Invite Them Up-Invite them Up, Mitch Hedberg-Mitch All Together, Cheech and Chong-Big Bambu

We bought our daughter a new bike this weekend. It is a Specialized Hot Rock, and it is pretty freaking cool. Last time I bought her a bike we went to the toy store and got the cheapest bike we could ($30) but for some reason this time I decided to go to the bike shop. Well the cheapest kids bike they had was $120 and it looked like she would grow out of it in year. My daughter is kind of small, so you never know when she might sprout up. Anyhow I asked what the biggest bike they could fit her on was, and it was this Hot Rock. You can see it here (it is the coaster)http://talbotscyclery.com/page.cfm?pageID=65 . But in order for my daughter to fit on it they needed to take the seat down as low it goes. So her seat actually sits below the wheels. It look like a lowrider bicycle. I taught her how to ride without training wheels this past summer so she took it out cruising and in about 30 minutes she was riding around now problem. It was pretty awesome. Now I want a bike so I can go riding with her.

Three comedy albums this weekend. Invite Them Up is a live album of the show I mentioned before that I go to. It was good, but really really long. It was over 2 hours of comedy. David Cross did a funny bit about a new abortion procedure where you re-insert the baby into the womb after birth. The Mitch Hedberg was pretty funny. I don't know if he is a good as all the hype, or if it is just because he is dead, but he was definitely better than average. Cheech and Chong was a disappointment. A bunch of not very funny sketches with some pot references. 7.5 out of 9.5, 9.7 and 11.5.

Dane Cook-Harmful if Swallowed

So one of my readers contacted me offline (not actually offline, but offblog) and mentioned seeing Lars and the Real Girl. I guess I should have posted about that movie sooner, because it pretty much sucked. It was painless enough in a quirky arthouse sort of way, but really it just seemed like a good enough idea that went nowhere, and anybody with any sense saw where nowhere was a mile away and we just waited like hell to get there. It is a bit of a shame really because Ryan Gosling is good, and there should be a movie about real dolls. There was a very interesting article on salon about real dolls. If you haven't read it you should. Follow this link:

http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/feature/2005/10/11/real_dolls/

and one of the guys in the article had a website for a while which was pretty darn crazy. I would imagine that the people who wrote this movie read this article, but they didn't capture any of the real craziness. Also Ryan Gosling is too good looking and was not strange enough to be believable. It might have been a better movie with Paul Giamatti in it, or really Crispin Glover would have been perfect.

Dane Cook is not funny. I know he is the most popular comedian in the whole wide world, but he is not funny. Perhaps he is so popular now that he doesn't need to be funny anymore, and maybe he was really funny at one time (anyone who has seen that steve martin video of his concert knows what I am talking about). I am not going to transcribe any of his jokes, but they were basically like this "Guys love to get head, they really do". 7.5 out of 16.

Patton Oswalt-Werewolves and Lollipops, Lewis Black-The End of the Universe

Last night was my fantasy baseball draft. Since such a large portion of my readership is from overseas I am assuming there will not be too much interest in me listing who I got, but screw you! Here are my results round by round with comments:

1. (5) Miguel Cabrera 3B he is going to have a huge year with Detroit!
2. (18) Albert Pujols 1B Can't believe he dropped so far, a #1 pick in the second round.
3. (27) David Ortiz 1B Again, dropped way to far. Big Papi rules!
4. (40) Russell Martin C I had too much power and not enough speed so I thought let me get some steals from catcher to even things out. Plus some power to
5. (49) Hunter Pence OF Another very balanced player
6. (62) Bobby Abreu OF I am not a big Abreu fan, but he ranks so high in my crazy system I had to grab him here in the 6th round
7. (71) John Smoltz SP I wanted a reliable starter, and that is Smoltzie for sure
8. (84) Ian Kinsler 2B I was worried about pitching at this point but couldn't pass up another 20/20 guy at second base
9. (93) Édgar Rentería SS Now I was really getting worried about pitching, Renteria was the last solid SS available, and he may turn out to be a real stud in the 9th round
10. (106) Chad Billingsley SP,RP I don't know much about him, but everybody seems to love him. Also I was trying to stay with NL pitchers in general
11. (115) Tim Lincecum SP LOVE HIM
12. (128) Andruw Jones OF Wow, I think he went in the first 2 rounds last year. I think he will bounce back nicely and give me 4th round pick production
13. (137) Jason Isringhausen RP OK here goes my pitching run, with all my position spots filled I get serious about pitching. First the best closer on the board
14. (150) Hideki Okajima RP We count holds, so I went for one of the best hold guys on the board
15. (159) George Sherrill RP Sherril is closing for Baltimore this year. He may not get as many save opportunities as some, although I am guessing when Baltimore wins it will usually be close, and they are bound win at least 60 games.
16. (172) Jeremy Accardo RP He will give me saves and then when/if BJ Ryan returns I get mad holds
17. (181) Dustin McGowan SP Another darling of the fantasy writers
18. (194) Jeremy Hermida OF Great value here at 18 he could end up being one of my starters in the outfield
19. (203) Billy Butler 1B,OF Better value at 19, he will either start for me or bring me a lot of value in trade
20. (216) Ken Griffey Jr. OF Wow, 20th round. Griffey hit over 30 hr last year and it was a bad year for him.
21. (225) Felipe López 2B,SS I wanted some infield flexibility, but now I find out Lopez may not start so I may be dumping him.


OK thats it for baseball. Patton Oswalt is funny, kind of like your funniest friend, which is pretty funny, but not quite funny enough for me. He had a few "good ones" in there but he just didn't slay me. Lewis Black, who I don't really like on the Daily Show because he always sounds like he is reading the teleprompter (which is is) surprised me. He was really funny. He did some really nice material on 9-11. Anyhow 7.5 out of 11.5 and 9.8.

Todd Barry-From Heaven

As a rule I do not enjoy stand-up comedy. Why have Comedy Week then you ask? Well there are some stand up comedians I do enjoy. As a child I loved the Woodie Allen stand-up albums, the 2000 year old man albums, the Steve Martin albums and the Eddie Murphy Albums. As an adult I have enjoyed the comedy of most of the people involved in Mr. Show and also this comedy thing here in new york that my friend Teresa took me to called "Invite them up". Invite them up seems to be a popular site for some of the less conventional comedians today and also many of the regular performers have found there way onto "Flight of the Conchords" which I enjoy quite a bit. That said most stand up does suck and I fully expect Comedy Week to be a mixed bag at best.

I did start Comedy Week off with a bang. I chose Todd Barry a comedian who I have seen at "Invite them up" to lead off the week and he did not disappoint. He is very funny, although funnier live. When I have seen him he often goes on for several minutes about how funny he is, and something about it is particularly funny. This album contained some material which I had heard when he opened for Sarah Silverman at Carnegie Hall, and some material I had not heard before. Overall a very funny album which I would recommend you go listen to. 7.5 out of 9.7.

The Lively Ones-Surf Drums

Sadly surf week has come to an end. I may have to schedule surf week II once the weather heats up a little. I am doing a new theme week this week, Comedy Week. I have wanted to hear one of these Dane Cook(e) albums. I am pretty sure it will be rotten but it is good to know what all the hubub is about. In other news I am falling pretty far behind in my NCAA pool and I think I need some really magic to even be close to finishing in the money. Also this Wednesday is my fantasy baseball draft so I will be sure to let you all know how that goes (I am SURE you are DYING to HEAR about IT). I have been listening to some Podcasts about fantasy baseball in preparation, and it funny to listen to them because they really do run the gamut of quality/professionalism. For example there is one by ESPN and although the fantasy guys are a little geekier than your average ESPN television or radio personality it is still pretty professional. There are are some by Fantasy/Sabermatic website and these guys are much geekier and not very good at speaking on the pod (on the pod? on podcasts?)but they are very knowledgeable and spew out a lot of data. Finally there was one by I don't know, some guy who plays a lot of fantasy baseball I guess, who often times said things like "I can't tell you my draft strategy now, but later in the season..." It made me wonder how the hell you get your podcast listed on iTunes. It seems it can't be much harder than getting a blog. Maybe I should move this whole freaking thing over to a podcast...Or maybe I should just mail Andrew cassette tapes.

