Lots to come, but maybe not here

I got an internship with The Yeti, a Tallahassee community magazine. It looks like I might be their movie critic. I'll be doing a decent amount of writing for them, and I also have six classes this semester, five of which involve even more writing, so I probably won't be doing much writing on this here blog for quite some time. If you have actually enjoyed this blog, look out for me on The Yeti! I'll do my best to make/keep it interesting, and I will still try to show this blog some love from time to time.

Changes

Life has been moving and changing so quickly that it's been hard to sit down and blog without lapsing into the diary-esque entry that no one wants to read including me a year from now. As things are finally starting to settle down, more regular updates should be forthcoming. Until then, know that this little project of mine has not been abandoned.

And now, a laughing baby:

Giggling Baby is Comedians Dream Audience - Watch more Funny Videos

Muppets mock my major

Maybe I should just drop out and watch Sesame Street every morning. Their critique of "Waiting for Godot" is spot on.

Nine Inch Nails Versus The Rock-afire Explosion

"sounds like a dayam monsta movie" -- Apollo Creed

I've blogged about NIN, and I've blogged about the hilarious/disturbing resurgence of The Rock-afire explosion. Now, they meet.



Chalking this up as "one of a million things I never would have predicted back when I was 3 years old and eating pizza at Showbiz"

Someone finally says it

I've been meaning to blog/rant about the absurdity behind all of the Tom Cruise hatred for a long, long time, especially after I went to see Valkyrie and found his performance to be solid, not horrendous, as so many people wanted to believe it would be. While back up in Chicago for the holidays I mentioned the movie to several people, and more than half said, "I hate Tom Cruise!" before proceeding to explain the details of his personal life as the reason. I'm not sure when an actor's personal life became the basis on which to evaluate his on screen performance, but I'm happy to know I don't really have to puzzle over it anymore, or even blog about it. Indeed, thanks to my procrastination, a much stronger voice has gone ahead and made the case against baseless actor bashing in a way I couldn't have. Have a read!

Monthly break

The tow truck driver meets his match!

Chick Refuses to Be Towed - Watch more Free Videos

Guns 'N Roses has a new album?

Yes, they do, and their first radio single since 199whenever shows promise. Have a listen!



I'll have a review of their new album Chinese Democracy soon in eleven years.

Monthly break(s!)

My roommate found this old clip from somewhere around WW2. I think we may have stumbled upon the cure to casualties of war, or at least a case for the relative harmlessness of drugs in comparison to the danger of certain sober world leaders.
Look what happens when these trained killers are administered some LSD:



While we're on drug humor, here's something much sillier!

Captured in Fleorgia

I made the 150 minute drive to Jacksonville on Wednesday to see my favorite band Nine Inch Nails. Bored, alone, and awaiting entry into the arena, I was spotted leaning against a light pole by Florida Times Union's Carol Keller. She told me not to move and look into her camera, and poof! I was forever frozen in time.
Aside from that flattering moment, the evening was surprisingly uneventful. There was a really cool looking Carnival/Festival happening across from the arena that I almost decided to ditch the concert for. In retrospect, I wish I had. While I love Nine Inch Nails and still believe they are one of the best live performers of the last twenty years, I'd seen their show only two months earlier, and contrary to advertisement, little had changed aside from the noticeably pathetic turnout and all of their once-breathtaking special effects screwing up and tainting the experience. I came away from the show wondering some things. Has Trent Reznor lost a step? The tech-heavy performance overshadowed the physical passion he used to pour into his shows. Am I getting old? Seeing NIN live was once a priceless experience, but for the first time I began questioning whether I spent too much to be there. Are both true, or was it just an off night for the band and for me? Should Jacksonville really be a part of Florida? It is so close to Georgia, and shares so many of its wonderful attributes, such as toothless McCain supporters, recently released convicts, and churches. Perhaps it was just an off night. I mean, they couldn't even get their logo right. Or perhaps I simply put too much stock in getting out of town for a night, ignorant the forthcoming Georgianess of Jacksonville. In any event, that horizon is gone. The next adventure involves a Theme Park in Georgia. Here's hoping it surpasses a technically challenged concert in the middle of the world's ugliest misplaced city.

