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Welcome to Culture Shock - the News & Record's new pop culture blog.

Here we'll peel back the layers of pop culture -- music, television, magazines, food, gadgets, etc -- and get to the soft, gooey flesh of things.

You may occasionally learn something or be made to think here -- but that will be unintentional and coincidental. This blog is primarily for entertainment.

I'm not looking to change your life -- I'm just hoping you may occasionally say to your friends, family or the guy in the cubicle next to you: "Hey, I saw this really cool thing on Culture Shock today..."

There are five simple rules here:

1) Please participate.
I'll try to be an entertaining host, but the blog will be a lot more fun if you guys get in on the conversation, e-mail me things, suggest topics, etc. I don’t mind talking to myself -- but I'd much rather be talking with all of you.

2) Be cool.
I don't mean "Don't disagree with me."
Please disagree with me. Disagree with the others who comment. Be passionate. But be civil about it. Don't say anything to anyone that you wouldn't say if we were all having these conversations over beers after work. If any blog on this site can avoid degenerating into the sort of political bickering and name calling that's really just one step up from monkeys flinging their own feces at each other, it should be this one. Because we're talking about POP CULTURE. If you're not having fun with it, you're not doing it right. And if trying to make other people miserable is your idea of fun, don't worry. Because Rule #3 is...

3) I reserve the right to ban you from the blog.
Oh, yes I do.
They're not paying me anything extra to do this, so the moment I stop enjoying it, it simply isn't worth my time.
I am not in any way infringing on your First Amendment freedoms if I don't let you curse at and abuse me or the other readers over something as ridiculous as a differing take on the Nintendo Wii or whether the Transformers movie sucks. This is my little corner of the web, I'd like it to be a cool, pleasant place and I will not be receptive to arguments that I am an evil, tyrannical opponent of true liberty if your actions cause me to give you the boot.

4) Be patient with me.
I'm running the blog on top of my day job writing for the News & Record, so I may not get back to you in the comment thread or reply to your e-mail straight away. But I promise to get back to you, if you give me the chance.

5) Pop culture is in the eye of the beholder.
I think any part of our shared culture is fair game -- TV, music, movies, fast food, clothing, etc. This may mean that sometimes I'm blogging about things that don't particularly interest you. That's all right. If you don't care about my musings on Avril Lavigne come back in a few hours for my take on Michael Moore's "Sicko" or my gripes with the latest issue of Rolling Stone.

And, of course, always feel free to drop me a line.

If you don't feel like commenting -- or have more to say than a comment will allow -- e-mail me. I've set up a special address for the blog to avoid mixing it in with the mail I get at my work address. You can reach me at NR.Cultureshock@gmail.com. There I'll have enough room to get attachments you send me, take suggestions and explore links you think I should look into.

The N&R published a David Brooks column today under the headline "Pop music's angry young women." (behind the NYT pay wall here.)

In it Brooks looks at the pop landscape -- as represented by Carrie Underwoord, Pink and Avril Lavigne -- and is a little spooked by what he sees.

I've been thinking about Avril Lavigne lately myself.

I don't suppose that makes me unique among American men - but she's apparently 21 and married now (when did that happen?) -- so that statement isn't as creepy as it might have been a few years ago, when the Canadian singer first burst onto the pop scene in faux skater-girl clothes with pop punk ditties and sad-girl ballads.

But anyway, she's been on my mind for reasons that aren't even a little prurient. Sexual fantasies about young blonde pop stars are disposable. My obsession over her newest single, "Girlfriend," is a lingering, festering thing.

My best friend, an active and unrepentant TV addict, called me last night after the premiere of VH1's latest reality TV show, Scott Baio is 45...and Single.

The surprise:

"It's amazing. I'm actually emotionally invested in whether Scott Baio can get over his tremendous commitment issues. He visited Erin Moran, who played Joanie on Joanie Loves Chachi. Apparently he lost his virginity to her. She was screwing with him, telling him he had a little penis. Next week he's visiting two women who were on Charles in Charge. One of them tells him that his cheating on her so much was the reason she got her first AIDS test."

Her analysis of the show's appeal:

"One of the things that makes it so good is, I think, the fact that he seems really sincere about wanting to get his life together. And the production quality is really good. It's well put together. It's not like you're watching Scott Baio going through the drive-through for a half an hour."

