definitely a big entertainment event I looked forward to, if you don't wanna read this... not gonna hurt my feelings.

Endless Loop - The Top 3 iTunes play for this week

As I mentioned in the first post of this blog a few weeks back, I have a crazy taste in music. The playlist I play to work out with may range from the before mentioned Bob Schneider to Jason Aldean to Jay-Z. So I figured why not make a weekly (hopefully) post of the my top 5 songs in my iTunes that week. I will call it endless loop because they are probably some of the only songs I am listening to this week. These songs may not be new, popular, or even good but they are definitely the most listened to songs of the week. Some may be songs I hear on the radio, some may be songs I am sick of because I have heard them 1000 times while editing videos for the school or church. So here we go... in NO particular order.

1. Eli Young Band - Guinevere

This song is such a breathe of fresh air from a band I have been listening to for 7 or 8 years. they are from the Denton area, UNT Grads (not sure if they finished but we claim them) and used to drink at the bar I bartended at so I claim to know them. Anyways after hearing them release song after song on albums for the last 6 years that were songs they played in and around Denton, their big fans had to be tired of hearing When It Rains and Oklahoma Girl. This new album is the first of theirs where I didn't know a single song before the drop date, and this song here is by far the best one of the CD. It takes me back to their old emotional hits like Everything is You and Highways and Broken Hearts. Looking forward to catching them next time they come in town.

2. Incubus - Wish You Were Here

So a few weeks ago, while really diving into my dirty ass house, I decided I needed to make a new upbeat playlist to motivate me to do some DEEP cleaning... You can ask the chick over at Elevated Ebenezer she can attest to just how out of control my house had gotten. Back on topic, I was trying to remember my old school workout playlist I had on my old iPod and macbook that I got rid of and I realized I never reloaded all of my Incubus music I had worked so hard to download. Well, instead of cleaning for an hour or two, I downloaded as much Incubus as I could and loaded up a playlist. I used to never really get into this particular song, but this go around I love it. It's just a song I can jam to I guess. Needless to say I got a lot of cleaning done that day. Glancing around this room right now, its about time to rock out again!

3. Brandon Rhyder - Freeze Frame Time

This song was introduced to me in a clutch moment by a co-worker. We had a slideshow to show for another co-workers retirement party and the audio bailed on us during the burn to DVD. We were pretty screwed, but one guy stepped up with some audio cables and this song and saved the party. This song is beautiful. The lyrics are amazing. Rhyder needs to be more popular than he is. I bet I listen to this song at least once or twice a day. It makes me think of everything in my past ranging from sitting on the porch of my house in Virginia with my mom and dad all the way to the newest memories that I wish I could get stuck in that just happen in Boston with my dad and brother... it also makes me think of some other memories that are on the way... If I get a new guitar, I can honestly say this is at the VERY top of the list of songs to learn to play... Please if you skip the rest of the links on this page take some time and listen to this one. It is simply a beautiful song.

So there you go, those are the top 3 songs on my iTunes this week... maybe down the road I can push this up to 5 songs a week like a normal person would but really, who cares! Tell your friends about me. I am pretty cool

JD

Bob Schneider - HOB Dallas July 31st

So for the first time in probably 3 or 4 years I ventured out to see Bob Schneider play a live set. The back story on my addiction to Bob Schneider goes back to my college roommate Cody. He was a rabid fan of Bob and he started playing his music around the apartment and I started to like him. Once I saw him live the first time at RBar in Denton, it was ON! I have driven to Austin once or twice to see him, I have been to HOB at least 4 times to see him and I have seen him in 5 or 6 other venues. His shows are always upbeat, random and fun. So I decided to take the girlfriend out and introduce her to the greatness of Bob Live. We were joined by 2 good friends from the church.

So after some great food and a REALLY spicy margarita at the Iron Cactus, we walked over to HOB and settled in on the front row railing of general admission. Quiet Company took the stage as the secondary opening band. The first guy I can't remember his name, obviously he was memorable. Quiet Company was like a cool mix of Maroon 5 and Kings of Leon in my opinion. I rarely pay attention to the opening acts at concerts like this, but these dudes ripped the stage up. I can't find these guys on the internet anywhere. Their stage presence was off the charts. I am a new fan.... if I can find them anywhere. Not on iTunes either, sucks.

