I'm a Survivor

Pretty good Survivor last night. Sad to see Stephenie finally go. The episode where they have to guess at buying the food is always one of my favorites. But strategy wise, Caryn made one of the biggest mistakes I have ever seen in the show's history, right up there with Season One's Shawn refusing to accept that there was an alliance. I would think that anyone who has watched the past nine episodes of the show would be smart enough to realize that you should never a) tell someone information that will reveal your strategy and b) tell someone information that reveals that you're trying to play both sides. That pretty much guarantees that Caryn will be gone next episode, since her original alliance can't trust her now. Also, I thought that was terrible play by the women on this episode. That was the first time that they had a chance to vote Tom off, they had the upper hand, and they could have eliminated the biggest threat and kept their advantage. But of course, things got messed up. Tom, the biggest threat, is still there and they now lost the edge that they had since the number of men and women is equal now. With Stephenie gone, I think it's safe to say that Tom is the favorite. He hasn't backstabbed anyone and he's the most likely to win immunities, just like Ethan in Season Three. Should be interesting to see what happens next week.

Street Cred

• Franz Ferdinand and Snoop might be a reality. (courtesy of Thighs Wide Shut)
• Matt Damon may be engaged to a lady who is not as good looking as he is. (courtesy of PItnB)
• Lots of people keep getting their iPods stolen in New York City. That's why I bought the iClub for mine.
• Turn a photo in to a cartoon.
• It's Bulls-fever. Interview with Ben Gordon from Page 2. It's nice to have a good team in town again.
• Tom Cruise is a lucky man because Katie Holmes is pretty.
  

The Tots 25

Here are the 25 most played songs on my iTunes/iPod:

1. 3rd Planet - Modest Mouse
2. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) - Arcade Fire
3. C'Mere - Interpol
4. Very Loud - the Shout Out Louds
5. You Might Think - the Cars
6. Summer Babe (Winter Version) - Pavement
7. Go It Alone - Beck
8. Obstacle 1 - Interpol
9. Positively Fourth Street - Bob Dylan
10. Proud Mary - Creedence Clearwater Revival
11. Next Exit - Interpol
12. Daft Punk Is Playing At My House - LCD Soundsystem
13. Can't Stand Me Now - the Libertines
14. Decent Days and Nights - the Futureheads
15. Slow Hands - Interpol
16. Silence Kit - Pavement
17. Banquet - Bloc Party
18. Cannonball - the Breeders
19. Neighborhood #2 (Laika) - Arcade Fire
20. Speaking in Tongues - Eagles of Death Metal
21. Evil - Interpol
22. Mr. Brightside - the Killers
23. Finding Out True Love is Blind - Louis XIV
24. Cut Your Hair - Pavement
25. Wake Up - Arcade Fire

Street Cred

• Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are dating. And they kiss. (courtesy of Goldenfiddle)
  
• There's a new Gary Benchley article over at The Morning News.
• Just in case you were wondering what bloggers think about sex.
• Tina Fey is smart-sexy, and now she's pregnant. (courtesy of PItNB)
  
• This fake group sounds like the fake group Clinton and I started in my junior year of high school --NINHS (Not In National Honor Society).
• For the record, I'm anti Lindsay Lohan's blonde hair. (courtesy of the Superficial)
  

Bruuuuuuce!!!

A lot of people are Bruce Willis fans. I can't blame them, he was in two of my top 5 movies of all time (Pulp Fiction and Sin City). But the sad thing is, now that he's getting older his good movies are becoming few and far between. Before Sin City, it would be easy to argue that his last decent movie was the surprisingly funny Bandits with Billy Bob Thornton. That was 2001. He just needs to get back to doing typical Bruce Willis things, like shooting people and smoking. Of course he did both in Sin City, hence the movie was good Bruce Willis. What he shouldn't be doing is complaining about kissing the lovely Jessica Alba. Thankfully, he went through with it. Not only did he get to kiss Jessica Alba, it also added to the story and would have been really missed had it not been included. So please Bruce, for the sake of your fans, make Diehard 4.0 a good one.

