Monthly Archives: August 2009

Film and Television, Pop Culture

I Saw Moon And It Was Really Good

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moon_movie_image_sam_rockwell
Sam Rockwell Stars in Moon

Hey what’s up? How is your Saturday going? I just got in from a pass through Trader Joe’s (milk chocolate covered peanut butter crackers, mmm) that I made on my way home from seeing the amazing new film, Moon. All I knew about this film going in was that David Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones is the director, and it stars Sam Rockwell (who was so excellent in Choke). If you don’t know much about Moon, I would recommend not reading any reviews, because the element of surprise that you get from the film as its plot unfolds is so worth it. Moon features some familiar themes of advanced future technology and life on an isolated space station that we saw in classic sci-fi films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Silent Running. But I was really not expecting the twists and turns that Jones throws at you in this truly original story. Rockwell’s portrayal of Sam Bell, an astronaut who wonders if he is going insane as his three-year mission on the space station comes to a close, is top notch and finely nuanced, and Kevin Spacey is fun as the voice of the ship’s computer, Gerty. Clint Mansell (Pop Will Eat Itself), who does the soundtrack music for all of Darren Aronofsky’s films, wrote the score. Moon is a very beautiful, eerie and touching film that I am giving two thumbs up!

Music, Pop Culture

Fiction Plane at the Mercury Lounge: What a Great Show!

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joe sumner of fiction plane
Fiction Plane Vocalist Joe Sumner

Everyone who knows me is aware of how difficult it can be to get me to leave my house to attend a mid-week rock show. Unless food is involved, it is usually not going to happen. The reasons for this are two-fold. First of all, any band whose set time starts later than 9:00 PM is automatically eliminated from consideration, because if I’m not in bed asleep by 11:30 PM I turn into a pumpkin. Secondly, I honestly hate 90% of all music recorded after 1985. Just being serious.

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Design and Innovation

Shark Attack Bean Bag Chair

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Shark Bean Bag Chair
“Ouch!”

Well, actually this is just the cover for what becomes a pretty swell-looking Shark Attack Bean Bag Chair once filled with 200 litres of beans, which are not included in the sale price of $19.95 plus shipping.

Thanks to Neatorama For The Tip!

Music, Pop Culture

Remembering Guitar Legend Les Paul

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Les Paul RIP

Les Paul, inventor of the solid-body electric guitar, passed away on August 13th, 2009 at the age of 94, due to complications from pneumonia. This news makes me so sad, I can’t even think of anything to say about it right now, but you can read an obit from the New York Times at This Link.

Books and Periodicals, Pop Culture

David Sedaris Explains Why I Will Never Leave Manhattan

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NYC aerial view

“After a job was finished, we’d stand on the street drinking beer or foul-tasting Gatorade. The tip would be discussed, as would the disadvantages of living in this particular neighborhood. It was generally agreed that a coffin-size studio on Avenue D was preferable to living in one of the boroughs. Moving from one Brooklyn or Staten Island neighborhood to another was fine, but unless you had children to think about, even the homeless saw it as a step down to leave Manhattan. Customers quitting the island for Astoria or Cobble Hill would claim to welcome the change of pace, saying it would be nice to finally have a garden or live a little closer to the airport. They’d put a good face on it, but one could always detect an underlying sense of defeat. The apartments might be bigger and cheaper in other places, but one could never count on their old circle of friends making the long trip to attend a birthday party. Even Washington Heights was considered a stretch. People referred to it as Upstate New York, though it was right there in Manhattan.

Our bottles drained, Patrick would carry us back to what everyone but Lyle agreed was the center of the universe.”

– from the story, “The Great Leap Forward” in Me Talk Pretty One Day, which is completely hilarious