Summer 2010 Movie Rankings

Awesome

1. Toy Story
2. Inception
3. Salt

Great Popcorn Movie

4. Iron Man 2
5. The Expendables
6. Machete
7. Cyrus
8. Despicable Me

Just short of being a great popcorn movie, but just a touch

9. Predators
10. Scott Pilgram vs. the World
11. Shrek
12. Dinner with the Schmucks
13. Twilight Eclipse

Whatever

14. Knight and Day

Oh mercy

15. Robin Hood
16. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
17. A-Team
18. The Other Guys
19. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
20. Get Him To The Greek

I looked at my movie rankings from the summer of 2009. I ranked 21 movies last summer. I only listed two that I definitely wished I'd missed. For this summer, I have six -- and slightly less movies watched. I have the same number of great movies at three, but last year I had more movies that I ranked just below great: 7 versus 5. Yes, 2009 was a much better year for summer movies.

Local Natives at Music Box

A little late here, but I've had some other life events suck up my time over the last couple days.

Also, sorry, no photos from the night. I figured any photos I took at the Music Box wouldn't come out all that great -- we (intraffik) didn't ask for press passes.

The night started out great with Love Language. They hail from North Carolina and so I couldn't help but wonder if some of them were Duke fans. Or perhaps Carolina fans?

Local Natives came on next. Their set started out with a video: an artistic take on the words Local Natives. It was cool. Then they came on stage and the crowd went wild. Noticed: two distinct clouds of marijuana. I have to wish I had a better memory for song titles. There was a song in the middle of their set, which was just so so so sweet. For a couple of their final songs, the string instruments came out. I'll admit I was hoping Amanda Violin would come out on stage. Oh well. I miss her energy on the violin. With the end of their set, along with the two encore songs, I looked around me and up to the balcony and the crowd was giving cheers. How far Local Natives has come over the last couple years? Maybe the next time I see them they'll be playing at the Greek.

Photo from the FYF Fest.

The Mulhollands, Kozmonaut and Hyena at Club Moscow

It was off to Club Moscow to catch The Mulhollands, Kozmonaut and Hyena. I was telling a friend that the one cool thing about going to Club Moscow is that I catch bands that I wouldn't normally see -- such as the Kozmonaut and Hyena.

I missed the first band, Royal Heist, as I arrived a little later than I normally do. Hyena were the first band I saw. They're a two piece band that had the crowd dancing. Next up were the Kozmonaut. I noticed the lead singer playing with some spilled liquid on the stage. I think lead singers get bored while waiting for their band mates to set up their gear. When everything was set up, the lead singer knocked off her shoes and off they went on an intense filled set. "That song is about being in love . . . and I'm also a liar." Aafter reaching out to grab the hand of a young woman, the lead singer said, "Sometimes you see a hand and you've just got to grab it." A special cheers goes out to the guitarist who was playing with a dislocated finger. The Mulhollands were the final band of the night -- one of my favorite Los Angeles bands. An amusing interaction went on for their last song. Matt (guitar) took off on the next song and you soon saw Jeff (bass) coming over and then Matt stopped playing. Sarah Jeanette responded, "Matt just wanted to do a solo thing." Yes, Matt accidentally started off on the wrong song. His response, "I'm just looking at the list." Earlier, I saw Matt putting hit set list on the monitor. But it fell off and so he was looking over at Jeff's set list. Obviously, Jeff's set list was too far away to get a proper read. Hey, it all ended well, though.

Hyena







Kozmonaut







The Mulhollands

A Movie Review: Machete

Machete. Okay, ignoring the politics involved here (which obviously will piss off 50% of the US population), what did I think of the movie? It was a fun movie. The ending is such a chaotic stupid frenzy that one just has to sit back and enjoy the whole mess. And one can't ignore the first five minutes or so that involves a beautiful nubile young woman and heads flying in every single direction.

The Lonely Wild and Family of the Year at Silverlake Lounge

I have to say I’ve seen some good bands at Silverlake Lounge over the past month. This time around I caught The Lonely Wild and Family of the Year. When I walked in The Lonely Wild were doing their sound check. “There’s some volume in the house.” “Yes, I can hear myself.” “I forgot about Eddie’s vocals.” They got everything worked out and then started out on what turned out to be a most beautiful set. Towards the end of their set, I heard someone yell out “Powerful” a couple times. The band was hitting their time limit and the lead singer wondered if they would be stepping on anyone’s toes by playing their last two songs. The crowd urged them to do so. If Silverlake Lounge had attempted to shut them down, there might have been screams of anger from the audience.

Next up was the residency band for the month, Family of the Year. Both The Lonely Wild and Family of the Year have an unstated folk sound that charms you the more you listen. The lead singer for Family of the Year was very happy about their residency. “It took four years,” I believe I heard him say. They had a couple friends from the band Black Flamingo joining them for their full set. Noticed: The keyboardist had notes piled up on her keyboard. Some fell off. The bassist picked them up during a break and the two exchanged a smile. Noticed 2. The lead singer kept asking the singer from Black Flamingo to hand over a glass of water that was off to the side. Finally, the singer from Black Flamingo had to point out that the glass was empty.

