Entourage: Let's Blog It Out

By Mark La Monica

For those of you still in search of gifts to put on your Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa lists, or for those searching for gifts to get your peoples, let me lend you a helping hand. I mean, it is the season for giving, right?

I can't sit here (actually, I'm lying down) and set your personal style, so don't look for $1,500 watches, $6,000 suits or $300,000 cars. Try Esquire or GQ for that stuff.

Instead, I've compiled a small group of Entourage items available across the Web that you might want to consider this holiday season

Entourage Season 2 DVD
Sure, Seasons 3 and 3.5 are already out on DVD, but just in case you don't already own the show's finest season on DVD, this is a reminder that you should start functioning like a normal human.

Suits Suck t-shirt
It's the shirt Billy Walsh wore after he thought E leaked the "Medellin" trailer on YouTube. Need we say more?

"Hug It Out" pet tee
Brilliant marketing here. Take the show's catchphrase and put it on a shirt for dogs. Genius!

Ari-ism No. 6 shirt
We all know and love the way the writers write for Ari Gold and the way Jeremy Piven plays him. This shirt lets everyone else know. It features the Ari quote, ""$4,000 a month? That's what I pay my dog walker" Now, can you remember the scene?

Entourage eco-friendly mouse pad
I'm not really sure how a mouse pad can or cannot be environmentally friendly, but what the heck? Everyone is going green lately, so we'll support the cause.

"Hug it out" onesie
For the really, really young Entouragers out there. Hmmm, I knew a few people expecting kiddies next year. Hmmm, it looks like the HBO Entourage store just made a few bucks.

Ladies camo tank top
Ladies are nice. Ladies who appreciate "Entourage" are nice. Ladies who wear tank tops are nice. Add it all up and we can't wait to get turned down by them.

"I Bench More Than Drama" t-shirt
It's just such a good idea for a T-shirt. We recommend the long-sleeve edition because you can wear a sleeveless shirt over it and actually look like you do bench more than Drama. Even though you don't (and really, who does?), it's OK to look the part.

Gold/LLoyd in '08 bumper sticker
Bumper stickers may be extremely tacky, but at least this one is funny, too.

The Bob Ryan BBQ apron
What's a gift guide for the fellas without something barbecue-related? I'll kowtow to typical stereotypes and include this, but only because of what it says on the front of this apron: "Is that something you might be interested in?" Yes, I believe so.

By Mark La Monica

Upon possession of "Entourage: A Lifestyle is a Terrible Thing to Waste," the new book about the show, the first thing you need to do is flip to page 49 and laugh.

If you don't laugh at the classic photo of Drama, please return the book and use the money to purchase a self-help book because you clearly have some issues to work out. One (or more) of those Deepak Chopra or Joel Osteen books should do the trick.

The "Entourage" book is a clever repackaging of things we already knew and photos we've already seen mixed in with things we didn't know and photos we've never seen. For example, there's really no reason to read the recaps of every episode since we've all seen them at least 12 times. However, what prevents you from skipping over those pages are the P.S. notes at the end of several episodes of the each season that take you behind the scenes and advance the story a bit.

The first rule of writing reviews is to give the reader a taste of the topic without giving it all away. So, we'll just throw one nugget out there to elaborate on the P.S. stuff mentioned above: The episode recap for "Busey and the Beach" (my all-time favorite episode) includes a note that Busey didn't paint the "Emotional Dyslexia" artwork, but it now hangs in his house.

Here are some more thoughts from the book:

By Mark La Monica

This may be rather short notice, and really only affects readers living in New York City, but such is life.

Cast members will be in Manhattan today (Monday) to sign copies of the new book "Entourage: A Lifestyle is a Terrible Thing to Waste."

10.30am, HBO Shop
42nd & 6th Ave, 212-512-SHOP

1 pm, Borders Books
10 Columbus Circle (Time Warner Center)

I finished the book Sunday night and am working on the review now. It will hit the site by noon.

By Mark La Monica

Possession of the Entourage Season 3.5 DVD, officially titled "Entourage, Season 3, Part 2" provides on-demand access to one of the greatest moments in show history: Johnny Drama at the Grand Canyon.

Is there more of a rallying cry or sentimental moment than seeing Drama, post-meltdown, fall to his knees overlooking the Grand Canyon and scream "Victory!"?

Having access to this scene at any point in your everyday life makes it worth the purchase.

But, as with all DVDs these days, extras are necessary. (Gone are the days of "Hey, let's make viewers who purchase 'Goodfellas' flip over the DVD to watch the rest of the movie.)

Included on this DVD is an interesting panel discussion involving the cast, creator Doug Ellin and director Julian Farino. The Museum of Television & Radio panel was moderated by Elvis Mitchell, the guy who interviewed E, Vince and Billy Walsh for Interview magazine.

The panel is from March 2006, but is still interesting to hear the backstories and thought processes behind some of our favorite scenes.

If you're already a subscriber to the Entourage podcast on iTunes, then you've already seen the "Anatomy of Entourage" featurette that goes behind the scenes of the Season 3.5 finale. If you're not a subscriber, then you'll enjoy this 11 minutes. It basically is the real-life version of the "Medellin" documentary that opened Season 4.

One of the traits of "Entourage" is bringing guest stars and periphery characters back to the show on occasion. Remember Rufus, the Home Video Solutions guy from Season 1? He came back in Season 3.5 as Rufus, the auto body repair guy.

In the three audio commentaries, show creator Doug Ellin talks a lot about how and why he brings characters back. He also mentions the new houses for the guys each season and how the lack of continuity isn't much of an issue for the show.

In the interest of full disclosure, in the commentary accompanying "The Resurrection" episode, aka Drama at the Grand Canyon, Ellin hammers Newsday, "my hometown paper," for bashing the show in its first season.

In the interest of fuller disclosure, I had nothing to do with that back then. I was only a sports writer at the time and "Entourage, the blog" wasn't even in my radar.

Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Doug Ellin and Kevin Connolly (in one of the three commentaries) point out their favorite lines in certain scenes and how they went about delivering them or the backstory about how they decided to do things a certain way. It's pretty interesting stuff.

Most notably, in "The Resurrection" commentary, Ellin said he went into writing that episode with the idea of getting Dillon an Emmy nomination. He did.

Epsiodes with audio commentaries:
• "Manic Monday"
• "The Resurrection"
• "Adios Amigos"

By Mark La Monica

An "Entourage" movie hinted at by Jeremy Piven recently is way off in the distance, if at all.

What is definite is the "Entourage" book. The good folks at Simon & Schuster are stepping up their game with "Entourage: A Lifestyle is a Terrible Thing to Waste."