It's late Friday so if you're looking to kill some time, here are two great option. Turd Ferguson directed me to this site where you can stream the entire new Beastie Boys' new album Hot Sauce Committee I've only listened to a few tracks but I like new sound mixed with the old school vibe.

The other time waster was brought to me by the one and only Meg Ross. It's a lot like a really basic program I used to have on my old PC (which I can't for the life of me remember) and it's kind of like a simple garage band. It's like a lot of things but what it definitely is is a way to waste time as you get sucked in to creating a new beat.

Posted by SoulHonky at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Today is one of my co-workers' final days of work so we're all going to head to a place in Silver Springs called Piratz Tavern after work. In honor of Mike G. and his choice of farewell festivities locale, I give you Trey Green.

Posted by SoulHonky at 04:28 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Last year, I was 10 for 10 in my Summer Box Office predictions although I did mess up a number of the actual results and my order wasn't perfect. Still, I usually miss one or two of the top ten so I'm pretty happy with getting all of the top ten.

This year is much more difficult. While much has been made of the crowded summer, I think the real reason this year is hard to handicap is that so many of the films could potentially disappoint and it's hard to figure out which film will be the surprise of the year. Going off of online buzz, the good money is on Bridesmaids but those trailers were so horrible that I just can't bring myself to put it in the Top 10. I'm sure that I missed a couple this year but, for better or for worse, here's my top ten. (If you want to submit your own, go to the SoulHonky.com facebook page and post your top ten. You don't have to put the predicted box office, just the order is enough.)

NOTE: Fast Five is not included because it opens just outside of May, which was my cut-off for the Summer Box Office Challenge.

1. Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon (415) - I originally had this one failing to break 400 because Revenge of the Fallen was so bad but then I saw the new trailer and I think that will bring people back. They also should get a least 140 dollars from zonked out dudes who think they're seeing a Pink Floyd movie.

2. Harry Potter (365) - My math stinks but if everyone who showed up for the last film comes to this one and pays the higher 3D prices, I think this is what it adds up to.

3. Cars 2 (330) - Adults say that this is arguably the worst Pixar movie but kids absolutely LOVE the merchandise. My nephew hadn't watched a full movie in his life but adored "Lightning Mckreen" and all of his friends. I think the merchandising helps sell the movie this time around.

4. Captain America (320) - I just have a feeling that this is going to do Iron Man type numbers. Solid buzz so far and if Thor builds some good will for Marvel, the Avengers tie-in will feed into this film.

5. Pirates of the Caribbean (280) - I'm probably low on this one but I'm just not feeling the momentum for this and it has two big movies opening up the following weekend. But I think enough people will come back and the 3D prices could give it an extra kick.

6. Thor (275) - First movie of the summer and it's getting positive reviews. I could see it also doing close to Iron Man numbers but the premise is a tough sell and Hemsworth is no Downey Jr. so I think it comes up short of 300.

7. Kung Fu Panda 2 (270) - It should get a boost from the fans who missed the first in the theaters and it's the first family movie of the year.

8. Super 8 (258) - The buzz is pretty strong for this one but it's a new film so it might not catch on in this crowded summer. Still, I think JJ Abrams has built a solid enough fan base and I think this one could do Star Trek numbers.

9. X-Men: The First Class (205) - I'm looking forward to this film the most but Matthew Vaughn has a history of making films that I really like but that nobody else goes to see (Kick-Ass, Layer Cake, Stardust) I still believe that it can break 200 million but no Wolverine and the Cuban Missile Crisis makes it a tough sell.

10. The Hangover 2 (185) - I've recently heard a lot of people bashing the original and I also don't think that this one will have the legs that the original had. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if this was a bust.

-----

I think I'm solid with my top 9 but I'm torn on The Hangover. I know I'm probably lowballing Green Lantern and Cowboys and Aliens but I just think those are the two films that are most likely to get lost this June/July. I really don't know why they haven't been moved to August, which I don't think has a top grosser in it and has the probable bomb of the year in Rise of the Planet of the Apes That Have A Planet That Is Apparently Rising For Some Reason, or whatever it's called.
Cowboys and Aliens should move because it's opening against a kids flick in Smurfs and strong looking rom-com in Crazy, Stupid Love, and is right on the heels of Cap America and Harry Potter. Green Lantern should give itself some distance from the other comic book films and if the hype's to be believed, Lantern will be stuck in the shadow of Super 8's word of mouth.

I also don't like betting against Sandler and James who are in Zookeeper but that faces two kids movies in the following two weeks (Winnie the Pooh and The Smurfs) so I think they cancel each other out.

So there you have it. Let the Box Office Madness begin!

