What I've Been Watching Pt. 1

Here's to new beginnings and the first installment of "What I've Been Watching". That sounds like such a catchy title, so I'm sure there will be millions of viewers just peering in to see what Ryan's been watching over the past week. I know, I know. This is a little bit of a rip-off from EW.com's "Sound Bites of the Week", but I'm actually providing full clips instead of just little, teeny bites. Their sound clips are like bite size candy bars while mine are the KING SIZE. You get it?

Well no more rambling. Lets get to wait you have all been waiting for. This is What I've Been Watching:



This is a clip from SNL featuring Adam Samberg. In this clip, Samberg is acting as Mark Wahlberg in a skit called "Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals". Why is it called that? I have no idea. I don't really get the relevance, but it is still pretty funny.



This is a clip from Jimmy Kimmel Live in which Mark Wahlberg is responding to the skit from SNL that parodies Wahlberg himself. Wahlber says he is going to go to NYC and confront Adam Samberg. Not really confront... more like DESTROY! Is he really going to do that?



Who actually thought Mark Wahlberg would go all the way back to NYC to confront Adam Samberg? Well it looks like he has from this clip. This is actually a hilarious skit. Wahlberg finally shows some acting talent that has been hiding during his last three movies. Oh yeah, "Say hi to your mother for me!"



Three SNL-related clips in a row?! Yeah I know. The show has been lacking in recent years, but I have to give it to them. They put on a few good shows in a row and ratings have not been higher in the last 10 years than they are right now. Gov. Sarah Palin is actually in this clip. Not much range as an actress, but hey, she looks good. Who cares?



Here is the trailer to "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" which debuts Oct. 31. Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks come together in this hilarious-looking (wording?) movie. And writer/director Kevin Smith looks like he may have finally put together a good movie again after a few years of bad material. I guess we will find out next weekend if this movie will be gold. I can't wait!

Well, there you have it. This has been the very first edition of "What I've Been Watching"! And what do you know. 80 percent of the clips were from SNL. It won't be like this every week, believe me. It was just actually a good week for the show so I had to give them credit where credit is due. I hope everyone enjoys the clips as much as I have. Tune in next Wednesday for "What I've Been Watching PART TWO".

Box Office Rankings Pt. 1

This is the first installment of my movie box office rankings and reaction. Every Monday, the newest rankings will be put up and my reaction will be gauged. There were a great deal of new movies making there debut this weekend, and many soared while others sank. Without further ado, here is the box office top 10:

1	N	Max Payne	Fox	$18,000,000
2	1	Beverly Hills Chihuahua	BV	$11,200,000
3	N	The Secret Life of Bees	FoxS	$11,050,000
4	N	W.	LGF	$10,550,000
5	4	Eagle Eye	P/DW	$7,343,000
6	3	Body of Lies	WB	$6,880,000
7	2	Quarantine	SGem	$6,300,000
8	5	Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist	Sony	$3,900,000
9	N	Sex Drive	Sum.	$3,566,000
10	7	Nights in Rodanthe	WB	$2,680,000

This is courtesy of boxofficemojo.com. So what exactly are we looking at here? Well, for one, the movie "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" has finally been dethroned from its number 1 spot by Mark Wahlberg and his video game action thriller "Max Payne". It was a good run though. The kid friendly movie was number 1 in America for the last three weeks. "Max Payne" went to the bank with $18 million in its pocket after the first weekend. This is big for Mark Wahlberg, whose last movie ("The Happening") tanked horribly. This movie may not be number 1 for long because this movie will only appeal to certain people. It is the adaptation of a popular first person shooter game so its numbers will fall quickly as many people will have no interest in the movie.

The biggest surprise of the week was "The Secret Life of Bees", which came in at number 3 with a respectable $11 million for the opening weekend. It only opened to 1,500 theaters (most big movies open to over 2,000 theaters) so that was a pleasant surprise for everyone attached to the film. It doesn't completely blow me away that this did so well. With actresses such as Queen Latifah and Dakota Fanning in the movie, there is still a big following for these two. "W.", the Oliver Stone directed movie chronicling the life of President George W. Bush came in at number 4 with a cool $10.5 million. "Eagle Eye" continued its hot streak by coming in a number 5 for the weekend with over $7 million in earnings. I guess people are still not tired of the explosions and Shia LaBeouf running from anything and everything.

