Catching Up, Part III

Well, I've been away for a while. Getting settled into the new house, the new job, and trying to figure out what the fuck has happened with Blogger. Apparently Google purchased Blogger in 2003, but they've only just decided to update it now, which means I can't use my old template. Bollocks. It's not bad though. I like the labels deal.

So yeah, Christmas is coming. Yay. The full stop should indicate the inflection of sarcasm in that last sentence. I'm not a huge one for christmas, especially where the family gatherings are involved, so I'll be mostly skipping that this year and cursing general lack of availability of Wii, as well as Santa's refusal to bring me an Xbox 360. Miserable fat bastard.

Still, I did buy some new SW figures the other day. For some odd reason, Toys R Us seem to be getting some actual new stock, so they have some decent choices. Still no bloody blue clones though. That's a pain. But I did grab the Luke (with poncho!) and Sandtrooper.


The Luke is a vast improvement on many of the older sculpts. He no longer looks like a muscle-bound pseudo-He-Man, or for that matter a gibbering retard. He just looks like Luke, which is good. He also comes with his poncho, so you can pretend he's a younger, whinier version of Clint Eastwood's man with no name character, as well as the box that Ben Kenobi grabs Anakin's lightsaber out of. Pretty cool.

The Sandtrooper is fucking awesome. Based on the Stormtrooper sculpt used for the Vintage Saga Collection (those ones in 1977-era packaging with four million points of articulation), it's just a fucking great figure and looks great on the shelf, whatever position you put him in (oo-er missus). My only complaint is the rubbery blaster that bends pretty easily. But Hasbro never get everything right.

Before I go, an apology to whoever left comments before: I didn't realize they had to be approved, so they never showed. I've turned off moderation now, so you are free to post without fear of prior approval.

We're Back

I need to learn to make up my fucking mind.

In any case, my blog will be back here, where it belongs.

Charlotte's Web

What's with all the songs? I was gearing up for a huge cry, and nothing. I sniffle at the mere mention of Hobbits, so I see this as a failure.

Nathan Fillion should play Templeton in the remake though.

First Contact

I always see this being held up as a great movie, but every time I watch it, it gets poorer and poorer. I just don't get it, it's about as good as the bad bits of Star Trek III.

Catching Up, Part II

- dying to get hold of the script to JAWS 3/PEOPLE 0. Curse these script stores and their payment needs!

- Yay! Alice in Chains are reforming! Nay! I won't get to see them.

- don't people realize the difference between making good fake n00dz and bad fake n00dz? What's more realistic, showing Avril Lavigne pulling her top up or having her done in the butt by three guys?

- watch the original Star Trek show 'Balance of Terror' - it's bigotry, WWII submarine battles and warmongering Spock all in one!

- um... stay in school!

Miles Davis

Don't get me wrong, I like Miles Davis. He's not the first person I go to in jazz (that would be Coleman Hawkins, love the guy) but he's always been a stand-up dude. However, it seems like every wannabe non-mainstreamer in the world talks about how much they love Kind of Blue, but NEVER EVER mention any other artist or record.

It just really bugs me the fuck out. Fine, use him as a jumping point, but don't use him as some kind of attempt to impress people.

Catching Up

I'm really tired and I have a lot of work to do, so I'm going to do a summary of what I've done over the past week or so, what rocked, and what sucked. So, here it is:

- SHARKS 3D at the IMAX. There's no John Putch, but it was damn good. Except for the warbling at the end, but hell, I didn't know so many shark species were that endangered.

- STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES is pretty fucking expensive, but it's so much fun watching these episodes again.

- KISS KISS, BANG BANG is the best movie I've seen since OLDBOY.

- Tim Sale and Jeph Loeb have the amazing ability to make me cry while reading comics. They did it with SPIDER-MAN: BLUE, and they've just done it again on my second reading of SUPERMAN FOR ALL SEASONS.

- 'One' still has the best solo ever (take that, Rhoads!)

