500th Post!

Yowza!

FYI, Intelligentsia

Well, the New Yorker has really beefed up its web offerings, including a complete digital version of the magazine every week. Too bad the user experience TOTALLY SUCKS ASS. Take that, snobs!

MC Flow - Incredible

Check out MC Flow's video for "Incredible" -- aw, yeah! Go, Abby!

RFTC Back From the Dead

Somehow, I missed this back in August: RFTC's All Systems Go, Vol. 3 on Vagrant Records. Just picked it up from Amazon. See? Speedo just won't die!!

Cream of Sum Yung Gai

OMG, this is awesome. Thanks to KJ for the head's up. There is nothing more to say, other than: hilarious!

Renaissance, Indeed!

Q-Tip has a new album out, entitled "The Renaissance" -- his first album since 1999's "Amplified", the initial solo outing released in the wake of Tribe's demise.

First of all, I was really excited to hear that Q-Tip had a new album out. But it got me to thinking about "Amplified" and a nagging question that has bugged me for almost a decade (seriously). To wit: why the heck was "Amplified" met with such a lukewarm reaction from both critics and fans? I still don't get it. I have listened to "Amplified" on and off since its release, and I still enjoy it to this day (despite the horrible -- HORRIBLE -- closing track with Korn).

The merits of "Amplified" are pretty clear to me: strong beats, smooth rhymes and two really awesome singles ("Breathe and Stop" and "Vivrant Thing"), but I think the album failed to meet expectations. (Once again, the Schwartz Theory of Media Consumption rears its head.) To be specific, I think fans and critics were expecting a Tribe album, and didn't get it. But that doesn't mean that "Amplified" was a failure.

I have a theory that Q-Tip just wanted to make a party record after Tribe imploded. "Amplified" is a simpler kind of album when you compare it to Tribe's stuff. Definitely poppy with slick production. Maybe without Phife to counter his rhymes, Q-Tip came across as rather flat. (Remember Chuck D's solo album?) Anyway, the point is that I like "Amplified" for what it is, and not what it isn't.

As for "The Renaissance" -- I have listened to it a number of times, and it's good. But not necessarily as good as "Amplified". I'm sure I'm in the minority opinion on that one. But there are people who agree:

From an Amazon user review of "Amplified":

i don't understand why this album's so undervalued...
yes, it may be far different from atcq albums, but is certainly a big part of 'him' anyway that still lives!

just loved it. n' still loving it :)

This got me to thinking further: are there other really good albums in my collection that just didn't resonate with critics and/or fans? I'm sure there are. I'll have to ponder that one.

The Search Is Over

Five words: Harvey Leeds - State of Shock. 'Nuff said.

New Family Pics

New photos of the kids are available for viewing on my Picasa webpage.

The Life and Times of Tim

Excitement abounds in my household, as HBO is debuting an original animated comedy series called The Life and Times of Tim this weekend. Oh, but how that excitement has been tempered by the first promo I saw, which featured the main character (Tim, duh) with his lady pal in the video rental store (see picture). Guess what happens? The store clerk tells Tim that the porno that he rented is a million days overdue! And he does it in a REALLY LOUD VOICE, which is, like, so totally awkward! Hoo boy...a tired gag in a tired location that most HBO subscribers haven't set foot in since 2002. This doesn't bode well...

I watched more clips on the website. The show seems to have ripped off the Soup 2 Nuts (Home Movies, Dr. Katz) style wholesale. Yeesh! So it would appear that there is nothing very original about The Life and Times of Tim , but that doesn't stop it from being sorta funny. One clip, entitled "Corporate Challenge" (in which Tim's boss wants to do some "gay stuff") made me laugh. But seriously: the tropes, the timing, the pacing, the voice direction, even the crappy drawings...it all screams Soup 2 Nuts.

The show seems to have a decent pedigree, not to mention the backing of HBO. The creator, Steve Dildarian, has a background in advertising and attended SVA. There's clearly some talent behind this thing. And I'm sure it will have its moments. (I liked the arm wrestling bit on the airplane.) But I predict a pretty limp showing on HBO, followed by a quick trip into animation oblivion. Or to Adult Swim. Too bad. A missed opportunity!

Facebook, I'm Dead to You

So I was at the Austin Game Developer's Conference this past week. At some point during the conference, my Blackberry started exploding -- and no, it was not due to my amazing networking skills. Apparently, my Facebook account had spammed nearly everyone on my friends list with dumbass link posts on their walls. Meanwhile, I'm at a conference for three days with the means (laptop) but not the time (or, frankly, the desire) to deal with it. In any event, I am thusly laid siege by a barrage of emails like this one: "Dude, I think your account has been hacked..." and this one: "What the hell is this link?!?" and this one: "Change your fucking password!!!" Gee, great. Thanks, Facebook.

