Introducing Amazon MP3

Quietly a couple weeks ago Amazon launched its own music download store, the aptly title Amazon MP3 store. This is noteworthy compared to the other online music stores that still get crushed by iTunes is that Amazon MP3 is the first online store that offers DRM-free songs from major record labels. For you non computer geeks out there DRM (Digital Rights Media) is what keeps you from putting songs you download from iTunes on other MP3 players, tells you how many computers you can put the song or how many times you can burn a song to CD. So songs downloaded from Amazon MP3 are free for you to do whatever you want with them like the ones you downloaded from Napster years ago. Granted this also means they have significantly less number of songs than any other music store. Here is what Amazon says about its new store:

Amazon MP3 offers Earth's biggest selection of a la carte, DRM-free MP3 music downloads. With over 2 million songs from more than 180,000 artists represented by over 20,000 major and independent labels, Amazon MP3 complements Amazon.com’s existing selection of over 1 million CDs to offer customers more selection of physical and digital music than any other retailer.

Every song and album on Amazon MP3 is available exclusively in the MP3 format without digital rights management (DRM) software. This means that Amazon MP3 customers are free to enjoy their music downloads using any hardware device; organize their music using any music management application, and burn songs to CDs.

Most songs are priced from 89 cents to 99 cents, with more than 1 million of the 2 million songs priced at 89 cents. The top 100 best-selling songs are 89 cents, unless marked otherwise. Most albums are priced from $5.99 to $9.99. The top 100 best-selling albums are $8.99 or less, unless marked otherwise.

Every song on Amazon MP3 is encoded at 256 kilobits per second, which gives customers high audio quality at a manageable file size.

For those of you like me that like to dip their toes in the pool before diving in, the store is offering a free download of Energy by The Apples in Stereo where you can test out their product without actually spending the money. It only take a couple minutes to set thing up, it is no way as near as frustrating as the Unbox set up and download, and you should have the song playing within five minutes.

For anyone who is interested I will keep a link to Amazon MP3 on my sidebar for easy access from the 9th Green (full disclosure: I get a whopping 20% commission, granted that is only 20 cents per song, but I would be able to buy that gumball I’ve been eyeballing) and you can always buy the songs through the album ad for Amazon I post in every music review. And since the songs are DRM-free and sometimes cheaper (DRM-Free songs on iTunes are $1.29 per song), it is always worth looking to see if Amazon has it first before buying from iTunes. For fun below is a widget featuring songs from my list of 100 Best Songs of 2006 below (for those keeping track at home, only 22 songs on the list are available through Amazon MP3):

I Want My Music Television vol. VII

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form so here they are courtesy of YouTube. I advise you to watch them before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

Hot - Avril Lavigne



Just in time for Halloween, quite possibly the scariest music video since Thiller. Seriously, the Marilyn Manson pop bride and uber-bangs looks just are not working for Avril Lavigne. Although in a measure of full disclosure the green get up almost makes Avril look attractive. Now if only she would get rid of the silly pink extension.


Won’t Go Home Without You - Maroon 5



In a shocking twist to a Maroon 5 video, it doesn’t feature Adam Levine (not to be confused with the previously mentioned Avril Lavigne) making out with various token hot chicks. And if I am not mistaken, the chick that Levine doesn’t make out with looks a lot like Rousseau’s daughter on Lost after a couple showers. Can anyone get confirmation to if that is her?


Hate That I Love You - Rihanna and NeYo



Well that well was gratuitous. Um, not that I am complaining or anything. The song is actually kind of catchy too, which is a plus so I don’t have to watch it with the mute button on. But should I know who this NeYo character is?


Falling Down - Duran Duran



Speaking of gratuitous, did we really need the five minute intro of some Lohan type being dropped off at some weird model detox place? The Notorious riff at the end was a nice touch though. As for the song, with Timbaland as the producer, it still sound what one would expect a Duran Duran song would sound like. Hopefully there are better tracks when the Red Carpet Massacre is released later this year.

Lyrics Quiz: Blog Action Day

Supposedly today is Blog Action Day where people are to write about the environment. I really hate these types of events because getting people to do something for one day does not make a habit and in the big picture rare put a dent on whatever they are trying to accomplish. Personally everyday I try to cut down my carbon footprint, I have been using energy efficient products for a couple years now and am pretty diligent to turn thing off at the surge protector when not in use. I haven’t yet converted to an energy efficient car yet on account that I’m poor. Although if Al Gore truly cared about the environment he would use his Nobel Prize money to buy me a Prius. Granted if Al Gore truly cared about the environment, he wouldn’t have flown to the ceremony in a private jet. But anyways.

