Saturday, November 29, 2008

The Simple Joy... and tragic Demise... of the Mix Tape.


Modern convenient music. We all love it. I mean say you want to hear ... Borderline... you used to have to walk to your CD shelf... run down the cases for your copy of "Madonna" or "The Immaculate Collection" take it ALL the way back to your computer or stereo... put the CD in, skip to the right track... PHEW I am exhausted just THINKING about all that work. Where's my Limewire. Search, Download (if you haven't already downloaded or ripped it already, I mean come on.... it's BORDERLINE.... it should come pre-installed on all new computers. You heard me Bill!) Play. Three steps. Simple enough. But it's not all rainbows and kittens my friends... there is a dark side to our musical A.D.D. ... that dark side.... is the death of the mix tape.

Ah the mix tape... was there any simpler yet blazingly complex way to show your emotions. You wanted to secretly let your friend know you pined for them...Mix Tape. You wanted a personal soundtrack for your tears and binge eating.... Mix Tape. You wanted that extra special night to be JUST that more special... you guessed it... Mix Tape. Sadly though, in this modern age of MP3's, IPods and instant musical gratification, we no longer have the drive to sit for hours with CDs and cassettes spread around us in a fan, studying with furrowed brow, choosing just the right songs in just the right order to properly express your love, pain, devotion, desire to tell someone they suck in that polite upbeat way that only a collection of random songs can. Sure... you can load up your IPod with they songs you love... but is it really the same? Do you really put the heart and soul into your IPod that you did into your secret stash of emotional plastic cases? I don't think so... and while you can strut around with your own music happily blasting in your ear buds.... what about your friends... the people who may not understand what you are thinking... without that little nugget of audio delight delivered to them with love (or hate) in a maxell case?

I say... We need to find a way ... to bring back the mix tape... Playlists don't do it... Saying "Hey I heard 'Crazy For You' and it made me think of you" not the same...

Bring back the mix tape... It may just be what this world is missing.

Monday, July 7, 2008

My Random Thoughts are JUST This Important


So lately, it seems EVERYONE has a blog, why not me. My random thoughts are just as valid as the next person's right?

So here's entry #1

The Joy and Pain of .... Million Dollar Password

I am as I writing this blog, there is a very large, overly enthusiastic black gay man.... is trying to get a "Star" of High School Musical to guess the word "Emerald" from the clues "Wiz", "Green", and "City" and he is getting MAD that she was not getting it!!!

This makes me weep for the state of the world.

I know everyone says "It's so much different when you are actually there!" but COME ON. The people come on and are INCREDIBLY confident that they KNOW how to play this game, and yet so many open their mouths and nothing but absurdly fractured streams of consciousness come out.

It didn't used to be this way.

Allen Ludden clearly ran a FAR tighter ship than Regis (Hell even Burt Convey ran a tighter ship and he had to deal with the Markie Post!)

Back in the good old days (and Yes, I am talking like I am an 80 year old woman... just go with me here... k?) Password was not this over blown spectacle with an annoying old man yelling at you while you gave and received clues. It had some class and style..... and Betty White.

I miss the announcer golf whispering "The Password is... asphyxiation" and feeling like I was in on some grand secret.

I especially miss the words actually leading up to something: "Asphyxiayion, Australia, Singer, Death" OHH it's Michael Hutchence!

But like so many other "Primetime gameshows" nowadays, the specticle has to outweigh the actual worth of the show, and as someone who grew up on gameshows, and still harbors a deep and real love for them, this just kills me to watch.

Gone is the kitsch and content, replaced by overblown lights, sound, and Regis.

I'm not telling you to NOT watch Million Dollar Password, in all honesty the stupidity of modern "celebrities" is worth the watch in and of itself, but if you have not witnessed the joys of Password or Super Password, don't let this rancid remake taint your view of a truly entertaining game.

I think that may be the end of my rant.... The Password is.... Dissappointed.