- "Rokken" is my favourite word at the moment (thanks Gray).

- BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is still the best show on TV by miles (more on this later).

- We bought oven gloves.

Justice For Puppets

I'm not really the metal head I used to be, but when I was majorly into it, METALLICA was always the number one, as I'm sure it was with most. Hell, I remember the first record I ever bought was one of theirs. My sister gave me cash to go away because I had gone after school to bother her at her job, so I nabbed into Woolworths to spend the moolah. I was about eleven years old, and by then, I'd been given tapes of Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath and the like, so I wasn't really uneducated per say. But I was glancing around, and my hand instinctively went to the shelf to grab this.

Well, okay, it wasn't that, because I didn't get a CD player until later so I had to make do with the cassette (remember those, folks?). Of course, later I'd buy it not only on CD but also vinyl, but that's besides the point. I took that record home, and in a week, it was my best friend. Christ, I even got together with friends and performed a shitty mimed version of "One," which I still maintain has the greatest solo in known existence.

So that record changed me. But why I'm writing this here and now, is because of something that's happened in recent years. Something it pains me to relay.

Metallica now suck. Worse than that, they're assholes. I don't really have to tell you that after the whole Napster debacle, but it bears repeating, especially as in our youth, these guys were fucking gods. I don't know what happened though. Perhaps it was Bob Rock.

I liked The Black Album, but it was terribly overproduced, and both Load and Reload had very little to recommend them, aside from "Until It Sleeps" and "The Unforgiven II" perhaps. And St. Anger was fucking awful, almost as bad as the track they did with Marianne Faithful. I think one of the biggest things was Jason Newsted leaving. That was the final straw that broke Metallica's back, really - from then on, they were corporate rock through and through.

I'm kind of hopeful, even after what they've become, that their next record might be good. Mainly cause Rick Rubin is at the production deck, and christ, who wouldn't wish to have him as producer? I just hope it is fucking good.

Please?

The Scarface Conundrum

I like that title. It sounds like it could be an episode title for THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

"Tonight's episode: THE SCARFACE CONUNDRUM - Act 1: A Deadly Embellishment"

But seriously, what I'm talking about is this sudden jump on the SCARFACE bandwagon. Like, SCARFACE is a decent flick. It's not DePalma's best, but not his worse. It's a decent flick made better by a great Pacino performance. I have no real issue about the movie, but instead its sudden resurface in popular culture. You know what I mean.

As much as I love the idiot, I have no desire to buy posters of Homer Simpson in the style of the SCARFACE poster. Because it's dumb. And annoying. What's the deal with this? Are we going to see posters of Mickey Mouse, complete with eye makeup and Droog mask bludgeoning Minnie to death with a six foot ceramic penis?

Actually, that might be kind of cool.

Baseball

Sorry, don't get it. Someone explain to me in less than five hundred words why this sport is anywhere towards good.

Introductions

Here's the deal: I'm really bored. I have very little to do right now as I have major insomnia and writer's block. So, I'm going to make a few mentions of the folks I link to on the right, cause y'know, I don't think I ever have.

Lisa - The girl I'm marrying. She hasn't updated in like five months, but we've been busy doing domesticated stuff, so she's excused. She's awesome, too. Which is why I'm marrying her. Duh.

Katanga - If I was to be pressed to say if I had an internet best friend, it would be this guy. He's one of the few guys here I've actually met in real life, and he's a standup guy. Go Smirk on his Effrontery, as it's always a good read and keeps a nice balance between the geek and the serious.

Chest - He's Mexican, but don't hold that against him. He's a solid guy, and if an army of babies were attacking me, I knew he'd be at my back with a pitchfork.

Shane - Shane is a big racist. He likes to post bits from his funny school where he learns from some guy I've never heard of, but he's still a racist. However, unlike in the They Might Be Giants song, he's still My Racist Friend.

