The past few days have not been banner days at League HQ.

This made me feel a bit better. Radiohead covering New Order.



found at BeaucoupKevin.com

Viva La Gorbie!

I have very little idea what these guys are literally saying, but I appreciate the overall message of the video.

As I said to Steven, when he sent me the video, What isn't awesome in this video? That said, its not meant for the eyes of our more sensitive viewers, so please view with discretion.


GORBACHOV: THE MUSIC VIDEO - BIGGER AND RUSSIANER from Tom Stern on Vimeo.

For something of an explanation, go here.

More Dancing Sequences!

Nathan suggested I check out this dance number from The Band Wagon (1953), with Cyd Charisse. And, well, he was right.

The Girl Hunt Ballet, from "The Band Wagon":


And, a re-mix with Michael jackson's "Smooth Criminal", which I still think isn't a bad tune.


Make 'Em Laugh from "Singin' in the Rain"


And, apropos of nothing: Wolverine sings "Oklahoma!"

The 'ol Canucklehead can really sing!

ACL Fest 2008 - seriously ACL Fest?

The ACL Fest has already released their schedule for this year's Festival. And... its looking a little bleak for The League.

Last year there were some conflicts on the schedule. This year, it seems like more than half of the bands I was planning to see are playing at the same time, which means half the money I spent on a ticket is going to waste.

I just saw Austin Super Music Geek Andy Langer on News8 essentially making fun of anybody who would take exception to the schedule, and... well... suck it Andy Langer. Not all of us get paid to go to shows, and some of us have to take days off work to go to this thing.

Andy Langer also fails to note that unless you get to the good shows early, you're way in the back, and... bleah. So even when, say, Jenny Lewis starts a little before David Byrne, and, technically you can see both... you're going to miss a good part of David Byrne AND you're going to wind up closer to the beer booths than the stage.

Day 1
Jenny Lewis plays at the same time as David Byrne
And the headliner that night is somebody I've literally never heard of.

Day 2
Black Joe Louis, Robert Earl Keen and Erykah Badu play at the same time
Duffy and Spiritualized play at the same time
But... really... Beck and Robert Plant/ Allison Krause play at the same time. Seriously... wtf?

Day 3
Heartless Bastards, Raconteurs, and Gnarls Barkley at the same time. 3 of the big reasons for me to show up, and... seriously? Does the ACL Fest staff really think there's no conflict for the audience here? When there are so many holes in the schedule for hours at a time?
And the big closing act? The Foo Fighters. A pop band for frat dudes. Well done, ACL Fest. Didn't you guys land Dylan last year?

I am deeply disappointed. There are a few points of minimal conflict in the schedule, such as Gillian Welch and Vampire Weekend playing against nobody else I'd care to see. But, honestly, this is putting a pretty big cloud over the whole thing for me.

I don't really care if it costs more. Next year, I'm not buying tickets until I've seen the line-up and schedule. I've already spent the money for this year, so I'm locked in. But that Raconteurs/ Heartless Bastards/ Gnarls Barkley trifecta is particularly bothersome. As is the lack of big, headlining shows this year (that I care about). And while I'm glad I saw so many new acts last year (and subsequently picked up albums), those were interspersed with bands that I was already happy to see. Less so this year.

I know, I know... I'm old. I may not even be in the right demographic anymore to be who the festival is aimed at. And I don't want to spoil it for Jason before we've even shown up, so I'm going to quit complaining. And I'm not sure I wouldn't have gone to the festival with this info. But I will say I'm not even half as excited about this year's schedule than I was about last year's...

Back from Radiohead/ Houston

Jamie and I are back from a fun-filled weekend at the folks' in beautiful Spring, Texas.

We drove in Friday afternoon with Mel in tow. Jeff and Lucy stayed here with house-mate Nicole, whom, I believe, amused the pets all weekend with puppet shows and a song and dance routine to the music of Rodgers & Hammerstein.

Saturday, Steven and Lauren joined us at stately Steans Manor for swimming, burgers and Lauren getting mauled by Mel when she got between my swimming pal and a pool toy. Sorry about that, Lauren. You'll heal eventually. But it seems like Mel had fun swimming.

Jennifer K. and Jason showed up, The Admiral threw some burgers on the grill and KareBear outdid herself in the food prep and meal-time arrangements department. Well done, parental units!

