Sunday, December 31, 2006

What A Year For A New Year.

I admit, I had a grand plan to swing back into the blogging world with a vengeance. However, that planned entirely hinged upon me having a top ten film list ready to share with the world.

The fates intervened.

Someone had a different plan.

No actually I didn't get to see all the movies necessary to tabulate a formidable and ass kicking top ten list. That will happen soon, most likely mid january. It's going to be a sprint as soon as I get back to L.A. In the meantime I shall offer the first entry of 2007. It's a heavy weight to bear, I'm not sure I can handle it.

I could go on a rant about how celebrating new years only fills me with a certain blahness mixed with regret about the end of a year. And how disturbing it was to hear dick clark's voice this year, or how depressing it was to see ryan seacrest and christina aguilera engage in real conversation.

I've done all that.

Instead I'm going to throw my hat into a different kind of year end retrospective, one that always inspires feverish debates from all participants and can encompass a variety of tastes and preferences. I'm not going to pretend that I heard enough new music this year to formulate a true top ten list. And I know I won't be able to listen to all that music (for a true top ten list of the year in music as well as a spectacular song countdown of the year 2006 head over to the Girl Will Scar You.

Here's my lame attempt...

I've broken it down into three categories, with one album assigned to each. So think of this as a top three list, but this is not just any top three list. These are the three most important albums for me in the year ending 2006.

The First Category is:
Biggest Surprise of 2006

My Chemical Romance-The Black Parade

This category is a hands down no brainer for me. I thought these guys had turned into a joke, a bastardized fall out boy esque mtv version of the worst kind of generic watered down emotional music. They had a concept album as their follow up to their first "big" record, worst, it was a concept album about a cancer patient about to expire on his operating table. I thought they were in way over their heads and doomed to fail by giving into the worst kind of goth emo punk pretensions. Rather than do that, they came roaring out of the gates and shoved a big, great scream of an album right in my face. Without getting into all the genre name dropping homages I find in the album to prove not only my extensive musical knowledge, but also how "legitimate" this band is by critical standards. I merely offer that The Black Parade is the most emotional, exhausting, and exhilirating album of the year. One that doesn't merely feature tracks but a detailed, epic battle for living over dying complete with bigger than big moments that could have crashed and burned in lesser hands. The fact that they took the risk is the most satisfying element of the album. Singer Gerard Way gives the best performance of any singer this year on any album and he does it by just saying yes to it all. He takes us to hell and back, and when he makes a plea for us to carry on, I'm there. People who lump these guys with the rest of the generic emo pop punk bull shit just aren't listening. Hopefully this album will change some minds, it changed mine.

"I see you lying next to me
With words I thought I’d never speak
Awake and unfraid
Asleep or dead

I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey if you stay
I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home"

Most Personal Album of 2006

Kevin Devine-Put Your Ghost to Rest

This category name may be confusing. It's meant to be that way. It basically means the album that meant the most to me, that had the most emotional effect on me. The one that made me stop and think about some of the choices I've made and the kind of consequences (good or bad) that they have wrought. It's also personal because Kevin Devine seems to somehow illuminate the kind of every day ruminations I have but could never put down as eloquently as he does. Sometimes I feel like his thoughts are even superior. The point being, he seems to speak for me (I know it's not just for me) and with every new album he makes me stop and observe things a little more carefully. His music has a very precise impact on my life. Put Your Ghost to Rest is his best album yet, such strong musicianship with some of the most complex, challenging, and catchy compositions he's ever come up with on an album. His lryics are on a par with no one else, combining stining political indictments, devastatingly honest observations about himself, and a sense of humor that is sorely missing in a lot of music these days. He can do it all, and he just seems to be getting better at it. His album is about wanting to fix the worse parts of yourself while completely induling in them at the same time. And the kind of havoc that can wreak on your life and the lives of those around you. The fact that he does it in a way that is touching, heartbreaking, and inspiring without ever sinking to sentimental mush or easy answers is in an of itself, a think of beauty.

"And your silver tounge
Masks your hungry hate
While your haggard heart
Whispers through its cracking cage,
"You still can change; you have to know
You still can change."

I know, I know - for now, I want to be this way.
This was a choice; this was never a mistake."


The Best Album of 2006

Pearl Jam-Pearl Jam

This should come as no surprise to anyone. Seeing as how Pearl Jam is the greatest band in the world, it's no surprise they released the greatest album of this year. This is not an arbitraty decision by any stretch of the imagination. Don't think I just thought: "hey, new pearl jam record, it's gotta be the greatest, you follow what Im saying?" It's the best album of the year because it combines classic genre busting music with a sense of moral outrage and responsibility few artists are capable of. Pearl Jam shafted the grunge logo a long time ago, they have always been a rock band through and through. A rock band not afraid to stay true to the purpose of why they all started playing music in the first place. The fact that they have survived this long is an accomplishment, the fact they produced a record this ear blasting, and this vital at this point in their career is simply astounding. From the blistering opening to the sobering finale where they proudly proclaim that they will not lose their faith. Pearl Jam proves that all of the misconceptions about them are just that. They go beyond left/right, red/blue in their politics to an area of moral responsibility where few artists tread. It's complex, humane, and full of a desire to keep on fighting. At the same time no one can craft a song like these guys and no one can sing like eddie vedder, who still manages to find new shades of his personality to share with us. These guys will always matter and hopefully some day people will stop judging them based on record sales or what spin magazine thought of them back in 1991. They will be around forever.

"Those undecided
Needn't have faith to be free.
And those misguided,
There was a plan for them to be...
Now you got both sides
Claiming 'killing in god's name'.
But god is nowhere
To be found, conveniently... "

There you go, my music picks of 2006. Maybe there is a common theme amongst the three, I don't know. I just seem to click my wheel to them the most frequently. There were other great albums this year, but these were the most important to me. I think that means something, anyway I can't wait to do my top ten list. See ya in the funny pages...

As for this new year business. I offer these words of wisdom to some up how I feel about the change and resolutions.

"Less yesterday, and more today.
I gotta get my head on straight.
Less Yesterday, and more today.
I gotta start to live that way."

"I want to stop it...
But it's the only life I know how to live."

Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas

I'm going to start posting in this thing again I swear.

But until then...


Merry Christmas everyone.

remember last year when you were on your own
you swore the spirit couldn't be found
december rolled around and you were counting on it
to roll out

well, everything's gonna be cool this christmas
everything's gonna be cool this christmas
everything's gonna be cool this christmas

well everybody's lookin' for you down at the house
the tree is looking so inspired
there's a yuletide groove waitin' for you to move
i'll go and throw another log on the fire

everything's gonna be cool this christmas
everything's gonna be cool this christmas
everything's gonna be cool this christmas

as days go by the more we need friends
and the harder they are to find
if i could have a friend like you all my life
well i guess i'd be doin' just fine

everything's gonna be cool this christmas
everything's gonna be cool this christmas
everything's gonna be cool this christmas

p.s.

A Slow Dissolve is great cinema. It's going to tear up the screens, it's only a matter of time...
They won't know what hit them.

Monday, November 20, 2006

All of A Sudden I Miss Everyone

A lot of new stuff to report.
But as they say, out with old, in with the nucleus.

First of all, the explosions in the sky and kevin devine concerts last week were wonderful experiences. Those two are acts that get better every time I see them, and I feel like I know their music so well that it becomes a much more personal experience. Especially Kevin Devine, who played a quiet and intimate set with just a guitar that was the loudest and energetic I've ever seen him. While I hope he achieves success because he deserves it, I also hope he remains relatively close to the status he is now. I don't want to be one of those guys who wants to keep an artist all to himself, but can't I just have Kevin Devine? One day, I will write a movie set to his music...one day. Same goes for explosions, I just hope these guys keep making better music and as long as they have the means to keep doing so, I could give a damn whether they have a video or Rolling Stone writes a cover story about them. Anyway they both put on a great live show, and everybody should try to seem at least once. You best.

Second of all, Babel is one of the best movies I've seen all year. It's a divider, apparently some people falling into the love it camp and others falling into the hate it group. I personally loved it, I think Inarritu makes films like nobody else. I put him in the same class as Terrence Malick in that his films make emotional sense rather than narrative sense. And if you're up for it, it can be one hell of a movie going experience. It overwhelms not only with its cinematic power but also how it delves into the moments that make up a life. It does it without ever becomeing grandoise or self-indulgent, Babel springs from the minds of people who see the brighest light in the darkest night. Babel is a reason why movies are still important and always will be to me.

I have one last thing to share, this was something I was thinking about on the way home from work today. It all ties into the honesty of kevin devin'e music and the beauty of Inarritu's film. I think it does, but just assume it does and we'll meet up halfway.

