So tomorrow is Thursday. But not just any Thursday. It's the beginning of NBC's Thursday fall lineup. You know what that means...
More tepid episodes of "The Office." Yeah, okay, enough with Jim and Pam already. Christ.
More episodes of the hotness that is Tina Fey, the bastardismo that is Alec Baldwin, and the mental train wreck that is Tracy Morgan, in the show that is "30 Rock."
A new season from those scrappy underdogs over at "Community." Initially I wasn't a huge fan of this show, but it really grew on me. That paintball episode. Brilliant.
All new episodes from "Parks and Recreation," undoubtedly the best show on NBC's lineup, featuring a great cast, hilarious writing and Aubrey Plaza as April the ravenous underachiever. Man I love this show. It's shows like this one that give me hope for the future of the network.
Some new bullshit show called "Outsourced."
Guess I won't be seeing you 'till November, Baby.
Really, NBC? You're pushing "Parks and Recreation" back to mid-season just so you can launch another sitcom about people talking on phones all day? Do you have any idea how eagerly I've been waiting for more DJ Roomba? So this is how you treat your loyal viewers, eh? Conan has taught you nothing? Well then, good day, sir.
Congratulations to Steve Wiebe for once again reclaiming his Donkey Kong world record from the dastardly hot sauce guy Billy Mitchell. Twin Galaxies, the official score keepers for all things old, electronic, and geeky, announced today that Wiebe is once again the best Donkey Konger in the world.
For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about (which, honestly, is probably a fair number), Wiebe and his nemisis Mitchell were the subjects of a 2007 documentary called "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters ," which focused on Wiebe's uphill battle for vindication in the surprisingly seedy world of classic arcade video game record-breaking. Sounds kind of weak, I know. But the film's actually one of the better documentaries of the past few years, a classic underdog scenario revolving around what I can only describe as one of the best gamer role models out there.
The nefarious Billy Mitchell
Nicely done, Steve. Way to bring the title back to the Pacific Northwest where it belongs.
Information Technology Schools just published a list of ten autobiographical graphic novels that should be on anyone's bookshelf. Coming in at number four is one of my all-time favorites:
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi: Marjane Satrapi was just a child during the Iranian Revolution, and her acclaimed memoir reveals what it was like to be a young girl in a country rife with danger and upheaval. In addition to being a funny, bittersweet memoir (the narrative covers her teen years and early adulthood), it’s also a straightforward primer on the country’s history.
The list has several gems, including some Eisner, some Peker, and of course some Spiegelman. Then there are a few I've never even heard of, like Alison Bechdel's Fun Home. Hmm, time to make a trip to the library.
Anywho, take a look at the rest of ITS's list here on their blog. And go read Persepolis, if you haven't yet. It's amazing. At least go watch the movie, it's almost as good.
"Fleischer's Snow White was animated by ONE person, produced by a Jewish animation studio, in the Depression, featuring images of gambling and alcohol, starring a jazz singer."
That's how badass. Maybe this is why Disney hated the Jews; they kept on making him look bad. Does anyone else think this little video clip would somehow make a phenomenal Coen Brothers movie?
"Morrison said Batman coming out of 52 OYL will be a more of a 'fun guy, more healthy,' more like the 'Neal Adams, hairy-chested, love-god' version of Batman.’"
Newsarama-- February 15, 2006
This post probably won't mean much to you if you're not a Batman and/or Grant Morrison fan. But for those of us in the know, check out this little tidbit, lately posted on DC's Source Blog.
"Can you say Caveman Batman? Sure. Well, now you can see him, too."
The Source has more Chris Sprouse/ Karl Story artwork posted on the site, if you're interested. Three cheers for the return of the hairy-chested love god!
I've said it before, I'll say it again. Last night's vote on health care reform was do-or-die time for the Democratic Party. If passage would have been blocked in the House last night, the Democrats' failure would have been seen as a high-water mark. The party would have been demoralized beyond repair and likely obliterated in November.
Instead, the passage of health care reform is a rally point for the Left. The Right threw absolutely everything it could at Democrats, Congress, President Obama, and anyone else even vaguely associated with the Democratic party over the last year. They pulled out all the stops in terms of hyperbole, disruption, misinformation, and intimidation. Thanks to relentless smears by far-Right talking heads, Democrats were caricatured as nazi-socialist-fascist-maoists, intent on destroying the American Dream, killing Grandma, and leading the true Americans to slaughter. And for a while, it looked like the GOP was succeeding. Two months ago, there wasn't much hope for health care reform. Like the failed attempt of 1993-1994, it seemed that health care reform circa 2009 would be just another Democratic Waterloo.
