New version of Hungry Eyes!

It's the first I've heard of the singer and I absolutely love his new version of Hungry Eyes (originally an 80's smash by Eric Carmen).

The singer is Anders Fernette. You can hear a 57-second clip of the song on his MySpace page. Or just go buy the whole song on iTunes.

For fans of the original, here's the music video for that...

Original Take On Me & a new a-ha song!

Their new song is the title track from their 9th album Foot Of The Mountain. I absolutely love it! Although there's really never been an a-ha song that I didn't like.

You can buy the new album here.

And check out the video for Foot Of The Mountain...



In honor of the new a-ha song and album, I thought I'd also post the original version of their biggest hit.

Originally, it was called Lesson One when the demo was recorded in 1983.

For its release version in 1984, the song morphed into Take On Me and bombed (it's rumored only 300 copies sold). I guess the world just wasn't ready for the greatest song on the planet at that point.

A year later, it was remixed and given an awesome video - it then became a giant hit.

Here's the original version (in its Take On Me incarnation) with its original video. It's still a great song, even at this early stage...

Matt Nathanson in Daryl Hall's basement?!

Here's the preview clip for Matt Nathanson's appearance this past March on Live From Daryl's House, which we talked about on-air yesterday. And yes, it's actually Daryl Hall's basement.



To see the full episode, visit the official Live From Daryl's House website.

To hear my interview with Matt before he went on stage at Starry Night, visit the On-Demand page at mystar1025.com.

And for a ton of pictures and videos from Starry Night, click here.

There's also a bunch of Starry Night videos up on YouTube. Here's a few I just found: SafetySuit / Mat Kearney / Matt Nathanson.

I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here (finale)

It's been a great season on I'm A Celebrity. I think this turned out far better than the first version of the show on ABC a few years back.

At first, I was disappointed in the "celebrities". But just like Big Brother or Amazing Race where you don't know the people to begin with, I got used to the players and ended up loving the show.

The same can be said for the hosts - Myleene and Damien made a great hosting team. (I just realized that Myleene was in a music group I used to like about eight years ago. See her in a Hear'Say music video here.)

Lou Diamond Phillips ended up being the obvious winner of I'm A Celebrity 2009. He really did go all out in every challenge and was the voice of reason throughout the entire series.



The biggest mystery as the season wraps up - why Frangela didn't return for the reunion. I thought a reason would be mentioned for them not returning, but there wasn't even a clip from them on the reunion show. According to their Twitter page, it seems like they at least considered it a week ago. Hmmm. Another website mentions their unhappiness with the show's production crew. Maybe that's why they weren't there.

No announcement has been made for the show to return next year. But if it was cheap enough to produce, it could possibly be back. To get better ratings, I almost think there would have to be a ton of controversial contestants next season. That way at least some of the crazy ones would remain until the end. But an entire show of all Spencers and Janices might be a bit much.

Overall though, it was a fun season and I think a great show. I hope it comes back next summer.

Starry Night artists...

Here's all the info on this year's Star 102.5 Starry Night At The Garden artists...

SAFETYSUIT:

Offical website / MySpace / FaceBook / Buy CD "Life Left To Go" / Video for "Stay"

MAT KEARNEY:

Official website / MySpace / FaceBook / Twitter / Buy CD "City Of Black & White" / Video for "Closer To Love"

MATT NATHANSON:

Official website / MySpace / FaceBook / Buy CD "Some Mad Hope" / Video for "Falling Apart"

I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here (Week 4)

It's finale week on I'm A Celebrity! And I'm stunned that just days before the finale, Stephen Baldwin left the game on his own. That was weird.

But now that he's out of the jungle, the real reason has been revealed. Hear it for yourself in his exit interview...



The part about John Salley was a surprise! Maybe that'll get mentioned when the players reunite for the finale tomorrow night.

As it stands now, I wouldn't mind any one of them winning. Even Patti - yes, the producers' plan worked. How could anyone not like her, even though she's a non-celebrity on a celebrity show.

