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I have to admit the first place I found out about the health issues that ultimately claimed Michael Jackson’s life last week was via the Web site TMZ.com.

In truth, I saw the report thanks to co-worker Adam Casner, who pointed it out to me and prompted my sarcastic response: “If it’s on TMZ, then it’s gotta be true!”

(I have both TMZ and Perez Hilton bookmarked in my blog newsreader precisely for these type of events. I rarely read them, honestly, even during these types of events.)

During the Thursday early evening lag time between the report of Jackson’s hospitalization and the wait for updates, Mark Tupper and I were on the air with our SportTalk radio show.

My ambivalence toward TMZ doesn’t come from being a bitter, suspicious and envious print guy. I’m aware of TMZ’s track record with Natasha Richardson, Michael Richards, Alec Baldwin, Mel Gibson and others. But this was a HUGE story.

And last year, TMZ fell in on the erroneous Miley Cyrus death rumors.

(TMZ isn’t the only Web site that’s sometimes messy. CNN.com, as reported in this story, has released a number of premature obituaries.)

Maybe this Los Angeles Times story can help explain my concerns about TMZ. I’ll never suggest all tabloid reports are false - we’ve seen exactly the opposite for a while. But if something seems too incredible to believe, there’s nothing lost in waiting an hour for confirmation.

This is a pretty interesting chart, showing both cost-per-second and revenue-per-second of a bunch of Hollywood blockbusters.

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RunPee is a Web site and an iPhone application that tells you the best times to go to the bathroom during movies, and what you miss while you’re out. I checked – there’s nothing that explains the last 45 minutes of “Angels and Demons.”

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From the Kottke.org blog, a list of “50 Films You Can Wait to See After You’re Dead.” Jason Kottke does a nice job spinning the traditional lists on their heads, although I will admit to liking “Spice World.” The rest of them are pretty awful.

***

This futuristic timeline dating a number of science fiction films is pretty cool, even though its creator calls it “by far the geekiest thing I’ve ever done,” and says that like he thinks it’s a bad thing.

***

Here’s a list of huge box office bombs. No big surprises here, but it’s fun to see them all gathered together.

I haven’t felt this strangely about a death since Karen Carpenter passed in 1983.

Maybe it’s because I view them both as performing icons past their prime, but still figures of interest. I don’t know.

What i do know about Jackson is I feel like I’ve spent the entirety of the time I’ve lived in Decatur - I moved here in 1988 - reminding people that there was a time when Michael Jackson was the most important performer in the world.

He single-handedly bridged an MTV-created color gap in music. That alone might have been enough to put him on the front page of this morning’s papers around the world.

But he had a lengthy career before “Thriller,” just as he had a lengthy and bizarre life after it. “Off the Wall” and “Thriller” wete such great and exciting albums that people (like me) had to be forgiven for wondering, “Is this the Jackson Five’s Michael Jackson, or another guy?” He’d come a long way from “Ben.”

Unfortunately, in the 20 years since, Michael Jackson’s life became a non-stop freak show. Like the anorexia complications that claimed Carpenter’s life, there were things going on in Jackson’s head that most of us couldn’t understand and never will.

Sadly, I fear the freak show is just beginning. Jackson’s music publishing ownership includes some of the most valuable properties in music, including most of The Beatles’ songs. There will be so much legal wrangling over those that I may not live to see it concluded, and the only real winners will be the lawyers.

Jackson’s family, I expect, will rush to cash in on his legacy, one I expect to see treated similar to Elvis Presley rather than, say, Frank Sinatra. Are you ready for your Michael Jackson cologne or dinner set or salt and pepper shakers?

Then there will be the multitude of tell-all books. None of which, I’m certain, will bring us any closer to understanding the man’s genius or his flaws.

But there’s one thing.

I’ve never thought of myself as a huge Michael Jackson fan. But as I was writing this, I had the television tributes playing in the background. The start of “Billie Jean” came up, and I just stopped and listened.

It’s some amazing, amazing music.

