I guess Ben Harper is taking the name of his new song “Rock & Roll Is Free” very literally.

For now, he’s giving the track away for a limited time. The sunny, upbeat rocker is the first taste from his new album Give Till It’s Gone, which will hit stores on May 17th.

For now the song is, as Harper sings, “free if you want it.”

I think it was an attempt at an early April Fool’s Day joke.

On Twitter yesterday, this was one of the trending topics:

That got me wondering what was the dealio?   Turns out it was just an internet hoax.  He’s just fine, but lets celebrate with some Jackie Chan fun.

Here’s a clip from Tim & Eric Awesome Show: Great Job that fits the bill.

Don’t try this at home.

Heard about or seen the new Brewers scoreboard?

Of course not, they just unveiled it yesterday.  It’s nearly 6,000 square feet of HD glory.

Among some of it’s highlights:

1. It will be a true 1080 display.
2. The scoreboard will have 2,358,720 pixels. 18x better resolution. (The current Miller Park scoreboard is  133k pixels.)
3. It will be dimmer from the perspective of the batter…aka it won’t shine in their eyes. It will be approximately 105 feet high by 168 feet wide.
4. The new video display will be nearly five times larger than the current one.
5. It would take approximately 1,500 37-inch diagonal flat-panel televisions to fill the area of the new video display.
6. The high-definition video display will be nearly 55 feet high and 110 feet wide.

Is there any chance at all that I could borrow it? I bet watching Pink Floyd’s The Wall on it would be really sweet.

- Thanks to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for the factoids.

Well, not at this particular moment.

Some new research shows that 51% of Americans now have a Facebook account.

Does that mean the remaining 49% are your parents and grandparents?  Not necessarily.  The survey says the fastest growing segment of the population that’s joining Facebook is people 35+.

Prepare yourself. For you, that means your parents and grandparents will be calling you and asking how to post a photo on the Facebook, then reset their password for the internets.

Check it out.  This is the country remix of her hit “Born This Way.”

It still sounds like Madonna’s “Express Yourself” to me.

Here’s the original.  You have to go to 2:36 for the song.

UPDATE: Willie will not have to sing for his freedom.  He still will have to pay the fine, but the attorney involved said it was just a joke that got out of hand.

**********************

On one hand I can totally see where this Judge is coming from.  On another hand, this is a total abuse of power.

Remember when Wille Nelson was arrested at a border patrol checkpoint a couple months ago for mariuana possession?

A Texas prosecutor says he can resolve the charges if Nelson agrees to plead guilty, pay a fine and sing ‘Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain” for the court.

County Attorney Kit Bramblett recommended the penalties to the judge, who specifically demanded that Nelson appear in court, instead of pleading by mail, which is the common procedure for similar cases.

Come on people.  I want a private concert with Willie too, but I’m not gonna blackmail the guy.  It’s WILLIE NELSON for cryin-aye-aye.  Not cool Texas.

Cousin Adam reviews the new movie: Sucker Punch

Rated PG-13 – 2h

I would consider it a great accomplishment to tie together a coherent film noir about mental institutions, sword play, epic battle scenes, dragons, robots, samurai warriors, World War II steam-powered automatons, debauchery, corruption and battle-ready young women who love to show off their midriffs. The thing is, trying to throw in all those ideas into one film makes it very incoherent.

I’m still not exactly sure what the title Sucker Punch means, but bear with me as I try to describe this jumbled mess.

A young woman is accused of accidentally killing her younger sister and is sent to a 1950’s style mental hospital. While there, she introverts into a fantasy world where the goal to escaping an oppressive pimp who make them wear lingerie 24-7 and dance for money. Somehow freeing herself in the fantasy world is also supposed to free her physical self from the mental hospital.

Really, the plot is beside the point. I’m not exactly sure who would like this movie, unless they are fans of video game, anime, sword-wielding female fighters. I can’t really recommend this movie to anyone, because I don’t really know anybody like that.

The stylized violence is the only thing Sucker Punch has going for itself and even with that, the film is weak. While themes from Inception, our lead heroine is in a second level escapism dream, she is engaged in WWII style trench warfare. She and her friends dispatch countless steam powered burn victims while trying to capture a object that will help them escape from the first level escapism dream.

Only consequence-less, bloodless, thrill killings follow. The best thing I can say about it is that they took the time to reload, avoiding the endless-bullet movie cliché.

While Sucker Punch may exceed with eye popping effects, it leaves you wondering of the director has ever actually spoken to an actual woman. None of the cast of scantily dressed women portrayed anything genuine. I think he was too busy playing video games.

Rated R – 1h59

Just when I thought I never wanted to see another legal drama or Matthew McConaughey on-screen ever again, along comes The Lincoln Lawyer.

Mickey Haller (McConaughey) is a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney who operates out of the back of his late 80’s model Lincoln sedan. He’s spent most of his career defending garden-variety criminals, until he lands the case of his career: defending Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe), a Beverly Hills playboy accused of rape and attempted murder.

The seemingly straightforward case suddenly develops into a deadly game of survival for Haller.

For every legal action-drama cliché that this movie throws out, there is an equally thrilling twist or character tweak that didn’t expect. This movie is smart, exciting and has a strong supporting cast including Marisa Tomei, William H. Macy and John Leguzamo. Each character gets the chance to shine, nobody is overpowering and all are flawed and enjoyable.

The Lincoln Lawyer is not perfect. Like many movies that dabble with the law, grandiose ideas are reduced down to a simple, one-sentence of dialogue. Some characters are unnecessary and arrive at extremely convenient points in the plot. I found it forgivable.

Honestly, I almost forgot that McConaughey could act. He’s been in so many romantic comedies and other lame examples of movies that I had written him off as a hack. He really performs well in dramas. I know actors like to stretch out of their comfort zone, but sticking to the things you are really good can also be a challenge too. Not that he’d take my advice, but I think Matthew should.

This is odd for two reasons.

First, it’s kinda late.  Second, Pete Townshend said WHAT!?!

In a new magazine interview The Who’s  Pete Townshend (the guy credited with inventing the guitar windmill)  has declared that he wishes he had never joined the band.

Townshend said that he thinks that despite the band’s legacy he thinks he’d have done even better as a solo performer. He also said would be in better health now if he’d gone down that route.

“What would I have done differently? I would never have joined a band,” he said. “Even though I am quite a good gang member and a good trooper on the road, I am bad at creative collaboration.”

He added: I would have made a much more effective solo performer and producer working the way Brian Eno has worked. I would be less physically damaged today.

“My ears, right wrist and shoulder would work more efficiently. In all other respects I am in extremely good shape.”

Well, Pete.  Once you build that time machine, let me know.