NYC & LA Movie Marathon: 7 Movies From Both Cities

I watch a LOT of movies. More so than usual since I'm unemployed/work from home. Netflix really has become my closest friend which is both sad and technologically impressive. Anyway, I like to watch movies or shows while I work on freelance, which means I'm not always giving them 100% of my attention, but enough to do a series of mini-reviews. I've been trying to figure out some thematic similarities between the movies I've been watching (like the otherwise unrelated Dr. Horrible and Angel of Death from the other day). It wasn't until I was watching Last Action Hero today which takes place in both New York City and Los Angeles that I realized that a big chunk of the movies I've watched recently are set in one or the other. So, what the hell? Even though they're mostly unrelated, here's a look at seven movies I've watched in the last few weeks set in these places. Hit the jump for the incredibly entertaining reviews.

First up, New York, both because it's a place I'm semi-familiar with and it contains the movie I watched first.

F/X (1986)
As long time United Monkees know, I watched F/X 2 a little over a year ago and had a great time with it. It was a fun little action movie that didn't seem to take itself too seriously and had fun with the concept. The original is a bit more straightforward and intense that I was expecting, with Cocktail's Bryan Brown taking on an assignment from the government to make it look like a mobster (Jerry Orbach) gets killed so he can testify. Turns out he gets double crossed and things go downhill from there. Brian Dennehy still stars as the one guy trying to help Brown's character and the two team-up to take out the bad guys and win the day, using plenty of Brown's special effects tricks. It's a cool movie, but definitely not as fun as the sequel.

RIGHTEOUS KILL (2008)
Not only do Righteous Kill and F/X share a common setting in the form of NYC, but they also share something in the form of awesome actor Brian Dennehy. In this case he plays lieutenant to Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. This review absolutely contains SPOILERS, so if you don't want the movie ruined, skip to The Muppets Take Manhattan. Anyway, the whole plot of this movie revolves around De Niro's seeming confession to being this killer of guys who fall through the cracks of the criminal justice system. We even have video footage of him confessing. But, it turns out that the video is Pacino making him read his (Pacino's) diary. See, throughout the movie, they're only referred to by their nicknames, so when De Niro reads a real name, we don't actually know who it is. I found the twist to be a fairly interesting one that would probably make sense on further viewings (less High Tension and more Usual Suspects). Personally I liked watching these two veterans working together in a fairly tight script that brings in the talents of 50 Cent, Dennehy, John Leguizamo, Donnie Wahlberg and Carla Gugino. Definitely worth the NetBox watch in my opinion.

THE MUPPETS TAKES MANHATTAN (1984)
I must admit, I'm not a huge Muppets fan. That's not to say I don't like them, I just don't have the history with them that a lot of people my age seem to. My only childhood memory of them is from Muppet Babies. After that? The video they did with Weezer. So, it was kind of on a whim that I watched The Muppets Take Manhattan on NetBox and I had a great time with it. The story follows Kermit and the Muppet gang who are fresh out of college (seems like that would make a great movie premise itself) and taking their show to New York to get it on Broadway. After several failed attempts to get the show made, Kermit kind of blows up at his friends who all decide he would be better off if they told him they got other jobs and moved away. This leaves Kermit in NYC, working in a diner and still trying to get the show made. He, of course, succeeds eventually, only to get in an accident that leaves him with amnesia and taking a job as an ad exec, Mad Men-style. I had a ridiculous amount of fun watching this flick and trying to figure out if I'd ever been to the parts of the city Kermit was walking around (I'm guessing so, though the place has changed quite a bit in 25 years). I also really enjoyed the flashback that spawned Muppet Babies. It made a lot of things make sense. Now, I've got to check out the rest of the movies.

KRUSH GROOVE (1985)
Holy crap, I loved this movie. I just watched it today (well, yesterday at this point in the early morning) and had so much fun with it. See, it's a fictionalized history of Def Jam records back in the 80s, but starring a ton of their artists like Run-DMC, the Fat Boys, LL Cool J, Kurtis Blow, Rick Rubin, Sheila E., the Beastie Boys and New Edition among others. I only really started exploring hip hop within the last five or six years, but that exploration has heavily included Run-DMC and the Beasties. I also had a couple Fat Boys tapes back when I was a kid (I'm guessing around the time they got huge, musically speaking, because I vaguely recognized a track or two in the movie from those tapes). That combined with my fairly recent viewing of VH1's 2009 Hip Hop Honors which focused on Def Jam really made this movie interesting for me. There's a lot going on in a fairly limited amount of time, but I feel like the director did a good job of balancing the main storyline of Run-DMC thinking of jumping form the Krush Groove label and the B-story of the Fat Boys trying to make it big. If you're interested in early hip hop at all, this is a must-watch flick. I was also surprised to find out that director Michael Shultz also directed past UM reviewed movie Car Wash and a few movies I didn't get around to reviewing like the epic Last Dragon (SO awesome) and Cooley High (surprisingly depressing).

