Monthly Archives: October 2010

sotd 10.30.10

I know it’s early, but I gots to work allllll daaaaamn daaaay tomorry.

“Have you ever made love to a weirdo?” / Hollyweerd (??)

Also: it’s in your head now! “In my spaceship… in my spaceship…” šŸ˜€

sotd 10.29.10

Fun to sing along with!

“Helicopter” / Bloc Party (2005)

On hearing.

I’m no audiologist, but I’m fairly certain that theĀ process of hearing is extraordinarily complicated. And even though I know it involves all kinds of inside-your-ear stuff and nerve-stuff and brain-stuff, what gets me is the mental-conditioning part. Here’s what I mean:

How many times have you experienced this scenario?:
Friend: Are you going to the party on Thursday night?
You: Huh?
Friend: Are y–
You: Oh! Yeah. I am.

It’s not that you didn’t hear the person the first time around, it’s that your brain didn’t process it immediately. You might have been thinking of something else, or been too busy formulating a response to what you were sure they were going to say. Either way, it took a second for the sounds to make their way into your brain-innards and actually form meaningful words.

This is fascinating to me, mostly because I do it ALL THE TIME. I’m pretty sure I’m not brain damaged, so my guess is that this is a kind of conditioned response.

thoughts?

sotd 10.28.10

This is one of the saddest songs I know.

“The Drugs Don’t Work” / Ben Harper (1999)

This is a cover of the original from The Verve in 1997. Hear the as-beautiful original here.

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sotd 10.26.10

This song makes every other city in the country jealous of New York.

“Empire State of Mind” / Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys (2009)

sotd 10.25.10

“For somebody who don’t drive, I’ve been all around the world
Some people say I’ve done all right for a girl.”

“Brand New Key” / Melanie (1969)

sotd 10.24.10

Sound familiar?

“You Always Make Me Smile” / Kyle Andrews (2010)

sotd 10.23.10

From Catch and Release (this movie is predictably cute, and worth viewing on cable television if you ever get the chance).

“What I Done” / Andrew Rodriguez (2007)

Television update and Terriers.

I’m a wordy so-and-so; if you want to skip to the point I’m trying to make just kindly scroll down to the bottom of this post.

A few weeks-months-or-years ago, I wrote about the fall television lineups for NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX (did I forget the CW? Oops. Here’s the rundown: A bunch of shows I do not watch about vampires and rich people and sluts and rich vampire sluts. Done and done). Now, I bet most of you have just been ready to fall off the edges of your chairs with anticipation at the update I never actually promised, eh? Well, here it is!

Julie’s Fall Television Preview Update
I am disappointed.

That’s it. No, really. I actually haven’t been following anything (on purpose) except for The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family because they’re consistently splendid. Remember how stoked I was about Hawaii Five-0? It’s okay, but haven’t exactly been roped in or anything. That whole “if all else fails I’ll just watch it on mute” ideaĀ had some merit after all. The scenery is bee-yoo-ti-ful. And, ya know, there’s the cast.Ā 

At first I just figured that I’d since found more producitve pursuits with which to fill my evening hours; the programming itself hadn’t failed me, I just found better things to do. But then I laughed, because this is what actually happened (happens, every year): I find one show to focus my attention on, and watch it fervently. Last year it was Leverage (TNT). This year, it’s Terriers (FX).

Haven’t heard of it? It’s okay, you’re not alone. The premiere posted some disappointing numbers, maybe due to a less-than-stellar promo campaign. In fact, I – who shamelessly read every fall preview/review I could get my spindly little hands on – was only vaguely, superficially, aware it was going to air. And right now, six episodes into what is hopefully not the only season, the shows two stars, Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James, are travelling the country in a bus or somethingĀ to drum up support and fans for the show.

Yeah, no shit! They’reĀ focusing onĀ colleges and college towns, apparently, andĀ a few friends of mine actually met these two a bit ago on one of their “campaign” stops (was I jealous? Maaaaaaaybe. But more so now, because I hadn’t watched the show until, oh, Thursday).Ā AndĀ I sure as hell hope it’s working, because this is some good watchin’.

I can’t remember what, exactly, prompted me to see if I could watch episodes online on Thursday, but I did. Sadly (to me), the pilot was no longer available on the FX site, so I had to settle starting with episode 2 and diving in in medias res while piecing together the story from online wikis and assorted website-ness. No matter, because without seeing the set-up, I was hooked and proceeded to watch the next two episodes.

(On a only-slight tangent, it was after this computer-usage-binge that my laptop decided to die – or, more specifically, the video card went kaput. While it seems this is a defect from the manufacturer, and something Apple has anticipated, I originally blamed Mr. Logue et al for killing my computer. My original plan was to petition him for a new one if necessary. He’s a lucky man that Charlie from the Genius Bar was able to promise me that the repairs were easy and covered under warranty).

For those of you who’ve skimmed the previous material in search of A Point To This Shit, here it is:
I finally see why these TV critics are saying that cable television is where it’s at.

Also, watch Terriers!