Here with go with round two. The pre-ramble: a lot of people think Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd was designed to sync up with The Wizard of Oz with amazing results. In an effort to see if any other albums might have the same sync-ing feeling, I'm touring various albums that I think might have a shot. This is the second stop on my tour of fifty albums to see what happens when we mix music and movies in ways that no deity ever intended. Each album is synced using the normal instructions to sync with Dark Side: i.e., wait for the third roar and kick it off. I will watch the entire movie with the album on repeat and make notes on what, if anything, is brought to light. I do this so you don't have to.

Second candidate? The sprawling epic monstrosity that is Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland. I knew I wanted to try Hendrix with this and I was trying to figure out whether to do this one or Are You Experienced?. I finally went with this one because of its epic nature, as well as classics like "Voodoo Chile," "All Along the Watchtower," and "Burning of the Midnight Lamp." Trippy album + trippy movie should make for an amazing experience, yes? As always, I suggest you be familiar with both film and album, because I don't really have a way of, you know, doing this legally while you watch as well.

(Our first experiment, with Sgt. Pepper's, can be found here.)

So let's see what happens:

• Starting on the third lion roar. And okay, the opening drum hits and backwards bits of "Gods Made Love" is freaking AWESOME against these opening credits. I really feel like I should be on some sort of medication to completely appreciate what's to come. Wind-like noises aren't bad either.
• Victor Fleming's name comes up just as "Electric Ladyland" starts and it's singing about have you ever been there, magic carpet place and such, as the opening scrawl comes up. Nice.
• "I wanna show you" first time is when Dorothy turns to look behind her (at us) when she's running
• Okay so the "Make love, make love, make love" part is...very incongruous with Dorothy talking to her aunt and uncle. Very incongruous, to be sure.
• You do have Dorothy talking to the farmhands during the repitition of "I Wanna Show You", which is...stretching, admittedly...
• Tin Man does his spin around during the "spin-up" of "Crosstown Traffic"
• "Take you for a drive" is Lahr picking Dorothy up and carrying her out of the pig pen
• "Crosstown Traffic" is fading out as "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is starting up...but sadly not much else is happening.
• "I swear the moon turned a fire red" - Dorothy is looking into the sky, singing
• "Mountain lions found me there" Toto jumps up onto the seat of that farm...thing, like a mountain...dog. Yeah, that's really reaching. Really reaching.
• I must say, while this isn't synching up spectacularly so far, this album is so badass it...almost doesn't matter, you know?
• It cuts back from the sunlight through the clouds to Dorothy again on "Fly On"
• Hearing "I make love to you" when Margaret Hamilton comes into the yard is disturbing. I love ya, Margaret, but I'm just saying.
• In South America, would they pronounce the words "Voodoo Chile" using the pronunciation of the country? I'm just asking.
• The solo around seven minutes into the song calms down and there's applause when Prof. Marvel makes his first appearance.
• There's some feedback at about 11 minutes into the song corresponding with the tornado, but it means nothing at all. And when the song starts climaxing at about 13 minutes in, Dorothy's in the house during the twister. And damn, the end of the 15 minute "Voodoo Chile" opus comes close to the house hitting the ground on the last drum beat, but it's off by a few seconds. Damn. That would have been nice.
• And there's about 13 seconds of just stuff happening at the end which, if removed, would have had "Little Miss Strange" starting as she opened the door, became color, and saw Oz for the first time. "No one knows where she comes from, maybe she's a devil in disguise..." Would have been freaking perfect.
• Okay, "Long Hot Summer Night" is not synching up with Munchkinland AT ALL. Hendrix and Oz, two great tastes that taste like crap together. Sigh.
• Okay if "Let the Good Times Roll" had started about the same time as "Ding Dong," it would have been awesome. As it stands the second time around we hear "Let the Good Times Roll" is the crowd cheering about the witch being dead.
• Okay, "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" is starting up and we're still halfway in "Gypsy Eyes" with nothing synching up worth a damn.
• "Midnight Lamp" has some musical bits at the very beginning that coincide with the first appearance of Scarecrow and Dorothy looking startled. But not much else.
• When the Scarecrow is pining about not being able to scare crows, "Loneliness is such a drag."
• "Rainy Day" plays over the altercation with the apple trees and now the Tin Man being discovered.
• Every time the Tin Man comes to life I think of Nipsey Russell's Tin Man: "Ah-teeeny, AH-teeeny, AH-teeeny." Fantastic.
• The drum solo after three minutes in synched up when the Tin Man started dancing solo in earnest...but it didn't last.
• Again, if "Moon Turn the Tides" had started up when the poppy sequence was going on, it would have been great...sadly, the sprawl of "1983" put us off. And now "Still Raining" isn't helping. Even if it had started up...see, now it's snowing...20 seconds earlier and we could have counted that.
• We're still raining and dreaming up the front door of the Emerald City...no help there.
• Again, we get close but no cigar. The smoke mentioned in "House Burning Down" appears long before it has a chance to meet up with the black smoke from the Witch's broom
• The reason so many parts are played by Frank Morgan is because Oz Knows Cloning. I'm just saying.
• Okay so we're into "All Along the Watchtower" and Bert Lahr is working the wall on "King of the Forest." And nothing matches up worth a damn. Sigh.
• First play of the album's almost over with "Slight Return" and our heroes are about to approach the--oh, that was nice, when the guitars kicked in in earnest, the doors to the Wizard opened.

• Second play of the album begins, and "And the Gods" might be a little freaky but it is interesting to hear Hendrix speaking backwards and see Margaret Hamilton's mouth moving.
• "Electric Ladyland" the second time finds the aftermath of the Flying Monkey attack.
• This time the "Make love, make love" bit was when the Witch got shocked by the ruby slippers. So...that's weird too.
• "Hello!" from "Long Hot Summer Night" is when the farmhands are coming into frame to greet Dorothy after her return.
• And, my God, that's it. What an absolute trainwreck.

Total number of syncs: 13. This album was more impressive for its total misses than its hits. And it's sad, because as laid out above, if they had been hits it would have been awesome. And it opened so strong. Oh well. Something special for Round 3. Stay tuned.

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Some Sync Over the Rainbow #2: Electric Ladyland

Written by: Charles R. Maturin
Published by: Oxford University Press

Melmoth the Wanderer, published in 1820, is a prototypical Gothic novel. It is a fairly simple story on the surface: the titular Melmoth is a scholar who, a la Faust, trades his soul to the devil in return for knowledge and 150 more years to live. If, in that time, he can find someone willing to trade his or her soul for his, he is free--but the volunteer is doomed to hell. The novel also references the legend of the Wandering Jew, doubling the tragedy of Melmoth's life. The finding of someone to take his place and what he does when he succeeds in this quest is nothing short of fascinating, as well as an interesting psychological study. Is redemption even possible for such a lost soul?

The tale is not straightforward--its complicated structure has been the death of many an English major, but is well worth the unraveling. The book folds in upon itself, playing havoc with the reader's sense of chronology, working backwards through time. The novel's complex structure is reminiscent of the layers upon layers within Melmoth's mind and soul; while he wants out of his deal with the devil, he still possesses some human morality. It is also a commentary upon the complexity of social conditions in England at the time of its writing. The author, Reverend Charles Maturin, was greatly concerned with what he saw as the breakdown of contemporary religion between the excesses of Catholicism and the pride of his own Protestantism.

For a novel that has shown up so often in pop culture and literary history, Melmoth is relatively unknown and unjustly overlooked. Writers from Nabokov to Simon R. Green to Grant Morrison have referenced Melmoth in their own work. If you're a lit geek or just a geek in general, you owe it to yourself to read, conquer, and enjoy this great and genuinely fascinating work. This book is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys complex novels, supernatural tales, or literary puzzles. If you enjoyed Faust, try this for another take on a similar theme. Sure, it's caused at least two grad students in literature to swear off novels forever and one other to quit school entirely, but surely you won't be so easily defeated. Besides, Lovecraft loved this novel--who are you to disagree?

• Click here to buy Melmoth the Wanderer from Amazon.

