Smogger

Lady Gaga’s New Album for 99 Cents? Safe.

thesmogger — Mon, 23 May 2011 23:46:46 +0000

via Dish My Dirt

For the fearful, not wanting to jump into a daunting realm of $15 albums, Amazon has a full digital copy of Lady Gaga’s newly released Born This Way for a meager 99 cents. Check out the Daily Deal here. Even if you’ve been a little “meh” on Gaga lately, you have nothing to lose, you cheap bastard.

-MM

September’s A Long Way Away

Michael — Sat, 22 May 2010 18:00:50 +0000

…and a very, very long time to wait for a new episode of Modern Family. Even though it’s only been two days since the finale, we don’t blame you if you’re in MF-withdrawal. Since September’s a long time to wait, hopefully this video of Jesse Tyler Ferguson (“Mitchell”) covering Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro” will be able to give you a quick fix:

-MK

Contact the author at mksmogger@gmail.com.

Pacman Celebrates 30 Years with its Best Friend Google

thesmogger — Fri, 21 May 2010 22:03:05 +0000

Smogger screenshot

The Google homepage is a Pacman game today in honor of the game’s 30th birthday. Try and beat my high score… but you never will.

Never.

-MM

Contact the author at mmthesmogger@gmail.com.

Designers in Front of the Camera

thesmogger — Fri, 21 May 2010 19:33:50 +0000

If there’s one thing Project Runway has taught us, it’s that designers aren’t always as attractive as their creations (see: Santino, season 2). But occasionally there comes a designer that could probably walk in their own shows and everyone would just mistake him or her for another model.

via Marc Jacobs

And so we have Marc Jacobs, the quiet but gorgeous designer that makes amazing clothing and has an equally as amazing face. For his new fragrance campaign, he’s oiled up and, um, out there for all to see. But he’s not the first designer to get in on the modeling action. The equally delicious (ugh, I wish I was a gay man) Tom Ford also starred in his own fragrance campaign. Oh my bless-ed eyes!

via Tom Ford

Then there’s been Kimora Lee Simmons, etc, but do we really need pictures of them? Nah. There’s a difference between the higher art of Jacobs and Ford, and the fame-whoring of Kimora. The higher designers could sell their products without us ever seeing their faces, but the Kimoras of the world couldn’t sell anything without their faces being plastered all over their products and ads. Here’s to seeing more of Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs’ faces… and whatever else we need to see of theirs in their ads .

Yeah, that’s right… a SMILEY FACE. I went there.

-MM

Contact the author at mmthesmogger@gmail.com.

Retro-Embarassment

Michael — Fri, 21 May 2010 19:00:17 +0000

Check out this hilarious video from viral site Everything is Terrible! We love it for two reasons: 1) reminding us why 90′s fashion shouldn’t come back; and 2) making us cringe from embarassment…over the internet.

-MK

Contact the author at mksmogger@gmail.com.

Thank You For Being a Friend (at Any Age)

Michael — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:00:08 +0000

Yes, it’s true that Blanche, Dorothy, Sophia, and Rose don’t exactly make most think of fashion and fornication like the names Charlotte, Carrie, Miranda, and Samantha do. However, there’s something about these South Florida retirees that has struck a chord with viewers of almost every age for the past two decades. While the show ran initially on NBC in the 80′s and early 90′s, it has settled into a nice retirement of nearly constant reruns on Lifetime. This “second life” has given the show a whole new generation of viewers. So, when Nylon posted its thoughts on a potential cast for a younger version of The Golden Girls, it gave me an interesting idea. Since that other foursome of (sometimes) single ladies got a prequel, why can’t the Golden Girls as well?

Friendship is golden at any age. via NylonMag.com

Imagine this potential episode - “Pussycat” Sophia and her cross-dressing brother Phil pick up high school senior Dorothy from the prom, where Dorothy’s high school sweetheart, Stan, had just knocked her up. While driving Dorothy home, their car accidentally hits Rose, a tourist who is visiting New York from St. Olaf with her eight siblings in search of Bob Hope, who she believes is her biological father. Offering to help Rose find her father out of guilt, Sophia and Dorothy venture into the city to find Bob Hope. However, they instead confuse him with lookalike Curtis Hollinsworth. After a long conversation, Curtis introduces the three ladies to his daughter, Blanche, who lovingly only refers to him as “Big Daddy.” It could work, right? I guess it is a bit of a stretch…

-MK

Contact the author at mksmogger@gmail.com.

Glee Goes GaGa

Michael — Fri, 21 May 2010 15:00:14 +0000

While every other show is busy wrapping up its season (or series), Glee still has a few songs to belt out before school’s out for the summer. Of those remaining, next week’s Lady Gaga-themed episode, “Theatricality,” is probably the most hotly anticipated. Revolving around introverted Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz), the storyline will focus on self-expression, and culminates in Tina becoming a goth. Yeah. Keep in mind, this is the same show that recently named guest star Jonathan Groff’s character “Jesse” pretty much solely so it could use the song “Jessie’s Girl.” We never said we watched this show for the plot…

Regardless of the questionable storyline, we can’t lie about our excitement to watch “Bad Romance” and “Poker Face” as performed by McKinley High’s finest. You can download those songs from next week (and others from the rest of the season) for free here. I think it’s safe to say that as long as the show keeps up the quality of its musical numbers, Glee’s got a halo around its finger around me.

