The Top Eleven Twilight Zone Episodes and A Look At Television Today
When you turn on the television today, what do you see? Shows such as American Idol (along with its international counterparts), uninspired reality shows such as Survivor that really make you wonder how they’ve managed to remain on the air for so long, and those God awful teen dramas the networks love to constantly shove down our throats. Ever since mid-nineties it seems as if the quality of television programming had severely declined. It is so rare to find now those shows that generations will remember long after they have been off the air or those gems that continue to have a lasting impact on the industry today. To find something that stands out amongst the generic programs is a difficult task to say the least. Are we so desperate for entertainment that we're willing to sacrifice quality and originality? It seems as if we're so desperate that we instantly accept any crap the networks pull out of their asses as comedic and dramatic gold. Perhaps it’s because we’re so accustomed to seeing the same old, same old that we no longer expect anything different.
By now we’ve reached to the point where everything has been done before and it seems as if the entire industry is built on plagiarism, especially in the animation department. It now depends on how the story is told while adding your own creative elements into it in order to have something truly unique and memorable. Parody and satire are becoming much more common than they were ten years ago. The Simpsons for example have been providing us with entertainment for the past twenty years with its satire of the middle class and television itself while still managing to differentiate itself from other shows with its numerous quirky characters, insane plots, and situations where we all can relate to in one point in our lives. Then take a look at the “Fill in the Blank” movies which are nothing but an insult to the works they are so desperately leeching off of while providing us with no entertainment value whatsoever. Other shows such as Family Guy, Robot Chicken, and South Park are still great at providing the much needed satire of current events and popular culture and doing it in their own unique ways that make them television icons. Parody will continue to play an important part of television and it is a much needed relief from the same garbage that continues to be produced today.
Television in its early years didn’t seem to have this problem of a lack of creativity or keeping a differentiation of the shows. This was a time when classics such as Star Trek and I Love Lucy graced the airwaves and continued to entertain throughout their runs. There is one show that aired during this time that is perhaps the greatest show ever produced that entertained millions each week with its original and memorable of stories that continue to be parodied to this day. I’m of course talking about The Twilight Zone.
For today's entry, I'm going to return to my continuing effort to keep music in the spotlight by making a list that combines two of my favorite forms of entertainment: MUSIC and VIDEO GAMES. I'm sure that gamers from all generations would admit that their favorite titles wouldn't be the same without good music. For me though, I find that the quality of the music found in some video games is so great that it can stand on its own. As a matter of fact, there have already been some concerts produced that featured nothing but music from video game soundtracks. So, there's no denying that there's some great potential in this field... too much, actually, for me to decide on single songs for a top ten list.
I should note at this point that I've heard that another website is trying to do exactly that at this moment... screwattack.com has asked its users to send them their suggestions in the interest of counting down the greatest video game songs ever. Think about that for a second, though. This is a website that has a contract with the Nostalgia Critic's arch-enemy! They can't be trusted! Therefore, I highly urge you to forsake their judgement and consider my list as being the one list TO RULE THEM ALL!
...Like I said though, I'm really indecisive when it comes to this. So in order to completely eliminate any margin of error in my selections, I've chosen a very broad category: the top 5 greatest GAME PUBLISHERS when it comes to music. Since some of you might find that not-too-exciting, I've also decided to add a twist: for each of the top five companies, I'm also going to list their WORST contribution to game music. For now though, as I did for my last top 5 list, let's start with some honorable mentions.
The first top list has to be something out of the ordinary. We've all seen ones that list top games, movies, etc. But what about those other things that deserve a list!?
That's where I come in.
The first top list: Weapons....that aren't. And here they are, in no particullar order, along with there probable origin:
If there are a few things that I am passionate about, foremost among them is music. I love good music, and I know a lot about it. In that respect, I consider myself kind of a purist. If I hear a really great, and truly timeless song, often times I think “That’s it. That’s the end all right there. That’s the version of the song we are gonna stick with, because it’s awesome, and everybody knows it.“
Some don’t quite see it the same way as I do, though. Often a band will look at a song they really truly like and start to think to themselves: “I can do that!“ And then there are covers of songs.
Some are really good. Some manage to be good by staying true to the original and not venturing TOO far from familiar terrain, (Social Distortion’s take on “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash, or Bauhaus’ take on “Ziggy Stardust” by David Bowie) while others may take the song in a COMPLETELY different direction, and end up with an intriguing new take on a classic. (DEVO’s take on “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones, or Apoptygma Berzerk’s take on “Fade To Black” by Metallica.)
Some…not so much.
I must warn you, readers…The songs that are listed below are abysmal butcherings of otherwise great songs, that are not meant for the human ear to take in. Why have I written this list, then? Do you have an enemy? Recognize the songs below to them. I guarantee after listening to them, their brain will be a fine paste by the end of the week.
Either way, proceed with caution into…
The 20 Worst Cover Songs Ever
20. “Heroes” by Oasis (Originally by David Bowie)
Let’s start this list out with a song that I think doesn’t NEED to be covered. EVER. The brothers Gallagher really dropped the ball on this cover, because it’s missing something that Bowie could bring to his original tune, but Liam (Or Noel. I can’t tell which one is singing on this one.) failed outright to even fake.
Sincerity.
