Working Together

2007-09-23T23:45:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone,

Wow. I'm bad at this. But I'm gonna try. Try harder, anyway.

Saw the new Prison Break last week (still haven't seen Gossip Girl or K-Ville) and I liked it. I think they'll definitely get a whole season out of this idea. Especially if Michael Scofield (what's that guy's name again? I'm far too lazy to open a new tab and Google that...) keeps dragging his speech out as he has for the past two seasons. That guy is always out of breath. And I think he taught Linc how to do it over the summer. Sweet. I love William Fichtner. That guy can turn from cool to creepy (creepiest, actually) on a dime. I'm glad to see him finally catch a break.

Other stuff I'm hyped on right now:

Billy Idol - Storytellers
There's a new Dashboard album coming soon
Has anyone heard the new Manson album? I wanna get my hands on that gem.
Season premieres rolling out. Keep 'em coming. Especially, can't wait for "The Bionic Woman" and, then later, "Nip/Tuck."

Do this for me

2007-02-18T11:25:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what I'm going to say here. I don't have much. I'll come up with something soon. Thanks for sticking in there.

so that doesn't work

2006-08-27T12:43:00.000-04:00

Okay, so my postings have become even less regular. I'm still trying to work on that. But it's not going very well. I wrote an e-mail to a friend of mine a while ago about an album I "rediscovered" and I thought I'd share.

Okay, so I know it's not super-cool (but when has that really ever stopped me - Spice Girls t-shirts anyone?) that at least a third of the music reviews I read (and therefore actually pay attention to) are in Blender, but every once in a while they are SOO right on it makes it worth it.

Every month they do a feature about an album that is so good it should be just part of the everyday musical lexicon but somehow, some way, it has been overlooked. A while back - about two months ago or so - said piece featured Neneh Cherry's first album - the one with "Buffalo Stance" - Raw Like Sushi. I've always thought "Buffalo Stance" had a little somethIng special in it and I think her follow-up album, "Homebrew," is one of my all-time favorite albums (though, to be fair, there's so many albums and artists and genres to pick from, it's hard to make those kinds of distinctions, right?).

Anyway, I downloaded most of the Raw Like Sushi album (it was harder to find than I would have thought but then again I don't look in too many places - eMusic may be in my near-immediate future [sidenote: I am now an eMusic member]) shortly after I read that piece and since then it's been in pretty heavy rotation in my iPod with me growing increasingly fond of it.

So, to make a short story long, that damn magazine has convinced me it's worth reading - again. And I've once again been reminded of how ridiculously hot Neneh Cherry was in the first place.

Get it? Got it? Good.

p.s. http://www.hiponline.com/artist/music/c/cherry_nenah/index.html

I'll try to be more regular these days - I swear

2006-05-13T13:02:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I get my SiteMeter numbers every week and I know there are a few of you out there who are still checking in regularly. For that I'd like to thank you and reward you with a new post. So, here it is - you lucky few.

I'm gonna start where I almost always start: with TV.

As the 2005/2006 season winds down I have a short list of both highlights and low-lights that I will now pass on to all of you.

I am still about a month and a half behind in television land so for me there's still plenty of TV left but for everyone else, this is what I think you should have been doing all year.

Highlights (network TV):

1. Prison Break/Lost - To everyone who said that scripted TV was dead, I say, in the immortal words of Bill the Cat, "Ptthbbbt!" These two shows single-handedly brought quality television back to the water cooler. Naturally, 24 did this as well but I don't watch any show that is impossible to get back into if you miss even one episode. This is also why the impending end of Alias means less than nothing to me.

2. Gilmore Girls - Perrenial favorite yes, but still high-quality television suitable for everyone (yes, mom, even you). The girls have been a bit off their games for a while this season but from what I've read that'll be changing even in the episodes I have recorded and have yet to watch. The series creators are taking a walk after this season (presumably to go create another show because, God forbid, someone who hasn't ever made a show get a shot at something new. I mean Carsey-Werner are still making shows and it seems as though every season someone's trying to lure Stephen Bochco back to work) but, also from what I've read, the series will be in good hands after they leave. Call me optimistic, but I'm not worried.

3. Veronica Mars - Ben Green calls this the BEST show on television and I think he's onto something there. Every once in a while I think I'm not into watching this and then I pop one into the VCR or hear that satisfying "bloop" from my TiVo and the next thing I know I'm pulled back in and have to watch like three episodes back-to-back. I mean, come on, it took me like half the season to even really figure out what the actual mystery this season was. Bus crash, I mean, obviously. But I just didn't figure out the fact that it was the search for the "whodunnit" that was the central theme. I think I was too distracted by either Steve Guttenberg or the Veronica/Logan push-pull romance. And what exactly is Charisma Carpenter's job here? I mean aside from filling out dresses (and un-dresses) to perfection.

4. How I Met Your Mother/Two and a Half Men - This back-to-back sitcom duo is the funniest hour on television in ages. Doogie Howser has his schtick down to science and I still can't figure out how come everyone isn't telling everyone else to "Suit up!" like every day. I get the most consistent laughs since Seinfeld from every episode of Two and a Half Men. I am constantly switching back and forth between thinking the genius of the show is Charlie Sheen or Jon Cryer (Go Duckie!) but either way I'm usually too busy busting a gut to care. And, squeaking in under the wire and rounding out Monday nights, The New Adventures of Old Christine has proven, at least to me, that the Seinfeld curse was nothing more than crummy shows. Julia Louise-Dreyfus is a total riot. Everyone else on this show is kinda bland but she holds it down anyway.

5. Bones - I've been a fan of Emily Deschanel's sister, Zooey, for ages but putting Emily together with David Boreanaz (Angel) was the smartest casting on the small screen in ages. The spark (it's been a long time since I've read TVGal at Zap2It.com and I wonder if she's come around to this yet). Every time I start to get bored with this show, it takes a surprising turn and draws me back into a new facet I wasn't even paying attention to earlier. And the "squints" are more than just background scenery in this smart show.

Low-lights (network TV):

1. Inexplicable (and unnecessarily long) breaks - Both Everwood and Prison Break were taken away from us for what seemed like forever. I mean, really, how is that supposed to help a show. Especially something like Everwood which with the coming CW (the combining of UPN and the WB) is already on shaky ground? Prison Break I'm back for and I've watched a couple of Everwood's since it came back but honestly this was not good programming.

2. Grey's Anatomy - I can't take credit for this but I can't remember where I read it so I can't actually give the credit either but I read somewhere about the protagonist fo the show that (probably more of a paraphrase than an actual quote but...) "Not since Ally McBeal has a character been this adept at making EVERYTHING that happens be all about her." And it's true. Izzy not withstanding this show is just plain, bland programming that has somehow caught the eye of America. And the soundtrack is about a year behind good television. If you like the music, watch The O.C. or just about any teen drama on the WB, you'll hear it all first.

3. Reality TV - Isn't this over yet? Survivor, nope. Biggest Loser, really? Those nanny shows or the ones where they trade spouses, are you kidding? And celebrity (and I use that term loosely) reality, I mean, come on, how do they know what's reality? And I save my most vitriolic rants for The Apprentice. Why on Earth is anyone watching the Donald? Seriously, someone tell me.

4. CSI/Law & Order - Now, I, like most people who watched TV in the mid- to late-90s, was a big fan of the original Law & Order series but this is just too much. Too, too much. And don't get me started on CSI. Any of them. Any at all. Like Emily Gilmore said a couple of seasons ago, "I guess I'm just not as interested in forensic science as the rest of America."

5. Living with Fran - It takes a lot for me to not be able to sit through something with Fran Drescher (yes, it's true. I will not apologize for it.) but this show stinks. Badly. Like my old Stan Smiths - and those were some STINKY shoes.

Best of the rest:

Pros Versus Joes on FX - Funny. Think you can take on a pro who's a bit past their prime? So did these guys. And they couldn't. Especially on a football field. Or really any field at all.

Monk - Yeah, it's still like Columbo with less coordination but it's like a little slice of genius in a cable wasteland. That and I love Traylor Howard.

The O.C. - For me, it's all about Summer. All. And then a little Nikki Reid.

Classic Concerts & Decades Live (VH-1 Classic)/Crossroads (CMT)/Austin City Limits (PBS)/SNL (NBC & E!) - TiVo has made it SOO easy to record and then transfer to another medium live music from television. With quality sound. LOVE IT!

Okay. There it is. I promise something a little different for next week.

Thanks everybody. Keep it real. Catch you on the flipside.

Let's just get started

2005-11-22T10:12:00.000-05:00

Okay. Okay. So it's been like FOREVER since I've had a new blog. So I'm just gonna jump right in with a current "must" list (since they seem to be all the rage).

Things I'm crushing on RIGHT NOW.

1. TiVo. I love it. Best purchase I've ever made. All that TV without all the hassle of setting the VCR every day. Well sort of. Since the TiVo only replaced one of the three VCRs running in home. I TiVo regular (read: Prime Time) TV and I also just TiVo funny stuff that interests me, like I Spy (Bill Cosby, Robert Culp) and the old British series The Saint (Roger Moore, pre-James Bond) and Welcome Back, Kotter (do I really need to list this?). But I've also caught a lot of Batman cartoons, Spiderman cartoons, some Mucha Lucha and I'm getting sucked back into Made on MTV. And...it's got a DVD burner built in, so there's a few concerts (Billy Idol acoustic, Morrissey in England) and some old movies (Notorious, North By Northwest and The Asphalt Jungle) laying around now.

2. TV. Everyone knows I LOVE TV like a new puppy but right now I'm particularly enamored with Nip/Tuck, Prison Break, Surface, Bones, Gilmore Girls & Two and A Half Men. I really thought my interest in Nip/Tuck would wane a little this season, but no. It really hasn't. The show continues to shock me and with it's wild plot twists and seemingly out of nowhere story lines I'm still as enthralled as I was in the beginning. Must see TV indeed. Prison Break is just awesome. Equal parts suspenseful, creepy, brainy and intriguing. The thing I like best about Surface is that it deals with a "new" species and it doesn't automatically treat it as a monster. That and Lake Bell. Nice name too, no? My personal hero, TVGal, says she doesn't see the spark between David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel but I think she's kinda nuts anyway. In a good way though. And (nice segue here...wait for it) so is the show. The Gilmore Girls has brought me back after last seasons lackluster-y-ness (although surprising and shocking season cliffhangers). Still the best writing on TV. I've been under the impression that Two and A Half Men is guy's TV but really I think it's just the funniest thing on TV. Naturally, I have a soft spot for '80s stars (Patrick Dempsey not-with-standing) so I'm gonna obviously be into something with John Cryer (and I'm sure everyone remembers Charlie Sheen as the bad boy in the police station with Jeannie in Ferris Bueller's Day Off but that's not enough of a qualification for me and also Charlie's maid on the show is the pizza place owner in Mystic Pizza (I'll learn her name soon, I promise) and if you know me, you know how I love that movie too). This show is full of physical humor but it's really at it's funniest when it revels in sibling rivalry. I'm so happy for Chuck Lorre again.

3. Something Corporate. And a lot of the less screamo emo but not quite as whiny as Bright Eyes. People all around me have been pointing out that I seem lost since I appear to have no musical direction these days. There's no genre pulling me in with any kind of force. I'm definitely digging on emo though but without much direction. Guidance anyone? I'm liking EVERYTHING Something Corporate, about two-thirds of Dashboard Confessional (the slower stuff) and stuff like Taking Back Sunday's "Cute without the E" and Matt Nathanson's "Church Clothes."

4. My iPod. There's something new that I love about it nearly every day. This is the best toy I've bought in ages. And keep in mind I just bought TiVo too. I went on a trip a while ago and while my traveling music used to take up about half of my backpack, this time it all fit in my pocket. With iTrip (or the Monster radio transmitter thing) I can listen to it in my car. I just also figured out it works with my little tape adapter. I'm loving it. All that music in such a tiny package. You can tell how happy I am. I'm sure of it.

5. Winter is almost here. It's supposed to start snowing tomorrow and keep snowing right through Saturday. Okay, so it's Friday night and it didn't really snow today but today's paper had a sweet picture of skiing at the River so Jill and I are planning to head up Sunday morning. And then Dark Star Orchestra on Sunday night. That should be one heck of a day.

Okay, there we go. Let's hope it doesn't take me 4 months to post again.

Back to the Machine

2005-07-20T09:12:00.000-04:00

Okay. So, it's been a while since I've done any blogging and, with the new TV season about to kick off, I thought it was about time to start again.

I spent the long weekend catching up with a lot of summer TV shows (Rescue Me, The 4400, The Inside and a few reruns I missed during the regular season) and I also saw several movies.

Let's start with the movies.

First I saw The Skeleton Key. Kate Hudson is a hottie. The movies HooDoo roots were very cool. The Louisiana bajou (specifically around New Orleans which I imagine looks a LOT different these days for obvious reasons) is creepy enough to begin with without putting all the bad juju on it but while the plot was predictable and the I saw a lot of the "twists" coming ahead of time, the movie made me jump - a few times. I know, I know, it wasn't really that scary but remember, I'm a sissy. All in all, not too bad but lacking in true creativity. It's hard to take a horror movie seriously when all the people make such bad (read: cliche) decisions. Fairly tense though. I'll give it a C+.

Next up was Shaun of the Dead (on DVD). I'd read only good things about this movie. And despite a complete dearth of recognizable actors (aside from the always a bit odd Bill Nighy), this movie was very watchable. The dialogue was decidedly British - but then again it was in England and very, very funny. Low-budget but thoroughly enjoyable. A-

Then it was on to The Transporter 2. I've been looking forward to this movie since I saw the trailer for it a few months ago (and it was pretty nice to me on HSX as well). I loved the first one, with Jason Statham karate-chopping his way through the bad guys like some kind of low-key Jet Li but, honestly, this one was a bit hokey. Several times, people in the audience (me included) let out groans of disbelief as he pulled off suspension-of-disbelief stretching stunts. But, on the other hand, there aren't too many movies that feature the kind of ass-kicking showcased here and, frankly, I miss that - a LOT. So, despite it's over-the-top concept and a very bad (although this is not in any way a surprise given his recent performances) Matthew Modine (Amber Valetta though - so hot), I'm going to say that this is more like what I want to see in an action movie and give it a B.

To finish off the weekend, it was The 40 Year Old Virgin which, despite bad word of mouth from a few people, made me laugh out loud for at least the first hour +. Potty humor and bad pick-up lines made this movie a laugh riot. While I wouldn't say it's any kind of high cinema, I would say it's a quality comedy with enough of a heart to outshine any anti-Steve Carrell feelings you might harbor (and I harbor many - seriously, MANY). Still, B+ to A- (the A- would be mostly for Paul Rudd and Seth Rogan).

After Virgin, I got home in time to catch the majority of the Showtime movie (aired simultaneously on Lifetime (where I caught it)) Speak. Along the vein of like Thirteen, this movie shows a young girl dealing with date rape. Steve Zahn (who I love) and D.B. Sweeney (who I also dig a LOT) were pretty spot on as teacher and father, respectively, and the movies sparse dialogue was particularly effective. I'm a little enamored of girl-power movies (and TV shows) and this one showed that it's sometimes hard to be as brave as we'd all like to think we are. Let's just go ahead and give this one an A.

More later. Mostly TV for a while though.

Somewhere Between 16 and 20 Tapes

2005-07-19T16:54:00.000-04:00

I've had this number on top of my TV now for about 3 months and the piles don't seem to be getting much smaller. Between it being summer and not working at night any longer (at least not exclusively at night anyway) and a few other intangibles (like Jill being my room mate now, for instance), I'm simply not watching as much TV as I would like to be watching. I still squeeze some in but I can't seem to make a noticeable dent in the piles of tapes on top of my TV. So, what follows is like TV reviews if you're like a month behind on TV (like me).

I've started watching that new Jenny McCarthy show on UPN and while most of the jokes are decidedly chick oriented, I still think Miss McCarthy is a credible comedy actress. Albeit, one with very feathered hair. She has impeccable timing and even when the lingo is a bit hip for a conventional joke she pulls them off. This show is definitely worth watching if you happen to be right there anyway.

Beauty and the Geek is not that good. I already want to kill that Richard guy. And the girls are nothing all that special either. Especially since they throw the nice ones out early.

Cuts with Shannon Elizabeth is definitely the worst show I've seen in a long time. Bad (and I mean truly awful) jokes don't help the already flawed premise of putting this show out to begin with.

I've been taping but still haven't seen The Closer (TNT), 30 Days (FX), Rock Star; INXS (Fox, I think), the new season of Rescue Me (FX), the new season of The 4400 (USA, I think) and the new season of Monk (USA). I did catch the first episode of The Inside and thought it was a bit murky and a little hard to pick up the back story on but still pretty good.

I'm hoping to get in some quality time with the idiot box sometime in the next week, so until then, this will have to do.

