Music

Suprisingly Under the Radar

Maybe it is just me, or did the Live8 concert get lost in the shuffle of the July 4th weekend?   I had heard about it several times over through my many music related newsletters, magazines, and web sites, but even with that, it seemed like it didn’t get all that much attention.  It was on MTV and VH1 (and I think MTV’s college version network as well), so it did have some TV exposure, but the only way to see all the acts was through AOL Music’s web site.  They did a nice job with it, even though you had to keep hitting "refresh" in order to see the list of which bands were coming up next.

Anyway – I hope that it gets some good post-event coverage, not only for the music, but for the cause as well.  A few cover stories in some magazines would be a nice thing, no?

The highlight for me was definitely the Pink Floyd "reunion" with Roger Waters.  I had goose bumps on top of my goose bumps.  There are very few bands that I would pay hundreds of dollars to see – and many of those would be impossible since some of them are dead – but seeing Pink Floyd with Roger Waters would be one of them.   It was very cool to hear him sing "Comfortably Numb" with the full band again.  It gave ME chills….

The other astounding thing about it was the technology.  It was a big deal back in ’85 when they did Live Aid in two different countries, but now they were doing it in 8 different locations in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia, and broadcasting it over the web – which didn’t even exist when Live Aid was done! 

Some of the best coverage though had to be through XM Satellite radio – they did a GREAT job, dedicating nine channels to coverage of the concerts, all in superb audio quality.  It made for a fun day in between yard work, checking out the live video stream, seeing what was on MTV/VH1, and switching between the different XM radio stations.  Once again, I gotta give props to XM!

Oh – and yes, I did sign the petition.

Sports

Ouch

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Went to see Curt Schilling pitch at the Pawtucket Red Sox last night.  It was cool to be able to see a legend up close, but it was a dissapointing outing.  Granted, the PawSox didn’t exactly back him up with great hitting or fielding, but he got hit hard, which was sad to see.  Hopefully he’ll get back on track sooner or later.

On top of that, there were no fireworks last night – I was looking forward to seeing a good display on the fourth of July, but after a mishap the night before, the fireworks were cancelled.  That made it all doubly dissapointing.

Film

War of the Audience

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Saw War of the Worlds last night… I thought it was an entertaining summer flick, but with two major problems:  One, the ending just sucks.  All of a sudden things start to go right and we’re given a half-assed explanation of what happened to the aliens and all the loose ends are tied up without any explnation. 

Second, the flim falls into the usual unnecessary "emotional" sub plots that plague so many action flicks.  Really, the whole "estranged father" bit that Tom Cruise plays adds NOTHING to the film.  Give it a break already.  A father trying to save his family from the world being annihilated is dramatic enough – we don’t need to have something else going on to distract from the film’s main plot and action.

Other than that, the film is entertaining with some great cinematography, awesome special effects and some legitimately scary scenes, especially when they show people getting vaporized – borderline gruesome, actually.  I can’t wait to see it on DVD and crank it up on the home theater system.  A bonus of watching it that way is that you don’t have to put up with audience members…

NOTE: the rest of this post will be a scathing, scorching, expletitive-ridden rant about some of the morons in the audience.  If you are sensitve to "adult language" then you may want to surf away to somewhere else… now.

So last night we get into the theater, which was one of the more crowded shows I’ve been to in a while.  It was a Friday night on a long holiday weekend, two days after the movie opened.  I wish I had waited… then maybe the fucking assholes who were in there last night would have fucking seen the movie and not come the fuck back.  The first thing I wanted to do when the movie ended was to go around and bitch-slap everyone – HARD – who had a cell phone on during the movie.  Let’s get this straight – YOU ARE SIXTEEN YEARS OLD – YOU ARE NOT SO FUCKING IMPORTANT THAT YOU NEED TO BE TALKING ON A CELL PHONE DURING A MOVIE!!!   Give it a fucking break, you goddamn idiots.  Do you really think that ANYONE there thinks you are the least bit cool because you have a cell phone?  Everyone fucking has one. And I can assure you that NO ONE thinks that you’re really badass for using it in a movie theater.  In fact, all you did was appear to be a complete and total idiot who can’t handle the most basic human interactions, proving that you should have the phone taken away from you, be stripped naked, and put into a cage with dog food and water. 

