UPDATED JUNK... & STUFF

Hey y'all... I've been getting some feedback about old You Tube clips I've blogged that are no longer available. And I'm happy to announce I've update the following clips/links for your interwebs enjoyment:

The Sanah-Sahs (The Simple Life, Season 3)
This clip was brung to my attention by my older sister, Laura. It is way addictive, and everyone I've shown it to ends up singing the song... over, and over, and over again.

To watch this clip, click here.




Family Guy TV Tribute (The Emmys, 2007)
I found this clip online, and it was featured on a couple of clip-shows. I uploaded it as part of pair for Family Guy clips I found online. One clip went up for my cousin's hubby, Doug, and the other went up for my cousin, Julie.

So here's that clip (again). Click here to watch.




And remember, you can browse all the You Tube clips I've blogged by clicking on the post label, "You Tube." You can also click on the post's screen itself, and it should take you to that video's You Tube page.

WHOSE HOUSE?

I'm so very super, sit up and slap yo' mama excited for the return of MTV's Run's House. They recently set the premiere date for the new season of this super show, and even though I feel like I'm watching too much television to begin with, I'm going to watch. (I'll probably cut down on some other shows, which I'll blog about next week.)

If you're not familiar with Run's House, it follows the life and times of Rev. Run (of Run DMC fame, and an actual reverend) and his amazing family. They're incredible to watch because even though they're ultra-rich and uber-famous, they come across as a super down-to-earth and real... which is an oddity in the world of reality television.

I won't get up on some pseudo-platform about the importance of family values in our current social climate... but I will go so far as to say that watching this family is refreshing, entertaining and worthwhile.

DOLLARS & SENSE

As the next presidential election cycle nears, a great deal of attention is falling on the amount of money each candidate raises for their campaign. California residents have netted candidates from both parties approximately $37 million. Not too shabby, considering the fact that the election is over a year away.

But what's even more amazing is another figure released by MSNBC this morning. Based on current financial trends, projections for this year and spending records... Americans will spend more on Halloween costumes than on the next presidential election.

Yes, we will spend over $3 billion on Halloween costumes this year, which is more than we'll donate (and spend, as a country) on the election to decide our next leader... the leader of the free world. Yes, we'll spend more more on princess costumes than our next executive officer. We'll shell out more moolah for Scream masks than we spend on the election of next commander in chief. Ah, democracy.

EXTRA SPECIAL DAISIES

I have to say, I only sorta liked the first episode of ABC's Pushing Daisies. I loved the look, the writing (mostly) and thought the casting was extraordinary. I'm not a big fan of dramatic TV voice-overs, and this was no exception. The narration, while creative and spirited, started to annoy me after a while. But I still enjoyed the show, as it had a few surprises in store.

The biggest surprise, and perhaps one of the best parts of the show was the plot with Swoozie Kurtz (IMDB here) and Ellen Greene (IMDB here). If you don't know these names, they're stars of such gems as Cruel Intentions and Little Shop of Horrors, respectively. They played a pair of house-bound, former aquatic starlets. Hilarious. I'm tuning in to the next episode, mostly for them.

(Special thanks to The Pile of Purge blog for the photo. See more Purge here.)

I'M NEVER WATCHING "TOP CHEF" AGAIN

I can't believe they gave the title of Top Chef to that @sshole, Hung. Yes, yes, I know... he is a technically proficient, classically trained chef, or whatever.

But time after time, the judges talked about how his work lacked emotion; how his work lacked soul, and seemed restrained and always, "missing something." Why would you give the title to someone who cooked food without a soul.

And to make matters worse, he was a jerk, in and out of the kitchen. He constantly made a mess, and refused to clean it up. He was careless with knives, and unrepentant when it was pointed out to him. When given criticism, he either blew it off, insulted the judge (to their face sometimes)... or worse, both. And that's their idea of the best in show? No thanks.

OCTOBER MUSIC...

Well, once again, the music industry leaves me underwhelmed... I mean, c'mon. Hanna Montana? 50 Cent vs. Kanye West? Puhleeeze.

One track that does stand out for me, though, is Jill Scott's Hate On Me. Jill Scott is an artist often mislabeled as, "Neo Soul." I say mislabeled because the label implies she doesn't have as much soul as Chaka Khan, or Aretha Franklin, simply because she's young - it says she couldn't express herself with the same amount of soul, simply because she's of a younger generation. Well, this track, and all of her tracks prove this notion to not only be wrong, but to be wrong to the point of offense.