New York To LA and Back

LAST ACTION HERO (1993)
The movie that inspired this entire entry starts off with a kid in NYC who loves Arnold Schwarzenegger movies getting sucked into movie-LA and eventually bringing the fictional Jack Slater back into the real world. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but I really loved this movie. I remember watching it with my grandparents back around the time it came out on video and thinking it was kind of dumb. But, see, now I've seen most of the movies it tries to spoof and had a much better time with it (I'm guessing my grandparents also thought it was dumb, but I bet they never said anything). The kid calls out all kinds of late-80s, early-90s action movie cliches, trying to convince Slater that he's living in a movie. What I like is that all aspects of the story are interesting and I guess the credit for that goes to world renowned scriptwriter William Goldman (whose book of scripts including Butch & Sundance, Misery, Marathon Man & The Princess Bride is sitting mostly unread on my shelf) who came in and did a rewrite after Arnold insisted on it. Credit should also be given to Die Hard and Predator director John McTiernan who did a great job of mixing the comic and action elements. Sure, the kid's acting can be a bit thin at times and maybe over-the-top, but I think it works, especially (maybe only) if you're a fan of these kinds of movies. Oh, it also features a cartoon cat voiced by Danny Devito, how can you go wrong?!

Now On To LA

SHOWDOWN IN LITTLE TOKYO (1991)
After watching several movies about cops getting new partners (Dragnet, The Rookie, Lethal Weapon (the latter two soon to be reviewed on their own), it's funny how similar they end up. This one has dandy Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee teaming up to take down crime in LA's Little Tokyo. Soon enough, something minor leads them to something huge and our heroes have to put a stop to it. I'll be honest, I wasn't paying a lot of attention to this one, but I still enjoyed the weird aesthetic of it. See, Lundgren loves Asian culture, while Lee only knows martial arts because his mom made him take lessons and otherwise doesn't care. When I was a kid I always got this one confused with Big Trouble In Little China. That doesn't really mean anything, I guess. On another note, Wayne's World's Tia Carrere also stars in this movie. On another nother note, the director Mark L. Lester also directed the more-fun Class of 1999 and Commando.

ALIEN NATION (1988)
Hey, guess what? I've had a surprising amount of luck watching movies lately. Case in point? Alien Nation. I added a few sci-fi movies including this one a while ago and decided to give this one a shot. I remember seeing the TV series randomly syndicated when I was a kid watching late-night TV but had never seen the movie, which stars James Caan and Chicago Hope's Mandy Patinkin. Kind of like V, Alien Nation is based around an alien race that is welcomed to earth and begins to be integrated into society, though basic stereotypes still exist. These aliens were bread to be slaves though. Like with Showdown, this movies focuses on cop Caan being saddled with Newcomer (that's what they call the aliens) Patinkin. As the two learn about each other, they find out about a much bigger plot to addict the Newcomers to drugs and have to put a stop to it. I really liked James Caan in this flick. I guess I haven't seen him in too many things, but I liked his every man approach. I haven't seen a ton of his movies, but this made me want to do so. It also made me add the TV series to my Netflix queue, though I was it was on instant watch. I don't have incredibly high hopes because it got canceled after one season, but it did spawn a number of TV movies. Anyone familiar with them?

So, that ends my cinematic tour of NYC and LA, though I'm sure I'll see another movie or two set in one of those places before the end of the week. I've enjoyed my brief stay and wish I would have taken more pictures, but what are you gonna do?
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Star Wars Musical Instruments From England

Okay, so the Eigenharp Alpha isn't actually from Star Wars, but you can definitely see the similarities between it and an instrument or two from Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes. I stumbled across the video below of three dudes playing these things on YouTube and think I've found a brand new musical obsession. According to the EigenLabs website, the version on the left here is called the Eigenharp Alpha and has, well, I'll just copy their own description:

"Available in a variety of finishes, it has 120 highly sensitive keys, 12 percussion keys, 2 strip controllers, a breath pipe and numerous pedal inputs. This gives almost endless possibilities for flexible keyboard layouts, fast instrument switching and expressive musical control. The comprehensive software system provides a wealth of musical performance features, including playback of its own native instruments, many common software plugins, soundfonts or midi instruments."

Pretty cool, no? I've been fascinated by electronic music ever since I heard the crazy mixes of Fatboy Slim back in the day. Since then I've been wanting to pick up a drum machine and some kind of turntables (I've recently been looking for MP3 versions, but more for funsies than as a serious buyer). This thing looks like it would be the perfect instrument for someone trying to get their feet wet. I also like how, since it's so brand new, there probably aren't as many rules you're supposed to follow when it comes to playing it.

The only problem so far is that it runs over $6,000. Compared to a really nice guitar, that's not too bad, but I bet a lot of people might shy away from that because it's a brand new instrument.

In the good news department, there is a smaller version called the Eigenharp Pico which boasts "18 playing keys and 4 mode keys, a strip controller and breath pipe, the smaller Pico has the majority of the playing features of the Eigenharp Alpha." This one translates to a little under $600 by my calculations (and by mine, I mean Google's).

Of course, considering the fact that I'm mostly unemployed and trying my hand at this freelance writer thing, I won't be purchasing an Eigenharp for myself, but if you faithful readers wanted to band together and order me one for Christmans (or if Eigenharp wants a review) I'd be more than happy to accept this generous gift. Oh and perform at your parties. I'm sure I'll pick it up pretty quickly.

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Web-Based Shows On DVD: Dr. Horrible & Angel of Death

In an odd twist of fate, I watched two DVDs made up of material that was originally intended for the internet. First up, Em and I watched Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I remember when it was coming out online, but I wasn't really high on Whedon at that point because I didn't love Astonishing X-Men and I hadn't yet watched Firefly, so I didn't mind skipping it. But, after watching through Buffy all the way through again and really enjoying the Firefly/Serenity world, I put the DVD on our queue. Of course, after the slew of horror movies I watched in October, it got pushed back. Anyway, we finally watched it and both really liked it.

