Hey guys! Saw what you will about globalization but let's face it- it's nice to have McDonald's for a) reliable food and b) WIFI! So now I can get to directions to where I'm supposed to go tomorrow.
I'm in Galway for one more day. I was here for a month, then was in Cong the last two days hiking and geeking out at the Quiet Man sights. Then back to Galway, today, where I pretty much killed time buying donuts at the farmer's market, walking up to the cemetery, then watching THE DARK KNIGHT OMF and Wall-E which conveniently started right after the Dark Knight ended. I might go see Wanted next. Because I have nothing to do for the next 5 hours, when the midnight bus for Dublin leaves, and it is raining.
Anyway, the Dark Knight was amazing, and since I hadn't been paying too much attention to actual movie news (ok, who thinks Christian Bale DIDN'T do it?) I didn't know where it was going, so everything was a nice surprise. Check it out if you haven't gotten a chance!
I should probably buy something so they'll let me stay, but I don't wanna leave my stuff alone. Traveling by oneself is hard. Especially if you are carrying around as much junk as I am. And mind you, my suitcase proper is in storage with the cab co. right now. I have 3 other bags.
WOMEN.
And now for your benefit: READ The Long Halloween if ya haven't and want more Harvey Dent goodness.
So since I've realized I've been a very very poor and lazy blog-sitter (SORRY!!!), I've decided that it would be a good idea for me to actually do an occasional post....
I just really like it. On some compilation I have, mysteriously and vaguely called "Capitol Classics 1940's" with a bunch of other country/western, folky, cowboy swing type songs.
I've been pretty much only listening to that comp, Gene Autry, and the Riders in the Sky recently, so...... And watching a ton of John Ford. Been looking for some Sons of the Pioneers, hopefully with Ken Curtis doing lead vocals, but haven't been able to determine what would be a good buy, so haven't yet (Any suggestions?).... And listening to this lecture series on Rome and the Barbarians. Perhaps more on that later, as another thing I like this summer.
Irish television has been a bit different than the television back home. I'm not talking about the shows- four to five hours of Friends everyday- I'm talking about the wacky, wacky commercials. (There's one with cavemen and yogurt?)
I can't get over this one. Check it out. The happiest Jamaican dude ever, the sourest Subcontinent (?) dude ever, and a creepy Teutonic biker. The world is such a happy place under Vodafone.
I'm getting back into Muse on this trip, mostly because I finally saw this video, which I didn't even know existed. Whoever didn't tell me about it is a criminal. The album came out 2 years ago, so you probably all saw this way back when, but for those of you who haven't seen it, how's this: spaghetti western meets sci-fi meets kung-fu film. So what does that mean? Cowboys laser guns unicorns robots and so much more.
Somebody needs to get Matt Bellamy and the boys to score an epic movie or else they might explode. Muse makes great uber-dramatic stuff, and this vid fits that style perfectly. My only criticism is that they should have limited the band's appearance to the holos The cuts to their set breaks up the atmosphere, though on the other hand they could be considered the chorus.
I'm in Galway for a creative writing and Irish lit program, so I thought I'd share some of the stuff we're learning about, perhaps in an effort to assure you that I don't think the standout achievement of the Celtic Tiger is the St Bernard brand cookies. (Even though I'd say they're kinda a big deal.)
As someone who barely reads poetry, who is in fact scared of it, I need people to take me by the hand and introduce me to this stuff, so I'm quite lucky to have found my way into a course that is exposing us to both literature and poetry.
You can learn more about Louis MacNeice here. Read more about MacNeice and the following poem at Reading for Life. For more poems and a brief article and bio of MacNeice, visit Will and Testament for an article written on last year's anniversary of MacNeice's passing. Meeting Point by Louis MacNeice
Time was away and somewhere else, There were two glasses and two chairs And two people with the one pulse (Somebody stopped the moving stairs) Time was away and somewhere else.
And they were neither up nor down; The stream's music did not stop Flowing through heather, limpid brown, Although they sat in a coffee shop And they were neither up nor down.
The bell was silent in the air Holding its inverted poise - Between the clang and clang a flower, A brazen calyx of no noise: The bell was silent in the air.
The camels crossed the miles of sand That stretched around the cups and plates; The desert was their own, they planned To portion out the stars and dates: The camels crossed the miles of sand.
Time was away and somewhere else. The waiter did not come, the clock Forgot them and the radio waltz Came out like water from a rock: Time was away and somewhere else.
Her fingers flicked away the ash That bloomed again in tropic trees: Not caring if the markets crash When they had forests such as these, Her fingers flicked away the ash.