It all started when I went to a bonified L.A. party this past weekend. I don't say that to be glib or to brag, I'm just an observer relaying how an incident sprung forth some supposed insight from my mind. Anyway we go to this party and for one thing my name was on the guest list. I thought it was very strange that while these two nicely dressed women were pleading with the bouncer to make some special arrangement to let another one of their friends in, Danno and I stroll in like VIP. Me and my dashboard hoodie and my tattered rags, gettin the velvet rope pulled aside for us. Something just didn't seem right. Then we're at the party and it's like everything I'd ever seen in a movie before about L.A. A lot of fake. Fake smiles, other fake body parts. People walking in a certain motion that makes it look like they're posing on a runway, even as they walk to the bathroom. Topher Grace strolled by us on his way to the bathroom, he didn't have a pose, he seemed pretty normal. Sorry about the name dropping, it's the only one I got for this story and I thought it helped add to the atmosphere. Everybody just seemed into this game they were all collectively playing. It seemed like the object was to appear as if you knew something the rest of the club didn't know. To appear as if you had all the answers and were not anywhere near divulging them with the rest of us. It seemed like a very isolating game, but I guess if you're playing with like minded people, it becomes a group effort. People just seemed out to one up each other on every possible level.

This got me thinking about creativity and artistic expression. Where does it happen in all this? How does someone say someting personal about life through this? Not that this was the be all end all of film producion in Los Angeles but a good portion of these people have a lot stake in the process. I've always thought of filmmaking as a chance to say something and connect with someone else in a way that is unlike any other connection possible. It's hard to explain but think about how you felt when you saw a film that really meant something to you. Where you could tell the creators put themself on the line and said something so unabashadely sincere that if this were an alternate universe, you could have made that movie. That's filmmaking, not agents, managers, assistants, executive assistants, clubs, events, bookings, deals, and all the other stuff that people seem to talk about more than what those terms are supposed to support: creativity. I'm sure this will be met with a collective eye-roll, seeing as how I've only been out here a month and a half and am nowhere near grasping how this industry works. I admit to that, but from what I have observed in my time here, this is how I process all of it. I don't have any answers, just more questions. I know I sound naive, but movies to me have never been about what they seem to be about. They're about something I can't name but I've felt it, and hope to capture one day on my own. I don't know, I guess I just felt out of place at this shindig, maybe that's all there is to it.

Sorry for the conclusion, I guess I just ran out of steam.

Good night.

I lost my gun today when I left you and I'm the laughingstock of a lot of people. I wanted to tell you. I wanted you to know and it's on my mind. And it makes me look like a fool. And I feel like a fool. And you asked that we should say things - that we should say what we're thinking and not lie about things. Well, I can tell you that, this, that I lost my gun today - and I am not a good cop. And I'm looked down at. And I know that. And I'm scared that once you find that out you may not like me.

I can't let this go. I can't let you go. Now, you... you listen to me now. You're a good person. You're a good and beautiful person and I won't let you walk out on me. And I won't let you say those things - those things about how stupid you are and this and that. I won't stand for that. You want to be with me... then you be with me. You see?

Friday, November 10, 2006

So let's shake and trade and be on our way...

Let's go, go, go.

Not much new to report today, I just felt like jotting down a few things before I shuffle off to bed.

The cable box on my television struggles to survive and continue feeding me pictures of the new Real World Denver cast, this is extremeley important to me right now.

I bought the Jóhann Jóhannsson cd on itunes today per nate's suggestion and now I'm listening to another band called On Fire, they were also from itunes. I randomly found them and somebody said they made beautiful music on a par with Sigur Ros, how can I turn that down? Also Johann seems pretty good so far.

The new Spiderman 3 trailer is pretty damn cool. I still don't know who or what venom is, but the movie looks like it's going to blow us out of the back of the theatre.

I'm going to see Babel tomorrow night and the director is going to be there for a post film Q+A, not that I will ask a question but he is one of my favorite directors so it will be cool to see him in person and hear what he has to say. I also really want to see Babel, like really really want to see it. It's going to be big, Gabby Hayes big.

I wish I had some cool stories to report, but my journeys at the Sony Lot have yielded nothing yet, but hold on. Just like Tom Waits said, we gotta hold on and something will happen.

That's it for me, I'm Joe Namath, good night america.

"You still can change, you have to know you still can change
I know, I know, for now I want to be this way
This was a choice this was never a mistake
This was never a mistake."

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

We're not lost and I'm not embarrassed for us all...

I just want to preface this by warning I will not be revealing any new revelations about the election, pretty much everything I have to say has probably been said by somebody much much better than me, much. Check out Greenwald's blog, go over to Democracy Now! Crooks and Liar Kos AmericaBlog, I'm sure they have some good insight into the whole bloddy affair.

I gotta say it feels weird, Jarrad makes a good point that it's so hard to determine in politics whether one party really does have the right answer. Politics has a lot to do with personal decisions, morals, and conscience and it's hard to do that with party politics playing as big a role as they do. At the same time, I'm all with Nate's righteous anger (I'm sure Jarrad is too). I think change is a step in the right direction and I think the people who have led this country into the place it is in now deserve some kind of retribution, if losing the job's is the least that happens to them they should consider themselves lucky. And I think this speaks volumes to the will of the people and to the resounding rejection of fear mongering and severely anti-democratic measures perpetrated upon the citizens by the so called safe guards of democracy. To polish off an old chestnut, we're mad as hell and have voted against taking it anymore.

On the other hand, I'm cautiously optimistic. As much as I don't agree with Nader most of the time, he brought up a good point on Democracy Now when he said the democrats ran on a non-mandate, they had no plan. They fed off the anger towards the republican party. Do they have a plan? I know that's always been a joke against the democratic party, but now that they are the majority, it's not really a joke anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely happy, but what happens if the anger dies down in 2008 and people go back to the voting patterns they displayed 2 and 4 years ago? These are all hypothetical and maybe I've grown too disillusioned with the whole American political system to believe something good has happened. I don't want to be that guy and I don't think I am. I know there are severe, solid differences between the two parties, and I do think now we have people in office who will listen to our complaints rather than live in a bubble. We will continue to complain and we should still keep a vigilant eye, now maybe they will be heard. I guess what it comes down to is that politicians from both parties have very different policies, but they all play the politics game. They're like movie studios, they want to put asses in the seats. They want to sell as many tickets as possible. They cater to the lowest common denominator.

I guess now is the time to celebrate the fact that our electoral process has, for the first time, since I've been aware of politics (that began in 2000), has atually reflected the will of the people. And it was not hijacked by a bunch of republican cronies and stolen from us. We spoke, they heard, things changed. Sure it's not perfect but it's the best system we have...

...for now.

And with that I leave you with kevin devine to wrap things up.

"The tabloids tell us hate the rat who strikes those subways closed and puts you out
Forget those 50-hour tunnel weeks inhaling steel dust poison through his mouth
Well if he don't deserve a pension that makes his family feel secure
If we're now so disconnected it's our relfections we ignore
And if our constant choice is skimming past the writing on the wall
Oh whoa oh woh
Then I'm sad to say we're lost and I'm embarrassed for us all"

Sunday, November 05, 2006

The Black Parade

Apparently you tube didn't honor the URL I posted in the last entry.

So here's the video for the Black Parade, watch it and rock.

I also I just want to clarify that even though I said the album is about death and the band is optimistic. I was not being contradictory, the fact that they can be that way in the face of such gloom highlights just how talented they are.

It's later than it needs to be...

Apparently, the way this thing works is whenever I have a lot of stuff to report, I never actually write in my blog. I get the notion but then I think to myself, I have so much to say that I will eventually get frustrated with how badly I communicate it, it slowly becomes not worth it.

So now I have decided to write, but I'm not going to write a lot because I've noticed the last couple of entries have been unwieldy, I will try to be concise. I can't promise I'll try but I'll to try.

Saw two more movies to recommend to you all. The Prestige and Marie Antoinette, I liked Marie better but more on that in a second. Prestige is worth seeing because Christopher Nolan is developing into one of the most unique talents of his generations. I just watched Memento and insomnia again recently, Insomnia being insanely under appreciated in my book and Memento, I think pretty much damn near revolutionized the thriller genre. The only problem with Prestige is that it doesn't add up to much and the ending is a bit of a cheat. That being said, it's a great ride getting there.

With Marie, I think Sofia Coppola is also a singularly unique talent in her generation. She knows how to capture loneliness with the subtlest of gestures, it's captivating to watch. Marie has gotten a lot of flack for ignoring historical accuracies and for ignoring the political context of the story. I have no defense for either of those charges except to say, you missed the point, you fool. Seriously though, I think Coppola was going for more of a mood piece than a period piece. And her interpretation of marie antoinette leads me to believe she sympathized with her as a girl stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time. And how the purpose she served was never to lead her own life, but to build up the lives of others. It's a sad story, and Coppola gives it the right amount of compassion and distance to feel her isolation. Plus versailles and the soundstrack are pretty stellar, this is a movie that has definitely grown on me since I saw it.

Speaking of Music, two really good albums I want to tell you about. The first one being kind of obvious: Kevin Devine's Put Your Ghost to Rest. Devine's gotta be my favorite singer songwriter working in music today. His songs have become so personal to me that they're like catching up with an old friend you haven't seen for a while. Plus he's advancing in ways I never predicted. His lyrics are sharper and much more powerful, his songwriting and arrangements have stepped into all kinds of new territories. He even has an alt country kind of song called Less Yesterday, More Today that hints at even better things to come. My only hope is his Capitol Records deal doesn't slow down his out put, he needs to keep making music. I love this album, I can't stop listening to it and I hope to make a movie one day set to his music, I'll be ripping him off anyway.