Helix - Brad is very bald, and very gay, and hates everything but comics. He sits in his stronghold of hatred all day, reading Essential trades and spitting at the internet. He occasionally comes out to play, but we usually insult him so he goes back in like that big insect in BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA that 'will come out no more.'

Z-Man - Chris is very smart, and very cool. He's very much into his music, and his retrofuturisticabilia, and he digs the old Batman show. Usually when he posts on CHUD, he and Dave-B make me feel dumb.

Gray - Gray is an actual cool guy from Atlanta. He's completely unpretentious, he has good music taste and enjoys the art of blogging. Dude's also a big Michael Mann fan, IIRC.

Hellboy - This cat is the scourge of the internet geek scene, as he's not only cooler, but also more informed than about 99% of them. I'm sure if you took a sample of his blood and mixed it with a hammer, it'd like, turn into Thor. Maybe.

Billz - Gonna pay my Billz, gonna pay my automo Billz. I think the song went like that. If so, that's pretty nifty. Bill is a poet, and a good one. At least I think he is, I hate poetry.

Carl - I think Carl is black, but I'm not sure. I know he's a geek though. I can't hold that against him, because I used to play D&D weekly, and tried to make it with an Elf Queen. She just wasn't having it though.

What a fucking priss.

10, 000 Days? It Feels That Long...

...since we've had a new album by TOOL, at one time in my life my favourite band. They still have a lot of cred with me, so I'm happy that in May their new record comes out, named 10, 000 Days. The title of this entry is related to the fact that they seem to take aons to bring out their CDs. It was okay for a while (1996's Ænima came three years after 93's Undertow, which itself was a short year after their 92 debut EP, Opiate.) but it was a loooong five years until 2001's Lateralus, a record at first I wasn't hot on, but I now see as their crowning glory.

So yeah, I'm excited. They're also playing Download festival this year, although I can't see myself going. Don't get me wrong, I've been and enjoyed it before (the head of my profile pic is me at Download 2004) but I don't have the money to really shell out for a festival to see one band, especially one I've seen twice before. The other acts playing range from lame (Korn, Metallica) to ultra-lame (Cradle of Filth), and I really despise the venue, so I really can't be fucked. If only they could actually come to Bristol for once.

Infrequent Viewing, Part 2

Hooray! The weekend is excellent in many ways, and one of those is because it's usually my chance to sit down and watch a shitload of flicks. We didn't watch a shitload, but we watched a few, some good, some bad, but mostly entertaining. Mostly.

X2

Y'know, I've always really liked this movie. I never understand why people are so down on Bryan Singer, especially with how good this flick is. But this time, it was better than ever before, and I have to be perfectly honest, and I realize this might get me kicked out of the geek caboose: I think it's better than SPIDER-MAN 2. Mainly because it's way more emotionally satisfying. Don't get me wrong, the action in SM2 is the best in any comic film ever, and the stuff with Doc Ock is amazing. But the whole MJ story just leaves me cold, especially when it's capped off with that stunningly awful bridal-march-by-the-fountain, which I expected to see in something like AMERICAN PIE VII, not a Raimi picture.

I guess the whole Jean Grey thing just really tips it over the edge for me. I'll get misty-eyed at the bank scene of SM2, because it's the purest form of literal comic-to-movie translation there's ever been. But most of the tears come when Ms. Grey goes under. I think I'm also more involved due to the acting. Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, The Cox, Alan Cumming, they're all spectacular. The only real bad parts is James Marsden's acting and Wolverine crying. But otherwise, I love it to bits.

KING ARTHUR

This movie SUCKS. Don't ever watch it. Seriously.

SUPERMAN II

This movie is great, if only for the following line:

'Lex Luthor, Ruler of Australia: Activate the machine!'

Also watched: the last three discs of Season Four of FUTURAMA, which is still the most amazing thing ever, the last episode of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, with the funky Enterprise with three engines, lots of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES including most of Paul Dini's episodes, and the truly awful MTV SPIDER-MAN cartoon. Horrible stuff.

