Just so you know... DEPECHE MODE goes on sale Monday morning at 10am (there is already an iTunes pre-sale going on). They're performing November 21st and 22nd (Mon and Tue) at the Staples Center. Prices before taxes and parking are $85, $49, and $35.

Just wanted to let anyone who reads 'Savage Love', the advice column found in the back of the OC Weekly amongst all the smut... the author of the column, Dan Savage has a new book out.

(M) Live Forever (2003, Documentary) Grade: B+
I really enjoyed this documentary about the state of Brit Pop during the change of government over in Europe. It starts with how the Stone Roses were viewed as who may be some "saviours" of rock but then it fell apart and then it talked about how when Kurt Cobain killed himself Oasis filled the vacuum that was created by his death and then the battle between Oasis and Blur as the best band. It talks with one of the guys of Massive Attack, it talks with Damon of Blur, Jarvis from Pulp, and others.
There were 3 GREAT moments to me. Well, more than 3. Anyway... Noel Gallagher is talking about how when somebody goes out and buys What's The Story Morning Glory that it baffles his why they don't pick up Definitely Maybe (his insight is very amusing). #2 is when Jarvis is talking about Drugs and #3 - is when Noel talks about choreography. Also, Liam (as usual) comes off like he has nothing but air in his head.

I am going through movie withdrawl. I have not watched a film since pretty much early Sept. I feel ill. In fairness the fall tv line-up has begun so that has taken much of my focus.

(O) San Diego - Horton Plaza. (9/6 to 7, 2005, budget meeting/work) Grade: C
Thoughts: Horton Plaza is a freaking weird mall. It is a giant maze and a color nightmare. I was not in downtown SD long enough to walk around but that was alright. I'm not a huge fan of sleeping in hotel beds and downtown SD seemed a bit too "dude-ish" for me.

(O) Vegas. (9/9 to 11,2005, fun) Grade: B
Thoughts: I remember liking Vegas a lot more. Maybe it was because I was winning money at the time. Whatever the case this was one of the more laid back Vegas trips I had. No hard drinking, no staying up too late, no gambling tons ... pretty much just kicking back and chilling. I got to check out the new Wynn hotel (pretty nice) and the mall built near by it.

(O) Palm Desert. (9/15 to 16, 2005, budget meeting/work) Grade: C
Thoughts: Palm Desert is a very interesting place. You can be driving and driving in the middle of no where and then bang! you find this little community of people and shops and homes. You know there are 120 golf courses out there. WTF. I usually drive out there for Coachella but it never occurred to me there was like this whole little town out there. Go figure. On the way back I passed by the Rivercity. Wow has that place changed and developed. There are tons of new buildings and the school looks like it has totally expanded. I should go visit one day.

(O) Hawaii. (9/17 to 21, 2005, fun) Grade: A-
Thoughts: I would give a solid A but see I'm not a huge fan of the sun, ask Darth how deathly afraid of it I am. To be honest the whole water, sun and sand thing does not settle well with me. However, I did like the hikes we went on to Manoa Falls and Diamond Head. The falls were amazing because it was so rich in the lush rainforest environment. Amazing stuff. Oh and I could not get enough of that wonderful shaved ice. Yummers.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shirley Manson On Garbage Hiatus: 'I'm Burnt, I'm Done, I'm Toast'

Worst. News. Ever.

Ummm I have not seen or read anything new really. I just do not want to have Cure lady throw down the gauntlet on me cause I have not posted in a while. So hope you and Darth had a fun trip. Piece.

(B) The Partly Cloudy Patriot (Sarah Vowell) Grade: A
Vowell is like the history professor you *wish* you had. Not the stuffy ones that drone on and on, putting you to sleep, but one who infuses her retelling of history with funny asides and memorable comments. She also is staunchly Democratic (with a capital D according to her), so conservatives might beware. (Although I caught O’Reilly on Fox News the other day chatting with a Democratic representative and both were civil, so maybe all is possible in this seemingly divisive world.) Most will enjoy her (might skip her chapter on the 2000 election though) and I am already anticipating reading Vowell’s Assassination Vacation as it should be a good one.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire comes out on November 18, 2005. I just saw the previews and it looks really really really good. This was my favorite book in the series. And they showed the girl who plays Cho Chang...she's such a cutie!

Today is Talk Like A Pirate Day. No, really. Here goes:

Aye mateys, Kurt Vonnegut be on the Daily Show, so ye best try to watch. Tis does show the ol gent still witty and spright. Arrrr!

Crap I haven't blogged in over 10 days and I'll be busy/out of town for the next 5. (sigh) I need to sleep. I'll write more later.

(M) Oasis -Definitely Maybe Documentary: Grade - B/C
It gets a B for the entertainment and a C for trying to understand what they're saying. This was entertaining and revived my love for Oasis. I wish I was going to the Hollywood Bowl to see them. They will never be 'The Beatles' but they're still a great band and this album still holds up after all these years.

Since buying my Honda Civic, I am missing my tape deck terribly. Or rather the ability to play my iPod. I can never predict what I will want to listen to on my commutes to work, so I end up with a scatter of CDs everywhere--very messy. I own an iTrip but have yet to try it out. Does anyone have any input? (Specifically Bleed Like Me as New Wave tells me you use something other than iTrip?)

(A) War of the Wakening Phantoms (The High Dials, July 12)
Grade: A
Oh, when will my love for Canadian bands end? Here is another promising group from Montreal whose second album is a lovely, upbeat pop offering. The group formed after the demise of the Datsons (not to be confused with New Zealand rock group Datsuns) and already have a lot of good buzz. Rightly so.

(A) Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking? (The Like, Sept. 13)
Grade: B
I still am amazed that these girls are so young, considering the maturity of their sound. It’s like singer Z Berg is a 30-year-old in a teenage girl’s body. This debut is decent, regardless of their age, and thankfully the band has realized it’s no longer cute to name every release with their band name in it (i.e. I Like the Like, Like It or Not). It’s only when they chat that I find them difficult to listen to ... after all, there’s only so much giggling I can take.

For Nada Surf fans, here’s an interview I did with drummer Ira Elliot.

(G) Garbage, The Warfield Theater, SF (10 Sept 2005) grade: A

As usual: awesome show! Shirley looks as great as ever, and the band sounded great. Highlights: Shirley's parents were in the audience (all the way from Scotland). Shirley apologized for bringing up Hurricane Katrina, but it was a moving moment as she introduced "Metal Heart" (one of my favs from the album), their version of a protest song. They played, for the first time ever live, "Nobody Can Win". "Happy Home" was also spectacular. I would have given the show an A+, except that I do think the April show was a bit better (with the performance/introduction of so much new material). Also, the stage set up/visuals and Johnny Cash intro were the same as the last show, so that didn't provide the same novelty factor. So by comparison, this one gets an A.
Here's a link to more pics I took that night (I hope it works).

(M) The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) grade: B-

OK, so I'm a big fan of The Exorcist, so this review is a bit biased. After the big dissapointment of last year's Exorcist: The Beginning, I wasn't expecting much from this movie. That it's "Based on a true story" kind of adds a level of weirdness to it. Overall, it was rather interesting, thrilling at moments. It serves as an advertisement for religion, which I didn't appreciate, but whatever. Just makes you think about the What-If's of the supernatural realm.

(A) "Shake It Off (Remix)", Mariah Carey feat. Jay-Z & Young Jeezy (2005)

Did I mention, SHE'S BACK?! haha

The remix is more hip-hop than the original. The "retired" Jay-Z adds a nice intro rap, rapping in the verses' melody. The official release is next Tuesday, Sept. 20 on iTunes. Check it out.
Oh yeah, and for those of you who missed it: Mariah tore it up on this year's VMA's. Go Mimi!

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I removed my news article because I wasn't sure how reliable it was but I was watching Dateline and though the article I posted said that the Red Cross was blocked from entering by Louisianna Homeland Security (which may not be entirely true). AID and help actually was present at the disaster, even before the flooding but it was blocked by FEMA because they had to make sure nobody trying to enter was a terrorist. I don't know. I would rather have the Louisianna Homeland Security department blocking the AID than FEMA. But since FEMA is part of the national Homeland Security department, I guess that could explain where blame was placed in the article. Anyway, if you didn't read the article I posted and are curious then here is the link. (again, as stated before I don't know the reliability of the source. Somebody already commented that they're a Conservative Right Wing Religious News Source so take that into account I guess)

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46224

Aside from that. Did anyone see the Dateline special on what went wrong? Unbelievable!!! Though in my personal opinion I blame the Louisianna government more than the Federal Government. It's the state's job to protect it's citizens. It's only the National Governments job to protect the country and assist states in times of emercency. Our government was designed to start at the bottom and work up a chain of command to the top, though it seems like we've ignored that and just expect the top level to do everything for us.

Dead Man (Some Johnny Depp Movie) Grade: F
I was bored out of my MIND!!!! Wish I never wasted my time or my
netflix rental. Turned it off after 50 minutes.



Nevermind (Nirvana DVD) Grade: C
Nothing really new or great. If you are into music recording
there's some scenes with Butch Vig playing around with the
original mixes of songs on the Nevermind album which was
fun to check out. Interviews were ok. There's a story that
Dave Grohl said on the 'Bonus Features' section that was very
entertaining. DVD is about 45 minutes... 1 hour with Bonus Materials.

