Two things that should be awesome but aren’t

I feel compelled to warn you. See, when I like something, it generally means I really like it. I generally will go on and on about it until the next big thing comes along and replaces it, or such time that people start actively making fun of me for my evangelism (see: Ecco shoes).

So, here are a couple of things I thought I’d rave about, but instead…well, suck.

XM Sirius is lazy and deserves to go bankrupt

I’ve made no secret how I feel about the XM Sirius merger. It ruined X-Country and nearly forced me to cancel my subscription. But then I found Jam On, another station that plays a lot of jam/festival bands. For a couple days, I thought it was going to save my love for XM. Then I listened for more than two days. The station has live jocks and presumably a program director. That’s why it’s so confusing when I hear the same songs every day. XM-Sirius’ Jam-On programs itself in heavy rotation like a traditional commercial station. There are only so many times I can listen to Lotus’ cover of Mr. Roboto without wanting to kill my radio. The Godzilla cover by moe is so horrible, I don’t know how it gets played at all. And, in the entire Black Crowes live catalog, must XM play the live version of She Talks to Angels in which the crowd actually boos at the beginning? The library of jam band music should be so deep I don’t hear the same version of the same song in any given week, let along every damned day. XM Sirius should realize that people pay for a subscription so they don’t have to listen to songs in heavy rotation. Why? Why does it have to suck so bad. The only thing that could suck worse is going back to listening to traditional commercial radio. Maybe that’s why the company doesn’t care.

Appaloosa blows

I trust RottenTomatoes.com. If a movie gets 75% on the good side of the Mater Meter, I feel comfortable putting it my Netflix cue. Now, given, this is not Netflix’s fault. I won’t shoot the messenger here, but damn…Appaloosa was really bad. Despite getting a 75% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film fails in just about every way. I literally could not force myself to watch the entire thing. I honestly can’t see what people like in the film. With the exception of Viggo Mortensen, the movie is so poorly acted, poorly cut, poorly conceived, and just all around poor, I was almost embarrassed for writer, actor, and director Ed Harris. I’ve also not seen Renée Zellweger look worse. It was as if Harris et al went to the local Votech School of Character Development and failed. Many people were like, “Hurray for Harris! He’s keeping the western genre alive!” I protest, “If this is the way you keep something alive, remind me not to let Ed Harris dog-sit for me while I’m on vacation.”

And Netflix is partially to blame. It put Appaloosa is the films it was sure I’d enjoy. “You liked Unforgiven, so you will probably like Appaloosa!”

Let’s be clear. Ed Harris was pretty good in “A History of Violence.” I liked him in “Apollo 13.” Hell, he was even cute in “Milk Money.” But the man is not Clint Eastwood and should not pretend to be.

***

Sorry about that. I’m a little on edge. It’s tax season and I can’t find anyone to sell me Uruguayan Pesos. You understand, I’m sure.

Brad Willis

Brad Willis is a writer based in Greenville, South Carolina. Willis spent a decade as an award-winning broadcast journalist. He has worked as a freelance writer, columnist, and professional blogger since 2005. He has also served as a commentator and guest on a wide variety of television, radio, and internet shows.

You may also like...

7 Responses

  1. Jim The Knife says:

    Not seen Appaloosa and don’t intend to, HOWEVER, you said Ed Harris
    is no Clint Eastwood. You’re right. Ed Harris is about ten times a better actor then Clint and I really like Clint’s movies…. in front
    of or behind the camera.

    Here’s a movie you’ll enjoy… I think.
    UNDERTAKING BETTY…. 2004 Alfred Molina, Brenda Blethyn, Naomi Watts and Christopher Walken. Give it a try.

  2. wolverine says:

    you are 100% correct about Sirius XM. I really do not like the format on most stations now.

  3. Vicki says:

    I’m constantly googling pieces from PRI & NPR Now to see if they’re current or from effing 1997. What a rip.

    But, on the other hand, if I have to listen to 106.whatever FM for longer than a 5 minute span I’m spazzing from the non-stop and usually highly irritating commercials.

    On yet another hand, I do appreciate hearing full versions of songs with no radio edits.

  4. XM Sirius has screwed up in several ways, I think. Fussing with the programming was a major snafu, no doubt. Rate increases aren’t helping, either. But we finally got rid of it when we were told we could no longer listen online with our regular subscription & we’d have to pay extra to do so.

    Not really a good time to be telling yr customers to pay more for stuff they can live without.

  5. CJ says:

    Still a fan of my XM radio, for two reasons: 1) I’m not a weather snob 😉 and 2) Sports, sports and more sports. I get baseball, hockey and college basketball. Plus tons of sports talk.

    And on Appaloosa… you are very, very wrong. If you haven’t seen it, see it. I bet you agree with the majority of people who liked it. My wife loved it and she’s not a fan of westerns in general. It’s great.

  6. Da Goddess says:

    I don’t have XM or Sirius so I can’t comment on either.

    Haven’t seen Appaloosa but I did see trailers for it and pretty much determined it would have been a fitting lining for an actual horse trailer.

  1. March 8, 2009

    […] (I should point out here… I’d just watched the first act of Appaloosa…which sucked so bad, I would’ve been happy watching reality TV instead) […]