The Lively Ones-Surf Drums is some classic surf and great ending to Surf Week. My one complaint is that it didn't seem like there was any extra drums on this album, mostly surf guitar. But still a fine surf album. 7.5 out of 9.12634.

The Challengers-Go Sidewalk Surfing, The Sentinals-Big Surf, Mystery Album-Mystery Artist

A NOTE TO MY READER(S)
Hey first of all post all you want, it gives me the ability to maintain the fantasy that I have a "real" blog. Also somehow I forgot one of the albums that I listened to, so I am only posting about two when I should be posting about three. As I post I am also listening to today album (Surf Drums by the Lively Ones in case I forget tomorrow). I have a lot of projects going on this weekend since the wife and daughter went away for weekend (easter). I am switching our computer to the new one that I built, which is going fine except I pulled a HD from the old computer and now that one wont boot up so I had to do a whole bunch of shenanigans to make sure that I had all the data. Then I am starting to work on our backyard, or back patch, which required pulling up a bunch of bricks. Then I have to dig like six inches down, lay some anti-weed fabric, lay down gravel and relay the bricks, plus plan into another area. If anybody know what I can do with all the dirt I pull out my yard I would love to know. Then I did my taxes which was not pretty. I also watched the Frighteners this weekend, with Michael J. Fox, and it was OK, not that great. Then today I saw the end of movie called "We Are Marshall" which is a sports movie that really pulls at the heartstrings, and I did get some boohoos.

Surf Week continues to be a hit. I haven't had a bad album yet. I believe the 3rd album was also "new surf" which would be 2 new surf albums and 1 classic surf. The new surf continues to hold it own against the classic surf. Lets just say they all get 7.5 out of 9.5.

Aqualads-Surf, Surf, Surf

All right, all right, enough political blogging. It is March Madness time! Now I don't follow college basketball at all but I do love gambling so I certainly have a soft spot in my heart for March Madness. I missed one game so far in my "bracket" and I will keep you updated.

When listening to my surf music today it struck me that surf music is the only kind of Rock Music that regularly instrumental. Oh sure there are some exceptions to that rule, but not many. That is perhaps one thing about Surf that is so endearing, and also timeless. Modern Surf can sound exactly like classic surf. Take for example Aqualads. The Aqualads site says "The Aqualads are a traditional Surf combo from North Carolina with a trashy Wet Surf/Spy/HotRod sound." and I agree. Aqualads rock and I would love to see them some time. 7.5 out of 9.1!!!!

Davie Allen and the Arrows-The Cycle-Delic Sounds Of...

Was Reverend Wright Wrong? Sarah (my wife) asked me yesterday if I thought what he said the other day was so bad. The answer is no, as a matter of fact I pretty much agree with him. And this is really the reason why guys like Kucinic and Nader keep running. The debate surrounding Reverend Wright’s comments never really ventures into the area of “what was so bad about what he said?” OK, I get that some people think saying “God Damn America” is somehow blasphemous, but I don’t. For what we have done to blacks in the past 200 years God Damn America is pretty timid. As for 9-11 being our “chickens coming home to roost” I agree as well. I mean our imperialistic actions throughout the world, which we carry out without regard for right or wrong, have caused a great number of people in the world to hate us.

I don’t agree with everything that Reverend Wright says, and I think Obama was right on when he used this controversy as an opportunity to discuss the divisiveness of race in America, BUT I do think it sad that a discussion of whether Reverend Wright’s comments were so awful to begin with is not allowed to take place. Especially in the “liberal” media, which did not for one second take up that issue.

