Saturday, December 15, 2012

Lyrics Quiz: Best of 2012



I have rounded up my favorite lyrics of the year for you to guess. As always leave your guesses, both artist and song title, in the comment section (or e-mail me). If you are correct I will un-bold the lyric and give you credit. Please keep in mind the lyrics quiz is for entertainment purposes only so please only use your own meandering mind to guess them.


1. Give me a second I… I need to get my stories straight. My friends are in the bathroom getting higher than the Empire State. (We Are Young - Fun featuring Janelle Monáe; guessed by Kevin)
2. The stairs creak as I sleep, it’s keeping me awake. It’s the house telling you to close your eyes.
3. You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness.
4. It started with a whisper and that is when I kissed her. And then she made my lips hurt.
5. Bless my heart, bless my soul, didn’t think I’d make it to twenty-two years old. There must be someone up above. Say c’mon Britney you gotta come on up.
6. How does it feel, oh how does it feel to be you right now? You brought this apart so pick up your piece and go. Please just let me go now.
7. Oh, can it be, the voices calling me? They get lost and out of time. I should’ve seen it glow. But everybody knows that a broken heart is blind.
8. We both know it’s not what it seems. We both know what’s between the sheets. I know that it’s a secret and that I got keep it.
9. Take me at your best friend’s house. Go around this round-about, oh yeah. Take me to your best friend’s house. I loved you then and I love you now, oh yeah.
10. If happy ever after still exists, I would still be holding you this. And all of the faiytales are full of (expletive deleted). One more (expletive deleted) love song and I’ll be sick.
11. I just met you, and this is crazy.
12. Human beings in a mob. What’s a mob to a king? What’s a king to a God? What’s a God to a non-believer who don’t believe in anything?
13. I’m a good man with a good heart. Had a tough time, got a rough start. But I’ve finally learned to let it go.
14. This is it boy, this is war. What are we waiting for? Why don’t we break the rules already?
15. First there lights out then its lock up. Masterpieces serving maximum sentences. It’s their own fault for being timeless.
16. Love is not a whisper or a weakness. No love is strong so we got to get together.
17. But does not make logical, if you say I’m just an animal. You can’t explain away the way I feel.
18. No troubles ever gonna take anything away from me.
19. Pull it out, turn it up, what’s your favorite song. That’s mine, I’ve been crying to it since I was young.
20. No I don’t like you I just thought you were cool enough to kick it. Got a beach house I can sell you in Idaho.
21. It’s better to feel pain then nothing at all. The opposite of love is indifference.
22. And you would hide away with some indie records that’s so much cooler than mine.
23. Fear like a habit, run like a rabbit out and away through the screen door to the unknown. And I wanna love you and more, I wanna find you and more. Where do you reside when you hide how can I find ya?
24. I lit a fire with the love you left behind and it burned wild and crept up the mountain side. I followed your ashes into outer space.
25. We got engaged on s Friday Night. I swore on the head of our unborn child that I could take care of the three of us. But I got the tendency to slip when the nights get wild. It’s in my blood.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Around the Tubes - 12/14/12



I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest, Andrew Dice Clay's Indestructible, Whisker Wars, Portlandia, Girls, Enlightened, King of the Nerds, Arbitrage, Bro, Leader of the Pack, The Incredible Dr. Pol, Huffington Post's Best Movies, and Playboy.

- Note to ABC: We all loved Dick Clark and New Years Eve will not be the same without you, but titling your special Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2013 is really clunky. But anyway. This year there will be a two hour special on Dick Clark starting at 8:00 while Ryan Seacrest starts the festivities at 10:00 going all the way to 2:12 in the morning (with a break for your local news at 11:00). Justin Bieber, Jason Aldean, Greyson Chance, Ellie Goulding and The Wanted will be performing on the west coast. In New York Psy, Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Neon Trees, performing live in Times Square.

- If the Ryan Seacrest affair is a bit cheesy for you, you cam ring in the new year with Andrew Dice Clay as his comedy special Indestructible will premiere 10:00.

- New episode of Whisker Wars is on IFC tonight at 10:00 and stick around because right afterwards there will be a special “Winter in Portlandia” episode.

