http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Wed, 24 Jan 2007 10:11:08 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/01/24/101108.php Berkeley JoeThe only way to review a compilation like this without giving it shorter shrift than it deserves (okay, I may be overstating things) is to go song by song, artist by artist. Don’t ask me where I’m getting the energy for such an endeavor, but oh well. Maybe I’m hoping this will some day be a definitive work in the arena of crunk, written by a lost poet who’s not even sure he knows what the hell crunk even is, and maybe that’s for the best. Let’s proceed.David Banner – "Play"This is the infamous “work that c—t, girl” song, with the guy whispering the hook (not to be confused with the whisper song) with the memorable quarter bar “beat it like Mike when he effed Billy Jean.” David Banner is an interesting case. For every great head snapping joint with nice production and solid lyrics he puts out, he squirts out a balladistic sappy yet dirty crappy love/eff jam. And this one is a bit unique in his repertoire 'cause it’s squarely in the middle of the two genres. Okay, it’s not unique. He’s done this song in similar forms, but this is the “that one” that gets the most pub. Anyway, it’s okay, and you’ve heard it a million times.Three 6 Mafia – "Poppin my Collar"I Love that these guys won The Oscar for best song for that pimp movie a couple years ago. I love that three black guys dressed in head to toe d.e.m.o. gear with giant gold chains and platinum grills, stood up in front of a crowd of duck suit clad automaton and metaphorically popped Chris. Yet they did it with such non "eff the system" class. That song was the shit, too. This is not that song, but it’s a good one. These guys are infectious. They’re not reinventing the wheel, but almost everything I hear from them I like.Webster feat. Young B – "Chicken Noodle Soup"Not sure if it’s Webster or Young B starting things off, but he’s telling me I already know who it is. I don’t. And then there's a female voice saying "let’s get it" 80 hundred times and then "chicken noodle soup" 80 times. Hmmm, tuning out, major tom, help, I’m lost, this song. Is. Bothering. Me. Let’s, uh, not get it. Crapola soup is more like it. L’Trimm meets Lil’ Jon’s mustachio’d evil twin, and not in a good way.E-40 Feat T-Pain & Kandi Girl – "U and Dat"Hmm. It’s hard for me to be objective about anything to do with E-40. Even though I have quite a bit of respect for his rapping skills, slanguage, and business acumen, not to mention his role as the godfather of hyphy, I am faced with the small problem that I have been quoted more than once as saying I hate him and can never forgive him. But water goes under bridge and makes it’s way to the ocean. So I will at this point say that, fine, E-40, you’re forgiven. It’s cool, really. My last tiny bit of vengeance will be to say nothing more about this song, which is actually pretty good.Akon feat. Styles P. – "Locked Up"Ah, the “I’ve been locked up” song. Actually a nice hook. I like Styles P, too. You know, the guy from the Lox. Man, now that was an outfit with unlimited potential (tha Lox) that just never came to even a near proximity of what could have been. Individually, I mean, yeah, Jada puts down nice stuff here and there, and this guy, and, uh, that other guy. But if memory serves correct, they sounded nice together, notwithstanding Puffy hollering stupid shit every 27 seconds. I guess Akon is the guy singing?LL Cool J feat. Timbaland – "Head Sprung"LL Cool J. Jesus Christ. The ultimate chameleon, er, the ultimate Madonna of the rap world? Wow. This guy just sticks around like glue, somehow finding ways to stay relevant. This song is catchy, nice hook, keeps you moving. Well, that’s on Timbaland. Have you watched VH1 top 20 in a while? Timbaland is the beatsmith on like every other song, be it Justin Timberlake (shoot me if/when I start calling him JT. He’ll never be a bigga figga), whatserface that looks like Courtney Cox (btw her new show Dirt mercilessly blows), or the Pussycat Dolls (is that the next song on the commentary?). Anyway, Missy's buddy is blowing up, not like he wasn’t, but like that otha (I won’t say next) level style, switching to pop from hip hop, which, when you think about it, even with the most underground stuff, in so many ways has become indistinguishable.The Pussycat Dolls – "Don’t Cha"Hmmm, the liner notes say this was produced by Cee-Lo (as in big homey from Gnarls Barkley, Goodie Mobb, et al). This is the "don’t you wish your girlfriend" song. Now wasn’t there another song like this back in the day? Maybe I’m trippin'. Anyway, maybe Timba did a remix. Suddenly, I just can’t care anymore. Busta’s blabbing on this too. Sigh. Busta. A guy I sometimes really like and other times irritates the living hell out of me. Moving on.Pitbull – "Ay Chico (Lengua Afuera)"Classic crunk with the Spanish twang. Cuban dancing, cigar lighting, colliparkin' salsa medleys and hollering about biting climaxes and bravado inspired showing what you’re working with. Works if you’re grinding in the club and shaking an ass or two (or three.)Chris Brown – "Run It!"Yet another song I’m sure you’ve heard on the radio. "He’s got friends / You’ve got friends / Let him know, etc., Your man on the floor / If he ain’t let him know / yadda yadda." Nice sounding song, even the 893rd time hearing it. Salud. Is this really crunk? Not sure if there’s a rap to be found. Is crunk strictly the beats? If it’s pounding a bit is it crunkin? Do you need ice grills? Okay, that was a bit sarcastic, but seriously, the break on this is more smooth jam