Monday, December 11, 2006

Whoever said laughter is the best medicine, never had gonorrhea.

Alright, I know that every year I maintain that I have no faith in the Grammys and that they are completely worthless and yet every year they find a new way to piss me off. This year it’s just knowing that, in the Best Group Pop Performance, Death Cab for Cutie’s gorgeous and haunting “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” is going to be beaten out by the worthless Black Eyed Peas “My Humps”. Of course it’s going to happen. And it’s going to make me want to find the a-hole who voted for “My Humps” and cause them permanent hearing damage because they do not deserve to listen to music ever again. On the other hand, maybe “My Humps” won’t win. There’s a small but decent chance that the Pussycat Dolls might win with “Stickwitu”. Urge to kill rising…

Once again the only category that I find slightly validating is the lone “Alternative” Music Album award where the nominees are the Arctic Monkeys, the Flaming Lips, Gnarls Barkley, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Thom Yorke. Gnarls Barkley will win obviously win.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Gnarls album and it will probably win lots of awards if only so that all those worthless voters can prove how “hip” they are.

Other thoughts;

Anyone else notice that John Mayer’s “Waiting For the World to Change” is just the main riff from Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing”?

Academy please note: Imogen Heap is not a “New” Artist. Also she’s much much better than James Blunt.

I love Dylan and his new album is very good but I’m pretty sure he could cough into a microphone for an hour and get nominated for a Grammy. Please note this rule also applies to Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Tom Petty and anyone who achieved musical fame pre-1980 and is still alive.

Seriously, “My Humps”? You nominated “My Humps”? The fu-

If you haven’t seen it yet, enjoy:

I’m so happy this show is back.

News and notes:

So ND vs. LSU? Interesting…

Ouch to Michigan. But come on, you had your chance. And wow, USC. Way to blow that one. You putz!

Hey, look at that! The Giants won a game! Knew they had it in them.

Comeback award of the year: Timothy Busfield on Studio 60!

Sam Raimi moves from superhero to, well, superhero as they announced he’ll be helming a new movie of The Shadow. Recast Alec Baldwin! He can do better this time!

“My hump, my hump, my hump! My lovely lady humps!” Seriously!?

Until next time:

“I was so obsessed with getting my J.D. that I never got a chance to do the things I really wanted to do. Start a family. See the world.”

“Punch a whale.”

“Nah, I punched a whale. Right in the face. Down he went, like Liston.”

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

I am fast. Just to give you a reference point, I'm somewhere between a snake and a mongoose...and a panther.

Mustard, sure. Just no more turkey, please.

So rough loss for the Irish and the haters have commenced. I’ll say it right now: Notre Dame ended up over-rated this year. The only real quality win ended up being the GA Tech win. However, and I know everyone will call me an idiot for saying this, if Notre Dame had beaten Michigan, would everyone be saying how overrated and unworthy of a BCS game Michigan was? Look, the fact of the matter is that Michigan’s only quality win was over an admittedly over-rated Notre Dame. The only other tough game they really played was to Ohio State which they lost. Yeah there Wisconsin but seriously, they played an even easier schedule than Michigan so I don’t buy that. So Michigan, prove me wrong in your BCS game. That’s the real fun of the BCS: no more hiding behind an easy schedule for anyone.

Oh and Boise State? Attempt to play a real team and then we’ll talk about your “undefeated” season.

So I’ve caught up on the first 4 episodes of the O.C. to see if this “comeback” is real. It’s head and shoulders above the crap that was season 3 but I’m not ready to say it’s back just yet.

Heroes has officially got me. It’s a lot easier to hook someone when you have multiple episodes tivo’d for uninterrupted watching. Now which X-men will the rip off next?

Oh my God! You killed Ed Begley Jr.! You bastards! Just like Steven Guttenberg now that I think about it. Logan Echolls is my hero.

Caught The Fountain this weekend. I won’t waste a lot of time with a review as I’m still not even sure what I saw but I’m fairly certain I enjoyed it. This movie is a total mind trip. I haven’t been this challenged by a film since Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. I think Erin’s reaction at the end of it put it best: That movie was freaking weird! And she’s absolutely right. It’s not an easy movie and it’s damn near impossible to understand the whole thing. It’s got some great acting by Hugh Jackman and Rachael Weisz and the cinematography is absolutely gorgeous. So if you’re up for a movie that’s probably like nothing you’ve ever seen, give it a try.

And just cause it's fun:


News and Notes:

This just isn’t my sports year. I’ve accepted it. From the Rangers being swept in the opening round of the playoffs, to the Mets inability to go the distance, to the Irish failing to live up to the hype, to the collapse of the Giants, I’m just not going to win this year.

Can someone please explain to me the allure of shopping on Black Friday? I just don’t get it.

Peter Jackson: he’s not directing the Hobbit/ he is directing the Hobbit. Come on New Line, don’t be a bunch of asses. He only made you billions of dollars and gave you some actual credibility.

Until next time:

“What's you problem with a giant flat screen? I mean you love TV.”

“Yeah, but just because I love something doesn't mean I want it to be giant. I love grapes, you know, but I don't wanna sit down and eat one humongous ... no, that would be fun!”

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Prestons do not go into the woods. A guy named Preston is gonna get his ass kicked by a squirrel.

Ladies, ladies, ladies, the Mustard is in the hiz-ouse.

So much to talk about, so little time, so here we go:

First up, guess who got to play some Wii last weekend? During a quick weekend trip up to NYC, I somehow manage to convince Erin to stop by the Nintendo World Store where they had a whole lotta Wii demos set up. While I didn’t get a whole heckuva lot of time due to the large crowd there, I did get to play a little Wii Sports and Excite Truck.

I got some time in with the Bowling portion of Wii Sports and I gotta say, it was pretty fun. While the game completely eschews graphics for simple stylized (alright, I’ll admit, “kiddie”) visuals, the gameplay itself is sweet. Though it took to me to my last frame to even pick up a spare, I can see this as being a pretty darn fun multiplayer game. The ability to add spin to the throw by turning your wrist as you bowl, exactly like you would with a real bowling ball, is really cool. Add in the other games of Golf, Tennis, Boxing and Baseball and the fact that the game is an included pack-in game with the Wii and you’ve got a winner on your hands.

I got one race in Excite Truck and proceeded to come in dead last. But the control scheme is again unique and quite fun where you turn the “wii-mote” sideways and turn it like a steering wheel to maneuver. Given that I’ve never been a huge racing fan (exceptions being the Mario Kart and F-Zero series), I’m unsure if this is a must-have for me. But an awesome new feature that’s just been announced is the ability to use your own MP3’s to create a soundtrack for the game via an SD card. That’s a brilliant move and I hope we see a lot more of it.

So in general, the new controller is living up to the hype. I was pissed they didn’t have a Zelda demo up but then again, I don’t need a demo to know that game is going to absolutely own.

It’s funny, with all the craziness surrounding the PS3 Launch, I really don’t see a whole lot of exclusive launch games for it that would really make the system a must-have. Resistance looks pretty good but not really all that much better than say Gears of War on the 360. Maybe I’m missing something but I’ve yet to see a real reason to upgrade from the PS2 at this point. But then again with the ridiculous shortage of machines, that’s probably a good thing since most people won’t be able to upgrade.

You knew this was gonna be here:

Music You Should Be Listening To:

+/- (Plus/Minus) - Let's Build a Fire

The opening title track starts out as though it's being played over a gramophone before suddenly cranking out the horn section and guitars. Fadeout's minimalism feels like a song just constantly building until the very last minute when the drums and guitars explode into the picture. I'm still waiting for Steal the Blueprints to be released as Death Cab's newest single with its up-tempo guitars and backing vocals. Thrown Into the Fire has the synthy beats and sounds that are very reminiscent of Stars. An entertaining album from an off the radar band.

