Not Much to Talk About

I screened my 3rd film ("Split") last week, and the class enjoyed it. It was about how quantum physics could save a suicidal college student, if only in one parallel universe.

Other than that, I've been writing papers, and more papers.

And desperately trying to think of an idea for my 4th film. My professors want me to do a more "human" story... one that isn't about concepts, but about people interacting. How boring... lol.

New Animal Collective CD is quite good.

And "Good Night, and Good Luck" was excellent. Still need to see "Capote." And "The Squid and the Whale." And soon "Jarhead."

And my brother is getting married in two weeks in Cambridge... that'll be a fun trip. I can't believe that'll I'll have two married brothers. I better become an uncle sometime soon!

That's it for now... peace all.

Long Time, No Update

Okay...

My "Innocent Voices" review

My "Innocent Voices" feature (interview with the cast, director, & writer)

And the Angels lost, but I'm still happy because they accomplished the thing I cared about most - beating the Yankees.

And besides, USC pulled out one of the greatest Trojan victories I have ever seen (and it's especially sweet because it was against that school which claims to offer "a higher education"). It is indeed a great time to be a Trojan. Fight On!

YES!

VICTORIOUS.



DEFEATED.

Mexican Standoff

The rest of the Elbow album is very good, but I don't think it lived up to the awesomeness of the first 4 tracks. Regardless, it's still one of the best CDs of the year, with standout songs like "Station Approach," "Forget Myself," and "Mexican Standoff." Elbow is great at rocking you and sounding lovely while doing it.

That new My Morning Jacket album didn't do it for me.

As for movies, I pulled a double-feature of "Wallace & Gromit" and "Corpse Bride," which are ironically both stop-motion (aka claymation) animated films. "Wallace & Gromit" was quite fun, and very sweet... and damn, Gromit is the coolest dog ever to grace the movie screen. I want him. Go see the movie.

"Corpse Bride," on the other hand, was a letdown... missing was the magic of "The Nightmare Before Christmas," and part of the reason may be that Danny Elfman cannot write catchy songs anymore. Visually, the film looks like its budget was stripped... it lacked the vibrant art direction of "Nightmare." And it just seemed like nothing was at stake. I could guess what each line of dialogue would be, and got tired of hearing so many death-related puns. I'm afraid to say that the Tim Burton of my childhood is gone.

Angels won Game 2 and Game 3, and I'm pumped. Watching these games has been a roller-coaster ride. And the Red Sox got swept...ouch. I'm happy for the White Sox.

Go Angels! Defeat those damn Yankees!

Whoa...

I'm only 4 tracks into the new Elbow album, "Leaders of the Free World," and I am fucking blown away... I can only hope the next 7 tracks are just as good.

Lots of promising music was just released ... new Franz Ferdinand, Broken Social Scene, Fiona Apple. Everyone's been talking about Wolf Parade, which I downloaded, but sorry fellas, I'm not seeing its greatness.

I'll report back about the rest of Elbow, as well as other stuff.

And oh yeah, Angels, Game 2 is all you! Come on guys!

Much to Talk About

Much has happened lately, although I'll try to keep this short since I got some work to do.

1) The New Pornographers concert was great. Went with Maggie, and she claims to have had a good time (hope she's telling the truth). But how could she not? Good music always equal a good time, and they even did a double encore, which is twice as good as a regular encore, but not as good as a supreme encore (which I have yet to experience, although one day I will, and my life will then be complete).

2) Screened Film #2 last Thurs. It's called "Playing God" and was about how God approaches his daily duty of controlling the cosmos. My class seemed to really enjoy it, which was a great relief. Now onto Film #3, and I have no ideas whatsoever...

3) The Los Angeles Angels of California, Orange County, and Anaheim have made it to the postseason... and they face the Yankees first. Personally, I wouldn't want it any other way. The Yankees are the team I despise the most because they are evil incarnate. They represent a team with a skyrocketing payroll, where each player is an All-Star with an ego (save for Jeter) and a boss who completely ignores the salary cap tax. George Steinbrenner essentially thinks "Fuck all the other teams, fuck the idea of fair baseball, I'm going to spend $206 million on this team." The next highest payroll is the Red Sox, with $121 million. It's fucking ridiculous that there's a $85 million gap between the 1st and 2nd most expensive teams. With $206 million I could buy the Royals, Devil Rays, Pirates, Brewers, and Indians, and still have $10 million left over.

By the way, the Angels are at $95 million. Yes, they have a pretty big wallet, so this isn't quite David vs. Goliath. But it is good vs. evil, West Coast vs. East Coast, team chemistry and small baseball vs. Egocentric players and big baseball. And it's going to be exciting.