Jess and I were watching The Soup this week and were reminded of some of the funniest things on TV this year. Which reminded me of the funniest thing to ever be on television – this.
Discuss. Marching is just exaggerated walking, correct?
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 The complete list Album Reviews: Blur 13 Grizzly Bear Veckatimest Dirty Projectors Bitte Orca Wilco Wilco (the album) Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion Sunset Rubdown Dragonslayer The Thermals Now We Can See St. Vincent Actor The Antlers Hospice Arctic Monkeys Humbug |
I don’t love Christmas music, especially since I am sick of it by this time of the year. Oh well. I do enjoy it in small doses so here are a few non-traditional Christmas songs I can dig. Also, Sufjan Stevens released a pretty excellent box set of just Yuletide cheer. Buy it here if you want to. That guy will never make it. Who’s idea was that? Not really a Christmas tune, but still the best.
Don’t worry, I didn’t forget your boyfriends.
We began recording the episodes on our DVR from the very beginning of the season but only recently started watching them. We finished watching the sixth episode last night (titled Vitamin D) where Will’s wife takes a job as the school nurse. The characters on this show are hilarious! One of my favorites is Sue Sylvester, coach of the Cheerios, played by Jane Lynch. She’s a litter-advocating, hard-nosed, non-uterus-ed, self-proclaimed winner who will stop at nothing to take down the scab-eating, mouth-breathing students in Glee. There are episodes that you can watch online at hulu.com but you can only get the last 6 episodes that have aired, not from the beginning. Otherwise, new episodes air Wednesday nights on Fox at 8 pm (CST). Tell me you’re watching this show. Please? Jess? Are you there? You guys would love it. This is basically the best thing ever.
Take that crusty old principal who must hate his job because of kids like this especially because he appears to be a very nice person in real life! Seriously though, someone get those two their own show. Even though they are completely awesome, I hope my two oldest boys do not grow up to be anything like that. Wow. Just the best. I know this is normally Josh’s turf, but I wanted to get a discussion going about this season’s television lineup. Specifically, this season’s Thursday night lineup on NBC. You know – Community, Parks & Recreation, The Office, 30 Rock… those shows. First of all, do any of you watch those shows? Secondly, what do you think? How does this season stack up against last? Which shows are you digging and which ones are you skipping? My friend Dylan Does is always dogging on Parks & Recreation on Facebook. I’ll admit last season was weak, but I saw potential and what do ya know? This season is much better. Community: now I’m sort of surprised how much I’m liking the young show. It’s reaching its stride quickly! 30 Rock: funny as always, but it’s not blowing me away like I thought it would. It’s still smart and fresh plus Josh is always saying things like: “You are Liz Lemon” to me – whatever that means. Still quite enjoyable. But, my vote for best show so far this season is The Office. Not only super-funny episodes, but it’s been consistent, too. Always a plus. So what do you think? How would you rank ‘em? Any favorite moments? Feel free to comment to another comment by hitting the ‘reply’ button next to an entry. It’s called nested comments, people… first class! I have recently confirmed a sneaking suspicion I have had for quite some time. John Mayer does nothing for me musically, but man is he funny. Just look at that picture! (Actually, you probably shouldn’t look. WARNING: CANNOT BE UNSEEN) I think that picture is from the John Mayer Cruise or something like that. For like a thousand bucks, you can go on a cruise where he hangs out with you. I think he just walks around being awesome all the time. I bet that towards the end of the cruise most of the squares who are there because they like his music are thinking, “Oh. Here comes John again. Lets go in our room/cabin/whatever they call where you sleep in a cruise ship.” Not me, I would be loving every minute of it! I would be thinking, “Yes! Here comes John again, what will he do next? I will be up for anything as long as it doesn’t include him singing!” For those who don’t know who he is, John Mayer is a talented guitar player and terrible songwriter. I was first introduced to him by my roommate Nate-Dogg a lot of years back. He brought a CD back to out apartment and said, “I bought this CD by a new guy called John Mayer. He is supposed to be the next…” I forgot who he was supposed to be the next of because I either fell asleep at that precise moment or it was someone that I wish there was not one of the first of. At this point, I should probably start listing funny things about John Mayer, because all you may know about him is that he writes music can be seen at times incorrectly wearing a Speedo. This is the video that inspired this post. Justin – of course #15. If you don’t know “Chocolate Rain”, that may not be funny. This one isn’t really his funny. That song seems extra bad, but the video is funny. This is a song he wrote for Conan O’Brian’s last show in New York. http://hypem.com/track/760364/John+Mayer+-+L+A+s+Gonna+Eat+You+Alive Here is another hilarious musician, Andrew W.K. This is the song he is best known for: He’s pretty funny, too. Anybody notice how he mispronounced that town’s name?
