- My fantasy basketball team, Shawn Kemp's Revenge, came in second this season behind Boom Pow Surprise! Not bad for some one who just recently found out that they are now six divisions in the NBA.- You know it's officially Spring when Ohio's state flower, the Orange Barrel, starts to sprout on highways.
- If a girl wears a "Kiss Me I'm Irish" shirt and refuses to make out with you, can you sue her for false advertising?
- Am I the only one who was disappointed when the Nationals unveiled their new mascot, Screech, and Dustin Diamond didn't come out of the egg?
- What I can't understand is how ABC let a cable channel that it owns outbid itself for the rights to Monday Night Football? You don't see Bravo outbidding NBC for the rights to The Tonight Show. What's next, is ABC going to lose Desperate Housewives to ABCFamily? And is there anyplace where I can put money on John Madden jumping to NBC's Sunday Night game instead of moving to ESPN?
- A couple weeks ago, I lusted over the token hot chick in the Pepsi/iTunes commercial and after an exhausting search it turns out she actually has a name: Mandy Amano.
- So Tom DeLay's excuse for taking improper donation is "everyone else does it." Is this guy in Middle School? It's time to get rid of him and I have no problem if he takes down "everyone else" with him.
- New Dave Matthews Band video, American Baby, premiered this week. Decent song with a cool cross-section of the real American population that goes beyond Red State/Blue State. Check back in early May for a special Dave Matthews Band week to commemorate the release of their new album, Stand Up, culminating in a review of the new album as DMB is a rare life time member of the First Day Club.
- It's not a new Star Wars movie time until Lucas finds a new way to pimp the franchise. Although the Cingular Ring Tone ads with Chewbacca are brilliant. Hopefully we get to see more recording sessions. A side note, check back May 12th for another special week, this time for Star Wars.
- A while back I reported on the NFL's list of names you cannot put on the back of jerseys. It seems that weeks after lifting the ban on "Gay" (which made sense considering they have a few player with that last name), they have finally found a name to fill "Gay's" spot, Ron Mexico. The ban was prompted after a slew of requests for "Mexico" on the back of Falcons' jersey #7. Some got a chuckle out of that they other might want to make a Google search (check the top left potion of the page).
- After constantly listening to the Ben Folds cover of Dr. Dre's (expletive deleted) Ain't (expletive deleted) I got to wondering, if I were a sensitive singer-songwriter, what gangsta rap song would I cover? After an extensive search through my massive gangsta rap library, I would have to go with The Ghetto Boys' Mind Playing Tricks On Me. Now that's some real conversation for your (expletive deleted).
A couple of months ago, iTunes offered up a Single of the Week by a new artist, Anna Nalick. The song, Breathe (2 AM), was mellow song that you want to blast while driving on a warm summer night and has been on heavy rotation in my life ever since. Unfortunately, the subsequence album took about four months to come out, which it finally did this week. Any wonder to why people try to download such albums before they are released. Luckily VH1 has been streaming the whole album for the last couple weeks, so I've had a chance to preview it just incase this was a one hit wonder situation. And after a few listens I can tell you Anna Nalick is far from Tubthumping territory.
Wreck of the Day starts out with Breathe and doesn't let down from there. Most of the songs conjure up images of some of the best female singer-songwriters of recent memory. With a piano driven album, Vanessa Carlton would be an easy comparison. Citadel sounds like something out of Jewel's Spirit era (still remains her best work), while In the Rough sounds more like and Americanized version of a Corrs song. Hints of the Cranberries, Sarah McLachlan and Michelle Branch can also be heard throughout her debut.
Other songs of note on the album include Catalyst a song where your heart will break when listening to especially during the line "God, don't know if I'm strong enough now." The song chronicles the self doubt of a woman who just got out of a relationship. Nalick also goes where some of my favorite songs have gone before, space, with Satellite joining Dave Matthews Band (Satellite) and Counting Crows (Recovering the Satellites). And like the other songs, Anna's Satellite is a song about looking to sky for some help. The highlight for me was the closer, Consider This, a bouncy song that sounds like it should be perform at a Cabaret (could be a good video idea). It even contains lines like, "So lay your hands over me, and feel what you only see, but don't bother wasting your time if you're trying to change me."
