Look y'all, I'm not on quaaludes this
year!

So, last night was the 25th anniversary of MTV’s Video Music Awards. I realize that I may seem like the wrong person to review the VMAs, being that my personal music taste -- which includes Britpop, old school industrial, some hip hop and most of what’s on Ed Banger Records -- is not exactly what this network specializes in.

I’m well aware that I’m not MTV’s target demo, however, a bigger fan of the VMAs you will not find. The awards are a tradition in my house -- I have seen every one of these since I was in elementary school, and I’ve even got a good number of them on old VHS tapes in my basement.

That being said, the VMAs certainly aren’t what they used to be. Lately there’s been some terrible ones, starting around 2005 when they let Diddy host and culminating last year, in what was not only the worst VMA of all time, but a convoluted mess that was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen on television.

But, of course, I went back for more this year, ever hopeful that there will be something as great as that time the dude from Rage Against the Machine climbed up the set scaffolding and threatened to jump when Fred Durst won an award Let’s see how it went...

- Britney Spears opened the show in a skit with one of those guys from Superbad. This was largely unfunny, but I guess it showed improvement from the drugged out zombie dance she called a performance to open last year’s show. She does look about 1000 times better.

- Spears introduced Rihanna, who did “Disturbia” complete with faux-goth dancers and a personal tower a la Antichrist Superstar. I’m sure that did not escape Marilyn Manson, who at this very moment is probably writing a blog about how that bitch ripped him off. I don’t really understand what this upbeat club pop song has to do with the goth motif, but whatever. Very odd bit in the middle of the song, however, when the band pounded out a couple lines from “Seven Nation Army.” Weird White Stripes homage aside, this was well put together for what it was.

I don't know why he needed 3 belts
either, but the guy was funny as
hell, so I'm giving him a pass.

- Next up we meet this year’s host, Russell Brand. This guy is uber famous in the UK and kinda nobody here. You might remember him from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but you also might not. He referenced this, commenting that there might be a problem because his persona “really only works with fame,” which I thought that was a great line, but didn’t go over very well with the crowd. In fact, not much of his humor went over well with the crowd, who seemed fairly uncomfortable with the whole making fun of people thing. Makes me wonder how the legendary Chris Rock-hosted VMAs of the late 90s would go over today. Crowd reaction aside, Brand was very, very funny and throughout the night proved himself to be the best thing about the show.

- The Jonas Brothers played something...Seriously, it boggles the mind that there are people over the age of 13 who find this to be acceptable music. Most notable thing about them was Russell Brand’s relentless jokes throughout the night about their much flaunted virginity promise rings. Look, I really could not care less about their moral choices, but their music is wretched, so I’m up for any reason to make fun of these tools. I got the distinct feeling people were a bit offended by Brand’s insinuation that he’d take the virginity of these teenage goodie-two-shoes (and based on the Jonas Brothers stone-faced reaction, they clearly had no sense of humor either.) But it’s comments like that that kinda make me wanna marry the guy, so it’s all subjective.

T-Pain (left) vs The dude from MCR

- Lil Wayne performed next and set a record for the number of times you can touch your crotch in three minutes. I will give him credit that, unlike the miserable performance of his I caught at V-Fest, at least there was a live band and he wasn’t rapping over his cd. T-Pain also made a guest appearance, leaving me to wonder why he raided My Chemical Romance’s wardrobe.

- Pink did her thing next. I’m not the biggest fan of this girl, but it was a neat show. MTV made great use of the fact that the awards were held on Paramount’s lot in LA, utilizing the movie sets for the performances. Reminded me of the good old days when the VMAs were special and people did unique performances you wouldn’t see anywhere else.

- Jordan Sparks presented something and managed to cram in a comment about how you shouldn’t make fun of people who wear promise rings because “not every guy or girl wants to be a slut.” Because I’m a bad person, I giggle, roll my eyes, and make a comment about how she really doesn’t need a promise ring to keep herself a virgin. Oh, snap.

