Banjos, huh?

Umm, I don't really know what to say to this. I guess all I've got is "Banjos"



I don't hate it, btw. Well she gets all preachy in the middle there, but the music part ain't too bad.

MICHAEL JACKSON: CRAZY LIKE A FOX

I'm not going to say much: I didn't really care about Michael Jackson in life and don't really care in death.
He did help make a good Simpsons episode though:

Homer: This isn't fair! How can you tell who's sane and who's insane?
Doctor: Well, we have a very simple method. [stamps his hand, `INSANE'] Whoever has that stamp on his hand is insane.

Who know how long this video will last on teh youtubes before Murdoch's hordes come along and tear it down...

STAY CLASSY, COMFORT WIPE + MUSIC!

Ok, a bit of a chimera of a post here, but I've got three things I want to say and it's a hell of a lot easier to do one post:

1. Down Goes Brown has a great post on the "Stay Classy [fill in city]" Trend in hockey.

For that sin [cheering Crosby's injury], Wings fans are taking heat today from the media, blogs, and just about everywhere else.

They stand accused of the one apparently unforgivable sin among hockey fans these days: not being "classy".

Yes, it's time to break out the top hats and monocles. Because while the NHL can forgive fans for being fickle, apathetic, and even just plain non-existent, the one thing we simply can not tolerate is a lack of class.
[...]
This should be the rule when it comes to injuries: Unless the player is laying motionless or squirting blood into the stands or otherwise showing sign of a career-threatening injury (i.e. the Michael Irvin Exception), there's nothing wrong with cheering a big hit. Nobody likes to see an injury, but hockey is a contact sport and a few bumps and bruises are part of the deal.

Amen!

2. If you've never heard of Madrugada you probably don't listen to Radio Paradise. In any case, this is a great song, IMHO.



'Course the guitarist has to go and OD in 2007, so you won't be hearing any more from them.

3. The "Comfort Wipe" has been getting lots of press lately (which is probably making the inventor rich). If you haven't heard of the Comfort Wipe you probably don't have the interwebs (and hence aren't reading this) or you don't watch late night TV. You can watch the unadulterated ad in all it's glory on the Youtubes. For the record I use a backscratcher to get that itch, so why not consider...ok, that's not possible.

Anyhoo, Chris Bucholz from Cracked.com tried to return his for a refund. LLOL hilarity ensures:

CALL CENTER LOG: 06/14/09 11:34 CST
TELEBRANDS CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE
TeleBrands, this is Marci speaking, how may I help you?
[...]
CSR
Well, so long as the product is unused, I think we can work something out.
CALLER
Oh I used it. I thought I’d show her how to use it before she gave up on the whole idea, and well, that just made things worse.
CSR
I’m sorry sir? You said you used it? I thought it was in its original packaging.
CALLER
It is. I put it back in the original packaging afterward.
[...]
CALL CENTER LOG: 06/15/09 11:46 CST
TELEBRANDS CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE
TeleBrands, this is Steven speaking, how can I help you?
[...]
CSR
OK. Let me pull up the Returns screen. I’ll need to ask some questions first…. Oh lord. OK, how did the product fail?
CALLER
Don’t worry, it wasn’t on my ass.
CSR
Please do not tell me how you were using it sir. I just want to know how it broke.
CALLER
I was using it on the bus.
CSR
Damnit, what did I just tell you?

[BTW, I realize this may be made up or at least exaggerated...It's comedy not Climate Science...oh wait...]

EMMYLOU HARRIS

Have I ever mentioned that she's one of my favorite female singers?

Yeah, it's some shit live recording, but I don't care - she has an amazing voice.



'Course Mark Knopfler is one of my favorite guitarists, so yeah it was like Music Christmas when they got together...



Hooray for synthesizers

COWBELL IT!

Yes, the Christopher Walken SNL sketch that this references is over 8 years old at this point, but that doesn't make the MORE COWBELL site less funny. The idea is simple: you upload an mp3, adjust the sliders to add cowbell and Walken quotes to it, and the computer "cowbells" it (nice verbification), with sometimes hilarious results. To wit:

We'll start off with Back in Black (Cowbell Mix) by AC/DC.

The Arctic Monkeys might want to consider a full time cowbellist, so they can perform The View From The Afternoon (With Cowbell).

There's always Cowbell Queen by ABBA. Wow, Gene Frenkel really explored the studio space on that one.

It's time to Get The Led Cowbell Out. Wow, that surprisingly rocks.

