VH1 Top 20 Countdown – 2/26/11

Could anyone understand a word out of Adele?

Original Version
1. Adele – “Rolling in the Deep”
2. Train – “Marry Me”
3. Pink – “F****** Perfect”
4. Mumford & Sons – “The Cave”
5. Christina Perri – “Jar of Hearts”
6. Taylor Swift – “Back to December”
7. The Script – “For the First Time”
8. Avril Lavigne – “What the Hell”
9. Bruno Mars – “Grenade”
10. Cee-Lo Green – “F*** You”
11. Britney Spears – “Hold It Against Me”
12. Grace Potter & the Nocturnals – “Paris (Ooh La La)”
13. Kings of Leon – “Pyro”
14. Maroon 5 – “Never Gonna Leave This Bed”
15. Linkin Park – “Waiting for the End”
16. Keri Hilson – “Pretty Girl Rock”
17. Two Door Cinema Club – “What You Know”
18. Sick Puppies – “Maybe”
19. Sia – “I’m in Here”
20. 30 Seconds to Mars – “Closer to the Edge”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Paris (Ooh La La)
2. Rolling in the Deep
3. Pyro
4. The Cave
5. F*** You
6. I’m in Here
7. What You Know
8. Jar of Hearts
9. Waiting for the End
10. What the Hell
11. Grenade
12. Back to December
13. Hold It Against Me
14. Closer to the Edge
15. Maybe
16. Never Gonna Leave This Bed
17. Pretty Girl Rock
18. F****** Perfect
19. For the First Time
20. Marry Me

Jmunney’s 2010 Oscar Prediction Contest

ONLY 2 DAYS LEFT!

(Correction: On the original post, I had the nominees for adapted and original screenplay switched up.  A few of you figured this out and made your picks accordingly.  One submitter did not figure it out, but I will transfer those selections to the correct categories, so all the picks will be counted correctly.)

The 2010 Oscars are soon approaching.  The ceremony will air at 8:00 PM Eastern Time on Sunday, February 27, on ABC, to be exact, which means there is still enough time for another Oscar prediction contest.  This particular contest is of the simple pick the winners variety.  The winner will receive nothing, except for bragging rights.  Keep in mind, if you make predictions but do not enter this contest, whatever bragging rights you earn will not be official.  Winning this contest will make those rights official.  Come next year, the prize of this contest may have some monetary value.

Also next year, I am planning to also include an alternative oscar contest, which will quiz you on your predicting abilities for various random aspects of the Oscar results and telecast (How long will the show be?  Who will be the first winner to cry?  Who will have the longest acceptance speech?, etc.).  I did not feel that I had enough time this year to fully do justice to the alternative contest, thus why it will be making its initial appearance next year.

The list of nominees appears below.  To enter the contest, predict the winner in each category and e-mail your predictions to me at jeffmalonesemailaccount@gmail.com.  All entries must be received by 7:59 on Sunday, February 27.

Best Picture 
127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Best Actor
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours

Best Actress
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, True Grit
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
David O. Russell, The Fighter

Original Screenplay
Mike Leigh, Another Year
Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, and Keith Dorrington, The Fighter
Christopher Nolan, Inception
Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right
David Seidler, The King’s Speech

Adapted Screenplay
Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, 127 Hours
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich, Toy Story 3
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, True Grit
Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini, Winter’s Bone

Documentary Feature
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land

Documentary Short
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

Animated Feature
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Foreign Language Film
Biutiful (Mexico)
Dogtooth (Greece)
In a Better World (Denmark)
Incendies (Canada)
Outside the Law (Hors-la-Loi) (Algeria)

Film Editing
127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
The King’s Speech
The Social Network

Cinematography
Black Swan
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1
Inception
The King’s Speech
True Grit

Animated Short Film
Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let’s Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)

Live Action Short Film
The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143

Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

Sound Mixing
Inception
The King’s Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

Sound Editing
Inception
Toy Story 3
TRON: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland
I Am Love
The King’s Speech
The Tempest
True Grit

Makeup
Barney’s Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman

Original Score
A.R. Rahman, 127 Hours
John Powell, How to Train Your Dragon
Hans Zimmer, Inception
Alexandre Desplat, The King’s Speech
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network

Original Song
“If I Rise,” by A.R. Rahman, Dido, and Rollo Armstrong, 127 Hours
“Coming Home,” by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges, and Hillary Lindsey, Country Strong
“I See the Light,” by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater, Tangled
“We Belong Together,” by Randy Newman, Toy Story 3

