The Academy-Award nominated, Emmy-winning, ever-brilliant entity known as South Park returns this Wednesday following a brief hiatus. Over the last dozen years, Trey Parker and Matt Stone's brainchild has evolved from a simple gross-out cartoon intent on pushing the boundaries of basic cable to a whipsmart satire of contemporary American politics and culture (intent on pushing the boundaries of basic cable). At times, the turnaround from current event to grist for the South Park mill has been staggering; many episodes have gone from conception to broadcast within as little as two weeks. As such, [...]
...and, OK, I'll say it: The game kinda sucks. I don't really understand why sometimes I get a perfect score and sometimes I get a "No Good!" when it seems like I'm scratching the decks at just the right time. The press release announcing the game doesn't really give me any clues. Neither do the game's own instructions. But, oh well! My highest score is 2300. Feel free to try and beat me . I'm sure you'll have no trouble. Anyway, the game was seemingly created to coincide with VH1's current programming obsession [...]
Over the past week, Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has been taking a lot of heat for the answers she gave in an interview with Katie Couric on CBS News. The portion that's getting the most critical attention is that bit about Palin's foreign policy credentials... Couric: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that? Sarah Palin: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and, on our [...]
Metallica's ninth studio album, Death Magnetic , has "officially" been out for little over a week, but what a week it was. Awarded a degree of media attention that could only have been eclipsed by Jesus coming back to release The Second Coming: A Hip Hopera via iTunes, Death Magnetic has grabbed far more headlines than your average run of the mill chart-topping, Rick-Rubin-produced comeback metal album probably ever should. From Jessica Simpson to Mrs. Sarkozy, foot-long beards to fine wines, it's Metallica's world…we're just reading the headlines. So for this week's countdown, we're running [...]
XKCD is "a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language" published three times per week by Randall Munroe, a former contractor for NASA. It's my favorite regularly updated webcomic and well worth checking out each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Today, here on EAR FARM, we've collected ten of our favorite xkcd comics that deal with music in one way or another. Stop. Collaborate and listen. 10. Keeping Time (below) 9. The Perfect Sound (below) [...]
In anticipation of The Bell House's grand opening on September 18th (following a private opening on the 17th), I did a little reconnaissance mission this past Thursday in order to get a firsthand look. My curiosity was rewarded, because Jack (Skippy) McFadden - co-owner and booker of the Bell House (and booker at Union Hall) - graciously agreed to take me on the grand tour of the premises as the fully realized vision of the space continued to take impressive shape around us. Armed with a camera and perhaps an inappropriate number of questions, I [...]
Let's face it, after trekking from Cleveland to New York in a single afternoon - only to be greeted by several hours of rush hour gridlock nastiness - the last thing the gypsy gents of Bombadil probably wanted on Friday evening was to be stuck in EAR FARM's inquisitive crosshairs. And lucky for them, the traffic jam actually saved them; the original plan was for all of us to meet up early and commence a friendly Q&A over a few drinks. The traffic gods had other plans though, mercifully spitting them out of the Holland Tunnel and onwards [...]
Pal Ken unearthed a pretty interesting musical meme, and because I have never been one to shy away from a quick and dirty source of content, I've decided to use it as the basis of today's post. So here it is, an annotated list of the songs that topped the Billboard Hot 100 charts on March 13 since I emerged from the womb on that date in 1972. It's a countdown to the End Times which offers clear proof that "popular" does not necessarily equal "good." 1972 - "Without You" by Nilsson [...]
A recent article over on the Townhall Blog portrays John McCain's usage of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears in a campaign ad as a tactical maneuever based not on any nefarious political precedents but rather on a model established in the 90s.....by Aerosmith. Come again? Well it actually makes a lot of sense, especially when considering the following: "Heading into the early 90s, they (Aerosmith) had to be wondering how they could possibly compete in the MTV video age with up-and-coming stars like Eddie Vedder and Kirk Kurt Cobain [...]
We've gotta hand it to 2008, so far so good. Since January, we've come across some fairly amazing albums , and with new releases from Deerhoof, Of Montreal, The Cure and many others on the horizon ( and not even mentioning the Walkmen's amazing new You & Me , kinda sorta unofficially released last week), the rest of the year seems just as strong, right? Well, not so fast. While browsing through a few upcoming release calendars, we've come across our fair share of land mines lurking in the cabbage patch. Buyer beware! [...]
The fine folks over at The Boston Phoenix made a list: 50 Bands, 50 States . Here's what they did - to celebrate the 4th of July this year they declared the best band, best solo artist, and best new band from each of the 50 states in the United States of America. It's a nice list they made, but it got me thinking. I decided I'd like to set out to discover who I'd pick -myself, based upon no criteria other than the person had to be from the applicable state and had to be a [...]
We've got to hand it to the Dodos. Not only have they made one of our absolute favorite records of 2008 (which coincidentally ended up saving our lives at one point), but they were also good enough to sit down and chat with me after sweating through a ridiculously hot set at Siren on Saturday afternoon (say that five times fast). Behold Meric, Logan and Joe as they tiptoe our investigative journalistic high wire to answer 10 particularly burning and/or inane questions and become the first band to get officially Countdown'd! [...]
Boy, I'm really letting you see behind the curtain here. There'll be no question as to what my favorite albums are anymore, they're (mostly) all spelled out for you nice and easy right here. Keyword: favorite. I didn't set about trying to discern the "best" records from each year; rather, I've followed in Maura and Jeff's ( and others ) footsteps and created a list of my favorite albums from every year I've been alive , as per DYFL's instructions . I decided to go the route of picking the [...]
My hotel in London only carried a few channels, so I couldn't see much, but on the other hand, this gave me a more accurate picture of the typical TV viewing experience in England. In general, the television seemed far more low-key than American television, just as English movies seem much smaller in scale than American ones. We're a big, loud culture. If you've ever seen the movie About A Boy , you may recall they watch the show Countdown every afternoon, but they don't really [...]
check out some very good friends of mine at the darkroom this thursday. The Countdown "Looks Good on You" Bang Bang "Days Are #'d"
The inability of The Sun to tell when people are having a laugh strikes again this morning, as they straight-facedly report that Christian O'Connell is going to be the new Twice-Nightly Whiteley : RADIO star Christian O’Connell could be the next Countdown host, it emerged yesterday. The 34-year-old said Channel 4 has asked him to audition to take over from Des Lynam. He told Virgin breakfast show listeners: “I’ve always been a fan and doing a breakfast show means I’m free in the afternoon.†Let's not detain ourselves with [...]
EAR FARM
DC9 At Night
Armagideon Time
The Pop View
death from below
No Rock And Roll Fun
Michael Jackson - Bad (Afrojack Remix) [Preview]
A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS – « You Are the One »
Mojo’s Free Yellow Submarine Covers Disk
Florence + The Machine - Spectrum (Calvin Harris Remix)
