Skins: Season 3

As I've mentioned before, Suzi's been turning me on to a lot of TV shows in the past year or so, and easily one of my favorites amongst them is the British series Skins, which was so racy that when a watered-down version with an American cast was brought to the States, the show got canceled within ten weeks. It's not that the series is really all that extreme, but rather than it's about kids in British college (which means the last couple years of high school here) doing all sorts of rebellious stuff (including frequent drug use and lots of sex). That said, I came to the series somewhat on accident, as Suzi had already finished Seasons 1+2 a good bit earlier and had just put on the start of Season 3 for me while she was getting ready to go out. This turned out to be great timing for me to jump in, as the series likes to have total cast changes every two seasons, meaning that I was catching the beginning of an entirely new storyline, despite starting on Season 3.

Anyway, this time around, the show follows nine kids through their sometimes-unbelievable exploits and drama, with each episode telling a story mainly through the eyes of one particular character, allowing us into their lives, often including their messed up families. This formula is actually quite cool, because it ends up meaning that there aren't really any supporting characters in the main group, as you become quite familiar with each every season. The only character that was brought in from the first cast is the main female character (if there were one), Effy, who was mostly silent in the first two seasons, being the younger sister of a different class of kids, but is now the center of all the guys' affections. The male lead (again, if there were one), is Cook, a snotty and trashy kid who is often at the center of all the drama that takes place, largely due to his extremely rebellious and sometimes violent nature.

To be fair, though I absolutely LOVE Skins now, it did take me a few episodes, though not as long as the somewhat similar Shameless. See, though the show is well-shot and quite interesting, the first few episodes were a bit too hard to believe, but I stuck with it long enough for things to settle down a bit and am kinda addicted to it now. Overall, I can't say enough about this season of the show and definitely recommend it to everyone. I also watched the second season featuring this cast (Season 4) and will be writing about it a bit later, so look at for that. SKINS!

Cake - Showroom Of Compassion

I haven't talked too much about my HiFi reviews this year, but a number of the albums for my personal reviews on this blog originated as HiFi assignments, though my official reviews there were more academic and formal than the casual posts on this blog. That said, I haven't blogged about ALL of my HiFi albums, largely because the editor gives me a lot of albums at one time, and sometimes I just don't want to make all of them my CD of the week, taking up my valued and relatively-limited quarterly spots, though I don't mind listening to them at home a number of times to get familiar with the disc. Anyway, Cake's Showroom Of Compassion was initially one of these albums: I didn't like it that much when reviewing it for HiFi, so I didn't make it one of my weekly CDs...

That is, until I noticed I was low on 1's for my list of albums this year, which (as I've explained before) I try to keep as balanced (rating-wise) as possible. So, you could say that in so doing, I engineered my list of CDs this year just to achieve balance, but to be fair, I DO like Cake's earlier work and felt that it wasn't totally unreasonable for me to have bought this album to check it out on my own and then discover it was no good. In any case, let me get on to what I actually thought of the album in particular:

While I do typically like Cake's distinctive sound on most of their earlier releases, Showroom Of Compassion sees them trying too hard to branch out, which only really ends up acting as a vessel for some inferior songwriting, lending the album a sort of B-sides album feel. There ARE a few standout tracks, chief amongst them the classically-inspired instrumental number "Teenage Pregnancy", but there are plenty of dull moments to go around, and though I did end up warming up to the album a bit more by the end of my five week run with it (finding it more bland than repelling), I still can't really recommend it to anyone but the most serious Cake fan.

Highlights: "Federal Funding"/"Long Time"/"Teenage Pregnancy"
Rating: 1/5

Atlanta Rollergirls

Back in mid-July, I finally got to make it out to see an Atlanta Rollergirls bout, after having tried to go since 2008 but never having enough foresight to buy tickets before they sold out. What finally made a difference was having my Music & Arts coworker Chad (who also recently auditioned for my band on guitar and whose wife is a Rollergirl) invite me out that particular night, ensuring me that the bout wouldn't be sold out (still, it was pretty packed, all things considered). The Atlanta Rollergirls' venue is currently the Shriners' main Atlanta location, the Yaarab Shrine auditorium, which isn't permanently set up for roller derby, and as such, doesn't offer a whole lot of formal seating, so Suzi and I ended up on the gym floor with a poor view of the action and very little idea of what was going on due to arriving a bit late.

Still, we had fun, bringing our own large beers, studyiny the crowd, picking out our favorite derby girl names, and chatting it up with Chad afterwards. The match we caught was the Atlanta Rumble B's vs. the Fort Myers Derby Girls, where we won by only one point (160 vs. 159) in a dynamic comeback at the very end after we had been down by what seemed to be a fair amount. Not sure we entirely knew what was going on, but it was fun nevertheless. So, if we end up going back in the near future, we'll need to make sure to get there much earlier so we can get one of the relatively sparse bleacher seats. Glad I finally made it out! Thanks to Chad for helping out!

Shutter Island

What does it seem to say when an acclaimed director like Martin Scorsese turns his directorial skills to a film that feels like a handful you've already seen before and honestly doesn't really do too much to improve on the formula? Such is the case with last year's latest entry in the Scorsese/DiCaprio love affair, Shutter Island, which at first appears to be a prison mystery-thriller like Gothika but eventually unravels to reveal a "what's really going on here?" psychological thriller like The Machinist or Memento. Sure, the acting and cinematography are better, but the whole time I just couldn't help feeling a sense of déjà vu, leaving me a bit unimpressed by the end. So, despite a really solid cast (Leo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, and Jackie Earle Haley) and a decent twist at the end, I really couldn't recommend Shutter Island unless you're either a big fan of this genre or haven't seen any films like it.

Facebook and Me

Not sure if I've ever felt the need to post about my relationship with Facebook, but it's been on my mind lately, so why not, right? I'm sure there are only a handful of stories regarding how someone came to be a part of the Facebook community, but I would guess mine is a pretty common one for my age group: that I caught it pretty early on (2005-ish) but not as early as the original Ivy Leaguers, putting me squarely in the moderately-sized group that discovered it while in grad school, not undergrad or in the early years of my career. As such, I got a decent chunk of Facebook time as a student, which has to be the optimal experience for getting the most out of it, right?

That said, during that time, Facebook was a much different monster than it is now. For instance, when I started, there was no Feed and no apps, no photo albums (hell, you could only post ONE picture, and that was your profile pic), you could still search for other people based off VERY specific search criteria (making it much more stalkeriffic), there might not have even been a Wall, and I'm pretty sure you couldn't have an account unless you had a valid collegiate email address. Anyway, this all goes to show how much things have changed since then.

