Tricia Helfer Set to Guest Star on USA’s Burn Notice

The Blot is extremely excited about this one! TVGuide.com is reporting that Tricia Helfer, Battlestar Galacticas’s cylon Number Six, has signed on to guest star on USA Network’s spy/action show Burn Notice for a multi-episode arc this summer. (link) According to the report, “Helfer, who recently inked a talent holding deal with FOX (which produces Burn Notice), will juggle her Burn duties with the final season of BSG.” (link)


Burn Notice, which starts its second season on Thursday, July 10th, has quickly become one of The Blot’s favorite television shows. I originally started watching only because Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead, Army of Darkness) was co-starring in it, but the unique story telling of the show, as well as a stellar cast that includes Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Weston, Gabrielle Anwar as Fiona and Sharon Gless (Cagney & Lacey) as Michael’s mom, kept me coming back.

Burn Notice is one of those rare shows that week in and week out gets better and better. It’s a shame the show is on USA, which limits the initial viewing audience. For a quick recap, a burn notice is what a spy gets instead of being fired. The show stars Michael Westen as “an international spy who suddenly finds himself blacklisted” and has no clue why. (link) Westen, “dumped in his hometown of Miami without money or resources, struggles to put his life back together and find out why he’s been burned.” (link) The show does a great job of mixing in “mysteries of the week” with its continuing story line of why Michael Westen get burned so that if you happen to miss an episode you can quickly get caught up to speed. I highly recommend watching Burn Notice, and if you want to catch up on Season 1 before the start of Season 2, the Burn Notice Season 1 DVD Box Set comes out June 17th, 2008. You can pre-order Season 1 here.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Teaser Movie Poster

Did anyone even know The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, starring Brendan Fraser and Jet Li and directed by Rob Cohen (The Fast and The Furious, XXX), was coming out this summer on August, 1st 2008? This might just be the quietest potential summer blockbuster to come out in years. This is the fourth Mummy movie and third time around for Fraser as Rick O’Connell and I haven’t heard a single thing about it.


All three of the previous Mummy installments (1999’s The Mummy, 2001’s The Mummy Returns & 2002’s The Scorpion King) brought in huge box office numbers and were always one of the highest grossing films of their respective years. So why now, just 6 years later, are we hearing zero hype? Maybe it’s because of the time gap or maybe it’s because Fraser’s status as an action movie box office draw has diminished significantly since The Mummy Returns hit theaters. Regardless, I really enjoyed all three previous Mummy films and I’m excited to see what Cohen’s take on the franchise will look like, especially considering the huge advancements in special effects technologies since the last Mummy installment.


Surprisingly, Cohen, a director known for making franchise starting films such as The Skulls, The Fast and The Furious and XXX, has never taken over a franchise midway before. I’m interested in seeing how he interprets a franchise based on another director’s vision. Even with former co-star Rachel Weisz being replaced by Maria Bello in the role of Evelyn Carnahan O’Connell, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor should be the sleeper blockbuster hit of the summer.

Huck Gee’s New Skullhuntress Munny Set and 20 Inch Skullhead Dunny

Yesterday, Huck announced on his new mailing list two opportunities to purchase limited edition, hand painted Huck Gee vinyl figures this week. The first item which goes on sale this Friday, May 2nd at Huck’s Ebay Store is “the second figure in Huck’s new jungle series…and this time she’s bringing the pain, Skullhuntress: the life bringer, huntress, pain-taker, and savage beauty.” (link) The 10 figure set goes on sale Friday at Noon PDT and is limited to one figure per customer. Each one of these awesome signed and numbered Skullhuntress Munnys is uniquely different and can be yours for $700.



The second item that went on sale yesterday is a one of a kind 20” Skullhead Dunny, which the largest recreation yet of his original Series 1 3” Dunny. Many of you will remember that a previous set of limited edition 8” Skullhead Dunnys went on sale just last month. Check out the picture below to see all three sizes of Huck Gee Skullhead Dunnys. This extremely rare 20 inch Skullhead Dunny was put on sale for $3,500, but if you were hoping to get your hands on this amazing designer vinyl figure you’re already out of luck. According to a post by Huck last night the 20” Skullhead Dunny has already been sold.

G.I. Joe The Movie - First Look at General Hawk and Cover Girl

Up until this point I’ve been really happy with all of the G.I. Joe cast photos I’ve seen. That changed today. When I heard they had cast Dennis Quaid as General Hawk, the commanding officer of G.I. Joe, I thought it was a pretty good casting decision. But why they decided to dress him up in such a god awful uniform I’ll never know. For some reason they ditched the all leather look in Quaid’s cast photos and dressed him up in Army fatigues that bare a horrific resemblance to something Jean-Claude Van Damme once wore in 1994’s Street Fighter movie. If you don’t believe me or don't remember the horrible movie adaptation of the popular video game, I’ve included a photo of Van Damme as Colonel Guile below. I hope the producers of G.I. Joe see the error of their ways and end up changing General Hawk’s uniform before the movie starts filming. Karolina Kurkova stars as G.I. Joe member Courtney A. Kreiger, codename: Cover Girl, and her uniform isn’t nearly as bad since it’s really just basic army fatigues. But the more I look at her picture, the more I start having flashbacks to Kylie Minogue’s costume as Lieutenant Cammy in Street Fighter. So maybe the all camo look isn’t as good of a choice for Cover Girl either. The members of G.I. Joe should either all be in leather uniforms or all be in army fatigues, but this mixing of the two doesn’t really seem to work. Here’s hoping the G.I. Joe live action movie is no where near as bad as the live action Street Fighter movie was back in 1994. To see other G.I. Joe First Look photos of characters from the upcoming live action G.I. Joe movie click here.

Lost - The Shape Of Things To Come

Man, there is nothing better than a Ben-centric episode. Every single time the show focuses on the villain Lost fans love to hate we not only find out more about the multi-faceted Benjamin Linus, but also more details concerning the history of Lost’s mysterious island. This episode seems to have really set the stage for things to come this season and in future seasons…we learned how Ben and Sayid ended up working together in the future, we learned that Charles Widmore once controlled the island and that Ben has the ability to call for and direct the Smoke Monster. The episode also had a ton of Easter Eggs including the name and logo on the Dharma jacket Ben was wearing when he first woke up in the desert, the hieroglyphics on the door to Ben’s second secret room and the re-appearance and death of Sayid’s one true love, Nadia.

I’d be remise if I didn’t talk more about what at first appeared to be Ben escaping from the mercenaries by locking himself in his house’s secret room. How cool was it when Ben opened the door to the then unknown second secret room that was attached to his original secret room and called for the Smoke Monster? I guess there really is more to Smokey than we ever thought possible. And the hieroglyphics on the second secret room’s door evidently translate “to summon protection” which seems to be exactly what Ben did. (link)

The biggest question I now have is who set the rules Ben and Charles Widmore seem to be playing by and how far will Ben go to even the score now that his “daughter” Alex has been murdered. At least we now know Penelope will be playing a much bigger role on Lost in seasons to come, which is great because it means Desmond’s story is far from over.

One last note, considering how absent Claire has been all season combined with the fact we know Aaron makes it off the island, is there any question Claire bites the big one tomorrow night? I really hope this doesn’t happen considering how underutilized Emilie de Ravin has been all season, but whenever a character’s storyline seems to have run its course that character is typically killed off relatively soon after.

I’m hoping this is just a ploy to keep us guessing who will be killed off next though, because I had read a few months back that there were big things in store for Ms. Littleton and we’ve barely seen her at all this season. In fact, I think her baby Aaron has been getting twice the amount of screen time she has and he can’t even talk. All should be revealed tomorrow night at 10/9 central, that is if you believe the promos ABC has been running constantly all week long.

The Flash / Barry Allen Returns From The Dead Today After 23 Years

Today the NY Daily News is reporting that “DC Comics is reviving Barry Allen – aka The Flash – the popular superhero killed off by the publisher 23 years ago.” (link) The Flash’s resurrection is part of a new company wide crossover that begins today called Final Crisis and occurs in the final pages of DC Universe #0, which hits stands today.

The Blot honestly never thought I’d be typing those words. You see Barry Allen, DC Comics’ second Flash, sacrificed himself back in 1986 to save the world in one of comics’ most famous issues, Crisis on Infinite Earths #8. Crisis on Infinite Earths, to this day, is one of the most popular, earth shattering comic book mini-series of all time and the death of the Silver Age Flash is one of the reasons for that. What many people don’t realize is DC has had multiple Flashes. The first Flash of the Golden Age is Jay Garrick. Many years later DC introduced Barry Allen as a new Flash, which ushered in the Silver Age of super hero comics and really revitalized super hero comics in America.