Street Cred

• Lots of college students know that nose oil can be used for getting rid of beer foam, but here are some uses for nose oil that I bet you don't know.
• Angelina Jolie is so sneaky. But she also loves charities. And she's unbelievably sexy, so she can pretty much do what she wants.
• No wonder people think Shaq is so funny.
• Just in case you wondered what happens after the show.
• Download the video of Jessica Alba dancing in Sin City. Or as I like to call it "The Hotness." (courtesy of Goldenfiddle)
  

Smoking Popes

As a non-Catholic, I'm allowed to say this: I don't like the new Pope. Aside from the fact that he prayed to God that he wouldn't be elected, he has attacked quite a few things that I like a lot. First, way back before he was the Pope he said that heavy metal was "an instrument of the devil." Then he proceeded to single out these acts as the worst of them all:

• Pink Floyd
• the Rolling Stones
• Queen
• Led Zeppelin
• Black Sabbath
• the Beatles
• Alice Cooper
• AC/DC
• the Eagles

So pretty much, he hates most of the most important music ever created. And now, since becoming the Pope he has officially attacked the Harry Potter series saying that they undermine the "soul of Christianity." Furthermore, this comes after Pope John Paul II praised author J.K. Rowling for her Christian lifestyle. It seems as if "God's Rottweiler," as Benedict XVI is called, is doing his best to suck the fun out of life one form of media at a time.

Street Cred

• I guess I'm not the only one who thinks that Jeff Probst pretty much saved Stephenie from elimination. (courtesy of PiTNB)
• George Lucas is going to be on the O.C. With his band, the Tattoine Five. The last part is not true.
• Choose your summer festival wisely. I personally will choose Lollapalooza (see yesterday) and possibly the Intonation Festival.
  
• After the dinner conversation about the '93 Phillies I found this: The '93 Phillies: The Dirtiest Team Ever.
• Thankfully this didn't happen after the NFL Draft.
• Jessica Alba. Even dolphins love her.
  

You Make Me Want to Lollapalooza

I don't even know how to possibly express my excitement for the bands that have been announced thus far for this summer's Lollapalooza. Supposedly, there is supposed to be about 30 more bands announced soon. Combined with Day 1 of the Q101 Block Party (which sadly doesn't feature the band Bloc Party) I will get to see just about every band that I would want to see in concert right now. Tickets are $85 until they run out, then they are $100, then once again, after they run out they are $115, so get your tickets fast. Here's my top 10 that have been announced in no particular order:

• Pixies
• Weezer
• Dinosaur Jr.
• the Killers
• the Arcade Fire
  
• the Walkmen
• the Bravery
• Louis XIV
• Cake
• Shout Out Louds

Go to the official site to see all of the acts that have been announced so far.

Street Cred

• Turns out the dangerously sexy Angelina Jolie and equally good-looking Brad Pitt are involved in some way. Furthermore, Angelina Jolie's adopted son has what we in the medical field call "Small Child-Huge Head Syndrome". (courtesy of the Superficial)
• Play along with Elisabeth Eckleman. Kind of like an interactive I Am Charlotte Simmons.
• Scarface is going to be a video game. Numerous rappers and the Hawk are probably messing their pants with excitement. (courtesy of the Superficial)
• Possibly the funniest thing ever. Works best when paired with an intense hatred for anything Vin Diesel does. Note: Boiler Room does not apply.
• The new and improved Nicole Richie. (courtesy of the Superficial)
  

Neato!

Thanks to Dragonball Murph, I recently received what is possibly one of the weirdest and sweetest songs ever -- a house remix of "Somebody Told Me" by the Killers. The song keeps the most important parts of the original (like the lyrics and synthesizers) and backs it with the typical house flourishes (strong bass and phenomenal breakdown). I would highly suggest downloading it. Anyways, a song like that makes you think about genres. And when you start thinking about genres, things can get a little out of hand. Here are a few genres that need to happen:

• Dance folk - created by Mike Lansu, would sound like Bright Eyes being played by Franz Ferdinand.
• Indie grime - would sound like Dizzee Rascal flowing over Bloc Party beats with RZA strings over the whole thing.
• Knurc - the opposite of crunk, would sound like whispered raps over only acoustic guitar.
• Totstorch - would sound like the Strokes playing a Talking Headsish song after listening to an early Beatles record for 65 straight ours. I can't imagine anything being better than that.
  

