Pearl Jam are that band for me, you know, the one where you own all the records, know all the songs, can name the drummer etc. I last saw PJ in Cardiff, Wales in 2000 (read my wide-eyed review here). For six years I’ve been talking that concert up to everyone who will listen: the small venue, the 2 1/2 hour setlist, Eddie’s rapport with the crowd, the moshing. Since then I have converted my wife to things Jam. Last night we went to see them at the Verizon Center in DC. I left utterly underwhelmed, and I’m sad this morning. Please mourn with me. (more…)

Instant reaction: the finale of Season 2 not only failed to live up to the hype, it gave viewers a reason to get off of the bandwagon.

Spoilers after the jump, so don’t read until you’ve watched (or save yourself 90 minutes and just read).

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It’s approximately seven hours until the finale airs on ABC and if my wife knew I was taking time today to write this she would probably kill me, but she’s a LOST fan too, so I hope she understands. (more…)

If you’re a fan of the X-Men movies, or of superhero movies in general, the latest X-Men movie, X-Men 3: The Last Stand (or “X3″), might feel a bit like eating from the lunch buffet at one of your favorite restaurants. There’s a lot to like and plenty of variety, served up with a comfortingly familiar flavor. But after it’s over, you may feel like you overindulged and that maybe if you had ordered off the menu, a little more care would have gone into the details of preparing your meal. (more…)

The Black Angels:
Black Grease

“A wicked psych-heavy girl/guy 5-piece from deep in the heart of TX.”

BTD Greg is also going to review this movie when he sees it tomorrow, so I’ll keep this one nice and short (and spoiler-free).

I’ve talked before about evaluating sequels and inviting comparisons to prior movies in a franchise. So it goes with X-Men: The Last Stand (which we shall dub X3). There are a couple of questions: first, is it any good? Second, how does it compare to the others in the franchise?

The answers await below the fold. (more…)

Over at Bob & Logan’s Logan suggested he has a five-movie (in the theater) limit this summer (or something like that) and wanted to know if the Da Vinci Code should be one of those five. It made me wonder what people’s criteria is for plunking down the cash to see something in the theater as opposed to waiting until the DVD comes out.

Here’s mine: (more…)

“I have to get to a library — FAST!”

Based upon one of the bestselling books in recent history, The Da Vinci Code brings together Audrey Tautou (Amelie), Jean Reno (Ronin), Ian McKellen (Gods & Monsters) and Tom Hanks (Turner & Hooch). Directed by Ron Howard and written by Akiva Goldsman (writer/screenplay for Batman & Robin and I, Robot), The Da Vinci Code is a big-budget, big-actored movie that ultimately turns out to be a big mess. Sorry, Dan Brown fans.

SPOILERS HO! (but don’t worry, they won’t ruin the movie for you.) (more…)

Nothing worse than an episode of pure buildup.

Here be spoilers.
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When we bought our 1-bedroom apartment two years ago we immediately went to work tearing down the walls to expose the brick, rip out the bedroom carpet (in Brooklyn??? With a cat??? Ugh, disgusting), and painted over the terrible pink and green faux-painted walls. I imagine we immediately increased the value of the place by $30,000 in that first week. I’m not kidding. (more…)

The Ring is the scariest movie ever. I’m just throwing that out there. Please don’t waste valuable discussion space making a case for The Lady In White or whatever — REALLY scary movies please. What’s freakier than The Ring? I dare you all to confront Supergenius!

Lately** I’ve been thinking about spam email. It seems over the last year or so, spam has become more odd and incomprehensible. No doubt this has something to do with spammers trying to figure out ways to fool automated spam filters. I’ve often seen spam with random words thrown together, and even strangely poetic verse. Occasionally the language in these emails ends up sounding downright artsy.

And that got me thinking. If I took several examples and mixed them in with selections from alt-rock lyrics, would people be able to tell them apart? In that vein, I give you The Spam vs. Alt-Rock Lyric Quiz.

Fun battle, y’all. The Beach Boys’ “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” won out with over half the votes, defeating Weezer’s “Buddy Holly,” so now Greg can sleep at night.

This week: songs for mom (kinda).

Remember: T-dome ends in 3 weeks.

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Wilco, the second most important current rock band (admit it, Logan, I win!), will be the musical guest on Late Night with Conan O’Brien tonight. I don’t know for sure, but it seems to me that the Conan’s viewership is similar demographically to Wilco’s fan base. My guess is that there are a lot of Conan viewers to whom Wilco might appeal and who might have heard of them but aren’t familiar with them. So, while this isn’t as high-profile a gig as an appearance on The O.C. or The Garden State soundtrack or something like that (can you imagine Wilco on The O.C.? That would be awesome!), it’s a good opportunity for a band to make an impression and pique some interest. So what should they play? (more…)

I have, at times, argued that the White Stripes are one of the most important rock bands making music today. And I’ve been given a hard time for it. That’s okay, really. It’s a difficult thing to argue, partly because the criteria are so undefined. I don’t mean the Stripes are the best band, or the most popular, or the most critically acclaimed, or the most influential. It’s more of an ineffable combination of all that and more. Further, I’m not sure if it’s even possible to know in the present who the Imporant bands are.

Looking into the past, though, there are some good examples. (more…)

No, it’s not a band name. I’m talking about the bands that have to grow on you for awhile before you can appreciate them. They’re usually the bands you end up liking for the longest.

Bands that are too accessible can wear out after awhile. It’s the ones you have to listen to awhile before they click with you that you end up wanting to hear forever. Because there’s always something new to discover in their songs.

Or am I alone in that?
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Imagine if you will a really good episode of Alias. (more…)

Congratulations, Supergenius!

Definitive punk, post-punk, and new wave bands proved to be an interesting but ultimately non-controversial battle: the Ramones’ “Judy is a Punk” won 18 of 36 votes, crushing the Cars (hee hee!).

This week: I dunno, some kinda West Coast vibe thing?

Remember: T-dome ends in 4 weeks.

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I know that art isn’t a competitive sport, but I can’t help but categorize, compare, and rank albums and artists. It must be the biologist in me—taxonomy is in my blood. So there’s my excuse for pitting against each other the four somewhat prominent solo female singer/songwriter albums that have been released in 2006 and seeing who wins:

Beth Orton, Comfort of Strangers
Cat Power (Chan Marshall), The Greatest
Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins, Rabbit Fur Coat
Neko Case, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
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Some U.K. rag has published a list of the top 10 Sci-Fi films. Here’s the list:
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Damn. That was a good episode. I don’t think any actors in the cast will be getting drunk driving tickets anymore, what do you think?

What makes this show tick? What makes it run? Let’s lift up the hood and take a look. Last night’s episode is a good place to start. (more…)

For whatever reason, it seems like any “good” actor has to have his/her run at playing some other nationality with an “authentic” accent that said actor studies vigorously with voice coaches and such. My question is: does it matter? And who would notice exactly? (more…)

On a whim, I decided to check out the poet and novelist, Henry Charles Bukowski. Actually, the whim was provoked by me watching the movie “Sideways”, where hapless Miles bemoans his sorry existence to Jack, who tries to cheer him up after Miles’ book was rejected for the third (fourth?) time:

Miles: “Half my life is over, and I have nothing to show for it. Nothing. I’m a thumb print on the window of a skyscraper. I’m a smudge of excrement on a tissue surging out to sea with a million tons of raw sewage.”
Jack: “See? Right there. Just what you just said? That is beautiful. ‘A smudge of excrement surging out to sea.’ I could never write that.”
Miles: “Neither could I, actually. I think it’s Bukowski.”
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