Picks Of The Litter for the week ending May 17, 2008
Current mood: drained
Category: Music

This is gettin' harder and harder to do each week, sincerely, but it's a fun challenge, so I'm gonna keep going for awhile!
For music this week, I looked to four dicks from Brooklyn. Seriously, look at their profile, and it's right there on the page, "Four Dicks From Brooklyn". Said dicks being Type O Negative, a band who, although they keep releasing brilliant album after brilliant album, kinda fall into the underrated category. Sometimes I just don't get it, 'cuz these guys really deserve to be huge. That's okay, though, 'cuz they have one of the most loyal fan bases I've ever been in contact with. If you're into these guys, you're in for life. Just the way it is. So, this week, it's "September Sun" from their newest disc, Dead Again.

And to complement this one, it just seemed fitting to have Guns N' Roses "November Rain" for the video. Always a classic, one of the greatest rock ballads ever written, one of the greatest videos ever made, just can't take anything away from these guys here. {Insert Deity} only knows if we'll ever see that damned "Chinese Democracy" album, but we'll always have this, and that's good enough for me!

6:35 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Grindhouse Tuesday- Sick Girl, Nightbreed, and Valeries On The Stairs
Current mood: rockin
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Decided to add a third film to the stack this week, since the Masters Of Horror dvd's only run about an hour.
We lost Steve early on this week, as he'd already seen Sick Girl and wanted to step out to get a bite to eat.
Oddly enough, he didn't return...
YO, STEVE!!!!! What happened, man?
In honesty, Steve had wanted to start with Valerie On The Stairs, but I figured we'd get Sick Girl out of the way, and watch Valerie when the rest of the crew arrived.
Anyhoo, Sick Girl is the story of a shy, kinda nerdy entomologist who receives a strange specimen. While pondering the mystery of what this odd new bug is, she becomes involved with a lovely young lady.
Unfortunately, the new lady friend gets bitten by the bug, resulting in some hideous mutations, ewwww, icky, icky...This one is both very sexy and creepy all at once. One of my faves from Season One!
By the time Sick Girl was over, Spring had arrived, and it was on to Nightbreed, figuring we'd save Valerie for when Steve returned...
Seriously, dude, where'd ya go?
Nightbreed is based on Clive Barker's novella "Cabal", and is the story of Aaron Boone, a young man who is plagued my nightmares. He dreams of a place called Midian, and the monsters that dwell there.
David Cronenburg plays Boone's therapist, who is also a brutal serial killer who has murdered numerous families. Boone becomes convinced by the therapist that he is actually the murderer, and before long he makes his way to Midian to be with the monsters.
One of the things I love the most about this movie is that some of the humans are more monstrous than the occupants of Midian could ever be...
And, from there, it was finally on to Valerie On The Stairs.
And, still no Steve...
Anyway, Valerie On The Stairs is about a young writer who moves into a place called Highberger House, a home where unpublished writers can work without distractions.
Never mind the fact the the previous occupant of his room committed suicide...
Never mind the fact that a beautiful young woman roams the house, pleading for help...
Never mind the fact that there's an evil entity occupying the house, claiming the beautiful Valerie as his own...
And, just how much do the other writers occupying Highberger House know about all of this?
This is one of Master Of Horror Season Two's gems. Great direction and some very solid performances, especially from Christopher Lloyd who portrays a washed-up horror novelist.

And, it's on to next week. Spring hasn't contributed in awhile, so she's got a couple of flicks in mind for then. Probably won't be anything particularly high budget, but that's okay. We haven't gotten gritty for Grindhouse in quite some time, so I say Bring On The Low-Budget Carnage!

10:13 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Iron Man!
Current mood: excited
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Yeah, I know, it's freakin' quarter of one in the morning and here I am blogging away...
Had to share this though!
Just got back from seeing Iron Man with Bill and Angie, and WOW, what a movie!
I had some doubts at first about Robert Downey, Jr. playing Tony Stark, but after watching the film, I've gotta say this guy was amazing! Awesome portrayal!
Major horns up to Cuba Gooding, Jr. as James Rhodes, as well. Can't wait for the sequel so we can see him as War Machine! (Oh, come on, ya know it's bound to happen...)
And yes, if you're REALLY patient and wait for the credits to end, ya get to see Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. Can't say I'm really ruining anything there, 'cuz the buzz has been all over the internet anyway. Here's to that Avengers movie, woo hoo!
All in all, I'd say the summer movie season is off to a GREAT start! Between the The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, the new Indiana Jones film, Hellboy 2, The Dark Knight, etc., I'd say it's gonna be a great time at the movies this summer!