The worst part is that now that cell phones have brightly back- lit colored screens, it isn’t jus the sound that bothers people – it is the fucking light as well.  Phone rings… they open their phone… and all of a sudden, from ten rows away, you can see this glowing light illuminating some asshole’s face.  Fuck ’em.  They should have their cell phone stuffed up their asses.  Cages are too good. 

If you answr a cell phone in a movie theater, the next thing you should do is go running out to your car so you can perform the emergency heart by-pass surgery that only you can do, or to the side of a dying family member.  That is it.  Otherwise, put the fucking cell phone on vibrate, and ignore it for two hours, you fucking morons.

It really did hurt the atmosphere of the movie – tense scenes punctuated with sound of chit-chat, ring tones and beaming lights from the becons of idocy.  It ended up making the mood TOO light as well, meaning that people were laughing too  much at too many scenes.   

Then after the movie ended, some asshole in the upper rows thew an ALMOST emtpy drink cup across the seats towards the front… I don’t think they were even targeting anyone – they just thought they would be the shit if they did that.  Instead, they are just shitheads with shit for brains that should be shit upon.

Thanks a lot assholes… I hope you all get fucking cancer from your cell phones and your goddamn ears fall off when you turn 25.

Weblogs

Something to chew on…

So now that I’m on MySpace.com, I figured I’d better start updating this thing more often, so I’ve made a promise to myself to try to update it with SOMETHING each day.  Figured it is also a quick and easy way to keep my writing skills honed.

Now onto something that I want to bitch about… I’m looking around at different people on MySpace, and I have two things to say. 

First of all, there’s some really weird/sketchy/scary people out there.  Man…  but I can deal with that – it takes all kinds to make the world go around, and as Michael Franti sings, "all the freaky people make the beauty in the world." ("Stay Human")

Secondly, I’m not sure if it is because there are a lot of "questionable" people on the site, or because everyone is lying about wanting to make friends, or if people are just flakes, but fer chrissake, if I  say that I think you’re interesting and think you’d be nice to get to know – have as a friend – then I freakin’ mean it.  If you’re a guy, it doesn’t mean I want to give it up your ass, and if you’re a woman, it doesn’t mean I’m trying to be lecherous.  I actually just might want to be friendly and be looking to find some interesting people to hang out with.  Give it a break and stop thinking so damn much of yourself already!!  If I send you a message, have the freakin’ courtesy to at least respond, even if to say F–k off!

Film

Dada-dada-dada-dada….

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BATMAN!!!  (that was supposed to be the old Batman theme… weak, I know, but believe me, you should appreciate it more than me singing it, that’s for damn sure)

So I went to see Batman with Kim (our third time hanging out, but I didn’t get lucky dammit… man, is she gonna kill me when she reads this…) this afternoon.  First of all, as far as I can remember, I think this is the first time I’ve ever been to a movie in the middle of the day.  I’ve always gone as part of an evening out.  Does that make me strange (or just stranger?)?

Anyway – the movie is really good.  Batman has always been my favorite superhero character because he was the most "human" – I’m the far from being a "fanboy" or anything, but I always thought it was a cool character.  What makes this movie so great is that it IS about the character Batman, and not just a big dumb blow-shit-up action flick.  I like good special effects as much as anyone else, but when they start to take over the movie – or are the point of the movie to begin with – I’m just not into that.  The movie does a great job connecting some big gaps in the Batman mythology, such as why bats, how the hell did he get so good at fighting and where did all these neat gadgets come from?  It makes for a really interesting and attention-keeping moving.

The closest thing I got to feeling like a giddy fanboy was when they showed him loading his utility belt.  That was pretty cool.  Great Batmobile too, though I have to admit, I don’t understand why he has to do a sit-up in order to fire the guns and make a jump.  Not getting that. 

One thing that I liked which hasn’t gotten a lot of play in the critic reviews is how legitimately scary some of the scenes are – not just the stuff with the bats, but when the Scarecrow is going around drugging people (he is the the most believable superhero villain in any movie ever, BTW), the resulting scenes are actually disconcerting and frightening, making you hope that the stuff they are spreading around doesn’t actually exist, or that you at least will never come in contact with it.