Creating genres is fun, try it for yourself.

Street Cred

• Chicago has their very own random Virgin Mary sighting!!! (courtesy of PItNB)
• This pretty much sums up a lot of people's nightclub experiences. (courtesy of Whatevs)
• Just like this guy, the Fites also love ripping on people.
• Here is a review of the Wu-Tang Manual. I want it.
  
• The basics of setting up a good digital music system. Interesting read.
• Michelle Lombardo is all kinds of good looking.
  

You Took a Wild Orchid

I can't wait for June 7th when the new White Stripes album Get Behind Me Satan will be released. As of now, the only song that I have been able to find is "Blue Orchid," the first single. If you want to be all legal about it, it is available for download at iTunes. Or you could be like this guy and download it from a Pearl Jam message board you heard about from the guitarist in your band. But probably the easiest thing to do would be to go HERE and give it a listen. The early version I have is basically the worst quality mp3 ever made, but the version you can stream is good quality. I really like the song, kind of dancey, which particularly surprised me since the White Stripes aren't trend followers. But I guess it could be considered Zeppelinesque too. This lucky lady got to hear the album early, and I'm jealous. It should be the hotness once it is finally released.

Street Cred

• I guess being addicted to crack and heroin pays off sometimes. (courtesy of Thighs Wide Shut)
• The Bravery lose a fight to a bouncer and end up at IHOP. Not a bad night if you like boisenberry syrup. (courtesy of Gawker)
• I guess I am part of the "relatively small group of people who watch the O.C. and also dig the eclectic post-punk outfit LCD Soundsystem." Yay for LCD for being the most recent band I like to be on the O.C.
• Sadly, former NFL linebacker Sam Mills died at age 45. This is why I want to be an oncologist.
• For some unknown reason, my grandma is convinced that I look like Ryan Reynolds. For the record, she is not blind. Anyways, Rolling Stone hates the new Amityville Horror.
• This girl has ridiculous boobs. Her name is Jordan/Katie Price. (courtesy of Goldenfiddle)
  

The World's Most Successful Industry

I've been reading a book on the history of organized crime which has been one of my strange passions since I read The Godfather my junior year of high school. In fact, I would guess that not many people have the same favorite book and movie (the novel and Part One). Anyways, the best part of the book is that it talks about all of the different organized crime groups around the world besides the Mafia, which is the most famous. In the book, mafia is defined as "hostility to law and its ministers." When reading this definition it is easy to see how much of the rap community relates to mafia culture. Racial profiling and other unneccesary prejudices rightfully have lead to a contempt to not only police, but the whole legal system, which is quite unfair to minorities. The connection between the Mafia and rap lead to the one of my favorite rap ideas, the Wu-Gambinos. Originally created by Raekwon after a (supposed) meeting with Carlo Gambino, the Wu-Tang Clan all adopted mafioso names, among their many other aliases. This development produced a mother load of great rap along with a dynasty for the Wu. Their raps about street life (which they had experienced) and family (which they were) was a major influence that you can still see today. Lastly, the Wu-Tang Clan is awesome.

Street Cred

• The new White Stripes album, Get Behind Me Satan is available June 7, and from this article sounds like the hotness. (courtesy of Goldenfiddle)
• Oh great, Jessica Alba might be engaged. (courtesy of the Superficial)
• More from the Superficial: Ashton Kutcher has used Viagra. Don't laugh, you would too with Brittany Murphy.
• Well, if that's your thing. (courtesy of Gawker)
• Rolling Stone gives Sin City 3 and half stars. Because it's too good. Reason # 3295 that Rolling Stone is stupid.
• A-Rod moves up one notch in my book. That puts him at notch 2.
• What do you know? Angelina Jolie is sexy.
  

