The Sling Blog

Barack Obama became the first sitting president to appear on a daytime TV talk show when he visited “The View,” handling a barrage of tough questions from journalists Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar. What’s up with jobs and the economy, Mr. President? Oh, really? Fascinating. Team Edward or Team Jacob? And people say journalism is dead.

The feeling in Obama’s camp is that this will help Democrats reach a segment of potential voters who have tuned out politicians. After the jump are three other shows Obama should visit.

The San Diego Comic-Con has really taken off over the last decade, growing to become the preeminent buzz-building scene for genre movie projects. If you're a Hollywood studio with a big tentpole movie coming out that falls within the sci-fi/horror/action/superhero gamut, you better have a presence at Comic-Con. All the marketing shenanigans and movie panels offer tons of fun for genre movie fans -- and plenty of insight into upcoming projects. This year's recently wrapped convention was a smorgasbord of movie teasers and fanboy-centric news. Our friends at IGN were kind enough to capture the action (including a great rundown on all of the Marvel Universe movie updates in the video above). Here's a look at a handful of Comic-Con scoops, after the jump.

You've got to love Robert Rodriguez. The "Desperado" director is a self-made success, working his way up from nothing to become the movie king of Austin, TX, forming his own studio and churning out a range of fanboy-centric films. He's like the American Peter Jackson, only more prolific and schlock-pulpy. His movies aren't for everyone; but regardless of whether you count yourself a fan or not, there's no denying that his career path has been pretty remarkable.

That said, he's suffered a string of semi-duds since 2005's "Sin City": The kids movies "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl" and "Shorts" both fizzled, failing to live up to the young audience success Rodriguez had previously tapped into with Spy Kids. His half of the "Grindhouse" double header, "Planet Terror," was stronger than Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof," but the pairing flopped at the box office. And this summer's "Predators" franchise reboot has gotten a mostly lukewarm reception.

Rodriguez will look to jumpstart things with the late summer release of "Machete," his ultraviolent exploitation-style action film starring Danny Trejo. In the above video (fresh out of Comic-Con), Rodriguez relates the film's path to the big screen while Michelle "blight of the 'Lost' castaways" Rodriguez waves to friends.

When did Angelina Jolie stop making good films? It's been a long time since "Girl, Interrupted." Her latest, “Salt,” is yet another disaster that has little to offer that you couldn’t find for free on the Internet. Here are five videos of action-movie quality that are a better use of your time than spending money to see this dud of a film. Check them out after the jump.

What happens when you team a darkly cerebral popcorn-auetur director coming off of back-to-back mega blockbusters with a top-shelf leading man who's a deep cinephile and counts Kurt Vonnegut as one of his favorite authors? A metaphysical sci-fi heist film with a production budget north of $150 million. Shot in six countries. With a rocking cast. And visuals that are "The Matrix" by way of Jorge Luis Borges. Movies like this don't get made very often.

It's been a dudder of a summer movie-wise. I believe that's about to change with "Inception," poised to be the film event of 2010. And while there's been the typical marketing deluge (including a couple of nice promotional innovations), there hasn't been as much behind the scenes as is customary with big movies these days. I think "Avatar" had in the neighborhood of forty making-of clips online leading into its release. "Inception" has kept the curtain relatively closed; the above video gives a little on-set glimpse with some nice production context from Leo and Nolan to whet our appetites.

It's going to be a dreamy weekend.

George Steinbrenner, 80, passed away today, and the larger-than-life Yankees owner leaves behind his imprint on the Yankees dynasty as well as a solid pop culture legacy, from being portrayed in movies and TV shows to being lampooned in cartoons and commercials. “The Boss” was a recurring character on “Seinfeld,” and was portrayed by Oliver Platt in the mini-series, “The Bronx Is Burning.” In the ’70s, Miller Lite made light of his constant firing and rehiring of Billy Martin. More after the jump.

Because our partners know it's a summer Friday and you're mostly just whiling the hours away by staring at the window and wishing you could feel the sun instead of the frigid a/c of your office, they've done you a solid by making "Mommie Dearest" available to you to watch in its entirety. The 1981 camp classic is the perfect antidote when you're cooped up inside, because so is our heroine, Christina Crawford, most of the time, and chances are what you're going through at your desk is nothing like what she has to go through, in the dead of night, when her mother gets a wild hair and starts going through her closet. If you've seen it before: watch it again. It holds up. And if you've never seen it: what's wrong with you? Faye Dunaway was never better than as Joan Crawford, the kind of mother who makes all who cross her path immediately need to phone their own moms and thank them for not being crazy.

FX's newest drama "Justified" pulled off a pretty amazing feat in its freshman season: it morphed from a serial crime procedural -- though one with humor and an edge, not unlike "Burn Notice" -- to a gritty, complex portrait of a very specific criminal subculture, much closer on the spectrum to something like "The Wire." Really! My assessment of the season is after the jump.

It was Bizarro World on "Hell's Kitchen" when both teams completed a solid service, the bleeps were at a season-low, and Gordon Ramsey was relatively cheery. And Salvatore finished on top of the chef heap somehow. Madness! So what does the winner do? He betrays the person who helped get him there. Actually, he didn't betray anyone. He stood on his principles. Nice work, Italian dude. More after the jump.

Even burgers and fries are difficult on "Hell's Kitchen." How is that possible? But Gordon Ramsay wants these chefs (?) to learn something about teamwork by feeding the USC marching band. It's just lunch, and yet...salad seems to be too difficult for some of these people to assemble. Which is hilarious to watch. The ladies won and got to go to the beach, where Ramsay dominated them at soccer, while the men had to clean up garbage. But the men came back strong and won the dinner service. When are the ladies going to step up? More after the jump.