My Spider-sense is tingling and I predict that the BIG NEWS promised during this Sunday's Simpsons will be something about the long awaited Simpsons MOVIE in the pipeline.

And did you folks see that rainbow today around 6:30 PM? That was awesome. A perfect half circle. Luminous. The only other time I've seen a rainbow like that was after dodging the wrath of God while trying to enjoy $1 hot dog night at Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City- that was easily the most impressive storm I've ever seen. Tonight's event was much nicer.

Muy Importante

From the WNY Progress Report Blog:

Friday Odds and Sods
March 31st, 2006 at 12:57 pm by Cliff

- Former Tom DeLay aide Tony Rudy pleads guilty to conspiracy charges and agrees to cooperate with federal investigators. That would be considered GOOD NEWS for those who believe in honest and ethical governance, and AWFUL NEWS by Tom DeLay. Oh well.

All these “associates” of Tom DeLay… pleading guilty and cooperating with investigators… gee… I wonder what bigger fish they’ve got on the line ready to cough up? Hmmmmm.

- The current issue of the Beast offers some profound clarity and science regarding the illegal immigrant brouhaha.

- House Conservatives volunteering America’s prison population to pick our nation’s crops offer neither clarity nor science to said brouhaha.

Slaves labor… illegal immigrant labor… prison labor: the backbone of America’s great economy. I’ll never be able to sing that Lee Greenwood song again with a clear conscience.

And don’t forget Richard Lipsitz, Teamster Political Affairs Rep and Rachael Wilson from UB Students Against Sweatshops on the WNY Progress Report live tomorrow at 9 AM EST on NewsTalk 1270 and online.

Posted in Tom Delay Watch, Values, Crime and Punishment No Comments »


We are SOOO going to kick out the jams. And I meant that shit about slave labor, immigrant labor (legal or otherwise) and now possibly prison inmate labor... I've read Howard Zinn's seminal Peoples History of the United States... tell me I'm wrong.

Easy

Courtesy of Random Thoughts and by way of Buffalo Pundit, my 5 Favorite TV Shows Ever:

1) Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The best narrative television series in the history of television. It was around the middle of the second season when I noticed that something funny was going on with this surprisingly well written show, and it followed through on it magnificently through 7 seasons to create a remarkably complete and whole television series. What the X-Files should have been before the cash capsized the artistic boat.

2) The X-Files. Dry, dense, scary, smart. Until it overstayed it's welcome and Chris Carter sold out (and lost Ducovny, who now regrets it) and thus spun off into well intentioned silliness, it was an excellent show, a real zeitgeist definer for the roaring yet wacky 90's.

3) The Simpsons. The Ultimate American Satire.

4) The Sopranos. Twin Peaks lost it's thread way too soon. The Sopranos hasn't come close to losing it, no matter what ANYBODY says. The TV series as art.

5) Picket Fences. David Kelley's small town as crucible for MODERN AMERICA fairy tale. When it was good it was mind bendingly brilliant. Poignant. True.

It's been a long night of radio show stuff, Sabres defeat, and battling the computer, but before I go to bed:

- The Flaming Lips on Letterman were groovy, weird, catchy, and singing some challenging and profound shit. Also for my secular friends I recommend this article about the Lips off the AP Wire, which even suggests that the Lips might be THE BAND OF THE MOMENT, shining some clarity on the state of things.

- That said I am hella pissed that I was completely unaware that the Flaming Lips are playing up in Toronto next Tuesday until today, after the show has sold out. WTF? I check my e-mails. I should have been AWARE goddamnit. Somebody does their part to hip me via the goddamned internet and I do my part and rally my goddamned troops, get tickets, and do dat thang. Very, very disappointing.

- Tonight's OC was a spicy meatball, zesty, and surprisingly touching when Kiki took her son to an AA meeting. And now Sandy is going to have to use some Qui Gonn Jinn mojo to defeat the crooked developer. Dag. I had to drop Footballers Wives (I wasn't THAT into it) so this is officially my guiltiest TV pleasure.

