The Final Flight of the Conchords?

Ever since the "Flight of the Conchords" taxied into the terminal and ended its Grammy-award-winning first season on HBO, the fans have waited for the next departure.

Finally, two years later, with cloudy skies on the horizon, the show took off into its sophomore season with the dry, witty, and droll execution that made the first season such a success. Unfortunately, it could be their last flight.

According to an article in The New Zealand Herald, the extended off season can be attributed to the band having to create new songs for the second season. The demand for so much material in such a short time has proven to be a challenge for the band and, because of the creative struggles that resulted, will most likely bring the show to an end.

The show stars Bret Mckenzie and Jemaine Clement playing dimwitted versions of themselves as members of “New Zealand’s fourth most famous digi-folk duo,” The Flight of the Conchords. They are having a rather unsuccessful time trying to carve out a niche in New York City.

The boys sleep in a bleak one bedroom apartment, have no money, and are unheard of to everyone but their naive manager, Murray (Rhys Darby), an overly smitten fan, Mel (Kristen Schaal), and their friend and advisor on all matters, Dave (Arj Barker), a pawn shop owner and self-proclaimed expert on American women.

Murray sets them up gigs in an aquarium, an airport, a laundromat -- only in the day though. New York City is too dangerous at night. As Murray says, “you could be murdered, or even just ridiculed.”

It’s not the dead pan humor or the lovable idiot characters that make this show so addictive. It’s the music. It’s hilarious, and, truth be told, it’s brilliant.

Each episode features a couple of musical interludes that punctuate the scenes and create a stage for the band’s eclectic musical talents. Songs are played in the styles of rock, pop, hip-hop, folk, and reggae.

In one episode from last season, the band uses their music to poke fun at another New Zealand claim to fame- "The Lord of the Rings."

After the boys hire an actor to pose as a record executive, Bret and Jemaine end up dressing as elves and performing a hip-hop song entitled “Frodo Don’t Wear the Ring,” as part of what Murray thinks is a video for the ten year reunion of the movie.

Yo, Frodo, what you doing wearing the ring?
Bling, Bling is that your new thing?
I know it's hard when you're 3 foot 4.
Your little ass so close to the floor.

This isn’t first time McKenzie has dressed up like an elf. In a blog written by Maureen Ryan of The Chicago Tribune, she says that McKenzie actually played a small role in the first and third installments of the Peter Jackson films. His role received a lot of cult popularity from Lord of the Ring fans. The intensity of these fans is the basis for the character Mel.

After the end of the second season, fans of the show may have to buy DVDs, watch online, or download music to keep enjoying the scathing humor and knee-slapping music provided by the Conchords.

However, there is a chance the success of the show will be a muse for the band, providing musical inspiration that will spark more creativity and keep the show alive.

Fans can only wait and see.

The Second season of "Flight of the Conchords" can be on HBO, Sunday night at 10pm.

(Photo credit: leslimiperry Flikr)

Identity theft: update.

This is ridiculous.

When I'm down at the Corvallis Police Ptation, after we have discussed all the details about my stolen debit card, the cop asks me if I want to be put on a list the FBI has created for identity theft victims.

To be on this list, I would be required to remember a password for the next seven years. If pulled over by the police, I would have to give them this password or I would be detained! I understand the theory behind this, but, honestly, who in their right mind would do this.

WOW!

Visions of Trauma: Seatbelts Save Lives

For two days, a man lies on the stiff, white sheets of a hospital bed. His face is dotted with bandages, abrasions and ruby-red cuts. His neck is wrapped in a large white brace. A respirator does his breathing. Until he regains consciousness, the doctors and nurses do not know the full extent of his injuries.


Cindy Roler, a trauma nurse in the emergency room at Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis, pushes a button, removing this image from the projection screen. She explains that the man depicted was not wearing his seatbelt and was thrown into the windshield of his vehicle.

Roler is giving a presentation of Trauma Nurses Talk Tough (about saving your life), a “diversional” seatbelt safety course. She explains to the small crowd of participants, who are attending the class to remove seatbelt citations from their record, that car crashes are the leading cause of death in the US for people ages 1-25, and that a majority of the fatalities are the result of head, neck, and spine injuries, which could have been avoided with the use of a seatbelt.

“Without a malfunction, a seatbelt, worn properly, will keep you from hitting your head on the windshield,” Roler explains. “If you’re not wearing your seatbelt and you’re in the front, you’re going to fly into the dash or the windshield. If you’re in the back, you’re going to get bounced around like the popcorn in an air-popper.”

According to co-founder Joanne Fairchild, a flight nurse, Trauma Nurses Talk Tough was developed by trauma coordinator Michelle Haun-Hood, operating room coordinator Andy Burnett, and Fairchild, at Legacy-Emanuel Hospital in Portland in response to a car crash that cost three teenagers their life in 1986. The nurses decided that people needed to be informed about the consequences of risk-taking behavior.

"I wondered why we were letting this happen. The reality is that the human body is fragile and people don't account for that when they are making choices," said Fairchild.

According to Legacy-Emanuel's Web site, there are 10 safety seat belt classes throughout Oregon, and the class, combined with Oregon law 811.210, which requires the mandatory use of seatbelts, has had effective results. The Web site states that, after initiating a safety belt class, Clackamas county in Oregon showed an increase of safety belt use from 17 to 94 percent in six months.

The class at Good Samaritan Hospital, which has been around for five years, also appears to have made an impact.

”At the beginning, there was about 40-80 people in each of the classes. Now, it’s more like 15-20 per class. This seems like a good sign to me,” Roler says.

Throughout the presentation, as Roler brings the images onto the screen, participants turn their heads. They cover their eyes. They groan in dismay. The horrors of the trauma unit are displayed for them to see -- a woman with a broken neck, a man’s head sliced open, the lifeless body of a female driver.

“It’s all about choices and you are in charge,” Roler says.