Micah World Top 25

Here they are, the top 25 songs burning up my iPod (as of 5.31.06):

1. "Love You" - Jack Ingram
2. "Grace Kelly" - Mika
3. "P Control" - Prince
4. "Polkarama!" - "Weird Al" Yankovic
5. "You're Pitiful" - "Weird Al" Yankovic
6. "You Know I'm No Good" - Amy Winehouse
7. "That's Not Me" - The Beach Boys
8. "Ladies and Gentlemen...'The Let's-Go-Out-Tonites!'" - Butch Walker
9. "Rich People Die Unhappy" - Butch Walker
10. "Sink To The Bottom" - Fountains of Wayne
11. "Hey Julie" - Fountains of Wayne
12. "Flathead" - The Fratellis
13. "Everybody Knows You Cried Last Night" - The Fratellis
14. "God's Cop" - Happy Mondays
15. "Baby's Coming Back To Me" - Jarvis Cocker
16. "Andalucia" - Pink Martini
17. "Missing You" - John Waite
18. "Cult of Personality" - Living Colour
19. "The Good Life" - Weezer
20. "Earn Enough For Us" - XTC
21. "Fat" - "Weird Al" Yankovic
22. "Good Old Days" - "Weird Al" Yankovic
23. "Fuck Me Pumps" - Amy Winehouse
24. "Good Weekend" - Art Brut
25. "Sad Bomber" - Asylum Street Spankers

Pretty different from the last chart. It'll be interesting to see what songs dominate the summer.

Crush of the Week: Paula Garces

This week's Crush is actress Paula Garces, lately of the excellent "The Shield".


Dig them latinas.

Anyone catch last night's episode? Boy, she had a GREAT scene.

MW Super Colossal Summer Movie Preview

I'm a little late with this, as the 2007 summer movie season began with Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, and to a much lesser extent 28 Weeks Later. This week sees the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie (honestly, I thought the second film was terribly bloated; the new one's 168 minute runtime doesn't give me much confidence). I've compiled a list of summer movies that I want to see; whether I get out to the theater is another question entirely.

And awaaaaay we go...

Ocean's Thirteen (June 8) - Easily my most anticipated movie this summer. Why, when Ocean's Twelve was a let-down (although, got better on repeated cable viewings)? Well, 1) the first movie is one of my all-time favorites, 2) this one's set in Vegas once again, and 3) the creative team behind the series realizes that the second movie was less than stellar.

The Simpsons Movie (July 27) - As a certifiable Simpsons nut, I should be highly anticipating their first foray into feature filmdom. But given how craptacular the TV series has been for years now, I'm not terribly optimistic. But then again, some of the writers from the show's golden age are involved. Maybe, just maybe, this'll be on par with South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.

Knocked Up (June 1) - Writer/director Judd Apatow. I think that's enough. (Okay, one more reason: Katherine Heigl's sublime chest).

The Bourne Ultimatum (August 3) - Man, I'm looking forward to Matt Damn kicking some more butt. The only hesitation I have is that Paul Greengrass is back at the helm. His shakey camerawork was effective in United 93; in The Bourne Supremacy...not so much.

Fido (June 15) - It's about time we had another zombie comedy.

Superbad (August 17) - I am sooo not in the target audience for this movie, but the trailer really made me laugh.

Ratatouille (June 29) - Patton Oswalt? Pixar? Writer/director Brad Bird? This should be a good 'un.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (June 15) - The first one was fun (and that's pretty much it). The scene of the Human Torch chasing the Silver Surfer looked surprisingly good when I saw it a while back. At the very least, there's Jessica Alba. And the Commish/Vic Mackey.

The Ten (August 3) - I know next to nothing about this film except its comprised of ten parts, each concerning one of the Ten Commandments. But I'll go see anything from the State (Wet Hot American Summer, "Reno 911", "Stella", "Viva Variety").

Day Watch (June 1) - Night Watch was the best Russian vampire movie that I'd ever seen. Here's hoping the sequel can top it.

Live Free or Die Hard (June 27) - Okay, this movie wins the award for Worst Title of the Summer, but c'mon: it's the return of John McClane. If only Hans Gruber could be brought back.

