Mike's Brain Leak

The 2011 Cyber-Blues

2011-08-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

I don't know what to write about anymore.

I used to write all the time. (Online, I mean.) It was easy! Hell, I was doing a couple blog posts a day for a while there! But that was way back in 2008... back in the "oughts"! Here in "The Future," in 2011, we don't have time to read each other's blogs; to read through rambling amateur articles of "blah, blah, blah," about whatever. That used to be an appealing thought - to meander through someone else's deepest thoughts and feelings on some random given subject. It was something we could do while doing other work, or on a quick coffee break, or just relaxing at home in the evening while the TV was on in the background. But am I wrong in feeling that those days are now long past?

Nowadays, thanks mostly to Twitter and Facebook, and maybe other sites like tumblr.com - and probably texting and the entire advent off my iPhone in general, as well - we really have become used to getting our tidbits of personal exchange in bite-sized chunks. The mere fact that you've read this far says a lot about you. (I'm not sure if it's good or bad, but it says something.)

Even as I'm writing this, my attention span for my own thoughts is proving to be far too short! Too erratic, and constantly shifting. And yes, part of that is due to my own inherent A.D.D. (and these stupid sticky "F" and "G" keys... makes it much harder to type on this laptop!), but a few short years ago, it wasn't like this. Now, I'm just writing this to practice writing. To keep a dialogue going in my head as a writing exercise, but the more I think about it, the more I realize how much more "long-form" my writing used to be. I used to write journal entries... with a PEN and PAPER! All the time! Through most of my twenties, I'd say. And now? Nothing.

I hardly ever do a blog like this anymore. I've even cut down the actual amount of interaction I do on Facebook, even though my usage has not declined. I'm just checking in on Foursquare or GetGlue or Spotify... these iPhone and computer apps that link into my social networks and show my friends what I'm doing or what I'm watching or listening to... but the actual dialogue... the interaction has declined. It's weird... and maybe sad. But maybe not - it's hard to say here in the midst of this era of social networking. It's all an experiment, of course. Our hindsight will surely be 20/20.

Anyway, I hope to return to some more long-form writing. Maybe if I can think of anything clever or interesting enough to discuss passionately... but... I dunno. Seems like the Internet's making me numb.

Bummer.

Mike: OUT.

Old Blogs, New Clicks! (On blogging... and trailers!)

2011-03-26T12:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a blog I wrote on MySpace back in 2007. Just thought it was worth adding to my collection on here. It's a bit dated in some of it's references, but... that's history, people! Enjoy!

7/23/2007

On blogging... and trailers!

So I came to a conclusion about blogging today in the shower. I had been kind of opposed to the whole idea because I figured, "Why should I tell the whole world about all my most personal thoughts and feelings?" But then I realized, not all of my thoughts and feelings are all that personal. Some are pretty easy to just blurt out - even to a stranger! So here I go. This is the first of my random thoughts on random things, just to see what others reply with and all that. Dialogue is good.

So today's topic is... Movie Trailers!!!

So I saw the trailer the other day that came before Transformers (which was a fun movie) and I was really thrilled to see J.J. Abrams new trailer for a film that is as-of-yet untitled. Everyone loved it.

"In the trailer, seemingly shot on a shaky, hand-held camcorder, Manhattan friends are at a going-away party for a guy named Rob, who is leaving for Japan.

The band 'Wolfmother' blasts in the background, and in a flash the lights go out and a painful background howling is heard. On the TV screen, NY1 reporter Roma Torre reports a "thunderous, roaring sound."

Party-goers head to the roof, where fireballs attack. On the street, the Statue of Liberty's head is thrown to the pavement."

(from: BAIT BALLS OF FIRE - MORE CLUES TO HELP SOLVE MYSTERIOUS FILM PUZZLE by FARRAH WEINSTEIN of the NEW YORK POST)

And the fact that Abrams and company decided not to show us a monster or even give the film a name had a tremendous effect on us all. The amount that WASN'T shown was what we enjoyed the most. This is a timeless truth in suspense and most good storytelling... Spielberg did it well in Jaws - (we don't even see a shark until an hour into the film!)

But I had another thought in the shower this morning (- I do all my best thinking then). Wouldn't it be great if we could go into a movie BLIND? I mean, what if there were no trailers... anywhere - ever? What if we simply decided what films to see by the name alone? Or maybe they shouldn't even have names! Like Abrams' film! Well, I'm sure it will have a name eventually... won't it? (Maybe not!)

But what if you just had to pick a number? 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5? And whichever one you picked, that's the theater you went into. And then you'd sit down with your popcorn and your soda that's three times bigger than your bladder, the lights go down, and you watch a story unfold before you without any preconceived notions of what will happen?

What if, when I went to see 'Knocked Up' last week, i didn't know that the nerdy guy would end up in bed with the pretty girl? And what if I didn't KNOW that she'd end up pregnant, as the ads all imply? IMPLY!?! Nay! They TELL me that it happens! There's no surprise at all! They basically set up the whole story for me before I get there, AND show me most of the funniest scenes, so I don't have to bother laughing when I'm actually IN the theater - thanks Hollywood!

Why even start the movie at the beginning then? I've already seen the trailer so many times on TV alone that I know the characters and the set up when i come in! Just start the film around the middle of Act II and I'll follow along just fine! Then I can be on my way in half the time!

See, what I'm saying is that as much fun as it is to MAKE a trailer, or watch a trailer, they're just there to make money for the studios. A good story - a GREAT story - will make you jump at each and ever plot twist. A good story assumes you don't KNOW the story already, so it hits you hard with every punch. But a movie trailer... this is totally different.

A movie trailer is a very unique phenomenon, as far as the history of story telling goes. I'm sure Shakespeare had to advertise his plays, too. Everyone wants to know what the story is about. But I'm sure it's usually done with a tag line or something. When movies became big business, and trailers were developed into what they are today, it took all the mystery out of the story.

Have you ever watched a movie without knowing what it was about? Sure - we all have. When you're a kid, you see some movie on TV that you've never heard of and before you know it, you've sat through the whole thing. And if you're lucky is was a good one, and it kept you on the edge of your seat the whole time. I was actually lucky enough to go see "Groundhog Day" in the theater without knowing anything about the story beforehand. As soon as the hook hit, I was floored! It was brilliant and made my laugh so hard, I really did cry! I was, as stated previously, on the edge of my seat! And this was a comedy!

So, maybe it will never happen, but I'd like to suggest to all you filmmakers and producers out there - maybe some of us don't WANT to know what your movie is about. Just dangle a little carrot. NO! Only part of a carrot! NO! Just waft the carrot-smell our way and we'll come seek it out on our own! And when we find it, we'll love it so much more! I promise.

Oh, but not you, J.J. Abrams... you already know this. (Thanks for LOST!)

The Great "What If?" Film Trilogy of Spring 2011

2011-03-06T18:06:00.000-08:00

All of a sudden, in the aftermath of the Oscar season highs, there's a small slew of films that seem to be rooted in some sort of a sci-fi/fantasy reality version of our own world. Like "The Truman Show", "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", "Pleasantville" and, on a more-recent and grander scale, "Inception", these films are about the human drama that unfolds after a certain fantastical premise is introduced and accepted.

These films are "Limitless," "The Source Code" and "The Adjustment Bureau".

These films all seem to be coming out at the same time, so I've decided to make a thing out of it - calling it, "The Great 'What If?' Film Trilogy of Spring 2011," just so that they're all connected in my brain and now feel like one big event rather than just three separate and kinda-not-great movies. Somehow, I think this will make the whole thing more enjoyable. I say "What If?" because, even though every work of fiction can technically be called a "what if?" scenario, these films take something that is basically fantasy, throw it in with some (hopefully) interesting "everyman" characters, and as a result, certain events unfold that have less to do with the actual fantasy element, but - when done well - are engaging because of the characters themselves.

Let's take a closer look at these three films...

LIMITLESS (2011)

Starring Bradly Cooper (A.K.A. that hunky guy from "The Hangover"), Robert DeNiro... and a bunch of people who's names you've never heard before. Director Niel Burger had a small hit in 2008 with The Illusionist (staring Edward Norton, Jessica Biel and Paul Giamatti). The Leslie Nixon screenplay is based on the Alan Glynn novel, "The Dark Fields".

In short, its the story of a man who is given a pill that will allow him to utilize 100% of his brain's potential power, unlike the rest of us mere mortals who are stuck using less than 5%. This is such a ridiculous concept (as using that much of your brain instantly would probably drive you insane and cause your head to explode) that it makes giving into the premise that much more of an act of pure will, but that can be fun, too.

To me, the funniest thing about this premise is that it's pretty much the same story as a 2001 episode of The Simpsons ("HOMЯ"), in which Homer discovers the root cause of his subnormal intelligence: a crayon that was lodged in his brain ever since he was a child. He decides to have it removed to increase his IQ, but discovers that being smart does not necessarily equal being happy.

I think that's pretty much what's going to happen in this film, too.

But here's the weirdest part of the premise: let's say that such a pill actually was created. And as the film seems to suggest, there is really only one single pill that is ever manufactured. Why does THIS Joe-Schmo get to take it? It's a top-secret drug being developed by the government, but somehow this average, everyday, unpublished copywriter is able to get his hands on it and gets to pop it back like a Tylenol... and it works!?

Okay! Sure! Why not? I'm in. Let's see where this goes.

SOURCE CODE (2011)

Starring Jake Gyllanhall, Michelle Monaghan and Vera Farmiga, "Source Code" is director Duncan Jones' first foray into the Hollywood Filmmaking machine since his beautiful and original independent film, 2009's "Moon" (Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey), was so resoundingly acclaimed.

"Source Code" is basically this: a guy is sent back in time in order to find out who was responsible for the eventual bombing of the train that he is on. He is sent back exactly 8 minutes before the train explodes and every time he fails to stop the bombing, he dies and wakes up back in his present time. Eventually, he decides that saving the hot girl is more important than his particular mission and goes rogue. It seems a bit like the premise of "12 Monkeys" but we know it's not going to be anything like a Terry Gilliam film.

The ridiculousness: As a human race, we've figured out time travel... and we use it to investigate a recent train bombing? How about 9/11? How about the assassination of Kennedy or Lincoln? How about Hitler!? I suppose there are some severe limitations to the technology. I guess I'll have to check it out to get the whole story.

And finally...

THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (2011)

I think this one is going to be the best one.

Starring Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and the ever-creepy, ever-evil Terrence Stamp, "The Adjustment Bureau" is screenwriter George Nolfi's directorial debut. The script, also by Nolfi, is loosely based on a 1954 short story written by Phillip K. Dick, called "Adjustment Team." The film's score is done by one of my personal favorites (ever since he scored "American Beauty" in 1999,) Thomas Newman, and there are also two songs ("Future's Bright" for the opening sequence; "Are You Ready" for the closing credits) by Richard Ashcroft, front man of the British psychedelic rock band, The Verve.

Personally, of all of the aforementioned films, I see this film as the most invested in its weird, sci-fi element but also as the one that delves the deepest into what will probably turn out to be the strongest and most interesting characters.

Here's the premise: When aspiring congressman, David Norris (Damon), meets a mysterious ballet dancer (Blunt), he is instantly smitten and distracted. The whole world turns upside down, however, when a mysterious group of white men in dark suits and fedoras appear and inform Norris that he was not "supposed" to see the woman again - these men are the Adjustment Bureau; the people who keep the course of each and every person's destiny on track. Norris has skewed his own path, and has somehow been enlightened to the existence of the bureau. This knowledge empowers Norris to make a choice - to follow his given path, or to create his own.

The premise itself, although ridiculous in a realistic sense, is much more obviously poetry - a fantasy designed to highlight the battle of free will that we all struggle with; the responsibility of making choices and heading down certain paths in our own lives. And for this very reason, I believe this film has the strongest and most relevant theme out of the "trilogy".

So there you have it. Who wants to join me on this journey in seeing all three films as they come out in theaters!? Please leave comments below and tell me what you thought of any or all of the films discussed here. (Or any others! What the hell!?!)

The Dark Knight - A Comment on Fear, Chaos and Anti-Terrorism Attitudes in Post-9/11 America

2010-10-30T23:18:00.001-07:00

I just watched Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight for about the 5th or 6th time, and it's definitely one of those stories that causes you to see something new on each of your first ten (or so) viewings. This time around, I noticed all the overt references to terrorists and the moral dilemmas inherent in the issue of how to respond to terrorism on one's home turf, which had somehow eluded me in the shadows of Heath Ledger's historic, Oscar-winning performance as The Joker, Nolan's cinematographic and storytelling mastery and the over-all geek-love for the ol' cape-n-cowl.

So this time around, I was really looking at what comments Nolan was making (along with his screenwriting partner and brother, Jonathan Nolan) on our modern world. Once you notice it, it really does stick out pretty palpably. For example, it's easy to say that the film is the story of a city - Gotham - under siege by a madman "terrorist" who calls himself "The Joker;" a man who has murdered several people around the city and is threatening to kill more until the Batman reveals his true identity. This, of course, would be a simple fix if Gotham didn't truly need Batman to keep his identity secret so that he could go on protecting them and living as a symbol of its citizens' right to live without fear. And now that freedom is being threatened - and people are living in fear. What do you do?

The scene that really stuck out for me on this concept was when Batman devises a sonar system utilizing every civilian cell phone in Gotham city as "a high-frequency generator/receiver" to give him ultimate control to see everything everywhere in the city. His trusted accomplice, Lucius Fox, says that the invention is "beautiful... unethical... dangerous."

I think the obvious allusion here (which, sadly, had escaped me until now,) is to the Bush-era wiretapping, email-reading and phone-monitoring that was allowed to occur under the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001. A storm of controversy surrounded the act at the time of its passage and the concept that the government had allegedly granted itself permission to invade the private affairs and conversations of its citizens on the basis of anti-terrorism investigation, obliterating a few very important civil liberties that are essential to what many Americans call their "inalienable rights."

"This is wrong," says Lucius Fox.
Batman says, "I've got to find this man, Lucius."
"At what cost?" he replies.
Batman explains to Lucius that he is the only one who has control of this power, much like, under the Patriot Act, the President is the only one who has control over its civil liberty-invading powers.
"This is too much power for one person," says Lucius. "Spying on 30-million people isn't part of my job description."

Now ultimately, Batman knows this is illegal and unethical. But he believes that it must be used this one time to allow him to capture the terrorist that is plaguing the city. He tells Lucius how to destroy it after it has served its purpose and Lucius is happy to do so, which is all well and good for Gotham City. But it raises a very serious question for our real lives. Is it ever okay - morally justifiable - to invade the privacy of an innocent civilian with the hopes that it will lead to an ultimate justice? How can this power be misused and abused? - for inevitably, someone, somehow will abuse it. And what implications will that abuse have on the future of freedom in America? Is it the slippery slope that some would have us believe, leading our country to a point of vulnerability that will be its undoing? Or is it simply a necessary evil? - the ends justify the means?

And then there's the situation in the film where there are two ferry boats - one carrying civilians and one carrying prisoners - which have each been rigged with explosives. Each boat's passengers are given the detonator to the other's bomb. The Joker announces to both boats that if the passengers of one boat choose to detonate the other, their boat will be spared - but if no one uses their detonators, then The Joker will blow up both boats. It's a classic, diabolical "Joker-style" catch-22. But it's also extremely reminiscent of the Cold War nuclear proliferation conundrum between super powers like the United States and the Soviet Union; both have nukes to destroy the other, but whoever fires first may doom themselves. The Joker says he won't destroy that boat, but how can they trust that the detonator they hold isn't actually the one that will blow up their own boat? Mutually-assured destruction? Hmmm...

Ultimately, even though both sides weigh the pros and cons of "pushing the button", they both decide not to - no one wants that kind of guilt on their conscience, even if they do live through it. In the end, the passengers of both boats decide to have faith in the goodness of their fellow human beings and let the chips fall where they may. In other words, they don't give in to fear.

And suddenly, I've realized that a major theme of The Dark Knight is "enslavement to fear". Go ahead - watch the film again and see how many overt references there are to fear; being free from fear, the power of fear, manipulation by fear...

In the wake of the attacks of September 11th, 2001, Americans were filled with fear; fear of more attacks, fear of death, fear of chaos, fear of war, and fear of a life unlike anything we've known up until now. This fear caused them to vote certain ways, act certain ways, say certain things and essentially freak out. The famous words of a long-past President were brought up a lot in those days - as a reminder - "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." I could argue that The Joker knows this. But he also knows that the people of Gotham have forgotten it; they don't live their lives according to this noble truth. And perhaps he finds it hilarious to dangle the city's biggest fears in front of their faces and watch them scream in horror.

Truly, The Joker is a creature without fear - "an agent of chaos," as he puts it. He happily puts his life on the line, rigging himself with grenades as a threat to his enemies, pushing the barrel of a pistol to his own forehead and handing the trigger end to Harvey Dent in a lesson about introducing chaos into the world, or even laughing maniacally when Batman causes him to flip head-over-heels and plunge 400-some feet off of a downtown skyscraper toward his death (only to be wrangled by the bat-arang at the last minute and hoisted back up). The Joker has no fear, which would be a fairly healthy gift were he not also a criminally-insane, homicidal maniac and completely void of human compassion. His lack of fear is rather dangerous to others, but his points ring true.

The Joker tells Batman how he sees the people of Gotham:

"To them, you're just a freak... like me! They need you right now. But when they don't, they'll cast you out like a leper. See, their morals, their code - it's a bad joke. It gets dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you - when the chips are down, these 'civilized' people... they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve."

The Joker may be right. "When the chips are down," he says, the people of Gotham will react to their fears, out of desperation. "These 'civilized' people," - these Americans - will turn on one another out of fear and a survival instinct, vote emergency powers to their leaders, disabling their own protections, the laws that ensure their freedoms, and soon... "they'll eat each other."

But Batman wants to help Gotham realize its potential for good (especially if it's through an unmasked hero like Harvey Dent). The ferry boats don't try to kill each other; they don't fall prey to the Joker's tricks. Gotham is growing and under the purity of the glow of the Bat Signal, they find the strength to "endure" (as Alfred puts it). It's a happy ending for Gotham - they're showing signs of nobility, compassion and great humanity. Someday, they city may no longer need Batman, for there may come a day when their fears no longer put them at the mercy of terrorism.

Perhaps, someday, all of America will be so brave.

P.S. I guess fear has been on my mind a bit lately. Earlier today, I watched "The Rally To Restore Sanity and/or Fear" on the National Mall in Washington D.C., hosted by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert - (a rally held in opposition to the fear-mongering, hate-mongering and mostly ignorance-mongering FOX News Corp.-funded rallies hosted by Sean Hannity, Bill O'Rilley and Glenn Beck and mostly focusing on the concept that fear is a manipulation tool and that we ourselves - and not the media - must have control over our fears in order to maintain sanity.) Jon Stewart gave a great speech about this. Watch it here:

And last night, I stayed up pretty late watching a Netflix movie called Defending Your Life, whose premise was that, in the afterlife, we are all judged in a trial to determine if we've progressed enough to move on to the next world or if we must go back to Earth to learn more about overcoming our fears. Fear, in this movie, is what keeps the "little brains" on Earth, whereas the "Big-Brains" - those who use more than 5% of their brains - progress and go on to a much more wonderful world. In fact, here's a clip featuring the film's writer/director/star Albert Brooks as "Daniel" and Rip Torn as his lawyer in the afterlife, "Bob."