But since the day fell on the 15th I figure I would do my very little part and have a environment themed Lyrics Quiz. Much like every Lyrics Quiz, please post your guesses, title and artist, in the comment section (or you can e-mail me) and if you are correct I will unbold the lyric and give you credit. The Lyrics Quiz is for entertainment purposes only so please do not use anything besides your own meandering mind to help you up with the answers. Now onto the Lyrics Quiz:

Hints:

1. I went with the more environmental lyrics but my favorite line is “What about the babies (Whole Lotta Money)” far apparent reason once you figure out the artist
3. To the astute music fans, the numbers should tip you off to who the artist is.
16. The lead singer of this band recently released an album surprisingly named after this band of which he spent decades feuding with after disbanding it.
17. The budget for this video was donated to various charities with the video itself showing where that money went.
24. One of the very first rock acts to get eco-friendly possibly thanks to the lead singer’s love of surfing.


1. What about sunrise, what about rain? What about all the things you said we were to gain?
2. Oil wasted on the ocean and upon our seas, fish full of mercury. (Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology) - Marvin Gaye; guessed by Slaygal1981)
3. Don’t hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky. It slips away; all your money won’t another minute buy. (Dust in the Wind - Kansas; guessed by Dara)
4. Hey now, maybe we can find a good reason 2 send a child off 2 war. So what if we’re controlling all the oil is it worth a child dying 4?
5. We can live beside the ocean; leave them far behind. Swim out past the breaker; watch the world die. (Santa Monica- Everclear; guessed by Slaygal1981)
6. Got Styrofoam boxes for the ozone layer. Got a man of the people, says keep hope alive. Got fuel to burn, got roads to drive. (Rockin' in the Free World - Neil Young; guessed by Slaygal1981)
7. I want to feel sunlight on my face. I see the dust cloud disappear without a trace. I want to take shelter from the poison rain. (Where the Streets Have No Name - U2; guessed by Slaygal1981)
8. I can breathe my own air. I can sleep more soundly upon these poor souls. I’ll build heaven and call it home. (Don't Drink the Water - Dave Matthews Band; guessed by Angie)
9. People are lonely and only animals with too many tools that can build all the junk that we sell. (The Horizon Has Been Defeated - Jack Johnson; guessed by Slaygal1981)
10. In the middle of the night I go walking in my sleep through the jungle of doubt. (The River of Dreams - Billy Joel; guessed by Slaygal1981)
11. Her green plastic watering can for her fake Chinese rubber plant. (Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead; guessed by Dara)
12. The oil down the desert way has been shakin’ to the top. The sheik he drove his Cadillac, he went a cruising down the ‘ville. (Rock the Casbah - The Clash; guessed by Slaygal1981)
13. This old man I've talked about broke his own heart, poured it in the ground, big red tree grew up and out. (Feed the Tree - Belly; guessed by Dara)
14. Farmer put away your DDT. I don’t care about spots on my apple; leave me the birds and the bees. (Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell; guessed by Angie)
15. I want to breathe in the open wind. I want to kiss like lovers do. I want to dive into your ocean. (Here Comes the Rain Again - The Eurthymics; guessed by Slaygal1981)
16. I can hear the bullfrog calling me. Wonder if my ropes still hanging to the tree. Love to kick my feet way down the shallow water. Shoefly, dragonfly, get back to your mother.
17. I’ll tap into the water try and bring my share. Try to bring more, more then I can handle. Bring it to the table, bring what I am able.
18. The tiny island sails downstream ‘cause the life that lived is dead. (Wind Cries Mary - Jimi Hendrix Experience; guessed by Slaygal1981)
19. Hanging on to hope when there is no hope to speak of. And the wounded skies above say it’s much, much too late. (Praying for Time - George Michaels; guessed by Slaygal1981)
20. Check it, since 1516 minds attacked and overseen. Now crawl amidst the ruins of this empty dream. (People of the Sun - Rage Against the Machine; guessed by Slaygal1981)
21. Now back at the homestead where the air makes you choke. (Walk on the Ocean - Toad the Wet Sproket; guessed by Dara)
22. Nations dropping bombs. Chemical gasses filling lungs of little ones. With ongoing suffering as the youth die young. (Where Is the Love? - Black Eyed Peas; guessed by Slaygal1981)
23. Out where the river broke. The bloodwood and the desert oak. Holden wrecks and boiling diesels. Steam in forty five degrees. (Beds Are Burning - Midnight Oil; guessed by Slaygal1981)
24. It's a shame to awake in a world of pain. What does it mean when a war has taken over?
25. Little darling I feel that ice is slowly melting. Little darling it seems like years since it’s been clear. (Here Comes the Sun - The Beatles; guessed by Slaygal1981)

If Any of Us Get Laid Tonight, it's Because of Eric Bana in Munich

Aw alcohol, the great equalizer. This is the reason why I tend to volunteer to be the designator driver, not because I enjoy driving drunken people around but because I would much rather be the mistake than make the mistake. Off course the free Coke’s are a nice bonus. And this mistake in lies the premise for Knocked Up. Although in a twist, it is the boy who is playing the role of coyote ugly.

