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Sunday Link-Off: Laying The Smackdown

Surprisingly, Jackie didn’t lead off his ELO with a picture of a starlet from one of this weekend’s new movies. So I’ll cover that for him with Columbiana star Zoe Saldana.

If you thought The Wrestler was a fictional movie, the old and broke wrestler struggling to make ends meet is more common than you’d think. Those ranks include the legendary Nature Boy Ric Flair. (Grantland)

What happens when a Deadspin writer gets invited to ESPN’s state of the union address? Nothing good for Mr. Craggs. (Deadspin)

Speaking of the mothership, ESPN courted controversy by running an article wondering how things would be different if Michael Vick was white. In response, BSO wondered what Tom Brady would be like if he was black. (Black Sports Online)

After the jump, The Rock is ready to lay the smacketh down on NBC, food photo galleries and what happens to WWE Raw comes to Canada. Continue reading →

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Wednesday Link-Off: The Must Reads

We’ve loaded up on interesting and high-quality articles for today’s linkdump. I’m not sure there’s one here that you want to skip. Anyway, let’s balance that out with Sandra Vergara (Sofia’s younger sister) who is in Fright Night which you probably want to skip.

Here’s this year’s absolute must-read story: It’s an insider look at the mission to kill Osama bin Laden from the planning phases through to the mission. (New Yorker)

Good news for people like me who are often accused of being alcoholics: About two-thirds of people in a study say they drink to cope with stress. See, I don’t have a problem. I’m just an average guy. (Daily Telegraph)

Spoiler alert for the next season of Two And A Half Men: Chuck Lorre is a fucking idiot. Rather than prove he’s the bigger man by letting Charlie Sheen’s character drift off and hope he’d come back for a highly rated comeback episode, he’s going to kill off Sheen’s character. Chuck, the cancellation bear is coming for you! (Deadline)

After the jump, more bad coming TV series, IE users are statistically proven to be morons and exploding F1 cars. Continue reading →

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Lowdown BlogCast: July 19, 2011

After almost seven months off the air, Steve and Jackie are back for Season 4 of The Lowdown BlogCast. The show is off to a typically random start with talk about Google Plus, web browsers and Urban Dictionary definitions (among other things). Things settle down after only 20 minutes into a discussion of the NHL’s free agent frenzy and the big trades that were made in the run up to and after July 1st. The guys talk about the outlook for Philadelphia and Toronto heading into the 2011-12 season. They also examine the effect the ever-increasing salary floor has on contracts with mid-level players. They also talk about the return of the Winnipeg Jets and all the potential marketing missteps that TNSE can make. The talk then shifts to entertainment with reviews of Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Super Eight. The boys also talk about the epic series that was Friday Night Lights. TV talk also covers The Killing, Twin Peaks, Firefly and Castle. The show wraps with a discussion of the eventual failure of Two and a Half Men.

In all, our fourth season premiere is a shade over two hours of the classic Lowdown fun and insanity that you’ve come to expect from us.

Click here to download The Lowdown BlogCast.
Click here to download the podcast quality version.

Continue reading →

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Sunday Link-Off: Clear Eyes

Because of all the Friday Night Lights wrap-up links I have in here, I have to kick off with the lovely ladies of FNL that Jackie omitted yesterday. It’s Minka Kelly, Adrianne Palicki and Connie Britton.

So I was wrong when I posted a link a few weeks ago about the FNL series finale. The finale aired weeks ago in Canada but FNL just wrapped up in the USA this past Friday. In honour of the end of the best sports show ever, here’s the oral history of Friday Night Lights. (Grantland)

Part of what made FNL great was the soundtrack which helped to make it feel like a Texas football show despite the fact that all the actors were at least in their 20s and mostly from well outside the deep south. Here are the best songs from FNL’s five season run. (GQ)

Deadspin has done it again. They’ve obtained the audited financial statements of the arm of the NFL that brings in all the league-wide revenue. They only made 10 figures of profit last year. (Deadspin)

After the jump, happy 5th Twitter, the self-destruction of RIM and CM Punk is at it again. Continue reading →

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Wednesday Link-Off: Seriously Uncool

It’s time for the last set of Wednesday links for June. So why not close it off with Katy Perry? Can you tell I didn’t have a segue there?

