Category Archives: Entertainment

Entertainment, News

Playstation 3 Slim

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Kombo.com
The new Slim model of the PlayStation 3 was announced just yesterday, and already it appears that Sony is ready to bundle it up with a new game– at least in its homeland of Japan, anyway.

Andriasang reports that Sony is teaming with Namco Bandai to offer a limited edition package which includes the new model of PS3 and the upcoming title, Kidou Senshi Gundam Senki…

The bundle is dated for a release on September 3rd, which just so happens to be the release date of both the PS3 Slim and the stand-alone version of the game in question. The package will run about ¥38,359, whereas the console costs ¥29,980 and the game is ¥8,329. As it turns out, it would be just a little cheaper just to buy the two separately.

$299. Now I know…I should have waited three years.

Entertainment, Femmes, Films, Music, reviews

Film Review: 500 Days of Summer

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Title: 500 Days of Summer
Year: 2009
Director: Marc Webb
Writer: Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel
Length: 95 minutes
IMDb Rating: 8.6/10 (105 in the top 250)
My Rating: 9.4/10: A

Here’s Why:
Finally, I can walk away from a film and NOT feel like “well, that was ok, but it wasn’t worth paying X amount of dollars and a couple of hours of my time to go see it.” A sad commentary on the current state of cinema indeed. Instead, with 500 Days we have the perfect romantic comedy, not a love story. The movie UNchronologically shows us various days in Tom’s (Levitt) emotional journey with the object of his obsession, the gorgeous and seemingly unattainable Summer (Deschanel). The flick is unique because it employs many bizarre, but original tactics to convey plot, humor, and a message. These include a black and white video of characters being interviewed on what “love” means to them, a rarely effective break out into song and dance to symbolize overwhelming euphoria, a split screen contrasting expectations and reality, amongst others. In the theater seated around me was a shockingly unhip crowd for such a hip show. No Offense! But, it was mostly old folks and pre-pubescent gals. Typically, not of the hipster persuasion. It was hilarious though, as I entered the room, one of the geezers whispered to me “chick flick.” I suppose. But, then again I will refute that. This film, like Juno perhaps appeals to the femmes more than the dudes, because they deal with romance and not action, violence, sports, or gross out humor. But it is unfair to label such as “chick flicks,” because they have far more meaning and integrity than most movies that fall under that umbrella. I actually think girls really need to see this because it remains very true to life by accurately displaying how they drive us guys completely crazy with their mind games! And at that token, men and boys alike should find comfort and humor in relating with the male lead and his troubles. Overall, a fantastic masterpiece, with truly colorful, believable characters, witty, laugh out loud comedy, endearing story, and very appropriate soundtrack: Smiths, Black Lips, Kickass!!!
GO SEE IT NOW!!!

Chris

Drugs, Entertainment, Femmes, Films, Lists, Music, Soccer

My Favorite Movie Soundtracks!

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Starting with this post I’m doing something different with my lists. I will list them off in the opposite direction, working our way down to number 1! Ahh, the anticipation.
40) Grindhouse (2007)
39) Cruel Intentions (1998)
38) Pink Flamingos (1972)
37) Requiem For a Dream (2000)
36) Reservoir Dogs (1992)
35) American Beauty (1999)
34) A Clockwork Orange (1971)
33) V For Vendetta (2006)
32) The Godfather (1972)
31) The Wedding Singer (1997)
30) Donnie Darko (2001)
29) Clerks II (2006)
28) Natural Born Killers (1994)
27) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
26) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2001)
25) 500 Days of Summer (2009)
24) Animal House (1978)
23) High Fidelity (2000)
22) Willy Wonka (1971)
21) Wizard of Oz (1939)
20) South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut (1999)
19) Stand By Me (1986)
18) Goodfellas (1990)
17) Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003)
16) Do the Right Thing (1989)
15) Detroit Rock City (1999)
14) The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
13) American Graffiti (1973)
12) Almost Famous (2000)
11) Trainspotting (1996)
10) Good Will Hunting (1998)
9) The Graduate (1967)
8) Rock and Roll High School (1979)
7) The Wall (1979)
6) Pulp Fiction (1994)
5) Garden State (2004)
4) Dazed and Confused (1993)
3) Juno (2007)
2) Forrest Gump (1994)
1) The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)!!!

Chris

Books, Culture Jamming, Entertainment, Femmes, Films, Politics, rant, reviews, Uncategorized

Book Club Review: Catcher

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Title: The Catcher in the Rye
Author: J.D. Salinger
Year: 1951
Pages: 214

Review:”If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.” Arguably the greatest opening line to any novel. Well, Holden, if you do want to know the truth, we DO want to hear about it! In fact, for nearly 60 years our grandparents, parents, older siblings, and us have adored it. Why? What makes this novel so special? Well, Salinger masterfully captures an adolescent’s concern, fears, desires and instead of coming off as an adult attempting to represent this mentality of a teenager, he literally writes in the damn lingo of a buzzcock. Goddamit! As far as I’m concerned Salinger ain’t telling the story, it’s Holden who’s’ running the show. It’s his book entirely. Holden has become the Pied Piper for a whole slew of lonesome cowboys: Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle, The Perks of Being a Wallflower’s Charlie, and that cute radical nerd fellow from Kids Like You & Me. In short, he’s a middle finger to the establishment or a haphazard, misanthropic messiah, trying to save everyone only if he can save himself… and all.

