Free Pietasters show tonight July 31st 2008 @ Nottoway Park in Vienna VA

From the website:

http://www.countrycreekhoa.com/nottoway.html

Nottoway Nights is a free summer concert series held every Thursday night at 7:30 PM. Bring a picnic dinner, chairs and blankets. The park does not permit alcoholic beverages. Pets are welcome on leashes. Nottoway Park is at 9601 Old Courthouse Rd, Vienna. For weather cancellations, call 703-324-7469 after 6 PM. Visit Fairfax County Parks Dept for more information.

July 24	The Homegrown String Band (Americana)
July 31	Pietasters (Ska)
August 7	King Teddy (Swing)
August 14	Sior-Og (Irish)
August 21	Cathy Ponton King (Blues/Sweet ballads)
August 28	Seldom Scene (Bluegrass)

Movies – The dark knight

I saw the new Batman movie “The Dark Knight” last night. I loved it! I loved the 1989 Tim Burton/Jack Nicholson “Batman,” and I never thought another batman movie could ever compare to that…but TDK was incredible!

Christopher Nolan did a brilliant job with this movie. To me, The Dark Knight is 180 degrees from those silly Val Kilmer/George Clooney flicks, which were sophomoric and cartoonish, almost like a child’s film. TDK, by contrast, is dark and gritty and real – even more so than “Batman begins.” Nolan’s Gotham is a tough place – corrupt to the core and run by the Mafia, which fears only the caped crusader, Gotham’s lone defender…until a psychopathic criminal appears on the scene and offers to eliminate him..for a price.

Heath Ledger was amazing in this film. I’ve heard talk that Ledger’s performance is being overhyped due to his sensational death after filming. I might’ve agreed, but not after seeing his performance. Ledger is brilliant – he is the joker. He completely steals this movie – every scene he’s in is mesmerizing. Ledger makes this film for me – he completely exceeded my expectations. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t get major consideration come academy award time. It’s a shame any awards will have to be made posthumously, but, I think it’d be well deserved.

Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart and of course Christian Bale all turn in solid performances, but chances are you’ll hardly notice, as Heath Ledger steals the show from the moment his twisted smile first makes an appearance on screen. It’s a damn shame he’s gone – I can’t imagine where this series will go from here. It’s hard to believe they’ll be able to follow Ledger’s amazing Joker.

Movie review “There will be blood”

I finally got around to seeing There Will Be Blood for the first time recently. It’s a long and slow movie; it’s more of a character study to me than a conventional story with a beginning, middle and end. The movie is based on Upton Sinclair’s “Oil,” which is itself loosely based on the life of Edward Doheny; in fact, it seems like they took the backstory/biographical information about Daniel Day Lewis’ character Daniel Plainview straight from Doheny’s life.

Daniel Day Lewis is simply unbelievable in this movie…this was the best acting I’ve seen in a movie since DeNiro was in his prime. It’s worth watching simply for his role…the rest is a bonus. This is movie of the year material to me.

“I have a competition in me…I want no one to succeed.”

Music review – “N.E.R.D. Seeing Sounds”

I had never listened to N.E.R.D. or the Neptunes before I heard N.E.R.D.’s new album “Seeing Sounds.” I really like it. It’s hip-hop, but they have really creative beats/music. It’s very funky; these are well written songs, not just some guy rhyming over a generic beat. My first thought is it sounds a little like Outkast, but, I also think it sounds a little like old school (black) Michael Jackson, especially with the funky guitar riffs, catchy hooks and simple (in a good way) 80’s style beat. I like it – it’s worth checking out.

RIP George Carlin

George Carlin died last night in California. He was 71. I’m sure the net and the main stream media will be filled with Carlin eulogies and retrospectives, so, I won’t needlessly add an overwrought, self-indulgent diatribe about how much Carlin meant to society in general or me in particular to add to the heap. I’ll just say, briefly, that his “seven dirty words you can’t say on television” opened my eyes to society’s blatant hypocrisy that stares us in the face daily: pandering to our basest insecurities while trying to con us into buying more useless stuff, and simultaneously playing the politically correct “thou shalt offend no one” game.

I think this quote (taken from washpost) sums him up well:
“I think it is the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.”

George Carlin will be missed.

I couldn’t help reposting this photo from wiki: It’s george carlin’s mug shot from when he was arrested for public indecency in the early 70’s after doing his “7 dirty words” bit.

