my god, that's brilliant

XKCD: A webcomic of romance,sarcasm, math, and language.

Your 2008 Emmy Winner is Alec Baldwin

On the NBC show "30 Rock" this week, I was witness to a comedic tour-de-force as Jack (Alec Baldwin) helps Tracy (Tracy Morgan) to quit dog-fighting by working through some issues in a hilarious and distrubed role-playing therapy session. After we watched the scene again, Rando turns to me and says "I think I just watched Alec Baldwin win an Emmy". View the clip of Emmy-winning comedy here.

sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how AWESOME I am.

"That poster was obviously photoshopped. A real unicorn would have collapsed under the weight of Neil Patrick Harris' awesomeness." - comment by furry_tom on EW Popwatch

Costume ideas?

I've been too busy to really put any thought into a Halloween costume for this weekend. Any suggestions for quick/clever/cheap costume ideas?


Value Village is a pretty good resource for materials and dollar stores tend to have accessories. Drop any inspired ideas into the comments section. Don't make me go out as Erik Estrada from the 1977 - 83 T.V. show C.H.i.P.s this year.

Seeing Stars

Due to popular demand, the Canadian indie pop band Stars have added a fourth show at the Phoenix Concert Theatre on Thursday, November 29th. For a preview of what to expect, check out NPR's All Songs Considered website. They have a full concert and interview with Stars, from October 20th in Washington D.C. available on streaming. The new album In Our Bedroom After The War is terrific by the way, "an artful mix of sadness and joy, set against a wash of '80s-pop-inspired guitars and rhythms."


Tip: If you subscribe to the All Songs Considered podcast (at least on iTunes), you can probably still download an MP3 copy of the concert and interview with Stars. It 's worth getting as it makes a great live album, about 2 hours all together. All Songs Considered has been making a terrific series of concerts available through podcast, with acts like Iron & Wine, Apples in Stereo, and Travis, with upcoming shows from New Pornographers and Spoon to come.

Teeth on the Dial: New Shows Getting Full Season Orders

One of my favourite new shows of the fall season is Pushing Daisies, so I was pleased to see that Pushing Daisies got a full season order. This whimisical, fun, and wickedly sly show is one to watch - the whole production really come together to make a wonderful product. Hopefully we'll see full orders for my other favourite new shows, Dirty Sexy Money and Chuck. I've liked Reaper, but it's been a bit forumulaic in the first 5 episodes. Hopefully they shake things up before long, as the cast are great, especially Ray Wise as The Devil. I still have to catch up on Life before I figure whether I'm sticking around.

"Viva Laughlin" wins 1st scripted cancelation of the season after two episodes and dismal ratings. Generally speaking, the networks have been slow to cancel new shows that didn't get immediate results. Speculation is this is due to a potential actors or writers strike in the new year making replacement shows hard to come by.

"Private Practice" picked up for a full season. ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff has been the highest-rated freshman series with 12.8 million viewers. CBS picked up "Big Bang Theory" for the season too.

"Gilmore Girls" creator's new show may be in trouble. Fox has cut down the number of episodes of midseason show "The Return of Jezebel James" from 13 to seven episodes.

And Scrubs starts it's final season tommorow night on NBC. 18 episodes until the end, with signs that J.D. (Zach Braff) will finally grow the hell up. That was one of my complaints about this favourite of mine: J.D. has been narrating about all these things he's been learning every episode, but he still makes juvenile decisions and exhibits irrational behaviour. With a set deadline to wrap things up, I have faith that the show will end on a strong note.

Update: Another show I'm enjoying this year got picked up: the newsroom comedy"Back to You" earned a full season - Fox will air a grand total of 24 episodes this season. It won't take you anyplace weird, but it's fun in a "traditional sitcom" type of way.

source: TV Tattle

City TV's new digs

CityTV has some new digs and it's going to be... the building formerly known as the Olympic Spirit "tourist attraction that nobody ever went to" tower/site at Yonge-Dundas Square. At least it'll be hard to miss.

When CTV bought the CHUM Media Group, part of the sale was the iconic City TV building at Queen & John. CTV had to give up CityTV as part of the sale (I believe it was a Canadian Radio Television Commission ruling, something about owning more than one local station). This led to CityTV needing both a new home and new owners. Rogers Media bought CityTV, and the stations founds itself a new home in the heart of Toronto.

As far as I know, MuchMusic and Bravo (owned by Rogers) will continue to be housed in the building formerly known as the CityTV studio building.

Update:

Rogers will also relocate its two OMNI Television operations to the new complex.

