The Avengers Is Simply The Best

Oh.My.God. "The Avengers" is so gottt dayuuuummmmm awesome I can barely contain myself. Longtime readers will know that your boy TPG lives and dies by OSMs aka "Oh Shit Moments," so it brings me great satisfaction and joy to proclaim that the movie has more OSMs than every previous super hero every made combined. For those of you who are super hero movie literate it's basically like someone took the combined power of the below sequences, shot them full of gamma rays, and made a movie out of it:

Wolverine Defends The Mansion in X2
Train Battle in Spiderman 2
Iron Man 1 Afghanistan Scene
Iron Man 2 Suitcase Suit Brawl
Thor Mjonir Fight Scene
Captain America Grenade Scene

You'll notice that last scene I included wasn't an action scene. "The Avengers" has plenty of action, shit, I mean that last act where they fight monsters in New York is easily one of the BEST action sequences of ALL TIME. Yes, I'm not exaggerating, it really is that fresh. But, the movie wouldn't be incredible if it was just all action all the time, the fact of the matter is the movie is hilarious. Screenwriter Joss Whedon knows how to structure his jokes into the narrative and they almost always work. In addition he gives each character great material that fits their personas. Captain America is noble and true, Tony Stark is jackass, Thor has humbled swagger, etc. Simply put it just all works.

So with action off the chain, hilarious dialogue, great characters, and more oh shit moments that you can possibly imagine, does anything in the movie not click 100%? Sure, there is some moderate pacing issues and some of the more minute details of the plot are a little confusing, but those are small things, this is entertainment of the highest order. Yesterday I put the Avengers on the bottom of my summer movie anticipation rankings, but now after seeing it ( I will def be seeing it again in theaters) I feel really embarrassed that I put it there.

"Avengers" is easily the best super-hero movie ever made. Yeah, I know all you Nolanites will lose your shit and say "The Dark Knight" is, but beyond that movie and it's coming sequel's brooding intensity, it's still a super-hero movie with guys in costumes, evil villains and their henchmen, and lots of larger than life technology. Where Nolan's "Batman" hides it's super hero roots around gritty "realism" and dark themes, "Avengers" wears it's comic book heritage on it's sleeve like  S.H.I.E.L.D logo. It's refreshing and incredible.

After four years of anticipation and hype, I never thought "Avengers" movie could be this awesome. I know I hype up a lot of shit on this site folks, but seriously, this one, damn, this one is 100% legit.

Summer Movie Threesome: Who's On Top?

There are many movies coming out in the summer of 2012, but you wouldn't know it. Three movies are dominating every conversation I've had with movie geeks, standard bros, and everyday film goers: "Avengers", "The Dark Knight Rises", and "Prometheus." I mean that's all there really is right? Sure there is the "Spiderman" reboot which feels totally unnecessary, a new "Men In Black" (devoid of a new Will Smith theme song...which is bullshit), a new "Expendables," a slightly better looking "G.I. Joe," but seriously at the end of the day it all comes down to the trio...the trinity.

So in the words of the almighty Highlander (movie is nuts by the way) "there can only be one," so lets breakdown each of three cinematic titans to see which one is the most anticipated.

Prometheus: Aliens in space kill people! This movie which has run a perfect marketing campaign seems to be at the top of the pack right now. Director Ridley Scott described the movie as "2001 on Steroids" and if there is one thing that male movie-goers like, it's trippy far out mega space shit. The trailers released feature space ships, foreign landscapes, androids, alien creatures, machine guns, flamethrowers, ATVs, mysterious civilizations, and of course Idris Elba aka Stringer Bell. So...pretty much everything that dudes like when they were little is now updated to everything dudes like talking about when they are blazed. Coming at us in IMAX 3D, this looks like the harsh gritty terrifying version of Avatar, and Avatar is the business. 

Avengers: You're boy TPG has been hyping this one for years and with stellar reviews and relentless marketing, the film is everywhere and people are talking about it. But for some reason it's the last ranked on the anticipation scale. I think it's because everyone knows what they're gonna get. Cool superhero action with lots of Oh Shit Moments, easter eggs to other marvel characters, and some tantalizing tease after the credits. It's the movie equivalent of eating really good pizza. You know pizza, you love pizza, you know there is some pizza that is better than other za', and you're pumped up for this legendary pizza, but ultimately you're still scarfing down the same shit you've been eating since you were a kid. It's gonna be delicious but it also won't be entirely new. (Note, don't read that paragraph as me not being pumped for the flick...as I'm straight dying of anticipation here).

The Dark Knight Rises - Is is possible that the most hyped movie in the history of this website will fail to deliver on it's massive promise created by the end of "The Dark Knight?" Probably not, the Nolan worshipping disciples will remind you that not only was "The Dark Knight" the best super hero movie ever made (I'll give you that nerds) but that "Inception," also blew your mind so any seeds of doubt should be crushed by the power of Nolan. Yet in the scope of "Prometheus" and "Avengers" this trailer needed to be an A+ to get me amped and it comes in at a solid A-. However, once I start thinking about seeing Batman on screen kicking ass, all the conspiracy theories on the film, there is no way I'm not amped as hell for this. I feel once I see "Avengers" on Friday and Prometheus on June 8th, my anticipation for this will be rising.

TPG Hype Meter:

1. Prometheus

2. The Dark Knight Rises

3. Avengers

The Dark Knight Rises Trailer Hits

Maybe it's the insane buzz for "The Avengers" or insanely good trailers for "Prometheus" but this trailer leaves me a little underwhelmed. The new audio mix is terrible btw. What the hell is that seriously.

