Although no longer a puppy, Walter seems unhappy that he is sidelined during the Puppy Bowl.

Posted by Matt Dahl at 02:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was truly surprised yesterday to hear that the Grammys were on, as it seems that CBS put zero effort in to promoting the event. That, or maybe I just missed the commercials. I only watch two CBS shows, and I DVR them both. One is The Big Theory; a show about a delightful group of nerds trying to keep their IQ’s from getting in the way of their love lives, and the other is Survivor; a show about bikini-clad women starving themselves in the jungle for 40 days while it continuously rains on them. Oh, and it’s in HD.

Regardless, I caught wind of the awards in time to set the DVR to capture them, and did not miss the 2010 Grammy awards, although I kind of wish I did. I will say that DVR is the greatest thing to happen to awards style shows, as you can not only fast forward all the commercials, but you can skip right past all the bad speeches and performances. Then, when something like Pink in a skintight body suit suspended above the entire audience spinning uncontrollably catches your eye, you can hit play and enjoy the madness. It takes a three hour marathon of boredom and turns it into a nice 45 minute capsule.

The was even a portion of the Grammy’s in 3-D, which I became very excited about having retained my own pair of 3-D glasses from my weekend screening of Avatar. However, they must have been using some retro 3-D technology, as my glasses only made it harder to see. On a side note, Avatar is one of the greatest movies I have ever seen.

Lady GaGa gives me nightmares, Taylor Swift isn’t a great live singer, Fergie has a futuristic beav, Jamie Foxx is an idiot, Stevie Nicks is cool, Green Day meets Rent was bizarre, Jeff Beck still rocks, everyone tries to kiss Jay-Z’s ass, and Beyonce really wants us to think we’re going to see up her skirt. That’s pretty much the extent of what I took from the Grammy Awards.

Posted by Matt Dahl at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I know that Kanye West is currently A-1 on the FBI's Biggest Douche List. Well, he might have relinquished the top spot to Jay Leno. After all, deliberately disrupting a friend's lifelong dream (Conan's dream of hosting the Tonight Show) is much worse than drunkenly ruining Taylor Swift's speech for an award she didn't care about.

Regardless of Kanye's current ranking, I'm going to attempt to exonerate him. Or at the very least, plea bargain him back into acceptability. I know, I know. The evidence is stacked against Mr. West. But our collective short memories that caused us to forget Kanye's cultural significance will also allow the Taylor Swift incident to eventually be forgotten. It's the same short-term retentiveness that allows Mel Gibson back in action movies, Marv Albert back on TNT and will eventually put Tiger back on top. Time passed and they're good at what they do. In American pop culture there's a formula. Time + Talent=Forgiveness. If Kanye can regain his cool, he's got a chance to be welcomed back into our arms.
Why am I defending Kanye? Three reasons.

1.) The music
We have reached a point of total exposure. Unprecedented coverage of stars' lives and immediate posting of any transgressions on youtube can bring any celebrity down a notch. Some might even drop several notches if, say, you're dumb enough to embarrass yourself on a live awards show. There is a window into the personal lives of stars that past generations never experienced. In a span of a year, you might hear about a celebrity sucking face with any clubgoer who has tongue(Lohan), getting arrested at a Walgreens(LaBeouf) or sharing a misguided thought about politics(Jolie, Baldwin, Penn and any other self-important professional actor who mistakes him or herself for Thomas Paine). It's enough to make you forget why they're famous in the first place.
When it comes down to it, there's a reason that Kanye should be remembered when his time on this earth is done: He's an extraordinarily talented and noteworthy rapper that tremendously influenced music during his prime.

2.) Chi-City
L.A. had Snoop and Dr. Dre. New York had Jay Z, Nas and 50. Atlanta had Outkast and Ludacris. Detroit had Eminem. Heck, even small cities like New Orleans, Cleveland and St. Louis had big name stars of note (Cash Money Millionaires, Bone Thugs & Harmony and Nelly, respectively).
Finally Chicago had a King in the rap game. Hip-hop was around for way too long, being dominated by New York, L.A. and even Atlanta MCs, without having one of the toughest, most gangsta cities making its mark. Sure, there was undeniable talent in the form of Do-Or-Die and Twista. There was also the R. in R&B. But even with the transcendent talent of R. Kelly, Chicago was lacking an actual rapper with industry-wide recognition and influence. Then there was Kanye, with a style and presence so unique it transformed the entire genre. He exploded on the scene, taking hip-hop to places it had never been before; and it was obvious things would never be the same. Kanye, with Common at his side, defined Chicago rap and made the Windy City the center of the hip-hop world for the middle part of a decade. And he remembered where he came from. The pride he had for his hometown was evident and he boasted the way any proud Chicagoan would. He wrote love songs about Chicago. "I'm coming home again..."
Bottom line is Kanye was an ambassador for the city; and a great one at that. The devotion in his rhymes was genuine and it came across. Don't think for a minute that people around the globe didn't notice and think: Wow, imagine how grand that city must be that it could inspire such passion.

3.) Cultural Significance

Kanye has the instinct to speak his mind. Understatement? Yes. This instinct gets him in trouble. He says and does crazy things. He lets his emotions take over at public events. And he takes MTV awards seriously. We saw this manifest itself when he ambushed Taylor Swift at the MTV VMAs. Embarrassing. But you can't blame Kanye for following his instict. It has served him well in the past. In fact, it was a powerful weapon that separated him from the crowd. Recently it seems as if the weight of fame and tragedy(the death of his mother) caused this power to become unwieldy.
Yet speak his mind that got Kanye in trouble at the 2009 VMAs had previously inspired his finest moment:

"George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People"

A seven word sentence that resonated with Americans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. For days, we all watched as mother nature destroyed a historic city. There was 24-hour news coverage of the devastation. Helicopters took video of human beings trapped on rooftops, bodies floating and hoards of suddenly homeless people fighting to survive. I know this is all common knowledge, nothing new, but let's review anyway, shall we?

Then there was President Bush on vacation on his Texas ranch. He was briefed by federal disaster officials on Sunday August 28th, 2005. They warned him that Katrina could breach the levees. Our President asked zero questions during the briefing, but assured everyone, "We are prepared."

On Monday the 29th, the levee broke.

On Tuesday the 30th, Bush played golf. Later in the day, he made a speech about the war effort in Iraq. During the speech, he announced he was cutting his vacation short to return to Washington. Which he did, one day later.

On Wednesday the 31st, Air Force One did a flyover of the disaster area on the way back to D.C.

Bush finally visited the affected areas on Friday, declaring that New Orleans would rise again.

Then there was the celebrity-infused fundraiser. The thought was nice and it was a monetary success. Adam Sandler answered phones, Sheryl Crow performed and Chris Tucker implored watchers to contribute. Despite the genuine effort, the entire program had the usual Hollywood stink of pretension that accompanies any public gathering of the rich and famous. There was one exception. In a moment that will go down in youtube history,(not just for the eventual hilarity of Kanye's fortuitous juxtaposition with Mike Myers) Kanye spoke his mind. Part of the reason it was so shocking was the fact that Kanye's statement surfaced amongst repetitive, scripted, "TGIF"-friendly words spewed mindlessly by professional gloom bearers. Kanye ignored the cue cards and said something real; what he was actually feeling. As the networks scrambled to cut away and the pundits laughed at Mike Myers' sideways glance, I have to believe that many African-Americans thought to themselves: Fuck yeah, finally somebody had the guts to say it. Flooding victims of every race were downright angry with the government's response and had every right to be. If they weren't busy trying to stay alive, I'll bet it would've been refreshing to hear somebody badger the President for his lack of action.

As a white guy, watching the inhumanity of Hurricane Katrina from afar caused me to feel as if I had glimpsed true first-hand coverage of racial inequity in our government's treatment of people, something that I, for the most part, had previously only read in history books and seen played out in Dave Chappelle skits.

Long story short, Kanye is part of history. Sadly, he's fallen from grace. Kanye went from mouthpiece for those suffering to someone that Barack Obama called "a jackass". Ouch.

But does he really deserve to have comic points scored off him by the likes of Taylor Lautner while hosting SNL? We're talking about someone who's main accompishment is taking his shirt off in a movie that Roger Ebert said "takes the tepid achievement of "Twilight" (2008), guts it, and leaves it for undead. You know you're in trouble with a sequel when the word of mouth advises you to see the first movie twice instead."

The 90's equivalent of this would be Fabio openly mocking Chuck D.

Kanye can turn public perception around, if he tries. And I think enough time has passed that we can forgive him for interrupting one of Taylor Swift's 250 award speeches in 2009. It's not as if he interrupted Martin Scorcese's Oscar speech or a mentally handicapped kid winning an ESPY.

So here's hoping we can welcome Kanye back...as long as he doesn't do anything stupid. Which, I'm sure, will be no problem for him.

Posted by Brendan at 01:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)