I have been sick lately, this cold or flu or bronchitis that I just can't seem to fully shake. It has resulted in me watching a lot of things, listening to a lot of things, and reading a lot of things, and I will go into SOME of that here:
And Soon The Darkness is a great little british thriller that I somehow had never seen... this movie is really good, full of tension without any gore or anything... it's about two english ladies on a bicycle holiday in france who start to learn more and more negative - very negative - things about the area they have chosen to holiday in, and the people who live there. The sense of dread and tension builds really well throughout. Highly recommended.
Ren and Stimpy: the Lost Episodes. Wow. These were such utter shit. This was apparently an aborted Ren and Stimpy relaunch, with John K back on board, and with NO CENSORSHIP. Censorship, of course, was the reason John K claimed was why he was fired from Ren and Stimpy in the first place. However, judging from these episodes it might of been because he is godawful, because this shit is just unwatchable. Terrible animation (though there are some good spots), confusing story elements matched with completely gratuitous nudity and sexual situations that serve only to slow the "plot" down to a grinding halt, the inexplicable and less than funny decision to make Ren and Stimpy a overtly gay couple instead of an implied gay couple... terrible. Watch this if you feel the need to see Ren cavorting with badly animated bare breasts and Stimpy spraying semen in a girl's hair.
Incident At Loch Ness. Interesting but ultimately a little weak, this is a mockumentary about an aborted Wener Herzog documentary about man's obsession with mythical creatures like the Loch Ness monster. Unfortunately for Werner, the producer of the film is Zac Penn, the writer of the X-Men films, and he feels he has to "spice up" Herzog's documentary by a variety of means. It's an amusing send up of Herzog's personality and public image, but ultimately not an amazing movie. Definitely required viewing for Herzog fans, though, and it was nice to watch this within days of:
Burden of Dreams, which is an amazing documentary about the production of Herzog's Fitzcarraldo... it delves into great detail about the problems the movie had, and the highs and lows of Herzog's career. Highly recommended for anyone with more than a passing interest in the man and his work. Great behind the scenes footage and discussion of the production's effect on the native peoples of the area.
Dexter Season 1. This show is apparently on network TV now because of the writers strike, but I imagine alot is cut out. It tells the story of a Miami crime scene investigator who has (controllable) urges to be a serial killer. The premise and the way it's handled is really interesting. The main actor is from Six Feet Under, and is really excellent. Unfortunately, some of the supporting cast is weaker, but this is still a really good watch, especially since there is an overarching story to the whole season, so it's great on DVD.
Earth: the Bees Made Honey In the Lion's Skull. The new Earth album is alot different than their early work... much more subdued, melodic. I have been finding this the perfect record to chill out to. Not much to say about this other than if you like post-post-metal or doom that is way more accessible than most doom, you will probably like this.
Dennis Lehane's Kenzie-Gennaro novels. I got several of these at Book Thing, and blazed through them. Fun, workaday, servicable detective/crime books by the author of Mystic River. Gone, Baby, Gone is one of this series. These were definite page turners, but nothing to write home about really...
Joe R Lansdale's Freezer Burn a Jim Thompson-esque story of a mentally deficient criminal who seeks refuge in a carnival sideshow, finds he relates better to the freaks than to "normal" people, but then because of his bad impulses, ruins it all. Pretty good, but not really any deeper than it sounds - though one of the sideshow attractions may or may not be the preserved body of Christ.
Chopper. Thanks Brandon. I posted about the movie adaptation a fe wmonths back. The book is not as good as the movie, mostly because Mark Brandon Read's prose style is pretty lacking, and you can tell he is trying to build himself up throughout... but still a very interesting companion to the film, which did a good job at addressing those very same issues with the memoir. Read this if you see the movie and like it.
Other than this, I have been playing a lot of Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword, Portal, and Call of Duty 4. All excellent games.
josh [email] said at 4:36 PM 03-03-2008: Oh I also watched Stay, which was not as bad as I expected even though the plot is pretty hackneyed in some ways. Well shot, well edited. Depicted a changing reality well, but just nothing really that fresh.
Breaking Bad is a dark comedy show on AMC, created by one of the guys who did the X-Files. The series stars the dad from Malcom in the Middle as "Walter White", a struggling high school chemistry teacher with a handicapped child and pregnant wife. When the already-tense White is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, he breaks down and turns to a life of crime, setting up a meth lab in order to support his family. This show obviously has some parallels to the show Weeds and yet is much more plausible in nature. It just started so most of the episodes are available if you have cable and some form of on demand.
