Monthly Archives: December 2005
2005: The year in shows
Yep, it’s that time again, best-of year-end lists. But I’m not going to just post a best-of list of shows, instead I’m gonna do a recap of various bands I’ve seen. Feel free to post your own best-of list, though. I tend to go see mostly very underground/unknown bands that aren’t easily accessible to many people, so I questioned whether I should post this or not, but hey, things have been slow.
I didn’t get out to as many shows this year as I wanted to, but I still managed to catch at least 24. (There may be one or two I’m forgetting that I didn’t get my camera into. I document shows with my camera so that I’ll be able to remember them.)
Playlist Thunderdome, Week 30
Thanks to Susan for doing a great Christmas T-dome in style. The Barenaked Ladies/Sarah McLachlan version of “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen” won hands-down in massive holiday traffic.
See if you detect a theme in this week’s t-dome, y’all. Read the rest of this entry
Christmas Wrap-Up
Lots of gifts under the tree, some even from my wish list. Yippee!
So let’s talk about the highlights/lowlights of Christmas giving. What was the best present under the tree for you? What was the worst? You can speak in general terms if you’re afraid of insulting people, but what’s blogging for?
Me: best gift was either a nice Timbuk2 messenger bag, or a set of used DVDs from wifey: the Kill Bill movies, Magnolia, and several others. Worst gift was socks — lots and lots of socks. I only have two feet, people.
Playlist Thunderdome, Week 29
Steve’s out of town and asked me to take care of Thunderdoming this week. Last week’s winner was R.E.M. I’ll refrain from commenting beyond that. 
This week: Christmas songs! I was trying to go for current bands doing old standards, but I couldn’t resist including the Kinks.
Have at it.
Playlist Thunderdome, Week 28
Wow, a lot of you weirdos like Adam Ant. Who knew? Well, onwards and upwards.
Great Holiday Films
by Pris
There are many reasons to hate the Christmas season. Fortunately, cinema isn’t one of them. For sure, there are many turkeys out there, but we have been blessed with some fine holiday films through the years.
So, what are your favorite holiday films?
Syriana: A Review.
Walking out of SYRIANA this afternoon, I turned to my friends and said, “that wasn’t confusing at all.” They agreed. Our only conclusion is that SYRIANA is the type of movie that rewards attention and punishes those who rely on instant gratification.
The short and inaccurate review: like TRAFFIC, only with oil.
Read the rest of this entry
International Literature
I love books, but I’m a prisoner of the English language. With the exception of reading Stephen King’s short story “Quitters, Incorporated†in my third-year German class in high school (what were you thinking, Frau Nicholsen?), I’ve never read anything other than books written in English (the five pages I suffered through of “The Tin Drum†do not count).
Being uni-lingual is (um, obviously) a huge disadvantage when it comes to discovering and reading great works of literature in other languages, because only the blockbuster writers are ever translated for English readers (Garcia Marquez, Dostoevsky, etc.). I know there are many, many brilliant writers I’m missing, and I’d love to hear recommendations (classic and comtemporary, fiction and non-fiction, etc.) of books to read from foreign writers around the world.
Thanks!
How Do You Decide What Movies To See?
King Kong is set to be released this weekend and I don’t think I’ll see it. Not this weekend and probably never. I decided that what it will take for me to see the movie is a combination of sweeping good reviews and friends’ recommendations. The story itself doesn’t necessarily interest me and the media hype/trailers make it look terrible. And when I say reviews I mean by those I respect (see Eric Snider), not the quote whores that will be found on any movie poster. And even if the reviews are good, it would still only occupy a back burner unless my friends (who I respect their movie taste) tell me that I have to see it.
Like described above, my sense is that we make our entertainment decisions based on combinations of the following four factors:
Read the book/know the story: Depending on how much I enjoy the book/story will I base my level of interest in the movie-version of that book/story.
Media hype: Commercials don’t do much for me. Partnerships with corporations (McDonalds, Ford, etc) will usually decrease my interest in the movie. Movie posters are almost all the same (terrible at communicating what the movie is about, good at communicating who’s in the movie). For me it’s all about the trailer.
Reviews: I agree with probably 90% of Eric Snider’s reviews and with that kind of success rate I don’t find it necessary to spend much time reading other reviews. A good movie critic can go a long way in helping you make your decisions.
Recommendations: This is probably the most persuasive of the four. If all three of the others are negative but my friends all say they loved it, I’ll probably see the film.
What do you guys think? Are there other factors? What importance to you put on each of these factors? What’s the most important combination?
Playlist Thunderdome, Week 27
How exactly did Elliott Smith lose last week’s battle? Apathy of the cool kids is all it takes for the nerdy to triumph. So, this week I’ve thrown together some fairly random songs for your enjoyment. The Shins win, with “Caring is Creepy.”
Steve Evans
RJH
Scott B.
John C.
Susan M
Aaron Brown
ninemoons
arandomjohn
kulturblogadmin
Kyle M
Brad
KulturBlogGuest
MCQ
Wm
Rebecca
Ivan
Geoff J
btdgreg
Clark Goble
Aaron R.
Tim J