The movie is the next in a string of hit movies by Judd Apatow and in true Apatow style the film is full of actors he has previously worked with on like the prematurely canceled shows Freaks and Geeks (Seth Rogan, Jason Segal, Martin Starr, and James Franco in a cameo), and Undeclared (Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogan) as well as his break out hit as writer, director, producer, The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Jonah Hill, Lesie Mann, Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd and Steve Carell in a cameo).

Rogan, in his fourth outing with Apatow, is promoted to leading man this time around as he wins the DNA lottery when he impregnates Katherine Heigl (My Father the Hero). Well at least they want you tom think this is a coup for Rogan, but as Token Hot Chicks go, Heigl is up there in the overrated category, along with Megan Fox in recent memory. But much like a Chicago Bears quarterback, she isn’t there to win the game just not to lose it which she does for the most part (she have more that a few deer caught in the headlight look as some of them ad-lib which you can find in some of the deleted/extended scenes).

Instead Apatow regulars handle the brunt of the comedy load. Hill, Rogan and Rudd are on fire throughout the movie, which is pretty much the Dances with Wolves of comedies with a two plus hour running time (not to mention an extra hour of those deleted and extended scenes and three hours of features), but thanks to those three it rarely seems that long. Rogan and Rudd don’t have an exchange as funny as their improve “You know how I know you’re gay” routine from The 40 Year Old Virgin but Hill comes close as he explains why Brokeback Mountain is a horrible movie in a deleted scene while Heigl looks on with a why did I sign up for this movie look on her face.

Knocked Up gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

57 Channels and Only This Is On vol. III

Quote of the Week: Don’t tell me to become a man alright because if that is your definition of a man that’s extremely sad. (Landry, Friday Night Lights)

Song of the Week: Hopefully Devoted to You - Olivia Newton John (as sung by Olive, Pushing Daisies)

Big News of the Week: Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton on The 9: A couple months ago I highlighted my favorite video blog The 9 (see Now Get Back to Work) and who popped yesterday but none other that Coach and Mrs. Taylor. Chandler dropped what could possibly be a huge spoiler (especially if you put together what he said with next week’s promo) for the season so be warned. Also why you are there, take note at the bottom right of the page where you can submit your favorite things you find on the internet *cough* the 9th Green *cough*.

And since I have gotten a couple questions about it, the song that plays during the promos this season is Believe by The Bravery. It was also brought to my attention that you can buy a Crucifictorious in the NBC Store. So if you were ever wanting to know what to give a random dude whose stuff you read on the internet for Christmas, there you go (assuming a new iPod is too much to ask for). Unfortunately, even though you can buy a Tim Riggins one, Landry’s 85 jersey isn’t available for purchase.


Chuck: We get our first listen to the show’s theme song and it Short Skirt/Long Jacket. Seriously? That is the best they could come up with. Yeah I like the song and the accompanying videos were brilliant, but as a theme song to a spy show?

But anyways. At least the Token Hot Chick is still working at Weiner King and Jayne’s lurking thought the episode was frakking hilarious, though not as hilarious as Captain Awesome teaching Chuck the tango and for no apparent reason doing so in just his boxers. The spy part of the episode was a little shaky though, it was stressed that there were no known pictures of the arms dealer yet no one questioned how Chuck was able to ID him in the bathroom? That just bugged me. And I was extremely disappointed that Chuck was back to the industry standard ringtone. Check out the latest episodes over at NBC.com. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.


How I Met Your Mother: Way too many gapping holes in the episode. Seriously, it never donned on Robin that instead of shaving her legs in the restaurant bathroom with butter that she should hade just went home with him and used his shaving cream? Then, even though she had been in his bedroom once before and watched him go into his bedroom, Winnie Cooper and her sorority sister went into the other bedroom to full around? Then to top things off we don’t even find out if Ted sealed the deal. Pretty lame. Check out the latest episodes over at Innertube. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.


Everybody Hates Chris: I’m not sure if anyone else caught it, but the funniest part of the episode was when Julius was filling up the sugar bowl with restaurant sugar packets. I don’t know why but I was falling on the floor when I saw that.



