Prayers for Piper

It was only a few weeks ago that I spoke about the 3-disc set released by the WWE dedicated to the career of Roddy Piper. Well it would seem that the toughest challenge to face Piper isn't mentioned on that disc. That's because he has been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Piper was sent home early from a WWE tour of the United Kingdom and was hospitalized where doctors removed a mass near his spinal cord which contained an enlarged lymph node. The mass was completely removed, but the lymph node tested positive for Hodgkin's lymphoma.

If there's one thing Piper has shown throughout his life it's that you can't keep a good man down. I have no doubt that he'll dropkick lymphoma and show the world that heaven is going to have to find another angel for the time being.

Stealing Cable T-shirt Store: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Well, there is only one t-shirt in the inventory right now. It won't win any design awards, but heck I put it together because I wanted to show my support for "Passenger 57" himself. Anyway, you can go here to reach Stealing Cable's Cafe Press store. I don't plan on making any money off this, so its going to cost you the same amount it would to make your own t-shirt on Cafe Press.

So, visit the store. Buy some shirts. Support Wesley.

CafePress Stealing Cable store link

I Can't Believe it. A Remake of a Horror Film!

I'm not sure when it became law to remake every single horror film made before 1995 but we need to put a stop to it before Vern Troyer is cast in an updated version of LEPRECHAUN. Until then we'll just have to continue eating up this slop.

Due in theaters this January is a remake of THE HITCHER, the 1986 film in which Rutger Hauer hitches a ride from C. Thomas Howell and then spends the rest of the movie trying to kill him and anybody around with a pulse. Hauer was the villain in the film but I ask you this, wouldn't we all kill C. Thomas Howell if we had the chance? I'm just kidding, I love C. Thomas. With the exception of former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop he's my favorite person in the world who begins his name with the initial C. If Howell grows a funny beard maybe I'll reconsider and put him in the top spot.

The new HITCHER stars Sean Bean as the maniac passenger known as John Ryder. I'd look to see the names of the youngsters he'll be terrorizing but it doesn't matter. They're interchangable with the young actors who will star in whatever horror movie opens the week after THE HITCHER. Here's the trailer which looks to keep things pretty close to the original, so close that you may as well do yourself a favor and just watch the original.

Hey New Orleans you're gonna be ok: COMIC RELIEF 2006

You know, I dont think I have ever seen a full Comic Relief special. I have probably seen bits and pieces of many of them, but I just remember damning my parents for not having HBO because on that channel you could curse, Robin Williams would be coked out of his mind but still funnier than anyone in the room, Billy Crystal could make hilarious observations about old Jewish people, Andrew "Dice" Clay (I think he was on a couple of these specials) could make jokes full of sexual innuendo that would go right over my 10 year old head, and you could watch Whoopi Goldberg...um...stand there?

Well, after a long hiatus the trio is back (sadly sans the "Dice" man)! They are putting on another Comic Relief to benefit the Hurricane ravaged south. There are going to be a ton of comedians on it. Also in attendance will be the obligatory Dane Cook appearance (I still think he is funny, but I think his agent needs to be more choosy from now on). The always hilarious Rebecca Romjin (wtf?) and New Orleans Brass/Funk/Rock fusion band "Bonerama" (they aren't comedians. there is no relationship to "Growing Pains". I checked. just poor choice of name.) But more importantly, its also going to be broadcast on TBS, this Saturday night. I am not sure if the TBS broadcast will differ from the HBO one outside of bleeping, but either way it should be cool.

Comic Relief Homepage for more info

I Diggs This New Show

With "Lost" on hiatus for the next few months it's going to take quite a show to hold down the fort for ABC on Wednesdays. Judging by last night's premiere of "Daybreak" I do believe they have done just that.

"Daybreak" stars Taye Diggs, perhaps you remember him from that time he gave groove back to Stella, as a cop who wakes one day to find himself framed for murder and on the run from his fellow officers, not to mention a mystery group of men dressed in black who are quite eager to see him confess to the murder. The kicker is that Diggs' character is forced to relive this day over and over again until he gets it right. Yes, this is the same premise as GROUNDHOG DAY. But if network television can air 3 versions of "CSI" I'm fairly certain it can survive a show that swipes heavily from a 13 year-old movie.

So far I like what I'm seeing. Diggs is backed up with a good supporting cast that includes Adam Baldwin, Jonathan Banks, and a smoking gal named Moon Bloodgood who plays Diggs' girlfriend. It should also be noted that Moon Bloodgood is the coolest name ever.

I'm interested in seeing if the show can keep each new version of the same day fresh. If it can accomplish that then we're gonna be in for a fun couple of months following this story play out. If you missed the 2-hour premiere you can head over here and check it out on ABC's website.

