So I saw Cloverfield...

Unfortunately last weekend I had to cancel my trip to Philly to see the Rhett Miller concert for reasons explained in my last post. I did try to salvage the weekend a little by going to see Cloverfield.

I'll start by saying that I'm one of those people where J.J. Abrams is now with Kevin Smith and Judd Apatow as guys who I'll give anything they have a hand in a chance (although I'm not going to see his reboot of the Star Trek franchise).

My favorite things about the movie:

• I'm very impressed that the budget was only 25 million or so. For a movie that looked like it was filmed with a hand-held camera, the effects were pretty good. I actually think that if a giant monster started attacking New York City while I was in there, that's pretty much what it would look like.
• While I never got nauseous like a lot of people apparently did, the length was perfect for a movie shot with a shaky camera P.O.V.
• Before the monster started attacking the city, the music being played at the party was pretty cool. I went in to a monster movie not expecting to hear "The Underdog" by Spoon or "Four Winds" from Bright Eyes.

My least favorite things about the movie:

• My main complaint about the movie was actually the first twenty minutes or so. I understand that they had to make up care about the characters a little bit but I didn't. There was not one moment where I thought, "Gosh, I really hope ___________ doesn't get killed." But that's because I rarely say "Gosh." But yeah, I didn't care about a single character in the movie.

This movie, as J.J Abram's vehicles seem to be leaning towards now, had a large viral marketing campaign. Personally, I didn't follow along. Apparently there was fake websites giving hints and clues about things that could be seen in the movie if you paid closer attention. I wish I could have followed along but when I'm at work I just don't have the time. Maybe if I did, I would have liked the movie even more than I did. If I'm doing stars again, I'll probably do 3 and a half out of 5. It would have been a 4 if there was somebody for me to root for to live.

Not liking my chances

• I'm supposed to be going to Philadelphia tomorrow for a Rhett Miller concert. Like with most things that I try to do, it can never just be easy. Of course my girlfriend (who is coming with me) left work sick today. I'm unsure of how to ask her about how her illness will affect the plan without being insensitive so I probably won't. I'll probably just go to sleep and wake up tomorrow under the assumption that everything will work out. It generally does, but it seems like every time I'm gearing up for fun there is some underlying obstacle that can possibly prevent it. Just for the record, I'm not blaming her. People get sick. I'm just looking at it from the selfish side of things about how it affects me.
• Generally the day before a concert I'll be listening to that artist up until the show. Being that I have a long drive tomorrow I figured that I'd save Rhett Miller for the car ride. Since I'm trying to listen to CDs I haven't heard before this year I've decided to start with ones that I've owned for awhile but never listen to. Back in college at the University at Buffalo I was pretty big into The Tragically Hip being so close to the border and all. Turns out that I had two whole albums that I've never even put on. So today I listened to In Between Evolution and In Violet Light. In Violet Light came out in 2002 and I got it probably the week it came out. Back when I had money (good times) I used to just buy up CDs. How does it happen that I owned a CD for over 5 years before listening to it? Bad job by me. I probably have countless others. Anyway, the two albums are pretty good. I'll keep them in my rotation for the time being. They are a quality musical group.
• There was a time a few months ago where I was into that SingStar karaoke game for PS2. But in those two months I feel it started to get a little worn out. EVERY single night seemed to end with me battling it out with someone singing Heart of Glass or We Built This City (On Rock and Roll). Anyway, coming this March my interest could be renewed. SingStar 90's comes out. Now I get to wreck shop vocally to Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm and even though it doesn't sound like something a dude should admit, I don't see anyone beating me in Stay by Lisa Loeb...especially if I break out some thick framed glasses as a prop.

Have a good weekend,

Slice

The Jewish Sinatra

Who is Neil Diamond? Brilliant songcrafter or sequined sex symbol for the sexagenarian set. While I'm the first one to cry 'Cheese' at the onset of another drunken 'Sweet Caroline' singalong, I cannot deny the man's genius. Case in Point: 12 Songs, Diamond's 2005 collaboration with producer/prophet Rick Rubin. Stripped of the glitz and scent of Avon-tinged sweat, this album exposes the reason why this legend has been around for 40 years and still going strong. He writes great songs!