As for the drama, there's none left. Luckily, the gameplay will take up the rest of the show. Without that, the producers really would have been in trouble.

I'd love to see Torrie take the whole thing. But my guess for who will win - Lou Diamond Phillips. He seems like a nice guy and he's dominated the game. Two more leave tonight, leaving only three for tomorrow's finale. I can't wait!

NBC's Merlin...

I've always been a fan of shows about myths and legends. And this one is extremely good! It reminds me a little of Smallville, but with magic instead of superpowers.

If you missed the first two episodes of Merlin last night, you can still catch up and watch them on the NBC website.

And if you're already a fan, here's some good news - Merlin has already been renewed for a second season!

The second season will actually start airing overseas in the fall, but there's no word on when it will begin here in North America. No worries though, we've still got 11 more episodes of the first season to see.

I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here (Week 3)

Torrie stayed! I'd really like to see her win the whole thing next week.

As for who went, I wasn't too sad to see Holly Montag leave. She seems a lot more sane than her sister, but she was a late arrival and as I've mentioned before, I really think the ones who have been there the entire time deserves to win.

Then Janice Dickinson went. Not a shock after all of America saw her do one thing and then say something totally different in her personal interviews. It's almost like she has a split personality. I'll definitely miss her interactions with the show hosts though - it was hysterical how she was always so nice to Myleene and so snarky to Damien.

With Janice gone now, all the drama is also gone. Good thing this happened with only one week to go, otherwise the show would have been painfully boring to watch.

Although there is that alliance with Patti and John. Stephen seems to think Patti's up to something, but it looks like it's just two friends hanging out and trying to stay away from the craziness. That should be easy to do now as the craziness is on a plane back to the US.

But some crazy will return next week. Apparently Heidi & Spencer Pratt are returning to the jungle for the final episode. NBC must be desperate for a ratings boost. It's sad that they need those two though. I'd rather see them just play back some of Janice's personal interviews to the celebrities - that would cause a reaction!

Catch up on full episodes on the NBC website and then get set for the final week of I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here next week on NBC!

Hammertime...

I've been talking about MC Hammer's new reality show Hammertime all week long. It sounds like it's Gene Simmons Family Jewels, but with MC Hammer. That's a good thing as the Gene Simmons show is the best of the "family" reality shows.

Get to know MC Hammer and his family Sunday nights at 10pm on A&E.

In the meantime, I sure hope Torrie stays in on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! I'm worried because when I called the number to keep her in last night, I got right through the first time. That might be a bad sign. We'll see tonight.

For now, check out the full-length slasher movie the celebrities made (only a small portion of it aired on NBC). It's actually pretty good when you consider it's done in the middle of the jungle with only a camcorder. And you gotta love all the ketchup blood!

Aqua's Back To The 80's video!

Aqua has now released a video for their new song Back To The 80's!

It's not as clever as some of their older videos, but it's definitely got a late-80's feel to it.

Hopefully the US single release won't be far behind as I can't get this song out of my head.

Pushing Daisies: Not the end...

While it was the final episode of the TV series Pushing Daisies that aired Saturday night, it definitely won't be the final story for the series.

Bryan Fuller, the creator of the show, did an incredible job ending the TV portion of the series. I wish all TV shows had endings like this. It's reminiscent of the brilliant ending of Wonderfalls (also from Bryan Fuller).

If you didn't see it, make sure to buy the Pushing Daisies season 2 DVD coming out July 21st. This is a final episode you won't want to miss.

And if you're wondering how season 2 would have ended if the show continued, check out this article on the SciFi website. Then get ready for the 12-book comic series from DC Comics this fall where some of the loose ends will get resolutions.

And there might be a reunion movie too. I'd imagine that's a ways off, but I definitely believe it'll happen. I've mentioned before that another TV series that Bryan Fuller created (Dead Like Me) has had a recent direct-to-DVD movie which reunited most of the cast and continued the storyline. I have no doubt the same will happen Pushing Daisies.

