Wall of Mouths

Beefgrinder wrote:

Hurrah! New album - looks slightly ominous for our American friends though… “Release TBA”

I disagree. The fact that an American release is even mentioned makes me optimistic! Can’t wait!!

TotallyRandomMike wrote:

Now that I think of that, a very limited reissue of Semi-D on 6x7” would be a treat…

No!! then mine wouldn’t be as special :)

But a vinyl box reissue would be great. If Nada Surf can get one (including albums not released by Barksuk, thier current label) then T? could get one.

fatboy wrote:

Currently reading Snuff by Chuck

What’d you think..didn’t do much for me personally.

The new CHarlie Huston book…great writer quick Pulp Fiction type stuff. Except his newest stuff is about a Vampire..pretty good.
Also reading Berserk..up to volume 26.

Watching Saturday Night Live Season 4.
also have the new X-Files movie and Tropic Thunder on DVD to watch.

Just got Chinese Democracy- Not bad so far.

Also I’ve been putting Killing is My Buisiness and Buisiness is Good in heavy rotation…Rattlehead is such a great song

Live Wire- AC/DC

Joshua wrote:

I think my end of the year round up will be a re-release year of cd and dvd’s mostly.
Not really in to the current music scene..

I was tring to think of the best of 2008 and kept coming up with the same problem.
I’m having the worst time thinking of something new I actually bought this year…Most stuff that comes to mind are re-issues. Especially re-issues on vinyl.

I guess Weezer’s Red Album was this year from reading everyone elses posts…but I wasn’t that crazy about it.

The only others I can think of were

Pennywise - Reason to Believe
Metallica - Death Magnetic

In both these cases I was excited because they were better than their last few releases…but when compared to earlier stuff, they’re really only average.

The rest of my list can be labeled “New releases from bands I like, not bad but nothing memorable, good or bad”
Nada Surf - Lucky
Mogwai - The Hawk is Howling
Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
I think there was a new Millencolin in there as well.

After that I’m completely blank.

Graeme55? wrote:

just heard Day and Age - The Killers, im not impressed, i heard it was heading more into Hot Fuss era, which got me excited, but its sounds nothing like it, its very very 80s sounding, there are good moments but to be honest its disappointing :(

Haven’t heard it yet, but the Killers have always been hit or miss.
When they’re strong they’re really strong…but alot of fluff in between the good stuff.
I got hooked on Sam’s Town (the song…not so much the whole album), I loved the vocal melody for the main verses.

And I have to admit, I liked their version of ‘Shadowplay’. Not as good as the original, but they at least tried doing something a little different with it.
I liked the parts around the solo.

My current playlist

Rush supermix (been my go-to “fall asleep” mix lately)
Ramones mix
AC/DC - Back in Black, Dirty Deeds and Highway to Hell…just got them on vinyl.

right now listening to some Pearl Jam

Right now it’s all about Dexter, Brotherhood and the Shield.
I have no clue how next weeks Shield finale is going to end up, will he go to jail or get killed? Can’t wait. Great show! But they’re smart to end while they’re ahead.

Too bad Brotherhood is done after this season…no matter how it ends it will feel like something was missed. Showtime just never gave them enough episodes to really get it rolling.

Dexter has surprisingly kept it at a high level..it was renewed for 2 more years so we’ll see how long they can keep it good.
Other than those, Two and a Half Men and My Name is Earl, it’s pretty slim pickens.
Nothing new has really caught my attention except I’ve gotten hooked on Top Gear re-runs on BBC America.

Thank god for DVDs and hockey season!

no Jersey Girl is the worst (if you want to count it). The Sweeney Todd junk…Horrible! And he almost ruined Clerks 2 with the song and dance bit! Ugh! I hope he’s forever off of that stuff.

Chasing Amy has it’s moments…the set up at the comic convention with Luther X was classic!
One of the best scenes though was cut (but available on the DVD), with Walt and Steve-Dave.

Anyone see the Zack and Miri yet?

I was proud to see that the fact he was black really wasn’t really an issue (at least with anyone I know, or that I heard), other than in the historical first aspect.
Foreign Policy should take a turn for the better. Little worried about Russia moving those missles into Poland though.

That being said.
I just hope he turns into more of a Clinton than a Carter. All three are coming in under similar circumstances…bad economy,
‘cause some of the Dems spending ideas scare the hell out of me…especially with the economy in the shitter as it it.

Carter was nice, people liked him but he took a sketchy economy and made it worse (17% inflation)…and other than the Egypt Isreal peace talks (which were great at the time, but unfortunately didn’t last) he was a laughing stock foreign policy wise. As a result, he was booted as quicly as possible, and his former VP tried to run, he got one of the most Historical beatdowns. Basically he left the country worse off than when he got there.