Ben Kweller - Ben Kweller

Things start off with the upbeat piano-fused, Run (which in no small way feels inspired by Springsteen’s Born to Run). Penny on the Track wins the Windows Down in the Car Award for this album with it’s quick, piano pounding tempo. Thirteen goes in the opposite direction with its simplicity being unbelievably effective. It’s repeating piano chords feed the songs multiple verses with no real chorus, only a simple harmonica interlude. By far my favorite track on the album. All in all a mighty fine album for when you’re looking for something a little different.

News and Notes:

South Bend was a damn fine time even if it was also damn cold. Good to finally see a win in the stadium again (haven’t seen one since my senior year). Oh and Erin nearly had a heart attack when Brady Quinn ALMOST got on our elevator in the hotel. We had to settle for the Irish D Line instead but he was that close to her!

Speaking of College Football, why why WHY couldn’t South Carolina have kicked that damn field goal!? That’s all we would’ve needed to put the Irish in really good position for a title run. Now Florida needs to fall flat before the season ends. Oh and props to Rutgers! Who would’ve guessed?

With all the shows getting picked up for a full season, you know what name I’d reeeeeally like to hear? Veronica Mars. Come on WB!!! Not just 3 additional episodes, I want the full season!

So is it really worth going to see Happy Feet in order to see the new Harry Potter trailer? That is the question a surprising number of people may be contemplating this weekend.

Until next time:

“Dad, you're eating Dr. Phil!”

“It's amazing, he tastes just like Jeffrey Tambor.”

Thursday, November 02, 2006

There’s a loop people and I’m in it. Not only am I in it, I’m the big curvy part.

Mustard: Catch the fever! Catch it!!!

So if I was Bernard right now, I’d be scared out of my mind. He’s the only Tailie left. Anyone else really really want them to start moving on the story here? I realize Lost is all about the mystery but if you’re going to introduce 13 new questions per show, maybe we can answer one or two? I mean yeah, we now know how the smoke monster killed Greg Grunberg but now we’ve got a pirate on the island? Let the Dharrrrrma Initiative jokes begin. Poor Eko. We shall miss him. This is the first time they’ve actually killed off a fan favorite. More power to ‘em.

Wow, John Kerry. Could that have been a dumber move this close to the election? First off, is him stumping for the candidates that great an idea? The guy isn’t all that likeable and quite frankly isn’t going to pull any fence voters. But wow, what a time to “botch a joke”. I say it’s all a conspiracy. I can see it now, a press conference is called where Kerry and Bush face off over the remark only to suddenly smile and hug each other with Karl Rove laughing in the background while good ol’ J.R. wails in the background “My God! Kerry’s screwed us all! Why, Kerry!? Why!?”

Damn you USC! You couldn’t just keep winning or at least lose to a legitimately good team like Cal? Now I have to worry about you coming into the ND game with possibly 2 losses which would make the game next to meaningless. You putz!

Prison Break is starting to lose my interest. They’re like Ricky Gervais. They take a long time to say absolutely nothing. At least Lost keeps you interested in adding in more and more possibilities. Prison Break feels like they’re just adding in more and more filler.

I think Bones has moved into my “most underrated shows on TV” list. It’s a procedural that has some great characters and introduces a lot of humor into an otherwise depressing subject area that prevents the audience from burning out on the darker aspects of the show *cough* Law and Order *cough*. Who would’ve thought David Boreanaz could survive an acting career past Angel? And Emily Deschanel needs to be put into the awards circuit. Her round circle with the 9 year old pageant contestants last night was priceless.

News and notes:

Back to the Bend! Making my first return visit to Notre Dame in 2 years this weekend for the UNC game. Giggity.

So the Wachowski Brothers: The Matrix, V for Vendetta….. Speed Racer? Apparently so. Coming summer of 2008.

Simpsons Tree House of Horror! This Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

Until next time:

“It's no different than lying to a criminal to get a confession.”

“Or having Hodgins call the FAA with a fake terrorism tip.”

“He did what!?”

“Oh what? Now suddenly there's a line?”

Friday, October 27, 2006

If all the air around you smelled like pickles and there was no where to run, no where to hide, would you find that at all bothersome?

Holy crap! It’s the 100th post of the Mustard!!!!

It’s been a week now and yet the only thing I’m able to say is this: WAS CARLOS BELTRAN THE ONLY PERSON ALIVE WHO DIDN’T SEE THE 0-2 CURVEBALL FOR A STRIKE COMING!!!! WAINWRIGHT HAD ONLY THROWN THE SAME DAMN PITCH 10 EFFING TIMES THAT INNING!!!! Seriously, I’m still THAT upset about it.

And sweet merciful Zeus, could ND have cut that game any closer? I mean come on!

The only positive thing in sports for me the whole week was the ass-kicking the Giants gave Dallas on Monday.

SCRUBS IS BACK NOVEMBER 30TH!!!! Now the bad news: it’s opposite Greys Anatomy and CSI. Thanks NBC. I’m sure the ratings this year will be huge. Frak it, I don’t care. I’m just happy to have it back. I was watching the episode where Turk proposes to Carla the other day and it made me miss the show so much it hurts sometimes.

I’ve been hearing a lot of complaints of people thinking the Office has gotten too zany this year but damnit people, just appreciate a good comedy while it lasts. Ed Helms love of the Cardigans last week was hi-lar-ious.

Um, so they average about 100 songs a season the OC but for the next mix they’re going with all covers? And not classic song covers, but covers of Modest Mouse’s Float On, Spoon’s I Turn My Camera On and The Killers’ Smile Like You Mean It? Is it really necessary to cover songs that are only a year old? And I’m sorry but we do NOT need another rendition of Phantom Planet’s California. It’s already been on 2 Mixes and with all the good music on the show that doesn’t make the mix, why push it on again? Um, and wasn’t Imogen Heap’s cover of Hallelujah supposed to be on the mix? Yet it’s not on the current track listing?

Buffalo tied the NHL mark last night by going 10-0 to open the season and still no one cares. Maybe they should bring back that totally awesome halo thing they used to put around the puck complete with the cutting edge neon tail when the put was shot fast enough.

News and Notes:

GREATEST GIFT EVER!!! Erin got me a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird signed by Harper Lee for our anniversary! How unbelievably cool is that?

Also those of you with speakers may have noticed my newest addition to the blog: song of the week. I figured if I was running that far behind with music reviews I could at least add a little something musical in here.

Factcheck.org – Please don’t vote uninformed…or solely informed from BS political ads.

And be sure to watch Lost next week because the rumors are that someone MAJOR is permanently checking off the island.

Seriously, I’m still that depressed about the Mets.

Until next time:

“Snakes are gross. Snakes are scary and slithery and do you know where snakes do not belong?”

On a plane?”

“They do not belong on a plane.”

“It's not an ideal situation.”

“They do not belong anywhere except in cages, stuck in safes burried deep, deep underground. I hate snakes.”

“So I'm gathering.”

“With their gross no legged bodies and their scaly, scaly skin, and their wiggling and their hissing.”

“Okay, Lore, I respect your very valid feelings about snakes. But I have to say, we were fairly warned.”

“No. No. A movie should not just be its title. Driving Miss Daisy didn't all take place in a car, Dances With Wolves wasn't one long wolf dance. But this was nothing but snakes. snakes, relentless snakes, snakes, on a plane, snakes, snakes, snakes on a plane!”

