Weekend Forecast

I've never had a TV show get rained out before.

I've seriously only been waiting for the return of one show all summer, and wouldn't you know that three minutes into the season premiere of "The Office", it started storming outside and knocked out our satellite TV for most of the hour.

Don't worry, the storm was over by the time the show had ended at 10 PM.

Unbelievable.

Needless to say, I haven't gotten to see the whole premiere yet; so there's obviously no recap today (I'm going to try to find it as soon as possible at Hulu.com).

Instead, I will leave you will a couple entertainment nuggets for the weekend:

- Be sure to check out Jesse's DVD review of the George Clooney football movie "Leatherheads". If it's going to be nasty outside where you are this weekend and you have nothing else to do, we BOTH highly recommend picking that one up to watch.

- If you do get out of the house and want to see a movie in the theaters, I would venture to say that "Eagle Eye" or "Nights in Rodanthe" are probably your best bets (obviously depending on what you're looking for). I'm going to save "Eagle Eye" for the Bargain Theater (BT) and I'm sure I will have to see "Rodanthe" at some point. I really do want to see "Miracle at St. Anna" but that feels like a Redbox rental to me.

- It's another big college football weekend as well (How does USC blow the doors off Ohio St. and then lose to Oregon State? Haha!). I've been looking forward to #8 Alabama vs. #3 Georgia ever since the Tide rolled all over Clemson in week one (Julio Jones is my latest unashamed man crush - he would be the Eagles' best receiver RIGHT NOW). Other games of note include #24 TCU vs. #2 Oklahoma and #22 Illinois vs. #12 Penn St.

- And it's a REALLY big final weekend in baseball as the pennant race come down to the wire. The Twins and White Sox are still fighting it out for the last spot in the AL playoffs and you know I will be glued to the TV this weekend as the Phillies, Mets, and Brewers are all within one game of each other and only two can get in on the NL side (Phils are up one game over the Mets for the East crown and the Mets and Brewers are currently tied for the Wild Card). If all three teams are tied on the last day of the season, I officially propose a round-robin, softball style two game tournament in Cincinnati on Monday. The Phillies and Mets would play first for the NL East title and then the loser would play the Brewers right after for the Wild Card. That would honestly be the greatest day of baseball in my entire life. I would take off from work for the entire day.

- And finally, I received the following email from local entertainment reporter Eric Feber last week in response to my generic music preview:

"Actually, I wanted to post the observation (ONLY my warped opinion,mind) that just about all those 'anticipated discs' are quite lame. They mostly seem like 'product' with the sole purpose of moving as many copies as possible. With the exception of TV On the Radio and, maybe Bloc Party, I wonder: where's the risk-taking? Where's the shear creativity? Where's the slavish dedication to perfection? Where's the adherence to classic and/or vintage styles laid down by past masters? Where's the music that challenges, confounds and surprises? Where's the excitement, you know, the kind of music that lured most of us in? New and recent discs that stir my fanatic music passions include: Brian Wilson's 'That Lucky Old Sun,' the debut by Fleet Foxes, Dr. Dog's 'Fate,' Paul Weller's '22 Stories,' Take 6's 'The Standard,' Southside Johnny's 'Grapefruit Moon', Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog, Aterciopelades' 'Rio,' Broadfield Marchers' 'The Inevitable Continuing,' The Parties' 'Can't Come Down,' Stereolab's 'Chemical Chords,' etc., etc."

Thank you Eric! This is why I'm so glad I know so many people that are so much more immersed in the music culture than me.

Have a great and safe weekend!

- Josh Mahler