Cigarrettes...and Carrot Juice

This is all from here...

2008-09-11T13:51:00.000-04:00

Not that anyone was checking in...

http://imfromthere76.blogspot.com/

I'm about to...

2008-08-03T22:50:00.001-04:00

pick up a tennis racquet, essentially for the first time in 7 years to play a mixed doubles tournament this week. God help us all, especially me.

If...

2008-06-20T22:27:00.003-04:00

I could talk I'd tell you

The time has arrived to check out...for a few

2008-04-01T23:36:00.003-04:00

...It is now...that time...to sort some stuff out...to take an adventure of sorts

On bended knee is no way to be
freelifting up an empty cup I ask silently
that all my destinations will accept the one that's me
so I can breath

Circles they grow and they swallow people whole
half their lives they say goodnight to wive's they'll never know
got a mind full of questions and a teacher in my soul
so it goes...

Don't come closer or I'll have to go
Holding me like gravity are places that pull
If ever there was someone to keep me at home
It would be you...

Everyone I come across in cages they bought
they think of me and my wandering
but I'm never what they thought
got my indignation but I'm pure in all my thoughts
I'm alive...

Wind in my hair, I feel part of everywhere
underneath my being is a road that disappeared
late at night I hear the trees
they're singing with the dead
overhead...

Leave it to me as I find a way to be
consider me a satelite for ever orbiting
I knew all the rules but the rules did not know me
guaranteed...

-- Eddie Vedder, Guaranteed

I mean...damn dude

2008-04-01T18:14:00.002-04:00

“I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.

Some shit you just have to think twice about before you say it if you are running for president, lol.

Indeed

2008-04-01T00:12:00.003-04:00

S.O.S. texted from a cell phone?
Please tell me I'm not the only one,
that thinks we're taking ourselves too seriously,
Just a little too enamored with inflated self-purpose.

Talk is cheap.
And it doesn't mean much.
Don't lose touch.
Don't lose touch.

-- Against Me!, Don't Lose Touch

Anyone slightly terrified?

2008-03-31T16:34:00.000-04:00

Of the idea of this administration...which has shown...er...so much financial savvy, overhauling the FED, among other things? I am.

So tiring...

2008-03-29T00:16:00.002-04:00

It is only March and I am so goddamn sick of hearing about Barack's paster, Hillary's bullshit sniper duck-and-cover and well...John McCain in general. And once again, its only March. These three people do nothing to excite me. At all. Hillary is old and crusty, just like the democrats she represents. Barack and his wife like to say the word "change" a lot and then have their young/hipster audience erupt in cheers. John McCain, well, I'm not sure he would live through his term. Though...if Dick Cheney makes it to January, then McCain would probably survive the four years. Oh God am I bored.

Anthony Minghella (1954-2008)

2008-03-25T17:20:00.003-04:00

Last week, on Tuesday, director/producer Anthony Minghella passed away at the age of 54, after complications and hemorrhaging after a growth that had been removed from his neck. There wasn't a whole lot of fanfare that I can recall. Perhaps the news was too busy trying to figure out if Barack did or did not know what the hell his pastor was saying for 20 years. I assure you he did know, so why not just say it? But anyway, Minghella was a class act and all 6 of his movies were quite good. In fact I would say The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Breaking and Entering were exceptional. The other three, Truly Madly Deeply, Mr. Wonderful and Cold Mountain only very good, lol. He was executive producer on Michael Clayton, The Interpreter and The Quiet American, all excellent as well. Anyway, he was great and will be greatly missed.

Ted Leo and the Rx...

2008-03-24T13:20:00.001-04:00

open for Pearl Jam. I guess that would be cool if they were coming here, very cool. Though, I still wonder if that would be enough to bring me out of retirement (concert-going wise). And how is it that certain person that well...I'll just say I no longer speak to gets to have them come to their backyard...while of course it comes nowhere close to here. Such is life.

Tracy Austin and Chris Evert...White Trash...Who Knew?

2008-03-21T13:02:00.003-04:00

I know a lot about tennis. I played on nationally ranked college teams. Before I had no rotator cuff, knees, or right hip left, lol. But seriously, Richard Williams reminds me of someone like Rev. Wright, or Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson. They just need to make an absolutely ridiculous comment now and then to feel important. I mean, I wasn't ever a big fan of Tracy Austin or Christ Evert (whatever the hell her last name is now), but somehow, I missed the part about them being white trash.

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP)—WTA head Larry Scott said Thursday that he strongly disagrees with comments made by Richard Williams, father of Serena and Venus, regarding racism on the women’s tour.

Saying he was disappointed by Williams’ recent remarks during an interview in India, Scott said in a statement: “The Tour has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to racism, and I have previously let Mr. Williams know that he should let me know if he ever had evidence of racist comments or acts in women’s professional tennis.”

While his daughters were playing earlier this month in Bangladore, India, where Venus reached the quarterfinals and Serena won the title, Williams told the Deccan Herald, “Well, I’m black and I’m prejudiced, very prejudiced. People are prejudiced in tennis. I don’t think Venus or Serena was ever accepted by tennis. They never will be.”

He said the media treated his daughters unfairly, that it was “the worst media job that they have done on any human being in the world,” and that if he were Serena and Venus, he would have quit playing.

“But if you get some little white no-good trasher in America like Tracy Austin or Chris Evert, who cannot hit the ball, they (the media) will claim this is great,” he said.
Scott said, “Champions like Chris Evert and Tracy Austin have done so much to help build women’s tennis to where it is today, and it is regrettable that anyone would criticize them in this manner.”

The Williams sisters haven’t played at Indian Wells since 2001. They were booed after Venus pulled out of a semifinal match against her sister, citing knee tendinitis. Serena went on to win the title, but was booed during and after the championship match.

New Gaslight Anthem gets release date/title

2008-03-21T11:13:00.001-04:00

According to my friends at punknews.org, a release date of August 18th has been made official for The Gaslight Anthem's sophomore offering named, "The '59 Sound". I can't wait. For real.

Please...

2008-03-18T20:20:00.001-04:00

You're kidding, right Joe?

Obama's speech also drew praise from one of his former Democratic presidential rivals who has not endorsed him or Clinton. Delaware Sen. Joe Biden called it powerful, truthful and "one of most important speeches we've heard in a long time"

By NEDRA PICKLER and MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writers

Nader...why not?

2008-03-13T00:12:00.004-04:00

This was from the editor's desk (I'm assuming James D. Hoff) at the CUNY Graduate Center Advocate. And it sums up a lot of what I've been thinking, or have thought for quite some time as I voted for Nader in 2000 and 2004.

What Nader’s Bid Really Means

“If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.” —Aristotle

By the time this goes to press, I am sure we will have all heard the chorus of doom and gloom voices from the moderate left bewailing Ralph Nader’s recently announced Green Party bid for President of the United States. There will be the usual pundits saying things such as: “he was a great consumer advocate, but has no business being in politics” or “now is not the time;” and, of course, there will be plenty of arguments about Nader’s naive idealism, the inefficacy of third parties, and the paranoid-fueled fear of a Nader driven Republican win in 2008, but there will be little talk about the real implications of his campaign. Indeed the media coverage of Nader has always focused on him as a spoiler and very rarely as a real candidate with real issues. I can still hear, for instance, somewhere in the back of my brain the revered Nation columnist Eric Alterman’s whiny, petulant, schoolboy voice complaining how Nader cost the Democrats the 2000 election.

“Thank you, Ralph, for the Iraq war. Thank you, Ralph, for the tax cuts. Thank you, Ralph, for the destruction of the environment. Thank you, Ralph, for the destruction of the Constitution.”

Of course, Nader could not possibly be respnsible for any of these things, and to suggest that he might be is the worst kind of intellectual dishonesty. If Nader had even half of the power embittered Democrats like Alterman think he does, the Democratic Party would have courted him long ago — at least offering to take up some of his positions — rather than demonizing him. As everyone who wasn’t living under a rock knows, the Democrats did not lose the 2000 election; the 2000 election was stolen! The Democrats were defeated because the president’s brother was the governor of Florida, not because Ralph Nader took away Al Gore’s vote. The Democrats were defeated because after the election Al Gore cared more about political stability and the reputation of his party than taking on the Bush campaign, and rolled over precisely when he should have been mobilizing street demonstrations and demanding a thorough recount. The Democrats lost not only because Al Gore lost Florida, but because he failed to win a solid majority of states outside of Florida, which would have protected him aginst the fraud perpetrated there. And lastly, the Democrats were defeated because they courted members of the Republican Party and “swing voters” and completely failed to energize their base and speak to their real constituency, many of whom stayed home. So thank you Al Gore for losing; thank you Al Gore for the tax cuts; thank you Al Gore for the Iraq War; and, uh, thank you Al Gore, for the impotent, utterly demoralized, and ineffectual party that you left in your wake. And this brings us to the real issue at hand; there is no better reason to support a Nader campaign than the current Democratically controlled congress, which, despite all of it’s rhetoric, has done nothing to end the War in Iraq, absolutely nothing at all to move toward a real national health care plan — neither Hillary nor Obama are currently offering anything like the kind of national health care plan our country so desperately needs — and very little to repeal the Bush tax cuts or the Patirot Act.

Like in 2000, there are still few significant and substantive differences between the two parties. Sure, McCain supports continuing the war if necessary and Obama at least says that he supports bringing the troops home within a year, but Clinton’s position on the war is as muddied as most of her fellow Democrats, and any final decisions, regardless of who is elected, will be based on the realities on the ground in Iraq in January and have little do with campaign promises. The political consequences of a real withdrawl are too much for either of the two big parties to handle. What we do know, however, is that Obama, Clinton, and McCain are all pretty hawkish on US foreign policy, (Obama, for instance, has argued for increasing the military budget and bombing Pakistan if necessary) and all see a continued PNAC style role for the U.S. in controlling and manipulating international affairs. Likewise, Clinton and McCain have little or no interest in repealing or voting against trade pacts like NAFTA and other economically liberal trade policies that destory local economies, cultures, and workers’ rights. Although Obama has very recently paid lip service to criticizing NAFTA, he has also said that not re-negotaiating the current trade agreements could lead to what he called “protectionist rhetoric” from the right and the left.

