I was worried that it might have been a fluke, so I watched a second episode tonight before blogging about it. My verdict? Thumbs up.

I’m not quite sure what it is about the show, but is has a certain Raising Arizona charm to it.

The premise is unique in this reality-television era; Earl Hickey was a criminal who kept having bad things happen to him (he wins the lottery and promptly loses his ticket) but while watching an episode of Carson Daly learns about karma and decides to try to right every wrong he committed. He makes a list and gets after it — and as his behavior improves, his luck improves (he gets back his lottery ticket).

On one level, it’s a simple show with funny scenes that’s well scripted. But on another level, you’re left questioning Earl as a character. At times, he seems like a genuinely good guy that feels remorse for the wrongs he’s committed. At other times, however, he’s comes across as a villain that’s just tired of bad luck.

Right now, the show is early enough that the dichotomy can be ironed out as the character develops. But at some point, the writers will have to begin addressing the issue — is Earl selfish or genuine?

I also enjoy that the show has a good message. Do good things, and good things will happen to you. Does that always hold true in real life? No, probably not. But if you want a brighter world around you, I do feel you have to try to contribute to an overall positivity. “My Name Is Earl” reflects that thinking.

If you use a Mac chat client with Jabber support(such as Adium or iChat), you can connect to Google Talk servers using the Jabber protocol. (here’s how.) I’m doing that, so, to me, Google Talk looks just like Adium.

C- for Google Talk. Props for making a nice, clean interface (or so I think, based on screen shots). Props for making it Jabber. Big minus props for not making us a pretty Mac version. Also, continued big minus props for continuing to use Arial font EVERYWHERE in Google-land, which drives me nuts. I hate that font.

If you want to give Google Talk a shot, try me at akaufmann@gmail.com (but don’t email me there — I rarely check that email address). Or, you can just IM me at my usual AIM screen name of MikieMills.

Batman Begins could have been renamed Batman Badass.

Seriously, this is the best Batman movie. I went in expecting it to be good, but not as good as the 1989 Batman with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. I came out so impressed by the depth of the Christian Bale Bruce Wayne that I believe this is the best Batman.

Superhero movies have taken a cue from the recent Spider-man series. As Spider-man had to create his props and learn the art of being a superhero, so does Batman. As Spider-man had to learn the pratfalls of being a superhero, so does Batman.

Comic book fans would tell me this isn’t exactly a revelation in the development of the characters but rather moviemakers finally properly following their comic book sources. Whatever the source, it makes for a great movie. We grow to understand why Bruce Wayne is fighting, how he came across his nearly-invicible suit, and how he came to be behind the wheel of the tank-like Batmobile. No longer do superheroes just arrive in battle with their props, they now have to find them or earn them. A layer of suspended reality is removed.

My only problem with the movie is that it’s hard to tell what’s going on in some of the fight scenes. Batman’s training tutor teaches him the art of stealth, which makes for good fights but difficult to follow fight scenes. The darkness that conceals the unknown that adds to enemies’ fright also conceals to the audience exactly what happens. And the speed that Batman attacks with surprises the viewer as well as the enemy.

The complaint is minor — the scenes are still action-packed and enjoyable. I was just confused a little sometimes.

It’s a great movie. The best I’ve seen in a while.

Some pros:

• Ninjas. Everyone likes ninjas
• Badass Batman
• Alfred is given a little more depth and more good lines
• Nonstop action — no boring parts. The movie flies by
• Ninjas
• Christian Bale is great, even if he reminded me of Luke Wilson every now and then

Some cons:

• Every time I saw Katie Holmes, I thought about how weird the thing is with her and Tom Cruise. Can we call this Tomatie? Katom? Holmcruise? I saw a funny poll on CNN — would you change religions to date Tom Cruise? 94% no. 6% of the population worries me.
• Christian Bale’s Batman voice is a little contrived. It shows he’s trying to disguise it better than previous Waynes/Batmans, but it’s kind of weird sometimes. It’s a little nasal, or something. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
• Could have used more ninjas

Again, great movie. Go see it.

I agree with that assessment in the case of Oasis. You can hear the increased influence of Gem Archer, and you can hear Oasis just begging to be relevant with this album. And a lot of the songs really aren’t bad.

It’s just that none of strike me as particularly good, either.

Oasis seems to have lost the abillity to put together a good, strong, catchy, fun rock tune. That’s where their strength lied on “Definitely Maybe” and “What’s the Story Morning Glory?” Even “Be Here Now” had some catchy songs, but “Don’t Believe the Truth” is just missing that edge.

