Waste Time Here

Happy Birthday

2011-07-09T11:27:00.002-04:00

'Waste Time Here' once again rises from its slumber to wish the man formerly known as 'The Artist Formerly Known As The 22 Inch Gun' a happy birthday.

Widgets out the ass!

2010-10-25T11:27:00.001-04:00

Read 'em and weep bitches!

It's Time!

2010-07-09T08:27:00.001-04:00

Pushing the census down the page to say Happy Birthday to TAFKA "El Arma de 22 Pulgadas"!

Census 2010

2010-03-16T15:27:00.003-04:00

I haven't posted in some time, and it occurs to me that I haven't explained how I dealt with the American Community Survey. After several weeks of not returning the form, a census worker was sent to the house. She(?) left a card with a number to call about the information they wanted. It was then that I filled in the number of residents and returned the form with a short letter explaining my position about the Bureau's data collection practices. I wrote "mailed form in this week" on the card, and stuck it in the front door. The worker may have come back, but the card was missing shortly after, and I heard nothing further.

Last week, I received a warning letter that the 2010 Census Bureau form would be arriving soon, and that my answers were vitally important for tax apportionment purposes. Today, the long form version of the census was in the mail. Once again, I intend only to give a head count. I will be including some flavor of the letter I found here. It's gratifying to see that enterprising folks out there are engaging their elected officials in the debate over what constitutes privacy from their government.

With that, it's late, and I'm tired. More on this as it warrants.

Twitter - because I'm a little creeped out by Facebook

2009-10-19T13:27:00.000-04:00

How careless of me. You can find me on Twitter here. My last 5 updates are lurking in my mess of a sidebar. For the record, I just finished watching 3 hours of TV. It was not time well spent. I will not be tweeting this fact.

Happy Birthday!

2009-07-09T12:27:00.000-04:00

The artist formerly known as "The 22 Inch Gun" turns 31 today!

No news

2009-06-28T12:27:00.000-04:00

Just a quick update. I've turned on the "adult content" option so that school age children wandering through here will not have any excuse when their parents find out they have been watching videos about skull fucking. Or read anything about "balls to the walls, nuts to the butts, sacks to the backs, scrote to the goat, meat to the seat, or junk to the trunk". Now off to start that Twitter account...

AHA!

2009-05-04T13:27:00.002-04:00

I knew this time would come sooner or later. I'm going to semi-retire this blog for now, not that I have been posting often anyway. My wife and I are getting ready to sell our house and move (I'm told the new owners probably won't let us stay), so my free time will be a bit scarce. I'll be by periodically to clean up errant comments and fix busted links, and of course, to respond to comments on this post.

My thanks to all the readers and posters. Seacrest out.

And now for something completely different...

2009-04-10T16:27:00.002-04:00

Took a one day trip with my bro yesterday to attend the nuptials of my sister to her longtime boyfriend. They were married by a judge on a Thursday. Atypical at least. I also got news that my youngest brother will be married in a few weeks. I am going to stand with him as the best man. His wedding will be on a Sunday, and presumably involve a member of the clergy.

In utterly unnecessary and random unrelated events, III's dream of hitting the water on April 1st were likely spoiled by 9 inches of snow. You will get there yet! This is one of the coldest springs I can remember here in Michigan. I am chilly just sitting here now.

EDIT: III found the water to his liking after all. I, on the other hand, still cannot swim, in cold water or warm.

American Community Survey

2009-03-30T10:27:00.007-04:00

My household has been "randomly" selected for an intrusion of privacy by the US Census Bureau. We received a letter a few weeks ago about the "American Community Survey", which basically said that the Census Bureau wanted to collect information in order to help the Fed and local governments decide how best to waste more tax money, blah blah blah. So the survey arrived last week, and was followed two days later by a postcard reminding me that the survey is important. All three pieces of correspondence so far have mentioned that our response to the 28 page questionnaire IS REQUIRED BY LAW. The mailing with the survey itself includes a header with the (very frequently asked, I hope) question "Do I have to answer the questions on the ACS?". The answer:

"Yes, your response to this survey is required by law. (Title 13, United States Code, Sections 141 and 193). Title 13, as changed by Title 18, imposes a penalty for not responding."

The law literally spells out a fine for not responding and a bigger fine for giving knowingly misleading or false answers. Of course, I am somewhere beyond outraged.

How bad could the questions be, you might ask? ANY information the government wants about you is a threat to liberty, so the content is totally immaterial. There are several assurances that the data is kept confidential and will only be used for statistical purposes, but goes on to say that the Bureau "cannot publish or release information that would identify you or your household." If this is so "confidential" then they shouldn't even be getting information that can identify us personally. The very first page asks for the full name and phone number of the person completing the survey, and pages 2, 3, and 4 wants the full names, birthdates, race, and relationship to each other of the people living in the household. Questions further in even ask about mental state and want the name and address of employers, and VERY detailed income information. It all sounds very much like profiling to me.

I may be overreacting, you say. Even if the data was completely confidential, our government has lost over a thousand laptop computers, the vast majority of which contained unencrypted data, thanks to the incompetence that civil service now seems to breed. Anecdotal stories indicate that Census workers are being sent out to visit people who do not respond quick enough or at all. These workers just happen to be using some of the mobile privacy leaks...err laptops that are constantly coming up missing. Even if the data is "safely" entered into the government's "secure" servers, the likelihood that it will stay there is not good. The Census Bureau itself has "mistakenly" posted information about hundreds of households on publicly accessible web pages.

At this point, I am only considering two responses. Not completing or mailing the survey at all, period, or only filling in the information that the Census Bureau is entitled to under the Constitution, which amounts to the number of persons living in the household. Anything more is unconscionable to me. If I didn't suspect that they were utterly impotent, I might contact Rep. Ehlers or Senators Levin and Stabenow. To be obnoxious, I guess I might do it anyway.

I have discovered other like-minded folks out there that have dealt with this. This blog post (and massive comment thread) has words from Ron Paul on the subject, and almost 400 tags for "Libertarianism". Another, slightly more recent post is here. There is also a rather disconcerting bit that's purported to be from the diary of an ACS field rep. May I never have to meet one.

I.O.U.S.A.

2009-03-05T10:27:00.004-05:00

This movie was first brought to my attention by III, and I'm trying to rep it to as many folks as possible. This is the kind of thing that should be required viewing for our representatives and senators , many of whom I don't suspect really grasp the enormity of our federal debt problem. Or rather catastrophe, now that blank checks are being issued, inflation is eroding the dollar, and rock-bottom interest rates continue to support the idiotic notion that we can somehow spend our way out of debt. The long term debt this country faces is STAGGERING. I urge everyone to check I.O.U.S.A. out and share it with others.

The homepage is here, and includes a condensed 30 minute streaming version, along with an action guide (which I would be sharing, if only I had an awesome widget like Liberty Confidential is sporting!).

Happy saving!

NOT SAFE FOR WORK! (NSFW)

2009-02-25T13:27:00.005-05:00

EDIT: To protect those who are not ready to see such a thing, the video has been removed. DO NOT click through if you are not prepared for frank and graphic talk that is most definitely rated 'R'.

Seriously. With that out of the way, here is a linked clip from The Onion.

Live From Congress: The Skull F***ing Bill Of 2007

In related news, The Onion Movie is on video.

Give Me Centrism or Give Me Death!

2009-02-15T06:27:00.000-05:00

This is an article I read in print in Spin magazine in 2004. In it, Chuck Klosterman reveals 10 bands that he feels are neither overrated nor underrated. I have been looking for this piece for a while now, and now I share it with you. It has been stolen from the person who stole it from Spin. Enjoy (but not too much or too little!).

Give Me Centrism or Give Me Death!

My first post...

2009-02-07T11:27:00.002-05:00

...from my new desktop system. It was painstakingly assembled over the last 2 days here in the living room (not it's final destination). The specs (for those who are geeky into these things like me):
AMD Phenom II X4 940 @ 3.0ghz
Sapphire ATI Radeon 4870 1GB
Asus M3A79-T Deluxe
OCZ Reaper 2x2GB PC28500 DDR2
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB (x2)
PC Power & Cooling Silencer S75QB 750 watt
Samsung TS-H653N 20x w/Lightscribe
all nestled carefully in an:
Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower
and running without a hiccup (so far) under Vista 64 bit

Next up: the City!!!

EDIT: I have added my Windows Experience Index to the sidebar. Click it to go to www.shareyourscore.com.

My first post...

2009-01-15T13:27:00.002-05:00

...from my new netbook. I am a bit shamed to note that I had to install Windows on it because the Xandros install that it shipped with was literally filling the entire (tiny) 4gb hard drive. I actually have space now, after nLite-ing XP down to a (relatively) skinny half gig footprint. Easy Peasy, a Ubuntu variant, was also an option, but I need interoperability with the rest of the systems here at home. (The other 4 of them...we clearly have too many computers...and yet I just got another.) The good news is that if I get a bigger SSD, I can easily dual boot, thanks to the excellent Linux drivers from Asus that were specially compiled for the hardware. So I guess I have another project at some point in the future.

Maybe I Should Start Burning Some Tires or Something

2009-01-12T07:27:00.001-05:00

Stupid global warming has made 2008 the coldest year in North America since 1997. Now some crackpot scientists are trying to say that an Ice Age is on the way. Those movies sucked, why make another?

Now If you'll excuse me, I have several more inches of snow to shovel. Damned global warming has pushed the Grand Rapids area over our winter snowfall average already, IN JANUARY.

Time is running out...

2008-12-16T10:27:00.002-05:00

Over at Amazon, you can get Starflyer 59's latest full-length, "Dial M" for just 5 bucks through Thursday at midnight. It's one of Amazon's "Friday 5", where they offer 5 albums each week, starting on Friday, for $5 a piece. LINKAGE!

Also available is SF59's "Easy Come, Easy Go" box set for the RIDICULOUS price of $9.49. This would be a great jumping in point for their early material, with 35 songs spread over 2 discs. Disc 1 is a "hits" comp, and the second is b-sides, rarities and live cuts. Find it HERE!