While not my favorite tracks of Ms. Scott's, Hate On Me provides a thunpin' track, hot horns and steamin' vocals on a sensitive subject: haters. Haters are those who would rather dish negativity than celebrate the positivity. It is most specifically used in the hip hop community to refer to people who stand on the sideline and simply dog those who put themselves out there, artistically. Jill Scott is an artist who operates in a unique, soulful place, yet has yet to find the mainstream success as more, "marketable" artists. (She's a full-size woman, unlike some of the skinny girls we see in the mainstream.) I say, props to her.

Getting back to Kanye West, I was very disappointed to see the temper tantrums he's been throwing recently. But I was sickened to my stomach to hear his described as a musical genius, and even less impressed when he compared himself to Coca Cola - a product that's everywhere. Mr. West, your latest song, Stronger is a hit due to the quality of the song it samples. (Don't believe me? The hit of last summer, Bustah Rhymes' Touch It also drew from the same song.) Kanye West says when he, "wrote" Stronger, he imagined it opening the MTV Music Awards. Mr. West, you did not write this song. You rapped over the original work of another artist. GROW UP!

Speaking of which, you should really check out the original version of this song, by Daft Punk. It's called Better, Faster, Harder, Stronger and it is a great track.

Other tracks rockin' my iPod are: Don't Stop The Music and Shut Up & Drive by Rihanna, Gimme More by Britney Spears, Various Remixes of Coldplay songs and the soundtrack from the Broadway musical Wicked!.

PUSH THE LITTLE DAISIES

Well, tonight's the night... ABC rolls out the much-anticipated, much-hyped drama-comedy Pushing Daisies. The good news? The show creator, Bryan Fuller (IMDB here), has a long track record of great shows. He worked on the NBC breakout hit, Heroes. And he created the fabulous, but short-lived, Wonderfalls. But the show he created deserving the most fanfare has to be the wonderful, witty, heartfelt drama-comedy Dead Like Me (IMDB here).

The bad news? Fuller has a well-documented reputation of diva-like behavior. Despite being one of the most creative, unique artists in the TV medium... he has a history of fighting with TV executives - so much so, that many of his shows come to an early death because of it. (If the rumors are to be believed.) Wonderfalls only lasted about 14 episodes with Fuller at the helm. And Dead Like Me, while surviving all the way to a second season, only had Fuller's full creative touch for (wait for it) 14 episodes. If the stats are to be believed, then we better enjoy these first few episodes of Pushing Daisies. Even though its on at the same time as Kid Nation (read my comments on KN here), I plan on investing in Fuller and his crop of Daisies.

IS IT JUST ME...

...or is Blackwater CEO Erik Prince kinda cute? I mean, the only blackwater I can imagine is the blackwater flowing through his evil veins, where normal humans have blood... and he's an uber-conservative, Christian, right-wing evil CEO.

But he's also an ex-Navy Seal, which means that he's in good shape. And although I'm not a fan of his $8 Supercuts hairdo (or the behavior of his company), there's something naught/cute about him.

I still think he, and his employees should rot in hell. And I think it is an act of unspeakable unpatriotic injustice that we're spending thousands of dollars on Blackwater employees (who operate without sufficient oversight), while numerous military families here in the US have to live on food stamps just to make ends meet.

So I guess he's not that cute, after all.

WE WANT THE FUNK

I don't really think the MasterCard ads are that funny anymore... but this one rocks.

ASK vs GOOGLE

If you're a frequent visitor to this blog, you know I pretty much always have a unique image to go with the all my posts. What you might not know is where I get these images from. The two main sources I draw from are Flickr and Google Images. Regardless of how much Photoshop work happens, I find all the images I need from these two sources.

But recently, Ask.com (previously known as Ask Jeeves) dumped a ton of money into advertising its make-over and "improved" services. Their commercials dog the other search engines, and tout the effectiveness and superiority of their search engine. So, like a curious monkey would, I checked them out.

I'm currently working on my next post, about parking, and parking tickets. (It'll be more interesting than it sound, I swear.) So, I plotzed over to Ask.com, clicked on, "Images," and entered the key term, "parking." Ask.com's results? Page upon page of images of parks. Yes, tons of images of leafy green trees and slides and swings made of that weird plastic.

And to top that off, their so-called improvements made searching for the right image even harder... and maybe even a little more annoying. (Those pop-up style search-in-search windows are so lame.) So after a few tries at narrowing the parameters, I gave up... and went over to Google.

And yes, maybe a post about parking tickets isn't that interesting.

OCTOBER HELPING OF SPAM

Here are, in no particular order, 10 actual email I found in my Yahoo! spam folder:


Do You Use MySpace?
Well, I have a MySpace account, but I don't use it... to much spam.