And who knows, maybe there will be even more life for the series after that. This is one show that was cancelled way too quickly. It deserved another shot with a different timeslot (not counting the burn-off Saturday night death-slot). Bad ABC.

But in the same breath I must also thank ABC for bringing this incredible TV series to the air to begin with. Pushing Daisies will go down as one of my favorite TV series of all time.

Videotopia at Strong Museum Of Play...

Me, my brother, and sister-in-law finally got to completely check out the Videotopia exhibit at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester yesterday.

What a cool exhibit! It's about 100 classic arcade games and the history behind them. I became obsessed all over again with Crystal Castles. I also played Dig Dug and Q*Bert.

There's also Donkey Kong (and its two sequels), Pac-Man and Mrs. Pac-Man, Galaga (my brother crushed us at this game - he had a lot of practice at it when he was a kid), Gorf, BreakOut, Frogger, Space Invaders, and a ton of others.

My brother noticed something hysterical about this room. In most rooms of the Strong Museum (and there's a lot), parents are trying to get their kids to check out some of the other rooms instead of lingering in just one. In the Videotopia exhibit, it's the total opposite - the kids are trying to get their parents to leave to go somewhere else. Too funny!

Upon entering the museum, you'll get a few tokens free. After that, it turns out you have to buy tokens at 25 cents each (with most games being 25 cents to play). It's not completely free as I had originally thought, but still an excellent deal.

Some notable arcade games that were missing - Super Pac-Man, Jr. Pac-Man, BurgerTime, and Jungle King / Jungle Hunt (a personal favorite). I did find a nice attempt to replicate Jungle Hunt online though after I got home, so that was cool that I still got to play one of my all-time favorite arcade games.

Also check out some other arcade games I found online in my Best Retro Arcade Games post.

The Videotopia exhibit runs through November 1st at the Strong National Museum Of Play, so get there before it goes away!

I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here (again)

I am stunned. I really thought Janice was going home. And her reaction proved that she was sure she was leaving too. Wow.

Of the three that could have left (Patti, John, or Daniel), I'm happy Daniel went. I'm hoping that one of the people that was there from the beginning would win. And Daniel joined late.

Janice will now be out of control with happiness with her arch enemy Daniel gone. I can't wait to see what that results in next week. She already started a bit at the end of the show screaming out a message to her friends while Daniel was saying goodbye.

Speaking of messages, some of the celebrities got to get a message back home with a personal call. And thanks to Lou picking Patti, the producers got their wish and got to have Rod Blagojevich on the show (they must have wet their pants with excitement). Patti seems unbelievably nice and down-to-earth and if it wasn't for the producers' desperation to get her husband on the show (starting months before it even aired), I'd actually root for her to make it to the end. If it was a major celebrity they did that with, I wouldn't think twice about it. But this just makes me think something suspicious is going on. Tainting of the jury pool maybe?

So next week it's more "let's try to get the American public to love Rod" moments, more of Stephen Baldwin just being nuts and hysterically funny (he needs to go on 30 Rock), more of Sanjaya and Holly's love affair, but best of all - more Janice insaneness! I can't wait. Next week it'll be on Monday - Thursday at 8pm on NBC.

I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here (Week 2)

Three players have already quit and two have joined the game late while only one has been officially eliminated in this train wreck of a reality show. But it's sure been fun to watch! And we're only halfway through (the series continues through June 24th on NBC).

Last night was a riot. Unlike Heidi & Spencer Pratt, Janice Dickinson is a hysterical villain (similar to her time on Surreal Life in 2005). Her lunacy makes me want to watch every night.

First, there's her "sickness", which magically goes away whenever food is near (she jumps up for seconds and thirds before some have even eaten). Her "sickness" also went away when Holly arrived as Janice instantly tried to get her on her side.

