Days of Lore

The dumb box is just so smart sometimes I don’t like TV … but it is great for when I’m babysitting my nephew and I want to go down to the bar for a cocktail—I just flip it to cartoons and the little tike never knows I’m gone. It’s great!

But seriously, except for baseball games and the occasional episode of American Justice or Cold Case Files on A&E (my man Bill Kurtis makes being awkward so cool), I rarely watch television. That thing will make you stupid.

That said, I got introduced to the show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (on FX) a few months ago by a friend, and I found it to be funny, witty and ridiculous—much like myself.

The interesting thing is that the pilot for the show was put together with two camcorders for a paltry $200 by aspiring actors and real-life cronies Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day (they also star in the comedy as the proprietors of an Irish pub in Philly), who then pitched it to several studios before executives at FX ate it up. The sitcom was just renewed for another season, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Local boy makes good Playing off of the success of Sunny, FX—along with everybody’s favorite time-waster MySpace—launched a contest earlier this month encouraging aspiring filmmakers to send in their own videos.

Among the 3,000 entries came one from former CN&R film critic Chris Smith. The cool thing is Smith was informed this week that his was chosen as one of the 20 finalists (among them a video from Andy Dick), which will now go to a popular vote with the chance of winning $50,000 to make his own pilot.

Smith filmed the video, entitled Snowmen Hunters, with his cousin Ryan Neisz outside of Lassen Park as part of a series in March of this year. The premise focuses on a couple of yokels named Sherman and Everett (played by Neisz and Smith, respectively) who have a disdain for men with eyes of coal, carrot noses and stick “appendages.” It seems Everett has never been the same since he caught his wife plowing the snow.

It’s pretty damn funny, too. Check out the video and cast your vote at www.myspace.com/sunnyfx. The top five videos will be announced during the season premiere of Sunny June 29, with only one of them getting the big prize. You have to have a MySpace account to vote. If you don’t have an account, you’re so 2003.

“Izua eta desira” I was searching YouTube as I sometimes do and stumbled upon a live video clip from Basque punk band Kuraia, one of the several genuinely good bands I discovered when I was in Spain. It not only brought back some good memories, but it made me realize how good this band is.

Kuraia’s 2003 record Iluntasunari Barre (loose translation: laughing at the darkness) might be one of the best rock albums I’ve heard—ever: raw, riffs aplenty and some killer vocals by lead singer Fernando. Since the lyrics are in Basque, I can’t understand a damn word they’re saying, but the same can be said for early R.E.M. albums.

I highly recommend checking out the band’s Web site, www.kuraia.com, and listening to some samples. If you like that, go to www.musikametak.com/grupos_1.php?uuid=8&grupo=Kuraia and buy one of their albums. If you’re feeling cheap, hit me up and I’ll gladly burn you a copy.

Also, check out this live clip from the band playing at the Gruta 77 club in Madrid: www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1IBhA3tE1w&search=Febrero.

Musu handi bat (a giant kiss)—<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"> </script>