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.