Still so far behind

2005-06-15T08:08:00.000-04:00

Let's see. I've watched a lot of TV lately but I'm still about a month behind. I still haven't seen the season finales of, say, ER, The O.C., Desperate Housewives, Smallville, and so on. I have seen the finales of Veronica Mars, Eve, Joey, etc.

All in all, the end of this year's TV season has left a bland taste in my mouth. I'm not saying I'm not digging the way the networks have finally realized what everyone (including Fox and all of the cable dial) has known for at least 10 years: That people do, in fact, watch TV during the summer, so a little original programming will be appreciated. It's just too bad that, at least what I've seen and what was reviewed in last week's EWeekly, is 90 percent reality shows. That look like they're going to suck. What's the name of that Jerry Hall one, anyone?

But, to attempt to stay on point, I'll move back to the realm of what I have seen.

A friend of the family has called me over and over again to tell me how much he loves Veronica Mars and now how much he digs Grey's Anatomy. I love Veronica Mars and was super glad to hear that Kristen Bell will be back with her merry band of misfits again next season, but, as much as I try, I can't really get into Grey's Anatomy. I simply can't get to the point where I care about the characters. I like Sandra Oh (hello. Arli$$ anyone?), I like that little nebbish-ish guy that has a crush on his room mate Meredith, I like their head doctor lady and I'm even starting to like the girl who cooks instead of sleeping. But I simply can't seem to grasp any reason why I'm supposed to care about the lead character, Meredith, why she can't seem to get what she wants from what's-his-face and how hard it's supposed to be to be a doctor, when, when you see them in scenes, it barely looks like they've even practiced holding a stethoscope much less anything more difficult. A long time ago I read a little thing that gave the percentages of jobs in TV, and something like 85 percent of the people on TV are doctors or cops. What I'm trying to say is, we don't really need any more medical dramas. Especially ones that don't really have very much to do with medicine. ER is still doing fine and I don't really need too many more shows to gross me out on a weekly basis.

I think Joey is pretty funny. It moves along well and there are some real jokes sprinkled in. But really it's not that great. The other night I caught a few back-to-back episodes of Friends on TBS and it made me realize just how far Matt LeBlanc has fallen. Instead of the Central Perk-ers he now has Drea DeMatteo who is definitely the life of the show if a bit over the top raunchy at times, the guy who plays her son who I actually do think is funny but the whole "dude can't get a date" lost most of its funny after the first few episodes, Alex, the girl next door who is almost as lifeless as her soon-to-be-ex-husband, and who can forget Howard, the dorky guy in the building who pops up every few episodes to latch on to how cool Joey is. Even Madchen Amick can't do anything for this show. Perhaps the reason she didn't hook up with Dr. Carter wasn't his fault after all, perhaps it was her distinct lack of ability to act. One saving grace for this show is that woman who was Stiffler's mom and Elle's friend in Legally Blonde movies as Bobbie, Joey's agent. Her grating character adds spice to this show that no one else has yet. With the exception of Lucy Liu. This show has done guest stars pretty well, much like Friends, but guest stars aren't enough. The show's stars are going to need to shine next season.

Everything else is going along kind of as planned. I'm not sure where Smallville is going next season with everyone graduating, but it looks like at least Clark and Lana are sticking around. I know Paul dies in the finale of Desperate Housewives (EWeekly spoiled that one for me) and Alfre Woodard arrives (that happened in the second to last one which I've seen) but frankly I'm not totally sure I care. Here's to hoping for something actually exciting in the finale of The O.C. and far, far less manufactured drama next season. The one I'm really looking forward to though is the finale of the Gilmore Girls. I've heard it's a real doozy.

I'm really going to miss American Dreams next season. And I'll also be missing Third Watch. I thought the finale was truly disappointing. You could really tell they didn't see the cancelation coming either.

P.S. I at least tried to change the settings so that anyone and everyone can leave posts (not just registered users) so please do so. No, really, do it.

I see a pattern here

2005-06-04T11:03:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been nearly a month since my last post (for those of you keeping track, it's been a while since I've posted on the radio show blog as well) and I still don't really have a topic. But I'll just start and see where it goes.

Last weekend, I saw the Longest Yard with a couple of friends and I was told that a posted review would be in order (I think this was supposed to come after all three of us had seen the original as well but that appears to be a long time coming so I'm just going to get to it). Let's start with the quart Nalgene filled to the brim with Lipton iced tea and Jack Daniels. Like Eazy-E said "and from the first sip, my breath starts stinkin'" but that didn't bother me. It apparently did bother Nason though. I guess he was planning to start playing Dungeons & Dragons with the teenagers in front of us or something. CK refrained from helping me with my big mixed drink too claiming something akin to an allergy to JD. Crazy talk I tell ya. I'd just like to say for the record that if you walk into a theater and then enough teenagers to fill an entire row in the theater come in shortly after you, you can rest assured that you are now allowed to talk as loudly as you want about anything you want whenever you want. This is a rule. Just like if you go to a movie with a date and sit in the back, you are allowed to make out as much as you like and no one can give you dirty looks about it.

So, by the end of the movie, I'd finished my quart of Jack and tea and it was time to meet up with the others (who had opted to see Star Wars instead). Heading over for a few beers (and, much to my chagrin, also the Red Sox game) at Sebago, I managed to down a really big beer and half a plate of potato nachos (CK scarfed down the other half and then told me I'd really pigged out).

I'd forgotten how drinking hard liquor works for me. In the theater I noticed I was drinking but it wasn't until much later that I realized how thoroughly drunk I was. I must drink a lot faster than my blood stream absorbs the charming effects of alcohol. Not that there's a lot wrong with that, I guess I just need to drink more often to keep reminding myself of this fact. The other realization of the evening (and this should come as no surprise to anyone but, frankly, I'm really just starting to realize how much it is really true), I don't seem to really have an "inside voice." I mean I do when I'm just talking to people but in any kind of group I'm bound to get a little animated while talking about something and I've come to realize that along with this animation comes a much louder volume to my voice. Now, before you all write snide comments telling me how dense I am for not having noticed this before, I have. Several times. I've noticed that I get done talking and there's an eerie hush that is simply the vaccuum left behind by the absence of me talking. Anyway, just a personal observation. I'd say I'm gonna do something about it but I doubt I will or even can.

Oh yeah, the movie was pretty good. Adam Sandler had some really good one-liners before the football stuff started. The guy who played the jerk with the gun on the space shuttle in "Armageddon" played a jerk in this too. CK almost jizzed about all the ex-football players and pro-wrestlers in the movie. Chris Rock's schtick gets old fast. Courtney Cox-Arquette has weird tits - eerily separated. Burt Reynolds is a pretty old dude but he was The Bandit and the dude who actually knew what he was doing in "Deliverance." And, yes, Rob Schnieder does pop up at the end and shout "You can do it!"

I'll save my other ramblings for later.

a little test

2005-05-18T13:41:00.000-04:00

Jill's friend Bex (Whom I also know, right Bex? Word.), is always putting these little quiz-y, test-y things on her blog. Here's the one I did today.

Your Linguistic Profile:

45% General American English

45% Yankee

5% Dixie

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Say it ain't so

2005-05-01T11:02:00.000-04:00

If you know how much I love television (and how much television I watch), you know that I think NBC's American Dreams is one of my top 5 shows on television.

Jill asked me a couple of weeks ago which three shows I would pick if I could only pick three. I went with Gilmore Girls, Third Watch and American Dreams. But there was also talk of Two and a Half Men, That 70s Show, Smallville, Lost and Veronica Mars - see it's really hard to pick.

So it is very disheartening for me to that according to one the many entertainment news sources on my "myyahoo.com":

"word is that the fate of NBC's "American Dreams" has now been sealed, and the period drama, long considered a long shot for renewal, will not return next season. NBC declined comment Thursday."

they declined to comment? I'm so shocked since this is probably the most contentious show that had previously been on the bubble. And also because it was easily the most thoughtful show they had on the air.

A little further digging and some recent things I've read:

Zap2It.com news:

The Hollywood Reporter says the 1960s-set series won't be back for a fourth season. The news doesn't come as a big surprise. Ratings for the show suffered this season (7.2 million viewers, compared to 8.7 million last year), and NBC cut its order to 17 episodes, forcing an early season finale. Cast members Will Estes and Rachel Boston also took roles in pilots, which is generally considered a bad sign for a show's future.

TVGal:

"American Dreams": Well, we simply can't have the series end with Meg jetting off to Berkley to live the life of a rebel. No matter how cute Milo Ventimiglia is (and he's pretty darn cute), I simply don't believe that Meg would have left without even saying goodbye to Sam (a relationship I would love to see the series further explore). Set against the backdrop of "American Bandstand" and the tumultuous '60s, the show is a throwback to another television era -- a time when there were quality one-hour dramas that entertained multiple generations. This dream should live on.

