Gogol Bordello
Posted on 03.05.06 by Widge @ 4:54 am

I don't normally do just a straight-up post for a single song, but this is just too bizarre for me not to share immediately. "Start Wearing Purple" - found via Bricolage Fantasy. Imagine if Peter Stormare's character from Brothers Grimm fronted a band. I love it.

Filed under: General BS
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Dick Wolf's Conviction (and My Lack of Conviction to Watch Another Episode)
Posted on 03.04.06 by Widge @ 3:37 am

Widge's bulletized review:

  • The look and feel of the show are like Law & Order and ER had a kid together. This is not a compliment.
  • Too many characters. Or, put another way, it takes a good writer to juggle as many plotlines and characters in a single show and not confuse the audience as to who is doing what and why. This show does not have that writer.
  • It took me all episode to finally come up with the pecking order of the characters and who supervises whom in the office. While this was perhaps an attempt to have us associate ourselves with the Very New Guy Who Just Started Work That Day, it's kinda hard to do that when A) he's fighting for screentime along with everyone else and B) he's a fucking idiot–so why would we want to have anything to do with this bozo? No, this is just, if not bad writing, bad writing masquerading as trying to be clever. This is a Dick Wolf show. And does anyone sit down to a Dick Wolf show and want clever?
  • I was looking forward to this show because I always did like Stephanie March…but here she's apparently the head ADA in this game and thus has maybe a dozen lines.
  • Not that I'm a prude or anything, but did we really need the obligatory Two Hot People in Bed sequence? What is this, Las Vegas? And the final sequence which promised that, whoo-boy, there are hook-ups to come…! God, who the hell cares? One of the strengths of L&O is that only the hardcores know about the lives of the characters, which is why you can sit down in front of any flavor L&O, from any season, with any characters, and enjoy yourself without having to worry about anything you might have missed. It's obvious that with these Young and Gorgeous Stars we're going to get some bad NBC boom-chicka for our buck. Ugh.
  • I am glad to see Eric Balfour do something after both he (and I, for that matter) had to slog through the Texas Chainsaw remake. Elias Koteas is always welcome–sorry to see he was just a guest star.
  • The dialogue in this thing is just bad. Not wincingly so, but just enough to make your eyebrows throb.
  • …though not as bad as the music. Please fire whoever picked that crap and decided to put it behind every Important Scene.

I'm very disappointed that Trial By Jury died and now this thing is here to take its place. I won't bother to watch again. I'm torn between thinking it'll die after a few episodes or, because things that are bad tend to be embraced by the Great Unwashed, it'll run for eight years. Yawn.

Music Postscript: Turbonegro's enjoyable "All My Friends Are Dead." When it hits your MP3 list, it sort of acts the bully to any stray modern pop songs you might have hiding out. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Found via callmeMICKEY.

Filed under: General BS
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Top Ten Songs I Played Loud Enough for You to Hear
Posted on 03.01.06 by Widge @ 4:09 am

That's why you kept IMing me. Turn that shit down, you said. Hell no, I said. Not my fault that my psychic amp is turned up to 11. Put on your tin foil hat. And you said, hell no–it itches when you wear it. And I said, tough. And you said, okay, fine, at least quit playing that Mariah Carey album.

And I paused.

Then I said, um, whose mind are you listening to?

10. "Silent Seven" - Controller.Controller
9. "Blue" - A Perfect Circle
8. "Drove Through Ghosts to Get Here" - 65 Days of Static
7. "Naked Cousin" - PJ Harvey
6. "In Transit (for you)" - Matchbook Romance
5. "We Know Something You Don't Know" - DJ Format
4. "Hide and Seek" - Imogen Heap
3. "Ode to Divorce" - Regina Spektor
2. "Untitled (everything but suicide)" - Gnarls Barkley
1. "Human" - Carpark North

Incidentally, a new chapter of Overkill is live here.

Okay, that's it. That's my rhyme. Take it to the streets.

Filed under: General BS and Projects
Comments: 4 Comments


Paul Anka Covering "Wonderwall"
Posted on 02.26.06 by Widge @ 7:24 pm

If this doesn't make you want to punch a kitten, then I'll be amazed.

Filed under: General BS
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Some Music Updates
Posted on 02.25.06 by Widge @ 2:02 am

Been meaning to throw more of these at you. Life beat me up in an alleyway and coated me with spray cheese. It was traumatic. And 1/3 less fattening than a normal metatextual mugging.