Then the overnight incident, which the camp learned about when they got a note from the producers asking the celebrities to not go to the bathroom right in the camp. The producers didn't name who did it, but most of the camp kind of figured it out on their own. The riot was when Janice started asking around about who would do such a thing. The video clearly showed it was her - wait until the celebrities get home and see that!

Then the ultimate - the granola bar incident. The women won four granola bars in a challenge. As they were preparing to eat them, Janice snuck off for a moment and quickly devoured one and threw away the wrapper. Now the women go to split up the four granola bars and find one missing. As they look around to see if they accidentally dropped it or something, Janice gripes to the camp about how someone could do such a horrible thing. She even complains about this in her private confessional. Does she not realize that every move she makes is being taped?! I was laughing out loud at that!

And notice how she dislikes Damien Fahey, one of the show hosts. And he knows it as he's mentioned it already! His comments about her now that he's aware of this are so funny. The one about her being the only supermodel he's ever known that loves to eat all the time actually made me laugh out loud.

As much as Janice deserves to be voted out tonight, I sure hope it doesn't happen. Her meltdowns, mood swings, and overall insaneness are the highlights of this disastrous reality show. I can't see how the show could even continue on without all her drama.

Ouch...

Poison's Bret Michaels "missed his mark" at the Tony Awards and ended up walking into giant set piece that was being lowered from the ceiling.

He's okay, but ended up suffering a fractured nose and needed three stitches in his lip.

Here's some video of it I found on YouTube that starts off at regular speed, then runs through at slow speed.

After seeing that, check it out close-up in this video clip. After seeing this clip, I'm stunned he's okay!

Tour de Cure, Coasters Ice Cream, Conneaut Lake Park & Land Of The Lost...

Wow, I did more this weekend than I usually do in three weekends!

First off, I have to say how awesome the Tour de Cure with the American Diabetes Association was. Every year they top themselves. Rebecca Donoghue of the ADA planned and ran the perfect event. I'm normally not a fan of getting up in front of people, but for some reason I'm not as horribly uncomfortable at this event doing that (I was on the microphone getting the riders started on their treks). Amy also helped out bigtime and made the day a blast.

So that now makes only three things I don't mind waking up and starting the day at 4am for - the Tour de Cure, filling in for Rob Lucas, and a roller coaster trip.

Definitely consider taking part next year! There's six rides you can do ranging from 6 miles to 100 and all the money raised goes towards finding a cure for diabetes. One person came up after her ride and said that she won't do some of the other bike rides anymore because of poor planning, but she'll always come back for this one because it's so well done. You've got a year to think about it now. I hope to see you there next year.

Eventually, they'll post pictures from the event here. MyBuffalo.com also was there taking pictures. But the website has been redesigned in the last few days and I haven't been able to find the Tour de Cure 2009 pictures - I'm sure they'll be easier to find as they continue getting things up and running.

On my way home from there, I stopped by Coasters Ice Cream Parlor. They just opened a few weeks ago in Ellicott Creek Plaza on Niagara Falls Boulevard and I've been dying to get there. I had banana milkshake on my mind all day and I have to say, that was one of the most banana-iest milkshakes I've ever had. Excellent. I'll definitely be going back there. Next up, I have to try the bananas foster sundae.

The next day, it was Conneaut Lake Park. I'm so happy they're back open. The incredibly awesome Blue Streak roller coaster is closed until 2010, but that didn't matter. I was more interested in trying out their new SkyDiver ride (I haven't been on one of those since the 90's) and their Flying Scooters (one of my personal favorites). I met up with two friends from Cincinnati (Jack and Chris) and we mostly hung out on the Flying Scooters throughout the day.

It was a great day. If you haven't been there, I have to warn you that it's kind of a strange park. It's like going to a long abandoned amusement park and then suddenly have it open only while you're there - that's at least the feeling I get. Everything's up to code though, so you'll be safe. There's not a huge amount of rides, but the ones they've got are good. In addition to what I already mentioned, they've also got the scary Devil's Den, Tumble Bug, the Kaylee Belle Tour Boat, and a few others.

