Auld Lang Syne

This is the very last post of Indiepoint for 2007.
So thanks to our dozens and dozens of readers (hey, take what you can get), the bands for making good music, the rock group Hello Mahalo for giving us our first comment thanking us for their nomination for Best New Artist at our Indiepoint Awards (they did end up losing to Manchester Orchestra), to Jones Soda to thinking that we were big enough to leave a spam comment on one of our posts, Boxxet for listing us in fan blogs for Arctic Monkeys and Zooey Deschanel, IceRocket, BlogCity, rl8r, deggaT and Buzzspree for listing us in their searches, Everyone at the DigitalDreamDoor forums and of course YOU for reading this. Without you readers, I would've lost interest in this blog in about a week, but now I know someone is reading. So thank you and have an awesome new year and we'll see you tomorrow.

18th Birthday (Mine)

Yes, today is my 18th birthday (yes, even bloggers have birthdays. That was funnier in my head). Nothing much else to report today, tomorrow's New Year's Eve, so have a safe, happy New Year (just in case i don't post tomorrow) and a great beginning to 2008.

Ramblings: Relevant Elephant

• Tomorrow (December 30) is my 18th birthday, just so you know
• David Letterman's production company Worldwide Pants has struck an agreement with the WGA and will return to TV with his writers, as will Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson which Worldwide Pants also owns.
• On December 21, the 54 nominees for the 2008 Shortlist Music Prize were announced. The 2007 Award (for music for 2006) was given to Cat Power's The Greatest. To be eligible for the prize, an artist must release an album between Janurary and November 2007, but hasn't gone gold. Albums on the longlist for the Shortlist Music prize include Puzzle by Biffy Clyro, New Wave by Against Me!, The Reminder by Feist, Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem, Neon Bible by Arcade Fire, Sky Blue Sky by Wilco, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon, Myths of the Near Future by Klaxons, Let's Stay Friends by Les Savy Fav and Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? by Of Montreal
• Radiohead will play their new album In Rainbows live on New Year's Day beginning on midnight. The performance will be broadcast by current.com. The performance however, will be pre-taped and will air thrice more throughout the day.

Former Rogue Wave bassist Evan Farrell dies at 33

Sad news to report: Evan Farrell, former bassist for indie rockers Rogue Wave died on December 23 of injuries suffered from an apartment fire. Farrell left Rogue Wave earlier this year before recording began on their latest album Asleep at Heaven's Gate. The bassist was 33. The full report can be read here: http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003689491

Free Music: The Foxboro Hot Tubs

As i've said previously, Green Day has allegedly concocted another side project. This time a 60's garage rock-esque band called the Foxboro Hot Tubs.

The group's EP Stop Drop and Roll is availible on their website, but it's been replaced by a clock. Well, here's a permenent link to the .zip file featuring the six songs on the record including Modern Rock radio hits "Mother Mary" and "Highway 1".

UPDATE AS OF MAY 1: Yeah i'm disabling this seeing as the actual album is coming out. Anyone who snagged the free and legal EP while it lasted, consider yourself lucky.

Ramblings: Untitled 12/28/2007 Post

• Amy Winehouse's horrible spiral of destruction continues today as she is summoned to a court in Norway to appear before a judge. This stems from an arrest in October for a marijuana possession.
  
• Netscape Navigator has been discontinued by it's parent AOL. The world's first massively popular browser was killed of by AOL in a press conference this morning. This leaves only the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox as the sole other major browser to take on Microsoft's Internet Explorer
• The Red Sox are still in the running for Johnann Santana. The latest rumored trade would bring Jon Lester and Coco Crisp to Milwaukee.
  

Ramblings: You Are Warped

• Scottish rock band Biffy Clyro announced the final single from their truly kick-ass album Puzzle. It will be "Who's Got A Match?". It will be released on February 4, 2008.
• NFL is allowing NBC and CBS affiliates to carry this weeks Pats-Giants game that was initially to be only broadcast on the NFL Network. Whilst it is availible here in Rhode Island on Cox Digital Cable, many people around the country do not have access to the network and this caused a minor controversy as this is the last game for Pats, who may be only the second undefeated team in NFL history, the first being the legendary 1972 Miami Dolphins (who ironically have the worst record this year)
• Mischa Barton was arrested early this morning for a DUI in West Hollywood and I really couldn't care less
• Singer/songwriter Sara Bareilles has her first Top 10 hit as "Love Song" hit #9 this week mostly due to it's inclusion in a Rhapsody commercial. Earlier this year, fellow singer/songwriter Ingrid Michaelson had a Top 40 hit with "The Way I Am" after it was featured in an Old Navy Ad and Leslie Feist scored her Top 40 debut with "1,2,3,4" after it's apparence in an iPod ad.
• South African rock band Seether's single "Fake It" has dethroned Foo Fighters' "The Pretender" as the #1 song on the Modern Rock Tracks chart after the latter's historic 18-week run on the top spot of the chart.

National Film Registry selections announced

This year's selections to the National Film Registry for films to be preserved for future generations are:

• 12 Angry Men (1957)
• Back to the Future (1985)
• Bullitt (1968)
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
• Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
• Dances With Wolves (1990)
• Glimpse of the Garden (1957)
• Grand Hotel (1932)
• The House I Live In (1945)
• In A Lonely Place (1950)
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
• Mighty Like A Moose (1926)
• Now, Voyager (1942)
• Oklaholma! (1955)
• Our Day (1938)
• Peege (1972)
• The Sex Life of the Polyp (1928)
• The Strong Man (1926)
• Three Little Pigs (1933)
• Tol'able David (1921)
• Tom, Tom the Piper's Son (1969)
• The Women (1939)
• Wuthering Heights (1939)
  

Now You're Playing With Power!

The Top 8 Worst Use Engrish Action Play:
Excluding Zero Wing of course
1. from Big Rigs: Over The Road Racing
Big Rigs is basically the Transmorphers of video games, a video game done so poorly it defies description. You go can go through buildings and the computer controlled opponents don't move. And at the end of a race, even if you somehow manage to lose once the other trucks do begin to move, you are presented with the Three Handled Trophy of Bad Video Game Design, with a grand congraduration of "You're Winner". Mein gott.

2. from Samurai Showdown 4
The Samurai Showdown series of arcade fighting games by SNK are classics, but apparently a translator for number four decided that the word "victoly" existed. Now, the Japanese use the same sound for both "L" and "R" so it makes sense, but really some one at SNK America should've looked this over beforehand. Ugh.




3. from Parodius
OK. I'll take your word on it, video game.









4. from Super Chase

Wouldn't that line be awesome on a t-shirt?







5. from Art of Fighting 2
Who cares? I guess this was supposed to be a joke, but it's badly misfired. And looked at the guys face. He's all pumped up to save a canary. And who would really kidnap a canary?






6. from Pro Wrestling

Huzzah! I are be winner! I shall be then defending my winnerdom! Hey, at least there's no three handle trophy.







7. from Ghosts & Goblins

Oh. No plural? And "happy end" is simply "man with five hearts falling on head". That's a great thing to tell the kids

The 2007 Indiepoint Awards

Yes, they're finally here. We only got 12 ballots, but hey, we're a very small blog.

The Winners:
Best New Artist: Manchester Orchestra
Breakthrough Artist: Silversun Pickups
Album of the Year: Radiohead - In Rainbows
Single of the Year: LCD Soundsystem "All My Friends"
Video of the Year: Bloc Party "I Still Remember" (Director: Aggressive)
Reissue of the Year: Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York
Best Album Cover: Biffy Clyro - Puzzle (Artist: Strom Thorgerson)
Live Act: Dropkick Murphys
Most Welcome Comeback: Rage Against the Machine
Coolest Person Alive: Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys)
Music Website of the Year: Last.fm
Radio Station: WBRU
Label of the Year: Saddle Creek
Best Music TV Show: Later With Jools Holland
Alternative Radio Cut: Foo Fighters "The Pretender"
Alternative Radio Breakthrough: Biffy Clyro "Living is a Problem Because Everything Dies"
International Artist: Shout Out Louds
Solo Artist: Regina Spektor
Artist of the Year: Arctic Monkeys

So Biffy Clyro and Arctic Monkeys walk away with two awards a piece.

Christmas Eve Post

Today is Christmas Eve, which means that the internet has no updates whatsoever, and I don't have anything new to say. Anywho, there's not going to be a post from me on Christmas Day, so the next time you hear from me will be the announcement of the 2007 Indiepoint Awards.
Have a happy and safe Christmas Day. See you on December 26.

My Fellow U.S. Americans: The 2007 Festivus Airing of Grievances

Well, it's December 23 which means its Festivus. So I will air my grievances of the year in accordance to Festivus tradition.