Clinton had a generally liberal preference on things (big taxes and government health care) , but when the country balked and put in the Repubs in congress.. he was smart enough to see when other ideas were better for the country (balanced budget, low capital gains taxes, free trade etc). Socially slightly liberal, but fiscally moderate. And he left with things going great (until 9/11 anyways)

If O’Bama ends up a zealot we’ll be in for a long four years. But if he’s pragmatic and moderate..he could make it a great 8.

Of course I’m of the opinion no one party should have total control..it only leads to trouble. They start thinking they have carte blance to go nuts.
When Clinton was in office and Newt ran the House, they kept each other in check. Clinton kept any crazy social agendas from getting pushed through, and Congress kept spending under control.

But once the Republicans had it all (and no Newt and others to keep them in check), they went nuts..and got booted. Just like the Democratic congress 1992-1994. When Clinton first got in office they thought they could do whatever they wanted…that lasted 2 years. If the Dems aren’t careful history can repeat itself.

The change will be good for a while, but we need to keep them honest.
Someday I’ll get my national movement “No Encumbents!” rolling.
Since congress will never put in term limits, or outlaw PAC money, you need to keep them honest. Only way to do that..vote ‘em out!
Get that rolling for a few election cycles and you’d see REAL change in DC.

Being from the DC area, I know that yes we have a change now, but for the most part it will be just a change in who’s getting the favors. The faces change but the business is the same.
I know it sounds cynical, but in my life the only good times have been when the government got the hell out of our lives…so I’m a little worried when I have to look forward to bigger government (it’s 10 times as big as it was under Clinton as it is). I can’t help but see the irony when people say with one sentence “We want more liberty” and then in the next “We can rely on the government for…”
To me Government Health Care and Retirement is just as insideous as the Patriot Act. All on the surface promise more security of one kind or the other (financial versus physical), but both result in the government in your life/ or force you to rely on the government way more than I’m comfortable with.

It’s just as easy for a government to manipulate you by threatening to take away something you rely on, as it is to threaten someone with an action.

I don’t know…we’ll see. I’ll take my usual “expect the worst…hope for the best” attitude.

The one I’m most interested to watch is my new Senator Mark Warner. I voted for him because he was an excellent Governor who worked both sides of the fense for the good of the state. But if he comes out an becomes another partisan hack, I’ll never trust another politician…and just vote to ensure gridlock..if they can’t pass anything, they can’t fuck things up.

Well that’s my last political rant.
Thank god the elections over, and decisively so no Florida or Ohio BS… and Bush is gone.

Got yet another batch of fresh vinyl. The majors are pumping out a ton of high quality reissues.
Today’s batch:
Megadeth-Peace Sells & Rust in Peace
Metallica- AJFA
Queensryche-Operation Mindcrime.

But the most appropriate for Holloween… Slayer- Hell Awaits! The only album with a legit backwards message…”Join Us! Join Us! Join Us!”

Taunty Dan wrote:

Any John Grisham fans? I’ve never read any of his books (Or anything in that vein) but i’ve been leant The Firm, and its a bloody good read thus far.

The Firm, Time to Kill, Pelican Brief, the Rainmaker and Runaway Jury are his best. The Partner wasn’t too bad.
He occasionally gets an a preachy kick or can be downright boring. (The Chamber, and the Street Lawyer for example.) Stick with the first ones I listed and you shouldn’t be disappointed.

Here’s another guy with mixed results at the movies. The Firm and Pelican Brief were great. Time to Kill was good, but not as good as the book. The Rainmaker was too morose, the book was actually pretty fun. Shame since Danny DeVito and Matt Damon were perfectly cast for their characters.

The Runaway Jury completely changed the best part of the book. Turned it into a super-PC piece of shit. Completely ruined it. Maybe it would have been better if I never read the book.

Haven’t heard anything good about the Choke movie. I’ll catch it on DVD

Snuff was different. As usual a twisted ending. Not his best, but was a real quick read.

Finally got Infernal Love on vinyl. Awesome!

Watching the new US version of “Life on Mars”. Not bad. Not sure if it’s better than the original BBC version. They pummeled the original pilot. But now they have Harvey Keitel and Michael Imperioli who are really good.

At this moment watching the San Jose Sharks vs The Anaheim Ducks. I ordered the Center Ice package last season (so I can watch all the hockey games), and they never turned it off. I ended up getting the whole MLB package for free because it was on the same channels. ANd now that hockey season is back, I’ve got the Center Ice package free again!
This will make up for all the other gouging the cable company has inflicted.

Insomnia pretty much ruined Stephen King for me. Should have been called “Cure For Insomnia” (drum fill)
Desperation was another.. pure crap!

I thought they’ve done a better job of adapting his stuff for TV than movies. (The Shining, Creepshow, and Pet Semetary excluded).
Even though “IT” was different, they did a good job. I always liked the original “Salem’s Lot” but that had a bunch to do with James Mason “Put down the cross priest…face the master!”
I wasn’t crazy about the TNT remake with Rob Lowe, even though it was closer to the book.
I thought they did a decent job on “The Stand”. Definetly worth watching.

