Tonight, Current is kicking off a brand-new season of SuperNews! at 11/10c. This season will include the return of fan favorites including technology obsessed office workers Craig and Darren, the beleaguered Obama administration, the self-obsessed hipsters and continued scathing satires of today’s political, pop-culture, and infamous figures.
But that’s not all. The Thursday Night Block Party kicks off at 10/9c with a brand-new infoMania. This week, Sarah Haskins takes a look at home security in Target Women, so tune in to see her and the rest of the infoMania crew’s take on the week in news and entertainment. Missed an episode? Check out previous infoMania episodes on Current.com.
Then att 10:30/9:30c, tune in for a new episode of The Rotten Tomatoes Show. This week Brett and Ellen take on “Precious,” “The Men Who Stare At Goats” and “A Christmas Carol.” Watch previous episodes or leave a webcam with your review at The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current.com.
Finally, at 11/10c, the new season of SuperNews! premieres. Check out a sneak peek, or get a SuperNews primer on the SuperNews page.
Monday is here, and while I typically bemoan the end of a weekend, this particular Monday arrives bearing gifts in the form of Current praise from none other than Lo-fi legend Lou Barlow.
This is Lou Barlow, one of the founding members of Dinosaur Jr., we’re talking about here. He’s responsible for Sebadoh, and The Folk Implosion! Amazing. In the post, Lou shares his experience discovering Current along with some very insightful feedback on our programming — ranging from infoMania, Vanguard, and SuperNews! Getting into Current wasn’t exactly a cakewalk for Lou, and I think his recount of the journey to eventually place us on his list of good things is a telling document.
Here’s some of what he had to say:
So, now I’m hooked. I don’t mind the time bar, and the music content is way indie: Animal Collective during the hourly what’s-hot-on-the-web stats, a best-of Take-Away Show (the French web series that captures all our favorite precocious indie stars emoting in public places), a Death Cab For Cutie documentary, etc.
Based on Lou’s interest in our music programming, I wonder if he’s had a chance to check out some of the sneak peeks of Embedded — our six part music special premiering Wednesday October 14th 11/10c. The show covers a wide range of artists, including Mos Def, Silversun Pickups, Ben Harper, Common, Thievery Corporation, and The Decemberists to name a few. To name a few more, you’ll also catch glimpses of K’Naan, Arcade Fire, Lykke Li, Bloc Party, Amanda Palmer, Delta Spirit, Passion Pit, and Bon Iver to boot.
This is just a taste, so please take the time to read his full write-up over on Magnet. If you’re so inclined, do yourself a favor an check out the re-united (and touring) original members of Dinosaur Jr. If you happen to catch them on tour, say hello to Lou for us and deliver this message on our behalf:
Lou, Current is honored to be listed as one of “Lou Barlow’s Good Things.” Thanks for the awesome feedback.
Do you have a “How I discovered Current?” story to share? Post us a comment on this post, over here, or just submit a story to Current (Requires login via Current or Facebook Connect) and tag it “How I Discovered Current.”
It’s been a while since we’ve made a significant update to our TV Schedule on Current.com. Our previous version of the schedule focused on what is airing right now. We collected feedback and are proud to present the latest version of the Current TV Schedule.
The list view let’s you see what is on Current, one day at a time. When you land on the new schedule, the grid will automagically jump to what is on Current TV right now. In addition, you can scroll back to see what you missed, or jump ahead through the next six days to find out what is coming up.
There are still a few more things we plan to roll out in our next release (scheduled for Wednesday). Here’s the list:
Grid view: This will let you look at an entire week’s worth of Current TV scheduling in one go. For those of you who like to plan out your week, this will be the way to go.
List view time zones: We squashed a bug from the previous release that left out time zones on the list view. Those will make their triumphant return.
Homepage schedule: Our new schedule page is nice, but sometimes you’ll want to know what’s coming up on Current TV from the comfort of the Current.com homepage. With this new feature, that problem is solved.
