Rating: 10 / 10 You show me a David Cronenberg movie that thematically tackles the transitory nature of the flesh, the inherently stateless class of consciousness, or the symbiotic relationship between man and technology, and I’ll expect any of a dozen movies he’s made over the course of his career. (I still think his masterful…
Muswell Hillbillies was the start of a new era for The Kinks, as they left longtime label Pye and signed with RCA. Emboldened by the commercial success of their previous album Lola v. Powerman…, they would release six albums with RCA that would go on to be commercially disappointing and critically quizzical, to say the least.…
In memory of Tony Scott, who took his own life at the age of 68 on August 19, 2012, I thought I’d revisit a write-up I did for his seminal 80s music-video turned something wholly other military manlove flick “Top Gun”. Written as a DVD review way back in 2004, I had a blast with…
So it’s Tuesday August 6th, 2002, and the phone rings. A landline phone, but with a Caller ID display. How quaint. I recognize your number and you’re maybe one of, oh, let’s say three people I’d answer readily without letting it go to voice mail. I click the Talk button. “Lees!” I try not to…
Rating: 8 / 10 The Raid: Redemption (Serbuan Maut) is a 2011 Indonesian action/martial arts epic extravaganza that seems to be a feature-length version of the last 40 minutes of John Woo’s epic Hard-Boiled. And that’s not necessarily a criticism, either. There’s no doubt that director Gareth Evans set out to produce a gritty, no-quarter-given…
Rating: 6 / 10 It’s almost impossible to not get your mad love on for a Clint Eastwood western in which he plays a squinty, gravely-voiced, nigh-invincible gunslinger, especially when paired against a steel-eyed, cold-blooded villainous Marshal in the dusty streets of 19th-Century California mining town. Throw in some supernatural overtones and Biblical parallels that add…
Being an IT Professional of inimitable self-aggrandizement, you’d think I’d have mastered the art of incremental backups. That needs to be said because my last blog entry — all about music, bands, artistry, concerts, tidal shifts of music consumption and appreciation over the past 15 years and why I think The Backstreet Boys’ I Want It…
So CNN just broadcast a segment explaining to clueless Americans how “Sikhs are not Muslims”. The implications inherent to this admission are staggering. Mind boggling. Forget the generalization that Americans are ignorant, ill-educated simpletons — which, let’s face it, is a point that practically argues itself — but even more chilling is the subtle notion…
Movies have been the predominant art form of the past century, and like any form of expression you got some good stuff, a bit of great stuff, and a WHOLE lotta garbage (in strict accordance with Sturgeon’s epic pontification). Still, most people can easily make the distinction between the movies for which they feel deep…
It’s part of every runner’s personal philosophy that any run you finish upright, injury-free, and having given it all you can and then some, is automatically a triumph…no matter how long it took you. By that definition, my run Saturday late morning was an unqualified triumph. So why do I still feel all crummy about…