Yacht Rock 2011 Announced

Yacht Rock 2011 has been announced. Get your calendars in order. This year's Yacht Rock party is set for this coming Monday. The musical guest will be Ambrosia and they'll sing their classic "Biggest Part of Me". In case this song isn't familiar, this might help: the song should be titled "Make a Wish, Babay".

Here's a preview. Or something to play while you get your Captain's hat and blue blazer out of storage.

NTYCTWD 2K11

Today was National Take Your Child to Work Day 2011. I enjoyed it but I feel the name should be changed to the more accurate "National Torture Your Child Day". Maybe that's too accurate. Maybe "National Bore Your Child to Death Day".

When I was a kid my parents showed me around where they work and introduced me to their coworkers. It was fun and fascinating. Even if your parents have the most boring job in the world it seems exciting and important. At one point my dad worked for a printing company and I got to see the giant printing press with gears and levers and it was cool. But it was a visit. It was a tour. It was a look around. I was there for about a half hour... maybe 45 minutes. Tops. Do you have any idea how long an 8 hour work day is when you're a kid? You're a little kid and you spend 8 hours sitting in a chair staring at a cubicle wall. That's TORTURE. That's the adult equivalent of 3 days in a desensitization chamber. And that's illegal! Even I'M watching the clock in that cubicaled, fluorescent light environment and I'm an adult and I've got something to do... And I'm getting paid to be there.

Poor kids.

I Would Do Anything For Lunch

Meatloaf, fresh off his trip into the dark abyss of arts-and-crafts-induced insanity, rises like a bat out of hell and joins Jimmy for a rousing tribute to Bagel Bites.

Soak in the passion:

You might remember these commercials (among others referenced). The song STILL gets stuck in my head.

Everlong

Anything more needed?

Well, in a web-only, exclusive clip, the Foo Fighters perform their hit "Everlong" with a special introduction from Dave. It's a very special episode.

[Original Link is Broken, Replacing with a Youtube Playlist]

Youtube Playlist.

Did you notice that the name of the band on Taylor's bass drum is in the "Beatles" font? I did. Turns out that is was specially done for the "Live on Letterman" webcast. You can watch that here. They play their new album in its entirety for the first hour. But you can skip to the 50:00 mark for all the classic hits.

RIP Fred (2002 - 2010)

In the Summer of 2002, I was working a Spring/Summer Co-Op in which I was paid to do nothing. I, of course, didn't actually do "nothing" - and so I should say that I was paid to drink free soda and surf the internet for 8 hours per day exactly. No overtime! If I wanted to surf the web for more than 8 hours per day, I had to do it on my own time! Actually I don't know, I could probably have stayed longer, shipped a few more "units" but I'm not a human dynamo and it's the Summer and I got friends to hang out with.

My personal PC of the time (the Gateway GP6-233), an Intel Pentium II with a 233 MHz processor, was beginning to feel old and with a steady stream of money and plenty of time on my hands I got the particular type of fever for which there is one cure: a new computer.

I threw my self headlong into research, finding that Intel had recently re-asserted superiority and the new Pentium 4s were faster than the latest AMDs. The fastest type of RAM? RDRAM. The best ROM? DVD-RW - but hold on there, I don't need THAT much awesome power, the 16x/48x DVD-ROM is just fine for me (albeit with a 40x/12x/48x CDRW). The 2.6 GHz processor was just about to be released and so, in a shrewd business move, I decided to wait for that release, and buy the no-longer-cutting-edge 2.4 GHz model for cheaper.

And then it was just a waiting game.

Finally, on September 5th 2002 I purchased the Gateway 700S:

Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz with 533 MHz Front-Side Bus.

RAM: 512 MB RDRAM (800 MHz)

HD: 120 GB (I'll NEVER use that much memory!)

Video Card: 128 MB NVIDIA GeForce 4 (with TV Out)

Disk Drive: 3.5" 1.44MB

Modem: 56K PCI Voice Modem (ooh, fast!)

Total Price: $1,544.00.

After years of enjoyment, all good things must come to an end. Recently the C: drive failed and became totally unusable, rendering the computer (arguably) dead. I mean, if I put another drive in, it would still be working today but I think it was time to let go. But I should say that it speaks well for the oft-dissed Gateway brand. Due to my participation in distributed computing projects, I can honestly say that I had a Gateway computer running at 100% CPU capacity for 24 hours per day, 7 days a week for 8 YEARS and the first thing to fail was the hard drive. You don't get stress tests like that every day.

The computer, Fred, made it from Sim City 3000 to Sim City 4... from Warcraft 2 to World of Warcraft...from dialup to DSL.... Windows 98 to XP... countless all-nighters for college... and probably most importantly - all the fun days of the internet(messageboards, instant messaging, file-sharing, MP3s. MIDI files, Windows "Themes", WinAmp Skins, and on and on).

[Pictured: Fred Desktop Screenshot Circa 2000-Something]

'Dance Avenue' Out on DVD

Jimmy's excited that the "Soul Train" clone "Dance Avenue" is finally being released on a DVD boxset. Somehow Questlove seems to know everything about music and yet, for some reason, he's never heard of "Dance Avenue". I don't get it. It's weird.

Here's a funky, funky dance down memory lane:

Conan Lumbergh

Conan explores the Office space and has conversations with staffers' parents in order to gain valuable advice as to how to improve the show.

If you want advice to help you improve a show, why go to the parents of your employees? I'm not even going to dignify that with a response.

Fun Fun Fun Fun

This week "Late Night" and Stephen Colbert did a cross-show promotion in order to raise money for charity. The end result of this was that Colbert had to sing Rebecca Black's biggest hit "Friday".

With backing from The Roots, he did just that:

The previous night the following dialogue took place on the show as Jimmy announced how much money they had raised:

Jimmy: $50,000!

Announcer Steve Higgins: You could buy a lot of Soul Patrol sweatshirts with that.

Jimmy: Yeah, you could- you could- I lost a lot of money; you made me invest in Soul Patrol sweatshirts.

Higgins: Yes.

Jimmy: Taylor- Taylor Hicks.