Posted by SoulHonky at 04:15 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I deftly avoided Transformers 2 in the theaters but I'll be damned if Michael Bay just didn't put together a trailer that sucked me into Transformers 3. I still could see myself skipping this flick but I think this clip is good enough to boost the box office and make most people overlook the lackluster second effort. On a related note, I wonder how many trailers this year and next will feature a version of the Inception BWOOOOONG!

Posted by SoulHonky at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

OK, well, I tried the options thing and the ones I bought didn't do that well and the ones I passed on or bought and sold quickly did very well. If I had just bought stocks, I'd be sitting pretty with a number of my choices making big gains (like AKAM and AIG, which have both basically doubled since I last invested.) So this time around, I'm just going to buy stocks and hold them for the long haul. I'm kicking myself for not putting money in the market after the crash because so many of the stocks that you knew were going to rebound could have been had for cheaper. I kind of don't want to invest right now since the market made big gains yesterday but, as the saying goes, patience is a virtue that I can't wait for so I'm diving in.

Two of the three stocks I'm going to go with this time around are Human Genome Sciences Inc. (HGSI) and 8 x 8 Inc (EGHT). I went off of the Motley Fool website for those and then listened to When Genius Prevailed's Money McBags on one of his last posts before shutting down his site and put some money into KIT Digital (KITD). I'm sure now that I invested, the stock market will go down for the next couple of days but I'm in the for the long haul this time and it will be interesting to see how this all pans out.
Well, interesting to me, at least.

Posted by SoulHonky at 03:41 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I got the new Explosions in the Sky album and I have to say that I am very pleased with the purchase. Some critics have complained that it's more of the same from the band but, to me, the same is so good that it's hard not to be happy with more of the same. Explosions of the Sky might be the AC/DC of the post-rock genre - they don't change up their formula too much but they keep bringing great music. I definitely recommend checking it out.

Posted by SoulHonky at 03:34 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

This week's Tryout is the Finnish band Rubik. I'm not completely sold on the band but their first single "Law of Gravity" is addictive. Below are some selected songs that they've made available on Soundcloud.

Posted by SoulHonky at 03:37 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

OK, I gotten into a bit of a rut and pretty much fallen off the self-improvement track that I had, well, not exactly been on but at least I was wandering somewhere parallel to it. But just as Easter was about rebirth, it's time to get back on track, start growing up, and getting my shit together. And the first step, of course, is admitting that something is not right with the current status so here's the song of the day for that occasion.

Posted by SoulHonky at 05:08 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I haven't watched it yet but here's a "Master Class" on screenwriting from the current king of eccentric in Hollywood, Charlie Kaufman - writer of Being John Malkovic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and others. He's also one of the insane writing crew that was on The Dana Carvey Show, which also featured Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Robert Smigel, and Louis C.K.

Posted by SoulHonky at 04:48 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Thanks to Turd Ferguson for tweeting this. The only thing better than the intro is the outro.

Posted by SoulHonky at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

The Hollywood Reporter often does roundtables during the Oscars so it's interesting to see them do it for the red-headed step children of Hollywood - the writers of summer blockbusters. And I have to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of some of these guys but their roundtable is closer to what wannabe screenwriters need to hear than what the Oscar nominees say. While discussing passion projects is great, the fact of the matter is that in Hollywood, ability to work with a director or producer is about as important as ability to write. It's not an awe-inspiring talk but it's a pretty realistic albeit unfocused discussion of the actual life of a working screenwriter.

Also, I forgot to post this roundtable when it came out. It's with the Oscar nominated actresses.

Posted by SoulHonky at 04:10 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

LIsten, I'm not saying that my sense of humor is high brow or more finely tuned than anyone elses. But one of the problems I have with Aziz Ansari (and a growing issue with Danny McBride) is that all they ever seem to do is make inappropriate comments that are usually incredibly vulgar. Now, a strategically placed f-bomb or a well time fart are always funny to me but with Aziz and McBride, it seems like EVERYTHING is inappropriate. Now some people get giddy and can't wait for the next vulgarity but to me the comedy was always in the surprise.

Also, in the trailer for "30 Minutes of Less", Ansari's line readings always make me think that he already said the line and he's now repeating it for someone who couldn't hear him the first time. His focus seems more on volume than conveying any type of emotion.

Another red flag for this film (well, besides the trailer which I didn't think was very good) is that the Black List script was originally 120 pages long (usually a script page equals a minute of screen time) and the film is now only 80 minutes. That fact and the quality of the trailer makes it seem like they stripped down the script to its bare essentials and turned in something closer to Paul Blart than a dark comedy.

Now, obviously it's impossible to truly judge a film based on its trailer and I've admittedly never gotten Ansari's appeal so this might be jumping the gun and just not being part of the target audience. But when I heard about this film I had some hopes for it but now I'm seeing it as little more than a potential Netflix Instant flick.

