bulletproofheeb

newageamazon just IMed me:


Mormons are indeed weird.  I'm not saying bad or good.  Simply very strange compared to my city ways.  The only personal experience I've had with a mormon was in my Feminist Science Fiction class in college.  She told us one day that she hated Bush but supported him.  Why, I asked.  Well, to put it simply, she was pro-apocolypse.

Later she told me that there's actually a town in Utah where she's related to every single person who lives that.  Then it dawned on me why she would want the world to end.  A town of nothing but relatives?  That's the Jewish concept of hell!

1. The Prisoner
                This is flat out the greatest show ever put on television.  The style is a rediculous expresionistic celebration of the absurd, the terrifyingly real and the paranoia that lives in between.  McGoohan was secretive during it's pruduction because it was a vision, not a show.  I know that sounds all high and mighty but this is fiction mixed with thesis; that's what art is.  There's a surreal fear that hangs in every episode.  The everyman of Number 6 is never named through the whole show (though in the books it's mentioned he might be a character from another McGoohan show).  And, Number 6 is Joss Whedon's favourite TV character, so that says something too.
   
   
2. My So-Called Life
               This one gets to be in the top 3 no matter how cheese it was.  While the characters are drama queens and make the biggest deal out of nothing, that was high school.  The design, costumes, music, references are all spot on.  Hell, even the colours are washed out on film to make it more grunge.  This doesn't try to capture life in the 90s.  This is life in the 90s.
   
   
3. Firefly
                Do I even need to go into detail?  This show isn't sci-fi.  It's not a western.  It's a character drama.  Sometime's it's a little frustrating in retrospect because so much of the big picture is left out and what is filled in during Serenity is a bit rushed compared to the show.  I can't really blame that on the show, however, since I'm sure Whedon would have done it proud had it still been on the air.  And Book.  What's the goram deal with Book?!
   
   
4. Brisco  County, Jr.
               Before Jack of All Trades, Xena and all that shit there was a good Bruce Campbell show.  This was it.  Never seen it?  Well, do you like sit-coms?  Parody?  Westerns?  Science fiction?  Then this show is for you.  Probably one of Campbell's most earnest acting ever, it's also some of his best.
   
   
5. Nowhere Man
               I know I already put The Prisoner on the list but this is a different show, I swear.  Updated for life now, this is a spiritual sequil.  In The Prisoner Number 6 is trapped in a small village, people know him and he knows a secret.  In Nowhere Man Thomas Veil is trapped out in the world with no home, no one knows who he is and he has no idea what secret he's "discovered".  Turning the paranoia up, upping the scale and taking away any semblance of an ally this is the show for the uber-paranoid.  If you thought that the X-Files might be onto something then this will convince you that the X-Files was put on TV to discredit the real conspiracies.  And unlike The Prisoner this show has a concluse albeit a rushed one.
   
   
6. God, The Devil and Bob
               A smart cartoon.  It's not preachy.  It's not really even religious.  God seemed a little like a confused old man who managed to keep a better hold on things than he seems.  Satan isn't evil like a Nazi, but just tries to get Bob to not do the right thing.  He knows how to work his audience.  Other than Smeck I loved it.  And seriously, James Garner as god and Alan Cumming as the devil?  Inspired.
   
   
7. American Gothic
               This is up here because Twin Peaks lasted 2 seasons.  No, this is really a great show.  It's small town bizaar and it might be a parable for the struggle of a soul or it might actually be a struggle of a soul.  Who knows.  Shows with satan are awesome!  And he's a cop!
   
   
8. Freaks and Geeks
               Dispite the fact that my friend Samm Levine told me he was going to try and get me on the show and never followed through (we were in NFTY together) I still like it.  It's smart, funny and (I'm assuming) a hybrid version of My So-Called Life for the 90s/70s.
   
   
9. Clone High
               Eris bless this show.  Andy dick at his best.  Tom Green at his best.  And the entire cast of Scrubs before Scrubs existed (Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Donald Faison, Niel Flynn, John C. McGinley, Christa Miller, Michael McDonald, Nicole Sullivan).  Completely random humor?  check.  Historical jokes?  Check.  What else can I say other than, "I have your baby in me, Giraffe!"
   
