Finally!

After four long aggrivating years, Season Two of Night Court is finally being released on DVD in February 2009, four years after the first season was issued. It appears as thought the massive outcries of fans worldwide has finally forced Warner Brothers to listen.

But now there's no need to worry any longer, justice will finally be served... assuming they intend to keep releasing more seasons of this, and not space them out over four years apiece.

I direct you to my original post on this, almost two years ago...

So I've been waiting for months upon months for Season 2 of Night court to be released on DVD and now it looks as though it's not going to be released in its entirety. They are instead releasing 90 episodes cutting across all seasons on a 15 disc set. Mind you this is 90 episodes, but it's 90 episodes out of 193 so half of the series is being eliminated.

In that paragraph, I realize now I made an error. That box set I was referring to was in fact bootlegged. The episodes were burned to DVDs from old VHS recordings someone recorded off the TV. They have since expanded the collection to the entire series, and they wanted over $100 US for it, and it was reportedly awful quailty... But I digress...

This really pisses me off. I mean lets face it: there is SO MUCH CRAP out where all seasons are being released on DVD and a show that was high in the ratings for so long is getting shafted. Let look at a few examples shall we?

Doogie Howser, MD: Remember this peice of garbage? About a teenage prodigy who somehow managed to get through highschool, university and medical school in just a few years? Released in it's entirety on DVD.

The Nanny: Fran "Somebody Muzzle Me" Drescher's property about an annoying live-in caretaker which was basically centered around her whiny southern voice. The Entire Series is available for your eardrum piercing pleasure.

A Different World: Cosby Show spinoff where one of his spoiled kids leaves home and does a bunch of crap. I was surprised this show lasted six seasons (all beautifully captured on DVD!) to begin with, but I guess that's one of the benefits of having Bill Cosby as your executive producer.

Family Matters: God help us all.... Steve Erkel preserved for all time on DVD. Don't miss a moment of this retard's antics and don't forget to keep a barf bucket close at hand for the end of each ep where the music comes up for the obligatory heartfelt family moment. They should just rename this show Fecal Matters.

Wings: Okay, need I say anything about this? It's fucking WINGS! Other shows MADE FUN of this show!! What's on now? Wings. AUUUGH!!! TURN THE TV OFF!! So now you can create your own personal hell by purchasing the entire series. Comes with flaming bamboo for under your fingernails while you watch.

Do you see what I mean? How can a show that won five Emmys and was nominated for nine more NOT BE RELEASED ON DVD? It was right up there in ratings with Cheers for dog's sake! GRAW!!!!

No wonder I don't have cable anymore. The entire industry is messed up.

Well spoken, me. Since then, more awful shows have also been released, for some reason.

Mama's Family. For the longest time, I thought the actress playing Mama was a man in drag. And her voice was enough to make nails on a chalkboard sound like the soothing notes of a songbird.

Fraggle Rock. I know I'm gonna get flamed for this by some people in my circle, but I don't care. I wanted to stomp all these little bastards, just like the Smurfs.

Full House. The less hackneyed Bob Sagat moments in the world, the better.

Judge Judy. All I can say to this is, Oh dear God...

I could go on, but I'm getting away from the point.

I urge all you Night Court fans to do you part and buy this second volume PLEASE, so I can finally have my favourite TV show in its entirety.

You can preorder the DVD set already from amazon.com, and get a $10 discount if you do.

Bad Day

The lyrics to the single from my next album.

--



Eyes drift open
The television babysitter
Cigarette smoking halo
Around my sorry lips
Someone take that mirror down
There's blood on my toothbrush
The bus driver meets your half-dead stare
Polyester air holes all around
Greasy window glass
Where someone's rest his head in shame
You think too much

Horses graze by the roadside
They don't know when their time will come
Rising up the hillside at one foot per second
Watch and wait while the seconds wander by
Slow motion girders
A concrete line
Cutting its way through the green
Grey clouds and shadow
A psychological echo
Just get to the safehouse on time

Haphazard greetings
And lumbar support
New-age screensaver
And a corkboard shrine
Peanuts in a plastic jar
How did you get to where you are
The photographs stare at you
While the fax machine whines
I let my fingers do the talking
Solving the problems of the world
I pick up the phone
But there's always no one there
A DTMF nightmare

Somewhere in my mind
An oasis of calm
Among the mental wreckage
And cross-circuited imagery
An island of serenity
With all of the amenities
Of a life I think other people have
But it's late now, too late
The deadline's passed
And you've begun to realize
That you've forsaken everything
You once held dear
Your prison is this chair
Inside this room
You can't escape the status quo
The picture mock you
But you can't turn away

--

Read more information

Also, I've opened up the beta version of The Perpetual Archive, which will feature a lot of free music from the old EtherReal days, and previews of the new material as well, with lots of freebies and bonus tracks. It's my hope that the PA will be a storehouse for all my music related thoughts, and give anyone who cares a bit of insight into my work.

