tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58392093892214361182024-03-12T17:46:00.834-07:00culture dungeonmusings and memories of movies, music, and other mediaFinnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-53022734790710865652013-03-03T17:19:00.001-08:002013-03-03T17:19:14.260-08:00Just Say NO<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Comedy</span></b></div>
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The 12th Annual S.F. SKETCHFEST was held January 24 - February 10, 2013 and I attended 23 shows in 18 days (still only a fraction of the over 100 available). My recaps are posted over at the <a href="http://aspecialthing.com/forum/f42/12th-annual-sf-sketchfest-lineup-announced-24915/" target="_blank">AST message board in this thread</a> and feature many photos. I was more aggressive than before in getting snaps and meeting performers. And I think my attempts at capturing comedic moments in writing have improved as well. </div>
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2/20<b> </b></div>
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<b>Doug Stanhope @ Cobb's Comedy Club, 8pm</b></div>
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Host/opener Keith Lowell Jensen - smart material, but only mildly funny </div>
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Steve Poggi - slow start but got good with his Herbert the dumb baby / Sandy Hook story</div>
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Junior Stopka - great weird style, retard hillbilly but clever and absurd. Hedberg-ish</div>
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<a href="http://www.dougstanhope.com/" target="_blank">Doug Stanhope</a> - told not so much jokes as rambling stories. Sounded completely off the cuff but I know there was prepared material. Each subject blended into the next: cancer update (he still don't got it despite his dissolute lifestyle), the late Chris Dorner (Doug is pissed that his name wasn't mentioned in the murderer's manifesto), drinking, attempting to enjoy the porno "Backdoor to Chyna," meeting Jake LaMotta, assisting his mother's suicide (true), how the Occupy Movement was worthless, cancer charities, and culminating in his on-the-playing-field rape of a football player. He was gruff, increasingly drunk (as the audience sent him shots throughout), but high-spirited and very intelligent. Hilarious. Cobb's was sold out, the balcony open - more folks on a Wednesday night than any of the Sketchfest shows I attended here on weekend nights.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Devices</span></b></div>
Nicest looking and most spacious sounding headphones I've ever owned - <b>Sennheiser HD 598</b>. Ordered them from <a href="http://www.crutchfield.com/p_143HD598/Sennheiser-HD-598.html?tp=36775" target="_blank">Crutchfield</a> who have a lot of nice stuff and excellent customer support.<br />
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1/29 MacBook Pro to Apple Store. My trackpad crapped out after my 3-year warranty expired. The problem had been slight for the past few months but then went nuts, the cursor jumping and jittering on the screen. Could still type and select but with high risk and major hassle. Swollen battery was the culprit. Still, only $220 to replace both.<br />
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2/1 After a month a problems with some channels on our cable service, dozens of phone calls to Customer Support, missed appointments, and one unsuccessful technician visit who misdiagnosed the cause, Comcast finally replaced the actual coaxial wire connecting the house to the pole. No problems since.<br />
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2/20 Our Rheem Gas Furnace Heater (from the 80's) has gotten a big workout this colder than usual winter. It too has crapped out and I've struggled to understand how it's supposed to work. Taking it as a challenge, I have gotten it running again by installing a new Hot Surface Ignition Module, but still need an expert to fine tune it. Found a lot of useful advice in YouTube videos made by HVAC professionals. I now know more about gas furnaces than I ever thought I would. This guy's channel is one of the best…<br />
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1/26 <b>There Will Be Blood</b> (2007) with audio commentary via "You Made It Movies" with comedians Pete Holmes & Paul F. Tompkins. This is Pete's favorite film and Paul appears briefly in it so this was a great excuse to watch this masterful film again while listening to two brilliant and knowledgeable fans talk over it. Inspired to me to see P.T. Anderson's latest again while still in theaters…</div>
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1/29 <b>The Master</b> @ Stonestown (2nd time) — serendipitous as it was playing at the mall where the Apple Store is located (see: <b>Products</b>, below). Loved this the first time, but admittedly baffled by some of it. This time was smooth sailing as I better grasped the themes and relaxed in its languid atmosphere. A visceral heady film, a romance between the two sides of man. </div>
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2/04-09 <b>The Wire</b> (2002-2008) @ HBO all 5 seasons —- greatest TV series ever? Probably. Inventive blend of journalism and procedural crime drama, high-minded social critique and getting high with wanna-be gangsters. </div>
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2/16 <b>Breaking Away</b> (1979) @ VOD</div>
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Comedians Jimmy Pardo and the Sklar Brothers frequently name this as one of the greatest sports movies ever. It is charming, uplifting fun, not at all the gung-ho jockfest I'd imagined. More an intimate portrait of class struggle in small town America (really!), bicycle riding is just the vehicle (ugh) used to tell the story. </div>
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2/23 <b>History of the Eagles</b> @ Showtime (3 hour documentary) — thorough, informative, at times moving (especially when sidemen are forced to quit the group). The lead guitar parts have fascinated me for years so I was glad to get some clarification on when Leadon, Felder, and Walsh were all in the group. Many high quality 70's era film clips in which figureheads Frey and Henley appear as humble geniuses, but self-important douches nowadays. Joe Walsh is damaged but glad to be alive. I dig a lot of their tunes, but recall trauma from <i><b>The Long Run</b></i> playing during a game of "truth or dare" at a birthday party of a gal I crushed on in 1980. Never forgave the Eagles for that. </div>
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2/24 <b>The Sessions</b> @ VOD — Outstanding tearjerker, sexy, funny, and touching. Leads John Hawkes & Helen Hunt won Indie Spirit awards for acting the night before, which finally convinced me to see it. The trailers left me feeling manipulated by an over-celebratory indie rock soundtrack, but I was mistaken. None of that music appeared in the film itself which was more quietly dignified in its triumphs.</div>
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<b>The Oscars</b> (ABC) - had a good time with this as some of my favorites won (<b>Django Unchained</b>) but more did not (*<i>boo</i>* Hathaway - Hunt eared it with greater subtlety and way more screen time). Despite what mostly felt like a modern streamlined show, it was still bogged down with a misguided throwback tribute to recent film musicals that was as terrible as anything I've ever seen. And the whole thing still managed to run a half hour long. Strange. </div>
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This series of videos <a href="http://www.fandor.com/blog/oscar-2013-who-really-deserves-to-win">http://www.fandor.com/blog/oscar-2013-who-really-deserves-to-win</a> helped put the nominations in focus, solidifying why certain wins felt right and others wrong. For instance, in acting lead and supporting, both Phoenix and Hoffman from <b>The Master</b> were outstanding, but since the film itself was not publicly embraced, it was unlikely either would get the trophy. They also make a strong case for Silver Linings Playbook deserving the Best Motion Picture award as it is the most relevant to modern life.</div>
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2/25 <b>Warm Bodies / Side Effects</b> @ Century Daly City 20</div>
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First an enjoyable "zom-com," <b>Romeo & Juliet</b> meet <b>Sean of the Dead</b>. Then the latest from retiring (?) director Steven Soderberg, a tawdry exposé of big pharma and insider trading via Hitchcock with a touch of <b>Basic Instinct</b>. Engrossing and twisty, found myself enjoying Jude Law more than ever (<b>Contagion</b>, <b>Anna Karenina</b>) and loving the heck out of the loony performance by Rooney Mara (<b>Social Network</b>, the U.S. <b>Girl w/ Dragon Tattoo</b>). </div>
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2/27 <b>Girls</b> @ HBO - watched Season 2, episodes 1-7</div>
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Good stuff, perhaps funnier than first season, aided by further development of supporting characters. Now more clearly a satire of young people, an ode to bad decision-making. Before, it seemed like a fantasy. I was too busy getting nostalgic for being a dumb, horny, narcissistic twenty-something living in New York City, recognizing people I knew in characters on the show.</div>
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3/01 </div>
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<b>Happiness</b> (1998) Netflix DVD (no extras) — enjoyed it. Clever interweaving storytelling, sad, funny, and gross. Can't say I'm a Todd Solondz fan. Must have seen <b>Welcome to the Dollhouse</b> back in the day, disliked it, and ignored him since, but this was a really good "feel-bad" movie. Manages to create empathy for unlikeable characters and to find humor in horrible situations.</div>
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<b>Taken</b> (2008) @ FXHD — As the movie was PG-13, I don't think much was cut for cable TV. Never seen it before. Impressed by how bad it was. </div>
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<b>The Americans</b> @ FXHD — Been hearing good things about this new spy show set in the cold war 1980's so I took advantage of the Friday night marathon running after <b>Taken</b> and caught up on the first five episodes. Excellent cast, conflicted characters, bursts of violent action, occasionally seedy and frequently suspenseful. Occasionally takes advantage of the historical setting to make commentary on current events. Sort of a "<b>Homeland</b> Babies," in that we see both sides of the struggle, sympathize with our morally dubious heroes, but with fewer histrionics than that show. Highly recommended.</div>
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3/02 </div>
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<b>56 Up </b>@ Opera Plaza </div>
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<b>No</b> @ Embarcadero </div>
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Archival video overload. Two foreign flicks, one a doc, one than feels like a doc but isn't (technically). Both terrific. </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Rifftrax</span></b></div>
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1/25 <b>McBain</b> — a terrible, terrible Rambo/A-Team mashup starring a sleepwalking Christopher Walken that no one should remember.</div>
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3/02 <b>When A Stranger Calls Back </b>— horror film that is not very scary but is unsettling in its treatment of the lead actress, not violent but embarassing emotional torture, lightened up by the wisecracking of the Mike, Kevin, & Bill. </div>
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Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-55391788504785544172013-01-23T20:56:00.000-08:002013-01-23T20:56:09.821-08:00Drop Dead Legs<br />
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1/01 - etc. </div>
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<b>Twilight Zone Marathon</b> @ SyFyHD</div>
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On New Year's Eve I cleared my DVR to record over two days of episodes which I watched hours at a time over the next week or so. Really enjoyable, the first time I ever took to seriously learn the shows history, techniques, and influence (IMDB helped to navigate). Amazingly, this was not even the full run, there are still a few still to watch including the entirety of Season 4 which are hour longs, and thus not part of any syndication airings. Thankfully Amazon Prime and/or Hulu have them all available to stream.</div>
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1/02 </div>
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Made a shopping trip to Haight Street with a couple goals in mind: </div>
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<b>Amoeba</b> to sell DVDs (most were titles I had upgraded to Blu-ray), <b>Dr. Martens</b> to buy some new shoes (haven't worn DM's since my twenties - they are SO comfortable), <b>American Apparel</b> (for some shirts). Then back on the 71 bus downtown to catch a movie…</div>
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<b>The Impossible</b> @ Century Centre 130pm (1:47) Tense, thrilling tear-jerker based on a true story with a grueling performance by Naomi Watts (with some nasty leg injuries). And some stunning special effects of tsunami devastation.</div>
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1/04 </div>
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Triple bill of films with strong female characters, two of which involve leg amputations.</div>
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<b>Tristana</b> (Bunuel, 1970) @ Opera Plaza </div>
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Here's the whole darn thing on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM4OL1qeufk" target="_blank">YouTube</a> (be sure to turn on English captions)</div>
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<b>Zero Dark Thirty</b> @ Century Centre</div>
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<b>Rust and Bone</b> @ Embarcadero</div>
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1/11</div>
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<b>Amour</b> @ Clay</div>
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Amazing, sad, poetic. The bit with the pigeon… profoundly funny. Overheard a woman after saying it was a primer on taking care of the elderly. Not looking forward to it myself.</div>
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<b>California Solo</b> @ Opera Plaza - Character study of a fallen former rock star. Right up my alley. Terrific performance from Robert Carlyle. Some very cool music on the soundtrack. Him selling his vintage Les Paul (instead of giving it to his estranged daughter) is a only a minor tragic moment in a story filled with much larger mistakes.</div>
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1/11-13</div>
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<b>Showtime</b> did their annual free preview weekend so I took advantage and watched all of <b>Dexter</b> Season 7 (12 episodes) and <b>Homeland </b>Season 1& 2 (24 episodes) via On Demand. This helped prepare me for Sunday nights <b>Golden Globes</b> during which <b>Homeland</b> won a few awards (again, at least this time I knew why). Even though, by many accounts, this second season was nowhere near as good as the first. I dunno, having wolfed down the whole affair in about two days, I enjoyed it all. Kinda made me forget about <b>Dexter</b> which was fun but seems to be running out of steam.</div>
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Had some drama with <b>Comcast</b> this month which I don't really want to get into all the details of right now (macroblocking). A technician finally made it out and seemed to have fixed the (minor) problem but now a week later, it's back. May be weather related. </div>
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Around the same time our heat wouldn't work. After some tinkering with the thermostat and the gas heater itself I got it working again. A service visit from PG&E helped to confirm it.</div>
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1/17<br />
<b>Anna Karenina</b> @ Stonestown - This was on my To See list from last year, but I ignored it after reading some middling reviews. A few Oscar nominations (cinematography, costume, score, production design) convinced me to go and I was pleasantly surprised how good it was (and how deserved those noms are). Looked and felt like a musical, but there was no singing. Kinda wish <b>Les Miz</b> had been more like this. Particularly impressed by the romantic score (Dario Marianelli) and supporting actress Alicia Vikander (who was so good in <b>A Royal Affair</b>).<br />
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1/18 </div>
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Latest episode of <b><a href="http://www.nerdist.com/2013/01/the-todd-glass-show-86-paul-f-tompkins-and-jen-kirkman/" target="_blank">The Todd Glass Show</a></b> podcast is one of its finest, due to the guest participation of two of my favorite comics (and both fans of Todd's show) <b>Paul F. Tompkins</b> and <b>Jen Kirkman</b>.<br />
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1/18-19 </div>
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The folks at <b>Earwolf </b>did a cool thing, signing up with the <b>Video Podcast Network</b> and video streaming a few of their shows (and others) live from Sundance. They were fun to watch and also awkward as the hosts had to deal with technical glitches natural for first-time efforts. Overall a success and good move towards the future. The shows aired (already among my favorites) were: <b>Comedy Bang Bang</b> (two episodes), <b>You Made it Weird</b>, <b>Who Charted?</b>, & <b>Call Chelsea Peretti</b>. </div>
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1/20 </div>
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<b>NFC Championship</b> - SF 49ers beat Atlanta Falcons (after a lot of effort). Fun game, only the second NFL program I've watched all season. Would have stayed home to watch the AFC (Pats v. Ravens) but had to go to see some live comedy…</div>
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<b>The Sklar Brothers</b> @ Cobb's Comedy Club, 8pm - I wrote about twin brothers Jason & Randy a few weeks back. First time I seen 'em was two years ago at SF Sketchfest doing a live version of their podcast Sklarbro County, which I had just begun listening to.* Now I'm a regular and despite not being a "sports guy" I find their takes on the Wide World of Sports hilarious. Their standup act is fast, funny, and smart. They will sometimes literally complete each others sentences, play out scenes as characters, or pile-on tagging each other's jokes (what they call an "avalanche," or "laugh-alanche"). I met them after, bought a shirt, and complimented the heck out of them and they were both gracious and friendly. Their podcast turned me on to <b>The Sheepdogs</b>, whose recent video they directed.<br />