Easily the highlight of my Facebook years was during my time in The Netherlands, when I was able to post unlimited photo albums (albeit with a photo cap of 60) and used the community aspect to keep in touch with all the foreign students I was meeting, without which I probably would have had a much less fun time and certainly would have been aware of far fewer photos of myself. But, after the NL, things slowed down, as I no longer was in a school environment (or even a particularly social one), and the Facebook I had come to love was slowly disappearing...

Call me simple, but I kinda liked it when everyone's Facebook page was extremely streamlined, when there were no apps, and when the Feed didn't even exist. For whatever reason, none of the new advances that brought these changes interested me, and as such, I frequently find myself out of touch with all the people I used to be much more connected to, largely because I NEVER read my Feed. Evidently this is where everyone finds out each others' business, including their photos, status updates, links, and birthdays, because people always seem to know my business (which is fine), but I never know theirs unless they're super close friends (which I then feel bad about, especially concerning missed birthdays). Maybe it's because I have too many "friends" on Facebook, or maybe it's because people tend to post way too many things that I'm not interested in, but either way, I find the Feed's sheer amount of information overwhelming and instead choose to only check in on someone by literally looking at their profile page.

Anyway, I still love Facebook, and I still stay permanently logged in when I'm at home (though I almost never use chat anymore), I just don't spend the kind of time other people (or even I used to) do. Part of this is definitely that I don't have idle time to look at Facebook while bored at work (I don't even have internet access away from home), but this certainly doesn't account for all of it. So, although I do check in on my closest friends' walls and photos from time to time, I hope that, if I happen to miss something important due to simply not spending a ton of time on the site, they don't hold it against me... Guess I'm just getting old? =)

Zombieland

If you haven't yet caught 2009's zombie comedy Zombieland, you really owe it to yourself to check it out, as it's easily one of the funniest and freshest movies I've seen in a long time. Seriously, I was laughing out loud (alone at my condo!) for a large portion of the film and assume it would be even better with friends.

The writing is fantastic, as is the perfect onscreen chemistry between Jesse Eisenberg's Columbus and Woody Harrelson's Tallahassee, and the addition of Emma Stone's Wichita as the lead female only makes the mixture stronger. Everything from Columbus' rules for zombie survival and Tallahassee's frequent quips to the road trip element of the story and even a surprise cameo all make for a great entry into the zombie genre. And, what's more, supposedly a large chunk of the film was shot in Georgia, though I couldn't really spot anything familiar...

There really isn't too much more to say about the film other than it really lived up to the hype and was good enough to possibly be a contender for my Top 5 list this year. Check it out! It's really fun!

I.C.E. Fair

Much like the current nationwide obsession with food trucks, cupcakes, photo booths, and the like, another trendy phenomenon at the moment is the oft-ironic and/or folksy indie craft scene, which typically includes everything from art and trinkets to accessories and clothing in general. Well, since it's so en vogue at the moment (and, like cupcakes and moustaches, might not last too long), Suzi and I took the opportunity to go to a whole fair dedicated to the world of indie crafts, appropriately named I.C.E., or "Indie Craft Experience". In addition to all the sorts of items listed above, there also happened to be food trucks, photo booths, and some cupcake-themed stuff (what a surprise...!), so we checked some of these out in-between shopping for some cool new stuff for Suzi's wardrobe. One particularly crafty line of items for sale were license-plate-derived bracelets, all from different states/eras (Suzi got a couple and they look great).

Anyway, the whole thing was pretty fun, and I would definitely be willing to go back next time, though I'm not sure how much longer this type of stuff will be trendy (and therefore in existence). That said, I will be very sad when the photo booth fad passes, as even the impromptu (and somewhat-disheveled) session above resulted in some of our favorite photos of all time.

Basquiat

Talk about a movie I had NO IDEA would be amazing when Suzi described it to me. While I know a fair amount about modern art, somehow Jean-Michel Basquiat and his off-the-wall quasi-homeless-man work went under my radar, so I knew nothing of the esteemed artist before watching this biopic. And boy, did they get an incredible cast for this one! You've got Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe, Benicio del Toro, Courtney Love, Dennis Hopper, Sam Rockwell, and Parker Posey, and that's all without mentioning my two favorite casting decisions, David Bowie as Andy Warhol (AMAZING) and Jeffrey Wright (who looked nothing like himself) as Basquiat. Clearly, this is one of those projects where everyone wanted to be involved, most likely because of the positive buzz surrounding the relatively-recently-deceased (1988) artist.

Sure, the film's got that cheesy special effect (see the surfer above the building in the trailer...sorry Suzi, I know you loved this!), and sometimes Basquiat's behavior is a tad unbelievable, but overall, this movie has stuck with me so strongly that I think it might be a serious contender for Movie of the Year this year. Yes, it came out back in 1996, but it was just that special to me. In fact, this movie got me so excited about artist movies that I finally sat down and watched Pollock (more on that later) and wouldn't mind seeing a few more (I've got one about Rembrandt on my queue at the moment).

Anyway, definitely check this one out if you're at all interested in biopics, art, great acting in general, or (especially) stories about weird homeless guys who hold their hands funny... =)

Against Me! - New Wave

It's a good sign when you have a hard time picking out the top three songs off an album due to having too many great choices, but if you had told me that would be the case with punk band Against Me!'s 2007 release New Wave, I might not have believed you, despite being aware of the album's notable critical success. Actually, I really liked the lead single off the album, "Thrash Unreal", back when it was on the radio, but upon listening to the rest of the album at the time, I just couldn't get excited enough about it to give it a shot.

Well, it's a new year for my taste in music, with my palette seemingly evolving monthly, and as such, it was the right time for me to finally fall in love with New Wave. No, the old-school punkier style isn't usually my cup of tea, but it's hard to deny the hooks on this album, and the lyrics are amongst some of the best (and most political) of my past few years of listening. What's more, New Wave is the kind of album that goes by quickly, and when it's over, you're often inclined to put it on again...seeing as I can't really say this about most of the albums this year, I wouldn't be surprised to see Against Me! at the top of the pile come year end. Definitely check this one out if punky-but-mature political commentary rock suits your tastes. It took me awhile to finally dive in, but I'm really glad I did.

Highlights: "Up The Cuts"/"Thrash Unreal"/"White People For Peace"
Rating: 5/5

Two Very Different Conversations w/Brits

Within the past 48 hours I've had two heavy conversations with British people, both of a political nature but on opposite sides of the spectrum. Most-likely, I shouldn't have had either of these conversations given the circumstances, but everything was fine in the end, even for the one that got more heated (though I'm still shaken up by it).