Surf week continued with some modern surf in the form of Davie Allen and the Arrows. This album was a maybe a little to cycle delic to be considered classic surf, but I enjoyed it quite a bit, 7.5 out of 9.4.

Dick Dale-Summer Surf

It's Surf Week! This is my first theme week so hold onto your hat!

I am listening right now to Barack Obama's speach on race. How can any democrat not be supporting this guy? Please take a minute (or 30 minutes or so) to listen to this speach here:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGBbKG

BTW blogger is totally screwed up still. No font control, inserting links is not working.

OK Dick Dale is the king of sure guitar as everybody knows. Well Summer Surf is a fine example of why he is the king. This week is getting me primed for spring and beyond! 7.5 out of 9.

Janet Jackson-Discipline, Rosemary Clooney-Rosie Solves the Swinging Riddle, The Temptations-Cloud Nine

Well Lucy threw up in the middle of the night last night and I am sick too, but I am heading into work shortly (it is almost 11). We saw Horton Hears a Who yesterday. I thought it was pretty good, but it not as good as the book. Kids movies these days seem to be either mediocre to bad (Cars, Baby Geniuses) or Great (Nemo, Ratatoile) of course as I say this I think Horton kind of breaks that mold, better than the lower tier, but not as good as the upper tier. So what is the point? I don't know. Also Sarah and I watched Paranoid Park, the new Gus Van Sant movie. That movie was pretty darn good. A nice mix of a art movie with a plot. Probably because it was based on a teen novel it was pretty plot driven driven, but Van Sant turns it up several notches with a very dreamy removed quality.
Janet Jackson should probably retire. Not that the album is THAT bad, but it sure wasn't that good. I guess lots of people are buying it so what do I know. Rosemary Clooney is great, I saw her in concert a few years back and really enjoyed it. Listening to a full album was a pleasure. BTW did you know she dated Nelson Riddle? This Temptations album was also very good, but not quite the revelation I was hoping for. So of course they all get 7.5 out of 13, 9 and 9.5.

Weird

Now all my youtube postings are coming through. Very strange. Very strange indeed.

Snoop Dogg-Ego Trippin, Leo Sayer-Endless Flight

Earl Ditmann from Wireless magazine. If you don't know who he is, he is a film "critic" from a fake magazine that gives great reviews to terrible movies so they will print his reviews on the top of ads in the paper. Today he was quoted as saying "A total knockout! Sensational!" about a movie called "Never Back Down" that I would expect won't last more than a week in the theaters. Wikipedia has some other quotes including:

Racing Stripes - “Soon to take its place as one of this generation's most hilarious, smart and entertaining family classics.”

Son of the Mask - “Hilarious! Wonderfully witty. A comedy for the child in all of us.”

Guess Who - “Outrageously funny! Absolute comic perfection!”

RV - “RV is spectacularly hilarious.”

Catwoman - “100% pure fun and excitement!”

I don't think he actually reviews good movies as for those they have no interest in his quotes. He is rather mysterious though as nobody can actually find this wireless magazine. I recommend doing a search on Dittman and reading some of the explorations into "who is earl dittman".

Snoop Dogg is not getting any better, that much I can tell. He never has matched the greatness of his debut album, but recently he has had a couple of decent albums that are worth listening to. I am not sure Ego Trippin is one of them. It doesn't include that one great song that makes the whole album worthwhile. Leo Sayer on the other hand. This album, which I mentioned previoiusly when I talked about the demise of physical copies of music, is one that I have seen ten billion times at yard sales. Now I understand why so many people bought it. This is a damn good album. Both albums get a 7.5 but snoop is out of 12 and Leo is out of 10.

Who Is Harry Nilsson...

The guy I listened to on sunday

Thomas Brinkmann- It never was you

Recommended by Andrew

Nick Lowe - Cruel To Be Kind

Friday

Ain't no Sunshine

Bill Withers is always good.