Monday, October 23, 2006

A Wii Bit of Monday Happiness

Ok, so I just had to post this because everyone hates Mondays but this is just wonderful:

Thursday, October 19, 2006

The '70s had the Hustle. The '80s, the moonwalk. We have the faux-lesbian dance.

Mustard: How could anyone ask for more?

So NBC announced it’s intent to overhaul the company’s spending including cuts in expensive dramas and comedies in the 8 to 9 slot. I can’t help but think that this bodes ill for Studio 60 as well since it’s pretty pricey and getting slammed in the ratings.

Venture Brothers just concluded it’s 2nd season. The finale involved an epic battle between David Bowie and Iggy Pop, a riff on the Neverending Story and was pretty much just genius throughout. They better green light Season 3.

So Jeff’s Top 5 Most Annticpated Movies…For the Rest of the Year:

(in order of release)

Borat – I can’t help it. The trailer has completely won me over that this could be the funniest movie of the year. Sacha Baron Cohen proved he’s the man in Talladega Nights and though I never really got into Da Ali G show, I’m dead set on catching this.

Stranger Than Fiction – At first glance this is a Nora Ephron movie. But then you actually look at the production and you realize it’s by the same guy who did Monster’s Ball and Finding Neverland. Suddenly this movie has gotten a little more interesting.

Casino Royale – I desperately want this to be a good Bond flick. They’re overhauling the look, casting a new lead (and despite everyone’s complaints of a blonde James Bond, I think Daniel Craig has a very Connery look to him). I just worry that’s it’s still the same producers who have been steadily dragging this franchise down.

The Fountain – Darren Aronofsky directing a flick with Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz? I’m there. Despite the long (and I mean long) delays in getting the project off the ground, I have very high hopes for it.

Pan’s Labyrinth – Guillermo Del Toro is back and looking to prove not CG visual effects can be just as effective as George Lucas’ digital wonderlands. This has such a great twisted fairy tale vibe to it I can’t wait.

Other notables:

Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny – Jack Black is hit or miss but I loves me some Tenacious D.

Running with Scissors – Brian Cox should just be in every movie (and usually is).

The Good German – The trailer just came out. Looks like Clooney is more and more trying to prove he’s Cary Grant incarnate. Love the poster by the way.

News and Notes:

If you haven’t caught the World of Warcraft South Park episode yet, please do yourself a favor and quickly go here and join the online sensation before we all murder you.

Anyone else wonder why hell Lauren Graham was even on Studio 60 this week as the host? They didn’t even mention her by name. Hopefully she'll have some point in next week's ep.

IE7 officially “launched” today. If you want a subpar Firefox clone, give it a try! Or better yet, just use Firefox.

Until next time:

“So...it's a cocoon...that flies...”

“Obviously!”

“I just realized...that makes no sense.”

“Duh! Monarch! Butterfly, butterfly cocoon, it's a theme thing!”

“Yeah, I get it, but why didn't you just make it look like a butterfly?”

“...Because that's gay?”

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

And get that security tape! I want a Quicktime of my minty-fresh entrance on my webpage by tomorrow!

I love Mustard cause it’s so delicious! Gotta go Mustard!

So let’s jump into it:

Following up last week’s post on Robert Downey Jr. being cast as Tony Stark in Iron Man, the role of Jim Rhodes has also been cast: Oscar nominee Terence Howard. Frankly I’m a little disappointed. They already had the perfect man for the role of the future War Machine who is already comfortable acting in metal armor right here. But seriously, for a superhero movie they’re going very Batman Begins-caliber in the way of casting. Oh, have I mentioned the movie is being directed by Jon Favreau?

Nathan Filion aka Mal from Firefly/Serenity will be appearing in an episode of Lost this season! Frak yeah! According to TVGuide’s Michael Ausiello, he’ll be appearing in a Kate flashback. This man needs to be in more roles.

So need reasons why Veronica Mars is officially the best show on television right now? Ok, let’s just look at last night’s episode:

1. Dan Castellaneta of Homer Simpson fame (and they had him put in a D’oh!)

2. Ryder Strong of Boy Meets World fame

3. Samm Levine of Freaks and Geeks fame (why the hell did they cancel that show?)

4. The continuing use of the word ‘frak’

5. Keith Mars is a badass (yet a sensitive badass)

6. Wallace and Logan’s bet

WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!

Studio 60 has really hit its stride and I am going to be a sad person if they cancel it.

Heroes: Look, you’ve got a great cast and a great premise, now they need to get things moving. If it’s about superheroes you need to get them doing more. Audiences do not like plodding stories where the superheroes barely do anything. Just ask Ang Lee.

Caught the Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning on my day off this Monday and I think congratulations are in order. This is officially the first movie I have ever walked out of! This was just absolutely awful. This wasn’t a horror flick for scares. This was just “hey how can we think up the most twisted sadistic shit imaginable and put it on screen”? Basically it was a big “F you Eli Roth, look what we can do”! Hell I own the first Eli Roth movie (funny enough starring Ryder Strong) and I could not stomach this. Then again this was from the guy who directed Darkness Falls aka the movie with the Tooth Fairy as the villain.

News and Notes:

So the weaker shows are starting to drop off. Now bring back Scrubs!

I’ll be putting up top 5 anticipated rest of the year movies next week.

Did anyone else ever think they’d live to see the day when Nicolas Cage and Peter Fonda would be starring opposite each other in a comicbook movie?

Until next time:

“Yeah. You'll never believe it - a maid from our hotel in New York found the Flash card with all our vacation photos on it. Look.”

“Hot dog!”

"Hot dog"?

“It's an expression of excitement and enthusiasm. Joe and Frank Hardy and I used to say ‘Hotdog’ all the time while we were waiting for the car hop to bring us our malteds at the drive-in.”

Friday, October 06, 2006

I bent my wookie!

Whoa, two Mustard posts in one week? Why? Cause I wanted to, that’s why.

So this is like a week old but Robert Downey Jr. has been cast as Iron Man. For those not in the know, Iron Man’s biggest character flaw is alcoholism. A little on the nose? Like a pink elephant balloon symbolizing the gay Republicans (it’s a Simpsons reference. No hate mail).

In the latest big movie stolen from a foreign movie, Scorsese’s The Departed opens today. It’s a remake of the Hong Kong flick Infernal Affairs. And it still looks awesome.

While I loved the season premiere of Lost, I think they need to give the fanboys out there a little love with an answer or two. I have no problem being strung along but I’m worried they might start alienating the average viewer who gets frustrated much more easily.

This is the single greatest thing I have ever seen in my entire life:

Ralph Wiggum for President.

Yeah at some point I will finish up the Ep commentary (I'm almost there, I swear) but until then check out Penny Arcade Love this site. One of my favorites:



Until next time:

“Did you make any friends?”

“Lord no!”

“Enemies?”

“Eh.”

“Well, it is a day that ends in a 'y’.”

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Do you even know what diffident means? That's OK. That knowledge isn't really required for the retail doughnut distribution industry.

I loves me some my Mustard.

So I was watching Veronica Mars last night with an episode dealing with a serial rapist, a mob murder, and the aftereffects of a suicide and thought to myself, “You know what we really need right now? A bunch of idiot teenage girls in pajamas discussing whether or not Veronica and Logan will last. That would just be awesome.” Someone tell me what the flurking schnit is up with the “aerie girl” roundtable going on during the Gilmore Girls/Veronica Mars Tuesday nights? You’ve got two of the most intelligently written shows on TV right now and we have to sit there and listen to a bunch of frakking airheaded teenyboppers gossip over whether Luke and Lorelei were ever right for each other!? What the hell kind of value does this add the damn shows?! Damn you WB/CW/Whatever the hell you are!

On the other hand, I felt a little bit better about the future of the Gilmore Girls after last night’s episode. I still miss the Palladinos but this did feel very true to their direction of the show. Oh and Veronica Mars? Still that good the 2nd time around.

So after two weeks of Heroes I’m still not 100% sold on it but I definitely enjoyed the 2nd episode. Hey there’s Greg Grunberg! It took an hour and 45 minutes but we finally got him on the show.

Now it’s only in beta (isn’t everything these days?) but gotta say, I’m so far digging the Songbird media player. Based off Mozilla source code (ala Firefox which you should all be using by now), it’s not only a normal digital jukebox but also a Web player. If you’re on a webpage that offers a downloadable song (like say carybrothers.com) it’ll detect the audio file and display it in a window along with all other audio files on the site and allow you to easily save them to your library. Plus you can subscribe to something like a music related blog and it’ll automatically download the songs similar to a podcast. Pretty darn cool if you ask me. It also had audio search engines built in. Give it a try.

Mother F#$^#$!!!! Both Pedro and El Duque out for the playoffs!?!?!?! The Mets are in deep effing trouble. Missing out on a major arm during the trade deadline isn’t looking so great now, is it? Oliver Perez after losing 3 games and being sent down to the minors is supposed to come into the playoff rotation and make an impact? To quote Otto: “Disappointed!”

News and Notes:

Lost returns tonight! For six weeks at least.

The hockey season starts up as well. Call me crazy but was there any hype for the season beginning? Hell I live in DC and didn’t see a single Caps ad or promo. I swear I sometimes feel the NHL is just giving up. That season off really helped things didn’t it? And last year totally made up for it. You putzes.

Until next time:

“And you call yourselves college men. Where are the posters of beer and half naked women?”

“Oh, it's behind the case of porn and my shot glass collection.”

Friday, September 29, 2006

Oh, but which door to choose? That one can have fun, surprises, and a year's supply of Turtle Wax behind it.... or the polar bear from Lost!

Mustard: discuss.

Ok, so let’s jump right into things. Virgin Music Festival? Fan-freakin-tastic. The fact that Erin and I managed to worm our way up to about 20 feet from the stage during the Killers and the Who made it that much better. Honestly, best concert I’ve ever been to and yes, I realize that might be a little unfair as it was really more like 9 concerts but still, what a day.

Points on the day:

Kasabian was a great band to kick things off with as there wasn’t a huge crowd at that point.

I got to see the Who! And Pete Townshend is still a god on the guitar.

Killers were amazingly good live and played about 50/50 from their last and the upcoming album due out in October.

The Raconteurs – Jack White turned it up about 11 notches from their album. Also really cool cover of Nancy Sinatra’s Bang Bang (which you may remember from the opening credits of Kill Bill).

Gnarls Barkley – Cee-Lo is one charismatic mofo. Awesome watching Danger Mouse work. The whole band came out dressed as Romans.

Flaming Lips – Opened up with Captain American and Thor throwing lead singer Wayne Coyne, who was inside a giant hamster ball, out into the audience while a chorus of Santas and Aliens sang behind him. I cannot make this shit up.

New Pornographers – Performance of the day. Just an awesome awesome concert. Not as high profile as a lot of the others, just a solid rock performance that had you hanging on every song.

Oh and to top it all off we made it home just in time for me to see the ridiculous ND comeback of MSU. Go Irish!

So far the only pilot this year to really grab me has been Studio 60. Kidnapped was kinda whatever, I’m already getting this thriller formula from 24 and Prison Break. Heroes was enjoyable and I’ll stick with it for now but there was just something missing in the episode. Might be the fact that it was originally supposed to be a 2 hour pilot. Well let’s see how it’s looking after next week.

Returning shows have faired much better. The Office and Earl premieres? Hilarious. Greys Anatomy also has been coming back strong. Gilmore Girls? It was good but it did not totally allay my worries about a Palladino-less show.

And the best premiere of the year? Veronica Mars. Yes, I have seen it thanks/no thanks to MSN.com (it took me 40 freaking minutes to get the damn thing to play. Damn you Microsoft!). This show hasn’t lost a step since last season. Hell they actually explain what frak means in the show. They have a hilarious scene devoted to the habit of college girls laying out on the quad and the guys who go to watch them. My one qualm? Why the hell did they remix the Dandy Warhols theme? It’s super slow and not the exciting adrenaline pump that was such great lead in. Ah well. I swear this show is starting to pull away as the best show on TV right now. So start watching it!

News and notes:

Moving this weekend. 4th time in 3 years. ARGH!!!

Have you been to “How It Should Have Ended” yet? These are awesome. Here’s one of my favorites:


Until next time:

“Okay, that's it. Back to the pool house, men. We have some serious
bucking up to do here.”

“I swiped some Scotch.”

“I'll reenact the Passion of the Christ.”

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

I insist you do something about this before I go out and find a stick and make it pointy and come and find your cubicle and poke you very hard.

As most will attest to, I’m a pretty big proponent of home theater. I was the guy who people pointed at and laughed (or questioned my sanity) when they saw how big my DVD collection was long before DVDs became a weekly purchase for most of America. I’ve got the big 42-inch HD TV with the 5.1 surround and the upconverting component video DVD player (unfortunately my TV does not have a HDMI port, only DVI while my DVD player is exactly the opposite. And yes, I’ve tried adapters and have not been pleased with the results). So keep this all in mind when I say I just do not get the HD/Blu-Ray push going on right now. The ongoing format war is just asinine and automatically makes me not want one. The players themselves are ridiculously overpriced. And I’ll be totally honest, I just don’t think it’s that much better quality to warrant such an expensive upgrade.

Maybe it’s the retailers’ fault. Right after the Blu-Ray players first were released I went into a Sony store to see their display and instead of blowing me away with a movie that would properly demonstrate the potential of medium, they played a preview of Ultraviolet on repeat. Oh yeah, I’m all ready to plunk down $1000 now. But it’s been that way ever since. I’ve not once seen a retailer with a nice setup, plugging away Batman Begins in High Def. And honestly, the studios don’t seem to care. It’s not like I’ve seen a marketing campaign telling me why I should be spending $10 extra per movie to see them in “glorious” High Def. Hence another reason why I will never be shelling out for the PS3.

Caught Zach Braff’s latest The Last Kiss last weekend. It was good but not as good as Garden State which, unfortunately, is what it will inevitably be compared to. The cast is excellent with Jacinda “I Was On The Real World” Barrett of all people turning in an outstanding performance. Braff as usual turns in great work and the supporting cast of Casey Affleck, Rachel Bilson, Tom Wilkenson and Bryce Danner really shines. Random as hell Harold Ramis cameo in there to boot. The problem I had with the movie is it seems like there are just scenes missing that would give the audience a little more insight into the actions and emotions of the characters. Braff’s character is supposedly having a huge 30 something crisis about his girlfriend’s pregnancy yet I honestly never felt like he was conflicted or trapped enough push him towards his actions in the movie’s second act (keeping it spoiler-lite). It was just as if there were scenes that got axed that would’ve dug a little deeper into his characters mindset and allowed us to understand how he could do the things he does. Another problem was that you could really tell what parts of the dialogue were in there originally by Paul Haggis and which ones were tweaked by Braff and Braff’s dialogue come off smoother and much more natural.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: Never been a HUGE fan of Aaron Sorkin. He’s kinda like Citizen Kane, I know it’s genius filmmaking but I just cannot get into it. But after catching the pilot I was pleasantly surprised by how easily I ended up enjoying it. Maybe it’s that I can easily relate to the fact that SNL used to be amazing comedy and has since fallen to tired sketches that, to quote the pilot, they're just gonna shove down our throats until we laugh. I like the characters, the premise, the dialogue. Will it sustain my interest? Who knows. But for now, it’s got my Monday night at 10 slot.