I should note that both of these are digital downloads (as if there were any other kind of download :P) of 256 kbps MP3s, NOT physical cds. BUT, they are unencumbered by DRM of any kind.

Also available, TODAY ONLY (for $28.99 anyway), is the complete Arrested Development DVD series. This show was really one of the best comedies that the medium has ever offered. You can locate it HERE! Or you could simply watch if for free at Hulu.com. I guess the choice is yours.

No software is free...

2008-12-11T12:27:00.003-05:00

Public education at work: "Teacher tells Helios project to stop spreading Linux"

2008-10-07T12:27:00.001-04:00

The warrior's name was Hiwimo Seh.

My lawn needs mowing

2008-09-29T09:27:00.000-04:00

That's right. I need to mow my lawn. I should do it before the rain starts today. But I will probably end up trying to push my manual mower through 6 inches of grass before the time rolls around.

I haven't posted any record reviews in a while. (The fact-checker on my staff assures me it's been "a long time".) So here are two capsule reviews, because spontaneity is the last refuge of the doomed. Erm , I may have my quotes mixed up.

Lindsey Buckingham: Gift of Screws
No, the title is not about Hesh telling Debbie why he would make a good father. (It's from Emily Dickinson.) Buckingham returns with his second new disc in 3 years, a breakneck pace for a man who released 3 albums in the 25 years before 2006's Under The Skin. This newest offering shakes off the quiet tone of that disc with a a number of *gasp* rock and roll songs. Joined by Fleetwood Mac mates Mic Fleetwood and John McVie, he tears through several tracks that see him ripping out solos like it's 1977 again. Two songs here sport lyrics co-written by wife Kristen, the "emphasis" tracks "Did You Miss Me?" and "Love Runs Deeper". The album could have used a little more of his gorgeous finger picking, but sits very nicely alongside Under The Skin. Where does this fit into modern rock? Fans of Rage Against the Machine should love it. *chuckle*
8.0 (out of 10)

Girl Talk: Feed The Animals
Greg Gillis is back with 53 minutes of high energy cut and paste. This time he has raised the ante to almost unsustainable heights, with over 300 samples, compared to 150 for 2006's Night Ripper. Everything but the proverbial kitchen sink is in here. The disc leads off with Andre 3000 spitting out the "International Player's Anthem" over "Gimme Some Lovin" by the Spencer Davis Group and closes with another bit of the "IPA" over Journey's "Faithfully". In between? A dizzying amount of guilty pleasures, one hit wonders, and half second clips of smash hits. The flow remains fast paced throughout. Highlights include Busta Rhymes blasting verses over The Police's "Every Little Thing She does is Magic" and Eninem's "Shake That" over Yael Naim's "New Soul", the latter which fits together so well it's almost eerie. Heck, you even get Jay-Z over Radiohead's "Paranoid Android", Mary J. Blige's "Real Love" over The Guess Who's "These Eyes", and and and... This sucker is packed. What can Gillis do to top this? Even he isn't sure at this point. Follow the links to the right to get this album, through a "name your price" system similar to Radiohead's. Choosing "$0.00" will require you to pick an answer for why you don't want to pay. Definitely worth a freebie, if even just for the spectacle.
8.0 (out of 10)

I'm going to break this off here, and I haven't even mentioned Brother Martin yet.

How time flies when you're lazy

2008-08-17T08:27:00.001-04:00

Mike Patton sings lead on a Team Sleep song called Kool Aid Party. Video to follow.

There are actually a pair of fan made vids for this song, but this was the more interesting of the two. This cut didn't make Team Sleep's debut album, but is floating around on the web along with several other demos. (Hint: check isohunt for torrents)

TS is a project of Deftones lead singer Chino Moreno. Deftones is a band I have variously described as "art metal" and "sounds like a Mike Patton project". I wish I had found this years ago lol.

One more video (for now), this an official clip for "Ever (Foreign Flag)" by TS

Til next time

We prefer to think of her as big-boned...

2008-07-31T15:27:00.000-04:00

Sony's PS3 has a new game arriving soon through the system's PlayStation Store, where players compete to kidnap a princess and then prevent the other team from rescuing her. The name of the game? Fat Princess. An interesting blurb in the Wikipedia page for the game notes:

"In order to make their opponent's task in rescuing her more difficult, the player can give more and more food to the princess they have captured, so that she will become fatter and heavier, and the opponent's team will need larger number of players to carry her."

Not surprisingly, feminist groups are fed up (pun intended) and hungry for vengeance (I can't resist!).

The Dark Knight

2008-07-31T10:27:00.001-04:00

I'm not sure if I can add anything to the chorus of voices proclaiming this movie's excellence, but for me, this movie kills off, once and for all, any idea that Tim Burton's version was the best of the bat. It stands a full head above the previous Nolan/Bale outing, and sits without a doubt as the best "comic book" movie I've seen. I'll resist giving away any plot points for the few who haven't seen it (lol).

Looking ahead, Christopher Nolan has said he's not sure he will be involved in a third round, and who could blame him? Where could he go from here? Should he try resurrecting any of those paper thin villains from the Schumacher abominations? Let us hope no one dares to try that.

My recommendation is to check this out in IMAX. I've seen both films on the big (big?...try 52 feet tall!) screen, and it's a hell of an experience. A half hour of Dark Knight was filmed especially for IMAX showings (and will be pan and scan for the regular release, I presume), and it's used to great effect.

Side note: this is the most I've been to the theater in several years. Dark Knight was the 11th movie I've been to since May. Not everything has been good, but there have only been a few stinkers, most notably the X-Files sequel. Gut the TV show of everything good (including the rapport between Mulder and Scully), and you're left with...a waste of nine bucks. Maybe they can get it right in 10 more years.

Happy Birthday

2008-07-09T11:27:00.000-04:00

...to the man FKA The 22 Inch Gun. 30 big ones today!

Independence Day

2008-07-04T14:27:00.000-04:00

I usually post here to talk about ephemeral things, like video games, movies, and occasionally music I've listened to. Today I'd like to talk about America, and the man that we should elect as President of these United States. That man is Bob Barr. He represents the Libertarian Party, the party that wants to give America back to the people. Bob Barr also represents my hope that Americans don't go into the voting booth on November 4th and pick the lesser of two evils.

Beyond Congressman Barr and the Libertarian nominee for Vice President, Wayne Allyn Root, the party offers an important choice in hundreds of local, state and federal races. That choice is to go against the status quo, to return government to the hands of the people, and to restore the dignity of our country, not only in the eyes of the world, but to ourselves.

This is a chance for all Americans to regain control of their lives and turn the tide on the ever growing influence of a government bureaucracy that is slowly taking away our rights and choices. Before we can ever be respected once more around the world, we must learn again to respect ourselves. When you step into that voting booth on November 4th, vote for Liberty. Vote for Bob Barr.

Bob Barr For President '08

FeedFlix...errr, NetFlix

2008-06-01T09:27:00.000-04:00

This is a new free service that offers up a look at my (or anyone's) NetFlix queue. It uses the RSS feed from the NetFlix page. You can set it up here. You can see what I'm watching here.

The Chronic-WHAT?-cles of Narnia (and other detritus)

2008-05-27T11:27:00.002-04:00

Round 2 for the Narnians, and I feel like this one was appreciably worse than the first. I'm not going to heap to much dirt on its back, but I will say that it's too long (2 and a half hours) for it's intended audience. Smaller children are likely to be a bit put out by the darker tone and incredible amount of violence. Not graphic violence, for the most part, but I'm not sure how the movie snuck into a PG rating. The third installment arrives in 2010.

After visiting Bruce Campbell's site recently, I was reminded that he has been on a TV show for a bit now. 'Burn Notice' is on USA for those who haven't seen it. Bruce plays a contact for a spy gone rogue, with a fair amount of screen time.

I saw this video on someone's blog, and just had to share it.

Love those Japanese gameshows.

Speaking of Japanese, just picked up Wii Fit this very morning. My initial fitness assessment is that my 'Fit Age' is 34, which is slightly worse than my real one (31). I have work to do, I guess. I'm was very happy to even be able to find the game at retail price, what with the shortages (for a GAME!), and the resulting price gouging. Note to Nintendo: People are willing to buy your stuff...just make more of the bloody things! Boosting production of the Wii console by a third is a good start. Now about that dwindling storage space on my system...

Here's another link for ya: www.bowlingformorgan.com. Enjoy.

I just read a bit of a blog where the blogger lists his credit cards and their credit limits once a month. Also he put his picture next to Tom Brady's and speculated that they could have been separated at birth, I suspect because he believes himself good looking and all. And I didn't even have to Google for "blogs by douches".

You can call me Aaron Burr from the way I'm droppin' Hamiltons.

24 hours to Indiana Jones. How ever shall I contain myself?

It Begins!

2008-05-05T10:27:00.002-04:00

Summer movie season, that is. This is shaping up to be a busy year for me at the theater, with no less than 10 movies to chip away at my pocket before Labor Day. Most excited about? The Dark Knight, though the X-Files flick is a close second. Most wary of? The Incredible Hulk. I'm not sure what the deal is with Ed Norton, but Liv Tyler is no Jennifer Connelly.

I've already been to see 'Harold and Kumar'. Seeing the President smoking weed with those two idiots while hiding from Dick Cheney, was one of the sad jokes they tried so hard to sell. It wasn't quite as bad as 'Pick of Destiny', though.

Iron Man was this week's movie. Having never read the comic book, I had pretty low expectations going in. It was decent at least, not a travesty like the last X-Men movie. I hung around until the end of the credits, and sure enough, they introduced Nick Fury (of S.H.I.E.L.D., which they mentioned during the movie). I was a little surprised to see he was being played by...wait for it...Samuel L. Jackson. At least he had the eye patch. My team of crack researchers turned up Jon Favreau as the director, which I didn't know going in. Speaking of Marvel's blood money, this was the first movie to be totally financed by Marvel Entertainment. Very strangely, no trailer for the Hulk movie played before the show (odd, since it is out June 13th), but Batman did.

Up next is the Narnia sequel. Has anyone ever read all 7 of those books? I stopped in the third or fourth one because of the crushing boredom. I was only about 9 or 10 at the time, so maybe that has something to with the short attention span. Of course, why read them now when TV is faster. "At what?" "Knowledge."

