VAGUE SPACE

Top 100 Songs All Time, Part 1

This was a pretty monumental task, but I think I've close to accurately portrayed my top 100 favorite songs of all time.  I've included some mp3's and videos throughout, so download and enjoy some of the records I've enjoyed most.  And now without further ado, let's get right to the list...

100.  "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot" by Grandaddy (The Sophtware Slump, 2000)

99.  "Fillmore Jive" Pavement (Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, 1994)

98.  "Half a Person" The Smiths (Louder than Bombs, 1987)

97.  "The Center of the World" Bright Eyes (Fevers and Mirrors, 2000)

96.  "Little Fury Bugs" Death Cab for Cutie (We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes, 2000)

95.  "July, July!" Decemberists (Castaways and Cutouts, 2002)

Download The Decemberists - "July July".mp3

94.  "Head On" Jesus & Mary Chain (Automatic, 1989)

93.  "True Love Waits" Radiohead  (I Might Be Wrong, 2001)

92.  "Evil" Interpol  (Antics, 2004)  Record of the Year '04

91.  "Kim You Bore Me to Death" Grandaddy (A Pretty Mess by this One Band, 1996)

Oscar Preview

It's been a year since the first annual Vague Space Oscar Preview, and I think it's a shock to everyone that the site is still around to do a second annual Oscar Preview.  It's also a shock to me that the Oscars aren't on tonight, because they were featured in the USA Today on Friday and Roger Ebert was on Stern and The Daily Show last week, so I thought they were going to be on this weekend, but then I saw that the Olympics were still on through Sunday so I thought they must be on tonight, but instead there's the season premiere of the first post-Randal Apprentice, as well as some show about Jack someone or other, but no Oscars.  But I wrote this anyway, so it's being posted now.  Deal with it.  And enjoy!

Shooting Star

You might have heard about this story on Mike & the Mad Dog today, but the video of the autistic kid who scored 20 points in a basketball game in Rochester, NY, is available on the Channel 2 NY website at wcbstv.com - it's about halfway down the page on the "Most Popular Videos" section, under "Hollywood Ending for Autistic HS Basketball Player".

If you haven't heard of this story, here's a brief recap.  Basically, this 5'6" autistic kid who didn't speak until he was 5, developed a love for basketball and at Greece Athena High School in Rochester, he became the manager of the basketball team, devoting his time and energy to help out the coach and the team however he could.  Jason McElwain is the kid's name and in the final game of the regular season of his senior year last week, the coach let him suit up in a uniform for the first time.  But he had no intention of putting him in the game since it was a very important contest for the division title.  The team ended up pulling away though, and with 4 minutes to play in what was now a blowout, the coach put McElwain into the game.  And after airballs on his first two attempts that had the coach wondering whether he was embarrassing the poor kid, McElwain got on a roll and ended up hitting 6 straight 3-pointers, setting a school record, and after a buzzer shot with his foot on the line, he finished with 20 points, the crowd stormed the court, and the students lifted him over their heads.

It's really a tear-jerking, inspirational story... watch the video, you won't be disappointed.

Better than Fudge

Josh Horowitz at the blog Better than Fudge, has the scoop from a "lead actor" on Arrested Development that a deal with Showtime for 12 episodes is all but signed.  This blogger - according to one of the comments on the page - is some sort of TV producer/writer/insider, who may in fact be telling the truth.  E!'s gossip columnist says it's 50-50 right now that the deal is getting done.  I want to believe it.  I desperately want to believe it all.  Admittedly, I cancelled Showtime just 1 month ago when Comcast jacked their rates, but I will happily pay whatever the fuck the cable cabal asks in order to get a sweet, fresh breath of Arrested Development again.  (And Weeds too).  I really hope this is right...

EXCLUSIVE!!!

Arrested Development has been picked up for 12 episodes by Showtime!!! I’m staking my rather tenuous reputation on it!!! A friend to Better Than Fudge with knowledge to be trusted says it is so. The information is according to a cast member of the show–we’ll leave it at that.

For Real

My #3 favorite song from 2005... in video form.  Very dark and disturbing cartoon cut-out form.  I'm not sure what the video means, but I'm sure it has something to do with the "Black Sheep Boy" that is the theme of the album that this song is from.  And I guess a song with lyrics like "And I really miss what really did exist when I held your throat so tight" is probably supposed to have a disturbing video accompanying it. 

Anyway, here's Okkervil River's "For Real" from YouTube.com - which has a much wider selection than Google video and also offers the chance to play the videos on your own website.  Cool.