The album opens with some intrigue — “Turn Up the Sun” intros with a dual-guitar chime that’s very un-Oasis-like. But right after the 30-second mark, Oasis gives up on the whole thought and brings back the droning, boring pounding guitar riff that have marked the last albums. Liam and Noel don’t spice it up much with their dual vocals (as usual, Liam in the foreground in a lower, raspy register with Noel picking up the high end) that drone on boringly, like the guitars. The guitar outro-solo harkens back to the introduction that Oasis seemingly forgot about for 2 and a half minutes, but it seems just tacked onto the end. As if someone in the studio said “Hey, remember that song we started out with? Let’s go back to that for a few seconds and call it a day.”

The next two tracks, “Mucky Fingers” and “Lyla” (the first single off the album) are more of the same — boring songs that wear out their welcome well before the 3:56 and 5:12 ending marks. My fast forward button is getting quite a workout.

“Love Like a Bomb” changes things up with a 3/4 meter and an acoustic guitar — and has the advantage of being a short 2:54. For the first time on the album, a song ended about when I felt it should have. Is it my imagination or has Liam Gallagher’s voice somehow gotten MORE nasal over time? Perhaps he has some residual cocaine lodged in his nose?

“The Importance of Being Idle,” while being a clunky sounding title, is the best song on the album. It’s also, probably not coincidentally, a Noel Gallagher lead vocal. A marching-type beat with interesting storytelling vocals that lasts a completely appropriate 3:41. The song sounds nothing like other Oasis works, and is a refreshing bit of creativity.

I keep noting the lengths of the songs — probably because of Oasis’ tendency to let their songs become that houseguest that refuses to leave, then leaves the guest room a mess. This may be more of a reflection on me than on this album, but I got distracted by an Apple iTunes ad about Weird Al Yankovic.

“The Meaning of Soul” is the “fun rock” song on the album, an interesting mix of a pounding drum track but an acoustic guitar lead track. Again, the guys don’t let the song overstay its welcome. Interestingly, tracks 5 through 8 all feature the acoustic guitar as the lead instrument — even though they all qualify as “rock” songs, with the possible exception of “The Importance of Being Idle.”

I’m debating myself whether the pun in the title of “Guess God Thinks I’m Abel” (Abel and able) is clever or not, and I lean toward it being an acceptable play. The song’s ending is notable — an acoustic-rock song turning to loud electric for the final 20 seconds — which is different, if ineffective as a changeup in this instance. Good try, though.

Noel takes the lead microphone back in “Part of the Queue,” another acoustic-rock song in 3/4. The electric guitar solo that morphs into a piano solo is a great touch in the middle. This song is my second favorite on the album, next to the other Noel track. I think Noel has done a great job of developing his voice, and I’m willing to take the controversial stance that I’m tired of Liam’s nasal rasp. Next time, put Noel on lead full time.

“Keep the Dream Alive” is the strongest Liam track on the album, an anthemic ode to doing your thing. The song is enjoyable, even though the gang does back to their old habit of a song overstaying its welcome — 5:46 long with nothing interesting happening after the 4:30 point. Don’t get me wrong — my diatribe isn’t against the longer song, but the longer song with no point to being long. If you have 6 minutes of interesting material, make a 6 minute song. But don’t stretch a 4 minute song into a 6 minute song. It drives me nuts and makes me so bored.

“A Bell Will Ring” features some strong rock guitar (Noel and Gem Archer work well together in this track) and finishes up a strong middle section of the album.

The album ends weakly, though, with “Let There Be Love” trying to sway but instead staggering. In “Acquiesce” style, Liam handles the verses while Noel handles the choruses. I prefer the Noel parts. I’ve decided for sure that I’m ready for Noel to set out on his own. The song pretends to end at a nice, appropriate spot after the 3:00 point, but instead chooses to restart and bore me for another minute and a half. Then the song pretends to end there, but decides to annoy me a little more by restarting again. After a really strong album middle section, “Let There Be Love” doesn’t add to the momentum.

“I Can See It Now” returns to early-album form, with droning guitars and a boring rock beat. It builds, adding layer after layer until the 3:00 point when Noel comes in with echo-y vocals buried in the mix. Would have been a decent album opener, in a shortened version, but doesn’t do an effective job as an album closer. It doesn’t make think, “Wow, what a great close to an amazing album!”

“Don’t Believe the Truth” is a decent album with some decent songs, but doesn’t have that toe-tapping rock song that made the world aware of Oasis. None of the songs are truly memorable or are songs that make you want to rush out and buy the album. It’s a better album than the last two Oasis has put out, for sure, and maybe their next album will be another step in the right direction.

Right now I think Oasis is still surviving off the enormous momentum of their first two albums (and their underrated B-sides collection) while still trying to redefine themselves as a band. All the members of the original band have been replaced, except for Noel and Liam, of course — and they do seem to be coming together as a unit. If this album is a transitional album before their return to prominence, I wouldn’t be at all surprised. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if Oasis is never able to quite regain their early success, either. Forced to predict, I do think Oasis will have another strong push in the future.

