Man Who Knew Too Much 12/4/09

First 20 minutes are missing cuz I forget to hit "rec" - It starts midway through 'Hombre Religioso.'

Enjoy



John Carpenter - Theme from Big Trouble In Little China

Stillwater - Fever Dog (From Almost Famous)

Jive Bombers - Bad Boy (From Cry Baby)

Los Lobos - Morena De Mi Corazon (From Desparado)

Mr. Loco - Hombre Religioso (From Nacho Libre)

Ben Charest - Belleville Rendezvous (From The Triplets of Belleville)

Yann Tiersen - J'y Suis Jamais Alle (From Amelie)

Mikis Theodorakis - Theme From Zorba the Greek

Franco Battiato - Ruby Tuesday (From Children of Men)

Introduccion - From 12 Monkeys

Tom Waits - Earth Died Screaming (From 12 Monkeys)

Suicide Scherzo (Beethoven's 9th) - From Clockwork Orange

Django Reinhardt - Brazil (from Brazil)

Keith Jarrett - Koln Concert Part 1 (From Bad Timing)

Rip Slyme - Super Shooter (Opening theme from Gantz)

Ice Cube - Friday (from Friday, duh!)

Djay - It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp (From Hustle & Flow)

Bob Crewe - Barbarella

Country Roads....

I covered a shift today & threw together a mix of some of my favorite country, folk and americana. Give 'er a listen, it's in two parts, about an hour each...

Part 1:



Part 2:


Here's the set list:

Waylon Jennings - Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?

Steve Young - Lonesome Ornery and Mean

Rolling Stones - Far Away Eyes

The Kinks - Mountain Woman

Harry McClintock - Big Rock Candy Mountain

Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues

Patsy Cline - I Fall to Pieces

Marty Robbins - Big Iron

Hank Williams III - Satan Is Real

Scott Biram - Blood, Sweat & Murder

Pine Box Boys - I Kept Her Heart

Old Crow Medicine Show - Silver Dagger

Carter Family - Give Me Roses While I Live

Dwight Yoakam - Fair to Midland

The Knitters - Poor Little Critter on the Road

Loretta Lynn - Portland, Oregon

Steve Earle - Guitar Town

Loretta Lynn & Conway Twitty - Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man

John Prine & Iris Dement - In Spite of Ourselves

The Devil Makes Three - All Hail

Gillian Welch - Red Clay Halo

Neko Case - Margaret vs. Pauline

Michael Hurley - Open Up

Greg Brown - Dream Cafe

Sunbear - It Doesn't Matter

Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins - Handle With Care

Johnny Cash - Delia's Gone

Veloura Caywood - Maximum Level Heartaches

Helio Sequence - Hallelujah

M. Ward - Helicopter

The Man Who Knew Too Much 11-13-09

Today's Show:

Mario Theme

Zelda Wind Waker - Theme

Zelda Wind Waker - Zelda's theme

Loom Soundtrack - Adapted from Tchaikoswki's Swan Lake

Kings Quest - Theme

Final Fantasy 7 - Prelude

Martin O'Donnell & Michael Salvatori - Willow Creek (From Myth II: Soulblighter)

Martin O'Donnell & Michael Salvatori - Great Library (From Myth II: Soulblighter)

Mark Morgan - Khans of New California (From Fallout 2)

Jeremy Soule - Harvest Dawn (from Elder Scrolls: Oblivion)

Jeremy Soule - Reign of the Septims (from Elder Scrolls: Oblivion)

Gary Schyman - Bioshock Theme

Rosemary Clooney - It's Bad For Me

Professor Layton Theme

Yoko Shimamura - Dearly Beloved (from Kingdom Hearts 2)

Shawn Lee - Theme From Bully

No One Lives Forever Theme

Baby Park Theme - From MarioKart Double Dash

The Go Team- Get it Together (from Little Big Planet)

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas Theme

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

This sequel picks up shortly after Professor Layton the Curious Village, expands the scope of the game and stands as one of the best handheld games I have ever played. I should start by saying I'm not much of a handheld gamer. Fast paced games on the small screen and tenuous controls generally don't appeal to me. Professor Layton, though, is perfect for me. It's a pick up/put down short session game that remains engrossing and fun.

