Sarah Palin may do a smashing job of reading a speech that somebody else wrote, but it doesn’t mean that the RNC Co-Chair knows who the fuck she is.

THE NEW FILM FROM ANDY SADARIS . . . “SAVAGE VEEP!”

New thing to eagerly await: Sarah Palin defending the GOP stance that abstinence education is an effective form of birth control. In 2006, she even said, “Explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.” Can I get an “ooops”?

I have to say that I’m kind of mystified by the “VPILF” movement. I’m not mystified by it as a basis for humor. I’m mystified by it as a possible basis for which to place a vote.

Let’s not go crazy here. She’s not Monica Bellucci. She’s not Priyanka Chopra. She’s not Carrie Fisher in the Slave Leia outfit.

The list of people that I would vote for based solely on attractiveness is pretty damn short. And for the poor deluded bastards that may make a decision based on this criteria, here’s a reminder: just because she’s got five kids, it doesn’t mean that she’ll put out for you.

Kids, I have my own opinions, but I don’t care who you vote for as long as your head and hand are pulling the lever. Pull your own lever far away from the voting booth. It’s smarter, it’s safer, and it’s sanitary. Thank you.

Oliver Stone’s ‘W.’ is just around the corner…and I find myself really sold based on the cast alone. Check out the trailer for yourself.

I mean, I’m not a big fan of the man–but…the movie looks good. Now, discuss.

www.defjam.com - $$$(½)

Though he has yet to rekindle the idea of working again with the likes of DJ Premier and Pete Rock, (every fans dream) Nas remains in a select class of emcees that artistically is adept at spitting rhymes for both the streets and consciously inclined. (He’s just universally all-around that good!) Giving the good-ole thugged-out-rap a break, with Untitled, Nas deeply explores the all but forgotten aspect of social-political hip-hop music.

Shaking things up a bit, unlike Hip-Hop Is Dead–Untitled doesn’t rely heavily on the “name-guy“ to help assist Nas with bringing the music to life. Working alongside the likes of stic.man (of dead prez), newcomer Jay Electronica, right hand man Salaam Remi and a few choice others –it’s the comments being made and subsequently who the remarks are directed towards (as “Sly Fox” takes aim at the entire Fox News network while the Busta Rhymes assisted “Fried Chicken” serves as a brutally honest wake-up call to the Black Community) that sets the pace for the length of the album.

Far from the beef spewing, chain-blinging, hater agitating diatribe of its contemporaries, most of Untitled unfortunately doesn’t make the proper connection to the youthful majority of present day, outside of a surprisingly invigorating track, “Make The World Go Round” featuring  Chris Brown and The Game. Between challenging Right-wing establishments and denouncing racial stereotypes, Nas does his due diligence by working with DJ Toomp on the rousing “N.I.G.G.E.R.” But the commercial-style hook on the Polow Da Don engineered lead single “Hero“ is seemingly out of place given Untitled’s elegiac message. And perhaps it’s the presences of The Last Poets, (“Project Roach” & “You Can’t Stop Us Now”) as at times Untitled sounds like a record that Common would create.

More subtle and arguably less impactful in its execution by comparison to the political-rap of the 90’s (blame the era not the architect of the rhyme), Untitled still serves as a statement that hip-hop can and should be more than just the corner cipher and getting riches. Nas still gets his rhyme on, but don’t expect thirty-something year old rapper Nas to be interested in the same things that were top of mind over a decade ago. The ‘book of rhymes’ Nas builds from has undeniably matured.

Part of the dream equation that so many fanatics clamor for continues to culminate as Nas spits bars with stunning visual imagery. The wonderment is in how cleverly Nas conveys the human condition thru verse. Not whom he chooses to work the soundboards.

www.concretegrooves.com - $$$$

Hardly a “fresh-face,” Presto has played the background for a number of years honing his production skills, waiting for the right time to give his talents their proper stage. Though it could be stated that Presto probably never heard a jazz-suite that he didn’t want to splice–(it should be noted that he doesn’t limit State Of The Art to his own particular taste)–the fascinating thing about his production style is that it varies and blends rather smoothly from track to track.

Building with a wide range of high-spirited emcees, both  former A-listers (CL Smooth, Large Professor, Fatlip) and not-so familiar names (T Weaponz, J Theory, IN-Q, Kim Hill), Presto literally sound-bombs the listener. From a neo-soul sound, “Plain Jane,” to  tracks like “Feel Me” that are obviously Wu-inspired, to songs like “Higher” that utilize the sped-up soul formula, State Of The Art is a showcase of encompassing styles.

But its not like Presto, is all about ‘cloning,’ or copying the next man. His production hand  marginally ’samples’ what other notables producers have ran with. So yeah, he gives you a little bit of the next-man, but he also puts a lot of himself into each recording–as jazzy-filled joints like “Still Here” and “The Pressure” are singularly all his own.

Individually, (from a strictly rhyme building/songwriting standpoint) some of the performances here are better than others. Most of the veteran crafted tracks outshine their lesser known contemporaries. However, it’s also Presto’s penchant for arranging and orchestrating on display here as in his own ‘magical’ way, gets State Of The Art to works rather harmoniously. To sound more like an album and less like splintered portions.

State Of The Art should not be confused as “just another underground record” that goes hard at the mainstream. On the opening track “Conquer Mentally” Sadat X exclaims, “I’m never gonna go double plat/but I’m okay with that..” And it’s this quote by such a respected figure–one that has seen both sides hip-hop music–that sort of sets the tone of what Presto & Co are trying to achieve with SOTA. For this eclectic line-up, the message and the focus is the ‘music‘.  Formulated on basic hip-hop traditions, Presto has packaged a diversified sounding assembly of grooves that does exactly that.

Billo the Clown the gift that keeps on giving…

Send O’Reilly Back to School

Here’s to the Ladies
Conversations on the Female Geek at Wizard World Chicago

Boobs
I had come to Wizard World Chicago through an email sent by my comic book journalist friend, we’ll call her J, to some of her girlfriends: “I know you guys probably would not be interested in the con itself although I might need some boobs… I mean… people to help staff a booth and that would be free but would involve ogling by geeks.”

I thought to myself: I have boobs. I thought to myself: Secret Life Dream #86—visit a convention where I know nothing and observe it anthropologically. So, I wrote back.

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Now, I want to believe.  I spent 6 seasons, 1 movie, and about 8.5 episodes believing in the power of The Mulder and The Scully.  So it is with a dull heartache and a lengthy rant that I say that “I Want to Believe,” the new reunion X-Files film, trumping itself as “THRILLING” “SMART” and “SEXY,” manages to be none of the above.  As a fellow X-Phile put it, “It was like seeing your high school sweetheart, who you thought you would always love more than life itself, and seeing that, well…you’d both grown and changed.”  AND that s/he had developed a mysterious skin rash, comb-over, and the conversation ability of a small lizard.

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Somewhere out there, Demi Moore is taking a meeting with Les Moonves…

It’s very telling when you look at the list of actresses who today got Emmy nominations for their work in drama series:

Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters, ABC

Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer, TNT

Glenn Close, Damages, FX

Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, NBC

Holly Hunter, Saving Grace, TNT

With Sedgwick as the youngest of the five talented actresses at age 42, the median age of the quintet of nominees is 52 years old.  With acclaimed, award-winning actresses like Jessica Alba, Megan Fox, and Anne Hathaway grabbing all the plum big-budget studio film roles, is it any wonder that TV is where older good actresses continue to turn to solid, reliable work?  Never mind the fact that TV drama’s overall quality is as good if not better than the best Hollywood can muster in their motion pictures.

To be fair, though, I really think Anne Hathaway is plenty talented, her age simply attracts the suits more at Warner Bros.,  Universal & Paramount.

Yesterday, my coworker brought in a bag of Nacho Cheese Bugles.  I had quite the late ’80’s/early ’90’s flashback, accompanied by the thought “Can these really be as good as I remember?”  Well, ladies and gentlemen, I assure you - Bugles really are as good as you remember.  While my childhood delight with them mostly focused on putting them on my fingers and pretending I was a witch, this time around they disappeared too quickly for any such play.  The Nacho Cheese flavor is delicious and not as in your face as Doritos.  And who knew that Bugles have actually been around for 5 decades, according to the General Mills site?  They also have a Chinese “Fun Club” although that site appears to be down - I say appears because I do not read Chinese.

The bottom line, folks, is that you really should try Bugles again.  Sure, their time of popularity was about two decades ago, but that doesn’t mean they’re not still delicious.  I highly recommend them.

Nothing like new music! (especially when its on the freebee variety)

Dutchmassive - Domination Recordings - The DrumLove EP (25 minutes of pure instrumental boom-bap!) Download here: DrumLove

Common Market - New album titled Tobacco Road, set to hit stores September 9th! (What! An agricultural themed album in 2008!?! If Lil Wayne can rap about himself being like a loli-pop, then RA Scion and Sabzi can drop an allegorical album about love, life and art from a “harvesting” perspective). Song samples:

Winter Takes All  - Tobacco Road - Gol’Dust

Dj Mafioso - “3 MCs, 1 DJ” featuring Binkis Recs - Off the Dj Mafioso mixtape/album La Bodega. (ATL flava with the quick-to-slap you over-the-head lyrics of Binkis Recs)

NORE - “Still On The Run Eating” featuring Lil Wayne - (If it wasn’t for the Reggaton explosion a couple years back, NORE would be in serious ‘milk-carton’ emcee missing-in-action status!)

AZ - “The Secret” - featuring Raekwon & C.R - (This might be the first time AZ and Rae have collabed? Pray to the hip-hop gawds that it ain’t the last!!)

NY Oil - “Soldier” - featuring Chuck D - (Gotta be NY Oil’s dream to collab on a track with the godfather of social-political rap!)

More later..