Adios, HFS!

broderic on January 14, 2005

If you grew up in the Baltimore/DC area and loved music from bands that were not so mainstream, then you at least tuned into 99.1 on the dial. WHFS was always about the alternative music. They were alternative before there was alternative. I remember in the early 80s trying to catch their weak signal for some music. Only on clear broadcast days did I pick up the signal. They morphed into the juggarnaut of alternative radio in the mid-90s, but could always be counted to play something I liked. Lately they have been going down hill.

Yesterday, the station switched formats. Its been talked about a lot. Read it and weep. What a grievious day. Hopefully, the junkies will land on their feet.

The music landscape has changed around here. For the better I don’t know. What I do know is that HFS will be missed.

White Noise

broderic on January 12, 2005

If I can save you money by convincing you that White Noise is a bad movie, then I have done my job. The movie was predictable from the start. In fact, before it was even released, I had predicted the ending. Unfortunately for me, I saw it in the theatres and had my suspicions confirmed. It had the feel of the Serpent and the Rainbow movie. It presented the EVP, electro-video phenomenon, as something real, just as the Serpent and the Rainbow presented zombies/voodoo as real. I was just not buying it.

2 of 5 stars.

Skateboard madness

broderic on January 5, 2005

As a young dude, to while away the idle time during English class, I would doodle in my notebook drawing skateparks. You see back in the day when I skated (early 80s to mid 90s), there really wasn’t any places to skate. The public skatepark was on the decline and there were not many around. So this article describling how skatepark design has come a long way, brings out the young kid in me. I need to get a new board and ride some of these new fangled parks. Olle one-foots all day!

Meet the Fokkers

broderic on January 5, 2005

When I saw the commercials for this movie last year, I thought, “Why would anyone want to see a mediocre sequel to a mediocre commedy?” Imagine to my chagrin that it took top honors at the box office with $47 million and a total haul of $162 million. Meet the Fokkers is a mediocre sequel to a mediocre original film. Ben Stiller is not funny in it. Babs is funny thing. Robert Dinero has reached a new low in his career. I have already forgotten that I have seen it.

2 of 5 stars.

Quixotic Quest

broderic on January 2, 2005

Around October 2003 I had pledged to myself to read a book a week in order to get back into the groove of reading. I had spent lots of time reading stuff online and watching a lot of TV, but not much time reading any books. Therefore at that time I wanted to read more novels, some non-fiction and a few technical books. Unfortunately, I only read a handful of books within that year, and I stopped altogether around the summer of 2004. For a new year’s resolution, I want to read 3 books a month. That’s 3 times 12 equaling 36 books for the year. It don’t matter what genre, but I need to read a little more fiction. I would also like to reduce the number of non-fiction I read and limit my technical book reading. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in comments.

The first book for this is The Life of Pi. This has been on my bedside table since last year. I figure that I should try to finish it. Hopefully, I will be done within the week.

The Aviator

broderic on January 1, 2005

Although it is the new year, the last film I saw was The Aviator. Since it was rather good, I should put it onto my year end best of movies list. Leonardo DiCaprio proves that he can act by portraying the obsessive-compulsive Howard Hughes. Not only did this guy make movies, but also designed, built and flew his own planes. Amazing. Are there still anybody like this nowadays.

4 of 5 stars.

Happy New Year!

broderic on January 1, 2005

Well hopefully 2005 will go better than 2004. Out with the old. In with the new. Happy New Year to all!