2009 Oscar Picks

To the 100 people (according to StatCounter) who inexplicably still read this blog daily, here are my Oscar predictions. Seriously though, just give up on Silly Pipe Dreams. I will only continue to disappoint you.

PICTURE: Slumdog Millionaire

DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle

ACTOR: Sean Penn

ACTRESS: Kate Winslet

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Heath Ledger

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Penelope Cruz

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Milk

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Slumdog Millionaire

ANIMATED FEATURE: Wall-E

ART DIRECTION: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Slumdog Millionaire

COSTUME DESIGN: The Duchess

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Man on Wire

DOCUMENTARY SHORT: The Conscience of Nhem En

FILM EDITING: Slumdog Millionaire

FOREIGN LANGUAGE: Waltz With Bashir

MAKEUP: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

ORIGINAL SCORE: Slumdog Millionaire

ORIGINAL SONG: "Down to Earth" (Wall-E)

ANIMATED SHORT: Presto

LIVE ACTION SHORT: Spielzeugland (Toyland)

SOUND EDITING: Dark Knight

SOUND MIXING: Dark Knight

VISUAL EFFECTS: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

A Day in the Life of Kaitlin Olson

Howdy friends. Watched some great movies recently. Specifically, Slumdog Millionaire and Frost Nixon. Definitely check those out!

In the meantime, please watch and forward along the latest viral video from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which my writing partner and I wrote/directed/produced/edited. Even if you've never seen the show (shame on you), you'll still be humored/horrified by this intimate look into the life of one of the show's stars, Kaitlin Olson. I present to you...

"A DAY IN THE LIFE OF KAITLIN OLSON"
http://paddyspub.blogs.fxnetworks.com/2008/11/14/a-day-in-the-life-of-kaitlin-olson/

Not So Silly Anymore

A pretty big "pipe dream" has come true for me recently, but before I get to that, I'd like to address the comments that basically read, "Hey, will you get your priorities straight and hook me up with that Gossip Girl mp3 already?"

Psst. Hey aforementioned commenters. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Come close. Nope, too close. Okay, that's good. You wanna know how I find songs from different shows? I use this really cool website called Google, and I type what I'm looking for into the text box. No, I'm not done being sarcastic. You see, it then pumps out all this relevant information. Kind of like an "info engine?" Wait, that's not quite how to describe it. It's like a "search generator." Or a "search machine." Or...wait, I got it...a "search engine!" Try it out and let me know what you think!

Excuse the 'tude, but if you do a simple search for "tv show songs," you'll find that the first two results are TVShowSongs.com and HeardOnTV.com. Two excellent sites that will more than likely fit your episodic music needs.

I started this site three years ago to jot down my thoughts and interests as I pursued my "silly pipe dreams." Thus, the web domain you see above. It just so happened that a large portion of my pursuit included long periods of solitude, which lent itself to endless hours of watching TV and listening to music. Thus, the mp3s and episode summaries some of you grew accustomed to and now demand on a consistent basis. While I appreciate the traffic, I unfortunately just don't have the time anymore to research every song that plays on every show, which is why "Musical Mondays" haven't happened in a while. But they're not dead. They're just in a deep, deep coma. I'll find the time to resurrect them someday.

However, this still remains my personal blog. So, if I'm having the best year of my life, then I'm going to blog about it. If you only want mp3s, please do check out the music sites on the sidebar.

Shit. Where did everyone go?

Oh, hey mom, you're still here. Okay. Sorry about the rant. Here's my big news...

My writing partner and I sold a pilot to Fox, and we're pretty damn excited. It's tentatively titled "Broke Friends," and it'll revolve around many of our real life stories from our time in NYC. We sold it as a pitch and will be writing it in the coming months. We have a lot of work cut out for us before it's even considered to be produced, but I'm incredibly grateful we have the opportunity. Big thank you to everyone who has sent kind emails and comments recently. I really, really appreciate it.

Lastly, here is, in my opinion, an appropriate song. It was also in Scrubs Episode 501, "My Intern's Eyes," which aired 1/3/06. See, "Musical Mondays" aren't entirely over...

"Anything Can Happen" - The Finn Brothers
[buy album] [myspace] [more tracks]

Dee & Artemis at an Audition

Hey! Remember me? Sonny Lee? I neglect this blog?

I know it seems like I only post about Always Sunny now, and that's because I do. However, this time around I've also included some music recommendations since that's all you really care about, you selfish, selfish readers. But first back to ME, ME, ME.

Click on the link below for a new viral video my writing partner and I wrote/directed for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, starring the wonderful ladies of our show, Kaitlin Olson and Artemis Pebdani.

NEW "ALWAYS SUNNY" VIRAL VIDEO:
http://paddyspub.blogs.fxnetworks.com/2008/10/14/dee-and-artemis-at-an-audition

It's titled "Dee & Artemis at an Audition," and it's a video showing, well, Dee and Artemis at an audition. Feel free to comment on the Paddy's Pub blog!