Final verdict:

"This is going to be the best washed-up celebrity reality TV show of the summer. Maybe all year."

High praise indeed.

I'm a little young to remember Baio as a heartthrob, but I'm told he was quite the Tiger Beat centerfold.

Anybody out there willing to admit to a childhood crush?

Many of you will already have seen the viral video "I've Got a Crush...on Obama" featuring Obama Girl.

If you haven't, you've got a lot coming to you. The song features lines such as:

"You're into border security/let's break this border between you and me."

and

"Universal health care reform/it makes me...warm"

Today there's a sequel -- Obama Girl vs. Giulianni Girl.

Sample lyric:

"Obama/I still wantcha
I'm waiting for my phone to ring/watching reruns of West Wing"

and

"I'm going to be wife #4/ he warms my globe just like Al Gore"

"Giuliani Girl, just stop your fussin'/ At least Obama didn't marry his cousin"

The video is not exactly high minded political debate -- but it is funny.

And it does...you know...feature models in their panties having a pillow fight.

Like generations of American kids since 1917, my favorite pair of sneakers were Converse's Chuck Taylor All Stars.

There's a picture of me in an old family photo album, all gussied up for my first boy/girl dance. My hair is slicked back (my mom had just stopped giving me a bowl cut) and I am wearing black Levis, bright red suspenders and a matching pair of red Chucks. It may have been Lloyd Dobler chic, but it did get me my first kiss from Jodie Conway. Right before the nuns at our Catholic school told us to break it up and maintain a distance of at least six inches at all times.

Maybe it was as simple as positive associations from that night (her cherry lip gloss, Milli Vanilli...sigh) but I've loved Chuck Taylors ever since.

Reader Beth points to yet another viral video about a political crush, "Hot 4 Hill" as better than the Obama Girl videos.

"Oooh, does this one feature half-naked men with crushes on Hillary Clinton?" said a colleague of mine.

"No, sorry," I said. "It's a woman in a bikini, singing about her crush on Hillary."

"Of course it is," she said. "Where are all the guys?"

Sorry.

On the whole I don't think the rhymes are as clever as in the Obama Girl videos, but I do like:

"H-I-L-L-A-R-Y...I know you're not gay, but I'm hoping for bi."

I'm pleased to announce that N&R business reporter Michelle Jarboe is going to be live-blogging the release of the new Harry Potter novel right here, on Friday.

She's pretending she's not tingling with excitement at it, but I can tell.

In the meantime, enjoy "Welcome Back, Potter" -- the viral video that proves He Who Must Not Be Named is one thing, but dealing with the Sweat Hogs is another...

Up Your Nose with a Phoenix Feather!

From The Sun:

PAGANS have pledged to perform “rain magic” to wash away cartoon character Homer Simpson who was painted next to their famous fertility symbol - the Cerne Abbas giant.

The 17th century chalk outline of the naked, sexually aroused, club-wielding giant is believed by many to be a symbol of ancient spirituality.

Many couples also believe the 180ft giant, which is carved in the hillside above Cerne Abbas, Dorset, is an aid to fertility.

A giant 180ft Homer Simpson brandishing a doughnut was painted next to the well-endowed figure today in a publicity stunt to promote The Simpsons Movie released later this month.

---

Click here to see the actual painting.

Man, the publicity push for The SImpsons movie is really full-tilt.

I was excited enough about all of those 7-11's turning into Kwik-E-Marts.

Here's a list of where they are, in case you'd like to visit one. I've been trying to organize some friends for a weekend trip to Washington, D.C. to see the closest one to Greensboro, buy some Squishees, Buzz Cola and Krusty-O's.

Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart?

I....dooooooooo.......

According to NME Brandon Flowers, lead singer of The Killers, is now a proud papa.

Flowers, a Mormon rock star who rose to prominence playing sexually ambiguous retro-glam/new wave songs that sounded like The Smiths getting it on with Duran Duran can look forward to his son becoming a Republican accountant and president of his local Rotary Club.

Because that's how it works.

A clip from the upcoming Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There has leaked (or was leaked) on YouTube.