Infrequent Viewing, Part 1

Seeing how my movie blog is dead, mostly cause I just don't have the fucking time and effort needed to pump into it, I thought I'd give a little rundown of stuff I've seen lately. I haven't seen much new stuff, but the things I've seen, amazingly, haven't sucked. Well, as far as I can remember.

DOMINO
It seemed almost everyone had said DOMINO was shit. But I have two words: fuck them. I FUCKING LOVED this flick. It was so goddamn funny, just on the right edge of humour, and with one of the sexiest performances I've seen in a long time. The three leads were great, Walken was amazing, and damns, it just kicked my ass completely. Wasn't expecting it at all.

WALLACE AND GROMIT in THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT

I don't get folks who don't like W&G. How can you not like this shit? Okay, I'm biased because I live in the city where it all comes from, but wow. This movie was incredible. I was never 100% confident in it to be honest, because even though I love the shorts, I didn't like CHICKEN RUN, mainly because it was too long, and thus stretched to a point where it just wasn't funny. Also, i thought Gibson was stunt casting. But W&G kicks its ass. The voice work is amazing, the animation absolutely brilliant, and the writing was great. I seriously thing Aardman are second behind Pixar in the animation stakes after this. Great stuff.

Another iTunes 11

Right. Now my fucking iTunes is actually doing things properly again, it's time for another eleven, methinks.

1. Alanis Morisette - Perfect
2. The Doors - Five To One
3. DangerDoom - Perfect Hair
4. Tenacious D - Kyle Quit The Band
5. Razorlight - Fall, Fall, Fall
6. The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil
7. Devo - Gut Feeling
8. Metallica - Through The Never
9. RATM - Fistful of Steel
10. The Cure - The Walk (Acoustic Version)
11. They Might Be Giants - Particle Man

Rediscovering Superman, Part 1

While always being a fan of the man in red undies, I realized a while ago I've never really read a great deal of the Superman comics. I've picked up the odd issue, and used to read the DC UK comic they used to run over here, but I've never really gone into depth with it. I guess my real love for the character comes from the movies and the Fleischer cartoons, and in a limited capacity, the WB cartoon.

So I've decided to rectify this. Luckily, my local comics store (the great Forbidden Planet) just re-opened in a huge megastore mode, with trades coming out of the wazoo. So they have a lot of choice, and to be honest, as someone who's been out of the comic reading realm for a long time, it's hard to know where to start.

I picked up two trades: SUPERMAN CHRONICLES VOL.1, which is basically the twelve or so Superman comics that were first released, in chronological order. You get ACTION COMICS #1 - 13, some odd World's Fair comic, and SUPERMAN #1. It's fine stuff, and a great look at what the golden age, and what comics were like when superheroes weren't really a big thing.

It's a bit odd, and there's a few things I discovered, like Superman working for the Daily Star as opposed to the Planet. The art is greatness, I love the real old-school simplicity of it. But of course, it turns out this isn't the real-real Superman, but instead the Superman from Earth-Two, although we didn't know that until 1986.

So I also bought the trade that introduced the Superman that stars in the comics now, the 1986 mini-series SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL that rebooted the character. It's funny, I actually recognized this from the UK book I mentioned above that I used to enjoy in my youth (back when an issue of Marvel's STAR WARS comic was 35p). It's pretty good, and has some fun stuff in it, including Batman and Superman teaming up, to fight a totally lame villain named Magpie. There's some real nice stuff from the last issue, with Clark heading back to Smallville and seeing Lana, who knew his secret from when he was there originally.

Where to go from here? I think it's high time I check out the whole DC reboot trade, CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, as well as the brand new Showcase (essentially like Marvel's Essentials books) editions of the silver-age Kal-El, which are awesome. I guess I better see if Forbidden Planet have a wedding list feature with their catalogues...

I Am Curious (Black)

I find it hilarious the furore that has resulted from this image, even going so far as to cause Sony to state on the website that it "is not a black and white image." No sir, this isn't a shot from the last movie with the colour turned down. This is a whole new image. This is the debut of Emo-Spidey.

