CSI: loses its star

As reported by ex-TV Guide now-EW columnist Mike Ausiello, William Petersen is leaving “CSI:” somewhere near the mid-point of the upcoming season. This comes after the CBS mega-hit has lost Jorja Fox and Gary Dourdan over the past year.

New Music: The Academy Is…

After their debut, Almost Here lit the emo scene ablaze in 2005, Chicago’s The Academy Is… has been on everyone’s “Next Big Thing” lists since. TAI’s connection with Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz [via Fueled By Ramen and locale], stops on high profile tours [Warped, Honda Civic '07, their headlining Truckstops and State Lines] drummed them up epic loads of support leading up until the follow-up record, Santi

Sadly, 2007’s second album didn’t quite wet the pallet of those fans and critics waiting for the newest pop gem. It was a solid pop/rock album, but didn’t feature the same bounce and sheen as Almost Here. Obviously, TAI figured that out, and quickly headed back to the studio to record a third record, Fast Times At Barrington High that will be released August 19.

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TAI...Now featuring new haircuts!

Today, The Academy Is… released the first single off that album, titled “About A Girl” via their Myspace and iTunes. My first thoughts are that the track is a bit of a combination of the improved musicianship of Santi mixed with the pop of their debut. It’s not overly impressive, but it’s darn catchy, something you couldn’t say about much off of album number two. If the new album is chock-full of tunes like this one, TAI fans old and new will be nothing but satisfied.

Listen to: “About A Girl” from The Academy Is… [MySpace]

Will there be any ‘Dark Knight’ backlash?

[Ed note: Portions of this appeared it the July 9, 2008 Indiana Daily Student]

After months of viral marketing, cryptic trailers and impatient waiting, “The Dark Knight” is almost here. The film and the buzz surrounding it are virtually everywhere as we enter the final marketing stretch. Everyone is talking about it, describing it as possibly the best comic-book movie ever and even a solid candidate as a “great film.” News continues to funnel out that Midnight screenings and IMAX screenings are being increased, and that even 6 AM shows have been added. Heck, an article in the NY Times last week mentioned that companies are taking BUSES full of employees to see this thing. For all that is Holy, it ran with a 100! percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes for a good while until someone had the stones to knock it down a peg or two [it's now at 89 Percent].

This film is as sure as a sure thing gets.

The Joker's trying to tough it out before "the good cop" shows up.

But in all honesty, I’m a bit a worried; at least as worried as you can be about a film that’s about to make lots of people very happy and lots of people very wealthy. But still a little worried. Can “The Dark Knight” truly live up to the hype?