After you've forwarded the above link to everyone you know, do check out these tunes I've been enjoying lately. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

"Single Fins & Safety Pins" – Japanese Motors
[buy album] [myspace] [more tracks]

"I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You" – Black Kids
[buy album] [myspace] [more tracks]

"Kids" – MGMT
[buy album] [myspace] [more tracks]

"Cath..." – Death Cab for Cutie
[buy album] [myspace] [more tracks]

"How the Day Sounds" – Greg Laswell
[buy album] [myspace] [more tracks]

"Call It Off" – Tegan and Sara
[buy album] [myspace] [more tracks]

A "Sunny" Night!

Gotta keep this short! But I just wanted to remind everyone that the Season Four premiere of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is TONIGHT on FX with TWO back-to-back episodes at 10 & 10:30PM (9 & 9:30 CT)!!

The first episode is titled "Mac and Dennis: Manhunters" and the second one is called "The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis", which was written by yours truly (me) and my writing partner!!! I'm going to use as many exclamation points as I can in this post!!!!!

Anyway, tune in and let me know what you think!!!!!!! In the meantime, keep checking out the show blog every few minutes for more fun goodies, which I'm sure you're already doing!!!!!

UPDATE: You can now watch the episode I co-wrote on Hulu, so just click below if you missed it.

Always Sunny, All The Time

Hello my 127 readers who still check this blog.

First, I'd like to say 'thank you' to the folks who have sent emails, messages and/or comments stating how you miss Silly Pipe Dreams. I miss it too. Honestly though, the only thing I've been watching, listening to, and experiencing is It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Once things calm down after our show's premiere (ahem, Sept. 18th at 10pm on FX), I plan on purchasing many CDs and reporting back with some downloadable playlists.

In the meantime, won't you please direct your attention to a NEW SITE I'll be updating regularly:

[The Official It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Blog]

My writing partner and I have been spending every waking moment writing/editing/producing/directing/htmling the content for this site, and we're going to be updating it weekly, sometimes bi-weekly (maybe even tri-weekly?!?!), leading up to and through the new season.

The site includes Video Mailbag responses from the cast (there's a link for fans to email their own questions), an ongoing Sex & Business advice column called "Ask Dirty Frank", exclusive pages of Dennis' Erotic Memoirs, and a behind-the-scenes Production Blog that will have video updates too!

Please do check it out and forward to every single person you've ever met. In return, I leave you with this wonderfully catchy song:

"Think I Wanna Die" – Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
[buy album] [myspace] [more tracks]

Anyway, below are a few other Sunny-related items, leave me a comment here or on the Sunny blog!

*My writing partner and I just created an "unofficially official" Always Sunny Facebook Page. We will be updating that regularly as well.

*We also did a Comic-Con video earlier this month, includes a Lost easter egg for you hardcore Lost fans.

*A behind-the-scenes video with Fred Savage.

*More Season Four preview clips.

Since I Been Gone

Hello friends and people who send me unnecessarily mean emails.

Two months without posting, I apologize. Traffic's obviously died down a bit, so I was curious to see who still checks the blog. Opened up the site counter today, and not surprisingly, I found a lot of folks looking for mp3s, readers coming over from Pop Candy, and 14 year olds from Germany obsessed with Adam Brody. You know, the usual readership. There were, however, a few hits that made me raise an eyebrow, pick up the phone, and alert the authorities.

To the persons who searched for "pipe bomb worst date," "my sister is a motherfucking bitch!!!! she always tattle tales," "beat down bitch who gave me vd," and "thai vagina blowing shaved balls." I can imagine the disappointment you must have felt when you clicked on my link and found nothing but OC fan videos. But I really hope you clicked around, got sidetracked by some new indie bands you plan on checking out and dropped whatever it is you were originally searching for. Except for the man or woman looking to beat down the bitch who gave you VD. That fucking sucks. Best of luck to you.

Anyway, for you Always Sunny fans, a couple quick updates.

1) Check out the new FX music video promo for the upcoming season. There'll be more viral videos coming out later this summer.

2) My writing partner and I got to act in separate episodes, here are some pictures from the day of my "acting" debut, if you can even call it that.

3) Hulu just added all of Season Two, so now you can watch every Sunny episode for free online.

4) If you're going to Comic-Con this year, be sure to check out the Sunny panel at 10:30 am on Sunday, July 27th.

I'm gonna try to do a thorough update soon, catching you all up on what I've been up to, bands I've been liking, movies I do or do not recommend, but in the meantime, let me know what you've been enjoying lately!

