Take TMZ Off The Air

I turned on TMZ (FOX) this evening to get news about Artie Lange, the troubled comic and Howard Stern Show funnyman. This is not the first time I have seen the program, and every time I turn it on I am offended. Every night someone on the show will say something extremely stupid, like "Tiger Woods used to live in his mother's stomach". Other times, they will use ethnic accents that aren't good impressions by anyone's standards, nor are they appropriate for the content. It would seem their only purpose is to illicit a cheap laugh. (Lol, Indian people).

The first segment tonight was a Tiger Woods segment.
"Is tiger woods in Africa?" :flash photos of 3 nude women in africa:

We've come to expect this racism from FOX News, but now we see it on FOX, the over-the-air FOX?!





In the next segment, a TMZ reporter goes up to Lou Diamond Phillips and says "you were in one of my dad's favorite shows, he loved that show" and Lou goes "oh, good to hear that, sir". The TMZ guy says, "yeah but he died though". Lou gives a look of concern and says, "I'm really sorry to hear that", They flash back to the TMZ studio and everyone laughs at it. "AHAHAHHAHA, LOOK AT HIS FACE, HE FEELS BAD"

Are you kidding me? You're laughing at a guy for taking sympathy with you?!

There were several other segments that included harassment of celebrities followed by shock that the celebrities would be upset that their dinner was ruined, or embarrassing photos of themselves were posted. The TMZ correspondents seemed to be in utter disbelief that someone wouldn't want to be harassed and then lampooned on TMZ.com

Can we stand idly by while FOX transmits racism, stupidity, and misinformation to us and our children? Tell FOX to stop pummeling us with meretricious and self-indulgent programming.

askfox@fox.com

TMZ
P.O. Box 900
Attn: FOX BROADCASTING Publicity Dept.
Beverly Hills, CA 90213-0900

And if you don't want to, or don't have the time to compose a letter yourself, just send them a link to this article.

Together we can end TMZ and bring quality programming back to the dinner hour.

500 Albums To Listen To - Part 1

Here's part 1 in a 500 part series. These are really 1001 of my favorite albums. I'll examine each and give some detail as to why it's a great album, but this is NOT a download blog. There are plenty of places to find these on the internet, even legally if you'd like.

Paul Kantner and Jefferson Airplane - Blows Against The Empire


The first album by the band under the name Jefferson Starship, Blows Against The Empire is a beautiful piece of American history that is under-appreciated. Musically and ideologically experimentational, Blows Against The Empire is a unique record. Paul Kantner got help from a few music legends on this project.

Personnel

• Paul Kantner – vocals, electric guitars, acoustic guitars, banjo, bass machine
• Grace Slick – piano, vocals
• Jerry Garcia – banjo on "Let's Go Together", pedal steel guitar on "Have You Seen the Stars Tonite", sound effects and vocals on "XM", lead guitar on "Starship"
• Bill Kreutzmann – drums on "Let's Go Together"
• Mickey Hart – percussion on "Have You Seen the Stars Tonite", sound effects and vocals on "XM"
• Joey Covington – drums and vocals on "Mau Mau", congas on "Hijack"
• Jack Casady – bass on "A Child Is Coming" and "Sunrise"
• David Crosby – vocals and guitar on "A Child Is Coming" and "Have You Seen the Stars Tonite", background vocals on "Starship"
• Graham Nash – congas on "Hijack", sound effects on "Home", background vocals on "Starship"
• David Freiberg – background vocals on "Starship"
• Harvey Brooks – bass on "Starship"
• Peter Kaukonen – lead guitar on "Mau Mau"
• Phil Sawyer – sound effects on "Home" and "XM"

- Wikipedia's Personnel List for the album

Lyrically, this album is innovative and daring, going beyond protest song composition and examining total rebellion against the America of the Vietnam War era and a new revolution leading to a society of free love, free music, peace, and complete freedom.

"What you gonna do when Uncle Samuel comes around
Askin' for the young one's name
And lookin' for the print of his hand for the files in their numbers game
I don't want his chance for freedom to ever be that slim
Let's not tell 'em about him --"

-"A Child Is Coming", Track 4

"You know - a starship circlin in the sky - it ought to be ready by 1990
They'll be buildin it up in the air even since 1980
People with a clever plan can assume the role of the mighty
and HIJACK THE STARSHIP
Carry 7000 people past the sun
And our babes'll wander naked thru the cities of the universe
Cmon
free minds, free bodies, free dope, free music
the day is on its way the day is ours"

-"Hijack", Track 6

Why you should check it out
You ought to give this record a spin if only because it's like nothing you've ever heard before.

Drunkards

During the Angels-Yankees game tonight a fan got drunk and jumped into the fountain at Angel Stadium. That was funny to see on TV.

I'm really interested in starting a podcast. If you're interested in co-hosting leave contact info in the comment section. No previous experience needed, just be genuinely interesting or know how to fake it.

Dead Malls

I've been wanting to do a blog post for a while now. Youtube really is one my favorite 21st century inventions. Tonight I stumbled upon videos about dead malls in the United States. "Dead malls" are mall buildings with high vacancy rates, and on Youtube you can find malls with no stores left, save for one anchor store. In the case of Metcalf South Mall, that store is Sears.