The Radiohead show itself was great. It was two solid hours of Radioheadishness. Almost nothing in the way of banter (which, believe me, I appreciate), a great stage set up and light show. And the crowd was appreciative without fawning.

I should mention that Thom Yorke is an amazing dancer.


The brightly lit hues of Radiohead's stage show

If you look at the audience, I think you can also see a lot of little blue lights in the picture. I didn't realize that recording shows on your cell phone was now considered perfectly normal. And I don't recall any statements warning us NOT to record the show. I guess either Radiohead doesn't care, or the RIAA is really giving up.

We got back to my folks' house around 12:15 or so. Lauren and Steven stayed for a while, and we all ended up staying up too late.

This morning we all got up very, very late. Then headed out for breakfast. Unfortunately, this meant our schedule was screwed up and we didn't make the planned journey down to Shannon and Josh's house in Meyerland before heading out of town.

So, Josh and Shannon, I owe you one.

Anyway, home again, home again, jiggity jog. Now I've got to plan for the week ahead and getting myself off to Costa Rica.

Hope o

Willie Nelson at 75

What can one write or say about Texas legend, Willie Nelson, that hasn't been written or said before? As much as folks down our way like to listen to Willie, it seems like the man graces the cover of Texas Monthly once every 18 months or so, with article attached.

On the radio this weekend, they were focusing on an all-day Willie retrospective. Tomorrow night, KGSR is dedicating the evening to a Willie celebration. And News 8 Austin is dedicating a good chunk of their day tomorrow to celebrating Willie.

Willie crosses all lines around here. Everyone from the hippies to the old, tarnished Texans loves the guy. Few self-respecting Texans do not know the words to, at least, "On the Road Again".

And if you don't own a copy of something along the lines of Willie Nelson: Super Hits, well, hang your head in shame, sir/ ma'am. But, mostly, pick it up and give it a listen.

I regret that I've never seen the man perform. Perhaps one day.

So, today and tomorrow I salute you, Willie. And I promise to listen to an album or two of your tomorrow in your honor.


Willie's very nice website.

Anyone up for Radiohead?

Hey Leaguers,

It seems I have two tickets to Radiohead in Houston on May 17th. If anyone wants to go, let me know. You'll have the pleasure of not just my company, but that of Jamie.

Now, this isn't a give-away. You're gonna have to give me some cash.

We do have seats under the pavilion dealy at the Cynthia Wood Mitchell Pavilion, so we're not on the grass, for what that's worth (which in Houston in May, might be a good thing).

So if you want the tickets, let me know.

Mono E at Club DeVille 2nite!

hey,

Just a quick FYI. Jason's band, the Mono Ensemble, will be playing at Club DeVille tonight at 8:30ish.

Jamie, Doug, Nicole and I will be there to have a drinky drink and salute the Mono E.

Don't you feel the need to rock? DON'T YOU????

Meatloaf and Advertising

Around 1995, after the Holiday festivities at my folks' house had wrapped for the day and the relatives were headed off to bed, Jason and I headed to a longtime Kuykendahl-based watering hole, Molly Maguire's. The place is dark, smelly, has a few pool tables, etc... and the sort of local color one would expect so close to the edge of 1960 and Kuykendahl. Plus a barkeep who I believe may have actually been Irish (I didn't press the point).

It being Spring by Houston, at the end of the 1990's, the scene in Houston was very cheap-beer-rock-centric. Houston loved its ACDC and ZZ Top, to the point where every time I would re-enter Houston from 1993-1997, I was literally able to find ACDC playing somewhere, on some station. And this bar's jukebox was littered with 70's and early 80's rock classics, a fact I was entirely unable to appreciate at the time (but, seriously, they should have enshrined that @#$%ing jukebox as a time capsule representing a time and place).

In that Jukebox, they also had Meat Loaf's "Bat Out of Hell". I had never shown Meatloaf any respect, honestly. As a child born of the 1970's, I knew the name. By middle-school, Meat Loaf had disappeared. I would learn later (via VHI's "Behind the Music") that he was battling the usual set of addictions one associates with superstardom when, somehow, he became associated with the following Marvel comics ad:


click on the pic for a better size of Mr. Loaf's advertisement

You can read Dave's(of Dave's Longbox) review of the ad here.

