Mad Mad Media Podcast 16

Mad Mad Media Podcast 16

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The year comes to a close and Mad Mad Media is dishing out some of the best of 2006, including music from The Sounds, Headlights, The Young Republic, Karmella's Game, Portobella, Panic At The Disco and Terra Naomi. Happy New Year!!!

The Best of the Best!

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. For almost a year now, I have been writing about entertainment and entertainment related accessories, and now that the year has come to an end, it is time for me to wrap up what I think was the cream of the crop.
So here it is, the Mad Mad Media Best of 2006 list.

Best place on the Net to waste time
YouTube. Why watch TV when you can watch YouTube. In one short year, YouTube went from obscure geek site to the Internet destination. Want to see an old Pepsi commercial? You’ll find it on YouTube. Want to watch highlights from last week’s SNL? There it is on YouTube. Want to see the 2006 World Champion Brat Eating Contest? You guessed it, YouTube. Sure, the site is challenging the very limits of copyright law and way too many people are posting questionable material, but YouTube is by far the best on the Web right now.
Runners up: Internet Movie Database, MySpace, Mad Mad Media, Stumble Upon.

Best Blog (Besides Mad Mad Media)
Good Weather For Airstrikes. Like indie music? Love indie music? Good Weather For Airstrikes is definitely for you. The music blog explores the reaches of the emerging music scene and provides samples of some of the best music I’ve ever heard. In fact, much of the music I discovered this year, I found because of Good Weather For Airstrikes! Keep up the good work boys!
Runners up: My Old Kentucky Blog, Skatterbrain, the Sheboygan Press blogs, Pop Candy.

Best New Artist
Terra Naomi. Terra is awesome. She broke out on YouTube, sold out of her latest CD and is embarking on a tour of Europe. I don’t know what else to say about her. I interviewed her on the Mad Mad Media podcast a couple of weeks ago and she was really cool and down to earth. It’s going to be great to see what she can do with a label behind her. Go, Terra, Go, Go, Go!
Runners up: Victoria Vox, Nikki Capra, Sandra Grace.

Best New Group
(Tie) Headlights and The Young Republic.
Headlights--This Champaign, Ill. Shoegazers’ song, Put Us Back Together Right, was only the tip of the ice burg. The trio featuring Tristan Wraight, Erin Fein and Brett Sanderson have mastered hypnotic indie rock, and their first LP “Kill Them With Kindness,” released in August on Polyvinyl Records, is proof of that. TYR on the other hand is different. Any group that describes their music as orchestral folk is all right in my book. This 9-piece Boston group is about as cool at they come in my book. Need I say more?
Runners up: My Little Radio, Karmella’s Game.

Best Established Group/Artist
The Sounds. Part punk rock, part ‘80s synth, part hot chick rock, The Sounds are amazing! (P.S. check them out and more on this week’s Mad Mad Media Podcast).
Runners up: The Stars, Death Cab For Cutie, Regina Spektor

Best Really Established Group/Artist
Erasure. This was a great surprise this year. Though know for their bubbly synth pop, Erasure released Union Street this year, a compilation of acoustic reworkings of some of the duo’s hits. Incredibly moving and beautiful, it gave Erasures sometimes overproduced music incredible relevance.
Runners up: Morrissey, Emma Bunton (Spice Girls), Justin Timberlake (not kidding)

Best Movie
The Fountain. I’ll be honest. I didn’t see every movie this year. But The Fountain was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. Most of the reviews I read after seeing it seemed to miss the whole point, but don’t listen to them. This movie is amazing!
Runners up: A Prairie Home Companion and The Departed.

Best Movie Hype
Snakes on a Plane. That’s it! I’ve had it with these mother (something) snakes on this mother (something) plane. Best line from an action movie ever, but the makers of this summer flick could have crammed it into the final product a little better. Snakes on a Plane may not be the ultimate action B-movie ever made, but the hype leading up to it was incredibly exciting. (PS. Snakes on a Plane hits DVD on Tuesday).
Runners up: There aren’t any mother something runners up!