• The whole mess in Boston about the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters advertisements was absurd. The fact that grown men panicked over weeks old Lite Brites with a Mooninite flipping the bird could possibly be a threat is really sad
• Speaking of sad, Anna Nicole Smith = train wreck. Britney Spears, this is your present.
• Speaking of Britney, I hate her for making Kevin Federline seem like a good ANYTHING.
  
• The breakups of Blood Brothers and Pretty Girls Make Graves.
  
• The failure of Live Earth. Mostly because it didn't have something as hooky as a Pink Floyd reunion. Now i would've loved to see a Floyd reunion, considering that the date of the concerts was the one year anniversary of their brilliant but troubled founder Syd Barrett.
  
• Miss Teen South Carolina's great grammatical fuck up: "I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uhmmm, some people out there in our nation don't have maps and uh, I believe that our, I, education like such as, uh, South Africa, and uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, uhhh, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, should help South Africa, it should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future, for us." HOWEVER, this girl had a sense of humor about the whole thing admitting that she screwed up and gave a better answer to the question. Still it's jawdropping that humans cannot give a reasonable explanation for a question. Wow.
  
• Amy Winehouse. Do I have to type anymore?
• Michael Vick. A man who had all the money, fame and respect he could want. And he throws it all away by doing one of the most inhumane things a person can do.
• Facebook thought that their users would love to have adbots following their searches so they could tailor the ads on Facebook to suit their likes. Well, Mr. Zuckerberg, no one did. And this Beacon whozit was a stupid idea. I have turned it off.
  
• The "Smashing Pumpkins" new album Zeitgeist. Now this album would've been a Pumpkins record if Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlain got at least Mellisa Auf Der Maur if they couldn't get original members D'Arcy Wretzky and James Iha. They didn't. In fact this Pumpkins lineup could be considered the new incarnation of Zwan. It's not like it matters.
• The Writers' Strike. Which from the start i have sided with the WGA since the very beginning and will so till the very end. Really can't the AMPTP reach a fricking agreement? Do the networks really think that viewers will flock to reruns and game shows?

Well, that's really all i'm really disappointed and/or unhappy with this year. Also folks this the very first Indiepoint post written with Mozilla Firefox as my primary browser.

Movie Review: "Snakes on a Train"

Last weekend i subjected myself to the horror that was Transmorphers. And now i bring you into another of The Asylum's ripoffs. This one is called Snakes on a Train. It is a ripoff of Snakes on a Plane. The box screams "100 Trapped Passengers - 3,000 Venomous Vipers!". It also has a train going into a snake's mouth. Oh great. That is really bad box art. And the movie isn't as shitty as Transmorphers but it's still awful shitty. It involves a Mexican couple sneaking into America on an extremely outdated train. Also this train does not move. Ever. It is painfully obvious that this is a set and not a train (unlike Snakes on a Plane, Airplane!, Big Trouble and other much better films involving transportation of any sort, all of which are either set on actual flying aircraft or people at least care enough to make it look that way). The female illegal immigrant has a curse or something on her. But i really couldn't care less. I mean the snakes in this were as bored as i were. These snakes looked extraordinarily uncaring about what they are supposed to do, as if they were trained by a pothead. Also the chick apparently has little snakes in her blood. I was expecting some Alien-esque chest bursting death but there was not. Also the train is swallowed by a giant snake. This scene seems tacked on. And apparently that is the case. The poor, unsuspecting people funding this turd thought the DVD artwork was cool and wanted to include a similar scene in the film. These people were apparently 13. As this scene sucks shit. Overall, Snakes wasn't a god awful film like Transmorphers but it's still buried under the bottom of the barrel.
Rating: 1.0/10.

Christmastime Is Apparently Here.

• I'll be so happy on the 26th when there is no more of these Rankin-Bass specials until next year.
• Also on the 26th our 2007 Indiepoint Awards will be announced. Please vote
• Tommorow's Festivus! Yay! I will have my Airing Of Greivances '07 first thing in the mornin'! You will hear all the things that dissapointed me this year, including Miss Teen South Carolina, The Writers' Strike (How mad i am at the AMPTP, not at the WGA of course), Facebook's "Beacon", the Aqua Teen Hunger Force scare and MORE!

Ramblings: Ice Age Coming, Ice Age Coming

• Sacha Baron Cohen is retiring his Borat charecter because of his popularity. He is also dropping his original Ali G persona which originally brought him fame in the United Kingdom and the United States. Borat is being retired because of the fact that virtually every single person who was pranked by the charecter in the popular 2006 film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan has sued Cohen. Ali G is being retired due the fact he has become so popular that he is unable to use the charecter to prank people, and ditto with Borat.
• Chuck Norris is suing the publisher Penguin and the author of a book that collects the famous Chuck Norris Jokes. Norris apparently has no problem with the jokes, frequently mentioning them on his website, on TV talk shows and referencing them in a recent ads for Presidental candidate Mike Huckabee and Mountain Dew. Apparently he has a problem with people using them to make money. The original http://www.chucknorrisjokes.com/ is not named in the lawsuit.
• "Don't Tase Me, Bro!" is this year's qoute of the year according to the Yale Book of Qoutations. The runner-up was the meaningless string of words that Miss Teen South Carolina USA Lauren Upton vomited out of her mouth during the Miss Teen USA pagent.

News For Wombats

• USA's sci-fi The 4400 and The Dead Zone have been cancelled by the network. Scott Peters, the creator of The 4400 announced this on a message board.
• Two of the largest third-party video game makers will merge. Activision - founded in 1979 - and Blizzard Entertainment - founded in 1991 - will merge into Activision Blizzard next year. Activision - the world's third-party video game company - was acquired by Blizzard's parent company on December 2. Blizzard is best known for their PC games - most notably 1997's smash Diablo and it's 2000 sequel and the Warcraft series of games which began in 1992 and includes the massively successful World of Warcraft.
• The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart will return without writers on Janurary 7. This is bad as pretty much the entire show for both of them are writer-based and need recent headlines to work. So in turn these episode will suck.
• The last major release of the year is allegedly by Green Day. In similar style to another supposed Green Day psudeonym - the new wave group The Network - comes another band that is allegedly (and most likely is) Green Day called The Foxboro Hot Tubs. The band sounds along the lines of 60's garage bands like The Seeds and the 13th Floor Elevators. Their EP Stop Drop and Roll was availible for free on the FHT's website - not on Green Day's or on Billie Joe Armstrong's record label Adeline - for about a week (it's gone now). The song "Mother Mary" has been added to several modern rock radio stations, and it DOES sound like Green Day.

Ramblings: Very Insane Things That Have Happened Rather Recently

• Jamie Lynn Spears, sister of Britney is pregnant at 16. Her mom is delaying her book on parenting until this is resolved. I am not making either up. Spears is the star of a Nickelodeon show aimed at preteens that no one who is reading this blog could care less about.
• Peter Jackson is confirming that he will produce (not direct) a movie based on The Hobbit, the first novel by J.R.R. Tolkien, published in 1937 which was the first appearence of his beloved Middle-Earth charecters which reappeared in Lord of the Rings books which were published in between 1954 and 1955. Of course you should know all of this already.
• Vladimir Putin named 2007's TIME Man of the Year over Stephen Colbert. I DEMAND A RECOUNT! Stephen Colbert is 2007's Man of the Year.

Running Out of Things to Say

One of the smaller effects of the writers' strike is that bloggers have run out of things to stay or stuff to talk about. I can only go on about Radiohead's In Rainbows or what wacky situation that Amy Winehouse has gotten herself into this week for so long. So, this week i will be returning to Blockbuster Online to rent yet another "masterpeice" (no the movies are so bad that i refuse to spell "masterpiece" correctly to describe them even ironically) by The Asylum. Previously i sat through their godawful Transmorphers and the review doubled my readership. so this time i shall take on Snakes on a Train (i wonder what that rips off).

You can read the original Transmorphers review here: http://indiepoint.blogspot.com/2007/12/asylum-ripping-off-box-office.html

Ramblings: All Right Now

• I had a tad of a problem logging in to Blogger today, so if you see anything suspicious...my account could've been phished (but why?)
• Well it's still getting close to Christmas, six days. Wow.
• Why is my internet running slow? It always seems to lately. I hate Windows ME (no, my computer does NOT have Windows XP)
• Rolling Stone and Camel Ciggarettes took alot of flack for Camel's advertising foldout known as "Indie Rock Universe" in a recent issue, where Rolling Stone listed the names of basically every single big indie rock band on the planet in cartoony fold out wrapped in Camel advertising. This pissed off everyone. And know two bands featured - Xiu Xiu and Fucked Up - are suing the parent companys of the magazine and the cigarette brand - Wenner Media and R.J. Reynolds, respectively - of according to Pitchfork Media: "unauthorized use of artists' names; unauthorized use of artist names for commercial advantage (right of publicity); and unfair business practices". According to another source, Rolling Stone could have to cough up over $195 billion in damages to other bands. The suit is a class action so other bands like Arctic Monkeys, Biffy Clyro and Against Me! who were features could also add themselves to the suit. The band ask for a follow-up feature the same size as the advert to apologize and say that the artists' names were used without their consent to sell advertising.
• It's another day, which means that Amy Winehouse is in trouble with the law again. This time it's "investigation into perverting the court of justice" which The AV Club explains is kind of a British version of contempt. Winehouse, up for like a bajillion Grammys this year, has had a great year, if that means she's famous enough in America to become a punchline.

Rambings: Run C:\Programs\Indiepoint\Indiepoint.exe

• According to sources, Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien are to pull a Carson Daly and return to the airwaves on Janurary 2 without their writers. According to the New York Times, the WGA rep Jeff Williamson states "Jay and Conan have been supportive of us from the beginning, and we understand the pressure they’re under from NBC", but the AP also reports that these programs are " not going to provide the quality entertainment that the public deserves" and that the only way to end the strike is "a negotiated settlement of the issues" by the production companies or the AMPTP
• Google (parent company of Blogger and by extent Indiepoint), are testing out Knol, a rival to Wikipedia which only takes edits from experts (like About.com, but with less clutter). I've been waiting for a possible invite for entries for music.
• Indiepoint awards are to be announced on December 26. Get those ballots in! (the post's in the November 2007 archive and on our Facebook group)
• As i mentioned before, David Letterman and his production company Worldwide Pants are working on a deal with the WGA to return with writers. Worldwide Pants, which also owns The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson plans to make a deal individually, which may set a precedent that may find it's way to the scripted shows.

Review: Hulu

I finally got my invitation to the beta for NBC and FOX's Hulu. Boy was I suprised by it. Despite no user created content, this thing kicks total ass. Not only is there clips and full episodes like NBC.com, but also stuff from other place's from the NBC-owned Sci Fi channel, full episodes of Tin Man (I shit you not), FOX's dearly departed Arrested Development, FX's Morgan Spurlock created 30 Days, the original (and pretty shitty) Battlestar Gallactica,in fact several older shows populate Hulu a few full movies (in TV edits, but still!) like Sideways, The Jerk and The Breakfast Club (there's under 15). My beloved Firefly is there (when you sign up for the private beta, and you haven't seen Firefly, this show should be the first thing you see. I love this show and I've always hated FOX for cancelling it. Thankfully we got Serenity out of it). A few shows are only availible in clips (Futurama, Stargate SG-1) and there's not many full episodes per show (which is understandable. Scrubs has just two.), but this was a suprise: Hulu kicks total ass. This was totally worth my while. So how do you get onto Hulu when it's a private invitation beta? simply go onto the website and give your email address into the invite thingy and wait a while. I got my invite in September or October i think. You will be pleasantly suprised by Hulu, which will tide you over until the Writers' Strike is over.
Rating: 8/10
High Points: Full episodes, Tin Man, Firefly, The WHOLE first season of Arrested Development
Low Points: No full Futurama, the movies seem like filler content.

Ramblings: Well Then!

• Becuase of the popularity and feedback from a few places where I posted that Transmorphers review, the readership of this blog has doubled to about 400 people. Insane. I will now make Movie Reviews a regular feature. There will be two kinds - Regular reviews of good and OK films, and Shitty Movies (which Transmorphers is tagged under). Apparently all this site needed was a profanity laced review of an awful movie to really get the ball rolling
• One of the albums i'm looking forward to in the new year, Life Processes by ¡Forward, Russia! is nearing completion. The Leeds, England based quartet has been teasing fans with video clips via the Youtube channels of the band's guitarist and drummer and on their website. No release date has been set.
• Arctic Monkeys' new single "Teddy Picker" failed to break the Top 5 or Top 10, dropping out of the chart after one week at #20. I mean they really should've gone with a song like "505" or "Old Yellow Bricks" because "Teddy Picker" wasn't really single freindly. Also because around this time o' the year, Christmas songs invade the UK Top 75
• Not like it's important or that anyone cares, but soft rock singer Dan Fogelberg died yesterday. Folgerberg was best known for such boring '70's songs like "Longer" and other songs that are best forgetten about like the entire discographies of Air Supply and REO Speedwagon (I really hate the soft rock genre).

Indiepoint Presents: The Top 75 Albums of 2007

Okay, here it isYeah I know. I made it in Microsoft Paint in like 2 minutes

The rules:

Th album must be:

1. originally released in 2007 (this even excludes albums that weren't released in the US until 2007 like Costello Music by The Fratellis and Writer's Block by Peter Bjorn and John)
2. An Indie or Alternative Rock album
3. Good

Here's the link to the list I made on Rateyourmusic: Link.

Movie Review: "Transmorphers"

Welcome to the first installment of Indiepoint Movie Reviews. Today, we'll be looking at Transmorphers, the worst mess of a film i've even seen my life.

WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE IN REVIEW.
There's a film company called The Asylum who make low budget direct to dvd rip-offs of box office hits that are shamelessly released the day of or day before they hit the theaters. They have a new movie out called I Am Omega, a direct-to-DVD (and shitty) cash in of I Am Legend. Well, I saw their Transmorphers at Blockbuster Online and i just had to fucking rent it. I'm serious. This movie actually fucking exists, here's the Blockbuster Online page I rented it from: http://www.blockbuster.com/catalog/movieDetails/354575. It is almost certainly the worst fucking film of the year. It plays like it's a one-off gag from Family Guy (in fact, i think something along the lines of what The Asylum does has to have been a MadTV or SNL sketch. Had to have.) It's a cheap as all shit movie with really shitty CGI (like someone bought like a really simple-ass graphics editor). I mean Transmorphers? It came out on June 26 (a few days before Transformers July 4 debut) and it stars people i've never heard of and no one will care about ever again. The people who were in this film either needed to pay their rent, or legitimately thought that this film would do anything. I feel really sorry for the no name actors in that piece of shit. Look at the poster to the left: The "robot" looks like Iron Giant, the Cybermen from "Doctor Who", Toad from X-Men, Sloth from Goonies, the T-800 from the original Terminator and Johnny 5 from Short Circuit all fused together in some ungodly mess of a robot. And the tagline gushes "The Final Battle Between MAN and MACHINE!" and features like 60 dudes firing at this robotic monstrosity to no avail, and firing the damn guns is only going to make it angrier, which seems to be the only emotion any of the robots actually convey. Also there are no good Transmorphers in Transmorphers. They're all evil, which kinda makes somewhat original despite the fact that "alien(s)/robot(s)/monster(s) wreck havoc on civilization" b-movies number in the thousands. And there's no actual morphing by the "robots" in Transmorphers hence, the fucking title lies to me so I can mistake this dreadful mess for Transformers (like some parent buys it for their child on accident) Also the scenes with the humans rips off Battlestar Galactica. No not the crappy old one, but the good, new one. Oh did i mention that the audio is out of synch? I didn't? Well guess fucking what? It makes an atrocity towards cinema into a flawed, useless atrocity toward cinema. I had to look up The Asylum on Wikipedia and they have a coupl of other films like these The Da Vinci Treasure? Pirates of Treasure Island? Snakes on a Train?! WTF? Are they just trying to steal money from people? Anywho if you see this film anywhere, like in a budget bin or at Blockbuster and it'll be a laugh it's not. They are just plain pitiful excuses for entertainment. You actually feel bad for the actors in it as their careers are dead in the water because they appeared in this waste of celluloid.

Transmorphers In A Nutshell
High Points: It's god awful
Low Points: It makes Gigli look like Citizen Kane. It's that atrocious.
Rating: 0.0/10.

Letterman wants deal with WGA

According to the New York Times, David Letterman and his production company Worldwide Pants Inc. are seeking a deal with the WGA to return to the airwaves with new episodes with imput from his writers in January. Unlike his compatriot Carson Daly, Letterman wants a deal with the WGA instead of returning to work as a scab. Jon Stewart also has been seeking the same deal for Comedy Central's immensy popular The Daily Show which he has hosted since 1999. You can read the story here http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/business/media/16strike.html?hp

Things to do During Winter Break

Starting Friday the 14, I'm out of school until the second semester starts up on Januray 22 and so will most of our readers. The problem is, most of the time, there's not much to do. So i'm gonna list a bunch of cool things to check out on the net and whatever.

