anewalbumaday

I am still alive

2009-01-04T12:38:00.001-08:00

Two more weeks for me to listen to a new album a day and then I am going to change the challenge (after completing a year) and change up the blog. Stay tuned...

Time to blog

2008-08-28T12:06:00.001-07:00

Anyone watching the convention? Clinton was great, Kerry was great, Biden was great. I am going to VEGAS tomorrow night. Starting a new job in a week, turning forty in a week. Busy busy times. But not too busy to blog, not any more. I have been litening to a new album every day, but I don't have my ipod on me to tell you what the heck they have been. Oh also I finally finished the work on my back yard, i will post pictures of that as soon as I take some. We are gettign a table a bench and some chairs to put back there so we will be able to spend some time out there this fall and then hit it big time in spring.

I am still alive

2008-08-21T11:54:00.000-07:00

The blogging is very sporadic I know, but life has been busy. I have a new job starting in September.

Large Hadron Rap

2008-08-15T20:38:00.001-07:00

You must watch this.

Penguin Cafe Orchestra-Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Peanut Butter Wolf-My Vynil Weighs a Ton

2008-08-11T11:28:00.000-07:00

Went to Governor's Island this weekend which I have been wanting to do since they opened it up. It was pretty great. There are all kinds of things going on on the island every weekend, and then you can have a nice picnic looking at lower Manhattan. The rest of the weekend was spent doing work around the house and watching the Olympics. The opening ceremonies were spectacular. I am not usually interested in the opening ceremonies, but I watched for a couple of minutes and got hooked. Really, really cool. Also the swimming relay from last night was really awesome. I am not necessarily rooting for the US, but the comeback was totally surprising and exciting.

Penguin Cafe Orchestra is modern space age pop, kind of like Air. It was pretty decent but did not blow me away. Peanut Butter Wolf is a hip hop producer, or something like that, from the Bay Area. His album was really good. 2.5 and 3.5 stars.

Look at me post! Paul Weller-22 Dreams

2008-08-08T12:38:00.000-07:00

So John Edwards had an affair but his aide impregnated her. That is a little hard to swallow. I went to IKEA in brooklyn the other night. Just like any other IKEA, only closer, which makes a big difference. I may go back just to get batteries and hot dogs (50 cents). Wifey got a job at a school in brooklyn. I will officially be a Lizard in waiting next week.

Paul Weller. I never heard of the guy but I guess he has been around for years and years and years. The album was pretty good. I think I will try to give it another listen just to be sure. Right now I am listening to Spiritualized-Songs to Sing in A&E. It seems like this is also a pretty good album.

Going to Governer's Island this weekend I think, and also to a picnic in Prospect Park.

and also...

2008-08-07T13:05:00.001-07:00

I have a t-shirt for sale:

http://www.cafepress.com/flammablet

I am still alive

2008-08-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

But can't bring myself to blog. Listened to a good Impressions album (The Young Mod's Forgotten Story), yesterday I heard Joe Henry-Tiny Voices, that wasn't to shabby, but no great shakes either. Before that Iron and Wine-The Shepard's Dog, which I enjoyed quite a bit, before that Brendan Canning-Something For All of Us, not so good, before that Sunny Sweeney-Heartbreakers Hall of Fame, pretty decent for new country and before that the 13th Floor Elevators-Bull of the Woods which was good not great.

Brett Favre is a Jet, Manny is a Dodger and I am a Lizard.

Black Kids-Partie Traumatic, Aersomith-Draw The Line

2008-07-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

Well I finally got the new Guitar Hero featuring Aerosmith, so I figured I should listen to some old Aerosmith as a research. I have played my way through most of the game of medium and will try to move up to difficult shortly. Also I have broken my addition to Scramble and replaced it with an addiction to WordTwist.

The Black Kids is described as neo-new wave party pop on Rhapsody. Take that for what you will. They also say "If you dig the Cure and want the good times to never end, then Partie Traumatic will make the perfect fashion accessory." I am not sure if that describes me, but the album wasn't bad to clean to the kitchen to. Aerosmith Rocks Natick!

2.5 and 3 stars.

Back From Vacation

2008-07-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

I am back and ready to blog. BUT I don't have my ipod so I don't know what the heck I listened to all last week. I can tell you my daughter caught a fish and that she is really into Rubber Soul by the Beatles, although she says "some of the songs don't sound like the Beatles". I will be back to blogging in full effect tomorrow and will slowly recap what I listened to while I was gone.

Tegan and Sara-This Business of Art, G. Love and Special Sauce-Philadelphonic

2008-07-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

I am heading out to Vermont for vacation for the next week so don't expect my usual heavy blogging.

Tegan and Sara was good, G. Love was not. 3 and 1.5 stars out of 4.

Loverboy-Get Lucky, Loggins and Messina-Mother Lode

2008-07-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen a little person in weeks.

Loverboy pretty much stinks. One good song on the whole album. Loggins and Messina was kind of good, in a terrible Kenny Loggins sort of way. 1 and 2 stars out of four.

Metro Station-Metro Station, Billy Squier-Don't Say No, Bread-Guitar Man, Ambrosia-Ambrosia

2008-07-15T06:13:00.000-07:00

So much has happened since I last blogged! Saturday night there was a going away celebration for my sister and I was challenged to eat 3 and 1/2 pieces of corn in 3 minutes. The corn never had a chance! Oh also on Saturday day we went to the Statue of Liberty. We had gone a couple of years back and didn't know you needed a reservation to go inside the statue, so we made one and went again. Well my advice is to skip going inside. I went when I was a kid and you could walk up a million stairs and go into the crown, which was cool because the inside of the statue is pretty cool and you see it all the way up. Now all they let you do is go inside the base, and you can kind of see up into the statue itself but not really. Plus you have to go through security a twice (once before getting on the boat, and once on the island to go into the statue) and all that waiting gets to be a bit much. Sunday I went for a bike ride with my daughter though prospect park, which was a lot of fun, and then on Sunday night I went to the Mets game in Comcast's luxury box, which was not very luxurious. It was the Motel 6 of Luxury boxes, but still it was fun to go to the game. Then last night the wife and I went to see Rickey Gervais in concert. He was quite funny, although his act was almost identical to the one I saw on tape from England, except much shorter because he cut out a lot of parts about English celebrities. I was kind of hoping he would replace it with parts about American celebrities, but no such luck. Sad news for my loyal readers, I am going on vacation next week and probably will not be able to blog all week!

Of the four albums, the Billy Squier album was the best, with Bread coming in a not so close second. Metro Station followed and Ambrosia brought up the rear. Overall kind of a let down after a nice run of albums. 16, 14 , 12 and 11 on a scale of 1-20.

Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis-A Pair of (Broken Hearts), Beck-Modern Guilt

2008-07-11T11:12:00.000-07:00

Well I played poker last night and the game did not break up until about 12:40, and then since wifey and daughter were away I had to take the subway home. A couple things happened that I wanted to mention. First, I saw something I had never seen before, which was a subway station cleaning crew. They were spraying the whole station with high powered hoses. It was pretty gross all the dirt coming off the floor, walls, chairs, etc. And what was really gross was that the place still looked totally dirty when they were done. Then there was some kind of work being done on the tracks, so we had to get off the Q at Pacific and walk through the tunnels to Atlantic, which is like a 5 minute walk or something. And probably 20 people ran the whole distance. I don't' really get it. I will admit that we waited for a long time for the train to come, and if we had just missed one it would have really sucked, but still. Using that logic you would have to run everywhere, so you wouldn't miss a light, or an elevator or anything. These people did not know that a train was going to be at the station (it was not) but they ran anyways just in case. Freaking crazy if you ask me.

Two really good albums. Willie and Wynton is a really enjoyable jazz/country mix that I would not have imagined. Beck's new album is produced my favorite...you know who...Danger Mouse! I already was a big Beck fan and this album does not disappoint at all. Both get four stars out of four!

Infesticons-Gun Hill Road, Duffy-Rockferry

2008-07-09T13:16:00.000-07:00

The blogging is really slowing down here, and I am not sure who to blame. I am going to see Iron Man tonight, I think. Not sure if it will be any good, but you know I will let you know! Last night I woke up at around 4:30 in the morning and could not fall back asleep. Now I am very, very tired.

Infesticons was a good album, but not nearly as good as the follow up, Majesticons. Duffy was really good, but I am not sure if I will end up really not liking it, kind of like Macy Gray. It is very similar to that first Macy Gray album, in that it feels really retro. I was a big fan of that album when it first came out, but now I can't imagine listening to it. Therefor I think Duffy is on thin ice, but since I don't get to hear albums more than once any more, maybe I will never know.

Ted Nugent- Ted Nugent, Joe Walsh-The Smoker you Drink...,James Gang-Rides Again, Montrose-Montrose

2008-07-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

Well I am back from the 4th of July. I am guessing I am heading into the half-way mark on this project. I don't mind saying that I am kind of looking forward to it being over. I like hearing all this music, but the pressure to listen to a new album every day is a bit much to take, and it doesn't allow me to re-listen to music I enjoy. But as they say it is what is it is. An interesting story popped up on the Internet last week about how Fox News doctored some photos for a story they "reported". Pretty crazy stuff from the #1 news channel in America.
Of the four classic albums I listened to this weekend I would rate them in this order James Gang, Montrose, Joe Walsh and Ted Nugent (the nuge). All were OK, James Gang and Montrose warrant another listen. That is all you get today.

The Ramones-Pleasant Dreams, Mike Ladd Present-Father Divine

2008-07-03T07:42:00.000-07:00

Well we are heading into July 4th weekend, and I am heading to Boston for the weekend. I am looking forward to getting out of the city, but not so much to getting stuck in traffic for several hours. Several blogs reported a pretty funny story. Apparently some right wing religious website (American Family Association's OneNewsNow) posts AP stories to it site, but for some reason it runs a script that automatically replaces the word "gay" with "homosexual". I guess for some reason the religious fanatics don't like the word gay. Anyhow in case you missed it, Tyson Gay a US sprinter broke the 100 meter record. Well this is how the story appeared in that website:

"Homosexual eases into 100 final at Olympic trials."

Tyson Homosexual easily won his semifinal for the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials and seemed to save something for the final later Sunday.
His wind-aided 9.85 seconds was a fairly cut-and-dry performance compared to what happened a day earlier. On Saturday, Homosexual misjudged the finish in his opening heat and had to scramble to finish fourth, then in his quarterfinal a couple of hours later, ran 9.77 to break the American record that had stood since 1999. [...]
Homosexual didn't get off to a particularly strong start in the first semifinal, but by the halfway mark he had established a comfortable lead.... Asked how he felt, Homosexual said: "A little fatigued."

Also of note in the news, the NY Times and other news sources reported that Obama, in an effort to change his image had refused to give a "terrorist fist jab" to a school child who wanted one. Well it turns out you can still get a terrorist fist jab. The boy was asking Obama to sign his hand in pen, and Obama thought the boy's mom would not like it, so he signed a piece of paper instead.

Pleasant Dreams is not the Ramones finest album, but any Ramones album is probably better than most of what I have been listening to. One thing that struck me while listening to this album was how much it sense it made for Phil Spector to produce a Ramones album. Mike Ladd created one of my favorite albums, "The Majesticons-Beauty Party". This album is a lot more mellow than that, but still pretty good. I also downloaded "The Infesticons" which I will be reviewing shortly. Overall I am on a pretty nice run of enjoyable albums. I hope it keeps up! 3 stars for both albums.

Kraftwerk-Radio-Activity, Supergrass-Diamond Hoo Ha, Journey-Journey, Katy Perry-One of the Boys

2008-07-01T05:39:00.000-07:00

Well some stuff has happened with Anna (I fear my attempts to get something other than a form letter have forced her to drop me) but today I am going to go back to a ranting about the media and politics. "Why now?" you ask. Because of this whole ridiculous Wesley Clark thing. A typical headline you might see is "Obama disowns critique of McCain's military record". But the thing is Clark did not critique McCain's military service at all. As a matter of fact he said he was a hero to him. "What did Wesley Clark Say?" you ask. He said "I don't think being shot down in a plane qualifies you to be president of the united states". Well DOES IT? and does saying that mean you are questioning McCain's service? NO IT DOES NOT. But the McCain camp thought they could make hay with issue and they are right, because the media doesn't question the assertion that Wesley Clark (A decorated general and war veteran) was calling into question McCain's war record. Unlike the Swift Boaters (who McCain's current campaign has ties to) Clark did not challenge McCain's record, he only questioned whether that war record was sufficient qualification for being president. How could you write an article about this story, and not spend some time on whether the McCain outrage was justified? I don't know, but I do now many, many news outlets have done exactly that.

