The Five Most Anticipated Albums of Fall 2012

Back in April I was surprised in how much good music was released that month and hoped that it was a sign of things to come. It was not because good music was few and far in-between of the summer month. But with Christmas just around the corner, record companies are lining up their big guns for release. Here are some I am looking forward to. Click the artist name to be taking to their iTunes page, and the name of the album to pre-order it on Amazon. Release dates are subject to change.

1. Babel – Mumford & Sons (September 25): The band may not have kickstarted the folk rock revival of recent years (that may go to the second band on this list), but the put it into high gear. The managed to outsell almost everyone else in that time not named Adele and now they look to shake the sophomore slump. They said that they have not changed their sound from their debut and first single I Will Wait backs up their charge which had fans of their first album dusting off their air banjos.

2. The Carpenter – The Avett Brothers (September 11): If there is such a thing as folk-punk, The Avett Brothers are it. The Carpenter is the group’s second album produced by Rick Rubin who was behind the board for their breakthrough I and Love and You and lives up to the greatness of its predecessor. Cannot wait a week to give the album a listen? You are in luck because npr.com is streaming The Carpenter in its entirety.

3. Away from the World – Dave Matthews Band (September 11): The big news about Dave and the boys eighth studio album is it their first in over a decade with producer Steve Lilywhite who produced their first three albums (and the aborted fourth album that got leaked to the internet under the moniker The Lilywhite Session before getting a proper released that Stephan Harris finished producing under the appropriately titled Busted Stuff). First single Mercy is a bit sleepy, but for some reason their first singles off their albums are never the best (my guess is the reason is their best songs are over the radio friendly five minutes long).

4. Battle Born – The Killers (September 18): I have a love / hate relationship with the band. I loved their dance rock debut / hated their pretentious we want to be Springsteen follow up. By the time their third album came around I was ready to reluctantly accept their absurdity. After hearing the first single off their four album Runaways, it sounds like the Vegas boys are still looking for that elusive last chance power drive. And still coming up short.

5. Red – Taylor Swift (October 22): Okay, first single We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together is painfully bad (although the cute one take accompanying music video almost makes it listenable, almost) but I will admit I am an unabashed fan of her first three albums. Last time around, Swift wrote and co-produced every song on Speak Now and for better or worse she is bring in a bunch of collaborators including pop maestro Max Martin (which would be part of the “worst” considering he is responsible for Never Ever). The only other confirmed collaborator is English songwriter Ed Sheeran.


Today
Sun – Cat Power
North – Matchbox Twenty
Magic – Smash Mouth

September 11
Tempest – Bob Dylan
La Futura – ZZ Top
Undisputed – DMX
Coexist – The xx

September 18
Mirage Rock – Band of Horses
The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind – Ben Folds Five
Hallelujah! I'm a Bum – Local H
Tomorrowland – Ryan Bingham
Kanye West Presents Good Music Cruel Summer
Charmer – Aimee Mann
I Bet On Sky – Dinosaur Jr.
The Spirit Indestructible – Nelly Furtado
Kiss – Carly Rae Jepsen

September 25
Cedar + Gold – Tristan Prettyman
Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap – Lupe Fiasco
Uno – Green Day
Mystic Pinball – John Hiatt
Push And Shove – No Doubt

October 2
Glad All Over – The Wallflowers
Traveling Alone – Tift Merritt
The 2nd Law – Muse
Born To Sing: No Plan B – Van Morrison

October 9
Wrote a Song for Everyone – John Fogerty
Pines – A Fine Frenzy
Songs for the End of the World – Rick Springfield
Monster - KISS

October 16
Former Lives – Ben Gibbard
Very Special Christmas 25th Anniversary

October 23
The Haunted Man – Bat for Lashes
Man With the Iron Fists
TBD – Gary Clark Jr.

October 30
Merry Christmas, Baby – Rod Stewart

November 6
Music From Another Dimension – Aerosmith

November 13
Dos – Green Day
TBD – Soundgarden
Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors – Big Boi

November 27
Girl on Fire – Alicia Keys
The Art of War III – Bone Thugs-n-Harmony

January 15
Tre – Green Day

TBD
James River – D'Angelo
Watch the Throne 2 – Kanye West and Jay-Z
Psychedelic Pill – Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Matangi – M.I.A.
Indicud – Kid Cudi
The Evil Empire of Everything – Public Enemy
Rooted – Scarface
Alice In Chains
Christina Aguilera
The Bird and the Bee

And let’s not forget the obligatory this may be the year that Dr. Dre releases Detox. Of course if he does, that may mean the Mayans were right.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 9/2/12

Quote of the Week: Things just went from worse to worser. (Hanna, Pretty Little Liars)

Song of the Week: In My Veins – Andrew Belle featuring Erin Mcarley (Pretty Little Liars)

Big News of the Week: Lying Liars and the Lies They Tell: I am a big fan of Pardon the Interruption and one aspect of the show I really like is at the end of the show, Statboy pops up and cleans up all the errors Tony and Mike make even though it is a silly sports show and who really cares if they are off by .005 on someone’s batting average? I watch a lot of political show and have always wished that after these shoutfests they would bring in their own Statboy to tell you what the talking heads got wrong.