There Will Be Blood (Jonny Greenwood) gives more to the movie in retrospect than much of the quotable dialogue. I could watch excerpts of the movie consisting of nothing more than panning movements along the bleak landscapes of which the movie took place and this soundtrack sans any characters except workers in the fields. This orchestral arrangement with the ondes martenot makes for an intense listen with broad dynamics and creating interesting soundscapes. I listen to this at work a lot.
Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts of the Great Highways is the album I have been chilling to a lot lately. I know this came out in 2003 but I was reintroduced a month or so ago when sitting in the passenger seat of a parked car on one of the coldest nights in memory. The heater was cranked and the windows cracked for fresh air. I can't think of anything else that would have made for a more ideal moment and the album continues to carry on with me whenever I need to decompress from life or mellow out. So many interesting things with this album, not excluding the concepts behind it.
Suttree - Cormack McCarthy is the third book from this author that I'm attempting to make my way through right now. He is the epitome of a great Southern writer, but along with this comes the need for a vocabulary as dense and sprawling as the kudzu that blankets much of Dixie. I received a bunch of his books as Christmas gifts, including one from someone that has yet to come forward to take credit for the gift. I don't know if I recommend it yet.
Old 97's - Satellite Rides is a heavily produced album from the alt. country band that makes for more of a pop album than anything else. If anything I listen to this when making the trek home after a night of rabble rousing in the District. Not everything on here's a gem but its got catchy choruses and makes for easy singalongs when driving around these concrete and asphalt expanses.
Plastic Little - She's Mature was given to me by my friend closely associated with the quartet. I generally don't listen to much hip-hop but I decided to give it a spin. The lyrical content of the album is hilarious at times with the parodying of so many hip-hop cliches. It's hard to discern what is serious social commentary if any and just good times. There are even Smith's lyrics thrown in. It's been in heavy rotation and yes, once again I'm behind as this came out 2006. There are some serious beats on here, which also makes it a worthwhile listen.
anthony [email] said at 8:41 PM 03-03-2008: The only thing weird about listening to is is hearing one of the dudes reference my friend, but then also rap about slamholes.
brandon [email] said at 8:18 PM 03-03-2008: That's a good Old 97's album.
I still enjoy Old Ramon very much, even though it's ancient now. Sun Kill Moon I haven't listened to in a while. That first track usually puts me in a pretty somber mood, especially that verses that starts "I buried my first victim, when I was 19".
I wish I could have saved you the time on that Ren and Stimpy Debacle.
Dexter is fun.
The book it's based on is OK. I read it a few months ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkly_Dreaming_Dexter
it's thematically similar to "The Talented Mr. Ripley" series, plus, like the Ripley books, it's a first person narration from the vantage point of a sociopath.
Old stuff I've been listening to: LifterPuller, Swearing at Motorists, the first Rilo Kiley album, my brain's kind of all over the place, opera, ATM, Nathaniel Mayer. I recommended Chopper to someone this weekend in a conversation about shaved heads and concentration camps.
Also, last month's issue of Dwell, it had a story on the guy who designed the Wilco towers, plus a feature on extremely small houses, <500sqft. 100 Google Hacks. I've been reading some books to refresh on brewing, I want to start a mead to be finished by graduation.
anthony [email] said at 8:50 PM 03-03-2008: I stopped looking at Dwell a few years back when I realized I wasn't going to 1) settle down somewhere anytime soon and 2) be capable of buying anything in there unless I moved to the middle of nowhere and built it myself.
I didn't enjoy watching Dexter because the internal dialogue he has with himself is some insipid shit at times. I think in the pilot he looks at a vacant donut box and says "Empty like me".
josh [email] said at 12:47 AM 03-04-2008: its insipid on purpose though. he has an enoyable character arc. he starts off the series like that, but then grows as a characetr immeasurably. assuming they use the more well grounded, grown up dexter from the end of season 1 as a jumping off for season 2, i will be stoked.
max [email] said at 9:19 PM 03-03-2008: The Wire. I'm sure most of you being from B-More know about this show. I know Josh was on it. I love this show. I'm on the third season of the DVDs, and I'm so hooked. Much more so that juat about any other show ever.
There is music in the rec room I posted today. I will try to post something I'm in to every Monday.
ericanm [email] said at 9:36 PM 03-03-2008: josh you need to read the dexter books! so much better than the show but dexter is a MUCH bigger cheese in the books.
craig [email] said at 11:32 PM 03-03-2008: I have been watching lots of cartoons lately:
Spongebob Squarepants season 1 and 2 - This is probably old news to most of you guys, but I don't really watch much tv and I stumbled onto this recently. I actually thought it was very funny. I love almost all of the characters including, Spongebob, Patrick, Sandy, Squidward, Mr. Krabs, and Mermaidman and Barnacleboy. Spongebob is so happy and excited about life that whenever I am down it cheers me up to watch it.
