Big Red Robot: 08.05

8.31.2005

I Hate Billy Joel.

& Sting.

& Bryan Adams.

& Phil Collins.

Just had to get that off my chest.

STELLA!

So my new favorite show as on last night: Comedy Central's Stella. Funny stuff. Comedy Central's site has some clips up, so check it out.

Or else.

So, we watched Beautyshop the other night. When it hit theatres, we both agreed it would make a dumb rental...& it was. Some laughs, but all in all, pretty dumb, fluffy entertainment. I will say that it was far & away better that the last movie we rented, the Wedding Date, which was, in my humble opinion, just a mess of a movie. Still, as bad as the Wedding Date was, it still was a billion times better than Be Cool. That movie was just cancer. It is officially my new barometer of "bad." Anyway, the Fearless Freaks is next in the queue, so that's exciting.

8.30.2005

rocking my world

I've loved Mercury Rev ever since I bought a tape of Yerself Is Steam from the Record City on Charleston the summer before my Senior (?) year. I remember listening to that tape every morning that summer as I got ready to go to work for Kerry Gifford's electric company & thinking back, the sprawling, out there cosmic rock was probably the best soundtrack for that time of my life as I dumped sand in trenches in the 100+ degree sun.

So, here I am, ten years latder, and Mercury Rev's providing the soundtrack to my life again. The Secret Migration is a tight, beautiful, almost poppy album, and man, it's good.

8.26.2005

On the comics tip

I was really excited about this &, all in all, I liked what I read. Casey both pays homage to & pokes fun at the over-the-top Kirby/Lee Silver Age Marvel style & time will tell whether this works or not. @ first blush, I'd have to say I liked what I read & am definitely looking forward to future issues. While I understand what Casey's trying to do here & applaud him for trying to make these forgotten & "uncool" tools (though balloons, obvious exposition, super-compression, etc.) work in a modern comic, I worry that the stylistic tics will get in the way of telling a good story. Casey's obviously a sharp guy & his Basement Tapes column @ comicbookresources.com with Matt Fraction is always an interesting read, but I still get the feeling whenever I read something of his that Casey's just trying too hard, which is better than not trying @ all I guess.

Totally hearting Netflix

Move over Amazon.com wishlist, I have a new obsession: my Netflix queue. Whoever invented Netflix deserves the Nobel Prize or something. I mean, within the next few weeks I'll be watching Beautyshop (Candace wants to see it), the Flaming Lips documentary the Fearless Freaks, Harold & Maude, Dear Frankie (thanks in large part to Chris' pimping of the film), David Byrne: Live @ Union Chapel Hall & Stardust memories, all of which I thought I'd have to wait to see until I moved to a bigger city that good old Rexburg. Not anymore. Yay!