These Pretzels are Making Me Thirsty!

Hey, hey, holy mackerel! How's life my fellow Internet mongoloids? Doing well here at the Webby Files headquarters. I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate all of the messages/emails that I've received regarding this blog. We're basically a couple of weeks into this thing and I'm definitely enjoying it more than I thought I would. Thanks for checking it out from time to time.

I'm taking ten songs that I've written over the last month into the studio on Thursday (a week from today) for a long weekend of recording/drinking/hanging out with my music friends and so forth. I'm really looking forward to it. I haven't recorded anything for about four years so this is very exciting for me. Hopefully it turns out as well as I imagine it turning out in my head. Right now these songs are just acoustic skeletons waiting to be layered and layered into a human being full of life and wonder. Hopefully within a month or so I'll be playing some shows around Chicagoland (either acoustically or with an entire band) to satisfy my musical urges that I've been having for the past couple of years. Who knows where it goes from there? (Probably not too far...but FUN and REWARDING none the less.)

Has anyone checked out the fairly new show on Comedy Central "Tosh.0?" Wow. I've been a fan of the comedian Daniel Tosh for quite sometime (thank you Laurence for turning me on to him), so naturally I was excited when I found out that he was getting his own show. However, I generally find myself being very disappointed with anything that's on cable TV. So far with this show, not the case. I actually find myself laughing out loud...partly because of how stupid the people of the Internet are (yes, I know that I'm typing a blog right now), but mostly because of his injections of humor in between the videos. He's hysterical. If you haven't seen the show, it airs on Comedy Central Thursdays at 9pm.

I'm thrilled that I like Tosh.0 so much because I'm finding that I'm getting harder and harder to please when it comes to movies/music/television these days. It sucks. I don't know what my problem is, but I seem to go into everything with super high expectations, and then I'm ultimately "let down" when those expectations aren't met. For Example: Everyone loved the movie "The Hangover." I was told by several of my friends to bring a diaper to the theater because I would literally shit my pants. So of course I brought a package of "Huggies" to the show, and I didn't even have to open it. I think I laughed maybe four times (half of the laughs were during the closing credits). Don't get me wrong, it was a decent comedy, but it didn't stand out to me as anything special. I guess my expectations were too high. I also saw "Bruno" last weekend. I think I laughed about five times during this one. I thought that it was better than "The Hangover," but it definitely wasn't that shocking or provocative. It was just OK.

I watch "Seinfeld" everyday. It never let's me down (except for the final season...no Larry David influence.) "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is the ONLY current sitcom-esque show that I watch, and they only do about 10 episodes every other year. I also enjoy "Real Time with Bill Maher." As far as television goes, that's about it. I don't like "Entourage," I HATE reality TV of any kind, and I can't get into any action based shows if they're on "basic cable." I can't watch "24" or "CSI Tallahassee" because if it's on basic cable, then they can't say and do the actual things that a person would do if they were in a "messy situation." There's NO cussing, NO graphic violence, and NO nudity...it's just NOT realistic to me.

The last five movies that I've seen that I REALLY enjoyed, and would give four stars too are as follows:

"Burn After Reading" Outstanding dark comedy by the Coen Brothers. 2008

"Religulous" Bill Maher's look at all of the different religions. 2008

"No Country for Old Men" Another great movie from the Coen Brothers (all-time great). 2007

"The Departed" Scorcese finally won an Oscar for this one. 2006

"Kill Bill Vol. 2" Tarantino's conclusion to the "Kill Bill" revenge movie. 2004

There you have it. I have to go back five years just to make a list of the last five movies that I've seen that I really enjoyed. That's ridiculous. I don't know what my deal is, but it seems that I need one of the best directors of this era (Coen Bros., Scorcese, Tarantino) or a documentary about something that I feel very strongly about (the scariness of religion) to get full enjoyment out of a picture these days. I've turned into something that I can't stand...a pop culture snob.

I'd love any recommendations on TV/movies/music that you think would satisfy my endless craving for something that isn't completely watered down and/or repetitive and unoriginal. I'm dying here:)

Please hit me up on facebook or in the comments section of this blog. Right now I'm listening to
"Do You Pray" by Chuck Ragan, one of my all time favorite guys. Drinks of Choice: PBR is always satisfying, cheap.

Peace the F.
Webby