It features Cate Blanchett playing a young Dylan (and she is, eerily, a ringer for the Dylan in one of my favorite rock docs, Don't Look Back) in a strange conversation with Allenn Ginsberg (played by one of my favorite comics, David Cross of Mr. Show and Arrested Development).

The guy who plays...that is supposed to be John Lennon, right?...is kinda crap. But otherwise it looks like it's very interesting.

UPDATE:

For comparison, here's Dylan being punk before it was cool from D.A. Pennebaker's 1967 documentary Don't Look Back. In the clip he suggests that Time Magazine doesn't print THE TRUTH -- because if they did they'd print just pictures of "a tramp vomiting into the sewer" next to "Mr. Rockefeller or Mr. C.W. Jones."

HEA-VY.

According to Footurama the powers that be at Skywalker Ranch and Adidas have finally ackowledged that there's a lot of Star Wars Geek/Sneaker Fetish Geek overlap -- and they've created these to get all of them off:

That's right. Darth Vader sneakers.

You heard me, son.

The Darth Vader sneaker is, reportedly, a patent leather version of the Adidas Superstar with gold tags and lace ring.

Ugly as Vader himself, these things are somehow still just awesome.

Those of you laughing don't know the power of the Dark Side.

No firm release date but rumors have them coming out for the 30th anniversary of Star Wars.

Sorry the entries have been a bit sparse today but the day/night job has required my full attention.

To make up for it, though, I'm going to point to the blog of Ryan Cormier, a pop culture blogger for Delaware's News Journal.

Cormier recently interviewed Bill Cosby and asked him a question I've always wanted to know myself -- what does The Cos think of the hilarious (but sort of mean) impression Eddie Murphy did of him in his 1980s concert film, "Raw?"

For those who haven't seen it (warning: contains R-rated language. Not work-safe. Do not follow the link if you are offended by naughty words or cruel Bill Cosby impressions) the bit is here.

So what'd the Cos think? Well, in brief:

"[T]his is a very nasty, nasty liar. Period."

For a fuller answer, go here

Yes, it's true.

As four people have now called to tell me and three readers of the blog (who for some reason can't use the comment function - will have to look into that) have now e-mailed, the Harry Potter book has indeed leaked online.

If the "upload image" function of the blog was working right now, I'd be able to show you a picture to prove it.

The Machinist blog has a good post on it. Pictures, but no spoilers.

Someone told me today: "I had to know if it was true. So I tried downloading it. It took me five minutes to get it."

I tried too. Couldn't help it. Took me six minutes.

But I'm not reading it and I'm not spoiling it for any of you. Just might be harder to avoid the spoilers this time around.

Said the same person who bested me in illegal downloading by a minute:

"I'm thinking of answering my phone: 'Hi, don't tell me anything about Harry Potter.''"

My mother has been harassing my sister, who works in a bookstore, about the possibility of swiping a copy from the stockroom for her. She doesn't actually want her to do it -- she just wants to hear that it's possible.

It's apparently possible. But mom's not downloading either.

Well, it's officially D-day for Harry Potter fans with tonight's official release of the final installment in the popular series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Will Harry die? Will Dumbledore return? Will Ron and Hermione live happily ever after? Will Snape show his true colors, and if so, what are they?

Those who read any of the illegally released copies on the Internet (or just read spoilers provided by accidental early mailings of the books) already know the answers to these questions and more.

For the rest of us, only one thing is certain: Harry Potter fans are about to become Star Wars fans.

By this I mean that the thing they love will finally be over (J.K. Rowling is too smart to roll out more and lesser sequels and spin-offs ala George Lucas, I think) but their love will last forever. It will become sort of weird and creepy as they get older, but the cottage industry that is Potter merchandise will probably continue for decades, allowing them to fulfill the desperate need for more "new" Potter stuff -- even if it's just new dolls based on the old stories, new video games or (and we're already seeing this, really) Internet fan fiction.

I don't worry about most of the cast of the films. They have two more movies to go and most of them are, as various friends of both sexes have pointed out, becoming too hot to be child stars much longer.

I worry for Daniel Radcliffe least. He starred in Equus in London's West End last year, playing a deeply disturbed young man who (among other problems) gets sexual gratification from horses. The part included a full frontal nude scene and he reportedly handled it (both the acting and the nudity) like a pro.

I offer you the following British TV interview with the young man who is Potter as proof he's going to be fine once he leaves Hogwart's. He's smooth, confident, mature and humorously (rather than uncomfortably) self deprecating.

(Warning - it's a British talk show and gets a bit blue. The host says he's seen the nude scene from Equus and can assure the ladies that "it's not just the Harry Potter books that have got longer as the years have gone on.")

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released tonight at midnight -- and N&R business reporter Michelle Jarboe will be on hand to live-blog the event at a blog set up specifically for the purpose.

But a number of early reviews are out. Though they'll warn you when something's coming I can't promise that the links are spoiler-free, so click them at your own peril:

The New York Times review by NYT big-gun reviewer Michiku Kakutani, who was sold her copy by a New York retailer.

The Baltimore Sun review, in which they cop to getting an early copy from an employee's relative who accidentally received their mail-order copy early.

The Washington Post review. The Post has also created a special section of their website, the Hogwarts Hub, for Potter-philes.

As something of a respite from Harry Potter Hoopla I've decided that today will be Culture Shock's inaugural Fast Food Friday.

This week I'm taking a look at Wendy's new Baconator sandwich. This thing actually scares me -- and Wendy's seems to have anticipated this. This is part of the ad campaign:

That's right -- "Careful. It can sense fear."

Well, the last Harry Potter book is officially out there now.

Last night's release at Barnes & Noble at Friendly Center, Greensboro went off without a hitch.

Business reporter Michelle Jarboe live blogged the event -- and I mean live blogged. I held her coffee while she typed on the paper's laptop while in line and while buying her book.

Michelle's generally a little afraid to let her geek flag fly, but last night she was in rare form. She made Bertie Botts' Every Flavored Beans references, she even bought an extra book for a friend of mine who was pre-registered, but standing out in the parking lot waiting for her number to be called.

She also snagged this picture of Business editor John Nagy getting into the wizarding spirit:

I very nearly wore my Gryffindor scarf myself (yes, I have one, knitted for me by the biggest Potter geek I know) -- but in my rush to get from work to the store I forgot it at home.

A number of my friends, old acquaintances and co-workers were there, some people who just remembered me from the newspaper at UNCG and some local bloggers I rarely see in person. But my favorite part of the night had to be watching Michelle, who has read every Potter book (and some of them more than once) but who is still inexplicably a little ashamed of liking them grinning from ear to ear, giggling and loving every minute of something this unabashedly geeky.

Like comic book conventions and the release of a new Star Wars movie...you just have to let yourself go at something like this, let the geek take over.

I do not apologize for being a Will Farrell fan.

I also don't care what you think of the hilarious (but strangely divisive) Anchorman. I think it's probably his best film because it's his most ridiculous.

And for my money one of Farrell's best Saturday Night Live sketches was a "VH1 Storytellers" with Neil Diamond. (The clip may not be work-safe...may want to plug in your headphones.)

It worked because Farrell completely embraced the absurdity of the premise -- squeaky clean, square-as-they-come singer/songwriter Neil Diamond as a racist, drug addled wreck who can't remember his own songs and has an incredibly warped sense of his own importance. In fact, he made love to it.

I'd always wanted to see more of the character -- but in the end I thought maybe it was best they didn't beat it to death.

But Entertainment Weekly's Popwatch has posted an unaired clip of Farrell's Neil Diamond doing a duet with Christina Aguilera (Kate Hudson). Like a lot of failed SNL sketches it stretches the premise a bit far and Hudson is sort of heavy handed as Aguilera, but it's still funny.

What's your favorite Will Farrell moment? Harry Caray? James Lipton? "More Cowbell?"

Fox has announced what may be the geekiest comic-book centered television episode of any mainstream television show ever.

Apparently the Oct. 7 episode will gust star comic book heavy-weights Dan Clowes (Eightball, Ghost World, Art School Confidential), Pulitzer Prize winner Art Spiegelman (Maus) and the legendary Alan Moore (Watchmen, From Hell, V For Vendetta, Promethea).

The plot will apparently concern a new comic store coming to town (Jack Black will voice its owner) to supplant Comic Book Guy's Android's Dungeon as Springfield's supreme spot for guys who lose themselves in spandex clad superhero adventures.

