the new pop drawl.
the lana del ray record is good. this may be old news in a month or two. i recommend "off to the races" or "diet mountain dew" but the full record will get your attention, whether you direct it to or not.
uda.
people know i like film. MOVIES, BRO. we've had conversations at length, thrown recommendations back and forth.
how is it that no one walked, bee-lined in fact, to me and stood an arm's length from me and put their hand on my shoulder, looked me in the eyes and said, "fassbender in hunger." or anything like that. anything mentioning to me that performance. how have i missed this for 3 years? it took me until late last year when someone started telling me about shame, which i didn't even end up checking out anyway simply due to lack of drive, to check out mcqueen and his previous work. a one minute short (exodus) and this film which was already on my netflix queue.
wow.
heavy movie, heavy political theme... a great film over all. but fassbender's performance is something i will never forget. the best i can compare it to is christian bale in the machinist for the sheer physical commitment to the role. i also am stunned, completely, by mcqueen's 16.5 minute single shot of a conversation held between two characters, also very emotionally taut and direct. if nothing else, start at around the forty minute mark and watch through to the credits. be floored by the work.
(also: b-line? beeline? bee-line? b line? bee line?)
considered delivered.
I was never a huge fan of podcasts.
When I first heard of them, I was like "who the fuck has the time to sit for a full hour or two and just listen?" Convinced this media was extremely niche and not worth looking into, I cast them aside.
I'm here now to tell you I was definitely wrong. Here's a few I've discovered over the last 12 months or so that have been 100% worth my time.
A) THE SMODCAST NETWORK
Just go to smodcast.com and take a look at the establishment that director/writer/actor/everythinger Kevin Smith, his producer Scott Mosier and their friends have created over the past 4-5 years or so. There's now dozens of podcasts that merge in with what is now called "S.I.R." or Smodcast Internet Radio, a station that broadcasts different shows DAILY. Most of the content is 100% free, I implore you to check some of them out. 100% FREE on iTunes. Here's my recommendations:
Hollywood Babble-On - This show, recorded live in front of a paying audience, features Kevin Smith and a guy named Ralph Garman (who you've probably heard before without knowing). Garman is known for his radio gigs in CA, but is mostly known for his bit parts on a little show called Family Guy. He's an absolute genius at the art of impersonation, can do more celebrity voices than anyone I've ever heard of, and is really hilarious. Between the two of them, this is the best podcast/show I've ever heard. Smith and Garman answer viewer mail, talk about Hollywood rumors, new stories about celebs, nerd news (they're both comic book and sci-fi nuts), how big Liam Neeson's cock supposedly is, and more. Their back-and-forth commentary is very fluid and extremely entertaining. Feels like they've been doing it for years.
SModcast - This was (obviously) the first show on the network and is quite simply just a sit-down discussion between Kevin Smith and his producer/best friend, Scott Mosier. While Smith won't shut up and who's joke content is made up of mostly dick and fart jokes, Mosier is laid back, travelled, low key and quite hilarious in his own right. The conversations between these two are great, no matter what they talk about. Sometimes there's a clear "point A to point B" with their show, sometimes Smith is literally just picking up a newspaper talking about what he finds inside, but it's always worth your time.
B) DOUG LOVES MOVIES
douglovesmovies.com is the URL. Hosted by comedian Doug Benson in front of a live audience, this show features a rotating cast of guests and revolves around playing games and discussion about, what else? movies! Now, I'm not a huge fan of Doug Benson the stand-up comic, although he admittedly is a pretty funny guy outside of his actual 'material'. He's mostly known for The Marijuana-logues, the documentary Super High Me, and anything else weed-related. The BEST draw about this podcast/show is the rotating guest cast, and the layout of the show itself. Normally Doug brings on 3-5 guests other than himself and they play games based on film trivia, and discuss films in general. The guests are usually stand-up comic friends, sometimes little-known directors or actors. Let me tell you this right now; the caliber of stand-up comics he has on this show is fucking exceptional. And if you're anything like me who appreciates great stand-up comics, their material, their personalities, and their ability to be funny off-the-cuff and improvise... you're going to love this show. Don't believe me? What if I tell you about the episode where Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Benson, and others are on the same fucking stage together ripping on each other? What about the episode where Zach Galifianakis, Nick Swardson, Benson and others are on the same stage? Todd Glass? Aziz Ansari? Eugene Mirman? Sarah Silverman? Matt Braunger? If you don't know any of these people you should check them out regardless, BUT these guys on the same stage all interacting and discussing their favorite flicks is a dream come true for me. Totally worth diving into. Download the ones with the guests that interest you the most first, then branch out. FREE on iTunes.
