The Music

My favorite albums of zero eight

1. The Walkmen- You & Me- I've always loved this band, and this past year they released the best album of their career. Saw them twice in concert, one of the shows I paid twenty bucks to see them play seven songs. "Four Provinces" may be the best song they've ever written.

2. TV on the Radio- Dear Science- "Family Tree" is brilliant. I can understand why people dislike their other albums, but if you tell me you don't like this, I immediately don't believe you.

3. Fleet Foxes- Self Titled/ Sun Giant EP- The album I listened to the most this past year. Saw them once with thirty people in the room, six months later saw them with a packed house.

4. REM- Accelerate- Back to what they do the best. I was depressed about REM until this joker came out.

5. Girl Talk- Feed the Animals- Can't beat a good house party album. The most ADD and interesting album of last year. How can you not smile when Kelly Clarkston is mixed with NIN?

6. Kings of Leon- Only by the Night

7. The Cave Singers- Invitation Songs

8. The Killers- Day and Age- So cheesy, so wonderful.

9. Wolf Parade- At Mount Zoomer

10. Conor Oberst- Self Titled

worst albums

kanye, kanye, kanye, kanye

Best TV Performance- Grizzly Bear "Two Weeks" on Letterman

most listened to songs of the year:
The Walkmen "In the New Year"
Fleet Foxes "White Winter Hymnal"
Roy Orbison "Crying"
TV on The Radio "Golden Age"
Grizzly Bear "Two Weeks"
Those Dancing Days "Hitten"
Pete and the Pirates "Knots"
Okkervill River "Unless it Kicks"

be back later with the movies, haven't seen them all yet

Lonesome Cowboy Bill and the death of Hippy Dips

This has got to be the lowest of the low for The Velvet Underground. I wish I knew how to do something other than type on a computer because I would post this song, but I don't know how, so seek it out for yourself, it's terrible, and if you want another cringe inducing spectacle, watch PHISH!!!!! do it live, it was probably during one of their crazy halloween cover shows!!!! on you tube.com!!!! I never realized how awful of a song it was until it popped up in a shuffle the other day, and I almost threw up on the computer.
I at one point listened to Phish, I went to one of their concerts, too. I have no idea what I was thinking, oh wait, I was in college, and they pass out Phish CDs, Dark Side of the Moon, long hair wigs, UGA ball caps, and hemp necklaces when you walk through the door, so I don't really have an excuse ( I probably do). So, I got into DMB, as they are called, Phish, Blues Traveler (ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!), Blind Melon( not that bad, really, except that one song, "Tones of Home" is good), 311 ( someone shoot me for that one, bad bad bad music), and other "noodlers" as they are called. I thought these guys were music pioneers because they could play long "jams", guess what, the only reason they play those "jams" is to make a hippies head explode as they listen to the "Tweezer" thirty minute version as they drive through the mountains tripping on mushrooms. If you have a one minute song that rocks, and is good then that is better than a bass player who drinks opium for dinner and decides to put on a concert. What was I thinking? I can't listen to this music at all any more, though I do like the "neo, freak folk" kids. I'm sure I'll hate it in four years, but for now I'll listen to Brightblack Morning Light drone for five minutes instead of looking for DMB bootlegs, and seeing how many different ways that they played "All Along the Watchtower."
The more I look into music, or trying to find new music that I may like, I've realized that music is only of a moment. I loved Interpol a few years ago, I still like them, but not as much, I would punch someone if they said Radiohead was bad, but now I'm not really into it, I say now that I will always love Band of Horses and Arcade Fire, but who knows. Two years ago I loved the Beatles, now I can't listen to it. Not that I hate them, but I've heard it enough, just like Led Zeppelin ( if some eighteen year old "music nerd" gets on this blog he will assassinate me).
Back to the subject, "Lonesome Cowboy Bill" stinks, and I will never listen to Phish again, but I can tell you where I first heard almost every song that has meant the world to me, sadly enough these days its in front of a computer, instead of a cd player on the beach, a car radio, under my covers with headphones on just to listen, in a van in the middle of the night, in my uncle's living room after a funeral, at Lenny's, in my friends basement.....I'm listening to The National now, downloaded The Boxer yesterday, I will probably hate it in a year, but "Mistaken for Strangers" is a great song.

