6 months betwen posts

Not so terrible, right?

OK, so lots of stuff happening on all entertainment fronts. For example:

TV Finales are happening everywhere. Let's recap the collection of favourite shows and where we are:

Battlestar Galactica: OK, this wrapped a couple of months ago, but I wanted to mention it. Great, great season. Complex and challenging storylines creating enormous conflict in characters. Every main character and many mid-line characters got a big story this year and it was capped off with a wild cliffhanger finale. According to some reports I've read, next year will be the end, with 22 episodes planned to wrap it all up. Season 3 will likely be out on DVD before Christmas and you better believe it's joining the collection.

Lost: The poor show was slagged in Season 3 for silly plot lines, pointless new characters and way too much focus on Jack, Sawyer, Kate and the others. The argument made sense right up until the break, which I griped about in an earlier post. Once the show came back, I think it found its groove, as the show returned to the original adversarial storyline, they paid off the John Locke and his dad subplot as well as closed the backstory on Sawyer. Jack's girlfriend, Juliet, provides an interesting angle (is she an Others spy or a double agent) and it looks like we're heading towards a final battle with the Others. Also, this is another show with a finite end, as the show will now wrap in 2008 after 32 more episodes. This is, apparently, in line with the plan of J.J. Abrams, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof (the shows creative forces) as they can now write out te ending and close off all the mysteries that have built the show thus far.

American Idol: I wouldn't have bought her album, but I was still disappointed to see Melinda voted out this week. This as been a weak season, but I think the producers are happy with a Jordin-Blake finale, as the two most marketable performers are left. I can also say with certainty I now have NO idea who will win.

24: Really down season, as they have recycled just about every major story arc from past years and I have totally lost interest. I missed an episode 3 weeks ago and it didn't even matter. I'll keep watching, but I sure hope for better things next year.

As far as the CSI's go, I've watched about half of CSI:NY, 4 or 5 episodes of Vegas and may 2 or 3 Miami's. I'll catch 'em on DVD.

I also tried out Shark, Studio 60 and Justice this year. Hated Shark, Justice was OK but got cancelled and I'll get the one season of S60 on DVD when it comes out.

Looking forward to the new Harry Potter book. That's all I'll say on that front.

Saw Spiderman 3 in IMAX this week. Personally, my favourite of the trilogy, which goes against every reviewer and fanboy on the planet, I think. Great, complex storyline with challenging, emotional subplots. Not to mention superb action sequences made all the more awesome by IMAX. I have now decided that ny action picture seen at the movies MUST be seen in IMAX. It's worth the extra $3.

Bought the latest Tim McGraw CD. Another great listen. I recommend not only it, but anything by Texas instrumetal group Explosions in the Sky.

OK. That's enough.

Seacrest OUT!

Stuff that annoys me

So, I'm hooked on Lost. Awesome character development, all kinds of crazy subplots, every character getting a turn as the main at different times, cool sci-fi stuff, everything I like about TV all rolled into one package. 7 episodes into Season 3 and, after this week, a FRAKKIN' HIATUS until January?

Doesn't anyone learn? This move almost killed 24 dead in Season 2 and 3, a huge break in the middle. This better not be the end for Lost. I get annoyed at how the networks, still deluded into thinking they have power in an increasingly fragmented TV market, figure that with all the choices out there, people will come happily back when their favourite shows are cut off for extended periods of time. I am seriously considering waiting for the DVDs to come out, and watch it then. Let the ratings die and have the show resurrected somewhere like Space, where they'll care enough to be consistent in showing it.

More later.

Three Months Later.......

The MediaRants Review: Dream Theater - Score

Available from amazon as a 2-disc DVD or as a 3-disc CD.

Once in a very long while, a disc will come along that makes you want to toss out everything else you own because it's just THAT much better than anything else you've seen or heard before it. This is one of them.

If you read my stuff (and it has certainly been a slow year for content), you know I discovered Dream Theater in early 2005. I have spent much of the last year immersing myself in their back catalog (and loving it). Earlier this year, the band announced their 20th anniversary tour on their website, a tour which would culminate with a special 20th Anniversary Celebration Concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall. This show would be recorded for a future CD and DVD release.

