TPG Talks 2010: "As A Man" Line from Clash of the Titans

Before everyone starts giving me shit about this, let me clear about this. I paid money to see "Clash Of The Titans," and due to the times available at the theater I even saw it 3D. And while the movie is now infamous for being a example of how awful post production 3D conversion can be, I found the movie to be an example of just a bad movie. But wait, TPG, why did you even bother? Well, let be honest here, I thought the trailer was pretty damn fresh:

Great trailer right? You got babes, monsters, fighting, epic music, and Liam Neeson bellowing. However,  while the movie just didn't deliver the goods, you can read my review here, it  did deliver one incredibly thing-

I do this as a man...

Perseus, played Sam Worthington can literally not stop saying this all movie long. Every time he is asked to do something he replies that "he'll do it as a man," because he doesn't want to be associated with the gods. Why he wouldn't want to be associated with super powers is beyond me, but this tagline was hilarious all summer. Someone wanted to go the beach....if I go I go as man. Go grab a me a glass of water.....If I grab you a glass of water I do this....

You get the picture. Apparently though people loved the movie for more than this one line. It made almost 500 million dollars worldwide and a sequel is already set for March 2012.

TPG Talks 2010: Landon Donovan's Goal To Advance

Prior to this goal many people were casual fans of the World Cup. They knew it was going on, that they should care about it, and the US would make a showing, but not win anything. That all changed with Landon Donovan's goal vs Algeria. When the World Cup rolls around in 2014, people will be watching and expecting big things from the US.

There are so many factors that made this one of the best things in 2010. Peep the list below

1. A singular team for people to root for. This wasn't like the Superbowl where people are rooting for one side of the other, most Americans were united in rooting for the US
2. Do or Die Time - If he didn't score that goal the US would not advance to the next round, everything was riding on that kick
3. The Clock - The goal was scored at almost the last possible second. It's like a superbowl hail mary, world series grand slam, buzzer beater combined in that one moment
4. The Man - Donavan talks a big game about the US soccer game and for once he totally backed it up.

I remember watching this with my buddy in a bar in Los Angeles and people were getting buck when it happened. That being said, this video of the world's reaction is pure gold, it brings a red white and blue tear to my eye (doesn't hurt that Rudy music is bumping)

TPG Talks 2010: Chilean Miner Jumpoff

Look at that dude on the right throwing up the thumbs up! Hell yeah, thumbs up to the max brotha. I'm a fan of the thumbs up, but you know what I'm a fan of? The human spirit and that's a fact. And there was no other event this year that exemplified the human spirit more than the miners in Chile.

The whole thing starting on August 5th 2010 when there was a cave-in in the mining area and 33 miners, all men, realized that they were stuck beneath the surface (must be a shitty realization). It's important people know this wasn't some old school wicked cramped mine, this area that they were trapped in was relatively big. Big enough they could drive around fork-lift type machines. Sure, TPG, that's great, it still doesn't take away from the fact that these dudes were trapped 700 yards beneath the earth where it as my pals on twitter put it "dark as shit."

By now you know that the miners were rescued on October 13th after a multi-national effort to get them out completely succeeded. This is my favorite "news" story of the year because while other stories may have been bigger (Oil Spin, Wikileaks) this is one of the few stories that are 100% positive. Someone once said (maybe it was a James Bond villain) "There is no news like bad news" and if you look around it's true. Most of the "news" is just pretty depressing. However, sometimes there is a news story that is just overwhelmingly positive. 1 Billion tuned in live to watch those miners emerge from the ground and in a bigger sense, watch the human spirit triumph. THUMBS UP TO THAT

TPG Talks 2010: Franklin On True Blood

"True Blood" is the ultimate summer television show. Each week it brings the heat with trashy characters, ridiculous violence, and some wild sex. That being said, I thought the season finale was type F- in it's quality. The show feels like it has to introduce witches, fairies, werewolves, werepanthers (there is a difference!) and all other types of magical creatures, but I'm only concerned about one character. My main meng Franklin Mott (featured above).

