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.

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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.