Love Song by Taylor Swift may just end up being the best pop song this decade that was not written by Gnarls Barkley. Even with its fiddles and twang, the song was instantly accessibly to anyone with ears that would make anyone want to write their own song. Usually whenever artists try to recreate that one big hit on their next album they fail miserably but somehow the eighteen year old was able to catch lightning twice with the equally likeable, if not slightly more mature sounding Love Story off her sophomore outing Fearless.
Given her age it is forgivable for her Disney version of the Baird’s Romeo and Juliet where the guy gets the girl with the family’s approval. And who knew Shakespeare and banjo would go so well together? While the build up of the bridge makes you want to hunt down one of the Jonas Brothers (who gets addressed as a “scared little boy” on the sarcastic Forever & Always) and smack them up side the head. But it seems that very same fairytale all but comes crashing down a couple songs later on the acoustic guitar plucking White Horse of which is “too late to come around.”
More similar themes pop up on Fearless including the sediment of Teardrops on My Guitar of why do you want her when you know you could have me based You Belong to Me. What is not around this time is any vengeful songs; no burning pictures, no cheaters who forgot to say no. The closest comes on Tell Me Why but it is not as spiteful as anything her debut. Swift is more ambivalent about failed relationships on Fearless like on the slow piano based You’re Not Sorry but Swift sounds more morose than angry that they fell apart.
It is easy to write off Taylor Swift writing as just a school girl diary put to fiddles (remember the line, “wishing on a wishing star”), and she unabashedly admits she likes to write songs about boys, but no teenage has been able to craft songs this catchy since Debbie Gibson. Fifteen, a song about freshmen memorized by upper classmen can be relatable to girls going through it now, graduates looking back on high school, middle schoolers looking forward to high school, and even us lecherous dudes who took advantages of those innocent girls (I miss high school).
And that musical growth is the heart of Fearless as Swift turns down the fiddles and banjos and turns up the guitars and orchestras (see The Way I Loved You). Then for something completely different is breezy, hum along Hey Steven where Swift’s singing is so carefree she even starts laughing after the line, “All those other girls, well, they're beautiful, but would they write a song for you?” That same vibe, right down to the humming is also featured on Breathe which finds Colbie Caillet helping out with the writing and backing vocals. And Taylor’s down home drawl fits right in to Colbie’s campfire beach song writing.
If Fearless is an album this teenager can produce, one can high hopes when Swift gets some miles under her and evolves past all the songs about boys and grown even more musically and invites in more influences. The album closes with what could be a precursor, Change (written for the Olympics compilation album) where she sings Halleluiah and about revolutions that could have come off cheesy from others of her age but cannot sing along when it was Swift that is asking. It may have just been a high school anthem rising up against the rival team now, but wait until she gets out in the real world for awhile and create real change. If only in musical term.
In this I have to be first world we live in, there tends to be a rush to judgment. Take the first impression of The Big Bang Theory which was universally panned thanks to a sub-par pilot last year, many of the jokes that were killed by the overplaying of the promo before the show become much beloved by the end of the year. So once again I have rounded up a cabal of TV Bloggers to list their favorite new shows of the season now that they have gotten about a month of episodes under their belts. Then I put their list into my patented formula that is slightly more credible than token daily tracking poll. Here are the results. You can catch up by downloading the shows on iTunes and/or Amazon Video on Demand.
