There has been a long standing belief of a sophomore slump that transcends all medium and is no more found than in music. Seal may caught on to the reason why when asked why he took so long to record his second he said it took him twenty years to record the first, he should be expected to take only a year to make the next. But in recent years, there seems to be a trend of artists being able to get two quality albums under their belts before falling into a funk, most notable Coldplay whose third album X&Y found the band in such a rut that the album sounded like it was recorded by a cover band, not a band on the verge of being the biggest band in the world.
Also on the cusp of the title was Snow Patrol, the trendy band in recent years for musical montages in television and movies. Like Coldplay, on their second album, they pushed the boundaries of their musical limits, but with their third album, A Hundred Million Suns, Snow Patrol has made the ten safest songs they could. Even the last track, the sixteen minute The Lightning Strike is just basically three songs just without a break in between. While the best song on the album, Crack the Shudders follows the blueprint laid by Run and Chasing Cars on previous albums. Hopefully Snow Patrol follows Coldplay's lead and just completely deconstructs their sound for the fourth album.
The junior slump does not just apply to rock acts as John Legend has fallen into the category with Evolver where the R&B sadly does not actually evolve. And that can be heard from the start which is front loaded with guest stars even though his first two album shows he can command a song on his own. On Green LightAndre 3000 mentions he usually does not freestyle and if his rap on the song is any indication he should go back to writing his rhymes down first. And Kanye West really needs to give back the voice modulator to T-Pain because it just does not work for him on It's Over. Things are a little better when Legend is own his own like the slow burning Everybody Knows or This Time which reaches the emotional impact that Ordinary People did on is debut. But he over reaches on If You're Out There, an overtly sappy song that tries but does not hit the gravitas of Coming Home from his last album.
Some indie/underground bands are great but you understand why they never achieve any mainstream success, but then their are ones like Old 97's who write catchy and easily accessible songs. The lead singer of that band, Rhett Miller released a solo album a couple of songs that should have at least had moderate success, like his duet with Rachael Yamagata, but sadly did not sniff the charts. I love the dichotomy of the Fireflies with Rhett singing your token The One That Got Away song, but Rachael's response is basically, you're a moron, stop stalking me.
It is odd that the three least liked professions, lawyers, cops and doctors make up 85% of primetime shows. Roughly. And now matter how much we hate them, shows of that ilk just keep popping up again and again generating the highest ratings since the eighties. One has to wonder by that assumption how The West Wing is the only political show in recent memory. But anyway. Though I typically stay away from those types of shows it was hard not to get sucked into Raising the Bar just to be memorized by the mane of Zach Morris.
Follicle issues aside, the first season has been rather bland after the premiere issue promised an insight on the personal life of the lawyers it followed with the early reveal of Morris shacking up one of his rival district attorneys, the sexually harassing boss, and the gay homosexual legal aide who happened to nailing his female judge. But besides the occasional fraternizing at the local watering hole and the rare cases that involved lovers and relatives, most of episodes were just your run of the mill procedurals. But with great hair. The show even had the most boring gay outing ever in the history of television.
The season comes to a close tonight at 10:00 on TNT and brings back the fire that was ignited in the premiere with some one getting fired, a family member coming front of a judge, two characters going out on a date and another couple making out. I won’t spoil to who did what but I will say that any Bayside High School fans won’t be disappointed and it won’t be just because of Zach Morris’ massive locks.
Coalition Links of the Week: There have been so many Grey's Anatomy hookups and romances over the years, it's hard to keep count. Which is your all-time favorite? (BuzzSugar)
This week, Sandie shared an interview with Reggie Austin from The Starter Wife. (Daemon's TV)
A longtime friend of Vance's wrote this past week's The Office episode and Vance gives it a totally unbiased review. (Tapeworthy)
This week, Jace was absolutely gutted by David Tennant's decision to leave Doctor Who at the end of 2009 and came up with some suggestions as to who could succeed Tennant as the Eleventh Doctor. (Televisionary)
On the topic of Gossip Girl, Sara thinks that Chuck's a bore, Nate's a dim bulb and Dan and Serena keep having the same conversations over and over! (TiFaux)
This week, the TV Addict took a brief look at Life on Mars. (The TV Addict)
What can be done to save Heroes? TV Spy’s answer to Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross, Ben and Gareth, have the answers! (TV Spy)
Kate loved the second episode of Stylista even more than the first one! (TV Filter)
Chuck: Aw, the arcade. The youth today just don’t know how good they got it with next generation gaming like the PS3. I was always partial to Gauntlet myself even though it was a huge quarter suck and you needed three other players to even do anything. But anyways, they really need more Creepy Guy-centric episodes; he had me cracking up throughout especially his video tape of Anna. You can stream current episodes over at NBC.com. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.
Heroes: There needs to be a running counter at the bottom of the screen that ticks up whenever (now former) Osmosis Dude dies but doesn’t actually die. Dude fell further out a window than John Locke for goodness sake. The number has to be in double digits by now. Or just imagine how high that number would be if it included the whole cast. Is there any cast member that shouldn’t actually be dead by now? Hiro is the only one that I can think of off the top of my head. You can stream current episodes over at NBC.com.
Greek: Finally something interesting happened this season. Gotta love the massive brawl Rusty started and the pledges debating to take off their blindfolds or not. Then the complete blindside at the end with Frannie taking half the house to start her own sorority. This should make the second half be a little more interesting than the first half. You can stream current episodes over at ABCFamily.com. You can also download Greek on iTunes.
