The Late Shift, Cont...

NBC is moving forward with their next great idea, and moving Jay Leno and his big dumb Harley back to 10:35 (CST)... Conan will be backed up to 11:05, and then Jimmy Fallon will begin @ 12:05. Evidently this will all take place after the Winter Olympics conclude. Although it sucks Conan is being kicked all over the place for the sake of a guy who isn't really funny at all, there are a few silver linings here. For one thing, O'Brien won't have to compete with the Colbert Report anymore, which is surely affecting Tonight Show ratings right now. In addition, this creates the opportunity for NBC to actually put real shows on @ 9:00 again, which, despite opening the door for more awful reality garbage, hopefully ensures that shows like Chuck don't go the way of Life (I'm still steaming about that). Finally, this should mean that someone will have to take over Carson Daly's spot at the top of the list of people who least deserve to have their own late-night talk show (I vote Chelsea Handler). Last call, Carson!

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R.I.P. 'Life'

It's official: NBC sucks.

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Fikaked: April!

1. Unfortunately, it sounds like NBC is planning to pull the plug on one of the best shows on television, Life. Apparently the "let's move the show to a different time slot every week and see if anyone can guess when it's on" campaign didn't turn out too well. Nice one, NBC. Boo.

2. Free Richard Alpert! Hopefully this is accurate. It's been a long time coming...

3. Jeremy Enigk's new album, OK Bear, is out there, finally, and it's really solid. Continues along the same lines as World Waits, but not as dramatic or produced. "Mind Idea" is awesome.

4. Best top 5 American Idol has put together since I've been watching the show. No question. They don't know how to shut up, and Adam is downright obnoxious, but all of them can definitely blow.

5. Finally watched Role Models this week. HILARIOUS.

6. Iron & Wine have released both an odds-and-ends compilation (Around the Well) and a live album (Norfolk). I don't have to tell you they're both great - it's Iron & Wine, isn't it?

7. I had a friend call me the other day to let me know that only about 5 people showed up to a Junior Boys show in Lexington, KY. I'm assuming people there are still trying to get their lives back together after the Wildcats lackluster basketball season. There really is no other possible explanation.

8. The new Dirty Projectors album, Bitte Orca is at best a grower, and at worst something that I'm never going to be able to figure out/get into. Their collaboration with David Byrne on Dark Was the Night and the first single from Bitte, "Stillness is the Move", are both pretty catchy, but evidently that isn't their m.o. Definitely not for everybody.

9. Is there anything cooler on the internet than Daytrotter? Here's a list of all the bands that have played for them (you can download their performances for free on the site, by the way).

10. Two other absolutely awesome websites: This is Why You're Fat & FailBlog. Go check 'em out. Guaranteed you'll be a repeat customer.

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Fikaked: January!

My daughter turned 8 weeks old today; hard to believe...

Since we've got her home:

1. She's put on almost 3 pounds and 3 inches.
2. She can actually see things.
3. She looks more like her beautiful mom every day.
4. My wife has become addicted to Discovery (un)Health(y). That channel seriously airs some of the most disturbing (and depressing) programming I've ever seen.
5. She's actually slept through the entire night several times.
6. She's learned to like baths.
7. We figured out she likes to listen to Jay-Z.
8. Her mom has changed about 1,000 diapers (I've changed a few, too).
9. She's developed a kung fu grip.
10. She looks more like me everyday.

I'm definitely looking forward to the next few months, and all the months after that.

Some other observations from the past couple weeks:

1. The new Loney Dear album, Dear John is really good. I've absolutely been wearing it out. "Airport Surroundings" is my favorite song of 2009 so far.

2. Gran Torino was the first movie I've gone to the theater to watch since Hadley was born, and it was worth the wait. I thought the story was great, and Clint Eastwood is the man. There are a lot of young actors involved, and some of them aren't great, but it doesn't really matter because Eastwood just dominates the screen the entire time. Awesome movie.

3. Lost is finally back on. It's been a long wait, especially since last season was so good. I thought the 2 hour premier last Wednesday was pretty exciting, albeit confusing at times. Let's just hope the writers have been watching how complicated, ridiculous, and stupid Heroes has become over the past two seasons and that they do everything they can to steer clear of a mess like that...

4. After seeing those Geico commercials featuring their new mascot "Kash" about ten times, I realized that I was hooked on the background music for said commercials. I did some investigating and found out that it's actually a cover of an 80s song (no wonder it sounds so familiar). "Somebody's Watching Me" was originally recorded by r&b artist Rockwell, who happens to be the son of a Motown founder. Anyway, it's been remixed by a production group named Mysto and Pizzi. Evidently, they have done work with some real big-timers like R. Kelly and Justin Timberlake. You can get a free download of the track here. I can't stop listening to it.

5. As long as the wait for Lost was, the wait for my all-time favorite show, 24, seemed like an eternity. The strike prevented the show from airing any episodes last year, so the 7th season really has been a long time coming. It wasn't all bad, though. To be quite honest, season 6 sucked really hard, and the writers needed all 18 of those months to get their crap together. So far, it's paying off. The first 6 episodes have been intense, and just seem way more fresh than last season's. I'm keeping my fingers crossed everything stays on track.

6. As much as it hurts me to say this, Deerhunter's second album is the bomb. It's called Microcastles, and I really didn't want to like it. I certainly didn't like their first record, and the amount of hype it received (especially from these guys) got on my nerves, frankly. I'm sure there's a reason it got so much attention, but it sounded like a bunch of noise to me, and I just couldn't get into it. Luckily, my friend Kyle talked me into giving them another try. I don't plan on going back to Cryptograms anytime soon, but Microcastles is rocking my world right now.

7. Why can't NBC just leave Life in one friggin' time slot? It's literally been moved 5 or 6 times from Monday to Wednesday to Friday to Wednesday and back to Friday again. It's almost like they're pulling a prank or something. The only time they've ever left it at the same spot for an extended period of time, it did very well in the ratings. It's probably my favorite new show from the past two years, but it doesn't stand a chance of being renewed if NBC doesn't let viewers figure out when the hell it's going to be on.

8. I've gotta admit, sometimes I find my self uninterested in hearing a new band because I don't like their name. I don't know why, and no, I don't know what the formula is for a good name or anything like that. Whatever the reason, Animal Collective fell into that category, and, despite the buzz around them, I've avoided listening to them for a long time. When I finally gave in and listened to their new album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, it was good enough to make me feel stupid for avoiding these guys for so long. If you've never heard them before, they've kinda got that retro 60s sound (heavy on the harmonies and reverb). Highly recommended. Besides that, look at the cover art. It looks like it's moving, doesn't it? Freaky...

9. American Idol has been more interesting so far this year. The new judge has had her share of stupid comments, but at least she's got some common sense.

10. History is in the making, people. The Big Red are in the Superbowl! I've spent my entire life rooting for the Cubs of the NFL. My dad's been following them for 20 years longer than I have. The last time they won a home playoff game and more than a single game in one post-season was 60 years and two cities ago.


Oh yeah, and that new guy moving into the White House is a pretty big deal, too.

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