Pam Anderson Uncensored

Everybody likes a good roast.  Who doesn't like making fun of people?  This entire blog is based upon the concept of that.  And one of my favorite features of Howard Stern's Sirius program has been their roasts of cast members, including today's hilarious skewering of Ronnie the limo driver.  But a good roast is hard to do well, so it was with surprise and joy that I viewed last summer's Comedy Central Pamela Anderson Celebrity Roast, which is now available on DVD in all its uncensored glory.  And it's certainly one of the funniest hours and a half you'll spend in front of a television.   If you haven't seen it, make a point to watch, if only for the gratuitous shots of Pam's breasts in a see-through black top during the entire program.  You can even Netflix it.  Or you can view where to buy it here.  Read on for the review and a video clip!

Serenity Now

Serenity  (Starring Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres)
Rating: 3 1/2 stars (out of 4)

Wow.  I missed that one completely.  A rollicking, action-packed, thrilling science fiction film which was a major studio release just last fall, that despite borrowing liberally from Aliens was absolutely excellent.  It was the best film I've seen in the past 2 years. 

It grossed under $30 million at the domestic box office, so I certainly wasn't the only one who missed out.  But when a poorly reviewed remake of a middling horror film that was barely a couple decades old scares up close to that on its opening weekend (When a Stranger Calls), there's something wrong with the picture.  Serenity was a wonderfully written, vastly enjoyable, strikingly interesting and positively reviewed movie that Universal should have marketed the heck out of - instead of dumping it on moviegoers in late September with nary a peep and nary a whisper at the box office.  The fact that it was based on a failed TV show that Fox dumped onto Friday nights without support on its own, and starred basically unknown actors, didn't help.  Perhaps on video - and with reviews like mine - people might find their own way to this film.  Unfortunately though, I don't have much faith in the public to do so. 

Storming the Court

Wow.  How sad is it that the Syracuse crowd stormed the court after beating West Virginia tonight - a team we've beaten 8 straight times now?  But I can hardly blame them, as this was an absolute must win for the Orange chances to make the NCAA tournament, which looked precarious at best just a few days ago, having lost 6 of 8 games after falling to Cincinnati.  But an impressive win over Louisville on Saturday (except for their performance from the foul line, which remains unsettling two days later), and now a victory over 15th ranked West Virginia, puts the Cuse right back on track for a tourney berth, which would be the 4th of Gerry McNamara's career.  At 19-8, 7-6 in the Big East, and in the top 30 in the RPI rankings (they were #32 coming into the game, so presumably they moved up tonight), I think things are finally looking up after an insufferably bad stretch through January.  There are 3 regular season games left (at Georgetown, at DePaul, vs. Villanova) plus the Big East tournament.  A win over DePaul and a first round Big East tournament are probably still needed to assure a spot in the Big Dance, but after their performance tonight, that looks much more likely.  Impressive job guys.

Addicted to Lost

   

    Locke: "The real problem is there's no way we can be sure he's telling the truth."
    Sayid: "That is not necessarily true."

And let the torture games begin!  On an intriguing episode of Lost that still didn't really advance the plot much, but made a little more sense than Sawyer setting up an elaborate con to get access to the guns, the Frenchwoman leads Sayid into the jungle to where she's captured someone and wants him to find out the truth about him.  The captive - a middle-aged, small white man - begs for Sayid's help, while Rousseau insists that he is one of the "Others".  Sayid decides to free him from his upside-down cage and the man, frightened, makes a run for it.  Rousseau responds by shooting him in the back with an arrow, but precisely enough not to cost him his life.  She tells Sayid not to let him die, or else he won't find any information.  Sayid takes him back to camp.

Not so exclusive "Lost" video below!

New Mogwai

    What would you do if you saw spaceships over Glasgow?
    Would you fear them?

Mr. Beast is being released on March 7th, the fifth full-length album from the Glasgow post-rockers and long-awaited followup to the mixed review Happy Songs for Happy People, which featured much shorter tracks than the traditional 10-minute explosions of sound that marked the best of their music.  I personally liked the album, and tracks like "Stop Coming to My House" and "Killing all the Flies" were among their all-time best.  But in all honesty, I haven't really been disappointed by anything the band has released, ever since discovering late their majestic masterpiece Young Team a few years ago.  But it's been nearly 3 years since they've come out with new music, so it certainly is an exciting time for a fan of the band.  Available here for download is a track off the new album, the 8th song, called "Folk Death 95", along with two tracks off the already released in Europe CD-single for the 6th song on the album, "Friend of the Night".  All three tracks available here are freakin' awesome.  Download and enjoy.  You can pre-order the album here...

Download Mogwai - "Folk Death 95".mp3

Download Mogwai - "1% of Monster".mp3

Friend of the Night (an import only version so far) is available here...

Download Mogwai - "Fresh Crown".mp3