So once they got the stage set up, Bob took the stage with authority. I forgot my camera so please enjoy these wonderful iPhone pics. My bad. Mr. Bob rocked a lot of newer stuff that I wasn't 100% familiar with but it was definitely needs to be put into the rotation on the iPod. The crowd was very interesting and different from most of the crowds I am used to at a Schneider show. The concerts I frequented of his back in college were full of drunk college students, and a few of his biggest fans. This concert was pretty close to Douche Central. Alot of 30 thousand dollar millionaires and fake looking women. From the beginning I was wondering just how involved the crowd would get in this concert. It definitely wasn't your usual raucous Bob crowd but ah well. Bob did his thing, he brought his 'A' game. He brought a new addition I hadn't seen before into this concert. He had a hat one at the beginning of the show, just a normal looking top hat. Whenever he wanted to do a sing a long with the crowd, he would put on a PIRATE hat. Yes a PIRATE hat. It was hilarious. Like I mentioned earlier, I heard quite a few new songs I hadn't heard but the best new song of the night was definitely the Pants Song. Bob jumped back into the rap game on this one and brought the house down. '40 dogs', his current radio release, of course, brought the crowd alive and then his usual set closing rendition of 'Tarantula' was a festive as ever.

This concert from my personal standpoint wasn't the best one of his I have been to, but it definitely was not the worst. There is no concert that can top that first one at RBar in Denton, Texas. We were there with Bruce Hughes', Bob's bass player, daughter... did that compute? Anyways, we were front row and center, and Bob and Bruce both were interacting with our group the entire concert. This concert at HOB was very upbeat and fun but it definitely was missing that hardcore college feel of old. Overall, it was well worth the cost of tickets and the 3 miles we walked through downtown Dallas to get to dinner and then to HOB. Next concert is looking to be Kings of Leon in September!

"Dextergasm?"

So Comic-Con is going on this weekend and of course I was glued to the website looking for updates on my shows while listening for the any heads up of great new shows to come. Day one of Comic-Con did not disappoint with the Dexter panel taking the stage to discuss Season 5 coming up in September. Jennifer Carpenter joined her cancer-free husband Michael C Hall (which that marriage still trips me out alittle, they are brother and sister! ha) and some of the big wigs on the show to talk up this season, field questions from fans, and also premiere the big trailer for Season 5.

First and foremost, lets talk about this trailer. If you have not seen the conclusion of season 4 now is the time to go and watch it and NOT read any further. As we Dexterholics know, Season 5 ended with a huge life changing event. The murder of Rita by Trinity really sent the Dexter world into a whirlwind. Things were finally shaping up for Dexter to have a "normal" family life with his beautiful wife and cute little fat baby, and this happens. I have quite a few ideas for this next season. Seeing the trailer (which I will post at the end of the post) really got my head spinning on a few of the ideas I had. Then I read the full transcript of the Comic-Con Panel and I felt like a Media God because one of the big wigs said something directly to one of my thoughts I was having. Ok here we go...

#1 - The effect of this on Dexter - The trailer makes it very obvious that Dexter will kill again this season when they show him talking to to Harry and telling him how killing makes him a better father. What would the show be like without Dex killing bad guys.... refer to season 2, I swear I know he did kill people but I can't recall a single one other than Doakes. Every other season I can name multiple victims. Anyways, here's my thoughts on the effect on Dexter. He became the person he is because of a traumatic event in his childhood that for the longest time he blocked out. What kind of effect will this event which is fresh and vivid in his mind have on him this go round?

"We wanted to process this huge event that's almost another origin story," said Johannessen. "This is an adult origin story in a way. This is not something that happened to him when he was three years old. We don't continue the facts of season four for very long, but this set of events he brought on himself very much permeate season five."

I truly believe we are going to see a completely different "Dark Passenger". A very angry, raw, and brutal Dexter. I have a feeling that the first kill after the murder will be more of an impulse kill and could potentially violate the code. The final scene of the trailer shows Dex going ballistic and blood is everywhere, while you don't see the victim, it is obviously a very emotional moment for him. The voice over the shot says "Normally having a target would make me feel good, but now it means nothing." Dexter is not only going to battle bad guys this season he biggest enemy may be himself. If I was writing this series and wanted to really get it rolling quick, Dex makes an impulse kill and draws attention to himself in a very unwanted/unneeded manner. Personally, I like the 'nervous' Dexter, I enjoy when he is constantly worrying about the fuzz.

#2 - The trailer also shows Quinn on the case and suspecting Dexter is involved.... I am assuming that Quinn didn't get the memo about Doakes doing the same thing a few seasons back. Its been nice knowing you dude, and congrats on getting it on with a murderer's psycho daughter, but you are as good as dead bro.

