It sure is nice when companies send samples of new food and drink products to review! Here are a few more we tried recently:
Unwind (TM) Low Calorie Relaxation Beverage–This is the opposite of Red Bull. In fact, it’s the polar opposite of those high caffeine drinks. Unwind contains a natural blend of melatonin, valerian root, rose hips and passion flower, and comes in Goji Grape, Pom Berry and Citrus Orange flavors. I tried them all, but not all at the same time. Let me tell you, this stuff works. I would advise that you drink it in the evening or before bed, because it relaxed me to the point of making me extremely sleepy. Not only that, this stuff, despite being low in calories, is delicious. The citrus is a tad bitter but the grape and berry flavors are awesome. Now I need to find more of it. If you’d like to, check out the Unwind website. Happy relaxing!
For those who were intently following the saga of baseball legend Kenny Powers, it’s been a heck of a long wait since the end of HBO’s “Eastbound & Down” back in March of last year, but all that time spent pining for Powers is about to pay off. September 26th marks the return of the the series to the network’s line-up, but if you can’t wait ’til then, the Bullz-Eye Blog can at least offer you an exclusive shot of Kenny as captured for the cover of The Sporting News.
Check out some of the other (non-exclusive) covers after the jump, along with HBO’s press release for Season 2 of “Eastbound & Down” and a couple of clips to further assist you in surviving ’til Sunday night.
We recently received a package of products from RockyMountainSoap and were anxious to try out these 100% all natural items. When I first opened the package from RockyMountainSoap the great natural scent jumped out and really made alot of the house smell good (maybe they should look at candles or room deodorizers as well?). Needless to say, before trying out any of the men’s products they sent over, they made a good first impression.
I started with the shave bar. I must say, it was the first time I shaved without starting with some type of cream. The bar makes a rich lather that is unscented and really gave me a smooth shave with no complaints. It was something new and I liked the way the shave bar worked. Next I tried the Men’s Body Wash, which has a guys scent for certain, and helped wake me up with the clary sage oil, coconut oil, and lemon essential oil. Together the make up of the men’s body wash left me feeling clean and refreshed to go out and tackle the world! I’m feeling good at this time and decided to make a RockyMountainSoap day so I applied the Men’s Stuff Deodorant, which also gets to the point and flat out works. The Deodorant is made of natural crystal and had me feeling dry, confident and odor free all day long!
The next few products I tried were in some ways new and also very diffucult to keep away from my bride! I am one to use lotion after exiting the shower so when I tried the Men’s Hand Butter, I wasn’t expecting much, but the way it moisturizes you hands is very effective (I already knew it worked because my bride told me so!). Next was something I have never used but my bride (she’s a babe by the way!) assured me she has never seen anything work that good on her feet and she was using it daily. She told me to try it to see what I thought. The Men’s Foot Butter, my goodness, I can see why it’s RockyMountainSoaps #1 product! My feet don’t get overly dry but this product made them feel like the dryness was gone for good. If you suffer from dry and cracked skin on your feet and especially if you spend hours a day on your feet at work , home or in the gym try this stuff now! You can read all about the all natural products that RockyMountainSoap.com offers and what makes a great product better and healthier for yourself. When you go purchase on their website and check prices and you’ll see RockyMountainSoap priced their products very competively.
There are a few more products I want to test and when I’ve had the chance I’ll give everyone the low down on those as well. In the meantime, if you are shopping for yourself or for the lady in your life remember, www.rockymountainsoap.com has plenty of products for both men and women.
Meet the new LCD Soundsystem. Same as the old LCD Soundsystem.
Allow us to explain.
LCD Soundsystem, from where we stand – and for the record, this writer is evoking the editorial ‘we’ here, so he is speaking for no one but himself – LCD Soundsystem is the most overrated band on the planet right now. They’re not terrible, mind you; they’re just derivative, with very little of their output rising above their influences. Yet somehow, they are the It Band. Some actress even gave Entertainment Weekly a quote about how she feels cool when she listens to them. We’re hoping that she’s in on the ridiculous hype surrounding this band and is having a laugh. But who knows, maybe she actually meant it, that she understands that people will think more highly of her if she tells them she listens to LCD Soundsystem. Either answer, frankly, scares us.
Which brings us to Chromeo. There is an LCD-type ground swell growing around this band, and we can see why. They play smoove synth funk, and who doesn’t love that? At the same time, are they really that good, or is it just the idea of a band like Chromeo that people are so enamored with? Be honest – they could be better.
Now, this song, this is one of the better ones. From their brand new album Business Casual, “Don’t Turn the Lights On” gets the balance just right. Catchy, funky and sexy…pity the rest of Business Casual doesn’t measure up to it. But this isn’t the Friday Album column, it’s the Friday Video column, so it counts. Plus, the video has lots of fun with, yep, turning the lights off. Get down with your bad self.
Of all the concerts this summer, none could be hotter than Jay-Z and Eminem pairing up for the “Home and Home Tour” in the artists’ respective hometowns. To celebrate two of the greatest living rappers performing side by side, 1800 Tequila has put together two cocktails to sip in honor of this historic hip-hop milestone.
For Eminem, it’s the Motor City Margarita:
2 oz 1800® Silver Tequila
1 oz triple sec
½ oz lemon lime soda
Combine with ice and stir, garnish with lemon wheels and a sprig of mint.
And for Jay-Z, 1800 gives us the Manhattan State of Mind:
2 oz 1800® Silver Tequila
1 oz sweet vermouth
1 dash lime juice
1 slice orange
Shake tequila, vermouth, and lime juice with ice and strain into an old-fashioned glass over ice cubes. Add the slice of orange and serve.
