Fusing on a cross-country flight

While my Mets travel from a three-game sweep at the hands of the Dodgers, where they scored the mighty total of SIX runs, to the eventual raping at the hands of the Red Sox, meaning there is a long list of old college friends ready to call and rub it in...

I will take this time to comment on a couple of entertainment issues at hand.

For starters, I illegally downloaded Eminem's newest album, Relaspe. I have always believed that the white boy from Detroit is an extremely talented rapper. Lyrically speaking, he is easily in a top 25 all-time conversation and in an era where Solider Boy Tell Em' is considered a top artist in his field, Em is like Bob Gibson vs. Bob The Builder...

But the problem with Relaspe is just that. He's already rapped about pretty much everything he can rap about. He's done his childhood, him mom and her drug problems, the price of fame ("Say I Am" is one of my favorite tracks) and of course making up randomness about whatever MTV and the pop scene considers hot at the time.

The big thing with this album is one track "Bagpipes from Bagdad" where he talks about Mariah Carey. I was excited to listen to this, just to see what he said. Not anything he hasn't said before about somebody else. In fact, I would be more outraged about the track he's got that talks about kidnapping and raping/killing Lindsey Lohan or Brittney Spears. And the fact that I just said those two should let you know the deal with this album.

I've listened to it. I laughed at some of the references. I don't want to hear the track about someone being raped by their stepfather, not that it was distrubing but it just wasn't that good. I mean, it's funny. The ongoing skit with Interscope Records exec say it best. The first one has Paul upset that he took four years to come out with something, then makes fun of the fact the album is likely about drugs and his sad rich pathetic life, then he pulls a gun and tells him to get out of his office. The next is a phone call questioning the album's content, like the stepfather rape song. It's about the same way the listener feels.

The production doesn't help much. Whether the beat is bumping is lost, at least to me. Looking back, maybe Em peaked with his second album, The Marshall Mathers Album. The third album is OK too, but then there's 8 Mile and while the movie is average at best, his freestyles in it are crazy. After that, it's a downhill spiral.

Needless to say, I won't be listening to this album again.

Unfortunately, I won't be watching a couple of TV shows that I actually like in the fall...

I'll preface this by saying that as a father to two kids under 10, I'm at home on weeknights pretty much seven nights a week. That means my wife and I watch a lot of TV. On Mondays, we both watch The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother and Heroes. Tuesday nights, she watches American Idol and I would go in our bedroom and watch Reaper.

It was a show about a guy who learns he's the son of the Devil and now must become the collector of lost souls. It was funny, it was interesting and original and since it's on a backward network that expects too much from a show against one of the top rated shows in the nation, it will air it's final episode on Tuesday.

On Wednesdays, Faye would watch the Idol recap and I would watch Life. It was a basic cop series with a twist. The main character was a street cop who was arrested for a crime he didn't commit. After 12 years, he was released and given a huge amount of money and his wish - to become a detective. This was the backdrop behind your basic hour-long cop show.

I used to watch My Name Is Earl on Thursdays and NBC canceled them, however it seems they may have a second life as Fox and ABC are looking to pick it up according to my wife who looks into this a lot more than I do.

On Fridays I would be home because it's hard to find someone to watch an 8-year old and a 20 month old, so we would watch TV. This is a television grave yard, so for anyone to expect any rating from a Friday slot is just stupid. Sad to say the CW expected Everybody Hates Chris and The Game to produce here and since it didn't, they're now gone.

For any Buffy fans, the creator Joss Weadon has a new show called The Dollhouse. It's very interesting and I can't really explain it so look it up.
Long story short, Fox originally bought 13 episodes and instead of buying a full season (22 episodes), they just kept it alive with another 13 episode purchase.

Oh by the way, they didn't even air all 13 that they bought of the first season, but that's another story. So the point of all this is I'm looking at this as a blessing. It means that I'll be watching less TV in the fall and hopefully spend more time with my kids and their education.

I'm getting a great education about the college basketball world listening to your new Clyde podcast. Take a listen if you can.

I'm gonna take a listen to the Mets/Red Sox game tomorrow cuz it's the best game you'll see from this crappy team. Santana vs. Dice-K in Fenway. Doesn't get much better than that.