godthedog

wow, how about that. i didn't notice this for almost a month. this reminds me of the 'simpsons' episode where maggie gets to mister burns's teddy bear. and then he finally comes to reclaim it however many scores of years later because everybody else is dead and/or stopped caring about it. i think i would've been happier with this plan if it had been pulled off in 2006. and why am i STILL at an 8% warning level?

^something to consider: notice that when there's doubt about whether or not you were responsible for something, almost everybody just assumes you were. given your history, this is hardly "almost everybody"'s fault, and it's not going to change anytime soon. addressing each complaint in snippy marney-style one-liners isn't going to help. even if you shut up each one person about each little issue, another one is always going to spring up and the board is going to turn into one long current events-type ongoing argument.

she's certainly getting her money's worth with this expensive new toy she bought. i expect at least 3 more arbitrary decisions that can be explained only by who the new owner is in the next 3 days.

Snoop Doggy Dogg- "Gin and Juice"-This one was impossibly hard for me. Warren G. (ft. Nate Dogg)- "Regulate" Nirvana- "Heart Shaped Box" R.E.M.- "Losing My Religion" Skee-Lo- "I Wish" Dr. Dre (ft. Snoop Doggy Dogg)- "Nuthin But a G Thang" Faith No More- "Epic" Meat Loaf- "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)"

To review: -Criticism of the U.S. when comparing to other countries = acceptable. -Defense of the U.S. when comparing to other countries = off topic. Any other inquiries about special circumstantial rules should be sent to [email protected]. way to ignore the thrust of the discussion in a sad attempt at one-upsmanship that says absolutely nothing. if you're going to argue with someone, argue with their more strong or substantial points, don't piss and moan about little shit and act like you've solved the whole discussion.

this conversation isn't really going anywhere. it doesn't do any good to form a laundry list of good things the US has done and bad things the US has done. i think one more interesting question might be, given the increasing interdependency of economics, politics, etc., all over the globe, does the US have any choice BUT to make repeated interventions in all sorts of countries according to its own interests? i can't think of any civilization that's ever relinquished its power willingly, and when your influence is wide, that influence can cut both ways. if al-qaeda is in pakistan, that IS a direct threat to the safety of the US--obviously not to its stability as a country, but to its citizens. and of course there are more assured deaths from handguns, car accidents, etc., than there could ever be from terrorism, but terrorism doesn't work the same way. i think the issue isn't whether or not america is a force of evil or a force for good or whatever, the issue is what practical options and obligations does a country with the power and interests of the US have?

save for the 'jerry maguire' stuff, i'm in complete agreement with barron on this week. '30 rock' looked like it was trying way too hard and although i laughed a lot, it was a hollow, weirded-out kind of laughter. the EXTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENDED slow-motion of tracy getting ready for the spaceship, combined with the point-of-view shots, just left this overall bad taste in my mouth. the phone sex commercial went on way too long; a joke like that is good for a one-liner and a cutaway, but it's too thin to be a crucial plotpoint with a lot of screen time.

no, that was there. jenna fischer does that well. she did it in the "jim buys a house" episode too in the brief moment where he's taking her in from the front yard. this show hasn't gotten enough credit (especially from me) for its format allowing for some really subtle acting styles--tiny pauses in timing, well-placed small sighs, things like that. rare for a sitcom to be able to do that. i had a dream last night that i was acting in somebody's student film with jenna fischer. she was very nice.

bourdain did a GREAT show all about the how and why of food porn a little while back.

i would much rather see a movie where penn, carrey, and del toro play the stooges. carrey could pull off iggy pop pretty well.

but he still sings only WASPy music. unless he does "paper planes" or something one week. which would be awesome.

lil is in it because she's the only non-WASP, and thus the only one with any kind of niche demographic at this point. she's there because they need a Black Girl With A Big Voice, even though her voice isn't nearly as big (or as good) as previous years' BGWABIVs (mandisa, the black girl who wasn't melinda 2 years ago, etc.). sarver would have a fighting chance if he made smart artistic choices to make up for his lack of range. he's got a very good voice that can do a very limited number of things, and so did david cook, but sarver just doesn't have that savvy. at this point i doubt ANYONE on the show has that much savvy (matt's shown glimpses of it but doesn't have that "genius" consistency; adam takes risks but is VERY hit-or-miss), but all the other guys have amazing sets of pipes to make up for it. has anybody else noticed that sarver is the only guy that doesn't have a great falsetto? in terms of pure vocal ability this might be the best group of guys they've ever had. i think he's gone tonight. megan deserves to be shot after her performance, and she's also not as likable as sarver, but i think she'll be able to barely scrape by week after week like her irritating blonde mormon predecessor (whose name i can't remember), who was safe as long as someone else did badly that week.

shut up flyboy? my god, it's been forever!

barron and czech are more alike than either is willing to admit. but only in being willing to argue point-by-point for their unpopular opinions. which is a good thing. i appreciate the existence of both.

also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZsfZdfzPoE...feature=related mislabeled, it's shai and not boyz II men. i distinctly remember listening to this one on "rick dees and the weekly top 40" with rapt amazement.