The one song that slips up a little is Forever Love which might sound more a home on a Mandy Moore album, not that there is anything wrong with that. Overall, it is hard to find any major flaws in the album.
Wreck of the Day gets a ![Terror Alert Level: Severe [RED]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidjcsCV5I3jWQDVTcnVoXbArSx3kHl02FZ8FkOHBBKP2w8mQulcCF614SIw1GjuB2JtKV2YcQOKXtMlnW2ulLSOvYvvXzDwZ3JF4Mlh0Dt2nfEL1oGLh0sk7O-GRHWbCPvJmMMKg/s400/small_severe.png)
on my Terror Alert Scale.
1. Beverly Hills – Weezer (Check out my thought on this song at Just Don't Bring too Many Dudes.)
2. Club Foot – Kasabian (This song seems to popping up during all my favorite TV shows lately and was a former single of the week on iTunes.)
3. City of Blinding Light – U2
4. Work (Demo) – Jimmy Eat World (This was on the special edition version of JEW's latest album that I picked up as I'm a sucker for things of that nature. The song's a rawer version of the original.)
5. Back to Me – Kathleen Edwards (This was another great Single of the Week. It's a neo-country song, but not in the "My sister looks hot" kind of country.)
6. Behind These Hazel Eyes – Kelly Clarkson (This is the second song that she has conned me into liking. To be honest, it might be time for someone to hold an intervention for me.)
7. Be the Girl – Aslyn
8. Somebody – Bonnie McKee
9. A Lifetime – Better Than Ezra (From the guys that brought us Good, yet another solid song. BTE is one of the few bands to constantly put out good music.)
10. Telescope Eyes – Eisley
11. Toxic – Local H (A disturbingly faithful cover of the Brittany Spears song from the band best known for the mid-90's rocker, Bound to the Floor. Yet not even the best cover on this CD. That title goes to:)
12. (expletive deleted) Ain’t (expletive deleted) – Ben Folds (Due to the website's censors, I need to explain this. The song is a moody, piano driven version of the last song on Dr. Dre's first album which features Snoop Doggy Dogg. If you are not sure what I'm talking about, click the link and take a listen for yourself. This is the very reason that makes iTunes great. Due to the lyric, the song won't be played on the radio and it wouldn't fit very well on an album, so iTunes is a great place to get this type of music.)
13. Landed – Ben Folds
14. Chariot – Gavin DeGraw
15. Ordinary People – John Legend
16. All Falls Down – John Legend & Kanye West (A great live version of the song.)
17. 1 Thing – Amerie (The best song from a Will Smith movie since, umm, does the Theme to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air count?)
18. Gotta Get Up from Here – Ellie Lawson (This song has a cool Celtic feel to it.)
19. When the President Talks to God – Bright Eyes (A thoroughly amusing, yet sad at the same time, song you can get free the last time I checked at iTunes. Something everyone should take a listen to, which is easy because it's free. Who doesn't like free?)
20. Coconut – Harry Nilsson (A completely cheesy song that recently got co-opted by Coke. I've loved the song ever since it appeared on the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack.)
A couple years back I saw an amazing movie, Black Hawk Down. I was so moved by the movie that once I heard it was based on a book I eventually went out and bought the book. Before I go into the book, I should make a not that I count the number of books I've read that I wasn't required for school without having to take off my shoes. Even though I'm not a big reader, I knew this would be something I'd enjoy. It did take me a while to finish with the book clocking in at 430 pages. Not to mention my penchant of reading my magazine subscriptions before getting back to my place in the book
As for the book itself, everyone should know the story by now. Like the movie, it chronicles the failed 1993 mission in the Somali capital of Mogadishu that ended with two Black Hawk helicopters being shot down by Somali insurgents that left many Americans solders dead or wounded. The movie itself did a very good job keeping with the spirit of the movie, but with the book at 430 pages, there were plenty of things that were left out of the 144 minute movie. Where the movie focused almost exclusively on the actual battle, the book covers more of led up to the conflict and goes more in depth analyzing the outcome. The movie also depicted only a handful of the solders that were involved the book profiles about three times more. The movie spent almost of the screen time focused exclusively on Somalia, but the book also looks into the families of the soldiers back home and also looks in on some of the response from Washington.