Funniest thing she wrote this week though:

They need to staff the heck up on "The O.C." (Thursday, FOX, 8 p.m.). Also raise your hand if you think it might be nice for Marissa to start wearing a bra.

A KRT article that I think summed it up best:

What can be done to save TV’s best family drama?
By Glenn Garvin
Knight Ridder Newspapers

A couple of years ago during an interview with NBC boss Jeff Zucker, I asked him if he feared his tombstone would read “Here lies Jeff Zucker, the man who gave us desperate contestants eating horse rectums on television.” He rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah,” Zucker replied. “I’m the guy who put on “Fear Factor.’ But I’m also the guy who put on “American Dreams’ and the guy who put on “Boomtown.”’

It was a plea to remember that programming a network is a balancing act, and if Zucker should be debited for his share of TV trash, he should also get credit for promoting serious drama.

But since then, NBC’s account books have fallen seriously out of balance. Zucker has introduced a swarm of rancid programs that actually make “Fear Factor” look tasteful, from the smarmy sitcom Coupling to the outright pimpery of “Who Wants To Marry My Mom.” Meanwhile, “Boomtown” — an innovative cop drama that sometimes told its stories from end to beginning — was canceled years ago.

And now “American Dreams,” the finest drama on network television, may be about to join it in the TV trash bin. Over the past couple of weeks, NBC first chopped the show’s season from 19 episodes to 17 and then rescheduled it from Sunday night to Wednesday, where it will be up against ABC’s ratings powerhouse “Lost.”

“We’re a show on the bubble,” agrees “American Dreams” creator Jonathan Prince. “If you like American Dreams, this is the time to say so. This is the time when it would help.”

If ever a TV show deserved help, it’s “American Dreams.” The story of a pair of middle-class families (one white, one black) in 1960s Philadelphia, it’s excellent by any conventional measure of drama. It has an ensemble cast the equal of any on television; a writing staff that’s both thoughtful and witty; and the boppingest rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack ever assembled, period. (Anybody can put together oldies-radio standards like “Baby Love” and “California Girls,” but where else are you going to find buried ‘60s treasures like “Concrete And Clay” or “Grim Reaper of Love”?)

But “American Dreams” goes well beyond the conventional measures. With its unstinting look at the 1960s, it’s one of just a handful of shows in the whole history of television that helps us understand who we are and where we came from, how we became the America of today.

Regardless of what you think of the ‘60s, whether you view them as the beginning of a brave new world of social justice or an orgy of juvenile self-indulgence, they were a historical hurricane that remapped American society. The cultural and political fractures of the decade — the civil rights movements, feminism, drugs, the sexual revolution, the role of U.S. troops in policing the world — are still registering aftershocks 40 years later.

“American Dreams” allows us to examine those issues simultaneously from the distance of four decades, and immediately, through the eyes of the people living through them. It makes them more comprehensible – and yet, paradoxically, emphasizes their complexity — by reducing them to bite-sized chunks.

When her brother J.J. is shipped off to Vietnam, 17-year-old Meg Pryor becomes an anti-war activist — but discovers to her shock that J.J. regards her efforts as disloyal rather than supportive. Her black school chum Sam Walker is frustrated that their interracial friendship runs into as much resistance from his family as hers. When Meg’s mother decides to take a job outside their home for the first time, her children disapprove at least as much as her husband.

Its literal application of the old ‘60s slogan “the personal is political” has made “American Dreams” into a true family viewing experience. In homes all over America, parents watch it with teenage children who are getting an unprecedented (and, occasionally, uncomfortable) glimpse into the warts-and-all world from which Mom and Dad came.

“I love watching it with my son, because I think it’s an insight into that period of our history,” says 48-year-old Jayne Vander Woude, who grew up in Chicago and now teaches art at Miami’s Westminster Christian School. “I was a kid during that time, had two older brothers who received their draft notices. My older brother’s friends went off to Vietnam. I went through integration — my school going from all-white to a more diverse population.

“I think it gives our kids a greater understanding of some of the things that have happened in our country. It’s one thing for them to read about it in history books. But this is a way they can experience it. A lot of our kids don’t grasp, for instance, what racial prejudice was like, even at that time. They think all this stuff just changed, but they don’t really under the struggle of change.”

Her 16-year-old son Jon, a Westminster junior, says he loves the show, too — and is often stunned by what he learns from it. A scene where white liberals venture into the inner city to clean up a park, only to be driven off by angry black nationalists, caught him off-guard.

“I’d never realized the extent of the racism, not just from whites to blacks, but back from blacks to whites,” he muses. “And when J.J. was in the Marines and got sent off on a secret mission to Cambodia — I’d never had a clue that that kind of thing happened.”

As good as “American Dreams” is, NBC isn’t running a charity ward. (Though anybody who stumbles onto an episode of “Fear Factor” could be forgiven for wondering if it’s a mental ward.) But there are good business reasons to keep the show, too.

It’s true the “American Dreams” weekly audience is an unspectacular 7.6 million — and in the crucial 18-to-49 age group, an even less spectacular 3.3 million. (Compare that to the same numbers for the show’s new head-to-head competitor “Lost”: 16.3 million total viewers and 7.8 million among 18-to-49.)

But it’s also true that few shows on TV deliver as much bang for the buck to advertisers looking for upscale, educated viewers. When you start parsing the arcane research numbers that advertising executives use for bedtime reading, you find “American Dreams” is in TV’s top 20 in terms of its percentage of college-educated viewers, and a startling No. 9 in percentage of viewers aged 25-to-54 who make more than $110,000 a year.

There’s another important fact about “American Dreams” that Jeff Zucker should note when he ponders what his tombstone might say. In TV Week magazine’s annual poll of critics conducted in January, “American Dreams” was named the 15th best show on television — better than NBC’s graying “West Wing,” better than its prized sitcom “Scrubs,” better than any other show on the network.

But don’t take our word for it, Jeff. Listen to Mary Potter, a 20-year-old sophomore at Delaware County Community College in Media, Pa., who has collected about 5,000 names and e-mail addresses so far on her Internet petition to save “American Dreams.”

“’American Dreams’ is a family drama, but it’s not a nerdy-nerd show,” she says. “So much on TV today is a reality show, and if it’s not that, it’s medical or murder. This is such an original show. There’s not anything nearly like it.”

Fast Forward Rewind

2005-04-29T12:29:00.000-04:00

Lara sent me this a while ago and I decided it deserved a post. It's taken me a little while though (big surprise, no?) And growing up in the '90s is SO over-rated. The '80s are so where it's at.

You Know You Grew Up In The 80's or Early 90's If :

1. You've ever ended a sentence with the word "SIKE."
Okay. No. But only because I know how to spell. I ended my sentences with "psych."

2. You watched the Pound Puppies.
Nope.

3. You can sing the rap to the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" ..and can do the "Carlton".
Of course. Can't you. This show was one of those things that kept me up late at night when I first started college (many, many years ago). We'd stay up late just to watch the reruns (and Growing Pains). We also decided it should have been "The Carlton Show" especially whe Carlton and Will were living in the pool house. And Jazz was always there.

4. Girls wore biker shorts under their skirts and felt stylishly sexy.
This I do remember. And I remember it actually being sexy too.

5. You yearned to be a member of the Baby-sitters club and tried to start a club of your own.
No, but then again I'm a guy. And this one falls into the '90s category too (e.g. after my time). Sarah B. over at Que Sera Sera has made numerous posts about this though.

6. You owned those lil' Strawberry Shortcake pals scented dolls.
Nope. But I do remember them.

7. You know that "WOAH " comes from Joey on Blossom.
I so totally know this. I never did thing that Mayim Bialik was particularly hot but, man, wasn't that Six (Jenna Von Oy)? Speaking of biker shorts under skirts.

8. Two words: Hammer Pants
Never had 'em. Totally remember 'em. Also I was into Hammer before that whole "Can't Touch This" thing hit. He was an old standby for the early days of "Yo! MTV Raps." Back when it was just an hour on Saturdays with Fab 5 Freddy as the host.

9. If you ever watched "Fraggle Rock."
I never had HBO back in the day but I did catch it at friends' houses. Never understood the greatness of it though. Although, I know Meaghan did.

10. You had plastic streamers on your handle bars... and "spokey-dokes" or playing cards on your spokes for that incredible sound effect.
Oh my God! Heck yes! Well, not the streamers (those got ripped out of everyone's bikes). And "spokey dokes" were for geeks. The card trick was the ONLY way to go.