One question I do have about the main evil plot in the film revolves around the microwave emitting machine.  I don’t want to bring too much reality into a superhero flick, but since this was a very grounded one, I’ll do it anyway: if this machine emitted such high-powered microwaves that it vaporized all the water around it, shouldn’t have all the people near it gotten cooked as well?   Hell, if it is that powerful, they should have been exploding right along side the water mains.  That’s how microwaves work… put a glass of water in the microwave and it boils and evaporates.  Put a kitten in it and it gets cooked (just an example folks, don’t get angry).

Anyway – it was good, and I’ll probably buy it when it comes out DVD.  From Kim’s perspective, she just really liked seeing Christian Bale all muscled out, but was disappointed with the outfit.  She was apparently hoping for more spandex (I picked up on that from her constant "spandex" chanting during the costuming scenes).  She was also disappointed that the most she saw of Christian was a topless shot in his pajamas. (I just thought he made for a really good Batman)

Of course, that’s more than we get from Katie Holmes, who is her usual almost-disturbingly cute self.  I wonder if she as much of a sex vixen as all men everywhere hope she is?  She looks great in the film, running around in skirts with boots (as some of you know, that pretty much gets me every time).  One  very funny thing that happened in the movie as a totally gratuitous erect nipple shot – when Katie is being lifted off a table after being drugged, her right breast is visible and so is a very erect nipple, right in the middle of the screen – pretty tough to miss, and completely pointless, other than making people like me type about it on-line, I guess.   Must have been cold in the Batcave…

Film

Very excited

This post is pretty much just to show  Kim that I’m not kidding about writing about her in my blog…

I’m very excited – I’m going to see Batman Begins tomorrow afternoon with Kim.  Been dying to see the movie, and it has been too long since she and I hung out together.  We definitely always have a good time – we both have twisted senses of humor, so it works out well 🙂

So take THAT Kimberly!

Music

Eels – no, not the slimy, slippery kind

I’d like to give props out to another great new album I’ve been listening to…    Blinking Lights and Other Revelations by the eels.

I’ve been a fan ever since I heard the song "Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues" in the movie Road Trip (an underated very funny film in my opinion… too many people get scared off by Tom Green, who has only a minor part in the film, and is funny in all the scenes), a gorgeous song with a great, uplifting catchy chorus.

The Eels are an interesting group – they can be very dark and introspective with their lyrics, but then the next song will be the catchiest, happiest piece of pop music you’ve ever heard.  In my opinion, they are among the best songwriters out there (with most of the credit going to Mr. E, the lead singer) creating songs that are alternately touching and dance-able.  Can’t ask for much more than that.

The new album doesn’t dissapoint, with a lot of very soft and slow personal songs that are very intriguing, but a few upbeat numbers that really shine through.  "Hey Man (Now You’re Really Living)" is a fantastic song.  If it doesn’t brighten your mood, then you may want to check your pulse…  Get the album and check it out for yourself.

Web/Tech

Whaddya Know!!

So a few posts ago I said that I had gotten onto the whole MySpace.com thing and complained about how it was yet ANOTHER place for me to worry about keeping up with people.  I signed up for it, and just kinda forgot it for almost two weeks… I checked it out last night and I had a bunch of people send me messages saying that they liked my profile, thought I sounded cool, wanted to get to know me, thought I was cute, whatever… pretty cool stuff. 

I’ll be sure to let you know what happens!

Music

Nothing too insightful here

I just wanted to take a moment to say that I think that the new White Stripes album, Get Behind Me Satan is a great freakin’ album.  If you happened to have read the review of it in Entertainment Weekly, just ignore it.  I usually respect the opinion of the guys over at EW, but this time they were way off.  They essentially criticize it for being too varied and adventurous, which is exactly what makes it so good.

If you’re looking for an exact copy of past White Stripes albums, Get Behind Me Satan might be a disappointment… there’s not as much guitar.  However, if you got into the White Stripes for the same reasons I did – because you found the music interesting, entertaining and at times, challenging in a good way – then  you should like it as much as I do.