Look what's coming out on DVD, you little jerks!

It's no big revelation to say the holiday season has inspired a glut of terrible family films that nevertheless still turn a profit--even Tim Allen has successfully managed to fight off oblivion, after all. The bright side of such dire industry-enforced lowered expecations is that when a truly great holiday-themed film is made, it sticks out like Rudolph's big red glowing phallus, and inspires the same kind of unadulterated joy for generations to come. Chief among them, at least for my money, is 1990's life-altering Christmas megahit Home Alone, which is getting an extreme DVD makeover just in time for, uh, next Tuesday.

I don't think there's a person in America who needs a plot synopsis, so I'll move directly to the extras. There are several behind-the-scenes featurettes, one of them guided by the "Mac" himself, and of course a blooper reel and a set of deleted scenes. The features that make this release worth more than a rental however include: "Where's Buzz Now?," which offers a variety of hypotheses on where Kevin's big ugly brother might be today. I'd like to think he's off somewhere punching nerds with Chet from Weird Science and Wayne Arnold from The Wonder Years. Also included--uncut--is the infamous clip from "Angels With Filthy Souls" that Kevin uses to such great effect. And the icing on this booby-trapped gingerbread house is a newly-recorded feature-length commentary from Chris Columbus and Macaulay Culkin. I don't think there's a better way to spend Christmas Day than watching the Wet Bandits get torn to shreds by a precocious twirp. So this Tuesday I suggest you--as I will--go to your favorite video store, fork over a $20, and tell whoever's at the register to "Keep the change, ya filthy animal!" And then--as I will--take the change anyway.

DVD Goodness: The Roddy Piper Story

The past few years the WWE has been honoring their legends with in-depth DVDs chronicling their greatest moments. Finally there's one of these suckers that I have to get my mitts on. It's titled "Born to Controversy: The Roddy Piper Story" and it hits stores Tuesday.

Roddy Piper is simply put the greatest wrestler since the dawn of man. He may not be some steroid chugging behemoth. But those guys are a dime a dozen. Piper was all about using his big mouth to get the job done. Nobody talked trash better than Piper. He eventually took his charm and wit and applied it to motion pictures. As much as I enjoyed The Rock in THE RUNDOWN, Piper's role in THEY LIVE remains the greatest performance by a wrestler in film.

Included in the 3-disc set are several of Piper's signature matches. What I'm really looking forward to is Piper's legendary "Wrestlemania 2" boxing match against Mr. T. I'm sure the set will also offer up plenty of segments from "Piper's Pit," where Roddy would interview his fellow wrestlers and commonly end these chats by beating the snot out of his guests. I'd like to see Charlie Rose try that!

DVD Goodness: The Sopranos Season 6, Part 1

The 2 best shows on television for my money are "The Sopranos" and "The Shield." They're to TV what Ali/Frazier were to boxing. During their most recent seasons I found "The Shield" finally delivered a knockout to "The Sopranos" but that's not to say the mob drama was lackluster. This week part 1 of the 6th "Sopranos" season comes to DVD in a standard no frills release that has unfortunately been the norm for the program's DVD releases.

I never let the lack of features (or the jacked up HBO DVD prices) on "The Sopranos" sets sway me from purchasing them. I always find it great to rewatch the shows on disc because I'm bound to have missed some key details during its original run. Besides, the episode where Christopher heads to LA and schmoozes with Ben Kingsley is worth whatever price being asked.

The 2nd part of the 6th (and final?) season is scheduled to start in March. That is unless James Gandolfini stubs his toe in which case the premiere will be pushed back to April of 2012.

MyTube: 28 Days Slater

Apparently, team tiger awesome is made up of geniuses. Who are they? A group of people who got together to make comedy films. Apparently this series got a lot of play on Channel 102, which I probably don't frequent enough (probably because most of the stuff on there sucks ass). If you are a fan of Saved by the Bell, you are going to love this. The series of videos is quite epic in scope and needs little introduction. Just know this, it freaking rocks...preppy.



The series is 5 videos long...and parts of it contain boobs, so its definitely NSFW (not safe for work).

MyTube: BORAT...THE SOUNDTRACK

So, I don't think any amount of overexposure can prepare America for B-Day (November 3rd).

In my original review in May, I stated that Borat is one of the funniest films of the past decade. I stand by it totally.

Yesterday, the Borat Movie Soundtrack was released with plenty of original material including "You Be My Wife" and a Borat version of the Steppenwolf classic "Born To Be Wild".