Oscar Presenters

It has been announced that the presentation of the acting categories at this year’s Oscars ceremony will not consist of groups of five presenters, one assigned to each nominee, as had been the case the past two years.  That’s too bad, because I had some ideas for whom they could have called on to present.  I preferred last year’s version, in which the presenters were former co-stars (or some other similar relation) of the nominees, as opposed to two years ago, when the presenters were just past winners in that category.  If the five-for-five format had been stuck with, here’s who I would have recommended:

Lead Actress
-John Cusack, for Annette Bening: In case Bening wins this year, it would be nice to have her co-star from The Grifters, which was the first movie she was nominated for.
-Tom Cruise, for Nicole Kidman: I’m sure they get along these days.  Tom doesn’t make a lot of live appearances on TV these days, so whenever he does, it is always a treat.
-Bill Engvall, for Jennifer Lawrence: I thought that Jennifer had come out of nowhere.  It turns out that she’d been playing one of the kids on The Bill Engvall Show for the past few years.
-Andy Samberg or Chris Parnell, for Natalie Portman: Before Black Swan, Natalie showed some edge in the classic SNL digital short, “Natalie Raps.”
-Joshua Jackson, for Michelle Williams: With Fringe being a great show, Joshua has had as much success lately as his former Dawson’s Creek-mate.

Lead Actor
-Johnny Depp, for Javier Bardem: Javier’s role in Before Night Falls alongside Depp was likely quite the contrast to Biutiful.
-Sam Elliott, for Jeff Bridges: I figured for Jeff, we should go with someone from his last Coen bros. joint, The Big Lebowski.  Julianne Moore, who would be there anyway for The Kids Are All Right, would have made sense, but she was already used for Jeff last year.  Luckily, Sam makes sense as well and fits in with the Western element of True Grit.
-Kristen Stewart, for Jesse Eisenberg: News of Kristen Stewart presenting could have drawn some Twihards to watching the show, but it could have also turned some people off.  But her performance in Adventureland alongside Eisenberg proved that she actually could act.
-Jennifer Ehle, for Colin Firth: They were iconic together in Pride and Prejudice, and they reunited in The King’s Speech.
-Seth Rogen, for James Franco: Seth, Franco’s Pineapple Express costar, could explain how playing a guy with his arm trapped under a rock is similar to playing a pothead.

Supporting Actress
-Will Ferrell, for Amy Adams: Amy Adams’ characters have a thing for athletes, with Ricky Bobby having preceded Micky Ward.
-Daniel Radcliffe, for Helena Bonham Carter: Harry Potter himself could speak for all Brits by discussing the appropriateness of Bellatrix Lestrange portraying the Queen Mum.
-Robert De Niro, for Melissa Leo: Melissa costarred in a couple of movies with De Niro, albeit two of De Niro’s worst (Everybody’s Fine and Righteous Kill).
-Jeff Bridges, for Hailee Steinfeld: Like Gabourey Sidibe and Carey Mulligan last year, Hailee hadn’t been in anything big before this role, so the presenter would have to be a current costar.
-Guy Pearce, for Jacki Weaver: Most of Jacki’s costars over the course of her career would be unfamiliar to American audiences, so it would make sense to go with her most recognizable costar from Animal Kingdom.

Supporting Actor
-John Malkovich, for Christian Bale: Malkovich costarred with Bale in one of his earliest roles in Empire of the Sun.  Bale was already singularly intense at the age of 13.
-Ian McShane or Timothy Olyphant, for John Hawkes, Hawkes’ biggest role before Winter’s Bone was on the HBO series Deadwood, so either McShane or Olyphant would be appropriate.
-Rose Byrne, for Jeremy Renner: In 2007, Byrne and Renner costarred in an unnecessary, mildly entertaining sequel (28 Weeks Later).  Since then, in the past couple of years, Renner has racked up two Oscar noms, and Byrne two Emmy noms (for Damages).
-Kirsten Dunst, for Mark Ruffalo: Mark Ruffalo had a weird relationship with Kirsten Dunst in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  He had a weird relationship with everybody in The Kids Are All Right.
-Kel Mitchell, for Geoffrey Rush: Kel and Geoffrey Rush were both in Mystery Men.  Considering that his old buddy Kenan has found success on SNL, Kel deserves whatever sort of exposure he can get.

VH1 Top 20 Countdown – 2/19/11

Bruno Mars doesn’t need to be a You Oughta Know Artist anymore.  We already know him.