- WTF is up with the Sabres? WTF is with the letting the puck slide off the stick and out into open space as opposed to a teammate's stick? What's that about? The talk about Lindy getting the boot if the Sabres crap out in the first round might be getting louder.

Hallelujah!

The slump is over. Now they just need to find their form again in time for "the second season" and we'll be alright.

Also, mad props to Garangelo's for honoring my late take out call. The fettucini with proscuitto was the bomb and much appreciated.

Home Is Where I Want To Be

- Today I had two wakes with a cocktail party (after some work) in between. I don't want to speak on the wakes; it wouldn't be right. I do want to offer my prayers (good thoughts) to the Reese and Farmer families. They deserve your prayers (good thoughts) too.

- I was talkative earlier when I wasn't morose but right now I just want to call it a night.

- That said, ESPN better not screw me over next week's 2nd Leg of the Benfica/Barcalona FC UEFA Champions League battle like they did today's 1st Leg, which I will not be able to enjoy on TiVO this evening while my brain drifts into la la land. For tennis they screwed me... tennis!!!

Hairy Shit

Tonight's Sabres game had some hairy shit... pretty much the entire third and overtime periods... but they got a point and partially pulled out of the spiral. A good start. 24 was also all about hairy shit in another superlative episode, although if the show has one flaw it's the indecriminate torture, which the last few seasons has been applied quite liberally; and one could easily see how the show makes the notion of torture a vital component of our national security seem somewhat acceptable. Yikes.

- And for the record: the Ricky Gervais penned Simpsons from last night WAS hilarious, and I ain't just talking about the brilliant live action opening credit sequence.

Also for the record: if you don't get British humor it's because you really aren't hip to humor, period.

Buddha Is Right...

... expectation does indeed breed disappointment because it seems like I am the only person I know who's actually loving the current run of The Sopranos. Last week there was "no killing"... no real "gangster shit"to speak of... and this week there "wasn't enough" even though the first 5 minutes featured a bonafide bloodbath (and Paulie gettng kicked in the nuts) and mobsters bitching about divy-ing up the spoils. Was it the 2.5 year hiatus that's responsible for the audience loosing the thread, that drove up the expectations to unreachable levels (what I call the "Episode I Syndrome")? Were Americans living a little TOO vicariously though the Sopranos that they can't appreciate the show for what it is (and has been since the beginning for those paying attention)? Discuss amongst yerselves.

And for the record Joe Vip, the matre'd at the Finnearty family reunion was TOTALLY supposed to be Tony's whacked cousin from last season... even if they didn't list him as "Tony Blundetto" next to Steve Buscemi in the credits. Jesus H. Christ! That was clearly Tony's idealized vision of Livia in the doorway, and that was clearly the afterlife, and like pretty much everything else on that goddamned show Buscemi's cameo has significance! To suggest otherwise is crazy. CRAZY.

- The Sabres are on the schneid BIG TIME and the fat has now completely burned up in the fire.

NOW is the time to pull out of the slide fellas. You can do it.

- A point gained against the worst team in La Liga. Not a great day for FC Barcelona yesterday.

- AICN reports that Veronica Mars has been renewed for Tuesday's (no conflict with Lost!) the new UPN/WB hybrod. Also, today's replay of the new episode (3/26 5PM Ch. 23) has a nifty "previous on Veronica Mars..." that will bring you up to speed about everything.

- Smallville however has not yet been renewed for the new UPN/WB hybrid...

Summon Yer Karma...

... and focus it on the resurrection of Arrested Development. Jen reports hope is alive.

By the by, the second season dvds are awesome... each episode a 20 minute comedy gem... each episode an afternoon delight...



And now some dinner up in Canada (and a trip to the Duty Free)...

