today's song

Here's The Mountain Goats with This Year:



I am going to make it through this year
if it kills me

filler post (or: updates, where are the updates)

Hey, guys! Thanks for still dropping by or subscribing here, I truly appreciate it. I wish there was a really pertinent, earth-shatteringly awesome reason for not updating, but the plain and simple truth is, it's just pure lethargy. I've been taking care of some bidness, and I got some stuff lined up next week (including meeting some people from some MNC, I don't know, I'm mostly going as a courtesy but who knows.) Oh yeah, I sent in my student endowment application before the deadline, so hopefully things will work out on that front. I've also been taking care of my sister's pet rabbit. It's a furry albino that looks absolutely cute hopping around the front yard; it would be with Jas right now, but it's gotten a little too big for her dorm. The other day I drove up to the restaurant up the hill that shares a name with a girl I knew, and the food there is great. So you see, I don't have much to write about right now. When the mood strikes, you'll know it, because I'll post it. I just don't feel up to posting filler for the time being.

Also, to those who are reading and are currently going through some hard times, don't be too hard on yourself, just hang in. Things'll be OK in time.

Oh, yeah, in comic news, I'm finally reading Warren Ellis's Planetary. It's pretty cool if you're into X-Files-ish stories with a superhero twist. Plus: amnesia! Always a failsafe plot device.

Oh man I am listening to Amadou & Mariam's Dimanche a Bamako, and there is a song titled Coulibaly who also happens to be a friend of mine I made back in IIU. We used to play basketball together. I wonder what he's up to.

LFC drew. Again. FUCKDAMMIT Benitez get on that shit and fix it.

today's comic link

White Ninja comics is one of the first webcomics I linked to when I started this blog. Today's comic made me laugh pretty hard, hopefully you'll find some more humor in their archives.

today's featured song

Classic David Bowie. This is Queen Bitch:

picture

quote

I swear - by my life and my love of it - that I will never live my life for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine

--John Galt, Atlas Shrugged

ugh.... Liverpool 1 - 1 Everton

To say that I'm disappointed with the result would be an understatement. In large part with the way Liverpool played defensively, but also in that ManYoo lead the League by goal difference (and they have a game in hand!). And who would have thought that Aston Villa would just creep up into the top four, a mere three points behind?

On a lighter note, maybe this season Newcastle will finally be relegated, eh?

Anyway, about the game. Keane and Torres up front, with Gerrard, Alonso and Riera providing support was the right move by Benitez. If he'd only used this formation in the game against Stoke, they might have gone away with a win, and a more solid, gelled side for tonight's game as a result. As it was, there were rusty performances all round, particularly by Skrtel (who should have helped prevent Cahill's goal) and Keane (though, to his defense, he wasn't given a proper start in, what, two months???). Fuck fuck fuckety fuck. Fuck a duck. Thank God we have Gerrard to save the day. AND Torres should have been given a penalty for a blatant trip by Neville.

I don't want to be a pessimist about it, so I won't say that this is the point at which LFC lost the wind in their championship sails. But it's damn close now that MU's on top.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

omg srsly you guys

Atlas Shrugged has to be the best book I ever read. Nothing measures up to it. Not even my favorite Stephen King books (which I still regard with extreme reverence) even come close to matching up. I can't even believe I'm reading this. It's just so good.

That scene during Jim Taggart's wedding, when Francisco D'Anconia gives his diatribe slamming someone who says that "money is the root of evil" is the best philosophical put down I've read, simply because by logic and common sense, it is true. I want to quote the whole damn thing but it would take too long and wouldn't do any justice to what Ms. Rand did as a whole.

And I'm not even done with the damn thing. I haven't been energized by any book like this since well, ever. This is reading simply for the joy of reading. This is a goddamn life-changing thing going on here. There are so many lessons and concepts that would serve all governments and businesses. This is a triumph of the human spirit and a celebration of ingenuity.