Why Subversive?: Catcher has the unfortunate privilege (how’s that for an oxymoron?!) of already being subversive before you even read one word. It’s subversive simply for it’s reputation of consistently being a victim of Banned Books Lists and Censorship Nazis. Apparently heavy drinking and cussing some naughty words is worse than trying to commit suicide, murder your father, and fuck your mother as we witness with Shakespeare. Also, since some weirdos decide to assassinate (or attempt) public figures (John Lennon and Ronald Reagan) after or while reading the book, doesn’t mean shit! Look at the millions that didn’t grab their guns! Why focus on the select few? Not that Reagan would have been a great loss, but Hinckley’s motives were hardly in the vein of Leon Czolgosz: impressing Jodie Foster. Really?! haha. And you can calm down I’m not advocating political assassination, I just think Leon had much better, humane reasons. Anyway, I’ve digressed into this tornado of off topic subjects. Simply, Catcher challenges the reader to question authority and reject social norms.

Questions to Ponder (or leave a comment to!): What will become of Holden Caulfield? or What became of him?
What ever happened to Jane Gallagher? Is she in any way related to the awful comedian of the same name?
Why was Holden placed in a mental institution? How did this ALL transpire?
Any others?

Grade: A+ My all time favorite!

Chris

Culture Jamming, Entertainment, Music, rant

Rock and Roll Is Dead…

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You can eschew the title, I simply employed that as an attention grabber. Is rock dead? Well, that’s for you to decide, because it means something different to everyone. I suppose. Anyway, the point of this brief rant is actually about the rise and fall of good, mainstream music. Now, I know there was plenty of fantastic music before the dawn of Rock and Roll, but you have to start somewhere and I’m starting with Rock and Roll in the 1950s. It was new, rebellious and danceable. Hell, it even broke the color barrier. Whether it was Chuck, Dick, or Elvis that kicked off the whole show in a big Fucking way is another story. As we move into the 1960s, the bubblegum remains, but it’s still passionate. The Brits invade and take over the charts, Americans fight back. The music of the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and dozens of others becomes the soundtrack to a youthful Revolution protesting Western Civilization… and just having a gooddd time, man. By the 1970s, things start to become too commercialized. Right around 1973. Then tons of shit is splattered at us! We have dealt with shit before (see Patti Page), but not to this extreme. This begins, what Pete Townsend once declared “the fall of the Roman Empire.” And ever since then mainstream pop music has been more or less dominated by shitty, overly mersh music. The 90s did have various stellar mainstream bands (Smashing Pumpkins, RATM, STP, etc.) riding the wave Nirvana reluctantly christened. But, it appears to me that we will never again see the days of music with soul, integrity, and passion in domination as we did in the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s. But, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Most of the great music for you is unmainstream, if there ever were such a label. There have always been underground movements and especially uprisings against the corporate ogre and status quo which make Rock and Roll fun and exhilarating like it supposedly was in the early days. Right now could be the best time for music; in fact most of the best music I listen to is from the past few years and yet 90% (probably more) of people haven’t heard of it. I advise anyone and everyone to not get caught up in that phony, retro trend of thinking that most of the great music was from the 1960s and 1970s and today’s music just sucks ass. It is true that the “better” music was popular and dominated the radio back then and modern radio bares no resemblance to that, but don’t get sad, go out and discover new bands or dare I say start your own! Good Luck!

Chris

Entertainment

Maine The Whitest State?

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Many tourists who pass through Maine have many a positive thing to say about the state: it’s quiet, relaxed, isolated, wooded and just very rural. One other thing that may strike most visitors, especially those from the suburbs and the city, is the fact there isn’t much diversity there. True, there’s the occasional Native American reservation, but that’s about it. Even in the bigger cities and smaller suburbs, there lies an overwhelming amount of Caucasian natives. In my lifetime, I have only seen very few blacks, Hispanics, Asians and ecetera from the state of Maine.

Though this is probably irrelevant, I sometimes can’t help but to wonder why?  Why are there so few ethnicities that live there? I asked my mother, and she once told me it was due in part to the extremely cold weather. If that was so, then why are there many different ethnicities–especially African Americans and/or black people living in Michigan? Another time I had asked her, she responded that it could also have something to do with the jacked up education. If that were the case, wouldn’t most Southern schools–states even–have white students? I don’t know why I find this to be fascinating, but I do.

Surprisingly, many Somalian refugees have fled to the Mainer cities of Lewiston, Auburn and Portland, increasing the number of blacks/African Americans in the state to a grand total of only about 1,300. This, coming from Eastern Massachusetts where there is a large number of different ethnicites, strikes me as odd, and also a bit sad. Due to this factor, Maine has been hailed as the whitest state in the United States.

The whole question of whether or not most Mainers are brought up and taught to be racist is quite questionable. On one hand, there was a crazy old man who had made local papers by announcing–and threatening–that he would shoot any black people that came to the churches meetings and that he had a .75 caliber at his home; and the many rumors of a once KKK influence in the state itself. One the other hand,  Assata Sherill, a black female resident of Maine—once a victim and survivor of racial prejudice due to having rocks thrown at her at her by whites in the area—thinks of Maine as being ” ‘insular’ ” versus being ” ‘racist’.” The question itself still remains: Why is Maine so diversity-challenged as a state? Sadly, like many unsolved mysteries, it may never be answered…

To read more about the story of the crazy older man and more about the NAACP in Northern Maine, click on this link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/28/us/28bangor.html