Arctic Monkeys.

I saw the Arctic Monkeys last night in DC. They are surprisingly good. I enjoy all of their albums, but wasn't really sure what to expect from them as a live act. Their first album is a fantastic example of the horrors of the loudness war in cd mastering. It is maxed out to the point of almost distorting it. But the music is still good. It would be better if probably mastered, but isn't much I can do about that. Before the show, I bummed around DC for a few hours. My boss recommended the Saloon on U Street, for their selection of draft beers. And he was right, they were very good. The bar maid/waitress was cute, and told me she liked my "sweater" (sweatshirt). Its hard to take a compliment when you are slightly embarrassed for wearing something based on an H.P. Lovecraft story and when you have the sneaking suspicion she is just fishing for a higher tip. Still, the beer was good, as was the burger. I would have liked to have gone to Ben's Chili Bowl, two shops down, but they don't serve beer. Maybe I'll head down there some Saturday just to try it. After dinner and a few beers, I headed out in the cold to the 9:30 Club. It was just before doors opened, so I had to wait in line, with all of the teenagers. That is one way to feel old, quickly; go to a rock show. In line, I chatted a bit with the other 20/30 somethings standing around me. The woman in front of me was pretty attractive. She commented that she was old enough to be some of these kids' mother. I find that a bit hard to believe, but as I assumed the guys she was with was her boyfriend, I let it slide without any flirting. Not that I would have done much of that, but I did have a few beers in me at that point, so anything was possible. I checked my coat upstairs, and as I was coming down the steps, I lost my footing, as fell down the stairs. Now my left wrist is bothering me. Stupid falling. Anyway, the opener was a trio called the Screaming Females. A bit of a misnomer, as there is only one screaming female in the group. But, I can live with misnomers. But I can't live with several things about this band. First, they are from New Brunswick, New Jersey. I fucking hate New Jersey, and just about everything from or in that state. That is strike one. Second, they couldn't decide what genre to be. They were all over the place. It wasn't classic rock, hard rock, punk, metal, prog, country, rap, screamo. It was all over the place. And not just a bunch of different sounding songs, but songs that weren't even internally consistent. Some songs would start as a straightforward power chord rocker, have a screamo chorus, then melt into an 80s guitar shredfest. It was annoying to listen to. Third, the guitarist, who is the lone girl, also sings. This isn't normally a problem. But I chose my words carefully just now. She is not a singer. She sings, but she is not a singer. And someone should stop her. Don't get me wrong, she can play a mean guitar. Some of what she did there was excellent. It just needs to be within a coherent genre or blend of them and without her singing, which vacillated between the sound of strangling cats and monotone boredom. This band would actually have potential without such a shitty singer. Fourth, the songs were boring. Hire a lyricist or something. Get a song written that doesn't suck, written within a standard genre, sung by someone who can. Fourth, the guitarist needs a damn haircut. Listen up, girly. Just because you are "punk" doesn't mean having hair covering your eyes is cool. Get over yourself and get a damn haircut. You look as retarded as your band sounds. I'm all for the Do It Yourself ethic they apparently have. They book most of their own shows and crap like that. Fine, cool, good for you. But that is no excuse for sucking. The Arctic Monkeys were, on the other hand, awesome.

Reservoir Dogs.

I watched this movie last night for the first time in a very long time. I'm talking years. In the intervening years, I've come to appreciate the Tarantino style, at least partially. Some of his movies are pretty decent. Usually the plot is a bit complicating, but they are worth a viewing, despite the language and violence (or because of them). But his debut is kind of pointless. The acting is good, don't get me wrong. He knows who to cast. The performances are all good. But much of the movie has the feeling of an indie film, with a very modest budget. I get that, he wasn't a director until that point, so it probably was. But the plot is unreasonable. I understand, its about a diamond heist gone wrong because one of them is a rat. However, what is the point of showing everything but the robbery? I seems to take half of what makes a great caper movie away. Well, I might take that back. It removes nearly three-quarters. We don't see the planning, we don't see the robbery, and we don't (or barely) see the get away. We only see the aftermath. Which may be the point. But those are always the most fun part of a caper movie. We like to see the planning so we know what should happen. We like to see the actual execution, and everything that goes wrong. And we like to see the get away, possibly for the shootouts and car chases. But this movie has none of that. It just left me thinking, "what's the point of this movie?" I wasn't entertained by the heist or car chases or shooting. If its an examination of the psychology of criminals, maybe it does a good job, but that doesn't make it entertaining.

