Friday Music Special, Halloween Edition

"Last Caress" - The Misfits
This song has nothing to do with Halloween. But I really like it.

"The Monster Mash" - Bobby 'Boris' Pickett
The original and best. Often imitated, never recreated.

"I Want Candy" - Mel C
A cover, true. But a moderately unironic cover, by a bloody Spice Girl.

"Halloween Theme Song" - John Carpenter
Did he actually write or record it? Who cares?

"Mack The Knife" - Bobby Darin
It's got a knife in it. And a mafia guy who probably stabs people, throws them in the river, steals their money, and takes their women. All with style slicker than butter dripping off a hot biscuit. That's Halloween if you ask me. That's Halloween.

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Holy Obvious Batman!
"Thriller" - Michael Jackson
Michael. When you were good, you were the best.

Quality of Life Index, October 29

One. More. Week. (+1)

If you don't vote, you don't have any right to complain. (even)

2001: A Space Odyssey on Blu-Ray. Still the best, most confusing, mind-blasting, and non-kitsch sci-fi flick of all time. (+3)

4 hyphenated terms in previous statement. (-1)

Jon Hamm on SNL. See post from earlier this week, and below for video goodies. (+3)

Coldplay on SNL. (-2)

Adele on SNL. (+5)


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This Week's Total: (+9)
Last Week's Total: (-10)

Too Close For Comfort

Here's to you, Mr. "I like to stand three inches away from the person in front of me in line at the coffee shop, and inch closer in direct correlation to the distance that that person tries inching away."

Congratulations on making my day just a little bit creepier. Ass-hat.

Gems from SNL? Really?

Ok. So in a year where SNL should have an easy time making politics enjoyable for all - they've been unable to keep up the funny past the now-overdone Tina Fey as Sarah Palin intros.

That changed a few nights ago, when Jon Hamm hosted the show. 2 of the gems from the night, follow. Granted, both skits parody Hamm's role on Mad Men. But, A)they do it well & 2)I couldn't find a video of the "Jon Hamm's John Ham" skit, which was golden.





Now, if Chris Martin could have stopped bouncing around like he had to take a burning hot piss, we'd have had a grand episode on our hands.

Friday Music Special, October 24

"He Doesn't Know Why" - Fleet Foxes
This song sounds like a sampled Christmas carol, but like one you can sing all year round and not feel like a tool for tapping your foot to.

"My Mistakes Were Made For You" - The Last Shadow Puppets
A few months back, I spoke highly of The Rascal's slick-as-shit intro to "Freakbeat Phantom". In the same way, I dig this track.

"Gasoline" - The Airborne Toxic Event
Really? A track this good from the Fifa '09 soundtrack? Well. Ok, then.

"The Blue Route" - The Walkmen
If you like The Walkmen, then you will like this song. Beyond that, there's not discernible reason to even listen to it. Unless you want to get to like The Walkmen. Then I suppose there would be at least one discernible reason to listen to it. But just the one.

"Tear You Down" - Brookes Brothers
Just a simple and effective dance beat.


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Back-track:
"Like Suicide" (acoustic) - Soundgarden
Besides having one of the best band names ever (even if it's a ripoff). Besides being fronted by the single most relevant voice in rock since Elvis. Since Axl. Besides being on the soundtrack to the only Bridget Fonda movie I've seen that isn't "Kiss of The Dragon". Besides all that, this track kick more ass than most anything else.

Batman VS. Spider-Man

No contest. Clearly, no contest. But do they really have to fight?

