Four songs flow like something that flows

That’s how I flow.  Badly.

KKCK:

Jamie Foxx w/T-Pain “Blame It”
After so many songs about bartenders, and buying one more drink, and boat trips, T-Pain decides to help Jamie Foxx assign blame for, well, whatever needs blame assigned to it.  The song is smooth, auto-tuned, and it has T-pain.  That should get it a spot on the next Nowcompilation at the very least.  I think this makes Jamie Foxx the first actor first/singer second to have a song in KKCK rotation since Jennifer Love Hewitt’s “How Do I Deal”.  If that’s not select company, I don’t know what is.

Flo Rida w/Wynter “Sugar”
IT SAMPLES “BLUE (DA BA DEE)” BY EIFFEL 65.  That’s either awesome or horrible, depending on your feelings about Eiffel 65 and Flo Rida, and the combination thereof.  Again, all I have to say is IT SAMPLES “BLUE (DA BA DEE)” BY EIFFEL 65.

Manchester Orchestra “I’ve Got Friends”
This song reminds me of some of the forgotten modern rock of the mid to late 90s, right between Grunge and Creed-rock.  My boss hates it when anyone on air says “we’ve got” or “I’ve got” so this song should frustrate him just a bit more than usual.

Nickelback “If Today Was Your Last Day”
It’s Nickelback.  I really doesn’t matter what I say, but I will mention that for a slow Nickelback song, it has a strong and pronounced beat.  Of all the singles so far, this has the biggest “Mutt” Lange fingerprint.  One would think production tricks that worked so well in the 80s and early 90s wouldn’t work now, but since they do I must conclude “Mutt” is some kind of genius.

Pick to click: Nickelback and/or Eiffel 65.

Battlestar Galactica is now over.  What an ending.  I’m watching it again tonight with the other big BSG fan I know.  I’m curious to hear his take, which should be either “awesome” or “that sucked”.  Biffy is a man of few middle grounds.  In a few weeks Terminator: TSCC wraps up, possibly for good.  There are a few shows I might want to start, but on the other hand I might just keep what I have.  There was a time I watched so little TV I almost dropped cable.  I never did, because I do enjoy a baseball game from time to time.  DVR upped my viewing habits, but a combination of ratings and endings should help drive it down again. 

Braeden has had some…challenging nights the last few weeks.  Most babies are sleeping through the night at his age, but the emphasis on that sentence is “most”.  He’s been up at least three or four times a night over the past week.  I now understand why “teething time” elicits such a groan and look of misery on the faces of parents everywhere.  So far his best career track might be magician, with an emphasis on escape artist.  We have a swaddling blanket of some kind that wraps him up, and it fastens with Velcro.  By the next morning, he’s either one arm out, both arms out, or has it off completely.  This morning he had somehow gotten his arms and legs out without undoing the Velcro.  Last night he got out and turned himself over, which was bad because he’s also still hooked up to an apnea monitor with corded electrodes.  On a more positive note, he’s sitting on his own and he certainly enjoys baby-talking.  I think we’ve got a future chatterbox kid on our hands.

I’m still not writing as much as I was a few months ago, but I think some of that has to do with twitter.  The only thing I really wish Twitter would add is a way to separate the people I’m following.  They’d fall neatly into: friends, web-comic artists, and people I don’t know who don’t draw web-comics.  I don’t want to use something that has to be downloaded, because I split my tweets between up to four or five computers a day.

The other morning I used Braeden’s nap to finally watch the original Vanishing Point.  I know it’s a cult classic, but all it did to me was make me want to take a long, fast road trip through Colorado and Nevada.  That’s also what the movie Scorched and many other movies made in the American Southwest make me want to do.  As of right now, a long road trip through that area is only on my list of things to do after winning the lottery.

I’ve been watching a bit of spring baseball.  I’m ready for the season, or as ready as I’ll ever be.  My big fantasy draft is this Saturday, and I’m not preparing as much as usual.  The reasons are a combination of no time to prepare, and that past years when I’ve really prepared it hasn’t helped any.  This year I’m going with a more “seat of the pants” and “follow my gut” strategy.  We’ll see how that works.

Speaking of work, I should do some.

Two new songs for the price of none

You can’t find a better deal! Well, you could…but stick with me here.

KKCK:

Lily Allen “The Fear”
I remember all the hype behind Lily Allen the last time around, and her album, at least to me, was a bit “meh”.  I’ll check out the new one because this song changes up her formula in a way I like.  That and Mr. Dewey liked the album, and more than half the time I’ll agree with him.