11. You can sing the entire theme song to "DuckTales " (Woo ooh!)
"Duck Tales" sucked. And it was after my time. I was in college when this was on.

12. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.
See my earlier (and probably a few future) posts. Although if you miss these days and you get a lot of channels I can probably put together a Saturday morning lineup for you. Including "Mucha Lucha," the new "Batman," new and old "Spider-Man" cartoons and pretty much everything on Boomerang.

13. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head.
Again, not a girl. But I do remember this. Blossom, again, no?

14. You saw the original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles " on the big screen...and still know the turtles names.
Also after my time. But I do know the names. I have a cousin who's about 15 years younger than me though who was WAY into them though. Right Mike?

15. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.
I don't even get this reference.

16. You played the game "MASH " (Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House).
Nor this one.

18. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it.
Not a girl. But I so remember this. Those were some hot pants.

19. L.A. Gear....need I say more?
Well, no. Because that stuff sucked. Like B.U.M. Equipment did.

21. You remember reading "Tales of A Fourth-Grade Nothing " and all the Ramona books.
Of course. Once I figured out Judy Blume was putting all that juicy stuff in those books (around third or fourth grade, I think), those were required reading.

22. You know the profound meaning of "WAX ON, WAX OFF."
Man, Ralph Macio kicked ass thanks to Mr. Miyagi's training.

23. You wanted to be a Goonie.
Not really. But Chunk was pretty cool. And that little guy who made all the gadgets totally rocked.

24. You ever wore fluorescent clothing. (some of us... head-to-toe)
I did. Not head-to-toe. But still.

25. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted.
Look, I don't like people making fun of MJ. But his nose is pretty wack these days. But "Thriller" is still a great album. From start to finish.

26. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.
Yes, I did. And I had to wonder if she ever got laid too.

27. You took lunch boxes to school.. . and traded Garbage Pail Kids in the schoolyard.
Yeah, but I never had the good lunch boxes. Steve Bois had all the cool ones though. Six Million Dollar Man and The Dukes of Hazzard stood out. I think I still have an assload of those Garbage Pail Kids things kicking around somewhere.

28. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets.
Nope. But I remember Friendship Bracelets. But they never got banned.

29. You still get the urge to say "NOT " after every sentence.
Yes, I do.

30. You remember Hypercolor t-shirts.
I do. Those things rocked. I'm pretty sure I saw one on eBay a while back too.

31. Barbie and the Rockers was your favorite band.
No.

32. You thought She-ra (Princess of Power!) and He-Man should hook up.
Why not? There they were, together anyway.

33. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.
Not really. But the friendship bracelets yes.

34. You ever owned a pair of Jelly-Shoes. (and like #24, probably in neon colors, too)
Again, not a girl. But I knew plenty of girls who did.

35. After you saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure you kept saying "I know you are,but what am I?"
Mm-Hmm.

36. You remember "I've fallen and I can't get up"
I sure do.

37. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.
Yeah. And it wasn't any more fun than the ice skating rink. Gosh, I sucked.

38. You ever got seriously injured on a Slip and Slide.
No. But I played on them a lot. And I also have done the beer ones.

39. You have ever played with a Skip-It.
Yes. Those things were kind of tricky.

40. You had or attended a birthday party at McDonalds.
Didn't everyone?

41. You've gone through this nodding your head in agreement.
Of course. Natch.

42. You remember Popples.
No.

43. "Don't worry, be happy"
Bobby McFerrin has said this song is like the bane of his existence. But it's still funny. "Here's a little song I wrote..."

44. You wore like, EIGHT pairs of socks over tights with high top Reeboks.
More of "I'm not a girl." But I remeber this. With those stirrup pants too.

45. You wore socks scrunched down (and sometimes still do... getting yelled at by "younger hip" members of the family)
More "not a girl."

46. You remember boom boxes.. and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.
There was this kid at summer camp from The Bronx or something who had a that huge one that took like 20 D-Cell batteries and had two antennaes to bring in the 45 watts of power. It had an motion alarm on it too. That thing kicked ass. I still see them in old-school ads every once in a while. I always liked those skinny little Sony things that came in different colors though.

47. You remember watching both "Gremlins " movies.
Never saw 'em. Do remember 'em though.

48. You know what it meant to say "Care Bear Stare!!"
Yes. But it was never something I was into.

49. You remember watching "Rainbow Bright" and "My Little Pony Tales"
Not really.

50. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot.
Alyssa Milano IS hot.

51. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac.
Sure I do. There was this kid in my class in high school, Keith Michaud, who was totally into ALF. I also caught his short-lived talk show on TVLand recently a few times and while it was decidedly sucky, it was still a little funny.

52. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool... and don't even flinch when people refer to them as "NKOTB".
Hangin' Tough. Totally.

53. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By Bell," The ORIGINAL class.
Yes. Still do. Thank you reruns.

54. You know all the words to Bon Jovi - SHOT THROUGH THE HEART.
It's actually called "You Give Love A Bad Name."

55. You just sang those words to yourself.
Yes. I did. With that hair-metal scream too.

56. You remember watching Magic vs. Bird.
Mm-Hmm. And the video game too.

57. Homemade Levi shorts.. (the shorter the better)
This is what I'm still talking about. On girls.

58. You remember when mullets were cool!
Mullets were never cool. But I do remember when they were popular. Perms on dudes too.

59. You had a mullet!
NEVER.

60. You still sing "We are the World"
I have like two copies of this on vinyl and at least one on cassette. I still play some of the stuff off it on my radio show.

61. You tight rolled your jeans.
Yes, I did. With bluchers too.

62. You owned a bannana clip.
No. But then again (once again), I'm not a girl.

63. You remember "Where's the Beef?"
Sure. BK you are the king.

64. You used to (and probably still do) say "What you talkin' about Willis?"
I sure do. Especially now that Brendan lives on Willis Street in Portland.

65. You had big hair and you knew how to use it.
Nope. But Josh Ambrutis sure did. And Heather Stickney too.

66. You're still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren't you?
I am. But again, it's called "You Give Love A Bad Name."

PASS THIS ON TO ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS WHO GREW UP IN THE 80s or early 90s!

ROCK ON!

Just can't find the time

2005-04-22T13:25:00.000-04:00

With school, work, an exorbitant amount of television piling up on top of my TV and a modicum of a social life, there just doesn't seem to be too much time to write these things. And, to make matters worse, with all of those other things taking up all my time, I really don't have too much to write about.

I have watched a little TV in the past couple of weeks but it seems like instead of gearing up for May Sweeps (are those even happening this year?), April (and frankly I just finished with March) is pretty depressing for television. But here are some highlights.

American Dreams finale: Everytime I think this show has hit an end, it turns around and starts all over again. JJ working in the space program, Meg running off with Milo Ventamiglia (I'm so not sure I spelled that right) and leaving Roxanne to fend for herself. I feel for you Rox. I really do. And, I can just tell, that pretty soon Patty is going to have some real stories on the show.

Eyes premiere: Tim Daly is back on TV and this show is a perfect showcase for his little witicisms and sarcastic banter. And, what's her name, Sidney from Melrose is on too. And so is A.J. Langer. Come on everybody, how much do I love A.J. Langer? You all know the answer to that one.

The O.C.: I keep catching little pieces and not whole episodes (but I will, dear friends, I will) and right now, my impression is: I still love Summer (Rachel Bilson is the best), even Marissa is starting to be interesting, I'm not sure how I feel about Trey and if Seth doesn't stop with that slightly awkward banter with Zach I'm seriously gonna pee myself pretty soon.

And while I'm still lamenting the death of Life As We Know It (and tell me you all saw the teacher who fooled around with the student as the comic book lady on this week's The O.C. - it's sad that I'm lamenting that show and I can't remember the names of any of the characters), I'm still a little happy because Veronica Mars will be back next seasson.

And speaking of seasons, I'm so glad the TV guys have finally figured out what Fox has known for fifteen years now, just because it's summer doesn't mean people stop watching TV. Way to go guys.

Okay, that wasn't too hard (it never really is though - just like everything else, starting is the hard part) and it turns out I could find at least a little to say. I promise I won't make you all wait this long again (and this time I mean it. No, really, I do.).

A bit hazy

2005-04-05T12:43:00.000-04:00

I've been putting myself to sleep with the help of the good people in the pharmaceutical industry who produce Sudafed since I've had a bit of a cold for the past 4 days or so. It seems mostly gone now though. But the weird hazy feeling remains.