Both conversations, like most political discussions amongst laymen, started with a casual comment hinting at my beliefs concerning the difference between American and European political practices, a comment that (perhaps naively) was never meant to get any larger than a mere aside. One conversation ended up being totally casual (though heavy), as we both agreed about virtually everything, but in the other, I found myself doing everything I could to calm the situation down, as the particular Brit I was talking to was drinking and got WAY more heated about the conversation than I was comfortable with. While I clearly pushed one of his buttons in a big way, I certainly wasn't trying to be provocative, and rather was just excited to be speaking with someone who might very-likely share some of my views.

The conversations painted Americans, Europeans, and their respective health-care systems in completely opposite lights, though ultimately, I did relatively little exposition with regards to the subject matter (short of unintentionally getting things rolling). I guess the biggest lesson I learned from this is that I really shouldn't assume people from a foreign socialist country are going to all share a progressive viewpoint. I know this sounds obvious, and you're probably thinking I should know better than to discuss politics, but even the guy from the heated argument agreed with me that having conversations like this (though awkward) is one of the best ways for people to grow from one another's beliefs/ideas. Granted, I was doing WAY more listening to him than he to me, but whatever.

I guess then, that if I really want to keep having conversations like this where I get the chance to hear and learn from an opposing opinion, I better be more prepared to be talked down to and called close-minded. Fortunately, I never flared my temper and (somewhat surprisingly) only got more peace-making as things got more and more heated on his end, but I still think there's a good bit to learn from this encounter.

The Runaways

The Runaways, the 2010 biopic about the short-lived all-female punk band by the same name, is easily one of the best films I've chosen to watch on Netflix all by myself (i.e. not as a recommendation from Suzi). Other than a peripheral knowledge of their hit single "Cherry Bomb" and some of Joan Jett's solo material, I didn't really know much about the group going into the film, which certainly helped make it all the more fun. Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett, Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie, and Michael Shannon as their eccentric manager Kim Fowley were all superbly cast, as the trio's interactions are what fuels most of the film's forward momentum. That said, the other key player here is clearly the music itself, including a really intriguing segment about the creation of the song "Cherry Bomb" where we see the band thinking out loud about the whole creative process.

Anyway, the film was really good, and, based off some photos I saw in a biography on the band, the outfits were all pretty spot on, especially for the key shows in the band's history. Definitely check this one out if you're a rock fan.

Food Poisoning?

Last week, not too long after eating a healthy dose of the infamous Ryan Special (or, as it's known to Suzi, Cheesy Beefins), I started feeling really under-the-weather, culminating in what almost amounted to me taking the day off teaching the next day. I presume the condition was in fact food poisoning, as I exhibited a number of the typical symptoms (including a mild fever and, of course, bad diarrhea), but I'm not really sure. Plus, there have been some recent reports of ground-beef-related food poisoning, so it kinda seemed likely that it was my fault, so to speak.

That said, most cases of bacterial food poisoning take longer than the hour or so it took for my initial malaise set in, so perhaps it wasn't my Cheesy Beefins after all... I mean, the ground beef I used was purchased at Whole Foods that night, I got it home in about 30 min after purchasing it, and I cooked it just as thoroughly as I always do, and considering none of these things have ever caused me any problems before, it seems like it MIGHT have been something I ate earlier in the day/weekend. Still, that didn't keep me from throwing out the rest of the tomatoes and ground beef I had used, which might have been a waste but was certainly worth not getting sick again. Anyway, the symptoms died out within 24 hours, and I've felt great ever since, so I guess it'll just go down as a mystery?

The Hangover Part II

Listen: I loved the The Hangover, the original. I really did. It walked that fine line between relying too heavily on utterly juvenile humor while somehow maintaining an adult sense of maturity with regards to the character interactions, plot, and even cinematography. Basically, it was mature slapstick, and everyone loved it.

Enter this year's sequel, The Hangover Part II, and you've got a similar mixture that only runs skin deep, as this time around all the depth and intrigue of the first has been sacrificed simply to allow for an unnecessary second installment. This time the story's set in the far-less-reasonable Thailand in an absurd scenario involving Ed Helms' character getting married to a Thai woman WAY too good for him, bringing along the whole Wolf Pack (including Mr. Chow, which makes no sense). Naturally, the crew once again gets black-out wasted, and presumed-hilarity ensues: while this was all fun the first time, the scenario just doesn't have enough juice for another go, especially when you make Ed Helms the leading man (he and his near-character-doppelganger Jason Sudeikis are starting to get on my nerves).

Simply put, everything is either stale or overwrought in the sequel, and the Rotten Tomatoes score of 35% (down by more than half from the original's 78%) shows that I'm not alone in this assessment. My advice: just skip this one and leave the first film untarnished in all its juvenile sophistication.

Media of the Year Awards 2010

So here it is! Though this post is about four months earlier than it was last year, I've delayed long enough to figure out what the winners of my Top 5's for 2010 would be, so I figured I'd just buckle down and make some hard decisions. To be fair, part of the delay has been due to thinking I had a couple more nominations lists to make,...you'll notice that the two YouTube categories are now absent, as well as the EP's category. With the YouTube selections, it was a combination of not wanting to figure out which videos I watched last year (as I don't usually blog too heavily about them and therefore have little record of it) and the feeling that perhaps I didn't actually watch that many. As for the EP's, I just didn't listen to enough to make a decent list. But, I did add in a new group, "Trips", because last year featured so many quality vacations that I felt it had to be listed...sure, traveling doesn't count as a form of "media", but in the name of tradition, I'll let it slide. Anyway, here we go:

Album: Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History
Dance Single: Die Antwoord - Enter The Ninja (DJ Fishsticks Remix)
Non-Dance Single: Matt & Kim - Cameras
Live Show (Local): Baby Baby @ The Drunken Unicorn
Live Show (Pro): Ra Ra Riot @ The Masquerade
Live Show (Misc.): Scandal! @ Dad's Garage
Movie: Up In The Air
Video Game: Mass Effect 2
XBLA Game: Plants vs. Zombies
Trip: San Francisco (Winter Holidays)

There you have it. It was a tough list to choose winners for...many of the categories were really closely contested, but I feel pretty confident that these choices will go down as my favorites even with more hindsight. My only complaint is that a number of categories ended up slipping by with just enough overall choices to draw nominations from, so hopefully 2011 will prove to have a little more of a selection for all the fields. In the end, 2010 was an incredible year overall (the best in recent memory), so if I have to trade a few better movies for that, then so be it!

