Friday, October 30, 2009
Oh Weezer: This One Doesn't Suck!
I have sort of a love/hate relationship with Weezer. Their debut CD was one of my very favorites at the time. Like CRAZY IN LOVE. Pinkerton was great too (even though at the time there was backlash). Since then? Well, it's been hit or miss! For every gem ("Island In The Sun" "This Is Such A Pity" "Dope Nose") there has been a stinker ("Beverly Hills" "Troublemaker" "Pork And Beans"). Their music runs such a fine line between sublime and banal. And they've offered plenty of each. It's just sad when they delivered ALL sublime on their first CD, to have to suffer through such crap on so many subsequent efforts. I don't know if their upcoming release, Raditude, is going to be any good... in fact with a title like
that I'm guessing it might suck. But based on the first single, "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" I'm encouraged. I really like it. I just heard it for the first time on CD101 in the car the other day and it's fun stuff. It's tough to live up to a bar you raised so high for yourself the first time around. I think people have finally let Weezer off the hook after this many years and enough stinkers. I suppose the bar sort of doesn't exist anymore when I don't have any expectations when a new Weezer album comes out, lol. But this was a pleasant surprise.
(If Youre Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To - Weezer
Posted by soft rock star at 9:59 PM
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Flying Machines
Just got turned on to a new band a couple days ago called Flying Machines. They are a New York quartet whose lead singer grew up on Queen, Billy Joel & Andrew Lloyd Weber and a lead guitarist who cites Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and The Strokes as influences. The result is a great mix of dramatic, sometimes soaring, always engaging rock. I've included a couple songs here. One is first single, "On A Whim." It's a sublime mix of ELO's "Mister Blue Sky" piano bounce and Queen-inspired harmony and melody. "Video Games" is like a killer Keane song but amped up. I'm really enjoying their CD so far. See what you think :)
On A Whim - Flying Machines
Video Games - Flying Machines
Posted by soft rock star at 11:13 PM
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
CMJ 2009 Wrapup
I guess this is the longest I've gone without blogging on here since I started. I'm sure it was missed, haha. I was in NYC for about five days for CMJ Music Marathon. It was my eighth one... gulp! It was definitely my lowest key one too. I guess I've gone enough times that it's sort of lost it's charm. Didn't help that the lineup was the weakest yet either. But regardless I did have a decent time. The weather was gorgeous 
Wednesday and Thursday. Sadly that was made up with cold and rain Friday and Saturday. I managed to get back to Brooklyn, where I was staying near Prospect Park, before Midnight every night and got like ten hours of sleep a night. How very rock star of me, I know! But let me tell you, going home NOT being sick, WITH my voice and not having my feet killing me was a rare treat. So, with all that said... these were my highlights:--> Seeing The Temper Trap at The Bowery. They put on a great show and the songs? So damn catchy!
--> Procuring a pin for the Mint Showcase that allowed the beer to flow free all night. Good music too :)
--> Staying with Gabby. She rules.
--> NYC Pizza ... yum!
--> People watching down in the Subways. Always entertaining.
--> Crazy cab drivers who have no idea where they are going and get mad at YOU for it.
--> Seeing and meeting other industry folks and music directors
--> Throwing paper airplanes out of the ninth floor CJLO hotel window.
--> Not buying a badge and still not paying a penny to get into any show!
And my lowlights:
--> The subway not running to my stop after midnight during the week and all weekend. Wow, so not convenient. The shuttle driver getting lost, going up one-way streets the wrong way and not announcing any stops was a real treat too.
--> The Fader Party. Only one day this year and hot as balls in a windowless room.
And the performance by the poser girl who looked like a cross between Lady Gaga & Busy Phillips and thought she was Bjork was embarrassing.
--> Walking the wrong way trying to find stuff with Jesse: now a yearly NYC tradition! lol.
--> Getting a blister between two of my toes from wearing cool shoes that are too small. Dumb move, I know.
--> How long it takes to get ANYWHERE in the city.
--> How long it takes to get OUT of the city, to the airport and get checked in. Madness.
Posted by soft rock star at 12:00 AM
Sunday, October 18, 2009
All weekend long I was reminded of how pathetic hot-headed, short-tempered, sport-crazed knuckle-dragging male sports fans are. It's easy here in Columbus with the Buckeyes cult in full effect. At the gym, exasperated, know it all sideline critics barked at the TV and offered their sage tips at how they would coach the team and how unbelievable all the calls that went Purdue's way were. It was all I could do not laugh out loud at some of the comments. These were by in large, old, overweight men who I assume have no formal training coaching a football team yet the seemed to know it all! And they were ready to let everyone else know exactly what they were thinking. Now I like the Twins. I've blogged about them many times on this very blog. But I don't claim to be a coach. And I don't bark angry bile at the TV during a game. And if the Twins lose, I don't hang on to 'rage' or disappointment after the game. Why? IT'S A GAME! And even more specifically, it's not a game I or anyone I personally know was playing in. Get over it! It continued Sunday with bars and restaurants full of jersey-clad, uber fans who spent the day glued to TV monitors everywhere we went, cheering on the Bengals & Browns.
I guess I just find such fanaticism not just extreme, but an extreme waste of time. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a game... of feeling the camaraderie that goes along with having a unifying reason to cheer with other people you are with. It's the face and body painting, the screaming at referees, the vein-popping, angry barking at TV screens, and the lengthy 'my world is ending because our coach and team owners sucks' blog critiques on sports pages that I don't understand. How about getting a hobby that you actually participate in in a real way? And one that doesn't result in your parking your butt on a couch for three hours stuffing your face with greasy, fried food while you tell professionally trained, in-shape people you don't know how much better you'd be than them if you had their job? Just my two cents.
Posted by soft rock star at 11:00 PM
Friday, October 16, 2009
Where The Wild Things Are
I wanted to like this movie. I have very fond memories of the book as a child. But I wasn't dying to see it for some reason. And after seeing it tonight I must say, I'm still rather indifferent. As I look over Rotten Tomatoes reviews I see critiques like "more admirable than enjoyable" "needs work in the pacing department" "mopey, withdrawn" and "low on thrills" and unfortunately, I have to agree with all of that. I was bored. Here you have these amazing creatures and a wealth of possibilities. There is a chance for incredibly imaginative, thrilling storytelling and I didn't feel any of that. I didn't hate it. Thematically, the story is rich with lessons for kids seeing how their selfish desire to have life their way all the time destroys a family. And cinematically it's stunning. What it lacked was wildness. I just found myself waiting to be entertained, to be dazzled, to be overwhelmed, to be moved... and I wasn't. It certainly wasn't a desecration of the book by any means. Visually it couldn't have been more well done. But I do feel it was a missed opportunity when it came to being engaging.
Posted by soft rock star at 11:09 PM
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Person Of The Week: Jane Lynch
I love Jane Lynch. It doesn't matter whether she's in a great movie or tv show or an awful one, she always makes it more entertaining. Currently I am loving her on Glee. As Sue Sylvester, the school's chearleading coach and the series' villain, Lynch is completely self-absorbed and relentless in pursuit of her goals, all while being endlessly, viciously sarcastic... and her matter-of-factness is hilarious. She is the highlight of the show for me and it's always better the more she is featured. Jane Lynch rules.
Posted by soft rock star at 10:36 PM
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Twins Season Comes To An End
Well, it's over. And the Twins plyoff run pretty much went just how I expected it to as opposed to how I'd hoped. A 3-game sweep at the hands of the one team the Twins can't seem to compete with in any way. Oh well. I didn't expect any different so I'm not necessarily disappointed. When you have to play a team that buys their way to a championship every year, whose payroll is 3 1/2 times yours is, well there aren't a ton of surprises. But I'm glad they got as far as they did. After a season that took 140 games to finally ignite, it was a fun & unexpected month of baseball to follow. So that should end my baseball talk for the next four or so months. Thank you and goodnight.
Posted by soft rock star at 9:54 PM
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Let's Go Bowling!
It doesn't get any cheesier than bowling. Anyone can do and most do it with little genuine skill involved. People who are obsessed with bowling are always a little weird to me. But going every once in a while always ends up being a good time. I never get hung up on the game itself. Sure, I like to do well, but I don't care enough about this game or play it enough to expect that I will, so I always take it with a grain of salt. After a pretty awful couple games the last time I went I actually did alright this time. There were five of us and I won the first game and scored an abnormally high (for me) 144. The second game I bowled a whopping 109 (haha). I always do worse my second game. After a strike-less outing last time I threw six this time, and four spares. So that was fun.
Posted by soft rock star at 10:18 PM
Paranormal Activity
I first heard about this movie a few weeks ago. We tried to go see the college town viewings when it first came out but they sold out right away. Fortunately it opened at one theatre in town this weekend. We saw it last night and I have to say, I think this may be the scariest movie I have ever seen. Although I love them, horror movies don't generally scare me. I don't find them realistic enough to usually generate legitimate scares. Too many rely on gore (which is gross, not scary), over-the-top weirdness (which loses the base of realism for me), or add too much comedy, which I love but it's not scary. I know a lot of people found Blair Witch to be scary, but again, I think that movie leaves too much to the imagination. I like that aspect of horror but when all it is is off-screen scares I feel a bit cheated. Paranormal Activity is a movie that does use off screen scares but it also places plenty of them right on screen too. I'm not going to go into detail, because I don't want to give anything away, but I will say, I began to tear up at times because of the scares and that never happens to me. I know some critics have said it's too much of a slow burn, but I appreciated that it added to the realism of the movie. The ending was just 'eh' for me but the rest was well worth it.
I've been waiting a long time for a movie that genuinely terrified me as much as this one did. As we left the theatre it was clear people had been disturbed by what they saw. The girl next to me turned to her friends and said, "well I won't be going to bed tonight." And I heard another guy reassuring his girlfriend that the lights would stay on tonight.
Posted by soft rock star at 10:03 PM
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Living Up To My Expectations: Zombieland
It's been a busy few days and I forgot all about mentioning that I'd seen Zombieland this weekend! I sure do love when a movie with a kick ass trailer that makes it LOOK good actually delivers. The comedy in this movie is spot on and I've never enjoyed Woody Harrelson more in a film role. Jesse Eisenberg basically plays the same character he did in Adventureland (and presumably every movie he has and ever will be in a la Michael Cera) but it works perfectly for this movie. And the unbilled cameo (who I won't name) is ridiculously funny. Raises to movie's humor to a whole new level. This one will definitely be in my Top 10 for 2009. Smart, irreverant, and wholly entertaining... my kind of movie.
Posted by soft rock star at 11:02 PM
Chipotle: You Are A Reliable & Tasty Friend
I rarely eat fast food... mainly because there is very little I can eat as a Vegetarian. Meat-galore is the name of the game most places. Burgers, chicken, roast beef...even fries with animal fat. No thanks. So thank God for Chipotle; a big, fat, tasty burrito at a fair price. I get the black beans and rice with all the tasty fixins. Did you know they even have fresh cilantro? Nice! It's not on the menu, you just have to ask for it. Damn, I love me some cilantro!
Posted by soft rock star at 10:30 PM
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Twins Are American League Central Champs!
Well, I wasn't imagining this scenario but the Twins became the first team to overcome a three-game deficit with four to play and tied Detroit for the division lead. A one game playoff was played tonight and after four and half grueling, nerve-wracking hours, the Twins came out on top. After quickly falling behind 3-0 the Twins clawed their way back and actually led at one point 4-3. The Tigers quickly tied it up and send the game to extra innings, taking the lead in the 10th. It looked grim. It was looking like, for the second year in a row, the Twins were going to lose a tie-breaking game 163 by one run. But they came back and tied it and eventually won in the 12th. Thrilling! Improbable! Exciting! In their last season at the Metrodome the Twins have done what no team has ever done. Not only was Detroit the only team to have been in first place as long as they were (since May 10th) and fall from the top in the last week, but the Twins came back from a previously insurmountable deficit with four games to play. A team that lost their former MVP with three weeks left in the season didn't give up. Instead they went 17-4 to make the playoffs.
Now I'd love to think they have some sort of mojo that can't be stopped. That it's an incredible, 'meant to be,' underdog story. But sadly the Twins now face the Yankees. A team tney played seven times this year and lost to seven times. A team they haven't beaten since 2007. A team they have gone 5-26 against under their current manager. But it's still just so fun they made it :) I'm happy regardless of what happens in the playoffs. Because, once again, the Twins showed that they are the scrappiest, hardest playing team in baseball.
Posted by soft rock star at 10:34 PM
Friday, October 2, 2009
Tidbits
My random thoughts for today...
-Wouldn't it be just the way it goes that I finally found the best hair stylist I've ever had on the last cut before I move. Now I have to start all over again. Ugh!
-Gas for $2.15/gallon is pretty darn nice.
-The Twins are really gonna up the drama right up to the end... now 1 game back with 2 to play. Nuts. And, of course, even more heartbreaking when they run outta time, haha.
-The 'OSU' cult/craze that exists in Columbus freaks me the hell out.
-Edy's Slow Churned Fudge Tracks? You are a creamy, sweet delight.
-Why is Larry David hilarious and Jerry Seinfeld annoying?
-Jared does not take short naps, haha.
Posted by soft rock star at 10:58 PM
Thursday, October 1, 2009
The End Looms
Well, three games to go before the baseball season wraps up and seven of the eight teams who will move on to the post season have been decided. Two teams are left and one spot remains. It's looking like the Twins will be odd team out. Two games back with three games to play is not a great place to be. The Twins have played excellent baseball the last few weeks and made the American League Central the only interesting race in baseball this year. It sucks that it seems they are going to fall short so close to the end but I guess it's more fun to see your team play well and come close than languish far below .500 all season like fans of the Orioles, Royals, and Pirates do every year. It's cool to be a fan of a small market team that always seems to be in it every season, even if baseball pundits, announcers and writers never give them the respect they deserve.