Higgins: Taylor Hicks... Soul Patrol... you gotta remember they're hyper--

Jimmy: Hypercolor sweatshirts that they don't make anymore.

Higgins: Yeah. But--

Jimmy: You made me lose a lot of money.

Higgins: The money's still there! That's an investment. In the future. Soul Patrol.

Jimmy: Taylor Hicks is- is- he's a great talent, I love that guy--

Higgins: What about the Sanjaya hair clips? And hair extensions?

Jimmy: I lost a lot of money.

Higgins: That's like money in the bank.

And you'll find in the "Friday" performance Jimmy is wearing a Hypercolor Soul Patrol sweatshirt.

Flaming T

I noticed recently that teamcoco.com had added a new tshirt with the Flaming C logo:

You can view or buy it here.

I love the idea but I'm torn about the execution. I'd love to see a tshirt with a Flaming C Comic Book Cover. Or even just a drawing or something.

Classic Roots Choice #28

Back to back!

The other night David Schwimmer was on the show. His walk-on song? It's only one of my favorite songs of ALL-TIME....

His song is a special Roots interpretation of ... ROSS'S MUSIC!

MAaANNN, that's awesome. Maybe next time they can play "Electrifying... Infinite Time".

For comparison.

Classic Roots Choice #27

March 25, 2011 - a date that will live in Late Night history. This is the rundown of the music which the Roots played during Late Night:

Opening: Late Night Theme.

Jimmy's Walkover: "Careless Whisper" as made famous by George Michael

Throw to Commercial #1: "Careless Whisper" as made famous by George Michael

Start of Segment #2: "Careless Whisper" as made famous by George Michael

Throw to Commercial #2: "Careless Whisper" as made famous by George Michael

Start of Segment #3: "Careless Whisper"

Guest #1 Walk-On: "Careless Whisper"

Throw to Commercial #3: "Careless Whisper"

Start of Segment #4: "Careless Whisper"

Throw to Commercial #4: "Careless Whisper"

Start of Segment #5: "Careless Whisper"

Guest #2 Walk-On: "Careless Whisper"

Throw to Commercial #5: "Careless Whisper"

Start of Final Segment: "Careless Whisper"

End Credits: Something different - a "Disco" rendition of "Careless Whisper".

Now THAT'S a show!

Although it was never explained, sitting in with the Roots tonight was the "Sexy Sax Man" Sergio Flores. And when you have a big star like that on your show, you gotta have him play all the hits.

If you're not familiar with this particular phenomenon, prepare for greatness:

Return of the Wolfwaker

[Videos Deleted]

The Wolfwaker was born to a nomadic tribe that wandered the barren plains of Cyrus 6 - a small, rocky world orbiting a dying sun in a forgotten corner of a distant galaxy.

At age ten, he was captured by Nightwalker sentinels and taught to wield the harmonic spear. His childhood was spent in the cold vacuum of space. His play things - tools of destruction. His education - interstellar war. He became a master of killing and fought along other Nightwalker slaves, some of them organic, some of them machines, all of them orphans.

When he was twenty Earth-years-old, he was sent to annihilate the wolf home world - a peaceful green planet called Lupin. As he stepped from the landing craft, the wolven dawn broke over the mountains reminding him of daybreak on Cyrus 6 when he was a boy. Something awoke within the Wolfwaker and he turned his weapon against the Nightwalker Dropship as it sped off to safety. He swore a blood oath to defend the wolves and as they awakened him, so would he awaken them and lead them in battle beyond the stars...

Buddy Lembeck Meets Woodie Guthrie

Long lost footage of Bob Dylan singing an unreleased song was recently restored and premiered on Late Night. Interesting, historical stuff.

[Original Video Link Broken]

Apparently song was considered lost because someone spilled blood on the track.

Tiger Tiger Woods Y'all

Tiger Woods made his first talk show appearance since all the unpleasantness. First off, it was strange to me that he was the second guest. And then, of course, the entire nature of the situation was such that it was bound to be awkward but it's notable how the awkward level spiked sharply in the early going. Here it was:

And then this was the really enjoyable part of the appearance.

That PS3 ball thing is so stupid looking. It's an object that I'll probably never get used to. I refuse to accept it as a valid object, it doesn't deserve my acceptance.

FYI: Tiger's walk-on music was "Creepin'" by Stevie Wonder.

IMDB 250 Challenge Revision 5 Complete (Part 2)

Continued from Part 1...

The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)

My Rating: 7/10.

An Argentinian film, The Secret in Their Eyes is the story of a prosecutor looking back at his most famous homicide case. The movie spans several decades as it flips between modern day and the events of the past. Basically, this is like all the crime dramas on TV that I don't watch (CSI, Law & Order, etc.) but fortunately, with a level of quality many notches higher. There's also a twist ending but it's not as twisty as the movie seems to intend. The acting is extremely good but the most impressive part of this movie is the hair and makeup. Obviously, the portrayal of different time periods demands that the characters appear to be different ages and this movie has the most realistic, believable aging I've seen in a movie. Very good. There's also a long tracking shot that - even though special effects are utilized - would even make Orson Welles applaud. A good movie and worth watching if you have the time.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

My Rating: 6/10.

Anime keeps popping up in the list, particularly the works of Hayao Miyazaki, and I don't expect that trend to stop any time soon. I have to say upfront that I wasn't in the mood to watch an anime movie (am I ever?) but, frankly, this one was good enough to win me over. Should I even bother summarizing the plot? Hmm, here goes... in a post-apocalyptic world, humanity and nature are at war. The mutated/evil forest keeps expanding and taking over the actual forests which is bad. The humans are even divided amongst themselves and barely surviving against the constant horde. However, there is a prophecy that states that one shall come to unite humanity and nature and bring them in to harmony. There's also a blobby slime monster.

Patrick Stewart gives a standard Patrick Stewart performance as a guy with a voice that sounds a lot like Patrick Stewart. You would think that a Japanese cartoon from 1984 would be a strictly non-Shia LeBeouf affair wouldn't you? WELL YOU'D BE WRONG, SPANKY. Provided you watch the English dubbed version as opposed to subtitles. Oh, and Mark Hamill has a bit part but you would never recognize him.