The Lonely Wild







Family of the Year (back-up singing from Black Flamingo)

Ida Maria song on the trailer of 'It's Kind of a Funny Story'

Last year I saw Ida Maria at Spaceland. Crazy set. I noticed her song 'Oh My God' was on the trailer for the movie It's Kind of a Funny Story. Check out the trailer. Her song comes up towards the back end.





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A movie review: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Okay, this was the second movie in a mini-marathon at the theaters so maybe I was a little tired. I can't give it the rave reviews that I'm noticing from critics and my friends. Maybe I should have watched this movie first in my mini-marathon. I'm not saying it is awful, just not putting it up their as brilliant. Of course, there were more than a few times where I found myself laughing so take that into account. A nice fantasy love story with a video game bent.

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Eastern Conference Champions, Two Years Before Mast, The New Limb and The Shivas at Spaceland

It was off to Spaceland to catch Eastern Conference Champions, Two Years Before the Mast, The New Limb and The Shivas. There was something unique about this Monday night for me. I saw all four bands. This seldom happens as come midnight on a Monday night I'm usually closer to my bed than around Spaceland for the last band of the night. But on this night I didn't have to worry as I was taking Tuesday off from work.

I only caught the last two songs of Two Years Before the Mast. I was blown away. It seemed like much of the audience was blown away, as well.

The New Limb was a fill-in band. The band that was scheduled had to cancel for some reason. They were also well received. Someone bought beers for the whole band at the end of their set.

Eastern Conference Champions was the obvious draw here. My personal opinion is that their set at Sunset Junction was their best set that I've seen. They were trying out some new stuff on Monday night. I'm betting that by next week it'll all come together and they'll be setting the bar higher than their Sunset Junction set. I plan to go at least one more time this month to Spaceland -- at least one Monday night will be spent at Silverlake Lounge to catch the residency band over there.

The Shivas were the last band of the night. They had the quote of the night: Here's something we haven't done in a few days, which feels so long ago.

Two Years Before the Mast



The New Limb





Eastern Conference Champions











The Shivas

A Movie Review: Despicable Me

Despicable Me. The summer movie season is starting to heat up with some better movies. I thought it started out well with Iron Man 2, but then went into a tailspin until Toy Story 3 came out. Now there is another cartoon, Despicable Me. A tale of a villain who wants to be the most evil villain out there. He craftily adopts three young girls as a ploy to out do his rival villain. He finds himself falling in love with them. The movie is fun with cartoon action violence and humor that reminded me of the cartoons I watched as a child. And there is also the lovely redemptive story.

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A Movie Review: Dinner with the Schmucks

Dinner with the Schmucks. This movie is a one joke movie that sort of works. The premise: a boutique Wall Street firm has an awful sense of humor. Once a year, the partners invite idiots to a dinner in order to make fun of these individuals. A bright young analyst, gunning for an opened partner slot is invited to this dinner. He is obviously conflicted by this invitation. I found myself laughing, but towards the end of the movie it had over-stayed its welcome. I think they could have cut out a couple of the bit pieces in the middle and gotten to the dinner a bit quicker.

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Slow Death, Pu$$y Cow and Dharma Bums at Five Star

It was off to a new location called the Five Star to Catch The Dharma Bums, Slow Death and Pu$$y Cow.

The Slow Death was on tour from Minneapolis. I saw them previously at the Blue Star on their last time through town. Apparently, The Dharma Bums got confused and ended up at the Blue Star. Blue Star, Five Star, it is all sort of the same. Luckily, the two locations are reasonable close to each other. Pu$$y Cow played what seemed like a shortened set. It looked like Joe didn't have his microphone stand. During their second song, someone came around with a microphone stand and Joe quickly duck taped the microphone and all was good. The Slow Death played last. I'll call them punk rock awesome. They stole away the night.

Two hours, three bands.

The Dharma Bums




Pu$$y Cow



Slow Death

A Movie Review: The Socerer's Apprentice

The Sorcerer's Apprentice. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice just didn’t bring it for me. All the great action sequences were essentially wrapped up in the trailer. Nicolas Cage was sort of a bore in this movie. His acting seemed to belong in National Treasure or Knowing, semi-intellectual characters. Teresa Palmer as the love interest seemed to have been cased because in certain lighting she looked like Kristen Stewart. Jay Baruchel has that comedic movie role down, but acting in an adventure flick, I don’t know. Essentially, re-mix the actors and maybe you have a better movie – or maybe not. There is a scene where Dave (Jay Baruchel) need to clean up his laboratory in ten minutes before Becky (Teresa Palmer) shows up. It looks like a really sad re-make scene from a Disney cartoon.

One of the reasons I went to see this movie was because of all the negative press I’ve been reading about Jerry Bruckheimer having lost his touch. Well, I’d have to agree. Hopefully, he gets it back, because it would really stink if ‘Pirates 4’ stunk.

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Dusty Rhodes and the River Band calling it quits

I came across this sad news. Dusty Rhodes and the River Band are calling it quits. This band had quickly become one of my favorites. Best of luck to the various band members.

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