The sale of the five-station Citytv network was a CRTC condition of CTVglobemedia's $1.7-billion takeover of CHUM Limited. Rogers Media received approval late last month to buy the stations for $375 million, and now retains a binding agreement to purchase the Dundas Square site. CTVglobemedia will keep Much Music in place at the former CHUM-City building at 299 Queen West, where the music channel has been broadcasting since 1987.

Marc Lostracco - Torontoist

My Name is Bruce. Hail to the King.

This is an instant pick for the next Stupid Fun Movie Night with the guys:

Via Newsarama

Mike Russell with the Oregonian chats with actor Bruce Campbell and Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson, who are working together on My Name Is Bruce, a horror-comedy that was co-written and directed by Campbell and produced by Richardson. In the film, Bruce Campbell is kidnapped by a town that believes he’s the hero from the Evil Dead series because they need him to kill a demon.

One more reason to admire J.K. Rowling

Not that I've ever given it thought one way or another, but J.K. Rowling confirmed that Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts and mentor to Harry Potter, is gay.

She was doing a reading for Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows at Carnegie Hall and was fielding questions from the audience when one young fan asked whether Dumbledore finds "true love."

"Dumbledore is gay," the author responded to gasps and applause.

She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and bad wizards. "Falling in love can blind us to an extent," Rowling said of Dumbledore's feelings, adding that Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down."

Dumbledore's love, she observed, was his "great tragedy."

"Oh, my god," Rowling concluded with a laugh, "the fan fiction."

J.K. Rowling Outs Hogwarts Character

By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer, San Francisco Gate

Rowlng regards her Potter books as a "prolonged argument for tolerance" and urged her fans to "question authority." I think that deserves another round of applause.

Conan on fire

Life writes some good comedy when a fire alarm interrupts the Monday, October 15 taping of Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Bruce and Win and Regine and the music that they play

A lot of ink and internet has been given to comparisons between the works of Bruce Springsteen and his influence on bands like The Arcade Fire. Both Bruce and the AF sing about striking out in the face of darkness, to lift that weight off your back that's holding you down, of fighting back when the powers that be threaten to break you down. So it was with a little "hell yeah fist-pump in the air" that the inevitable happened in Ottawa this week as Win Butler and Régine Chassagne of Arcade Fire joined Bruce and the E Street Band on stage

Bruce covers Arcade Fire's "Keep the Car Running"

Win & Regine jam on Bruce's "State Trooper"

Good read: Eye Weekly - Why Springsteen, Why Now? - Michael Barclay

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2008 edition

This year’s artists nominated for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class of 2008:

Afrika Bambaataa
Beastie Boys
Chic (were on last year’s ballot)
Leonard Cohen
The Dave Clark Five (were on last year’s ballot)
Madonna
John Mellencamp
Donna Summer
The Ventures

Five artists out of this list will be inducted into the hall in March 2008. Out of that list, Madonna is a lock, with Beastie Boys, The Dave Clark Five (2nd year in the running), and John Mellencamp being strong contenders.

ALOTT5MA does this interesting exercise where they determine whether a band/artist or musician is worthy of inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame using the “Keltner” list, which is usually used to evaluate whether a given baseball player belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1. Was the band/artist ever regarded as the best band/artist in pop music? Did anybody, while they were active, ever suggest that the band/artist were the best band/artist in pop music?

2. Were the band/artist ever the best band/artist in pop music in their genre?

3. Did the band/artist have an impact on a number of other bands?

4. Were the band/artist good enough that they could play regularly after passing their prime?

5. Are the band/artist the very best band/artist in history that is not in the Hall of Fame?

6 Are most bands who have comparable records in the Hall of Fame?

7. Do the band's records meet Hall of Fame standards?

8. Is there any evidence to suggest that the band/artist was significantly better or worse than is suggested by its records?

9. Is it the best band/artist in its genre who is eligible for the Hall of Fame?

10. How many #1 singles/gold records did the band/artist have? Did they ever win a Grammy award? If not, how many times were the band/artist nominated?

11. How many Grammy-level songs/albums did the band/artist have? How many Rolling Stone covers did they appear on? Did most of the bands who played in this many Rolling Stone covers go into the Hall of Fame?

12. If this band/artist was the best band/artist at a concert, would it be likely that the concert would rock?

13. What impact did the band/artist have on rock history? Was it responsible for any stylistic changes? Did it introduce any new equipment? Did it change history in any way?

14. Did the band/artist uphold the standards of sportsmanship and character that the Hall of Fame, in its written guidelines, instructs us to consider?

Band/artists run through the Keltner already:

The O’Jays (merits induction – inducted in 2005)
Rush (not worthy – never nominated)
Phil Collins (as a solo act, not worthy, but would be in the running as part of Genesis)
Patti Smith (merits induction – inducted 2007)
Depeche Mode (borderline – New Order and The Smiths would be ahead of them in the line, followed by The Cure and Depeche Mode; never nominated)
Chic and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five (worthy as pioneers in disco and hip-hop respectively both nominees in 2006, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five were inducted. Chic is on the ballot again this year)
The Replacements (worthy – eligible but never nominated)
R.E.M. (worthy and inducted in 2007)
John Mellencamp (worthy - nominated for 2008, vote pending)
Duran Duran (worthy – never nominated)
Metallica (worthy – eligible this year, not nominated)
Madonna (worthy - eligible this year and nominated)
Bon Jovi (worthy – eligible next year)

According to FutureRockHall.com, among those artists eligible for the first time this year -- but denied -- are Metallica, Sonic Youth, The Cure, Don Henley, 10000 Maniacs, Ice-T, Janet Jackson, Michael McDonald, Wham! and the Violent Femmes.

Artists are eligible for nomination 25 years after their first album released. In the next few years, we're going to see more nominees that reflect the rise and fall of arena rock (Metallica, Guns and Roses), the increased popularity of rap (Run DMC), and the rise of indie music that would pave the way for grunge (The Pixies, Flaming Lips, and Sonic Youth).

Eligible in 2008: Billy Bragg, Run D.M.C., The Smiths, Bon Jovi
Eligible in 2009: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nick Cave, Pet Shop Boys
Eligible in 2010: Stone Roses, Whitney Houston, L.L. Cool J, The Flaming Lips
Eligible in 2011: Crowded House, Guns N’ Roses, Yo La Tengo, Poison
Eligible in 2012: Pixies, Public Enemy, N.W.A., Soundgarden, Sinead O’Conner, Jane’s Addiction
Eligible in 2013: De La Soul, Massive Attack, Fugazi
Eligible in 2014: Green Day, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Pavement
Eligible in 2015: Smashing Pumpkins, Moby, Mariah Carey, Blur, A Tribe Called Quest
Eligible in 2016: Pearl Jam, Tori Amos, PJ Harvey
Eligible in 2017: Beck, Radiohead, Dr. Dre, TLC, Rage Against the Machine

(source: FutureRockHall.com)


Wiki - Inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Casting continues on "Star Trek: Under 30 and Loving It"

J.J. Abrams, the man who brought you 'Lost' and 'Alias' is producing and directing a rebirth of the Star Trek franchise with a new movie set during the early years of Kirk and company. The Star Trek franchise has been pretty quiet since the end of 'Star Trek: Enterprise' in 2005, and the lackluster box-office draw of 'Star Trek: Nemesis' back in 2002.

The new movie, simply titled "Star Trek" will bring back Leonard Nimoy as Spock, in what I would suspect is a framing device/hand-off as old Spock relates an adventure of young Spock. Think of it as "How I Met Your Shanter", set in the early first-mission days of the original Star Trek crew.

The cast so far is interesting to say the least:

Zachery Quinto (Sylar on 'Heroes') as young Spock, Anton Yelchin as Russian navigaotor Pavel Chekov, Zoë Saldaña ('Guess Who') as communication officer Uhura. Last week eye brows were raised as John Cho (Harold from the 'Harold & Kumar' films) would play helmsman Sulu, and Simon Pegg ('Shaun of the Dead', 'Spaced', 'Hot Fuzz') would play ship's engineer Scotty. I should point out that while Cho and Pegg are known for comedic roles, both have the range to play drama and have shown signs of this in their work. Eric Bana is onboard as the villain of the film, but story details have not been revealed.

The roles of Captain Kirk and Doctor "Bones" McCoy are uncast at this writing. "Star Trek" is set to film from November - March, and open Christmas 2008.

International Federation of Pirates Interests

The world's largest BitTorrent tracker, The Pirate Bay, has now taken up residence at IFPI.com, a domain once owned by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, an anti-piracy organization. The Pirate Bay says the site will now promote the International Federation of Pirates Interests. IFPI can still be reached at ifpi.org. Torrentfreak has up a brief interview with Brokep, one of the administrators of The Pirate Bay, who says: "It's not a hack, someone just gave us the domain name. We have no idea how they got it, but it's ours and we're keeping it."

from Slashdot

Spider-Man 3 - How It Should Have Ended

I've had no time to write or blog this week. I'm just too busy this week, so here's fun video from the folks at How It Should Have Ended to keep you occupied until I get back on track here this weekend.

Nuit Blanche 12:09am The Blue Room

Nuit Blanche 12:09am
Originally uploaded by the2scoops

I've been getting some interest in this particular picture I took at Nuit Blanche, so I thought I'd re-post a larger version.

The Blue Room at Toronto Reference Library

art à la carte
Group exhibition

Coinciding with its 30th anniversary, the Toronto Reference Library transforms into a space of discovery, art and culture. Unleash your imagination among installations from the Library, AGO, Gardiner Museum, Textile Museum of Canada and others - all colliding in one interactive space.

Nuit Blanche pictures - The Night Starts Here

Nuit Blanche Toronto 2007

The Night Starts Here

(all photos by the2scoops/Jason Carlin)

10:30 pm - Meet up with Kay and we start at Charles Street at the top of the University of Toronto campus. The Canard Development Group is a concept of a development company office, but all I saw was a canvas roof suspended by balloons. It was a beautiful and strange thing to find floating over campus. "Strange" and "beautiful" would be the theme of the night.

11:30 pm Hollander York Gallery in Yorkville for Progression: Painting and Jazz


Midnight: The "art à la carte" all-nighter at the Metro Reference Library.

12:30 am Noite De Sao Joao: under a laneway of star flags, Brazillian field recordings immerse you in the Night of St. John


1:30 am The Distillery District where it wasn’t as packed as Queen or Yorkville. The site was lively with nightlife as many of the artists who operate out of the area opened their doors to the night. The glass sculptures by David Chihuly on display in the Sandra Ainsley Gallery are some of my favourite things.

2:00 am - The highlight: Dance Ontario presenting a live performance of the Michael Jackson "Thriller" dance number.

The crowd cheered them on as they thrilled into the night.

3:30 am – Ontario College of Art and Design had a number of works and installations on display

Lorena Salomé’s Closeness embeds autonomous technologies inside kinetic sculptures to probe temporality, randomness and mutual destruction

The view from the 6th floor of the OCAD structure, looking west on the city.

Some of the art on display at OCAD

4:30 am – After strolling through Grange Park behind OCAD we popped in to catch the last few minutes of the Theatre of Ephemeral Music in the Music Gallery. We’re in a church, with a guitarist, pianist, DJ’s and multimedia artists are mashing together in a mellow, trance-like way. The mood is relaxed, the visuals hypnotic, and the music otherworldly. A perfect end to the night.

Theatre of Ephemeral Music in the Music Gallery

5:00 am – Time to call it a Nuit. Off to catch the subway to bed.

Radiohead album to come; internet to freak out

"Hello everyone.

Well, the new album is finished, and it's coming out in 10 days;We've called it In Rainbows.

Love from us all.

Jonny"

A new Radiohead album, out digitally October 10th! Nice surprise, huh?

Not only do we get a double album (!), but Radiohead are trying an unconventional distribution route by not releasing through a record label and simply releasing it themselves via their website, at least for now. And even cooler: the digital download is Pay What You Can! You can pay $20, you can pay $10. Maybe you were turned off the band after "Kid A" or "Amnesiac"? Don't pay anything and give them a try again.

The digital download is available in 10 days, with a sweet looking boxed set to follow in December:

"This consists of the new album, in rainbows, on cd and on 2 x 12 inch heavyweight vinyl records.

A second, enhanced cd contains more new songs, along with digital photographs and artwork.

The discbox also includes artwork and lyric booklets.

All are encased in a hardback book and slipcase.

The album download automatically comes with this pack."

Vinyl albums? Shit, this may be enough to make me get into record collecting...

I know some folks are only into Radiohead's first three ablums, but I'm in the "love it all, give me more" category, so this is fantastic. A new Radiohead album, the coming fall weather, some pumpkin muffins and a pint of Guinness: just magic I tell you. And while I crab about the high cost of the live shows, and that sweet boxed set will set me back about $75 dollars, it balances out nicely with this PWYC pricing on the album.