I wish that was the only thing I could be thinking about right now.

I’ll have more thoughts about Jackson in my column in next Friday’s entertainment section.

With Ed McMahon’s passing, I thought it might be worthwhile for me to mention why I don’t feel compelled to write about every significant celebrity passing here.

First, I don’t want this to turn into a “guess who died?” blog. There are plenty of places which do that better. (Check out the Dead People Server, the best source on the Web.)

More important, though, is I don’t want to add to the noise.

I wasn’t a huge follower or fan of McMahon (or Harvey Korman, an earlier death that had someone asking if I would write something about). I don’t have much to add to the conversation. If you want to know anything, there are plenty of people who will expertly tell you things about him I never would have guessed.

There are times when I think people are underappreciated, and those are the times I’ll feel compelled to write something.

Fearing people would just remember Buck Owens as a “Hee Haw”-hosting bumpkin, I thought it was important to write a column about his work as a musician. Pink Floyd founded Syd Barrett died almost anonymously. To me, his death was something that needed a little more light.

And when it came to Johnny Cash, however much any group of people said about him wasn’t enough to summarize his significance.

So my silence about a McMahon or Korman shouldn’t be interpreted as indifference. You simply can’t have passion about all of it, and for me, most of the passion is poured into musical performers.

He’s seen fire and he’s seen rain. And John Stephens is probably sick of both of them, thanks.

What kind of calamitous events could prompt me to quote James Taylor when writing about Stephens, the managing director at The Little Theatre-On the Square in Sullivan?

Stephens had a long weekend.

I’ll detail things a little more with a story in Friday’s Herald & Review. But let it be known that when people walk in to see “The Wedding Singer” when it premieres this afternoon, they’re not only seeing a musical performed in Sullivan for the first time, they’re seeing a new stage.

The old one was warped by water after the production of “Singing in the Rain.”

As if that weren’t enough, a small fire forced the theater to be evacuated late last week. The fire, Stephens reported, was extinguished before firefighters arrived, and the show went on, as it must.

After all that, a little trip back to the 1980s via “The Wedding Singer” doesn’t seem nearly as terrifying as it ordinarily might.

I’m always fascinated when something I write gets interpreted in ways other than what I intend.

Sometimes, it’s because I’ve written poorly. This blog entry from a couple of years ago, about director Kevin Smith’s insistence on putting unattractive glasses on attractive women, is a classic example. I find the right glasses on the right women incredibly attractive, and left that out of the entry.

So an observation about ugly glasses instead could have been and was read as me criticizing women who wear glasses.

As if I’m in a position to judge.

Sloppy writing.

But other times, people bring their own agendas to the discussion, and wind up not reading what I read.

I received an e-mail after last week’s column about the David Letterman-Sarah Palin dustup from someone who was “offended” by the piece and added “any sexual act with a 14 year old is statuatary [sic] rape, and does not come into the realm of alls fair in politics.”

Which was NOT what I wrote. I responded explaining that, and have not heard back, so either the explanation was good enough, or I’m beyond salvation.

It kind of reminded me of the confusion following the Janet Jackson Super Bowl flap and my column, in which I at least intended to say that it was OK to be irritated with Jackson as long as you acknowledged the rest of the R-rated activities that day.

From that Feb. 6, 2004 column (which had the headline “Is Jackson ’s display the raw that broke the camel’s back?” Oh, how I wish I’d written that headline):

Maybe we should consider what else assaulted our eyes and ears Sunday night.

During the game, we saw:

A Carolina coach mouthing obscenities - twice.

A commercial featuring a flatulent horse. (And the Herald & Review panel assembled to assess the commercials ranked that as one of the night’s best.)

Numerous advertisements for products designed to deal with erectile dysfunction.

Kid Rock wearing a U.S. flag as a poncho and tossing it over his head to one of his band members.

After the game, those who stayed tuned for “Survivor: All Stars” got to see a naked Richard Hatch (with some image blurring).