Here is the infomercial for the soundtrack, and a link to the full version of "You Be My Wife"

Posted By:Borat

Get this video and more at MySpace.com



"You Be My Wife"


EDIT: I picked up the soundtrack today. It is brilliant. There are actually real songs on here that sound like they are definitely eastern european, western asian in origin. They are actually kind of catchy. There is also the full version of the music that is used to introduce Borat pieces on "Da Ali G Show". I highly recommend picking it up. If you don't, you are probably a gypsy.

South Park: Still Crazy After All These Years

It has almost been 10 years since "South Park" hit the airwaves. But unlike some animated comedies (cough, oh fuck the cough I'm clearly talking about "The Simpsons"), "South Park" still gets under skin with the best of them. The most recent fracas concerns last week's episode in which Steve Irwin is depicted attending Satan's Halloween party, along with the stingray that killed him still attached to his chest.

To be fair, the person who is most upset is Irwin's widow. I guess I can't blame her. If someone made fun of my loved one's death I'd be a bit steamed too. But anybody not related to the former hunter of crocodiles who feels offended should just cram it. Poor taste or not, the bit is extremely funny.

With all the new animated comedies that have popped up the last couple of years it's easy to forget how impressive "South Park's" run has been. This current season has had some classic episodes that have perfectly lampooned everything from online gaming to female teachers banging their male students. Now is definitely the time to rediscover the show if you have let your viewership lapse.

To check out the "Irwin incident" click here.

MyTube: JAMMX...the return of the bobb'e j

We recently commented on Tracy Morgan's new show "30 Rock"...its good. Watch it.

But Mr. Morgan had previously gotten a family sitcom on NBC, called "The Tracy Morgan Show", while the likes of me and worry loved it, NBC didn't believe in it. But there was one discovery in that show that not even NBC could kill...Bobb'e J Thompson. He played Tracy Morgan's youngest son...and he was hilarious. Apparently he has also been in a bunch of episodes of "That's so Raven". Anyway, not only does the kid own one of the wildest uses of the apostrophe ever, but he also is mad talented.

He has been part of Jammx kids music club or something for some years now. Apparently they are still making videos. Bobb'e J raps in it! Shaq Fu himself is in it too! Unfortunately he isn't rapping in it, but I remedied that by posting one of the "Diesel"s classics.

Beep Boop Beep Boop...

Even though we're still over 2 months away from the new season of "24," a trailer of season 6 has just become available. Those hoping to have "Day 6" revolve around Jack Bauer's quest to flee his Chinese captors will probably be pissed as it looks like that plotline will be wrapped up within the first hour of the new day. In fact it looks as though the obstacle facing Bauer will be of the Muslim variety which appears to be how this show likes to go for the even numbered seasons.

The show is coming off an Emmy win for Best Drama which is really sort of insane. I enjoy "24" plenty but it's not exactly the ideal destination for interesting characters or sharp dialogue. But no matter, as soon as this season finds Bauer stabbing terrorists in the throat I'll forget all about its faults and just concentrate on all the severe beatings he'll likely dish out.

The new season kicks off with a 2 hour premiere on January 14th. The trailer can be viewed here. For a look back at my favorite moment from season 5 click here.

From Deadwood to Die Hard

A couple weeks ago we reported, more like regurgitated, the news that Jeffrey Wright had been cast as the villain in LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD. It appears that deal either fell through or wasn't true because now several sites (still good enough for me!) are reporting that "Deadwood" star Timothy Olyphant has been tapped to play John McClane's main nemesis.

Olyphant's character is described as a mysterious figure behind an attack on the U.S.' computer infrastructure that begins to shut down the country. The character has planned out every angle to his scheme, except for the old-fashioned "analog" McClane. I suppose that means McClane will not spend the entire film at a keyboard eating Hot Pockets.

I've tried to get into "Deadwood" but it just hasn't clicked with me. It's not Olyphant's fault who does a nice job as one of the show's leads, I just find the pacing of the show beyond lethargic. I have enjoyed him in a few films like GO and A MAN APART so I'm optimistic that he can give Bruce Willis a decent run for his money. Though just as I said when it looked like Jeffrey Wright had the role, Olyphant is not the kind of name that's going to get people buzzing about the 4th DIE HARD. I guess it's just going to have to be an actual good movie.

MyTube: Diddy...what is wrong with you?

I am sure many of you have seen this now famous video blog of Sean "P.Diddy" Combs explaining how good it feels to take a piss. If you haven't...watch and then continue reading.



Ok, he just released a new video last week for the dropping of his new album (if a washed up producer/semi-rapper drops an album, but no one is there to hear it, does it make a heavily sampled sound?). What is wrong with this guy? He makes it sound like this is an impromptu thing, but then he took the time to have it done in black and white, professionally edited, and have that weird serial killer interrogation piano music play in the background? I also enjoy how he conveniently rubs his eyes when he states "it's like 3 in the morning". Please enjoy Diddy's feelings exposed.