What do you think?

Posted by SoulHonky at 03:44 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Thanks to joblo.com for posting up (and making enbedable) the 22 minutes short film from the Beastie Boys. It's a star-studded affair.

Posted by SoulHonky at 06:15 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I'm really torn on the trailer for "The Change-Up". The premise has been done to death (switching bodies) and this one doesn't really seem to add much of anything new to the game. Most of the humor is potty humor and in some cases, it is literally potty humor. But still, I like the cast and some of the moments look like it could be a pretty good albeit stupid comedy. Maybe a bit like the old Farrelly Brothers movies.

On a side note, has anyone ever done a body change movie with a black and a white guy? I'm sure it's happened but I can't think of one. Or one with a white guy and a black woman could be good. I think those would be better because the changes are more drastic and there are more situations you can mock. The idea of a married guy and a gigolo swapping bodies just seems like it shouldn't be THAT big of a difference. While I like who was cast, having Bateman get married to Leslie Mann (and work with Olivia Wilde) and then be STUNNED when good looking girls are going after him doesn't make him turning into Reynolds's character seem like such a strength. When one of the big differences is pubic hair, it seems like they are really stretching to find things to get humor from in the two different worlds.

Posted by SoulHonky at 04:32 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I didn't really like the first release from Explosions in the Sky's new album. It seemed like they were experimenting but sometimes's I just want groups to stay in their wheelhouse. This one seems like vintage EitS.

Posted by SoulHonky at 04:28 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

A couple of days late on the new Tryout (but you should still check out last week's band, Menage a Twang) but here it is. Thanks to the world famous Kenny Herzog for tweeting about this latest group, Brother; a UK band that seems like they might be the next Blur/Oasis type import to make waves in the US.

Although I have to admit, I've always been disappointed that "Sunderland's greatest rock band" The Futureheads never was able to find a following in the US. I saw their show at the Troubadour this past year and they are just as good, if not better live. I wasn't wowed by their last album but the songs were great live. "Meanwhile" might be one of my favorite songs (and is basically how I feel at most LA parties) and "The Beginning of the Twist" was a song that I thought might be their smash hit, but alas it wasn't.

Still, check out the boys from Brother, who'll be landing Stateside in this weekend. Fri 22nd Apr 2011 Fulton 55 Fresno, CA
Mon 25th Apr 2011 Soda Bar San Diego, California
Tue 26th Apr 2011 Satellite Silverlake, CA United States
Thu 28th Apr 2011 Pop Scene @ Rickshaw San Francisco, CA United States
Brother Sun 1st May 2011 Public Assembly Brooklyn, NY United States

Posted by SoulHonky at 05:38 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I've pimped this show out before but one of my favorite new shows of last year, "Luther" starring Idris "Stringer Bell" Elba, is now out on Netflix Instant. Elba plays a brilliant but troubled detective who is handling a case load while also matching wits with an equally brilliant but even more troubled young woman/killer.

One reason I loved the show was because the standalone cases were very strong while the main arc is different from what we see in most shows and since it is only six episodes, the impact of decisions is instant; the show's main arc isn't watered down to fit the usual American order of 20 or so episodes.

And that's one problem with American TV/cinema right now IMO. If Luther was to be remade in the US, it would be stretched out over at least twice as many episodes or (as in the case of "State of Play", another BBC mini-series) it would be condensed into a two hour movie. I'm surprised that we haven't seen more mini-series out of network television. Most of their shows only last a handful of episodes anyway (for instance, CBS one a bidding war for "Chaos" which they just pulled after three airings) so why not put together a tight, intense six - ten episode season rather than making countless pilots, only to turn a few into shows, and only to have a tiny percent of the shows last? FX seems to be following this model a bit. And yes, it leads to them canceling some critically acclaimed shows with cult followings (like "Terriers" and "Lights Out") but I think it's better for their brand to make these quality, short lived shows than to churn out one crapfest after another ala the main networks (especially NBC.)

I've made this complaint before and it seems like the networks will never change so, in the end, I guess I just need to take the lesson from Marlo.

Posted by SoulHonky at 04:22 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I have to say that I was never a Soul Asylum fan and parts of this song make me laugh because of their cheesiness but whenever someone gets annoyed (or when I get annoyed and try to put a happy face on), I often sing out, "FRU-STRA-TED INCORPORATED!"

Posted by SoulHonky at 04:13 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

CNN reports:

A new study suggests that surgeons are more error prone and less efficient after a night of drinking than at other times, even if they have no detectable traces of alcohol in their blood.

