I just want to mention a couple things real quick. First off, I head the new Audioslave single. It was totally rockin', good guitar, good vocals, good build-up, can't wait For THe GUITAR SOLO......suck. Now I love Morello and I have always loved his originality, skill, etc. I was and am a big Rage fan. But on this new track, all he had to do was kick ass with a normal, flowing guitar solo and the song would have ruled. But what does he do? He resorts to his typical wah-wah guitar lick that was original like 10 years ago. Get over yourself! Do something different than the other four thousand Audioslave singles! Sheesh, what a letdown.
Lastly, Lacey and I finally got around to watching V for Vendetta. And I'm going to be a man of few words on this one:
Well-made? Check.
Beautiful to look at? Check.
Exciting? Check.
Moving and emotional at times? Check.
The most preachy, propaganda-filled bag of smarmy liberalism I've pretty much ever witnessed on celluloid? Check.
Totally Flippin' Sweet Flick? HECK YES!
I was washing windows the other day, and I decided that instead of just listening to albums on my DellPod (which I normally do), I'd make a playlist. I was feeling very "pop radio" new and old school, and just a little crazy, so my playlist came out really insane. Here it is, for the two of you that read this and the one of you (thanks Lacey) that cares:
1.Ace of Bass - Don't Turn Around
2.All-4-One - I Swear
3.Andrea Bocelli feat. Sarah Brightman - Time to Say Goodbye
4.Ben Harper - Waiting for You
5.Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Salvation
6.Blessed Union of Souls - I Believe
7.Boyz II Men - In the Still of the Night
8.Coldplay - Amsterdam
9.The Blower's Daughter - Damien Rice
10.Dashboard Confessional - Don't Wait
11.David Mead - Nashville
12.Dido - Hunter
13.Eminem - My Dad's Gone Crazy
14.Evanescence - Hello
15.Green Day - St. Jimmy
16.Howie Day - Brace Yourself
17.Jack Johnson - Constellations
18.Amos Lee - In the Arms of a Woman
19.Young MC - Bust a Move
20.Aerosmith - Crazy (you know, like this playlist)
Just try it. You know you like that early 90's pre-boyband, with the monologues in the middle of the song. They tackled the issues, man.
Postscript:
Those of you old enough, picture this. You're a record exec 15 years ago, and you throw a party with a chance to sign the artists in #1, 2, 6 and 7. How stoked are you? Would it be a little different today? Would you even keep your job if you sent invitations to the same people? Yowsa.
Over the last few years, I've been contemplating how important soundtracks are to movies. To TV shows of course, too, but movies specifically. I mean, I always knew they were important, but I've been developing my ideas somewhat. Now, I'm not talking about original scores (although that can be huge too: think Star Wars, The Rock, and Rudy), but compilation soundtracks. I think it all crystallized for me, when I saw two movies within a 6 month period that really demonstrated the facts. You see, a great soundtrack can really bail out a bad movie. Of course it can never make up for the fact that it's bad, but it can make you forget just how bad it was. A great example of this is the movie Closer. I can't remember watching a more vile, disgusting, horrible, ridiculous movie since who knows when. Yet the soundtrack (mostly Damien Rice) was fabulous. So now whenever I think of the movie, I think of how bad it was, but then I start whistling "The Blower's Daughter", a great song, and it makes me forget, and think maybe it wasn't that bad after all! On the other hand, a good movie (or at least a decent one) can be rendered merely passable, or possibly crap, by its soundtrack. I offer as evidence the movie Hitch. I took Lacey to see it on Valentine's day of 2005 because she really wanted to. For the most part, it was a decent romantic comedy, but the soundtrack (or lack there of) was absolutely awful! It made it almost painful for me to watch, because I was so stinking annoyed with the music. I have no desire to ever watch it again, not necessarily because I don't like Will Smith, or the plot sucked (it was actually pretty funny) but because the music makes me want to blow something up. Obviously there are many more examples I can point to, but the last three I want to leave you with are the most fantastic examples in recent memory. I wanted to do a top ten list of soundtracks, but it would be half-ass, so I decided against it. Garden State is the obvious choice for the best movie soundtrack since whenever. Tony Scott, the director of Zach Braff's new movie, said it best when he (and I'm paraphrasing) stated that the best soundtrack is one that has songs that sound like they were written for the bits of the movie they are in. And Garden State kills it on that front. If you've seen the movie, picture the scene when Braff and Portman are sitting in front of the fire drying off, he's just revealed his deepest, darkest secret about accidentally paralyzing his Mom, and Remy Zero comes on softly while Portman tapdances. Brilliant. But regardless of how good that soundtrack is, the master of this kind of thing is Cameron Crowe. I've written about this before, so you can go to my backlog, or just watch his catalogue of movies.
Ok, I can't write this post without mentioning two fantastic TV shows that I've already mentioned on this blog, that every week seem to come up with fresh, fantastic music. So if you haven't watched them already, I can't recommend highly enough The O.C. and Scrubs. If you don't watch the shows, get the CD's with music from them. It'll be worth your while.
I wonder how many comments I could get if I mentioned Doug Wilson and said that he is the devil. DOUG WILSON IS THE DEVIL! CHRIST CHURCH IS A CULT! I HATE HIM AND HOW HE ACTS! I CAN'T BELIEVE HE'S RIGHT SO OFTEN! IDIOT! MORTON STREET CASINO AND WET BAR. WHATEVER I FEEL LIKE, GOSH!
There. Let's see what happens. That made me laugh.
Let the madness continue.
