Monday, November 30, 2009

Hear N' Aid "Stars"

Oh.. my.. god.. I can't believe no one ever told me this existed. This is one of the most amazing things I've ever fucking seen. I'm not kidding.

Shit starts getting real around 2:30 when a "trading 8's" guitar solo marathon starts up.. and sadly it's one of the most boring guitar solos I've ever heard in my life. And then shit gets the most real around 6:12 when the snapshots close out this mighty mammoth.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

best of 2009 mix is up

Now here's the deal, see.. Muxtape was way 2008 and I miss it to death, so I found another resource that is similar, but not as good. It's called "8tracks," and I was under the assumption that mixes could only be 8 songs long, but they let me upload 30, so I figured what the hell.. 30 songs from 2009 that I am recommending. You can listen while you clean your room or masturbate or whatever. Here's the link..

http://8tracks.com/mfalc/mfalc-s-2009-mix

One thing that's weird about 8track.com is that the order is chosen randomly after you listen to the mix once through. I tried to think of a good order anyway.. It kicks off with the new Animal Collective song that now famously includes "the first ever officially licensed Grateful Dead sample" or whatever. I don't normally go apeshit over AC, but JEEZ.. This new one is hypnotic x 99999. Planning on meditating soon? This might help.

Elsewhere in the mix are lots of recent hiphop tracks, including this southern dude Pill who deserves to blow up in 2010.. Towards the end are album tracks from Taylor Swift and Lady GaGa which I guilty pleasure love.. And somewhere in the middle is that epic, brilliant, amazing Sufjan Stevens track off the Dark Was The Night comp. The rest are all surprises.. mostly stuff I listen to a lot in my car.

http://8tracks.com/mfalc/mfalc-s-2009-mix

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Best TV Clips 2000-2009: Part Two

Continuing with our series, tonight we enter the spectrum of "scripted" TV clips, a subjective term considering how improvisation likely played a part in the majority of these. One point worth noting: Taste My Kids vastly prefers Comedy TV to Drama TV for many reasons, so the "spectrum" in this case is actually not all that inclusive. Most of the best clips from drama shows are best enjoyed while watching an entire episode anyway, whereas comedy clips can easily be explained or taken out of context and still enjoyed.

If drama were included, Edgar's death scene in Season 5 of 24 would have made the cut, since it's one of the saddest things ever shown on TV. But there's no Youtube clip. So it's not very useful here.

Law And Order: SVU deserves special inclusion as well since every episode seems so dense with story and has consistently remained one of the darkest shows on network TV. (It's a show centered around the theme of sexual assault, so I don't see how this point is debatable.) However, choosing a best moment from SVU is kind of impossible and pointless, and there are hardly any good Youtube clips anyway.

Also not on Youtube: Freaks And Geeks. A personal favorite episode of mine is the first one I ever saw from January 2000, where Sam, Neil and Bill befriend the "new girl" and bring her along to shoot off model rockets, while Lindsay and her freak friends visit Jason Schwartzman at his retail store to inquire about purchasing horribly made fake ID's. Brilliant lolz, melancholy, nerdier than Weezer, awkward teenage storytelling at its finest.. Freaks And Geeks is possibly the best TV show of the decade. But unfortunately, there's no clips available on the internet.

Dexter headbutting Doakes is on Youtube, however, and it fucking rules, so we'll just post this now before shit gets official..

Dexter: Kicking some ass (November 11, 2007)
So here's the thing.. I'm unable to bring myself to embed this video or other "drama" clips, since most of them technically count as spoilers for those who haven't seen the show. But here's the link for anyone who wants to know what some good non-comedy TV looks like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2OEmZFRxvA

Moving on, here's some of "scripted" TV's most amazing moments...

The Office (UK): Dancing for Charity (October 28, 2002)


Sealab 2021: Bizarro (November 17, 2002)
Full episode available at livevideo.com.
Youtube has the full episode in Spanish, which I guess is better than nothing...


Curb Your Enthusiasm: Tourette's Chef (November 17, 2002)


Arrested Development: A Magician Named Gob (January 4, 2004)


Chappelle’s Show: Rick James (February 11, 2004)
"Making The Band" is still the best Chappelle's Show sketch, which would have been posted instead except the only Youtube clip has highly distorted sound. Anyway, here's some Rick James...


