Scribbler's "Get Out of My Brain!" Countdown of the Month (November 2016)

With so much on my mind during the month of October, music was the John Stockton to my Karl Malone of adversity and dished a much needed assist.  For a while, most of the songs which made the list at the beginning of the month seemed like they would prevail.  Alexander O'Neal tried to do like his entry attempt and "Hang On" by virtue of The Original Quiet Storm nostalgia and a "RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!!" post.  Composer Vangelis' "Love Theme" from Blade Runner possessed more sparkle within the song than its possibility of withstanding the challenge from its future competitors.  George Benson tried to sneak in a second entry (spoiler alert) with "Turn Your Love Around," but couldn't reverse his fortune.  With appearances in commercials and made-for-TV biopics, Chance The Rapper and Michel'le both had late pushes with "No Problems" (featuring Lil Wayne & 2 Chainz) and "Something in My Heart", respectively.  However, with the passing of a legendary producer, songwriter, musician and singer as well as brand new music surfacing, it created the following playlist inside of my head which ended up more like a predominantly 80s version of Black Music Month...

RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!! (Vol. 1, No. 14)

No...you cannot avoid one of these posts without me either talking about D.C. Metro, food or Baby Boy Scribbler's favorite cartoons.  Deal with it, slugger.  Anyway, on perhaps his favorite show, Sprout's Ruff-Ruff, Tweet and Dave, I find it interesting how the red beagle and the yellow chick's names are onomatopoeias.  (Y'all don't know how long I've been waiting to use that word in a blog post...hype!)  I'm sure it goes a long way in helping developing young viewers make the connection between these animals and their associate sounds, but what about Dave the Blue Panda?  Granted, his name is simple to remember and pandas don't make a distinct sound, but why Dave?  Was something like Rodney a little too "urban"?  (Then again, the name Rodney always makes me think of Sommore's set from The Queens of Comedy and some brother coming on a woman's porch uninvited, climbing through her window and trying to choke her.  Hilarious in a comedy routine, but given that info, probably a good call not choosing Rodney.)  Furthermore, why is Dave always the first one to fall asleep after every adventure?  Does he tire himself out with all of his "Blue Panda Ideas" and/or get the itis after eating all of those bananas?  Memo to Tony Collingwood: I need answers, bruh...I need answers.  Now that y'all have been treated to another spiel about a cartoon you probably hadn't heard of until today, let's get to the main attractions...

In Heavy Rotation (October 2016)

When you take a month off from one of your most popular series, things can change without fair warning.  What was supposed to be the September edition was on the verge of being a "Late AF Post of the Week" anyway and, to be honest, I wasn't extremely pumped to write it in the first place.  However, a family tragedy ended up being less of an obstacle and more of a blessing as skipping my birth month's edition made way for newer and disputably better music to surface and allowed me as a music lover to stay true to the spirit of this series.  Long story short, only two of the original albums in my rotation for September remained on the list for October while the other three were pushed back for the last two posts for 2016.  Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the next two months give me even better albums to listen to and those other projects get bumped altogether.  So since you didn't come here for lengthy backstories and stall tactics, I apologize to the most faithful supporters of "In Heavy Rotation" and bring you the long-awaited good part...

Views from the Nosebleeds: 2016 NFL Regular Season, Week 7

As evidenced from last week's edition of "Views from the Nosebleeds", the "meantime in between time" leading into Week 6 had more compelling storylines.  However, coming into Week 7, the most interesting story was Stephen A. Smith's diatribe of Washington's NFL team.  Although the fellow Libra has been on my nerves for the past year or so for a plethora of reasons, I agreed wholeheartedly with him laying into the pride of Landover for being so arrogant in somehow thinking they arrived because they beat the Eagles for a fourth straight time, especially since they had a road trip date to face a quarterback who they've never beaten.  Outside of that, all was quiet on the Western front and I initially had to reach for this week's "Plus/Minus Take of the Week", which was originally about all of the key injuries piling up around the league.  However, once an unexpected development occurred in South Florida yesterday, it completely changed the tide.  Sometimes, you have to be patient and wait for the story, even if it's last minute.  Let's waste no more time, folks...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five Special Edition: A Tribute to Thomas Mikal Ford

When the initial rumors circulated about Thomas Mikal Ford passing away last Wednesday afternoon, one of my favorite Facebook friends poignantly noted, "If Tommy dies.....2016 just became the most indubitably trash[i]est year of the new millen[n]ium."  Due to a major social media faux pas, it ended up not being true as information surfaced about him still being on life support.  Once we realized that, everybody wanted the brother with the infectious laugh we all know and love as Tommy Strawn a.k.a. Mr. "You Ain't Got No Job, Man" from FOX's hit series Martin to pull through because 1) we want our heroes to live as long as possible and 2) we couldn't take yet another death in 2016.  As I kept checking Facebook for updates, what we all feared unfortunately came to pass as Ford succumbed at the age of 52 after suffering an aneurysm in his abdomen.  So my friend is absolutely right: this year is trash truck juice.  Nevertheless, rather than mourn or be morose over another loss in this year of immense tragedy, I choose to do what we always do here at New Problem Tuesdays: give people roses, even when they're not here to receive them.  Hence, in this special edition of my "Rave & Favorite Five", I'm paying homage to some of Tommy Ford's best moments on one of my favorite TV shows of all time...