]-+-.(([)![]-.[: :.![* :.
I don't know what this one means, I just liked the way it looked.

A Secret Lover is Trying to Get in Touch With You
Well, this lover truly is secret... even I didn't know I had one!

Chic paper napkin
Liar! There's no such thing!

Especially poor sperm count and quality
I don't think that means what you think it means

He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed, Proverbs 11:25, from Christian Cash Advance Cash Service
Refreshed, redeemed... it doesn't matter what part of the Bible you quote, I'm not dealing with any cash advance service

Relax, sex can be enjoyable
I wouldn't know... it's been way to long for me to recall.

Final ATTEMPT: Confirm Your E-mail address for WalMart Shipment
Uh, I wouldn't set foot in a WalMart, so there's no way I'd ever fall for this one.

Bartender fucks one of his male clients
Talk about a bar-back...

Straight guy trying gay sex
Well, then he's not straight any more, now is he?

BLOG SHOUT-OUT

I've been reading a new blog called The Programming Insider (click here to read), over on MediaWeek.com. OK, it isn't really a blog... it' more like a corporate web site after-thought. (Many companies like to add content to their sites, in the form of first-person columns, and call them blogs. While it may or may not meet the official standards for what makes a blog, it violates the spirit, and intention of blogging, simply by being a corporate entity.) The design of the site leaves a great deal to be desired, and the writing is only ho-hum. But it remains the best (free) source of overnight ratings for TV shows on the web. If you're a TV buff, then check this site out.

C'MON, MISSY... YOU'RE BETTER THAN THIS

When I first hear Doritos and hip hop diva Missy Elliott were teaming up to produce an interactive music mash-up site (click here to visit), I was pretty damn excited. I mean, Missy Elliott is nothing short of a brilliant producer, one-of-a-kind MC and musical visionary. So the chance to make a musical creation (no matter how lame the product tie-in may be), sounded like a dream come true.

With hits like, "Get Ur Freak On," and the ground-breaking, "Work It," Missy broke ground, both as a hip hopper in the world of pop, and a woman in the world of hip hop, and the music industry, as a whole. The music (and entertainment) industry remains largely a man's world, but over the past decade, Missy broke down barriers, struck out on new artistic paths and set new records with her many works. As a producer, artist, MC and role model (for her anti-violence, pro-woman work), Missy Elliott is an artist destined to be remembered for generations to come.
So imagine my dismay when the Doritos site turned out to be heavy on the flash, and low on substance. Yes, I'm impressed by the slick interface, and smooth graphics. Even some of the beats are Missy-tastic. But the user-end of the site is clunky (at best), and doesn't really feel like an opportunity to contribute anything significant or unique. (You can, however, record your own lyrics, but any music producer will tell you: there's no point in laying down lyrics when your beats are so whack.

SIMON SAYS...

From the BRI Book of Quotes, a collection of quotes from the American Idol judge everyone loves to hate: Simon Cowell.

"That was extraordinary. Unfortunately, it was extraordinarily bad."

"You have invented a new form of torture."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I prefer you when I close my eyes."

"I think you invented notes never ever heard before in music."

Contestant: "Why wasn't it good?"
Simon: "Because you sang it."

"When you entered this competition, did you really believe you become an American Idol? [Contestant nods.] Well, then, you're deaf. Good bye."

FALL TV SCORE CARD: Monday

Well, we're off to the races with Fall 2007 TV now underway, with ABC winning the first full night of programming. According to the folks over at MediaWeek.com, Dancing With The Stars helped ABC win the night. CBS came in second, even though the majority of its shows saw a down-trend in viewers. NBC came in third, followed by Fox. (Fox, oddly enough, has been advertising its Monday night newbie show, K-Ville as, "the number one new drama on TV. I guess that could be true, but less impressive when you realize K-Ville debuted last week, a week before any other show... it's easy to be #1 when you're not competing with any other new shows.) On a high note, NBC's Heroes came in second overall, which is a good sign. To read the numbers yourself, click here. (It's a decent site, but the design and interface need a ton of work.)

FALL TV PREVIEW (Part 2)

There are plenty of new shows debuting on network television, and a few caught my eye. I've already watched two of them, but the third, unwatched show is the one I'm most excited about. (I'm also looking forward to the return of House tonight, and enjoyed the return of Heroes last night.)

