RPR Commentary: That's What I Do

Random commentary for this evening... let's see what I can come up with. (I tell myself I'm gonna do a commentary posting, but I really only have about 2 comments to make and just swag the rest.)

- Since I always have comments about TV shows, might as well mention the "hot" game show on NBC, "Deal or No Deal". Has anyone seen this? First off, I have to say it might be the dumbest game show ever. I don't mean dumb in the sense that it's a waste of time, but dumb in the sense that you don't need any intelligence to play. It's a glorified version of Press Your Luck, where you pick different boxes with increments of money ranging from $0.01 to $1 million. So you choose one box to be yours and then keep picking other boxes, hoping to eliminate the small money increments and keep the higher ones. In the meantime, depending on the amounts that are left, this guy in a shadow, known as "The Banker" offers you a take-home amount if you choose to leave right now. Of course these clowns keep pressing their luck and emphatically yell, "No Deal!" when given the option.

One guy on Monday night actually took home around $350,000. Then some lady tonight took home $5. I guess that's the breaks. Even though it's a pretty simple game, it had me on the edge of my seat, and I may even watch it again tomorrow. For those of you watching on Tuesday night, how about the lady who brought the whole church choir with her? If that's not good for some unintentional laughs, then I don't know what is.

- New band to check out: Tapes 'N Tapes, up-and-coming alt rockers from Minneapolis. They are gaining a lot of attention in the blogging community, especially after they blew away 3 NYC shows back in early January. I finally got ahold of their full-length album, The Loon, which I had to send away for, by the way. You can't find the record in stores or on iTunes, so I had to order it from their website.

The great part is that it came to me in a brown envelope, the address hand-written, actual stamps placed on the envelope (as opposed to being metered), and the return address wasn't a distribution warehouse or anything -- it was an apartment in Minneapolis. How great is that? These guys probably have boxes and boxes of CD's sitting around and are running a mini-FedEx/Kinko's out of their apartment. Talk about humility. Any case, the record is fantastic. Very eclectic sound that I can't seem to describe very well, so I'll instead let the reviewer from Pitchfork do the explaining. Pitchfork gave the record 8.3 out of 10, and for their website, that's very impressive.

Side note: Although I don't watch the OC, I read that the Tapes 'N Tapes song "Manitoba" was on the most recent episode. Let's face it: The OC is the latest hot breeding ground for new musical talent. As much as it hurt me to type that last sentence, it's true.

- Here's something I always wondered about: Why don't newstands and convenience stores just give away newspapers at the end of the day? How many times have you walked by some establishment that sells newspapers and they have a stack of that day's paper just sitting there? Yes, I do understand that they most likely give the old papers back to the distributors for recycling, but I think if a newspaper is looking to increase its readership, even by a little, why not give free papers after, let's say 7pm, when most of the news is old. This way, people who ride the subways/buses/trains on the way home can read some news, or maybe the commuters can bring the paper home with them to read later on.

Ok, since I play Devil's Advocate with myself, another good point is that you can get the news online any time and it'll always be up-to-date. Granted. But the old fashioned part of me likes to physically read the newspaper, which I never do, save for when I am at home and get to read the good ole Philadelphia Inquirer. With a hardcopy of the paper, I can do the crossword puzzle, or rip out articles I want to save, or maybe people can tear out coupons.

Anyway, I know this isn't the strongest argument I've ever had, but too many times I walk by a newstand and there are dozens of papers that will go unread, and I'd gladly take a copy if give the chance. Would I pay the quarter or $0.50? Probably not. It's not about the money. I can spare the change. It's about the principle. Anyone follow what I'm saying here?

- And that's all I really have for today. Check back tomorrow and we'll see what pops up.