It's been a long time since I crossed the creek in the woods, but as a young reader I never envisioned Bridge to Terabithia as the fantasmagorical CGI romp Disney has created.
If the film stays true to the book's ending, this trailer is really misleading and it's going to piss off a lot of uninformed moviegoers.
Without spoiling the book, let's just say: No sequel.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
A Bridge Too Far
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Now Hear This: It's Movie Time!
Philly heroes, Audible, have landed a song in the new Jennifer Garner-Kevin Smith flick, Catch and Release.
What's more, "Sky Signal" made the soundtrack alongside tracks by Foo Fighters, Gomez, and The Lemonheads! Cha-ching!
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Mo' Features, Mo' Problems
So, I switched to Blogger's new version, and my post from January 15th was lost.
I'll recreate it this evening, but in the meantime...up yours, Blogger.com!
Monday, January 15, 2007
Always Do the Right Thing
You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve.
Words, words. This blog of words began 2 years ago. It was inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others brave enough to stand against inequity.
Stay vigilant against racism, and confront discrimination in all its forms. Educate yourself; it's the first step towards solving the problems of inequity in the land of the free (and around the world).What we need is awareness, we can't get careless!
--Chuck D, Public Enemy
Love the old burgundy Phillies cap. It was unique.
Add Public Enemy to Philebrity's list of 50 Fabulous Freaks.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Quest For Blood Mountain!
I didn't think Mastodon's Blood Mountain could get any better.
Boy, was I wrong!
Now the experience of Blood Mountain is available as a kick-ass video game!
And Cat Power has the nerve to call her album The Greatest. Yeah? Bring it.
Blood Mountain: still the best album of 2006!
Quest for Blood Mountain: the best non-Guitar Hero II rock-based video game since Journey Escape.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Smile
Anything I write about this will just detract from its brilliance.*
*Props to my homegirl, Michelle, for pointing this out.
Now She Can Buy Flour When She Lands
The city of Philadelphia settled the lawsuit from a woman who was carrying flour-filled condoms onto a plane. She got $180,000.00 when she should have gotten a gafflin'.
I wish I were dumb enough to think of something completely stupid for the city to pay for. And I don't mean The Gross Clinic.*
Stupid like a fox!
*At last report, the principal at the Rhodes School was sucking the teat of Teach for America, and non-TFA teachers didn't have textbooks for their students. I'm just saying. $180,000 could probably buy at least 1 book for 100 students to share.
Monday, January 08, 2007
The Strength of Street Knowledge
Time to test your N.W.A.ledge, kid.
You can't top my perfect score (with all bonus questions correct), but you can still represent.
All answers courtesy of the incomparable Straight Outta Compton LP.
If you don't own it, your whole music collection sucks.
*Dig the quiz, but dude needs to check his spelling. Straight Out Of Compton??? What the hell is that shit?
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Idol Chatter
Mastodon's Blood Mountain is #24 on Idolator's first Jackin' Pop Critics Poll. Click around on the site, you might find the list I contributed (or not).
Thursday, December 28, 2006
This Is The List That Rocks
The City Paper unveiled its list of the Top 21 albums of 2006 today based on careful calculations from staff picks (click #16 for my review of Belle and Sebastian's The Life Pursuit). As good as the list is in print, it’s even better online. I’ve already wasted the better part of an hour clicking on the wonderful Databot Listamatron. I love this thing! With a single click, it shows me that no other critic even considered Mastodon worthy of mention.
The Bloody Knee Jerk Albums of the Year List
1. Mastodon, Blood Mountain
2. Band of Horses, Everything All the Time
3. Belle and Sebastian, The Life Pursuit
4. Wolfmother, Wolfmother
5. Artic Monkeys, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
6. The Decemberists, The Crane’s Wife
7. Islands, Return to the Sea
8. The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America
9. Yo La Tengo, I Am Not Afraid of You, and I Will Beat Your Ass!
10. Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere
The Hold Steady’s Boys and Girls in America tops the CP list (#8 above), but other than Gnarls Barkley (#10, both lists), none of my choices resonated strongly enough to make the top 10. Three of my choices made the top 21, which speaks to the diversity of the critics and my list. As any good critic knows, there's a world of difference between studio and stage, so even though I ranked Wolfmother's album ahead of the Hold Steady this year, I was at the North Star for the Hold Steady and not the Electric Factory for Wolfmother on November 21, 2006. That said, both bands turned in fantastic performances at Lollapalooza in August.
Mastodon’s Blood Mountain reigns as my pick for album of the year because it’s been a long time since an album’s had me running around the room making train noises and ramming my head into the wall. Blood Mountain kicks so much ass that I couldn’t justify denying it top billing on my list just because Mastodon left Philly off their tour. Relapse Records (Mastodon’s label) is based in Upper Darby with a store just off South Street, and the band still skipped us. Unconscionable. Nonetheless, great music will prevail and I’m proud to say that I was the only reviewer putting Blood fuckin’ Mountain on my list, and number 1 to boot (black steel-toe, to the head).