I have also been watching all the current dvd realeases of Witchblade the Anime. It has a bunch of femme fatales fighting it out in a post apocalyptic Tokyo for the possesion of the Witchblade. It is based on an American comic, but this version introduceds new characters and concepts. If you watch lots of anime, many of these ideas will be familiar, mecha, jiggling breasts, tokyo in ruins, genetic engineering. Despite all of this, the characters are interesting and there are interesting relationships between them, especially the current bearer of the witchblade and her daughter.
I have also been watching the new Transformers: Animated on Saturday mornings on the cartoon network. This new cartoon series is post Transformers live action movie. I don't know if it because I am an adult, but this series seems written for younger kids than the first (G1) series I watched as a kid. I still enjoy watching it though while I drink my Saturday morning coffee. Here's a clip here on youtube if you wanna check it out.
myriam [email] said at 2:48 PM 03-08-2008: I love Spongeboy. I usually catch an episode or two on the weekends on purpose. He makes me so happy and I usually laugh out loud at least once per episode, which is more than I can say for 99% of the TV I ever see. I'm glad you like him too!
rick [email] said at 2:40 PM 03-08-2008: a DC cartoon in which the JLA takes on this weird supernatural creature known as 'the Centre,' and Murder by Death
myriam [email] said at 2:55 PM 03-08-2008: I just finished a book called The Bird Artist that probably no one on here would like but I did.
Before that was Nickel and Dimed and before that Good Omens, a story about an angel and a devil, the footsoldiers of Armeggedon, which is about to take place in Lower Tadfield, England. It was pretty good. I read a lot.
Musicwise I've been listening to Vampire Weekend and I'll be damned if I don't enjoy the hell out of them.
josh [email] said at 11:57 AM 03-09-2008: i loved good omens when i was in HS. i have never reread it because i was afraid it might not hold up. they are suppossedly making a movie but im sure it will suck.
ed [email] said at 5:39 AM 03-09-2008: I am currently reading The Runes of the Earth bu Stephen R. Donaldson, which I swore I wouldn't do, but I got the book for 6 bucks (brand-new hardback!). It's the beginning of the (supposedly) final set of books in the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Of course, since TC died in the last trilogy, I thought I'd skip this one... but at that price, I couldn't pass it by, and I'm glad I didn't. I've read the first two trilogies literally at least a dozen times, and this one hasn't disappointed so far. I'm about 200 pages in.
I have also been digging on the Spongebob scene of late, thanks to my association with kids who pretty much only watch Nick & Cartoon Network. I was predominantly a CN man myself, so never really gave Spongebob much of a chance. Now that I have, he makes me giggle, well, like he does.
Also, Courage the Cowardly Dog, on Cartoon Network. I never really paid attention to it before, but it's freakin' hilarious. "Freaky Fred" is the best episode ever.
anthony [email] said at 5:12 PM 03-10-2008: Ghengis Tron - Dead Mountain Mouth is something I wouldn't have sought out had I not attended a show just to hang with a few people I don't get to see too often. However, I totally should have as this album is a gross amalgamation of metal, metalcore, industrial, and various electronic accoutrements. A lot of the record sounds like Jane Doe Converge and there are definite tips of the hat to Aphex Twin and even Boards of Canada mixed throughout. I'm impressed with the drum machine programming and song writing overall, which makes it more than just a fun listen for me.
10,000 B.C. is a movie in which someone took Braveheart, Stargate, Moses or even the Matrix, March of the Penguins, Jurassic Park, and cast a bunch of white guys as the protagonists, but gave them dreads and shitty butchered Scottish accents. At any given moment if someone would have broke out a boombox blasting Legends by Bob Marley, I would have clapped while hysterically laughing. That's not to say that I didn't laugh every 5 minutes throughout the movie alongside many of my other moviegoers. This was one of the more wretched movie experiences to date and had it not been for a flask and good company, I would have gone home and lay in bed asking myself what I'm doing with my life.
Botch - We Are the Romans is one of my favorite records ever and I just recently dug it out again to put it on heavy rotation. This album is so heavy lyrically, musically, and song structure wise that imitations have been attempted but fail. To date, I have yet to hear a band who can pull anything off close to this caliber. This album is not a hardcore cliche. This came out on Hydra Head, which has also been home to some other stellar acts. FUCK I love this album.
