Just a number of songs I listened to repeatedly during the year...though I have a feeling I left plenty others out, simply due to bad memory. Mostly all from this year with a couple of slightly older ones thrown in. Once again, no discernible order (other than alphabetical, lol).
Civil Disobedience -- Sage Francis
Common People -- Street Dogs
Daughter/Valley Morning -- Loudon Wainwright III
Denton, TX -- Damien Jurado
Devil You Know -- Pinback
Drive/I'da Called You Woody, Joe -- The Gaslight Anthem
For Broken Ears/The Grove -- Chuck Ragan
For Science Fiction -- Maritime
Forsaken -- As I Lay Dying
Girls in Their Summer Clothes -- Bruce Springsteen
Headed for a Fall -- M. Ward
Heaven That I'm Making -- Crowded House
Hide and Seek -- Imogen Heap
Intervention -- Arcade Fire
Irish Handcuffs -- Smoke or Fire
Jigsaw Falling Into Place -- Radiohead
Paranoid in BB Major -- The Avett Brothers
Postcard from Kentucky -- Rocky Votolato
Shut Me Up/Time is a Lion -- Joe Henry
Summer's Always Gone Too Soon -- Ben Weasel and His Iron String Quartet
The Dreams -- Weatherbox
The Pizza Song -- Bouncing Souls
Things Have Changed -- Bob Dylan
We'rewolf -- Every Time I Die
What Light -- Wilco
Where I'm Headed -- The One AM Radio
White People for Peace/Sink, Florida, Sink (Electric) -- Against Me!
You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb -- Spoon
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
A few high points in TV this year...
So, the writer's strike is upon us with still no end in sight. A promising season of "24" (especially after last year's debacle) has been thrown down the toilet (cancelled completely), and the likelihood of new episodes for other shows, save for those scheduled to debut in winter/spring, is slim, and yes he did leave town with the nun. But a few things have caught my attention.
1. Journeyman (NBC) - Apparently there is a relatively high chance that this show will die because of the writers strike. It would be a shame. I'd see numerous previews for it in the movie theatres before the start of the previews and it looked interesting (at least the pilot). I'll be honest, I wasn't sold at first. Especially due to the fact that the other reason I tuned in, Reed Diamond, has a kind of a secondary role in the show (I was a huge fan of Homicide). However, he has been getting a little more screen time, and the episodes have gotten better and better, up til' now. That, and the fact that series star Kevin McKidd has proven himself to more than capable as the hero. It's kind of a hard show to explain, but in a way it reminds me of Doctor Who, just completely a un-premeditated, random, Doctor Who, lol. Hopefully, fans of Thom Baker and the like won't crucify me just as I hope that NBC won't hit the proverbial nail in the coffin on this one, as they so stupidly did with last season's excellent, Kidnapped.
2. Dirty, Sexy, Money (ABC) - Yeah, this is pretty much a pop soap drama/mystery, but its just acted so damn well. Even when the histrionics are called upon, as they always are in soaps, they still remain genuinely funny. The show also stars Peter Krause (along with Donald Sutherland and Blair Underwood among others), who plays his role as the Darling's family lawyer (while attempting to solve the mystery of his dad's death) perfectly. For anyone who missed Six Feet Under while it was running on HBO, I highly recommend it as Krause was also amazing in that. His brother on SFU, Michael C. Hall, is currently getting raves in the Showtime drama, Dexter.
Lastly, Law and Order: Criminal Intent is indeed not new. It kicked off its 7th season this year. Shown for the first time this year on USA on Thursday's, instead of its parent company NBC on Sundays, it remains one of the better crime dramas out there. And if you were to only speak of the episodes involving Kathryn Erbe and the amazing Vincent D'Onofrio, it is among the best (not a whole lot of chemistry yet on the other side as Chris Noth takes on his 3rd partner in 3 seasons). But really, it is worth it just to watch D'Onofrio on screen, especially as his partner seems to be continually unraveling for the last year or so. There is no one better to ask for this challenging role, especially when it invites him to be completely over-the-top in a laughable way. Vince never takes the bait.
1. Journeyman (NBC) - Apparently there is a relatively high chance that this show will die because of the writers strike. It would be a shame. I'd see numerous previews for it in the movie theatres before the start of the previews and it looked interesting (at least the pilot). I'll be honest, I wasn't sold at first. Especially due to the fact that the other reason I tuned in, Reed Diamond, has a kind of a secondary role in the show (I was a huge fan of Homicide). However, he has been getting a little more screen time, and the episodes have gotten better and better, up til' now. That, and the fact that series star Kevin McKidd has proven himself to more than capable as the hero. It's kind of a hard show to explain, but in a way it reminds me of Doctor Who, just completely a un-premeditated, random, Doctor Who, lol. Hopefully, fans of Thom Baker and the like won't crucify me just as I hope that NBC won't hit the proverbial nail in the coffin on this one, as they so stupidly did with last season's excellent, Kidnapped.
