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Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Christmas times three
Christmas times three. This is the third Christmas celebration I have been to in the last three days. Too much food. Too little sleep. Too many toys. I love it.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:25th Ave S,Nashville,United States
Monday, January 7, 2008
I love being LOST
I just received the LOST Season 3 Set on Blu-Ray, and I’m watching the last three episodes right now: Greatest Hits, and Through the Looking Glass Parts 1 and 2. LOST looks great in high definition, and it sounds great. The thing that gets me about this show, is that the production values in the show are better than a lot of hollywood films made today. I also kind of like the idea that it is such a cult show, in that the LOST faithful are fanatical and examine every detail. Those that don’t watch it, hate it. My personal opinion is that the people who don’t watch it hate the show because they want to watch it, but just can’t get caught up. I feel about this show the same way that scarcrest feels about The Wire. If you can get caught up, get caught up. It’s the best thing on network television. I mean, come on, how many retreads of Law and Order or CSI can one person watch?
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Superdrag
You guys have probably never heard me talk about one of my favorite bands, Superdrag. Although I first heard them on 120minutes back in the early 90’s, I quickly personalized them when I discovered they were from Knoxville. If you have never heard their music, I would encourage you to check out any of their albums. My personal favorite to start with would be “In the Valley of Dying Stars”, and then go to their debut, “Regretfully Yours”, followed by one of their best loved but most challenging records “A Head Trip In Every Key”. Then you can finish up with “Last Call for Vitriol” before diving into lead singer John Davis’ great new solo album, “Arigato!”
Here’s a link to some great audio files and a wonderful write-up/interview!
Here’s a link to some great audio files and a wonderful write-up/interview!
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Seen, Read and Heard Update
First of all, a musical number in the middle of Spider-man 3 was not only a bad idea, it was painfully campy in a series that seemed to get its feet under it in the second movie. Venom was very disappointing, and not nearly the imposing, creepy menace that Todd McFarlane intended him to be. I almost want to sell the dvd that I spent $20.00 on.
I’m currently listening to the unabridged audiobook of Dune during my commute. It’s all I can do not to go and rent the Sci-Fi Channel’s mini-series during the reading of it, because I would love to see how it compares to the book, which, unfortunately, I had not read prior to seeing David Lynch’s film version. I find the books philosophies the most interesting part of it, and the parallels to the religion of this world are noteworthy. The ideas of self control, as evidenced by the Bene Gesserit teachings, are very buddhist in nature. Their motivations and involvement in politics and manipulation mirror the conservative right. Very interesting book.
I’ve been listening to a lot of different music this week:
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - ”Raising Sand“ - I didn’t think I would like this record, but T-Bone Burnett’s unlikely pairing of the angelic Krauss and the aging Plant is inspired. They’ve taken songs that have been overlooked or forgotten, including Tom Waits and Mel Tillis, and given them a reworking. I expected something weak and uninspired, yet another Nashville bastardization of two great artists. I was so wrong. It’s creepy, moody, atmospheric, and at times unsettling. This is one of my favorite albums of the year.
Dead Kennedys - ”Milking the Sacred Cow“ - A nice retrospective, and provides the new DK listener the ability to hear some classic punk songs that aren’t available anymore as the discs are out of print.
The Cult - “Born Into This“ - Boring. Boring. Boring. My favorite college band has reached a new low. This doesn’t reinvent the band, it buries it.
Radiohead - ”In Rainbows” - Their best album since OK Computer. It engages you at the very first song, “15 Steps”, and it has no filler. It comes in at a lean 10, well chosen, songs. Radiohead should be very proud of what they’ve accomplished, despite the fact that this artistic masterpiece is likely to be overlooked by the RIAA issues of their self-marketing of the album outside of the record industry.
I’m currently listening to the unabridged audiobook of Dune during my commute. It’s all I can do not to go and rent the Sci-Fi Channel’s mini-series during the reading of it, because I would love to see how it compares to the book, which, unfortunately, I had not read prior to seeing David Lynch’s film version. I find the books philosophies the most interesting part of it, and the parallels to the religion of this world are noteworthy. The ideas of self control, as evidenced by the Bene Gesserit teachings, are very buddhist in nature. Their motivations and involvement in politics and manipulation mirror the conservative right. Very interesting book.
I’ve been listening to a lot of different music this week:
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - ”Raising Sand“ - I didn’t think I would like this record, but T-Bone Burnett’s unlikely pairing of the angelic Krauss and the aging Plant is inspired. They’ve taken songs that have been overlooked or forgotten, including Tom Waits and Mel Tillis, and given them a reworking. I expected something weak and uninspired, yet another Nashville bastardization of two great artists. I was so wrong. It’s creepy, moody, atmospheric, and at times unsettling. This is one of my favorite albums of the year.
Dead Kennedys - ”Milking the Sacred Cow“ - A nice retrospective, and provides the new DK listener the ability to hear some classic punk songs that aren’t available anymore as the discs are out of print.
The Cult - “Born Into This“ - Boring. Boring. Boring. My favorite college band has reached a new low. This doesn’t reinvent the band, it buries it.
Radiohead - ”In Rainbows” - Their best album since OK Computer. It engages you at the very first song, “15 Steps”, and it has no filler. It comes in at a lean 10, well chosen, songs. Radiohead should be very proud of what they’ve accomplished, despite the fact that this artistic masterpiece is likely to be overlooked by the RIAA issues of their self-marketing of the album outside of the record industry.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
What Dumbledore and Han Solo have in common...
It would appear that I have been hornswaggled. I say this with great humor, because I do not feel decieved. Rather, I feel cheated. It would appear that much to the delight of the extreme left, and much to the dismay of longtime piner Minerva McGonagall, that the beloved headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, was in fact, gay.