Party Hard with Andrew W.K. – watch more funny videos
Right, everybody?
In honor of the tenth anniversary (or thereabouts) of the last time Jerry Seinfeld was funny (Don’t get so upset! He can take it. Have you seen “Bee Movie”? That needs to be sunk to the deepest chasm of the deepest ocean.) I have had a few thoughts recently that made me think “What’s the deal with…?” What’s the deal with HGTV? My wife watches this crap ALL THE TIME. If you aren’t familiar, it is people buying houses, painting houses, mowing the lawn, doing dishes, landscaping, etc. Seriously? A whole channel about that stuff? I have a better idea: Jess can do all that stuff to our house and I can watch her! I mean, I can go outside and paint a wall and then watch the paint dry and that is this channel. If I want to see a house I can walk around mine and say, “That could use an update” or, “That thing there is ugly” or, “How long does it take to refinish a deck anyways?” But I don’t do that. One of the reasons is that I am really lazy. Along the same lines is, “What is the deal with NASCAR?” If I want to see cars, I will grab a lawn chair and sit in my lawn. Am I right? What’s the deal with swine flu? I obviously have it, that is why I have stayed home from work recently. It makes me tired. Because of the swine flu (I still refuse to call it H1N1. Sorry America’s pork producers.) I went a world record of 59 hours between bathing. That is seriously disgusting. I also neglected to brush my teeth in that period of time. When I finally did, the toothpaste tasted like dill pickle brine for some reason. At least I am in good company of people who have contracted this deadly virus. Some other mega-famous people are: Harry Smith, Ron Weasley (pictured below),
and pop music star Jens Lekman. Here is his song “The Opposite of Hallelujah” Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. I know what you mean, brother… I am growing a swine flu beard until they all come home. I mean, until everyone gets cured. Actually, it is probably more accurate to say, maybe until everyone in my house is not sick anymore. (but maybe not, I don’t seem to be able to keep facial hair for very long.) What is the deal with bad comedy being so popular? A lot of people I work with talk about how much they like “Two and a Half Men”. Seriously? I watched about five minutes of one episode and wanted to kill myself. It was all innuendo “jokes” of the lowest common denominator. I’m going to use the words of one of my favorite Amazon.com reviewers Robert M. Flynn “Farmer Ted” to help me out a little more. This is his review of the wonderful Illinois by Sufjan Stevens. My revisions are in green. Everything else – punctuation and spelling – are all “Farmer Ted”. “What in tarnation is this? And who l This show needs to be sent to the coldest least explored depth of outer space. Also, Jeff Dunham. What? Who the hell is this guy and how did he trick everyone into liking him? He does ventriloquism with puppets. Puppets.
This guy’s Christmas special last winter was the highest watched show in the history of Comedy Central??? He has his own show now which was the highest watched series debut in Comedy Central history?? I was going to do a rant about this guy a few weeks ago when I narrowly escaped having to see a ventriloquist. (“Sam” was the puppet’s name.) One of the websites I like to check out every day Videogum.com did an even better rant about this jerk than I could ever do. Read it here. (Watch out! Lots of not-polite language!) Jeff Dunham is the real reason the apocalypse is imminent, 2012. I think I’ve alienated the most popular things in America. If you have been tricked into liking any of those things (especially swine flu) you need to seriously re-examine your life. If none of this makes sense or is funny at all, it all came to be during a fever dream. I’m going to blame it on that.
I like the Arctic Monkeys! More than a lot of bands and definitely more than swine flu :( Arctic Monkeys first two albums were good and their third does not disappoint either (even if it is called Humbug. Yuck. And the album cover is the worst. Album cover: 1/5 stars.) Supposedly the band was listening to Black Sabbath and Cream and maybe some other bands that I don’t care about when they wrote the songs for this album. I know some people don’t like the Arctic Monkeys, so let me tell you why I do like them. One, I think their songs are catchy and pleasant to listen to. Two, (and this is the best part) Alex Turner writes some great lyrics and delivers those lyrics in an exciting and original way. Most of Humbug’s ten songs are produced by Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss, Eagles of Death Metal, Them Crooked Vultures, Craig Kilborn lookalike), who is pretty awesome in his own right. Rated R and Songs for the Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age are pretty much essential listening. He does leave his mark all over the album, especially the guitar tones and sounds. Here is the first single, “Crying Lightning” Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. What was that about a Gobstopper? Next single (and likely candidate for best song on the album) is “Cornerstone”. Here is the pretty awesome video. Get a haircut, hippie. What a great melody! Another song that I like is called “Dance Little Liar”. I really like the part at 3:18, one of my favorite things in music ever.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Humbug is a solid album and I would say it’s as good as Arctic Monkeys other two albums. 4/5 stars. This is my 25th Friday post in a row. There will be no album review this week for a couple of reasons: - I have several new CDs, but have not listened to any of them enough to have an opinion of any of them yet. - It is sort of a lot of work for me and I think there are only somewhere around three people that read what I write and listen to the songs. (I’m not trying to sound bitter, but I think it is the truth.) Therefore, I may not do that anymore. But maybe. Something I am looking forward to (almost obsessively) is that I have ordered the stereo box set of The Beatles remastered albums. Way back on September 14th… but it isn’t going to ship for another week and a half.