Franklin was a season 3 character that was completely batshit insane. In the beginning of the season he's on a mission for the Vampire King, but who cares, somewhere on his quest he falls in Beyonce style crazy love for Tara and then spends of the rest of the season complaining about how much he loves her. His lack of backstory and his bizarre temperament made him unpredictable, disturbing and fun. (VIDEO BELOW CONTAINS FOUL LANGUAGE)

TPG Talks 2010: Raekwon's Verse on Kanye West's Gorgeous

At the end of 2010 Kanye West made up for all his previous antics by dropping his new disc "My Beautiful Dark Fantasy." To say that the album was good would be a huge understatement, the album is fresh like farmer's market strawberries after your rode your bike there on a nice spring morning after you just head a strong cup of organic free range coffee. But while many songs stand out on the album, my favorite part of the whole thing would be Raekwon's verse on the featured song above- Goregous.

 A member of the Wu-Tang Clan and one of the most underrated rapper in the game, over a rhythm change and soulful guitar, he destroys the verse. And man there are some serious verses on the album. Jay-Z, Pusha T, Nicki Minaj, and Rick Ross all tear up tracks on this album, but it's The Chef's that stands out, peep this sample of the verse

if you can’t live, you dying

you give or buy in

keep it real or keep it moving, keep grinding

keep shining, to every young man, this is a plan

learn from others like your brothers Rae and Kanye

Damn, that sounds like a New Years Resolution!

TPG Talks 2010: New Takes on Toy Story Characters

When Toy Story 3 was first announced I immediately wondered just why they had to make a new one. I remembered "Toy Story 2" as being almost a perfect film, and I didn't see the need for new one. But boy was I wrong, "Toy Story 3" was nothing short of a masterpiece. Sure the end with the giant ball of fire is way too intense for kids and the villain Lotso The Bear is the scariest Disney villain ever, but "Toy Story 3" just brings it all around. You can check out my articles on the film here and here.

But I really wanted to commend the good people at Pixar for taking our beloved classic characters and putting a hilarious new spin on them. The Mr. Tortilla Head sequence above not only showed off impressive animation but had me rolling in the aisles. But not even that could compete with Spanish Buzz Lightyear. Hearing him speak in the same tone and with the same swagger but in a different language was just too much and in my book the funniest moment of the year. Gracias Spanish Buzz! And as a bonus the great Flamenco band The Gypsy Kings even covered "You Got A Friend in Me" on the soundtrack

TPG Talks 2010: Bed Intruder

Bed Intruder was an absolute monster in 2010. When I saw the original youtube video on barstool , I initially thought that it was average at best. However it wasn't til a friend sent it out again with the accompanying auto-tuned version by the Gregory Brothers (above), that I realized that, yeah that was pretty funny and I was wicked into it. Little did I know that it would become an anthem.

In the past when people inadvertently end up on the internet, they run from it, they don't want the celebrity. The "Star Wars" kid is a great example of an internet celebrity who tried to fight it. However, Antoine Dodson, the star of the Bed Intruder video is a business major and rather than run from the video, he embraced. Today he has appeared on numerous talk shows, performed at the BET awards, has iphone apps, halloween costumes, and a hit itunes single. He moved out of the projects and now lives with his family in a brand new home. Talk about an internet celebrity!

Yet depending how you look at it, the bed intruder craze is either a blight on world culture or a great example of innovative minds at work. Some people think the video perpetuates African American stereotypes. However, then you look at the massive creative response to the video, including the most recent performance by the Liberty University A Cappella group (founded by semi-bigot Jerry Falwell), it is amazing how different people responded and interpreted the video.

With over 75 million combined views and counting, Dodson is still counting that loot, but where he goes from here is unknown. Not like he can hide cause "we gonna find you we gonna find you!"