In 2003, I was reviewing a music reality series called NASHVILLE STAR. It was sort of the country music version of AMERICAN IDOL, before Carrie Underwood made AI go country itself. The winner of that first season was Buddy Jewell, but I was particularly drawn to the singer who didn't win the big prize, coming in third instead--a young lady named Miranda Lambert.

That particular quality I saw then is similar to what I see now in the music of Kaylee Keller, a twenty-year-old country music ingenue with a quickly growing discography and fanbase.

With her most recent music video, "Nowhere America," Keller garnered the attention of the folks at FOX, who put her on their airwaves and introduced her to a wider audience, who might be a bit surprised to find a millenial who's not quite into millenial things.

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s weekly look at what new comics you should check out each week.   Just a warning, I make these picks pretty much a week BEFORE I actually get to read any of these comics, so if something is a stinker, I take no blame on that.  Let's get to it!

While bouncing around on the internet today, I happened to be skimming GameFAQ's and saw under the Doctor Who board the hot topic of the day was "So now that Robert Mugabe has been overthrown, can we get some lost serials back?"  I was curious to find out what this was all about, and I found a few stories that had talked about this over the years, so I thought our readers might like to hear about it.

As a bonafide vinyl junkie and dyed in the wool stereophile, I have seen my fair share of gizmos, tricks, and gadgets come down the pike that promise to “remove veils from the listening experience” and “open up new windows in the recordings.” While some did work to a degree, many were a bunch of hooey. Some only delivered a minute portion of what they promised. So to say I have become jaded about such things would be a fair cop.

Now, as a vinylphile, I will be the first to stand on the soap box to state you have to keep your stylus clean if you want to maintain your records and continue to get the best out of your cartridge, which in turn will continue to give you listening enjoyment.

A cabin. A handful of characters. An engaging conversation.

A pretty good way to spend an evening -- but would you believe that such a simple, prosaic and unchanging scene could make for a compelling film? That's the case with Director Richard Schenkman's vision of Jerome Bixby's THE MAN FROM EARTH.

CSI: MIAMI's DAVID LEE SMITH plays Dr. John Oldman, a college professor who is giving up tenure after ten years teaching to move on. He's ditched the goodbye party thrown by his friends, so they bring it to him, at his remote cabin, and press him for the reasons why he is leaving. And that's when these academics--leaders in their field--are given a story and a hypothesis that challenges everything they believe in: that John Oldman is a Cro-Magnon man who, for reasons he himself doesn't understand, has never died.

Many comics fans have been looking forward to this mysterious comics event ever since REBIRTH #1 came out. What older comics fans may not realize is that they've actually been waiting almost 30 years for this series, ever since Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons closed the iconic series WATCHMEN with the most loaded open-ending ever to grace the four-color pages. Would The New Frontiersman realize what they had in the mysterious package titled "Rorschach's Journal" or would it be tossed upon the trash-heap of crank rantings? And where exactly did Doctor Manhattan go when he spoke of his renewed interest in human life? (We have our own theories on that one!) 

Jumbies don't exist. At least that's what Corrine La Mer thinks. Jumbies are legend, trickster creatures used to scare children. But when Corinne runs into the forest and finds herself staring into a set of yellow eyes she's not so sure anymore. And when a mysterious, beautiful woman shows up at market, everyone is talking about her. Corinne doesnt know what to think. but when the beautiful woman shows up at her home and takes interest in her father, it sets Corinne on edge. And as the mysterious woman starts to take hold of Corrine's father, she must band together with her friends to save her father and her island from the Jumbies that most certainly are more than legend.

Hollywood has long had a fascination with movies about casinos, gambling and those where characters play bingo. There are almost endless examples of where gambling makes an appearance, but the ones below feature casino pastimes as being central to the plot and the action. If you haven’t seen some of these, be sure to check them out.

Casino Royale (2006) - Daniel Craig makes his debut as James Bond in this film which has been billed one of the top-grossing films in the series. In this scene, we see Agent 007 playing a hand of high stakes poker against Le Chiffre played by Mads Mikkelsen. The gambling scenes are well played and the tension coming off the big screen is downright palpable!

Tonight, Team Flash comes face-to-face with the foe they've been warned about ever since Flash encountered Abra Kadabra, the magician from the future: DeVoe. That would be Clifford DeVoe, whom we will come to know as The Thinker, a classic villain for the Golden Age Flash in the comics.