The second music item is really unexpected, it's The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance. Before you write these guys off as emo screamo weirdos. Let it be known, this album rocks and they too step out on such a ledge that I immediately admire them to not sticking to any kind of generic mtv playbook. They could have flopped hard, but I think they're flying inside right now. Black Parade is a concept album about a patient dying from cancer and the entire album is from his point of view on his death bed. Sounds like fun, but it actually is and I usually don't like really loud stadium rock but I'll be damned if I don't admit this guys me amped. Welcome to the Black Parade is the best single to be released so far this year and I think it will continue to be as such even when the year is over. I like My Chemical Romance because they're not afraid to be earnest and optimistic. And dammit, they mean everything they say and this shit is important to them. Any kind of compassion like that just uplifts my soul and makes me happy, I say more power to them. If you don't believe me then check it out for yoself...

The Black Parade.

Other than that, had a fun weekend in Monterey last weekend. Real pretty country up in those parts, Nate kicked ass in the half marathon, showed those country folk how a city boy runs it. Had a crowded Halloween this year where I not only missed Better than Ezra perform live, well that's pretty much all I missed. It was fun none the less, especially looking for parking.

Now if you'll excuse me, I will retire...

"So we laid glowing in the grass
To watch the sun swap with the moon
Trade our future for our past
The present tense was all we knew..."

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Star Wars: Fix You

I swear, everytime I let my mind wander and I even remotely forget about Star Wars.

Something like this comes along, and I remember.

It's kind of corny, but still. I wish I had cinemax, and corn me up good sir.

Check it out.
Star Wars is the shit.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Alone at last to figure how you got this way. (PART II)

I just realized something. This blog is ugly, I mean really ugly. I look at Nate's blog and it looks like it was all done up by Rembrandt Q. Einstein. Anybody have any suggestions on what I can do to tidy up this place, I've tried nothing and I'm all out of ideas.

Ya follow what I'm sayin'?

Before I forget, I just want to say that I'm glad certain athletic competitions ended a certain way.
That's all I'm going to say about that.

Where to begin? There's a of stuff I wanted to talk about like how great the new Kevin Devine album is. It's great like Frosted Flakes (and I'm listening to it right now). But I think I'll start with the old reliable, flick-a-shows. I got some good ones.

I know I always say I got good ones but this time I mean it. I saw three really really good movies this past week, all in a row actually. It was something I was no expecting, but it just kind of happened. It's a great feeling to see movies that just totally take you by surprise. Movies you expect not to affect you, wind up sticking with you several days afterwards.

I saw The Queen on Sunday night. Before I tell you about it, just know that as good as the hype is, the movie is even better. Beacuse it's real. Seriously, unlike Public Enemy you should believe the hype, it's that good. Hellen Mirren nails her performance, it's kind of scary the kind of command this woman has over the acting craft. She does so much glances, half suggestions, and pauses between words. It's a deeply felt performance that is just one of the strong elements of this film. What's so fascinating about this film is watching a relic of the monarchy fight against the light of modernity. It's tragic the way Queen Elizabeth desperately clings to the last vestiges of her livelihood as the entire world engages with her in a duel over the death of Princess Di. The most remarkable thing about the film is how much you sympathize with the Queen and her plight without Mirren or the filmmakers heaping heavy excesses of heroism upon you. She is a woman clinging to her principles, frought with consequences. She and the film never take the easy way out. The rest of the cast is very strong too, especially Michael Sheen playing the newly elected PM Tony Blair. Sheen is so good because he carries on this cloak of moral outrage at how the Queen is being treated by his staff and the people, yet you can always ever so slightly see a kind of shifty plotting of a young man trying to figure out his new place of power. It's one of the best movies I've seen this year.

The next day, I followed that up with Shortbus, and before you ask, I will answer. Yes it's the sex movie. But that's such a cheap and superficial explanation to the kind of power this movie has. Okay it has explicit sex in it (you see everything, and all kinds of variations of it) but there is so much joy, passion, and humor in this movie that it de-eroticizes all the hardcore stuff. The sex becomes so goofy and more an extension of the anxieties of these disconnected New Yorkers that each one seems like a circus act of mercy. I loved this movie, and before you start making any weird assumptions about me, I'm going to say it again, I loved this movie. Sure it's not perfect, the acting is extremely amateurish and the movie has a lot of rough edges. But the formalities are never the most important thing for me. A lot of the times, a movie lives or dies by how it's personality shines through all of the dollies, cut, and re-takes. This movie has personality to burn and John Cameron Mitchell has a spirit and an optimism that is infectious. And he took a precarious subject and made something unique that is totally his thing but he also wants to invite us in on the fun. There's fun to be had, trust me. At least know this, it's a movie about explicit sex that I recommend to everybody I know. It's about lonely people finding solace in each other and how random connections occur when you least expect them. We all need a movie like that once in a while. Mitchell is an optimist as the revolutionary, he will find the shimmering amongst the dank and so should we.

After that, (one more I swear), I caught up on Deliver Us From Evil, Amy Berg's searing and heartbreaking documentary about the life long sexual abuses committed by Oliver O'Grady on far too many children than one would like to think possible. Berg captures the psychological torture on these children (well into their adult years) in a way that allows us to understand yet we get choked up because we know we will never understand it. She also emphasizes the raging hypocrisy committed by the Catholic Church in a way that humanizes it rather than turn it into a cheap slogan campaign. The Cardinals, bishops, and priests claim a moral authority on everything except the all-mighty themselves. I guess it's that moral authority that allows them so sacrifice innocent children to protect their way of life. When the Church heirarchy learned O'Grady's offenses they did nothing more than send him a few miles away to another parish in California, to unleash him on a new set of unsuspecting children. It's a hypocrisy we see in almost every facet of political, social, and religious life. The most corrupt are always those who claim to be immune to it. This an organization to which, a great many people seek comfort, salvation, and hope. To take that kind of faith and spit it back in the face of children and their families is a unique kind of stain on one's soul. Berg let's you see how the psychological strains tear through each member of each family. It's a an epic topic broached through a personal, human scopt. One of the most powerful documentaries I've ever seen.

There you have it, three movies I think you all should go out and see right now. They each have a distinct style, soul, and spirit. They will get you in some way, maybe not a good way, but they will definitely not leave you glazed over. So see them and react. It's all the movies ask you to do.

"A man in a hotel room, tangled to his teeth by the telephone
He's waiting on a woman, wondering what she's doing,
And pacing so his pulse won't slow.
He drums his legs and pulls his hair; he carves her dimples in the air.
The raging world has spooked him scared, and he don't want her lost out there.
So now it's later than it needs to be
And though his aching eyes want sleep
Against all rationality
Against everything he believes
He prays for her protection,
Heaven bound & glory be.
I pray for your protection,
Heaven bound & glory be."

Monday, October 16, 2006

And if you fell in love will you hold on to it (PART I)

Okay everyone out there in internet land. Sorry about last night I meant to write a rather lengthy entry about a variety of topics, each one more fascinating than the last. However, it was midnight and when it came down to it, I just couldn't muster the strength. However, I am here now, hopefully not a day late and a dollar short. Still writing the same annoying sarcastic blog entries. "Groovy."

Seriously, as most of you know, I have been living in Los Angeles for almost a month now. I don't have a job yet, but everyday gets me closer to that interview which will eventually get me rejected from all the hottest and noisest jobs. I'm just kidding, I knew it was going to be difficult so I'm not discouraged. It's a pretty big world and I am awful small but there's gotta be a little place for me to put my cheeks down on the dirt. It will happen, I just have to keep working at it.

Anyway, the point of this is: I like it out here a lot. The weather is the tops, we have a great apartment, I got two fabulouso roommates (we are a colorful bunch, we've been dubbed the three muskateers), and I'm surrounded by a culture so fascinatingly perverse it provides endless fodder for entertainment. There are also a lot of astoundingly beautiful things out here, like the view from Griffith Park (something I don't think I'll ever get tired of), and the way the city lights up at night. I'll keep you guys posted on the progress of exploration. There is so much out here to see, I hope I get to see it all. But as it stands, I'm having a great time out here and I want to get used to it. It is weird to walk down the sidewalks here and be the only person within 15 miles all around walking.

That being said, I miss New York, a lot. There's a real sense of community to that city, I guess some people don't feel it and they find it isolating. I think it's the exact opposite, you may not feel connected the way you do in a small town where you know everybody. You feel connected to something bigger I think, something more like a feeling or a spirit. I don't mean to get all philisophical but it's something about New York that seperates it from any other city. Keep in mind, I do not prefer one to the other. Sure New York is much more familiar at this point, but that will change in time. They are both so different, it's like two positively charged ions on the north and south pole. You can't compare them, and I think the pros and cons of each city outweigh each other. I still miss New York, I hope I haven't seen the last of it. I'm sure my reps over there are taking good care of it.

Let's see, what else? There's been so much stuff going on recently in the world that I wanted to write about all at different points. Now they've all passed or are too big to confine to this one blog, I guess what I'll do is give you a quick run through of all the movies I've seen. Quite a twist huh? Bet you didn't see that one coming. Here they are, since I've been out in L.A.