But really, this thing was designed for us to like it. It's written by Whedon and stars two guys from shows we both love: Neil Patrick Harris from How I Met Your Mother and Nathan Fillion from Castle and Firefly. Plus, there's singing, which Em loves. And superheroes which we're both fans of. So, yeah, you couldn't get much more inside our wheelhouse. I'm sure everyone's already seen it and I'm the last person on the planet to check it out, but I will say that the ending really surprised me. Here you think you're watching this fun, light goofy movie and then kablammo. I guess I should have expected it from Whedon (this is the guy who now has me looking at every horror scene and trying to figure out what the twist will be - the GIRL is the vampire, not the guy!). But still, wow. I didn't see that ending coming.

The other web-based movie I watched was Angel of Death and this one was completely random. I added the movie to my queue solely because Zoe Bell is in it and I find her incredibly attractive and she's an ass-kicker, so I figured it would be a good action movie, even though I wasn't familiar with it. And yeah, even though I didn't like Death Proof and I'm still not sure if I like her acting (I can't tell if her delivery is off just a tad or if it's just her accent), I was still excited. Then I popped the DVD in and it said "Ed Brubaker's Angel of Death" and I freaked out a little bit. I can't believe I haven't written more about Brubaker on this site, but his Captain America is one of the greatest long-term comic book series' of all time. You're doing yourself a disservice by not reading that comic.

So, I did a little searching online and remembered when this thing was coming out. I guess it was webisodes or whatever. But, watching it all together on the DVD, it really did feel like a movie instead of a serial. Plot-wise, you've got Bell playing a hitwoman who gets stabbed in the head and starts feeling bad about accidentally killing a little girl, so now she goes on a revenge kick killing the bad guys. I can't say I was paying 100% attention, but I didn't really have to. Aside from Bell, Doug Jones and Lucy Lawless were in it. Ted Raimi's also in it, but I honestly didn't see him. I really should pay more attention.

Anyway, I'm torn about the movie. It's nothing spectacular, though it LOOKS fantastic. Like I said, it doesn't feel like a web-based series (though neither does the Totally Rad Show podcast, so take that for what it's worth), but it also doesn't feel like the high caliber of story I'm used to from Brubaker. Maybe that's because his comics deal in genres that aren't as popular in comics as they are in movies. The noir thing is pretty common in films, but not comics. So, Bru writing a noir/70s-ish movie doesn't seem as groundbreaking as his comics. To be fair, though, I probably should give the disc another watch (I'm not going to now though).

I also watched a few of the special features on the DVD (there are a good number) which were kind of interesting. There's a whole feature about Bru which is cool, though listening to Bell call him a geek is both funny and a little cringeworthy. I also had a much more curmudgeonly view of Bru from my days at Wizard, though he was incredibly nice the time I talked to him for a big Captain American retrospective Wizard did about three years back. I guess you just assume he's grim and gritty because he does that so well, but in the doc he comes off as a dude whose dream is coming true by being able to jump from comics to movies and I certainly can't blame him. As a hopeful comic writer myself (I've finally getting some outlines together for submissions) he's absolutely one of my heroes and I can only hope for a career (if it happens) even remotely similar to his. Well done Ed!

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A Few Thursday Links To My Stuff

So, a while ago, I alluded to a new, top secret project I was working on that I later said fell through. Well, said project was a new geek site called GammaSquad for the Uproxx network of sites. Well, it fell through for reasons beyond my control and understanding, but it looks like the site is finally up. And, if you go back far enough you can find the week's worth of stuff I wrote for it. As you can tell, I took the idea of live blogging Big Bang Theory and used it for my own site. I did have a lot of fun getting up and acting like a "real (ie paid) blogger" for a week and am proud of the work I did, especially a few of these stories:

Ricky Gervais Gives Elmo Shit

17 Slutty Geek Costumes From Secret Wishes

The Black Eyed Peas Get Geeky With It

The Top 10 Action Figures DC Direct Should Redo

5 Marvel Comic Characters Who Need Their Own Video Games

Hopefully you enjoyed them too. Don't feel too bad for me though, I've always got irons in the fire and will be sure to let you know when my next projects start happening.

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A Few Thoughts On Glee

I've talked about Glee a few times, after the very first episode and then after the next first episode. I'm happy to say that many of my concerns have been taken care of for the most part: the songs sound more "live" than they used to and the non-glee club students don't seem as assholeish (but that's just because they're not featured as prominently, they're still assholes, we just don't see it as much). But, I do still have a few problems with the show. I only even mention these problems because I really like the show and want it to be better.

See, I feel like the writers relied on sensational plots and characters early on and are now stuck with them. Mr. Schue's wife is just awful. The whole fake pregnancy thing just feels like a huge weight around the neck of the whole show. That's the kind of plot device you throw in, thinking that you need to hook viewers with out-there plot points and now you get stuck with them. Both Em and I hate the wife and want her out of the picture. And that's not just because we want her to hook up with the ridiculously cute Emma. She's just a terrible character. One that could only be redeemed by television trickery and nothing that would take place in real life. The sooner the truth comes out about her the better.

Before tonight's episode, I was feeling the same way about Quinn's pregnancy, but I feel like it's more of a real point of drama and conflict now as opposed to something they threw against the wall to see what stuck. I like the drama it's causing with Quinn, Fynn and Puck, but I still feel like the "I told Fynn it was semen in the hot tub, but Puck's really the father because we boned, but I'm going to keep lying about it" plot on Quinn's end is a bit much. The sooner that's dealt with the better.

