If you want to go, from just a beginner to a pro, you need a MONTAGE
Team America: World Police does so much right. It's a hillarious parody of brainless Bruckheimer films, a clever satire on both sides of the political spectrum, a kingpin of over-the-top gross-out humour... but man, you can not top the songs. When the World Police first blasted out of Mount Rushmore to the tune of "America, F*** Yeah!", I was practically on the floor. "Freedom Isn't Free" and "Montage" are highlights, too. The soundtrack doesn't come out for a couple of weeks, but I'm sure looking forward to it.
Speaking of political humour, Jon Stewart appeared on CNN's Crossfire, and you can watch it online here. I thought Stewart was hillarious, but I hate Crossfire nearly as much as he does. Sometimes, the personalities and arguments on that show are so ridiculsouly black and white that I swear it negates the need for the sitcom Fuzzy developed.
Sam Logan
We're watching, we need it (wa-oh!)
A word of caution to Invader Zim fans... as you may or may not have heard, there are some problems with the 3rd DVD volume that came out on Tuesday. The ads promised that the Christmas episode would be uncut. The packaging itself claims that the Christmas episode is uncut. But friends, the Christmas episode on that DVD is the edited version. Boo! Apparently, they put on the wrong version by mistake. Even the audio commentary track is for the uncut version of the episode -- meaning it doesn't always make sense when paired with the episode as it is on the actual DVD. Thus far, there has been no word from Media Blasters about whether or not they will replace the discs or release a corrected version later, but cross your fingers.
There is a review of Sam and Fuzzy over at Buzz Bugle. I'm not entirely sure why "no color" is listed as a big red negative at the bottom of the review -- the reviewer himself points out that this would be a pretty stupid reason not to like the comic -- but what are you gonna do? Besides, the reviewer immediately redeemed themselves by correctly using the expression "could care less."
Do you hear me? It's could care less! "Couldn't care less" makes NO SENSE.
edit: Yes, I know that really, "couldn't care less" is the correct way of saying it, and it drives me nuts when people say otherwise. In my post above, I was just trying (and failing, apparently,) to sound sarcastic. No need to crush my poor inbox with corrections!
See you next week!
Sam Logan
My beloved Cresta
Last week, while I was picking up the Shatner album, I was surprised to find that there was a new Cake CD as well. Man, there was a time when I would never have been surprised by the arrival of a new Cake record... back in the days of Fashion Nugget and Prolonging the Magic, I was such a Cake-head that I would have known about any new album weeks in advance.
But it's easy to stop following a band when they basically drop off the map for three years. And even earlier than that, the band's hold on me had grown tenuous. Their 2001 release, Comfort Eagle, didn't really do it for me. Replacing their drummer with a computer just didn't seem to be a great stylistic move for the band, and that "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" song annoyed the bejeezus out of me.
The new album is doing a good job of sweeping those unpleasant memories under the carpet. Which is odd, considering Pressure Chief features even more synthisizers and robo-drums than it's predecessor. But this time, they don't sound so out of place... in fact, they really add something interesting to the otherwise insanely-consistent-sounding Cake formula. The killer triple punch of the first three tracks is undeniable -- these are some of the best songs the band has ever recorded. The rest of the album isn't quite as good, and as a whole it seems a tad on the short side, but it has it's moments and those moments are usually pleasant. Cake, you've won me back. Hell, maybe it's even time to give Comfort Eagle another chance.
Sam Logan