The Big Bang Theory: It was clear watching this episode that this show is going to depend exclusively Sheldon for entertainment. The scenes with Leonard hitting on the Token Hot Chick and his co-worker were excruciatingly boring. And isn’t a little too soon for the Token Hot Chick to figure out Leonard has the hots for her? Shouldn’t they save that awkwardness for at least the second season? Check out the latest episodes over at Innertube. You can also download or The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.


Heroes: Sylar’s back. Yawn. This may be the worst decision the show has ever made which says a lot. And what is with the Company having him guarded by only by the shape shifting chick (who definitely upgraded bodies)? Elsewhere, the Wonder Twins with the X-Files eyes: still lame. Invincible chick and Flaying Boy II: extremely cheesy CGI. My Two Dads: still boring. When is Kristen Bell going to show up again? Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com.

Journeyman: It is not a good sign that they are already going to the sensationalized history event already. If I am not mistaken, Quantum Leap waited a couple seasons before they pulled that. And it was a little weird that Dan was so surprised to go back to the same day saying he has never done that before. Um, this is only the third journey nothing should be too surprising yet (well aside from everything about it). And I guess we have to wait to see the blow up between Dan and his wife about him not telling her about Olivia at a later date. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com. You can also download Journeyman on iTunes.


Pushing Daisies: Holy Professor Landry Sighting! Yeah, so that tipped me off a little early to who was behind the whole. The second episode was an improvement over the first (which says a lot if you read my review of it), but I can do without the narrator’s obsessive compulsiveness when it comes to telling us the exact time of things. I could have also done without the retelling of the main theme of the show, the “previously on” did a good enough job at that, hopefully they don’t try pounding that into us every episode. As a straight dude, it is in my DNA to have musicals, but if there is one that I hate the least it is definitely Grease. And the way it was done, I could completely believe that Olive would break out into song at that moment so I can really give the show a pass on that.

The show did clear up one of the biggest questions I had with the first episode when I wondered why Ned couldn’t just pet his dog with a glove on and since he was able to kiss Chuck in the body bag (anyone else had visions of Naked Gun during that scene?) he could conceivable pet the dog with gloves. Although my other biggest question, can someone that Ned revive die naturally or does Ned have to touch them for them ever die again, wasn’t. Because seriously, that dog has to be pushing triple digits in dog years by now. That aside, my favorite part of the episode had to be all of Emerson’s knitting. C’mon, dual wool gun holsters: brilliant. Check out the latest episodes over at ABC.com.


Bionic Woman: Anyone else find it funny that right after the "Is she a lesbian" question they went straight to Isiah Washington? But anyways. After two episode, we finally get to see an actually human side of Jamie. Granted it only lasted five second while dancing with her sister. And the writers are really trying their best to ruin the original Bionic Woman. They introduce her as what looked to be the big bad of the series. The next episode she was more ambiguous. Then in the third episode she had humongous swings from trying to be sympathetic to sarcastic and back to complete evil. So I not sure if I, as a viewer, am supposed to hate her, feel bad for her, or laugh at her. I originally gave the show a month of episodes to win me over and next week is the make or break episode. I get a feeling it is going to be break. Check out the latest episodes over at NBC.com.


My Name Is Earl: For the love of good acting, what is Michael Rapaport doing on this show? Even without Rapaport, this would have been a sub par episode. Aside from Our Cops Is On, the show suffers a little when they do flashbacks and what really hurt this time is that we already knew some of the things that were going to happen. With that said, Darnell’s witness protection program bit were still funny. Check out the latest episodes over at NBC.com. You can also download My Name Is Earl on iTunes.


Survivor: To show you just how addicted to fantasy sports I am, I even play fantasy Survivor. I bring this up because I picked up Dave this week because I figured if he got naked last challenge he would be the new Richard Hatch only for min not only stay fully clothed the whole episode but he got voted off this week. This isn’t as frustrating as earlier this season when I picked up Ashley for basically the same reason to promptly get voted off because she was blurred almost the whole episode yet not naked point. To me if a person is unclothed enough to be blurred that should count as being naked. Check out the latest episode over at Innertube.




Smallville: Well it looked like last week wasn’t just jitters for Supergirl, that is pretty much her whole acting range. She may just challenge the absorbing dude on Heroes for worst actor on television award. But hey, at least she looks good in a bikini.


