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yo yo it’s friday, which means its time for Ask Tony
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Monthly Archives: May 2008
Weezer has just made another classic video
Pork & Beans from their new cd “The Red Album” embraces some of the more popular YouTube vids of this young century. it’s great to see the weeze partying with pop culture. and it helps the song go down easier.
yesterday the band released their first in hopefully a long series of “webisodes”, this one is webisode 0 starring your boy Rivers
whats great about this webisode is that longtime friend of weezer Justin was just telling me that rivers built a studio next to his malibu home that was sorta like his room growing up. and bam there it is in webisode 0.
god i love this band
update Valleywag has all the videos that =w= referenced in pork n beans here
everclear is going to play guantanamo bay
the LA Times blog Soundboard has a long interview with Art, the singer. These were my favorite parts.
Are they going to let you see any other parts of Cuba while you’re there?
I asked them if I could go into Cuba, and they told me no. I get to go to the fence that separates it from the base. I would love to go. I want to go to Havana big time. It’s a moment out of time with all these ’50s cars driving around. You know that when the Castro brothers die, its going to turn into Disneyland over there. I wanted to see Cuba, but I also wanted to go over there to get a pulse of the soldiers that were there about what happened [in the prison]: What their family’s viewpoint on being at Guantanamo is about, and are they proud to be there? Do they think they’re doing a good thing? Are they ashamed? They’re put there, and there isn’t much you can do about it in the armed forces. I’ve got a song I’m thinking about playing there for the first time, called “Jesus Was a Democrat.”
Wow, really? What kind of ideas led up to that?
It’s actually a pretty flagrant challenge to the conservative view of Jesus. Even if you’re not a Christian, if you read Jesus’ words in the Bible, there’s nothing conservative about him. He was a full-on liberal. There’s a line in it that goes, “Jesus would be locked up in Guantanamo Bay if he were alive today.” I consider myself Christian but not in any traditional sense. I was brought up in a serious evangelical home, and always had problems with Christianity, like there was something great there, but that I wasn’t seeing it. I see why most people, especially young people, are afraid of Christians. There’s a line in the song that says, “I wonder if Jesus is as afraid of Christians as I am?” They’re scary!
How do you think it’ll go over in Guantanamo Bay, a place you cite in the song as imprisoning Jesus?
What happened in Guantanamo Bay, that was blood-chilling to me. It goes to show you that anyone can get caught up in it, anyone can be the bad guy. Any collection of people from any culture. It was sobering for a lot of people. It was sobering for me. I’ve got a daughter who’s 16, and I don’t think she’d ever go into the service, and I’d fight her if she did, but if she does, what’s my perspective then?
I’m just trying to be compassionate and put myself in the other guy’s shoes. This song is pretty angry. I think we’re in better place now than in ‘88, when I worked on the Dukakis campaign canvassing, but I was so pissed at Republicans, that conservatives co-opted the term “family values”; they made being a liberal a bad word. I’m an ACLU card-carrying liberal. I have no bones about it. I might be conservative on some things, but you’re going to tell me that to have family values I have to glom on to your way of thinking? No way!
At least now I’m not alone. The great thing about [Barack] Obama, he’s unabashedly a liberal or a progressive. Isn’t that great? Even in the Clinton administration, no one was using the word “liberal,” they were using the “moderate” word. Seems like in the last few elections, the right has pulled the left to the center, and now it seems like the left has pulled right center. [John] McCain started playing ball with the Bush administration, thinking he could ride his coattails if he got the call. Now, it’s dragging him down.
read the rest of the interview here.
above my favorite Everclear song, “Heartspark Dollar Sign”
as you probably know, last week ashley got hitched
here are some pics from her big day
what i liked the most was the shout out to StL rapper Nelly on the bouquets:
see the rest from part 1 here
I’m in los angeles city hall.
The line to talk about tax and taxes is long. So long that the guy who says 40 has to say 41? 42? Because people just can’t wait all day and they leave and kill themselves. The trees around city hall should be palm trees to prevent the suicide hangings.
I have to prove that the busblog is not a business. Shouldn’t be hard cuz I haven’t had any good amount of ads here in a long time and even then it wasn’t like I was rolling in it.
Anyway this waiting room is a good reason against socialized Medicine. The people arent friendly they make you feel like you’re supposed to know all the rules. They don’t seem to care about all the people waiting. 43 my number is 56. I don’t blame the workers bc they have up incentive to make this faster nicer funner. There’s no music here on any level no song in peoples voices no nothing. Its like the DMV but slower and sadder. 43. I think I want a nap
Update: disregard all of my whines. I was treated so kindly. The woman who helped me was do smart. This city rules and now I look forward to socialized meds if this I’d what it can be like. Seriously.
my favorite part of american idol last night?
carrie underwood trying to flash america
btw richard rushfield was behind the scenes all week at idol, first time any journalist was given so much access, and he writes about it wonderfully. A peek:
“Really girls,” cries choreographer Mandy Moore. “I have only an hour and 15 minutes left with you and you have 75 hours until the show.”
Chastened, but still effervescent with mirth, the room falls silent. “Okay,” Mandy said, “we’re going to go on a field trip.” She led them through the studio’s hallway to a cold, dark, fire escape-like stairwell, making them line up on either side and practice walking down while singing the chorus of “She Works Hard for the Money.”
“The reality is, on stage, we’re a lot wider. We just need to see you walk down the stairs into the screen,” Mandy tells them, demonstrating how to fan out across the tiny landing when they reach the bottom.