WHY IS JACKSON ‘S brief display drawing more ire than the rest of those incidents combined? Why target this specific body part for outrage?

Maybe this is the point - after the Britney-Madonna-Christina kisses, after the ever-plunging necklines and increased skin at awards shows (and on the sidelines at NFL and NBA games), after the off-color language and attitudes - at which the silent majority breaks its quiet and finally screams “Enough!”

Last week, a blog reader attempted to make my politics an issue as I wrote about a Chicago Tribune most-hated comics piece. Again, the reader tried to insinuate I’d said something I hadn’t even come close to saying. It raised my ire a bit.

I suppose it could happen much more than it does, so maybe I should just count my blessings and keep my yap shut. But both of these coming in one day like they did last week really threw me for a loop.

I received an e-mail last week where someone was passing along some opinions about the potential of the film “The Informant.”

The person said they’d be interested in seeing if some of their thoughts would be included in the film when it came out Sept. 18.

When I responded, I almost mentioned that the release date is Oct. 9. But then I thought, “What the heck - maybe it’s changed again.”

So I did some checking.

Among those listing the Sept. 18 date are Yahoo movies and MSN Movies.

Listing an Oct. 9 date is The Internet Movie Database and Wikipedia.

Participant Media is presenting the film, and on their Web site, they list a release date of Sept. 18. So I think it’s safe to assume that’s the official release date.

However, Film Jerk is an extremely reliable source, and it says “The Informant” will be released in “major markets” on Sept. 18.

My suspicion? Decatur is not one of the “major markets,” and the film goes into wider release in early October. So your humble scribe may be making a drive to St. Louis or Indianapolis or Chicago for an early glimpse at our city on the silver screen.

I only truly despise one comedian.

He IS on the Chicago Tribune’s list of most-hated comics.

My guess is you’ll go through the list and find someone you really like, a person who truly makes you laugh. I found one, and a couple of others who used to make me laugh.

Gilbert Gottfried will always make me laugh. I have no idea why, but from the first time I saw him, he made me howl uncontrollably. Now – whether he’s doing Howard Stern’s radio show or telling the titular joke in “The Aristocrats” or committing to time immemorial the classic old jokes in “Dirty Jokes” – even if I don’t find the material that funny, I still laugh.

Dennis Miller’s post-9/11 change I understand, but I don’t find the funny in what he’s doing now. (The libertarian Miller was before he moved far-right used to irritate me, too, but at least that guy made me laugh while he ticked me off.) And Jay Leno’s pre-“Tonight Show” standup act made me chuckle, but he didn’t evolve, and he became prone (like most TV personalities) to running a bit into the ground.

Notice I didn’t mention the one comedian I despise. If you’ve paid any attention to what goes on here, you know who it is. And I understand lots of people – even some of you reading – genuinely like the guy’s work. If it works for you, great. There’s not enough laughter in the world.

I would like to see, however, if the Tribune’s list of despicable comics includes the ones you folks like the least. Let us all know in the comments area.

I was really excited to come across this entry on the Mental Floss blog.

The Warner Brothers backlot tour is one of the coolest tours I’ve ever been on. Apparently, it still is.

We happened to stumble on to news about it being offered back in 1986 or 1987, and made arrangements to take it. I don’t remember what it cost – maybe $20 a person. I remember it being less expensive that Universal Studios, and (for me, at least) a lot more fun.

Of course, Universal is really an amusement park, and Warner Brothers is an actual working studio. If it’s still the way it used to be, tours are unique day by day, and since it is a working studio, you never know what you’re going to see. Sometimes, we were told, actors would come out and talk to the tour groups, which were generally fewer than a dozen people.

We saw no stars on our trip, but we saw stars’ cars. We happened to be standing near the parking places for the cast of “Night Court,” and their names were on plaques by the spaces. Richard Moll drove a huge, dusty station wagon, and Markie Post had a cute little sports car. Or maybe it was the other way around.

