Where did Alec Baldwin Come From?

How did this once rising actor resurrect his career?

Alec Baldwin started out small doing stints on Soap Opera's and supporting roles on TV shows in the 80's.  Baldwin was able to not only parlay this into a solid acting career, but into 3 other acting careers for his younger brothers.  Thank God for nepotism, the world would not be the same without the talents of Daniel, William, and Stephen Baldwin.

None of his brothers were able to capture the success of Alec.  It was as if...he had...more talent than the three of them did...or something.  Combined.  But that is just a guess on my part, truth is, we will never know why the 3 younger Baldwin brothers were never able to reach the same level of success.

Baldwin's quick rise to success seemed to hit it's peak in the late 80's and early 90's.  Starring in classics like Beetlejuice (1989) and The Hunt for Red October (1990) seemed to solidify Baldwin as a Hollywood presence.  Then it seems Baldwin was starting to receive some, we'll call it poor, career advice.  He started taking rolls in movies destined to flop such as Prelude to a Kiss (1992), Malice (1993), and The Getaway (1994).  In a last ditch effort to restore his Hollywood reputation, Baldwin attempted to solidify himself as a superhero with the epic The Shadow (1994).

The Shadow was a comic book superhero movie before those movies were popular.  Hoping to cash in on the success of the comic book movies of that time (mainly Batman and Superman) The Shadow was hoping to be next true success.  However, the movie bombed and that seemed to be the turning point in his career.

Random Thoughts - Do pop singers even know what they're singing about anymore?

Lyrics are just plain getting out of hand...

Well I have finally reached the breaking point and I must discuss the depths that pop lyrics have reached now.  Once upon a time we were graced with pop greatness like "Dancin' on the Ceiling" and "All Night Long."  These songs may have been your normal pop fodder, but at least the lyrics made sense.

Eddie Murphy loved partying so much, he wanted to do it on the Ceiling.  I can totally understand, I too would love to party on the ceiling.  Have you ever partied on the ceiling?  Nope.  That's why it would be cool.  Some day Eddie Murphy, my dream will come true and I will party on the ceiling (and will not ever pick up a tranvestite hooker and offer to give him/her a "ride home")

Lionel Ritchie loved partying so much, he wanted to do it "all night long."  Who doesn't understand this?  I have wanted to party all night on many occasions, and in some instances actually have.  Thank you Lionel for your inspiration, we often commented back in the fraternity days that nothing cool happened until after 4 am, and it was your inspiration that allowed me to see so many cool things back in the day.

However, those days are long gone and now we are left with what we have to hear today.  My first example is the song by Cascada "Evacuate the Dancefloor."  First of all, let me get this out of the way, I fully support Cascada and "Everytime We Touch" just may be the greatest song to run to ever, with the exception of "Sandstorm" by Da Rude.  The sheer greatness of that song should give her a pass, but unfortunately I couldn't this time.

Here is where I have a problem, as most of Cascada's songs are, "Evacuate the Dancefloor" is a dance song.  I am curious whose great idea it was to write a dance song and have it tell people to leave the dance floor.  Does this make sense to anybody?  Seriously, if it does, please explain in the comments cause I have racked my brain and can't think of a reason for this.  This is equivalent to Snoop Dogg writing a rap with a solid beat telling people NOT to smoke weed.  Something just doesn't fit....  Hire better writers Cascada, ones that actually know you sing DANCE songs.

State of Miley - What has become of Hannah Montana?

Role Model for young girls?  This video doesn't eve make sense...

I will start by expressing my deep love for Miley's new hit single "Party in the USA."  Rarely does such pop glory come along, only every once in a while does such pop goodness come.  We're talking "Dancin' on the Ceiling" (Lionel Ritchie) and "Party all the Time" (Eddie Murphy, yes, that Eddie Murphy) pop goodness.  So we should all count our blessings that we are alive in this great time to experience such a song.

That being said, I am curious about who brainstormed the idea for the video "Party in the USA."  Generally, I feel what makes videos great are thier visualization of the words being sung by the artist.  After watching the video, I am still waiting for said visualization of these glorious pop lyrics. 

Let's start from the beginning.  The starts randomly enough, as if Ms. Cyrus is telling a story, about her arrival to LA.  She "hops off the plane at LAX with her dreams an a cardigan."  This is where the video starts, if I were directing this video I would think that I would start it out in an airport...perhaps even in LAX...but alas, that does not seem to be what they thought.  No, no, this video takes place in a trailer park/drive in movie theater in a desert where random people are just hanging out in trunks of cars and doing flips off the back of old pick ups.  This in no way resembles LA, with the possible exception of the people in the trunks of cars.  I don't even think a plane could land here...

Further, Miley talks of getting off the plane with her "dreams and a cardigan."  Those that know me will tell you that I have been "fashinally challenged" from time to time in my life, so I am by no means an expert.  However, I noticed no cardigan on Ms. Cyrus, nor did I get any feeling of the "dreams" she took with her.  Further, why would she bring a cardigan to LA, isn't it like 90 degrees there year round?  A cardigan would just be a dumb idea...

As "dreams" are in intangible object I will give Miley a pass on this one, however, if I was directing I would choose to signify these dreams as her staring longingly into the distance...perhaps at the Hollywood sign.  But no, according to this video we are to believe her dream is to come to LA to go to a deserted drive in/trailer park where other scantily clad females dance and people do side flips as she sings into a microphone that can't possibly be plugged in anywhere.  I can only hope my future daughter aspires to such grand dreams.

Random Thoughts: Isn't it Ironic...or is it?

So occaisionally I have random thoughts that I tend to overthink and overanalyze to the point that nobody would care, but then again, if you're reading this blog then I feel like you would care so I will share some of these thoughts as I have them.

A while ago I heard that the instances Alanis Morissette sings about in her song "Ironic" from her album Jagged Little Pill were not actually ironic, but mere coincidences.  After hearing the song again and listening more closely, I tended to agree.  However, after recently mentioning this to my friend he desagreed saying that, by definition, these events are, in fact, ironic.  So I have decided to delve into this issue further.

According to dictionary.com Irony is defined as "[1] the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning...[2] an outcome of events that is contrary to what was, or might have been expected." 

As this is the literal definition it seems much simpler than describing irony or coming up with an example.  I feel as though the definition is the best it could be in plain words, but in practice is not quite as simple.  For instance, the New England Patriots came into the 2007 Super Bowl at 18-0 and were facing the 13-6 Giants, everyone expected the Patriots to win and they were by many accounts, the greatest team ever assembled.  However, they ended up losing, which was unexpected, does this mean the event was ironic in nature?  I do not think so.  Although they may not have been "expected" to lose by the masses, conventional wisdom tells us that is why you play the game and everyone knew they COULD lose. 

As such, I have decided to go over each event Alanis mentions in her song and discuss whether or not the event is ironic in the conventional sense or merely coincidence. 

Events are detailed after the jump.