Recovering The Satellites

2008-05-02T13:27:00.001-04:00

Gonna get back to basics
Guess I'll start it up again
I'm fallin' from the ceiling
You're falling from the sky now and then

Maybe you were shot down in pieces
Maybe I slipped in between
But we were gonna be the wildest, the wildest
The wildest people they ever hoped to see, just you and me

So why'd you come home to this sleepless town
It's a lifetime commitment recovering the satellites
All anybody really wants to know is
When you're gonna come down, when you're gonna come down

Your mother recognizes all your desperate displays
And she watches as her baby drifts violently away
'Til they see themselves in telescopes
Do you see yourself in me?
We're such crazy babies, little monkey
God, we're so fucked up, you and me

So why'd you come home to this faithless town
Where we make a lifetime commitment to recovering the satellites
And all anybody really wants to know is
When are you gonna come down, down, down, down, down, down ,down
When you're gonna come down

She sees shooting stars and comet's tails
She's got heaven in her eyes
She says "I don't, I don't, I don't need to be an angel
But I'm nothing if I'm not this high"

But we only stay in orbit
For a moment of time
And then you're everybody's satellite
I wish that you were mine

So why'd you come home to this angel's town
It's a lifetime decision recovering the satellites
Everybody really knows for sure
That you're gonna come down, that you're gonna come down

The Jayhawks

2008-04-13T14:27:00.000-04:00

Are awesome.

Some people still read books...again

2008-04-12T10:27:00.001-04:00

I am currently re-reading Robert Fulghum's fine, fine book "All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten". It's the revised 15th anniversary edition that my brother was kind enough to give me about 3 years ago. Good things should be passed on to others. I read the original edition in high school (how long ago that seems), and enjoyed it so much that I went on to seek out 2 others Fulghum had written. I don't pretend to believe that everyone will enjoy it, but your local public library might have a copy. Check it out.

The Gold Standard Build

2008-04-06T17:27:00.002-04:00

Here

Gimix (again)

2008-02-26T10:27:00.001-05:00

I pop in today merely to rep The Avalanches' mix tape Gimix. Again. I do this frequently, because it's the best mix tape I have ever heard. Yes, even better than Girl Talk's "Night Ripper", despite the latter's uberness of having Biggie Smalls rap over the hook from Elton John's "Tiny Dancer". If you haven't heard Gimix, give it a listen from the Internets. You might find it at isohunt.com, for instance. *wink wink*

You got your Madonna, Bob Dylan (but not his soldier child), Hall & Oates, de La Soul, Jurassic 5, The Smiths, The Beatles, and all manner of weird noise collages and Cyndi Lauper to boot. Tasty.

Miss me?

2008-02-12T13:27:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling a bit cranky after my short and slightly unpleasant nap, so I'll keep this short and slightly unpleasant as well. Nah, j/k.

What's been happening? You really want to know? Ok, well, here goes.

I beat Guitar Hero (not on Expert), saw the entire TV season get canceled, watched the unbeaten Patriots lose to a bunch of scrubs that literally played the best game of their lives (on a night when the Pats played their absolute worst game of the season), and discovered that the Earth is headed for an Ice Age, albeit a little one.

I know now that digital TV will crush humanity and force it to shop at Wal-Mart (cause of Low Prices™, yo!), and because I firmly believe that I should get all my news from one source, that Blu-Ray has effectively ended the HD format wars by crushing HD-DVD within an inch of its pathetic lower-priced life. Congrats on that sheeple, good luck finding a Blu-Ray player for less than 400 hundred bucks. Way to line Sony's pockets.

I leave you today with a few pics from the City. This first one is myself and III, two rough and ready scrappers about to kick Clamor's Archvillain butt. Some people said it couldn't be done, but they didn't count on how wily we were.

The second is my blaster Dagnabbit, who this weekend became only my second level 50 character after just 3 years of playing, heh heh. He is busting up a monster group of Supa Trolls, 77 to be exact. (I defeated them all...easy since they were 25 levels lower than me.)

The last one is that same Dagnabbit, the morning I hit 50 with him. Here I am firing off my flamethrower at the undead. Notice the spanking new suit, the armor made of ice (goes well with a flamethrower ;) ) and the awesome glowing eyes.

Guess that does it for now, since adding those pictures turned this into almost an hour job. :P

Journeyman loses vote of confidence, celebrates by jumping the shark

2007-12-19T02:27:00.000-05:00

As I surmised 3 weeks ago (ahem, see the post directly under this one), Journeyman is finished. NBC did not order up new episodes beyond the first 13, so the show is 99% likely headed for the boneyard. Apparently the show did not draw the all important 18 to 45 demographic. The corporate logic is that those are the people most likely to be dumbly influenced by the commercials that no one watches anymore that run during the show. I can freely admit that my wife and I, two members of that "prize" demographic, almost never watch any commercials at all thanks to our PVR setup. I'm not even sure what they were trying to get me to buy. Does this mean that they will have to cancel ALL the shows we watch? I mean, we are probably not keeping any of their sponsors in the green. Not that I'm immune to marketing or anything, but I have years of training in brand loyalty. Why should I change, say, beer brands? Or buy X brand underwear over Y brand? I like Y brand! They are comfortable! Not that NOT seeing any marketing is automatically a bonus. What products out there are better that the ones I've been buying, but never found out about, because I didn't bother to watch the ad? So I buy what I always buy, and advertising be damned. I'll save my energy for important things, like trying to figure out why there is a 96% incumbent re-election rate for Congress. Oops, I may have answered my own question.

Back to the topic at hand. This week marks the final two episodes of Dan Vassar's journey. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I made a pun! Laugh like you mean it! In the second to last episode, he screws up by leaving something in the past, changing the future in a big way. A psychic, who is doing a reading for his wife, tells him that she can sense he needs to do something, and then tells him what (he already knew). It was a genuinely thrilling moment, but it was simply too much. Later in the episode, he finds out from the same psychic that fellow traveler (and presumed dead ex-girlfriend) Livia and he share a cosmically significant event on their respective birthdays. You could see an overarching conspiracy forming around the time traveling, but making it mystical is just too cheap, especially after building up the angle of a former NASA scientist doing crazy experiments. The Fonz has some new company.

The final episode airs tonight, and supposedly closes a "chapter" of the story, which despite the setbacks, deserves another shot at gaining some traction. Solid character-driven dramas should NOT be replaced with useless game shows.

I watch tv because I need something to do while I eat

2007-11-29T10:27:00.000-05:00

Mostly, anyway. Lately I've been watching the second season of Heroes, which has gotten mighty sucky, and the first season of Journeyman, which strangely, is not about Steve Perry. (Steve Perry, STEVE PERRY, STEEEVE PERRRYYY! AND I SHOULD'VE BEEN GONE!!!) I like the latter, which means it will be canceled. You have been warned...check it out before it's gone.

On a side note, Fox has brought back Futurama from it's untimely demise. Idiots. I think it's maybe just to kill it again. Never embalm anything with Worchestershire sauce, unless you want zombies on your hands.

One other thing on Tv lately is Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii. It's a good time so far, but the controller is a little wonky. The wireless guitar for the Wii version is built with a detachable neck, and the damned contacts inside are constantly testing me and my patience. Otherwise good clean, HARD fun. Hit up YouTube for Dragonforce's "Through The Fire and Flames" to see guys developing arthritis. I'd post it, but I'm too lazy for that. If you also find yourself too lazy, or just don't care to waste the effort, I can summarize the experience: bullshit.

Time to get out. See you in a few.

Mike Patton is not God....

2007-11-02T09:27:00.000-04:00

This is old news, but may interest some of you who haven't seen it yet. I caught it at Pitchfork, and have been meaning to post about it for several weeks now. Am I linked to Pitchfork? I don't remember, and I'm not opening another tab to check. So when you read this, I will either be linked or not linked, but I will definitely not be adding the link now, if it isn't there already. This surreal moment is courtesy of "All My Children".

Who says TV can't be useless?

Joost is Live

2007-10-04T16:27:00.000-04:00

Spend more time in front of your computer screen...

www.joost.com

(please note this is not for Linux people or Mac users without fancy new Intel processors; because Bill Gates doesn't like you)

Martin's Song

2007-09-28T12:27:00.000-04:00

He's only six years old, that old killer died
Put him down in a great big hole, I fill it up all the time
See the buildings rise up to the sky, parking meters, traffic cops
You best watch your record son, they'll come and lock you up

I've been working all night
I go long into the day
Ain't got much money now
Got the time ahead, got the time ahead to pay

Smoke and lightning, dressed to kill
Don't talk to strangers, that's all you know
Forty years of sudden death, the daylight's still not over yet
You should live to see evening fall, doctors working overtime
Too much of a good thing, not enough, stepping stones, building blocks

I've been working all night
I go long into the day
Ain't got much money now
Got the time ahead, got the time ahead to pay

I've been working all night
I go long into the day
Ain't got much money now
Got the time ahead, got the time ahead, got the time ahead to pay

Bury Me With It

2007-09-18T15:27:00.000-04:00

We were shootin at a mound of dirt
Well nothing was broken nothing was hurt
But I probably really should have been at work
But if my free time's gone would you promise me this that you will

Please bury me with it
Please bury me with it

Well as sure as planets come I know that they end
And if I'm here when that happens just promise me this my friend

Please bury me with it
I just don't need none of that Mad Max bullshit

Well the suit got tight and it split at the seams
But I kept it out of habit and I kept it real clean
But if it's getting faded, if it's runnin' outta thread
Could you do this for me my friend?

Please bury me with it
Please bury me with it

Well we moved to the left and we moved to the right
And sure as hell we stayed out almost every single night
But if the party's over, if the fun has to end
Could you do this for me my friend, would you just

Please bury me with it
Please bury me with it

Good news for people who love bad news
We've lost the plot and we just can't choose
We are hummingbirds who are just not willing to move
And that's good news for people who love bad news
We are hummingbirds who lost the plot
And we will not move
We have good news for anyone
Who loves bad news

We were aiming for the moon, we were shooting at the stars
But the kids were just shooting at the buses and the cars
So don't drink the water, don't you breathe the air
And if its gotten to that point then I have to declare

Please bury me with it
Please bury me with it

Well fads they come and fads they go
And god I love that rock and roll
Well the point was fast but it was too blunt to miss
Life handed us a paycheck, we said "We worked harder than this!"