Carolina Liar “Show Me What I’m Looking For”
This song reminds me of another time in music, but I can’t think of when.  Maybe it was earlier days of Coldplay, when we were all over Travis songs.  The song is pretty nondescript, but the added bells in the chorus take it to another time and place.  They almost sound British at times, which isn’t a bad thing.

Pick to click: Carolina Liar

Today I was working on a commercial for HyVee, and a Bjork song popped up on my iPod.  It sent me right into a “Bjork mood”.  I haven’t had one of those in a while, and I never know what they mean or why I get them.  Right now I’m listening to my favorite Bjork CD, Post.  The song that put me in the mood was from Medulla, which used to be my least favorite Bjork CD, but over the last year it has really grown on me.  For my money, Postis best listened to one of two ways: on headphones or in a car late at night.  A third way might be while playing “Golf” on the NES in a dorm room, but that’s more a college flashback.

Battlestar Galactica crammed so much information in last week’s episode I felt like taking notes.  Seriously, we want answers BUT NOT ALL AT ONCE.  Damn.  In BSG’s defense, with only five more episodes something like this was bound to happen. 

I’m late to the party, but I’ve found myself hooked on the show “Making Fiends”.  It was a quick hook, since there are only six episodes Nicktoons is showing (supposedly they have 20 done, but aren’t showing the rest for some reason).  The show is based on a web-toon, and I’ll probably start watching those soon.  I never imagined liking anything from a Nickelodeon network, as I’ve been a big Cartoon Network guy for years.  Lately, CN’s new shows haven’t grabbed me.  Nicktoons runs the hell out of a show called “My Life as a Teenage Robot” that I’m borderline hooked on.  Their new “Wolverine and the X-Men” show is turning into the best X-Men show yet, and their new Iron Man show starts in April.  CN gets points for their new Batman show, and for renewing “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”.  This winter they’ll have the new “Marvel Super-Hero Squad”, a show based around those highly stylized action figures you can find in a two pack that look like they’re made for three year olds.  I’m curious to see how that works, and if they use Punisher and Ghost Rider (I have their Super Hero Squad figures guarding my computer). 

Baseball is starting to fire up again.  I could write a rambling screed about A-rod, but I’m trying to focus on the actual playing of the game.  It should be an interesting year around the league.  MLB Network is making me a bit more of a fan, if that was possible.  This weekend they’re rerunning a bunch of games from the 1980s, when my card collecting was at its peak.  One of the games is Ryne Sandberg’s two-homer game against the Cardinals in 1984.  I really hope they use the WGN feed for that. 

I’m starting to worry I’m developing acid reflux.  I’m waking up at night on the verge of vomiting, even when my stomach is empty.  My throat actually hurt this morning, and the feeling was akin to a burning sensation.  I shouldn’t be surprised, as this ol’ bod has 35 years on it.  Things are bound to start going wrong.  I swear I only drove it on Sundays.

I finally watched Joss Whedon’s new show last night, and it left me with a bit of a “meh” feeling.  I’m curious to keep watching, as the episode got better as the show went on.  I’m trying not to get attached, as FOX has it on a Friday night, which is pretty much a death slot.  I’ve started hoping that the guys behind the Terminator show wrote their season finale as a series finale.  The show was down almost two million viewers in the show’s new Friday night slot.  I’d go on a rant like I used to when I was trying to save Veronica Mars, but the demise of that show left me a bit jaded.

Things are going swell at home.  Braeden is starting to wake up more at night, which we’ve read can happen at this age.  He decided to arise at 6 AM this morning, after a nice few weeks of 7:30 AM sleep.  He’s laughed a few times in front of me, and he almost slithered this morning for me.  My brother and I walked before we could crawl, and Braeden looks like he isn’t getting the hang of crawling as much as he loves being in a jumper.  Kate has been such a stellar mom for the little guy.  He reacts to her in ways he never does for me.  Sometimes I still look at him and think to myself I have no idea what I’m doing.  For a long time I’ve wanted children, but at the same time I spent quite a few formative years without a father figure in the picture.  I know I whine about this about once a month on the blog, but I’m still nervous about the situation. 

Has anyone who reads this written a novel or something similar?  My year long blog project is set to end next week, and after that I’ll take about a week break and then start working on a novel I’ve been plotting out.  I don’t have any really specific questions.  Just some general comments about how other people have approached the subject would be helpful. 

On that note, I’ll call it a day.  Have a good rest of the week everyone.

We’re just three new songs and one DJ…

…stealing Beastie Boys lyrics without delay.

KKCK:

Flo Rida “Right Round”
This song borrows a bit of Dead or Alive, and his style of rapping on the verses reminds me of some old pop/rock song I can’t think of.  All I can remember is that some store in Fargo used it in a jingle for something, or I saw it on a Fargo TV station growing up.  I’d enjoy the song a lot more if I could remember what old song that is.  I’m not even just saying that, because I am enjoying this way more than any other Flo Rida song I’ve ever heard.  With any luck, it might erase the spectre of “Low” from my memory.

New Kids on the Block “Dirty Dancing”
A band successful in the 80s doing a song that shares its name with an 80s movie, AND the song even rhymes “Patrick Swayze”?  That might just be crazy enough to work.  If you don’t know it’s NKOTB, you might not even recognize it as NKOTB.  I’ve never been a huge fan, but this one isn’t too bad.

My Chemical Romance “Desolation Row”
First, like Usher once did, these are my confessions.  I’ve never read “The Watchmen” so I have no idea what the movie will be like.  I’ve never heard the original version of this song by Bob Dylan.  It wasn’t on the “Essential Bob Dylan” CD I ripped into my iTunes.  So, I can only approach this as the three minutes of My Chemical Romance that I hear on my speakers.  Of those three minutes, I like them all.  I hope they don’t dilly dally too long before their next CD.

Pick to click: Flo Rida

Say, that was a pretty good week.  Dare I say it was our best week so far in 2009. 

No show as ever made me delirious with spoiler fever as Battlestar Galactica.  I had a spoiler window open, and I was ready to scroll down…but I just couldn’t do it.  I just want to know if my favorite character bit it.  It sure looks like the character did, and from the next week teaser at the end they even said the character was dead.  That’s why I’m holding hope actually.  Ron Moore never tips his hand like that, unless he has another plan up his sleeve for said character.  So, I’ll patiently wait for that character’s official fate (I’m trying so hard to not spoil anything for those who may be waiting for the season to finish before watching/buying/downloading).

After tonight there will only be two new episodes of Knight Rider, and then we wait for NBC to put a bullet in it.  I hope they don’t, as the show has shown some promise, and the producers seem willing to do whatever it takes to make the show work.  The show has gotten a lot better since the first episode, but it has a long way to go. 

Things at home are going really well.  Braeden is getting bigger, stronger, faster, and smarter by the day.  Kate’s knee is almost all the way back from her surgery.  Our cats continue both amuse and annoy, as cats are born to do.  We’re talking about where we might like to go for a long weekend once the weather warms up, but so far we don’t have any concrete plans.

Just since I started writing this week’s MySpace/WordPress/Last.Fm blog, Kate called to tell me Braeden was laughing.  We’ve been trying to get him to laugh for over a month, as he was at the age where he should start laughing.  What got him to laugh?  Mac the cat meowing at him.  If cats amuse him, he’s in for a fun filled life.

That wraps things up for this week.  Before I go, I was recently tagged by several people on Facebook to do one of those “25 Random Things About Me” deals, so I thought I’d cross post it for anyone who cares to read it but isn’t a Facebook friend.

1. I would still rather watch a well done cartoon than an above average live action show.

2. When I’m walking my son around to calm him down, I talk about baseball, philosophy, Battlestar Galactica, work, or whatever else is on my mind. Some days I swear he’s actually paying attention.

3. I think I drink way too much soda pop.

4. I might be addicted to the internet.

5. In college, I wanted to work anywhere but in Marshall. I’ve worked in Marshall over ten years, and I’ve really enjoyed it.

6. I bottle up feelings rather than talk about them. I am working on this.

7. When I think back to High School, I remember a lot of good times and quite a few things that make me wonder “what was I thinking?” (mainly my hairdo). I wouldn’t trade my time at VHS for anything though, and I’m really happy to see so many Veblen-ites (Veblonians? Vebleners?) popping up on Facebook.

