For many years, Very Bad Things reigned as the single worst movie I had ever seen. Tonight, we have a new champion! A hardy congratulations goes out to Hard Candy! What a nauseatingly terrible film. Beautifully shot, well acted, and just stupid beyond belief.
You know what, no discussion of worst movies ever made can be had without mentioning The Devil’s Advocate.
I was trying to relate this story the other night at poker, about how a woman was in a “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest, and I left out the part that they had to drink 8 ounces of water every 15 minutes. Amy and I want a Wii as much as the next person, but that whole competition has Darwin Award written all over it. I’m surprised more of those people didn’t die. That radio station is screwed!
In what may be my geekiest admission, I just hit level 60 in World of Warcraft. It only took me 17 days, 17 hours, and 45 minutes of playing time, spread out over the course of a year and two weeks. Woo-hoo!
It’s strange. When I first downloaded the demo of the game over the holidays a year ago, I didn’t think I’d like it: I don’t like RPGs, and I generally don’t like fantasy. WoW is just fun. And so addicting!
Now to get started on those thank-you notes…
Other than the great coffee-shop shows by my friend the incomparable Kevin Taylor, I haven’t been to many concerts in the last year or two. My jar of First Avenue ticket stubs was starting to get pretty dusty. So I was excited when Amy and I had a chance to see Rhett Miller play there on Friday night.
He certainly didn’t disappoint. He played a dense, rockin’ set for over two hours with only a minute or two of break near the end. Rhett is such a great performer: excuberant, enthusiastic, and energetic… and he doesn’t miss a beat or kick or expression if a string or guitar strap breaks. I got to hear all my favorites from his last two albums, not to mention those from the Old 97’s.
I first experienced Rhett Miller’s music when he was the opening act at a Tori Amos concert I was dragged to a few years ago. With just a mic and an acoustic guitar, he demonstrated all the aformentioned talent along with great pop hook and impressed me immediately. I even bought the disc at the show - a rare event. Not sure what else to say. Rhett Miller just strikes the perfect balance between power pop and alt country with clever, witty, and heartfelt lyrics that never lack from inventive wordplay and allusion.
Anyway, go see Rhett when he’s in your town. Until then, spin The Instigator and The Believer until the laser breaks.
It’s about time! One month after its release and countless trips to Target, Best Buy and who knows where else, I finally hooked up an Xbox 360, thanks to Ian Drake’s notification service and Circuit City. Happy Festivus!
Holy moly, is sudoku like crack. I just finished my first “evil” puzzle. It only took me forty minutes (eh, on the fourth try). It’s 1:30 AM, and I’m struggling to not do “just one more…”
Holy smokes is Kung Fu Hustle a good movie. It manages to have and be everything (action, comedy, romance, noir, mystery, fantasy, flashbacks, dance numbers, serious, and silly) all wrapped up in to one, and it’s still an excellent and beautiful film. It’s like The Matrix crossed with Casablanca, sprinkled with a few classic Saturday morning cartoons. Add it to your Netflix queue immediately!
The nice Alpine deck I bought only a year and a half ago went belly up last week after a gradual decline over the summer. Frustrated but in dire need of a new car stereo with some sort of iPod connectivity, I hit Best Buy.
It seems that all the major manufacturers (Kenwood, Pioneer, Alpine) have iPod adapters for their nicer decks, but quite frankly, they all suck! They’re super slow, and they all provide a far less usable and enjoyable interface than the iPod itself. It’s great that they power the iPod, but it would be so easy to duplicate the iPod control with a knob and a couple of buttons.
Failing that, why can’t they at least supply the option of just using the iPod itself as the interface? Just give it power and take the sound. It seems so obvious to me yet they all make it so much work. Finally I’m left with wanting what I had before: a deck with stereo inputs on the back.
This was pretty hard to find when I bought the Alpine, but this time I had a lot of options. Taking a chance, I decided to go with the cheapest one they had: the Dual XDM6820.
I couldn’t be more pleased. The thing does everything very well, doesn’t look ridiculously gaudy, sports a nice UI, and sounds great (to me, but I’m no audiophile). I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to listen to their iPod in the car. Only $99, and much, much better than a tape deck adapter or FM Modulator.
We took in the Guthrie’s new production of As You Like It last night. I’m not sure if it’s because I was so tired (someone in the neighborhood has an ugly, red, debadged Oldsmobile SUV with an overly anxious alarm, and he or she occasionally likes to park it just outside my window), or if I was too distracted by Parisian daydreams, but I can’t say I liked it much.
I was certainly in an enjoyable mood thanks to the company of four young hotties, Vanilla K and the sistas Ryczek - a lovely little doo-wop group who always affords me the luxury of not needing to speak. And the play was mildy entertaining, but the consensus was that it just wasn’t that interesting. As You Like It also suffered from poor continuity and lackluster direction. The musical interludes seemed forced.
And the audience just wasn’t buying it. The climactic, show-stopping musical number featured a Diana Ross-like diva rocking out while chorus members clapped rhythmically in a clear attempt to bait us in to clapping along. I think maybe three or four people joined in. Final bows drew little ovation and none standing (other than to leave).
In its favor, Bianca Amato was great as Rosalind. I’ve enjoyed her Pygmalion and Pride and Prejudice, and she was certainly the diamond in this rough, rough production.