Finally got around to watching the first episode of Robin Hood season 2 and it was awesome. An exquisite hour of adventure, cliffhangers, dashing heroism and glorious villainy. Yes Keith Allen is jim dandy as the vile Sheriff, but this week Richard Armitage looked positively Vaderesque stomping about as Sir Guy of Gisborne, tossing Maid Marion's dear old dad around, and buring down her house. They're really going for broke this season and I can't wait to see where and how far it goes.

Miley Cyrus is one of the biggest fools ever or we're the biggest saps ever. Wasn't it a couple of months ago that she on 60 Minutes* saying that she'd never pull the shit that she's pulling now?


Ah yes... a role model to MILLIONS OF GIRLS.

Spike TV gets props for actually showing in their entirety the credits to Star Wars. Yes they are sped up, but still that's pretty cool.



Random Star Wars Observation (I wish I could number them for you): the scene at the end of Episode II with Darth Sidious and Count Dooku walking, chilling and plotting is the total analog of that scene of the Death Star (Mark 2) from Episode VI when Darth Vader greets the Emperor (Darth Sidious)... and walks, chills and plots. Both scene's take place in a hanger, I think the Emperor even says something about "everything going according to plan" in both scenes, but craftily enough the roles are reversed (in II it's the boss greeting the underling whereas in VI it's the underling greeting the boss) and the different settings (the dreary hanger in II, the Death Star shuttle hanger in VI) underscore just how far the Sith came.... before being defeated by those damn Skywalker kids. Very nice there George-I hadn't noticed that until tonight (when I caught the end of II on Spike- as you might have guessed). Very nice indeed.

OK, that was a wacky one two punch during game two of the Western Conference Semis on VS: my mind didn't know how to respond to the stimulus generated by the commercial for Penn and Teller's new TV show Bullshit! in which they say "bullshit!" repeatedly on regular cable TV or the profound hotness radiated by the commercial for Showtime's upcoming Secret Diary of a Call Girl... starring Doctor Who's Billie Piper (sweet wholesome Billie Piper)?!? My brain seized up. Seriously.

5 Reasons

5 reasons why Vampire Weekend's debut album is too good to be true:

1. It sounds too good. It's sonic presentation is perfect. No "debut album" comes this artful and sonically ambitious. It doesn't happen.
2. It's baroque, literate and classy yet tuneful, occasionally crass, and infinitely rump shakable.
3. U2 and R.E.M.'s debut albums weren't this perfect.
4. The cd design is pefect: the photography, fonts, layout are all preternaturally cool, and yes, perfect.
5. It reaffirms the virtue and value of of the cd as a piece of art and mode of musical conveyance in an age of the cheap commodification of popular music.

Folks I watched The Moyers this week and his interview with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright was a humdinger. Anybody watching it for new tidbits or ammunition came away terribly disappointed. Will it make a difference? Of course not, it contained too much information... too much TRUTH to be contemplated by white folks patently un-eager to look the fullness of the American Experience in the face (what Bill Moyers literally calls "the Full Monte"); plus it called out the corporate media for it's complicity in a great many things and therefore will not be mentioned in said corporate media. Maybe we'll get lucky and his press conference tomorrow will make some positive waves.... but I'm not too hopeful.





* I don't even want to know what the kids in private schools are learning about our great nation. Actually I do- it probably explains a lot.

Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma

Beware a little classy potty language.

Vampire Weekend - A-Punk

Oh yeah, Vampire Weekend are the best new band since Arcade Fire.

Seriously.

As you can well imagine, I've been wandering in the wilderness these last 48 hours. It's not been pretty. I've been kicking around all sorts of shit; pondering grim possible outcomes, chewing on all kinds of gristle, and pulling at my hair (my beautiful hair!). Yesterday the Old Man himself, my dear father, laid his disgust as a lifelong Democrat over this shit and growing ambivilance about even voting this November on me. A lifelong Democrat and true blue UNION MAN. And he laid all of this on me.


