CONTEST

Maybe people don't care. But there is a very real contest and if you want to win some schwag (sp.) you should, nay, must, visit here and spend 5 minutes guessing which crappy movies are going to win tin action figures this year! Its the post entitled Contest! Prizes! conveniently linked here.

Photos

Check out local photo phenom (and vx associate) Shoegazer's flickr stuff. He and his wife have a show up in the Jacoby Storehouse which is worth visiting if you're in the area. Terrific!

Burn To Shine

Just listened to a new song by Portland savants the Thermals... Listen to it here. Good stuff and if you haven't heard there previous album "the Body the Blood the Machine" it is quite fun.

In fact they're featured in Burn to Shine Portland. Rachael recently posted a clip of Sleater-Kinney from the same video. If you can find Burn To Shine on DVD it is worth watching. The Portland edition is possibly my favorite music DVD ever...

Remember this song?

I've been playing a lot of Rock Band, and they seem to favor modern one-hit-wonders and obscure songs by big classic bands. It's a bit weird, and I can't quite figure how they choose songs but it's fun. So there.

Basically it reminded me of this song, which you will remember if you were in high school in the 90's.

A Joke

A man begins to frequent a small bar in Arcata, each time ordering three martinis at once. He builds a rapport with the regulars and is seen nearly every day. After a month of visits, the bartender finally asks, "So... why do you order three drinks up front?"

"Well," replied the man, "I was always close with my two brothers, but one's moved to Ireland and the other to Australia. We decided, in the spirit of fraternity, that each time we had a drink we'd have one for each of our brothers."

The bartender found this inspiring and the tradition carried on for several years, until one day the patron came into the bar and ordered two martinis. His heart sinking, the bartender asked "Oh I'm so sorry, has something happened to one of your brothers?"

"No, no," said the man. "I've just decided to quit drinking."

I must have some booze. I demand to have some booze.

Withnail & I was a glaring omission on my seen movie list that I finally indulged this week. I can see why it's such a druggie classic as it spawned a multitude of imitators in the 90's and 00's with its joint rolling scene alone. Apatow and co. obviously watched this one, as did Danny Boyle and the folks behind Harold & Kumar.

Withnail maintains relevance because it is much grittier than the aforementioned films (excluding Trainspotting, maybe). The drugs are not glorified, nor are they vilified. There are no silly woozy-wavy POV shots of getting high. The viewer is thrust into a real world situation with as much humor as pathos and grim dystopia. Richard E. Grant plays the best drunk I have ever ever seen. He's believable and hilarious. It was amusing to discover that he's a teetotaler.

The writing is super and exactly what I love about Brit humor. Quick, needle-sharp and totally hilarious. It absolutely invites repeat viewings and I can easily see why fans have watched it dozens of times. It's highly quotable (see post title)- the imdb "quotes page" is the longest I've yet to see.

In a strange way, this film reminded me of a period in my life when Ramsey and I would get into trouble. We were never into drugs like this movie, but our fix was seeking fulfillment and we got along in a love/hate, admiration/frustration way, much like Withnail and Marwood. The ending felt especially prescient of my life, and I'm sure I'm not the only person who felt so personally impressed by this film.

Graham Linehan

I found Graham Linehan's blog and it's surprisingly political. Pretty funny all in all, but would you expect any less from one of Britain's funniest TV writers. If you don't know who he is do yourself a favor and track down some of the best sitcoms of all time:

Father Ted

Black Books

The IT Crowd

I can't really praise these enough.

Skatebang

This is so good.

The Mae Shi

These guys will get big fast. And soon. In fact they already are. I saw them last night at the Green House. If you like fast fast pop then you'll like them. Watch the video. They kind of remind me of Los Campesinos, but less orchestral. Good stuff and the live show was both magnanimous and intimate. They brought a parachute!



I have some pics on my flickr account here. And Rachael wrote them up here.

Wow. Just wow. Searching for the Mae Shi video link led me to this gem which must be heard. If you haven't heard all of the hoopla you might want to see this before you watch. This is priceless in its own right, especially if you turn it up so you can hear the reactions of the non-Bales.