I do wonder how many people are going to get or care who the guest stars are -- but the Simpsons does this with some regularity. I remember them once having Jonathan Franzen and Michael Chabon as guest stars. When you reach the sort of iconic status The Simpsons has I think you can sort of do what you like.

My favorite part of the last Harry Potter movie?

Seeing this Get Smart trailer beforehand.

The audience went nuts for it.

I discovered Get Smart on Nick-At-Nite when I was a kid -- back when their line-up included nothing from the 1980s.

I thought it was some of the strangest, funniest stuff I'd ever seen (particularly because I finally understood where much of one of my favorite cartoons, Inspector Gadget, was coming from).

And, the rarity among things from our childhoods, it just got better as I got older.

Now, it's going to be a major motion picture starring Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart.

All right...would you believe a minor motion picture?

A puppet show with very sophisticated lighting?

Those who never saw Get Smart -- or just haven't seen it in a while -- can brush up before the movie with these episodes on Google Video.

So DC Comics sent me a copy of Action Comics #851.

The issue, written by comics superstar Geoff Johns and Superman director Richard Donner, is the fourth part of the "Last Son" story arc in which a boy arrives on Earth who seems to be from Krypton.

It's also in 3-D.

You heard me. 3-D. Like with the glasses and everything.

The premise is that Superman heads into The Phantom Zone -- a place where, among other things, Kryptonian criminals like General ("Kneel Before...") Zod are imprisoned. In the Zone you have to wear special goggles to make reality comprehensible or you'll go mad.

I don't mind telling you, I was pretty excited about this issue. I carefully cut the 3-D glasses out of the special insert, put them on and...

Well, that was about it.

It was all pinky and a bit strange...but not that exciting, in the end. Even with the glasses the blurred images gave me a bit of a headache -- and nothing seemed to be jumping out at me or zooming past.

Someone from a generation in which 3-D was considered genuinely exciting help me out, here. Was it ever thus? Was it never exciting? Is that why the whole 3-D thing went by the wayside, except as kitsch?

I read a good review of U2's new 3-D concert film the other day.

Maybe that will make me a believer.

For generations (at least since The Jetsons), Americans have been asking the same question of the auto industry.

"Where is my effing flying car?!"

As Mudhoney asked on their last album: "Where is the future that was promised us?"

Well, it seems it's finally here.

According to a press release Moller International (creators of the personal-jet-like Skycar) is producing an honest-to-god flying car.

The release calls it the "Jetsons-like M200G volantor, a small airborne two passenger saucer-shaped vehicle that is designed to take-off and land vertically."

Here's some video of an early prototype:

From the release:

"You can speed over rocks, swampland, fences or log-infested waterways with ease because you're not limited by the surface. The electronics keep the craft stabilized at no more than 10 feet altitude, which places the craft within ground effect where extra lift is obtained from operating near the ground. This lets you glide over terrain at 50 mph that would stop most other vehicles."

On Thursday the US Postal service is unveiling its Marvel Superheroes postage stamps at the San Diego Comic-Con (known in some circles as the Nerd Prom).

I still have a sheet and a half of the DC Superheroes stamps. Unfortunately, I so seldom use actual stamps that I may have them forever.

Am I going to buy the Marvel ones? Absolutely.

Rolling Stone asked its readers to tell them who the 20 Best Live Bands Playing Right Now (which I take to mean still touring, who you can still see this year). They then compiled this list of the twenty best, which has gotten some grief in the comment thread.

1. White Stripes
2. Radiohead
3. Pearl Jam
4. Rage Against the Machine
5. U2
6. Metallica
7. Flaming Lips
8. My Morning Jacket
9. The Hold Steady
10. Arcade Fire
11. The Raconteurs
12. Wilco
13. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
14. Red Hot Chili Peppers
15. Gogol Bordello
16. Kings of Leon
17. Muse
18. Dave Matthews Band
19. Tool
20. LCD Soundsystem

I tend to agree that any list that includes LCD Soundsystem, Muse and Gogol Bordello but excludes Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band should be regarded with suspicion.

Who do you guys think is missing? Remember -- they have to still be touring and you can't choose "The Stones in 1972."