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*Second time was at a particularly chaotic <b>Benson Interruption</b>, also part of SFSF 2011.</div>
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1/21</div>
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<b>The Rabbi's Cat</b> @ Embarcadero </div>
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This was an exotic delight, like Matisse's forays into Morocco. Based on a French comic series. Really enjoyed the character designs, backgrounds, and peculiar side trips into different animation styles. Also appreciated the high and low mixture of silly sexual matters with serious religious critique, with all characters yearning towards a place of acceptance.</div>
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<b>Mama / The Last Stand</b> @ Metreon </div>
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<b>Mama</b> was creepy/scary. Chastain was hot as a punk and the kids were effectively freaky. But the sound design was overdone (like a lot of modern horror) and the CGI creature, once fully revealed, was weak and a bit silly looking.</div>
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<b>TLS</b> - I don't care about Arnold and never have, so he was not the draw for me, it was director Kim Ji-Woon whose previous films I have enjoyed (<b>A Tale of Two Sisters</b>, <b>I Saw The Devil</b>, and <b>The Good, The Bad, & The Weird</b>). His U.S. debut is dumb as hell but fun to watch, though not nearly as stylish as his South Korean work.</div>
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<b>The Simpsons</b> Season 5 (1994) 4 discs @ Netflix. I consider this period the peak of this long-running series for both its dense plots and fluidity of animation. These are among my favorites and they set the bar high for the subsequent nearly 20 seasons since. Each disc has 6 episodes each, all with commentaries by the creative team which are both funny and informative. I am so familiar with these shows that I am only renting them now for the extra behind-the-scenes insights. Currently watching Season 6.<br />
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Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-63167980901618782462013-01-01T03:22:00.001-08:002013-01-01T03:52:14.162-08:00Comedy Countdown<br />
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">107.7 The Bone's 2nd Annual Comedy Countdown </b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">@ Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday 12/31/2012 9pm-12:01am</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Great venue, great show. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everyone had funny sets. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ticket was $100 for a great seat up front.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Band: </span><a href="http://www.leevilensky.com/index/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">The Lee Vilensky Trio</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (an excellent mellow surf band)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Intro by Nikki Blakk and some other radio DJ from The Bone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The comics: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brendon Walsh (who also hosted), Kris Tinkle, Ari Shaffir, Arj Barker</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(intermission) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Doug Benson, Amy Schumer, Anthony Jeselnik.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Countdown and balloon drop. Lights on, pics taken. Happy New Year!</span><br />
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Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-44790027647299012312012-12-31T16:14:00.001-08:002012-12-31T16:14:41.874-08:00One more for the road<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">Some odds and ends before the end of "two-ocean's twelve."</span><br />
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12/26</div>
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<b>Django Unchained / Les Misérables</b> @ AMC Van Ness</div>
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Moved right to top of the list of my most enjoyed movies this year. <b>DU</b> seemed both warmer and more humane than any Tarantino film before, especially considering the subject matter (slavery). Spike Lee is a dummy for denouncing the film without seeing it. </div>
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<b>Les Miz</b> was a treat. Looked splendid, sounded at times glorious, other times strained. Male leads Jackman and Crowe were not vocally up to snuff for this material. But the great supporting cast and fantastic sets made up for it. </div>
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Both of these flicks were over two and half hours long, a disturbing trend this year (<b>Hobbit, Lincoln, Dark Knight Rises</b>) as few really deserve their length.</div>
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12/26 </div>
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<b>Kennedy Center Honors </b>w/ Led Zeppelin, David Letterman, etc. @ CBSTV</div>
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Nice to see some icons get their due, but painful to watch lesser folks pay tribute through pale imitation. Heart's rendition of "Stairway To Heaven" was pretty cool, cutting the length of the original in half, but retaining most of the memorable bits.</div>
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12/27 </div>
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<b>Rifftrax - Marvel's The Avengers</b></div>
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This was a quality comic book movie, but there is still silliness to be mined. The uselessness of Hawkeye and Black Widow are easy targets, but picking out Agent Coulsen's cellist girlfriend who moved to Portland (actually spoken of in the movie) is a primo comedy nugget.</div>
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12/28 </div>
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<b>Super Troopers</b> (2001) BD Netflix</div>
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Never seen it before. Liked it a lot. Blu-ray has a bunch of good features, cut scenes, commentaries. Usually not a fan of "frat-boy" humor but this one worked.</div>
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12/29 </div>
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<b>Not Fade Away</b> @ Metreon </div>
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Now here's a movie that should have been 2 hours 45 minutes instead of barely 2 hours long because I loved hanging out in this world. Having once been a naive musician in my teens, twenties, thirties, I related to the narrative, even though this takes place in the 60's. Great soundtrack (picked by Little Steven) and terrific performances (James Gandolfini, from director David Chase's Soprano's series, appears as the gruff dad). Both inspirational and bittersweet.</div>
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<b>United Stats of America</b> @ H2 (History Channel)<br />
Hour long program hosted by the Sklar Brothers. There were only six of these made but they are great. Funny and informative. Bunch of short videos <a href="http://www.history.com/shows/united-stats-of-america" target="_blank">here</a>, none from the actual show.<br />
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Before and after at an exterior in the Sunset</div>
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A pain-in-the-neck glaze that took two-and-a-half attempts to get right (this is one of the bad ones but I like the picture)</div>
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Awesome view of the Sutro Tower (from another pain-in-the-neck job)</div>
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And it was a pleasure to build these utility shelves with Rob for his workroom</div>
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Again, adored this movie. Great way to end the year…</div>
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Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-39947765768195410082012-12-25T19:50:00.000-08:002012-12-25T20:14:59.054-08:00CULTDUNG Post-Apocalyptic Revue<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nah, I ain't dead. Just a bit overwhelmed. Been keeping track of my consumption (the TRUE purpose of this blog) over the last 3 quarters. Some dates are lost to the ages. Opinions are scarce, but if you want I'll write a custom review for you. Categories are more mixed-up than ever, but bear with us. We made it through…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">HBO - <b>Boardwalk Empire</b> Seasons 1 & 2 watched On Demand in two days (9/15-16) just in time for the premiere of Season 3 (which recently ended). Greatly enjoy it, but admit it might have peaked near the end of S2. Worth it for the sets and costuming alone. And any scene with Michael Shannon. Or Paz, or Gretchen…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Newsroom</b> - frustrated by the highs and lows of this Aaron Sorkin project. Brilliant political fantasy blended into a limp soap opera performed by a fine cast. Love to hate it. Much more consistently great have been <b>Game of Thrones</b>, <b>Veep</b>, and<b> Girls</b>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7/04-7<b> John Adams</b> (2008) mini series on HBO. Nice Independence Day prelude to this year's <b>Lincoln</b> movie.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Brody Stevens: Enjoy It!</b> @ HBOGO - 6 episode series documenting the ups and downs of an eccentric comic. Funny and troubling. Also really enjoyed <b>The Ricky Gervais Show</b> - Season 3 and caught up with a bunch of old episodes via HBOGO.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Totally Biased w/ W. Kamau Bell</b> is good, as is <b>Wilfred</b>, <b>The League</b>, and of course <b>Louie</b>. All on FX.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8/05-8/09 <b>The Golden Girls</b> on HCHD - 8 episodes from 1989: 8 from end of season 4, last 4 of season 7 (finale), first 4 of season 1 (incl. pilot by Susan Harris). A running joke on <b>The Todd Glass Show </b>this year has been the guy who always talks about "The Golden Girls," dispensing trivia both true and untrue. After looking into the show I learned it was a well-respected and very popular show in it's time (1985-1992). So I watched a few from the beginning, middle, and end of it's run and was pleasantly surprised by how funny and charming it was. But 16 episodes will do me fine for a while. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Being on the Hallmark Channel for the first time in my life I saw promos for <b>The Good Witch</b> Marathon (starring Catherine Bell from <b>JAG</b>) which I ended up watching way too much of. Really watered down occultism and saccharine family drama. But somehow watchable…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">AMC - <b>Hell On Wheels</b> Season 2 - spun its wheels (ha!) mid-season but really picked up steam at the conclusion. Felt like a series finale. <b>The Walking Dead</b> Season 3 was much improved this year. And <b>Breaking Bad</b> was superbly dark.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>London 2012 Summer Olympics</b> - July/August</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Tetyana Gamera-Shmyrko<br />London 2012 Women's Marathon, 5th Place</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For whatever reason ended up watching a lot of this, for the first time ever: running, weightlifting, even some skeet shooting. All the American hype got me to enjoy female gymnastics (the rhythmic portion was actually my favorite - no U.S. team there), but the swimming bored me. Opening and closing ceremonies were artful spectacles with a lot of good music. But perhaps the best thing to come out of it was <a href="http://mckaylaisnotimpressed.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">this internet meme</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Aliya Mustafina Russia, <span style="font-family: Arial;">Aly Raisman USA</span>, Catalina Ponor Romania</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>U.S. Open 2012</b> @ Olympic Club, Daly City. Sunday 6/17 (Father's Day)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watched over 6 hours on TV. Finally learned to appreciate golf.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also watched the SF Giants win the World Series. That was fun.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8/02 <b>Greg Proops</b>: The Smartest Man In The World Podcast Live taping @ Punch Line (2 hours!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8/03 <b>Comedy Bang Bang Live</b> w/ Scott Aukerman, Kurt Braunohler, Paul F. Tompkins, and James Adomian @ The Herbst Theatre</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8/31 <b>Brian Regan</b> @ Cobb's</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10/05 <b>Patton Oswalt</b> w/ Chris Garcia, Kumail Nanjiani, and Mike Drucker @ Cobb's</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11/29 <b>Pete Holmes, Kyle Kinane</b>, Natasha Muse, & Ian Karmel @ Cobb's</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">12/02 <b>You Made It Weird w/ Pete Holmes</b> live podcast. Guests TJ Miller, Doug Benson, Moshe Kasher, Alex Koll, & Kyle Kinane @ Cobb's</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <b>12th Annual SF Sketchfest </b>is coming up in January and I have tickets for 23 different shows over 3 weeks. Some three a day. I consider it a vacation of sorts in my home city. No Spanglers or Jen Kirkman this year, but plenty of other delights. Had a Sophie's Choice to make between Jimmy Pardo and Doug Benson for one date… </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://screen.yahoo.com/burning-love/" target="_blank"><b>Burning Love</b></a> - scathing and sexy parody of reality dating shows, 14 episodes. Second season is coming soon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Comedy Central</b> have aired a slew of quality new hour specials from comics I admire: Amy Schumer, Demetri Martin, Kyle Kinane, Gary Gulman, and Eugene Mirman. Paul F. Tompkins had a great release with <b>Laboring Under Delusions</b> of which the DVD has extra material and a commentary by PFT in character as legendary director/producer Garry Marshall. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6/15 <b>Eddie Pepitone: The Bitter Buddha</b> - great doc about a great comic only now getting his due (thanks Capone)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8/04 <b>Comedian </b>(2002) Netflix DVD - Great doc about Jerry Seinfeld's return to standup, contrasted with a cocky up-and-comer who is driven but less talented. Many fun bonus features on the DVD. The soundtrack features a bunch of great jazz, rock, and R&B. Some fan made a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB3AFF2CB177CAA50" target="_blank">YouTube playlist that is worth a listen</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11/04 <b>Punching the Clown</b> (2009, Henry Phillips in a self-made film about the struggles of a standup comedian) Netflix</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11/07 <b>Todd Glass</b> has a new one out, a Netflix streaming <a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Todd_Glass_Todd_Glass_Stand-Up_Special/70257634?locale=en-US" target="_blank">exclusive</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11/30 <b>Maria Bamford's Special Special Special</b> @ Chill.com (filmed before an audience of just her parents. Amazing)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>SCTV</b> re-watched all 5 of the DVD sets. Still holds up - prefer them to SNL from the same period (early 80's). Enhanced by a lot of useful info gleaned from <a href="http://www.sctvguide.ca/" target="_blank">SCTV Guide</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/TheOfficialSCTV" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Official channel</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Been watching the <b>Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist</b> show (1995-2002) which I'd never seen the whole run of. Great stuff but after about 3 of them at a time I get sleepy. A clip from when cartoon Louis CK still had hair…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometime in April I re-watched the first four Batman and first six Star Trek movies (some with Rifftrax accompaniment) and realized the Tim Burton Batflix are better than I remembered. And that the Trek films were never very good, esp. compared to the original TV series.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4/29 Natural Selection @ Lumiere </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5/05 Marvel's The Avengers 3D @ Regal Chicago </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5/06 The Innkeepers / Mansome @ Capone's</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5/11 Dark Shadows / The Five Year Engagement </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5/18 God Bless America / The Dictator </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Freak Dance VOD (Matt Besser of UCB's parody of 80's dance flix - I hated it)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5/20 Sound of My Voice @ Stonestown</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5/29 The Princess Bride (1987) HBO</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6/06 The Aristocrats (2005) Netflix </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6/03 Bernie @ Embarcadero / Moonrise Kingdom @ Metreon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6/08 Prometheus XD-3D @ Century 20 Daly City </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6/09 Raising Arizona (1987) / The Ladykillers (2004) Coen Bros. DVD</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6/16 That's My Boy </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6/23 Safety Not Guaranteed / Prometheus (2D) @ Metreon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">also, Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Directed by Ice-T, with some nice aerial photography of NYC, Detroit, and L.A., and lots of great raps and knowledge dropped. Intimate interviews and, despite the high-powered guests, not at all corporate. Loads of of beloved artists were omitted, but I loved it nonetheless. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory HBO VOD conclusion of the West Memphis Three saga <a href="http://culturedungeon.