I used to think Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen was a perfect rock song, but that's before it was cowbelled. (Though Walken puts his pants on at an awkward time, this is fantastic.)

Naturally, there's always room for More Cowbell on this one: Unknown song. You've just been Rick Cowbell'd!

Three's Company with Cowbell!

Tom Waits says, Make It Rain Cowbell. Or maybe Singapore?

Flight of the Conchords say it's Cowbell Time and too many mutha'uckas are 'uckin' with their shi'.

Maybe Elliot Smith wouldn't have killed himself if he knew the joy of Cowbell In the Hay.

Here's Kris' FAVORITEST SONG OF ALL TIME! Stick with it, the finale is fantastically cowbellriffic.

Slayer + cowbell = hilarious. Angel of Death or
South of Heaven are both great.

And of course, they added more cowbell to a song that already features the cowbell: Don't Fear The Reaper. Careful: listening to this might create a black hole like the Large Hadron Collider.

I like what I'm hearing.

SUCK IT, RIAA!

In a decision sure to please music and file sharing fans everywhere (and give Lars Ulrich a rash), the judge in the Jammie Thomas vs. the Recording Industry Assholes of America (RIAA-holes) tossed out the verdict that sentenced her to pay $222,000 for having mp3 music files on her computer uploaded through the infamous KaZaA software.

A federal judge dealt the Recording Industry Association of America and record labels a setback Wednesday by throwing out a $222,000 verdict against a mom who was convicted of illegally sharing music over the Internet.

U.S. District of Minnesota Chief Judge Michael Davis ordered a new trial for Jammie Thomas, saying the jury's punishment was "unprecedented and oppressive." Davis said that the term "distribution" does not apply to simply making music available. It requires actual dissemination, he said.

A jury convicted her of putting 24 songs on Kazaa's file-sharing network and ordered her to pay $9,250 per song.

24 songs at $9,250 per, which is "more than five hundred times the cost of buying 24 separate CDs"? This was a ridiculous case with an even more ridiculous verdict, and the overturned verdict is a crushing blow to the RIAA and its slimy lawyers, who no doubt wished to make an example of the Minnesota mother.

It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of backwards-thinking, price-fixing, copyright-changing, money-grubbing assholes, who incidentally won the coveted Open Hockey Blog 2007 Dicktards Of The Year Award.

The website RIAA Radar is fantastic, and allows you to search for music acts and songs that are NOT affiliated with the RIAA, so you can purchase with a clear conscience knowing that your money is not lining their greedy pockets.

As a basic rule of thumb, most independent labels (Sub Pop, Merge) and indie rock bands are usually not part of the RIAA, whereas the big labels are (Sony, Geffen). Hence, the early albums by the Black Keys are not RIAA-affiliated ("Rubber Factory") where the newer ones are ("Magic Potion"). The site also has great charts (including an Indie Top 100 list) and is directly linked to the AMAZON.com store for purchasing discs and mp3s. Sure, most major artists are RIAA members, but you can find some decent new bands on here. I think I'll be buying that Robyn Hitchcock collection and Fleet Foxes EP I've been meaning to add to my mp3 collection. I already picked up Black Mountain's "In The Future".

SUCK IT, RIAA!

THE HORRIBLENESS OF TIME MAGAZINE

Generally, I avoid blogging about things that bug me on a day-to-day basis...oh, wait...no I don't. Generally I blog about the things that bug me on a day-to-day basis.

Anyway, I was just flipping through last week's Time and came across this wonderful article: Wanted: The Perfect Song. What tune captures the summer of 2008?. Now beyond the obvious fact that some dickhead named Josh Tyrangiel of Time Magazine has a different definition of "perfect" than me (his being "wrong"), he lists what may be the 10 worse songs ever made. Would you believe me if I said I hate every one? You'd better.

For the record, I went on the youtubes and watched at least a few seconds of every video. That's martyrdom right there...

10. I Kissed a Girl: Katy Perry (ooohh! Lesbianism is popular, let's try that)
9. Viva la fucking idiotic Vida: Coldplay
8. When I Grow Up: Pussycat Dolls
7. A Milli: Lil Wayne (an exceptionally bad song even by corporate rap standards)
6. Bleeding Love: Leona Lewis
5. No Matter What: T.I.
4. American Boy: Estelle (I hate this song the least)
3. Love in the Club: Usher (as Jeff pointed out, there are versions of this song that rock out...)
2. Disturbia: Rihanna
1. All Summer Long: Kid Rock. Kid Rock didn't just rip off (don't give me that 'sampling's done all the time' shit) one of America's great singer-songwriters in Warren Zevon, he also usurped the reigning Red State Anthem in "Sweet Home Alabama". I hope Zevon and Ronnie van Zant are waiting in Hell with sharped spears for Kid Rock's arrival.

