Video of the Day: God Help the Girl, “Funny Little Frog”
This Belle and Sebastian song from The Life Pursuit gets a Dusty in Memphis treatment in this great remake from Stuart Murdoch’s latest project.
Video of the Day: Sonic Youth, “Sacred Trickster”
The Eternal is the first Sonic Youth disc in about 15 years that I haven’t just appreciated on an academic level — this first disc on their new deal with Matador rocks without reservation.
Megan Fox Reminds Harry Smith of a “Woodland Nymph Fairy”
Watch CBS Videos Online
Well, she put words in his mouth, but that didn’t help him talk during this interview.
Video of the Day: Dirty Projectors, “Stillness is the Move”
I’m this close to calling the race for album of the year. Buy Bitte Orca immediately. Review to follow.
Video of the Day: The Lonely Island feat. Jonas Brothers, “Property Of The Queen”
“Africa — I’ve been to Africa.
Africa — I broke a broke a sweat.”
The Thriller’s Gone
The icons of my childhood are going fast, it seems. Ed McMahon on Tuesday. Farrah Fawcett this morning. And this evening, the King of Pop.
I can’t say I was a die-hard Michael Jackson fan, but his music was the music of my youth, from the perfectly crafted pop confections of “ABC” and “I Want You Back” with the Jackson Five, to such towering works as 1982’s “Thriller” and ’87’s “Bad.” There was no disputing his enormous talent and riveting showmanship — music that proved to be terrific enough to withstand the ugliness that dogged him with charges of child molestation.
What surprises me now is how sad I find myself as I watch the canonization of Michael Jackson unfold on cable news. His impact on music was, and remains, monumental. Jackson was an artist of the highest caliber, and he ranks alongside Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Bob Dylan in the influence he wielded on popular culture.
As a human being, however, the assessment isn’t so clear-cut. Being charitable, it is fair to say he was awfully eccentric. But it doesn’t take a licensed psychologist to suggest that Jackson’s own troubled childhood — from an abusive father to obscenely early superstardom — likely spurred some of his problems later in life.
He lost his own youth, and in so doing, enriched the youth of untold millions of others.
And it goes without saying that Jackson, who would have been 51 in August, was far too young to die.
RIP, Michael Jackson.
– Chase
Video of the Day: Street Sweeper Social Club, “
Street Sweeper Social Club is the latest project from former Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello and Boots Riley from the legendary, revolutionary undergroup hip-hop group, The Coup.
Oscar To Have 10 Best Picture Nominees in 2010
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that the 2010 Oscar ceremonies will include 10 films in contention for Best Picture.
“After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when a wider field competed for the top award of the year,” said Sid Ganis, president of the academy. “The final outcome, of course, will be the same — one Best Picture winner — but the race to the finish line will feature 10, not just five, great movies from 2009.”
This at least looks like a reaction to this year’s much-maligned roster, which excluded the most well-received and well-attended film of 2008, “The Dark Knight,” as well as the second most well-received film of that year, “Wall-E.” And, it is Staticblog’s scrupulously founded opinion that those films were excluded because of furious campaigning by The Weinstein Company on behalf of “The Reader.”
But 10? I could be wrong, but now the opposite could happen, and the Best Picture category could become far too inclusive. I mean, there’s no danger of “Year One” or “Obsessed” making it to the dais, but the bottom five could get a little thin. On the “Up” side, at least a deserving animated film might have a shot next year.
Video of the Day: Major Lazer, “Hold the Line”
Not only is Major Lazer the subject of a cheapo cartoon, but we get an action figure tie-in commercial to boot!
Beastie Boys’ “Hot Sauce Committee, Part 1″ To Be Released Sept. 15
Capitol will release the eighth disc by Adam Yauch, Michael Diamond and Adam Horowitz on Sept. 15 in multiple configurations, including a 5.1 surround mix, and will include the following tracks:
1. Tadlock’s Glasses
2. B-Boys In The Cut
3. Make Some Noise
4. Nonstop Disco Powerpack
5. OK
6. Too Many Rappers (featuring NAS)
7. Say It
8. The Bill Harper Collection
9. Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win (featuring Santigold)
10. Long Burn The Fire
11. Bundt Cake
12. Funky Donkey
13. Lee Majors Come Again
14. Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament
15. Pop Your Balloon
16. Crazy A– Sh–
17. Here’s A Little Something For Ya
Mark your calendars, reorganize your life. And look at it this way: if this is “Part 1,” then they must have a “Part 2″ in mind, which we can undoubtedly look forward to hearing in 2015 or so.