- The new seasons of Girls and Enlightened returns to HBO January 13 at 9:00 and you can check out the key art for both below:

Girls key artEnlightened key art

- So King of the Nerds, premiering January 17 on TBS, is just Beauty and the Geek without the beauties and Revenge of the Nerds alumni as hosts. Sure, I’ll still watch. But maybe it is time for a Beauty and the Geek reboot.

- Out on DVD and / or Blu Ray over the next couple weeks include Arbitrage (12/21) which features Richard Gere as a hedge-fund magnate whose fortunes turn when a deadly error threatens to destroy both his financial empire and his family as well as the motocross film Bro (12/18) starring Danny Trejo.


- Just a reminder to fans of Cesar Millan fans, his new series Leader of the Pack is set to premiere early next year on January 5 at 10:00 on Nat Geo Wild. The show matches abandoned Dogs with the best adoption candidate to provide a permanent home for a new canine companion. And prior to that at 9:00 will be the return of The Incredible Dr. Pol.

- It is that time of year for the best of list (mine coming next week) and the Huffington Post has released their list of the 30 Best Movies of 2012. Sadly it looks like That’s My Boy just missed their list.

- In the latest issue of Playboy (hitting newsstands 12/18), Scott Speedman answers this issues 20Q where he talks about why he despises social media. In his funny and candid interview he covers his stalker, his selective Canadian pride, and the odds that he’ll be starring in a superhero movie.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Never Had Much Faith in Love or Miracles


Unorthodox Jukebox

Bruno Mars is perfectly mediocre. You are not going to actually buy his music, but you are also not going to switch the channel when he comes on the radio. It is probably why his music is so popular on karaoke shows, his songs are inoffensive and his voice is mediocre enough that you will not embarrass yourself singing one his songs like the morons who think they can match notes on an Adele song. But some would argue it is better to be horrible than mediocre because you can get more attention being horrible. I believe scientists call this The Rebecca Black Phenomenon which was recently perfected by the Gangnam Style dude. And even though Mars is much better than Psy, I do find myself thinking about Psy more often. Sure it is a fiery cauldron of hate, but like they say, it is better when people talk about you then do not talk about you (i.e. The Kardashian Paradigm).

Then Bruno Mars came out with Locked Out of Heaven much dirtier than anything on his debut with some annoying chopped up yeah’s (but hey, annoying is more memorable than mediocre), and was a changed note away from getting sued by The Police for ripping off Message in a Bottle. Even the album art is a bit offensive with a close up of a woman’s chest with a plunging neckline.

But for the rest of Unorthodox Jukebox, Bruno Mars is back to just nine other hard to hate songs. There is not a bad song on here and most certainly be the soundtrack of many of Middle School dances and Vegas is currently taking bets one weather someone on The Voice or American Idol will be the first to have a contestant sing Young Girls. There really is not unorthodox about these jukebox of songs, it is exactly what you expect from a Bruno Mars album, overwrought lyrics, danceable music for your bar mitzvah, be it awkward grooving or even more awkward arms length slow dancing with the cute chick whose braces are supposed to come off in the next week.

The “jukebox” instead sounds like Mars checking off his influences. The New Wave of Locked Out of Heaven, the eighties soft rock of Moonshine (when Mars sings moonshine, I swear I can hear Don Johnson singing Heartbeat, I do not think that is particularly a good thing), the Elton John balladeering of When I Was Your Man, the watered down reggae of Show Me, and the Motown of If I Knew. The only unorthodox is when Bruno goes disco for Treasure. And in true Bruno Mars tradition, he is not completely horrible even when he goes Full Travolta. You might find Unorthodox Jukebox to be mediocre, I am sure the album would be something to give your mother for Christmas. Moms love mediocre music. Why do think Michael Bublé still has a career.

Song to Download – Locked Out of Heaven

Unorthodox Jukebox gets a Terror Alert Level: Elevated [YELLOW] on my Terror Alert Scale.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

I Don’t Want Your Sympathy, I Don’t Want Your Honesty, I Just Want to Get Some Piece of Mind



Uno, Dos, Tre - Green Day

In these musical times, it is not enough to be good (with the exception of Adele), you have to have a gimmick. Which Is probably why Green Day planned to release three albums, ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, ¡Tré!, about seven weeks apart. But shortly after ¡Uno! was released (see my review: Tonight My Heart’s on the Loose), lead singer Billy Joe Armstrong went on an anti-Bieber rant and landed himself in rehab and has not been heard from since. With the lead singer in hibernation, ¡Dos! was released with little fanfare last month aside from a creepy, but entertaining heartless music video. Apparently their record company is cutting their losses and just released ¡Tré! this week instead of the original mid-January release, less than a month after ¡Dos!. Well they were either cutting their losses or decided it get it released before the world ended.