Please bury me with it
Please bury me with it

Oh shit now!

We are hummingbirds who are just not willing to move
And there's good news for people who love bad news

We are hummingbirds who lost the plot
And we will not move
We have great news for anyone who loves bad news

Blast 'em outta bed wiff a...

2007-09-10T10:27:00.000-04:00

Don't throw shit

Superbad

2007-08-29T05:27:00.000-04:00

From the people that brought you blah blah blah...

It's pretty simple. This is a funny flick. I have heard it variously referred to as a teen-sex comedy and a teen sex comedy, but it's a little more than your typical 'American Pie' or 'Can't Hardly Wait' or whatever the dumb kids watch. For one, it's funny, and two, almost none of the participants are among the top fifty percent of what would be considered 'attractive' people. What would I classify it as? Funny.

Wii games...good and bad

2007-08-17T16:27:00.000-04:00

I only just realized that I can use this blog as a dumping ground for my daily frustrations about otherwise useless and/or totally uninteresting topics. To wit:

I am a member of the Gamefly video game rental service, on the one game out at a time plan. I pay 14.95 a month, but thanks to Brightspot.tv, I get 10 bucks off my bill each month. Seems pretty reasonable. I use the service solely to rent games for the Wii. My most recent rental is Prince of Persia: Rival Swords. What a turd. The puzzles seem to exist simply for the sake of existing. You complete pointless action after pointless action in an endless series of patience testing stretching futility. I was stunned to find that some folks find this game good and enjoyable. Being a port of an older Xbox game, it doesn't even use the motion sensing controls of the Wii. The camera system is simply trash. Mercifully, combat is rare, because it generally amounts to thrashing wildly with the remote and nunchuk. I guess what I'm saying is that I can't advise you to rent it. (Buying it would be the equivalent of burning your money in little pile in the back yard.)

A couple pretty decent rentals have been Rayman Raving Rabids and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, especially when your have multiple players around. Wii Play was fair, but the 9 games included were a little thin. Korinpa: Marble Madness was an interesting use of the motion controls, but the difficulty ramped up to 'mighty hard' too quickly. Excite Truck was a stinker. The controls were VERY wonky with that one. Wario Ware: Smooth Moves was fun, but I could see where some folks would be pretty annoyed with the number of different 'poses' that the remote had to be used in.

The final offender I have to mention is the Harry Potter game, Order of the Phoenix. You might be thinking that using the remote like a wand would be awesome. For the most part it's pretty useful. The actual gameplay, however, was dreadful. The game mostly consisted of fetch missions and terrible activities like (I swear I'm not kidding) moving furniture from one wall to another and packing clothes in a suitcase (!!!). Stop twisting the knife!

One game I have purchased but not tried yet is Farcry: Vengeance. I got it on the cheap, because apparently it bites the bunghole. ("Bunghole? What the heck is a bunghole?" "A hole for adding liquid to, or withdrawing liquid from, a barrel.")

It remains to be seen if Manhunt 2 will be allowed in the US, or anywhere else for that matter. It was essentially rated video game pornography in England and banned from sale. The game has you using the using the remote to commit hardcore acts of violence by miming the actions. One of them, of course, is bludgeoning people to death by swinging the remote like a club. Another is slashing someone's throat. Very much for the children...NYET!

Meanwhile, I await Metroid Prime 3 and Super Mario Galaxies, coming this fall. Maybe there will be a Bond game for the next film. We can dream. :)

Summer movies

2007-08-15T06:27:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy summer for me, movie-wise. The three most recent flicks I've seen are The Simpsons, Sunshine, and The Bourne Ultimatum. Superbad is coming up this Friday night, and I hope to get out to a movie with Lounge Daddy sometime before the snow flies.

It's getting tougher to pick my favorite movie that I've seen this year. The Simpsons was pretty good. Sunshine was EXCELLENT. I hope a whole lot more people see it. What a great movie. They made a sci-fi movie about a mission to the sun on a 40 million dollar budget, with very few CG shots. The effects are mostly hand made and they are gorgeous. The way the interior shots of the ship and crew are set up is beautiful. I'll mention the plot points without giving too much away, I hope. It's 50-odd years in the future, and the sun is dying. The Earth is literally slowly freezing, causing mass famine and death toll. Without getting into the science, the possibility is actually real, although very small. A mission is sent to deliver a nuclear bomb the size of Manhattan to the sun, to try to 'restart' the nuclear 'engine'. It turns out this is the last hope of the planet, as a previous mission was lost 7 years earlier, and the remaining fissionable material on the entire planet is riding on the back of the ship, Icarus II. They won't get another chance. There are some things you may see coming, but there are some that will leave you very surprised. I can't recommend this movie more highly.

The most recent trip to the theater was to see The Bourne Ultimatum. This was another great time. The picture revolves around the action, but there are little touches here and there that turn it into something more. You see people who are real people, not just stunts waiting to happen. It's an action movie you could take a date to and not second guess. BTW, the action is blow out. Wowza.

That does it for now, but hopefully not for this month. ;)

Forward!

2007-07-30T12:27:00.000-04:00

I'm back after an extended absence again. This time it was the Tour de France that hogged my days. My playing time in the City was severely curtailed as well. For 3 weeks in July, I watch grown men race 2200 miles on bicycles (and occasionally crash into dogs). Now if only they would start showing a few more bloody races on tv throughout the rest of the year. Like perhaps the events that happen right here in the USA. I'm not picky, the Giro d'Italia would work fine as well. Get on it Versus!

I had a half mad flight of fancy last night that perhaps I could start making audio or even video posts on here (and finally get some value out of the camcorder that just lays here with a dead battery). Hosting for the files would have to be free, unless they were willing to pay me (teehee).

My trusty Zen Xtra died after almost 3 years. The first and only time it got dropped. *poof* There goes the hard drive. So two weeks after I spent almost three bills to replace it with a Zen Vision W, I find a deal on a hard drive and now it's fixed. But much like Capt. Murphy after eating real Amish butter, now that I have the Vision, I just can't go back to margarine, err the Xtra. The Vision W (for widescreen) is gorgeous, plays Dixv, Xvid (and a bunch of other stuff), and generally begs to be used for all manner of good times. The hard drive is bit smaller, 30 gigs vs. 40 on the Xtra, but someone has already done a write-up about how to tear it down and replace the hard drive with a hundred gigger for maximum maximumness. *Must resist ordering another hard drive*

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some more videos to load, and Wii Sports to play. ;)

Happy Birthday

2007-07-09T14:27:00.000-04:00

Happy 29th birthday to The 22 Inch Gun

231 Years...and counting

2007-07-04T07:27:00.000-04:00

Thomas Jefferson will kick your ass...

Velvet Revolver and other madness

2007-07-02T11:27:00.000-04:00

I had the chance to hear Velvet Revolver's new disc, Libertad, last night at work. I am somewhat pleasantly suprised at how good it was. Of particular interest amongst the essentially non-stop rocking was a really snappy cover of Electric Light Orchestra's "Can't Get It Out Of My Head", which has probably one of their best ever melodies. A frickin ninja melody, and VR pulls it off with ease. After one listen, I can safely say the album is at least a 7.

What about my rating scale, you say? I should have pointed out a while back that it's not an absolute scale. It compares styles among each other along modern or past releases, both by the band and their comtemporaries. For instance, I have previously given Beulah's "The Coast Is Never Clear" a perfect 10, a measure of it's worth against the pop of it's era, and the band's canon to that point. But when held up to the light of past pop like say, any Beatles album, the disc would be more like a 7, simply because it (and PLENTY of other albums) cannot measure up against even the low end of the Beatles catalog. To digress for a monent about those same Beatles, it would be almost unthinkable to do today what they did; reach number one on the singles chart with a song that had SIX chords.

So the scale in it's current form is useful only against current (within the last 4 to 5 years) music. Whatever.

Catch up posting

2007-06-27T15:27:00.000-04:00

...which I seem to do alot. Anyway...

Just got back from Live Free Or Die Hard. Probably my favorite movie of the year. Heck, maybe even the best one I've seen this summer. But really, what was the competition so far? Pirates? Spiderman? ATHF? Knocked Up? Don't even get me started on Fantastic Four. That was absolutely one of the worst pieces of (cover your eyes kids) shit I have paid to see. Not this summer, not this year, but ever. I am still cursing myself for being lemming enough to shell out my bucks for that. Enough of the hate...for now. I will finish the capsule movie blurb with another mention of 300, which was a fine flick. So we'll call it a tie. And yes, I like to start my sentences with conjunctions.

Kelly Clarkson's disc is out this week, although I guess Clive Davis would prefer you didn't know about it. I mean, he's trying to make some money off it, right? Why would he care if you buy it? The guy sounds like a jackleg. He offered her 2 million bucks to get rid of 3 songs from the album and replace them with more radio friendly fare. Why oh why didn't she sell off what's left of her credibility and just take the money? Let's face it, she's never going to be as photogenic as Britney Spears (may this be her last mention ever on this page) or Jessica Simpson. There is no other source of revenue for her to make that much money. Doesn't she realize that talent as a singer or songwriter isn't going to get her anywhere these days unless she has the Hot Body™ that all the kids crave? Dammit Kelly, you could have been the next spokeperson for Proactiv acne medicine or drinking a Pepsi with half clothed dancers! Wow. I guess I do see why Clive Davis wants to finish her. Boy what a nice dude. A nude, if you will. /sarcasm

That's all for today. See you in 3 weeks after I see Transformers and the Simpsons movie.

Chris Cornell - Carry On

2007-06-05T13:27:00.000-04:00

I'm breaking the long drought of reviews today with Chris Cornell's new disc, Carry On.

When last I visited Cornell's previous band, Audioslave, I mentioned that he seemed to have kept all the good songs for his solo project. I now know I was wrong. There just weren't that many good songs. I could go into a song by song recounting of the disc, but I just don't want to waste that many words.

Cornell seems to have gotten through the singer-songwriter tendencies of his solo debut, Euphoria Morning, and now he's arrived at a MOR destination. There are a TON of ballads on this disc. Not good ballads, but leaden affairs which point out exactly how unsuited his vocal stylings are for anything but hard rock. The few hard rock-like tracks are by far the best of this batch, with the opener "No Such Thing" starting things out nicely. An oasis in the muck is "Your Soul Today", which might be the finest pure pop that he has ever recorded. Elsewhere, a cover of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" is overblown almost to the point of parody. The disc closes with the "rock mix" of Cornell's James Bond theme "You Know My Name", which fares slightly worse than the soundtrack version, thanks to the overcrowded and distracting production.

The verdict: You can't accuse Cornell of prostituting himself; he has made a record no one will buy. Leave it laying on the shelf and go spin Superunknown a few more times.

Rating: 5.0 out of 10

Further listening:
Soundgarden - Ultramega OK (1988) 6.0
Badmotorfinger (1991) 8.5
Superunknown (1994) 10.0
Down on the Upside (1996) 8.0
Temple of the Dog - S/T (1990) 8.0
Euphoria Morning (1999) 7.5
Audioslave - S/T (2002) 7.5
Out of Exile (2005) 8.5
Live in Cuba (2005) 5.0
Revelations (2006) 6.0

Your congressional rep may be taking money from the RIAA

2007-06-05T12:27:00.000-04:00

The fine folks over at The Consumerist have done some digging and come up with a list of the folks who received campaign contributions from the RIAA. Taking the money doesn't mean anything by and of itself, but it shows who the RIAA might be looking to for favorable help on the House and Senate floors. See the list here.

CSI: Miami

2007-06-01T09:27:00.000-04:00

Ima take a moment to diss this show. It seems to exist only for the purpose of selling ad time. It is patently ridiculous and irritating in ways that I would like to describe, but don't currently have the words for. David Caruso is perhaps the worst actor, male or female, on television, outside of maybe those kids on the Suite Life of Cody and Zach. He has one mood, a glower and a growl for a voice. A voice he uses to deliver the most deadened lines in primetime. Honestly, is he supposed to provide comedic value to this show? Sometimes, in spite of myself, I laugh loudly outward (llo) at the stupefying display of his 'acting'. This show doesn't smell like a turd covered in burnt hair, it IS a turd covered in burnt hair.

RIAA Loses Collective Mind, Wants To Make Radio Pay

2007-05-25T09:27:00.000-04:00

In a brilliant move, the RIAA has decided to make some noise about making public radio pay to play their songs. Lawyers (as well as talking head artists...oh, the shame) argue that the "free ride" should be over for radio. Currently, radio stations pay royalties to songwriters, but not to performers or record labels. The RIAA hopes to lobby Congress into making legislation that would allow them to charge for any broadcast of their intellectual property. They apparently weren't content with the free publicity for their songs, so it's time to lawyer up.

This is a bang-up idea as far as I'm concerned. If radio stations had to pay for major-label dreck, they are likely to start looking at indie music more seriously. Of course, small radio markets will be hard hit, depending on the royalty structure that the record companies will generously offer.

How does this effect me? Not at all. Terrestrial radio is dead to me. I plug in the MP3 player in the car. Radio is the past. The only real concern I have is that those scum-suckers at Clear Channel might cut a deal to get out of paying the green. (By "scum-suckers", I mean the worthless sacks that run the company and strangle independent radio and promotion, among other monopolistic practices.)

Read about this fine story here.

Random hits

2007-05-14T14:27:00.000-04:00

I know it's been a bit since I posted. I have been slaving at City of Heroes (not Villains, because it's boring me something terrible) trying to do whatever it is that people do when they have been paying good money for over two years and still haven't hit 'the end'. Expect more nothing in the days, months, and weeks to follow.

Rap and country are more alike than people think. Thought I'd get that out there right off the top. That's right. Mainstream rap and country are very much alike. Musically and culturally. Not identical, because there are obviously different viewpoints. But the execution is similar. Both (and forgive me if you have a vested interest in either, thought I don't know why you would) are inbred to the point of ridiculousness (told you you weren't going to like it, didn't I?). Rap and country rely on the same small groups of studio faces, the same producing teams, the same tactics of collaboration. And that's why both are suffering a lack of innovation.

While you at it, throw modern 'R&B' a dirty look too, because it's possibly MORE useless than either of those. There are now only two types of song in the R&B arsenal: the quick hitter and the slow jam. This of course, excludes Prince, who resides above that mess. At least until I see him dueting with Beyonce Knowles (yes, I used her full name, because I am THAT kind of asshole).

You might be saying, "what makes modern rock so fucking special?" Nothing. This might be the worst time for music in general, but modern rock has never been quite so bland and witless as it it right now. I listen to a lot of music, and the only thing I'm really looking forward to right now is Radiohead's new disc, and they don't have a release date. It's possible that Axl Rose and his merry band of misfits might climb to the top of the rock heap merely by showing up with two strong singles...if they ever finish the album.

Modest Mouse kind of bums me out. The new album sounded so promising when I first spun it, but now the cuff is showing some wear. It's impossible to listen to it without thinking how much more enjoyable the previous album was. Johnny Marr plays guitar. I can rhyme.

I wanted to see if the fuss about Justin Timberlake being some kind of new pop savant was the truth or the hype. The answer is yes: he is a little of both. Some songs on the newest disc are rote Top 40 flavors, but others, including "What Goes Around...", at least give me the impression that he knows what he's doing. What kind of teen idol wannabe makes a 7 and a half minute single? This weirdo, apparently.

I have had a song lodged in my head now for a few weeks. Country music, as it were. "Kerosene" by Miranda Lambert, who won some talent show or something. You tell me. The song is based on one incredibly dumb hook played over and over and over. It's sucks you in, which is good, because she has actually written some palatable lyrics, for a country song. I may actually check out her latest disc, which is the one after the one with "Kerosene".

I am an avid watcher of the show Heroes. You could watch too, so don't give that shit about not having seen it. It's available for free on NBC's website if you don't feel like recording it (which I do) or downloading it (which I *ahem* have heard of people doing, like for instance when their expensive and temperamental Media Center PC hooked to the TV decides to not record the show TO YOUR COMPLETE AND UTTER HORROR AT THE THOUGHT OF MISSING AN EPISODE). Anyway, if any of your have been paying attention, you know that Linderman told Nathan Petrelli that he would win the election. I finally know how he is going to ensure victory. He will use Mika's power to rig the voting machines. Seems a little anticlimactic at this point. Ah well, there's always next season. Wait, you say? There's more after the election? The small matter of a man blowing up half of New York City? Guess I better keep tuning in, eh? Or doing that other thing, which some people totally do, I hear.

One more topic from the sewer of TV. I have been watching '24' all season long, and I have to say, that show is overrated. They sucked me in with a few great back to back episodes at the start, and the whole thing just keeps getting more and more nonsensical. This show actually seems less real that 'Heroes' does, for cripe's sake!

On a closing note, because I'm friggin tired, I will ask the following question of one Robert Jordan, aka The Man Who Should Just Finish The Story: where is the "final" book of the Wheel of Time series, jerk?

A summary

2007-04-10T13:27:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd stick a few things together for brevity's sake.

I was reading the new Rolling Stone today ( I get it for cheap), and saw that Kelly Clarkson's new album, due out later this year, features a well known bass player on about half its songs. Clarkson wrote or co-wrote almost all of the tunes, against the wishes of her record company, I might add, and invited Mike Watt into the studio to lend two hands. Now this could just be a case of charity, because the cat only works like 200 nights a year or something, so maybe she figured he be grateful for the gig. I have examined plenty of possibilities, including that it might have been a Watt impersonator.

BTW, I realize that Kelly Clarkson's mug has been on my Now Playing list for friggin months. I have not listened in months. And yes, I have listened. And enjoyed.

Also, those of you who know me well, know that I have stacks of magazines waiting to be read, and that I read them in order of arrival. You might be asking "Why was dude reading the newest issue of Rolling Stone so quick?" Hot chicks. Rose McGowan and Rosario Dawson are on the cover, nude except for strategically placed belts of ammunition (bandoliers? anyone out there a gun enthusiast? or a nearly-nude woman enthusiast? help me out w/ this one), so I cheated a bit and read it early. Well most of it. I actually skipped the article about them, and read an Iggy Pop interview and the spring/summer album previews. Let's just say that the Iggy interview made the magazine totally worth the 8 cents I pay for each issue. Yes, 8 cents. That's actually a bit more than I pay for most of my magazines, which would be nothing, because free is good.

This rambling is out of control. I will close with a shout out for Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley, who deaths, eight years apart, had anniversaries last week. Kurt was an addict and killed himself w/ a gun. Layne was and addict and killed himself w/ his habit. Both wasted themselves, literally and figuratively. Kurt's death was sudden, but Layne's took YEARS. Heroin killed his spirit a few years before it finally finished his body.

Rest in peace.

Back in 5 minutes

2007-03-31T09:27:00.000-04:00

No posting for a few days. I know it's not the first time, and won't be the last. Both my brothers are visiting this weekend, so I will not have several minutes to pinch off a few posts.

Modest Mouse is going poorly. I haven't even had time to listen to it all the way through in one piece yet. Of course, that is more than I can say for The Hives last album, which is still waiting for any listen at all after almost 2 years. Take that Sweden!

300...and counting

2007-03-29T07:27:00.000-04:00

I saw 300 on the big Imax screen with Lounge Daddy on Tuesday. I'm now interested to read the original graphic novel (read: comic book for grown-ups) by Frank Miller, who is perhaps my favorite writer of such things. The movie was pretty good, although the dialogue got a bid tedious at times.

Sporting News

2007-03-28T15:27:00.000-04:00

Dave Kindred's pieces are thought provoking. Every time I finish one, I think to myself "Why did I just read that?"

Grammar is for fools!

2007-03-27T12:27:00.000-04:00

My lack of any kind of avatar continues.

That's it for now. Check back tomorrow for yet another terse, one sentence post.

Whaa....?