Now, Dumbledore being light in the loafers really doesn’t really bother me. I could truly care less as to whether the mentor, sometime father figure, and inspiration of Harry Potter was a homosexual, or that his love for another man may have influenced his decision making. The problem that I have with this is, “why reveal it now?”
I’ve never been a big fan of the retread, or the addendum, to existing works. This isn’t the first time that our soft spoken, yet rumored to be bitchy, Englishwoman Ms. Rowling, has changed the work after she was written it. In her interview on NBC regarding the Deathly Hallows, she gives an “update” to the Epilogue that she wrote, which had only come out a week earlier. She told us about the further adventures of our heroes and heroines in the books, and specifically what they are doing in their careers. Why? If it was so important for us to know, then why tell us about it rather than write it in your book? Is it because you didn’t like the original draft that included all that drivel, so it was better to leave it out? That’s what you said, so stick to your guns. Don’t add to the mythology. Which brings me to Sir George...
I didn’t appreciate it when George Lucas decided to “revisit” the original Star Wars trilogy. So, George, you want to update the old films to fix the weird black discolored boxes that float around the spaceships when flying against the backdrop of space? Fine. Bigger explosions? Fine. The strange eraser smear under the landspeeder fixed? Fine. Make it so that Greedo shoots first, and Han defends himself? WHAT?!
What George Lucas did by changing the Han Solo/Greedo fight redefined the character. It made Han Solo much more noble and endearing. He was defending himself, you see. I, however, saw Star Wars in 1977, and I liked the scoundrel. I never wanted to be Luke Skywalker. I wanted to be the badass Han Solo that shot people who threatened him. In 1997, however, George Lucas changed the way that an entire generation felt about that character, and it was criminal.
Now, J.K. Rowling has done the same to Dumbledore. No child or adult will ever reread the Harry Potter series, or look at the Harry Potter movies the same way again. She has brought us along for seven books over the last ten years. We have grown to love Dumbledore, and mourned his passing in Book 6. At the end of Book 7, we feel as if we, and Harry, finally have an understanding of what Dumbledore was, and what he stood for. The fact that he is gay does not change any of these facts. It merely changing how we perceive the character. Whether she intended to or not, she has redefined him. I don’t like Dumbledore any less as a character. I just have to look at him a different way now, as his motivations for his relationship with Grindelwald, the dark wizard, were not out of respect for his skill, but out of his love for the man. Perhaps that means when he spoke of genocide and cleansing, he was doing so because he fell in love and it corrupted him. That’s a serious, serious character shift. If you didn’t include it in the book, Ms. Rowling, why bring it up now?
When speaking about the epilogue, J.K. Rowling said “... it didn’t work very well as a piece of writing. It felt very much that I had crowbarred in every bit of information I could … In a novel you have to resist the urge to tell everything.” You should also stick to your guns, and remember what you said.
Now, Dumbledore being light in the loafers really doesn’t really bother me. I could truly care less as to whether the mentor, sometime father figure, and inspiration of Harry Potter was a homosexual, or that his love for another man may have influenced his decision making. The problem that I have with this is, “why reveal it now?”
I’ve never been a big fan of the retread, or the addendum, to existing works. This isn’t the first time that our soft spoken, yet rumored to be bitchy, Englishwoman Ms. Rowling, has changed the work after she was written it. In her interview on NBC regarding the Deathly Hallows, she gives an “update” to the Epilogue that she wrote, which had only come out a week earlier. She told us about the further adventures of our heroes and heroines in the books, and specifically what they are doing in their careers. Why? If it was so important for us to know, then why tell us about it rather than write it in your book? Is it because you didn’t like the original draft that included all that drivel, so it was better to leave it out? That’s what you said, so stick to your guns. Don’t add to the mythology. Which brings me to Sir George...
I didn’t appreciate it when George Lucas decided to “revisit” the original Star Wars trilogy. So, George, you want to update the old films to fix the weird black discolored boxes that float around the spaceships when flying against the backdrop of space? Fine. Bigger explosions? Fine. The strange eraser smear under the landspeeder fixed? Fine. Make it so that Greedo shoots first, and Han defends himself? WHAT?!
What George Lucas did by changing the Han Solo/Greedo fight redefined the character. It made Han Solo much more noble and endearing. He was defending himself, you see. I, however, saw Star Wars in 1977, and I liked the scoundrel. I never wanted to be Luke Skywalker. I wanted to be the badass Han Solo that shot people who threatened him. In 1997, however, George Lucas changed the way that an entire generation felt about that character, and it was criminal.
Now, J.K. Rowling has done the same to Dumbledore. No child or adult will ever reread the Harry Potter series, or look at the Harry Potter movies the same way again. She has brought us along for seven books over the last ten years. We have grown to love Dumbledore, and mourned his passing in Book 6. At the end of Book 7, we feel as if we, and Harry, finally have an understanding of what Dumbledore was, and what he stood for. The fact that he is gay does not change any of these facts. It merely changing how we perceive the character. Whether she intended to or not, she has redefined him. I don’t like Dumbledore any less as a character. I just have to look at him a different way now, as his motivations for his relationship with Grindelwald, the dark wizard, were not out of respect for his skill, but out of his love for the man. Perhaps that means when he spoke of genocide and cleansing, he was doing so because he fell in love and it corrupted him. That’s a serious, serious character shift. If you didn’t include it in the book, Ms. Rowling, why bring it up now?
When speaking about the epilogue, J.K. Rowling said “... it didn’t work very well as a piece of writing. It felt very much that I had crowbarred in every bit of information I could … In a novel you have to resist the urge to tell everything.” You should also stick to your guns, and remember what you said.