Sunday, November 30, 2008

That's infotainment.

Three things about three things:

1. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist today. One, well of course I need the soundtrack immediately. Two, my high school days were more along the lines of Mallrats - do kids these days really have such adventures? I'm jealous. And three, if I were a 14 year old girl you'd better believe that Michael Cera's Tiger Beat photos would soooo be plastered all over my walls. In fact, I'm a 33 year old girl and I'm considering it.

2. The Decemberists at the Crystal Ballroom last night. One, OH. Two, MY. Three, GOD. The best of the four? five? shows I've seen since 2004. And how fun to see them in their natural habitat. They played many favorites including The Island, which I've never heard live (for the record, best song to play on repeat when you're waiting for the bus on a rainy, cold day). They made us re-celebrate the election results, which made me re-regret not getting up at the crack of dawn to stand in line for eighteen hours to see them perform at the Obama rally in June. They encouraged singing along as always, and boy oh boy did we all. My throat hurt this morning. La de da de da de diddy diddy da. And they ensured that my next sick day will revolve around watching YouTube clips of their performances and videos.

[Digression: In the lead-up to the main show I was composing a mental rant about the emo couple behind me who kept bitching and moaning because "unh PEOPLE are cutting in FRONT of me AND my IRONIC T-SHIRT in this GENERAL ADMISSION venue and unh I can't SEE and I've been here since NINE THIRTY this MORNING and I'm TOO COOL to clap for the opening band who is sorta AWESOME but if I clap my bf/gf will think I'm LAME for liking someone that EVERYONE likes and unh do I have the SAME haircut as Colin Meloy does that make ME lame omg WHY am I even here anyway SIGH where's my HOODIE unh I need a clove cigarette..." But then I got over it because the show was just awesome and I forgot about everything except the songs and the band and the fact that I was seeing The Decemberists in Portland. I live here! End of digression.]

3. Blade Runner yesterday morning. One, it took me several attempts over the past week to get through it - kept falling asleep. (Same was true for Hedwig, which just means I am lame, it's no reflection on the movie.) Two, the narration bugged the crap out of me - to the point where I started to wonder if Harrison Ford was actually a good actor. (Results came out in his favor, but it was touch and go for a few minutes in my thought process.) Three, I fear I've seen variations of this story so many times since 1982 that I missed the awe-inspiring groundbreaking conceptualization of the frailty of life that the film was recognized for almost 30 years ago. Or maybe I'm just old enough now to realize that I didn't need a movie to tell me how frail life is. You be the judge.

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Bonus infotainment review: best LOL I've seen in a while.

Bonus bonus infotainment review: I finally found Sifl and Olly clips on YouTube. If you don't recall, this was a short-lived very-late-night MTV sock puppet show from the late 90's. Yes, I said sock puppet show. It was probably geared toward stoners coming home from the bar... being lame, I taped it while I slept sober-but-just-tired and watched it the next day. I like to think that its short life paved the way for shows like South Park (now in it's eight thousandth season) and Flight of the Conchords (which we must get more of). All that really matters is that it's absurd and it makes me laugh. Here's a clip that will appeal to you mateys out there. Seek out the rest as time permits. Arrrr.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like you watched the original theatrical version of Blade Runner. The director's cut is much better - no narration, plus the ending is, I think, drastically different. I have yet to see the newer "Final Cut".

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  2. Blade Runner Tip:

    Watch the Director's Cut without the narration.

    Disadvantage:

    The pacing wills even MORE languid...but at least it'll be a better movie.

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