You Were Very Loud

When I was at home over easter watching either MTV2 or Fuse I saw a video for a song called "Very Loud" by a band called the Shout Out Louds. A little less than one month later, I'm pretty much obsessed. Their a five piece band, 4 guys and a girl, that play really melodic indie power pop, I guess. And the last paragraph of their bio is funny, so that's nice. The video for "Very Loud" is on their website, under Films. It's a pretty cool video which involves a big old marching band bass drum. The lyric to the song has a Dylan-esque quality to it. Straightforward but guardedly elliptical at the same time. Plus, I would guess that you could put this song on a mix tape for a girl you liked or one that you were dating and wanted to break up with. It's that kind of weird song. But it's cool. Download it, you'll be happy.

Street Cred

• If you're like me and hate the AIM sounds, here is how to get rid of them.
• If you like your face, and want to keep it, here's how to shave.
• If you like being prepared, here is how to prepare a living will. It's from the Onion so don't take it too seriously.
• If you like the Bravery, this review might make you mad. Typical backlash stuff.
• If you like Interpol and/or Ashlee Simpson, read this. Sorta funny. (courtesy of Goldenfiddle)
• If you like Kung Fu, here is a flying Shaolin monk. The Wu-Tang Clan would be jealous.
• If you like Mariah Carey, don't worry: she's still pretty and still pretty weird. (courtesy of the Superficial)
  

The Tots 25

Here are the 25 most played songs on Tots the Pod:

1. Third Planet - Modest Mouse
2. Daft Punk Is Playing At My House - LCD Soundsystem
3. You Might Think - the Cars
4. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) - Arcade Fire
5. Neighborhood #2 (Laika) - Arcade Fire
6. Proud Mary - Creedence Clearwater Revival
7. Speaking In Tongues - Eagles of Death Metal
8. Next Exit - Interpol
9. Obstacle 1 - Interpol
10. Positively 4th Street - Bob Dylan
11. Cannonball - the Breeders
12. C'Mere - Interpol
13. Mr. Brightside - the Killers
14. Silence Kit - Pavement
15. Cut Your Hair - Pavement
16. New Years Eve - the Walkmen
17. Wake Up - Arcade Fire
18. Go It Alone - Beck
19. Subterranean Homesick Blues - Bob Dylan
20. Midnight Creeper - Eagles of Death Metal
21. Decent Days and Nights - the Futureheads
22. Slow Hands - Interpol
23. Can't Stand Me Now - the Libertines
24. Heart of Gold - Neil Young
25. Summer Babe (Winter Version) - Pavement

Street Cred

• Britney Spears is pregnant. Silly me, I thought she was just fat Britney again. (courtesy of the Superficial)
• Something is wrong with the new SAT. 107 perfect scores?!?!(courtesy of Whatevs)
• Charlize Theron -- too sexy, too sexy. Don't look at this if you do not like topless humans with comic book character hair. (courtesy of Pink Is the New Blog)
• Pixies are going back on tour. (courtesy of PItNB)
• New Gary Benchley article. I also want to be a rock star.
  
• Sad Disney World pictures.
• In groundbreaking Murph news, Vida Guerra's cell phone got hacked, Paris Hilton stizz. Nudity ensues.

Best Rapper Alive

During the Street Cred discussion last night, the conversation turned to rappers. It was decided that Jay-Z had higher street cred then Xzibit by a slim margin. Anyways, that whole discussion got me thinking about rappers. I agree with Hova's thoughts that he is the best rapper alive. He has said himself that he has had to dumb down his lyrics for mainstream audiences, but he is still lyrically one of the most inventive and intelligent in rap. Furthermore, he is one of the great trendsetters in hip-hop. Whether it be his clothes, his producers, or his expansion in to other areas of culture, Jay has been at the top of the game. And now he is the CEO of Def Jam Records, that is just crazy. I would say that the only knock on him is his inability to stay retired, Michael Jordan stizz. But at least when he makes his numerous comebacks, he still puts out good material. One of his most impressive feats is that he actually made Linkin Park sound cool. That is near impossible, since they are just on this side of the Good Charlotte line.