Neil Young - Dead Man Soundtrack is an album I've started listening to when sitting around my room. I've never actually seen this movie but will Netflix it. There's dialogue intermixed through out Neil Young playing mostly improvised material over these excerpts. I've been listening to more soundtracks/scores lately. Some I like more than others. I'm not sure if it has more to do with the evocation of desolation and unsought freedom and imprisonment at the same time or that I can drift off for a while and when I come back it's just like the seemingly changeless landscapes in which they attemp to convey.
anthony [email] said at 5:19 PM 03-10-2008: I can't think of any Botch album, except for their cover of Rock Lobster on the All About Friends comp, that isn't a good listen. I am more preferential to an Anthology of Dead Ends than American Nervoso, but overall they created something very unique and memorable that has so far aged well.
reggie [email] said at 11:14 PM 03-10-2008: I've been digesting a ton of Woody Allen movies recently. I just picked up Husbands and Wives, Crimes and Misdemeanors, September and I've got Love and Death on hold at work.
Musically I'm in love with the gorgeous Raising Sand by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, Richmond Fontaine's Thirteen Cities, Vampire Weekend's debut jonx and Erykah Badu's New Amerykah. Also a ton of Radiohead also the There Will be Blood soundtrack.
And of course Friday the 14th can't come soon enough for that is the day Michael Haneke's remake of his own film Funny Games hits theaters.
ed [email] said at 2:04 AM 03-11-2008: I tried so hard to love Raising Sand. I really wanted to love it. But I just can't. With the exception of a couple of songs, it just leaves me cold and dissatisfied.
reggie [email] said at 11:37 AM 03-11-2008: I went in with zero expectations. I was intrigued by it being such a seemingly random collaboration and I was thoroughly impressed. It's so understated. Especially from about track 4 through 8.
I'm always protective of Tom Waits covers but I'll be durned if they don't actually improve on "Trampled Rose."
Honestly Ed, if I'd heard this a few months ago it probably would have made my top ten albums of '07.
reggie [email] said at 10:18 PM 03-11-2008: It's got everything that makes Woody Allen films what they are. Emotionally complex, philosophical, comical, tragic.
art [email] said at 1:26 PM 03-11-2008: Reading the Pulitzer Prize winning An Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson about the liberation of North Africa by Allied troops. He is an amazing writer
reggie [email] said at 8:55 PM 03-15-2008: I just bought the DVD of No Country for Old Men. Probably the most deserving Best Picture winner in a long time (even though the TRUE best picture wasn't even nominated.)
anthony [email] said at 7:13 PM 04-07-2008: Verse - Anger and Rage: is a younger hardcore band. This album was passed onto me and it has grown on me. Their sound reminds me of a mix of Champion and Inside Out. There are catchy sing a longs, youth crew shout outs, breakdowns, and each song differs from the other without losing a sense of cohesiveness throughout the entire album. This album is filled with the desperation and angst that so many hardcore albums of its type decry and persevere against. However, it's a tough sounding album without resorting to having a really dark sound.
Torche - Meanderthal: is what you would expect although relying less on the heaviness and more on the pop sound they meld so well. For anyone who has never listened to this band, I highly recommend it if you are a fan of Sabbath, Sleep, Bedemon but also enjoy a really fat sound and the moderness of Kyuss or the pop of QOTSA. Some have been let down by this effort, but I am down with it.
josh [email] said at 8:37 PM 04-07-2008: just finished the novel Club Dumas. It was an awesome book! just started pagan babies by elmore leonard... haha i love the free book exchange here in baltimore.
brad [email] said at 11:50 PM 04-07-2008: I watched season 1 of Dexter. After about the fourth episode, I was completely hooked. And Dexter's "sister" is HOT!
marcia [email] said at 1:07 AM 04-09-2008: You should watch her in The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Dear God, hotness hotness oh, oh, HOT! ...and I'm an atheist saying that! Plus, it's an excellent movie.
josh [email] said at 4:31 PM 04-09-2008: while i agree that reviews aren't everything, reviewers whose opinions i tend to agree with hated it... and you are the only person i know who saw it who liked it. i will watch it IF you agree to watch a movie of my choice if i don't like it.
craig [email] said at 6:40 PM 04-09-2008: But was she half naked, covered in vomit, spewing satanic obscenities while being restrained by a priest trying to expel demons hot?
craig [email] said at 2:07 AM 04-10-2008: That's what I was wondering, if it was merely she that was hot or if the scenes in the movie were especially hot.
