The Village Weez

Today, Spinner.com released the album cover for Weezer’s upcoming sixth album.  If this cover alone doesn’t make album six (a.k.a. The Red Album) go platinum, there is no justice in the world.

The image alone redefines the concept of album covers as art, and all other musicians just better stop trying.  It’s far better for all future albums, CDs, tapes and eight-tracks to be released in brown paper wrapping than to try and compete with Weezer portraying the Village People.  From left to right, Brian is the starving artist, Pat is the scholar, Rivers is a cowboy and Scott is the biker.  Truly a masterpiece.

I don’t want to go calling this a ‘theme album,’ but from what we know, the look of the band here fits the message of Pork and Beans:

I’mma do the things
That I wanna do
I ain’t got a thing
To prove to you
I’ll eat my candy
With the pork and beans
Excuse my manners
If I make a scene
I ain’t gonna wear
The clothes that you like
I’m finally dandy
With the me inside
One look in the mirror
And I’m tickled pink
I don’t give a hoot
About what you think

I didn’t think it was possible to look forward to an album, but I am really stoked for this one. 

King Tom

The Fire Pole: Safety Hazard or Just Misunderstood?

Moe, Larry and CurlyA comedy staple in both movies and real life may be going out of style.

In it’s daily This Day In Tech feature, wired.com tells the story of the fire pole, which was first used 130 years ago today:

 

Firefighters at Engine Company 21 were unloading hay for the horses that pulled their fire engines. When the bell rang, firefighter George Reid was up in the hayloft on the third floor. The long binding pole that was used to secure the hay to the wagon had been stashed vertically up the loading area to the hayloft. Rather than run all the way down two flights of stairs, Reid decided to slide down the pole. Swift thinking, George.

However, because of safety concerns, fire poles are a dying breed:

Nowadays, the poles are sometimes considered safety hazards, and new firehouses are often built without them. Single-story firehouses are preferred.

It will be a sad day when the fire pole becomes extinct.  At least we can always go back to the works of the Three Stooges or Ghostbusters to see them in their prime.

 

King Tom

Thanks for the Shout-Out, Weezer!

As I’ve mentioned (quite often) recently, Weezer is back in business, with a new single, Pork and Beans, hitting the airwaves, and a new album (their third self-titled effort), Weezer (the Red Album) due out on June 24.  This weekend, Karl announced the tracklist for the upcoming album (tracks 1-10 are the album proper, with 11-14 being part of the “Deluxe Edition”):

1. Troublemaker
2. The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)
3. Pork and Beans
4. Heart Songs
5. Everybody Get Dangerous
6. Dreamin’
7. Thought I Knew
8. Cold Dark World
9. Automatic
10. The Angel and the One
11. Miss Sweeney
12. Pig
13. The Spider
14. King

Of course, I’m interested in hearing all of these songs.  But most intriguing to me is the title of the 14th and final track.  You didn’t have to, guys.  But it’s appreciated.

King Tom

Jet Flying Reporter Possibly High As A Kite

I can’t say this surprises me.

CNN Reporter and British nutjob Richard Quest was recently arrested for meth possession in New York City’s Central park.

According to the report, Quest was arrested at 3:40 a.m. in the park, which is closed between the hours of 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. Upon being approached by police, Quest reportedly told the arresting officers: “I have meth in my pocket.” He was arraigned on Friday on a misdemeanor drug charge.

Dance Richard Quest, Dance!!When I worked in TV, there was a newsroom monitor tuned to CNN all the time, and Quest’s segments were must-see TV for myself and a few co-workers. Quest reported regularly for CNN’s morning show on odd topics (many involving travel), wherein he would just go crazy reporting the story of the day.  Quest would do anything for a story, and delivered standups like a rabid squirell about to take a bite out of the camera.  However, the best part of hits reports were the interplay between Quest and Jack Cafferty (“Seinfeld is next“).  Cafferty hated Quest, and half the time seemed like he was about to “do a shoot” on the hyperactive Englishman. 

Well, here’s hoping that Quest can kick the habit and can remain entertaining off the meth.

King Tom

Two Fighters Against a Star Destroyer?

My associate Iron Mike e-mailed me this thought-provoking question:

After seeing the uncoordinated mess that was the attack on the first Death Star,
and seeing the pilots of the Rebel Alliance make literally every tactical
mistake in the book resulting the destruction of the entire attacking force save
for a few ships, my question is:

Did pilots of Rebel Alliance ever, at any point, receive even the smallest
amount of remedial combat training?

Admiral AckbarI thought that was an awesome question. My answer would be not necessarily (at least in terms of remedial combat training). With Star Wars written in the aftermath of the Vietnam conflict, George Lucas wanted to show how a mighty technologically-advanced empire could be brought down by amateurs with nothing more than scrapped-together equipment and hope.