The Illusionist
I don't know if this is playing anymore. But I had a good entertaining time with it. I think it's Paul Giamatti's best performance and it makes up for that travesty of a mockery of a movie, Lady in the Water. Norton's good as usual, Jessica Biel was pretty bad unfortunately but again pretty usual for that to happen. The movie itself plays out like a big magic trick (although I must admit the end is a bit of a cheat) then again, it's a damn good time that gets those wheels a turnin in your mind. Can't else for much more than that, catch it if you can.

Half-Nelson
Really strong film, I can't recommend this one enough. Again, this also may not be playing anymore but it should be out on video soon. Ryan Gosling plumbs depths rarely seen in actors of his age. It's one of the most complete performances of the year, intense yet never falling into the chasm of actorly tricks begging for sympathy. Shareeka Epps is perfect as well, playing the student opposite him. A challenging film whose subject (neglected school districts) usually leads other films to lengthy polemics about the power of easy answers to complex questions. None of that here, this one sticks with you.

This Film is Not Yet Rated
Another good romp of a flick exposing the cavalcade of idiots, hypocrites, and liars who call themselves the MPAA. Testimonials from beleagured filmmakers pepper this film with frank commentary from people who have fought and lost. Although most of the time the filmmakers win, when they lost it can't be devastating to a film. There were some problems, it gets repetitive after a while and the film raises one or two points too many that it can't really handle. It is a thrill to see the members of the board identified and exposed as the frauds they are. It's also kind of sickening to see members of the clergy (two of them are on the appeals board of the MPAA) deciding how many pelvic thrusts are allowed into a movie, or how much of maria bello's pubic hair we can see in one shot. I hope a lot of people saw this movie.

The Science of Sleep
Michel Gondry has got something on the pulse of the romance culture in this world. He is able to make films about love, loss, and connection that are undeniably personal to him, yet universal in how his audience connects with them. This is a film that somehow feels personal to everyone who sees it. That's a remarkable achievement. I also really liked Gael Garcia Bernal in this. He threw himself all over this movie with the kind of reckless abandon that is quite admirable. He balances romance with slap stick with a little dash of pathos in a way that is a beautiful thing to watch. Gondry's got an eye straight from his heart, he means every single frame of this film. And because of that it never gets too precious, it also makes me pretty damn happy, (The scenes of the two leads creating nonsense out of every day items was a particular delight to me). It's not as structurally tight and dazzling as eternal sunshine, but it makes up for it with a generous amount of sincerity and imagination.

Idiocracy
If you haven't heard about this movie, that's because Fox did everything in their power to keep it from seeing the light of day. Mike Judge finished it two years ago, needed a little more money to complete some ambitious effects shots and put other various finishing touches on the movie and fox said no. After an apparently disastrous test screening, fox decided the movie just wasn't worth their trouble and they dumped it in a few screens and prepared to ship it out to dvd subsequently. For more on the saga of idiocracy, check out this article. The movie itself is okay, it's hit or miss. But obviously a movie that was neglected before it ever had a chance to do something great. It's not nearly as bad as fox thinks it is, and it's got some great great moments in it. When it comes out on DVD, give it a chance. I just hope Mike Judge never makes a movie again. These damn studios don't deserve him.

jesus Camp
A fascinating and unsettling experience. It had me locked into a world I never wanted to experience yet I felt myself compelled by it. It's reality that I am not at all conscious of or connected with. The extreme evangelical movement is one that even if I were a practicing christian, I don't think I'd be comfortable with it. The film doesn't probe very hard into the cause and effect relationship of religion and politics. Particularly the well established connection between the right and the evangelical movement. It also does it a little bit too much with the haunted house music during the religious ceremonies. That being said, it's a film people should see not so they can cluck their tongues in disgust. But to understand that this is real movement in our society and is growing in a way that will not be considered fringe by the next generation. Is this a problem (I think it is) but this is an issue to be discussed in a later blog.

The Departed
A really fun satisfying ride of a movie. Leo and Matt are in top form, Nicholson is good for about a half of the movie. Meanwhile Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg turn in some effortlessly funny supporting roles that are two of the strongest works of their careers. The movie bears all the trademarks of lil' Marty and it is cut like nobody's business. The man knows how to make flicka shows, it's as easy as that. He lights some of this shit on fire. That being said, the movie totally shoots itself in the foot at the end and betrays a lot of the integrity and tragedy of the original Hong Kong version (which I think is definitely better). It cops out for a lame audience satisfaction ending and a last shot that seems like it was directed by someone else. It's a shame because it's a grand old ride up until that point, an exhilirating crime drama with a lot of meat on its bones. Then it becomes this clusterfuck filled with all the tricks that hacks usually use, this movie deserved better.

Renaissance
Not much to say about this one, it didn't do it for me. The animation is beautiful (yet oddly dull at times) but the story fails to engage on any possible level. It also doesn't make any sense and the voice acting is a kind of bored I've never heard in the field before this. Skip this one, that's all there is to it.

Okay, that felt pretty good. My grammar is still awful and I sometimes sound like a pull quote from a fake critic in an obnoxious t.v. commercial, but I like writing these little blurbs. I like keeping you guys up to date. I'll be back tomorrow with two bigger pieces about two really good movies I've seen recently (two of my favorites of this year so far). Check back in for that one tomorrow. Also new Kevin Devine, enough said.

Keep watching the skies...

His name was Charles
He said he was in love with me
We were both fourteen
Then I had to move away
Then he begin to smoke crack
Then he had to sell ass
I don't know where he is
I don't know where they are.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Black Dollar Bills

Hey All,

I'm going to write a proper post tonight. But for now, I would like to share with you a music video that got me hooked. The song is called Black Dollar Bills, the band is called Hope of the States.

Check it out.
I'll be back later.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Into the blue again...

I know, I know, I didn't even come close to reaching my goals for this blog once I moved out to L.A. I know there have been no updates whatsoever except for a link to a video on you tube, one of the most unoriginal things I could have done. No pictures, no funny stories, not even an anecdote about my endlessly amusing escapades in the city of angels.

I'm sorry.

...suckers...

Anyway, I will be updating this more frequently. And I say that as casually as I can so that when the time comes that I need to defend it, I will just say I never committed to it that much by using a lot of showy language and clever catch phrases. I can just say I said it, that's it.

But seriously, I will but right now its just a little bit after 12:30 and I just got back from the Album Leaf show at the troubadour. My first concert in Los Angeles by the way, actually my second, but the first that I planned to see and excecuted thusly.

A great show, I might add. They know how to play their shit and their new album is really good by the way. Their music always seems to transcend whatever time of day or season or mood in which I find myself and lift me up just a little bit. I hope it does that to other people too. The guys who make this music are believers and we need more of them out there today. Watching them play live is like watching a symphony conducter calmly coordinate all these sections into one sprawling whole, it is quite a sight.

It was weird being at this show, I should add. The crowd was fine, and the band was great, nothing with wrong in that department. It's weird how you get used to something as casual as going to a concert with your brother and then how much you miss him when he's not there. It's just not the same without you, Nate I guess is what I mean. Oh well, we'll always have human contact.

One other thing, does anybody know who I should call to get customer support from Apple regarding my Itunes account. It's doing this weird thing where I can't play any music I bought from my old account because I deactivated it before transferring all my stuff to my new computer. I'm confused too, don't worry. But I can't listen to a lot of my stuff because of it, so any suggestions, I'm open to them.

I'm really tired, I'm going to go to sleep.

Goodnight.

"so you spend the next week playing weakened,
rolling three men alone in the dark of your kitchen.
your apartment can't talk so it's safe for your secrets,
all the stories you've invested with a massochist, menacing meaning,
those tired tricks that you play to graph the life to your name
and you know it's not yours but for now it's okay."

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Carry Me, Ohio (Montpelier)

Greetings from beautiful Montpelier, Ohio.

How yall doin' today?

We have set out on Katrinka and Ethan's Bogus Journey. The sequel to the box office smash, Nate and Ethan's Excellent Adventure. Driving out west to settle up in sunny Los Angeles, CA. We are in a Holiday Inn which according to the guest directory exists in a place called Holiday City, not Montpelier as AAA would have us believed. Strange things are afoot.

I don't have much to say or anything to link you to right now. Just to inform you that I will be taking a new approach to anti-fanboy right now. I feel a change is due. I want to keep you guys updated to my journeys in Los Angeles. Not that it will be interesting, but it's gotta be better than that last Barbara Streisand movie. Maybe I'll re-design the site (probably not), give it a snazzy new name (again probably not) and write in it much more frequently (gotcha.) Anyway stay tuned, there will be some interesting new developments here at anti-fanboy.blogspot.com.

And that's the way it is.

"Well I guess we'll pack the ghosts as well
and move on now
and move west now.
with our big dreams, all in boxes.
Oh are dreams aren't as quite as big as our boxes."

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

The saga is complete

Before I begin. I was just watching letterman and Zach Braff was on to promote his new movie the last kiss. As Braff walked on the band started playing "Last Kiss" in some kind of jazz band ensemble cover of it. Last Kiss is the J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers song that Pearl Jam completely kicked ass with. I thought it was an odd choice, just wanted to share that. Also the movie looks lame, Zach Braff is lame.