Then to end the weekend, I went to see Land Of The Lost. Don't worry, I won't spoil anything for you if you haven't seen it yet (and many unfortunately haven't based on the weekend box office results).

I'm a fan of both versions of the show, so I was a little worried that I wouldn't like a comedy version of it. I went with Kathy, who's never really seen the show. We both loved the movie.

It helps that I think Will Ferrell is funny - if you like his comedy, you'll like the movie. If not, the movie might annoy you a bit.

The special effects and visuals were top notch - the dinosaurs were absolutely amazing. The references to the original series were cool - and they were done it a way that didn't make Kathy feel like she was missing something. The campiness is definitely there which is a big plus. And the storyline itself kept shifting suddenly - you never knew what would happen next.

My one complaint - the sex jokes (mostly with Chaka and mostly visual). They really weren't funny to start with - then after the same joke was repeated five more times, it just became annoying. That and the occasional swear word (which also wasn't necessary) resulted in the movie getting a PG-13 rating. Thanks to that, kids can't go see a movie that really could have been a great family movie.

I'll be buying this when it comes out on DVD - I'm already looking forward to the extras and this is something I'd definitely watch again. But I'm happy I saw it in the theater first - most of the landscapes and special effects were definitely meant to be seen on the big movie screen.

My final thoughts on the Land Of The Lost movie - go see it. It's awesome and a lot of fun. If you're a fan of the original, go in expecting a totally new take on the series and you won't be disappointed then. But don't take the young kids. It pains me to say that, but the writers & producers did that to themselves.

Land Of The Lost now in theaters!

The day is finally here. The Land Of The Lost movie is in theaters! In honor of this, a few Land Of The Lost things for you to check out.

First, the official movie website and the Krofft MySpace page.

Then there's my interview with Marty Krofft on Star 102.5 yesterday.

All three seasons of the 70's series are available on DVD (a limited edition set comes in a replica of the original 70's lunchbox for the show).

Also check out a mini Land Of The Lost reunion with Wesley & Kathy (Will & Holly on the original Land Of The Lost). They were supposed to be making a cameo in the new movie, but it appears that scene was cut. Hopefully, it'll end up being an extra on the DVD someday. For now, go see what they look like and hear them reminisce on the Land Of The Lost on Wesley Eure's website.

And you can follow the original adventures in the Land Of The Lost in comic book form soon thanks to Arcana Studio. It'll be out June 24th! I'm sure you can special order it from a local comic book store. Or save yourself the trouble of hunting it down and just buy it here.

Then how about a Sleestak bobblehead for your desk at work? They're only about $10 and this one pictured is so much cooler than the ones I see on other websites.

Finally, Tyrannosaurus Lex is an awesome Land Of The Lost fansite with info on both versions of the series and the new movie.

After all this, don't forget to see the movie - it's in theaters now!

Marty Krofft on Star 102.5...

Remember the classic Krofft Saturday morning shows Sigmund & The Sea Monsters, H.R. Pufnstuf, Wonderbug, Electra Woman & Dyna Girl, Dr. Shrinker, The Lost Saucer, and Land Of The Lost?

Marty Krofft and his brother Sid were the driving force behind each of them and a bunch of other shows too (Marty is on the left, Sid on the right in the picture).

Well now they're branching out into big budget movies! The second of their shows to be made into a movie is Land Of The Lost (Pufnstuf was the first back in the early 70's and was just released on DVD a few weeks ago).

The Land Of The Lost movie with Will Ferrell and Anna Friel will hit theaters tomorrow (June 5th).

I talked with Marty Krofft earlier today. We talked about the new movie, the Sleestak, who was almost the star of the movie, what the inspiration was for the original Land Of The Lost, and Marty has a favor to ask anyone who's ever enjoyed a Sid & Marty Krofft show.

