Quick Reviews - Movie Catch Up

The Simpsons
What’s it say when the one character who doesn’t talk has the best lines in the movie? I really didn’t enjoy this big screen version of one of TV’s funniest families. The movie felt like nothing more than an overlong, under-funny TV episode. The baby Maggie did steal the show every scene she was in. I wouldn’t recommend this movie for viewing in the theater – wait for it to run on TV for free.
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The Bourne Ultimatum
A fantastically made action film. There isn’t but a moment or two where Jason Bourne isn’t running or fighting for his life. I really enjoyed how this third movie reflected so much of the first movie. It felt like the story was brought full circle – with everything neatly tied up. I’m still going to have to give Live Free or Die Hard the nod for best summer action flick, but the two movies are very different. Just as Transformers is different, but still an amazing summer film.

Also, I want to note the score for this movie by John Powell. It’s amazing and well worth a listen.
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Hot Rod
Moronic, but quite funny in more than a few parts. I mean, the whole point of the movie is Rod raising money to fight his dying step-dad in an attempt to gain his respect. The influence of the 80’s is heavy in this film. You’ve been warned. It’s a bit like Napoleon Dynamite doing stunts (and failing horribly at them). I would recommend this for a mindless diversion at the theater. It helps that Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers, The Lookout)is hot and Ian McShane (Deadwood) is totally cool.

“What the hell! Is that a throwing star?”

Oh Rod, you are so boned.
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Stardust
I was happy to find that I enjoyed this movie. I really liked the novel it was based on and hoped the movie would live up my expectations. Where the movie was most magical was in those moments that it remained truest to the original novel. The problem with adaptations – even the best of the lot – is that they invariably alter or omit some part of the original story. And if you loved the story – and in this case I did - you feel for those missing parts. All in all, this is a very good, straightforward fantasy flick.

Quick Reviews - Music Catch Up

Living with the Living by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Always a big fan of Ted Leo. Haven’t listened to this disc all that much, but it seems along the same line as his previous efforts. Nothing new, that is, but still good and rocking indie music.
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Cigarettes & Gasoline by Emerson Hart
After seeing Hart live earlier this summer, I knew I had to own this disc. I was not disappointed. This one’s a winner.
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End of Silence by Red
Not all that impressed. In fact, after only a few listens, I’m pretty sure it won’t get much playtime. However, I do enjoy “Breathe Into Me” – it was the reason I bought the disc.
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Score) by Nicholas Hooper
Best of the year find. This is an amazing addition to the Harry Potter musical universe. I enjoy the new rift on “Hedwig’s Theme” along with the super great theme created for the delightfully evil Professor Umbridge. An amazing score from Nicholas Hooper, an unknown to me, but a composer I’ll watch for.
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rodrigo y gabriela by Rodrigo y Gabriela
Best of the year find. I simply love acoustic guitar music. Like piano music, it fascinates me when people can play instruments so well. There’s even a cover of Metallica’s “Orion.” Something for everyone.
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The Bourne Ultimatum (Score) by John Powell
Best of the year find. This score moves. And rocks. It makes you feel as though you are Jason Bourne and fighting for your life. This is music that will get you pumped up. Amazing stuff.
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Live from Austin, TX by Neko Case
A country/bluegrass style of music. Case has a haunting country voice. I saw her live with A Fine Frenzy and was pretty impressed. This album contains many of the same tracks she played at the show I saw. It’s an amazing thing when an artist makes me enjoy a song by Bob Dylan (“Buckets of Rain”).
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The Singles Collection vol. 1 by Dropkick Murphys
I bought this to help complete my Dropkick collection. It includes many live tracks. I would pay quite a bit to see these dudes rock live. For now, this will have to do.
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Brace Yourself by Dropping Daylight
Bought this one for the amazing piano playing on “Blame Me.” One song worth the price of the entire album. The other songs contain more of the same piano and are great. A worthy addition to my harder rock collection.
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Anthem for the Underdog by 12 Stones
A little slower and softer rock from the band’s two previous albums. Still, I enjoy the lead singer’s voice and the band does rock. This is straight up Wind-Up rock.