Pitchfork has the tracklisting and details

Radiohead - Official Site

Radiohead - Wikipedia

Radiohead - Last FM page

thanks to Frank at chromewaves for the heads up

Nuit Blanched

"The night starts here, The night starts here Forget your name, Forget your fear." [MP3] Stars - The Night Starts Here

After an all-night contemporary art crawl, it's been one lazy Sunday for me. So while I snack on some cupcakes, here's how my first Nuit Blanche went. In case you didn't know:

Nuit Blanche: a free all-night contemporary art thing
September 29, 2007 - 7:03 pm to sunrise
For one sleepless night, experience Toronto transformed by artists. Discover art in galleries, museums and unexpected places. From alleyways and demolition sites to churches and squash courts, explore more than 195 destinations. One night only. All night long.

I had a relatively late start to Nuit Blanche: I had a baby-shower type thing in the afternoon, so I crashed for a few hours before heading out.

Armed with: a guide book, two cans of Red Bull, couple of light layers of clothing, power bars, comfortable walking shoes, iPod, and a camera.

Should have also brought: water and a small flashlight to help read the guide.

The Night Starts Here:
Link: Nuit Blanche Toronto 2007 pictures (Flickr)
Link:the2scoops Nuit Blanche photo essay - The Night Starts Here

10:30 pm - Meet up with Kay and we start at Charles Street at the top of the University of Toronto campus. The Canard Development Group is a concept of a development company office, but all I saw was a canvas roof suspended by balloons. It was a beautiful and strange thing to find floating over campus. "Strange" and "beautiful" would be the theme of the night.

10:45 pm - Deepature (Exhibition #A3) was a film installation. The footage is of a wolf and a deer confined in the same white, featureless room. Your conventional expectations are rattled as both animals don't know what to do in this unnatural environment. Each movement from the wolf illicits a gasp as the tension builds.

11:00 pm University Avenue in front of the Royal Ontario Museum and the Gardiner Ceramics Museum are jammed tight with pedestrians.

11:30 pm

Made our way over to the Hollander York Gallery in Yorkville for Progression: Painting and Jazz (Exhibition A25) where my friend Rando Calrissian was playing bass. He was part of a combo with jazz pianist Thompson T. Egbo-Egbo, providing musical accompaniment as Valerie Butters, Douglas Edwards, Raphael Montpetit, Leif Ostlund painted to live funk and jazz. A packed house and some great tunes.

Midnight - The line-up for the exhibit at Lower Bay Subway Station was ridiculously long, so we took some time to check out the "art à la carte" all-nighter at the Metro Reference Library.

1:30 am - We made our way over to The Distillery District where it wasn’t as packed as Queen or Yorkville. The site was lively with nightlife as many of the artists who operate out of the area opened their doors to the night.

2:00 am - The highlight: Dance Ontario presenting a live performance of the Michael Jackson "Thriller" dance number. The crowd cheered them on as they thrilled into the night.

2:30 am – Coffee and cake break at Café Uno in the Distillery. A number of cafes are open extra late. And man was that coffee tasting good.

3:30 am – We make our way to the Ontario College of Art and Design. Heads are starting to nod and eyelids flicker

4:30 am – After strolling through Grange Park behind OCAD we popped in to catch the last few minutes of the Theatre of Ephemeral Music in the Music Gallery. We’re in a church, with a guitarist, pianist, DJ’s and multimedia artists are mashing together in a mellow, trance-like way. The mood is relaxed, the visuals hypnotic, and the music otherworldly. A perfect end to the night.

5:00 am – Time to call it a Nuit. Off to catch the subway.

Getting Around:

The good news was that the Toronto Transit Commission were providing some special late night bus and subway services until the next morning. The Yonge/-University subway line from St. George to Eglinton, and the Bloor-Danforth subway line from Christie to Broadview will also run all night. Also there were all night shuttles between sites in addition to the usuall all-night bus and streetcars lines. All in all it was a good and easy night, except for the long wait time between shuttles. Hopefully next year will see the subway routes extended a few more stops.

The bad new: TTC day passes were sold out at multiple locations last night. Fortunately my friend Kay had managed to get one, so we were covered. While I'm glad enough people were taking transit to warrant a sell-out, I hope to see more passes made available next year.

Overall:
We spent most of the night in Zone A and Zone B, and I would have loved to have more time to explore the Queen Street area of Zone C. But there is so much to see and so little time. The streets were jammed with people and line-ups ran around the block for some exhibits. By about 1 am, the crowds started to thin out a bit as the families and lightweights went home. It was a great night, with a few fantastic finds.

Too bad I missed: The Stables at Casa Loma, The Ghost Station at Lower Bay Station, Bloor Nightlight installations at Bloor & Lansdowne.

Next year: More planning on my part, better route, bigger group. I’d probably start in the less congested areas and make my way over to the Bloor and Queen areas by early morning.