The Block is Hot

My little weather.com doo-dad says it is 90° today, which is I think the first time that has happened this year. Of course, with all the rain we’ve had lately, who can really remember? At least we finally have a nice weekend and it allowed me to put the top down and pull the doors off the Jeep for a couple days.

However, today I am sitting cooped up inside waiting to test something for work that may or may not be happening. At this point, 2.38pm, I am thinking it either didn’t happen and they didn’t notify my group or they are having troubles and not providing an update. Anyway, I am sweating my t!ts off in my home office and I thought about that title up there.

The title is the title of epsiode 14 in season 1 of The Boondocks. Not only is it a successful newspaper comic strip, but it is also an animated series on the Cartoon Network’s [adult swim]. The episode guide describes:

Jazmine learns the true meaning of “Capitalism” when she sells her lemonade stand to corporate tycoon, Ed Wuncler.

Wuncler is voiced by Ed Asner, so that’s pretty cool. In fact, several actors lend guest voices to different epsiodes, Samuel L. Jackson being one of the other most notable off the top of my head. Anyway, Wuncler promises Jazmine a pony if she makes her sales quota and basically turns her stand into a Starbucks. Riley busts open a hydrant as if he were back in the hood and not in the burbs and of course Huey waits for the unseasonable hot-spell to snap, which it does in favor of snow. If you have a TiVo or Media Center, you should do yourself a favor and set it up to record a few episodes and check them out. It’s a great show.

This got me thinking about other goods that I would suggest for your consumption and I figured, what the hell, I am sitting here with nothing else to do but wait, so why not blog it. So, here’s a small list of items you should watch on the telly:

  1. My Name is Earl – NBC is airing re-runs of the best new show of last year. You’ve probably read Ed espousing its virtues or seen my references to it in some of my posts. One of my favorite episodes, Joy’s Wedding, aired last week.
  2. The Office – I think more people are on-board with this one, but NBC is also airing re-run episodes this Summer and they are also available on iTunes. Don’t forget that the new Webisodes start on July 13th.
  3. Lost – Again, everyone has probably read Ed’s Lost reviews… except me. Since I am Media Center’s beeyotch, I have eight episodes still to watch. This is mainly due to the fact I did a poor job of keeping track of space a month and a half ago and it started deleting stuff to make room for new stuff. That was my bad, not MC’s. Anyway, I am waiting for ABC to repeat Maternity Leave and The Whole Truth before I can watch the rest. I could hit up iTunes, but the size is too small and I don’t want Baldbeard downloading anything on my behalf. I can’t become an accomplice in his eventual trial. The good news is ABC is showing two episodes every Wednesday night, so I shouldn’t have to wait too much longer.
  4. The Loop – I wish Fox would air a re-run run of this midseason show. It is renewed for next year, but I missed two episodes of the seven due to the same MC screw-up. Mimi Rogers and Philip Baker Hall make this show great as sexually harrassing and politically incorrect bosses respectively. If Fox does happen to show this during the Summer, check it out.
  5. Smallville – With Superman Returns just around the corner, check out an episode of Smallville on the WB. They had a really strong season this year and it will run next year on the new CW network.

Want some Summer tunes instead? I have the following in heavy rotation at the moment (links are to iTunes so you can preview):

  1. St. Elsewhere (Gnarls Barkley) – I really don’t know much about Cee-Lo other than he’s a member of the Goodie Mob, whatever that is. Just from that statement, you might gather I’m not real educated in Hip-Hop and you’d be right, but I appreciate what I like and this reminds me a lot of OutKast. You’ve prolly heard “Crazy” on the radio and it is very, very good. The whole disc is great. The other *member* of Gnarls is Danger Mouse and I know him from Gorillaz, The Gray Album and…
  2. The Mouse and the Mask (Danger Doom) – Danger Mouse collaborates with MF Doom and the [adult swim] guys to produce a disc chock full of goodness. Each song is based on an [adult swim] show and features an abundent use of show samples and new content specifically for the disc. I am of course most partial to the Aqua Teen Hunger Force tracks, but again, the entire disc is great.
  3. Occult Hymn EP (Danger Doom) – I just downloaded this from the [adult swim] site while gathering links for this post. It’s a follow-on to #2 and has a few new cuts, a couple remixes and some skits. Sounds okay on first spin and best of all, it is free for download.
  4. December Underground (AFI) – The only problem I have with this disc is it didn’t include “Rabbits are Roadkill on Rt. 37,” so I just bought that from iTunes. Their last disc (Sing the Sorrow) was excellent and this one is even better. It has a good mix of sound in terms of fast, slow, heavy, ballad, etc. They are an alternative band, so not for everyone I guess, but they have been in the Top 10 on iTunes for the last couple weeks.
  5. The Black Magic Show (Elefant) – Another alternative disc, but not so heavy. I can see this kind of stuff getting mainstream play or showing up on WB and Fox shows, and it probably has done both. My favorite song is “Sirens,” the 1st single is “Lolita” and the rest of the disc is also solid.

The one disc I thought would be crazy Summer cool was Stadium Arcadium from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but after five or so spins thru the double-album I am underwhelmed. It might be the product of it being so long, much like my overall feeling of the last Foo Fighters’ disc, In Your Honor. I have a hard time with double albums because usually you could compress it down to a single length and it would be a great disc. Maybe it’s just a mindset, but I’m going to keep listening to it and maybe it will grow on me some more.

Anyway, that’s some Summer viewing and listening selections. I think I am going to start writing more mini-reviews for music, so more to come. If you ever find yourself wondering what I am listening to, you can always check out my profile on last.fm and look over my weekly charts and such.

I’m tired of waiting for work, I need to find me a lemonade stand.