Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Maybe my favorite ever web journal/blog by a recording artist, that of Cex, unexpectedly returned recently with new posts and the archive of old posts after disappearing a year and a half ago. Being the same age and from the same place and having a lot of the same musical background as Rjyan, I've always been interested in what he's got to say, although sometimes I think I identify with him less and less now (and I cringe at the fact that he seems to be the only person from here who refers to Baltimore club music as "Baltimore breaks", although to his credit he's been DJing the stuff out of town since way before it became a hip thing to do).

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Narrowcast loves MTV Espanol

Saturday, November 26, 2005
Inspector - "Ska Voovee Boobie Baby"
This is possibly the greatest ska song I've ever heard, simply because the title is "Ska Voovee Boobie Baby". In the video, a pretty lady dresses and undresses and showers while a tiny ska band, who are all about 6 inches tall, serenade her throughout her apartment, standing in her medicine cabinet, on the soapdish in her shower, and so on.

Ricky Martin f/ Debbie Nova and Fat Joe - "Que Mas Da"
The Espanol version of "I Don't Care", which still sucks, but the lyrics at least sound a little less awkward in a foreign tongue. Amerie's part is replaced by some other girl singing it in Spanish, but then Fat Joe's verse in English is completely unchanged. Weird.

Thalia - "Amar Sin Ser Amada"
I've watched this video a hundred times and I'm still not sure if I even like the song.

Plastillina Mosh - "Mr. P Mosh"
Some kind of Mexican equivalent to Beck that got some college radio hype in the mid-90's with an album produced by the Dust Brothers. And for some reason, MTV Espanol is still playing their video from '96. I'm wondering if it was actually huge in Latin America and has some kind of modern classic status, or if noone actually likes it but they don't have many videos so they keep playing it. This is really some bullshit, though, just a couple of smirking dumbasses lazily lip syncing while a lady in a revealing dress with a totally creepy old-looking face dances between them.

Adassa f/ Pitbull - "Kamasutra"
Pitbull seems to be on constant rotation on MTVE, between this and "Toma" and the Ying Yang Twins' amazing "Shake" and the remix to Voltio's "Bumper" (maybe the only one of the 8 million reggaeton songs in rotation that I actually like). I like this one, Pitbull doing those ridiculous triplet cadences over the Coolie Dance riddim.

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Friday, November 25, 2005
MTV.com comes through with a surprisingly frank look at Hollywood's portrayals of obesity and the history of hokey-looking fat suits like the one in that corny new Ryan Reynolds movie.

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Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Ted Leo / Pharmacists @ the Ottobar, 11/22/05
My Vien Ilin / Little Dawn / new song / Me And Mia / Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone? / The High Party / Dial Up / The One Who Got Us Out / Counting Down The Hours / Hearts Of Oak / Biomusicology / Heart Problems / new song / Timorous Me / Shake The Sheets / encore: Six Months In A Leaky Boat (Split Enz cover) / Suspect Device (Stiff Little Fingers cover)

Last night I took J.G. and her brother and one of his friends, both of whom just came home from college for the holiday, to the Ottobar to see Ted Leo. The first time I saw TL was a few years ago at the Ottobar, playing to a disinterested half-full room when he opened for the (International) Noise Conspiracy, who I didn't like at all. So it was cool to see him there again, headlining to a room packed full of people and really, maybe the best crowd I've ever seen at one of his shows, definitely louder and more appreciative than the audiences at his D.C. shows. And it was also cool to see him in a considerably more intimate setting than the last time I saw him, at the 9:30 Club.

Ted had a cold but for the most part the performance didn't suffer from it. The setlist was a decent mix of new and old, the highlights for me were "Counting Down The Hours", "Six Months", and also "Biomusicology" with Amy Dominguez, who played cello on the original studio version. There were a couple new songs, and the first one they played was really really good. Hopefully this means a new album next year, which is reassuring considering that earlier this year Ted was talking in interviews about hanging up the rock band thing and getting a day job.