Anyway, as Nate's blog has previously reported, we are all done here. Tomorrow morning, Nate and I set out on expanse across this great nation of ours en route to Avondale. Everybody else has left and all that remains is this dualistic notion of loss (end of Summer, always a sad time for me) and extreme joy and elation (in light of completing the movie). We are going through the seemingly contrasting and negating oppositions of those two extremes of emotions. It's a weird thing, not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination. We did it, there's no reason to be bummed. And I personally think Nate has a pretty damn good movie on his hands (sound issues aside...oh boy). Maybe this just means that (gasp!) we had a really good time shooting this movie and we're going to miss it. How awful.

"Are you being sarcastic, dude?"
"I don't even know anymore."

In summation, I'm really happy we're done, and I'm really happy to leave. I'm really happy to go home. I'm happy.

"I want to see my family
my wife and child waiting for me
I've got to go home
I've been so alone you see"

An exaggeration perhaps but a really good song covered by Iron and Wine that I was listening to today. I like this whole stream of concsiousness thing...it fits me like a speedo.

"I'm a selfish old crank, and that fits me like a Speedo"

Okay, I'll stop.

Two more things before I tucker off to bed...

I watched a movie tonight (recommended by Dad) called Paris, Texas. It's about a guy lost in the desert who goes on a search to essentially reunite his son and wife. It's an epic movie muted by a refreshing lack of excessive mush usually heaped upon hollywood projects such as this. It's also got an amazing visual style, extreme neon colors accentuate the perpetual lonliness of the American west (a topic I am becoming more and more interested in as you will not in later blogs). The environment seems to be built on harsh extremes not meant for sane human beings. It's a really powerful film that doesn't really hit you until after you watch it. Then it's like a punch to the gut. There was one scene that stuck with me, and it makes sense because Roger Ebert called it one of the best movie monologues in cinema history (I don't know about that, I mean Roger Ebert is never wrong so I don't know what to think). Anyway, in the scene Travis (Harry Dean Stanton) has relocated his estranged wife in a peep show booth in Texas. He clarifies to his ex-lover, Jane (Nastassja Kinski) the reason for his departure in an explanation that has untold years of regret sewn into its account. Regret for not for ony for his actions but for the self pity he used to rationalize them. She ends the scene with one of the most devastating monologues I've ever heard. It's too complex for tears.

"I... I used to make long speeches to you after you left. I used to talk to you all the time, even though I was alone. I walked around for months talking to you. Now I don't know what to say. It was easier when I just imagined you. I even imagined you talking back to me. We'd have long conversations, the two of us. lt was almost like you were there. I could hear you, I could see you, smell you. I could hear your voice. Sometimes your voice would wake me up. It would wake me up in the middle of the night, just like you were in the room with me. Then... it slowly faded. I couldn't picture you anymore. I tried to talk out loud to you like I used to, but there was nothing there. I couldn't hear you. Then... I just gave it up. Everything stopped. You just... disappeared. And now I'm working here. I hear your voice all the time. Every man has your voice."

Definitely check this out if you have the chance. Really strong flick.
While you're listening to my recommendations, also check out Nine Lives while you're at it. The only film I can remember that captures of the feeling of reading a great collection of short stories. Check it out for real.

One last thing. See this is what I do, I get all my stuff out in one blog entry and then I lay dormant for weeks and weeks on end. I need to parcel this out a little more evenly, that will be a new year's resolution.

It made my heart sing to see the U.S. Government protecting our security and livelihood in the face of such an undeniable terrorist threat as the one posed by these San Francisco citizens. It's truly mind blowing to me that this "conservative" administration has adopted such a neo-conservative attitude when it comes to demolishing civil liberties and ignoring the consitution whenever they see fit.

Yet, somehow, when it comes to an issue that really calls for Government Assistance (you'd figure the neocons in charge would jump all over an opportunity like this), like the Hurricane Katrina relief. They are nowhere to be found, they are admirably sticking to their conservative roots of non governmental interference. Except of course when it comes to awarding no bid contracts to businesses (exploiting this American war zone just like they did the one in Iraq). And essentially putting a big "whites-only" sign all over most of New Orleans through their sleazy means. If this all sounds a little extreme (I apologize if it does but this is a real pisser), check out Amy Goodman's coverage of the anniversary of the disaster over at Democracy Now! (make sure you check out August 29th's show if you're reading this tomorrow. There's some real fascinating and damming stuff over there and coupled with a recent ass wiping of the constitution that our government seems to encourage. I don't know. Sorry to complain.

Okay, I'm going to bed. I've talked your ear off enough, this should give you enough to chew on for another month, when I decide to write in this thing again. See you guys back in PA.

"Cheer up, you miserable fuck
This has gone on long enough
And I don't want to hear anymore
'Cos it you wait for the day
You find your thinking bends to straight
You'll be waiting for a long, long time
Oh you, well you are no fun
And I'm so dumb
But please let us not be lonely, again."

Sunday, July 23, 2006

I think its time to put the top down

Just saw Clerks II. It was okay, something weird going on in it though. It wasn't nearly as funny as the original obviously. Granted it was funny, but Clerks is its own unique kind of funny, yeah that sounds dumb but that's how it is. Anyway, I've always felt Smith was really good at emotional stuff (Chasing Amy is his best movie, deal with it, Dogma is a close second). And this one had that but it felt forced, like he had this crazy funny self-aware sequel but he felt that since he's older he needs to make it mean something. That kind of thinking is fine by me, if it's organic. Why couldn't he just make a ridiculous clerks movie? I guess it would be pretty lame of him to make a movie that would only amuse him and a few of his friends (take that me). In all seriousness, the emotional stuff didn't work. And I say that as a kevin smith fan who likes the emotional stuff.

Anyway, that's all I'm going to say about that. I have a headache and we're going to start this movie soon, gotta get my shit together.

All I have left is a song...

your hand on his arm
the hay stack charm around your neck
strung out and thin
calling some friend trying to cash some check
he's acting dumb
that's what you've come to expect
needle in the hay
needle in the hay
needle in the hay
needle in the hay
he's wearing your clothes
head down to toes a reaction to you
you say you know what he did
but you idiot kid
you don't have a clue
sometimes they just get caught in the eye
you're pulling him through
needle in the hay
needle in the hay
needle in the hay
needle in the hay
now on the bus
nearly touching this dirty retreat
falling out 6th and powell a dead sweat in my teeth
gonna walk walk walk
four more blocks plus the one in my brain
down downstairs to the man
he's gonna make it all OK
i can't beat myself
i can't beat myself
and i don't want to talk
i'm taking the cure so i can be quiet
wherever i want
so leave me alone
you ought to be proud that i'm getting good marks
needle in the hay
needle in the hay
needle in the hay
needle in the hay

Friday, July 21, 2006

In defense of bashing M. Night Shyamalan.

I'm sure you are all sick of hearing my rants against M. Night Shyamalan. Yes, you know I think he's been downhill since Signs (Signs included, and I don't just mean a slight decrease of quality, he's crashed into the fucking mountain). Yes, you know the Sixth Sense is slow (and not the Terence Malick good kind of slow but slow as in lacking dramatic tension), ponderous, and cheap thrill scary until the final twist where you say, that doesn't make up for the suckiness of the rest of the movie. It is what it is, a twist. For a better example on how to use a twist ending see Unbreakable (his only good film, and a great one at that) there is a twist in which the story that preceeded it is cast in a new light. The twist makes it a different movie, a better one. And since most of the people who read this blog are out here in Idaho, I imagine this will come as no surprise to the two (maybe three) other people who read this thing.

Regardless, the reason for this is I wish to write a response to two (yes, two) articles I have read in the "prestigious" village voice and Slate.com both titled "in defense of M. Night Shyamalan. I thought to myself, why does he deserve a defense? What has he done to warrant this kind of heedless admiration from a publication as notoriously cynically impossible-to-please as the village voice? I'm sure you will all roll your eyes at this comparison but when Revenge of the Sith came out, even people who loved the movie went out of their way to tear George Lucas a new one (except for A.O. Scott of the New York Times, he's a certifiable hero). Since I've been basically writing a long defense of George Lucas article ever since this blog began, I need to point out that Lucas (and countless other filmmakers) have done what Shyamalan's done. Except they (Lucas etc) celebrate the sharing of their myths. Shyamalan celebrates himself as the creator of them. For further evidence, anyone who doubts Lucas as a director obviously watch Star Wars. But pay important attention to THX-1138 and American Graffiti as examples of a director who can impress a distinct visual style on two very different works of film.

Anyway, before I try to stuff 8 billion blog entries into one. Let me present some of the "evidence" in the Slate.com article and then present a few counterpoints to these claims.

"But Shyamalan's missteps have been interesting, his mistakes worth a second look, and his obsession with the integrity of his own artistic visions, however irritating, has distinguished him from nearly all his young-Hollywood competitors."

Ross Douthat (the writer) makes a fair point that a bloated ego and incomparable self love don't necessarily equal a filmmaker without vision, talent, or intelligence. My response to that is, narcissism does hurt a filmmaker when he allows his talent to become a showcase for it. His films become an excuse for his greatness, as Shyamalan's films do, not the passion that inspired them . Examine how his twists talk down to the audience, it becomes a sadistic game of simultaneously egging the audience on to figure it out by promising one and then slapping them down when you pull the rug out from under them with the twists of all twists. When this happens, your twists are the story and there is nothing else to the movie worth watching. Not exactly the mark of a good storyteller as Shyamalan wishes the masses to proclaim him. Shyamalan gets off on deception, on proving he can out wit his audience with trick-less tricks. If David Blaine were a filmmaker, he's be Night's best bud. But twists aren't the only problem with his films, there are more sinister forces at work here defending his garbage. Check this one out...

"It's worth comparing Shyamalan's career choices, for instance, with those of Bryan Singer...Singer has essentially reinvented himself as a director of comic-book blockbusters, a man to be trusted with massive budgets and well-known franchises. He's been making movies for the studios, in other words, instead of doing what Shyamalan has tried to do—which is to persuade the studios to make movies for him."

"But this path comes with a price. You find yourself making sequels and franchise pictures rather than finding (or writing) new and unusual stories of your own...Shyamalan, by contrast, doesn't make sequels or franchises (he turned down a chance to script Indiana Jones IV). He doesn't adapt Dan Brown best sellers, or Robert Ludlum potboilers, or Disney theme-park rides. He doesn't rely on CGI, or even use it much."

I don't know wear to begin with this shit. First of all, Douthat calls Gore Verbinski versatile and talented. I guess that's how well you can gauge his abilitiy to judge talent. Second of all, just because you come up with original stories, doesn't mean they are any good. They can suck just as much or more than comic books or adaptations. I'm not bemoaning Shyamalan for sticking to his own material (we need more of it these days) I just think it's a massive stretch to ultimately label every thing that pops out of his brain gold. Shyamalan may write original screenplays, but he definitely follows a formula that's as tried and true as any brand name (in fact his films do come with a brand-name, ever notice his name above the goddamn title?) And this goes far beyond the twist ending bullshit I talked about earlier. All of his films are about ordinary men over come with some sort of inconceivable grief, who, through the power of the supernatural (and Shyamalan's self proclaimed story telling brilliance) find their way back to redemption and learn how to be better men through an acceptance of faith and belief. A certain kind of creepy christian domination is certainly none-too-subtle in some of his films, no wonder he and Mel got along so well. Now I understand that there is such a thing as a common theme uniting a director's body of work, but there is a serious difference between that and telling the same goddamn story every single time. Shyamalan's films don't represent a constant drive to understand the human condition, they represent a filmmaker high on his own gas, unable to come up with anything else. If you notice, nothing different ever happens to that thematic line. He never strives for a variation on it, he's content with setting em up and knocking em down every single time. I say that impulse, rather than a willingness to work with someone else's material indicates a death of originality. Shyamalan sold out to his own shit a long time ago. Also I believe the reason Shyamalan sticks to his own scripts all the time is because he doesn't think another writer is capable of topping or even countering his vision of cinematic prowess. Also, a personal note, if I hear one more so-called film theorist proclaim someone a genius because he or she doesn't use CGI. I'll let you fill in that blank.

"Shyamalan seems to be aiming for something, amid our summers of high-grossing superhero movies and our winters of little-seen Oscar-bait projects, that's increasingly rare these days: a marriage of entertainment and art, of mass-market tastes and elite sensibilities... So, Shyamalan deserves credit, despite his vanity and his missteps—not because he's succeeding, necessarily, but because he's willing to keep trying and unwilling to take his place with those timid, highly compensated directors who know neither victory nor defeat."

It's interesting how certain critics foam at the mouth when they get the ability to trash a film by Spike Lee, Oliver Stone, or even someone like Steven Spielberg. Because those are three directors (among others), who never make boring films. They always have a certain creative stamp that bears the mark of someone who is always exploring, always pushing the limits of his or her talents. And while crash and burn they sometimes do, I have yet to see a collection of articles such as these making an attempt to justify these failures. They often use the films they hate as impetus to suggest that "this" is proof that these directors never had any talent to begin with, or have subtly lost it along the way. People let Shyamalan off the hook with the greatest of ease. Possibly because unlike Lee and Stone, Shyamalan never says anything that pisses people off the way those two do. But beyond that, it's the one part of the Slate article, that I can't figure out. Why do people let Shyamalan off with such an easy pass when his movies have so obviously sucked the past couple of years? In the words of Elliott Smith, I don't think I'm ever gonna figure it out.

P.S. I wrote most of this while watching The Thin Red Line, which only added to my venom. People call Shyamalan a born filmmaker, no, Terence Malick is a born filmmaker. It's not even worth a comparison, but I need a good dose of Malick to offset this Shyamalanonsense. But you should all watch The Thin Red Line. It's fucking amazing.


Here is the slate article. Check it out if you feel I mis-represented it.

That's about enough...

"I need some sleep
Time to put the old horse down
I'm in too deep
And the wheels keep spinning 'round
Everyone says I'm getting' down too low
Everyone says you just gotta let it go
You just gotta let it go
You just gotta let it go

You just gotta let it go"

Monday, July 17, 2006

I am the man who heard voices

So getting back to my initial frets about the Israel/Hezbollah (Hizbollah, I've seen it spelled both ways) conflict. I should probably amend that to include Hamas/Palestine/and Lebanon, and if I really wanted to break out the big guns, I would throw in Syria and Iran, the boogermen.

I'm no middle eastern expert, I'm sure everything I say has been said better and more eloquently by somebody else out there in the world wide web. I'm sure people opposing and agreeing with me would tear me down in a second for my naive and bias views.

With that all out of the way, this concerns me because the neocons seem to dusting off (or reloading) their torches and pitchforks, calling for the heads of the leaders of Syria and Iran. Well, I shouldn't say they are going to be using those weapons, they will call on some poor uneducated minority to do that. And if they can't get them, they'll just go with the white supremacists. Or this. Either way, the people who want this war will be doing everything in their power to avoid fighting it.

Check out Glen Greenwald's blog. In his words he makes an extremely relevant point about the lack of honest debate about the Israeli lobby influence over U.S. Foreign policies. Definitely check out the washington post article he links to, it's long, but the detailing in it of the inner workings of AIPAC and other organizations is pretty revealing. Anyway, Greenwald's point is that if anybody tries to question Israeli policy, they are usually labeled anti-semites or coupled with some other extremist group. The lack of honest debate has led this country down some really dark paths in the past (Iraq, Iraq, and Iraq). Engaging in a new conflict with anybody and everybody that poses a threat to Israel seems like another aggravatingly weak justification for war that some of these assholes seem to be drooling for.

It seems to me that Hezbollah and Hamas are capable of extreme violent actions, considering they struck first. Israel is right up there with them, everybody is capable of extremes and sometimes peaceful democracies like Israel act out of a violent desire to swing their military might and prove their worth to the rest of the world. Why we excuse this kind of foolhardy aggression is beyond me, other than only to say we participate in the same kind of cowboy macho bull shit. See, it's the male gender's fault, we should attack them, I mean us. I don't wish to slant this in anyway, but both sides are at fault. It's just that Israel seems to be goading us into a full on cluster fuck. That really sticks in my crawl.

Hopefully the voices of reason will outweigh the hawks, and with Iraq looking the way it is now, I can't believe there are people out there who want to spread this all the way around the rest of the middle east. Also, to all the Gingriches and Kristols out there, don't give me this shit about the sacred mission of protecting Israel human life. I have one word for you, Africa, well maybe another one, oil. Maybe that's for another post, to be continued.

The new Night movie comes out on friday, and from all forecasts, it's looking pretty shitty. I don't want to sound like an asshole and say something like I want him to fail (i save that bile for Eli Roth and Brett Ratner, maybe Paul Haggis now). It's just that he's been obsessed with his own brand ever since his shit took off. He's openly admitted he's out to start pop culture phenomenons. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that pop-culture's job not some wannabe Spielberg/Hitchcock mis-mash. Also I think it's really interesting that he has all but ignored his first two films (Wide Awake and Praying With Anger) two religious comedies that didn't feature twists endings or pretentious supernatural allegories. I think the reason behind that is they didn't make any money. That's my other big problem with him, he equates his worth as a filmmaker with how much money they bring in. He could have directed Battlefield Earth and as long as it made money, he would have thought it was this century's citizen kane. It will be interesting to see how Lady in the Water does, hopefully it will be such a colossal crash and burn that Night will re-think his career and maybe stop making movies about how brilliant he is.

I might try to see it because I think Night's career has been very interesting in how each movie has gotten progressively worse (except Unbreakable, good shit) and just when I thought he couldn't get enough of his own hubris, he tops himself, it's kind of like how not to be a filmmaker, I should pay attention. I guess all I can say for him is that, like the Mel Gibson character in his mean, facist religious movie Signs, Night is not beyond redemption. He probably doesn't want it though, he's an asshole.

That's it for now, see ya in the funny pages.

"I'm a connoisseur of roads. I've been tasting roads my whole life.
This road will never end. It probably goes all around the world."

Sunday, July 16, 2006

A Skin Too Few

A pretty interesting idea from a poet named Nick Drake.

