Pop Culture is speeding at us at virtually all times! Cable, WiFi, iPods, iPhones, Digital HDTV, DSL and even dial-up, the slow gray hair in the fast lane! popslant  is here to wade through some of the muck and mire of this culture to find choice nuggets worthy of consideration. Reviews, previews, old views and new views are to be included in a fine bill of fare from popslant !

The first thing I noticed about this week's American Idol performance show was the horrible sound production. The music was buried and the vocals were pushed right to the front of the mix. Could what I thought at first was a mistake be a concerted effort by the producers of the show to change it back from being a popularity contest? The vocals were certainly front and center. It actually changed my opinion on the singing ability of the performers, as puppy dog David Archuleta actually was shown to be the best pure vocalist, even if he chooses sappy songs, looks like he belongs on the cover of Teen Beat, and is so syrupy that you just can't stand to hear him speak, let alone sing. I don't care for his voice, but I think last night, with the aforementioned sound production, he did show himself to be the best singer. The best singer left in the competition, that is.

I still would have preferred Carly Smithson. Her version of Jesus Christ Superstar was incredible. I think the producers were as shocked as the rest of us, and that really suggested that it was actually a popularity contest at that point. A less deserving, but more popular (for reasons probably other than his singing) contestant is still left, that being the dread-locked (or should we say dreadful?) Jason Castro. popslant  believes that he should be cut tonight, although he may still have some life in him because of his popularity. Syesha Mercado and David Cook both sounded pretty awful with the vocals featured so prominently in the mix. It could be anyone's game, but I say that whether he gets cut tonight or not, Jason Castro is the least talented of the four remaining contestants.

And so, the obvious has occurred. I don't even think Jason Castro was the slightest bit surprised as he was stopped from making the top 3 American Idol contestants. note: to the American Idol producers: When Bo Bice was talking about the David who was taking chances with the arrangements, he was not talking about David Archuleta, as your director seemed to think.

our call: popslant  picks David Archuleta to win, David Cook to take second, even though Cook is by far the better performer, if not the best singer.

The phrase "thrown under the bus," has been bandied about quite a bit lately, but it's usually in conjunction with the Reverend Wright controversy. How refreshing to see that celebrities throw people under the bus too! Barabra Walters is a current example, as she details an explicit affair with retired Congressman Edward Brooke.

Once regarded as a icon of class, Barbara Walters has done a pretty unclassy thing in shaming Brooke and his family just to sell a few more books. Word is that Barbara wrote to Brooke informing him of the inclusion of their affair and he did not protest. It's still in pretty bad taste, considering the Congressman is retired and is currently married to his second wife. You know Barbara, some people think "once a cheater, always a cheater..." Brooke himself, when asked, refused to comment, stating that he does not talk about his or other people's private lives.

Of course, Barbara doesn't seem to see what the fuss is about. Could it be that she is so used to being the center of attention, she seems to forget that other people matter at all?

Bill Maher has picked his 15 "Biggest Dickheads of 2007," which he also freely interchanges with the word "Assholes." The sheer hypocrisy of someone like Bill Maher calling someone else an asshole is beyond comprehension. I guess it takes one to know one.

Bill Maher certainly could top his own list, for being a loud-mouthed, ill mannered shill for Libertarian (or should I say "libertine") talking points. And for booking a group of three liberals so they can harass one conservative. And for ending just about every debate with a smarmy "oh come on." And for the Steve Irwin Halloween costume - oh wait, that was 2006.

But most of all, for making a "Biggest Dickheads of 2007" list in the first place.

Springtime is here, Iron Man is in the theaters, but I'm already looking ahead to... Christmas? That's because that's when the Frank Miller version of the The Spirit hits theaters, and it is quite an anticipatory thing indeed.

For those of you who may not be familiar with The Spirit, let me just say that it was one of the most cerebral newspaper comic of its time. Created in 1940 by Will Eisner as the lead feature of a comic book insert to Sunday newspapers, the stories evolved from crime-fighter vs. criminal plot-lines to include such diverse themes as a momentary stoppage of time (A Time-Stop!), the tense environment of quiet sounds or the absence thereof (Quiet!) or detailed character studies of the psychosis of a criminal (The Meanest Man In The World). The artwork was executed in a dark and moody film-noir scheme uncommon in Sunday newspapers comics of the time and which suited the story-lines well.

popslant  believes that taking this character and adding the current film-noir innovation of Frank Miller should result in one of the best film releases of 2008.

Suspected child pornographer r.Kelly was in court today, asking for yet another delay in his upcoming trial. Thankfully, it was not granted.

How can this trial still have yet to take place afters 6 years of delays? Will this thing ever go to trial? Apparently so, as jury selection will resume on Monday. It's about time.

our call: While of course, r. Kelly should be presumed innocent until actually found guilty, based on evidence we know about, popslant  believes the final outcome should be a judgment of guilty.

Of course,
we could be wrong.

