Tom Green

#757: The Demise of CD?

GETTING MORE TALE #757: The Demise of CD?

I don’t know if you’ve heard.  There’s this newfangled audio format that’s all the rage.  It’s called the “record”, or “long player”.  “LP” for short.  The technology is actually ancient.  It’s based on a needle running over a groove, picking up the vibrations, and converting it into sound.

Certainly not as sophisticated as the digital music that most of us consume today.  There are none of those pesky 1’s and 0’s being decoded.  It’s simple tech and maybe that’s why the LP has become so popular in recent years.  We’d never disparage the use of the LP.  It’s a physical medium, and it’ll last a lifetime if properly cared for.  Physical product is everything to the true music lover.

But what of the CD?  The compact disc has been our friend and companion since 1982.  Like many friendships, we have had our ups and downs.  For many of us, the CD still reigns supreme.  It’s smaller than an LP.  It’s easier to keep in mint condition than LP.  On a typical non-audiophile household setup, it sounds better than LP and is certainly superior to mp3.  For convenience, you can convert the CD to mp3 files and take it with you in just one click.  It’s a lot trickier to do that with an LP.  For many of us, the CD is the perfect format.  Plus they have all the bonus tracks, bonus discs, and musical extras that are rarely included on the LP versions.

Canadian comedian and rapper Tom Green recently announced his very first solo album.  It is being produced by Ship to Shore Phono Co.  It will be on green vinyl…but there will be no CD release.

Here we are in 2019, and Tom Green is releasing his solo debut…with no CD release.  This isn’t some indi artist.  This is a well known comedian who started in the CD age, made it big on MTV, and later became a fan favourite on Big Brother.  No CD release, just LP!  Cool, right?  Sure, but what does this mean for the beloved compact disc?

I’m not entirely sure.

These things go in phases and there is always a chance that CD will experience a nostalgia phase like LP is right now.  But it’s hard to get nostalgic about that little silver 5” disc.  Kids of today know them as those quaint things their parents had lying around but they weren’t allowed to touch.  Are these signals for the beginning of the end of CD?  Will there ever be a special “CD Store Day” for those of us who still think the silver discs are superior?

Time will tell.

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Sunday Chuckle: The Backwards Man

There’s a young guy at work who consistently makes me laugh.  He’s uber-intelligent and quirky and does something weekly that just slays me.

For example, he makes sound effects.  Sometimes he’s a UFO.  The other week he was a pterodactyl.  Once he was making sounds and proclaimed, “I’m a propeller!”

The most recent incident happened in the lunch room.  I was sitting there beginning to consume my reheated-whatever, when in he walked…backwards.  Right to the fridge, reaching behind him trying to open it and get his lunch.  I’m sitting there in stitches, unable to eat!

I kept bugging him about it over the following days, calling him “The Backwards Man”.

“I only did that for like 10 seconds!” he protested.

That was a damn funny 10 seconds, man!

VHS Archives #51: Tom Green and Organized Rhyme – Loeb pizza ad (1992)

The things I’m finding that I never knew I had!

This tape, from November of 1992, contains a Guns N’ Roses concert called Live in Paris. You remember that one? With Soundgarden, Lenny Kravitz, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry?  I set the VCR to record it in the middle of the night, so I captured all the commercials as well.  First one:  Tom Green and his old rap group, Organized Rhyme, selling pizza on late night TV!

The only other copy of this on Youtube is in black and white.  Not sure why that would be, so here you go, Tom Green fans!

WTF Search Terms: Mythbusters edition

WTF Search Terms VII:  Mythbusters edition

Welcome to the latest installment of WTF Search Terms!  This series presents actual search terms that real people typed into Google, somehow leading to my site.  If you missed the last installment, click here!

I’ve noticed there are a lot of confused people out there.  I thought I would do a public service, by correcting some people’s misconceptions.  Enjoy.

10. where do terry and deaner live  (Nowhere.  They are fictional characters from the movie FUBAR.)

9. did farrel mitchner from fubar acually die (No.  Farrel is also a fictional character, from the same movie.)

8. did farrel mitchner really die  (No. His real name is Gordon Skilling.)

7. farrel mitchner actually die  (Non. Il est un acteur.)

6. is farrel mitchner really dead  (Nyet!)

5. will ferrell hates glenn humplik  (No.  This was a joke on a comedy show.)

4. marilyn manson sucks himself off  (No, he doesn’t.)

3. removed bottom ribs for sucking cock  (No, he didn’t.)

2. cinemaphonic quadrovision  (This isn’t a real thing either.)

1. www,sex,video,ladano  (This DEFINITELY does not exist!!!)

See ya next time for more WTF’s!

WTF

REVIEW: The Tom Green Show – The Complete Series – Inside & Outside the Box (2005)

Thanks Dave FM for the chance to meet Tom Green!

GREENTOM GREEN – Inside & Outside the Box – The Tom Green Show: The Complete Series (2005 VSC)

As longtime LeBrain readers know, I was named King of the 4-O’clock 4-Play by Craig Fee on Dave FM.  I won a lot of stuff on that show.  One of the best things I won was a pair of tickets to see Tom Green at Crysalids Theatre, 9/22/11 with my best buddy Peter.  Tom was great, it was a celebration of the true spirit of stand-up comedy and he stuck around to take photos and sign stuff with everybody afterward.  I don’t think Tom Green gets enough respect for being an innovator as a comedian.  That’s why I felt inspired enough to write this review.

The most important thing to know about Tom Green:  MTV ruined Tom Green!  The MTV years, although peppered with some genius sketches such as “Undercutter’s Pizza”, was not at all what the original Tom Green Show was about.

This 3 disc set comprises Tom Green’s entire Comedy Network shows. In other words, the good stuff.  The weird stuff.  The offensive stuff.  The stuff that Jackass ended up ripping off (particularly Bam Margera).  Best of all though, this is the pre-fame stuff.  Tom Green could still run around downtown Ottawa without people knowing it was for a TV show.

You will see herein:

* Tom throwing all of Glenn Humplik’s clothes out of a plane in an evil double-cross.
* Tom burning Glenn’s shirt.
* Will Ferrell proclaiming that he hates Glenn and wants to punch him.
* Tom turning grape juice into pee (for science)!
* The dead raccoon.
* Tom demonstrating how a bus cannot move if you place your face on the bus.
* Repainting his dad’s car with a huge portrait of two naked women (the “slutmobile”).
* “Scuba Hood”.  He robs from the poor (fountains in malls, apparently) and gives to the rich (banks).
* Hanging his painting, “Tiger Zebra”, in the Ottawa Art Gallery, and then defacing it.
* and much, much more….

What you won’t see:

* You won’t see any bums on Swedishes.  That’s MTV stuff and not even half as good as this earlier stuff.

What I still like about the Tom Green show is that it is seldom mean spirited.  He picks on his friend Glenn a lot, which I can’t help but think that Kenny Hotz ripped off later on.  Everything else was done in this pseudo-naive childish fashion, and that is why I can watch The Tom Green Show over a decade later and laugh like the first time I saw it. This DVD for me has rendered obselete all of his old VHS tapes that I collected religiously. That stuff is on here, and it’s as fresh as ever.

I wonder whatever happened to Glenn’s clothes?

5/5 stars