a la Billy Ocean than Lil Jon sippin' out of a pimp cup. Anyway. T-Pain feat. Mike Jones – "I’m n Luv (Wit a Stipper)"It’s dreadfully hard for me to not like anything with Mike Jones involved. I’m still not sure how he pulls it off being so infinitely famous now, but he still manages to connive the “no one believes in me and now I’m showing you all” vibe that he came up with. And “back then” I’m convinced will go down on the all time list. Watch the years click by and realize that he’s still not gone. Homey will be hosting Dick Clark’s Rocking New Year's Eve after what's-his-ass from American idol gets kidnapped by terrorists and no one bothers coming up with the ransom money. Oh, T-Pain? Uh, yeah, okay. A crooning stripper buff. Congrats?Tyrese feat. Lil Jon – "Turn Ya Out"See, now this has to qualify as crunk. Why? Cuz it starts off with Lil’ Jon saying “hey.” So what that the rest of the song is strictly a Tyrese R&B joint with nary a slamming 808 in sight. Okay, one or two 808s, but that’s requisite these days. Even Barry White would crank up the bass on his ghetto blaster in '07, but I think this tests the theory that Lil’ Jon is to crunk what E-40 is to hyphy. If E-40 utters so much as one slimy slice of slanguage on a track, it’s hyphy, and all you need is a hey from the lil grilled one and there ya go. Seriously, this is not crunk; it’s just not. I’m about three minutes in and the only, oh, wait, there he is. Okay, Lil Jon is talking about how he wanted a bitch right when he saw her. And thus the song is crunked, and that’s it. A hey at the beginning and a “I’m just trying to turn ya out” at the end, and suddenly a romantic love jam is a crunked out ode to shaking asses. Okely dokely.Lil Rob – "Bring out the Freak in You"Wow, this is just bad. Lil Rob? Really? “hey girl you got a pretty mouth” and then spelling out nasty? Does holmes even hear the beat? Did he rap this into his tape recorder and then drop it off at Sam Goody to loop in with the option three on the synthesizer, dropping in a bongo drum? Horrible, awful, and that’s being generous. I will say, though, if I need to say something nice, he’s a good speller. Lil Wayne – "Hustler Musik"Wheezy got the luck of the draw here coming up after Lil Rob, but in actuality I’m always a sucker for the artist formerly known as the little kid from the Hot Boys, white party pops smooches notwithstanding, but it’s cool. Wifey still makes fun of me for kissing grandma, I know how it goes. I still get misty eyed over that Hot Boys breakup. Unlike the Lox, the Hot Boys were dropping dynamite, in my humble opinion. The gigantic difference being they had a superproducer in Mannie Fresh and a record label (Cash Money) with the objective of dropping a million albums as fast as possible, a result of having to keep up with the machine that was once no limit. The lox, on the other hand, were stuck on Puffy’s Bad Boy, who seemed to think that the longer you drag shit out, the more people will see it as “art” and thereby value it more. Does this make any sense whatsoever? Anyway, this is an alright jam, Wheezie’s had better, no doubt. "Fireman," (which I think is on Crunk Hits 2) is much more enjoyable. But, hey, yeah, whatever, smooth it out young man, great, great sandwich.Jim Jones – "Crunk Muzik"Ooohh, I actually like this. I feel like I just woke up. See, this is what I view as crunk. Rap, heavy beats, the cadence is a little disjointed but not off beat (re: Lil Rob). But hey, as I said in the intro, I don’t necessarily know what crunk is. Maybe that’s what this exercise is all about. This is a nice song. Nothing revolutionary, just a couple guys dropping bars with gunshot sounds popping in the background here and there. It’s not rocket science guys. You don’t need Tyrese singing your hook. You don’t need to smooth it out. You don’t have to profess your undying love out of one side of your mouth while hollering bitch out the other. And, whoah, there’s Cam’ron, Killa' Cam, dropping a sick verse, uncredited. Cam, wow, one of the most underrated rappers in the game, in my opinion. Yet so deserved, antithetically, because he drops so much crap and wears pink velour suits. So, well, yeah, but he acquits himself fantastically here. Also, I mean, you gotta love an artist that names himself after a guy that killed a bunch of fanatics by poisoning them with kool aid.Paul Wall – "Girl"Jesus Christ, here we go. This has all the problems I mentioned in the paragraph above, simping and pimping at the same time. This ain’t kierkegaard guys, you don’t need to convince me that God exists while outlining the ideas of nothing matters et al. and all you philosophy majors don’t jump down my throat. Yes, I’m talking out of my ass. Is Paul Wall’s 15 minutes up yet? I don’t want it to be. Really, he’s talented. I like his flow, but with crap like this, draggin' out 50’s joints like “oh girl” and making a love song rap out of it. I mean, LL Cool J did this shit in '88 and he’s figured it out. Fuck it, dial up timbaland for some crunk juice and flex muscles and shake asses. I thought you understood Paul, I really did. I know you do. Call up Mike Jones, get a truckload of jiggling posteriors, drag Lil Jon away from his boudoir, and drop something real on us. Please don’t make me hear you profess your love for an imaginary hobag anymore. I just can’t take it. Gracias.Ying Yang Twins & Bun B – "Git It"Not the greatest thing ever created, but more crunk like it’s supposed to be. Lil Jon yelling, the twins rapping and hollering about asses, and Bun B dropping by for some requisite wisdom. Gets the job done without being too ambitious, which sometimes is the best idea, especially if someone is in your ear contemplating flipping a Supremes song about that girl he loves so much into a crunk anthem. Run, children, run. Nope, this works, but okay, I’m not crazy about it.Too $hort – "Blow the Whistle"Best song on the album. And not just because I love Too $hort. The beat, the topic, the rhymes, everything comes together to create the perfect crunk song. Even the “blow the whistle” hook with the whistle actually blowing, hey, that’s great. Calling out other players, explaining how he created “beyatch,” not a hint of simping anywhere, heavy beats, sigh, what every crunk song should aspire for. And all it is is classic Short with a little more speed, a little more bass. Short rides it like a pro, which he is. The best thing I’ve heard from the king of East Oakland in quite some time, and he’s been putting it down, so that’s saying something. Love this. Love it.Gucci Mane feat. Mac Breezy – "Go Head""Shorty got an ass on her, gonna pop a rubber band on her." Yeah, okay, fine, you win. This is, um, eh, okay? I’m tired. I give up. Mac Breezy sounds suspiciously like that female rapper that bounced all over No Limit circa 97-99. I can’t remember her name right now. Does pop a rubber band on an ass mean it’s a tight ass or a bouncy ass, or both, or does it matter? Sigh, shalom. I can’t argue with rubber bands and asses. Adios. Music58611@blogcritics.org Wed, 24 Jan 2007 10:11:08 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/09/30/050842.php Berkeley JoeAn interesting slate of WAC games this week. Only one conference game, and it’s crap versus worse crap. One game against 1AA, four bouts against the Benedict Arnolds (aka the Mountain West), one against conference USA (another Benedict Arnold team -- Christ, the old WAC was an unwieldy monstrous pit of a conference. At least it’s not unwieldy anymore, har har), and a road game against a very good ACC team. And away we go.Boise State (+5.5) over UTAHThis spread confuses me a bit. I know it’s a road game, but Boise is getting five and half against a Utah team that got blown out by UCLA to start the season off? Really? The same UCLA that lost to Washington last weekend? I don’t think the country realizes quite yet just how good Boise is.SAN JOSE STATE (+2.5) over San Diego StateThis spread confuses me even more. If I was a betting man, these first two would be my locks of the week. SDSU is terrible. Absolutely terrible. And San Jose actually looks serviceable this year. Do they think Marshall Faulk is still an Aztec? Perplexing. Anyway, I’d be pretty damn surprised if San Jose doesn’t win this game outright, and I’m thinking it won’t really be that close.Idaho (-3) over UTAH STATEAs bad as San Diego State is, they’re the Harlem Globetrotters to the Washington Generals that are Utah State. Idaho is bad, but they’re not this bad. Dennis Erickson is salivating about finally getting another W in the ledger, but you know damn well sure he’s working his kids into a frenzy this week. No game’s a gimme for Idaho, but this one comes close.Colorado State (+12.5) over FRESNO STATEI think Fresno will win, but have a feeling it’ll be close (like all of Fresno’s games this year). Nevada (-3.5) over NEVADA LAS VEGASUNLV is pretty bad this year, and Nevada’s picking up steam. Pretty short road trip, too.CLEMSON (-33.5) over Louisiana TechClemson is damn good this year (they beat Florida State), and Louisiana Tech is looking worse by the week. The one game I mis-called last week was thinking that LA Tech would hold onto some pride and not get blown out by Texas A&M, and, well, they got blown out badly. Expect more of the same, but worse, against a top-tier ACC team on the road.New Mexico State (+16.5) over TEXAS EL PASOThe battle of I-10 will likely be much closer than this number, and the way UTEP’s been freefalling the last couple weeks, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if NMSU actually wins this thing.HAWAII (-31) over Eastern IllinoisA huge spread, but the 'bows (Warriors) still have a bad taste in their mouths from that close loss in Boise last week, and they’ve found a nice 1AA patsy to take their inner angst out on.Last week: 5-1Overall: 10-9-1 Sports53666@blogcritics.org Sat, 30 Sep 2006 05:08:42 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/09/21/232945.php Berkeley JoeWell here we are. Week 4. I'm still ineptly trying to figure out the landscape of the Western Athletic Conference. I slept through Week 1, crapped the bed in Week 2, and woke up in time to put up semi-decent numbers in Week 3.Last week: 4-3-1 Overall: 5-8-1There are six games this week, and all but one are against non-conference competition, but that one conference game should be huge, as it involves a team that has only lost one conference game in the last three seasons (Boise), and a greatly improved up 'n' comer (Hawaii) challenging the juggernauts on their home smurf (turf).