I could spend the next year doing nothing but quotes out of the damn thing. Ayn Rand I know that even if you were around you'd be a little over 100 but goddamn I want to have your book babies.

today's featured song

After hearing his 2008 album, In The Ever, I pretty much fell in love with the musical stylings of Mason Jennings. He plays a distinctively strong, yet emotionally tempered acoustic sound. Here's advice: instead of listening to current crap like fucking Jack Johnson, listen to:
Mason Jennings,
Bonnie "Prince" Billy,
Elliott Brood,
Jose Gonzalez,
M. Ward (but of course!),
Richard Swift,
Damien Jurado,
Ali Eskandarian,
and Bon Iver.
I'm serious. These guys kick phenomenal ass.

This song is touching in its message and honesty. Here's If You Ain't Got Love:

can't sleep so here's some songs

I have to stop drinking coffee so close to goddamn midnight.. here are George Harrison and Joni Mitchell. I'm gonna pick up my Ayn Rand paperweight now.





Because ya know, Joni Mitchell kind of rocks.

this is all kind of petty but hell man come on

Before I get into this post, I just want to share today's PFSC comic. I love guest turns on webcomics, and today's is pretty great.

So apparently one of my favorite modern singer-songwriters is going through probably irreversible hearing loss, and can't do much about it, and he's decided to take a break from music after his last tour with the Cardinals, and a bunch of judgmental (emphasis on mental) fans took it the wrong way and claimed that he's basically turning his back on everything he claimed he held dear and was actually pretty honest about it, both in his songs and recently, on his (and his band's) blog.

How do I feel about this? Not surprisingly, I'm more than a little sad. It's one thing to acknowledge and appreciate the contributions of someone who genuinely loved to make music, and another to know that the exact enjoyment that he transfers from making his music to the ears and hearts of his listeners is probably going to be exhausted and extinguished before long.

Because hell, you know that the well is running dry before its time.

But that's the beauty of the recording age. We'll always have what he gave us prior to this, and that's more than can be said for a lot of bands and acts that have the potential to be musically and creatively great but don't capitalize on it. So consider this my salute and thanks to you. Take care, DRA. And thank you.

And really, who's to say hearing loss is any kind of barrier? We may have a potential Beethoven on our hands if he's up to it (wink, nudge).

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Man this is the creepiest thing I've seen all week

--courtesy of "Again With the Comics"

today's playlist!

These were some of the songs playing when I drove to pick my sister up at the station:

Kaiser Chiefs - Love's Not A Competition (But I'm Winning)


The Decemberists - Angel, Won't You Call Me?


Wolf Parade - I'll Believe In Anything


Snow Patrol - On, Off


Bob Mould - Very Temporary (FUCK YES)


Neko Case - Runnin' Out Of Fools


Lucky Soul - Baby I'm Broke


Parts & Labor - Nowhere's Nigh (yes yes yes yes yes)

sing the changes

Because seriously, Macca brought the groove back with The Fireman's Electric Arguments.

I just thought it would be highly appropriate that I inform you guys that I opted out of the Apture service, and have switched over to Snap Shots, which WordPress already uses by default. So for those of you familiar with it, hopefully your experience on my blog is improved somewhat. In short, in case you aren't acquainted with it, Snap basically shows a preview of a web page, or any form of media that's highlighted in a link, whenever you roll your mouse icon over said links. Similarly, you can download CoolIris previews for Firefox, since it basically saves a lot of time and trouble with regards to page navigation.

Wow my wording is convoluted.

Anway, I'm currently reading Ayn Rand's twentieth century masterpiece, Atlas Shrugged. It is excellent reading. I don't have to tell you that, but I'm only just discovering it, and relishing the experience of getting to know each character and their motviations. They're really all stark caricatures of certain ideals, particularly greed, capitalism, socialism, nihilism, all made more complex when they're forced by circumstance to consider the middle road (read: for them there is none.) So when I'm done with this 1000-page son of a bitch I'll ket you know. But for what it's worth, it is stellar stuff.

You know what the depiction of life and New York in Atlas Shrugged reminds me of? The bleak depression in Bonfire of The Vanities. Unlike Bonfire however, this book is absolutely not a snooze-fest.