Here's my long term problem with the show, though. Aside from the fact that I feel like Quinn's baby will be written off with the greatest of ease (please prove me wrong writers), it seems like the show as a whole has a ticking clock hovering above it. And it's all because these kids are relatively old. In high school terms. I'm guessing most of them are juniors, if not seniors. Now, having been a member of the musicals since my sophomore year in high school I know all too well that you've always got an outgoing class and an incoming one, which is a path that Glee could logically take in the coming seasons. Sure it would be hard to get rid of leads, but it would be more realistic (what are the odds that everyone in a particular club is in the same grade?)). Now, they could take the That 70s Show road in which each season consisted of half an actual year (so the eight seasons only spanned four in "real time"). I could buy that. This is more of a "future problem," though, something that may or may not be a problem. But it's something I think about because I do really like the show.

I do appreciate how the show is expanding its world. Sue Sylvester has shown a bit of humanity with last week's episode, though I worry she will be a one trick pony for 99% of the show, we shall see. I also liked seeing Kurt's dad last episode, Fynn's mom on tonight's and Quinn's even though they were total jerkwads.

And, of course, the music is great. I even called that Fynn would sing "Having My Baby" to Quinn's parents. Go me. And I was thinking they'd sing "Lean On Me" to Quinn and Fynn at the end, but I called it some other ridiculous name that I can't quite recall right now. Anyway, the point is that Glee has a lot going for it, a huge following and the support of the music industry right now, so I hope the writers can get themselves out of the corners they've painted themselves into in order to make the story as good as the songs and choreography.
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Music To Read To: Man Or Astro-man? & Zot!

I don't normally listen to music while I read. Mostly because I have trouble concentrating. So, when I do, it's usually something without words like jazz or instrumental rock and roll (Joe Satriani's Surfing With The Alien, John Paul Jones' Zooma, that kind of thing). Back when I was working at Wizard I got my hands on a copy of Scott McCloud's Zot! The Complete Black And White Collection 1987-1991 from Harper Collins. It had been sitting in the to read long boxes in my closet since then and I recently picked it up to see how it is. And it's great. I'm only 336 into the 576 page book, but I feel like I'm enjoying it along with the commentary that McCloud gives after each story arc.

The real point of this post though, is to talk about music accentuating the reading material. I was sitting in bed one night, reading this volume when it popped into my head that the brightness and sci-fi leanings of Zot's earth would go really well with my favorite modern surf rock band Man Or Astro-man? (for what it's worth, my all time favorite surf rock group is The Ventures). I went out into the living room, popped a reading light on, turned my iPod to the correct Artist and read for quite a while.

And I gotta say, it was a near perfect fit. It was kind of eerie actually. When the story slowed down, the record did so too. Kind of like discovering that Wizard Of Oz and Darkside Of The Moon fit together, but of course, dependent on the speed with which the reader can read. I first listened to EEVIAC Operational Index and Reference Guide, Including Other Modern Computational Devices (1999) and then Project Infinity (1995) because that's the order they're in on my iPod. The mix of surf rock and old sci-fi movies was like whatever kind of wine goes with whatever kind of steak, it just happened to work.

My experience with Man or Astro-man? goes back a while. I happened to see the following video for "Theme From Eeviac" along with the video for "Denise" by Fountains of Wayne on 120 Minutes and I was sold (on both bands). I would go on to purchase both Project Infinity and A Spectrum Of Infinite Scale (2000) at my beloved Boogie Records (used and new respectively). Soon after they broke up, which is a bummer, but I've still got a few other albums to check out if I ever get the urge. Anyway, here's the first video I ever saw, along with a few others I found on YouTube that show off their goodness and weirdness.

I highly recommend checking them out if you have even a remote inkling that you might like surf rock or are a big fan of old sci-fi movies or if you just like to read a lot of sci-fi. I used to actually turn Man or Astro-man? on when I played video games. This was back in the PS1 days, before games scores and dialogue were important. Do yourself a favor and check them out!

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There's Gonna Be a Cocktail Musical!!!!

I say this with absolutely no irony, but I am crazy excited for the Cocktail musical I just read about on /Film. They don't share the affinity I do for the movie, which I could have sworn I talked about on the blog before, but my search is returning nothing more than brief praise. I love this movie and have since I was a kid. Well before I understood what happened to the Australian guy or why they had their falling out and Tom Cruise moved away, I loved all the drink flipping. In fact, I've always wanted to be a bartender and I'm pretty sure it's because of all the flipping. Love that stuff. This might be the first musical I drag Emily to. I've gone with her to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Producers and Mary Poppins. Meanwhile Evil Dead, High Fidelity and Toxic Avenger have come and gone since I moved out here. I will not let this one pass me by!

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Six Movies I've Seen Recently

Even with all the Halloween Scene posts I've been doing this month, I still watch non blood and guys flicks, I just don't necessarily have the time or energy to do lengthy posts about all of them. So let's just jump right into it. Let's just assume there are SPOILERS in all these reviews.

SPECIAL (2006)
I remember hearing about this Michael Rapaport movie about a guy who gains superhero-like powers a while back and thinking it sounded interesting. I dig superhero movies, even when they're not about known characters and I like Rapaport. Movies like this can be an interesting take on elements of comics and superheros that norms might not have experienced before, but geeks like us have. Special does something like though. See, in Special, Rapaport is a comic book fan who takes part in a pharmaceutical study. He thinks it's giving him super powers, when really it's just messing with his mind. To be honest, I turned it off with about 20 minutes left because it was crazy-depressing. Rapaport is such a sad sack lunatic, that he's hard to watch. For a while you're not sure whether he really does have powers or not, but by the time I turned it off, after you're convinced he's just nuts, I'm not sure how things are supposed to make sense. For instance, when we see him in a chase scene, are we seeing the whole thing through his mind or not? Or the invisible fight? How did these work in real life? I don't often go in for the "comic book readers as a community" thing, but I do feel like this movie doesn't help paint comic book fans in any kind of positive light. Eh, moving on.