That Facebook Movie - Review

2010-10-15T16:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm a bit late on the bandwagon, but I just saw The Social Network. And like most reviews, I have to give it a thumbs up, too. Now, I certainly had to ask myself how much of that positive review is based on all the positive hype it's already been given by the media as well as the public; how much influence did that all have on my liking it? Maybe a little, but I also don't think it'll be my favorite movie of the year - I liked Kick-Ass and Inception more, for example. But there are a few things that made this film quite unique amongst its brethren films this year and which make it worth blogging about.

The film is the story about the inception of the most popular website in the world... as of right now. It was so strange to see that the story begins in 2003, a mere 7 years ago. I grew up watching movies like Apollo 13 or Almost Famous that recounted a moment in America's past in which the story begins decades ago. This film practically takes place here and now. It'd be nearly impossible to distinguish 2003 from today in this film if it weren't for the references to MySpace, Friendster and Napster as the popular websites of the day. Fashion, music and historical events are not relevant or eluded to in the world of 'The Social Network'. For all intents and purposes, this movie takes place almost entirely in the present moment.

David Fincher won't be winning an Oscar for best director for this film. And why not? Because he simply did his job perfectly well - he told the story clearly and succinctly. No flash or flair, no crazy gimmicks or elaborate set pieces. Just a good story told exceedingly well - and that rarely wins Oscars. After earlier successes with Seven and Fight Club, and - to a lesser extent - Zodiac, Fincher seems to have matured and focused his craft down to the simplicity that a good story requests of its director. No single shot, camera movement or creative edit in this film is noteworthy or memorable enough to comment on it now - only the characters and the performances their actors offered, and the faithfully-captured takes they performed. The film is a textbook example of efficiency. Think about it - to tell a story with so much dialogue about code-writing and algorithms, and at the same time to make it this intriguing to the viewer takes decades of experience on top of a polished talent as a storyteller... and probably the help of a great screenwriter, too.

Which brings me to Aaron Sorkin, screenwriter from TV's The West Wing and such films as A Few Good Men and Charlie Wilson's War. I'm starting to really get to know Sorkin's voice from his films, and more specifically, from his characters. He makes bold moves with his characters, who's real-life counterparts would dispute as wildly inaccurate, to which I can only imagine Sorkin responding, "Yes, but a story about the real you would be much more boring." It seems a bit of a shit-storm has already come and gone about the inflammatory creative liberties Sorkin and Fincher took on the real-life story, but that's their job: to make it entertainment! And Sorkin's characters are given powerful dialogue. In the opening scene, our hero's girlfriend has just dumped him and she scorns him with the film's mission statement:

"You're going to be successful, and rich. But you're going to go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you're a nerd. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won't be true. It'll be because you're an asshole."

Sorkin spends the rest of the film proving her point and motivating his character to disprove it, resulting in 2 hours of here-and-now meta-drama revolving around law suits, broken business partnerships and friendships, and an unwittingly-cannibalistic chicken... all because of a little heartbreak. Ain't that just how it is? (Click here to read some of the more memorable lines from the film.)

Before diving into the analysis of the story itself, I'd also like to say that I think it was a brilliant decision to team up with Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails fame) for the films musical score. He, along with composer and some-time Reznor collaborator, Atticus Ross, created a score that was timely, subdued, but perfectly poignant in the right moments for this film. Some great moments include a scene I'd dub "The Sean-a-thon" and the Rowing scene on the Themes river (a beautifully-shot and edited little sequence that could easily have been for a Timex commercial). The music masterfully mixes a hint of the digital in a sea of the emotional.

Now, the story, as you will know whether you've seen the film or not is about the creation of the social networking site, Facebook, by Harvard undergrad Mark Zuckerberg - a socially-inept but creative computer programming wizard, as played by up-and-comer Jessie Eisenberg, who, over the past 5 years, has worked his way from total obscurity to leading-man Oscar-buzz-worthy performances in just a handful of films. We follow Zuckerberg and his best friend Edwardo Saverin (and the Best Supporting Actor award goes to... Andrew Garfield, who is best known as... well, the next Spider-Man) as they spin a wheel of lies and brilliance into a golden thread tainted with treachery and greed. Zuckerberg is the bane of the existence of three fraternity brothers, including the Winklevoss twins, (amazingly and surprisingly played by one actor, Armie Hammer - I had no idea!) who accuse him of stealing their idea for an exclusive social website. Spoiler Alert: They're not totally wrong.

Superstar Justin Timberlake plays Napster founder Sean Parker as an overconfident millionaire playboy who's facade of perfection is on the cusp of its inevitable crumble. He steps in to help Zuckerberg and company realize the full potential of such a radical idea as Facebook and he is first worshiped and then villainized all within an hour of screen-time. His character slowly pulls a believable "180" without ever coming across as evil or mean. I credit this more to Sorkin than Timberlake, although J.T. does his job well.

That's the plot in a nutshell. But the real meat of this film comes in the character study of Mark Zuckerberg. Is he really the nerdy, introverted and manipulative sociopath that the filmmakers have portrayed him as in real life? Does it really matter? For just another film-goer and Facebook-member like myself, I will probably forever see Jessie Eisenberg in my head every time I hear the name "Mark Zuckerberg" in the news, so this is the image that will prevail to the public. And the character was made deeper and more interesting to watch this way. It would make sense that someone with these particular personality traits, combined with the super-powers of divine computer programming skills and the ability to read social structures as mathematical algorithms, would have not only the ability to create the world-wide phenomenon that is Facebook, but the balls and the greed to pull it off. And yet, as the film's initial statement about Zuckerberg's asshole-ishness is again addressed at the end, it's all fueled by something else... something to which any of us can fall prey: desire.

The film ends without ending, for the story is still going on as we speak. Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire in the world, Facebook has over 500 million members in over 200 countries world-wide, is valued at over $24 billion and undoubtedly, the real-life drama is still raging on behind closed doors. The film ends almost unexpectedly, with loose-ends still not tied up, relationships still unstable and lawsuits yet to be closed... and rolling the credits in the midst of such tension reminds us how über-present this situation really is (as well as situations like it that we may know from our own lives).

As clean, simple and everlasting as it all appears to the general public from this side of the Facebook main page on our computer screens, one thing I took away from this film is the reminder that nothing lasts forever. Not MySpace, not Napster, not friendships nor fortune. Not Facebook. Not glory. The only constant in the universe is change. And perhaps its only fuel is desire.

A Blog of a Different Color

2010-03-13T23:26:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's been a long time. A really long time. I don't blog anymore.

And it's weird, because I used to do it a lot - once a day for a while there. But that all changed when Facebook came along. Now, instead of having to dole this lengthy, wordy, time-gobbling paragraph at you via a blog page, (which is shoddily put together by a guy who has no idea how to make a real and unique blog all his own,) all I have to do is shorten it to a simple statement, slap it on my status update on Facebook and wait for the comments to roll in.

But, you know what I learned in the year or so of blogging that I did and the ensuing year or so when Facebook all but obliterated it? I learned that I have almost nothing to say that is worth much of anything. I have opinions and all that, but who cares? They're just mine. I can tell you about my day, review a movie or an album, comment on some recent news, but... so what? It all means nothing to you - my experiences are not helping you. Apparently, they were barely entertaining you. So, it seems that the blog just ain't where it's at. I'm really writing this to see if I even remember how to write a blog.

I think, if I were to ever get back into blogging, I'd have to align it with some sort of a more direct and specific message - maybe preach about my convictions and my beliefs. Maybe blog about real life lessons I've learned and how I learned them and how you can apply these lessons to your life. Maybe I can make this soapbox big and sturdy enough for standing upon once again.

Hmmm... interesting thought: "Be original." Why didn't I think of this sooner?

Okay, so, let me think about this for a while. I'll come up with a list of topics that I might want to tackle and I'll be more organized and thoughtful about the posts I make from now on. I can get pretty deep and philosophical when I want to - those of you closest to me know this. So maybe I can put it to work on a blog better than it could ever be expressed on good ol' Facebook. Whatdyathink? Here goes nuthin'...

Rock and Roll in Retrospect - The 2000s

2009-09-01T18:22:00.001-07:00

Is it just me? Or has this decade been pretty much terrible for Rock and Roll? I feel like, for the first time since its inception in the 1950s, Rock N' Roll has failed to produce anything truly revolutionary to define this decade.

Cases in point:

The 1950s saw the birth of rockabilly, and that classic 50's be-bop kind of rock that started it all. Elvis Prestly, Fats Domino, Chubby Checker, The Big Bopper, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley and His Comets, Ritchie Valens, The Dave Clark Five and the like - the originators of the sound that would forever go on to be called Rock and Roll.

The 1960s saw... well, The freakin' Beatles! But also acts like The Rolling Stones, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Velvet Underground, The Doors and Jimi Hendrix. These artists paved the way for the Free Love, Psychedelic, Hippie rock that would lead to the decade's swan song concert experience, "Woodstock".

The 1970s saw the rise of acts like Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, The Eagles, James Taylor, Queen, Elton John, Billy Joel, and Pink Floyd. New brands of music came into being, like Funk, Disco and Motown.

The 1980s saw the rise of New Wave, The New Romantics and Synth Pop. Michael Jackson, U2 and Madonna rules the airwaves, while young metal acts like Metallica and Megadeth also paved the way for thousands of future "metal" bands. And in between were the 80s hair-metal bands like Poison, Bon Jovi, and Motley Crue.

And the 1990s gave us Grunge and Alt-Rock! Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins... and the post-grunge era with Everclear, Live, Beck, No Doubt, Counting Crows, Ben Folds Five and Garbage. There was also quite the British invasion with bands like Oasis, Radiohead, and Blur.

But now... as we are about to close out the first decade of the new millennium, what have the 2000s given us? If I had to name something that happened for rock in this span of time, I would have to say that Indie Rock has had the best years here. Perhaps this is due to the ravaging of the giant record publishing companies at the hands of the Internet and programs like Napster and other Peer-To-Peer file sharing programs that gave millions of young people access to free music, legally or otherwise. And in the aftermath, up came the sounds of indie labels who had never had a towering infrastructure to begin with, and therefore did not crumble in the face of emerging technology. Successful Indie Rock bands might include Jet, The Libertines, Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, The Strokes, Kings of Leon, The White Stripes, Snow Patrol and Interpol.

Still, many bands had an amazing decade. Acts like Coldplay and Linkin Park raked in their millions along side old arena staples like U2, Bon Jovi, The Rolling Stones and Madonna.

Nickelback, Creed, Foo Fighters, Hinder, Seether and 3 Doors Down all seemed to continue to carry the dying flame of post-grunge alt-rock into the new decade, with varying success. Green Day arguable led one of the only real revolutions - that of the Pop Punk movement (or what I would call Bubble-Gum Punk) - with newcomers Blink-182, Yellowcard, All Time Low, Hit the Lights, and Every Avenue forging ahead. The other major movement could be called Emo Rock - categorized for its whiny, confessional, melodramatic lyrics and vocals. Emo bands that really "made it" this decade include Dashboard Confessional, Hawthorne Heights, Taking Back Sunday, The Used, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, 30 Seconds To Mars and The Plain White Tees.

Nu-Metal, a leftover afterthought from the late 1990s, saw a rise in popularity with bands like Evanescence, Linkin Park, System of a Down, Staind, Papa Roach, and Disturbed, although in my opinion, it never fully materialized with any bands that could be called the true leaders and definers of this sound. An odd blend of New Wave/post-punk/synth pop emerged in the later years of the decade with acts like Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, The Bravery, Bloc Party, Metro Station, Justice, The Veronicas, Lights, The Postal Service, Kasabian, Hellogoodbye, Owl City, and MGMT. And I won't even get into the dark and bloody mess that is "Metalcore" or "Post-Hardcore".

This is all excluding the terrible pop acts (Britney Spears, N'SYNC, The Jonas Brothers, Avril Levine, Ashlee Simpson, etc.) and the uproarious swell of popularity in Hip-Hop/Rap/R&B acts (Eminem, OutKast, T.I., Kanye West, Ja Rule, The Game, 50 Cent, Nas, Jay-Z, DMX, Missy Elliott, Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, Ludacris, Rick Ross, etc.) Hip-Hop/R&B was undoubtedly the winner in the music industry this decade.

But what, then, did the 2000s do or Rock and Roll? Sure, I was able to mention about a hundred acts that made some waves over the past 10 years, but what did it all amount to? Nothing, in my opinion. It was all very, very derivitive of the major steps in rock that were taken many years before. Most of it was based on the major acts of the 90s - rock didn't actually change all that much... it just kind of echoed into the future. For the first time ever, I feel, there is no clear and obvious statement being made in rock and roll for this decade's new generation of musicians.

I don't know what that means exactly. Maybe, if anything, it's a statement in and of itself, that this generation doesn't know what to say. The don't know who or what they are or where they're headed. In a post-9/11 world, they don't know how to define themselves at all. Perhaps all this muddled composition of styles is exactly an expression of that sentiment - of fear, loss of faith and of identity crisis. And, in my opinion, this statement taken from a Wikipedia page says it all; "New York City, once the leading market for the format, has no modern rock station as of mid-2009."

Overall, I'd say the best rock and roll acts to come out of the new millennium are easy to spot, and if I had to call them, I'd say it was these acts:

Coldplay
The White Stripes
The Killers
Fall Out Boy
Linkin Park
Muse
and Keane

(I'd also have to throw John Mayer in there for his amazing blues chops)

Here's to hoping that the 2010s will see a revival and a new revolution in rock music that the whole world can get behind.

Saddest Movie Moments

2009-08-31T00:37:00.001-07:00

For absolutely no reason in particular, I've decided that I've reached the point in my life when I must take a few minutes to decide what I think are the ten saddest moments in movie history. Of course, this list is subject to limitations based on what I have and have not seen. And I'll be honest, I'm just not even going to consider Schindler's List - it's not fair to the other contenders. The whole movie is miserably sad - I could never pick just one part.

So here we go. Tell me what you think.

10. DUMBO - 'Mad Elephant'

9. CASABLANCA - "Here's lookin' at you, kid."

8. I AM LEGEND - "Every little thing's gonna be alright."

(Embedding was disabled, so just click here.)

7. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A.I. - "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the world."

6. BAMBI - 'Bambi's Mother'

5. THE NEVR-ENDING STORY - 'The Swamps of Sadness'

4. SOMETIMES A GREAT NATION - 'Loggers'

3. THE GREEN MILE - "Killing What They Love"

2. E.T. - "I'll be right here."

1. CAST AWAY - "Wilson, I'm sorry!"

Facebook Is Killing My Blog

2009-08-24T22:39:00.000-07:00

Ever since Facebook reared its attractively ugly head, the frequency with which I create new blog posts has dropped considerably. Apparently, I have neither the time nor the inclination to write out a dozen paragraphs about anything anymore - not now that I've learned to express my thoughts in short bursts and blurbs. Twitter has taught me how to do it in 140 charachters or less! For this, to all my many fans, I must apologize - even though you're probably all following me very closely on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, AIM, YahooMessenger, Linked In, and my many other venues of pointless communication.

I'm not sure why this is. I can be fairly long-winded when need-be and my assumption is that it's entertaining to you all. After all, you are reading this right now, aren't you? (GOTCHA!) But I think it has something to do with the fact that I get instant feedback from Facebook, and not so widespread or frequent feedback from Blogspot, even when I write really controversial blogs! Feedback seems to fuel the creation of opinionated ramblings more than the personal satisfaction of having a finished blog. It's the interaction that I seem to crave, and thus, Facebook has become my new drug. But if I could somehow fuse the two beyond the simple act of posting my blog posts in my Facebook status update section, then perhaps the craft of blogging may make a personal comeback in my online life. (Here's hoping that Facebook will create "Faceblogs" or something like that.)

'Moneyball' Down The Drain

2009-07-04T02:46:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine, Louis Pantelakos, Jr., shared with me today an article from a Los Angeles Times blog about the recently-eighty-sixed baseball movie, Moneyball, based on the best-selling book of the same name (Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game) by Michael M. Lewis, published in 2003.

News has been wide-spread of late about the plans to adapt the book - a story about Billy Beane, the Oakland Athletics baseball team's general manager, and his rebellious-yet-successful approach to the business of the game - into a feature film, starring Brad Pitt as Beane and directed by Steven Soderburgh (Ocean's Eleven, Out Of Sight). But even more recently, the bombshell was dropped that Sony Pictures Entertainment - a mere 5 days before production was to begin in Arizona - pulled the plug on the $58 million project.

Louis sent me the article, which discusses the reasons behind Sony's unconventional cold feet, and asked me to tell him what I thought when I was done reading it. Here is my reply:

Honestly, I'm not a huge Soderburgh fan. Out of Sight was great and all, Sex, Lies & Videotape was too. But, well... he's just not really my kind of director. I think there are a lot of guys out there who could direct this flick, but with Pitt getting a deal of director approval in his contract, it may be hard to find anyone. But that's a great argument for the opinion that Sony may very well be better off without him, too.

I like the A's - that's all. I just want a movie to be made about my team - my classic early 2000's Oakland A's. I think almost any director worth his salt could make a good flick out of this seemingly terrific script. (Hopefully it will leak out on the Internet and we can at least read it someday.) Maybe Billy Beane would be better played by a smaller-scale star. I know that Pitt is a huge draw for the project, (he'll bring in millions that few others could,) but it wouldn't be impossible without him.

Who else could play Beane? Hmmm... I really like Sam Rockwell. Or perhaps Christian Bale could pull it off. (I'm thinking box-office draws here as much as I am performance - "curb appeal" is pretty important for a smaller flick like this.) I think even someone like Ryan Renolds could be good. You know who would be great and is getting really hot right now? Bradley Cooper! That guy would rock a role like this! Could make him a mega-star!

And as far as directors, I think almost anyone from Allen to Zemeckis could do a decent job with this flick. Hell, Ridley Scott did stuff like Matchstick Men - he could do it. So could Gore Verbinski with films like The Mexican and The Weather Man under his belt. And I loved the way Oliver Stone tackled football with Any Given Sunday - let him take a swing at baseball!

All I want to see is my home team's stadium - The Oakland Colosseum - immortalized in all its grime and glory on the big screen with a good story. I want to see that "Green & Gold" shining down at me, 30-feet high, and a chance to show my kids - someday - a good film about the glory days of their old man's favorite baseball club.

That's my two cents. Thanks for reading, and...

LET'S GO... OAKLAND! (BOOM! BOOM! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!)

KING OF POP - In Memorium

2009-06-27T01:28:00.001-07:00

On Thursday, June 25, 2008, the man who was my biggest childhood icon died a very sudden, yet-somehow-not-unexpected death. Michael Jackson was born a human being on August 29th, 1958. But somehow along his rise to stardom, he graduated from mere mortality and became not only "Bad" and "Dangerous," but "Invincible." Yesterday, the man died. But the image, the icon and the legend that is MICHAEL JACKSON will live forever.