The biggest disappointment of the weekend was "Sex Drive" which debuted at number 9 on the box office list. It looks absolutely hilarious and it also has Seth Green (think "Austin Powers" series) attached to it. That guy is always a part of huge movies. Unfortunately people must be growing tired of the endless amount of college/teen comedies.

Next weekend will be another big weekend for the box office. I'm sure it will look completely different. Movies debuting this coming weekend include "Pride and Glory", "High School Musical 3" and "Saw V". I have to say, I'm not really looking forward to any of these movies even though I will probably still see "Saw V". I'm just going to be happy to see that franchise finally end.

This does it for the first installment of Ryan's Box Office Rankings. Next Monday I will provide you with more numbers and more reaction. Check out Entertainment Weekly's coverage of the box office rankings. Let me know how I compare!

Eminmen and 'Relapse'? YES!!

For everyone out there that has been sleeping under a rock for the last 72 hours, word on the street is that Eminem is coming out with a new album.  This was announced at his book release party (yeah, he wrote a book).  The album will be called "Relapse" and it is supposedly going to drop before the end of the year.  Eminem actually played his first single from the album on his Sirius radio station Shade 45 (yeah, he has his own radio station too).  The single is called "I'm Having A Relapse" and features the same old Eminem beats and striking lyrics.  For more on the new Eminem album click here.

If this is true, this will be Eminem's first full album since 2004's Encore, which has sold a robust 5.1 million copies to date.  Yeah.  5.1 MILLION!  It is about time he decided to come out of retirement. Everything this man has touched in the music industry has turned to gold, check that, platinum. This is a transitioning time for Eminem.  He's a single man, his children are getting older and he just came out with that new book (which is called The Way I Am).  Why not cash in some more?  Plus, with the outpouring and cries for him to come back, it was only time before he decided to blow the dust off his mic.  

No one was more giddy about the news than I was when it first was announced that Eminem would be coming back into our musical lives.  Growing up, he was a forbidden artist to listen to. My parents censored anything and everything that I ever tried to hear, and of course, Eminem basically topped that list of forbidden pleasures.  This is what made listening to him even better. When I finally became old enough to listen to him around my parents, I began to appreciate the art that he actually was producing.  Sure his first two albums were very violent and it seemed as if he was one action away from being institutionalized, but when he really wanted to get an issue across to the listener- he made sure to GRAB you from his recording booth.  It didn't feel as if he was just rapping to people- he made it seem as if he was right there next to you as you listened. 

Overall, I am so excited for this album to finally drop.  As it stands now, his album will be a part of his record label's "Three-Headed Monster" of albums.  Supposedly 50 Cent will release his album in December, followed by Eminem's album and then followed by Dr. Dre's anticipated album, Detox.  It looks like the winter season has just become a lot hotter.  

Here's the first bite from Eminem's new song "I'm Having a Relapse".  Enjoy.

iTunes no more?

I had posted a story a few weeks back about the launch of the new MySpace Store. Well, since then, the store has been launched and it is only due time until we see how this program will fare in the music download industry. I also wondered how iTunes would handle another "music giant" in the monopoly. There are now new issues that iTunes are facing which has no connection with the MySpace Music drama. Here is the story: Apple: We'll Kill iTunes.

I was reading some of the comments left at the bottom of the article by readers. On one side, I agree with some of their sentiments. Why can't Apple just "man-up" and deal with the extra charge? It is ONLY six cents extra per song. On the other hand, I do understand what Apple is thinking. That extra six cents per song will really add up quickly when millions of songs are being downloaded by users. When Apple is already paying the music industry 70 cents on the dollar per purchase of each song, they will be losing money with this endeavor. They may say that they put the customer first, but they are first and foremost, a business. They do put the customer first, but if and only if, the customer is making them a profit. Once a profit is not made, the business must move in their best interest. I think I can empathize with that. Everyone should be able to. How many people, who run businesses, can you say will continue doing something if they are losing money at a steady rate? Well, if you say you know plenty of people like that, then you must also know about their bankruptcy stories as well.

In the end, I would hate to see the death of iTunes, but I understand the intricacies of business. If you are losing money, you aren't running a successful business. For once, the public must realize that business comes before the satisfaction of the customer. Like the saying goes, the customer comes first. But if and only if that customer is carrying cash.