I bring this up because Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan managed to tell only two true statements during his speech at the Republican National Convention according to professional fact checkers. In comparison, FactCheck.org found five flat out lies. Everything else was your run of the mill politicians stretching the truth or conjecture. Unfortunately with no Statboy, you have to wait until the next day to sort these things out. C’mon, it is 2012, how can we not have real time fact checks on screen Pop-Up Video style?

Of all of Ryan’s lies, his most egregious was his claim that an auto plant in his district that Obama promised would stay open. Except it turned out that the president did not make any promises and was not even the president when it closed, that happened under George W. Bush. You can read all about this particular lie on Politifact. To give Ryan some credit, he did back off a little on this lie by saying that maybe, kinda, it might be possible that it could be that jut maybe Barack Obama may not have, possible, not the reason the plant closed. Almost.

Please note I am not trying to pile on the GOP (I am a registered Republican, or as Rush Limbaugh would call me a RINO), and there will be plenty of lies and mistruths next week at the Democratic National Convention, so be sure to bookmark Politifact and FactCgeck.org to get the real truths. And please stop it with the “You didn’t build that” crap, that was also given a “false” by all the fact checkers and anyone who listened to Obama’s full speech with a least one full brain cell can tell the thing that you did not build were the roads and other infrastructures.

Oh yeah, and Clint Eastwood talked to a chair.

Preview Picture of the Week:


Leverage: When Sophie stood at the “real” DB Cooper’s grave who died during Vietnam, I thought, c’mon, dude totally Don Drapered somebody, just check who else was in his platoon. Apparently the writers thought the exact same thing.
You can download Leverage on iTunes.

Grimm: As I have started way too many time, amnesia is one of my three least favorite plot devises on television. The only thing worse is selective amnesia. So Juliet remembers some random dog from her office, even remembers Monroe as if he is some great friend even though she has only met him about three time, but does not remember her fiancé. Alrighty. Hopefully they whip up a potion soon because I really hate amnesia.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Grimm on iTunes.

Perception: Just when I starting thinking out just how bad Eddie Furlong is looking these days, in walks Tom Sizemore.
You can download Perception on iTunes.


Free Download of the Week: Amber Waves – Erin McCarley (iTunes)

Deal of the Week: 100 Albums for $5: It looks like Amazon’s weekly $3.99 deals are being retired with summer so you will have to pay an extra dollar (and a penny) for the music deal, which this moth include Scooter Hall of Fame inductees from Eric Clapton and Pearl Jam, John Mayer’s latest, and Sam Cooke’s Greatest Hits.


New Album Release of the Week: Sun - Cat Power

New DVD Release of the Week: Safe

Video of the Week: I am not the biggest fan of medical dramas because I am not very good with blood especially the realistic kind (humorous excessive blood in horror movies do not bother me that much) so not surprisingly I did not make it very far into the reality show Chicago Medical premiering this Tuesday at 10:00 on the National Geographic Channel. It did not help that the first patient came in with bullet wounds to his thigh, scrotum and penis. Ouch. If you can make it through the clip below (it should go without saying, with a title like Penis Bullet Wound, viewer discretion is very advised), maybe you will enjoy Chicago Medical more than me.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Stand Up 2 Cancer, Friday at 8:00 on NBC, ABC, Fox, and CBS: One again this year, all the major networks and a couple cable channels will be devoting an hour to cancer awareness and telethon where you can donate to cancer research and maybe even talk to Julia Roberts, Samuel L. Jackson, Emma Stone and more if you call in to donate. There will also be performances by Alicia Keys, Taylor Swift, Coldplay, and Tim McGraw.

I Never Think, That’s What Makes Me a Good Cop

These days when looking for new shows to watch, I tend to look for actors I like or show creators whose previous work I enjoyed. As a kid I was much simpler, when I saw commercials for Sledge Hammer! I thought to myself, I enjoy the Peter Gabriel song, maybe I should watch this show. And thank goodness for Peter Gabriel because Sledge Hammer! turned out to be one of the funniest half hours ever forged for television which it is why it is this month's induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame.

