Thought I was done for a minute there
I typed so much and so long in that last post, I guess I figured that would hold everyone over for a month while I took an unforseen sabbatical. I'll try no to do that again, but I make very few promises.
Dishes are done, man! Or midterms. Same thing. You can use a shotgun to finish both. Or not. They seem to have gone well, but I won't really know until I see my grades.
Just one more month of actual classes and then I'm done with M2 year. There's this pesky issue of boards, but I'm going to continue to ignore that for as long as I can. (Translation: I've already started reading the damn Kaplan books... sigh)
Alright time for more exciting things.
1) Dave Chappelle's Block Party. Directed by Michel Gondry (you may remember him from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and several amazing music videos including the Lego video for The White Stripes - Fell in Love With a Girl) and featuring The Roots (with Kool G Rap and Big Daddy Kane on Boom!), Mos Def and Talib Kweli (performing solo joints and Blackstar songs), Common, Kanye West (with a damn marching band... what?!?!), Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, dead prez, and a Fugees reunion.
There are so many things that make me happy about this movie. I've wanted to see it ever since I heard about the Block Party back in the fall of 2004. Dave Chapelle says it was the concert he always wanted to see and I can strongly echo that. There are some phenomenal musicians in that group and they all have worked with each other in the past.
I can't say much without spoiling the film, but I will hit some of my favorite highlights: anytime Dave Chapelle has a megaphone in hand, You Got Me with Erykah Badu and Jill Scott, Dave in not one but two battles, Wyclef making a song up on the spot with some members of a university marching band, Dave on congos, Dave and Mos Def's comedy act... the list goes on and on and on and on.
I'll be buying this on DVD when it comes out and I'll be hoping for footage of the concert in it's entirety. I don't care how many discs that takes. I'll find money for it. Oh and the soundtrack drops next week.
The film's gotten rave reviews. If you're a fan of music, comedy, parties, hope for the youth, or just life... see this movie. You'll love it. And if you don't you can come back here and complain to me. And I'll refund your money. Or I'll apologize and question your tatse in the arts. Either one, my choice.
2) NPR has mp3s of the New Pornographers and Belle & Sebastian concert from the 930 Club in DC. Both are excellent and are highly recommended.
3) Discobelle stole Chris Lemon-Red's idea on the mixtape front and this month they have Caps & Jones in the mix. As good as the mix they had on Lemon-Red last year, if not better.
4) Saw Walk the Line and North Country over the weekend. I was really impressed with both films. Some fantastic performances in both -- but I felt the story in both movies was lacking, which strikes me as evidence of a larger problem in most of the movies I've seen in the last few years. Even if the performances are good/great and the film is beautifully shot, the story is often lacking. Not so much the dialogue as the plot. Both films were entertaining and I'd watch them again in a heartbeat but I had real issues in the way the story unfolded. Which I guess Hollywood saw too since neither film was up for 'Best Picture award' but both had several of their performances nominated.
My issue with Walk the Line was that the entire film revolved around Johnny and his love for June and how it ultimately drove him to drugs (although that's not entirely true) and how June saved him in the end. Great story... except that I've heard it before and I've seen it told better before. I know it's hard to cover Johnny and June's entire career in 2 hours, but it would have been nice to focus on aspects other than his drug addiction and their love story. I just think it prevented a good movie from being a great movie.
I don't know where to start with North Country. I really enjoyed every single performance in the film, but by intertwining the trial with the backstory I felt that both got downplayed. I'm not saying they shouldn't have told the story that way -- but I think it could have been done better if that's the way they chose to tell it. It was a powerful film no matter how much you critique it... again I'm just nit-picking. It pains me to watch a film and see that it could have probably been even better than it was if certain changes were made here and there.
We're waiting to watch Do the Right Thing (a film that Crash wishes it was), Proof (it best be as good as other said) and Howl's Moving Castle (I saw the first five minutes and was very impressed, then again it's Miyazaki so how could it not be?). Reports on those in the next few days.
5) My requisite medical blather for the week/month/whatever: There's a nice cover feature in Newsweek's current issue on the new nutritional recommendations and research: Diet Dilemma. Basically it says that it's not just your diet that controls your health destiny and that science still doesn't know everything about how one's diet affects one's health. Shocking news. Really. You may have to get off your rather rotund ass and exercise too. They don't say that in the article, but I'm telling you it's true. Don't worry, you can trust me. I'm almost a doctor. But really, read the article. It's smarter than I am.