Fuck people. We are totally entering the danger zone. This shit ain't funny any more. The waters have been muddied enough folks, we can't take 40 more days.

But let me take a brief moment to reflect on the Flight of the Conchords album. It's hilarious and remarkably soulful. You can shake your booty and nod your head stylfully to it, and you don't need to have seen the first season of the frankly hilarious HBO series of the same name. Of course you'll want to run out to pick up the 2 disc DVD set (I believe it's cheap at Target) immediately after listening to the cd, but that's OK.

All Is Quiet On The Western Front

I had to interrupt my pure enjoyment of the Flight of the Conchords album for MSNBC's coverage of the Pennslyvania Primary and shit damn it I am starting to feel a little loose. Not good. Loose.

It's 8:15 PM. Dateline USA. We are chilling out.

Yowza

The second season finale of Torchwood was mind blowing and much deserving of the pre show hype considering they killed off two series regulars. My only regret about the end of this excellent show's excellent second season- that I have to wait nine months until the start of the third season.

And it's not like I am going without*- now that the fourth season proper of Doctor Who debuts this week on the Sci Fi Channel. Last Friday's airing of the 2007 Christmas special with Kylie Minogue didn't blow my mind. Kylie was nice, and she certainly presented herself well as a potential new traveling companion for David Tennant's Doctor, but it was a bit broad in it's humor and approach, a reflex perhaps when writer/producer Russell T Davies goes overboard with the darker elements that drag Who away from it's family show heritage (the episode is a decent send up of both Poseiden Adventures and Titanic- complete with a surprisingly high body count). Still kudos to Kylie for delivering the emotional punch the episode needed, and I hope they find a way to bring her back.


* The Sarah Jane Adventures are fun, and worthy of mention now that they're showing the first season proper of the show after last week's pilot episode. The writing is broad, fun, sly, and emotionally satisfying considering it's a somewhat derivative kids show. And it makes me laugh.

Is there nothing those crazy Welsh Doctor Who/Torchwood/Sarah Jane people can't do? Kudos also to Sci Fi for finding a way to preserve the show's fun cliffhanger's even though they are showing 2 half hour episodes a week.

I can't get enough of G4's Olivia Munn. She's more than just some bird who looks great in a bikini or Princess Leia steel bikini. She's got that something, that sense of ultra self awareness that hints of great depths roiling underneath the surface of this comely minx.

I'm excited about the first new Portishead album in 10 years, but I'm buzzing with glee and anticipation about the new (Reverend) Al Green produced by Questlove from The Roots. I was just watching some of Chappelle's Block Party the other day and was thinking to myself "dag, I wonder what that dude is up to right now?" and lo now I know. He is laying it down with the Reverend and bringing the Reverend and us back to basics, and it sounds awesome.

Lesbionic Woman

Nice. G4 is essentially a useless network, but it does have some virtues. Not many. But some.

Behold G4's Olivia Munn:

• as Princess Leia in the steel bikini.
• as Wonder Woman.
• as Baroness.
• as Princess Leia in the steel bikini, next to another Princess Leia in the steel bikini.
• being awesome.

The End

This one goes out to Hillary Clinton, with all the implied Apocalypse Now allusions totally intended.

Adios Muchacha?

Now this is what I call "strategy."By slagging off the liberal wing OF HER OWN PARTY, HRC has essentially declared herself unelectable.

The Clinton Death Star has run amok.

I knew it all along.

Sorry

Sorry for the light posting the last few days but I've been fulminating in POLITICS WORLD for the last few days and any time in front of the mother box not reading and responding to e-mail has been spent reading and watching video about serious events (like that ridiculous debate last night that qualified as an unmitigated travesty).



And the sun's been out. But tonight's got a new Office and Smallville Tivo-bound for watching after I take in some Countdown (gotta get The American Idol updates).

