Album Appreciation Night : Kid A

It’s been almost a week since I made it out to the Broadway 5050 to catch Chris Madden and Chuck Kerr kickstart what they’re calling their second season of album appreciation nights. 

Last year they put together a few nights where they covered albums by the like of Radiohead, David Bowie, The Flaming Lips and the Funeral… 

The year was supposed to end with the duo (and friends) taking on Neutral Milk Hotel’s  AIRPLANE OVER THE SEA but the holiday’s happened and showcase never happened.

Here’s a photo I took from the back of the crowded room…   The fine people at Miranda Studios has put out some video footage of the evening too.

Chuck Kerr & Chris Maddin Present: Radiohead “Kid A” Live (Part 2) from Miranda Studios SA on Vimeo.

Weekend Cinema

Over the weekend, I got treated to not one, but two movies that just opened in theaters…

The first movie I got to check out was the new Eisenberg flick : 30 Minutes or Less
The movie isn’t all that bad but I wouldn’t recommend anyone go out of their way to catch it tho’.   I have a thing for “heist” movies so I would have seen this at some point or another.

The second movie I got to check out, was the Help and this was possibly of the best big picture screenings I’ve seen all year.  Had a long conversation with my parents about it this morning and I think they’re going to check it out tomorrow afternoon.

Octavia Spencer, by the way will likely win an Oscar for her performance.  If you haven’t seen this - make it a point to do so.

Arguably the greatest rock video that the Rolling Stones never made….   (That’s a little poke at my friend HRK who hates it when I make these kinds of proclamations)

In all seriousness, I don’t know what made me think about this video today - but its a great song and I’m in a Supergrass kinda mood.

Arthur... only by name

When I first heard that Arthur would get a reboot, I never thought I would break down and actually rent it out of respect to Dudley Moore and how many times I spent afternoons next to my old roommate in Detroit exchanging favorite quotes from the original movie.

When I heard Russell Brand was involved - I decided to not write it off completely and rent it if it were ever made available for a $1 at the local Redbox kiosk.

That day was today…  and much to my surprise the film wasn’t as bad as people made it out to be.  The film had a lot of heart and I actually liked his love interest more in the recent adaptation than Liza in the original.

Helen Mirren as “Hobson” was also an interesting touch and I actually liked that too…

If you’ve been on the fence about watching this - check it out.   If you’re worried about seeing Russell Brand stumble through the movie doing a band drunken Dudley Moore…  you needn’t worry.   He sorta plays it ‘straight” for a good part of the movie - walking around more often than not with a bottle of whiskey than taking sips from it. 

Sucker Punched?

So i’m about 80% done with the movie Sucker Punch, and I don’t know if I like it or hate it…   the things I like about it are :

a.) gratuitous amounts of girls in in pig tails-school girl/sailor moon outfits
b:) weapons of choice - samurai sword/hand guns  
c.) for no apparent reason, a dream sequence involved an enemy that was a Steam Punk-post apocalyptic Nazi army

What I didn’t like about it was…   the movie is the first ever example of a film that should have been Video Game.      

That and the movie sorta touches on something I don’t quite understand about this generation.  The main character slips into an action/fantasy world - to advance the plot of the movie -  in the form of dance.   What is it with all the dancing these days?