The Tops of 2007

Here are my top ten favorite movies:
1. The Assassination of Jesse James- flat out amazing.
2. No Country for Old Men
3. The Diving Bell and The Butterfly- I've never seen anything like it.
4. Once- No film made me feel like this one did. The song he sings at night at the beginning of the film and the "Falling Slowly" business is lump in the throat.
5. Control
6. The Lives of Others- Saw it this year, came out last year, still an awesome movie.
7. The King of Kong
8. Margot at the Wedding
9. Superbad
10. Southland Tales- For the sheer guts this movie shows. So many questions unanswered, so many times you feel like Richard Kelly (the director) doesn't care, or just wants to get to his next grand idea that he won't pull off, but will try to make sense of.

NOTE: I haven't seen "There Will Be Blood" yet. Paramount Vantage, people want to see this movie, people need this movie, the critics in my town have seen it, so give it to us. Also, if you release a movie in a large theater people will go see it regardless (i.e. PS I Love You).

Other film awards:

Best Bob Dylan impression other than Cate Blanchett:
John C. Reilly as Dewey Cox

Worst Use of a Hamburger Phone:
"Juno"

Best Female Support for a Male Character in a film:
"Charlie Wilson's War"- The "Jailbait" girls
"The Diving Bell and The Butterfly"- The "Blink out a book" girls

Best use of music:
"No Country for Old Men"

Best Movie that was a Book that was turned into a Movie but felt like a book:
"Zodiac"

MUSIC: 2007

1. The Arcade Fire- Neon Bible
2. Band of Horses- Cease to Begin
3. The White Stripes- Icky Thump
4. Peter, Bjorn & John- Writer's Block
5. Spoon- GaGaGaGaGa
6. Against Me!- New Wave
7. Devandra Banhart- Smokey Rolls
8. Kanye West- Graduation


Ones that I thought would be great, but let me down:
Radiohead- "In rainbows"
The Hives "The Black and White Album"

One that I thought I would love, but can only listen to one song and like that one song, but can't listen to anymore:
Interpol- "Our Love To Admire"

Most listened to Songs:
Band of Horses- "Is There a Ghost"
50 Cent- "I Get Money"
Harry Belafonte- "Jump in the Line"
The Pipettes- "Your Kisses are Wasted on Me"
Dropkick Murphys- "I'm Shipping up to Boston"
Jens Lekman- "I Remember Every Kiss"/ "A Sweet Summers Night on Hammer Hill"

The Underwhelming of Christmas

Today, on the front of the AJC Living section (I only got it because apparently Publix is promoting newspapers now) there is a picture of Santa Claus, shirtless, ironing his red suit. This is a depressing picture to me. Christmas for me always started on Thanksgiving night after they lit the tree on the top of whatever building Atlanta could put it on. Not now, it starts tomorrow. In a few malls in the metro ( whatever that means) Atlanta area Santa Claus is coming. He will be there for a good eight weeks up until he has to go back to the north pole and make Playstation 3's for all those greedy kids out there. I love the Christmas season, I love the decorations, I love getting gifts, but it is the beginning of November and yesterday it was probably 80 degrees outside, and if you know like I do Santa's blood runs cold. It needs to be a little chilly for Santa to be around.
So, now I expect him on the 25th of November. I don't want any complaining from him or any of his compadres because they brought this on themselves. I want toys, and I want them now. At one time I only had to wait a few weeks after I told him what I wanted to get what I needed, but now he needs to come with the quickness. I want gifts everyday from now until November 25th, and I want them wrapped. No Fed Ex, no UPS, none of that, and if it comes from eBay, we have a problem. Listen, Santa, you need to get your act together and stop these dumb promotions. You're not making any money, these toys don't cost anyone anything, and you think that coming to my town, and setting up shop early will make it better? Go back to the frosty north and wait until you come down the middle of NYC until you decide to break out the promo machine. Oh wait, you get paid for those pictures, don't you? Okay, okay, I understand the entertainment industry is in a slump, but November 3rd you have to come here? I am not welcoming you. You are not welcome until November 25th when you come out of the oven and shoot presents out of your head. This is what it has come to Santa, you have cheapened a good holiday, and have wore us out with your materialistic views, and we expect presents at the end of November, and then we'll pop champagne on December 1st to celebrate the new year. You really screwed it up, Claus. You really screwed this up.


See Santa at Perimeter Mall this weekend. Sit on his lap and tell him he is a tad early.

The Assassination of the Half Gate Limited

I watched quite a few movies this past week, here are my thoughts. These are in order of when I watched them.