Just look at that stupid thing over there. I can’t even stand the wait. I have been listening to The Beatles a lot lately. They are the best band evar. I love Radiohead but sorry Radiohead, The Beatles are the best. When I get the set, I might revisit all the albums here and post a few songs that don’t get as much love as they should. If you remember back to my #10-1 list, “A Day in the Life” was my favorite Beatles song, and #3 overall. I don’t think that is correct. There is another that is better. Maybe I will tell you later. Maybe not! One interesting think about The Beatles that I am a little embarrassed to admit: I have never owned or heard all the way through: Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night, Beatles For Sale. I have heard the majority of the songs before, but really never got into the early work pre-Rubber Soul. Of course everyone knows that everything after that is the best, but I suppose it is possible that the early stuff is the best also. We’ll find out soon enough! I might come back to new albums periodically, there are a few that I have that are good and deserved to be heard. (Speaking of that, has anyone heard the new Muse?) Here is a song from an album that is ok, but I don’t know how much I like it yet. But this song – wow. If that song was around when I was in high school and college, it would have been my theme song. People would have thought of me every time they heard it. The video is good, too. If you like it, go here to download the song. For free! It is best loud when you can really feel the drums and bass. The song right after that on the album has the lyric, “If you really love him, tell me that you love him again.” When I heard that I was like, “Wha? The ‘Dominos’ dudes are singing this sissy crap after talking so much about chicks? Whatever, dudes.” A little disappointing. See you next week. Or not! I’m tired!
Hospice The instrumentation on Hospice is fairly sparse. There is a lot of ambient noise going on that I would consider similar to Sigur Ros, but the rest is mainly acoustic guitar and gently played piano. The vocals are often sang quietly or in falsetto. The vocal melodies are all fairly fragile. One interesting thing about this album is that I don’t think of it as released by a band or the lead guy who wrote it from experience. I think of it as Hospice instead of by The Antlers. The whole thing seems self-contained, like it is a one-off release and that should be the only release by The Antlers (Even though I guess this is the second album by them.) I’m not even sure where they can go after this without duplicating this sound (which would be boring) or completely reinventing themselves (too early in the band’s life to do?) The first proper song after the instrumental is “Kettering” which is one of the only songs with audible electric guitar. Next is “Sylvia”, apparently inspired by author Sylvia Plath. “Sylvia” Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Probably my favorite song is “Two” Headphones up, there is a little bit of language! “Two” Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. The last two songs are called “Wake” and “Epilogue”. They are after the death and are a sad and fitting ending to the album. “Wake” Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. “Epilogue” Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. “Epilogue” is another song that I really like that reprises the vocal melody from the earlier song “Bear” and has some really great lyrics. When I try to move my arms sometimes, they weigh too much too lift. I think you buried me awake (my one and only parting gift). But you return to me at night, just when I think I may have fallen asleep. Your face is up against mine and I’m too terrified to speak. I don’t really know why I like listening to this album. It makes me think about things that I don’t like thinking about, but I would still recommend it. 4/5 stars. Sort of short review this week. I procrastinated until Thursday night again. How unprofessional! |
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Copyright © 2008-2012 Jessie Zeigler - All Rights Reserved |
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by The Antlers is an album about a young guy losing a friend to cancer. Don’t worry everybody, it is exactly as depressing as it sounds. I won’t get too much into the lyrics yet, but they are the most devastating part of the whole thing. Another immediately noticeable part of the album is how the music will seem washed out and out of tune at times. I can’t speak for the musicians why they chose to do this, but it sounds like I would imagine being in a morphine haze feels like. The first song, “Prologue” is an instrumental in this style that doesn’t sound quite right the first few times you hear it. I’m still not sure that I like the album opening that way but it’s not as jarring as it first was.