I wanted to share with you a few of my favorite and most memerable Michael Jackson moments of my younger days, because it would seem that most of the saddness I feel today is actually a reflection of the part of my youth and innocence that died yesterday along with His Majesty. Here it goes:

1986 - Rollerskating to 'Thriller' in the garage with my sister and the girl next door, Catherine.

1991 - Riding bikes with my cousin, Brian Rafter, either in San Ramon or in Palo Alto, while syncing our “Dangerous” cassette albums on our Walkmans.

1992 - Playing basketball in Palo Alto with cousin Brian and some neighborhood guys while blasting MJ's "Jam" on the boombox, as inspired by the music video.

1991 - The Simpsons, Season 3 season premire, which aired on my 11th birthday, entitled "Stark Raving Dad," in which Michael Jackson visits Springfield... sort of. (Despite legal issues that forced Fox to credit the voice of the character as "John Jay Smith", Michael actually voiced the character himself, minus the singing parts.)

1992 - Dubbing a cassette tape with 'Bad' on one side and 'Dangerous' on the other with help from my other cousin, Kevin Rafter, on the same day that Brian and I got bad sunburns at a water park and came home and fell asleep for hours listening to both albums.

1987 - Buying the “Bad” album on cassette tape from the Stoneridge Mall with my dad a few days or weeks after it had been released. My dad offered to pop the tape in the car's cassette player and we listened to the opening track, "Bad", but I was too embarrased to continue playing the tape because I didn't want my dad to hear me listening to the slightly suggestive love song that is "The Way You Make Me Feel."

Circa 1986 - Trying to decipher some of the more confusing lyrics to the song 'Thriller' with my friend Jimmy in my backyard.

2001 - While at a Giant's game at Pac Bell Park (now AT&T Park), I heard "Wanna Be Startin' Something" blasting over the PA system, and for some reason, even though I'd heard it about 500 times before, it felt like it was the first time I'd ever heard the song. The crecendo at the end with the chorus of "Ma ma se ma ma sa ma ma cu sa!" blew me away. The same year, I saw Chris Tucker do an amazing MJ impression to the same song in Rush Hour 2, and I gained a whole new appreciation for the song.

1991 - Staying up late to watch the premiere of the new video for 'Black Or White' on Fox after The Simpsons.

1992 - Playing the 'Moonwalker' video game with my cousins Sean and Brian.

1989 - Watching the 'Moonwalker' movie for the first time with my friend down the street, Chad.

2003 - Jamming on the new (last) Michael Jackson album, “Invincible”, in college with my roommate, L.J.

1990 - Knowing in my heart, more than in my brain, that Michael Jackson was behind the brilliant single, "Do The Bartman" from "The Simpsons Sing The Blues" album.

1993 - Blasting the 'Off The Wall' album in my room with my cousin Brian as if we had always listened to disco albums.

My favorite memory, however, is not a single moment, but the countless hours I spent alone in my bedroom as a child; just me and my tape player; just me and my friend Michael. He kept me company for much of my youth through his music, his lyrics, his energy, his image, and - much deeper and most importantly - his "voice."

Thanks for all the good times, Michael. I'm really going to miss you.

My first PODCAST!

2009-06-13T22:33:00.000-07:00

Look at this! I got to take part in my friend Morgan King's Arcbound Podcast today! We talk about all sorts of junk. Enjoy!

Click here to listen: PODCAST

(Or right-click and select "Save Target As" to download the file.)

THE GREATEST FILM SEQUEL OF ALL TIME

2009-05-03T13:37:00.000-07:00

THE DEBATE RAGES ON!

A recent Facebook post has sparked a bit of a debate, so... please vote (to the right) for your favorite sequel film of all time.

(note: To simplify the argument, I am defining "sequel" here - for our purposes - as the second movie in a series, and not the third, fourth, fifth, etc. And I'm only listing the movies I'm listing, so you gotta pick from that list. Deal with it.)

TintedChickenWindowFoots

2009-04-21T23:45:00.000-07:00

It would seem that, in the great universe of rock n' roll, all things are balanced. For every 'Back In Black' by AC/DC, there will be a "Love Beach" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer. For every "Live at Leeds" or "Frampton Comes Alive", there will be a Christmas album by Amy Grant. And for every Eddie, Slash or Yngwie, there will be a Tiny Tim. The scales of justice always seem to hang at "six of one, a half-dozen of the other".

And, of course, there is no exception for... the supergroup!

Case in point:

Have you heard about this brilliant new conglomeration? This meeting of the masses? This monsters of rock reunion? They are drummer Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), bassist Michael Anthony (Van Halen), guitar-virtuoso Joe Satriani, and on vocals, the Red Rocker himself, Sammy Hagar! The're loud! They're amazing! They're selling out shows and bringing down houses! They are...

CHICKENFOOT!!!

Long story short, they're pretty awesome. Loud and proud, everyone's at the top of their game, the recordings sound amazing - it's gonna be great! Check 'em out here - http://www.chickenfoot.us

So now that the scales have been tipped so far in the favor of awesomeness, what is it that invariably must occur?

TINTED WINDOWS

Get this...

On drums, the guy from Cheap Trick. On bass, some guy from some band called Fountains of Wayne (they thought your mom was hot), on guitar James Iha (lowering himself to this level from the once-great Smashing Pumpkins), and on vocals? You're not gonna believe this.... it's the middle kid from Hanson. Remember them? That band of prepubescent pop rockers who dared to try to do it without Disney's help (and were subsequently squashed by the Brittany/N'SYNC juggernauts)? Well don't worry - he's still just as lame.

I just thought it was interesting to watch the nature of rock run its course and keep the balance by producing this vacuum of maximum suckitude to reign in the awesomeness of the former band. The circle continues.

Thanks - g'night.

"...And we're puttin' it on wax! It's the NEW STYLE!"

2009-03-31T00:43:00.000-07:00

In the past few months, I've purchased three new albums - Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy, U2's No Line On The Horizon and Pearl Jam's re-issue and redux of their 1991 debut album Ten, known as "The Legacy Edition" - in a way I have rarely ever purchased any of the 450-plus albums in my collection; I bought these three on vinyl.

It's an evolution that few could have predicted, and yet it's a notion that large number of audiophiles have always agreed upon: vinyl records - or "LPs", as the old folks call 'em - are the way to go.

And now, seemingly out of the digital blue, the modern-day record stores, which come in the form of big-box retailers like Wal-Mart and Best Buy, are hocking the latest releases and some of the all-time great albums in the form of a big, shiny, black disc made of vinyl with one groove imprinted in a tightly-wound spiral from edge to center and charging roughly 20 bucks a pop. Along the valleys of this aforementioned microscopic groove are variations so slight and frequent that a special "needle" is required to run along the crevasse, reading each bump and wiggle and translating them all into electric pulses which are transformed into amplified sound waves pumped through a speaker system.

This system, my dear young ones, is what is known as an "analog signal". Vinyl records are a form of music recorded and played back through an analog sound signal. The word "analog" literally means "proportionate" - a "one-to-one" ratio of sound recorded to sound re-played. CDs and MP3s are digital recordings - crisp and clear, and safe from the dangers of dust scratches and warping to which vinyl have long been known to be susceptible. No binary code of ones and zeros can ever replace the exact replication of sound waves - digitization will always be an extra step in the recording process. And this is why the sound quality of a vinyl record is forever superior to any digital recording that can ever be made.

But the question that instantly arises in the year 2009, after more than 20 years of the Compact Disc as Format King in the realm of music duplication, is: "Why the hell would vinyl be making a comeback now?" And I have a theory or two about this. In fact, the acquiescence to this retro trend may have been triggered in me personally when two notions crossed my conscience's path at once.

The first of these was when I noticed how easy it has become to acquire music these days. I remember a fonder time when Tower Records was still a thing. In fact, somewhere around 1995, at the tender age of 14 years, I was so hungry for my own copy of a Dire Straights greatest hits album - if only to have "Sultans of Swing" on CD to play on my own stereo system any time I'd wish - that I, still a few years away from having my own car or a license, made a 10.4-mile roundtrip trek from my home to Tower Records in Dublin and back home again. I got the album I wanted, but I'd earned it! And the sound from that CD was all the more appreciated. That's what I and the entire post-Napster world have lost: music appreciation. The fact is, and may always remain, that I can log onto my computer and, within a matter of minutes and with the transaction of little to no of funds, I can have a digital MP3 file of generally any song in the realm of the popular music of the past 50 years. And that's the difference: a couple minutes in front of a computer versus an afternoon of hiking across city limits to obtain ownership of the music I want; it's just way too easy these days. I can no longer respect or appreciate naturally the music I acquire, and that is truly a shame.

And then I "acquired" a digital copy of a live, stand-up comedy album by screaming comedian Lewis Black (of The Daily Show fame) called Anticipation. On this album, Black sticks to a theme that recalls how many things are quite disappointing compared to the actual anticipation of them. The anticipation of an event or a feeling you know is coming, he proposes, is always better than the actual occurrence. And when he touched on how this theory applies to recorded music, I understood completely:

"Boy-oh-boy, it’s a totally different experience – record albums – than from what we have now – CDs and digital downloads - because now it’s like, unbelievable! If you don’t like that piece of shit that you bought for 99 cents, you press a button – that fucker’s gone! Another song comes right the fuck on! No waiting! No fucking waiting! You can switch from an album to a fucking other album! Are you fucking kidding me? That’s a miracle! Everytime I push the button on the iPod and that happens, literally, the expression on my face, I believe, is exactly the same as primitive man when he first saw fire!

"Now, see, with a record album, if you wanted to change the song ‘cause you didn’t like the song, you had to work! You had to get up - out of your chair - and walk across the entire living room to get to the 'record player'. And the 'record player' has a 'tone arm' with a needle in it. And then you’ve gotta take that and find the right 'groove' – and there are like, a billion of ‘em! Now, where the record would actually change and the next track would come up was a little bigger... but it’s still like performing surgery!"

And Black was right. There was something magical about the experience of listening to an album on 10-inch vinyl. The anticipation of getting to track three or four was completely abolished with the advent of digital music. "Click!" Next song! "Click!" Next album! We have totally destroyed our patience, and thus, our appreciation for the album as a unit of music. Get up? Get up and cross the room? I crossed city boarders and a highway to get an album! That's dedication! That's devotion! That's patience! And that is what makes an album worth it's price. So, when I saw that the new Guns N' Roses would be released on vinyl, I knew something was up in the music world at large. The winds were changing. "New music on old technology? Hmmm...," thought I, "What's going on here?" I gave it a shot and, low and behold, I'm diggin' it.

And upon further review, here are a few nerdy, technical, little facts about digital music that bury it even deeper: Sure, you can buy a song for 99 cents on iTunes nowadays, or a full album for around 10 bucks. But what you're getting is of a much lower quality. Yeah, it may sound pretty good coming through your computer speakers or iPod earbuds, but the fact is that the CD pressing that those songs came from would have given you the highest digital quality possible - and in the world of digital music, quality is measured in units of the volume of data transfered per second - kilobytes per second - or "kbps". A CD has each song recorded at a very high volume of data per second: 1411 kbps, which sounds amazing on a hi-fidelity sound system, even if it lacks the depth and breadth of sound - the "warmth" - that vinyl delivers. But when you log onto iTunes or otherwise download a song from the Internet, you're lookin' at getting an MP3 that's been "ripped" at 192 kbps or even 128 kbps. That's less than 10% of the raw data being transferred when compared to the actual CD quality. And the thing that bugs me about this is that iTunes will still charge you the regular price - be it $9.99 or $13.99, depending on the album - while only delivering 10% of the music product, not to mention a lack of packaging! We've been sold a bill of goods here people! Snake oil! And that is exactly why people steal music off the Internet - they're tired of being ripped off!

Well, we've come full circle. Vinyl to the rescue! Vinyl is worth the price. The new pressings of new and old albums (I recently picked up GN'R's "Appetite For Destruction" for $19.99 at Best Buy, but found it even cheaper among the much more vast selection available at Hot Topic, of all places!) are even superior when compared to the hay day of the LP record, from the 1940s thru the 1970s. New Premium 180+ Pure Virgin and Heavyweight 180 Gram vinyl sounds better than anything we've ever been sold in the past. It's sturdy, strong and less susceptible to damage, so your dollar goes further than ever. All you need is a turntable, a needle and a couple of good speakers. And beyond all that, when you buy a record album on vinyl, you've really got something! Not this little 4-inch CD in a plastic tray. You've got a big square fold out book, complete with either one disc, or now often two discs, and big art work! Something you can display in a frame if you want to - because people will be able to see it from across the room! No more little booklets. Sit down and unfold on your lap real gift from your favorite band - buy an LP!

Now, I'm certainly not going to toss out all my old CDs and I'm definitely not going to stop downloading music online. But I have decided that the real gems, the music that is priceless in and of itself, deserves to be heard on vinyl as often as possible. I owe it to myself to experience these songs this way. So shake your head at me and call me a nerdy "audiophile" if you must - I enjoy it. In fact, I kinda like being a little like those guys in the movie, "High Fidelity". I just gotta get me one of those cool little lint brushes for the records. Do they even sell those anymore?

******* UPDATE - April 27, 2009 ********

(Seeeee? L.A. TIMES story)

Death To All Butt-Metal

2009-03-17T23:34:00.001-07:00

I recently came across a little novelty "metal" tune called "Death To All But Metal" by an extremely novelty (and, therefore, not to be taken seriously - ever!) rock band calling themselves Steel Panther (much in the tradition of band names like Def Leppard, Bon Jovi or Judas Priest - all two-word names where each word has nothing to do with the next).

Now, I get it - they're a joke band. But the musicianship and the vocal capabilities were astounding! Here - have a listen...

And in case you're interested, the lyrics are here: (highlight text to reveal)
(WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT)

Fuck the Goo Goo Dolls, they can suck my balls
They look like the dorks that hang out at the mall
Eminem can suck it, so can Dr. Dre
They can suck each other just because they're gay

They can suck a dick, they can lick a sack
Everybody shout, "Heavy Metal's back!"
Death to all but metal!!

Death to Papa Roach, Blink 182
All those fucking pussies sounds like doggy doo
Wearing baggy pants, spiking up their hair
They're not worth the crust in my underwear

Where is Def Leppard? Where is Mötley Crüe?
Why does all my lyrics sound like Dr. Seuss?
Death to all but metal

Kills those fucking fuckheads who program MTV
They can suck my ass with all the record companies

Death to Britney Spears, kill the little slut
Kill Madonna too, and then fuck her in the butt
Fuck Maria Carey, death to Sheryl Crow
They can kiss each other on the camel toe
50 Cent's a fag, so is Kanye West
Shootin' hot sperm on each others chest
Death to all but metal!!

Okay, so... that may have been the most crude, disgusting song ever written. But I'm conflicted. Is this a parody? Or is it actual Rock N' Roll? I mean, the fact is, it's loud, it's brash, it's accusatory. It's straight and to the point - and it does have a point! It's angst from the hearts of some rock-purists who are sick and tired of "Jack FM" and VH1 - top 20 radio, iTunes, and what MTV has become. They're "takin' it back", so to speak. It's brash and offensive and vulgar and it rhymes! This is everything a really great hard rock song is supposed to be about.

And yet, I'm totally appalled and completely against this new style of "glib rock". It's a testament to the "dumbing down" of America's youth culture. I hate to sound like an old geezer here, but... back in my day, we had Public Enemy ("Bring Tha Noise", "Can't Truss It", "911 Is A Joke", "Don't Believe The Hype" and "Fight The Power"!) We had Aerosmith singing about teen molestation from the point of view of the victim, and Pearl Jam singing about adolescent violence to the point of murder in the classroom. Axl Rose gave us "November Rain" and "Estranged" - swirling, orchestral epics which explored - not the concepts - but the very essences of isolation, disillusion and abandonment. These songs were powerful, dramatic and shocking, and yet they were poetic and beautiful at the same time.

Going back even further, we had Led Zeppelin singing about the mysticies of black magic and AC/DC ranting that "Rock n' Roll Ain't Noise Pollution". We had Twisted Sister screaming "We're Not Gonna Take It" and Queen chanting "We Will Rock You". Rock has always been aggressive and in-your-face (- that's why we like it!) And it just doesn't pull any punches - Rock always tells you how it feels and never apologizes for its cruel, impolite approach.

And yet, this....

This is "rock"? These are lyrics that would spew from the underdeveloped minds of the most dimwitted dolts in any 6th grade class in America. The band has no style of its own - they're entire shtick is to imitate the outrageous glam-metal look of the early 80s and bands like Poison and Motley Crue. They may have a point in their song, and they may be right on the money... but how about a little artistry, people? Is that too much to ask?

And my biggest fear is this: It's not just this band. It's all of today's "big" rock acts. I used to like Nickelback - they used to be a revival of those aforementioned old rock bands. But since The Viacom leviathan (MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon) got a hold of them, well... just listen to their new album, "Dark Horse"; it should have been called "No Risks". And that goes for all the bands making it out there today, with perhaps a few minor exceptions. The Jonas Brothers? Really? Kids are calling this rock? Or even "pop"!?! They give "pop" a bad name! Have you seen this Lady Gaga chick? The Plain White Tees? Shinedown? (Who, by the way, had completely sold out by time their 2nd album was released!) Seether? THE FRAY!?!? For my purposes today, and with no irony lost on this writer, I shall refer to Steel Panther - and all of these "rock" bands - as "butt-metal".

I know, I'm complaining in much the same fashion that the singer of Steel Panther would. But my point is that even the best "rock" of today has absolutely NOTHING to offer - not the way "MY" music did. The 80s and 90s rock meant something. So much of it had depth and volume on a scope so magnificent, it wouldn't even be recognized in the industry if it were released today, amidst this garbage.

And so, I find myself boo-hooing like an aging rocker, wearing my Rage Against The Machine t-shirt, my flannel coat and worn-out Chuck Taylors, sitting in an old rocking chair, strumming a slow, amp-less rendition of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on a beat-up, old, second-rate electric guitar and yelling at the kids on my lawn that they're music is crap, much like the man who - when I was a kid - used to sit on his porch in a vintage Buffalo Springfield shirt from 1968, with a long red beard and a bandanna on his head, and a beat-up old acoustic guitar on his lap, strumming the chords to "The Times They Are A-Changing" and yelling at me that my music was crap. The circle of life, it seems, will continue.

But there is one beacon of light on the horizon. It seems that, with the advent of video game technology and the innate sense within the human spirit to seek out and ingest quality rock music, the gaming kids of today have been blessed with the likes of the "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" games, not only exposing them to the sounds, but to the experience of some of rock n' roll's greatest accomplishments. Perhaps "Rock n' roll", as Brian Johnson proclaimed gleefully into a microphone and onto an 24-track recording suite back in 1979, "it will survive."

U2 - "Horizons" (and arguments about the existance of "Lines" upon them)

2009-03-09T00:47:00.000-07:00

U2 has been a band for a very long time. Slowly but surely, they've become the new Rolling Stones - a sonic empire, filled with sights, sounds and flavors for all tastes, whose speeding bullet-train image builds upon itself again and again on a seemingly endless track into the future.

With their latest outing, the little band of mates from the Emerald Isle have released an effort that both confuses and delights. No Line On The Horizon, U2's 12th studio album in 28 years (yet only the 3rd this decade), finds them once again at a new peak of competence and confidence. Not since their phenomenal 1991 pop-rock bombshell, Achtung, Baby!, have U2 boasted with such angst, enthusiasm and optimism.

