10.31.2006

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!



...so scary, yet true...

NEW MUSIC 10.31.06

This week covers some discs I picked up over the past couple of weeks as well...


GOMEZ (Greatest Hits)


ME FIRST & THE GIMME GIMMES * LOVE THEIR COUNTRY

Lookin' For Love needed a punk version. And Garth Brooks should totally work with these guys on his next album!!!


LUCINDA WILLIAMS * CAR WHEELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD

This re-issue release comes with a live concert disc from 1998 as well! It'll hold you over until Lucinda graces us with a new studio album in 2007.


BRIGHT EYES * NOISE FLOOR (Rarities 1998-2005)

Even his table scraps are tasty!


BEN FOLDS * SUPERSUNNYSPEEDGRAPHIC

A collection of his three 2005 EPS all wrapped into one nice package. You get his amazing cover of The Cure's "In Between Days" and The Darkness' "Get Your Hands Off My Woman" along with his popular cover of Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't Shit."

But the best is a new(er) song entitled "All U Can Eat" that I ended up putting on my XMAS mix last year...

All U Can Eat
Written by Ben Folds


So I'm lookin' at all the people in this restaurant
What do you think they weigh?
Look out the window to the parking lot
at their SUVs taking all of the space

They give no fuck
they talk as loud as they want
They give no fuck
just as long as there's enough for them

Gonna get on the microphone down at Wal-Mart
Talk about some shit that's been on my mind
Talk about the state of this great nation of ours
People, look to you left, yeah, look to your right

They give no fuck
they buy as much as they want
They give no fuck
just as long as there's enough for them

(piano solo)

So I look at the people lining up for plastic
I'd like to see 'em in the National Geographic
Squatting bare-assed in the dirt eating rice from a bowl
With a towel on their head or maybe a bone in their nose

See that asshole with the peace sign on his license plate
Giving me the finger and running me out of his lane
God made us number one cause he loves us the best
Well maybe he should go bless someone else for a while, give us a rest

Just so everyone can see
We've eaten all that we can eat



NELLIE MCKAY * PRETTY LITTLE HEAD

What a long and crazy journey this album has gone through. Like that of Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine, this was another album that SONY refused to release "as is." It needed a single and it sure as hell needed to be trimmed down to a single album, rather than the double disc she was wanting. So she took her songs, and released it on her own imprint Hungry Mouse. I haven't had a chance to listen to more than a few songs, but it's anything but boring. She mixes up musical stylings and offers plenty in the lyrical department. If you enjoy pretty piano tunes with some spunk and attitude, you might wanna check this one out.


WILLIE NELSON * SONGBIRD

Good ol' Willie. When he's not getting busted for having three tons of mushrooms and weed on his tour bus, he's making yet ANOTHER album. This time, he's working with Mister "Three Album Releases In A Single Year" Ryan Adams and the results are much better than his previous discs It Will Always Be or The Great Divide. His cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Songbird" is a keeper and will probably be making on to this year's XMAS release.

10.30.2006

MY LATEST MIX CD



Just email me thefoxymoron@aol.com and I'll mail one off to you.

REMEMBER TO VOTE NOVEMBER 7TH!!!

10.27.2006

SET THE TiVOS...

Bill O'Reilly gets another verbal beatdown on Letterman tonight. You got to give Billy Boy credit, he continues to go on the show even when he knows Letterman hates his guts. Or don't...cause he's still a talentless assclown.

Some excerpts:

In a tape previewed by Page Six, things go downhill fast as O'Reilly sits down and jokingly presents the liberal-leaning host with a plastic sword to do battle and holds up a plastic shield to defend himself.

An irritated Letterman cracks, "Oh, that's nice, that's cute, you come out with toys . . . Am I right about one thing: You guys over there at Fox and guys like Rush Limbaugh, you guys know it's all just a goof, right? You're just horsing around. You're doing it 'cause you know it'll be entertaining?" Letterman adds he's never seen O'Reilly's show because, "I dial up Fox and it's always 'The Simpsons.' "


*snip*

Letterman admits he hasn't read O'Reilly's new book, "Culture War," because "I looked at it. I said, 'What is it, a book on sailing?' "

God, that last part is sooooooooooooo true. Who in their right mind thought this cover photo was a good choice?!

10.26.2006

GRACE.



Keith Olbermann talked about Michael J Fox's handling of the past couple of days and his reaction to the smears that talk radio drug addicts that have used against him. Grace. That's exactly the word. Too often in politics we get so caught up in the name-calling...the debates and the pointing of fingers and the arguments...that we lose sight of the issues at hand. We forget that there are actual lives caught up in these decisions.

