Ricky Gervais Is Funny ( Or Golden Globes: Get A Grip )

After being hooked into the world of podcasts (I had no idea!), I found and subscribed to Ricky Gervais' podcasts along with a pile of others and took them along with me on some errands. I was super excited about Mr. Gervais' podcast, but when it came on, it was only about 45 seconds long and was an advert for his hosting of the Golden Globes later that week. I was a little disappointed that the podcast was so short but it was good to see that Mr. Gervais was working and I looked forward to seeing the best bits of his show the next day.
Little did I know what had transpired that evening when I flipped open my laptop and searched for Ricky Gervais.

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The Man in Question

For those who did not see Mr. Gervais' Golden Globes hosting performance, you can always see it on YouTube [ link ]. He essentially turned the Golden Globes into a minor roast of sorts. He can be seen charring and scarring a large swath of Hollywood, including Steve Carrell, Charlie Sheen, Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise, among many others. Thanks to the social media and instant access to content, bloggers, critics and celebrities began trouncing on Gervais and his comedy for being tasteless, rude and unfunny. For every person he offended, however, he found a supportive person who got the joke. Subsequently, it continues to rage as a topic across blogs and Twitter feeds, Facebook walls and RSS feeds. (Oh, the irony!)

I personally thought Gervais was very funny throughout the night. Some of his gags were quite bold and some were quite mild but it was an enjoyable experience, if not mildly uncomfortable at certain points. When the dig he got in at Tom Cruise got a groan and shocked guffawing from the audience, I squirmed a little bit, I'll admit it. It was still funny, though. Smeriously.

Humor is a subjective thing, though, and what's funny to me is not necessarily funny to you. I understand that for that reason, the uproar and the furor exist. Roasts aren't for everybody, and that's pretty much what the Golden Globes morphed into. But seriously, he didn't do a bad thing. Mr. Gervais did a great thing and if nothing else, he certainly got himself a lot of press and name recognition. If you didn't know his name before, you very well may know it now. Bravo, Mr. Gervais. Bravo indeed.

The Fun's on the One,
-Nate Bellon(bass)

JoCo Fabbo ( or We're Not Unreasonable... )

I get e-mails occasionally from the sixtyone [ link ] about certain artists and happenings on the site. The most recent electronic communique reminded me of an artist often heard in the van whilst on tour or traveling and also heard in video games, on television and of course, the internet.

I'm talking about this guy right here:

His name is Jonathan Coulton and he writes great music, often with a technological or "geek culture" slant. His website [ link ] offers you the ability to listen to a wide variety of his music. He even has a musical primer, with different songs organized by categories like "geeky ones" or "funny/sad ones". [ link ] A few favorites of the band include: "Re: Your Brains," a song about zombies negotiating with a group of humans in a business meeting, of sorts; "Tom Cruise Crazy," a delightfully old-schoolish song explaining Tom Cruise's... eccentricities; and "Skullcrusher Mountain," which is a loving plea from a supervillain to his female captive.

Coulton has interestingly satisfying tonal and chordal instincts that make his music fun to listen to and his lyrics are often crafted wittily. While I sometimes prefer the acoustic version of his songs to his full rock band arrangements, he paints with a brush that is nicely influenced by the past thirty (plus) years of music, including touches of folk, electronic music and stadium-rock synth parts along with some heartily enjoyable rock.

One of my favorite Coulton tunes is "Still Alive," which was written for the end credits sequences of Portal [ link ], a video game released in 2007. The song is sung by the computer voice that is present throughout the game and makes a series of references to the game, so it's difficult to understand if the context isn't there. Still, it's a pretty song with a fun melody that I find myself humming randomly. The song isn't available on Jonathan's website because of licensing agreements with Valve Corporation, but it is available on YouTube. [ link ]

So, to recapitulate, The Empty Pockets like Jonathan Coulton and think you might like him to. Check him out.

Greasy is easy,

-Nate Bellon(bass)