The opening title track hits a reset button on your ears by displaying a sonic experience not unfamiliar but still alien to U2 fans. The slate, having been wiped clean, is set for a track that sounds like the musical equivalent of a brilliant statue that has lain dormant in a block of marble for years until it was finally carved out by the only artist who could ever bring it to life. "Magnificent" is the kind of song we have always expected and wanted from this band. "Only love can leave such a mark," croons Bono in a romantic howl of a higher caliber than we've heard from him since the '90s, "...but only love can heal such a scar." It's an instant classic.

Without being as timeless and perfect, "Moment of Surrender" (whose lyrics seem to express the majesty within the act of surrender to a higher power) is this album's "One"; a down-tempo track both beautiful and melodic, yet brooding, bluesy, and passionate. It stands out undeniably amongst its peers and deserves it's spot in the first three tracks of the album. "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" is a poppy, bright and upbeat mid-tempo tune with a driving beat that leads to a predictable "U2-ish" chorus, but is definitely catchy and never without its charm. The first single from the album, "Get On Your Boots" is a fuzz-boxed rocker with an electrified flamenco chorus, and has met with less-than-favorable reviews from almost everyone I've talked with about it... but I still enjoy it! It stands alone as the only piece of overt-but-meaningless sugar-rock supplanted firmly in the middle of the album purely as a fun song.

But it's the quirky, competent and inspired composition, "Stand Up Comedy", which strikes at the heart of what every U2 fan has been waiting for with this new album. With some of Bono's better lyrics to date, ("I gotta stand up to ego but my ego’s not really the enemy / It’s like a small child crossing an eight lane highway on a voyage of discovery" and "God is love and love is evolution's very best day"), "Stand Up Comedy" does not disappoint.

As the album begins to wrap things up, the listener is slammed with one of the cooler songs in the band's entire library. "Breathe" is almost entirely unlike anything we've ever heard from U2, and it's a pleasure! Bono raps his lyrics as two characters - a door-to-door evangelical and his cynical prey. "Coming from a long line of traveling salespeople on my mother's side, I wasn't gonna buy just anyone's cockatoo..." the narrator tells us before informing the man at his door that: "there's nothing you have that I need" and further declaring, "I can breathe." For my money, there has never been a more beauteous and enjoyable song about finding grace where it isn't being sold. "We are people borne of sound/The songs are in our eyes/Gonna wear them like a crown".

Then again, the album does have some valleys in between all these peaks. "Unknown Caller", although not a complete disappointment, simply bores me with a monotone, irregular chorus and lyrics that sound as if a computer program had written them. Even if I'm missing the message of this song, the performance sure didn't save it for me. "FEZ-Being Born" (although a great song) is a more sonic experience, both lyrically-minimal (or lazy) and easily skipped, and "White As Snow" is just a sleepy, little ballad - nothing much happening there. But the closing track, "Cedars of Lebanon" is very reminiscent of the experimental sounds the band had tinkered with in the '80s and early '90s (with N.L.O.T.H. producers, Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite), and is a dark and serious ode to war and poverty through the eyes of a foreign news corespondent - a very cool ending to a great album.

No Line On The Horizon is one of U2's best albums simply because it feels as if they've gotten a certain groove back that had been missing for over a decade. If you're a fan, you'll love this album. If you're not, you'll still enjoy about half the songs.

Although the future is curious for U2, one thing does seem certain - they have absolutely no intention of ever stopping; they will continue to progress and evolve as a band as as a musical statement on the face of Rock & Roll. They may have been slowing down in their aged-rocker years (all members fast-approaching 50), but it's easy to tell they want to ride this train until the very end. And if the Stones are still doing it, who knows how long U2 can go?

(P.S. - In case you missed it, U2 was on The Late Show with David Letterman all last week - 5 days of performances and a few goofy skits. Check it out here.)

Didja catch Fallon last night?

2009-03-03T09:37:00.001-08:00

So, Conan's gone, and Jimmy Fallon is the new host of "Late Night," also following in the footsteps of the great David Letterman. Here are my thoughts:

The show opened with a funny little sketch in the dressing room as Jimmy is psyching himself up in the mirror and is told he's about to go on. The camera then adjusts to reveal Conan O'Brien in plain clothes packing up boxes for his move to L.A. The two have a very cold banter before Jimmy asks Conan, "So, that's how it's gonna be, huh?"

"Yeah," Conan says with a complacent tone. "That's exactly how it's gonna be!"

Cut to the opening titles for "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" - Jimmy's running through the streets of New York as the camera flashes around wildly, cutting angles like mad, all to the driving beat of house band, The Roots, who have adjusted their raucous "Here I Come" to fit the theme of "Late Night".

After that, Jimmy Fallon comes out for a pretty much atrociously painful monologue. There were some good jokes in there, but Jimmy is WAY too uptight and nervous to look like he's having any fun out there. And when we're squirming right along with him, it's just no fun for us, either. But at the end of the monologue, Jimmy busts out with a bit called "Slow Jamming The News", where he discusses the passage of the US Economy Stimulus Bill through Congress all to the swanky, sexy rhythms of The Roots and the sultry, bluesy crooning of emcee Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter. Now, that was funny.

After a commercial break, Jimmy played a really stupid and pointless game with three members of the audience called "Lick It For Ten", in which each audience member was given ten dollars to lick a lawn mower, a copy machine or a fish bowl. That's it. They each licked an object and Jimmy gave them each a ten-spot out of his wallet. Pretty lame.

And after another break, Jimmy welcomed his first guest, acclaimed film actor Robert DeNiro. A pretty impressive first guest, you'd think. But the way Bobby just sat there, looking bored or maybe even embarrassed, made for some pretty tense - and not so funny - television. He wasn't there to promote any new film or anything, so Jimmy was left to just do his impression of the aging actor while he cracked himself up... and few else. But DeNiro did show some life when they ran the clip of a fictitious movie he and Jimmy had "done together" called "Space Train". That part was kinda funny.

Then Justin Timberlake came out, gave Jimmy the welcoming gift of a signed photo of Barry Gibb, and proceeded to save the show. This was probably the best part since Jimmy and Justin play so well off each other. They sang an impromptu, appropriately-altered "Barry Gibb Talk Show" theme song together (The Roots jumped in perfectly for this), and Justin went on to do impersonations of John Mayer and Michael McDonald singing about Bud Light Lime; all very funny.

But that's the thing; Jimmy mentioned that their green room was "sponsored" by Bud Light Lime. ("How metro of you," commented Timberlake.) But why? Is this really going to be one of those fully-product-placement-laced live shows that gets so annoying with the constant references to some commercial product (like the lawn mower and copy machine, the brands and prices of which were also mentioned) that it just makes me wanna turn the TV off and go to bed? I hope they don't have to keep this up for long.

Then Van Morrison sang some boring old song and everything ended. Overall, a pretty rocky start to want may end up being a good show. I'm one of the few people left who still likes Jimmy Fallon, but I certainly have my doubts about him filling such big shoes as his predecessors and am instantly reminded of one miserable case of "The Chevy Chase Show".

One of the best things the show has going for it, however, is the amazingly tight and ridiculously hip (by Late Night standards) house band, The Roots. They are gonna bring the house down every single night and make Carson Daly's house band look like a bunch of pre-teens on recorders and piano-horns.

Let's hope it's just one or two shaky seasons here, like Conan had back in the mid-90s when he started out, and I hope to see him develop his skills and show the world that he's really not just some annoying, worn-out-before-his-time, one-trick-SNL-pony. Tina Fey is on tonight - I'll definitely be watching that one.

Yes, but what to blog ABOUT!?!?!

2009-02-27T01:32:00.001-08:00

This seems to be the biggest problem for most of my fellow bloggers - "What should I write about today?" And it's a question that, more often that not, never finds an answer before the sun sets on another day. And here am I, let all alone in the Blog-o-sphere of my small circle of blogging friends, trying to lead the pack with regular, updated, stimulating, intriguing and original material (except for Gary - that dude writes a new blog every 20 seconds).

And so, what shall I write about today? Well... today I don't have much. My life is pretty bland and uneventful at the moment, but that's okay because that's not really what this blog is even about. My life, as a topic, is only tossed into this crazy garden salad of a blog as a few croutons or almond slivers: accessories, but certainly not the main ingredient that makes you grab for the tongs. (Or a big juicy burger instead - have you seen Perez Hilton's page lately?) I usually just blog about funny stuff I see in the news or music or movies or whatever I think might make you read or want to respond. (I love responses and comments. LEAVE COMMENTS!)

"So, what to blog about?" I hear you asking through your silence, fellow bloggers. Well, I'll tell you: NOTHING! Blog about NOTHING! What do you think I'm doing right now? Do you think I plotted, schemed and outlined this entire post beginning to end, before I started typing? Hell no! I just started typing! And you can do that to!

As a loyal reader of YOUR BLOG, fellow blogger, I don't need them all to be gems. I just wanna read what you're writing. Look at you! You're reading this jibber-jabber! You've made it this far without clicking over to a montage video of cats doing cute and funny things! (Great video - check it out! But not until you're done here.)

So please, you slackers! Pick up the pace! Write something! You're boring me!

P.S. - Facebook is fun, huh?
P.P.S. - I just watched High Fidelity tonight for the first time since I saw it in theaters in 2000. Great movie!
P.P.P.S. - Calvin and Hobbes are worth revisiting.
P.P.P.P.S. - R.I.P.L.N.w.C.O'B.

The Big News

2009-02-23T02:00:00.000-08:00

Hey folks,

I know it's been a while since I've written here; things have been a bit nutty.

The short version is as follows: lost my job and I'm planning on moving back into my parents' house up in the bay area. I'm just out of money. That's it.

It's not all bad though. I've been living in this crappy town for over a year now, developed the magic ability to have anxiety attacks and migraine headaches out of the blue, and have basically zero companionship of any kind. So it will be nice to get out of here. Not to mention the fact that I hated my damned job, so... good riddance!

I'll explore the details of how I was "let go" from the company in person, should anyone care to ask. Cliche as it sounds, I really don't think I deserved it, but I was happy to take the exit when it was offered. It will be a catalyst to the next, hopefully much less stressful chapter of my life. Considering all the many ups and downs I went through in San Diego County over the past three and a half years, I'll call it a draw.

Peter Griffin v. Christian Bale

2009-02-15T21:30:00.000-08:00

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!

Single on Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T19:31:00.000-08:00

See that?

It's the money that I did save by being single on Valentine's Day this year. I actually feel pretty good about that fact.

The Day The Music Died (50 Years Later)

2009-02-03T01:47:00.000-08:00

Taking a moment to remember the day the world lost three very young pioneers... 50 years ago today.

February made me shiver; With every paper I'd deliver.
Bad news on the doorstep; I couldn't take one more step.

I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride,
But something touched me deep inside the day the music died.

THE POWER SLIDE - Dos and Don'ts

2009-02-03T00:55:00.000-08:00

POWER SLIDE!

THE LESSON: "Tenacious D"

The Tenacious D In The Pick Of Destiny - Power Slide

DO: Pete Townsend - 1979

DON'T: Bruce Springsteen - 2009

Move over, Dio - here comes The Boss!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EDDIE!

2009-01-31T22:04:00.000-08:00

Since I was busy dealing with the lack of a motor vehicle all week, I forgot to mention one of my personal mini-holidays that quietly came and went last week.

Monday, January 26th was the 54th birthday of Eddie Van Halen, who's looking thinner but sounding drunker these days. Also, congrats to the man on the wedding engagement to his publicist, actress/stunt woman Janie Liszewski (pretty hot at about 12 years his minor).

Here's a clip of Eddie from a fluff piece on CNN.

AIM Cliffhangers

2009-01-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

Today, a conversation between Doug & Mike:

DUN DUN DUNNNN!

Cut to black.

Black Day For A Black Car

2009-01-23T06:58:00.000-08:00

REST IN PEACE
'FUL BLST'

July 1, 2000 - January 22, 2009

A black band adorns my arm this week, as my loyal vehicle - the black, 1991 Mitsubishi 3000 GT - has been declared illegal to drive as it is a "gross polluter" in the eyes of the state of California. So, I'm legally not allowed to take it out on the road anymore. It's final trip will most likely be a ride to the scrap yard where its owner will be payed $1000 to have it recycled.

The way this all started is as follows: 3 years ago, the car just barely passed a smog check. "By the skin of your teeth" were the words of the smog tech guy at the shop. Here in California, every car has to pass a smog check once every two years in order to get a new registration. I knew after that test that it wouldn't pass another test.

On Wednesday - a full 3 years after the last smog check - I was pulled over by the Oceanside Police and my car was towed away. They told me that since my car was more than six months past registration expiration, they had the duty of removing my car from the road until it was made legal again. Like I said, I was pretty sure that wasn't going to happen.

I was given a ride in the back of a squad car to the local DMV where I was charged $222 for various fees, the Oceanside Police department then took another $156 and a further $240 was the charge to get my car out of the impound. I then took it to a mechanic who took a detailed look and told me to forget it - short of a full engine overhaul, this car would never pass smog again.

So here we are at the end of an era. I always thought she'd go out in a blaze of glory, jumping train tracks while on fire and delivering some dying kid his 'Make A Wish' wish while evading evil villains and cutting them off as the train narrowly misses the bumper. But instead, ol' Blackey just gave me a solid 8 and a half years of loyal service, freedom and joy (except for all the maintenance she's needed), and after 18 years on the road, she's ready to call it a career.

Let's all imagine a 21-Gun salute for the ol' workhorse.

It's a sad, sad day.

"I thought we'd get to see forever, but forever's gone away."

"Get On Your Boots"

2009-01-20T23:09:00.000-08:00

So, I'm listening to the new U2 single, which was released today - weeks ahead of schedule - on iTunes and streaming on their website, too.

The new song - "Get On Your Boots", the first single from the upcoming album, No Line On The Horizon, due March 3rd - is weird, funky and kinda cool, but by no means a second coming of the band that brought you "Pride (In The Name of Love)" or "Mysterious Ways". Check it out.

Here are the lyrics... (you decide what the hell Bono is trying to say).

GET ON YOUR BOOTS

The future needs a big kiss
Winds blows with a twist
Never seen a moon like this
Can you see it too?

Night is falling everywhere
Rockets at the fun fair
Satan loves a bomb scare
But he won’t scare you

Hey, sexy boots
Get on your boots, yeah

You free me from the dark dream
Candy floss ice cream
All our kids are screaming
But the ghosts aren’t real

Here’s where we gotta be
Love and community
Laughter is eternity
If joy is real

You don’t know how beautiful
You don’t know how beautiful you are
You don’t know, and you don’t get it, do you?
You don’t know how beautiful you are

That’s someone’s stuff they’re blowing up
We’re into growing up
Women of the future
Hold the big revelations

I got a submarine
You got gasoline
I don’t want to talk about wars between nations

Not right now

Hey sexy boots...
Get on your boots, yeah
Not right now
Bossy boots

You don’t know how beautiful
You don’t know how beautiful you are
You don’t know, and you don’t get it, do you?
You don’t know how beautiful you are

Hey sexy boots
I don’t want to talk about the wars between the nations
Sexy boots, yeah

Let me in the sound
Let me in the sound
Let me in the sound, sound
Let me in the sound, sound
Meet me in the sound

Let me in the sound
Let me in the sound, now
God, I’m going down
I don’t wanna drown now
Meet me in the sound

Let me in the sound
Let me in the sound
Let me in the sound, sound
Let me in the sound, sound
Meet me in the sound

Get on your boots
Get on your boots
Get on your boots
Yeah hey hey

PRESIDENT OBAMA

2009-01-20T21:29:00.000-08:00

FORTY-FOUR! FORTY-FOUR! FORTY-FOUR!

An historic day has come and gone. The "President-Elect" has become "President" and an era of darkness that shrouded the White House for eight years has lifted, shining a new light over all of this land. Pretty impressive stuff.

I first came to know Barack Obama just over four years ago, when he - a relative-unknown on the National stage at the time - gave the Keynote Speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention for John Kerry. Kerry ultimately (although arguably) lost the election that year, but the world took notice of the young Senator from Illinois, and I for one heard myself say, "Who was THAT!?! Screw Kerry! I want THAT GUY to be President!" Four long and hard years later, he is.

On this momentous occasion - the day of President Obama's inauguration ceremony - I wish to congratulate all of us who dared to believe, and those who have worked so hard to bring this vision into reality.

If you have time, you should really watch these two videos: the 2004 keynote speech and today's inauguration speech.

It's been a long, hard road, but today a new journey begins. This road will be one of "extraordinary peril but also one of promise", as Mr. President put it today.

Congratulations, America. Now, let's get to work!

All Nightmare Long video

2009-01-17T20:21:00.000-08:00

Awesome new Metallica video.
You will enjoy it... "All Nightmare Long"

Metallica - All Nightmare Long
Uploaded by metallica

Go Danville pilots!

2009-01-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

If you ever get on a plane, make sure your pilot calls Danville, California home!

Yesterday, former US Air Force fighter pilot, 57-year old Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger III, of Danville, CA (the town adjacent to my hometown of San Ramon) crash landed US Airways flight 1549 into the icy waters of the Hudson River in New York after a "double bird strike" (which will, obviously, be the name of my band).

Both engines of the large passenger plane were rendered lifeless when a flock of geese hit them. Hailed as a hero today, Captain Sully then glided the plane into a semi-circle pattern and crashed the plane safely, at 150 miles per hour, into the Hudson River. Every single passenger and crew member got off the plane safely.

Captain Sully, you are AWESOME! Go Danville pilots!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2009-01-16T06:25:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post this yesterday, but...

January 15th was the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of this blog!

Yes, I know I celebrated the 100th post already as a sort of milestone, but... this is the last big deal for a while. Maybe I'll boast about the 500th post or the 5-year anniversary, but by that time, who knows what we'll be dealing with? Maybe some SUPER Internet that looks like something out of Minority Report. Or some kind of "thought-based" Internet, whereby some kind of chip is implanted in our brains and simply thinking a thought instantly shares it with everyone else with a chip in THEIR brains! That's one way to fight terrorism!

Anyway... Happy Birthday, blog!

Steven and The Cecil

2009-01-12T18:25:00.000-08:00

This is Steven Spielberg receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes last night. I loved watching this live, but you'll enjoy it on recording, as well! And remember, this guy is the reason I make movies. (Or, try to, anyway.)

Watch more Golden Globes videos on AOL Video

A Bad Day

2009-01-06T20:20:00.000-08:00

If you had a bad day today, just keep this in mind: it probably couldn't have been worse than this guy's day.

Not only was it a terrible day for this unlucky skier in Vale, Colorado because he fell off the (faulty?) chair-lift, got his pants caught and fell right out of them, exposed for all the world to see for a full seven minutes today... but also because it was then broadcast all over the Internet and national television.

Very few people had a worse day than this guy. Here's to tomorrow.

Lambert

2009-01-06T19:20:00.000-08:00

The story of my life....
I just happened to randomly remember the title of this thing today and I
had to Google it to see what it was. I hope this drums up some happy
memories for y'all!