Fun Fun Fun

This is sublime fun. Fun fun fun. Wayne Coyne loves me, and he loves you too even if you don't know it yet.... gentle lullabies, post punk rock flame outs, weird noise/art rock, psychedelic ear candy... it's all here on this documentary movie soundtrack/collection of Lips live arcana. And the more I hear off the new album (At War With The Mystics... APRIL 4, 2006!), the more I am getting hella-jonzed for it; "Free Radicals" is wild, very Prince-like in it's sassy sonic layering with even more Sabbath-like guitar work (you read that right, Prince and Sabbath in the same sentence, in the same song), and the lyrics are bloody great. What a great CD to drive around to.

And it's sort of funny, putting out a live CD / odds and sod collection, considering their new album comes out in less than 2 weeks. It's almost like Christmas for Lips fans* and folks the joy is real.

It's Flaming Lips mania and you don't even know it yet.



* you know... when you sneak a little purchase for yourself when your out X-Mas shopping.

Trenchant Political Blogging

DARTH CHENEY'S PISSING IN OUR PARTY'S FACE AND I CANNOT TAKE IT ANYMORE! WE HAVE AN IMAGE PROBLEM! A BIG FAT IMAGE PROBLEM! PUSSIES. THEY CALL US PUSSIES OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND GUESS WHAT? EVENTUALLY IT STICKS! YA SEE, IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED WE LIVE IN A MEDIA OBSESSED CONSUMER CULTURE... IT'S BEEN THAT WAY FOR A WHILE, AND WHAT THEY'RE DOING IS CALLED "BRANDING" AND UNLESS WE DO SOME SERIOUS RE-BRANDING WE'RE FUCKED POLITICALLY. FUCK SITTING BACK LIKE CARRION FOWL TO PICK THE BONES OF ROTTING GOP BONES! IF YOU THINK VOTERS ARE GOING TO VOTE FOR PUSSIES OVER THE JACKASS THEN YOU'VE GOT ANOTHER THING COMING! HIS GUNS ARE BLAZING COWBOY STYLE AND FRANKLY PEOPLE RESPOND TO THAT ARCHETYPE A HELL OF A LOT MORE THAN THEY DO TO LAME-O'S SUCCESFULLY BRANDED AS "PUSSIES." CAPICHE?

Odds and Sods

- It is totally gut check time for El Buffalo Sabres. Hold tight and hold fast people.

- Uncle George is absolutely right.

- Today's WNY Progress Report was jim dandy... fun as hell.

- News Talk 1270 is where it's at, and I ain't just saying that because our show is on Radio Free Buffalo Saturday's. You can take that station to the bank, it's quest for truth, justice, and the American way pure and purposeful.

- Sam Seder was right this week on Franken: the Republicans have control of everything and they have FUCKED EVERYTHING UP.

- The family LLC has taken ownership of the Point Abino house and some Happy Jack's take out was consumed to celebrate/consecrate it. Happy Jack's is the bomb... Iron Chef good. The calimari in bean garlic sauce was bloody brilliant, and the shrimp and green pepper was subtle and profound.

- Bailey's Irish Creme with Mint Chocolate is also very, very good. Ranking Bailey's Irish Creme from "favorite" to "not as much a favorite":
1) Bailey's with Caramel Creme
2) classicc Bailey's
3) Bailey's with Mint Chocolate

Gut Check

I missed the game due to the Coalition thang but I have to agree with Mark over at BFLOBLOG.com that the fat is in the fire for the lads this time. Ottawa, like Courage couldn't come at a worse time, but that's the way it goes in the big leagues.

It's gut check time for the Buffalo Sabres.

Dag

Lost is glorious. Luminescent. Beautifully photographed. Dense. Sublime.


Also, the splatterfilm resurgence is just ridiculous. And if the Larry the Cable Guy Movie hits it big at the box office we're in big fucking trouble.

From the WNY Progress Report Blog:

Booyah
March 22nd, 2006 at 11:25 pm by Cliff

Of course the Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price screening event went swimmingly, and to all who made it happen I say “KUDOS.” To Channel 7 who came out and gave us some coverage I say “why did you have to tape me chilling and drinking a beer?” Naw just kidding, the coverage was unbiased, and jim dandy.

A big shout out to the fine folks who participated in our panel discussion: Allison Duwe from CEJ (Coalition for Economic Justice), Richard Lipsitz from the Teamsters, and Dennis Ward, Board of Elections Commisioner, and to all the folks who came out.

No Comments

Metallica's induction of Sabbath into the Hall of Fame was good, heartfelt and a good example of the virtues of group therapy.

Speaking for myself I'm glad I got into Sabbath these last few years. There's just something about channeling your dark mojo through art...

And lo Metallica's energetic and hilariously fannish set of Sabbath covers is most satisfying... the titanic black death riffs intoxicating... the sound of grown men paying homage to the ancient forebearer's who gathered them together to rock out. I could not help but feel the joy.

So much for going to bed just yet...



Scratch that... Sting is inducting a record company shlub and their inducting Skynard and I just don't truck with the anti Neil cracks in Sweet Home Alabama.

Adios.

Kick Out The Jams!

From the WNY Coalition for Progress:

Amherst Screening of Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price and Panel Discussion
Wednesday, March 22nd, 7:00 pm
The Screening Room
Northtown Plaza, 3131 Sheridan DriveAmherst, NY 14226

A good time will be had by all.

Los Voces Latinos

Bumblebee Man: How can other provinces repeat the success you've had fighting corruption in Oaxaca?

Distinguished Guest: It all starts in the community.

Distinguished Guest is then attacked with squirtguns by a wrestler and a man in a taco suit.

Bumblebee Man: !Ay, el mundo es loco!

The Radiohead blog is great.

The parade was great. Quote was actually fun, especially the patio. The Guiness kept me warm. U2 is the best band ever. Smithwicks is way better than Harp. Mom's corned beef and cabbage was killer, and I really like that caramel creme Bailey's.

Growing Up Soprano

This week's Sopranos was another home run; if the episode when Buffy's mom died is the best tv episode about the death of a loved one, the most true, then this is the best tv episode ever about the attenuated reality/unreality of having a loved one in the hospital. There's just something about naked emotion wonderfully presented from fully realized characters who seldom speak what's in their heart that really hits you. Special kudos to the underused and underrated Jamie Lynn Siegler and Robert Iler for their excellent work in this episode, and to that dude for actually lifting his leg to let one go on the Soprano sofa.

That might very well have been the first actual honest to goodness fart in television history. Real life, interpreted as transcendent art. God I love The Sopranos.

For the Record

- I sort of like the recent Tony Stark redesign of Spider-Man's costume: the gadgets are cool and all but the colors are a little too Iron Man (Tony Stark). It is totally cool however that Tony Stark has hired Peter Parker to be his Number 1 Man, at least temporarily because you know it can't possibly last.

- The BBC update of Doctor Who is swell, and that's coming from somebody whose never really seen Doctor Who before. What can I say, Star Wars ruined cheesy sci fi for me until I got old enough to appreciate camp and the black leather boots on female Enterprise crew members, and frankly I don't think it's been on Channel 17 in ages. The Doctor is cool and Billie Piper I can watch for hours, and I can totally see why Buffy and Angel did so well over the pond, without the whimsical Britishness. It's fun, cheesy, cool, and I'm glad they got it on the Sci-Fi channel for a couple of weeks.

- I don't really like it when it's this cold on parade day.

* But not that surprising because the comic book blew my mind back in the late 80's. I credit two things with indoctrinating me early against fascism: the City Honors 1984 Day experiment back when I was in fifth grade and Alan Moore's V For Vendetta miniseries. You can read about fascism, or vaguely remember your grade school definitions of fascism, but experiencing it (after a fashion) and feeling it filtered through pop art makes it something else, something I don't truck with AT ALL. Moore's Watchmen cooked my noodle by vigorously applying humanity and human goals, dreams and desires to the superheroic genre in an almost preposterously realistic way, but it was his follow up V For Vendetta that sticks with me to this day, and I am glad that the movie gets most of it right.

Whether it's Thatcher (who was in office when Moore started V in the early 80's) or Bush (the obvious, modern analogue) it falls to us to watch and make sure they work for us, not the other way around...