Eli Stone: Well that was a dark episode. If there was really one episode that needed a musical montage sequence, this would have been it. Eli is forced to settle, Jordan wins his case but loses his firm in the process, and Maggie ends up defending the paint companies at the Supreme Court. And with that last sentiment, the show is closely getting into the territory that is part of Heroes downfall with the cast sending too much time trying to change a vision of the future in the long term. It has been fine with the future being resolved at the end of each episode, but it won’t work if spends a whole season, or even a couple of episodes trying to change a vision he had of the future. I guess we have to wait two weeks to see if Maggie stays with Jordan or goes with Dr. Abbott and Peg Bundy. You can stream current episodes over at ABC.com. You can also download Eli Stone on iTunes.
Pushing Daisies: They shouldn’t go to that well too often, but hopefully they bring back Simone every couple months. If only I could train my dogs that way. My elboy is dislocated from mine trying to catch cars and squirrels. And hopefully Jimmy James isn’t as evil as they have teased. You can stream current episodes over at ABC.com.
Survivor: At this point I am just really ready for a merge. I thought the case the team around the course was the most pathetic attempt by any tribe ever, but the keep away challenge really rivals that. While Sugar beating Bob in the log rolling may be up their as the biggest upset ever. But Bob can rest in the solace that he wins the award for best use of a buff with him using it as a bowtie. You can stream current episodes over at Innertube.
My Name Is Earl: A nice fight there between karma and voodoo. Earl debating anyone tends to be the highest of high comedy, but seeing him try to mind wrestle a kid just made it funnier. You can stream current episodes over at NBC.com. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.
For those still undecided or persuadable, please check out My Case for John McCain and Part II (I have a lot of reasons) before you go to the polls Tuesday.
Last month Sarah McLachlan released a Greatest Hits album, but for me, it may be best just to pick up Surfacing and cherry pick a song or two like Possession off iTunes. The album was the pinnacle of her career that also coincided with the launch of the Lilith Fair and will also live on through history thanks to The Starr Report where it mentioned a note Monica Lewinski wrote to Bill Clinton mentioning one of the songs, Do What You Got to Do. I’m sure Sarah is proud of that accomplishment, although the song is conspicuously absent from the Greatest Hits package.
And why wouldn’t a chick have Surfacing on hand for any occasion during the late nineties. Surfacing was just one of those albums that just washes over you and somehow works for different occasions, relaxing, just hanging out, or hanging out with the special someone. And no one best encapsulates that then the simple piano ode of Angel, a heartbreaking song about loss but at the same time is very comforting. To a lesser extent, Adia also has that feel to it, albeit a little more upbeat.
The highlight of the album though starts off the album with Building a Mystery, a brilliantly crafted song there was nothing like it before or since. And I have absolutely no clue what the song or any of the lyrics actually mean (although I have been known to wear sandals in the snow), but I just love how Sarah delivers the line “You give us a tantrum.” But on the song and the rest of Surfacing, McLachlan’s voice somehow haunts and sooths at the same time making her one of the most uniquely beautiful voices in music history and is why the album is this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame.
Quote of the Week: Don’t worry I didn’t look. Although I was tempted to make sure George Lukas doesn’t make any more Star Wars movies. (Eli Stone - Eli Stone)
Big News of the Week: The Ex-List Gets Axed: Usually when my most anticipated show of the show gets yanked after four episodes I get pretty steamed, but considering the show was a huge let down, I could care less. The show rivaled Heroes in terms of horrible casting and bad execution of a decent idea. If I am not mistaken tonight starts some NCIS reruns. No word on when or if the remaining six episodes taped will ever seen the light of day.
Gratuitous Token Hot Chick Picture of the Week:
Free Download of the Week: Boys with Girlfriends - Meiko (Gibson.com): One of the catchiest songs of the season and you can download it for free. If you wanted to give the song a listen before you download, below is the video. And, really, who cannot be entertained by a stalking Mun Chi Chi?
Promo of the Week: Tonight, as in Halloween, on the Sci-Fi Channel they are having a seven hour live Ghost Hunters special starting at 7:00 and hosted by Amanda Tapping of Sanctuary. The seven hours will be spent at Fort Delaware, a Civil War POW camp where 2,400 Confederate soldiers died of disease or torture. Below is a promo for the event, or head over to SciFi.com for more information.
Next Week Pick of the Week: Crossroads, Friday (Nov 7) at 9:00 on CMT: After MTV Unplugged, CMT Crossroads is the best live concert series ever in the history of television. The show takes a country artist and teams them with an act outside the genre and trades each others songs. Some of my favorites have been Ryan Adams/Elton John, Travis Tritt/Ray Charles, and Kenny Rogers/Lionel Richie. The latest is Taylor Swift and Joe Elliott of Def Leppard which at the very least will be enjoyable in a watching a train wreck kind of way. But who knows, maybe Elliott does a stellar version of Teardrops on My Guitar. And what else are you going to watch, a NCIS repeat?
For those still undecided or persuadable, please check out My Case for John McCain and Part II (I have a lot of reasons) before you go to the polls Tuesday.