My Night Before Christmas

2008-12-26T12:24:00.000-08:00

'Twas the night before Christmas, Two Thousand and Eight

I was visiting family for about a week straight;

And mom had the tree up and all decorated,

A list of chores to be done, which I thoroughly hated;

And a plan for the next day, for family affairs

And she, Dad and sister were asleep all upstairs;

And I with my iPod and new Oakland A's cap,

Had just settled down for a Jay Leno nap,

When outside the house arose quite a sound,

I sprang from my chair to have a look all around.

Away to the window I flew pretty quick,

And before I opened the door, I grabbed a big stick.

Now, there's no snow in Cali, but the moon was quite full

So I could see things at night - which was actually kinda cool,

But then, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But some crazy-ass sled thing, and some monster-sized deer.

And then there was some dude, dressed all up in red,

A terrible disguise for a burglar, I thought in my head.

He was wearing white fur and medallions and rings
And the grill of his sleigh was all spinners and bling

He had massive black boots on, like gang-bangers do

And his hat was like something from Huggie Bear, too

Now, these deer moved pretty fast and they pulled on his sled,

And he whistled, and shouted, and he rapped as he said:

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

Now, I had no idea what any of that meant

But the deer seemed to get it, and so on they went

And these were no ordinary deer, I assure,

Freaks of nature that flew around fast, like a blur,

And before I even knew it, they were up on my roof

With the sled right behind them, leaving scuffs with each hoof

So, I headed inside, and toward the backyard,

When down the chimney this guy came pretty hard.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

With that bundle of god-knows-what flung on his back,

He looked like a drug dealer out peddling some crack.

His eyes were all bloodshot, and his teeth were -- Good Lord!!

"This guy," - I thought - "is coked out of his gourd!"

His droll little mouth was all drooly and gross,

And he stumbled around for a minute, then froze;

Then he tried to say something, but it came out all garbled,

Then he almost threw up as he stammered and warbled;

He had a broad face and a big old fat belly,

He'd been drinking for hours and his breath was quite smelly.

He was chubby and plump, maybe "swollen" is the word,

And his struggle to keep his pants up was absurd;

Then a wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon brought to me absolute terror and dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

'Started messing with stuff in my house like a jerk!

So I tackled him straight to the ground with a THUD!

And I said, "You ain't gettin' your crack money here, BUD!"

And I socked him once hard in the jaw with a crack

Then he laid me out solid, landing flat on my back

And he swung his ol' bag around fast like a hammer

But being so drunk, it began him to stammer

And he fell like a big, red, round, rosy plump mass

And he shook the whole floor with the impact of his ass

He's dazed and confused! I thought, this is my chance!

I rose up and charged at him, "Alright, fat man, let's DANCE!"

Then laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

"You won't get away, you fat old conniver!"

I screamed up the chimney at the chubby sleigh-driver

But he sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a stir,

And away they all flew like the cowards they were

But I heard him yell out, "Next stop is Atlanta!"

And that's when it hit me... "Oh, shit. That was Santa."

In the news:

2008-12-18T20:21:00.000-08:00

THIS JUST IN:
MIKE SCHWARTZ KILLED THE SPY KIDS!

"Noooooooooooooo!!!!!" cries an anonymous Robert Rodriguez fan.

Film at 11:00.

Hitler's 3rd Birthday

2008-12-17T22:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, so... this is a TRUE story.

There's this family in New Jersey with three kids - The Campbells. And it's the oldest one's birthday. So the Dad - Heath Campbell - goes to the local ShopRite to get a cake with his son's name on it. Only the store refuses to decorate the cake with the kid's name on it. Now, why the hell would a cake company refuse to put the name of a 3-year old boy on his birthday cake? What kind of cruel, inhumane, utterly sadistic bakery would refuse to do that? And what possible reason could they have? What, I ask you? WHAT?

The kid's name is Adolf Hitler Campbell.

And I'm not making this up. This is real. Adolf Hitler Campbell.

As you may have guessed, Heath and his wife, Deborah Campbell, are ignorant, white trash, stupid, child-abusing, racist bastards. They have another kid named JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell. Seriously. "Aryan Nation" is in the child's name. ("JoyceLynn" isn't a name, either!)

From news.com.au: "Mr. Campbell, who has swastikas decorating the family home and believes he is related to a former member of the SS, agrees that the Nazi’s were not a highly charitable bunch: 'Yeah, (Nazis) were bad people back then. But my kids are little. They’re not going to grow up like that.'”

Other fun quotes from Mr. Campbell include:

"I think people need to take their heads out of the cloud they've been in and start focusing on the future and not on the past."
"There's a new president and he says it's time for a change; well, then it's time for a change."
"They need to accept a name. A name's a name. The kid isn't going to grow up and do what Hitler did."
"Say he grows up and hangs out with black people. That's fine, I don't really care. That's his choice."
In reference to the several children of mixed race who came to young Adolf's birthday party, Mr. Campbell said, "If we're so racist, then why would I have them come into my home?"

And, when asked what the f**k they were thinking when he and his wife, Deborah, named their child after history's greatest monster, Mr. Campbell commented with a brilliant sense of logic, "no one else in the world would have that name." He sounded surprised by all the controversy the dispute had generated.

Their youngest child is named "Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell." He was trying to name her after one of Hitler's right hand men, Heinrich Himmler, but he was too stupid to look up how it was actually spelled.

Oh, but don't worry. Little Adolf got his cake. All that took was a trip to the bakery at the local Wal-Mart. That's right: cakes for Hitler, but no Dixie Chicks albums!

Okay, now... if I have to voice an opinion on this one, here's my take:

It's wrong to name your kid after Hitler, Himmel, or to just name her "Aryan Nation". Very wrong. You're a bad person if you do this, or any variation of this action.
It is well within the rights of a big-box retail store to deny a certain type of service if there is a legitimate argument for deeming the request for said service "inappropriate".
It is well within the rights of another big-box retailer to grant the same request.
It is within the rights of an American family - no matter how stupid and twisted - to name their children after some of human history's most sinister and evil madmen.
All of these are true and fair because this is America. America is a free country, and along with all the beauty of freedom comes this. This is the ugliness of freedom. And in the end, it's still worth it.

But guess what, Deborah and Heath Campbell! America also enjoys the Freedom of the Press! So, happy birthday, kid! You're parents are on the news!

God bless America.

P.S. Not to give the plot away, but Tom Cruise totally tries to kill this kid in his new movie, Valkyrie.

Honestly! Who throws a SHOE!?!?

2008-12-16T00:43:00.000-08:00

And all of a sudden, for the first time I can remember, I'm proud of our President, George W. Bush.

On Sunday, during a visit to Baghdad, Iraq, President Bush ducked a pair of shoes that were hurled at his head - one after the other - in the middle of a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The assailant - later identified as television correspondent Muntadar al-Zeidi - leapt from his chair and hurled his footwear at the president, who was about 20 feet away. Both shoes narrowly missed their target and thumped loudly against the wall behind the leaders.

"Don't worry about it," the president said to his bodyguard as the room erupted into chaos. "I'm fine."

Don't worry about it? Did you see how smooth that guy was!?! Watch the video! Homeboy is cool as an effin CUCUMBER! As though he's used to having shoes thrown at his head everyday! Zoom! "Ain't nobody gonna hit ME with a damned Iraqi shoe! I'm the muthaf***in' gingerbread man, sucka!" he seemed to say.

"This is the end! Here is your goodbye kiss, DOG!" shouted the man, as he launched each of his shoes at the leader of the free world, obviously hoping to completely destroy the man and thus be greeted in heaven by seventy podiatrists.

Ironic, it seems, that Bush and al-Miliki were presently signing into legislation a law that would ban all shoes from all reporters in Iraq. Angry as he seems about this news, al-Zeidi was actually the first to comply with the new law, albiet quite aggressively.

As it turns out, it's quite the epitome of insult to be slapped with a shoe in Muslim culture - recall the image of the statue of Saddam Hussein being torn down and beaten with shoes by Iraqi civilians in the streets of Baghdad several years ago. Bush took the insult coolly, joking later that the shoe was "a size 10". He then retired to a private restroom where he quietly sobbed on the floor of an unused stall for forty minutes. "Why don't they like me?" he was overheard to cry. "WHY!?"

"THE FRONT OF THE LINE (THE SUBWAY SONG)" - Metallica

2008-12-12T00:14:00.001-08:00

In honor of my last blog on the great 'Weird Al' Yankovic, I've decided to post one of my many, many (two, actually) personal creations of song parodies. This one is to the tune of "The End Of The Line", a rocker from Metallica's latest album, Death Magnetic. Inspired and conceived of entirely by Rob Florance, but fleshed out and written almost entirely by me, this song is from the voice of a dedcated Subway sandwich restaurant manager who proudly wants to please the customer, but is also trying to train new employees. I call it "The Front Of The Line (The Subway Song)". Press play on the player to hear the original Metallica song, and read along to the new lyrics I've written and posted below.

P.S. This just goes to show that not everyone can do it as good as The Mighty Yankovic.

"The Front Of The Line (The Subway Song)"

Need... More and more
Sandwiches today!
Greet... Customers
“Welcome to Subway!” you’ll say!
Grain... Honey Oat
Is starting to corrode
Stain... On that shirt
That’s just the way that this job goes

Choke… on our food
We’ve got a Heimlich chart!
Scorch... burned the bread
That Pizziola’s way too charred
Careful!... Machinery
Now Greg’s an amputee
Employer... You treat him well
We’re “equal opportunity”!

Meatballs and Marinara
Eat more and more
Try a double-stack! I dare ya!
Eat more and more

Check out our Coke machine
The root beer tastes like gasoline
It’s almost quittin’ time
Nevermind...
You've reached the front of the line

Breads… Got eight kinds
They’re all dry as a bone!
Cheeses! Four more kinds
From peperjack to provolone!
Toasted!… if you want
But please make up your mind
Let’s go, man!… I’m short on staff
And got six more people in line

Sweet Onion Teriyaki!
Eat more and more
Ol’ Jared’s getting stocky!
Eat more and more

Check out our Coke machine
The iced tea smells like kerosene
It’s almost quittin’ time
Nevermind...
You've reached the front of the line.

Dropping pickles in a line
Spilling olives all the time
No more mayonnaise today
We’ll be okay...

But don’t forget the mustard
But don’t forget the mustard
But don’t forget the mustard

Don’t you forget the mustard!
Need more and more
Don’t make me get too flustered!
Need more and more

Check out that Coke machine
That’s the darkest Sprite I’ve ever seen
It’s almost quittin’ time
Nevermind...
Five-Dollar-Foot-long sign
Says it’s ‘only for a limited time’
Chips & a drink today?
Now you’ll pay!
‘Cause you've reached the front of the line

The front of the line.
The front of the line.
The front of the line.
You've reached the front of the line

'Weird Al' Yankovic - Brilliant Innovator or Total Rip-Off Artist?

2008-12-07T17:30:00.000-08:00

It has been drawn to my attention as of late that one of my all-time favorite comedic performers may not be as beloved by all.

Alfred Matthew Yankovic was born in Downy, California on October 23, 1959 and raised in the town of Lynwood. During Yankovic's sophomore year as an architecture student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, he became a disc jockey at the university's radio station, KCPR. Yankovic said he had been nicknamed "Weird Al" by fellow students and "took it on professionally" as his persona for the station.

He had already discovered an affinity in himself for absurdist humor and music. Combining his talents for both, he made a name for himself in 1979 with the underground hit, "My Balogna" - a parody of the recent radio hit by The Knack, "My Sharona".

Since then, 'Weird Al' Yankovic has released over a dozen records consisting of completely original compositions as well as a slew of parodies of popular songs. He has toured the world, be it in large venues or very small county fairs, for over 20 years. An overwhelmingly positive person, Yankovic has even used terrible personal tragedy as fuel for his creative fire:

On April 9, 2004, Yankovic's parents, Nick, 86, and Mary, 81, were found dead in their Fallbrook, California, home, apparently the victims of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning from their fireplace that had been recently lit. The flue was closed, which trapped the carbon monoxide gas inside the house, suffocating them. An hour after his wife notified him of his parents' death, Yankovic went on with his concert in Appleton, Wisconsin, saying that "since my music had helped many of my fans through tough times, maybe it would work for me as well" and that it would "at least ... give me a break from sobbing all the time."

A pop culture staple in the 1980s, and a performer whose music was as omnipresent as Michael Jackson and Madonna (by means of his parodies of such superstars), 'Weird Al' Yankovic's career has been consistently changing. His look, his sound, and his ability have all evolved since then and continues to break new ground today. His music videos, often also parodies of the videos for the songs that are the basis of those parodies themselves, always strive to innovate as well as entertain; (case in point, his entire "backward" sequence in the video for "Amish Paradise", a parody of Coolio's "Gangster's Paradise" from 1996).

Sometimes Yankovic uses modern songs to parody an old subject (as in the case of "Beverly Hillbillies", a parody of Dire Straits' "Money For Nothing" on the subject of the hit TV show of the same name from the 1960s) or the opposite, writing a song about a current popular topic to the tune of an old song (as in "Jurassic Park" - a parody of "McArther Park" by Richard Harris and Jimmy Webb and lyrically-based on the blockbuster movie, or "The Saga Begins", a tune that tells the entire story of Star Wars: Ep. I - The Phantom Menace to the tune of Don McClean's timeless anthem, "American Pie"). Sometimes his songs are only "style parodies", such as "Bob" - a song in the general style of a folksy Bob Dylan tune of the 1960s while rhyming lyrics that are all palindromes: written the same backward and forward - ("May a moody baby doom a yam?")

And sometimes, Yankovic's songs are not parodies of another song at all (like "Since You've Been Gone", "She Never Told Me She Was A Mime", "Stuck In A Closet With Vanna White", and "Hardware Store").

And although his direct parodies may lead one to call Yankovic a "rip-off artist" or claim that he has no "original creative talent" (direct quotes from someone I know), I would argue that it is the aforementioned "style parodies" and originals demonstrate that Yankovic is a talented and dedicated student of music theory, who then turns what he's learned on his practice and churns out brilliant originals concepts in the studio.

Beyond his own talents, Yankovic has long surrounded himself with apt musicians and technicians who can imitate any recording's sound to a tee for the sake of an accurate parody. Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz joined Yankovic as a drummer through a chance meeting in 1981. The following year, manager Jay Levey teamed them up with a full band. Steve Jay became Yankovic's bass player, and Jay's friend Jim West played guitar. Schwartz continued on drums. Yankovic's first show with his new band was on March 31, 1982. This has been the band line-up ever since. It doesn't hurt that his band mates are... interesting-looking gentlemen, to say the least, as it plays well in their music videos.

His comedic acting in his film UHF (1989) as well as several other cameos in films and TV shows over the years, as well as his directorial abilities on his own music videos as well as for other acts (The Black Crowes) and films (Spy Hard opening credits), prove that Yankovic is an artist in his own right and a leader in the genre of musical parody humor.

Fast approaching th age of 50 years old, 'Weird Al' Yankovic is - in my opinion and that of many others - anything but a hack. He has sold more than 12 million albums—more than any other comedy act in history— recorded more than 150 parody and original songs, and has performed more than 1,000 live shows. His works have earned him three Grammy Awards among nine nominations, four gold records, and six platinum records in the United States. Yankovic's first top ten Billboard album (Straight Outta Lynwood) and single ("White & Nerdy") were both released in 2006, nearly three decades into his career. These are all things that a "hack" simply cannot achieve.

So, what's your opinion? Weigh in on the debate and put this argument to a vote. 'Weird Al' - love him? hate him? don't care? mildly amused? Let me know! Comment below!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S. / Update

For example - here's a little slice of brilliance I mentioned before. This is an original, non-parody, non-polka 'Weird Al' Yankovic song about a guy who's wayyy too excited about the opening of a new hardware store. The design and execution of the layered vocals in the chorus, along with the amazing breakdown listing all the great things this hardware store has to offer, make this one of my favorite songs of his. And it's just stupid funny.

ENJOY, DAMMIT!

Lyrics:

[sound effects from tools]

Nothin' ever (ever) happens in this town
Feelin' low down (down), not a lot to do around here
I thought that I would go right out of my mind
Until a friend told me the news

He said, "Hey, you know that vacant lot
Right beside the gas station? Well, somebody bought it
And on that spot they're gonna build a shop
Where we can go buy bolts and screws"

Since then I've been walking on air (air)
I can barely brush my teeth or comb my hair
'Cause I'm so excited and I really don't care
I've been waiting since last June

For this day to finally arrive
I'm so happy (happy) now just to be alive
'Cause any minute now I'm gonna be inside
Well, I hope they open soon

I can't wait, (no I) I can't wait (oh when)
When are they gonna open up the door?
I'm goin' (yes I'm) goin', I'm a-goin' to the
Goin' to the (hard) ware I'm goin', really goin' to the
Goin' (hard) I'm goin' to the (hard) oh yes, I'm goin' to the
Hardware store

In my sleeping bag I camped out overnight
Right in front of the store, then as soon as it was light out
I pressed my nose right up against the glass
You know, I had to be first in line

Gonna get me a flashlight and a broom
Want a pair of pliers for every single room of my house
See those hacksaws? Very, very soon
One of them will be all mine

Guys with nametags walking down the aisles
Rows of garden hoses that go on for miles and miles
Brand new socket wrenches in a plethora of styles
All arranged alphabetically

And they're doing a promotional stunt
There's a great big purple sign out front
That says every 27th customer
Will get a ball-peen hammer free

I can't wait, (no I) I can't wait (oh when)
When are they gonna open up the door?
I'm goin' (yes I'm) goin', I'm a-goin' to the
Goin' to the (hard) ware I'm goin', really goin' to the
Goin' (hard) I'm goin' to the (hard) oh yes, I'm goin' to the
Hardware store

I'm goin' (yes I'm) goin', I'm a-goin' to the
Goin' to the (hard) ware I'm goin', really goin' to the
Goin' (hard) I'm goin' to the (hard) oh yes, I'm goin' to the
Hardware store

Would you look at all that stuff ...
They've got allen wrenches, gerbil feeders, toilet seats, electric heaters
Trash compactors, juice extractor, shower rods and water meters
Walkie-talkies, copper wires, safety goggles, radial tires
BB pellets, rubber mallets, fans and dehumidifiers
Picture hangers, paper cutters, waffle irons, window shutters
Paint removers, window louvres, masking tape and plastic gutters
Kitchen faucets, folding tables, weather stripping, jumper cables
Hooks and tackle, grout and spackle, power foggers, spoons and ladles
Pesticides for fumigation, high-performance lubrication
Metal roofing, water proofing, multi-purpose insulation
Air compressors, brass connectors, wrecking chisels, smoke detectors
Tire gauges, hamster cages, thermostats and bug deflectors
Trailer hitch demagnetizers, automatic circumcisers
Tennis rackets, angle brackets, Duracells and Energizers
Soffit panels, circuit breakers, vacuum cleaners, coffee makers
Calculators, generators, matching salt and pepper shakers

I can't wait, (no I) I can't wait (oh when)
When are they gonna open up the door?
I'm goin' (yes I'm) goin', I'm a-goin' to the
Goin' to the (hard) ware I'm goin', really goin' to the
Goin' (hard) I'm goin' to the (hard) oh yes, I'm goin' to the
Hardware store

I'm goin' (yes I'm) goin', I'm a-goin' to the
Goin' to the (hard) ware I'm goin', really goin' to the
Goin' (hard) I'm goin' to the (hard) oh yes, I'm goin' to the
Hardware store

I'm goin' (yes I'm) goin', I'm a-goin' to the
Goin' to the (hard) ware I'm goin', really goin' to the
Goin' (hard) I'm goin' to the (hard) oh yes, I'm goin' to the
Hardware store

Bryan Adams RAWKS!