Here's the original version of "Werewolves of London"



Fuck Kid Rock. and fuck Time magazine.

THE AFRO-GERMAN MUSIC TRIFECTA

Until earlier this week, the trifecta was "in-play" and then I realized that NNEKA (kick ass word on scrabulous BTW) has officially scored the Afro-German Hat Trick.

I don't know what to make of this. I didn't know that Germany was a bastion of west African imports and I didn't know that Nigeria had any specific connection with Germany, but yet, it does.

First along came Patrice. Patrice started with serious reggae licks



and has recently moved on to...more reggae! But for the masses. Now with more German!



Next on the Afro-German circuit was AYO (who is the mother of Patrice's kid and his current bedmate) (in french no less!)



But...but...the trifecta needed its third wheel. And that's where Nneka comes in. I just happened onto her youtube videos (for some reason the repetitive beat is pleasing to me) and lo-and-behold she looks kinda like Ayo (same pale skin, same funky hair) and she's from Nigeria and she has some links to land of the Deutsch.




I don't know why this is weird to me...it just is. I just find it curious that there's these three [currently] popular singer being produced in Germany via Western Africa.

You can probably find better versions of all these songs on the youtubes, but I just want to take this opportunity to give a big "fuck you dickheads" shout out to the little pieces of dog-shit who disable embedding. You dumb motherfucker, you're trafficking in copyrighted material, yet you want to protect "your work." The irony will never leave me...never!

RANDOM YOUTUBERY: ANNIE LENNOX FOR THE WEEKEND

I had never seen this version of Hallelujah sung by Annie Lennox until a few hours ago on TV.

It's probably been said before, but that chick's got some lungs on her:



Sorry for the fucked up aspect ratio. The sound is better on this one than on the only other one on the Youtubes.

[Annie Lennox Hallelujah on Taratata Oct. 2007]

OPEN LETTER TO PARISIAN CONCERT GOERS

DEAR PARIS:
A: Moshing is dead.
1. Moshing was invented in the late 70s or early 80s and was usually practiced by dead-beat punk-rock fans with nothing to lose.
2. Moshing was perfected by my generation around 1996 (there is some schools of thought that believe it's pinnacle was at Homerpalooza in Syracuse in July 1996).
3. Moshing fell out of favor and died in the early 2000s.
4. It is now 2008, there is no reason for you to be practicing this archaic art-form.
5. If you must mosh, do so at any of the "teen-friendly" acts, such as Hannah Montana or Justin Timberlake. Mature acts such as the Black Keys are for adults to go and have fun at, not dodge (or elbow) 15 year old juvie escapees.

Sincerely,
Your Superiors
(/Grampa Simpson)

The worst part of the Black Keys show was this horde of 15-18 year-olds who decided to mosh at the exact point (~10 feet in front of Dan) that we were standing. At least a couple of them got elbowed in the jaw and lost teeth and/or got crowd-surfed right onto their heads.

This show was fucking excellent. I got to Paris at around 3pm on Tuesday afternoon. Took the Metro to my buddy Alex's apartment and pulled a bottle of JD out of my bag. We had our first whiskey by 3:30 and in the next two-and-a-half hours, we finished 1/2 a bottle between us and while smoking cigarillos. A bite to eat and right to The Bataclan for Akron Ohio's own BLACK KEYS!

They had two opening acts, which dragged on for a bit, although the drummer (who unfortunately seems to like pants) for the second group (the Ettes) was lovely.

Finally around 9pm (after a 7pm start!) The Unabomber's brother and his drummer-accomplice took the stage. I don't know exactly what the play list was (they mixed in some good old stuff "10AM Automatic," "Stack-Shot Billy," "The Breaks"), but basically it was non-stop rock'n'roll for 20 minutes, followed by "You're the One" followed by non-stop rock'n'roll for another 30 minutes. Break. Encore of "Psychotic Girl" and "I Got Mine". Thank you, good night and by 11pm we were drinking beer in a bar. These boys really know how to rock. I expected the show to be more bluesy and while the blues are always there, Dan's concert guitar work is fucking hard and brilliant and in the manner that he beats on his Gibson, it's obvious that he learned a few things about beating objects from Ike Turner before his snowy train-ride to hell.