In all seriousness, any comic reader worth his or her salt knows this is the infamous "black costume," introduced during Spidey's intergalactic adventures in the SECRET WARS. The first incarnation of the outfit was a living being, a "symbiote" which allowed Peter all kinds of powers like unlimited webbing and even more super-strength, in exchange for it bonding to him and his soul. Naturally, Peter didn't much like this, so with the help of the Fantastic Four and a sonic blaster, he got rid of it, but liked the style so much that he made a normal black costume to wear for a while. That is, until Venom (the result of the rejected symbiote melding with a guy named Brock who hated Spidey) showed up.

Most older Spidey fans hate Venom, and they have pretty good reason to. He's pretty much the poster boy - along with Carnage - for Spidey's decline in the 90s, although I find him still easier to swallow than the spider-totem crapola. He, and people like Spawn, were one of the big reasons comics nearly died a death, and in the meantime alienated what was up until then comic books' biggest audience: kids. I guess it's no coincidence that Todd McFarlane had a hand in both of them (Spawn and Venom).

I'll be honest, I liked the original David Michelinie Venom story in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #301, as he was kind of creepy and didn't have the big gimmick nature he has now. I also enjoyed how he was done in ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, although found the whole cancer storyline a bit forced. It's interesting to see how they deal with it all in the film. The guy they cast to be Venom seems to be a lot like Tobey Maguire, so it seems they're going for the straight double route.

My only worry is the hodgepodge of characters already in the mix. Considering we apparently have Sandman, Venom, Harry as the Green Goblin, plus Gwen Stacy, it's getting kind of nuts. To visualize how this movie is going carry the introduction of three new characters, plus the Harry storyline and inevitably, yet more of the absolutely fucking dire Mary Jane relationship stuff, is pretty impossible. I hope Raimi hasn't bitten off more than he can chew with this.

Supergirl, How I Love Thee

Or rather this magnificent bust. Ahem.

Just A Little Announcement

I've been seriously slacking lately, but there's a huge reason for this. Well, not really, I'm just a lazy fuck. But in other news:

As of last week (yes, Valentine's Day. Hey, I'm romantic!), my beautiful girlfriend Lisa and I are engaged.

That is all. For now...

New Blog

I have a new blog, based on my movie making. Enjoy!

http://charliemovie.blogspot.com/

The 007 Quiz

I'm bored, and I've been watching a ton of Bond flicks, so I thought I'd come up with this quiz. Enjoy (and reply with your own/cut and paste to own blog).

1. Favourite Bond Movie

LICENCE TO KILL

2. Favourite Bond

Timothy Dalton

3. Favourite Bond Girl

Melina from FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

4. Favourite Bond Villain

Ernst Stavro Blofeld from YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE

5. Favourite Bond Car

The Lotus Esprit from THE SPY WHO LOVED ME

6. Favourite Bond Gadget

The Magnetic zipper pulling watch from FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

7. Favourite Bond Non-Car Vehicle

The funky helicopter thing from GOLDENEYE

8. Favourite Secondary Bond Girl

Plenty O'Toole from DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER

9. Favourite Secondary Bond Villain

Jaws!

10. Favourite Bond Song

Nobody Does It Better from THE SPY WHO LOVED ME

11. Favourite Bond Action Scene

The tanker chase from LICENCE TO KILL. It's ludicrous, but great fun.

12. Favourite Bond Method of Torture/Death/Antagonism

The Tarantula in DR. NO.

13. Favourite Villainous Plot

MOONRAKER. Super race of Amazons!

14. First Bond Girl You Had A Crush On

Anya Amasova from THE SPY WHO LOVED ME

15. Worst Bond

Lazenby. Come on!

16. Worst Bond Film

DIE ANOTHER DAY. No contest.

17. Worst Bond Song

If DIE ANOTHER DAY hadn't been released, Lulu's THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN would've been a lock. As it is, Madonna takes it.