2008-12-06T14:38:00.000-08:00

Album Reviews (Not that I do those anymore)

2008-11-29T19:36:00.000-08:00

Okay, okay - I just wanted to rant quickly about a couple of new albums.

First, you all know I like the new Guns N' Roses album, Chinese Democracy. And while I agree that it's not really anything like the old GN'R we used to know and love, it's definitely the old Axl. And the fact of the matter is that the album - no matter who he has playing on it, and although it is a bit too polished in places - is very enjoyable. Seriously, people. Stop bitching about every little detail and just find a great stereo system upon which to crank this one up and listen with some objective ears. Yes, he should have called the band something else, but what other brand from Axl Rose was going to make waves like "Guns N' Roses"? He legally owns the brand name and it was purely a business move - a smart one, too. Let's get past that. The music is still rockin'. The end. Check out tracks like: "Catcher In The Rye", "Scraped" and "Riad N' The Bedouins"

And then there's Kanye West's new album - 808s & Heartbreak. It's very different from his usual offering in that it's very electronic and dance-oriented. It also lacks the usual flare and grandiosity of his music especially when compared to his last release, 2007's Graduation. That said, 808s is an interesting album and if you can get past the fact that Kanye has decided to (ironically?) cash in on the modern popularity of the voice-modulator thingie on every single track (on some more noticeably than on others), then you can see the soul behind the technology. I wouldn't say it's worth buying, but it's worth checking out if you're into Kanye West. My favorite tracks so far are: "Welcome To The Heartbreak", "Heartless" and "Paranoid (featuring Mr. Hudson).

And finally, I checked out the new album from The Killers - Day & Age. It's definitely not as good as their first album, Hot Fuss (2004) - not by a long shot. But I like it more than their sophomore disappointment, 2006's Sam's Town, and a lot more than last year's covers album, Sawdust. Day & Age was produced by some famous dance/club music producer, so it certainly has that disco-revival/electronica sound about it at times ("Human"), but more than else it has a very ultra-modern, alt.rock sound ("Spaceman") that is expected from them. There are many more interesting songs here than on Sam's Town, and that what made the band popular with Hot Fuss - interesting songs. Favorite tracks of mine include "Losing Touch", "Spaceman", the Clash-inspired "Joy Ride", the Tarzan Boy-reminiscent "This Is Your Life", and "The World We Live In". Again, none of these tracks have the power we saw on Hot Fuss, or even on the hit single "When You Were Young" from Sam's Town, but it's still a step in the right direction. A solid "B -" .

And then I will mention that AC/DC's Black Ice - their first album since 2000 - is all that you can expect from that group; it's loud and raunchy and fun. Possibly the best thing they've done in 28 years. Meanwhile, Nickelback's new album, Dark Horse, is pretty lame. I'm getting very tired of Nickelback. And Metallica's Death Magnetic still rules.

That's it! No more album reviews for a while!

Peace out!

CHINESE DEMOCRACY LIVES!

2008-11-23T17:21:00.001-08:00

And I FINALLY have it! Both on CD and Vinyl! After more than 15 years... the wait is over. Axl can retire now for all I care. This was all I needed; a little but of closure. Thanks, Axl!

A Whole Nother Blog

2008-11-20T21:55:00.001-08:00

Hey people. I'm launching a second blog page just for my fictional writings. It's called STORY SCRIBBLES and you can read my first story (actually an old story) there now!

It's called Death In A Closet and it's just a short thing I wrote a few years ago. I've also scoured the Internet (and used some Photoshop) to illustrate the story a little bit, but what I'd love is to find a way to scan my own sketches so you can see it the way I see it. Otherwise, I'll have to rely on my own descriptions to help you see my vision. Oh well.

Hope you like it. But even if you don't, feel free to leave lots of comments. (But go easy on me - I'm just putting this crap out there for the first time.)

GO HERE -----> http://storyscribbles.blogspot.com/

Right Now: Sammy's still workin' it

2008-11-18T03:00:00.000-08:00

Why didn't anyone tell me that Sammy had put out another new album?

Granted, I haven't really been keeping up on these guys like I did when I was 16, even though far more information is available to me now via this version of the Internet, as opposed to that of 1997, but... there just isn't as much going on... or so I thought.

Here's the video for Sammy Hagar's new single - COSMIC UNIVERSAL FASHION - from the album of the same name. And, from the looks of it, Sammy's been reminiscing about old times.

It's good to see Sammy just gettin' loud and distorted again. He's been trying my patience with this Jimmy Buffet-wannabe Waboritas crap for years now. It's not terrible music, but he's just been lining himself up to be the next Parrot Master, even going to the extent of dubbing his fans "Redheads".

But, finally, here's an album of just some good old loud rock n' roll. It's a little dark, a little angry, but mostly just rockin'. You certainly can't say Sammy has ever stopped trying. While his former bandmates in Van Halen have not put out an album of new material in over a decade, Sammy has continuously channeled his creative spirit in album after album (six times since originally parting ways with Eddie & Co., plus a few live albums and greatest hits compilations). This guy just never slows down, which is pretty admirable. Eddie should have taken Sammy's old motto to heart: "There's only one way to rock."

Quantum of Soul-less

2008-11-16T00:35:00.000-08:00

"Bond... James Bond."

Yeah, it's a classic line. Never gets old, does it? Too bad he never says that. Not in the latest installment of the James Bond movie franchise: Quantum of Solace. He does make some bland comment about the vodka martini, but he's still grappling with coming to a "favorite" drink. I guess you could say that the teaser poster for this film is sadly appropriate: a shadow of James Bond strutting his way through a dry and desolate wasteland.

This second in the sequence of the new "Bond Begins" films, starring Daniel Craig as Ian Flemming's famous "007" character, is a continuation of the story that made it's predecessor, Casino Royale (2006), so brilliant. And then, it falls flat on its face.

I must start by mentioning how the opening title sequence pales in comparison to that of the last film. Quantum's pop single, "Another Way To Die", by Jack White and performed as a duet with Alicia Keys, is a decent modern-yet-classic Bond theme, but it just doesn't have the energy and emotion of Chris Cornell's "You Know My Name" theme from Casino Royale. Also, the design in that film, which was reminiscent of a classic Saul Bass style (using all the shapes of the four suits in a deck of cards in conscious symmetrical patterns) played beautifully with the theme of the film's title and also hearkens back to an era when that design was more popular - the 1960s, where James Bond began. It was poetically retro and brought the entire character quickly and respectfully full circle. Quantum's title sequence looks like it's trying to sum up the essential pieces of the title sequences of every previous Bond film, adding nothing unique or special. Bummer.

As for the story, we pick up about an hour after the last film ended and we're taken through a terribly long and ridiculous car- and foot-chase scene - elaborately staged and beautifully executed, I'm sure, but you can't tell by watching it. At what seems like a rate of 100 different cuts every minute, it's hard to tell who's chasing who and who's winning or losing. And what's more, those shots are shaky and blurry, so it's ridiculously confusing and disorienting. Director Marc Forster delivers less of an elegant telling of a car chase story and more of an editing room masturbation sequence; a great lesson in how not to edit an action sequence. Then he goes on to do the same thing about a half a dozen more times throughout the film.

And ultimately, there's a very confusing, diluted and thin plot driving the action behind this film - quite a let down from a team headed by acclaimed screenwriter Paul Haggis, who has turned out brilliant scripts for Crash (2004), Million Dollar Baby (2004), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) and In The Valley of Elah (2007), as well as Casino Royale. Forster, whose previous films (The Kite Runner (2007), Stranger Than Fiction (2006), Stay (2005), Finding Neverland (2004), and Monster's Ball (2001)) are usually more sentimental stories about the beauty of humanity, takes a stab at a genre outside his own and... well, just doesn't get it right the first time. The acting, the camera angles and the lighting are certainly all up to par, so he did fine on all of that usual stuff. But... substance, man! It's substance we lack! I just didn't get a real story out of this film. Lots of great characters and set pieces, but no tangible, believable context. The soul of the Bond character is all but completely left out.

Of course, in Quantum, Bond characteristically breaks the rules, defies M's direct orders and plays the maverick to a tee. But this is nothing new or interesting - it's actually horribly cliche. And cliche would be fine if this was Pierce Brosnan or Timothy Dalton... but this is Daniel Craig. This is the new James Bond for a new generation. Casino Royale changed the game. Gone was the wise-crackin', smirky, swaggery Bond whose attention was more on his next "booty call" than on his mission. Here was a Bond for the new millennium, a Bond who reflected the world in which we live today: young, rugged, unruly and seeking an identity. That's something to which the movie-going audiences of today can relate! But in this film, we seem to be heading back into the old cliches again.

That's not to say that it's not an entertaining film. There are some unforgettable scenes, set pieces and special moments that certainly belong in a Bond film - like the business in the opera scene, the plane crash and the final moment in the desert with the villain (the brilliant Mathieu Amalric, whom you may know from Steven Spielberg's Munich (2005)) - and I must pick these kinds of moments out as a credit to the great Paul Haggis' talents. The newest "Bond Girl", Camille (Olga Kurylenko), is unlike any we've ever seen - she's just as blood-thirsty and vengeful as Bond, if not more so. (And, I hope this doesn't give away too much, but... he never even sleeps with her!) And overall, it's a great way to kill a couple of hours on a weekend (that is, if you don't go in to see it with a splitting headache already plaguing you, as I did - but I can't hold that against the filmmakers.) The action is intense, and there are a lot of familiar faces in the cast to cement the two films together and remind you that we're still in the same world.

But, after racking up a total production price tag of $230 million - the most costly Bond film ever - Quantum of Solace falls a bit flat... especially when compared to Casino Royale. It seems that all the gold in the world can't make up for a thin screenplay. But, then again, it's hard not to think that Quantum is just a stepping stone to a third part of a "new Bond" trilogy: a drawn-out and almost unnecessary middle story that serves only to get us from Point A to Point B. If that is the plan, then so be it; on we go to the next (and, hopefully, much richer) tale of Bond's trial-by-fire initiation into the world of modern-day espionage. But sorry, kids - Quantum just ain't no Casino Royale.

A dedication...

2008-11-13T07:56:00.000-08:00

So, yesterday, I got an email from a person I used to know - a person I'd like to keep in my past. I didn't respond to the email, and it were a bit less than friendly, even if the intention was good. But, without going into detail about it or actually responding in any specific way, I'd simply like to post a dedication to that certain someone here on my blog. This is the first song (and perhaps most appropriately) that came on my iPod after I'd received the email

This one's for you, girl:

STREET OF DREAMS
(formerly titled: "The Blues")
by Guns N' Roses

from the forth-coming album:
CHINESE DEMOCRACY

Lyrics:

All the love in the world couldn’t save you
All the innocence inside
You know, I tried so hard to make you…
To make you change your mind

And it hurts too much to see you
And how you left yourself behind
You know I wouldn’t want to be you
Now there’s a hell I can’t describe

So now I wander through my days
Try to find my ways
To the feelings that I felt
I saved for you and no one else
And though as long as this road seems
I know it’s called the street of dreams
But that’s not stardust on my feet
It leaves a taste that’s bittersweet
That’s called the blues

I don’t know just what I should do
Everywhere I go I see you
Though its what you planned
This much is true
What I thought was beautiful
Don’t live inside of you
Anymore

What this means to me
Is more than I know you believe
What I thought was you now...
Has cost more than it should for me
What I thought was true before
Were lies I couldn’t see
What I thought was beautiful
Is only memories

Olbermann on Prop. 8 - (Warning: Prepare to be scolded)

2008-11-11T10:46:00.000-08:00

Keith Olbermann is a crazy ol' grinch, but... when you're right, you're right.

Strategery in Action: Mike's Political Soapbox

2008-11-10T01:49:00.000-08:00

Holy crap! Is it too late to still impeach this pig fucker?

With the new President a couple months away from being sworn in, it seems that Ol' Lame Duck Dubya had been bombing the fuck out of anyone and any place he deemed worthy of destruction in the name of The War on Terror, and kept it all top secret all this time. No, not just before the attacks took place, but afterward as well. And he's been doing it for the past FOUR YEARS!

Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti of The New York Times reported this morning that, "The U.S. military since 2004 has used broad secret authority to carry out nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks against al-Qaida and other extremists in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere, say senior U.S. officials." (Read more here.)

So, I just wanted to comment that, on top of the Guantanamo Bay/Torture thing, and the abolition of Habius Corpus thing, not to mention the wire tapping, the water boarding, and over-all defiance of the Geneva Convention and the official rules of engagement in war that this Bush Administration has carried out over the last eight years, now we hear about this. THIS!

It's one thing to make a totally unjustified declaration of war on a country that never did anything directly to us, and posed only an imaginary or "potential" threat to our homeland, proof of which could never be found. It's a completely other thing to then secretly take the war to countries outside of the lines drawn by that declaration of war - to "Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere" - just because you feel they pose a threat as well. And I'm not arguing that there wasn't a threat out there, or that we should only attack abroad after we've been attacked at home - but TELL the American people! We have a right to know to which targets have our tax dollars gone for the purposes of blowin' shit up! Make reports after the fact of your super secret missions! Not four years later, not two years later, but THE NEXT DAY! It's not okay to do your own bidding behind our backs! "...OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE", JACKASS!

And I guess it's not surprising. It's actually pretty characteristic of the dirty pool these guys play in the name of keeping America safe. And, by no means will I argue that Bush doesn't know how to get some things done, but there are ethics to consider here!

This administration was supposed to be representing America: the American people and their ideals, which our forefathers fought and died in multiple, very bloody wars to uphold! Ethics like the right to fair trials for all accused parties - not just American accused parties. Habius Corpus - one of the fundamental ideals upon which our government was founded; the right for an accused party to deny the charges against him and stand trial by a jury of his peers... just tossed away by these guys! Because of what?

Now, I'm not some political expert or historian, but we all know that the Bush family has been in bed with the Saudi Royal Family for decades - it's ridiculously well-documented - and we know that this Iraq War had nothing to do with the attacks on 9/11/01, a connection to which the Bush Administration went to great lengths to draw. So it's obvious to me and a lot of other Americans that this has just been one giant opportunistic scheme carried out by some of the most diabolical minds (and the most brain-dead patsy) that Washington has ever seen.

But on top of all that filth and greed, (to which I'm sure we won't know the full story for years and years,) to then metaphorically burn the Flag and spit on the ideals of this great country in such a manner is just completely... well, there are no words. It's not just bad, it's not just sickening, and it's not just completely wrong on every level. It's deeper than that. I'd say it's evil, but I don't know that I believe in evil.

I believe in extreme short-sightedness. I believe in misguided morals and misleading principals. I believe in the power of corruption and the corruption of power. But I also believe that this, too, shall pass. I believe that the pendulum swings both ways; forever back and forth. It's plain to see that, as in the past, this country will see horrific struggles in the future. We will see economic woes and violent wars. We will see dark times the likes of which we cannot imagine today. But we will also see brighter times. And as the sun rises on a new era, and a new President, I certainly am witness to some seeds of hope that I don't believe have been able to find root in this American soil for nearly half a century.

Let us hope this new sun will shine brightly. God bless America. And God have mercy on the soul of George W. Bush.

ROCK N' ROLL HINDSIGHT: The Guess Who?

2008-11-07T23:51:00.000-08:00

Hey peoples,

It's been a while since my last "RNRHS" post, but I think this is a pretty good one - Remember these guys?

THE GUESS WHO

I first discovered this band as a teenager, whilst rocking out the the best Classic Rock radio station the San Francisco Bay Area has ever known: 97.3 KRQR - THE ROCKER! I miss that station. In two short years, from 1993 to 1995, they taught me much of what I know about music. At the very least, they got the ball rolling on my complete obsession with rock music. From "Two-fer Tuesdays" and "Three-fer Madness" Weekends (a pun that didn't make sense to me for many years), to free tickets to a Stevie Nicks concert at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA in 1994 that would serve to pop my concert-going cherry... they were the best. "107.7: The Bone" later tried to live up, but... the just couldn't.

Anyway, I learned about all kinds of classic rock, but it was the early stuff - from the 1960s - that had the most magical air about it. It was more historical and seemed like it came from another planet, and not just another era. From The Beatles and Zeppelin to The Stones and Hendrix, the rock of the 1960s was epic but distant - fascinating to a young mind the way a dinosaur is. (Hence, the term "Dinosaur Rock", I suppose... but that doesn't seem nice.)

And one of those bands that never could compete against the grandiosity of the aforementioned mega-bands was "The Guess Who?" - a Canadian rock group whose peak was hit between the years of 1968 and 1970. After some early line-up changes, an arguably "classic" and hit-making line-up consisted of Burton Cummings (keyboardist/lead vocalist), Randy Bachman (guitars), Jim Kale (bass), and Gary Peterson (drums). In 1969, the band found new success with the release of their first Top 10 US hit single, "These Eyes" - a classy, '60s-style jazzy/bluesy love ballad - from the previous year's album, Wheatfield Soul. It's a total classic.

You might remember this song from it's recent resurgence in the hit comedy film, Superbad (2007). Here's a clip of Michael Cera being forced to perform the song a capella:

That year saw the release of a new album from The Guess Who (who by now had dropped the "question mark" from their band name because, I will speculate, the phrase "guess who" is usually not a question at all, but a command). The new album, Canned Wheat (1969), spawned several new hits: "No Time", a gritty rocker with an audible influence by The Byrds, "Laughing", a happy-go-lucky chorus in a sad, heart-broken croon of a ditty, and "Undun", a heavily jazz-guitar-infused mid-tempo dance tune which has a psychedelic drug-hazed theme about a girl who's "lost the sun".

One theory suggests that the song is referring to the untimely demise of TV-icon Art Linkletter's daughter who, in the late 1960s, dropped acid, "found a mountain that was far too high" (which was actually a high-rise) and, believing she could fly, leaped to her death. This was a news item about six months before the appearance of the song, but this has not been revealed as the true meaning of the song. I love the break-down in the middle of the song - it's brooding and eerie with some deep lyrics:
Too many mountains and not enough stairs to climb
Too many churches and not enough truth
Too many people and not enough eyes to see
Too many lives to lead and not enough time...

Then, the next year, The Guess Who topped out with their greatest success to date - American Woman (1970). The album boasted one of the greatest rock anthems in music history - a lust-filled and very-patriotic tune from a bunch of Canadians - the title track, "American Woman". Everyone knows this song, and more recently because of rocker Lenny Kravitz's cover of the song for the Mike Myers film, Goldmember (2002), the music video for which saw Lenny rocking out in front of a giant electronic American flag while a scantly-clad, hot-and-bothered little vixen in the shape of a young Heather Graham crawls and writhes around on the top of a tour bus, wind whipping her wild blonde hair all around in a frenzy of rock-laden sexuality. All this from a 32-year old song from a bunch of Canucks.