I didn't think this looked a darn bit like Meat Loaf. And I didn't remember Meat Loaf playing much guitar or giving two flips for Special Olympians. And I wasn't going to cut up my X-Men or Cap comics on Meat Loaf's say-so. Especially with the creepy finger of Mr. Loaf still attached to the coupon.

In high school I finally rented "Rocky Horror Picture Show", and was surprised to find that Meat Loaf was featured as Eddie (what a guy!). And I dug the song he played. Plus, you know, Little Nell as Columbia rocked my socks (perhaps a future DITMTLOD?).


Hot patootie, bless my soul!

As I entered college, Meat Loaf released "Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell". An album I decided I would have to be too hip for, and for that I apologize. Especially to Peabo, who defended the single "I'd Do Anything for Love (but I Won't Do That)". The video was the sort of high-budget, mini-movie that Aerosmith had developed with "Janie's Got a Gun", and Guns'n'Roses had perfected with "Use Your Illusion". And because I was trying to be awesome and punk rock, I wasn't about to be into a middle-aged dude's rock opera nonsense (even if I kinda liked Queen).

The video also featured the lovely Dana Patrick (lip-synching to Lorraine Crosby), who I never heard of or saw in anything else. Which is a shame.



It was during that dark night, on what was turning into a lengthy Christmas break that Jason headed back to the table from the jukebox and announced "I just put in money. We're going to listen to all of 'Bat out of Hell'".
"Oh, hell, no."
"You don't like Meat Loaf?"
"Dude..."
"You got to give Meat Loaf his respect."
Steanso was pretty keen on teaching his younger brother to show respect for all sorts of stuff. This was not new.
Anyway, we had our cheap beer, and they hadn't carded me, so I wasn't going to put up a fight.

I didn't become a Meatloaf nut on that night, and I never really have gone completely crazy for Meat Loaf. But I do, now, as they say, respect the man. I respect the hell out of Meat Loaf, and I have "Bat Out of Hell" on my iPod. And as much as I like big, overblown songwriting that delves deep into the melodramatic without blinking (I own, like, six Roxy Music albums), how could I not be a sucker for "Paradise by the Dashboard Light"? I love that song. I love how absolutely HUGE Meat Loaf knows a rock song can and should be. It doesn't always work, but when it does, man... that's not just a rock power ballad, you've got yourself an anthem.


The man at the height of his powers

Meat Loaf has a crazy expansive career, including acting. If you didn't love him in Fight Club, well, more's the pity.

Most recently "Paradise" was adapted for a commercial for something called a Go-Phone. Johanna did a bit on it over at "Comics Worth Reading".

I'd seen a shortened version of the video with Jamie, and saluted Mr. Loaf for being a sport. I still think its hard to forget the context of the original song when watching the commercial, which makes it... odd... to say the least.

But, anyway, here's the commercial:



Apparently the Mom in that commercial? That'd be Tiffany, who is better looking than I remember as she's aging (although I sort of thought the Debbie Gibson/ Tiffany battle was a fight in which we all were losing, at the time), and certainly a much more entertaining performer.

So, a salute to Meat Loaf. He's a hell of a performer, and apparently he's got a pretty good sense of humor about himself.

Or is this the best video ever?

From who else? Bjork.

Wanderlust.

Of course, this is a pretty typical day for Jamie, anyway, so she'll be wondering "what's the big whoop?"

Best Video Ever?

You may have your opinion about what was the best music video ever, but I am here to tell you, you are wrong.

The best music video ever? Van Halen's peaen to school boy crushes on their teachers.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Hot For Teacher



Things you often love as a kid usually wind up a lot more complicated than you gave them thought for at the time. Truly, I don't think you could get away with this video again for about six or seven very legitimate reasons. Probably the number one being the utter objectification of the authority figure parading herself in front of a room full of children. Somehow I don't think that would fly. Sexist comes to mind. Possibly even misogyny (but I think that's unfair. I think the word is objectification).

Really, the video is hilariously awful. But wasn't that always the point of Van Halen's videos with David Lee Roth? They weren't exactly out there trying to uplift the intellect of mankind, unless you think Alex's drumming on "Hot for Teacher" is a breakthrough for humanity. In which case, you'd be right.

