Lady Gaga's Applause

So she really likes the artist Jeffrey "Jeff" Koons. Anybody else's mind want to hear "Koontz," as in the novelist Dean Koontz, in the quite good single, "Applause"? 

"One second I'm a Koontz, then suddenly Dean Koontz is me!" 

Makes me think of reading his novel Lightning a million years ago.

NBC's Take It All gave me nothing

Look at that modified Deal or no Deal set! Hear that modified Deal or no Deal theme music! It must be NBC's latest December game show launch, the suggestively titled Take It All. Hosted by Dealmeister Howie Mandell, this riff on Dirty Santa grows tiresome by about the second time a contestant stares at the colored question marks and wrestles with the choice of green, blue or white in order to add another prize to the mix (such as, in tonight's first episode, a mechanical bull or 25 years of gym membership — woohoo). More offensive than the overwhelming inertia of this concept is the final face-off, in which the contestant may choose "keep mine" to walk away with his amassed prizes … but if one chooses "take it all" and the other player chooses "keep mine," the greedy bastard walks away with both fortunes. It's a complete ripoff of GSN's early 2000s Kennedy-hosted original Friend or Foe?, which was also mean-spirited but at least watchable.

I like this video

And why am I not in it? I don't actually own any 12-inchers, but I should be holding one of the PSBs' masterpieces in this clip. Saint Etienne has always seemed one of those things that I am supposed to love but has never quite done it for me. Pretty much like this song … seems almost good, but not quite.

Memo to Amazon: I don't like being penalized for working all day when music shopping

So, at work this morning I sneaked a peek at Amazon's MP3 store to see if they were pimping the new Madonna album, MDNA, for cheap. It was going for $7.99 (deluxe version, of course) … good enough. But I can't download it at my place of employment. Now that I've got home after a long day of work and finally had time to sit down, the same album is $14.99. Thanks a lot, bitches.

DirecTV adds AMC-HD, finally

Early this year I switched from cable to satellite because I got a new HDTV, and Comcast's HD lineup is almost nonexistent in my hamlet. SD is fine on SD televisions, but it stinks on an HD set; I avoid it if possible. I tried Dish first, but the installer said there was no line of sight, so I ended up going with DirecTV. And the one sinking feeling I had about that came when I realized AMC was not offered in HD.

That's changing tomorrow morning  (Friday, Sept. 9), as AMC-HD launches on DirecTV. I'm stoked for two leading reasons:

One >> The annual marathon of Halloween movies lasting a week or two, 24 hours a day (minus infomercials, probably). This is good fun and excellent background fodder around Halloween. And if I decide to watch Jeepers Creepers 2 or Corridors of Blood, they'll look crisp and lovely.

Two >> The return of The Walking Dead, which is set for Oct. 16. Tired as the zombie subgenre is, this series works beautifully because it's character driven in a very Stephen King-miniseries kind of way. I'd love to see AMC continue to move in this direction and become the de facto horror network of choice.

Now, if only Direct would add BBC America, IFC, GSN, E!, Reelz, etc. in HD …

30-Day Song Challenge: A song you can dance to (day 9)

Banjos and fiddles set to a Eurodance beat — brilliant! I remember hearing Rednex' take on the traditional song "Cotton Eye Joe" (or "Cotton-Eyed Joe") on the radio a few times back in '95 alongside mid-90s chestnuts like Nicki French's dance cover of "Total Eclipse of the Heart." It's all executed with a wink and a nod, but some snooty folks who apparently don't like to have fun have seen fit to include this one on some worst songs lists (what is the point of such an exercise, other than to denigrate?). A couple of years ago I was taking photos at a summer festival in Iuka, Miss., and came across a local square dance group performing to this song, which I found a tad surprising and surreal.

30-Day Song Challenge: A song you know all the words to (day 8)

I could only think of one, and it might be a little bit of a cheat: "The Samurai in Autumn" by the Pet Shop Boys. I do, indeed, know all of the lyrics, which are thus:

It's not as easy as it was

Or as difficult as it could be

For the Samurai in autumn

And no more than that in this largely instrumental track. Certainly not difficult to remember, and I have always imagined that the lines are about the boys themselves in their late career period, when only the diehards care anymore (although, knowing Neil Tennant, it probably has to do with an historical figure).

I've always found this to be the highlight of their Release album (2002), which turned off the hardcore synthpop crowd with its "rock" aspirations. This peppy yet moody dance number, plopped midway through amongst dense, boring guitar slogs like "Birthday Boy" and "Love Is a Catastrophe," feels like PSB doing what they ought to be doing; it even evokes the brilliant experimental vibe of Relentless.