The TV version of “The Shining” was actually pretty good (I think King had something directly to do with it even..maybe the script. I believe he did this The Perfect Storm and Rose Red for ABC. The last two were written specifically for TV)
Nightmares and Dreamscapes wasn’t bad either.

I think the TV versions are better than most of the movies because they are able to do them as mini-series instead of cramming everything into (or leaving most out) a 1.5-2 hrs movie.

The last thing I read of his was “The Cincinatti Kid” or something like that. It was a noir type novella. But it really didn’t have an ending.

hoochalobster wrote:

I think it was Billy Baldwin in Backdraft. Alec is the one from 30Rock (effing brilliant, if you haven’t seen it). Then there’s Stephen and Daniel. One of them was in The Usual Suspects and the other one just does TV I think, can’t remember which way round though.

Daniel played in Vampires with James Woods, and on TV he played in the first few seasons of ‘Homicide-Life on the Street’ He was the one who constantly had issues with his wife/ex-wife taking off with his kids.

Usual Suspects- C’Mon..Stephen Baldwin has movie cancer. Ended up a classic!

I really liked Die Hard 4.. except for the bit with the plane.
Just as dumb as the bit with the Harrier in “True Lies” in both cases I think it held back the move from being even better.
Hollywood definitely needs to learn that just because you can do something with effects, it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.

I also couldn’t help but laugh at the Mac commercial guy (I hate those fuckin Apple commercials!!) and his PCs.

The Star Wars prequels were just crap.
Horrible storytelling.
Part 1 was so bad, that it pulled down the other two because they had to cram so much into the rest to get it where it was supposed to go. They should have started with episode 2, fattened it out with another episode, then ended with Return of the Sith. It should have been a dramatic buildup to Anakin turning to the dark side. Instead they were in such a rush it was like “Okay we’ve only got an hour left…now you’re bad!” They needed a real scriptwriter…bad! Lucas should have gotten Lawrence Kasdan to write it. Look at the job he did on “Empire”…the best one by far.

Can’t speak to the Indy movie. Just the preview made me not want to see it (too much CGI). I’ll catch it on cable eventually.

I read last night George Whitton’s “Scapegoats of the Empire” . The story behind “Breaker Morant” from the Boer War by the one officer who wasn’t executed.
Anyone seen the movie? Classic. They even ripped it off in the X-Files finale trial scenes.

Between that and “Gallipolli: it seems that whenever the British need a hand from the Australians they should say “Thanks but ..no thanks”

the only thing I;ve seen is Eddie Vedder’s song for the Chicago Cubs…who could get swept out of the playoffs tonight. They better hope that luck doesn’t spread to O’Bama

Got even more fresh vinyl…they’re even stocking it again at Best Buy.
Radiohead- OK Computer, Pable Honey, Kid A
Judas Priest- British Steel
Hendrix- Band of Gypsies
Misfits- Statiic Age
Frampton Comes Alive
U2-War
Cream- Disreali Gears
Boston
Kiss -Alive
Def Leppard-Pyromania
Zepplin- Song Remains the Same (Love the extra tracks)
Decendents-Somery
Strung Out - Live in a Dive, Twisted By Design
Shellac/Mule -split
Metallica-Death Magnetic
Q and Not U- Different Damage, Power

Cuchulain wrote:

Hate it when you hold a mad party in your house and when cleaning up the next day you notice a load of your rare CDs are gone.

One of the few rules on life I have..
Parties…Go..Don’t throw.

That along with “If I can’t spell it, I won’t eat it”

Star Wars episodes 1-3. The first one just screwed it all up. They did a great job in Ep3 with how Anakin finally became Vader, but then ruined it with the Principle Seymore Skinner “NNNNNnoooooo!” when he heard his wife was dead. I couldn’t help but laugh. Ruined all the dramatic effect.

Bourne Ultimatum fell flat. Can’t put my finger on one thing…it just didn’t do it for me.

Constantine wasn’t too bad..nowhere near as good as the Hellblazer comics it was taken from, but okay…but again they ruined it when he popped the stick of gum in his mouth at the end. He was supposed to light up a cigarette. (anyone who’se seen it and read the comics knows what I’m talking about)

Staying on the Keanu Reeve’s theme…Matrix 2 &3 were a letdown..great effects, bad story.

Twin Peaks- Fire Walk with Me, was nowhere near as good as the show. The first X-Files movie..the same (haven’t seen the new one yet)

I just got DM on vinyl. Hopefully the sound quality is better

congrats! Mikie!

Not sure how many here have read him. But “Infinite Jest” is a classic. A shame!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/books/15kaku.html?no_interstitial