When I read that, I don't think that it's some new, groundbreaking study, I think it's an ingenious way for grad students to be able to booze and make money off of it. Are people really surprised by this? Two days after getting drunk, I'm still feeling the effects. Oddly enough, I was just talking to someone about this and they said that, at their place of work, doctors are only allowed to drink on the first night of their break (i.e, they can drink on Friday if they have Saturday and Sunday off.)

Posted by SoulHonky at 04:08 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Having trouble waking up this morning so I'm going to roll with a song from Mad Season's album.

One of the reasons that I'm tired is that I found out that Cheers is now on Netflix Instant and I started watching the old show Murder One on Hulu. Cheers was great as always and Murder One had some potential but mostly missed the mark because there wasn't a single person to root for in the entire show. The original case is about the murder of a 15 year old girl who apparently slept around with most of Hollywood. I've never seen so many people confess to statutory rape and have nobody bat an eye about it. Daniel Benzali was also miscast in the lead. Because of all of the unlikable people in the show, it either needed to focus on the prosecution instead of the defense or it needed someone with a magnetic personality as the chief council, someone like James Woods or Stanley Tucci (who plays one of the key suspects in the show.)
In the end, the main case seemed to be going to places I've already been so I decided to just go to wikipedia and see how the show ended. And after reading the ending, I'm very glad I decided to cut bait because it seems pretty ridiculous.

Posted by SoulHonky at 06:23 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

In honor of Scream 4, today's songs of the day are "Disappointment" and "Ridiculous Thoughts".

Posted by SoulHonky at 06:11 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Well, I just wasted two hours of my life watching Scream 4 so I'm not about to waste much more time writing up a review of it. To me, it was astonishingly bad. There was one review that said it was like one of the "Scary Movie" franchise more than "Scream" and that's 100% right. From people getting stabbed in the brain and then wandering around long enough to get out a punchline to every character knowing everything about horror movies, the film is just poor. There are no characters and everyone talks like Jamie Kennedy in the first movie. Ghostface's phone calls are all corny; he definitely turned the Freddy Krueger late-Nightmare on Elm Street movie corner into camp. But what was most disappointing is that the movie is dumb. Gone are the days when horror conventions are upped or altered; this film has every ridiculous decision that the first films used to mock. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Don't waste your money on this stupid movie.
Rant over.

NEXT MORNING EDIT: Yeah, the movie still sucked but I should say that it inspired me to work on my own horror screenplay (since the film had a lot of missed directions that would have made it truly genre-flipping and also I forgot to mention that Hayden Panetierre (or however you spell it) came away as the star of the film. Courtney Cox has crossed the Botox point of no return and she's hard to look at but Hayden was great and she should definitely get a shot at a new TV show, if not a rom-com of her own in the future.

Posted by SoulHonky at 12:17 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

This might have just become the movie I'm most excited for in 2011.

Posted by SoulHonky at 01:13 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Right now, I think the Western Conference is battling for second place. With the Lakers struggling and Bynum banged up, I think the top three seeds in the NBA are Boston, Chicago, and Miami. That being said, the Western playoffs could be more interesting because none of the top teams are really clicking right now and the upstarts are all more than capable of pulling an upset. THAT being said, I just couldn't pick any upsets in the first round.
So who do I have coming out of the West?

San Antonio v. Memphis: The Grizz are a nice story and Tony Allen's a lot more fun to root for when he isn't making boneheaded plays for the Celtics but I just don't see the Spurs going out in the first round. The Grizz should be able to put a little bit of a scare in them but the crafty veterans should move on to the second round.
Winner: Spurs 4 - 2
LA Lakers vs. Indiana: As poorly as the Lakers have been playing and as good as Chris Paul is, this series should be a blowout. And with the lockout looming, it might be CP3's final games in New Orleans.
Winner: Lakers 4 - 0
Dallas vs. Portland: First off, how happy is Greg Oden that the Blazers aren't facing OK City, which would have led to two weeks of Oden vs. Durant talk? As for the series, Portland's biggest strength is their depth but in the playoffs, the starters rule. And the bottom line is that the Mavericks' starters and sixth man are just better than what the Blazers have. The Blazers do have a shot to pull of an upset but that would a few "What if" scenarios to come through (Batum stepping up, Roy staying healthy/turning back the clock, Camby dominating, etc. and when's the last time a "What if" scenario worked out in Portland's favor.
Winner: Mavericks 4 - 3
OK City vs. Denver: I really want to pick Denver here. I like their new look lineup and would love to have another reason to tell Rick Reilly to shut up. Reilly, if you don't recall, not only jumped off of the Nuggets bandwagon after the 'Melo trade, he claimed the NBA itself was over and not any fun. Well, the Nuggets are now tons of fun and playing quality hoops but they've been absolutely owned by the Thunder who are fun AND playing top notch ball. If there's a threat to the perennial powers in the West, it's the Thunder.
Winner: Thunder 4 - 1