After an intense search for DeVoe, once it was learned that Ralph Dibney was hired by DeVoe to investigate the mayor, they've finally located the one they believe they are looking for, and are shocked to find him in a wheelchair. But then, so was Harrison Wells / Eobard Thawne (it's complicated) in the first season, so we know that's not an impediment.

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s weekly look at what new comics you should check out each week.   Just a warning, I make these picks pretty much a week BEFORE I actually get to read any of these comics, so if something is a stinker, I take no blame on that.  Let's get to it!

By the episode title, you'd think this is the MOONLIGHTING-esque ending you've been waiting for in this series. But, of course, you should know better than that.

The story opens with Lucifer (TOM ELLIS) and Chloe (LAUREN GERMAN) laying side-by-side on the floor, engaged in obvious innuendo to the audience. However, what they're really doing is preparing to play Monopoly with Chloe's daughter, Trixie (SCARLETT ESTEVEZ). This leads Lucifer down the path of thinking that he has become boring. And, in truth, throughout much of the series, Lucifer has been portrayed as less "Luciferian" than one would expect from someone with his millennia of experiences; he misjudges frequently and makes mistakes. You'd think the Devil would be more calculating than that, but I suppose the writers are trying to play up his vulnerable side when he's around Chloe.

Where's the fun? Where's the 'hope'? Where are the superheroes that bring light and joy to the big screen?

The criticisms of the DCEU have been broadcast far and wide across the internet. From social media, to every Rotten Tomatoes score ever given out, Geoff Johns and Warner Bros. have heard the call for more fun.

Justice League delivered.

But it wasn't about to make you feel numb to emotion either. There's an overarching theme to JUSTICE LEAGUE about the absence of Superman. He's missed by those who admired him, those who loved him, those who fought by his side, and those who only heard of his legend.

by Rhys Hagan

Isolation and dependence. Remember those words. They form the cornerstone of totalitarianism which is essential for cults to prosper. Being isolated from the outside world limits what can influence you while developing a sense of elitism due to access to, what members are led to believe is, an exclusive ‘truth’. Dependence ensures that members are convinced the knowledge and status that comes with it are only available to them through participation in group meetings. Denying the leader or doctrine often not only results in a loss of access to this ‘truth’, but also excommunication and punishment. Members end up dependent on the group for a sense of value, for socializing (as they are isolated from the rest of the world), and often for their very safety.

From Entertainment Weekly:

James Franco likes to multiply himself. Back in March 2015, he interviewed himself for Four Two Nine magazine, splitting himself into a “Straight James” and a “Gay James.” More recently, in HBO’s The Deuce, he played two different characters, the identical twin brothers Vincent and Frankie Martino. But now the Franco clones are about to increase exponentially. EW has confirmed that the star of The Disaster Artist is in negotiations to play Multiple Man, a Marvel mutant from the X-Men universe with the ability to clone himself, in a new solo film of the same name. Deadline first reported the news.

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: The Complete Series could be yours for eternity! This passionate eight-volume collection traces the sexy, supernatural vampire love triangle between beautiful Elena Gilbert and hunky Salvatore brothers Stefan and Damon, from their first meeting at Mystic Falls High through college, and to their ancestral roots in New Orleans, with prologned visits to hell and back. Elena's diary entries, filled with longing and tragic loss; Stefan's steadfast devotion to right and wrong; and Damon's cynical, devil-may-care attitude are the touchstones of this pulsing, action-packed romance that grabbed vampire-loving viewers worldwide by the heart...and never let go.

You'll be able to relive your favorite moments as often as you want, and satify your thirst for more with steamy, special extras and bloodthirsty bonus features--if you're the randomly selected winner of this big prize giveaway!

Gorilla Grodd and Captain Cold have a lot to learn--and to teach, in this LEGO activity book built around DC Comics' "Fastest Man Alive."

With the CW series THE FLASH being better than ever, and the character's key role in the just-released JUSTICE LEAGUE movie, The Flash is getting hotter and hotter. What better way to introduce him into your LEGO collection than by picking up this fun, interactive book that shows you just what he can do using the trademarked LEGO humor. And to make it even more enticing, this book comes with a minifigure of the Scarlet Speedster himself!