Life is really funny sometimes. I've just finished my morning ritual which involves waking up for the fourth or fifth time since about 8 a.m. and realizing I won't be able to go back to sleep no matter how many times I close my eyes and just lie there. So I get up and stumble in the direction of my computer. I hit the power button, hear that reassuring bell-ringing sound of the computer starting and shuffle off to the bathroom. Then I pour myself a little O.J. (today we are using the souvenir cup from The Tropical Isle in New Orleans, La., home of the infamous Hand Grenade - which is what came in this cup) and go check my mail. After I check my mail, and this part is new - just recently started, I read the list of blogs written by friends and people I already feel like I know like friends. Most of these are on the list of links on the side of my page but some aren't. I'll change that today. I promise.

One blog was a woman's monthly letter to her now-14-month-old girl. This blog is one of the sweetest things I've read in ages and this woman writes from the heart. It's sweet and wonderful and gooey but strong. I've watched many of my friends from high school and college get married and most have taken the road of procreation. I have to admit that at first I wondered why they felt the need to have children so early (this was several years ago and for the people my age to be having kids now is, to me, much more normal). But lately I've been seeing even more friends of mine having children and I get this feeling that the time is right. I'm happy for these people and enjoy seeing and visiting with their kids. It's just a shift in perspective and priorities but it's a noticeable one.

I thought I had more to write (and I do - it's called a thesis and I really need to get cracking) but I can't seem to remember what I was going to go on about next. Damn you Sudafed. But I'll be back again soon. I promise. I know you all missed me. I won't make you wait so long for the next one.

SXSW - day 7

2005-03-19T14:49:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm back in Maine so it's been two days since I last posted and since the airport made me toss out the newspapers I was bringing home because they say my bag was too heavy (it wasn't too heavy going out) I'm doing this mostly from memory. Well, I'll try to use the SXSW web site and I'm going to see if I can find some other cool stuff for you to look at too.

We decided to start Saturday off with a final movie. So we headed back to the Alamo Downtown for "Reel Paradise." The story of how indie-film producer (successful indie film producer) John Peterson (Pierson?) decided to move his family to Fiji for a year where he bought a movie theater and would show movies for free while they were there. It was a good little documentary with some very thought-provoking moments. It might not be truly great but it sparked some discussion and that's a good thing.

Then it was off to the bands. We bounced from bar to bar until about 8 (which is when the scheduled bands officially start in most places around Austin during the festival). We saw a punk band at Shakespeare's Club and we had a beer in Buffalo Billiards. I think we might have gone somewhere else too but I'm not sure.

Then we got a call from Brendan's dad saying he was on his way into town so we made plans to meet him in line at Antone's for Kings of Convenience. Who knew this band was so popular? The line was the longest I'd seen all week. For anything. So we hoofed back to Emo's main room for a Buck 65 show at 9. We watched a little of the Emo's Jr. stage too, catching a little of both Dirty Americans and Illuminati (neither was particularly worth mentioning though).

Buck 65 came out, drawled his easy Canadian rhymes, tossed some confetti (razzle dazzle) in the air and scratched like a madman. It was really a lot better than I'd expected and I expected great things. Then Saul Williams came out. Now, I knew very little of Saul Williams. Some guy in line told me about what he was about. But we stuck around and the originator of Slam! poetry dropped some serious knowledge. He seems to have taken up where everyone from Langston Hughes to Spike Lee and Gil Scott Heron to Chuck D left off. It's a powerful message.

Then, wanting to see several more bands, we headed back down 6th for pizza. We got pizza and decided to head to Maggie Mae's so we could catch Daniel Johnston at 1 a.m. We get inside and buy a beer and it was like we'd hit a serious wall. Both Brendan and I were almost sleeping on the steps. We managed to stay up though through Ariel Pink and the Nightingales (the Nightingales probably would have seemed a lot better if I wasn't propping my eyelids open). Then the inimitable Daniel Johnston came out. Now I'd never even really heard of this guy but after a week in Austin I felt like he was the most famous guy on Earth. He came out, played his emotionally raw music with very minimalist accompaniment and was done by 1:40.

We went home. Slept for a few hours. And then got up Sunday and caught our plane(s) home. They lost our luggage though.

SXSW - day 6

2005-03-19T14:30:00.001-05:00

I'll revise this later when there's a little more time but here's the basic rundown of Friday night.

Candice (R-Bar) singer/songwriter(?) girl with acoustic guitar who messed up a lot and forgot words but in a cute, giggly way. sat by window opened onto 6th street and watched lots and lots of people go by.
Flamingo Cantina line to see The Bus Driver. This is where I left Brendan to go check the line at Exodus.
The Crimea (Exodus) bland. This is where I realized I'd left my ID and ATM card at home. Crap. This severely hampered my options for the evening.
Crown City Rockers (Exodus) The Cure meets U2
Turned away at Soho Lounge for The Silos
Turned away at Friends for ZZZZ
Eilean Rose (B.D. Riley's) acoustic singer/songwriter (kansas/bucknell game too)
Turned away at Elysium for Rezillos/Shonen Knife
Caught a little of the Raveonettes (Emo's main stage) by mistake. They sounded good though.
Exene Cervenka (Emo's Jr.) doesn't look so hot these days but still gets it done onstage. still great. Met this guy and girl so I could get a beer. Turns out girl grew up on L.A.F.B. and we shared an orthodontist. Small world, no?
The Queers (Emo's Jr.) green day ripoff (opened with rock 'n' roll radio) from portsmouth N.H.
Turned away at one door for The Parish to see what I thought was Centro-matic. Made it in through the other door. Turned out to be Pretty Girls Make Graves. Good rocking punk-ish type stuff.
Went to pizza place to get a cheese slice (only had $2.50 in pocket) and Brendan just happened to be there too. Met back up with ease.

SXSW - day 5

2005-03-18T15:21:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, Brendan and I took our little festival tour to a downtown club where we had hoped to see MF Doom and (Brendan a lot more than me) Helmet. Well, we missed MF Doom (apparently by a couple of hours) and caught at least some of (if not most of) Helmet. Helmet is not my thing. Too much of a barrage of sound. I feel assaulted by bands like that.

After leaving that club, where, on the way out the door, Brendan scored a little string backpack full of Scion merchandise (the Japanese/Korean/Chinese/whatever car maker was the sponsor for the show and was filming - so look for a very unexcited looking me in the very back of the crowd if you see it on tv) which included a t-shirt, a visor, some wristbands and a CD compilation, we wandered around for a bit. Ducking, for moments at a time, into little and big bars alike and then promptly leaving when we found no real music.

Eventually we made it to Nuno's on 6th where a guy was sitting at a piano and sometimes strumming an acoustic guitar playing a few Little Feat covers and several other classic rock ditties that leant themselves well to his particular style of playing. We had a beer, sat on big plush sofas and waited for a little bit to head back out to the shows.

We got to Elysium at just about the best possible time, snagging like the fifth and sixth spots in the wristband line (we were just in front of these 5 very punkish but also kind of new wave-y and fey British/Scottish/Irish (probably Irish but how do I know?) guys who were not very good at personal space. But we stood in this line so we could see Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A.

First up was Electrocute, and, the fact that they sport a very unoriginal name (The Electrocutes was the first name of the band that became The Donnas), this little girls-dressed-sexy duo backed by a fairly well-programmed drum machine sang little pop/punk tunes that poked fun at just about everything while they insulted the crowd. Not really great but entertaining. No Mark Mallman, but still entertaining.

Next came dj/turntablist Z-Trip. For the first half of his set he mixed and mashed platters seamlessly but, to me at least, it seemed little more than club mixing to get people dancing. Good but not stunning. While I was in the bathroom though, new rapper The Bus Driver (also playing early tonight so I might try to go to that) came out and dropped some knowledge on the crowd. This guy is as good as everyone is saying. I'll definitely be picking up some of his stuff. And this also gave Z-Trip a chance to get down to heavy mixing. And he was good. He put beats together like I used to build with Legos. He used every available piece. And the end of his show was more of the same - minus The Bus Driver. Beats upon beats and some pretty deft scratching.

Next up was some band called Ratatat and, aside from their name logo bearing a striking resemblence to that of 80s hair-metalers Ratt, their show was pretty generic. Actually I guess that logo ripoff is pretty generic too. Two guys - one guitar, one bass - and a guy at the back at the mixing board putting their backing beats in. This band could have had the same sound from a traditional formation - you know, using an actual drummer - but instead they chose to do it this way. Is this what is called electroclash? I'm really asking. If it is, is this simplistic approach the reason it had a such a shortlived shelf-life of hype?