Movie “Futurama: The Beast with a billion backs”

The second Futurama movie is out: The beast with a billion backs. From imdb: The Planet Express crew must work to fix rips between their universe and another inhabited by a planet-sized, tentacle alien which soon takes over the Earth and uses it’s ability to control Fry to command an entire religion which takes over and convinces the inhabitants of Earth to abandon the Earth to live in a pseudo-heaven, leaving the robots of the world to inherit the planet.

That’s way better than I can explain the plot.

I love futurama, and this movie rocks! It’s very tightly written – the jokes come fast and furious, the plot moves straight ahead, and the characters are all back and in rare form. The cast is smaller than Bender’s big score; this is Fry and Bender heavy episode. Zapp Brannigan is incredible; if you only watch his parts, I bet it’s still worthwhile.

I’m incredibly happy futurama is back. These movies prove Groening & crew still had plenty left in the ol’ imagination tank. I like this more than Bender’s big score. I can’t wait for “Bender’s game” and “Into the wild green yonder”!

Review – Weezer “Red album”

I’ve been a fan of Weezer since their early 90’s, so I was excited to hear they have a new album coming out soon. I loved their fist album (the blue album) – I thought it was one of the best alternative/rock albums of the early 90s. Pinkerton is my favorite – the riffs on that album are heavy and dark, which matches Rivers’ darkest and most introspective lyrics (and really, songs about child-rape just aren’t going to be light pop songs). I thought there was a lot to like about the green album (“hash pipe,” “islands in the sun”). Maladroit was heavy and underappreciated. I didn’t love “Make believe” but it had a few rocking tracks.

I’ve listened to the new album (The Red Album) a few times now, and it’s very disappointing. The tunes are more pop than rock, and even worse, they’re just boring. There’s the obligatory whiney self-indulgent “I’m sorry if I hurt you” tune (“The angel and the one”), a few catchy if pretentious mtv aimed pop songs (“The greatest man that ever lived, pork & beans”) but very little that rocks. It’s 10 tracks and 41 minutes of completely forgettable radio schlock.

My theory is that every time Weezer makes a dark, metal infused album (Pinkerton, Maladroit), it tanks commercially, and Rivers overreacts and makes pop music aimed for mtv/radio play. This is the second such album following their last heavy album, Maladroit (including 2005’s “Make believe”) and it follows a pattern. It’s as if Rivers is upset that his introspective/heavy albums don’t get recognized, and he evidently wants commercial recognition, so he writes songs aimed for the mtv crowd. It’s almost like he’s trying too hard to be popular.

I have a rule that I will overlook one bad album from a band that I’ve appreciated in the past. This is Weezer’s second in a row, and the red album is worse than Make Believe, which at least had a few decent tracks. If they go back to form they established with the blue album, pinkerton, the green album or maladroit on their next project, I’ll be back as a Weezer fan, but if they continue to write pop songs aimed at teenagers, then I’ve heard about enough.

Fav tracks: Troublemaker is the only track on this album I liked.

Pietasters play Herndon festival!

I’ve been to Herndon festival several times in the past, since I grew up in Reston and went to Herndon middle and high school. It’s fun; it’s a carnival atmosphere and I’ve seen some interesting music before, but no bands I’ve really been -that- into.

I was really surprised to hear the Pietasters are playing Herndon festival tonight! The ‘tasters are a ska/soul group from DC; they played with Joe Strummer in the ’90s. Can’t beat that for a free show. I’m either gonna do that tonight or sit on my butt and watch BSG (not a bad backup plan really).

Metro 2030 map

The blog Greater Greater Washington has a very interesting station map of how metro might look in 2030 if the Silver line (out to Dulles and beyond), Blue line (Georgetown) and Purple lines (Chevy Chase and MoCo) ever get built.

This is probably a pipe dream, but I hope this will happen one day (I wouldn’t bet on getting there by 2030). Metro was built decades ago in a “hub and spoke” design, assuming people would always consider DC the center and commute in/out from close in suburbs like Arlington and Bethesda. Metro hasn’t kept up with the development in this region over the past 35 years. I’d love to be able to drive to Reston, or even get a train in Sterling to ride downtown. I’d go downtown a lot more often.

Click here for a full size map.

Music – Death cab for cutie “Narrow Stairs”

I’ve listened to the new Death Cab album a few times now, and I like it. I’ve never heard Death cab before. Sounds a bit like Wilco to me.

Fav songs: No Sunlight, Cath, Bixby Canyon Bridge