Street Cred

• Devendra Banhart is done with his new album. I bet it's weird/good.
• The White Stripes new album has a title, a release date, and the best chance to be wicked old-school awesome. June 7 can't come soon enough.
• Snoop Dizzle wants to work with Franz Ferdinand?? (courtesy of Thighs Wide Shut)
• Now you too can join the Mile High Club! (courtesy of Thighs Wide Shut)
• Check out Lindsayism's Tournament of Exes. It'll make your breakup seem not so bad. Hilarious.
• The Morning News has the next episode of the choose-your-adventure Education of Elizabeth Eckleman. Live vicariously though a fictional character....okay!!
• This guy linked me. He lives in England. I'm Almost Famous.
• Ouch City. Population: you bro!
• Eva Longoria and me are in love and we're going to get married on top of a mountain.
  

Things I Don't Get -- Vol. 3

Dave Matthews
This guy really gets my goat. He is definitely a talented guitar player. He definitely is really creative to the point where he makes up chords. He definitely can do a weird little duck dance that is really cool.
But why do people love him so? Just like Bruce Springsteen, when people like him, they LOVE him. Have you ever met a casual Dave Matthews fan? Me neither. But the part that bugs me the most is that his fans call him "Dave" as if they were great friends with the South African. You do not know him, you don't know what he's like, don't call him Dave. Unless of course, you do know him and know what he's like. Nonetheless, "Dave," I just don't get it.

Street Cred

• Franz Ferdinand, the dancing kings of Scotland, are getting their next album ready. And a tour!
• The crazy guy from the Apprentice got arrested. Anti-surprising. (courtesy of the Superficial)
• Neat little article about artist blogs.
• Amanda Bynes, in the words of Ish, too much caliente. (courtesy of Whatevs)
  

I'm Having Trouble Trying To Sleep

I've been working on a theory of sleep recently. Here's what I got. First, and most importantly, I think there is only one way that you are supposed to sleep per night. And it's very specific. For instance, maybe on a certain night you are supposed to sleep on your back, with your mouth closed, and your right leg folded. It may sound like a totally random position but if you think about it, you wake up many times after a great night of sleep in bizarre positions. Also, temperature is important. Too hot you can't sleep, and too cold you can't sleep. Secondly, you will not be able to fall asleep and stay asleep unless you find this position. Case in point, people often toss and turn in their sleep. This seems to be simply a case of not finding their "sleep position." Next, the mouth part is very important, you must be able to effectively move a sufficient amount of air at all times. This coorelates with the first part of the hypothesis. If you do not get in to your "sleep position" it is probable that you aren't breathing right. So maybe you try opening your mouth, you breath easier and then fall asleep. A small price to pay for gross morning mouth taste. The last part of the theory is that none of this applies when you are dead tired. You could fall asleep sitting up if you're tired enough. Maybe all of this just applies to me or maybe it's universal. I don't really have the desire to actually test it, but it would be cool to find out if it's true.

Street Cred

• Sean Penn is taking a hiatus from acting. Too bad. He's a great actor, but a total weirdo in real life. You win some you lose some. (courtesy of the Superficial)
• Let the synthesizer fight continue! (courtesy of Pink Is the New Blog)
• "We're stuck with him. I checked." Hilarious fake story from the hilarious fake Onion.
• Not surprising news: Hunter S. Thompson's ashes are going to be shot from a cannon. (courtesy of Pink Is the New Blog)
• It's official. Pamela Anderson is the perfect woman.... for Murph. (courtesy of Goldenfiddle)

Things I Don't Get -- Vol. 2

Bruce Springsteen
I understand that he is "The Boss." I understand that he can capture the thoughts of working class Americans with his lyrics. I understand that his guitarist is on the Sopranos. I understand that he wrote "Glory Days," an admittedly great song that turned in to an even better drinking game.
Here is what I don't understand. After seeing live performances, it's obvious that Bruce has become a caricature of himself. It looks like his face is slowly melting off. And between the cheesy "dance" moves and self-indulgent speeches, he just seems like an aging rocker past his prime. But people don't just like him, they LOVE him. Needless to say, I just don't get it.

