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100 Best Singers, 1 Great Drummer
Well cardig, ya missed Luther sneaking in at #54. Whenever I say "Luther" I think of the character in The Sting, not the singer. I like funny Christmas songs, like the Kinks singing Father Christmas, or The Waitresses, or Eagles bluesy song about being alone for Christmas. The funniest thing is when Jews like Neil Diamond do a Christmas album. What is up with that? Anti...great call on Chris Isaak. Amazing voice (and nice videos...hehehehehehe). He sounds like Roy Orbison, looks like Elvis. Why is he not more famous? Speaking of lots of octives, Captain Beefheart supposedly had a 4 or 5 octive range. Not saying he deserves to be on the list, though. I'll take Jeff's dad Tim Buckley over him. And, on the subject of 60s singgers, where's the love for Mama Cass? She had some major pipes. And, the singer from Fairport Convention (most probably know her from her duet with Zep in Battle of Evermore). Barry White??? Anti, please. That's so cliche, a woman would laugh her way out of the room if you tried to play that during the seduction. It would be like that scene in Election when the guy plays the Commodores (hey, where's Lionel Ritchie on the list?) Three Times a Lady. Reese Witherspoon kind of looks at him like he's crazy.— November 15, 2008 12:29 a.m.
Bad Information From Critics (this means you, Roger Ebert)
Exactly, msgrant. You do have points antigeek. But guess what? Roger is making fun of those daydream sequences. But in a review of his from about 7 months ago (Boy A, a good film), he didn't even catch a daydream sequence. He thought the boy (who was suicidal), was meeting up with his old girlfriend at a pier. He criticized the scene, saying that there is no way the girlfriend would've known he was going to be there, because he just took a train, saying "as far as it goes"...and it ended up there. Well, everyone (including me) wrote in to him to say that it was a daydream, and just the kid imagining he was having that conversation with said girlfriend. He responded, "Really? Are you sure? No other critics have mentioned this." Well, no other critics needed to. It's only ONE SCENE, so what were critics supposed to say about it? Not to mention, it was pretty clear the kid was daydreaming. He went from sitting alone on a park bench, to a fuzzy, yellowish color on screen, and him talking to her at the pier, near the bench, to him going back to the bench all alone, before contemplating suicide. So, for him to NOW make fun of how a daydreaming sequence is done, is also poor reviewing on his part. Because, he's shown his lack of picking up on it in the past. Upon thinking it over, yes, the restaurant review analogy doesn't work so well. But, I stand by what I said. He could've watched the whole thing, and simply said "I was ready to leave after 8 minutes, this was so bad." And, he could've written about ONLY those first 8 minutes, and why they were so bad. And how he knew right there, it wasn't worth viewing.— November 13, 2008 1:05 a.m.
Obituary Ogling -- News of my death has been greatly exaggerated
Yeah...those debates (as much as I love debates, especially about sports, film, and music), were always annoying. I grew up playing basketball, and they would say golfers aren't real athletes, or pool players, bowlers, race car driving. But since I don't do those things...other than a few games of pool now and again, or riding go karts somewhere once in a blue moon, I can't judge. But yeah, when major league baseball had pitchers that were fat, it does make you wonder.— November 13, 2008 12:57 a.m.
Black Coffee, The Bee Gees, and Idiotic Clerks
You're right about those early Clash tunes, but go to Combat Rock, and lyrics can be easily changed. I mean, Rock the Casbah could be anything. It can be Barrack the White House...okay, that was lame, but the lyrics could be cool. Regarding How Deep is Your Love? It could be a great ballad, if it weren't for such crappy lyrics. It doesn't make sense to say "And it's me you need to show...how deep is your love?" It would've had to be "it's me you need to show/how deep your love is" Sure, it doesn't rhyme...but still, you can't ask a question after the statement "but it's me you need to show..."— November 13, 2008 12:54 a.m.