Also, check out these sites' features that are much, much more entertaining and regularly updated than mine: Pop Candy's Podcasts; Onion AV Club's "My Year of Flops," "Primer," "The New Cult Canon," and "I Watched This On Purpose"; Cinematical Seven; Stereogum's "Quit Your Day Job";
and David Wong of Cracked.com.

Leave a comment!

UPDATE: The FX video is now on Hulu too. Embed away.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Just got back from a screening of Speed Racer. Which sucked. But it reminded me to post this. Which did not suck.

iPod Roulette

Hey friends (you're truly a friend if you're still reading this blog). Sorry for the lack of posting, distance makes the heart grow fonder? Smiley face?

It's been a busy few weeks. My writing partner and I recently finished writing our first episode for It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. I hope you all enjoy it in...the fall. I think. Just circle the fall months in your calendar with a question mark in the middle.

Anyhoo, I'm going to try and write up a review for Forgetting Sarah Marshall in the next two days (thanks to Kelley for bringing me to the premiere). I'm also trying to finally transcribe that Harold & Kumar interview I mentioned a while ago. There will be a lot of trying this week.

In the meantime, won't you join me in another fun round of iPod Roulette? It's been a while since we last played, so to refresh some readers, here's how it goes down. You put your music library on shuffle and write down the first ten songs that pop up, no matter how shameful. Leave your list in the comments!

1. "The Sound of Settling" – Death Cab For Cutie
[buy album] [myspace] [more tracks]
Off to a good start. This song should be the soundtrack to my life. Check out MySpace for the first single off their upcoming album, Narrow Stairs. I almost didn't make it through the unnecessarily long intro.

2. "Cuts Marked In The March Of Men" – Coheed & Cambria
[buy album] [myspace] [more tracks]
I guess this is off the third album in a tetralogy chronicling some comic book the lead singer wrote called The Amory Wars. I don't get it. They're pretty radical live though.

3. "Beauty" – The Shivers
[buy album] [myspace] [more tracks]
Never head this song before until now. I thought it was Ryan Adams. Eh.

4. "Radio" – Alkaline Trio
[buy album] [myspace] [more tracks]
One of my favorite Trio songs. I hear they have tracks from their upcoming album on MySpace.

5. "Plan of the Man" – The M's
[buy album] [myspace] [more tracks]
I think I heard this once on an episode of The OC, then never listened to it again. Pretty good. Anyone else spend Sat afternoons watching reruns on SoapNet?

6. "Your Body Is A Wonderland" – John Mayer
[buy album] [myspace] [more tracks]
God damn it. Well if you must know. This is what I listen to every night whilst browsing the YouPorn.

7. "Hold On" – Good Charlotte
[buy album]
This really is the perfect song to stop someone from committing suiy. It takes all that self-hate and re-focuses it solely on killing the Madden brothers. I must admit though, this song is quite catchy.

8. "One Evening" – Feist
[buy album] [myspace] [more tracks]
My least favorite Feist song.

9. "Little Palaces" – Elvis Costello
[buy album] [myspace] [more tracks]
Over the years, I think King of America has become my most-listened-to Costello album. Lyrically, I'd venture to say it's his best. I'm excited to buy his new one, Momofuku. Looks like the original plan of releasing it solely on vinyl has been scrapped. Ah, smart move. Amazon.com is taking pre-orders for a May 6th release. Any NYers ever been to Momofuku Noodle Bar? Apparently, the chef is a huge Costello fan. I used to live pretty close and never went. Another addition to the regret list. I advise everyone to keep a list of life regrets.

10. "Ain't That Enough" – Teenage Fanclub
[buy album] [myspace] [more tracks]
Buy this album. You're welcome.

"Sunny": The Next Frontier

I promise the next post after this will be non-Sunny related and chock-full of mp3s. Pinky swear.

(Have you ever wondered who the eff started the pinky swear? What an incredibly strange way of establishing trust. I mean, I get the interlocking, a binding promise, etc, etc, but why the pinky? I need answers now.)

In the meantime, check out this Variety article about a new pilot the Sunny guys (Rob, Charlie and Glenn), just sold to Fox. It's called Boldly Going Nowhere, and it'll be a "single-camera half-hour...set in the future and focused on the mundane world of a spaceship captain when he's not on a mission."

The show idea came from the writers' assistant on It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Adam Stein, who is a super cool dude, and at a very young age, will have a "written and created by" credit under his belt. Huge congrats!

And in other news, Hulu.com opened to the public this week. Have you guys checked it out? The clip "cropping" feature is nifty. I'm currently watching old Dana Carvey Show episodes, you should too. It boasted maybe the most insanely talented writing staff ever: Dana Carvey, Louis C.K., Steve Carell, Dave Chappelle, Stephen Colbert, Robert Smigel, Spike Feresten, and freaking Charlie Kaufman, just to name a few.

Anyhooo, catch me up on your life in the comments!