Is This Thing On?

Been a while; anybody still out there? Here's a list of some things that don't suck. Been a pretty decent summer:

Bon Iver Bon Iver*

Battles Gloss Drop

The Cars Move Like This

Explosions in the Sky Take Care, Take Care*

Foo Fighters Wasting Light

Junior Boys It's All True

Maritime Human Hearts

Release the Sunbird Come Back to Us

Mock Orange Disguised as Ghosts

The Sea and Cake Moonlight Butterfly

Washed Out Within and Without

The Wooden Birds Two Matchsticks

Fringe

Friday Night Lights* (TV) - May not be new to you, but it is to me.

Shark Week

Captain America: The First Avenger

Super 8

Have given in to the realization that Cowboys & Aliens isn't going to be mind-blowingly awesome, but I'm holding out hope it's going to be fun. Let you know after tomorrow...

*If you don't like this Album/Show/Movie, listen to/watch it again, and try harder. If that doesn't work for you, get your head checked.

BTW...

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Spoon Find a Way to Get Even More Funky Than Usual

Wow, the coolest band around took advantage of an opportunity last night to incorporate members of what is possibly the second coolest band out there into their live performance of slow burner "Nobody Gets Me But You". And the results are absolutely filthy good. Dueling bassists, ?uestlove providing auxiliary percussion, and the massive payoff when they all finally cut loose result in something that is flat out too spectacular not to watch at least twice. Sorry about the advertisements, but this is flippin' awesome:

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Dr. Funke's 100% Natural Good-Time Family-Band Solution

Not really sure if anyone has ever actually taken this band seriously. They really are something to admire. The glue that holds these people together is something stronger than just the music. Stronger than love. Stronger than blood. Nobody can really quite put their finger on what it is but we all should feel lucky to have them around. They just keep it simple. Simple like one of those old blues artists where it was just one person-one guitar. Its just so easy to feel the joy, the pain, or the chemically induced sense of joy. See and hear for yourself.

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The National (and Some Other Guy) Perform "Afraid of Everyone" on Letterman

I'm going to be up front: This is not an objective post. If you've followed this blog at all, I've made it pretty apparent what I think of The National and their music. In fact, a few weeks ago I referred to them as "the best band this side of the Atlantic". I know, that's a pretty lofty declaration. I also know that anything I say beyond this point will probably now be chalked up to fanboy bias. But don't allow that to distract you; the proof is in the music. High Violet has done nothing but solidify their status as one of the best bands out there. And, by the way, if you somehow need more proof, look no further than their performance on The Late Show last night. They brought Sufjan-freaking-Stevens on stage with them, tossed him over to the side, had him oooooh and ahhhhhh and shake a tamborine a little bit, and that was it. His name was never even mentioned! I realize the guy isn't a household personality, but he did manage to produce one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the 00s, didn't he? Anyway, this song is filthy good. Check it:

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'24' Gets "Jacked"

Well, you could see this coming from as far away as just about any one of the plot twists of the past 3 seasons: 24 will come to an end at the conclusion of this, the eighth, season. Sort of. According to EW.com, a movie franchise is already in the works, which could be really interesting. Relieving Jack and Co. of the constraints that exist because of its "real-time" format could do a lot of good, and, according to Keifer Sutherland, this version of 24 will definitely not be held within those same confines. Can't say I blame them. As Keifer also states in the article, “The writers are producing the equivalent of 12 films a year, which is unheard of." Good point. Ironically, this season has done a much better job of keeping me on my toes than either of the past two. That is, until they pulled out the old "there's a double agent that's infiltrated CTU" plot twist again. Anyway, now that this has all been decided, maybe it will heighten anticipation a little bit as this season winds down. We shall see. I wonder what they're gonna do with the clock sequence at the end? Maybe it will explode or something...

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Rogue Wave Hit Late Night w/ Fallon

Rogue Wave rocked Jimmy Fallon's show last night with "Solitary Gun", which, when it's all said and done, might be the most enduring track from their new album, Permalight. On a side note, I'm wondering if anyone behind the stage had actually ever heard this song before the pre-show warmup, or if they'd ever even heard of the band itself. If not, they do a decent job of faking it, but it just seems kinda like some weird Late Night version of MTV Beach House or something. I don't know; maybe it's just me. Anyway, enjoy:

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The Lonely Island's "Boombox" Gets the Proper Vid Treatment

Finally, the second-best song from Incredibad gets a video that matches its excellence. So grab yourself a boiled goose, sit back, and enjoy:

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Nurse Jackie - Season 2

Season 2 of Nurse Jackie starts Monday, March 22nd! This is just another in the string of great Showtime shows. I'm really looking forward to this because the first season left off on a major cliff hanger. If you haven't been watching, you should totally check it out. It's got Edie Falco, it's about drugs, blood & infidelity, and is easily the best hospital show...maybe ever. Sorry Grey's Anatomy, ER, Scrubs, Hawthorne, & etc. fans. If you're into mediocrity this may not be for you.