#3 - Dexter and Harrison - Probably the most heart-breaking moment in the trailer was Dexter holding little Harrison and saying to him "I am the reason your mother is dead, you are going to hate me someday". Dexter is a good dad in my opinion...when he is there. Its weird to say that about a serial killer but still he was in a perfect place before this. Does this event launch Harrison into a similar pathway as Dexter? Obviously, the writers are mimicking Dexter's early life experience here. Granted the show would either have to do a 'fast forward' for season 6 or be around for like 7 to 10 more years (I would probably be ok with it) but I would love the opportunity to hear Dexter talk to Harrison (Lil' Harry) about the code and everything that he was taught. Whats your take on the Harrison and Dexter relationship of this season? Granted it can't be too complex, the kid is like 6 months old, but it does have a very complex possibility. Brilliant Writing.

This season has so many potential subplots and different directions it could go, that I am just ready for the dang thing to start. I upgraded the Uverse to get Showtime and Season 5 will be the first season I don't watch on DVD. This is the first show I can honestly say I am completely and 100% addicted to. I am not sure how I will handle not being able to see the next episode immediately. It feels like I am 14 again and I am waiting for Joey to choose between Dawson and Pacey. Yes I did just make a Dawson's Creek reference, and don't act like you weren't watching also.

Leave me your thoughts on what is coming up. I am truly interested in hearing from the millions of fans of the Media Hero. I am sure in the weeks and months leading up to the big premiere, I will revisit this entry and add to it and get deeper into my thoughts on what could/should happen. But I won't keep you waiting anymore, here is the Dexter Season 5 Trailer that premiered this weekend at Comic-Con 2010. Enjoy






JD

Who needs a Hero?

So here we go again, I tried something like this on for a month or two about 5 or 6 years ago and failed miserably but for some odd reason I feel like this time it will work a lot better… yet to be seen. So what is Media Hero? Well, for the last 27 years, I have been the go to guy with my family and friends for just about anything media related. “Hey Justin, fix my VCR”, “Hey Justin, what’s the difference between Blu-Ray and DVD”, Hey Justin…. Wanna make a slide show for my wedding/anniversary/bar mitzvah ?” I know media. I know entertainment. And I know people will enjoy hearing me talk about it.

Cocky? Maybe alittle bit, but when has anyone know me to be overly shy or lack confidence?

I am what I am. I can’t help that since I can remember I have had a fascination with the movies or with music. I am going to take up my little corner of the internet and talk about things that I like, dislike, find funny or maybe even alittle offensive. Everything on this blog will evolve around media and entertainment. Whether its reviews of movies or TV show I watch, concert reviews, or even the infamous viral video on youtube… I will hopefully have a lot to say. IF you disagree with my opinions, reviews whatever… GOOD. Let’s argue, I mean speak diplomatically about it and see where it goes.

So…. Who Am I?

20-something that enjoys watching, analyzing, critiquing, making, writing, and producing movies or short films. Whether it’s a quick 2 hour edit for a church video or a full blown production that the closest I get to the action is standing behind a caution tape line (CSI shoot in Vegas last October), I enjoy getting my hands dirty with an HD Camera and alittle Final Cut Pro. I am alittle obsessed with Dexter, Breaking Bad, and I am currently trying to find another show to get to involved in while I wait for those two to show back up with new seasons. I also watch a handful of other shows religiously so they will show up here as well.

Musically speaking, my tastes are about as wide open as any one person can really be. I am a fan of all music, and I mean all music…Zac Brown Band, Bob Schneider, Eminem, Pearl Jam, and on and on… Yeah that’s just my cleaning playlist. So in all honesty there is no telling what may show up here when it comes to music. I can promise one thing, a concert review very soon, with pictures, of Bob Schneider Live from House of Blues Dallas.

The ‘silver screen’ is a whole different beast for me. I will give just about anything a shot… even Ghost of Girlfriend Past. Yeah that sucked something awful! There are very few movies that I pretty much have zero interest in seeing. One of those would be Avatar. I can already see the negative comments rolling in. It’s a big issue with some of my friends, I just don’t want to sit through it. Even on Blu-Ray. I will tackle that monster of a blog post some other time. Don’t ask me what my favorite movie is or I will list 15. I just can’t narrow it down to one.

So there you go, a little sneak peek at what is to come here with the Media Hero.

So in closing I ask only one thing of you one

In the words of Enrique Ilglesias…. Let me be your hero.

JD