Friday Night Lights: I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about this episode. I have made it known that I am not a fan of the idea of Coach Taylor living in Austin and the Landry killing a dude plotlines, but I can’t say I am really that disappointed so far. But those two plot point would pale in comparison is Mrs. Taylor ends up cheating with the science teacher. I am really hoping that is not where that is going. And seriously how sad would it be to lose your eligibility over a Justin Timberlake concert? Check out the latest episodes over at NBC.com.

Promo of the Week: My contest to win a copy of Nip/Tuck on DVD may be over (check your e-mail if you entered because I notified the winner this morning) but I still have a couple more promos to share hyping the start of season 5 on October 30th. Here is one of them:



Next Week’s Pick: The Big Bang Theory, Monday at 8:30 on CBS: In the series first three episodes two featured former Rosanne costars, last week it was Sarah Gilbert as one of Leonard’s coworker and this week Laurie Metcalf stops by as Sheldon’s mom (which hopefully mean more Sheldon this week). Any one want to place bets to witch Becky will show up first on the show?

Feed Your iPod vol. VII: Nightswimming

Next week sees the release of the very first live album in the twenty-six year career of R.E.M. in the form of a two CD and DVD set, some of which you can preview on their YouTube Channel. Okay, so I am a little disappointed that my personal favorite R.E.M. song was not included. But that is why I am featuring Nightswimming on my latest installment of Feed Your iPod.

The first time I ever heard the song was when I bought Automatic for the People so long ago it was on cassette tape and among a bunch of great songs, Nightswimming stood out above all of them. I am always a sucker for piano ballads and the subtle string section just put the song in legendary status as they back the great Michael Stipe vocals (my favorite line: “I’m pining for the moon”). The song was never as a single stateside, but was in England along with the accompanying video.

Nightswimming - R.E.M.




Feed Your iPod is meant to highlight songs that may not have been big hits but should be on everyone’s mp3 player. Shoot me an e-mail if there is a song you think should be included along with a short paragraph why and maybe it will be featured in a future segment.

Take Away My Record Deal (Go On I Don’t Need It)

In a bit of symbolism not seen since George Michaels burned his leather jacket and blew up his iconic jukebox all the while not bothering to show up in his Freedom ’90 video, for the first single from Heroes & Thieves, Vanessa Carlton drove her iconic piano into traffic only for it to get run over. The big difference between the two artists though was Michaels’ video was a statement that he was no longer beholden to the poppy image forced upon him and the video and accompanying song was a declaration of his new artistic freedom.

Carlton on the other hand was just bitter that her record label dropped her after her sophomore album bombed. The music on the new album hasn’t changed much with the label change even with horrible rap producer Irv Gotti helping out behind the boards. The only influence of his you can hear on the album is the drumline style percussions that open and close out the first single Nolita Fairytale. Instead we get more piano and strings driven introspective tunes.

In fact the new album seems much like a mash-up of her first two with songs having a more polished to them and accessible melodies like on her debut Be Not Nobody with more moodier lyrics like on the follow up Harmonium. Same as the second album, Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind, helped write a few songs and crappy songwriter extraordinaire Linda Perry of 4 Non-Blondes help pen three tracks which are not surprisingly the most overwrought and skippable songs on the album even with Stevie Nicks adding harmonies on The One.

Even being an improvement the album is mired by not having that one big hit to get Carlton back on the charts. Despite the melodramatics of Perry on her songs, the rest of the album just sounds like they could have been the filler between A Thousand Miles and Ordinary Day from the first album. Hopefully Carlton took notes from Nicks on how to branch out musically but still have a signature sound on her next album.

Song to Download - Home

Heroes & Thieves gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Don’t Need a Suit, You Don’t Need a Bible

Of all the rap-rockers of the late nineties, Kid Rock sucked the least. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Rock didn’t just pseudo-rap over loud guitars, he made sure all his influences, which he wore on his sleeve and routinely name dropped in songs, came thru from Run-DMC to Metallica to Hank Williams Jr. to fellow Detroiter Bob Seger. But the former Bob Ritchie has been more tabloid fodder than rock star thanks to the women he like to keep company, most notable the a couple month long marriage to Pamela Anderson.

With Anderson out of the picture (aside from a run in with her and her ex-husband at the Video Music Awards), Kid Rock is back to music with Rock n Roll Jesus. But Anderson isn’t completely forgotten as the line, “she’s half your age but twice as hot” seems like a not so thinly veiled reference to the former playmate who is currently on the wrong side of forty. Rounding out the final two country themed tracks is Lowlife (Living the Highlife) a song that could be a pot show at fellow Pam ex, Tommy Lee or possible just a tongue in check song about himself, with Kid Rock you really don’t know.