I've gotta give it up for these movies in the sense that they seem to be endlessly imaginative and that translates to some entertainment value. At the same time I can't take anime seriously enough to really care and get that emotionally involved.

Our Hospitality / Sherlock Jr. (1923)

My Rating: 7/10.

I think it's the first double feature ever on the list. In the first feature, Buster Keaton stars as a man who must return to the west to claim his inheritance but along the way he falls in love. To his surprise, the woman belongs to a family which has a blood feud with his own. When he's invited over for dinner, the men in her family decide that they cannot kill him while he's a guest in their house but as soon as he leaves, he's fair game. You gotta love those rules - you wouldn't want to be bad hosts but murder is just a part of life. Obviously though, such a wacky setup can't help but lead to an interesting movie.

In short - and I've said this before - Buster Keaton's a genius. The action sequences alternate between funny, exciting, amusing, tense and dramatic. All the gags are clever and a few of the stunts are absolutely breathtaking and you know as you watch them that that it's actually happening without special effects. These movies have humor, drama, romance, action, they got every-ting! Everything, except spoken dialogue, which obviously handicaps the ratings of all silent pictures (for me).

The second part of the double feature, "Sherlock Jr." is slower and less well done. It's basically a display of the most cutting-edge special effects of the time, which are actually still impressive, even now. But then, as now, special effects are no substitute for a good story. The second half and the general "silent picture handicap" takes it down from an 8 to a 7 but still, these movies are spectacularly clever. I continue to be a growing Buster Keaton fan and I'll have to look up more of his movies outside of the list.

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

My Rating: 8/10.

This computer animation movie slipped under the radar for me and I wasn't big on watching YET another animated movie when there were already a number of them in the list but, again, (there's a pattern forming) it won me over. Basically, a village of Vikings lives in constant battle with the surrounding dragon population but one kid finds that they've just been misunderstood and keeps one as his own pet. Hey, it doesn't sound all that different from "Nausicaa...".

Like I said, this one flew under the radar but it's actually (I think) better than Toy Story 3 which is saying something. Although both teach valuable life lessons about caring or sharing or something or other... I don't know I wasn't paying attention to that part. If you're looking for a movie for a kid, this is a "can't miss". If you're an adult, it's still actually good enough to watch, in my opinion. Two things put it over the top for me: 1) Most of the movie is like that part in "The Neverending Story" where the kid rides the luck dragon (Excellent). 2) Certain scenes and shots in this movie genuinely communicate the sensation of flying - probably better than any other movie I've seen.

Kick-Ass (2010)

My Rating: 3/10.

What if there were a superhero with no superpowers? That's Batman. Ok, what if there were a superhero with no superpowers and no money? Why hasn't some moron put on a stupid suit and hit the streets to fight crime? They have. What if there was a superhero with no superpowers, no money, no particular talent and hadn't heard of all the other real-life superheroes? There is, and that poor dope is "Kick-Ass".

"Kick-Ass" is a movie about kids aged 12-18 putting on suits and fighting adult villains. On technical merit, this movie isn't the worst. It has questionable writing, fair acting, good editing and a general sense of style. My problem is with the premise. Do you want to watch a 12 year old beating up adult men? The entire idea is ridiculous. It was ridiculous in "3 Ninjas" in 1992, and it's ridiculous now.

"Kick-Ass" isn't just stupid, it's offensive... and in some parts it's offensively stupid. It appears to have been designed by marketing executives to appeal to the "brainless teen" demographic. Who needs plot when the characters on the movie surf myspace? Why develop characters when you can have them listen to Gnarls Barkley in a "pimped out ride"? "Hey, these kids are dealing with sexuality in a frank way! Nobody's done that before!"

Here's a scene for you: one part of the movie depicts a high-school-aged teen walking through a hallway mowing people down with machine guns in slow-mo with hardcore rock music blasting on the soundtrack. Does this throw up any red flags for anyone? Really? We're not interested in learning from the past or thinking about things before we do them? OK, cool, just checking. But, wait, what about the audience - won't they have problems with it? I don't think so. Teens are stupid. As long as it's in slo-mo while hardcore techno plays, it doesn't matter what's on screen, teens are stupid.

And apparently they are. As is the general public. At least, enough to put this piece of turd on the list. Luckily it's slid just off the list but a lot of good that does me.

----

Maaan, finishing on a high note! Well, this revision is complete. And I'm already behind. During the time in which I've been watching these movies, Oscar season has come and gone so there are probably many changes to catch up on.

Movies This Revision: 11.

Average Score: 6.54.

Best Movie This Revision: "Inception"/"Social Network"/"How to Train Your Dragon" - no clear winner.

Total "Top 250" Movies Seen: 344.

The Nerdiest Moment Ever

I was lying on the couch watching (I think) the History Channel over the weekend when a commercial came on for an upcoming special. "Did you know two U.S. Presidents were avid skinny dippers?" To which I replied (yes, I spoke out loud to the television), "John Quincy Adams and Theodore Roosevelt".

Now, I wasn't making a joke (to my tv) and I wasn't venturing a guess. I knew the actual two presidents to which they're referring. That's extreme nerdity (good or bad). Nobody should really know that offhand.

But I've come this far so I might as well go all the way....

I object to the term "skinny dipping" in this instance. It's a bit misleading. "Skinny dipping" is something high school kids do during games of "Truth or Dare"; it's something "Stiffler" would do in "American Pie 8: The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". John Q. Adams and Teddy Roosevelt swam nude outdoors for exercise and health (it was believed that the shock of cold air and/or cold water was invigorating and good for one's constitution). Let's not degrade their legacy with stupid terms. Next they'll be saying that Archimedes yelled, "Eureka!" and went streaking.

iPad 2

Conan has seen the new iPad 2 commercial and thinks Apple is getting a little cocky...

I don't know if I agree but that guy with the non-specific ethnic accent is so convincing!