THE TV SET (2006)
After being disappointed with Special, I wanted to watch something I had heard good things about recently. When I was still at ToyFare, Justin, just told me he watched The TV Set and dug it. See, it's written and directed by Jake Kasdan who was a director and producer on Freaks & Geeks and is about a producer trying to get his show off the ground only to find his vision being trampled on at every turn thanks to TV executives. David Duchovny is the producer while Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd) are the execs giving him trouble. There's even a brief appearance from Big Bang Theory's Simon Helberg (Howard). As a creative person who likes the idea of creating art and just letting it speak for itself, it was hard watching a man's vision get picked apart and seeing him try to fight for his ideas, but ultimately losing. But unlike with Special, the downer tone didn't bother me because it reads like a cautionary tale. Not necessarily one that says "don't get into TV because THIS can happen," but more along the lines of "hey, heads up, this friggin happens." The TV Set should be required viewing for anyone looking to get into the TV business and also is kind of a perfect meta bookend for Freaks & Geeks fans.

BREAKOUT (1975)
Sometimes I go through the Netflix Instant Watch movies and just look for a certain actor. One of those actors is Charles Bronson, because he's a badass. One of those movies is Breakout, which gives us the story of a woman trying to get her husband (Robert Duvall) out of a Mexican jail with the help of Bronson and his right hand man Randy Quaid. I'll be honest, I wasn't paying a ton of attention so I missed a lot of the intricacies of the plot. See, Bronson cons a bunch of people in order to pull off this prison break, with all kinds of twists and turns that I didn't get all of. I will say that Bronson is the man, no doubt about that and it was a lot of fun seeing such a young Quaid and I didn't even recognize Duvall as I've probably never seen a movie where he was this young. Anyway, you can do a lot worse when going through movies from the the 70s starring badass mothers.

FAME (1980)
As I've talked about before, I'm a big Kevin Smith fan and love listening to his Smodcast podcast. And, Smith is a big fan of Fame, having talking about it on several occasions. That combined with the new movie coming out and the fact that I've been hogging the Netflix DVDs with horror junk, I thought it'd be nice to put Fame at the top of the list so we could watching something on Tuesdays when you don't watch anything else. And man, what a weird movie this is. You've got the message of how hard the life of a performer can be (graduates as waiters instead of actors, photographers looking to take advantage of girls, alcohol) mixed with these over-the-top dance sequences that flow out into the streets of New York or completely take over a lunchroom. Now, I know that performing arts kids can be dramatic, I did musicals in high school and knew plenty of them in college too, but this is just nuts. Though, I do appreciate the fact that it's a practical musical, one in which the singing and dancing can practically take place in real life. In the end I liked the movie and was glad I had heard Smith talk about it so I wasn't so surprised by all the intense craziness so I was ready for it, but I did find it a little unfocused. I didn't have a grasp of who our main characters were until the fourth year and I feel like some of the characters were dropped as it did zoom in on our few main characters. Ah well, good stuff. I'm guessing the remake isn't as hardcore and the new version of the theme song sucks all the energy and life out of the original. Fail. Oh, also, Alan Parker, who directed Fame also directed Pink Floyd's The Wall, weird right?

AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS (2001)
Remember how I said I hog the Netflix? I do, it's a fact. But anytime Em and I try going through NetBox to find something to watch, it takes FOREVER. It's not that our taste in movies is so wildly different, it's just that the movies on Instant Watch tend more towards my weird tastes than hers. So, when we came across America's Sweethearts starring John Cusack, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Julia Roberts and Billy Crystal. The idea is that John and Catherina are big time movie stars who break up and break down, essentially, but they still have a movie premiering that they need to do press for. Like The TV Set, Billy Crystal co-wrote the story based on his experiences in Hollywood, so it's another kind of insider look and seems to gel with things I've read. Crystal plays John's agent while Julia is Catherine's sister/assistant. It boils down to a romantic comedy, but it was a good enough one to pass some time. Plus, as you know, I love me some John Cusack.

SIDE OUT (1990)
Are there any other sports movies about volleyball? It seems like the people behind Bring It On and Stick It should be working on one right now, though stay away from Ultimate Frisbee, I've got something in the works (ie, I want to eventually make something). Anyway, I had heard about Side Out before somewhere, saw it was available on the NetBox and just decided the hell with it, I'm doing this thing! And, it was just okay. I'd still rather watch Bring It On or Stick It. The story follows C. Thomas Howell as a guy working for a bank or something (I can't even remember what the actual job is). He's serving papers to a rad beach dude and ends up playing volleyball with another guy. They get their asses kicked, then train and get pretty good, but the other guy gets hurt and the rad beach dude takes his spot. You've absolutely seen this kind of movie before, but this time you get Howell and Courtney Thorne-Smith and even Kathy Ireland for a few seconds. Good enough for a few beers and a watch, but I'm not counting the days till I watch it again.
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So...THIS Happened

Naughty By Nature performed at the Big Apple Con. Lots of people were on stage. Hi-larious.

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Jimmy Fallon Slow Jams His Way Into My Unemployed Heart

Last night I tried to break this cycle I have of staying up late and getting up later by going to bed when Em did. But it didn't take, so I came out to the living room, finished my trade and turned on Jimmy Fallon and got treated to this song. It felt like he was singing right to me!