Watch this video. Look at him. He is fighting for much more than a petty election. He's fighting to pursue cures. To let science pave the way of the future. To give whatever hope he can to the millions of people who suffer at the hands of diseases thoughout this land.

THE FOUNTAIN



Originally, Darren Aronofsky wanted to direct a major motion picture based on a story he had written about a husband who will do anything to save his wife from dying of Cancer. When the studios ended up shuting the production down in 2002, he made sure and secured the graphic novel rights. One way or another, he was going to get this story to an audience. Along the way of working on the comic, he rethought the idea of having to make a "huge Hollywood movie" and decided that The Fountain could still be told using a smaller budget and tighter script.

Cut to the Fall of 2006 and the audience having two pieces of this amazing story at their disposal. Seen as a "director's cut" of the feature film about to hit theaters soon, the graphic novel just hit store shelves yesterday. I finished reading it on my lunchbreak today and cannot give it enough praise. Sure, it's a lil' confusing, but any love story that spans 1000 years demands a second look. The themes of "eternal life" and "eternal love" are the driving force and overlap any of the time shifts.

You can read the first 14 pages here.

HALLOWEEN LOCOROCO LEVEL



First, you gotta have a PSP. Next you have to update it to 2.82. Finally, go here and download the demo and enjoy!!!

For those of you staring at the screen going, "Wha...?!" Check out this game footage:

10.25.2006

LATEST SPECIAL COMMENT...



Keith nails it. The Republican Party is PAYING to have Osama bin Laden scare you with his bullshit. Does that make any god damn sense?

10.23.2006

STAY THE COURSE



Never said it. Didn't happen.

Best line ever comes courtesy of Tony Snow: "We're not in the business of issuing ultimatums."

Dead or Alive? With us or against us? No? Doesn't ring a bell to me either...

IT NEEDS TO BE NOVEMBER 14TH...NOW!!!

That's when iTunes will offer Bridge School recordings...and all will be right with the world.

Here's a list of every single amazing artist that has performed at the Bridge School Benefits over the years. Drooooooool.

10.20.2006

SOUND ADVICE...


Randy Newman * Political Science
on The Colbert Report
(written in 1971 and still rings true to this very day)

10.19.2006

HOW PISS POOR ARE THE REPUBLICANS DOING?

Well, this is the ad they've chosen to run starting next week...

The Republican Party will begin airing a hard-hitting ad this weekend that warns of more cataclysmic terror attacks against the U.S. homeland.

The ad portrays Osama bin Laden and quotes his threats against America dating to February 1998. "These are the stakes," the ad concludes. "Vote November 7."


(snip)

The ad displays an array of quotes from bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, that include bin Laden's Dec. 26, 2001 vow that "what is yet to come will be even greater."

The ad also cites al-Zawahri's claim to have obtained "some suitcase bombs," followed by a scene that appears to show a nuclear explosion.

Despite al-Zawahri's claim, portable nuclear devices are believed to be particularly difficult to produce, and elusive to rogue regimes and terror groups. "The degree of difficulty goes way up as the size of the device gets smaller," a senior U.S. official said this week, briefing reporters this week on condition of anonymity.


SUITCASE BOMBS?! NUCLEAR EXPLOSION?! All of that is going to happen if the Democrats take back the House? Or do they have to win the Senate as well? And say al-Zarwahri's claim is true and they do have nuclear suitcase bombs? WHO THE FUCK LET THAT HAPPEN?! The Democrats haven't had a single piece of the Government since 2000! Wasn't invading Iraq supposed to make us safer?!

...man, these guys are sure desperate when their political careers are about over.

THE PROBLEM WITH VIDEO GAMES...

...much like with comics, is that the entire medium is thought to be "for kids." So say, when you have a game like Grand Theft Auto, which is like playing a version of the best R-rated mobster movie out there, immediately Parents Groups and members of Congress come wailing their arms and want to shut down the entire industry.

But video games, like music and movies and books, have different genres and are for different ages. The problem comes, when games seem to be marketed to children. There's not a lot of different video game magazines out there, so most likely you'll see an ad for Grand Theft Auto in the same magazine as an ad for Pokemon. It's not like you'd be reading Nickelodeon Magazine and see ads in there for Bud Light.

But, for the most part, those of us "of age" who enjoy playing more mature titles have been able to win the argument by saying, "Hey, everyone knows they're not for kids! It says M For Mature right there on the box!!!"