Included in the version of the book I bought (the Movie Tie-In Edition) was an eight page Afterword by author, Mark Bowen, written in 1999 as it was interesting to hear Bowen talk about the impact his book made (even before the movie was made), even being embraced by the military itself. It would be interesting to see what else he would say about the impact now that the movie has been released.
The Back Hawk Down incident is even relevant today as we are currently fighting a primarily urban war in Iraq. Many of the problems the soldiers were facing in Mogadishu, the current soldiers are facing in places like Baghdad and Fallujah with not being able to tell the difference between insurgent and civilians, the opposition carrying rocket launchers and other high-tech weapons, and questions of "why are we there?" from a portion of the population back home. Interestingly enough, Bowen said in the book that not finishing the job in Mogadishu would make the United States look week opening us up to attacks abroad thinking we would retreat like we did in 1993. And it looks like he was right with the Embassy attacks, the attack on the USS Cole, and later the September 11th attacks. Many experts even point to Somalia as the inspiration for Osoma bin Laden and Al-Quada.
Black Hawk Down a on my Terror Alert System.
April 15th, and you know what that mean, all us smart people have our tax refunds already. And for all you procrastinators out there, well, you most likely are too busy to be reading this, so really I have nothing for you. The most interesting this about my tax refund this year is that it came along with an advertisement. I found that odd, but anything that keeps my taxes down, I'm keen on (would anyone be against the Lego's Pentagon or the Aquafina Reflecting Pool?). But the advertisement was from the Office of Women's Health. I'm trying to remember if I checked the wrong box last census.
One little griping point, even though I enjoy the hefty refund I get each Spring I can never understand why they just take out the right amount each paycheck? I'm a simple man with a simple life; I can't image it that hard for them to figure it out. If it takes filling out a new W2 each year, have the correct tax taken out each week, I'm for that rather than wrestling with all the tax forms the government sends me each January.
There are a couple music videos that have caught my eye lately. I thought I would wax poetic on a couple of note.
Weezer - Beverly Hills
The best video is by a group who constantly puts out get videos from the Happy Days inspired Buddy Holly to The Muppets inspired Keep Fishin'. Now Weezer is back with a romp with their fans through the Playboy Mansion. The video starts off with Hef calling the drummer, Pat (whom seems to get the best parts in the videos as he was last seen being kidnapped by Miss Piggy) seeing if the band wanted to drop by to play for "the girls." And when Pat asked if he could bring some friends, Hef responds "Just don't bring too many dudes," which could be the downfall of any party. After that, we are treated to three and a half minutes of Weezer mixing with Playboy Playmates. And I could be wrong, but I believe there is a Jessica Biel sighting too. Unfortunately for me, as a member of their website, I got an invite to an undisclosed location to film their new video. Had I known that the undisclosed location was the Playboy Mansion, I might have bought a plain ticket to California. Throughout the video, the Weezer fans started flashing the Weezer symbol that I can't help to think is almost the exact sign for "Wu-Tang Clan ain't nothing to (mess) with."
The song itself is the catchiest Weezer song since, well the last Weezer single off the last album. The big different from past songs is that Beverly Hills was produced by Rick Rubin (think Jay-Z's 99 Problems, Red Hot Chili Pepper's Blood Sugar Sex Magic, and Beastie Boys' Licence to Ill) who brings the dirty bass line of the song. The lyrics, of course, follows a nerd who dreams of living the big life but then realizes he wouldn't fit. And nothing proves this theory than the video itself.
Rob Thomas - Lonely No More
Another funny video, albeit for a different reason, is the first solo song by Rob Thomas, the leader of matchboxtwenty. The funny part of the video for Lonely No More isn't the inexplicable set changes, no it's Rob Thomas trying to dance. The first time I saw it, I dropped to the floor laughing. It shot strait to the top of my list of funniest thing I've seen this year. For those who haven't seen it yet, and if you haven't, I highly recommend you do, his dance look like a cross between Axl Rose's snake dance and the sway back and forth dance from JoJo's first video. And yes, it is disturbingly funny as it sounds.
