The SF Gate lists the 40 worst albums by 40 (usually) great bands/performers. I'm not super-fan enough to have an opinion on many of these, but pul-ease! I happen to like REM's "Monster", the Beatles "Yellow Submarine", Springsteen's "Working On A Dream", Elvis Costello's "Brutal Youth" and Wings "Back To The Egg." Yes, they were looking for the worst album by great acts, so it's a skewed situation, but Costello's released more forgettable music than "Brutal" and I'd castigate Springsteen's "Lucky Town" before "Working On A Dream."
Or, in other words, it's all just individual taste...
http://blog.sfgate.com/loaded/2012/08/30/40terrible/#7113-21
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Bootstraps
If there's anything in the recent tumult over Mitt Romney's "unguarded comments to zillionaires" flap that raised my shaggy eyebrows, it was his assertion that he didn't inherit anything, that he made his fortune on his own. There seems to be a stubborn blind spot in some wealthy folks when it comes to admitting that, yeah, they may have had a leg up on the average joe. In Romney's case, he was born to a fellow who was the head of a major American automobile company and eventually became the Governor of Michigan. Romney himself attended private school and Harvard on his Dad's dime. Yes, later, Romney the Mitt gave his family inheritance to charity, but that was after he had used the stepping stones (excellent education, political and financial contacts, seed capital in the form of a trust) provided by Dad to start a business and get rich.
Nothing wrong with any of that, of course. Some folks are lucky and still fail. I am sure Romney worked very hard at Bain. But this personal myth-making is a little absurd. Hey, I grew up in a middle class household, went to public school and attended a State college (go, go, Portland State University!) while working at McDonalds, tending bar, driving a truck and other odd jobs. Yes, I've worked hard, but I never forget how fortunate I was to have had a stable home-life, supportive parents and enough money to buy 53 cent quarts of beer and other basic necessities. That Romney doesn't want to accept that he had plenty of help becoming a multi-millionaire strikes me as a tragic character flaw and an almost frightening empathy negative zone...
Nothing wrong with any of that, of course. Some folks are lucky and still fail. I am sure Romney worked very hard at Bain. But this personal myth-making is a little absurd. Hey, I grew up in a middle class household, went to public school and attended a State college (go, go, Portland State University!) while working at McDonalds, tending bar, driving a truck and other odd jobs. Yes, I've worked hard, but I never forget how fortunate I was to have had a stable home-life, supportive parents and enough money to buy 53 cent quarts of beer and other basic necessities. That Romney doesn't want to accept that he had plenty of help becoming a multi-millionaire strikes me as a tragic character flaw and an almost frightening empathy negative zone...
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Another Week Goes By...
Or is it two? Developments: the weather is changing in lovely Toronto, cooling off finally after a very warm Summer. I spent the Fall/Winter in Toronto working on Falling Skies back in 2010 so I am well versed in just how cold it can get, but right now, ahhh. Nice.
Details are still under wraps, but we're well into filming Hemlock Grove and it's great to see how it's all coming together. Great cast and crew, and that really fun sense of doing something outside the cookie-cutter. It's one of those shows where the crew is eager for the next script because they really want to know what's coming next. That wow-factor is actually pretty rare in my experience, and it's a good feeling when it happens. Anyhow, "coming soon."
Gearing up this morning by watching an episode of Hell On Wheels on AMC... this episode featuring BSG and Falling Skies alum Ryan Robbins. I haven't managed to keep up with this show so I'm a little unclear on who's who. But I did learn that frontier life was tough, crime doesn't pay and I would not want to be shot and then operated on without anesthetic. Last night I caught yet another showing of Casino, also on AMC, with some of the best euphemisms ever inserted to replace naughty words. "You told my friend to stuff himself? You stuffin' greaseball!" I'd like to say that the message of Casino is that crime doesn't pay, but actually, for the main characters anyway, it paid pretty well for quite some time.
And now back to it!
Details are still under wraps, but we're well into filming Hemlock Grove and it's great to see how it's all coming together. Great cast and crew, and that really fun sense of doing something outside the cookie-cutter. It's one of those shows where the crew is eager for the next script because they really want to know what's coming next. That wow-factor is actually pretty rare in my experience, and it's a good feeling when it happens. Anyhow, "coming soon."
Gearing up this morning by watching an episode of Hell On Wheels on AMC... this episode featuring BSG and Falling Skies alum Ryan Robbins. I haven't managed to keep up with this show so I'm a little unclear on who's who. But I did learn that frontier life was tough, crime doesn't pay and I would not want to be shot and then operated on without anesthetic. Last night I caught yet another showing of Casino, also on AMC, with some of the best euphemisms ever inserted to replace naughty words. "You told my friend to stuff himself? You stuffin' greaseball!" I'd like to say that the message of Casino is that crime doesn't pay, but actually, for the main characters anyway, it paid pretty well for quite some time.
And now back to it!
Friday, September 07, 2012
No One Does Run-On Sentences Better...
...than former Gov. Sarah Palin. Here she is on Fox News, responding to John Kerry's jab during this week's Democratic National Convention...
"How does he even know my name? I mean aren't these guys supposed to be these bigwig elites who don't waste their time on the little people like me, me representing the average American who yeah I did say in Alaska you can see Russia from our land base and I was making the point that we are strategically located on the globe and when it comes to transportation corridors and resources that are shared and fought over, Alaska and I as the governor, had known what I was doing in dealing with some international issues that had to do with our resources that could help secure the nation," Palin said. "So it's funny that he would take a little pot shot like that, but it's funny he even knows my name. "
Sometimes punctuation really IS our friend...
"How does he even know my name? I mean aren't these guys supposed to be these bigwig elites who don't waste their time on the little people like me, me representing the average American who yeah I did say in Alaska you can see Russia from our land base and I was making the point that we are strategically located on the globe and when it comes to transportation corridors and resources that are shared and fought over, Alaska and I as the governor, had known what I was doing in dealing with some international issues that had to do with our resources that could help secure the nation," Palin said. "So it's funny that he would take a little pot shot like that, but it's funny he even knows my name. "
Sometimes punctuation really IS our friend...
Wednesday, September 05, 2012
For Pete's Sake, Think Of The Production Value!
Bemused woman reads newspaper and bemoans Obama supporting gay marriage for no objective reason except "marriage is between a man and a woman." Dullard Husband agrees, music rises, and they're all votin' for Romney.
Okay, whatever, but would it kill these guys to at least give their political ads a little style? I've seen Sham-wow ads with more panache...
http://www.queerty.com/no-its-not-an-snl-skit-its-a-new-anti-gay-marriage-attack-ad-20120904/
Okay, whatever, but would it kill these guys to at least give their political ads a little style? I've seen Sham-wow ads with more panache...
http://www.queerty.com/no-its-not-an-snl-skit-its-a-new-anti-gay-marriage-attack-ad-20120904/
Monday, September 03, 2012
A Nice Review...
I didn't have access to the channel showing Falling Skies in Toronto so missed the eps as they aired, but finally caught up with a few recently, including my own final burst o' creative writing fun. The review below allows me to re-visit the tired Sally Field "you like me, you really like me" Academy Award meme once again...
http://io9.com/5934429/now-this-is-the-falling-skies-we-signed-up-for
http://io9.com/5934429/now-this-is-the-falling-skies-we-signed-up-for
A Moment In Time...
Popped back from Toronto to L.A. for the long Labor Day weekend... if a 5 1/2 hour flight can be considered "popping." Things continue to roll right along on the Hemlock Grove front, about which I can guarantee you will be hearing more about as the year continues. Came back to mail-ordered stacks of books, CDs, blu-rays, movie posters and other ephemera... to be sorted out on the NEXT trip back. I do like my stuff...
On the flight out, I chatted with the young fellow in the next seat and learned once more that while people in the entertainment business like to THINK their shows are permeating the national consciousness, it's not always quite that way. This fellow had never heard of Battlestar Galactica, Smallville or Falling Skies. Thank God for my two seasons on Heroes or I would have batted a zero in this fellow's pop culture department. Though he'd never actually seen an episode of Heroes. I believe his exact words were, "yeah, that was a big deal, right?" With all the enthusiasm that sentence suggests. Then the flight attendant brought out cookies and we both fell asleep...
I would offer pithy commentary on the rest of the trip, but I need to pack. Lock the doors, Toronto casinos, I'm coming back...
On the flight out, I chatted with the young fellow in the next seat and learned once more that while people in the entertainment business like to THINK their shows are permeating the national consciousness, it's not always quite that way. This fellow had never heard of Battlestar Galactica, Smallville or Falling Skies. Thank God for my two seasons on Heroes or I would have batted a zero in this fellow's pop culture department. Though he'd never actually seen an episode of Heroes. I believe his exact words were, "yeah, that was a big deal, right?" With all the enthusiasm that sentence suggests. Then the flight attendant brought out cookies and we both fell asleep...
I would offer pithy commentary on the rest of the trip, but I need to pack. Lock the doors, Toronto casinos, I'm coming back...
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