And, seriously, back in the 80's on MTV, this wasn't even close to some of the worst stuff you'd see when it came to ladies in bikinis. This was just the silliest. As immortalized in the classic "Tapeheads", in video music making, that's considered "production value". And if you don't believe me, watch any yound ingenue's video these days.

I think you have to give the director credit for the many pieces of the video which work so well together: the Harms-like Waldo character, the library table guitar solo, the Van Halen dance sequence, the young Van Halen equivalents, the ultimate destinies of each spelled out... Man. That's about five minutes of solid music video.

Sure, the video seems a bit as if it were cooked up by eighth graders, but that's appropriate to the subject material.

The video also gave us the phrase "Siddown, Wall-do!", which I think I need to start using around the office.

Anyway, its much better than the video for Sussudio (which I spelled correctly on my first try, thank you).

What was your favorite?

Concert I wish I'd attended

Well, pretty clearly this is the best thing I've ever seen.



For an explanation, read here.

Thanks to Jeff Shoemaker for the link!

Stolen from r.amblin.gs

more from r.amblin.gs here

CB & Flyin' A's team for mellow video of Flyin' A's living room

Hey, CB worked with Hilary and Stuart of the Flyin' A's to get some footage online.



For more on the Flyin' A's, go here.

For more footage, go here, and here.

Now you're just messing with me...

$120 bucks plus S&H for film music that's 20-30 years old?

The new Superman film score archive.

I have been known to drop some serious coin on Superman related items. Hell, I once flew all the way to Beaumont to watch the first third of Superman: The Movie with Randy, who fell asleep.

But even I draw the line somewhere. I suppose.

I'd love to have it, sure. But at, maybe, 1/3rd that cost.

YouTube Friday

Not work safe. It's Sarah Silverman, so what do you expect...?

Chron Snob can't just "let it be"

Chronological Snobbery has an interesting post on the album "Let it be... Naked", a stripped down version of the Beatles' efforts formerly produced by Phil Spector.

I'm a fan of Spector's work with the Ronettes and others. I'm also in a cultural blindspot when it comes to the Beatles. You should check out the article.

Hey Leaguers, long time no post.

It's been a fairly busy weekend here at League HQ.

Friday night we met up with team Harms-Roth at Eddie V's down on 5th. It's definitely a sight nicer than the usual run to Casa Garcia's we might have on Friday, and the swordfish I got was fantastic. I'm a big fan of fish, but living in land-locked Austin, I'm frequently skeptical of most seafood at restaurants. You're always one bad clam away from a really tough 24 hours. Eddie V's delivered on food, drink and dessert.

More important than the food was the company, and as always it was great to catch up with Lauren and Steven. We're all fairly busy folks, and it was the first time we'd seen each other since the Holidays. I neglected to ask Steven about his experiments with Ruby on Rails, so that gives us an excuse to catch up for drinks in the near future. Lauren's been learning to sew. Like, really sew. She made a dress for herself. Then re-made the dress for herself. I Look forward to seeing what she cooks up. Also, I think she should start making all of Steven's clothes. And only use houndstooth and tweeds.

Saturday we ran an errand or two and took Mel and Lucy to the dog park at Riverside and I-35. Mel's getting up there, and he's not as healthy as we'd like, but... man. Set him loose at the dog park and he's as energetic and tough as any of the puppies out there. And not to brag, but Lucy is faster and more accurate than any other dog at the park when it comes to fetch. I know not everyone is a dog person, but there's a genuine pleasure in taking your dog down to the park and seeing them run with other dogs, but still wanting to keep near you, keeping the pack intact. I'm not ready yet for summer heat and swimming holes, so the dog park is a good substitute.

Saturday night we met up with Matt and Nicole at Maudie's on Lamar where Matt and I had the Rockin' Ruthann's and a few margaritas. Luckily, Jamie drove.

I should also mention Jason and I squeezed in not one but TWO practices this weekend. Our two-man band is on its way. We're trying to get a drummer, and so far two people have volunteered, my pal Julia from work (who didn't flinch when I said "well, you'll have to grow an afro..."), and Lauren, who I visualized in an afro, and I'm not sure it will work. Perhaps those novelty antenna deely-bobbers?