The planets of the rebellion, for the most part, weren’t in open rebellion. They supported the alliance through backdoor means, with individuals joining the rebel armed forces. Those with combat training, or who served in the Clone Wars, were usually higher-ups in the military command. For the most part, the cannon fodder of the alliance was made up of idealistic youngsters who were fit into the roles that best suited them. Those who could pilot a craft were made pilots. Those who could stand around pointing guns at a door poised to blow open were the guys who got gunned down at the beginning of Episode IV. Look at Luke Skywalker, he didn’t have any particular spacecraft training, yet, because he could fly, he was made a pilot. I think it’s safe to assume that considering he wanted to go to the “academy,” he had no formal combat training. Yet he was the pilot that brought the Death Star down.
Continue reading “Two Fighters Against a Star Destroyer?” →

King Tom

LA Station Serves Up "Pork and Beans"

So a few days after a preview of the new Weezer single hits the Internet, Los Angeles’ KROQ plays the song for the public.  And it seems like most Weezer fans are happy.

I’ve heard the song (KROQ’s played it a few times already tonight) and as a whole, it’s good.  The song has a lot of different instrumentation (some of which was heard in the amazon preview), and no solo.  Which is quite a surprise, because Rivers can shred and his solos usually serve as a centerpoint to his songs.  But this is different.  And while Rivers name drops some brand names and current famous rappers, it’s for a cause;

The song “was inspired by a record-company meeting where the band was told it needed to record more-commercial material. “I came out of it pretty angry,” Cuomo says. “But ironically, it inspired me to write another song.”
-Rolling Stone

Word around the =w= community is that meeting spurred the recording of two songs for the album, Pork and Beans and another song.  It’s nice to have something radio friendly to appeal to a bigger audience and drive the band’s success.  While I’ll happily listen to PnB, I’m also looking forward to what else is out there.

King Tom

Pork And Beans

Weezer Pork and Beans Single Cover A little more than a week from today, I’m going to do something new. I’m going to purchase an mp3 single from Amazon.

Over the weekend, Amazon posted a page listing the first single from Weezer’s upcoming sixth album for sale beginning April 22.  Considering that news of Weezer being in the studio has been very hush-hush along with not too much known about the album, and that the “Red Album” itself won’t drop until June, the fact that this song will be out in a little more than a week is quite exciting.

Not to mention the 30 second snippet of the song sounds pretty damn good, too.

There’s been small snippets of two other tracks leaked too, but those really aren’t anything to base an opinion off of.  A remixed version of one, “Automatic” is featured in an upcoming video game.  A few seconds of the other “Everybody Get Dangerous,” is used as background music in the movie “21,” but does not appear on the soundtrack (no word on whether the song will also be used in the upcoming live-action Darkwing Duck feature film).

Still, with a new album and touring coming up this summer, there’s a lot of exciting stuff happening on the Weezer front.  Let’s hope that Pork and Beans is enough to hold us over.

King Tom

My Namesake

I’ve mentioned before my friend and associate Iron Mike gave me the nickname “King Tom” some years ago.

Iron Mike is a big fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and based the nickname off an episode in which Joel, while trying to cheer up Tom Servo, dubs him King Tom.

King Tom Servo

While I enjoy MST3K, I haven’t seen a whole lot of it, so this particular episode has evaded me.

Until now.

Thanks to the magic of YouTube, I’ve finally seen the episode where my nickname comes from. I can’t embed the video, but here’s a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LO2rOnW1SY

I guess this makes The Civee my “Giggles VonLaughsALot”

King Tom

Fire In The Disco, Fire In The Taco Bell

Nothing much exciting happens in downtown Columbus, especially during the work week.

A few years ago, we got buzzed by an Air Force jet, but other than that, there’s rarely anything to make you bug one of your co-workers and say “Hey! What was/Look at that!”

Until today. Sometime early this morning, I looked up from my computer, glanced out the window, and saw a gigantic plume of smoke emitting from a parking garage across the street. I watched for a few seconds, then alerted my co-workers. They all watched for a moment or two. As I watched, I did what anyone would do in this day and age, I whipped out my camera phone and started snapping away.

After a while, I got back to work, even though it looked as if the smoke was headed right for us. Eventually, the smoke died down.

Later on, I read the fire was caused by an SUV in the garage which caught fire, which then spread the flames to two other cars.

Overall, it was a lot of excitement for a Monday morning. Only time will tell if this displaces the low-flying fighter jet as the “hey remember when…” conversation starter in downtown Columbus.

By the way, I must acknowledge the fact that were it not for the pictures, you’d still be seeing the latest entry on the blog be a story about last week’s Monday night Raw. Gee, if it wasn’t for my new phone, which is also a camera, I don’t know what I’d write about.

King Tom

How WrestleMania Should've Ended

As I mentioned earlier this week, this year’s WrestleMania was kind of weird. One of my biggest problems with the show was the way the Ric Flair career-ending match ended.

Well, thanks to the miracle of DVR, I finally got around to watching Monday night’s Raw. I actually fast-forwarded through most of it. The show ended with a tribute to Flair, including the Four Horsemen, many of Flair’s past opponents and the whole WWE roster. There was only one person whose absence was somewhat conspicious:

Flair and Vince sit down for some adult beverages

Vince, the last thing you need is someone who idolizes me marrying your daughter.

King Tom