The current issue of Rolling Stone (with the Police on the cover) has a special report on the climate crisis. There are 3 great articles, the first is an interview with Al Gore about the movement he has started and the importance of Live Earth. The second gives us a look at exactly how evil the Bush administration is and shows how they have tried to deny global warming from day 1. The third is a fantastic article by Robert F Kennedy Jr. where he lays out exactly what we can do to make a difference and explains why there have been difficulties (Big Oil has far too much power). Right now Rolling Stone is becoming a strong political and social voice that reflects many of my personal feelings (disgust with the Bush administration and importance of the climate crisis), and hopefully will continue to bring our attention to these serious flaws in our country and world.

On a lighter note, I got a reminder from Tim that the Robot Chicken Star Wars episode is reairing on Sunday on the Cartoon Network at 10PM. Learn about the episode and you may be surprised that George Lucas not only approved the special episode but was involved in it
Here are some clips to check out

Chicago Sports

First of all the Chicago White Sox are starting what will be the greatest comeback in Baseball History!
I know it is just 4 games against Tampa Bay, and they got swept by the lowly Cubs the series before, but it is the first time in awhile that I am even acknowledging the existence of baseball, so give me a break.
Also congratulations to Big Frank on his 500th Home Run. I don't care what people say about him, I always liked him and really that's all that matters.

The Bulls drafted Joakim Noah in the first round of the NBA draft, and while it still doesn't give them a scoring threat down low that requires a double team, I think it will be a great pick for the team. He has supposedly been working on his offense, but his defense and shot blocking will be his forte for at least the first year. He is quite a character and should be exciting to watch both on and off the court.

I have been meaning to talk about Tank Johnson, but this article has me pissed off. I think Tank deserves another chance, and I have thought so all along. His problem was who he was associating with rather than who he is as a person and the Bears listened to the idiots who just don't get it. He was pulled over at 3 AM for speeding and suspicion of being "slightly intoxicated"(what the hell is that any way, isn't there a legal limit, shouldn't it be clear cut?) and the thing people keep saying is that he should know better than to be out that late. What does it matter when he went home? I go home after 3 all the time, all the fun stuff happens late and I am not going to ask Tank to miss that. Now if he was drunk then yes the Bears should cut him because that will be the only way to make it absolutely clear to him that he needs to change. But if he wasn't drunk, then the Bears are absolute idiots for listening to the media who has lumped him in with Pacman Jones and the Bengals.

Quick Update

It is summer, I am really only watching 4 shows ("The Loop" Sunday FOX, "Entourage" Sunday HBO, "Rescue Me" Wednesday FX and "Studio 60" Thursday NBC) and trying to not spend too much time on the computer.
But I still feel like I should offer you some sort of entertainment on a more regular basis.
So I am going to steal from Pop Candy, which is a great blog that actually posts daily.

Here are some things that you need to check out.
1. Sound Pedia - this is a very cool music site where you can stream entire albums (though some newer albums only offer a 30 second clip) for free. I have only been playing with it for a day, but so far I am amazed by what they offer. There are full albums (with lyrics) and videos from just about every artist you can imagine, but here are a couple suggestions- Brandi Carlile, Atmosphere's "You can't imagine how much fun we're having" (check out "Pour Me Another" and "Angelface"), Joss Stone and then have fun exploring.
2. Clark and Michael - Was George Michael your favorite? Then you are going to like this online series, starring and created by Michael Cera and his friend Clark Duke.

Go have fun and I will try and give you some summertime tips a little more often, and try not to so blatantly steal from Whitney (I will borrow, or steal from someone else if need be)

Learn Listen Watch

Damien Rice wanted me to tell you to stop global warming, so go here to read his funny reasons for getting behind the Stop Global Warming movement.

Then you need to check out Brandi Carlile here and listen to the first 3 songs. Somehow she is relatively unknown, but she is fantastic and if you like folk music that rocks out from time to time you will love her. She says she can't get the Patsy Kline (that she listened to as a child) out of her voice, and she does have a country sound but she is very unique. You may have heard of her if you are a "Grey's Anatomy" fan, a couple of her songs have been played during the show and the video for "The Story" was shown at the end of a clip show, it was a special cut with clips from the show integrated into the video. AT&T's Blue Room has 3 songs with just her and the twins(they kind of freak me out)from here, go to live performances and then Brandi. Here is a performance from December '05 where she has a young girl come up and sing with her.

If you are feeling the need for a little TV, check out the top 10 moments from "30 Rock".

Welcome back

I am going to need a slow ramp up before I start complaining about Sopranos.

The new season of "Rescue Me"(Wednesday FX 8) starts this week. This is the fourth season of this great show, all three seasons are available on DVD, and with only 13 episodes a season you could catch up in no time.

I am a little bit scared by The Polyphonic Spree's new military outfits, but their new disc is great. Get a sample of the album here.

I have many homework assignments for you this summer, the first is to watch the Slap Bet episode of "How I Met Your Mother". This is a great entry point to a great show, if you get to the line "No, you're going to cry" you will be a fan of the show, and it only gets better. Hopefully the slap bet will be a recurring theme for some time to come.

Check out the trailer for Paprkia, a trippy new Japanese animated movie.

I no longer will acknowledge the existence of The Sopranos (it doesn't even get quotes to signify that it is a TV show).
Someone should tell David Chase that being clever is not nearly as entertaining as actually telling a story. Worthless. Why have a full season of crap and then not actually wrap up anything? Remember how interesting it was when Tony was obsessed with the ducks, it showed a side of him that we wouldn't normally see. It was a stark contrast to the action of the mobster world that we were being introduced to.
I feel like David Chase thought it was the actual ducks that were interesting, and gave us 3 seasons of watching those damn ducks. Last weeks episode should have been the second episode of the final season with a build up to a finale fitting for the once groundbreaking series. Instead most of the season was wasted with pointless storylines that seemed to drag on forever and accomplished little. I know that Tony's life is filled with monotony, but I don't want to see that. I didn't need to know that Meadow can't parallel park, I don't care about AJ's depression at all and I care about Melfi's dilemmas even less. I also don't care if everyone in the diner had a reason to kill Tony, it was a horrible final season.