CD Giveaway - 33Miles, "One Life"
Ends Aug 4, 2010
The country-pop sound established in their eponymous debut is a mainstay for this album as well, and even adds a little more southern flavor.
CD Giveaway - Phil Wickham, "Cannons"
Ends Aug 3, 2010
With an opening shot that hits the sonic pinnacle, this collection of spiritual Brit pop/rock is heavily influenced by Keane, Travis, Coldplay, and U2.
Rating: Country: USA Release Date: September 15, 2009 Distributor: Warner Home Video Cast: · Johnny Galecki · Jim Parsons · Simone Helberg · Kunal Nayyar · Kaley Cuoco Related Sites: ·IMDb: The Big Bang Theory
Grade: A+
CBS has a big bang-up hit with The Big Bang Theory, and now fans can get their hands on the collected second season on DVD. Those lovable losers -- Leonard (Johnny Galecki), Sheldon (Jim Parsons), Howard (Simon Helberg) and Raj (Kunal Nayyar) -- redefine the nerd as something deeper than a mere bookish social outcasts while retaining their own unique characteristics. Raj still suffers from selective mutism when a female is in the room (unless he's able to get his hands on alcohol); Howard is still a ladies man in his own mind; Leonard is still self-doubting but willing to give things a try; and Sheldon... well, Sheldon is still the Spock-like analytical machine trapped in a human being's body that he's always been.
And yet, while the characters remain largely the same, the viewers are taken deeper into their lives, giving us a broader understanding of what makes each one tick. Often the catalyst for this is Penny (Kaley Cuoco), Leonard and Sheldon's comely neighbor who provides the literal girl-next-door foil and anchor for the boys. When Howard comes on to Penny once too often, she cuts him to the soul, cracking his emotional shell and sending him into a self-imposed exile in his bedroom (still at his mother's house) just when the others need his engineering expertise for a robot fighting competition. When Sheldon's OCD rules result in Penny's banishment from the apartment, it sets off a war between the two of them that ultimately reveals Sheldon's kryptonite as Penny learns what it takes to trump the beautiful mind of Sheldon Cooper.
But at the same time, Penny becomes the protective den mother of the gang (the Wendy to their Lost Boys, as Cuoco puts it in the bonus interviews) as she becomes more comfortable around them. When a new hottie moves into the apartment upstairs, the attention of the guys is diverted from Penny to the newcomer, who takes advantage of the smitten geeks, requiring Penny to step in. We also see her casually admit to a friendship with the aloof Sheldon, confiding secrets in him (much against his will) and taking him in when he locks himself out of the apartment for the weekend. She also finds herself becoming more geeky, as she catches herself explaining Schroedinger's Cat to a clueless date and using Star Trek analogies in everyday situations.
The guys don't have just Penny in their lives this season. Geek-girl scientist Leslie Winkle (Sara Gilbert) -- Sheldon's arch-enemy -- hops from Leonard to Howard for sexual attention. Leonard develops a relationship with a medical doctor (Sara Rue) for a few episodes that never really concludes despite her disappearance from the script. And when Leslie breaks things off with Howard, Leonard and Raj take him to Vegas, where they then secretly hire a prostitute (Prison Break's Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) to give Howard "the Jewish girlfriend experience." Despite these experiences, none of the guys have what it takes to forge a relationship with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles's Summer Glau when they meet her on a long train ride to San Francisco.
A special highlight of the season was the guest appearance by Christine Baranski as Leonard's mother, which goes a long way toward explaining Leonard's neuroses as well as why he ultimately forged a friendship with Sheldon.
This four disc set has three bonus featurettes (on the fourth disc), including an eight minute gag reel that stands out as one that's actually funny. "Physicist to the Stars" is a ten minute segment with the actors as well as creators Bill Prady and Chuck Lorre about Dr. David Saltzberg, the show's consultant who ensures all the science is correct (those are usually his notations on the whiteboards seen in Sheldon and Leonard's apartment). This is followed by a fifteen minute interview segment, "Testing the Infinite Hilarity Hypothesis in Relation to The Big Bang Theory," which focuses on how the writing for the second season shifted to explore the characters in greater depth.
No need to waste a "Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock" on this decision. Picking up The Big Bang Theory and adding it to your TV-on-DVD collection is a true no-brainer.
The Big Bang Theory
The Complete Second Season
Disc 1
Disc 2
01. The Bad Fish Paradigm
02. The Codpiece Topology
03. The Barbarian Sublimation
04. The Griffin Equivalency
05. The Euclid Alternative
06. The Cooper-Nowitzki Theorem
07. The Panty Pinata Polarization
08. The Lizard-Spock Expansion
09. The White Asparagus Triangulation
10. The Vartabedian Conundrum
11. The Bat Item Gift Hypothesis
12. The Killer Robot Instability
Disc 3
Disc 4
13. The Friendship Algorithm
14. The Financial Permeability
15. The Maternal Capacitance
16. The Cushion Saturation
17. The Terminator Decoupling
18. The Work Song Nanocluster
19. The Dead hooker Juxtaposition
20. The Hofstadter Isotope
21. The Vegas Renormalization
22. The Classified Materials Turbulence
23. The Monopolar Expedition Special Features:
- The Big Bang Theory: Physicist to the Stars
- Testing the Infinite Hilarity Hypothesis in Relation to The Big Bang Theory
- Gag Reel