Portishead - Roseland Nyc Live - Cowboys

Not what I expected

LCD Soundsystem-Sound of Silver, Early Man-Closing In

I have some sort of laryngitis. It has been spreading around our office like kudzu and now it has attacked me! I think it is also attacking my brain because I am having trouble thinking of anything to write. I am also for some reason still tired from this daylight savings time. I heard we have started it early this year, and maybe that is why it is so freaking cold, when usually we seem to be starting spring. BLah, BlAH, BlaH.

LCD Soundsystem was pretty good, alt-techno-pop. 7.5 out of 10.5. Early Man is some real heavy metal. Perhaps a little too heavy, or too much metal for me. 7.5 out of 12.

Nick Lowe-Jesus of Cool, Thomas Brinkman-Normalizer, Harry Nillson-Aerial Ballet

The day has just slipped by. Elliot Spitzer got caught sleeping with prostitutes! If you don't live in NY maybe you don't realize how crazy this is. Spitzer built his whole reputation on crusading against corruption, and then this. It leads me to question, as these scandals often do, what is wrong with people. I mean how can they not think they are going to get caught. I had alway suspected when a preacher or politician who fought gay rights gets exposed as being gay that it had something to do with self hating, but this makes me think again. Perhaps it is more about extreme hubris. I mean between clinton and spitzer and craig, and on and on, these guys just don't seem to think they get caught, which is really bizarre. I mean I am afraid to smoke a cigarette when I go out because I think my wife might find out, but these guys who are in the news every day don't seem to think anyone will notice them having sex in public restrooms or calling high class prostitutes. I guess you need that kind of hubris to get into politics and getting elected reinforces it, but still, freaking crazy if you ask me.

Three very different albums that I would love to write a lot about because they were all pretty good, but I gots to get out of here, so lets say 7.5 out of 9.5 for all three and call it a day.

Bill Withers-Just As I Am

Very weird, changing fonts is not an option again today!

Also weird is the fact that my youtube videos are not showing up.

Today is my sisters birthday, so wish her a happy birthday. My obsession with the election continues. Last night at poker I got into a argument with Chris who plays with us. He kept saying that there would not be a "broken convention". So I said "are you sure you don't mean brokered convention"? He claims that a "broken convention" leads to a brokered convention, but I have found no evidence of such on the internet. Well gotta run.

Bill Withers was good as always. 7.5 out 8.5.

Portishead-Portishead

Oh for some reason I can't change the font this time.

It is hard for me to blog today because I have a terribly stiff neck and back. I have to walk all crooked like! I have recently been watching Beverly Hills 90210 a bit on the SOAP network, and I still love that darn show. A couple of great episodes I recently saw:

1. Brenda gets into trouble when she starts hanging out with one of Kellie's old friends who is a compulsive shoplifter. Somehow Brenda doesn't notice her putting tons of clothes into her backpack and then leaving all those clothes in Brenda's closet when she goes back to steal more, and guess what, Brenda and the bad girl both get caught!

2. Brandon thinks it is a good idea to invite a bunch of black kids to the dance at West Beverly High School. Of course thing go from bad to worse when first the black kids don't get let in by security, and then some other kids from West Beverly (including I think the only black kid who actually attends West Beverly) start to pick a fight with these kids. Luckily David Silver starts rapping and the everybody starts line dancing!

Yesterday I listened to Portishead. Not at all what I expected. It was pretty good, although I kind of always had the feeling of waiting for the song to start, like it sounds like a good sample or something. Anyhow that said I give it 7.5 out of 10.3.

Love Song - Sara Bareilles

Well for some reason my original post of this song vanished, so here is some other girl singing the song with her CASIO.

Sara Bareilles

Hmmmm. Not so good.