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Movie Diary

Tuesday, November 22, 2005
1. Sign O' The Times
Considering that this is a concert film version of one of Prince's best and most canonized albums, it's surprising how little I've ever heard about it, even in Matos's SOTT book it gets just a passing mention. And I mean, it's not bad, if you can handle the hilariously pretentious dramatic vignettes that occasionally pop up between songs, although all in all it does kind of take away from the odd magic of the album itself. There are a few songs that the live renditions drop the ball on (the title track comes to mind), but there's also an amazing "If I Was Your Girlfriend", and performances that made me like songs I always kind of disliked or ignored like "Forever In My Life" and "Play In The Sunshine". And the sheer variety of different treatments of the songs highlights what I love about Sign O' The Times to begin with: the multitudes it contains.

2. Walk The Line
Covered on Powet Movies.

3. Casualties of Love: The Long Island Lolita Story
Holding the dubious distinction of being one of the most memorable ripped-from-the-headlines made-for-TV movies of all time, when this came on the Encore channel, I just had to watch it. And it was definitely worth it, from the laughably sympathetic rendering of Joey Buttafuoco, to Alyssa Milano's insane sweatpants cameltoe, to the surprisingly grisly depiction of Mary Jo's bloody head soaking the hospital bed pillow.

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Monday, November 21, 2005
Curt Kirkwood review on Stylus.

Note: In light of the end of Stylus in 2007, I decided to archive the text of all my reviews for the site on this blog for posterity, since I don't what the future holds for the Stylus domain, and have included both the letter grade ratting that accompanied the original review, and an adjusted rating that I would give the record now in retrospect.

Curt Kirkwood
Snow
Little Dog
2005
Stylus rating: C
Adjusted rating by reviewer: C+

Snow is Curt Kirkwood's first solo album, 25 years after he began the legendary Arizona trio the Meat Puppets with his younger brother Cris Kirkwood and friend Derrick Bostrom, and ten years since the band's original lineup was last heard from. After 1995's No Joke, Cris Kirkwood spiralled into a long, dark period of drug addiction and legal troubles, sidelining the band indefinitely. But Snow is far from the first time Curt has attempted to move on with a new project. In fact, it's his 4th album under a different name in the past 5 years.

Curt's first post-Meat Puppets band, a quartet formed in Austin as the Royal Neanderthal Orchestra, eventually succumbed to the need for name recognition to secure a label deal, and released the 2000 album Golden Lies as the Meat Puppets. Shortly after, the Meat Puppets 2.0, as they became known among fans, broke up, and Kirkwood was next seen in Eyes Adrift, a supergroup with Nirvana bassist Krist Novaselic and Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh who released a self-titled album in 2002. The next year Eyes Adrift broke up, and Kirkwood re-teamed with Gaugh and others in 2004 as Volcano, who yet again broke up shortly after their debut album was released to little fanfare. After a series of failed groups, Kirkwood is finally striking out on his own with a solo album, which is probably for the best. Even if it doesn't do well, at least there's no messy breakup.

Snow's first song, "Golden Lies", shares its title (and little else) with the sole album by the aborted Meat Puppets 2.0. Where Golden Lies the album fused the band's slick, melodic 90's sound with awkward forays into rap-metal territory, "Golden Lies" the song is, like much of Snow, a twangy, stripped down recording that reconnects Kirkwood to his country influences more explicitly than anything he's done in the past decade. Snow also reunites Kirkwood with producer Pete Anderson, who also worked on the Meat Puppets' 1991 major label debut Forbidden Places. Best known for his work with country artists like Dwight Yoakam, Anderson was considered an ill-fitting producer for the Puppets at the time, picked by the band's label, who didn't know what to do with the country-influenced Southwestern punk band who later connected much more successfully with an alt-rock audience. But aside from the occasional tasteful swell of pedal steel on songs like "Circles," Snow hardly bears the fingerprints of Nashville professionalism.

Anderson's production and arrangements on Snow are spare and naturalistic, accompanying Kirkwood's voice and guitars with light touches of bass, percussion, organ, and occasionally an unexpected twist like the trumpet solo at the end of "Light Bulb." The Meat Puppets' albums have always been distinguished and dated by their production, from the early SST albums recorded on a shoestring budget, to the synthesizers and drum machines of 1987's Mirage, to the heavy, compressed grunge guitar sound of 1994's Too High To Die. But on Snow, the production's invisible hand strips away all extraneous layers so that, for better or worse, Kirkwood's songs stand by themselves. There's always been a charm to his low, unsteady croon, especially when he layers vocal harmonies. And the acoustic treatment suits Kirkwood well, considering that the biggest audience he's ever had was when he and his brother appeared on Nirvana's MTV Unplugged to play three Meat Puppets tunes.

