No Time For American Idol

As you may remember last year, I made lots of posts like this one detailing my thoughts on the latest episode of American Idol.

If you were like most readers of this blog, you quickly skipped over them and wondered why the hell Justin watches that show.

I offer no apologies. It's mindless entertainment. I harmed no one by watching it.

But, having said that, I've given up. That show is way too time consuming. I'm probably not going to watch the premeire tonight, and while I may catch an episode here or there, I don't want to be held captive by the show this year.

So, I suppose this is the end of an era. Or something.

Garfunkel Reads!

Every once in a while, Dara updates us on her progress with The Modern Library's 100 best novels list.

Perhaps next she should tackle the 1,000 books Art Garfunkel has read.

As easy as it is to make fun of Garfunkel for keeping such a meticulous record of what he's read, I have to admit he puts me to shame. I've been reading Team of Rivals for months now, and I've still barely made a dent. Well, to be fair, I haven't really been reading much at all lately... I've been reading like ten pages and putting it down for a month and then reading another 10 pages... At this rate I'll finish it in about 2036.

Garfunkel read Team of Rivals AND 13 other books in 2006. Show off.

Well, I did read other books last year before I stalled with Team of Rivals.... I read In Cold Blood, Moneyball, Letters From The Earth, Angels and Demons, re-read Slaughtherhouse Five, read part of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, maybe some other stuff.....

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees

The 2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees have been announced.

Overall, this is a very, very, good group. All very deserving. Well, I'm not all that familiar with the Ronettes, but I'm not going to pick on a group from the 60s.

The other inductees:

R.E.M.

No complaint here. One of my top five or so favorite bands of all time. And I imagine drummer Bill Berry will reunite with the band for the induction, which will be nice to see.

Van Halen

Very deserving induction here too... They were a very big part of my musical coming-of-age in the 80s. But what's going to happen at the ceremony? Will everyone be there? Will David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar perform together? Will they have a duel? Or will they gang up to take on Eddie Van Halen? Or will former Extreme singer Gary Cherone show up and destroy them all? Watch and see.

My prediction... the real chaos breaks out when R.E.M. tells the crowd to "Stand" while Van Halen simultaneously tells the crowd to "Jump."

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

That's right, boys and girls... Rap finally made it to the Hall of Fame. I don't know if I know a Grandmaster Flash song besides "The Message," but their induction is momentous nonetheless.

Patti Smith

I like her. I've always meant to listen to more of her music than I have.

So very good induction class... and I'm looking forward to the ceremony on VH1.

Ten Pop Culture Things I Liked This Year

Rather than pretending that I've seen enough movies, listened to enough new music, watched enough tv, etc, to prepare any definitive "top ten" lists.... Here's a random selection of ten things I liked this year.

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Heroes



Definitely my favorite new show of the year, quite possibly my favorite show period right now. Or maybe it's tied with.....

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The Office



'cause that show just keeps getting better.

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Thank You For Smoking



Overall, I'd say this is the best movie I saw this year. Maybe it's kind of a lightweight choice, it's obviously not going to win an Oscar or anything, but I can't think of a movie I more thoroughly enjoyed.

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Forest Whitaker



I already put actors who aren't Forest Whitaker on notice, because he gave hands-down the best performance of the year in "Last King of Scotland." Heck. Maybe best performance of the decade thus far. And the little bits I saw of him on ER were good too.

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S.R. Sidarth



Ok, so maybe it's a stretch to put him on a "pop culture" list, but if Time can completely wimp out on the "Person of the Year" thing, just try and stop me from putting "Macaca" on my list.

If you want to pinpoint one event that both showed the power of Youtube AND put the Democrats in control of Congress, it's Sidarth going to a George Allen rally with a camera, videotaping George being a douche bag and uploading it on the internet for the world to see. For this, I salute him and name him The Nose Knows's "Person of the Year."

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The Dixie Chicks



Speaking of politics in pop culture, The Chicks make my list for not backing down from the politics, even if their record sales and tour wasn't as successful as it could have been, and, incidentally, making one of the best albums of the year.

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Tom Petty - Highway Companion



So I never really got around to all my promised Tom Petty posting, but this album pretty much rules.

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Sacha Baron Cohen



This is as much for his performance in "Talladega Nights" as for "Borat."

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Samuel L. Jackson "Snakes on a Plane" phone calls



I never got around to seeing the movie, nor do I really care to, but having Samuel L. Jackson call my friends was definitely a highlight of the year.

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The World Series



Yeah, I kind of liked it this year.