This album isn’t quite that strong push. It lacks that knockout-punch, trademark song that I do feel they’re capable of writing. Good songs, OK album, but nothing that will change rock’s landscape.

Buy it: [iTunes] [Amazon]

Rating:

That having been said, I’m not a huge Coldplay fan. I dig some of their songs, (“In My Place,” “Clocks,” and “Yellow” are great tunes) but as an overall body of work, my Coldplay attention span tends to wane.

The release of “Speed of Sound,” the first single off their upcoming album X&Y, had me intrigued. Was it going to be more of the usual Coldplay, or was it going to be a re-engineered Coldplay sound?

The answer is a resounding “more of the usual,” but that’s not entirely bad. “Speed of Sound” is catchy, pleasant to listen to, and harmless. It’ll probably be popular, and Coldplay fans will certainly groove to it. In fact, I rather enjoy it — but it’s far from groundbreaking.

“Speed of Sound” is most remarkable in its similarity to another Coldplay hit single, “Clocks,” off of A Rush of Blood to the Head. The main descending-note piano riff is more than reminiscent of the main descending-note piano riff of “Clocks.” I’d go as far as to call it a rip-off, but I don’t think you can rip-off your own work — just repeat it.

My initial reaction to the lyrics is that there’s some pseduo-intellectual whining going on. “How long do I have to climb / up on the side of this mountain of mine,” Chris Martin asks at the end of the first verse. He seems awfully bummed out for a guy that’s rich, famous, and goes home to Gwenyth Paltrow every night.

Surprisingly, though, I feel that the lyrics really pick up after a non-descript first verse. The second verse begins with “Look up, I look up at night / Planets are moving at the speed of light / Climb up, up in the trees / Every chance you get / Is a chance you seize.” — a well-put statement of time flying by and needing to seize every opportunity.

I particularly enjoy the choruses — especially the overlayed chiming guitar riff from Jonny Buckland that increases with volume each chorus until it almost drowns out Martin by end. The riff reminds of U2’s the Edge, with “Beautiful Day” coming to mind first. Martin’s lyrics in the chorus are interesting, if not easily decipherable:

“All that noise, and all that sound,
All those places I got found.
And birds go flying at the speed of sound,
to show you how it all began.
Birds came flying from the underground,
If you could see it then you’d understand,
Ah when you see it then you’ll understand…”

The message isn’t clear, but the imagery is interesting. A definite improvement, in my view, from the first verse’s more understable but less inspiring moaning.

All in all, “Speed of Sound” is nothing particularly earth-moving or ground-breaking. If it’s a reflection of the rest of the album, X&Y will be an enjoyable experience, even if it is Rush of Blood part II. Casual Coldplay fans will likely get about what they’re expecting, and that’s certainly not all bad.

Rating:

So, on Monday and Tuesday, while sick, I surfed the 900 million channels of satellite TV looking for the surprise gem. For example, I was tickled to find “Two Guys and a Girl” (motto: “we dropped the ‘Pizza Place’ part because one show can only write so many plot themes around a pizza parlor”), one of my favorite TV shows that has long since been out of production, being shown on the Women’s Entertainment channel. Little surprises like that keep the world looking bright.

I eventually stumbled on Comedy Central’s newish game show, “Distraction”, complete with a smarmy host with a British accent. The premise is simple and had me intrigued — we’ll ask the contestants really simple questions, but we’ll come up with new and exciting ways to torture them while they answer. Reminds me of the premise of a failed reality quiz-show that came out during the height of the “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” craze wherein they stuck some poor person into like, an oven, and asked them questions while slowly turning up the heat. They even displayed a helpful thermometer in the corner of the screen, to remind you that it was really hot in there. (What was this show called? What station did it air on? Am I making this up? I cannot find any references to it on Google, and I can’t remember a name. Help me out here.)

“Distraction” isn’t nearly as cruel, though. It’s mostly harmless little bits that just distract the contestant a bit. In the episode I watched, the players had to: slap a buzzer that was another player’s butt in order to buzz in (the girl on girl butt slapping was supposed to be titillating, I think, and then we were supposed to watch the guys squirm at having to touch a same-sex butt. Something like that, anyway), answer questions while carefully placing clothespins all over their face (the most clothespins got a bonus; the two guys seemed mostly unphased but the girl was stamping and screaming and generally just making a big fuss over a few dozen clothespins), and then answer questions while stuntmen smashed breakaway chairs and glass objects over their heads (for safety purposes, the participants wore goggles).

The winner got a car, and I felt a little sorry for the losers. But not really. The questions weren’t hard enough to be a source of entertainment, and the distractions were just that — little distractions that weren’t particularly entertaining, either. Just kind of a half-assed show.

1 1/2 stars out of 4.