Are you in Glee's orbit? via TVovermind

-MK

Contact the author at mksmogger@gmail.com.

Link It Up: 5.21.10

Michael — Fri, 21 May 2010 14:00:49 +0000

Yesterday was the Hubble Telescope’s 20th birthday. I bet its images today are as hazy as its memory of last night… [via Wired]

Is marijuana on the path to legalization? 49% of us hope so. [via LAist]

Bret’s back. Read the first excerpt from Imperial Bedrooms, the sequel to 80′s classic Less Than Zero. [via Esquire]

Good riddance. Jesse James is packing up and leaving LA. [via CNN]

Century Cityscape. via Flickr

-MK

Contact the author at mksmogger@gmail.com.

What Do We Have to Look Forward to on the Tween Networks? More of the Same. Hurray!

thesmogger — Thu, 20 May 2010 23:06:41 +0000

There are two types of shows that end up on the tween channels ABC Family and the CW — the bad ass ones like Gossip Girl, and the wimpy ones you watch with your mother, like Life Unexpected. ABC Family used to be pure wimp, CW used to be more bad ass. But it looks like they’re both taking cues from one another and blurring the lines. Shall we take a look at what the baby cable networks decided young girls and other-people-too-old-to-watch-shit-but-somehow-we-get-sucked-in-anyway will be watching this fall? –

Hellcats

I don’t even know if ABC Family’s boring gymnastics show Stick It is still on, nor I do care to any immense degree, but looks like the CW decided to go ahead and create the same show with cheerleaders. Watch the boring trailer full of awkward non-talking/nondescript movements, and then get excited for this gem to shine on the fall schedule–

Pretty Little Liars

So then ABC Family was like, hey, if you’re going to steal our boring gymnastics show, we’re going to make a less-intense, less-interesting version of Gossip Girl and call it Pretty Little Liars. No one will be as attractive as they are on GG, and there’s no way this show will weasel its way into pop culture like the CW hit did, but why not give it a whirl? Trailer below–

Nikita

Like.. La Femme Nikita. Upcoming CW show. Looks kind of cool, but will I watch? Nah. All this action will get in the way of the characters scheming and shopping. Let’s be honest, I can knock the CW and ABC Family shows all I want, but they’ve got me wrapped around their litttttle fingers with their formulaic soaps.

-MM

Contact the author at mmthesmogger@gmail.com.

Tackle Traveling

Michael — Thu, 20 May 2010 19:00:18 +0000

While Americans may be more culturally, technologically, and politically splintered than ever, there are a couple things almost every American agrees upon – terrorists are bad, Lady Gaga is strange, and traveling sucks. The first too are probably going to be with us for a while, so we should just get used to them. But traveling? There are steps you can take to make it much less painful. Here are some of our recommendations.

Take a trip. via Flickr

airportdining.net – Although airplane food has actually improved over the past few years, $5.00 for a box with crackers and some craisins is hardly a value. Instead, picking up food in the airport is always the way to go…but’s always a gamble. Do you take the mediocre options at the beginning of the terminal (Manchu Wok, Freshens, etc.) or do you risk it and hope there will be better options closer to your gate (CPK ASAP, Wolfgang Puck Express, etc.)? Well, you no longer have to guess. Airportdining.net maps out terminals for you, allowing you to plan out your dining before you even check in. Now, if they can just do something about having to go to the bathroom on the flight…

seatguru.com – There’s a lot of strategy to picking the best seat on a plane – maximizing leg room, ensuring proper distance to a TV, staying away from the engine, etc. Seatguru.com can help you pick the best seat from your available options by using a simple color-coded guide. However, even though you may get the best seat on the plane, you’ll still be at the whim of rogue threats that you can’t control. Crying babies and obese people are menaces that even technology hasn’t been able to stop.

bookingbuddy.com – Although it’s basically just a newer version of kayak.com, this site is a little easier to use. Search multiple airlines and hotels all at once to try to save money – even though you’ll probably still end up spending a bundle no matter what.

trekamerica.com – Remember going abroad? Well, your college days may be gone, but you can still travel like you once did. Trek America will help you put together a customizable travel package for you, based on your trip length, preferred destination, and budget. Who needs Ibiza when you have Vegas, anyway?

tripit.com – For those of us who haven’t “made it” yet – and don’t have an assistant to book their travel, this site will be your virtual subordinate for you. Simply set up an account, send your hotel, flight, and any other confirmation emails you’ve received, and TripIt will put together a full itinerary for you, including weather details, entertainment ideas, and suggestions for to make your travel simpler.

worldsbestbars.com – Once you have all the details set, it’s time to let loose. This one should be pretty self-explanatory.

-MK

Contact the author at mksmogger@gmail.com.