1. Half Nelson- Gosling is great, the camera work and script are not. Note: Handheld camera is okay, "shaky, NYPD Blue cam" is not.
2. Black Sheep- A movie about killer sheep on a rampage should be great, right? This had it's moments, namely one of a guy beating the crap out of a sheep, and then the sheep driving the truck over the side of a mountain. Moments like this were few and far between. Black Sheep, you could have been great.
3. Sleepaway Camp- One of the most disturbing endings to a movie ever. If you haven't seen this, I'm not saying rush out and get it, and it is not for the squeamish or easily disturbed, but if you haven't seen this and like this kind of teen horror film you owe it to yourself to see what people have always told you about, but will never actually tell you.
4. The Darjeeling Limited- I saw this twice this week. I love Wes Anderson movies, love 'em. As my friend Adam Pinney says, "I'm a Wes Anderson apologist." That is what I am, but I was not impressed with Darjeeling as a whole. It seems Anderson has become obsessed with his own style, and doesn't know how to shake it up. Yes, he writes hilarious dialogue, and very interesting characters, but his movies are as whole, other than Rushmore and Bottle Rocket, kind of sloppy. I enjoyed Darjeeling, but I was kind of disappointed.
Side note: On the Wednesday screening, Jason Schwartzman was there and did a Q&A. Emmi had done a drawing of Max Fischer (Rushmore) back in her Freshman year at RISD, and I thought it would be a funny gift to give him. So, after his Q&A he was walking up the crowded aisle, over run with fans, and I stopped him and told him we had a gift for him. So, Emmi gave him the Mona Lisa of Max Fischer, and he was excited, he said his girlfriend would love it, and then gave Emmi a nice forceful, appreciative hug.
5. Gone Baby Gone- I love movies about Boston. I don't know why. I can't explain it. I've watched The Departed way too many times. I watched Good Will Hunting a lot when it came out. Mystic River was an ehhh kind of movie, but it was rough and tumble as a Boston movie should be. Gone Baby Gone is a good movie, not great, but good. Casey Affleck is amazing, but as Alex Orr said, Harris and Freeman could have been played by anyone. And if someone else had played Harris' part, it could have brought a better nuance to the character, Ed Harris isn't the most subtle of actors.
6. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford- One of the best movies of the year, or the best movie of the year. How in anyone's right mind can they not like this movie? It is amazing. Flat out incredible. The train robbery sequence is one of the collest things I've ever seen. Casey Affleck, once again, steals the movie, he seems like he is going to cry or burst out of his nervous, made-fun-of, obsessed skin at any moment. Pitt is great as is Paul Schneider and Sam Rockwell. Why can't Hollywood make these kind of movies more? Because they don't have it in 'em. If this film is overshadowed by a certain Ridley Scott film come Awards season it will be a crime.
7. No Holds Barred- I'll ask the question Rip asks, "What's that smell?" The response, "Dooooooookkkiiiieeee." Yes, this film is dookie. It is hilarious, also. Yes, the Hulkster cries, he gets angry, he gets revenge and all is well in the end. Except for maybe his brother who gets his neck sent into traction by Zeus.
8. The Gate- Young Stephen Dorff and his friend open a gate to hell that unleashes tiny demons into the world. I don't know what to say. It was rock n' roll that caused it, explained it, but ultimately couldn't stop it. What could stop the evil? That's right, a rocket and Stephen Dorff's love. You think I'm joking?

Now is the time our heroes die.

Just recently two modern filmmakers, Ingmar Bergman and Michaelangelo Antonioni, died. Last year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Robert Altman died. These are three filmmakers that had a staggering output of films, I don't know the actual numbers of their films but put together it would be close to a hundred. Altman has had the most influence on me as a writer/filmmaker/film lover. His films always do the right thing for me. I know plenty of people who hate his movies. They say that they are to muddled or busy or that the camera work is too messy. I don't believe them. I can't believe that they are bad movies because his characters are so well made and real. It is not a coincidence that he made "Short Cuts" from Raymond Carver's stories, they are both interested in the "in between" moments, the words that are said, the actions done, that ruin lives or make lives. Altman is an original, no one makes movies like him, no one has made the kind of ensemble films that he has and then make "Secret Honor" or "3 Women". He is one of my favorites.
Bergman is a filmmaker that I can only take in doses, unless that dose is "Fanny & Alexander" which is perfect. I haven't seen enough of his films, but "Cries & Whispers" is perfect also. It is one of the most painful films I've ever seen. the choice of shots is perfect and the acting is so real it's unbelievable. I guess I've seen around six of his films (a three pack which caused an anxiety attack), and that is not enough. My friends are always bragging about what Bergman they've seen, and I need to catch up.
Antonioni is amazing. He let's his films breathe, which is long for "they're slow". He let's takes go on forever, or a person to actually respond without hard cuts. Once again I haven't seen enough of his films, but "L'Avventura" is one of my favorites. "Blow Up", if only for the concert scene with the Byrds, is as cool as it gets.
Here's a list of heroes who aren't dead yet, but could be very close:
1. Jack Nicholson
2. Jean-Luc Godard
3. Albert Maysles

These are three guys that I love. Three people that are a huge influence on me. Altman, Antonioni, and Bergman made me sad when they passed, I've had my time with each, but with all of these people they are leaving behind their work. That's what everyone wants, whether you love or hate what these guys do, it will always be around to confront you or comfort you. And I will always be sad about Chris Farley, who might have influenced me more than anyone, no joke, I love that guy.