TPG's Game Time: Episode 5 - The Ghost of Harrenhal

It's official, "Game of Thrones" is approaching "Lost" like levels of unbearable anticipation for each episode. Show is so money and it knows yet. Each week it's delivering the goods, but, now...just hold a second. Perhaps it's cause I turned 26 last week, but as my fandom increases so do my standards, so this will be my first recap with a side of criticism. Show is still fire...but I gotta point it out when I see it. So let's gaze into the warlock stone and get into it.


1. I'll just come out with the criticism. Tywin Lannister is portrayed as the most smart, cunning, and dangerous person on the show...yet how the hell has he not connected the dots about Arya. Either he has and he's just keeping her close or he's just be neglecting his R-Mail (that would be raven mail for you non-throne junkies). I'm inclined to believe it's the latter because no-one has picked up Gendry...a dude the Lannisters went on a baby killing spree for and is now just straight chilling making weapons. Yeah yeah yeah, I know they found the bull helmet and think they killed him, but connect the dots here people!

2. So we got a pretty major character death with Renly. How do people feel about it? I always thought Renly was soft as hell compared to his brothers and I won't miss him that much because he seemed to spend the bulk of his time talking with his lover or sitting on chairs. Allllright....I'll be real with you...I knew this death was coming cause I stumbled upon reading about that shadow assassin thing. Kind of depressing that it wasn't as shocking, but that kill was pretty stellar, especially how the blade dissolved.

3. BREAK FOR ACTION MOVIES - Let's go ahead and make some connections with "Game of Thrones" and some classic action flicks:

• Last Action Hero - Tywin Lannister himself (actor Charles Dance) pops up in this Arnold Opus.
• The Rock - Tyrion Lannister takes in a host of chemical weapons and decides that they don't belong to the government, they belong to him...how very General Hummel of him.
• Leon/The Professional - A young girl, who witnessed the death of her father is mentored by a mysterious killer. Hello Arya Stark!

4. We are five episodes in and the coolest thing the mighty dragons have done is cook a piece of steak. Are you kidding me HBO? Could you at least throw some nudity into these dragon scenes to make them more interesting? After seeing them get birthed last season, I was expecting some Dragon Wars (real movie) shit to be going down by now.

5. Theon Greenjoy gets dirtier and dirtier every episode. By the time the season ends I expect him to fully covered in grime (literally and metaphorically.)

6. From this episode on I will now be calling "Brienne the Beauty," you know the badass female knight that was down with Renly and is now down with Lady Stark by name of SHE MAN. Not because she's a gigantic tall female warrior...but because she looks like He-Man.

7. Let's talk about Qarth...can we talk about Qarth. My girlfriend pointed out that it looks like something out of "Midsummer's Night Dream," and while she's right, it's clear that there is some crazy shit going on in the desert. The Warlocks who are addicted to "shade of the evening" are clearly competing with the King's Landing "Alchemist Guild" for most stonerific characters on the show. The woman with face mask is extremely intriguing. And finally Xaro Xhoan Daxos is proving very J.J. Abrams like with his secret hatch/vault full of promises. No word if Desmond is inside..brotha.

8. SLIGHT MIND MELT: Good to see Bran stepping up in Winterfell. The juxtaposition of his little brother playing with rocks while he assumed the leadership position was satisfying. Notice how Maester Luwin didn't say much, where in the past he did the bulk of the talking. This scene was crucial because we know that Theon is coming through.

9. Jaqen H'Ghar was the 80's hair band rocker mysterious knight dude that promised Arya three deaths last night. Who this dude is and what instrument does he play in the 80's Throne Hair Band (is Jamie Lannister in it too) is beyond me, but he certainly is interesting. The whole business about owing Three Deaths to the Red God was super cool, but I don't think he can be trusted.

10. Finally...let's give it up for Sam...aka the clutchest friend on TV right now. He eagerly volunteered to be steward just so Snow can go regulate...something that the Bastad and us should be thankful for.

TPG's Game Time: Episode 4 Garden of Bones

Whoah, Game of Thrones just isn't holding back anymore huh? Not like it every really did, but damn with an episode titled "Garden of Bones" you knew things we weren't going to be getting bright and cheery. There was a lot to talk about here, so let's load up our crossbows and get into it.


Direwolf Badassery: 1.1 point for yet another kill for Rob Stark's direwolf Grey Wind. We didn't see it eat that guy's guts, but we saw the ferocious furry pounce and then we cut to the aftermath. .1 bonus points for the kill having a stealth element, nice!

Joffrey Swag: .1 points. Man, this was the episode where he crossed the line. That whole stunt with Sansa and the crossbow was acceptable cause it wasn't anything new, weapons, bossing people around, threats, you know would usually would give him a whole point. But turning a potential epic threesome into a ultra-dark S & M display....total loss of points. See #1

1. Is Joffrey the most hated character in all media now. I don't think there is a single person on any screen, TV Screen, Movie Screen, Silk Screen, Smoke Screen that audiences want to see die a horrible horrible death than this little shit. Crazy to think he was once the angelic kid scared of a street thug in Batman Begins! Jack Gleeson, the actor who plays Joffrey is doing an incredible job, but I really want to see that smoke demon baby thing rip him to pieces.

2. What's that, you thought post number one was going to be about the aforementioned "smoke demon baby monster jesus what the hell is that shit" thing that popped out of Melisandre at the end? Sorry, it gets post #2 cause I have no idea what to make of it besides the fact that it was a radical step into crazy magic for the show, and one that I'm totally behind. Cannot wait to see what that thing can do.

3. Speaking of Magic, have you noticed that the show loves to focus on people just not knowing how real it's all getting out there. Throughout season and two, people are doubting that dragons exist...but we the audience, know that they do. People scoff at the concept of White Walkers...but Jon Snow will be killing dem bitches in no time...trust. And now in this episode, Maester Luwin says that magic doesn't exist and that he's learned enough to know these things...but once again we know what's really going on.