• Arctic Monkeys. If you were freinds with me in high school, you knew that i would not shut up about music. ever. This was the band that got the most of my praise (them, The Cure or Silversun Pickups). There's a reason for it. They are a really, really great band. If you neglected to even give them a listen to shut me up, they're a very good band. Kind of a mix between The Libertines, Oasis and Kaiser Chiefs.
• The Channel 10 News. This is really some of the funniest stuff ever. WJAR reported this year about a cat that could predict the deaths of patients at a Providence nursing home. And CNN picked up on it. There's alot of other plain bizarre soft news on other local news stations, but WJAR takes the cake.
• Reruns of The Office on TBS. Suprisingly, The Office works as well as Scrubs does in second-run syndication. It reminded me of the often forgotten fact that the first season of the show was merely OK and the first episode was really weak.
• Head-On. I'm still waiting on word on what this actually does
• Band to Band - http://www.bandtoband.com/ is a website that's basically like the Kevin Bacon game: linking bands together via the members of the group's former bands, or musicans that played on the album. Pretty cool.
• The Snow. It's outside. Right now. I actually think some's falling right now here in Newport apart of the allegedly "big" storm we were supposta get. I knew it would be as bad as the weathermen predicted it.
• Reruns of TV shows on in the mid-morning. That time between 8 and 11 when nothing's really on, but you really don't feel like moving. JAG, X-Files and many other really great shows can be found in around the non-descript cable channels (TNT, Spike, TBS, USA and FX: five channels that are basically indistinguishable from one another before 7 in the evening).
• Good films on cable. Comedy Central seems to play Dogma almost every weekend, IFC's been playing Garden State a bit. That's a really great film. High Fidelity's been sighted on a few stations (VH1 Classic, Comedy Central, the afformentioned non-descript cable channels).
• Idiocracy. The Mike Judge-directed, Luke Wilson-starring 2005 cult film (about a man accidentally frozen in time, thaws out and discovers that the entire population of the planet has become extremely stupid) that screened on only a few screens picked up a sizable cult following on DVD. You need to see this film. rent it, buy it, I don't care, you need to see this film.
• The AV Club's 2007 roundup of truly horrible toys. You can read it here: http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/cheap_toy_round_up_2007/1

Ramblings: Blue Orchid

• Well it seems that we've been linked to by IceRocket yet another blog search engine. This time, for Cavemen. You know, the show I hate more than any other? And it's for the same post that Boxett tagged as being relevant to Zooey Deschanel (the one entitled "We're Gonna Have A T.V. Party Tonight"...dunno why but that one's awful popular)
• How many sites are there called Indiepoint? I should've done a Google before i named it this and i'm pretty much stuck with it. Ah well. Still can't think of anything better.
• There's no news right now. Very slow interesting news week huh
• So far no snow and/or rain here, but the "storm from hell" will be coming around midnight here. Fun.
• I had a problem with my connection for a bit there. Oh well. I'll update the blog after "The Storm" hits.

Television Shakeups

• Rumors have it that Leno, O'Brien, Ferguson and Letterman may return to the airwaves sans writers as early as Janurary following the lead of Carson Daly. I disprove of this move due to my continuously mentioned fact that I side with the writers
• Also for all you Lost fans, the eight episodes produced will begin to air in Janurary.
• And no matter how many scripts are finished, most LA-based shows will shut down production next week with the exception of October Road which will continue until scripts are used up around Janurary.
• Bones, one of my favorite shows on TV has 3 more episodes left apparently. It stars Emily Deschanel (the sister of Zooey Deschanel) and a bunch of other people who i've never heard of in my life, but are pretty good on the show. I suggest you watch it anywhoo.

Ramblings: Mr. Blue Sky

• Unlike the ELO song of the title of this issue of Ramblings, today in Newport there IS a cloud in sight. Several actually.
• Christmas is ten days away, usually the stretch between Thanksgiving and Christmas is superlong. Now, not really. It seemed to (finally) fly by.
• Anyway, there's gonna be another storm tonight. Fun. On NBC 10, you know how rain goes from green (light rain) and up, well the rain passing over us on the graphic was MAROON. That can't be good.
• Yup, my AIM ain't working right now, when i put my username and password, it stays on "connecting" for a while and then it claims "connection failed". Sigh. I have a tech support guy coming over to see what to do. Yeah, so don't be angry if i can't get to me on AIM or if he can't fix it. I don't wanna call AOL tech support because they're probably located in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia or some other country that cannot understand my problem or want me to sign up to AOL, not to help me on AIM. I don't wanna upload ICQ (remember i said i had to system restore) or Google Earth.
• Hey whadyaknow! no Entertainment news this time! Well, there's nothing really goin' in the world of music or movies or tvs

Radiohead Announces Packaging for In Rainbows

Pitchfork Media has an article about the packaging for Radiohead's In Rainbows due Jan 1. There isn't any. Nope, no jewel case, no faux-viynl sleeve. Just some sort of paper container with the CD and stickers of the front and back cover....You do get a lyric booklet with the cover, but the back cover and the album's title are stickers, as are the spine coverings, wow. You can read the full story and check out two advertizements that Radiohead are running at Pitchfork's site here: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/47596-radiohead-reveal-cool-iin-rainbowsi-cd-packaging


Oh, and the cover art for the "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" single has been released. Check it out. Sorry i couldn't get it smaller, but it's pretty cool cover art huh? continuing with the motif of the album art, which is what they did for OK Computer and Hail to the Thief. When I first listened to In Rainbows, "Jigsaw" was the song that stuck out to me right away as the album's highlight and is a great choice for a first single (actually I predicted that it would be released as the first single despite "Bodysnatchers" charting at #29 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart). The Adam Buxton-directed video for the song, which appeared on the band's Youtube channel on November 29 got it's world television premiere on Fuse's The Sauce this week. The 7'' of the single will feature a live performance of Thom Yorke performing "Videotape", the final song off In Rainbows on the From the Basement podcast created by the band's longtime producer Nigel Godrich. The CD will feature similar versions of "Down is the New Up" and "Last Flowers" from In Rainbows second, disc-box exclusive disc.

Ramblings: Everything In It's Right Place

• And my computer is officially back up and running. My computer would be a total loss if i didn't have my computer backed up via System Restore after i booted up windows. And all of my important files and music are on an external hard drive
• The Mitchell Report's results were announced yesterday. No current Red Sox players were announced to be using performance inhancing drugs, but former players Mo Vaughan, Roger Clemens, Mike Lansing, Josias Manzanillo, Mike Stanton, Chris Donnels, and Eric Gagne (who was a Red Sox player up until a few days ago, but was traded to the Sox at the trade deadline and accomplished nothing). Lansing, Manzanillo, Stanton and Donnels were only with the team for a short times Vaughan was kinda obvious, and Clemens is persona non grata to Sox fans after he went to the Yankees in '99.
• Rolling Stone named their 100 Best Songs of 2007. Jay-Z's "Roc Boys" was named the best song of the year (My choice for the best song of the year, "All My Freinds" by LCD Soundsystem came in at #20). You can veiw the list here: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17601363/the_100_best_songs_of_2007
• There was obviously a biggish snow storm yesterday here in Rhode Island which caused mass paranoia. Because of the traffic caused by this panic, school buses were stuck in traffic until 11:00pm last night in Providence. WJAR, the NBC affiliate down here, did not air the christmas repeat of The Office, the new episode of 30 Rock, the Saturday Night Live Christmas special, the new episode of Last Call with Carson Daly or the new Poker After Dark to keep us on top of this "major news event". 8 inches of snow. wow.

Ramblings: No Cars Go

• I'm having some troubles with my computer. The computer rebooted and it's on the Windows XP screen with the user name, but the user name is not mine and it's a password that i don't know. No worries, though, i'm getting it fixed and Indiepoint will continue. I had to go all the way out to my College's computer lab to type this. I hope you don't take this post for granted.
• Pushing Daisies has been nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Comedy Television Series or something like that. The last episode for a while aired last night, and i can't help but want more. Bryan Fuller aparently did a last minute edit to this episode for it to function as a possible season finale. The twist was one that no one saw coming and was as Fuller promised, a great way to end on (don't worry, none of the main charecters are dead, it's just that a can of worms has been unleashed by one of the charecters). Oh, well. I can wait till the Strike ends
• The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class of 2008 has been announced and they are: The Dave Clark Five, Leonard Cohen, Madonna, John Mellancamp and The Ventures.
• The Foo Fighters' single "The Pretender" is now the biggest hit in the history of the Modern Rock chart, with an astounding 17 weeks at #1. The record, previously at 16 weeks, was held jointly by Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Scar Tissue" and Staind's "It's Been Awhile"
• Ike Turner passed away yesterday at the age of 71. While best known for his work with wife Tina in the 1960's, Turner also played guitar one what many consider to be the first rock & roll song, "Rocket 88".
• Congratulations to Indie rockers Rogue Wave. Their single "Lake Michigan" hit #39 on the Modern Rock chart this week, making it the band's first chart hit.
• Anyway, that's all the time have for now. Here's to my computer working again. Peace.

Milwaukee signs former Sox pitcher Eric Gagne

Well folks, Eric Gagne is now a Milwaukee Brewer. Gagne was an RP for the World Series winning 2007 Red Sox, but really contributed nothing. Oh and get this, Milwaukee is paying Gagne $10,000,000. I'll let that sink in for a bit. Gagne was the winner of the 2003 NL Cy Young. The Canadian pitcher began his career with the LA Dodgers, staying with them from 1999 to 2006, before being traded to the Rangers in 2007 and then to the Sox at the 2007 season trade deadline. He did ok as a relief when Matsuzaka was in the rotation, but really contributed nothing much. The most notable thing he did was pitch a perfect ninth inning in Game 1 of the Series.