What can you say about Kraftwerk, the album was pretty great. I had the album for several years but somehow never listened to it, but now I did, and again, pretty great. Supergrass is a kind of 70s rock retro band, or something like that, and I thought they were actually pretty good. I listened to them while I was digging a ditch in my backyard, and they helped power me through. I wondered what an overblown arena rock band like Journey would sound like on their debut album. Well it was surprising. Very little vocals, lots of rocking, and little touch of what might be considered fusion. I thought it was pretty good. Katy Perry is some kind of new pop singer who plays with gender roles with songs like "I kissed a girl". Mostly just pop music, but with a little extra, and believe it or not I like this one too, so that is 4 albums, and they all get two thumbs up!

Traffic-Mr. Fantasy, James Carter-Present Tense, Joan as Police Woman-To Survive

2008-06-27T11:36:00.000-07:00

OK well I wrote back to Anna (with pic):

Anna,

So glad to get another letter from you. You asked me some questions and here are my answers!

I live in Milwaukee. I rent a room above the garage of a very nice family, the Cunninghams.

I teach shop at a high school.

I like to hang out at the local diner (Arnold's) and listen to music.

I hate nerds.

I like fruit, my favorite fruit is grapes. Do they have grapes in Russia?

I do like strong drinks, but I rarely if ever get too drunk and i am never rude to women!

I have some questions about you I would like to know the answers to:

1. You say you exercise, what kind of exercises do you do? In Russia is there a gym? I saw once in the movie Rocky 4 that Rocky just ran up and down a mountain with an old wooden wheel tied to his back when he was exercising in Russia, I hope they do not make you do that!

2. Does the Internet Cafe you are using serve coffee? If so what is your favorite coffee drink? I like a cinnamon mocha with non-fat milk served over ice.

3. What kind of clubs do you got to?

4. What is your favorite pet? (I hate cats, but maybe we can work that out)

5. Finally you never told me if you like borscht.

I have attached a picture of myself after a workout!

And she wrote back twice. First this:

Hello my dear Murray DavidI am so glad to see your letter again,I think I am a lucky girl to meet such man and I will do my best to meet you in real life! you know I can work in any city of your area because it is free choice and agency only helps me to get only travel documents and ticket, and I do hope that we will like each other and now I have the destination.The agency will also suggest some places to work in. I do hope I have met my right man!you know I have told you before one of my friend worked abroad last year and have met right man,now they live there and they are going tomarry. by the way now they are arranging the trip to Russia,(he wants to meet her parents and friends) I think if I feel that you are my dream and you have the same feelings we could think about our future together. if not I will just work and return back when the time to travel back. you know I am new here and I am afraid to make any mistake. I have one great lack,I am very impatient sometimes I can act without thinking. Sometimes I think that my dream is getting for real and it is so bad to be disappointed later. I want you to know all small things about me because it shouldn't be any misunderstandings between us.I want you to know that I am not angel and sometimes I can show my character.And I don't wait that you to be angel too, I just want to meet a kind man .I am very kind and I can forgive almost all I can't forgive if my man sleep with different woman, I don't know many nessesary words in english.I hope you can read between lines. A little more about myself!my favorite activity is fitness. I wanted to be as fitness trainer but I finished The Irkutsk State Univercity, trainers faculty as fitnesstrainer but I don't work on my profession because there are no good fintess clubs in my city, I used to sit at home and to do all housework,helping my mom. I would like to have good job, I may work dancing teacher, or trainer of fitness,you know I have a certificate. I worked as a trainer a year ago . and I would like to do it again .you know how many more younger girls want to get this job too!Alot of competition here. I want to tell you about things I like: I like to make barbecue and I so much want to have my own home with fireplace. usually I make very tasty ones and in principle I like to cook and it is not problem for me to cook something tasty and I don't like to visit cafes and restaurants,at first usually they can't cook weel(maybe only here) and second too high price.I like warm weather. and my great dream is to live somewhere on tropical island. Also I want to tell you about my dislikes: I hate our long winters it seems to me they will never end. I hate lies and unfaithfulness. I hate evil people and politicans I think they like to play wars, I hate any ars.What I like in a man: faithfulness, honesty. He has to be open- minded and open-hearted, also easy-going. and much more important he is kind,kindness makes our world! Are you kind and gentle man ?????I think my man should be kind ,it is great feeling after love,only kind person may be happy, all rude people are unhappy.or must be. A few questions yet, agency tells that I will have a room in nearest hotel near my future work but if we like each other may be is it possible to live together?I think we will enjoy life together. do you have your car?animals? I can't drive and I do hope you give me a few lessons, to be fair I have so many plans .I will find out all travel details about my flight this week. I will leave my town today in a two hours and i think I will be not able to write to you today or so.When I am in Moscow I will send you short letter to let you know that I am all right and they tell that it takes about two days toget all nesseary papers, please confirm your phone number and international airport, I want to be sure I have all your details and Please don't look at different girls. I am the best(joke). Well, I will close this letter I think I am bore today,and please feelfree to ask. See you soon!I can't believe everything is for real. to be fair I am lost and my head is like any big station with a lot of voice!KISS and LOVE Anna!P.S. I love borscht ))

And the this:

My honey ! it is me,can you believe I am in Moscow. I can't believe ,it was wonderful flight and they gave red vine in plane, wow,I have never triedsuch tasty one!!!!! I went the bus up to the Subway from the airport .In Subway long went, it was so is delightfulI was in travel agency today, but my documents are not ready yet, it will be ready tomorrow. I will go to travel agency again to get all info about my trip. And of course, when I will get it - I will send it to you!It is such great city and it takes a few hours to travel from one end to other.I rented the flat for few days.People said to me some nice places in Moscow while he wasSuch a great city it is. I have no words to explain. you can't imagine how great Moscow is,to be fair I wouldn't like to live here,a lot of cars,people , voice and pollution.Ugly traffic and people with crazy eyes.When I get off plane in airport Moscow policeman asked about passport and he looked at me like I am any enemy,I think all people here are a little crazy at terrorism.Life here in Moscow is expensive. I was going through some shops todayand it is much more expensive than in our town. Food and all the general things. It is the same country but different prices, what a great change.I think people living in Moscow are very cautious ,I think so. But I think that I have done my choice and to be fair I don't want to live here,it is not the city of my dreams. you know I am not coward I am not afraid I know it is my chance to meet kind man .I do hope I am right. and I think you are too kind to make any bad things I feel it.Well,I will close this letter ,please write as soon as possible!seeyou soon! KISS . Great kiss from moscow!!!!!!!!! Anna

This is all moving so fast! and I barely have time to blog about the albums. Traffic was better than I expect, James Carter was jazz and enjoyed it, Joan as Police Woman was OK. 7, 8 and 6 (out of 10)

I think Anna Really Likes Me!

2008-06-25T08:21:00.001-07:00

I got two emails from Anna today (with more pictures). When I searched for some of the text from the email on google a bunch of stuff came up, so my new goal is to make her write me a custom letter. I will respond later. First this one:

Hello my dear Murray David,thank you for your answer!At first I think I have to say that I am new in internet and I have only good intentions. you should know that I am not very good writer in english, please be patient to read my messages and see many mistakes. to be fair I don't know what you want to know about me,in principle I am usual girl.I think I should tell you about me, my interests,tastes and hobbies.I think I will tell you about things I want to know about you and you will know my future questions.I am 25 years old,my birthday is October, 18, 1982. I so much don't want to get older ,when I can see old women I amgetting crazy to think that it is my future .I do all the best to keep my youth and I keep my body well.In spite of all difficultes here I am trying to be in good condition and I do a lot of exercises to be in good shape!I am about 172 cm tall (5.6) and my weight is about 56 kg. I've been told I look well enough ,and I think that all women have own beaty. I have never been married and I don`t have children.I have one youngest sisters and it is great problem for us because we have only two rooms flat.you can't imagine what does it mean to be born in small town in Russia,there are not any chances to live well,to get a good job.All young people leave towns to search great luck in big cities but nobody waits for them there. I want to leave Russia,I know it sounds ugly but I know that I will be lost here like many young girls before me. It is not place to grow children and have stable future.I want to meet my right man .I think in future I can work as fitness trainer I have a certificate. My mother is my great problem too,she has a great dream to see me married and she wants to make me happy but I think it is only my business I am not a little child. She tells me every day that I should get married very soon... To be fair I am not sure I am able to explain all in first message I want to say so much! I just want you to know that I am not afraid to work,I am fairly goal oriented and I am sure you will be not disappoined to meet me in real life.I am going to spend three monthsabroad to work in any good place,agency promises to help me because it is only the way I can leave Russia.I will have all documents to travel in a few days and i will travel to moscow then,from moscow I will travel to you and they ask me about name of the city i am going to work,if you don't mind to meet me please tell me the name of your city and nearest international airport! I will book my flight from moscow!I think it would be so great to meet my love and stay there forever.I know that it is not so easy like I think but I think it is possible that I meat my real love.I want to love and to be loved I want to build our own happiness,only me and my man there. I don't smoke,I tried to smoke when I was younger.I may have a glass of red dry vine,sometimes it helps to relax. I try to take care of my body and face. I know it is all I have.My soul may have any itnterst for you later, I thinkso.I am not a little girl and I know that at first almost all men look at body ,legs and face.God created males such persons. Well,I think I am lost in my letter,I am not sure you understand my goals,please feel free to ask. I live in Russia,town Shelekhov, Sedova street 5,flat 7,it is near big city Irkutsk.My town is rather far from Moscow. Moscow is a capital of my country. I want you to reply if you understand my mind,my intentions,my soul,if not please reply too, I will continue my searching. Well, I will close this letter,I think you are tired to read it.and If you think that I should write shorter letters please tell me. I write from internet cafe in Irkutsk because there are not cafes and possibility to use internet in my small town,we have 4 digital phone number and we can't call abroad.Even to call in any big town here in Russia I have to order the call in advance.and I would like to say please don't worry if I keep silence sometimes I have no time to travel ,it is about 25 minutes by bus from my town till IrkutskPlease tell me more about you,your tastes,likes and dislikes .also I have a few impotant questions do youlike strong drinks too much?can you be very drunk?very ofthen?can you be rude with women?Well,I have to stop or I will write without ending.Kiss you !see you later. In my next e-mail I will write you more things about myself and more details about my trip and work. I will miss you, your Anna

Then this one:

I have decided to return to the Internet-cafe and to write to you a little more))I very well understand people and I think that you very good person:)I wish to send you an air kiss and to wish good day!!!

Anna

Solomon Burke-Like A Fire

2008-06-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

Well first of all the Nigerians are still trying to get money from me, but I have gotten bored of talking to them, so I have not been responding. I may pick that up again next week. But remember this email:

Hi stranger,

My name is SUSAN and i'm 27

I just got into town, looking to meet some new people

We can chat if you want, you can reply if you want

foot back

To which I responded:

Hello is this Susan Vanderwall for East Lansing? How are you doing? What are you doing in town? I can't believe you are 27 already, it seems like just yesterday we were playing doctor in Hoffman's garage.

Murray David Murgason

Well I finall heard Back (two emails with pictures!)