Incidentally, I think I'm head over heels for Lupe Fiasco, Raphael Saadiq and Erykah Badu, currently. Bob bless them.

D: It is written (or, Get Off My Lawn!)

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

This movie has everything in spades: a love story woven with elements of betrayal, revenge, comedy, suspense, drama, tragedy... I can't describe how amazing the experience of watching this was. It deserves any Best Picture and Director awards it's nominated for, and the cast was excellent as well. You need to see this movie. I can't stress that enough. And the soundtrack by AR Rahman is brilliant. Hyperbole doesn't do Slumdog justice. Just watch it. This is City of God good. This is Juno good, it's Little Miss Sunshine good. It's better, though. This is There Will Be Blood awesome. This movie will steal your milkshake.

Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)

This indie flick is also worth your time, mainly because it's got Will Arnett playing a suicide cult leader. Plus Patrick Fugit from Almost Famous is in it! Oh, the plot? Uhm, this guy offs himself after his ex-girlfriend broke his heart, and spends his afterlife in some purgatory meant for suicides. After finding out his ex killed herself too, he sets out to find her and be with her again, befriending a couple other misfits on the way. All I can say is, if your heart doesn't melt during the ending, you are stone cold.

Man On Wire (2008)

Who would have thought a documentary about a wire walking performer would be so intense and gripping? And it's all done through interviews and stock camera footage, too. This movie will give you sweaty palms all the way through. Totally awesome, but not something I'd be watching again soon. Mainly due to the emotional impact being a little dulled after seeing it the first time. But if you haven't seen this yet, do so!

Gran Torino (2008)

Clint Eastwood is the man. I've read that this is probably his last acting role, and that's a little bittersweet. His performance in GT is nothing short of amazing. He doesn't just act the hell out of his grumpy, racist old man role, he owns it. Every scene that has him chewing out some young punk has a visceral edge to it, bordering on pure red rage. And yet beneath it all, he's just a lonely widower who misses his wife, and lives with the guilt of war on his shoulders. His sons don't love him, and the only people who respect him are the two Korean kids next door. This may be a serious drama, but you can't help but laugh a little at the way Clint talks his way through the movie. Any other actor would get in a lot of trouble for such things, but this guy gets a by simply by virtue of his awesomeness. A lot happens that you wouldn't expect, and this movie is all the better for it.

So basically Slumdog Millionaire is awesome. Gaaahhhhhhh! Anyway here's the song from Wristcutters, I love this:

NPH! NPH!

Words fail me. This is brilliant.

today's comic link

Questionable Content is a webcomic which I have been reading for the past year or so, and it's actually very friendly to new readers, despite having an ongoing story. I also happen to like the many indie rock references in the strips, though it's not as obviously used as in Scott Pilgrim (whose Volume 5 is coming soon!!! WOOOO).

Catch up with today's comic here.

working it out

You may have noticed a drop in my posting these days. It's mostly cos I've been pretty busy with my Masters-related stuff, and I'm really hoping that things will work out better this time. I'm lucky that I got early notification from my school this time around, so there's a bit more time than last year to prepare. My biggest concern isn't really whether I have the funding to go, but if I can catch up within the first year of study. It's easy to forget a lot of the stuff I learned over the last 4 years, but with a little reading and mental exercise I think I can lick it.

Anyway, I was lucky that a friend of mine passed me an ad for a special endowment being offered to students studying overseas, and the closing date is a little less than two weeks away for application. If you too need some help getting funding, you might want to give this link a try, but bear in mind the preconditions mentioned. I just picked up the form today! I'm not even sure that I'll get it, but I'm hoping for the best, and compiling all my essays and certificates anyway. Wish me luck with this.

In other news, I'm finally managing my music collection properly and making more space available on my iPod (even though it is 160 gigs, I only have about 4GB available, shit), and I watched Death To Smoochy the other day. For an ensemble comedy, it's alright. The only problem is, as with all of Danny DeVito-directed movies, there's the impression that the movie's good, but not that great. Still, it's sweet seeing Ed Norton smiling innocently for once and Robin Williams playing himself.