Power to the People

V For Vendetta on the IMAX is a ludicrously intense experience, an adolescent comic book revenge fantasy that doubles as a critique of fascism and a call to arms to accept responsibility for what YOUR government does in YOUR name. The goods news- it works in spite of itself: the who’s who list of BBC and PBS thespians gives it weight and reality (in spite of the adolescent comic book revenge fantasy trappings), Natalie Portman’s accent is up to par and her performance especially during her “incarceration” is shattering, it holds together visually and thematically throughout, and if you’re not careful you just might learn something. A bold and surprisingly* provocative work of popular art.

Oh Well

8 wins in a row is good enough for me. The lads lost, and life goes on. Any Sabres haters or bitchers better step off to avoid any boots up their asses- one loss don't mean a thang. That and they almost pulled even late in the third period- they never gave up and that is ALL THAT MATTERS.

Africa Hot

The Irish Center was Africa hot yesterday, and a madhouse as usual until they ran out of Guiness after 30 kegs that day. The corned beef sandwich, garlic potatoes and Irish step dancing lasses were more than up to snuff, and all was well. Today however is a day of reflection and recuperation.

Adios Suckers

Kevin over at BFLOBLOG summed up tonight's Sabres/Leafs derby quite nicely. Fuck the Royal Canadian Diving Society and their dirty play- our boys passed the puck like they were drunk and they still kicked their asses. 8 in a row. Amazing.

Footballers Wives so crushes Desperate Housewives, the longer running series a masterpiece of Britishers behaving poorly without any trace of winking or camp or prudish fun. It's also hilariously progressive: the new boss is a ballbusting bisexual bird who delights on crashing and crushing the formerly all white male boardroom, and it features the occasional cuss word, tittaah, (non hardcore) sex scene, plus some man ass and toolbox for the ladies- equal oppurtunity trash and scandal. Behold: TV for adults! On a government approved broadcast!

Even though I'm Irish, God I love the British.

Ay Carumba!

The bodycount on 24 is climbing and if anybody asked if they could get any darker than last week's devastating nerve gas attack on home base they got a resounding YES tonight. Last week Edgar bought it but this week we got grim death: Samwise died heroically but horrifically, and Tony died in a devastated Jack's arms (and he never let's go like that). Hell I even felt for the Red Shirt who died heroically as a bystander. Oh the Hitchcock! The grim, grim death! The artistically hightened sense of tension! This show is almost too much, too visceral an experience, and good God I think they're only halfway through the season.

I'm also going to give a shout out to the Buffy/Angel alums whose names I recognize in 24's credits the last few seasons. 24 is definately the better for having them onboard as it has clearly been in a higher gear the last few years. Mahalo.

Misc.

-Josh is such a retard for not going after Donatella Moss. What the hell. There better be some payoff before this damn show ends that's all I gotta say.

- I am definately TiVO-ing HBO's new show Big Love. From what I've seen it looks good. David Byrne music over the end credits? How about them apples.

- Barcalona FC lost today to Ossusuna in La Liga play, and according to the roommate they got 2 red cards. 2! Yikes.

- But hot damn those Sabres are HOT, nuclear hot, but first things first friends- we've gotta put in a good thought for Lindy Ruff's daughter and Lindy Ruff and his family.

Hot Shit

My B-Day celebration at the Parent's House was excellent: brother Kevin made some bruschetta to kill for, Mother made her legendary Caesar salad dressing and deadly lasagna, and we washed it all down with some fine red table wine, a cassada cake, and the new Sopranos, which was fucking brilliant as always. It's been 2.5 years and I feel into that familiar rhythm like THAT: the keen observational humor, the darkest humor, the most human and "true" grace notes on TV,and that wonderful unpredictability of life that set it apart from EVERYTHING on TV, and it was GOOD. God how sad is it that we have to get reality filtered through art on television from a mob drama called The Sopranos? Tony and Carmela gorging themselves on exotic sushi, middle management personnel issues, Tony trying to deal with Uncle Junior (who CLEARLY has alzheimer's, trust me), Ginnie Sack hiding from the ringing telephone... this is modern America folks.