Sara Bareilles-Little Voice

Well my predictions were wrong. Hillary took Texas and Ohio and she is staying in the race. But the thing is this, there is no way Hillary will have a lead in the delegate count by the end of the primaries. She may possible have a lead in the popular vote, but that is a reflection of the fact that Obama has been winning Caucasus and obviously those include less "voters". So her plan is, and she doesn't come out and say, but she says as much, to broker a deal at the convention whereby the super delegates elect her even though she has lost the popular vote. This to me seems like a terrible idea. It will be demoralizing to the democratic party and will, I think, insure that McCain wins the election. ALSO what really burns my ass is that last night she said "We won in Florida, Michigan, etc. etc.". For her to mention those two states is really crazy. In Michigan she was the only name on the ballot, in Florida no candidate campaigned. Now a case can be made that we need to have a redo on those elections, but for her to claim victory in those states is, in my opinion, sleazy. Anyhow I hope this turns out better than yesterday's album.

Which was Sara Bareilles Little Voice. I guess the first song on the album, called love song was some sort of adult easy listening hit, and it's not too bad, but the rest of the album is essentially dreck. 7.5 out of 15.

MC5

Kick out the jams

The MC5-Thunder Express

Last night a watched the movie "The Lookout". It was not so good. Jeff Daniel was in it as a blind guy, at that was the highlight. Today is big day what with the elections and all. The question is being asked, should Hillary drop out if she loses Texas or Ohio (or both). I think she should and she will. She has been posturing this week that she doesn't need to step down, and he campaign even sent out a memo that said if Obama does not win all 4 primaries today there is something seriously wrong with his campaign. That of course is a load of baloney. Hillary was up in both Texas and Ohio by close to 20 points a couple of months ago, and now they are both nail biters. My prediction is that Barack wins Texas by a very slight margin and loses Ohio by about 7%. This outcome will force Hillary out of the race. At that point she will not be able to win the pledged delegates and she will see that any outcome other than an Obama victory will be seen and illegitimate. She has to say she is staying in the race while she is in the race, but she is a loyal democrat and a very smart woman and she will know she needs to drop out of she loses Texas. NOW if she wins both by a small margin she should probably still drop out, but will she? I don't think so.

Of course I am familiar with the MC5 (especially kick out the jams), but never had an album of mc5 tunes passed through my ears. Well yesterday it did, and I was not disappointed. Well now that I look closer it appears I have broken my own rules and accidentally listened to a greatest hits album, or maybe not here is the description "10 track compilation with four cuts off of two early singles from 1966 & 1968, plus six tunes from a 1972 recording session at Studio Herouville Castle, including their signature anthem 'Kick Out The Jams'." so it is kind of greatest hits meets original album. I will give myself a pass on this one. I am listening to tomorrow album now BTW and hating it! Bet you can't wait for that. 7.5 of 9.3.

Patti Smith-Horses, The Five Americans-Progressions, Loudon Wainwright-So Damn Happy

I started to write about fixing up my backyard, or my plans to do such, when I realized what a terrible bore that was. You know what isn’t boring though? Rock Band! Rock Band is awesome. If you don’t know about it, Rock Band is basically like guitar hero, but with a whole band, drums, guitar, bass and vocals. Anyhow two weekends ago we had a big Rock Band Party for Jay’s birthday and that was a big smash. Then this weekend we borrowed Jay’s Rock Band again for a dinner party and again a big smash hit! So if you have a playstation or xbox or something go out and buy that Rock Band because it is super fun!

Three albums this week. Patti Smith is another one of those artists who I never got around to listening to, but who I had the sneaking suspicion I would not like. Well I guess I liked the album a little more than I expected, but still not too much. The Five Americans on the other hand were totally awesome. I don’t know how I know so little about them, somewhere I saw them compared to Monkees, and I guess in some ways that is accurate, but I really dug this album. Loudon Wainwright is a favorite of mine from his work on undeclared, but his brand of folksy funny music is a little to prairie home companion for my tastes. 7.5 out of 11.5, 10 and 12.

Loudon Wainwright - The Picture

Sunday

The Five Americans - Western Union

Saturday

Patti Smith - Horses

Friday