Best Reality Show
(Tie) Everest and Man Vs. Wild. I found these late in the year. Both are on the Discovery Channel and both are gripping. Everest follows a team of mountain climbers as they ascend Everest and MVW follows Bear Grylls, a seasoned adventurer and survival expert who served with the Special Air Service, a special forces unit of the British army, as he shows you how to survive in the harshest environments. It may not always be pretty, but Grylls survival antics make for interesting viewing!
Runners up: American Idol, NBC Primetime (To Catch A Predator series), Project Runway

Best TV Drama
Eureka. This SciFi original series won me over this summer and I’m hoping it will return. In it, U.S. Marshal Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson) and his teenage daughter get stranded in an odd small town where the government conducts many of its secret experiments. A clever mix of science, romantic pitfalls and geek humor, Eureka is a show worth discovering.
Runners up: Law and Order (any one will do), reruns of Dead Like Me

Best TV Comedy
The Office. Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and his band of misfit office workers are the funniest thing on television, taking shock humor and shock to an entirely new level. I’m still hoping Jim and Pam going to get together, but until they do I’ll continue to laugh my head off every Thursday!
Runners up: My Name is Earl, 30 Rock, Scrubs, The War At Home

Best Animated Show
(Tie) Family Guy and The Simpsons. Both of these shows aren’t as good as they were a couple of years ago, but they are still darn good! I’m sure The Simpsons movie that comes out in 2007 will be the beginning of the end for the series, but its still better than most of the stuff on TV. Family Guy is too inconsistent, but when its hits the bulls eye, it’s outrageously funny.
Runners up: Anything except American Dad. That show stinks!

Best TV watching snack
Multi Grain Wheat Thins. These things are awesome! They beat out cheezy puffs, nachos, pizza bites, corn chips and a number of other things to take this top honor. I could eat a whole box of these things!
Runners up: Boo Berry (when you can find it), Pringles, Manny’s Corn Chips, caramel corn.


That's It. The podcast will be up later today. See you next year!!!

Mad Mad Media Podcast on its way

Hey everyone. It’s been one hectic week. I’ve been busy putting together my “best of the year” list, and it’s taking me a lot longer than I thought. A year’s worth of notes is a lot.
But I’ll have a new podcast up tomorrow night. It should be pretty cool because it features a lot of the acts on my best of list, as well as a few surprises!
Check it out!!

Rocky Balboa: A Mad Mad Review

Here’s the history of the Rocky film franchise up to this point. Rocky, a knockout; Rocky II, winner in 3 rounds; Rocky III, winner in 10 rounds; Rocky IV, a draw; Rocky V, loss by knockout.
Based on the awful film that grounded the series in 1990, I was skeptical of Rocky VI when the film was initially announced. But I was warmed over by the previews and the film also won me over, but it won’t win any awards like the original.
Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) now in his 60s, wakes up every morning to visit his wife’s grave. Philadelphia has changed. The old neighborhood is deteriorating, as is the old champion and his friends.
He left the limelight, opened an Italian restaurant, and spends most of his time at work telling customers about the old days when he was fighting Apollo Creed.
At the same time, current heavyweight champion Mason Dixon (Antonio Tarver) is no longer winning over audiences. He’s an arrogant young fighter who critics say has never really fought a real fight.
A computer simulated fight between Dixon and Balboa in his prime changes everything. The young Balboa takes out the animated Dixon in a knockout punch. That gets the old Balboa thinking, ‘maybe there’s more fight left in him.’
After appealing successfully to become a licensed fighter in Philly, Dixon’s managing team get an idea to put the two fighters toe-to-toe in the ring for an exhibition match, old school vs. new school.
Rocky follows a pretty standard three-chapter formula—Rocky decides to fight, Rocky trains to fight and Rocky fights.
What makes Rocky interesting is that it has heart, something every Rocky after Rocky II was missing.
As a fighter, Rocky is having a hard time getting old. He’s remembered for accomplishments that are long gone, and he’s haunted by memories of happier times. Fighting gives him purpose. Pain reminds him that he’s alive.
Rocky Balboa is not a great movie. It could never come close to mirroring the original’s ferocity. No matter how big Stallone is, it’s completely unbelievable that a 60-year-old fighter could step in the ring with a fighter in his prime and come out alive — especially since Rocky suffered brain damage in his fight with Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, ending his career in Rocky V.
But Rocky Balboa is a really good movie. While it’s formulaic, it’s a good formula and it’s worth checking out in the theater where you can hear and feel every punch.
Thankfully, Stallone did not bring back Rambo, (though I have read that Rambo IV: Pearl of the Cobra is in pre-production, and I have a feeling that won’t be as well received.)
But Rocky Balboa is a welcome film, especially this holiday season of slim pickings.