The Road, and No Country for Old Men.

A very good movie. I didn't know much about it going in, other than it stars a semi-retired Viggo Mortensen and was based on a book written by Cormac McCarthy of "No County For Old Men" fame. The acting was superb, especially from Mr. Smit-McPhee. It was a heart-wrenching story of loss and hope after the end of the world. I would definitely recommend to any fan of serious and emotive films. As with other serious films of this caliber, I'm not sure I have grasped all of the subtly on my first viewing. McCarthy's previous story-turned-film was not my favorite on my initial watching, when it was first released on dvd. However, in the intervening time, I had a good friend and film buff explain it to me. I had failed to grasp the characterizations and the point. The aging sheriff is the main character, and all action is to be viewed with an unfamiliar eye. The explicit, unmotivated violence is supposed to be shocking, foreign, and disconcerting. We are to see that the world has passed us by, like it has the sheriff. Watching it with this in mind, I loved it. It made perfect sense. Although, in retrospect, I feel silly and stupid for not understanding that myself. Symbolic interpretation is usually something I am fairly good at, and pride myself on it. Its a bit humbling.

Mastodon and Dethklok.

I saw them last night in Virginia. The doors for the show opened at 5:30, but I didn't get there until just before 6:30. It was nice to arrive early, giving myself plenty of time to get lost and find a nice parking spot. I didn't get lost, thanks to a GPS which I bought for the purpose of not getting lost. But there were two opening acts. High on Fire and Converge. High on Fire wasn't great. Now, don't get me wrong. Almost nobody was there at that point. They were the first band. But they were fairly good. Nothing great about them, but they were high energy and played metal. Converge, though, was terrible. The lead singer looked like he would fit in better in a rap group. And they were all trying way to hard to have post-punk vocals. I can't stand when a band has talented musicians who can play instruments and a lead singer who just screams into a mic. I couldn't understand a single thing he said, except in the one song where he actually used a human voice. But the band wasn't really all that great either. They could play, sure, but they couldn't play a decent song. It was all just loud, fast, and noisy. And not in a good way. I enjoy some noise rock and some loud and fast stuff, but this was just annoying. Good thing they weren't the only ones playing. At around 8:30 or so, Mastodon came out. They basically played all of Crack the Skye. It was awesome. I'm amazed that a band that talented plays metal. Don't get me wrong, I love them. But they could really branch out and take over the world. They played a song from Blood Mountain and one from Remission. I would have loved to hear something from Leviathan, like Naked Burn, but alas, they did not. But they were amazing. I'll definitely seem them again if I get the chance. Then came Dethklok, the fictitious band from Metalocalypse. It was pretty cool how they pulled it off. Brendan Smalls is the creator and does the voices for the band. He also shreds on the guitar. So, he sang and played, along with a bassist, drummer, and second guitarist. On the screen behind the band, they showed what amounted to music videos, featuring the cartoon band, with their typically metal imagery of warriors fighting and things dying. It was brutal. What surprised me was how far from corny the whole thing seemed. It could have been sort of laughable to see middle-aged guys on stage, backed by cartoons, but it wasn't. I definitely enjoyed it. I was particularly happy that they played Murmaider and Go Into The Water, my favorite Dethklok song. It was a good time.

Muse's The Resistance.