The songs on Snow frequently recall different eras of Kirkwood's past. The steady and somber gallop of "Box Of Limes" sounds like a cousin of Meat Puppets II's "Lost". And several songs travel the same territory as the bright, sunsoaked melodies of No Joke. Kirkwood's guitar solos have always been one of his greatest strengths, but Snow unfortunately skimps on them, although the two gorgeous solos on "In Bone" nearly make up for it.

Kirkwood's first band's joyfully nihilistic sense of the absurd is largely absent on Snow, but the subdued sensibility that takes its place suits him. It's clearly the work of a talented veteran, approaching middle age and weary from years of personal tragedy and career missteps. It's a quiet, uneventful, and sometimes even dull album. But it's also a solid step in the right direction after years of trying to recreate the magical group dynamic of the original Meat Puppets that's likely to ever happen again. For once, Curt Kirkwood is standing on his own and being himself, and only good can come of it.

Reviewed by: Al Shipley
Reviewed on: 2005-11-21

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Saturday, November 19, 2005
in my stereo:

Sheek Louch - After Taxes
Black Rob - The Black Rob Report
Trick Daddy - Thug Holiday
Petra Haden - Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out
Nels Cline / Wally Shoup / Chris Corsano - Immolation/Immersion
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Lungfish - Feral Hymns
DNA/Don Brody - Bitches N Gunz
South Paw Entertainment - South Paw Entertainment
DJ Unique - Classic Odell's Club Mix Vol. 2

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Narrowcast loves VH1 Classic

Thursday, November 17, 2005
Anthony used to do running commentary on videos on VH1 Classic, but he hasn't in a while, and now that the greatest video channel in the world is finally part of my cable package, I'm stealing the idea.

Robert Palmer - "Looking For Clues"
A 1980 new wave chestnut in which Palmer looks and sounds so much like Sting that it honestly took me a minute to be absolutely sure this wasn't some obscure Police video even though I know the Police catalog fairly well. He looks so ridiculously dorky and awkward bouncing around a blank white set in this that it's not surprising that when he stumbled upon a successful video concept that made him look suave and cool, he kept remaking it over and over.

Chicago - "25 or 6 To 4"
Apparently in 1986, following the departure of Peter Cetera, Chicago re-recorded one of their classic 70's marching band hits for the album Chicago 18 (how many bands have gotten up into double digits with numbered self-titled albums?), with big, harsh 80's overproduced drum machine beats that almost sound proto-industrial. And then, they shot this amazing sci fi video that takes place in the year 2036 in some confusing dystopian future version of Chi-town.

John Mellencamp - "Ain't Even Done With The Night"
John and his band dress up like some kind of R&B vocal group and lip sync with syncronized dance moves and finger snapping. This features one of the greatest moments I've ever seen in a music video, in which Mellencamp's saxophonist lip syncs his own sax solo with completely amazing facial gyrations. It's a good song, too! That recent Mellencamp best-of collection keeps calling to me every time I'm in a record store.

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Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Twista review on Stylus today.

Note: In light of the end of Stylus in 2007, I decided to archive the text of all my reviews for the site on this blog for posterity, since I don't what the future holds for the Stylus domain, and have included both the letter grade ratting that accompanied the original review, and an adjusted rating that I would give the record now in retrospect.

Twista
The Day After
Atlantic
2005
Stylus rating: C
Adjusted rating by reviewer: C+

Whether Twista intended it or not, The Day After is an apt title for the anticlimactic follow-up to a best-selling breakthrough album by a longtime underdog. Last year, the platinum Kamikaze capped off over a decade of minor hits and near misses that had taken him from a novelty artist, best known for a Guinness Book record for the fastest flow in the world, to a respected Chicago rap veteran whose lightening quick guest verses were sought out by damn near everyone North and South of the Mason-Dixon.

The title track that begins The Day After opens with a news reporter saying "We are live at the scene of this tragic accident, where a car has run into a building, the driver has been identified as rapper Twista. Apparently he went Kamikaze. The question is, will the rapper survive?" Then, Chicago soul singer Syleena Johnson begins braying the phrase "you're gonna make it" over and over. This seems to be in reference not to the tour bus accident that Twista was injured in last year, but rather the bizarre story told in the pictures in the liner note booklet for The Day After, in which Twista declares war on a corrupt music industry. So for the purposes of this review, I choose to interpret the album's title as a commentary on Twista's current situation, the metaphorical morning after the biggest hit of his career.