8. On my iPod, I have almost 200 traditional Native American songs, over 500 Spooncat songs, every They Might Be Giants album, over eighty songs by Glenn Miller, most of my old hair rock, every 10,000 Maniacs, AC/DC, Metallica, ZZ Top, Fiona Apple, Bowling for Soup, Megadeth, Sheryl Crow, No Doubt, Dangerous Toys, Weird Al Yankovic, Daft Punk, and Reverend Horton Heat (those are just the ones I thought of now) album, and about 14,000 other songs. Of the 15,900 + songs, not one is in the genre “country”.

9. Some days I obsess about death, but not mine. I worry about my parents and my old cat, and I can’t stop thinking about how one day they won’t be here.

10. If I could go back to college, I’d major in Creative Writing and History.

11. I’m worried I’ve hit that age where I stop caring about playing video games. However, I still love to watch X-Play.

12. I like to think I’m a knowledgeable music fan. Yet, when other fans who I think knowledgeable gush about Radiohead, I feel I totally missed something. I just don’t hear the big deal. Same for TV on the Radio.

13. I still collect GI Joes and Transformers, but not as much as I used to.

14. In my bookmarks, I have almost 200 webcomics bookmarked and separated into tabs of “daily”, “M-W-F”, “sporadic”, “once a week” and “rarely”.

15. As a kid I refused to wear anything with a hood. Now I wear hooded sweatshirts almost every day.

16. I’ve had the same 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme since 1992. It looks like hell, but it still gets me where I need to go.

17. A great friend of mine tried to get me to socialize more because “I’d never meet the right girl in my apartment.” I met Kate for the first time…wait for it…in my old apartment.

18. The best sleep of my life was when I was working an overnight shift. No joke.

19. I really wanted to name our first son “Ichiro Ernest” but Kate didn’t like that idea for some reason.

20. In high school, my dream was to work at ESPN. During college I realized I just didn’t care enough about football, basketball or hockey (among other sports) to really make a go of it. Baseball is it for me.

21. I might be a borderline pack rat, but my mind really associates memories with objects, and I fear I’ll start forgetting things I don’t want to if I get rid of a few things I don’t need anymore.

22. Kate and I have only been out of the United States once, and that was to Canada. We liked it so much we half-joked about moving.

23. The only “bad” habits I picked up in college were comic books and AD&D (and other RPGs of that nature).

24. While I still collect some GI Joe and Transformers stuff, there are several things I used to collect that I no longer do. Some forgotten collections include baseball cards, matchbox police cars, Red Owl stuff, Super Soakers, and Star Trek stuff.

25. I would really like to be closer to my brother, but we’re 20 years and hundreds of miles apart. I don’t even know how to begin.

BONUS FIVE:

26. Lately I’d rather write than play video games or watch television.

27. My favorite book is There’s Adventure in Meteorologyby Neil P. Ruzic.

28. The first board game I learned to play was Monopoly, and the first card game I learned was draw poker.

29. I used to think I was good at poker, until the Texas Hold ‘Em craze. Whatever happened to draw poker?

30. I saved the best one for last. The night Kate and I got married, I had to go to the lobby for extra shampoo. For the first time, I uttered the phrase “my wife” and I realized I had been at my happiest since Kate and I were engaged, and being married has only made me even happier.

[oh, before I forget...Happy Birthday Alice Cooper!]

How come concession speeches don’t have concession stands?

How about a blog with almost nothing about the election?

KKCK:

Kanye West “Love Lockdown”
When I heard that Kanye’s next CD was going to be almost all vocoder singing, and no rapping, I was really worried that it would be like another Medullaby Bjork (an album that gets away from what the artist does well).  Then, it dawned on me that while my initial reaction to that CD was bad, I’ve really grown to like it.  Then I heard this song, and my worries were gone.  That drum beat is crazy-intense-groovy-good, and the vocals work in a weird way.  Now I just have to wait for 808s and Heartbreaks, and maybe wait long enough to get a free copy, unlike the last album (I bought it Tuesday, free copy arrived Wednesday).

Brandy “Right Here (Departed)”
Where have you been Brandy?  Your TV star ballad cred got a work over with the herky-jerky “What About Us”, then you kinda vanished.  I thought your comeback would be more along the lines of “Almost Doesn’t Count” or the forgettable “The Boy is Mine (with Monica)” (hey, what happened to Monica?).  Instead, you try to woo us back with a song that has the radio appeal of your ballads but with an uptempo beat.  Well played Brandy.  I’ve never been a huge fan, but this song should be just what you need to pad your chart stats.

Anberlin “The Feel Good Drag”
This week’s songs break into three camps.  The “duhs”, the “huhs” and the “hurrs?”.  This would be the middle “hurr?” song.  Anberlin is a band I thought would crack CHR eventually, but this wasn’t the song I thought would do it.  Anberlin give this number a more timeless hard rock sound, and it’s a song that could have been a rock success pretty much every year since 1992.  The only slants that show are a slightly “emo” rock vocal and an almost metal riff that proves to be a mental sticky note, or series of notes.

Slightly Stoopid “2 AM”
Reggae inspired folky rock that tries to channel mellower Sublime with vocals that almost remind me of Akon?  Uh, okay.  The lyric content of this one could be trouble, since the word “weed” didn’t get edited, and it pops up a fair amount.  The band also didn’t provide a decent edit for time, and it clocks in at close to five minutes, with the last two minutes being music w/o lyrics.  If the song keeps moving upward, I’m sure a shorter (and maybe more edited) version will float our way.  I’ve never been into songs like this, but the curiosity calls that came in tell me some listeners are, and it was as clear as sending “smoke” signals.

Guns n’ Roses “Chinese Democracy”
The second “huh” add of the week isn’t that much of a huh, really.  Regardless of how many CHRs are playing the song, KKCK has never shied away from playing G’n'R in the past, and the release of Chinese Democracymay be a once in a lifetime album release event, in that no other album has gestated this long with people still waiting.  We can argue all day and night about whether this song sounds like G’n'R or not, but at worst the song is catchy, new, and the guitar riff at the beginning makes the song stand out on a CHR station.  Axl, we stand with you.

Pick to click: Kanye West

No more election commercials!  w00t!  Now, I can get back to reading about things like Knight Rider (still getting better) and Battlestar Galactica (the end begins in January) and 30 Rock (ratings are up but they still aren’t as good as they should be) and Transformers Animated (seriously, when are we getting new episodes).  Oh, and music, movies and other stuff that really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.  Plus, now I get to share all my nerd-dom with Braeden.  Will he rebel and like NASCAR, NFL, and country music?  Or, will he embrace the sci-fi, the D&D, the toy collecting, Spooncat, They Might Be Giants, and baseball?

Ask again in a few years.

This concludes the music blog for the week.  I wanted to write about politics, but I know that tensions among some are still high after last night.  I love talking (and to some extent arguing) about politics, but if you’re sick of ‘em, here’s the deal.  I’ll write that blog later and post it separately (for the Verbiage Dump readers, it will be here and here).  So, if you are sick of reading about it or don’t want to read about it, just skip the next one. 

Disclaimer out.

Disturbia 4: out this September, starring Newton Faulkner and Mark Medlock

…and by “out this September”, I mean on the SciFi channel.

KKCK:

Rihanna “Disturbia”
Not only is this the third of three new songs on the re-release of Good Girl Gone Bad (now called Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded, which sounds like a sequel for a made for Spike TV movie), it’s the third one to be a single, following “Take a Bow” and “If I Never See Your Face Again” (with Maroon 5). Three of the album’s seven singles are now from the re-release, which begs the question about how relevant the original release is. I’m not sure which is my favorite yet. “If I Never See Your Face Again” has a definite 80s vibe, and “Disturbia” reminds me a little of songs like “S.O.S.” and “Pon De Replay” in that it is not another “Take a Bow” type of ballad. Judging by the calls, the listeners don’t share my feelings about Rihanna. Ever. I only get calls for “Take a Bow” which is starting to border on how annoying the calls for “Unfaithful” were. The only fast Rihanna song that got the phones buzzing was “Shut Up and Drive” which is my least favorite fast Rihanna song. The moral here? Fast Rihanna songs do alright, but Rihanna singing a ballad is like Rihanna printing money. I’m just happy that on this occasion an artist I said would be around for a “long time” is so far living up to that.

Newton Faulkner “Dream, Catch Me”
The first time I heard this I focused more on where I’d heard his voice rather than the song. I was convinced he was the lead singer of some other band I couldn’t think of. After deciding it was Blue October, I checked his wiki entry, only to find out he’s not the former lead singer of any band, and is only the current lead singer of Newton Faulkner. The song gets the dreaded “pretty decent” mark from me, which is a nice way of saying I don’t have a lot to say about it (which I admit here for the first time!)

