Please insert four songs to reboot system

Boot ‘em up.

KKCK:

Flo Rida w/Ne-Yo “Be On You”
Mr. Rida was way overdue for a slow-jam hit.  Adding Ne-Yo all but insures this as a top ten single.

Jason Derulo “Whatcha Say”
He’s new on the solo scene, but he’s been behind the scenes as a songwriter for some time.  It sounds like he spent all  his royalty money in shares of the company that sells auto-tune equipment, and/or on auto-tune equipment.

Rise Against “Savior”
Rise Against has never quite clicked with me.  I don’t know why.  They’ve been chipping away at me one song at a time, and this song takes out a sizable chunk.  I’m curious to hear from Rise Against fans as to what song they’d recommend as essential Rise Against listening.

D.K. “About My Bread”
Marshall’s very own D.K. offers up his second single, and it sounds a lot bigger than a song that was self-financed and recorded on a home studio.  Lyrically, I liked “Gettin’ to the Guap” better, but there’s nothing about this song that should

Pick to click:  Flo Rida w/Ne-Yo

Things at the casa de Russ have been great…if your name is Braeden.  If not, the hurt locker is a popular destination.  I tripped on the steps going into the house last week, resulting in a doozy of a shin bruise, along with doing something to my knee.  I haven’t seen anyone about it, but stairs hurt like the dickens.  I bought a knee brace at Kmart, which is helping quite a bit.  The last few nights, my knee hasn’t even hurt after I’ve taken it off.  I’ll just keep doing that for a while and hope that works.  The only bonus is that I mentally pretend I’m putting on a Delta-6 accelerator suit from the new G.I. Joe movie.  Kate has it a lot worse than me right now.  She’s had this back that’s been acting up off and on for months, and recently it acted up worse than ever.  After muscle relaxers didn’t do the trick, she had an MRI which revealed two herniated discs in her back.  We’re waiting for a referral on a back specialist, and after that it’s more drugs and physical therapy…or surgery.  The worst part of it is she’s not allowed to lift over 20 pounds (and she can’t), which means she’s not allowed to pick up her own son.  I know the pain is hard enough on her, but not being able to pick up Braeden is really taking a toll on her.  I’m trying to help as much as I can, but we’re having to bring in a sitter to help during the day so I’m not missing as much work.  Hopefully we can see a specialist soon and get her feeling better as quickly as possible.

In better news, I really enjoyed the G.I. Joe movie.  Countless reboots to other franchises all turned out to be the perfect preparation for me to buy into one for a movie version of G.I. Joe.  The ending could have been better, but I can live with it since it should lead right into a sequel (should one get made).  The real surprise in this movie for me was Arnold Vosloo as Zartan.  I’ve been skeptical of that casting choice since it was announced, but I’m glad to be so wrong.  Vosloo’s Zartan came across as dangerous, heartless, and very much his own man who wasn’t about to totally throw in with Destro’s plans.

I’ve been somewhat oblivious to music for the last month or so, no thanks to G.I. Joe and a few health issues.  I’m looking for any good album suggestions, so suggest away.

Four songs just beat the midnight deadline

Hey, I had about a half hour to spare.

KKCK:

Sean Kingston “Fire Burning”
Every time Sean Kingston has a new song, I think it will be the one I can’t stand.  Once I spent some time with this song, I knew that this wasn’t that song.  In fact, this one is a bit more fun that anything we’ve played from him.

Incubus “Black Heart Inertia”
This new song hasn’t gotten much CHR love yet, but it will.  Even if it doesn’t, our track record with slower Incubus songs is pretty good.  Dare I say stellar?  Bad puns aside, I really think this one could be a big hit for them.  As their last hit (a two year old song that was never a single) can attest, radio will play Incubus if the song is slow and good.  I predict this will be a song I’m totally sick of in a few months.