Hello!!! It AnnaUnfortunately I had some problems with sending and reception of mailPlease write to me. You received my letter? I send you it once again!!With impatience I shall wait from you the letter!========================================================================================================Hi my new friend Im glad to see that you have decided to reply,I see it is very short letter.It is all right because you are astonished to get my letter.I want you to know that I have only good intentions and I have not any secrets.The thing is that I will work in your country for three months or so andI would like to meet a nice man to fall in love or just be closest friends. I don't want to live in Russia because I have not any chances here,it is hardly possible to explain from first time but I want you to know my plans.I will work in any shop, bar or restaurant the agency that i am going through will suggest me some locations.It will be my choice in the end as to what option to go for.So I will have a simple work till I improve my English. And I can choose anytown of your area,agency will only help me to get a visa and all travel documents + some suggested placed to work in.My best friend last year met the man from the USA when she worked there for three months, too. She had two jobs. From morning till 4 pm she worked in amusement park and after it she worked as a waitress in some bar till midnight. She was very tired of course but made very good money there. It is special programm for young people who wants to work abroad and I think it is the right way for me ,I am lost here,and I think that I look pretty enough to find a better place .I want to repeat the same way,it isonly my chance to meet a nice man.I want to work in USA or in Europe or anynice country. I am full of plans and different dreams and I want to share mylife with good man because I'm also full of love and tenderness,I know thatI am not so beautiful like Hollywood Princess but I do hope to meet my Prince andI am sure he will be not be disappoined to meet me in the real life! This is why I am going to go through the same way.Well,I will close this letter and I do hope to get your reply.I will leave russia in two weeks or so (I can't tell you everything exactlyright now) and I would like tobe sure that I have the man who waits for me there. I will work all day and I want to find a man to spend all free timetogether to get to know each other better.if you have any interest to meet me I will be more than happy to meet you too.I will tell you all details about me and my life if you like my pictures andwant to meet me! please send picture of you too!!!I write to you with my new mailbox please writeletters now only on this mailbox.I will wait your next letter. Kiss you , Anna (this is my name)!

and this:

Hello it again I!I wont send you a little more my pictures
I hope to you my pictures will like
Kiss Anna

To which I responded:

Anna,

So you are not Susan Vanderwall? Strange that you are Susan and Anna, but perhaps in your country people have nicknames like we do here. As you know my name is Murray David Murgason, but people call me Fonzie (or Arthur Fonzerelli). You can call me The Fonz if you wish. I can see by your pictures that you are indeed beautiful. You may not be as beautiful and an American Hollywood Princess, but lucky for you we have no actual princesses in this country and actually in countries where they do have princesses some of them are not attractive at all! If you are looking for work here in America I have some suggestion. Have you thought of dog grooming? My cousin Chachi has a business where he grooms dogs to look like pieces of furniture. He made a Doberman look exactly like a mahogany armoire! Chachi makes excellent money and only works 13 hours a day. Please tell me more about you life in Russia . Do you eat Borscht?

Yours Truly
Murray David Murgason AKA The Fonz

P.S. I have included a picture of myself so you know what I look like.

We shall see what happens.

Did not like this album at all. The man has left his chair.

Martha Wainwright-I Know You're Married But I've Got a Feeling, Jackie DeShannon-Jackie

2008-06-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

Well we went to Philadelphia this past weekend to watch my sister compete in a sprint triathlon. She did great! Finished near the top 100 for all the women in the race, and really just finished is what is important. She has been training for this for quite a while and all of us are really proud of her. Go Jessica! We also saw the Liberty Bell and ate Cheesestakes (well mine had no cheese). Now back to work...
Martha Wainwright's album was highly recommended on Rhapsody, but I did not like it much at all. Jackie Deshannon was really good. I wasn't sure while listening to it if it was classic or retro, turns out it is classic! 2 and 3 1/2 stars (out of four).

Tom Waits-Bone Machine, Steely Dan-Countdown to Ecstasy

2008-06-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

I went to my friends Andrea and Phil's engagement party the other night, and my bag ended up sitting in a puddle of old beer. Now my bag smells like a nightclub in the morning. It is kind of eerie because every time I open my bag I get memories of the early 1990s. Speaking of memories of the early 90s I also watched Swingtown last night, which is set in the 70s which has nothing to do with the 90s, but still and all there has got to be some sort of connection there to justify this segue. Anyhow it wasn't very good. Oh, here you go, Grant Show from Melrose Place has one of the leads, and that show was on in the 90s. I did also want to mention "sweet salt" which is the new name for sugar. Pretty soon people wont know what you mean when you ask for sugar, so you better get used to asking for sweet salt now.
The Tom Waits album was pretty good, but to be honest I can't really tell the difference between on Tom Waits album or another. Steely Dan was chore. Too many horns, too much keyboard action. 7 and 4 out of ten.

Donovan-Barbajagal

2008-06-18T12:57:00.000-07:00

Well I am really tired today. I went to the Brooklyn Cyclones game last night, and the to a bar to watch the Celtics. That is a little too much too late for me. Sadly for all of you, my loyal readers, it means the blog is going to suffer.
The first song on this Donovan album is really, really great. Right up there with Season of the Witch for Donovan songs. The rest of the album was big let down after the one great song. 6.5 stars.

Death Cab For Cutie-Narrow Stairs

2008-06-17T11:29:00.000-07:00

I saw a really interesting documentary last night on HBO. It was called "Resolved" and it was about high school debating. As a movie it had some flaws, specifically it had two interesting stories that never really connected. But the two stories were very interesting. Especially the story about two African American students from and Los Angeles public school who shake up the debate world. I did not know that debating is not really what most people think of as debating anymore. Basically there is a new style of speaking where you spit out as many facts as you can in the time allotted. It sounds a little like the FedEx guy. Well these kids from LA start out debating like that, and they become state champs. But the next year they decide that the whole structure of debating in inherently racist because of the type of education it promotes, and a whole bunch of things. So they stop using the crazy style of talking and they hijack every debate to become a debate about debating itself. It is pretty cool to see them do that, and to turn the who process back into an actual debate. I definitely recommend this movie if you get a chance to check it out.

I can't really say the same for Death Cab For Cutie. I found this album pretty boring. 2 Stars.

Ladytron-Velocifero, The Turtles-It Ain't Me Babe

2008-06-16T13:13:00.000-07:00

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. 2 stars and 3 stars.

Sloan-Parallel Play, Disturbed-Indestructable, Sean Prince-Monkey Barz

2008-06-13T07:46:00.000-07:00

Well they are really pressuring me to give them some confirmation of my Western Union shipment. Please if you know the format of Western Union wire transfer please let me know so I can give them some phony information. See below for the latest round of correspondence.

First I sent this (fake Western Union number I tried to find the format on the internet and this is all I could find):

Rev. John Vicar,

The money has been sent. I will say it was not easy to find to the Western Union office. It turns out the office in Pottersville is closed, so I had to go all the way to Metropolis to find a Western Union. The man there was very nice an helpful and he wore a cross, so I know the money will reach soon. Please confirm when you have received it. The Western Union confirmation number is 0005894644. Please also quickly send the DHL package. I will wait at home until it arrives. If I need anything my neighbor, Richard Manderstasten will go get it for me. He has a little trouble getting around since his hip replacement, but I sure he will not mind if I share with him only a small part of my winnings. I don't expect I will need much, just a few things from the grocery store, and perhaps a new Jumble book, as I have almost finished mine. I am thinking of trying Suduku but every time I am about to buy a Suduku book, I end up putting back and buying a jumble at the last minute. Maybe if Richard goes he will actually get the Suduku book for me.

God Bless You

Murray David Murgason

Then they responded twice, first this...

Attention, Attention
Murray David Murgason
Please I would advice that you do not take this with levity because I have so much to attend to pls.it is just to inform you that you have sent nothing to that information provided as it does not contain western union. kindly be informed now that you are to be given full information of receiver, text question and answer including the destination control and the amount sent.

Rev Victor John

Then this...

Hello.

Murray David Murgason

Our accountant said that he needs the receipt of the copy of the western union Payment, in order for the Total Verification of the payment.

Pls do that fast so that your payment can be confirm, so that your Draft can be deliver to you by Monday.

Thanks

Await your fastest response soonest.

Kind Regards.

Rev Victor John

and my last email to them:

Rev John Victor

My apologies. I though the Western Union confirmation number (0005894644) would suffice. I know I have the confirmation paperwork somewhere. I think it is probably in my car. I stopped at Burger King on my home (I was hungry after all that driving!) and had a Whopper and fries. In America Burger King flam broils it's burgers! Do they do that in your country? I think it is the most delicious burger in the whole country. Anyhow I think when I put the empty bag in the back of my car I must have put the receipt from Western Union there too. My wife took the car to Deluth yesterday, so I will try and call her to see if she can find the receipt. I will be back in touch shortly!

Murray David Murgason

Sloan I think was on the OC or something, or maybe not. I guess probably not, but the name sure sounds like a band on the OC. They were pretty decent pop/rock music. Disturbed has the number 1 album in the country now. They are your basic Heavy Metal band, they are pretty decent as well, no great shakes, but I did recognize one of the live tracks as being in Guitar Hero III. Sean Prince is a rapper who is, believe it or not, pretty decent, but probably like the other two albums mentioned today will not stay on my ipod too long. They all get a man sitting attentively in his chair.

Benny Sings-Benny ...at home

2008-06-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

Wow, so much has happened today. Most of it is too confidential to mention here, but some is for the public. I got an email from Rev. Victor John:

REV. VICTOR JOHN, IS WAITIN YOUR CALL

Hello
Murray D. Murgason,

What happened to your mobile phone? I was calling your phone to talk to you concerning the transfer, but your mobile phone didn't connect, so I wish you could call me on my own phone; + (234)-8074-143081, you have to do everything quickly because we have already arrange your packages over here.

I think maybe you have network problem or you haven't put your zip code?

Here is our payment information

Receivers Name…… ALAO OLUMIDE JAMES,
Country ……………NIGERIA
Receiver Address……SURULERE, LAGOS, 23401, NIGERIA.
Test Question ……… WHO
Answer ……............. MURRAY D. MURGASON

Mr. Alao Olumide James, is the account officer of our office and he is the one you will make this payment to. Note: As soon as this payment is made a copy of the Insurance paper would be issued to you which is what you would have to present to the delivery man before he could hand you your bank draft
Yours in service.
Rev John Victor

DHL Courier Service Manage Director
'
To Which I responded:

Rev. Victor John

Hello. As I said yesterday I have been unable to connect to your phone as well. I called again today and it rang 8 times (that ring really is quite unusual). It does seem like an awful lot of numbers, so maybe our system here just can't accept so many numbers. How can I send you the money? When I buy items on eBay (I recently got some beautiful hummel figurines) I use PayPal. Do you have a PayPal account? If not perhaps I can borrow my stepsisters car to go to the Western Union in Pottersville. I am not sure exactly how to get there, I think if I take highway 16 to the underscramble interchange and then get on Telly Savalis highway that will take me right to Stewart Lane. Anyhow I am sure I will be able to get there today before closing. Where shall I send the money? Do I send the whole $750 to one place, or $350 to one place and $400 to another? Please let me kno soon as I am eager to collect my winnings.

Murray David Murgason

To which he responded:

PAYMENT BY WESTERN UNION

Hello

Murray D. Murgason,

Well you go to Western Union bank and make the payment?
yes the $750 you will pay it in one place?

and forward the information to my E-mail, and pls you have to let Mr.Ben, know that you have already make the payment?

Yours in service.
Rev John Victor,
DHL Courier Service Manage Director

Also I got this email today:

Hi stranger,

My name is SUSAN and i'm 27I just got into town, looking to meet some new people
We can chat if you want, you can reply if you want

foot back

To Which I responded:

Hello is this Susan Vanderwall for East Lansing? How are you doing? What are you doing in town? I can't believe you are 27 already, it seems like just yesterday we were playing doctor in Hoffman's garage.

Murray David Murgason

Benny Sings kind of reminded of Jamarquoi (sp?). Not exactly the same, but still retro smooth groove of some sort. I enjoyed it but I am not sure it will hold up to multiple listenings. 2.5 stars.

The Cool Kids-The Bake Sale

2008-06-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

OK so now I have responded to both Moregan Ben and the Rev. John Victor. I am hoping they leave me a voicemail message which I can then somehow post to this site. Also see below for the promised album review.

To Rev. John Victor,

How are you? I hope you are well and all is well at DHL. I am glad to being doing business with you rather than Federal Express. I don't know if you Mr. Moregan Ben explained my problems with Federal Express, but lets just say I DO NOT TRUST THEM because the can't seem to deliver packages to the proper address. I know my church uses DHL and I believe God helps you deliver packages to the proper addresses all the time. Mr. Ben mentioned that he hopes that I could have my bank draft this weekend, which is great news! What is the standard shipping times from your country to the United States? Do you know how long it will take for the check to clear once it arrives? I would like to send you and Mr. Ben a small token of my appreciation for you help on this matter once it is settled. You did not include any contact information in this email, so I tried calling the number Mr. Ben gave me previously, but the phone rang six times without an answer (BTW perhaps when we have more time you can explain to me why the ring sounds so unusual. Do you have cats as pets in your country? When I step on my cat by accident, it sound much like the ring in your country!). Please call me at 206-206-4288 so we can arrange the transfer of funds.

P.S. I see this email came from Adrian Dalsey, is that your assistants email address? Perhaps I can contact him?

The Cool Kids are retro rap, and they are really awesome. They sound like a mix between the Beastie Boys and BDP or something like that, and they capture the spirit of old school rap while sounding very current. Anyhow I really like them. 5 stars, top rated.

I Lied

2008-06-10T09:46:00.000-07:00

No album review yet. I got another email from Moregen Ben:

DELIVER BY (DHL) PLS YOU HAVE TO BE FASTER

Dear Murray D. Murgason,

How are you and your family?