September “Cry for You”
Good news everyone! We added a Swedish pop star with a dancy beat. No, it isn’t a song from Robyn. Rather, it’s September! No, I know it’s June. Her stage name is September, and not even Green Day could sleep through this one. Sorry, I can’t resist a bad pun built around “Wake Me Up…” and you know the rest. In the fine tradition of Real McCoy, Ace of Base, Vengaboys, Eiffel 65, Cascada and Ian Van Dahl, we have a new dance-pop song with a fast beat that even I can dance to, albeit badly. This type of music will never be my favorite, but one popping up now and then is good for a CHR station. As a Midwest CHR, we do acknowledge and affirm that no electronic dance song, no matter the beat, no matter the lyric, no matter the sound, will ever touch the Rednex in popularity.

Mark Medlock “Summer Love”
American Idol? Been done. Canadian Idol? Uh…moving on. Pop Idol in the U.K.? We’ve gone there, but now we move on to…Deutschland sucht den Superstar, and their 2007 winner. Now, before I dismiss this as our music director feeling his German heritage again, I ask you give it a listen. It is a formulatic electro-pop song, but the summer vibe and vocals that flow very well with the music (English vocals, BTW) make it a song that I don’t mind hearing once or twice a day, probably for a few months at a time. Mr. Medlock’s life is an interesting read. I don’t know if he’ll totally cross the pond, but you can judge for yourself in a variety of places. Also, it is nice to hear a winner of one of these Idol type of shows releasing something with some thump in it. I must be in the mood to dance. I’ll let the wife know to close the curtains and move the cats with weak stomachs out of the room.

Pick to click: Rihanna

I had a lot to say about Battlestar Galactica’s mid-season finale, but Greg Dean at Real LIfe Comics said it all:

Truth and a frackin’ bag of space-chips.

I don’t often write about webcomics, but I’m always meaning to. I read about 80-100 of them every week. I had them in a folder that I could just open as a long stretch of tabs, but I had to break that up when went over seventy. As a kid, one of my favorite activities was reading the comics page every day. I used to save rolls and rolls of the Aberdeen American News, and I had a box or three full of Sunday comics pages. Some days I’d just get them out and read them all again, which is a practice I stopped once I started buying collections of comic strips. My interest in the comics page had waned during the 90s into the 2000s, but webcomics have revived my love of the medium to a point where some days I’m standing in the studio wondering how Shortpacked, Questionable Content, Starslip Crisis, Kevin and Kell, Sinfest, Marilith, PVP, Schlock Mercenary, Evil Inc, and others will wrap up their storylines for the week/month/ever. I’d like to start featuring some of my favorites, mainly because I don’t have the resources to buy stuff/donate/help them out any other way. It’s about the least I can do, but if my ship ever comes in, or if a ship lands on my house and I net the insurance, I’ll buy shirts/books/whatever until I can’t.

Kate is painting the kid’s room today, with some help from a friend who is in town visiting. She surprised me on Father’s Day with a picture frame (with a current ultrasound in it), a card, and a little Seattle Mariners onesie. Hopefully the team doesn’t suck so bad by the time he’s old enough to root for them, or against them. I had my time rebelling against my step-dad’s love of the Cubs, but he, Harry Carey and WGN wore me down within a few years. I want him to grow up liking whatever team he chooses, and I’ll try and be supportive even if he picks the *shudder* Yankees.

Mac is back from the vet, and she’s been meowing like crazy. The vet thinks her hormones are out of phase, which is causing her to think she’s pregnant. Her behaviour is a lot like when she was expecting kittens, so there might be a lot to that diagnosis. I just hope she stays as friendly and close to her daughter Eileen when they wear off. Listening to the two of them meow at each other is about the cutest cat sound I have ever heard.

In quick other blog news, I ranted about FNMTV, and wrote about one of my favorite Kate moments of my life at the old russ4life site.

The sound of new Local H isn’t cute. It’s angry, depressed, introspective, raw, and everything one would expect from Local H. Too bad Scott Lucas’ new muse was his last break-up.

Clouds and rain? Here are three songs that won’t change that.

[It is time for this week's MySpace blog simulcast]

I wouldn’t want to anyway.  Seattle weather for the block!