Brother was pretty cool too. We didn't see them but we heard them from the stairwell and the drummer was pretty amazing.

www.oldjewstellingjokes.com

www.oldjewstellingjokes.com

Yep, that about says it all. Jokes are going to become a regular feature, so please feel free to share your own.

Seinfeld

I was perusing one of our local film critic's blogs today and this is what he had to say.

Being a former movie theatre employee, I can comfirm that he nailed it right on the head. And I'm jealous he ranted about it before I thought of it. I guess it doesn't affect me directly anymore.

I have heard both of those excuses before ("I paid so much for it" and "hey, they have to do something at their jobs, right?") and they are both crocks of shit. Do you throw your tray and trash on the floor after you eat your McDonalds? Do you pour the last of your backwash beer on the floor and toss the pint glass over your shoulder in the Alibi?

We would find half eaten bags of heavily buttered popcorn literally dumped all over the floor. Even leaving it upright would have been too kind of a gesture.

Nowhere do you make such a seemingly intentional mess (well, maybe the ballpark now that I think about it). And at every restaurant you pay a lot more than you normally would for a meal or drink.

The worst part is the blanket acceptance of this attitude towards the service industry (who, by the way, are actual living, thinking humans).

At the 2007 Academy Awards (see, it comes full circle back to an Oscars rant) Jerry Seinfeld performed a simultaneously yawn-inducing and rage-affecting bit (listen to it here). This uncanny feat was a drawn out joke which heard JS state that since he had pays 5 dollars for popcorn, he can do whatever the fuck he wants with it.

This privileged, cavalier, carelessness is just one example of the attitudin' that America really needs to be losin'.

Side note: I guess Jerry also got some flak for his dismissal of documentaries as a worthy subject.

HA!

A crazy little thing called reporting

Speaking of crack, here's an uplifting little piece. I'm not a conspiracy theory type of guy, this is just one of those unacceptable exceptions (see Armenian genocide) .

What the fuck? I understand being embarrassed about mistakes we've made.

But we're supposed to learn and make amends. Are you ready?

life is fresh crack is whack

whoop.

shoop

a

doop.

Contest! Prizes!

I realize it's en vogue to hate the Oscars these days. But even after a good year like 2007 (No Country For Old Men), it's hard to forgive the last fifteen years of celebrated mediocrity.

I like good movies, and I like trashy movies. There are few pictures I don't like. But AMPAS (pronounced amp-ass) seems to prefer formula over feeling. Year after year, Oscar nominated films neither challenge nor titillate. The medium is meant to entertain, right?

My uniquely unoriginal challenge is a classic contemporary CONTEST:

Predict most accurately 2009's Academy Award winners and I will supply a MODEST PRIZE!

You Must:

1. post your answer in the comments section of this blog post
2. post your prediction for every nominated category
3. in the interest of protecting your privacy, email me at gmsgoforth@gmail.com, explaining which post is yours. you will need to do this to claim your prize!
   

This is like a horse race. Do not vote for who you think should win or who deserves to win. Vote for who you think will win!

Here is the link to the nominations... This is the outline form but you can get more interactive here.

Copy and paste your answers using this template:

Actor... Leading:

Actor... Supporting:

Actress... Leading:

Actress... Supporting:

Animated Film of the Year:

Art Direction:

Cinematography:

Costume Design:

Directing:

Documentary Feature:

Documentary Short Subject:

Editing:

Foreign Language Film:

Makeup:

Music (Original Score):

Music (Original Song):

Best Picture:

Best Animated Short:

Best Live Action Short Film:

Sound Editing:

Sound Mixing:

Visual Effects:

Adapted Screenplay:

Original Screenplay:



Whoever most accurately predicts the winners will get a dope-ass prize, TBD.

And yes, there will be a runner-up.
.

Trial Run

Here's a short compilation. I realize it's kinda ghetto with having to physically start the next song, and the segues won't be perfect but if you can start the next as the previous one ends you'll retain some of that.

The Girly Version:

1...

2...

3...

4...

5...

6...