Saturday, November 1, 2008

Twenty years ago this month...

...a single called "Love Buzz" was released.


In related news, rumors abound that Universal will be releasing a DVD of Nirvana's set at the 1992 Reading Festival. Good stuff!

Happy New Month!!!

Just before 2am I closed out my tab and departed from the Lakewood Landing. I guess Halloween parties ended around 1am because around 1:15 the place filled with teetering, slurring folks. Several persons drink orders were denied creating a tense vibe at the bar. I decided to make the short trek home before the Landing closed down for the night so that I could decrease my chances of being run over when the drunk exodus occurred.

As I walked up Gaston I passed a girl. We said "hello" to each other. I ducked in and picked up a package of CDs that I then dropped off about half a block away. En route to the drop-off I passed the girl again. This time "hello again"s were exchanged.

On the way back to my apartment I noticed that there was a gathering of emergency lights a couple of intersections away. It was like a disco had opened up in the middle of the street. I debated whether or not to give into my urge to go see what the fuss was all about. I got about halfway to the mid-street disco when all of a sudden it was gone. I crossed the street to make sure I wasn't overlooking anything.

Going back home I couldn't help but notice a strong scent of french fries and ketchup lingering in the air. I became transfixed by it and tried to find where it was coming from. But alas, I was unable to locate the source.

So I went home and watched a couple episodes of Freaks & Geeks and went to bed.

Friday, October 31, 2008

FEY-dar - "Do-Over" recap [30 Rock 3.1]

So somewhere around 2am I finally got to see the season premiere of 30 Rock. I had taped [yes...I'm a VCR using luddite] Kath & Kim and The Office as well. It took every ounce of restraint I had to not fast forward through those two shows to get to 30 Rock. I had never seen Kath & Kim before and to be honest I don't see myself watching it again. [On a side note...I'm wondering if Molly Shannon is bothered by the implication that she must look older than she does. She's only eight years older than Selma Blair but plays her mom on the show.] The episode of The Office left me *meh*.

And then there it was... 30 Rock!!! What a nutty way to start off the season. Jack returns from Washington to get his old job back. And he's going to start at the bottom and work his way back to the top! Liz is trying to adopt a child! Tracy's video game has sold 61 million copies! Kenneth doesn't know what "imperative" means! Frank gets solid gold nunchuks!!!

My favorite quotes from the episode:
____________________________________________________________________

Liz: I was arrested once in Germany for public nudity. I thought it was a topless beach. It wasn't. Shipyard.
____________________________________________________________________

Liz: Can I hide this box of penis pasta in your dressing room?
____________________________________________________________________

Tracy: Let's go shopping. TO THE BATMOBILE!!!
Grizz: [to Liz] Don't worry. He's just leasing it.
____________________________________________________________________

Jack: [to three mailroom co-workers] What I'm saying is don't dress for the job you have. Dress for the job you want to have. So now Manny...
Manny: Tomorrow I'll show up for work dressed as a Mexican wrestler.
____________________________________________________________________

Devon: I'm gonna shut [GE] down. I'm gonna shut the whole thing down for two years. Imagine how badly people will want lightbulbs then.
Jack: Are you insane? Think about the jobs. Think about the economy. This is GE.
Devon: It's just "G" now, Jack. I sold the "E". To Samsung. They're Samesung now.
____________________________________________________________________

Jenna: Well I first met Liz in 1993. She was fresh out of college and I had just broken up with OJ Simpson. Can I just say something? Total gentleman.
____________________________________________________________________

Tracy: Petey-Pete...for letting us use the soundbooth please accept this chinchilla coat. You're gonna get so much nice-nice in that you're gonna have to grow another ding-[Liz interrupts]
____________________________________________________________________

Liz: You smell like strawberries.
Jack: That's just the lip gloss [Kathy Geiss] put on me so I could be her fancy boy.
____________________________________________________________________

Jack: Is this the way my life was supposed to play out? The kid who walked four miles every Saturday to caddy because mother said that golf was a game for businessmen. Paid his way through Princeton by working days at that graveyard or graveyard shift at the Days Inn.
____________________________________________________________________

Jack: This job is all I ever wanted and now it hinges on how far I'm willing to go with a woman in Dora the Explorer panties that were clearly made for an obese child.
____________________________________________________________________

Jack: We might not be the best people but we're not the worst.
Jack and Liz [simultaneously]: Magic kids were the worst.
____________________________________________________________________

Devon: [to Tracy] I'm going to sue you.
Tracy: You can't sue me. I'm already being sued. Double indemnity.
____________________________________________________________________

There was also a great sight gag: a woman from the adoption agency [Megan Mullally] is coming to visit the studio. Liz tells Frank to change his baseball cap [it has "HORNY" on it]. Frank shows up later wearing a bowler hat that says "HORNY".

All-in-all a solid episode. Certainly the best season opener thus far. The series has a history of becoming funnier as the season progresses so I have extremely high hopes for this season. I'm confident that they'll be met.


Thursday, October 30, 2008

BWE overtime continues!!!

Brand spankin' new SLAYER track - "Psychopathy Red"


Boys becoming men...men becoming wolves.

To commemorate MN, Halloween, and the season premiere of 30 Rock, I share this with you:


Happy Mischief Night!

A few weeks back I paid a visit to the best ecards site EVER so I could send some cynical ecards commemorating Columbus Day to a few friends. There amidst the "holiday" ecards was one that made reference to something called Mischief Night:

I had never heard of Mischief Night. So I turned to that bastion of truthiness [Wikipedia] to educate me on MN. It's basically Halloween Eve and seems to be quite popular in parts of Europe and the UK. But seriously, do teenagers really need a specific night to TP houses and throw eggs? If you'd like to get the scoop on MN click here.

And if you're too busy to get caught up in some MN hijinks of your own don't fret: MN occurs TWICE a year [mark your calendar to remind you that March 31 is a good day for shenanigans].

Tonight: 30 ROCK season premiere!!!

The best week ever [well...one of 'em anyway] which started last Thursday spills into overtime with the premiere of my current favorite TV show: 30 Rock. Right now it consistently brings the funny more than any other show [yes, The Office is really good too. But it sometimes trips over its own cuteness].

I urge everyone to take 30 minutes out of your eve
ning to watch the show. And if you won't be at home then tape it or Tivo it or whatever you do to watch a show later [have your brood watch it then act it out for you later].

Like me. I won't be able to watch it as it airs since I'll be at this show:

[I told you the BWE was in overtime!] Hey...tickets are only TEN BUCKS! Dimmu Borgir alone is worth that. But look who else is playing: Moonspell!!! MOONSPELL!!!

So in the coming days you can look forward to recaps of the above concert AND the season premiere of 30 Rock AND a Slurpee review. Yeah...now you're having the BWE!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

BREAKING NEWS: Rizz reads my email on-air

It's the little moments that sometimes make life worthwhile. Each morning I listen to Tony Rizzo's WKNR radio show online. From time to time I craft a witty little email pertinent to whatever they've been talking about. This morning a listener called in saying that the General Manager of the Cleveland Browns [Phil Savage] popped up at the tailgate the Jacksonville chapter of Browns Backers Worldwide was holding prior to this past Sunday's Browns vs. Jaguars game. The listener said Phil hung out for a couple of hours taking pictures with the assembled Browns fans. Rizz found this a bit far-fetched but the listener was insistent that it was Phil Savage.

This of course gave me fodder for an epic email. Rizz is always ragging on his co-host, Aaron Goldhammer, because apparently he really does like the Jonas Brothers. Aaron also enjoys saying the work "succulent". Here's the email I sent:

Hey Rizz...I wanted to let you know that I was tailgating recently at a Jonas Brothers concert and guess who was wandering around? Hammer! He hung out and took pictures for a couple of hours with a bunch of succulent teenage girls. It's good to be alive indeed!
Around 11:15am CT ["Cleveland time"] my email was read on-air. Rizz got such a kick out of it that he felt it warranted some ringing of the cowbell. High honors indeed.

It's good to be alive!!!

Monday, October 27, 2008

POLYSICS are go!!!

Japanese band POLYSICS brought their new wave sounds to Prophet Bar last Friday and rocked the house. Decked out in matching jumpsuits and future shades they were reminiscent of Devo. They sound a lot like Devo as well but much more frenetic. It was clear that the band was having as much fun onstage as those of us in attendance were having. Several attendees wore their own handcrafter Polysics jumpsuits. There were also several audience members that were in cosplay mode, no doubt a reflection of the band's having tapped into the rabid anime followers found on these shores.

The set featured several songs from the band's new album - We Ate the Machine - as well as many of the songs featured on their "best of" compilation from several years back [Polysics Or Die!!!]. And of course there heavy vocoder usage. But when was the last time you went to a show that featured a recorder solo? Polysics can be full of surprises.

Opening act Black Gold churned out a brief set of hook heavy power pop that seemed to go over well with those who arrived early. The second act - Jaguar Love - were at times amazing and other times extremely grating. Their sound harkened back to classic Detroit soul and garage rock. Their vocalist sang out in the most high-pitched voice I've heard since Ween's "Push the Little Dasies" [I suspect there was some vocal trickery being performed by their sound guy]. One's enjoyment of JL's set clearly hinged on how well one enjoyed his shrieking and shaking.

All in all it was a fun way to spend a Friday evening. I'll definitely check out Polysics again next time they come through town.

FEY-dar - Tina profiled in USA Today

I stopped by a 7-Eleven yesterday on my way back from watching the Browns beat the Jaguars with other members of the Browns Backers group I belong to. My mission was to try a Hazelnut Slurpuccino from a location with working Slurpee machines.

Mission accomplished!!! Review to follow shortly.

While standing in line I glimpsed over at the newspaper rack [something I generally don't do] and lo and behold there was Tina on the front page of USA Today. It was a small photo promoting an article on her in that day's edition. Seventy-five cents later and I was able to read said profile. You too can read it for yourself here.

DON'T FORGET: The new season of 30 Rock premieres this coming Thursday on NBC.