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-i-did-on-my-autumn-vacation.html" target="_blank">I wrote about a year ago</a>…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6/24 The King of Comedy (1982) DVD</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6/26 Your Sister's Sister @ Embarcadero / Brave 3D @ Century Centre 9 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6/27 Win Win (2011) HBO/DVR - bit part by Melanie Lynskey who I am crushing on real hard now</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">July? The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) - MGMHD - a Powell & Pressburger masterpiece.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">July? CQ (2001) DVR</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7/01 Ted / Magic Mike @ AMC Van Ness 14</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7/04 The Amazing Spider-Man 3D - XD @ Century Daly City</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7/20 The Dark Knight Rises / Katy Perry: Part of Me 3D @ Century 20 Daly City</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7/28 Beasts of the Southern Wild @ Cinearts Empire</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">August? For a Good Time, Call... @ Metreon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8/01 The Loved One (1965) Netflix DVD - brilliant satire on the funeral business starring Robert Morse (Bert Cooper from Mad Men), Jonathan Winters, and a young Paul Williams.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8/02 Ruby Sparks @ Metreon / Farewell, My Queen @ Embarcadero </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8/03 Killer Joe @ Embarcadero </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8/10 Searching for Sugar Man / Celeste & Jesse Forever @ Embarcadero, Metreon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8/12 The Campaign / Hope Springs </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8/19 Paranorman 3D / Painted Skin: The Resurrection @ Metreon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8/25 Premium Rush / Hit & Run @ AMC Van Ness</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8/27 Robot & Frank @ Sundance Kabuki / Compliance @ Bridge</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">9/23 Dredd 3D / End of Watch / The Master @ AMC Van Ness</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">9/30 Pitch Perfect / Looper @ Century 20</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10/13 Atlas Shrugged, Part 1 (terrible adaptation of a book I once loved for reasons I can't recall) /</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last Days Here (excellent, depressing biopic about the leader of obscure Maryland heavy metal band Pentagram) @ Netflix Instant Watch</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10/14 Seven Psychopaths / Frankenweenie 3D / Atlas Shrugged, Part 2 (a little better than part 1, but still bad) @ Metreon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10/15 Sinister / Argo @ AMC Van Ness</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10/20 Smashed / Tai Chi Zero / Fat Kid Rules The World / The Selling @ Embarcadero, Metreon, Opera Plaza</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10/24 Stunt Rock (1978) DVD (ordered this and the soundtrack from the drummer of the band)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Black Dynamite (2009) Bluray Netflix </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10/27 Cloud Atlas / The Perks of Being a Wallflower @ Daly City</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11/04 Wreck-It Ralph 3D / Flight @ Daly City </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11/10 Lincoln XD / The Man With The Iron Fists @ Century Centre 9</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11/11 Skyfall XD @ Century 20 Daly City</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11/14 The In-Laws (1979) Netflix </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11/17 Holy Motors @ Embarcadero (Before the movie I banged into a wheelchair accessible seat and fell to the ground, spilling half my popcorn. Knee was sore for a while after. Might have affected my mood but this film is a true work of art)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Silver Linings Playbook @ Century Centre 9</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11/21 Starlet @ Landmark E St DC</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Queen of Versailles DVD @ Pat's</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hello I Must Be Going DVD @ Finn's - Melanie Lynskey again, starring this time</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11/22 The Ambassador DVD / Bad 25 (Spike Lee) ABCTV</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11/23 Argo DVD (w/ family after our day trip to Philly, my second time)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11/26 Life of Pi / Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Pt. 2</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11/29 Chasing Ice @ Embarcadero</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">12/08 Hitchcock / Killing Them Softly @ Metreon (no fountain sodas, had to pay 4$ for a 12oz bottle, no ice)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">12/09 Liz & Dick - Lifetime (HDTGM podcast did an episode on it so I went in knowing it was terrible)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Midnight Run (1988) - Netflix</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">12/15 The Hobbit pt.1 3D @ AMC Van Ness / A Royal Affair @ Opera Plaza</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">12/21 The Hobbit HFR 3D / This Is 40 @ Daly City</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>Favorites</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That is, films that evoked in me a particularly strong aesthetic or emotional reaction: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Holy Motors, A Royal Affair, Chasing Ice, Fat Kid Rules The World, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Starlet, Dredd 3D, The Master, Farewell My Queen, Magic Mike, Moonrise Kingdom, Prometheus 3D, Beasts of the Southern Wild</b>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Comedies (with both "dram" and "rom" qualities) I liked a lot were:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Ted, This is 40, The Five Year Engagement, For A Good Time Call, Your Sister's Sister, Safety Not Guaranteed, Pitch Perfect. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The big budget hero/fantasy and animated blockbusters entertained me mostly, but rarely hit my sweet spot. Sorry, Hollywood.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>MUSIC</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">R.I.P.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My fave Donna Summer track from Bad Girls</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just got the new <b>Big Boi </b>- it's a good one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New to me this year: <b>Alabama Shakes, Little Dragon, Santigold, The Sheepdogs, Sleeper Agent, Talib Kweli </b>(who I always thought of as merely Mos Def's sidekick but turns out has a lot of great albums of his own). My favorite song of the year:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>PODCASTS</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some new ones and discoveries have been <a href="http://feralaudio.com/show/call-chelsea-peretti/" target="_blank">Call Chelsea Peretti</a>, a silly, sarcastic call-in show with a comedienne I love, and <a href="http://www.tolkienprofessor.com/wp/" target="_blank">Tolkien Professor</a>, whose Riddles In the Dark and Hobbit lecture series helped me re-discover the wonder of that book, and prepared me for the inevitable differences in the film adaptation. Stopped listening to film review shows entirely, but do like <b>Filmspotting SVU</b> (Streaming Video Unit) from the hosts of the now defunct IFC News podcast. Also, more comedy with Pete Holmes' <b>You Made It Weird</b>, <b>The Dana Gould Hour</b>, and <b>The Long Shot Podcast </b>(now in it's sixth season).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After having some dramatic overages on my data plan, I reset my iPhone, deleting all my apps. Found a new podcast streaming app called <a href="http://vemedio.com/products/instacast3" target="_blank">Instacast</a> that I love. Still using iTunes for some shows, but this way I'm not collecting mp3 files that I only listen to once, and can get new episodes without syncing to my Mac.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>RIFFTRAX</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The boys were busy this year with more video on demand riffs of obscure schlock than ever before, augmented by a handful of live broadcasts and current movie riffs:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Curse of Bigfoot / Mutant / Prisoners of the Lost Universe / Brainiac (1963) / Bloody Pit Of Horror / </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">RT Presents: Flatliners (w/ Cole Stratton & Janet Varney) / Future Force / Neutron the Atomic Superman vs. the Death Robots / </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Live: "MANOS" THE HANDS OF FATE - Fathom event (new riffs of an old MST3K favorite now in in restored print. Still a baffling mess, it's more of a "worst movie ever" than any by Ed Wood) / </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Hunger Games / The Guy From Harlem / The Bermuda Triangle / The Revenge of Dr. X / </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Live: BIRDEMIC - Fathom event (a great riff of a new bad movie classic, but a poor audio mix marred my enjoyment) / </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tourist Trap / Nightmare At Noon / Future Zone / Christmas with RiffTrax: Santa's Village of Madness</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>VACATION</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Took two trips this year, one to Chicago in the spring and another at Thanksgiving to Maryland. Both good times but marred but foot/leg pains that crippled me for a day each time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">12/22 Had a nice pre Xmas pork loin dinner with Rob, Nancy, & brother Paul. Fish house punch was consumed, gifts were exchanged, laughs were had. I was mega late because electrician Mike Umble graciously replaced an outdoor light, outlet and indoor switch for my home. </span></div>
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Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-34818594915072271502012-04-22T16:29:00.000-07:002012-04-22T19:20:25.958-07:00Four Twenty<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">4/20/12 Attended two Doug Benson shows in SF - link to <a href="http://aspecialthing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1334&p=259375&viewfull=1#post259375" target="_blank">AST for my recaps</a>. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">1/31 The Grey / Haywire @ Century Daly City</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">2/21 Beginners - VOD (Mike Mills, 2011) The director was in my graduating class at Cooper Union in 1989. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">2/21 Take Shelter - VOD (Jeff Nichols, 2011)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">2/22 Margaret @ SFFS (New People <span style="font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Arial;">1746 Post Street SF)</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">2/23 Rifftrax - Twilight, Breaking Dawn, Pt. 1</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">2/23 Midnight In Paris - VOD (Woody Allen, 2011)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">2/24 Bullhead @ Lumiere</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">2/24 The Help - VOD</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">2/25 Wanderlust <span style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Arial;">@ </span>Century Daly City</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">2/25 The Secret World of Arrietty @ Century Daly City</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">3/10 Crazy Horse @ Opera Plaza</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">3/10 Tim & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie @ Lumiere</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">3/14 John Carter 3D @ AMC Van Ness</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">3/15 Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance @ Century Daly City</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">3/16 Jeff Who Lives at Home @ Cinearts Empire</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-size: small;">3/17 We Need To Talk About Kevin @ Century San Francisco Centre 9</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">3/17 Friends With Kids @</span> </span>Century San Francisco Centre 9</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">3/23 The Hunger Games @ Century Daly City</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">3/30 House of Pleasures @ SFFS</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">3/31 The Raid: Redemption @ Metreon</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">4/06 Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope (Morgan Spurlock, 2012) @ Vogue</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">4/06 Goon @ Lumiere</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-size: small; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4/14 The Cabin in the Woods </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> @ Century Daly City</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-size: small; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4/14 21 Jump Street </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> @ Century Daly City</span></span></div>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-979267874449907992012-02-05T06:01:00.000-08:002012-02-05T06:01:00.804-08:00The Reigning Monarchs<a href="http://www.thereigningmonarchs.com/">http://www.thereigningmonarchs.com/</a><br />
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<br />Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-47829850693872404072012-01-31T15:34:00.000-08:002012-01-31T15:34:28.758-08:00January wrap-up<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The 11th Annual <a href="http://www.sfsketchfest.com/home/" target="_blank">SFSketchfest</a> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">started and I've seen a bunch of shows already. My recaps can be found over at AST in this thread: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://aspecialthing.com/forum/f27/sf-sketchfest-2012-starts-tonight-23221/" target="_blank">SF Sketchfest 2012 Starts Tonight!</a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Devices</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The weekend before the fest started I had a pretty major problem with my 2 year old MacBook Pro. The more methods I tried to repair it with (Disk Utility, MacKeeper, Recovery HD) the worse it got. Finally I realized that I was still under Apple Care warranty (3 years) and had up-to-date backups on my Time Machine, so I brought it to the Genius Bar at the Stonestown Apple Store. After a few minutes of running some diagnostics, they determined the hard-drive was faulty and they'd replace it. Two days later I had it back, as good as new. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Luckily I've learned my lessons from years of owning Macs: </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Invest in the warranty and back that shit up!</span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Movies</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">1/1 <i><b> The Girl w/ the Dragon Tattoo</b></i> @ Cinearts Empire (dark and stylish)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">1/5 <i><b>War Horse / Adventures of Tintin 3D</b></i> @ AMC Van Ness (both old-fashioned fun)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">1/16 <b><i>A Dangerous Method</i></b> @ Embarcadero (disappointing)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">1/18 <b><i>Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy</i></b> @ Century (well-shot, dense plot)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">1/20 <b><i>A Separation</i></b> @ Embarcadero (incredibly moving - one of 2011's best)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Took a nice hike with my brother along Blithedale Summit </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">near Mt. Tam.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>Dexter</i></b>, Seasons 1 through 6 (SHO, Netflix) (great, but peaked with Season 4)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>Die Hard</i></b> (1988) (a classic)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford</i></b> (2007) (slow, elegant)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>The League</i></b>, Season 2 (Instant Watch) (funny stuff)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>Wet Hot American Summer</i></b> (2001) (Instant Watch) (silly, great cast)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>Pink Floyd: Which One's Pink?</i></b> (VH1)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Well made doco, reminded me of how much I used to like them (60's/70's period - <i><b>Meddle</b></i> being probably my favorite album). Pity they can't all get along. And now two of the originals (Barrett & Wright) are deceased. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Partial watch - Ozu's <b><i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053390/" target="_blank">Floating Weeds</a></i></b> (1959)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Heard his name many times but was unfamiliar with his films. Found this on TCM one evening and was mesmerized. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Posting this here to remind myself to watch this from the start.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-48640831616125427842011-12-31T18:34:00.000-08:002012-01-31T15:36:05.819-08:00Shameful Young Artists<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>Holiday Cheer</b></span></div>
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Had a nice visit over Christmas with family (mostly in-laws). Saturday saw the <a href="http://deyoung.famsf.org/deyoung/exhibitions/masters-venice-renaissance-painters-passion-and-power-kunsthistorisches-museum-v" target="_blank">Masters of Venice</a> exhibit at the de Young, ate at Park Chow, attempted to see Playland @ the Conservatory (but it was closed early), then took a nice walk around Land's End to see the ruins of the Sutro Baths and some lovely views of the bay.</div>