Oh no they didn’t!

In a bizarre Internet move NBC has released an uncensored version of its latest SNL sensation, the digital Christmas short “**** in a box,” on YouTube.
The short features series regular Andy Samberg and singer Justin Timberlake, in full ‘90s R&B gear, singing a catchy tune about the “special” gift they’re giving their girlfriends for Christmas. It’s the funniest thing SNL has done in years!
I would have posted it on Mad Mad Media, but because it is uncensored I just can’t do it. But, if you follow this link to NBC’s YouTube site, you’ll be able to see the beep-free video.

Happy Boxing Day!

Happy Boxing Day everyone!
I bet you all had a great Christmas (or Hanukah). Hopefully, it wasn't like this scene from The Office below!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I don't know how you all feel about this holiday, but I hope yours is happy and safe.

Merry Christmas...

We'll see you next week. Until then, enjoy this.

Another Best of

Rolling Stone posted a really interesting Best of list: Best Recut Movie Trailers of 2006.

Check it out HERE, and pay particular attention go the SpongeBob SquarePants version of Brokeback Mountain - SpongeBack Mountain. It's very funny.

Spice Girl makes good

Emma (Baby Spice) Bunton just released her latest CD, Life In Mono.

I just heard her first single, the title track, and it's a damn good departure from her earlier pop music.

I can't say anything about the rest of her CD, because I haven't heard it ... yet.

But this Spice Girl still has some spark.





Listen to the track HERE.


Track courtesy of The Splendida Project.

The worst of the worst

The year is coming to an end, which means everybody will soon be releasing their best of and worst of lists for 2006 (including Mad Mad Media).
IFilm recently released its worst film trailers of the year list and I have to say I agree with every single one of them.
Check out the list HERE.

Soup, there it is

For those who missed Saturday Night Live this weekend, it's time to give it on up for Homelessville with Justin Timberlake.



And if you want more Justin Timberlake, go here to see one of SNL's funniest musical parodies in years. It is a little on the racy side, so viewers be warned. But it's incredibly funny.

Joe Barbera has died

One of the great animators of all time has died.

The Associated Press reported that Joe Barbera, half of the Hanna-Barbera animation team that produced Scoobi Doo, Yogi Bear and the Flintstones, died Monday, a Warner Bros. spokesman said. He was 95.
The Hanna-Barbera team was innovators in animation. The developed the world’s most beloved cat and mouse cartoon rivalry, Tom and Jerry, and in the 1950s made huge strides in making animation an affordable art form for television.
Then, in the early 1960s, they introduced prime time television audiences to the Flintstones, a Honeymooners parody, which would go on to be the most popular primetime cartoon ever until The Simpsons surpassed it in the 1990s.

For more, read HERE.

