Quad Blogs

I’m going to be walking on glass today because I will be reviewing two bands with friends of mine in said bands. It’s exciting yet daunting. Will this entry be the catalyst that leads to severed bonds of fellowship? Never say never. You readers can join in on the fun by downloading or purchasing the music I write about here.

The first band: Waiting 2 Fall from King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

They come from the land of gigantic malls, overpriced restaurants, nonsense SEPTA routes, schedules and outrageous zone fares. It’s enough to make you want to never travel there via public transportation. It beats gas money; however, with SEPTA, a week of traveling on their fine rails, buses and trolleys adds up to paying for a tank of gas. I’ll be poor either way thanks to transportation fees. I digress.

Waiting 2 Fall (or Waiting To Fall) formed sometime in early 2009. Three rambunctious youths wanted to write music and play music so they did just that. Before any of their friends were aware, they an EP released to the masses and not just North America. W2F’s debut EP can be found in iTunes Japan. Oh, yes. The band played a number of shows in promotion of the record, most notably at the North Star Bar in Philadelphia. They’ve since entered into a hiatus after lineup changes but are in the process of writing and recording the follow-up EP.

Their debut EP is titled “Love Is An Excuse To Get Hurt” and it is an emotionally-charged 25+ minutes of music. The lyric content deals with relationships gone wrong or, in other words, how love is a way to get yourself hurt. It’s not the most cheerful message in the world but neither is the entire discography of Nirvana and they managed an admirable level of success. The album is highlighted by a slow, meditative acoustic song called “Compound Fracture” in which lead guitarist/vocalist Mic Swinty is joined by a female voice as they sing about the loss of love in their life.

You can find their EP on a variety of websites including iTunes and Rhaspody. They also have a facebook page and myspace website. Also, check out their merchandise here: http://waiting2fall.spreadshirt.com/

The second band: Miles To Go from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

They come from the city where the constitution was signed. It is a city where SEPTA fares are still too much but not as bad as suburban zone fees nor does a horrendous route the number 92 exist in Philly. SEPTA in Philly has such lovable bus drivers like Grumpy, Jolly and Old Man.

Their first and only EP is a labor of love. A four year sojourn involving different people coming together for a shared goal: make good music. The journey began when a band called The Fightins ended. Miles To Go founder Pete Smith had to find a new bassist after the old bassist left to pursue different projects. Smith found the guy who writes the Post Collegiate Apocalypse blog on this very website. I digress. They wrote songs, practiced and played shows. Eventually, their drummer left and was replaced, for some time, by a computer. Finally, they found a human being to play drums. They also found a singer.

Meanwhile, the EP had been in production for awhile when they found the new members. To make a long story short, things eventually came together and an EP was born. The EP is titled “Get Ya Popcorn Ready!” and they played just one show before the band decided to go their separate ways.

“Get Ya Popcorn Ready!” has a rather interesting structure. Think of an old cassette tape that had two distinct sides. Side A and Side B. This CD employs that structure. The first four tracks are light-hearted and fun pop-punk affairs with stories about devotion to a significant other and hoping the girl you want to date comes to one of your shows. Side B features shift in tone and atmosphere. It’s darker. Side B is highlighted by haunting melodies and the closing track.

Download it for free: http://milestogo.bandcamp.com

THE YOUTUBE CLIP(S) OF THE DAY

Treme time. Last week’s Mardi Gras episode was fantastic and the latest episode is the best one yet. And, oh yeah, don’t read this if you want to watch the show because spoilers will abound. Also, don’t read if you like True Blood. There’s a chance I, if not bash it, provide several harsh words about the show.

The first season of Treme has built its narrative slowly but week by week the stories have been quietly building and now things are happening. Don’t get me wrong. There’s been big developments in the early episode like the Daymo revelation, the Housing Projects with Chief Lambrioux, the first parade after Katrina and the subsequent return of violence in the city. Each character, at this point in the season, is at a crossroads. Let me rephrase that: every major character for the exception of Davis. Some characters like Sofia and Toni are going to experience grief, like Ladonna and her mother are, when they find out Creighton did. In fact, the Creighton story is why I’m writing about Treme today.

He’s been depressed for quite awhile, since Katrina put a hurting on the city he loves so much. His depression crescendoed last week when he couldn’t even enjoy the Mardi Gras. Before the parade, he took his daughter to a pier and talked to her about how difficult the rebuilding process will be. It wasn’t a cheery conversation. He reached his moment of ultimate despair at his computer screen. Without spending too many words on the context or conveying the emotions of the character, I’ll just say it worked. In the morning, he was a happier man. Something was off. I expected him to jump into a river when I saw he parked his car near a river. Sure enough, he jumped into a body of water after enjoying one last cigarette. Earlier in the day, he raced out to tell his daughter how she pretty she looked and to encourage his wife in her job. He gave Annie twenty dollars after listening to her delightful violin playing. He had one last bowl of gumbo. He let his students out early after explaining the significance and meaning of Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening.” A spiritual liberation is what he sought. I thought it was a well-done story.