Monthly break

Grooms, choose your best man wisely, or something like this could happen at your wedding.


Clumsy Best Man Ruins Wedding - Watch more free videos

Return of The Rock-afire Explosion

I don't ever recall a time that I have felt thrilled, disturbed, frightened, intrigued, nostalgic, and ashamed all at the same -- except for a few minutes ago, when I saw this clip:


For those around my age, you may have grown up around a Showbiz Pizza Place and their Rock-afire Explosion animatronic band. I still remember the smell of the pizza in their nice little nook of a theatre tucked away in that larger-than-life fortress of jungle jim fun. I have mourned for Showbiz and their star band, and I never imagined they would be brought back from the dead, especially not in this form. You can now pay money to have them cover a song of your chosing on You Tube. Here is what they did with Electric Feel by MGMT.



What's next?

Monthly break

This one's a bit on the lighter side, it isn't from break.com, but it is still quite amusing. Busy times! Enjoy.

Dog On Tramp @ Yahoo! Video

Tripple-take

I had to read this headline three times before I realized it was just an unfortunately titled but otherwise innocent story.

"BOLT, POWELL, GAY CRUISE TO 100 SEMIFINALS".

The writer is excused. He's an AP guy who probably had ten articles to write today. But an editor at some point perceivably saw that headline and decided to go with it. You know they are going to hear it tomorrow!

Batman's vocal overkill

Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought Bale's "Batman voice" in The Dark Knight was a bit too much.



Not a bad Joker! Sign him up for part three.

Monthly break

A hilarious behind the scenes look at the job of the typical IT guy. The voices have been changed to protect the guilty.


IT Guy Vs Dumb Employees - Watch more free videos

Why video is worth 10,000 words

It is so easy to ignore animal rights activists when they are talking, but when they show you what's happening -- well, look.



I'm no tree hugger, but I don't think you need to be to be effected by what you just saw. To learn more about what you can do to prevent this kind of horror from taking place visit peta2.com

The Dark Knight - pros and cons

First let me say I recognize that it is almost heresy to give The Dark Knight a bad review at this point. One look at rotten tomatoes demonstrates the fact that the critics fear Batman as much as the criminals of Gotham. It has become movie-critic-politically correct to embrace the ambitious filmmaking behind the new Batmans, and even more politically correct to hail Heath Ledger as a fallen master. Some of this is fair, and some of it is not. In totality, The Dark Knight is an enjoyable and ambitious rollercoaster ride of a film, but it is also one of those rare productions whose strengths are its weaknesses.

This is not to say The Dark Knight is a bad film. It has a lot of good things going for it. It plays out more like Bond-meets-Godfather than a superhero film, and in many ways this change in formula is welcome. There is skydiving in China, double-cross bank robberies, dead bond girls, mob infighting, and brand new technologies unleashed by Batman's tech-whiz Mr. Fox (Morgan Freeman) to make every new action scene interesting. All of this surrounds the best part of the film: the Joker played by Heath Ledger, whose performance has lived up to and in some ways even surpassed the hype surrounding it. Ledger certainly steals the show, but just barely from an also dominating performance by Aaron Eckhart as Harvy Dent. Dent is like Batman's alter ego, and in this film much more interesting than Batman himself. To say more about his character would be a spoiler for some and painfully obvious to others. Suffice to say he has two character arcs, both of them fascinating and effective. Indeed, Harvy Dent and the Joker could have easily been their own movie, and perhaps should have been.