Wonder Showzen: Patience (April 25, 2005)
If this were a countdown list, this would have probably made it to #1. It's a great world afterall when something like this can make it onto primetime MTV. And if your patience is actually strong enough to sit through 60 seconds of ads, here's the full episode at MTV.com.


Wonder Showzen: Horse Apples (May 12, 2006)
Wonder Showzen clips are hard to find on Youtube, but luckily the full episode titled Mathematics is currently available at livevideo.com. It's definitely worth 20 minutes of your life.


Tim And Eric Awesome Show Great Job!: Lazy Horse Mattress And Bedding Supply (March 25, 2007)
Better than anything Will Forte's done on SNL...


South Park: Imaginationland (October 17, 24, & 31, 2007)
Probably the best thing Trey and Matt have ever done... and the DVD set with all 3 episodes strung together as a 70 minute movie is even better. There's no South Park on Youtube, so here's the official Season 11 link: http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/season/11/

Human Giant: Will Arnett sex tape (March 18, 2008)

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Nirvana: Live At Reading


Pitchfork review

Nirvana's first true live album was released 3 weeks ago, in both a DVD and CD (or 3-LP vinyl) format. I'm considering buying it on CD (LOL) because it's probably the best live album I've ever heard. ... No, seriously. Up until now, 1994's Unplugged In New York was the closest thing to "Nirvana live in concert" that has ever been released commercially. 2 years later, Muddy Banks was released. At the time, this was considered the first "live" Nirvana album, and so it was included in SPIN's top 20 albums of 1996. However, most fans who knew better recognized it as a shitty comp, eclipsed in quality by several bootleg releases. (Both Muddy Banks and Live At Reading contain the same version of "tourette's.")

This is the album that should have been released in 1996 instead. I'm not sure why the decision to release such an inferior compilation was ever made, especially since all Nirvana product leading up to that point had been so outstanding. But the wait has ended, and one of their 5 best shows ever can now be enjoyed with sparkling pristine digital enhancement. Out of the few Nirvana concerts I've heard, this one is definitely my favorite, in part because Nirvana rarely did encores, and here the encore was 8-songs long (about half the length of the set that preceeded it) including 3 covers ("Love Buzz," "The Money Will Roll Right In," and "D-7").

For those who enjoy comparing the live sound of pre-Nevermind vs. post-Nevermind, another great Nirvana concert from early 1990 was included as the 11 bonus tracks on the recent Bleach reissue. It's good stuff. I promise.

Edit: Upon reading the lukewarm "7 out of 10" review from Drowned In Sound, it's been revealed that much of the "stage banter" has been omitted from the CD release, including their 30-second tease-cover of "More Than A Feeling" (with lead vocal screaming from Grohl and Chris) played prior to "Smells Like Teen Spirit," essentially removing some of the "live" feel found on the DVD and on bootlegs.

$15.00 is a lot of money. Decisions........hmmm.....

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Best TV Clips 2000-2009: Part One

After "The Decade In Animation," Taste My Kids planned on completing the decade-end feature with 3 different sets of TV clips.. Amazing clips from reality TV, some amazing scripted TV moments, and amazing music performances. These will all be coming over the next few days. Today, we'll start with some amazing reality clips, or at least some of the best that can currently be found over youtube..

The Tom Green Show: Tom Brings Monica To Canada (February 14, 2000)
The Youtube channel TomGreenSketches is an outstanding resource for many of the best clips that were aired throughout 1999. However, only one Youtube clip currently exists from the special episode that guest starred Monica Lewinsky, which was this show's first new episode of the decade. I have this episode on tape somewhere, but I'm afraid to uploaded it, since Youtube would prolly remove it due to "copyright restrictions." Emo sigh...


The Tom Green Show: Tom Green's Cancer Special (May 11, 2000)
Walking the line between "brave" and "juvenile" ... This was probably Tom Green's most profound TV statement, which actually helped some American MTV viewers to identify testicular cancer and seek early treatment.


Jackass: The Hearse (May 23, 2000)


VMA's: Tim from Rage crashes the stage(September 7, 2000)
The best quality clip I could find has some guy translating over it, which is actually funny in itself. I'm imagining the translator looks like Borat.