Death at a Funeral (June 29) - British hijinks during a solemn occasion. Just watch the damn trailer and laugh.

And the rest...

No Reservations (July 27) - Catherine Zeta Jones as a chef? Sounds yummy.

License to Wed (July 4) - Looks like it could be bad, but I'm curious to see Jim from "The Office" in a lead role (especially opposite Mandy Moore).

Transformers (July 4) - Yeah, it's a Michael Bay movie, but I loved the toys as a kid, so I'm obligated to see this.

The Brothers Solomon (September 7) - It's got Gob Bluth and Pam Beesly in it. Bob Odenkirk directed it. The trailer produced a few chuckles. Maybe this one'll be a rental.

1408 (June 22) - This Stephen King adaptaion looks weird and creepy, but when's the last time I saw a horror movie (non-zombie related, that is) in the theater? I'm such a wuss.

I threatened to post this pic and I'm a man of my word.

This is what Dollar Hot Dog Night at The Diamond looked like last week.

Sorry, Amanda. :)

Classical thunder in my cubicle

I put a whole bunch of classical music and opera (Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, some Chopin nocturnes, a compilation of tenors, even the diamond commercial music) on my iPod tonight. Tomorrow will be "Get Your Culture On" Day at work. It'll be a nice contrast to "Weird Al Week" from a while back.

Oh, and I nabbed the new Pink Martini disc, too. Suh-weet.

I weally hate wistening to couples using baby talk.

This is a pretty funny little short directed by Sketch Comedy God Bob Odenkirk ("Mr. Show", "The Ben Stiller Show"). Kinda reminds me of Shamrock and KPMD* during college.

*Longtime MW readers, remember them?

Office chatter

Tonight's episode (season finale!) of "The Office": "The Job"

A job opening in Corporate pits Michael, Jim and Karen against each other.

Discuss.

Happy Birthday, Greatest Album Ever*

Thirty-one years ago today the Beach Boys released Pet Sounds - a slice of beautiful pop music and a milestone of music production. I would've busted out my copy of the Pet Sounds Sessions boxed set, but it is currently in storage in Columbus. So I marvelled at just the album at work today. If you haven't heard this sonic masterpiece, do seek it out. This is one case where the hype is actually justified.

*Maybe I'm overstating its place in music history (but it ranks up there with Revolver).

Kevin Kurgis destroy!

This is mainly for my C-Bus peeps (or anyone familiar with angry ambulance chaser Kevin Kurgis and his commercials). But I think it's still funny on its own.

Credit due: a good friend. (*Wink*)

Know your moustache

Yeah, I've got nothing noteworthy to post today.

Who would've thunk it?

I discovered something at the Carbon Leaf show last night: if you leave the house, there are attractive women out there. Interesting...

Office chatter

Tonight's episode of "The Office": "Beach Games"

Michael is considered for a position in Corporate and holds Survivor-like competitions at Lake Scranton to choose his successor.

Discuss.

Beverage of the day

Thank you, Wisconsin.

I'm really digging Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat beer. I first had it last week at the Weird Al show and took quite a shine to it. If you're looking for a refreshing summertime beer, look no further.

mpfree: "I Knew You Before"

Wondering what song that I'm all about right now? It's "I Knew You Before" by Dustin Kensrue (of Thrice). I had first heard this song when he gave an acoustic performance on the latest Relevant Magazine podcast*. I'm not really familiar with Kensrue's day job, but apparently he ditches emo for a more country singer/songwriter sound on his solo stuff. And this song's a great commentary on a culture that promotes such things as "My Super Sweet 16" and Paris Hilton.