And now, thanks to the tireless efforts of President Obama and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi among others, it's a brand new day for the Democratic Party. Health Care reform made it through the House and will soon make it to the Executive Office and then the law books. The Waterloo prophesy will not come to pass. At least, not for Democrats.
Former Bush speechwriter David Frum has a very interesting take on what health care reform passage means for the Right. And while I don't quite agree with his predictions of a GOP sweep in November (sure, we'll lose some seats, but that's what historically happens anyway), I think he's dead-on regarding the irreversible damage health care reform has done to his party, and the actual motives of Conservative mouthpieces. Here's a little tidbit from his article, "Waterloo."
"So today’s defeat for free-market economics and Republican values is a huge win for the conservative entertainment industry. Their listeners and viewers will now be even more enraged, even more frustrated, even more disappointed in everybody except the responsibility-free talkers on television and radio. For them, it’s mission accomplished. For the cause they purport to represent, it’s Waterloo all right: ours."
Here's a link to Frum's article in its entirety. I highly recommend it.
Mark Linkous, a singer and songwriter whose music, released under the name Sparklehorse, was renowned in indie-rock and alt-country circles for its haunted, allusive themes and fragile beauty, committed suicide on Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn. He was 47.
He shot himself in the heart in an alley outside a friend’s home, said his manager, Shelby Meade. Lt. Greg Hoskins of the Knoxville Police Department confirmed that the police responded to a call at 1:20 p.m., and that Mr. Linkous was pronounced dead at the scene. According to his family, Mr. Linkous owned the gun that he used.
On four Sparklehorse albums, released between 1995 and 2006, and in numerous collaborations, Mr. Linkous developed a style that sent sunny, Beatles-esque melodies through a filter of crackling, damaged folk-rock, and his songs were filled with entropic imagery. “Everything that’s made is made to decay,” he sang in a whispery tenor on Sparklehorse’s debut album, “Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot” (Capitol).
Frederick Mark Linkous was born in Arlington, Va., in 1962 to a family with roots in the coal-mining country of southwestern Virginia. After graduating from high school he moved to New York City and started the band the Dancing Hoods, which relocated to Los Angeles in pursuit of mainstream rock success. But disillusioned with the music business, Mr. Linkous returned to Virginia and reinvented his sound as Sparklehorse, a name that he applied to himself as well as his band.
“We were trying so hard to get signed, and I just quit and came back home and just gave up on all those aspirations of being a rock star,” he said in an interview in 1999. “That’s when I started making good music.”
Although Sparklehorse’s music never had wide commercial success, it found respect among critics and other musicians. Rolling Stone called its 1999 album, “Good Morning Spider,” a “homemade tour de force of psychedelic Appalachian folk slop,” and the third Sparklehorse record, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” released in 2001, had guest appearances by Tom Waits and PJ Harvey.
While on tour in 1996, Mr. Linkous collapsed in a hotel room after taking Valium and antidepressants. He briefly went into cardiac arrest before being revived, and he sustained injuries to his legs that put him in a wheelchair for six months. His legs never fully recovered their strength. His convalescence inspired “St. Mary,” a song on his second album named after the hospital where he recuperated. “Come on boys,” he sings, “please let me taste the clean air in my lungs.”
Mr. Linkous was also in demand as a producer, working with the singer Daniel Johnston and the Swedish singer (and member of the Cardigans) Nina Persson, among others. He collaborated with Danger Mouse and the director David Lynch on “Dark Night of the Soul,” an album and photo book whose scheduled release last year was delayed by legal entanglements; last week Danger Mouse announced that those problems had been worked out and that the album would be released soon.
Mr. Linkous had recently completed most of the work for a new Sparklehorse album and was in the process of moving to Knoxville and setting up a studio to complete the record, said Ms. Meade, his manager.
His survivors include his wife, Teresa Linkous; his mother, Gloria Hughes Thacker; his father, Frederick Linkous, and stepmother, Leta; and three brothers, Matt, Paul and Daniel Linkous.