Quality of Life Index, October 22

Sox out. (-3)

Pats dominate in Denver. (+2)

It's Denver. (even)

Is this election thing still going on? (-2)

Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull. Even on Blu-Ray, this movie sucked. Hard. George Lucas has successfully shit on every good thing he's ever done. And by 'every', I mean 'both'. Spielberg, you should be ashamed of yourself. (-4)

The Incredible Hulk on Blu-Ray. See, Iron Man it ain't. Dark Knight it will never be. But a happy solution to the problem of 'what to watch in between the two', it be. (+2)

Fall is not supposed to be over yet. (-2)

Radio 1's week-long fascination with Eminem. (-3)

"A 19-year-old hacker who posted some racy photos of Disney starlet Miley Cyrus on the Internet said he was raided by the FBI this week after boasting that he would never be caught." This has no effect on the quality of my life in any way. Still, I am fascinated. This may be indicative of a much broader problem. (even)

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This Week's Total: (-10)
Last Week's Total: (+6)

Campaign 08, How Do I Love Thee...

Or rather, would have loved thee much much more, had it all been like this:









Yes. This happened last week. It was a busy weekend, ok?

Been Here, Done This

Whatever. You know what, Tampa - good luck selling out any games besides opening day next year.

Friday Music Special, October 17

"Wire To Wire" - Razorlight
Like the best Moby beat, but with someone that can actually sing laying down vocals. Said singer is ripe for parody a la Andy Samberg. Just saying.

"The Bakery" - Arctic Monkeys
This band continues to impress me. I'm uncertain about how I feel about a band that so far has done me no wrong. I feel like I felt post Rage Against The Machine's eponymous debut, but pre-Evil Empire. Right?

"Way Down In The Hole" - The Blind Boys of Alabama
One of those rare cases where the cover actually surpasses the original. Sorry, Tom Waits - the Blind Boys beat you fair and square on this one.

"Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" - Beyonce
Beyonce is back with a fresh new beat! A new hit from superstar Beyonce Knowles! Ahhh, who am I kidding, here...just watch it on mute. For the jingle jangle.

"(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady" - Oasis
If ever a tune has cried out in more earnest for Quentin Tarantino to use it, I am unaware.


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Umm. Jingle jangle?
"Walking Man" - Seasick Steve
Best combination of facial hair and a good ol' beat since T.Bone's soundtrack for "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?"

Seriously. Enough, already.

Lookie lookie. One guy who can't close the deal, and another who refuses to take the kill shots laid out for him.

Quality of Life Index, October 15

Tim Wakefield, last night. (-5)

Tim Wakefield, in general (+3)

3 more weeks of nonsensical political interest, on the part of ass-hats that would rather be watching "Dancing With The Stars" (-2)

No. Really. I can't wait for this whole election thing to be over. (even)

The new Macbook Pro does not support Blu-Ray. For shame, Apple. I'll wait on the upgrade until such time as I can watch 1080p video on my laptop, even though I've only once in the past seven years actually watched a DVD on my laptop. It's like the midwest. I don't really care all that much - I just like knowing that it's there as insulation from LA. (-3)

The Dark Knight being re-released in January. Warner Brothers is shamelessly trying to beat out Titanic as the highest grossing flick of all time. (+3)

Christopher Nolan's one-finger salute to James Cameron. (+3)

Terence Howard out of Iron Man 2. (+2)

Don Cheadle, in to replace him. (+5)

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This Week's Total: (+6)
Last Week's Total: (+15)

An Office "Ha-Ha" Moment

Ok. My office has a large glass wall. In the middle of the glass wall is a glass door. To enter the office, push down on the door's handle, and then PUSH. This being case, when someone walks up and PULLS the door (this happens at least once a week), I have to duck under my desk and laugh.

The most recent offender did not stop at just PULL, though. She pulled, and pulled, and pulled. Three people inside the office repeatedly said things like "It's a push.", and "Push." and "Push it.". This prompted me to lose virtually all composure AND come dangerously close to breaking into a little Salt N' Pepa. And yes - you CAN hear through the big glass wall. After about thirty seconds, she actually started to walk away. One of us had to go and open the door for her, and explain the whole concept of PUSH/PULL.

Ah - the joys of an office life.


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The video bonus you totally saw coming:

The Reason I'm Not Working Today

C'mon now - man discovered the New World. Well. Sortof. 