Daughtry “No Surprise”
In this line of work, there’s an unwritten rule that CHR jocks should watch and/or care about American Idol.  This is a rule I often break, which leaves me out of the loop until there’s a winner, or until somebody who was on the show hits the right formula.  ChrisDaughtry found that formula pretty quickly.  The guy has pipes, but after hearing one power pop rock track after another come down the pipe from him, I’ve had my fill.  I’ll give this song some props for taking a few chances, but in the end the sum of the parts equals more of the same fromDaughtry.  If you like him, then you’re set.  If not, there’s always…

People in Planes “Last Man Standing”
If there’s one thing our old MD could do like no other, he could spot a song that could cross-over from quite a distance.  That is something I need to work on.  Until then, I’m forced to go with my gut and with the data I have.  That combination led me to give this Welsh alt-rock band a go.  It stands out without sounding too out of place.  Will it work for us?  Hard to say, but the data looks promising, and my gut and ears tell me it could be a real sleeper.

Pick to click: Sean Kingston

Once upon a time there was a radio message board where there were all kinds of slap fights and flame wars about KKCK and KKLS (Sioux Falls CHR, in case you don’t know).  That board died and went away, but another message board came along, and from time to time some of those old wars of words come back up.  Now, on the old message board, I actually got involved from time to time in theseonline arguments.  Since the new site started, I’ve stayed out of the once-a-year online blah-blah.  Now, the old wars of words are back on again, and I’m more tempted than I’ve been in a while to hop on and throw down, but I haven’t.  Judging by the anonymousposting , it’s the same person who used to start all this crap back on the old board.  Whoever he/she/it is, they have one hell of a grudge againstKKCK for doing our music the way we do.  Part of me wants to defend us, and the other part of me wants to correct some errors that are just annoying (they’re puttin’ songs in we’ve never played).  I’ll probably continue to stay out of it.  That’s the prudent thing to do, right?

The blog tonight is a bit late because work was really long today.  Normally I can find enough spare time to bang this out, but today it was wall to wall prod, clients, and other stuff.  Thursday should be a better day all around.

Kate and I are pretty booked for the next few weekends.  If all goes according to plan, I’ll be in Sioux Falls Saturday, Iowa next weekend, and Rochester the weekend after that.  I’m looking forward to each trip, but for totally different reasons.  I don’t think we’re travelling much in June, so in a way that will be nice.

Braeden is doing well.  He’s pulling himself up and you can see he’s only one or two leaps of logic and faith away from walking.  He’s gotten to be pretty smiley around the house, and like his dad he’s a bit shy around strangers.  Kate has been good, other than her knee bothering her.  Hopefully switching hospitals will help in that department.  I passed the “first mother’s day” test, even though she can tell me all she wants there is no such thing.

Everybody is asking what I thought of Star Trek, so here goes.  I liked it, but I wasn’t blown away by it.  After hearing about how it was “not your father’s Trek” and all that noise, I went in expecting something that was more akin to JasonStatham than James Kirk.  I found a few parts a bit slow, which shocked the person I went with. Acting wise, all of the new crew members were great.  I’d say there wasn’t a poor performance in the movie by anyone.The science angle of the movie was a bit shaky, but that can be called a nitpick, since this movie was made for mass consumption and not the same people who can rattle off the reason Kirk/Picard/Sisko/Janeway/Archer (there have to be a few Archer fans out there) is the best Captain.  I did enjoy the passing mention of “Admiral Archer” in the movie, and I had to chuckle that “Enterprise” is the one show totally unaffected by this reset of the Trek universe.  The one thing the movie missed was the old show’s true intent.  “Star Trek”, when it was on top of its game, was a mirror that reflected current society into a prism and presented it in a way that was entertaining, futuristic, and thoughtful.  There were a lot ofmorality plays and tough questions asked on the old show, but there were also episodes like “The Trouble with Tribbles “, “The Savage Curtain” (space Lincoln!), and “Spock’s Brain” (dear lord that episode is bad).  The new movie amps up the entertainment value, but Trek goes from being a prism to being a TV screen: just watch and don’tover think it.  I think there’s a place in Trek for that kind of a story, but I’m used to Trek being so much more than that.