- Chris Brown and Rihanna did that song where they sing over the melody of “Dragostea din Tei.” Well, I know that it’s called “Dragostea din Tei” -- you know it as that “Numa Numa” song you watched that fat kid lip sync to on YouTube.

- Christina Aguilera did a dark electro version of the first verse of Genie in a Bottle, which I rather enjoyed. This led into her new song, “Keeps Gettin’ Better,” which, to my delight, reminds me of her “Dirty” period. I like this girl so much better when she stops trying to prove what a good singer she is and just cranks out the club hits.

Why this was relegated to filler material,
I'll never understand.

- They showed 30 seconds of LL Cool J is doing “Goin Back to Cali” on the floor with the other bands who don’t matter. Are you kidding me? Also relegated to post-commercial bumper spots are Lupe Fiasco and The Ting Tings, which is a real shame, since these people are actually talented and I would’ve liked to have seen them get the benefit of real performances.

- Kid Rock was up next, and before launching into “All Summer Long,” he took a shot at all the fake people who dance and lip sync instead of being real performers. I’d like to point out that “All Summer Long” is essentially a cover of “Sweet Home Alabama,” but with different words. Kid Rock -- keepin’ it real.

- Britney Spears took home Video of the Year for “Piece of Me”. Is it me, or does that deserve a late pass like nothing else? I don’t think anybody in the world would argue that Britney is in any way relevant to today’s music scene. Not that I expected anything great to win – I don’t think a truly breathtaking video has won since The Smashing Pumpkins took it in 1996 for “Tonight, Tonight.” Hell, the fact that anything – ANYTHING – was able to beat out Justice’s "D.A.N.C.E.". last year, says that this award has very little to do with what is, in fact, the best video of the year. But it usually does have something to do with who’s the most popular, and I find it hard to believe Britney fits that bill anymore.

- And finally, Kanye West closed the show with a song no one knows. I’ve seen West live, and I can vouch that he puts on a good show, but for some reason he decided to go the extremely understated route here, which kinda gave the show a solidly “eh” ending.

Overall, I have to say it was much better than last year. Certainly not one of the classics, but watchable at least. Huge credit to Russell Brand, who was the best host they’ve had in a long time, even if barely anyone there appreciated it. And they brought the quality of the performances up, for the most part, which is a good thing. See ya next year.

- Amirah

Please let me start by saying that I’m not having some crisis about my age. I’m only 26. I have no reason as to why I’ve been reminiscing about my childhood days so much lately. Maybe I just miss them. Don’t we all? Maybe it could be because I still feel closer to being 15 than I do being 30. Either way, I’m always up late at night. If I can’t find the motivation to work or if I go to bed just to lay awake, I have no choice but to watch TV to entertain myself. Besides infomercials and really bad soft-core porn on Cinemax, the only thing to watch are reruns of old sitcoms. It got me to thinking - these shows from the 80’s and early 90’s were great! I remember as a kid hearing about how TV would be the downfall for my generation. Maybe in some instances I see where media and TV may have failed us, but overall - I have to strongly disagree with that statement.

I had a great childhood. My grandma raised me from the time I was 3 years old. She was the best parent a kid could ever wish for. Whenever I asked one of those “life” questions she always had an answer. I never got any fairy tales (ie - the stork) because she was always very straight forward and honest - without any sugar coating. Looking back now, I completely appreciate that. But there are times in every child’s life when the answer comes before the question. There are also times when life lessons heard can hit you the same as life lessons learned. With that being said… Thinking back - all of those TV shows I watched as a child really taught me a lot:

Roseanne: I had to ask my grandma what a period was when Darlene got hers for the first time in 1989. Roseanne also taught me that a family can be a family without having to be the Cleavers.

The Golden Girls: In 1985 Dorothy said that she needed to “memorize every line and wrinkle” on Sophia’s face before she was gone. My grandma was 60 at that time. I really took that advise to heart. I’m glad I did. Estelle Getty was a comedic genius - probably why she reminds of my grandma so much.