I will say this: I can appreciate Facebook as a platform and find it to be a pleasant distraction. On a "meta" level I can also see how it (and sites like it) are changing the landscape of how we communicate with each other. I also find it to be a giant pain in my ass, and therefore, Facebook: I'm dead to you. Our relationship lasted a little over seven months, and I never even got a blowjob.

Oh God Please Don't Fuck This Up

Louis Letterier, the guy who made "The Transporter" and this summer's "Hulk" movie is in pre-production on a remake of Clash of the Titans -- my favorite movie of all time.

Love Question

Okay so regarding Love's seminal 60s album "Forever Changes" -- is the "changes" in the title a noun? As in, "These aren't just regular changes. These are forever changes." Or is it a verb? As in, "Don't worry, kiddo. Forever doesn't stay the same. Forever changes."

Cat of Record

Well, it's official: Calling Cat-22 is in Wikipedia.

Thumbs Up

Toonzone's forums report that Calling Cat-22! is "funny". Hooray!

Calling Cat-22!

Watch an episode of Calling Cat-22 on Cartoon Network Video now, then watch for more episodes this Sunday, June 15, during the "Not-So-Smart Toons" Marathon (12p-6p)!!

Cartoon Network = Boys

Great article about Cartoon Network's new direction, from last week's Variety.

Gawesome, Part Deux

I was just reading some of the comments on that Emily Gould piece while I was eating lunch. It's surprising how many people take time out of their day to write mean gibberish, just like this Emily girl used to do for Gawker. Nevertheless, her writing is sharp and the article was good, as many readers seemed to realize. (Whether you thought it deserved to be on the cover of the magazine is really beside the point.) And anyway, she's cute ("marginally attractive"), so she has that going for her, too. This comment cracked me up:

Well, Emily, like the old joke goes, in your 20s, you worry about what people think of you; in your 40s, you decide that you don't care what anyone thinks of you and in your 60s, your[sic] realize they weren't thinking about you at all.
— Bob, Virginia

It's funny 'cause it's true!

Gawesome

I don't know Emily Gould from Elliot Gould, but I was totally blown away by her article in this week's NYT magazine. She speaks about her history with Gawker Media, the purveyor of snark, and reveals her struggles -- both public and private -- with her professional decisions and personal relationships. Now I couldn't care less about the insipid Gawker and its preoccupation with non-news and cewebrity (even though I read the growing-ever-more-snarky Gawker-sibling Kotaku). But I am fascinated by blogger culture, the obvious need for some people to share (and some to overshare) incredibly intimate details of their lives, online, for strangers to idolize or vilify. Sure, I'm writing this blog post. But no one is reading it, probably. And if they are, fine. I'm not talking about my genital warts or whatever.

Anyway, kudos to Emily Gould for a very entertaining piece, even though she still suffers from that myopic twentysomething point of view that we all once had. The events she describes in the article occurred way, waaay back in 2006, after all. Reading the article, you'd think she was talking about her misbegotten days of youth, not the summer before last. This too shall pass, Emily. And ultimately, no one really cares what you're doing every blogtastic minute except you and the person or people you're doing it with. The sooner you realize that no one is thinking about you as much as you think they are thinking about you, the better off you are.

I learned that waaay back in 2005, when I was 32.

Photo Updates

Lots of new pics have been posted to my Picasa web album. Check out photos of our new house and our family photo shoot!

ABBA = Spinal Tap

ABBA's drummer has died in a bizarre gardening accident. Well, it was really more of a bizarre glass-partition accident. But still. Come on!

Out of the Demo

Today I am officially outside the 18-34 demographic. Sigh. The ad sales community finds me to be completely worthless.

DC's New Frontier

Darwyn Cooke's New Frontier is easily one of my favorite comics ever. I'm not even a DC guy, but New Frontier is seriously awesome. So I watched the new movie over the weekend, which I enjoyed, but it was a disappointment overall. Mostly because there was simply no way for the producers to cram all the story into a one-hour running time. However, the movie is filled with great moments...it just doesn't come together as a whole. I'd write more, but Toonzone does a very good job of summing it up.

Sigh...FINE

Okay so I set up a Facebook profile. Happy now? Can't wait until it becomes obsolete so I can set up another stupid profile. Oh yeah, and don't forget to read this.

Cloverfield Rulez!

I just got home from an advance screening of Cloverfield -- GO! And go soon, because there's some fun surprises that will quickly be ruined by word-of-mouth and reviews. A great movie to see when you pretty much know nothing at all. I will say this...SPOILER ALERT...this picture is a fake or a decoy.

Happy Birfday

This weekend Aviella had her birthday party, which she shared with two of her classmates, Annabel and Sydney. The cake said:

Happy Birthday
Avieloa, Annable and Sydney

(They got "Sydney" right.)

This prompted Gideon to remark upon a hilarious internet photo, displayed below:



I love the internet!