(TV) Reunion: Pilot Episode-1986 (Fox, 2005)
Grade: C
I really want(ed) to like this show because it has such potential. The acting is so-so, but I'm not sure if it's because of the combination of cheesy writing, possibly bad direction or just plain old crappy acting. Forgive me I don't know any names, but the actor that plays Will, who also plays Jack Pryor(i think, the big brother) on American Dreams is a decent actor--at least in American Dreams. But in this show he's just whatever. The big picture story is intriguing just because you want to know a. who dies, b. who killed that person and c. why? Some of the details of the story are kind of predictable...kind of like a cheesy 80s movie. Did they do this on purpose becAUSE it was in the 80s? Who knows. I'll tune in for a couple more episodes to see if it improves and at least to see who the hell died--judging from the shows predictability I might even be able to figure out who did it lol.

One thing that really sux is that my favorite character on the show so far seems like such a friggin bitch in the future(present day). Oh and there needs to be more character development...everything is so superficial at this point.

(O) iPod Nano released. grades: A for coolness, C for timing.

For all the people who bought an iPod Shuffle: SUCKERS!
FTC just informed me they are available in black, thats awesome! cos i dont want an iPod associated with U2 (gross).

Just thought since there was all this Prison Break talk I would put up a picture of one of the main reason why I watch the show. You know he is of African-American, Jamaican, English, German, French, Dutch, Syrian and Lebanese descents. Crazy.

(M) Grizzly Man. (2005, Werner Herzog) Grade: B+

Thoughts: With Hurricane Katrina in the news recently, it is obvious man does not want to mess with nature. The documentary Grizzly Man is another reminder of that. Timothy Treadwell was a self proclaimed "protector" of the grizzly bears in a remote part of Alaska for over 13 summers. I say "protector" because it is unclear what he actually did to protect the animals. The director Herzog shows footage of him talking to friends and family of Timothy as well as footage Timothy shot before he met his deadly fate. The tragic parts of the film were how disturbed this individual was and the innocent death of his girlfrend Amie Huguenard.

(M) Untergang, Der (Downfall). (2004, Oliver Hirschbiegel) Grade: B+

Thoughts: An interesting look into Hilter's last days. The film was created after the 2002 documentary Blind Spot: Hilter's Secretary based on the German dictator's stenographer, Traudl Junge. Bruno Ganz who plays Hilter is amazing. Although the movie is around 2 hours and 40 minutes it is worth checking out.

(M) Festen (The Celebration). (1998, Thomas Vinterberg) Grade: B

Thoughts: All families have secrets and there is a time and place to discuss them; like maybe at your father's 60th birthday celebration. It took me awhile to warm up to the movie because it was shot with a handheld and I'm never a fan of that but after I got use to it I was pleasantly surprised. A honest and frank look at a family and their disturbing history involving molestation, suicide, hatred and anger.

I'm such a dork. I was messing around with my blog entries and in the process deleted one of my own. Oh well. I'm too lazy to write up my 2046 review again. Oh and for some reason we are getting spam comments on our page which is upsetting me a great deal. I'm going to have to look at fixing that but for the time being I'm deleting them.

Did anyone watch the episode of Prison Break that was on today? Why was there a lady in the trunk of the car? Who were the two guys driving it? Why is the guy trying to get out of jail (besides the obvious)? Is there a grander scheme here? Just wondering. Only caught part of an episode and thought it was interesting.

Oh yeah, Mary-Louise Parker in Weeds totally reminds me of Lorelai Gilmore.

I watched Prison Break as well! It's so imaginative. How the hell is he going to break out with a screw?? Guess I have to watch. As for Weeds, it's okay. It's a show that if I don't watch it...I won't miss it. Oh yeah...HBO has the new series called Rome. It's very very very good. You'll get hooked by the first episode.

VMA - It sucked. Why is Hillary Duff dating Good Charlotte's lead singer???

Other shows that I've been watching: Over There, Starved, and Rescue Me.

Just felt like putting these up. I have felt sorta awkward the past couple days going to class and work with what's going on.

The other night I caught part of a Gilmore Girls episode and was reminded of why I didn't watch the show at all this season. When did Rory become so stubborn and annoying? She used to be at least tolerable. And why couldn't they have picked someone who has better chemisty w/ her than dumb Logan? Helloo they already had a character like him - his name is on Logan and he's on One Tree Hill now. Yeah, I went there.

Oh, I miss the Jess/Dean days.

Anyway, I don't mean to offend you Darth. I know how you really loooove this show.

On another note, has anyone seen the new show Weeds?