WGA Strike continues to affect TV

• It looks like we're down to the last Pushing Daisies until the show is affected by the strike. It airs tonight at 8/7c on ABC. For anyone who hasn't seen the show, if it goes to reruns, then would be a great time for anyone who hasn't seen the show to catch up on it.
• Despite the fact that the terrible, terrible Cavemen has 7 episodes left, it has been pulled from the ABC schedule. It may or may not return but who really cares? I'm suprised that it lasted this long. It is far and away one of the worst TV shows of this decade
• 30 Rock is also down to its last episode before the show is affected by the strike. Creater/writer/lead actor Tina Fey has become one of the most vocal writers of the WGA strike (which we here at Indiepoint support 100%).
• Lucky for the still series finale-less Scrubs, it has 7 new episodes left before it is affected.
• When South Park returns on March 12, 2008, it may be the only scripted show to be in production. How can this be? Creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker are not (and have never been) WGA members. So this is good news for fans of the show and for Comedy Central. Aside from South Park, the writers for Williams Street Productions, creators of all the original shows on the popular Adult Swim block but one are also non-union (the sole show that isn't created by Williams Street, Robot Chicken, also doesn't feature any WGA writers)
• British and Canadian productions like Stargate: Atlantis, Torchwood and Little Britian will also be unaffected.

Websites, Magazines, Name Best albums of 2007

In this post, i will list the Top 10 albums as voted by many of the big magazines and websites

Time
10. Kanye West Graduation
9. M.I.A. Kala
8. Robert Plant and Alison Kraus Raising Sand
7. Battles Mirrored
6. Spoon Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
5. LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver
4. Miranda Lambert Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
3. Feist The Reminder
2. Radiohead In Rainbows
1. Amy Winehouse Back to Black

The AV Club
10. Bloc Party A Weekend in the City
9. Wilco Sky Blue Sky
8. Tegan and Sara The Con
7. Amy Winehouse Back to Black
6. M.I.A. Kala
5. Band of Horse Cease to Begin
4. LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver
3. Radiohead In Rainbows
2. The National Boxer
1. Arcade Fire Neon Bible

Q
10. Rufus Wainright Release the Stars
9. The Hold Steady Boys and Girls in America
8. The Shins Wincing the Night Away
7. Kings of Leon Because of the Times
6. Bruce Springsteen Magic
5. The Good, The Bad and the Queen The Good, The Bad and the Queen
4. Radiohead In Rainbows
3. Arctic Monkeys Favourite Worst Nightmare
2. The White Stripes Icky Thump
1. Arcade Fire Neon Bible

Mojo
10. Kings of Leon Because of the Times
9. Robert Wyatt Comicopera
8. P.J. Harvey White Chalk
7. The White Stripes Icky Thump
6. The Good, The Bad and the Queen The Good, The Bad and the Queen
5. LCD Soundsystem The Sound of Silver
4. Arctic Monkeys Favourite Worst Nightmare
3. Bruce Springsteen Magic
2. Arcade Fire Neon Bible
1. Radiohead In Rainbows

Filter
10. Andrew Bird Armchair Apocrypha
9. Great Northern Trading Twilight For Daylight
8. The National Boxer
7. LCD Soundsystem Sound Of Silver
6. Elvis Perkins Ash Wednesday
5. Animal Collective Strawberry Jam
4. The Good, The Bad and The Queen The Good, The Bad andThe Queen
3. Arcade Fire Neon Bible
2. Band Of Horses Cease To Begin
1. Radiohead In Rainbows

The big four that aren't here, Blender, Pitchfork, NME and Rolling Stone will be posted later

Indiepoint is slowly growing in popularity

I love the Internet. I started this blog on November 22 and already we're getting, little by little popular. I mentioned yesterday that we're getting popular enough for people to leave seemingly spam comments. Hey, a comment is a comment. And a few days ago that we've been added to a couple of blog search engines. However, we share our name with a few tinier sites, one in Greece. However, none of them are blogs, none of them are on Blogger (well, duh) and i plan on keeping the name of the site unless push comes to shove. Also my i've joined that Technorati thingy. You can veiw the site's Technorati profile here http://www.technorati.com/blogs/indiepoint.blogspot.com. We are ranked: 8,911,336. I know that's pretty low, but there HAS to be someone below us. So favorite it. Now!

Pitchfork Names Top 50 Videos Of 2007

• Hipster internet legends Pitchfork Media have named the Top 50 Videos of 2007. They're not ranked, but are listed alphabetically. You can veiw the list here: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/47282-staff-list-top-50-music-videos-of-2007. The list includes such videos as "Earth Intruders" by Bjork, "1,2,3,4" by Feist and "All My Freinds" by LCD Soundsystem.
• Something i apparently missed, on November 8, the noise punks Blood Brothers announced their break up. How did I not hear about that?

Comment Left By Somebody

Our blog just got a comment on our "Actually" post. It reads:

"If you are brave enough to buy the Christmas, Hanukkah, or both packs from the JonesSodaStore.com website be sure and use the 20% discount code of 'holidaypack20' to save some money. I sent a personalized pack of soda to my sister as a gift this year from the myJones.com website. Hope she likes it as she is a total Jones Soda nut!"

This sounds....um....really....fishy?. Hmmm if this person IS real, then he better be prepared for his "total Jones Soda nut" sister's horror upon the discovery of Christmas Tree soda. I still can't get over that.
Hold on. There's a Hannukkah pack?
Apparently there is. An AV Club did indeed do a taste test of it, link here: http://www.avclub.com/content/blog/taste_test_jones_hanukkah_pack
It includes such "excellent" flavor ideas like Chocolate Coins, Apple Sauce, Jelly Doughnut and Latke. Wow. Wow. Wow. Latke? That's an even worse idea than Christmas Tree soda. Jones Soda you and your bizzare ideas amuse me.

Ramblings: Stuff That's Happened Recently

• Michael Vick going to prison for 23 months. Really, i think one of the lowest things you can do is kill animals for pleasure, especially for one as stupid as dogfighting. This man was looked up to, he had everything he wanted and he just threw it all away to do something as barbaric as dogfighting.
• Apparently the biggest news today in the blogosphere is the reunion of Led Zeppelin. The band - singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones - have not played together as Led Zeppelin since a 1988 set at the 40th Anniversary party for Atlantic records, and their first full length set since a July 7, 1979 show in Berlin. The show, according to official sources, featured the live debut of the Lord of the Rings referencing classic "Ramble On" as well as the first time they played "For Your Life" in concert. Of course they played "Stairway to Heaven". I don't think they'd be aloud to leave if they didn't. late Drummer John Bonham's son Jason, recently the drummer for Foreigner and Damnocracy played drums for the band at the concert, which also featured opening acts Paolo Nutuni, Foreigner, Paul Rodger and Bill Wyman's Rhythym Kings.
• Here about this trade that could possibly happen: For Johann Santana, one of the best pitchers in the game, The Red Sox were rumored to be willing to trade CF Jacoby Ellsbury, P Clay Bucholz and P John Lester. Aparently that isn't the case with any, especially the first two, according to dancing P Jonathan Papelbon at an awards dinner for the Sox's AA afilliate Lowell Spinners.

We're Getting Noticed Now!

Apparently someone's reading. We now have 125 google hits! I mean most of it is from something called Swampfire, which we're not affilated with (look I wanted the word "indie" in the blog's name for some reason and "point" just sounded good and wasn't taken). Well, something called Boxxet has now linked to us. Apparently they are a blog search engine that guide fans of a certain celebrity, tv show or what have you to blogs that write about them. Apparently we're the only blog writting at least frequently about Zooey Deschanel (because i've mentioned her in passing in 3 articles about Tin Man and a few more times after that) and i think possibly for Pushing Daisies. Another blog search thingy called IceRocket has results for a few of our posts, notably one on Pink Floyd (which i think was the article about Oh, By the Way) Most blog writers don't care about these minor, minor things, but this is the first time we've ever show up in Google! Wow! Still, i think we have like 20 or 25 regular readers now, all of whom i probably know personally. Ah well.

The Best of 2007

This kind of lists have been beaten to death by every single blog on the planet, where the writers of said blogs write about what they think the best things of the year. Well guess what? I'm doing it today instead of January of '08.

TV

7. The Universe. One of the most captivating shows the History Channel has ever shown, The Universe works as a modern day version of Carl Sagan's Cosmos with it's eye-catching CGI of planets, black holes and other astronomy subjects. The first season ran from May to September, and a second season began in late November. You have to see this show. It's fantastic.