If I want mindless, check your brain action, I’ll be good this year.  I’m psyched for Terminator: Salvation, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

Have a good rest of the week.

Four artists but just two songs?

It isn’t even an even split.

KKCK:

Eminem w/Dr. Dre and 50 Cent “Crack a Bottle”
Let’s take a look back at initial hits from Eminem CDs for a moment.  The first album gave us “My Name Is…” which was a fun mid-tempo bouncer that had some naughty moments.  The next album stuck “The Real Slim Shady” in our heads for months.  It picked up the pace, had a decent beat, and was utterly quotable.  We’ll skip the 8 Milesoundtrack, but I’ll touch on it in a second or two.  Eminem reached his zenith of wacky but randy lyrics on “Without Me”.  “Just Lose It” wasn’t bad, but it sounded forced in a few spots.  Encore changed things up by dropping a different kind of song from Curtain Call.  “When I’m Gone” was the darker, moodier kind of song that was usually saved for a second single.  The new Eminem CD’s lead track tries to play it both ways in my head.  The chorus sounds like one of his faster songs, but slowed down to fit into one of his darker, slower, moodier songs.  The vibe of the bulk of the song strikes me as one of his slower songs, which I’ve never been a fan of.  That opinion has me in the minority.  Eminem’s darker songs, like “Superman”, “Cleanin’ Out My Closet”, “Lose Yourself” and the rest are the songs that are requested 99 % of the time here.  I often wonder why his less fun songs seem to stick longer and get more attention here, or is it that way everywhere?  The guest stars on the song don’t add much, especially when after being away so long Eminem turns over close to half of his song to people who aren’t Eminem.  I’d argue this is probably the weakest first hit single Eminem has ever had from an album, but it did (temporarily) set a record for most first week downloads, so what do I know?

Utada “Come Back to Me”
At long, long last, Utada is starting to break through.  I’ve been a fan since her first English CD, and I liked it enough to pick up a few of her Japanese CDs on eBay.  Her American releases lean towards a lower vocal delivery and punchier beats, and they don’t make her sound like she’s watering down her sound (take notes on that Shakira).  Her album is a few weeks away, but if you like this check out her last English CD Exodus.  I think you’ll agree there’s just something about her voice that’s…alluring.

Pick to click: Eminem

Sorry for the late posting.  I’ve been borderline-slacking on my 52 Cards blog, so I usually end up writing those the night before they go up.  I’ve also been wrapping up Cliffhanger Theater which is taking a break after a year of daily updates.  There were times I thought I was wasting my time, and other times I wondered if anyone was even reading it.  The views have been lower than I had hoped, but over the course of a year writing it has taught me a lot about writing, and a lot about myself.  I plan to take the story and hack-n-slash it half so it’s about regular novel length, plus I need to clean up a lot of the early entries.  Before then, I plan to start writing something else I can hopefully finish by the end of the year.  I won’t be posting that online, at least not right away.  I might let a few things slip here and there at my recently un-privated-blog 13 Shots (I explain the name in the first entry).  Right now I’m wondering how much I’ll write in March.  Part of me wants to take some time off, and part of me wants to write more.

BSG was BRG last week, as in boring.  Jane Espenson wrote the episode, and she’s the head writer of the upcoming spin-off “Caprica”.  She is way more space opera than science fiction.  I can feel the show building towards a resolution, but I’m not sure yet what that will be, so I’ll give RDM credit for that. 

There were other reasons for this blog being late, but I don’t want to talk about them.  Everything is fine now, and if I want to talk about it, I’ll write about it next week.

General question for any PC gamers out there.  Has anyone reading this used Valve’s Steam service?  How does it work?  How well does it work?  I’m looking at getting Xcom for five bucks, but I’d like to hear from someone who has used the service.

I’m a bit short on time today, so I need to wrap up.  I’ll be around online if you know where to look.

Thursday is not the new Wednesday (4 & more)

I’m a day late.  Decide my punishment in the comments.