I don’t plan on writng about Treme. Next week’s the finale and then it won’t be back for one year. Plus, there are other actual television critics who write about the show much better than I could, like Alan Sepinwall of hitfix.com.

My two cents, though: this show is worth your time and investment.

TRUE BLOOD

As for the show preceding this, TRUE BLOOD…let’s just say I still haven’t gotten over last year’s awful Menad storyline with the Bulljawn. It’s definitely an over-the-top campy 50-58 minutes of television. I actually enjoyed the first season of the show. I didn’t like season two very much but stuck with it because, for some reason, I don’t like to quit watching shows (I watched the entire series of HEROES despite the fact it started sucking halfway through season one). For fun, here are some thoughts for season premiere of True Blood, “Band of Wolves”:

I have zero interest in watching Tara’s hysterics this season. I also have little interest in Jason’s story. Bring back the preacher and his wife. I don’t really care about the V storyline going on with the queen and Eric. Not sure I care about Sam’s roots with the Mankins. I like anything Sookie’s involved in though because she’s the best written character and the most developed. Plus, Anna Paquin is awesome. The werewolves thing could be cool but I have a feeling the show will not have a bunch of Oz’s on the show which makes the werewolves thing less cool.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK

Before I forget, I have an exciting 45 minutes planned for my online radio show tonight. Do listen here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fiveminutesoffame/2010/06/15/first-stop-pennsylvania

I want the world, the whole world, to stop and listen to me. Oh, allright. I’m quoting the opening lyrics of The Jackson’s “Living Together.” Naturally, the song makes me think of LOST but I’m digressing.

The Emmy Ballot was released a few days ago. It’s not the final Emmy ballot. All the ballot is is a list of the official entrants for different categories. Soon the Emmy crew will boil it down to the final nominees. There’s a good chance that every thing I write about here will not be included on the final ballot. Today, I return to the bullet points in order to write about each thing swiftly and concisely. I’ll share my opinions on why a certain series/writer(s)/director/actor/actress should be on the final ballot and, perhaps, why they should win and vice-versa.

–Many, many shows entered for Best Drama series. Not all can be nominated and only one can win. LOST, obviously, should be nominated. My old Official LOST Rankings partner considers the sixth season the best season of the show. Season 1 holds that honor for me though. They haven’t won the award since season one. I do think they’ll be nominated considering it was their final season. I think they’ll win many awards but I don’t think they’ll win Best Drama.

–Here are the other shows that I think will be nominated for Best Drama besides LOST: Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Mentalist and, eh, Smallville (that means I have no thoughts on the final Drama to be nominated). I’m working my way through Mad Men so I have zero idea what kind of season they had. I hear Breaking Bad has been out-of-this-world GOOD this season and I have no reason to doubt it. I could’ve put Treme in the final spot (are there just five nominees? have I gotten the numbers wrong) but I think the show will be ignored like The Wire was. The last epiosde of Treme has been their best, in my opinion. I digress. I know CBS promotes the heck out of The Mentalist so it seems like they’d get a Best Drama nod. I have no idea. If I were a betting man, I’d bet Breaking Bad to win.

–Best Drama Director is a category that excites me. There’s so many entrants and so many episodes by these directors that I haven’t seen. But I’m one of those geeks who recognizes a director’s name. I’ve seen zero episodes of Breaking Bad. I have to make that clear once again. I noticed Rian Johnson is an entrant for this category. He directed an episode titled “Fly” of Breaking Bad. Rian Johnson directed Brick and The Brothers Bloom. The challenge of any television director is entering a show with an established look while adding a certain touch yourself. On name alone, I’ll predict Rian Johnson gets nominated. Allison Liddi-Brown directed a really good FNL episode entitled “The Son,” about the death of Saracen’s dad; however, FNL is always ignored so I doubt she or any of the other directors get nominated and that includes Peter Berg. Again, based on name alone, Greg Yaitanes could get a nomination for his “Help Me” episode of House. I’ve never seen the episode so consider this a hunch or a gut feeling. Nathaniel Jay Goodman directed “Once Upon a Time in Texas”–a HEROES episode. The writing was never a particular strong point of the show but the direction was always solid. Goodman’s episode accomplished a lot because it was an episode that, literally, went back to season one. There’s no way he’ll be nominated but I felt compelled to say one good thing about Heroes even though I hate that show so much.

–This is all just a preamble so I can talk about Tucker Gates and Jack Bender of LOST. Tucker Gates directed “Ab Aeterno.” In my review of the episode, I demanded an emmy for Tucker Gates. The scope of the episode was so gigantic. Jorge Garcia (Hurley) had a podcast called Geronimo Jack’s Beard. He mentioned that Tucker Gates directed “The Substitute” because he said Tucker used a lot of lenses that was different from the norm of LOST. But then Jack Bender comes along with directing the series finale–basically a full-length movie shot in two weeks. I think both should get nominted. I think Bender is a lock for a nomination and I think he could win it as a way of not only celebrating the work he did on “The End” but for the work he did throughout LOST. He’s responsible for the look of the show. Anywho, there’s my two cents for Best Drama Director. Wait. Some Mad Men directors deserve a nod. I just haven’t seen the episodes to specify.

