Mr. Muddle's Befuddled Universe

Solomon King: True Blood

Solomon King and The Chosen:
Song Placement on HBO's True Blood

Performer: Solomon King and the Chosen
(Composer: Jeff Laine)
Title: ``Jack Me Up""
Initial air date: Sept. 28, 2008

Check out the new HBO series True Blood by the creator of of Six Feet Under, Alan Ball, and based on the books of author, Charlaine Harris.

Be sure to see the episode that will first be shown on 28 SEP 2008*. This episode will feature a song written by a very good friend of Tim's Befuddled Universe, Jeff Laine, ``Jack Me Up".

``Jack Me Up" has been performed by both Jeff Laine and Solomon King and The Chosen. (You can see a performance of ``Jack Me Up" here.)

Jeff Laine was featured in befuddled.org on 13 JAN 2006 and Solomon King was featured on 3 July 2008.

*This is Episode 4, titled Escape from The Dragon House. The scene: Sookie hears Hoyt thinking about how he misses Dawn and how scared he is to talk to her.

Technorati Tags:
music, people, philosophy,
literature, film, and videos.

Tim's Next Project: Harry & Olive

HARRY & OLIVE:
The American Nightmare comes true!

An online
Episodic Fictional Series
with frequent installments.

Featuring
  HARRY & OLIVE™
and
Their Best Friend
  LEWD DICK™

Forty-plus rock fans could well remember Lewd Dick and his band, Lewd Dick and The Flameballs.
They had one Top Ten hit, ``Bounce My Balls''.

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HARRY & OLIVE:
Their True Adventures

Description

Unlike the TV Nelson family that was the American ``dream'' family, the Harry Hutson family will gradually transform into the ghoulish nightmare Americans dread.

And nothing Olive does to save them helps.

The Harry Hutson family will become the American ``dream'' family of the future!

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QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS:

Can you describe Olive?
Does she look like anyone you know? Who?

Who should play Olive in the television series?
What about the film?

Comment below, or email your answer.

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Project Leaders
As of 30 DEC 2007

Tim Null, Project Leader
Jon James, Musical Consultant & Muse
Tim Null, Writer & Webmaster
Dawn Ward, Akron Consultant

© Stocker Null
Coming in 2008.

Another fine No Income Production™

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1 Jan. 2008 ADDENDUM

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My two favorite themes.

— Stocker Null

Stuck together, we are; like it or not.
One way in. One way out.

Alone. Together. Again.

© 1963–2008 Stocker Null

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QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS:

What is a theme, or topic?

Is a ``theme'' different from a ``moral''?

Why would (or should) a story have a theme?

``Alone. Together. Again.'' What the flock?
Tell me what it means!

Comment below, or email your answer.

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Technorati Tags: music, people, philosophy, literature, film, and video.

The Friday that was: The ``Clean Up Crew" came!

Put down your dust pan!

It's no secret that my house has been a mess. It's been both a private and public embarrassment for some time.

Yesterday the ``Clean Up Crew" came in the form of my daughter and unlicensed  ``son-in-law." Like the oldest daughter, Ginni Sorelli, in the marvelously hilarious  WB show Related, and her ``Clean Up Crew," my daughter totally took charge.

By the end of the day there was floor!

So if you're like me, and ``putting things back is the knack that you lack," check out Parachute Express and their ``Clean Up Crew" song. The song is available for download at the Apple Music Store and many other fine establishments.

Likewise, I have been doing some cleaning around the old website.

• The blog is now three columns wide, rather than two.
• I have added a sister blog, these befuddled photos, to post photos of concerts, recording sessions, musical events, etc. I will tell you more about this sister blog in a later posting that will follow, but please give my new blog a look/see: http://befuddled.typepad.com/photo/.



• At the top of the right column you will find a graphic ``these befuddled photos" button (see button above). If you click on the button, you'll jump right to the befuddled photos site.
• In the left-hand column, you'll see a photo of Ali Gray (more on her in a later posting) and her acoustic trio. The photo is under the heading: PUBLISH YOUR BEST CONCERT PHOTOS HERE. I am extending an invitation to all independent musical performers to publish your best photos on my site. Just send me an email. Tell me about yourself or your group and the event you have photographed (they can be of your own act, or your favorite act), and, if you qualify, I'll publish 3 to 5 quality photos on the these befuddled photos site per event.)
• Also in the left-hand column you'll find a picture of Ali Gray's Let You In CD under the GET YOUR NEW CD REVIEWED heading. This is an invitation to all you independent musicians out there: Send me a CD. I can write a review of your CD, do a story about your band, or talk about some of the best songs in your back catalog. Let's talk. Maybe I can help increase your exposure.

OK, I guess that's all the news for now. I'm going to listen some more to the  Parachute Express and their ``Clean Up Crew" song. But I don't care what they say, singing and dancing is a lot more fun than cleaning!

Technorati Tags: music, people, television

Serenity: The best ever?

Stop! I can't breathe!

Serenity earns my highest rating of  Stop! I can't breathe!

I saw Serenity opening night. I apologize for taking so long to post comments. My comments today will be very brief. I have decided to wait until the DVDs come out to post my extended review.