I have not seen this movie. I may have to check it out.
marcia [email] said at 2:50 PM 04-10-2008: Well, for a totally mentally tortured girl, she was hot. But she also has this kinda fucked up face that's asymmetrical. It's more striking in the movie because of the context. I was very taken with her the second I saw her because of just the fact that she looks a little weird. Unconventional. Her hotness isn't what makes the movie good. It delves into the accountability of faith as medicine, which is an interesting take on a film about exorcism.
josh [email] said at 10:41 AM 04-30-2008: i have yet to sit through the whole movie yet (fell asleep towards the end), but so far it's hard to take this movie seriously because:
1. the courtroom scenes, nay, the whole legal ASPECT of the film seems completely inaccurate and unrealistic... they say "hey you should take this case" and THE NEXT DAY they are in court. uh, don't trials usually take at least weeks, if not months to start? the lawyer character is developing her case as the trial goes on, when i'm pretty sure in reality you have things like expert witnesses picked out, you know, before the day of. maybe bibbly can correct me. seriously, the way the legal system is portrayed in this movie is so weird and half ass it makes it hard to take seriously.
2. insanely bad expositional dialogue. best example: in a flashback (more on that later) emily rose and her sisters are laughing and jumping around. their mother burst in and asks why they are all acting up. emily explains she got a letter and a full scholarship to college in the big city... mom says, and I quote, "Oh Emily... that's always been your dream (sob) but that means you will have to leave us... (sob)"
3. horror elements are lifted from other movies WHOLESALE (and not just from the exorcist). look, its a car driving by with a person with a fucked up distorted face shaking their head, never seen THAT before... definitely not in adrian lyne's masterpiece Jacob's Ladder!
4. flashbacks. contradictory flashbacks. the whole movie is told in flashbacks. flashbacks which contradict each other, since they are actually told from the point of view of the different prosecuters and witnesses. so you see the same scenes over and over, with a alternating supernatural or medical explanation slant. man, do i dislike movies that do this.
Unless this movie picks up in the last 30 minutes, which I will try to watch tonight, this seems like a lackluster courtroom drama stapled to a lackluster horror movie. sorry marcy! i will think hard about the movie i will ask you to watch.
reggie [email] said at 10:51 AM 04-30-2008: I remember when that movie came out it got very weird reviews. Like some critics would say it's better than you expect while others would say it's just as bad as you think.
I'm always cautious of reviews where the critic says: No it really isn't that bad!
josh [email] said at 10:57 AM 04-30-2008: rescue dawn was really good but suffered a bit because werner herzog
a) was really good friends with the real life dieter dengler, so sometimes you feel like maybe that affects his perceptions.
b) he doesn't want to show on screen violence so he doesn't show the prisoners (the main characters) being tortured... or even really imply it. they were really tortured! it kind of lessens the impact a little bit.
reggie [email] said at 8:53 AM 05-02-2008: This post is awesome BTW, I hope it's something that just keeps going indefinitely and ends up with thousands of responses.
Anyway, I'm NOW listening to: Held on the Tips of Fingers by Polar Bear (one of the bands at the Portishead curated ATP: Nightmare Before Christmas fest.)
brandon [email] said at 11:50 AM 05-02-2008: I just finished Iain M. Banks's Matter which was kind of a tour de force, it's 600 pages, drags in some places, but it has a an amazing ending, and of what I've read of his so far, it does the best job of gobbing all those separate narrative threads together at the end.
I liked the Algebraist so much, and Matter so well that I'm going to read the rest of the Culture series (I'm aware that the Algebraist isn't a Culture book, although given the time constraints, the nature of the Mercatoria... well, no, not really). Oddly enough, I didn't really dig Consider Phlebas but he wrote it in 1989 and it was kind of dated, the writing. Also, you've got a love anyone who's posted his torn up passport to Downing Street to protest the war.
So right now, I've got Player of Games and Look to Windward sitting on my desk. I'm a sucker for space opera. I swear it's not all pew pew pew and zero-g sex with blue-skinned, tentacled hotties. There's something like a subtext.
I plan to read these this weekend Elephants on Acid: And other Bizarre Experiments and The Party of the First Party
Linus gave me a compilation of Los Campesinos! That I've been listening too. At first, I was like, no, because the second track was a cover of Pavements Frontwards, and it doesn't sound right. But the rest is pretty good. Kind of a gritter, more guitar driven Architecture in Helsinki.
brandonA [email] said at 1:04 PM 05-02-2008: I've only read The Wasp Factory (and recommend it if you haven't), but I liked it enough to consider reading more - i'll take your endorsement as a reason to do so at some point...