Snickering at Proposition 8
Very well put, anti. And MsG...in regards to "insinuate" how people should vote, etc...it's a good point. But, here is the basic problem: people are selfish jerks. They want what benefits THEM. This could mean rich people wanting tax breaks for the rich. It could mean African-Americans wanting companies to be told to hire certain minorities (yet if they owned a business, they might not want the same rules). I like to vote, and decide on things, based on what is best for everyone. Or what is right. For example, I am not a beer drinker. I'm barely a wine drinker. But, I think there should be no beach booze ban. Now, having it, probably means I'll have less drunken losers to deal with. On occasion. But so what. They already had laws about public drunkeness (and drunk and disorderly). Why not pass a law that you can't bring food to the beach. Since, I've often seen trash left behind. That would keep the beaches litter free. I was against banning smoking in bars. And, I hate the smell of cigarette smoke. But it should be the bars and restaurants deciding. And don't tell me it's the health of the workers. They don't have to work there. I will admit, the one law I was against because it did affect me, was talking on the cell phone while you drive. But still...it again boils down to taking away a persons right, just because a few idiots can't walk and chew gum at the same time. After all, there's no law that we can't eat burgers, or put on makeup, while we drive. So why the cell phone ban? And, if African-Americans wanted all those freedoms...that they fought long and hard to get...it just seems like giving any African-American that voted for Prop 8, needs to be lectured a bit on that front, and maybe have it explained why that's also, a form of discrimination. And that, to me, DOES warrant them being told how to vote.— November 11, 2008 1:25 a.m.
Bad Information From Critics (this means you, Roger Ebert)
Well, speaking of drinking cheap champagne...if he were doing a restaurant review, would it be fair to leave after a bad glass of wine and some stale bread? Or, do you hope the rest of the meal is better? Not even "hope" if you are a critic, because it's not your hard earned money going to a night out of entertainment and food for your family. It's your job. Just as someone that's a plumber, might not enjoying working on some drains, they are doing it for the paycheck. Well, some movies are awful, and you have to sit thru them. In fact, Roger Ebert has recommended SOOO many bad movies over the years, he's actually made people waste their hard earned money. The least he can do is watch the entire movie, and then crucify it if he wants. What if a food critic gave such a bad review of a restaurant, and it caused it to go out of business? Well, with the most popular film critic in the U.S., that could be a similar analogy.— November 11, 2008 1:15 a.m.
Pastor Dave and Los Peligrosos
Interesting. Well, I did wonder...if any guy with a classic car gets divorced, who gets the ride?— November 10, 2008 6:12 p.m.
Snickering at Proposition 8
I think you and anti both agree, regarding No on Prop 8. Or did you mean no against gay marriage? I wonder, with it passing by such high numbers, if people were confused by what voting "no" and "yes" on that proposition even meant. Some might've thought meant voting "yes" means that "yes, they can get married." Just a thought. More likely, the large African-American turn out (which some sources say voted 70% in favor of Yes on Prop 8).— November 10, 2008 12:48 a.m.
Sports Shortz -- The Ryan Leaf Edition
Well, I'll tell you where the Chargers really blew it with him. Obviously, drafting people, sometimes things happen you don't anticipate. Everyone likes to talk about Christian Laetner going #3 in the NBA draft. He never panned out. But worse, was Michael Jordan. A center named Sam Bowie went before him! At least he can tell his grandkids he was drafted ahead of Jordan. But, it was when all this stuff was happening with Leaf, and they were still hoping he might be able to turn it all around, but the fans and everyone else, realized he wouldn't. And, he was on the beach playing football. And, it was a breach of his contract (as it stated something along the lines of him not playing any kind of football). They could've voided his contract right there, but they thought he might still turn it around. He didn't. And, it cost them millions and millions they could've saved by not paying him after that.— November 10, 2008 12:43 a.m.
Change for the Worse
Nice post, George. I remember when Midnight Run came out (one of the best comedy/buddy pictures you'll ever see). I was in front of two women in their 80s, and they said "Do they have to say the 'f-word' so much?" It was cute. In that movie, it didn't bother me. But, just as much as the words can become tiresome, because a police sergeant wouldn't sit there and yell profanities at his own officer, even if said officer did something wrong...it's the situations these people are in that get them using the words. Just unbelievable stuff. I got into it with a woman the other day that had the f-word on her shirt. She said, "Haven't you ever heard of freedom of speech, man?" I said, "Sure I have. But look at those little kids over there. Do they need to read profanity on another adults shirt?" With her pierced lip and attitude, she just turned around and walked away.— November 8, 2008 11:30 p.m.