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Sunday featured opening gifts, a terrific dinner prepared by Nancy and her mother, much drinking and talk about movies (for Anna - <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/my-year-of-flops-case-file-40-joe-versus-the-volca,14872/" target="_blank">here</a> Nathan Rabin argues that <b><i>Joe Versus The Volcano</i></b> is a "Secret Success"). We then managed to watch three films: </div>
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<b><i>Sunshine Cleaning</i></b> (Netflix DVD - good, light fun considering the grim premise + it confirms my crush on Amy Adams)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amy A. looking great in the awful Night at the Museum sequel</td></tr>
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<b><i>The Hangover, Part 2</i></b> (Comcast On Demand - as David Bax from BP said, "Probably a better movie than the first one, but they forgot to make it funny.")</div>
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<b><i>Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom</i></b> (DVD - much better than I remembered it. But then, for me, <b><i>Raiders of the Lost Ark</i></b> is a perfect film, so any sequels seem less - more on this later…).</div>
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I also caught a few comedy specials online and TV:</div>
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<b>Apple Sisters Variety Show</b></div>
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<b>The Nerdist: Year in Review (BBC America)</b></div>
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<b>Rifftrax</b></div>
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Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny (live streaming)</div>
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Magic Christmas Tree (VOD)</div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Movies</span></b> </div>
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<b><i>Young Adult</i></b> (12/10 @ Metreon)</div>
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Charlize Theron gives a dynamic performance as as unlikable woman yearning for her glory days in high school. Comedian Patton Oswalt plays a lovable loser making the best out of a bad situation. The latest film from director Jason Reitman (<b><i>Up In The Air</i></b>) and writer Diablo Cody (<b><i>Juno</i></b>) is a touching comedy/drama about grown-ups who still have some growing up to do.</div>
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<b><i>Shame</i></b> (12/11 @ Embarcadero)</div>
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Michael Fassbender (man-crush) stars in this adult film (NC-17) meant for adults. I've never seen a film with this much sex and nudity that was also such a buzz-kill. But it's a work of art that made me somewhat nostalgic for late nights in Manhattan.</div>
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<b><i>The Artist</i></b> (12/18 @ Embarcadero)</div>
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Capone did a <a href="http://www.aintitcool.com/node/52379" target="_blank">great interview</a> with the director who reveals this was not the film's original title. Makes sense, as the "artist" in question is actually an "actor," but the current name fits, telling the story of how creative people must adapt to changing trends in their field. Perhaps even more than this year's <b><i>My Week With Marilyn</i></b> and <b><i>Hugo</i></b>, it gives a insightful look into what goes on behind the camera to create "movie magic." And yes, it's a "silent movie" (i.e., no dialogue) but it does have a score (and in two surreal scenes, a soundtrack).</div>
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<b><i>Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol IMAX</i></b> (12/26 @ Metreon)</div>
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First off: too much punctuation in that title. But I liked it a lot. Action movie of the year, narrowly beating out <b><i>Fast Five</i></b>. I am a Tom Cruise hater, so I never saw the first three, but may now visit them. Pixar director Brad Bird (<b><i>The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Iron Giant</i></b>) did a fine job, again featuring his fascination with machines and gears in motion. </div>
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Bunch of "Best of" lists coming out from folks I admire (even when I disagree)</div>
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<b>Capone's Best of 2011</b> (very thorough list of 50 best, separate list of documentaries, and picks for worst) <a href="http://www.aintitcool.com/node/52440">http://www.aintitcool.com/node/52440</a></div>
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<b>A.V. Club</b> </div>
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<a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/best-films-of-2011,66423/" target="_blank">Best Films</a> (15 picks then lists from each contributor - 3 pages) </div>
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<a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-worst-films-of-2011,66567/" target="_blank">Worst Films</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/podmass-best-podcasts-of-2011,67056/" target="_blank">Podcasts</a> </div>
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And a discussion between two critics about why one didn't like Scorsese's 3D film <b><i>Hugo</i></b> </div>
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<a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/hugo,67044/">http://www.avclub.com/articles/hugo,67044/</a></div>
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I'm afraid I'll end up on the wrong side of history, but here's my own take on the hype, which I posted in the comments over at <b>Battleship Pretension</b>:</div>
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BP episode #249 12/27</div>
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"…I am with Tyler on not loving <b><i>Hugo</i></b> (and I saw it in 3D opening week). I'd rate it very good, not great, and am baffled by the nearly universal praise it is receiving on so many critics best of the year lists. I am tempted to say "the emperor has no clothes," but won't go that far - I did enjoy the film, I just find the recent spate of Scorsese efforts to be exercises in style rather than satisfying works of art. Tasha Robinson at the A.V. Club is one of the few vocal dissenters, labeling it a "gimcrack" (look it up). </div>
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Not seeing it in 3D likely reveals its flimsy story. What begins with the promise of an inspirational child's fable devolves into a lecture on the importance of film preservation, reducing our protagonist to a passive observer. The central mystery of the automaton was not explored fully enough for me. Beyond its spectacular <i>mise-en-scène </i>and immersive 3D (which was gorgeous) I found the whole thing to be bit precious and ultimately hollow. Kind of like <b><i>Avatar</i></b>…"</div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Food</span></b></div>
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Ben & Jerry's Limited Batch "<a href="http://www.benjerry.com/flavors/feature/schweddy/" target="_blank">Schweddy Balls</a>" ice cream</div>
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It only appeared once at my local 7-11 and it is delicious.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>Music</b></span></div>
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While being forced to hear crap dance-pop radio at work for a few weeks this summer, I developed Stockholm Syndrome and started to appreciate the latest hits from divas such as Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, and the like. One song I heard a lot was "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvgJEznqtms" target="_blank">Like A G6</a>" (by Far East Movement) which features a sample from this song by Dev which I find kind of hypnotic.</div>
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More songs I learned to love: Adele Rolling in the Deep, Rihanna What's My Name, Avril Lavigne What the Hell, Britney Spears Till the World Ends, J. Lo On the Floor , and of course LMFAO Party Rock Anthem.</div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">TV/DVR</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://www.daemonstv.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/HELL-ON-WHEELS-AMC-A-New-Birth-of-Freedom-Episode-3-7-550x366.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://www.daemonstv.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/HELL-ON-WHEELS-AMC-A-New-Birth-of-Freedom-Episode-3-7-550x366.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.amctv.com/shows/hell-on-wheels" target="_blank">Hell On Wheels</a></b> (AMC)</div>
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It's not trying to be <b>Deadwood</b>, though at first I thought it was. It's got the same look, but not the high level of writing. Luckily it's tackling a different set of issues: railroad, racism, immigrants, natives, religion, prostitution (OK, so it's not <i>completely</i> different). It was a ballsy move to kill off two of its most promising characters (the grizzled foreman - played by Ted Levine - and the sickly surveyor) in the very first episode. Kind of a dumb show, but it's a much less frustrating watch than <b>The Walking Dead</b> came to be. Enjoying the muddy Old West setting and the trains. </div>
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An aside: One episode dealing with slavery got me wondering if anyone had ever made a movie about controversial abolitionist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_(abolitionist)#Visual_portrayals" target="_blank">John Brown</a>? Turns out he has been portrayed on film and TV, but not in any epic biopic like the one I imagine could be made. </div>
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<b><a href="http://www.vh1.com/shows/metal_evolution/series.jhtml" target="_blank">Metal Evolution</a></b> (VH1Classic)</div>
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While visiting the U.K. in 1981 as a teen I bought <b>Encyclopedia Metallica: The Bible of Heavy Metal </b>(OOP), published during the heyday of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NWOBHM" target="_blank">NWOBHM</a>. My copy is filled with passages highlighted with yellow marker as I devoured it's contents multiple times. In four hours (of 11 total) host Sam Dunn has already covered the contents of that book.</div>
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Episodes seem way too short considering all the available material, but they are doing a good job cataloging the multi-headed hydra that is Metal. The first few shows covered territory familiar to me, so I can nitpick the omission of bands like Budgie, Blue Oyster Cult, Thin Lizzy, Montrose, and Angel Witch, but can forgive them ignoring B-level bands that I've only come to appreciate as I got older. Curious to see how they handle later 80's trends like hair metal ("nerf metal" as Chuck Eddy labelled it) and thrash.</div>
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Kind of fitting that I started this year with a <a href="http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/star-wars-episode-iii-revenge-of-the-sith/" target="_blank">post</a> about Mr Plinkett's <b><i>SW3: Sith</i></b> review, as he just released his latest takedown of <b><i><a href="http://redlettermedia.com/mr-plinetts-indiana-jones-and-the-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull-review/" target="_blank">IJ4-Crystal Skull</a>, </i></b>making the argument that the latest entry (and hopefully last) betrays everything that made the series so successful. This got me wanting to re-see the second film <b><i>Temple of Doom</i></b> which I did Christmas Day with my brother and bro-in-law. It was pretty great, though the parts I remembered best, the mineshaft chase and subsequent brawl on the conveyer belt, now seemed to be the stiffest parts. They feel unnaturally set-bound and reliant on machinery and contraptions for the gags to work. But the rest of the film is a potent blend of old-fashioned action, humor, and the supernatural. Have not seen the two current Spielberg films and am not in a rush to just yet.</div>
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<br /></div>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-38294234096911423522011-12-03T18:19:00.001-08:002011-12-03T19:41:25.149-08:00Mo' Vember<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Note: I had no idea this was a real thing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movember">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movember</a>. </span></i></span><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I mean it here as a further update of my media intake from the latter part of last month.</span></i><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Got the latest albums from these ladies: </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Florence + The Machine, Zola Jesus, St. Vincent, & the very spooky Chelsea Wolfe</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Discovered a glammy, hard rock band from the early 80's — Storm </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Found <a href="http://dvdconcertth.blogspot.com/2011/09/van-halen-1982-10-12-capital.html" target="_blank">this</a> full-length concert video of Van Halen in their prime. Amazing how dynamic a frontman Diamond Dave was, despite constantly forgetting lyrics (or not singing at all). </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Yeti O.S.T. - one of the funniest record covers I've ever seen.</span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Comedy, Podcasts</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Bought the latest albums by Doug Benson, Patton Oswalt, and Eddie Pepitone, all of which are great.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">My favorite podcaster Jimmy Pardo made an <a href="http://teamcoco.com/video/jimmy-pardo-never-not-funny" target="_blank">appearance</a> on Conan's TBS program (where Jimmy does crowd warm-up) in part to promote his third annual 12-hour post-Thanksgiving Pardcastathon to benefit Smile Train. That was I how spent my Friday night/Saturday morning, watching the live stream of the event on my laptop, though I didn't make it through the entire thing — fell asleep @ 230AM so I missed the last third or so.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Some other great podcasts are starting to put out special live episodes like <a href="http://store.walkingtheroom.com/" target="_blank">Walking the Room </a>and Who Charted?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Bought an <a href="http://go.iomega.com/en-us/products/external-hard-drive-desktop/mac-companion/mac-companion/?partner=4760" target="_blank">Iomega 3TB Mac Companion</a> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">to make backups more efficient, but it wasn't so easy.<b> </b>Spent at least a week reconfiguring the connections between my MacBook, Time Capsule and various LaCie hard drives to get some kind of redundancy going. The problem is that the Apple Time Capsule does not backup any drives that are mounted after it, and while you can store files on the TC, you can't back them up on anything else. Am not fully satisfied with the current set-up, but the new drive is very cool, so it's now my main media server (music, movies). </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>Etón Soulra</b> - Bought this thing online from <a href="http://www.crutchfield.com/">http://www.crutchfield.com</a> cause it seemed like the greatest thing ever, and it was… for 20 minutes until it stopped working. Had them send me a new one and it worked very well… for a month and a half. With some hesitation I had them send me a third, which is fine so far, but I haven't brought it to work yet. I don't have high hopes. I imagine the electronics involving the battery and the solar panel are too sensitive for rugged use. We shall see. There are very few "boom boxes" that fully enclose your iPod/Phone, let alone can run on sunlight. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Movies</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">11/16 <b>J. Edgar</b> (disappointing and grey)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">11/18 <b>Immortals 3D</b> (pretty, dumb fun)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">11/22 <b>The Descendants / The Skin I Live In</b> (both excellent - emotionally moving with clever twists)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">11/24 <b>Hugo 3D</b> (gorgeous but kind of hollow)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">11/29 <b>The Muppets / Arthur Xmas 3D</b> (both light-hearted fun)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">11/30 <b>My Week With Marilyn</b> (charming, pretty, and little bit sad - like the lady herself)</span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">MST/RT/CT</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>Rifftrax</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Warriors of the Wasteland (aka The New Barbarians), VOD</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Buffalo Rider, VOD</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Boy In the Plastic Bubble, VOD from 2010 </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>Cinematic Titanic </b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">War of the Insects (aka Genocide), VOD & DVD for sale <a href="http://cinematictitanic.com/showguide.php?showname=War_of_the_Insects" target="_blank">here</a> </span><br />
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</div>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-29667744729703097212011-11-13T13:15:00.001-08:002011-12-03T18:17:50.942-08:00Fall Update<br />
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<b>Buildings</b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlDRB0oJ1uGmgGFTM-ls1u4HYfn5NfTVWsdQp43kTRWD7qk7KDw85MrwCRibIYk9kC4gb41hGhnYzRj0TjGsri9REx_n7ePmE0e3W65QOn1cHJkLv3FQFJCPXsrWy9va3Ujt9p14cZRQM/s1600/Claremont+IMG_0289.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlDRB0oJ1uGmgGFTM-ls1u4HYfn5NfTVWsdQp43kTRWD7qk7KDw85MrwCRibIYk9kC4gb41hGhnYzRj0TjGsri9REx_n7ePmE0e3W65QOn1cHJkLv3FQFJCPXsrWy9va3Ujt9p14cZRQM/s400/Claremont+IMG_0289.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">The Claremont Hotel, Berkeley, CA </span></div>
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<a href="http://www.claremontresort.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">http://www.claremontresort.com/</span></a></div>
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<b>Comedy</b></div>
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<a href="http://www.anthonyjeselnik.com/" target="_blank">Anthony Jeselnik</a> w/ <a href="http://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/index.html" target="_blank">Ophira Eisenberg</a> & Kevin O'Shea </div>
