Pop Culture from an Alternate Dimension

     In 2006 the tv series Smallville was a big hit. Its creators, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, tried an adaptation of  Aquaman. I remember it was originally going to be called Tempest Key then changed to Mercy Reef (sticking to the Smallville title template). The pilot was filmed in sunny Florida (although if the series was picked up I wonder if Vancouver would stand in for FLA) with famous names like Ving Rhames and Lou Diamond Phillips, as well as some actors that had appeared on Smallville . Even though Aquaman had appeared on Smallville played by Reacher star Alan Ritchson, they cast Justin Hartley in the lead. The series was not picked up but the producers liked Hartley and cast him as the Green Arrow on Smallville . Even though the pilot didn't air, it was released as a download on iTunes and I got it as a bonus with Smallville Season Five from Best Buy.       So, the DVD cover and outer case I made are if the series had been made. N...

       The last CD idea I posted was bands with songs that were their names, this week is similar but different. There have been songs about other bands, such as Ringo Starr's "Rory and the Hurricanes" about the group he was in before the Beatles. This, however, is bands that recorded songs with names of other bands or singers yet aren't actually about them. Scissor Sister's song "Paul McCartney" doesn't even mention him. The first two songs are by Death Cab for Cutie and Shakepears Sister, who named themselves after song titles. The next couple of songs have names that are a coincidence. P.S. In 1979 Gary Numan had a hit called "Cars", the same year the band The Cars were in the charts. This was the germ that started me noticing the trend. I wound up not using it since the song is "Cars" and the band is THE Cars. Listen to the eclectic mix here:  Song Titles That Are Musicians Names - YouTube

       A lot of fans of the NBC television series Community have been wondering why we haven't gotten the movie yet. I want to know why we haven't gotten Shirley's spin-off yet. At the beginning of season six, Abed notices Shirley is missing and wonders if she "spun off". During the end credits is a commercial for the supposed show. I assume it would be like Trapper John, M.D.  or Lou Grant where a character gets their own series that is totally different from the originating show and like Joey and  Lou Grant  none of the other characters we knew and loved would appear or be mentioned.      As a bonus I included one of those ad inserts that would be in DVD cases for tv shows. Three of the "shows" and from the last episode of season five of Community and one is from the ninth episode of season six.

       I remember Wang Chung singing about wanting everyone to Wang Chung "tonight". I kept in the back of head when I found bands that would name check themselves. Three heavy metal bands (at least) not only had a song with their name but also the ALBUM was their name. I tried to choose a variety of music and decades.                P.S. Wang Chung did not make the list because, it turns out, the name of the song is                            "Everybody Have Fun Tonight".           Listen to my choices here:  Band Name = Song Name - YouTube  

       Glenn Frey has been featured on this blog as a musician before (such as last week's post) but this week is Glenn Frey: Actor. He made a mini-movie music video for his song "Smuggler's Blues" which, essentially, got turned in an episode of Miami Vice  called "Smuggler's Blues" with Frey cast in a featured role. In 1986 he was in Let's Get Harry  with Robrt Duvall and Gary Busey, directed by Alan Smithee (who was also featured on this blog before). In 1989 he was in seven episodes of the series Wiseguy . The 1993 series South of Sunset looked like his big acting break. He was cast in the lead as a Beverly Hills detective. Aries Spears (of MadTV and Josie and the Pussycats ) was his co-star. It looked like they were trying to get a  48 Hours  kind of vibe. Spears even does a variation of Eddie Murphy's routine about the first black president.       Ironically the pilot was not scene where the series took place because it w...

       This would be a follow up to the 1982 Eagles album from an alternate reality that I posted in December. For this I chose four songs from Don Henley's 1984 album Building the Perfect Beast , four songs from Glenn Frey's The Allnighter , one song from Timothy B. Schmit's Playin' It Cool , and one from Joe Walsh's The Confessor . For Henley I only wanted to use songs that he helped write so I didn't use "All She Wants to Do Is Dance", despite it being a huge hit. I wound up choosing "The Boys of Summer", "Not Enough Love in the World", "Sunset Grill" and "Land of the Living". Frey's supplied "Sexy Girl", "Smuggler's Blues", "Living in Darkness" and "New Love". From Schmit I pulled "Something's Wrong" which has Don Henley on drums & backing vocals and Joe Walsh on guitar. Speaking of Joe, like Henley, I wanted to choose a song Walsh wrote. I pic...