Original Version
1. P!nk – “F****** Perfect
2. Train – “Marry Me”
3. Adele – “Rolling in the Deep”
4. The Script – “For the First Time”
5. Taylor Swift – “Back to December”
6. Christina Perri – “Jar of Hearts”
7. Mumford & Sons – “The Cave”
8. Bruno Mars – “Grenade”
9. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals – “Paris (Ooh La La)”
10. Avril Lavigne – “What the Hell”
11. Cee-Lo Green – “F*** You”
12. Kings of Leon – “Pyro”
13. Sick Puppies – “Maybe”
14. Sia – “I’m in Here”
15. Maroon 5 – “Never Gonna Leave This Bed”
16. Crystal Bowersox – “Farmer’s Daughter”
17. Linkin Park – “Waiting for the End”
18. Keri Hilson – “Pretty Girl Rock”
19. James Blunt – “Stay the Night”
20. Two Door Cinema Club – “What You Know”

Jmunney’s Revison
1. Paris (Ooh La La)
2. Rolling in the Deep
3. Pyro
4. The Cave
5. F*** You
6. I’m in Here
7. What You Know
8. Jar of Hearts
9. Waiting for the End
10. What the Hell
11. Grenade
12. Back to December
13. Maybe
14. Stay the Night
15. Never Gonna Leave This Bed
16. Pretty Girl Rock
17. F****** Perfect
18. For the First Time
19. Farmer’s Daughter
20. Marry Me

Natty Pups

The trailer for Bridesmaids – the first female-centric Judd Apatow production, directed by Freaks and Geeks alum Paul Feig – has been released.  It stars Kristen Wiig as Maya Rudolph’s maid of honor, but as you watch the trailer, keep an eye out for the real highlight at the 1:51-1:52 mark:

The puppies are awesome not only because they are so cute, but they are also awesome because it is not clear at all what they have to do with the rest of the trailer.

There seems to be a trend in which trailers include random shots, like this one, that cannot be made sense of in the context of the trailer.  A good many trailers these days, Bridesmaids clearly among them, are at their ends just mishmashes of quickly edited shots set to fast-paced music.  Bridesmaids’ puppy shot, though, sets a new standard: not only does it lack context and not only is it completely out of place, it also does not tease out the story in any way and its tone stands it contrast to the rest of the trailer without it lasting anywhere near long enough for that change in tone to make a difference.  Except insofar as it makes you go, “Aww.”

SNL Recap February 12, 2011: Russell Brand/Chris Brown

You gotta pay the bills.

Cold Opening – The O’Reilly Factor: The Super Bowl Sunday Obama Interview
Initially, this was all about O’Reilly stubbornly sticking to obviously wrong statements, as when Darrell Hammond did his O’Reilly. That was basically enjoyable. Then a new element was added with the pop culture quiz, which led to Obama’s mild exasperation, which is generally amusing. Ultimately lightweight, but in the best way possible. B

Russell Brand’s Monologue
Russell performed standup on a variety of topics, some of which were funny, some of which went on too long.  The centerpiece joke – that wearing tight trousers indicates fame in England – illustrated both elements, with the bit about having to say that you’re famous being like having to say that you’re sexually attractive eliciting a few laughs.  But Russell did take a while to get his entire point across.  His impression of his wife Ms. Perry was pretty spot-on.  Despite the inconsistency, it is always a huge relief when the host actually performs standup in the monologue.  (Did anyone else hear, “Ejaculate box” when Russell said “Jack-in-the-box”?) B

Gublin & Green
Considering the problems that have plagued this production, this sort of comedic sendup was only inevitable.  The fact that all the settlements were tickets for future performances was quite the zing at first, then got old quickly, and was ultimately so delightfully bizarre.  (For those who didn’t notice, the law firm’s name is a pun.) B+

Ultimate Vacation Giveaway
Really?  This sketch again?  Maybe this rendition was funny to the folks who hadn’t seen the versions with Brian Williams and Emma Stone, but for the rest of us, it was painful having to sit through it knowing exactly what was going to happen.  Russell (who I thought was supposed to be playing a lesbian at first, due to what appeared to be a prominent chest) saved it a bit at the end, with his shout of “4 More Years!” coming off as a parody of everything that had preceded. C+

