Top 10: The Best in TV, the Web, Books and Beyond

Vampires want to suck our pop culture as Harold and Kumar smoke out Cuba. And did you see 50 Cent's crazy new game?

Posted Aug 07, 2008 9:56 AM

1. A Trend That Doesn't Suck: Vampires Invading Our Books, Films, TV?
Twilight, True Blood and other reasons why the summer of 2008 bites

"In pop culture, vampires are like cockroaches," says Eric Nuzum, author of The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires From Nosferatu to Count Chocula. "They've always been around, and once you notice them, they're everywhere." Indeed, Nuzum's book comes out in paperback a month after August's Breaking Dawn, the latest novel from the bloodsucker series Twilight. Tim Burton is reportedly adapting TV's Dark Shadows, with Johnny Depp rumored to star. And to promote the upcoming drama True Blood, HBO.com now advertises Tru Blood, a "synthetic blood nourishment beverage." That's good news for Nuzum, who once drank his own blood for research purposes — and promptly threw up. "It tasted like a tire iron," he says. "And then it tasted like 'I'm an idiot.' "

Illustration: Gluekit

2. Harold and Kumar's Smoked Sequel
Guantanamo Bay to DVD

How do you make an unrated version of an already filthy and deranged comedy sequel? Says co-director Hayden Schlossberg, "More gross-outs, more vulgarity, more racism."

3. Maybe the iPhone Line Was Worth It
A brilliant Monkey Ball game finally hits iTunes

Is it genius or just overrated? Download Super Monkey Ball ($10, iTunes), where you fiddle with your monkey by tilting your phone side to side. Says game producer Ethan Einhorn, "It's instant gratification."

4. Pimp Juice Gets Classy
Lil Wayne's new bubbly

Forget the Cristal. This fall, sophisticated rappers will be poppin' Halo, Weezy's brand of champagne. Or should we say "love elixir"? Wayne tells us, "It has fruity flavors I know the ladies are gonna love."

Photo: Jonathan Mannion/Digitally Altered by Rolling Stone

5. High School, Musical
American Teen's smart rock

A new documentary soundtrack a mother could love — if she was in a punk band. A selection of American Teen's music: Black Kids, MGMT and . . . Cat Stevens? "We belt 'Trouble' on the street," says Megan Krizmanich, one of the stars. "And we can't sing."

Photo: Paramount Vintage

6. Paul and Zooey's Makeout Movie
A summer movie gem found in a magazine DVD

Some magazines come with perfume ads. But the latest issue of the McSweeney's magazine Wholphin includes a DVD of House Hunting, a spare adaptation of a Michael Chabon story in which Paul Rudd and Zooey Deschanel play a couple looking for a home where their kid won't hear them having sex. You've got to love it when magazines release better films than Hollywood.

Photo: Courtesy of Wholpin

7. Hand-Washers Unite, Online
Go to iamneurotic.com

Think your shampoo is suffocating you? Can't say "chicken" without clucking? Share your OCD quirks on iamneurotic.com. Creator Lianna Kong: "Everyone's neurotic!"

Photo: Anna G. Dickson

8. Where the *#!@ Is Osama!
Director Morgan Spurlock hunts for Terrorist No. 1.

He never finds the dirtbag, but in Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? (out on DVD in August), Morgan Spurlock offers a rich portrait of Mideast Muslim life. Still, he admits, "Finding him would've been like winning the Lotto."

9. 50 Cent's Wild Mideast Epic
Take a peek at rapper's game Blood on the Sand

Didja know that 50 Cent wants to solve the Mideast crisis? Nah, kidding! It's his gory video game, due in fall (50bloodonthesand.com).

10. Nick, Your New Guidance Counselor
Simpson ex goes to high school

Ah, Nick Lachey. It's so good to see that someone finally pulled you out of that Cabo San Lucas hot tub with Vanessa Minnillo and talked you into getting a day job. Lachey is currently hosting High School Musical: Get in the Picture, an ABC reality extravaganza in which contestants vie to be the next overcaffeinated classmates of Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens. Meanwhile, he's also executive-producing a series about the performing-arts high school in his Ohio hometown. Hey, sign up Jessica for home ec! High School Musical: Get in the Picture, Sun.-Mon., 8 p.m.

[From Issue 1058 — August 7, 2008]

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