Tech TV's Call-For-Help-A-Thon (December 26, 2001)


Celebrity Boxing: Danny Bonaduce vs Barry Williams (March 13, 2002)


Crashing With Andrew WK (November 2002)
I'm unsure if this was supposed to be a one-time "special" type of TV event, or if this was the pilot to what was intended to possibly launch a series. Either way, it's not on youtube, but there are Windows Media and Quicktime clips at Andrew's website..

Check this shit out.

Cheaters: Paintball attack (February 13, 2003)


Cheaters: Joey Greco stabbed (March 20, 2003)
If this were a countdown list, this clip would have been a serious contender for the #1 TV moment of the decade. Until recently, that is.. The November 3, 2009 episode of Inside Edition included a segment regarding their own investigation into the possibility that many of the segments on Cheaters, including the 2003 stabbing incident, may have been scripted. Judge for yourself...


And here's a link to the Inside Edition segment: Check this shit out.

Da Ali G Show: Borat sings "Throw The Jew Down The Well" (August 1, 2004)
I recall having this song stuck in my head fairly often throughout August 2004. That Borat can write some mighty catchy tunez.


Crossfire: Jon Stewart (October 15, 2004)
This clip eventually became the third most popular video of all time on iFilm.com, and partially helped in getting Crossfire cancelled 3 months later.


Too Late With Adam Carolla: Steve-O high as fuck (September 26, 2005)
Carolla was simply never able to get the audience to laugh, which is one huge aspect that made his short-lived late night talk show unbearably difficult to watch. Steve-O's guest appearance did little to increase audience reaction, but it still stands as one of the biggest WTF moments of recent TV history.


Showdogs Moms And Dads: Pink-haired lady's dog bites her vagina (November 2005)
This became a popular clip on the E! pop-culture show The Soup. I recall being bored on a weeknight and sitting in my mom's basement, videotaping random TV clips for the Al compilation tape I was making, and my sister called me around 10:30PM and said something to the effect of "Michael! Turn on Bravo NOW!" It sounded important, so I switched channels and pressed record, and about 4 minutes later, I had this clip on tape and was decently stunned that this lady would consent to show a clip of her talking about her vagina on a basic cable reality show.


Wildboyz: The Elk Hump (February 10, 2006)


Maury: Dude who looks like Coolio recieves paternity results (February 12, 2007)


Intervention: Allison (August 18, 2008)

Monday, November 16, 2009

"An Eluardian Instance"

Dope clip.. except for Dave Letterdouche himself who is not dope at all.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

"The Prophet Song"

Freddie starts kicking ass around 3:00 in this..

Late Night Noise link

Keeping Taste My Kids alive is turning out to be more difficult than I had imagined.. When I actually have a few minutes to relax and do nothing, I can never think of all the shit I wanted to write about while I was busy and rushed.

There's a new blog with playlists for my radio show which later will also include lots of downloadable music and videos and pictures n stuff..

http://latenightnoisefm.blogspot.com/

As of right now, it's pretty much only playlists.. There isn't even a description of the show. But it's all coming soon..

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Sesame Street 40th anniversary

Sadly, it's bound to happen at some point.. The shittiness that pop culture foists upon America will ultimately steer us into a direction in which parents and teachers no longer consider Sesame Street a vital developmental tool for pre-school children. And at some point in the next 10 to 25 years, it will probably get cancelled. We seem to be in a good spot for now, however, since even in 2009, Elmo has remained as popular as ever. And the guy who does Elmo's puppeteering and voice is still decently young in comparison to the old-timers like Frank Oz, who unfortunately retired from The Muppets and Sesame Street in 2008, or Caroll Spinney who is still performing as Big Bird and Oscar The Grouch at age 75.

The bottom line: Sesame Street is clearly one of the greatest shows of all time, obviously because of the knowledge children gain from it, and less obviously and perhaps equally important, because of the surprisingly great entertainment value it offers due to the talent of the puppeteers. I'd like to think that puppeteering chemistry from a duo like Jim Henson and Frank Oz may be something we could witness from future Sesame Street characters, but as far as I can tell the funniest and best moments of this show to date are in episodes from the 70's and 80's.

