Monthly Archives: August 2011

Most people know that Alice in Chains started out looking all glam:

But to me that’s not really much of a stretch, from glam to grunge. I mean, Mother Love Bone were very glam-rock sounding, but also grunge pioneers. Come on, it was the 80s.

Let’s look at Genesis.
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In the grand scheme of history, the Slavs (with the possible exception of Russia) are better known for being conquered than conquering.  However, I would put their choral traditions against that of any other culture in the world.  I love acapella choral works and nobody does it as well as the Slavs. Read the rest of this entry →

Who are your favorite old school mascots?  (And no I don’t mean football)

I’ve always had a soft spot for the original hamburgler.

Last Tuesday morning, without telling our four kids where we were going, we woke them up at five o’clock in the morning and drove them to the airport for a surprise, last-week-of-summer pilgrimage to pay homage to the Mouse. The oldest two had been once before, nine years ago, though they barely remembered it. The younger two hadn’t been and really had no idea what to expect. Of course, the trip had been months in planning and it took a considerable amount of self-control on my part to keep the secret. The night before I got little sleep, like a kid on Christmas Eve. By Sunday morning, as we began our slow Bataan-like march home, I was exhausted. I had pretty much worn us all out, though I don’t have any regrets. Below are some of my observations about our Orlando, Florida Disney experience.
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Have you ever noticed how the most memorable actors are the ones with unique-sounding voices? I’ve been noticing lately that actors with ordinary voices are completely forgettable for me–take for instance January Jones. I just watched some movie on DVD that she was in–oh yeah, Unknown. With Liam Neeson. Neeson has a very recognizable voice. Jones doesn’t. And to me she just seemed unremarkable.

I’m wondering if maybe this is why women actors in general don’t get as much praise as men. By that I mean, if you were to list the top actors of all time, most would be males. And all of them would have unique voices. Who are the greatest women actors? Meryl Streep, Judy Dench? I don’t even know anymore. Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts used to be the top actresses. They all have voices you’d recognize instantly.

So who do you think has the most interesting-sounding voice? Jack Nicholson? I think my vote might go to Steve Buscemi, who incidentally is one of my personal fave actors.

The next movie from the director of ZOMBIELAND, 30 MINUTES OR LESS brings Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari and Danny McBride together in a heist/hostage/buddy comedy. It’s an odd mix of grisly elements and some very funny jokes. Read the rest of this entry →

Sigh. Once again we see that a good cast, good director and lots of money just don’t make for a very good movie. Read the rest of this entry →