Mariah Carey - It's Like That
Now lets move on to a video that isn't even ironically funny like Rob Thomas', the new Mariah Carey video, It's Like That. It's sad that Mariah doesn't realize that she can no longer pull off the sexpot image of the Honey era. This is the one of the major reasons her last couple albums have flopped. The other being that she is not relevant in the hip-hop community no matter how many guest rapper/producers she has on her album. It may be time for an intervention trying to convince here to go back to the adult contemporary music she made on her first couple albums. If you think about it, those fans who grew up with her early stuff are in their late 20's into their early 40's and are primed for a more mellow, soulful Mariah. For the video, it starts off with the uber-annoying Jermaine Dupri, grant there is nothing I can't say about him that Dr. Dre already said in Say What U Said. The rest of the video is Mariah trying to pull sexy off with a lot wind blown hair and even more skin despite her getting thicker by the year. Then, for no apparent reason, Eric Roberts show up just to stand around. I don't know if this was an extenuation of the Killers' Mr. Brightside, but it made no sense. And speaking of extenuations, the video ends with a "To Be Continued..." Just what we need, another video with no plot. It would be like finishing Napoleon Dynamite with a "To Be Continued..."
Jack Johnson - Sitting, Waiting, Wishing
Lastly is a new favorite artist of mine, Jack Johnson. The video concept for Sitting, Waiting, Wishing is pretty simple, film a lot of destructive images backwards. Not the most original concept as The Pharcyde did the same thing in the Spike Jones directed Drop ten years ago. Nonetheless, definitely something you want to check out. Plus you got to admire anyone who can sing backwards while being attacked by different food products.
I found this over at He Says, She Says and had to take the test myself. Must be a very scientific test if I end up being my boy, Indiana Jones.
:: how jedi are you? :: Some other musings that don't deserve their own place:
- Why is everyone knocking Tiger Woods for putting off the green and Billy Casper for dropping a 105 at the Masters? Don't those happen all the time (or is it just me)?
- I was checking out the status of my new name (yes I'm conceited, so what) and found out that there is another Scooter McGavin who started a petition to legalize a certain banned substance and I'm not referring to the cream or the clear. And to top things off, the petition is being sent to the government. Why don't they just send a letter to the government asking to be arrested? Morons.- Am I the only one who was mad when they realized Fair Enough was not really an upcoming sitcom. I first saw the ad on Fox, so I was convince that it was real. This would have instantly been the second best sitcom next to Arrested Development.- I passed on Sin City this weekend and last after picking up a promo DVD at Best Buy that had three scenes and a couple of documentaries. It looks like the film will look great visually but the plot seems a little slow and fits better as a comic book graphic novel than a movie. Although I can almost guarantee that I'll take a look at it when the DVD comes out. (Also keep in mind that it not too visually groundbreaking either as Boyz II Men did the back and white with drops of color almost 15 years ago in the It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday video.)
- Another movie I won't be seeing this weekend, or ever for that matter is Fever Pitch. Any male who is seen coming out of this movie should have his Man Card promptly revoked.
- Stat of the day: Roger Clemens is 3 for 3 with the bases loaded and batting .333 with runners in scoring position. Granted his batting average will be raised after yesterdays game when, after the Reds intentionally walking Willy Taveras and letting him steal second, Clemens batted in two runs on an infield hit. This turned out to be the game winner as the Astros won 3-2.
- Big Head Barry Update: He is currently rehabbing with BALCO's own Greg Anderson whom Big Head Barry referred to as a "wonderful person, a very, very giving person." The problem, Big Head Barry, is when what the person is giving you happens to be an illegal substance, that is not a good thing. It's quality over quantity that counts, Barry.
Well it seems that I have lost the Lost office pool. I had Boone killing Sayid. But the though of losing money (more on that later) wasn't the thing that made me the most queasy last night, as a person who is disturbingly fearful of blood, I had my hands over my eyes like a twelve year old girl watching a horror movie for the first time for most of the episode. They really need to put a warning at the beginning of the episode telling me "Do not eat during this episode or you will heave."