KKCK:

Plies w/Ne-Yo “Bust It Baby (Part 2)”
This summer…get ready…for the ultimate hip-hop big budget team up.  Plies…Ne-Yo…in a sequel so big..it…okay I’m done.  I’m not watching any more summer movie trailers.  I have a hard time believing that the busting was such that a sequel was really necessary.  The good thing about this song is the copious amount of Ne-Yo in it.  To me anyway, Plies sounds like he’s had too much syrup or booze or some mix of both.  I expect to hear drunk-sounding vocals in concert, not in the studio.  Heck, Dave Mustaine can’t remember recording a few of the early Megadeth albums and he at least sounds sober on them.

Safetysuit “Someone Like You”
I get the safety angle here.  The song is equal parts mid-90s power rock and mid-00s power rock.  I don’t like to bust a band’s balls for not being original, but these guys bring nothing new other than their name.  Even their wikipedia page is boring.  Now, the suit angle would be different, but not really that different thanks to the Hives.  On the plus side, the song is doing well, and there isn’t anything about it that’s bad.  It’s a vanilla cone of alt-rock, and some people like those.  I prefer my vanilla cones to be the real kind, but that’s just me.

Adele “Chasing Pavements”
Some have called her the next Amy Winehouse.  Amy, if you’re still alive and they’re looking for the next you, they don’t expect  you to live very long.  I hope Adele avoids flashing the camera, getting arrested, addiction, racist rants, more addiction, stumbling through concerts, and more addiction.  She still lives with her mom, so unless her mom is Amy Winehouse she’ll be okay.  I don’t disagree with the comparisons to Amy Winehouse, but she owes her music more to the style of Duffy with less of the slick production of Duffy’s slower songs. 

Pick to click: Plies with Ne-Yo

If  you pick one show to catch up on via DVD and/or torrenting, make it Battlestar Galactica.  Sure, some episodes, like the first chunk of season four, are a bit slow and nothing seems to happen.  Then you have episodes like last week that take all the slow plot threads and give them a yank that leaves you with a threadbare Colonial uniform.  [minor spoiler alert...stop if you don't want it NOW]When Adama and Roslin saw each other again, after what they had each realized each other, it was one of the most real, heartfelt, emotional moments of any TV show I’ve ever seen.  Of any movie I’ve seen.  Of any anything I’ve ever seen.  I’m not ashamed to say it almost made me tear up a little.  Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell will probably not win Emmys because the show is science fiction, and that is damn, damn shame.

I wrote another blog about my feelings on AC/DC going the Wal-Mart route, but I posted that here.  I revised and reread it a lot, but I’m still not sure I’m happy with it, nor am I sure it says everything I want to say.  This is what happens when I get the idea to post something I whipped up with a font download and MS Paint before figuring out what I’m going to write about.

Things at the household are going well.  Almost all the stuff I had in the nursery room is now elsewhere, and the few things that are left won’t take up much room.  We’ve finally got Mac off to the vet to get fixed, so we’ll be dodging the loud heat-meowing from now on.  Eileen hasn’t been fixed, but she’s easily distracted(aided by the fact she’s not as smart as her dad, who won’t win any “smartest cat” awards) when she’s in heat.  Since both boy cats have already been clipped, there’s not a kitten concern.

Kate has been packing for her eventual hospital stay in a few months.  I’ve been thinking about what to pack as well.  I know that there will be some time for me at the hospital to hold and comfort the new arrival, and I know the mom suites at hospitals these days have a DVD player.  So, I’ve been debating what to imprint on the young un’s psyche at an early age.  G.I. Joe or Transformers (I’m leaning “Revenge of Cobra” unless I get some of the new show on DVD)?  Batman or Superman (I’m leaning towards Supes here, since his show actually has an origin story, where the Bat-show didn’t)?  Star Trek or Star Wars (probably Trek)?  I’m pretty sure one of the first things he’ll get is “The Trouble with Tribbles”, since that is widely regarded as a Trek classic, and it doesn’t have any awkward moments where Kirk gets it on with anyone.  Also, he’s due in September, so I won’t be watching the baseball playoffs alone this year.  I wonder if he’ll be drawn to the World Series winner when he’s older.  Oddly enough, one of the first baseball teams I liked, when I was old enough to buy one or two packs of cards, happened to be the Oakland A’s. 

I sometimes think I’m going to talk to the little guy so much his first words will be “shut up”.

Speaking of shutting up, I’ll sign off for the week here.  Write at’cha later.

7 things about 4 songs

Can he do it?