Kamikaze established Twista as a mainstream star with a series of R&B-tinged singles filled with sexual innuendo, an odd feat for a man in his 30's who's unlikely to be seen anytime soon with his shirt off in a video. Twista's always loved juicy, detailed sex raps, and has them down to such a science that one of The Day After's best songs, "I'm A Winner," is pretty much nothing but. His new album repeats Kamikaze's tendency toward soft, romantic material, but with a slightly worse ratio of fluff to fire.

The first sign of The Day After's attempt to replicate Kamikaze's success is the lead single "Girl Tonite," a transparent retread of Twista's 2004 breakout hit. Where the Kanye West-produced "Slow Jamz" cleverly intertwined sex raps with nods to classic R&B over a Luther Vandross sample, "Girl Tonite" samples Ready For The World, one of the groups referenced in "Slow Jamz," and proceeds to reference a dozen more soul singers. Though the song fails at achieving the relaxed, silly vibe of "Slow Jamz," Twista redeems the dull "Girl Tonite" somewhat by dropping hilarious references to "do-it-to-it fluid" and the "reverse cowgirl."

Kanye, a fellow Chicagoan who produced three tracks on Kamikaze, is notably absent from The Day After, leaving Twista with enough of a production budget to call in Scott Storch and the Neptunes. Storch and Pharrell Williams are possibly the most overpaid and, recently, uninspired superproducers in the game right now, and both surprisingly provide The Day After with highlights. Storch takes a break from biting Lil Jon on "Get It How You Live" to take it back to when he was biting apprenticing with Dr. Dre, with a dark, dramatic G-funk banger. And Pharrell, who has been squandering the Neptunes' do-no-wrong reputation for the past couple years with weak, wack, wishy-washy beats, actually makes those flimsy acoustic drum sounds snap and pop beautifully on "Lavish," and raps a verse at Twista speed, amazingly not embarrassing himself.

"Heartbeat" switches up the smoother sounds of the album's first half as Twista raps through a monstrously low, pitch-shifting effect to attain a "screw voice" and makes breathy Freddy Kruger sound effects. But then the next track, "Holding Down The Game" concludes by slowing the track down to screwed speed. 2005 will go down as the year that Houston's "screwed and chopped" culture went mainstream, and all damn year we've had albums by artists like Missy Elliott and Kanye West in which they screw a track for a few bars for novelty value. Shit, Erykah Badu even did it in a video back in 2002. There's nothing wrong with a tip of the hat to DJ Screw from non-Houston artists, but when they all do it in the same way that wasn't that clever to begin with, it gets tiresome. And Twista should know better, having made a more subtle reference before, slowing his flow down and drawling "this is for the syrup sippers" on Kamikaze's "Still Feels So Good."

For a few years now, hip-hop stars have been making a sport out of testing out their own doubletime flows on collaborations with Twista. On The Day After, only Lil Kim steps up to the plate with "Do Wrong," which pales in comparison to their previous collaboration, La Bella Mafia's "Thug Luv." Overall, the album's guest list is weighted more toward singers like Mariah Carey and Trey Songz than rappers, which is unfortunate, as Twista has always been at his best when bouncing off of other MC's. And it's telling that the album's best track is the one that features another rapper the most prominently, when Miami's Pitbull steals the spotlight on "Hit The Floor" with his manic Spanglish rhymes. And Ying Yang Twins producer Mr. Collipark, who made waves this year with his "intimate club music" sound, services the track with a decidedly unintimate beat that features the same squeaking siren sounds as David Banner's "Play" to great effect.

Ultimately, The Day After is another middling album from a tremendously talented rapper who will never get the respect he deserves because he's all too eager to make compromised crossover records. That's not to say he should stick with the midwestern goth rap that he still sets aside a few tracks for; he's great at making fun, funny records. But he spends so much time making room for both R&B and gangsta shit on The Day After that there's precious few moments of epic party rap like "Hit The Floor." And even that one you have to wait until the end of the CD to hear.