You were once a sweet little girl
so innocent and pure
Your eyes were open and sure
anyone could look right in

I followed closely your gaze
you looked up towards the sky
But I watched your face drift away
other things had caught your eye

The magazines and media supplied you with their plastic protocol
And maybe music television really is the devil after all
But all I can say is I knew you before
You were beautiful back then
before you grew up, before you gave in

You dream of sharing your heart
Instead you share your bed
And your heart beats empty and cold
With all the tears that you have shed

You dream of baring your soul
Instead you bare more skin
And you wear dark glasses to keep
Anyone from looking in

The magazines and media supplied you with their plastic protocol
Oh, and maybe music television really is the devil after all
But all I can say is I knew you before
You were beautiful back then
Before you grew up, before you gave in

And all you want is to hear the words:
"Dear baby I love you"
So you hike your skirt higher still
'Till their eyes are all on you

You drive in fast foreign cars
The color of your sin
And you tint your windows to keep
Anyone from looking in

Oh, and all I can say is I knew you before
You were beautiful back then
Before you grew up, before you gave in

And all I can say is I knew you before
You were beautiful back then

You could be beautiful again...

I weep for the environment that my niece will grow up in. Anyway, download the song here. Enjoy.

*Currently, the highlight of my podcast week, next to Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier's SModcast.

Where'd my weekend go?

Oh, that's right - I spent the better part of my waking hours playing "Lord of the Rings: The Third Age". It's been quite a while since the last time I lost a weekend by completely nerding out over a video game. That was likely during the height of my "Katamari Damacy" craze.

Anyway, my 10 year old nephew aided me in my quest, serving as a wingman of sorts. I'm sure that you can picture he and I arguing over which is the best method for killing a Flying Nazgul: Hadhod's Flames of Ruin or Berethor's Ecthelion Wrath. I mean, duh. It's pretty obvious.

Did I mention that I don't have a girlfriend?

Office chatter

Tonight's episode of "The Office": "Women's Appreciation"

Outrage breaks out after Phyllis gets an unexpected eyeful from a flasher!

Discuss.

Polkarama!

The concert started an hour and a half late due to a thunderstorm, but that didn't keep people from showing up - the crowd was huge. The opening band's performance was nixed and Weird Al took the stage around 8:15 and played for 2 hours. The videos weren't working for the first couple of segments ("This may be a long night" Al said from backstage), but luckily all the issues were resolved early on.

The set list:
1. "Polkarama!"
2. "Canadian Idiot"
3. "Close But No Cigar"
4. "Bob"
5. "It's All About the Pentiums"
6. "You're Pitiful"
7. "Wanna B Ur Lovr"
8. Medley: "Couch Potato"/"Do I Creep You Out?"/"I'm in Love with the Skipper"/"Headline News" (about Britney)/"Confessions Pt. III"/"A Complicated Song"/"Ebay"/"Bedrock Anthem"/"Ode to a Superhero"/"Pretty Fly for a Rabbi"/"Trapped in the Drive Thru"/"Gump"/"Eat It"
9. "I'll Sue Ya"
10. "The Saga Begins"
11. "Yoda"
12. "Smells Like Nirvana"
13. "Amish Paradise"
14. "White and Nerdy"
15. "Fat"
Encore:
16. song referenced in a video interview clip (I won't spoil it)
17. "Albuquerque"

Costumes: Billie Joe Armstrong, Puff Daddy, James Blunt, Eminem, Taylor Hicks, Gilligan, Michael Jackson (Thriller and Bad eras), Zach de la Rocha, jedi, Kurt Cobain, amish (I may have missed a couple)

His band was very impressive. All of the videos were funny, some of them were hilarious (especially the 1950s educational safety film).

At the close of the show, Al said that this was the first date of the tour and thanked us for a good dress rehearsal. I was too far back to get any decent pictures, but I did what I could.

It was actually kind of surreal to be a part of a large crowd, watching parody songs by a guy whose career spans 25 years. Regardless, Weird Al is quite the showman.

I see he is playing the Ohio State Fair in August and am seriously considering making the trip to see him again. I can go to OH under the guise of "visiting relatives".



Love those polka medleys! The above is similar to the clip played during the show. Funny stuff. Drop it like it's hot...

It's Weasel Stomping Day!

That's right, in just a few short hours I'll be seeing Weird Al Yankovic live (amidst thunderstorms, likely). I'm more excited about this than any 31 year old should have a right to be. My prediction: the crowd will be made up mostly of people who are white AND nerdy.

Workers of the world, take the day off.

Happy May Day, Commies.

Image credit: Bureaucrash