6. 30 Rock. One of the smartest written shows on television returned for it's second season this September and failed to dissapoint. The second season did get off to a bit of a rocky-ish start, but it corrected itself quickly and returned to form with extremely qoutable episodes. Due to the writer's strike, we're down to one new episode left before it becomes affected.

5. The Office. The third season of The Office ended with Jim finally asking Pam out on a date, and when the show came back on September 27, the show's writers pulled off the impossible: keep the two together without pulling a Moonlighting. And for that, it gets my plaudits

4. Flight of the Conchords. One of the best comedies to ever grace HBO, the show mixed the New Zealand musical comedy duo's sucessful BBC radio show with an American appeal, and included some of the funniest comedy music to come out this year.

3. Tin Man. This was one of the best things on Television all year long, making a modern, sci-fi/action version of The Wizard of Oz whilst retaining the charm of the original books. The acting was excellent (especially from Zooey Deschanel and Alan Cumming) and the story was deep and enthralling. Usually Sci-Fi original miniseries and movies are B-movie quality, but this is definitely not. If this repeats again, I really suggest you watching it.

2. Torchwood. A spin-off of Doctor Who, the much more adult Torchwood finally came to American airwaves on BBC America this fall. It was enthralling, interesting horror sci-fi that was engaging as it's parent show. In fact, the show was so popular for BBC America that after the last episode of the first season was aired two weeks ago, it was announced that it will return the same week it does in Britian in Janurary.

1. Pushing Daisies. The best new show of the season bar none. The show was created by Bryan Fuller, creator of the similarly macabre dark comedy Dead Like Me (cancelled after two seasons on Showtime), and was alot more in tune with charecters than other new shows like Chuck or Journeyman. Thankfully, the show got a full season order and will certainly return after the strike.

MOVIES

7. I'm Not There. A Bob Dylan biopic that uses six different actors to play Dylan. It's very interesting to see how Cate Blanchett or Richard Gere would play Dylan in the different stages of his life where they potray him and it didn't dissapoint.

6. Juno. Not out yet, but i just couldn't resist putting this on here.

5. Grindhouse. I'm really pissed that this didn't do as well as most thought it would. It got great reviews, everyone who saw it enjoyed it, but it came out near Easter and was crushed. Most people didn't want to see it because they didn't want to watch a four hour double feature homage to low budget horror movies of the late 60's/early 70's. And they missed out on a terrific film.

4. The Simpsons Movie. It took years for there to finally be a Simpsons movie, in fact the season 4 episode "Kamp Krusty" was to be a movie, but the writers couldn't pad it out enough. This movie however, was better written than the last few seasons of the Simpsons and had alot of really good moments in it. However it kinda disapointed me with several of the little gags in the movie. I mean killing Dr. Nick? did that really need to be done, since The Simpsons never does really well with non-Treehouse of Horror deaths (well, at least in the last few seasons, where death has simply become a clearinghouse for killing off no longer needed secondary charecters from seasons passed). It's still enjoyable for fans of the show who have been dissapointed with the show for years.

3. Across the Universe. This film did what the dreadful 70's film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band failed to do: make an entertaining musical using Beatles songs. The story was well created and the charecters were lively, and it cast Bono in a way that all pretentiousness is stripped away from the most pretentious person on the planet.

2. The Darjeeling Limited. The new film from my second favorite director Wes Anderson (Kevin Smith being my favorite) wasn't as good as his other films, but it was still Wes Anderson. It's still as imaginative as The Royal Tennanbaums and Rushmore. And it was one of the best indie films of the year

1. Superbad. The heir-apparent to Napoleon Dynamite, this was the funniest movie of the year, with an interesting story, infinitely qouteable lines and some of the best writing Judd Apatow has ever managed.

RANDOM STUFF

5. This. Yeah i'm putting my blog in the Best of 2007. I'm that self-absored.

4. Feist hits the Top 10. Indie singer/songwriter Feist's "1,2,3,4" hit the Top 10 this year with no pop radio airplay, only hitting the Top 10 from downloads and somewhat limited modern rock radio airplay. Also this year, The White Stripes had their first Top 40 hit with "Icky Thump" which hit #26 with once again no pop radio airplay

3. Live Earth. Which was a bit of a dissapointment, but it still got the message across that Global Warming should be a great concern for the citizens of the Earth. However, there were still some great performances by Foo Fighters, Kasabian, Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, Beastie Boys, Roger Waters and Jack Johnson. And Metallica's worst perfomance ever. I mean wow that was awful. I like Metallica a bit, but that was one of the worst performances i've ever seen.

2. Amazing concerts in Rhode Island. Sonic Youth, Modest Mouse, Arctic Monkeys, Against Me! and Silversun Pickups. Usually you have to go to Boston or something to get really, really good concerts, but this year, there was a string of high quality concerts at Lupo's in Providence.

1. The Red Sox win the World Series again. Not as sweet as the 2004 win, but this time around they had one of the best lineups in Sox history, with rookies Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury becoming standouts, Daisuke Matsuzaka finally living up to expectation and the overall playing of Mike Lowell.

MUSIC
Nothing right now. The Indiepoint Awards will be announced on December 26 and in Janurary i'll have my Top 50 Songs of 2007. So wait a bit

Ramblings: That Was Fast

• I just had one of those Starbucks Doubleshot Espesso things (they're a chilled energy drink thingy. It was either that or a "No Fear" whoozit). Those are pretty powerful for that little of liquid. Not a very good aftertaste, but pretty powerful. I'm pretty sure that i'm finally awake now after I barely got through my Composition I class. Oh well, two more classes to go today.
• The Arctic Monkeys new single "Teddy Picker" debuted in the UK Top 75 today. At #20. Their last 5 singles peaked in the top 5, but all of them hit those spots the firsrt week of physical release. This is the first week of physical release for the single. Here's to it getting into the Top 10 though, but since it's near Christmas and many seasonal Christsmas songs are in the Top 40, who really knows?
• Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductees will be announced on Thursday, and i will tell you who it is as it happens
• Anyway i have nine minutes till my 19th Century English Lit class and i have a nice buzz from that Espresso thingy. Peace out.

Ramblings: Citizens of Tomorrow, Be Forewarned

This post's title comes from the song "Citizens of Tomorrow" by Tokyo Police Club. Just so you know

• Breaking News: Paris Hilton will be "recording" her next "album" with producer Scott Storch. Considering that her previous album was released to terrible films and her single "Stars Are Blind" only hit the top 40 out of novelty speaks numbers about her recording career. That and the rumor that Carah Faye Charnow, singer for electropunks Shiny Toy Guns sang all or most of the lead vocals on Paris' debut (It's not Carah, i've heard her voice. Certainly not her, but definitely ain't Paris. Sigh.
• According to Sebastian Bach, former singer for Skid Row, Guns 'n' Roses long-delayed-to-the-point-of-no-longer-being-funny Chinese Democracy may come out by Christmas 2007. I'll believe it when I see it.
• Legendary ska group Mighty Mighty Bosstones will play a New Year's Eve show at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel in Providence, RI. Opening the show will be local alternative group Zox, whose third album Line In The Sand will be released next month.

Ramblings: Actually

• Anyway, my Internet is pretty slow today. It took a total of 14 SECONDS to load a page. 14 SECONDS! on DSL! Weird
• If you're not a football fan and don't care about the New England Patriots' amazing season (like me. I'm not a football fan) May I suggest watching Tin Man on Sci Fi at 5PM EST? Why do i keep bringing it up? It's one of the very best things i've seen on TV all year. Like i've said before, Zooey Deschanel is excellent in everything she's in (especially Winter's Passing. If you like good movies add that to your Netflix queue. Her Elf co-star Will Ferrell's in it, too and he actually carries himself pretty well in what is basically an extremely dark comedy. And Failure to Launch as nothing is funnier than seeing someone giving a bird CPR even if is a generic romantic comedy) and the modern adaption of the venerable Wonderful Wizard of Oz children's book is executed well enough that its actually more enjoyable for an older audience than any other adaption before. It's three parts, two hours each, but would've been alot more effective as six parts, one hour each. I really hope that if push comes to shove and NBC sadly runs out of shows, they could at least show Tin Man for three days or six days or six weeks. Or you could watch 30 Rock reruns on NBC.com. I mean cuz the talks between the AMPTP and WGA fell through. I'm really starting to hate the AMPTP. At least THEY get money from DVD and Internet sales.
• It's getting closer and closer to Christmas and the folks at Jones Soda frighten us again with their new Christmas 4-pack. The flavors this year are Sugar Plum, Egg Nog, Christmas Ham and Christmas Tree. Christmas Tree. Christmas. Tree. Christmas Tree. Wow. That scares me. At least the AV Club taste tested these before anyone got the insane notion of deciding that they want to try Christmas Tree soda. Hell, it sounds worse than their seasonal Turkey and Gravy drink. You can read the article here: http://www.avclub.com/content/blog/taste_test_jones_christmas_pack
• Hey, while you're adding Winter Passing, Failure to Launch and what the heck, Firefly: The Complete Series (no Zooey Deschanel but still the best series to ever get cancelled. If you haven't seen the show, you need to) to your NetFlix queue, also look out for Idiocracy a film by Mike Judge and starring Owen Wilson from 2005 that was in super limited release but has become a deserved cult classic and critical favorite. It's also as quotable as Airplane! or Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It's got what plants crave. It's got electrolytes.