C) UHHH YEAH DUDE
Another free podcast put out by two friends, Seth Romatelli and Jonathan Larroquette. Described as "a weekly round-up of America through the eyes of two American Americans." free on iTunes. It's not necessarily political, it's just ridiculous. It's a sit-down discussion and back-and-forth between two dudes. How did I come across this 'cast? It was a recommendation from a friend of mine, and I'm sure he came across it the same way. Since this show isn't made by or backed by anyone with any form of pull in the industry, so you have to respect how far it has come by word-of-mouth alone. Let me just say though, the banter between these two guys is fucking hilarious. I love the conversations they have and it reminds me (in aesthetic, not content) of the ridiculous conversations my friends have together. absolutely worth checking out... because it's free, asshole.
If you're like me and are saying "I definitely don't have time to devote an hour or more to each of these weekly", consider this. How long does it take you to drive to work every day, 15-30 mins? How long does it take you to fall asleep every night after you turn the lights off? This is ample time to check them out.
1993 Called
This is the demo version. It's so much better than what was actually released on the album.
no sign of slowing down.
just got turned onto these guys, and although i believe i'm only two or three months late on the new joints, i feel like i've missed out on a movement. very righteous sound coming from these guys. they bring a sunny disposition to the fore, sounding a bit inspired by the later nanna (specifically hey mercedes) and vocally have the strength and range of something like as tall as lions. what is truly, truly incredible is that these guys are giving you the opportunity to grab their catalog gratis via their bandcamp. very excited about what these guys are doing. even more excited, actually, that i just found out about their charlie brown christmas track, christmas time is here, on the first day of snow landing on the ground and not dissipating. shades up, listening to that tune, not shoveling snow? choice.
i don’t carry a gun.
just wanted to throw a reminder/heads up that drive will be dropping on dvd and blu-ray on january 31st. this was far and away the best new film that i saw in 2011. at the very least, red box it, go on demand, stream it from the psn or xbox marketplace.
required.
uncreaking the thumbs.
i'm not quite sure when a bunch of demos went up on the xbox live network, but i know that at least a couple days ago, the one i had gone there for, kingdoms of amalur: reckoning, went up and i got around to checking it out today. i don't know much about the game itself, other than people started talking big things about it once last year started coming to a close as the next game they were excited about. and i had no idea what to expect, no clue what to think about it. i saw the artwork included a dude in massive armor that looked primed for nightmares, so i figured, alright, swords. cool.
playing the demo this morning was a really big eye opener. the game takes place in that whole medieval fantasy realm within a gnome keep where they have been attempting to raise people from the dead. you are apparently a special successful case, and it just so happens that you raised just as the place was getting invaded by the antagonist evil army. ya know. but yes, they take the genre and streamline it. whatcha wanna use, swords, daggers, bow, magic, whatever, do your thing. one button press for the range weapon, hold a trigger and press one of your four skill buttons to use a spell. bang. there is no long comparison between different weapons, it seems, sacrificing an initial level of depth for the ability to get right down to fighting and conquering things. melee attacks, yes, simple as explained. press one button repeatedly and things will die.
i like it, i'm kind of excited. it is a welcome abandon from a game like elder scrolls v: skyrim, a game which i have been hesitant to review. reckoning makes you seem unique, feel unique, and all-in-all keeps you tied to the story pretty much from the jump. i think it will be a light beginning to the gaming year, something engaging and refreshing. pretty stoked. it drops february seventh.