Reviewed by: Al Shipley
Reviewed on: 2005-11-16

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Monday, November 14, 2005
Whereas I'm pretty much just a music nerd, my brother Zac is a more well rounded nerd with many nerdly interests, and he's been doing a thorough video game blog for a while now. And he just expanded to a couple new blogs that he's invited me to participate in. So far I've posted once to each, about the Trapped In The Closet DVD on Powet Music, and about Tin Men on Powet Movies. I collect blogs like spinsters collect porcelain dolls.

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Saturday, November 12, 2005
top ten:

1. Twista f/ Pitbull - "Hit The Floor"
2. Notorious B.I.G. f/ Twista and Bone Thugs N Harmony - "Spit Your Game"
3. Beyonce f/ Slim Thug - "Check On It"
4. Johnny Cash - "Boy Named Sue"
5. The Posies - "That Don't Fly"
6. Tim Trees - "We Don't Love 'Em" aka "Wayne Jones"
7. Jay-Z - "It's Hot (Some Like It Hot)"
8. Ebony Eyez - "Good Vibrations"
9. Styles P. f/ Akon - "Can U Believe It"
10. R. Kelly - "Trapped In The Closet (Chapter 8)"

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Friday, November 11, 2005
On Tuesday night, J.G. and I went to the Ottobar to see our friend Chris's band Private Eleanor. It was supposed to be an early show but for some reason at the last minute that was changed, so we got there way early and had to wait outside for a few, and elected to go to the Exxon across the street to snack on butterscotch krimpets. Also, one of the bands on the bill, Swords, appeared to have not shown and the replacement was a band from L.A. called The Brokedown. How they came from that far away and were added to the bill on such short notice, I have no idea. But they were pleasant and jangly, although I kept wishing for less songs with keyboards and more with 2 guitars.

This was my 3rd time seeing Private Eleanor, but the first since having their new album (which was reviewed by Jess in the City Paper) for a while and kinda knowing the songs. It's really been growing on me, it's good mellow music for cooking dinner to. Even as a live 6-piece they're still pretty quiet and restrained, but it felt like more of a rock show this time. We didn't stick around for the other 2 bands on the bill that are kind of well known and have gotten a lot of press, Dios (Malos) and Dr. Dog.

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TV Diary

Wednesday, November 09, 2005
The Boondocks
The comic strip's always been hit or miss with me, so I wasn't sure what to expect from the animated series, and so far I'm not crazy about it. What bugs me mostly is Regina King's voices for Huey and Riley, which are neither realistic nor particularly funny or used to good effect. It doesn't even sound like her, even. I can appreciate the logic behind using an adult woman to voice prepubescent boys in a cartoon, Bart Simpson-style, especially if the series does well and has a long run. It just doesn't work, in this case. The rest of the voices are better though, especially John Witherspoon (who tones down his usual schtick to the point that I didn't recognize him) as the grandfather, and the guest spots by Charlie Murphy and Ed Asner in the first episode. And I was pretty impressed with what they managed to get on the air. There were a couple bleeped curses and pixelated middle fingers and, disturbingly, full frontal grandpa, but they let the n-word fly along with guns and a lot of other stuff that would never get by in the comic strip (or probably on most other networks). I just hope the show turns out to be consistently funny and doesn't just trade on the shock value of statements that aren't actually that shocking to much of its audience.

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Tuesday, November 08, 2005
On Saturday night, I hung out with Jim and we checked out "Cashed Out" at the Ottobar, a Johnny Cash tribute night that was put together to promote the upcoming biopic Walk The Line. We were among the first x number of people to enter the club, so we got passes to the premiere of Walk The Line at the Senator the night before the national release next week, so I'm hyped about that. Like Jim said, there was a weird spectrum of local acts playing Cash favorites at the show, from the straightforward to the half-assed indie to the novelty ukelele/melodica duo. This one band The Expotentials rendered their selections unrecognizable in a big mess of fuzzy garage rock, but their drummer was so incredible that they were my favorite performance of the night. After that, there was Cash karaoke, and half the people sang stuff that Cash covered and didn't even really popularize, like "Hurt" or a Neil Diamond song, which was weird.

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Sunday, November 06, 2005
Last Thursday I took J.G. to see Evita at the Hippodrome, which I gave her tickets to for her birthday. It was cool to see the inside of the Hippodrome for once , it's really nice in there. I even kinda got into the play, it was well done and there were a lot of Broadway veterans in the cast. Never saw the movie or any other production of it, but I liked it. It's such a weird fusion of history and music and gallows humor. I had no idea Che Guevera could be so funny! And such a good singer!