1. Privileged (The CW) iTunes - Amazon
2. Fringe (Fox) iTunes - Amazon
3. True Blood (HBO)
4. The Mentalist (CBS)
5. My Own Worst Enemy (NBC) iTunes - Amazon
6. Raising the Bar (TBS) iTunes
7. Busted (MTV) iTunes - Amazon
8. Gavin & Stacey (BBC America) iTunes
9. Kath & Kim (NBC) iTunes - Amazon
10. Gary Unmarried (CBS)
Also receiving votes: Life on Mars, 90210, Worst Week, Whatever Martha!, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Eleventh Hour, Sons of Anarchy, The Ex-List, Rita Rocks Voters: Dan, Ducky, Matt, Rae, Sandie, Scooter McGavin, Tube Talk Girl, Vance
The closest thing to a consensus would be Privileged, then Fringe slightly behind and everything pretty much bunched up at the bottom. But considering some of the negative comments voters sent with their ballots, they are less than enthuse with the new slate of shows this fall much like I am which many are contributed to lingering effects of the writer’s strike. Honestly I was thinking of not hosting the poll this year but only did for prosperity sake so in 1000 years from now people in the future could tell just how poor this television season was. In a measure of full disclosure, here was my ballot:
1. Busted (MTV)
2. Gary Unmarried (CBS)
3. Raising the Bar (TNT)
4. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Cartoon Network)
5. The Ex-List (CBS)
The Big Bang Theory: Considering all she does is calling Sheldon names, maybe they should have made the stalker a castmember and made her obsession a season arc. Best part of any show this week was the discussion of Sheldon’s “deal.” Don’t tell me you have never had that discussion with friends before. You can stream current episodes over at Innertube. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.
How I Met your Mother: Sadly Ted’s Ohio way of dealing was pretty much on point. And yes I had made many of mental maps back in college and hid under a few tables. Unfortunately I was not as good at hiding. You can stream current episodes over at Innertube. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.
Gary Unmarried: Nice juxtaposition in the kiddie house. And Paula Marshall’s (it may not be a good thing that this far in I have no clue what her name is) misusing penultimate begs the question, when you catch someone doing that, do you tell them or mock them behind their backs? You can stream current episodes over at Innertube.
Survivor: Hats off to the quiet chick. It seems like every season there is an obvious pecking order yet the fifth and six in the alliance are happy to get voted off when their time comes then flip on their tribe. I can’t wait to see how Corrine reacts to this. Now the game should become more interesting. You can stream current episodes over at Innertube.
My Name Is Earl: If I had a list, Sold a Dude a Lemon would have to be high on mine. If you remember the Check Engine light discussion from a couple Big Bang Theories ago, when I sold that car it didn’t last more than a couple a months before it broke down completely. But I guess that was karma in a different way because the dude I sold it to was a humongous tool so he ended up getting what he deserved. You can stream current episodes over at NBC.com. You can also download My Name Is Earl on iTunes.
Everybody Hates Chris: Holy Robin Givens sighting! Are there any washed up black actors from the eighties Chris Rock hasn’t given a job to? Come to think of it, where has Rudy Huckstible been hiding?
Big News of the Week: Dollhouse All But Canceled: Nothing more sad then when Dollhouse was announced and people actually thought this would be the show that FOX turns a new leaf over for. Then earlier this week thousands of fanboys hearts sank when FOX announced it’s spring lineup and Dollhouse landed in the Friday night death slot right after Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a show itself that would have been canceled already if FOX didn’t want it around to help promoted the upcoming fourth movie. And with that announce Vegas have moved the line for number of episodes before Dollhouse gets axed from five to three. Wake me up when Dollhouse: The Complete Series DVD is released.
Coalition Links of the Week: Buzz rounded up some of her favorite TV production company logos and slogans, like "Bad Robot" and "Sit, Ubu, Sit." (BuzzSugar)
Rae took an early look at TNT's The Librarian 3: Curse of the Judas Chalice. (RTVW)
Vance wrote some limerick reviews about Ugly Betty, 30 Rock, The Office, Bones, Grey's Anatomy, Survivor and more, just because he felt like it. (Tapeworthy)
This week, Jace offered up some tantalizing spoilers as he took an advance look at the next three episodes of NBC's Chuck, including Monday's episode, which he says is the best of the series to date. (Televisionary)
How was your election night? Dan mainly focused on Anderson Cooper, the fancy electronic maps on CNN and those crazy holograms that Wolf Blitzer was talking to. (TiFaux)
This week, the TV Addict interviewed newest Terminator cast member and Battlestar Galactica fan favorite Stephanie Jacobsen. (The TV Addict)
Kate interviewed Megan, Stylista's villain, and was surprised by how down-to-Earth she was about the whole reality star thing. (TV Filter)
Who would win in a fight between Heroes and Smallville? With apologies to Harry Hill, there’s only one way to find out… It’s the Heroes vs. Smallville superheroes trump cards smackdown! [TV Spy]
Free Download of the Week: Linus for President (iTunes): For those going through election withdrawal, iTunes is offering up the Peanuts classic.
Video of the Week: Here is a look at the next episode of Frank TV this Tuesday at 11:00 on TBS:
Next Week Pick of the Week: The Bill Engvall Show, Saturday at 8:00 on TBS: It is not Thanksgiving yet, but TBS is already giving us a very special Christmas episode of The Bill Engvall Show where the kids learn the true meaning of the holiday with the help from a hilarious sight gag from their neighbor. Granted I suggest waiting until the inevitable repeat of the episode sometime in December. But before then is another non-holiday episode.
When Q-Tip calls his album The Renaissance you cannot help but get excited. It has almost been a decade since his first solo outing and over a decade since his seminal rap group A Tribe Called Quest last recorded together. In the interim rap has gone from a cultural movement to a corporate medium that now hawks soda drinks and feminine products.
Tip’s hiatus wasn’t self imposed those as he bounced from five record labels in six years with a couple albums that have yet to see the light of day (asides from some advance copied). Old School Tribe fans should be pleased that The Renaissance stays away from the pop-dance vibe of Amplified and fit somewhere between Midnight Marauder and The Love Movement.
And that vibe starts right off the top with the jazzy, minor key staccato notes of Johnny Dead, one of many songs that Q-Tip produced himself. The only outside producers are Mark Ronson whose retro sound messes well with the Tribe vibe on the sports filled metaphors of Won’t Trade. The other guest producer is frequent Tribe collaborator, the late great J Dilla on the two lead singles, the most danceable songs on the album Gettin’ Up and Move which will definitely make you want to do what the songs say with the latter sampling The Jackson 5’s Dancing Machine.
As for people lending their voices to the album (sadly no Phife Dawg) the most notable being D’Angelo who was months away from showing up on the side of milk carton on Believe. Also bring the neo-soul for a hook is Raphael SaadiqonWe Fight/We Love. While Norah Jones adds some smoothness while Tip gives a shout out to those that have carried on his torch on Life Is Better. Hopefully we don’t have to wait another decade to hear from Q-Tip again and he has Phife, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi along for the ride.
As mentioned last week, I am always on the lookout to live a better, greener life, if only for selfish reasons to save myself money. So the latest special from the National Geographic Channel caught my eye. Ultimate Skyscraper premieres tonight at 9:00 and profiles a new building in Manhattan at One Bryant Park which is built to be one of the most energy efficient skyscrapers in the world.
The special isn’t much in terms of things you can do in your personal life but it is mildly interesting to see what goes into making a building in the middle of the most congested islands in the world and a green one. Ultimate Skyscraper does come off like a video a science teacher plays when he didn’t have time to create a real lesson for the day or doesn’t trust a substitute teacher to do anything but press the play button, and the less than enthusiastic narration doesn’t help much, but that cannot all be the dude from Pushing Daisies. But it would be interesting to see if they do a follow up once the building is complete to see if it does reach the potential the architect hopes it does. Check out the full synopsis below or head over to the National Geographic website for two video previews:
NGC gives viewers an exclusive look at the design and construction of an eco-friendly marvel: One Bryant Park, set to be the second tallest building in New York City and one of the world’s most energy-efficient skyscrapers. Follow architects and engineers as they take a modern approach to green technology, incorporating innovative new systems including an on-site power plant that will reduce the buildings energy consumption by 50 percent. Then go behind the scenes with construction workers as they dig one of the deepest foundations in midtown, lay recycled steel beams, pour environmentally friendly concrete, and build a skyscraper whose blueprints could map out a new design for our planets future.
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.
![Terror Alert Level: High [ORANGE]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhebDZ0qqwOVKMZj7oFSUe8Hm3ax54U9Hp1fThJPgiddTyzcdwx_5SV6E3b7hkKyxbaDiym4COmUXT2YJnsKCUjBHI_a2xZtNoY7qFQRslP5AGO5gLkJwn2ZbO0wIF80ycbKrgPPA/s400/small_high.png)
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 
