Come one, come all

Well, I feel the need to advertise again, but you all need to listen to this. I'm going to post a link both on this blog and in the links section of the site. You must click this link. It's easy, it's free, and you'll be doing yourself a favor.

What's it for, you ask? Well, this is Gavin Mikhail. He writes some songs, and he sings them. Pretty cool, huh? Well, by clicking the link below, you can listen to some of thes songs. Trust me, they're ALL cool. After listening to his songs, buy them from his website. It's completely obvious that you will all like these songs, and if you don't you might want to check your pulse then try again!

I actually just discovered him yesterday on a recommendation kind of like the one I'm posting here. I liked it so much, I'm telling everybody I know about him. Absolutely amazing singing, beautiful lyrics, and the music itself is so poignant. If you can find a reason NOT to like this, you should place your hand over your heart to make sure it's still pumping.

I can't even begin to put the all around sweetness of this music into words. So, I'm going to stop writing so you can stop reading and click the link and get to listening!

Here we go again

With what? What, you may ask, are we doing again? Well, I'm writing about a movie (again) and you're still reading. We're off to a fine start.

Just watched Running Scared and this is another one of those movies that I just have to say something about. I am for sure a Paul Walker fan. I enjoyed the crap out of the first two Fast and Furious movies (and I'm a fan of Lucas Black, too, meaning I'll inevitably see the third), but he really earned my respect in Noel, which is another one I recommend. Anyhoo, I missed this one in theaters, so I was quite excited to pick it up on DVD today. The movie is absolutely wonderful, it starts off with a bang and never really stops. The story winds in and out of some of the most elaborate twists I've seen in quite a while, and the climax (well, one of them anyway) is perhaps the most intense since Saw. I mean, this isn't just white-knuckle-intense, this gets into there's-no-more-armrest-because-I've-shredded-it-intense territory. Seriously, the hockey rink, pure cinematic genius.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the movie was Cameron Bright. I've noticed him popping up more and more recently. I first saw him in Godsend, which is great. If you saw Hide and Seek, regardless of your opinion, you should see Godsend. Shame on de Niro, but these are the exact same movie just with a different cast. It's just that the Godsend pulls it off so much better. Anyway, back on track here, he's also been in Ultraviolet and X-Men: The Last Stand (ooh, ooh, another good one!) that I've seen. He's good in 'em all, but he takes the cake in this movie. Simply incredible. He's got this quiet intensity that's hard to describe but that helped drive the movie along (he was one of the reasons Godsend was so much better than that other movie). I hope this kid makes it big.

Also, Vera Farmiga turns in a powerful performance. One of the nifty things about this movie, one which Roger Ebert picked up on, is the fact that even the smaller characters have some long scenes. Without spoiling anything, her character makes one of the best saves of the movie in what has to be one of the most disturbing scenes in recent memory.

Somewhere along in my rant, I lost track of the fact that I originally picked up this movie because I'm a Paul Walker fan. Granted, there was not much time for 'acting' on his part in the movie. As Ebert puts it, he more or less "behaves". But, all things considered, he "behaves" rather well (and by "rather well" i mean "phenomenally"). The liberal use of the f-bomb aside, he's got the super-intense guy running for his life thing nailed. Wonderful stuff here.

And again going back to the hockey rink scene, I'm just not going to be able to stop talking about that one for quite some time, I think.

Did I mention that the way the movie was shot, the nifty camera angles, and some of the terribly poignant imagery might be some of the best I've seen? It's artsy and unique without the pinkie-in-the-air pretension that goes along with most independent films that attempt to be different. The difference may be that the style this movie is shot in not only add to the intensity, but they further the storyline and the characters as well.

Again, I'd like to encourage everybody to just go out and buy this movie. Go. Shoo. Now.

Hypocrisy

Interesting thought here...

I work in a call center troubleshooting people's issues. Woman calls in pissed off for various reasons. I'm on the phone with her for a little over an hour, all issues solved, customer is happy when call ends. I get in trouble for talking too long with her. What is wrong with this picture?

Lightning Bug

I don't know exactly why I'm writing this... boredom maybe? Or the fact that I don't want to go to bed yet. Don't want to work tomorrow. I just finished watching this most remarkable movie called Lightning Bug. Funky title, I know, but it was truly a wonderful movie. Assuming this blog is actually read by anybody, I doubt any of you has ever heard of it. I happened to stumble upon it when browsing online. You see, I have this near obsession with a show called "The Loop" which was on Fox for all of twenty seconds or so. For some strange reason, nobody watched it. Thankfully, Fox, in all their wisdom, has decided to bring it back. For the intelligent folks out there, it starts again in January. I am eagerly counting down the days.

Anyway, I was looking up info on the cast and happened to stumble on this Lightning Bug movie in Bret Harrison's credits on IMDB. Anyhoo, despite the blah reviews it got, I found a copy and picked it up. What can I say? The premise sounded interesting. I have this flaw in that I spend far too much money on movies... I have this ridiculous movie collection for somebody my age. I take a lot of chances buying movies, because there's something about renting that I just don't like...

Thankfully, this was one of those gems that made me feel really good about buying movies I've never heard of. Despite the "experts" saying it was poorly written/acted/whatever, I really got a kick out of it. I'm not exactly sure that's the right description, but what the hey. It's billed as a horror movie, which is more true of this than many of the *other* movies I've seen this year. The horror doesn't come from any gore or deranged-psycho-serial-killer either. There's this whole darkness of the human heart thing that comes out in certain parts of the movie that is startling. I caught myself with a white-knuckled grip on my chair on more than one occasion. And to hell with the critics who whine about the acting. It was great. It had passion and heart. That, backed by a really great story full of quirks and the occasional laugh, is really hard to beat.

For the few and proud who may be reading this right now, I urge you to find a copy. And, for Pete's sake, screw your heads on straight and watch "The Loop" when it comes back on. Remember: January... it comes on after that American Idol show... whatever that is. You'll never spend a more entertaining 30 minutes anywhere.

Later,
B

A month later....

So, one month after posting my first blog, here I am writing my second one. Go me. I'm at work today, and bored silly. Sometimes, I wish working for a living wasn't a necessity. Sometimes, when I'm really tired, I find myself thinking that I could actually get by without working ever again. I'd just spend my savings buying lottery tickets or something and one of them would surely win. One would have to. Or I'd end up working again. God forbid. The scary thing is, even though I know this will never happen, I find myself on some days almost convinced that is is going to. Stupid.

The Da Vinci Code comes out on Friday, and I'm looking forward to that. It was one of those books that was poorly written (sorry, Dan Brown fans), but it was just screaming to be made into a movie. And with the cast Ron Howard has managed to build for the movie, it's going to be an instant classic. Speaking of movies, why couldn't Tom Cruise have, I don't know, died in the shooting of MI:3? Just curious.

I've spent the last almost 2 weeks loving Tool's new CD 10,000 Days, which may be the second best CD ever, behind the album this blog is named for. Not to advertise, but everybody should pick it up.

Bravo to Steven Colbert for standing up in front of President Bush and telling it how it is. I almost cried.

Peace.

Here's a Start

Well, my first official blog on this site. Awesome. It's ungodly late at night and I've got to be up for work tomorrow... err, today. 4 hours and counting. Tomorrow's Easter and I'm working. I would expect to at least get holiday pay for it, but no. Not an observed holiday according to the higher-ups. I found it bizarre, but I didn't complain. Tomorrow's going to blow.

Anyway, here's a toast to those of us that work holidays and another for everybody else who hopefully doesn't know we work.