There was a free preview of several television stations last week including HDNET Movies, Sony Movies, and the Smithsonian Channel. There really wasn't anything on any of these channels worth watching or recording, but I decided to check out the station MTV Live. This station had a novel concept. It showed music videos.
For those of you under 25 (who am I kidding? No one under 25 is reading this!), MTV, short for Music Television, launched in 1981 and played music videos. The station added other shows over the years and pretty much abandoned showing videos. VH1, or Video Hits 1, emerged a few years after MTV and still played videos after MTV stopped, but they also chose other programming over videos. (RIP VH1's Top 20 Video Countdown). So I was excited to see a station showing music videos again.
Over about 30 minutes or so, I saw videos by Taylor Swift, several K-Pop bands, and other bands/artists I've never heard of. There was a new video by Limp Bizkit that wasn't terrible. Please don't consider that last sentence an endorsement. There was also this cool looking video by Julian Lennon, WHO is ROLLING like STONES as the son of a famous British musician. (See what I did there?)
I checked out the station the next night and saw some of the same videos again. And commercials. I quickly realized that MTV made the right decision not airing music videos anymore. While I still think there is value to a video countdown show, few people are going to sit and watch random videos with commercials breaks as long as YouTube is around. Or just about anything else airing or streaming.
When MTV debuted nearly 35 years ago, the video jockeys, or VJs, became nearly as famous as the musicians they presented. Folks like Martha Quinn, Alan Hunter, Mark Goodman, Nina Blackwood, Pauly Shore, Downtown Julie Brown, Kennedy, Bill Bellamy and Carson Daly became stars. Of course, MTV and later VH1 became more about reality shows and less about music, so VJs began to go extinct. However, one VJ remained. Jim Shearer started at MTV in 2002 and served as the host of VHI's Top 20 Video Countdown for the past 5 or 6 years. Jim is great. He's funny, does an excellent job interviewing guests and simply seems like a guy that would be cool to hang out with. And yes I may be biased because Jim is also from Western Pennsylvania and agreed to do an interview with me here on Sean's Ramblings.
Inexplicably, VH1 decided not to renew Jim's contract for 2015. The Top 20 countdown is currently having guest hosts (Gavin DeGraw last week and Andy Grammer this week). I'm sure they are both swell people (plus DeGraw attended Ithaca College; I'll have to share my story about him sometime), but they are no Jim Shearer.
Fortunately, we can still see Jim. He started Gimme 5 with Mike Adam, and as usual, Jim is great. Again, I may be biased but Jim's top five are much better than Mike's picks.
You can check out their first two episodes below and follow Gimme 5 and Jim on Twitter.
Top Pop Songs of 2014
Best Rap Feature in a Pop Song
While I'm not sure he's looking for work, someone needs to hire Jim immediately!
Although I've heard of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings for years, I don't think that I ever heard one of their songs. While watching VH1 recently, the network showed a video for their latest song, Stranger to My Happiness. I like the sound.
I flipped to VH1 the other morning and came across the video below. Yes, VH1 actually shows videos in the morning. Anyway, I thought this was a catchy song by a new band with a cool sound that was somehow able to convince Kat Dennings to appear in their video.* Only at the end of the video did I realize that this band isn't exactly new.
* Perhaps even more amazing is that Dennings isn't showing off much cleavage in the video.
When we last checked in with the highly successful rapper Pitbull, we noted that he displayed his lyrical skills by rhyming Kodak with Kodak. Since that time, "Mr. 305" earned 11 2012 Billboard Latin Music Award nominations and VH1 featured him on a recent Behind the Music episode. He also teamed up with Chris Brown (probably not the former Tennessee Titans Running Back) for the single International Love. Let's take a look at Pitbull's latest masterpiece.
You Put It Down Like New York City I Never Sleep Wild Like Los Angeles My Fantasy Hotter Than Miami I Feel The Heat Ohh Miss International Love
This is the chorus. Now, I acknowledge that my geography skills are probably average at best; however, the chorus features three cities: New York City, Los Angeles & Miami. Therefore, shouldn't Pitbull rename the song National Love or American Love? You can't throw in London, Tokyo or Paris in the chorus?
The song also featured two more lines I feel the need to share.
In Lebanon Yeah The Women Are Bomb
I feel like referring to people or things as "bomb" or "the bomb" stopped in 2000.
And in Greece, you've guessed it, the women are sweet
I didn't guess it. My guess would have had something to do with the Greek economy. Is Pitbull making some type of reference to baklava? I hope Pitbull isn't attempting to rhyme Greece and sweet. I think he should have tried peace, hairpiece, geese, crease or fleece. Here are my two suggestions for the remix:
1. And the women in Greece like to wear fleece 2. And in Greece, the women like Marc-Andre Fleury in the crease
Perhaps, I'm not qualified to be a rapper.
Anyway, despite some odd lyrics, Pitbull knows how to create catchy songs. Enjoy.
With the exception of trips to the hospital, doctors’ offices and the rare excursions to grocery stores, I spent most of the past three weeks at home. Therefore, I thought I would share my experiences at home as well as some additional notes from my first few weeks of being a father. (This is basically part two from last week's post.)
- There’s not a worse TV talk show on the air than the Rachael Ray Show. She is painfully annoying. I’d much rather watch two hours (maybe even two consecutive days!) of The View than two minutes of Rachael Ray.
- Speaking of painfully annoying, let’s talk about Bravo. I remember watching Bravo for West Wing reruns, but now, the station is all about Housewives or a former Housewife, Bethenny Frankel. If those programs aren’t airing, the station shows some type of talk show where the housewives talk about the episodes with some random guy who appears to be an executive producer for the shows and/or network. The only way to make the network worse would be to start showing the Rachael Ray Show or have Rachael Ray host the housewives shows.
- The local ABC station, WJLA, sponsored the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade with promos that included information about Grand Marshall “Brick” from The Middle. I love the fact that the ads never mentioned the actor’s name, Atticus Shaffer, only the character’s name. Did any parade ever say that the grand marshall was Webster instead of Emmanuel Lewis?
- It is so much easier to feed the cat and change the litter box than it is to feed and change the baby.
- Speaking of our cat, I’ve received several questions about how ZIggy is doing with the new baby. On the negative side, Ziggy was overfed when we were in the hospital and gained some weight. Then, I don’t think he was happy about being locked out of several rooms being used by either the baby or guests. Now that things are back to normal (with the exception of the new baby), Ziggy is doing fine. He keeps a safe distance from the baby but is comfortable being in the same room as him if we are there too. Overall, Ziggy is doing just fine.
- I spent time at two hospitals recently, and I didn’t see any doctors or nurses sneaking into rooms together or even flirting with each other. Television shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, Scrubs and even ER always featured "relationships" among employees. I think something might be wrong in the hospitals we visited.
- I am one of those people turns on the air conditioning only when I know that I won’t be using heat for the rest of the season. With the temperature bouncing up and down, however, I’ve switched back and forth between heat and air conditioning recently because I want to make sure that the baby isn’t hot or cold. I hate doing this.
- I’ve noticed that I spend a lot of time walking around the house wearing a burp cloth on my shoulder. It’s quite the fashion statement!
- I am a sucker for VH1 countdown shows. The newest show was the top 40 one-hit wonders of the 1990s. I think they made this show just for me. Anyway, I agree with the selection of Sir Mix-a-Lot's Baby Got Back for #1 and the inclusion of The Macarena, Chumbawamba, Right Said Fred and Vanilla Ice in the top ten. However, the fact that "Rico Suave" was #3 is a travesty. VH1 should be ashamed of themselves for putting Gerardo that high. My only other complaint is Whoomp! There It Is at #40 on the list. 18 years after its debut, the song is currently featured in two commercials for diapers and cell phones. Tag Team deserved better.
(I completely forgot about the Free Mike Tyson shirt at 2:18 mark.)
- Except for walking up and down stairs, I have had no exercise over the past three weeks. Remarkably, I think I’ve lost a few pounds.
I like Jim Shearer. He agreed to participate in an interview with me last year, and I think that his Yinz Luv Da Stillers & Yinz Luv Da Guins videos are great. I'm not sure about VH1's decision to increase their weekly Top 20 Video Countdown from 2 to 2 & 1/2 hours, but if that means more exposure (and possibly more money) for Jim, then I'm all for it.
Therefore, while I don't want to relive Sunday's Steelers-Ravens game, it's always worthwhile to share Jim's work. Enjoy this week's YLDS:
Maybe you know Jim Shearer as a former MTV2 VJ and current host of VH1's Top 20 Video Countdown. Maybe you know Jim Shearer as the genius behind Yinz Luv 'Da Stillers and Yinz Luv 'Da Guins, the incredibly entertaining videos about the Steelers and Penguins respectively. Maybe you don't know Jim Shearer at all, so I'm here to introduce him to you. Actually, I just sent Jim a few questions and he was kind enough to reply, so I'll let him "speak" for himself.
How did the Yinz Luv videos get started?
My MTV contract ended at the beginning of 2008 and I was looking for work. Trying to branch off into sports (which I thought could eventually bring me back home to the 'burgh) I went to an audition at the NHL. They were starting up a daily web-show. The audition lasted about two minutes, and I didn't get the job (sigh). As the playoff season started that year, I thought to myself, "Well, if the NHL doesn't want me, I'll just start up my own web-show." While throwing around ideas in my head, I quickly realized that "yinz" rhymed with "guins," and the rest is history.
Do you draw all of the figures in the intros?
Yep. I draw them all. If you notice in the early episodes of Yinz Luv 'Da Guins, the cardboard cutouts aren't as detailed as they are now. That's because I was rushing around to put the intro together, right as the playoffs began, and right as I was about to launch the show. Once I had more time, I could get more creative with the figures (i.e., Ulf Samuelsson viciously checking Cam Neely or Brooks Orpik's crazy-eyes stare).
I think I already know the answer based on the fact that you stated that you draw all of the figures, but is there anyone else that helps you with the Yinz Luv videos? They are so well done that it seems like multiple people must work on them.
I do most of the work on the episodes--hosting (obviously), editing, and producing the segments. However, if you ever see me with another person on an episode, it usually means that someone else is helping me tape. My good buddy Fuzz tapes some of the tailgate interviews and drives me to away games (since I don't own a car).
If the Pirates ever make the playoffs, could we see a Yinz Luv the Buccos?
I might consider doing some episodes if 'Da Buccos make the playoffs, but because I'm holding down a full-time job, while simultaneously doing web-shows for 'Da Guins and 'Da Stillers, the baseball season is my off-season; my decompression period if you will.
Switching over to your day job, has there ever been someone you interviewed on MTV/VH1 that you weren't really looking forward to meeting, but turned out to be extremely (perhaps surprisingly) cool?
All the time, and it happens a lot more often now, because I'm working in the world of pop music. When I was working at MTV2, I hosted 120 Minutes and Subterranean, which dealt with indie-minded music (which is more my preference). Not that I wasn't looking forward to meeting him, but I just met 50 Cent last week, and I was surprised how friendly he was. He shook everyone's hand on the set, and hung around following his interview to small talk with the crew.
Have you ever hung out with VH1 regulars Bret Michaels or Flavor Flav?
I have not. I have interviewed Flavor Flav backstage at a Public Enemy show though, and let me just say, he's hounded constantly for picture, autograph, and hug requests. I remember him as an all-time great hypeman in hip-hop, but his series of reality shows has opened him up to a whole other audience.
I may be one of the few people that watch you on both Yinz Luv and VH1's Top 20 Countdown. To prove it, I enjoyed watching you grow a playoff beard during the Pens' Stanley Cup run on VH1. Did anyone (either at work or at home) give you a hard time about growing the beard or sharing your Pens fandom on national TV?
Before the playoffs even started, I approached our executive producer and asked if I could grow the beard. He, being a big sports fan too, agreed to it. I did give a warning, "Just to let you know, the Pens could go all the way, so I may have this thing on my face for a while." I think the charity tie-in also helped. Who's gonna give you crap if you're raising money for cancer research?
One of the reasons why I asked you about the playoff beard is because I may grow a mustache for charity in November. Do you have any advice for me?
Grow that mustache. It's easy money for charity and makes the ordinary, everyday routine of looking in the mirror a little more exciting.
Finally, now that we're 1/4 of the way through the season (Sean’s note: Jim answered this question prior to the Steelers-Lions game), do you have any general thoughts about the Steelers?
Um, we really need Troy in the lineup, Limas Sweed needs to learn how to hold onto a football in the big leagues, and as a team, the Steelers have to close out games with authority (which will make our lives as fans less stressful).
Jim is passionate about Pittsburgh sports and puts together amazing videos from his unique perspective. If you haven't seen his work before (where have you been?), here's the latest Yinz Luv 'Da Stillers. (Sean's update: It seems like many of the YLDS videos are gone, so this is one from after the Steelers-Packers Super Bowl.
Jim is also passionate about music and recently put together his video playlist on VH1. I figure that I might as well show what he does during the day, so here is Jim talking about Coffee and TV by Blur:
This video has nothing to do with the interview or Jim, but since he talked for almost an entire minute about it, here is Blur in one of the greatest videos ever.
Photos courtesy of Jim Shearer via the Pittsburgh City Paper (you can probably tell that their interview is much more professional than mine) and PSAMP.
I'm shifting the debate about the greatest hard rock songs of all time here from Gilahi's recent post. Within the last year, VH1 presented a countdown of the 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs with Guns N' Roses' Welcome to the Jungle finishing at #1. Gilahi's opinion is that this is a travesty, though he points out that he is not among VH1's demographic as he fondly remembers the days of Glenn Miller Orchestra (this may be a slight exaggeration). While I don't have the exact list available (I'm sure the list is on Wikipedia or part of a Sporcle quiz), I feel that Welcome to the Jungle certainly deserves consideration and probably falls within the top 20. However, we're wondering if this a generational difference between me and Gilahi? GNR emerged during MTV's hey-day, and WTTJ was everywhere (at least to me) as I was a junior high and high school student at the time.
With that, I'd like to turn the debate over to you. Where would you rank WTTJ among the greatest hard rock songs? Please leave your opinion in the comments section. If you'd like please indicate if you are part of the pre-MTV generation, VH1 generation (meaning that you grew up on MTV but now realize that you're too old for the station), or current MTV generation.
In honor of its 10th birthday, Google has brought back its oldest available index from January 2001. As a comparison, a search for Ben Roethlisberger using the old version gets 602 results; a search for Ben Roethlisberger today brings about 1,420,000 results!
I was again honored to be a part of One for the Other Thumb’s weekly Meeting People is Easy.
What was the #1 song on the day you were born or the day you graduated from high school? Check out this website to find out. (h/t Jane Doe)
Inspired by this week’s 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs countdown on VH1 (which I have been watching), Hugging Harold Reynolds took this year’s eight baseball playoff teams in relation to songs on the countdown.
Mystery Man (in writing his first post in 3+ months) thinks that the Pirates should hire Phil Elson, a graduate of Allderdice High School and Point Park College, to replace the retired Lanny Frattare
I received an email from Jocelyn of Rotohog who feels that besides being a Steelers, Eagles and Seahawks fan, Sarah Palin may also be a Redskins fan based on this video:
I’m heading to Jacksonville this afternoon to attend the Steelers-Jaguars game on Sunday night. If you’re at the game, I’ll be the guy wearing a Louis Lipps jersey.
1. In Da Club – 50 Cent
2. Lose Yourself – Eminem
3. Bye Bye Bye – ‘N Sync
4. Smooth – Santana & Rob Thomas
5. Crazy In Love – Beyonce & Jay-Z
6. How You Remind Me – Nickelback
7. Yeah! – Usher featuring Lil Jon & Ludaris
8. Complicated – Avril Lavigne
9. Hot in Herre – Nelly
10. We Belong Together – Mariah Carey
11. Fallin’ – Alicia Keys
12. Boulevard of Broken Dreams – Green Day
13. Don’t Know Why – Norah Jones
14. Since U Been Gone – Kelly Clarkson
15. Breathe – Faith Hill
16. Hollaback Girl – Gwen Stefani
17. Drop It Like It’s Hot – Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell
18. Hanging on a Moment – Lifehouse
19. Apologize – Timbaland and OneRepublic
20. Rehab – Amy Winehouse
If you are looking for a specific equation as to how I determined these rankings, you’re not going to find one. I just tried to rank them based on my perception of how big these singles have been during this decade in terms of airplay and sales. I have no statistical data to support these numbers. So what do you think? Are there songs that I missed? I feel like a Black Eyed Peas song (either Where is the Love or My Humps) and Hey Ya by OutKast are other possibilities.
As the writers’ strike continues and the reality television programs and game shows get worse and worse (is anyone really watching Duel and Clash of the Choirs?), I am struggling to find good things to watch. Fortunately, two of my favorite things have come together: 90s music and VH1. Every night this week at 10:00 pm Eastern, VH1 is airing the 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s. While I love 80s music, the 90s are truly the musical era of my formative years. Each song seems to have a different memory and takes me back to high school and college. Some of the songs I have heard thus far include Groove Is In the Heart; The Humpty Dance; Kris Kross; Tennessee; and I’m Too Sexy. Almost all of the songs are great in its own special way. (I’m not sure where Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Achy Breaky Heart” fits in, although I remember Myron Cope doing a funny parody of the song.) Like most of the VH1 countdown shows, they air parts of the video and incorporate comments about the song from music critics, comedians, musicians, and occasionally, the artists themselves. So if you want to know where I will be tonight at 10, I’ll be watching VH1.
Of course, I will not be watching on Thursday as its Pittsburgh night on televisions across the country. First, Pitt faces Duke at 7:00 live from Madison Square Garden on ESPN. Then, the Steelers meet the St. Louis Rams on the NFL Network or, in most cases, at bars and friends’ houses. However, I won’t really miss Thursday’s episode, as I’m sure that VH1 will replay the show again and again and again.
The Steelers have a 17-page rider for their hotel stays (from The Smoking Gun courtesy of the Post-Gazette’s Blog ‘N’ Gold). I have a few observations: - For meeting space, the offense requires a 100 person theater style seating room with widely spaced chairs. Meanwhile, the defense requires a 50 person theater style seating space with widely spaced chairs. Why does the offense need double the amount of seats? - Two omelet chefs for the pre-game meal. I love omelet stations! - Each table must include Heinz Ketchup. Personally, I completely agree with this. Who likes Hunts over Heinz? - The night of arrival “snack” includes pizza, hamburgers, chicken wings, linguini, ice cream (vanilla, chocolate and sherbet – what if someone wanted Mint Chocolate Chip?) and cookies. A nice light snack before bed. ---
When I wrote my Israeli baseball preview last month, I mentioned a recent graduate of Haverford College named Ben Field. Well, the Director of Communications of Haverford contacted me to inform everyone that Field is now blogging about his experience. Interesting stuff. ---
My favorite fantasy celebrity league website, Fafarazzi.com, has a “Rock of Love” fantasy game based on the VH1 dating show starring Bret Michaels of Poison. From the site, “The Rock of Love fantasy game lets you pick your favorite trainwrecks girls from the show to your ROL team -- then your team scores points when they do crazy stuff during the episode.” My personal favorite is Lacey, although I can’t see her winning on the show because she is, how can I say this, a little bit crazy. My guess is Mia or Madgalena will be Bret's pick. (Yes, I have a problem and it’s called VH1 TV shows.) ---
Speaking of fantasy leagues, a Ph.D. candidate at Kent State University is doing a study about playing fantasy sports and why people play fantasy sports. I haven’t completed the questionnaire, but I’m all for helping a completely worthwhile project, assuming it doesn't take time away from my fantasy football league draft preparation. (Courtesy of Deadspin.)
I heard the new Hilary Duff song, “With Love,” a few times over the weekend, and I hate to admit this, but I really like it. Therefore, I started to think about other things I like but probably should not admit such as:
• Neil Diamond – I’m not sure if he even belongs on the list of guilty pleasures since Neil Diamond is just cool (see “Sweet Caroline,” “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon” and “America”). Plus Neil Diamond was my first ever concert. • Eddie Money – “Take Me Home Tonight” is simply an awesome song. Plus, he was great guest star in a Drew Carey episode. • Spice Girls – I even like the current commercial where a woman is running while her husband drives next to her with “Wannabe” blaring from the car (I’ll Tell You Want I Want, What I Really, Really Want). • Late 80s/90s Pop/Techno/Dance Songs – I’m not really sure what counts in this category but songs like “Barbie Girl” by Aqua, “Strike It Up” by Black Box, “Rhythm is a Dancer” by Snap and probably a few dozen others. • Almost every reality show on VH1. I have never watched Survivor or the Amazing Race and I rarely see Idol; however, I end up seeing most episodes of I Love New York, Hogan Knows Best, Surreal Life, Flavor of Love and Celebrity Fit Club.
Feel free to mock me or (even better) share your own guilty pleasures.
Welcome to Sean's Ramblings! If you're looking for thoughts on pop culture, music, fun and informative links, random DC and Pittsburgh info, sports (particularly Pittsburgh sports), and just what's going on in my life, then you're come to the right place.
Any questions, comments or links? Contact me at seanramblings[at]yahoo[dot]com.
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