Yesterday I started my Case for John McCain as the next president of the United States of American. Here are the other reason why I will be voting for him:
Taxes (con’t): For a ticket that claims that it is patriotic to pay taxes, there are sure a lot of American workers under Barack Obama’s tax plan that will not be paying any taxes at all, some of which who make up to $50,000 a year will not have to give any of the money they earned back to the government. Talk about un-American. I have seen economist that have put that number at 40% of worker that won’t be paying any taxes. That is two in five working American that won’t have to pay any income tax at all. In fact under Obama’s plan he also plans on giving tax cuts to people that already are not paying any income tax. That means after they fill out their income tax form in April, not only will they get back anything that the government took out of their paycheck initially, they will get an extra couple thousand (courtesy of those that actually pay taxes) just because they can’t find a better job.
4) Commander in Chief: Arguable the most important part of being the president is to lead our troops and in a time a war, someone who has been in the trenches is the best person to lead those brave men and women putting their lives on the line every day. John McCain knows the price of war as he paid it for years in solitary confinement in a Vietnamese prison cell and has a deep connection with today’s soldiers with his son currently stationed in Iraq. From Iraq, he has learned that you do not engage in a war without a clear exist strategy and knows this is where we went wrong in Iraq. He know first hand what happens when information gets into the wrong hands, yet Barack Obama want to telegraph our moves with our enemies by giving them our time timetable for withdrawal, so they can play possum until that day comes. He advocates bombing sovereign counties like Pakistan without their consent, or sit down with evil dictators who would use the opportunity to grand stand as we have seen at the United Nations with leaders of Iran and Venezuela in recent years.
People can argue until they are out of breath about is it was right to invade Iraq or not, but the reality is we are their and the next president will be stuck with it. Up and leaving like Senator Obama has suggested would create chaos and ethnic cleansing we saw in the former Yugoslavia when it collapsed. A more steady hand is needed in this case to make sure the Iraqis don’t up worse than they were under Saddam Hussein and John McCain has that hand. And the American men and women deserve to come home in honor not in defeat and John McCain will bring our troops home in honor.
Even Joe Biden warns about an attack on America under an Obama presidency and apparently Joe has studied history because every president with little experience has been tested and disturbingly each of them failed: George Bush with 9/11 and the poorly handled War on Terror; Bill Clinton underestimated Islamic Extremist after the original World Trade Center bombing; Jimmy Carter mishandled the hostage crisis; and John F. Kennedy bungled the Bay of Pigs invasion. I guess that Biden was also right that the presidency is no place for on the job training.
Notice anything similar about the above president besides their lack of experience? If you said that their party also controlled Congress at the time you are correct. Things didn’t turn around for the country until Ronald Reagan became president and the Republicans took over Congress under Clinton. Obama under a Democratic led Congress will prove to be as disastrous at every other time in the country when the balance of power wasn’t in tack between the two powers.
The only time Barack Obama has been tested in a crisis, his response was, “Call me if you need me” because he was too busy blaming the Republican for the crisis and charging $100,000 to see Bruce Springsteen perform while millions of Americans were losing their life saving and houses. For the next crisis that Biden predicts we cannot have another The Pet Goat moment. In times of crisis, be it imminent danger of a cockpit during Vietnam War or a financial crisis, John McCain has shown that his is willing roll up his sleeves and try to get things down and to do what is right for the country even if his own life is at stake.
5) More of the Same: When I listen to why people are voting for Barack Obama is because he is a change agent and transformational figure. Yet if you look at his proposals, they are almost exactly the same as those ideas suggested by Al Gore and John Kerry and Obama has offered nothing new to the discussion. By his own admission, he modeled his tax plan after that of Bill Clinton’s yet when doing so doesn’t realize we live in a completely different time. When Clinton put his tax plan in place, under a Republican Congress, we were in an unprecedented time of peace with the strongest economy ever thanks to the tech boom yet Obama want to institute a similar tax plan when we are waging two wars and an economy going down faster that it was going up in the nineties. A tax code should reflect the times we are living in and the one proposed by John McCain does than.
And it seems like every time Obama speaks these days his tax code changes. During the debates, the 40% tax rate was for those making $250,000 or more but a week ago that was lowered to $200,000. Joe Biden later even lowered that number further. At this rate, if elected, by the time his tax rate goes into effect, anyone making over $50,000 will be taxed at 40%. Then of course anyone under would get their yearly check back from the government.
Senator also promised a new kind of campaign which he was able to do in some part by breaking a pledge to sit down with John McCain and work with the public financing that every presidential candidate has taken since put in to place. And he also campaigned differently because most candidates do not break campaign promises until after they get into office.
But in every other respect Barack Obama has run the same type of campaign that has been use in recent memory including using complete lies to put his opponent in different light. Obama has been caught by independent fact check organization lying about McCain’s health care plan, Obama has lied about McCain’s social security plan and Medicare, Obama lied about McCain’s stance on stem cell research (McCain is For it), Obama lied about McCain’s Education policy, Obama lied about McCain’s energy policy and even received a “Pants on Fire” rating for trying to tie McCain to Rush Limbaugh on immigration, two positions that couldn’t be further apart (McCain supports a path to citizenship while Limbaugh wants all illegal rounded up and deported them). Obama even landed the first dirty trick of the presidential campaign with the erroneous statement that McCain wants to fight a 100 year war in Iraq (McCain said it would be alright if the US kept troops there as long as they are not in harms way like in South Korea and Germany). And that isn’t even getting into all the barely and half truths that have come out of the mouth of Barack Obama. That isn’t a better type of candidate who is above dirty politics.