2007-03-24T08:27:00.000-04:00

Some of you may have noticed that the link to Don't Eat This Book is gone. I deleted it because, for some unknown period of time, it had been directing people to a hardcore porn site. No one complained, so either no one noticed, or they did and liked what they saw.

Speaking of Mr. Morgan Spurlock, season 3 of 30 Days is set to air sometime this fall. Spurlock will the feature of two as yet unrevealed episodes. In addition, he has produced a documentary set to premiere this spring called "What Would Jesus Buy?", about the commercialization of Christmas, materialism, and a bleah, bleah, bleah. Or some such rot. The flick was directed by Sundance Festival award winner Rob VanAlkemade. You can find the site for the movie (not the porn) here.

Spiral Frog Coming Soon

2007-03-23T15:27:00.000-04:00

...but who will be listening?

Lindsey Buckingham - Under The Skin

2007-03-22T13:27:00.000-04:00

To say folks have been waiting a long time is a bit of an understatement. This is Buckingham's first album since 1992, and not for lack of trying. His last attempt at a solo project turned into Fleetwood Mac's "Say You Will", and the time before that when he convened with the group was for the 1997 reunion shindig "The Dance".

Not much has really happened in the intervening years. Buckingham's voice remains strong, although the vocal effects on this disc sometimes make him sound horrifically hoarse. His arrangements are sparse and acoustic for the most part, so there was no need to throw in too many of his production tricks. He has written several excellent songs, done two covers, and fallen down a few times, but not too badly. John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, perhaps one of rock's most famous rhythm sections, join him on "Down on Rodeo", definitely the loudest track to be found here. As usual, his finger picking is STUNNING. Seriously, how many fingers does this dude have? As one cat I know put it after seeing Buckingham play "Big Love" and "Go Insane", "If I had hands like that I could, dare I say it, rule the world!"

This is one of those albums that if you like the dude, or his past work with the Mac, then you already own the disc. If not, then you surely do not, as evidenced by sales numbers. Folks in the latter camp: you are missing out. I hesitate to call this great work, but excellent is not far off the mark.

The verdict: Worth the wait.
8.5 out of 10

Further Listening
Buckingham Nicks (1973) 6.0
Law And Order (1984) 6.5
Out Of The Cradle (1992) 7.0

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie

2007-03-21T12:27:00.000-04:00

The ATHF movie will be in theatres on April 13th in limited release. Fully titled Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters, it follows the detectives on their quest to recover a missing piece of the Insanoflex, whatever the hell that might be. Look for me in the audience that night. That's right, I actually took the day off work to check it out, because I have my priorities straight. Stupid ass cartoon movies about food monsters are more important than money, at least to me, on this particular occasion.

New Modest Mouse Album Out Today

2007-03-20T12:27:00.000-04:00

That's right, it's Tuesday. The new incarnation of Modest Mouse, featuring one Johnny Marr of The Smiths, on guitar, is in stores today with "We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank". Look for a review sometime before 2009. I actually heard the album early the other night, at work of all places, and my initial impressions are that Isaac Brock is still weird, and in a good way.

Please note that this record cannot be found at any Tower Records location, due to there being none.

"New" Blogger

2007-03-19T09:27:00.000-04:00

I intented to make a real post today, but after the hassle of going through the forced Blogger upgrade, I'm fed up already.

Google, get bent.

Ubuntu - Can Linux Be your Friend?

2007-02-26T15:27:00.000-05:00

I have been playing around with Ubuntu 6.10 these past few days. Ubuntu is a Linux variant designed for ease of use by open-source newbies. It runs automatic updates, has thousands of available programs and add-ons, and you can even use it for gaming. Well, I mean you could use it for gaming, but first you have to be able to get it to work! After many wasted hours consulting various tech support sites, including Ubuntu's, I was unable to do something as simple as update the video card drivers. Specific functionality they built in to make it easy to run software "packages" has rendered it extremely hard to effectively install those packages. About the only thing it has going for it? It's totally free. Heck, you can even order cd's of the latest stable version for FREE if you don't feel like waiting an hour for it to download. Because honestly, who has an hour to wait on something? (Who starts a sentence with "because"?) They even state that they will offer update support for 3 years for this version. For free, of course.

The only catch? It doesn't always work right. And that gentle, readers, is why Linux faces a hard slog up the mountain in the snow, with no boots and a hip pointer. It doesn't just work, like Windows usually does. I realize folks have their troubles with Windows, but driver packages are usually a pretty trouble free install, and there is a reason Windows is the preferred gaming platform of men, women and children. It works. I never thought I be happy to say that, but in the City, you must fight to survive. He sold tortillas on the street corner and the mob wanted in...

Nothing, nothing

2007-02-23T14:27:00.000-05:00

"My name is not Lohman! It's Anderson! ANDERSON!"

Great stuff.

Rainer Maria Calls It Quits

2007-01-26T13:27:00.000-05:00

After 10 years and 6 albums, Rainer Maria have announced they are disbanding. No reasons were stated in the missive left on their website, though I expect that inter-band tension between Kyle's desire to actually be heard on the albums, and Caithlin's desire to write all the songs and make the most noise were contributing factors. As I mentioned in the review of their last album, Catastrophe Keeps Us Together, Kyle was getting pushed further and further toward the back. Both De Marrais and Fischer will likely have solo projects coming this year. I can say honestly that I will miss them. One fewer decent band in the world is a shame, even if they were headed down slowly for the last 3 years.

Linkage to my review scores of their discography, minus the last one from above.

Medieval II : Total War

2007-01-24T14:27:00.000-05:00

I've been playing this game for the last week and a half and it rules. You lead a faction in medieval Europe, trying to balance religion, war, economy and diplomacy with other countries. I've got about 40 hours in on this now, and haven't even seen half of the world yet.

Of course, all this time spent has curtailed my reviewing, as well as any available time I've had to hang out in the City. But did I mention it rules?

How You Will Be Sued By The RIAA

2007-01-05T17:27:00.000-05:00

Howdy folks. This is my first new post in a few weeks, and the first of the new year. I was catching up on some of the posting at the Recording Industry Vs. People blog, and thought I would share this nugget about how the RIAA handles their business. The frequently updated "sticky" is located here.

I don't want to scare monger, but if you are reading this post right now, you could already have been sued by these pricks, AND YOU WOULD NOT EVEN KNOW IT YET! You don't even have to be engaged in any kind of peer to peer file sharing to be named as a "John Doe" defendant. You merely have to have an IP address for internet access which a secret third party monitoring company believes has been used to transfer copyrighted material. Due process will be ignored in all possible instances by RIAA lawyers. You will likely be offered a chance to "settle" for a sum in the thousands of dollars, so that the case will not go to trial. If you pay the extortion, your money will be used to pay the attorney's fees, and will further embolden future attempts to "protect" intellectual property.

If you choose to go to trial and fight, you will likely incur large expenses hiring a lawyer to defend yourself. The sad truth is that once your case goes to trial, your only hope will usually be a sympathetic judge. In any case where people end up paying these jerks, the money NEVER goes to the artists of this intellectual property, and ALWAYS ends up in the hands of lawyers.

I am now very depressed.

Rocky Balboa

2006-12-20T15:27:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I saw it.

And I liked it. Quite a bit actually. It's the perfect end to the series. It ties up all the loose ends and it wasn't a cartoon like the last 3. Hell, even the boxing was good. There was a real sincerity about what was going on for all those different characters. Even skinny Marie got her act together.

Nice. Real nice.

The Beatles - Love

2006-12-18T10:27:00.000-05:00

I just picked this disk up a few weeks, and I can dig it. It's an album designed to be a mash up of Beatles songs that are the soundtrack of the new Cirque de Soleil show entitled, funny enough, Love. Sir George Martin (I add the proper title because the man is The Man) and son Giles used the master recordings to splice together almost 3 dozen Beatles songs. The set includes a previously unheard demo of George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", with a new string arrangement added for good measure.

It's pretty good, all in all, but it's not enough. Even Sir Paul McCartney (once again, The Man) admitted he wished they had gone a little farther with the experiment. And in the end, who better to pay tribute the Beatles legacy than a bunch of old people?

Nintendo says take it easy...

2006-12-16T07:27:00.000-05:00

Nintendo announced that they will be offering replacement straps for 3.2 million Wii remote controls. This comes after many complaints, by GROWN people no less, that the straps are breaking and causing them to lose control of their remotes. The pathetic truth is that these people are slinging their remotes around so hard that they are leaving their hands and snapping the admittedly delicate safety strap. Presumably, these folks also can't be trusted with utensils or any sharp objects like knives or scissors. And keep the Q-Tips away from them, because they are likely to impale their own brains in their enthusiasm.

Anyway, you can sign up for up to 4 newly redesigned straps here. Happy flailing!

Free Traficant

2006-12-12T12:27:00.000-05:00

I have been jokingly referring to Mr. Jim Traficant for several weeks now, so I thought I would offer a few links to related sites. One is a nice little compendium of his many one minute speeches given at the open of each days' session of the U.S. House of Representatives. Find that here. Another is the Free Traficant site, where you can read gems like

"And then when I get out [of prison] I will grab a sword like Maximus Meridius Demidius and as a Gladiator I will stab people in the crotch."

and

"I want you to disregard all the opposing counsel has said. I think they're delusionary. I think they've had something funny for lunch in their meal, I think they should be handcuffed, chained to a fence and flogged, and all of their hearsay evidence should be thrown the hell out. And if they lie again, I'm going to go over there and kick them in the crotch. Thank you very much."

I should mention that the fine people of Ohio elected him to 8 terms. Hee hee! I'd like to thank Lounge Daddy over at G.R. Confidential for spurring this post with a mention of Mr. Traficant on Sunday.

Oh yes...in case anyone was wondering...my bottles of Heinz ketchup support the Free Traficant effort.

Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny

2006-11-28T12:47:00.000-05:00

If you're a fan of the short-lived TV show from HBO, you might get a chuckle out of this movie. What a difference a few years makes though. The watered down script left me a little pissed off, actually, because even though Rage Kage and Jables were there, they weren't really THERE. It was like a sleepwalk from both of them. The music? Not a tenth as good as the stuff from the original show, and even worse than the album from a few years back. Meat Loaf and Ronnie James Dio are mostly wasted in cameos, because their songs are so damned weak. The best song in the flick is probably the one at the beginning, performed by the "kid" version of Jables. I just hope there is a sequel and they don't leave the funny in their other freaking pants.