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It's Finally Here: HBO's The Pacific

It's taken over a year of waiting, but The Pacific has finally arrived. It debuts tomorrow night on HBO, and, by most accounts, it was well worth the wait - it has thus far received a cumulative score of 87 on Metacritic (equating to "Universal Acclaim" on their scale). Some have even gone so far as to declare it better than Band of Brothers (which was also produced by Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, & HBO), though I'm not sure that's really possible. I guess we'll see. Until then, chew on this (be warned: this trailer contains both graphic images and "colorful" language):

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Overdue: Broken Bells on Letterman

Earlier in the week, Broken Bells performed the crap out of "The High Road" on The Late Show. Tried to post it then, but YouTube wouldn't have it. So if you haven't seen it already, here ya go; better late than never. Also: If you're one of those honest people who didn't download this entire album a month and a half ago, it was officially released this week. Enjoy:

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Conan Says "Goodnight"

Congratulations, NBC: You suck. Been out a few days, but in case you somehow missed it, Conan and NBC reached a buyout agreement, Jay is still trying to present himself as a victim in all of this, and January 22 saw The Tonight Show with Conan O'brien come to an end waaaay too soon. Of course, O'brien and the gang didn't go quietly; he defiantly ripped NBC up through Thursday night before bowing graciously and thanking NBC (but not Leno, mind you) on Friday night, had plenty of great guests and surprise appearances, and highlighted some of the best moments from his short stint as host of The Tonight Show. And then came one of the coolest things I've ever seen on television. After saying his goodbyes (for now), Conan closed out his version of one of the most storied and respected franchises in all of media with a goofy all-star jam rendition of "Freebird" that was at times just flat-out weird. It featured Max Weinberg and the rest of the Tonight Show Band, Ben Harper, Conan, Billy Gibbons (of ZZ Top), and Beck, with none other than Will Ferrell leading the way - and he brought his cowbell! Not sure that it was funny or that it even served any purpose, but it was pure Conan:

Goodnight, Conan. See you soon...

More on last night:

Evidently a lot of people were watching, and Jimmy Fallon and The Roots did a pretty awesome tribute at the top of their show:

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Parks and Recreation Auditions: RZA

Parks and Recreation is the Wu-Tang of Comedy - watch more funny videos

Amazingly, not the first time Amy Poehler has worked with the RZA. The Wu-Tang were also on Season 2, Episode 3 of Upright Citizens Brigade.
Fun facts!

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Taiwanese Late Night Explanation, Throwdown Style

I like this version better, especially the computer-animated brawl at the end:

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Jay's Side of the Story

Earlier this evening, NBC released a transcript of Jay Leno's monologue from tonight's Jay Leno Show. In it, Jay attempts to explain his angle on this mess. As far as the probability of a potential shuffle and the termination of The Tonight Show with Conan O'brien, "inevitable" seems to be the word:

“I thought maybe I should address this. At least give you my view of what has been going on here at NBC. Oh, let’s start in 2004. 2004 I’m sitting in my office, an NBC executive comes in and says to me, listen, Conan O’Brien has gotten offers from other networks. We don’t want him to go, so we’re going to give him ‘The Tonight Show.’ I said, ‘well, I’ve been number one for 12 years.’ They said, ‘we know that, but we don’t think you can sustain that.’ I said, ‘okay. How about until I fall to number two, then you fire me?’ ‘No, we made this decision.’ I said, ‘that’s fine.’ Don’t blame Conan O’Brien. Nice guy, good family guy, great guy. He and I have talked and not a problem since then. That’s what managers and people do, they try to get something for their clients. I said, ‘I’ll retire just to avoid what happened the last time.’ Okay.
So time goes by and we stay number one up until the day we leave. We hand… [applause here] No, no. Okay, but I’m leaving before my contract is out. About six to eight months early. So before I could go anywhere else, I would be at least a year or 18 months before I could go and do a show somewhere else. I said to NBC, ‘would you release me from my contract.’ They said, ‘we want to keep you here.’ Okay. What are your ideas? They said, ‘how about primetime?’ I said, ‘that will never work.’ No, no, we want to put you on at 10:00. We have done focus groups. People will love you at 10:00. Look at these studies showing Jay’s chin at 10:00. People will go crazy. Didn’t seem like a good idea at the time. I said, ‘alright, can I keep my staff?’ There are 175 people that work here. I said, ‘can I keep my staff?’ Yes, you can. Let’s try it. We guarantee you two years on the air, guaranteed. Now for the first four or five months against original shows like ‘CSI’ you’ll get killed, but in the spring and summer when the reruns come, that’s when you’ll pick up. Okay, great. I agree to that.
“Four months go by, we don’t make it. Meanwhile, Conan’s show during the summer, we’re not on, was not doing well. The great hope was that we would help him. Well, we didn’t help him any, okay. They come and go, ‘this show isn’t working. We want to let you go.’ Can you let me out of my contract? No, you’re still a valuable asset to this company. How valuable can I be? You fired me twice. How valuable can I be? Okay. So then, the affiliates are not happy. The affiliates are the ones that own the TV stations. They’re the ones that sort of makes the decisions, they’re not happy with your performance and Conan is not doing well at 11:30. I said, ‘what’s your idea?’ They said, ‘well, look, how about you do a half hour show at 11:30?’ Now, where I come from, when your boss gives you a job and you don’t do it well, I think we did a good job here, but we didn’t’ get the ratings, so you get humbled. I said, ‘okay, I’m not crazy about doing a half hour, but okay. What do you want to do with Conan?’ We’ll put him on at midnight, or 12:05, keeps The Tonight Show, does all that, he gets the whole hour. I said, `okay. You think Conan will go for that?’ Yes, yes. [laughter from the audience] Almost guarantee you. I said okay. Shake hands, that’s it. I don’t have a manager, I don’t have an agent, that’s my handshake deal.
“Next thing I see Conan has a story in the paper saying he doesn’t want to do that. They come back to me and they say if he decides to walk and doesn’t want to do it, do you want the show back? I go, ‘yeah, I’ll take the show back. If that’s what he wants to do. This way, we keep our people working, fine.’ So that’s pretty much where we are. It looks like we might be back at 11:30, I’m not sure. I don’t know. [applause] I don’t know. But through all of this — through all of this, Conan O’Brien has been a gentleman. He’s a good guy. I have no animosity towards him. This is all business. If you don’t get the ratings, they take you off the air. I think you know this town, you can do almost anything. You get ratings they keep you. I don’t get ratings, he wants. That was NBC’s solution. It didn’t work so we might have an answer for you tomorrow. So, we’ll see. That’s basically where it is.”