Thor

At the start of the Summer, if you had told me that the best superhero film of the season would be Thor, I might have laughed. In fact, amongst the three Marvel films released this Summer, my initial predictions with regard to their quality actually turned out to be exactly the opposite of my post-viewing rankings. Shows what I know. That said, keep in mind Green Lantern is a D.C. franchise...

Anyway, though Thor certainly is no The Dark Knight in terms of its weight, it did everything else apart from this right, much like the Iron Man series. Sure, the new guy that played Thor (don't even know his name!) is no Robert Downey, but he's not too far off either, and he certainly kicked the guy playing Captain America's ass. And yes, the setting IS kinda ridiculous, but the film does a good job of fostering a believable suspension of reality, and I ended up walking out of it with a big smile on my face, having enjoyed the ride and forgotten to question everything. It also helps that the supporting cast was so good...I liked Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins' performances, and the guys playing Loki and (especially) Heimdall were fantastic.

Overall, Thor is the best superhero movie since The Dark Knight (gasp!) and is highly recommendable. Sure, maybe my lowered expectations going in helped a lot, but whatever, just go enjoy it and don't sweat all the silly Norse mythology stuff... =)

The Sounds - Something To Die For

While I often like to put a considerable amount of time between two albums by the same artist/band, after disliking The Sounds' debut album Living In America so much back in 2009 (though it was released in 2003), I had no idea I'd be picking up and LOVING their new release two years later. Hell, I didn't pick up either of the two albums released in the meantime, so why would I expect the band to change as much as they have on Something To Die For? While the bands' signature guitar-driven, light indie rock sound is still present on virtually all the tracks here, and the lyrics are still of the typically shallow sort you would expect of a lyricist whose mother tongue isn't English, the songwriting has significantly improved this time around, and the addition of a much heavier electronic presence seals the deal, making this their strongest effort to date.

One of the problems I had with The Sounds' earlier work was the inconsistency in quality between their hit singles (which generally were pretty good) and the rest of their album material, but on Something To Die For, the Swedish outfit has managed to maintain interesting content throughout, largely due to alternating between their new electronics-heavy tracks and the more standard fare of their earlier efforts. The album even ends with a quiet acoustic number that, although a little strange for such a non-acoustic album, ends up only broadening the bands' perceived range. Overall, though this album is solid, it's not quite good enough to overcome the guilty pleasure nature of it all, but a four is a whole lot of improvement from a group I had written off as a permanent two.

Highlights: "It's So Easy"/"Dance With The Devil"/"The Best Of Me"
Rating: 4/5

A Summer of Interviews

As I mentioned in my last work-related post, I've had a number of new work opportunities arise over the past few months, so I figured I would talk about them here for a minute. All three that I'll be discussing were teaching gigs through a middleman, like Music & Arts. In other words, the employer gets me clients, but I do the teaching, so they only take a cut of around 33%.

The first was for a youngish lessons company in town that is pretty professional in most regards except two big deal-breaking factors... First, they expected me to sign a two year contract as an independent contractor, complete with a very rigid no-makeups (for clients or me) obligation, which is ultimately kinda ridiculous for this industry, leaving little flexibility for my gigging or independent teaching careers, not to mention vacation time. Second, unlike any other teaching position I've been offered via a middleman, I was expected to drive to my clients myself, despite the fact that the employer wasn't going to pay me for the gas. Usually, they get me the clients AND offer a teaching space, effectively justifying their cut in my pay, but this was just silly. So, I politely turned it down, though I definitely could have used the work for the dry Summer months.

Onto the positive side of things: While I plan to talk at length about my two new employers once I've got some time at each under my belt, I'll just give you a basic rundown. First up is the Georgia Academy of Music, which was brought to my attention via my vocal coach, and whose location is on the campus of (though not affiliated with) a well-known private school in town. Their rate is quite competitive, and the people running it are very nice, so I'm excited to get things rolling there.

The second school is a brand new opportunity that I was recently turned onto by one of my clients...it's basically a School of Rock-type program that goes all year during the school year and becomes a rock camp in the Summer months. Their facility is totally decked out in rock paraphernalia and instruments, lending it an extremely attractive space to encourage young students to begin their popular music studies. And considering it's generally focused on what I like teaching best, I know I'll be a good fit there.

Technically, the two new gigs haven't really gotten going, at least not in a big way, but my first lesson at the second place is tomorrow, and despite a few lessons thus far, things should be starting in earnest at GAM next week. So, I'm crossing my fingers that both of these turn into solid work connections soon, especially considering I'm essentially giving up a day of my private teaching schedule to each! Excited!

Interview With The Vampire

For whatever reason, I always grouped Anne Rice's Interview With The Vampire and Bram Stoker's Dracula as two classic vampire films that I had somehow missed out on, largely due to what I now realize was a misplaced teenage assessment of how scary they'd be. So, when Suzi showed me Bram Stoker's Dracula last year and I ended up hating it, I figured I ought to go ahead and check out the other film in my little grouping, just to see how misplaced my fears and/or respect for these films really was...

First things first: while I didn't love Interview With The Vampire, it was WAY better than Bram Stoker's Dracula in almost every regard (excepting Gary Oldman's presence). The most important differences lie in the highly improved cast (especially Brad Pitt and the young Kirsten Dunst, who might have stolen the show) and the general lack of any cheesy special effects. Sure, I'm not very into period films (even fictional ones like this), so there's that, and Tom Cruise was perhaps more of a closeted fruitcake than ever (which doesn't really fit the part, in my opinion), but these things aside, I generally found the film agreeable, if not outstanding. So, I'm not really sure why I built up this movie to be such a big deal, but I'm glad I finally saw it and definitely recommend it over Bram Stoker's Dracula, no question.

Brew At The Zoo 2011

For my third year in a row, I went to the annual Brew At The Zoo at the Atlanta Zoo, this time meeting up with my buddy Scott and his friends in addition to Jim & Katie and their friends, whom I went with last year. Unfortunately, Suzi once again couldn't make it due to a very serious art deadline she was stressing about at the time.