I am very happy that nothing happened, because I was looking to hear from you quickly as soon as possible, so that the transaction will be done before weekend.

I was thinking that is your mum sickness was the problem, but I can see that she is ok

However I told you on my last mail that I went to (DHL) office and spook with they Manage Director Rev Victor John himself told me that you’re into to pay $750usd before they could deliver your bank draft over there in your country.

$400 is for security peeking fees in (DHL) Courier Company, why the $350 is delivery to you in the country, Rev Victor John, also told me that its will takes them 48hours to deliver in your country.

So my brother you do something faster to have your draft before weekend I wish your bank draft could deliver to you let us be honest and trust in this transaction if this go through I promise to been dealing with you because I have another one to do?

Best Regards

Mr. Moregan Ben

I Respond to Moregen Ben

2008-06-10T06:53:00.000-07:00

My next post will include my response to DHL and my review (of a really good album BTW) but here is my reponse to Moregen Ben:

Mr. Moregan Ben,

So sorry to not respond sooner, but it was Redd Foxx day on Monday so I took the family on a trip to Benihana to celebrate! Unfortunately my son Morey accidentally touched the hot grill and we had to rush him to the emergency room. The burns were not too severe and he should be out of bandages within 3 months (thank god!) so all is well that ends well. Do you have Benihana in your country? If so I highly recommend the Blue Moon Masaka! I also received an email from Rev. Victor John from the DHL company. Thank you so much for switching shippers, God will be happy that we are not using Federal Express. I tried calling Rev. Victor John this morning, but I could not seem to get through. Does the phone ring differently in your country? Normally when I call long distance (usually my friend Howard in San Antonio, Texas) the ring sounds the same as here, sort of like a bicycle bell hidden under a pillow, but when I called Rev. Victor John the ring sounded almost like a cat being squeezed. Maybe I dialed wrong, but after about 6 "rings" I couldn't take the sound any longer and I had to hang up. The good news is that I got a new phone (a Motorola, which my friend Robert tells me are the best, and he should know, his son works a Circuit City!) so perhaps Rev. Victor John could call me? My new number is 206-203-4288. I look forward to resolving this issue as quickly as possible.

Murray David Murgason

DHL Is Waiting to Hear From Me

2008-06-10T06:33:00.001-07:00

I got this email this morning. I will try and respond to both emails today, and of course I will post my responses.

Mr. Murray D. Murgason,

We are much concerned about your requires from our office (DHL) Courier Service.

we are notified concerned a bank draft contain 2.500,000 00usd written on your names (Murray David Murgason) ever since we can't receive any information on bank draft from the couple of days. This is main reason we are sending you're a reminder concerning these draft.

These are our delivery charges fee to your respective address; you are paying the total sum of $750.

Which you are charging $450 for security weeping fees in DHL office and $300 for delivery to you in your country,

All your address was forwarded to us here in our office by Mr.Moregan Ben,
Who said that two of you have transaction, so you're into to pay $750 as soon as you make the payment your bank draft could deliver to you in next 48hours of the day?

I hope to hear from you shortly.

Yours in service

Rev John Victor
DHL Courier Service Manage Director

Bo Diddley-Bo Diddley Is A Gunslinger, Everlery Brother-Songs Our Daddy Tought Us, Barenaked Ladies-Snacktime

2008-06-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

Mr. Moregan Ben got back to me. It appears DHL will cost more than FedEx. I am going to respond this week, but I am going to let him wait first... See Moregan's email below:

DELIVERY UP TO (DHL) GET BACK TO ME
Dear Murray David Murgason,How are you and your family? Hope all is ok.What happened? Our mail last time is very happy and honesty trust, however I went the (DHL) Office like you said, they told me that if is wish to deposit your bank draft in there office that you have to pay 750$ before deliver to you in your country in next 48hours, when the payment is made, they told me that you have to pay 350$ for security keeping fees in they office, why 400$ is for delivery to you in your country with out any mistake.I have already forward all of your information to them Your full name Your home address But they requested you telephone number so that they could call you on phone and hear more from you before truncation will be on?Here is (DHL) Contact telephone number for you to call them, Manage Director, Rev. Victor John. +(234) 806-520-9723Best Regards Mr. Moregan Ben

Does anybody know how to get a voicemail # for cheap? Oh never mind I just got a free voicemail, so now I can tell them how to call me. I will send them an email tomorrow.

This weekend I listened to some oldies and some kids music. They were all good, for what they were. No surprises, nothing mindblowing. If you like Bo Diddley I think this album is probably a good one, but seeing how it is the first full Bo Diddley album I have ever heard I can't recommend it over any other, but he is dead, so maybe you should listen. I am not sure if the Everly Brothers are alive or not, so listening to this one is optional until I hear anything further. The Barenaked Ladies made a kids album, which I think is pretty standard these days for indie bands, ever since Dan Zanes made a bizillion dollars doing it. I thought it was OK, but my daughter was not really interested. All of them get a man sitting at attention in his chair.

Jewel-Perfectly Clear

2008-06-06T10:26:00.000-07:00

No news on the recasting front today, if I don't hear back with the DHL charges soon I will email back. I don't think I ever written about racism in sports coverage. It is something you will see in most American sports coverage, and it can be summed up with the fact that white athletes are scrappy, hard working and intelligent, while black athletes are raw talents, athletic, gifted, etc.. If you aware of this racism you can't help but see/hear it all the time. It is one of things that to me makes it really clear how much racism there still is in this country. I know it is only sports, but it basically an accepted view that white athletes are more intelligent, and the black athletes are more naturally gifted. Don't you think that view carries over to the rest of life? It really becomes apparent in mediocre players. Mediocre white players are gamers, who give maximum effort and will themselves onto the big state, while mediocre black players are not fulfilling the potential they have. Anyhow if you happen to watch any sports, especially baseball or basketball, listen to the announcers and I would predict you will hear these types of characterization at least once game.

I am not a huge Jewel fan, I thought she was cute when she first moved out of her station wagon and became a pop star, but her music never really did it for me. BUT this COUNTRY album she has released is really pretty great. Another happy surprise! 3.5 Hats!

The Story Continues!

2008-06-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

I heard back from my Phisher:

Dear David Murgason

I am so sorry to hear that from you, pleas believe in God nothing can happened to your family and your mother, my (REGARDS) to your mum and dad tell them that I said nothing will happen to anyone in your family.

Baize on my mail, yes I have the (DHL) over here in Nigeria, could I go to there and deposits that your bank draft likes you wish but you know that I don’t know how much they charging in their office over there, but however I will go there and ask them as soon as tomorrow morning?

Best Regards Mr. Moregan Ben

Weezer-The Red Album

2008-06-05T07:14:00.000-07:00

My response to the Phisher:

Mr. .Moregan Ben

Thank you for asking after my family. They are doing well, although my Aunt Hester has recently been having a lot of problems with her arthritis. It has gotten to point now where she can't cook her own meals. This means that me or my wife has to go to her house every evening and make her food for the following day. BUT we can't put it in Tupperware, because she can't open Tupperware becaus of her arthritis, which as I am sure you can imagine is problematic. We usually just use Saran brand cellophane wrap to keep things fresh, but Hester complains that the wrap does not cling, and her refrigerator is not as fresh smelling as she likes. This is exacerbated by the fact that Hester eats mostly whitefish sandwiches, which I am sure you know has a very "distinct" odor, to put it lightly.

So the total cost is $550, one payment of $250 and another of $300, this seems very reasonable considering the total value of my winnings! I hope you do not insist on using FedEx, because as you know I have a history with them (don't get me started!). I do have great trust in God, but even my church does not use FedEx anymore, they use DHL, so my feeling is God uses DHL as well. I can ask my pastor about this if you wish. Do you have DHL in your country?

My Full Name: Murray David Murgason
My Home Address: 527 Wisconsin Dells Pkwy, Wisconsin Dells, WI, 53965
My Phone Number and Fax Number: My phone number is 917-941-6585 BUT I recently lost my phone, or should I say somebody STOLE my phone while I was on line at Wendy's. They took it right out of my pocket! I am waiting for a new phone to arrive, so if you call me in the next day or too you may actually speak to the person who stole my phone. If that is the case please let them know my address, and let them know the can return my phone NO QUESTIONS ASKED. Once my new phone arrives (or my old phone is returned!) I will let you know.

Is there a way to carry on with this transaction before my new phone arrives? I am very eager to collect my winnings and would hate for the phone thieves to get in the way (they have done enough harm already, don't you think?). Please let me know ASAP how we can proceed.

Thank You and God Bless You AND YOUR FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!
Murray David Murgason

Weezer is pretty good. I don't consider myself a Weezer fan, but I haven't really ever found anything not to like about them. This is there latest album and it is fun, with good pop hooks and generally good music. I give two thumbs up.

Recasting Success!!!!

2008-06-04T11:59:00.000-07:00

I got a response from my latest email! I will let you know my response tomorrow. Here is the email.

Dear Mr. David Murgason

How are you and your family, I hope all is fine.

I received your email, I am very glad to hear that you said you don’t want to send the money through FedEx Courier Service. Well you have to pay the security keeping fees in the Courier Company that is 250$ and 300 you could pay to FedEx that is for delivery in your country in the next 72hours when the payment is made. All you have to pay is 550u.s dollars

Your full name.
Your home address
Your telephone & fax number

I believe that to deliver your bank draft through FedEx is the good way, to deliver in your country to avoid any mistake in delivery that is my promise, I believe in God that nothing will happen to your draft if you don’t wish that FedEx can do that for you tell me as soon as you get my mail, once again I told you that I wish to deliver your draft through FedEx is trust just believe in God, like me but if you can provide any one to deliver to you let me know ok

Regards

Mr. .Moregan Ben

Babyshambles-Down in Albion

2008-06-04T06:50:00.001-07:00

No response to my last recast (my new name for phishing responses) but I sent another today.

Here is the email I received:

Attention' Attention''Attention'

NOTIFICATION.This is to notify you that your parcel is still in our possession, this parcel contained an International Cashier Bank Draft/Cheque worth the sum of $2.5 Million dollars only and it is ready for delivery to your door step. Meanwhile, before the delivery or shipment will take place,you are advice to send to us the following datas mention below: 1.Your Name 2.Address 3.TelephoneThe above requested informations will enable us deliver your parcel correctly without any mistake or delivering your parcel to a wrong person. Furthermore,you might be asking yourself how comes this email,cheque or draft, Anyway,your cheque was brought to this office by a Lottery Fudiciary Agent Or Claim Agent, signifying thatyou are a rightfull winner to their Lottery Award selected randomly from 10 lucky email addresses which your email address is one of the lucky email address. FedEx courier service company mailing you as per your parcel that was brought to this company to be delivered to you by lottery groups, along the delivery process that brought a misunderstanding between you and the lottey claim agent and in regards of their request as per their insurance certificate cost and tax fee which happened to be the course of your parcel being pending for the past months/one year. Meanwhile we are hereby happy to inform you that the FedEx Company has finalized everything with the nicon insurance company of Nigeria� and the internal revenue office as the company organization has also listed 24 valuable parcel�s to be intact in their office after the released of the parcel�s from the nicon insurance company and internal revenue office. We are happy to inform you once again that your parcel that contains the sum of $ 2.5 million dollars is among the 24 parcel�s listed which is now in our office and also with your name as the receiver despise that we lost your private residential address�s, which is an indication that you can now re-send your residential address,telephone as stated above back to the FedEx company where your parcel can be delivered to you without hesitation with this e-mail

Meanwhile remember that the sender of this parcel to you thats the fudiciary agent still ownes this company the sum of $250 before incident occurs Note this fee is not just for delivery but with the stam duty, this company has spend out of their incomes in the process by recovery back your parcel�so dear customer we once again appreciate your patronage in our favour. Without hesitations you are to pay for just the balance left by your sender since we have lost his contact. this payment have to be via western union money transfer with the below payment information so that your parcel can be delivered to your residential address before it accumulate a demurrage after one week only,as you know your parcel is not just an ordinary parcel but with a huge amount and I think you understand wath I mean by accumulating a demurrage? Which you will not allow to happen to your recovery parcel that almost gone if not for the love that the good god have for you by favoring you with his favour because it was god who did it not by your power but by the spirit say the lord.