New Media - August 14, 2007

New media arrives in stores on Tuesdays, so once a week – I try to limit myself to once a week – I go shopping for new books, DVDs, and music.

Here’s a taste of what has been added to my collection in the past week.

Books:
Pen and Wash by Robert Jennings
Perspective by William F. Powell
They Hunger by Scott Nicholson

Comics:
Casanova #8
Justice League Elite vol. 1 (TPB)
Alan Moore’s Complete WildC.A.T.S. (TPB)

DVDs:
The Last Boyscout
Smallville: Season 5 (TV series)

Music:
Live from Austin, TX by Neko Case
One Cell in the Sea by A Fine Frenzy (yes, I bought it again)
The Singles Collection vol. 1 by Dropkick Murphys
Brace Yourself by Dropping Daylight
Another for the Underdog by 12 Stones

Look for these materials to join The Stacks in the near future. Some might even sneak by The Stacks and end up mentioned here before you know it.

My New Job

I did finally manage to land a job. A great job.

The thing is, I'm not going to talk about it here, on this blog. The purpose of this blog is to act as "a collection of thoughts about books, movies, comics, and TV." I know I've been commenting on my life from the inception of the blog, but in this instance I want to keep my professional life separate from my personal.

So yeah, I am very happy to have my job. Whoo!

A Realization

I am so far behind on my reviews and thoughts and posts in general that I have decided to simply compile a collection of lists to post. For some things that I've already started to write about, I'll just post what I've got and be done with it. For others I'll just name what I've seen or read - maybe add a quick sentence or two. I'll post these quick bits this week with the hope that next Monday, August 20th, I'll be back on track.

If you see anything that you would like to know more about, just post a comment and I'll write more/answer any questions.

I know it's a bit of a cheat, but with the new job and the massive amount of work involved, I will only fall farther and farther behind. It has always been my intention to stay current with my life, and right now I'm still back in July, review-wise.

It'll be nice to be back in the present day.

The Stacks - August 13, 2007

The Stacks, a weekly list of all I’m currently reading, or watching on DVD. New materials added are underlined.

Books:
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
The Dark Tower (Dark Tower book 7) by Stephen King
Nightwatch by Sergei Lukayaneko
On Writing by Stephen King
Rant by Chuck Palahniuk
No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
Tumble Home: A Novella and Short Stories by Amy Hempel
Pretty Little Mistakes by Heather McElhatton
I, California by Stacey Grenrock Woods
Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper
Bite by Richard Laymon
His Dark Materials – Book III: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
Spook Country by William Gibson

Magazines:
Paste issue 32, June 2007
Corel Painter: Official Magazine #5

DVDs:
The X-Files: Season 6 (TV series)
Weeds: Season 1 (TV series)
Deadwood: Season 3 (TV series)
Futurama: Season 2 (TV series)
Black Snake Moan
The Replacement Killers
Spawn: The Animated Collection (TV series)
300
Rome: Season 1 (TV series)

Comics:
Blood: A Tale (TPB)
The Other Side (GN)
Beyond! (TPB)
Pearls Before Swine: Lions and Tigers and Crocs, Oh My! by Stephan Pastis (Treasury)
Grendel Archives (TPB)
Grendel: Devil by the Deed (TPB)
Alan Moore’s Complete WildC.A.T.S (TPB)

Look for reviews/thoughts of selected materials from The Stacks…when I finish something. Anything.

The Decision

Home. I chose sleep.

I'm so very, very tired.

Torn

I'm torn. Do I go to a late movie, or do I stay home and get some rest? If I go to the movie (Rush Hour 3), then I'll end up with only 4-5 hours sleep before my day-long meeting on my first day of work. If I don't go to the movie I can catch up on some of the sleep that I've been getting precious little of since Thursday.