God or whatever means the Good Be praised that time can stop like this, That what the heart has understood Can verify in the body's peace God or whatever means the Good.
Time was away and she was here And life no longer what it was, The bell was silent in the air And all the room one glow because Time was away and she was here.
I meant to post this back when the perpetually fab Ken sent me the link (Thanks Ken!), but I'm kinda glad I waited because I went to go find the art again and found a whole buncha other stuff, so here we go!
Ken alerted me to Eric Tan's work, specifically his amazing posters for what is planned to be the three Indy movies. Eric Tan has also done work for the new film Wall-E, which was on display at last year's ComicCon.
These posters are available at the new Indiana Jones shop, where you can find a shitton of rocking original Indy fine art prints. Even if you're not looking to buy any, they offer watermark-free previews of the pieces.
Hiya kids! I'm in Ireland right now for a school program. As if this is new information: the weather blows. But it really is gorgeous country and a rich cultural tradition and history but most of all: 1. The St Nicholas street market in Galway has the most fabulous donuts you've ever had, and 2. The sheer amount and yumminess of cookies (biscuits?) is perhaps one of Ireland's greatest achievements omg. Especially the St Bernard brand (think Kirkland signature and whatever the Vons brand is.)
I had hoped I'd be able to do posts with limited file uploads- single tracks, etc- but the bad news is my internet connection here at student housing sucks so bad it can't load Youtube vids and tends to give out randomly. The closest thing short of heading out Californie-way to fixing it that I've figured is pulling the cable out and sticking it back in. (So I'm not actually sure if this will post.) So thanks to Caitlin for holding things down on the home front where the good internet and the external HD are, and stay tuned for more!
Oh yeah, and people here are addicted to Big Brother UK. Coooookiees! (Yeah. . . we've started watching it to.)
SO. I promised B I'd do some posts while she was across the pond, and since I'm a horrid and lazy person I haven't done anything yet..... My pathetic little excuse is the 8+ hour workday+ commute is whooping my ass and I stare at a computer all day so I don't do the same when I get home cos I fall asleep immediately (and I do mean immediately), at a sorry expense to this blog. Sorry. :( However flimsy that excuse is...... Welcome to real life, I suppose.... ugh.
SO, I thought I'd start off posting a post I started back during the semester, never finished, and forgot what I was going to say about. (I can't even remember; all I've been listening to lately is the Riders In The Sky and Xavier Cugat so.... may a post about them coming up in the future, knowing me, not too soon a future. sorry for being a lazy bum. )
So ANYWAY, you can have the songs, and get to skip my chatter. Yay!
I'm gonna go ahead and admit it- like every girl across America who saw Iron Man, I am jumping on the massive-crush-on-RDJ bandwagon, and boy is it worth it. For everyone who was a bit disappointed with Indy IV (and when I say everyone, I mean everyone), Iron Man is pretty much The fun summer movie that people look forward to once summer movies start coming out (and no, Prince Caspian isn't it.) I have seen it twice in theaters, something I haven't done for a very, very long time.
Iron Man is officially the best Marvel hero movie that has been made, and yes, I am including Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD. Where the X-Men and Spider-man films never felt like they had very much meat and punch behind them, Iron Man has a great cast (Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard, Shaun Toub, and Mrs Chris Martin, even though I've never been a fan), a relevant story line that has been suitably updated into our world (here, Los Angeles and in general, a post-911 world), and thrills and giggles. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it. I am not very familiar with the Iron Man of the comics, so I don't know how purists feel about the film, but on its own as a film- it's excellent. Definitely check it out, it's probably still in theaters.
If you're all over the place for more Robert Downey Jr, I'd like to recommended Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, starring the man himself in addition to Val Kilmer and Michelle Monaghan. I meant to see it when it came out, but a Blockbuster monthly pass plus this newfound RDJ obsession made sure I gave it another go, and it's well worth the- whatever it is that you do to get your movies.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is an updated noir-comic film, with "chapter titles" that just so happen to be the names of Raymond Chandler novels. And as you know, Raymond Chandler just so happens to be God. The film follows Harry (Downey Jr), who stumbles into a film audition after a botched toy store robbery and so impresses the audition people that he is brought to Hollywood. He is assigned to accompany Val Kilmer's gay detective character on the job so as to do research for his upcoming role, and as you can except, gets into all sorts of trouble. Michelle Monaghan plays a girl from his past. You get the idea. Dark alleys, corruption in the seat of authority, perversion, strange situations, ladies. The movie takes appropriate genre elements and uses them to its advantage.