After Allen’s death in 1986 his sidekick and nephew Wally West/Kid Flash stepped up and took over his mentor’s role as the Flash. While Barry Allen has made a few appearances over the years in stories where characters have jumped in time, his death has been one of the very, very few to have ever stuck in comics. It seemed like the highest honor the company could pay Allen’s sacrifice by allowing his death to stand for all these years.

To me it’s a shocking move for DC because the character has been deceased ever since I started reading comics. As a comic reader in his late 20’s the only way I’ve come to know of the character is posthumously and the only modern day Flash I’ve ever followed has been Wally West, one of my favorite comic characters. Hearing this news really brings me concern, both for the future of Wally West as the Flash and what the impact this resurrection will have on the character of Barry Allen.

Thankfully the writing of the return of Allen’s Flash is being handled by Grant Morrison (writer of Final Crisis) and Geoff Johns (writer of The Flash), two comic book writers whose works I really enjoy and admire. Johns told the Daily News “when the greatest evil comes back to the DC Universe, the greatest hero needed to return. Without Barry Allen, we’d still be reading comic books about cowboys.” (link) Morrison added that the Flash is “the God of the modern world, people are doing more everyday, moving faster and I think the Flash can be their hero.” (link) As with life things can change in the blink of an eye, only time will tell if Barry Allen’s return is for good or just another publicity stunt to increase readership in a new title…either way it’ll be nice to see one the DC Universe’s central characters running the streets again.

24 Season 7 Cast Photo

Even though we’re still eight months away from the Season 7 premiere of 24, FOX doesn’t want us to forget about Jack Bauer and his co-workers at CTU. To start building hype for next season FOX unveiled a puzzling cast photo which gives away a major spoiler for the season to come. This is the second time they’ve given away this particular spoiler, the first being in a press release before they started filming the seventh season. So, in a roundabout way I guess the 24 Season 7 cast photo really isn’t a spoiler.

But nonetheless I don’t really understand why they chose to blatantly give away this plot point again in the photo. If you hate spoilers then ignore the photo below, but if you love 24 and either already know the spoiler or just don’t care check out the photo below:


By now you should have noticed the return from the dead of CTU agent and Jack Bauer’s best friend, Tony Almeida (actor Carlos Bernard). They’ve been talking about this for a while now, and supposedly the original plan was for Tony to return last season as the show’s main villain. But instead the creators of 24 have decided to announce to the world Tony’s return for next season as one of the main adversaries for Kiefer Sutherland’s Jack Bauer.

Tony has always been my second favorite character on 24 (after Jack), and I was pretty annoyed with the show when they decided to kill him off. So in some small way I’m glad he is returning from the dead, even if he is going to be portrayed as a bad guy. What puzzles me is why bring him back at all? The show has always had a strict rule of "when a character dies on the show they are dead for good" and this flies directly in the face of that. I just think bringing Tony back sets a bad precedent and lessens the impact future deaths on the show will have on the television audience. Plus, if you’re going to bring Tony back why put him in direct conflict with Jack? Doesn’t that just mean he’ll probably end up dying all over again?

24 has had a good mixture of meaningful character deaths, but they went a little haywire with this last season by killing off a bunch of characters that the audience never had a connection with. Because 24 has always chosen to kill off main cast members the show seemed to be running on fumes last year and it made it hard for the audience to connect with the new cast. Hopefully Tony’s rise from the grave will mean a return to form for 24 and good things in the season to come.

Jimmy Buffett Live in Frisco, TX at Pizza Hut Park on 04/26/08

After my meeting in Waco on Friday, The Blot headed north to Dallas in order to partake in one of the best pre-concert tailgates in all of music. I might be a tad biased though since The Blot is a bit of a parrot-head. While Jimmy Buffett is an amazing song writer, it’s his concerts that most fans rave about. I know a lot of people think he’s a two song artist, but I think most people would be surprised with how many Buffett songs they actually know if they gave him a listen. He’s definitely one of those artists where you might not know it’s him, but you definitely know his songs.


So last Saturday night Aly and I drove way north of Dallas to Frisco, Texas to see Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band perform at Pizza Hut Park (home of the local Major League Soccer franchise FC Dallas). This was only my second Jimmy Buffett concert, but after listening to his music for years and finally seeing him perform last year in Houston at Minute Maid Park, I wanted to relive the experience all over again.