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@ The Punch Line - 8pm, Friday 11/11</div>
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<b>Movies</b></div>
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9/21 <b>Drive </b></div>
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9/25 <b>Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame</b> / <b>Red State</b></div>
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9/30 <b>Warrior</b></div>
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10/26 <b>Ides of March</b></div>
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11/5 <b><a href="http://www.garfieldlaneproductions.com/Sutro.html" target="_blank">Sutro's: The Palace at Lands End</a></b> / <b>50/50</b></div>
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11/6 <b>Martha Marcy May Marlene</b> / <b>Moneyball</b></div>
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11/11 <b>Melancholia</b><br />
11/13<b> </b><b>A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Xmas</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lobby display at Balboa Theater</span></span></td></tr>
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<b>Rifftrax</b></div>
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Laser Mission </div>
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Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince</div>
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Sons of Hercules: Land of Darkness</div>
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<b>Free Agents</b> (NBC) – 1,2,3,4 and <a href="http://www.aoltv.com/2011/10/06/nbc-cancels-free-agents/" target="_blank">it's gone</a>. Watched the six episode series of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyRyBSzw44g&feature=relmfu" target="_blank">BBC version</a> (from 2009) and it's way better. Darker, more naturalistic and filthier (though bleeped). I can see why the U.S. take on the material tanked, even though I liked the cast. </div>
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<b>The Walking Dead</b> (AMC) – frustratingly excellent tension during the 90 minutes of the Season 2 premiere, but I've been let down by every subsequent episode. Not sure if it's the writing or the acting that's at fault, but I find the characters uninvolving. I wish half the cast would just get bitten and go away.</div>
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<b>The League</b> – Season 3 started recently on FX and I loved it so I caught up with this viciously funny series with Netflix (S1) and Xfinity On Demand (S2). Paul Scheer and Nick Kroll are frequent guests on Earwolf podcasts, and Mark Duplass & Katie Aselton have made a number of good films, together and apart.</div>
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<b>The Heart, She Holler</b> (adult swim) – starring Patton Oswalt & Kristen Schaal. Weird fun, if not quite funny. Like if David Lynch made episodes of "Hee Haw"…</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/xjTrAYFHrRU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-33497450658133843682011-11-11T10:15:00.001-08:002011-11-13T17:18:09.807-08:00What I did on my autumn vacation<br />
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Visited my parents for a week at the end of October around the date of their wedding anniversary (and just learned it's my brother's and my responsibility to plan a party for their 50th coming up in a few years). They live in Maryland, the suburbs of Washington D.C. I initially chose those dates because of some touring comedians that would be in town that week (Attell, Posehn, Cinematic Titanic) but as the time approached I realized:</div>
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1) I was broke, and </div>
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2) my parents would appreciate me sticking around the house, as would I. </div>
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So I didn't go out in the evenings, which would have been an awkward mix of driving, taking the Metro downtown, and doing the same in reverse, probably after a few drinks at a comedy club. In years past, vacation time spent there was stress filled, with me planning out activities for every day (movies, museum trips, seeing other relatives, etc.) often resulting in little to no quality time being spent with my parents. Another factor in my selection of dates was that the weather would be not too cold then, and it turned out to be perfect timing, as it dropped in temperature some 20 degrees from the low 70's to the mid 50's by the end of my stay.</div>
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My father was able to cash in some miles for a free plane ticket for me so I flew Continental/United (now merged). Upside is that he was able to get me the same seats on each leg of the trip (30A) which is a window seat, in the back, far enough behind the wing that I could get some nice views. Desert lands in the Southwest were particularly nice in the morning, and some fascinating waterways and crop layouts in the vicinity of Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). </div>
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Downside is that there was a three-hour layover. Dad suggested I ask the United folks if there was an earlier flight to Baltimore-Washington (BWI) available that I could get onto. After looking at the "Departures" board I found a connection that landed in D.C. proper (Reagan Washington National Airport - DCA). With little effort, they were able to get me a seat on the earlier flight, and after asking them to check for me, were even able to get me a window seat (31A), which amazingly had a free seat next to me so I was able to stretch out.</div>
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I barely had time to buy a lunch and call ahead to let the parents know I would be arriving hours earlier and at a whole other airport. Thankfully my dad offered to pick me up rather than me having to take a Metro train closer to their home in MD.</div>
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The discomfort of coach/economy seats is only one reason I dislike flying. Post 9/11 security checks are annoying enough but on one trip years ago I was pulled aside and given the dust test(?) and had my bag unpacked and searched; I was mortified. But the biggest drag of flying for me is the whole "ear-popping" phenomenon. While the pressure change is often painful when landing, what's worse is that it usually takes a full two days for my hearing to return to normal. So I spend the beginning of every vacation feeling like I've got cotton in my ears and uncertain of how loud I'm speaking. </div>
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Minor annoyances aside, this particular series of flights went well (I even had no line of people at the security check on my return flight from BWI Friday morning, the first time I've ever seen that). I may have to rethink my "I hate flying" stance.</div>
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<i><b>Anyhow, here's what I did while on the East Coast…</b></i></div>
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• At her request, gave my mother a sales pitch for an <b>Apple iPhone</b>. She's in the market for a new cell, and thought the "Siri" function was cute. One of her sisters plays Angry Birds. She was already inclined to get one but just needed a little push. Turns out it's a lot harder to get one of the new 4S models than just going down to the nearest Apple Store, which we learned only after making the trip. Seems that there are so few out there you must make a reservation online (only after 9pm, and not all sizes or carriers will be available). The better option is actually to order one and have it shipped to you, which is a one to two week wait but less hassle than the reserving process turned out to be (UPDATE: mom ordered it and says it's more like 3 weeks: then Apple cancelled her order and she had to go to store again). After a bit of convincing it was worth the upgrade to a smartphone, my dad did get a 4, which Apple still sells. And by doing it at the store, in person, they were able to offer us a 16GB for $150, a model they don't even offer online. </div>
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It was funny to see the different demographics at a suburban Apple Store compared to the SF locations I'm used to. This <a href="http://www.apple.com/retail/montgomerymall/" target="_blank">Montgomery Mall</a>, MD store (right off the Beltway) had a few "older" sales people (our guy Dale was probably in his 30s-early 40s) and a much older clientele, many folks in their 50s and 60s shopping and attending in-store teaching sessions.</div>
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• Helped my father with some technical problems he was having with his 6-year old <b>Dell "Discovery" PC</b>. I know very little about Windows-based systems, but I was able to be of some use. The big issue is that their desktop tower runs very slow, and is nearing it's limit as to what software can be updated on it. Some botched hard-drive replacement done by Best Buy in 2008 has left their DVD drive unavailable. Add to this the fact that they use the cluttered looking AOL interface as their homepage, every minute spent on this dinosaur was painful to me. </div>
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The whole time working on it I was urging them to make more use of their brand new <b>Dell Inspiron laptop</b>, which has a 17" widescreen, a trackpad, and runs Windows 7. After much prodding, I got dad to transfer files to the new Dell and to hopefully take advantage of their WiFi by using the laptop throughout the house. I even managed to trim down some of the excess buttons and toolbars in their AOL browser, in addition to delete some useless app shortcuts on their desktop screen.</div>
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But I know that old habits die hard. My main advice was, "Allow yourself to enjoy the new technology; it can improve your quality of life."</div>
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• Simultaneous to this were conversations with my aunt who was shopping for a new Dell desktop and wanted some advice. For a second there I had her seriously considering a switch to Apple and a new iMac, but the conversion from PC to Mac seemed too intimidating. I later suggested she get a laptop for it's convenience but seeing as she doesn't have WiFi in her home, that would require even more upgrading. So we settled on a nice package Dell offered with a new widescreen monitor, that ended up costing almost half the price of an iMac (though not as pretty: while at the Apple store, she confessed to having "Mac envy.")</div>
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• Yard-work. Spent over half a day cutting off dead tree limbs and trying to salvage a decorative garden bed that was damaged in a recent hurricane. Also patched a hole in the chimney of my aunt with brick fragments and cement mix. Did this all with my dad, which was a pleasure. Funny how working in the yard was in childhood a chore, but feels more like a duty (or even a privilege) as an adult.</div>
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<a href="http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc107/bastardlybutta/moejackson-photos/album029/ryan-gosling-the-ides-of-march-movie-image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc107/bastardlybutta/moejackson-photos/album029/ryan-gosling-the-ides-of-march-movie-image.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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• Went to see <b><i>Ides of March</i></b> at the <a href="http://www.pandgtheatres.com/greenbelt.asp" target="_blank">Old Greenbelt Theatre</a>, then had Chinese food at the restaurant next door (very good, best General Tso's chicken I've ever had). I found the film engaging but inconsequential. Features a great cast (Clooney, Gosling, Giamatti, P.S. Hoffman, and Evan Rachel Wood is gorgeous), but is not particularly cinematic, and despite it's story potential not a lot really happened. Felt to me more like a PBS American Playhouse production, or an extended episode of the <i>West Wing</i>. I know it's based on a play, but as other critics have noted, it doesn't offer anything new to our understanding of the backdoor dealings of political campaigns. Worth seeing, but not required viewing in a theater. Rent it.</div>
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Half the appeal of this evening was going to <a href="http://www.greenbeltmd.gov/about_greenbelt/history.htm" target="_blank">Greenbelt</a> itself which is a community I'll have to explore more in the future. It was started in 1937 during the New Deal era as a "public cooperative community," and is considered a National Historic Landmark (2012 will be its 75th Anniversary). BTW, inside this classic theater, it's a bit of a dump, a mere shadow of it's former glory.</div>
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• Took a trip to downtown Washington, D.C. with my dad to visit the <b>National Museum of Crime & Punishment </b> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4272db;"><span style="direction: ltr; text-decoration: underline; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="http://www.crimemuseum.org/">http://www.crimemuseum.org/</a>. </span></span>Their cheap looking website was not helping to sell me on it but this enthusiastic <a href="http://travelswithgordo.typepad.com/queen_of_wands/2008/09/criminal-justice-walsh-style-the-new-national-crime-punishment-museum.html" target="_blank">review</a> (which questions the unsettling appeal of artwork made in prison by convicted murderers) and the following video did</div>
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In all, it was what I'd hoped, lots of fascinating stories and artifacts, but sort of haphazardly put together. A bit too loud and busy, as every themed section (Pirates, Gangsters, etc.) had it's own ambient soundtrack consisting of sound effects and dialogue running on a loop, that would often overlap when transitioning from one area to another. A bunch of the later displays on forensic science and police training were interactive and geared towards a younger, school-aged audience. At one point we could hear a gaggle of noisy school kids approaching and I feared for my sanity (crowded museums bug me) but they passed us in about ten minutes as they could not be bothered to read placards or study black & white photos and diagrams of old bank heists. One of the promotional materials stated you could go through the museum in about two hours, but we were there for about three and a half.</div>
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My favorite object was this <a href="http://www.chicagohistoryjournal.com/2010/09/1931-chicago-gangland-map-available.html" target="_blank">Chicago gangland cartoon map</a> from the 1930s</div>
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Now starving, we grabbed some lunch at <a href="http://www.oyamel.com/" target="_blank">Oyamel</a>, an upscale mexican kitchen ("cocina mexicana" as they call it on their logo) which seemed a bit pretentious but turned out to be delicious. I'm not a fan of restaurants whose menu needs to be explained to me by the waiter. Gourmet food in general is wasted on me; I can see the point in spending lots of money on small quantities of unique food, especially as a social activity, but I just can't prioritize it. I would however recommend this joint for a larger group looking to have some drinks and share food together.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">tacos, $4 apiece</span></span></td></tr>
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Being in the "Penn Quarter" (a new term for an old neighborhood) just north of the National Mall, we only had to walk a few blocks to get to the <b>National Gallery East Building</b> to see a small show of Bauhaus publications which was closing soon. As we approached the modern structure I was shocked to see it sheathed in metal scaffolding, entire sections stripped of it's granite shell, revealing mundane brick-work underneath. I never knew that this how this building was constructed. I included a full frontal shot of it in my <a href="http://culturedungeon.blogspot.com/2011/10/summah-sum-up-8-of-8-work-buildings-bad.html" target="_blank">"Buildings" post</a> a few days ago. Also there is an interior with sculpture in the foreground.</div>
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So while there we saw:</div>
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Bauhaus books (under glass in the study library) <a href="http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/bauhausprintinfo.shtm">http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/bauhausprintinfo.shtm</a></div>
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Gothic tapestries <a href="http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/pastranainfo.shtm">http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/pastranainfo.shtm</a></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hugely imposing and meticulously crafted they are fine examples of political propaganda, enshrining the Portuguese conquest of Morocco. More <a href="http://www.wrighton.com.ar/archives/art-tapecarias-de-pastrana/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></i></blockquote>
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Andy Warhol "Headlines" screenprints & sketches <a href="http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/warholinfo.shtm">http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/warholinfo.shtm</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_296w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/08/31/Style/Images/2870-014%5B2%5D.jpg?uuid=FQUyeNPpEeCA3DHdQxseSw" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_296w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/08/31/Style/Images/2870-014%5B2%5D.jpg?uuid=FQUyeNPpEeCA3DHdQxseSw" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>The definitive piece, which captures Warhol's casual graphic brilliance, and even better in person as it's about 4 feet high.</i></span></blockquote>
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On our way back home, we visited the renovated <a href="http://www.nationalparkseminary.com/" target="_blank">National Park Seminary</a> now selling condos in Silver Spring, which I'll have to write more about at some later date. </div>
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• <b><i>Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills</i></b> (1996) </div>
