I shall return in a nonce. At most, two nonces.

Mustard: like sands through the hourglass.

Can I ask why on earth Harmonix has not at least announced a release date for Rock Band on Wii? It makes no sense. It would take very little effort to port the PS2 version to Wii. Granted, it would be nice if they could add in the online mode missing in that version. But Guitar Hero III on Wii per NDP data was the 3rd best selling game across all consoles for both January and December amounting to over 2 million units sold. Don't you think by releasing the game onto what is obviously a receptive market for this type of game could help them recoup the supposed $200 million it cost to develop the game? Just a thought.

Only a few more days until the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Given how it's look so far, I see little reason to sleep for the next few weeks or so. Seriously, it's got a stage that looks like the original DK arcade game:



How ridiculously cool is that?

Indie album of the week for your listening pleasure: VHS or Beta's Bring on the Comets. Little bit of the Killers. Little bit of Interpol. Little bit of Franz Ferdinand. Incredibly entertaining. Burn It All Down made by best of 2007 playlist (narrowly beating out Can't Believe a Single Word). Check it out.

News and notes:

Did anyone notice Fred Armisen's impression of Barak Obama on SNL the other night? When did Obama suddenly become Bullwinkle?

Au revoir Brett Favre.

Slow going for movies right now. Though Leatherheads has a chance to be entertaining in a few weeks. If the trailers are any indication, George Clooney is fully channeling the Cohen brothers. Strange fact, the movie is co-written by Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly. Weird.

Until next time:

"Nobody plays jazz at the Pit Stop!"

"Then why is the song on the jukebox?"

"We use it for profiling purposes. We also have the Pet Shop Boys and Seal."

I'd hate to see the pursuit of a homicidal lunatic get in the way of pursuing a homicidal lunatic.

Mustard: Who are you to say no?

So after long speculation and rumor, Spiral Frog has finally launched. For those of you who don’t know, Spiral Frog offers free DRM’d music downloads supported by advertising on the site. What makes it different than your usual “free” download site is that this site is actually backed by Universal Music Group so it has legitimately big artists available. Eschewing those, I gave it a try and was able to download and play with very little effort an old Phantom Planet album. However, ever since then I haven’t been able to access any other less than super popular groups on the site such as Kaiser Chiefs, Rogue Wave or (strangely enough considering it’s current radio airplay) the new Rooney album. I’ll chalk it up to the service only being a day or two old, but I’ll hold off on any real opinion until I can access all albums freely.

Rick Gervais nominated for an Emmy? Excellent. Ricky Gervais winning an Emmy? Outstanding. Ricky Gervais not being at the Emmys so presenters Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert give it to Steve Carrell? Priceless.

What the %^$# is up the Mets? Do they just not want to make the playoffs? They get swept by the Phils at home and now they get theirs asses handed to them by the Nats. The frakking Nats!? A team whose best hitter is Wily Mo freaking Pena!? Hang you head in shame “Amazins” and get your act together! As of the time of this writing the Nats have managed to pull at 4 run comeback and are sitting on top of the Mets, 8-7 and I swear to God the Nats' announcers actually seem sorry for the Mets at this point.

News and Notes:

Smash Bros has wi-fi without absolutely needing friend codes! And it has personalized taunts against those with friend codes! Giggity.

So I’ve never been a big Halo fan (no Xbox and all) but if the video making the rounds is really the ending of Halo 3… Bungie you have some juevos grandes.

Jim Broadbent as Rufus Scrimgeour in Harry Potter 6? I like it a lot.

Yes, I did expect Notre Dame to be bad this year. But what in the hell was that against Michigan? I thought they were supposed to improve after the Penn State game.

Until next time:

"And, you know, with the pain and the death, maybe you shouldn't be leaping into the fray like that. Maybe you should be... fray adjacent."

"Excuse me? Who, at a crucial moment, distracted the lead demon by allowing her to pummel him about the head?"

"Yeah, that was real manly how you shrieked and all."

Look, I dont know if you were just looking for pimp in the phonebook and stopped at "PI."

It's really sad that I just picked up both the new Matt Nathanson and New Pornographers and yet looking ahead at the next few weeks I'm seeing the Shout Out Louds, Rogue Wave, Iron & Wine, Matt Pond PA and Broken Social Scene and thinking to myself, do I really have enough music for now? As for the two new albums, I'm digging both. Matt Nathanson has the "unfortunate" position of growing in popularity and therefore growing in album production which tends to get in the way of the 12 string guitar and vocals that made his previous albums so good. That's not to say it's a bad album, far from it. But whenever I heard songs like Bulletproof Weeks it makes me realize how good a singer/songwriter Nathanson is and how I wish that the accompaniment would pull back a little on the rest of his songs and let Nathanson do his thing.

New Pornographers' Challengers... it kinda of makes me sick how much talent this group has. You could put these 4 albums on permanent loop in the player and I'd be a happy man.

I'm intrigued by Eastern Promises. David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen made an outstanding movie in "A History of Violence" and I'm liking the thoughts of them teaming back up. Add to that Naomi Watts who has yet to reach the point where I can't stand here anymore or what I call "Nicole Kidman" status. Here's hoping that Vincent Cassel avoids chewing every piece of scenery in the room (note: I like Vincent Cassel but the man seems to be aspiring to Nicholson level mastication).

Notre Dame season kicks off this Saturday as the Irish taken on the worst fans in the league in Georgia Tech (sorry Crowley but you know it to be true). I think this could be a decent season for a rebuilding year but Lou Holtz is out of his freaking mind if he thinks the Irish are going 10-2.

News and Notes:

Just finished off Veronica Mars Season 1 on DVD again. Keith Mars is without a doubt my hero. But good god that was one of the greatest seasons of TV ever..... DAMN YOU WB!!!!

Per Michael Ausiello the Halloween episode of Bones will be "wonderful". Tim Minear directing? Just throwing out blatant vicious rumors.

Speaking of my favorite show creator who just cannot catch a break, Minear has a new show at ABC called Miracle Man. Per Hercules at Aintitcool: "It’s about a disgraced ex-televangelist with no faith who starts performing real miracles." I'm going to rise above the easy pun here and just say, Tim, I'm rooting for you.

Until next time:

"Jake, when did we become Republicans?"

"We haven't. We're just going with the flow."

Cary Brothers

Ok, this has got to be rectified: people, the man's name is Cary Brothers. It's not like the Super Mario Brothers (though if you believe the movie they're names were actually Mario Mario and Luigi Mario. And Koopa was an evolved T-Rex. The f$%^ was Nintendo thinking?) Cary is his first name. Brothers is his last name. There's only one of him. And no, I don't know why he's singing about going to Canada. But apparently it's a simple place.

Yahoo launches lyrics site

How sad is it that it took the record companies this long to allow a major legal lyrics site?

http://music.yahoo.com/lyrics

My hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, my lovely lady lumps.

Dear Grammys:

This will be the last time we ever speak.

Go f$%# yourselves.

Most Sincerely,

Jeff

I miss Dwight. Congratulations universe, you win.

Who smokes the Mustard? We smoke the Mustard!

While I’m looking forward to the upcoming 300, if you really want to get your historical fix, tune into HBO’s Rome. It’s second season has continued to top it’s first season even without Ciarán Hinds excellent Julius Caesar. This show and Deadwood prove that HBO just can deliver quality programming with an attention to detail that surpasses anything you’ll ever find on network television (probably because there’s no way a network would put up the kind of money needed for these shows that aren’t going to find a mass audience.) Sure they’re doomed to short lifespans from the get go (This will be Rome’s final season and Deadwood only lasted 3 plus 2 HBO movies to finish the series off) but as British television has proved, sometimes a couple outstanding seasons at the top of your game is a better way to go then holding out too long leading to an inevitable decline (I’m looking at you Friends and ER).

Am I the only one dreading the Oscars for no other reason than Forrest Whittaker’s acceptance speech? Look, the man is going to win. He picked up the Golden Globe and the SAG award for his role in the Last King of Scotland. But did you see his speech during the Golden Globes? He hemmed and hawed and giggled and barely got anything out. I’m sure it was just a little camera shyness and maybe a little shock. But then he went out and did the exact same thing at the SAG awards! Forrest, please just write down your speech because it’s going to horribly awkward when the orchestra starts playing you off the stage on Oscar night and you haven’t even started your speech yet.

