You may have seen the list of per­form­ers sched­uled to appear at MarsCon 2010. You may have also noticed that Pos­si­ble Oscar is not on that list. Yes, it’s true: we are not appear­ing at MarsCon 2010.

The main rea­son for our absence is the fact that Jared and John are appear­ing in that other band thing they do, The Nick Atoms. We’ll be per­form­ing an hour set as MarsCon 2010’s musi­cal guests of honor. This show promises to be a audio/visual feast for the ages — or at least a way to ride out your evening buzz before head­ing to the 13th floor to refill your tankard.

This marks the first time Pos­si­ble Oscar has not per­formed at MarsCon since our incep­tion. I have it on good author­ity we’ll be back in 2011. Who knows, we might even have some new mate­r­ial by then.

Thanks for stick­ing with us. Now get out there and pre-register for MarsCon 2010 before the rate goes up after 10/31.

Originally published at Possible Oscar official website. You can comment here or there.

Sometimes life throws you lemons, so while we make lemonade — in order to mix it with some Jack Daniels, of course — we’ll be going on a brief hiatus. This break will delay our next episode, originally scheduled to record this weekend. We don’t have a firm date for our return, but it shouldn’t be too long.

Thank you for your patience, and thanks for listening.

Originally published at The Scope. You can comment here or there.

Episode 82 of The Scope comes at you with a distinct lack of Adam but makes up for it with a brand-new (ripped off from Entertainment Weekly) bit. And to show we really do care, our lone music review comes directly from fan request.  But we worry because he probably expected a typical Scope score of three stars. Will our petulant behavior erode our fan base by 29.47%? Hopefully, our focus on sports and G.I.Joe comic history will dull the blow.

Episode 82 can fully support The Beatles. (That’s what happens when Adam doesn’t show up.)

Reviews
Music
2 ¼ Stars – I and Love and You – The Avett Brothers

Music
Scope Sounds: “1901″ – Phoenix

Feedback
Email: comments@thescopeshow.com
Phone: 646-495-9201 x 70055

Originally published at The Scope. You can comment here or there.

In homage to the new ABC show, FlashForward, we blackout for one hour and thirty-seven minutes. That means we have no idea what happened during episode 81 of The Scope. But it’s a good possibility the show covers the second part of the North Shore Trivia Contest of ’09, the aforementioned FlashForward, and maybe some healthcare talk. Why?  We’re socially-conscious, even while passed out.

Finally, because you were wondering, we did see our futures in the blackout. And you know what? In six months, we’ll all be watching season seven of the now-classic sitcom, Girlfriends, on DVD. Very sad. Very true.

Reviews
Television
3 Stars – FlashForward – ABC Thursday 8/7c

Music
Scope Sounds: “The Way You Talk” – Schaffer The Darklord

Feedback
Email: comments@thescopeshow.com
Phone: 646-495-9201 x 70055

Originally published at The Scope. You can comment here or there.

The latest episode of The Scope brings equal doses of pleasure and pain. Adam is back in studio, while Molly had to bow out of her appearance due to “scheduling conflicts.” We’ll let you decide which event corresponds with the good and bad.

To make up for this unforeseen dichotomy, we bring you The 4th Annual Fall TV Preview with gusto and grit. Yes, our expert Molly wasn’t able to sit in on this important event. But we overcame it with many references to Matthew McConaughey (Patchouli and Texas?!?) as well as Jared’s love mild dislike loathing of TV’s Amy Poehler.

Finally, just to make it seem like a full show, we do timely reviews of a TV show on DVD  that has been out for some time and a video game featuring a musical band that some (Adam) call “overrated.” No, it’s not Ace of Base. Although Ace of Base: Rock Band seems like a solid concept for a game, right?

Good times. Good times. (Repeated for comedic impact.)

