TWO THINGS TO PASS THE TIME
1. Watch all six episodes of Andy Barker, P.I., the new sitcom from star Andy Richter and co-creator Conan O'Brien that premieres this Thursday at 9:30 on NBC. An acquaintance of mine is a writer on the show, so I'm happy to report that it's a very good show and well worth your time; Entertainment Weekly noted its Zucker/Abrams/Zucker quality, which is right on the money. It's also a lot like an updated version of O'Brien's old Lookwell pilot. It's just too bad that it's (temporarily, I assume) replacing the brilliant 30 Rock in NBC's Thursday night comedy block; I'd much rather it take over the spots of the increasingly tedious Scrubs or My Name Is Earl.
2. Listen to R.E.M.'s performance (with special guests Eddie Vedder and Patti Smith) at the 2007 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction. In related news, this post (via Fluxblog) is making me reconsider my initial take on Around the Sun. More on that later, maybe. But I will say that sometimes a not-great or downright bad album is simply that, and just as it's easy to dismiss a new sound/album because it doesn't fit the band's story, it's also easy to dismiss legitimate criticisms as "not getting it."* After all, R.E.M. went "off the script" long before Around the Sun. And based on the HoF performance, they're in no danger of becoming irrelevant any time soon.
*This is only kinda-sorta-tangentially related, but I never got around to writing my own review of X3, so this link goes here: This is the ultimate example of bending over backwards to justify liking a piece of crap. To try to pass off the overall half-assed slapdashedness of X3 as some sort of modern Un Chien Andalou is just breathtaking in its audacity. It's such an eloquent defense of bullshit I almost want to agree with it on principle.
1. Watch all six episodes of Andy Barker, P.I., the new sitcom from star Andy Richter and co-creator Conan O'Brien that premieres this Thursday at 9:30 on NBC. An acquaintance of mine is a writer on the show, so I'm happy to report that it's a very good show and well worth your time; Entertainment Weekly noted its Zucker/Abrams/Zucker quality, which is right on the money. It's also a lot like an updated version of O'Brien's old Lookwell pilot. It's just too bad that it's (temporarily, I assume) replacing the brilliant 30 Rock in NBC's Thursday night comedy block; I'd much rather it take over the spots of the increasingly tedious Scrubs or My Name Is Earl.
2. Listen to R.E.M.'s performance (with special guests Eddie Vedder and Patti Smith) at the 2007 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction. In related news, this post (via Fluxblog) is making me reconsider my initial take on Around the Sun. More on that later, maybe. But I will say that sometimes a not-great or downright bad album is simply that, and just as it's easy to dismiss a new sound/album because it doesn't fit the band's story, it's also easy to dismiss legitimate criticisms as "not getting it."* After all, R.E.M. went "off the script" long before Around the Sun. And based on the HoF performance, they're in no danger of becoming irrelevant any time soon.
*This is only kinda-sorta-tangentially related, but I never got around to writing my own review of X3, so this link goes here: This is the ultimate example of bending over backwards to justify liking a piece of crap. To try to pass off the overall half-assed slapdashedness of X3 as some sort of modern Un Chien Andalou is just breathtaking in its audacity. It's such an eloquent defense of bullshit I almost want to agree with it on principle.