Classic Roots Moment #26

Not walk-on music but it doesn't matter. This quick, tiny moment requires no explanation, it's epic and the video will expire...

Jimmy Fallon... ICE CREAM?!

Congratulations to "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" for being two years old.

The show celebrated with a Charlie Sheen spoof, a "Jersey Shore" spoof, a Slow-Jamming of the News, Mike Tyson and Motörhead sang "Ace of Spades" (Lem-may!).

Leading up to the show, Jimmy had said that there was going to be a huge surprise that would change everyone's life forever. The big surprise was that Ben and Jerry were revealing a new "Late Night" themed ice cream flavor. Ok, you're thinking, that's not huge at all. That's what I thought. But then I thought, I love iced cream, it's up there as one of nature's perfect foods in my estimation AND let's be real real - this could offer us all a paper-thin rationalization to go out and get loaded with fat so let's hear 'em out....

So what are the ingredients?

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream... (niiiice)

with a salty caramel swirl... (yes!)

and fudge covered .... (keep going)

potato chip clusters.

Eeeeee. Good luck with all that. That sounds like something that I would happily eat on a dare but without the whole challenge-to-my-manhood element, I don't see the point.

By the way the title of this post refers to "Days of Thunder" but that's probably not obvious to the "normal people".

IMDB 250 Challenge Revision 5 Complete (Part 1)

As you probably know, I have a (continuing) mission to watch every movie on the IMDB Top 250. I had previously accomplished this task a few years ago, however as ratings fluctuate and more movies are released, movies slip out of the 250 and others take their place. This requires that I continuously revise my list and watch the new ones to keep up. I finished the fifth revision earlier this week, watching the movie "Kick-Ass". Here are the latest movies and a few thoughts.

Toy Story 3 (2010)

My Rating: 7/10

Do I need to even write anything? With Pixar, you know you're getting a quality movie and this one is no exception. It's a worthwhile addition to the great "Toy Story" franchise that follows a gang of toys as they are forced to deal with their owner is too old and doesn't want them anymore. It's certainly a good movie but definitely not as good as the previous two. Michael Keaton (Batman) does a nice job as Ken of "Barbie and Ken" fame.

The Social Network (2010)

My Rating: 8/10

I was against this movie. If there's one subject for a movie that doesn't attract my attention, it's facebook. On top of this, I had seen the clips of this movie on late night talk shows which suggested that the movie's thesis is that the creator of "The Facebook", Mark Zuckerberg is supposed to be some sort of intellectual collossus who looks down on us little people with our tiny intellects with disdain. Yeah, copying myspace would make Isaac Newton himself gasp in awe and wonder.

Fortunately, my preconceived notions were largely inaccurate. The Social Network is smart, stylish and fast paced. Aaron Sorkin does his usual "people thinking and speaking too quickly which shows how smart I am" thing but it's fine. Justin Timberlake as Napster founder Sean Parker?

"We need to cast a computer nerd, who can we get?"

"Oh I know, Justin Timberlake!"

"Yess." (Slow fist pump)

But then, that's kind of the point. The point of the movie is not to tell an accurate account of history, it's about making an entertaining movie. And it succeeds. But for everything that it does well in terms of style and building drama, it lacks heart. I thought it was a really good movie and I really enjoyed it and I don't think I'll ever want to watch it again.

Inception (2010)

My Rating: 8/10

The conventional wisdom holds that Leonardo DiCaprio died on the Titanic in 1912 so there's no way he can be in movies anymore. But Chris Nolan is such a genius, he found a loophole. Leo is dreamy and can still exist in people's dreams so if you make a movie about dreaming you can still cast him. BOOM.

Just like "The Social Network" this one is extremely hyped and stylized and similarly it does live up to the hype. "Inception" is a sci-fi action "flick" where a technology exists that allows people to inhabit the same dream. In turn, there arise organizations in the business of "breaking into" people's dreams in order to steal secrets or plant ideas which will yield profit for them in the real world.

"Inception" is a fast-paced, well done action movie with a nice psychological twist - much in the same vein as "The Matrix" (and not too far off in terms of subject matter as well). The key for me was that within the basic premise outlined above, they also go into a dream within a dream for a number of levels until your mind gets twisted a bit. It was a unique experience that really took a good action movie and put it over the top.

Mary and Max (2009)

My Rating: 6/10

A claymation movie for adults, this movie is about being quirky and different. So different, in fact, that at times it's just weird. It tells the story of a young girl in Australia who picks a random person from the US and writes a letter to them. Soon an extremely unlikely pen pal relationship is struck. Though claymation, the movie is nearly colorless in its palette (at times it's nearly black and white) with some color here and there. This visual suits the tone of the movie which depicts a bleak world where people are dealt a bad hand but try to remain hopeful. The characters deal with depression, sadness, emptiness, abandonment, psychosis and generally the sad state of humanity. And yet it's claymation! At times it's very creative and clever, at times I loved the quirky, strange nature of it, at times I really rooted for the characters but unfortunately it doesn't sustain greatness for the entirety of the movie and I thought the ending was very weak.

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)

My Rating: 5/10

This is a Korean film that centers on two Buddhist monks that live in harmony with nature out in the middle of nowhere. There's very little to say about this movie because it's sparce and slow. There's probably about one line of dialogue for every minute of film time. There are many beautiful shots of pristine nature as the film slowly and quietly shows the passage of time, the imperfect nature of man and the peaceful beauty of the natural world. The main theme of the movie is the cyclical nature of life (as the title suggests). In the end, it's a 5 for me. To value this movie more or less than any other movie would imply that some things are more valuable than others. This view of unequal value leads to a possessive spirit. And a possessive spirit will murder. *gonnNNGGGG*

Black Swan (2010)

My Rating: 7/10

FINALLY they make a ballet-centered movie about the descent into madness! It seemed obvious to me.

Obviously "Black Swan" centers around ballet but the real subject of the movie is psychological illness. We are not merely spectators as the movie attempts to draw us in as much as possible to put us in the unsound mind. And it does a pretty good job. The movie is paranoid, claustrophobic, disjointed, intense and can be, at times, hard to watch. But then, that's the point. But then, that means that it's not a movie for everyone.

I really think it's a good movie, but it's not great - I was moved and I was into it but nothing sort of pushed me in 100%. But within the confines of such a movie, Natalie Portman give an amazing performance as the main ballerina Nina Sayers. Her performance is multi-layered, multi-faceted and completely convincing. I haven't seen all the other nominees but I can only assume her Oscar is completely earned.

Who knew that someone from the Star Wars prequels could actually be good at movies?!

To be continued....

Donald Rumsfeld on Letterman

I wanted to post this interview for quite a while but it wasn't up anywhere. It's a terrific interview and a terrific return to the "old style" of Letterman political interviews.

I knew that Rumsfeld had been the oldest Secretary of Defense but I had no idea that he had been the youngest as well. And likewise that he had known, interacted with and served for so many U.S. Presidents. A fascinating interview and includes some great "mule" banter.

Segments like this one are one of the main reasons that Letterman is (has been) head and shoulders above every other talk show host. When bringing on political or polarizing figures, he isn't content to be apolitical and have them tell stories about how they love their cat (as other talk shows will do). Instead, he does the opposite - mixing the jokes with direct questions about the important matters of the day. At times like these the show ceases to be just a dumb comedy show and gains an edge of serious journalism.

And the BEST part of the serious political interview segments was that it was entirely detached and objective. When someone from the left was on, for instance, Letterman would ask fair but hard-hitting questions. When someone from the right was on, it was the same deal. Again, in the vein of journalism, the questions would be fair but tough regardless of the guest. This was probably most evident during the presidential campaign of 2000. The "Late Show" were able to book both presidential candidates and the reviews on both interviews were that Letterman had actually been harder-hitting than most interviews done by the "serious" journalists.

Unfortunately all of this is filed under the "old style" above because recently things have changed. Though THIS interview is recent and that shows Letterman is still capable of doing it, lately he's become much more politicized. He'll give guests from the left a free pass and say things to those on the right are treated with outright hostility. Recently in an interview with Rand Paul for instance, Letterman actually uttered the phrase, "You know, I think he’s wrong about some of these things. I just can’t tell you why.” It's a statement so dumb, I couldn't (and can't) believe it was said.

All the more reason to enjoy interviews like these because they're an endangered species.

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines?

Jason Sudekis tells the story of drinking too much at the NBA All-Star game:

Then, Amber Heard describes her experience announcing the official "Gentlemen, start your engines" at a NASCAR event and Jason Sudekis and Jimmy Fallon argue about the quality of Jimmy's version. They both agree that it's bad but is there more to it than that?

Classic Roots Choice #26

Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi was on the show the other night to promote the current season of "Jersey Shore". Her walk-on music? A segment of the Oompa Loompa song from "Willy Wonka...".

[Waaaaaa.]

That's classic.

Thank You Notes

It's Friday and that means "Thank You Notes". This particular edition gets some help from violinist Itzhak Perlman. And yes, I double checked that spelling.

Jordan Schlansky - Valentine's Day

Oooh, I almost forgot this one. Any time Conan visits with Jordan Schlansky, it's going on the blog. That's my promise to you the viewer and all future generations.

Conan talks to Jordan about Valentine's Day and relationships:

It's too short though. Spoiler: Conan drinks too much alco-hool. Also, I have to admit that I DO like it when the two bald priests are staring out the highway window from the bus.

Music Roundup

Thought I'd post a couple recent musical performances that caught my fancy (a bits).

First, this is an increasing trend and I'm not sure if that's a bad thing. There's nothing about this song that's amazing, nothing great, nothing, really, that I can pick out as "above average" and yet I just like it for some reason. It's just wonderfully atmospheric. Listening to it puts me in a specific brain state (a specific feeling of time and place) which is really cool.

Phantogram - Mouthful of Diamonds (note: I wanted to post their Late Night performance with Questlove on drums but that video has been deleted).

This song also holds up after repeated listens. There are a lot of bands out there that are trying to be "retro". There's a whole slew of bands that are "synthy" and trying to recall the 80's style. But this song's on another level. This song successfully sounds exactly like it's FROM the 80's. Take any scene from 80's movie where the "gang" has to fix up an old barn and it's tons of hard work but all the difficulty is made easier by the use of the upbeat montage. Take that scene and play this song over it and it doesn't feel out of place at all. (Edit: Wait, no, it's not the fixing up the barn scene, it's the scene where the guy did something bad to drive the girl away and there's a montage of failed ploys to win her back.)

Chromeo - "Hot Mess" (note: the original performance on Conan has been deleted)

Seriously, this song has more hooks than a fisherman on vacation.

Letterman Visits Old School

Hmm, that's a bad title. I was trying to make a play on the title of the last post.

Anyway, here's a video from all the way back to 2003. Vince Vaughn came onto Letterman to promote his new film "Old School". Vince Vaughn is one of the best talk show guests out there, and his Late Show appearances are especially good. That's why it's an absolute crime that he's only on for one segment. Still, it's short and sweet.

Bonus: Paul's walk-on music choice: Steely Dan - "Countdown to Ecstacy". The chorus contains the line "And I'm never going back to my old schoooool."

"I went to a school called 'Life', Dave. Our school colors were black and blue."

Conan Visits Beauty School

In this classic from 2002-2003, Conan visits a hair styling school and learns the secrets of the trade. The revelation that "if hair is too long, cut it" is mind-blowing.

Let's gather the required postage and follow him to Danger Town:

You may or may not recognize the employee, Aaron Bleyaert. These days he manages the "online" division of Conan's show (the blog, twitter, web exclusive videos, etc).

Conan and The Blizzard of 2003

---As promised---

With New York City shut down due to the blizzard, Conan takes to the (surprisingly desolate) streets to stir up some comedic comedy.

That news story by Maurice Duvois gets me every time.

New Press Photo

Sure, we don't want this to become a Radiohead Fan Blog but, uhhhhh....

So anyway a new press photo of the band was released! Desperate for hints and clues as to the new album as we are, this counts as major news (for now).