During my review of the previously mentioned review of ¡Uno! I mentioned that the final song, Oh Love, was sonically different than the previous eleven songs, possibly hinting at what ¡Dos! may have to offer. As it turns out, I was wrong because ¡Dos! turned out to be more of the power pop that most of ¡Uno! was. The band did not change much up until late in the album with the slick Nightlife featuring an almost half rap from Monica Painter which is the first time I can remember anyone besides Billy Joe singing lead vocals on a Green Day song. That album ends with the sparse sixties inspired Amy, which I dare to say again may hint at what was to come on ¡Tré!?

¡Tré! actually does start up with another sixties garage rock song Brutal Love which kind of sounds like Green Day trying to record a U2 song when they are trying to record a mellow song. But after that, it is back to more power pop. Of the thirty-seven tracks among the trilogy, thirty-one are in that fast paced rock that the band was known for in the nineties, but with an elder twist to them. It makes it a bit repetitive if you listen to all three albums for the two hour plus runtime, but who listens to albums straight through anymore? If you like classic Green Day, grab all three albums and enjoy them when they come up while randomly listening to your music library on random.

Song to Download – Brutal Love

¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tré! all receive a Terror Alert Level: Elevated [YELLOW] on my Terror Alert Scale.



Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Feed Your iPod vol. LXVI: Winter Song


I am a huge Christmas music fan; I just recently downloaded my 500th holiday tune which means I can listen to my playlist for a full twenty-four hours straight without hearing a song twice. Let me amend the original, I love Christmas music in December, the other eleven months I skip it when they come up on random. But there are a few songs from the season I will not skip even when it is ninety degrees outside, one of which is Winter Song by Eisley. It is not really a holiday song per say, there is no fat men or babies born in a manger, but then again neither does Let it Snow, and that even gets skipped come January (probably because Christmas is the only time I actually want it to snow as long as it is all melted by New Year’s Eve).

The Winter Song


Monday, December 10, 2012

I Want My Music Television - 2012 Christmas Edition



There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


All I Need Is Love –Cee-Lo Green featuring The Muppets


Ha Lo-Cee. I wonder if CeeLo's team was eliminated from The Voice we would had seen more of Lo-Cee. And apparently Walter from the most recent The Muppets movie is becoming a thing. But The Muppets do make anything better, with all the reboots happening, I am surprised no one has thought about rebooting The Muppets Show. Seriously Disney, you are rebooting Boy Meets World, but it has not donned on you to start up The Muppets Show? At least do a periodic special every couple months.


I Feel It In My Bones - The Killers featuring Ryan Pardey


The Killers holiday single has become a yearly tradition, but I think they may have ran idea when they start record dark Christmas carols. This sounds like something that would be used in a Christmas movie made Bret Easton Ellis. It may be time to move onto the standards guys.


Christmas in the Sand – Colbie Caillat



As someone who has living in cold weather his whole life, I really would like to spend Christmas in the sand one day, preferably with Colbie Caillat. Although I have no desire to see Santa Clause in his bathing suit.


I Think You Might Like It - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John


John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John recorded a Christmas album. And they are line dancing in the video. No Sandy, I do not like it. And what the frack is on Danny’s head.

Sunday, December 09, 2012

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 12/9/12


Once Upon a Time: When Snow White and Emma jumped into the portal, I thought, “Wait, are they really going to leave Sleeping Beauty and Mulan in a deserted world with Cora?” Seems kind of rude. Granted Cora and Hook ended up finding their way to Storybrooke so the duo is basically alone with a bunch of ogres, giants, maybe Frankenstein’s monster and the lifeless body of the Prince.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Revenge: I realize this week that I liked the show much better when Emily was taking down people one week at a time than all this cooperate espionage that just goes way over my head this season. I do not really care about the British dude and they literally doubled down on the bar takeover storyline by bringing in another brother who does nothing but just repeats what his brother said. And the Initiative is such an evil monolith they hang out in a room that looks like the Injustice League lair.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

The Walking Dead: I hate it when shows think they are going to be all clever by not starting an episode which what is expected (in this case Rick storming Woodbury) but instead introducing unknown characters. But I guess whenever introduce a new black dude; the old black dude has to be killed off.