At any rate, Jason is incredibly patient with me, and I'm having a huge amount of fun. I must learn something called "12 bar blues". I'm also practicing from a book Cousin Sue gave me for Christmas. I think both Jason and Jamie are disappointed that I've named my bass "Lois", but... c'mon. Who couldn't see that coming a mile away?

Jason's been in a few bands, but since its him and me, and I have no idea what I'm doing, and so by default, he's sort of singer and guitarist. I think we're going to recruit Jamie to sing, at least harmonies. She's skeptical, but if we play Radiohead's "Karma Police", I think we can get her onboard. Now, she may need to hide in a box or something if we ever play out somewhere, but maybe not. She's got some stage-fright issues.

Today I went down to Reed's to get a look at his recently unearthed comic collection. It had been in a closet in his house for a while, and he was curious as to the value of the collection. Really, he's got a lot of key-80's era stuff and if he ever decided to sell, he could do pretty well. Stuff like "first appearance of Spider-Man black suit", "first Black Cat", and some Batman stuff that's worth something.

I really don't know what comic collections mean to folks to who don't hit the Ye Olde Comick Booke Shoppe anymore. I know what I'm doing to augment my Superman collection. If I quit buying comics, what would I keep? What would I sell? It's something to ponder.

This evening we met up with Stuart and Hilary at their place, roughly half-way between Jason's house and our place. Carla and David were supposed to make it, but unfortunately Carla wasn't feeling well, so they had to scrub plans to join us. While we missed them, we had a good time, ate some great food (I hear an exchange of recipes is imminent) and more promises were made that our living room will be painted at some point.

All in all, its been a busy, busy weekend.

Now Jamie's retired for the night, I've got our gas fire going, the dogs are asleep (Lucy sleeps inverted), and its back to work for a new week. Egads.

Hope your weekend was good.

2007 Wrap-Up Part One

I'm not going to monkey with top 10 lists. Inspired by Jamie's random Top 10 list, I'm just going to highlight several things I found to be of import in 2007.


Movies:

I didn't see 95% of what came out this year. I'm moving into a period in my life where trailers tell me nothing about why I should drop my hard-won clams on a movie, movies aren't aimed at my demographic, or I feel like I've already seen the movie before.

My favorite movie of 2007: No Country for Old Men

It's probably Cormac McCarthy who deserves the real praise here, as from what I hear, the movie's greatest achievement was sticking close to the book. But for once, a movie managed to surprise me, have uniformly excellent performances, stark but fantastic cinematography and told a story with no fear. Still, adaptations are difficult at best, and to truly do the source material justice may actually be more difficult than creating a movie from the ground up where the audience has no foreknowledge and/ or no expectations.

Moreover, it's no secret that the Coens were a huge part of why I was enamored enough with film when I started college and remained a tremendous influence throughout much of my teens and 20's. Unfortunately, of late, I had felt they were no longer making movies I really cared about. This movie proved me wrong.

The movie took a plot that could have been a standard "package" movie, and, instead managed to make a coherent statement upon the nature of evil in the world and what becomes of good men who spend their lives fighting something they can't ever really understand.

Anyhow, it did lead to me buying a three-novel collection of McCarthy's work I'm going to crack here before the New Year.


Least Favorite Movie of 2007: So many to choose from!

Probably the most cynical and bankrupt of the movies I watched this year was "High School Musical 2", which I watched half of one night with Wagner. Calculated and intentionally stupid, but bright and shiny as a 52" Plasma Screen's demo disc, this movie was intended to give elementary and middle school kids who think high school is going to be AWESOME something to aspire to. Made Saved by the Bell look nuanced. Heck, it reallyw asn't any different than "From Justin to Kelly", except that this movie was somehow even more chaste. But, then again, it is for little kids.

Also, "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" was... it was just a failure on so many levels, I don't have the time. Pair it with the nuttily bad "Ghost Rider", and Marvel had a rough year at the movies. Both will have sequels, I am sure.

As I mentioned, we really didn't see a lot of movies this year, and while many of them didn't do much for me, I can't say it was that the movies were bad, per se. They just weren't that great. But I think that's pretty typical.