Street Cred

• Congratulations are due for the new National Champions, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. Valiant effort by the Illini, but it's tough to beat a team that has five legitimate pro prospects.
• Prepare for the Britney Spears reality show. (courtesy of Pink Is the New Blog)
• Sadly for me, Kirsten Dunst seems to be getting married. (courtesy of Thighs Wide Shut)
• Justin Timberlake is being strongly considered for the role of Bruce Willis's son in Die Hard 4. Nevermind that Justin Timberlake looks nothing like Bruce Willis. (courtesy of the Superficial)
• Possibly the best headline ever. (courtesy of Defamer)
• I also love the Tender Crisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch. Awesome commercial, funny website.
• When did Mariah Carey get hot again? (courtesy of the Superficial)

Feel free to leave comments. They make me happy.

News

Here's the most important things that happened over the weekend.

• The Pope died, but you already new that. You might not have known that the funeral is Friday. Also, the only thing anyone knows about the next Pope is that he won't be from the U.S.A. Probably because we love invading other countries.
• In slightly less important news, Neil Young has been hospitalized after suffering a brain aneurysm. He'll probably just write a really wicked sweet album about it.
• Sin City was deservedly Number 1 at the box office. Sadly, that is probably the most we will see of Jessica Alba.
• I bought the new Beck album with the DVD. It owns.

Now it's time to watch what should be a terrific NCAA championship game.

Weekend In Review

Friday
After a quick trip to Portillo's for a wicked Italian beef, me and the moms went and saw Sin City. It was AWESOME!!! Easily among the top 5 coolest movies I have ever seen. Naturally I fleshed out the list:

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Kill Bill vol. 1
3. Sin City
4. Snatch
5. Reservoir Dogs

It's pretty obvious that I'm a huge Quentin Tarantino fan. Well guess what, Tarantino is credited as a "guest director" for Sin City. From what I've read he was payed one dollar for his contributions (the same amount that co-director of Sin City, and good friend of Tarantino's, Robert Rodriguez got for composing the score for Kill Bill vol. 2). Anyways, the acting was phenomenal, except for Brittany Murphy who I can't stand anyhow. Jessica Alba was too hot for words. But the best part of the movie was the cinematography. It's commonly known that Rodriguez tried to recreate as many scenes from the original comic book panels, and you can tell. The actors walk and move just how a comic book character appears to move, right down to the way that they reach for a gun. And they reach for lots of guns. And of course it was nice to see Mickey Rourke get some work.

This movie gets 4.5 out of 5 milks.

Saturday
After a excruciatingly long 8 hours spent on a practice MCAT, I got the chance to play with the Feedback Whales. Word on the street is that we are going to have a concert this summer. It's supposed to be at the end of June in Plano. And by street, I mean Route 34.
The practicing was terrific. It was great to be back behind the set, working on some of our favorite songs. We're going to play mostly covers at the show. For sure were going to play these songs: "Midnight Creeper" and "Speaking in Tongues" by the Eagles of Death Metal, "Tame" and "Where Is My Mind?" by the Pixies, "Keep On Rockin' In the Free World" and "Cinnamon Girl" by Neil Young, and "Psycho Killer" by the Talking Heads. There have been a few other ideas that we have tossed around, but we already have those ones down for shizzy. Should be fun.
After band practice, I went home and ate some terrific biscuits and gravy (Murph, what?). Then I set up our brand new DSL modem. It's weird, in the last two weeks my house got DSL, Dish Network, and a DVR. It's like we instantly decided to go from 1999 to 2005.
Speaking of DVR, I watched some DiVo'd episodes of the Office before I went to bed. It's a terrific show, you should watch it.

Sunday
Church and then to Chinatown for my uncle's birthday. Terrific food. Went to a Chinese market where they took fish straight out of a tank, chopped their heads off, filleted it, then set it on the counter for sale. Possibly the worst smelling store in the history of stores.
Got back to school, won an intramural game then chilled hardcore with the Fites. We started our new Sunday night tradition of the Contender, then Pimp My Ride, then Damage Control. This two hour span may be the pinnacle of broadcasting. X to tha Z was x-tra sweet today, throwing out puns left and right like a regular Contender. Hahaha. The car they did was ridiculous. It even had spinners for the Speakerboxxx. The only bad thing about the shows is that the Guy from Simple Plan hosts DC. We've come to a general consensus that X-Zibit should host every show on MTV, just for the faces and unintentional comedy. All in all, a fantastic night and weekend.

Czech back later for Street Cred from around the world.