Bargains Worth Killing For?

It's all been said so far, with regard to the ridiculous and pointless death of Rhode Island Wal-Mart employee Jdimytai Damour, but it still bears comment.

As you probably already know, Damour was a temporary security guard who was trampled to death during a Black Friday blitz by more than 2000 frenzied shoppers barreling through the front doors at 5 am.

I think it's obvious what to think about this. You shouldn't have to go to work for minimum wage one day and and feel that your life is at risk. It's a senseless demonstration of the power of the almighty dollar and the questionable marketing strategies of a monster company that needs to be taken down several pegs.

What bothers me the most is reports that investigators and police are viewing video footage of the event and trying to determine who among the patrons, if anyone, can be identified and prosecuted for criminal negligence in the death.

First of all, I don't think such a case is possible. I also don't think it's warranted. For starters, the nature of a crowd like this is that if you don't keep moving with the flow, you will be taken down yourself, and end up like Damour. There are several statements by shoppers fearing for their lives in this manner. "They were jumping over the barricades and breaking down the door," said Pat Alexander, 53, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. "Everyone was screaming. You just had to keep walking on your toes to keep from falling over."

There are also different types of people who expressed little or no concern for the fallen employee when asked to leave. Said Kimberly Cribbs, a Walmart employee, "When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, 'I've been on line since Friday morning!'" They kept shopping."

The point I'm trying to make here is that while the crowd as an entity displayed little or no regard for such things as safety, orderliness or basic concern for their fellow man, it's not them who should be held accountable, it's Walmart. The crowd mentality was created as a direct result of Walmart's negligence. Consider the following:

- The store opened at 5am after much pomp and circumstance, creating a hype that in the customers' minds translated as, 'this is going to be big, we'd better get there early before they run out of shit.' Walmart has seen this work many times, as far back as Cabbage Patch Dolls, and continuing with the release of every major game console in the last fifteen years, as well as previous black Fridays. They sounded a mating call, with the intent to gather as many people as possible, and the people responded.

- I feel they knew very well that they had not enough security to handle the onslaught, wrongly assuming the crowd would behave itself. But before the doors were even open, the throng was already chanting, "Push the doors in!" according to reports. To me, if I were the store manager, it would raise serious questions as to whether it would be safe to let this mob in the place. But they did anyway, and the crowd literally tore the doors off the hinges. We know the rest of the story.

- The sign outside said BLITZ LINE STARTS HERE. For your edification, Dictionary.com defines the word 'blitz' as the following:

a. an overwhelming all-out attack, esp. a swift ground attack using armored units and air support.
b. an intensive aerial bombing.

... and this is exactly how the crowd behaved. Walmart got what they asked for.

- Two hours after the tragedy, the fucking store REOPENED. This is absolutely inexcusable, and speaks volumes about the morals of this company.

I think it's clear who the real culprit in this debacle is. There are rumblings about a civil suit against Walmart, which will probably prove to be more public than any cases against individuals. But that fact of that matter is that we all know Walmart was already circling the legal wagons on this mere moments after it happened. It seems likely that they would agree to a settlement of some amount of money, meager when compared to the total holdings of the corporation, just something to keep the families from pursuing this for too long. They won't outrightly admit any blame, and it will not hurt Walmart one bit in the long run. They will be allowed to continue along their merry way, because that, again, is the almighty dollar at work.

Walmart played on the failing economy, the gullibility of their customers, and their own selfishness and greediness to cause this. I'm not saying that Walmart should be brought down completely (even though I do feel that way), because that's not realistic in terms of history. The rich and powerful have the ability to buy their way out of everything. But at the very least, there needs to be accountability in this disaster, and something more than a paltry sum of money paid out of fear of bad press. There needs to be real remorse and regret shown for this by SOMEONE responsible.

In other related news, two men shot and killed each other in a Toys R Us in California the very same day as the Walmart death. There is nothing in the story to assume it had anything to do with a particular sale; it may have just been a personal disagreement... but when you go shopping at a kids' toy store, do you really think seriously that you could get shot and killed accidentally? I shudder to think sometimes of the kind of world we live in, and the kinds of people we are forced to share it with.

All in all, it's not hard to see why internet shopping has become so popular. I kind of don't want to leave my house now.