4.  The Spice King of Qarth (which popped up in the opening credits) looks exactly like Kyle Gass of Tenacious D.

5.  Game of Thrones is approaching "Wire" levels of mind blowing quotes about the quest for power. You know stuff "They say hard places breed hard men and hard men rule the world" and simple gems like "Power is Power," so it was nice to hear Renly have such a nice quote as "A man without friends is a man without power." Damn Renly, a gay king, with a female bodyguard, and a really positive outlook on friendship! So progressive!

6. Nice to see Sir Gregor The Mountain turn up again, but they definitely recast him. This could be related to the fact the actor who played the original Mountain Conan Stevens appeared on Spartacus where he promptly got his face chopped off (extremely graphic link here).

7. The captured prisoners story interlude that Arya and Gendry have found themselves in is a classic situation that pops up in all great fantasy stories. It's all over the works of Tolkien and appears in Harry Potter as well. Can't wait to see what happens with Arya being Tywin Lannister's cup master.

8. The Hound seems to be getting more and more sympathetic to Sansa and her struggle. I wonder if he'll come around and see how evil his boss is.

9. Finally Game of Thrones is due for some truly crazy shit. We're four episodes in and while it's been great...I need to see where this extra budget has been spent. Until next week, I'll leave you with some of wild shit I want to see on the show

• Dragons actually fighting instead of perching up on Khalesi like baby iguanas
• Jon Snow fighting White Walkers, the real ones, not some possessed Wild Wings
• A real huge epic battle, not just the preparation for it
• Theon Greyjoy in a big pirate battle on the high seas.

TPG's Game Time: Episode 2 - The Night Lands

Man am I happy that this show is back. And considering that there wasn't a single epic battle this episode, I still enjoyed every second of it. So without further adieu, let's just get right into it.


Direwolf Badassery: .25 for that shot of Ghost just looking boss, but where was he when Jon Snow got attacked

Joffrey Swag - .5 points, he didn't even appear and he scores points because we learned it was him not his mom who ordered all the bastards to be executed! Ice cold!

1. Blue Eyes! White Walkers! Oh shit! As Game Time readers know, I'm all about the blue eyed demons, so seeing just the tiniest glimpse of them at the end of the episode transformed an excellent dialogue heavy episode to one which holds promises of more wild magic to come. Also, Jon Snow, how you going to get snuck up on like that. You hear how loud the snow was underneath those boots? C'mon son.

2. Let's talk about Game of Throne's resident womanizer Theon Greyjoy for a moment. This dude, who I thought was a Stark for almost the entire first season is always messin' around with the ladies (including his own sister accidentally...wtf HBO...more on that later), but also have gigantic Octopus on their mantle, which is just insanely cool. It will be interesting to see how Theon's family problems with his father Balon impact Robb Stark's world problems.

3. Let's talk about the Lannisters for a second. They are clearly the villains on this show. Well everyone except Tyrion who's just showing us why he got that Emmy. The scene where he had the corrupt city watch guard hauled off was fantastic, if only because it seemed like delayed justice for Ned Stark. One of the great things about seeing Tyrion as the King's Hand is noticing the moves he makes compared to the currently cranium deprived playmate defender Ned Stark.

4. Speaking of Ned Stark, how about his daughter: little Arya. If Jon Snow and Fat Sam weren't best buddies, I would say that Arya and Gendry are the resident best friends on the show. I love how Arya still isn't afraid to lay down the law on anybody including little boys and locked up criminals, but I fear that the show will make it so Gendry is her protector and not her partner in crime. I guess time will tell.

5. Another episode, another awesome scene with the smuggler pirate knight Davos Seaworth, this time he's making deals with Salladhor Saan, who appears to be the Kingsley Shacklebolt of the Game of Thrones world, aka the resident ultra cool super badass black dude.

6. Before all my bro'd out readers judge me (I'm talking about you Anthony), let me say that this episode had way too much nudity/sex in it. I love that I can see it on all premium cable but this episode seemed to go overboard for no real reason. The scene in the brothel, featuring some cleanup at the hands of Littlefinger just seemed totally unnecessary. Theon doing the business with his sister...really?This was the first episode that made wonder if HBO is just showing all this because they can and not because it's in service to the story. Why can't we go back to the good ol days of horses getting chopped in half?

7. MILD MIND BONE (Iced version) - Are the White Walkers eating babies or converting them? Smart money is on converting them into blue-eyed demon snow zombies because they gotta be raising the army from somewhere right? Winter is coming!

8. Cannot wait for next week.

TPG's Game Time: Episode 1 - The North Remembers

See that red comet in the sky? That means that my recaps of "Game of Thrones" have returned. With "Spartacus: Vengeance" ending this past weekend, "Game of Thrones" is back to give me my dose of crazy intricate family politics, epic violence, gratuitous nudity, dragons, spoiled little brat kids, and of course dragons (did I already say that). So what do you say we grab out bull helmets and dive into the episode.


Direwolf Badassery - 1.5 points. We got to see Robb Stark's direwolf Grey Wind get super intense entrance and menacing growl. I also gave half points from Bram seeing the inner direwolf in his trippy dream.

Joffrey Swag - 2 Points. For those of you who don't know this is when the most hated character on TV does something so evil it can only be considered cool, on a extremely" ironic meta Tony Montana why do we like bad things" way. So I give him points for the wine pour of almost death and talking shit to his mother, and yes this is hard to measure.


1. Did you notice the new opening credits? The budget for this sequence, which has been parodied on "The Simpsons" since season one ended, seems to have gone up substantially. There are new places (Dragonstone!) on the map and more details on the ones that we know (The Stark Tree blooming for example). I get a very Age of Empires 2 vibe from the whole thing, and I think that's a good thing.