Here it is:

[Note: The photo contains 3 invisible ponies.]

Now THAT is a sweet photo. Judging by it, I'd say the new album is going to sound like The Band's self-titled album. Yaaaaay! Or perhaps Neil Young's Harvest album. Yaaaayy! Or maybe it'll be like "The Wild Wild West" soundtrack. Oh, BOOOO! Or maybe My Morning Jacket's new album that isn't released yet. Cool? I guess maybe this has become an entire genre of band photo. But still it's good.

Who Cares Wins: Internet

How did I learn to operate Blogopolis? Max and Gabe taught me.

Thanks Max and Gabe!

Here Comes the Limb King

The eighth Radiohead album "The King of Limbs" is available for pre-sale now and will be downloadable this Saturday, February 19th 2011.

Its gonna be HUGE, Conan. I've officially been waiting on this album for 4 (calendar) years and after not a hint, not a suggestion, not a word, it's all of the sudden going to be OUT in 5 days. WOW. Their previous album, "In Rainbows" was announced 10 days before it was released. I wish they didn't do things this way. If they would have only announced it two months ago, I would have had something to look forward to for those two months. Instead, it's 4 years... BAM, NOW!

And along the lines of the "no info" front. Little to nothing is known about this album, not even the tracklisting or how many tracks there are. Although the Japanese are saying it's got 8 songs. That would seem low and I don't think that's correct. There were some tracks that have been played live and not yet recorded but there always are. Furthermore, those tracks that ARE known were only played acoustically or with guest musicians so that's not much help. I'm rooting for "Big Boots" or "Follow Me Around" to finally land a spot.*** All in all, I'd venture to say this is the least I've known going into any Radiohead album, ever.

The album purchase is available in two varieties: download only (wav or mp3) or "newspaper album" which comes with the download as well as two vinyl records, the CD, the ability to download everything and tons of artwork. There's been a lot of speculation as to what "newspaper album" means.... Ok, there's been almost no speculation and what little there is has been ridiculous. I would speculate that it's one of two things: 1) An expression of the nature of the artwork (ie. the artwork will be arranged like a newspaper or 2) All of the materials will be recyclable/biodegradable like a newspaper. Radiohead, after all, are known for being super eco-friendly and that would be the kind of thing they would brag about.

Ok, as speculation goes, this probably isn't the most exciting stuff, but that's all I got.

I should say also that I don't like the title... "The King of Limbs". Reminds me of Kings of Leon (it actually comes from a tree (much like a newspaper! mMM!)). But I'm taking that as a possibly good sign. After a 3 year wait in 2000, the new album "Kid A" was announced and I didn't like THAT title because it reminded me of Kid Rock. And that album turned out PRETTY good.

*** Denotes an old-timey, hardcore-fan reference to songs that will probably never see the light of day. Ha ha? But really, I do love those non-songs.

Conan Visits the Day Spa

Certain dead musicians continue to release new music long after they're gone because people keep "finding" "lost recordings". And so it is with me. Except I'm not dead. But I had ripped all my old VHS tapes long ago and was much disappointed by what I had apparently failed to keep. Recently new VHS tapes were uncovered and so I'll be ripping/editing them for days to come. Some - but not many - will even make it to youtube.

And so here's the first of hopefully many.

This is going all the way back to February of 2003, Conan is feeling run down and decides to visit a day spa for a day of relaxation.

This is one that I can tie to a specific time and place. I brought the tape on which this piece was recorded to a friend's house and we watched it during a particularly heavy snowfall (there was a blizzard in '03 but I think this was a few days later). We went through the tape, laughing, eating, making jokes, cracking wise and generally enjoying life.

And after a good amount of that, a little bit of reality set in. His parents wanted us to shovel the driveway. This was particularly important as it occurred to me that I needed to get home. The next day I had class and I had a paper to do. Problem was, his driveway was like 40 or 50 yards long and the snow was (as I recall it) about 20 inches deep and heavy. In the face of those kinds of numbers, there we were just two regular dudes and a couple of shovels. It was not looking good. I think I shoveled a single strip about 8 feet long before I hit the wall (even in those days I was out of shape) and realized that I wasn't going to survive. Not good. With my primary mission to get myself home, looming in the back of my mind is that I have a paper to write that's due tomorrow and I haven't started yet. It was an essay for a Media class where I had to write a 4 page analysis of a local news broadcast. Sure, it helped that part of the assignment was just watching TV but I dread trying to expand the material to cover 4 pages. The local news is the local news. It loomed over me every bit as much as the snow clouds.

The giant driveway snow tonnage didn't kill me but it was a close call. After an hour of back-breaking labor (over which we made approximately 0% progress), a dude with a snow plow came by and offered to clear the driveway for 20 bucks or something. The deal was made, I was able to get home, record the 11 O'Clock news and get the paper done in the wee hours of the morning.

The day of basking in the warmth of late night comedy while the snow fell down was a fleeting happiness but it's a memory I'll never forget.

David Brent Cameo in The Office

Brief but alright.

Catfish

Catfish (2010)

When one thinks of all the great movies within the "psychological thriller documentary" genre, not many movies come to mind. In fact no movies come to mind. This is one of those things that perhaps in a few days it'll suddenly come to me that I forgot one but at the moment there are no movies in this category. Except for the new documentary "Catfish".

We all know that the internet is a place where fiction and reality can be hard to discern. It's a hard and fast rule for instance that the attractive lady you're chatting to in chat rooms is really an overweight 40-year-old man who works as a part-time accountant. But can you be sure either way? And wouldn't you like to find out the stark naked truth (NOT LITERALLY)? This is "Catfish".

"Catfish" is a low-budget indie documentary that only recently came out on DVD and (I assume) if anyone is to find out about it, it will only be via word of mouth. In it a 24-year-old photographer from New York strikes up a friendship with a family in the Midwest over facebook. Through social networking, email, pictures, texts, videos and phone conversations he starts a relationship with the 19-year-old oldest sister and things progress steadily from there. As the relationship starts to get more serious, a series of strange clues cause him to begin to question whether he's actually interacting with a real person. And if he wasn't talking to a real person, what is the alternative possibility? Hoping to finally uncover the truth he decides on an impromptu visit and finds that the reality of the situation is beyond strange.