San Antonio vs. Oklahoma City: The Old Guard vs. the Young Upstarts. Or, for Celtics fans, a battle between the guys we tanked for but didn't end up getting. This is one of the toughest matchups to peg since the Thunder are playing well and the mix of Ibaka and Perkins should be able to frustrate Timmy Duncan. The Tony Parker/Russell Westbrook matchup should be fun to watch but the player of the series is James Harden. The Thunder's defense is great but they're going to need more than Russ and Durant to beat the Spurs and Harden's really their only other consistent scoring threat. In a toughly fought series, I'm going to bet on the vets one more time.
Winner: Spurs 4 - 3
LA Lakers vs. Mavericks: I have zero faith in the Mavericks in general but their lineup actually allows the Lakers to overcome Bynum's injury and run with their best lineup with Gasol at the 5 and Odom at the 4. LA will probably slip up and lose a couple games but this series probably won't ever ben in doubt.
Winner: Lakers 4 - 2

LA Lakers vs. San Antonio: One more time before the lockout. I think the Thunder series is going to take too much out of San Antonio and the odds of these guys all being in one piece this deep into the playoffs isn't something that I'd bet on. I also think that the Lakers will have their eyes on the prize and regain their focus. The Spurs will give it their all since this could be Tim Duncan's last hurrah but I think that the only way they win is if Richard Jefferson steps up and I don't see that happening.
Winner: Chicago 4 - 2

And to nobody's surprise, I'm taking the Celtics over the Lakers 4 - 2 in the Finals. KG and Shaq take home the trophy in their final seasons (since I don't think there's any way the NBA doesn't miss a huge chunk of games next season.)

Posted by SoulHonky at 09:37 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

The "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" trailer hit the web and it has me torn. I've always had a hard time taking James Franco seriously and his recent focus on comedy hasn't helped. And then his turning into America's favorite crackpot and becoming overexposed for it made matters worse. If he wasn't in this, I might have more faith in this. I'm pretty sure the shot of the ape looming over the sleeping kids is kind of ripped off from the book Jurassic Park (or Lost World) but it's an eerie shot. And while I'm not usually a fan of CGI actors, I think it could work here.

Still, if there was a summer blockbuster than I could see bombing, it might be this one although they were wise to plant it on an August 5th release date so it's not really up against the heavy hitters.

But if you want to talk about a bad trailer, how about "Abduction". Interesting cast and I have nothing against Taylor Lautner but his acting in this is beyond wooden. I really hope he's still taking acting classes/saving his money. The one thing I can say to hold out hope for the Team Jacobians is that it seems like he's "an asset" and might have some special powers or something so perhaps the wooden acting was a choice. I don't know. I'm not seeing Taylor making the leap into movie stardom unless his tween fans are ridiculously loyal (and when are they ever?)

Posted by SoulHonky at 04:53 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I had trouble waking up this morning and this song popped into my head.

Posted by SoulHonky at 04:47 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

There's a constant (and deserved) complaint that many trailers give away key moments of a film. Finally, it seems like we have a trailer that really does give away what one would assume to be a major twist in the movie. If you don't want to see "The Perfect Host", watch this trailer and see if you can figure out what twist is given away by the trailer. If you do want to see it, stop watching this trailer about halfway through because, as Rope of Silicon pointed out, the final gag gives away a big twist. (Oh, and don't click on that link if you want to see the film.)

Even if this is not the big final twist, it seems like a pretty big reveal and one that would happen at least midway through the movie. If you're like me and remember most thing you've seen in trailers while watching the movie, knowing this twist will probably make the first half of the movie feel kind of pointless.

Posted by SoulHonky at 03:16 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

I decided to try the song of the day again. I've tried it in the past but I was always looking for new songs and just could never find enough. So this will be less focused on new music and more on how I'm feeling in the morning and finding a new way to kick off the day. So for my first Song of the Day, I'm going to go with Paolo Nutini's "New Shoes". Seems like a good way to kick off the new posting and the new day.

Posted by SoulHonky at 05:11 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

So one of the better NBA seasons of my lifetime is wrapping and the playoffs are about to begin. And while the East has some juggernauts, the West is filled with question marks as the champs are struggling and I have little-to-no faith in the other top teams (Spurs, Mavs, Thunder). But since the West's playoff seedings are still up for grabs, I'll focus on the East for now. How will it all shake out?