The rest of the album is still pretty eclectic as you get you share of rock anthems, some rapping, a couple of power ballads and Rock dips even further into his influence pool for the delta blues themed New Orleans. But like his most recent albums, the rock tracks just sound like retreads of past songs. The first single So Hott sounds like an homage to rock excess kings AC/DC (the cover art also conspicuously looks like Back in Black) but certainly Angus and the boys could have come up with a catchy chorus.

Speaking of retreads, that is nowhere more apparent, and this time intentional, than on Rock’s ode to the simpler times in one’s youth on All Summer Long which heavily borrows the piano chords from Werewolves of London that morphs into Sweet Home Alabama. This is a neat trick, but the song doesn’t really hold up to multiple listens. But Amen more than lives up to more than one spins. The acoustic gospel tune (no, seriously, Rock does a gospel song and does it well) takes aim at corrupt government and corporations, as well as the lazy, uninvolved and the ignorant. Yeah, Rock may not be the most moral person in the world, but when a song is this good, sometimes you don’t mind the blind preaching.

Song to Download - Amen (Kid Rock is still holding his catalogue off iTunes)

Rock n Roll Jesus gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

We on Award Tour with Muhammad My Man Goin Each and Every Place with the Mic in Their Hand

Even though I mentioned the time during the latest 57 Channels, but it didn’t really don on me just how late this year’s Hip Hop Honors started until I switched over from Heroes (seriously, when is Kristen Bell showing up, the show is really getting painful to watch). A ten o’clock start time is just way too late for a two hour special. VH1 should know I like to get to bed promptly at ten-thirty so I can get my twelve hours of beauty sleep in. The late start time is most likely because of the absolutely horrible I Love New York, although if Midget Mac sticks around I may watch. Does anyone know if he did? (Be warned if you know the answer I will think less of you as a person). But anyways. You can (re)watch the performances and more over at hiphop.vh1.com. Here are some thoughts of this year’s festivities:

- Tracy Morgan is you host this year and fails to garner a laugh. And this is why I always have to scratch my head whenever someone tries to convince me that 30 Rock is funny because he is part of the show. Not to mention how overrated Tina Fey is. People always seem to forget she was the head writer for what is considered the least funny Saturday Night Live era ever (although the current era is trying to take that title). Yeah she was funny during Weekend Update, but that segment is idiot proof, even Jimmy Fallon was able to be funny during it. See, rants like this happen when I only get ten hours of sleep. Okay, back on track.

- They get the token female honoree out of the way earlier with Missy Elliot, the first misstep the show has had. If you insist on having a female, why not Queen Latifah, Roxanne Shanté or Mary J. Blige. I would even take the chick that sang Pump Up the Jam over her. Elliot is completely overvalued as a rapper just because of her eye-popping videos, but all her songs are mediocre at best. Her tribute was skippable with Eve, Nelly Furtado (don’t ask me what she was wearing), Ciara, and Tweet out of obscurity and yet no trash bag dresses in sight. Yawn.

- What, is the producer born Sean Combs going back to P. Diddy? I thought he was going as Diddy these days. Why bring back the “P”? Inquiring corny white dude minds need to know.

- He is out to honor New Jack Swing. I could name a dozen hip-hop artists more deserving, but I’ll let it go because long before the 9th Green existed I still made my best songs of the year lists for my own amusement and the very first list I made back in 1996 had No Diggity at number one. And to this day whenever I find myself in front of a microphone I find myself going through the whole, “Check, baby, check baby 1, 2, 3, 4” routine and sometimes bust out an entire verse depending on the audience. Fun Fact: Rump Shaker was actually written by an unknown Pharrell Williams who showed up twice last night yet for some reason was not involved in the Teddy Riley segment. But if you are going to pay tribute to New Jack Swing do you really need a Michael Jackson song? But we did find out why T-Pain uses that voice box thing because dude has a horrible singing voice.

- Wild Style is honored next. Never seen it, let’s move on.

- Whodini is a little before my time, but Freaks Come Out at Night is still a classic. I do feel bad for the group that they were resigned to having Nick Cannon, Nelly and Jermaine Dupri as part of their tribute. They really deserve better than that.

- Harvey Keitel fills this year’s token white dude quota to honor Snoop Dogg. Dr. Dre, who has been conspicuously absent for all the Hip Hop Honors, again isn’t present this year even though half the songs performed are technically his song. Maybe he will make an appearance once he finally finishes Detox because he really need to be honored himself or with N.W.A. as a group.