Then M.I.A. came out. I didn't realize she had another girl that rapped along with her but that didn't matter. Diplo was her dj and he spun the records with due diligence (it looked like he was doing stuff but wouldn't you think they'd press that stuff so he didn't have to mix it the same every time?). The skinny little girl took those banghra beats and laid her message on top all while jumping around the stage in some very spangly track pants. Seeing live rap shows is always hard because it's not easy to catch the lyrics when they're muddled with the pants-shaking bass of these clubs' speakers but you could catch a few. It was a very good show.

After this, I took off to head over to the Lava Lounge for Athens, Ga., band Love Tractor. I'm not sure if this was the Athens band I'd wanted to see but they were good enough. Fairly straight up rock with that kind of early Athens vibe. I got a free CD and I'll be playing it on my show so I'll add more to this description later.

The real reason I headed to the Lava Lounge was to see Magnapop. While they never really did have any breakout success, they did enjoy a little fame in the early- to mid-90s and were featured on the soundtrack to the Drew Barrymore/Chris O'Donnel fiasco "Mad Love" along with bands like Seven Year Bitch. This show was just what I expected and the small crowd (like 30 or 40 people) let me get right up to the front for several songs. They may be a little bit older but that doesn't make them any less good. Better than on album and still just a little shy of catchy.

SXSW - day 4

2005-03-17T05:02:00.000-05:00

Yesterday (Wednesday) was the first official day of SXSW music in Austin and it was also the highlight of my trip (more later). We made it downtown at around 2:30 or 3 and after checking in at the gate at Stubb's (where we were planning to spend most of the evening), we wandered around the 6th Street area, ate at a Cuban place (Sandwich Cubana and a Mojito, please), put a little more money in the meter and headed to Emo's.

We showed up at Emo's and caught the tail end of a band called Bonk (really the tail end though - like the end of the last song) and then a band called Dropsonic came out. These guys were pretty sure they rocked but I wouldn't say they did anything particularly well or that they were even that good. Next up was a weirdo/showman named Mark Mallman, who, whether riding his electric organ or tying his shoe while still singing and playing piano (and then mentioning it in the song), was wholly electrifying. I'm not sure if his stuff will translate to album form but I'm definitely willing to find out. Following this roucus set, was notable alt-country-ish rockers Cracker. This was a pleasant surprise. And while I've never been a huge fan of Cracker (but I guess I should be since apparently they are made up of members of Camper Van Beethoven? - This is what Brendan said, is it true? - and I do like Camper Van Beethoven so...), I liked what I heard of their alternately acoustic and electric set.

But we ducked out in the middle of Cracker to make our way back over the Stubb's where we would stand for two hours so we could get in to see The Donnas and Billy Idol. We struck up conversations with the people in the line near us and the next thing we knew one guy offered to run to the local liquor store for a sixer (we returned the favor with run No. 2). This made the waiting all that much more bearable. After our two hour sojourn in line (no that line, no this line - Stubb's was pretty unorganized about the whole thing which was surprising after the total organization of the movie part of the festival), we walked down into the Stubb's outdoor pavilion thing. This is a pretty cool way to do shows. All these bars seem to have a front/restaurant or bar section and then you go out back and it's this miniature Great Woods or something.

First up were a band called The Sights who brought a kind of loud but really not that original - or very good - start to the evening. The lead singer/guitarist of this trio (keyboard/organ/piano and drums rounded it out) looked like a more-recently washed combination of Kurt Cobain (the hair especially) and some geek from high school (really, really skinny geek though, so it wasn't me). One of the guys we were sharing beers with in line was there to see The Burden Brothers and I'm not sure why he was willing to pay the $35 "cover" (for those who don't have passes) to see these guys since they were simply everyday noisy punk.

But then, the thing I came down here to see, The Donnas, came out (I saw them while we were in line as they all piled out of a minivan followed by two grown men carrying a little of their luggage and their purses). I've been dying to see The Donnas ever since I was blown away by The Donnas Turn 21 album (which led me to go on to get all of their albums). So after three years of pining for this punk/rock trio, my wait was over. Ripping through a shortened set (damn those earlier bands for going long - the girls get no respect) of stuff from their two most recent albums ("Take It Off" "I Don't Wanna Know (If You Don't Want Me)" and a few others) it was over all too soon. I'm totally going to start posting on their web site that they should include The State Theater in Portland on any tour they plan because those girls seem custom-made for that venue. And then I'll be there with bells on.

Now, I'd come all this way for my beloved rock-chick foursome, but finding out that Billy Idol would be the band following the girls made the night all that much sweeter (despite their short set sandwiched between junk and the rock/punk legend (?)). Billy played a bunch of stuff from his new album (like four or five songs) which wasn't too bad but none of it was as good as anything he did at least 10 years ago and he played the majority of his hits. Everything from Ready, Steady, Go (from the Generation X years) to Eyes Without a Face and Flesh for Fantasy and, apparently, - although I somehow must have missed it or something - Dancing With Myself. He even trotted out Mony Mony (and interjected the cult chorus as well). Billy might be almost 50 but he's still in great form (and great shape too apparently since he repeatedly tore his t-shirts off and was wearing a pair of pants matched in their tightness only by the ones his guitarist was sporting). The sneer remains and so does the ability of his classic songs to whip the crowd into a total, sing-along frenzy.

SXSW - day 3

2005-03-16T12:41:00.000-05:00

Okay, so this was a couple of days ago (Tuesday) but it was our big movie day. Five movies starting at about 1:30 or so and going until nearly 2 a.m. I'm not going to do the linking thing because a.) I guess I haven't really figured out how to do it right and b.) it takes too long to do. You can look this all up (and a whole lot more) at http://2005.sxsw.com.

First we saw "Max & Grace" starring Natasha Lyonne ("American Pie") and David Krumholtz ("10 Things I Hate About You"). It was helpful that Krumholtz had shaved off his usually tousled, bushy hair for this part as it served to seperate him from his current TV role on "NUMB3RS." This movie had a lot of elements of everything from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" to "Mad Love," and it was a dark comedy at heart. Not the best movie we've seen by any stretch but with David Paymer and Lorraine Bracco playing Krumholtz's parents, we were treated to apathetic comedy that made the movie smarter than it tried to be.

Then we moved on to "The Devil and Daniel Johnston." Now, I'd never really heard of Daniel Johnston - man or music - much less heard this much about him but this tortured soul (and that is being nice about it) is touted as an artistic genius. While I don't see the genius in either his songs or his art, it was explained to me, in patronizing ways, that the true appeal of his music (and "art") is the exposure of his vulnerability which was obvious to see in any of the recorded live performances from his early days until the present.

Then it was back to the Alamo Downtown for Mike's (that's pronounced Me-Kay) "City of Lost Souls." I'm not sure what I was expecting but a Japanese gangster film was not really it. It should have been but up until this point I'd only heard of Mike and hadn't seen any of his stuff (I do have a couple in my NetFlix cue though right after all the episodes of "Angel" and "Alias"). While he's no John Woo (and I don't think that's what he was aiming for) he infused all the ruthless Yakuza elements with a number of random bits of chop-socky for a full-throttle Japenese fun ride.

We then returned to the Paramount (where we saw the first two films of the day as well) for "Kung Fu Hustle." I'd been reading about this movie in everything from Premiere and Entertainment Weekly to the AP wire and was particularly excited for this film. I expected less kung-fu and more hustle but I've got to say that I was not disappointed by the best kung-fu I've seen in years. It didn't have the shine or polish of a Jet Li actioner but it did have fantastical chopsocky that had me on the edge of my seat. Best movie I've seen so far. But I'm a bit partial to kung-fu.

Then it was back to the Alamo Downtown (back and forth, back and forth) for "Dead Birds." This horror-er featured Henry Thomas ("E.T.") and Patrick Fugit (I'm not sure but I'm sure you can look it up on imdb.com). It told a frightening tale of, as the director put it, a group robs a bunch of gold and "bad shit happens." The CGI creatures - as well as the disintegration of the group - were well-done and I found myself jumping out of seat (and closing my eyes) on more than one occasion but I am a bit of a sissy and easily scared. But I wasn't the only one and, judging by the number of people who stuck around at 1:30-ish in the morning for the Q&A with the director, it seemed well received.

SXSW - day 2

2005-03-15T03:36:00.000-05:00

Today, we saw a few movies and ate at a really neat Moroccan restaurant where I rediscovered my distaste for hummus.

We only saw two movies today though. We were shut out of two others ("The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" and "The Roost," which was the midnight movie (read: horror - again) at the Alamo).

