miMix - The Sheryl Edition

With the release of Detours, Sheryl Crow's sixth studio album, only a week away, I thought it would only be fitting to feature her as my miMix Artist of the Month -- hmm, that has a nice ring to it. The following are some of my favorite Sheryl songs. I even threw some songs in the mix that Sheryl has never personally recorded, but does have a writing credit on. Enjoy!

Maybe Angels - Sheryl Crow album
Members Only - The Globe Sessions album
Favorite Year - Dixie Chicks' Taking The Long Way album
If It Makes You Happy - Sheryl Crow album
C'mon, C'mon - C'mon, C'mon album
Riverwide - The Globe Sessions album
Somebody Stand By Me - Faith Hill's Faith album
Good Is Good - Wildflower album
Leaving Las Vegas - Tuesday Night Music Club album
Love Is A Good Thing - Sheryl Crow album

Detours Gets Reviewed

Mmmm, the smell of sweet music is in the air. Sheryl Crow's Detours is two weeks from arrival, and from some of the editorials coming out, it sounds like it's going to be a good one! Check out the review below from Amazon.com.

Sheryl also posts that her web site will be revamped as well. Hopefully that means a boatload of Sheryl pics will be posted. Ahhh, the next two weeks can't come fast enough!

Thematically, Detours may not seem like much of a detour to Sheryl Crow fans. Her politics pour out of these songs the way you might expect them to if you caught wind of her epic cross-country bus trip, with the activist Laurie David, to promote environmental awareness months prior to this release. From the quiet, faraway-sounding opener "God Bless This Mess"--a novel in a song--to the catchy but thought-provoking "Gasoline," it's clear that Crow has more on her mind these days than soaking up the sun or having a little fun, à la the Tuesday Night Music Club era. Yet there's not a groan-worthy song on this standout rock/pop/folk/blues album. If the themes are heavy (in addition to the political songs, there's an almost painfully tender lullaby for her son Wyatt and one, "Make It Go Away [Radiation Song]," that touches on her breast-cancer experience), the mood is cathartic, determined, hopeful at times and sad at others. "Now That You're Gone" grabs at clarity through the clouds of a devastating love affair and gets it, and "Peace Be Upon Us" picks apart pettiness and arrives at a wide-minded beauty. George Harrison seems present in some of these songs, especially the more personal ones ("Drunk with the Thought of You," "Love Is All There Is"). And that may be the highest compliment that Sheryl Crow, who seems to admire his gentle soul and shares his big heart, could ask for. --Tammy La Gorce

Boycotting Best Buy

I never thought I'd say this, but I am officially boycotting Best Buy due to their crass handling of Heath Ledger's passing. Now, I am level-headed enough to know that this was most likely an incident concentrated at one Best Buy location posted by one soulless, tasteless, devilish assistant manager and not a company-wide initiative. However, until Best Buy publicly apologizes for their employee's behavior and sends him or her to the fiery pits of hell where they belong, I will refuse to shop there (unless they beat Circuit City to the punch and get some Nintendo Wii's in stock...I mean, damn!)

miMix - 1/23/08

Sorry I'm a little bit late with the miMix this week. Hope you enjoy these songs. I could use some suggestions of songs old and new to put on my next miMix, so comment away.

Jenny Don't Be Hasty - Paolo Nutini
This River Is Wild - The Killers
Fallen - Sarah McLachlin
Girlfriend As Pretty As You Are - Stephen Kellogg
Day You Said Goodbye - Allison Moorer
I Don't Know What It Is - Rufus Wainwright
Slow Dancing In A Burning Room - John Mayer
Fall To Pieces - Avril Lavigne
Selfish Jean - Travis
Thank U - Alanis Morissette

Blast From the Past

This video has been making the rounds on my MySpace page, but I thought I'd also post it here for everyone's enjoyment. This was during my first trip to Vegas at the Luxor with Pete, Tracey, Rachel and Chris.