Man I cannot wait for next week.

I Like Cake, Plus Notes on Bowling

To the beautiful Burd family I say thank you for that magnificent cake. You folks are the greatest.

And for the record when I win the Mega Millions I am buying me a bowling alley. Flowing alcohol, fried food, bowling, plus some cool music and a groovy atmosphere = heaven on Earth. The Junior Achievement Bowl-a-Thon yesterday was fun (getting bombed with coworkers at 3 PM is always a hoot) but it could have been so much more. I also think Fat Tuesday in Buffalo would be a lot more fun at a bowling alley than outdoors on a frigid February night because I daresay you might get more bang for your buck with your beads indoors.

Cleaning Off The TiVO (For The Sopranos)

- Battlestar Galactica ended it's current run on another apocalyptic note. Mankind is once again fucked due it's hilarious short sightedness, opting to settle on a world in the hope that the Cylons won't find them instead of soldiering on to the promised land Earth, and lo the Cylons have found them, let them get fat and happy, and are moving in for the kill. The occupation has begun, it doesn't look good, and I cannot wait for next season 7 months from now.

- SNL is woeful, and the more I watch it the less I am sexually attracted to it's head writer Tina Fey. In fact it is only remotely tolerable if you can fast forward it until the next sketch if the one you're watching isn't funny. Even the venerable Weekend Update is struggling, and that's the only part Fey actually WORKS ON lately. Cripes. In it's quest to offend NOBODY SNL succeeds in amusing NOBODY.

- Watching The Arctic Monkeys on SNL I can say they might be worthy of the hype: their first song sort of sucked but the second song was decent, very Talking Heads, and the lyrics do have some punch. We shall have to see.

Warner Bros. has put up a spiffy site to hawk Superman DVD's and it features a beautiful trailer highlighting every generation of Superman (except the Kirk Alyn serials) and the teaser to Superman Returns.

Wundebar.

Adventures in Lent

Even as a hilariously lapsed Catholic I still get into the Lented Friday Fast. At this point it's almost reflexive, yet it's still a quest, a mission, and a whole lot of fun in a fine culinary city like ours. Today included a magnificent Artichoke and Brie soup from The Gourmet Shop: excellently seasoned with nice chunks of brie, and a trip to the Hayes Fish in Kenmore. We got there just under the wire in time for some killer fried seafood: the always excellent shrimp dinner plus a small fried clams to warm me up. Nobody fries seafood as well as the folks at Hayes. Nobody.

America!

Due to technical difficulties and a sucky day so far you get yesterday's blog today:

Dave Chappelle's Block Party is the shit. I want to live in his America: a country where people are cool with one another and where people of all creeds and colors coming together to listen to our finest American rap music and enjoy a good BBQ. It's the feel good movie of the year. Seriously.

Random thoughts on Block Party: Mos Def is the coolest cat in the USA, Questlove Thompson is a musical/drumming genius, The Fugees were and are hilariously overrated, the return of Big Daddy Kane brought a smile to my face and triggered a subconsious time travel trip back to the late 80's riding on the 22 Summer Best Metro bus to school, Erykah Badu is a goddess, Jill Scott is a radiant, beautiful Odetta, Dead Prez so drop the true science, and only African American folks should be allowed to do marching bands.

Why is Artvoice sleeping on Block Party? They've got a great ad for the movie but no review. It's even directed by Michael Gondry. What's that about?

The poster for Block Party is great, one of my favorite posters ever: in addition to all the musical stars from the movie and Dave front and center it also features the old Bed Stuy hippy lady, the Central State U. marching band director who helped get those kids to NYC for the party, and some of the folks from southwestern Ohio who got golden tickets to come to the party. The movie is as much theirs is it is anybody else's. Dave Chappelle is cool, no matter what anybody says.

And oh yeah, the Sabres are AWESOME. Keep it rolling lads, you are DOING IT.