“I know you’re tired, but ladies, when you walk down stairs you need to turn your body and step. It’s not a profile thing. Now let’s try it again.
“OK, blondes, no chewing gum this time!” shouts gravelly-voiced rocker contestant Amanda Overmyer.
Back in the studio, the ladies spent the next hour remorselessly drilling, dissecting and perfecting every step of the two group numbers they will perform.Given that the group members are not trained dancers but singers, Moore says she attempts to keep the steps fairly simple. “I try to push the envelope on what I can give them. I don’t want them to look silly on stage, but I want them to do more then step, toe, step, and I know they can handle more.”
Despite the simplicity of the basic steps, a mind-numbing amount of tweaks and adjustments are integrated. Just watching, one reels attempting to keep track of all that is occurring in the number, and wonders how the performers manage to learn all this, on top of learning the vocals, worrying about costumes, interviews and everything else that fills the life of an Idol contestant.
Breaking into two groups, they rehearse filing past each other to the music. “Pass into each other and remember, girls, you’re going to be in heels, so when you move, make it like this,” she demonstrates a broader step. “1-2-3-4. Four steps will get you there.”
The whole thing is pretty interesting, read it here.
And yes I also liked when the USC marching band and song girls showed up during one of the comedy bits.
i took down the twitter feed
on the side of this blog, because people are spoiling american idol’s results for the west coast.
also regular Twitter is spoiling it, so stay away from there if you wanna watch the show in peace.
however here are some funny tweets in the last 30 minutes or so:
apstew
@ hopes no one tweets who wins American Idol before he has a chance to watch it tonight when he gets home…is it really necessary?
alpaq
twitter spoils American Idol…never mind, I don’t watch American Idol
knoosh
@ijustine Justine, you gave it away! American Idol has not played on the West Coast yet!
troys
Spurs vs. Lakers>American Idol
icadrews
DVR literally ran out as Ryan goes “And the winner of American Idol is David–”
marlinex
crap….i think a just saw an american idol tweet spoiler. logging off until it’s over!
dublwrap
No traffic. No planes flying. No birds chirping. No signs of life. Must be American Idol Final. Bring back Gene Gene the Dancing Machine.
Djade
Unfortunately I am an idiot and just sat at my computer and ruined the American Idol finale for myself. Shit. That was pretty anticlimactic.
Chris_Lott
Well american idol is over what am i going to do on tuesday and wednesday at work?
jkendrick
No power in Mobile Tech Manor!: Oh No! The final live American Idol is on and the power just went off
scottph
wondering how many westcoast @ijustine followers love her for ruining American Idol for them. Classy
chelpixie
remind me not to look at Twitter before I watch Lost on Thursday. Spoilers re: American Idol are everywhere.
scottph
wondering how many @ijustine westcoast followers like how she gave away the winner for American Idol.
stales
note to self: don’t tivo american idol and log into Twitter before watching finals. Glad I don’t follow that show!
amandolinb
Thanks to all those on the East Coast for spoiling the American Idol Finale…. You are AWESOME.
Blogography
Good thing I couldn’t care less about American Idol… massive spoilage blowing through the Twitterverse.
rgremill
Our DVR did not capture the winner of American Idol. So frustrating!!! And the Winner is………
socalgirl
American Idol spoiled for me on west coast next year no twitter before finals bummer..next year consider the time zones when twittering
Tweets via Twittermap.com, photo via AmericanIdol.com
you guys know Goldenfiddle, right?
well spencer has a second blog, a directors cut blog called goldenfiddr that he does on a tumblr platform.
i havent really figured out why youd want a tumblr blog (are they easier than a blogger blog?) but some of the cool kids are getting them so, i dunno.
anyways spence found this cool video of two of my favorite fat dudes: tom arnold and mr chris farley. and they seem to be hanging out in the glendale galleria which is now about to be a sorta white elephant now that they opened a new The Grove next door. whatevs.
did you know…
– american airlines, starting june 15th, will charge you $15 if you check your bag
– spike lee is pissed at clint eastwood for omitting black troops in his WWII films
– a donkey was arrested in mexico on sunday
– burger king is going to make a burger big enough to feed six
– ron paul got two delegates yesterday
– some “green” cars are fast and hot
– a goat survived a baaaaaad 50 foot plunge from a bridge
– the view ladies had a heated debate about prescott bush’s nazi ties
– Mr. Right wears yellow plastic kanye glasses and flaunts his $20s on craigslist
– the Svengali behind the backstreet boys and nsync is going to prison for 25 years
– mad pony kristin is now a lawyer
life comes and goes so fast
and before you know it, its over
there was a time when i had a lot of hair, had a tiny apartment, had a gf with enormous love for me
there was a time when i had to be at work at 6am and i bicycled there
there was a time when i was totally disrespected
and there was a time before blogging even happened.
long ago before big tvs and american idol and flying cars i was so different.
well, i wasnt different, but peoples reactions to me were.
every now and then i will read a blog post or get an email
and the person on the other end will say that they wanna end their show.
and im not exactly sure why they write me
and not dr phil or their mom or you know someone professional
but all i keep thinking about is that 5 years ago my life was so different
10 years ago it was even more different
and 10 years from now im pretty sure it will be wildly different than it is now
im not saying it will be better, in fact 10 years from now i seriously doubt
that college girls will give me even a fraction of the attention
that they give me now.
wait what.
i totally forgot where i was going.
oh yeah, now is not the time to ace yrself
now is the time to go for the things you want.
hard.