Ricky the Dragon Steamboat and my Lost Youth.

This isn't really about Ricky the Dragon, but it does have to do with wrestling and my childhood. Some kids were WWF and others WCW. I was WCW. I would wake up every Saturday morning around 6am, or my father would wake me up so I could watch the early edition of WCW, I also watched the 6:30pm on Saturday, and the 8pm on Sunday. Why I was a wrestling fanatic early on, I don't know, because I hated it once I got into middle school and went "grunge". In 1990, all I thought about were GI Joes, the Stinger splash, the figure four leg lock, and what a hit to the solar plexus (sp?) was.
The other day I decided to check youtube for some old school wrestling, of course it was there, and the pinnacle of my wrestling love was there in all it's glory. Terry Funk and the Great Muta whipping the Nature Boy Ric Flair. I hated Ric Flair, I absolutely hated the guy. When Terry Funk injured Flair's neck on the announcer's fold out table I jumped for joy, not because of Terry Funk, that guy was a redneck and was right up there with my disdain for the Four Horsemen (Arn Anderson was a balding wimp.), but because Ric Flair got what was coming to him.
Anyway, back to Flair getting stomped. So the Great Muta had spit Kool-Aid in Flair's face and he Funk were having a good roundabout punch fest with the blonde, and then.....and then....who appears? At first, all you see are the pink tights with the scorpion, and that's all it takes. "It's Sting!" "The Stinger's coming to the ring!" The announcers are screaming, I'm standing in my living room in awe with my orange Nerf sponge basketball ready for a dunk on the sliding glass door squeezed as tight as it would go. Sidenote: Sting and Flair were incredible rivals back in the day. Is Sting really gonna help him? Is this really happening?
Sting runs into the ring and pounds the Great Muta and Terry Funk with Flair. This is it, my respect for Ric Flair, and another white boy, Larry Bird, go through the roof. If Sting can respect Flair, then I can respect the Bird. So, the match ends with Sting and Flair with their arms raised triumphant, collaborators and buddies who a few weeks later will take those two on again in a cage match (the greatest of all wrestling ploys other than the Royal Rumble), with two rings, not one, but two in a cage. I don't think their friendship lasted long because Flair, moron, turned on the Stinger. So, this takes us to Six Flags over Georgia.
My cousin, Kyle, and I and my dad were waiting in line for the Great Gasp when two large Samoans walk up. Yep, it was the Samoan Swat team, one of our favorites, with their kids. And the first thing out of Kyle's mouth is, "Is wrestling fake?" This is like "is Santa Claus real?" for a wishful ten year old. And one of the Samoans replies, to an eleven year old, "If I wanted to knock you out, I could do it." Kyle turns to my dad and goes, "See, I told you it wasn't fake." Dad replies with nervous laughter.
I always believed wrestling was real, I never doubted it, until I bought ARMY combat boots, steel toed, at P & M in Athens, and started listening to Nirvana (overrated). I've had those boots since I was 13, I threw them out the other day with other things that I didn't need because I'm trying to lighten my moving load. I went out to the dumpster the next day, and someone had gone through all the crap I threw out, and there were my boots, that I had worn to every concert from age 15 to 22, lying on the ground. So, I picked them up, looked at them again and threw back in the trash. I felt a little bad about throwing them out, but then I realized how stupid it was to put too much meaning into a piece of clothing, and to carry these shoes that don't really fit anymore around with me. What, was I gonna get them bronzed? Thinking about what things: cd's, clothes, old GI Joe packages I've saved, mean to me, are nothing compared to the fond memories I have of my childhood, and how I will never be the same optimistic, free wheeling, naive kid that I was. I think a lot about how I was eighteen years ago, it s a very romantic view, and I hope that the feeling of those memories will take sometime again soon. There are fleeting starry eyed moments when you are an adult, and when they hit, you know, because your throat gets tight, your eyes well up, and you get the feeling that you may never experience that again.