Honestly, there's not much to say about this year's outing, as it was, on paper, largely very similar to last year's, minus Evan. I spent even less time with the animals this time (as the Atlanta collection is small enough to only justify a serious visit once every few years or so), instead just walking around sampling all the beers available and trying to act as go-between my two separate groups of friends (who, apart from Jim and Scott, weren't really mingling). For differing reasons though, the two groups ended up petering out rather quickly, and before I knew it, the night was over. Even the headlining band (or, as far as I could tell, the only band) sucked, as it wasn't actually a band at all, but rather just Fred Schneider from the B-52's MC'ing a shittily mixed compilation of songs, essentially just randomly saying a thing or two on top of some non-B-52's iTunes mix. Lame.

Overall, this year's experience lacked the energy and party atmosphere of last year's, and as such, I'm not going to assume that I'll end up going next time...or rather, not without a significant change to the formula: hopefully I'll be able to get Suzi to come out next time, along with an external-circumstances-free group thereby able to party the whole night! Regardless, thanks to Scott, Jim & Katie for letting me tag along!

The Virgin Suicides

Having been a HUGE fan of Sofia Coppola's second film Lost In Translation, I had always been meaning to check out its predecessor, 1999's The Virgin Suicides, starring Kirsten Dunst as one of five sisters in a small suburban town in the mid-70's who end up killing themselves, most likely due to a strict upbringing, acting as a possible symbolic representation of the repression of women's societal freedom in general. That said, the film, though artfully delivered, never really managed to hit home...maybe some of the feminist sentiment was lost on me, or maybe it just didn't pack as much punch as it should have, but I certainly wouldn't rate this film anywhere near that of Lost In Translation, which touched me in a way few films ever have.

One further note, though it was nice that Coppola chose French electronic duo Air to supply the soundtrack, I have mixed feelings about it as well, as they have much better music out there, including the track featured in a memorable scene in Lost In Translation. That said, I certainly hope more directors start enlisting the compositional know-how of similarly non-film-industry (yet-established) musicians to bring a fresh perspective and sound to their films.

17th Band-Recruiting Rehearsal

I'm finally catching up to the most recent news about my band, and as such, I can start updating you on where things are at the moment. But first, let me tell you about our most recent audition for the group...

As you may recall, with Spangler (our drummer)'s decision to join the Army Band back in the Spring, we found ourselves, once again, in need of a drummer, but this time Jeremy decided to step in to fill that slot, in the process vacating the guitarist position. So, we ended up trying out the guy at my store (who was awesome but wasn't interested) and one more guy, who responded to a Craigslist ad I put up. I believe I actually ended up meeting with the guy twice, both times at my condo (which was a first for auditions), and both times just him and me.

Yes, it was hard to put the group together for another rehearsal, but this was only exacerbated by the fact that the guy wasn't exactly a great fit for us, being a good bit older, having two kids and a regular job, and not really knowing the genre (indie rock) too well, despite being into what we were doing. He was really nice, and he was fine at guitar, but he also didn't seem like the kind of creative member we'd need to replace Jeremy's role as collaborator (especially now that I know Jeremy's moving...more on that later).

Anyway, when it got to the point that I was gonna need to tell this guitarist one way or another about working with us, I was coming to the conclusion that I wanted to dissolve the band (at least temporarily) to give me time to figure things out, and that's where we're at now. So, no new guitarist. I'll talk about the band at large in another post though, so keep an eye open...

Everything Must Go

The newest installment in a collection of indie films I've seen that initially looked really promising but turned out to be just kinda "meh", Will Ferrell's Everything Must Go tells the story of a guy whose life gets turned upside down one day when he loses his job, gets locked out of his house by his wife (who is asking for a divorce), and has to figure out what to do with all his belongings, which have been placed on the front yard by his wife.

Anyway, after loving Stranger Than Fiction, I was very eager to catch another serious Will Ferrell film, but Everything Must Go paled in comparison, lacking a touching message, an interesting plot beyond the premise, or superb writing. And, it didn't even manage to be funny either, which wasn't something I had initially been expecting but certainly could've saved the day by picking up the slack for the lacking serious side of the film. Overall, the film was quite forgettable and even a bit disappointing. Wouldn't recommend it, despite its decent metascore. Meh.

Groove Aramda - White Light

Back when I was living in The Netherlands, I went to a Scissor Sisters concert in Amsterdam with a friend who paid my way since he couldn't find anyone else to go, and to my surprise, the opening act was Groove Armada, whom I certainly knew about but whose material I hadn't yet truly checked out. While the Scissor Sisters were in fact fun, I think I walked away with an even more positive impression of Groove Armada, largely due to a really impressive show. So, I bought a "Best Of" compilation when I returned to the States but honestly wasn't as impressed as I had hoped, so when their new album Black Light came out last year, I took notice, but it didn't really capture my attention enough to buy it...

Enter the later release of White Light, a studio reworking of eight of the tracks from the parent album that were initially intended as live alternate versions for big festivals like Glastonbury and its ilk. For whatever reason, the samples iTunes had on offer for this album caught my ear in a manner that Black Light couldn't, so I ordered the import from Amazon, complete with a professional jewel case and liner notes, despite being a set of reworkings. Now, while the eight tracks (plus one remix, so to speak), are pretty good as far as full-length dance albums are concerned, most of them just couldn't quite pique my continued interest upon closer scrutiny. That said, the three tracks listed below really are fantastic, showcasing the band's ability to craft memorable and unique melodies amidst a retro-tastic synth environment. As such, I gave the album a low score not for those singles, but for the overall quality, as usual with my rankings.

Highlights: "Warsaw"/"Time and Space"/1980"
Rating: 2/5

The Shining

The Shining, yet another film I loved the first time and had been dying to see again, therefore jumping at the opportunity when I saw it on Netflix. Though the streaming Netflix selection does kinda suck relative to the amount of good films out there one might like to watch, they do surprisingly have a solid chunk of the Stanley Kubrick oeuvre, so at least there's that.

What is there to say about this film that's not immediately obvious to anyone who's seen it? The cinematography is amazing, the ambiance is perfect for the genre, the kid is thoroughly creepy, Shelley Duvall is appropriately pitiful, the scary stuff stays with you, the soundtrack is fantastic, and Jack Nicholson actually plays a role that fits his skill set (well, at least when he's crazy...not so much at the beginning of the film). Sure, Stephen King has gone on record as being disappointed with Kubrick's liberal interpretation of the novel, but the film truly is a masterpiece, and it was a pleasure watching it all over again. It's kinda amazing how little actually happens in the movie considering how memorable it all is, but I guess that's the charm of old school horror.

Definitely see The Shining if you haven't already. Most certainly a classic.