Lucky us, we get to review new food products that are sent to us! Here are a few awesome new ones that we recently received:
Utz Pub Fries/Cheddar Cheese Flavor--Leave it to the folks at Utz to take a product that someone else is making and make it better. I remember the Andy Capp’s “Fries” as a kid and these are like an upscale version. There is a strong onion undertone but the burst of real cheese flavor makes up for it.
I had the pleasure of reviewing a pair of dark brown Rockport Wispen shoes and from the time I took them out of the box these shoes have impressed. I knew I would enjoy them the moment I first saw the rich dark brown leather of these men’s dress loafer’s.
The Wispen is straight to the point in its styling as its clean design is elegant and the full grain leather is easy to clean. These Rockports incorportate EVA adidas adiPRENE, which is a highly shock-absorbent cushioning that protects the heel at impact. They are among the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever worn.
Like many Rockports the Wispen has as a polyurethane sole with flex grooves and a lighty padded collar that add comfort to the sole and heels of your feet. Quality, clean design and comfort are what stand out most on the Wispens and it all a started when I opened the box!
Fans of “Friday Night Lights” have known about Minka Kelly for years, but we think she has what it takes to become a household name. I noticed her recently while watching “500 Days of Summer” on cable. Minka grabbed my attention with her beautiful eyes and killer smile even though she had a very minor part at the end of the film. I was also pleasantly surprised last night when Minka appeared on “Entourage” in a brief cameo as herself as Vince tries to hit on her at Eminem’s private party.
UPDATE: Since our original post, Minka Kelly landed one of the starring roles on “Charlie’s Angel’s.” We’ve updated our slideshow to add some photos from that series, and we have some pics from “Friday Night Lights” and “The Roommate.”
It was not along ago that there were only a couple paths to the director’s chair on a studio lot. Many went to film school and did time toiling for Roger Corman, while others jumped over from another profession within the industry. (Joel Schumacher, for example, began as a costume designer.) In the ’80s, there suddenly was a new way to get into the game – use a music video as your calling card.
Now, of course, we’re at the point where people receive job offers after posting a clip to YouTube (Lasse Gjertsen, who made the live stop-motion clips “Hyperactive” and “Amateur,” has received several offers of employment, but has turned them all down), and the music video path is now a well-worn road. Indeed, there are two movies coming out in the next few weeks (“Never Let Me Go” and “The Social Network”) that were helmed by men who got their start telling rock stars to act like rock stars, which inspired us to take a look at the more prominent directors of the music video world and track their success. The lesson we learned: even when someone has so many small successes, it only takes one big disappointment to kill them. (Big, big shoutout to the good people at the Music Video Database for helping to clear the cob webs, as well as opening our eyes on just how prolific some of these directors were.)
Julien Temple
You know it’s a Julien Temple video when: The entire piece looks like it was filmed in one giant tracking shot. (Look closer – the edits are there.) Breakout video: ABC’s “Poison Arrow,” and the short film “Mantrap” the band made in conjunction with their (spectacular) album The Lexicon of Love. Big screen debut: Temple is the only one on this list whose feature film debut came before his music video debut, though some would argue – and we wouldn’t disagree – that the movie in question, the Sex Pistols “documentary” “The Great Rock ‘n Roll Swindle,” is actually just a long-form music video. Best Temple video you never saw: Paul McCartney, “Beautiful Night,” from Macca’s Flaming Pie album. Gorgeous, and the tune is a good one, too.
Russell Mulcahy
You know it’s a Russell Mulcahy video when: Dozens of extras are wearing body paint, or when a prop nearly kills Simon Le Bon. In slow motion. Breakout video: Mulcahy was arguably the first “name” director of the music video world, helping clips for Ultravox, Kim Carnes and the Tubes – and, let us not forget, the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star,” the first video MTV ever played – but it was the clip for Duran Duran’s“Hungry Like the Wolf,” along with the other videos he shot for the songs from Rio, that made him a household name…with music geeks like us, anyway. Big screen debut: “Razorback,” a monster movie about, yep, a bloodthirsty Australian pig. Mulcahy’s luck on the big screen changed two years later when he made the cult classic “Highlander”…then lost some luster when he made “Highlander II: The Quickening.” Best Mulcahy video you never saw: “The Flame,” the overlooked third single from Duran Duran spinoff group Arcadia. Le Bon is in full Barry Bostwick mode as he attends a fancy dinner party and the hosts try to kill him Agatha Christie-style.
Here’s how quickly the window opens and closes in pop culture these days: last week, when we first saw the clip for Cee Lo Green’s stupidly catchy and hilariously foul song “Fuck You,” the video only had a couple hundred thousand plays. As of this writing (three days before post), it was up to 1.25 million, which is our way of admitting that we probably should have posted this video last week. But Kaci Battaglia would not be denied. And really, who are we to say no to a girl with a bod like that?
Some friends of ours have complained about little things in this song, like the way Cee Lo’s focus shifts from singing to the girl to singing to the guy she’s with. Another friend complained that it perpetuates the stereotype of all women being gold diggers. Yet another joked that white people like this song because it allows them to say “nigga” in public. To the second point, we’d simply like to say that Cee Lo is saying that this girl is a gold digger, not all of them. To the first point: honestly, who cares? Catchy is catchy, and this song is Krazy-Glue catchy. As for that last point, well, he might be on to something.
We’ve complained in the past that the one thing that the digital revolution destroyed was the mass pop culture moment (Thriller, Madonna, Nirvana, etc.) How many of those were there in the last decade? Outside of “Hey Ya” and “Umbrella,” we’re at a loss to name one. But you can definitely add this one to the list.
