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..."