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Saturday, November 05, 2005
in my stereo:

Curt Kirkwood - Snow
The Mekons - Heaven & Hell: The Very Best of the Mekons
Mullyman - Mullymania
D.O.G./Clinton Sparks - Invisible Set presents Champagne Dreams: The Prequel
Skarr Akbar/Los/D.R.O.P. - Live From Da Bloc: The Triangle Offense
DJ Lil Jay - Operation: Play Time
Labtekwon - Avant God
various artists - On Da Grind Vol. 2: The Hotness Continues Compilation
"Rich" - Gemini Concept: Evil Lerks
Dy-verse - Back 2 Basics

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TV Diary

Wednesday, November 02, 2005
1. Random 1
As mentioned previously, I have a personal investment in checking this out just to see what my friend's been working on for the last few months. The first episode was promising and definitely set a tone. Like, the two main hosts/creators are out there trying to go nice things for strangers, all while bickering and cutting each other down, which accounts for the comedic element. It kind of bugged me that the intro voiceover characterized them as some kind of charitable organization that would be doing what they do with or without a TV show, which as I understood it is not the case. They alternate between two different cases per episode, and the difference between the two demonstrated the range of people they work with. One was a homeless amputee who needed a new leg, and the other was a Stanford-educated woman who wanted help getting a job with a nonprofit agency that does something good for society. The latter storyline didn't produce much drama, but the homeless guy, Bruce, was a pretty sad story and it did get a little emotional when they were actually able to do something for him. Plus it was one of segments that was actually shot in the Baltimore area, so we got to spot various recognizable places on the Jones Falls Expressway and York Road throughout the episode.

2. Everybody Hates Chris
Been watching it on and off, and it took me a couple episodes to really get into it, which was a little disappointing initially. All the Wonder Years comparisons had me excited, I still have a soft spot for that show. Plus I've always kind of been curious about the fact that Chris Rock, for all his reputation as a kind of daring, controversial comic, really has a clear affection for kind of wholesome mainstream comedy (see: Down To Earth, and to a lesser degree The President) that seems more sincere than just trying to sell out/soften up like Eddie Murphy. So it is kind of nice to see him indulge that sensibility with some success, even if it comes off a little too Malcom In The Middle for my taste sometimes.

3. CSI: NY
Gary Sinise forensic bbq.

4. The Colbert Report
I'm kinda mad at this show just because Colbert's "This Week In God" segments have been my favorite part of The Daily Show for the last couple years and now they have Corddry doing that and it's just not the same. Jury's still kind out on this, though. Been some really funny moments but it doesn't feel like it adds anything to TDS other than another half hour of similiar programming.

5. Movies 101
Though Inside The Actor's Studio may have given us a great target for satire and one of Will Ferrell's greatest impressions, fact is all of James Lipton's ridiculousness got in the way of what was a pretty good concept for a show. And Movies 101, AMC's kind of transparent rip-off of ITAS, cuts closer to what it could've been. I liked the one I caught w/ George Clooney, who comes across really well when he's just talking craft. I really wanna see that new flick he directed, I thought Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind was mad slept on.

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Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Patterson Park is about 3 blocks from the apartment J.G. and I moved into a couple months ago, but I've been going there for years and years with my dad and to walk his dog. On top of the highest hill in the park, there's this awesome big pagoda that's about a hundred years old and was built on the site of a pivotal battle with the English that took place in Baltimore during the War of 1812, and they restored it a few years ago so that you can go up into it and from the top you can see the harbor and practically the whole East side of the city. Last time we went to the pagoda a few weeks ago, someone there told us about the Lantern Parade that apparently the Creative Alliance people have been doing there the last few years on the weekend before Halloween. So we went and checked that out on Saturday and it was pretty cool. I've almost never been in the park after sunset, so it was surreal to be there at night and see maybe a couple hundred people marching through the park with these paper lanterns and big paper mache monsters and other weird art projects, with high school marching bands playing these big loud drum cadences, while a bunch of people from the neighborhood come out with their kids and their dogs to watch. I'm definitely gonna do that again next year, and maybe I'll make a lantern and march in the parade.

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