Murphy Brown: I aspired to be Barbara Walters until I watched this show for the first time in 1988. Murph was more “real”. She made it ok for a young girl to think that they can do whatever they set their mind to do - even in a field comprised mainly of men. And no, Murphy Brown didn’t teach me that it’s better to be a single mother. What I got out of that fiasco was that families didn’t have to be composed of a mother and a father to be a real family. I appreciated that.

Fresh Prince of Bel Air: Besides maybe the Cosby Show, this was the only show that was popular with the white kids from old neighborhood in the 90’s. It was so cool that if you didn’t know the theme to the show, you were a total loser. Breaking racial barriers… Hmm.. seems like a good life lesson to me!

So anyways, my point: not all TV is bad. I know that a lot of things have changed since the mid-80’s / early 90’s, but still - not all TV is bad. If you think about it, there is actually a lot more on TV that is just for kids. Back in the day, all we had was Nickelodeon - which became Nick-at-Nite after 8:00 pm. Now-a-days there are channels that run 24/7, dedicated to programming for children; something we didn’t have 20 years ago. I ended up watching things that traumatized me like Fritz the Cat on HBO late at night. And in case you didn’t know, Fritz was released in 1972 - quite a few years before the generation which was ruined by TV was born.

- Krissy

Many people don't know what anime is, or they think it is like cartoons that only kids watch. But in fact anime is a genre just like any other form of entertainment, which can express a wide range of emotions and appeal to any demographic. There is anime for kids, like the Pokemon shows that most of the U.S. thinks of when they hear anime, but then there are also anime series that are mature in their themes and sophisticated in terms of artwork, storytelling, and complexity.

Shows like "Serial Experiments Lain," only released officially in Japan but available subtitled by fans on the internet, explores the darker side of the human psyche and studies the influences of cyberpunk and internet influences on modern urban life. Series like Death Note, which has been dubbed and is actually growing in popularity in the U.S., examine the ideas of justice, ego, and obsession in a fast-paced mystery-suspense detective show.

Serial Experiments Lain is one of many anime
series that appeal to more than just kids

So if you've never watched any quality anime before (and no Dragonball Z and Pokemon do not count), you should give it a try; you might find something that's entertaining and makes you think about the world in a new way. You can read some anime reviews about action shows, drama/soap opera shows, even cooking shows, to find something that sounds interesting. Give it a try!

- Susie Q

Kids In the Hall (L to R): Kevin McDonald, Mark
McKinney, Scott Thompson, Dave Foley, Bruce
McCulloch

You spend the summer after you graduate high school doing certain things. You party, you work some crappy summer job, you get ready for college, and, um…you party. Except for me. I had my wisdom teeth out two weeks after I graduated and promptly become so sick from the medication that I spent most of the remaining summer months in bed.

But if one good thing could be gleaned from this misery, it was that this was the summer that I discovered Kids in the Hall. Re-runs of the Canadian sketch comedy show used to air at 2:00pm every day on Comedy Central, and with nothing to do but watch, I managed to see nearly every episode. I fell in love with the Kids irreverent humor and never understood why they didn’t receive more attention in the States, given that their envelope-pushing skits were leaps and bounds ahead of anything else airing at the time.

I don't know, the one in the front's kinda cute

Kids in the Hall might have been best known for their cross-dressing – which resulted mostly from the fact that they had no women in the troupe – but, while Dave Foley did look pretty hot in a dress back in the day, the real magic of KITH was their ability to create sketches that took everyday life to its most absurd conclusions. Kids in the Hall sketches often began with some base in reality, even if they ended as far from it as possible. There was nothing they were afraid to touch and no part of existence that wasn’t ripe for comedy.

Needless to say, I was thrilled to finally get the chance to see the comedy troupe live when the “Live As We’ll Ever Be” tour made its way to the Warner Theatre in DC this past Saturday night. I’m happy to report that 14 years after airing their last original episode, the Kids have still got it; they’re just as funny, smart and raw as ever.

