Besmirched Tea

Hard Candy 2/10 Suck, suck, suck. This movie sucks on land, it sucks at sea, and if we populate space, it will suck there, too. I was walking by it in the video store when two different people who apparently couldn't find it on the rack were making the clerk call another store to see if they had it. I figured that if two people were clamoring for it at once, it must be something, so I grabbed it. My mistake. I really should have left it for them, or helpfully brought it to the counter so that they could have a nice night watching this lamefest together. The two points I give it were: one for the lighting, which wasn't bad, and one point for readable font on the end credits. The rest of the film sucked, and not in the erotic way a 32 year old pedo sucks a 14 year old. "Hard Candy" is the tale of a 32 year old photographer who meets a 14 year old girl on the internet and takes her home for a photo shoot... but she turns the tables on him and starts digging for proof of his pedophilia. But not in a fashion that remains believable for very long. In fact, that is the main problem with this entire movie, is that you cannot suspend your belief at all. Even loaded. So much of it is so ridiculously impossible, that it would be laughable if it weren't for the whole pedophilia notion that make it just not right to laugh at. Also, the girl is not even hot, even for a 14 year old. She looks like Malcom in the Middle, or that kid on Wonder Years. She looks even more like a boy than the chick from the Pirates of the Carribean movies, who at least looks like a somewhat pretty boy when wearing a dress. If you remember the 80's film "Just One of the Guys" where a girl dresses like a guy, imagine her, but 14 and not hot. The girl is just 14, so obviously no nudity, no sex, and definitely not enough violence to warrant the R rating this film had, instead of what would be a much more appropriate PG13 (for occasional expletive language, like "bitch" or "balls"). I'm sure that the R was for marketing reasons, to make it seem like this 'suspense thriller' might be the least bit thrilling. Don't waste your three bucks renting this.

Yep. When We Was Fab is awesome, and several more tunes on Cloud Nine are somewhat rocking as well.

My favorite in recent times is Mitch Hedberg, but he only had a couple of cd's and a dvd out before he died. He's like a stoned Steven Wright.

I recently re-read the Red Dwarf books. Much better than the tv show. Davinci Code was much better than Angels and Demons, IMO I started reading the Cascadia books but got distracted early in and put them down.

And Terminator 2. ←

I liked the first better, probably for the same reasons everyone likes Matrix more than the 2 sequels. the first one blows you away, the sequels are more of the same.

My favorite of all time was "Jeckyll and Hyde, Together Again". Classic. I lived and breathed Star Wars when it came out in '77. I was one of those kids that saw it 30 times in the theatre and bought all the toys. I also liked the film "Strange Brew" with the McKenzie bros from SCTV. It came out during their heyday, when they had an album out and everything. Also "Grease" was big for me... Olivia in leather made me feel funny, like when we'd climb the rope in gym class...

Him saying that he doesn't know any scales or chords is a lie. He knows plenty of both. I've seen plenty of video, and read plenty of charts, and he has lots of stuff in there that makes musical sense. Actually, I believe that what he said was that he was planning to start learning music theory, but then he died before that could happen. No question he knew as many barre chords, simplified chords, and scales as whoever those bands were listed on the other page. Of course, there will be some overrating, but that's a matter of opinion. I remember when that first album came out where Eddie Van Halen did "Eruption". Everyone flipped their lids (even though the technique had been used before, on Kiss Alive2, but got no radio play) and said nobody is better, then Vai, then Malmsteen, all the same deal... How you rate is so subjective. Some say Jimmy Page is a great player. Some say that he is a great composer, but not a great player. If you were on enough drugs when you heard him, it leaves an impression. An awful lot of people think that Pink Floyd is the best band ever, but when you dissect it, Gilmour is nowhere near the guitarist that any that we are talking about are (well, except for maybe Townsend...) Some like the million mile an hour speed licks, some like Clapton to just hold a note that sounds great. I think Hendrix probably did more for the electric guitar than about anyone, like what the Beatles did for rock bands. Some say the Beatles are the best band ever because of their HUGE contribution to the progression of music, while someone else will say that Radiohead or System of a Down or Sugar Ray or Moby blows them away. No accounting for taste, eh?

STS9 and Spearhead have both played at Horning's Hideout during the big String Cheese bashes they put on over here. Had to go to NYC to see duo on NYE with Mike Gordon playing with them. If he was with them this time, that would seal it up for me right there. As it sits, I'm on the fence still. I'll probably buckle and get the 3day, because the 1day passes will be gone by the time I decide.