Thursday, December 31, 2009

The Decade, Part II: This Section is Non-Operational

Ahoy, and welcome back to the countdown of the decade!  Literally, of course, since I'm sure, technically speaking anyway, there are far better countdowns that have happened this decade.  That VH1 show about the 100 best hard rock bands, for instance, was super cool.  (And for all you music geeks, there is a clue in the title and the picture for this post to a couple of the albums in this part.  Not that you'll have to wait long, but I'm trying to spice it up).

Anyway, let's get on with the next 36% of the list:

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

This Mystic Decade

That's right, in a burst of horrifying unoriginality I have decided to do what every other journalist/magazine/online publication/blogger/asshole has already done.  Namely, attempt to organize my thoughts long enough to arbitrarily rank a bunch of albums I bought (yes, bought, you dirty music pirates) years ago.  But what can I say?  Like the music geeks above, I'm a sucker for lists.  So I've decided to select my 28 favorite records from this decade.  Why 28?  Because that's how old I am as I write this, and it worked out as the best cutoff I could manage without going completely insane.  My logic is unassailable!  There are, however, a few rules to make it less predictable and more inclusive:

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Metallica at the Honda Center (née The Pond), 12/10/09

I have few concert-going regrets in my life.  To name a handful: seeing 311 instead of Nine Inch Nails back in '99 (hey, I was young); missing my only chance to see the original Black Sabbath lineup because my friend Jeff had the bad luck to get some flaming foam finger in his eye; and my friend's mom accidentally throwing away his ticket to see the Ramones on what we thought was their final tour, back before either of us were old enough to drive (I still have my unused ticket, sigh).  Though I was fortunate enough to correct the last one by catching them at Lollapalooza '97, that show was also the source of perhaps my biggest regret.  That would be basically falling asleep during Metallica's headlining set.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Them Crooked Vultures at the Wiltern, 11/17/09

I'm way behind on this, but before I start writing my long and self-indulgent end of year and decade lists in the next couple of weeks, I have to say something about the band that I've been blabbing excitedly about in this space for months now.  Thoughts on this show and Them Crooked Vultures' debut album coming right up...

Monday, December 7, 2009

Crazy Like a Fox


Last week, after many good intentions and empty proclamations, it finally happened.  Yes, I went back to a movie theater and paid to see a film somewhere other than the comfort of my own home for the first time in over a year.  I have to say, I missed it more than I thought.  It was the middle of a Monday, so it wasn't like I had to deal with any protracted search for a seat, but even the thrill of deciding where best to take it all in came rushing back in a way I hadn't expected.  I frequently argue that movies are too fleeting, character and story-wise, to be worth the effort, but I had forgotten something very important: when it is worth it, it's the only way to go.

Anyway, the movie I saw, in case you hadn't figured it out by now, was Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, and I wanted to say a few things about it.  If you haven't seen it and intend to, stop here.  Seriously, last chance to remain untainted.  I warned you...  Mr. Fox is Keyser Soze!  Ok, not really.  But he is very entertaining.