2. MIND BONE APPETIZER - Red Comet, what's it all about folks? Besides the accurate assessment that the dragons are coming, Ned Stark is dead, and the Lannister's are sneaky bastards, what it really means is that everyone on this show sees their own destiny in front of them, waiting to be taken. It's yours for the taking and remember people you win or you die!

3. Speaking of dragons, after an entire season of waiting for them, it's a trip to see them actually on the show, even more of a trip to see them in a cage. Are we going to have to wait another season to see them in action?

4. So glad Game of Thrones picked up right where it left off..... killing horses. Last season had two dead horses, this season has already got one, anybody want to gamble on how many we'll see.

5. The first time we Stannis Baratheon is on a beach filled with fiery effigies, burning swords, and sizzling (not literally) witch priestess advisor Melisandre. Other shows take notice, that's how you introduce a new character. Stannis is a cold beast so far and the fact that his old advisor hates his resident soothsayer enough to try to poison her speaks to what influence she will have on the plot going forward.

6. My new favorite character this season is Sir Davos Seaworth. I'm a big fan of actor Liam Cunningham who plays him, but also there is no way that this dude is not going to be regulating on people this season.

7. Good to see that Littlefinger was up on the The Hunger Games way before anyone else at King's Landing. That Mockingbird pin was pretty damn close to the Mockingjay pin Katniss wears when she's in combat.

8. With Jon Snow not getting to do anything to but have deep thoughts about why this dude has so many daughters while on patrol with the nights-watch, Robb Stark was just dropping tough guy talk everywhere. Three victories are better than three defeats, you're going to be killed by a boy, calls him out on banging his sister, etc! Robb Stark is the show's resident badass, at least until Sir Davos or Jon Snow start slicing people up again.

9. Just when you think the show has grown up, we get a brief scene of some woman at brothel teaching  a whore how to bang. WTF HBO, is this really necessary (I'm cool with it though).

10. What a final scene. All the bastards in King's Landing getting killed including babies! That was super intense, but finally we see the ultimate bastard Gendry Baratheon, and he's rolling with Arya Stark! Such an amazing final scene and killer opening episode.

Prometheus is Set to Melt Our Minds This Summer

You feel that? That's me strapping a jet engine to the hype train for this movie. Easily my most anticipated movie of the summer right now. Way more than Batman or Avengers at this point.

http://www.thislalife.com/2011/06/hype-train-prometheus-aka-alien-prequel.html

24 Movie Delayed Again...The Great Beeping Clock of Life Goes On

WHY MUST YOU DELAY MY MOVIE??? DAMMMIIITTTT!!!

It is with great timely sadness that I inform you all that the 24 Movie has been delayed yet again. According to Deadline Hollywood, FOX doesn't know if it will have enough time to do the movie and shoot the second season of Kiefer Sutherland's new show "Touch," which as I pointed out does not have Bauer biting off terrorist's heads, but rather him doing math or helping his kid do math. But for all you Bauer junkies out there, the deadline article also reports that the film was to be the start of a trilogy of films and it is not "dead" just delayed. From being rumored to being a Die Hard crossover/teamup to script re-writes the project has been through a lot. Then again, so has Jack, and he's still going. I'm confident the movie will come out one day, I just hope Jack hasn't gone too emo yet.

TPG WIRED: In Praise of Slim Charles

I have finished watching "The Wire" and simply put, it is the best TV show I have ever seen*. I enjoyed the show on so many different levels, I've decided to share my various perspectives on it with you guys here. So, if you haven't seen the masterpiece I will be talking about the the show as a whole, which is complicated way of saying SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS! That being said if you have seen it, please tell your friends about these series of posts, and if you haven't gazed about the power of epic TV, allow me to say that the hype is real.

It seems like I finished "The Wire" just in time. Thanks to the popular site Grantland's March Madness inspired bracket for the show, my facebook feed has been blowing up with people chiming in with their favorite moments and characters. Yet besides my man Carver being left off, there is one character that I feel is one of the most underappreciated on the entire shebang. I'm talking about my man Slim Charles, who TV critic Alan Sepinwall calls a "samurai" in one of his excellent recaps of the show. He may not be as flashy as other people on the show (I'm looking at you Omar) but got dayum if he isn't the wisest, toughest, and loyal in the entire thing.

Everyone's always talking about Omar! Omar is the shit, Omar is the most badass character on The Wire/Earth/Any fictional Universe, yeah yeah, please! You know who is the first to thwart a Omar Stash house robbery? Slim Charles! At the start of season 2 Dude is lurking upstairs and starts a major gunfight with the shotgun savant. The fact that he goes up against Omar, and seemingly even outsmarts him, when he's at the height of his powers should show you that Slim is not to be taken lightly.

But that's not what makes him such an incredible character in my eyes. Slim is like the walking embodiment of the code of the "streets" and in some ways the world. Throughout the show he drops serious knowledge that is in fact so deep, you think he's almost some type of B'More prophet. Back in Season 3 it is him that scolds the young shooters for going at Omar and his Grandma on a Sunday. It's also him that tells Stringer he doesn't want any part of "this assassination shit" when the Kingpin orders him to put a hit on Clay Davis. But it's not until Slim drops some serious truth on Avon after Stringer's death that the corn-rowed gangster shines through.

Besides Avon's crisis of identity, this scene is notable because Slim Charles is not only tackling the war with Marlo, but very obviously tackling the real world war with Iraq that was raging in 2004 when this episode aired. Sure, it's not subtle, but it's effective and further proves just how wise the man is.

But let me be real with chu. Slim Charles is probably most well known in "Wire-Lore" or "Wiore" (is that weird) as the dude that so refreshingly kills Cheese in the series finale. Over the course of the show there are only two characters that I despised. The first was Scott Templeton, the lying sleazy reporter from the Sun and the second was Cheese Wagstaff. He sold out Prop Joe to Marlow, tries to act tough all the time, goes up against Brotha Mouzone and survives (totally un-earned). So when Slim, the legend, the Baltimore Street Jesus ices him, it's not just Slim doing it, it's for everyone on the streets and us watching the show, that hate fake ass gangsters or as 50 cent once said  wankstas." When the dealer who kind of looks like Spike Lee says: "This sentimental Motherfucker just cost us money," he's shrugged off. He iced Cheese as everyone knows for Joe, but he also puts one in his dome him because Slim Charles is the greatest character on the Wire and only he was worthy to kill the most annoying. His reward for the noble deed, good sir, is inheriting the co-op and control of the streets of Baltimore.  Slim. Charles. Legend.

TPG WIRED: The Show As A Cop Story

I have finished watching "The Wire" and simply put, it is the best TV show I have ever seen*. I enjoyed the show on so many different levels, I've decided to share my various perspectives on it with you guys here. So, if you haven't seen the masterpiece I will be talking about the ot as a whole, which is complicated way of saying SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS! That being said if you have seen it, please tell your friends about these series of posts, and if you haven't gazed about the power of epic TV, allow me to say that the hype is real.


Throughout each of the 5 seasons of "The Wire," there are cops and everybody else. Supporting characters shift between dock workers, teachers, and newspaper reporters, but the police officers remain the same for each season. Characters and personalities may change, but at the end of the day, the cops are at the center. The shows creator, David Simon, who was a reporter in the 80's spent a year shadowing the Baltimore police department and his deep knowledge of how a city's boys makes all the differences. He knows how police departments work and he knows about the value of "the case."

Ahhh yes, "the case," the focal point of every season. Most cop shows are procedural with a "case a week" structure, but "The Wire" is different because it follows as "case a season" or maybe arguably a "case a series" structure. This focus on the larger narrative makes it feel kind of like super mythology heavy shows like "Lost" and "Game of Thrones," and that's a good thing. The cops are investigating the dealers, but the dealers are connected to the Greeks, who are working with the dock workers, who's union is tied to the politicians, who may or may deal with the drug kingpins. In the words of the show, "all the pieces matter." This is detective work on a gigantic scale, something which you rarely ever see on TV and it's totally fantastic. I mean someone like Clay Davis, who is just a side character in season one, turns out to be a huge character in later seasons. Everything is connected.

But even as a procedural the show works extremely well. Each episode shows how the police use technology, smarts, and just plain police work to solve the case. On the show you have the "Major Crimes Unit," which is kind of the police super team that does all the super cool surveillance stuff. It's a thrill seeing the unit in action and the lengths they to go to get the titular "wire" up on the bad guys, but that's just part of it. There are drug dealer codes to be cracked, favors needed to be called in to the FBI, warrants that need to be issued by judges, undercover missions, police tails on cars, interrogations, you know all that awesome cop shit that is fun to watch but you don't want to have happen to you! It's all in there!

Like any good police narrative, you got your colorful cast of characters. Everybody from Da Bunk with his suits and cigars, Greggs with her strict moral code, and Lester with his wood shaping hobby and almost superhuman knowledge of surveillance technology are just a part of a the perfectly written police department. You have hyper aggressive cops who just want to kick down doors and bust faces, you have smart detectives like McNulty who want to work the case, and you have some guys that fall somewhere in the middle. During the series, you can see how each police officer's experience working the beat changes them. Some people like Carver (my fave character) go from being a cop who might snag a little drug money during a raid on a stash house to being cops who do the right thing aka "good poolice," and he's just one of the many cops who go on this journey.

And that's what the show really is, a journey both into the heart of a police force and it's characters, but also a journey with police on a badass solving cases saving the day way as well. It's also dope that it's on HBO so there is plenty of gritty language and violence, but that's just part of the game, it's the characters and the journey of the police that count!

Stay Tuned for the next installment where I focus on the drug dealers


*I've never seen The Sopranos

New Avengers Trailer Kicks All Types of Ass

Cannot wait for this. Seriously, looks insanely epic.

Car Chase Editing Master Class Is What My Dreams Look Like

Found this on my cousin's facebook page. Thanks cousin. This is dope. Love they got Bad Boys II in there.

Is Battleship The Movie That Makes Me "Grow Up"

Once upon a time there was a boy named TPG, aka WP, aka, BRJ, who loved to see things explode on the silver screen. Coke and popcorn, candy (preferably SPKs) and some preemo seating in a large stadium seating theater and I'm good. But now, something has changed in my soul, there's a movie coming out this summer that features in no particular order: aliens, robots, explosions, building destruction, battleships, water, babes, alien mech suits, tropical jungles, Liam Neeson, end of the world scenarios, rastafai accents, slow down speed up camera techniques, oceanic mysteries, a connection to Transformers, spaceships, scary eye blinks ("Jurassic Park" son),  force field barriers, alien whip technology, and finally the almighty collapsing bridge. And I'm not interested. Oh yeah, it's called "Battleship." And it's based off a board game.

Well, I shouldn't say that, maybe with good enough reviews and a relentless marketing blitz, I literally will have no choice to but to see this film, but I'm not there yet. The first thing that is a giant red flag for me, is that this trailer is trying, pleading, screaming, dubstepping, begging, pleading (did I already say) to connect this film to "Transformers," which is the gold standard for mindless summer destruction and special FX wonder. Well let me tell ya something, if you aint got Optimus Prime being a brutal patriotic ass kicking robot battling with other robots (who are also cars/jets/stereos/slightly racist) than don't waste my time.