The show followed Inspector Sledge Hammer of the San Francesco Police Department, who would typically solve cases violently without compassion, and usually by accident. Basically a dumber version of Dirty Harry who carried a .44 Smith & Wesson around with him at all times, even in the shower. Of course when you have amassed as many enemies as Hammer, on both sides of the law, you would be armed at all times too. His straight-(wo)man partner Detective Dori Doreau, was basically everything Sledge was not. Of course their Captain Trunk was your typically uptight boss who sole kelp Pepto-Bismol in business to help him deal with his inept inspector.

Sledge Hammer! was absurdist at its best. And the show saved the best for last. When the show looked like it was going to be canceled, the show decided to blow San Francisco up with a nuclear bomb, accidentally set off by Hammer when he tried to disarm it of course, and then still ended the episode with, “To Be Continued… Next Season?” Surprisingly the show actually did get renewed and the show took place “5 years before” despite numerous contiguity inconstancies which only enhanced the absurdist nature of the show. To this day it still weird to see David Rasche in new endeavors like Burn After Reading or most recently as a mysterious figure on Rubicon because whenever I see him I think to myself, why is Sledge Hammer acting serious? Then I have to go watch an episode or two of the funniest things ever to air.

Around the Tubes - 8/31/12

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on An Animal #$*% My Vacation, Adventures of the Wilderness Family, Mad Monster Party, Ghost Hunters, Dexter, The Wedding Band, Alaska State Troopers, Austin City Limits, Jamie Bendell, Annoying Orange, Dead Sara, Beanie Sigel, Ultimate Fighter, Hunting Season, The New Normal, and Beverly Hills Nannies.

- Nothing like a title like An Animal #$*% My Vacation to grab your attention. The first episode will feature a bear fighting a Prius, a randy dolphin, and a mass baboon ambush. Check out a clip over at the NatGeo website.

- The family classic Adventures of the Wilderness Family trilogy is finally getting a digital high definition make over for the first time. All three films will be available via Video on Demand this Tuesday with the first film in the series will also become available the same day.

- Also hitting DVD shelves next week is the timeless fan favorite Mad Monster Party starring Boris Karloff, Gale Garnett, and Phyllis Diller. Stock up now for your Halloween party.


- Ghost Hunters is returning for a new season next Wednesday at 9:00 on Syfy. Check out a sneak peak below:

A Serial Killer’s Revenge

You may have to wait another month to see Dexter on your television screen, but you can watch the animated webisode series Dexter Early Cuts right now on sho.com/earlycuts.

- Save the date: The new TBS show The Wedding Band will premiere Saturday, November 10 at 10:00.

- As for returning show, Alaska State Troopers will have a two hour special even Sunday October 7 at 8:00 followed by the season premiere at 10:00 on the National Geographic Channel.

- Then on October 6, Austin City Limits returns for its 38th season with Radiohead taking the stage for a rare full hour. Also slated for this season is Bon Iver (10/13), Bonnie Raitt with Mavis Staples (10/20), The Shins and Dr. Dog (10/27), The Civil Wars and the Punch Brotherws (11/3) and the Americana Music Festival (10/10).

- Jamie Bendell calls herself the “intellectual Colbie Caillat” and she just released her three song EP I'm Not Sorry Anymore and you can download the sweet new single Five Little Minutes for free. Take a listen and download below:



- You probably would not think Danny Trejo and cupcake at the same time , but the actor will be lending his voice to “Cupcake Leader” in Monday’s episode of Annoying Orange on the Cartoon Network.


- Dead Sara has hit the road with The Offspring kicking off their tour last night (Neon Trees are set to join next Thursday), and you can check out tour dates here.

- Poor Beanie Sigel, the guy is already going to prison (dude forgot to pay his taxes), and then he was arrested again during a traffic stop. But you can enjoy his incarceration of two years (maybe more after this week) with his new album This Time from the recently resurrected Ruffhouse Records.

- We are two weeks away from the new season of the Ultimate Fighter, September 14, at 9:00 on FX. The two hour special premiere will feature 16 elimination fights while bitter rivals former interim UFC heavyweight champion Shane Carwin and top contender and previous TUF™ winner Roy Nelson will serve as coaches.

- “Hunting Season is a new web series based on the funny and painfully truthful blog of Alex, a single gay 20-something in Manhattan, a smart and successful blogger at Gawker by day who turns the spotlight on himself and his friends when he starts anonymously writing about his social (and sex) life.” You can head over to HuntingSeason.tv September 12 when the first three episodes will debut with new episodes debuting every Wednesdays until 10/17. Check out the trailer below:


- For those that want to watch The New Normal early (or at all if you live in Utah), you can head over to NBC.com to watch the first episode in its entirety.