(Home teams in Capital letters)NEVADA (-6.5) over Northwestern (Friday game) Northwestern just lost to a top tier 1-AA team New Hampshire, and Nevada just beat a fair-to-midland Colorado State squad last week. I think Nevada's offense is finally rolling and avoiding mistakes, and Northwestern hasn't played anyone this good yet, so a win by a touchdown or more seems reasonable.OREGON STATE (-25) over Idaho I think Idaho is gonna get their asses beat up pretty badly. Not that Oregon State is anything to write home about (they're not), but Idaho is really bad, and the Beavers are probably still pissed about the shellacking they got in Boise a couple weeks ago, and, well what do you know? In comes yet another team from Idaho, here at home, and thankfully these guys suck! Yup, the woodshed awaits for Idaho coach Dennis Erickson, who used to coach the OSU beavers before he jumped to the NFL.Louisiana Tech (+23.5) over TEXAS A&M I just don't think Texas A&M is gonna put that much of a whup down on LA Tech. I mean, yeah, A&M is 3-0, but who have they beat? (Answer: Nobody special.) They almost lost to Army -- Army! -- at home, the same Army team who started off the season losing to Arkansas State. I think the Big 12 mystique and the Aggie brand is inexplicably driving this spread out into preposterous lands, and LA Tech will keep it to at least within a couple touchdowns.BRIGHAM YOUNG (-28.5) over Utah State If Utah State lost to Utah 48-0, then I see no reason why BYU can't beat them by at least 30, especially in Provo. Utah State has been outscored 106-7 this year. Their offense hasn't scored a point. Honestly, they might be the worst 1-A program in the country right now.Hawaii (+15) over BOISE STATE Call me crazy, but I think Hawaii could actually win this game, let alone lose by less than two touchdowns. Boise hasn't really played anybody yet, and UH has, at Alabama, where they held their own and almost came out of Tuscaloosa with a W. UH seems to have a solid defense and a running game that can move the ball several yards at a time and open up the always productive passing numbers that come with June Jones' run 'n shoot offense. Be that as it may, Hawaii is notoriously hard to predict on the road and almost ALWAYS falls apart on Boise's blue carpet, so we'll see. But something tells me this UH team is different, even though we've heard this song and drank this kool-aid before. Now that I've said all those nice things about them, watch them get smoked 53-0. You could not get me to wager on this game with real money, but if I had to because you had my poodle strapped up to electrodes, I'd pick the 'Bows, er, warriors of Manoa. SAN JOSE STATE (-2.5) over Cal Poly Cal Poly is one of the top 1-AA teams in the country, and their defense is so stifling that they sacked Sacramento State's QB five times. That might not sound that impressive in itself, but this is a Sac State O-line that allowed ZERO sacks in their opener against the one and only Boise State. Yeah, San Jose State barely beat Stanford, and barely lost to Washington, and UW barely beat Fresno, but Stanford sucks, and Fresno doesn't seem to be as good a football team (definitely not as disciplined) as I had previously thought. Who knows what those numbers all mean, if anything, as Sac State lost 45-0 to Boise and only 17-10 to Cal Poly. Okay, so, after all that wandering, I'll pick San Jose in what should be a defensive grinder. Sports53277@blogcritics.org Thu, 21 Sep 2006 23:29:45 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/09/20/091544.php Berkeley JoeDepeche Mode is in some rarified company. Along with U2 and a few other bands, they have managed to stay both musically relevant and at the same time push massive units throughout all of the 80’s, 90’s, and even today, never repeating themselves, never going backwards, always stretching, expanding, and wandering creatively. From the beginning, and along the way, they’ve spit in the face of genre and created their own musical forms. Much of what is modern day electronica owes its roots to Depeche Mode, and their effect on the new wave, and what would become “modern” rock is undeniable as well. You’d think after 20 plus years in the biz they’d be content to kick their feet up and stare at glow sticks, but the group is still making music and still searching for a new angle, new sounds, and new ideas. Their latest tour is, from the evidence on their latest concert DVD, Touring the Angel, a revelation. Still present is the old fire. Still there is the attention to detail, the energy, and the endless catalog of hits that you never quite realize Depeche Mode has until they start busting them out one after the other. And the new material is pretty damn impressive as well.The concert is, visually and aurally, just incredible. I saw them at Dodger Stadium for the Violator tour, and as great as that was, and in light of the fog of retrospect, this one looked better - more vibrant, more energy, and the feast for the eyes. Their design crew, construction, the whole nine, deserve a lot of credit. Much of the impact is a result of the polished presentation of the DVD itself. Every camera angle is spot on. Every shot gives you what you need; it pushes the music but doesn’t overwhelm it. As great as it would have been to be at this show (which was filmed in Milan), the digital image is a pretty good substitute and I’d say you actually get a better view. Obviously, nothing can replace the raw experience of being there - the crowd, the excitement, and the energy. If you have some kind of idea stuck in your head the Mode is outdated, old, or past their prime, you need to rethink it. Because to me, and I’ve been a casual fan for most of the 20 years, they look sharper than ever. And the new music, at least the bit I’ve heard, is their best since Violator. This disc is well worth the pickup- the music, the show, and just the realization as you're watching it. As I mentioned, of what an ungodly amount of beautiful and original songs that you know by heart, they keep belting out one after the other. And the timeless quality of their music, it could be 80’s, 90’s, or today, but it all blends into the Mode. It’s an inspiring thing, cause these guys really seem like they care about putting on a show, about touching people, at least for that few hours they’re in the same stadium together. That’s something you just can’t put a price on, which is why they continue to pack arenas wherever they go. Music53146@blogcritics.org Wed, 20 Sep 2006 09:15:44 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/09/15/210131.php Berkeley JoeI know you may not care about WAC football, and it's painful for you that this even exists, but bear with me, I'm an odd duck obsessed with inconsequential things.Fresno State (-3) over WASHINGTONThe bulldogs are just too good and UW is just too bad. Oregon is a damn good team, and a gutsy, well-coached one, and they barely squeaked by FSU. Washington is getting better, but they're still a mess. This could be close, but I think Fresno wins by at least a touchdown, especially after getting fired up by coach Pat Hill all week. Add in that they're still pissed at the Pac-10 in general and I like the Bulldogs in this one, which I said already.Boise State (-7) over WYOMINGBoise is insanely good, I'm telling you. And Wyoming -- even though they barely lost at Virginia last week -- is kind of a tub of crap, and their starting center is gonna be out for this game. Boise's running back is doing his best OJ Simpson (minus the double murder) impression. If anything, this spread seems a bit low to me.Idaho State (+13) over IDAHOIdaho sucks. I mean, they really, really suck. They're borderline 1-AA. Idaho State IS 1AA, but I just can't see Idaho beating anyone -- let alone an in-state rival -- by more than 10 points. Just a gut feeling.Utah (-20) over UTAH STATEUtah State is almost as horrible as Idaho. Utah is coming off a thrashing of a 1-AA team, and I think are ready to prove they can do it against a 1-A team after that rough Week 1 loss to UCLA. I mean, Utah State is really, really bad. Angry Mormons should be heavily involved.Texas Southern (+24) over NEW MEXICO STATEThis spread's too high. NMSU's only win was by 15 against a winless 1-AA team, and Texas Southern is 2-0, albeit against weak competition, and in squeakers. Plus the Aggies' stud running back who led the WAC last season in rushing tore his ACL and is out for the year. I think NMSU wins, but definitely not by 23.NEVADA (-2) over Colorado StateI think Nevada's offense finally gets out of neutral this week, and I don't see Colorado State moving the ball too much on this defense. CSU's two wins have been squeakers and a winless Wolfpack has to be fired up for their home opener.LOUISIANA TECH (-11) over Nicholls StateSpread's a little high for my taste, but yeah, okay. Both of these teams, oddly enough, went to Nebraska and got obliterated, although LA Tech hung around a bit more.HAWAII (-12) over University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV)UNLV's quarterback is gonna be a gametime decision if he plays or not, but no matter what I think UH unleashes the hounds tomorrow night. They played Alabama damn close two weeks ago, and although UNLV looks decent, Aloha Stadium is a very unique atmosphere. UH at home is a totally different animal than on the road. If they barely lost to Bama in the South, you better believe they'll take Vegas out to the woodshed in Halawa Valley.Last week I went 1-5. Let's see if I can suck much less this weekend. The proof will be in the pudding. Sports52945@blogcritics.org Fri, 15 Sep 2006 21:01:31 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/09/08/221106.php Berkeley JoeLet Bill Simmons predict the NFL. I'll take care of the Western Athletic Conference, known better as the WAC.(Home teams in Caps)Idaho (+17) over WASHINGTON STATEAs bad as Idaho is, WSU is no prize either, and Idaho only lost by 10 points to Michigan State in East Lansing last week, so while I think they’ll lose, they should be able to make it at least respectable, and yes I actually just wrote that sentence. SAN JOSE STATE (+10) over StanfordSJSU only lost by 6 on the road at Washington last week, and Stanford ain’t much better than the Huskies (if at all better) and this ones in San Jose, which is actually only a 2 hour drive from Palo Alto, but still -- screw the tree.ARKANSAS (-29) over Utah State This is a huge spread, but Utah State lost by 31 to Wyoming last week on the road, and Wyoming was coming off a 6-game losing streak from last season. Arkansas is much better team than Wyoming. Even though they got blown out by USC, they held on longer than I would have expected and they’re pissed after getting blown out at home.New Mexico (-6.5) over NEW MEXICO STATE NMSU finally got their first win in what must have felt like forever against a 1-AA opponent. New Mexico actually LOST to a 1-AA program at home (although Portland State is a very good 1-AA program, they beat Hawaii at Aloha Stadium a couple years back, and they are at Cal next weekend, which don’t think doesn’t terrify me for the sheer zero upside infinite downside factor of the whole thing). I think they bounce back and squash the Aggies, though, even on the road. FRESNO STATE (+4) over OregonFresno State is, I believe, severely underrated, and Oregon -- a good team and not getting a TON of respect -- is a bit overrated. People still don’t understand how hard it is to win on that Fresno field. This is Fresno, people. You think the populace has anything better to do on a Saturday than pack that stadium and get belligerent? I say they win outright, screw the spread.Nevada (+14.5) over ARIZONA STATEThis spread is way too big. Nevada lost by 9 at Fresno. ASU looks good in the Pac 10, but they don’t have much on the defensive end. Just a hunch, but I think if they win, it won’t be by more than 10.Already played:BOISE STATE over Oregon State (BSU won 42-14)Boise State continues to roll. No surprise there.Until next time, stay wacky, and don’t come bitching at me if you bet and lose, because I don’t condone betting. Or losing. Those things may or may not be illegal in your jurisdiction, and you all know that the police and Judge Johanssen always have your very best interests at heart, even while they’re screaming blood murder at an underground rooster fight at 2 in the morning. Just imagine though, in an imaginary universe, what would happen if you dropped $5 on each of these. Well, we’ll know what happens come Sunday. Gracias. Sports52639@blogcritics.org Fri, 8 Sep 2006 22:11:06 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/08/22/194240.php Berkeley JoeI think it’s safe to say that, unlike many of their... well, I was going to call them brethren, but let’s say contemporaries... Slayer has NOT mellowed with age. Not that anyone ever thought they would, but even the hardest basilisk loses just a smidgen of its ice cold stare when it gets time to bust out a cane to head down to the pantry, right? Well, not these guys. When there’s a picture of Jesus with an eye patch and his hand chopped off on your album cover surrounded by the dead and tortured, a certain presumption can be made that a sellout to the highest bidder and MTV slurpitude has not transpired. And thank Allah that’s not the case, because the depressing trend of slip sliding away to the tune of dollah bills y’all, and I won’t even bust out the laundry list, because comparison is not warranted, take my word or my intimation for it, well, it tends to force myself to question whether any substance lies beneath the surface of man besides looking around the corner to the next chance to dance a jig.Great album, by the way. Heavy, fast, speed metal in a controlled environment. Like when your car spins out of control but you still paradoxically feel a sense of safety as you expertly maneuver the steering wheel through a complicated series of seemingly nonsensical motions to ensure you don’t slam into that wall or off that cliff as your tires water-ski across the skimming reflecting surface, forcing yourself to look into your inner eye as you face both your fears and your strong points, coming to the conclusion that the eye of the abyss might not be such a bad thing after all, and may actually serve to present a side of both the ego and the outer chasm of the cosmos that you never really noticed and, although dark and scary and possibly quite dangerous, the greater peril lies in continued ignorance of said entities.Slayer goes deep into some serious religious issues and animosity within these confines, and that might bother some, but within their rantings and ravings, as is often the case with even the most seemingly mouth-foaming street corner prophets, there are layers upon layers of truth. Religion has killed more people, destroyed more lives, caused more war, more animosity between those that may have been friends, than any other concept most freethinking people could possibly ponder. Once you’ve freed yourself up from the fear of commenting on it in a scathingly critical way, a lot can be scratched away from the underlayer of that particular scab. Satan is, after all, the antithesis of God/Christ (is there a theologian in the house?) and we all know (or maybe we don’t) the rigamarole about how Satan worship isn’t necessarily the worship of some quote unquote “devil” (heavy Luciferic imagery throughout Slayer’s catalog notwithstanding) but rather the fondness for the opposite of organized religion, chaos theory in essence, and I don’t know if this is true, per se, or that it isn’t just a misdirection from a nation of underground satanic goat bleeders trying to keep our eye on the birdie while they reincarnate Beelzebub in our backyard, but hey, what can ya do, it’s just music, it can’t brainwash me, right? Right. So I say enjoy, and give the noggin a spin while your bangin' that head, who knows what you’ll bump into, literally, metaphysically, bloodily? Music51882@blogcritics.org Tue, 22 Aug 2006 19:42:40 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/06/16/093610.php Berkeley JoeI’ll get to Back 2 Da Basics, Yo Gotti’s current album, but I wanted to touch on DJ Drama and Yo Gotti’s “I Told U So," a “The Real King of Memphis Gangsta Grillz Extra.” Unfortunately I couldn’t find it on Amazon. Maybe it’s just so underground that I’m the only one who has it. But it does feature the turntable stylings of DJ “the fuck” Drama. I like that. Can I introduce myself as Berkeley “the fuck” Joe from now on? Why the fuck not, right? I’ll admit, I have virtually no idea who these guys are, but DJ Drama says he makes sure everybody eats. Something about him being called “Mr. Thanksgiving.” Nice! I’m hungry. Any applesauce in the house?Yo Gotti’s got this gravelly voice mixed with a smooth flow that the paradox of which has a little knack for drawing you in. I’m not sure if DJ or Yo is the real "king of gangsta grillz" or if together they make up that entity. Also not sure if this is some kind of response to that Nelly grillz track? Have I uncovered some Memphis Lou war of words and or substance encrusted teeth? Mysteries abound, answers to which I am not privy.Actually on further listening, seems like there’s a beef with Three-6 Mafia. Interesting thereby the whup that ho sounding like “whup that trick,” you know, from that movie, the one homey got nominated for best actor for, and triple-6 won the Oscar for? If you don’t know, holla at me and I’ll explain.Continuing with album analysis, it’s all very dramatic. There’s quite a bit of pomp and circumstance about