XO @ 529

So, as I hinted at in the Panic/Fun/Foxy post, Jim and I actually ended up at another show that night right after that particular show ended. See, we bumped into Suzi's good friend Cassy at Panic, and she told me that our now-mutual friend Randy's new band XO had its first show that night at 529 with Sealions (whom I've written about numerous times at this point), so, saying "what the hell", we decided to go check it out, despite just getting out of another show. Jim and I got a quick bite and then caught the tail end of the Sealions set, which was particularly fun, as it was the first time I had gotten to see them after having gotten to know their album Strange Veins pretty well during my weekly listening.

Unfortunately, Jim started winding down towards the end of Sealions, so I took him back home and, despite being tired myself, returned for Randy's show since I had committed to it. Anyway, Randy used to be in the popular screamo/punk band Finch but now lives in Atlanta pursuing other projects and DJ gigs (often at MJQ). XO is one of these projects, fronted by a duo of identical twins, and residing in an artsy, shoegazer-y sound world. For the first show, they played behind a backlit sheet, so that the audience could mainly just see their silhouettes. It was a unique experience, though I would have liked to have been able to hear the vocals a bit better. Still, I was pretty wiped by that point, but I wanted to be able to support Randy...definitely wishing him and all his projects the best of luck! Curious to see where XO ends up after a few months under their belt refining their live show!

The Terminator

Here's another film I had seen many times before but rewatched on Netflix mostly out of nostalgia. I grew up LOVING Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but although I did see the first film, The Terminator, back then, it took me until my adulthood to realize how much shittier of a movie the original was compared with the sequel. I mean, I'm sure the first film was groundbreaking in terms of special effects and such at the time, but the years haven't really been so kind to it, and it now looks extremely dated, not to mention the sub-par story, acting, and script. To be fair, I haven't seen the sequel in years, so my perspective on it might have soured as well, but I kinda get the feeling that it's still WAY better overall than its predecessor.

Other than this, there's not really too much to say about The Terminator. It only really makes any sense in light of the second film, but I have a hard time imagining that such a low budget original IP (intellectual property) would have come with the assumption that a second film would be made. And, considering how shitty the third film is relative to the stellar second, it almost seems as if Judgment Day's quality was a fluke rather than the obvious apex of a successful franchise. Haven't seen Terminator Salvation, but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say it probably isn't that great of an addition to the franchise either...

Panic! At The Disco/Fun./Foxy Shazam @ The Tabernacle

It's been a hell of a long time since I've written about a live show by a professional band this year (with the only other one being Hellogoodbye at The Masquerade), and as such, I'm now realizing that I'm gonna have to start going to more pro shows if I expect to have a decent list to choose from for show of the year. Fortunately, both the Hellogoodbye show and this one, Panic! At The Disco with Fun. and Foxy Shazam at The Tabernacle, were AWESOME, and as such, I have no fears that I'll have at least these two contenders for top show by year's end.

Like the Hellogoodbye show, my buddy for Panic/Fun/Foxy was my good friend Jim, and we had a really fun time over the course of the atypical night. We got there early so we wouldn't miss any of Foxy (unlike the time I caught only their last song when they opened for Hole), and we did manage to catch all of it (though their set was still quite short). As expected, they tore it up with their incredible stage energy and true musicianship, and Jim was probably even more into the show than I was, fist-pumping and singing along the whole time. Next up was Fun, whose album Aim & Ignite was in my Top 5 last year and whom I had somewhat regretted not seeing in December, in lieu of seeing Louis C.K. do stand-up, so I was excited. Fun killed it too, but I do remember thinking that, like an unnamed "local" band I adore but am growing a tad tired of seeing live, they didn't play m(any) of the slower, more orchestrated songs that made the album so great, so my appreciation for the show was diminished when compared to what it perhaps could have been. Still fun though (no pun intended).

Last up was Panic At The Disco, a group whose debut CD made my Top 5 back in 2008 (before I was really doing Top 5's) but who, had it not been for their recent third album that mostly atoned for the questionable album in the interim, I would not have gone to see without the presence of the other two bands on the bill. Still, I really did want to see their show, but the way things turned out, we ended up chatting things up with two of the guys from Foxy Shazam down in the basement of the venue (underneath the stage) instead of seeing most of Panic's show. While this was certainly an incredible experience unto itself (especially talking with the classically-trained trumpet player for quite awhile), I do regret not being able to see Panic play more of their set, so it was a tad bittersweet. We did catch them playing a few notable singles, but the biggest surprise came in the form of their spot-on cover of Kansas' "Carry On Wayward Son".

Anyway, fantastic show. The bands all sounded great and put on real performances, talking with the guys in Foxy was unbeatable, and Jim's company was the perfect counterpart to it all. And, the night wasn't over...little did we know, but we were about to go see yet another show over in East Atlanta (to be continued...)

Penn & Teller: Bullshit!: Seasons 4-6

I've already written a general overview post about magician duo Penn & Teller's highly-opinionated Showtime series focusing on the debunking of many commonly held beliefs, myths, and cultural phenomena, so I thought I would take a minute to list my favorite episodes from the three seasons I was able to watch on streaming Netflix. Keep in mind that Penn & Teller are staunch Libertarians, and this line of thinking is very clear in most episodes. Here goes:

The Boy Scouts (4-01): Exposes the Boy Scouts' discrimination against atheists and gays and its hijacking by Mormon leadership years ago. Features a heart-warming surprise at the end.

Pet Love (4-06): A smiley criticism of pet fanatics. Features the medical marvel that are Neuticles and the assertion that women like cats because they strongly resemble human babies' facial features. =)

Reparations (4-07): Dissects the argument that black Americans still need reparations for slavery, contrasted with the much more recent Japanese-Americans held in concentration camps during WWII. Also features a proud black man who sports Confederate outfits and flags daily. Crazy.

Obesity (5-01): A good example of P&T making a point I disagree with but yet find enlightening, this episode attempts to defend obese people and to debunk the whole "epidemic" idea.

Illegal Immigration (5-06): Argues against anti-immigration policies. Features one of P&T's faux experiments in the form of hiring Mexican day laborers to build a section of an anti-immigrant wall, then paying them to race to see who can break through it the fastest. Funny.

Mount Rushmore (5-08): Exposes the true history of the building of Mount Rushmore (as fueled by Manifest Destiny and racism), and tackles the issue of what patriotism really should mean. Touching episode.

NASA (6-03): P&T answer their naysayers by targeting one of their own closely-held loves, NASA. While this is a kinda lame way to fulfill the accusation that they can't take what they can dish out, the episode was interesting to me none-the-less.