Then, Sears comes along and plays a new advertisement on national television with this fucking Connor kid:



You catch that last part? He likes Halo and Halo 2. Well, who doesn't? Killing the hell out of aliens and watching their body parts explode in a bloody mess is good old fashion entertainment! And you know, maybe this kid is real and maybe his parents let him play Halo...good for them, that's their choice...but what kind of message is this sending to the rest of us? It only furthers the "righteous cause" of those who want to destroy the video game industry. "See, SEARS lets Connor play Halo! They ARE after our precious lil' children!!!"

Molly and I have seen this ad a few times (it was shown during last night's episode of LOST for example) and honestly I don't think she caught it the first time. She's not a video game junkie like I am, but I doubt that only video game junkies see the harm in what one single advertisement from Sears could mean for the entire industry.

Video games are already misunderstood enough on their own. The last thing they need is Sears coming along giving them help.

I saw this quote on one of the gaming blogs and it's so true (and funny!) that I felt the need to re-post it here. It sums up exactly what went through my mind the first time I saw the ad...

New BORDERS bookstore COMMERCIAL:

8 year old boy: "I read... I like SPORTS ILLUSTRATED... I really like that magazine, I really got addicted to it because it's lots of fun and stuff, because I like to read about MLB and NFL... you can know about the top players...

And I like ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, because I'm into movies and stuff...

And, uh, I like HUSTLER and UNZIPPED magazine... my name is Connor, and this is what I discovered at BORDERS"

~from DJ @ the Joystiq boards.

NORMALLY, I'D JUST LINK TO YOUTUBE...

But this is so beautiful, you really need to see it in Quicktime...

10.16.2006

STEM CELL RESEARCH VS. PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE THE EARTH IS 2,000 YEARS OLD.

Wonder which side is going to win? On one side, you have organizations such as:

American Association for Cancer Research
American Diabetes Association
Christopher Reeve Foundation
Lance Armstrong Foundation
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
National Brain Tumor Foundation

...and on and on and on...

On the other side you have:

...well...a list of physicians. No groups or foundations, but individuals. In fact I called the organization behind the VOTE NO ON AMENDMENT 2 here in Missouri and was told, "We have tons of support, but would rather focus on the important aspects of what the Amendment does instead of the 'back & forth' of who we have and who they have."

So let's do that. I'm not going to post the entire Amendment here, but you can read it for yourself and then meet me back here. Go ahead...I'll wait.

Done? Cool. Did you happen to see the very first (1) where they say in plain English, "No person may clone or attempt to clone a human being." So what the hell is "nocloning.org" about?

It's the same bullshit that got Bush re-elected back in 2004. "Sure, Kerry got war medals, but he's not going to defend this country!" It's the magical trick of turning a pure, simple, cold, hard fact and giving it an ounce of doubt. NO CLONING. It says so right there in the Amendment. Yet, as I type this, there are ads running on radio and television telling people that Amendment 2 will allow human cloning. It's false and a dirty political trick. Hell, even our Senator (running for re-election himself) Jim Talent said so on his Meet The Press debate:



Here's the deal. I can deal with the arguement that you are against Stem Cell Research because you feel it's killing a human life. I don't agree with it, in fact even though I actually have a child, if he was sick and we needed to destroy a petri dish in order to save him...I'd have the lazerbeams out and not even bat an eye about "killing" something. You know what I consider "life?" Breathing, smiling, and pooping. So spare me the theatrics of "all of life's creatures." Because I care more of those who have actual LIVED rather than those on stand-by.

But this smear campaign isn't even running on the idea of "saving human lives!" They're scaring people into thinking that a vote for Stem Cell Research is a vote for cloning. It's all a ruse to make us some zomibes. It's fucking sick and these poor bastards should know better.

My Father is currently fighting brain cancer. Numerous tumors inside of his brain as we speak are close to affecting his vision, his motor skills, his ability to remain "himself." There's little (besides chemo and radiation) that doctors can do for him. Nothing is suggesting that Stem Cells would even be used to save him in any sort of way...and yet, we don't know. Why turn our backs on science? Why limit ourselves to using only the resources that we currently have in our grasps?

People are always going to be against new scientific procedures. We're always going to be asking ourself, "Are we playing God?" But you know, we'd all be dead around age 30 if it wasn't for our ability to USE the talents that God gave us in order to enrich our lives.

I might not know exactly know when life "begins." However, I know for a fact when life ends...and the least we can hope for is that it's painless, quick, and that you're able to go out with your dignity.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON COVERS TOM WAITS?!

...for an entire album?!

What...the fuck...is going on?

10.13.2006

THIS IS A GREAT YEAR FOR MOVIE POSTERS...



David Fincher's latest. It's changed it's title a few times, but deals with the Zodiac killer out in San Francisco and how he continued to taunt the police by using the Chronical newspaper. From what I've read, it's almost three hours, but an amazingly detailed look at trying to track down a serial killer and how it consumes your life. Needless to say, the Zodiac killer still hasn't been caught to this very day.