Man, I just never get tired of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

I've been listening to their last album, the double-disc Stadium Arcadium, since it came out last year but I just got around to seeing the video for the single "Dani California."

It begins with the band as rockabilly archetypes, very Elvis and the Jordanaires. Then, as the song progresses, they become Beatles-style British invaders, a psychedelic rock act, a P-Funk style outfit, 70s glam rockers, punks, an industrial rock act, a ludicrous hair band, grunge rockers on the set of Nirvana Unplugged and finally themselves. As the song climaxes all of the archetypes are run through again and their influence is apparent in the band's style. The best bit is, for my money, Anthony Kiedis' ridiculous (but dead on) little dance during the hair band segment.

Which has always been the great thing about RHCP -- they're sort of a glorious mess, an amalgam of all sorts of things that is often brilliant, sometimes hilariously bad, but always soulful, funky and interesting.

They're also, lest we forget, amazing musicians. Flea is maybe the best and most interesting bassist of his generation, John Frusciante is a legitimate guitar god, Jack Irons Chad Smith somehow keeps all this in check and rocking on the drums and Anthony Kiedis is, beyond being one of the most dynamic and fascinating frontmen in rock history, also the sort of lyricist whose stuff melts your brain even if you often have no idea what he's talking about (or even when you're pretty sure you do -- "What I got you gotta get and put it in you." Best lyric from this song: "With a name like Dani California/the day was gonna come when I was gonna mourn ya").

If you have any doubts, you haven't seen them live. I've been lucky enough just once, at a festival years ago. But watch them rock the same song, live -- it's even better.

All right.

By now some of you must have heard at least a bit of the new Smashing Pumpkins album, Zeitgeist.

What do we think?

I'm underwhelmed, but I was by the last album all the original Pumpkins participated in as well. Billy Corgan's solo stuff didn't particularly do it for me either.

I was willing to give it a chance -- particularly after seeing the hype video from Warner Brothers, which plays on the Pumpkins' past and suggests this is the next chapter in a story we grew up with and love.

Unfortunately, the album seems smaller and less impressive when measured against the Pumpkins' past.

My favorite jab at the album may be from Seattle's The Stranger, which published a satirical "Open Letter From Billy Corgan."

The new video is sort of crap, too. Which is a shame because I used to love Pumpkins videos, which were almost universally terrific.

I think I prefer to remember them this way:

Or this way:

Or even this way, despite how ridiculous Billy Corgan looks with hair:

Maybe it was because I was the perfect age when I first heard the Pumpkins but I just thought they were so effortlessly beautiful and strange. But this new album, this new single and video...it feels like they're working twice as hard to get half as far creatively.

What do you guys think? Heard the new album? Who were your favorite Pumpkins?

Someone sent me this really interesting bit of audio interview with John Lennon, wherein he rages against The Stones -- especially Mick Jagger as "a joke" and accuses them of copying the Beatles for most of their career and then spitting on their grave after they broke up.

He talks about admiring their "funky music" and talks about liking Brian Jones before he descended into drug addiction and died, but also calls Mick Jagger's performance style "that fag dancing" and says he doesn't consider the Stones artistically or commercially on the same level as The Beatles.

It's an interesting look at a part of Lennon that's more interesting than the "Saint John" myth that has crystallized since his death. I do wonder if he felt this way until his death or if he made peace with the Stones.

(Some strong language in the clip, but nothing too nuts.)

Adrien Brody.

Jason Schwartzman.

Owen Wilson.

Oh, yes.

It's a new Wes Anderson movie.

The trailer is here.

What's your favorite Wes Anderson movie? That American Express commercial, while good, doesn't count.

I vote "The Royal Tennenbaums," though I know some are partial to "The Life Aquatic."

A blog message from John Mayer to the 63 young people arrested on various drug and alcohol charges at his recent show in Hershey Pennsylvannia:

In looking to the future, I hope that this will serve as a wake-up call to young fans who may be thinking about engaging in illegal activity at one of my concerts. If I happen to be walking backstage and I see any of you young men passed out drunk on a stretcher, make no mistake about it, you will come-to in front of your disappointed parents with a face full of Sharpie and the sneaking suspicion that you've been teabagged by one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people of 2007.

I'm here (for you!),
John Mayer

Warren Ellis, author of