Real Topeka People

The world’s biggest superhero, doing publicity for Superhero Movie (a parody of comic book pics in the vein of Scary Movie). Simply put, one of the best Cruiser impressions ever….. So spot on it’s scary. “Bam!”

I love these guys dearly, and it’s a shame they have gone their own ways in 2008 (though the band is not officially broken up, each member is busy with their solo projects). I got to see them live in Portland during my 2006 travels and they were truly inspiring to watch.

Chris Thile is undeniably one of the best mandolin players in the world, and a charismatic front man to boot. Sean Watkins adds a lot of soul and depth to their songwriting, and Sara Watkins’ beautiful harmonies and virtuoso violin are magic to the ears. Their ‘Why Should The Fire Die?’ album, from 2006, is lush, affecting and at times unabashedly romantic folk bluegrass.

Sara has been working on her solo album with Led Zep’s John Paul Jones as producer, a surprising choice. Cannot wait to hear the fruits of that effort, due later this year.

You can probably file this film under ‘R’ for ‘Redundant’, given the Ang Lee \ Eric Bana version was only five years ago, but I am a little excited for three reasons.

1. Ed Norton - had a very consistent resume until recently, would love to see him back in form. The Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde components of the Hulk mythology are well suited to a guy with his intensity and range.

2. An Iron Man Cameo - read about it here. This was the kind of cross-pollination I loved about the comics. And an Avengers movie is coming?? Coooool. (I realise I just outed myself as a gigantic nerd).

3. Marvel Creative Control - Apparently Marvel are exercising more creative control with this one, which is a good thing. Ang Lee’s version was a little too pretentious for my liking, despite his attempts to shoot it like a comic book (the father-son stuff with Nick Nolte was just brutally boring). The only thing that makes me consider adding it to my DVD collection is the lovely and under-rated Jennifer Connelly - but not quite. Maybe if there was a shower scene in the deleted scenes….

This is Episode 2 of a series by Actor / Comedian Chris Dotson, who plays David Lynch as a mediator for the little conflicts in life. One for the Lynch fans definitely, but very funny. And you’ve gotta love the “thumbs up” salute at the end.

The others are worth checking out too - you can find them here (under Greetings From David Lynch).

In lieu of a clip for the radical new The Black Keys song ‘Strange Times’ (hear it on their Myspace page here), I give you the crunchy goodness of ‘Your Touch’ from their last hip shakin’ album ‘Magic Potion’. Funny clip too. (”How do you feel about being dead?” “I dunno; my neck hurts.”) Not only do these guys put on a killer live show, their recorded albums have gotten progressively better and have a genuine timelessness about them.

Check out this awesome teaser for their upcoming album ‘Attack And Release’, due out April 1st - I’m very excited:

Just ordered me one of these courtesy of Snorgtees.com - love it.

I drink it down!

And on the same note:

“Sir, please tell your wife to stop bothering me”

The incandescently beautiful Zooey Deschanel and the talented M. Ward unite to form ‘She and Him’, a throwback to 60’s pop featuring Zooey’s sweet and distinctive vocals.

Unfortunately they don’t have an actual video up yet, but here’s a taste via an Urban Outfitters commercial (do I get some sort of contraband for the plug?):

If you drop by Stereogum, you can download a copy of the song featured in the commercial above.

The album drops today in the states, though I can’t see it listed on the JB Hi-fi release page for Australia. Damn. Will have to make do for now with the swirling harmonies of the delightful free taste-test from Stereogum.

You can also hear a great interview podcast with Zooey below:

It was spilt quite a few months ago that the next title of the Bond Franchise, Bond 22, was rumoured to be ‘Quantum of Solace’, a rumour that was just recently confirmed as fact. Taken from an Ian Fleming short story which features only a brief James Bond cameo, ‘Quantum of Solace’ will apparently pick up where ‘Casino Royale’ left off and have very little to do with the emotional drama of the short story. It will also most likely be the worst titled Bond movie of all time in my opinion (keep in mind the competition includes ‘Octopussy’ and ‘Moonraker’).

The question it also raises is where will ‘Quantum of Solace’ will fit amongst my Top 10 worst movie titles of all time? Making the list requires more than just an appalling title; it also depends on how poorly the title reflects the content of the film, and how effectively it made me lose interest in seeing it (but I have to have seen the film for it to be in contention).

Here’s my picks:

10. Lust, Caution
Pretension, Boredom.

9. The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
I’m not sure I have enough detail on what the movie is about…. I mean, why stop there? What about ‘The Assassination of The Dashingly Handsome Jesse James The Outlaw By The Cowardly But Also Strangely Charismatic Robert Ford On Sunday Morning After Jesse Had Poached Eggs For Breakfast But Before He Brushed His Teeth.’

8. Million Dollar Baby
Huh? This sounds like a Chris Columbus directed slapsticky comedy featuring a baby kidnapping, not a feel-bad boxing drama.

7. How To Make An American Quilt
I take it as a bad sign when the title alone almost puts me to sleep.

6. I *Heart* Huckabees
No symbols in titles please. Especially when they have little to no relevance to the movie itself (though I’ve gotta say, this film is definitely a grower on repeat viewings; some great dialogue and comedic performances).

5. Stop! Or My Mum Will Shoot
You wouldn’t think that they could come up with a title dumber than the movie itself, but some genius saved the day supplying this ‘hysterical’ moniker for Sly Stallone’s 1992 stinker.

4. Leonard Part 6
Quite stupid in its own right, but even stupider when you realise there is no Leonard Parts 1-5.

3. Gigli
A title becomes infinitely stupider when you actually have to give instructions on how to pronounce it. Giggly? Jiggly? Gig-lie? (The actual pronunciation is closer to jeely). Probably the main reason this film bombed (the movie itself really isn’t that bad).

2. Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever
Who the frig are Ecks and Sever? Why do we care if they are going against each other? Why is their battle a syntactical-descriptive of the word Ballistic? Why am I even asking questions of logic about a Wych Kaosayananda film?

1. To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar
Yeah, thanks for everything Wong Foo. Can I please have that two hours of my life back?

(Sidenote: My brother and I were talking about this movie a few weeks back and we cannot for the life of us work out why a 15 year old and a 12 year old boy went to see a movie about drag queens at the cinema. What were the other choices that week? I mean, we lived in a small town, but this is just wrong. Forget violence, sex and nudity; someone should be protecting the youth from bad drag queen comedies).

I’ve decided to resurrect ‘WTF Were They Thinking???’, a running blog from my old website where I endeavour to dig up some Youtube goodness that will make you ask the aforementioned question. First up in the reboot is a recommendation from some friends regarding my upcoming wedding video. It’s a shame these guys are based in Canada…. I can only imagine how magic and memorable my wedding movie could have been in Fred and Sharon’s skilled hands.

I met Cam and Gabby from Dead Letter Chorus a while back after a gig at the Hoey and they struck me as very warm, down to earth, and incredibly passionate about their music.

You can see definitely see that quality in this live performance of ‘Magnolia Farm’, shot at the Enmore. With a wide variety of influences and two lead voices that complement each other perfectly, not to mention a talented and humble collection of musicians, it’s great to see DLC starting to get the recognition they deserve.

If you want to support them in self-financing their first full length album, head down to the Brass Monkey this Saturday for an album preview fund-raiser. All proceeds go towards the new record, which they are looking to independently produce and release.