This kind of fear mongering is typical neo-liberal rhetoric and is hardly the position of someone sincerely interested in real trade reform, but rather reflects the positon of a true moderate, interested in ameliorating some of the negative impacts of trade agreements like NAFTA but not repealing or significantly changing them. Indeed, “amelioration” is exactly the term that Clinton used in the last debate to describe her response to NAFTA. Of course there are issues where the two parties actually differ significantly (abortion, guns, immigration, gay marriage), but on the big issues, there is simply too much common ground. Who is to say whether Al Gore and the Democrats, for instance, would have invaded Iraq after 9/11 (the Clinton administration, after all, had no qualms about killing innocent Iraqis with its sanctions)? Who can guess whether or not he would have instituted even more draconian survelliance legislation after the attacks? Or whether he would have closed down or expanded Guantanomo? Lastly, who is to say whether or not Gore and his party would have been capable of implimenting any of the environmental policies that he ran on in 2000? It is more likely that the Republican run congress would have bullied Gore into a stalemate on probably all of these issues, pushing him into Iraq, stonewalling his environmental policies (or placating him on one or two), and limiting his executive power, just as they expanded the executive power of Bush. George Bush may have been the one in charge for the last eight years, but the groundwork for all of our recent foreign and domestic disasters were laid by both parties — let us never forget the cowardly bi-partisan congressional vote to authorize the use of froce against Iraq. As Jonathan Edwards, a Democrat himself, was fond of reminding voters:

This system is corrupt. And it’s rigged. And it’s rigged against you, and we can say ‘As long as we get Democrats in, everything’s going to be OK.’ It’s a lie. It’s not the truth. Do you really believe if we replace a crowd of corporate Republicans with a crowd of Democrats that anything meaningful is going to change? This has to stop. It’s that simple.

It is really no coincidence then that Nader announced his exploratory committee on exactly the same day that Edwards chose to drop out of the Democratic race. Without Edwards and Kucinich running, the Democratic Party nomination has been handed back to the politicians, corporatists, centrists, and moderates of the Clinton era. Like Edwards, Nader recognizes that the real problems facing our nation are not al-Qaida or Iran, but are largely internal and domestic. Nader’s campaign, and the Green Party’s platform, unlike Obama’s or Hillary’s, has always been about change; it is about fundamentally changing the nature and structure of our democracy. It’s about changing the constitution and moving away from a winner take all two-party system of entrenched interests, toward a more real, more representative, more inclusive, more dynamic, and more diverse democracy, where votes are never wasted, and people’s voices are heard. Let us not forget the Green Party either, whose candidacy Nader is seeking, and whose progressive platform of reform would seek to implement such necessary and common sense changes as living wage laws, real national health care, cooperative ownership of enterprise, a steady-state economy, and global disarmament of nuclear weapons, not to mention a dedication to actually doing something about global warming and environmental destruction now rather than later. While Obama and Hillary compete to see who can offer the flimsiest multi-payer health care system, the Green Party supports “a universal, comprehensive, national single-payer health insurance program.” This alone should be enough to convince anyone who actually cares about the coming health care crisis to vote for the Green Party.

But it’s not just about voting for Ralph Nader or the Green Party. Vote for whomever you like — including Cynthia McKinney, should she win the Green Party nomination — but whatever you do, leave the Democratic Party; join the Green Party or the Socialist Party USA or whatever party tickles your fancy; volunteer to help out in a local campaign; and donate what you can. Nader’s presidential bids have obviously never been about winning, but, like all third party campaigns, have always been about gaining support for the movements, the parties, and the platforms that really matter, and raising awareness about the real options and possibilities that are available. Although Nader will not win in 2008, he, once again, has the opportunity to challenge the status quo, force himself into the conversation — and maybe even the debates — garner support for the causes that really matter, and force the Democrats against the wall on the real issues facing our country. The pundits will say what they always say: “Nader is a spoiler;” “it’s not time;” “this would be fine if we had a parliamentary democracy,” etc. But this is exactly what they’ve said all along from 1996, to 2000, to 2004. Ask yourself, when will it be time? And how long can we stand to wait before we realize our time has passed?

I don't think Barack is necessarily a bad candidate...

2008-03-12T02:38:00.003-04:00

I am just a cynical/skeptical guy. But please, if one more person tells me to read "The Audacity of Hope" again (by the way, already read it), then...well...a quick kick to the junk is on the way :)

The Beatles to iTunes

2008-03-10T11:25:00.000-04:00

Does this smell fishy to anyone? I mean, in addition to the fact that I would just as soon have Paul McCartney go into seclusion and never be heard from again? I'm just saying...how exactly is it that Paul gets "most" of the money? Doesn't everyone know by now that he couldn't carry Lennon's genitals, let alone write a better song? Okay, I'll give you "Let it Be" and "Hey Jude"...alright, I seem to remember myself playing HJ over and over in the jukebox near closing time back in the day...but still. How does Paul end up with most of the money? I'm guessing Ringo got about $100K out of the 400 million, lol.

Buried in March, the Blizzard of '08

2008-03-08T17:11:00.003-05:00

So yes, they say 15-16" of snow has fallen in about 30 hours. Amazing. I've never seen anything like it...well, I don't remember '78 to be honest. Still a toddler. But this was unreal. Truly. Oh, btw, Right at Your Door was pretty good stuff, I recommend it, if you feel like being scared...and then paranoid :) B+

They are calling for...

2008-03-07T13:40:00.003-05:00

9-15" of snow over the next 24 hours. I think we've already got 2-3! Wow. I can't remember the last time Columbus had that much. Guess its a good thing I got a few movies out yesterday from Hollywood, that at least look somewhat interesting. We'll see how Trade, Right at Your Door, and The Prisoner: Or How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair turn out, along with the last 2/3 of Season 3 of The Wire.

Out On DVD Today!

2008-03-04T22:58:00.000-05:00

I watched Into the Wild for the second time in the theatre last week. Still amazing. Definitely rent it if you haven't seen it yet.

3/2 at 32...

2008-03-02T23:49:00.000-05:00

Perhaps, just maybe, it is not too late to start one's own adventure...again.

"Happiness only real when shared" - Chris McCandless

So I've seen this for a second time...

2008-03-01T01:09:00.003-05:00

...and it's still that good. Go rent it on 3/4!

It's a mystery to me
We have a greed
With which we have agreed

You think you have to want
More than you need
Until you have it all you won't be free

Society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me

When you want more than you have
You think you need
And when you think more than you want
Your thoughts begin to bleed

I think I need to find a bigger place
'Cos when you have more than you think
You need more space

Society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me
Society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me

There's those thinking more or less less is more
But if less is more how you're keeping score?
Means for every point you make
Your level drops
Kinda like its starting from the top
You can't do that...

Society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me
Society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me

Society, have mercy on me
I hope you're not angry if I disagree
Society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me

Eddie Vedder - "Society" - from Into the Wild

And why...

2008-02-27T18:12:00.000-05:00

Barack, does your wife read such high-brow fair like US Weekly, lol.

Yeah...but it was an educated guess

2008-02-26T19:07:00.002-05:00

So Maxim (where all people should be getting their music knowledge from) finally admitted that their reviewer didn't actually listen to all of the new Black Crowes album before assigning it a 2 1/2 star review. But like I said, at least it was an "educated" guess.

It used to be...good

2008-02-26T10:58:00.005-05:00

Wrestling, yes, professional wrestling used to be good. It was fun to watch, and for a time...say about 1997-2003, it was competitive. I'll still tune in to watch Shawn Michaels (the 2nd best ever to Ric Flair) and a few others. But honestly, Vince McMahon has no idea what he is doing since he now has no competition, or hasn't for about 7 years. The first few years were okay, when the Rock was kind of still around, but anymore, 80% of it is pure shit. Ah, but wait! Floyd Mayweather is going to save it. Yes, you heard me. Honestly, I don't why anyone in McMahon's stable would bitch about what they are getting payed or who is in charge of marketing or anything like that. $20 million. That's right. More than he could make in a boxing match in the future. Another arena that's dried up for now.

NADER!

2008-02-24T11:49:00.004-05:00

Yeah baby! Ralph's Back to keep those corporate whores in check. Hehe. Seriously though, I'm loving this. I know many will disagree with me, but that's okay.

Oscars...should and will...

2008-02-22T19:28:00.003-05:00

Okay, I used to be really good at this, like usually 85-90% for major categories...though I think my skills are slipping. I'll give it an educated guess though.

Best Picture - Regardless of what anyone is telling you about Juno, it's between No Country and There Will Be Blood. This is as close to a toss-up as I've seen. I'll go with TWBB just because I think No Country's end may have pissed-off enough people to hurt its chances.

Best Director - Diving Bell is too small, Juno is too cute, and Michael Clayton is too straightforward. So here we are again, the Coens vs. P.T. Anderson. I'll side with P.T. Though as with Best Picture, either can win.

Best Actor - This has to Daniel Day-Lewis' second statue. Especially after getting screwed out of this 4 years ago by Adrien Brody. All the performances here are great, but DDL's is by far the most memorable...and the best.

Best Actress - Cate Blanchett's second turn for Elizabeth was eh...fair. Ellen Page was too cute, and Marion Cotillard is too foreign. I have a strong feeling this is going to go Julie Christie for her excellent turn in "Away from Her". Should it? No. Laura Linney's performance in the other movie of similar subject matter, "The Savages", is more nuanced and much less romantic. But hey, the Academy has awarded Christie before, and looks like they will do so again.

Best Supporting Actor - Nobody, including the Academy saw Casey Affleck's performance. Sadly, Into the Wild never truly caught steam. Philip Seymour Hoffman is excellent, though in a movie with mixed reviews. Everybody has said that Javier Bardem's turn in No Country will and should win. I'll agree with the first part. But in my opinion, I would give the statue to Tom Wilkinson. Just barely. He has every opportunity to turn his role into a complete stereotypical mess. But he rides the tightrope without every falling off.

Best Supporting Actress - Experts are pointing at Cate Blanchett on this one. Honestly, I have not seen her or Saorise Ronan's performance in Atonement. I know Tilda Swinton and Amy Ryan both were amazing. And Ruby Dee...eh...very good but this seems like a lifetime acheivement award. I'll stick with Blanchett here.