KKCK:

John Legend w/Andre 3000 “Green Light”
I was all about this song about a month or two ago.  The song was huge, and now CHR is giving it a run so it can live once more.  The more I hear John Legend the more I want to hear more John Legend.  Quite frankly, I’d call it a crime this song wasn’t pushed harder and wasn’t a big CHR hit last year.  If not for the lull in new songs it might have never made it for some reason.  I’m not sure why CHR hasn’t given John more love over the years. 

Lady Gaga “Poker Face”
A few days ago I linked to a story about Lady Gaga lighting her thongs on fire.  I’ve had a hard time focusing on this song since then.  Why did it take this long for a song about poker to make it?  I bet Lady Gaga has a great poker face.  Even if she doesn’t, she lights her thongs on freakin’ fire.  Who’d look at her face when anytime a fire may start in her nether regions?

Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat “Lucky”
After a confab with the co-workers, it was decided that if Jason and Colbie had covered Britney’s “Lucky”, that would have been comedy gold.  GOLD I tell you!  Anyway, instead we get a nice duet that should nuzzle up to the top ten on the AC chart for months, and maybe a top twenty spot on CHR.  Then again, I didn’t think Jason had a #1 in him, and “I’m Yours” proved me wrong.

Kelly Clarkson “My Life Would Suck Without You”
On Kelly’s last CD, she wrote her own material and did things her way.  Now that the music business has beaten those dreams down, she embraces the American pop music machine once again, and takes on a song that should be a big hit, thanks to a combination of name recognition and solid production.  Is it just me or does she sound less than enthusiastic on this track?  Even her album cover conveys a message of “well, my way didn’t work, so back to the grind” with the way she’s pulling on her jacket, and the forced look of interest.  I could be reading into it too much, but I will probably never know.

Pick to click: Kelly Clarkson.  Congrats.  Now get back to work.

I do apologize for being late this week.  I had to catch up on a few other blogs, and we’ve had some doctor visits mixed in.  Kate’s got something kinda odd going on with her abdomen, and the doctors are so far stumped.  The ultimate frustration came yesterday during the ultrasound.  The tech couldn’t tell us what she was seeing, and her doctor won’t be able to tell her the results from the lab until Friday.  There’s a small chance it could be serious, but it most likely isn’t.  We’re just hoping it doesn’t affect her knee surgery next week.  Her meniscus is completely torn, and this seemed like as good a time as any to get it fixed.  She’s been trying to keep her spirits up, but she often claims she’s “falling apart”.  I just hope I can continue to help hold her together. 

The final ten BSGs start this Friday.  I’m not getting as excited as I thought I would.  I keep thinking of how Ron Moore ended DS9, which leads me to think it will be bittersweet at best.  I just don’t know how they’re going to wrap everything up, and I know I won’t like it.  I wonder if BSG will get re-imagined again someday in a totally different way?  Hopefully not the Knight Rider way, even though I’m enjoying the show for the sheer fact I can’t believe it’s still on.  The upcoming fight between KITT (as a Mustang) vs. KARR (now some kind of ATV/robot transformer) should be a highlight of the first (and probably only) season.

After reading all the hype, I downloaded the new Animal Collective CD.  I’m not feeling this “album of the year” buzz.  Besides, would that be some kind of record?  If an album came out that mind-blowingly awesome in January, how excited would you be to drop a CD in June?  Or even March? 

I’m going to clear out my Last.FM data later today, and re-import it.  It bothers me that I had a bunch of artists misspelled or incorrectly labeled.  The one that burned me the most was Tripping Daisy.  I had that song on my first iPod, and all this time the song was marked “Tripping Dasy”.  Granted, it is only one song, but “I Got a Girl” is worth the proper spelling.

Time for another Hot Pocket.  Have a swell post-Wednesday.

A day late and a turkey short

Who’s up for bologna on white?