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'24': Day 8 Premiere

I'll spare you the elaborate (and unnesessary) review of the "4:00pm-5:00pm" and "5:00-6:00pm" episodes of this brand new season of 24, and get down to the essentials.

Reasons Season 8 looks to be more of the same:

• Jack being so close to getting out of the game completely before being pulled back in at the worst possible moment.
• A plot to assassinate an important foreign leader
• The director of CTU is a stiff
• Someone in CTU has personal problems
• An office romance
• Chloe hacking into things
• Jack not playing by the rules
• Jack operating as some sort of rogue agent and directing government resources despite not actually being employed by said government.
• A noble president surrounded by people of questionable character
• Technology!
• Foreign Terrorists who have somehow managed to infiltrate the highest levels of government, and who undoubtedly have a plot so elaborate and sinister that no one will really have a handle on it until it's almost to late.
• Explosions!
• A "young Jack" character
• Jack's "intense" voice

Reasons not to Care it's more of the same:

• New York City
• Jack giving a baddy an axe to the chest within the first 30 minutes.
• A bazooka being used within city limits
• Kim Bauer not being an annoying drag so far
• Drones
• "Percy Wetmore" is one of the Bad Guys.
• The warden from Shawshank Redemption is still involved.
• This:

In short: Was the Season 8 premiere ground-breaking? Certainly not. But will I be tuning in again @ 8 tonight? Oh yes.

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Leno's 2004 Announcement

Um, wow:

Jay's 2004 Announcement - watch more funny videos

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New York Gets "Jacked"

Yeah, that's Fox's actual promo slogan for season 8. My expectations for 24 have regressed over the past 3 years, but there's always hope, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't kinda pumped for the 2 hour season premiere tonight (8 pm Central). The real question is whether this is going to be different (and changing the locale again isn't going to be enough) or if it's gonna be same formula, different day (literally). We'll see; either way it looks like they're gonna blow some stuff up real good...

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Death Cab Cover "Don't You (Forget About Me)"

... and it's really, really bad. This took place at the Critic's Choice Movie Awards, which was broadcast on VH1. Evidently they were paying tribute to the late John Hughes. View at your own risk:

VH1 TV Shows | Music Videos | Celebrity Photos | News & Gossip

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Late Night War Round Up...

The good news? Apparently, this thing could be winding down. The bad? Unfortunately it sounds like it's not going to end well. The latest reports have NBC buying out Conan and Leno returning to The Tonight Show. Evidently every single NBC executive is either blind and deaf, or they're a bunch of stubborn old people (although I suppose those things aren't mutually exclusive). Either way, they're making a decision that flies in the face of the popular consensus - that Leno is the bad guy who should step aside and do the right thing - and the ratings, which have recently spiked for Conan. In fact, Tonight Show ratings have actually eclipsed that of Leno's show even though he's on during prime time - kind of a big deal. But who cares, the old rich guys think Jay is funny, or something.

The A.V. Club has a great rundown of everything that's gone down so far here. Check it.

Edit/Update: Ken Tucker @ EW.com posted this today on Dick Ebersol, the NBC exec. who's leading the "anti-Conan" charge. He's also the same guy that almost single-handedly wrecked SNL in the early 80s and thought (former SNL & Seinfeld writer and current Curb Your Enthusiasm star) Larry David was a talentless hack. Tucker makes several other excellent points as well, and they all point to one thing: NBC is making a joke of itself.

Also of note: Conan and NBC may reach an agreement by the end of the weekend. Needless to say, it'll be interesting to see what O'brien does with his last week should that actually come to pass; he's been relentless as-is...

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Jimmy Kimmel on Leno

Kimmel gets some pretty good shots in on "Jay-the-Terrible" here, although this is mostly just awkward...

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