Many of the classic characters were present – Cathy and Kathie, Buddy Cole, The Chicken Lady, and everybody’s favorite head crusher were all in attendance. But it was also great to see that they’re still more than capable of creating original sketches (there was a skit about just how much men love their cars that really had to be seen to be believed). If they produce a live DVD from this tour, I can recommend without hesitation that you pick it up. In fact, if you don’t, I’m sending the Chicken Lady after you.

- Amirah

The classic Head Crusher vs. Face Pincher skit:

If you are my age you were mesmerized. If you are younger than I am, you have this man to thank for any "cool" videos you've ever seen:



This video from 1987 (I was 6!) still holds the record for the most VMA's ever won: 9. Little known fact: the stop-animation in this video was created by Nick Park of Wallace and Gromit fame. Park also worked on Pee-Wee's Playhouse. That factoid may be significant to those who remember Pee-Wee as a Saturday morning icon rather than a sexual deviant... or an intern on Murphy Brown.

**Wanna share a favorite music video? Find it on YouTube, send us the link here, and we'll feature it in the next Music Video Time Machine.**

I'm Chevy Chase & You're Not

Saturday Night Live has featured many bright up-and-coming comedians and actors / actresses since it’s inception in 1975. Some very famous celebrities, Chevy Chase with his one season for example, were only on the show for a short time. Others, like Darrell Hammond who is now working on his 13th year, stay there for what seems to be an eternity. There has also been a revolving team of writers - from Al Franken to Conan O’Brien. Some years and some casts are definitely better than others, and we all have our favorites. My favorite time ranges from the Phil Hartman era through the Will Ferrell era personally.

Will Ferrell w/ Infamous Cowbell

The thing with SNL is – there has to be a perfect mixture of talented actors / actresses and talented writers. We’ve all seen funny skits that weren’t so funny because the actors themselves aren’t funny. We’ve all also witnessed hilarious actors / actresses doing the best that they can with what has been given to them by the writers. The general consensus is that the show hasn’t been funny since Will Ferrell left. I hate to cause a commotion, but I have to strongly disagree with that. Sure, I’ll admit that there have been some rough patches since his departure, but I can’t say that the show is bad. Please allow me to explain.

In the years directly proceeding Will Ferrell’s departure the talented players were: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch, Cheri Oteri, and especially Mya Rudolph. Please don’t think that I’m a femi-nazi, but seriously – SNL isn’t known for showcasing or even capitalizing on its female talent. To me, funny is funny and these women are hilarious! Although they had seniority on the show, the majority of the sketches went to men who weren’t as funny. I don’t use the word sexist casually, but Lorne Michaels, seriously? He is one to take advantage of the talent of his casts… but when all of the talent happened to be women, he didn’t. Makes me wonder…

Gilda Radner

Since the post-Ferrell-madness there have been a lot of changes. Let’s forget about all of the time between then and now - when things could have been better. Right now, like today – I see the makings for one of those brilliant casts of SNL history. The current cast of season 33: Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Will Forte, Jason Sudeikis, Fred Armisen, Darrell Hammond, Seth Meyers, Amy Poelher, Casey Wilson, Kenan Thompson, and especially Kristen Wiig – have the potential to breathe live back into what people call a dying show. Each of these players have a place on the cast. Every one of them

Kristen Wiig, So...

bring something to the show. Kristen Wiig stands out to me the most. She is what I like to call “old school SNL funny”. She is (please don’t hate me for saying this!) as funny, if not funnier than Gilda Radner – the most talented female comedian to have ever graced the 8H stage at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The “Target Lady” and “Penelope” may not be “Roseanne Roseannadanna'” or “Baba Wawa”, but Kristen’s skits are just as comical as Gilda’s ever were.