David Archuleta's father gets the boot! Jeff Archuleta lost his backstage privileges at the American Idol performance show, presumably for meddling too much... We had heard the buzz about this showbiz dad, and it looks like things have finally come to a head.

So now that its official, just what category of showbiz dad is he? Is he the Displaced Wannabe or the Surreal Proud Poppa? The Over-Involved Control Daddy or the Gold-digging Limelighter?

popslant  believes he may just be a Really Surreal Over-Involved Wannabe Gold-Digger.

Or something like that.

Syesha Mercado was eliminated from American Idol on Wednesday, as we predicted in an earlier post. While she was an interesting and sometimes sexy performer, she was uneven, sometimes sounding silky and smooth, and sometimes sounding like finger-nails on a chalk-board. Still, we have to give her props for her amazing performance when she lost her voice and still belted out "Chain Of Fools."

The god-awful "phone-in questions" segment was thankfully missing from the show. That particular segment was usually like a huge sucking sound for 7 minutes of the program. Of course, the show was not absent a huge sucking sound, thanks to a performance by Fantasia, the Chris Tucker of pop music.

So now it's down to the Davids. David Cook, the better than Daughtry but still not anywhere near as good as Carly Smithson rocker guy, and David Archuleta, the talented but really only 3/4 full puppy dog boy.

popslant  still picks David Archuleta to win and David Cook to take second, by virtue of the former's huge teeny girl fan base, and the extra Vote For The Worst votes he picks up.

American Idol wraps up tonight, and it's down to the two Davids.
popslant  has predicted a David Archuleta victory, and we still do, although it could easily be David Cook. The winner is definitely a David.

The Tuesday performance goes to David Archuleta, who tried harder and worked it a bit more than the far more interesting David Cook. Neither of them are the best contestants we've seen this season, but they are the only ones left.

Missed: Carly Smithson, Kristy Lee Cook.

The winner was actually David Cook in a stunning upset to puppy dog David Archuleta. It was pretty much a toss-up anyway, but here at popslant  we thought Archuleta had it locked, even though Cook is by far the more engaging performer.

By choosing Cook, America shows it has some semblance of dignity after passing over the most talented of all, curvy diva Carly Smithson. Smithson showed once again that she was the best singer in the competition during her performances on Wednesday night's show. Her version of "Jesus Christ Superstar" a few weeks back, was the best performance of the season. Ironically, that was the performance that got her cut from the show. Maybe American pop culture has a problem with Christianity? Or maybe some just don't want to be reminded....

The final show was a taste of what fans are going to get on the summer tour. All top 10 performers were there, some we've missed, such as Smithson and the beautiful Kristy Lee Cook, and others we were happy to see left behind, such as Jason Castro and David Hernandez. And those who fall somewhere in between, such as Chikeze, or of course, this guy:

Note to Jordan Sparks: Your song was awful, horrible, complete and utter total dreck. That style of singing, which we here at popslant  like to call double trochaic sucktameter is overdue for a quick merciful death. Besides the fact that such vocal histrionics generally sound rhythmically clumsy, the whole singing genre is overdone, overused and does not impress.

Note to Carrie Underwood: Keep up the good work. You've become sort of the Alanis Morrisette of country music, and it works. You're our favorite American Idol winner.

Of course, Carly Smithson is our favorite Amercian Idol who didn't win.

Heavy Metal magazine, a favorite in the late seventies and early eighties, is still publishing and still features some of the best comic art out there! I hadn't read Heavy Metal since the eighties, when I thought they began to decline somewhat, so out of curiosity, I picked up the latest issue.

The stories were fresh and enjoyable, and the artwork top-notch. One thing that is not missed is the preponderance of serialized stories, one of the things that made early Heavy Metal mags a bit of a drag. Almost every story was part of a serial. Not quite so anymore, and a welcome change.

Missed are some of the classic Heavy Metal artists such as Moebius, Phillippe Druillet, and Philippe Caza. Boris Vallejo has artwork in it though, and Richard Corben was seen in some recent issues. Oh well, the Moebius' of tomorrow have to come from somewhere, don't they?

Another element missing would be cover art that does not feature a pin-up girl on every single issue. I like to look at the ladies as much as anyone else, but early issues had covers featuring all sorts of subjects, in addition to the occasional voluptuous sexpot. Viewing the covers for the recent issues made me think I was looking through nudie mags rather than comic books. The last issue not to feature a pin-up girl was 10 years ago.

August 1978	March 1979	November 1998
Artwork by a classic early HM artist Philippe "Caza" Cazamayou. Globular!	Here's one for the gearheads! "S*M*A*S*H" by Angus McKie features a crazy tank battle!	This cover by Zook is the last HM cover to feature something other than a pin-up girl.

We love Photoshopped images, and one of the best places to see some good Photoshops is at Pixeloo.Blogpsot.com. Pixeloo has some great "Untooned" cartoon characters featuring some great work. The creepiest is the realistic version of Homer Simpson, but we were drawn to the Jessica Rabbit image for some reason...

Visit Pixeloo to see more!