Don’ You Go Rounin’ Roun to Re Ro
This perfectly captured the feel of recent British gangster movies.  I initially could have sworn I was watching Sexy Beast.  In fact, it captured the feel so perfectly that I found myself as I frustrated as I am when watching the real thing in attempting to understand the dialogue.  In response to Time, you can turn on English subtitles on most English-language DVD’s.  Unfortunately, you could not turn on the subtitles to this sketch.  I understand that we weren’t supposed to understand the dialogue, but mumbled speech works best when you know what is supposed to be said or when what is said sounds like something.  So, it was great.  But it could have been fantastic. B+

Royal Taster
Awfully broad, but as the presence of the poison became more and more obvious, Taran’s reactions became better and better.  And when Russell and Bill’s antagonism was mixed with good-natured ribbing, other laughs were had as well. B-

Chris Brown performs “Yeah 3X”
Now here’s a novel idea: not even bothering to lip-sync.  I’ve heard that it’s difficult to sing well while going through a dance routine, and Chris Brown has certainly got some moves.  His dancing is really what made us fall in love with him in the first place.  So, anathema as it may sound to some, the lack of lip-syncing and live singing was the right choice. B+

Weekend Update
-The Jokes: The good jokes included: the presence of phones in dirty photos, Diego, and Lady Gaga.  So, there were a few laughs. B
-The Segments: -Hosni Mubarak: No hook this time to make it memorable. B-
-Eminem and Lil’ Wayne: Another solid impression from Jay, though not his best.  And Taran totally rocked us with his Eminem.  The silence that resulted from taking out the objectionable parts didn’t do this bit any favors. B
-Stefon: The highlight?  Jewpids, of course.  It engendered a chuckle at first and then turned into a full-borne guffaw once it really hit you.  Not only is Bill’s cracking up not a problem, it is at the point now where it is actually impressive that he can still spontaneously lose it after performing this bit half a dozen times. A-

Livin’ Single
Vanessa’s positive energy was all over the place, and then Russell came on and started groping her, and uninhibited playful groping on television is generally funny, and then the rest of the sketch was just more groping.  So, more could have been done. B-

A Spot of Tea
I was willing to give this sketch a chance because I like Russell, I like Andy, and I like Bill.  And it was kind of funny when Russell’s underwear appeared.  But other than that, really?! C-

Chris Brown performs “No Bullshit”
Chris Brown has a great voice, but there is no excuse for lyrics like these. C

George Washington Summoned from a Time Machine
I was hoping to hear Pelosi, Boehner, and McConnell make their cases.  This would have worked better as the beginning of a longer sketch that revealed the myriad ways in which the killing of George Washington affected the space-time continuum. B-

Overall
Hosts with singular entertainment styles, like Brand, often imprint their styles on the regular SNL proceedings.  Russell brought with him a good deal of Britishness – about the worst sort of Britishness possible (with the exception of Don’ You Go Rounin’ Roun to Re Ro).  It was bawdy, broad, and over-the-top, and it included yelling, kicking and cross-dressing, which is all well and good as long as there is something else significant to go along with it. Too many missed opportunities.
A mini-trend of formerly least valuable players emerging is now happening.  After Abby’s strong show last week, Taran made his presence felt with several performances last night.

VH1 Top 20 Countdown – 2/12/11

No debuts and two re-charts?  How boring!

Original Version
1. The Script – “For the First Time”
2. Adele – “Rolling in the Deep”
3. Train – “Marry Me”
4. Taylor Swift – “Back to December”
5. Pink – “F****** Perfect”
6. Sick Puppies – “Maybe”
7. Grace Potter & the Nocturnals – “Paris (Ooh La La)”
8. Christina Perri – “Jar of Hearts”
9. Bruno Mars – “Grenade”
10. Mumford & Sons – “The Cave”
11. Sia – “I’m in Here”
12. Linkin Park – “Waiting for the End”
13. Avril Lavigne – “What the Hell”
14. Kings of Leon – “Pyro”
15. Crystal Bowersox – “Farmer’s Daughter”
16. Cee-Lo Green – “F*** You”
17. James Blunt – “Stay the Night”
18. Kylie Minogue – “Get Outta My Way”
19. Goo Goo Dolls – “Notbroken”
20. Keri Hilson – “Pretty Girl Rock”

Jmunney’s Revison
1. Paris (Ooh La La)
2. Rolling in the Deep
3. Pyro
4. Get Outta My Way
5. The Cave
6. F*** You
7. I’m in Here
8. Jar of Hearts
9. Back to December
10. Grenade
11. Waiting for the End
12. What the Hell
13. Maybe
14. Stay the Night
15. Pretty Girl Rock
16. F****** Perfect
17. For the First Time
18. Farmer’s Daughter
19. Notbroken
20. Marry Me

SNL Recap February 5, 2011: Dana Carvey/Linkin Park

Looks like you on the phone with Ice-T.