Off-air, we continued talking. Marty revealed which Krofft TV shows will be turned into movies next, which Krofft series he's hoping to bring back to TV, he told me a little about a performance he did here in Buffalo back in the 60's, and he talked about the complete original series being released on DVD in a special limited edition lunchbox (a replica of the original 70's lunchbox).

At one point, I also brought up the 2001 pilot for Electra Woman and Dyna Girl with Markie Post. To see some pictures from that, go here. And if you can get your hands on the full 15-minute episode, check it out - it's hysterical!

Hear the entire 9-minute interview (including parts that didn't air on Star 102.5) here. For the edited 4-minute interview as it aired, click here.

And check out the Krofft Myspace page for short clips of a bunch of their classic shows!

Then don't forget to go see the Land Of The Lost movie, in theaters tomorrow!

Britain's Got Talent & Susan Boyle...

Adam being beat out by Kris on American Idol was a shock. But an even bigger shock is that Susan Boyle lost Britain's Got Talent.

After all the worldwide hype, she somehow managed to be beat by a dance group!!! Although after watching the video, I have to admit the dance group was impressive.

Here's Susan's final performance on the show and here's the winner's performance.

And then, the giant moment. You can see Susan is seriously stressed out in the clip (understandably of course).

There is a mention in one of the comments for the video that Dec (one of the hosts) tells her she'll get a #1 record anyways. It happens at 1:15 in the video. I do hear that, but not the rest of what the poster claims (asking her to give the dance group a nice comment).

Piers Morgan (one of the judges on the show) was interviewed on Good Morning America and says Susan was hospitalized for exhaustion after the show and she's doing fine. He also goes on to say that a lot of the stories about her have been greatly exaggerated and everyone now just needs to back off from her for a bit.

I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here (Season 2)

So I had absolutely no intention of watching this train wreck. But nothing else was on, I watched the first few minutes while eating supper, and now I'm hooked.

I have to agree with Spencer Pratt of The Hills when he was complaining about the low caliber of celebrities. This is definitely Z-list celebrities for the most part. And ironically, Spencer and his wife are part of the reason, even though they are great for the show. Without them constantly quitting and throwing temper tantrums, there probably wouldn't have been anything to broadcast for the first hour.

I was originally against the show for another reason. I thought it was completely moronic that the producers were constantly trying to get disgraced and impeached Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on the show. Why help him? Luckily, they weren't allowed to get him. But instead, they cast his wife. What?! And now I understand why they wanted one of them on the show. At one point in the first episode, the show focused on Patti (his wife) talking about what a wonderful person her husband is and all the great things he's done. This went on for about five minutes. It's obvious now that the producers are friends with Rod and wanted to paint him as an awesome person on national TV. As nice as Patti seems, she needs to be off the show for this reason.

Overall, when you get down to it, this is pretty much what Big Brother would be like if it was in the jungle and they threw in a celebrity or two (Stephen Baldwin & Lou Diamond Phillips easily being the biggest two).

I'm rooting for Frangela (comedians Frances and Angela) as their commentary is hysterical, Stephen Baldwin because he was on a great TV show in the 80's (The Young Riders), and Torrie Wilson, because she seems awesome. Maybe Sanjaya too, because he seems to be going all out to win this while some of the others are just coasting through it.

I guess that means I'll be watching this for the next four weeks. And the ratings for the first episode were surprisingly good, so it'll almost definitely remain on-air until the end (which isn't always the case with reality shows anymore).

Best retro arcade games...

Spike TV released a list of the top 10 old-school arcade games not too long ago.

Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Galaga, Centipede, and Pac-Man all naturally made the list.

Some classics were left off though (Frogger, Burger Time, and Q*Bert immediately come to mind). See the full top 10 and what came in first here.

And go play some of the actual classics at the Strong Museum's Videotopia in Rochester! The new exhibit is open now and features about a hundred playable video games, spotlighting the classics.

(Click on any of the links or pictures to play that specific game online free!)