John Turner

I bought Yet Another Song From A Commercial (YASFAC): this one is the Flaming Lips’ “The W.A.N.D.” from another Dell Inspiron commercial. Someone at Dell’s agency has pretty good taste in music. Hard to believe The Flaming Lips are still going strong…I remember buying their CDs back in the 80s. [Read more →]

I’ve caught a few minutes of this year’s Heads-Up Poker Championship on UHD recently, and I think it is great that Shannon Elizabeth is having so much fun and doing so well with her poker career. But, I gotta say this: she looks like a doofus when she keeps wearing those Full Tilt baseball hats. [Read more →]

All reports say that Michael Vick intends to plead guilty to the charges against him in federal court. I knew he was guilty…everyone with half a brain knew he was guilty. A number of people chastised me for saying he was guilty, telling me “everyone is innocent until proven guilty”. Guess what? They’re wrong. [Read more →]

The latest song that has grabbed my attention is used in a Dell commercial: Devo’s “Watch Us Work It”. In the commercial, I dig the color scheme and the juxtaposition of something mechanical like an engine and something electronic like a computer. I was a big Devo fan back in the day, but I had forgotten all about that song until I heard it on the commercial. Fun.

Today, CNN had a headline that said “Goldberg joins The View”. The first thing that popped into my head was “The View” had hired Bill Goldberg to replace what’s-her-face. And I thought “hmmm…maybe I’ll have to start checking that show out”. Imagine my disappointment when I realized they were talking about Whoopi Goldberg. Bummer.

In America, you’re (allegedly) innocent until proven guilty. Not so much recently, thanks to things like the PATRIOT Act, but in the beginning, that was the intent. So, I can’t judge Michael Vick quite yet, because he may be innocent, though the details of his indictment seem pretty damning. But, I can say this: if this is true, Vick should be treated to a few rounds of the exact same treatment he gave those dogs. [Read more →]

HBO’s Entourage has totally jumped the shark, and it seems I’m not the only one with that opinion. For me, the fourth-season opener was basically unwatchable…I was cringing and gritting my teeth through all 28 minutes or whatever it was. The show used to be outrageously funny with ferociously biting satire but now its like a really, really bad teen “coming of age” movie. The Vince character in this latest episode looked like a doofus trying to portray Pablo Escobar, and while I can’t stand the Billy Walsh character, I shouted in agreement when he dissed Drama during the table read. If I hear another bad pick up line out of Johnny Drama, I’ll scream and it won’t be pretty. Trust me. Oh, and if I ever see Kevin Connolly’s smirk in real life, I’ll rip it off his face.

Luckily for HBO, though, they have “Big Love” and now “The Flight of the Conchords”. “Conchords” has to be the funniest show I’ve seen in a long, long time. Funnier than “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” even. All due respect to Tenacious D, but JB and KG can only WISH their show was as funny as “Conchords”. Watching the premiere, I was on the fence until I heard the first song, “Part-Time Model”. The lyrics killed, there’s just no other way to put it:

You’re so beautiful
You could be a waitress
You’re so beautiful
You could be an air hostess in the ‘60’s
You’re so beautiful
You could be a part-time model

Funny and wickedly clever on so many levels…don’t miss the rest. This is a show I will not miss every week. Thank you, HBO!!

I haven’t listened to the radio in over 4 years. Any type of radio…FM, AM, satellite, whatever, I haven’t listened to it. The state of Detroit radio is the worst…there isn’t a single station I can listen to for any length of time, and I’m not one of those people that spends 3 hours a day in their car, so satellite radio has no attraction, either. But, I love music, so for the last few years I’ve been relying on movie soundtracks, TV commercials and shows (like Entourage and Weeds), and the referral engines at Pandora and iTunes for my music fixes.

You’d be surprised how much cool music can be found on TV commercials these days…they kind of sneak it in. I think the first time I realized this, it was a couple of years ago and I was wondering what song was playing during a Diet Coke commercial. It took me a couple of days to figure out, but I finally did (it was “Callin’ Out” by Lyrics Born).

Another site I’ve found really helpful is Soundtrack Info. Got a question about something you heard in a movie? Ask it there, and there’s a good chance it will get answered. Pretty cool!!

Every morning at work lately, when I crank up my iPod nano, the first song I must listen to is “Dance This Mess Around” by the B-52’s. I’m not sure what that means, exactly. The song is what, 30 years old? I think it was released in ‘79. Oh well, I can only hope whatever it is that’s got me hooked on this song is good, because I don’t think my janky HMO will cover it if it isn’t. If I felt like splurging on a purchase, I’d buy one of those iPod-capable clock radios and set it as my wake-up alarm.

I went to see “300″ yesterday. It was pretty good. Not as good as the hype, but pretty good. Another movie I saw over the weekend was “The Holiday” on DVD. The movie was pretty good, but for me the highlight was seeing the house that Cameron Diaz’s character lived in. My entire house is basically the size of that house’s living room, but I gotta say the decorating really grabbed me. I loved the neutral walls, dark wooden floors, and natural toned rugs and furniture with splashes of different colors. It looked really calm and soothing…I think I’ll try something similar in my own house.