Blog

Brian Artist to Watch, Midlake, Music

Artist to Watch: Midlake

I have recently come across the band Midlake. The song “Head Home” from their latest CD, “The Trials of Van Occupanther,” has been getting decent airplay on Philly’s WXPN 88.5 FM and was getting stuck in my head. I finally heard who performed the song and decided to check them out.

“The Trials of Van Occupanther” is a very solid disc and the music is obviously inspired by 70s rock/folk. To me, “Head Home” sounds like Fleetwood Mac meets Jackson Browne, but with a modern feel.

Anyway, here are a couple of Midlake videos I found on YouTube…enjoy.

“Head Home”

“Young Bride”

Brian Fraggle Rock, Jim Henson, movies

“Fraggle Rock” hits the big screen!

Oh, I can’t wait for this! “Fraggle Rock” the movie!

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Jim Henson’s “Fraggle Rock” is coming to the big screen.

The 1980s cult hit TV show is being developed by executive producer Ahmet Zappa into a full-length live-action musical fantasy starring the classic characters.

Lisa Henson, who serves as co-CEO of the Jim Henson Co. with her brother Brian Henson, brought Zappa on board as exec producer after a pitch meeting with the children’s author.

Read the full story.

Brian Ben Folds, WXPN

Ben Folds…78th greatest artist of all time!

Well, at least that’s where Ben Folds came in on WXPN’s 885 Greatest Artists of All Time countdown, as voted on by its listeners.

The countdown has been going on since Monday, Oct. 9, and has featured a full spectrum of musical artists ranging from Mozart to Muddy Waters to Black Sabbath. XPN is the greatest radio station ever and the fact that it played songs from each of these artists speaks of the diversity of music played on the station.

Granted, I don’t think I have ever heard No. 693 Kelly Clarkson on XPN…and probably never will again (and that is a VERY good thing). But what other radio station these days plays “Supper’s Ready” by Genesis (a track that runs more than 20 minutes)? And I can tell you that “Supper’s Ready” was being played on XPN when I got into my car after work a couple of months ago.

Check out the list by clicking the link above…good stuff!

Brian Eagles, Philadelphia, YouTube

E-A-G-L-E-S! EAGLES!

Well, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated T.O. and the Dallas Cowboys, 38-24, yesterday at Lincoln Financial Field.

Since I’m under the weather with tonsillitis, it was a great pick-me-up. And the ending was classic…the Cowboys were down 31-24, but found themselves at the Eagles’ six-yard line in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter. Dallas quarterback Drew Bledsoe threw a pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Lito Sheppard, who streaked 102 yards for a game-clinching touchdown.

It was very reminiscent of another game-clinching interception return for a touchdown scored by the Eagles at Dallas a few years back. James Willis picked off the Troy Aikman pass in the end zone and managed to toss the ball back to Troy Vincent, who took it the rest of the way for the score.

And there just happens to be a YouTube clip of the James Willis interception/Troy Vincent return…

Here are some more classic moments (from an Eagles fan’s perspective, of course) from the Eagles-Cowboys rivalry…

4th & 1: It’s groundhog day!

McNabb’s 14-second FredEx delivery in Dallas on MNF

Brian Uncategorized

Ya-WHO?


The second series of the revised BBC series “Doctor Who” debuts tonight on SciFi channel with “The Christmas Invasion,” a 90-minute special (it originally aired last Christmas on BBC One), at 8 p.m. ET.

The actual first episode of the second series (or, in U.S. terms, season), “New Earth,” will follow at 9:30 p.m. ET. Both episodes will be repeated following the first showing of “New Earth.”

As you can see in the screen capture I have included here, Yahoo’s (or “Ya-Who,” in this case?) entertainment section lists “Doctor Who” as one of Friday night’s TV picks.

Who-ray!

Brian Uncategorized

Robert Downey Jr. is “Iron Man”

Robert Downey Jr. has been cast as industrialist Tony Stark/superhero Iron Man in the upcoming film adaptation of the Marvel Comics character to be directed by Jon Favreau.

This casting choice is out of nowhere, but I think I like it a lot. The Stark character struggles with alcoholism and Downey’s personal problems with addiction gives him unique insight into that part of the character (although it is rumored the first “Iron Man” movie will not explore the alcoholism angle too much, if at all). I have never thought of Downey as a superhero, but he is definitely one of my favorite actors.

Downey reportedly pushed hard for the role, working out to get in shape for the character and growing a goatee to resemble the modern look of Tony Stark in the comic books.

“Iron Man” is scheduled for release on May 2, 2008.

Brian Uncategorized

5K results are online!

Well, the results have been posted for the American Heart Association’s 2006 Mercer County 5K Heart Run.

I finished in 56th place overall (out of 109 runners) with a time of 27 minutes, 54 seconds.

Official results

What these results also show is that I finished 12th out of 16 males between the ages of 30 and 39, which sucks. But at least I didn’t come in last within my gender-age group.

One of my fellow runners from Rider, Mike (who came in a very solid 19th overall), and I are planning to run another 5K next month. The Susan G. Komen Foundation N.J. Race for the Cure will be held just up the road from Rider at Bristol-Myers Squibb’s headquarters in Princeton on Oct. 29, so we’re thinking of registering for that.

Up until Saturday, the only running I had done was on the track near my apartment. I found it a lot easier to run on a course with other people pushing me than it is to run on a track, where I keep thinking to myself, “Eight more laps to go…seven more laps to go,” and so on.

Anyway, I’m going to try to do four or five 5K runs a year from now on…probably two or three from March-May and two or three in September and October. I’ll keep June-August open for cycling.