In the words of Don Roritor: "I had such high hopes for you. Unfortunately, you just don't get it!"

Heroes

2006-11-27T11:27:00.000-05:00

Dunno if any of you have seen this show yet, but I can actually recommend it. I watch nearly no TV, but I set aside an hour of my week to see this show. The premise is that there are people with special abilities connected with each other in ways they don't realize. How they came by their powers is a mystery (as of now), but it appears they may be part of some sort of experiment. Right now, several of them are working toward preventing a nuclear explosion in New York City, though they don't know when or why it will happen. See, one of them is a precog, so he paints the future, but only after he's used some smack (H, Horse, heroin, whatever ya wanna call it), and he has painted the bomb going off. Now they have to figure out how to stop it.

The thing gets a little more complicated, because they are being advised by one of them who has traveled back from the time after the bomb goes off to tell them how to stop it. The storyline is not really mindbending, but there are so many characters wandering in and out each week that it's hard to see the whole picture at once.

The show isn't entirely rosy, with some of the worst dialogue I have ever heard, and I've watched the Disney Channel! I actually cringed a few weeks ago at an exchange between two of these folks. But it's getting better. Look for it on Mondays on NBC.

Oh, yeah, got my Wii...a week after I thought I would. It's friggin awesome! This is a new way to play video games for sure. The controls are amaxing! That's right AMAXING!!! Now if only those jacklegs at Nintendo would get some more units on the shelves, they could put a serious hurt on those other jacklegs at $ony. Here's hoping.

Nintendo Wii

2006-11-17T13:27:00.000-05:00

Barring a problem, I will be the proud owner a Nintendo Wii in just less than 36 hours. And no camping out on a sidewalk for 4 days either, thanks to Nintendo's clear desire to actually have systems ready for purchase when they are available for purchase.

Sony has really messed up their chances of becoming the top selling system of this generation with the PS3. The delays, the shortages, the smug "this system should cost so much more" mentality, and now this. The last problem is not as big as the others, which include, apparently, cutting the number of launch units in half, something that American media outlets are not widely reporting, but is all over foreign video game sites. I can say personally that the store I work at was expecting 10 units for launch, and only received 6. Meanwhile a second shipment of Wiis (what is the plural of Wii?) is already on the way, before the system even goes on sale!

In conclusion, only the very rich will get a PS3 in the next few weeks, and they'll be doing it on eBay. Selling it is probably the smart bet for anyone who managed to score one on Friday, because the demand intensity is higher with fewer systems on the market.

P.S. The Japanese PS3 launch saw more consoles sold than games. For a company who has to sell a shitload of software to make any kind of money at all on their massively-loss-leading hardware, that isn't good.

Veteran's Day

2006-11-11T23:27:00.000-05:00

I would like to offer a thank you to all the men and women who have served in our armed forces, as well as those that continue to serve. You defend our country, our honor and our freedom.

SALUTE!!!

As long as I'm still awake...unless this is a dream

2006-10-10T18:27:00.000-04:00

Am I the only person who thinks that Off The Wall is Michael Jackson's best album? There are zero bum songs on there, and the singles are real ass-shakers.

I'm just saying...

Calamine

2006-10-09T17:27:00.000-04:00

www.Calamine.com

Crank

2006-09-11T15:27:00.000-04:00

What a mindless good time! I'm a fan of Jason Statham after seeing him in the Transporter movies and The Italian Job, and he doesn't disappoint here. The plot is....ummmm, actually....not really a plot, just one action sequence after another. This movie feels leaner than Snakes On A Plane, both because of the shorter running time and the frantic pacing. At 83 minutes, it hops right along, and in a good way.

You like dumb action movies that don't have Vin Diesel? Check this flick out!

Audioslave - Revelations

2006-09-07T08:27:00.000-04:00

I don't really like to write terse, pointed criticisms of albums, but here goes another...

Audioslave has settled into a comfortable groove with their third album, Revelations. The only real revelation is that sometime in the last 12 months, they decided to bring on the boredom. It's hard to believe that the 3 guys behind Chris Cornell were once in Rage Against The Machine. Not so hard to believe is the wuss out pose that Cornell himself has adopted since Superunknown hit in 1994. Audioslave is obviously just running through his songs now, and it makes me wonder if Morello, Wilk and Commerford have run out of gas. Cornell mentioned in a recent interview that he has a solo disc coming out next year, so maybe he hoarded all the good stuff for himself.

Whatever the case, the thrill is gone. These boys finally sound like a full fledged band...just not the right one.

The verdict: Go ahead and buy it, ya sadist.

Rating: 6.0 out of 10

Further Listening:
Audioslave (2002) 7.5
Out Of Exile (2005) 8.5
Live In Cuba (2005) 5.0

Jeremy Enigk News

2006-09-06T15:27:00.000-04:00

Jeremy Enigk, singer/songwriter of The Fire Theft and Sunny Day Real Estate, has an album due out on October 17. Titled "World Waits", it's his first solo disc since 1996's "Return of the Frog Queen" and will be released on Lewis Hollow Records.

Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows that I love to talk up SDRE, so I am understandably excited about new product from their principal songwriter. Info about the disc and tour dates are available here and at The Fire Theft's website. Old (very old) info about Sunny Day Real Estate is still available on Sub Pop's website here, including some entries about Jeremy's conversion to Christianity and subsequent breakup (and reformation) of the band written by Jeremy himself.

In short, Sunny Day Real Estate is dead. Long live Sunny Day Real Estate!

Aaaarrrrgggghhhh

2006-09-01T07:27:00.000-04:00

Snakes

2006-08-20T14:27:00.000-04:00

Ridiculous. Highly entertaining and ridiculous.

So very ridiculous.

Led Zeppelin - 1973

2006-08-17T14:27:00.000-04:00

I'm interrupting the SNAKES ON A PLANE countdown to offer a few words for something of EVEN LESS CONSEQUENCE. Through the magic of the Usenet, I recently came across a bootleg of Led Zeppelin fromm July of 1973. It's either a whole show or a good deal of one from the "Houses of the Holy" tour. Who cares, you ask? Why me...a little. Having spent (mispent?) my youth listening to these fogeys and their ever-duller brand of blues thrash played at god-destroying volumes, I still find myself interested in the nooks and crannies of their catalog.

This particular boot is only 6 songs, clocking in at better than 90 minutes, the indulgent bastards. Think on that for a minute...6 SONGS! Disgusting. It's even worse when you look at the tracklist and see that the "encore", "Dancing Days" is only 2 and a half minutes of that, during which Robert Plant refers to the song as being about a fetish for "15, 16 year old girls who wait at bus stops". The 70's were pretty fucked up, and that why the kids of today should defend themselves, or so sayeth Mr. Mike Watt, who caught on a long time ago, and who is trying to drop that knowledge on you.

Now I wouldn't exactly call Zep garbage bandits, but this crap is sure close. The band runs through a half hour of "Dazed and Confused" (not the movie, although the band was heavily messed up at the time, so they could have thought they were somewhere else), and it's just like the version from "The Song Remains the Same", except, you know, scratchier and more out of tune (and longer, somehow...WTF!), right down to Jimmy Page playing his guitar with a violin bow (I did mention he was heavily medicated right?), and Robert "Percy" Plant fucking up the call-and-response parts with a serious inability to stay on key. I mean, as if you can scream like a woman and maintain key, that is.

They boogie right into "Stairway to Heaven", where Jimmy's hands do not allow him to maintain a) consistent speed b) any semblance of good tone and c) my interest. Meanwhile Percy is tra-la-la-ing, and John Paul Jones is playing what might be the most annoying electric piano pattern I have ever heard.

To be honest, I skipped the third song, "Moby Dick", altogether. As I get older, I find myself less patient, so I sure as shit wasn't going to listen to John Henry "Bonzo" Bonham fuck around on the drums for a half hour, not when I could be doing more useful things, like checking myself for testicular cancer or buying 10 bucks worth of U.S. quarters for $200 off QVC. I mean, I have my priorities.

At this point, it's been over an hour, and I've only heard 3 songs. The boys bust a horrendous version of "Heartbreaker", and mercifully let it peter out after only 8 short minutes. The "Whole Lotta Love" medley closes out the main set, and it's they only place that the band even sounds decent. Percy is in rare form, dropping ridiculous lines from "The Crunge" about looking for the bridge and then clueing the crowd in that Jimmy Page is trying to strangle out some James Brown with his (and I quote the Cap'n) "opiate-wasted matchstick fingers", because they never, ever would have picked out the melody among that mess of crooked notes without help. The reverb on Robert's vocal only makes it sadder and more comical when he runs out of gas and stutters three times when delivering the overblown (and comic in its own right) "Wanna whole lotta luuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrruuuuvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvee.....eeeeeee.....
eeeeee.....eeeeee!" And this was the good song.

"Does anybody remember laughter?"

"Dancing Days" is mercifully cut off after 90 seconds of bad bar band impression. Not a big loss. The taper saved me from more misery, and the band wasn't into it anyway. They probably wanted to wrap up so they could go hit some bus stops.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

2006-08-06T14:27:00.000-04:00

I laughed out loud. My summer movie-going experience was saved. Hands down my favorite movie of the summer.

Caught the trailer for Tenacious D's movie...hot stuff.

Next up...SNAKES ON A PLANE

PBS Faces Fine

2006-07-27T09:27:00.000-04:00

Nicked from Fark.com:

Unclear federal rules for broadcast television decency standards are putting public TV stations at risk and threaten to deprive viewers of important programs, PBS President Paula Kerger said Wednesday.

"The fines now would put stations out of business, and we cannot allow that to happen," Kerger told a meeting of the Television Critics Association.

"We need to do a better job ... in letting the American people know that this is not just about Janet Jackson," she said. "This is about filmmakers that have powerful stories that now are not being allowed to tell those stories on public television or broadcast television."