Which brings us to the reason for this post.. CNN posted this article on Thursday morning: 'Sesame Street's' been swept, but the magic of show remains, a well-meaning but ultimately flawed tribute...

On the DVDs, Cookie Monster can be seen as his character of Alistair Cookie in his "Monsterpiece Theatre" segment (a spoof of Alistair Cooke's "Masterpiece Theatre") smoking a pipe. Yep, Cookie Monster smoked.

This is the first I've heard of anyone criticizing Cookie Monster for being a smoker, simply an egregiously incorrect conclusion. Even as a 3-year-old kid, I was able to figure out that Cookie's pipe was simply a prop, included for the sake of parody. No smoke comes out of it. And at the end of the sketch, he eats the pipe. It's a joke.

Today, Cookie Monster's diet is much more balanced, as he has adopted the philosophy that cookies are a "sometimes food." Cookie coincidentally changed his tune in 2006 amidst reports that childhood obesity had reached epidemic proportions.

See, here's the thing about Cookie Monster.. And this may be from only one perspective, but he never once made me crave cookies, partially because his TV cookies always looked like cardboard. And also because IT'S A JOKE. Humor was sacrificed due to a problem that has far more to do with McDonald's. Pretty sad.

Those early years are now available on DVD; and the discs contain a disclaimer that essentially states that they are intended for nostalgia purposes only. The warning reads as follows: "These early 'Sesame Street' episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today's preschool child." ... For better or worse, today's preschooler is very different from the 1969 version. And children's television programming simply has to reflect that.

Call me crazy, but "today's pre-schooler" is exactly the same as he or she has ever been. The only thing that's changed is what's considered PC, and what teachers and parents now think our kids should be consuming.

Gob Bluth On Sesame Street

For whatever reason, Will Arnett wasn't allowed to use his character's name from Arrested Development when he appeared on Sesame Street last year, so instead the name was changed to Max The Magician. It's still huge lols regardless.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

terrible, TERRIBLE band names

Oh, the horror... (in no particular order)...

#1 AIDS Wolf
#2 Casiotone For The Painfully Alone
#3 I'm A Fucking Gymnist
#4 LMFAO
#5 Margot And The Nuclear So-And-So's

That last one at #5 is the result of a guy who decided to name 2 bands after references to The Royal Tenenbaums. It's a truly sad thing when the meaning of a shitty band name cannot be improved upon learning the context of its origin.

I feel bad including #2 because Casiotone did the music for a movie called Stay The Same Never Change which is one of my favorite movies of 2009, but even so, I find it very difficult to get past such a fucking horrendously shitty name..

#6 Say Hi To Your Mom
#7 Dogs Die In Hot Cars
#8 Dananananaykord
#9 Working For A Nuclear Free City
#10 Cute Is What We Aim For
#11 Natalie Portman's Shaved Head
#12 Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.
#13 The Boy Least Likely To
#14 I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness
#15 1990s
#16 Does It Offend You, Yeah?

I was informed that the name at #16 was chosen completely at random, after turning on the TV and hearing Ricky Gervais on The Office (UK) asking that exact question. I'll give this band credit for admitting that they weren't trying AT ALL when their name was chosen.

#17 The Whitest Boy Alive
#18 John Vanderslice
#19 Cage The Elephant
#20 G Love & Special Sauce

Before continuing, I'll just stop here for a second, and remind everyone that the majority of these are band names, as opposed to solo acts, which means that more than one person had to agree upon these names to represent their music.. Moving on...

#21 The String Cheese Incident
#22 They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
#23 Hoobastank
#24 Hockey
#25 SHeDAISY
#26 Finger Eleven
#27 Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash
#28 Bowling for Soup
#29 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
#30 Los Lonely Boys
#31 Boyzone
#32 Death Cab For Cutie
#33 You Say Party! We Say Die!
#34 Blue Skies At War
#35 The Music
#36 Da Band

I feel bad including recent bands who have produced music I actually enjoy.. For example, the recent album from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart is pretty kickass, so I had a hard time including them here, but OMFG if there was ever a shitty band name... Also same with Godspeed You Black Emperor..