All posts by andy fargnoli

99 Days of Obama

Barack Obama

On April 29, Barack Obama turns 100. Presidents sure do grow up fast. In many ways, the first 100 days are the most important time in a president’s career, perhaps due to the lopsided attention and arbitrary, question-begging importance bestowed upon them.

If you’re looking for 100-days coverage, you’re in the wrong place. Maybe Maury Povich is covering it, along with CNN, Fox, and Time. We at Owl and Bear would like to remember Obama in his double digits. 100 represents pre-millennial, base-ten, pre-hope/change thinking and is therefore hogwash. 99 is a progressive base-eleven-in-intervals-of-nine thought system, which is very now.

Plus, who knows what tomorrow may bring? Continue reading

Mitchell Hurwitz Says, ‘Sit Down, Shut Up’ (TV)

Sit Down Shut Up
Particle accelerators take things like protons and electrons, pack them into a device, and then launch the particles into an unwavering collision course with one another. Though this sounds like a lot of fun (like crash-testing cars), the goal is actual results, which the observers hope are significant and not a waste of time.

Television sets, the soon-to-be-obsolete kind with cathode ray tubes, are examples of particle accelerators, and the violence within these boxes results in programming, which the viewers hope is not a waste of time, having learned long ago to not expect significant results.

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How to Hug Your Independent Record Store

Record Store
“Indie record stores,” says Chrys Hansen of Modern Music, the Caribbean’s most visited record store, “are where you go when you first realize there’s a whole new world of music for you to explore.” The Internet notwithstanding as perhaps one’s first stop when searching out what the world has to offer musically, Hansen’s words ring sentimental and otherwise true.

Independent record stores, unlike the CD sections of Wal-Mart and Best Buy, often feature carefully procured selections of good popular music and local and alternative groups that are either too vulgar or not Hoobastank-y enough for other outlets. The quality of independent record stores is only enhanced by the personal touch offered by the staff.

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Get Sum 41’s Greatest Hits Album For Free!

The legendary artistes of Sum 41 have a new fecal offering for the world, titled All the Good Shit. The best-of album contains fourteen tracks, compiling all of the Hot Topic punks’ hits to date, plus thirteen other songs.

But before you pre-order the album or start camping outside your local mall to pay 18 bucks for it, we at O&B have figured out a way for you to get the album for free. And, get this, it’s totally legal (we think).

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Colbert in Stereo (TV)

Stephen Colbert is a decorated (cultural) war hero and champion of truthiness, having won multiple Emmy Awards, coined a Word of the Year, and had a delicious flavor of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream named after him. And now, the Apples in Stereo have done their part in honoring the praiseworthy Dr. Colbert (yes, it’s “Dr.” He’s been awarded an honorary doctorate from Knox College).

The creators of “a mesmerizing series of heavenly, effects-drenched, pop milkshakes” have released the song “Stephen, Stephen” and, while the good citizens of Colbert Nation think this is a fine thing, they do seem a bit chagrined.

The possibility that the song could have been named after someone or something other than Stephen sadly reminds the nation that naming things after Mr. Colbert is not yet law and, as such, is not punishable by hilarious fraternity-style water-boarding or some other form of public shaming. Continue reading