Dolphins (6-04): Another absurd animal-based episode, this time dealing with the ridiculous belief in the mystic healing powers of dolphins, even going so far as to have dolphin-assisted child birth. Wow.

World Peace (6-09): A heavy episode presenting P&T's ultra-capitalist solution for reducing violence and extreme need throughout the world. Thought-provoking.

Anyway, the show is really fantastic, and I highly recommend that anyone with a social/political interest spend some time with any of its eight 10-episode seasons to-date. Keep it up, Penn & Teller!

Mass Effect 1 DLC

After finishing Fallout 3, I was planning on working on some other unfinished/new games to add to my list of candidates for Game of the Year this year, but instead, I started playing another character on Fallout (this time a morally-neutral female), and then stopped for one reason or the other, only to pick up another set of massively time-consuming action RPG's: both Mass Effect games thus far released. I'll talk more about these playthroughs later, but for the moment, I'd like to talk about the two DLC expansions for the first Mass Effect: "Bring Down The Sky" and "Pinnacle Station". Somehow I never managed to talk about the first of these in earlier posts, despite having played it a long time ago, and the second installment I didn't end up buying until this playthrough, so it was brand new for me.

Bring Down The Sky: Really the only true story-based expansion to Mass Effect, Bring Down the Sky has your character (Shepard) saving a human planet from being bombarded by a mining asteroid in an alien terrorist attempt. As such, the game features a fairly fleshed out new side quest planet to explore with a handful of bases to clear out on the way to taking down the big boss at the end. That said, while this expansion IS better than all of the other side missions, it's not really good enough to earn much praise, so it's entirely avoidable unless you're really just itching to kill some Batarians.

Pinnacle Station: More of a training exercise than a mission, Pinnacle Station has Shepard completing a series of time/goal-oriented challenges in a combat simulator, all simply for the pride of saying humans are better at them than the Turians. Fortunately, if you complete everything, you end up getting a really nice bonus in the form of a home on a random planet, complete with the ability to special order really high quality weapons and upgrades, giving you something to do with all that useless cash you've amassed later on in the game. In the end, while I'm not much of a trial-mode kind of player, the reward for beating this expansion was well worth the time spent, making this story-deprived DLC a good bit more recommended than the first.

Overall, neither of these expansions is really worth paying for unless you're a die-hard fan, as they're simply not up to the calibre of the numerous fleshed-out stories found in the Mass Effect 2 DLC offerings. And, considering none of the DLC for the first game seems to have any serious bearing on the latter installments, it won't affect taking your Mass Effect 1 character all the way to the end of the trilogy.

Shameless: Season 1

One of the numerous TV shows Suzi has exposed me to over the past year is Britain's Shameless (not the American version with William H. Macy, mind you), of which we've only managed to see the first season, presumably because the other seven (!) aren't available on Netflix yet (even on disc!). Anyway, the show follows a lower class family struggling to make it in perhaps the trashiest big city in the U.K. (Manchester), and as such, their obvious-but-somehow-lovable trashiness is the basis for much of the comedic element of the series. Of particular note is the inclusion of James McAvoy (from Last King of Scotland and X-Men: First Class), who was initially the only reason I could stomach watching each of the seven 60min episodes in the first season.

See, unlike most of the TV shows Suzi has shown me, this one took both of us a long time to warm up to, to the point that we made fun of it all the time, up to the last few episodes or so. That said, the characters did eventually grow on us, and now we joke about it in a positive way, often referring back to the really funny trailer (seen here, albeit in a slightly different version than we're used to). We've already adopted at least two or three catch phrases from the show in our everyday code speak, and we're generally eager to see Season 2 whenever it becomes available on Netflix. While I wouldn't say you definitely need to check this out, if you get British humor (I barely do) and don't mind watching everything with subtitles (Manchester accents are crazy!), then maybe it could end up growing on you as well! SCATTAH!

Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean

One of the biggest surprise listening trends of the year for me is that I'm getting into some indie folk fusion stuff, including the likes of My Morning Jacket, Bon Iver, and this album by Iron & Wine. All of these acts I had previously written off as too folksy and barebones for me to be interested, but all of them have seemingly started embracing a wider palette of sounds (often including synths), meeting me halfway and allowing their clever lyrics and songwriting to sneak past my pretty picky stylistic barrier I typically have up.

Anyway, if you don't know, Iron & Wine's previous work was pretty much exclusively acoustic guitar and voice, with a few exceptions on the album released just before this year's 70's and electronic fusion folk offering Kiss Each Other Clean. It's hard for me to tell you what it is exactly that I love so much about this album. Part of it is simply appreciating that Samuel Beam has grown so much stylistically, or at least, that he's now willing to experiment a bit. Part of it is the superb lyrics found throughout the album (especially on the bookending somewhat minimalistic songs). And part of it is simply that I'm starting to dig some more mellow rock stuff. Granted, without the broadened instrumentation on offer here, I probably wouldn't have given this a serious chance, but whatever the case, Kiss Each Other Clean is one of the best albums of the year, despite the fact that it took awhile to grow on me. Definitely give it a shot, even if you've previously written off Iron & Wine's earlier work.

Highlights: "Walking Far From Home"/"Godless Brother In Love"/"Your Fake Name Is Good Enough For Me"
Rating: 5/5

The True Story Of WrestleMania

Like the Jaws franchise, I grew up really loving wrestling as well, and when you add in my Bloomington-era regained interest in the faux-sport, it's once again no surprise that the relatively recent account of The True Story of WrestleMania (which I found on Netflix) caught my eye. Though this documentary was made with high production values, the trade off was that it was made by the WWE itself, and as such ends up feeling more like a glorified advertisement for the yearly spectacle rather than a true historical account of the inner workings behind the whole thing. Still, the video was fun to watch and was most-likely more interesting than most of the similar videos focused on one single wrestler. As such, I would only recommend checking it out if you have some sort of emotional investment in wrestling in and of itself. But, then again, doesn't everyone...? ;)

Baby Baby CD Release @ Drunken Unicorn

As you all know by now, I'm a huge fan of the local indie band Baby Baby, so it's no surprise that I really wanted to make it to their big CD release party at the Drunken Unicorn, and in true Baby Baby fashion, I figured it would be best to have a bunch of my friends out. To start the night off, my buddy Erich and I had dinner at Pozole, a gourmet Mexican place not too far from the venue, and then we met up at the show with my buddy Ryan and his friend Brandon, and my ex-student/current keyboardist Max and his two Emory friends David and Martine.