Happy Birthday Luke Skywalker

According to the e-mail I just got from Uncle George (actually the Star Wars Homing Beacon newsletter) it was 35 years ago today that Lucas began work on the first draft of Star Wars (or The Star Wars, as it was originally entitled). Wow.



Now if only Uncle George could get those digital theatrical 3D versions out he was talking about a few years back...

SPEED RACER - Official International Trailer - NEW F5

Yikes! This is the stuff... right here.

Paul Weller Come On/Let's Go

Straight up rock and roll.

No Shame In His Game

This is some damn fine oratory, with some good stand up thrown in for good measure. And you've just gotta love how he turns those lameass attacks around into razor sharp rebukes that: 1) light up the crowd, 2) sticks it his opponents for trying to stick it to him, 3) provides clever meta criticism of the process that a) contextualizes his opponents as part of the "establishment" manipulating the process, b) lifts Obama and his supporters up, and c) speaks to the "common sense" of his audience; and 4) drives his message home. "Somebody is playing politics...." what a great line.

Good Times

Changing gears...

It's all coming together nicely folks. Next Friday we get new Doctor Who on the SciFi Channel (the most recent Christmas special with Kylie Minogue) preceded by the first season of The Sarah Jane Adventures. The next day we get the "series changing" season finale of Torchwood on BBC America (featuring Spike/Brainiac James Marsters, from Buffy/Angel and Smallville respectively)... and then on next Friday the highly anticipated fourth season proper premiere episode of Doctor Who with British comedienne Catherine Tate as the Doctor's new travelling companion.

And sandwiched in between all of that we have the Pennsylvania Primary. Good times. Good times.



Also, I am unabashed fan of The Sarah Jane Adventures. Sure it's ostensibly a kids show, but Elisabeth Sladen is fun to watch as a grown up Sarah Jane, the teenage co-stars are tolerable if not downright appealing- and not obnoxious in the least (a big plus considering my views on some of our teenagers); positive role models abound, there's plenty of sly social commentary, and the show reminds me a lot of the classic Doctor Who series that ran from 1963 to 1989- in particular the late fun (and occasionally cheesy*) 60's and early 70's Who episodes that featured Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee as the Doctor. But with more hugs and happier endings.

Not that kind of happy ending you sickos.


* Not necessarily cheesy in a bad way mind you. It was the 60's and 70's (and 80's) and they didn't have big budgets... so sometimes you got cheesiness. Serious cheesiness. But the writing was (generally) good, the actors played it just right, you used your imagination, and you got past it. As an American kid raised on Star Wars unfortunately that didn't happen (maybe if I'd been exposed to Doctor Who as a young child it might have...), but now that I'm able to contextualize and appreciate it I enjoy that cheese. Sometimes (those Colin Baker Doctor Who's are painful).

Welcome to the Nonsense Season

Oh boy, it's only April and the 2008 Elections are still way off and already we've rocketed well past being in the "silly season" full bore into the abject "nonsense season." Obama is "elitist" for saying folks in small town America are "bitter?!?" Meanwhile... back in America... 81% think the country is going in the wrong direction and amazingly enough folks are a bit pissed off... all over the country in town and cities large and small. It's amazing I tell you, and apparently a real shock to the folks in Washington. Some folks are mighty pissed, and some folks want change mighty bad. Wow, what a news story. What a feast for the bloggers . Alas I'm almost starting to wonder if I should start lumping bloggers along with the folks in Washington DC and the right wing media in the "out of touch" bin. The good news is that in addition to being inexcusable, this phony ass outrage is hilarious- watching these poor nimrods are tee it up for Obama to label them as "out of touch Washingtonians." This week could be fun.

And CNN let's a nincompoop like David Frum comment on it? That's not fair to anybody, including David Frum, who shouldn't be given more opportunities to embarrass himself on television anymore (obviously the guy's got no friends because a friend would've talked to him about his problems sounding intelligent on television).