Two of the

Alamo

movie theaters here - the downtown and the south - are involved in the festival. We've only been to the downtown. We didn't get into "The Fearless Freaks" at the south the other day. This movie theater is pretty cool. I'm not sure it's as cool as the people who work there think it is but it is pretty cool. You go into the theater and it's lines of chairs with sort of bench tables in front of you. You can order food and beer (by the bucket too - woohoo). I'm a big bucket of beer fan. Apparently they also have theme nights which look pretty awesome (Marcia Brady Fetish Night?).

Today's movies:

"

Strange Fruit

" was a fairly shabby documentary. The filmmaker took a very interesting subject and muddled it with not by not really telling his story well enough, not shooting enough footage and with poor choices of music to go along with his images. There were other problems too but suffice it to say that the movie just didn't do the job it set out to do.

Childstar

" was a look at the world of child acting with a movie starring Jennifer Jason Leigh (so nice) and the director and featuring (among others) Eric Stoltz and Dave Foley. It was funny - but not too much - and it was bittersweet - but not too much. All in all though I liked it. It's worth seeing if only to check out Eric Stoltz's awesomely bad band.

SXSW - day 1

2005-03-14T12:33:00.000-05:00

Okay, so after a huge air-travel tie-up Saturday into Sunday (Atlanta's Ramada Plaza is pretty nice and has a really good Mexican restaurant which serves THE BIGGEST margaritas I have ever seen and the waitresses were pretty cute too), we made finally made it to Austin. Brendan's parents met us at the airport and brought us back to their house, where I promptly proceeded to take a nap.

Then we got started with the movies and all. Yesterday (Sunday), we saw "

Mutual Appreciation

," ""

Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt

" and "

Reeker

." We also tried to see "

The Fearless Freaks

."

I'll start with the one we didn't see. We couldn't get in to see "The Fearless Freaks" - a movie centered around the Flaming Lips - because the movie filled up before they let in people without passes. We knew this was going to happen a few times. We just didn't think it was going to happen so early. But it did and we'll get over it.

"Mutual Appreciation" was a cute, quirky little movie. I found the core cast endearing and the script - while a bit heavy on "intellectual" dialogue - was good and paced well with the film. In black and white and with a minimal cast, it is kind of a band-oriented "Clerks" (or at least that's what Brendan's father alluded to when we talked about the movie afterward) with a little relationship (or at least friendship) drama thrown in.

"Be Here to Love Me" told the story of country singer Townes Van Zandt. Now, either I'm starting to like country more (Kasey Chambers, etc.) or I am just calling something country that is more folk-y. Let's call it alt-ish country. Anyway, I'm a Townes fan now and you can bet I'll be picking up some of his stuff when I get home.

"Reeker" was a horror movie. For those of you who know me, you know I'm not a horror fan. This one starred Devon Gummersall (Brian from "My So-Called Life") and had some funny moments. I got into an argument about the purity of horror films after this one. My view is that all horror movies (or at least the majority) start out being true horror movies and most of the comedy is unintentional (some obviously isn't and this movie had several examples) and when it is it's meant to be but when it isn't it detracts from the actual horror of the movie. This one didn't mean for all the things we (and the audience in general) found funny to be funny. And that somehow made it less horror-y. At least to me.

That's day one. More later. Keep it real fellas (and ladies, cuz I know you're out there).

back to form

2005-03-10T12:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, everyone, here I am again. No more experiments, no more coopting sources for my own amusement, no more wicked lame posts involving farts. I aplogize. Don't know what I was thinking.

Let's see. Yes, between work and sleep, I have watched some tv.

I am just about to get to another episode of American Dreams. Now I'm not sure if I've mentioned this or not but even if I have it warrants another mention anyway. I have heard that it might be possible that this show is going to be canceled and I have to tell everyone - yes, everyone - how wrong I think this is. Sure the show stumbles occasionally and sure that Will can be annoying and does anyone really need more Milo Ventimiglia but that is not the whole of the show. The way it portrays a family's problems. The way it makes daily interactions between friends, boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives, business partners and mixes in racial issues, politics, current events and - and not least - pop music via American Bandstand makes the show stand out among a lot of the tired rehashes that populate our schedule these days. If you're not watching this show, you should be.

I am in love with Third Watch (more precisely the women of Third Watch and even more precisely Nia Long although that's no big surprise). But aIso love the way this show hooks you in. I hate Sgt. Cruz but I want to know what she's dying of. That Bosco. How can he ask Faith to do that? And Carlos. Carlos, Carlos, Carlos. When will he learn? And will Ty find out about the baby? I'm riveted. And I love it.

Every episode of Joey I watch makes me like the show more. But could Matt LeBlanc stop making that face where it looks like a.) he is about to poo; or b.) he just ate something very bad; or c.) both? I think everyone knows Joey's (Matt's, whatever) best comedic talent is to take a normal situation and find the absurd in it and at the same time maintain a sweetness that makes you not feel sorry for him but want to explain how that's just not the important part.

I'll write more later. This will be a multi-part post. Multi-part.

Since I've barely had my TV on in the last few weeks

2005-03-02T12:37:00.000-05:00

It has come to my personal attention that some of my adventures in e-mailing could make a good post. I'm gonna try it. The names have been abreviated but all you wicked smart people out there might be able to figure a couple of them out.

----

mw: Also, oh TV god, what happened to Veronica Mars and life as we know it?
me: I was just wondering about that life as we know it thing too. And i'm so far behind in TV land, that as far as I know there is still Veronica Mars because there are episodes on top of my TV I haven't seen yet. But I haven't heard anything about either of those shows being shitcanned or anything.

mw: (adding to a Quote of the Week from TVGal) "Marissa and Alex - no longer welcome in the red states." Seth to Ryan on "The O.C." This is my new all-time favorite quote! Do you think I'm too old for Seth? I think it might cause baby mama drama (sorry, I just like that phrase).

----

jm: i just farted
me: oooh...stinky
jm: actually, no, unless it was and drifted away very quickly...weird. i either put out nose burners or scentless gas pockets...notice our conversation went right back to ass activity?

me: (relaying an earlier event)
keith to me: "then we won't have to worry about misspelling assassinated."
me: "how do you misspell that...it's just ass and then ass and then -inated."
keith: (rolls eyes and walks away)

----

jm: (after a work-related reference) ...and Monique, that huge, obnoxious woman who hosts Showtime at the Apollo...
me: that's Mo'Nique, to you. And the next time I go to the city (it will be my third trip there ever), i am so going to the Apollo and no one can stop me (and i'm going to figure out what that bar that Ella Fitzgerald's table is still sitting in the corner is called and go there too).
jm: (makes several references to me being shot)

----

Oh, and there was a story on the wire about how hippos are really dangerous. Remember this.

Hippo kills tourist in Kenya
NAIVASHA, Kenya (AP) — A hippopotamus flipped and trampled an Australian tourist to death at a popular resort in central Kenya, police said Tuesday.
Vicky Elizabeth Bartlett, 50, was with a group of 12 tourists at Lake Naivasha on Monday night when the hippo attacked, said Simon Kiragu, the regional police chief.
“The hippo attacked the woman, flipping her into the air before tossing her on the ground and trampling her,” he said.
Bartlett was rushed to a hospital but died while undergoing treatment. No one else was injured in the attack.
Wilflife experts say hippos can pose extreme danger to humans. The animals come on shore at night to graze and will attack anything that comes between them and the water, where they feel safe.
The attack took place at Fisherman’s Camp, a popular lakeside campground, where signs warn tourists to beware of hippos after dark.
John Mwangi, the group’s tour guide, said the woman had seen a hippo the night before and was going to look for one again without telling him. The group was on its way to the Maasai Mara Game Reserve.

Okay, this little experiment fell very flat. Won't be doing this again. On a scale of one to fun, I'd give it a lamey-lame (except for the hippo story - it's funny because it's true).

I'll be back soon. Promise.

Not nice - apparently

2005-02-24T09:37:00.000-05:00

Dear Mr. Le Nasonica,

It has come to my attention via several unnamed (and, shockingly, unknown to you) individuals that I may have been a bit harsh on your blog post.

I would like to go on record as saying that I didn't actually not care for your posting, I was just driving trucks through the holes you left behind. And pointing out that there were several spelling and grammatical errors.

I like your blog, in theory. I'm generally interested in the things you say when we speak in person and should therefore be entertained by what you put into written form as well.

Anyway, this is complete crap as apologies go. But until I can figure this one out, this is the best it's gonna get.

Damn the man,
me