Well, here it is.

Allow me start by saying the sound on the DVD is positively THUNDEROUS. Normal DVD's (on my system) are played at 25% of maximum. The PCM 5.1 mix is loud played at 10%. I have played it at 25% and it sounds like I am in the hall. The drums and bass come pouring through the subwoofer and the guitars and keys can be heard clear as a bell.

But you're not hear to talk about technology.

The show opens with an 8-song, 72-minute set covering DT's entire career. Two songs from the most recent release, Octavarium, kick things off. "The Root Of All Evil" opens with an excellent drum fill followed by a great big guitar riff, and right away you can tell everyone's come to play, as both drummer Mike Portnoy and guitarist John Petrucci unleash primal yells as the lights come up. Vocalist James Labrie delivers the angry lyric in confident, powerful fashion and we're off. "I Walk Beside You", one of my favourite DT tracks which I interpret as Christian-themed, follows and is a nice upbeat change of pace.

Then we get into the wayback machine.

"Another Won", from the band's Majesty days in 1985, "Under A Glass Moon", from 1998's breakthrough "Images and Words", "Afterlife", from their 1989 debut "When Dream and Day Unite", "Innocence Faded" from 1994's "Awake" and "Raise the Knife", a previously unreleased cut from the "Images and Words" sessions. The first set closes with a great take on "The Spirit Carries On" from 1999's awesome "Scenes From a Memory".

BUT WAIT, it gets even better.....

The screen goes dark for a couple of minutes and we hear the sounds of an ORCHESTRA!!!! There are few things I enjoy more than contemporary rock joined with an orchestra.

We go rolling right into the opening overture from 2002's "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence", played entirely by the orchestra (and expanded by a couple of minutes to really show them off). I thought that would be it, but no, they do the ENTIRE 45 minutes of Six Degrees. This is a collection of 8 songs centered around the theme of mental illness and it comes off absolutely GREAT live. You can tell hear that the band is having the times of their lives, with big smiles from Portnoy and LaBrie and strong interplay between Myung and Petrucci.

After the blowaway Six Degrees, the band slows things down with "Vacant", from 2003's "Train of Thought" and "The Answer Lies Within", the third cut from "Octavarium". This sets up the stretch run to the finish.

"Sacrificed Sons", a scathing post-9/11 song from "Octavarium" follows and it opens with the powerful images from that dark day in history. The band serves it up heavy too, with LaBrie's vocals sounding almost accusatory. Then we hit my favourite moment....

When "Octavarium" was released in 2005, I immediately locked into the 24-minute title track. Dubbed as an homage to all of their influences, DT came up with a piece that was almost a time capsule for their first 20 years. You can hear musical callbacks to Rush, Pink Floyd, Yes, ELP and many other prog masters. The lyrics include focus on mental illness (a recurring theme through much of DT's songs) and a section where they tie in all kinds of pop-culture and prog references into a mishmash vocal. I knew this would become a signature piece on their live shows, and I was not disappointed.

From the opening 5-minute solo by keyboardist Jordan Rudess (played mostly on a Continuum Fingerboard, which can pretty accurately emulate the sound of multiple guitars with just one finger), through the lyrical sections to the big instrumental break (which even includes a snippet of "Jingle Bells"), the song builds and builds to the final 2 minutes, which sent a chill down my spine all the way to my toes. Petrucci hits a huge note at the end of his solo and sits out on that note for a full minute while the orchestra reprises the main thematic line. It is a roaring musical moment that brought a tear to my eye. The song closes out to thunderous applause.

The show concludes with a very well-done (and well-received) "Metropolis" from "Images and Words".

The second disc includes a great documentary recapping the history of the band, which was started with Portnoy, Petrucci and Myung, who all met at Berklee Music School. LaBrie was added for "Images" and Rudess joined for "Scenes". It's interesting to hear how big spikes in the band's popularity followed LaBrie's and Rudess' arrivals. There are some other live cuts and the "Octavarium Animation" that played on the screens during the performance of the song.