Chicago vs. Indiana: The Pacers are a nice story and might be able to steal a game from the Bulls but Chicago should have a fairly easy time dispatching Indiana.
Winner: Chicago 4 - 0
Miami vs. Philadelphia: If the Heat were matched up against the Knicks, I'd take New York to win the series. This isn't a knock on the Sixers, who are an underrated squad but they simply don't have enough to take down the Superfriends. They might not even take a single game from them.
Winner: Miami 4 - 0
Boston vs. New York: If Shaq and Jermaine O'Neal are healthy, this shouldn't be much of a contest. The bottom line is that the Knicks don't match up well with the Celtics. Honestly, New York can barely matchup with Krstic and Troy Murphy, nevermind the O'Neal's. And while I'm a fan of Chauncey Billups, he's not going to be able to keep Rondo in front of him. If the Celtics can get their game faces on, they should take out the Knicks in 5. If not, it might stretch to 7 games.
Winner: Boston 4 - 1
Orlando vs. Atlanta: I don't know what's been up with the Hawks lately but if they don't figure it out, Atlanta will probably get run off the floor by Orlando and the five people who are at the final game of the series will probably start wondering why they overpaid Joe Johnson and traded the promising Jordan Crawford (along with Mike Bibby) for Kirk Hinrich.
Winner: Orlando 4 - 1

Chicago vs. Orlando: Before the last game between the Bulls and Magic, in which the Bulls barely beat a Howard-less Magic squad, I would have said this series will be over in 5. But with Jo Noah still banged up, Dwight may be able to go off. The Magic also replaced Charmin soft Vince Carter with underrated assassin Jason Richardson and I think he could cause problems and perhaps carry Orlando to one victory all by himself. The problem for Orlando, however, is that I just don't see them having anyone to stop Derrick Rose. Unless Jameer Nelson and Gil Arenas can somehow get him in foul trouble, the likely MVP should put up big numbers in this series.
Winner: Chicago 4 - 2

Miami vs. Boston: First, let me start off by saying that there's no way I can be unbiased in this one. I'm a die hard Celtics fan and I haven't hated a team as much as I hate the Heat since perhaps the Bad Boy Pistons. Still, I think the Celtics should be able to knock off the Heat. If the Celtics can deliver the R&R of Rondo and rebounding, then Miami will be off for a little R&R for the rest of the year. I also have a feeling that when the going gets tough, the Heat are going to get at one another. They struggled with losing in the regular season, it might not be pretty in the playoffs. (Oh, and these first two rounds are why the Perk for Green deal went down. Perk wasn't playing crunch time for the C's anyway and they need someone to throw at 'Melo and 'Bron. I'm not saying that that thinking isn't without it's flaws but one of the reasons that Ainge pulled the trigger is because of this kind of playoff scenario.)
Winner: Boston 4 - 2

Eastern Conference Finals

Chicago vs. Boston: To put it simply, my heart says Boston and my head says... well, I can't really hear what it's saying because my heart is screaming "Celtics!". I'm not a big fan of Rajon Rondo but if there's one situation where his switch will be flipped to On and he'll be going balls out is in the playoffs against Derrick Rose. Also, with a lockout looming, this could be the last we ever see of Shaq and Kevin Garnett and I think they'll be tuned in to new levels. The one thing that scares me about the C's is there lack of a firebrand off the bench. There's no Eddie House or Nate Robinson. Jeff Green's quiet. Delonte West is the wrong kind of crazy. Von Wafer's an ass. It'll be interesting to see if someone can step up and deliver but right now I'm not seeing it. On the bright side, I don't think any of their playoff opponents have anyone either so it'll be the starters vs. the starters and nobody matches up with a healthy, motivated Celtics starting 5.
Winner: Boston 4 - 3

Posted by SoulHonky at 04:44 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

To mark the release of their latest album, TV on the Radio has released a video companion/film that is basically a combination of videos for each song on the album. As thefilmstage.com reports:

Nine Types of Light is as much an album as it is a movie by TV on the Radio. The movie is meant to be a visual re-imagining of the record, and includes a music video for every song on the album. The band personally asked their friends and the filmmakers they admired to help direct the music videos. Tunde Adebimpe, the director for the full Nine Types of Light movie, storybooked the music videos together with interviews from local New Yorkers on various topics, including dreams, love, fame and the future. Tunde also directed the music video for Forgotten.

Posted by SoulHonky at 06:51 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

These guys seem to have a thing for gross videos but this song is pretty good. It seems like something is missing and the song doesn't really grab me or stick in my head but I'm still a fan. Also, it's the first remotely good new band I've discovered on Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist lately. I used to find a handful of new bands a month from their list but now there are just too many electronic, 8-bit sounded bands and just noise rock. Not my thing.