KKCK:

Beyonce “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”
I’ve never been the biggest fan of Destiny’s Child or Beyonce, but I wouldn’t describe myself as an anti-fan either.  The fast songs I tend to like longer (“Crazy in Love”, “Ring the Alarm”, “Survivor”) more than the slow ones (“Irreplaceable”), so I was quite happy to get this one to play along with “If I Were a Boy”.  “Single Ladies” doesn’t have the raw emotion and raw sound of “Ring the Alarm” that I found so refreshing, but “Ring the Alarm” wasn’t a big hit, so doing a song with more in common with “Crazy in Love” makes total sense.  If you didn’t see her bit on SNL with this song, involving Justin Timberlake, Andy Samberg and Bobby Moynihan, get thee to NBC.com now.

Pussycat Dolls “I Hate this Part”
MTV writer, musical Bon vivant, and blogger James Montgomery listed PCD’s album as one of 2008’s “top turkeys”.  I haven’t heard enough to make that assumption, but this song is akin to that can of cranberries.  Some people like it, but one sometimes wonders if it is really necessary.  I could make a joke about how “berries” are better if they’re “fresh” and “real”, but that seems a bit over the top.

The Airbourne Toxic Event “Sometime Around Midnight”
Step one: Watch me at every party/bar/gathering I went to in college
Step two: write a song about a guy who totally whiffs because he didn’t go for it
Step three: profit make ‘em open the box playlist on KKCK?
At first I didn’t care for this song, but if you give it time it just might grow on you.  I can’t remember the last song we played that didn’t have a bona fide hook, or one that didn’t have a chorus at all.  Sadly, this band suffers from a disease called “Brit-itis” which makes them sound a bit British (or a lot British in parts) even though they hail from Los Angeles, California.  Do I really need to put the California part in?  Is there a Los Angeles, U.K.?

Pick to click: Beyonce

I apologize for my Wednesday blog being late this week.  Work was rather busy, and will only be busier on Friday.  My Wednesday night was spent talking to an old friend who I hadn’t spoken to in quite some time, and baking a pie.  Some of you might be bored with this story, so here’s the short version.  I said “how hard can it be” in regards to making pecan pie, so I was tasked with making said pie for Thanksgiving.  I’m not sure where pecan pie ranks in terms of pie difficulty, but as far as a first time pie-maker goes, it wasn’t as easy as I thought, but it wasn’t as hard as I thought either.  I made the decision to go for broke, so I found a recipe on Foot Network’s website that included making the crust from scratch (everyone told me to go with a frozen one).  I made the crust on Tuesday night, and let it chill overnight (the instructions said at least an hour, so I thought 24 hours would be even better).  The problem with the overnight chilling was that our fridge seems to be a bit on the cold side, and the dough got a bit dry and sticky.  I had to wet it down a smidge and really flour the rolling area before I had the right size and consistency.  Just making the crust brought back a lot of smell-induced memories from my childhood.  My mom isn’t the greatest cook ever, but she is a heck of a baker.  Her apple pies are the stuff of station legend.  Anyway, once I had the crust frozen for 30 minutes, I threw it in the oven so I could start on the filling.  The pecans I bought weren’t toasted, so those got a quick trip in the toaster oven.  While those toasted, the corn syrup, brown sugar and butter got their boil on.  The pecans were supposed to be chopped, but there wasn’t time.  So, chopping gave way to a bowl and a potato masher.  The pecans, vanilla and bourbon (Jim Beam black label) went into the filling mix, and the crust was taken out of the oven.  The instructions told me to place the crust on a sheet pan rather than bake it inside the pie pan, but somewhere along the line my crust had developed a crack, so Kate helped me get it back in the pan when the leak became unfixable.  45 minutes later, the pie was out of the oven and it looked ready to go.  The moment of truth is later today, and then I’ll know if I can attempt a pie I’ll actually like.  That’s the twist ending: I don’t even like pecan pie.

Braeden and Kate had doctor appointments yesterday.  Kate is in great health, and Braeden is freakin’ huge.  After two months, he’s 25 inches and 15.6 pounds.  A friend of ours has a four month old that isn’t that big yet!  I keep joking we’re raising a pro wrestler or a linebacker, and I’m starting to wonder if I should stop joking about that.  He’s stating to get very giggly and smiley, and soon he won’t be napping so much.  That’s when I can start regaling him in tales of the Cybertronian War, the principles of the Federation, the threat of COBRA, and why he shouldn’t pick the Yankees as his favorite baseball team.  Maybe I’ll work in the alphabet somewhere if I have a chance.

