Blah di Blah

Do I talk about anything but movies? Probably not. I don't even watch movies but working in a video store makes it a constant topic of discourse.

However, I have watched three movies this week, a true feat, so 'ere:

Iron Man: Pretty cool, fun, bullshit movie that's good on the big screen. Further instills my faith in Favreau. I didn't even need to drink beer to enjoy it. Terse fight scenes and one-liners that don't make you embarrassed. Also prompted me to watch...

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: Finally... Robert D. J. is absolutely the most charismatic likeable "big tabloid style star" in Hollywood. And Val is pretty cool too. LA inside joke movies like this are often... (I can't think of a better word than) Stupid. But this reminds me of "Day of the Locust" and"Get Shorty" and the Ethan Coen short story book, which are all recommended reading. Val Kilmer should do more comedies. Or anything, I miss that guy. And Jeff Goldblum.

the Golden Compass: Bleh. What can I say that everyone else hasn't. It was pretty decent and the effects were cool but as Jamye said it tried to pack too many big set pieces in at the expense of congruity for those who hadn't read the book, and those that had read the book (well, me at least) felt like the coolest elements (having a fucking Daemon!) were played down. There's no way a movie can reach the depth that the books and the reader's imagination can in a fantasy like this. However it was a good effort and fun and the girl that plays Lyra is the only child/teen actor that I can even think of that was actually convincing and cool.

I'll let you know soon about some books I'm working on and my only other advice is to stay away from Elder Scrolls: Oblivion unless you want to play for 13 hours straight until 5 in the morning and not even remember what you did the next day. Ouch!

Mix tape List

In case you don't already know about this.... check it out.

So here's a new playlist idea...

Excellent Beginnings.

This is totally by taste, but the goal is to put together a list of songs that start off mind-blowingly great. The intro can be 5 or 50 seconds, but it has to be something that starts transcendentally kick-ass, and defines the song. A song that's power is absolute from the beginning. It's hard to make a long list, but I bet you all can come up with a few.

If you don't know where to begin, start by listening to Green Day's "When I Come Around". The first 8 seconds are music history 101. Guitar + bass + drums = melt you like butter.

K, Go!

Lately

See below for pics of my latest (long overdue) vacation. I got to see good friends Brett & Charmaine and spend some quality time with my cuz & Kailine (sp.?).

Meanwhile, Stu is getting his face smashed in on his (my) bike -- I'll post a pic when I get one -- and our house is getting robbed by some fucking tweaker. Stu's digital camera is out there somewhere, so keep an eye out, and in the meantime I'm creeped out because the perp climbed in through my window. Not to worry though, because I bought some pepper spray and I've got my trusty Mexican Beatin' Stick. Fucking Bleh...

On a better note, check out this magazine. Serendipity brought this to me and I want it be as influential for all of you... you can find in print (the old school way) at VX and Northtown, but only if you hurry.

If you're looking for diversion, I can easily spend 2+ hours looking at the do's and don'ts at vice. Use at your discretion.

Here's some Movies I would recommend..
-The Orphanage
-Ratatouille
-The Wicker Man-- (The original 1973 version, preferably the long version which you can borrow... if you dare)
-I spent a few hours watching cable TV the other night and the only thing I found that was half-worthwhile was Mythbusters, which was pretty damn good. Possibly the only good thing on cable that's not on Adult Swim.

Oh, and read the Adventures in Oz. Damn.

Well, Shit.

It's been a while since I updated, and I'm falling asleep at the keyboard, but here's what I've been doing...

Lookin' good...
Cosmic Golfing




Fishing
And studying a menu





















For More jump here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17666211@N04/

ABC Song List!

I finally finished my Alphabet challenge... It was tough. Frustrating at times when you have to bump stuff you want to fit some that actually works, and towards the end I was really sweatin' it to find songs that were actually good. It's kind of cool to be forced to use the B-side songs of bands you like. It forces you to listen to songs I haven't put on everyone's mix tapes 7 times before.

It's kind of a shame to print it without the actual songs accompanying because I'm sure there are songs you guys don't know of yet, and it won't flow, but I figure I'll make a few CD's of it and pass them out to interested parties. There's no photobucket for music, I guess because record companies are all in a tizzy. Even a youtube style site would be really cool but that would be very difficult to legally maintain. So in the meantime you'll have read it and email me if you want a copy.

Here it is folks...

Atmosphere -- One of a Kind
Jorge Ben -- Xica de Silva
Coolio -- Fantasic Voyage
Decemberists -- Eli the Barrow Boy
Eagles of Death Metal -- Kiss the Devil
Fatlip -- What's Up Fatlip?
Gogol Bordello -- Harem in Tuscany
the Husbands -- I'm Doing Fine
Iggy Pop -- Sixteen
the Jam -- Down in the Tube Station at Midnight
the Kinks -- Lola
Loretta Lynn -- Mrs. Leroy Brown (double points....)
Murs -- You and I
New Order -- Temptation
the Old Prunes -- Bully in the Alley
John Prine -- Quiet Man
Q Lazarus -- Goodbye Horses
Rodrigo y Gabriela -- Vikingman
Stellastarr* -- Jenny
TV on the Radio -- Playhouses
Unkle -- Rabbit in Your Headlights
Velvet Underground -- After Hours
Weezer -- Undone: the Sweater Song
X -- Nausea
Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- Cheated Hearts
Z-Man -- Z-Mutiny

---and in song title order---

After Hours -- Velvet Underground
Bully in the Alley -- Old Prunes
Cheated Hearts -- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Down in the Tube Station at Midnight -- the Jam
Eli the Barrow Boy -- Decemberists
Fantastic Voyage -- Coolio
Goodbye Horses -- Q Lazarus
Harem in Tuscany -- Gogol Bordello
I'm Doing Fine -- the Husbands
Jenny -- Stellastarr*
Kiss the Devil -- Eagles of Death Metal
Lola -- the Kinks
Mrs. Leroy Brown -- Loretta Lynn
Nausea -- X
One of a Kind -- Atmosphere
Playhouses -- TV on the Radio
Quiet Man -- John Prine
Rabbit in Your Headlights -- Unkle
Sixteen -- Iggy Pop
Temptation -- New Order
Undone: The Sweater Song -- Weezer
Vikingman -- Rodrigo y Gabriela
What's Up Fatlip? -- Fatlip
Xica de Silva -- Jorge Ben
You and I -- Murs
Z-Mutiny -- Z-Man


Phew! As I was typing this up I realized I had fucked up... but it's all fixed so enjoy... look forward to seeing your lists.

Wow, I have as many pictures on here of Will Arnett as I do of Rachael....

I have an idea for a list that I propose everyone compile. It's a combination of something I love and a time-tested listographical form. I call it the Alphabet Song List.

Here are the guidelines. Using the English alphabet, you find a band name that starts with each letter (excluding articles) and one song for each band that starts with each letter (excluding articles).

You end up with one band for each of the 26 letters, and for each band on the list, you have to pick one song they have performed that also begins with each letter of the alphabet. You cannot repeat letters.

Ihope my explanation is sufficient. The end result is two lists that coincide. And the best part is that it should be an amazing mix-tape... CD... playlist.. podcast whatever the fuck.

Anyway, It's a list and a show and I'd love to hear everyone's. I still haven't fully completed mine.

I'm updating this a bit for clarification. This is taken from a dialogue Jamie and I had...

There's 26 songs total, with a title and band name for each letter....so if you choose Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody that counts as band name Q, and song title B. Now you have 25 more songs but you can't use another band that starts with Q or another title that starts with B. So it's easy at first but then you have to get way specific at the end... so it's kinda fun. I think the best strategy is to do the hard letters first and work from there.

I don't know how to do names but I guess David Bowie would count as B... but i'm sure you could bend the rules if you had to.

The only other thing (I forget if I mentioned this already) is that it has be good! or sortof at least. So no finding random bands... or I guess that's okay but it has to be cool songs you like and so the end result is a mix tape you're proud of...

movies

Is That all I talk about? I guess it's just a conversation filler because, yes, I work at a movie store.

Oh, I watch them occasionally. I usually enjoy them. Because I'm careful about what I watch and generally go for my preconcieved enjoyable "genres".

Here's a Ranking:

Comedy...lowbrow, independent, romantic, blue, I like it all

Sci-Fi... yeah.

Horror... I guess... I don't really like to be scared but I like fantasy bizarre-ness and this "genre" has the most creativity... Mostly zombies, monsters, and cheesepuff slasher bullshit.

Ahh, and westerns. I like most westerns I see. Cuz it's... history, accurately represented...

And everything else falls into the same mostly unused category:

Drama, stuffy drama, period piece, biopic, arthouse, foreign arthouse, romance, east coast gangster barf, new wave, french new wave, italian new wave, croatian third wave.... blah blah blah.

not to say I don't pretty much like every movie I see, I just don't challenge myself often.

More to Come!

Summer... get ready

Anyone miss summer?




















here's a reminder

















Are you ready yet?



Oh, and here's the proper way to spend summer...

Ramblings

I'm overhearing the Boosh as I write this... So that may affect the tone. Just doodled around with student universe and shit's expensive. Sudan, Egypt, Moscow, South Africa, Congo, Bangkok, they're all $1500 or more round trip. Damn.
Might have to look at one-way tickets to Canada or elsewhere if things get ugly in a year. Time will tell.
If you saw Rasket's post than you've seen what movies I watched recently, and her summation is mostly equal to mine.

Sweeney Todd- Low expectations... even lower outcome

King of Kong- High expectations... great delivery

Juno- Medium expectations... good times

See you soon.......

Follow up

A continuation of movie week...



-Ilsa: She wolf of the SS - There's basically no redeeming quality to this movie. It's not terribly entertaining, and the filmmaking is all around terrible. The subject is what makes it interesting, and though I don't regret watching it, I could hav easily lived without it. I suppose it's just shocking enough to be interesting, and to paraphrase Rob Zombie, I can't believe a movie like this could ever have been made.


-The Washingtonians- I have a soft spot for the Masters of Horror Series, I haven't seen that many, but this is the worst by far. The story had promise and there were a few creepy moments in the first half but it went so off course that it was painful to watch. Stick to Pro-Life. Damn Fun

-Last Man on Earth- perhaps I watched this too soon after reading the book, so I felt myself needlessly comparing the movie to the book. However, the mood is set well, the adaptation is faithful, and Vincent Price is just plain cool.

Movie Week

I suppose it makes sense, but whenever Rachael is out of town I watch a lot more movies than I do when she's around. So, here is what I've watched this week and how it rates on the guillermo index:

-The Brothers Solomon- Excellent. Best comedy I've seen in a long time.

-Chopping Mall- Good clean fun. Eighties-riffic horror chock full of snappy lines, boobs and exploding heads. And robots. Have a nice day.

-Last House on the Left- Obviously influential 70's gritty torture porn. Not the best, but worth seeing for the historical value and weird musical juxtaposition in the vein of The Wicker Man.

-Thunderheart- This movie's pretty cool. Perhaps a bit stereotypical in the Indian-spiritualism-dancing-ghosts aspect but pretty scary and relevant regarding the government. (If you can't say fuck, you can't say fuck the government-- Lenny Bruce... which brings me to...)

-Fuck- Clearly meant for a certain type of sensibility, but some very funny moments and an undeniably positive argument for freedom of speech.

-I also began watching 30 rock and Metalocalypse which both show much promise in the future (especially if I can start to understand what the hell they're saying in Metalocalypse)...

So to wrap up... I would recommend all of these. Somehow I managed to watch only enjoyable movies this week. This definitely makes up for some wasted time in the past.

Stay tuned.

Fallout

Fallout is infecting my brain. I am viewing my day-to-day life as turn based.

On another note... I took two movies from my work today that were left there for months... basically the lost and found of DVDs. The Big Sleep, which is a pretty good movie, and a double DVD set of A little Princess and the Secret Garden. The latter is in the hope that I have a daughter someday... but I was pleasantly surprised to see that "A Little Princess" was directed mby Alfonso Cuaron who is high on my list of great contemporary directors, if only because of "Children of Men" (which is another story). But now that I think of it, he directed the best Harry Potter film as well.

This Game

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_One_Lives_Forever

This game was not that good, but I've spent months trying to figure out the title. It's a hard search, and I have to give a lot of credit to Wikipedia... I'm fairly new to that whole scene but I find that it's often better than IMDB or gamespot of any of thoe "official sites".

It also reminds me of a time when my brother would look over my shoulder as I played games in complete reverence. Nowadays, tables have turned, but that's another story. .. This game reminds me of Abstract Rude and sitting in my mom's office with my brother for hours on end...

NEXT:

Diablo II

Fallout 2. Play it.

High on my list of games is Fallout 2. I was shocked when I saw that it was made in 1998. Ten years ago this game was made and it's significantly better than most contemporary games. It's all about breadth, I suppose. When I hone my skills as a reviewer I will go more in depth about the genius and inadequacies of the game, but for now I will recommend the most clever, in depth game that I have ever played... aside from Half-Life... of course.