I’m normally an even-tempered person. If I fly off the handle, I assure you that it’s for comedic effect only. In reality, I’m the guy who doesn’t get emotional about politics or religion or the other fundamental building blocks of our society.
However, once in a great while, an issue comes along that strikes such an emotional chord with me that I feel compelled to address it in an immediate and forceful manner.
Whether to put one space or two at the end of sentences is one such issue.
Lady Gaga.* Two words synonymous with “Understated songwriting.”
Tackling the subtleties of the work of a performer with a proverbial finger on the very pulse of popular culture can modestly be described as daunting. Yet, that’s what we’ve attempted.
The subject will be Gaga’s 2010 hit “Telephone.” While anti-Gaga blasphemers and iconoclasts might label the song as chorus-heavy and repetitive, they fail to appreciate the intricate and powerful story that unfolds throughout her magnificent verses.
The multi-level analysis proved too challenging for one person to handle. That’s why I’ve enlisted the help of Mike Austin to expedite the deconstruction. He’ll be interpreting the Beyonce** portion of “Telephone” (marked by blue text) as the two of us explore the weighty undercurrents that flow through this cultural touchstone.
Saturday Night Live circa 1989:
The most amazing part of the show was actually the monologue, in which Gibson said the following:
It’s comforting to look back twenty-odd years and be thankful that he dodged that bullet.
Tom and Mike (in studio!) talk a little football (but not much), the Grammys, and the website itself. Take a listen below:
The same slapdash rules apply to this Super Bowl preview as did my (surprisingly-
accurate) conference championship previews: No serious research, just bloggy ramblings off the top of my head. Setting the bar low . . .
The most surprising subplot for me in this year’s Super Bowl is the fact that Green Bay is somehow a favorite. I’m not even talking about the Vegas oddsmakers.* I saw an ESPN SportsNation poll this week where the consensus in about 47 states was that Green Bay was going to win. This makes little sense.
No one here questions the credentials of Paul Levesque (a/k/a Triple H) as a sports entertainer. He’s among the most successful performers of his generation. Levesque (a/k/a Hunter Hearst Helmsley) has a tremendous physique, is a good worker inside the ring, is able to present even the more outlandish storylines in a convincing manner, gives solid interviews, and, health permitting, will almost certainly retire with more world title reigns than any of the athletic thespians who have graced the squared circle.
But the question of whether Levesque (a/k/a the Game) is a good performer as a main event pro wrestler is a much different one than whether he can perform well as a starring actor by feature film standards.
That, however, is a question that we’re about to have answered.
This has been an eventful week for us here at The Axis of Ego. WordPress.com unexpectedly chose an article I wrote on Tuesday as one of its “Freshly Pressed” featured pieces, giving rise to a tidal wave* of site traffic. And, yes, we’ll be deconstructing another popular song in the very near future. As in next week.
Because so many of the people now reading this blog are new, I wanted first to say welcome and thank you. We appreciate your readership.
If you watch any television at all this time of year, you’ll undoubtedly notice the awkward
phrasing of certain commercials that euphemistically refer to the Super Bowl as “the Big Game” or “Football Sunday.” As a licensed practitioner of the law, I can explain: Each year, the NFL accounting team severely overestimates the “legal services” line-item in its annual budget. As a result, “NFL Legal” fulfills its billable hour quota by drafting cease-and-desist letters for regional mattress chains and pizza shops.
This year, the NFL legal team will continue to justify its existence by aggressively enforcing its trademark in the term “Super Bowl” against advertisers using the phrase in their promotional material. Of course, media outlets may continue to make use of the mark in news stories or other noncommercial discussions per the doctrine of fair use. Fortunately for the A of E, our blog is as “noncommercial” as it gets.
The shocking news this week that Charlie Sheen had once again endured a run-in with substance abuse a hernia prompted CBS to take swift, internal action related to Sheen’s hit television show, Two and a Half Men. The cash cow sitcom generates an amazing $3.1 million per episode in advertising revenue alone, a staggering figure in a modern media environment marked by audiences fragmented into paper-thin slivers. With the importance of the centerpiece show in mind, CBS circulated a memo concerning the future of the series to senior staff members of Two and a Half Men.
Fortunately, The Axis of Ego has obtained a copy of this memo.
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The Axis of Ego 
SitCombat
I only watch about eight television shows on anything resembling a regular basis. I realized recently that three of those shows are sitcoms airing on Thursday nights.
Put simply: I’m lazy, and this is easy and fun to do.
Let’s see how the three shows in question stacked up last night:
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