The first band was a cool Chattanoogan indie electro pop band called Machines Are People Too who definitely got the evening off to a good start. Next were one of my all time "local" favorites, Nashville's Parachute Musical, who put on the type of solid show I've come to expect of them (and of course, it was good touching base with them, as it had been awhile since I'd seen them out). Up last, of course, was the CD releasers themselves, Baby Baby, who put on another high energy show of infectious drum beats, animated leg kicks, and other crowd-pleasing antics. Of particular note was the tremendous crowd response to their big grande finale track "Fire," to which most of us ending up dancing in one way or the other (including some band members crowd surfing...it was either Fontez or Collin, or both).

The night concluded with Erich, Ryan, Brandon, and me heading over to the nearby Fellini's Pizza for a late night snack, ending what will probably amount to one of the better local band live shows/experiences I'll see/have in 2011. And hey, we all got a free copy of the band's new CD! Thanks to everyone for coming out, and of course, thanks to the fantastic Baby Baby.

Jaws 3

I grew up with the Jaws franchise, and as such, when I saw Jaws 3 was available on streaming Netflix, it didn't take too much to convince me to bite (pun intended). While I never saw Jaws 3 in its intended 3-D, I don't think it could possibly elevate the film enough to keep it from being the significant downgrade it was compared with the first two films. That said, I always kinda liked the third film, as its more light-hearted setting (in SeaWorld no less!) really made it stand apart from the rest of the films. Still, it certainly wasn't as good this time around as I remembered back when I was a kid, but I still enjoyed seeing Dennis Quaid as the lead (I had no idea who he was back then) and the underwater tunnel stuff was still charming enough. The film ends kinda anticlimactically, and it never really managed to build any sense of terror, but I don't regret re-watching it as an adult.

That said, if I had to rank Jaws 3 against the others in the series, I would say it definitely falls last, though I'm sure some would save that distinction for the final film, Jaws: The Revenge, which I actually owned on VHS growing up, therefore earning a special place in my heart.

State of Work: Summer 2011

Tomorrow marks the start of the public school year, and as such, also marks the end of my "Summer" as far as work is concerned. Like the Summers that came before it, this one has been predictably brutal in terms of my income, largely due to the fact that A LOT of my clients took a month or more off from our weekly lessons, some even taking off the whole Summer. That said, I'm currently on the cusp of what might be a handful of new opportunities, all of which I'll end up writing about in more detail when they've been confirmed. See, in the past three months or so, I've auditioned/interviewed for no fewer than FOUR different teaching/paying-music gigs, three of which I'm still waiting to see where they'll end up going.

As such, my schedule is quite uncertain right now, but I am hopeful that I could be entering a period of significantly more reliable income. The flip side of this is that I might also be entering a period featuring MUCH less free time, but that also remains to be seen. Regardless, I'll be sure to keep you (relatively) up-to-date. Here's hoping for a lucrative end to 2011!

Thumbs Up!

This year has been a year of great TV shows (on DVD of course, as I don't subscribe to TV at home), most of them introduced to me by Suzi. Easily one of the highlights was the two-season documentary show about hipster-style hitchhiking called Thumbs Up!, hosted by famed Asian-American graffiti artist/painter David Choe. Both of the show's two seasons feature Choe and his buddy Harry (plus the camera man) setting out from California to another side of the continent, the first being the East Coast and the second being Alaska, in the process refusing to pay for any rides and trying to spend as little on food and housing as realistically possible, often meaning they sleep on the ground and eat hand-me-outs.

Basically, the show is intriguing as hell, and I highly recommend both seasons (especially the first) to anyone with interest in travel shows or counter-cultural living. Technically, our viewing of the first season seemed to be incomplete, as Netflix didn't seem to be able to offer the last few episodes, but I'm pretty sure we saw all of Season 2. At this moment, the entire collection that we saw is still available on streaming Netflix, so check it out!

Hambidge Auction

Back in mid-May, Suzi took me to her most-recent art gallery show, this time the prestigious Hambidge Auction, which is an event hosted by the esteemed Hambidge "Creative Residency Program", more or less an artist colony in the Northeast corner of Georgia. The event was quite large, but possibly not quite as much as the Art Papers auction earlier in the year. For entertainment, they had a couple musical groups/DJ's do some non-intrusive music, and there were some dancers running around amidst the crowd doing quasi-installation dance stuff. As usual, Suzi's group of artist friends were in attendance, and (as has come to be expected), everyone loved her work. We even bumped into and hung out with my friend Amy and her now-ex-boyfriend, which was a nice surprise. One of the highlights of the evening was the incredible set of professional photos taken of us by one of Suzi's talented photographer friends at his photo booth for the event, my favorite of which is shown above.

Overall, the show was as good as (if not better than) any of the other fun art shows Suzi has been a part of, and as such, I'm definitely looking forward to more when they roll around. I feel fortunate that I'm now plugged into these sorts of things, having a girlfriend who's an artist, as I really had no idea they were going on in the past.

Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope

Sometimes I end up buying an album that's in a style that's TOTALLY off my radar, finding something strangely intriguing about the music at hand when listening to its iTunes clips despite generally hating the style in all other instances. Such was the case with Russian-born Regina Spektor's piano-driven, Sarah McLachlan-esque chick pop/rock album Begin To Hope. Listening to the clips online, I honestly thought this album was fairly promising and could represent the rare occasion when I actually appreciated chick rock...

Well I was wrong. This album is thoroughly annoying, largely due to Regina's gratingly-cutesy delivery and light-hearted compositional approach. There are a few songs I legitimately like, but each sounds a good bit different than the rest of the more common styles found on the album (two of which being dark classical/jazz-influenced tunes and chill more-or-less solo piano ballads). Overall, it's her delivery and overly-intimate instrumental approach that kills the album for me, as some of the tunes could have been a lot better in different hands. Oh well, guess I'll just have to steer clear of this style even harder in the future...just not my thing.

Highlights: "Samson"/"That Time"/"Edit"
Rating: 1/5

In Boston!

I know, I know. I've been really bad about blogging. Life's been a bit up-and-down lately, and as such, I haven't really been finding myself in the mood to blog, but I really would like to get back into the swing of things. That said, Suzi and I are currently in Boston for my unofficial 30th birthday trip (more on my bday in another post), so I won't necessarily be catching up just yet. Also, the school year is about to kick back into swing shortly after my return, so that'll be keeping me busy as well, but hopefully I'll be able to get back into a routine and keep you up-to-date (or three months behind 'til I catch up completely...). Had a great first day in Boston though...hopefully the rain doesn't put too much of a damper on the rest of our two days here!