And Barack Obama has mastered the age old campaign tactic of pandering and double talk like chumming it up at a bowling alley in Pennsylvania then go to San Francisco and say those people cling to their guns and their religion. During the primaries, he would be down in Texas saying NAFTA was good for America then get on a plane and tell us in Ohio he would renegotiate the agreement. Despite all the environmental reports that ethanol is actually worse that crude oil on the environment, Obama back that type of fuel because Iowa is the first on the primary calendar (and since he will want to get reelected I doubt he will change his mind anytime soon, but you really can’t expect a former smoker to do what’s right when it comes to the environment when they think the whole world is an ashtray). Obama even participated in the worst type of pandering that can be done when he said he was rooting for the Phillies in the World Series while campaigning in Philadelphia, but said he was behind the Rays while in Florida. That is just unforgivable.
Obama has even managed to break the record for running the most negative campaign ever in the history of the world and even broke that record in early October. And despite the hope chatter he is not above running a campaign of fear, but instead of trying to scare us with the Boogieman like George Bush did, he want to scare your wallet with his “You cannot afford John McCain” even though he is the one with the record of voting for tax hikes and against tax cuts (97% of the time) where John McCain want everyone, just people Obama deems worthy, to keep more of their hard earned money.
Thinking of it, besides running a campaign of fear, Barack Obama, may not have voted with Bush 90% of the time, but there are plenty of similarities between the two: little experience, a dislike for taking questions be it the press or normal Americans, a God complex, history of substance abuse, a refusal to admit when he or a member of his party is wrong, shady associations, a running mate who expects to do more than what is required by a Vice President, thinks a stimulus package can cure a tanking economy Obama is as liberal as Bush is Conservative and Bush’s ability to help suppress the vote is only matched by Obama’s ability to help commit voter fraud.
Which brings me back to who I will be voting for, John McCain. Where Obama offers a complete 180 turn from George Bush, a vote for John McCain offers a change from the liberal and conservatism that have wrecked our country when in full control and will rule in the center where most people are, not just cow-tow to the Move-On and Christian Coalition’s of the world. John McCain is for the real people, the workers, the backbone of America, not just people of one narrow view like George Bush and Barack Obama. When you go into the voting booth next Tuesday, please take in consideration the case I have made for John McCain.
Barring hanging chads or major computer malfunctions, by this time next week we will know who the 44th president of the United States will be (well technically 43rd, for some reason they count Grover Cleveland twice just because he won non-consecutive terms). The day before I will do my civic duty and vote and I will be voting for John McCain. Here are the five leading factors on why I will be doing so.
1) The National Debt: Thanks to the recent Wall Street bailout our national debt ran up to eleven digits. I would give you the number but it will most likely go up another million or so by the time I write this and the time you read this. And many of our current economic woes can go back to this debt including raising consumer prices, the deflated dollar and no consumer confidence. And despite the absurdly high debt, if he enacts all the entitlements he has proposed, Barack Obama will add another trillion dollars worth of debt to America without bringing in any more money to lower the current debt or even pay these entitlements off. Obama was asked twice during the debates what he would cut to reduce the debt and has not once proposed any cuts. Certainly John McCain isn’t much better when it comes off to paying off the debt but has proposed to freeze spending and go department by department and slash the unproductive parts of government and will get spending under control but vetoing any legislation loaded with pet projects for legislators (granted it would have been nice if he had voted against the pork laden bailout bill). This may be just like treading water because his cuts may only be enough to pay off the interest on the current debt but he does not propose any major projects that will make the debt more outlandish than it already is.
2) A Moderate Candidate: Our current election system is massively broke. To get nominated, candidates much appeal to the deeply partisan factions of their political party leaving moderates of the country, that make up more than half of eligible voters stuck between voting between some right wing nut job or a liberal communist. But somehow John McCain managed to get the Republican nomination making him the most moderate candidate of my lifetime. Don’t believe me? Ask Rush Limbaugh and Anne Coulter who both said during the primary season that he would sooner vote for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama before McCain because he wasn’t conservative enough. (Rush not surprisingly changed his tune when the match up was set, Coulter has been conspicuously absent lately.) Anyone who is hated as much by Keith Olberman as he is by Rush Limbaugh must be good for the middle majority.
Rush and all of the blowhards of his ilk on the far right do not like McCain for his ability to work across the aisles working on legislation with such Democrats as Russ Feingold and Ted Kennedy, headed up the Gang of 14, a bipartisan effort to break the gridlock in Washington by conforming judges that neither side were budging until then. He is so admired by the Democrats that Joe Biden once said he would be honored to run with McCain and McCain was rumored to be on the short list of John Kerry as his running mate in 2004. And there will be room for Democrats in a McCain cabinet as he has already floated the name of Andrew Cuomo as chairman of the SEC and former Democratic Vice President candidate Joe Lieberman is one of his closest advisers.
Senator Obama and his surrogates likes to say that McCain voted with George Bust 90% of the time but that number is just cherry picking one year out of seven and lets face it, our Congress votes on some pretty silly proposals like changing the name of “French Fries” to “Freedom Fries.” You notice Obama rarely points out specific cases where McCain sides with George Bush because people who follow politics that McCain takes different from the president on global warming, torture, immigration, gun control, campaign finance, spending, how the Iraq War has been handled and voted against the Bush tax cuts.
On the other side of the ticket, Obama said in his acceptance speech for Democratic nominee “Enough” to partisan bickering then quickly blamed the Wall Street crisis on Bush, McCain and the Republicans ignoring that he and Chris Dodd landed number one and two in campaign contribution from Fannie Mae, Freddy Mac, and AIG. He also has shown no willingness to work with Republicans aside putting his name along side one on a bill to clean up loose nuke which really didn’t stick his neck out politically for what was right considering the bill pass unanimously.
3) Taxes: Senator Obama’s altruistic Robin Hood approach to taxes sounds good on paper but in practice will be disastrous. The problem with significantly raising the tax rate on the rich is that the rich have an uncanny way of clinging on to their wealth at all costs (see: Enron). If he hikes rates that high, big companies won’t say it okay because it is the patriotic thing to do, they will just turn around and either raise prices, so your consumer prices will continue skyrocket, which they are already doing thanks to the weak dollar and the gas prices, that have been dropping steadily since summer will jump up again maybe even eclipsing the five dollar per gallon mark. And if they don’t raise prices, they will cut spending to compensate for the tax hike, and when spending cuts happen, the first thing that gets the ax is personal. The third option would be the most disastrous with companies leave the second highest cooperate tax in the world for another country where we will lose the jobs and taxes that the company would provide.
Senator McCain has shown a better knowledge of the tax code voting against the Bush tax cuts knowing that you should not cut taxes in time of war. And now that we are at war and in a financial crisis, McCain knows that big changes to the tax code are dangerous in the tumultuous climate we are. As we have seen the past month, the smallest things can wreak havoc in the markets and small tweaks are best for the climate we are in especially when the large tax increases will hit Wall Street the most which could send the markets in turmoil once again. McCain tax plan also allows for upper mobility for small businesses looking to expand. Under a McCain tax code, small businesses, or just every day people, can increase their income without fear of making too much money that they will be taxed out of business just because the moved up the tax code.
(Scooter’s Note: I’m am not sure if there is anyone still reading this, but for those that are thank you, and since this is lengthy already and I am just over halfway done, I will finish my thoughts on Taxes and give my final two reasons tomorrow. I hope you come back then to read the rest.)
With his frantic release schedulable, prolific songwriting, and genre bending catalogue, Ryan Adams could be the rock version of Prince, if Prince himself wasn’t already the rock version of Prince. And even though he hasn’t changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol (yet), Adams sure has his eccentricities like his gangsta rap album he released through his website and it is not wise to request Summer of ’69 at one of his live shows.
Even with wide range of songs, his last couple albums have themselves been relatively narrow like the soft rock of 29, the country rock of Nashville Nights and the puck rock of Rock ‘n’ Roll. His latest album Cardinology is more diverse than those albums and even more than his last outing Easy Tiger. As one can guess by the title, this is another album where Adams is backed by The Cardinals who really shine on tracks like Let Us Down Easy.
That diversity makes Cardinology Adams’ best work since Gold. The album opens with a trio of tracks, Born into a Light, Go Easy, and Fix It which is the closest Adams have ever gotten to stadium anthems, the later featuring a smooth bassline that sounds lifted from a The Bravery song. Adams goes back to his punk rock roots with Magick that might as well had been recorded in his garage and sounds better for it.
Then there is the impassioned Sink Ships, which starts out as a folk song but ends with Adams screaming “The War Is Over” even though he is left on one of those sinking ships. Cobwebs sounds like something The Killers left off Sam’s Town even though it would have been one of the better songs on the album. And for those that go to Adams for their super sad song fix, go straight to the end of the album for Stop, a piano and strings ballad that is sure to satisfy your current fix.
A plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Voting Machines, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Cha$e, Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal, Haunted History Collection: Volume 2, Redemption Song, and Crusoe.
- In a story I broke three years ago, electronic voting machines are faulty, unreliable, and will only lead to trouble (See: I Rocked the Vote (I Think)). I remember four years ago, when we first used the devises, that a county in my home state of Ohio managed to have 100% turnout with over 90% of that going for George Bush (granted Indiana managed to out do that by registering 110% of eligible votes this year). I bring this because the Sci-Fi Channel of all people have created a map showing how vulnerable each state is to voting fraud on DVISE their consumer electronic website. I’m surprised the site considers electronic voting lower in the error prone department because the three years I have had that type of voting there has been at least two machines with “Not Working” signs on them.
- Remember back in your youth when you would buy a movie ticket to The Little Mermaid then sneak into seeing Legal Eagles? This weekend may be the first time that this philosophy gets reverses with old dudes buying tickets to Saw V and sneaking into High School Musical 3. Expect an expose by Chris Hansen in the next couple months. Until then check out this blooper reel from High School Musical 3: Senior Year in theaters now or check the movie’s YouTube Channel for more behind the scenes action:
- The Sci-Fi Channel has a new reality show called Cha$e premiering on Tuesday, November 11 at 10:00 that looks interesting. Interesting may be an understatement considering it is bases on a Japanese game show. Here is a trailer for the show:
- Out on DVD tomorrow in time for Halloween is Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal from A&E. Here is a synopsis and if you are interested in buying, check out shop.aetv.com:
Watch as psychic/medium Chip Coffey and clinical psychologist Dr. Lisa Miller come to the aid of these remarkable children, who discover they are not alone. Follow them as they compare notes, discuss long held-in feelings, and with guidance, bravely seek out the spirits they dread in six eerie episodes.
Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal is an intense journey into the lives of children who live with gifts they frequently see as burdens. With the help of caring experts, they begin to understand and manage their powers, realizing their potential both as psychics and human beings.