Here's a website with many dead mall photographs


Nickelodeon Studios, the fantasyland of any American child in the late 80's and 90's, was closed a few years ago. One superfan of Nickelodeon took a tour of the empty building and posted the pictures to his website. Even if you have never watched Nickelodeon, those photographs are extremely interesting.

Larry King's Wife Shawn Fights Howard Stern Fans On Twitter

On her twitter page, Shawn King is fighting off fans of Howard Stern, who are demanding to know why she promised to take a lie detector test on the show but has twice not shown up when she was booked.



From Marksfriggin.com

Howard said they had no word from Shawn King today. He said that they're unable to find her. He said they had the whole thing set up and now she's 30 minutes late. Robin wondered why she would agree to do it and then not show up.

Shawn has been arguing since it was announced this morning on Stern's Sirius-XM show that she was a no-show.

@iwantcandi what did I lie about?about 9 hours ago from TwitterFon in reply to iwantcandi

Who says I'm not gonna take the test? RT @bobby904: @shawnieora why aren't you gonna take the lie detector on Howard Stern Show!about 8 hours ago from TwitterFon

@Mantrabus my schedule has me booked at 5:00 tonight on Howard Stern.about 8 hours ago from TwitterFon in reply to Mantrabus

@Mantrabus My assistant on this trip just opened his schedule and said "I'm sorry. I made a mistake." I'll bring him with me when we're on.about 8 hours ago from TwitterFon in reply to Mantrabus

I thought it sounded a bit odd that we were doing Howard Stern at 5:00 pm. I go where they point me on heavily scheduled trips.about 8 hours ago from TwitterFon

I think u dont know what u r talking about. RT @Doink317 I think Shawn King is hiding something...won't take the lie test on Howard Stern...about 8 hours ago from TwitterFon

Sorry gang. I just talked to Gary in Howard Stern's office and we rescheduled for Wednesday morning.about 8 hours ago from TwitterFon

RT @JaMaalBuster: Sorry everybody its not @shawnieora fault she wasnt on Howard Stern today..she's so busy other people keep her schedule...about 8 hours ago from TwitterFon

I'd like to add one question to the lie detector test. "Did you know about the appearance on Howard Stern this morning?"about 8 hours ago from TwitterFon

Shawn pulling out didn't leave a big void time-wise in today's show. Stern interviewed disgraced Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, actor Dustin Hoffman, actress Marissa Tomei, and pornstar Sunny Lane.

Nicole Atkins

http://www.nicoleatkinsblog.blogspot.com/
www.myspace.com/nicoleatkins

Nicole Atkins is a singer/songwriter from Neptune, NJ. She's released one full length album and a few EP's so far and she's working on a second LP. I am a huge fan of everything she has written and her covers are outstanding as well. I would classify her work under the same genre as Roy Orbison, Morrissey, Mama Cass, Neil Young, and Love, to name a few. I don't like to devote whole stories to other bloggers, but she is definitely worth checking out.

King Of The Hill Ends Its 13 Year Run

King of the Hill ended it's 13 year run tonight with 2 episodes. The first was a typical KOTH-style adventure. Bobby finds a new thing, Hank despises new thing, gets in the way, Bobby learns a lesson. The second saw Hank and Bobby finding common ground with steaks and grilling. They finally come to like each other and the neighborhood is at peace. A heartwarming ending indeed, "I tell ya what".

Series creator Mike Judge also has a new movie in theaters called
"Extract" which I hope to see soon. The movie led to a new 3 minute Beavis and Butthead cartoon and much discussion about an upcoming project centered around them.



The Goode Family, another Mike Judge project, ran for one season on ABC this year. On August 8, 2009, Steve McPherson (President of ABC entertainment) announced that the show was officially cancelled. Judge says he would like to continue the show on another network.

I think King Of The Hill ended at just the right time, it fulfilled all expectations and covered all ground. I think people will look back on it as a solid show and one of the best cartoons FOX has ever aired. So long to King Of The Hill. Yep.

Kanye West At The 2009 VMA's

I can't believe I'm commenting on the VMA's. A friend of mine told me about the very prominent asshole Kanye West's behavior at the VMA's, ripping the microphone from the hand of Taylor Swift, someone whose music I'm not familiar with at all. I was going to post a link to a video, but of course Viacom is rejecting free publicity and having youtube delete all video of the incident. (EDIT:Once this gets old I'll add a video link that looks permanent)



Kanye's reason for interrupting was he felt Beyonce should have won, as she had "one of the best videos of all time!" Kanye finds every opportunity to push himself and his friends onto the main stage. Swift was practically IN TEARS as Kanye ranted about Beyonce.

Kanye West is a popular rapper best known for his loud mouth, arrogance, stupidity, and his lack of ability to laugh at himself. As someone who has listened to rap music for years, I must say his talent is lackluster. His writing is oftentimes cringe-worthy, his flow and rhythm are hardly even entry-level. His production work consists almsot entirely of samples from other songs, very much more so than most other producers. Kanye was probably most recently in the news due to the death of his mother Donda West, due to complications resulting from excessive plastic surgery.

What I'd like to know is, where was security during Kanye's storming of the stage?

EDIT: Later that night Beyonce won an award and brought Swift on stage to give her speech instead. I have removed the part of this about Beyonce's attitude as it was proven wrong.

My Radio Appearances

Star Trek Exhibit - Franklin Institute