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We Only Got 4 Minutes to Save the Economy

The Senate has, finally, passed $700 billion buyout in troubled assessts.  74-25, Both Obama and McCain voted for it, which begs the question: why am I writing about this on Cat Fancy?  I don’t know.  I don’t really understand this better than anyone else.

This new bill will cost more than $700B, because they’ve added to it.  It raises the FDIC insurance cap (what?) as well as key elements to attract House Republicans.  There are tax breaks for families and businesses and…
I don’t really care enough right now.  I’m very tired.  But this is serious stuff.  I encourage you all read up on it as much as you can, this will effect all of us.
One thing I’m certain about though, is that I’ve been extremely disappointed with our government’s speed in the face of this crisis.  With McCain suspending his campaign and resuming it, as well as Congress taking time off, it’s like they don’t care enough to fix this problem.
At bleak times like this, we’ve got to put our hopes in future.  After all, it’s not like the apocalypse is coming… Oh wait:

Most Anticipated Fall Movies

John pressured me into this.  Revolutionary Road is probably list-worthy, but I can’t say I know anything about it outside of that trailer.

10. The Soloist/Australia

These movies have Oscar bait written all over them.  The Soloist has Robert Downey Jr, Jamie Foxx, retard musicians, the whole shebang.  Austrailia has that weird war thing going on and it’s all romantic and shit.  Plus, they used real Australian actors!  The trailers haven’t left me that impressed, but let’s face it, we’re gonna see these movies.

9. Quantum of Solace
Casino Royale was an interesting bastardization of the 007 series that turned out to be an acceptable action flick (with the worst torture sequence in the history of cinema).  This new film picks up moments after the last and promises lots of gritty action, I guess.  And Bond walking around in the desert with a machine gun.  The odds are stacked against Quantum of Solace, what with it having the stupidest title I’ve ever heard, but maybe a glimmer of hope remains.

8. Body of Lies
I like Ridley Scott, Russel Crowe, and Leo DiCaprio.  Ridley Scott also seems to really like Russel Crowe too, but that’s beside the point.  This film looks pretty intriguing, mostly because it seems like Crowe put on a lot of weight for the roll.  That always is a good sign.  We’ll find out soon if it was worth the weight, this one comes out in just a couple weeks.

7. Synecdoche, New York

Charlie Kaufman, what an interesting writer.  With Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, he has created some of the most interesting cinematic 
works in recent memory.  Now Kaufman is stepping behind the camera and directing this latest feature.  It stars Phillip Seymour Hoffman, so with these two Synecdoche, New York is guaranteed to at least be interesting.

6. The Brothers Bloom

Bloom is a lucky name 
in film.  This film goes as far as to put it in the title, so you know it must be good.  The Brothers Bloom has plenty of positive hype behind it, not to mention a solid cast, that I’m anxious to see it.  Plus, con movies are inherently fun.  They just are, I don’t know why.  Even Ocean’s Twelve.

5. Zack and Miri Make a Porno
We can’t get enough of Seth Rogen.  Let’s just face that.  Plus, everyone wants Kevin Smith to make a good movie again.  It looks like he might have achieved something with Zack and Miri, the trailer’s charming.  This is another film with a lot of good buzz sorrounding it, I can’t wait to check it out.

4. The Road
Cormac McCarthy = money in the wake of No Country for Old Men, but it looks like this film has more going for it than the author gimmick.  Plus, Viggo Mortenson doesn’t mess around, that dude makes good movies.  The film promises to be shocking, disturbing and a great Thanksgiving dessert.

3. Milk
Gus Van Sant brings us the story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected in California.  The film pairs Sean Penn and Emile Hirsch again, and brings James Franco and Josh Brolin into the mix.  The trailer looks great and think movie will be as powerful as it is entertaining.

2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
It’s getting closer!  We all saw that freaky trailer at some point, and we all know this film is going to kick ass.  I feel like I don’t even need to explain why.

1. W.

Who better than Oliver Stone to tell the story of the worst president ever?  Especially in a heated political season, right around the election.  Stone has a great cast, props especially for picking Richard Dreyfus as Cheney.  The trailer’s good, the posters are funny, it’s gonna be great.  I mean seriously, look at that poster.  “A life misunderestimated?”  That’s awesome!

R.I.P. Paul Newman


Paul Newman
1925-2008

Of all the obituaries I’ve done, which is at this point is a lot, this has to be the most crushing and saddening one yet. We all heard that screen legend Paul Newman had been ill lately, but for some reason I just didn’t want to accpet the fact that Paul Newman would die. Diagnosed with lung cancer last June, Paul Newman had been facing health concerns ever since he’d stepped down from his stage directing debut, a production of Of Mice and Men last May.

Passing away yesterday at his home, Paul Newman left behind a fantastic body of work including films such as; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Hustler, Hud, Cool Hand Luke, my personal favorite Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, Slap Shot, Absence of Malice, his oscar winning role in The Color of Money, Nobody’ Fool, Road to Perdition and many, many more. With his notable silver hair accompanied by the most famous blue eyes in film and trademark charm Paul Newman continually won over the hearts of filmgoers throughout a legendary film career.

Possibly known almost as much for hisNewman’s Own food company (Which donates all of it’s profits to charity and will know be run by his daughter Nell) for his acting, it’s kind of a reassuring thought that Paul Newman can not only live on through his films but as well on our local gorcery shelves and in our kitchens continually reminding us of his contributions to society. It’s sad to see him go but he certainly left quite a mark because there was only one Paul Newman.

Post-Music Bullet Points: "Another Way to Die"

I’m damn late on this post, but I thought I’d take some time and discuss my thoughts regarding that new James Bond theme Following a long line of other notable themes such as “Goldfinger” and “Diamonds are Forever” both sung by Shirley Bassey, “Thunderball” sung by Tom Jones, “A View To A Kill” by Duran Duran, “You Know My Name” by Chris Cornell, the awesome “Live and Let Die” by Paul McCartney and others. So like most I was pretty surprised when I heard the theme was recorded and performed by Jack White and Alicia Keys. I have no idea what audience that appeals to, so also like most I found the final product a dissapointment.

* Who partnered these two people together?
* What’s with that crappy drum machine, sounds like a demo.
* There’s no way Alicia Keys had anything to do with writing this song.
* Why is this so slow?
* This is kind of long, no way they’ll play the whole thing.
* Will they make a stupid music video of this, you know with clips from the movie?
* At least I like the brass, that’s a nice touch.
* I wish they’d gone with Muse performing the theme like they’d originally planned, at least they’re British.
* Did you know Jack White plays the drums in this? He’s not half bad.
* Sorry I could only link you to some guy’s crappy YouTube video of the song. I bet that’ll probably be taken down.
* I just realized I’m doing this using asterix’s, if someone wants to fix that be my guest.
* I should’ve written about the Thursday Night NBC premieres instead, they were pretty good.
* Can you believe 30 Rock doesn’t come back until October 30th?

There you go, half assed but true to myself until than have a pleasant tomorrow, Otteni out.

Post-Game Bullet Points: Rock Band 2


John, Peter and I got to spend some time with Rock Band 2 this weekend.  John and I played it to the point of physical illness, but we still don’t have all the songs unlocked. Since I don’t have the game or even an Xbox right now, I don’t feel like I can write a review.  So instead I figured I’d bring back an ol’ classic, the post-movie bullet points.  Well, this time its a game.  So, here we go:

  • World Tour is finally single player, which is good.  Me making progress alone might anger bandmates though, which is bad.
  • The new songs seems harder, which has mixed results.  “Go Your Own Way” is really fun, “Tangled Up in Blue” is really painful.
  • The challenges are pretty cool, but I’m not that motivated to play them yet.
  • I thought they said we could disable songs from random set lists…  How do I do that?!
  • The talking parts of vocals seem easier.
  • I can’t wait until we unlock “Master Exploder.”
  • I just found out that the DLC “Shoot the Runner” omits the word “bitch.”  What a joke!
  • The lyrics of “The Trees” are really funny.  I’m not sure if it’s intentional.
  • What are they gonna do for Rock Band 1 if they ever release The Colour and the Shape or Nevermind?  Will they include “Everlong” and “Drain You” or are those people boned?
  • Since half of Thunderheart wasn’t there, we didn’t feel right calling the new band Thunderheart.  Instead, we first named ourselves Dickard, but that was banned on Xbox LIVE.  Now we’re Lipschitz.

So, in conclusion, Rock Band 2 is a lot of fun and worth buying just for all the new songs alone.  It feels like a perfection of the last game, which was already one of my all-time favorite games.  Really, go buy this thing already.

For Those About to Rock…

This has been rumored for a while now, but a Walmart memo has pretty much confirmed that AC/DC’s Live at Donington will be coming to Rock Band.  This concert took place in 1991, featuring, according to Wikipedia, real cannons, the Hells Bell, and inflatable Rosie and Angus.

Since Walmart is listing this, we can assume that this might be a disc track pack.  Let’s hope it is also downloadable.  Frankly, I’m not sure how I feel about playing live tracks, but this set list is pretty definitive for AC/DC.  Check it:

“Thunderstruck”
“Shoot to Thrill”
“Back in Black”
“Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be”
“Heatseeker”
“Fire Your Guns”
“Jailbreak”
“The Jack”
“Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”
“Moneytalks”
“Hells Bells”
“High Voltage”
“Whole Lotta Rosie”
“You Shook Me All Night Long”
“T.N.T.”
“Let There Be Rock”
“Highway To Hell”
“For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)”

So, yeah, that looks like a lot of fun.  It really seems like this will be coming out, but remember Harmonix haven’t confirmed it yet.  So curb your enthusiasm.