Best Original Screenplay - I haven't seen Lars and the Real Girl. Though I will most likely the day after in the dollar theatre. As for the rest here...I'd give it to "The Savages". Quite realistic and yet, quite funny, in a very human way. But I'm guessing the Academy is going to favor the cute "Juno". They tend to that more with screenplays than Best Picture.

Best Adapted Screenplay - Diving Bell is foreign, Christie will get AFH's for Best Actress and Atonement's momentum seems to have stalled out to early. So...surprise, we are back to the Coen's vs. P.T. Anderson. Anderson has already lost in screenwriting for Boogie Nights and Magnolia...and I have a feeling he will here too, especially if he wins for Best Director/Picture. My dough is on the Coen's.

And I'll once again say...wtf is up with three of those crap songs from Enchanted being in the best song category and Eddie Vedder being completely shut out with his songs from "Into the Wild"? Garbage.

So yeah...its late...but its here

2008-02-21T01:55:00.000-05:00

So, the ceremony is actually going to happen. And I still can't come up with a 5th and final nominee for Supporting Actress. Apparently I missed a lot of the movies with good female parts this year. Sorry. And let me say, that the Original Song category including 3 songs from Enchanted??? WTF? And not including Golden Globe winner Eddie Vedder's "Guaranteed" from Into the Wild? I can only hope that "Falling Slowly" from Once can at least take that. It's a late opinion but I was trying to catch up on some other movies before giving my opinion :) (And even with that I still have yet to see Atonement, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Lars and the Real Girl, and a few others). So, here they would be, if I was givinge noms based on what I've seen...

Best Picture
Into the Wild
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac

Best Director
David Fincher, Zodiac
Ethan and Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Sean Penn, Into the Wild
Judd Apatow, Knocked Up

Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Emile Hirsch, Into the Wild
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortenson, Eastern Promises
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages

Best Actress
Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
Ashley Judd, Bug
Kate Dickie, Red Road
Julie Christie, Away from Her
Laura Linney, The Savages

Best Supporting Actor
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
Robert Downey Jr., Zodiac
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Garner, Juno
Catherine Keener, Into the Wild
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Best Adapted Screenplay
Charlie Wilson's War
The Hoax
Into the Wild
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Original Screenplay
The Darjeeling Limited
Knocked Up
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
The Savages

The Gaslight Anthem

2008-02-17T23:45:00.001-05:00

Yes, The Gaslight Anthem do indeed have a new 4-song EP out now, titled Senor and the Queen. I highly recommend giving it a spin or a purchase. And if you still haven't listened to their debut, Sink or Swim, well...you are disappointing me, and hurting yourself :)

Yes, It Is

2008-02-17T23:40:00.000-05:00

Fabchannel.com is indeed good shit. Real good shit. I can't believe that I just watched full multi-camera, good-sounding shows by Strike Anywhere, Bouncing Souls and Joe Henry, among others. This is too good to last for free. But get it while you can, at least the free part.

Yes, Owen Gleiberman, you said...

2008-02-14T23:32:00.003-05:00

..."That's more than you can say for Hayden Christensen, a gifted actor..." when speaking about "Jumper". Gifted actor? Is there another Hayden Christensen we don't know about?

Completely Savage

2008-02-14T16:00:00.002-05:00

Okay, so maybe it's not completely savage. But "The Savages" is a better film about alzheimers/dementia than the romanticized version that we got in "Away from Her". No, I am not saying that AFH was not a good movie. It was. Julie Christie deserves a nomination. I'm just saying as someone who has seen the effects first hand, its a little too romanticized for me to be in love with the film.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney, two of the best in film today, are in the roles of sister and brother, both long estranged from their father. They are both in various states of mid-life crises, and Linney's character, a playwright taking temp jobs to support herself, may be the only person to be turned down for a Guggenheim fellowship more than her brother who is still dying to get his book about playwright Bertolt Brecht published. They play off each other with such ease, that at times you forget that Alzheimers/Dementia, end-of-life, however you choose to label it is not a laughing matter. But Tamara Jenkins, in only her second film and first since 1998's pretty decent "Slums of Beverly Hills", directs "The Savages" reminds you that life is, well, absurd, but never takes the picture to that of a dark, heartless comedy. And you will often find yourself laughing at it in places you know you shouldn't. Philip Bosco is wonderfully unsentimental and most often unloving as their father who can no longer take care of himself after the death of his longtime girlfriend he was living with.

Okay, so it's probably not going to be high on the Valentine's weekend list of films you want to see. But I'm guessing if you're reading this, then garbage like "Fool's Gold" probably isn't in your plans anyway. The bottom line is that there are seldom a time you should ever miss the work of both the leads here. And if Hoffman has created a problem, a good one to have, it's that he has 3 Oscar-caliber performances this year! Comparing these performances to the two that Cate Blanchett (who I love very much) was nominated for? Not even close. And Linney? She definitely deserves her nomination and in my opinion a victory, though I'm guessing it will never happen. And as "The Savages" reminds us, life goes on. A

So...

2008-02-10T23:56:00.001-05:00

You can't edit posts or use spell check while you create them? Pretty sweet. Ahhhhh....well, here we are a day later, and I can at least edit once again. Thank you blogger. Feel free to update that spell check feature anytime.

Movie Round-Up

2008-02-10T13:29:00.000-05:00

A few from the last couple of weeks...

1. Charlie Wilson's War - Pretty decent stuff. I can't say that I didn't enjoy CWW, though I also can't say absolutely loved it. There is a pretty fair amount of chop to the way it's filmed, and it can distract from time to time. As for the leads, Tom Hanks does a good enough job...Julia Roberts...never been a big fan, and this performance hasn't convinved me otherwise. I think you have a pretty good idea when the majority of the talk about the performance is the fact that she looks good in a two-piece bathing suit after she has had kids...is well, not quite focusing on her acting "ability". I'm not saying she's bad or anything, but just isn't up holding her own against Tom and Phil. And Philip Seymour Hoffman, what can I say? The man is incredible. Sinking, once again, completely into his role as a CIA chameleon. He's funny, serious and completely believeable. Outside of Daniel Day-Lewis he is THE guy. B+

2. The Kite Runner - I wouldn't lie if I said it was hard to be objective on this one. I read this book a little less than a year ago, as apparently many other did as well. It was moving, perhaps even more so because of my personal history. Marc Foster has done a pretty good job here with an unenviable task. The film stays true to the novel and gets some pretty nice performances out of the two child actors as well as Houmayoun Ershadi as "Baba", Amir's father and incredibly compassionate and generous employer of Hassan and his father. Many of the scenes in the film are actually exactly like what I imagined them to be in my head while reading the book. TKR never got a wide release in the states. As for why, I can't answer that question based on how many people have bought, read and loved the book. Possibly the fact that the majority of it is in a foreign language? I hope not. It's well worth seeing. B+
-
3. Juno - Ah, the hip little indie that could for 2007. Many have compared in the Oscar watch to Little Miss Sunshine. That's nice, only this is waaay better than LMS. And the annoyance factor is mainly held to the er...cutesy dialogue which after a while, I gotta tell you, does start to make me roll my eyes. Is it better than having to listen to Abigail Breslin scream and preen? Not even close. I'd watch Juno another 10 times before I'd sit through another viewing of LMS. Ellen Page is dead-on in her role as the other girl that was "knocked-up" this year. I still recommend checking out "Hard Candy" if you have yet to see it. Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner are both Oscar-nod worthy in supporting roles as the adoptive parents to me. And Michael Cera is...well, okay, he's just Michael Cera. The same character in Arrested Development, Superbad...you get the idea. Does he actually have any range? Dunno. Haven't seen it. I do know that Juno is still worth watching again, even with my cringing at some of the hipster dialogue. And to me, that makes the rest of the movie just that much better. A-

I am moved from time to time...

2008-02-08T13:35:00.000-05:00

...by movies. However, "Once" is an exception. As in moving me to tears. In a good way. Truly, truly remarkable. Hit your local video store now if you have yet to see this musical triumph.

Zzzzzzzzzzz...

2008-02-07T23:15:00.000-05:00

Hipper-than-thou criticism of the hipper-than-thou. All very yawn-inducing if you ask me.

Taking out the trash, cleaning out the hopper, scraping the walls of the stall...you get the idea: Films I hated in 2007

2008-02-01T10:49:00.000-05:00

With the award season upon us and everyone has given out their praises, its also time for everyone to speak on what they hated. What can I say, its fun. And for one of the few times I am in agreement with Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune. Well, at least with his number one pick.

5 Movies that critics had concrete hard-ons over that I said..."eh, they're okay"

5. The Host - I lost track of how many critics said this was truly great horror movie. I think Jim Emerson from the Chicago Sun-Times said "...wild, crazy, messy, preposterous -- and all the better for it". Well, I agree with the first part.

4. Superbad - It's not that its "bad", lol, it just looks rather limp after seeing "Knocked Up". Sure, some of it's funny, but instead of the crudeness actually making you roll on the floor like Apatow's first of '07, this one in which he produces, continues to trail off until the end. Many have said that Seth Rogen and Bill Hader's cop non-plot per se was played out for too long. Honestly, they are the ones I am thanking most for getting me to laugh. And if you thought their part had no plot, did you watch the rest of the movie? Note: You can of course now see Michael Cera play the same role in Juno. Also, the same role he played in Arrested Development. Also...okay, you see where I'm going right?

3. Borat - I know, I know, technically released at the end of last year (to raves). I didn't hate Borat, but I couldn't figure out what was supposed to be so damn funny. Sure, I did laugh, but not like the other people in the dollar theatre who were probably seeing this for the 4th time. What this really supposed to so "out-there" and "controversial"? Maybe I'm just not easily shocked. Dunno.

2. Rescue Dawn - Rescue Dawn isn't a bad movie and Christian Bale is pretty good in the role of Dieter Dengler, whose plane is downed over Vietnam, on his first mission. Yes, it's like Missing In Action, with a true story and much better acting. And I had began to wonder where Steve Zahn had gone the last 5 years or so. This was supposed to be a one of those true stories of inspiration, but I tell you what, after the last 20 minutes or so of this I left the theatre cold as ice after the demise of a certain character and the absolute nothingness that seems to be felt by the star.

