This new video examines movies that were meant to launch big-budget franchises but failed. Movies like Battle: Los Angeles (2011), Super Mario Bros. (1993), and John Carter (2012) (which I thought was not that bad), are among those that made the list.
Some of these movies ended in a way designed to lead to a second film that — fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint — never came. Check it out.
What is your favorite failed movie franchise? Leave your two cents in the comments.
One of my favorite songs by Merle Haggard is “Kern River.” The song has one of the greatest lines ever written, “I may drown in still waters but I’ll never swim Kern River again.” The line tells you everything you need to know about the song about longing, sadness, loss, and memory.
Haggard wrote “Kern River” and released the song in 1985 as the title track of the album Kern River. The song was not a number one hit, but it went up to number 10 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. Haggard performs his classic below on Ralph Emery’s show as Porter Wagoner looks on, noting that Haggard “is a dangerous man with a song.” Check it out.
Wagoner is not the only fan of the song. Rolling Stone lists “Kern River” among the essential Merle Haggard songs. Allmusic claims “Kern River” is “one of Merle’s best latter-day songs.”
Other notable artists have praised “Kern River.” Bob Dylan loves the song, noting the song “is a beautiful lament, but let’s not forget it’s about his girlfriend dying.” Emmylou Harris has claimed that “Kern River” is her favorite Merle Haggard song, and she has recorded her own version of it. Check out her version with images of the real Kern River.
The real Kern River flows around 165 miles through California, draining around the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfield, a town often associated with Haggard for “the Bakersfield sound.” Also, Haggard grew up near Kern River, later building a mansion on the river. The Lake Shasta mentioned in the song is a real place too. Haggard owned a cabin on the still waters of the lake.
As you are watching the March Madness NCAA basketball games, you might think back to watching the games a long time ago and how the shoes have changed over the years. If so, Sean Williams will take you through that history in a short video from Slate.
In the video Williams briefly recounts the evolution from the Chuck Taylor shoes to the shoes of today. If you have been around awhile, you will remember a lot of these shoes. Check it out.
Singer-songwriter Whitey Morgan has released a video of his cover of the Townes Van Zandt classic, “Waitin’ Round to Die.” The song is from Morgan’s upcoming album Sonic Ranch.
While Van Zandt’s original version of the song sounds like a sad lament, Morgan takes the song up a notch in both volume and tempo, grounding the sadness in anger and a touch of defiance. I like the Outlaw country take on a song I already loved, making Morgan’s “Waitin’ Round to Die” one of the best covers I have heard in a long time. Check it out.
Morgan and his band the 78’s previously released Honky Tonks and Cheap Motels (2008) and Whitey Morgan and the 78’s (2010). And, in 2014, Morgan released Grandpa’s Guitar. The Flint, Michigan honky-tonk singer (whose real name is Eric David Allen) releases Sonic Ranch on May 19, 2015.
What is your favorite cover of a Townes Van Zandt song that is not “Pancho and Lefty”? Leave your two cents in the comments?
For those of us who are not satisfied with three random trailers for the upcoming Avengers: Age Of Ultron, JohnnyB2K created a mashup of the three trailers. And it is not just three trailers thrown together. He put the scenes together in apparent chronological order, giving the viewer a bit more of the storyline.
So, if you are interested in the short film version of the sequel to The Avengers (2012), check out the mega-trailer below.
Avengers: Age of Ultron is scheduled to be released in the U.S. on May 1, 2015.
What do you think of the trailer mashup for Avengers: Age of Ultron? Leave your two cents in the comments.
. The Flint, Michigan honky-tonk singer (whose real name is 