Over the past four days four albums have found their way into my head.  Guns n’ Roses finally dropped Chinese Democracy, and lo, it was good.  Ten year wait good?  Well…maybe not ten year wait good.  I need to give it a few more listens before I can quantify how many years worth of wait it was really worth.  I’m just happy it is finally out and the saga of it coming out is over with.  Maybe Axl can relax and get the next one out in just five years.  Kanye West’s new CD is out and…yeah.  Look, auto-tune is fine.  If I want auto-tune, I just need to hear any song with T-Pain, or I can buy a freakin’ T-Pain album.  I liked about half of the album, and there was one song that I liked even more than “Love Lockdown” but at the moment I can’t remember what that song was called.  Next up the Killers returned with Day and Age.  I think this one will have to grow on me, much like Sam’s Town.  Actually, I think the only Killers CD that I liked right away was Sawdust, which was a b-sides album.  Brandon Flowers, make with more b-sides please.  It was looking like G’n'R was the winner, but then Ludacris stepped up and took care of business.  Here’s how good this album is.  I was starting to listen to it while cutting commercials for HyVee, and I had to shut it off because I was laughing too much.  Ludacris exercised a few demons on Release Therapy, so now he’s back to his humorous ways on Theater of the Mind.  The CD was the soundtrack to my pie-making, and if good music helps you bake this pie should be outstanding.  Since I made the pie, I’ll settle for edible.

Other things I’m really liking in November: Kate, Braeden, our cats, Quantum of Solace (better than Casino Royale IMHO), Knight Rider, Terminator: TSCC, the Star Trek trailer, work, gas prices of late, Night Court reruns on TV Land and Arbys.

Things I’m not fond of: worrying about the budget, waiting for BSG to come back, the new Star Trek trailer, and how much Arby’s costs.

The wee one is demanding sacrifice!  Or, at least his bottle.  Happy tryptophan overdosing day.

2 in a room, and one won’t wiggle it even a little bit

As…it…grooves?

KKCK:

Leona Lewis “Better in Time”
“Leona dear, the international society of one hit wonders is calling again.”
“Just hang up.  I’m not returning their calls.”
Seriously, “Bleeding Love” may never be topped, but this Brit might be the Kelly Clarkson equivalent, and we all know a pound beats a dollar.  This song does little to mess with a formula that should serve Ms. Lewis well.

O.A.R. “Shattered (Turn the Car Around)”
The new album is out, and the new song crosses over from…whatever format was big into O.A.R. (AAA?  Alt?  Hot AC?).  We’ve toyed around with this band before, but this song should keep them in the CHR mindset for a time.  The baffling thing is that they had a song that was used heavily by ESPN for the College World Series, but this isn’t it.  Maybe everybody is sick of that one?  The NCAA and ESPN probably hope so.

Pick to click: Leona Lewis

Ugh, it’s another busy day and I don’t have as much time to scribble, but in a business sense that’s a good thing.  It doesn’t help that my temporary music news site takes a while to update, as my studio computer isn’t a big fan of wordpress.  I put some pictures from my South Dakota trip up here if you want to see ‘em.  Kate has a bunch more on her facebook profile, so if you’re her friend there check ‘em out.

I hate to say more later, since I rarely post more later.

So, more later but probably not.

One song for each of the final five…that we know of…

(quick reminder…this is a double post I share with my MySpace)

The fifth gets a song of his/her choice once revealed.

KKCK:

Foo Fighters “Let It Die”
Dave Grohl takes a lot of heat in some music circles for what he’s done post-Nirvana.  I don’t get it personally.  I’ve enjoyed most of the Foo’s output, and in the last few months I’ve gone back and re-listened to their entire catalogue, and liked most of what I heard.  It won’t change the world or save the whales or whatever, but most of it is solid “background rock”.  One needs that now and then.  This song fits that mold, although the slow build and power chord crunch that come in might make you wish you hadn’t turned up your headphones for the quiet part.  Ouch.