Downey is ideal as the ironic antihero, interrupting his own narration when he remembers things he has forgotten to tell us. He's in over his head, and Downey plays Harry to perfection. It's especially fun to watch Downey and Kilmer square off, with Kilmer's character making it clear that he has little use for movie detectives in general or Downey in particular.
Although there are many laughs, this is a violent film, as Black honors the genre while he plays with it. This is not a "Scary Movie" style spoof where we don't have to take anything seriously. People get hurt and some die in the course of the movie, and sometimes it does hurt. That's part of the reason these films continue to resonate. It's not merely about solving the mystery. There are some real human emotions at stake. [Daniel M Kimmel]
The movie is a lot of fun, the characters interesting, dialogue sharp, good pacing.
Hopefully you grabbed a minnit to go see the new movie, but if not, a heads up that there are spoilers for those who haven't. For a spoiler-free review, check this one out. I spent most of the movie with either a WTF?! face on or a shit-eating grin across my face. I'm quite torn over the whole thing in a fairly positive way. I think the first half is much better than the second, which descends into a step-by-step, almost draggy puzzle/quest. But it is a ton of fun and stays true to the spirit of things.
Why the Aliens Didn't Suck: 1. It is in the mythology/history of the skull. This I learned from an uber-dramatic SciFi special and a not-quite-as-dramatic-but-hey-it's-still-the History Channel special.
2. More importantly, it fits in the 1950s Atomic theme. Which we get hit over the head with in what I thought was a great opening first act, mushroom cloud and all.
Why the Aliens Totally Did Suck: 1. Did you look at them?! 2. Steven Spielberg made this movie already, right? 3. Did you look at them?! 4. This was a big step away from the artifacts aspect of the first three Indy movies. The Sankara Stones, the Ark, and the Grail are all specifically man made objects, and the supernatural element is channeled through these very much earthly objects. This time, it was an alien skull, not an object "made or shaped by human craft." I don't know why this is such a sticking point for me. But it is. And in the end, I'll admit, I'm not a big fan of aliens.
What Worked: 1. The opening credits: Established time and place and was beautifully shot. 2. The Marion-Indy banter: Because thank god the screenwriter didn't learn from the Attack of the Clones School of Romantic Leads Dialogue. Likewise, the general Harrison-Shia-Karen dialogue sparkled. 3. Indy Being Old. It was a treat to see him as the professor, though beyond the dry sand moment they didn't take advantage of it throughout. I didn't have any doubts that Harrison Ford would be able to pull it off, but I wasn't sure if the screenplay would spend the whole time in a confusion of contradictory geezer jokes and crazy action moves. Thankfully, they've allowed Indy to mature rather than just age. 4. Okay, let's admit it. Even though all the self-referential things were about as subtle as that giant hammer, you enjoyed them. 5. Shia LaBeouf's character, Mutt, was genuinely charming and well-acted. I had concerns, but I think in the end. . . 6. The "passing of the hat/whip" was classy AND badass as fuck. 7. John Williams' reworking the theme for the end credits! A little treat at the end. 8. The format. While I feel that the end suffered, the general idea of a big baddie after a source of ultimate power, the big minion dude, the sidekick. 9. Marion! Severely underused and -appreciated Karen Allen was lovely, and the writing kept Marion in character. 10. The Cast. No false notes or weak points.
What Didn't Work: 1. The Quest part. Three waterfalls and the-skull-as-key later, there was little satisfaction in the payoff. Even if it was a big fucking room full of big fucking priceless artifacts. 2. Oh god. The Aliens and their Saran-wrap skulls and their spaceship.
What the Fuck: 1. The destruction of the valley. I ALREADY SAW THAT MOVIE. (A billion times.) 2. They wasted the always great Ray Winstone in a dull, uncreative role. His sole motivating force was greed, and, sure-- you can do things with that. They didn't. They tried to throw in a little something in the end with the wink, but by then, it was too late. 3. Sallah? 4. Denholm Elliot's statue's head being knocked off is so not funny. 5. John Hurt apparently didn't need any costume/makeup change between this and The Proposition set. 6. Wait a minnit, here it comes. . . What the FUCK was up with those fucking prairie dogs (?) and the fucking monkeys? Huh?
Hello everyone! I guess I took an unintended haitus, during which I did not unpack like I kept saying I would. . . ANYWAY, we're back for regular posting, and I have a few announcements before that goes into effect.
2. Jim's back! He's closing down the old shop and starting a new and totally awesome project, Aye Tunes. I've updated the link but I'll leave the link to Geez Back Ma Heid! for a little while. If you haven't been there before, stop by- Jim is a fantastic dude both in person and on the page who has great taste in music and always puts together awesome posts, and I'm really excited that he's back!
