Tired of the same generic music doled out by the crap factory that is mainstream commercial radio? If so, I suggest you buzz on over to sltmonkees.com. Brad Bugos has prepared a wonderful podcast, the successor to his legendary zine SLTM, called SLTM THE PODCAST. If you are chained to the joyless mire that is top forty radio, then one listen to SLTM THE PODCAST will provide you with more new and original music than you’ve heard all year long, and it will only take you a little over a half hour. Check it out. Episode 10 was posted yesterday, and you can still catch the first nine. OVER 5 HOURS OF QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT!

Go on, Git. We’ll still be here when you’re finished.

*edit* As Weetzie pointed out in the comments, the name of the program as been changed to Chubby Fudges Cooking Lab. I stand corrected.

From WENN (IMDB):

Murphy “Storms Out” After Oscar Loss

Dreamgirls star Eddie Murphy was so devastated after losing the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award to Alan Arkin he stormed out of the ceremony, according to press reports in the US, including Roger Friedman of FoxNews.com. Murphy was the favorite to win the Oscar, which instead was awarded to Little Miss Sunshine star Arkin. The 45-year-old tried to downplay his disappointment telling American publication Us Weekly, “It’s fine. It happens. It’s OK.” But shortly thereafter, Murphy and girlfriend Tracey Edmonds left the show and didn’t return. Murphy missed out on his Dreamgirls cast mates Beyonce Knowles, Jennifer Hudson and Anika Noni Rose performing songs from the film, as well as Hudson’s win for Best Supporting Actress.

Classy. I sort of felt sorry for him before I heard this. I mean, really, nobody can begrudge Alan Arkin his Oscar. He’s been around forever, and totally deserved it. I’m sorry Eddie Murphy didn’t win, but it couldn’t have been all that surprising. As a friend reminded me, comedians never win. Just ask Jim Carrey, who should have won for Man on the Moon. If you’ve made your ass talk on camera, no one is ever going to give you the big prize. The same goes for a banana in the tail pipe.

So it’s come to this. After decades of TV shows, movies, books, action figures, comics, “albums”, and a Saturday morning cartoon, we are at what I believe is the last crossroads for the once great Star Trek franchise.

It was announced over the weekend that J.J. Abrams, the man behind big shot mega-hit (up until recently) Lost, will be directing a new Star Trek Movie. It will be a prequel, focusing on Kirk and Spock and the like, and their days in the academy. Or something. Anyway, we’ll be looking at an all new cast, (despite probable TOS and Next Generation cameos), in an all new type of Star Trek movie.

All I can say about this is BE VERY CAREFUL.

I love Star Trek. Not in a pointy ears wearing, convention lurking sort of way, but real love all the same. I was always more of a Star Wars guy, but Trek has a special place in my heart and in my consciousness, and that place as been, in recent years, a sad one. The last good Star Trek movie was First Contact. That movie was made in 1996. Eleven years ago. The next two movies, Insurrection and Nemesis, were both terrible. The Scot Bakula fronted TV show Enterprise wasn’t much better. Oh yes, Trek apologists will try to make the case for these sub-par projects, but take it from me, a man who has spent years having to justify the almost unwatchable Star Wars prequels, the hard core Trekers are not to be believed. They love Star Trek so much that they can forgive, if not personally condone, the more embarrassing latter day sins of their beloved franchise. I completely understand where they are coming from. I have seen the Star Wars Holiday Special. There is common ground between our peoples. Star wars failed to deliver the goods with it’s 21st century revamp, and with no real prospects for new life will have trouble living on into the future. Star Wars might very well fade from cultural prominence, all because of a few bad movies (Though Sith was pretty cool.)

Let us be your cautionary tale. Your after school special. Learn from Lucas, J.J. People have a limited amount of patience, and will all to easily give up a franchise for dead. In this new Star Trek movie, Paramount has a chance to revive the franchise for the 21st century. If they fail, the public will be more than happy mothball Starfleet. It will become next to impossible to get anything off the ground. Star Trek has already almost worn out its welcome, and one more unwatchable Star Trek Product will be, at least in the short term, more than the public can take. I hope they can do the right thing.

And please, no matter who they pick for Kirk, let there be no bad Shatner Impersonations.

This week, rather than put up another flash game, I have decided to host the greatest game of all time. Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my honor, nay, privilege to present:

The premise plays out like an old B movie. A scientist named Dr. Fred Edison has had his mind perverted by an evil radioactive meteor that had crashed in his front yard 20 years previous. Dr. Fred then captures a local cheerleader, Sandy, for reasons I was never entirely clear about though I recall that it had something to do with taking over the world. You play Dave, Sandy’s boyfriend. Dave and two other people (selected from a pool of six) go to Dr. Fred’s mansion to save Sandy and, I guess, the world. The mansion is also home to Dr Fred’s wife, Nurse Edna, and his son, Weird Ed, all of whom you avoid and interact with during the course of the game.

