Spoilers on, of course.

Tonight’s episode: “John, don’t touch!” or “What does this button do?”

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www.beliefmusic.com - $$(1/2)

Review by - Nin

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www.buka1995.com  - $

Review by - Nin

To be earnest, I’ve never found the Lone Catalysts terribly interesting- their laconic, inoffensive brand of jazzy, pensive boom-bap has always been well-intentioned, but bland to my ears. J. Sands, then, certainly does no favors for himself here, as he treads ground markedly different from the bulk of the Lone Catalysts’ material. I’m sure you can make your own conjectures as to what that means- this is pregnant with trite gangsta swagger and braggadocio, the same bog-standard, somnambulistic battle rap that’s been clogging the pipes for the better part of the last decade. What distinguishes this from the pack, though, is the embarrassingly bad delivery- even for improvisatory freestyles, some of the punchlines on this would make listeners blush with profound discomfiture. I’m not entirely sure what the intent of this is, but I’d like to think that this series is akin to Prince Paul’s satirical record, a good-hearted lampoon of mixtape and thug-rap stereotypes. Sadly, even from that position, this mixtape is lamentably unfunny.

Disjointed, lackadaisical, phlegmatic rhymes characterize each and every track, and it seems as though the air of lethargy has similar effects on all of his guests. The jackin’ for beats angle is milked ad nauseam, and the original beats are rudimentary, sloppy and yawn-inducing, save for certain sparse, contemplative exceptions (the loose, sultry “These Words” is a good example). Gratingly bad r’n’b vocals add insult to injury, as is the case on “Place To Be (Saturday Night)”, with confounding hooks compounding things further.

If this is intended to be a farce or a parody, it is a wonder that this much time, expense and effort has been invested into something that is as risible as watching the Weather Network on mute. As comedy or pantomime, this record is equally weak. Don’t bother.

The Shotgun/Best Shots team is all over Newsarama these days. In addition to various convention-related articles from Michael C. Lorah, Kevin Huxford, and Steven Eks, you’ll find an interview with David Mack by our own Koben Kelly. As for me, the new Your Manga Minute is up, beginning a look at Naruto. On Wednesday, I’ll have two special reviews: Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #2 and Captain America #25 (that book will be huge). Later in the week, I return to Naruto. So, if you please, stop over at Newsarama and support our boys.

With the inundation of penguins we’ve gotten over the last year or two, I’m surprised Warner Bros. didn’t scuttle their plans with The Dark Knight in favor of a movie focusing on Oswald Cobblepot.

Speaking of The Penguin, I don’t think it gets much more funny than Jon Stewart’s coverage of our vice president.

Also, a Happy Birthday wish to one of my all-time favorite guitarists, David Gilmour.

You know, when you think about the “Showcase of the Immortals” or the “Grand Daddy of Them All” or the “Super Bowl of Sports Entertainment” or [fill in marketing cliché here], you think of a great many moments of greatness and infamy. At the first Wrestlemania, we got to see Liberace dance the can-can with the Rockettes. At WM III, Hogan slammed Andre. At WM V, Roddy Piper sprayed Morton Downey Jr. with a fire extinguisher. At WM XI, Lawrence Taylor “wrestled” (today, he would have failed the Wellness Policy). At WM XIII, Bret made Steve Austin a star by bleeding him like a pig. At WM X8, Hulk Hogan turned babyface against The Rock in a way no one thought would happen. Last year’s Wrestlemania featured a dress-up contest between Triple H and John Cena.

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Our latest Best Shots installment is up at Newsarama today. Among the usual run-down of last week’s books are advance looks at Mighty Avengers #1 and Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness #1. Check it out, if you please.

Boy…did I have a weekend!

It all started with car repairs.

What? Doesn’t make sense? You try driving from the NC/VA border to NYC on bad brakes and bald tires and tell me how much sense that makes! So…the repairs make sense…but the hold for the repair costs being placed on my card TWICE didn’t…and it kept me from locking in last minute hotel deals.

