Fair to Medellin

Play it: Entourage Eps 303-305

The upside to missing a few Entourage episodes while I was on vacation, is getting to watch them all back-to-back (via DVR.)

Another thing that happened while I was gone was that Pirates Of The Carribean: Dead Man's Chest surpassed Spider-Man for the all-time opening weekend box-office record. It's a case of life imitating art as it was just a few weeks ago that Aquaman achieved the same thing in the facto-fictional world of Entourage. Vince is now the number one draw in the theater, which means several things. First is old friends will come out of the woodworks - or in this case prison - to get a piece of the action. In this case, old neighbhorhood pal Dom is a thug who worms his way into the Aquamansion and under the rest of the gang's skin.

Second, though, is Vince can have just about any project he wants but the one he's wanted to do (since last season) is Medellin: The Pablo Escobar Story, and that one requires some work. It's now in the hands of so-called animation king Phil Rubenstein, who's played as an insecure, whiney little man by Bruno Kirby. Vince meets to convice him he's right for the role, but it takes an encounter with Dom to make Phil believe Vince is street enough to play Escobar. When Rubenstein's original Shrek doll is found missing, though, all fingers point to Dom and Phil regresses to locking himself up in his bedroom, sobbing about his loss. One has to think this is a jab at Jeffrey Katzenberg, one of the producers of Shrek (and a former self-proclaimed 'King of Animation.') Dom is cornered, confesses and after they sneak the doll back, is relinquished of his key to the Aquamansion.

So now they're back on with Medellin... or are they? Aquaman 2 has been greenlighted and begins the same day, so they try to convince the studiohead that they need a little time to finish Vince's pet project before jumping back in the tank. They get 2/3 of the time they ask for (setup as a fool's errand) and meet with Medellin director Paul Haggis to figure out a way to do it. Once they do find a way (involving Vince's weight gain scenarios) the studiohead still won't go for it. No way is he going to risk his franchise being seen "doing three hours of blow on every multiplex in the country." Vince ups the ante asking for a 'fool's errand' worth of dough to do the picture and we're left at a standoff.

Whew, caught up now.

Musically I didn't find much inspiration in a particular scene, but the transition from Frank Sinatra's "I've Got The World On A String" to Busta Rhyme's "I Love My Bitch" is smoother then you'd think.

More:
Full tracklistings with scene descriptions
Entourage decoder (TMZ) for 6/26
Entourage decoder (TMZ) for 7/3
Entourage decoder (TMZ) for 7/10

Previously:
I am an orange god (Episode 24 / 302)
The top-tall turn-off (Episode 23 / 301)
Let's hug it out again, b*tch (Season 2 soundtrack and dvd)
Heartbreak Vince (Episode 22)
Show me the money (Episode 21)
Sympathy for the Ari (Episode 20)
Headed for a Gigli (Episode 19)
That's Hebrew for 'When do you get off?' (Episode 18)
Comic-consies (Episode 17)
Mandy Moore is Aquaman's kryptonite (Episode 16)
Cross-sword traffic (Episode 15)
Crouching Turtle, hidden Drama (Episode 14)
More Bob Saget on drugs (Episode 13)
Bring out the suit (Episode 11 & 12)
My Maserati Does 185 (Episode 10)
Let's Hug It Out, Bitch (Episode 9 - Season 2 Premiere)

tags: playlist, entourage, television, hbo, soundtrack, paul haggis, pablo escobar, frank sinatra, busta rhymes