Ok, does anyone else but me and Lacey HATE the movie Beerfest without even having seen it? The ads look absolutely AWFUL! And speaking of ads, if I see one more commercial/preview/trailer for that movie Accepted with the guy from Dodgeball, I'm gonna kill myself. So obviously I've been thinking about trailers and marketing for movies, and how sometimes they can make a huge difference in the success/failure of a movie. They give so much away, it's almost a waste going to see certain movies. But if the marketing and/or trailer is done correctly, it can really boost business, especially right out of the gate. So I'm posting my Top Ten Trailers (and/or marketing campaigns) of all time. Please correct me if there are any omissions, etc.
1.Pearl Harbor
2.For Love of the Game
3.The Sixth Sense
4.Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
5.Alien
6.Star Wars Episode 1
7.Signs
8.The Matrix Reloaded
9.Lord of the Rings Trilogy
10.Spiderman 3 (not even close to out yet but looks off the chain!)
What the heck was I blogging about 2 years ago, right after I got married? Movies, of course. What did you expect? But I'm going to re-post something from then because I want anyone who reads this to see how Hollywood recycles itself every two years or so. Notice the similarities to our summer movies, which I'll put in italics:
Movies
Well, I haven't blogged lately, so it's only fitting that my first entry in who knows how long should be about movies. Let's see, what have I seen lately.
AvP: Waaaay better than I was led to believe. I loved it, even with its faults. Being a fan of both sets of movies, it was a lot of fun to see the two groups of monsters square off. The fight scenes were excellent and the plot wasn't that bad. A lot of purists were pissed at the ending, but I didn't think it was half bad. I have decided, though, that I would much rather square off against a predator than an alien any day. Acid man, acid!
Take away aliens and put in horror movies and you've got yourself a correlation.
Manchurian Candidate: Very good. Denzel is much more subdued and normal, and does a superb job. I loved Meryl Streep as Hilary, too. It was almost one part horror movie, one part thriller, one part thinker. Scared me, made me think, and I really enjoyed it. Kinda like the Village, only not as good.
Instead of a government-basher we get World Trade Center. What a huge difference (yeah, right).
Collateral: Excellent. I'll see anything by Michael Mann. I am also a big fan of Tom Cruise, and I don't care who knows it. I must say Jamie Foxx almost steals the show (watch for an oscar nomination for Ray), but Tom is great in a much darker role for him. This, for me, has been the best movie of the summer. This summer Tom Cruise came out in MI:3, and Michael Mann did Miami Vice. Sounds pretty close to me!
The Village: I'll see anything of M. Night's as well. Shamalamadingdong strikes again. Screw the critics. This movie rocked. I was scared outta my chair. I loved it, loved it, loved it. Although the premise is a bit out there, that dude knows how to freaking make movies.
And now he has another one out, Lady in the Water. Bryce Dallas Howard again, too.
I also saw Bourne Supremacey (too big a fan of the books to like it that much), Spiderman 2 (really liked it, but never really got into it enough to buy the over-hype, although I'll admit it's one of the best superhero movies ever made), Anchorman (hilarious...funniest movie of the summer, followed closely by Dodgeball), and I, Robot (I now hate robots). So there's my summer movie lineup. I really hear good things about Open Water, and Hero, so I'll probably see those this weekend. Can't wait.
Substitute Superman and X-3 for Spidey, Talladega Nights for Anchorman, and you have yourself two summers ago. Kinda scary, huh?
From Christin's blog:
::Hearing - Rachel Yamagata::
::Looking - at my students working on their homework::
::Reading - Guido's blog and trying to make sense of it. Also, Feed my Lambs by Tim Gallant
::Eating - Lacey's noodle casserole::
::Watching - The HBO series, Rome; Scrubs season 3; V for Vendetta; Big Brother All-Stars (I know, I know)::
::Praying - for a baby::
::Considering - scalping tickets to a Notre Dame home game::
::Wishing - I was in Mexico::
::Worrying - about Guido
::Planning - Mom and Dad's 35th anniversary party::
::Thinking - why can't the workday go faster?::
::Discovering - I have some pretty good kids this year::
1. One movie that you’ve watched more than once: National Lampoon's Vacation (the original)
2. One movie that you watch regularly: Moulin Rouge
3. One movie you’d want on a desert island: The Godfather
4. One movie that made you laugh: Recently or regularly? Recently would be Talladega Nights. Regularly would be #1 from above
5. One movie that made you cry: Braveheart
6. One movie that you wish had been filmed: The Godfather part IV
7. One movie you wish had never been filmed: Batman and Robin
8. One movie you've recently seen: The Benchwarmers
9. One movie you’ve been meaning to watch: V for Vendetta
10. One movie that changed your life: Terminator 2. I know it's a weird choice. But it was the first Rated R movie that my Dad let me watch, and it was so cool and fantastic that it turned me into a movie buff almost overnight. A close second might be Moulin Rouge because it turned me into a hopeless romantic loser. I've obviously never recovered...
Wow, this is some kind of record. I'll be amazed if I get one person to read this new post, but I'm doing it anyway. Tell your friends. I've been posting on my wife's blog lately, but I'm back to this because xanga is "blocked" at school, and that's where I am the preponderance of most days. We started last week (ugh) but it's off to a pretty great start. Anyway, I'm going to start off with a light post, and hopefully gear it up from there.
The main thing I've been listening to these days is The Last Kiss soundtrack. It's the new movie coming out starring Zach Braff. If you know anything about this star of the TV show Scrubs, you know that he wrote, directed and starred in Garden State, which is an excellent movie with an even more excellent soundtrack. And even though all he's doing is starring in this next film, he pretty much did everything for the soundtrack, and it's being dubbed the sequel to the Garden State Soundtrack. It is really good, and although not up to the Garden State level has some great mellow stuff by the likes of Imogen Heap, Rachel Yamagata, Coldplay, and Cary Brothers. Wonderful. Well, that's it for now. I doubt anyone reads this anyway. Pax.