We assure you that your parcel will arrive at your country in two days time and it will get to your door step the third day as soon as this company receive the balance left by your sender�and the tracking number of your parcel will be sent to you via e-mail immediately so that you can track it yourself to see your parcel coming on the way and you will also know when it will arrive at your country because we operate in trust and loyalty in your favour. And also the FedEx Courier Service Company is hereby to inform all their customers by eradicating all their communication with the scam mails that are going all-over the world be careful with their e-mails so that your parcel will not be in danger with their evil planes. FedEx provides access to a growing global market place through a network of supply chain, transportation, business and related information services.

HERE IS OUR DELIVERY INFORMATION
SENDERS NAME------- MR. MOREGAN BEN
RECIEVERS NAME------YOUR NAME
SENDERS COUNTRY----- MR. MOREGAN
ADDRESS: 109 FUNSO WILLIAMS AVENUE 23401 LAGOS, NIGERIA
RECIEVERS COUNTRY----YOUR COUNTRY
TEXT QUESTION------------WHOS YOUR FATHER
TEXT ANSWER---------------.YOUR NAME
AMOUNT TO BE PAID---------$5,50
AMOUT OF THE DRAFT--------$2,500.000.00MTCN NUMBER......................

AM SORRY FOR HAVE'NT GIVEN YOU THE TRACKING NUMBER WHICH YOU WILL USE AND CASH THE DRAFT, YOU KNOW LIKE I TOLD YOU BEFORE THAT THE PAYMENT WILL BE DONE BEFORE WE COULD SEND THE TRACK NUMBER IN NEXT 72HOUR, YES ITS WILL TAKES 72HOUR BEFORE ITS COULD DELIVER IN YOUR COUNTRY. WE ALSO WANT TO SHOW YOU THE COPY OF THE DRAFT IF YOU WICH THAT?Please you ahve to send the full payment information including the MTCN Number for we to fully proceed on your delivery you can also contact Mr Moregan Ben on his E-mail address when you have got your bank draft or you could hear more about the draft, moreganben@yahoo.com FedEx is one of the world's great success stories, the start-up that revolutionized the delivery of packages and information. In the past 30 years, we've grown up and grown into a diverse family of companies -a FedEx that's bigger, stronger, better than ever. Call me: TEL:.+234-8074-143-081 WAITING TO READ YOUR E-MAIL. YOURS AFFECTIONATLY. Mr. PAUL NELSON,TEL:+234-8074-143-081FEDEX COURIER MANAGING DIRECTOR..

And here is my response:

Mr Moregan Ben

I just received the exciting news regarding my winnings in the international lottery! The $2.5 Million dollars will be very useful in my upcoming business venture. As you may know I am currently building the world’s largest toaster, which I plan to keep right here in the Wisconsin Dells, and which I expect will become our greatest tourist attraction. Unfortuneately the current “World’s Largest Toaster” (only 20 feet high, Hah!) has been spreading lies about my toaster, saying it does not actually toast! This has required me to make a substantially greater investment that I had originally planned. I now also need to make the World’s Largest Outlet, and the World’s Largest Slices of Bread. With these winnings I can most certainly move on with my project and it may even allow me to invest in the World’s Largest Butter Pat and the World’s Largest Butter Knife!

How exactly did FedEx lose my name anyways? You know I once shipped a package with FedEx to my friend Louise Danderduff in York , South Carolina , but they ended up sending it to Louis Dantonhuff in York , Pennsylvania ! After that I swore off FedEx. Is there a way I can send you the $250 fee instead of sending it directly to FedEx? I promised Ralph Johnson, the Customer Service Rep in Dayton , Ohio that I would never give FedEx my business again, and I am a man of my word! Perhaps the package could be shipped by UPS? Or DHL? I am eager to claim my winnings before too much demurrage are accumulated. Please contact me ASAP with alternate payment information.

Thank You
Murray David Murgason

Babyshambles is the band with the guy who dates the junkie model, and he is a junkie too. Anyhow it was better than i expected. Basic modern brit rock, but not bad really. 3 stars.

Alison Krauss-New Favorite

2008-06-03T07:29:00.000-07:00

Still no response for the Phisher, but I got another phishing email! See the email and response below.

From: mrs tina sunday Standard Chartered BankKoforidua BranchTel +233249102291

My Good Friend, My name is mrs tina sunday I am the regional manager of Standard Chartered Bank Koforidua branch Ghana. I got your information on a recent evromiental conference with other West African countries held in Lome the capital city of Togo in West Africa. I write you this proposal in good faith; I am 42 years old married with two lovely kids. I have packaged a financial transaction that will benefit you and I, as the regional manager of the Standard Chartered Bank it is my duty to send in a financial report to my head office in the capital city Accra at the end of each business year. On the course of the last year 2007 business report, I discovered that my branch in which I am the manager made Five million seven hundred and twenty thousand united state dollars($5,720,000.00) which my head office are not aware of and will never be aware of. I have placed this funds on what we call escrow call account with no beneficiary. As an officer of this bank I cannot be directly connected to this money, so my aim of contacting you is to assist me receive this money in your bank account and get 30% of the total funds as commission. There are practically no risks involved, it will be a bank to bank transfer, and all I need from you is to stand claim as the original depositor of these funds who made the deposit with my branch so that my head office can order the transfer to your designated bank account.If you accept to work with me I will appreciate it very much. My private phone number is above, call me if you think we can work together so that we can go over the details. Thank you in advance and May god bless you and your family.

Yours truly,mrs tina sunday

And my response...

Mrs. Sunday,

What a blessing it is to hear from you! In my faith Sunday is the day of worship and so it is fitting that my prayers have been answered by you, Mrs. Sunday. (Does your faith also worship on Sunday?) Just this past week I was praying for help in starting my new business. I have saved a considerable amount of money ($300,000) in hopes of buying an ice cream boat. In our country ice cream trucks travel around the roads and sell ice cream to children. I have always dreamed of building an ice cream boat and traveling along the shores of our great Mississippi river selling ice cream in different ports of call, as well as pulling up along the tourist riverboats and selling ice cream to the passengers. I soon realized that if I did not monopolize the market other people would quickly STEAL my idea. So I need much more capital. You seem to be providing the answer! Also when this transaction is complete, if you would be interested in a franchise (Perhaps to sell ice cream on the Oti River!) I would like to share this great idea with you. Do your people enjoy ice cream? What are the most popular flavors? In America Vanilla and Chocolate are the most popular, although I quite enjoy Rocky Road. I am sorry I have not been able to call you directly, but the "2" button on my phone is stuck and that has made dialing out very difficult. I think perhaps some marshmallow has seeped between the buttons and that has rendered my phone unusable. Please email me back with details on how I can help you and your two lovely children. God Bless you and your family!

We will see if anything happens.

Ever since that Robert Plant and Alison Krauss album came out I have been kind of interested in Alison Krauss. I think her collaboration with Robert Plant help push her to a little bit harder sound that is a big improvement over this album, not that this album is terrible, it has its moments, but it is not Great. 2.5 stars.

Air-Talkie Walkie, Andrew Bird-And the Mysterious Production of Eggs, Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson-Poncho and Lefty

2008-06-02T15:39:00.000-07:00

Well I didn’t get any response from my phishing response. I am a little surprised no one got back to me. I will keep my eyes open for more phishing emails and keep responding until somebody responds. So I heard that the 17 year cycle of cicadas was coming around in Brooklyn, and then other night when I got home I saw a bunch walking around on my front yard. BUT I have not seen them since, so I am beginning to wonder if they were something else (hallucination, cockroach invasion). Anything other than cicadas is worrisome. Also saw another little person, this time he was waiting in a beat up old Toyota Celica and looked pretty tough. I think that puts the LPM at 5. The graphic is coming I promise! Also I had another though RE the supermarket, which is why do they ask you credit or debit? Does it make difference to people with debit cards? Does it cost the supermarket more one way or the other?

I hadn’t heard a new Air album in while, and I am a big fan of the 3 Air albums I had, but I found this one to be a bit lackluster. I don’t know if it was me or the album and perhaps I will give another go. I have never heard of Andrew Bird and I don’t know why I chose to listen to his album. I did read on his wikipedia page that he was trained in the Suzuki method. I don’t know if you remember the days when there were tons of five year old kids running around playing amazing violin, but that was thanks to the Suzuki method. The album was not that great though. Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard together, what can be better than that? Not much really. 6, 4 and 8 out of 10.

Al Green-Lay It Down

2008-05-30T07:13:00.000-07:00

So today I got this phishing email:

MOSTAPHA CHAMBERS & ASSOCIATES.SOLICITORS, ADVOCATES TRADE MARK AGENTS.RUE ST LOUIS 1425 BP,LOME TOGO;

ATTENTION FRIEND:

RE TEN MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND United Sates Dollars (US$10.500.000.00)

My Name is Mr Alima Mostapha.I am a Legal representative, an Attorney an private account manager to my late client in the Year October 2007, my client by name is Mr. Ambrovic who passed away, leaving behind a cash inheritance of TEN Million Five Hundred Thousand United Sates Dollars ($10,500,000,00).

My late client and bosom friend grew up in a Motherless Babies Home. He had no family, no beneficiary nor next of kin to the inheritance amount left behind in a commercial bank.

The Financial law of inheritance clearly allows for the deceased Bank to use deceased money as deemed fit, should the inheritance money be left unclaimed for a period of thirteen months after the death of the account owner.

The reason that you have been contacted now is because I want to present you as the beneficiary and next of kin to late Mr. Ambrovic .

The Inheritance Law clearly leaves the bonus of proof of who is or is not the next of kin, to the deceased Lawyer to prove. As the deceased Lawyer, the Law says l have the final say of who is the beneficiary of the deceased estate. This is 100% percent legal. As a lawyer I know this.

If you are interested in this proposition and you are ready to keep this proposition in absolute confidentiality and trust, then contact me at once, and we can work out the details, and the issue of your compensation.

I have documents of proof to this.

Regards,

Mr Alima Mostapha,

And I decided to respond to see what happens. Here is my response:

How did you get information to my name? I do not know Mr. Ambrovic so I do not comprehend I could be the benificiary of this welcome happening. Perhaps there is some confusion with the routing director at the Motherless Babies Home? I am sad to hear of the loss of your bosom friend and sorry I could not be of most appropriate assistance in this definitive matter.

Murray David Murgason

I will let you know what happens next. How long will they keep speaking to me?

This Al Green album was actually pretty great. It sounded just like a classic Al Green album, but in some way better because it was more consistently good. I give it 4 Hats!

Coldplay-X&Y, The Buzzbombs-San Diego Shindig

2008-05-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

Going out tonight with T-Bull who is visiting from SF. Criff Dogs and then who knows. Perhaps I will score a hit on the LPM. Murray has fallen into a deep depression. I am not sure how to snap him out if it. I guess I might have led him on a little when I hired him, but how was I to know my blog was not about to blow up! He actually tried to quit yesterday (I got sidetracked talking off the ledge, which is why I didn't blog yesterday). Oh, congrats to Will's Brother's Wife or girlfriend for getting written up in the NEW YORK TIMES. That is pretty great. Probably the publicity of that piece, and the mention in my blog, is going to make your show a huge smash hit.

Coldplay was exactly as expected. I guess if you like that sort of thing they are the greatest, although that could probably be said about any band, but certainly a lot of people seem to think they are the greatest. For me they are not. The Buzzbombs was some pretty good garage/retro rock. 2 and 3 stars out of 4.

Heart-Little Queen, Melissa and the Moguls-Ooh La La Hamptons, Foxboro Hot Tubs-Stop Drop and Roll!!!, The Ting Tings-We Started Nothing

2008-05-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

Well the long weekend has resulted in a serious lack of Blogging. So much happened this weekend I don't know where to start. Hillary suggested that she is staying in the race in case Obama gets assassinated, Chevy Chase explained to me where the clef in your chin comes from, I went to the sub-basement, saw fireworks, had dinner and two breakfasts at the Red Hook Diner, had a mini high-school reunion/cookout at my house and I walked all over NYC just to find a broken viewmaster. Also I saw gas at over $5 a gallon, I saw a little person selling pretzels (the LPM is now at 4) I saw a skin care place called Skintology (what is the "t" all about?), I heard Charles Rangle speak, and played a few games of 4 square.

I also listened to 4 albums. The Heart album was pretty good, and I also discovered that they were Canadian. Melissa and Moguls started out real good and the took an turn for the much worse. Foxoboro Hot Tubs was fairly solid retro rock and the Ting Tings were really excellent. 3,1,2.8 and 3.5 stars (out of 4).

Jake Shimabukuro-Gently Weeps

2008-05-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

One of the drawbacks of having an imaginary intern, as opposed to a real intern is that they can't actually do an work for you, unless your really do it yourself. Today would have been a perfect day for Murray's Musings, because I am trying to leave work early and get out of town, but unfortunately I don't have time to write this imaginary guest column. It is coming though I promise!

