For reasons which are unclear to me, my recent movie viewing has been somewhat limited. I shall have to remedy that. I’ve seen the big blockbusters, but I have no offbeat recommendations (as I usually do) at this time. As far as the biggies go, Matrix Revolutions wasn’t that bad until the ending, which blew. It’s not so much that it didn’t make sense as that it was so poorly communicated. Up until then I was very entertained (unless I started thinking about it and nitpicking), which was pretty much all I expected. Brad Wardell apparently saw a different, much better, version of the film. Widge provides an alternate ending (pdf) (an overall treatment, actually), one of millions that frustrated fans have made up.
Master and Commander was beautifully shot and well done overall, but the entire middle section drags and could have benefitted from some judicious editing (so could both of the Matrix sequels, come to think of it). Elf was funny and suprisingly innocent. Could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what type of person you are…
Recent listening has also been curtailed, thanks to a rogue car stereo that is taking longer than expected to fix. Stupid car. Anyway, the latest Guster album has grown on me significantly (though I still don’t love it) since I last mentioned it, but the new A Perfect Circle album stinks and doesn’t show any signs of growing on me. A pity, that. Let’s hope Maynard doesn’t let this bleed through (no pun intended, see below) to Tool…
New NIN album, to be titled bleedthrough, is coming “soon.” I’ll let you know how it is when it comes out in 2006. As usual, Meathead weighs in on this news with his unique brand of NIN-oriented wit and insight.
The public’s reaction to BLEEDTHROUGH’s title has been mixed. While some fans love it because it sounds “goth” and “angsty,” others hate it because they feel it sounds “goth” and “angsty.”
A few song titles have been released, and his thoughts on their effectiveness, especially that of “My Dead Friend,” are hilarious. I don’t give a crap about album or song titles (and I don’t generally listen to the lyrics either) so I’ll have to wait until “soon” becomes “now” before I can pass any judgement…
The Kill Bill: Volume 1 soundtrack is twisted and groovy (kinda like the movie). From the kickass trailer music of Tomoyasu Hotei’s “Battle Without Honor or Humanity” to Isaac Hayes’ “Run Fay Run” to Santa Esmeralda’s crazed cover of “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” it’s an interesting album to say the least…
A friend recently blessed me with two supposed classics of electronica, U.N.K.L.E.’s Psyence Fiction and Coldcut’s Journeys by DJ. Psyence Fiction has some great moments and several good songs, but wasn’t particularly brilliant. Journeys by DJ was ho-hum, but scored extra points for using the Doctor Who theme in a few tracks.
Speaking of which, it looks like the BBC will be bringing back Doctor Who, though the good doctor has yet to be cast. In the mean time, check out these animated episodes (which I had no idea even existed). [via Crooked Timber]
I’ve noticed that my recent television viewing has been mostly limited to cartoons. The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, and other Adult Swim type stuff. My friends force me to watch 24 and I’ll catch an occasional hockey game though, so it’s not all cartoons…
I recently purchased the NHL 2004 video game, and it has since eaten my soul. Sports games always cracked me up because they release a new one every year that is usually only marginally different than the previous year’s game (often the most significant change is to reflect current rosters). But the trend recently is to include some sort of General Management meta-game where you get to play General Manager and deal with contracts, trades, ticket-prices, etc… NHL 2004 is the first hockey game that I’ve played that has this feature, and it does put a whole new spin on what is otherwise not much different than NHL 1998. Then again, I’m not sure anything beats the halcyon days of the early 1990s NHL games… the player control in 2004 is a little disorienting compared to previous games, but we have still come a long way…
As for reading, I’m still chugging away at Quicksilver, which bogged down for a bit and is now picking up again. I’m not really sure what it’s about yet, and from what others have said, I’m not sure it is about anything. Yet. Still two more books coming where he’ll no doubt expand on that. For now it seems like nothing more than a ribald series of intellectual or picaresque adventures that are related but not oriented in any one direction. Yet.
Update 11.27.03 – DyRE informs me that I must have transposed a couple of numbers and that we should expect the new NIN album sometime around 2060, not 2006. My mistake.