GRIFT

Don't let the name throw you but Smog is great... oh, and check out Townes Van Zandt.

Steve Earle was once quoted as saying something to the effect of, 'Townes Van Zandt is the greatest American songwriter of any generation and I will say that on Bob Dylan's coffee table.

There is a great documentry on Duffy's rise to fame and subsequent fall and blacklisting called Overnight.

How can a man who has sex with little boys be a homophobe?

This was easily the best special that has been on Comedy Central in a long time. Most of them, no matter who they get, are pretty lame (see Norm McDonald for an example) but this was great.

Speed has little to do with soloing as far as I am concerned. Sometimes the key is the space that you leave between the notes. I recommend checking out some Pink Floyd, they are a great example of emphasis over speed.

Enter the Fat One did rock... RIP.

Especially when it is actually about a casino robbery manned by Elvis impersonators.

Agreed, but any movie that starts with two Robo-Scorpions battling it out loses some credibility points.

Basketball doesn't qualify... It was supposed to be that way... and rocked.

3000 Miles To Graceland... for some reason I dig it.

Feist - Let it Die

Stripped down, sensual pop music, with a touch of jazz and trip-hop around the edges. It kicks off with only the strums of an acoustic guitar, before Feist jumps in like an orphaned torch singer. "Well it's time to begin/as the summer sets in/It's the scene you set for new lovers," she croons.

Bruce Springsteen - Devils And Dust

I am probably the only Bruce fan on the board, but I think that this album and the subsequent tour has been one of the iconic artist's most personal offerings. The sound balances out far better than the minimalistic Tom Joad, while capturing the same sort of characters you'd find in his other acoustic works.

Our Lady Peace - Healthy in Paranoid Times

After the dissapoinment of Gravity, Maida and the rest of the band deliver a performance quite like no other. They've reached heights untouched since their Spiritual Machines Album. This latest album demonstrates why Our Lady Peace should, and hopefully will, break through in the music industry not just in Canada and North USA, but throughout the world. What greatly empowers HIPT is Raine's vocals shining through songs such as "Angels Losing Sleep" and "Picture". Our Lady Peace returned to their roots in a way, including more of the fan favorite Raine falsettos and more interesting guitar work from Mazur(and some interesting bass lines from Coutts). Maida has also grown bolder with his lyrics -- partly due to his recent humanitarian missions to Iraq and Darfur, through War Child Canada. Healthy features the single "Where Are You," an intense plea for world harmony, and "Wipe That Smile Off Your Face," a scathing anti-Bush track.

Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness

Each album this band releases seems to be more intricit than the last. The guitars are wailing, the lyrics are scathing, and the vocals are... well it is Claudio.

Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning

I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (released simultaneously with Digital Ash in a Digital Urn) is the album the Omaha native has always threatened to make, channeling his country rock influences into articulate, witty ballads that come to life with gorgeous harmonies supplied by Emmylou Harris.

I saw Bright Eyes with a 7 piece mini orchestra Sunday night and they blew me away.

SHAKING THAT STICK, DRIVING ME CRAZY.

Ween... Dear God do I love Ween.

I love longer songs but only if they are done correctly. They need to take advantage of the larger landscape and keep my interest with changes. I love Coheed's longer stuff, NIN, Led Zep... etc

The alternate ending for Natural Born Killers really rocked me.

He is actually Blacklisted last I heard by order of Harvey Weinstein... I believe this is the basis of an independant film called 15 Minutes (might not be the title)

Full Metal Yakuza and Jesus Christ: Vampire Slayer should also be mentioned.

I think all Arnold movies slide into this. My favorite is the first Conan... If only for when he punches out a camel while drunk.

Or the line, 'His victories grew and grew... until they could not easily be counted.'

So my friends and I watch a lot of shitty movies. I think there is really a whole subgenera of movies that are so bad that they somehow circle about and become good. My two glaring favorites at the moment are They Live! and Death Race 2000.

Death Race was on AMC the other night and I blew my proverbial shitty movie load. It takes place in some post apocalyptic world in which an authoritarian government rises to power and offers up their form of bread and circuses: The Death Race. The race is a cross country frenzy that has no set course and best of all rewards points for running over anyone you come across. Women are worth 10 points more than men in all age brackets, teenagers rack up 40 points, and toddlers under 12 rate a big 70 points. The big score: anyone, any sex, over 75 = 100 points.

It stars a young Sly Stone and David Carradine.

So what are yours?

Ace of Base has always been one of the bands who I just can't stomach at all. Their music makes me want to curb stomp infants and midgets.

But to each there own.

I am not really a fan of the series but my friend Megan has made me go to everyone opening weekend since they started pumping them out (she is a red head so I know better than to say no to her if it can be avoided) and for once I am kind of intrigued by one of the trailers.

This might not be as bad as I feared.

I just finished Bound For Glory by Woody Guthrie and it was great. You can definately see why this book had such a motivating effect on a young Bob Dylan and in many ways struck similar chords as On the Road.

Call me crazy but I like it. It is a sharp looking game, and once you get used to the gameplay you can actually pull of some unique plays. My only complaint is that occasionally refs will botch calls really badly and give possession for throw ins, goalkicks, corners, etc... to the wrong team.