- Already out on DVD is History Channel’s Haunted History Collection: Volume 2. Here is a synopsis and if you are interested in buying, check out history.com:
Haunted Histories Collection: Volume 2 takes you on a spine-tingling tour of truly frightening phenomena. Uncover the real stories behind American haunted houses, zombies, voodoo rituals, and a mad scientist caught up in the dark world of alchemy and body snatching. From bone-chilling interviews with eyewitnesses who have felt the presence of restless ghosts, seen the walking dead, or participated in spirit possession rituals to expert testimony from historians, scientists, and psychics. This collection features in-depth profiles of the world's scariest stories on 5 DVDs, including Haunted Houses, More Haunted Houses: Tortured Souls and Restless Spirits, Zombies, Voodoo Rituals, In Search of the Real Frankenstein.
- Remember the FUSE campaign of “Where the Music Is” taking pot shots of the lack of music videos MTV was playing. Well apparently is starting to show more non music video shows including the upcoming Redemption Song taking, as they say, the eleven hottest women in reality TV from the wrong side of the tracks, to compete in a singing competition. So it is basically Rock of Love: Charm School meets American Karaoke. Naturally wrestler Chris Jericho is hosting. The show premieres this Wednesday at 11:00. Check out a sneak peak below:
- NBC keeps on cranking out great online videos for their show, here is the latest showing how they designed the massive treehouse on Crusoe. Head over to NBC.com for more behind the scenes look at the show including how they come up with their intricate costumes:
The Big Bang Theory: I would have liked to laugh at this episode, but being the local mule in college as one of the few people in my dorm with a car, it just brought back bad memories of back seat drivers, especially the part about the Check Engine light. I even pulled the, “no, the light is just broke” line. Okay, I still laughed at the simulated driving part of the show. You can stream current episodes over at Innertube. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.
Chuck: What sick and twisted world do we live in where Nicole Richie gets top billing over Ben Savage, the boy in Boy Meets World. He dated Topanga, was friends with Shawn Hunter and little brother to Fred and he becomes an afterthought to a reality star. Sacrilege. But DJ Casey almost made up for that. Almost. You can stream current episodes over at NBC.com. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.
How I Met your Mother: In a plot twist everyone saw coming, Stella was not the mother. Seeing the kids in the future and knowing she had a daughter really killed any chances. That she ended up with the sleaze ball ex-boyfriend was the shocking part. Isn’t it time for the baker to come back from France and just make her the mother already? Really, the show hasn’t been as consistent since Ashley Williams got on the plane, so just bring her back, make her the mother, and move on. You can stream current episodes over at Innertube. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.
Heroes: The show sucked a little less this week, mostly thanks to the slapstick comedy of Hiro and the African dude which sank into Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd territory. It didn’t even bother me that Hiro didn’t try to freeze time before getting hit in the head with the shovel. You can stream current episodes over at NBC.com.
Eli Stone: What may be sadder than the Nicole Richie top billing on Chuck is Katie Holmes is almost in the same league of stunt casting as Richie despite being a legitimate actress just as soon as five years ago. Any of you that read those trashy supermarket magazines or their even trashier internet counterparts are to blame for this. And it is not that she went and shaved her head, she just married a midget. You can stream current episodes over at ABC.com. You can also download Eli Stone on iTunes.
Pushing Daisies: You know when you see an actor that you just can’t place and go to bed thinking I’ll just check IMDB tomorrow when I’m at the computer, then at 2:00 you start to calculate how long it will take you to power up your computer, go to IMDB, power down the computer, then finally go to bed at around 3:00 when out of nowhere you think, “Oh, that was grandma Abbott” and finally are able to go to sleep? Nope, never happens to me either.
And what is with the recent resurgence of David Arquette lately? First he was on My Name Is Earl which left the door open for another appearance, then the same with Pushing Daisies. What’s next, a Scream 4? But who knew that Emerson would turn out to be the male version of Veronica Mars. Now if I could just figure out who played his mom. You can stream current episodes over at ABC.com.
Gary Unmarried: I used to think Ed Begley Jr. would be the scene stealer of the show but I am starting to think the daughter and all her nut-job social awareness plans could make her the liberal, female version of Alex P. Keaton of the new Millennium who railed against his hippy parents two decades ago. You can stream current episodes over at Innertube.
Survivor: Just by bad luck you are going to have the token hot chick exist early from the show, but with Kelly voted out I think this is the very first time no attractive women made it on the jury. This is a landmark moment in bad TV. You can stream current episodes over at Innertube.
Quote of the Week: I am 90% certain you just got served by the lead singer of The Spin Doctors. (Barney, How I Met Your Mother)
Song of the Week: Let it Be Me - Ray LaMontagne (Eli Stone)
Big News of the Week: Right Wing Nut Jobs Love Rock of Love; Liberal Communist Prefer Flavor of Love: As mentioned many times before on the 9th Green, I hate polls. There are too many ifs that you need to believe to find polls true, did the pollsters get the right sample size, are the questions misleading, did people answer truthfully, are the polls presented properly, is the margin of error too large to take seriously, etc. And polls are pretty offensive if you know how they are at the heart sexist, racist, ageist, and basically every kind of -ist you can think of as each poll if they pick you assumes that the closest1,000 people (depending on the sample size) of your gender, age group, race, income think the exact same way you do.
But there was one poll that caught my eye this week so absurd I had to pass it along even if like most polls I question the validity of the findings and considering the source, Nielsen, is the least reliable of all polling. The poll tracked the cable viewing habits of partisans like when it comes to FX, the Dems watch the morally bankrupt It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia while the GOP would rather watch the corporate corruption of Damages. Yeah, that sounds right. But the funniest finding was expressed in the title. When it comes to MTV, both parties can agree on The Hills, while those that don’t identify themselves to either party can agree that both political parties are filled with morons in legalized cults.
Gratuitous Token Hot Chick Picture of the Week:
Coalition Links of the Week: This week, Sandie shared an interview with Daniel Gerroll from The Starter Wife. (Daemon's TV)
The return of Roy (ok really David Denman) on The Office made GMMR very happy. As did Kristin Chenoweth's gut busting prank on Ellen. (Give Me My Remote)
Disappointed by the lack of a good directory of online web series, Rae wants to know what you're web series you're watching. (RTVW)
Vance is totally sweet on the Top 16 dancers on So You Think You Can Dance Canada. Plus appearances by Benji Schwimmer and High School Musical director Kenny Ortega! (Tapeworthy)
This week, Jace once again fell under the spell of Pushing Daisies and its goose down goodness, but wishes that more people were actually tuning in to watch this winsome series before it gets prematurely culled by ABC. (Televisionary)
Not watching Friday Night Lights so far this season? Well, Sara has a bit of a recap for all you stragglers. (TiFaux)
The TV Addict took a closer look at Simon Baker and The Mentalist. (The TV Addict)
Coming to you all the way from foggy ol’ London town, Ben and Gareth dip their bread soldiers into the hard-boiled Curate’s egg that is Heroes, only, again, to find they are left with more questions than answers. (TV Spy)
Free Download of the Week: Make You Crazy - Brett Dennen (Spinner): Earlier this week I featured s week and now you can get the song for free. Even though it is not free to download, you can stream the season premiere of 30 Rock for free over at NBC.com. Actually you can download the episode for free if you are the first person to e-mail me (subject: 30 Rock) asking for a free iTunes code I have burning a hole in my hard drive. Only people with valid US iTunes accounts are eligible to win.
Promo of the Week: I feel honored because recieved an invitation to Andy and Angela's Wedding yesterday (you can get one too by clicking the link). In return, here is a deleted scene from The Office:
Next Week Pick of the Week: Greek, Tuesday at 9:00 on ABC Family: The mid-season finale of the show that hasn’t really been worth taking about much this season, but solid nonetheless. Hopefully they leave us with something to talk about for the next couple months we will have to go without the show.
I started going green a couple years ago mostly because it saves you money and helps you live a healthier lifestyle, the whole saving the Earth thing is just an added bonus. So I am always on the lookout for ways to better myself which is why I picked up Generation Green (even if the subtitle The Ultimate Guide to Living an Eco-Friendly Life puts me a little out of the target demo). The book comes from the mother-son team of Linda and Tosh Siversen.
As someone that goes out of his way to learn about living green, there really isn’t much in the book that helps me, but the book is perfect for those who are just getting into the Green movement no matter the age even if the book skews young with how to balance the new technology with living healthy so people of any age can come away with plenty of good practices to lower their carbon footprint with moving into a shack and growing their own organic food.
The book is also well arrange with plenty of attention grabbing blurbs and interviews for those that only have little spurts of time to read or just short attention spans. And if you do end up buying the book, be sure to pass it around to anyone who could learn something from it so it doesn’t just end up in a landfill when you are done.
And to start you novices on the right foot, here are five of my favorite hints:
1. Change Your Lightbulb: You don’t have to exchange all your bulbs now, but when they start burning out, replace them the energy efficient kind and even jungle them around so the lights you use the most are changed first. You can make back the extra price of an energy efficient back in one month for bulbs you use the most.
2. Turn off the Water when You Brush Your Teeth: Same goes for shaving and washing the dishes. In the summer when it is warm, I even turn off the shower when I wash myself to conserve water.
3. Turn the Thermostat Down When You Leave: Natural this is a suggestion for the upcoming winter, but when summer comes around again, turn the thermostat up when you leave. No need to heat/cool you habitat when you are not there.
4. Unplug Things You Are Not Using: Everything associated with my computer is plugged into one power strip and when the computer isn’t on, the power strip is turned off. Same for the TV (my cable box keeps the correct time, if your VCR keeps the time you may want to plug that into the wall so you don’t have to continually set it). These are called vampire appliance that still run even if they are turned “Off.”
5. Run Your Dishwasher at Night: Nighttime isn’t just for sunglass wearing anymore. But again, this is more for the summer as the heat from the appliance will make your air conditioner run harder and longer. Same goes for your washer/dryer. Then in the winter use the extra heat to your advantage. I even leave the oven open after I am done baking to use the extra heat.
Five easy way to cut your energy bill (and help the environment), four of which won’t cost you anything.
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 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.
If I were to make a list of the most disappoint things about the 00's, Sam’s Town by The Killers would have to make the list. Most of that was thanks to Brandon Flowers’ own Bruce Springsteen comparison. After that backlash, you would think Flowers would cool it on that, but he is on the record of calling Human a mix between Johnny Cash and the Pet Shop Boys. Um, yeah, okay. But looking at the video it is nice to see the band has ditched the silly Spaghetti Western look, but I have no idea what is with the feathered shoulder pads. Look for Day & Age out November 22.
Yeah Snoop Dogg just did the retro video a couple months ago, but what I have heard from The Renaissance, color me excited about the new Q-Tip album dropping on November 4.
What do you do when you’re a singer-songwriter and everyone ignores your first album? Well if you are Brett Dennen you find yourself a famous fan like Mandy Moore and put her in your video where you do your best Al Bundy impression. Works for me.
At this point it is almost silly trying to review a new AC/DC album because they haven’t changed their formula in thirty years and seventeen albums, even with a major line up change half way through. So on Black Ice there will be no power ballads, no political statements, no keyboards, no harmonica solos, no symphonies, no choirs.
But there is Angus Young in a school boy uniform. And songs about rocking (four of the fifteen song titles have some form of “rock” in them) and chick with innuendo and metaphors so blatant you start to wonder if they if they even count as literary devises. Except for War Machine which is a biting commentary on the War on Terror. Just kidding, the title is a loose metaphor of a man’s manhood (naturally). And there is Brian Johnson’s spot on Bon Scott impression. And all the songs are verse-sing a long chorus-verse-bridge and/or guitar solo-sing a long chorus.
So it is pretty silly to try to review Black Ice on its merits because if you have heard any AC/CD album before, you have heard this one. But what is remarkable is that despite doing any retooling, the band manages to sound fresh (maybe the eight year lay-off has something to do with that) even if some of the songs sound similar to past tracks, it is hard to listen to Money Made without thinking of Back in Black. It should be noted that the album is the band’s longest to date at just shy of an hour which makes the album a bit long for one that doesn’t deviate. And don’t look for Black Ice anywhere but at WalMart where it is being exclusively sold.
Song to Download - Considering the album isn’t being sold online and it is basically a pick ‘em on which one is best, picking one would be silly.
Now that the Rays have beaten the Evil Empire part Deux, TBS can finally stop running all those Frank TV ads and actually air the show itself with its second season debut tonight. Certainly the show isn’t breaking any new ground of sketch comedy that Saturday Night Live has since cornered the market for the last three decades. But what Frank TV does is eliminate all the run the mill sketches that have been more miss than hit and sticks almost exclusively to the impersonation. Because really, SNL isn’t hitting record numbers this season because people are tuning in to hear characters call each other Fart Face And it doesn’t hurt that the show only has to fill up thirty minutes so it is easier to trim the fat.
All of Frank Caliendo’s most notable impressions all show up early in the season with John Madden and Charles Barkley making appearances and George Bush even hosts a special election night special with Dick Cheney. And don’t worry, even though Frank skewers John McCain a couple times, he doesn’t try on Barack Obama, leaving that to new castmember Freddy Lockhart who does a much better impression of the Democratic candidate that Fred Armesen (although his Ice-T could use a little work in that he should never do it again in hopes that Ice-T never finds out he did it in the first place).
It isn’t just the real people that get parodied as there is a funny take on off duty Jedi and a look at who Congress is going to summon next to testify in a steroid abuse scandal. Other new characters in Frank’s arinel this season is James Gandolfini and a trio of Tom Brokaws. For more on the new season of Frank TV check out my interview with Frank Caliendo or watch the clip below or on TBS.com. Frank TV airs Tuesdays at 10:00 on TBS and can be downloaded on iTunes.
There are very few voices in music these days than that of the raspy mountain man Ray LaMontagne and the whiskey soaked quiet yell of Nikka Costa. Their respective third albums seem like a departure from their pasts as both sound as if they are listen to classic Stax albums, with Costa going so far as to have her record being distributed by the label.
The influence on LaMontagne comes and goes throughout Gossip in the Grain but is collimated in the opening track You Are the Best Thing with all its upbeat horns and back up singers which would lead you to look at the album cover to make sure you popped in the right album if it weren’t for the distinctive voice that you swear was singing a Sam Cooke cover. Then there is the jug band groove of Hey Me, Hey Mama. And really, there just isn’t enough use of jug bands in pop music these days.
Maybe most bizarre is the ode to The White Stripes drummer, Meg White, a marching love letter that sounds like something right out a bad western movie, yet disturbingly works in a Meg better get a restraining order soon kind of way. But don’t worry, there are plenty of heart felt, heart wrenching, and love lorn songs sung over sparse piano, acoustic guitars and string section that surrounds that voice perfectly and led you to discover the bearded wonder in the first place.
On the other hand, for Pebble to a Pearl, Nikka Costa completely drenches herself into soul with little of the dance funk that she made a name for on her previous solo album. Costa’s horns infused Aretha Franklin moment comes on the second track Can’t Please Everybody. Elsewhere on the album she effortlessly blends that sound with jazz (Love to Love You Less), eighties R&B (Without Love) and even some Marvin Gaye type social responsibility (Bullet in the Sky). Few artist can successfully transition from a wild child to a more mature sound, but count Nikka Costa as one of the few.
Pebble to a Pearl gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.
![Terror Alert Level: Elevated [YELLOW]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6-iVFV0hXCTSYP16K_V0Rrxp3GqFrtBIJKeTUyQ2LpxZQ9XKHFj6QGtqqa7oxhLadLV8vUj8R84AftD8IKUSfN0u_u0CYDtJwhrpCPN2DBWquAIDv0jbVlhZL0mDFKlPKluGyxw/s400/small_elevated.png)
on my Terror Alert Scale.
![Terror Alert Level: High [ORANGE]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhebDZ0qqwOVKMZj7oFSUe8Hm3ax54U9Hp1fThJPgiddTyzcdwx_5SV6E3b7hkKyxbaDiym4COmUXT2YJnsKCUjBHI_a2xZtNoY7qFQRslP5AGO5gLkJwn2ZbO0wIF80ycbKrgPPA/s400/small_high.png)
on my 