The album also saw the release of an updated version of the single "No Time" - the one we're most familiar with today, and my absolute favorite song by The Guess Who: "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature".

This nearly-5-minute early mainstream progressive rock track has a more ebbing and flowing pulse of absolutely electric energy than the album's hit title track, and Cummings' vocals are completely unique, coolly subtle at times and nearly perfect. And here's the coolest part of this song: The first 2 minutes are the "No Sugar Tonight" part, then at 2:30 the keyboards come in and create a whole new song, which could be viewed as an extended bridge or break-down, separately titled "New Mother Nature", and then the two songs converge and both parts are sung together in perfect harmony before busting back into the choruses of each part. Check it out. I love it!

After this album, guitarist Randy Bachman left the band (and eventually enjoyed great success with his new band, Bachman-Turner Overdrive) and they continued on without him, making many more albums. The band even continues to tour to this day, but they were never again able to create such magic as had occurred in their heyday. But in the end, these guys leave behind a handful of timeless rock hits, fused with jazz and blues rhythms and an incredible voice. let The Guess Who never go unappreciated! Rock on!

MADDOW REVEALED!

2008-11-06T23:55:00.000-08:00

ow, I'm not one to bash a good Liberal counter-point to your Limbaughs, Hannitys and O'Reillys out there, but I think this is just news that needs to be out there.

MSNBC and AirAmerica Radio political talk show host Rachel Maddow is actually...

Wil Wheaton! All growned up!

Just thought you'd like to know.

Wow! We dodged a bullet!

2008-11-06T10:09:00.000-08:00

I don't mean to rub it in, but... wow! Even as a Democrat, I wanted to give this woman a bit more credit than this! I'm impressed with how unimpressed I am with Sarah Palin! Watch this:

Readers of the Dead (or "Michael Crichton: The Terminal Man")

2008-11-05T22:43:00.000-08:00

Michael Crichton

1942 - 2008

For those of you who aren't familiar with the work of the now-deceased author, Michael Crichton, here's a little bit of what you missed.

He wrote the novels that were made into great movies like Jurassic Park (1993) and Disclosure (1994) - and terrible movies like Sphere (1998) and Congo (1995).

He also is credited as the creator of the long-running hospital drama, "E.R.".

And although the scientific brilliance of the concept behind the story of Jurassic Park inspired me to become a filmmaker, I'm hard-pressed to not call The Andromeda Strain my favorite film adaptation from one of Crichton's books (- and this does not include the recent TV miniseries).

Anyway, while posing thoughtfully for a photo in the jungle in his mind on Tuesday, Crichton was ironically and poetically eaten by one of his dinosaur creations from his novel (not Jurassic Park... it was actually the T-Rex from The Lost World... but I couldn't tell you the difference). I think that's what happened. It was either that or cancer. Either way, he will be missed.

Thanks for the words, Mr. Crichton.

Amerithmatic

2008-11-05T00:35:00.000-08:00

Here's a simple math equation to help all my Republican friends understand how the Democrats are feeling today.

11.04.08

2008-11-04T21:19:00.000-08:00

Wow.

Whatcha gonna doooo, BROTHERRR!?!?!

2008-11-02T11:45:00.000-08:00

Halloween. Good times.

Are HUSSEIN enough to Vote?

2008-10-30T22:48:00.000-07:00

Ya know, I was supporting Obama in this Election Season, but... recently I saw a video that made me COMPLETELY change my mind!

Did you KNOW that his middle name is HUSSEIN!?!?! HOLY CRAP! Just like that Iraq guy! Remember?!? And she's right! We ARE at war with those people! And, hold the phone! Did she say he's an AY-RAB? I didn't know that! Why isn't the news reporting this!?!?! It's a good thing this woman had the guts to reveal the truth!

And it makes me realize the importance of voting based on a name. You know, you can tell a lot about a person by their name! For example, I used to think that Barack Obama was a Christian African-American Senator from Chicago. But now I realize that he's actually Barack HUSSEIN Obama: Muslim terrorist socialist liberal elite! And now I'm SCARED TO DEATH!

And for another instance, we definitely should never have voted for that George W. Bush guy, because - did you know that there used to be this big evil king over in England named King George? He was as tall as a dinosaur and he would eat children and tax his people like a socialist! That's why Christopher Columbus left there and founded America. Then he and his wife gave birth to George Washington and appointed him President! (They had to appoint him, cause no one wanted to vote for a George back then, either!)

Now, the reason John Kerry lost back in 2004 is because his middle name is "Forbes" - no kidding! Forbes! - and everybody knows what that means! He's as rich as the day is long! And there's no way that anybody who knows how to earn money, run a campaign, and married the woman whose dad invented Katchup would ever understand how to run a country!

But wait! That means we can't vote for McCain either, because - according to Wikipedia, (where more Americans get their news...) - "McCain Foods Limited, a privately owned company established in 1957 by the brothers Harrison and Wallace McCain in Florenceville, New Brunswick, Canada, is the largest producer of french fries and other oven-ready frozen food products in the world." And we can't have a greasy, salty French Fry man as the leader of the free world! HE'S FRENCH... AND CANDIAN! I know it also says, "It is not connected with the American presidential candidate John McCain," but I've also been told by the LIBERAL ELITE MEDIA that Barack HUSSEIN Obama isn't really a socialist or a Muslim. But we all know which sounds more entertaining! (Thus: true!)

But that's okay, because he's chosen Sarah Palin as his running mate - and everyone knows that "The Hebrew word sarah indicates a woman of high rank and is sometimes translated as 'princess' or goddess, or 'high holy one'." And, although I - as the average American - am terrified of those Hebrews - I have to think that Jesus would have backed that one up.

And, speaking of names and that guy Jesus - if he was a Jew in the Middle East, why the Spanish name? But I digress.

Anyway, in closing, I'm just saying that Shakespeare was full of crap. The Simpsons discussed this issue in a family meeting once:

Lisa: [A person's] name doesn't matter. "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
Bart: Not if you called them "stench blossoms".
Homer: Or "crapweeds".
Marge: I'd sure hate to get a dozen crapweeds for Valentine's Day. I'd rather have candy.
Homer: Not if they were called "scumdrops".

Brain Leak: Out!

High School Reunion

2008-10-27T22:29:00.000-07:00

I got back this evening from a few days up in the good old Bay Area, with my long-time friends, Rob and Reuven, going to our 10-year High School reunion - a decade since our graduation from California High School.

The party itself was held at the Canyon View Dining Hall, overlooking my home town of San Ramon. Tickets were $65 (unless you bought them late - which raised costs an extra $10), and bought ticket-holders entrance, a Chicken Marsala dinner, plus one alcoholic beverage. If you wanted more to drink, it was $7.00! (Good thing I don't drink! Free sodie pop for meee!)

I'd say between 70 and 100 actual graduates showed up, many accompanied with a "non-Grizzly" date or spouse, so it was a pretty good-sized party. But, I gotta admit that the D.J. was a bit of a dolt as he played music from eras far and wide away from our high school years (1994-1998), like Bon Jovi, Vanilla Ice, Lynard Skynard, and - of course - "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-A-Lot. Was this a Grade School reunion? No! And on top of that, he would mute the record at key lyrics, hoping those on the dance floor would shout out the popular line of the song, but when there are only 5 people on the dance floor, it's pretty unlikely, pal! Then, he made some comment about someone from the class of 2000 - which didn't make any sense - and he told everyone that the "after-party" was going to unofficially take place down the hill at "El Bolazio" - he meant "El Balazo", but I get the feeling he'd never heard of the place, so... whatever.

Other than that, it was good to see a lot of people that I had been friends with (what seems like a lifetime ago), as well as a handful of people I never needed to see again. The Chicken Marsala was decent, the music was okay at times, and hey, it was a party!

But when things moved to El Balazo, I wondered why I had paid $65 to go to the dinner party when I could have gone to a Taqueria/Bar for free and seen all the same people. But that's okay - the music at El Balazo was too loud to converse with anyone, so I guess the initial party was better for that purpose.

I was also saddened to hear that another childhood friend, Chad Straub, died recently. Just a freak medical condition, I heard. It doesn't seem real at all, but I hope his family members - especially his brother and sister - are doing okay; I lost touch with the family years ago. It's these things that make a reunion seem quite surreal.

But it was the day after - the Barbecue party I held at my house on Sunday - which was the real fun. It was more intimate, more of my own friends - even the ones who never came to the reunion - with more and better food! Special thanks to Russ Collinsworth for making the long drive down from Bend, Oregon, and to Brett Robert from Santa Rosa and Emily Welty from Sacramento. Along with Rob, Reuven and myself, they all traveled a long way for one little BBQ! Thanks, guys! The only ones that were really missing were Mark Zabrowski, who is a bit busy with a wife and a few kids down in Palm Springs, CA, and Brad Lytle, who is busy earning a Super-Mega-Ultra-PhD in Chicago, IL. They'll be there for the 25-year reunion, I'm sure. They were missed.

After we ate, we all piled in a couple cars and made a visit to our old high school, which certainly isn't our old high school anymore - they've certainly done a lot of work on the place! Almost all of what we knew is gone. The same can be said for our junior high school down the street - Pine Valley Middle School - which we also visited. Good times!

To everyone involved - especially my dear parents who worked very hard to get the house looking great and feeding everyone, not to mention giving up to 5 extra people a place to sleep last night - thanks for making the entire weekend a huge success! We should have a 10-year High School reunion every year!

I HATE THIS GUY

2008-10-22T22:04:00.000-07:00

So, there's this jack-ass who keeps reading and hating on my blog, which wouldn't be so bad if he made any sense or had any reason to do so. But he doesn't. And it's just getting annoying.

Sometimes he goes by "ody3" and sometimes, like tonight, he goes by "the Pit Master" - and guess what! He's really getting on my nerves!

I let him have one last bitch session in the comments section of my previous blog (here), to which I responded quite honestly and with a heart-felt condolence. You can find that one directly below his post.

Don't worry - you guys won't ever hear from him again, as I'm simply going to delete every comment he leaves. That's called censorship and I get to censor my own blog as I see fit. But, present a good, honest and sound argument - you get to stay. Decide to be a jack-ass for the sake of being a jack-ass and you're gone. That's what this guy's been doing. And he's gone.

Now, you know me, folks. I'm not the type to get into these meaningless, nerdy little "flame wars". But once in a while, you gotta kick a jack-ass in the ass. So if you feel like contributing to the cause and helping to raise the rail upon which I intend to ride this fool out of town, feel free to visit his blog (here), and leave him some annoying messages, telling him how his opinions on Blues music and BBQ are all wrong, stupid and lame. Be sure to let him know how much you hate his blog, even though you voluntarily clicked your way there, filled the the brim with free will - because that makes as much sense as what he's been doing on the Brain Leak.

Spitefully yours,
Mike

P.S. Fuck off, jack-ass!

"NO on Prop 8" Argument

2008-10-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

I'm re-posting an email that a buddy of mine sent around to some of his friends. In this email, my friend explains why he's voting "NO on Proposition 8" this November, and I think it pretty well sums up my own feelings about it all, as well.

Here it is:

Hey everyone,

This is mostly to my friends who haven't paid attention to Prop 8. If you have, cool. But I am hoping to open some eyes to those who may decide to "skip" this PROP when you're voting. I'm sorry to be "soliciting" here, but this one I feel VERY, VERY strongly about. I hope maybe you will too.

Voting YES on Prop 8 will take away a gay person's right to marry. Period.

A lot of people voting YES have stated, "It's going to be taught in our schools... It isn't fair that they will teach something I think is 'morally objectionable'." I encourage you to read this article in which Hilary McLean, spokeswoman for Jack O'Connell, the STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION has to really say about that (on both sides):

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gayschools19-2008oct19,0,6474352.story

And the frustrating thing is that even if it WERE taught in schools (and yes, you'll hear the Maryland story and the SF "gay wedding field trip" a million times), it's your right to tell your children otherwise if you wish, when they come home. I certainly don't think Columbus founded America, yet some teacher is going to tell my child that, and I will tell them otherwise.

Also, people think a lot of things are "morally objectionable." That doesn't mean it should be hidden. And if someone tells your child one thing, like marriage is between two PEOPLE and you believe it should only be "Man & Woman", then tell your child that. Whatever. It's your right. I don't agree, but it's your right. God forbid we have an open dialogue with our children.

"They can't pro-create." This one kills me. Especially when I see my adopted friends who are now happy and healthy HETEROSEXUAL adults and were raised by gay parents. Even IF their child were to be gay, who cares! It's not YOUR child! I digress. Also, how much more insulting can you be to a heterosexual couple that is unable to have children? They can't technically pro-create, right? I guess they shouldn't get married either.

The bottom line is that YES on 8 people say "We are not taking away anyone's rights. They can still have 'civil unions' blah blah blah". YES, they ARE. They are taking away a gay person's RIGHT to marry in the way that ALL of us have the right to marry. It is basically stating that "we will not put you in our definition of marriage because you are not as moral as we are." It's ridiculous.

"I don't want marriage to be redefined." You'll hear that too.

Well, there was a time when a lot of people didn't want marriage to include BLACKS and would also use bible passages as reasoning. This same fight happened when a white man was unable to marry a black woman because marriage's "definition" did not include whites marrying blacks. And THIS was changed. Imagine if it hadn't been?

And speaking of bible passages, anyone who tells you "It's in the bible that homosexuality is a sin" is HIGHLY ARGUABLE. And there are a lot of things one could use to show the hypocrisy in using the bible as reasoning (like the many sins we should be stoned for that a lot of people have committed for centuries). Anyway, that's a whole other can of worms.

I could go on forever about this. I'll just say this: I am a heterosexual man, happily married to a woman, a believer in God, and I AM VOTING NO ON PROP 8.

Just wanted to throw in my two cents to my friends who haven't thought about it at all.... not that my opinion means anything ;-) But I encourage you to open your minds and really think about it.

Peace,
McTIGHE.

A WHOLE NOTHER GRAMMAR NAZI BLOG POST

2008-10-20T23:03:00.000-07:00

THAT'S IT! I AM FURIOUS!

The fundamentals of your "free country" have allowed such intellectual insolence as beyond my own wildest nightmares! How can this "freedom" allow such stupidity, ignorance and... STUPID IGNORANCE!?!?! You know what you Americans need? A DICTATOR!

Guten Tag, everyone! And willkommen to another installment of MY FURY! That's right, it is I - The Grammar Nazi - back with a HUGE complaint! (I know, very uncharacteristic... but bear with me.)

So, I'm chillin' in my pad the other day, just downin' a Hefferweizen with my boots up and watching some re-runs of Hogan's Heroes (God love that wacky Col. Klink!), when - during a commercial break - I see an ad for a major electronics store called Circuit City in which a lovely young fräulein, sitting in a restaurant booth across from some sort of mutant, man-sized digital camera with legs, is heard to utter the words "...and then I see you for a whole nother price".

Yes, as you may have guessed, that TV doesn't work anymore... and my Hefferweizen is no longer in my hand at this point.

I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS! THIS IS AN OUTRAGEOUS ACT OF INSOLENCE ON A LEVEL THAT IS WORTHY OF MASS DESTRUCTION! PURITY IS ESSENTIAL! PURITY OF LANGUAGE! EVEN YOUR EVIL ENGLISH LANGUAGE!

You won't find any morons like this woman destroying the German language, precisely because there are RULES! GRAMMAR RULES! Rules are meant to be followed. And, if they are not, beatings will ensue and continue until morale improves!

Think of this as a warning, citizens:

ACHTUNG! WHO SOEVER SHALL UTTER SUCH OVERT NONSENSE, ESPECIALLY THROUGH MEANS OF SUCH MASS COMMUNICATION, SHALL BE DESTROYED - FIRST MORALLY, THEN PHYSICALLY... AND ALWAYS VERY, VERY SLOWLY!

Also, your Führer is calling for a out-and-out boycott of all Circuit City stores. Don't shop there. They support idiocy! And Best Buy is much more my style.

That is all. Commence diligent labor!

P.S. If anyone's thinking of what to get the Grammar Nazi this Christmas, here are a few hints!

The Day The Music (and Movies and Other Stuff) Died

2008-10-18T19:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, folks. That's it! You won't be forced to wade through my boring movie and music reviews anymore!

I've done a little research and I've discovered that - surprise, surprise - you hate my reviews. You don't only hate them... you loath them! You despise them. You can't even begin to stand them. If you hated them any less, you'd comment to that effect. But you don't even do that! As soon as you see the title of a given blog, telling that the content of that particular blog will be a review of a movie, a new album, a TV show, a play, a book, a concert or a clever news article I found, you just click your way to something more entertaining. Wow. That's hatred!

But, ya know what? That's okay. They're done. You'll never see another album or movie review on this blog. If I ever change my mind, I'll just create a new blog specifically for that. But why bother?

It seems that much of my personal world revolves around music and movies. I'm into that. I watch movies, listen to (or "consume") a lot of music... like, a LOT! I scour iTunes every Monday night after 9 PM so I can see what music available to America now that it's Tuesday on the East Coast. I read music and movie reviews in Rolling Stone, and watch and listen to podcasts on iTunes about movies and music. That's my bag, baby! That's my thing! And now I know... it's almost no one else's. Okay. Fair enough.

So, here's the big question: what will I write about now?

That's mostly up to you folks. I wanna know what you like. I can't draw freakin' amazing cartoons like my hero, Josh Cooley, or write about my awesome new baby boy like my hero, Doug Cox. I can't rant about the ups and downs of dating guys like my cousin, Katie McCarthy, or my love for guns, corporal punishment, and John McCain like my non-cousin, Mike Schwartz. (In all fairness, of those topics listed, Mike has only ever written about guns... once. I just like bustin' his conservative balls.) But then again, I can't write nothing - like my heros Mark Zabrowski and Katherine Gall. (Seriously, guys - get typing, already! Neither of you have written a blog in 3 months!)

So what do you wanna read from me? More political satire and commentary? Personal opinions about popular subjects? Should I go all "Andy Rooney" and go on random rants about crap that drives me nuts? Would you like me to make up tales of adventure and woe that never actually happened to me, but I write as though they had? Would you like for me to write cheesy, sappy poetry as though I were really deep and introspective?... and a total douchbag? Cause I can do that - don't think I can't do that.

Just wanted to take a little census poll, here. Let's hear some feedback.

Thanks, peeps.
Myk Would

Fun with Politics!

2008-10-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

Please add your John McCain thought-quote here:

A Few Things...

2008-10-06T23:37:00.001-07:00

Wow! Five comments in one day on my last post! That's pretty damned good considering my recent track record! I suppose that means you guys missed me. Sorry for the long delay, but I've been working long days lately only to come home, eat something, work for a few more hours from home, sleep, and do it all again in the morning.

So here's a blog of news and reviews.... well, mostly reviews.

First, I want to address that I certainly don't dislike SNL, but I think they could be doing things a bit better. And, sorry Brad, but I'll take several slightly-different/mostly-identical Toonses skits over some of the stuff I've seen lately. But, yes Sean, I do agree that it's still an awesome show. I may never stop liking this show. I'm just complaining about a very small portion of the show's aspects. And Katie, you're right - I forgot to mention Wayne's World - but that's a perfect example of what I mean. But I can't wait to catch their prime-time political specails during the next few weeks' run up to the election. Should be good times.