Obviously, getting at the truth is exactly the point of the movie and I won't spoil anything here. I only suggest that the building mystery is as fascinating as any mystery/fictional movie you're bound to see and the slow descent into the fictional (real) world is absolutely creepy. In fact the creepiness combined with the low-budget one-camera style at one point brought up memories of "The Blair Witch Project". Except this documentary is real (I think) and truth is stranger than fiction. Definitely recommended.

Oh yeah, and don't read or watch anything about the movie beforehand because, like "The Sixth Sense", a large part of the interest of the movie is finding out how it ends. That is, don't read anything about it starting now.

Beavis and Butthead In 2011

Beavis and Butthead are coming back for a new season of shows to air on MTV this Summer. Yes, you read that sentence correctly.

Not much else is known about the show other than that Mike Judge will still do the voices, the two protagonists will still be in high school, it will still be on MTV and they'll be mocking current music videos. It's unclear how the music video data will actually be pushed through the MTV channel system but sources in the scientific community assure me that the technology exists.

This article about the comeback was written in July of 2010. How am I only hearing about this now?!

SNL - Dana Carvey

This week was a special event for Saturday Night Live. The guest host was Dana Carvey. The show saw the return of "Church Chat" and special cameos by Mike Meyers and John Lovitz.

Oh yeah and a little something called THIS:

Also, this one isn't so much funny as I just like this song and wish to buy the record album.

And I thought this was pretty funny too.

It was nice to see him back and it was one of the better episodes of the past few years. You can watch the full show here.

Super Bowl of Serenity

After a week of contemplation, trying to figure out how to fill my Super Bowl hours, I finally settled upon the idea of a "Joy of Painting" with Bob Ross marathon.

Using the power of the internet I was able to get a multitude of episodes and at 30 minutes each it was enough to cover the 8 hour (or whatever) span of overpriced commercials ("The Super Bowl"). The show was on the air for 30 years so there are A TON of episodes to choose from. I tried to sample one episode in each season across different seasons but even with that I didn't even get to Season 10.

And what a Super Bowl it was... there were almighty mountains, happy little trees, little rascal squirrels, clouds who had other cloud friends, trees that were sons of guns, bravery tests and plenty of happy accidents.

Some of the episodes were pretty unusual. One had a predominantly purple motif which I enjoyed and in another episode a woman came on and taught us how to paint saw blades. Turns out it's exactly the same as painting on a canvas... except on a saw blade. That's one of the great things about painting; it's your own little world. When you buy your first tube of paint, you get your Artist's License which allows you to do anything you want within the boundaries of your painting.

The whole experience added up to ultra-relaxation. It wasn't the most exciting Super Bowl ever, it was the most peaceful. ARE YOU READY FOR SOME CONTEMPLATIVE RELAXATION?! Yes.

Super Bowl of Avoidance

It occurred to me as I watched the Pro Bowl today that this will be my last chance to see the NFL until next season. This made me sad for two reasons. 1) Nothing that happens in the Pro Bowl can really be described as "football" and 2) due to the current collective bargaining agreement, the wait will probably be longer than "next season". "Next season" will start at least a month late (my estimate) if there's even a season at all.

"But what about the Super Bowl?!", you say, quite harshly. A little too harshly, frankly. If I'm going to write a blog, I really don't need that level of sass and I'm not going to take it. Well, to answer the question, the Super Bowl annoys me. It barely has any more to do with football than the Pro Bowl does. Between the people watching just for the commercials, the halftime show where 'NSync does half a song with Aerosmith, the indifferent crowd and the fact that the public at large watches just because everyone else is, I couldn't care less. If my team were in the game, I'd watch and I'd watch harder than anyone else but until that happens, it's banned.

The question now is how to fill my time. I'd like to do something that stands out so that it can be remembered fondly in the future. Past Super Bowls I've:

• Watched "Follow That Bird"
• Watched "Puppy Bowl I" (play-by-play by Harry Kalas) (the winner was all of us)
• Watched "Muppet Treasure Island"

And even though I had a blog during last years game, I don't remember what I did. If I had to guess, I think I was watching a movie of some sort.

So what to do this year? Not sure. It's something to think about this week. The only rules are that it has to be something slightly off the beaten path (or simply ridiculous) and has to be as "opposite" of the Super Bowl as possible. A couple of the frontrunners so far:

Storage Wars Marathon

Watch "Wayne and Garth's Music A-Go-Go" (if I can get it in time)

Read

Watch "Trading Spaces" (I'd have to find that as well)

8-bit Nintendo Night

That's really all I have so far but I have a week to think about it. I'm sure I'll figure something out. Suggestions welcome.

The good news is this: two weeks until aces and catchers.

Wax Conan Revisited

Conan visits his wax figure made by Madame Tussaud's about a year ago.

This is great because Conan goes in with no material to work with but still improvises a full 6 minute bit. He is to comedy as B.A. Baracus is to machines.

No sign of Wax Tom Cruise and Wax Fonzie.

Letterman-Postian Recursion

Letterman defended Ricky Gervais' performance hosting the Golden Globes on his show.

You can watch the video here.

The New York Post had printed a story about how the performance was so controversial. Letterman held up the story and said Gervais did a fantastic job, reading some of Ricky's jokes from the article. He then predicted that tomorrow's Post would have a story about what he had just done and print a picture of him holding up the Post. The next day he was proven correct as The New York Post did print a picture of Dave holding up the Post. So he held up the Post article which contained the picture of him holding the Post to see if they would publish a picture of that in the next day's edition.

He says his goal is to eventually get a photo printed in the newspaper that represents infinity.

MECHANT!

I'm a big Smerch fan so it was nice to see him on Late Night. He talks about "An Idiot Abroad", "The Ricky Gervais Show", the Golden Globes and even touches on his XFM (radio) days.