Dishes are done, man! Or midterms. Same thing. You can use a shotgun to finish both. Or not. They seem to have gone well, but I won't really know until I see my grades.
Just one more month of actual classes and then I'm done with M2 year. There's this pesky issue of boards, but I'm going to continue to ignore that for as long as I can. (Translation: I've already started reading the damn Kaplan books... sigh)
Alright time for more exciting things.
1) Dave Chappelle's Block Party. Directed by Michel Gondry (you may remember him from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and several amazing music videos including the Lego video for The White Stripes - Fell in Love With a Girl) and featuring The Roots (with Kool G Rap and Big Daddy Kane on Boom!), Mos Def and Talib Kweli (performing solo joints and Blackstar songs), Common, Kanye West (with a damn marching band... what?!?!), Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, dead prez, and a Fugees reunion.
There are so many things that make me happy about this movie. I've wanted to see it ever since I heard about the Block Party back in the fall of 2004. Dave Chapelle says it was the concert he always wanted to see and I can strongly echo that. There are some phenomenal musicians in that group and they all have worked with each other in the past.
I can't say much without spoiling the film, but I will hit some of my favorite highlights: anytime Dave Chapelle has a megaphone in hand, You Got Me with Erykah Badu and Jill Scott, Dave in not one but two battles, Wyclef making a song up on the spot with some members of a university marching band, Dave on congos, Dave and Mos Def's comedy act... the list goes on and on and on and on.
I'll be buying this on DVD when it comes out and I'll be hoping for footage of the concert in it's entirety. I don't care how many discs that takes. I'll find money for it. Oh and the soundtrack drops next week.
The film's gotten rave reviews. If you're a fan of music, comedy, parties, hope for the youth, or just life... see this movie. You'll love it. And if you don't you can come back here and complain to me. And I'll refund your money. Or I'll apologize and question your tatse in the arts. Either one, my choice.
2) NPR has mp3s of the New Pornographers and Belle & Sebastian concert from the 930 Club in DC. Both are excellent and are highly recommended.
3) Discobelle stole Chris Lemon-Red's idea on the mixtape front and this month they have Caps & Jones in the mix. As good as the mix they had on Lemon-Red last year, if not better.
4) Saw Walk the Line and North Country over the weekend. I was really impressed with both films. Some fantastic performances in both -- but I felt the story in both movies was lacking, which strikes me as evidence of a larger problem in most of the movies I've seen in the last few years. Even if the performances are good/great and the film is beautifully shot, the story is often lacking. Not so much the dialogue as the plot. Both films were entertaining and I'd watch them again in a heartbeat but I had real issues in the way the story unfolded. Which I guess Hollywood saw too since neither film was up for 'Best Picture award' but both had several of their performances nominated.
My issue with Walk the Line was that the entire film revolved around Johnny and his love for June and how it ultimately drove him to drugs (although that's not entirely true) and how June saved him in the end. Great story... except that I've heard it before and I've seen it told better before. I know it's hard to cover Johnny and June's entire career in 2 hours, but it would have been nice to focus on aspects other than his drug addiction and their love story. I just think it prevented a good movie from being a great movie.
I don't know where to start with North Country. I really enjoyed every single performance in the film, but by intertwining the trial with the backstory I felt that both got downplayed. I'm not saying they shouldn't have told the story that way -- but I think it could have been done better if that's the way they chose to tell it. It was a powerful film no matter how much you critique it... again I'm just nit-picking. It pains me to watch a film and see that it could have probably been even better than it was if certain changes were made here and there.
We're waiting to watch Do the Right Thing (a film that Crash wishes it was), Proof (it best be as good as other said) and Howl's Moving Castle (I saw the first five minutes and was very impressed, then again it's Miyazaki so how could it not be?). Reports on those in the next few days.
5) My requisite medical blather for the week/month/whatever: There's a nice cover feature in Newsweek's current issue on the new nutritional recommendations and research: Diet Dilemma. Basically it says that it's not just your diet that controls your health destiny and that science still doesn't know everything about how one's diet affects one's health. Shocking news. Really. You may have to get off your rather rotund ass and exercise too. They don't say that in the article, but I'm telling you it's true. Don't worry, you can trust me. I'm almost a doctor. But really, read the article. It's smarter than I am.
posted by Matt at 5:53 PM
1 comments
