So I have an album floating around out there on the digital music sites. Something I put on CD Baby at the beginning of the century, sold two CDs of, and then everything went quiet.

But every now and again, I get the heads up that a review has been written about this thing. And I’d like to share with you the insights of user ‘jkfhgjk’:

“ijihjiogjhortjhoijhkj mmiugh oihuit itu ouo iohiju hiojkgjb ijrbpkb iopj pjkljm”

Even better than this spam review is that 2 out of 4 people found it useful.

Awesome.

Inspired by Shawn Harwell’s awesome new site, Holepuncher, I’ve thrown together a muxtape for any readers/music listeners on the site today…

This week’s tape – songs that got me my wife. So if you’re looking for a wife, try these songs on the girl you fancy. They will pretty much totally work.

Ladies, they probably won’t work on a dude. That’ll be the next mux.

1. Tex Ritter – Do Not Forsake Me (High Noon)
2. Stephen Malkmus – Troubbble
3. They Might Be Giants – AKA Driver
4. Will Oldham – New Partner
5. Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players – Let’s Not Have the Same Weight in 1978
6. Ryan Adams – Shakedown on 9th Street
7. The Decemberists – Los Angeles, I’m Yours
8. Hot Hot Heat – 5 Times Out of 100
9. Rufus Wainwright – Go or Go Ahead
10. Frank Black – Hostess with the Mostest
11. The Deadly Snake – Closed Casket
12. Tom Waits – Picture in a Frame

Rock on.

Just saw ‘The Dark Knight’ today. Can’t really write a review and be anything but white noise, I feel like, so instead, here’s a list of questions (this will probably have spoilers in it, but then this isn’t really a movie based on huge twists, so I wouldn’t worry too much):

1. Was ‘The Dark Knight’ more about the BIG THEME than about the characters/story?

2. Would this movie have been better if it had focused solely on Batman/Joker or Batman/Two Face?

3. Is anyone else sad that there won’t be anymore Heath Ledger-Joker put to film?

4. Can your heart hold any more love for Michael Caine?

5. Did Lucius Fox actually resign?

read more »

Been oscillating between fascination and frustration reading Larry Gross’ The 48 Hrs. Diaries, apparently entries from a journal that he kept while he was on the set of “48 Hrs.”. Seems like random choices all the way around – Larry who? “48 Hrs.”? From 26 years ago? But taking a peak behind the scenes, deeper than any presskit, it’s always a lure for me.

So there I am reading…

The frustrating part is that the diaries are… well… not so accessible. To wit:

Today with a lot of extras at the set of Elaine’s bar, we refer to it as The Chronicle Bar, It’s a practical location out in Pasadena.

Sosna yelling to the prop guy:

“Craig set you’re a card on fire.”

read more »

It looks like Hollywood is going 3-Ds nuts all of the sudden, with a sack full of 3-D movies on the slate, the first of which opens today – ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’. It’s got some solid reviews and people are generally saying it’s a good time. Rotten Tomatoes has it at 65%, which would’ve been bad when I was in high school, but is apparently a good thing now.

My question is – do you really want to watch movies in 3-D? Have you ever seen a good 3-D movie?

‘Good’ really isn’t the idea, though, right? It’s all about the gimmick. And gimmicks can be fun. Remember how ‘Clue’ had three different endings and it would change depending on which theater you saw it in? Or what about ‘The Tingler’, an old William Castle movie where the monster of the movie attached to your spine and it would shock you to death unless you screamed AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS!!! That was some gourmet gimmick right there… read more »

I thought I was done worrying about the remakes that Hollywood is determined to produce. I even have sort of come to understand it all – now more than ever, they need sure things. Or at least things that have a built in brand. From the studios’ point of view – and really, they’re right about this – they aren’t forcing you to watch the remake. If you want to see it, come see it. If you don’t, then don’t. What’s the point in complaining about it? If you don’t like it, you don’t have give them your money.

But are remakes actually harming the originals they’re based on? read more »

Been talking over some ideas with a friend – ideas in the monster movie ballpark, that are still in their infancy. Man, they sure cry and poop a lot at this age. Mostly, they poop. But in talking about this idea I have, I started thinking about the mythology of movie monsters, the back story of these things you’ve never seen before and just how much of that back story is entertaining. What is the line between dull and awesome? read more »