- Beverly Hills Nannies may only have two episodes left (and a reunion special) but if you need more from the show, you can download the Beverly Hills Nannies Digital Magazine on iTunes.

I Want My Music Television - 8/30/12

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

Mercy – Dave Matthews Band


I am a bit offended that I was not included in the new Dave Matthews Band video. I guess I should have submitted something. And if I learned one thing from the new video, you cannot be clean shaven to be a fan of the band.


Duquesne Whistle – Bob Dylan


I am not sure if this is the greatest romantic comedy idea ever or the worse. And is that Gene Simmons in Bob Dylan’s posse?


End of the Line – Sleigh Bells



An odd clip from the Sleigh Bells, it is as if they started out making a moody dark video, and when they were done looked at each other and though, do you know what this needs: us riding around the suburbs on bike. Done.


Knock Knock – Hand of Horses


“Epic 4:3 Aspect Ratio”. Ha. Well done Band of Horses.

Things Just Went from Worse to Worser

I came to the realization during this batch of Pretty Little Liars episodes that the show definitely has deep ebbs and flows. The show started on a high with the guiltiest guilty pleasure of four girls being tormented by a mad texter that may or may not have been tied to their friend who was brutally murdered. But after a season, things started to drag on until the second half of season two when they finally were building up to the big reveal of who “A” was. But when the show came back for the current third season it seemed to drag along once again even when they tried to force some manufactured drama with the “BetrAyal”.

Of course these episodes drug on for the same reason most episodes of the show drag on: the writers continue to think that Erza and Aria have some grand love affair, not a creepy, statutory relationship they do. And even though Ezra has been blacklisted from getting any job in the greater Rosewood area because his extra-curricular activities with a student, he has not only stuck around, but the writers doubled down on the creepiness by making him a father. But for some reason, despite the crazy family that has enough money to make you disappear overnight and a baby mama (hello Alex Mack), Aria for some reason has stayed by her man even though it cannot be that hard for her to find someone better than Ezra. At this point even Hermy the Hermaphrodite would be an upgrade.

As for the BetrAyal that the promo monkeys had been pushing for the past month, all signs leading up to this episode pointed to Paige which meant there was no way she would be the betrAyer. By the end of the finale it looked like Nate, or whatever his name is, was going to BetrAy Emily. So dude killed Maya, was annoyed that she love Emily so he returned to Rosewood to get back at Emily by poising as Maya’s cousin, tried to hook up with Jenna even though she may or may not have seen him with Maya, then tried to make out with Emily, and then when all else failed decided to just kill Paige instead while Emily watched. Wait, what? And did he also dig up Allison? I think I missed something. It does not help that I did not care about Nate from the beginning and his evil turn was so bad it looked like he watched Leighton Meester in The Roommate for inspiration (should have gone old school and went with Jennifer Jason Leigh in Single White Female instead).

Speaking of painfully bad acting, just when you thought Nate was going to the BetrAyer, it turns out Toby also has a stash of black hoodies. Except I could not stop laughing at his turn at the camera at the end followed by some sort of weird mad dash around corner. And I thought nothing was going to be more awkward than the least sexy sex scene ever put to film. What is worse is that he makes no sense as a member of The A Team which I always assumed included Jenna (along with Hermy). So I guess if Toby is in and Jenna is out.. But even though the summer finale went out with a resounding whimper (alright the staging in the lighthouse looked cool), I have to say the Halloween special looks pretty coo. And keep in mind the last Halloween special is when the show found its footing again, so hopefully this year’s episode will put it on an ebb upwards again.

Pretty Little Liars 3.x (Summer) gets a on my Terror Alert Scale. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Breaking Down the 100 Greatest Songs from the Golden Age of Hip-Hop

Like many white suburban kids of the late eighties and early nineties, I love rap music. Whenever I did not have practice afterschool, Yo! MTV Raps acted as my babysitter for years. And like many people of my ilk, I find most rap music today unlistenable aside a select few. I look at some of the biggest names currently in the game like Rick Ross and Lil’ Wayne and shake my head at how they are painfully bad compared the greats from my childhood. Rap music seemed more important back then (Chuck D famously said that rap music was black people’s CNN and now it is their Home Shopping Network). It started out as party music based on dance samples. Then Def Jam came around and based most of its samples on rock licks and exploded from there with conscious rap from New York, gangsta rap out west. You had the Beastie Boys pushing the limits of sampling and then embraced the alternative movement of the early nineties. It was just a perfect storm of great rap music before getting bogged down by commercialization. So I thought I would make a list of my favorite songs from the Golden Age of Hip-Hip (click to see) to represent the best of the best era.