If you’ve never seen Buffett live you really need to attend one of his shows at least once in your life, even if you generally don’t like concerts. The tailgating and pre-partying starts early in the morning with food, drinking and your basic debauchery going on all day leading up to the show that night. With everyone in their craziest hats, finest Hawaiian shirts, grass skirts and coconut bras, the scene inside the stadium is often as wild as the tailgate outside.


With hundreds of beach balls flying through the air at Pizza Hut Park and more beer and margaritas being sold at a concert than I can ever remember, the crowd was definitely into the show. At some points the show around me was even more entertaining than what was happening on stage, but that’s what's to be expected at a Buffett show. Its not just about the music, but the experience and the party.


While Buffett’s voice is not as strong as it once was, he is just as much of a showman as ever, at one point even pulling Texas native Lance Armstrong on stage. Jimmy, as always, played his most popular songs and closed the night with three strong covers, including one of my personal favorites “Rainy Day Women #12 and 35” by Bob Dylan. The only thing I can complain about is that after two and a half hours of performing, the show seemed to have ended way too early. I guess I’ll have to wait until Buffett’s next visit to Texas for a return trip to Margaritaville.

Jimmy Buffett
2008 Year of Still Here Tour
April 26, 2008 - Set List
Frisco, TX - Pizza Hut Park
01. Homemade Music
02. The Tiki Bar Is Open
03. Fruitcakes
04. Pencil Thin Mustache
05. Miss You So Badly
06. It's Five O'Clock Somewhere with Mac McAnally
07. We're Still Here
08. Cowboy in the Jungle
09. Brown Eyed Girl (Van Morrison cover)
10. Cheeseburger in Paradise
11. One Particular Harbour
12. Creola (performed by Nadirah)
13. The City (performed by Mac McAnally)
14. Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw
15. Come Monday
16. Makin' Music for Money (performed by Nadirah)
17. Piece Of Work18. Volcano
19. Son of a Son of a Sailor
20. Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
21. School Boy Heart
22. A Pirate Looks at Forty
23. Far Side of the World
24. Southern Cross (Crosby, Still & Nash cover)
25. Margaritaville
First Encore:
26. Fins
27. Rainy Day Women #12 and 35 (Bob Dylan cover)
28. Another Saturday Night (Sam Cooke cover)
Second Encore:
29. Stories We Could Tell (John Sebastian cover)

Barney-ism Of The Week

In my experience the way this normally goes is we lie here for a while, make a little awkward chit-chat.

“Check.” - Robin

Then I make up some cabinet meeting, heart surgery, rocket test flight I’ve got to be at, slip out of the apartment
and never call you again.

“And later at the bar you tell your good friend Robin the story of your latest conquest and she thinks to herself who is this sad, self-loathing idiot who climbed into bed with Barney Stinson.” - Robin

Actually, you usually say that out loud.

- Barney Stinson
To Robin After
Sleeping Together

"The Goat"

How I Met Your Mother

I know, I should have gone with Barney’s Bro Code, but I thought this situation/discussion was too funny to ignore. If you want to find out more about The Bro Code check out Barney’s latest blog post here where he goes into great depth about key Articles of The Bro Code.


On a side note, USAToday is reporting that Britney Spears’ return to How I Met Your Mother is official. (link) Britney “will reprise her role as bubbly secretary Abby in the May 12 episode” and the episode sees Abby collaborating with Barney on “their mutual dislike of Ted and acting on it.” (link) I’m guessing from the episode’s description that the bro break-up between Barney and Ted at the end of last night’s episode will not be resolved as quickly as I would have thought. At least if they’re bringing Spears back it sounds like it’s to advance the story line and not just another celebrity sighting for a quick ratings boost.

The Dark Knight Character Promo Posters

I don’t know why this is, but I always seem to post on certain topics in bunches. After posting on the new “Welcome To A World Without Rules” Batman poster yesterday, I stumbled upon these great new The Dark Knight character promotional posters and a UK promo poster of Batman on his new Batpod.


The new three piece poster set features headshots of Heath Ledger as The Joker, Christian Bale as Batman and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent, with all three characters holding something up in their right hands covering the right side of their faces. I am assuming the symbolism of the covering of the right side of the characters’ faces foreshadows Harvey Dent’s eventual turn to the dark side as the enigmatic Two-Face.



I’ve been keeping my eyes open for leaked photos of Eckhart as the disfigured villain Two-Face, but the only photos I’ve found has been Eckhart as Gotham City’s mild mannered District Attorney. I don’t know how they’ve kept the Two-Face scene so top secret, but hopefully their hard work will pay off big time when the movie is finally released to theaters.