John Lennon

Rest in peace.

Star Wars: Construction Paper Remix

I hope on the tenth re-release of the original trilogy, George Lucas replaces all CGI with construction paper animation. I also hope on the inevitable re-release of the prequel trilogy, George Lucas replaces all poorly constructed plot points, one-dimensional characters, and soul sucking visuals with a better movie. Zing!*

*-Star Wars prequel trilogy zing #458,361,591,734,909,887,456

Enjoy.

'The Staircase' Documentary

For awhile, I was on a serious documentary kick. One fantastic documentary, 'The Staircase,' is a mini-series by filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade that came out in 2004 and chronicled the trial of author Michael Peterson, accused of murdering his wife. Due to the ambiguous circumstances of his wife's death, the documentary never offers a concrete conclusion on whether or not he killed his wife (despite the trial's outcome), but the lack of a final word is what makes this documentary so absorbing. The film mostly follows his family and the defendants as they go through the trial, but it shows in such extreme detail the limits prosecutors and defendants will go and have to go just to win a trial. As Michael Peterson says at one point (in a probably butchered quote I'm just pulling from my head), "They don't care about finding the truth. They just care about winning."

Here's a clip from the film where Michael Peterson laments how so much press and public focus is spent on his trial when it should be spent on the endless poverty and corruption that plagues his city of Durham, Alabama, instead.

And oh yes, a Netflix link for the lazy.

Miami Horror

The more I talk about how I'll post more in this blog, the less I post so I'm just gonnashutupnowandnotjinxit...coughcoughcough!

Anyway, 70's disco/80's synth bands are all the rage now, and while plenty of music that comes out in that style is disposable, Australian based rockers Miami Horror are not. While their warm chords and fun dance songs are better suited for cruising around during a hot summer night than blared out in the mellow fall air - global warming, pollution, the reversal of the seasons, and our galaxy splitting shouldn't make this a problem. The video for their first single, "Sometimes," from their album Illumination follows below. And if you like that, check out their song "Holidays" which features Neon Indian frontman, Alan Paloma, on vocals.

WTF with Marc Maron

If you haven't heard about him before, Marc Maron is a veteran comedian that started out in the late 80's with alternative heroes David Cross and Sarah Silverman. His bi-weekly podcast, WTF with Marc Maron, is full of hilarious and brutally honest rants coupled with amazing interviews that manage to craft a profile that very few professional journalists are able to obtain. Check out Marc's interview with Carlos Mencia where he manages to break down the deep laying insecurities that drive Carlos to steal jokes, go on power trips, and constantly fight in the effort of maintaining his massive popularity. And all without veering into Joe Rogan assault territory.

Watch a full setlist of his act below, or download the rest of his podcasts here or on iTunes.

We Are Happy Landfill: The Decree

So, I figure that I should lay out my intentions of this blog.

For the most part, I want to make this a blog about every major part of pop culture (minus any mind numbing tabloid trash).

Now more than ever there is so much art to discover and experience that it's easy to miss or even forget about the most noticeable stuff out there much less the art that frequently gets lost in the mix. While I'll probably share a lot of stuff most people haven't seen or heard, it's not my intention to be the person that "discovered" anything I post. There are so many blogs out there already that are so in depth with one specific thing that anything I "discover" has been discovered 300 times over already.

My main purpose of this blog is to point people towards great art they may be missing or have missed out on in all areas: movies, music, TV, books, video games, etc. (Now that I think about it, though, I'm pretty sure that's the main goal of every blog but...well, you're here already.)

I'll also fill this thing with an occasional piece of amateur criticism the likes blogs are known the world over...mostly because it makes me feel self-important and also because I love writing and discussing things I'm passionate about.

Now...Top That!...?

Super Furry Animals!

Ah geez, I haven't updated this thing in 8 months which is one month less than the time it would take to have a procrastination baby. But fuck it! Let's abort this shit, and bring things back with a video from The Flaming Lips of Europe, Super Furry Animals. The song is called Drygioni and it's off their album Mnwg, which is sung entirely in Welsh (a language spoke natively in Wales).