Please note I do consider the best hip-hop songs different from the best rap songs from the era which is why you did not see songs like U Can’t Touch This (which 3rd Bass would call Hip-Pop) on my list. And since I like to have eras bookended by significant events (much like the start of World War I did not just start in 1914 but really started with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria) so my list I consider the Golden Age of Hip Hop to start with Def Jam releasing their first records and ended with the death of 2Pac. And for those that want to listen to listen to the list instead of just reading it, I have created a Spotify playlist (please note because of Spotify’s availability, some songs may be missing; seriously, why has De La Soul not upgraded to the digital age yet?).


Song Breakdown by Year
1985 – 2
1986 – 5
1987 – 6
1988 – 12
1989 – 11
1990 – 5
1991 – 14
1992 – 11
1993 – 18
1994 – 8
1995 – 5
1996 – 4


Artists with Multiple Songs (including being featured on other tracks)
Beastie Boys – 7
A Tribe Called Quest – 6
Run-DMC - 5
Ice Cube (N.W.A.) – 5
Wu-Tang Clan (Method Man) - 5
Dr. Dre (N.W.A.) – 4
Eric B. & Rakim - 4
2Pac – 3
Biz Markie – 3
De La Soul – 3
EPMD – 3
Gang Starr (Guru) – 3
LL Cool J - 3
Leaders of the New School (Busta Rhymes) – 3
Nice & Smooth - 3
Snoop Doggy Dogg – 3
Public Enemy – 3
The Pharcyde - 3
3rd Bass – 2
Big Daddy Kane - 2
Das EFX – 2
Digital Underground – 2
Doug E Fresh – 2
Domino – 2
Geto Boys – 2
Heavy D & The Boyz – 2
House of Pain – 2
pete rock & c.l smooth – 2
The Notorious B.I.G. - 2