I love movies. I don't want to fall asleep on my first day of work.

Choices, oh choices.

Counting Crows, Third Eye Blind, and Collective Soul in Concert

I just got back from listening to Counting Crows, Third Eye Blind, and Collective Soul in concert at Principal Park (home of the Iowa Cubs). I was there with Neal, Missi, and Megan, and it was a fun time.

The bands were all great. It was nice to hear some of the songs that were popular with me back in high school after such a long time of not hearing them much at all. Counting Crows gave the best performance, with Collective Soul coming in a close second. Third Eye Blind was good, but I just wasn't as into the performace as much as I was with the other two bands. It's probably because I knew fewer of their songs, and that makes a big difference.

This ends my music-filled past few days. Over the last 3 days I've seen 7 different bands perform. Not too shabby.

Shrinking the Pile - August 10, 2007

pile (pil) n. 1. informal A large accumulation or quantity. 2. A whole lot of Josh – more than necessary, or healthy. (American Heritage Dictionary)

Shrinking the Pile is a record of my attempt to become a more healthy dude by losing a large accumulation of weight through exercise and a healthy diet.
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Weight last week: 246 lbs
Weight this week: 250 lbs
Change of: +4 lbs

It’s that blasted Vitamin Water. It’s so tasty, but contains calories – which add up.

No, it’s simply that I still haven’t been exercising or watching what I eat.

One of these weeks it’ll kick in, that switch will be flipped, and I’ll start reducing that pile. Soon, I hope – for the sake of the world - lest I grow any larger.
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Rat: It’s called “Box Me In.” I will sell them a cardboard box and tell them to shove themselves inside it until they see results.
Goat: That’s ridiculous.
Box Me In insert: A few days after sealing the box, you will become hungry. DO NOT BE AFRAID. The box is WORKING!
(Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis)

Kansas City Bound

I'm off to Kansas City for music and gambling. I won't post again until I return Friday afternoon.

Shrinking the Pile will go up in the afternoon on Friday, so don't you all worry. You'll get your weekly fix of how fat I am.

Remember, if you are bored, you can always contribute some scenarios for Great Escapes.

Sucking In Fumes

I hate traffic. It's one of the many things I do not enjoy about driving - and I like driving. I would simply be happier if there was no one else out on the road, or in parking lots.

Today as I was driving to Johnston on the Interstate I manged to find myself stuck behind a large white truck burping smoke directly into my vents.

Gag. Me.

And I was stuck. All three lanes of traffic were full and flowing and I had nowhere to go. Even filtered through my car, the smell was awful. The joys of driving, I suppose.

The Pirate Escapes VIII

Here's how it works: the pirate is given five items - as varied and crazy as you can imagine - and a single scenario of peril to escape. From there, things get...interesting as the pirate attempts ANOTHER GREAT ESCAPE.

The Items:
1. Bar of soap
2. Safety pin
3. Hammer
4. Chopsticks
5. Direction sheet for Monopoly

The Scenario of Peril:
Lost in the woods at Rocky Mountain National Park. (Courtesy of Mom)
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It’s not often that I find myself lost anywhere – I was born with an innate sense of direction. Sometimes though, when the mountains are high enough and the park is large enough, even I can find myself a bit…misplaced.

Luckily enough, I had the tools necessary to find the path to freedom.

As I’m sure not many of you are aware, the back of the direction sheet for the game of Monopoly contains a secret Masonic map of the Rocky Mountain National Park. The Masons love their secret maps – see National Treasure if you don’t believe me. And it makes sense if you stop to think about it. Monopoly is a game of luck and chance and treasure won by buying up real estate properties. Isn’t that the Masonic code?