We're all sad to see Wash and the Preacher Shepard [10 OCT 2005: Oops, that was a bad mistake.] pass on, but this isn't Star Trek where only the new guy on the bridge dies. And this isn't Star Wars, where there's plenty of time to take a nap or two without missing anything important.

But enough about what I think.

Serenity fans should enjoy the posting I noticed over at My Yahoo! about Serenity and the difference between sci-fi fan behavior at the movies vs. your run-of-the-mill movie-goer behavior. Read the posting by Whitney Matheson  here (Matheson is a columnist for USAToday.com).

Technorati Tags: film

FaV TV: Summer 2005

I'm late in getting this post up on my blog. I mean the Fall TV season has been in progress for about two weeks, and I'm just now listing my favorite summer 2005 shows. I can't imagine anyone noticed my tardiness. So what follows is the list of my five favorite TV shows for the summer of 2005.

1. The Closer TNT. Kyra Sedgwick.
2. Battlestar Galactica. Sci-Fi. Mary McDonnell & Edward James Olmos.
3. The 4400. USA Network. Joel Gretsch & Jacqueline McKenzie.
4. Stargate SG1. Sci-Fi. Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, & Michael Shanks.
5. Rescue Me. FX. Denis Leary.

Honorable mentions go to Into the West (TNT) and The Inside (canceled by Fox).

Best show on TV: The Closer

Stop, I can't breathe!

There's a new champ in town: The Closer (link requires Flash).

When The Closer premiered on 13 June 2005, it bumped Battlestar Galactica from the top spot on my fav tv list (see 18 Jan. 2005 and 3 Feb. 2005 entries).

I became a super-sized fan of Kyra Sedgwick, after I saw her in Heart and Souls in 1993.

It's my hope that The Closer will be televised for many years (Monday nights on TNT).

Note: ``Stop, I can't breathe!'' is my highest rating (see my 18 Feb. 2005 entry for an explanation of my rating system).

DLM: Life after death?

DLM fans wait to hear the word:

I received an e-mail today from a fellow who visited my blog looking for info about the status of Dead Like Me. He asked if perhaps I had any new information. Sadly, the answer was no.

I am encouraged that MGM keeps the Dead Like Me (DLM) website up and active. Networks usually ``kill'' a site, as soon as they cancel a show; however, MGM could be keeping the site up to encourage sales of DVDs.

If MGM is still trying to sell DLM, then I  would guess they are making some attempt to measure DLM-related internet traffic. I therefore encourage DLM fans to keep up the Google and Yahoo DLM-related searches. Also, cllick on the DLM site several times a week. And, sign-up for the MGM newsletter.

If you continue to keep up the traffic, you may yet save the show!

DLM set used on SG-1: Der Wafffle Haus

Mrs. Muddle has eyes like an eagle with reading glasses:

Mrs. Muddle and I took a break from our sickbed this weekend to reload on cough and cold medicine, and to watch the latest episode of Stargate SG-1.

In one of the subplots, Daniel Jackson is caught between death and ascension in a cheesy diner.

When we first see Daniel in the diner, Mrs. Muddle immediately spouts forth, ``Don't we know that waffle house from some other show?"

``Yeah, it sure looks familiar," I answer. Actually the lighting and camera-angles are all different, so nothing looks familiar to me, but I'm agreeable by nature.

``I know," Mrs. Muddle chimes, ``that's the waffle house from Dead Like Me."

``Well," I say, ``it could be. They both are MGM shows."

Later on I did a web search and I confirm that the Der Waffle Haus set from Dead Like Me (DLM) was used in Episode 172 of Stargate SG-1.

It's encouraging to see that the (a) Dead Like Me sets apparently haven't been torn down at MGM, and (b) MGM is using their most popular show to help create buzz about Dead Like Me. I can't help but wonder if there aren't one or more channels seriously thinking about picking up DLM. I suspect MGM is trying to encourage internet ``activity" to show potential buyers that there's a loyal audience out there.

Given the number of hits my DLM postings have received, I'd say there definitely are folks out there interested in keeping the show on the air.

MGM reportedly trying to save Dead

Sci Fi Wire Reports:

Sci Fi Wire reported way back on 11 February 2005 that MGM was pitching Dead Like Me to  the Sci Fi  Channel, TNT, A&E, and other basic cable channels.

This ``old" news makes the tease in the recent MGM Sci Fi Newsletter all the more titillating.

Is Dead Like Me dead?

Showtime cancels Dead Like Me

There was a curious entry in the recent MGM Sci-Fi Newsletter. The entry only included the photo I've inserted to the left, and the following short statement:

 

The darkly comic series Dead Like Me may have ended on Showtime, but wouldn't it be terrific if it were given a second life on another network? Just thinking out load here.

One has to wonder what this is supposed to mean? What is MGM doing? Is this pre-publicity for a future announcement that Dead Like Me will in fact be picked up by another network, after being canceled by Showtime, or is this an effort to motivate fans to start save Dead Like Me campaigns? I have got to hope it is the former. (Personally, I'd like to see Dead Like Me on a channel where the bleeping swear words could be preserved and continued for the pleasure and enjoyment of us all!)

There is an online petition to save Dead Like Me, if you would be interested in voicing your support for the show.