Additionally, John finally screens Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist, the film that compelled Cannes audiences to collectively question, “Why?” Additionally, Von Trier went on record with this film, proclaim that “I am the best filmmaker in the world.” Check out John’s review here.
Leah spent some time chatting with Colin Beavan (you may know him as No Impact Man from his Twitter account, blog, and the trailer of his new movie), and discusses the dedication it takes for someone like No Impact Man to commit to a lifestyle change of this extreme magnitude. All in the name of “green.” It’s quite remarkable.
An added bonus this week, our friends in Vanguard are ramping up their blogging efforts, and to kick things off they’ve posted a couple gems for you to take a look at. First up, Vanguard correspondent Laura Ling shared her thoughts on Vanguard’s mission during a live event in Italy. As an added treat, the full broadcast of the Italy event is embedded on the post, so if you’ve ever wanted to hear Mariana van Zeller speak Italian, make sure to watch beyond the intro.
Speaking of Mariana, her piece “The Oxycontin Express” is going to be our season premiere for Vanguard on October 14th, and as an added bonus the team was invited to tape an episode of Dr. Phil and discuss both her documentary and the prevalence of prescription drugs. Darren posted some photos from the visit to Dr. Phil, so go check it out. The Dr. Phil episode with Mariana will air on the same day as our Vanguard season premiere, October 14th.
Here’s another Current TV host top favorite stories countdown. This time around we pulled together Vanguard correspondent Mariana van Zeller’s top 14 Current TV videos, and gathered them here, for your delight.
Mariana’s countdown is going to air today, at 6pm E / 3pm P on Current TV, so be sure to tune and join Mariana as she walks you through each story. What? You can’t make it tonight? Don’t worry, her countdown will re-air on Monday 9/21 at 1pm E / 10am P, so you could always set your DVR(s) to record.
For now, get a sneak peek at what she’ll be covering in the special. These are some pretty memorable stories, and they’ve obviously left an impression on Mariana. Feel free to add links to some of your own favorite moments in Current TV in the comments.
It’s time for us to take another look at one of our host’s top video stories from Current TV. In case you’ve missed it, our hosts have been digging deep into the Current vaults to assemble their top favorites lists, and they’ve been counting their lists down on Current TV. So far, we’ve revisited infoMania White Hot Top 5 master Sergio Cilli’s top 16, and The Rotten Tomatoes Show co-host Ellen Fox’s top 14 on the blog, so give those a look if you missed them.
This time around, we’re pulling faves from Douglas Caballero — many of you recall Douglas from his Current Fix days, but lately he’s been chopping it up in the evenings on a show called Current Exposed. IF you have done so already, check out some of the cool stuff they’ve been up to (below the list), follow Douglas and Current Exposed on Twitter, and most importantly, tune into Current Exposed weeknights at 8 / 7 C.
The best part, you can browse Douglas’ list on the blog, or you could tune into Current TV today at 6pm E / 3pm P and hear all about his list straight from Douglas himself. If you can’t make it today, don’t fret! Douglas’ countdown will re-air on Tuesday 9/22 at 1pm E / 4pm P, so plan a sick day or learn how to program that DVR.
Holy cow. If you haven’t been reading Andrew Fitzgerald’s latest posts over on the Current News blog, you’ve been missing out. Don’t panic, we’ll get you caught up.
US military personnel watch as Afghan insurgents set up a deadly IED and then accidentally trigger it themselves. I think this video is pretty rare: I imagine not many insurgents are caught on camera setting up their IEDs.
To top things off, Andrew hit the ground running today with two new posts: The first regards Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi reporter made famous for throwing his shoes at President George W. Bush, and the implications of his reception post-release. Next up Andrew revisits the Kibera slums, which are now beginning to be dismantled in Kenya. Several years ago, Vanguard’s Christof Putzel produced a peice on the Kibera slums, take a look:
Over on the Current Music blog, Shana Naomi Krochmal unleashes word of two new punk rock docs. Check out the details, and peruse a list of classic punk rock doc faves culled from the Current Music community!
