We're clearing out the cobwebs here at Buzz Rant & Rave World HQ. Things are kind of dusty around the server here.
Our focus is music and pop culture-- more specifically, indie rock (and a touch of jazz) particularly in and around NYC, with a touch of television and web culture.
You can also find me (Andrew) blogging about law and policy and playing music with The Bosch.
Instead of writing up a long blogroll that's going to go out of date in a week, we're going to periodically post about sites we like.
Because the Emmys are tonight, here are some of my favorite TV-related web sites (in no particular order):
Dead Tree Critics:
Showrunners and Writers:
I find that learning more about the craft of writing television helps to make me a more educated a consumer of televised entertainment and get more out of watching TV.
In the latest Wired, Dave Itzkoff writes about The Pitchfork Effect: "Though the music industry has seen drastic changes in recent years, what has remained constant is the fact that most listeners still find their music with the assistance of a filter: a reliable source that sifts through millions of tracks to help them choose what they do (and don't) want to hear. The filters we traditionally depended on – music magazines, radio stations, music video channels, even the recommendations of a trusted record store clerk – have diminished in influence enough to give a player like Pitchfork room to operate. Pitchfork is a small site: The traffic it draws is too tiny to be measured by Nielsen//NetRatings. But like the indie bands that are its lifeblood, Pitchfork has found its own way to thrive in an industry that is slowly being niched to death: It influences those who influence others."
Why is the fork the most important web site in indie rock? Does it matter? I, for one, welcome our new indie masters.
This week was viewer's choice on Rock Star: Supernova. What does that mean? We get to hear the remaining supernovices sing songs that other contestants sang earlier in the show. With only 6 songs during the show there was a lot of filler. We must have seen nearly half of this week's reality episode repeated on the performance show, plus a little feature on how each singer felt about their song. Yawn.
As fas as the performances, these were all among the better ones from the entire season.
Lukas, "Lithium." A good cover song will either change up the song from the original in a new an unexpected way or remains more faithful to the original, but simply amplifies what makes the original good. Lukas strove to reimagine the Nirvana song and created a dynamic version. I was less sold on his take than Dave Navarro, but it was a good performance.
Magni, "I Alone." Wasn't Magni the singer in Live? He wasn't? He could well be Ed Kowalczyk's Icelandic doppelgänger. Magni earned an encore performance with "The Dolphin's Cry" and this Live song fit him well, too. Great energy to this performance. But, if he ends in the bottom 3 for another consecutive week, might that spell the end for the Ice-man? Even if it does, that might not be such a bad thing.
Ryan, "Clocks." Ryan looks incredibly awkward whenever he's trying to rock out. And trying to rock out to a Coldplay song is incredibly awkward (even with the House Band de-suckifying it as much as possible.) He's a good performer, but trying to hard to be what Supernova wants.
Storm, "Bring Me to Life." Storm's gotten stuck with some of the worst songs available over the last few weeks. Her performance was solid. Having Toby sing backing vocals shows how confident she is in her performance. But getting stuck with a song that's less memorable and interesting than a Coldplay song did not help her. If she ends up in the bottom three, she's the obvious candidate to go. Supernova doesn't feel her vibe. But, like Magni, I don't want her to win and be subjected to having to become part of Supernova.
Toby, "Rebel Yell." Like Magni, Toby lucked into a song that was perfect for his voice and persona. This was one of the few memorable performances he's given. And, coming after the week when he played with-- and sonded right for-- Supernova, I have to think that he's jumped into the group of leading contenders if not to the front of the pack. Plus, bringing the audience on stage worked for him. (Imagine the awkwardness that will ensue when Ryan tries this...)
Dilana, "Mother, Mother." Dilana also lucked out with a song that was right for her voice. She remains the obvious front-runner, but after hearing both her and Toby sing with Supernova, Toby sounds like a much better fit for the band.
The usual suspects weigh in:
Sepinwall: Rock Star: Impending Doom?: "First of all, can I give a resounding "Boo!" to the "Rock Star" producers for padding the hell out of what could have been an awesome show. You're down to six contestants. You've squeezed as many as 14 performances into an hour; why not let everybody go twice, once with the Fan's Choice and once with their own (whether an original or something from a list of covers)?"
ALOTT5MA: Dilana, the Glass Tigress: "This will be an interesting elimination week, to be sure. No one sucked."
After a long history, the Continental will finish presenting live music in mid-September. I can't say that it will be greatly missed. The best thing about the Continental today is not the sound, the booking, or the ambiance-- it's the happy hour drink prices.
From The Walk Ons last night:
TVSquad gets an early look at Battlestar Galactica season three: "Let me start by saying that you won't be disappointed. I admit I was afraid things were going to be pretty sketchy this season, with the show's creators taking a leap of faith by transplanting the series a year into the future. I'm extremely pleased at how well it's working, and there are lots of hints of promise for what's to come."
Contains mild spoilers, but nothing that hasn't already been leaked. The colonials never catch a break do they? Would Galactica be as good a show if people weren't always in crisis mode? Probably not. That would probably be as interesting as if the next season of 24 is all about Jack Bauer getting stuck in traffic on the way to the beach.
Season 3 premiers with a 2 hour episode (originally two one hour episodes) on October 6.
This page contains all entries posted to Buzz Rant & Rave in August 2006. They are listed from oldest to newest.
September 2006 is the next archive.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.