this album, which can be fun, and can also bog down the noggin with pressure about just what we’re getting into. To have DJ Drama and Yo Gotti put the grain to the salt, what you are about to listen to may be the single most important recording in the history of mankind, and by the way, nobody thought they could do it. PS: they are the real kings of the streets.So there’s that, and that’s something to consider.The first thing you’ll notice when looking at the cover of Yo Gotti’s album Back 2 Da Basics, is that he has a giant gold platinum and diamond encrusted medallion saying “Yo Gotti” hanging from a large chain. This is in case people forget who he is, or in case someone is coming down the street looking for him and can’t find him, I presume.I kid, I kid. I understand the cultural, er, well, industrial (not goth, as in the rap industry) trend towards giant bling: I’m not some country bumkin looking at the rap game like “Oh, those crazy kids with their iced-out laces.” No no, I know. No, really, I know.Sigh. It’s a nice-sounding rap album - what can I say? That Southern sound. Codeine references. Baby and Wayne show up for a track. What is fishscale? Haven’t figured that out. The latest Ghostface album references this also. Is it a drug thing? Someone fill me in. Is a bird now a salmon? I thought the bird ATE the salmon. What the fuck up with that?It takes about 800 years to get thru the intro. There really should and might soon be a law about long intros. I mean you don’t hear rock groups riffing for 15 minutes about “We’re the dopest, we the flyest,” with the same breakbeat just dropping over and over and over again.Li'l rant over. I like the first two tracks, the aforementioned Wayne and Baby guest shot: nice beat, flows nice - always liked Wayne’s flow, even though his pubes poppin have dropped the tenor a bit, and Baby’s always funny. "Full Time": nice single, it works. The hook sounds like Eminem but it just can’t be, they’d be advertising that shit to the gills, unless modern 2006 izms is to have the most famous people on your album and tell no one so as to appear underground.Don’t get me wrong. Yo Gotti’s got something going here. The production is tight. His raps are funky, his oatmeal’s lumpy. I think I’m just jaded and old and it takes something beyond the realm to really knock me out of my psychosis-laced staring at the wall with spittle dripping down my chin; and even then half the time I don’t notice it.If that ain’t a grain of salt then Betty Crocker can’t make a cake for shit. That’s about the best thing that can be said. You’d think that this was a wherewithal coded and confused endorsement of Yo Gotti and his musical wiles, but honestly, I heartily recommend it. I like it quite a bit. I wanna say it reminds me of Young Bleed, but I have no idea why, they’re quite different; maybe the nonstop rappin that sounds like he doesn’t care even though you know he does.If there’s a horse’s head in my bed when I wake up with a blank expression and no breath emanating from my frame in the morning, tell Yo Gotti and DJ Drama good job and that Benjamin would be proud. Music49307@blogcritics.org Fri, 16 Jun 2006 09:36:10 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/03/11/061531.php Berkeley JoeI'm watching this Body Count live DVD, and the main thing I've gotta say is "holy shit." I gotta say I'm impressed. I dug BC back in the day, even though half the people in rap and rock prolly wrote them off as a novelty act. But, man, Ice-T has a very legit, hardcore metal band to bust out songs with, despite the deaths of three of the original members. Apparently shortly after the first album, the original drummer, Beatmaster, died of leukemia. Mooseman, the original bassist, died in a drive-by. So there's been some tragedy, which explains why the crew only dropped two more albums (which I never copped) after their debut. Just as I've put on a bit of a paunch since my college days, so has Ice. And Ernie C (lead guitar) has a few wrinkles around the eyelids, but damn he can go ballistic on a guitar. If you don't remember, or you never knew, BC had some jams, and I never realized how well it would translate to a live show. A song that sounds kinda goofy, if not a little catchy, like "Voodoo," as a studio track, is a perfect rock song live. Simple with extremely heavy hooks, plenty of room to fuck around, and Ice-motherfucking-T belting out the lyrics like a chainsaw dipped in battery acid.Man, you will not see Ernie motherfucking C. put up as some guitar god next to Randy Rhoads or Yngwie, but I am fucking impressed with his overall performance on this disc as well as his solo in "Evil Dick." Unbelievable. I'm not saying God came down from heaven and anointed Ernie with the chalice of wisdom or any shit like that, but it's nice. Very nice. And anybody who says otherwise is probably way smarter or way stupider than me, but I'll throw a few bones on the latter. I just watched it again, and goddamm. Homey is holding his guitar upside down, balancing it like an umbrella on his hand, throwing it on the ground. All this and the thing's still wailing and doing exactly what the fuck he wants it to; his picking is impeccable in its master crafstmanship.The performance is live at the Troubador in L.A., which adds to the intensity as this is Ice's homebase. He went to high school with all the original members, which I didn't know. The group has been out of commission and off the radar for a while (although I guess they had a tour in 2004). So there's the comeback factor, plus they're filming a DVD; it all adds up to a hell of a performance and worth a few bucks