Download of the Day

I thought that today I would share with everybody one of the songs that has been receiving quite a bit of attention in my car lately. And that song is ..... wait for it.... wait for it.... the Ratatat Remix of Stomp by Young Buck featuring TI and Ludacris. As many of you already know, I have a strong affinity for anything G-Unit related. I have also been a fan of Luda and the Dirty Dirty for quite a few years now. Finally, I am a sucker for a good remix. As luck would have it, the Stomp Remix off Ratatat Remixes Volume II combines all these things into one great song with a decidedly gangsta feel. I love it, much like a fat kid who loves cake, and I am willing to wager at least $2.47 that you will as well.

A Few of My Favorite Movies From 2007

With the year beginning to come to a close, I thought that it would be fitting to put together a list of my favorite movies from the year. Before proceeding any further, I must make the disclaimer that I do not assert that this list is by any means complete and is quite likely to change when somebody reminds me of something that I really liked but for some reason forgot to include. So without further ado, here are my favorites in no particular order:

• Once - Loved the music. Loved the story. Loved the emotion. Loved everything about this movie.
  
• Lives of Others - Fantastic story with excellent character development.
  
• No Country for Old Men - The sound editing for the desert scenes blew me away.
  
• Children of Men (I know this came out at the very end of last year but I did not see it until January of this year so I am including it on this list) - Loved the extended tracking shots. Especially the one through the city streets and up into the apartment building in the middle of the gun fight. Awesome.
  
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - Casey Affleck steals the show and I love the Terence Malick feel. The shot with the train pulling to a stop with all the steam and Jesse James silhouetted on the tracks was perfect.
  
• Sunshine - This really needs to be seen on the big screen to appreciate the beauty. Even if I didn't like the last fifteen movies. Mike Warner swears I will like the last fifteen minutes more if I watch it again. I remain unconvinced. I appreciate how the last fifteen minutes were made. But I still don't like them.
  
• Michael Clayton - Nice tight story. Great acting. George Clooney was really on point.
  
• Juno - Loved the witty dialogue and the way the characters really came to life. Great laughter mixed with some poignant moments equal a winner in my book.
  
• Lars and the Real Girl - I heart Ryan Gosling. Need I say more? But really this movie was excellent on many levels. Ryan Gosling was just an added bonus.
  
• The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters - As one of my friends said "you can't write dialogue and humor like this." The real thing is just too amazing.
  
• Into the Wild - Great soundtrack. Great cinematography. Great acting. I really like Emil Hirsch. As another one of my friends said "this movie changed my life."
  
• Darjeeling Limited - Loved the luggage. Loved the colors. Loved the cast.
  
• Hot Fuzz - This movie gets funnier and funnier each time I watch it. My favorite comedy of the year. By far.
  
• The Bourne Ultimatum - Best of the three in my opinion. The fight scene where he hits the guy with a book was amazing. So intense.
  
• Paris, je t'aime - A great compilation of short films about Paris. If you don't like one, no problem. Another one will be coming along in about ten minutes. My favorite was the short about the guy who gets shot.
  
• The Lookout - I really liked this one in the theater but when I watched it again on dvd it wasn't as good as I remembered. Still it was solid. Solid story with no real holes if a bit antiseptic and lacking characters with any real depth.
  
• 300 - Loved the ballet of death.
  
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Probably my favorite Potter movie to date. I really liked how they used the newspaper shots to show passage of time.
  
• Ocean's Thirteen - George Clooney. Brad Pitt. I'll watch pretty much anything with them in it and like it. I love the Ocean's series. Just plain and simple good times.
  
• The Kingdom - Surprisingly emotional for me.
  
• Eagle vs Shark - If you like Flight of the Conchords then you will like this. Very similar to Juno in that it was a great mixture of laughter and poignant moments.
  

And that is all I can think of right now. Like I said before, I am sure I am forgetting some movies that I really did like. I often struggle to remember if I ate breakfast or not or how old I am so it is not inconceivable that I would forget a movie that I really enjoyed if I watched it more than a day ago. Feel free to add to the list of this years enjoyable movies in the comments.

PS I will go on the record and say that my favorite movie of the year was Once. If you still haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and rent or buy it when it streets on December 18th.

Nocturna

During the last couple of weeks I have been on a real KCRW kick and as a result I have been able to discover a few great vignettes such as Martini Shot and the KCRW film reviews by Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal. This morning on the way to work there was also a great little piece on Rhythm and Hues and the expansion of their digital effects production to India which was made possible courtesy of the ever improving interwob technology that allows for quick and easy sharing of large files as well as video conferencing. Fascinating stuff.

While I have really enjoyed the discovery of the aforementioned programming, my favorite KCRW program so far is Nocturna which is hosted by Raul Campos. Nocturna airs from 10-midnight Monday through Friday and provides the perfect soundtrack for night time driving or "nighttiming" in LA. Raul heralds from East LA and is able to effortlessly blend "urban soul" and "house" with a sweet little Latin flair. As the KCRW website states, Raul really does have "his finger on the pulse of what makes this city (LA) beat."

Last night as I was driving home I was treated to a little Justice as well as some Rapture mixed in with a few bands that I didn't recognize. It was the perfect way to cap off the night.

PS Raul's top ten albums of 2007 are excellent choices. I think my favorite off his list is Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem.

PSS Nocturna is of course available on-demand

Apples to Apples

You know who was really clueless? Helen Keller.



Well played Britney. Well Played.

I Now Like Gum?

For as long as I can remember, I have not really been a fan of gum. However, If forced to choose between gum and the painful torture of sitting through another viewing of National Treasure I would most assuredly choose the gum. What I am trying to say is that 8.37 times out of ten, when offered a piece of gum, I would respectfully decline the offer. When pressured on my response I often reply that it makes my jaw tired. I guess I have weak mandibular muscles? Or maybe I am just plain lazy and chewing gum takes way to much work?

Now that the stage is set, I take you, the reader, back in time. We are not going back to far. Just to last Saturday evening. PS you can picture me as The Ghost of Christmas Past or The Delorian if that makes this easier for you. But back to the story at hand. I was on the cusp of my departure from the annual holiday party at the chapel when I felt the finger of God reach out and touch my life. A friend of mine offered me a piece of gum with no ultimatum and for some strange reason I accepted the offer without hesitation. I popped in the gum and was almost knocked off my feet by the explosion of joy in my mouth. The perfect meld of mint and lime was simply divine. It was like the two flavors were battling for supremacy resulting in an unparalleled harmonic convergence of bliss right in my mouth. To this my only reply is God bless the innovative minds at Orbit that somehow came up with the perfect synthesis of mint and lime resulting in the party in my mouth goodness of Mint Mojito Gum. Sheer genius.

Needless to say, I must now reconsider my long standing ambivalence to gum. I may even purchase my first package of gum ever tonight just to recreate the joyful experience of that fateful evening. Crazy. I know. But I think it is healthy and productive to re-evaluate our beliefs and perhaps make a change for the better as more information and viewpoints become available to us.

Project Cloverfield

I have been meaning to post something about JJ Abrams "ultra-secret" project - Cloverfield - ever since I saw the trailer this summer before Transformers.



Wikipedia has a pretty solid synopsis of the the project and the associated viral marketing hype at sites such as slusho.jp and 1-18-08.com. It has also been interesting to see Slusho pop up on an episode of Heroes as well as what some bloggers are claiming to be a Cloverfield reference on 30 Rock courtesy of Kenneth's dream journal.

Needless to say, I am pretty excited about this movie. I have been a huge JJ Abrams fan ever since Felicity and Alias. Add Lost to the mix and he pretty much had me at hello. But what really put me over the top was when I heard about the sweet Valentines Day cards his boy brought to share with his schoolmates. Rumor has it they were the bomb dot com.

So here's to Cloverfield being better than Hitman. And by better I mean more smoke machines. But that is another story for another day.

Fun With Handguns

Magnum PI minus the sexy mustache and harem of beautiful women.

PS I am thinking about purchasing this gun. It is a sweet little .22 caliber that I think would be more fun than making out with a chunky girl.