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My mother and aunt have been on a kick of renting documentaries from Netflix based on a<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Documentaries_to_See_Before_You_Die" target="_blank"> list compiled by Martin Spurlock</a> and this was at the house when I got there (did they know in advance that I would love it?). I recall when it came out and was intrigued by the heavy metal connection, but never saw the film myself. My mother prefaced us watching it by telling me the three accused had recently been freed (on August 19, 2011 to be exact) and that this film was a key element in a nationwide movement to getting their convictions overturned. I had heard the phrase "Free The West Memphis Three" in recent years but had no idea what it referred to. </div>
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The film-makers went into the trials not having any opinion either way about who was guilty; they merely sought to document the results of a heinous crime. But as they proceeded, they captured so many contradictory statements from the families, police, and lawyers involved that at the end, it seemed justice had not been served. A guilty verdict was rendered, but too many questions remained unanswered. So after watching this incredible documentary on one evening early in my vacation, I became curious to learn more about it. </div>
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The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Memphis_Three" target="_blank">Wikipedia entry</a> is lengthy and gives a thorough account of the case and its aftermath. But one of the sites it linked to was this:<br />
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<b>Murders In West Memphis</b> <a href="http://www.jivepuppi.com/index.html">http://www.jivepuppi.com/index.html</a><br />
by Martin David Hill, an in-depth, scholarly examination of all the police records, locations, theories, and evidence implicating other likely suspects. It took me at least four evenings to read the whole thing. And while I share the authors opinion that the three teens were unfairly convicted with the facts as presented in court, I am unconvinced of both their total innocence or that any other person is clearly the true culprit.<br />
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The fact is that the crime is truly inhuman and hard to comprehend. Prosecutors invoking the names of both Metallica and Aleister Crowley to damn the accused during the trials resonated with me, as I was also, during my alienated, powerless youth, fascinated with heavy metal music and the occult. But that didn't make me, or anyone else, necessarily capable of murdering young children.</div>
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My last night in Maryland, the sequel <b><i>Paradise Lost 2: Revelations</i></b> (1999) arrived from Netflix. Already prepared for what it contained, I found it far less engrossing. It barely touches on all the case details available and provides little new facts. It does feature the eccentricities of one of the slain children's stepfather and the softening image of the three imprisoned teens, now young men. Also lots of scenes with the grassroots movement of citizens moved by the first film attempting to get them new trials. There is a third movie (<b><i>PL3: Purgatory</i></b>) currently making the rounds at festivals which will contain the recent event of their acquittals (itself a weird legal loophole in which they are not quite declared "innocent" but are freed from prison).<br />
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• On a personal hygiene note, I drank a few beers each night, but didn't smoke any cigarettes for the entire week, which was good. I also watched very little TV, due in part to my parents not having HD service on their cable. Immersing myself in the West Memphis Three case occupied my free time and was the equivalent of reading a long book. Oddly, I once again found sleeping on the couch downstairs more comfortable than the proper single bed provided, which is sadly a foot or two too short for my height.</div>
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<br /></div>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-4404053459577904772011-10-30T14:11:00.000-07:002011-11-11T12:04:04.760-08:00Summah Sum-up (8 of 8): Work, Buildings, & Bad Finger<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">My day job is painting houses in San Francisco. I work for <b><a href="http://www.robfinnpainting.com/">Rob Finn Fine Painting & Design</a></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 32px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-transform: none;">. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">These are pictures I took at job sites. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">(Clicking on any photo will give you a bigger version)</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">500 Precita – primed…</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and painted</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">My eye is drawn to architecture in process of construction/destruction. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">These are other shots of buildings. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This is my finger I hurt while on scaffolding. It took over a month for the new fingernail to grow back.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The scene of the crime</i></span></td></tr>
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</div>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-76066784294891521502011-10-29T18:36:00.000-07:002011-10-29T18:37:45.884-07:00Summah Sum-up (7 of 8): Music<div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For years I was a "music guy." Nowadays, not so much. But these are things I discovered this year and liked …</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://0.gvt0.com/vi/E_wKWqKJDfw/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/E_wKWqKJDfw&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/E_wKWqKJDfw&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://3.gvt0.com/vi/Q-ZlRl1_4Ws/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q-ZlRl1_4Ws&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q-ZlRl1_4Ws&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I love mash-ups. This is my main source, a collective of German DJ's <a href="http://mashupyourbootz.blogspot.com/">http://mashupyourbootz.blogspot.com/</a></span></div>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-21022379584561270462011-10-29T18:23:00.000-07:002011-10-29T20:37:52.519-07:00Summah Sum-up (6 of 8): Podcasts<div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I listen to a lot of podcasts. Over the last couple of years they have become my main media of choice. I commute to work via bus or streetcar so I have time to kill every day. Owning first an iPod, then an iPhone, enables me to listen to sound files (mp3's) during my travels. It used to be music, but now it's mainly comedy or film-related podcasts. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">My very first was an episode of <a href="http://battleshippretension.com/">Battleship Pretension</a> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">(#128 w/ guest Frank Conniff, an alum of MST3K) in August of 2009 which I was pointed to by the MST fan site Satellite News. What I found was an informal chat between Frank and the hosts Tyler and David on the subject of so-called "bad movies" and how some people love them, or at least find them fascinating. I liked the hosts enough to check out other episodes, and I still regularly listen to their show.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">One of their earliest guests was Matt Belknap who runs the <a href="http://www.aspecialthing.com/">AST</a> (A Special Thing) website and record label. His stories about attending comedy shows in L.A. and posting reviews online inspired me to check out that site and some of the podcasts he produces, namely Jimmy Pardo and Doug Benson (and lately, <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheSmartest">Greg Proops</a>).</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOtZY-pK9PIMzL6Bd05m1Q7Lhufebvh5KDxJYXWGv9QThotgUFG6Lh6i2ySZaUPA4tkFwuQsvPPZO4aAusQXCicAVySVKvy-LN134d7A6cEcKQN2l0T4tfdG99qUXPKzwEF8IyEkEUu5w/s1600/SMW_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOtZY-pK9PIMzL6Bd05m1Q7Lhufebvh5KDxJYXWGv9QThotgUFG6Lh6i2ySZaUPA4tkFwuQsvPPZO4aAusQXCicAVySVKvy-LN134d7A6cEcKQN2l0T4tfdG99qUXPKzwEF8IyEkEUu5w/s320/SMW_logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Podcasting is an ideal medium for stand-up comedians as they are inexpensive to record and distribute, allow for free-flowing conversation, and can be released uncensored. Most appear with new episodes on a weekly basis, free of charge, though some have figured out how to monetize their product with paid subscriptions (Pardo's <a href="http://pardcast.com/">Never Not Funny</a>) or "Bonus" episodes (Benson's <a href="http://douglovesmovies.com/">Doug Loves Movies & The Benson Interruption</a> - for sale via AST or iTunes).</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.wtfpod.com/">Marc Maron's WTF</a> has gotten a lot of well-deserved mainstream press recognition as he is funny, insightful, and a great interviewer.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Another early podcast I listened to a bunch was filmmaker Kevin Smith's <a href="http://smodcast.com/">SModcast</a>. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In May of this year he launched the SIR Network which is maybe a dozen programs with him and his buddies bullshitting about various topics. I was a regular for awhile but I burnt-out on it and haven't listened in months. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">What I did stick with was the <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/home.php">Stitcher</a> app Smith used to stream his product. One can regularly listen to hundreds of shows with this tool (as long as you have a WiFi or 3G connection to the web). Not every podcast out there is a available but a lot of them are. It's a good way to casually check out a show without actually downloading it.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.earwolf.com/">Earwolf</a> is a network that I DO regularly listen to as it features at least half a dozen great shows. Founded by Scott Aukerman (Mr. Show vet, host of Comedy Death-Ray - now Comedy Bang Bang) and Jeff Ullrich. Earlier in 2011 they ran The Earwolf Challenge which was the first (and to date, only) reality-show podcast competition. It was a blast to listen to (3 new episodes a week!) as 10 shows entered, and 1 show walked away with a year-long distribution deal. What was so great about it was that podcasting was looked at as a craft in and of itself, while judges and participants struggled to define what makes an effective show. Earwolf also has an excellent iPhone/Android app that enables you to stream content directly to your device.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Other recent favorites:</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.rocksolid.libsyn.com/">NNF Presents: Rock Solid</a></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.nerdist.com/podcast/the-todd-glass-show/">The Todd Glass Show</a></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://mentalpod.com/">The Mental Illness Happy Hour</a></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I would be remiss in not pointing the curious towards Christine E. Taylor's blog <a href="http://www.christineetaylor.com/">Podcasting Changes Everything</a>. She has interviews and features about comedy podcasts and has turned me on to few new ones. It's a fledgling medium and she is one of it's most fervent supporters.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I listen to a lot of podcasts, and I have only mentioned a handful above. No doubt I will return to this subject in the future…</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-36709914111549255092011-10-09T18:28:00.000-07:002011-10-09T18:28:01.909-07:00Summah Sum-up (5 of 8): MST/RT/CT<div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I started watching <b><i>Mystery Science Theater 3000</i></b> in 2002, a couple years after it was cancelled but when Comedy Central was still airing repeats. Since then I bought all the box sets, downloaded the entire series, and began posting at fan sites devoted to the show. These were the first internet forums and message boards I'd ever contributed to. As a grown man in his forties, I was seriously "late to the party" – both to the show and to the art of online discussions.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">When I started this blog I figured I'd be posting a lot about MST and it's offshoots, but I stopped putting up posts here linking to the episode guide series going on at <a href="http://www.mst3kinfo.com/">Satellite News</a> because I got burnt out on the show (and that site). Analyzing the series for the meaning of every joke over the last couple of years finally took its toll on me. What I used to enjoy had become a chore, and no matter how much I immersed myself in the show's history, I would never be as much of a fanatic as some other commenters there. As I got into </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">listening to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">more current comedians and podcasts, I grew weary of those folks, often getting into arguments over what we find funny or not, which is always a useless conversation. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">But thankfully the veterans of MST have been active online and onstage, keeping movie-riffing alive and fresh for new audiences.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqCUc5pLLB4hVi6P9QxUegixjatuJGifWP_EMwI6seUaxSzwSQmrXe6QqMVdC3D_n0IFimfOaXXqnDnsdGSE48yLlmAFlsIDO2FcvB6kmFMVETUfPc4XKAMyr9ebjFnEu5b9U5i5w-r04/s1600/CT-CASTRO-IMG_0213.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqCUc5pLLB4hVi6P9QxUegixjatuJGifWP_EMwI6seUaxSzwSQmrXe6QqMVdC3D_n0IFimfOaXXqnDnsdGSE48yLlmAFlsIDO2FcvB6kmFMVETUfPc4XKAMyr9ebjFnEu5b9U5i5w-r04/s400/CT-CASTRO-IMG_0213.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Cinematic Titanic</b></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World / Rattlers @ The Castro - 5/6/11</b></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(originally posted by me at </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Satellite News <a href="http://www.mst3kinfo.com/?p=9560">here</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">)</span></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Greatness…</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Now I've seen five live shows from these folks and they just keep getting better. The intros bits by the cast and Gruber were all new from last time I saw them (thankfully Frank retired "Convoluted Man") and each presented different material between the 7 & 9:30 performances, keeping it fresh for us return customers. It seems the crew have embraced both their standup comedy pasts and their MST3K legacy as they constantly referred to it (for example, Josh introduced himself as the "Tom Servo no one likes"). Another difference from a year ago is they are dropping a lot more F & S bombs, making it more a PG-13 affair. They seem to enjoy being more crude with their language and I loved every expletive-laced moment of it.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>Samson</i></b> is very high energy and loud, and is likely the best CT effort yet, highly reminiscent of the <b><i>Hercules</i></b> flicks, but with even stronger (and bluer) riffing than MST. As happened the last time I saw them at the Castro Theater, some lines got lost in the large room (especially Mary Jo's), but I still giggled like an idiot throughout.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>Rattlers</i></b> is more of a sleeper, and filled with sequences so silly the crew hardly say a thing, knowing the crowd will find the funny in the film itself. It's a bit like <b><i>Alien Factor</i></b> in its low-budget ineptitude. Another winner, with more conversational and character-based humor. Frank calling the heroine "Buffy Sainte-Marie, Vampire Slayer" got a loud laugh from me.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">No mention of any upcoming DVD's, but I can't fault them as long as I get to see them live on a regular basis. They clearly enjoy touring and for that I am grateful.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/tCh-zSZsvno?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">…</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://1.gvt0.com/vi/rpsq7_sNER0/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rpsq7_sNER0&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rpsq7_sNER0&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Rifftrax</b></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Highlander</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Crater Lake Monster</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The Devil's Hand</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">X-Men 3: Last Stand</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Rifftrax Live: Jack the Giant Killer (Fathom event) - 8/17</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Rifftrax Presents - Night of the Shorts II: Electric Riffaloo - 8/20 </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(my <a href="http://culturedungeon.blogspot.com/2011/10/summah-sum-up-4-of-8-comedy.html">review</a> from the previous post)</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Galaxy Invader</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span> <div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Abraxas</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Setting Up A Room (short)</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The Wicker Man</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Karate Kid 3</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Thor</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/PewHLeAblqA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">…</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/SNy73PP-YeI?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>MST3K</b></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Just to prove how over the show I am right now, I have not even removed the shrink-wrap from the last two Shout Factory box sets XX (released in March) & XXI (Vs. Gamera - August, which came with this cool set of postcards from the original movies, shown below). Not that they don't contain great episodes, but I've seen them all multiple times before and am more concerned these days with catching up (and staying current) with other things.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvfxO-cygSh2pPEN3zzwotPl1267p_WJOveoL12z9Rt6M4-p6zVbC9m7n8anpZi0L2Fm_dvaMEGXvfl4MYPEEJy1pAMr1c-lI4z4J4Wjy-8xMxJEWE3tbogPYgQJ_Up7SzAQYz0hqhXdg/s1600/GAMERA+postcards.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvfxO-cygSh2pPEN3zzwotPl1267p_WJOveoL12z9Rt6M4-p6zVbC9m7n8anpZi0L2Fm_dvaMEGXvfl4MYPEEJy1pAMr1c-lI4z4J4Wjy-8xMxJEWE3tbogPYgQJ_Up7SzAQYz0hqhXdg/s400/GAMERA+postcards.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-6372072955048767902011-10-09T16:29:00.000-07:002011-10-29T21:03:50.117-07:00Summah Sum-up (4 of 8): Comedy<div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">…by which I (mostly) mean live stand-up comedy shows. I wrote recaps for a couple over at AST (which I'm re-posting below), but the first couple I didn't, so I've linked to reviews I found elsewhere.</span></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://spinningplatters.com/2011/04/12/show-review-brian-posehn-with-ngaio-bealum-at-cobbs-comedy-club-482011/">Brian Posehn</a> @ Cobb's (w/Chris Garcia & Ngaio Bealum) - April</b></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.7x7.com/arts-culture/snls-jay-pharoah-sketches-himself-2d-cobbs">Jay Pharaoh</a> @ Cobb's (w/ Reggie Steele & Kris Tinkle) - July</b></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2011/08/maria_bamford_heckles_herself.php">Maria Bamford</a> @ The Punch Line (w/ Nato Green & <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/ROBERTMACdotCOM">Robert Mac</a>) - August</b></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Louis C.K. @ The Punch Line - 8/18</b></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Just got back from the Thursday night show and Louis was awesome. Hour and a half long set of new material. Working stuff out, some pauses and dead ends but he's such a pro it all comes out funny. I'm sure when it's tightened up he'll have a great set to record and show on TV and stuff, but it was cool just to see him be loose and goofy in front of a small crowd.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://1.gvt0.com/vi/AReTEQBrb_E/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AReTEQBrb_E&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AReTEQBrb_E&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">… </span></div></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/O_pftP56ClI/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/O_pftP56ClI&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/O_pftP56ClI&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Jimmy Pardo - Never Not Funny / Running Your Trap </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">@ The Purple Onion - 8/19</span></b></div></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Just returned from NNF/RYT Live shows at the "legendary" Purple Onion in San Fran. My first time in this room and while it is quaint and charming it's also kind of a dump with numerous interruptions by a noisy bartender and staff, which of course Jimmy remarked upon several times. First show sold out, second a bit more "intimate" (i.e. two-thirds full).</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The NNF show was recorded and I imagine will be offered up as a Bonus Episode soon. Guestless (which surprised me because I know Chris Hardwick was in town last night), the guys had some good stories involving Ann-Margret, preparing an apartment for Jimmy's mother, baby bottoms, cocaine (lots of cocaine… and cock), and another great, ultra-cruel, eBay letter from Pat.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">RYT was fun with one female contestant being way too weird for Jimmy who offered her many opportunities to step off the stage and a guy named Jeremy who was more co-operative, and ultimately won the game ($31 and a truly bizarre Harry Caray Cubs t-shirt). The panelists were Cole Stratton (his first time – and MVP IMHO), Janet Varney, and "Pat Francisco." Not recorded, so suck it, the rest of you.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Special thanks to fellow podcast aficionado Derek and the great Christine Taylor who were cool enough to talk with me and give me the courage to meet Pat, Matt, and Jimmy after the show(s). They were all as nice and appreciative as you could imagine. Thanks for the great night.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3iaMkSWHHejl2fD3sNCHc5PsPLlnlLl8sEUvVCsfnqj6AlHA3pVxP9cm30OGHHBsKdnJ9kJyV8O2eMPVMhBfDcEG_A_V7S02nTVp80wq5tbgWhg3dSm__QTpCkzMvNSeah6tZBnzhS2E/s1600/RT-CASTRO-IMG_0230.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3iaMkSWHHejl2fD3sNCHc5PsPLlnlLl8sEUvVCsfnqj6AlHA3pVxP9cm30OGHHBsKdnJ9kJyV8O2eMPVMhBfDcEG_A_V7S02nTVp80wq5tbgWhg3dSm__QTpCkzMvNSeah6tZBnzhS2E/s400/RT-CASTRO-IMG_0230.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Rifftrax Presents - Night of the Shorts II: Electric Riffaloo @ The Castro Theater - </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">8/20 </span></b></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 13.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">with Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett and guest riffers Chris Hardwick, Bob Odenkirk, Andy Richter, Adam Savage, Cole Stratton and Janet Varney </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 13.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">As per usual for these shows I arrived to a long line of ticket holders that extended around the block. The show started 15 minutes late and by the time everyone was seated, the 1400 person capacity theater looked pretty full to me. After showing the Rifftrax 5 year anniversary highlight reel, Kevin & Bill took the stage … and the crowd went wild - (yay).</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 13.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">First they showed a brief video message from Mike Nelson explaining why he wasn't there (he didn't come in January either - what's he got against SF?). Apparently while trying to sell RT titles door-to-door he was killed by an irate customer who didn't want to buy their take on "300." Then they outlined what we'd be seeing (they did this last time back in January which I am grateful for since it gave me a chance to jot down notes without missing any of the riffing).</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 13.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">1. County Fair - K&B, lots of singing</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 13.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">2. Act Your Age - w/ Chris Hardwick</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 13.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">3. Paper and I - w/ Bob Odenkirk</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 13.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">4. The Calendar: How to Use It - w/ Cole Stratton and Janet Varney </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 13.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">5. Flying Stewardess - just K&B</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 13.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">6. At Your Fingertips: Boxes - w/ Adam Savage</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 13.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">7. Tooth Truth with Harv and Marv - w/ Andy Richter</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 13.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">So two repeats from previous Fathom live shows (which I didn't mind) and five "new" ones, adding up to two-hours and overall an even better show than last time. They picked great guests and some truly surreal shorts. I don't know the studio versions of all these so I'm not certain how much of the riffing was new or tweaked by the guest riffers but it all felt fresh to my ears (there was a joke about actor Gerard Depardieu pissing himself that was ripped from today's headlines). They even threw in a few f-bombs and other expletives which delighted the crowd. Seriously, if you have a problem with CT & RT folks swearing at live shows you are a moron.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY_m1WwDf2exXWuq3locZXaYz9yY2ilRPGVTjBKhyphenhyphenJ3RFAGBTX1Ww2yH0ZiZXHZU-QYYvqca-SpuNkOBcHa8GYyEkqVvYn6XQ5FYIdZhtSAD2rEOn0tCZhgybth4IqzGEbjmYgJ9lUWWc/s1600/DSC_0188.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY_m1WwDf2exXWuq3locZXaYz9yY2ilRPGVTjBKhyphenhyphenJ3RFAGBTX1Ww2yH0ZiZXHZU-QYYvqca-SpuNkOBcHa8GYyEkqVvYn6XQ5FYIdZhtSAD2rEOn0tCZhgybth4IqzGEbjmYgJ9lUWWc/s400/DSC_0188.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">… </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/--LOWrDseqg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Andy Kindler @ The Punch Line 9/13</b></span></div></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Just got back from Andy Kindler. As great as I'd hoped, he prowled the stage like an elderly Dane Cook after a hip replacement (Andy's joke, not mine). The audience seemed to really enjoy him, so don't let him tell you otherwise. Openers Miles K. and Jacob Sirof were really good too. I was the idiot who said that I was there alone because, "I didn't want to have to explain to my friends who Andy Kindler was," which confused Jacob (who was doing some fun crowd-work). After awkwardly trying to explain myself, he finally said, "Your friends are assholes."</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://1.gvt0.com/vi/v97wIylu_xU/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/v97wIylu_xU&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/v97wIylu_xU&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-90900277179684522442011-10-09T15:06:00.000-07:002011-10-09T15:09:05.293-07:00Summah Sum-up (3 of 8): Netflix<div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Having been a Netflix subscriber for years now (since April 2006), I am loathe to consider canceling either the DVD by mail or the streaming "Instant Watch" option which I've come to enjoy. But the simple truth is that I don't use either very much. But this is what I caught this summer…</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0HOtYQSyZ4D2O7QSA1_CHH9Sn5qL9kduejd6y2pXbxLl1AEm6JD5OW8gjSKUbLGXf6Ydfr8oiTnw5LZYK7H3EdhpYkraE9Ph_M2nNeZQf-k0Kc7YRQXCxeEqg43UMYTXQ7a1Zmimffdw/s1600/kevinsmithgeorgecarlin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0HOtYQSyZ4D2O7QSA1_CHH9Sn5qL9kduejd6y2pXbxLl1AEm6JD5OW8gjSKUbLGXf6Ydfr8oiTnw5LZYK7H3EdhpYkraE9Ph_M2nNeZQf-k0Kc7YRQXCxeEqg43UMYTXQ7a1Zmimffdw/s400/kevinsmithgeorgecarlin.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smith & Carlin on the set of Dogma</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">• <b>Kevin Smith</b>:<b> </b>his entire filmography plus his live Q&A's like the latest <b><i>Too Fat for 40</i>. </b>While his films range from poor to nearly-great, they are all enhanced by the commentary tracks by Smith and his crew. Funny and informative.</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>Clerks</i></b> (including his first film, the documentary short "Mae Day")</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>Mallrats</i></b></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>Dogma</i></b></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back</i></b></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>Jersey Girl</i></b></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>Clerks 2</i></b></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>Cop Out</i></b></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ones I skipped were <b><i>Chasing Amy</i></b> (actually rented this last summer), </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Zack & Miri Make A Porno</i></b> (saw in theaters when it came out in 2008), and his latest film <b><i>Red State</i></b> (caught it a few weeks ago w/ live streaming Q&A).</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b></b></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">• <b><i>Super High Me</i></b> (Doug Benson's pot doc)</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">• <b><i>Comedians of Comedy: Live @ the El Rey</i></b> (Patton Oswalt, Maria Bamford, etc.)</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">• <b><i>Battlestar Galactica</i></b> - Marathon viewing of all four seasons of Ronald D. Moore's reboot. Probably the best long-form sci-fi I've ever seen, even if it fizzled out during the last season.</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">• <b><i>It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia</i></b> - Seasons 1 & 2 </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">• <b><i>Party Down</i></b> - Season 1 </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b></b></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOWBwy-GdJfnqwXlBhZIqPe8flkjaSxPS9XyWcl9ZC8w7Dx_xMUjuCtRGUbFsqV8OxNbXLUPiZHQmuF4KZyHDoshCFnU7kHssrtPP1S6ezpkvJU99-ReUibR3fOYUqPdC4lbGzaZu__6Q/s1600/lizzy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOWBwy-GdJfnqwXlBhZIqPe8flkjaSxPS9XyWcl9ZC8w7Dx_xMUjuCtRGUbFsqV8OxNbXLUPiZHQmuF4KZyHDoshCFnU7kHssrtPP1S6ezpkvJU99-ReUibR3fOYUqPdC4lbGzaZu__6Q/s400/lizzy.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lizzy Caplan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-6177596448226746022011-10-09T14:00:00.000-07:002011-10-09T14:00:29.237-07:00Summah Sum-up (2 of 8): TV/DVR<div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By this category, I mean stuff I caught on cable, a mix of some serious classics and corny comedies. Seeing as how my DVR is almost always full (HD programs take up more space than standard-def), I am seriously considering canceling Netflix.</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Films</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ldk76FFVoi7rNOtoXP3ag5cacnkvWJ8QVdkI5vmv6B52iRcUTvWMgLzo6bq90_SqpIX12BgUw4bWLVQ8BP_kEh8POeorPJhcqqC9jEalvrM10DsHLcbhAzYUczRI-0uw3GxKMfLwNww/s1600/TOH-images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ldk76FFVoi7rNOtoXP3ag5cacnkvWJ8QVdkI5vmv6B52iRcUTvWMgLzo6bq90_SqpIX12BgUw4bWLVQ8BP_kEh8POeorPJhcqqC9jEalvrM10DsHLcbhAzYUczRI-0uw3GxKMfLwNww/s1600/TOH-images.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1932)</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It Happened One Night (1934)</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="text-align: justify;"><tbody> </tbody> </table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr> <td style="margin: 0.5px 0.5px 0.5px 0.5px; width: 403.0px;" valign="top"> <div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://powellandpressburger.tumblr.com/tagged/Tales+of+Hoffmann">Tales of Hoffmann</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (1951)</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shock Corridor (1963)</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr> <td style="margin: 0.5px 0.5px 0.5px 0.5px; width: 403.0px;" valign="top"> <div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The World of Henry Orient (1964)</div></td> </tr>
</tbody> </table><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">The Blues Brothers (1980) (133 min. cut)</div></span> <div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Road Games (1981)</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Goonies (1985)</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Teen Wolf (1985)</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Siege of Firebase Gloria (1989)</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Disney's Beauty & the Beast (1991)</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Delirious (1991)</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Groundhog Day (1993) </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Canadian Bacon (1995)</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dirty Work (1998)</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pieces of April (2003)</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Charlie Bartlett (2007) </span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trail of the Screaming Forehead (2007)</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Valhalla Rising (2009)</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zombieland (2009)</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skyline (2010) </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqB1isg2-Q9HG9_KIT49vS6g4oS54u8SbmnFhaGyWH2UlY1D-JRWW1JWv-ZaM5fsca-bu6dckSyny_-DVMmC3tWqaDZ0zDLXBpXV7xrdE0OUXnTIbNzCkpxTmv_uiTu-asR3uvKCXXTKU/s1600/Delirious-477d2b31281cd_4446n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqB1isg2-Q9HG9_KIT49vS6g4oS54u8SbmnFhaGyWH2UlY1D-JRWW1JWv-ZaM5fsca-bu6dckSyny_-DVMmC3tWqaDZ0zDLXBpXV7xrdE0OUXnTIbNzCkpxTmv_uiTu-asR3uvKCXXTKU/s1600/Delirious-477d2b31281cd_4446n.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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</tbody> </table><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">…</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/3Wv6FCwH0F0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/zBor7L-jlvA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Svetlana (HDNet)<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_449089647"> </a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.svetlanasworld.com/">http://www.svetlanasworld.com/</a></span></span></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• IFC completed the runs of 90's series Mr. Show, Undeclared, & The Larry Sanders Show (which I'm going to call my favorite sitcom ever, matched only by Seinfeld. And I think I'd rank Mr.Show alongside sketch classics like SCTV & Kids In the Hall)</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• The Rocky Show (original version of Rocky & Bullwinkle, occasionally aired on KOFY-13)</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Louie Season 2 (on FX)</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• The Sarah Silverman Program (now cancelled, was on Comedy Central)</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Breaking Bad Season 4 (AMC)</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• NTSF:SD:SUV & Childrens Hospital (Adult Swim)</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• The Emmys (host Jane Lynch was good)</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• CC Roast of Charlie Sheen (comedians Anthony Jeselnik & Amy Schumer were stand-outs)</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Michael Ian Black: Very Famous (CC hour special)</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• “Weird Al” Yankovic Live! – The Alpocalypse Tour (CC)</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Doctor Who Series 6 (2011) - starring Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor. My first time with "NuWho" - I liked it so much I went back to watch Series 5 On Demand</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Prohibition (latest documentary from Ken Burns, approx. 6 hours on PBS)</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">…</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Fall '11 Premieres</b></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't really watch much network TV. No cops, lawyers, soaps, late night or reality shows for me. And the few comedies I do like I haven't followed all that closely. But after watching the Emmy Awards I became acutely aware that the Fall season was starting and I might as well try to get on board </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">with Modern Family, and after two episodes can say it's not really up my alley but I can see why it's popular.