Thursday, June 12, 2008
Souljaboy in Tokyo
Ok, first let me say I am not a fan of Souljaboy's music. His songs are rather annoying. But I came across this video of him in Tokyo on a shopping spree and then spending 2000 yen in a video game arcade that seems to be the most insane video game arcade I've ever seen...judging by this video game he's playing which looks like their version of Halo.
Ryan, you might dig this. I was laughing hysterically. This boy is 17 and has too much money. But watching him play this game and hearing him yammering about had me rolling.
Countdown to Tom Waits 3: The Old School Shit
To fully appreciate the music of Tom Waits, I believe one must also appreciate Jazz and Blues music since this is where his music originated in its style. He has later said that his early music career was something that seemed a bit copied and misguided as he had yet to truly discover his own voice. I'm sure the alcohol played a part. I'm also sure meeting and marrying Kathleen Brennan also played a huge part in his growth. To appreciate the Tom Waits genius of today, I think you must also appreciate the sloppy Jazz Blues music he made in the 70s and early 80s before the Frank's Wild Years trilogy.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Countdown to Tom Waits 2: Big Time
This video is an excerpt from the hard to find movie Big Time. It's accompanied by a live CD as well and contains all of Tom Waits' hits up until that point. I wish I had this movie. I'm not a big fan of live recordings but there has been exceptions and he surely does make these songs larger than the original recordings lives.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Countdown to Tom Waits
In less than seven days, I will be in Phoenix, Arizona. I am staying with an old friend. I'm looking forward to spending time with her, catching up on old times, and having a mini vacation. But on top of this, I will also be seeing Tom Waits perform at The Orpheum Theater for his Glitter and Doom tour.
This is a big deal for me as Tom Waits is one of my idols. He is a big inspiration.
So I decided to begin a countdown of sorts. Every day until Tuesday, when I leave, I will post a favorite video/song/or image of Mr. Waits.
And now, "Going Out West" from the album Bone Machine. It was his first album working with Larry Taylor where he incorporated more industrial noises. The album's overall concept is Armageddon.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Non Fiction is more entertaining than it used to be
I think this goes hand in hand with realizing I've reached an age milestone a couple years back that I never thought I would. When I was a child, my mother would listen to talk radio in the car and it was so boring. Yet, now, I listen to NPR way to much. I watch mostly news related shows on TV, and I've grown quite fond of The Food Network and Discovery Channel.
All this being said, I am now obsessed with the radio show turned tv show on Showtime called "This American Life".
Maybe it's because television sucks more and more. Maybe it's because in growing older and more conscious of the world around me, I yearn for my forms of entertainment to contain more substance that resonates the world around me. Maybe it's the concept of bridging different documentary style stories into an episode that centers around an overall theme. Maybe it's all of these things combined, but this show is just brilliant to me.
I recently added a handful of documentaries to my Netflix list. I just finished watching "When We Were Kings".
I find myself perusing History and Non Fiction books at book stores now as opposed to the horror fiction I used to indulge myself in. What has become of me? I'm officially a thirty something.
I am right now trying to get through Munich on DVD. It's the latest movie I rented and I fell asleep in the middle of it. I know, I'm a bad Jew. I am more looking forward to the other documentaries on my list, especially one called "The Power Of Nightmares". It's not even available yet on DVD but I read a review of it on Patton Oswalt's blog and it really sounds intriguing.
Seriously, with movies like the one above being released, it's hard for me to find entertainment in the fleeting piles of crap being released all over. Yet, I know there's a place for good escapist fun. I enjoyed Indy, Iron Man, and am sure to enjoy The Dark Knight. But there's a difference between brief escapism, and permanent ignorance.
Anyway, I'll be sure to post a review of this movie once I receive it...but it's quite far down on my queue and I still have to finish Munich.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
The Strangers
It's been quite a while since I've been excited about a horror film. During a time where it seems like films like Saw and Hostel have oversaturated the genre, I've become a bit jaded. I've always subscribed to the idea that less is more. That you don't need to overload the audience with gore and show every little detail to truly inflict fear.
With that being said, The Strangers was a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed this movie a lot. It supplied enough scares and painted a truly frightening situation on screen. What's more, there was hardly any gore and the movie definitely utilized the Hitchcock style.
While watching the film, I noticed how well the director implemented sound to heighten the film's anxiety and in turn the audience's. The camera work, the sound, the lighting, and the overall sense of anticipation of what's going to happen next is something I yearn to see in horror films. When done well, it's a great ride. It was done well here. I couldn't predict really what was going to happen next and for the most part, this movie strayed from the typical formulaic bullshit you find in the run of the mill slasher horror film.
I'm not sure if I would even classify this movie as horror. It's as much a horror film as was Silence Of The Lambs. There's nothing supernatural about this simple story. It's the way the director brought it all together with the actors. As I said earlier, sound and camera work played a big part in making this movie as scary as it was. The actors too, brought a sense of realism to it where you really felt for them the whole way through.
I loved this movie. It doesn't end in a happy way and I heard a bunch of complaints from people as they were leaving the theater. One person even compared this movie with that crapsaster movie See No Evil. Well...there you have it. The demographic wanted something overloaded with gore and details. Whatever, this is probably the reason why movies like The Strangers are few and far between. It comes down to making money.
That being said, the theater was packed. I think this movie will bode well, for the most part and I would suggest anyone who likes a good scary movie to go check this out. It brought back the classic slasher scares that were experienced in the original Halloween movie....at least for me. There's even a scene that seems to be a homage to the closet scene in Halloween.
Good stuff.
If I had stars, I'd give this one 4 1/2 out of 5.
Posts
