Category: tv

Trading Spaces: Behind the Scenes

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

Linked from this Ask Slashdot article with questions for Cathy Rogers (from Junkyard Wars) was this Behind the Scenes for Trading Space. On Trading Spaces, if you haven’t heard of it, two homeowners trade houses for two days to redecorate each others’s rooms:

Once inside, I met the sewing coordinator. The very existence of the sewing coordinator was for a long time a closely-guarded secret. His name was in the credits, but they never referred to him on camera. The need for a sewing coordinator is obvious; any given episode features a huge amount of sewing, some of it very complex, and the homeowners and designers simply wouldn't have time to do it all themselves. The sewing coordinator, therefore, stays behind the scenes and makes sure things get done on schedule. Later in the day, after he had finished all his tasks and packed up his equipment, I caught up with him and asked why he was never shown on camera. He explained that it was a logistical decision. Each episode, he pointed out, already features eight “characters,” and adding a ninth would be tricky. Makes sense. […]

Poetry Slam: Ultraman is Airwolf

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

A story on MetaFilter turned me to the spoken-word recordings of Ernie Cline. They’re apparently of the poetry-slam genre, where participants are given 3 minutes to give a spoken performance, which is then judged by the audience.

At any rate, I quite enjoyed Ernie’s performances. If you’ve watched the show Airwolf, for instance, I’d quite recommend at least listening to that one.

In the MetaFilter comments, I asked whether this type of performance was representative of something that I’d find at a poetry slam (because, if that was the case, I’d certainly like to attend one). However, further comments haven’t definitively answered that one :-/.

Sopranos?

Ashley Bischoff6 Comments

The Sopranos begins its new season on Sunday. I’ve heard good things about the show, and I would like to watch it, but I don’t have HBO (nor is it available on my cable system without having to upgrade to digital cable).

So, if anyone regularly gets together with friends to watch the show, I’d be interesting in coming along :). On the other hand, I haven’t seen any episodes of the show, and I have heard from some people that it might be better for me to watch the earlier-season episodes first (?).

Songs in Commercials

Ashley Bischoff2,515 Comments

From a thread on MetaFilter, songs in commercials are becoming a phenomenon all their own — Cadillac is even becoming popular with some younger buyers due to their use of a Zepplin song in an ad.

There’re also websites that help people figure out the artists that performed songs heard in commercials. At first, I was happy to discover SongTitle.info as there’s one song from a GMC Yukon commercial that I’m still trying to track down (the commercial featured the hulking beasts driving in choreographed circles, synchronized-swimming style).

SongTitle has an entry for “Our Day Will Come” by Ruby & The Romantics (with a link to a sound sample) for the Yukon. But, after listening, I ruled that one out. I don’t hold it against SongTitle, but I suppose they just don’t have the details for that particular commercial.

Even Volkswagen has a CD of collected songs from its commercials. Some of the more obvious ones — such as Mr. Roboto — are on there, but I may just get it to discover some new techno artists (good techo is just so hard to find these days).