</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New comedy series that I gave a shot but probably won't be watching despite liking some of the talent involved:</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Up All NIght / New Girl / 2 Broke Girls / Whitney. </span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Free Agents I'm going to give another shot after some good words on <a href="http://www.thekingoftv.com/podcast/">The Paul Goebel Show</a></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">Going to give The League (FX) a look too.</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So for now I'm sticking with my favorites, all of which started off strong this season:</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Archer / It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">FX)</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Community / Parks & Rec / The Office / SNL (NBC)</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyaGRvzJmKJ5hDDHPGFb06sOgLIzx1UsVP7y8_zKMVQ5DuTuTQFL9qQbQheLdMFmYvkdsF1fZ-scpIsYt07zH51jZEKQljKOLutJC65xFkrHx1bmYtL4rFZk_vRq2GpIw2hj394M7NP9Y/s1600/Archer_S3_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyaGRvzJmKJ5hDDHPGFb06sOgLIzx1UsVP7y8_zKMVQ5DuTuTQFL9qQbQheLdMFmYvkdsF1fZ-scpIsYt07zH51jZEKQljKOLutJC65xFkrHx1bmYtL4rFZk_vRq2GpIw2hj394M7NP9Y/s400/Archer_S3_logo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-78463628467877899442011-09-24T20:52:00.000-07:002011-10-09T15:41:29.974-07:00Cult Dung 2011 Summah Sum-Up (1 of 8)<div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">("Summah" is a term coined by <a href="http://hkremer.com/">Howard Kremer</a> , aka Dragon Boy Suede, co-host of the <a href="http://www.earwolf.com/show/who-charted-howard-kremer-and-kulap-vilaysack/">Who Charted</a> podcast on the <a href="http://www.earwolf.com/">Earwolf</a> network)</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since I took such a long break from blogging (May through August - but did keep notes the whole time), I need to update this record of my media consumption, so the next few posts will be mainly lists. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As my priorities have been shifting away from old Mystery Science Theater episodes and more towards current TV, comedy, and podcasting, I've begun to rethink my categories here. For instance, it occurs to me that the label of "Reviews" does not indicate what art form is being discussed. So far I've only used it for "Movies," which will now become it's own thing here. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The New Order:</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Movies, TV/DVR, Netflix, Podcasts, Comedy, MST/RT/CT,</b> <b>Music, Work</b></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With that in mind, here's part one of my update, sans reviews, except for links to the few recent ones I did post (a * indicates a high recommendation - and for the record, I enjoyed all of these to some degree):</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Movies </b></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source Code* </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Your Highness</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hanna* </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thor</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">13 Assassins* </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X-Men First Class* </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Super 8</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Green Lantern 3D (the 3D made it seem better than it actually was)</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Harry Potter #8 3D* </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Winnie the Pooh* </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Horrible Bosses (only caught the first hour)</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Captain America</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friends With Benefits</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Tree of Life* </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Guard* </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Attack the Block* </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">30 Minutes or Less</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rise of the Planet of the Apes* </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't Be Afraid of the Dark</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fright Night 3D</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://culturedungeon.blogspot.com/2011/09/bellflower.html">Bellflower</a>* </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://culturedungeon.blogspot.com/2011/09/our-idiot-shark.html">Our Idiot Brother</a></span></div><div style="color: #333233; font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://culturedungeon.blogspot.com/2011/09/our-idiot-shark.html">Shark Night 3D</a></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://culturedungeon.blogspot.com/2011/09/love-exposure.html">Love Exposure</a>* </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://culturedungeon.blogspot.com/2011/09/race-against-time.html">Senna</a>* </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://culturedungeon.blogspot.com/2011/09/race-against-time.html">Contagion</a>* </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://culturedungeon.blogspot.com/2011/09/cold-fish.html">Cold Fish</a></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; line-height: 20.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Drive* </span></div>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-6037812595852438582011-09-18T12:54:00.000-07:002011-12-31T18:43:13.908-08:00Cold Fish<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.traileraddict.com/content/unknown/cold_fish-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://www.traileraddict.com/content/unknown/cold_fish-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The most recent film from Japanese director Sion Sono (whose <b><i><a href="http://culturedungeon.blogspot.com/2011/09/love-exposure.html">Love Exposure</a></i></b> I loved so much), </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Cold Fish</i></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is a darkly comic exploration of the male psyche set against the colorful backdrop of tropical fish shops. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The story focuses on a shy introverted shopkeeper who is unwittingly drawn into the world of an insane criminal and finds his personality completely transformed by it. The charismatic, successful businessman Mr. Murata consistently urges his lowly competitor Mr. Shamoto to "man up" and take charge of his life, effectively blackmailing him by seducing his wife and brainwashing his daughter into his Hooters-girl cult of fish store employees. Things get stranger from there…</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Like Sono did in his earlier film, the director masterfully blends disparate themes into a statement about being ruthless: in business, in nature, and as a person in general. <b><i>Cold Fish</i></b> explores the notions of dominance & submission, sexual violence, child-rearing, blackmail, murder, and includes a few gruesome sequences of corpse dismemberment (which are also quite funny).</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Overall, I enjoyed it's characters, humor, eroticism, music and went along with some pretty shocking plot twists. But its grim final act makes it a hard film to recommend to anyone with a sensitive stomach. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">An <a href="http://twitchfilm.com/interviews/2011/01/screenwriter-yoshiki-takahashi-talks-cold-fish.php">interview</a> with the co-screenwriter… and here's the trailer. </span></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/HmQPIBNPFBE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<br /></div>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-17350305013176923792011-09-16T20:28:00.000-07:002012-01-04T23:01:01.082-08:00iPod Shuffle #006<div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
My own favorite Journey track about a girl (circa 1980):</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Dotky71b0rc" width="560"></iframe>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-58492655552510114622011-09-11T20:49:00.000-07:002011-09-11T20:49:41.254-07:00TRANNIES 123<div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Bill Corbett - "Hey, look you guys, some stuff."</div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Recently re-watched <b><i>Transformers 1</i></b> - after listening to the <a href="http://expertsandintermediates.podomatic.com/">Experts & Intermediates</a> podcast thoroughly dismantle a select few Michael Bay films. They came down pretty hard on it and surprisingly chose <b><i>Pearl Harbor</i></b> as the best of his flicks (while still hating on it). </div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">This was maybe the third/fourth time I've seen <b><i>T1</i></b> - most times with the mocking audio commentary by the guys at <a href="http://www.rifftrax.com/rifftrax/transformers">Rifftrax</a> ON, which I find the best option. The script & dialog are so idiotic I need the comedic element to enjoy the splendid visuals (even Armond White may be right: Bay is a film artist - though he disliked the <a href="http://nypress.com/article-22598-decepticon-job.html">final entry</a> in this series ). The more times seen, the less confusing it becomes, esp. during the fight scenes. The hyper pro-military/technology angle throws me, as it does in some Cameron films (<b><i>Aliens/Avatar</i></b>). Even when the government are meant to be viewed, in part, as the "bad guys," their weaponry is always pornographically displayed - a distinct "might is right" theme always comes through. But the forced comedy elements (the parents, the dog, painfully obvious product placement, and John Turturro's entire performance) continue to bother me, helpfully leavened by Mike, Bill, & Kevin deconstructing the film as I watch it. A strange mixture of joy and hatred for me.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><i>T2</i></b> features even more buffoonery w/ dosed parents, dogs humping, nasal probes, plus college campus nonsense. The shapeshifting female hottie is the worst. No, Shia's male roommate Leo is. Negro-bots Mudflap & Skids got a lot of criticism (but being voiced by Tom Kenny, get a pass for him being a Mr.Show/Spongebob alum). But robots with beards, balls, and bad accents, not so much. Here, MK&B make a lot out of "no no no" and "move move move:" </div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/hFS0VYt_FhY/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hFS0VYt_FhY&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hFS0VYt_FhY&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">By hour 1:10 I'm looking at the time wondering how much longer this movie goes on… and its only halfway through. At the end I was relieved it was over and mostly amused by what I'd seen, helped immensely by the wisecracking. Couldn't have have done it w/o the RT crew. Pyramid stuff in Egypt was too profoundly silly to ever take seriously.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Megan Fox's absence in the third film was a non-issue as her replacement at least had a definite character to play: hot, young professional woman who strived to better her boyfriend. The action sequences in this Summer's <b><i>T3 </i></b>were stupendous in 3D but the plot was just as preposterous: Decepticons transporting an entire planet into Earth's vicinity. After a spectacular battle in Chicago, the good guys win (SPOILERS?). Looking forward to another Rifftrax commentary for this final entry in the Transformers "trilogy:" i.e. three attempts at the same god-damn thing. Redonkulous.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
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</div>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-84341968103716376312011-09-11T13:59:00.000-07:002011-12-31T18:44:35.672-08:00Race Against Time<div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b><i>Senna</i></b> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Stirring celebration of a man I never heard of in a sport I never cared for (grown men driving in circles?). But <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayrton_Senna">Ayrton Senna</a> (1960-1994) was a world champion Formula One race driver and a hero to the people of Brazil. After getting a glimpse into the back-room politics and the viewpoint from the driver's seat while on the track, I came out of this with a new respect for auto racing. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Amazing that this documentary consists only of film/video taken of during Senna's career with audio derived from from years worth of interviews with the man, his family, and those within the racing world who knew or worked with him. He was such a superstar that while there is an abundance of footage before, during, and after races, there are also plenty of candid moments: Senna on vacation with his family, being mobbed by appreciative fans, or making appearances on Brazilian TV, all of which add up to a portrait of a charming, intelligent man who, even when drawing on the most cliched sentiment in sports (thanking God for giving him a victory), his faith and gratitude seem genuine. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://f1-grandprix.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/AyrtonSenna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="http://f1-grandprix.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/AyrtonSenna.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">“Suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously. <br />
I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a different dimension. <br />
I got closer to God."</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">See also: <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/film/2011/06/03/ayrton-senna-movie-oliver-holt-remembers-the-magic-of-a-f1-hero-who-transcended-his-sport-115875-23175345/">http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/film/2011/06/03/ayrton-senna-movie-oliver-holt-remembers-the-magic-of-a-f1-hero-who-transcended-his-sport-115875-23175345/</a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This is that rare Hollywood animal: an all-star disaster movie with class. Multiple stories overlap to show how different elements of society deal with a worldwide attack by a highly contagious deadly virus. Artfully directed by Steven Soderbergh, featuring a minimal electronic score by Cliff Martinez, and top-notch performances by its ensemble cast (Jennifer Ehle was particularly outstanding as a dedicated lab researcher who bravely tries out an experimental vaccine on herself), it is both bleak and hopeful.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Throughout, there are deaths, many deaths (including some of the big names in the cast), and once the public is informed of the magnitude of this disease, they naturally begin to panic. Soderbergh manages to balance these tense scenes of urban chaos against quiet moments of families dealing with grief. And lots and lots of laboratory work and logistical planning of how to quarantine and manage the infected. The clinical, procedural nature of the film makes it play out like a how-to manual in the case of a disaster. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In fact, a cynical person could mistake this movie for a piece of pro-government propaganda. Most of the stories depict a best-case scenario in which a well-run bureaucracy (the CDC, World Health Organization, National Guard) fight the clock to identify, contain, and ultimately defeat this mysterious new enemy. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Jude Law (sporting a strange snaggle tooth appliance - to tone down his beauty, I assume) plays an overzealous blogger who has his own paranoid theories about the disease involving government collusion with pharmaceutical companies. But in contrast to the way our "liberal media" usually depicts journalists as truth-seeking heroes, in the world of <b><i>Contagion</i></b>, he is shown to be a greedy crackpot.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">With it's positive behind-the-scenes look at government officials in the face of crisis, and the high quality of film-making on display (is Soderbergh really planning on retiring?), this is 2011's "feel good" movie about feeling bad. </span></div>
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<br /></div>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839209389221436118.post-78774663001158175342011-09-04T21:53:00.000-07:002012-01-04T21:30:34.826-08:00Love Exposure<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I first learned of this 2008 Japanese film from an enthusiastic review on the sadly now defunct British podcast <b>Mondo Movie</b> (listen to the first 17 minutes of episode <a href="http://www.mondopod.net/podcasts/mondo102.mp3">102 - The Up-Skirt Locker</a>) whose called it in their description "Sion Sono's dazzling four-hour mix of teen romance, religious fervour and pantie-peeking pornography." </div>
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It finally started showing here in the States earlier this year and CHUD <a href="http://www.chud.com/51800/review-love-exposure-2/">reviewed it lovingly</a>, stressing that it is long (237 minutes) but that it feels more like watching a mini-series than the usual boring epic film. And also that it is a delightful mix of styles and genres unlike anything else. </div>
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I'll hold off on calling it a "masterpiece" until I've seen more of the director's work, but for now I'll say that it is both profound and profane, and recommend it to anyone who loves cinema. And don't let the inherent weirdness turn you off, even the mainstream press have found it lovable:</div>
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<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/01/DDQV1KTP5K.DTL"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/01/DDQV1KTP5K.DTL</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/movies/love-exposure-directed-by-sion-sono-review.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/movies/love-exposure-directed-by-sion-sono-review.html</span></a></div>
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<br /></div>Finnias Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764341435166509172noreply@blogger.com0