Oh yeah, I was supposed to listen to some music I was given by some people the other day, so I should get on that.

Right now Voxtrot's on with The Start of Something:

my thoughts are a mess and tangled

On a purely humanitarian plane, there are simply no justifications for the ruthless extermination (and there is no lesser term that can be employed here) of unarmed noncombatants. It shouldn't stand that women, children and the infirm are killed on a now daily basis, especially in such tight quarters. It all amounts to genocide, similar in principle if not scale to the Albanian and Bosnian crises in the latter 20th century, to the targeting and killing of Jews during the second World War, to the Hutu/Tutsi war that still rages today. The only difference is that the Israeli army clearly has the upper hand in almost all the warfaring aspects that matter, and are given free reign to do as they please.

However, there is opinion that Hamas brought it onto the civilian population in the first place, by embedding themselves within the populace and by firing their rockets from civilian areas. That these non-Hamas victims are merely collateral damage that was entirely unavoidable. It's even been said that Hamas itself has restricted access to medical aid for the civilians, ratcheting up casualties to bolster their PR. Worse still is the attitude of some bloggers and disaffected who feel that all this killing is justified, because "Islamist" terrorists need to be dealt with by all means possible.

To truly appreciate what it means to live in Gaza, I guess it really would make all the difference in the world to actually be there and live the day to day life. To deal with all the Israeli and Egyptian checkpoints and border patrols, to deal with spotchecks and humiliating body searches. To live in a constant state of fear.

We can't blame the civilians. They have done nothing, absolutely nothing, to deserve their homes being destroyed within seconds of an attack. To lose their schools and hospitals. Does anyone remember the attack on the Jenin refugee camp less than a decade ago? Apache copters and tanks facing down children and the elderly?

Similarly, I don't support the killing of Israeli civilians either. It's not justified to take out a bus full of innocents, nor is it justified to fire rockets into populated areas, regardless of your situation. It's just... the proportionality aspect has been thrown for such a loop that just the idea of proportion is ludicrous.

In the end I think we have to deal with the reality that nothing but a two-state solution will have to do. Both Palestine and Israel have claims of sovereignity and right to land but the thing of it is, we've gone too far down this road (that nobody was really prepared for in the first place) for us to turn back and fix things by 100 or so years. There has to be a ceasefire, the killings have to stop, and both sides need to work things out diplomatically. Now more than ever Hamas needs to take a good look at what they can do to minimize blowback on the Palestinians (even if it means not shooting rockets into Israel), and Israel needs to stop this senseless murder, and to return some land back, to at least remedy the packed populations in the West Bank and Gaza.

The governments of both countries really need to change their policies. Otherwise, this time bomb will just keep ticking, perpetuating itself for another senseless slaughter. Although history tells us that one side will always lose so much more.

more picks from last year (will it ever end???)

The previous section is here. I have to say, today's list rocks pretty hard, so listen away, True Believers!

151. The Long Blondes - Couples/Singles

Appropriation (By Any Other Name)


152. Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster.../We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed

You! Me! Dancing!


153. Love Is All - A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night

Sea Sick


154. Lucinda Williams - Wild Honey

Honey Bee


155. Lykke Li - Youth Novels

I'm Good, I'm Gone (acoustic)


156. M83 - Saturdays = Youth

Kim and Jessie


157. The Mae Shi - HLLLYH

Run To Your Grave


158. The Magnetic Fields - Distortion

Too Drunk To Dream


159. Man Man - Rabbit Habbits

Mister Jung Stuffed


160. Marah - Angels Of Destruction

Angels Of Destruction!


