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Name: Michael
Country: United States
State: Kansas
Metro: Wichita
Birthday: 11/17/1982
Gender: Male
Interests: Music, movies
Expertise: The ladies
Occupation: Student
Industry: Media
Message: message me
Member Since:
2/11/2006
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| 50 SongsI listed some of my favorite songs in a stream of consciousness... Oh yeah...
1. Wuthering Heights, Kate Bush
2. Heroes, David Bowie
3. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody), The Talking Heads
4. Games Without Frontiers, Peter Gabriel
5. A Whiter Shade of Pale, Procol Harum
6. This is Not a Love Song, Public Image Ltd
7. Hey Hey My My (Into the Black), Neil Young
8. Ashes to Ashes, David Bowie
9. Children of the Revolution, T. Rex
10. Rocket Man, Elton John
11. This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both of Us, Sparks
12. One of Us, ABBA
13. Celluloid Heroes, The Kinks
14. A Salty Dog, Procol Harum
15. Heaven is 10 Zillion Light Years Away, Stevie Wonder
16. Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God), Kate Bush
17. Walking on the Moon, The Police
18. Former Lee Warmer, Alice Cooper
19. Up on Cripple Creek, The Band
20. Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey, Paul McCartney
21. Layla, Derek & The Dominoes
22. Hurricane, Bob Dylan
23. Heart of Glass, Blondie
24. Touch and Go, The Cars
25. Space Oddity, David Bowie
26. While My Guitar Gently Weeps, The Beatles
27. Jumpin' Jack Flash, The Rolling Stones
28. Common People, Pulp
29. Good Vibrations, The Beach Boys
30. Rock & Roll, The Velvet Underground
31. Roadrunner, The Modern Lovers
32. Mother of Pearl, Roxy Music
33. New Moon on Monday, Duran Duran
34. Gentlemen Take Polaroids, Japan
35. Race For the Prize, The Flaming Lips
36. Flutes of Chi, Ween
37. Carpet of the Sun, Renaissance
38. Panis Et Circenses, Os Mutantes
40. California Girls, The Beach Boys
41. Happy Together, The Turtles
42. I'll Call You Mine, The Zombies
43. Pretty Ballerina, The Left Banke
44. David Watts, The Kinks
45. Babooshka, Kate Bush
46. China, Tori Amos
47. Canary in a Coalmine, The Police
48. Concierto Para Quintento, Astor Piazzolla
49. Dancing With the Moonlit Knight, Genesis
50. Seattle, Public Image Ltd
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| A David Bowie lookalike covering an early Ultravox ditty...WORTH WATCHING!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYzupmQXt9o
(...sorry, I'm having trouble embedding it...)
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| These new fangled schools!I have a midterm on Tuesday (the second one of the year in that class). In most contexts, I would be going nuts over everything right now! I'd be biting my nails and crawling under my skin. But the overall grade is so tied up in the homework and class participation exercises (that I've completed almost perfectly) that the tests count for a small percentage of the grade. Geez, I hardly think I'm going to study! (OK I'm going to study... a little bit.)
I decided that I *am* ready for the term to be over. Extremely ready.
There's a great band right now that I wasn't aware existed before this weekend called The Free Design! They are a great sunshine '60s band. They never had any hits, but that's not because they didn't write good music but because they probably had horrible promoters. Also, they seem to like the dated, cliche stuff, so they had trouble standing out. But of course, dated cliche stuff is great to hear today, you know! They probably would have been totally obscure if a bunch of hipsters like Stereolab didn't start calling them inspirations. Whenever I start listening to a good '60s band that I never heard of before, I feel weird for the rest of the month.
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| Marathons!I watched too many movies yesterday!
1. Crumb (1994) - A documentary about the iconic cartoonist who has the weirdest, ugliest family ever. Nonetheless it's a tremendously engaging film and I was immersed into these characters. I even had the urge to make comic books by the time it was over, but then I remembered that I'm not a terribly good drawer. This is an essential watch for people nuts about pop culture. A-
2. Mr. Baseball (1992) - The typical sports film about the falling, mean spirited veteran (Tom Selleck) who is demoted and has to sort out his personal troubles. He hates the new team (in Japan, of all places) and he resents that the manager takes the game too seriously. But they all learn from each other in the end and they win the big game. (Generally, I'm against spoilers, but it's no spoiler if every sports movie ends like this.) It's not unwatchable, however, and it does have its moments. C-
3. Surf's Up (2007) - A silly CGI animated movie about surfing penguins. It's much more lighthearted and less pretentious than "Happy Feet," but the winning-isn't-everything message was a surefire COP OUT for the screenwriters. It's an inventive film, though, and there are a few nice laughs on the way. The directors had the neat idea to play it like a documentary and the animation quality is shockingly convincing. Nice! B
4. Ten Canoes (2007) - It got a 98 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, which is pretty rare. It's a narrative about an "average" Aboriginal tribe. The characters are interesting, the dialogue is surprisingly witty and some of it is even moving. It's also definitely educational for anyone interested in anthropology. (The death scene had my undivided attention!) A-
5. Carrie (1976) - Horror films were never my cup of tea, and that means there are still plenty of acclaimed ones that I've never seen. Here's one I finally knocked off my list! I steer away from the genre mostly because I don't like it when people sneak up from behind the bushes and yell "boo" (and all variations of it that horror movie directors do). But it seems the best horror movies, like "Dead Zone" and "Rosemary's Baby," have none of that. They thrive by getting under your skin! This is a very spellbinding film, and I had no idea what to expect (except I knew at one point someone was going to pour blood on Sissy Spacek... but everyone knew that). Sometimes it's beautiful and other times it's thoroughly creepy. I was never quite sure when it was going to end, either... It's interesting in that way. (That said, the end ultimately seemed a bit silly. I can accept a girl with telekentic powers, but what happens to that house at the end......... give me a break, Steven King.) A-
And a few others seen not-yesterday...
