Most played songs in iTunes for January

Surprisingly some leftover Christmas music made its way into my most played list for the month of January. But other than that it seems obvious that I was on a bit of a jazz kick in January. I still have yet to rate a bunch of it though, as you can see from the above screen shot of my customized iTunes playlist.

What are some of the songs you listened to the most last month? Let me know what you've been listening too and give me some suggestions for February!

Read more...

Most played songs in iTunes for December

Not surprisingly my iTunes player was dominated by holiday music in December. Also as expected, A Charlie Brown Christmas was the most played album.

There are few things I enjoy listening to better while typing than easy listening jazz, and Vince Guaraldi's work is perfect background music no matter the time of year.

Read more...

Linus & Lucy

Who doesn't know and love the "Linus and Lucy Theme"? It is a piano classic and should be in every jazz pianist's repertoire. To many the song is associated with Christmas, as it should be. the song was made famous with the release of the original Peanuts Christmas special...

However I will always associate the song first and foremost with the classic Halloween special. "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" opens with the Van Pelt siblings bringing home a gigantic pumpkin, which Lucy ultimately scars brother Linus with by "killing it." the song played of course is the "Linus and Lucy Theme".



The entire opening is classic and to me is on par with any spot in the original Christmas special. But growing up I watched a VHS that was full of Peanuts cartoons and I would watch them at any time of the year. I have watched the Halloween special countless times and have grown to associate the "Linus and Lucy Theme" with this scene in the Halloween special.

I know I am in the minority when it comes to linking the song to Halloween, and I am fine with it. Which holiday do you associate the song with? I imagine the answer is Christmas.

Read more...

♫ Song of the Day, Snoopy's Christmas

Snoopy's Christmas, by The Royal Guardsmen
(download from Amazon for $0.99)

As a long time fan of the Peanuts gang this song has always been one of my personal favorites during the holiday season. Thankfully somebody took the time to put together a nice little video to go along with the somewhat cult classic.

Plus The world famous flying ace was always my favorite Snoopy. I have an ornament of the World War Flying Ace packed away and I always smile when I get to put it up on the tree. Of course there was also the great Atari 2600 video game, which was always one of my personal favorites. In fact it may have been my favorite Atari game that we owned, nudging out Ms. Pac-Man.

Read more...

Watchmen - the Peanuts Version

Read more...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! May you share the day with family and friends and great food around a ping pong table eating toast, popcorn, jelly beans and ice cream sundaes.

Or perhaps you prefer turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing. To each their own!

Oh, and go Eagles!

Read more...

My Favorite Super Bowl Comercials

Here are my favorite commercials from Super Bowl XLII, mostly in order of appearance. You can check out all of the Super Bowl commercials on MySpaceTV.

Who amongst us hasn't been guilty of nodding off and having their head bob back up alertly after dozing off for a second or two? I was a huge fan of the old Roxbury guys skits on Saturday Night Live. I loved this commercial even before seeing Chris Kattan make his appearance at the end.

Joe Buck though, should never dance again. Ever. Never ever. Period.

At first I thought this was reminiscent of the old WAZZUP videos. This next video comes with a disclaimer...

DISCLAIMER: You could put Rocky music to a video of a guy organizing papers and I would enjoy it.

I have seen these T-Mobile commercials with Dwayne Wade and Charles Barkley for a while now and I wondered if Wade would ever make it into Barkley's Top Five. I like Charles. He's funny and he speaks his mind without reservation.

I like Shaq. He's funny and speaks his mind without reservation. That poor horse.

I'm a sucker for these Pixar movies so it should come as no surprise that I can not wait for Wall E. This commercial is Wall E at his purest, from my early take on the little robot who just wants to help and make friends. Throw in Woody and Buzz and this was easily the best commercial for a movie during the Super Bowl.


And finally I come to my favorite commercial of the entire Super Bowl. Whoever wrote this commercial and put it together is a genius in so many ways. This commercial found a way to demonstrate to the viewer that their product is two great traditional themes that are sought after in advertising;

1. Worth fighting over to get the last one
   
2. As timeless as some icons in history

I could watch this commercial over and over again and still get a huge grin on my face. I admit that I did see where it was going as the commercial played out, but the winner in the end was a surprise to me, but there could not have been any greater choice. Behold.

The sad thing is that this commercial will not receive the respect it deserves. Many Coca-Cola commercials get overshadowed by the Bud Lite's and the Pepsi's of the market, but no commercial had as much thought go into it as this one I am sure. The genius of this commercial will go over the heads of so many people it is not even funny. If you know anything about Charlie Brown then you know that he is the last person in the world who should win the battle for the Coke bottle.

But you have to feel good for good old Charlie Brown, huh? This one's for you Chuck!

Read more...

Hey Ya Charlie Brown!

Read more...