interesting, since 'the office' stopped being great when it descended into being a typical (yet still well-written) workplace comedy. what made 'the office' different was that it was obvious how much it would suck to work there. but then the writers started caring more about giving each character something interesting to do. slowly but surely, jim doesn't mind working in a job so far below his intelligence that he had to dream up OTHER things to get excited about there (i.e., torture dwight) so that he wouldn't get bored to death. slowly but surely, pam doesn't mind sacrificing her dreams of expressing any creativity whatsoever and being a bored receptionist for the rest of her life--she seems perfectly fine with being just a mediocre person. jim & pam are fucking boring now, and the writers can barely think of anything to do with them, so we just get a bunch of false starts (will jim get jealous & drive to new york? will pam stay in new york or go back to jim?). bob, i think you're feeling some kind of nostalgia for something that '30 rock' was never intended to be. i don't think the show that brought us "werewolf bar mitzvah" ever considered itself a workplace comedy.

i always liked "come undone" a lot more than "ordinary world." it sounded liquid and mysterious, with the chick singing something i couldn't understand. unrelated: this is the only clip i could find that wasn't remixed or edited. nobody i know even remembers "sweet potato pie." it got maybe 3 weeks of airplay and then disappeared. that's probably part of why i love it so much, because it can't help but be tied to a really specific time. it's also really really dirty.

yes, it really has. though, to be fair, it seems a lot easier to write a good '30 rock' episode than a good 'office' episode, since more than half their jokes are throwaways and don't need to seamlessly come out of the situations.

More Human Than Human Beck- "Loser" (d. "I Want It That Way," 21-10) Montell Jordan- "This Is How We Do It" (d. "I Don't Want To Wait," 27-4) The Breeders- "Cannonball" (d. "Mmmbop," 21-10) Dee-Lite- "Groove Is In The Heart" (d. "Inside Out," 22-9) Warren G. (ft. Nate Dogg)- "Regulate" (d. "Livin La Vida Loca," 26-5) Notorious B.I.G. (ft. Puff Daddy and Mase)- "Mo Money Mo Problems" (d. "Kiss Me," 22-9) Weezer- "Buddy Holly" (d. "You Mean The World To Me," 26-4) U2- "One" (d. "Dreamlover," 22-9) The Killer In Me Is The Killer In You Nirvana- "Heart Shaped Box" (d. "Smells Like Teen Spirit," 16-15) Blur- "Song 2" (d. "Boys and Girls," 17-14) Seal- "Kiss From a Rose" (d. "Crazy," 19-12) Cranberries- "Linger" (d. "Dreams," 21-10) Alanis Morissette- "You Oughta Know" (d. "Ironic," 24-7) R.E.M.- "Losing My Religion" (d. "Everybody Hurts," 20-11) Tom Cochrane- "Life Is a Highway" (d. "Glycerine," 20-11) Blind Melon- "No Rain" (d. "Jealous Again," 24-7) I Want To Fuck You Like An Animal Soundgarden- "Black Hole Sun" (d. "My Lovin'," 22-9) Skee-Lo- "I Wish" (d. "In The Meantime," 22-9) DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince- "Summertime" (d. "The Freshmen," 20-11) Fugees- "Killing Me Softly With His Song" (d. "Wannabe," 23-8) Dr. Dre (ft. Snoop Doggy Dogg)- "Nuthin But a G Thang" (d. "I Do It For You," 21-10) Beastie Boys- "Sabotage" (d. "Good," 26-5) The Offspring- "Self Esteem" (d. "Give Me One Reason," 21-10) Red Hot Chili Peppers- "Under the Bridge" (d. "Shine," 24-7) Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning's End Outkast- "Rosa Parks" (d. "Lump," 20-11) Pearl Jam- "Evenflow" (d. "Low," 23-8) Sinead O'Connor- "Nothing Compares 2 U" (d. "Counting Blue Cars," 23-8) Faith No More- "Epic" (d. "Sex and Candy," 20-11) Guns N Roses- "November Rain" (d. "More Than Words," 26-5) Ben Folds Five- "Brick" (d. "Flagpole Sitta," 20-11) Gin Blossoms- "Hey Jealousy" (d. "Back That Azz Up," 18-13) Meat Loaf- "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" (first round bye) here's hoping for a tom cochrane/outkast final.

i breezed through a dozen of her single-paragraph reviews last night. good stuff, that. i also breezed through about eighty pages of lester bangs's 'psychotic reactions and carborateur dung' this afternoon, and i feel drunk. i'm totally putting his 'fun house' review in my next syllabus (along with DFW's american usage dictionary review).

no. only until the top 5. the randy travis/carrie underwood duet was really good.

megan needs to get her pendulous teardrop tits off my television. she can sing a song in one way and one way only: like a cartoon hummingbird. "walking after midnight" is a sad song about being lonely, and she sang it with a creepily-winning smile and big fake-surprise googley eyes. and the movements she makes freak me the hell out, like she's some kind of brightly colored wind-up toy that won't turn off. "Oh, my! Did you KNOW that I go walking after dark sometimes? It's frightfully fun! Maybe I'll find you and play Tiddlywinks with you! Tee-hee!" alexis is probably going home tonight, but at least she could figure out what her song was about and do a suitably desperate interpretation. scott taking all the credit for his delilah-approved arrangements is not a good thing. simon's comment about danny's jacket was great. i'd like to see danny sing "crazy" by seal. matt may not end up being the winner, but i think he has the best shot of having a good musical career. he seems the most sure of what kind of music he wants to make and what he wants to sound like. anoop did really well, using his breath and all that. overall, i was pretty surprised at how many contestants didn't suck. this was probably the best country week i've seen since i started watching the show.

it is blatantly obvious. at the very least you could've figured it out from the 'south park' episode about the jonas brothers.

i hope somebody sings "keep a-goin'" by henry gibson from 'nashville'.

i laughed.