It is impossible to hear every record released in a given year. I missed the Art Brut boat in 2005. Bang Bang Rock N Roll was released stateside in 2006, but putting it on my list would be akin to breaking my hip (Ha!), and I fear the wrath of Pelusi. Likewise, I only picked up Clipse’s Hell Hath No Fury CD last week (after CP polls were closed). Holy shit, this is a fine piece of work. Maybe I’m crazy, but I would rank it #4, which means that Gnarls gets bumped.
It’s a top 10 list, not a top 100 list, so the following albums although quite good, didn’t make the cut: Ghostface Killa, Fishscale; Regina Spektor, Begin to Hope; Cat Power, The Greatest; M Ward, Post War; The Flaming Lips, At War with the Mystics, and 80 albums I’m forgetting. Cat Power’s album is amazingly beautiful, but my approach to these end-of-year lists precludes me from including it because I rarely have the desire to listen to it. It collects dust along with 88% of my CD collection, and I skip its songs when they come up on my iPod (although I don’t go so far as to remove them). Pretty songs put me to sleep.
It’s A Material World Award
Tool, 10,000 Days
Regardless of the quality of the music inside, the packaging on a Tool album is always a work of art. Be it the magic motion inserts on Aenima, the multi-layered psychedelic medical booklet for Lateralus, or the fold-out viewfinder on 10,000 Days, thes artwork is innovative, visually stunning, and recalls classic LP covers, such as the zipper on the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers and the wheel on Led Zeppelin III. Using the compact disc format to its full artistic potential is one way to discourage illegal downloading, and downloading in general.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Attention Chief Wiggum
Upcoming Philadelphia events:
Jan. 18, Bob Seger at the Spectrum
Jan. 19, Bob Saget at the Tower Theater
Fans of The Simpsons will recall the hilarious conversation between Lisa and Chief Wiggum in which he mistakes Bob Saget tickets for Bob Seger tickets. Mercy.
Worst. Post. Ever.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Ad It Up
Last Monday during Monday Night Football, two ads aired in succession that got me thinking.
The first ad was a postmodern piece for Sony's Playstation 3. It shows the product having a supernatural effect on a doll. What does it mean? Who cares? The ad doesn't have to make sense to sell this gaming console. Hell, Sony probably doesn't even need advertising to sell out this gaming console for Christmas. They could put a turd in a box, mark it PS3 and well...
The second ad took a more classic approach. It featured an iconic hero, a recognizable theme, and played to our love of the underdog. Yes, it was an ad for Rocky Balboa. Haters out there will put this movie down, but it can be argued that Rocky's done more good for Philadelphia in the past 30 years than anyone not named Rendell, Schmidt, or (person to be determined).
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Merry Lex-Mas: Let Them Eat Brakes
This Lexus commercial really bugs me.
Who are these suckers pulling their lawn chairs up to the curb outside this suburban McMansion to share the joy of a yuppie Christmas?
The poor? The hungry?
The huddled masses yearning to breathe free SUV exhaust?
Joy to the world.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Peter Boyle, RIP: 1935--2006
The world bids farewell to La Salle University's most famous non-athlete graduate.
Peter Boyle died today at the age of 71.
Recommended viewing: Taxi Driver, Young Frankenstein, or that really excellent episode of The X-Files. Unable to find any of those titles, pick something else from the man's stellar resume.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
A Toast at Your Wake
See you in hell, teetotalers! I'll tip my 40 on your grave when I'm 150.
Oh wait, there's a moderation clause. Damn.
Monday, December 11, 2006
She Likes COLD Beverages
Woman in St. Louis kills her 70-year-old husband because he gave her a warm beer.
Damn, that's cold blooded.
Still, he should have known at his age not to give his best gal a warm beer. It doesn't matter that the electricity was out; a true player always has a bucket of ice on hand (or hoofs it to the 7-11) for just this kind of situation. Word.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
The Philadelphia Sixers: Don't Trade Iverson
So the Sixers are the only winter sports team in this town that hasn't won 6 games yet.
Now they're going to trade Allen Iverson.
I have nothing to add except: Don't trade your best player, you morons!
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Mastodon Fails to Rock Philly
Mastodon hates Philadelphia. There can be no other explanation for why there's no Philly date on their upcoming tour.
I was going to rank Blood Mountain in my Top 10 albums of 2006, but now I just don't know.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Are You Ready for Some Reading?
TV Guide is no longer just for TV listings and fanatics of "The Guide."
The Guide's weekly Monday Night Football blog by Philly talent Keith Presnall is essential Tuesday reading (and not just for the references to Chuck D, Stone Cold, and Dee Snyder).
Until Then, You're Not Right!
My beloved, 2006 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals have been selected to play in the first Civil Rights Game on March 31, 2007 in Memphis.
Their opponent? The Cleveland Indians.
Nothing like celebrating the civil rights movement while offending Native Americans.
If only I knew how to insert an MP3 of Atom and His Package's "If You Own the Washington Redskins, You're a Cock" here.
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