At the beginning of the year I resolved to post at least once a month. I’ve successfully kept the resolution and am looking forward to many more posts. What’s that? I just posted last week? That’s right, I did! Did I forget? Am I finally losing what little I have left of my mind? What is this madness? Well, let me start by assuring you that I am in full possession of my faculties (or at least in as much possession of my faculties as I have ever been while writing here).
I want to welcome everyone to a new and exciting phase of this blog’s life. But before I get into that too much, let me tell you how it all began! I was pondering deep philosophical questions that affect the very foundation of our lives on this planet as I often do, when I presented myself with a worrisome query, “Whatever are those two people who read my blog doing all these weeks in between my postings?” I immediately fell into a state of panic as realization hit me! Those poor things! They must have been suffering tremendously without a more reliable stream of worthless opinions presented through hackneyed writing! I was sure that in between my monthly ramblings they had devoured everything else new on the Internet, leaving them listless and questioning the value of their own lives. Well, I was having none of that! I was going to provide them with the sustenance that their hungry minds required! Thus, I made an important decision, the impact of which historians will be debating for centuries to come I’m sure. I was going to feed them a more steady supply of insignificant observations on often-unimportant topics! That’s right, I’m going weekly!
So, you poor, neglected readers out there won’t have to go weeks without a heaping helping of tedium anymore! No longer will you have to question whether or not you should go on living not knowing when you’d get your next dose of irrelevant reflections on things about which you probably don’t care! Once a week, I’ll be here for you! What you do with the rest of the week is your problem.
I want to welcome everyone to a new and exciting phase of this blog’s life. But before I get into that too much, let me tell you how it all began! I was pondering deep philosophical questions that affect the very foundation of our lives on this planet as I often do, when I presented myself with a worrisome query, “Whatever are those two people who read my blog doing all these weeks in between my postings?” I immediately fell into a state of panic as realization hit me! Those poor things! They must have been suffering tremendously without a more reliable stream of worthless opinions presented through hackneyed writing! I was sure that in between my monthly ramblings they had devoured everything else new on the Internet, leaving them listless and questioning the value of their own lives. Well, I was having none of that! I was going to provide them with the sustenance that their hungry minds required! Thus, I made an important decision, the impact of which historians will be debating for centuries to come I’m sure. I was going to feed them a more steady supply of insignificant observations on often-unimportant topics! That’s right, I’m going weekly!
So, you poor, neglected readers out there won’t have to go weeks without a heaping helping of tedium anymore! No longer will you have to question whether or not you should go on living not knowing when you’d get your next dose of irrelevant reflections on things about which you probably don’t care! Once a week, I’ll be here for you! What you do with the rest of the week is your problem.
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TIDBITS
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Madonna’s new album, Hard Candy, was released this past Tuesday. Being a fan, I purchased it as soon as I could and put it on an infinite loop as I do every new Madonna release. I was especially excited after really enjoying “4 Minutes” after expecting not to with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland involved. Not that I have anything against those guys as I’ve enjoyed some of their work, but I just didn’t think they would be a good fit with Madonna, and the enterprise reeked of “selling out” to get some radio play. Well, I was pleasantly surprised and couldn’t wait for the album to drop expecting more pleasant surprises. Unfortunately, there weren’t many to be had. The rest of the album is pretty much what I expected before hearing “4 Minutes.” This is the first Madonna album with which I’ve been really disappointed. Frankly, I think that this is the worst album of her career. Of course, that’s not saying that much considering how consistently she has put out quality material for the past 25 years. The album isn’t really bad; it’s just a bit blah. Many of the tracks seem to be percussive exercises that end up being totally forgettable and include that most annoying of trends where producers have to pipe up on every tune. Can’t these people just produce? Frankly, much of the album is just the kind of thing that I stopped listening to radio to escape. There are a few decent tracks, all of which are at the beginning of the album. In addition to “4 Minutes,” tracks worth giving a spin are “Candy Shop,” “Give It 2 Me,” and “Heartbeat.” “She’s Not Me” would be a pretty good choice as well, but it’s about two minutes too long in my opinion. If it happens to be released as a single, hopefully it will get an edit, which would be an improvement. The other seven tracks range from mediocre to just plain bad (I’d recommend avoiding “Spanish Lesson” at all costs). One problem is that some of the songs sound like other works by other artists. “Incredible” sounds like a Gwen Stefani castoff, “Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You” sounds like Justin Timberlake’s “What Goes Around…Comes Around” and "Cry Me a River," and other tracks sound like they came off of a N.E.R.D. album. Much of Hard Candy just doesn’t feel like Madonna, and, ultimately, Madonna is the reason that I buy the albums.
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Although the Luke and Noah story on As the World Turns got nowhere fast this week, with Luke moving in and out faster than you could say "Astroglide" and the guys getting less screen time than pretty much anyone else, there was some good news when the Daytime Emmy nominations were revealed. Van Hansis (Luke) was nominated for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series. Honestly, his performance is what has made the Luke and Noah story bearable in the rough patches of bad writing (although even he hasn’t been able to fully overcome this Ameera debacle). Although he should definitely win, I’m not too optimistic with the new voting system in effect this year where there is only one vote that determines the nominees and winners. In other words, if Van Hansis wasn’t the lead vote getter when the nominations were announced, he didn’t win. There were also reports of many voters not watching the tapes that they were supposed to. The Academy needs to drastically overhaul the rules for next year. He was already robbed last year when he should have won for his poignant performance during Luke’s coming-out story. I’m afraid that this system will only contribute to another undeserved award for someone else, especially since many of the acting nominees this year are questionable choices and deserve to be nowhere near an award.
Recommended Song Download: Funplex - The B-52's
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