1. The Queen - I know, also from late last year. Not awful. None of these are. Helen Mirren's mimic is quite good. James Cromwell isn't so great. What is more obvious than anything else is that Judi Dench's performance in Notes on a Scandal trump's Mirren's so greatly that it goes down in my books as one of Oscar's biggest screw-ups.

And the absolute worst...

10. Perfect Stranger - It's more about the convoluted ending than anything else. Okay, it's way beyond convoluted.

9. Transformers - Did anyone actually think that this would be worth 1/2 a shit after Michael Bay signed-on as the director? It's not, and if John Turturro's talent was ever completely wasted (which is hard to do), this is it. Check out Shia Labeouf's much better summer film, Disturbia.

8. Spiderman 3 - Yeah, you thought it looked promising at first with that evil black suit and all didn't you? Yeah, I did too. Too bad it sucked. Not dark enough, and the attempts comedy with Tobey were um...yeah, let's forget about it.

7. Death Proof - This was supposed to be the better of the two right? God I hope not. Not funny or serviceable in its supposed homage to the exploitation flicks of the 70's. And Tarantino has was over-extended himself with his once-hip dialogue. If I wasn't Kurt Russell fan I would have turned it off before it ended. Probably should have.

6. Hitman - Yeah, the premise is pretty stupid. And so is the rest of it. I do have a question though, if you're supposed to be one of the greatest assassins in the world, wouldn't it make more since to grow your hair out, or at least cover the barcode tatoo on your head with a hat?

5. The Hitcher - Yeah, I do like horror movies. The original back in 1986 with Rutger Hauer, John C. Howell and Jennifer Jason Leigh was actually scary and engaging. Now, all we have is upped production values and a whole lot of gore, body parts, etc. Sean Bean is not exactly the man for the job, and the supporting cast is lesser so. So much that you are cheering for their demise.

4. The Contract - I am not sure exactly how Morgan Freeman or John Cusack got messed up in this piece of garbage that plays out like a bad cable movie. In fact, I think it went straight to dvd. How either of these actors is in something that goes straight to video is beyond me. I'm not sure who they owed a favor to, but I hope that debt has been paid.

3. Tideland/The Reaping - Two examples of good, talented people, one being a director and one an actress who both seem completely lost. Terry Gilliam has made many movies that I can count among my favorites. From Monty Python and the Holy Grail to Brazil to The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Gilliam's film always leave you with something to talk about. Except for the last two. After not releasing anything for 7 years (the ill-fated "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote nonwithstanding), then directing this and The Brothers Grimm back-to-back. Well, the only thing we are talking about now is how bad they are. Tideland is a complete, absolute mess and a total waste of Jeff Bridges (and your time for watching this). Hillary Swank on the other hand, has two Oscars to her name. I'm not sure how, but she does. Don't get me wrong, "Boys Don't Cry" and "Million Dollar Baby" are very good movies and she is excellent in them. I'm just saying that, outside of "Insomnia", everything else she has done has stunk-up the joint. "The Reaping" is so bad I couldn't even enjoy it for some kind of camp value. You won't either.

2. Black Christmas - Oh wow, if my number hadn't come around, this would have been a clear winner. It's that bad. I know, surprise, another good original turned into complete shit by a re-make. Hard to believe by now. The acting is awful, well beyond actually. The directing, okay I'm going to stop. It's all shit.

1. Hostel: Part II - Eli Roth. What's happenin'? You make Cabin Fever, a really good low-budget horror film, that's gory as hell but also a hell of a lot of fun. Then you make Hostel. Mmmm...losing the humor a bit. Still creepy. Sadism and toture elements ratcheted up. But at least a somewhat original storyline where the viewer isn't exactly sure where their loyalties should lie. Then you make this. This utter piece of shit. There is no joke here, no wink of the eye. And overall its simply a bore. Please don't make a 3rd.

Guy Pearce...

2008-01-31T16:42:00.000-05:00

I have a feeling will never be a box-office draw of any kind. It's certainly not for his acting ability, which is very, very good. So good that it can take a film like "First Snow", and make it more than watchable, even compelling. It's not a film that other indies haven't traveled down before; discovering for one reason or another that your life is going to end at certain point, and the inner-turmoil of the mind and body that follows along with the actions that result from it. Well worth the watch for both Pearce and a for-once restrained J.K. Simmons.

Grade: B

Please...kill me

2008-01-29T10:09:00.000-05:00

No, I didn't sit down and re-read Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain's excellent oral history of the first half of punk. No, I came down with the flu over the weekend and was feeling like death. So I turned on Fox for the Sarah Connor Chronicles (hey, give me a pass, there is no "24" this year) and what do you know, there is good ol' George coming out to give what is thankfully his last State of the Union address. Apparently he now wants to preserve his conservative legacy...so trying to work with Congress is something he ain't gonna do. Beautiful. It's really not that G.W. is stupid (you can't win twice and be stupid), it's that he just doesn't care.

I can't tell you...

2008-01-25T17:29:00.000-05:00

what you already should know by now. That Daniel Day-Lewis is the finest actor of this generation. That if I was stuck on an island with only the films of two actors to watch, it would be him (and Philip Seymour Hoffman). I could go on. Pointless. The bottom line is that "There Will Be Blood" is everything you thought it would be and more. Go see it. Now.

It's not that bad...

2008-01-25T17:00:00.000-05:00

I know, I know. You want to hate this one really bad. Not as much as I hate blogger right now for wiping out my 4 paragraph review about 3 minutes ago! Is this a sign I'm not supposed to come back? Anyway, yes, "Lions for Lambs" is a bit talky and and could easily be viewed as preachy at times. However, it is actually worth giving it a view with an open-mind, if nothing more for the dialogue exchanges between Cruise and Streep. And Andrew Garfield actually holds his own with Redford. The third act featuring Michael Pena and Derek Luke in Afghanistan with the military falls a bit flat and at times the rhetoric may have you rolling your eyes, but the message about what can we do about changing the direction of the country/world is one that should not require a party line.

It really doesnt...

2008-01-24T23:06:00.000-05:00

Willful ignorance does not equal an intelligent opinion

R.I.P.

2008-01-23T00:18:00.000-05:00

Heath Ledger (1979-2008)

Or...as Bono once said...

2007-12-31T23:59:00.000-05:00

You just have to "go away and dream it all up again"...

Just when you thought it could happen...

2007-12-30T11:42:00.000-05:00

I have never rooted for Eli Manning in a game in my life. Last night I did. Everything I hoped the Giants could do...happened, until the 4th quarter. Get off to early lead? Check. Have one explosive play to get crowd riled up? Check. Have the lead at halftime? Check. Get out to quick start in 3rd quarter? Check. Eli Manning have his best game of the year (not asking much there)? Check. And then it ended. The offense stalled out 1/2 way through the 3rd quarter, the Patriots came back. And after the on-side kick failed after a very late touchdown, it was over. Oh well, I can always pray the Colts or Jags (or perhaps the Cowboys in the Super Bowl) play at their highest level for one game. Possible. Not likely. But possible.

I sit...

2007-12-23T21:35:00.000-05:00

in this chair...with nothing else to say...

DDL...That's Daniel Day-Lewis To You

2007-12-21T12:56:00.000-05:00

I read a nice piece on Daniel and his new film, There Will Be Blood, in today's USA Today. I recommend checking it out here. And there proceed to rent or buy any film he has been in that you haven't already seen or own :)

Let me sleep...

2007-12-10T00:13:00.000-05:00

I know the whiskey it won't soothe my soul
And the morphine won't heal my heart
But if you take me down to the infirmary
I won't have to sleep or drink alone.

So, take me down
To the infirmary
Lay me down on cotton sheets
Put a damp cloth on my forehead
Lay me down let me sleep
Lay me down let me sleep

--Cracker, "Take Me Down To The Infirmary"

My Faves in Music This Year

2007-12-05T11:35:00.000-05:00

As with the film part, you'll have to forgive me for a lack of synopsis with the lists...the mind isn't quite up to that at this time. Well...perhaps I could, it would just take until February with the state of things upstairs :)

"The Lucky 13" (or 14)

1. The Gaslight Anthem -- Sink or Swim - Who would have thought that the best Springsteen album this year would not be written by Bruce? Frontman Brian Fallon channels The Boss in both voice and spirit. Imagine, Bruce being born in 1982 with somewhat punkier influences; Roy, Nils, and Clarence not existing (sorry); and having the rest of Against Me! (outside of lead singer Tom Gabel) as his bandmates. The songs are tight, relentless, relateable, human, and everything else you would have expected out of a younger Springsteen in this day and age. Whether or not these guys survive is anyone's guess; it's hard to work your way up from the bottom. But this debut is as good as any I've heard. Oh, and of course they hail from New Jersey.

2. Joe Henry -- Civilians
3. The Avett Brothers -- Emotionalism
4. Loudon Wainwright III -- Strange Weirdos: Music from and Inspired by the Film Knocked Up
5. Minus the Bear -- Planet of Ice
6. Maritime -- Heresy and the Hotel Choir
7. Against Me! -- New Wave
8. Patty Griffin -- Children Running Through
9. Sage Francis -- Human the Death Dance
10. Willy Mason -- If the Ocean Gets Rough
11. Shadows Fall -- Threads of Life
12. Iron and Wine -- The Shepherd's Dog
13. Weatherbox -- American Art
13. Chuck Ragan -- Feast or Famine

"Best of the Rest" (no discernable order)

As I Lay Dying -- An Ocean Between Us
Ben Weasel and His Iron String Quartert -- These Ones Are Bitter
Ted Leo (and the Rx) -- Living with the Living
The National -- Boxer
Josh Ritter -- The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
Every Time I Die -- The Big Dirty
Bruce Springsteen -- Magic
Radiohead -- In Rainbows
Posion the Well -- Versions
Spoon -- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Band of Horses -- Cease to Begin
Gogol Bordello -- Super Taranta!
The One AM Radio -- This Too Will Pass
Tegan and Sara -- The Con
Jesu -- Conqueror
Thrice -- The Alchemy Index: Vol 1 and 2
Portugal. The Man -- Church Mouth
Ryan Adams -- Easy Tiger
Tiger Army -- Music from Regions Beyond
Big D and the Kids Table -- Strictly Rude
Sundowner - Four One Five Two
The Weakerthans -- Reunion Tour
Rocky Votolato -- The Brag and Cuss
The Snake, The Cross, The Crown -- Cotton Teeth
Foo Fighters -- Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace
Maylene and the Sons of Disaster -- II
Wilco -- Sky Blue Sky
Grinderman -- Grinderman
Manic Street Preachers -- Send Away the Tigers
Aesop Rock -- None Shall Pass
Lifetime -- Lifetime

My Faves in Film This Year

2007-12-05T10:42:00.000-05:00

A short note...I'm really not up to giving full mini-reviews on these. I apologize. Perhaps when things are better I may go back and amend. Also, there are a bunch of movies that could be on here that either haven't made it to the "cultural mecca" that is Columbus, OH (hard to imagine I know), never did make it, or passed through so fast I had no chance. I will accept blame for not having seen "The Darjeeling Limited" and "Lars and the Real Girl". The following were and are beyond my control, Juno, Rocket Science, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, The Savages, Charlie Wilson's War, The Kite Runner, Starting Out in the Evening, Youth Without Youth, Sweeney Todd, There Will Be Blood and The Bucket List.