Jake Shimabukuro is some sort of Hawaiian music star who play a mean ukulele, or so I have read. This album is almost all acoustic guitar. It starts out with a pretty great instrumental acoustic guitar cover of While My Guitar Gently Weeps by the Beatles. Unfortunately the rest of the album does not live up to the promise of the first track. 2.5 Hats.

Roxy Music-Roxy Music

2008-05-22T09:24:00.000-07:00

Well it seems the press, or the interpress (not sure what we are going to call the press once presses becomes things of the past, I guess we will still them the press, like Films, Albums and TV Dials, or maybe "The Media" but I am not sure that works) is finally catching on to Hillary's wonky popular vote count. Slate has a few pieces outlining how her claim to be ahead in the popular vote requires giving her the votes in Michigan, and giving Obama no votes from Michigan. I am sure I have covered this before, but this whole popular vote argument in bunk anyhow. Caucuses are representations of popular vote and should not be counted as single votes but as representation of a larger whole, which is why we have delegates in the first place. The general election is a different story, because there are no caucuses, so the popular vote is a true representation of the will of the people. Boy I could go on about this stuff for hours, but I won't because Murray needs to use the computer. I will just make one more point, which is if Hillary is so worried about counting every vote, and disenfranchising the people of Florida and Michigan, why did she sign an agreement before the elections stating that those votes would not count? Where was her outrage then? It seems to me the only votes Hillary wants to make sure get counted are the ones for her.

I was avoiding this Roxy Music album, I guess because of that song Avalon, which I find pretty boring. The first couple of songs off of this album I liked quite a bit though. After that less so. C+ for Roxy Music.

Sweet-Desolation Boulevard

2008-05-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

Well Murray is pretty bored today. I basically promised him he would be really busy managing my comments section, and then today, nada. I am trying to keep him busy doing little things around my office, but he is protesting. He claims that he was hired in a "management" position. He asked me to have his own feature in the Blog, called Murray's Musings. I am thinking about allowing it...

Sweet I think is a one hit wonder, Ballroom Blitz. Which is on Desolation Boulevard. The rest of the album is not nearly as good as the one hit. It is always interesting how a band can have one great song, or one great album and then totally suck. It doesn't seem to happen to much in other art forms. Sure I can think of some examples, The Warchowski (sp?) Brothers in movies for example, but not like music. Anyhow one hit does not a 4 hat album make. 2 hats.

Ian Hunter-Ian Hunter

2008-05-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

Today is a big day. It is the first day I got a comment from somebody I did not know. So for the folks over at the Tokio Hotel America blog, I WILL listen to the album again, and yes I am intrigued to hear the album in German. I am not sure if this is a fluke, or the beginning of my blog becoming an international sensation, but either way I think I will probably need to hire an intern soon to start managing the comments section. Until that time I am creating a fictional intern named Murray. Murray will now respond to all comments on behalf of me. Also Murray is managing my new project, the "Little People Meter". The "Little People Meter" or LPM will be tracking how many little people I have I have seen. I started this project on Friday May 9th, and I have seen 3 little people so far. At some point I will have Murray create an actual meter which I will somehow embed on this page so you can track the LPM in real time.
Ian Hunter was in the Mott the Hoople who I can't really say I know anything about. If I didn't know any better I would have said Mott the Hoople was a band from the 80s, but Murray has informed me that Mott the Hoople was formed in 1969 and broke up in 1974. In 1975 Ian Hunter released his self title debut album, which was pretty boring. 2 stars (out of five).

Tokio Hotel-Scream, Jason Mraz-We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things, Spanky Wilson-I'm Thankful

2008-05-19T12:37:00.000-07:00

OK so sometimes people tell me they have read my Blog. Well if you read my Blog PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT. Otherwise how am I supposed to know people are reading? I am operating under the assumption that I have two readers, one who doesn't live in this country, and one who live in my room. If I was aware of more readers I might TURN MY GAME UP a little. I might not, but you won't know until you tell me. Oh I mentioned this to one of my readers yesterday (the one who lives with me), but I was thinking about how when you are in the checkout line at the supermarket and you put your stuff on the belt, how the person in front of you often makes a big deal of making sure it is clear your items are separate (even if you have already place that bar on the belt). So the question is what they are afraid of. It seems like they think I am trying to run a scam where they pay for my groceries. But of course that would not work because they would take my groceries home with them. So shouldn't they accept that we both have a vested interest in keeping our groceries separate.
Tokio Hotel felt like the soundtrack to some bad movie with a bad soundtrack. It was overwrought, and just not that good. Jason Mraz was actually surprisingly good. I feel like I need to listen to it one more time to give a final opinion, but I liked the music and the lyrics were humorous and fun. Spanky Wilson is I guess an soul/R&B singer from the 60's who put this album out in the Aughts, but it sounds like it is from the 60s. It was very good. So the scores are D, B and B+.

Randy Newman-Sail Away

2008-05-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

One of the things about blogging is that you feel obligated to blog even when you don't feel like blogging at all. Today I am very tired because of poker last night, plus I have a whole lot on my mind which is not blog appropriate, which leaves me with not much to blog on. I did want to thank Gene for giving me an umbrella today, that was very nice. Bumped into him the lobby of my building and he just gave it to me. Also I guess I should mention how good I am becoming a Foosehockey. We have a table here at work, and I am really playing some good foosehockey. Anyhow sorry today isn't more interesting.
Everybody knows Randy Newman from Short People and from his academy award winning music for the animated movies. As a singer/songwriter he is really quite good, and his funny voice adds something to the music. Three hats.

Elvis Costello-Momofuku, No Age-Nouns

2008-05-15T09:19:00.000-07:00

Well first of all I would like to pat myself on the back for my bold prediction last week. Clinton did win WV by a landslide and a fair number of articles did pop up questioning what the big loss meant for Obama. It was not quite the "comeback kid" articles I had feared, but there was enough in there to support my point, that once again there was NO SURPRISE in the final numbers in WV, Obama didn't even go campaign there, so why write an article about the surprising implications of the Clinton landslide. What I found most interesting was the 7% who voted for Edwards. I read that 7%, or 70% of that 7% as voters who hate Clinton but refuse to vote for a black candidate. That is a pretty scary number because if you have to figure a large percentage of the people who are Democrats who wont vote for a black guy would vote for the person who might have a chance (albeit infinitesimally small) to win. I am hoping that huge turnout from the black community will offset this in the General election. The one other political point I wanted to mention was this question of how Clinton can win the popular vote. When referenced in the news they usually say something like "by some counts, Clinton still could catch Obama in the popular vote". Now I haven't actually seen what these counts but I SUSPECT that the count in which Clinton wins includes counting the pro-Clinton votes in Michigan (where Obama was not on the ballot) and NOT COUNTING the "Other" votes in Michigan for Obama. Well to me that seems like a really big stretch. If anybody knows anything more about this please let me know.
The new Elvis Costello album was supposedly recorded in something like 2 hours on minidisc player and is being heralded as a return to his roots. Well usually when you listen to those types of albums "returns to greatness" they suck just as much as all the other recent albums by the aging artist. In this case though I think this is a little better than that. It was pretty good, and sounded close to a classic Elvis Costello album. I don't know much about No Age but I didn't really like them too much. The man is applauding happily, and the 1 hat.

Van Dyke Parks-Discover America

2008-05-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

I had an all day meeting today so not a lot of time for blogging. I should mention my daughter Lucy went bowling yesterday for the first time ever with her school, and she told me she got two scores, which I think is about as well as Barak Obama did, but I am not sure.
Van Dyke Parks was pretty great. This album is described as a tribute to calypso music, but to me it was just pretty unusual and cool. 3.5 stars.

She and Him-Sentimental Heart, The Last Shadow Puppets-The age of Understatement, Neil Diamond-Home Before Dark

2008-05-12T09:50:00.000-07:00

Happy day after mothers day. Our mother's day weekend was kind of shot by the fact that Sarah and I both got sick. On the plus side we both got some antibiotics and are starting to feel better. Monday's is usually free food day in our office. They have a weekly meeting on Mondays, and they always get too much food, and we all wait around until we get the word that it is OK to go scavenge for food, then we all go freaking nuts! Usually by now I have gotten the word, but today no such luck. Oh, and I saw parts of Evan Almighty last night, and that is one crazy religious movie. I kind of enjoyed Bruce Almighty, but if I remember correctly Bruce made his girlfriends breasts larger with his almighty powers. Well first of all Evan doesn't really get Almighty powers, he just gets a long white beard, and he turns into Noah, kind of. But more importantly he learns a lot about how great god is. Anyhow don't see it if you don't have to.
She and Him is the album by Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. Deschanel is an actress you may know her from Elf and I guess M. Ward is some sort of indie star. Anyhow the album was really quite enjoyable. Last Shadow Puppets is also a supergroup of sorts, with the lead singer from Artic Monkeys and a guy from The Rascals. This one was not as good. It seemed more like a vanity project than a good rock and roll album. Finally Neil Diamond continues his collaboration with Rick Rubin and it is another fine album. These albums are not as good the Rick Rubin/Johnny Cash albums but they are way better than anything Diamond has done in years, and they kind of grow on you. Two Thumbs up, Two Hats (remember the hat lady!) and Three Stars!

David Cassidy-Rock Me Baby

2008-05-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

I have a bit of a headache today. But I am looking forward to night out with a group of people who are not parents. No kiddie talk tonight! Also perhaps a chance to play some poker this weekend which would be nice. Oh I watched that guy who hates bloggers last night (see my earlier post) and boy was he one angry dude. I know I linked to some follow up on that, but it also fits nicely with my post the other day about the media. The traditional media reacts to blogs like it is the "wild west" without "ethics", but the traditional media, in my opinion, is pretty bad these days, so I am not sure Blogs (with the exception of this one) look much worse. Facts don't get in the way of either medium (with the exception of this blog of course, which is thoroughly fact checked, or at least usually spell checked) and bias is evident in all forms. I don't believe in the "liberal media bias" or that is to say, I do believe the media as a whole is probably made up of more liberals than conservatives, in the ranks of reporters and editors, but of course the conglomerates that own the are by and large run by conservatives. AND I think the liberals feel a duty to try and be "fair and balanced" and often err on the side of actually being too conservative, especially in regards to not being critical enough of the information they report. If somebody is lying (say the president) you should report that he is lying, not just what he said. The story is not his words, but his actions, his lies. The media rarely does that.

David Cassidy of the Partridge Family was also a solo musician. He was not very good. 1.5 stars.

Mudcrutch-Scare Easy

2008-05-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

$1 off Any Combo. The Best Grilled Chicken on Earth. Chicken Tenders Combo, Crispy-breaded all-white chicken tenders served with your choice of dipping sauce. Served with medium drink and medium fries. Chicken Teriyaki Rice Bowl Combo, Sliced flame-grilled chicken rice and our signature teriyaki sauce. Served with medium drink. I got this crazy religious flyer on the street yesterday and I planned on reprinting (republising) it here today but somehow I lost it, and all that was in my bag was a $1 off coupon for Ranch 1, so that's what you get today!
Mudcrutch is Tom Petty's band before the heartbreakers, and they just reformed to put out this Scare Easy album. It was pretty good rock and roll, better than most Tom Petty if you ask me. Two thumbs up.

PS "Teriyaki" is not in the spell checker, but "eat her" is...

Stanley Jordan-Magic Touch

2008-05-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

Time for Hillary to give up. She can't win. She is making herself look bad and hurting the democratic party. The national news media has seemed to finally turn the corner on this. BUT here is my bold prediction. Hillary does not drop out, she wins West Virginia and whatever the next primary is by fairly large margins (as predicted based on the demographics) and the media starts reporting how Hillary is the comeback kid once again. And this to me is really what the problem with the media is these days. They know NOW that Hillary is going to win those contests by a wide margin, so either they should not be writing today that Hillary is done, or they should not act surprised or like the story has changed in two weeks when Hillary has swept those contests. AM I BOLD OR WHAT?
Stanley Jordan is some kind of Jazzy guitarist who doesn't strum (hence the magic fingers which tap on the fret, I think). It was somewhat promising eventually ventured too heavily into the light jazz arena. The little man is asleep in his chair (graphics coming, I promise!)