We got a chance to see many of their street sets, recognizing a few from some obscure films we’d seen (including “Timerider”). We saw the town square that was a key set for “The Music Man.” We wandered on the set for some unsuccessful and soon-canceled police show. We were allowed into the recording studio as a full orchestra recorded cues for a TV show. (My guess is now that’s all done by one guy with a keyboard.)

The tour is $45 now. There wasn’t a museum or a gift shop back when we went on the tour.

But there was a vast building filled with props that we were allowed to gawk at for a few minutes. And for us, the most memorable part of the tour was seeing, hanging on the wall way in the back of the building, the time machine from the 1979 film “Time After Time,” always one of our favorites.

If you’re ever in Los Angeles and have an appreciation for film history and what goes on behind the scenes, this tour is a delightful eye-opener, and a bargain at twice the price.

I’m just buzzed that it’s still going on.

Back in their late 1970s heyday, when their immaculately produced albums were the perfect way to show off a stereo system and each listen was rewarded with more treats buried within a 16-track mix, a friend anxiously awaited the release of Supertramp’s live album “Paris.”

“I saw them on tour,” he said, “and they sounded just like the record.”

“Really?” I said. “Because I HAVE the records. I know what those sound like. Why would I buy a live album that sounds just like the studio albums?”

And there’s the basis for most discussions about concert performances. Some people want a reproduction of that with which they’re familiar. If, for example, a guitar player can’t reproduce what he’s recorded, these people reason, how good can he really be?

Others want to hear bands cut loose, show some spontaneity, and do the unexpected. One of my favorite concert moments ever came 25 years ago, when Marshall Crenshaw’s trio started playing two different songs at once and had to stop, regroup and start again.

I prefer it when Fleetwood Mac reworks “Say You Love Me” as opposed to using a dozen players hiding in the shadows to reproduce the multi-tracking they did on records.

Bob Dylan apparently feels the same way, based on an interview at his Web site. (The question and answer below are on the fifth page, but the whole interview is interesting.)

A lot of the acts from your generation seem to be trading on nostalgia. They play the same songs the same way for the last 30 years. Why haven’t you ever done that?

I couldn’t if I tried. Those guys you are talking about all had conspicuous hits. They started out anti-establishment and now they are in charge of the world. Celebratory songs. Music for the grand dinner party. Mainstream stuff that played into the culture on a pervasive level. My stuff is different from those guys. It’s more desperate. Daltrey, Townshend, McCartney, the Beach Boys, Elton, Billy Joel. They made perfect records, so they have to play them perfectly … exactly the way people remember them. My records were never perfect. So there is no point in trying to duplicate them. Anyway, I’m no mainstream artist.

Dylan plays GCS Ballpark in Sauget on July 2 with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp. Tickets are $72.50.

You have no idea how much I don’t want to be writing this.

I’ve tried and tried to like Mandy Moore. People whose opinions I respect really like her a lot, and with every album, treat her as a serious artist whose work is a refreshing cut above most of her contemporaries.

Me, I put Christina Aguilera’s and Aly & AJ’s most recent albums on my 10-best lists the years they came out, and suffered a lot of catcalls for it. (I’m still not apologizing.)

Moore’s work, however technically proficient, seemed to lack the soul I want from my pop. Her “Coverage,” an album of songs largely from the 1970s, was apparently aimed at someone just like me, but I found her versions of songs I loved - particularly those by XTC and Blondie - laughable. The subsequent “Wild Hope” I simply found dull.

Something I read somewhere encouraged me to at least give a passing listen to “Amanda Leigh,” her newest release. And as I gave it a first go via iPod, I kept picking up my little music player to make sure I was listening to the right album. It was good - some of the best new music I’ve heard all year.

I don’t want to make this comparison, because I know what it does to expectations, but I can’t describe it any other way:

This is almost like Joni Mitchell recording in the style of The Beatles’ “Rubber Soul.”

Moore is assisted by Mike Viola, which explains part of my attraction to it. Viola is a great performer who was the lead voice for “That Thing You Do” and who has appeared on my best-of lists for 10 years.