Now on to my feeble prediction that most likely won't come true. I have a feeling that my gambling money is not completely lost (pun intended) yet as I predict that a regenerated Boone will come out of the mysterious hatch along with Ethan and the dead cop. As for my blatantly obvious prediction of the week, Claire's baby will be named Boone.
Last night they also added to the numerous questions like did Jack get married or not? We saw him give his vows but we did not see the "I do's." Also I don't remember seeing a wedding ring on him. Did he eventually get divorced? I wish they would get around to answering some questions before making more arise.
A recent gift provides me a chance to review the third album by 3 Doors Down, Seventeen Days. The first aspect of the album that jumps out at me is not one but two FBI Anti-Piracy Warning. The first warning on the back cover, is something I've seen recently. The new one is planted right on the CD itself. Unlike the one on the back cover, The FBI warning on the CD is pretty big and takes up about 1/5 of the CD. The RIAA is really going too far with the Anti-Piracy agenda when they are impeding on the actually artwork. I'm not going to go any further on my rant, but I will encourage you again to check out Mark Cuban's thoughts on the RIAA - Let’s test the RIAA logic… - Blog Maverick.
On first listen of the album, I found it very hard to distinguish one song from the next. The only song that stood out was Landing in London featuring Bob Seger. Yes the man that inspired many of us in the 80's to slide across wood floor in nothing but a dress shirt and our underwear (or am I the only one?). Sadly Bob didn't bring the Silver Bullet Band.
I heard somewhere the album's name was inspired by the time they spent making the record. It shows as every song blends into each other with only the tempo changing. 3 Doors Down started their career off right with a thoroughly good debut, The Better Life. Each song had its own feel to it. Kryptonite was something out of the post-grunge era, maybe something the Smashing Pumpkins might have done if they grew up in the South. I will always be partial to this song as I used the first line of the chorus as a deterrent to a girl who became too needy. Loser was like a harder version of a Smiths' song that progressed into a rocker. Duck and Run was a strait ahead rocker that could get you pumped up for some kind of sporting event (or if you are like me, anything competitive). Then you had the introspective Be Like That which was something you put on during a summer night with the windows rolled down. All songs different, but all great in their own right.
Then the follow-up album, Away From the Sun, is when they tried to perfect the power balled with song like When I'm Gone, The Road I'm On, and the title track or they went with the strait balled like Here Without You that ended up sounding like a more depressing version of Be Like That. All in all, not as good as their debut, but good enough for a listen.
That leads us back to the new album which won't be breaking any new ground. It was almost like some one suggested they needed to dumb down their music to attract the matchboxtwenty market (which is not a good thing) and sadly they took the suggestion. Hopefully 3 Doors Down listens to their first album for influence for their next album. Or bring Bob Seger back again and have him give them some Old Time Rock & Roll advise.
Seventeen Days gets a ![Terror Alert Level: Guarded [BLUE]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzCbHfExiuXqojow1zxkBUX6j-9BHg9IyrfzqR77jnja2Xq6dbv-7iiqMFzp_UKXGcUF9FyAHqCkNxa5uitXa5Xu2Q1OboN9-TLjsaeI1a2eoGLORU4vkTQ54l1C-_cZyn81QHyQ/s400/small_guarded.png)
on my Terror Alert Scale.
I had yet another draft last night this time in the Bash Brothers league. I got an even worse draft slot being the last out of ten. But on the bright side, both Soriano and Santana (not Carlos) slipped down for me to snap up with the 10th and 11th picks with B. Abreu, I. Rodríguez, M. Ramírez, and S. Rolen going before me. Also during the draft I was able to steal another team's 2nd pick (Helton) for my 4th (Blalock). We both got conditional late round picks. Only time will tell who got the better side of this deal, but on paper, I seem to be making out. I'm also looking to sure up the bullpen with trade to get J. Affeldt and unload a questionable Wright. He is this year’s roster for Bond's Giant Head:
C - J. Lopez (Bal)
1B - T. Helton (Col)
2B - A. Soriano (Tex)
3B - P. Feliz (SF)
SS - O. Cabrera (LAA) OF - C. Patterson (ChC) OF - C. Lee (Mil) OF - A. Huff (TB)
Util - J. Uribe (CWS)
BN
J. Morneau (Min)
P. Lo Duca (Fla)
M. Cuddyer (Min) SP
J. Santana (Min) C. Zambrano (ChC)
M. Mussina (NYY)
Ja. Wright (NYY)
B. Backe (Hou)
RP
B. Lidge (Hou) B. Ryan (Bal) G. Aquino (Ari)
A. Otsuka (SD)
Sadly this may not be the final team for me as I looking into entering an NL only roto league.
