Welcome to the working week Popsters, “I know it don’t thrill you, I hope it don’t kill you….”

Take heart, Spring is in the air, not to mention the baseballs!

Ah yes, it is the season of rebirth, an awakening after all of those short days and early sunsets. The inviting Spring air is filled with romantic potential, late night breezes filled with the sweet smells of orange blossoms and lilacs in full bloom and….honestly, it’s all enough to make you sneeze uncontrollably until your burning eyes pop straight out of your head. Yes, like the other three seasons, Spring is a mixed bag and in the end will only ever be what you choose to make it.

And with that, it’s time once again for all the news that’s fit to POP for this week!

• Walking Dead Mad Men

The Walking Dead has ended it’s season and Mad Men has finally returned after a very, very long hiatus but this bit of brilliance asks the question; what if we simply combined the two? Seriously, this is hilarious, check it out!

*

• Ethan Coen’s The Day the World Ends

Writer Ethan Coen is best known for his work as one half of the widely successful cinematic team, The Coen Brothers, responsible for some of the best films of the last two decades including but not limited to; Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo, No Country For Old Men and, most recently, True Grit. In his off time Ethan is a fairly prolific author of stage plays, short stories and some wickedly bizarre poetry.

Last week Coen released the hilarious, (and slightly disturbing) collection of poems titled, The Day the World Ends. This collection is NOT for the faint of heart, if you take life, and poetry, too seriously, this book isn’t for you. If, however, you appreciate the absurdity of our world, and aren’t too disturbed by humor focused largely on the taboo subjects of incest, sexual perversion and bestiality, you will enjoy this laugh out loud assortment of odd prose.

Coen’s latest collection is what I imagine e.e. Cummings might have sounded like as a teenager caught in the throws of a confusing puberty or Charles Bukowski passing dirty notes in high school. It’s true, these new poems of Coen’s are brilliantly immature and, more often than not, a lot of fun. That being said, there are times when Coen seems like he may be trying a bit too hard to shock or surprise and the frequency that he references sex with animals is funny at first and then, after a few too many, becomes more than a little disturbing.

Animal fucking aside, the title poem, The Day The World Ends, is a hilarious gem that opens with the line, “The day the world ends there will be the sound of a long whining fart and everyone on the street will stop and look at each other as if to say, what the hell is that?” I don’t know about you but, anyone who writes a poem predicting that the end of civilization will include a “long, whining fart” is O.K. in my book.

I’m including two of my favorites for you from the collection today. The first is one of the more thoughtful and mature, the second….well, it’s damn funny, (and really sick), enjoy!

Regrets

;

Uh-huh, I loved you once, it’s true,

And acted like the man that I believed you’d be attracted by-

And I myself believed the lie.

How hard, though, being someone new!

If I’m not him, I guess we’re through.

I’m me again- it’s sad, it’s true.

I loved you once, and that’s a fact.

Was it a sin to try and make

A better me for your love’s sake?

A Dream we weave- but then we wake.

Prince cramps me up; alas, I lack the limberness to not change back

to a frog again- and that’s a fact.

What can I say, what can I do?

It turns out I cannot be who

We both can live with, me and you.

The better me was not quite true;

The truer me can’t stand to stay;

You wouldn’t like him anyway.

What can I do, what can I say?

Limericks

;

When their pug began humping his leg

Uncle Vern shook his head at Aunt Peg:

“Can’t deny that I’ve snuck her the odd little fuck,

but we can’t have her starting to beg.”

• Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope

♦ ♦ ♦ out of 5

I feel like I’ve been waiting FOREVER for this film to come out and, this past Friday, it finally did, both On Demand and also at a theater near you.

So, my verdict? It’s pretty damn good. Of course, you would be hard pressed to make a bad documentary at the San Diego Comic-Con, all one need do is point the camera in any direction and start shooting, the rest will take care of itself.

One of the reasons I was so anxious to see this doc is that I was actually in attendance at the 2010 Comic-Con and, on more than one occasion, watched as director Morgan Spurlock raced across the convention room floor to catch a particular moment or event.

Just for fun today I thought I would include some never before seen film we shot at Comic Con 2010. It’s basically just some raw stuff recorded by my filmmaking partner Robert Sucato on 7/24/2010 for the “Life in a Day” film project. The footage was shot on a Canon 5D (1080 24p) and an iPhone 4 (1200×1600 24p) for the time lapse. All high definition.

It’s kind of a nice day in the life overview, beginning at the hotel and continuing on to the end of the day. The two questions I’m asked at the end are; “What do you love?” and “What scares you?” Keep an eye out for some major celebrity cameos as well! Enjoy!

*

• The April New Music PopCast

The Pop Bitez PopCast began in December of 2010 and in that time I’m proud to say we have been rocking some pretty excellent tunes! It’s been a lot of fun and I’m very thankful to have so many of you tuning in!

As far as introducing you to the new stuff, more often than not, you’ve heard a lot of big hits here first! If you’ll allow me to gloat a bit, in our PopCast dated 8/26/2011 we featured a new song from Gotye called “Somebody That I Used To Know“. A full 8 months later the tune is currently ranked at number 1 on Billboard’s Rock Charts and is also one of the most covered tunes in the last six months by indie artists on youtube. You’ll also be hearing the song on Saturday Night Live this coming weekend when Gotye takes the highly coveted musical guest spot. Pop Bitez listeners also will remember they heard “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People a full six months before most everyone else did in the United States. So, what’s my point? My point is, we know a great tune when we hear it and WE ROCK! If you haven’t subscribed to the bi-weekly PopCast on iTunes yet, now would be a perfect time!

This week we’ve got some great new stuff from The Shins, The All American Rejects, Norah Jones and Dr. John (to name but a few), so, what are you waiting for? Start rockin’!

(on a side note, after listening to this week’s PopCast I have decided to do my best to abandon the word “groovy” once and for all. I’ve been trying to bring it back but these days I just sound like an old, dumb hippie…and I really hate old, dumb hippies.)

• Zombie Ass

If ever there was a culture designed to inspire deep feelings of profound xenophobia it’s Japan. It’s true, not only do I not understand them, they often scare the shit out of me. There I said it. Here’s a new trailer for their latest export, (where’s Godzilla when you REALLY need him?)

*

* This coming weekend I’m going to be seeing Oscar winner Kevin Kline on Saturday night and Squeeze, (one of my all time fav brit bands), on Sunday! I can’t wait! I’ll be sure to tell you all about it next monday! Until then, Cry when you need to, laugh when you can and if you see the devil hitching for a ride don’t bother picking him up, (cuz he’s always gonna wanna drive!) On a personal note; hang in there Lisa Robin, it’s darkest before the dawn and tomorrow is another day to make it right!

Until next time Popsters, Cheers!- Scott

scott@popbitezinternational.com