Stupid law

This weekend while shopping at the new and improved Bayshore in Milwaukee, I stopped at Trader Joe's to buy a bottle of wine.
It was late in the evening (about 8:55 p.m.) when I walked in the store. I was in the wine department for a couple of minutes, picked out an inexpensive bottle of Merlot, and went to the counter to pay for it.
I get there and the nice man behind the counter said he couldn't sell it to me. I laughed because I thought he was joking - saying I was too young.
He wasn't joking.
Apparently, and I must have been snoozing on this for a long time, but in certain parts of the state, you can't buy alcohol at the store after 9 p.m.-even two minutes after.
You can drink yourself silly at a bar until 2:30 a.m., but you can't pick up a bottle of wine on your way home from the mall.
This is just dumb.
This is the state of Wisconsin. We make alcohol here. And drink a lot of alcohol here.
I for the life of me can't understand why I can have someone serve me a beer at a tavern, but I can't buy myself beer (for much cheaper) that I would be drinking in the comfort and safety of my home.
You would think the anti drunk driving advocates would have jumped on this years ago because it would promote drinking at home, not while you're out.
This doesn't make any sense, and dangit, the law needs to be changed. It's the 21st century people!

Sheboygan Press Television?

What's the surest sign times are a changing? When the local newspaper starts producing online television news segments.
(imagine a drumroll)
The Sheboygan Press has moved into the video relm, which is some pretty cool and scary stuff. The video team (Sam Castro, Nhia Yang, Janet Ortegon and myself) have begun producing short video segments for the press.
Sam produced a video on sledding with reporter Troy Laack, Janet and Nhia produced a package on Salvation Army bell ringers and I produced a short on movie night at a local shop/gallery, Outside the Box.
All of them can be viewed on our newly created video site (CLICK HERE).
I have to say, working at a newspaper right now is pretty damn cool, and we're all working hard to tell some interesting stories about our community.
So stop by and check it out. And, if you have any ideas for a story, email us and let us know.
ENJOY!

Cat Power, you are on my list

Ever hear a song in a commercial that is so great you absolutely have to have it?

We'll, in the last year there has been two songs, "Hanging on a Telephone" in a Cingular Wireless commercial and "How Can I Tell You" in a recent DeBeers commercial (below courtesy of YouTube).
Both are performed by Cat Power (aka Chan Marshall), both are beautuful songs, and (just to tick me off) both are not available ANYWHERE.
The stories I've read is that Marshall (an indie goddess in her own right) recorded only the snippet used for the commercials and has no intention of releasing either song for public mass consumption.
Hey, maybe you haven't noticed all of the chatter on the Web Chan, but people like those songs ... a lot! And we would really to own them. We're willing to pay money.
Chan, please release them.
Until you do, you are on the list (I still love your music, but your on the list anyway!).

Hear spippets of all of these songs an more at From Blown Speakers HERE.

Find out more about Cat Power HERE.

Photo courtesy of http://www.sentireascoltare.com

Let's talk about Christmas music

There’s no easy way to sugarcoat this, so I’ll just come right out and say it. I hate Christmas music.
I just can’t stand it. And it’s everywhere.
You go to the gas station, there’s White Christmas. You go to the grocery store, there’s Jingle Bells. You go to the mall, there’s The Little Drummer Boy. And, as an added slap in the face, you turn on the radio — to any popular music station — and there’s some low-rate cover of I Saw Momma Kissing Santa Claus or a “new classic” like Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas or Last Christmas by WHAM!
Wow. That’s great. George Michael singing about Christmas. I guess we all know what he wants under the tree.
I swear, the soundtrack in hell is littered with Christmas music, and all of Satan’s minions are working to the beat of Here Comes Santa Claus.
I’d say something like “we have to band together and do something about the travesty,” but everybody is so apesh** about this holiday and busy going from party to party (half of which they don’t want to be at) that I don’t think I would get much support.
And I know a lot of people LOVE Christmas music, and that’s all fine and good. But this is my blog and I want it on record that I want to scream every time I hear Bing Crosby sing any of his holiday staples and that Mariah Carrey song drives me nuts.
Bahhhhh.
I do like one Christmas song, Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight) by the Ramones.
Check it out below.

Wanna be in a music video?

Terra Naomi, who is featured on the latest Mad Mad Media, is giving fans the opportunity to be in her new video for her song, "Say It's Possible."

She's asking fans to film themselves on video wearing a PLAIN WHITE T-SHIRT or holding a WHITE SIGN on which you have WRITTEN IN BLACK INK their answer to the question, “What would you do or want if anything was possible?” in 3 WORDS OR LESS.

There's more rules and requirements. If you're interested, check it out by clicking HERE.





Also, check out Terra Naomi's "Say It's Possible" on the latest Mad Mad Media Podcast (HERE) or through Terra's Web site by clicking HERE.

Mad Mad Media Podcast 15 - Terra Naomi

Mad Mad Media Podcast 15

Click to listen, right-click to download

An interview with Terra Naomi

Say hello to Terra Naomi. For those of you who have listened to the podcast before, you may already be familiar with Terra (her song I'm Happy was featured on the July 14 podcast HERE), but for those of you who haven't, you're in for a real treat.

Terra Naomi is on her way up. Way Up. This last summer she went from a virtually unknown artist to one of the top indie acts on the Internet, without the push of a major or indie label. The video for her song, Say It's Possible, which she recorded with a camcorder in her apartment, became a sensation on YouTube, with over 1 million views to date. On top of that her DIY release, Virtually, a limited pressing of 6,000 copies, sold out in a matter of months. Again without the push of a label.

Right now, Terra is in the studio working on a new record. I for one can't wait. I think Terra is going straight to the top, and it's about time someone with talent does. I'll be putting more Terra stuff up as the week goes on. For now, enjoy the podcast!

You can find out more about Terra on her website HERE.

And, on her MySpace site HERE.

And on her YouTube page HERE.

New podcast uploading tomorrow at noon

That's right. The Mad Mad Media Podcast #15 will be available for download tomorrow at noon. And this week we have a very special guest.

Terra Naomi, my favorite artist of 2006, stopped by to chat about her career thus far as an indie musician and how a little-known service, YouTube, gave her a huge push in the summer of 2006.

It was totally cool.

Check it out tomorrow. Until then, here's Terra's video for "Say it's Possible."

Britney, Britney, Britney

Justin Timberlake may have tried to bring sexy back, but Britney Spears brought more prying eyes. When she’s not attracting the attention of paparazzi, Spears is getting massive amounts of attention on the Web.
On Tuesday, Yahoo announced that Spears had landed on top of its most searched list.
One might jump to the conclusion that Spears’ recent exposures on the Web would have put her over the top, but company officials said the “singer” behind “Oops, I Did It Again,” had the title locked up long ago.
Spears was followed by WWE and Shakira.
And, in a strange snapshot of American culture, Anna Nicole Smith and the death of Steve Irwin topped Yahoo’s news searches.

Coming in at number three was the war in Iraq. For more click HERE.

AP Photo

Mad Mad Media Podcast coming later this week

Sorry for the delay, but the Mad Mad Media Podcast will be available later this week. As I mentioned earlier, I was in training all week and wasn't able to sit in front of my computer to record it.
In fact, I didn't log onto the Internet for almost a whole week. Crazy Eh? I'll keep you posted on the podcast, but it should be available on Thursday or Friday.

Britney goes wild

Wow. I go away to training for a week and the whole world gets all crazy, especially for Britney Spears. Apparently, she’s been gallivanting around with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan ... without underwear and flashing her business all over town. So much so that the paparazzi have been asking her to cover it up (just kidding, but wouldn’t that be funny?).
I understand. She shed the K-Fed, and now this girl just wants to have fun. But Britney, what about the fans?
This wild behavior could delay her comeback album. Britney, you need to concentrate on your music. We need a follow up to In The Zone.
Wait, what the hell am I talking about?
This is definitely more fun watching Britney make a fool of herself instead of watching her “sing,” and then there’s the hilarious irony that Paris Hilton is telling Britney to show some class and stop showing off her stuff to the camera crews — priceless.
So Britney, keep up the good work. Very entertaining.
By the way, how are the kids at home? You know if you were Courtney Love, social services would be visiting you right about now.

Photo courtesy of The Bosh.