It Just Keeps Going On and On

Good news, readers! The lengthy battle for the Democratic nomination gets to linger on even longer! Hilary Clinton has claimed her anticipated victory. By about 10 points, according to CNN. So she’s not going anywhere any time soon. We’re in for months of Clinton/O-bomb debating. Is that a bad thing?

Well, no, I don’t think so. People say that the Democrats bickering amongst themselves like this is bad for party strength, but why is that? Won’t we, at the end of this all, have a stronger candidate than we would otherwise? I mean, look at McCain. He’s falling asleep all the time, hardly pops up in the news and clearly doesn’t even know what’s going on in the world. On the other hand, ever little thing the democrats say is under incredible scrutiny, so they’ve got to be on their A-game 24/7. I say let’s put our ADD on hold for a little while and let them duke it out.

That said, I pretty much agree with this. Clinton has run an absolutely terrible campaign and I don’t think she has what it takes to attract any voters outside of die-hard Democrats. Obama can and has.

Real Men Fight Each Other

The Mortal Kombat series is infamous for its over-the-top violence and devastating finishing moves. Exploding bodies, blood flying everywhere, and deliciously evil characters all immediately come to mind. But when remembering Mortal Kombat, it is important to keep in mind that this game was always very tongue-in-cheek. This is the series that gave us “toasty,” friendship finishers, and spells every word that begins with a “c” with a “k.”

So perhaps the recent announcement of Mortal Kombat vs. DC should not seem as bizarre as it does. There have been DC fighting games before, and the Mortal Kombat series has been waning in popularity ever since fighting moved to the third dimension.

Yeah, it sounds stupid. But I, for one, can’t wait to see Superman get his ass kicked by Scorpion. We’ll find out just how cool this is the fall on PS3 and 360.

Not to be Forgotten



From the guys that brought you about every other comedy movie released in the last few years, we have the latest Apatow produced film “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” written by and starring the offbeat Jason Segel (Probably most notably known for “Freaks and Geeks” and “How I Met Your Mother”)

So we yet again have another Apatow entry that’s fairly good, not great but worth seeing for some adequate comedy. I think some of the jokes here were pretty clever, though I’m not sure some were as effective as others. Aside from some of Segel’s nude sequences, it took me a while to get into it. The direction was a little sloppy when it came to pacing and I have to admit Segel’s script could of been more polished. I felt like I was still watching what was the first draft of a screenplay, funny but not yet fully realized

I like to think that perhaps my expectations were too high. Richard Roeper for one set it up as one of the greatest comedies in years, which I can’t really agree with. I don’t even think it was up to the standards of 40 Year Old Virgin or Knocked Up. Well aside from my knitpicking, what were the aspects that made this an enjoyable experience? Well byt the time Segel and company got to Hawaii I definitely started to get more into it. Probably some of my favorite jokes were the more subtle exchanges, such as the conversation about Sarah’s “Killer Cellphone Thriller Film” which I suppose was a “Metaphor for a crap movie.” and especially some of the exchanges between Segel and Bill Hader.

If I had to agree on what sells the movie, I definitely say it’s the cooky cast. Especially notable is Russel Brand as the philosophical frontman of “Infant Sorrow” the hip “Aldous Snow” a character that could of been taken too over-the-top but was kept more subtle. Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell were naturally less silly characters as they were mostly love interests, but even they had their moments. Of course all of the “Apatow Regulars” shined (as they often do) in their bit parts. Bill Hader, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd and others brought on plenty of wackiness and awkward situations for all to enjoy. So I’m gonna keep it brief here, though I really am anxious for a film to be on par with “Superbad” and “Knocked Up” it’s still kind of nice to get all these lesser, yet still fun comedies in the meantime. Their definitely better than the competition, which at this time is basically terrible Dane Cook movies. So this one is surely worth seeing (despite my seemingly average 3 star rating),… Perhaps not a film you should be “Forgetting” to see? Ehh, ehh?

T3: Rob and Big


Well all good things must come to an end, and this week was the series finale of MTV reality
show Rob and Big. I feel like I learned a lot about being best friends and stuff.

10. Time Travel
One day Rob decided to take out a time machine he had purchased before Big Black had moved in. They can’t get it to work, so they call the man that made it. This man refuses to meet in person because he thinks Rob and Big are aliens.

9. Turd in the Pool
The duo come home from skate boarding only to find that there has been some human doo-doo in the pool. They turn to Drama, Rob’s cousin, and invite a polygraph examiner to evaluate the situation. It turns out he didn’t do it, so they just pump out the pool, skate, get a cool mural drawn, and return to their every day lives.

8. “Netting Spider Man”
After purchasing a net gun in an earlier episode, Rob and Big are driving through the streets of Hollywood when they notice some douchebag dressed as Spider Man harassing people. They return home, grab the net gun, and drive-by net him while screaming “Rob and Big bitch!”
Classic.

7. Turtle Racing
The boys stop by a local bar and notice that underground turtle racing is an up and coming sport. After a dismal performance from their rent-a-tortoise, they decide to go and capture one in the wild. Speedy Ka-ka-ka-klakston did not fare as well either, so they ended up releasing him into the wild.

6. Special Buddies
After seeing the cover of a cereal called “Good Friends” with a white woman and a black woman on the cover smiling. Rob knew it was destiny. So they dressed up in old women drag and took their own picture and sent it in to the cereal company. After getting turned down, Rob surprised Big with a fake cereal box entitled “Special Buddies.”

5. Dirty Girl
Big Black’s Uncle Jerry comes to town and they decide to film a music video for Rob’s alter Ego “Bobby Light”. The song is entitled “Dirty Girl” and was later released on iTunes.

4. Guinness World Records
Rob picks up a copy of the record book at the grocery store and notices how easy most of the skate boarding records are. So he decides to give Guinness a call and they come out from england to witness history. Not only did Rob break 21 records including most 360 flips in a minute and longest boardslide, but Big Black broke two records of his own. Most bananas peeled and eaten in one minute (3) and most powdered doughnuts eaten in three minutes (5).

3. Black Lavender
For some reason Big Black decides to start stripping under his alias “Black Lavender”. I guess you had to be there.

2. Big Bob
When Rob realizes he can’t relate to Big’s struggles of being obese, they call a make up artist and Rob gets a make over. With a fat suit, 3 hours of prosthetics, and stilts, Rob is transmorphed into 7 ft, 400 pound Big Bob. He finds out what it’s like when your fat and even tries to skateboard.

1. Finale
When Big Black knocks up some bitch, he has to finally move out. An emotional day full of flashbacks and mediocrity. This probably isn’t the best episode, but definitely the most powerful.

C.A.T.: Forever Changes

Forever Changes – Love (1967)

Love’s third album, Forever Changes is simply one of those albums that blew my mind the first time I heard it. And with it’s dark yet beautiful sound, I find myself coming back to it time and time again.

Love’s lead singer and songwriter, Arthur Lee shows an impressive prowess throughout the album, and his strange lyrics are endlessly fascinating. Lee, who died just two years ago, broke this version of the band up after Forever Changes, and this album stands as a testiment to Lee’s unique songwriting talent, and to Love as a whole. Also, even though Lee gets most of the credit, guitarist Bryan Maclean did write “Alone Again Or” and “Old Man”, two of the album’s best songs, so let’s give credit where credit’s due.

Besides the songs of Arthur Lee, what really makes this album special is its distinctive sound. Love’s folk-rock style is brilliantly complemented by some very eerie sounding string arrangements throughout the album and what I would consider mariachi-style horns. Also, what I find unique is Love’s intricate use of acoustic guitars being used in a way that we’re more accustomed to hearing on electric guitars. And by that I mean that most of the songs are pretty uptempo, and yet there are only two songs that feature any electric guitar. Basically I cannot recommend this album enough, it’s one of the few albums I would consider an absolute masterpiece.
Favorite Tracks: Alone Again Or, The Daily Planet, You Set The Scene

Soul Survivors

Shine A Light

I knew I couldn’t pass up the chance to see the new Rolling Stones concert documentary, Shine A Light. It does after all combine two of my favorite things, The Rolling Stones and Martin Scorsese films. Even though it’s certainly not in the same league as Scorsese’s The Last Waltz, it definitely does justice to the experience of a Rolling Stones concert.

The use of cameras is really quite fantastic throughout this film, I don’t know that I’ve seen a rock concert film or dvd that’s been filmed as good as this, and the fact that I saw it on an Imax screen made it even more memorable. But what really makes the movie enjoyable is the fact that The Stones can still put on an incredibly entertaining rock concert. It’s always fun to watch Keith Richards’ signature swagger, and Mick Jagger is still one hell of a showman as far as lead singers go.

The only complaints I have is that Scorsese doesn’t really try to go that far outside of the average concert film format. He does however add in quite a few interviews taken with each of the four remaining members over the years, which are fun to see, but I kind of wish there had been some recent interviews taken especially for the film. But besides that, I really had a good time watching this film, and I’d certainly recommend it for any fan of the Rolling Stones.

My Deepest Apologies

Between 9 hours of class, rehearsal, practicing, softball, homework, and moving into my new dorm room, I haven’t really had the time to bless all the readers with my fruitless knowledge of pop culture tidbits. I appreciate all the work Sean has done on the site, and love reading everyone daily opinions on music, movies, and more. Not to make this blog a place to resort to internet arguing, but indirectly posting your discontent is not as nice as asking upfront.

Well with all this behind us, here and Ellensburg people are jumping off the Mariner band wagon like it was filled with poisonous wheat bread. Sure we had 4 straight losses to one of the worst teams in baseball, but remember, it is April. There is 162 games over 6 months. We are barely a week into the season, and the we happened to lose a couple 1 run games. One run games can really go either way, and with an offense like ours, (not every consistent) we are bound to lose those kind of games. Another thing that erks my jerks is that people are saying that our bullpen is terrible. Sure Putz went down, O’Flaherty has been less than desirable, and there’s this really drunk guy sitting behind me right now, but I don’t think its the bullpen, as much at it is McLaren’s utter stupidity. He put In O’flaherty 3 days in a row, in key situations, and it ultimately led to them losing the game every time. I could understand maybe 2 in a row but 3? Why do that when you have a perfectly good Ryan Rowland-Smith wasting away in the pen? Plus Green, Baek, Caucaron, and hopefully Dickey soon are legit.

But taking 2 of 3 from a surprisingly good Rays team is a good sign, and its good to see the bats come alive tonight against the Angels. Our starting pitching is pretty outstanding besides that fat piece of Washburn. Once Putz gets back we will be fine.

Well I have to get up tomorrow for the big Pre-Season Softball Tournament so I’d better get to bed.