–Best Writing. Once again, many episodes entered I have not seen. But again, I’m a geek and I recognize television writers. While I have never seen In Plain Sight, I hope Lynne Litt (writer of Claire’s first LOST flashback story) gets nominated just because she wrote an episode of LOST six years ago. There’s so many entrants in this category. Of the LOST writers, I would nominate Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz for “Dr.Linus” as well as Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse for “The End.” Once again, I hear Breaking Bad is mind-blowing so use this ________ to insert a writer’s name and the episode they wrote for that show. I’m a huge Jane Espenson fan so her episode of Caprica deserves considerable consideration. Of course, I’ve never seen Caprica. David Fury’s been entered for a 24 script. Eh. Nah. I haven’t seen. The creator of Spatacus: Blood & Sand is Steven S. DeKnight. The episode he wrote for the show (Kill Them All) has been entered. DeKnight is jaboy from the ANGEL days.

–Best Supporting Actress. Yeah, Yeah. I know I’m skipping several categories. But I want Emilie de Ravin to get nominated and win. She won’t though because people don’t appreciate her Australian-ness nor her talent.

Good day.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF DAY

There’s finally some competition for HBO’s Entourage. Unfortunately, it looks like it’ll be canceled before anyone can be aware of this really funny show I only discovered because Kristen Bell made a guest appearance. The show is Party Down and it airs on Starz and, if you subscribe to Netflix, Starz allows Party Down to stream on Netflix’s instantly watch. I don’t subscribe to Netflix but figured that piece of news could be helpful to anyone interested after reading this.

Back in the day, according to Hitfix.com’s TV guy Alan Sepinwall, four men went to HBO to pitch a television series about a group of Hollywood hopefuls experience just how hard it is to break into the business. The four men: John Enbom, Rob Thomas, Dan Etheridge and Paul Rudd (yes the actor Paul Rudd); however, to make a long story short, HBO passed on the series and, instead, greenlighted Entourage. Entourage is a vastly different kind of story about actors in Hollywood because the boys of Entourage mostly have everything handed to them and do surprisingly little amount of work, even Drama who seemed to have all the time in a world despite being a main character on a network drama. I digress. Starz eventually greenlighted Party Down. Before late Saturday night, I had no idea Starz engaged in television development but it was a good surprise because cable is, more and more, becoming the place where quality television is.

Prior to viewing my first Party Down episode, I had no idea what to expect. Would I be lost and out of touch with the narrative? Do I just fast-forward to Kristen Bell parts because I heard she was really really? To answer both: I was neither lost nor out of touch with the narrative. And I did not fast-forward. I’m glad I didn’t because the show is pretty awesome and funny.

Party Down focuses on a small catering company. There’s a group of people who all have Hollywood aspirations. There’s Henry, the commercial wonder who has failed to become the next Pacino, portrayed by Adam Scott who everyone knows from Step Brothers but is most beloved for his time on Boy Meets World as Harley’s replacement, Griff. Lizzy Caplan portrays Casey, an aspiring actress who has a romantic history with Henry. Ken Marino portrays Ron Donald, a hard-luck-sometimes-aloof-goofball. He’s one of the greatest characters in the series. Ken Marino co-wrote Role Models and appears in it. He also portrayed the professor who is romantically interested in Joey Potter in Dawson’s Creek. Ryan Hansen, of Veronica Mars fame for his character Dick Casablancas, portrays pretty boy Kyle. He and another character, Roman (played by Martin Starr), usually are involved in something silly. Also every actor basically, besides Adam Scott, appeared in Veronica Mars.

I’m not sure how good that summary I’ve just written is. The biggest thing I can say for the show is that it’s really, really funny. It’s witty. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. The show also keeps the integrity of individual characters and never makes the mistake of turning them into a cartoon or a caricature. The writing is tremendous. The acting is outstanding and the guest actors who appear are out of this world. The first season featured Jane Lynch and Ken Jeong among others. J.K. Simmons shows up and he’s almost as good as Jeremy Piven’s Ari Gold.

In the end, a comedy is about making you laugh, right? No show has made me laugh like Party Down since Arrested Development ended in 2006. You won’t regret the 30 minutes you spent watching an episode. The show barely averages 130,000 viewers. The actors are leaving for better opportunities: Jane Lynch for Glee, Ken Jeong for Community etc. If it lucks out for a season three pickup then I can only imagine it’d be the last of it. I recommend watching the Sweet Sixteen Party episode from season one if you’re interested or just start at the beginning if you can.

I also know the mere fact that I’m recommending the show means there is a chance people will actively avoid watching the show.

Also, Entourage and Party Down really shouldn’t be compared. Despite the essential story that drives the two shows, they are very different. I don’t want to take anything away from Entourage because I’ve mostly enjoyed my Entourage experience. They’ve had hiccups but the first two seasons of the show are terrific and Ari Gold is just awesome.

If you have Netflix, you can stream episodes. I obviously am not concerned with watching the series in order. If all episodes aren’t available, just watch anyway. The episodes are also OnDemand if you have Starz.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE DAY