[Broken Video Removed]

His walk on music was "6 Foot 7 Foot 8 Foot Bunch" which goes, uh, "Six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch" (so it's not just a clever name). Steve is 6 foot, 7. My prediction for the walk-on music was "Black or White" by Michael Jackson.

Pros and Cons or Something

"Pros and Cons" is a regular feature on Late Night but it's usually kind of a waste of time. "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" is supposed to be about being weird and different. But "Pros and Cons" is the one piece they do that's no different from a million different comedy bits done by a million different talk shows throughout history.

But this one rises above that, due mainly to the amount of derailment and improvisation about the "Old Timey" days of radio and myspace. And also the reference to "Macho Man" Randy Savage.

Regis Retires; Drinking with Betty White

Earlier in the day, Regis Philbin announced he was leaving his show. So Dave calls him to check in:

And later Dave interviews Betty White. Always interesting to hear about the early days of television, etc.

There's always something interesting happening at the Late Show but it's hard to blog about it because the uploaded videos available don't begin to cover them all. Then, when a video is created, it's edited to almost nothing (as seen above). Hopefully two videos almost adds up to one good one.

Tom Tom Club

Tom Tom Club perform their hit "Genius of Love" on Late Night, or as I call it "THE CATCHIEST SONG EVER". The band is a few years older and they've added a pointless DJ but the song holds up pretty well and it's good to hear it again.

James Brown? James Brown. James Brrroooown? JAMES BROWN!

Conan The Comic Book Guy (Continued)

In a previous post we learned that Conan had visited Warner Brothers animation studios to make his own comic book character (The Flaming C). Now the character has shown up in an unexpected place.

My favorite part is the steaming oven mit. I'm also surprised that a show for kids (I assume it's for kids) is allowed to have a character with a pot leaf belt buckle and fish net stockings.

Classic Roots Choice #25

When Patton Oswalt was on the show last Friday his walk on music was a strange, slowed down version of "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" with a certain evil overtone.

This was a reference to one of Oswalt's standup bits:

Listen to the actual slowed-audio version of the song here.

It's kind of a strange convention to make chipmunks have extremely high-pitched voices. There's no evidence for it as they don't speak English. Or if you say that they would have higher pitched voices because they're smaller animals then we need to adjust a whole host of animal cartoon characters.

Ricky Gervais Show Season 2 Premieres; Is Free; Is On My Blog

The second season of the Ricky Gervais show premiered today. And not only that, it's viewable from hbo.com. And not only that, it's free.

Ricky Gervais Show 2-01:

[Broken Video Removed]

Ep. 14: Clive Warren - Full Episode

And not only that, it's the show where Karl pitches his idea for a new movie starring Clive Warren and Rebecca De Mornay. It's one of the maddest ideas for a movie ever but I kind of get the suspicion that it'll be made some day. After all, Karl pitched the idea that humans should age backwards and they made "Benjamin Button".

I'm not sure of the business model - no commercials, available for free - but I'll take it. Perhaps this is only for the season premiere.

WEETABIX!

Oregon 80s Power Ballad

In the world of college football there are many fight songs. But until now there have not been any 80's power ballads.... until now. Oh yeah, I already said that.

The A-Team

The A-Team (2010)

Pictured: The coolest toy ever.

I'll tell you something interesting about "The A-Team" (movie): it isn't terrible.

Going into it, I had heard nothing but bad things about how bad it is at badness. This, combined with the fact that I despise the current trend of making horrible remakes of things I like (see "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "Transformers", "Transformers 2", "G.I. Joe" and so forth), meant that I had no hope for this remake of "The A-Team" TV series from the '80s. Still, my love for that series made me curious about the movie and kept me curious until I felt I should at least see it once.

The main criticism I heard was that it was ridiculous, mindless action that was both ridiculous and mindless. And there's no doubt that was right. I won't get into spoilers of specific actions/scenes/scenarios but I will say that calling it "unrealistic" is an insult to unrealism. If you think about the physics or logistics of this movie - or simply try to place the events somewhere within the space-time continuum in which the rest of us live - for any more than a few seconds, you WILL suffer an aneurysm and probably suffer brainexplosia. This movie takes believability and melts it with underwater fireworks and chocolate sauce.

However (and this is a hard "however" to face), it is most enjoyable. I never go for mindless action and I usually hate when other do, but in this case I do have to say that for me, believability and enjoyment were not on a line extending in opposite directions, but were rather on a circle continuum. In one direction, a movie gets more and more unreal and less enjoyable but then there comes a point where the movie gets SO unreal that it's laughable and fun. This movie is that event. The situations are SO ridiculous and SO over the top that I just chuckled and enjoyed the ride - I think you have to. And - let's be fair - we can't argue that the original A-Team didn't require a certain well-proportioned level of disbelief suspension.

It might be said that my opinion is skewed because I'm probably a pushover for all things A-Team... well, I guess that's a crime I DID commit. But how can you not be? If you got the A-Team theme blasting as the A-Team characters fire guns from a helicopter while being chased by the bad guys and BA is yelling at Murdock and it's all displayed on the big screen, what's not to like?!

And I know there's only one real BA and only one real Face, etc. and it is true... But the actors are good in this "re-imagining". The closest parallel is the new "Star Trek" movie. There are new actors playing iconic roles that are defined by the original actors but somehow it's not offensive, and actually is kinda fun.

In the end, is it Shakespeare? No. Is it smart? Not really. But it IS fun and if you're looking for some escapist entertainment for an hour, it's perfect. And it's The A-Team.

Trivia: Watch for two Phillies shirts worn by Face in the movie. Actor Bradley Cooper is a Philadelphia native. Be sure also to keep watching until after the credits are over.

Trivia Continued: Within the "A-Team" movie, there is an "A-Team" movie... (yeah). The first listed credit of this movie is Reginald Barclay. Reginald Barclay is Dwight Schultz (the original Murdock)'s character's name in "Star Trek: The Next Generation".

Personal Addendum: This may be the first time I've encountered a brainless action flick and gone along with the "turn off your thinker" mentality to laugh at the crazy explosions. So far I'm taking it in stride but it is slightly worrying that I may be getting stupider.