Anyway, enjoy colourmusic's "You For Leaving Me"

Posted by SoulHonky at 12:12 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

This week's Tryout is another friend of the ol' Honky, as some high school friends came together and created a country-ish group called Menage a Twang. They remind me a bit of an East Coast Garfunkel and Oates. The biggest difference between the two is that Garfunkel and Oates have a too cool for school attitude while Menage a Twang makes fun of the too cool for schoolers while also being self-deprecating. A good example of the difference between the two is their take on women with kids. G&O simply judge and sing "Pregnant Women are Smug" whereas Menage a Twang can make fun of themselves while mocking their friends with "I Don't Want to Hold Your Baby". Although, honestly, all you really have to say to explain the difference is that G&O are actresses whereas Menage a Twang's actually lived in the real world. Although it's not like I'm trying to start some East Coast/West Coast battle between the two; they're both good but I'd love to see Menage a Twang get the following that Garfunkel and Oates have put together.

I couldn't find anything from their new album online but it has a number of standout tracks, my current favorite being "Time Warner Cable" which is not only a fun song but also is the perfect modern living country song as it compares a relationship to Time Warner's customer service (which is a pretty good comparison, honestly.) Overall, I just like the fact that it's a modern city living, early 30's based country album with songs that many of us can relate to like "I Don't Want to Hold Your Baby", "Facebook", and "Blender", which is about how married friends throw salt in the wound of single folk by signing up for expensive registries.

Here's a link to CD baby where you can buy/listen to excerpts of their latest CD. So support indie music and grab a copy already!

Posted by SoulHonky at 04:14 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

NOTE: Forgot to post this earlier this week. Whoops.

Found this over at IndieWire's The Playlist blog. It's the trailer for the Kings of Leon documentary. At first I was thinking it's a little too soon for a trailer about these guys but I forgot that their daddy was a preacher and that angle gives it some potential. It probably won't be as revealing as it should be and I'm not sure that there's anyone as interesting as Anton Newcombe who helped make DIG! one of the favorite rock docs but the trailer for "“Talihina Sky” piqued my interest.

Trailer | Talihina Sky: The Story of Kings of Leon from CloserToKOL on Vimeo.

Posted by SoulHonky at 07:41 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

"Hanna" is the type of film that you have to appreciate for its parts and forgive the whole for being little more than an exercise in style. The plot is barely there, the characters are one dimensional, and overall you just have to check your brain at the door and go along with the ride. Although, personally, I didn't find the ride itself all that entertaining. Because there wasn't much of a driving force behind the narrative, the pacing of the film seemed slow to me. Action scenes don't happen because of some sort of need, they just take place because, well, people bumped into one another/found one another. Most disappointing, though, was the Chemical Brothers score, mostly because the scenes it was driving were fairly standard chase scenes. The first time their beats kick in, you sit up, ready for action. By the end of the film, you just kind of inhale and sigh, "And she's running again..." Similarly, at the start of the movie, I was a fan but as it wore on, I became less and less enamored until, at the third act, there were a few moments where i almost laughed at the film.

Of course, a lot of people like films and are able to appreciate style for the sake of style so I can't give this a blanket "It's a rental". If you like films that might not offer a lot besides a few set pieces and some stylized shooting, Hanna could be for you. Sadly, it wasn't for me.

Posted by SoulHonky at 07:13 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Ryan Gosling has kind of been the younger version of Johnny Depp; a guy who burst on the scene and seemed like a matinee idol but then seemed to do everything in his power to avoid that fate. Granted, in today's Hollywood, avoiding mainstream films just means that you're taking actual quality scripts over the overhyped crap out of the studios but I've still been waiting for Gosling to make his run at the A-list. "Crazy Stupid Love" could be the movie that pushes him closer. Lord knows that the ladies will be loving him but he is really one action picture away from the A-list. I'm kind of surprised that he hasn't been rumored for the new Borne movie since he'd be a surprise action choice, just as Matt Damon was when he was originally tabbed for the role.

Also, this movie could be what moves Emma Stone into big girl roles. Don't get me wrong, I loved her in "Easy A" but it's time to graduate from those roles and play her age (she's 23). On the other hand, this film does seem to keep up the illusion that Marissa Tomei somehow couldn't land someone better than an average guy. She is one of the sexier actresses in Hollywood yet she's been paired with guys like Steve Carrell, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly, etc. I mean, thank you Hollywood for giving me hope but seriously... Also, could we get her a lead role already?

On the other hand, two It Guys who probably won't see a bump are Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton, who are squaring off in Warrior. I've been waiting for the first great MMA fight but this doesn't seem to be it. It doesn't help that the trailer takes a silly premise - two brothers fight in a MMA tourney and, against the odds, both end up in the finals - and makes it stand out by having the announcers literally explain what is going on. On the bright side, Gavin O'Connor's "Pride and Glory" did grow on me after a first disappointing viewing but I'm still not seeing this film being the one that really puts MMA on the map. At least it looks like a step forward from "Fighting".

