Sunday, March 07, 2010

Catching Up With...


To switch things up and hopefully post more often, I'm gonna go on about the six things I'm interested in at the time. And the top six right now is...

American Idol - Well, after early hype this looks like the least talented bunch of kids of any season for AI. After my fave Crystal Bowersox it gets to slim pickins in searching for decent talent. At least Simon Cowell in his final season has decided to be meaner (and more entertaining) than ever. And surprise surprise, Kara Dioguardi has actually offered some relevant criticism in her judging on occassion. After a shaky first week of live tv, Ellen is settling down to deliver some much needed humor to the precedings. It's still early, there's a chance some of the remaining contestants can catch fire and get interesting. But time is slipping away and with it, possibly the last time people will pay attention to American Idol.

Avatar - Watching the Oscars right now to see if James Cameron will be crowned King Of The World again. I saw Avatar in mini IMAX 3D (the first time I saw it in 2D) and got more of the "Pandora exerience". Which is a lot of falling ash and flying bugs in the background giving a fuller feeling of depth to the picture. The 3D made the technical achievements of Avatar all the greater, one of the first truly immersive experiences shown in a movie theater.

Classic MLB Baseball 1979 - 1983 - One of the ESPN channels has been showing classic baseball from the era I used to follow it. Seeing great players like Craig Nettles, George Brett, Dave Kingman and Frank White play brought back fond memories of watching these games in my youth. It also reminds me of the nicknames we used to make up for baseball players, like "King Kong" Kingman, Gil "Blazing Speed" Flores (because that's what it said on his baseball card, "Has blazing speed") or Tommy "The Bionic Man" Johns. Good times.

David Pack "I Just Can't Let Go" - This was a lost mid 80s Adult Contemporary song that should have been a hit and wasn't. Ambrosia lead singer David Pack went solo and released this song (which I had on 45 back in the day) roping in Michael McDonald and James Ingram to sing the chorus with him. The result was a deep, resonant chorus harmony that was pure awesomeness.



Tosh.0 - This half hour show on Comedy Central digs up the most brutal clips on the web plus riffs on anything that goes viral. Sure there's other shows that do the same, Tosh.0 has a real good eye for finding clips that generate a stronger reaction than the competition. And though the host's frat boy sense of humor is hit or miss with me (the guy spares no sacred cows, it's ruthless down and dirty harsh jokes) the matchup of edgy vid clips and edgier humor has proven irresistible to me.

Wilco Sky Blue Sky - I've been going through the back catalog of Wilco a bit and snapped up this disc from a few years back. It's like a 70s soft rock album for the indie age, soft acoustic arrangements and pillowy vocals abound. The lyrics aren't the usual boy meets girl stuff (Wilco usually isn't like that) and though I haven't heard the disc enough to know what its about, I enjoy chilling to the relaxed soft rock groove.

And that's it, the top six. Will have to see if I can keep going with this new thing. Until next time!

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