aaron c beals

when i do listen to non-internet radio, an occurrence that is growing rarer in these latter days, i tend to be a fan of music rather than talk radio. that said, i found the morning show on WFNX — “The Sandbox” — highly entertaining. the DJs, with the exception of longtime FNX-er Henry Santoro, were in their late 20′s / early 30′s, putting their retro pop culture references and sense of humor right in line with my own. they tended to shy away from the overtly political (i’m talking to you, Greg Hill and Dennis and Callahan) and focused instead on the absurd. they had a good talk / music mix for the morning hours and included guests from the local Boston scene (politicians, writers, etc).

yesterday, after 2.5 years, that show abruptly went off the air, taking with it the last shreds of faith i had in the Boston radio scene. WERS (excellent college radio, albeit with too much reggae) and Paul Driscoll’s Alter-Ego program at FNX (he’s given a lot of latitude to play what he wants) are the only good things left on local radio.

word on the street is that the new VP of Broadcast Operations, Mike Tierney, blew up the show as a not-so-uncommon ‘i’m the new guy’ power move. way to screw up FNX, Mike. welcome to Boston.

when i was a kid, random cartoons would appear on saturday mornings and stay for just a few episodes, often banished due to lack of marketability (no associated action figures or sugar-crusted cereal). the cartoon would stick in my young, impressionable mind, leaving me wishing that i could somehow have whatever super powers the protagonist had. the issue i always had was my inability to revel in these imaginings with any of my friends — the cartoons were often so short-lived that if you happened to be out playing in the yard or tuned into the wrong channel, you missed out entirely.

one such show involved a teenager who could transform into a car. now this was the life: being a teenager (i was convinced this was the best possible time of life and couldn’t wait to get there), being not only able to drive, but actually able to turn into a car. of course, i wanted to be a Transformer, but that was far too impractical — i was a human from Earth, not an Autobot from Cybertron. but turning directly from human to vehicle? “oh yeah, that’s possible”, my 5-year-old brain determined.

unfortunately, i couldn’t remember the name of the show, so even the advent of the Internet didn’t really help me. i was left wondering about the show with the kid whose hands would turn into wheels and then roll over the bad guys… until now. thanks to Retro Junk, i’ve been able to remember that the show was called Turbo Teen. and thanks to YouTube, i can see that it’s still just as awesome as i remember it being.

not unlike Bob and his love for soft rock ballads, i’ve gotta admit … i am a Mythbusters fan. recently, i have been keeping myself entertained by watching a lot of old episodes, but haven’t been able to put a finger on why the show draws me in (other than the obvious “they blow stuff up”).

much to my dismay, many people have maligned the show for skirting the finer points of the scientific method, to the point of discrediting anything and everything Jamie, Adam, and the crew uncover. yes, it’s low-calorie science, but it tastes much like real science — and frankly, the fact that the show is sparking such heated discussions about scientific approaches is welcomed.

this week, my friends over at xkcd set the naysayers straight and uncovered the source of my affinity for the show — i have been a longtime admirer of the late Richard Feynman and his legendary ability to make scientific information accessible to the unwashed masses. i’d like to think that the man who put himself through sensory deprivation in an experiment to explore consciousness would appreciate the Mythbusters’ approach.

last Saturday night (before the Oscars), we watched the movie “Once” on the recommendation of my buddy Lou. now if you know me well, you know that my feelings toward traditional musicals are not remotely charitable (OK, that’s underselling it. i flat out hate them. who just bursts randomly into song?!?). however, “Once” isn’t a traditional musical — yes, there’s music, but music is the point of the movie, not an alternative dialogue delivery mechanism.

the story is engaging and emotive and if even if you’re not a musician, you’re going to walk away wanting to start writing music immediately. oh, and to top it off: the night after we watched it, the lead actors beat out the atrocity that is Enchanted for the best original song Oscar. rent it now, i implore you.

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Celtics in Comcast HD
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Celtics road games are now available in HD. Comcast Sports Net launched its exclusive HD channel on Comcast cable systems. ALL Celtics games, home and away, are now offered in high definition on Comcast channel 852. Check out the Celtics in HD tomorrow night as they take on the Indiana Pacers at 7:00 p.m.

finally! it took FSN/Comcast long enough to get around to this; it was especially frustrating knowing that the local markets of the home teams were getting an HD broadcast.

(ok, so it’s just a moral victory. i don’t actually have cable…)

Timmy: What are you doing?
George: What?
Timmy: Did, did you just double-dip that chip?
George: Excuse me?
Timmy: You double-dipped a chip!
George: Double-dipped? What, what, what are you talking about?
Timmy: You dipped a chip. You took a bite. And you dipped again.
George: So?
Timmy: That’s like putting your whole mouth right in the dip. From now on, when you take a chip, just take one dip and end it.
George: Well, I’m sorry, Timmy, but I don’t dip that way.
Timmy: Oh, you don’t, huh?
George: You dip the way you want to dip. I’ll dip the way I want to dip.

well, Costanza, it looks like Timmy was right — your way of dipping is just plain gross. dipping your chip back into the bowl transfers thousands of bacterial cells from your mouth into the bowl. tomorrow’s the Super Bowl, people. practice safe dipping.

i’m psyched to see that they’re following up one of my favorite cartoon series of all time (which was mercilessly canceled) with a feature-length (albeit straight to DVD) movie. they’re even releasing HD-DVD and Blu-ray versions…

as much as game 1 was a showcase of Red Sox batting talent, last night was a showcase of the top-tier pitching talent. i knew Schilling and Pap would rise to the challenge, but it was great to see the rookie Okajima come in and throw 4 strikeouts facing 7 batters.

unfortunately (yes, i’m man enough to admit this), i fell asleep mid-game and missed the 3rd and 4th innings. it was only about 25 minutes, but i missed the Sox’ first run. cut me some slack — i’ve been battling sickness all week.

one non-game-related note: last night, they had the first (as far as i know) preview for season 7 of “24″. this happened at about the time i was waking up. dazed, confused, and wondering how i ended up on the couch, this was my one and only reaction:

between this and the new season of Lost (which, if i haven’t mentioned it before, Laura and i are both now addicted to), i’m going to be very short on spare time come January.

i can’t explain to you all the reasons why you need to watch this show:

apparently, the authors of “When You Wish Upon A Star” are just now filing a lawsuit against Family Guy (20th Century Fox, etc — not Peter Griffin) for their satirical version of the song. according to the article, the plaintiffs are claiming copyright infringement, which I’m not sure is correct given that parodies and satires are widely protected from copyright infringement charges. they also seem to be heated about the impact on the inherent value of the original song, claiming that the song is somehow worth less due to the Family Guy parody. perhaps this latter issue is what the song authors are raising in the lawsuit.

my rebuttal is simple:
1) lighten up. Family Guy is an equal opportunity offender. no one is safe from mockery.
2) you’re at least 4 years late. the original on-air broadcast was 2003, and the episode had actually been discussed since the episode was created in 2000.
3) are you really still collecting royalties on a song written 67 years ago for Pinocchio? and if so, are people buying Pinocchio DVDs going to stop buying them because of the Family Guy episode?

ahh… people are so easily fired up.