I'm listening to this album on my ipod, since it came up on random. I pre-ordered the deluxe boxed set before I'd even heard anything from the album. I enjoy Muse, more and more each day, so I thought, "what the hell?" and "I'll regret not getting it", so I did. I've listened to it once all the way through, and enjoy it. I'm not sure how I like it compared to their other albums. The first one I heard was Origin of Symmetry. Its still probably my favorite. I love the pure rock and the breakup songs. Its so raw and powerful and great driving music. But in a review for this new album, the reviewer said Muse is a good up and coming band, but they get lost in their influences, such as Queen. And its probably sort of true. Several of these songs could be Queen songs, with soaring vocal harmonies and swelling guitars. But I don't think that's a bad thing. I mean, come on, its Queen. One of the best stadium rock bands ever. If Matt Bellamy can achieve 10% of the awesomeness of Freddie Mercury, he deserves an award. I mean, really, why not imitate the best? It would be like someone dismissing a band because they are heavily influenced by the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. I mean, nobody can say that Oasis is talentless. Sure, they may be overrated and at this point most of us are sick of them still sounding like the Beatles, but they've become immensely popular with that style, so if you don't like them, don't listen to them. I have (Whats the story) Morning Glory. Who didn't in the early 90s? Its like everyone of my generation also has Weezer's Blue Album, Ace of Base's The Sign, Silverchair's Frogstomp, Beck's Odelay, or Sublime's self-titled? Those are classics of our generation. If a band tried to mimic or borrow from those albums, and did it well, I'd give them credit, as they'd have made a damn enjoyable album. So, I say, carry on Muse.

Trick 'R Treat

Holy shit. This tries to be an horror anthology. But, holy balls, does it fail. This movie was a complete waste of time. The trailer showed potential, but it couldn't make up its goddamn mind as to what it was about. Was it a supernatural flick? Or was it a creepy story about a psycho killer who was actually a single father? Or a vampire/werewolf movie. It was all of these things. Not because they are all awesome and therefore the movie was awesome. No, it was because the screenwriter and director were shitbags. These douches couldn't decide what this piece of shit should be about, so it was about every goddamn thing imaginable. Therefore, it didn't make sense, wasn't scary, and was also terrible. Do NOT bother to watch this lame excuse for a movie. If you do, you will be sorry you wasted your time and your Netflix rental.

Backspacer

The new Pearl Jam is pretty good. The first three songs are probably the best. The energy is so high. My favorite track on the album is "The Fixer". To borrow an idea from the Rolling Stone review, this album feels like a breath of fresh air and party after the Bush years. That is the best way to describe it. The fuzz is still there, but the grim of the grunge has been washed away by the surfing. Its a album.

12 Rounds, with John Cena.

This movie was pretty excellent. I was told it was an 80s action movie, with all the cornball one-liners, the ridiculous action, and unbelievable plot. I was told right. But it strangely balanced the cheesiness and the fun. John Cena makes an excellent action star. He is physical, but also a complete ham. You never once dislike him, but his brand of do-good action is actually interesting. He's like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop, both a muscleman and a cornball. But I think he has potential as an actor to do that sort of role for the next twenty years. Yes, I would watch him do that. Yes, I would enjoy it. This movie has my seal of approval. A totally watchable and entertaining stupid action movie.

Passengers.

This movie was so mediocre, it took me three viewing to finish it. The twist was predictable and boring. This movie is not really worth your time. It was like the Sixth Sense meets a movie where there is a plane crash.

