Fear and Loathing in Overland Park pt 87

Only by the Night

The music of the year, in this humble blogger's opinion. Sure, it's again not a Top Ten. I'm not saying it's the best across the board. It's just the music I liked this year.

So as always, it's my choice what I listen to and if you don't agree with it, great. Hit me up with suggestions and I'll check them out. Music is another passion of mine.

To start, here are the honorable mentions this year:

Mars Volta: The Bedlam in Goliath
The Black Keys: Attack and Release
Wolf Parade: At Mount Zoomer
Kanye West: 808s and Heartbreak
Tapes n Tapes: Walk it Off
Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes
Loyalty to Loyalty: Cold War Kids
Scars on Broadway: Scars on Broadway
MGMT: Oracular Spectacular
Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend

All of them great albums, but not my most played. These were albums that I really liked and loved listening to and played often, just ones that I didn't necessarily get into as much as the rest. I did pawn them off on other people and helped propel love for these bands from others. That's always a plus.

I'm a pusher man.

Now, for the rest of the list, I figured I would break them into a form of category. It might make them a little easier to follow, a little better to enjoy.

So for you lovely readers out there, here are my favorite albums of 2008, in roughly no particular order.

Rap/Hip Hop

I wouldn't really consider these next few albums to be Rap. I'm more a proponent of Hip Hop, and the next few groups seem more hip hop in my opinion, but I suppose it works to mention them in the same fashion, eh?

In no particular order:

N.E.R.D.: Seeing Sounds
Atmosphere: When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint that Shit Gold
Del tha Funkee Homosapien: The Eleventh Hour

All three of these albums have songs that I dig and played to death. Everybody knows Del is my favorite rapper/hip hop artist living or dead, mainly from Deltron 3030. I love everything the man touches. The Eleventh Hour is just another great record from one of the smartest rappers alive. He touches it and the rhymes are gold.

N.E.R.D. was a surprise this year, as their last release was so terrible. I didn't think they had another great album in them, but they surprised me. A lot of booty shaking can be done with this album, just ask anybody. And if you don't want to, go somewhere that might have a Jukebox. A lot now have Everybody Nose from this record. Play it and see what happens.

Atmosphere is another hip hop group that I dig. The rhymes of Slug and the production of Ant are just perfect. Check out the track You and try not to enjoy this record. This was up there for album of the year status. It truly was. I enjoy everything they do and when you get white boys from Minnesota that know how to rap and how to make rap music, you have to pause and think, really? That's why I gave them a try and this album is another great entry from them.

Indie/Experimental Rock

Here's another strange category. One that I don't necessarily agree with but it works for the most part. A group of great bands fit into this category in one fashion or another, so here they are, in no particular order.

ASHES dIVIDE: Keep Telling Myself It's Alright
The Raconteurs: Consolers of the Lonely
Bloc Party: Intimacy
TV on the Radio: Dear Science

Another group of strong contenders for album of the year. Each and every one of these albums played in my car so much that I nearly ruined them. So let's begin.

Billy Howerdel's offshoot band from A Perfect Circle completely took off. I saw them at Rockfest and it was the only reason I went. It was worth it, just to meet Billy and shake his hand and tell him how great the show was. You know, be an idiot fan. But the guy was a guitar tech and now he leads his own band, more power to the guy. The album itself plays like a lot of A Perfect Circle and makes me long for the days of listening to those records and gaining meaning in my life from them.

Just like other idiot fans. But Keep Telling Myself was a contender for record of the year based on the way it went from hard rock to experimental to alternative all within the same album, playing to the mindsets of the various groups of fans that listen to his stuff (goth, emo, hardcore, etc.). It worked, and I will buy another album if he releases another.

The Raconteurs' new album was so much better than their first that it made my eyes bleed. This was another easy choice as Jack White showed his awe-inspiring guitar work with this album and almost disappeared into the band this time, giving the band a lot more show. It wasn't Jack White, Brendan Benson, and a backup band, it was the Raconteurs. Very indie, very good, and I wish I could have seen them live.