161. Mark Kozelek - Nights LP

Cruiser


162. Marnie Stern - This Is It & I Am It & You Are It & So Is That & He Is It & She Is It & It Is It & That Is That

Transformer


163. Mason Jennings - In The Ever

Fighter Girl


164. Mates Of State - Re-Arrange Us

My Only Offer


165. Max Tundra - Parallax Error Beheads You

Which Song


166. Megapuss - Surfing

Hamman


167. Mercury Rev - Snowflake Midnight

Butterfly's Wings


168. Minus The Bear - Acoustics

Throwin' Shapes


169. Mirror - self-titled

Nostalgia (feat. Dave Gahan)


170. The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride/Satanic Messiah EP

Sax Rohmer #1


171. The Mountain Goats & Kaki King - Black Pear Tree EP

Supergenesis


172. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges

I'm Amazed


173. Nada Surf - Lucky

Beautiful Beat


174. The National - The Virginia EP

Tall Saint


175. Neon Neon - Stainless Style

Belfast


I've never given enough credit to all the video uploaders, so thank you, thank you, thank you, guys. I hope to finish this feature by next week, so stick with me and enjoy the tunes.

today's comic link

Image taken from Understanding Judge Parker

There are many syndicated comics that defy logic, physics, age and any artistic value or cohesive storyline. One of them is Judge Parker, a strip I have heretofore not heard of before reading The Comics Curmudgeon several years back. Understanding Judge Parker is one man's mission to make sense of it all, by replacing a panel of a random comic strip into a JP strip, forming often hilarious situations and awkward conversations. It's become one of my regularly subscribed comics, and you should subscribe to it, too!

some links

It's hard not to feel some degree of sadness regarding the current shelling of Gaza. Here's a few articles/editorials which I read earlier today, hopefully they'll help in some way:

Stealing Gaza (CounterPunch)

The Real Goal of the Gaza Assault (CounterPunch)

A Message to Israel: Time to Stop Playing the Victim Role (HuffPo)

AP Reporter Watches Own Home Destroyed, Via YouTube, in Gaza (HuffPo)

Gaza Diary: It's Time to Evacuate My Pregnant Wife (HuffPo)

Why Do So Few Speak Up For Gaza? (HuffPo)

If you've come across any interesting articles you'd like to share with us, let me know in the comments. Hopefully we can all stay informed and on top of this situation.

Stop The War

EDIT - I'm trying to implement the Apture method of sharing links and media, but for some reason today my internets is broken; also, for those of you are reading via RSS, I'm sorry, the apture stuff isn't supported by feed readers at the moment, I think..

today's featured song

I'm currently listening to the extremely excellent The Cool, by Lupe Fiasco, probably my favorite recent rap album this side of Tha Carter III and Q-Tip's Renaissance. In my carelessness I forgot to include this in yesterday's list, but I'm not sure whether it came out in '08 or '07. Anyway, for those of you who were a little disappointed that Kanye didn't bring the rap in 808s, this album's for you.

From The Cool, here's Superstar. You have to love the chorus and the beat featured here. It's surreal in its catchiness. Enjoy.

comic link of the day

David Malki's Wondermark webcomic is a pure joy to read. He published a collection of early Wondermark strips, Beards of Our Forefathers, which makes for a good laugh as well.

Read more WM here!

i really want to hear this one

Pitchfork gave its first Best New Music review of 2009 for Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion, and its gotten some good reviews from other outlets as well. I can't wait to give this a listen, and start 2009 music-wise.

Other albums I'm looking forward to this year are by Dan Deacon, A.C. Newman, Neko Case, and Andrew Bird, among others.

stuff i like from last year, continued (or, i forgot i was doing this)

You can find the previous part of this long list here, along with links to preceding parts.