True standouts:

Had we not had tickets to see Robosaurus after Transformers at the Alamo, I would have walked out. It was that bad. Oh, yes it was. The entire center thirty minutes of the film was embarrassing and nigh-unwatchable. If you weren't bored and squirming in your seats during the "Transformers sneak around Spike's backyard" sequence, I cannot help you.

But above all stands Tarantino's "Death Proof", the second half of the Grindhouse double feature. Yes. I do, in fact, get it. I am not against paying homage o exploitation movies, bad movies, etc... I think it can be nifty. But I do think that believing that whatever dialog you put in the character's mouths is interesting and needs no editing is a fallacious assumption. Tarantino's post "Pulp Fiction" career seems to be a test to see exactly how much he actually does need Roger Avary as the years go by.

Whatever Tarantino once added to the movies he made by recycling old bits from cheap movies and polishing them up has drained away. Now we're left with endless, pointless dialog and modestly directed action sequences. The movie was not (a) exciting, (b) funny. And it was easily thirty minutes too long.

Bleh.



Television

My favorite TV show of 2007: 30 Rock

For probably snooty reasons, TV reviewers (who have absolutely no ground to stand on being snooty) thought Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was going to be the winner in the contest between the shows about a comedy sketch show. After all, Studio 60 was moody and joyless and featured alcoholics and other staples of the TV landscape of adult programming. But a show where absolutely nobody is funny or even cracks a smile about a sketch comedy show?

30 Rock stepped up to the plate and gave a writer's-eye view of working on a sketch comedy show owned by a mega-corporation and the goofiness the disconnect between the two worlds creates. Like all good jesters, Tina Fey is able to comment by making a joke, on everything from politics to star theatrics to the very suits who have made her career possible. The show may not be for all tastes, but with every episode a bit different, and without getting bogged down in any pointless "will they or won't they?" romantic plotlines, it's been a standout show that seems to get better all the time.

Also, due in large part to Alec Baldwin, it's possibly the most quotable show on TV any given week. Thanks to JAL and a certain sketch featuring "Paul Schwetty", I was quite glad to see Baldwin take on the role of Jack Donaghy, and they show has found it's voice in the schizm between the idealistic Liz Lemon and corporate shark Donaghy.

Add in Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski and Jack McBayer (as well as any of the rest of the show's multitude of characters) and it's a lot of fun.


Honorable Mention: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

The premise of the show: people are awful, especially when they're looking for an advantage.

There's no real story here other than a bar run by family and friends and their various misadventures from starting a band to trying out for the Eagles. In the current trend set by HBO programming, basic cable is waking up to the fact that shows with characters who are more morally ambiguous are inherently more interesting. And, in this case, a lot funnier.

This is the show that made me like Danny DeVito for the first time in more than a decade, made me want to join a band, and gave us Kaitlin Olson as Sweet Dee (a tie for my favorite female character in TV, right there with Liz Lemon).


Least Favorite Show of 2007: Any show that asked me to get invested (while providing nothing in return)

Dear TV,

I have only so many hours in my week. I know most people now seem to love getting wrapped up in the complicated mythologies of hour long dramas. I am not one of them.

There was a time when TV shows were good first, and then lasted long enough to build up a backbone and larger plots. These days, you take a fairly benign concept like "The Bionic Woman" and load it down with fifteen tons of dead-weight in the first two episodes with massive conspiracies, fractured families, precocious teenage sisters with criminal records, huge San Francisco apartments owned by bartenders and overly complicated backgrounds for Harvard-bound future bionic women.

Thanks to shows like X-Files (which eventually built a mythology), and the break-away success of shows like "Lost", every show has to have a built in mythology. This ignores the fact that probably, at some point, a better idea could come along but the show will be locked into whatever angle they put in the pilot. And trying to write around whatever was in the pilot will just make things even more awkward.

I dunno.

I wonder if I am not a bit jaded regarding the "instant mythology" bit from seeing too many comics that believe they need to cram potentially interesting ideas down your throat in the first issue or two, but when you get down to it, there's nothing there beyond the mythology. The characters don't behave from an area of honesty, they become walking plot devices or behave in ways that serve plot while providing no real motivation of their own that I can buy.