So, when I hit the road Thursday evening, I had to crash with family. Got in around 2am or so…got to sleep after 3am…woke up at about 6:30am…and headed into the city to meet up with the man behind Newsarama.com, Matt Brady, at about 9:30am. Covered my first panel, unexpectedly, at 10am. Didn’t leave the convention until sometime after 9pm. Can’t remember when I got to crash on the floor of Brady’s hotel room (sometime after midnight). I can only remember that I didn’t sleep too well (spending more time awake than asleep) before heading back into the con some time before opening the next day.

Saturday saw me working the convention from just before 9am until sometime after 8pm. From that point, it was finally one of what I’d hoped would be a highlight of the weekend for me: convention after parties! Thanks, again, to The Brady, I was able to attend the C.B. Cebulski/Marvel party (at The Irish Rogue). I was around a lot of talented people having a lot of potent beverages…I just wish I had a legitimate conversation to strike up with a few of them. The one creator I had a real chance to conversate with was more than good enough: Christos Gage. He couldn’t tip his hand on anything he had coming up, but he was a down-to-Earth guy who shares some of my views on writing techniques (expressly as it applies to decompression).  I, also, got to share a few brief words with Frank Tieri as a bunch of us were walking back towards the New Yorker after the party. Matt and Frank discussed how Frank was responsible for adding a new word to a young boy’s vocabulary that afternoon (hoooooooo boy, was it a good one).

Then there was the Crazee Comics indie after party. I’ll try to blog more about that tomorrow, but it was a doozy. It needs its own blog to address all of that stuff.

Sunday wasn’t quite as hectic for me, but at that point, I was dead and the day was shorter. I didn’t get to sleep until 4am or so and, again, spent most of the overnight awake instead of asleep. I had the chance to spend some time as a fan on the floor of the convention and at some panels. I, also, got to sit down with Cheryl Lynn from Publisher’s Weekly and http://www.digitalfemme.com at the PW booth and discuss the con (which will lead to an interview popping up at Newsarama soon).

It was a great wrap to an amazing convention that…as the title of this blog would indicate…I’m just now recuperating from. God bless Matt Brady, though…he ran through the convention in NYC last weekend and just finished up doing the same at Wonder-Con this weekend…I still don’t know how he does it.

Saturday, March 3rd, 1pm Central…MC LARS Live on Play or Die!

That’s right boys and girls, it’s finally that time!

We teased you before…gave you a taste of the anticipation…

We told you he’d be on the phone, chatting with us, but it ended up being a farce- a lie- a, a, well, a mistake, really, but hey, who’s counting?

This time we’re making SURE he’s on the air by having MC Lars, the leader of the iGeneration LIVE IN THE STUDIO!!!

Who’s MC Lars you ask? For shame! Go whip yourself 3 times. You back? Great! www.mclars.com www.myspace.com/mclars

MC Lars is a fantastic post-punk laptop rapper. He rocks the nerdcore, he rolls with the English geek set, and sometimes, SOMEtimes, he just makes fun of the sorry state of affairs a lot of hip hop is in right now.

Play or Die is the show you know and love. We’ll still be talking all things geek: Comics, video games, tech; this time it’ll be with Lars giving input. We’ll be asking him those burning questions every fan wants to know to. You won’t know Lars unless you hear this interview.

So don’t miss MC Lars talking with The Geek (yours truly), Vag McCloud (there can be only one), The Viceroy (our man on the inside), Vicious Vince (the booth runner extraordinaire), and Victoris (always ready with a dick and fart joke), SATURDAY MARCH 3RD. Just click that lovely PLAY OR DIE link (or that one [or that one...or this one, for that matter]) and click “Listen AM” up towards the top. The show streams LIVE to YOUR computer from 1pm-3pm Central, and will be available for download in handy podcast form soon after.

And if you’re in the Chicago area, don’t forget to check out Lars LIVE at Champ’s. Just click the link for more info. Play or Die will be there, and you can meet us, greet us, and we’ll even let you buy us a drink! We’ll be in your ears at 1, and we’ll see you at Champs at 6!

-The Geek-

A clip show? A freaking clip show? For shame, Scrubs. I expect better of you. That’s the kind of weak-ass crap I expect from According to Jim, George Lopez, or whatever mindless sitcom drivel ABC is trotting out these days. Thank God for the brilliance of 30 Rock, or else my Thursday night would have been completely wasted. For a moment there I thought I was going to have to do something drastic, like read a book or something.