i also was able to fit in playing the demo for asura's wrath, which already seemed completely insane from the trailers and gameplay i'd already seen. but playing it was an entirely new level of WTF. it reminds me a bit of the scale of dragon ball z (or what little i've seen of it) with complete outer zooms of planet earth, and combat on the moon and so forth. also, powers that seem to grow in intensity from 0 to 9000 just out of necessity. it also gave me something of a darker akira vibe which was pretty great as well. seems like it will be a fun game, formatted in the episodic style of anime (even with simulated commercial bumpers, to a degree) and it will undoubtedly be a game which will create fights of epic proportions. most of the gameplay seems to unfold with random button slapping to get to a target, which will then open its way to button-time events to perform some of the scripted, over the top planet shattering maneuvers. i actually laughed a couple times playing this demo simply because of how outrageous what i was doing was becoming.
and lastly... the resident evil 6 trailer. not generally a fan of this series overall, but this trailer got me PUMPED.
the ugly robot who would when he could.
brian martinez' second novel
today, one of our own bloggers and one of my very best friends Brian Martinez is giving away his novel, kissing you is like trying to punch a ghost via the amazon kindle for FREE. follow the link here to obtain it, or obviously search via the device.
this is brian's second novel, this one in particular written during the nanowrimo of 2010. something that he's admitted was meant more for almost the exercise of the writing, plus the exorcism of an idea that just needed the breath forced into it. what results is part maniac mansion, part wristcutters, part adult swim alt science fiction that seems to grow around you and with you as you read it, each branching tendril making just as much sense as it needs to at the time. very easy to pick up and put down, and never in over its head.
jump in, it's free. and if you enjoy his material in this piece, you will definitely dig the rest of his stuff, from the serial the mountain and the city and my favorite of his, probably one of the best books i've read in the post-apocalyptic genre, a chemical fire.
more: bloodstream city.
command.
this movie looks like it will be just like any other wes anderson movie, which is a good thing for me, and a poor, pathetic and pretentious thing for others. that's fine. [young] boy likes [young] girl, [young] girl likes [young] boy, they engage, adults interfere. that seems to be the backbone and premise to the piece, though with bill murray, frances mcdormand, jason schwartzman, bruce willis and ed norton, i trust this will be a hilarious, matter-of-fact comedy that will show just how far we should keep our senses and better judgment from love and its young splendor. or something like that.
the way the young boy addresses the young girl with confidence and command tells me that he will more than likely take the role on earnestly and appropriately. i'm actually very much looking forward to the soundtrack as well, as many of anderson's scores and soundtracks have been superb.
trailer here. the film drops may 25.
vii.
the truth.
i have owned a nintendo 3DS since the day it was released. i can't say that it was one of my smarter purchases. at the time, i was commuting daily from brooklyn out to the island, figured games would drop on it and i would spend some time gaming here and there, get hooked on a hand held game pick it up when i was hanging with friends and so on. didn't happen. the story somewhat remained the same as every other hand held experience i've had in the past. when it comes down to gaming, i often will do it at home, and why would i do it on a tiny screen if i can throw down on something exponentially more powerful, larger and engaging?
well, the system has come a decent way since it was released at the $250 price point. it's since dropped eighty bucks, and finally has a couple of mario games that you can play which are far more casual than the more attention-requiring legend of zelda: ocarina of time remake. also, a new resident evil is coming out in a few weeks and about a month after that, the 3d remake of metal gear solid 3 is dropping as well. and the list continues to build.
but if there is one thing i can do to try to tip you in the way of grabbing one of these bad boys, it is this. i have just spent most of my night playing mario kart 7 which does nothing to reinvent the series or to push it forward in any way via innovation or experimentation. this is mario kart exactly the way you left it, and exactly the way you loved it. i don't have a lot to say on the subject, really. but i have quickly fallen in love with the game. the online features are fairly seamless, allowing you to join or create communities to jump into to get some quick grand prix's firing. the local multiplayer is exactly what you'd hope it to be.
stoked to be back in the fever. back in the summer between the 5th and 6th grades, i was playing the super nintendo version of this game near-constantly, regardless of whether or not i would be lapping all of the opponents or not. this game series has been a staple for me, and i'm glad to say that this one holds up perfectly. choice.