In case you haven't got it yet, I LOVE this DVD. Live concerts are, to me, one of the main reasons to buy DVDs. You can get the sonic and visual experience without the huge cash outlay for tickets and pain-in-the-assery of dealing with a big crowd. I have read some other reviews that take issue with the set list (no big hits like "Pull Me Under" or "Anna Lee", too much emphasis on "Octavarium"), but I see this concert as a reward to long-time DT fans whoi have taken the time to get familiar with their entire library and who have been to many live shows and want to hear stuff they haven't heard before. I thought the song choices were exceptional, and the decision to include "Raise The Knife", which didn't even make it to a disc, has me wondering what else DT is hiding in their vaults, because "Knife" is a great song.

This DVD gets my highest recommendation.

Been a while

But I'm back!!!!

Things have just been crazy busy of late and I've been having a hard time finding time/getting motivated to post. But I really want to get back into the swing of things, so let me bring you up to speed on what I've been doing, media-wise, with a set of quick hits:

Musically, I've been uplolading my CD collection to my work laptop and am hoping to pick up a big external hard drive in the immediate future to carry around my ever-growing collection. I've returned to my musical roots, so to speak of late, listening to stuff like Styx, Van Halen/Van Hagar, some late 70's classics (Jay Ferguson's ~~THUNDER ISLAND among others), Billy Joel and Yes. Not much recent gets my attention, but I totally dig Dani California by the Chili Peppers and Jack Johnson is pretty good (On and On is an excellent record). Looking forward to picking up the DVD and CD versions of Dream Theater's 20th Anniversary concert at Radio City Music Hall. It'll be worth it to hear their 30-minute Octavarium done with a backing orchestra. Set list can be found here.

Saw most of the season finales for my preferred shows, but it took a while. There were no blowaways like last year's CSI finale, but they were, for the most part, pretty good. I have to say, though, that I find Miami's whole handling of the Horatio-Mala Noche storyline pretty ham-handed. Horatio breaks up this devastating gang in one episode (Season 4 premiere) and then suddenly they're shooting up a courtroom, killing Horatio's wife and running amok in the final three episodes. The finale was horrible, as it almost seemed they were writing it as they were filming it, with ideas seemingly spot welded together. I hope it all translates better on the season 4 DVD.

Speaking of which....

Some awesome DVD watching lately. My bud, Austin, loaned me Season 1 and Season 2.0 of the new Battlestar Galactica. I think this might be some of the most compelling storytelling I have ever come across. Every character is important and well-defined and causes a reaction. I'm looking forward to Season 2.5, which you can pre-order by clicking on the link.

I'm also 16 episodes through season 1 of Lost and I'm really into it. Although the premise seems, so far, to be a bit far-fetched, this is shaping up as classic sci-fi. I'm anxiously awaiting the resolutions in 8 more episodes.

Finally, I'm pushing through the second-last season of Homicide: Life on the Street (Season 6). If you are a fan of cop shows, this is a must-see. Very little in the way of violence, this show is a very intelligent, high-minded cop show. Hard to believe, though, that Tom Fontana went from doing this show to doing the scabrous, ugly, gritty HBO series Oz.

Anyhoo, that's about it. Oh, yeah, new Star Wars book series (The Dark Nest Trilogy) which I am reading. I'm almost through Book 1 and it's well worth the time.

Later.

The Latest News Around The Dial

Well, THAT was a shocking end to 24. How they tie all of this to PRESIDENT LOGAN? I don't know where we go from here.

BIG surprise on American Idol this week, as Mandisa is tossed. So the final 8 are Taylor, Elliott, Kathy, Kellie, Paris, Chris, Ace and freakin' BUCKY. I had Bucky, Kellie and Lisa going and I've only gotten Lisa right. This week, they're doing Queen songs and I can only hope that Brian May, Brian Duncan and Roger Taylor are on hand to play.

Episode 4 of Sopranos was one of my personal favourites. I really like how they're building up to a showdown between Paulie and Tony as we should get to see Paulie in full meltdown soon. Looks like we might also get to see the spiritual conversion of Tony, as well, although the pastor character is a total caricature and drawn exactly the way the secular world views them. That will be an annoyance to me, but I'll live with it. Great guest shot this week by Hal Holbrook, who could sound interesting reading the phone book.

The Latest News Around The Dial

Well, THAT was a shocking end to 24. How they tie all of this to PRESIDENT LOGAN? I don't know where we go from here.

BIG surprise on American Idol this week, as Mandisa is tossed. So the final 8 are Taylor, Elliott, Kathy, Kellie, Paris, Chris, Ace and freakin' BUCKY. I had Bucky, Kellie and Lisa going and I've only gotten Lisa right. This week, they're doing Queen songs and I can only hope that Brian May, Brian Duncan and Roger Taylor are on hand to play.

Episode 4 of Sopranos was one of my personal favourites. I really like how they're building up to a showdown between Paulie and Tony as we should get to see Paulie in full meltdown soon. Looks like we might also get to see the spiritual conversion of Tony, as well, although the pastor character is a total caricature and drawn exactly the way the secular world views them. That will be an annoyance to me, but I'll live with it. Great guest shot this week by Hal Holbrook, who could sound interesting reading the phone book.

AI and 24

So Idol has finally lost its bloat and got down to a very efficient hour last night. The contestants busted out their favourite songs of the current decade and it was, to say the least, the strangest night I can recall. To wit:

Some HORRIBLE song choices. Lisa tried to take on Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You" and revealed her very limited range as a singer. Ace tried to take a run at Train's "Drops of Jupiter" (a personal favourite of mine). Unfortunately, his smooth voice lacked the roughness to bring it home. BIG props to Mandisa for busting out a gospel tune. But, MAN, those were heavy lyrics. Taylor, Paris (a great take on Beyonce), Elliott and, shockingly, Bucky were all excellent. Off nights for Chris and Kellie.

That leaves one and will someone tell me WHY they love Katharine so much? Her tune was OK, but for Simon to say she outsang Christina Aguilera? Come ON. Lastly, what was with the judges last night. From Paula's totally creepy request to have Ace tell her how he scarred himself to Simon's crapping on everyone but Katharine, the judges were in rare form last night. Of special interest are these (paraphrased) comments made by Simon about Chris the last two weeks:

Last week: "You're the first contestant I believe we have ever had who, no matter the style, refused to compromise themselves. Well done."

This week: "Every week, it's the same thing. You need to show some range, some diversity"

What?

Anyways, the night ws saved for me by 24. Another great episode ending with a cliffhanger (that they even preserved in the preview for next week) and some really well-acted moments. All the subplots this year are exciting, the Audrey and Jack arc is a compelling romantic storyline and best of all, NO PRESIDENT this week. I so dig Chloe's character and she really did a good job putting the shlub from Homeland in his place. Gotta do something with the whackjob brought up from downstairs, though.

American Idol Update

Songs of the 50's this past week.

I was really shocked to see Kevin go this week. Not because of his talent, but because the singers getting attention from Vote For The Worst usually go deeper into the Top 12. Looks like they're turning their focus to Kellie, but I still think Bucky deserves their attention.

Song-wise, everyone came off well this past week except Bucky and Taylor, whose Buddy Holly covers sounded really thin (compared to everyone else). I think it has more to do with the fact that rockabilly doesn't translate well to a big-band backing. Taylor covered for it well, though, with a fun and energetic performance. The girls (except Lisa) really shone this week. Mandisa's cover of a Dinah Washington tune was really great, as was Paris' "Fever" and Kellie's "Walkin' After Midnight" (a personal favourite of mine). On the guys' side, Chris turned "I Walk The Line" into something pretty special and Elliott and Ace were both excellent.

This week, songs of the 21st Century, which should be pretty easy for everyone. It will be interesting, though, to hear the song choices.

Check out my bud Jason Silver's new music:

From his new album 12 Girlfriends


Click to play

Like what you hear? Click on the album cover to buy your copy TODAY. You'll be glad you did.