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Melmoth the Wanderer - Book Review

Any day that you can post an acoustic performance by Fishbone is a Good Day.

Direct link for the feedreaders. Image source and taken by Pixie Vision Productions.

And then, launching in a different and equally cool direction, someone has posted Dave Brubeck's appearance on the show Jazz Casual from 1961 on YouTube. We originally found it on Classic Television Showbiz, but they've taken it down. So here's the full appearance.

Direct link for the feedreaders.

I reviewed the DVD here. And sadly, it's out of print, but still available via Amazon.

And lastly, here's a couple of tracks from the band Inspired Flight. I especially dig "Pull, Push, Let Go." This is off their debut album, hitting May 1st.

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Music Monday: Fishbone, Brubeck and Inspired Flight

The podcast gets a name. At last. This podcast generally covers music and other transgressions and is co-hosted by Rob Levy, Tuffley and myself. Let us know what you think.

This episode's central topic is movie music: songs, musical scores and soundtracks. Within you will find the discussion of The Oscars, the return of Courtney Love, The Runaways and Joan Jett, Pink Floyd and litigation, OK Go and their new label, the many faces of Rock Band, and more.

Download audio file (soundboard4.mp3)

Headsup: You can find the music we discuss at our Amazon Store.

If you have music you want to bring to our attention, you can send it snail mail to NEEDCOFFEE.COM MUSIC MINISTERS, 4480-H South Cobb Drive, PMB 394, Smyrna GA USA 30080. Or ping me at widgett at need coffee dot com.

BTW, you iTunes subscriber types can nab our overall podcast feed here. If you like us, why not rate us? We don't bite. Mostly. Or if you want to do something else with it, the feed feed is here.

For those just wanted to subscribe to The Sound Board, you can do that here. iTunes feed is forthcoming.

To download this episode directly, The Sound Board #4: The Score (and the Soundtrack), then do that thing.

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The Sound Board #4: The Score (and the Soundtrack)

Original Italian Title: L'Urlo

Film:
DVD:

Written by: Tinto Brass, Franco Longo, Giancarlo Fusco, and Luigi Proietti
Directed by: Tinto Brass
Starring: Tina Aumont, Gigi Proietti, Nino Segurini

Features:

• Trailers
• Gallery
• Commentary by director Brass

Released by: Cult Epics
Region: 1
Rating: NR
Anamorphic: Yes

My Advice: Skip It

Anita (Aument) is about to marry her bourgeoisie boyfriend Berto (Segurini) but a the last moment, she runs off with the proletariat jester Coso (Proietti). They go on a journey from the Establishment with its war and religion and rules. They encounter a family of cannibal philosophers, a city at war goaded by a wind-up Napoleon, and an asylum where the inmates and the guards are interchangeable. There is also plenty of nudity, stock newsreel footage, and more symbolism than you can shake a stick at. And that is not an euphemism.

You have to give this movie credit for being both incomprehensible and obvious. It's incomprehensible since there is no real plot. The couple simply wander through each diorama of weirdness spewing nonsense on the situation. And there are no characters, just actors there to react to whatever strangeness comes their way. But it is also obvious. There is no subtlety in Brass' symbolism. For instance, the fiancee is also the warden of the asylum and all the inmates are hippies. The couple meet a philosopher who is also a cannibal. I wonder what he could be saying about the self-referential nature of the discipline. I felt like Tinto Brass was grabbing me by my shirt and screaming in my face, "THE ESTABLISHMENT IS BAD! WAR, RELIGION, AND THE STATE IS BAD! NATURE, PEACE AND NAKED HIPPIE CHICKS ARE GOOD!" I understand Brass wanting to expand the language of film and get across the promise and perils of 1968. But this surrealistic mess follows the artistic bandwagon and doesn't give us any new or interesting.

The only major feature on this disc is a commentary by Brass. First off, Brass is not a native English speaker and has a thick Italian accent. This makes it rather hard to understand him at times. Of course, he has nothing but praise for his beautiful star, Tina Aumont. But his commentary does confirm some things about the film. He talks about how his approach to the film was very improvisational. Sometimes he would film a scene in black and white for artistic reasons, other times because he didn't have the money for color. He would would just add scenes on a fancy or a whim. This didn't please the backers of the film so he moved the entire film to England to retain control. Frankly, I can't blame them. This is a psychedelic mess of a film and I wouldn't bother with it.

Help! I'm screaming for no good reason!

• Click here to buy it from Amazon.
• Click here to buy Tinto Brass stuff from Amazon.

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The Howl (1970) - DVD Review

Written by: Jeff Buhler, based on the short story by Clive Barker
Directed by: Ryuhei Kitamura
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Leslie Bibb, Roger Bart, Brooke Shields and Vinnie Jones

My Advice: See it

Clive Barker, genius that he is, hasn't had the best of luck with film adaptations of his work. Sure Hellraiser was spectacular, and Candyman was pretty damned scary, though not completely faithful... Other than those, few adaptations do his text justice. So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw The Midnight Meat Train, especially given its publicity (or lack there of...more on that in a bit). It's based on the short story of the same name. It was originally published in 1984 with Books of Blood, Volume 1, and can now be found in the Berkley Trade published Books of Blood Omnibus, Volume 1, which collects the first 3 volumes.

Anyway, the film follows the story of Leon (Bradley Cooper, who was in The Hangover and Alias, and is playing Dirk Benedict's character "Face" in the upcoming A-Team remake). Leon is your typical New York City art photographer trying to "capture the city the way it really is, the heart of it"...and failing. After a successful late-night session in a subway station, Leon discovers that he has taken a picture of a murder victim just before she's offed, as well as of her murderer. He then becomes obsessed with finding and stalking her killer.

The killer, as we find out from the beginning as well, is Mahogany, played by Vinnie Jones. Mahogany is the bigger, scarier version of Jason Statham, and you might remember Jones from Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, and...*sigh*...X-Men: The Last Stand. If you're from the UK, you may also remember him playing football for Leeds United, Chelsea, and Wimbledon the year they won the FA Cup. Mahogany is a well-dressed, seemingly mute man who dispatches his victims with a giant meat-tenderizing mallet and the calm precision of a career butcher, which he just happens to be.

The acting is solid. Brooke Shields shows up for a small role as a pretentious fellow artist, one of whom Leon seeks the approval. The death scenes are also beautifully graphic; they use what could have been disastrously cheesy CGI to portray slow-motion showers of blood and gore. Ted Raimi (on screen for about as long as it takes you to say, "Hey, it's that guy!") bites it most spectacularly in the first act. The final twenty minutes or so is certainly what one might call "a no-holds-barred, adrenaline-fueled thrill ride"--especially if one wants a cliche saying for the DVD box--but I'd rather say instead it's a film with a magnitude and an artistry that I haven't seen in a horror film in a long time.

The DVD/Blu-Ray has the standard array of special features--nothing spectacular--but is well worth checking out for the audio commentary. Clive Barker and director Ryuhei Kitamura provide an entertaining, interesting, and crystal clear (which is a factor given Clive's throat problems and the fact that this is Kitamura’' first English-language film) chat over the carnage. The highlight is a well-deserved bitchfest on the treatment the film received from Lionsgate. While they were promised a mass theatrical release, what they got was zero promotion and what may as well have been a direct-to-video release. Worse than that, in fact, but you'll have to hear the commentary for the full story.

I feel that the film improves on the short story in several ways. While it remains quite faithful to the original, it does add more plot lines and interesting elements. Girlfriend Maya and friend Jurgis struggle to save Leon while joining him on his descent into crazyville. The mythology (it's Clive Barker, so of course it's going to be more than just crazed butcher vs. obsessed photographer) of the story has been added to and refined, while still leaving enough unexplained to keep you WTF-ing during the credits. Mahogany received possibly the biggest part of the makeover. Half of the short story takes place from his point of view, and the film portrays him as more of a slasher-style, obsessive, unstoppable force (or a juggernaut if you will... but please don't). The film also gives him a day job, which serves the story well, as long as you don't think too hard about it.

All in all, The Midnight Meat Train deserves a place next to the original Hellraiser as a horror classic. While it may not break down the barriers that Hellraiser did, or at least not the same barriers, it certainly stands up to the same quality. Hopefully, once people hear about the film, it will find its deserved place.

• Click here to buy it on DVD from Amazon.
• Click here to buy it on Blu-Ray from Amazon.
• Click here to buy Books of Blood 1-3 from Amazon.
• Click here to buy Clive Barker stuff from Amazon.

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The Midnight Meat Train (2008) - Movie Review

Every week we try to kickstart things with a bit of random WTFery: something so odd that we figure if you're beginning your week with it, things can only get more sane as you go.

This time, I don't want to say anything. Just...just watch this. We'll talk after.

Direct link for the feedreaders.

This is from one of four known episodes of How's Your Mother-in-Law, from Chuck Barris, which apparently ran from December 1967 to March 1968. That's four months, so did they just do an episode a month? Or are there only four extant episodes? Don't know. But you thought some reality television contestants are headscratchers today...back then you could send your mother/mother-in-law (since in order to become a mother-in-law one must also be a mother to begin with) on national television to convince some single people that she was the best of the bunch.

And I can't tell which I would rather see talk to the "Jury" more: Nipsey Russell or Richard Dawson. I mean seriously.

Found via Classic Television Showbiz.

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Your Monday Morning Mental Sorbet: And What's More...They Like Her

Of course, the alternate title I had in mind for this post was "If Dindrane had created The Sopranos," and before that it was "A Planet of the Apes remake that would have been worth a damn," so you can sorta see where I was going with this. Regardless, the new Threadless shirt Monkey Business by Alex Solis is rather tasty. The design's a little large for my tastes, but I just love the detail of the scar over one eye. That and the fact it's black, of course.

Solis we've mentioned before, with his fantastic "Dreams" shirt. You can find more of his stuff at his official site, and of course plenty of t-shirts to snag at Threadless.

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If the Monkeys Left Their Typewriters and Picked Up Tommy Guns...

Written by: Shibani Bathija with dialogue by Shibani Bathija & Niranjan Iyengar
Directed by: Karan Johar
Starring: Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, Jimmy Shergill, Sonya Jehan, Yuvaan Makaar

Widge's Note: I think everybody knows that I have a fondness for Bollywood films because there's just nothing else like them. Apart from some exceptions, sadly, I can't keep up with the output of the Indian movie industry like I would like, so I've called in some reinforcements. So please welcome our new Bollywood movie reviewer, Adarsh. Hailing from India and currently working here stateside, he's going to check in from time to time with some Indian movie picks. Which I'm excited as hell about. Take it away, Adarsh...

This is Karan Johar's fourth movie as a director--his previous three have been blockbusters all starring Shah Rukh Khan and two of them have had Kajol as lead actress. As a result, the expectations of this movie are sky high, particularly as these three are working together after a gap of nearly a decade. The subject of My Name is Khan is definitely the most different, realistic and risky they have undertaken as a team. Realistic and different mainly because their films before have all been typical Bollywood "larger than life" romantic movies. Risky because the audience for a movie with this theme is usually limited, but with Khan's star power (capable of pulling in the initial audiences, which could grow if the material is Good) it's a gamble that should pay off. I could as well call this Bollywood's answer to Forrest Gump!

The story is about Rizwan Khan (Khan), who has Asperger's Syndrome. He comes to San Francisco with his brother's (Shergill) help and works for him as a salesman. He meets single mother Mandira (Kajol) who is impressed with his simplicity and straightforwardness and gets along well with him. Cupid eventually strikes both and they get married and lead a happy life. This lasts until 9/11, throwing things out of gear for Rizwan and his family due to his religion. Friends become foes and their life turns more miserable with each passing moment. A sudden turn of events makes their relationship sour and Rizwan takes up the extraordinary task of meeting the President of the United States. Why he wants to do this and whether or not he succeeds forms the main part of the story.

The emotional quotient of the movie is pretty high. The film has a great social message which is aptly put forward. The plight of the Christians and Non-Christians (i.e. Muslims) in the U.S. after 9/11 is a very delicate subject, and here it's been handled pretty well. As Rizwan's mother points out in the movie: there are only two kinds of people, one who do good deeds and others who do bad and both these kinds of people are there everywhere, and it has nothing to do with religion, caste or creed. This is explored in the movie through the journey Rizwan undertakes.

Direction is top notch. Johar has done a great job of getting the best out of his actors. The cinematography by Ravi K. Chandran is excellent. The music . Cinematography again is excellent. The Music handled by trio Shankar-Eshaan-Loy is again pleasing, though all the tracks have their trimmed version and are mostly played as a background score (a new trend which is slowly catching up with Bollywood flicks, giving them a more realistic look).

Coming to the performances, Khan delivers the performance of his career and the movie is his show all the way. As he is present on screen for almost 95% of the running time it was necessary he understood the character very well and got under Rizwan's skin. He does exactly that and does not disappoint. This should bring him quite a few awards.

Kajol is as good as ever; she breathes life into her character of Mandira. She acts and looks great as the single mother fighting for justice. She has less than half the screen time as Khan but delivers a great performance. All the supporting artists do a great job as well. Vinay Pathak excels in his cameo as the Gujarati Motel Owner.

The movie tends to get preachy in places and also tends to get Bollywood-ish (especially in the cyclone part of the script, which i personally felt to be a hiccup in an otherwise great movie). But nevertheless, it drives home the point intended and shows the triumph of human spirit over everything else.

It's a great movie to watch and surely a trendsetter, heralding a different kind of cinematic experience in Bollywood.

• Click here to buy the soundtrack as an MP3 download from Amazon.
• Click here to buy the soundtrack on CD from Amazon.
• Click here to buy Shahrukh Khan stuff from Amazon.

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My Name is Khan (2010) - Movie Review

Download audio file (wjustice031210.mp3)

Agenda:

• Shamrock nipples
• The leprechaun museum
• More adventures of Flat Stanley
• Deer Camp
• Oscar the Non-Hobo
• Leigh's child and camp
• It takes a podcast...
• The Irish economy
• The Lizardy Ewok?
• The offensive Irish joke
• Rox and the chalk transition
• Din is clicky
• Din and Kiefer
• Widge vs. his own beard
• Din in Brazil
• Rox: Secret Origins
• Irish Popeye!
• Rox of Bathory
• Read an RPG Book in Public
• More on Canoe Camp
• Three cat smart!
• Third hand smoke
• Doc Smash!
• Drunk dialing Doc
• The "Book" Club
• The Cadbury Egg Martini
• Rock Lobster Time!
• Wholesale vs. retail
• Rob vs. Wham!
• Poor hamster

Headsup: You can find all of our Recommendations at our Amazon Store. And there's new Weekend Justice gear as well in the Zazzle store.

Thanks to Jon from The Unique Geek for helping us sound good.

If you want to send something to Weekend Justice--say, some free food that you want Ken to consume--address packages to NEEDCOFFEE.COM WEEKEND JUSTICE, 4480-H South Cobb Drive, PMB 394, Smyrna GA USA 30080.

As always, special thanks go out to Clutch for letting us use their absolutely badass song, "Promoter (of earthbound causes)" as our theme music for this.

Buy Blast Tyrant, which is where you can find "Promoter". Buy their latest album, Strange Cousins from the West. Send them love and coin.

BTW, you iTunes subscriber types can nab this feed here. If you like us, why not rate us? We don't bite. Mostly.

Or if you want to do something else with it, the feed feed is here.

To download this episode directly, Weekend Justice #57: Cicero Goes to Deer Camp, then do that thing. For the previous episode, click here.

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Your Weekend Justice #57: Cicero Goes to Deer Camp

The corpse, riddled with mysterious holes, lay in a drawer in a museum; the nature of the injuries confused and puzzled--stymieing even the fine minds of London's greatest natural history museum. However, just as a documentary was being filmed, the incisive mind of forensic scientist Heather Bonney made a shocking discovery--the victim had been shot! Further, "her investigation identified entry and exit wounds, and X-rays revealed a shotgun pellet still inside the the body. " (emphasis mine)

The victim, a Goliath beetle almost 4" in length (the size of a songbird), was apparently shot while "on the wing." Beetles in the scarab family are notoriously difficult to catch by insect collectors, due to their fine ability to perform extensive and complicated aerial maneuvers.

The name of the murderer is being withheld at this time, pending further investigation; ditto the name of the Goliath beetle in question, as he was almost certainly a minor. Remember, folks: there's no statute of limitations for murder...even for beetles.

For the full story, find it here.

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100-Year-Old Murder... SOLVED!

Michael Bailey is a comics podcast juggernaut. He appears on Spider-Man Crawlspace Podcast, From Crisis to Crisis: A Superman Podcast, Tales of the Justice Society of America and Back to the Bins. However, his premiere podcast, Views From The Longbox, has reached its 100th episode. In preparation for this milestone, Michael did something a little different. Starting with Episode 87, he went through each year that he collected comics starting at age 11. Now this isn't a simple restoration of "I read this comic and this comic and..." He is very open about his life and what went on in it. He brings up how he wasn't the best student, his courtship with his wife, and even the death of his mother from cancer. I really admire how people like Michael opens up to the audience. I wish I could do that, but a lot of my childhood is a blur for some reason.

The 100th episode is truly epic. The whole show runs over about four hours long (or the length of an average Weekend Justice). So Michael cut it into three parts to make it more manageable. The first part is with he and his semi-regular co-host The Irredeemable Shag. Bailey talks about his beginning on the Internet talking about comics and how he discovered podcasts and how he decided he could do one. The next two parts comprise a massive call-in show with about nineteen people. They were fans and fellow podcasters wishing Bailey well, asking question, and generally being silly. If you listen, you may recognize a couple of voices. In part two, Weekend Justice's long suffering engineer Jon of The Unique Geek calls in. And the third part, I call in. Yes, me. I guested on an episode of Views From The Longbox and I thought I would say congrats. So here's to Michael Bailey and Views From The Longbox.

I'm going to be good and not make any 'fisting' comments.

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ScottC vs. Views From The Longbox, Round 2

I'm impressed by anybody who can make things, in the full-on Make sense of the word. Myself, I can barely string words together. So anybody who can affect physical things and create things you can actually use...that I have a lot of respect for.

Case in point: Jordan Bartee, who mashed together a MIDI keyboard and a Commodore 64. Uniting them with the MIDIbox SID platform (which sounds impressive although I admit freely I don't know what the hell it is) it's now the Giana 64. Here he is doing that thing:

Direct link for the feedreaders.

Found via Synthgear.

Okay, it seems that bands are like DC comic book characters--they just die and come back anytime they feel like. For example, I only recently discovered that Kula Shaker was back. In fact, they re-released the fantastic album Peasants, Pigs and Astronauts as a two-disc set back in January. Which is good, because I couldn't bring myself to post something from their woefully mediocre recent album, Strangefolk. Instead, here's "Mystical Machine Gun," from back in the good old days.

Direct link for the feedreaders.

And lastly, recorded at Rob Levy's very own KDHX in St. Louis, it's Mike Doughty with a short ditty off his most recent album, Sad Man Happy Man.

Direct link for the feedreaders.

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Music Monday: Franken Keytar From Planet Hell

Each week we like to kickstart your brain by posting a little something that's...well, it's really an inoculation against the mind-numbing work week that is to come.

This time around we see what happens when you need to produce a birthday party on a budget. Rather than just getting one party, though, a birthday fairy arrives who takes you on a never-ending series of nightmarish visions. Each one is a different party and they all seem to have some very common traits: namely covering most everything with balloons and then sculpting food into anthropomorphic demon-treats.

There's nothing wrong with parties on a budget--but seriously, if some of our readers had parties like these growing up, that would explain why we have such a following.

Direct link for the feedreaders.

Thanks to Everything is Terrible.

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Your Monday Morning Mental Sorbet: Draw the Line at Ketchup Buttons