Posted by SoulHonky at 06:15 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Haven't gotten a chance to watch this but saw this on Deadline Hollywood and Slash Film so I thought I'd post it up here as well. Here's the first 12 minutes of HBO's newest epic, "Game of Thrones".

Posted by SoulHonky at 05:55 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I've been slacking off a bit on the ol' blog and the Joy Formidable has been the song of the week for a while but finally I've found a new song to make my playlist. The Pains of Being Pure of Heart's new album (below) is a solid effort although I do think that a lot of the songs remind me of other artists and I want to listen to those songs instead. For instance, the first song makes me want to listen to some vintage Smashing Pumpkins, which shouldn't be too surprising since the Pumpkins' producer Flood worked on the Pains album as well. Still, it's a solid album and the first good new music I've heard in a while.

Posted by SoulHonky at 04:27 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I've been pretty slackadaisacal lately in terms of posting and, well, everything else so I'm going to try to kick off April by being more productive. Of course, the fact that I'm kicking off April on the 3rd doesn't bode well for my new resolution.

Anyway, the subject of this post is Duncan Jones's new film "Source Code", which I have to say was a disappointment. It was interesting enough but overall it was a film that probably lands at the top of the Rental category. You won't be disappointed if you catch it in the theaters but there's really no reason to rush out and see it.

What's most interesting about the film being disappointing it that the script for it was lauded as genius and found itself on the Hollywood Blacklist (a list which hasn't been producing many hits lately, it seems) but most of the problems the film had were on the script level. Maybe Jones and the producers made some changes but the execution of the idea and the lack of a few certain basics were what really hurt the film IMO.

The first notable problem for me was the weak time pressure. At the start of the film, we learn that there's an imminent dirty bomb threat in Chicago. But we never get any better sense of the threat besides Vera Farmiga's character every so often exclaiming that they are wasting valuable time. There's no ticking clock and after a while, even the threat of the dirty bomb seems secondary.
But the more confusing bit for me was that the initial theory of Source Coding or jumping into another person's final minutes is explained as being similar to the afterglow of a light bulb. When Jeffrey Wright (who, on a side note, hammed it up far too much in the film) said that, I immediately thought that that also meant that the person's afterglow was a temporary state; a glow that would eventually fade out. That element could have added to the pressure on each of Jake's trips back in time but it never existed. It seems like the glow lasts forever since they just kept sending Jake Gylenhall back in time over and over, which is the film's bigger problem.

The film presents itself as a thrilling whodunnit but the investigation is all stakeless, trial and error. And what I mean about that is that the investigative moments of the film take place in the afterglow. It's not the real world so Jake's character can basically do whatever he wants, accuse whomever he feels like, kill someone etc. Whereas most whodunnits focus on "We can't let him get away!", Source Code exists on a plane in which you can always let the guy get away because you can just go back 8 minutes and try again. Because of this (and spoilery reasons I'll discuss later), the film fails almost completely as a whodunnit.

That leaves the film as a character piece and in doesn't really succeed there because there just isn't a lot to go off of. The key romance features Jakey G. and Michelle Monaghan but since we and Jake's character only have known each other for a dozen or so of the same 8 minute intervals, it's hard to buy into the love story.

All in all, the movie plays as a decent but forgettable flick that feels like it could have been so much more.

For my take on the ending and other spoiler-heavy issues, click CONTINUE READING

SPOILERS BELOW

OK, now this might be nitpicky but one of my main issues with the end of the film was that it felt like a pre-9/11 villain. The guy who plants the bomb on the train and amasses enough material for a dirty bomb is a lone bomber. I thought Jake would have to find the guy and then get him to confess to where the bomb is but nope, it's just one guy doing the whole thing.
Almost odd to me was that, after apparently amassing two bombs in order to tear the US down to rubble, the bomber pulls a Bond villain-esque maneuver of detonating one bomb and sending a note to the cops to let them know that he is about to do something even bigger. Maybe I missed something but I have no idea why he would have done that. All it accomplished was that it made his life more difficult.

As for the very ending, I kind of hated it because I am not a fan of alternate reality endings. To me it just cheapens the whole story. To have it go from a dimming afterglow of a person's final minutes to suddenly being an alternate reality in which everyone (besides Sean Fentriss, whose body and girl are stolen by Jake) lives happily ever after. It also cheapens the more philosophical debate about whether or not you would use a human being as a piece of code in a program that could potentially save lives and solves crimes. Is it inhumane to treat Colter Stevens like that or should he be allowed to die and go to an alternate reality aka heaven.

OK, rambling over.

In the end, this is a film with a cool premise but then proceeds to never decide whether it wants to be a character piece, a whodunnit, or a moral quandary and ends up being not much of anything besides a decent way to waste two hours.

Posted by SoulHonky at 01:19 PM | Permalink | Comments ()