To activate the map hidden on the backside of the direction sheet I needed a chemical agent to react with the invisible ink. I opened up the safety pin and jabbed it into the tip of my right index finger. The flowing geyser of blood that shot from my fingertip was just the agent necessary to unlock the secret of the Monopoly direction sheet.

Not wanting to risk an infection at my wound site, I used the bar of soap and a pool of water that had collected on a large leaf to rinse and clean my owie.

Now, armed with a map of the Rocky Mountain National Park, I set off over the mountain pass that would lead me to civilization.

But, this being the forest an all, I did have one last obstacle to overcome: a man-eating (seriously, he still had man bits hanging from his jaws) bear. Acting with the speed of a cougar, I rolled past the upright bear's slashing claws, landing in range of the bear’s planted feet. I drew out my chopsticks and hammer, and nailed that sucker down. I pounded a chopstick into each of the bear’s feet, firmly fastening him to the forest floor.

The bear howled in pain as he struggled to come after me. With his feet stuck, all he could do was cry in vain.

I easily scaled the mountain pass and was soon within sight of town. While I may - very rarely - find myself lost, I know that it will be no trouble for me to accomplish Another Great Escape, Pirate.
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And that's how it is done. If you have a perilous scenario and five tools of escape to challenge me, please post them in the comments...and you will soon witness: Another Great Escape, Pirate!

New Comics - August 8, 2007

Cover of the Week:
X-Factor #22 by Pablo Raimondi
Marvel Comics

There weren’t any amazing covers this week. I could have put up the cover to Green Arrow: Year One #3, but I wanted to keep this gallery full of variety – not to say that the Arrow cover by Jock isn’t amazing, it is. Instead, I chose the cover to X-Factor for it’s muted colors and heavy shadows. There’s anger here, and some really well drawn hands (which are difficult to do right). It stands out on the shelf, and that’s really what I’m looking for in this whole Cover of the Week thing – a standout cover.

This is a weekly list of the new comics I picked up at my local comic book shop, Mayhem Comics.

Green Arrow: Year One #3
Countdown #38
Batman #667
Five of a Kind: Katana and Shazam #1
Black Adam #1
Punisher War Journal #10
The Incredible Hulk #109
X-Factor #22
The New Avengers #33

100 Bullets vol. 11: Once Upon A Crime (TPB)
Scalped vol. 1: Indian Country (TPB)

Watch for thoughts or quick reviews when a comic requires the extra attention.

Simply Stunning Music: 2 Reviews - Little Voice by Sara Bareilles One Cell in the Sea by A Fine Frenzy

Little Voice by Sara Bareilles
I can’t even recall where I first heard about Sara Bareilles, but I do know that I’m tremendously grateful to have made this wonderful discovery. With a voice that blends a little Joss Stone, Leah Andreone, Fiona Apple, and Sarah McLachlan, Sara Bareilles is an amalgamation of many of my favorite female vocalists. There is not a bad song on the entire CD. Little Voice is anything but that, and one of the best albums of this year.

Solid Tracks: “Love Song” – “Vegas” – “One Sweet Love” – “Morningside” – “Many the Miles” – “Fairytale”
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One Cell in the Sea by A Fine Frenzy
I’m in love. I have a major crush on Alison Sudol – the redheaded force behind the Frenzy. I think it was all over for me when I first heard her voice and marveled at her skills on the piano. It probably helps that she can write a catchy song, too. One Cell in the Sea is my favorite album by a female vocalist this year (just beating out Sara Bareilles’s Little Voice by a fraction of a fraction of an inch). I enjoy the album so much that it played daily multiple times while riding on RAGBRAI, and still holds sway over my CD player in the car.

And the best part? I’m to see A Fine Frenzy perform live in Kansas City on Thursday, August 9, 2007! This is a concert I cannot wait to see. There will be more on this later.

Solid Tracks: “Come On, Come Out” – “You Picked Me” – “Rangers” – “Almost Lover” – “Liar, Liar” – “Hope for the Hopeless”