Have a Good One.

Advance Screening of No Country for Old Men

I was invited to an advanced screening of No Country for Old Men, the new Cohen brothers film based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, and I have to say I was pretty impressed with the film. And by pretty impressed, I mean it was fucking awesome. I loved the slow, panning desert cinematography, the spare and realistic dialog, the dry humor all. Perhaps the strongest element in the film, however, was the absolutely terrifying main antagonist, Anton Chigurh, wielding a silenced shotgun (?) and a penetrating captive bolt cattle stunner.

Best movie i've seen in a while. I'd write a full review, but screw that. Just go see it.

"Call it... Friendo."



4.5/5.0 Highly Recommended.

Think about it. A vicious homicidal psychopath who performs the coup dé grace with THIS. The ultimate badass indeed.

This Holds no Relevance

"There is that dimension where there is neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor wind; neither dimension of the infinitude of space, nor dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, nor dimension of nothingness, nor dimension of neither perception nor non-perception; neither this world, nor the next world, nor sun, nor moon. And there, I say, there is neither coming, nor going, nor stasis; neither passing away nor arising: without stance, without foundation, without support [mental object]. This, just this, is the end of stress."

—The Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta

2 rad songs for your party-mix-auto-reverse-tape-cassette.

Knife [Girl Talk Remix] - Grizzly Bear

Paper Planes - M.I.A.

"All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
And (KKKAAAA CHING!)
And take your money"

Truer words were never spoken.

So About that Ghostface Concert...

So the show was OK, and Ghostface more or less killed. He's got skill and he's been doing this for years. I'd expect nothing less.



...But the opening act, Witchdoctor, was so abysmally bad that he threatened to ruin the concert before it even began. His lame, obvious rhymes and poor flow (as well as his constant plugging of his new album during his set) only served to suck the energy right out of the room and ruin the rest of the show. I almost laughted out loud when he started rapping about being "real" when at the same time he seemed to embody every bad cliché of modern rap. Not only was his material bad, but he lacked any kind of stage presence, and seemed to fade into the background when his "crew" came onstage. He just looked uncomfortable up there, and had to rely heavily on the also mediocre talents of his douchtastic entourage (I'm looking at you, lanky white guy in the velour track jacket, baggy jeans and "Tigger" flat brimmed baseball cap).

There were times when Witchdoctor tried to get the energy of the audience back, predictably resorting to cheap lines like "Everybody here love getting HIGH!?" or "Raise your lighters in the air, everybody get their motherf*cking lighters in the air!" I felt like I was watching a bad comedian trying to get a cold audience back on his side with inane comments about everyday life. Except instead of "Yeah, I hate airplane food too, I can really relate to this guy!" the desired reaction was "Yeah I love getting mad wasted too! this guy's totally awesome!". It's the oldest cop-out in the history of stage performance and a clear indicator of a complete lack of ability. Yeah. We all like getting drunk, but when you can't rap to save your life, who really gives a shit?

There are artists who are talented, but exist beyond the mainstream by virtue of the fact that their material is too sophisticated or different to sell lots of records. Then there are others who simply lack the talent to break into the music scene. From his performance, I can only guess that Witchdoctor falls in the latter category. But hey, I could be wrong.

Album Review - Radiohead - In Rainbows

4.5/5.0 - Highly Recommended

A short time ago, I was surprised with the news that Radiohead was releasing their seventh studio album, titled In Rainbows. Now, two weeks later, I am listening to the album I have been looking forward to since 2003's Hail To The Thief and I can honestly say it was worth the wait.

This album is defined by its simplicity. Gone are the weird glitchy synthesizers that were arguably used to excess in Radiohead's most recent efforts, replaced instead by simple guitar riffs and muted drums which take a back seat to Thom Yorke's signature falsetto (which itself has been left surprisingly free of any sort of distortion or effect save for reverb). This is Radiohead's sound purified and boiled down to their Platonic form. Tightly produced and still as haunting and beautiful as fans should expect from the band responsible for OK Computer , In Rainbows does not disappoint or feel forced throughout its 43 minute runtime.

It should be noted, however that even with the simplicity of the production, Radiohead has managed to create an array of different sounds in each of their songs which not only reflect an evolution of their music, but also echo earlier iterations of their music. The crunchy electric guitar on 'Bodysnatchers', for example evokes the more mainstream sound seen on Pablo Honey and The Bends, while the orchestral 'Faust Arp' reminds the listener of the cinematic OK Computer.

As far as I am concerned, this album is easily one of Radiohead's better offerings and I would highly recommend it to longtime fans or new listeners.

Unrelated news: I'm probably the only one who cares about this.

"The film’s theme of dehumanization has also been sharpened. What has been a matter of speculation and debate is now a certainty: Deckard, the replicant-hunting cop, is himself a replicant. Mr. Scott confirmed this: 'Yes, he’s a replicant. He was always a replicant.'"

—NYT story on Blade Runner: Final Cut

Called it.