Cold Opening – Wayne’s World
The great thing about Wayne’s World sketches and the reason why there has never been a bad one is because they always mix up the comedy styles.  This reprise was no different, making use of the ever-popular sniggering pun (“Winter’s Bone”), witty babe-ogling (“I’d make a Mila out of her Kunis”), and Abbott and Costello-style shtick (“Who’s on Firth?”) B+

Dana Carvey’s Monologue
Dana appeared to be going for goofy-sounding singing, so we don’t know if he could pull out a legit singing voice, but he didn’t need to.  Goofy, but rhythmic, singing is generally successfully but, oddly, it is rarely seen these days, at least on SNL.  That being said, the song itself wasn’t overly noteworthy.  It’s always good when something else is going on around the song, so here we had Dana not knowing the cast members’ names.  Calling Bill “Rainn Wilson” was funny in that it almost made sense.  And you can never go wrong with Lovitz yelling, “ACTING!” B

I-Sleep Pro
The black noise sleep aid commercial makes a return appearance, getting upgraded from the the last sketch of the night to the post-monologue slot in the process. B+

Church Chat
Back in the late eighties and throughout the nineties, there were several recurring sketches, Church Chat among them, that could get away with doing the same thing each time.  It worked because those sketches were like free-form jazz pieces.  Each time the sketch was performed, it was by its nature going to be different.  And there was plenty of time to make it up in case part of the sketch dragged.  This Church Chat was nine minutes long – that it is unheard of on SNL these days.  There were and still are plenty of appropriate characters for Church Lady to interview, so it only made sense for Dana to wip out the wig and the dress again.  The Kardashians were appropriately dismissed as a bunch of nonsense, and Snooki – well, you know, it’s Snooki.  And then Bieber shows up to demonstrate his comedy chops and make those who hate him hate him even more by providing evidence that he is on the joke, thus frustrating the haters’ attempts to hate. B+

VH1 Celebrity Teen Crisis Center
It was nice to again see Alan Alda and Eddie Murphy, two veterans of the Back to the Future screen tests.  I was also pleased as punch to see Dana bringing back his Mickey Rooney, though it didn’t reach the heights of that classic Theatre Stories sketch.  Abby’s Anna Faris was nothing if not spot-on with that throaty hybrid laugh-talk.  But the highlight was no doubt Fred as Ice-T.  I thought he was supposed to be Steven Seagal at first.  Instead, he pulled off that sort of impression with the highest success rate: the ones of recognizable, though not too recognizable celebrities. B+

The Roommate Trailer
Bieber’s music career is a necessary evil, because if it did not exist, there would not be much of a joke in his comedy appearances.  Was Andy playing a relative of Shy Ronnie?  No.  He was playing Sir Ben Kingsley playing a possible relative of Shy Ronnie. B+

Linkin Park perform “Waiting for the End”
I initially thought that “Waiting for the End” was among the bland variety of Linkin Park songs, but it has grown on me, though not to the levels of “What I’ve Done,” “The Catalyst,” or “Bleed It Out.”  And then I hear it live, and I realize that Linkin Park is a great live band no matter what song.  Chester and Mike always sound as good as they do on the record, and the band clearly takes great care to make sure everything sounds how it is supposed to, and that is no mean feat on the SNL stage. B+

Weekend Update
-The Jokes: Looks like Seth is back to his old self. C
-The Segments: -Winners/Losers in Egypt: There was really no need for this to be a separate thing.  There may have been one good joke. C
-James Franco: Paul kind of had Franco’s voice down, but I see no need to fault him in that area since the concept was so great, and quite the accurate deconstruction of Franco.  Nice job sticking through with it for a few extra gags throughout Update. B+
-Meteorologist/Former Disco Queen Angela Dixon: I don’t why anybody thought this was a good idea.  Kristen has been successful with bad material a few times, but I’ve never seen her pull off a bit completely devoid of material. C-

Live with Regis and Kelly
Hey, this sketch used to be performed with two different folks not too long ago.  Dana’s Reege sounds about as good as Darrell Hammond’s did, but he didn’t quite match the wild energy just seething underneath the surface that Darrell pulled off.  Nasim’s nasally voice did her in again – her Kelly Ripa was just as bad as her Barbara Walters.  Luckily, there was some amusement to be had when Kathie Lee showed up. C+