3. A few changes will be coming through. I hope to widen the content in general, and this will include a shift to fewer full albums and more single tracks. This is in part because I will be out of the country and HD-less for a good part of the summer, but also because I think it will facilitate a greater amount of new and different music for readers to discover. Requests are still open, though, so feel free to drop a comment. I've added a new feature that lets me know the most recent comments, so hopefully response time will be cut in half, but go ahead and leave requests on the most recent posts anyway. And as always, let us know what you think, what you like, what you'd like to see.
Now I know a few of you out there are as excited as I am about a little movie coming out tonight/tomorrow. So maybe when you saw the Indiana Jones M&Ms at the grocery store, instead of saying, "My god! Will this end!" you said, "Good lord, I must buy them!"
So if you did, and you're stuck with bags of peanut M&Ms with skulls, fedoras, and Mayan temples printed on them, you could do as we did and bake up some peanut M&M cookie bars, now officially Indiana Jones M&M cookie bars, AKA the cookie bars that B ate all of yesterday before the damn movie even came out. They're a little on the sweet side, though that's mostly from the candy goodness of the M&Ms. I don't know how they'd work with the other Indy tie-in M&Ms, which are mint. I'm a huge mint-chocolate fan and had actually looked for those because I wanted to use them in straight up brownies, but couldn't find 'em.
2 3/4 cups flour 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 2/3 cup butter, melted 2 1/4 cup brown sugar 3 large eggs 1 tsp. vanilla 2 cups Peanut M&M's
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In another bowl, combine the melted butter and brown sugar together, stirring until evenly distributed. Allow to cool slightly. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well each egg. Mix in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture. Once combined, add Peanut M&M's. Spread into a 13" x 9" baking pan or 10" x 15" jelly roll pan.
4. Bake for 24-27 minutes. Try not to oven bake or they will be dry. Once done, remove from oven and allow to cool completely before cutting.
I took them out at 24 minutes because I like my desserts gooey and undercooked, and at the 24 minute mark in my oven, they definitely were.
As regards the Jam album problem-- the link still isn't working and my HD still hasn't been unpacked (nor has anything else, ack!), so I will try to get it up as well as resume normal posting by the end of this weekend. Thanks again for your patience.
Since it's the week of finals for quite a few students (last night we had the, to put it douche-ly, NPR-profiled Primal Scream, where everyone either goes outside or sticks their head out the window and screams, so that it sounds like the zombies have finally come, and pisses a lot of people off) or it just might be the start of a generally shitty week for anyone, I thought I'd post something that young and old alike can have some fun with.
A tribute mostly to the poppier, more bubblegum side of the '60s, Me First & the Gimme Gimmes' Blow in the Wind is a karaoke masterpiece, surprisingly the finest and punkest record they've released [allmusic].
Good luck with the upcoming week, no matter what you're doing, and enjoy! As usual, keep your ear open for the intros to the songs.
I have seriously neglected posting about one of my top movies of the summer, and that is the upcoming Hellboy sequel! I was sitting in one of my writing classes, and one of those exquisitely cute girls who is in sororities and actually is named after a princess and actually does have a high-pitched voice and actually does dress like she's on one of those shows and says things like, "Oh my god, I have been so busy with this project," and when the person she's talking to politely says, "Oh yeah? What were you working on?" she says, "I don't really want to talk about it"--
Uh, then why'd you bring it up, sweetheart?
--anyway, says she: "I saw The Orphanage. You know, produced by the guy who did [giggle-giggle] Hellboy? I didn't see it, but, like- did he need the money?"
Maaan, if I brought my Good Samaritan to class with me, I would have bopped her on the head.
So- fantastically excited about this film, and so glad they got the whole cast (Yes! Jeffrey Tambor!) to come back. (Except Myers! I loved him, goshdarnit!) You know it's a good cast when they come back and do the animated interregnum releases, one of which I am watching right now while eating me oatmeal and not studying. You've probably seen the trailer, but if you need some eye candy to get yer morning started off, here we go. Oh Guillermo! What are we going to do with you?
Or maybe he got a splinter? Stabbed himself on Tim's jacket? On his hair? Cos if he did. I'll nurse him back to health. Jus sayin.
Okay you crazy kids. Finals have rolled around, so I'll probably be dropping off the radar for a few days. [Edit: Posts coming in the next week are pre-scheduled, but I'll be back in real time soon.] By the time I get back, I will probably have gotten over Lars. So enjoy it while it lasts. Because as Ken pointed out, I have yet to post gratuitous Paul Weller pics and Jam tracks.