10:45 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Picks of the Litter for the week ending May 10, 2008
Current mood: rockin
Category: Music

Okay, so normally I'd post music and video to feature a couple of different artists. This week's gonna be a little different. In honor of the upcoming Cruefest tour, I'm going with Motley Crue for both!
So, for music, I've got their new song, "Saints of Los Angeles" up. This is the best thing I've heard from these guys in many, many years. Freakin' amazing for four guys who were on a Farewell Tour just a couple of brief years ago. Can't wait to pick up the new disc when it comes out next month!
Went with some old Crue for the video, in this case "Looks That Kill". This was my first visual dose of these guys, way back in December of '83, about a month and a half before seeing them open for Ozzy on that oh so legendary tour! Man, these guys have come a helluva long way!

5:28 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Tonight’s American Idol Elimination or Why The Fuck Do I Bother With This Show?
Current mood: rockin
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Alright, so David Cook is safe for another week, as it should be.
But...
So is Jason Castro, the dude who should have been eliminated about four or five weeks back. Once again, it's not that he's a bad singer. He's not, and I'm willing to give him at least some credit for having at least some vocal talent.
Problem is, as a performer he just plain sucks. The kid has NO personality, half the time he looks like he'd rather be anywhere else but where he is. Yet, he made it through once again, thanks to those millions of pre-adolescent girls who make up his fan base. The longer I see this kid on this show, the more I want to see him strangled with his own dreadlocks...
Of course, this also means we saw another, more talented, person get sent home tonight. Not that I felt Brooke would have made it to the end, but I think she had a couple of good weeks left in her.
All of this raises a very good question...
WHY the FUCK do I even bother watching this show after foresaking it for, what, seven or eight years now?
The only reason I started watching it this season is because Deb is a fan of the show, and the nights she usually visits me are the nights that its own. So, in the interest of sharing quality time, I watched some episodes with her and discovered that there were actually some damned good ROCK singers involved. Imagine my surprise...
So, in the interest of making the most of my time with Deb on these nights, I sit with her and watch the eliminations week after disappointing week. Since most Tuesdays I'm watching movies with the Grindhouse crew, I've actually taken to recording the performances and watching them before the eliminations on Wednesday night.
So, as it stands, we're down to the last four weeks of this. As long as David Cook keeps advancing, I suppose I'll keep watching. Here's to hoping an actual ROCK singer can win this stupid show!

7:35 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Grindhouse Tuesday-Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein
Current mood: rockin
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

We'd been discussing pairing these two films up off and on for a couple of weeks, and it was decided that this was the week to watch them. Both classics in my book, you really can't go wrong with either.
So, first up it was Bram Stoker's Dracula. God, I love this film...
Now, in all honesty, I have never completely read the novel. One of these days I'm looking up a copy and I intend to read it through this time! Anyhoo, as I understand it, this film is probably the closest adaptation to the original story that's been done so far.
Great cast, with Gary Oldman as The Count, Winona Ryder as Mina, Sir Anthony Hopkins (it IS Sir, now, right...) as Van Helsing, and Keanu Reeves as Johnathon Harker...
Oh, wait...
Keanu Reeves as Harker is the only thing about this flick that I DON'T like...
Sorry...
Nothing personal against Keanu Reeves, seriously, he was awesome in the Bill and Tedd movies, as well as Parenthood. Speed wasn't half bad either. But he really, REALLY fell flat in this film.
Otherwise, one of my personal faves!
On to Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, once again a more faithful adaptation of the original story. Another solid cast, too. Kenneth Branagh as Victor Frankenstein, Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth, and Robert DeNiro as The Monster. DeNiro rules in this, sincerely. This guy is just consistently amazing in anything I've seen him in.
Funny little coincidence we noticed while watching this. There's a character in the film named Claude, who is kind of an assistant of sorts to the Frankenstein family. The actor is a DEAD RINGER for Steve! We couldn't get over it, the resemblance is just uncanny.
Funny how you notice little things like that!
But yeah, 'twas another successful Grindhouse Tuesday. Next week we'll be paying homage to Clive Barker with Nightbreed and Valerie On The Stairs from Season Two of Masters of Horror. Can't wait!