What he’s done here is free up Moore’s musical soul and get it to a place where I recognize a kindred spirit.

What a great album. It’s streaming in pieces at her Web site.

Here’s a live solo version of my favorite song on the album, “Fern Dell:”

I’m fortunate my financial survival doesn’t depend on my talent-spotting ability.

Or better said, I feel like I can spot talent, but there are a lot of people in the world’s audience who don’t see things the same way I do.

To me, Heather Graham is still a MOVIE STAR. So to see her playing a stripper/escort and be fifth-billed to four guys in “The Hangover” was surprising.

But somehow, Graham’s star has fallen. It’s stunning how long ago she was on roller skates in “Boogie Nights” (1997) and “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” (1999). Those movies are a decade old. Graham will be 40 in January, and she’s moved in the blink of an eye from sex kitten to cougar.

She was good in the role, but it still seemed a bit of a waste. On the other hand, I suppose I should be realizing hundreds of young and somewhat talented blondes have come up to snare the roles Heather Graham might have been getting.

The last actress I remember vanishing from the sex kitten roles so quickly was Tia Carrere, who’s turned her career into a success behind the camera and as a voice actor.

Maybe I need to realize things change as actresses get older. I still find Uma Thurman adorable, though.

(Here’s my favorite note about “The Hangover” - the Monday after its release, its imdb.com rating among the users’ picks for best films ever was 168th. Right ahead of “Trainspotting” and just behind “Gone With the Wind.” Man, I love the Internet.)

This is a companion entry to my column in this morning’s Herald & Review.

This is an e-mail I recently sent to friends:

“A recent article on theonion.com avclub.com discussed which artists get a lifetime pass from you. This is the artist(s) or performer(s) who, regardless of whatever they do, you will like them and continue to enjoy, appreciate and pursue their work.

“Who is yours?

“Don’t feel like you have to limit it to one. If film is your passion and there are three actors or directors, that’s fine. If you want to pick an author, someone from film or TV and someone from music, that’s great. I’m just looking for a cross-section of selections. I will be surprised if the same name shows up three times based on the 30 people I’m sending this out to.”

Here are the responses of those who chose to give details. (Not everyone did.) I’m leaving off the respondents’ names, mainly to protect the guy who listed both Milla Jovovich and Jean Claude Van Damme.

***

Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins

I started listening to the Smashing Pumpkins in the 1990s in high school, so for me, their early albums are almost more about time than music. I followed Billy through the Smashing Pumpkins’ downward spiral to Zwan to a short-lived solo career and back again to the Pumpkins. I bought every album, but I’ve only seen him twice - both as part of Zwan. I don’t know why, but every time I get a new album of his, it all starts out the same - I hate every song at first. To be truthful, I really don’t even like his voice. But then after a few listens, a cold familiarity starts to grow in me, and I can appreciate how he sings about things that I understand.

***

In music, my lifetime passes go to Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and Pete Townshend. Each of them has written and produced music that attracted me from the very beginning. Each of them grew and had different phases. I didn’t like all phases, but understood there was change and the experimentation that usually led to something else that was really phenomenal. Granted, I know some of that loses fans, but would there have been “Tommy” without “A Quick One”?

How each progressed through their careers differs, in my opinion, from someone like Tom Petty. “Damn the Torpedoes” is one of the best albums ever, but Petty didn’t really progress anywhere unless doing a duet with Stevie Nicks counts.

But Dylan, Springsteen, Young and Townshend aren’t afraid to explore new genres or approaches. Petty stayed on the same path and rarely moved.

Springsteen ended up alienating some fans with “Nebraska” in the 1980s and the recent, “We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions.” But I rate both of them high in my estimation. In fact, I prefer the Seeger sessions over either of his two most recent releases. And for the record, my favorite Springsteen album is either “Darkness on the Edge of Town” or “Tunnel of Love,” depending on my mood.

I have a similar esteem for Young. There are a lot of artists who would have lost me during a techno-babble phase, as Young had in the 1980s, but I also figured he would move on eventually and he did.

The main thing is that each of these artists I will take the time to listen to their new releases. And I can’t tell you the last time I went out of my way to listen to the newest thing Tom Petty was doing, no matter how much I love “Damn the Torpedoes.”

I have flimsier experience in film, but my passes here go to the Coen Brothers and Jack Nicholson. I know the Coens have put out some movies lately that haven’t been the greatest, but I still give them a try. They came to my attention with the underrated “Raising Arizona.” And while I really liked “Fargo,” they hooked me hard on “The Big Lebowski.” I probably liked “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” better than a lot of people, but I keep coming back.

Nicholson is Nicholson. He’s interesting to me because he isn’t afraid to play a slob or lowlife. His acting is almost not acting it seems so natural.

***

I tried to think of an actor I appreciate in more than a couple roles… someone whose name in a preview makes me think I may want to check out the movie (and not simply because said actor is good-looking). And the first two that come to my mind are Reese Witherspoon and Kate Winslet. I think these two have both proven that they are versatile actors and I’ve yet to see one of their movies where I was actually disappointed in their individual performances. Kate Winslet also won me over when she made a statement against being airbrushed in photo shoots.

Musically, I’m going to have to go with Rascal Flatts. I enjoy everything they do, with the exception of one or two songs, which I appreciate but don’t necessarily like. I’ve also seen them several times in concert and, while some sets are definitely better than others, I have never regretted going.

I was trying to think of an author or two, but as much as I like reading, there is no one author I can honestly say has earned a lifetime pass for me. I enjoy Grisham, but there are a handful of books I don’t care for, too many to ignore. I have read all three of Mitch Albom’s novels (Tuesdays with Morrie, The Five People You’ll Meet in Heaven and For One More Day), and have been touched by each. However, as I’ve never read any of his articles or other such commentary, I don’t know how I feel about these non-novel endeavors, and I don’t feel I can give a lifetime pass to someone whose works I’m not entirely familiar with. Also, because he’s only written those three novels, and I can’t really find evidence that there are more coming, I’m not sure he’d even need a lifetime pass, as his novel-writing lifetime may have already passed.

***

Joss Whedon — After Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he can do no wrong! I will at least watch the new stuff he writes, directs or produces. I may not find the some of his stuff entertaining, but I am assured it will always be innovative

George Lucas — Though I must admit I became a bit irritated with him with his constant insistence on “reworking” the original trilogies to add in the flashier special effects. The first two movies of the Star Wars prequels were also just a special effects fest. In “The Revenge of the Sith” the special effects actually helped make the story and didn’t overpower it. Just when you think he’s learned his lesson, though, he comes up with “The Clone Wars” animated series. Go figure.

Jamie Lee Curtis — She’s multitalented (author, actress). She’s cool; She’s not afraid to show that a woman in her 50s can look fantastic and doesn’t have to buy into that whole get a facelift, dye your hair thing. I can even forgive her for the “Activia Lady” gig. Hey, you gotta be regular!

***

The Muppets – Since Jim Henson passed, it seems like The Muppets have had more downs than ups. But no matter what; I’ll take The Muppets anytime, anywhere, and enjoy them no matter what.

PIXAR – How many hits have they had in a row? Strike that. How many QUALITY hits have they had in a row? Even the ones that aren’t AS good as the others (Cars, A Bug’s Life) are still incredibly good and heads and tails above other films. Not above other animated films, but other films period. I don’t care where they go from here, I’ll happily follow them no matter what.

***

I would have to say McCartney. I’ve been frustrated with him many times, and I long ago stopped automatically buying everything he puts out, but at the same time, he has given me so much enjoyment for 45 years that I find it hard to dismiss him.

***

My list of musicians could be a lot longer, because I’m like a Labrador retriever with musical artists I like. If I ever liked them, I almost always KEEP liking them forever. I get tired of actors and authors but I never get tired of my favorite recording artists no matter how many eggs they lay. And let’s face it, even Sir Paul lays one occasionally.

***

In books, Cormac McCarthy and Salman Rushdie cannot be defeated, even if they defeat themselves. In movies, Clint Eastwood is incapable of wrongdoing. The last movie he made that was only okay was “Blood Work,” and everything since then has stretched the boundaries of the maximum legal allotment of awesome within a 2 hour period on celluloid. Also, and people will probably think I’m a fool, Jack Black is canonized. He frequently makes less-than-wise decisions, but “Shallow Hal” and “School of Rock” were two comedies that are really the only ones I can think of that aren’t outright mean-spirited. He actually reminds me a lot of Bill Murray (who also gets a lifetime pass), because he’s got that underlying sincerity to his comedy that makes you sympathize with his characters instead of merely laugh at them.

In comics, I guess I give it to Alan Moore, even if he DOES insist on writing “Lost Girls” (which in all fairness, I haven’t read).

In animation (and guys who will be summoned at the sound of the trumpet to destroy evil in the great war to come), Brad Bird gets a pass due to “The Iron Giant,” “Ratatouille,” and particularly due to “The Incredibles,” which is the only “family film” that’s been in theaters since I want to say “Back to the Future.” Don Bluth gets the other one for a variety of reasons, and because maybe people giving him lifetime passes would incite him to MAKE ANOTHER MOVIE.

I’m going to take a little break here, gang. There are graduations and weddings calling for my attention, so I’m skipping out for a week.

Actually, there will be an entry here a week from today, a piece that will coincide with my column that runs in the Herald & Review on June 12. So I really won’t be gone that long. And if I feel compelled to write something, I’ll certainly pop back in. But I also know how frantic this coming week will be.

I may not even have time to keep up with my Facebook and Yahoo! games!

I do want to take this opportunity, however, to thank all of you for sticking around with this blog in the numbers you have and for as long as you have. I started this blog in Nov. 2004. While there are things about every job that become drudgery and sometimes work becomes something you dread, I’ve enjoyed every second of work on this blog, even the arguments and criticisms.

I appreciate the company. And I’ll be back soon.

Someday, Taylor Hanson is going to get the respect he deserves.

Believe me, I hear some of you snickering already. You see the name “Taylor Hanson,” and all that comes to mind is the 14-year-old who spent all of 1997 burning “MMMBop” into your ears and brain. He was his era’s Donny Osmond or Zac Efron, only with less of a career arc.

Whatever happened to that guy, anyway?

Well, some people kept up with him, including a certain blogger at the Herald & Review who’s only five years younger than Taylor’s PARENTS. Hanson has continued to make great music, and maybe it’s not of the earworm quality or popularity of “MMMBop,” and maybe that’s just as well.

I had Hanson’s album “The Walk” at No. 5 on my best albums list in 2007, and the brothers contributed vocals to LEO’s “Alpacas Orgling,” which landed in my top 10 in 2006.

I’ve made no secret of my love for power pop as a music form. It shows up regularly on my year-end lists, performed now at its finest by bands like The Oohs, The Handcuffs, The Lackloves, Fountains of Wayne, Sloan, The Feeling, The Fratellis, and many many more. (You’ve heard some of them in commercials, trust me.)

Every year, there are at least a couple of albums that set the standard for power pop for the year. This year, Taylor Hanson has a hand in one.

Tinted Windows is a power pop super group. It features Hanson, James Iha (late of The Smashing Pumpkins), Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne (who also wrote songs for the films “That Thing You Do,” “Words and Music,” “Josie and the Pussycats” and more), and Cheap Trick’s Bun E. Carlos. (Carlos is older than me AND Hanson’s parents.)

The “Tinted Windows” album is everything a good power pop album should be. Lotsa guitars, catchy melodies, memorable choruses, and songs about love and luv. It may not be my pick for album of the year, but it’s going to be on the list somewhere. And Taylor Hanson’s voice helps put it there.