- And now what I have been waiting for four years, Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi: A Tribe Called Quest. Common does a decent job with Bonita Applebum, one of the few great rap love songs, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up when the beat for Scenrio started up. You know you are a great performer when you can just spout jibberish like Busta Rhymes did, I think he only rapped four actual words from the orginal verse, and still get everyone excited, yet Lupe Fiasco flubs a line and gets universally panned. Of cource how do you mess up the BBD line? But that all paled in compairison when Tribe themslves hit the stage for thilling renditions of Check the Rhyme and my presonal favorite Award Tour.

Now that A Tribe Called Quest is no longer the most deserving to be honored next, it is time to pick someone to replace them and I think I’ll go with Slick Rick to fill that void. In fact, here are the rappers who would be honored if I were running the show (who you got?):

Slick Rick

EPMD

Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew

Too $hort (if Dr. Dre passes)

The Pharcyde

Yo! MTV Raps (Fab 5 Freddy, Ed Lover, Doctor Dré, Ted Demme)

The Best of A Tribe Called Quest

In a story I broke yesterday, A Tribe Called Quest is being honored tonight at VH1’s Hip Hop Honors after calling for them to be done so since the inception of the show. There are very few artists that have put out five or more albums of which I own all of them and A Tribe Called Quest is one of them. So in honor of them getting their just due, here is a list of the group’s best songs that can fit on a single CD (running time 78:02). All songs are credited to A Tribe Called Quest unless noted otherwise:


1. I Left My Wallet In El Segundo - Peoples’ Instinctive Travels & the Paths of Rhythm (1990)
2. Can I Kick It? - Peoples’ Instinctive Travels & the Paths of Rhythm (1990)
3. Bonita Applebum - Peoples’ Instinctive Travels & the Paths of Rhythm (1990)
4. Check the Rhime - Low End Theory (1991)
5. Jazz (We've Got) - Low End Theory (1991)
6. Scenario (featuring Leaders of a New School) - Low End Theory (1991)
7. Award Tour (featuring Trugoy The Dove) - Midnight Marauders (1993)
8. The Chase, Part II - Midnight Marauders (1993)
9. Steve Biko (Stir It Up) - Midnight Marauders (1993)
10. Electric Relaxation - Midnight Marauders (1993)
11. 8 Million Stories - Midnight Marauders (1993)
12. Get It Together - Beastie Boys featuring Q-Tip - Ill Communication (1994)
13. 1nce Again - Beats, Rhymes and Life (1996)
14. Rumble in the Jungle - The Fugees, Busta Rhymes and A Tribe Called Quest - Rumble in the Jungle Soundtrack (1997)
15. Steppin' It Up (featuring Busta Rhymes and Redman) - The Love Movement (1998)
16. Find a Way - The ove Movement (1998)
17. Money Maker - The Love Movement (1998)
18. Start It Up - The Love Movement (1998)
19. Vivrant Thing - Q-Tip - Violator: The Album (1999)
20. Breathe and Stop - Q-Tip - Amplified (2000)

If you think I left something out feel free to tell me what you would have put on and what song it would replace in the comment section.

57 Channels and Only This Is On vol. II

Quote of the Week: (Expletive deleted), I was in the proximity. (Emerson, Pushing Daisies)

Song of the Week: Bad Reputation - Freedy Johnson (Journeyman)

Big News of the Week: Friday Night Lights Moving to Mondays? : I am part of a NBC Panel Group and yesterday I got a survey about Friday Night Lights and the first episode. The questions were pretty run of the mill, rating each character, whether the show focused too much on football, high school, say what you like/dislike, but stuck in the middle of this survey in the agree/disagree portion of the survey was the statement, “I would be more likely to watch if FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS followed HEROES on Monday.” They already tested this scenario once last season garnering the series its highest rating and supposedly Journeyman has gotten disappointing numbers (although if any can explain to me how that can be when more people watched it than Chuck yet Chuck has been said getting good rating) so this may be a reality. Granted if I were running NBC, I would move the show to Sunday once Sunday Night Football is over. If anyone wants to join this panel shout me a holla and I will drop NBC your e-mail.

Also do not forget that this is the last week to enter my Win Nip/Tuck 4.x on DVD Contest. You have until this Friday to enter.



Chuck: Please, please, please, never have the Token Hot Chick fired from Wienerville. And while I am making suggestions, every episode the Token Hot Chick should be required to jump over the counter at least once while at McWieners. And to all the females out there, with Halloween creeping up on us, might I suggest you go as an employ of Wienercabana. In fact, anyone who swings by my pad at the end of the month wearing a company issued Wienertown uniform will get an extra package of raisins. (Yes I give out fruit for Halloween. If you do 50 sit ups maybe I’ll give you a Kit-Kat bar.)