I tried to take a few pictures with the Blackberry, but the image quality is pretty damn shitty (and no video is available nor sound recording with "The Pearl"). I'll be monitoring the youtubes for videos from Bataclan that I'll pop up here if I find one.

All-in-all a great show and I would not hesitate to go seem them again. Now I have to decide if I'm going to drop 70E to see Tom Waits at The Grand Rex Theatre at the end of July.

[UPDATE]

"Stack Shot Billy" from last night (27 may 2008) with necessary shit-sound.


"Your Touch" - Sound is terrible as well

RANDOM YOUTUBERY: THE BELGIAN TOM WAITS

I may have talked about this guy, Arno, before. I can't remember. Anyway, I've got a French friend that likes Tom a lot and he had been telling me that I had to listen to Arno because it was good music and resembled Tom Waits without being a blatant copy of him. The problem with French-language singers is that it's hard to share with Americans because we like to "understand" the words. My favorite song by Arno is "Dans les yeux de ma mère" (In My Mother's Eyes). It's in French, but Babelfish can automatically [almost-]translate the lyrics (it's actually not too bad for an automatic translation).

Anyway, flipping around Youtube, I found a version by Arno of "Mother's Little Helper" (he does seem to have a bit of an Oedipus thing going on). If you can past by the the French/Belgian accent, you can see why he's been compared to Tom Waits.




He may have a small drinking problem. Just a possibility mind you.

THINGS I DON'T HATE: THE BLACK KEYS

I acquired the new Black Keys album, since I like them quite a bit. I'd heard Strange Times, when Jeff emailed around an mp3 link. I think you can listen to it over on the right hand side of the blog---------------------------------->

If not, here's the Youtubery for it. I'm not really sure what to make of that song. It's a little weird and a definite departure from their old Delta stripper blues-rock (if you don't know what I'm talking about, it's not what you think). I like it, but I don't love it.

But now I've been listening to rest of the album, and the last cut is, in my opinion, fucking brilliant. It keeps the same bluesy style from before, but adds to it. Danger Mouse's influence has made Dan's voice sound less harsh, but equally gritty. Jessica Lea Mayfield (holy shit, I just linked MySpace...fuck, I hate myself) singing backup makes for a nice little contrast.

We can only wonder what Ike Turner would've done for this album if he hadn't snorted himself to hell.

Anyway, this isn't Pitchfork, so you have to deal with those 10 lines.



[Youtube: The Black Keys; Things Ain't Like They Used to Be]

BLOODHOUND GANG "RALPH WIGGUM"

Thanks to Rob for directing me to this. It's the Bloodhound Gang, previously known for their "Fire Water Burn" and "The Bad Touch".



Bloodhound Gang "Ralph Wiggum" [YouTube]
Ralph Wiggum Soundboard

U2 FOR TUESDAY: "U2 3D" MOVIE REVIEW

(I was going to post this yesterday, appropriately on St. Patrick's Day, but never got around to it. Such is the nature of this blog.)

I saw the U2 3D movie at the local IMAX Theater over the weekend, billed as the first live-action 3D concert movie ever made. In a word, it was phenomenal. The combination of the stunning 3D effects, the incredible sound, and the massive IMAX screen made it a totally immersing experience. Add to this the uncanny ability of a band like U2 to make even the most massive stadium feel intimate, and they've created an incredibly enjoyable concert movie that is a visual and a technological masterpiece.

I've seen U2 in concert six times (more than any other band) dating back to the 1985 Unforgettable Fire and 1987 Joshua Tree tours, and as recently as the 2005 Vertigo tour, and they have never failed to put on a fantastic show. It was during three shows on the South American leg of the latter that this concert footage was shot, and the high definition film (nicely transferred to IMAX format) contains 90 minutes of highlights of the band performing on stage with zero filler. Smoothly interspersing shots of U2 and the enthusiastic crowd, it gives the viewer a sense of what attending an actual U2 concert is like, and you've got better than the best seats in the house.

THE 3D EFFECTS. I'm not sure exactly how the stereoscopic cameras used by the 3ality Digital team work, but when the finished product is viewed (using giant, dorky glasses that even Bono's "The Fly" character would reject) the result is stunning. The members of U2 really do jump off the screen and seem to extend beyond its borders during the concert. And I know it sounds corny, but when the camera angle is placed right above the shoulders of the concertgoers, you actually feel like you're sitting in the crowd. Overall the 3D effect gives a remarkable illusion of depth, especially as the crowd bounces, waves their arms, and holds their cameras up in the air.

THE SOUND. The IMAX theater quite possibly has the best sound system of any theater I've ever been in. You feel the bass thump before you even enter the room, the music and ambient crowd noise is dynamically reproduced, and the way the directional speakers are mixed to follow the action on the screen is very affecting. At one point during "Sunday Bloody Sunday", the crowd sound is completely removed, focusing on just the band and Bono's vocals in the front speakers (as he walks towards the viewer) and Edge's vocals in the rear--the result is chill inducing. They even isolate some audience members' reactions and singing in spots to add a personal touch.

THE VISUALS. The compiled concert footage is shot from every conceivable angle: from right in front of the performers, numerous positions in the crowd, above Larry's drum kit, at the end of Adam's bass guitar neck, right in Bono's face. But it never feels gimmicky, and is edited to flow rather well with each song, unlike most headache-inducing jump-cut music videos. During "The Fly" they even added some of the words and graphics that appear on the video screens in the stadium to the visual mix, and they pop dazzingly before your eyes. I'll say one more thing: for a band that's 30 years into its career, the four members are remarkably well preserved and don't look bad at all (in other words, the opposite of the Stones).

Even if you're not a U2 fan I think you should check out this thrilling, first-of-its-kind live-action 3D film experience, as it doesn't miss a note. (Really, you have to go see it, I hear it's not doing well.) It actually made me want to go to another concert--as long as it's taking place in the comfort of a theater, that is. I have a feeling that a lot more concert films are going to be made this way.

Songlist: "Vertigo", "Beautiful Day", "New Year's Day", "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own", "Love And Peace Or Else", "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "Bullet The Blue Sky", "Miss Sarajevo", "Pride (In The Name Of Love)", "Where The Streets Have No Name", "One", "The Fly", "With Or Without You" (end credits - "Yahweh").

Fan reviews on official U2 site

WELCOME TO MCDONALD'S, WOULD YOU LIKE A HAPPY M-M-M-M-M-MEAL-MEAL?!?!?!

This is pretty well done...Yeah, Jeff's gonna go all hater on it, 'cause he's like that, but I find it amusing: I never watch any video that's over 2 minutes online...this one clocks at 5:20 and I watched the whole thing.


Kids Songs Sung By Rock Stars - Watch more free videos

Ok, the Alanis Morrissette part is weak, but the rest is funny.

E-I-O, E-I-E-I, Eeee-I-OooOOooo. Good to see Eddie getting some work and who knew that that guy from Nickelback was still alive.

[Break via SI.com's Extra Mustard]

GUITAR ZEROS: THE MUSICAL PARODIES OF SANTERI OJALA

These videos crack me up. It's a simple premise: Finnish guitarist Santeri Ojala has taken live performance videos of famous guitarists (Clapton, Santana, Vai, Eddie Van Halen, Malmsteen) and overdubbed his own intentionally awful playing. The results are hilarious, and expertly synched up as well.

However, some of the targets of the parodies aren't laughing at these as hard as I am: three of the humorless guitarists have allegedly threatened to sue, and his account on YouTube was suspended due to "copyright infringement" (god I'm so fucking sick of lawyers). Vai and Malmsteen are thought to be the likely whiners.

Anyway, since Wired has decided to host the videos, I've decided to post two of my favorites. I couldn't choose just one, so let's start with Eric Clapton at MSG:

Shredded to a Pulp: Eric Clapton (opens in a new window)

Even the overdubbed drums and sax on that one are perfect. However this is the piece de resistance, as Ojala dubs pretty much every instrument (and voice) during an Yngwie Malmsteen performance with the Japan Philharmonic in 2003:



The "Close Encounters" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" interludes had me rolling.

Also check out the Rob E. Lee/Ozzy Osbourne (whose overdubbed clapping is priceless) and Carlos Santana clips from the Wired Video site.

THE END OF DAYS: WHEN THE FRENCH OUT COUNTRY OUR SINGERS

When I saw them for the first time, I really thought they were American...I saw a live acoustic version and the lead singer (her name's Rosemary) played up the twang. The Neil Young harmonica, the steel guitar, the stand-up bass...it tricked me good.

On the studio version, you can catch a couple of words that she doesn't completely manage to hide behind an affected twang (last time I checked grass doesn't have an "h").