In the deepest, darkest places in my heart, I am secretly hoping that the writer's strike and lack of programming for a year or so will mean that in 2008 I will no longer see the look of shock on people's faces when I admit I am not interested in Show X, or that I have no plans to watch Show Y, no matter how good it is. Especially if I have 40 episodes to watch in order to catch up.

Where do you people find the time?


Sophomore Slump 2007: Friday Night Lights

Formerly a show about the pressure cooker of kids growing up in the spotlight of high-school football, as well as the strain on a coach in a town where football is king... this year Friday Night lights became a show about inappropriate relationships between those above and under the demarcation of high school graduation.

This is not what I signed up for.

Last year, even when the show had a bad week or flimsy plotline, it would be wrapped up quickly. This year, it seemed as if they brought in the writers from Felicity and set them loose upon formerly interesting characters.

Once the plotlines were used up from the Peter Berg movie (and the book? I've not read it.), the writers knew too little about their own subject to know what to do. Even the potentially interesting "finding Jesus" storyline started for one of the characters was dropped without comment, while the implausible "murder" storyline took up an inordinate amount of screentime when the ending was really never in doubt. And while Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler both deliver great performances each week, the TMU coaching storyline was awkward and somewhat unbelievable. Probably too believable was Julie's storyline about a high school girl acting out and feeling misunderstood. It just wasn't interesting.

It'll be curious to see what happens when/ if the show returns.



Music

I really didn't buy many albums this year. I think the real story for 2007 was that fissures in the music industry became visible cracks as Radiohead tried it's own distribution experiment and pretty much proved that whatever labels once offered (especially for established artists) is no longer relevant. The interwebs have compltely repainted the picture as of two or three years ago, and effects are now becoming obvious.

Musical Celebrity of the Year

Suck it, Steve Jobs. I know you wanted this, but it ain't happening.

I choose Amy Winehouse. It's not often we get a musician who is such a public trainwreck as part of the package BEFORE they've really taken a toe-hold on the American music scene. But Winehouse was already a celebrity in the UK, and came to our shores pre-packaged as a bee-hived chanteuse who was so deep in the sauce, she might just pass out at any time.

We didn't even need to watch the inevitable rise and crash of a starlet. Winehouse came to us in "Britney, Career Year 6" mode, so there was no suffering through the peppy teen-years, awful movies or ghost-written books.

Nope, we went right for the "I have to cancel my ACL Fest appearance because I'm drying out" phase shortly after I'd downloaded Rehab to iTunes.

Plus, her album isn't half bad, IMHO.



ACL Fest

Surprisingly lived up to the hype. It was a perfect way to watch music for those of us with attention deficit problems, and I saw a lot of good shows. And walked away from a lot of shows I just wasn't interested in.

I will definitely be attending again in 2008.



What the @#%$??? goes to the Hannah Montana phenomenon and all of the psychotic parents raising a generation of entitled sociopaths by dropping thousands of dollars on tickets to watch a modestly talented little girl lip-synch.

Just imagine if those parents, instead, wrote checks to Doctors without Borders, Habitat for Humanity, the Red Cross or some other worthy organization and told their children what they were doing with the money, and then bought their kid a Season 1 DVD set of the TV show.

Yes, I am judging. It's what I do.




I also liked the LCD Soundsystem album



That's it for this post. Next time we'll get into some other items of import. Maybe the news, politics, comics and space travel. Who knows?

Rockin' Out 2007

As I mentioned, I received a bass for Christmas. It is shiny. It is blue. I have no idea how to play it. I do know that no matter how long I sit down and play the thing, Jamie says "You didn't play your bass very long." I'm not sure she really wants me cranking away on it for hours when I know exactly one bass line (U2's "With or Without You").

The main problem is that I did not want a bass guitar for Christmas. I wanted a delicious bass. Oh well. Some things get lost in the translation.

Jason and I played some tonight, and he showed me some other bass lines. It seems Adam Clayton may not be the genius I have often given him credit for if I can already play two U2 songs.

Anyhow, its fun. I may not get a chance to pick up chicks playing bass (unless Jamie starts throwing the house keys at me while I'm playing), but it is fun. Sooner or later, we will need more than just me and Jason, but for right now, it's kind of cool to be able to play with him and try something he's into after all the trips to Austin books he's suffered through to amuse me.

So look forward to more future rockin' announcements in these pages.