Lady Antebellum-Lady Antebellum

2008-05-06T13:03:00.000-07:00

So what the heck is a cyclone? Am I crazy, or is this the first news story to talk about a cyclone instead of a hurricane or a tornado? According to wikipedia "A tornado is also commonly referred to as a twister, and is also sometimes referred to by the old-fashioned colloquial term cyclone" so are we talking about a colloquial tornado? There also seems to be something called a tropical cyclone (or hurricane). Anyhow am I the only person who has noticed this? Are we moving back to the colloquial? Also according to wikipedia "The generic term covers a wide variety of meteorological phenomena. These include tropical cyclones,and extratropical cyclones, so meteorologists rarely use "cyclone" without additional qualification." Now I don't expect the world to follow the strict rules of meteorologists, but this is really strange, and I want to get to the bottom of it. PLEASE if you READ this BLOG opine in the comments section as to why the hell all of a sudden this thing is called a cyclone. Based on your feedback I will determine the correct answer and let you know (shortly after the awards are announced!)
Lady Antebelleum is New Country. I have tried a few times to give this New Country business a chance, but every time is disappoints. New Country sucks. The little man has left his chair.

Flight of the Conchords- Flight of the Conchords, Supertramp-Breakfast in America, Kansa-Audio Visons

2008-05-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is yet another day of voting. Indiana and North Carolina are up for grabs. Sadly my prediction is Clinton ekes out a victory in Indiana and stays in the race FOREVER. For good analysis of the polls check here. In the news Roger Clemens apologizes for mistakes (she was 15, although he denies that "mistake") he has made in his personal life. I know I covered this before, but Clemens is a scumbag and it drives me crazy that he has gotten such a free ride from the press (and the politicians) while Barry Bonds is vilified. To me it reeks of racism. The white guy can do no wrong while the black guy is Public Enemy #1. Also there is a news story about a priest disappearing after taking flight with thousands of balloons. I am not sure if I believe this one, if you can prove it wrong please do!
Flight of the Conchords, if you like the show, you will like the album, although you would have already heard all the songs so you may like it less. Still some of them are quite funny and good. Supertramp was surprisingly good. You know when you put on an album and it sounds like a greatest hits album but it isn't. Well this Supertramp album is just that. Kansas was not as good. I don't know why Kansas was so popular, but this album was not the key to understanding that.
Two thumbs up, B+ and 1 and 1/2 stars.

Lil' Wayne-Like Father Like Son

2008-05-02T12:41:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned that I like survivor? Well I do, I have not missed a single episode since the show started. I like it this year too, but there is one woman who I really hate. Her name is Natalie. She is what I call a monster face, although now that I look back at the real monster faces, I am not sure she qualifies. Maybe a rat face, or Monster Rat Face, or Sourpuss. I am hoping that somehow a giant piece of the set fall on her. Hey I just realized why I was not able to do links for so long! Now the links will be back so hold onto your hats! For now here are few links for you to enjoy! (some may be more enjoyable than others).
Lil' Wayne is one of those dirty south rappers with the drawl. never been my favorite kind of rap but I did enjoy this one, maybe I was just in the mood. C+.

Madonna-Hard Candy

2008-05-01T12:35:00.000-07:00

For some reason some new albums are not fully available from Rhapsody. All you get is a few stinking sample tracks. So I had to get a copy of this album from another source after listening to several tracks, and then I had to listen to the whole damn album again! Anyhow such is life. What are you going to do, you know? Oh BTW did you hear us bloggers are under attack! It is true, this dude Buzz Bissinger was on Costas Now last night and he totally attacked some guy who runs a blog called Deadspin. Now Bissinger was talking about sports blogs I guess, but I would say his attack should get all the bloggerians upset. One of my favorite "blogs" is http://www.firejoemorgan.com/ which is a sports blog, but really is about how bad most sportswriting is, and I say I agree, really most journalism at this point is either regurgitating press releases or extremist opinion pieces. Real reporting is pretty rare these days, and Mr. Bissinger is no exception. Anyhow if you are interested you can read the recap on Deadspin, FireJoeMorgan, or King Kauffman on Salon who is a writer, or maybe a blogger I am not sure. Long live the Blog! Death to media!
Madonna's new album is perhaps her worst yet. It is sad to hear her trying to stay relevant by working with Timbaland et al. Perhaps it is time for her to do an album of showtunes, or do an album with Rick Rubin. I don't know, but this one gets a little man who has walked out of his chair.

Diana Krall-All For You, Santogold-Santogold

2008-04-30T12:11:00.000-07:00

As I write this blog post I am listening to the new Madonna album, and since I make a point of not really talking about the music/artists that I am "reviewing" each day, maybe now is a good time to say at least the first track on the album is really crappy. It is called 4 minutes, produced by timbaland, and CRAPPY. Track 2 just kicked in and maybe it is a little better, or maybe not, the first line is "I just woke up from a fuzzy dream". Madonna has lost he "reinvention" magic that she had going for so long. Too bad kind of, but also not so bad, I am sick of Madonna and her stupid English accent. Seriously I don't think she gets enough shit for that accent, it's not like she just picked it up when she started dating Guy Ritchie, she has been busting out a phony English accent since back in the day, and it is stupid, and makes me think she is actually pretty stupid herself, even though all other evidence points to her being some kind of the genius. Anyhow much less on this album tomorrow.
Diana Krall is like Norah Jones I guess, singing old timey music. This album is a tribute to Nat King Cole I have heard, but I much prefer old Nat. Santogold is new Madonna, or maybe the new Cindi Lauper, either way I don't know. I don't really like that whatayacallit, like MIA Caribbean rap shit, or whatever you call it, and so I don't really like Santogold too much either (BTW I misspelled this word and the spell checker from Blogger offered "Eat Her" as a possible correct word choice. Is there as section of naughty blogs that I don't know about? Penthouse letters blogs or something. "I walked into the neighbors kitchen thinking I was going to fix a leaky faucet and next thing I knew she asked me to eat her"). Both these albums get 2 and 1/2 stars.

UFO-Lights Out, Santo and Johnny-Volume Secondo, Boredoms-Vision Creation Newson

2008-04-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

Had a fun weekedn with a friends 40th birthday where I had a bit too much to drink, and a then a little playdate/bbq on Sunday. I guess the most exciting thing about this weekend is that I may be closer launching my internet business because I spoke to somebody who is very interested and is the kind of person who could really help me get funding. I wont go into any details here on the web, but if you know me outside of cyberspace you probably have already heard of this idea, unless you haven't.
Pretty diverse music this weekend. Friday was UFO which for some reason I had never heard of, but I would say "Lights Out" is a pretty great 70s rock album, really recorded in the 70s! Santo and Johnny are jazz instrumentalists from the early 60s/late 50s who recorded rock tunes in a jazzy instrumental way. You would totally know them if you heard them, and probably totally enjoy them. The boredomes are noise pop (i guess, or something like that). Anyhow my friend andrew was really into them, may still be, but I was surprised a how "musical" this album was, a lot less noisy than I remembered, but maybe also a little less good. Two thumbs up for the first two and one thumb up for the second (eberts thumb).

Graveyard-Graveyard

2008-04-25T09:23:00.000-07:00

Well the votes are piling in for "Sexiest Lesbian In The Eyes of Male Heterosexuals In The World" and "Sexiest Homosexual Male In The Eyes Of Female Heterosexuals In The World" but there is still time to vote. In addition there is a two new award "Celebrity who would be most delicious to eat deep fried in the world" and "Celebrity who would be most delicious to eat sauteed in the world". There is of course the possibility that one celebrity could win both categories, and might well make them the favorite to win the cherished "Most edible celebrity in the world no matter how they are prepared" award, but that is a long way off, so lets just focus on the contests at hand. Also remember you can vote as often as you would like, and that management reserves the right to completely ignore the vote tally. Also I saw "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" last night and my advice is not to bother. It seems to me this era of comedy is on the downswing, and I would not be surprised if the whole gross out comedy genre dies down for a little while soon, but then again maybe not.
Graveyard is pretty authentic sounding early 70s hard rock created in the late aughts. I would say I probably need to give it another listen to evaluate how I really feel about it, but for now I give it a C+.

Deodato-Deodato 2

2008-04-24T10:04:00.000-07:00

Well FHM magazine has name Megan Fox the sexiest woman in the world. I don't know who she is (I guess she was in the movie transformers) but I have seen some pictures of her, and she does look pretty sexy. But is she the sexiest woman in the world? Who's to say, apparently FHM magazine. Anyhow that got me thinking maybe I should be handing out some awards. I mean FHM got on the front page of yahoo by naming the sexiest woman in the world, so many it will increase my hits if I start giving out some awards. I am going to allow my reader(s) to vote as well. The first award I am giving is "Sexiest Lesbian In The Eyes of Male Heterosexuals In The World". I will also be awarding the "Sexiest Homosexual Male In The Eyes Of Female Heterosexuals In The World" although this may be tougher because I am not sure I have any female heterosexual readers. Anyhow vote early and often. The editor(s) of this blog reserve the right ignore or double count any votes submitted. New awards will be announced daily until I get bored of doing this (or until the traffic on my site it so high that I have to pay extra fees).
Deodata is a rock/jazz/funk instrumental musician from the 70s. It is always fun to hear music that is the basis for modern music (often lifted directly). I have a CD called Kurtis Blow Presents the History of Hip Hop Vols 1-3 and volume 1 is especially cool because it plays a bunch of songs which have the riffs of much current (well current in the early aughts) hip hop. Same goes for Deodata for jazzy house music or whatever it is called. Anyhow the album was pretty darn good, and I give it ROCK HARD.

Bruce Springsteen- The Wild, the Innocent and the E-Street Band, The Sword-Gods of Earth

2008-04-23T02:51:00.000-07:00

On Sunday night I went to the premier of a friend of mine from poker's movie. The movie is called "Turn the River" and is opening hear in the US on May 9th. I definitely recommend the movie. I won't go into to much detail on it for fear of spoiling the plot, but there is some pool, some poker and some good acting. Every once in while I end up getting invited to some sort of party or something that I am hoping will be star studded, and they always turn out to be a bit of disappointing in the star studded department. This party was no exception. The party itself was fine, the drinks were free, the place the was nice and I knew a group of people so I had a good time, but the celeb count was a little low for my liking. Basically my only celebrity encounter was when Lisa Loeb cut me off when I was trying to leave the movie theater. I was kind of hoping that Rip Torn would have taken the last hors d'oeuvres of a tray that I was eying, or Jennifer Jason Leigh's dog would have bitten my pant leg, but no luck. Tomorrow is Sarah's birthday so get your cards in the mail ASAP.
I had been kind of thinking about rethinking my hatred of Bruce Springsteen. I am not really sure why I hate him really, just something about all that "Born in the USA" craziness really turned me off. One thing I do like about him is that "Born in the USA" is such an indictment of America, but people have made it into an anthem. That said this album was ok, but a little to much saxophone if you know what I mean. My new rating system BTW seems to leave me giving everything a chubbie, and today will be no exception. CHUBBIE for the boss. Also CHUBBIE for The Sword, which is some real serious heavy metal, not really my cup of tea, but a nice change of pace after over a week of Pansie ass 70s music.

Crystal Castles-Crystal Castles, Don Covay, The House of the Blue Light, The Roots-Things Fall Apart

2008-04-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

If you live in Europe and are visiting Brooklyn in the coming months you are really going to want to plan to visit the Brooklyn Museum while you are here and see the Murakami show. Actually even if you live somewhere in the NY area you may want to check it out. I went this weekend with my family (visiting from Boston for Passover) and it was pretty cool. His is apparently the founder of the Super Flat movement, which is apparently a comment on the Otaku lifestyle, which apparently is an obsession with anime and manga. I don't know any other artists in the Super Flat movement, but I like the sound of it anyways. Plus the art is pretty bizarre and interesting. Also we deep friend the Turkey (as I think I mentioned) and that was also pretty cool. The Turkey was super delicious and cooked really fast. The only real drag was draining and straining all the oil the next day. Still I highly recommend a Turkey Frying rig, plus this summer I am going to make buffalo wings, fried chicken, chicken friend steak, and I hope, chicken fried bacon, which I saw on TV the other day.
Crystal Castles was a video game that my wife used to be really good at back when we went to college. Now it is a techno group with music that sounds slightly like video game music from the 80s, but not quite enough to be much more than a CHUBBIE. Don Covay is a Soul/Blues musician from the 60s. This album was maybe a little too bluesy for my liking and also rated as a CHUBBIE. The Roots were a little better than I thought they would be, although they had one poetry slam like track that I REALLY could have done without. Still and all I give them a WOODIE.