And then there's the board game thing. While in the past I have defended the remake,reboot, reshoot, prequel, sequel bananan fo mequel attitude in the business, basing a movie based off a board game is tough. In fact, I dread/eagerly anticipate the "you sunk my battleship" line that everyone knows is going to be in there somewhere. I mean I would be way more into this movie if it had a different title, after all I dragged half my family to see "Battle: LA" and that movie was a video game disguised as a film. "Battleship," born out of a ridiculous Hasbro/Universal licensing deal, seems to represent films as the bottom line for a corporation more than any film that came before it, and that makes me uncomfortable and slightly sad. Yeah Yeah Yeah I know "Transformers" is basically the same shit, but I trust Michael Bay and I don't trust "Battleship" director Peter Berg, cause let's be honest, "Hancock" is no "Bad Boys II."

Maybe I'm wrong, perhaps this movie will be the 21st century "Independence Day" it really wants to be, but for now this movie is position to be highly successful at making me transition to slightly more sophisticated blockbuster fare. You know ones. The sequel with the superheroes, the prequel with the humans fighting aliens, the sequel with the AARP action squad, the superhero reboot, the super hero three-quel. And with that line up, it looks like I don't have to grow up just yet.

Why I Haven't Been Posting (It's All In The Game)

I know, I know, I haven't posted in a hot minute. The reason for this is because I'm super deep into "The Wire" and have been prepping almost a full week of posts about this epic masterpiece of a show. Stay tuned.

ABC'S The River With/Without A Paddle

I'm a sucker for the "Paranormal Activity" movies. Saw the third one in the theater at midnight with my buddy, it was straight up bananas, both the movie and the fact that some guy had a full blown mega-seizure two rows down from us, but nevertheless, movies are dope. When I heard that series creator Oren Peli was going to have a TV show on ABC, I was pumped. Last night, that show, titled "The River" premiered on ABC. And while it didn't come close to satisfying my "Lost" longings, I found the show to be extremely enjoyable.

The show is technically "found footage," which is all the rage now in Hollywood. It focuses on a TV crew searching for a lost nature documentarian Dr. Emmet Cole (played in flashback by the groovy Bruce Greenwood) deep in the wilds of the Amazon. Along for the journey into the heart of darkness are Emmet's wife and daughter, a somewhat sleazy producer and camera man, the superstitious ship supervisor and his easily possessed daughter, a childhood sweetheart, and of course an elite special forces dude with an arsenal of badass weaponry. It doesn't take long for the posse to discover that they are in way over their heads in for seriously intense experience in the Amazon.

First things first, I was surprised how scary the show was. And while I know that shit is always getting super nuts on "American Horror Story" I was surprised how terrifying the show was, especially for Network television. How scary we talking here? Try porcelain faced dolls hanging from trees and coming alive, monkeys with children's faces, and possessed girls speaking in tongues while having seizures. Yeah Brah!  Maybe I'm just soft, but I found it to be pretty intense.

Besides the scares though, there is kind of a cool "meta" elements of watching a TV show about the production of a TV show. I also find it ironic that the sleaziest character on the show is the producer, but he's the entry point for the audience. For example, it's preposterous that there would be cameras everywhere to capture both the supernatural shenanigans and the little personal moments between characters, but if he's not there showing us the audience what we wanna see, than their is no real show. Yet every time things are going haywire, he's the guy who you wanna see get torn to pieces by the river demons. Is that a commentary on media ethics or am I just diving wayyyy under the surface?

The show isn't close to being as good as "Lost," yet I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty engaged for the entire two hour premiere, and that's a rarity for network TV. Usually if it's not on Showtime, AMC, USA, or HBO, I'm not watching. It's fun watching this type of pulpy horror stuff, and I'm pretty sure it will be for you as well, even if you're not a "Paranormal Activity" junkie like me.

Lana Del Rey's Hunger Games Video

Whoah, this is wild. Lana Del Rey cover about The Hunger games. Team Gale. 

What is Going On In The First Official Photo From The New Bond Flick?

Today this new picture from the next James Bond movie, titled "Skyfall" hit the interwebs. Dropping on November 9th, the new film boasts a pretty strong cast including Javier Bardem as the villain, Ralph Fiennes as a potential mentor, a young Q making his first appearance in the D. Craig series, a of course a full roster of babe-age. Of course you wouldn't pick up on those things from this picture. So let's check out what is really going on here.

1. Bond is holding a Walter PPK handgun, which is I guess is his trademark, but feels very old fashioned considering the firepower Craig has worked with in previous films.
2. The picture clearly has an Asian setting, which means that this is definitely a sequel to "Tomorrow Never Dies," which is the shit in case you were wondering.
3. I wanna say, the fact that he's got a beard means Bond will be more emo this time around, but the fact is, Daniel Craig's Bond has always been extremely emo, so maybe the beard means he's taking it further into the emo realms of nevermore. Death Cab is doing the theme brahh.
4. That red thing in the background is clearly a reference to HAL from 2001. Can only mean that Bond is fighting the machines, computers, aliens, apes, the past, star child, and the monolith in this film.
5. Or Bond will be traveling the globe fighting bar graphs.
6. Considering Craig's comments on the series, Bond will only be wearing black leather the whole flick. It's gonna get weird.
7. The fact that Bond is looking left indicates that he is looking into the past for inspiration. Hopefully he's looking to "Casino Royale" and not "Quantum of Solace."
8. I get a methodical stealth Bond vibe from this, so maybe the film will be a little more low key than "Quantum of Solace"'s formula of action scene over script.
9. Others have pointed this out, but Bond is looking like a replicant here
10. Looks dope.

The Grey Is A Ferocious Man Vs Nature Movie

While there is an ample amount of wolf punching/slaying/shit talking in Liam Neeson's new flick "The Grey," the film is a lot more than it's simple (yet effective) marketing. This is a movie about what men do when faced with insurmountable odds and trauma. Simply put, who are we in the grand scope of nature? Or in the language of the Liam Neeson action audience: You think you could hang out in the wild with demonic wolves trying to eat you son?

Neeson, at the height of his dramatic and ass kicking powers in this flick, plays John Ottway, a lonesome man who works on an Alaska oil field shooting the wolves that get too close the workers. When the plane the oil workers crashes in the Alaskan tundra, the survivors must fight for their survival against the elements and the man eating wolves that are following their every move. Before I go deeper into why this movie is so fresh, let me just say, that if you have a phobia of flying, you're going to want to peace the hell out of the theater during the plane crash sequence. It's straight up terrifying. Realistic as hell, it's a stunning piece of filmmaking.

Stuck out in the wild, Ottway takes the leadership position amongst the survivors. He both helps dying men come to grips with their end moments, advises strategies for dealing with the fury fiends on their tale, and rapidly puts down mutinies by promising people, in his best "Taken" voice that they will be "swallowing a lot of blood if they fuck with him." Neeson plays the elite alpha male for the first two thirds of them and it's just as satisfying as you'd expect. It's just like his parts in "Batman Begins" or "Phantom Menance" just with more swearing and higher stakes.

But it's the final third of this movie where the movie really shines. The film succeeds at examining just what makes men so tough. Where do they draw their strength? From each other? From God? From some inner determination to survive? By the time the film's ambiguous ending comes snarling at you, every viewer may be examining these things themselves, and that is one of the film's strongest elements.

I wrote a post on Friday "The Grey" presents Neeson with an opportunity to evolve as an action star. I can happily report that he succeeds in doing this, not just because he can add wolves as something he has punched (in addition to jedis, albanians, and super-heroes) but because it adds a much needed level of humanity to his action star persona. Thanks to his thundering performance, he carries this movie to the levels of gritty survival tale you're hoping for, and then delivers even more! 

The Evolution of Liam Neeson

Have you seen "Taken?" If the answer is no, you need to get your priorities straight, seriously, easily one of the best movies ever made in the last 100,000 years. It's a premise as old as time, a retired spy/assassin/modern day ninja who no one appreciates, has to gain everyone appreciation by saving the princess, aka his daughter. 86 minutes! 10 minutes set up, 76 minutes of Neeson destroying Albanians in Paris. But in a sea of Statham movies, why does Neeson endure and appeal?

Back in 2009, I said it was because we wanted to see a calming presence take on the machine, the higher ups, a one percent warrior if you will.   And while that is still kind of true, I firmly believe that with Neeson's new movie "The Grey,"  Neeson is now evolving into the highest levels of ass kicker. It's well known that Neeson often plays God like figures in his roles. From "Schindler's List" to "The Phantom Menace" and even as the voice of Aslan in "The Chronicles of Narnia" he is the ultimate wise soothing protector. He is god to the mortals, the guiding light of good, the judger of men, and in some cases, the wrecker of men (only bad dudes though).

Which is why "The Grey" is the ultimate Neeson movie yet. No longer content with taking on humans, Neeson is jumping up a level and taking on Mother Nature itself. His new movie is man vs wild personified by Wolves and Weather , the ultimate test of one macho abilities. No longer content with almost saving an entire mediocre movie like "Unknown" with one line (" I didn't forget everything. I remember how to kill you, asshole. "), Neeson now has the opportunity to go to take his interesting career to the ultimate level....the beyond God level...and after that comes?


**I'm seeing the film on Saturday, tune back in on Monday for a review**

The Dark Knight Rises Has Some Serious Oscar Pedigree

Further adding to insane levels of hype for "The Dark Knight Rises" is this morning's oscar nomination for Gary Oldman for "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy." Oh, wait, did I mention insane levels of hype, consider the fact that people are scalping midnight tickets for this bad boy at a somewhat evil $100 dollar mininum bid. Back to the Oscar nominations for Oldman, can we say what only some bloggers have pointed out before....this movie has a crazy amount of Oscar Winners/Nominees:

• Christian Bale - Won for The Fighter
• Morgan Freeman - Won for Million Dollar Baby (Four previous nominations)
• Anne Hathaway - Nominated for Rachel Getting Married
• Michael Caine - Won for both The Cider House Rules & Hanna and Her Sisters (Four other nominations)
• Marion Cotillard - Won for La Vie En Rose
• Gary Oldman - Nominated for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• Liam Neeson - Nominated for Schindler's List
• Christopher Nolan - Nominated for "Inception" and "Memento"
• Wally Pfister (Cinematographer) - Won for "Inception"

That's a lot of firepower!

New Details on the 24 Movie Emerge

It's well known to all the readers out there, that I'm a big 24 fan. So big in fact that i'm convinced that the very intriguing looking "Touch" premiering this Wednesday is actually an undercover season 9 of 24, I'm hoping halfway through there is going to be some type of time jump caused by Desmond from Lost (he was on 24, don't you see it's all making sense) and we'll back in the 24 dimension. I've been told this type of thing happens all the time on "Fringe" so, yeah it will probably work.

I might not need the time jump though as new details have emerged on the 24 feature film from Kiefer via an interview he did with website Collider. Here is what he said.

• The movie takes place six months after the last episode of the season which saw Bauer going off the grid or in spy terms "going dark"
• It will follow up on the events on the series.
• Filming is set to begin in April/May
• The film will be not be 24 hours long, rather it will be a 2 hour representation of a 24 hour day. 

While I was really pulling for a 24 hour epic feature film, I can I settle for this. Can't wait to see Bauer again.

2012 Survival Guide: Friday the 13th Edition (January 13th 2012)

Welcome to 2012 Survival Guide Issue #1

Don't believe the world is going to end in December? Consider that this is the first year since 1984 that has three Friday the 13ths. Should I mention that each of these Friday the 13ths are 13 weeks apart and that 13 is an unlucky number related to Pagan Demon rituals...whoahhh, let's get into some shit huh. But, if you're still caught up that 13 shit check out more here

(Photo courtesy of Wired)

Article: Creating Holes in Space-Time To Make Events Disappear is Now Real Life (WIRED)

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/01/time-hole/#more-68739

Wired's excellent DANGER ROOM blog is a must read. It's so awesome that Homeland Security monitors it as part of their new initiative to keep track on how much time you log on the interwebs. So of course this awesome blog would explain how the government is investigating wormholes for military use. Granted it's on a small scale but jesus is this wild or what? Also keep in mind...this is just the shit they're telling us!

Watch: Dog Finds Ball in Pile of Leaves

I'm including this video for a couple of reasons. The first is when the world comes crashing down you're going to need your human companions and than something else. Personally I'm hoping my animal end of the world sidekick is a tiger or w wolf or a wolger, but I could be convinced to settle for a dog. The second is that this video makes me happy and that shit is gonna be in short supply when you're huddling in a cave drinking black coffee that a grizzled and well bearded Mesch and DJ Steve are brewing up. You'll pat your dog on the end, drink your cup of coffee, eat a biscuit (they always eat biscuits) and head back out into the streets in the war against the G-Bots.

Photo: Alter Egos: Portraits of Gamers and Their Avatars

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/12/14/alter-ego-robbie-cooper/

Subscriber (hahahah) Karl J. Winslow sent me this profound photo series of gamers in real life in and in their virtual worlds of choice. Check out the link for the full gallery.

Mind Bone: Teamwork! Timing!

Keep Exploring

-TPG

The Hype Train: Kathryn Bigelow's Bin Laden Movie

The creative team behind the best action film about the war on terror is making a movie about the hunt for the biggest name of all terrorism. I mean that's some wild shit when you think about it. Let me take a step back here. The creative team that I'm talking about is "The Hurt Locker," the micro budget Academy Award winning film from director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Marc Boal. Think back on that movie, it just felt so real, both in the wildly tense action scenes and the more personal moments dealing with war-driven minds trying to cope with life back in the real world. Did I mention it was a massive Oscar upset and Bigelow was the first female director to win the Oscar?

Enough gushing over that film, let's talk about what's next. Tentatively titled "Kill Bin Laden," the film hits theaters December 19th 2012. Everything about this film is packed full of details that should get you hyped. The first is that Boal and Bigelow were already working on it before the terrorist leader was killed. Once the news hit in May, they scrambled and re-wrote the final third of the script to include the final raid. Prior to that event, film focused on the battle of Tora Bora, which would have been an excellent movie on it's own.

The cast that's coming together around the movie is also wicked badass. Now they haven't released what the roles are, but you gotta assume a bulk of them are going to be grizzled NAVY SEALS. According to a recent article on Deadline, the cast is set to include a whole host of people you might recognize but not know by name, and almost all of them have played highly interesting characters in previous film. Here's a quick breakdown"

• Jason Clarke - Johnny Depp's right hand man in "Public Enemies"
• Joel Edgerton - The tough yet empathetic brother in "Animal Kingdom" and the MMA brawler in "Warrior."
• Edgar Ramirez - Star of international terrorist thriller "Carlos" and Bourne nemesis in "The Bourne Ultimatum"
• Mark Strong - The villain in the first "Sherlock Holmes" and the best part of "Body of Lies"
• Chris Pratt - Andy on the TV show "Parks & Recreation," yeah not really sure what this goofball is doing here but I trust Bigelow.
• Jessica Chastain - Great actress from "Tree of Life," I mean there has to be a female role in this thing somewhere, and who better to get to play that role?

But enough about the buzz worthy actors and acclaimed directors and writers. Why is this movie really so intriguing to me? Well, for one of the biggest world events ever, there is so much actually known about what happened that night in Abbottabad. Sure we've heard news reports and read New Yorker articles about it, but we've never seen any live video of it. As we all know we never saw pictures of the body. I may be wrong for the first time in history we're going to see one of the world's most infamous men gunned down in million dollar budget detail. With the Pentagon investigating the Obama releasing sensitive information about the raid to the production, this is by all accords the most realistic movie about a military mission ever.

I've always been fascinated by the use of media and how entertainment plays into how we process reality, and to me this film is the ULTIMATE example of it. Get on the hype train.

2012...It's Finally Here

2012 is that year and don't worry ThisLaLife won't be going on anywhere. I know some of you were concerned cause I dropped off the face of the earth for a couple weeks there, but rest assured I'm back with vengeance. I was actually at the Pyramids doing prep work for the saving of the world but anyway there are going to be a couple of changes around the site thought so I thought I'd keep you guys informed:

• 2012 Survival Guide - On Friday's I'll be posting your 2012 Survival Guide. And while some of you are probably craving tips on how purify water and track animals, I won't be providing you that. Basically it will be a one picture, one video, one article, and one mystery "mind bone" that combined will hopefully enlighten you as we await December 21st 2012. Tune in this Friday for the first edition. 
• More Reviews - I know it's hard to believe but I tend to watch a lot of movies. I'm going to try to do a better job of reviewing the current film at the box office. Granted I can't review them all but chances are, if I'm hyping it up like crazy on the site, I'll post a review.
• Recaps! Recaps! - Many people have expressed to me how much they enjoy my recaps of TV shows. This year you can expect more recaps of Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, and maybe some other new shows by special request.
• Hype Trains - As the wise old sage An.T.onY once said, "TPG loves hype" so consider yourself warned, you're going to be seeing some epic hype trains.
• More Tweets - Are you following me on twitter? If not...do so now!
• Life in LA -  I rarely post about all the wild shit that happens to me in LA but I'll try to sprinkle that in more in 2012. It's just hard cause I'm always just chilling on the beach brah.

Tune in tomorrow for the first Hype Train and official post of 2012. It's a movie I've been talking up something fierce to friends with some serious vigor so I'm going to be happy to share it with all you guys.