The 100 Greatest Songs from the Golden Age of Hip-Hop

1. Fight the Power - Public Enemy

2. Mama Said Knock You Out - LL Cool J

3. My Mind Playin Tricks On Me - Geto Boys

4. Award Tour - A Tribe Called Quest

5. Passin' Me By - The Pharcyde

6. Nuthin' but a G Thang - Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg

7. Mass Appeal - Gang Starr

8. Crossover - EPMD

9. The Choice Is Yours - Black Sheep

10. Sometimes I Rhyme Slow - Nice and Smooth

11. Regulate - Warren G and Nate Dogg

12. Children's Story - Slick Rick

13. Express Yourself - N.W.A.

14. If I Ruled the World (Imagine That) - Nas featuring Lauryn Hill

15. Paul Revere - Beastie Boys

16. They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.) - Pete Rock & CL Smooth

17. New Jack Hustler (Nino's Theme) - Ice-T

18. Insane In the Brain - Cypress Hill

19. Summertime - DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince

20. It Takes Two - Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock

21. Gangsta's Paradise - Coolio featuring L.V.

22. Gin and Juice - Snoop Dogg

23. La Di Da Di (Live) - Doug E Fresh and Slick Rick

24. Scenario - A Tribe Called Quest featuring Leaders of the New School

25. Down With the King - Run-D.M.C. featuring Pete Rock and CL Smooth

26. Paid In Full - Eric B. and Rakim

27. Drop - The Pharcyde

28. Jump Around - House of Pain

29. Slam - Onyx

30. Peter Piper - Run-D.M.C.

31. C.R.E.A.M. - Wu-Tang Clan

32. Big Poppa - The Notorious B.I.G.

33. They Want EFX - Das EFX

34. Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta F' Wit - Wu-Tang Clan

35. Around the Way Girl - LL Cool J

36. It Was a Good Day - Ice Cube

37. Straight Outta Compton - N.W.A.

38. King of Rock - Run-D.M.C.

39. Follow the Leader - Eric B. & Rakim

40. Bring the Noise - Public Enemy

41. Getto Jam - Domino

42. California Love - 2Pac and Dr. Dre

43. No Sleep Till Brooklyn - Beastie Boys

44. Now That We Found Love - Heavy D and the Boyz

45. Bonita Applebum - A Tribe Called Quest

46. Runnin' - The Pharcyde

47. I Know You Got Soul - Eric B. & Rakim

48. Hip Hop Hooray - Naughty By Nature

49. Hey Ladies - Beastie Boys

50. I'll Be There for You / You're All I Need to Get By - Method Man featuring Mary J. Blige

51. Pop Goes the Weasel - 3rd Bass

52. Shake Your Rump - Beastie Boys

53. Check Yo Self ('The Message' Remix) - Ice Cube featuring Das Efx

54. Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta - Geto Boys

55. Mistadobalina - Del tha Funkee Homosapien

56. Just a Friend - Biz Markie

57. Funky For You - Nice and Smooth

58. Loungin' - Guru Featuring Donald Byrd

59. Case Of The P.T.A. - Leaders of the New School

60. So What'cha Want - Beastie Boys

61. I Used to Love H.E.R. - Common Sense

62. Bring the Pain - Method Man

63. Eric B. Is President - Eric B. and Rakim

64. Let Me Clear My Throat (Old School Reunion Remix '96) - DJ Kool, Biz Markie and Doug E. Fresh

65. It's Tricky - Run-D.M.C.

66. I Get Around - 2Pac featuring Digital Underground

67. I Left My Wallet In El Segundo - A Tribe Called Quest

68. Dwyck - Gang Starr Featuring Nice and Smooth

69. Fight for Your Right - Beastie Boys

70. The Symphony - Marley Marl Master Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap and Big Daddy Kane

71. The Gas Face - 3rd Bass

72. Wild Wild West - Kool Moe Dee

73. South Bronx - Boogie Down Productions

74. Electric Relaxation - A Tribe Called Quest

75. Me, Myself and I - De La Soul

76. Because I Got It Like That - Jungle Brothers

77. Wild Thing - Tone-Loc

78. Method Man - Wu-Tang Clan

79. Potholes in My Lawn - De La Soul

80. Check the Rhime - A Tribe Called Quest

81. You Had Too Much To Drink - EPMD

82. Same Song - Digital Underground and 2Pac

83. Vapors - Biz Markie

84. Juicy - The Notorious B.I.G.

85. Going Back to Cali - LL Cool J

86. Ain't No Half-Steppin' - Big Daddy Kane

87. 911 Is a Joke - Public Enemy

88. I Wish - Skee-Lo

89. Fallín' - De La Soul and Teenage Fanclub

90. My Hooptie - Sir Mix-A-Lot

91. B Girls - Young and Restless

92. Sweet Potatoe Pie - Domino

93. Pass the Mic - Beastie Boys

94. Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check - Busta Rhymes and Rampage

95. How I Could Just Kill a Man - Cypress Hill

96. Shamrocks and Shenanigans - House of Pain

97. Nuttin' But Love - Heavy D and the Boyz

98. (Explative Deleted) Wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin') - Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg

99. Wicked - Ice Cube

100. Give the People - EPMD

Honorable Mention: Christmas In Hollis – Run-D.M.C.


For more on this list, check out Breaking Down the 100 Greatest Songs from the Golden Age of Hip-Hop.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 8/25/12

Quote of the Week: You are not the first girl to fall for Downton Grabby. (Spencer, Pretty Little Liars)

Song of the Week: Rainbow Connection – Weezer and Hailey Williams (Bunheads)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Legitimate Rape: Remember the good old days when the political buzzwords were things like “Aqua Buddha”? Instead this cycle we are forced to debate things like “legitimate rape”. Didn’t we decide in the eighties that “no means no”?

Preview Picture of the Week:


Leverage: When I learned that the Leverage team would be going to Washington, it never crossed my mind that the reason they tried to “steal a congressman” would involve cheerleading. And after this episode I really hope they do a whole season in the capital next season. The storylines are endless.
You can download Leverage on iTunes.
Weeds:

Grimm: We may have learned more about the Captain in this episode than in the entire first season. So he is a bastard prince (charming?) who is barely human and very far from pure at heart who looks kind of like Jonah Hex in his pure form. Alrighty.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Grimm on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: How dare Erza’s brother besmirch the good name of Hootie & The Blowfish? Blasphemy. And how dare Erza defile Alex Mack? Can we just kill off the entire Fitz(Gerald) Clan please?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.


Free Download of the Week: Year of the Dragon – Busta Rhymes: Yes you can download the entire new album from Busta Rhymes for free. Sure it is essentially a mix tape which means you will delete all but one or two songs after one listen, but hey, what do you expect for free? Quality?

New Album Release of the Week: Welcome To: Our House - Slaughterhouse

New DVD Release of the Week: Homeland: The Complete First Season

Video of the Week: Someone actually made a movie about butter carving. Welcome back Alicia Silverstone.


Next Week Pick of the Week: Pretty Little Liars, Tuesday at 8:00 on ABC Family: After a month of hyping, the BetrAyal is finally happening this week in the summer finale. The last couple episodes have focused on Paige who was found to be in possession of the missing casket earring and even the shady Jenna warned Emily about her. Of course all that means is that Paige is probably just a red herring. Other likely candidates are the growingly violent Maya’s cousin and Erza who could dump Aria and get back with his baby mama Alex Mack. But that would be more of a run of the mill betrayal, not much of a betrayal (unless Alex Mack joined the A Team to get back at Aria for dating her baby daddy). I m still hoping that Aria goes full WWF heal turn, smacks Spencer over the head with a folding chair, rips off her blouse to reveal a t-shirt underneath that reads “I’m the A-Team”. It is really a shame the how has not hired me as a writer yet.