10.12.2006

JUST TO LET YOU KNOW...

If you're wondering to yourself, "Doesn't this guy ever draw comics anymore?" you're in luck...just at the wrong website. I'm now posting my comics (and other sketch thingies) over at Comic Strip Joint.

GRINDHOUSE TRAILER


Technically it's just the PLANET TERROR trailer since Quentin isn't finished shooting DEATH PROOF yet...but whatever.

For anyone who isn't up on movies like nerds like me, GRINDHOUSE is going to be a Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez film with each doing an hour or so B-Movie about zombies and cars that come to life and naked chicks. In between the actual films are going to be trailers for other B-Movies they just thought of but never will actually see the light of day. It's basically going to be 3 hours of awesomely trashy awesomeness. And the worst date movie ever!!!

10.10.2006

THINGS THAT HAVE KEPT ME CHEERFUL OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF DAYS


MARIE ANTOINETTE SOUNDTRACK

Just looking at the tracklist makes me wanna dance...

Disc: 1
1. "Hong Kong Garden" - Siouxsie & The Banshees
2. "Aphrodisiac" - Bow Wow Wow
3. "What Ever Happened" - The Strokes
4. "Pulling Our Weight" - The Radio Dept.
5. "Ceremony" - New Order
6. "Natural's Not In It" - Gang Of Four
7. "I Want Candy (Kevin Shields Remix)" - Bow Wow Wow
8. "Kings Of The Wild Frontier" - Adam & The Ants
9. "Concerto in G" * - Antonio Vivaldi / Reitzell
10. "The Melody Of A Fallen Tree" - Windsor For The Derby
11. "I Don't Like It Like This" - The Radio Dept.
12. "Plainsong" - The Cure

Disc: 2
1. "Intro Versailles"* - Reitzell / Beggs
2. "Jynweythek Ylow" - Aphex Twin
3. "Opus 17" - Dustin O'Halloran
4. "Il Secondo Giorno (Instrumental)" - Air
5. "Keen On Boys" - The Radio Dept.
6. "Opus 23" *- Dustin O'Halloran
7. "Les Baricades Misterieuses"* - Francois Couperin / Reitzell
8. "Fools Rush In (Kevin Shields Remix) - Bow Wow Wow
9. "Avril 14th" - Aphex Twin
10. "K. 213" * - Domenico Scarlatti / Reitzell
11. "Tommib Help Buss" - Squarepusher
12. "Tristes Apprets.." - Jean Philippe Rameau /W. Christie
13. "Opus 36" *- Dustin O'Halloran
14. "All Cat's Are Grey" - The Cure


I LIKE YOU (Hospitality Under the Influence) by AMY SEDARIS

A book of how to throw awesome parties and decorate using awesome things and cook awesomely! My favorite thing ever is the "FUCK IT BUCKET." Yes, you'll have to buy the book to find out what that exactly involves, but it's actually harmless AND tasty!


SIMPSONS TREEHOUSE OF HORROR BUST-UPS!


The GIMME GIMMES versions of Desperado and Goodbye Earl!

10.06.2006

...sob...



This past week has just been like one reeeeeeally bad dream. It started with my Nana calling to tell me that my Papa's cancer had spread to his Liver. Then, last night, my Father calls and tells me that during his MRI, the doctors found four tumors on his brain. He underwent chemo and radiation about 2 1/2 years ago on one single tumor on his brain. He never lost any hair...never lost much weight...honestly you couldn't even tell the man had brain surgery.

Now this. Four tumors. We have no idea what stage they're in, but it really doesn't matter. This is so sad, so depressing. I just want to go back to making jokes and linking to youtube. And I probably will in a couple of days. But for now, I'll just be off moping in the corner.

OLBERMANN RIPS BUSH FOR HIS SLANDER AGAINST DEMOCRATS



Simply put, this is one of the greatest "Special Comment" pieces he's ever done.

10.05.2006

SORRY FOR THE LACK OF BLOGGING...

But I've spent the past couple of days in the midst of a tiny "IM chat with a 14 year old transexual" political scandal. The good news is that, in his country, the age of consent is 7...so hopefully all charges will be dropped shortly.

Okay, in all honesty I was down in Southern Missouri visiting my Nana & Papa because my Papa's cancer has spread to his Liver. But it's super fucking depressing, so let's stick with the sex crimes, yes?

Man, I've missed so many good jokes about the current events. I just love how, no matter what you've done, (blame all of the wars on the Jews, have IM sex with underage Pages) all you have to do is check yourself into rehab and everything is A-OK!