Highlights of this short video include 1) How angry Pete gets when I say buffet, 2) How angry I get that Pete suggests seafood to eat (even though all I could talk about right before this was eating crablegs) and 3) how the Sphinx at the Luxor looks like a giant penis.

Enjoy!

Biting it down the stairs

Please allow this video to get you through the long holiday weekend. I believe it will be funny each and every time you view it.

Pick Flick!

If only I had the time and motivation to come up with something this brilliant! If you're an Election fan, starring Reese Witherspoon, you're going to love this video.

"Hey, what do Juno?"

I saw my first critically acclaimed movie of the season this past weekend, and I have to be honest and say that it's not all it's hyped up to be. Don't get me wrong, Juno, starring Ellen Page as the titular pregnant teenager, was a very good movie. Page did an excellent job of playing a modern teenager who gets pregnant out of boredom and deserves all of the attention that she is getting for this role. I'm extremely surprised that Jennifer Garner isn't receiving just as much praise for her understated turn as a frustrated housewife desperate for a baby. The art direction and overall tone of the movie was also well executed. I particularly liked the opening title sequence.

All of the good, however, is overshadowed for me by one unexpected bad - the writing! I had very high expectations after reading that screenwriter Diablo Cody has become the go-to writer to capture the voice of the modern woman. I felt like there were moments of dialog that were just so forced and so unnatural that it ruined the movie. Maybe it's because I'm no longer a teenager and am having trouble relating to that world now, but I found it hard to believe that anyone says "wizard" instead of awesome. And when a gas station attendant uttered, "That ain't no Etch-a-Sketch. This is one doodle that can't be undid, home skillet," I almost lost it, and not in a good way.

I also had a problem with the lack of a dissenting voice in the film. Everyone, including Juno's parents, were pretty cool with her being pregnant at 16. For the movie to feel real to me, it would have been nice to see one disapproving character, one who was genuinely concerned with how life-altering this pregnancy would be for such a young girl. Instead, everyone just thought it was cool.

Don't let my review deter your from seeing this film. It really was a good film. I think it's important that a small film like this has had such a mainstream following. It also really boosts the presence of indie music that, without a movie like this, would most likely go unheard. I guess what I am most disappointed with is the hype. Something so hyped rarely lives up to the expectations you create for it in your mind.

miMix - 01/14/08

Here is miMix for the week. I really enjoyed mine from last week. I listened to it almost everyday in the car. Did you listen? Did you download any of the songs? Leave me some feedback and suggest some songs for future mixes.

Vampyre - Pete Yorn
Slow Dance - John Legend
Fast Car - Tracy Chapman
Broken - Lifehouse
God Made Woman - Keith Urban
Bottle It Up - Sara Bareilles
Stop and Stare - One Republic
Wasted - Brandi Carlile
You Don't Know How It Feels - Tom Petty
I Know - Fiona Apple

I want to work there

"If only my work place were this fun." "If only I had that much free time." "If only there was a gym across the street from where I worked." "If only I liked the Gorillaz."

These are just a few of the things I was thinking as I watched the following video.


GymGlish - Lip Dub (Feel Good Inc. by Gorillaz) from Ad Soullier on Vimeo.

"Are you ticklish?"

Oh, Funnyordie.com, you make me laugh like a little school girl. Enjoy this awkward "interview" between Zach Galifianakis and the brilliant Michael Cera. I particularly love the title of the show, Between Two Ferns. This sadly reminds me of many of my best college video projects.

An Ode to Billy Mays

Are you thinking to yourself, "Who in the hell is Billy Mays?" Trust me when I say, you know this guy. Even if you've never seen him, I'm willing to bet money that you have heard him. Mays is the worlds loudest infomercial talker in the history of television. He's sold his soul to sell products that don't work to millions of Americans, including Mighty Putty, OxiClean and, yes, Zorbees. While I get annoyed every time I see his bearded face come across my television, I have to admit that I also am strangely entertained by his commercials. With that said, I present to you an Ode to Billy Mays.