Live Air by Nick Drake

The deserted second hand record exchange;
Just a bald guy and his ponytail
Guarding the memory palace of dead vinyl;
Multiple copies of Rumours and Blue
And the Carpenters' Greatest Hits in brown and gold;
Pink Moon's playing on the sound system,
Nick Drake's last LP; soon he would die
On the night Lord Lucan disappeared, Miss World
Lost her crown as an unmarried mother,
And the sun's November mercury slipped
Off the indigo horizon at 4.04 pm...
I browse the bins, and luckily I find
Fruit Tree, the deleted posthumous box set -
Five Leaves Left, Bryter Layter, Pink Moon;
Three big black discs, acetate ammonites
Coded for ancient technology.
I offer Bela Lugosi my credit card;
He stares at the name, my face, then up
To the shivering strip light and the obscure ceiling
Where sound waves collide with dust to conjure
Nick's sad ghost in the live air, whispering:
Know that I love you, know that I care,
Know that I see you, know I'm not there
Then the song fades to recorded silence -
The hushed acoustic of his after-life -
Before the static, the perpetual heart-beat trip
Round the record's inevitable zero...
Lugosi looks from the dark vacancy,
The tangled wires, the drifting motes
In the creaky auditorium of dust
Where the ghost had sung and disappeared; he grins;
"Oh man, oh man, I thought you were dead..."

Right on.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Go Haunt Someone Else

Very exciting news, Kevin Devine's new single is up. Listen to it here.
You have to click on Show #99 to here it. It's the first song in the program, you shan't be dissappointed.

He has a new album coming out in October, kind of bummed only because I thought it was coming out in August. Dramatic turn of events, I know, but I still, I wanted me my Kevy Devine now. Right now. Anyway, the new single is good. I wish I had a better quality cut of it but he seems to be making an interesting transition to a more traditional method of songwriting. I'm not chastizing him for this in anyway, but I know he signed onto a major label so it will be interesting to see how his DIY style will meld with the whole Major Label thing. He definitely has the smarts and the integrity to withstand whatever creative pressures come with a major label. I say, give 'em hell.

A lot of stuff has been going on recently that's very troubling. I will elaborate on this further, I just need to bulk up my knowledge a little bit more. Plus it's late and I can barely type this post coherently. I am not talking about anything personal, I mean in the area of Global Conflicts, okay I'll just say it. The Israel Lebanon/Gaza thing, it's really starting to get me worried. Anyway I'll let you all sleep on that, sorry, I'm a bastard I know.

Good Night...

"And it's fucked up, fucked up
And this is fucked up, fucked up
This your blind spot, blind spot
It should be obvious, but it's not.
But it isn't, but it isn't."

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

I am Jor-El, master of scheduling!

I was watching a new show on mtv called Why Can't I Be You with nate (the new director as he should be called) and a thought occured to me that kind of bummed me out. It had to do with how shallow and harsh we are with each other (don't worry, I'm included in this condemnation.)

This reality show has to do with someone wanting to experience life through somebody else's eyes for a few weeks while MTV makes it all happen and documents it. They in essence become somebody else, as the title indicates. At first I thought this was a step in the right direction for MTV, they were documenting a positive experience in a person's life rather than watching them puke for cash or make out with a stranger in a drunken haze while puking, for cash. In this episode a cheerleader wanted to break down the fear and stereotyping she created around another student who seemed to be following the goth-punk scene or a hybrid of the two if no such singular scene exists. Anyway, the cheerleader initially showed a real commitment to learning about a life she had previously cast off with the greatest of ease. I thought this was a show that would bring people together.

I learned later on in the show that it actually pulls us further apart. I know you are probably all thinking, it's an MTV show, what did you expect. Or that I shouldn't get so worked up about something that's designed to solve a life time of problems in thirty minutes. I agree with you on all that, but bear with me, I don't write in this thing very often.

Anyway, the show, through its various machinations proceeded to suggest that high school can only be survived if you find a particular fad, trend or niche and dedicate yourself to following the strict rules of that group at all costs. But also that human beings (especially teens) are ONLY defined through their exteriors (clothes, hair, piercings, carefully coifed mowhawks). It was interesting to watch the punk girl because that whole act is heavily immersed in notions of anti-conformity, anti-establishment, and anti-everything that's not punk. If they are anti-conformity, then why do they all dress the same? Why are people who are part of the punk scene so easily identifiable as such. They all conform to a set of standards that are just as shallow and surface obsessed as the cheerleading group. And whether they want to admit this or not, they are just as dismissive and judgemental of outsiders as everybody else is of them. What's especially upsetting about this (for the punk kids) is that none of them will look like this in ten years. The style to which they so heavily cling right now will be nothing more than a memory as they quietly sell out like everybody else and adopt a set of standards that will allow them to keep a steady job.

I don't mean to be cynical and I don't mean to direct all my questions towards one particular group. I don't even like using the term punk because it has so many connotations that probably don't apply to what I'm talking about. I might as well start calling them the grunge kids. It's just for the sake of simplicity, it's the best way to describe the group I saw on this show.

It upsets me that bright, creative, and passionate kids are stunted like this into defining themselves through such irrelevant and temporary means. It's like nobody wants to take the chance and express something about their personality, they would rather have their clothes do it for them. Maybe I can take comfort in the fact that punks and cheerleaders share the same kinds of anxieties and neuroses that will maybe bring them together when they least expect it. Don't get me wrong, I take no joy in other people having anxiety, I just want them to get together because of it. Stereotyping is probably the easiest thing a person can do, and nothing sucks more for a young mind then trying to figure yourself out while somebody else (or yourself) has already got you pegged. When people act in a way they think they SHOULD be acting, they never live up and it can be kind of a drag.

I don't know how this ends, I don't really have any solutions. I hope this all even makes sense, I guess I just hope everybody finds their way. That's what I call a glib, self-serving solution to everyone's problems. I knew I had it in me.

"Stop light plays its part so
I would say you've got a part.
What's your part? Who you are.
You are who who you are."

Monday, July 03, 2006

Here's to the state of mississippi

I found this on the Nation website. It's a speech Frederick Douglas gave on July 4th 1852.

Granted, in this context he is specifically talking about slavery.

I still feel a lot of what is uttered in this speech applies today regardless of the specifics.

Happy 4th of July...

WHAT TO THE SLAVE IS THE 4TH OF JULY
by Frederick Douglas

This...is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom.... It carries your minds back to the day, and to the act of your great deliverance; and to the signs, and to the wonders, associated with that act.... Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance.... The principles contained in [the Declaration of Independence] are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost....

Fellow-citizens--Pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?... Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions!... But, such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me.... This Fourth of July is yours, not mine....


I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing there, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July! Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future....

What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? I answer, a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy--a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.

Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the every-day practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival....

Fellow-citizens, I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies. The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretense, and your Christianity as a lie. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. It saps the foundation of religion; it makes your name a hissing and a byword to a mocking earth. It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers your union. It fetters your progress; it is the enemy of improvement; the deadly foe of education; it fosters pride; it breeds insolence; it promotes vice....

Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented, of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country.... While drawing encouragement from the "Declaration of Independence," the great principles it contains and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference.... A change has now come over the affairs of mankind. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe.... Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. Space is comparatively annihilated. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are distinctly heard on the other.... No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Forgive me

Forgive me, this is a little bit of self indulgence here.

Actually it's a big bit of self-indulgence.

About to leave for idaho, lots of strands swirling around in the old coconut.

There's one in particular I can't really shake.

This song is for that strand. It's cheesey I know, but dammit, at least I know it.

It's a new dashboard song, that pretty much says it all...

She smiled in a big way
The way a girl like that smiles
When the world is hers. And she held your eyes
Out in the breezeway, down by the shore
In the lazy summer

And she pulled you in
And she bit your lip
And she made you hers
She looked deep into you as you lay together
Quiet in the grasp of dusk and summer

But you’ve already lost
But you’ve already lost
But you’ve already lost
When you only had barely enough to hang on

And she combed your hair
And she kissed your teeth
And she made you better than you’d been before
And she told you bad things that you wished you could change
In the lazy summer

And she told you, laughing down to her core
So she would not cry
And she lay in your lap as she said
“Nobody here can live forever
Quiet in the grasp of dusk and summer.”

But you’ve already lost
But you’ve already lost
But you’ve already lost
When you only had barely enough to hang on

She said “No one is alone the way you are alone.”
And you held her looser than you would’ve if you ever could’ve known
Some things tie your life together
With slender threads and things to treasure
Days like that should last and last and last

But you’ve already lost
But you’ve already lost
But you’ve already lost
When you only have barely enough of her to hang on
Hang on
Hang on
Hang on

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Here is his trying to catch a fly ball with an oven mitt!

Heard this on aintitcool.com and they linked it to a website called tv week.

Sounds pretty legitimate...

Three years after Fox canceled the show, Matt Groening's "Futurama" will resume production for a 13-episode run on Comedy Central. The new episodes will be added to the network's library of 72 "Futurama" episodes previously licensed from 20th Century Fox Television. Voice talent Billy West, Katey Sagal and John DiMaggio will return for the new episodes, which will debut in 2008.

"There is a deep and passionate fan base for this intelligent and very funny show that matches perfectly with our audience and it is great that we can offer them not just the existing library, but something they've never seen as well," said David Bernath, senior VP, programming, Comedy Central.

"Futurama" marks the third Fox project revived by basic cable in recent years. New episodes of "Greg the Bunny" are being ordered by IFC, and Fox resurrected "Family Guy" after the series found success on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.

Long live the king.

Monday, June 05, 2006

It's a worldwide suicide.

An Inconvenient Truth once again proves my theorem that movies can be about so much more than Vaugniston or Brangelina. I don't know why I picked those two because neither brad pitt or angelina jolie have a movie out, but you know what I mean. Movies have the power to do exactly what they set out to do, move people. There's something exhilirating about feeling that collective vibe permeate throughout a screening room when everybody realizes they've just been empowered. Sure it's cheesey and maybe it's a little naive, but when you feel it, you'll know.

I felt that last night and as shocking, sobering, and almost defeatist as the movie may seem, you don't walk out of the theatre that way. You'll shake your head at the astonishing irresponsibility of certain administrations, you'll wonder how you could have possibly ignored such a calamatious situation. But you won't walk out of the theatre feeling lost, you know exactly what to do. And ignore all the partisan crap you might read about the movie, I've heard the new york post review is particularly bilious and I also read that a fox news commentator compared Gore to Goebbels (if you think about it hard enough your head might explode). All I know is the facts are indesputable, the truth is right there and frankly I don't really care anymore who is to blame. Even though I think I know who is to blame (us), that doesn't matter any more. Trying to parcel out blame turns this into a red state blue state he said she said bullshit contest that won't amount to much of anything. We just need to fix this shit. Now.

With that being said, go see the movie, let everyone know what you think. It is important, because one thing the movie highlighted that I had somehow forgotten was that this is not just a problem for humanity. This is a problem for every form of species on the planet, and some of these ever so delicate ecological systems depend on the tiniest of organisms to function properly. The damage being done right now will directly affect those systems for the negative, and everybody knows, we've already fucked the animals over enough. We at least owe this to them. Point being in all seriousness, this is for the planet not just for us.

And for those of you who didn't think Gore was funny, did you not see futurama? Get with the program here...

Everybody do something.

Meanwhile, I got something from e.v. and mike mcC

"Medals on a wooden mantle. Next to a handsome face.
That the president took for granted.
Writing checks that others pay.

And in all the madness. Thought becomes numb and naive.
So much to talk about. Nothing for to say."

"Searching hope, I'm shown the way to run straight
Pursuing the greater way for all human light.

How I choose to feel is how I am.

I will not lose my faith
It's an inside job today

Holding on, the light of night
On my knees to rise and fix my broken soul
Again."

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

I sincerely apologize for all the trouble I've caused

A couple of things I've been meaning to talk about, forgive me if this entry seems a little bit scatter-brained.

-The Da Vinci Code was not a whole lot of fun. I've avoided the books because I heard they were garbage, but I thought the movie looked fun in that detective code cracking kind of way. Plus they shot at a bunch of really cool locations, I figured it was worth a try to check out and see what all the fuss was about.
The first half of the movie has more exposition than the three movies I'd seen previously combined. Characters seemed to have no purpose other than espousing history and useless knowledge to each other in a zane attempt to understand the situation. It's only when ian mackellan shows up, sorry sir ian mackellan that the movie begins to have any sort of punch to it. Granted it doesn't get better but at least you get the sense there could have been a lot of fun here. The movie's not boring it just sort of plods along in that bad ron howard kind of way, where you feel like a robot could have directed the movie and achieved the same result. I guess I can't say its a shame since I'm tired of the book, tired of hearing about it, hopefully this movie will put the whole thing to bed.

-The new phillip roth book "everyman" is excellent. I liked how compact and precise it is, it really allows roth to explore the main character, in a way that never feels like it is in any kind of service to the plot because there is no plot. And it works because roth weaves character and story together in a way that never feels forced, things happen the way they do in real life, according to this one particular man's actions and motivations. There are some passages in the book about getting old and dying that are damn near heartbreaking. And even though the main character is kind of a prick, his voice brings a kind of pathos that is quite satisfying.

-The song Marker in the Sand is one of the best songs pearl jam has ever written/performed in their long history. I don't know what it is about that song, it's infectious, i just get happy listening to it. I also generally like music that doesn't make me want to move (I don't really have a good answer for why that is by the way) but I want to move when I hear that song. The lyrics are dead on and his voice carries it all the way through. I think its my favorite song off the new album and definitely in the top three right now (I don't know if anything can unseat rearviewmirror so maybe marker is #2).

-Nate's totally right, I just saw X-Men: The Last Stand and I gotta say as low as my expectations were, I'm still bummed by it. I keep going back to three years ago and how exhilirating X2 was and still is. There was something in the way bryan singer weaved together the holy shit moments with a story that resonates because it's character driven. It wasn't about filling parts in between the huge set pieces, he had a story to tell. Brett Ratner on the other hand ignores those impulses or is not capable of them, either way he fucked up royally with X3. Granted there were some moments that me revelling in X-Men geekiness, which I should clarify that I am not an X-men geek because I've never read a single comic and I never watched the cartoon. For some reaon the movies have triggered a special reaction with me for these mutated punks. I think it's because watching them is like watching the 72-10 bulls or a great jazz ensemble. I love the moments when they are allowed to riff and improvise with their powers yet still remain a solid unit. That shit kicks ass. Maybe I look too much into it, or I just want super powers of my own. Anyway, back to the movie, it seemed that in their rush to make this epic and final, a last stand if you will. They sacrificed so much of the story telling that was so prevelant in the first two. Powerful emotions are handled like filler and just when you think a scene is about to reach a dramatic peak, Ratner cuts away to something else. This is basic shit and he just plain sucks at it. Yes the action is cool, but up to a point. Some of it is rather poorly staged and clumsily edited, plus there are only so many times you can watch a character get hurled into the air and rise to their feet without a scratch. The anticipation kind of wears down after a while. Plus someone please explain to me why you take the climactic battle of the x-men trilogy and shoot it in the middle of the night, in the fucking dark? This guy's got a lot of chutzpah, missy.

Two final things that ran through my mind during my viewing of X3 or whatever it's called.

-Episode III is ten times better, a million times better even. It's the be all end all movie for trilogy cappers, X-3 shouldn't even be allowed to lick the dogshit from it's boot-heels.

-I hope somebody one day let's me direct one of these super hero movies. I want to do something really cool with one of them, hopefully they're still popular when I step up to the plate.

Okay, I'm tired, I'm going to bed.

"i am no more
i am not good
i am so sorry
if you misunderstood
i'd make it up
but i cannot
if i am an animal..."

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

What nate and john did on their summer vacation...

A little treat for y'all...

Recovered texts from the journals of nate and john's summer road trip 2004:

Robin Hood and Little John
Walkin' through the forest
Laughin' back and forth
At what the other'ne has to say
Reminiscin', This-'n'-thattin'
Havin' such a good time
Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally
Golly, what a day
Never ever thinkin' there was danger in the water
They were drinkin', they just guzzled it down
Never dreamin' that a schemin' sherrif and his posse
Was a-watchin' them an' gatherin' around
Robin Hood and Little John
Runnin' through the forest
Jumpin' fences, dodgin' trees
An' tryin' to get away
Contemplatin' nothin'
But escape an' fin'lly makin' it
Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally
Golly, what a day
Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally
Golly, what a day

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Quick, to the FALCON!!!

Check this out.

I never thought they'd do it, but apparently they were persuaded enough by fan pressure to release the original "unaltered" or "old-school" star wars trilogy as it was seen in 1977, 1980, and 1983 perspecitvely. Goddamn fanboys have way too much power.

My thoughts on this: It's cool, I hope some of the long time star wars fans are happy and they get back those films they claim George Lucas has stolen from them with the prequel trilogy and the special edition. Me, I could go either way. As it has been long documented on this blog, I saw the trilogy as the special edition when I was 13. I fell in love with those movies, I'm happy with them, I don't miss anything when I watch them. It will be cool to have those original versions on dvd just for the sake of movie history. Oh and for the record, greedo shooting first DOES NOT diminsh the han character at all. The man was a rogue not a viscious psycho path who blasted anyone who got in his way. The reason his redemption works at the end of the movie is not because he's evil, it's because he doesn't care about anyone. That's why to see him come blazing through that star light destroying one of vader's tie fighters will always be a thrill, that's why.

I love the new pearl jam album. I love it, I love it, I love it. I've loved everything they done, but this one is especially memorable. It's everything they do well but at the same time it's stuff they've never done before. I find myself asking, "this is a pearl jam song?" after song have finished. Plus it's some of the most focused and pointed political commentary to come from a mainstream band in many a moon, but it ends on a none of hope, what more can you ask for? Nothing, they are the best band in the world, period, exclamation point, whatever you want.

Key Songs: (Even though they are all amazing, I mean that)
Marker in the Sand
Come Back
Life Wasted
Unemployable
Comatose
Big Wave
Severed Hand

I'm off to see Josh Ritter now, he should be good. I hope he plays good man.

Those undecided
needn't have faith to be free.
And those misguided,
there was a plan for them to be...
Now you got both sides
claiming 'killing in god's name'.
But god is nowhere
to be found, conveniently...

What goes on?
Walking tightrope high
over moral ground.
Walk the bridges be-
-fore you burn them down!
Do come round
with the living, let
what is living love.
Unforgiving, yet
needing forgiveness first...

God, what do you say?

God, what do you say?