The Lucky "13"

1. Zodiac
2. Knocked Up
3. 3:10 to Yuma
4. In the Valley of Elah
5. No Country for Old Men
6. Michael Clayton
7. The Hoax
8. The Bourne Ultimatum
9. Into the Wild
10. American Gangster
11. The Lookout
12. A Mighty Heart
13. Red Road

"Best of the Rest" (no discernable order)

Breach
Tarnation (2004)
Fracture
An Unreasonable Man
Days of Glory (2006 - France)
Bug
300
The Lives of Others (2006 - Germany)
1408
Sunshine
Eastern Promises
The Brave One
Ratatouille
Gone Baby Gone
Away from Her
The Astronaut Farmer
The Hunting Party
The Mist

Fave Songs of 2007

2007-12-04T23:55:00.000-05:00

Just a number of songs I listened to repeatedly during the year...though I have a feeling I left plenty others out, simply due to bad memory. Mostly all from this year with a couple of slightly older ones thrown in. Once again, no discernible order (other than alphabetical, lol).

Civil Disobedience -- Sage Francis
Common People -- Street Dogs
Daughter/Valley Morning -- Loudon Wainwright III
Denton, TX -- Damien Jurado
Devil You Know -- Pinback
Drive/I'da Called You Woody, Joe -- The Gaslight Anthem
For Broken Ears/The Grove -- Chuck Ragan
For Science Fiction -- Maritime
Forsaken -- As I Lay Dying
Girls in Their Summer Clothes -- Bruce Springsteen
Headed for a Fall -- M. Ward
Heaven That I'm Making -- Crowded House
Hide and Seek -- Imogen Heap
Intervention -- Arcade Fire
Irish Handcuffs -- Smoke or Fire
Jigsaw Falling Into Place -- Radiohead
Paranoid in BB Major -- The Avett Brothers
Postcard from Kentucky -- Rocky Votolato
Shut Me Up/Time is a Lion -- Joe Henry
Summer's Always Gone Too Soon -- Ben Weasel and His Iron String Quartet
The Dreams -- Weatherbox
The Pizza Song -- Bouncing Souls
Things Have Changed -- Bob Dylan
We'rewolf -- Every Time I Die
What Light -- Wilco
Where I'm Headed -- The One AM Radio
White People for Peace/Sink, Florida, Sink (Electric) -- Against Me!
You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb -- Spoon

Favorite Video of the Year

2007-12-04T23:46:00.000-05:00

Against Me! -- "White People for Peace"

Ain't war grand?

A few high points in TV this year...

2007-12-03T23:50:00.001-05:00

So, the writer's strike is upon us with still no end in sight. A promising season of "24" (especially after last year's debacle) has been thrown down the toilet (cancelled completely), and the likelihood of new episodes for other shows, save for those scheduled to debut in winter/spring, is slim, and yes he did leave town with the nun. But a few things have caught my attention.

1. Journeyman (NBC) - Apparently there is a relatively high chance that this show will die because of the writers strike. It would be a shame. I'd see numerous previews for it in the movie theatres before the start of the previews and it looked interesting (at least the pilot). I'll be honest, I wasn't sold at first. Especially due to the fact that the other reason I tuned in, Reed Diamond, has a kind of a secondary role in the show (I was a huge fan of Homicide). However, he has been getting a little more screen time, and the episodes have gotten better and better, up til' now. That, and the fact that series star Kevin McKidd has proven himself to more than capable as the hero. It's kind of a hard show to explain, but in a way it reminds me of Doctor Who, just completely a un-premeditated, random, Doctor Who, lol. Hopefully, fans of Thom Baker and the like won't crucify me just as I hope that NBC won't hit the proverbial nail in the coffin on this one, as they so stupidly did with last season's excellent, Kidnapped.

2. Dirty, Sexy, Money (ABC) - Yeah, this is pretty much a pop soap drama/mystery, but its just acted so damn well. Even when the histrionics are called upon, as they always are in soaps, they still remain genuinely funny. The show also stars Peter Krause (along with Donald Sutherland and Blair Underwood among others), who plays his role as the Darling's family lawyer (while attempting to solve the mystery of his dad's death) perfectly. For anyone who missed Six Feet Under while it was running on HBO, I highly recommend it as Krause was also amazing in that. His brother on SFU, Michael C. Hall, is currently getting raves in the Showtime drama, Dexter.

Lastly, Law and Order: Criminal Intent is indeed not new. It kicked off its 7th season this year. Shown for the first time this year on USA on Thursday's, instead of its parent company NBC on Sundays, it remains one of the better crime dramas out there. And if you were to only speak of the episodes involving Kathryn Erbe and the amazing Vincent D'Onofrio, it is among the best (not a whole lot of chemistry yet on the other side as Chris Noth takes on his 3rd partner in 3 seasons). But really, it is worth it just to watch D'Onofrio on screen, especially as his partner seems to be continually unraveling for the last year or so. There is no one better to ask for this challenging role, especially when it invites him to be completely over-the-top in a laughable way. Vince never takes the bait.

Some people are charmed...

2007-12-03T23:50:00.000-05:00

And apparently after tonight's game (among others), I would say Tom Brady is definitely one of them. God, I hate that guy.

OSU is in the National Championship Game...

2007-12-03T10:43:00.001-05:00

That being said, the BCS thing? It's a crock. Not only is it a crock, but the coaches and writers are in on it too. It's blatantly obvious.

I understand if you want to make a point that LSU is better than Virginia Tech. I can get that. They handled them with ease (at home) in the 2nd week of the season. But here is the question...If it's all about "when you lose", and who is playing the best at the end of the season, please explain how LSU (with a more than gifted back-up in Ryan Perriloux - I'd tell you he is pretty much on-par with Matt Flynn) barely beat a so-so 3-loss Tennessee team ranked #13 by a touchdown thanks to a pathetic game by Eric Ainge and jumps from #7 to #2. In the meantime, Virginia Tech beats a higher-ranked (#11) Boston College team by 15 on a truly neutral field and goes from #5 to #4, or simply sits at #4 depending on the poll. Please explain that. You can't.

Bottom line, LSU vs. OSU is the marquee matchup, subjectivity be damned. If LSU was really "that good" after losing to another lame-ass team in overtime (how's that Kentucky loss look now?), then you (coaches, writers, etc.) should have kept that at #3 or #4 in the polls last week.

Even more glaring is the fact that no one will address this in a written piece, at least none that I have found so far. They will all tell you now why LSU is deserving of being in the game. And don't even begin to get me started on Missouri being passed up by Kansas (a team they beat and couldn't make it to its own conference championship game) AND Illinois? Are you serious? I understand preserving all that Pac-10/ Big-10 tradition for the Rose Bowl (like people really give a shit about tradition anymore), but Illinois? Over Missouri? Come on. Are you really telling me that people want to see USC vs. Illinois instead of USC vs. Missouri. Please.

I enjoyed this...

2007-12-03T10:43:00.000-05:00

response to Michael Silver's (Yahoo! Sports writer) piece last week in which he mentioned Dave Matthews...

"Don't sweat it, Michael: The Dave Matthews Band (or 'Dave' as his obnoxious frat-boy fans call him) sucks hard. Dave Matthews is music for people who want to believe they like really good music but have no idea what really good music actually is."

Ryan, Indianapolis

Thanks. I have no comment, except to note that the anti-Dave Matthews emails came fast and furious this week. As for my own lyrical genius …

The lists...

2007-12-02T01:16:00.001-05:00

soon arrive...and then I...disappear

In the mail today...

2007-11-28T23:11:00.000-05:00

I got my new issue of Paste. Oh, and looky what we have here, the "best" of the albums and "films" of the year. Uh-huh. Right. Well, the best I guess if you only live in snooty indie-ville and pretty much nowhere else. Hey everyone look, we went out on a limb, we included a hip-hop album! I've said it before, I enjoy reading Paste, (actually I much prefer reading the vignettes in comparison to their features or reviews) but to pigeon-hole the signs of life in music to this, well, its simply naive. As for the movies, better but still lacking. Always interesting, because the normal viewing public often has even had the opportunity to see 1/5 of the list. I was impressed that they did actually include the best action (omg, an action film in Paste?) film of the year, The Bourne Ultimatum, in the list. There is hope!

But then again, that is part of the fun isn't it? The opportunity to bitch at other people's lists and say how much they suck while in turn posting yours that is infinitely superior, hehe. Then, after that, people can come and tell you that your list is naive and devoid of all things great :). So yeah, like Josh said, it's all subjective. Which means, I will no doubt have to post mine here sometime soon.

5 more days...

2007-11-27T23:16:00.000-05:00

Yes, 5 more days have passed and I have nothing new to really talk about. I say that because I wouldn't call mounting frustration and lack of sleep to really be new things. They are old. Its all pretty much old shit by now. And to be honest, I am very fucking tired of it. Very. I suppose some people are born with more patience than others. I used to think that I had a good deal of it. Perhaps I did. But right now, I can tell you that it is used up. Dry. Bone dry. I'm not sure what else to write, or why I continue to write...is anyone besides Josh reading these? Maybe there is some therapy in it. Somewhere. It just seems like the end of the line gets reached on a daily basis. And yet, I wake up (when sleep is there) for one more day.