New and notes:

We’ve joined the Mac revolution: Erin is now the proud owner of a new 13 inch Macbook. Now I want to use it. (She also got a new video iPod with it…jealousy rising).

Mets clinch! It’s only been 18 years. Bout damn time.

Virgin Music Festival this weekend! Gnarls! Killers! Flaming Lips! The frakkin’ Who!

Until next time:

“Hey, I just asked Lars if he was seeing anyone special. He misunderstood and he might be filing one of those sexual harassment charges against me.”

“What?”

“And you, because I said you made me.”

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Wii'd Off

Why is Nintendo hell bent on giving me doubts on buying the Wii? I mean seriously, as of yesterday, I was sold, no questions ask, sign me up, I’m there. Then comes the announcements from today’s press conference…

First off price: $250. I don’t have a huge problem with this given the re-friggin-diculous pricing of the other two systems. Would I have liked to have seen it cheaper? Yes. But it isn’t a deal breaker. What I absolutely hate is that they are including only one controller and that it’ll cost $60 for another one! Look, one controller has been standard for a long time now but it’s stupid as Nintendo wants to get the whole family into the game. Why not include the 2nd controller? But 60 effing dollars for another controller!? That automatically jacks the initial price up to a minimum of $310. Suddenly, we’re not so cheap anymore.

Next the launch date: November 19th. Why the hell would you want to launch two days AFTER the PS3?! It makes no sense. Sony has already hung themselves out with a huge shortage of units. Why would you not want to steal their buzz by launching earlier than them with plenty of units to go around? Now everyone is going to be talking about PS3. Either about how great it is or about how crappy it is that they couldn’t get one. That hype will last a lot longer than 2 days and completely overshadow the Wii launch. But no, Nintendo still doesn’t get that it’s NOT the market leader anymore.

Launch games: Yeah, Zelda, I got it. Anything else? I’m sorry, Excitetruck doesn’t really get me all warm and fuzzy and Wii Sports is pretty much an expanded demo. Metroid 3? Coming out 2007. No mention of Mario Galaxy. Come on! Give me something here! I could also just be bitter that EA decided not to make NHL ’07 for the Wii. How could you not? They adapted Madden and methinks the Wii remote is a little more suited towards say SHOOTING A PUCK?

Finally the nickel and dime BS: Completely ripping off Xbox Live, you’ll be using “Wii Points” to buy things online. And of course by points we mean cash. Why can’t anyone just up and price the damn things without having to do some stupid point system where $1 = 100 points? Also, they’re going to charge points to download the web browser? Come on, if you’ve got wi-fi in your house, odds are you’ve got a laptop to use it. So then why should I fork over cash for a web browser (not the connection mind you, just the stupid web browser which on a computer is 100% free) to surf the net on my TV when I’ve already got internet access? Also launching the Gamecube version of Zelda on December 11th? Couldn’t you maybe give parents who don’t want to buy the Wii a little more time than having to fight each other 2 weeks before the holidays?

So there ya go. Do I feel like spending $350 on launch day? Not particularly. Will I still do it? Probably. I’m sure not shelling out for those other systems and I’m honestly excited about the Wii’s possibilities. But damn you Nintendo, you can’t just make me happy to go out and buy one so easily, can you? God forbid you make things easy.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

My Lincoln-Sense is tingling!

Welcome to the all-singing, all-dancing, all-music (almost) edition of the Mustard. Figured it’s been long enough and my music collection keeps growing so:

So the HUGE Apple press conference was today. The big news: the current iPod is seeing an upgrade where it will be brighter and play games with an option for an 80 GB edition. Also a bunch of nano updates (colors) and even a new iPod shuffle (that thing is still around?). ITunes is also getting an update with higher res video playback, different views like cover view (so we’ve caught up to Windows Media Center?) and there’s also a service to find missing cover art (this is actually very cool). Even bigger, you can finally use your iPod to transfer content between computers (provided the computer is authorized on the same account, sorry people, no stealing your friends’ entire music collection just yet). This is going to make my life so much easier with my home and work computers.

And of course there are now movies… Disney studio movies to be precise. Now before you freak out it’s all Disney owned studios so it’s also Touchstone, Miramax, etc. 75 to start with and counting. I like the new releases being 12.99 preorder and first week and then moving up to 14.99. Best Buy does the same exact thing. And most titles (aka old titles) will be $9.99. They’ll be at near DVD qualities and in Dolby surround. But you won’t be burning them to DVD so start work on hooking up your computer to the TV. I like this price point better than Amazon's at least and F- you other Hollywood studios who want to charge normal DVD prices for downloads. If it’s of a lesser value than DVD (and, with slightly lower video res and no special features, it is), we shouldn’t be paying DVD prices. Moving on…

Now I’ve commented before on my near obsession with the Mountain Goats’ Sunset Tree album. Well here’s the video (unofficial I believe though I’ve yet to confirm that) to the fantastic song Dance Music:


Tremendous.

So October 3rd is officially the day to lose money on music. We’ve got new albums coming out that day by Beck, the Killers, Jet and the Decemberists. Ouch.

Mark down your calendars: January 23rd. The release date for the oft rumored new Shins album, Wincing the Night Away. Is it refreshing that there’s a band out there who isn’t releasing a new album every year or just frustrating cause the Shins are that good?

Reviews! Recommendations! Redactionals!

Snow PatrolFinal Straw

Alright so the album’s song Chocolate is getting huge airplay now thanks to the trailer for Zach Braff’s new movie The Last Kiss. And it should cause it’s a great song. The opener, How to be Dead has a nice easy pace to it reminiscent of a more produced Matt Nathanson track. Run shows a strong Coldplay influence while still managing to be better than anything on their last album.

Rogue WaveDescended Like Vultures

This band has a good diverse sound that’s very Death Cab-esque. Publish My Love in particular has the pounding guitar interludes reigning back into a low key verses that Ben Gibbard has perfected. The acoustic California has some great, haunting vocals that a reminiscent of Lost and Gone Forever era Guster.

Art BrutBang Bang Rock & Roll

Take the sound of Ramones or the more contemporary Franz Ferdinand, add a satirical disdain towards self indulgent rock while somehow celebrating it at the same, and you’ve got the entertaining debut of Art Brut. We Formed a Band nails this one the head with lyrics such as “And yes, this is my singing voice. It's not irony and it's not rock and roll. I'm just talking to the kids.” But the real gem of the album comes from My Little Brother with its biting guitars and straight minded lyrics of “My little brother just discovered rock & roll”. Great album.

Cat Power The Greatest

The title track (and opener) is one of the strongest piano pieces I’ve heard in a long time. Living Proof livens things up with a more blues-crossed-with-gospel influence. Empty Shell swings into a more country mood that could’ve been pulled off of Bright Eye’s Wide Awake It’s Morning. Strong recommendation for this album.

Well that should hold you up for a while. True I’ve gotten a helluva lot more music than that since last I updated but we’ll get to that later.

News and non-music related Notes:

Speaking of The Last Kiss, it’s out this Friday. I’m quite looking forward to it. I’m not a HUGE Paul Haggis fan (though his guest appearance on Entourage brought me closer) but I’ve heard Zach Braff did a little work on the dialogue and if nothing else his writing on Garden State was excellent.

2 day countdown to Wii Day. Supposedly the big announcement of the price and date will happen at Nintendo’s press conference on Thursday. Rumored pricing of under $200. Please let it be true…

Joss Whedon, master of all that is good, has been announced as the new writer of Runaways taking over for the departing Brian K. Vaughn. Whedon’s run on Astonishing X-men was the reason I actually started paying attention to comics. I’ve read Vaughn’s first 2 volumes on Runaways and it’s excellent and I think Whedon is the only reason that fans of the series aren’t going to go on strike once he leaves.

Go Irish!

Until next time:

“Peter, what is that?”

“Well, I got the idea to build a panic room after I saw that movie The Butterfly Effect. I thought, wow, this is terrible. I wish I could escape to a place where this movie couldn't find me.”

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Hello, my name is Cliff. I'll be your "if you can't afford an attorney" attorney.

Mustard: Surprise Frittata Edition

So back from a crazy weekend down in Atlanta. Damn good to hit an ND game again. But my oh friggin’ my was there a lot of whining and bitching going on. First off: the game. I think I was the only ND person in Atlanta who didn’t think the Irish were gonna walk right over Tech. Am I the only person who remembered last year when they took out #16 Auburn on opening day or how bout beating #3 Miami late in November? Oh and both of those were on the road. And you know what? Tech is not a bad team this year. Now that said, was it a pretty game for the Irish? Absolutely not. For the first half Quinn couldn’t get settled to save his life and Darius Walker seemed to juke himself away from every open hole. Oh and we can’t kick a field goal. But great play by Quinn to get that TD with no time outs left in the first half. And then came the call…

Sweet mercy crap people, the hit on Quinn did NOT cost Tech the game. Was it questionable? Yeah. But one play does not make a game. And don’t blame the refs for “favoring” Notre Dame. Look at the penalty breakdown: 11 on ND for 80 yards, 5 on Tech for 28. Twice as many penalties for over 3 times as many lost yards and ND was getting all the calls? Hell, 2 of the Irish penalties were called right after the Quinn hit. If your offense can’t score more than one touchdown and a field goal, don’t expect to beat a team which is quite frankly better than you.

And that brings me to my other problem: the Tech fans. I’ve been to just about every type of sporting event under the sun. I’ve seen all kinds of fans. I have no problem whatsoever with the back and forth ribbing between opposing team’s fans. Hell, that’s some of the best part of the game. And sure there’s always some drunk a-hole on both sides that goes too far and you have to expect it. But Tech fans were easily the worst fans I’ve seen and I’m from NY. Yelling obscenities at a 70 something couple wearing ND T-shirts? Legitimately trying to start fights while walking by an ND tailgater? Hell, after one exchange I saw an Notre Dame fan say “good luck with the game and enjoy your afternoon” and give a knuckle bump to a Tech fan who put on a look of disgust saying “Ew, don’t f%$#ing touch me!”. And during the game? Throwing trash on the field after the Quinn hit (when you didn’t know it would lead to anything other than the Irish not having to kick a field goal right away). Throwing trash on the field after the Irish TD? Throwing trash on the field after the game? Real classy people. You don’t have to cheer when things go badly for your team but grow up and try not to embarrass yourselves.

As for the Tech football team: good job. You scared the crap out of most of the ND nation and made sure people aren’t going to dismiss you anymore. The defense was vicious in getting to Quinn. Really if Tech can open up another receiving threat so that Johnson doesn’t get double teamed all the time, they’re gonna be a nasty team for anyone to play.

Changing leagues, the NFL starts up Thursday leading to the big game on Sunday between my Giants and the Colts. Clash of the Titans or Fraternal Ass-kicking? We shall see.

News and Notes:

Special thanks to Crowley for the lodging and setting up the gratuitous drinking over the weekend.

Looking to get rid of some of those crappy CDs you bought impulsively in the musically challenged 90s? Give Lala a try. You can trade away some of the more embarrassing discs in your collection (why did I buy Blink 182’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, why?) for something you may actually want now.

Supposedly Apple will be announcing a new iPod this month. Unfortunately, it will probably end up being a new 8 or16 GB nano.

Things that really annoy me: Celebrity Playlists on iTunes where the “celebrity” puts their own music on it. How obnoxious is this? And you wonder why musicians get pegged as being narcissistic and self serving.

Until next time:

"In the spirit of full client/investigator disclosure, I'm not offering you this beer out of the goodness of my heart."

"You're not?"

"Nope. I'm fulfilling a long-time fantasy of sharing a cold one with my favorite ball players. And after we're done, we're gonna play catch in the parking lot."

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

I hate fake deer, too. Everytime I see their stupid fake deer faces, I wanna grab a shotgun and go all Cheney on 'em.

Mustard: Better than a 2x4 to the head.

Emmy time has come and gone and really not a whole helluva lot changed. Tony Shaloub (I really like Monk but 3 times for the same character who doesn’t really change? How does Steve Carrell not win that field?) and Megan Mullally (shoot me, shoot me now) took home their trophies without trying. And I don’t really agree with Kiefer taking best drama actor (rage against me all you want but all he does is act ANGRY or whisper). 24 as best drama? Again, I love the show but it barely makes more sense than Prison Break. Of course I might just still be pissed about Veronica Mars not being nominated (just finished up Season Two on DVD and it really was THAT good).

They did some things right: Jeremy Piven finally gets his recognition. The Office was at least worthy of best comedy if not nearly as good as Scrubs or Arrested Development. My Name is Earl got its recognition for Directing and Writing (yet apparently Two and a Half Men is more deserving of a best comedy nomination).

Conan was a great host ("um, we kind weren’t invited") and Bob Newhart still has the best facial expressions in the business. Also major props to all nominees for the Variety/Musical/Comedy Program writing teams for their nominee videos (The Colbert Report’s bears take the prize in my book).

Finally got a new phone and, thanks to Google and some kind souls on the mobilepedia message boards, have figured out how to make my own ringtones. Right now I’ve got the chorus to Spoon’s Beast and Dragon Adored as my main tone. The sound quality on the LG VX8300’s external speakers is fantastic.

So Deadwood is over (as far as normal episode go, now there’s just 2 movies that’ll be coming out). This show is truly rewarding for those that have the patience for it. It’s not an easy show to watch (and I’m not just talking about the constant profanity or violence ie Dan’s fight with the Captain). It’s a slow burn show, incredibly deceptive of how much is going on in any given episode but it handles an ensemble cast better than almost any show on television. Ian McShane has officially hit my favorite actors list. Hell I almost went and saw Woody Allen’s latest cause he was in it and it takes a lot to get me to a Woody Allen movie these days. Great show, great story and I’ll miss it when it’s finally over. Plus it had Major Dad as the villain this year. Bonus points right there.

News and Notes:

Heading to the ND/GA Tech game in 4 days! College Gameday, baby! Finally back to an Irish football game. It’s been too long. NCAA Football 2003 predicted a 7-6 Irish victory.... maybe the scoring was a little low.

Zach Braff not heading back to Scrubs after this year? I don’t know what’s sadder: the thought of Scrubs without JD or that I heard about this through Erin’s Jane magazine.

I still do not understand the appeal of preseason NFL Football. I’m sorry, I just don’t.

Steve Trachsel: 14 Wins. Only 5 Losses. 4.98 ERA. And somewhere Roger Clemens weeps.