Little Miss Little Girl Pageant
There were some jokes to be found in this concept.  I think.  But nobody seemed too sure of what they were supposed to be doing. C

Deidra Wurtz: Downsizing Expert
Good point.  I liked the part where she pointed it that it is what it is. B+

Linkin Park perform “When They Come for Me”
Linkin Park meets the Blue Man Group?  Not exactly a good idea, but it was certainly memorable. B+

The Fingerlings
“Be big boys and appreciate what we do.” B

Overall
This episode began by realizing that it is a wise, and obvious, decision to bring back memorable characters that deserve to be brought back when a former cast member is hosting.  And they were all just as good this time around, despite the fact that in this case, these bits were last seen nearly twenty years ago.  Part of that may be due to the fact that Dana Carvey looks like he has hardly aged, and when he is in character, he doesn’t look like he has aged at all.  Then the show completely derailed into no-man’s land in the second half.  I don’t know what happened.  Lately it’s been the other way around.
Surprisingly enough, Abby Elliott, with bits as Anna Faris and Deidra Wurtz, was the strongest cast member of the episode.  She had the sort of performances that cast members tend to sneak in in one of their earliest episodes, though Abby was a few years late in that regard.  But, whatever, we’ll take it.

VH1 Top 20 Countdown – 2/5/11

“Rolling in the Deep” is Number 1 on VH1, and it is currently the most requested song on Radio 104.5.

Original Version
1. Adele – “Rolling in the Deep”
2. The Script – “For the First Time”
3. Grace Potter & the Nocturnals – “Paris (Ooh La La)”
4. Train – “Marry Me”
5. Christina Perri – “Jar of Hearts”
6. Bruno Mars – “Grenade”
7. Taylor Swift – “Back to December”
8. Sia – “I’m in Here”
9. Sick Puppies – “Maybe”
10. P!nk – “F****** Perfect”
11. Mumford & Sons – “The Cave”
12. Ke$ha – “We R Who We R”
13. Crystal Bowersox – “Farmer’s Daughter”
14. Linkin Park – “Waiting for the End”
15. Avril Lavigne – “What the Hell”
16. Kylie Minogue – “Get Outta My Way”
17. Goo Goo Dolls – “Notbroken”
18. James Blunt – “Stay the Night”
19. Katy Perry – “Firework”
20. Kings of Leon – “Pyro”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Paris (Ooh La La)
2. Rolling in the Deep
3. Pyro
4. We R Who We R
5. Get Outta My Way
6. The Cave
7. I’m in Here
8. Jar of Hearts
9. Back to December
10. Grenade
11. Waiting for the End
12. Firework
13. Maybe
14. What the Hell
15. Stay the Night
16. F****** Perfect
17. For the First Time
18. Farmer’s Daughter
19. Notbroken
20. Marry Me

Blake Griffin: Keeping SportsCenter in Touch with Its Roots

The program description for SportsCenter on the digital cable states that it “provides a thorough presenatation of sports news, highlights, and analysis.”  The description used to be something along the lines of  “a daily collection of dunks, homers, and touchdowns.”  This change in description is apt, as SportsCenter has made the shift from being primarily a highlights show to being primarily a news program.  It was only ten years ago – perhaps even five years ago – that it was basically guaranteed that you could catch at least some highlights from all of last night’s NBA action.  Now, you’ll be lucky if they show clips from three games.  It is true thatwith the Internet, the highlights that SportsCenter does not include are still out there.  But most Internet highlights are not accompanied with commentary as worthy as a “Boo-yah!”  (And Stuart Scott is hardly ever on SportsCenter these days anyway.)  What SportsCenter is instead dominated by these days is game day coverage that begins at least a week in advance and covers such topics as the chance that Ben Roethlisberger may, or may not, have stayed out past curfew.

But all is not lost, thanks to the emergence of Blake Griffin.  The Clippers’ own personal dunking highlight reel seems to end up on the Top 10 Plays every day that the Clips have a game.  He has ensured that SportsCenter will continue to include at least some highlights.  His dunks defy analysis; all we ought to do is watch and marvel, and maybe sprinkle in a “Did you see that?!” and a “Boo-yah!” here and there.  There has not been a one-man highlight reel on this level since the NBA’s glory days of the eighties and nineties, and there probably won’t be any others any time soon.  We’ve got to enjoy it while it lasts, and even ESPN knows that.