Wieners-R-Us aside, I am really disappointed they kept up the agents trying to kill each other plotlines. Yeah there is animosity between to the two agencies, but having them try to kill each other goes way too far, not too mention it is getting tired already. Just play up the easy Odd Couple angle, no need for the two to come to blows. And I like pretentious music as much as the next musical snob, but did they really need to spin Don’t Make Me a Target by Spoon during each segment? Not too mention the multiple times they played Gnarls Barkley’s version of Gone Daddy Gone. Check out the latest episodes over at NBC.com. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.



Everybody Hates Chris: Man did it take some time to get used to Chris’ voice change. I got to imagine it has to suck to have your voice change on national TV. Hopefully Chris Rock (the current day version) shows up more times this season because it was great to see him work off his younger alter ego. But hopefully Greg’s diaper doesn’t make another appearance. You can download this episode of Everybody Hates Chris for free on iTunes.


How I Met Your Mother/The Big Bang Theory: There is something to say that this week one of rare time I noticed How I Met Your Mother had a laugh track yet didn’t remember hearing one on The Big Bang Theory this week. It is clear in the year of the nerds this television season; Sheldon is the early favorite as break out star. Granted it doesn’t bode well for the show that I only laughed at one non-Sheldon joke, the sarcasm sign. But the Lois Lane debate is definitely like an inane arguments I routinely have with anyone willing to engage me in a debate of absurd proportions. And if for some reason someone from CBS or the Barenaked Ladies happen upon the 9th Green, in the past two weeks I have gotten an absurd amount of hit looking to download the theme song so I highly recommend getting that on iTunes ASAP. Check out the latest episodes over at Innertube. You can also download How I Met Your Mother or The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.


Heroes: Not nearly as funny as last week, mustache dude was MIA, drunken samurai didn’t get much screen time. But it was nice to see Noah and the Haitian reunite even if it were pretty obvious that Mohinder was faking the memory loss. Wonder Twins meet X-Files storyline is still a bore. And unfortunately they still haven’t decided to kill off Absorbing Dude and Hearing Guy once and for all this week. Yawn.

When is Kristen Bell showing up again? Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com.


Journeyman: Still undecided on this show. I hope that he gets to journey outside of San Francisco one of these days because his near misses with friends and family could get old soon. Also getting old fast is the ex-girlfriend vague responses whenever Dan tries to get answers out of her. Could she be Al to his Sam but in the flesh? But any show that plays former Feed You iPod song, Bad Reputation gets another look in my book. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com. You can also download Journeyman on iTunes.


Bionic Woman: Still not sold on the show. Jamie was a little more likeable this week, but still comes off as wooden most of the time. And I’m not sure if it was a shout out to the observant viewer or not, but Jamie’s comment of her sister being a cliché sums up my thoughts of the sister over the past two episodes. They need to get her an interesting storyline and do it soon because I am giving the show only another two week trial run before I drop it for good. Check out the latest episodes over at NBC.com.


My Name Is Earl: For most of the summer I was hoping that it wouldn’t take long for Earl to get parole, but after the first two episodes of the season I wouldn’t mind that all if he take the whole season to get out because it looks like there are plenty of ways for Earl to do good deeds on the inside. The inept Coach as the warden just adds to the hilarity of it all. Check out the latest episodes over at NBC.com. You can also download My Name Is Earl on iTunes.


Survivor: Well my prediction of a one tribe sweep got crushed this week. But how do you let someone who weighs about as much as a machete wield one in an immunity challenge? And the reward challenge was pretty cheap letting the challenge be decided by letting the females go an extra time. The tiebreaker should have been let everyone compete at once. Now that would have been interesting. Check out the latest episode over at Innertube.




Smallville: Wow, what an auspicious start by Supergirl. No, it wasn’t in the way they wrote the character it is that girl just can’t act, which says a lot considering usually girls that are moderately attractive like this can blind me to some iffy acting skills. Hopefully this was just first episode jitters because if she doesn’t get better I’m not sure I could watch a whole season if she is part of it. Well unless I utilize the mute button.


Also do not forget to check out my First Impressions of Pushing Daisies and Friday Night Lights.


Next Week’s Pick: Hip-Hop Honors, Monday 10:00 VH1: Monday is a pretty crowded day for television, but all the shows will be put on the back burner (luckily there is nothing worth watching on Tuesday so I can catch up) for what has become the third best award show after the Grammy’s and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (well next year may not be as good if they let Madonna in). For the previous three shows I have said, “Great, but where is A Tribe Called Quest?” Well Tribe will finally getting their just dues this year along with Snoop Dogg, Kool G Rap, Whodini, Missy Elliot, New Jack Swing and Wild Style.