I hope everyone remembered to turn their clocks forward today as Daylight Saving Time started last night a 2 AM. Or if your watch is like mine, it's actually right for the first time in six months. But we really need to ask ourselves why do have to lose an hour of sleep every year. DST, of course, was started back during World War I to conserve fuel. It was so unpopular at the time; it was repealed a year later. But years later, during WWII, it was brought back, this time renamed War Time. It nice to see our government has always presented unpopular legislation with popular names. Patriot Act anyone? This time, in addition to conserve energy, it also gave farmers an extra hour to work in fields as many worked in factories building weapons earlier in the day. Interestingly enough, after the war, War Time became optional until The Uniform Time Act of 1966. So keep this in mind the next time you complain about losing an hour of sleep. Or just blame the tree-hugging hippies for forcing us to conserve energy. (This post is void in Indiana, Arizona and Hawaii as the wisely opt-out of this archaic idea.)
A new feature at my blog is the Scooter Hall of Fame. SHoF will be a monthly award to one of my favorite form of entertainment. The first inductee into the SHoF is an album that formed my formative years, the Counting Crows' Augest and Everything After.
My first experience with the Counting Crows, like most people, was back in 1993 with the addition of Mr. Jones into the heavy rotation at MTV (yes kiddies, MTV once showed a lot of videos). I was hooked from the first guitar riff and the pseudo-Van Morrison Sha-la-la's. I'm sure everyone at the time thought they were the character singing the song and had their own personal Mr. Jones. Unfortunately, since I was underage at the time, there was no New Amsterdam, but instead I had the Cafeteria and I had to substitute dance team dancers due to the lack of flamingo or Spanish dancers. But I've lost count of the amount of times me and my Mr. Jones said, "She’s looking at you, I don't think so, she's looking at me." At the time, I didn't want to be Bob Dylan, I wanted to be Adam Duritz (and this was before I learned he dated 2/3 of the female cast of Friends). Then you add a video with some dreadlocks. How could this miss? So I rushed out as soon as I could and got the album.
The album starts off with the other song that was a soundtrack to the mid-90's, Round Here. How can you not like a song that references Elvis and a naked woman in the same song? And since hearing this song, for a long time I tried walking the edge where the ocean meets the land whenever at a beach. The one problem with the song is when I leaned that they do not sing "God laughs sometimes" as it was one of my favorite lines in the song. Rather the line, in actuality goes, "got lots of time."
The highlight of the album, and one of my favorite songs of all-time, is Anna Begins. The song includes some lyrics I still quote today. "I am not worried, I am not overly concerned." "Every time she sneezes I believe it's love." I remember at the time, me and my friends were obsessed with then line "Maybe I should snap in a butterfly net, pin her down on a photograph album."
Another song of note is Raining in Baltimore. I always a big fan of the piano, and this is the only song on the album that features the instrument. The song is horribly depressing (but in a good way) that I believe is about being isolated from everyone (or some one in particular) that you love. This is a great song to put on if you are in the same predicament.
The album closer, A Murder of One, gives us an insight into the band's name:
Casting shadows on the winter sky as you stood there counting crows
One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for the girls and four for the boys
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a secret never to be told
Of course the title does not to homicide rather a murder is a flock of crows. So a murder of one would be a crow.
The Counting Crows followed up August and Everything After with a potential SHoF-er, Recovering the Satellites featuring yet another instant classic, A Long December. Unfortunately, it has gone downhill for the Counting Crows since then. One would assume that dating actresses and models does not help with the depressing lyrics that populated the earlier albums. Thus leaving us with an ill-advised cover of Big Yellow Taxi and upbeat songs Hanginaround, American Girls, and Accidentaly in Love. So a message to all the models and actresses out there, please stop dating Adam Duritz so we can get the classic Counting Crows back.
