RAAAAAAAANDY!

If you aren't excited about the movie 'Funny People' that opens this Friday, July 31st, I don't know if we can be friends.

Not only does it look hilarious, but it IS hilarious! Also, if you have HBO, you probably saw a 30 minute show this past weekend with clips of the movie and interviews with the cast that I hear made the movie look even better (I don't have HBO you rich bastards).

So, with all that said; Funny or Die has been releasing videos about one of the movies smaller characters named Raaaaaaaandy (that is right, 8 A's), played by Aziz Ansari.

At first, people seem to think that Raaaaaaaandy is annoying, but trust me, the more you watch these videos the better they get. So far, they have released three of these videos, and I think the first one is still the best.

Make sure to turn your volume down, because the language is not safe for work!

Raaaaaaaandy - Part 1 (Funny People) from Aziz Ansari

Raaaaaaaandy - Part 2 (Funny People) from Aziz Ansari

Raaaaaaaandy - Part 3 (Funny People) from Aziz Ansari

Note that Raaaaaaaanday is probably going to be the least funny part of the movie... which means this movie is going to be awesome.

Still No Replacement...

As of today, there is still no replacement in the 2009 ACL schedule for the Beastie Boys. Not that this is unusual, because the festival isn't until October, just that everyone in town seems to be waiting (and hoping) for something great...and hopefully it will come.

To pass the time, I figured I would help them move things along and give them a few ideas to fill their Friday 8:15 - 9:30pm slot.

First, I just want to note that the festival this year has already brought in some big names, and that C3 probably doesn't have the budget to do the majority of these options. However, Beastie was replaced by the Yeah Yeah Yeah's for Lollapalooza (another C3 festival), and was replaced by Jay Z for the All Points West festival, so anything could happen.

Here are a few options for replacing the Beastie Boys; feel free to add options of your own in the comments:

1.) (aka The cheapest option) Move the artists currently on the AMD stage on Friday two hours ahead. This will move Phoenix to the 6:30 slot, and John Legend (who was originally a headliner, and was moved into a non-headlining slot) to 8:30.

-Why this is good: Other than saving money for C3, there will no longer be the Asleep at the Wheel/School of Seven Bells, Phoenix/Coheed & Cambria, or a John Legend/Thievery Corporation conflict.
-Why this is bad: There is now a John Legend/KOL conflict, and there is one less band playing the AMD stage on Friday.

2.) (the second cheapest) Move either The Arctic Monkeys or The Dead Weather from their slot on Sunday to this Friday slot.

-Why this is good: Sunday is packed and both of these bands are good enough to compete with KOL to close Friday night.
-Why this is bad: KOL Conflict, C3 will have to pay them more money for a headlining spot, and one less band on Sunday = more schedule problems (and also means the least likely of happening).

3.) Replace them with the Yeah Yeah Yeah's. C3 has already done this at Lolla, and they are not playing anywhere this date (even though it is close to their European tour). It seems like the most realistic option if they are going to pull in another band.

-Why this is good: The Yeah Yeah Yeah's rock, and everyone was disappointed when they were on the Bonarroo schedule, but not ACL.
-Why this is bad: KOL conflict.

4.) Replace them with one of the following bands, in order of awesomeness (and sadly, in reverse order of actually happening): Rage Against The Machine, Radiohead, Jet, Jay Z

-Why this is good: I have never seen Rage and am still angry I didn't go to Lolla last year to see them. Everyone wants Radiohead every year, but we don't get them. Jet has a new album coming out and hasn't played ACL in a few years. Jay Z was used as a replacement at All Points West, and I would never pay to go see him live at a normal concert, but would see him at a festival.
-Why this is bad: Other than your personal feelings about these bands being good or not, there is no bad option other than the obvious KOL conflict.

Obviously there are more options, but the first 3 are most likely to happen and the 4th is really just me hoping that ACL could get one of those bands to play (even though I know they can't). Plus, this is assuming that they even will fill the slot. I know they probably will, but how much would it suck if they didn't?

Hopefully we will will find out who the replacement is soon!

ACL 2009 Schedule Is Out!!

The 2009 ACL schedule has finally been released!

Here is the schedule for Friday, Saturday and Sunday

I am not sure why it was released over a month later than last year, but it wasn't because they were getting rid of all of the schedule conflicts! Obviously, I am most disappointed with the John Legend v Thievery Corportation conflict, because it didn't even exist until they moved Mos Def to Saturday and John Legend into Friday.

Other than that, they have many less conflicts compared to last year. Either way, it always works out.

Here are my biggest conflicts for ACL weekend:

Friday:
-John Legend v Thievery Corportation (John Legend wins only because I have never seen him)
-Phoenix v Coheed and Cambria (Phoenix wins)
-Beastie Boys v Kings of Leon (Probably Beastie Boys because I have never seen them and I have seen KOL a few times)

Saturday:
-Grizzly Bear v The Airborne Toxic Event (Grizzly Bear wins)

Sunday:
-Arctic Monkeys v Toadies (I have never seen Toadies, but I love AM ??)

UPDATE 7/20: The Beastie Boys will be pulling out of ACL! :( "Adam “MCA” Yauch of Beastie Boys was diagnosed last week as having a cancerous tumor in his left parotid (salivary) gland." No word on who C3 will be putting in their place. -Big thanks to Jumbo Slice for the heads up!

UPDATE 7/21: The Yeah Yeah Yeah's are replacing Beastie Boys at Lollapalooza this year, so let's hope that C3 Presents gets them for ACL as well!

Some People Say Cucumbers Taste Better Pickled

With all of the Michael Jackson stuff that happened this week (funeral, tabloid coverage, random other things) I have decided to put up one of the funniest Chappelle Show skits of all time - the one featuring the Michael Jackson and R. Kelly jury trial selection process.

I figured that by the time Friday rolls around, everyone should just laugh and enjoy the weekend!

Chappelle's Show
Celebrity Trial Jury Selection
www.comedycentral.com

***The Comedy Central sketch above does not feautre the entire jury selection skit. It is missing the 1994 O.J. trial selection, which features one of the most classic lines: 'Sir, my blackness doesn't permit me to answer that question.'

Go here and skip to the 10:25 mark to view the full skit.

Stream The Dead Weather - TODAY ONLY!

The Dead Weather are streaming their entire debut album, Horehound, on iLike for TODAY ONLY!

For those of you that live under a rock; The Dead Weather is comprised of Dean Fertita of Queens Of The Stone Age, Jack Lawrence of The Raconteurs, Jack White of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs and Allison Mosshart of The Kills.

They will be playing day 3 of ACL this year.

Go here to stream the entire album which isn't available to purchase until July 14th.

James Franco's UCLA Commencement Speech

As some of you may have heard; James Franco was invited by his alma matter to be UCLA's class of 2009 commencement speaker. While this really doesn't make much sense, especially since he was known for skipping or sleeping in class, he ended up turning the offer down.

Now, he has teamed up with Funny or Die to show the world the real reason he wasn't the UCLA class of 2009 commencement speaker.

Enjoy. One more day 'till Friday!

ACL 2009 Schedule Change!

For those of you that are thinking about purchasing ACL 1-day tickets, make sure you are constantly looking at the band lineup/schedule page (the schedule isn't out yet, but they list what bands are playing on each day) before you purchase anything, because C3 seems to be switching artists around without notice. So far, the only switch that I am concerned with is the John Legend/Mos Def switch.

In my previous post, I listed the original lineup of artists playing ACL each day, and personally I prefer it much more than the current list.

Here are the changes:

Old Friday lineup:
Beastie Boys
Kings of Leon
Thievery Corporation
Mos Def

New Friday lineup:
Beastie Boys
Kings of Leon
Thievery Corporation
John Legend

Old Saturday lineup:
Dave Matthews Band
John Legend
The Levon Helm Band
Ghostland Observatory

New Saturday lineup:
Dave Matthews Band
The Levon Helm Band
Ghostland Observatory
Mos Def

While this doesn't seem like that big of a change; what they have done is loaded Friday with an extra "big" artist (John Legend), and taken him away from Saturday. This leaves Friday's lineup overcrowded and Saturday's lineup completely weak.

To me, the older lineup was a simple choice of which bands to see each night (Kings vs Beastie and Thievery vs Mos Def on Friday and DMB vs John Legend on Saturday). Now it seems like there will be more conflicts in the schedule (or at least my schedule) having to choose between Thievery and John Legend (John Legend wins) on Friday night, and then not giving a shit about DMB vs Levon Helm Band.

In my opinion, they need to move either one of the top four bands from Friday night to Saturday night (hopefully either Beastie Boys or Thievery corportation), or they need to take a really good mid-tier band from Sunday's lineup (Dead Weather, Arctic Monkeys or Toadies) to make up for the extremely weak top portion of Saturday's schedule.

I normally expect ACL to have horrible scheduling problems, but I do not, however, expect them to get it right the first time and then change it so it creates problems that didn't originally exist.

Michael Jackson's Best Dance Move

When thinking back on Michael Jackson's music career, everyone knows him as an amazing musician, dancer, and the biggest selling artist of all time. However, when thinking about him specifically as a dancer, I feel like everyone really knows him for one move; the moonwalk.

While the moonwalk is a great move that many have tried (and failed) to recreate, I don't feel like this was his most impressive move. So, if it isn't the moonwalk, what was his most impressive dance move?

The 45-degree lean.

You know, the one from the Smooth Criminal music video (shown in the video above at the 7:12 mark) where he and a few others somehow manage to lean at a 45-degree angle while planting their feet completely flat on the ground.

If you think I am wrong, I would like to see you try it. I did when I was younger and I remember almost breaking my ankles before falling over every single time.

Most people at the time thought the move in the video was fake until Michael performed the lean live in concert for thousands of fans, which then debunked these rumors.

Until now...

Perez Hilton once again has decided to ruin the fun and let the whole world in on Michael's secret of the 45-degree angle lean.






"In a famous scene from Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal music video, the pop singer and his dancers leaned forward at a 45-degree angle - much to the confusion of all of us watching.

Well, now the cat is out of the bag!!!

Wires and harnesses were used during the filming of the video, but when performing live they had assistance from special shoes.

The shoes, which were patented in 1993, contain anklets which give the footwear the rigidity of ski boots along with ability to latch on to pegs that rise out of the floor, thereby allowing Jackson to defy gravity."

While the lean may have been fake, putting the moonwalk back into the official #1 spot of Michael Jackson's best dance moves, the 45-degree lean is still my personal favorite.