18. Silliest Bond Gadget

The Gondola/Hovercraft from MOONRAKER. Grow up, 007!

19. Favourite Bond Quip

'Keeping the British end up, sir." from THE SPY WHO LOVED ME

20. Worst Bond Quip

"I thought Christmas only comes once a year." from THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH

21. Favourite Q Line

'I think he's attempting re-entry, sir!'

22. Favourite Pre-Credit Sequence

GOLDFINGER. Perfection.

23. First Bond Film You Saw

THE SPY WHO LOVED ME

Giant Movie Quiz

I grabbed this from HB's blog via AICN. Kinda cool, and although I did put my answers in a comment on his blog, I've decided to revise a couple, and maybe add a slight appendice or two. In any case, feel free to put yours in the reply, I'd like to see what you guys and gals say.

1) First Movie you saw in a theater? RETURN OF THE JEDI
1a) First Movie you saw? THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

2) First R-Rated Film You Bought A Ticket For By Yourself? TERMINATOR 2
2a) First R-Rated Film You Saw Underage? LA BAMBA

3) Favorite Movie Snack? Hot dogs.

4) Favorite film going experience? Seeing EMPIRE in a theater for the first time in '97.

5) Stupidest thing you did that you saw in a Movie? Pretended to be Spider-Man after seeing the Nicholas Hammond classic, swung around the first floor bannister, broke my arm.

6) First film to inspire carnal thoughts for the opposite sex? RISKY BUSINESS.
6a) First film to provoke an attraction for the opposite sex? STAR WARS.

7) Have you ever paid for one movie and snuck into another? No.

8) Have you ever seen a movie in Drive-In? No.

9) Have you ever had sex in a car while watching a movie in a Drive-In? No

10) If so, what film? N/A

11) Ever had sex in a movie theater? No. Made out during BATMAN BEGINS though.

12) If so, what film? N/A

13) Favorite John Hughes Film? WEIRD SCIENCE

14) Favorite Quentin Tarantino film? KILL BILL Vol. 1 & 2

15) Favorite Hitchcock Film? SHADOW OF A DOUBT

16) Favorite Spielberg Film? JAWS

17) Favorite Zombie Film? DAWN OF THE DEAD

18) Favorite Actor (dead)? Brando

19) Favorite Actor (living)? Tony Leung

20) Favorite Character Actor Ever? Warren Oates

21) Favorite Actress (dead)? Rita Hayworth

22) Favorite Actress (living)? Vicky Zhao Wei

23) Favorite Character Actress Ever? Zelda Rubenstein

24) Favorite Theatrical Animated Character? Edna Mode

25) Favorite Film Score? THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK – John Williams

26) Favorite piece of Film Music? “The Rebel Fleet/End Title” – John Williams from THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

27) Favorite Film Song? “Nobody Does It Better" - Carly Simon in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME

28) Favorite Christmas Movie? THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS/GREMLINS

29) Favorite Film Genre? Sci-Fi/Horror/Fantasy

30) Favorite Porn Film? A funky French one called "Sex Dreamers"

31) First Porn Film You Saw? Some random Swedish one with a chick riding a gear stick.

32) Favorite Disney Film? SNOW WHITE

33) Favorite Western? ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST

34) Favorite Musical? THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

35) Favorite Horror Film? AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON

36) Favorite Comedy? Tie: THE HOLY GRAIL and SHAUN OF THE DEAD

37) Favorite Science Fiction Film? THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)

38) Favorite Suspense Film? SE7EN

39) Favorite Romantic Film? A FAREWELL TO ARMS

40) Favorite Epic? LOTR TRILOGY

41) Least Favorite Thing About Seeing Films in A Theater? The audience.

42) Favorite Thing about Seeing Films in a Theater? The atmosphere, letting it suck you in.

43) If you could be any film character, who? Rick Deckard

44) If you could have sex with any film character, who? Jessica Rabbit

45) If you could live happily ever after with a film character, who? Probably Alex from AMERICAN WEREWOLF.