The 2008 American Mustache of The Year

"Disclaimer: AMI supports healthy, performance enhancing-free mustaches that contain no pesticides. Mustaches should be worn at the individual’s own risk, and AMI is not responsible for mustaches that make men look like child molesters or Dave Navarro."

Yes. Yes. And yes. (link)

Thanks to Sauceboy for the tip.

Quality of Life Index, October 8

The sandwiches that the place I stop in for coffee every morning calls Sunrises. Like an Egg McMuffin, but better. Way, way, better. (+5)

Sox in the ALCS again. (+3)

Sox overcoming the Angels to get to the ALCS. (+3)

If the Sox had overcome some other team. (even)

Some weights lifted, others picked up. (+2)

Still. No. Edith. Bowman. (-3)

Fall TV. God help me. (+5)


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This Week's Total: (+15)
Last Week's Total: (-10)

Earth From Above

Along the blog crawl this morning, I came upon an announcement that Photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand will be coming to the States.

Here's a link to the announcement - complete with some stunning photos.

Sample here:



Plenty more there.

The Wisdom of BK

Further evidence supporting my theory on the decline of civilization.
(Thanks to Nateman for the tip.)

Friday Music Special, October 3

"Lyla" - Oasis
At their absolute best, they're pretty slick.

"Sometime Around Midnight" - The Airborne Toxic Event
Needs to be on a soundtrack. Probably on one for a movie starring John Cusack.

"Foals" - Olympic Airways
This is probably playing in every single American Apparel store, right now.

"Let The Spirit" - Roots Manuva
Do like the man says.

"He Doesn't Know Why" - Fleet Foxes
If the John Cusack movie I mentioned earlier starred Toby Maguire instead - you could replace that track with this one.


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B-Side
"Dreams To Remember" - Otis Redding
If you thought this song had anything to do with John Mayer, you can go to hell. Not to knock the Mayer, but know your Otis, yo.

Is There No-One Else?

Hi. My name is Ed, and I'm a comic book geek. (This is where you say, "Hi Ed."). Something's been bothering me lately. Every bookstore I go into has started carrying 'graphic novels'. This is quite cool. This is quite extraordinary. On the 'In Store Favorites' rack, or the 'Of Note' table, there is almost always a copy of one specific graphic novel: "Watchmen".

Let me be clear. I adore Watchmen. I re-read it once a year, and always there is something new gleaned. This superhero deconstruction book (which is an odd thing to say, since there's really only one 'super' person in the story, and he's definitely no hero) is hailed by just about everyone as the genre's greatest work. It's masterful, no doubt. And this is where my issue starts.

Sure, it's cool that comics have made serious inroads to the mainstream over the past few years. Sure, there's a Watchmen movie coming soon that is probably responsible for Time/Warner's push of the collected edition in bookstores. But why is Watchmen the only book you ever see? The other graphic novels are relegated to the back corner of most stores, and you either have to search for them, or just trust that they're tucked safely out of sight - probably somewhere behind Child Fiction or books on how to cook for your pets. They are the bookstore's dirty little secret.

Praising Watchmen is all well and good (it is certainly deserving of its accolades), but it does a disservice to the other masterful works of the genre when that praise results in the "All Watchmen, All The Time" merchandising strategy found in most direct market bookstores.

As comics presence and prevalence in mainstream pop culture continues to grow - it's imperative that the best face be shown. One way to make sure this happens is by demanding that collected editions other than Watchmen make it on to the "Noteworthy" shelf at Barnes & Noble.

Like that merry band of mutants in tights, comics are going out into a world that hates and fears them - and they've got to protect their own.

Ok - maybe the world does'nt hate comics, but they are still the dirty little secret, read in solitude, discussed mostly through the veil of cyber-secrecy, and praised often by solely their own community - that is, until the movie gets made...

Quality of Life Index, October 1

All things being equal. (-10)

Wanting to start fresh from zero, next week. (even)


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This Week's Total: (-10)
Last Week's Total: (+10)