6. Anytown USA (2005) - This is a not-too-well-known documentary that I streamed off Netflix earlier today. It's about a three-way mayoral race in small-town New Jersey. Not surprisingly, the candidates exhibit the usual stereotypes: The Republican is shrewd and corrupt, the Democrat is an incompetent spacecase and the Independent is a Mr.-Smith-Goes-to-Washington ideologue. Also, two of the candidates are legally blind (which I'd imagine is the reason the filmmakers chose to feature this town). There was a lot of mudslinging, which is what I wanted to see when I chose to see this movie, but I expected a bit more of it!!! It was an engaging film, and it fed the part of me that is addicted to following politics. B
7. Dan in Real Life (2007) - I have only gone to the movies about 10 times this year, which is shockingly low considering the last few years I frequented the movies about 12-15 times per month! Well, I made it to see this one... it's a typical '00s quasi-warm, quasi-depressed film about a man (Steve Carrel) on the verge of collapse who meets someone special. Unfortunately, this woman turns out to be his brother's new girlfriend, and the hilarity ensues! Despite my cynical attitude toward the plot, I actually liked this one, and I wanted it to go on for another hour (which doesn't happen that often in my movie-going life.) The script was strong enough to deliver a solid, hearty laugh about once every five minutes, and Carrel (of course) is a fantastic comedic actor. B+
8. Knocked Up (2007) - This is the reason I didn't get anything done Tuesday evening. What a funny movie! I didn't like it as much as "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" (the previous film from this director) but it definitely had its fair share of HUGE laughs. It's frequently very crude, but it's actually funny and has plenty of heart. I am really looking forward to seeing "Superbad" now, which I hear is even funnier. A-
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| Some movies I watched latelyObviously I have no intention of doing homework today even though I shouldn't put it off until tomorrow (or worse, Monday). I've spent a slight amount of time these past few weeks watching movies. Lemme tell you about them.
Junior (1994) - This definitely isn't the first time I've seen this film... Probably the fourth. As I was watching it I remembered that it had the distinction of being the first PG-13 film I saw that wasn't pre-screened by my parents. That not only makes me wonder about the weird, random things I still remember, but also that not being able to watch most PG-13 movies was one of my top personal issues in 1994. Actually, I think I like this movie more now than I did back then. As Roger Ebert said about it, Arnold Schwarzenegger had far less believable roles than a pregnant man. Give this movie a B- for the amusing script and good-natured lightheartedness. Bump it up to a B for Schwarzenegger's comedic performance.
The Great White Hope (1970) - Awful. It's not the dated '70s message of racial equality and tolerance that I object to; it's that the movie is crap!! The script sounded like it was written by someone aiming to win a Pulitzer and never ever realizing how short he came. The direction is flat, stagy and pedestrian. Worse of all, this whole thing is BORING and made me wish I was doing homework. Give it a D+ for all of that, but bump it up to a C-, since James Earl Jones' dialogue is comprised mostly of screaming.
Mighty Aphrodite (1995) - This was one of the few Woody Allen movies I had yet to see... Allen decides to mingle in the life of a prostitute without using her "services." He was more jittery than usual during his first meeting with her, and that's the single moment that made the film worth watching. I liked that Allen's character had imaginary friends, and they were a Greek chorus. B
The Fisher King (1991) - Apparently, this was Terry Gilliam's sell-out, but that only means it made money! It's wholly imaginative, and several parts nearly brings me to tears. That puts this in the 98th percentile for all movies, in my book. A
Office Space (1998) - I pulled it out of my DVD collection. I saw it a billion times, and it never loses the spark. I'll admit some of the timing could have been done better and some of the actors are pretty dull. Oh well. It's still funny as hell. B+
My Cousin Vinny (1992) - When I first saw this, I thought it was the funniest thing ever. Honestly, it lost a little bit over time. Its heavily convoluted storyline is surprisingly less believable than a pregnant man, and the dialogue isn't *that* funny. (The bit when the "friend" thought uncle Vinny was going to rape him makes me cringe. Many of the other big jokes are only funny the first few times.) Why am I always watching it? I suppose it's the lively performances. B-
Commando (1985) - One of Arnold Schwarzenegger's first HUGE action films. It's the sort of movie where there can be 50 people shooting at him with machine guns, but he can still take them out! I had my fists clenched the whole time... it was *that* exciting. B
The Cactus Flower (1969) - This is a nice film with good performances. It's very '60s and the main characters kept going to a nightclub that was playing "I'm a Believer" by The Monkees. Goldie Hawn won an Academy Award for it, but I'd imagine she won that out of shock than anything. (Back then, she was best known for forgetting her lines on "Laugh-In.") I liked the record store scenes, because I could identify most of the albums! B+
Just Visiting (2001) - I saw this in theaters when I was in high school, and I liked it. Back then, anything that combines elements of time-travel, the Medieval ages and goofy comedic routines sat well with me. (OK, I'll fess up --- it still does.) Unfortunately, the juvenile humor produces too few laugh and the cast didn't seem extremely focused. I still should see the original French version (that had the same main actors in it). C
There's more, but I have a headache now. Good bye!
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