Previewing The Incredible Dr. Pol 2.x

I am a changed man. I am not sure if it is for the better or worse, but changed nonetheless. I am changed because I have seen things I cannot unsee and both were seen on the season premiere of The Incredible Dr. Pol. First up is the hoof first birth of a cow. The other is a horse getting castrated. Both very graphic and neither involved the camera cutting away. You see everything, and by everything, I mean everything. You have been warned.

Some less graphic patients Dr. Pol and his team (including his wife, the office manager, and son, another budding veterinarian) see this season include a dog who literally eats his owner’s and then gets the spiral notebook stuck in his gums, a rabbit with a bloody ear, a hairless Holstein calf, and many more. The guy does have 19,000 patients across rural Michigan and routinely puts in fourteen hours a day. And sometimes he even has to duck a tornado while treating his patients like in tonight’s premiere.

The Incredible Dr. Pol airs Saturdays at 10:00 on Nat Geo Wild. And if you cannot wait to see a horse get castrated, you can watch the clip over at NationalGeographic.com.

Around the Tubes - 8/24/12

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on NBC, Kattpacalypse, Alphas, Switched at Birth, Sons of Anarchy, a blind judo champion, Ball Up Streetball, the Screen Actors Guild, and You've Got a Friend.

- We are less than a month away from the strt of the fall television season and you can get you sneak peak at the upcoming NBC shows right now with the 2012 Primetime Preview hosted by star of Go On Matthew Perry.


- Anyone who needs a laugh this weekend should tune into Kattpacalypse premiering tomorrow at 10:00 on Showtime. Katt Williams will be taking on everything from Mitt Romney to the Michael Jackson murder trial. Maybe he will even explain why he went with the munchkin hairdo for the show.


- Alphas is now airing twice on Mondays. The first airing is at 8:00 and the second begins at 10:00. There will be an Alphas live chat at 8:00 on its Facebook page so you can discuss the new episode with your fellow Alphas fans. They will also be giving away two signed DVDs and two Alphas t-shirts to participants chosen at random during the chat. Head over to Alpha’s Facebook page to join the live chat visit the following

- Kathryn Kennish may be having trouble having her book published on her show, but you can read the first chapter of Switched at Birth over at ABCFamily.com and preorder the book, being released this Tuesday on Amazon.

- We are inching closer to the September 11 premiere of Sons of Anarchy and FX has released another promo for the fifth season where you can get a first look of gust star Jimmy Smits.


- The Olympics may be over but if you are still interested in inspiring stories in niche sports, head over to Take Part to learn about Jordan Mouton, a blind judo champion.

- But for those going through more traditional sports withdrawals, Fox Sports will be airing the new reality show Ball Up Streetball. The show will follow the Ball Up Streetball league as they cross the country in search of the next best street ball star with teams coached by former NBA players Shannon Brown, Sam Cassel and Kyle Lowry.

- The Screen Actors Guild recently announced that Dick van Dyke will be honored with the 2012 SAG Lifetime Achievement Award. The award show will air Sunday, January 27, 2013 (assuming the Mayans were wrong).

- New to DVD shelves this week: You’ve Got a Friend about Bobby Graham who is a twelve-year-old boy whose personal problems haven’t gotten in the way of his dream: to win the American Soapbox Derby Championship. With the odds against him, including his school foe and main competition in the race, Bobby is determined to prove himself with a personal best and unbeatable new self-confidence and stars John Schneider.

I Want My Music Television - 8/23/12

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

Trying Not to Love You – Nickleback


Big news in the Nickelback world this week: a new music video featuring George Costanza and… um, that one who who was the host of that one reality show that no one watched. In lesser news, apparently the dude from Nickleback got engaged to Avril Lavigne. The internet for some reason wondered why Lavigne would get married to the dude from Nickelback, but c’mon, he is still a step up from the dude from Sum 41.


Modern Love - Matt Nathanson


When I saw all the people put on headphones I thought great, finally someone is copying the great Cake videos for Short Skirt / Long Jacket where they have people on the street critique the new Matt Nathanson song. Sadly they just listen to the song, keeping their comments to themselves; aside from place cards what I assume is what they consider modern love. Le sigh. Instead of the Lyric Video crazy video that has been going on for a year, they should introduce songs like Short Skirt / Long Jacket did.


Watch the Corner – Dinosaur Jr.