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Casting Internets

Whoops, meant to publish this yesterday.

Dean over at Springfield Punx has started up another week of Simpson-esque versions of the characters from Lost. I love these theme weeks he does. Here's today's entry, Claire. Check SP this week for all his updates.


Also, did you know that Ohio is the only state in the Union that has an offical rock song? That's what I learned from Music Legends Revealed #22 today. Now, don't get me wrong, I learned in 7th grade that "Hang On Sloopy" was the official rock song of my fair state, BUT I just assumed every state had one. So take that Washington, Michigan, New York, New Jersey and Texas with your rich musical heritage! HA!



I just discovered a site called Holy Taco with a post called 25 Awesome Stained Glass Windows. Most look like Photoshop work--good work, but fakes nonetheless--except for this Batman one. Check out the post for the full list which includes Gene Simmons, Kermit The Frog and Optimus Prime.

I pretty much completely agree with Tom Bondurant's Grump Old Fan post called "The new Justice League, working against the clock." It's nice to read another JLA fan
Oh, DO go on.

Fall Out Boy Love Lost

Check out this story from /Film that combines two of my favorite things: Lost and FOB. Apparently the Fall Out Boys were brought in to help promote all the build up for the final season. I haven't really been paying much attention to all that (I'd get all twitterpated), but I do love the Dharma gear they're playing and Pete Wentz giving a shout out to Driveshaft. Good stuff. Here's the video:



[post does not go on]
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Book Review: Whores An Oral History of Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction

I had this great plan to read through all the classic literature I have sitting around in my to-read pile. I got through Gulliver's Travels, lost The House of Seven Gables and next up was Great Expectations. Since I didn't really want to jump into that I went and read Sonic Boom because I figured it was non-fiction and didn't count. I still didn't feel like reading Great Expectations, so I'm pretty much giving that up for now (though the pile will remain sitting next to my bed in chronological order) and decided to read ores An Oral History of Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction by Brendan Mullen.

I'm not a huge Jane's Addiction fan. The only real reason I picked this book up is because I absolutely loved Live From New York An Uncensored History Of Saturday Night Live by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller, which was the first oral history book I've ever read, I like books about music and it was $0.98, as you can see in the above scan. An oral history is a biography of someone or something that basically pieces together interviews with tons of people to tell a larger story. Sean did one for Maxim about the history of Marvel that will hopefully also become a book at some point. You can read that here.

So, I read Whores in a week or two, I tend to burn through these kinds of books because they're fast reads and usually very engrossing. And yeah, Whores was engrossing, but it also had its problems. One of the universal problems for oral histories that I've seen is piecing these interviews together into a coherent story. So much of telling a story depends on knowing the facts or steps and relaying them in a specific order, but when you're talking to so many people over so many years, I can see how details get lost in the shuffle, maybe you even remember certain elements of the story while you're going back through transcripts, but you can't get anyone else on the phone to talk about it again. There's a lot going on. The SNL book did a rad job of this, as does Sean in what I've read of his longer drafts (seriously, this thing will make an unbelievable book). And, for the most part, Mullen does a pretty good job, but there's one huge hole that's inexcusable in my book (heh, pun unintended). You see, Perry Farrell had this girlfriend named Casey Niccoli who was pretty integral to Jane's Addiction for years. There's a brief mention that they break up eventually and all that, but no one in the book actually talks about it and the next thing you know, Perry's married to someone else. Part of the problem is that the intro tells us that the Jane's dudes didn't do interviews with him. BUT, it does seem like Casey did. It'd be like doing a book on The Beatles and talking about Lennon's first wife and all of a sudden he's with Yoko and there's no mention of the break up. It's weird and annoying, especially when there's all these details about Farrell's weird DJ persona called DJ Peretz, who Mullen credits quotes from Farrell and Peretz on the SAME PAGE!

All in all, it's definitely worth checking out, especially if you can get it for $1. There were other problems I had, like why does he randomly italicize whole quotes? I dunno. But, it really made me want to grab every Jane's Addition and Porno For Pyros that I don't already have, which is really the point of this kind of a book. I was also fascinated by the accounts of their early days in the early and mid 80s in LA. It sounds like some crazy times. Plus, my first Red Hot Chili Peppers album was One Hot Minute, so reading about Dave Navarro's involvement in that record (along with tons of quotes from Flea) was a lot of fun.

One other quick comment about the book, something that you should keep in mind is that it was published in 2005, so it doesn't have anything about Carmen Electra and Navarro's break up or the reunion of all four original Jane's Addiction members a few years back. I'm not sure if there's an updated version, that would be rad. As it is, the book kind of peters out at the end, kind of like Sonic Book did. There was all this detail in the beginning and then, by the end you're getting these really quick quotes from various people, though the Carmen and Dave stuff is really interesting at the end. That's life though, right? There's never a real ending unless everyone's dead.

Oh, DO go on.

Season Premiere: Glee

So, the real premiere for Glee happened today, though, the episode they showed months ago that I talked about here still counts as the first episode. A lot of my previous problems with the show still stand, especially the fact that nearly every single person who's not in the glee club or associated with it is hate-able. You don't just not like them, they're actually such reprehensible human beings that you want to see terrible things happen to them. And, hey, that kind of writing works for horror movies because you KNOW those people are going to get their just deserts, but what's going to happen here? They're going to learn the error of their ways? Sorry, that's not going to cut it, especially with the main dude's crazy wife who is straight-up lying to her husband.

