music blog

I watched Ricky Gervais‘ Extras - The Extra Special Series Finale on DVD last night. The series on the whole was a bit spotty and the series finale pretty much followed suit. It felt a bit long in some parts which could have benefited with some editing to make things a bit tighter. but the girdle-popping scene along with Andy Millman’s heartfelt confession at the end are a must-see for Ricky Gervais fans. it was interesting that Gervais chose to use Kate Bush’s This Woman’s Work to emphasize the sad scene with Maggie.

I personally felt it was a bit lame since This Woman’s Work has been used a number of times before in other films and TV shows. it was a bit distracting especially since they didn’t feature songs like this in previous episodes in the series. a bit out of character, I’d say. another negative about the release is the lack of any bonus features. the DVDs for seasons 1 and 2 both had some neat bonus videos especially the footage of Gervais not being able to keep a straight face in pretty much any scene that he’s in. at times, the bloopers are even funnier to watch than some of the actual episodes.

Well, it’s that time of the year again. the air is colder, the days are shorter and christmas decorations are in full display at your local shopping mall. have you thought about what to get for your wife and kids yet? it’s always difficult coming up with new or unique gifts for the family. i’m personally thinking of taking the whole family on an overseas trip for my gift to them this year. it has been years since we’ve had a real vacation and i recently encountered a site called Holiday Hypermarket that specializes in cheap holidays and bargain vacation packages to destinations all over the world. they’re currently featuring some nice affordable packages to the Mediterranean as well as Amsterdam and Prague. i’m still in the middle of deciding where to take my family but whatever the destination, i’m pretty sure they’ll be pleasantly surprised this coming holiday season.

As a middle-aged music blogger, I tend to overlook some of the bands that are popular among the younger demographic. and if you’re a frequent visitor here on retroblog, you know that I tend to slant toward dinosaur rock i.e. Journey, Genesis, Todd Rundgren, Asia, etc. so with that said, I have to mention a young band that I’ve been rockin’ out to this week in the old SUV stereo system. it’s pop/emo/rock band Paramore. yes, I know I’m pretty late in the game in terms of blogging about the group and their album Riot!

Has been out for over a year but I just thought i’d post about them here just in case there are some other folks like me out there that aren’t that familiar with the band. the album is a fun listen with tons of energy and melodies galore. yes- they sound like Avril clones, yes- I hear some use of the dreaded “autotune” on Hayley Williams’ vocals, yes- some of the songs are formulaic and the pseudo-metal guitar sound gets a bit old and YES - it’s a bit weird liking these kids that are probably half my age… but, the larger than life hooks, their great sense of melody and their enthusiastic playing override all the negatives in this case. they’ve got a big thumbs up from this old man! a guilty pleasure? hell yeah. rock on!