--On my first day of spring break, I got about a gig of new music, specifically albums by Elbow, MGMT, Sigur Ros, Caribou, Interpol, Liars, Midlake, Jane's Addiction, The Strokes, The Black Keys, A Tribe Called Quest, Eric B. and Rakim, and Public Enemy. More details will be forthcoming; Interpol's Turn on the Bright Lights is an early winner.
--Brick is a tremendous movie. A film noir set in high school (although it doesn't spend a lot of time straining for believability), it stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a kid trying to solve the murder of his ex-girlfriend amidst the school's drug underworld. There's really sharp acting and direction all around, but the script is the real winner; Rian Johnson, the movie's writer and director, captured the wittiness and outrageously complex dialogue of classic noirs with almost as much alacrity as Miller's Crossing. It's got the plot and atmosphere of a Dashiell Hammett story, but at heart it's all Raymond Chandler. Like Miller's Crossing, it's more retro-noir than it is neo-noir. If I get a hold of a DVD of the movie, I'll do some more analysis on a few specific scenes that were thinly-veiled homages to some of my favorite noir authors; in the meantime, I'll settle for being roundly satisfied with an excellent film.
--Drag Me To Hell is less excellent, but it's still a lot of fun. Surprisingly gory for its PG-13 rating, it is (like Spider Man 3, Sam Raimi's last directorial outing) over the top to the point of hilarity. It may be campy, but at least it knows it, and rewards people who don't take it too seriously.
--If Inglourious Basterds had held to the standard set by its awe-inspiring first half-hour (the opening scene with Christoph Waltz playing cat-and-mouse and Brad Pitt introducing the Basterds), it would be in the conversation for Tarantino's best film. It began to drag pretty badly instead (although it was still generally good-to-great), so now I'd say it's 1. Pulp Fiction 2. Jackie Brown 3. Reservoir Dogs 4. Inglourious Basterds 5. Kill Bill 6. Death Proof. I'll eventually realize that I'm underrating Kill Bill, but you know what won't ever grow on me? Death Proof. Christ, that's a terrible movie.
--If Inglourious Basterds had held to the standard set by its awe-inspiring first half-hour (the opening scene with Christoph Waltz playing cat-and-mouse and Brad Pitt introducing the Basterds), it would be in the conversation for Tarantino's best film. It began to drag pretty badly instead (although it was still generally good-to-great), so now I'd say it's 1. Pulp Fiction 2. Jackie Brown 3. Reservoir Dogs 4. Inglourious Basterds 5. Kill Bill 6. Death Proof. I'll eventually realize that I'm underrating Kill Bill, but you know what won't ever grow on me? Death Proof. Christ, that's a terrible movie.
--Sports. The Saints are still world champions, and God help you if you criticize Scott Shanle, New Orleans' weakside linebacker, in front of a Saints fan. Because I said that Shanle was "underrated" in a draft preview last year (yes, this is the internet, someone dredged it up) and "suddenly" criticized him this year, I became "a BIG ass hypocrite" and a possible Red sympathizer. I cited stupid things like advanced and traditional statistics (neeeeerd alert!) and my experience with Shanle's play as a fan, and clearly I was wrong because a lot of people disagreed with me and this a democracy, god damn it, Baron Science. Clearly there was nothing wrong with the defense, especially the run defense (like weakside linebackers getting washed out of plays), because we won the Super Bowl and Super Bowl champions always repeat because there are never endemic problems ever.
--Dumb motherfuckers.
--MGMT, like Yeasayer, sounds strikingly like Peter Gabriel-era Genesis at times.
--Speaking of Peter Gabriel, he released this, which struck me as an awfully bad idea until I realized a) I could listen to Peter Gabriel sing "dirty diapers dirty diapers dirty diapers" over and over again and not be displeased and b) there's apparently a follow-up record with the artists he covered covering his material. Arcade Fire doing "In Your Eyes"? Vampire Weekend doing "Sledgehammer"? Bon Iver doing "Come Talk to Me"? Yes please. And yes, this album is pretty terrible, thanks to the lifeless, unimaginative orchestration (although Gabriel obviously has good taste in songs to not cover well).
--I don't know where to weigh in on Syracuse at the moment, coming off of two (not) shocking losses, one to Lousiville and another to Georgetown (Georgetown sucks). Arinze Onuaku, the team's center and probably its best defender, most likely will make the NCAA tournament; the Orange are pretty much boned trying to run the 2-3 zone without him.
--Viral videos are boss. Also, this crazy thing.
--As for the albums I was putting off listening to until I finished my top ten; The Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin and Joy Division's singles album Substance are both incredible. "What is the Light?" and "Transmission," respectively, really caught my attention.
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