   
10. Studio 60
                I actually had Sports Night on here but that was 2 seasons.  Oops.  This was 11, now moved up to 10.  Still great.  I think West Wing might be Sorkin's most refined but I think he's at his best when his stuff is a little messy.  His writing is so back and forth with a pitch perfect ear for speech patterns that letting thiings get a bit tousled adds just another layer of humanity and realism.  His trade mark "pith and banter" is here and when he gets it rolling though pop-culture (like here or in Sports Night) there's not a missed moment.  Do his characters talk a bit too fast, think a bit too much and know a bit more than anyone real?  Most of the time yes, but that's what makes Sorkin (and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gilmore Girls) shine.
    
    Leftovers
    
    
11. Clerks TAS
12. Now and Again
13. Brimstone
14. John Doe
15. Mission Hill
16. Dark Skies
17. Tenacious D - HBO series
    
18. The Tick – live action
19. Sam and Max
20. The Ben Stiller Show
    
21. Oblongs
22. Drive
    
    Shows I didn't forget about but were "eh"
    
    
23. Birds of Prey
24. Lone Gunmen  
    
    Didn't see this one
    
    
25. Standoff

Newageamazon and I worked on this together.  Check out her Top 10 - one season shows here.

This may seem like an odd pairing but there's actually an underlying sound on both.  It works on one disc and fails on the other.

The Go Team - Proof Of Youth

        This album is a mess.  It sounds like it's shouted at you across a basement party.  There are hoarse verses and harmonized choruses.  There are Orchestrated synth sections and punkish drums.  Oh, and some funk horns.  And it's beautiful. 
        Part of the aspect of the "shouted at a party" part is that you kind of feel like you're at that party.  Each track sounds like it was banged out with nothing less than ebulient abandon, like live versions of studio songs.  But this album isn't casually tossed out there.  The structure on some of the tracks is amazingly tight (Wrath of Marcie, Do It Right, Patricia's Moving Pictures).  Yes, they do vocals like alt-cheerleader chants but that's not what holds these songs together.  It's the sublimated influnces.  You can hear pure funk horns overpowering a smooth base and keys part that could come from the best of othe Jackson 5 tracks. 
        And other times when it sounds like things might fall apart (Titanic Vandalism, Universal Speech, Flashlight Fight) they only do on the top most level.  Like a horriblly messy bedroom, the foundation and flooring is still strong underneath.  It might be a bit awkward but it's still safe.
       I think it's that safety and trust that the album gets from listeners (whether they're aware of it or not) that pulls through on the few tracks that don't fit, but aren't bad (My World, I Never Needed It Now So Much).  They have a bit of a music recital feeling but when you think about it, that pulls it together with the basement accoustics of the rest of the album.
       I have to say this is a great album.  Icing on top and somthing healthier that still tastes good with icing underneath.


Turin Brakes - Dark On Fire

       This also has a mish-mash of influence and sounds.  I bit different from their last album, this has a bit more keys and synth, as well as more prominent bass lines.  I can't say that it works this time around.  A lot of the songs have a bit of a country lilt to the guitars.  Nothing wrong with that.  When an accoustic band pulls in electric that's anatural leaning.  But then there are these weird, looping funk parts to the bass that are totally alien. 
        Songs like Other Side work as sad ballads because they have drum, guitar, guitar and vocals.  It's basic and clean and emotive.  There's also the opening track, Last Chance, which is great.  It has a backing piano part that really adds atmosphere.  The echoing keys add something to the quick-running accoustics and the leading electric.  It's a single.  For The Fire is another pick.  It has a folk-rock blend with synth and it all fits.  There's a reason for each instrument.
        And then... Ghost, Real Life and Timewaster.  It's an unholy bastard child from britpop and disco.  And it doesn't yield glamrock.  It yields a freakish mess.  The majority of the sound has a this constant pop that pulls forward but the bass!  Oh lord, it prances about and kills the pacing.
       Then there are about 4 tracks of pure accoustic duet.  It's like there are 3 distinct styles on this album that never come together.  It's not broken apart like that to creat any sort of arc.  There's to interplay between the songs.  It sounds like they had 3 thirds of different albums and then mixed them together.  I really like this band, and some the songs that work on this disc work really well.  Possibly some of their best songs.  But as a complete listen it fails.  It's too schitzophrenic with too many voices trying to be heard.
       Add some of these songs to your mix, but this isn't an "album".  It's a collection of songs.