The song was inspired after Bowie saw two lovers embracing by the Berlin Wall near Hansa Studios in Berlin, Germany. The song would evolve into one about two lovers separated by the Berlin wall, and the way Bowie sang it, it was like he genuinely cared about the subject matter, as if he WAS on the other side of the wall.
Oasis on the other hand, displays none of the vocal emotion that Bowie did in the original version, and sounds more like a bland Bowie cover group just going through the motions of covering a Bowie tune. Liam (I’m more sure than ever it’s Liam) has his typically shrill shriek on full ALWAYS, and the song is so drowned in distortion and other superficial shit that at first listen, it’s hard even to recognize the song they’re covering in the first place.
Watch This Video - In picking this one out, a few people who knew I was writing this pointed out that the version by the Wallflowers is way worse than Oasis'. Maybe, but I haven't heard the Wallflowers version. I HAVE heard Oasis' version, however, and it's pretty poor. So on it goes.
19. “Fell In Love With A Girl” by Joss Stone (Originally by The White Stripes)
I don’t care if she had The Roots backing her up when she was in her heyday a couple of years ago. There was never anything remotely interesting about Joss Stone, and this uninspired hip-hoppy cover of an already awesome garage rock tune proves it.
In Joss Stone’s version of the song, she effectively takes Jack White’s awesome guitar work and Meg White’s…actually pretty lousy drumming abilities…and glosses over them with that soul diva-ness that has at this point become interchangeable in today’s music industry. The guitars aren’t prominent anymore, the drumming is less powerful, the song is a lot slower, and it sounds pathetic by comparison.
The original White Stripes song rocked, but this one is weak, tame, and SAFE. She could have at least taken a LITTLE bit of risk by keeping the original title in. (Her cover was titled “Fell In Love With A Boy”, which doesn’t quite roll off the tongue like the original, if you’ll pardon the entendre.)
it seems that there is alot of anime blogs and videos on thatguywiththeglasses.com so i have decided to add a video that i made on the 3rd of September from my youtube account ( http://www.youtube.com/waveofthefuture819 )
*note* these are my personal favorite anime openings NOT the best and most of them are on here because they where either the 1st animes i ever saw and some are on there because they are my favorite at the moment
Note: If your haven't seen Doctor Who a highly recommend you pick it up your copy of Season One at Amazon.com, its that freakin' good. I guarantee its better than any season you've seen on TV in the past year. Also if you do have an interest in seeing the show or are currently going through the DVD sets, I'd advise you to stop reading THE REVIEW IS GONNA BE SPOILER INFESTED.
So not even a minute into the episode, the cliffhanger from "The Stolen Earth" is resolved and how they do it is pretty damn genius in my opinion. While The Doctor is regenerating the energy from it is transfered to his severed hand and gets stored in the hand, and saves The Doctor from regenerating into his 11th incarnation. I especially love how Tennant plays it off as nothing has just happened. That's what I love about Tennant's Doctor, the man could save the world from being split in two and he play it off as though he just deleted an email from his mailbox. The way Davies gave resoulution to the cliffhanger got a helluva alot flack from critics in the UK, but I didn't see what the big deal was (Then again I'm an American). Davros manages to find out where the TARDIS is and teleports it and its crew to The Crucible, the Daleks main ship. During their confrontation Davros disposes of the TARDIS with Donna still inside. As its burning up in the lava like stuff, Donna touches the severed hand's jar and it's gives her the energy from the recent regeneration, while in return it gives the hand the genetic makeup of Donna to make a new Doctor, who just in the nick of time saves the TARDIS from being destroyed.
This is where it starts to get complicated. The first time I first saw this episode I missed the first half hour and missed everything I just discussed and missed a hell of a lot, which left me confused for the whole episode. The actor that plays Davros in the episode is terrific and captures the character almost perfectly, in some scenes you see a bit of Wisher's Davros come out of the performance. The scenes between The Doctor and Davros are well played out, one of my favorite scenes has got to be when Davros shows the Doctor that even though he's a pacifist, he's turned his companions into weapons themselves.
Had this list on my mind for some time here, glad to finally get it out of the imagination and onto the web. Please direct your flames and denouncements of your love for me to the comments here, and not personal PMs.
Gargoyles are strong nocturnal creatures that turn to stone at night. In 994 AD, they were betrayed by the humans they once protected, resulting in the Gargoyle genocide. Goliath, the gargoyle leader, finds out that the only members of his clan still alive are cursed to sleep in stone until their castle rises above the clouds, in other words forever. He decides to have the same spell cast on him in order to kill the pain of being the last of his kind. He basically asks to be killed.
1000 years pass and a billionaire, David Xanatos, purchases their castle and has it placed on top of his skyscraper. This breaks the gargoyles' curse and awakens them in modern New York. Xanatos uses them to create a steel army in their likeness and betrays them with it. The Gargoyles defeat his army and now must find a way to survive in their new surroundings.
This definitely wasn't Goof Troop or Recess. Disney's highly underrated action cartoon didn't hold back much and wasn't always concerned with a happy sing-along ending. This dark cartoon had people saying hell and showed blood all it wanted while killing any typical Disney feeling. Sadly, they stopped releasing season sets due to it not reaching Disney's ridiculous sale expectations.
Here's an article that got a lot of flak when posted on N4G (news for gamers) because of the PSP's then success in the Japanese market. I stand by my ideas here, and please read the entirety of the article before flaming in the comments....
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