126. Juliana Hatfield - How To Walk Away

This Lonely Love


127. Jumbling Towers - Classy Entertainment

Apartments


128. Kaiser Chiefs - Off With Their Heads

Like It Too Much


129. Kaki King - Dreaming Of Revenge

Air & Kilometers


130. Kanye West - 808s And Heartbreak

Heartless


131. Kelley Polar - I Need You To Hold On While The Sky Is Falling

A Feeling Of The All-Thing


132. Kelley Stoltz - Circular Sounds

Your Reverie


133. Khonnor - Softbo EP

Nothing I could find, but here's an older song you might like


134. The Killers - Day & Age (how mainstream of me!)

Spaceman


135. The Kills - Midnight Boom

Last Day Of Magic


136. Kings of Leon - Only By The Night

I love this song. Here's Closer


137. The Kooks - Konk/Rak

Tick Of Time


138. Koushik - Out My Window

Out My Window


139. Lackthereof - Your Anchor

Last November

140. Ladyhawk - Shots

I Don't Always Know What You're Saying


141. Ladyhawke - self-titled (not to be confused with the above!)

Back Of The Van


142. Ladytron - Velocifero

Ghosts


143. Lambchop - OH (Ohio)

Slipped Dissolved and Loosed


144. Land Of Talk - Some Are Lakes

Some Are Lakes


145. The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of The Understatement

Standing Next To Me


146. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III

Shoot Me Down


147. Lindsey Buckingham - Gift Of Screws (now there's something you won't find on any list)

Love Runs Deeper


148. Lindstrom - Where You Go I Go Too

The Long Way Home (I think this is a truncated version?)


149. Little Joy - self-titled (I MISS THE STROKES)

No One's Better Sake


150. Local H - Twelve Angry Months

The One With 'Kid'


Way to end today's list! With a break-up album. Damn. Anyway we're almost halfway through the 2008 alphabet, yay.

literary link of the day

Image taken from Something Awful

Something Awful presents some really terrible book ideas. As with all things SA, this means they're also awesome.

Be sure to check out the reviews for the books, bah-GUUUHHHH!

i need a scanner (or a cintiq)!

For the about the last half year, I really wanted to start uploading drawings and sketches onto my blog, maybe even start a regular disjointed illustrated feature. Unfortunately, I don't have a functioning scanner and the thought keeps slipping from my mind.

Anyway, I was doing a lot of walking and talking today, and I am pooped! Here's an interesting BBC article on propaganda warfare, hopefully it will be beneficial for you somehow.

And for the entertainment portion of today's post, here's a little Andrew Bird for you; this is "Plasticities" live on Letterman:

things are afoot

I'm gonna be busy for a while I think. Need to pay for my air ticket somehow.

Anyway, FA Cup weekend! How was your weekend, everybody? Hope all is well.

Listening to Daniel Lanois' Acadie. It's alright.. but for some reason I have a very strong urge to listen to Jeff Buckley for the next few days..

sorta old link

This story by Boing Boing contributor Charles Platt about Son Tran, a Vietnamese-American serving life in prison, is probably the most gripping thing I've read all day. It's equal parts indictment on the US prison system and the stark, depressing hues of prison life itself. The accompanying pdf link in the article, written by Son Tran himself, is very good reading.

--link, courtesy of boingboing.net

OMG so good

The Day of The Jackal

Oh man, such a good hitman movie. So good.

just in case you were wondering

Let's discuss this issue for a while, or at least attempt to stimulate a thorough discussion. Rocket attacks on civilians is wrong, no matter who they are. That's a basic human tenet, and one which should be respected by all. By All. No exceptions.

So when such attacks occur, is it fair for another country to retaliate? Let's go with rhetorics here, yes, it is fair and justified if and only if those who instigated such attacks are the ones being dealt with. Again, civilians and civilian installations are strictly off-limits. Furthermore, the issue of proportionality also has to be considered.

Now, let us consider the scenario where the country retaliating (let's name it Country A) strikes against a densely populated, civilian area, where the citizens themselves have lived in conditions worse than the world's most packed refugee camps. Let us call this country Country B. Not only that, but Country A has the resources to actually resolve standing issues between the two sides and has actually been largely responsible for the living conditions of these poorer people. Add to this the fact that the retaliating country has occupied the land they live on for over 60 years, and effectively and almost completely commited the world's least-rebuked form of genocide and ethnic cleansing, not even allowing for the right to return for villagers they ousted so they could build new villages and towns there.