Now for a few album reviews. Short ones... with letter grades this time!

BEN FOLDS - Way To Normal
This is a good album - short (42:05) and fun. Not too many weighty ballads, and more than a few poppy, happy, good old fashioned "Ben Folds Five"-style tracks. It's not the best thing he's ever done, but it's up there with Rockin' The Suburbs. Folds is still experiemnting a little with his music, but not too much - which is good to hear. Maybe Ben understands that he's famous because he was doing something right, and that deviating too far from that initial sound could be bad.

I gotta give this album a B+
Favorite Tracks:
The Frown Song
You Don't Know Me (feat. Regina Spektor)
Cologne

TV ON THE RADIO - Dear Science
I don't really know these guys aside from that one single they had out before, "Wolf Like Me", and the fact that I saw them perform live at Street Scene last month. They turned me on enough to download their new album from iTunes, and I was pretty impressed. These guys have a cool sound with lots of drums and horns and guitars and some funky vocals. I hesitate to label it or put it in a genre for fear that, (like Grunge did back in the early 1990s,) this may be the start of some new sound that will someday have a name, but for now is just fresh and unique.

The 12-track album clocks in at close to an hour, with the songs ranging from quick 3-minute ditties to a 7-minute-plus dreary, dramtic, bluesy epic. You really feel like you get something for your money with this band.

I gotta give this album an A-
Favorite Tracks:
Dancing Choose
Golden Age
DLZ
Dogs of Light

OASIS - Dig Out Your Soul
I just got this album today, so I've only listened to it once, but upon first impression I'm left a bit unsatisfied. It's a good album, but it's only about 45-minutes long and only a few tracks really rock out, while the others offer a heavy, bluesy, mid-tempo, swaggary kind of thing. The production of this album is classic Oasis - crunchy and imperfect, a bit echoed and very psychedelic (much like the album's cover - I dig it). But, overall, it's missing a few real epic rockers or something. I'm not sure, I'll have to give it a few more spins and, of course, the essential "road test". I'm currently seeking out, via the Inter-Webs, a couple more bonus tracks that were only on the Japanese retail release of this album, so maybe those will help me enjoy the album more.

I dig Noel's vocal contributions, as always. And Liam sounds as good as ever. The first single, "The Shock Of The Lighting", is the best thing the band has done in years. I just wish there were a few sibling songs to that one on here, and so far, I don't hear one.

So, for now, the album gets a B.
Favorite Tracks:
Bag It Up
The Shock Of The Lightning
(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady
Falling Down

THE PRETENDERS - Break Up The Concrete
It's been about 6 years since their last release. But what's the verdict on "Concrete"?

It's pretty good (that is, if you're into The Pretenders). That Chrissie Hynde sounds exactly like she did 30 years ago, and although the band isn't made up of all the original members, they sure sound great on this album. There's some great guitar-work on here that never sounds over-produced or anything. The album's got a timeless, classic kind of sound about it. There's a lot of acoustic guitar in the mix which gives it a nice, organic feeling. And with founding member Martin Chambers' competent percussion and Hynde's unique voice, the rest of the band is lifted to a level greater than the sum of its parts. Basically, The Pretenders hit it out of the park on this one. I can tell I'm gonna enjoy this album for a long time.

Grade: A
Favorite Tracks:
Boots Of Chinese Plastic
Don't Lose Faith In Me
Rosalee
Break Up The Concrete

Okay, there's your quick and dirty album reviews. Now, how about a few movies?

I saw Burn After Reading and Eagle Eye last weekend. I was rather let down by Burn, as it was one of the more subdued Coen Brothers comedies ever made - on par with Intolerable Cruelty (2003), meaning it was good, but not "Coen Brothers good". It certainly was no Raising Arizona (1987) or The Big Lebowski (1998). The star-studded ensemble cast was enjoyable and the story held my attention, but in the end, as you'll see if you watch it, all is for naught. I just wanted to jump into another theater and see a movie with an actual ending... so I did.

Eagle Eye was a really good Sunday afternoon action/thriller/sci-fi flick. It wasn't dumb or cheesy at all, even if it was a little far-fetched. I'm really enjoying this young superstar, Shia LeBoueff, and I have really come to be a fan of Michelle Monaghan in her ever-expanding list of films. (She was great in Gone Baby Gone (2007), Mission: Impossible III (2006) and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005).) If you just wanna eat some popcorn and watch a good action flick with some great acting (also from Michael Chiklis and Billy Bob Thorton), go check out Eagle Eye.

Then, this weekend, I rented The Onion Movie and Black Snake Moan.

The Onion Movie (made by the people who bring you the fake news at www.theonion.com), is basically an updated version of John Landis's Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)... which is awesome. It's just a bunch of random spoofs and goofy skits, some pretty risque or downright dirty, all intertwined into a little story about a newscaster being forced out of his own journalistic integrity. If you haven't seen it, all I'm going to say is.... "COCKPUNCHER!" Now go rent it.

Black Snake Moan - starring Christina Ricci, Justin Timberlake and Samuel L. Jackson in one of his more enjoyable roles. This film is about an aging, divorced, heart-broken, ex-bluesman and farmer, Lazarus (Jackson), and a young, drug-addled, sexually-victimized nymphomaniac, Rae (Ricci), crossing paths in the rural South. When Lazarus decides to "cure" Rae of her "wickedness", he chains her to his radiator to keep her from getting out of his house and into more trouble. In classic Hollywood screenwriting tradition, both characters learn and grow from each other (without any kind of sexual/romantic relationship), and both characters are able to move on.

But the real star of the film is the blues music that is featured and even performed by Jackson himself. The opening sequence plays to The Black Keys' "When The Lights Go Out", a heavy, rhythmic, almost Zeppelin-style blues groove (think "When The Levee Breaks"), and then Jackson plays a very dramatic rendition of Blind Lemon Jefferson's "Black Snake Moan", accompanied by thunder, lightning and heavy rain on a tin roof, as Rae clings to his leg in great fear of the storm (among other things) - it's a great little scene. And finally, you gotta hear Jackson's version of the blues standard "Stack-O-Lee" - it's pretty unlike all the other versions; very contemporary, abridged and cinematic. A good little blues rocker. I picked up these three tracks off the soundtrack, availible for download on iTunes. Check 'em out.

Okay, that's enough outta me for now.
Bloopitty-bloop-bloop-bloop! Laterz!

SNL - Still Barely Hangin' In There

2008-10-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday Night Live is struggling lately.

It seems that new head writer, Seth Myers, and his team have done away with recurring characters this season, like Kristin Wiig's "Target Lady" or the "Two A-Holes" sketches that all run in the vein of the successfully time-tested strategy of SNL's formula. Instead, after they do a (usually very good) cold open sketch, always based on the current political drama, the show invariably goes on to showcase one-off sketches about nobody in particular where nothing very creative is happening. It's mostly just shocking lines or goofy actions, but there seem to be an ousting of memerable charcters or recurring set-ups.

Where's Toonses The Driving Cat, for God's sake? Where is Mr. Bill, or The Spartan Cheerleaders? Where's Mango or Mr. Peepers? The Ladies' Man? CAROL? Those kinds of sketches were repeatable and always exciting to see pop up again and again. Now, the writers have backed themselves into a corner where they have to introduce new, nameless, featureless characters to each and every skit, and therefore give us - the viewer - no expectations to play off of. And it's getting old... FAST!

Thankfully, they're still pulling off some decent shows, even without the traditional style, (which I still would recommend they get back to... and fast!) This week's episode had me cracking up a few times, even sitting there watching it all by myself.

Anne Hathaway hosted and did a very good job. Her skills as an actress really worked well and her comedic timing was superb. Here are a few clips of the sketches I rather enjoyed.

The Cold Open - VP Debate: Biden/Palin

Tina is riding this wave to it's peak, which hopefully will end around November 5th. Props to Queen Latifa as debate moderator Gwen Eifel - she was great. And I'm noticing Bill Hader's ability to be hilarious by shouting ridiculous things in his unique voice. The Cold Open sketch is proving to be the longest of the evening, so it's always important to tune in on time - 11:29 PM, people! ELEVEN-TWENTY-NINE! (10:29 PM, central)

Then, there was a good sketch which was based around characters we already know. It was a revealing Mary Poppins sketch about the true meaning of that famous word; "Supercalafragalisticexpialadocious". (And why men should avoid Ms. Poppins at all costs.)

(This sketch reminded me of another great sketch from earlier this season, featuring my cousin Sean's best childhood friend, James Franco, and new featured cast member, Bobby Moynaghan, based on characters from John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men. Have a look.)

There was a pretty good SNL Digital Short, from the brilliantly-twisted mind of Andy Samberg and his "Lonely Island" gang. Featuring Mr. Samberg, Will Forte and the lovely Kristin Wiig, (and a quick appearance by Kenan Thompson,) this one is called: Extreme Activities Competition.

My favorite sketch of the night simply featured an unexpected, yet amazing impression of actor Mark Whalburg by Andy Samberg. This kid is a genius.

All in all, it was a decent show, with a great Weekend Update segment (thanks to Will Forte and four separate, but equally-funny jokes about the world's heaviest man getting married,) but I sure hope Producer Lorne Michaels, head writer Seth Meyers and the rest of the team can learn something from the amazing past of this great show - this Saturday Night Live - and not try to reinvent the wheel. Plus, The Killers sucked.

Here's one last sketch - just good ol' goofy, live, nationally-televised, comedic theater. The Lawrence Welk Show. God bless that Kristin Wiig.

REVIEWS!

2008-09-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, I need to review three huge things here soon, so I'm just gonna make them all short and sweet:

1. Metallica - Death Magnetic

Their first new album in 4 years and the best thing they've done in more than 15 years, Death Magnetic sees Metallica's replacement of long-time producer, Bob Rock, with the amazing, mega-guru, "reducer-producer", Rick Rubin - an expert at whittling bands and solo artists down to their essence... and then letting them just rock that essence good and loud. He does it again here.

With 10 tracks, (that is, nine songs and one 10-minute instrumental onslaught,) and clocking in at almost 75 minutes, Metallica returns to the more progressive, hard-edged sound that they abandoned circa 1991, but that fans have been dying for ever since. It's dark, heavy, filled with amazing riffs and solos, a few power choruses, (but not too many,) and almost never lets up. This album will exhaust you. You can't listen to it all in one sitting very often, because each track (averaging 7 and 1/2 minutes each) is an epic experience unto itself. So, pace yourself, young rockers. The good ol' days of Metallica are here again.

Favorite tracks:
The End of the Line
Broken, Beat & Scarred
and
Cyanide

("METALLI-HINT": Try to get your hands on a rip of the Guitar Hero III version of this album - the final mix is deeper in dimension and fuller in scope than the CD release. Not a "night-and-day" difference, but enough to be appreciated more.)

2. San Diego Streey Scene - 2008

On my birthday, Friday the 19th of September, I was treated (by my most-awesome bro-hams, Rob and Reuven) to a ticket for Street Scene - the annual outdoor "91X" multi-band concert festival. Usually held in the downtown "Gaslamp" area, the event was moved to the Quaalcom Staudium parking lot for the past several years. But this year, it was relocated again to the downtown area - not exactly in the Gaslamp, but behind Petco Stadium, which was closer to the original sentiment.

It was pretty awesome. I met up with my cousin, Sean, and his friends, and it felt like a big party. We arrived around 6:30 just in time to see MGMT finish up a set, and then Michael Franti & Spearhead hit the big stage next. They were okay... a bit too reggae for me, but that's still cool. The big acts were TV On The Radio, Justice, Spoon, Vampire Weekend (who were playing on a smaller stage and got ditched quickly for the headlining act:), Beck!

Despite some technical problems, Beck and his amazing band rocked and rolled for well over an hour until about 11:45 PM. But Spoon and TV On The Radio certainly held their own again the blond, scientologist So-Cal native. We didn't go the second night, but that's fine by me, because headliners, The Black Crowes, canceled their appearence, and teh slot was filled by the totally irrelevant Devo. I would have liked to have seen The Hives and Cold War Kids, but no big loss. I definetly went on the right night!

Street Scene was a very unique show that turned me on to more than a few different bands and types of music. Thanks again to my homies Rob and Reuven. THANKS GUYS!

and...
3. NEW AC/DC!

As the old saying goes, "If AC/DC ain't broke... don't fix 'em!"

For the first time in the post-9/11 world, AC/DC returns with new music and... surprise! surprise! surprise! It's more the same than ever! Check out the new video for "Rock 'N Roll Train" from the forthcoming new album, Black Ice (due out October 20th).

Even moderate AC/DC fans will notice that the song and the video follow some sort of formula to which the band has stuck for many years now. And bands like Metallica could learn something from these never-changing aged rockers - "if it rocks, just keep doin' it." I've never met anyone who has commented that they're bored with AC/DC's sound. And I hope I never do.

That is all! GUH-BYE!

Album review - Lagwagon

2008-09-17T20:59:00.000-07:00

Note: This album review post is written by my friend, the lovely Erin Euphegenia Feely:
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Originally based in Southern California, Lagwagon was an early favorite on the '90s punk scene. They've held strong through the years with ten full-length albums to their credit. Their last album, Resolve (2005), dealt entirely with singer/songwriter Joey Cape's loss of his life-long friend and band-mate, Derrick Plourde. The two formed one of my favorite bands, the now-defunct Bad Astronaut, in 2000 just so they could create music together.

Cape has also been promoting this album with his side-project - The Playing Favorites, working on his acoustic album - Bridge (due out in October), as well as playing guitar in the cover-band, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Somehow, amidst Cape's busy schedule, Lagwagon - the band his fans know best - managed to pump out 7 new tracks.

Their latest effort, the EP I Think My Older Brother Used To Listen To (Lagwagon), does not disappoint. As always, the band manages to delicately balance politics and private lives. Tracks like "No Little Pill" and "Live It Down" deal with current affairs like abuse of power and environmental uncertainty. To issues we describe in general with words like "depression," "addiction" and "corruption," Cape melodically lends names and faces, while "Errands" and "Fallen" return to the loss of Plourde and bring the album down to a very personal level. Plourde's death is still too fresh and bleeds through every song. There is a desperate vibe of "getting on with life" while still questioning past decisions. Although the lyrical content is profound, rhythmic guitar and relentless percussion make every song super-charged with energy.

My only complaint about the album is that there aren't more songs! The beats are so catchy that no sooner do you find yourself rocking out and singing along than you realize it's over!

Overall the EP is a great effort, mission accomplished.

Favorite song:
B-Side

SNL '08/'09 Season Premiere

2008-09-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

Although Barack Obama couldn't be there to perform as scheduled (due to his "Presidential" responsibilities, which called him down to Texas to oversee the rescue and clean-up efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike), Saturday Night Live kicked off their THIRTY-THIRD season with this awesome "cold open" sketch. (Tina Fey - who popped in to play the role she was born to play - and Amy Pohler reference this photo in the sketch. Check it out so as not to be left out of the joke.)

After that, it was pretty much down hill, except for a few shining moments, but the biggest problems were the show's host and musical guest. If anything was revealed to me about the mysteries of the universe last night, it was this: Michael Phelps is a great swimmer... and is great at NOTHING ELSE! Put that fish back in the water, cause this guy gets pruney when he's DRY! What a dork! His giant horse teeth kept him from actually enunciating any of his lines with any clarity or distinction. He's so tall that he kept having to stoop down to be in the camera angle with his co-stars, and he fumbled his way through everything with absolute minimum grace. What a tool! Damn you, you stupid NBC execs! You know NOTHING about entertainment!

And I'm not even going to get into how dumb this "Lil' Wayne" guy is. Somebody get that guy an oral surgeon - they can fix that stuff nowadays! (You too, Phelps!)

But I must admit, I've taken an early liking to new "featured" cast member (along with Casey Wilson, who has been a featured player for a year now), Upright Citizen's Brigade alum Bobby Moynihan, who was featured most prominently in the "10-to-1" sketch (the last sketch of the show) as a hilariously annoying waiter who "doesn't wait" or a server who "only serves Jesus" and is constantly overwhelmed by a powerful pepper smell that only he can sense - and he can't stop his hands from playing with the strings of his do-rag. (Nice touch!) With a little more plot to these skits, this could be a great character (a'la Horatio Sanz's "Carol"). Moynihan's performance was great and I think he's going to be a powerful addition to the cast.

And the rest of the usual suspects were still there, however: Kristin Wiig, Jason Sudeykis, Will Forte, Kenan Thompson, and the eternally necissary Darrell Hammond (since 1995!).

We still have the magnanimous team of Amy Pohler (who looks to be about 8 months pregnant at this point) and Seth Myers doing Weekend Update, which once again featured Fred Armisen as "Nicholas Fehn: Political Comedian" - the funniest un-funny guy in the world:"If you... if.. if we... I mean... just for one... ya know... I mean, okay... if... if... if you took out a patent... on an invention, and... okay... if... I mean, should we... if we should choose to... because.... if... if we all had headphones...."

And, thank the Lord, we still have Andy Samberg - the powerhouse of absurdist humor - doing our much-beloved SNL Digital Shorts. The thing that's so amazing about Samberg and his "Lonely Island" pals (who all produce the shorts together) is the high quality of the songs they often use in the videos. The songs are total cheese or parody and yet the production of them is top-notch.

This week's was one of the better shorts - you gotta watch this. These guys are nuts.

It seems that the great Maya Rudolph is gone now, but that's the only one we've lost. She will be missed. No more Nooni, Patti Sylviac (of "Pat N' Patti's Shack"), or Jo-Jessica (of "The Hip-Hop Kidz"). No more Beyoncé ("The Prince Show"), Charo, Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Donatella Vercaci or Oprah Whinfrey (although Tim Meadows used to play her, too. So, I'm sure someone else will step in at some point. But Maya rocked that one!) We'll miss you, Maya.

Here are some of the other skits and videos that I thought were pretty funny:

HAPPY METALLICA DAY!

2008-09-12T21:32:00.000-07:00

IS UPON US
Listen Here

New Oasis Song is AWESOME

2008-09-11T01:42:00.000-07:00

The new single - The Shock Of The Lightning (due out September 26th), from the upcoming new album "Dig Out Your Soul" (due out October 6th) - is the best Oasis song so far THIS DECADE! And it sounds even better in CD quality!

Dig these lyrics!

I’m all over my heart’s desire
I feel cold but I’m back in the fire
I’m outta control but I’m tied up tight
Come in, come out tonight

I’m coming up in the early morning
I feel love in the shock of the lightning
I fall into the blinding light
Come in, come out,
Come in, come out tonight

Love is a time machine
Up on the silver screen
It’s all in my mind
Love is a litany
A magical mystery
And all in good time
And all in good time
And all in good time…

I’ve got my feet on the street but I cant stop flying
My head’s in the clouds but at least I’m trying
I’m outta control but I’m tied up tight
Come in, come out tonight

There’s a hole in the ground into which I’m falling
So Godspeed to the sound of the pounding
I’m all into the blinding light
Come in, come out,
Come in, come out tonight