It looks like teens aren’t taking to Facebook as much as they used to. I guess it’s not cool to be Facebook friends with mom and dad. (Forbes)

Adam Carolla may not be hosting Top Gear USA but he is getting his own car show. Speed Channel has signed up Adam and some friends for The Car Show. (Jalopnik)

Did you know that James Toney and Ken Shamrock are still fighting? Well, that’s a relative term because they’re doing some dirty boxing pseudo-fight for an unnamed promotion in September. I’m shocked they weren’t forced to hold it at an Indian casino because no one else wanted that crap. (The Big Lead)

After the jump, which Cup champ drinks light beer, Doctor Who’s girl gone wild and the year’s best wrestling promo. Continue reading →

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Entertainment Link-Off: Bad Weekend

Sadly, this is my last entertainment linkdump for a while. I guess you’ll just have to make up for my indefinite absence with Alison Haislip. No, she’s not starring in anything this weekend but she’s on G4 which is good enough a reason. After all, the movies this weekend are Bad Teacher and Cars 2 which I’ve read aren’t worth the time of day.

The Killing season finale was bad but I might be the only person on earth who doesn’t think it was the worst finale of all-time. Bill Simmons is one of those folks saying it sucked and isn’t afraid to say it. (Grantland)

After the jump, Megan Fox fail, Star Wars win and the worst movies of the summer. Continue reading →

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The History of Doctor Who Theme Music

Any true Brit or Anglophiles know the cultural impact of Doctor Who. The show is one of the iconic pieces of British culture and science fiction. The show has been on-air since 1963 and, coming into this season, has aired 770 episodes and one TV movie. Each of those episodes has started with the iconic Doctor Who theme song originally composed by Ron Grainer. Unlike your standard TV show, however, the Doctor Who theme has undergone some dramatic revisions. So as the 32nd season is about to get underway, here is a look back at the history of the Doctor Who opening music. Continue reading →

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Wednesday Link-Off: Quickie

It’s an abbreviated version of the Wednesday links thanks to yesterday’s minor WordPress problems. To make up for it, here’s Candice Swanepoel.

You that stereotype about Americans being idiots? Turns out that Newsweek’s research shows it might just be true. (Newsweek)

We may never really get a look inside the NFL Combine but this might be the next best thing. A documentary about Western Mustang John Surla takes us inside CFL e-Camp. (55-Yard Line)

Last weekend, TSN2 cut away from March Madness to cover women’s curling. Suffice to say, we’re officially a laughing stock. (The Big Lead)

After the jump, the Madden Madness bracket, some WWE stories and Sheen does Kimmel. Continue reading →

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Entertainment Link-Off: The Envelope Please

Since she’s one half of the Academy Awards hosting team, here’s Anne Hathaway.

The Oscars are this weekend. Obviously, Ricky Gervais won’t be allowed there. That hasn’t stopped him from writing a slip for the opening monologue for the show. (RickyGervais.com)

In fact, not only will Gervais not be at the Oscars, he won’t even be watching the show. (Hollywood Reporter)

And speaking of people not allowed at the Oscars, I’m going to guess Charlie Sheen won’t be allowed there. Hell, he’s not even allowed on CBS after the network shut down Two and a Half Men for the season. (HitFix)

After the jump, the latest details on some movies in development, the worst actors in Hollywood and leaked Two and a Half Men footage. Continue reading →

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Entertainment Link-Off: One Sheen-ing Moment

I’m back in the saddle again for another set of entertainment links. To make up for it, I was going to go with Brooklyn Decker from Just Go With It but I refuse to support the Sandler/Aniston machine (despite the cameo by Dan Patrick). So here’s I Am Number Four’s Teresa Palmer.

The biggest entertainment news of the week came from a sports talk radio show. Dan Patrick scored the interview coup of the year with his interviews with Charlie Sheen. (Sports Radio Interviews)

Here’s the story of how DP landed the interview with Sheen and how he ended up in seven Sandler movies. (The Wrap)

So Watson kicked the asses of mankind’s best on Jeopardy much to the surprise of no one. But you can do battle with Watson (or at lease his algorithms) in this online game. (New York Times)

After the jump, the new Wonder Woman, the NBA all-star weekend and James Earl Jones catches Bieber fever. Continue reading →