Coldplay “Viva La Vida”
Russ 2000 “Man, I am so sick of ‘Yellow’ by Coldplay.  This song sucks”
Russ 2008 “Hello me, it’s me again!”
Russ 2000 “Ahhhh!  Wait, nice Megadeth reference.”
Russ 2008 “I’m here to tell you that you will start liking Coldplay in the future.  I’m from 2008″
Russ 2000 “So, I like this p.o.s. song in eight years?”
Russ 2008 “Well, no.  You, we, I, however you want to say it, are still sick of it.”
Russ 2000 “So…you came back in time to tell me I’ll like Coldplay in eight years?”
Russ 2008 “Actually, you started to like Coldplay a few years ago.  I’m here to say that in 2008 you might actually buy their new album, thanks to the hook of ‘Violet Hill’ and the groove of ‘Viva La Vida’.”
Russ 2000 “Whoa, you just blew my mind.”
Russ 2008 “I know, when I was you I wouldn’t have believed it either.”
Russ 2000 “No man, I just noticed how much weight I’d gained.  Hey, is…is that a wedding ring?”
Russ 2008 “Yep.  In eight years you are married.”
Russ 2000 “To Rachel Leigh Cook, right?”
Russ 2008 “Was I really that obsessed?  Anyway, you’ll get over her thanks to a movie called…you know what, I’ll let you find out.”

Detla Goodrem “In This Life”
She has ruled the chart roost in Australia for a long time, and now she’s got her cross hairs on the U.S. market with this solid but not spectacular pop song.  I was hoping this was a cover of the Canadian hit/United States flop that was “In This Life” by Chantal Kreviazuk.  Instead, this is a new song, and while it isn’t bad, I still prefer the one by Chantal Kreviazuk.  Also, what is it about people with odd names doing a song called “In This Life”?

Sara Bareilles “Bottle It Up”
The song itself has some moments, but I don’t think it’s her strongest option post-”Love Song”.  Personally, I would have released “Fairytale”, which is a rather amusing take on a lot of happy endings.  I’ve been told I bottle up emotions (mainly anger) too much, but lucky my body the soda can doesn’t get shaken too badly on most days.

Pick to click: I’ll make the odd pick of Delta Goodrem

Battlestar Galactica is finally paying dividends on the previous so-so episodes.  There was a ROTFL moment last week, but I don’t know if it was supposed to be.  With Col. Tigh’s back to Adama, he remarks how Tigh “isn’t the man he was a few years ago” and Tigh’s look was priceless.  I’d give Michael Hogan the Emmy just for that.  He is by far one of the most underrated actors on TV today.  Mark Sheppard came back to play Romo Lampkin, and he slugged it out of the park as well.  My Galactica watching friend is going to be away for a few weeks, and I’m not going to wait for him to come back before I watch next week.  There’s no way I can wait that long now.

I’ll be honest.  I’m a bit pressed for time today.  Luckily, things are going smoothly more often than they aren’t.  I still need to do a post-vote blog at the blog I do my South Dakota rambling on.  In other writing news, I talked about grocery stores at my Farmington blog, and this Saturday will be post #100 at Cliffhanger Theater.  I’ve stayed on one post a day since February with it, and while post 100 is a good jumping on point, I won’t be mentioning it a lot in the next few months.  I’ve started reading books about writing and fiction, so by the time I finish those I’ll be lucky if I don’t scrap it and start over. 

Like Strong Bad, my focus is all Krokus’d

Since I’m not writing other stories here as planned, and since WP blogs can’t be deleted, I’m going to use this as a place to deposit stuff that doesn’t fit my other online notebooks.  One could look at things like a five subject notebook in a way:

MySpace-first class of the day, and the one I’ve done the most work in
russ4life-current events and MySpace blog inspired
Cliffhanger Theater-creative writing project
Farmington30-Topics in history: August of 1984

Verbiage dump will be the fifth subject of a five subject notebook when I’m only taking four classes.