The Barcelona v Chelsea match was so so until Ronaldinho broke it wide open and finished off the odious Chelsea side. Awesome.

Folks I am in Sabres Playoff mode. I knocked on wood after I typed it and you should knock on wood when you read just to be safe. I'm not prophesizing or getting stupid, I'm talking about thinking about the lads on their days off, checking the schedule to monitor what's next, and keeping on eye on the Conference. This too is awesome. A treat. Manna from Heaven.

The new Lips single has been working overtime on me: in the car psyching myself up to sit in with Corporate Security, at my desk trying to turn Joe Vip onto it (sadly he just doesn't dig it), later at my desk after my "client" took the ball out of my mit and put in the glove of our valiant senior steward, and later in the car on the way home as I drove home spent. It's the song of the year, or at least the song of the moment, and song about "fanatical mugs talking control of the world" and how "we have the power in there" to take away the power they really/essentially shouldn't have (or want, if you've actually read the Bible). And I cannot help but rock out funkily (throwing myself around rhythmically) to it. Prepare yourselves people.

The thing that made me laugh the hardest today (probably when I needed it the most- see my earliest post from today) courtesy of Joe Vip: "So is Candace Bergen in there now instead of Denny Crane?"

I am the biggest asshole, the sappiest jackalope, and my nicest guy in the office horsecrap isn't cutting it for me anymore. It's actively working against me; in fact it's schtupping me up the caboose, thus it's going to have to stop.

My birthday was alright. I got Chinese takeout with my beautiful coworkers, got a nice card and a killer chocolate cake, and then I got to execute my duties as ________.


Thank fuck for the new Flaming Lips CD single "The Wand," something I treated myself to along with Radiohead's 7 Television Commercials DVD. The DVD is good, a swell collection of music videos, but that single rocks and it saved my evening: it's Sabbath like gravity and equally funky groove the perfect music for calling sane people to action, to wrestle control of reality out of the hands of dogmatic fanatics! while getting down in the process. The b-sides are also top notch, a hypnotic and uplifting ode to perseverance and some groovy science fiction rock.

The upcoming album is going to be soooo good.

Ah well. 33 years on Planet Earth. Did you know that Jesus was 33 when he was crucified? I learned that from a U2 song.

Sweet Fancy Moses!

Kirby Puckett, Dana Reeve, Gordon Parks. Holy shit. There's no riffing on that shit. Dana Reeve was inspirational. To a kid who grew up with her husband as the Superman of his youth, a Superman who re-entered my conscious after his tragic accident, and after that accident when I saw them together I always thought of their love and their relationship as heroic, beautiful. And Gordon Parks, shit. Shaft is a great movie (my brother Tim and I loved that shit, loved it, loved everything about it) and his photographs are beautifully gritty and the perfect vehicles through which one could handle the African American Experience, and maybe even find some understanding.

This deathwatch was bad, and I am not thrilled by the fact that they are occuring more and more quickly.

I turned on the Oscars at the very end to see Crash snake the Best Picture Oscar out from under Brokeback Mountain, and then read that Ang Lee got Best Director?!? I didn't see that one coming. I sort of felt bad about not being there for Jon Stewart, but I had Arrested Developments to watch, and juding from the way the thing ended I didn't miss anything (especially because all the frocks are up on the internet).

Apparently Hollywood didn't feel like being a casualty in the Culture Wars (sorry gay folks but we've got elections to win these next few years). That, or maybe Crash was the better movie, about the racism that I grapple with even as a benighted liberal, and provoked responses in the viewer beyond whether they were cool or not with gay cowboys. I am glad however that George Clooney won for his turn in Syrianna, a performance that was profound and as far from Bruce Wayne, Danny Ocean, and Doug Ross as he could have gone.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

The good news, SNL is funny again; the bad news: that it's only funny in three minute increments, and sadly only when doing rap parodies.

Yes, it appears SNL's digital revolution has ALREADY jumped the shark.