Jackson Browne-Running on Empty, Warren Zevon-Warren Zevon

2008-04-18T07:57:00.000-07:00

Hey thanks for those little guys. I will pull them down today! How did you find them anyways? (confused? read the comments section if you are not the person who posted the little guys). It is Passover this weekend and I went out and bought a Turkey frying rig. So this weekend is going to be Turkey Frying crazy! I kind of think it is especially appropriate for Passover because it takes about half the time of baking, and everybody knows those Jews were in a hurry on Passover. Anyhow I expect this turkey to be extra delicious! I will report back. Also I am expecting a big summer of fried chicken, french fries and more!
Both these albums were pretty mediocre. Not much to say I think everyone knows what these guys sound like and there are few surprise on these albums. They are OK but no great shakes. The little guy is sitting in his chair listening but unmoved.

Cat Stevens-Mona Bone Jakon

2008-04-16T13:45:00.000-07:00

Thanks for you great suggestions on rating systems. I am trying to track down the artwork for that little guy. Somehow I totally lost track of what I have been listening to. I know I listened to this album, but I didn't think it was yesterday, and I think I missed one. Well maybe I will figure it out at some point. I have bridge tonight, this is the first night the Saxman will host out in Bay Ridge brooklyn. Also there is a big debate on tonight and a Red Sox Yankee game, so I am hoping that we have a TV on with the debate, a radio with the game and then we are playing some MAD BRIDGE. I will let you know how it turns out.
Cat Stevens is kind of too "easy" for me, but sometimes he hits the spot. I did enjoy listening to this album but I am not sure it will be on my most played list. Also I have been listening to the BLACK KEYS a lot, that album is REALLY good, so you should give it a listen. Chubby for Cat Stevens.

The Doobie Brothers-Toulouse Street

2008-04-15T12:48:00.000-07:00

I can't really think about the Doobie Brothers without thinking about What's Happening. I do believe the greatest episode ever of What's Happening was when Rerun tried to bootleg a Doobie Brothers concert and he was doing his "Rerun Dance" when the taperecorder fell out of his shirt, and the Doobies stopped playing and everyone in the audience stopped dancing and everyone looked a Rerun, because he was super busted. Then somebody (maybe Rog) convinced Rerun he had to go apologize so he called (or went the hotel) and asked to speak to "Whichever Doobie do be in".

Anyhow the album was OK, a chubbie.

REO Speedwagon-Ridin' The Storm Out, Leonard Cohen-Songs of Love and Hate

2008-04-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

The weather is starting to turn for the better here. This past weekend was really nice on Saturday, and OK on Sunday. Saturday I was able to start moving forward on my digging up the backyard project. This will probably be delayed this coming weekend as we have to prepare for Passover. Also on Saturday night I went out and had a few too many to drink, and then when I left the bar/restaurant I spotted some of my posse hanging out. I walked towards them, but didn't notice the basement door on the sidewalk (perhaps you out of towners have seen these things in NYC, they are metal doors that that open out of the sidewalk and then you go down some stairs to the basement) anyhow I crashed my shin into one of the these doors and it hurt like heck. It is getting better, so DONT WORRY.
I read a book by Paul Fieg who helped create Freaks and Geeks and he mentioned how REO Speedwagon used to be rocking before Hi-Infidelity. I didn't know what the heck he was talking about until I listened to Ridin'The Storm Out. ROCK HARD. Leonard Cohen I guess is some sort of genius and I liked it more than I expected, but still just a CHUBBY.

Dan Fogelberg-Home Free

2008-04-12T15:13:00.000-07:00

Red Sox and Yankees play this weekend. The Yankees won the first game, but the Sox lead game 2 4-3 going into the eight. Oh, I am getting sick of rating albums as 7.5 so I am thinking of changing things up. I was also fond of the rating system for movies in Penthouse(I think it was Penthouse), rating by boners. Although I think the system could be refined. I think Penthouse did 1=4 boners, and I am think maybe flaccid, chubby, rock hard, and shot my wad. Anyhow just a thought, maybe I will use a different system every day until I find something I like. Any suggestions will be considered.
Dan Fogelberg continues this disappointment of 70s week. I never knew what a pussy he was. The album was boring. Flaccid.

Jimmy Buffet-Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes & Carole King-Fantasy

2008-04-11T10:05:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday after work, and before poker I decided to go see a movie. I wanted to see Boarding Gate, which is some sort of foreign sexy thriller that got pretty good reviews around here. But when I got out of the train I turned the wrong way on 12th street and ended up at a different movie theater. The only choices I had were In Brueges, which I damn well knew I didn't want to see, and Funny Games which I was pretty sure I didn't want to see. So I saw Funny Games. I really did not like that movie. If you don't know about it, it is some foreigner who directed this movie, and he already made the movie before in some foreign language, but he remade it exactly shot for shot in English for us to enjoy. It is horror movie, like a Saw kind of horror torture movie, but it also is a highbrow art house movie that comments on how awful movies like Saw are. Well I didn't really like Saw, but I think I liked it more than this. You can't comment on a genre or on the fans, and at the same time reap the benefits of the conventions of the genre. Anyhow to sum up how much I did not like this movie, (SPOILER ALERT-IF YOU ARE A COMPLETE IDIOT AND DON'T KNOW EXACTLY WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN LONG BEFORE IT HAPPENS)the one part of the movie that I had any emotional reaction to was that there was a kid, and I knew he was going to get axed, my emotionally response I think stems from being a parent, anyhow by the time they finally kill the kid, I was happy, much like the characters in the movie should have done, I just wanted them to get it over with!

This run of 70s music is not starting out too well. It turns out Margaretaville is just about as good as Jimmy Buffet gets, and, sadly, Tapestry (an album I love) is much better than Carole King ever got again. 7.5 out 12 and 11.5.

Moby-Last Night

2008-04-09T12:16:00.000-07:00

There is a guy who come around our office and shines shoes. I usually take a pass, but since my shoelaces have broken about 5 times and I was down to the nubs I asked the guy if he had laces. Well he did, and since he did I felt obligated to the get the shine as well. The shoes look great, but when I grabbed them to put them on they were soaking wet with shoe polish and now my fingers are totally covered in shoe polish. On the plus side I had no idea what to blog about until that happened!
Another returning to his roots album (like REM yesterday) for Moby. I didn't think Moby's first big album, Play was all that good, and a return to his roots proves equally as uninspiring. I am moving into some 70s rock for the next week or so, and I am looking forward to it. 7.5 out of 13.

REM-Accelerate

2008-04-08T18:55:00.000-07:00

I am going to start a new thing as of tomorrow or maybe the next day. For every album I am going to highlight my favorite track and then put together a playlist. That way all my readers can get a sweet taste of the magic that is happening around here. I don't know if ALL OF YOU have been following this news but the US has raided some crazy Mormon compound and taken all the kids away. I am a big fan of that show Big Love, and I think I have gotten a little mixed up about this whole polygamy business. The thing is that in these compounds they love to marry up the little girls at like 13 years old. Now I am all for a grown man having multiple grown up wives, if that is his preference (and theirs) but marrying up little girls is not right.
Which brings me to REM. I never did much like REM, something about Michael Stipe's singing just grated on me. But this new REM album is actually pretty good. It seems much less pretentious than the REM I remember, and a lot less of that Michael Stipe droning that bothers me so. 7.5 out of 9.9.

Jeffrey Lewis-12 Crass Songs, Gnarls Barkley-The Odd Couple, The Black Keys-Attack and Release

2008-04-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

Well Lucy's birthday party went off without a hitch. Actually it was better than expected. 2 things I think really helped make it better, 1, the kids are older so they are not quite as crazy and 2, it was a drop-off party, which means we didn't have 20 parents and 10 siblings clogging up the joint. Lucy got a couple of more Webkins, which are basically beanie baby's with a website, so I expect she will be super internet literate in the near future. I am having some problems with her new computer because it is sooooo slow in loading web pages, which reminds me I need to look on ebay for some ram. I guess I will do that now.
Three very good albums, The Jeffrey Lewis album really stands out. If you are a fan of Crass (I admit I don't really know them) you may even like this album more than I. Gnarls Barkley was not as good as the first album, but it was pretty good, and the Black Keys was also pretty cool. 7.5 out of 8.5, 9.5 and 9.2. Sorry for the brief blog but work is busy.

Danger Mouse-The Mouse and the Mask

2008-04-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned how much I love CSI Miami? If not then here you go, I love CSI Miami. It is soooo great. David Caruso is the strangest man on earth and the worst actor in America, and getting to watch him work is one of life's great pleasures. Add in terrible writing, absurd costumes, ridiculous plots and guest appearances by Elizabeth Berkeley and I think you have a hit on your hands. Anyhow if you have never seen this show check it out.
Danger Mouse first hit the scene with his remix of Jay-Z's album where he combined Jay-Z and the Beatles. Then he blew up with Gnarls Barkley. He continues to make great music with this Mouse and the Mask album he has put out. It feels a little like Handsome Boy Modeling School. Less pop than Gnarls Barkley, more old school hip-hop. Anyhow a fine album. 7.5 out of 9.

Rick Ross-Trilla

2008-04-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

Due to new budget restraints we are switching back to Internet phone in our house. A couple of years ago we tried Lingo and Vonage and neither of them worked very well at all. But I argued for them because they were so cheap. Now we were about to get rid of our home phone all together in a cost cutting move so I was able to convince Sarah to make the switch back. This time we are trying out the "triple play" from cablevision. For those of you not in this country with the triple play you get phone, Internet and television all for 29.95 each for a year and then they jack up the prices after that. Also I think we have to pay a little more for our cable because it is not the absolute basic, but still that is a pretty darn good deal. So we shall see how this new voip thing works out, I am crossing my fingers!
Rick Ross sounds a lot like Jim Jones, I think there is some sort of connection but I am not sure what the deal is there. I enjoyed the album but it was kind of boring, so no rave reviews here. 7.5 out of 11.

The Black Crowes-Wairpaint

2008-04-02T11:50:00.000-07:00

Today is Lucy's sixth birthday. In addition to the cool bike I mentioned before she got a ton of other stuff, including a old iMac our friends were getting rid of. So I now have a six year old daughter who has her own computer. I haven't really decided where I stand on all this chat room stuff, and monitoring the kids and all that. Not that my daughter can read or write well enough to get involved at this point but still as far as the future is concerned. I think my plan is to not let her have a computer in her room for quite a while, so I can look in over her shoulder whenever I want. But I am not planning on putting any spying software on her machine or anything like that. I just think you need to trust your kids somewhat. And all these news reports about kids being chatted to death I just don't buy it as that prevalent. I think it is a bit like the white van.

Wairpaint ain't that hot. I never really liked the Black Crowes except for that one cover of "Too Hot to Handle" and this just confirms that. They are retro country fried rock I guess and I guess I just am not that big a fan of genre. 7.5 out of 11.5.

The Raconteurs-Consolers of the Lonely

2008-04-01T12:20:00.000-07:00

The Raconteurs are known as the The Saboteurs in Australia because of some licensing issue. I wonder if there are any other bands with different names in different countries. My web search turned up nothing except the AV clubs list of worst band names of 2007. Here are some of my favorites for the list

Lesbian Pudding (actually not sure if that is two bands or one, but I am going to assume one)
Slut Barf
Clown Vomit
Vomit Bomb
Best Fwends
Wookie Hangover
Count Dracula's Weed Smuggling Jam Engine
The Dead Kenny Gs
Jews And Mexicans
Butt Stomach

Anyhow that is a few band names. I guess naming a band is difficult.

The Raconteurs album was pretty good. I enjoyed their last album but found it a little to beatlesque. This one seems to solve that problem. I must admit I was slightly distracted while listening and have plans to listen again later. 7.5 out 9 for now.

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

2008-03-31T12:26:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-28T13:18:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-27T08:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-24T11:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-23T12:18:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-20T15:47:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-03-19T12:33:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-18T12:06:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-17T07:38:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

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

Snoop Dogg-Ego Trippin, Leo Sayer-Endless Flight

2008-03-14T10:49:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-03-12T15:50:00.005-07:00

The guy I listened to on sunday

Thomas Brinkmann- It never was you

2008-03-12T15:50:00.003-07:00

Recommended by Andrew

Nick Lowe - Cruel To Be Kind

2008-03-12T15:50:00.001-07:00

Friday

Ain't no Sunshine

2008-03-12T14:59:00.001-07:00

Bill Withers is always good.

Portishead - Roseland Nyc Live - Cowboys

2008-03-12T14:37:00.001-07:00

Not what I expected

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

2008-03-12T12:46:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-07T12:17:00.001-08:00

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

2008-03-06T12:44:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-05T13:53:00.001-08:00

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