KKCK:

Miley Cyrus “7 Things”
1. Her dad wrote one of the most annoying country songs ever
2. She has a show on the Disney Channel
3. A show nowhere near as good as “The Suite Life of Zach and Cody”
4. The mom on that show was on “Star Trek: Voyager” once
5. Okay, I’m off subject now
6. The song has a bratty vibe that hearkens back to a younger Avril
7. While getting the younger listeners pulled in, it hits me with a resounding “meh”

David Cook “Time of My Life”
1. He won American Idol, duh
2. He went against another David
3. He didn’t go against another Cook
4. Unless David Archuleta is a really good cook
5. This song is NOT a remake of the song from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack
6. Is it just me, or do all Idol winners have a similar sounding lead single?
7. If you liked all of those, you’ll like this schmaltzy ballad

Katy Perry “I Kissed a Girl”
1. She liked it
2. She hopes her boyfriend don’t mind it
3. She’s no Rachel Perry
4. Unless she kissed Rachel Perry
5. Yowza…uh, what was I talking about?
6. Oh, uh, novelty hit that while catchy, won’t be remembered in a few years.
7. Jill Sobule did it first, and dare I say better

Puddle of Mudd “We Don’t Have to Look Back Now”
1. Quick what do Paul Phillips, Greg Upchruch, Jimmy Allen, Kenny Burkett, and Sean Samon have in common?
2. They’re all former members of the band
3. Wes Scantlin is to alternative what David Coverdale was/is to 80s rock
4. Seriously, who is in Whitesnake these days?
5. This one is a new ballad
6. It’s not quite “Blurry” good, but it should do alright
7. Don’t be surprised if CHR picks up on “Psycho” later if this one is a big hit

Pick to click: Katy Perry
Pick likely to disrobe and wind up on the internet: Miley Cyrus (that girl is going to be trouble)

If I may get back to Katy Perry for a second, I’d like to vent a bit.  Yesterday I took a call on the business line at the station.  It was a listener calling to complain about “some new song by a girl about kissing a girl”.  I really wish I’d recorded it, but I’ll try my best to sum up his complaints.  He complained that it “was bad enough that the queers and homos were allowed in public now” and this song “would steer kids in a wrong direction” and “they wouldn’t know which way to turn”.  He also complained about only hearing music like this and “black rap” music on our station as well.  He seemed genuinely concerned about “the kids” and “leading them the wrong way”.  He did concede we had the right to play “whatever we wanted” (hah, I wish).  I calmly listened to him for a few minutes, and told him I’d forward his complaints to our music director (which I did) but he hung up on me after I said we appreciate any listener feedback, although my tone may not have been 100 % polite.  I’m not even sure where to begin with this one.  First off, he admitted that if he didn’t like it, he could turn the station.  That’s pretty much what I’d have told him if he had called on the request line and had been yelling or using vulgar language (which I’ve done in the past).  What stuck out for me was that he seemed almost fearful of music like this even existing.  My mood was pretty much shot when he made the “bad enough they be seen in public” comment.  I don’t think this is the sort of listener we should be caving to, and so far we aren’t.  My interpretation of the song isn’t even that of a homosexual tone.  The song strikes me as more of a “bi-curious mood aided by alcohol” type of song.  Some days it is honestly frustrating to work here and deal with some of the issues that shouldn’t be issues, but that’s a blog for another day, or for when my job is eliminated (and I hope that doesn’t happen for a long time, since most days I really enjoy what I do).

I haven’t mentioned fantasy baseball on the ol’ blog for a while.  That’s mainly because my pay league team is now 2-6, which is a small improvement from last year’s mark at this time of 1-7.  I had much higher hopes for this team, which was in every game for the first six, but now is causing frustration with the lack of a bona fide ace on my pitching staff.  San Franscisco isn’t the only one who put too much stock in Barry Zito.  Captain Quirk is starting to pitch well again, but nowhere near the level I was hoping for when I traded Miguel Cabrera for him about three years ago.

Things at the homestead are going pretty well.  Monday was project day, and we really kicked butt on most of our plans.  Last night was our second to last parenting class, and it went smoothly.  I now know the basics of infant CPR, but I really hope I never need to use that knowledge, like a lot of the knowledge in my brain that never gets used for some reason.

Last week I mentioned that we were going to Veblen, and I had plans to do a video blog for the first time.  The video blog never happened, partly because of the wind and partly because of reasons I wrote about on my Sunday wordpress blog.  If you want to read the rest (if you haven’t already), it’s still there. 

I wish everyone a great rest of the May, and we’ll talk again in June.