It kind of paints a different picture, doesn't it? In fact, it seems almost logical and understandable that some form of organized uprising should take root in these conditions. Think about this additional scenario: Country B has been reduced to just two strips of land, whereas the land on which they originally resided has been taken over and controlled by Country A. And, hardly any organized international support (or, for that matter, diplomatic weight) exists for Country B, whilst Country A enjoys practically every kind of freedom amd support from the world's most powerful forces. It sounds almost as if this sort of thing could only be made up, but it's not.

I think by now you can guess what I'm talking about.

Again, let's just take the recent events into consideration (although to treat the issue more comprehensively and fairly, we'd have to dig up a lot more history). Rockets were fired into Country A, yes, and it would make sense for them to take down those who would harm their civilians.

But does it make sense to destroy:
- Civic centers?
- Aid channels (how else would food and medicine reach the victims in Country B? Divine provenance?)
- Houses?
- Friggin' UNIVERSITIES???

Seriously, you'd need the most plausible and acceptable, and absolutely infallible justifications to destroy institutions of learning, religious buildings, hell, any civilian buildings. Do the Geneva conventions mean nothing? You've got 1.5 million people packed into what amounts to one very, very small state, making civilian casualties all but inavoidable. In fact, 400 civilians were already killed by air raids.

DO NOT tell me that 99.99999% of them were all terrorists. Fucking do not tell me that.

movies which i spent new year's watching

No breaking out any bottles or after hours jaunts through the city for me, thank you. Here are the movies I watched for the last day or so:

1. Let The Right One In (2008)

This movie is from Sweden, and it's about a tween boy who befriends and eventually falls for the vampire girl next door. This movie takes every vampire myth out there and turns them into something wholly believable, from having to invite them into your home to their ageless immortality. The acting is very good, with really subtle performances from the kids. Twilight? Puh-leez. This movie kicks Twilight's ass so hard (and really, why bother comparing the two?), and anyone hard pressed to find a good, warm and human horror/love story would do well to check this out.

2. Akira (1988)

Most of you would have long heard of or watched this anime gem from long ago. But as I've stated on this blog a few months back, the Japanese mastered and innovated the classical animation form in ways the rest of the world still hasn't caught up on (much in the same way Pixar revolutionized and leads in computer animation). The themes of cyberpunk apocalyptica fused with tragedy and extreme acts of violence holds up really well today, and is sure to bring back nostlagic feelings for movies like Blade Runner and Total Recall. Amazing, awe-inspiring gem of anime, this is. And absolutely essential viewing.

3. Paranoid Park (2007)

Director and screenwriter Gus Van Sant is more famous this year for his Milk biopic starring Oscar hopeful Sean Penn, but last year he also made this movie, about inner city skaters, teenagers dealing with issues like peer pressure and divorce, and ultimately about how to assuage a guilty conscience. I wouldn't really keep this movie in my "must-keep" bin, but for what it's worth, the direction and desolate mood throughout the movie is really, really solid. Plus points for including two (!) Elliott Smith songs in the soundtrack, including Angeles, for one of the more essential scenes. At a little less than an hour and a half long, this movie should keep you fairly entertained on a bored afternoon.

4. City of God (2002)

Oh my goodness, so, so good. This is one of the best movies of our generation. I could watch this over and over and always find something new to appreciate. If you're a fan of The Wire, especially the first season, you'll love this movie. It's a simple tale in the sense that the plot doesn't lose a single thread, and the storytelling is superb, both in narration, acting and directing. You can't help but love Rocket and Benny. Li'l Dice is one of the best villains on film, and you will root for Knockout Ned. It's the cinematic equivalent of seeing a really good story come to life, with all of its players in lucid detail. This is a must see.

***This is completely unrelated, but the first season of Sons of Anarchy wrapped up about a month ago, so now's a good time to catch up on it. I'd say it's one of the best original series to come out in 2008, and was definitely a lot better than watching Volume 3 of Heroes. Shit that was a waste of time! My geekiness for that show is not yet at season 2 lows, but it's getting there..

So how did 1430 and 2009 start for everyone? I hope you're all well.