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. 4^th 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.”

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.”

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 2^nd 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 19^th. 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 11^th? 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.

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 3^rd 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 23^rd. 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 Patrol – Final 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 Wave – Descended 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 Brut – Bang 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.”

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."