Playing as Professor Layton and his sidekick Luke, you are thrust in to a surreal murder mystery involving a series of quirky characters and settings. Layton oozes charm - its animation and art design are beautiful, looking gothic yet colorful - reminiscent of Tintin and The Triplets of Belleville. The characters are mysterious and plenty, and each mystery solved unravels a bevvy of new ones that would make Agatha Christie proud. And the music is a divine sort of French pastoral pastiche.

Tying all of these elements together is the core of the gameplay, a series of puzzles and brainteasers. This collection of puzzles would make a good DS title on its own, but its glossy wrapping and mysterious storyline make for a sublime experience.

The Diabolical Box is a longer game than The Curious Village, and while offering a deeper storyline, I did feel like some scenes carried out too long between puzzles or plot advancement. Obstensibly set free to walk about the landscape, the game's design is really rather linear - you have to unlock new areas only when the plot has advanced far enough. While this is nothing new to adventure games, at times it felt slightly tedious going back and forth from each end of the village. A few rewards are given for completism, though, and all in all the slower pace is acceptable.

The Diabolical Box (and Curious Village) is a must have for the DS, and is one of the few handheld games that can stand next to console or PC games in my list of favorites.

Mildly popular in the States, Layton has a big following in Japan and a film and third sequel are in the works.

MWKTM 11/6/09

A few technical hiccups (gasp) marred this otherwise cynical and tense hour...



Here's a list of tracks for y'all.

Sondre Lerche - Let My Love Open the Door (from the Dan in Real Life soundtrack"

(From the Mighty Boosh) - Electro Boy

Day Man - (From It's Always Sunny in PA)

Naked Gun Theme

Kinks - Everybody's Gonna be happy (From High Fidelity)

(From Step Brothers) - Sweet Child of mine

John Mandel - Suicide is Painless Mash Theme

Closing Credits song from the Royal Tramp... sorry artist unknown

Sheilla Nichols - Fallen for You (From High Fidelity)

Cat Stevens - Trouble (From Harold & Maude)

Master Shake - Spirit Journey Formation Anniversary

Henry Mancini - Pink Panther Theme

When in Rome - The Promise (From Napolean Dynamite)

John C Reilly - Walk Hard (from Walk Hard)

Ras Trent -

Springtime for Hitler & Germany - from the Producers

Rock Me Sexy Jesus - From Hamlet 2

Very Clever

A few of my favorite things...

The Man Who Knew Too Much

Halloween edition

Awesome

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2009

C'mon Steve, turn around! (He wouldn't)

Every time we've gone to this, the weather is amazing. Beautiful day.

Robert Plant, talking to Gillian Welch (off camera). They were hanging out for a while but it was getting dark and I couldn't get a better picture.

The Old 97's were my pick for act of the year... really great.

Everyone breaks out their best concert tees for events like this. This was the best one of the year - Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation Tour 1990. Gold embossed!

Rachael nearly died when Old Crow Medicine Show joined Gillian welch and David Rawlings on stage to sing "The Weight."

Runner-up to best concert tee.

Yep, Exene (X) came out and sang "4 Leaf Clover" with the Old 97's.

And rocked her own set as the Knitters... 2nd best show of the weekend.
(UPDATE: Rachael took this amazing picture -stars in her eyes!)

Crowds were insane... This was the busiest year yet.

Crowds.

Watching Gillian at the Banjo Stage.

"Angel Man" is kind of a jerk, but his costume's pretty cool.

The Man Who Knew Too Much

Westerns edition....

Public Service Announcement

The Man Who Knew Too Much

Ooooooh, boy. This is the best one yet!

The Man Who Knew Too Much 9/25

I Love the Chosen One

Merl = One heck of a guy

So after I posted my previous blog about the Arcata shout-out I wrote an email to Merl Reagle saying "Thanks" and all that. This morning, he replied:

dear grant,

yes, this is the right place to write! and since i'm a californian at heart i'm always happy to put california place names into puzzles to offset all those new york references by east coast puzzlemakers. i live in tampa, fla., now (don't ask) but i left my heart in ... well, you know how it goes!

all the best,

merl

Thanks Merl.

Oh and check out this movie! (thanks Christina)