Yeah that’s it.

Now I can post more often than once a month.

Wait, I said that the last time I messed with this site.

Crap in a hat.

Since I need to post something here…

How about my MySpace blog?  I like the interface here so much I write my MySpace blog here, then cut and paste it to their blog interface, which is pretty bare bones.

KKCK:

Colby O’Donis with Akon “What You Got”
I had to go back and listen to this song again just to remember the Colby parts.  Akon dominates way too much on this song, to the point people will think it is an Akon song.  Since Akon songs usually do well, maybe Colby is on to something.

My Morning Jacket “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream”
I’m liking the sound of this one so far.  At least, until I saw them on SNL.  Now I don’t know what to think.

Anna Nalick “Shine”
Ms. Nalick is trying to break orbit from the one-hit-wonder system.  I wish her luck, but I’m not sure this song will do the trick.  I’m in her corner, since here debut CD was surprisingly solid.

Buckcherry “Everything”
For a band that was dead to the world no more than three years ago, they’ve certainly made the most of their unlikely comeback from being known as the band that did the “cocaine” song.  This song could also be filed under “Sorry we can’t play ‘Crazy Bitch’ but here’s another song of theirs.  It’s all good, right?”

New Kids on the Block “Summertime”
If you want me to hear one song this year that makes me reconsider my stance on an eighties revival, this might be the song.

Pick to click: Akon with Colby O’Donis

Battlestar Galactica is finally showing that oomph I’ve been waiting for this last week.  Next week should be one hell of an episode.  I also think the show deserves an award for making Nana Visitor look so sick.  If not for her voice I might not have recognized her, and I’ve been watching a lot of DS9 lately.  I wonder if any other Trek cameos will sneak in before the end of the show.  I remember the rumor that Scott Bakula was going to be on the show and all the angry message board postings that resulted.  Good times.

That reminds me of some of the recent comments I’ve heard and read about the rancorous, cynical and vile attitude of the internet in general of late.  I check one message board I’m almost ashamed to admit I check these days, mainly because of some racist and sexist posters who seem to have nothing better to do than post daily.  Still, it’s about the decent upper Midwest radio board, so I check and wince every few days.  Another place to find discord and venom are the threads at Fark, but I enjoy a good online argument now and then.  Does that make me part of the problem?  I’m not participating, but I am clicking.  I take some issue when all of the internet is lumped into the bin of online jerkwads.  There are boards like this one where things are very civil and friendly.  When I was a more active member (as opposed to being a lurker these days) it was a very nice atmosphere to be a part of, and I still enjoy reading it on almost a daily basis.  I’m not sure why that was on my mind today, but I’m letting my fingers type whatever comes to my mind.  So, don’t expect anything important to be next.

I could really go for some Taco Johns.  Friggin’ part timers and their Taco Johns bags totally derailing my train of thought.  All I can think about are getting some tacos after work.

Shoot, all I can think about are tacos now.  Seriously.  The lettuce, the cheese, the soft flour tortillas wrapped around seasoned chicken, or a crunchy shell holding in the ground beef is all I can think about. 

Okay, here I go.  Changing gears.

Nope, still tacos.  Crap.

I give up.  I’ll be back on wordpress later this week with something else to talk about, and to take CT to part 80.  Hopefully I’ll add more to my Farmington blog as well.

Wow

I knew I’d let this page go, but wow.  I’ve let this page GO. 

Seriously, I have been writing.  It’s just that my work on Cliffhanger Theater is taking up a lot of my blogging time.  Another time snatcha of mine is another book I started.  No, I didn’t finish the first one, but my head-space fits my other idea better now.  The next time I get to a bigger city I want to pick up a Writer’s Market book, so I can find out if either of my books has a hope in hell of finding a home. 

I had the crazy idea of trying a children’s book based around our four cats.  The elder tom with nipped ears might be a bit too gruff for most kids, but Oscar the Grouch made a good living.

Check back soon.  Hopefully, a bit sooner than a month or so.