In summary, to bring my rant to an end: give SNL a fresh watch. If you are a fan of sketch comedy and have stopped watching Saturday Night Live, you are totally missing out. I’m not asking you to stay home on a Saturday night – we all have DVRs and Tivos now. Record a couple of week’s worth of episodes and watch with them with an open mind. I have a feeling that you won’t be disappointed.

- Krissy

PS - Would have provided video if the writer's strike wouldn't have forebode it. I searched and search for recent SNL clips, but the "Hey Jude Korean Baby" was the only video that kept appearing. Although you've already seen it, this is the best recent SNL clip I knew I could find:

Talk about things that make you feel old. The other day, it was brought to my attention that Late Night with Conan O’Brien has been on the air for 15 years. Seriously, 15 years. It’s hard to believe that the host, who has long since become a household name, originally debuted his talk show in 1993 to very little fanfare and general disinterest.

Trying to even figure out what time Conan was on back in those days was something of a guessing game, as the 12:30 post Tonight Show slot was more of a loose guideline than a definitive airtime. Depending upon what part of the country you lived in, Late Night was on anywhere from 12:30 to 3:00am, and often changed week to week according to the whims of local affiliates.



While this was an obvious setback to the success of the fledgling show, it was also a creative boost – some of the greatest bizarro comedy bits ever to make it to network television appeared in these early years. This was the kind of stuff you could only get away with when your program was being shown in timeslots usually reserved for infomercials and re-runs of Cops.

Undeniably, the comedy was hit or miss, but that’s what made it fascinating. You never knew what you were gonna get with Conan, but it was probably something you weren’t going to see anywhere else. These were the glory days of PimpBot 5000, a robotic pimp who spouted lines like, “All the bitches think I’m pretty, bought my face at Circuit City,” as well as the masturbating bear, which was, well, exactly what it sounds like it would be.

Clive Clemmons Inappropriate Responses to Everyday Life, an oddball parody of the type of network found in the outer recesses of satellite TV was another wacky gem, and though apparently no one in the world remembers this, I will forever assert that Conan O’Brien was the first person to broadcast the term “crunk,” first used in a skit about the need to invent new curse words.



While some of the original characters, like Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, endured when the show gained popularity, others (Wherefore art thou Robot on the Toilet?) disappeared into the comedic ether. But I will always have a fondness for the early days of Conan and the envelope-pushing sketches that in many ways paved the absurdist comedy road that shows like The Colbert Report would travel years later. There may only have been a handful of people watching, but those who were up at 2:00am in 1994 saw some truly great stuff. Viva la PimpBot!

- Amirah

We would like for you to post lists pertaining to pop-culture, music, movies, television or video games on our site. Ok, it’s not a huge announcement. It’s not like as big as when the “Old Folks” announced their reunion tour, but at least this announcement doesn’t suck. I know, it’s not like having a website full of random lists is a new concept, but lists are fun, so we’re doing it anyways. Here are some reasons as to why we want to do this in descending order:

5) People make mental lists of things. People like to share lists on the interweb.
4) People have short attention spans. Lists are easy to read and comprehend.
3) Everyone ’s VH1 list shows (you know you do!). This will be like that. Only difference is: you have to read it.
2) As previously mentioned, lists are fun.
1) People have short attention spans. Lists are easy to make.

Your lists can be about anything pop-culture related. We want your opinions to be heard, even if you don’t want to write an “opinion piece” about a particular subject. We also want to encourage people to comment on your opinions, because that’s what they like to do. Your lists, for example, could be about:

- Your favorite video games.
- Favorite musicians with one-word names (i.e. Madonna, Prince, Bono, etc).
- Best movies featuring Mathew Lillard.
- Stupidest You Tube videos to appear on a real television show.
- Reasons why “sophomore” albums of new bands are absolute crap.

Your topic can be very specific or completely broad – it’s up to you. Make sure to send these lists to blendetta@verizon.net. You know you want to.

The new season of Dr. Who started today and is shaping up to be every bit as good as the last 3 seasons.

The Doctor & Donna

You will have to wait a bit before Sci-fi and BBC America start running it, but you won't be disappointed.

The Doctor returns with Donna as his new companion, you may remember her from "The Bride" Christmas Special. Much like the Bad Wolf, Torchwood, and Saxon storylines, they start in on the big picture plotline from the very first episode. I will not include any spoilers, but fans of the newer series will be excited to find out what's going on.

- Kali

Those of you who enjoy watching UFC or mixed martial arts in general can stop reading this right now. Sorry, but I’m not writing this for you. You probably already know everything I’m going to say. Right now, I want to talk to everyone who has either never seen UFC or is pretty sure it’s not for them.

Listen, I used to be one of you. I had some marginal knowledge of mixed martial arts, mostly because Ken Shamrock was in WWE for a minute, back when it used to be WWF. But beyond that, it just didn’t seem like something I could get into. I always had a thing for pro wrestling, but that’s got characters and storylines, not to mention cool high flying moves and people hitting each other with chairs. MMA always struck me as random dudes I’d never heard of having fights with no backstory, most of which involved a lot of rolling around on the ground. Sure, I’d heard there was a good knockout here or there, but I really couldn’t imagine watching a three hour pay per view on the off chance that somebody might get punched in the face really hard.

Then came one fateful Saturday when I was bored and flipping channels. I stumbled onto Spike TV, which was showing a marathon of a program called The Ultimate Fighter. This turned out to be a reality show where guys that want to be in UFC all live and train together. They are divided into two opposing teams, and at the end of each episode one guy from each team fights another, with the loser going home, UFC dreams crushed. I started watching because there was nothing else on. I was still watching five hours later because it was the greatest thing I’d ever seen.

Suddenly, these weren’t just random dudes fighting – these were individual people with personalities that I could love or hate. These were people who had real issues with each other -- issues that they planned to solve through fighting. There was all sorts of drama in the house, and all sorts of crying when people lost...and when they won...and, well, there was a lot of crying, come to think of it. Regardless, this was the program that humanized MMA for me. This was the program that made me care.

And somewhere along the way, after watching all the training and fights, I came to legitimately appreciate MMA as a sport. I started to understand the finer points of what was previously just “rolling around” and found that I could even enjoy fights with guys that I didn’t know anything about, simply because I started to love the sport itself.

With the seventh season of The Ultimate Fighter beginning on April 2, I’ve long since become one of those people that watches every UFC pay per view. There’s no question where I’ll be on Wednesday at 10:00pm. I’d just like to invite everyone who believes they couldn’t possibly enjoy UFC to be there with me. Check it out because it’s a great show. I bet you’ll still be there in six weeks because it’s a great sport.

- Amirah


Check out this clip from the first season of Ultimate Fighter featuring one of this year's coaches, Forrest Griffin:

Blendetta is a pop culture blog.

Wait a sec, before you totally die of boredom, yes we are aware that finding a pop culture blog is about as easy as finding porn spam in your bulk message folder. But we’d like to think Blendetta gives you a little something different. Why's that? Well, first of all, the content on Blendetta is provided entirely by you. And by "you," we mean anyone with an opinion on music, movies, television, video games, or whatever else the kids are into these days. Want to write three sentences about how psyched you are to beat Metal Gear Solid? Fine with us. Want to write three pages about how emo is, like, so 2007? Good times. There are no limitations on what you can or can’t write for Blendetta. And remember to check the blog regularly to find posts from a few mildly famous people – cause, you know, they've got opinions too.

And that’s just the beginning. Think your writing deserves even more acclaim than the legion of fans posting on Blendetta is sure to earn you? Well, from time to time, we’ll be selecting the best posts from the blog to feature on sister site Rock Star Journalism, a webzine that has covered artists working outside the mainstream for the past four years.

What are you waiting for? Send your submissions right now! Unless you'd like your posts to appear anonymously, please include your name, email and / or website address. Feel free to include any links, pictures, videos, etc. that you would like to see with your posts.