to pick this goddamm thing up and crank the volume past 10. Congrats to Body Count on the comeback and I hope we haven't seen the last of them, yet again. Peace.Notice how I made it through this whole thing without mentioning the whole "Cop Killer" controversy? That would be pretty damn 1982 of me, I thought. So discuss it among yourselves if you gotta, but Dan Quayle (was that who it was?) can still eat a dick up. I will say in postscript that looking through the Yahoo reviews I noticed some guy saying he paid a $100 for the original CD with this song on it. Wow. (The song was cut from later pressings due to political pressure.) Makes me glad I grabbed and still have the original. Music44786@blogcritics.org Sat, 11 Mar 2006 06:15:31 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/12/06/212330.php Berkeley JoeAs inane and idiotic as admittedly likely all involved in their creation would attest that these characters were, the other thing even their worse critics would have trouble denying was that they struck a most definite & resounding chord with some segment(s) of society, as well as laid a groundwork for some of the most dominating trends in not only animation but series and feature entertainment for the young adult and old child market overall. Now that you've made it through that monster sentence, soak up the knowledge that, yes, Beavis and Butt-head were pioneers of a sort, blazing a trail of stupidity, showing that you didn't necessarily need cute characters, or animals practicing random violence, or to cover up the tracks of what you were trying to get across to the masses vis a vis some secret code to the youngsters, you could just shoot straight at the gut and parody with devilishly accurate acumen a certain segment of society and make that segment especially as well as many others laugh their asses off, not only at themselves, but at society's reaction to them, and at the blinders that the world puts on thinking that there's just no way that the marginalized can be really that far out on the margin yet sitting right in our own living rooms.Hmmm. Not sure what I meant by that either. Something about how as dated as it seems now, there was just nothing like the original huh-huhers at the time, and honestly there ain't to this day, but there are damn sure a wide array of quality diverse children, grandchildren, and bastard step children. Adult swim, in my eye, directly evolves from MTV's fairly gutsy at the time call to put these two morons on our tv screens. It's odd, furthermore, to think that as much as we complain nowadays about corporate censorship and big brother watching what we're doing in the republican age (and not that I'm saying this is a bad thing, hey, let's keep the red markers at bay by all means), when you consider the hubbub that Beavis & Butthead sniffing paint thinner in their backyard drummed up, it seems like we've got it easy now by comparison. And no this is not a scientific analysis.Anyway, enough pontification. The package comes with 3 DVD's, the first 2 being the best (according to Mike Judge) of the cartoons from the early years. Gems include the classic cornholio (tee-pee for my bunghole) episode, as well as Beavis and Butt-head getting demoted all the way down to kindergarten, wherein Butt-head makes the observation, "Hey Beavis, these chicks are flat." I'm a sucker for the one where they get thrown in the trunk of their idol, Todd's, car for a whole night and then thank their lucky stars they even got to hang out with the skuzzy loser. As for the third disc, it has a lot of extras, including a fairly interesting documentary behind the scenes type deal with interviews and clips and other etcetera. Disc 3 also has some videos on it, complete with our two heroes mercilessly ragging on them and/or praising them, the funniest having to be their evisceration of grim reaper. Ah, the unknown wisdom of the dumb.One thing to be aware of is that many of these episodes are "director's cuts". I'm not sure if this means they cut stuff out, added stuff in, changed things here & there, what have you. I like to think (hope) that series creator Mike Judge, being the original man behind the curtain, made whatever changes he did with an eye toward making them better, not strictly more fit for mass consumption, but seeing as I don't have a crystal clear memory of every episode as I saw them on MTV back when they first aired, I honestly don't know what exact changes were made, or why.Be that as it may, these are some pretty damn funny cartoons, at least to me. With their stupidest fish in the bowl philosophical ideologies, these two brave knights of pop culture weave in and out of our subconscious, as well as pinging random outdated memories that we thought best left on the shelf, providing a high satisfaction rating as well as allowing us to burn time spent watching them on the television without a single brain cell necessitating utilization, except to ponder the imponderables of whether or not you were evenly remotely like that when you were in junior high, and if you weren't, did that make you a better person, or you just thought you had half a brain in your head, considering all the mistakes you made and turns you took and hackneyed ideas that fell apart, maybe you should have just stared at the idiot box and yakked it up without a care in the world? Hey, these guys did and they've created millions of dollars for most everyone involved. They may, like Beavis opined about Korn's music, appeal less to the ear, and more to the sphincter, which is by no means a bad thing. ed:JH Video40623@blogcritics.org Tue, 6 Dec 2005 21:23:30 EST