Tuesday, October 6, 2009
LEAVE LETTERMAN ALONE!
Sorry, you won't find any video of me with dripping eyeliner sobbing into my webcam about the media's treatment of The Late Show host, and my late night buddy friend David Letterman. When you live a public life, you live through public criticism and the redundant 24-hour news cycle obsession. That being said, I have no pity for Mr. Letterman. However, I can't help but feel like he's not the sleeziest person involved in all of this. Not by far. First of all, let's remember that Dave broke the news himself ahead of his grand jury testomony in the extortion case, of which (if true) he is a victim. I read a quote this morning from the lawyer of the former CBS producer accused of trying to extort Bucktooth Davey that read something like "David Letterman is a master of manipulating audiences." Yeah, like Jay Leno is a master of hiding the fact that he's a douche bag (get it? because he's not). It's quotes like that that are supposed to feed into our sick celebrity fantasies that there is something much more sinister and deviant going on. The kind of stuff that comes up in a Google search when you accidentally type an extra letter or two.
Look, I'm not going to say that just because I regularly watch The Late Show means that I know David Letterman, or know his personality well enough to say that he didn't do anything wrong here. But I do know that Dave has always kept his family life close to the chest, and the rare glimpses of it that we've seen over the years have been nothing short of endearing. Whether it's an anecdote about his son Harry or his recovery from bypass surgery, or a moment of serious pause during his show to vent his frustrations about the energy crisis or climate change, you can't help but feel like deep down Dave's a good guy.
Besides, we don't know a thing about his relationship with his now wife, whom he dated for 15 years and has 5-year-old son with. It could very well be that they had some sort of open relationship. Just because he went on the air last night and apoligized to her doesn't mean she had a problem with it. According to his people, these affairs all took place before the marriage. Once again, who knows.
I guess my whole point in writing this is IF YOU MEDIA WHORES GO SO FAR AS TO GET DAVID LETTERMAN KICKED OFF TELEVISION FOR THIS THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY. That's right, I am currently assembling an armada of angry letters so massive, CBS will be forced to shut down production to read and respond to each one. Don't make me do it.
Look, I'm not going to say that just because I regularly watch The Late Show means that I know David Letterman, or know his personality well enough to say that he didn't do anything wrong here. But I do know that Dave has always kept his family life close to the chest, and the rare glimpses of it that we've seen over the years have been nothing short of endearing. Whether it's an anecdote about his son Harry or his recovery from bypass surgery, or a moment of serious pause during his show to vent his frustrations about the energy crisis or climate change, you can't help but feel like deep down Dave's a good guy.
Besides, we don't know a thing about his relationship with his now wife, whom he dated for 15 years and has 5-year-old son with. It could very well be that they had some sort of open relationship. Just because he went on the air last night and apoligized to her doesn't mean she had a problem with it. According to his people, these affairs all took place before the marriage. Once again, who knows.
I guess my whole point in writing this is IF YOU MEDIA WHORES GO SO FAR AS TO GET DAVID LETTERMAN KICKED OFF TELEVISION FOR THIS THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY. That's right, I am currently assembling an armada of angry letters so massive, CBS will be forced to shut down production to read and respond to each one. Don't make me do it.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
UGH PITCHFORKS TOP ALBUMS OF THE DECADE...ISN'T BAD?
Okay music geeks, hear me out. Before we all trash this list, for the sake of giving our own taste-making abilities a credibility boost by denouncing everything Pitchfork does, let's taking a closer look at how this list was compiled. The first thing I'd like you to do is scan through the list. Honestly, how many of these albums have you actually heard of, and forgive me, actually listened to? I know for me it's probably somewhere in the range of 60-70 out of 200 albums that made the list. I'm not saying I suspect that most of the records are rightfully on this list, frankly I don't think I'd enjoy a good deal of them, just out of some maybe biases and personal taste. I mean, who has time to listen to that many records? It takes a lot of writers and other people working at Pitchfork to get through all of that music. All I'm saying is, if you're gonna trash it, try doing a better job yourself. We'll probably attempt it ourselves here at PopWeasel in the coming months. Which leads me to my next point...
Let's take a step back and remember that this is their list, not yours, so stop taking it personally. No one ever made Pitchfork the authority of our taste in music. Now I'd like you to scan it over again and take not of how many of your favorite albums of the decade are on this list. I think you'll probably find quite a few.
I will say that I can come up with a list of another 5o records that were not on this list. Most notably Wilco's A Ghost Is Born and Sky Blue Sky but also, Lateralus (Tool) and De-Loused In The Comatorium (The Mars Volta). Also, as Justin so kindly pointed out to me the other night, why is Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the Head not on this list? Let's all pretend we didn't think that record was awesome.
Now for a few more parting shots:
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
Bright Eyes - Lifted/I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill
Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism
Fog - Ether Teeth
The Books - The Lemon of Pink
Mastodon - Blood Mountain
Betwe... OKAY FINE.
THIS LIST SUCKS.
Let's take a step back and remember that this is their list, not yours, so stop taking it personally. No one ever made Pitchfork the authority of our taste in music. Now I'd like you to scan it over again and take not of how many of your favorite albums of the decade are on this list. I think you'll probably find quite a few.
I will say that I can come up with a list of another 5o records that were not on this list. Most notably Wilco's A Ghost Is Born and Sky Blue Sky but also, Lateralus (Tool) and De-Loused In The Comatorium (The Mars Volta). Also, as Justin so kindly pointed out to me the other night, why is Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the Head not on this list? Let's all pretend we didn't think that record was awesome.
Now for a few more parting shots:
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
Bright Eyes - Lifted/I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill
Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism
Fog - Ether Teeth
The Books - The Lemon of Pink
Mastodon - Blood Mountain
Betwe... OKAY FINE.
THIS LIST SUCKS.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
My Life Is Awesome
It's rare my feuds time so nicely. In what is not the first time my life has emulated South Park, Glenn Beck has been cosmically named my Scott Tenerman. On his radio show this morning he was raving about how much he loved Muse and their libertarian/future eurasian/Queen esqu-message. By the end of his show Muse's representatives contacted the show and demanded a retraction. I'm begrudgingly linking to the video even though it's a lot of Glenn Beck's bloated raving and you only want to watch the last 30 seconds. http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200909160008
Glenn Beck is going to love my chili.
Glenn Beck is going to love my chili.
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