Anyway, it doesn't really matter where they're from, I like this song:

"Jimmy" Moriarty

MISHEARD LYRICS: PEARL JAM "YELLOW LEDBETTER"

It was a pretty desolate Saturday night in Nyack last week, because of a predicted snowstorm that didn't actually turn out to be any big deal. In a nearly empty Bourbon Street, we finally got Ray to play Pearl Jam's "Yellow Ledbetter" after bugging him for, I don't know, over three years. I understand his reluctance, since there's no way to figure out what the lyrics are; we ended up "singing" it for him from a sad combination of an awful internet "translation" and our equally awful "memory".

Here's "Misheard Lyrics Guy" and his best guess as to what the hell Eddie Vedder is warbling:



Make me fries!

Misheard Lyrics to Pearl Jam's "Yellow Ledbetter" [YouTube]

WEEKLY TOP 10: BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

This is the last Top 10 of 2007. Enjoy!

10. It's not supposed to get above 30° today, which in meteorological terms is "fucking freezing". I have to say that the snow looks amazing; because there was a little ice/rain at the end of the snowstorm on Sunday, there is a glistening, frozen shell over everything. My first thought was: how far could I putt a golf ball across that?

9. You know the little bag that a Lipton teabag comes in? What's that called? A teabag bag? I wonder if that's on the Lipton.com FAQ.

8. I went to the bar three days last week, at least one of those trips was in order to get a discount to join the gym from one of the bartenders (name withheld). After all that drinking, I never got the form from her (okay, her name is Stalky McStalkerson). I guess that means I have to drink EVEN MORE so eventually I can join up. Ironic, isn't it?

7. After two seasons, Ricky Gervais' "Extras" wrapped up with a "series finale special" the way a quality show is supposed to. Not only did it make a statement about the vacuous, empty lives of celebrities, it also left its two main characters on an 'up' note (unlike the depressing BBC version of "The Office"). In other words, something ACTUALLY HAPPENED on the show's series finale, unlike "The Sopranos". Plus, George Michael and Clive Owen did hilarious, self-deprecating cameos, and where else are you going to find that?

6. Barry Zuckerkorn > Arthur Fonzerelli.





5. The Giants suck. They lost to the pathetic Redskins last night, powered by Elisha Manning's 18/52 for 184 performance, his 34 incompletions being the worst shitshow since Joe "I Wanna Kiss You" Namath did it in 1967. Why do I bother? What a shitastic team this 2007 squad is. I've said I'm not talking about Coughlin anymore until he's fired, but of course he won't since they'll back into the playoffs because the NFC is god awful.

4. I am tired of Xmas shopping. I had to buy something at TJ Maxx last week, and they invariably have the world's slowest lines--it made me want to stab someone in the neck. And for some reason, every time I have to return something at Target there's always some elderly person in front of me that wants to return something without a receipt that they bought from a Montgomery Ward catalogue from 1959 and still expect to get cash back for. Oh, and from now on, NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO WRITE CHECKS. Get a free debit card, it will save everyone time, for Christ's sake. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

3. HBO's "The Wire" is a better crime drama than "The Sopranos". Period. The acting is better, the story lines more interesting, and overall it's a hell of a lot more realistic. And technically speaking, "The Sopranos" never spent that much time on the actual crime, it was always A.J. crying or some nonsense about Meadow's boyfriend--gah! Anyway, I'm halfway through Season 2, and trying to catch up in time for Season 5 which starts in less than a month (Jan 6, 2008). Wish me luck.

2. Note to people who don't clean off their car roof before driving on the highway: screw you. If I see you walking behind me at the store, I'm going to randomly throw ice cubes over my shoulder at your head. Maybe you can swerve out of the way of them, maybe you can't. Either way, I would suggest wearing a helmet.

1. Zooey Deschanel rocks. Here's a clip of her from the movie "Elf" singing "Baby It's Cold Outside" (with Will Ferrell). I wouldn't mind the cold outside if Zooey was in my shower.

T.I.D.H.™ (THINGS I DON'T HATE): AMY MACDONALD

I'm not a real connoisseur of music...I like some stuff, I don't like some stuff, but I just don't have the energy or the drive to really seek out music. I try not to listen to pop radio too much, instead listen to the local college station or the off-beat, independent station whenever possible. And sometimes something pretty good just kinda runs into me. Recently, that was Amy Macdonald. I like the the folky, acoustic guitar mixed with 'er thicker-than-a-Scottish-fog accent.

Sorry for the mediocre quality of this video live @ HMV (Her Majesty's Virgin [MegaStore]?) Braehead. Her website has the video for This is the Life, but the 12-year olds on Youtube haven't managed to post it yet.



Here's one of the first singles, Mr. Rock and Roll, from her debut album, "This is the Life."