7:33 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Picks of the Litter for the week ending May3, 2008
Current mood: rockin
Category: Music

Earlier in the week I came across the music profile for a band called Kix, who had a moderately good run in the late eighties. Good, heavy rock and roll. The kind of stuff you wanted playing in the background while partying as hard as humanly possible. The kind of music you wanted to hear when you had a beer in one hand and a pretty lady right....where...you  wanted her...
And so, this weeks music is Kix's "Girl Money"
But then, I got to thinking about other bands, like Kix, who were sorely underrated, deserved a helluva lot more credit than they got.
That got me thinking of Metal Church, who I've had the priveledge of seeing twice. I thought of their video for "Badlands", which I hadn't seen in forever. Guess what the vid for this week is...
Enjoy!

6:54 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

American Idol...
Current mood: disgusted
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

This is the first year that I've actually sat down week after week and actively stayed on top of this damned show, and this week's results were a firm reminder of just why I never really got into this show to begin with.
One of the best freakin' singers from this season got sent home tonight, and I'm damned disgusted about it. Carly Smithson is talented enough to have gone on to win this freakin' competition, but thanks to what I'm sure are hundreds of thousands prepubescent young ladies, the season's weakest performer (Jason) actually had enough votes to make it into the top four. Sorry, this guy should have been voted off about two to three weeks ago. It's not that I think he's untalented, it's that I think he's freakin' dull as hell, and he's only getting votes because the above mentioned little girls are watching him week after week and going, "Oh, he's soooooo cuuuuute..."
Hmmmm, I honestly thought this wasn't supposed to be a popularity contest, but maybe I'm mistaken after all.
Well, there's only one reason for me to keep watching this show now (okay, two if you count Paula Abdul, who I've been drooling over for years), and that guy's name is David Cook. If this dude gets voted off, I may be done with the show for the rest of the season, no bullshit.  We'll see how far this guy makes it in the upcoming weeks and base my final decision on just how long he lasts...

8:18 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Grindhouse Tuesday: Cloverfield and Rodan
Current mood: rockin
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Just a few of us for this evening's viewings. Tom, Carrie, Steve, Spring and myself this week.
Cloverfield kicks ass, I've gotta say. It's a very cool spin on your "Giant Monster Destroys City" kinda film.
It begins with a going-away party in Manhattan. The festivities are being recorded, and the entire movie is filmed from this perpective. During the party, all hell breaks loose after an earthquake causes a brief power outage, which is followed by a series of explosions. Mass panic ensues as the party goers run into the streets just in time to see the head of the Statue of Liberty come careening off of buildings only to crash to the ground in their midst.
From there, it's a race to find safety as some unknown monstrous creature starts to pound The Big Apple to the ground, with the military being called in only to be overwhelmed by spider-like parasites that fall from the creature's body. Damned good stuff, highly recommended!
From there, in keeping with the Giant Monster theme, it was on to Rodan. Steve and Tom kept this one a secret from me, 'cuz I'd mentioned awhile back that I hadn't seen it in many years. Very pleasant surprise, even if I did start to nod off about halfway through. Once again, it's NEVER a good idea to fall asleep on Grindhouse Night....
But, yes, for those unfamiliar, Rodan was the first giant monster feature from the Toho company (those wonderful guys who brought us Godzilla!) to be filmed in color. In a nutshell, nuclear testing has awakened something deep beneath the earth, and after digging too deep, a mining company stumbles upon strange insectlike creatures that begin killing miners. But these things aren't the worse threat. In fact, they turn out to be the food source for something far worse that's just unhatched from a gargantuan egg...
I love this shit!

8:36 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Picks of the Litter for the week ending April 26, 2008
Current mood: rockin
Category: Music

Gonna focus on some amazing guitar players this week, one gone but not forgotten (and I need to add him to my photos in that little section), the other still among the living and kicking ass to this day!
First up, for music, we have Savatage's "Hall of the Mountain King" from the album of the same name. This is the song that won me over when it came to this band after hearing it performed live back in January of '88. Killer tune and some amazing guitar work by Criss Oliva, who is now sharing the stage in Metal Heaven with Randy Rhoads and "Dimebag" Darrel. R.I.P. Criss!
And for the video, I went with Steve Vai's "The Audience Is Listening", which is not only a killer song, but a hilarious video in it's own right. I hadn't watched this in years, and I still got a chuckle.
And, yeah, some may say I could have made some better choices with better guitarists, but trust me on this, I'm not done featuring my favorite shredders on this page!

7:48 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment