Week in Review

I applied for a music reviewer and feature writer at PopMatters. What other profession other than acting would a grown adult devote almost three hours of their time to get an application submitted for a job that pays nothing - and fight off approximately a few hundred applicants for the position?

While I was doing some brain-dead work verifying the bullets in my resume were lined up correctly, I had Scrubs on while waiting for 30 Rock on NBC. Jesus, has a figure fallen further and faster off the indie radar than Zach Braff? Garden State was a very good film and the soundtrack was about as good as the film (both overrated, but still good). But his last movie tanked - from what I heard, justifiably. And Scrubs has pretty much turned into Night Court during its last three seasons. When the majority of players on a Transformers role-playing Web site break their role-playing routine because they can't wait to see an episode of Scrubs, well...no offense to that crowd, but it's a telling sign that Scrubs has taken a detour from its bitter doctor humor that paved the way for House into Spaceballs-like wackiness.

Slate has an o.k. article about how newspapers are dying. I'm not supplying the link because if you're going to read one Slate article this week, check out this classic analysis of Pitchforkmedia:
http://www.slate.com/id/2154469/

It's World AIDS Day. And the disease is quickly on its way to becoming number 3 on the killer disease list. For poorer countries, it's a matter of education and lack of preventative materials. For more affluent countries, it's complacency. AIDS is no longer viewed as a death sentence, but neither is cancer - you still don't want to get it. Yes, there are more medications out there to treat AIDS, but most of these medications are beyond financial reach to the majority of the population.

Finally, I'm catching Stranger Than Fiction tonight. It's one of those movies where the buzz about the movie is coming at the end of its theatrical run with good word of mouth and a sweet soundtrack.

Pandora Playlist:
"Love on the Rocks With No Ice" - The Darkness **
"Neighborhood #3" - The Arcade Fire *****
"No. 13 Baby" - Pixies *****
"Galang" - M.I.A. ****
"Munich" - Editors ****
"Promised Call" - The Dollrots *** (makes me want to go to a roller derby match)
"The Loner" - Neil Young ****
"Numbered Days" - Eels ****
"Apple Suckling Tree" - Bob Dylan ***
"Against the Grain" - Bad Religion ***
"Backstreets" - Bruce Springsteen ****

My iPod shuffle mix o' the day:
"Fistfull of Steel" - RATM ****
"Church" - Big Boi *****
"If You Were The Woman and I Was the Man(live)" - Cowboy Junkies ** (proof positive why Margo should do all the singing)
"The Great Below" - NIN *****
"Find My Baby" - Moby ***
"Down Younder" - Willie Nelson ***
"Pow" - Beastie Boys ****
"A Thousand Hours" - The Cure ****
"Leave Home" - The Chemical Brothers ***** ("Leave Home" to Whitey is what "Austin Powers - Goldmember" is to TBS)
"Beetles" - Aphex Twin ***
"Simple Twist of Fate" - Bob Dylan ****