Give this album a listen and I guarantee you will forgive his Vegas shmaltz, his acting in the Jazz Singer, even the fact that he has to kill drifters in order to achieve an erection.

So I saw There Will Be Blood

I wanted to like it. I really did. Maybe that was the problem. I went in with giant expectations and it didn't totally pay off for me. Daniel Day Lewis was very good. Well deserving of all the accolades coming his way. Not to mention that this was over a two and a half hour movie and he was in every single scene. I get that it was a grand character piece and I'm normally on board for these type of films but there really wasn't that much drama. No surprises. Just a long slow decent fueled by greed and power.

The movie was scored very well. If I was ranking this movie on a 5 star scale, it might be worth one star on it's own. It was sporadic, haunting and intense if that makes any sense. My only issue with it was that when the music started, it seemed to allude to something dramatic happening that never came.

There are probably going to be some arguments on which film is the year's Best Picture between this and No Country for Old Men. For me it's a no contest. No Country for Old Men was the better movie. Anybody who feels the same way will be combated by movie elitists who tell you that you "didn't get it" or "had to have a great deal of patience to enjoy a movie like this" and I say fuck that. I would have sat in that theatre for 6 hours as long as it's entertaining me.

Maybe I will rate it on a 5 star scale:
3 stars. As much as it seemed like I hated it, I didn't. I just didn't love it. I went in expecting to see the next great American film and I did not. Great performance, beautifully shot and wonderfully scored and still worth seeing.

One week into the Resolutions

So it's been a little over a week until I made my pointless (...or are they) New Year's resolutions. I've decided to give a quick update on how they are going to start to satisfy my first resolution:

1. Contribute to the blog at least 3 times a week - Not going well since this is my first post of the New Year and I'm only writing this so at least if I write one the next two days, I can still keep a check next to it.
2. Stop biting my fingernails and cuticles - It was an effort in futility. I just can't stop.
3. Do some form of creative writing for at least a half hour a day - Roughly nine days into it I'm 4 and a half hours behind. Do the math...not one thing.
4. Eat a little bit healthier (key words "a little bit"...I don't want to live in a world where I can't eat Cheese steaks and drink Coke once and a while) - This is where I'm surprisingly wrecking shop. Only eating one bad meal so far (a monster Italian smorgasbord) and I have not had one single soda since New Year's. Go me. DRINKING ALCOHOL DOES NOT COUNT!
5. Listen to one new CD (new to me) a week - I tried listening to the new Sia so the effort was half there. I'm still convinced she has only the one good song though.
6. Bring lunch to work at least 3 times a week - This kind of correlates with #4 because when I bring my own lunch I'm not going to restaurants with their gargantuan American portions...god I miss those gargantuan American portions

Maybe I just had too many. I'm kind of revising the creative writing one into something else. It morphed into if I don't have at least two drafts of a screenplay done by 2009 then I'm giving up that silly dream forever. My Final Draft software will be up on eBay at the stroke of midnight.

My Hair

My life is a neverending quest to constantly test myself in order to achieve new growth. I decided to demonstrate that growth in the most literal sense. My hair. I'm growing it. Get it?

Now, this is not to say that my hair is long by normal standards. But, it is long for me. For the last ten years or so, I've pretty much rocked a flip: #2 razor on the sides and back and a flip up top. And I think I looked damn good in it, despite the fact that my hairline resembles John Travolta's in The Punisher. Yet, I felt unchallenged. Unoriginal.

Where the upside of growing my hair is very clear (groupies), there is of course the dark side that few people talk about. The awkward stage. Mine has lasted about seven weeks. And there is no sign of a reprieve.

If anything, it's beginning to mutate into something rather terrifying

I went to the restroom just before writing this and I caught sight of it in the mirror. For a second, I thought I was hallucinating that my hair was replaced by Elton John's wig.

That is NOT the look I was going for.