Here‘s the video for the first single, “Kind of a Girl.” (It‘s not even the best song on the album - right now, I’ll pick “Can’t Get a Read on You” or “Cha Cha.”

Oh, OK. NOW I get it. Now I understand the excitement about all this video game stuff.

As I’ve written before, the video game revolution passed me by about the time Nintendo got involved, so that tells you how long it’s been. I look on with admiration at those who have the skill to manipulate the controllers to make digital dots do miraculous things, but anymore I lack the skill of an un-proficient 8-year-old, so my participation has generally been restricted to watching.

I’ve also managed to avoid the inevitable disappointment gamers feel when they purchase a game that doesn’t live up to their expectations.

As a Beatles fan, I’ve conceded I will be buying a gaming system so I can play The Beatles Rockband game, which comes out Sept. 9. As much as I know and love the band’s music, I’m certain I’ll stink at the game – I kept causing our “band” to flunk earlier this year with my inability to play the relatively simple bass part of “Eye of the Tiger” on “simple” or “stupid” or whatever the easiest setting was called.

But I wasn’t allowing myself to get too excited about the game. Until seeing the trailer yesterday:

I’m as geeked up as I can possibly be. This is crazy. It looks even better than I had pictured at my most optimistic.

It’s a little late, I know. But now I understand what some of you guys get so excited about.

I’ve always been uncomfortable with this kind of stuff.

Huffington Post is conducting a “Funny & Fine” survey, asking viewers to rank female comedians on a scale of 1 to 10, not dissimilar to a “Hot or Not” package.

I’m not sure if we’re ranking them in terms of talent, appearance, or some combination of the two.

I don’t want to try to come off as a noble, Alan Alda type of guy, but honestly, when it comes to my appreciation of art, appearance means little. While you don’t want to spend time looking at someone whose appearance is unpleasant, my feeling is generally regardless of hair color, eye color, body shape or whatever measuring stick you want to use, the work is what matters, and that’s what will keep me coming back.

I hated the feeling I had after hearing Aly & AJ’s “Insomniatic” and really loving it, then seeing their videos and realizing they were two attractive underage girls. Did liking their music give me the appearance of being a potential sex offender? Should I keep my mouth shut about liking them?

Ultimately, I found that to be silly, and professed my adoration for the album and specifically for the songs “Potential Breakup Song” and especially “Division.”

I especially don’t judge female comedians by considering their beauty. Their ability to make you laugh is a difficult enough judgment.

That said, the people taking this survey really like Maria Bamford and Beth Littleford a LOT less than I do.

She finished second over the weekend in “Britain’s Got Talent,” in case anyone interested missed it, or you just want to cut to the chase.

When I first heard about Susan Boyle, I wanted to stay away from her. Her story reminded me a little bit of Eva Cassidy. Cassidy was a singer-songwriter – best-known as a singer – who was “discovered” primarily after her death in 1996. Segments on NPR and “Nightline” made her a sensation five years after she died at age 33.

People would approach me and ask if I’d heard Cassidy so much that I felt compelled to find out the consensus of which was her best release and pick it up. And ultimately, I was let down. I heard a good singer, but I didn’t hear the vocals that sent others swooning.

It’s interesting how much mass media can convince and influence us.

Boyle became a world-wide sensation on the program “Britain’s Got Talent,” one of the endless series of reality talent competitions. What set Boyle apart at first was her dowdy appearance and a face that kind people would say had “character.”

But then she uncorks a voice that’s amazing. And she tops it off with a saucy personality that seems to even melt Simon Cowell, the king of curmudgeons.

Boyle’s voice, predictably enough, doesn’t do much for me. But I’m not especially fond of the pitch-perfect Broadway style Boyle uses, as much as I respect the technical talent. I’m more won over by her sense of humor and her thrill at performing.

Boyle’s style, though, works for millions, and it’s those millions who will make sure that the weekend’s runner-up finish won’t be the last we hear of her.

Here are Boyle’s first and final performances on the show. If you want to see what the competition was like, YouTube has set up a channel.

Audition:

Finals performance: