...what a decade for music...



One website magazine called the 00s "the naughties" (at times, it was)...Time magazine called it the "decade from Hell" (sometimes,), but one thing it wasn't was boring...

Each year from the past ten years is etched in my brain more distinctly than each one from any other decade I've lived and though I think I liked the 90s better (surely it wasn't as contentious as this one has been!) and liked the 80s far, far less (please, I hope when we die and discover our Fate, Hell isn't the 80s and Buster Poindexter isn't there singing "Hot, Hot, Hot"!!) I finally found out what it meant to truly enjoy other people and love working and thriving.

On a universal level...I found this to be the best decade ever (in my personal lifetime, at least!) for music...I fell so hard for music, discovered how much it could heal a person, make her think and feel more clearly than ever before...

Lots of much more qualified people and my favorite British music magazines do "best of" lists and after a while the lists all blur together and don't mean so much, especially (!!) if they're not YOURS ('cause YOUR list IS yours, after all!), but still, I (humbly) hope it's okay if I do share my favorites from the past ten years...(in no particular order!)

A lot of the music I discovered through magazines like Paste and Uncut and also through tv shows like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Ugly Betty," which aren't as good as when they first started airing, but still feature awesome singers and musicians.



--"Look What You've Done To Me" by Iko--such a beautiful and absolutely devastating song, only rivaled in exquisite sadness by Gary Jules' "Mad World." (from the mind-boggling film "Donnie Darko.")

--"Dream" by Priscilla Ahn--such a sweet and innocent song...I'm not a very religious person at all, but I always feel so spiritual after hearing this...Ahn is just a lovely, lovely singer...her album "A Good Day" is breath-taking and magical with such an intimate feel to it, like she's right there!!

--"Someone Great" by LCD Soundsystem...the words are amazing and capture grief better than anything I've heard in...well...ever! ("The worst is all the lovely weather/I'm sad, it's not raining./The coffee's not ever bitter/because, what's the difference?") If you get a chance to listen or already know this one and you've lost someone dear, you'll probably be all-too-familiar with its surreal sense of loss and disbelief.

--"That's Me Trying" by William Shatner (not kidding!) I think my favorite Wise Ass is trying to be funny here, but underneath it all (and backed by the awesome Aimee Mann and Ben Folds) is a despair and regret you can't believe Shatner is a part of...

--"Cologne" by Ben Folds...the first time I heard this song I was totally caught off guard by how much I wanted to cry listening to it...it is both full of despair at a broken relationship ("And now I'm wondering why the floor has suddenly become a moving target") and desperately hopeful to move on ("I'm letting you go/I will let go,If you will let go")

--"Lullaby" by the Dixie Chicks...heard this for the first time on my favorite episode of "Medium" ("Twice Upon a Time") and it fit so perfectly with the scene!...In the scene it goes with the main character (Alison Dubois played by Patricia Arquette) is resting on a beautiful field of green grass and dreaming...she soon finds out what it would have been like if she had never married her husband and how sad and empty her life would have been with any other man...I tear up every time I hear this song...and the episode is all the better for having this track play in the beginning and when she realizes the man she DID marry was always her destiny...gorgeous, gorgeous song!!!)

--"Anything I'm Not" by Lenka...she sounds like Ingrid Michaelson (who got her big break through being featured on "Grey's Anatomy") but she sounds even more vulnerable and sings about serious things in a light-hearted manner...this is all about being yourself and yet wanting to be someone else completely...

--"The Trapeze Singer" by Iron and Wine...previously mentioned this one, I know!:)...oh, it's SO not fair how absolutely fragile and stunning their music is...undoes me EVERY time!!

to be continued, with dates added...plus my favorite HAPPY!!! songs

I hadn't seen any of Jennifer Beals' early films when I first watched THE BRIDE a few years ago. From her more recent work (FOUR ROOMS, THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY and now THE L WORD), I know she is a first-rate actress, but didn't know what to expect from her beginning work (I still have to see FLASHDANCE.) Though I've read critics' reviews panning this film, I think THE BRIDE is quite good and deserving of the regard other "undiscovered" or "underground" films receive.

The story is straightforward enough: The infamous mad scientist Frankenstein creates a mate for his "monster" (whom will later be named Viktor). Things go wrong, however and Eva is left at the hands of Dr. Frankenstein (Viktor having run off when fire breaks out in the lab). Frankenstein (played to irritatingly perfect pompousness by Sting) has Eva all to himself and attempts to make her into a "proper lady."

The plot is not the main reason to watch this endearing movie, though it definitely keeps your interest with the main plot and the storyline involving Viktor after he flees the fire and meets up with a wonderful character played by David Rappaport. No, the real reason to watch is in the little touches, whether it be the memorable scene where Eva (played with incredible innocence and searching curiousity by Jennifer Beals) snarls at a cat during her first outing at a fancy dinner to meet the "important" people or the tender friendship between Viktor and Rinaldo.

I don't want to reveal too much about where the movie goes but it does a surprisingly good job of capturing universal themes such as loneliness and searching for one's own roots. A big plus in its favor is that it comes closer to the original intent of Mary Shelley's novel than the old Hollywood versions and reminds us that Shelley's novel was never really about scary horror but the horrors in our fellow humans' behavior and our own isolation.

saw this online the other day:


Tube Tied
Why are syndicated TV shows programmed out of sequence?
By Eric Hynes
Posted Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009, at 9:38 AM ET

TBS is syndicating episodes of The Office every night this week at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday's episode, "Chair Model," was the 10th episode of Season 4. Later that night, a special marathon offered several out-of-sequence episodes from Season 2. Wednesday's episode, "Weight Loss," skips ahead to the Season 5 premiere. Such shuffling is typical of syndication schedules. But why do stations program shows out of sequence?

It's more economical. Certain episodes are more popular tha! n others, so it's in a station's best interest to play them more often . These episodes can command higher ad rates and can serve as attractive lead-ins to other network shows. During the holidays, it's more important to air thematically appropriate episodes than adhere to strict series chronology. And certain guest stars, in the limelight for one reason or another, can make episodes newly relevant. Furthermore, stations don't always purchase an entire series. Rather than license the entire 11-year, 251-episode run of M*A*S*H, for example, a station may cherry-pick a few seasons (the early, McLean Stevenson years, perhaps) and create a subcycle out of the larger whole.

It's only in recent years that viewers expect to see nonserialized shows presented chronologically. Those who watch TV shows on DVD or Hulu can track a series by season and episode number, but such habits run counter to the original conception of these shows as stand-alone entertainments—precisely what makes them ideal syndication commodities. For syndicators an! d advertisers, there's a direct correlation between programming flexibility and market value. Traditionally, sitcoms like Friends do better in syndication than dramas, while self-contained programs, such as the Law & Order franchise, perform better than cliffhanger-style serials like Lost and most reality shows—which are difficult to understand without a good deal of back story.

Syndicators have the right to program leased episodes in whatever order they please, but sometimes they will follow chronology, especially if a show has never been syndicated before. Stations are traditionally interested in acquiring first-run syndication rights only once a series has amassed 100 episodes—roughly four standard seasons (although there are some notable exceptions to this rule). Crossing this threshold means it's possible to! "strip syndicate," or air the show five days a week for 20 weeks with out repeating. Thanks to exclusivity agreements, the relative bounty of episodes, and higher audience share, syndicators are more likely to maintain sequencing during an initial strip-syndication cycle. But once the exclusivity window closes and ratings settle, larger programming needs trump expectations for chronology. Individual episodes become more like movable units on a master schedule. Some viewers might still prefer to watch Roseanne in succession, but after many years and multiple cycles of syndication, such expectations are less intense.

Explainer thanks Andrew Goldman, vice president of programming and scheduling for HBO/Cinemax, and Howard Blumenthal, executive director of NJN and author of This Business of Television.

Become a fan of Slate on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.
Eric Hynes is a Slate intern.

Like the Beethoven symphony of the same name, EROICA is beautiful and moving. Wendy and Lisa are so talented on this particular album it takes your breath away. I first heard EROICA in 1990 and I'm still convinced this was the best album of the 90s, with the exception of GIRL BROS., their 1998 release.

Every track on this album is outstanding, but the ones that linger in my ear the most are: "Rainbow Lake," "Strung Out," "Don't Try to Tell Me," "Inside Out," "Skeleton Key," "Staring at the Sun" and "Crack in the Pavement."

Once you hear this album, you'll never forget it! It's intelligent without pretentions, it's lush without over-production, it's simple and complex at the same time. Plus, EROICA (and GIRL BROS.) is the kind of album you can listen to anytime, but especially during the more challenging times in your life.

With its low price and high return value, GREG THE BUNNY is one of the best shows on DVD you can buy! I am so glad the show is just as funny when you watch it again and again because even though I paced watching the episodes so they would last a while, I still finished way too soon!

While GREG THE BUNNY is most definitely not for everybody (I wouldn't recommend letting children watch it, except maybe for the Tardy extra where he delivers a postal letter), it is everything for the body that loves his or her humor delivered with wicked wisdom. Whether it is the acerbic Warren Demontague (a washed-up Shakespearean ape actor worthy of a "Frasier" episode) or the friendly, sometimes confused Greg the bunny (who always wants to play and means well even when he does something wrong), you will be more than satisfied with this slightly warped, sometimes disrespectful sense of humor.

As the SIMPSONS does (and often gets undeserved criticism for), GREG THE BUNNY pokes fun at things that society can take too seriously. Lost in all the hoopla by people who don't (or didn't) like the show is a beautiful honesty and friendship shared among a bunch of misfits who want to be seen as more than just puppets.

If nothing else, this show could serve as a warning to the good-natured Muppets as to what happens when good puppets go bad:). Kermit might not be green with envy at the lives these guys lead, but I bet even he would be flopping around a bit in gales of laughter. He might find himself taking Tardy (a slow-witted, but loving turtle) under his wing (make that webbed feet.)

As for me, this is something I adore and love to watch on rainy days when things seem a bit gloomy and out of focus. I recommend this DVD with lots of heart!

One of the best things I discovered this past decade was UNCUT (as well as some other British music magazines)...more on this later~