  • Innocence Mission's "What a Wonderful World"–I'm behind on grabbing their albums. Their first is still my favorite, but they're all pretty damn good. This is a cover I didn't know existed. Very nice. Found at Puddlegum.
  • Rilo Kiley's "Bulletproof"–There's always something endearing about a sweet-sounding female vocalist singing an "It's over" song with lines like "How many blows to the belly will this take/ That we refer to as our true love?" Priceless. Found via Music for Kids Who Can't Read Good.
  • Matchbook Romance's "In Transit (for you)"–I could listen to this for freaking days. "Monsters" is pretty righteous as well. Found them via Ex Best Friend.
  • sourceVictoria's "Burn the Pianos"–Slow, steady, methodical and presumably sad. I keep going into this weird zone whenever I try to focus on the lyrics. Normally when one sings about setting fire to things, you're either being profound or you're wishing you were Art of Noise. Found via So Much Silence.
  • Richard Swift's "The Million Dollar Baby"–Happy slightly poppy vocals with a chorus that says, "I wish I was dead most of the time/ But I don't really mean it, no…" Fun to sing along with in the car when you're going to the job that makes you feel that way. Found via PocketTrax.
  • Taxpayer's "When They Were Young"–Pretty much tasty straight up rock. As opposed to rawk. There is a difference. Found at Ben Loves Music.
  • Weezer's "Pink Triangle"–I never was able to stomach Weezer before. I think that's because, aeons ago, when that goddamn sweater song of theirs was on the radio–and I was still listening to radio (that's right, kids, back then you had to listen to broadcast radio if you didn't own an 8-track in your car)–that song would make me break out in raging, four-part harmony hives. I must needs revisit them after hearing this. Hilarious. Found via Grow Wings.

I'd like to also point out that the "Numb Encore" mashup of Linkin Park and Jay-Z is something I can actually listen to. I think I've reached the conclusion that Linkin Park is for pe0ple who look at Korn and go, "Yeah, that's a little too heavy for me, thanks."

More later. All of this found with the aid of the evil that is The Hype Machine. Stay away from that place if you know what's bad for you.

Filed under: General BS
Comments: None


I Want the Music Industry in the Games Until They Die Playing
Posted on 02.16.06 by Widge @ 9:52 am

Here's the latest from the EFF. Apparently making a backup of a CD, just for your own use, is a no-no. Oh, and ripping your CD for your own personal use to an iPod is also infringement.

I will be so glad when this industry and paradigm dies. Keep on suing the elderly and telling your customers they're criminals, guys. Good job. Keep it up.

Found via Slashdot.

Filed under: General BS
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Fiction Frenzy Was a Success
Posted on 02.06.06 by Widge @ 5:38 am

I'm very pleased to see that so many folks banged out a short story over the weekend. Turnout was frankly better than I expected for a first time thing. I'm hoping to run another one in a few weeks. You can see all of that glorious mess here.

And Episode 51 of Something Else was my contribution.

Plus, a new chapter of Overkill has gone live.

New music I dig this time around is "Turnstile Blues" by Autolux. Thanks to Communications Major, English Minor for the headsup.

Filed under: General BS and Projects
Comments: None


Top 10 Musical Bits I Used to Drown Out the Voices Screaming in My Head
Posted on 02.01.06 by Widge @ 3:27 am

For January:

10. "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot" - Grandaddy
9. "I Remember You" - Chixdiggit
8. "Phoenix" - Exit Mindbomb
7. "Untitled (everything but suicide)" - Gnarls Barkley
6. "Life on Mars?" - David Bowie
5. "The Best Things" - Filter
4. "Human" - Carpark North
3. "Time Baby III" - Medicine
2. "Ashanti's Letterbomb" - Dean Gray
1. "The Noise" - Regina Spektor

Many thanks to Aquarium Drunkard for the Grandaddy tipoff.

Filed under: General BS
Comments: None


Writing. Oh, and Music.
Posted on 01.31.06 by Widge @ 3:58 am

Goose over at Veritas Lux Mea added me to his sidebar. Which is quite cool. I consistently get great music from his site, as I've mentioned before. I need to redo all of my sidebars, honestly. I'm thinking of adding a music one, and at that point I'll slap Goose and VLM in there as well as the other ones that are all in a conspiracy together to make my hard drive explode. Not to mention make me spend more money on music. Sneaky bastards, the lot of them.

On the newness front, I've got two more pages of Next Wave #4 up, as well as the latest chapter of Overkill.

I've got to get some infrastructure bits done on Needcoffee, so I'll be taking a few days to put full focus over there. No need to fear. Speaking of fear, Bloggie voting ends today. So head over and do that thing. It would be much appreciated.

What else? Oh, I've got a bit I want to write about the horror genre. And that will lead straight out of Episode 51 of Something Else, which is already about ready to pop. No rest for the wicked.

Filed under: General BS
Comments: None


Something Else #50 Hits…
Posted on 01.28.06 by Widge @ 5:39 am

Well, it was a crazy damn week. Barely kept my head above water with everything going on, so I apologize for the lack of posts and new content. Here's what I did manage to get up:

Something Else's 50th episode is now online. I'm jazzed as hell. Thanks for everybody who's supported it, both in its original home and now here. Many thanks.

The latest chapter of Overkill is up here.

The third page of Next Wave #4 is up here.

Tee's latest segment of his DBM "Ginger" story is online here.

And here's the new music that helped fuel this stuff:

Filed under: Projects
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John Robinson is a writer of prose, poetry and comics who also writes under the pseudonym of Widgett Walls.

Widgett Walls is the director of Needcoffee.com who also writes under the pseudonym of John Robinson.

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