Reviews
Television
3 ¼ Stars – Flight of the Conchords: The Complete Second Season
Video Games
3 ½ Stars – The Beatles: Rock Band – Xbox 360
3 ½ Stars – Batman: Arkham Asylum – Xbox 360

Music
Scope Sounds: “Rock Is FTW!” – Possible Oscar – Download for free at The FuMP

Feedback
Email: comments@thescopeshow.com
Phone: 646-495-9201 x 70055

Originally published at The Scope. You can comment here or there.

Pos­si­ble Oscar recently released a new rock anthem enti­tled “Rock Is FTW!” We know the song has already changed your life for the bet­ter, and we can think of no bet­ter way for you to express that change than by cap­tur­ing it on video. With that in mind, we are pleased to announce the “Work Is For The Weak, Rock Is FTW Video Con­test.”

The process for entering:

1. Record a video of your­self doing a rock pose or per­form­ing other rock behav­ior at work. Use our song as inspi­ra­tion for what is con­sid­ered rock behavior.
2. Upload your video to YouTube with the phrase “Pos­si­ble Oscar Rock Is FTW” some­where in the title and description.
3. Com­ment on the con­test post with your name, email address, and a link to the YouTube video. Feel free to include a story of your best work-related rock rebellion.

This video con­test is your chance to demon­strate to us that you are a full-fledged dis­ci­ple of the “Work Is For The Weak, Rock Is FTW!” creed. Addi­tion­ally, we may use your video clip as part of the music video for “Rock Is FTW!”

We will select the best video from entries sub­mit­ted by Octo­ber 16, 2009. The win­ner will receive the forth­com­ing “Work Is For The Weak, Rock Is FTW!” T-shirt free of charge in a size of his or her choosing.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Originally published at Possible Oscar official website. Please leave any comments there.

Every­body take the day off: ROCK N’ ROLL IS YOUR MASTER NOW.

Down­load our new song “Rock Is FTW!” for free for the next two weeks on The FuMP.

Originally published at Possible Oscar official website. You can comment here or there.

The Walmart in Bloomington re-opened in August. As part of the grand opening, Walmart mailed out $5 promo cards to nearby residents. Last night I attempted -- and failed -- to use my $5 card.

The first issue was my own oversight. I had not read on the back of the card that it needed to be activated prior to use by calling a phone number. Upon being informed of this by the cashier, I just paid for my merchandise and resolved to activate the card for use later.

Once in my car, I dialed the number on the card. I was prompted to enter the 16-digit promo number followed by the # sign... which I did... three times. Each time I was told the code was not valid for this promotion. No $5 Walmart credit for me.

Lame.

I looked into swiping cover art from Amazon for the Beatles remastered albums, but Amazon has a new zooming feature that makes it hard to do because the image gets sliced into 400x400 chunks. After some sleuthing into the image URLs, I was able to get full covers at 600x544. Here's how I did it.

1) Pull up the product page for the album.

2) Find the ASIN number. You can find it lower on the page, or as part of the URL (it starts with B).

3) Paste this URL into a new browser window.

http://z2-ec2.images-amazon.com/R/1/a=[ASIN]+s=RMTILE+va=MAIN+e=.jpg

Copy the ASIN number from the product page and replace [ASIN] with the ASIN number.

4) Load the new URL to see the cover art at 600x544.

5) Save, copy, or do something with the image so you can add it to your MP3s later.


That's my process. Let me know it there is a better way. I know that assembling the zoomed chunks would result in a slightly larger size, but 600x544 is good enough for my purposes.

We’re very close to having all tracking finished for the next single. Today I tracked my rhythm guitar part and manged a couple of takes on the lead vocals until my voice decided it was not going to participate. I’ll try again tomorrow.

Tuesday we record John and Nathan’s backing vocals. Wednesday I edit and mix — that’s when I decide if the hand claps make it to the final mix — so that everything is ready for the release on The FuMP on Friday.

I say, it sure is handy to have recording gear in your basement.

Originally published at Possible Oscar official website. You can comment here or there.