New CDs I bought

broderic on June 8, 2004

This past weekend while shopping for a gift for my cousing (30! Happy Birthday, Gerry!) I also bought a couple of albums from Best Buy. First up is The Art of Noise’s “Who’s Afraid of (The Art of Noise?). A classic early 80s album from the masters of found noise as music. Close to the Edit. Moments in Love. I must have been on an old school kick, because I had also picked up Bad Brain’s I Against I. I swear that the intro was covered by Metallica or was in homage of Metallica. Either way you can’t beat hardcore as practiced by rastafarians. The last album is a live De La Soul album recorded live. Now live rap CDs suck. This one does too. You can’t hear the beats. Don’t buy it. I am not gonna give you a link it is that bad. And I am a really big De La fan and saw them live and rip shit up on there De La Soul is Dead tour. 2 out of three ain’t bad.

Brood X

broderic on June 4, 2004

The cicadas have been in town for a few weeks, since the beginning of May. Only recently have they been swarming. I think they were waiting for nicer weather, because in the last 2 weeks they are everywhere. And loud. Louder than highway noise. I drive with my windows down and can still hear them over the wind, the radio and the other cars.

Learning to Blog

broderic on June 1, 2004

I noticed that most of my posts do not contain links to something of interest. In other words, my posting habits are not driven by something I have read on the internet. I seem to be doing this blogging thing wrong. Well, let me fix that habit. At Folklore.org, you will find interesting history about the Apple Macintosh by some of the designers and developers who contributed to the project. It is very interesting reading if you love the Mac.

Northern Exposure

broderic on May 31, 2004

Today, I bought the Northern Exposure DVD for the first season. This is one of my all time favorite shows. Too bad the DVDs sucks. It costs too much for what you get which is basically two disks of the first seven shows, some out takes, some extras, but not much more. The packaging with the mini down vest is probably why it costs so much. I also think this is why it costs so much. There is nothing for the average fan. It is overpriced. But I still love the show.

Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con

broderic on May 30, 2004

Visited Balticon for a part of the day. I am not that geeky. As evidence I present to you that I only know of the ABCs of science fiction, Isaac Asimov, David Brin and Arthur C. Clarke. Any other writers of science fiction I have no clue about. This was my first experience at a con where I actually paid the entrance fee and attended (or pretended to attend) some of the lectures. Okay, just one, the LOTR parodies which were funny. So I paid for almost nothing.

I was expecting more from Balticon. I expected bigger. I expected people dressed up as their favorite character from TekWar or the DragonRider series. Instead it seemed smaller and not enough people dressed up. Perhaps if I got into the spirit of it I would’ve had more fun. As it was, it was too geeky for me by the half.

Note to self embrace your inner geek. I am just gonna have to wait for my favorite con.

Memorial Day is “The Day After Tomorrow”

broderic on May 29, 2004

Last night, we saw The Day After Tomorrow. Just because it is saddled with a ridiculous title doesn’t mean that it is a terrible movie. Like all summer movies, it has a few nits to pick, but overall a rather enjoyable movie. Hmm? Enjoyable? That’s weird because I usually give movies the ambivalent “s’okay” meaning, “Watch it if you must, but I told you so if it sucks.”

I would say the same about The Day After Tomorrow, but it was stupid fun and deserves your money. Cold weather is the new bad guy. Our damsel in distress outruns that wintery blast. Super cooled are freezing things instantly. And everything is CG. What is there not to like about the flick? Watch it if you must, but I told you so that you’re gonna have a fun time.

4 of 5 stars.

Now iMusic 18!

broderic on May 27, 2004

Slate does a funny article about celebrity playlists. I don’t think they’re that bad, but I really haven’t checked them out. What I thought they would be good for was to expose you to new music. Who should know more about some obscure band that plays kick ass tunes than musicians themselves? Unfortunately, as Slate points out, that is not always the case, and many of the playlists suck. Can’t some of the rap producers or hip-hop stars clue us in on some cool cut from which they boosted a loop from? Can’t some alternative, neo-garage band point us to a band who is even more garagey than they are?

The article ends by focusing on the Theivery Corporation playlist. It says their’s doesn’t suck. What do you expect from one of the more interesting groups today. They should have an eclectic mix because their music seem to be a blend of many genres. As you can tell, I like them.

Van Helsing… You murderer!

broderic on May 25, 2004

So, last Thursday I saw Van Helsing (You murderer!). Not a very good movie, because it had the barest of plots. Most of the story was in support of the action, and the action was all cliched as if the director (also the writer!) needed to cram all action movie scenes into the movie. Aliens – we got vampire eggs! Fast and the Furious – nothing faster than Transylvania horses! Dracula! Wolfman! I was waiting for them to throw in the creature from the black lagoon.

The overall tone of Van Helsing was to be campy. Too bad no one told Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale.

2 of 5 stars.