Detours Cover Art

I posted a few days ago about Sheryl Crow's new album, Detours which comes out on February 5, but I failed to post one of the most exciting things of all...the cover art! It's so simple, yet so elegant. Only 27 days left!

miMix - 01/07/08

You might have noticed the song of the day feature at the top of the page. If you missed a song of the day, never fear, miMix (read, my mix) is here. Below is miMix of the week. Make a playlist out of it for your iPod, burn the tracks to a CD or just hum the songs in your head all week.

Three More Days - Ray LaMontagne
Like A Star - Corrine Bailey Rae
I Hope - Dixie Chicks
Dashboard - Modest Mouse
Loser - Dolores O'Riordan
Broken - Norah Jones
Faster - Third Eye Blind
You're the World to Me - David Gray
Why Can't You Be - Shelby Lynn
Not Falling Apart - Maroon 5

Enjoy!

Love Is Free

One of the most exciting things about 2008 for me is that we will be treated to a new album from Sheryl Crow. I've already memorized Shine Over Babylon, a scathing look at our social and political state, but now I'm digging Love Is Free, a more upbeat tune dedicated to the people and sounds of New Orleans. It sounds like Sheryl is stepping into a new direction with this album and I personally can't wait to hear the other tracks on Detours, due out February 5.

This blows and sucks!

Just in case you were wondering

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Car Chase Friday

It's Friday, which can only mean one thing -- car chase! Try to figure out what is going through this guy's head as he 1) comes face to face with a red truck and 2) decides to test his car's hovercraft abilities.

A Caucus? In Iowa?

For over an entire year now, all the American people have been hearing about is how incredibly important the Iowa Caucus will be for the future of our country. I've been so sick of hearing about the caucus that I try not to even think about what is happening today. But, it seems that I can no longer put off thinking about this paramount event in U.S. history. Today, my little brain, already stuffed to the gills with useless information, finally woke up and cried, "What the hell is a caucus? And why in the hell is it in Iowa of all states?"

I went to ThisNation.com to find out the answers I've so desperately avoided knowing. Here's what I learned:

Iowa's process for choosing between presidential candidates is unique among the fifty United States. Every other state has a more traditional primary election in which registered voters can cast their ballots for the candidates they prefer. In Iowa, however, voters in each political party attend separate, small meetings, or caucuses, in towns and neighborhoods across the state. Caucuses are held at the precinct level in schools, fire stations and sometimes even in individual's homes (Say Whaaaa? I want a caucus in my house!).

At the caucuses, those in attendance indicate their support for the candidates competing for each party's presidential nomination. In the Democratic party caucuses, votes are cast by raising hands (are you f-ing serious?), a sign-in sheet (no, seriously...this can't be right) or by splitting into groups supporting each candidate (oh...I get it...it's KINDERGARTEN!). In the Republican caucuses, votes are cast by secret ballot (paranoid bastards).

The results of the caucus voting, however, do not directly determine which candidate will win the support of Iowa's voters for the presidential nomination (Oh, so it's pretty much pointless. Just as I thought.) Both party's state conventions are held in June. Only then, when state convention delegates cast their votes for delegates to the national party conventions, that Iowa's preferred presidential candidate's in each major party will be determined.

Ahhh, isn't democracy easy and fun? I can't wait to hear the explosive results of such a riveting event for the next week. Oh yeah, and I also found out that the caucus is held in Iowa because that state is lame, just like the caucus itself.

Taking Chances

I may be risking several friendships and my marriage by admitting this, but it's time to finally admit that, yes, I am a Celine Dion fan. I don't care what you say about her music, her personality, her voice, or her fashion sense. It is people like Celine Dion that make this world so great. If you don't believe me, watch the following video and just try to disagree with me. I dare you. It's time that we all start celebrating the awesomeness of Dion.

New year, new look, new focus

It's a new year, which means it's time to dust off the old blog and start anew. I hope to offer more posts and more reasons to visit on a regular basis. Hopefully the new year will bring with it new ideas for creating a truly awesome and legendary blog. With that said, it's business time. Happy 08.