Read the rest here.

I dunno about the rest of you, but if a World War II veteran wants to curse when he's taking about the war, I don't give a FUCK. Anyone who helps to save the free world, and free speech with it, can say WHATEVER they like, WHENEVER they like. If he wants to spend his time in the film talking about taking a big dump on Hitler's charred remains, more power to him. A lot of good men and women died to save our country and the world from tyranny. The sacrifice that millions made seems to be forgotten to some degree, and if it takes a few veterans with coarse language to get the point across, no son of a bitch should be able to stop them. Not here in the land they fought to save. Not on my fucking watch.

/rant

Clerks Too

2006-07-23T14:27:00.000-04:00

I went into this sequel expecting to be disappointed. Kevin Smith's original was shot on a damn near no budget, and it showed. But it fairly oozed great humor, even if the dialogue was a hyper-literate mouthful. 12 years later, Smith shows us what's happened to the Dante and Randall. Nothing. Still stuck at the Quick Stop (and the video store next door), they haven't moved one inch. Smith's style has moved a bit more, but not necessarily for the better. Though shot on a considerably larger budget than the first film, the movie still uses only few sets and a small cast. The difference in the scripts is immediate. This sequel is the work of a veteran writer and director, and trims the wordplay considerably. Smith still finds time to include his usual doses of Star Wars banter and kinky sex references. The movie comes off more as a romantic comedy than the first time around. In fact, there is only a thin veneer of comedy over the romance. My prediction is that it splits the viewing audience in two; those that are old enough to remember the first and those young enough to have this as their first exposure. The former will likely appreciate the situation of Dante and Randall and how time has softened their characters in the eyes of Kevin Smith. The latter may just wonder what all the fuss was about because this sequel doesn't have much punch. I find myself firmly in the middle. The comedy, vulgar as it is, is only window dressing for Smith's romantic aspirations. Even the ever profane Jason Mewes is considerably toned down.

This flick is about closure, and we finally get there. The journey isn't too shabby, and that's good enough for me.

RIAA conducting a "reign of terror"

2006-07-21T13:27:00.000-04:00

The EFF is rattling its sabre again...those jerks.

After talking in general terms, Beckerman briefly described two of the cases that he believes could have far-reaching consequences. In Elektra vs. Barker, the defendant is a nursing student who lives in a housing project. The defence has made a motion to dismiss, because the case "doesn't specify any acts, dates, or times of copyright infringement as the laws normally require." In response, the RIAA claims that "merely making files available on the Internet is in and of itself a copyright infringement" -- an argument, as Beckerman points out that, if successful, "would probably bring down the entire Internet. Because of the implications of this argument, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, and the US Internet Industry Association have intervened on behalf of the defence, and the Motion Picture Association of America and the US Department of Justice on behalf of the prosecution. Potentially, the case could decide the fate of the RIAA cases one way or another. Yet, Beckerman says, "We've received no support of any kind from anywhere."

In UMG vs. Lindor, the defendant "is a home house-aid who's never even used a computer," according to Beckerman. "She's never operated a computer, she's never even turned on a computer. The only connection she has ever had to a computer is that she has on occasion dusted near the parts that she believes are a computer. And yet she is being pursued as an online distributor in peer-to-peer file sharing."

Since Beckerman became involved in the case after it had gone to federal court, he has tried to learn the details of the charges -- so far with little success. "The RIAA is trying to conceal the information about how it conducts its 'investigation,'" he says. "They have stalled every discovery request we've made" -- presumably because to reveal this information would also reveal the weakness of all the similar cases.

"Unless the world comes together and helps all these defenseless people," Beckerman concluded, "the RIAA's going to win all these battles. And they're going to rewrite the copyright law."

I stand by my brothers in the RIAA...long enough to light the base of the stake...

Newly linked: the Recording Industry Vs. People blog

In other news, Yahoo Music is experimenting with DRM-free MP3 song downloads...link to follow shortly

Pirates...

2006-07-09T14:27:00.000-04:00

...who among you has yet to see it?
Linky

Also...Happy 28th birthday to The 22 Inch Gun.

As you were...

FOX SUCKS IT!!!

2006-07-06T12:27:00.000-04:00

The primetime Emmy award nominations were announced today. Arrested Development, surely the best live action comedy show on TV, was again nominated for best comedy series and best writing in a comedy series. Of course, Fox cancelled it earlier this year, after chopping the scheduled episodes from 22, to 18, and finally hacking it off at the knees after just 13 episodes. No other word here will suffice, so I'm going to go with "Assholes!". The pile of corpses that have fallen victim to these fools is IMMENSE! Tell me that there aren't GREAT shows among this list: (in no particular order)

Arrested Development
Millenium
Strange Luck (there is a Yahoo Group dedicated to this fine show...and episodes are floating around the net...)
Futurama
Family Guy (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Greg The Bunny
The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.
The Lone Gunmen
Harsh Realm (another D.B. Sweeney show)
The Tick
Andy Richter Controls The Universe
Firefly (by 'Buffy' creator Joss Whedon)
The Ben Stiller Show (best writing Emmy winner...after it got shit-canned)
Undeclared - Judd Apatow has been SCREWED! He was the co-creator of The Ben Stiller Show, went on to create Freaks and Geeks, which was cancelled by NBC before they even aired all the episodes, then created Undeclared, which survived 17 episodes on Fox. All great shows...Freaks and Geeks is the KING of NBC's Hall of Shame.
Dark Angel (not everyone's cup of tea)
Get A Life! (Chris Elliot as a 30 year old paperboy living with his parents...did anyone else see this show but me?...it was on in the dim mists of 1990...)
Titus
Profit
Space: Above and Beyond

and the one that got stabbed in the back twice, first by ABC, then by Fox -
The Critic

This list could go on...maybe they could start adding some of these DUMBASS reality shows to it.

230 Years...and counting

2006-07-04T07:27:00.000-04:00

Got your back since 1776

Superman Returns

2006-06-28T14:27:00.000-04:00

Speaking as a child of the 90's...

Not a whole lot to say about this movie, and not much point really, since it is so immense that my few words won't sway you, the viewing public, anyway. It is a Hollywood movie, first and foremost. Not too many diversions from the main plot, at least that I will reveal for the few of you that won't see this in the next week or so. As a Hollywood movie, you have the inevitably improbable situations and the curious lapses in the most basic logic and common sense. This was also a fairly violent PG-13 movie, although far less so than others like the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Bryan Singer, who is credited not only as director and producer, also co-wrote the story, and his touch can be seen in the dark storyline. Superman no longer wears bright colors, and even the moments that are meant to invoke wonder are curiously muted. Lex Luthor is quite ruthless in this incarnation.

Guess that was more than a little to say. And I haven't even mentioned Kevin Richardson yet...

Nacho Libre

2006-06-24T09:27:00.000-04:00

This is 'Nacho' favorite movie. HAR HAR HAR!!!!!!! At least the Pedro character had more than a few lines this time. The abuse was similar though.

Next up: Superman Returns...perhaps I will finally stop cringing.

X-Men: The Last Stand (oooooh scary!)

2006-06-08T10:27:00.000-04:00

This movie smelled like a turd covered in burnt hair.

Random chaff

2006-06-05T17:27:00.000-04:00

The definitive word on Mission of Burma's new disc is that it carpet bombs your cities, stampedes your people and rapes your cattle. And that's just the bonus disc! The footage of four songs from a reunion show in 2004 is so good, it's worth the price of the album by itself. Roger totally DESTROYS two new songs, "The Set-up" and "Wounded World" and then Clint gets his turn with the classics "That's When I Reach For My Revolver" and "How I Escaped My Certain Fate". I have a healthy dose of respect especially for Peter, who is a BEAST behind his kit.

Oh, and the album is pretty damn sharp too.

Elsewhere, in less exciting fashion, digging out the old copy of Enormous' "Busman's Holiday" was rewarding this morning. A broken glass trio fronted by a bass playing woman with a snarl. Good stuff if you can get past the songs with no brain, no heart and no hooks.

Holla!

Rainer Maria Discography

2006-05-28T05:27:00.000-04:00

I realized just yesterday that my post concerning Rainer Maria didn't have any info on their old albums. I have been planning to put this at the bottom of each new review, and so far have failed miserably to do so.
________________________________________________

Further listening:
Past Worn Searching (1997) 4.5
Look Now Look Again (1999) 8.5
Atlantic EP (1999) 10.0
A Better Version of Me (2001) 7.5
Long Knives Drawn (2003) 7.0
Anyone In Love With You (Already Knows) (2004) 7.0

'nuff said

E3 - After the fact

2006-05-23T20:27:00.000-04:00

I realize that E3 has been over for a week now, but I'm still marveling at how well Nintendo came out of the show. They definitely generated the most buzz, and they might have the most legitimately exciting console of the next generation. The best part for me is definitely going to be the connectivity feature. Playing 20+ years of old games brings exciting possibilities to the table. I will surely be buying one come November.

The one with the least to show for the expo was probably Sony, even though they unveiled PS3. They might have been better served to leave the price point unrevealed, because a lot of folks probably got cold feet about laying out so much loot. I know Sony is working toward some kind of living room convergence, but they are banking on a proprietary format, and they have been burned before. Of course, people will buy it up...because they have more money than brains. Also, having such a library of compatible software doesn't hurt.

The Minutemen - "We Jam Econo"

2006-05-15T16:27:00.000-04:00

Took a minute out of getting ready to konk to chimp this out. There's a new docu-DVD coming out on June 27th about The Minutemen. It's 2 discs, one the story of the band, and the other a full disc of live action from three gigs. Looks killer.

Might never have found these dudes if not for III, who repped them when I first got to know him. Had myself a good time when I caught Watt and the Secondmen four years ago this month right here in Furniture City, USA. They gigged at a place that isn't there anymore. All told, The Secondmen played 60 shows in 61 nights, from coast to coast, on the "Our Oars Became Wings" tour.

I'm gonna really start rambling in a minute, so I'll just give you the addy's and be be off to sleep. You can check the details on the DVD's here. There is a short trailer on there (you'll need Quicktime to watch). And you can always see what Watt's up to at the hootpage.

Goodnight.