Which is where we come to the negative. For a Batman film, the filmmakers don't seem to be very interested in Batman this time around. In Batman Begins, the character was given the richest and most effective development out of any of the several attempts. Christian Bale soared as both Bruce Wayne and Batman, and Katie Holmes had remarkable chemistry with both forms as Rachel Dawes. When we saw Bale look at Holmes, we saw a man feeling love, conflict, and pain. This is not achieved between Bale and Maggie Gyllenhaal, who has taken over for Holmes. Gyllenhaal brings little development to the character and simply doesn't seem to fit. This results in the other characters' feelings towards her coming across as unconvincing. Bale himself seems to have missed the mark on this film as well, but a lot of this might be blamed on the decisions made by the sound crew and screenwriters. For sound, when Batman speaks in this film, it sounds like he is trying way too hard to sound tough. He had that menacingly darker voice in Batman Begins, but it was scaled back just slightly, and his dialogue in the original was limited to words that were deserving of so much vehemence. In the sequel, Bale's blaring vocals distract from his performance and dialogue as Batman. It feels artificial, contrived, out of place -- as does his new batsuit. What were they thinking there? The original batsuit was glam-goth gorgeous; the best Batman has ever looked. The new look is not a welcome one. For screenwriting, Batman is given a lot of screen time, but most it involves beating up henchmen and getting involved in car chases. There is not much character involved in these scenes -- just mindless, albeit fascinating, action – or, more appropriately, reaction.

Everything considered, it should come as no surprise that this film's strengths take place away from Batman, which is a shame for a fan of the character (me) and a blessing for people who normally don't care for superheroes. This film explores with much greater interest the psychology of the criminal mind, the road to becoming a sociopath, and the roots of evil. The material in this film is so complicated and thought-provoking that it more than makes up for its other shortcomings. It is much smarter than a superhero film, but perhaps too smart for its own good. After every avenue is explored we still want to see the dark avenger take center stage. In this film, the dark knight is little more than a device to keep the plot moving, a character who is dominated by what happens instead of a character that is defined by his actions. "It's what I do that defines me," Batman said to Rachel Dawes in one of the best moments of Batman Begins. In The Dark Knight, Batman doesn't do much. He reacts to the master strokes made by the enemy, but doesn't seem to have much game of his own. He is lead through a labyrinth of situations in which he is given very little choice. Towards the climax, he finally does make some tough choices -- the toughest -- but the weight of them is bogged down by the fact that his character has so little development throughout this two and a half hour film. The filmmakers obviously recognized this when considering one of the final scenes where Gary Oldman (another fine performance as Gordon) has to explain to his son the gravity and depth of Batman's final choices. Classic case of telling instead of showing. Not something you'd expect from a film with the third best rating of all time on imdb.com

Is The Dark Knight worth watching? Absolutely. With so much crammed into this film it also has the potential to be much better on a second viewing. For now, I feel like I watched a great movie that had Batman in it, rather than a Batman movie with a lot of great supporting elements. Maybe this will change on a second viewing, but for now this will have to suffice. Don’t get me wrong, I liked it, but with all the Batman orgies going around I just figured I'd publish this counterpoint for good measure.

You've probably seen the trailer too many times already, but just in case you haven't:

Monthly break

Some college kids decide to make their own Saw movie trailer, but it does not go as planned. Don't ask me why I find this so hilarious, but it kills me every time!

Brand New Saw 4 Trailer - Watch more free videos

Happy 4th!

George Carlin "passes away"

My favorite comedian and entertainer George Carlin is dead. If you want more details about his death click here. I'm not all that interested in his death, but rather his life, and how many times he brought me joy and laughter while at the same time introducing me to a new perspective of the world.

Below is my favorite performance by Carlin, one of his most famous, but for those my age or even younger you have probably never seen it and maybe never even heard of it. It was so groundbreaking for the time that HBO had to release a 2 minute disclaimer followed by a 2 minute interview with Carlin just to cover their asses and try to show the conservative cowards of the time that George Carlin was not Satan. This is also the period where Carlin was inventing his routine as he went, and besides, you have to love the 70's look and feel of the show. This is the show in its entirety, so pop some popcorn and enjoy. The performance itself begins about five minutes in if you don't care for the amusing disclaimer.

Enjoy.




Thanks for all the laughs, George.