Wondering Aloud

- They finally dropped the F-bomb on SNL the other night. "South Park" is allowed portray a bunch of pre-pubes saying the words "nigger", "shit", "goddamn", and "balls" like they're conversational prepositions. The FX channel, in primetime, frequently portrays cursing and sexual activity, both the healthy and deviant varieties. Comedy Central has shown unrated movies after a certain hour at night for years now. SNL doesn't even come on until 11pm here, when only adults who don't mind the word fuck should be watching, anyway. Aside from all of that, SNL has been breaking ground on television ever since premiering on my father's 15th birthday, so, to me, it's only right that SNL got to be the show to say "fuck" first. And fuck anyone who has a problem with it.

- Yellowberri's grand opening was off the chain. I've never felt so much like I was an important part of something special. The only thing I can compare it to in my life was graduating high school. I guess the best thing about it was the boost in my confidence... it made me feel like I really do have something great to offer the world, and that people will appreciate me for it. And all of these feelings were stirred up by compliments on my involvement in a web-series about a time-traveling, bridge-playing, vodka-swilling, Schwan's-truck-driving house cat... imagine what we can do with something more "respectable" (I use that term loosely, because I love "Pearl" immensely).

- There's a lot of great music coming out right now: I never thought in a million years I'd have to admit it, but the new Alice in Chains album, Black Gives Way to Blue, is the best album I've heard in years... William DuVall is more than a worthy replacement for Layne.
Also, the new Pearl Jam album (Backspacer) is tight, and probably the best thing they've done since Vitalogy (although Yield was good). You can only get it at Target and iTunes, but it's well worth the search if you have to conduct one.

- Recently hearing Weezer's new single, "(If You Are Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" caused me to dig out their last CD, The Red Album. I can't recommend it to you enough, as it's easily one of my favorite albums of all-time (be sure to read my previous blogs on that topic here and here).

- Collective Soul have a new one out as well (Rabbit). I've only listened to half of it, but everything I've heard is great. It seems like all of the comebacks of my favorite "growing-up" bands have been great, and I'm thankful that parts of my childhood I thought I had lost are alive again.

- My friend Russell (a great musician himself) turned me on to many great bands the other day, and I highly recommend them all. I'll list them here for you, because they're all worth digging up (a few are a bit obscure): Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear, Menomena, The Notwist, of Montreal, and Dolorean.

- Marybeth also played me some stuff by the band Owl City, and I fell in love with it instantly. Their song "Fireflies" has to be one of the most beautiful songs I've ever listened to, helped by the fact that it's sung by one of my favorite singers of all-time (Matthew Theissen, of Relient K). The album I checked out was Ocean Eyes, so grab it up.

- I'll transition away from music to movies with this one... my mother, my sister, and I are going to see This is It. I know it's just a cash-in on his death, but I consider it a privilege to pay to see the King do his thing one more time, and to see it on the big screen. I miss Mike dearly, and I think the flick will be a perfect send-off for the greatest entertainer of all-time. You know he's bad.

- I was apprehensive about the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street (although I thought the casting of Jackie Earle Haley was inspired) until I saw the following video. Now I'm at stoke level 99: