This isn't an official AC Flix review.
We just got back from the new Ice Age film, which we really enjoyed. A vast improvement over the first installment.

The comment I would like to make, though, is that the creators or marketers of the film need to be congratulated for their efforts to take the "2" out of the title of the film. It's so much stronger to be called Ice Age: The Meltdown, instead of Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. I know it's not much different, but it places the movie in the midst of a saga, like it's an epic tale, and we're just giving you this one little bit right now. I love that. I feel so much more like I am part of something, instead of just watching another standalone chunk that Hollywood was kind enough to drop in our theatre.

Yes, the movie was all right. It deserves accolades. But in my opinion, where it really shined was in the title bout.

All assail.

I have to make this quick,
because otherwise I will rant for-freakin'-ever.
(Is that a hollow threat, yet?)

Last week, Kevin got voted off of American Idol. And I was thrilled.

I had no opinion on that guy's actual talent... Nor on his looks... But here's why I thought it was time for him to go home.

There's this theory I've been developing for a while, called "The Voice of Entitlement," and essentially, I postulate that a generation raised with insanely easy access to information, possessions, and comfort tends to approach the world from an entitled perspective.

Kevin was pure embodiment of this. Scarily so. As soon as the guy got his "Golden Ticket" (A phrase that always makes me want a Scrum-diddly-umptious Wonka bar), the guy became all ego. He wasn't quite pompous, and he certainly didn't approach his middling fame with irony. He just thought he freakin' deserved it. My opinion is that he didn't... Since he was at the big dance, he should have shown humility, grace, and gratitude. Instead, he claimed he was a sex symbol (again, no irony...) and seemed angry when he was voted out. Not sad, angry. Like he wanted to blame someone.

America...
He was blaming you.

But for all of us that are fighting the VOE, I say:
America...
God Bless You.

In short, most of the people that have been voted out so far have approached the world with VOE convictions. But we seem to be keeping the ones that have the mix of understanding and empathy. Any guesses on where I think the remaining contestants fall? I'll toss you a gimme: Taylor does not speak with the Voice of Entitlement...

All assail.

My AC pal Bob issues this open challenge:

Is there a worse pairing of song and image than Weight Watchers using "Song for the Lonely" to get people to sign up for their program?

Well, assailers? Is there?

Blogger Michele Collins already "weighed" in. Warning, she's a caustic firecracker. But you will laugh. (What sells the post for me: she uses the word 'geen.' I know she doesn't care, but that earns her 5 Cool Points. I love it...):

http://youcantmakeitup.blogspot.com/2006/01/open-letter-to-weight-watchers.html

Hay!

Some bands from Portland wanted to pay tribute to the amazing, complex mind and melody of the late Elliot Smith. Their album came out a few months ago, and it's a covers album called To: Elliot, From: Portland. Reviews on it haven't been too good. If you're a big Elliot fan, you'll likely be upset by bands like The Helio Sequence and The Decemberists taking cracks at pieces of Smith's small, revered catalog.

But I implore you, please.
Give Matthews a chance. He's a real musician. Trained since a child, and still willing to learn and grow, all of his talents show in his number, "Needle in the Hay." Strings, horns, and chill, reverent vocals. I honestly think this is one track that Elliot would be proud of, if not be inspired by.

Thanks Eric, for doing the memory proud.

I notice there's already been a tribute to Elliot. If anyone has any words to say about that, or (of course) the To: Elliot disc, then by all means:

All assail!

I'm gonna sleep like a baby tonight.
I'm tripping happy right now.

We've got a real discussion going on in one of our earlier posts. And it's gotten to a point where we're barely even talking about the original smarmy comments! This is what the site is supposed to be about! JOIN THE FRAY! It's exhilarating!

See what I mean!

So, Looking at the liner notes for DJ Kicks.
And it appears that Annie is Norwegian.

I sincerely apologize.

So that just leaves me with a Female Musicians jones on this one.

I guess I can live with that.

All assail.

Continuing my adoration of Things British (and Female Musicians)...
I just received my DJ Kicks (Annie Edition) CD from Amazon.

I'm 1.5 tracks in, and I'm feeling that new-CD love/elation already.
Show me the goods Annie!

All Assail.

Looking through last week's Target ad,
I noticed that Prince released a greatest hits CD and titled it
Ultimate

Fine,
But if you ask the crew at Assailable Cool,
I'm afraid that His Purpleness has missed a great opportunity.

If we were Prince, and we released a greatest hit CD,
we would have called it:

Ultra Violet

All assail!

Okay,

I really, really want to go into a long dissertation about the death of the ironic and sardonic in popular culture. I personally postulate that there is a distinctive link between the drop in our estimation of the ironic in our world and the acceptance of the current state of our country and our lives. But I don't have time for that. (Is that ironic?)

Instead, I'd like to ask for some help in explaining the mad phenom of the SNL Digital Short "Lazy Sunday." Don't get me wrong, please. I think it's funny. Really funny.

But let's take a minute to discuss the history of the clip, then we'll dissect.

The clip first aired mid-December. It's just a little ditty about Chris and Adam (Parnell and Samborg) getting riled up to go see a movie. If you haven't seen this yet, please go online and try to find it. iTunes has it for sale, but I'm hoping you have better things to do with your money...

So the thing aired, and since the history of the group behind it (Lonely Island) is used to distributing video for free, they slipped it on to YouTube and let the Internet denizens ch-ch-check it out. It spread like wildfirefox. At about 1.2 million views on YouTube, NBC asked them to take it off so they could get some revenue from the clip on iTunes. Fine.

But there's still something going on over at YouTube. If you search for "Lazy Sunday," you're gonna see almost 200 listings. None of them are the SNL sketch, but some of them are very well crafted parodies of said sketch. Most are crappy retreads... But the democratic nature of YouTube means that you'll get at-a-glance ideas of what ones are all right, and what ones deserve to be on YouSuck.com (note: YouSuck.com is not a real site at the time of this writing, and should it become one, we profess no affiliation...unless they want to pay us for it...)

Now, I like creative sparks. I give mad props to the Digital Short folks for inspiring such madness and devotion. But I'm just not sure it's deserved. And how weird to be in a place where we now all have effortless access to parodies of parodies that regular people made... It's hard to keep up...

Oh yeah, the point:
"Lazy Sunday" is funny. But is it funny enough to inspire parody and homage? I can tell you that I wasn't very inspired, and I'm a guy that's had major creative bursts from things like potholes and studying the Iran/Contra affair. To me, it's empty funny. Junk food funny. I'm not saying I expect SNL to take me over the top to genius. I've watched it enough to keep my love for the show at arm's-length. But is this clip some sort of a turning point? It won't be long (if it hasn't already been) that the clip will be seen more by people on the web than by people watching the broadcast.

I would be more understanding of the love for this short if it was strong on Irony (Capital, yo!) and less reliant on Non Sequiter to get its humor.

All Assail.

The Arctic Monkeys will be on Saturday Night Live with Oscar-nominee (???) Matt Dillon this Saturday, March 11, 2006.

For those that think they might be the Next Big Thing...

Who knows? It could be bigger than Lazy Freakin' Sunday.

Then, get your butt back here and post about the show.

Laters.