2. Dirty, Sexy, Money (ABC) - Yeah, this is pretty much a pop soap drama/mystery, but its just acted so damn well. Even when the histrionics are called upon, as they always are in soaps, they still remain genuinely funny. The show also stars Peter Krause (along with Donald Sutherland and Blair Underwood among others), who plays his role as the Darling's family lawyer (while attempting to solve the mystery of his dad's death) perfectly. For anyone who missed Six Feet Under while it was running on HBO, I highly recommend it as Krause was also amazing in that. His brother on SFU, Michael C. Hall, is currently getting raves in the Showtime drama, Dexter.
Lastly, Law and Order: Criminal Intent is indeed not new. It kicked off its 7th season this year. Shown for the first time this year on USA on Thursday's, instead of its parent company NBC on Sundays, it remains one of the better crime dramas out there. And if you were to only speak of the episodes involving Kathryn Erbe and the amazing Vincent D'Onofrio, it is among the best (not a whole lot of chemistry yet on the other side as Chris Noth takes on his 3rd partner in 3 seasons). But really, it is worth it just to watch D'Onofrio on screen, especially as his partner seems to be continually unraveling for the last year or so. There is no one better to ask for this challenging role, especially when it invites him to be completely over-the-top in a laughable way. Vince never takes the bait.
Some people are charmed...
And apparently after tonight's game (among others), I would say Tom Brady is definitely one of them. God, I hate that guy.
OSU is in the National Championship Game...
That being said, the BCS thing? It's a crock. Not only is it a crock, but the coaches and writers are in on it too. It's blatantly obvious.
I understand if you want to make a point that LSU is better than Virginia Tech. I can get that. They handled them with ease (at home) in the 2nd week of the season. But here is the question...If it's all about "when you lose", and who is playing the best at the end of the season, please explain how LSU (with a more than gifted back-up in Ryan Perriloux - I'd tell you he is pretty much on-par with Matt Flynn) barely beat a so-so 3-loss Tennessee team ranked #13 by a touchdown thanks to a pathetic game by Eric Ainge and jumps from #7 to #2. In the meantime, Virginia Tech beats a higher-ranked (#11) Boston College team by 15 on a truly neutral field and goes from #5 to #4, or simply sits at #4 depending on the poll. Please explain that. You can't.
Bottom line, LSU vs. OSU is the marquee matchup, subjectivity be damned. If LSU was really "that good" after losing to another lame-ass team in overtime (how's that Kentucky loss look now?), then you (coaches, writers, etc.) should have kept that at #3 or #4 in the polls last week.
Even more glaring is the fact that no one will address this in a written piece, at least none that I have found so far. They will all tell you now why LSU is deserving of being in the game. And don't even begin to get me started on Missouri being passed up by Kansas (a team they beat and couldn't make it to its own conference championship game) AND Illinois? Are you serious? I understand preserving all that Pac-10/ Big-10 tradition for the Rose Bowl (like people really give a shit about tradition anymore), but Illinois? Over Missouri? Come on. Are you really telling me that people want to see USC vs. Illinois instead of USC vs. Missouri. Please.
I understand if you want to make a point that LSU is better than Virginia Tech. I can get that. They handled them with ease (at home) in the 2nd week of the season. But here is the question...If it's all about "when you lose", and who is playing the best at the end of the season, please explain how LSU (with a more than gifted back-up in Ryan Perriloux - I'd tell you he is pretty much on-par with Matt Flynn) barely beat a so-so 3-loss Tennessee team ranked #13 by a touchdown thanks to a pathetic game by Eric Ainge and jumps from #7 to #2. In the meantime, Virginia Tech beats a higher-ranked (#11) Boston College team by 15 on a truly neutral field and goes from #5 to #4, or simply sits at #4 depending on the poll. Please explain that. You can't.
Bottom line, LSU vs. OSU is the marquee matchup, subjectivity be damned. If LSU was really "that good" after losing to another lame-ass team in overtime (how's that Kentucky loss look now?), then you (coaches, writers, etc.) should have kept that at #3 or #4 in the polls last week.
Even more glaring is the fact that no one will address this in a written piece, at least none that I have found so far. They will all tell you now why LSU is deserving of being in the game. And don't even begin to get me started on Missouri being passed up by Kansas (a team they beat and couldn't make it to its own conference championship game) AND Illinois? Are you serious? I understand preserving all that Pac-10/ Big-10 tradition for the Rose Bowl (like people really give a shit about tradition anymore), but Illinois? Over Missouri? Come on. Are you really telling me that people want to see USC vs. Illinois instead of USC vs. Missouri. Please.
I enjoyed this...
response to Michael Silver's (Yahoo! Sports writer) piece last week in which he mentioned Dave Matthews...
"Don't sweat it, Michael: The Dave Matthews Band (or 'Dave' as his obnoxious frat-boy fans call him) sucks hard. Dave Matthews is music for people who want to believe they like really good music but have no idea what really good music actually is."
Ryan, Indianapolis
Thanks. I have no comment, except to note that the anti-Dave Matthews emails came fast and furious this week. As for my own lyrical genius …
"Don't sweat it, Michael: The Dave Matthews Band (or 'Dave' as his obnoxious frat-boy fans call him) sucks hard. Dave Matthews is music for people who want to believe they like really good music but have no idea what really good music actually is."
Ryan, Indianapolis
Thanks. I have no comment, except to note that the anti-Dave Matthews emails came fast and furious this week. As for my own lyrical genius …
Sunday, December 2, 2007
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