Thanks But No Thanks

Also, to answer lingering questions and concerns regarding my... complex heinie: after a proper inspection El Doctor (plus female med student) pronounced everything jim dandy and told me if I want to have it removed they can burn it off for me. Yikes. I'll cross that bridge when I have to.

Another Fine International Local Derby

I do love a local derby, especially when we win over those damned Leafs.

Any Sabres who talked trash after the other night should be bitchslapped for their softness in the face of a less than perfect performance. Tonight's game was a masterpiece.

A Grown Man Cries

I freely admit to shedding a tear as they honored Pat Lafontaine tonight before the Sabres/Leafs game. We used to play street hockey every Saturday back when I was in upper middle school and high school and you'd ALWAYS hear "La-La-La-La-La Fontaine!" first. We were in high school and we did that. He was our man, our captain, and I got goosebumps watching those highlights.


In my mind's eye I can still clearly see him sliding on his ass across the red line and dealing the puck to Brad May, setting up the greatest goal in Sabres history as I got upright and then JUMPED UP when May slipped the puck past whatshisface. I can see it clearly, and the sensation of pure joy and utter abandon has been etched into my memory forever, or until I eventually succumb to whatever mental unrest I will be doomed too if the Republicans keep fucking up stem cell research.

Bona Fortuna

You'd have to be DAFT to not hustle on over to Target to pick up Arrested Development Season 2 on DVD for $14.99. Amazingly I was prepared to plop down $29.99 to keep my AD DVD collection current, but sweet cosmic harmonic convergence LO it was on sale. $14.99. One of the funniest television shows ever. Daft not to.

- Kudos to the US National team for putting down Poland 1-0 yesterday in International Friendly competition. In other group news Italy obliterated Germany, Ghana lost to Mexico, and I have no idea what happened to Czechoslovakia.


- I was near a Record Theater on Triple Stamp Wednesday so I picked up a cheap copy of Black Sabbath's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Dense and melodic and another classic Sabbath record. I've probably reached the end of the line with classic Sabbath records, and that's cool. I've got a few good dark rock records to jam out to on rainy days, days when I'm feeling evil, and nights when I'm worshipping the devil (devil's horns w/ tongue sticking out plus hissing). I've also got enough for a full stamp booklet, which I will save for the new Flaming Lips album coming out in a few weeks. Booyah.

- Big Sabres game tomorrow night because we need to snap back, moving ever forward and all that.

Win it for Patty.

- The Office has to be careful, it has to avoid being broad at the expense of dryness and keen observation. It also has to avoid indulging overmuch in outright metaphor; yes Dwight (Gareth) is clearly a fascist, and OK having him quote talking points by Mussolini during a big sales award speech and killing with it was hilarious, but it's also a bit much even by American standards... That said however it's still the funniest network show now that Arrested Development is once again in LIMBO.

- Actually...OK... no... strike that, the corporate salesmen fascism bit was hilarious. It will keep me warm tomorrow.

West Wing Deathwatch Update

This once mighty (but still potent) show might be on it's way out, but AICN is reporting that Brad Whitford and Timothy Busifield will be migrating to Aaron Sorkin's upcoming SNL behind the scenes dramedy. Good news indeed.

I love Lost. Weird, tense, and one hell of a jigsaw puzzle.

Britisth TV hurts my head sometimes. Footballers Wives was super long the other night, and with less commercials, and boy was it tricky shoehorning in episodes of the original The Office on DVD (courtesy of Los Burds), but it was fun and worthwhile: enjoying the abstract, existential despair of the British original while also contrasting it to it's American cousin. The verdict: the original is television art, a sustained vision of life without real hope and the essential torpor that is begotten by sustained office life. Of course they gave in and gave it a happy ending (yay Tim and Dawn!), but it's original run it was dry, brutal, and devilishly pure in it's execution.

The American however version is pure hilarity, with hope thrown in to pull American viewers along, and a tour de force performance by Steve Carrell. It's ours, and it's observations of our work life are just as potent and dead on as theirs. It also makes me happy.