Until next time:

“Sexually transmitted diseases are no joke, Jane.”

“I wasn't laughing. I sneezed.”

“See how much you're sneezing when you have gonorrhea.”

Thursday, August 24, 2006

What's wrong? You've been listening to Radiohead, haven't you? That's it. I'm putting you on a strict Nelly diet.

Mustard: Deep and I don’t think it’s playable.

Man, what a let down: after weeks of hype surrounding the Nintendo Wii press conference at the Games Convention in Leipzig, all Nintendo comes up with is to announce sequels to Super Mario Strikers and Battalion Wars. While good news, it’s not exactly HUGE. These were pretty much givens to come out. So apparently we’re now marking our date for Sep 14th as the day they announce date and price. Which probably translates to an early November release as opposed to the October release previously rumored. Unless of course Nintendo decides to pull an Apple and just have the equipment ready for launch the minute it’s announced. No, I don’t think that’ll happen but then again Nintendo is obviously going the Apple route in terms of looks and being the different choice in the new gen console wars.

HUGE news: Scrubs will be doing a musical episode next season with music written by the composers of Avenue Q! How friggin' cool is that? The musical episode of Buffy remains one of my favorite TV episodes of all time so I am really looking forward to what the crazy Scrubs people can do.

So notable things about the Teen Choice awards: Host Dane Cook attempting to keep a straight face through the large amounts of [expletive deleted] that was going on around him. I swear some of those acceptance speeches were so full of inane bs I thought he was just going to run up on stage with a baseball bat and start swinging. One which was not bs however was the acceptance speech of one Mr. Nick Lachey. If nothing else, the creators of this crapfest have a sense of humor as they awarded Lachey the best song for his What’s Left of Me song chronicling his divorce from cohost Jessica Simpson. Fox had the decency to avoid cutting to a reaction shot of Simpson after the announcement of the win, something I’m very upset with them for. Of course Lachey is too much of standup guy to make some sort of comment, right? “I just want to say one thing: Um, awkward?” I’ve never been so happy.

So you may be wondering: Why the hell were you watching the Teen Choice Awards? Simple. I was anticipating the debut performance that would rival the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. That’s right: Kevin Federline’s first live performance. I sat through 2 hours of trying not to strangle myself to view the spectacle. And oh, did Mr. K-Fed ever deliver. The fake piano intro with the two boys lip-syncing to the Fed’s lyrics was tremendous but the moment when he was supposed to spring from the piano in “true” hip-hop fashion and he bobbled the mic, almost spilling it to the floor, was pure glee. And things only got better as he launched himself into a pure white-boy poser rap that had Vanilla Ice shaking his head in disgust thinking “it’s been done”. In an attempt to distract from K-Fed’s lyrical torture, there was a dancer pulling off acrobatic moves, hopping all over the stage as if to say: don’t worry folks, I know this is really bad but we’ve got some great commercials coming up so let me entertain you with a flip or two. Alas the entire stage could have caught on fire and burned to the ground revealing Jessica Simpson to be making out backstage with Dane Cook and it STILL wouldn’t have been enough to pull my eyes off the trainwreck that was Federline’s performance.

I really think this man should do the Superbowl halftime. Hell, have him do EVERY Superbowl halftime. The yearly K-Fed performance. I guarantee more people would look forward to see if the man can one up himself than watch the usual halftime snorefest. I think I’m on to something here.

In other news Prison Break is back and stop reading if you don’t want a MAJOR SPOILER: ……ok, so Robin Tunney is dead. I sort of cheered. Seriously, she was awful to the point where I don’t know who I’ll miss less, her or Mischa Barton. Oh and I’m sorry but Thatcher Grey is no replacement for John Billingsley. And they look NOTHING alike.

I hate the HBO is calling this next episode of Entourage the season finale. No, it’s the season mid-way point. It’s coming back in January. Stop artificially creating more seasons than there are. Maybe they should spend a little more time coming up with a pervasive season long plot. Cause right now it seems to be “Vince can’t get a job”. That’s not much of a plot. Oh and this is the greatest shirt ever.

News and Notes:

Holy crap, Episode III Commentary is up. And yes, I know I have a LOT of typos in there, I’ll correct them. And just so you know I’ve halfway through Ep IV so it really won’t be that long. Promise.

To the Red Sox, one word: Ouch.

GA Tech next week baby!

Until next time:

“So, senior year. How was your first day of school, honey?”

“Great. I beat up a freshman, stole his lunch money, and then skipped out after lunch.”

“What, no premarital sex?”

“Oh. Yeah. But don't worry, Dad, I swear you're gonna like these guys.”

“That's my girl.”

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Ah, steak fries. Always soggy.

It’s Mustard time!

So Veronica Mars has officially become the greatest casting show ever! Not content to sit back and let the hiring of Steve Guttenberg be its casting pinnacle, they went out and hired Ed Begley Jr. as the new dean of Veronica’s college. This man may have appeared in just about every TV show ever made. It’s actually frightening to check out how long his IMDB page is. I remember him fondly from such roles as Stan Sitwell on Arrested Development and from the incredible role of Ebner Frost in Santa with Muscles (no, it’s a real movie, I swear. If you haven’t seen it you owe it to yourself to rent it, grab a case of beer, and watch Hulk Hogan attempt to prove that Shadow Warriors 2: Hunt for the Death Merchant wasn’t the worst movie ever made.). I most remember Begley from his guest starring role on the Simpsons where he invents a go-kart powered by his own sense of self-satisfaction.

Harry Hamlin, Steve Guttenberg, Ed Begley Jr. - honestly, if the show casts Peter Scolari next season, I’m ready to just give up everything else and watch Veronica Mars episodes on permanent repeat.

Down goes Pedro! Down goes Pedro! Ok, so maybe that’s a little alarmist, considering they still have a 13 game lead. While the results are out on the extent of his injury, let’s hope that it isn’t too serious. There’s still plenty of time for him to recuperate before the playoffs and that’s when he’s really going to need to be in top form.

Catching the game when they were in town this past Sunday was great. Thanks to my brother and sister for the sweet tickets.

So as if people didn’t hate the RIAA enough, when someone they were suing for music piracy died, they decided to give the family a 60 day mourning period before continuing their litigation (they’ve since decided to drop the lawsuit all together). Now as with any legal proceedings, the RIAA has every right to attempt to continue their suit against the deceased’s estate. But wow, how much bad press is one organization looking to collect?

The Guster concert was quite good if not quite as crazy as past concerts OnTap has taken me to. Guster themselves hit a high note of ridiculousness when the did the rap from Revenge of the Nerds with a woman translating it to sign language onstage. I enjoyed Rogue Wave more than Ray Lamontagne on the opening sets.

News and Notes:

This weekend: Snakes on a Motherf#$%in Plane!

I’m so far behind on music reviews it’s scary but lately I’ve been enjoying the Caesars, the new Guster and Joseph Arthur’s Redemption’s Son. I’ll throw up some more choice reviews in time.

Two weeks and counting to ND football!

Until next time:

“Oh, this is just wrong. Even for you. Look at her.”

“I have watched you pull out a man’s eyes from his head and make him dance like a marionette with his own optic nerves.”

“At least I didn’t break his heart.”

“You don’t know that.”

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Welcome to the S.H., bitch!

Due to the summer lull, I’ve been re-watching some of last season's rerun/Tivo’d shows. Damn there was some great stuff last year.

