Gone fishin'

Around the horn

A few quick things to catch up on, much of which deserves it's own post, but in the interest of actually getting something up here, here goes:

- There is a new Crooked Fingers album coming out soon, which is very exciting news. Yet another band that I was introduced to by Gamera- this one through an ambitious 2-disc retrospective which includes an absolutely perfect first disc of all Archers of Loaf. I've grown into a huge Eric Bachmann fan over the past few years, and while I wasn't there for the Archers days I've been lucky to see several excellent live shows, both with Crooked Fingers, and especially solo. Apparently he has decided to leave Merge, which I was sorry to hear about, but it's hard to argue with his reasons. Makes you wonder why any indies really bother with labels at this point (at least the ones selling 10k per album). Anyway, hopefully this works out for him and he can move out of the van.

- Fleet Foxes. If I wrote this last week my review would be lukewarm, but as I'm getting past the Jim James voice similarity (imitation?) I'm really enjoying this more and more. Beautiful music, despite the distraction.

- Operation Filmmaker. Excellent documentary about an Iraqi film student invited to work on an American film production, and the general disaster that ensues. The amazing thing about this film is just how completely poorly just about everyone in the film comes off (director included). When the problems became clear in the first 10 minutes of the film I really wondered where it would go for another 90 minutes, but the snowballing mess is quite compelling. Only complaint was the end- it seemed too abrupt, and I really wanted to know what happened to these people. Maybe in part 2?

- Wolf Parade- At Mount Zoomer. Not bad but I'm feeling let down. On it's own it's a decent album but compared to Apologies to the Queen Mary it's not holding up for me. Soldier's Grin is an excellent opener but where are the epics? 11 minute songs don't count- I want more Dinner Bells! I managed to snag tickets to this immediately sold out show in Boston in August and just realized that I can't go. Not at all pleased about this.

- I did, however, just get tickets to go see this guy at the end of the month. I'm hoping he wears more clothes in Cambridge. 

- Red Sox vs Orioles, 7/12/08. Sox 12, Orioles 1. In Attendance: Irene

Not a lot to report from this one except that the Sox completely embarrassed the O's. In the 8th we moved down to field level seats, where I remarked that I've never caught a foul ball, and on the next pitch had a towering foul fall 2 feet to the right of me. Never had one come that close and there was no way I was putting my hands anywhere near it. 

Finally, per a recent discussion with Gamera, here's Geddy Lee with rotisserie chickens roasting live on stage. Anyone know why?

I want royalties.

or at least something for free....

Rangers vs Angels

7/8/08

Rangers 3 Angels 2

Rangers Ballpark in Arlington

In attendance: lots of co-workers

My hotel in Texas has a bar with a 52 foot screen (everything is bigger in Texas) which shows 5 different baseball games at the same time every night. Needless to say I am grateful for such amenities. Of course the biggest part of the screen (and the audio) is reserved for the Rangers, so I got to watch quite a bit of this team which I otherwise don't pay too much attention to. It may have just been a good week for them but this was a fun team to watch- hanging in games, come from behind victories, walkoffs, etc.

Luckily this was the case for the game that we went to as well. This was my first experience at this ballpark, and the mere feat of driving to the stadium and parking in a lot was something I haven't experienced in a long time. The temperature was a steady 103 when we pulled in, which was causing some concern among attendees, but a look to the sky showed some very ominous clouds rolling in. We decided to try to beat the rain and make our way to the park, which resulted in us being trapped in a full on downpour for the entire walk. We finally made it in thoroughly soaked, but by the time the game started (1 hour late), the temperature had dropped to a much more manageable 80 degrees.

I have to say I liked this ballpark a lot- big place but had a very cozy and friendly feel to it. Lots of between inning activities and even a big "Deep in the Heart of Texas" singalong, which I was very excited for. Surprisingly good fans as well- good sized crowd who all stuck around until the end (as they should have- Rangers went into the 9th protecting a one run lead). We sat in the centerfield bleachers, which gave us a nice view of the park, as well as a close view of the home bullpen to the left, and the batter's eye grass (no idea what that is really called) to the right. Best of all the tickets cost $15 and we bought them the day of the game, certainly a luxury I'm not used to in Boston. 

Y'all? Hi.

A belated howdy from Texas. 

Back in Boston this weekend, blogging to follow.

Put on your sunday shoes

A few miscellaneous items before leaving the steamy city for the long weekend. 

- I've been seeing this floating around for awhile, but just got around to checking it out today and enjoyed what I heard. Had I known that it was the entire Footloose soundtrack I may have just written the whole thing off as boring ironic covers, but as the heart wrenching story behind the whole project suggests, there is a lot more going on here. Also, I love free CDs that come with ready made cover art. Worth a listen. 

- Nuking the fridge is the new jumping the shark. 

- Speaking of Indiana Jones, here's a funny review/commentary by someone who really hates this movie. I never wrote about this but I should say that I actually mostly enjoyed this movie, but found a few things unforgivable. 

1. The ending. I realize that all of the Indy movies dabbled in the supernatural, but this was ridiculous. Plus, the only other one that really went over the top with the supernatural was Temple of Doom with the whole weird voodoo thing, and that was always the weakest of the three.

2. The swinging with the monkeys scene. My fear for Crystal Skull was that George Lucas would get his paws on it and include some of that Jar-Jar type kids stuff (that I don't even think kids really like and everyone else hates) that he seems to be so into. Luckily there wassn't too much of that, but this was just weak. I'd be more inclined to believe that Indy would survive the damn nuclear bomb in the fridge than accept what happened this scene. 

- The Corner. In anticipation of season 5 of The Wire coming out on August 12, I wanted to take a look at this mini-series that was the launching point for it. I'm halfway through, and man, this is some depressing stuff. Really strong performances by about half of the cast that would later make up The Wire, but it paints such a dire and hopeless picture of Baltimore.  3 more episodes to go and I'm not confident that it's going to end happily. 

- Finally, in honor of the Footloose covers, my favorite moment from Flight of the Conchords. 

(and after that watch this to see how true to the original this is. Does anyone remember taking this movie seriously?)