Bram Stoker's Dracula

I am watching this On-Demand. I don't know why. For the love of Jeff, it is bad. Its like Coppola didn't even read Dracula. The movie is so very unlike the book, while at the same time trying to be the book. It is not. The opening scene shows Dracula in the 15th century, fighting Turks, seeing his dead wife, and renouncing God. This is purely made up to make the character of Dracula more human and more sympathetic. I'm sorry to say, this is not the first misstep in the retelling of this story. Dracula is not a character to be humanized, he is a character to revile. He may be the titular focus, but he is not the hero. He is purist evil, and the Gothic horror of the novel stems from the vast, complete, and uncomphrensible terror he inflicts on the characters. On a few discrepancies. The character of Renfield was not Dracula's solicitor who went crazy, he was simply a lunatic loyal to Dracula. Additionally, Jonathan did purchase all of Dracula's London properties. In fact, he doesn't even know about multiple homes until three-quarters of the way through the book. Dracula did not have a wife who he thinks is reincarnated as Mina Murray/Harker, hence giving him a motive for going to London and killing Jonathan. The class differences between Lucy Westenra and Mina Murray are non-existent in the book, because they are all from the same social class. There was nothing about "aristocracy" or "rich" people. Its a stupid invention of this film. Additionally, the overtly sexual tones of the movie are also pure fabrication. The novel is far more subtle in its eroticism. Dracula's ferocity at seeing Jonathan's blood when shaving is completely removed when he sees/touches the cross given him by the Gypsy woman. In the film, it is not. He actually freaks out more upon seeing the cross. Also, Harker openly questions and contradictions Dracula, something the pure terror he inspires should have prevented. Jonathan never outright sees a baby given to the sister vampires, only a wriggling bag, implying the contents. The subtly makes the characterization far more interesting. It is unclear early on if Jonathan Harker is confused and insane, or Dracula is in fact behind the evil. Sex with a werewolf man? Really? This movie is terrible. The wolf that escapes from the zoo coincides with Dracula's arrival. The implication is that it is in fact because of Dracula or Dracula himself in animal form. However, this atrocity implies that it happened before his arrival. Ridiculous. Also, Van Helsing is apparently the movie's narrator. WHAT!? The book has multiple narrators. Now they are drinking Absinthe. Why? No reason other than to be wrong. Fangs did not sprout in the vampire. Stoker described Dracula as having high gums, that made his incisors look like fangs. They were not additional or preternaturally long teeth, as later incarnations would have us believe. Again, poor writing in the script and faithlessness to the source material. This whole eternal love story is retarded. The novel is about the horror of unstoppable evil, not the power of love. A word about the cast. Who on earth thought Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, and Gary Oldman would make good actors for this movie? Its well enough, because it would have been a colossal shame to have really excellent actors wasted on such a horrendous script directed in such a boring way. Finally, and most heinously, the ending is all wrong. [Spoilers] They do not kill Dracula on the Borgo Pass, on the way home, just before nightfall. He arrives home, and breaks out of his coffin to be accompanied inside by Mina. This, while less abrupt than the novel's end, is lame and stupid and unworkable. [/Spoilers] This is a terrible movie by a director who should have known better. Coppola did the Godfather, on of the best movies of all time. I guess after such a fantastic film, nothing could live up to it, but still, its like he didn't even try. I'm sorry I have once again sat through this bastardization of my favorite novel. For shame.

Knowing

I was surprised by this movie. Roger Ebert said it was excellent, as well as some friends, so I gave it a shot. Parts a hokey, but I enjoyed it. Alex Proyas has created another very good sci-fi movie tinged with philosophy. Not all of the acting was amazing, but Cage didn't bother me as much as I feared he would. All in all, this movie was worth my time.

Wilco (The Album)

Its pretty good. Nothing mind blowing. It isn't as experimental as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, as raw, emotional, and awesome as A Ghost is Born, or full of as many awesome licks and whatnot as Sky Blue Sky, but I like it. Keep up the good work Wilco. I'll give it a bunch more listens before I fully pass judgment on it though. It might just grow on me.

My Bloody Valentine

I can't believe I actually wanted to see this movie. Is so fucking retarded. I'm only about a third through it, and its horrid. Clearly a movie written for 3D as a gimick. Lots of shit flying toward the screen. Its rife with terrible acting, like any horror movie, but somehow worse. The quality is terrible. I can't believe I am wasting my time. Do not bother to see this movie.

Guitar solos.

I'm listening to Jars of Clay's "Crazy Times". I has an amazing solo and I get goosebumps when I hear it. And I was reminded of a comment from a college classmate. He always claimed that God will speak to us, in heaven, in Freddy Mercury's singing voice. And that has me thinking, I think maybe I'll be guitar solos. But that fired another thought process. Is a guitar solo as good without the proper context? In "Crazy Times", its a fantastic solo, but it may only be so because of the contrast and emotional impact that it has based on its given context in the song. So, I think maybe the guitar solo is only as good as the song its part of. It needs that whole support staff of the song to make it worthwhile. Without it you just have a guy playing a guitar for however long. I think that is why some of Frank Zappa's stuff doesn't appeal to me. He would edit solos from different shows together, and even had a few albums that were just compilations of them. Sounds bizarre to me. But, knowing what I know of Zappa, that was probably the point.

Earworm

This is the proper name for having a song stuck in your head. Bizarre. I'll have to start posting when that happens. Like yesterday and today, I keep singing the Grateful Dead's "Alligator". I can't stop whistling the melody or repeating lines. Or the Muse song "Hyper Music". I can't help it. At least now I know what it's called.

Swing Kids

A few weeks ago, I read an article online about Christian Bale and the movies he has been in. One sounded particularly interesting. He plays a teen, in Germany in the 1930s, who loves swing music. This doesn't sound all that special. However, swing is looked down upon because its the music of "Negroes and Jews". Its also illegal. I thought Bale was the lead, but true lead is played by Robert Sean Leonard, better known as Dr. Wilson on House. He was superb. The acting was convincing and honest. I truly believed the inner struggle that he was portraying in the character of Peter. While the over all story was a bit predictable, with brazen youth, inner conflict, and ultimate redemption, it was touching. I wasn't expecting the movie to be so good. But it grabbed me and made me care, and in caring to reflect on a few things. I highly recommend this film, but only when you have two hours to devote to it. Its not to be taken lightly and deserves you full attention.

Fan edits

I've been watching some fan edits of the Harry Potter movie series the past few days. They are mostly just adding deleted scenes to the movies to make them a bit longer and more interesting. However, there exists a community of fans who edit movies. Sometimes they remove components to help the story flow better. For example, the Star Wars prequel movies have been changed to remove Jar Jar Binks and midichlorians, as both are considered anathema to true fans of the series. However, some genius has created an edit of "No Country for Old Men" without the Sherriff's opening and closing narration. Don't get me wrong. I wasn't a huge of the movie. But, from what I've been told, the sherriff is the main character. Without his narration, dream, and bookend story, the whole middle of the movie makes no sense. The point is, supposedly, that he is getting old and the times are too fast and chaotic for him. That is what Chigur and Llewlyn's story symbolizes, the "modern" nature of things. The sherriff just doesn't understand it because he is too old. But by editing that out, this "fan" has basically destroyed the whole point of the movie. I guess some people just don't understand the point of some movies.

The Hangover

This movie was funny. Ed Helms is hilarious. Go see it, just to see him improv a song on piano. Also, Zach Galifinakakis is amazing too. That guy is too funny. Besides the awesomeness of this movie, and Mike Tyson's cameo, I can't stop thinking about my former coworker. I won't share her name, but she is very attractive and in my dreams the past few days. Freaky, but true. That is about all for now.

The Uninvited

This was a fairly decent horror film. It is about a year old, and stars Emily Browning as the crazy teenage girl and Elizabeth Banks as the evil, possibly murderous stepmother. It was entertaining. However, the story was a bit predictable. While the girl had been in a mental hospital, which was caused by witnessing her mother's death in a boathouse explosion, and she has visions of her dead mother, we are meant to believe her. The stepmother (not yet stepmother, I should say) is played as evil. She screws the father, forbids her from seeing her boyfriend, and threatens her. The climax of the film is pretty good, but predictable. Worth a rental.

music and movies blog

I decided to start this blog as a way to review movies and music in a longer form then on flixster or criticker or amazon.