I was recently perusing the upcoming releases when I noticed that Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (Unrated Version) is being released on July 12th. Great, now I get to see one of my favorite comedies of recent memory the way is was supposed to be seen. The only problem is that I bought the rated version a couple months ago when it came out. I even got a complementary Dodgeball head band with my purchase. Granted, the headband fits better as a wristband, but anyways. This is a problem that has really irked me for a long time as I buy a DVD only for them to release a better version latter. So now I get to add Dodgeball to the list that already includes Black Hawk Down, Saving Private Ryan, Army of Darkness, Spaceballs, and The Billy Madison/Happy Gilmore Collection (Special Edition). So at $10-$25 the cost will start racking up to repurchase each of the items, none of which I’ve done yet.
And as you can tell by the title, I’m not letting my least favorite industry off the hook either. They too have been known to re-release special albums. On my list of CD I already own but would like to get include Weezer’s The Blue Album, Bob Marley’s Legend, and The Clash’s London Calling. Again I have yet the desire to purchase these items again, but unlike the DVD’s, I do have the options to download the songs in questions. But my main problem with that is when I want a whole album, I want it on CD and they do not sell just the special CD anywhere. And the movie and music companies wonder why people steal their products. I can’t speak for the pirates and Robin Hoods of the world but this might have something to do with it.
1. Beverly Hills – Weezer (Check out my thought on this song at Just Don't Bring too Many Dudes.)
2. Club Foot – Kasabian (This song seems to popping up during all my favorite TV shows lately and was a former single of the week on iTunes.)
3. City of Blinding Light – U2
4. Work (Demo) – Jimmy Eat World (This was on the special edition version of JEW's latest album that I picked up as I'm a sucker for things of that nature. The song's a rawer version of the original.)
5. Back to Me – Kathleen Edwards (This was another great Single of the Week. It's a neo-country song, but not in the "My sister looks hot" kind of country.)
6. Behind These Hazel Eyes – Kelly Clarkson (This is the second song that she has conned me into liking. To be honest, it might be time for someone to hold an intervention for me.)
7. Be the Girl – Aslyn
8. Somebody – Bonnie McKee
9. A Lifetime – Better Than Ezra (From the guys that brought us Good, yet another solid song. BTE is one of the few bands to constantly put out good music.)
10. Telescope Eyes – Eisley
11. Toxic – Local H (A disturbingly faithful cover of the Brittany Spears song from the band best known for the mid-90's rocker, Bound to the Floor. Yet not even the best cover on this CD. That title goes to:)
12. (expletive deleted) Ain’t (expletive deleted) – Ben Folds (Due to the website's censors, I need to explain this. The song is a moody, piano driven version of the last song on Dr. Dre's first album which features Snoop Doggy Dogg. If you are not sure what I'm talking about, click the link and take a listen for yourself. This is the very reason that makes iTunes great. Due to the lyric, the song won't be played on the radio and it wouldn't fit very well on an album, so iTunes is a great place to get this type of music.)
13. Landed – Ben Folds
14. Chariot – Gavin DeGraw
15. Ordinary People – John Legend
16. All Falls Down – John Legend & Kanye West (A great live version of the song.)
17. 1 Thing – Amerie (The best song from a Will Smith movie since, umm, does the Theme to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air count?)
18. Gotta Get Up from Here – Ellie Lawson (This song has a cool Celtic feel to it.)
19. When the President Talks to God – Bright Eyes (A thoroughly amusing, yet sad at the same time, song you can get free the last time I checked at iTunes. Something everyone should take a listen to, which is easy because it's free. Who doesn't like free?)
20. Coconut – Harry Nilsson (A completely cheesy song that recently got co-opted by Coke. I've loved the song ever since it appeared on the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack.)
There are a couple music videos that have caught my eye lately. I thought I would wax poetic on a couple of note.
Weezer - Beverly Hills
The best video is by a group who constantly puts out get videos from the Happy Days inspired Buddy Holly to The Muppets inspired Keep Fishin'. Now Weezer is back with a romp with their fans through the Playboy Mansion. The video starts off with Hef calling the drummer, Pat (whom seems to get the best parts in the videos as he was last seen being kidnapped by Miss Piggy) seeing if the band wanted to drop by to play for "the girls." And when Pat asked if he could bring some friends, Hef responds "Just don't bring too many dudes," which could be the downfall of any party. After that, we are treated to three and a half minutes of Weezer mixing with Playboy Playmates. And I could be wrong, but I believe there is a Jessica Biel sighting too. Unfortunately for me, as a member of their website, I got an invite to an undisclosed location to film their new video. Had I known that the undisclosed location was the Playboy Mansion, I might have bought a plain ticket to California. Throughout the video, the Weezer fans started flashing the Weezer symbol that I can't help to think is almost the exact sign for "Wu-Tang Clan ain't nothing to (mess) with."
The song itself is the catchiest Weezer song since, well the last Weezer single off the last album. The big different from past songs is that Beverly Hills was produced by Rick Rubin (think Jay-Z's 99 Problems, Red Hot Chili Pepper's Blood Sugar Sex Magic, and Beastie Boys' Licence to Ill) who brings the dirty bass line of the song. The lyrics, of course, follows a nerd who dreams of living the big life but then realizes he wouldn't fit. And nothing proves this theory than the video itself.
Rob Thomas - Lonely No More
Another funny video, albeit for a different reason, is the first solo song by Rob Thomas, the leader of matchboxtwenty. The funny part of the video for Lonely No More isn't the inexplicable set changes, no it's Rob Thomas trying to dance. The first time I saw it, I dropped to the floor laughing. It shot strait to the top of my list of funniest thing I've seen this year. For those who haven't seen it yet, and if you haven't, I highly recommend you do, his dance look like a cross between Axl Rose's snake dance and the sway back and forth dance from JoJo's first video. And yes, it is disturbingly funny as it sounds.
Mariah Carey - It's Like That
Now lets move on to a video that isn't even ironically funny like Rob Thomas', the new Mariah Carey video, It's Like That. It's sad that Mariah doesn't realize that she can no longer pull off the sexpot image of the Honey era. This is the one of the major reasons her last couple albums have flopped. The other being that she is not relevant in the hip-hop community no matter how many guest rapper/producers she has on her album. It may be time for an intervention trying to convince here to go back to the adult contemporary music she made on her first couple albums. If you think about it, those fans who grew up with her early stuff are in their late 20's into their early 40's and are primed for a more mellow, soulful Mariah. For the video, it starts off with the uber-annoying Jermaine Dupri, grant there is nothing I can't say about him that Dr. Dre already said in Say What U Said. The rest of the video is Mariah trying to pull sexy off with a lot wind blown hair and even more skin despite her getting thicker by the year. Then, for no apparent reason, Eric Roberts show up just to stand around. I don't know if this was an extenuation of the Killers' Mr. Brightside, but it made no sense. And speaking of extenuations, the video ends with a "To Be Continued..." Just what we need, another video with no plot. It would be like finishing Napoleon Dynamite with a "To Be Continued..."
Jack Johnson - Sitting, Waiting, Wishing
Lastly is a new favorite artist of mine, Jack Johnson. The video concept for Sitting, Waiting, Wishing is pretty simple, film a lot of destructive images backwards. Not the most original concept as The Pharcyde did the same thing in the Spike Jones directed Drop ten years ago. Nonetheless, definitely something you want to check out. Plus you got to admire anyone who can sing backwards while being attacked by different food products.