46) If you could be any movie monster, who? David Kessler (see above)

47) Favorite Film Critic? Ebert/Jay Sherman

48) Favorite Screen Writer? Andrew Kevin Walker, John Sayles, Peter Jackson

49) Favorite Director? Peter Jackson, Takeshi Kitano

50) Chaplin or Keaton? Chaplin

The Big N Comes Through

This is awesome. I'm more of a casual video gamer (I have a PS2 and an Xbox, but only really play the Xbox), although I was addicted to the Super NES as a kid. It's good then that Nintendo's brand new console, the Revolution, will provide SNES games, and more.

Don't let these pictures put you off. They're part of a mock-up for how the system will work. Basically, as well as playing DVD-based games, it'll also allow you to download games from the SNES, NES and N64 for a price - $2.99 for the first two, and $19.99 for the N64 games, apparently. That's a bit steep, but then again, it's not like the N64 has a huge back catalogue of quality. There'll also be a monthly fee, which'll allow you to rent an infinite amount of games per month.

Yes, rent. You can download them, but after a while, they'll self-destruct somehow. There are a bunch of top titles being ready for launch, and there are certainly some classics there (TETRIS, SUPER MARIO WORLD, GOLDENEYE to name but a few). I think if Sony were to adopt this system, especially with SEGA's back catalogue, that'd really make their domination of the console market much more realistic. In any case, this looks fucking cool.

Incubus

I dug Incubus the first time they were around. I still think 'S.C.I.E.N.C.E.' is a cool record, but when they released 'Make Yourself,' I didn't like it much. I know there's been lots of cries that they sold-out, and yeah, they have gone a bit more commercial. But listening to Make Yourself again, I also think that they maybe found their identity with that record. I mean, as good as S.C.I.E.N.C.E. was, it's a bit one-note and shows their weakness as a Faith No More tribute band with a very good singer, whereas the leap they made on the next album suits them a lot more, and they don't really sound like anyone but Incubus. So yeah, I like that album a lot more now. It's good stuff, which is more than I can say about a lot of the bands that came around at the same time (Korn, I'm looking at you).

Licenced to Shill

Yeah, so. I have a new blog. It's been linked for a while on the side, but I thought I'd post about it to draw attention to it. I've decided I'm going to keep most of the movie talk to there, with the more personal stuff here. Just reorganizing, really.

The Fifteen Years Movie Blog

Jigsaws!

The guys at IMP Awards have a cool little feature up: jigsaws made out of movie posters. Some are easy, some are hard and some (like the BEING JOHN MALKOVICH one) are "insane." Still, this is what being an insomniac can do for you.

The iTunes 11

No, it's not a new George Clooney movie. Basically, what goes is that you shuffle through your iTunes (or wimp or whatever you use) and note down the eleven tracks you pick, and see what the results are. Here are mine, you can post yours in the reply thingie.

1. Howard Shore - Rivendell
2. Danny Elfman - Town Meeting Song
3. The Cure - Let's Go To Bed
4. Beck - Girl
5. RHCP - Give It Away
6. Foo Fighters - Weenie Beenie
7. Lisa Gerrard - La Bas
8. Johnny Cash - Sam Hall
9. Foo Fighters - DOA
10. Seu Jorge - Life on Mars
11. Ryan Adams - Call Me On Your Way Back Home

It's 2006, Apparently

So here we are. The year Twenty-Oh-Six. Can't say it feels that much different. New Year's was fun though. Drank lots of Tequila, dressed like a Jedi, met Spongebob Squarepants. Fun, but I'm still really tired.

I'm also trying to think of NY resolutions. I have a few traditional ones, i.e. quit biting my nails, but the only other one I can really think of right now is that I have to do more writing and watch more new films, because seriously, my new movie watching was slack as fuck last year.

Here's a pic of Lisa and me on NYE. We're such geeks, but we had a great time.