Now that SNL has officially sucked for quite a while (they still get good guests and have a couple of funny people on, but come on! When's the last time they had a cast with several legitimate big stars...), I will post my own weekend update. And while it won't make you laugh, it might make you cry.
**So yeah, my wallet got stolen on Friday. Some crazy ex-employee thinking we owed her money came into the office while I was training (so I didn't see her), swiped it from my desk, caused a scene for some cover, then took off. Only a few hours later did I realize what had happened, and before I knew it *poof*, she and her gang of thugs had spent 1400 on the business card they found in there. I'm just glad I cancelled it when I did, because they tried to use it again at Dillards for 1900, but it came up lost/stolen. And of course Dillards did nothing, so we filed a police report, and maybe, perhaps (dream on), something will happen Tuesday when the case goes to the detectives. I am reminded of the Big Lebowski--"leads? oh yeah, they got us working in shifts!" I only had 5 bucks in there, but what a hassle! No Drivers license, SS card, debit card, ID, etc. Gone. Do you know how hard it is to function without ID? Almost impossible. And of course this happens to be the week that my wife is out of town.
**Speaking of the wife, she's in Monroe for a week and a half for a wedding she's in. Man it's lonely with just Abbie and I. And I'm hungry! I kid, she made me some food to live on for the week. But I hate being a bachelor again. This is what I got married for! I see all these things on TV and movies, where married men long for the days of freedom in their long-lost bachelorhood, but I don't buy it. Give me married life any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
**Well, I saw Star Wars again. I definitely absorbed more on the 2nd viewing. I need to see it again. And the shortcomings of the movie are more apparent the more I see it and think about. There are about 4 or 5 scenes where the acting and dialogue are positively awful, and 2 or 3 scenes they really needed to nail, plot-wise, and came up short, but these are pretty nit-picky. Overall, it is fantastic.
**Finally, for anyone living in Monroe that reads this, I'm coming in town Thursday night. I'll be busy until Saturday evening, but we all need to get together on Saturday night for some kind of shindig. I've not seen y'all in quite some time, so let's party! Contact me via this blog or email, and we can set something up.
Finally. FINALLY. FINALLY!!!!!!! Well, it came out, and it was not everything I had hoped, but was a fitting end to what has been the greatest set of movies of my life. I saw Episode 3 at the 12:01AM showing Thursday, and it was glorious. I thought the acting was better, although not great (aside from Ian McDiarmid as the emperor, who was fantastic). I thought the plot was good, but not fantastic (they blew the scene where Anakin turns to the dark side for good, right at the end, although up till that, the scene was excellent). And I thought the action was great, but not perfect. To be honest, the problem is my own fault. My expectations were SO incredibly high, that anything less than a perfect movie would have been a letdown. And this was not a perfect movie. But don't get me wrong, I loved every second of it. I can't wait to see it again (Lacey is out of town thursday, so hello star wars all weekend!). And maybe the movie will be better upon further viewings, who knows. But I expected magic out of the Anakin/Obi-Wan fight, and there was no magic. I still prefer Obi-Wan vs. Darth Maul in Episode 1 for the best lightsaber battle in all the films. But, I'm rambling. For a fairly accurate picture of how things went the night I saw it, see Lacey's blog (xanga.com/mrsmelton). And for a crazed fan's reaction, see Matt Wilkins' blog (cardco.blogspot.com). I can only give you my honest opinion: I loved it, but it was not perfect.
As for Weezer, I had hoped to redeem my musical week, but alas, no such luck. I did not hate the new album, as many old fans of Weezer have. Nor did I think it was anything special. I still much prefer their first three albums. I probably put this on par with Maladroit. I like many of the songs, but I don't love them. As I listen to it more, I am beginning to like it better (as usual for me), but it just isn't up to the normal Weezer standards. It's like they've lost something...that edge, or ability to make crazy, catchy, funny, ironic songs that somehow draw the listener in. Anyway, the album is definitely worth having, I just won't listen to it a ton, more than likely.
Well, it FINALLY came out. The new Dave Matthews Band studio album I've been waiting for, for about 4 years now. The last one, Busted Stuff, was a brushing up on songs that had already hit the internet, so I knew them already. This is the first "new" album since Everyday. And since everyone knows DMB is my favorite band, I rushed out and bought it yesterday morning. Man, I never thought I'd say this, but only two words came to mind upon the first listen: BIG Disappointment. Don't get me wrong, I'm as die-hard as they get for Dave. I have all of their live albums, all of their studio albums, B-sides, soundtracks with them, you name it. To put it simply, I love their music. But this latest album just doesn't measure up. Granted, I have only listened to it once. And like Lacey said, maybe it'll be one of those albums that the more I listen to it, the more I like it. But I doubt it. It's almost like DMB has lost their ability to put coherent songs together. And I'd like to blame it on the producer, some Mark Batson idiot, much like I did with Glen Ballard on Everyday. But the thing is, the entire band signed off on this as a good record, which it is not. They have traded melodies for riffs; thick music for licks; and cogent, beautiful music and lyrics for pretty much nothing at all. Now, there are a couple songs, especially toward the end of the album that try to bail it all out, but they just can't. And I like some of the stuff they do on this record. But on the whole, it's pretty much a big mess. It sounds like a cross between Dave's solo album and Everyday. On most of the songs, it's just acoustic, bass, and drums, and then at the very beginning or the very end, it's like "oops, we forgot to let Boyd and Leroi play, so play something guys!" It's totally lame and seems scripted. This Batson guy has been saying that he really worked with the guys individually, to bring out more of their style, and changed the way they normally record, but that is against the whole idea of the band and what works for them! And you can tell it on the album. It's choppy, incoherent crap for the most part. Shows what happens when individualism takes over, instead of letting the band flow in the studio and mesh all of their sounds together. That's when actually good music happens. They just need to go get Steve Lillywhite back, or freaking forget producers altogether, hit the studio and make a decent album for crying out loud. Like I said, Busted Stuff is great, but it is comprised of songs they did almost 5 years ago. You know, some bands (U2, Green Day, etc.) are making fresh music, changing up somewhat, but are still sticking with what made them a success. And they are as popular now as they ever were. DMB is not one of those bands. They're switching styles, messing around with stuff that shouldn't be messed with, and they are in danger of losing a significant portion of their fan base, much the same way that Pearl Jam did in the late 90's. The only difference is, PJ was still making kick-ass music. Anyway, suffice it to say that if you are a huge DMB fan, you'll need to get this one. But if not, don't waste your money. I'm so bummed, it's crazy. I'm headed out to buy Weezer's new one, maybe that will redeem my musical week.