Kid Nation (CBS, Wednesdays) I'll admit, I was only midly interested in watching this show. The hype surrounding it was deafening, and that usually turns me off. But then, two major pop cultural factors came into play: first, my cousin Sandra (the one with the twin daughters), gave the show a glowing reccomendation over dinner the other night; second, Elisabeth Hasslebeck (of the "world is flat" show, The View) voiced her opposition to the show... well, now I had to watch it. And I must say, I loved this show. I'm not all that into reality competition shows, but this one rocks! It, like many other reality show, exploits its participants. And the fact that the participants are kids would normally upset me - I don't think kids should be exposed to this world. But as evidence that childhood has changed over the last few decades, these kids know how to play the reality TV game as expertly as any adult. Overall grade: B+

Chuck (NBC, Mondays) The best thing this show has going for it is the fact that its on before Heroes. With nothing else to watch, and a hour to kill, I gave this geeky show a try. And talk about entertaining! has a premise that sounds pretty stretched beyond the limits of reason... and those limits were put to the test during the first episode. While several other shows seem cut from the same cloth Chuck seems like the most likely to catch on. CBS's The Big Bang Theory comes across as too cartoony, and will most likely not find an audience. The CW's Reaper boasts a better, more off-beat premise, and I might give it a try. But all three geek out of water storylines won't survive the onslaught of new show cancellations. I'm curious as to what will happen will all three shows, but for now, I'm only watching Chuck. My main fear with this show is how quickly this premise will wear thin. The writing could use a little punching-up, but I'm reserving judgement, as most pilots aren't indicative of the final product, when it comes to television shows.

Pushing Daisies (ABC, Wednesdays) This show is the most creative, visually interesting new show on TV this fall. Its on the schedule up against Kid Nation, but CBS is running KN again on Saturdays (at least for now), so my money is on Daisies. Normally, high-concept shows don't catch on with the general public, but they're usually not done well enough, or in an accessible manner. (Think Wonderfalls or Cop Rock.) But Daisies boasts a likeable cast, amazing visual effects and what seems like solid acting. I first became aware of this show when I saw a preview at the movies. This was brilliant move on ABC's part, as Daisies appeals to the savvy Friday-night movie crowd. The show premieres October 3, and I can't wait.

To read the first part of the Fall TV Preview, click here.

YOU SO CRAZY

From another BRI book, here's a collection of quotes all about crazy:

"We're all crazy and the only difference between patients and their therapists is the therapists haven't been caught yet." - Herman Hesse

"Insane people are always sure that they are fine. It is only the sane people who are willing to admit that they are crazy." - Nora Ephron

"Do you know what crazy is? Crazy is majority rules!" - Jeffrey Goines

"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained." - Mark Twain'

"I don't buy temporary insanity as a murder defense. Breaking into someone's house and ironing all their clothes is temporary insanity." - Sue Kolinsky

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED

My older sister (lesbian, flight attendant) showed me this YouTube clip, and I've been laughing, and singing it ever since. And anyone else who has been exposed to it has been singing it, non-stop as well.

This one is for Laura. (Mom won another round of "Ticket To Ride" after you left, on Sunday.)

AS IF THIS COULDN'T GET WORSE...

...along comes a report in the Los Angeles Daily News (a normally pro-Schwarzenegger, conservative paper) describing the illegal, immoral and corrupt deal he and his office just signed.

According to the paper, and sources inside several California governmental oversight offices, the state signed a contract with GM to begin using ethanol cars. Now, setting aside the Governor's relationship with GM (he's a paid spokesman for them), several other fishy facts come into focus:

1. GM had several meetings with the Governor's staff to set up a no-bid pilot program before making the purchases. They were the only company included in this new flex-fuel program.

2. Other car companies had mixed-fuel cars (the goal of the program was to lower California government pollution through cleaner resources). But only GM got to bid on the pilot program, and a contract was signed before the official bidding for the main purchase of vehicles was supposed to end.

3. California law prohibits any government or public program from using Ethanol because it is not readily available across the state's infrastructure. This law was altered, only days before the GM contract was announced, and without consulting the proper state agencies.

4. Special permits are required to develop and use alternate-fuel vehicles. Additional clearance is required to sell these cars and distribute the alternative fuels. The only car company with all the permits? GM. But oddly enough, their paperwork was in place before the government decided to make it legal to purchase such vehicles for state use... so when the law was changed, only GM had enough vehicles to meet the needs of California's fleet needs.

5. The pilot program was announced, and the final contract signed without the knowledge or permission of the proper state agencies.

Sadly enough, the reason why Schwarzenegger ran for office during the recall (according to him) was to bring open, honest government to our state's capitol. He said he wouldn't be beholden to special, corporate interests, and promised to end corruption and special treatment within the state government.

GOD BLESS AMERICA

Freedom of speech means the freedom to express any idea, no matter how vulgar, insensitive or unintelligent the idea may be...

I know you know this, but sometimes, I forget.