So far...

2007-11-22T23:50:00.000-05:00

I can’t sleep.
Dry red eyes wide open.
Stare at the white stucco ceiling.
I turn on the TV,watch music on television.
Have I heard this song before?
Did this already happen?
Derived influence in style of dress.
Similar trends in camera technique and editing.
Sync up the cuts to the bass drum kick.
All the taste makers drinking from the same glass.
Is there anyone thinking what I am?
Is there anyone thinking what I am?

Are you restless like me? -- Against Me!, "Up the Cuts"

So far, a week into these meds, my sleep has actually gotten worse. I've tried going to bed earlier, somewhere in the middle, and the usual (i.e. early morning), and it has been a restless disaster to this point. I'm up typing this now based on another failed attempt. But hey, if I had any money I'd be already to head to BestBuy in a few hours and wait in line for those "great" deals. (Seriously, is it just me, or are the deals at Circuit City waaaaaay better than BestBuy this year?)

"No Country for Old Men"

2007-11-22T00:06:00.000-05:00

Is pretty awesome...til' the ending...I remain undecided about it. The rest of the movie is a definite A. I can't decide if the ending is masterful or simply a cop-out. Or if it is simply being true to the novel since I have not read it...In the end though, after a few days, I think it is decent. The rest of the movie is brilliant...and I think overall I will still give it an A. It's just not going to "the" movie of the year for me. Though, to be honest, I still do not have a standout favorite this year.

A few other things (old and new) seen recently:

American Gangster -- A-
Away from Her -- B+
The Astronaut Farmer -- B+
The Hunting Party -- B+
3:10 to Yuma -- A
Wait Until Dark -- A-

Wow, that really was Steve Earle on SVU tonight

2007-11-21T00:42:00.000-05:00

Yup, playing a jailhouse professor. Classic.

Radiohead says "Nope, wasn't our idea"

2007-11-19T23:36:00.001-05:00

Apparently, the brilliance everyone has been equating with Radiohead and their release of "In Rainbows"...well...it actually wasn't there idea. At least that is what they are saying.

That bipolar thing...

2007-11-17T23:51:00.000-05:00

I guess I won't say I was shocked at the diagnosis by the psychiatrist yesterday. The symptoms have been there for awhile. Years, if I really look back. No, it's not bipolar 1, that which is generally associated with destruction, the longer periods of elation/mania, harm to self/others, etc. But its still bipolar. Still the restless nights/staying up for most of the night, sleeping during the day (no wonder all-nighters in college were so easy). Short periods of elation/mania, followed by pretty awful depressive crashes and a serious lack of concentration, and plenty of suicidal thoughts. That combined with not being able to hold down a job on a consistent basis the last 4 years or so (getting no sleep while trying to work day shifts is never a good thing) AND attempted to come to terms with the sexual abuse that happened as a kid...well, it kind of fucks things up. In a big way.

I'm not going to talk about this like I am an expert. I'm not. All cases are different in some fashion. I hope to try and educate myself further in the near future. I do know this. All I can do now is hope and pray (and ask for the prayer of others). Pray that the medication that was prescribed will do what it is supposed to do. And does it fairly quickly. And perhaps...maybe...things will get a little bit clearer after that. Cause I am serious lacking in many things...including a true personal relationship with Jesus, friends, a church, career direction, and the ability to write about music and film in a clear-concise manner. Well, that and being in debt with nothing coming in at the moment. Never good. But anyway, not really sure what writing will be done in the near future. Perhaps some year end lists if I can manage. Or maybe I'll feel like writing all the time. Dunno.

A few things I'd really like to see are No Country for Old Men, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Charlie Wilson's War, The Savages, The Kite Runner, Juno, Grace is Gone, Margot at the Wedding and Sweeney Todd.

Oh...by the way, forget about what the majority of critics said about The Hunting Party and go see it. It really does the balance between humor and seriousness pretty well. Good stuff. Richard Gere's career year with this and The Hoax (which you need to rent immediately if you haven't already).

Is U2 entering Rolling Stones/Eagles/classic rocker et all territory?

2007-11-17T22:51:00.000-05:00

I have to say something about this. Basic price for the new "Limited Edition" 2cd/dvd Joshua Tree re-release...$50+. Are you serious? Yes, I know it will be on sale from time to time..."sale" meaning $40 (or probably somewhere in the low $30s if you make it to Best Buy's door at 3am on Friday). Come on. A remastered album (should have happened 10 years ago). A "bonus disc", which really amounts to 5 songs, as any moderate fan already has the Best of B-sides released 7 years ago, and a live dvd, with as far as I can tell no behind-the-scenes/making-of, etc (I could be wrong, correct me if I am). But if this is really it for that price...well...then relevance is on a sharp decline with this, a very-subpar last album, and ticket prices out-the-roof (yes, I am aware of the show they put on, I've seen them 7 times). I understand. I would like to make lots of scratch too...but we are headed to Rolling Stones/Eagles territory here. At least in my opinion.

I don't recall Bruce Springsteen charging this much for the 30th Anniversary Edition of the arguably superior "Born to Run", which did actually come with a making of dvd AND concert dvd. If you don't own it, I'd advise you to purchase this, and wait on the J-Tree. Once again, just my opinion.

Note: I do believe I stand corrected. Apparently the dvd does include "Outside It's America", a documentary of sorts from The Joshua Tree tour and the "never-before-seen" video to "Red Hill Mining Town". I will still tell you it's too much. But hey, thats just me...and I'm poor right now :)

Diagnosis...

2007-11-16T20:36:00.000-05:00

Today, I was diagnosed as bipolar...not sure what to make of this yet. Prayer is needed (and very much appreciated)...wherever it may come from.

Yup...all that excitement for nothing, Fox pulls the plug on "24"

2007-11-13T13:05:00.000-05:00

So, during the world series I got all excited that "24" was going to be good again this year. Alas, it is not to be now. Originally when I saw headlines last week about the writers strike, I thought that FOX had considered pushing "24" back. Apparently I was wrong. The plug was pulled, just 3 days into the strike. Damnit.

Elizabeth:The Golden Age was...

2007-11-12T21:26:00.000-05:00

Decent. I wasn't turned off by it, but I can't seem to put my finger on exactly what it was that was missing. I understand that the story obviously isn't going to be the same. But where the first relied on intrigue and subtlety, The Golden Age went for more flamboyant set pieces, scenes, and the like. Believe me, there was plenty of intrigue throughout her life. Clive Owen does well as Sir Walter Raleigh, Geoffrey Rush is consistent as ever, and Samantha Morton provides a quiet, constant simmer to Mary Stuart. Still, it never reaches its potential. B-

Being a die-hard Bengals fan for 25 years...

2007-11-10T09:42:00.000-05:00

Oh my god! What has happened to me? I have been cheering at volume level 11 for...THE BROWNS!!!!!!!!!...the last two weeks!

Let's just say my level of disgust for Cincinnati has reached an all-time high...and this is the result.

Halloween 4/5 Double Feature...Give Me the Reel Thing

2007-11-08T00:29:00.000-05:00

Okay, so watching these and Saw IV in the theatre within days of each other is definitely no credibility play. That's okay. Horror films may be my guilty pleasure per se. And there is no doubt that the original Halloween was one of the best of all time. In addition to that, there is some back story, as from what I can recall, Halloween 5 was the first horror movie I ever saw in a theatre...many moons ago.

I will tell you up front that in comparison to the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street series, I think the Halloween franchise has held up better. This by no means make the sequels masterpieces, but they have had their moments (Knocked Up co-star Paul Rudd getting his start in part 6), the lowest being Halloween Resurrection with Busta Rhymes among others stellar actors. Busta is a supporter, not a main player, I assure you.

But anyway, I won't drag this out. Besides the college boy making weird breathing/nervous laugh (I shouldn't really be at any horror movies cause I can't deal with it) noises and obnoxious constant side comments to the only girl that would have him, the other thing that really pissed me off about this one-off showing last Tuesday was the fact that it was the dvd being super-imposed onto the screen. Not the actual print. Meaning, the sound was so-so and the the picture was actually about 70% of the screen. Now...I admit, there is a chance that I still would have gone to this showing and paid my $10 (oh my god did I really pay that?) knowing what I do now. Maybe. I'm just saying it would have been nice to know. And as we all know, knowing is 1/2 the battle. Just like GI Joe said.

You know the temperature in hell is dropping quickly when...

2007-11-07T17:47:00.001-05:00

This is what's selling in America this late in the game. What's even funnier is trying to imagine how the oh-so-progressive Don Henley and Co. could explain their exclusive arrangement with Wal-Mart of all places. And as the "The Dude" once said, "I hate the fuckin' Eagles!" (I'm pretty sure he would have included Britney in there as well)

Yes, It's True...David Mead agrees, Maritime's new one is the shit!

2007-11-06T14:08:00.000-05:00

Though I frequently lament the fact that Paste generally doesn't view punk/hardcore/metal/etc. as viable genres or has simply decided that they don't fit into the all things indie/oldie-but-goodie categories; occasionally they agree with me. Such is the case with David Mead's review of the new Maritime album in the new (November 2007) issue. I have to find it online yet, but I assure you it's in there.

(With the exception of Peter Travers) I really wish Rolling Stone would cease to exist

2007-11-03T23:31:00.000-04:00

For real. Jan Wenner, give it up for god's sake. Your black/white politics (oh so noticeably absent before 2001) are laughable. Your features are ridiculous. You are so far behind publications like Alternative Press and Paste that every time you do an ass-clowned feature like "Indie Rock Universe" you look like an even bigger out-of-touch douche than you already did (no small feat). In fact, why don't you get together with the owners of Spin and give us a 2-for-1 sale and both take a dirt nap.