Rod Stewart Sucks

I know I should blame the Molson Amphitheatre but that's no fun. Yesterday Radiohead tickets sold out in minutes and there is no chance of another show being added because Rod's got the place booked the following night.

Thus, Rod Stewart Sucks.

A Hip Slapping Good Time

Things observed from a repeat viewing of the other night's new Office:

• The title of that cd by Jan's former assistant was called "The Hunted."
• I think the majority of the pictures at Michael and Jan's are of Jan's enhanced boobs.
• The pitch perfect facial expressions:

- The look on Pam's face when Jim tries to escape the dinner party without her.

- Jim's bewildered look when Michael made his crack about the wine's "oakey afterbirth."

- When Michael manages to still look at the camera when he yelled "that's what she said!"

- When the cop says "not now Dwight" to Dwight.

• The painting in Michael and Jan's dinning room is of Hell.
• My family used to have a cooler just like Dwight's former babysitter/friend with "purely carnal" benefits.
• Dwight makes her take the bus home (wherever that is)... and lug that cooler.

God 2, Phil Mickelson 1

Why does hate Phil Mickelson? What exactly was that about today at Augusta National? That perfect wedge shot that was perfect until it hit the pin and spun back off the front of the green? The car horn honking.... AT AUGUSTA NATIONAL... during his backswing on the 17th tee? That whole thing was insane.

But Phil still rallied to birdie the 18th to snatch some of his dignity back and thumb his nose at the Almighty. Good luck tommorow Phil.

"Um, it has a sort of oak-ey afterbirth"

Ah yes, the discerning palate of Michael Scott (and the table manners of a man who dips his steak in this wine glass- tremendous). I (and a great many people) was looking forward to it all day and goddamn! The first new Office in what seems like years totally blew my mind. It will go down in history as an orgy of funny pain that became a comedy tour de force in the first ten minutes. Ah the bitterness of Dwight and the madness of Jan (she was something else... back when she was sane). Ah the strange sympathy I felt for poor, poor Michael (as embodied by the brilliant Steve Carrell); yes, that man is in hell. There was an almost Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf quality to this episode as souls were bared and secrets were revealed (thankfully Pam and Jim survived unlike those poor souls in Albee), and by golly did I laugh until I felt genuine pain. The Office is back with a force, and I am happy that it is back. Overjoyed.

U2 is toiling away in Dublin and "still hoping the new album will be out this year?!?" WTF?



Also, I really wish I lived on the West Coast. Roger Waters, Portishead, and now Prince at Coachella?!? Damn.

Taking It To The Streets Part 2

The Dude gives BIG UPS to all the people out in San Francisco who kicked it out today and agitated against that damned Olympic Torch and all the human rights abuses it embodies. I was a little worried that we wouldn't represent if we were compared against the British and French who did their thing earlier, but you folks did it up and I salute you. You people deserve awards.


And to those Pro Chinese protesters? To them I say "bah."

The Doomed Files

Because it's become such a prominent theme it's practically made itself a new category...

Anyway.

Just finished Buffalo native Jake Halpern's Fame Junkies: The Hidden Truths Behind America's Favorite Addiction, and boy was that scary. And I'm not even referring to the thoroughly deluded stage parents, child star wannabees, celebrity personal assistants, and celebrity worshippers (and I'm talking serious worship here, the kind that triggers faith and false idol worship issues) discussed and interviewed by the shrewd yet not unkind Halpern. Those people are out to lunch, and there's nothing that can be done for them. What freaked me out was the bits about the history and outrageous recent growth of our nation's obsessions with fame and becoming famous and the various explanations for this national nightmare. I daresay Halpern is right about all of it; there's a shitload of reasons why we're all totally obsessed with this shit (and obsessed about hating this shit, which of course sometimes leads to thinking about said shit), but that's not what really got me. It's a statistical fact that our teenagers and youngsters spectacularly narcissistic and prone to prima donna-ism... hell people, you see it. You see it in adults. You see it when they drive.

But that's not the point, the point is these poor deluded children are heading for a HUGE LET DOWN. And what happens then? Generation B? As in BITTER AS HELL? That's not good. And what's worse- they're inheriting a country on the down slide. Yikes. Our society is not in the best spot as it is... and now we've got a generation destined for a big old kick in the teeth when reality sets in. Or doesn't. Which is worse. Far worse.


Needless to say it, we are doomed. Man is Canada is looking better and better.


And a minor quibble for local boy author (and City Honors alumni) Jake Halpern. Must you harp on our down on our luck Rest Belt downtrodden? Was that absolutely necessary?

Ah well.

Still dude, I credit you for your honesty and for not even trying to pretend that you're above your subject matter. That's your good old fashioned Buffalo non pretentiousness at work there, my friend. It is indeed in our bones (except for the pretentious WNYers that do exist in our community- you know... the poofy shirt crowd). Kudos.

Ah well.

Taking It To The Streets

Attention Sabres Fans:

Larry, Darcy and Lindy are taking it to the public (and the public will take it to them) tomorrow at 5 on WGR.

I just hope they screen the calls a little bit... so we can all have our dignity when it's all over. It could be interesting, and maybe even a sign-post to what's to come.



Go Sabres.

R.E.M. - Supernatural Superserious

I like it when bands let you blog their videos. R.E.M. is cool.

What a great R.E.M. single.

BSG Notes

• Wow, the first ten minutes of the first new Battlestar Galactica in ages was absolutely Episodes III and VI good. Everybody involved totally went for broke and it showed. I mean I was excited about new BSG's but now I'm "oooooooh... BSG" and jonesing for new BSG.
• I'm also jonesing for the new Friday night Sci-FI channel lineup, with the good natured children's show Doctor Who spinoff The Sarah Jane Adventures and the fourth season of Doctor Who leading into BSG. The Tivo will definitely hum Friday nights.
• Baltar is Jesus? Jesus was not a sex fiend like Baltar, but he did heal the sick. I've always enjoyed the religious themes and explorations, but now that it's coalescing into a polytheism vs monotheism I'm giddy at the possible implications of this final season of BSG. It's also cool that Baltar's Cylon inspired monotheistic cult is populated by comely lasses.
• I'm also intrigued by the fact that the human "good guys" are the monotheists and the robot "bad guys" are the monotheists.
• Battlestar Galactic is the sci-fi Sopranos. Pure and simple. I think it always was and we just didn't see it.
• Thus I'm saving this first 10 episode batch of the final season on the Tivo to watch when I watch all of the previous BSG's in preparation for the final 10 episodes of this final season (air date totally TBD).

XBOX Update

Microsoft UPS'd me a power supply for my console Friday and all is well. Microsoft is off the schneid. For now.

Ah Well

Yes, the Sabres season is over, and yes it has to go down as a total failure and a bitter disappointment for the fans. Ah, but that just that means the the countdown has begun till next season, and in the end I'm not completely bummed out yet. That will come if the ownership doesn't step up to the plate and say "THIS IS A BLIP ON THE RADAR" and "STEPS WILL BE TAKEN," words I deem to be essential to reassuring the "new" Hockeytown that the jig isn't up.*



We shall see. Go Sabres.




* Of course by jig I mean dance, or Irish dance in particular. Some people actually think I'm referring to something else, believe it or not.

Penguins

Courtesy of Keith Olbermann, who also noted that today is Sir Alec Guiness's birthday. He would have been 94.

Keith Olbermann is one cool dude. I can tell you that.