Another problem I had with the show is that when anyone starts singing, it automatically sounds like a soundtrack from another show or movie. I have no idea if any of the actual people in the show can sing because it turns into this weird other thing when they start. I know they can't necessarily record these people singing live on set, but some kind of compromise would be nice to my ears.

All that being said, it's still a pretty good show. There were a few moments where I laughed out loud HARD. I do this really loud HA laugh when something comes out of nowhere and really surprises me and there were definitely a few of those. The wife hates it cause I usually drown out the following line. I also really liked the musical numbers even considering me earlier complaints. It's fun to hear songs done this way, in the same way it's fun to hear Richard Cheese lounge-out pop songs.

So, for now, I'm still in, but we'll see what the competition is like once that season really gets up and running.
Oh, DO go on.

Book Review: Sonic Boom by Peter Blecha

For the majority of my active music absorbing career, I've felt like I've been playing catch up. I guess that's what happen when you've got 40 or so years of rock and roll (not to mention blues, jazz, folk and whatever else you might eventually get interested in) with dozens and dozens of sub genres with their big hitmakers, indie darlings and one hit wonders. It's a lot to take in and as a result I had a problem understanding how so many bands fed off of each other in a fairly short period of time to create all kinds of classics bands.

Peter Blecha's Sonic Boom which came out earlier this year, does an amazing job of cataloguing all of that albeit in the specific area of Northwest America. Thanks to the cover, which features a shot of Mudhoney, I kind of figured Sonic Boom would be mostly about the grunge scene, but I couldn't be more wrong. In fact, my one complaint about the book is that Blecha didn't give this highly influential era comparably few pages. The section focusing on the intricacies of the scene from the late 50s through the 80s takes up roughly 229 pages while the 70s-90s get the remaining 50 pages. The funny thing is that it doesn't come off as though Blecha dislikes that music, he just kind of breezes through it, which feels rushed after reading about bands you've never heard of like The Fleetwoods.

But, like I said, this book really educated me on an era of rock and roll that I was mostly unfamiliar with and, better yet, and entire sub genre of music I didn't know. I learned about bands like The Sonics, The Wailers, The Frantics, learned more about The Ventures (whose surf rock records blew me away when I stumbled upon my dad's uncle's discs when I first got my own record player for Christmas in high school) and Paul Revere and the Raiders. Plus there were just so many ins and outs to the scene that it played out like a soap opera more often than not. Plus, it's fun to read about real life events that informed one of the all time best rock and roll movies That Thing You Do.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the book was getting an understanding as to how different the record industry used to be. First off, records were sold regionally, so you might record a single on 45 and sell it in your area, but it might not do a anything anywhere else in the country. I've been saying for a while that it's interesting to me that the music industry seems to be turning back to this single format that dominated the industry for so long. Now, we're just buying them on iTunes instead of rolling down to the record store and picking up a record. Another aspect of the scene I found fascinating was the focus int he early to mid 60s of teen dances that would be held at school gyms or VFW halls put on by anyone who could rent the place out. I never experienced any dances like that in my day, but it sounds like local politics really got in the way.

It made me think how cool it would be to open some kind of club that would foster young/new bands. You could record the live shows and put them out as a podcast. Then, considering how easy it is to record with Garage Band, start a little recording studio in the back and then just release them through iTunes. That would work right? Who wants to open a club?

Anyway, I recommend Sonic Boom for any fans of rock who are looking for a detailed history before the Beatles came and changed everything (including focus on plenty of bands who influenced them and just about every other band that would come after). Like I said, it's definitely light on the 90s grunge stuff, but if you're in the mood, I highly recommend checking out a movie about that revolution called Hype. I haven't seen it since high school (when I got into grunge, again, after the fact finishing my Nirvana CD collection, picking up Badmotorfinger to go along with Superunknown and giving TAD and Mudhoney a shot thanks to my beloved used record store Boogie).
Oh, DO go on.

Casting Internets

According to Toy News International, I'll have a second chance to score a Masters of the Universe Classics Skeletor figure! Here's my second chance to get a Skeletor!

Wired says I'm screwed for multitasking. Maybe that's why my brain completely shuts down and I just sit staring at my desk for minutes at a time without being able to remember what I was furiously doing a second ago. Not good...


Kiel's Linko XIX post brought this amazing blog to my attention. It's a whole blog dedicated to people drawing in Jack Kriby's style called Kirby-Vision.

My buddy Alex of DC's The Source, runs down a bunch of comics sites "you should bookmark immediately" in a guest blog over at PopCandy. UnitedMonkee must have JUST missed the cut :)

And finally, a group of friends and I have been kicking around Weezer memories lately, which got me thinking about back in 2002 when Maladroit came out and I drove two hours home from Delaware, Ohio to Toledo to buy the record at midnight the day it came out at my beloved and now long gone Boogie Records. New-at-the-time Weezer bass player Scott Shriner was also from Toledo and it happened that his dad was at Boogie picking up his own copy of the record. Someone snapped a pic and sent it to Weezer.com and it just so happened that I was in it! Em's there too, though she does not care and I'm talking to my friend who got me into Weezer, but he didn't make the shot. I couldn't find the picture anywhere, so I sent an email to Karl at Weezer.com and before the day was through he sent it to me. Thanks Karl. Here's the pic (this is as big as it gets):


Oh, DO go on.

Record Review: The Phenomenal Handclap Band (2009)

If you would have told me a few months back how much I would like a record from an all star line-up of indie rockers, I'd tell you you're crazy. When I think of indie rock nowadays, I gotta say, images of shoegazers playing super slow and mostly boring music pops into my head. It's inaccurate and unfair I know, but I it's honest. Well, all that went out the door with The Phenomenal Handclap Band's self titled record.