"Rendition" and "We Own the Night"

2007-11-02T22:07:00.000-04:00

Rendition raises a debate that we have heard before...is it okay for us to torture those that are suspected of being terrorists based on our fears for our own national security? Honestly, I still don't have the answer to that question. I mean I do in my heart, just not in my gut. (That would be a "no" by the way). Well, Rendition really isn't going to answer that for you either. Jake Gyllenhaal isn't bad as an agent forced into his first "interrogation" by circumstance; and Reese Witherspoon pouts, cries and whimpers at all the right moments while of course showing "strength" the whole time. The excellent Peter Saarsgard is there and then he's not. And Meryl Streep plays cool calculation to perfection as she has done numerous times before. But in the end, not a whole lot is answered and while it's done well you can't exactly say, "at least it was fun getting there". B-

We Own the Night is also a thriller in nature, though more of a standard cop/drama kind. It is also a solid flick if never quite rising above that standard formula. Joaquin Phoenix reminds us of his versatility. Mark Wahlberg reminds us he can play a hardass. Robert Duvall reminds us that he can be quietly stoic. And of course Eva Mendes reminds us that she is hot. In between all of this is movie that is pretty well put together and moves at a steady pace despite delays in the timeline even though director James Gray has kind of been here before with Wahlberg in "The Yards". B

Someday...I'll Get Around to Writing About These

2007-10-31T00:29:00.000-04:00

Rendition > B-
We Own the Night > B
Red Road > A-
Into the Wild > A-
Saw IV > B-
Gone Baby Gone > B+
Halloween 4/5 Double Feature > C+

More Lehane on the Big Screen

2007-10-30T00:54:00.001-04:00

Apparently, this news came out sometime last week...but...apparently, Martin Scorcese will be directing "Shutter Island", the latest screenplay of a Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone) novel. In addition, Leonardo Dicaprio is already on board. Let's just say this looks quite promising.

Yes, It's True...Tony Almeida Is Back!

2007-10-25T23:40:00.000-04:00

Yup, after a horrifically awful season/day 6 (at least by it's own standards), I'm already liking the direction that season/day 7 is looking like it's going to go. Should have known there was a reason there was no silent clock!

Hot Water Music...back again?!

2007-10-23T08:53:00.000-04:00

In another year full of break-ups, this is simply the best news I have heard in a while. Hot Water Music is Back! Awesome!

Going back to the Series! Sorry Cleveland (yeah, you're right, I'm not)

2007-10-22T00:12:00.000-04:00

"Tessie" - Dropkick Murphys

Tessie is the Royal Rooters' rally cry
Tessie is the tune they always sung
Tessie echoed April through October nights
After serenading Stahl, Dinneen, and Young

Tessie is a maiden with a sparkling eye
Tessie is a maiden with a love
She doesn't know the meaning of her sight
She's got a comment full of love

And sometimes when the game is on the line
Tessie always carried them away
Up the road from third base to Huntington
The boys would always sing and sway

(chorus) 2... 3... 4..
Tessie, "Nuf Ced" McGreevey shouted
We're not here to mess around
Boston you know we love you madly
Hear the crowd roar to your sound
Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
You know we couldn't live without you
Tessie, you are the only only only

The Rooters showed up at the grounds one day
They found their seats had all been sold
McGreevey led the charge into the park
Stormed the gates and put the game on hold

The Rooters gave the other team a dreadful fright
Boston's tenth man could not be wrong
Up from third base to Huntington
They'd sing another victory song

(chorus)

Tessie, "Nuf Ced" McGreevey shouted
We're not here to mess around
Boston, you know we love you madly
Hear the crowd roar to your sound
Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
You know we couldn't live without you
Tessie, you are the only only only
Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
You know we couldn't live without you
Boston, you are the only only only
Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
You know we couldn't live without you
Red Sox, you are the only only only

It's Movie Weekend Indeed

2007-10-19T10:47:00.000-04:00

I think this is about as good as gets in one weekend for movies opening in wide-release at the same time. All of the following are hitting theatres this week; Rendition, Gone Baby Gone (from all accounts as good as the book I just read), Things We Lost in the Fire, Into the Wild, The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D and 30 Days of Night (kinda looking like Josh Hartnett isn't asked to do much, which is a good thing). And Reservation Road and Wristcutters are opening in select theatres (i.e. not Columbus - it's okay, I'll be patient).

Davey and Dan Make Good on the Promise

2007-10-18T16:13:00.000-04:00

I'm not real good at writing about music, but I am pretty decent at knowing what is good. Ask those who know me. But what I can tell you is that the new Maritime album, Heresy and the Hotel Choir, is absolutely amazing.

After the break-up of The Promise Ring in 2002, the emo world let out a collective moan, even if many hated the direction that their finale, Wood/Water, moved towards. Soon after, lead singer/guitarist Davey Van Bohlen, fellow Promise Ring member, Dan Didier (drums) and Eric Axelson (bass) of the recently defunct Dismemberment Plan got together and made what Glass Floor, which was kind of like an acoustic Promise Ring record. Oh, don't get me wrong, it was good. It just wasn't great and didn't break any new ground sound-wise. Publicity was minimal, including AP deeming them one of the top 5 bands we would never hear about again (or something like that). Touring was fairly sparse and rumors of a break-up emerged. Still, We, the Vehicles, came along 2 years later and signs of what a true collage of TPR and Dismemberment would sound like appeared. More upbeat and quirky than its predecessor, it harkened back to TPR's more poppy moments without ever disintegrating into cheese.

Once again, break-up rumors persisted but these were soon quelled by information of a new album to be released a little over a year after Vehicles. Well, it arrived a few weeks ago and I've been blessed with it (thanks Brian!), after I completely forgot about it coming out. Ah...depression does wonderful things. Anyway, I highly recommend it to all as a pop masterpiece (even with the departure of Axelson).

If We Could Just Resurrect Josh...(But That Would Imply He Was Alive Before)

2007-10-17T23:36:00.000-04:00

So yeah...I hit up the cheap seats today. Since I saw Ratatouille last week and wasn't in the mood for the The Simpson's Movie, I thought check out one of the year's box-office bombs, Resurrecting The Champ. Hehe. Ah...what this movie might have been without Josh "Sideburn" Hartnett. Oh...you know what I mean. Growing the sides of your hair out and having the wings hang down...uh...no, those do not count as sideburns. For real, there is two things you can always count on Josh Hartnett for; shitty haircuts and the most wooden acting this side of Steven Seagal. And its a shame, cause Sam Jackson turned in one of his better performances. Bout' a B-/C+ or so.

A certain lack of magic...among other things

2007-10-16T15:54:00.001-04:00

I've seen a few people write about the new Bruce Springsteen album (apparently though the E Street Band is backing him, they receive no credit...at least on the outside). I haven't acquired it yet, but a few things are coming through from those who are talking about it. First of all, its a bit-forced. Studio-tricks take precedent and make it feel like its a bit phoned-in. Secondly, some have said it's incredibly political, and not in the non-partisan ways of old for him. I guess that's not really a surprise, since its all the rage to be political (i.e. to the pseudo-progressive left) these days, but a shame nontheless. I guess when I finally get ahold of it I'll know.

Ah...apparently Radiohead "released" a new album last week, hehe. And are now bathing in money due to the "ingenious" method they used to release it. I want to make something clear. I don't hate Radiohead. In fact, The Bends and OK Computer are two of my favorite albums of all time. And while the sound isn't the same, it seems that Radiohead began to follow a path of similarity about a year or so before Wilco did. Heavy on atmospherics and studio-trickery, Kid A, Amnesiac, and Hail to the Thief kinda turned me off. Not that they aren't good albums and not that they can't be listened to...they just remind of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost is Born...completely overrated, pseudo-organic examples of waaay too much time in the studio. (And I will still hold to this day, regardless of how I Am Trying To Break Your Heart made him look, Wilco will never be the same without Jay Bennett). Just my two cents, which I know seem to be heavily disagreed with, but that's cool.

The Worst Ever and the Best of This Year?

2007-10-12T18:15:00.000-04:00

Blender has published it's list of 50 Worst Songs Ever. I have an idea there are some much worse than these which I can come up with. Not that these are good by any means.

AllMusicGuide also has their Best of 2007: Mid-Year Report up. Not sure how long its been there, but this is the first time I saw it. Lots of good, some suspect, and plenty my ignorant ass hasn't heard.

Oh, did I mention that I'm really tired of hearing about Radiohead's new album?

George Michael

2007-10-12T14:23:00.000-04:00

Yep, Michael Clayton is pretty much as good as the critics are saying. I won't say it's in that best movie of the year column, but the shit is still pretty hot. The story is nothing new but one, in the case it is done right, will keep you glued to your seat the whole time. I suppose it reminded me a lot of The Insider, Michael Mann's masterpiece, with its muted colors and constant scenes at night/early morning. Also similar to The Insider, Clayton is a slow-moving expose that requires your full attention. Don't worry though, you will be rewarded that you did.

George Clooney thankfully dials the smarm down a decent amount, somewhat reminiscent of his role in Syriana. And then there is Tom Wilkinson (the dad in In the Bedroom among other great performances), who could have made his role of high-priced corporate lawyer gone nutty with a conscience into a completely unbelievable farce. However, as good as Clooney is, I think Wilkinson is what holds this together as his role could have easily gotten out-of-hand and been made into a sideshow distraction by lesser actors. Perhaps more than you realize until you are finished with it. My only possible problem is a certain characters moral flip-flop towards the end which seems a little sudden for me. But hey, you can't always have perfection. Grade: A-

Some movies from the last week or so...