Living Well Is Indeed The Best Revenge

A few games back I picked up a little wooden Sabres hockey stick thing at the Sabres Store, you know to have around the house. For clutching during Sabres games (especially penalty kills), clubbing yourself unconscious during Sabres games (or if I come across Fox News), and lately for air guitar duty as I shred through R.E.M.'s latest. Yes, "Accelerate" is the best album in ten years from the best American band of the last thirty years. The hype is correct. Peter Buck rocks, it hits you upside the head, it's a manual for our troubled times, yadda yadda. Everything you've heard and read about it is true. But what's truly great about "Accelerate" is that it almost simultaneously exists in R.E.M.'s past and future; I used to have a bootleg tape of an early R.E.M. show from Tyrone's in Athens and this is what R.E.M. used to sound like before the jangly neo-Southern indie rock, before "Chronic Town" and "Murmurs," and it's this raw and pure sound that is driving R.E.M. to it's future and away from the dreck they've been socking us with on their last two albums.* Air guitar and R.E.M. together again at last.... in an election year no less! It's all good people. It's all good.



* Okay, "Reveal" wasn't total bunk, but it wasn't great either. There are indeed a couple of cuts that do save it from being as lame as "Around the Sun."

A Brush With Fate

That was like watching England futily taking their penalty kicks in a World Cup match up until Max snagged us a win in the shootout. A tremendous game. And Miller redeemed himself somewhat in the shootout tonight. A Herculean effort of redemption and triumph.


And we get another meaningful game Thursday night. Let's go Sabres.

Oasis and Paul Weller (with Stereophonics, some other bands) in Toronto 9/7/08. Very nice.

I Can't Stop Watching This

They totally @#$%ed up my whole plan of watching the entire series including the third season on DVD right up until the fourth season by releasing the third season DVD last week, ONE FRAKKIN WEEK before the beginning of the fourth and final season. Thus this has become something of a mantra, a shared memory of what's come before on the show.

Trust me folks. Watch this catchy ditty a couple of times (it gets better with age), and then watch the fourth season opener this Friday (or Tivo it like I will).

It's the best.

Ah but something ain't right in America. We all know it, deep down. It's soul is twisted. There is violence there. In America's DNA. And it's getting worse, and can't be stopped. That's the beautiful point of the Brother Coen's No Country For Old Men, and the Cormac McCarthy novel it is based upon. It's dark yet utterly mesmerizing, occasionally violent (but not as violent as many have said) yet delicate, spare yet dazzling in it's minimalism, and everything about it is perfect. Tommy Lee Jones is perfect as God, or the voice of God at least; the old man with a Bible and a gun out of a U2 or Johnny Cash song (or, a U2 song featuring Johnny Cash- specifically "The Wanderer" off of Zooropa) trying to make sense out of our crazy times and the movie we're watching. Javier Bardem is brilliant. I'm not exactly sure what he brought to the sort of character that we've seen before to make his performance so jarringly effective, but he brought it, and I couldn't take my eyes off of him as he pursued Josh Brolin's cowboy, who deserves kudos for keeping up with Bardem and Jones (who looms over the film completely inspite of his comparatively short time onscreen). Every bit actor, every perfectly framed shot, every perfectly placed ray of light, it's all there... thanks to the unflinching vision and patience of the Brothers Coen.

It's a masterpiece for our troubled times. Go choke on it.

We are Doomed

These little fuckers are totally evil. Third graders plotting to put the hurt on their teacher?!? Fuck that shit. What I want to know is: what the hell kind of TV shows are these toerags watching? Or is family DVD night that fucked up? Egads. Yeaaahhrrrh.


Something just ain't right in Weycross Georgia.

One Upmanship

Is that how it

This is what I call a sex scandal. It totally puts the Spitzer in perspective.

Now that's hot. I wanted to link that YouTube bit to the blog but thought better of it. I have standards. And speaking of thinking better how about that Jonah Goldberg stuff? That guy's a total mess... all torn up inside being Jewish.... yet ceaselessly trying to link liberalism with fascism... I'm really amazed his head just doesn't explode right off his shoulders. I'd say that's the root of his profound cognitive dissonance but he's a neocon hack, and that means cognitive dissonance is par for the course...