Back when I was in college (just a couple of years ago!) I was a movie fanatic.  I was doing maybe one or two a day.  To put it succincly, I finished the local Pittsburgh branch of Blockbuster.

When I got back home I was a Netflix fanatic.  I would watch not quite that many, but usually a movie every 2 or 3 days.  Now, between 2 jobs and being in 2 weddings my watching has slowed down a lot. Now it looks like I watch one disc a week.  So, since this place seems slow (from what I've seen anyway) durring the weekend and I didn't post any amazing jems in the forums I'll go through my last 5 Netflix rentals and see what trends I have in my wattching habits.

1. Jekyll
2. Fracture
3. Night of the Living Dead
4. Renaissance  
5. The Number 23

Wow, that's a little embarassing.
Just to let you guys know, I work off an 11 scale rating system.  It goes from -5 to +5 with 0 as a possible score.  Really, movies shouldn't be rated on how much you like them but rather how you feel about them.  In that case tepid and hate are valid scores as well.  -5 I absouletly hate.  +5 I think is damn near perfect.  0 I have no feeling.
        1.  Jekyll - Pretty good.  The main actor is great.  The plot is a little slow to develope, some of the details are huge stretches (he's been changing for years and even communicates with his dark half but has never looking into a Jekyll/Hyde connection) and the "consiracy" people seema  bit heavy handed.  That said, I did enjoy watching it.  It's once the episode ends that I keep thinking up all of the flaws in the show.  Still, it's fun but I'm not sure if it's much more than that.
             Rating: +2

        2.  Fracture - Did not like it.  Sort of like Notes on a Scandal, it's a weak movie with nothing new to offer but is just barely saved by a great performance.  The problem with this movie is that it's a caper film.  In caper films you're supposed to try to out think the investigation but not the criminal.  You want to figure out how it all went down and will play out before the cops but don't want to see even deeper into the weakness in the plan.  In this movie the killer is supposed to be amazingly smart but after about 5 minutes of reviewing the plot in my head I came up with 2 or 3 simple ways in which to improve the crime.
             Rating: -1

        3.  Night of the Living Dead - Just as good as I remembered it.  Just like a good zombie flick, the zombies don't figure that much into it but the people do.  I still say that 28 Days Later would be a much better movie if they just call it a remake of this.  They're both really really good but Nigh of the Living Dead did all the same twist (what?!  the people are more vicious than the zombies) decades earlier.
             Rating: +4.5

        4.  Renaissance - Looked great but boring as hell.  It's a straigh B-Neo-Noir film (since real noir films are about the criminals getting caught and not the cops catching them).  There's a crime.  It's dark.  It's full of great shots of characters we don't really care a lot about.
             Rating: -1.5

        5.  The Number 23 - I can damn near say the same thing for this as a I did for Renaissance.  Visually it was pretty impressive.  It started out slow but steady and then once the breakdown of the main character started so did the breakdown of the movie.  It felt like they were writing it as they were filming and it just got so caught up in making the world visually appealing and big that the plot petered out way before they stopped filming.  I didn't feel like it was a waste of time to see but on the whole I'd say that it failed.
             Rating: -.5

I find this list a little dissapointing because the only great entry on the list is one I've already seen.  The rest range from ok to tepidly bland.

I know that taste is subjective to a point and you people have no idea what my tastes in film are, but here it goes.  Can people out there give me a list of some really good films?  I want things ranging to fun to watch all the way to Film with a capital, pompous "F".

A couple of notes on my taste:

• I like my humor dry
• relationships fucked up
• science fiction accurate
• horror character driven

Thanks in advance.

Still being new here, I am being given tours though the Buzznet world by my good friend newageamazon.  Well today she took me to the Question of the Day forum. It was interesting to say the least.  The question was whether god exists or not.  It got heated and my attempt to pull the light over everyone's eyes with a zen koan answer (Mu, in case you were wondering) helped not at all.  So in true discordian fashion (where the question is not if god exists but rather how much money he can spot you for) I jumped in when someone mention sarcastically that if people worship magic then how should one regard Criss Angel?

Like the lord himself, for that's what he is.  I'm not afraid to say it, even as I fast this Yom Kippur.  Chris Angel is The God.  So here I will collect some quotes from the Book of Angel.  But first:

And now the caps.