Who would have guessed that the latest Dinosaur Jr. music video (you remember that band from the nineties that was the best grunge band that never managed to have a hit), would premiere on Funny or Die and star Tommy Gavin’s daughter


St. Croix – Family of the Year


Just in time to start reminiscing about summer, here is Family of the Year in what looks to be a remake of a lost The Beach Boys music video.

The Peter Bjorn and John Award for Catchiest Indie-Pop Song of the Summer of 2012

A couple days I heard some people discussing what the song of the summer was and depressingly they came up with Call Me Maybe and really there was not much of a debate. But that got me thinking about last summer when I made an off comment that The Naked and Famous would have won the Peter Bjorn and John Award for catchiest indie-pop song of the summer if it were not for Foster the People. Since the actually songs of the summer list would be boring, I thought I would make the Peter Bjorn and John Award (who may not invented catchy indie-pop, but certainly perfected it with Young Folks) a real thing. So without further ado, here are the top five catchiest indie-pop songs of the summer, some bonus picks, along with the official inaugural winner of The Peter Bjorn and John Award.

Honorable Mention: Call Me Maybe – The Roots, Jimmy Fallon, and Carly Rae Jepsen: Yeah, I just said I was disappointed that the original version is everything that was wrong about the summer of 2012 (severe droughts are what happens when you let a Canadian rule pop culture), but The Roots, along with some children toys, can make anything awesome. If you have not seen The Roots version, which is the only version worth listening to, check it out below:


Legacy Artist: Don't Leave Me (Ne me quitte pas) – Regina Spektor: No one does indie-pop better than Regina Specktor who dusted off one of her older songs and managed to make it weirder and better at the same time. Who else could make Paris the rain sound fun?

5. Bottom of the River– Delta Rae: A big year for folk this year with three songs on this list that could also be categorized in the genre. This song is just handclapping and footstompingly awesome.

4. Tongue Tied – Grouplove: Nothing like a good shout along chorus to get you in consideration for this award. Bonus points for the weird backwards video that went along with the song.

3. Warrior – Kimbra, Mark Foster and A-Trak: Yeah the chick from the Gotye song (which is not on the list because it was more of a winter / spring song and it is not really peppy enough) released her own album this year while you were trying to teach yourself the xylophone solo, this is the catchiest song from it with a little help from last year’s unofficial winner of the Peter Bjorn and John Award.

2. Little Talks – Of Monsters and Men: Whenever you encourage shouting, you are destined for this list. And music does not get more awesomely weird then when it comes from Iceland, where this sextet hails from. Horns are also a plus too.

1. Ho Hey – The Lumineers: But when it comes to shouting during the summer of 2012, no one will make you go hoarse faster than The Lumineers. The trio took a hip-hop phrase mainstay (I want to ignorantly believe this song was inspired by Naughty by Nature) and essentially turned into the percussion for the song. I dare you to try and listen to this song and not put it on repeat for the next hour or two.

You Always End a Conversation One Sentence too Late

Note to self: when writing an uber-peppy script, it may not be the best idea, no matter how shocking it is, to kill off what the audience may believe to be an important character at the end of the Pilot. After one of the most promising premieres in recent memory, Bunheads had to go the downer route by killing of the main character’s husband just minutes after getting married thus tearing down what they spent the first fifty-eight minutes building up.

Not surprisingly, Hubble’s death hung like a black cloud over the first season of the show. And every time it started to pick some momentum back up, out of nowhere they had to remind you that Michelle’s husband, who she did not even really love, had died tragically. She meets a new dude, who she hits it off with, she starts balling over her dead husband after coitus. And of course he had to return for the finale in a dream sequence to up the creepy factor.

It also does not help for a shown named Bunheads, I am not entirely sure what any of the names of the dancers are besides Boo (really, how do you forget a name like that). I think the mean girl is named Sasha, but I would not bet my life on it. I just watched the finale and I still could not name the other two off the top of my head which is a shame because the tall one has the best comic timing of the bunch but she was given the least to do in the first set of episodes. Am I am not sure if it is a good or bad thing that it turned out that Mindy Riggins turned out to be the best part of the show.

But the one aspect the show had going for itself was its rapid fire delivery that, even if a pop culture reference or two went over your head, there would still be plenty of good one your recognize per episode even if there was no way a bunch of teen girls would talk about let alone even know about. I like The Ringer was too busy dancing to catch any of these references. And the season did end on a high point with one of the funniest scenes I have seen on television all year when Michelle sprayed all the dancers in the face with mace. That alone should keep me laughing until the show returns, and when it does, hopefully they can help us forget about Michelle’s dead husband.

Bunheads 1.x gets a on my Terror Alert Scale. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Bunheads on iTunes.