I actually got sent a copy of this record back when I was doing album reviews for the now defunct Performing SongwriterPerforming Songwriter. Brooke over at Big Hassle, who is awesome, sent me this record and I suck for not reviewing it sooner, especially considering how much I freaking love it.

Now, unfortunately, The PHB don't have a Wiki page, their blog isn't super informative and I've misplaced the press release I was sent along with the record, so I can't give too much background, but I do remember it being hyped as a band made up of indie rock all-stars. And, since there's different singers on nearly every track, I'm guessing this is almost like a Timbaland record, where the same producers/band are consistent with different singers.

Against all my expectations, this record turned out to be a conglomeration of 60s and 70s riffs and grooves laid over some amazingly catchy synth beats. It's like Deep Purple meets Sly and the Family Stone...with a synthesizer. I'm not very familiar with synth pop, but this is the best I've heard it lately.

The album, which came out on June 23 from Friendly Fire, sports 12 tracks and curiously opens with a just-over-6 minute instrumental called "The Journey To Serra Da Estrela." This again, threw up a red flag as far as I was concerned (who starts a record with an instrumental?), but it makes an awesome journey starting with some Pink Floyd-like atmosphere and gets heavily into the synth-funk. Every time I was just about to get bored, they introduced another element that drops in seamlessly and adds another layer.

And really, that's what I love about this record, there's so many layers. I've listened to it so many times and it feels like I'm picking up new elements every time. I also think I get a new favorite song each time. This time around it's track 6 called "15 to 20" which features Lady Tigra, who I haven't heard of, but will definitely check out. First off the groove is just sick. You can't help but bob your head and tap your foot at the very least. Even the lyrics, which consist of counting for a good portion of the song, are awesome and delivered beautifully, especially when the counting stops and we hit rapid fire mode. Great stuff.

The whole album is like this, even though the singers switch up with each new track (I think, there might be a few repeat singers). There is one song though that I just can't get into. It's called "Baby," and instead of being a a rock/synth combo, it's a a soul/R&B throwback. It's not a bad song, but instead of feeling inspired by other music, like the rest of the record, it just feels like a lift. Maybe it's because soul is still around and I've heard lots of new songs like this and there isn't a lot of 70s-influenced rock on the radio anymore. Or maybe that it sounded like a combination of Marvin Gaye and James Brown. It just felt TOO similar, even though the music and singing were solid.

But, "Baby" doesn't ruin the album by any means, and maybe in a few weeks, when I listen to it again, it'll jump to my favorites list. Another big surprise on the record was the last track called "The Circle Is Broken" which is a nearly-9 minute track. Again, I wasn't so sure about such a long final track, but like the first one, it gets crazy and awesome, just when it might get a little boring. Plus, the first few bars of this song sound like the music from the castle levels of the first Mario game. It really is just a creepy, haunting dance tune and the repetition of the lyric "This is where the story ends," seems really appropriate. The song never gets scary, but it is a kind of funhouse ride that I would love to see a short film set to.

I really can't recommend this record enough for you guys. You can buy it on Amazon here .
Oh, DO go on.

I Can't Tell If Mariah Carey's New Video Should Be Funny or Scary

Seriously, it's both over the top and creepy. And then the thing at the very end is awesome, but my favorite part is when the stalker dude is singing Mariah's song in his ultra creepy room.

Mariah Carey Obsessed Video
Uploaded by anthonychopin25. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

Oh, DO go on.

A Few Things I Want To Do After Watching Videos This Morning

Thanks to MTV, Fuse and VH1 there are several new things I now have to add to my bucket list and that doesn't even count all the mellow-rock-dudes-playing-pianos I now want to punch in the face.

Go to Vegas with Katy Perry and the dude from Grandma's Boy and Dodge Ball (two of my favorite comedies), even if it means I lose all my money.

Waking Up In Vegas
Uploaded by EnvBritney. - Independent web videos.

At least I'd get to hang out with Katy Perry (what happened to all the awesome retro clothes though?!), mess with Penn and Teller and win a butt-ton of money, even if just for a moment. I'm not sure how I feel about that whole Groundhog Day-like cyclical thing though.

I also want to go to party at the Black Eyed Peas' house. It looks like a lot of fun:

Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling (Official Music Video) sélectionné dans Musique et Clips

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A few of my favorite moments:

All the Yiddish (if I knew how to spell the words, I'd write them out, but I'm just a dumb Catholic boy).

DRANK!

Taboo looking like Bruno (cross promotion perhaps?)

Black lights/Green hands

And, of course, Fergie's tacked-on brushes with lesbianism.

Still, this looks a lot more fun than any party I've ever been to, thrown or heard about.


I also wouldn't mind hanging out with the Cage the Elephant guys, I think we'd get along well (love this album by the way):

Cage The Elephant - Ain't No Rest For The Wicked
Uploaded by UniversalMusicGroup. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

Oh, DO go on.

Songs I Should Hate But Don't: "That's Not My Name"

I first heard this little ditty by The Ting Tings back when Opie and Anthony were still on the air here in New York (damn you whatever KROCK is called now!). They were basically saying how they wanted to hate it, but it's just so damn catchy. It wasn't until a few weeks or months later that I heard the full thing while in the car with Em (she's always got one pop station or another on) and it turns out they're incredibly right.

The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name(US Version)
Uploaded by robertandco. - See the latest featured music videos.

It's like catchy crack.
Oh, DO go on.