As Rick was leaving Woodbury, I was disappointed because the whole season seemed to be building of a confrontation between the sheriff and The Governor. Then a couple minutes later Michonne sticks a shard of glass in The Governor’s eye and all the disappointment disappeared. I guess we may have to wait until the season finale to see the Rick / Governor showdown.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Homeland:Since Abu Nazir is the only thing keeping Brody from a Quinn delivered bullet, how much more in trouble can he get for essentially killing the Vice (and possibly future) President? I doubted how Brody could make it out alive during the first season, and though he did, it is hard to think of possibilities of him making it to season three. But does Carrie overlook his part in the Walden assassination because it meant saving her life and just not tell anyone? But as awesome as the opening and closing scenes were, why is the CIA no longer tapping his phone? I know sometimes the show has potholes so big you can drive a semi truck through them, but this is pretty big. Of course Nazir was going to continue with his plan even if a bunch of his lieutenants got captured.

The Voice: I knew it was not going to be a good week when on the results show, the two people I thought (hoped) would go home were the first two saved. And somehow Amanda Brown, who have the two best performances of the week (well solo performance, the Nicholas David / Melanie Martinez duet may have been the most bizarrely beautiful thing ever), was sent packing. Not only that she got voted off right after out-singing Cassadee on Breakaway and even was better than Ne-Yo on his own song.

A lot has been made of the teen girl voting bloc ruining singing shows, but after MacKenzie Bourg went home after the first week of voting, I think it is the bored housewife that is keeping these bland singers around. The finals should be Cassadee and Nicholas, but I have a feeling it will end up being Terry and Trevin. But I guess this final four is still better than last season, but anything without Chris Mann (who inexplicably made over Lindsey Pavao thanks probably to the previously mentioned bored housewife voting bloc) is an upgrade.

Final Four Power Rankings

1. Nicholas David
2. Cassadee Pope
3. Terry McDermott
4. Trevin Hunte



You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download songs from The Voice by clicking on the artist’s name.

Go On: I am a bit disappointed we did not get more time at the Holiday / End of the World Party. I would have been content with a bottle episode at just the party.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Go On on iTunes.

Parenthood: I cannot remember much of what happened in this week’s episode because all I can remember is the Promo Monkeys daring to suggest Kristina may die next episode. They better be seriously misleading because I do not want to spend all of Tuesday night crying.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Sons of Anarchy: Of course Jax was not going to let Pope kill Tig especially when Pope was responsible for Opie’s death. The only question was how he was going to get out of it. Apparently it meant setting up Clay. So the question to ponder until next season is how is Clay going to avoid the bounty on his head because you know the show is not going to let Clay die unless it is at the hands of Jax.
You can download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Survivor: Philippines: Stupid Malcolm had to just go and win Immunity. Very few things are more entertaining than watching someone get voted out with Immunity in their pocket. I have a feeling he would because all the talk before the challenge was about the blindside which always means something would happen to screw it up. Instead they end up voting out… um… who was that guy who got voted up? Did he sneak into the game with the rest of the Loved Ones and hoped no one would notice?
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download Survivor: Philippines on iTunes.

Subugatory: Ryan acting like a wild animal was way too funnier than it had any right to be.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Suburgatory on iTunes.

Nashville: Way to ruin the proposal Promo Monkeys. Okay, of course fake-Tim Tebow was obviously going to say yes. But it is a little weird that the show stole the Fresh Prince of Bel Air plotline from the time Will got fake married (officiated hilariously by Jazz) just so he could have sex with a chick waiting for marriage. Also Gunner is an idiot, I would totally choose the much hotter Hailey over the whiney Scarlett.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Nashville on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: I cannot believe Sheldon did not sing Soft Kitty to Amy.
You can stream recent episodes over at CBS.com. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.