2007-09-30T03:57:00.000-04:00

I may expand upon this in the near future...though motivation is in short supply :)

The Brave One - I really wanted to hate this movie from when I first saw a preview for it a few months ago. Alas, Neil Jordan (The Crying Game, Interview with A Vampire) has crafted a nice little piece of suspense/drama here. Jodi Foster is once again on her A-game and not surprisingly Terrence Howard matches her. The movie is not political in nature but will raise some thoughts in your head about guns and the power one perceives by having one. I'll leave it at that. A-

Eastern Promises - I can't complain about this latest effort from David Cronenberg. Though I think he spoiled me a bit with A History of Violence. I don't agree with Richard Roeper much, but he said something to the effect that he really wanted to love this movie but just liked it a lot. I believe his also mentioned that there was a final gear that he thought it was going to hit but never did. I concur. What exactly it is that is misses from this to make me love it, I'm not exactly sure. But there is something. That being said, the performances all-around are superb and Viggo Mortenson is continuing to show why he is one of the better actors around and not just King Aragorn. B+

The Invasion - I know the critics and audiences alike hated this for the most part. It was in and out of the first-run theatres about as quick as anything this year. And yeah, it is basically "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" done for the 3rd or 4th time. But you know what? It was okay. For real. Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig are convincing enough, while Jackson Bond holds his own as her grade-school son. Some mistakes though exist. The excellent Jeffrey Wright (Broken Flowers, Syriana) is given basically nothing to do. And the body snatchers themselves? Uh...kinda boring. B-

Knocked Up (for the 3rd time in the theatre) - A

In the Valley of Elah - I'm sure people will piss and moan from both sides of the political spectrum about this film. It will probably be viewed as not vehement or anti-war enough by the left the lefties and of course your standard die-hard conservatives will point to Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon, call it a day, and not even bother. Thankfully most critics have seen through this and praised it as they rightly should. Tommy Lee Jones carries on his quiet devastation from The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and gives an equal if not, better performance of a man whose war veteran son has gone missing while on furlough. Susan Sarandon actually isn't in the film for long but plays the grieving mother beautifully, without going overboard into histrionics. Charlize Theron is solid and dependable as the detective who takes the case in the small town bordering the base where Jones' son was stationed. Director Paul Haggis (Crash) dials things back a bit and let things smolder quietly and gradually as they should. And what is this? Is that Jason Patric I see? After being virtually non-existent since his excellent turn in Narc 5 years ago, Patric also does a nice job as the military base's investigative lead. Solid all-around, devastating, and thought-provoking, its all here in one of the year's best. A

The Kingdom - B

Anyone seen whats in theatres this week?

2007-09-21T10:04:00.000-04:00

Sweet Jesus. This could possibly be the worst release week I've seen all year. Good Luck Chuck, Resident Evil: Extinction, and Sydney White. Wow.

Brett...What Have You Done?

2007-09-17T17:34:00.001-04:00

I know that punk labels don't exist for indie-coolness. That's for Paste Magazine and the like. I know that I have supported, in one fashion or another, Epitaph and its subsidiaries(Anti/Hellcat) for close to 15 years. From Bad Religion to Rancid to The Weakerthans to Tom Waits (among many others). I have purchased cds, purchased downloads and purchased t-shirts, merchandise, etc.

Brett Gurewitz, I do not understand why you decided to leave emusic http://17dots.com/2007/09/13/an-epitaph-for-epitaph/#more-1043. You have not, as far as I can tell, given any official response. This has only caused further fury among your previously loyal customer base. Perhaps those who are more inclined toward purchasing only from the Anti catalog will view itunes as a somewhat viable option, as indie-hipsters tend to be willing to pay more than the average punk fan (believe me, I've seen it at music stores, not of the chain variety, and of course bookstores). I do not view this as a viable option. As a listening and organizing tool, I think itunes is just fine. I own two ipods. However, I have yet to purchase a song, let alone an album, from itunes, nor do I plan to in the future. As do many others.

The used cd route that emusic has suggested, is a bit naive I think. Sure, occasionally you can find used cds through Amazon for $3, and I'm sure that Amazon does some very fine business through it. However, what has been forgotten is the obligatory $2-3 shipping fee to go along with the always constant mystery of who you are buying it from, unless of course you have shopped from them before. Still Brett, if this option is pursued, your artists do not see a god damn dime. You tell me how that is good for business. If you honestly think that this decision is going to benefit your artists, then please, tell us how in an official response. Thanks. Dude.

Big, Dumb, Fun At The Theatre...Once Again

2007-09-15T23:22:00.000-04:00

I remember somebody mentioning to me how "Snakes on a Plane" was their guilty pleasure at the theatre last year. I mean, I'm all for the guilty pleasure and those who know me also know that I am bound to see anything at the theatre. Truth of the matter is though, that "Crank" (with Jason Statham of Transporter fame) made Snakes look like the pile of shit that it was. It was quite dumb, and action-laden, and had all sorts of implausabilities, but you never felt you being taken advantage of. It was simply there to enjoy and laugh it.

"Shoot 'Em Up" was a lot like that. Though I'll admit I may be somewhat impartial due to the fact that the two leading men in the movie are Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti, two of the better actors working the screen today. The basics being that a women, about to give birth, is being chased by...well..."bad" guys. Owen's character, "Mr. Smith", happens to be sitting at the bus stop in the shitty part of town as this happens in front of him. For apparently no real reason, he takes off and goes after the women, delivers the baby, and in the process manages to knock off all of the men chasing her. He does though lose the mother in the process.

If anyone saw "Children of Men" (which you should if you haven't), it is once again Owen's job to "save this baby" for reasons that he can't truly explain with his prostitute-friend, Donna, who becomes some sort of a "motherly" figure, esecially thanks to the fact that is still...er..."producing" after losing her own child. Thankfully it never gets sentimental and what proceeds is basically 80 minutes of, well, shoot 'em up fun. The jokes are cheesy without making you feel dumber for hearing them. And Paul Giamatti is beautifully over-the-top as an ex-FBI profiler gone...er...bad (i.e. deliciously evil). Like I said, if you take it simply for what it is you will have a lot of fun. 'Cause Oscar is not going to come calling here any time soon.

So...What Has Changed?

2007-09-11T19:07:00.000-04:00

Here we are again. On the 6th anniversary of 9/11. A horrific day for sure in this country. I wonder though, what has changed since then. We are once again completely immersed in materialism and greed. Not that it took long to go back in that direction after our few months when we were reeking of "do-goodocity" was over. I don't pretend that either party has any answers for what is wrong, cause they don't. Nor do I ever pretend that what happened to us was justified by the extremists. The arrogance that they do speak of? It is indeed there. I fear that there will not be a done when we simply decide to live with less. Sure, some of us will and have. But the majority will continue to buy-in to whatever is being sold without thinking about the true cost to them and those around. Ignorance is indeed bliss.

"A people that values its privileges over its principles soon loses both"
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

"With God On Our Side" - Bob Dylan

Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.

Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.

Oh the Spanish-AmericanWar
had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side.

Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.

I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.

In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.

The VMA's: Another Night of Musical Supremacy

2007-09-10T20:41:00.000-04:00

No, I don't currently have cable. But I have read enough about the MTV Awards last night that tell me nothing much has changed in the MTV land. I guess it also tells me that even though MTV doesn't show videos anymore (besides something like 3-5am and TRL - they still have that right?) that its still all the same people watching it. Well, actually I guess its not. Cause apparently the ratings are down and they thought it might be a good idea to bring a paunch-bearing Britney in to open the show with some damn fine lip-syncing.

I guess the question is does anybody still give a shit about Britney Spears whether she was fat or not? I mean, she wasn't really faaaaaat, just definitely not thin. Well, beyond that, its what is being presented to us as true artists. Apparently there were truly "credible" artists whose performances in their "suites" at the hotel it was hosted were cut off. I mean, I'll give you Kanye (though his head apparently has swelled to about the size of Minnesota), but JT and Fiddy, Foo Fighters and Fall Out Boy? I mean I think Courtney Love is insane but...okay, she is. But I don't know what to call Dave Grohl anymore. I can't believe this is the same guy that was in Nirvana and made the incredible "The Colour and the Shape". And as far as FOB courting to the "punk" crowd? Please. I know a few of you have tattoos and that Pete wears lots of eyeliner (and hell, even Andy Hurley used to play in a straight-edge hardcore band)...but you guys are nothing but preening, pretentious douchebags.

What it comes down to I guess, is that MTV simply does not trust the public enough to simply put good artists out in front of them and let them perform. Its all about tricks and gimmicks. How many collaborations can we line up? Surely the audience doesn't want to watch anyone perform by themselves...cause...that would be like a concert? Oh shit! Not that. I'm not even going to address the "awards" they handed out. But, then again MTV hasn't really been interested in music for many years. I guess MTV2 still does Headbangers Ball and the odd indie-spotlight, but even that station is no longer about music. The title of the blog says that the radio is broken, obviously the television is too when it comes to music.

Movies from that "Worst Weekend of the Year"

2007-09-06T11:21:00.000-04:00

They say that Labor Day weekend is generally the worst weekend for movies of the year, i.e. worst for the box-office, which is all that matters to some people. I could tell you that seeing Rob Zombie's re-worked "Halloween" and James Wan's "Death Sentence" made for a great weekend.

Well, not exactly. Zombie's effort...is well, messy. It's not that it is so God-awful that you want to laugh at it or have it made nearly enjoyable from the sheer inanity. Nor is it good to the point where you aren't constantly referring to the original from 30 years ago. But honestly, with how good the original was, did you ever think that would happen? Didn't think so. The backstory, for the first 40 minutes or so, is the best part. The performances are believable enough, as long as Deag Faerch keeps his mouth shut trying to play the young Michael Myers. And Zombie's wife actually does an admirable job of playing mom. But its far from anything to rave about and because it takes up so much time, you are left with trying to tidy everything up in an hour. I assure you this is not Zombie's specialty. It's predictable and by-the-numbers, going for gore as opposed to suspense. Remember how much blood you actually saw in the original. Yep, pretty close to zip. Grade: C

As for James Wan's "Death Sentence", I can't really use the word enjoy when describing it. And its not that its cause its an awful movie. It's just difficult. And brutal. Pretty much what you would expect for the man behind the lens of the Saw series. I've read some things that a couple people have written about it (that haven't seen it)...always makes me laugh. And yes, it is fantastical and a bit over-the-top. But in the end I keep coming back to the question of how would I respond if my child was killed in front of me? Anyone who simply passes it off as "I would just let God handle it and try to move on" I think is being a bit naive. Would I go out and start what is basically a war with a gang. Probably not. But would I want revenge? I can't lie and say no. And neither should you. Grade: B-

Just some thoughts...

2007-09-04T22:05:00.003-04:00

So I am back here in blogger-ville. Guess I thought I'd give this a try again. Not sure why. Maybe just needed an outlet. Anyway...like it says, just some thoughts about music, movies, sports, life. Pretty muchly.