So how screwed up are the Emmys? Check out this article detailing the nomination of Ellen Burstyn for Supporting Actress in a Movie/Mini-Series. Ms. Burstyn was nominated for a role in which she was on-screen for a grand total of 14 seconds and spoke a whopping 2 whole lines! Way to go Emmy, you're officially one step away from Grammy-level irrelevance. The only difference is they managed to have a category last year consisting of Eric Clapton, Robert Plant, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and… Rob Thomas? One of these things is not like the other…

Then again, I’m fairly certain that the people on the Grammy nomination committees actually listen to the music they nominate. They just have no taste. Moving on…

The big surprise announcement out of the Mac Worldwide Developers Conference this year is: absolutely nothing. Ok, maybe that’s a little mean. They did show off their 10 big features of Leopard, some of which do look pretty cool. But note to Steve Jobs: if you’re not going to really blow people off their feet with your announcements, stop taking the cheap pot shots at Microsoft. You’re just coming off as petty. We already don’t really care for Bill Gates. Just stick to your products and let the blogosphere make the anti-Redmond wisecracks. We’re already petty. That’s why we blog.

So Logan Huntzberger is going to be playing the half-brother of Logan Echolls this year! That’s right Matt Czuchry is guest starring on an episode of Veronica Mars. Cheap stunt? Maybe. But it’s pretty friggin’ cool.

Caught Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby this weekend. I laughed like hell. Not as good or even as funny as Little Miss Sunshine, the movie subscribes to the same “fling jokes at the wall and see what sticks” method as previous Will Ferrell fare (this time without a Wilson brother to be seen). Does it succeed? For the most part. The cast is fantastic. Ali G himself Sacha Baron Cohen as the Ferrell's gay French rival is hilarious. John C. Reilly could sit staring at a wall for two hours and he’d keep me entertained. Gary Cole: is there a more underappreciated comedic actor working today? This man steals the show in anything he’s in and the same is true here with him playing Ferrell’s estranged father. He has one scene towards the end where you think it’s going to be a beautiful touching moment and suddenly Cole just turns it on its ear. As for Ferrell, he’s playing pretty much the same role he always does as the idiot man-boy but by God he’s just that damn good at it. His saying Grace at dinner had me rolling. I enjoyed this much more the first time around then I did Anchorman. We’ll see how it holds up on subsequent viewings.

News and Notes:

FINALLY, I get to see my Mets who are coming into town this weekend. Right now it looks to be Steve Trachsel pitching who did a nice little job last night against San Diego holding them to 2 runs. Hopefully he’s getting back into the grove after the past two months of rising ERA.

August 23rd: The big day when Nintendo is set to announce the info on all things Wii (hehe, wee…). Price, date, super secret surprises like Mario Galaxy being a launch title? Who knows? All I know is that it’s not going to cost $400 like the Xbox360 or $600 like the Playstation 3 (hey Sony, I don’t care that much about Blu-Ray).

Alright, until next time:

“Baby, she said she doesn't want to be helped.”

“If J.D. were drowning and he told you he didn't want you to save him, wouldn't you do it?”

“That depends. What if there're hot chicks at the pool? Maybe he wants one of them to jump in and save him?”

“Let's say there's no women.”

“There's always women at the pool, baby!”

“Fine. He's in a pond.”

“Oh, I would never swim in a pond! They're infamous for serpents!”

“You could swim at the Y on Tuesdays - men only.”

“Have you been to the Y on man night? Not me.”

“Ok, fine! Turk's the one who's drowning!”

“Oh! So now a brother can't swim!”

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

You're not speaking because of Friedrich Nietzsche?

I get no kick from Mustard…

So another week, another post. Let’s get to it:

Random news and notes:

The new Warner officially announced yesterday that the next Batman movie will be titled “The Dark Knight” and will star Heath Ledger as the Joker. Awesome title. As for the Ledger, I don’t have a problem with it. The guy’s a good actor despite not always choosing great roles *cough* Four Feathers *cough*. So far we haven’t really seen him do anything we could compare to this role. But I have faith he can put in an interesting performance. It’ll take a lot to beat the quintessential Joker performance which is of course NOT Jack Nicholson but rather Mark Hamill’s portrayal in Batman the Animated Series and it’s subsequent spinoffs. Nothing again Nicholson but Hamill added menace to the insanity while Nicholson just acted over the top crazy. I hope they stick closer to Timm’s version in the new movie. My personal pick? Benecio Del Toro. Check out his Jackie Boy in Sin City and tell me he couldn’t have pulled it off.

Just a quick IT help notice for you: If your Norton Antivirus keeps popping up and error message saying “Norton Antivirus 2006 does not support the repair function”, it’s just a bug in the last update Norton released. Just run liveupdate and it should automatically download a fix for it. The more you know…

Heading to the Guster concert tonight featuring Ray LaMontague and Rogue Wave. Awesome…

Even awesomer: Virgin Music Festival at Pimlico in September. A few in the lineup: Kasabian, New Pornographers, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Keane, Thievery Corporation, The Raconteurs, Gnarls Barkely, The Flaming Lips, The Killers, Red Hot Chili Peppers and a little band known as THE WHO!!!. Tell me this isn’t the greatest concert ever. You can’t do it. Not only does that list contain some of the most innovative artists of today with Jack White, Wayne Coyne, AC Newman and DJ Dangermouse but it got one of the greatest artists ever in Pete Freaking Townshend. Think I’m a little excited?

Caught Little Miss Sunshine last night at Georgetown (I love living in DC, all limited releases make it here). Not only is this is easily the funniest movie I’ve seen this year, it’s easily the funniest movie I’ve seen in the past couple years. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard at a movie. It’s just brilliant. This just shot past Thank You For Smoking as the best movie I’ve seen this year. The cast is just amazing: Greg Kinnear as the hapless Dad trying to pilot his own self-help program. Alan Arkin as the foul mouthed, heroin sniffing grandfather. Steve Carrell as America’s premiere Proust scholar who has recently tried to commit suicide. Paul Dano as the Nietzsche loving son who has taken a vow of silence. Toni Collette as the mother with frayed nerves trying to keep everyone together. And the remarkable performance of Abigail Breslin as the young Olive whose hopes of winning the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant is the catalyst for the movie. I don’t want to give anything else away but let’s just say the solution to how to drive the van with a broken clutch is genius and provides multiple instances of amusement. This movie is just amazing. The minute it comes close to you, drop everything and go see it. It’s rolling out over the next few weeks and should be pretty much everywhere by August 18th. Check here for when it comes by you.

Alright, until next time:

“So we're gonna take all these to the studio”

“Unless you think we're gonna look like schmucks driving the same car.”

“ No. We'd be schmucks in Jettas. In Aston Martin's we look good. And independently wealthy.”

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Do not put unauthorized cinnamon on the table!

Alright, I felt so bad about the low level of information in the previous post that I'm doubling up this week to give you some moments of humor and joy:


First off I'm sure everyone has heard of the Steely Dan vs You Me and Dupree battle by now. For those of you not in the know, Steely Dan is pissed because they wrote a song called "My Cousin Dupree" about a slacker who crashes on his family's couch. But they wrote a friggin' hilarious letter to Luke Wilson you can see here:

http://www.steelydan.com/heyluke.html

(thanks for the link Erin)

Also from Ainitcool/YouTube but reposted here...

2 ANIMATICS FROM THE SIMPSONS MOVIE!!!!!!!










Alright you crazy cats enjoy.

Until next time:

"I have learned to accept, Mr. Swearengen, that events sharing some effect on my interest does not make them part of a plot."

"You ain't the center of the universe in other words."

"Exactly."

" Don't that lead you to despair?"

"No sir."

"You're stronger minded than I."