From the “Get this now” files, Peter Grumbine has not 1, but 2 offerings this week:
If you don’t know Mutantes, it would be easy to say something like they’re the Brazilian Beatles or the Brazilian version of the guys from Buena Vista Social Club, but they’re not; they’re Os Mutantes.
The Mutantes were a big part of the Tropicalia movement in Brazil during the ’60s. Imagine what you know about the psychedelic ’60s in America and the UK, and then combine that with Carnival, and you can basically suss up the sound of that movement. Put simply, it’s fucking wild.
In case you don’t know the story, years ago, Rodrigo y Gabriela were in some badass metal bands in Mexico, but they grew tired of the limited scene and potential there. A lady from Mexico who had moved to Ireland was back in Mexico and ran into them. After talking about their situation, she invited them to come stay with her in Ireland, a country where artists were treated better. Ah fate, at last!
Ever since Sarah Lane took Final Cut Pro classes, she’s been cutting together some awesome tech videos and posting them on the Current Tech blog. Here’s a taste of flickr’s new iPhone app, plus a list of some of the others she’s cooked up:
I recently learned while checking out an article reporting on the Frankfurt Auto Show: I should start using condoms to lower my carbon footprint. The facts are coming out, if you want a car that has a small carbon footprint (we’ll skip over the argument that you wouldn’t have a car) than you should have a small car. A very small car. The kind of car that would make you get out of it if you wanted to…discuss… the birds and the bees. The kind of car that doesn’t need to carry a large family.
Funny man Josh Heller is in a “tribute” mood this week, and he has three Current Comedy blog posts to place on the alter of the Internet gods (that means you, dear readers):
Last, but not least, a special taste of what is to come on infoMania this week. Here’s a hint: it involves Sarah Haskins and backpacks. Think you know the answer? Better click to make sure.
Make no mistake, Brett loves himself some Internet — how else could he slog through videos for Viral Video Film School on infoMania? His list feels like a best hits of web culture, so take a quick peek, and be sure to tune into our weekly double feature of Brett every Thursday (hint: infoMania and The Rotten Tomatoes Show, back to back starting at 10pm E/P)
Brett’s top favorite stories countdown is airing on Current TV RIGHT NOW, so if you’re home you have no excuse…tune in. If you can’t make it, Mr. Erlich’s list will re-air on Wednesday 9/23 at 1pm E / 4pm P.
Ya know who gets their own two-hour TV show about stuff they like? THIS guy! Yeah, tonight Current is re-airing my countdown of favorite videos – and if you like my taste in movies, you may like these segments, too! (Also, if you don’t like my taste in movies, you may finally find something we both like.)
If there’s a common thread running through the line-up, it’s probably “Beautiful Women Doing Interesting Things.” Catching catfish with their bare hands, rioting over chocolate, driving convoys through Iraq.
Enjoy!
So, grab your headphones, tell your boss you have a 2-hour conference call, and check out Ellen Fox’s top 14 Current TV videos for a taste of what is airing on Current TV today at 3pm E / 6pm P. If you can’t make it, we’ll be re-airing it again on Monday 9/28 at 3pm E / 6pm P.
And, if you just can’t get enough of Ellen, check out this interview she did with Douglas Caballero for Current Exposed titled, The Dirty Business of Hollywood.
If you’ve tuned into Current TV lately you may have happened upon a new series of “host favorites” countdowns wherein one of our hosts spends the hour working through a list of their favorite stories from the Current back-catalog.
Each host’s list is jam-packed with great video, so I thought it would be great to re-cap their lists here on the blog and offer you, dear readers, the chance to catch some of the stuff from the archives that you may have missed. First up is the host known for his infoMania segment, Sergio’s White Hot Top 5…ladies and gentlemen, Sergio Cilli!
[Incidentally, I'm incapible of typing that segment title without hearing Sergio's title announcment in my head...every. single. time. It's awesome.]
Sergio’s Favorite Stories countdown will be airing again today on Current at 6pm E/3pm P, so if you want to hear some details behind his selections make sure to tune-in. It will also re-air next Tuesday (9/29) at 6pm E/3pm P, so set your Tivo’s to stun.