So I have yet to make up my mind completely about where the new Shins album falls in their catalog. It’s quite good but has some very different sounds thrown in there in addition to the traditional Shins numbers (Phantom Limb will get stuck in your head so quick you’ll hate that it took them so long to get this album out). Then again, I took me quite a few listens before I fell in love with Chutes Too Narrow and now it’s easily one of my favorite albums. There’s nothing wrong with having to work at an album a little before really appreciating its nuances. After a few more listens I’ll give my full review. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to pick it up. I mean come on, it’s a new Shins album. How else are you gonna get My Humps out of your head?

News and Notes:

Hey Studio 60, the getting locked on the roof gag? Lame!

How freakin’ hilarious was last night’s Scrubs? “You shall be called Slagathor.”

I think it’s safe to say that the Prince halftime show is going to be completely tuned out.

Oh what the hell, Go Colts!

Until next time:

“So what… You’re just going to mope around like the guy in… What’s that book when the guy’s mom dies and he comes back to Jersey? And he’s got that motorcycle sidecar?

“Garden State was never a book.”

“It wasn’t? Oops. So much for that paper.”

For the last couple of months I have been adrift in a sea of puppy dogs, lollypops and let's face it, mediocre metaphors.

Mustard: If not now, when?

So Terence Stamp and the Rock have been cast in the upcoming Get Smart movie? That deserves a “frakkin’ awesome” label. First off, I love Get Smart. My childhood contained an unknown number of nights watching Don Adams’ brilliance on Nick-at-Nite. So when they cast Steve Carell as the lead, it was like the curtain dropped in front of the chorus singing Hallelujah. They couldn’t have picked a better actor to fill Adams’ shoes. Anne Hathaway as Agent 99 is a great fit but come on, Terence Stamp as the villain? Boom baby!

So the iPhone huh? Well it looks great but no way in hell am I switching carriers and paying that much money in order to get it. Yeah, I know, you get your iPod and phone all in one but honestly, I don’t really care that much. However the good news is that this means they’re almost certain to release a new widescreen iPod only device in the next 6 months or so. Now that is going to be pretty sweet.

This will be the last time I mention this (until perhaps the Oscars in which case I’ll be extremely pissed) but what the hell people? Meryl Streep does NOT deserve an award for the freakin’ Devil Wears Prada. The movie was shit and she didn’t “shine” or do anything else but a bad Cruella Deville impression. I don’t care that it’s Meryl Streep. Stop giving people awards just because of who they are and give them to people who actually deserve it. Thank you.

Do yourself a favor and go get the The Crane Wife, the new album by the Decemberists. It’s outstanding. And I would note that the Crane Wife #3 which has been playing the past week on this site was just played on last week’s Scrubs. I’m ahead of the curve.

Caught Pan’s Labyrinth this weekend. What a good movie. Most of America won’t see it as it’s a foreign movie and who wants to read subtitles but if you appreciate movies that are done well in almost every aspect, you owe it to yourself to catch this one. It’s definitely up there for most beautifully shot movie this year and outstanding movie score. With this movie Guillermo Del Toro is making a statement that he is a filmmaker to watch. I may have enjoyed Hellboy but I recognize it for the fun popcorn movie it is. This movie is dead serious, unflinching in it’s depiction of the brutal end days of the Spanish Civil War and even it’s more fanciful fairytale escapism parts. Strange bedfellows? Absolutely but it’s originality works and if this movie was in English I guarantee you we’d hear it’s title being announced with the other Oscar Best Picture nominees. As such we’ll absolutely hear it during the Foreign Picture nominees and I can’t think of many arguments as to why it shouldn’t win.

News and notes:

So can I tell you how great I find it that Scrubs has become the most widely syndicated show on TV? I swear, it’s on at least 6 times a day. It’s fantastic.

Speaking of Scrubs, tune in tomorrow night for the Scrubs musical. If “Guy Love” is any indication this could be the greatest musical since Buffy.

Zelda makes me happy.

Darius Walker is leaving and with him goes the last of Notre Dame’s dependable offense. Next season is gonna be fun.

Until next time:

“Hi, cutie! Since you have so many balls, and too many toys can be over-stimulating for an infant, Brantley here was wondering if he could borrow one to play with!”

“Oh, that's funny, because Jack here was just wondering why the crazy lady who just spent the last hour chain smoking and talking on her cell phone while her kid ate sand would come over to two complete strangers and give them parenting advice!”

“Oh, oh! He also thanked me for not naming him "Brantley"!”

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.”