The game was, and is still, unique for its humor, and is legendary due to the fact that it’s solution is effected by which combination of kids you select to accompany Dave. Each person has a unique skill, crucial to solving the many elaborate and challenging puzzles that constitute this quirky, point and click pioneer. There are nine possible endings to the game.

This is not a game that you can play online. It was created first for the old Commodore 64, then for other systems since. This is an excellent, painstakingly recreated version of the original game, developed by a now defunct outfit called Lucasfan Games (forced to shut down by LucasArts), for the Windows OS. I host it so that it might live on for all eternity. It is my favorite game ever. Download and enjoy.

Two good resources for the game are The Maniac Mansion Fan Site, which is full of all sorts of helpful and interesting information about the game (including walkthroughs), and this fascinating article by Douglas Crockford, who was one of the people that helped convert the game for use on the Nintendo Entertainment System. It’s an hilarious account of all the strange standards and practices stuff he had to go through to get it cleaned up content-wise for the NES release.

Download Maniac Mansion Deluxe Here

Damn. This has potential public relations disaster written all over it.

Prince Harry will serve in Iraq

Can you imagine the international response if Prince Harry got killed? Just stop for a moment and really try to build up a picture of that in your head.

You think people are against the war now? He gets killed and people riot. Plain and simple. That will be last straw. Hopefully nothing happens, partly because I don’t want anything to happen to anyone in that situation, and partly because I would like public opinion on the war to be based on facts, not some gut reaction to a royal tragedy. Just a bad, bad idea.

Though I have to admit I do like the idea of non-poor people fighting the war. It only seems fair.

The two camps in the ongoing James Brown Estate war have agreed to terms that would allow Brown to be buried, though that location is to be kept secret. Here is a bit from the AP article that I found especially creepy.

[Charles Reid, manager of the C.A. Reid Funeral Home in Augusta, Ga., which handled Brown's funeral] said he checked on Brown on Tuesday, opening the gold casket to view the body.

”I do that constantly,” Reid said. ”That’s the only way I can actually check him … go in, open the casket and close it. And he’s fine.”

Yep. Still dead.

This will be nice for them. Now that they have negotiated the trivial detail of ACTUALLY BURYING THE DEAD PERSON, they can get down to the real buisness of dividing all his crap up.

Classy.

Britney Spears has entered rehab, effectively taking her very public nervous breakdown and selfishly transforming it into a private affair. This coupled with flagging interest in Anna Nicole Smith’s death will surely be a blow to tabloid monkeys everywhere, including a despondent Billy Bush, who has been placed on suicide watch and is being kept away from drain cleaner and sharp objects, at least until the televised Phil Spector trial begins.

Learn More about Britney’s troubles here.

The new episode of Fat Robot Radio starts today. Find Episode 21 here.

I just got done playing this game last weekend, and it was so much fun. Best flash game ever. It reminds me of my all time favorite game, Maniac Mansion. Here what the NY times had to say about MOTAS:

In The Mystery of Time and Space, developed by Jan Albartus, you simply have to solve intricate puzzles to traverse a series of rooms.

So check it out, very challenging, very fun, totally worth checking out.

I would like to reacquaint you with something called Second Life. Second life is this sort of video game that allows you to create a virtual version of yourself, ala The Sims, and, you know, sort of live in a little three dimensional virtual world. Here is a description from its website:

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by a total of 3,631,035 people from around the globe.

You can even buy land there and stuff. It’s like voluntarily being in the Matrix.

Now, thus informed, I present you this from Slash Dot:

It may not be an official effort — yet — but thanks to a grass-roots effort, John Edwards has become the first presidential candidate to set-up-shop in Second Life (The virtual video game universe with lots of people and no real point). Jerimee Richir, whose avatar is called Jose Rote, paid-for and developed Edwards’ virtual headquarters, and, on a voluntary basis, is managing the in-world campaign. Considering that Second Life’s user numbers are much smaller than other social networks, such as MySpace and Facebook — aside from generating press coverage — will campaigning in Second Life actually win many votes? Rote says yes, and that ‘Second Life users are a unique audience, in that, they are first adopters. It is a smaller community, but I would argue it is a more influential community.’

President of E-Town. Now that might be a presidential race that John Edwards can actually win.

Oh, and to sign up for a free Second Life account, go here. I don’t endorse them, as I have never played second life, but I think this thing has the potential to be huge and so you might want to get in on it.

I wrote another article about Second Life in May of 2006 that explains what they are all about. It is here.