Blog News

• Remember, we STILL have that facebook group....http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6465733197 so please join!
• And we still need your nominations for our awards! due on December 20! The noms are availible in the blog here (check the November 2007 archive) and on that facebook group
• I mean really what do i have to do to get noticed here? 200 hits? since Thanksgiving? that's good but

Universal Music shortens Myspace songs

• Early this week, singer Colbie Caillat announced that her label, Universal Music Group has enacted a new policy that MySpace will shorten the length of the songs availible as profile songs for their artists will be shortened to 90-second clips. This will effect several hundred artists on A&M, Geffen, Interscope, Island/Def Jam, Sanctuary and Universal/Republic/Motown. As far as I know, it does not affect aritsts signed to the label in the UK but not in the US. Here's just a short list of the active artists affected: Flyleaf, The Hives, Snow Patrol, As Fast As, Beck, Bloodhound Gang, The Cure, Garbage, The Pink Spiders, Rooney, Feist, She Wants Revenge, Sigur Ros, Sonic Youth, theSTART, The Who, Rob Zombie, Klaxons, AFI, Blaqk Audio, Jimmy Eat World, M.I.A., The Pipettes, TV on the Radio, U2, Wolfmother, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Damone, The Killers, Nine Black Alps, Sum 41, Under the Influence of Giants, Ryan Adams, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Rush, Anthrax, Drowning Pool, The Ataris, Belle & Sebastian, Manic Street Preachers, Tegan and Sara, Rogue Wave, Jack Johnson, Matt Costa, G. Love & Special Sauce, Serj Tankian (his music is released on Reprise and American, both not apart of Universal, and his own Serjical Strike, which is), Godsmack, Kaiser Chiefs, The Mars Volta, The Rapture, Amy Winehouse and MySpace darlings Fall Out Boy.

Ramblings: It's No Longer Up to You

• Radiohead have announced on their Dead Air Space blog that In Rainbows will no longer be able to be downloaded after December 10. This seems reasonable, as the physical version of the album is out Janurary 1, with the single "Jigsaw Falling into Place" coming soon after. The band also announced that their disc box will be availible through their outlet "until they have all gone. We then have no plans to make further stock".


• Retailer CompUSA will shut its doors after Christmas after 23 years of business due to competetion from Best Buy, Circuit City, Staples and other large office/computer chains


• Talks between the studio and the striking Writer's Guild of America have collapsed. As I have said before, I will support the WGA until the end of this strike.

50th Grammy Award Noms Announced

I've been talking all week about the fact that the Grammys would be announced on the 6th. Now here's my picks for the awards that most of my readers would care about

Record of the Year
Should Win: Foo Fighters "The Pretender". A nice surprise in this category, but its the best of the nominees. Its had a stranglehold on the Modern Rock charts for an astounding sixteen weeks and shows no sign of stopping. Its also the best song the band has made in their twelve years of existence.
Will Win: Rihanna "Umbrella". Because the song has become the most inescapable song on the planet. It's all over the place and cannot be stopped. Even alternative rock band Biffy Clyro has covered it. Its not the best song of the year, but it has the best chance out of the nominees

Album of the Year
Should Win: It's a toss up for me between Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace by the Foo Fighters and Back to Black by Amy Winehouse. Winehouse had a hit here with "Rehab", which gets more and more ironic with each passing day, but has several other great alternative soul songs on the album. However, even with a fluke top 10 hit, she's just only become popular enough in America to become a punch line. The Foos however, are one of very few alternative rock bands that are able to have crossover success without a problem. The band has come a long way from being Dave Grohl's demo tapes that he recorded after his previous band, the legendary Nirvana dissolved after Kurt Cobain's 1994 death. The band has some of the best musicians around, with drummer Taylor Hawkins being as good a drummer as Grohl was for Nirvana. Echoes is probably their best album and totally deserves at least a prayer to win
Will Win: River: The Joni Letters by Herbie Hancock. The second I heard that this was among the nominations, i was like "OK, that's probably gonna win" because the Grammys love to give Album of the Year to old artists that have made any form of comeback (see Steely Dan, Ray Charles, Santana). This album is actually a group of Joni Mitchell cover songs that really don't fit Hancock well.

Song of the Year
This is a songwriters award. Record = single and goes to the artist
Should Win: "Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's (written by Tom Higgenson). This song - despite the fact that it was originally released in 2005 - was - like "Umbrella" - totally inescapable during the summer. It was a decent little song that came out of nowhere and became a #1 smash. It's actually a very below average song, but it will probably win because Grammy voters want to get in with "the kids"
Will Win: I actually think "Hey There Delilah" will probably win this

Best New Artist
Well, this year technically three musicians are not new artists. Paramore released their debut album All We Know is Falling in 2005 (and it was much better than this year's Riot! which featured the gigantic rock hit "Misery Business"), Indie singer/songwriter Feist had three other albums before this year's The Reminder (which is actually her best album year) and 2004's Let It Die featured the moderate rock hit "Mushaboom". However, this year her "1,2,3,4" became a hit via iPod commercials and shows the power of the iPod and the Internet in general on music today. Amy Winehouse released her debut in 2003, but that album - Frank - isn't as good as Back to Black and really shone on the latter. Another new artist nominee Ledisi took everyone by surprise because virtually no one has ever heard of her. Lastly is Country singer Taylor Swift.
However, there is a definition for the Best New Artist from the Grammys: "For a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that artist" OK, that's understandable. Since those three artists that are technically ineligible did release the first album or single that established those artists in the public conciousness (Paramore's "Misery Business', Feist's "My Moon My Man" and "1,2,3,4" and Amy Winehouse's "Rehab"). Hey! all these artists are female! (well technically Paramore is a band, but their singer is female).
Should Win: Amy Winehouse. You expected me to say Feist didn't you? Well, like I said before, she just doesn't feel like a new artist to me. Winehouse does. And the fact that her debut wasn't even released in America anyway until this fall kinda helps. Feist does have a shot, but I can't see any other scenario where Winehouse doesn't win.
Will Win: Amy Winehouse

Best Female Pop Performance
Should Win: "1,2,3,4" by Feist. Its the best song out of the choices and despite the fact it had no pop radio airplay and still got into the top 10 through downloads and modern rock radio shows how much the Internet and quality of a song can make someone into a success.
Will Win: "Say It Right" by Nelly Furtado. I don't see Amy Winehouse taking this. Nelly Furtado - one of those musicians that doesn't quite fit in any category - will snag this easily with this song, which was a rare gem on pop radio last year

Best Male Pop Performance
Should Win: "Dance Tonight" by Paul McCartney. Once again, its the best of the choices and his best single in quite a while
Will Win: "Everything" by Michael Buble. Because the Grammys are mostly chosen by old people.

Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group
Should Win: "Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's. Despite the fact that only singer/guitarist Tom Higgenson actually appears on the song, it's still the strongest of the candidates.
Will Win: "Window in the Skies" by U2. Because they're U2 and the Grammys adore U2. The fact that it's a pretty good song doesn't hurt either

Best Pop Vocal Album
Should Win: The Reminder by Feist. Not really "pop" but still the better of the five nominated albums
Will Win: Back to Black by Amy Winehouse. Not the best album, in fact the non-singles from the album are not that good (which means that only half the album is any good). The fact that "You Know I'm No Good", the best song from the album failed to garner a nomination is surprising, but i expect her to be the big winner this year.

Best Dance Recording
Should Win: "D.A.N.C.E" by Justice. One of the very best electronica/dance songs from the Parisian disco scene that isn't by Daft Punk. Its a song that jumps out of the speakers and will probably snag this easily
Will Win: "D.A.N.C.E" by Justice.

Best Dance/Electronic Album
Should Win: Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem. It features the two best songs the band has done "North American Scum" and the fantastic "All My Friends", my favorite song this year. Its a really great album that at least has a chance
Will Win: We Are Pilots by Shiny Toy Guns. Despite the fact that the alternative rock band technically isn't dance or electronic, it's still heavily indebted by the latter. Its probably gonna win.

Best Rock Solo Vocal Performance
Should Win: "Timebomb" by Beck. The electronica-esque single by Beck was one of the most striking singles of this year, but its probably not going to win because of the several big names in the category this year
Will Win: "Radio Nowhere" by Bruce Springsteen. To make up for not giving his excellent album Magic a nod for Album of the Year.

Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group
Should Win: "Icky Thump" by the White Stripes. It gave the duo their first Top 40 single in their ten year career even though no pop radio station would touch the song with a ten foot pole. Its one of their most accomplished songs with archaic synthesizers, some of Meg White's best drumming (she actually plays drums very well on the entire album, and disproves the long running joke that she can't play the drums) and Jack's squelching guitar solo is his best since "Seven Nation Army" five years back
Will Win: "Icky Thump" by the White Stripes

Best Hard Rock Performance
Should Win: "The Pot" by Tool. The progressive rock band's most accomplish song on their 10,000 Days album. It probably could win, but their are some big names in this category
Will Win: "The Pretender" by Foo Fighters. If they don't win either of the big two, they'll definitely win this easily.

Best Rock Instrumental Performance
Should Win: "Malignant Narcissism" by Rush. Because they're Rush. The Canadian prog rock heroes do rock instrumentals better than anyone
Will Win: "Malignant Narcissism" by Rush

Best Rock Song
Another songwriting award
Should Win: "Radio Nowhere" by Bruce Springsteen for the reasons i mention above
Will Win: "Radio Nowhere" by Bruce Springsteen

Best Rock Album
Should Win: Icky Thump by White Stripes. Its not their best album, but it is their best instrumentally and songwriting-wise.
Will Win: Magic by Bruce Springsteen. There's no chance for any one else in this award.

Best Alternative Album
Should Win: Well, there's five excellent albums in this category, but i think Neon Bible by Arcade Fire gets my pick. They've been one of the most electrifying bands live and on record for the last few years and this was probably my favorite of the five
Will Win: It's a toss up between Wincing the Night Away by The Shins (like i said, another really good album) and Alright Still by Lily Allen (she's certainly alternative but the British ska singer doesn't really fit with the rest, but the Grammys like eclecticism)

Best Comedy Album
Should Win: The Distant Future by Flight of the Conchords. The duo's brand of folk comedy was probably the best comedy record of the year, despite the fact it was an EP. Really, the other albums nominated were not really high quality either. There's no contest.
Will Win: The Distant Future by Flight of the Concords.

Producer of the Year (non classical)
Should Win: Mark Elizondo. Nominated for producing Under the Black Light by indie rockers Rilo Kiley and It Won't Be Soon Before Long by pop group Maroon 5. Any producer that can produce to totally different end-of-the-spectrum records in one year really deserves the award.
Will Win: Timbaland. Because he's produced like 80% of the Top 10 this year.

Best Short Form Music Video
Should Win: "1,2,3,4" by Feist (director: Patrick Daughters). One of the best choreographed indie rock videos i've seen in quite a while and is a thrill to watch
Will Win: "Typical" by Mute Math (director: Israel Anthem). The video was good, the fact that its basically a video that is run backwards is a novel concept and perhaps the Grammy judges will see that.

Smile Like You Mean It

• Anywho, we officially have five whole people (four excluding myself) on our Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6465733197 so someone is reading. And there's a few veiws at my profile page. So around 25 people regulary checking this? Well it's a start.
• There's a new 30 Rock on tonight and a new Scrubs (12/6/07)...i really, really miss The Office. Well, at least there's a few other cool shows on this weekend. All three episodes of the Tin Man miniseries will air back-to-back-to-back on Sci-Fi on Sunday starting at 5PM. It's six hours, but its amazing. Zooey Deschanel really deserves an Emmy for her potrayal of DG. Its only fair.
• The Grammy nominees will be announced today, and i will have select nominees up tomorrow. Look for it
• Speaking of nominees, the nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will be announced on the 13th. You will have my reaction as it happens.
• The National Film registry will have THEIR nominations for films they consider culturally important enough to be archived for future generations. These nominations will be annouced this month (unsure when). Notable films considered include "The Sheik", "The Mummy", "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town", "Dumbo", "Bambi", "Mrs. Miniver", the Looney Tunes short "Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century", "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea', "Blackboard Jungle", "Forbidden Planet", "Twelve Angry Men", "The Magnificant Seven", "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", "Mary Poppins", "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", "Rosemary's Baby", the bizzare short film "Bambi Meets Godzilla", "Dirty Harry", "The Exorcist", "Paper Moon", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "Kramer vs. Kramer", "Airplane!", "The Empire Strikes Back", "The Return of the Jedi", "Platoon", "Full Metal Jacket", "Raising Arizona", "Rain Man", "Roger & Me", "JFK", "Reservior Dogs", "Seven", "Dead Man Walking" and "Good Will Hunting".

We're Gonna Have a T.V. Party Tonight

I'm really not, but i couldn't resist using a line from the Black Flag song "T.V. Party" to title a post about T.V.

• Anyone watch Heroes on Monday? It was dissapointing. This entire "chapter" has been dissapointing. For anyone keeping score, Nathan and Nikki have been killed (Nathan assassinated during a press conference and Nikki is blown up is a Hollywood explosion). I mean those were so arbitrary. Many were lured to Heroes becuase NBC and Tim Kring claimed it wouldn't mess with fans like Lost does. It has, but at least there's no polar bears...yet.


• Tin Man however, was extremely delightful. It was a three-part, six-hour miniseries that aired on Sci-Fi channel this Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. It was a very nice post-modern adaption of The Wizard of Oz. Zooey Deschanel was fantastic in it (But she's great in everything's she in), and it was very well written. I suggest you check it out when Sci-Fi reruns it (because they're only gonna do that like six zillion times)


• The WGA and AMPTP are still in talks, which resumed yesterday after a five day recess. However, Last Call with Carson Daly has already returned with new episodes. Daly claims that if he did not go back to work last week, his staff would be fired (these shows, filmed last week, will be aired this week)


• For some reason there is still 7 more episodes of Cavemen left. Great. This writer's strike has basically saved the worst show in the history of television from being swiftly killed like it should've been.


• Also a few shows will not be affected by the strike. American Dad, Monk, Psych and Everybody Hates Chris will not be affected because all scripts and/or episodes for the current season were finished before the WGA strike


• Last Saturday, BBC America finished showing the first season of the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood, which aired on BBC3 last fall. It now has been announced that the show will return for it's second season on BBC America the same week that it returns to the British airwaves in Janurary 2008. Sci-Fi Channel - which has the rights to Doctor Who will air it's fourth season since it's 2005 revival a bit later.

2008 Album releases

Several popular rock bands have albums lined up or planned to be done and released in 2008. Here's just a small list of albums with confirmed dates:

• Radiohead In Rainbows (Jan. 1) physical release
• Matt Costa Unfamiliar Faces (Jan. 15)
• The Mars Volta The Bedlam in Goliath (Jan. 29)
• Bob Mould District Line (Feb. 5)
• Nada Surf Lucky (Feb. 5)
• Hot Chip Made in the Dark (Feb. 5)
• Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. Searching for the Hows and Whys (Mar. 4)
• Gnarls Barkley The Odd Couple (Apr. 4)

Music News

• Weezer proclaims that the website touting itself as the official website for their sixth album is a hoax. The website www.albumsix.com, was proclaimed a hoax by a representative of the band in a statement made on Thanksgiving.
• Radiohead announces a bit more about the first single from their In Rainbows album, "Jigsaw Falling Into Place". It will be released as a 7'', digital download and CD. No b-sides have so far been announced
• Something called "Movies Rock" will appear on the television graveyard known as CBS on Friday. It will feature famous pop musicians of the present singing old movie theme songs. I'm not making this up. And it's two hours long. I mean really? Performers include Carrie Underwood, Busta Rhymes and Fergie. Do yourself a favor and watch Tin Man instead.
• Grammy nominations will be announced on December 6. When they are announced i will post my choices for the general category, rock, alternative and comedy feilds. plus any other ones I think are notable.

December's Here

• Only one month left in 2007 and there's still a few important things in music going on
• If you bought a disc box of Radiohead's In Rainbows, it should be coming in the mail on December 3. This includes all 10 songs on the official In Rainbows plus a disc with eight additional tracks
• The new Arctic Monkeys single "Teddy Picker" arrives in shops around the UK on the same day (and American stores as an import like a few weeks later). Like all Arctic Monkeys singles, "Teddy Picker" (the third single taken from their second album Favourite Worst Nightmare) features a boatload of awesome B-sides. This time around it features "Nettles", the instrumental "The Death Ramps" and a cover of Pat Ferrell and the Believers' "Bad Woman" with none other than Richard Hawley on vocals.

Ramblings: As Far As the Eye Can See

• It started snowing early this morning. Not big snow, or even flurries. It was like snowing dandruff flakes for like five minutes. Still, it was snow.
• Evil Knievel died. Wow. I wasn't alive for his career but i know of it. That sucks, though. He seemed like a pretty cool guy.
• You know when your computer lags for no reason and it takes like 30 seconds to get onto the site you want to get on? I hate that. It reminds me of the early 00's when it took that long to load like Google. We've come a long way haven't we?
• I seriously cannot wait for Christmas break. My Christmas break starts in a few weeks and i get to sleep in until Janurary 22! I love college.