Jim Shorts NCAA Friday afternoon and night picks. Suckies, here you go, my picks, you win big, that’s good. Hear the Friday Podcast with Kevin Matthews beginning tonight at 5pm/CST here on Dahl Dot Com, tell your friends, big show, hear Blogo’s new cell mate, more NCAA news with me, Jim Shorts, Sports Director at [...]
Over the weekend I saw Haywire, one of the breeziest, most efficient, jam-packed action-spy movies I’ve ever seen. Steven Soderbergh conceived of the concept for the movie after seeing MMA fighter and lead Gina Carano in action during a match. Also, Gina Carano has large breasts. Ed Silha took me to task for not mentioning [...]
J.J. Abrams’ latest mind-bending sci-fi TV show, Alcatraz, premiered this week on Fox. It’s another show about a mysterious island and it also features Jorge Garcia basically playing the same character he played on Lost; that of the jovial, comic book-loving, viewer’s surrogate. Of course since it’s J.J. Abrams it will no doubt have a [...]
At the outset I have to say that this is by no means did I take a complete and thorough look at all of the movies of 2011. I usually see a ton of movies every year but I never make it to all of them. This year however I really feel like I didn’t [...]
I watch a lot of TV as it turns out. Because of that I had to make a comedy and drama list and also have honorable mentions. So here’s my list in order from 1-10. I’m hoping to have a movie list sometime next week after I see a bunch of movies that I’ve neglected. [...]
FX recently debuted its newest series, American Horror Story, just in time for Halloween. I can’t say that I really know what to make of it but I’m really shocked at some of the reviews of the show. USA Today said “when a show is this far off the rails in its opening episode, it’s [...]
Normally I don’t go in for CBS’ brand of police procedurals but the new show from Jonathan Nolan (writer of The Dark Knight) and J.J. Abrams (producer of some of my favorite recent TV shows) has pulled me in completely. Person of Interest also features Michael Emerson, most well-known for playing the enigmatic Ben on [...]
A new TV season is finally upon us. For an unabashed entertainment junkie such as myself this is like Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus. What shows will the networks try to pass off as just like some other, more popular show hoping we won’t notice? What show will I become more and more engrossed in every week at the [...]
Let me paint a picture for you. The year is 1989. After four years of wondering if Back to the Future would really be continued, a sequel was finally released. A young Jim Kid, in his pre-Jimmy’s Jams days was wowed by a vision of the future that included flying cars, huge flat panel TVs [...]
Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion is fucking terrifying. There’s no other way to put it. It’s a terrifying depiction of a global epidemic that kills millions. It’s also brilliantly made and possibly my favorite movie of the year so far (non-Summer blockbuster group). It pulled me in so much that every cough I heard in the theater [...]
Probably my favorite line from Miller’s Crossing, the underrated Coen Brothers classic that was just released on Blu-ray this week. The line, uttered by Gabriel Byrne’s Tom Reagan, is just one of the many great lines of dialogue in this swift, punchy tale of an unnamed Prohibition-era American city. I’m not just saying this to [...]
BBC’s The Hour premiered last Wednesday night on BBC America, which I’m pretty sure is available on most cable services. Most of the actors aren’t too recognizable unless you’re an Anglophile, although The Wire’s Dominic West appears as a “presenter”, which is what they call TV anchors in Britain. The show revolves around the launch [...]
Carlos Zambrano announced he was “retiring” Friday night after a horrendous outing in Atlanta. As a Cubs fan I couldn’t be happier. I’ve never heard of something like this and apparently neither has third basemen/fragrance magnate Aramis Ramirez. I was never in favor of trading Z, mainly because the Cubs would have to eat most [...]
Last night I attended the very emotional unveiling of the Ron Santo statue. I was hoping for a heal click pose but the pose of him throwing from third base is pretty awesome too. The likeness is pretty startling and I also enjoy the parts of the statue that are “in color” for lack of [...]
Last week had the Nerd Community all atwitter over not one but two official studio photos from upcoming superhero movies. First Warner Brothers released a photo of Henry Cavill as the Man of Steel from The Man of Steel, which currently has our fair city of Chicago doubling as Metropolis. [...]
Hey pizza lovers and baking enthusiasts! Just in time for Pizza Night in America I’ve made some revisions to my previous pizza dough and sauce recipe, which follows. Sauce 1 tbsp olive oil 2-3 cloves minced garlic (depending on preference) 1 large can (32 oz) of tomato puree or crushed tomatoes 2 ½ tsp dried [...]
I’m sorry Kevin Pang, but you’re wrong. With all due respect to the Tribune’s fine food writer, ketchup has no place on a hot dog. Certainly I am no friend to ketchup, that treacly seasoning that is only above mayonnaise on the Scale of Useless Condiments, but it has its place. Fries and BBQ sauces [...]
I’m not usually in the habit of recommending shows about teenage girls or anything on MTV other than reruns of Beavis & Butthead (which is coincidentally returning with new episodes in October) but I recently came across a show called Awkward. The full title of the show is Awkward. with the period at the end, [...]
For my blog on the new Dahl.com I’ll be recommending TV shows, movies and restaurants and occasionally just ranting about a local sports team that has drawn my ire. For the TV recommendations I will be employing a new ratings system courtesy of the DahlCast’s own Stephanie Fallara. The Goblin Rating system is by no [...]
FX’s Justified ended its second season a few months ago and then racked up several Emmy nominations in key categories. You can get watch season one on DVD, Amazon Video, iTunes or other channels that we can’t legally recommend. Season two will be on DVD shortly and is also on Amazon Video and iTunes. If [...]
Outsourced is one of the worst sitcoms I have seen in my 30 years of watching TV. There have been some bad ones, particularly during the family-oriented sitcom era of the 80s, or the heady 90s when every hack comedian got his or her own starring vehicle. The first decade of this century brought what [...]
Happy 2011! We have made it through the first decade of the 21st Century. By this time next year my CBS contract will have expired and I will either be on the radio, satellite, or possibly just streaming. No matter what I do, I promise that we will always make a podcast available to you. [...]
From the desk of Pete: Summer is normally the time when people leave their houses to enjoy lovely beaches, wonderful parks, good baseball teams (South Side), and bad baseball teams (North Side). I, on the other hand, am an avid indoorsman and still rely on TV to entertain me during these dog days. Unforunately, with the glut of reality [...]
Steve is upset with this Conan O’Brien thing. At the beginning of his live concert he has a video of a dog licking peanut butter off his feet. That’s something Steve did 25 years ago at Teenage Radiation concerts. Steve is clearly being ripped off by Conan and his writers. They ripped off Gay Lincoln [...]
Finally! RT @Chicagoist: The Illinois Senate approved legisltion that would approve mini horses as service animals. http://t.co/DTilcTsN Today's @jamesvanosdol show features @Candlebox talking about their roots, their new album & how much #KISS kicks ass. http://t.co/VpHaZ3mY Watching @Timcast's video via @Chicagoist of the Bridgeport protest made for good laughs on today's show, at the expense of the #Protestors