Raves: March '09

America, f*ck yeah!

Neko Case – Middle Cyclone - It’s cliché at this point to call Neko Case’s voice “a force of nature,” but some things become cliché for a reason. Case’s vocals sound like a massive electrical storm chasing you down a Kansas freeway, and her penchant for singing about wild things (animals, weather, serial killers) only enhances the analogy. On her latest CD, my third favorite ginger indie rock songstress (behind Jenny Lewis and Red, natch) mixes new hints of girl group and soul into her Americana songwriting, and her lyrics are fabulous as ever. I mean: “I carved your name across three counties / ground it in with bloody hides / Their broken necks will lie in the ditch ‘til you stop it, stop it / Stop this madness,” if that’s not love, I don’t know what is.

Jamie Bamber’s hair – OK, honestly I could rave about all of Jamie Bamber, but there is something about his hair that I find just delectable. Bamber plays tried and true Lee Adama on Battlestar Galactica, the penultimate episode of which airs tonight. The show’s hairstylists do a fab job on all the men (not so much the gals, what’s up with that?), but since they shaved Anders’ dome for the final episodes, I’ll give it all up for Capt. Apollo’s dreamy locks.

"The Watchmen" Opening Credits – Red already mentioned this in her Watchmen post, but I think its worth noting again. While The Watchmen itself was a bit flawed but still very enjoyable, the opening credits were an absolute work of art. They might not look as cool on the small screen, detached from the rest of the film (or if you haven’t read the book) but if you want to check it out you can see it here. With subtle glances, gorgeous color and one perfect song, it conveys all the background you need on this alternate America where costumed heroes are all too real.

Maria Vitakis’ Typewriter Jewelry – This lady in San Diego makes jewelry out of old pre-WWII typewriters. She sells them (exclusively, as far as I know) at a farmer’s market near my house. She makes necklaces, cufflinks, bracelets, you name it, and I think they’re just the raddest. They’re not too expensive either; I got a necklace and a ring for a total of $30. I don’t think she has a Web site, but if you wanna know more, you can email her at gotoanylength@aol.com

Winning – My office has a co-ed kickball team, and we started the season 0-3. Last Sunday, we got our first win. And it was awesome. Here’s hoping we get at least one more!

At the Movies: Watchmen

Liz and I finally got around to seeing Watchmen last night. We’d heard mixed reviews before entering the theater: It’s looks amazing, but it’s too long, not emotionally engaging, too true to the comic book in look and feel. And while those critiques proved somewhat true, I enjoyed the film way more than the haters would have me expect. Since everyone has already “reviewed” the movie, I’ll just give you some of my thoughts because I know that’s what you live for:

The Look: The film, as all Zack Snyder’s films do, looks amazing. I didn’t have a problem with it looking too much like the book at all. I thought it was a fantastic balance of comic book and cinema.

The Cast:

Jeffery Dean Morgan is great as the Comedian, Billy Crudup looks ridiculous (in a good way) as Dr. Manhattan (Liz and I discussed how much of his body was real and how much was CGI. I’m going with 50/50, but how much would it suck (or rock, perhaps) to have your junk enhanced for the big screen?), Patrick Wilson is dreamy (as always) as Night Owl, Malin Akerman shows off one hell of a wax job as Silk Specter (I’ve always like MA…going back to her hilariously sweet turn on The Comeback), and Jackie Early Haley is absolute perfection as the Rorschach. Gingers every where should be proud to claim him as one of our own. The only real disappointment is perhaps Mathew Goode as Ozymandias who is rather more forgettable than bad, I suppose.

My Favorite Parts:

The opening credits. Perfectly set the tone and mood and incorporated one of the greatest songs in history, Bob Dylan’s “The Times They are A’Changin’.” Really, the song choices throughout are pretty great…even if, as Garney noted after he saw the flick, Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” during the sex scene is a bit much.

Patrick Wilson’s ass.

Night Owl and Rorschach flying into Antarctica while “All Along the Watchtower” plays. This prompted me to turn to Liz and say, “Battlestar!!!” God, we’re nerds.

Rorschach kicking ass and bludgeoning people to death (what? I have a darkside.)

The new ending…which I think actually makes more sense than the ending in the book.

Really, the only thing I didn’t like was the length, but I don’t know what could have been cut…other than some of the overwrought dialogue. Overall, I’d recommend seeing Watchmen, if for no other reason than to be awed by the visuals. However, if your name is Falwless and you hate action/comic book movies, you should probably skip it.

The Hits Just Keep On Coming

Dear Last Week,

Why do you hate me so much? You began by telling me I could no longer access personal email or The Facebook during the day, forcing me to pay out the nose to actually hook up an internet connection in my home. Then you told me California decided it was too broke to pay their tax refunds and Arnold is issuing IOUs instead. Next, you fraked with Blogger until I could only compose things in HTML...with no ability to add pictures. To further make my life suck, you somehow got me to agree to go on a date with someone I had no interest in, only to have me sleep through the first 30 minutes of said date because I thought (or rather you thought) bottomless mimosas at brunch was a good idea. You also apparently thought it was a good idea to let me text a boy I should be over by now while drinking those mimosas, resulting in feeling supremely lame for, well, I'm still pissed about that one, actually. To top it off, you thought it would be fun to plant Valentine's Day down in the middle of all this mess and let me spend the day reading Watchmen and watching movies like Hellboy II, prompting one rather verbose gentleman to inform me I'd need a complex understanding of exponents to understand how sad, on a scale of 1-10, my life really is..."No one has ever counted that high," he said. But I don't blame him...I blame you. Please stop hating me. I realize there are people, like, losing their jobs and their fortunes and stuff, but I'd really just like my internet back...and to stop being so tragic. Can you please help a sister out?

Thanks in advanced,

Red

Best Books of 2008

In addition to being grandmas who like to be in bed by 10, Liz and I are book nerds, too, so I said, "Hey, Liz. Let's compile a list of the best books we've read this year" and Liz said, "Good idea. It'll make us look wicked smaht." (this exchange may or may not have just been created in my mind.) So here you have it. The best books Liz and I read in 2008:






Liz's Picks

The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin: Who knew the Supreme Court was so fascinating?

Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart: One of the funniest books I have ever read.

The Law of Dreams by Peter Behrens: A graphically realistic story of a kid escaping the Irish potato famine.

The Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons: Superheroes .... or are they? You'll be hearing a lot more about this next year.

Red's Picks

The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard: Murder, mystery and Edgar Allan Poe run amok at West Point Military Academy.

Generation Kill by Evan Wright: I think you've heard me blabber enough about this book and mini-series. Just read it already.

King Dork by Frank Portman: Previously, Portman was known to me for rocking out in Mr. T Experience (and producing such relatable gems as "Even Hitler had a Girlfriend"), but he will now be fondly remebered as the dude who wrote this awesome and hilarious tale of adolecence.

A Fan's Notes by Frederick Exley: Pistols is always going on and on about this novel about alcoholism, mental illness and football fandom, so I thought I'd check it out. It's actually really good and proof Pistols isn't always wrong about everything. I was shocked, too.

If you've read anything exceptional this year, let us hear it. If you're lucky, maybe it will end up on our list next year. Dare to dream.

Things I learned at Comic Con

As one of the few perks of my job, I got to go Comic Con this week. It was festive as always, with people dressed in costumes, giant statues of Jabba the Hut and the occasional star sighting. It was also crowded as always, even more so this year since its the first time ever that they've completely sold out in advance. That part was annoying, but overall it was still well worth the time. Here are a few particularly interesting tidbits that I picked up:

You will be sick of The Watchmen long before it hits theatres - Based on a graphic novel from the 1980s (which was actually named one of Time magazine's top 100 pieces of literature since 1923) The Watchmen has had a big underground following for some time. The movie comes out next year and they were promoting the f&%k out of if at The Con. I also saw a preview for it before The Dark Knight this week. Something tells me the marketing budget for this thing is roughly the size of Beglium's gross national project. Consider yourself warned.

Seth Green is really small - Which is a round-about way of saying: I saw Seth Green! I was looking for a corner to eat my $11 pizza and coke (isn't price gauging fun?) and this short little ginger kid runs by, taking a picture of a guy in a costume. I thought, "God he looks a lot like Seth Green. Wait ...." It was totally him. I didn't talk to him, but we had a connection. I could feel it. And yes, he's super tiny. I'm 5'4'' and could have easily given him a piggy back ride.

Joss Whedon is very popular - Being the big Buffy nerd that I am, I desperately wanted to see Joss Whedon speak about his new programs. He was in the biggest ballroom at the convention center, but still the line was - I sh*t you not - at least a quarter of a mile long. I didn't have time to wait. It was a low point.

Some stereotypes are sadly true - I'm not gonna sugarcoat it: There were a lot of overweight guys in ill-fitting Star Wars t-shirts there.

In certain circles, Stan Lee is like Jesus and bunny rabbits all rolled into one - I guess it shouldn't be surprising that Stan Lee, who created The Hulk, Iron Man, and many, many others is a real hit with the Comic Con crowd, but still. Everywhere the man went, there were lines out doors and crowds so reverential you'd think Barack Obama was giving a speech at a Starbucks. Just crazy.

Had Heath Ledger lived, he would have been like Jesus and bunny rabbits all rolled into one too - Soooo many Joker costumes this year, all inspired by Heath's version of the character. One of my favorite costumes of the whole show was a kid dressed as the Joker from the scene in the TDK where he's in the nurse's uniform. We've said it before and I'll say it again: What a waste.