Bloc Party will have a spot on any end of the year list for me, as will TV on the Radio, so long as they keep putting records out. Both bands experiment with the form of rock more than the above listed bands. They expand on what came before and use a lot of electronic influences to move their indie rock fanbase away from what they know and freak them out a little bit.

And wouldn't a Hunter Thompson fan like freaking people out?

Check out Mercury by Bloc Party and anything off TV's album. Both will probably be part of year-end lists, and if not, then they should be. Dancing Choose is a classic from TV on the Radio and you should all take a listen to these bands. They might not be perfect and they might not be the best musicians or songwriters ever, but dammit if they don't make good records.

The next couple albums will all be seen as they are, on their own. They fit into most of the categories above, but I listened to them so much that I just didn't feel it was right.

Nine Inch Nails: Ghosts I-IV and The Slip

Both albums came out as digital downloads first (as did quite a few of the above, a trend that I really love). Both are vastly different and have vastly different tastes.

I've mentioned this before, but I'm sad in a way that George Bush will be out of office this upcoming year as that might stop the flow of Trent Reznor music. And that will utterly suck.

Ghosts I-IV is a soundtrack for people who love soundtracks. Pure music. Pure unadulterated awesome that is strictly music with no lyrics (or the very minimalistic of lyrics) and it works. It's eerie, it's crazy, it's beautiful, and listening to it all at once gives you 2 hours of crazy good music to write to or read to or literally do anything to.

The Slip is even better. If you put them on at the same time, I have this feeling that your head might explode. It might. But the Slip is the album for people who like Trent more when he sings. It's the album he seemed to have made in a day and released in two. And it's still great. Listen to the subtle mistakes (whether intentional or unintentional) and hope that this is where music is going. Free. No corporate bullshit. Just download and play.

Does It Offend You, Yeah?: You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into

Just wow. Just like Justice, Chromeo, MSTRKFT, and other more electronic bands that I love, they do remixes of more popular bands and just make the songs better.

They are insanely talented and their songs talk to the movie nerd inside of me. Songs like Dawn of the Dead, Weird Science, Battle Royale, and Attack of the 60 ft. Lesbian Octopus, they are downright goofy and great.

The music is outstanding. Dawn of the Dead is one of my favorite singles of the year, hands down. Just hearing that single pushed me to buy the album, and I was happy as hell that I did.

I've listened to this CD more than any of the above, and only right behind the last two on my list. It's one to enjoy. Give it a try and this dance punk group might make their way into your favorites too.

Eagles of Death Metal: Heart On

What can I say about EofDM? What can I say that I haven't already said? I love this group. I love everything about them. They make me want to dance and rock out at the same time.

They make me want to grow a mustache, slick my hair back, bust out my guitar, and just lay some funky grooves on people.

They make me want to just jump up and boogie no matter where I am or no matter what I'm doing. I love this band. It would have been album of the year if not for the next band, but if you need proof that you should listen to this band, strictly off this album, check out all their sexually charged songs such as Anything Cept the Truth, (I Used to Couldn't Dance) Tight Pants, High Voltage, I'm Your Torpedo, Heart On, or pick up any of their two older records and just dig the shit out of them.

I've been a fan since they appeared on Desert Sessions (way the fuck back in a time called the 90s), and I like being able to say that yes, I met them too. BOC has MASSIVE hands, Dave Catching rocks the mohican like no other, Hot Damn Sweet Sam Malone is one wicked ass chick drummer, Joey the Sexy Mexi is another kick ass drum god, and Jesse the Devil Hughes looks like a rock and roll William H Macy or Ned Flanders. You pick. And he's the coolest cat you could meet and will sign just about anything and pose with just about anybody or thing. Trust me. He's truly awesome.

And now, truly my favorite album of 2008:

Kings of Leon: Only by the Night

I've talked about this album before. I turned my best friend onto this band just by playing 2 songs and he loves this album more than anything he's bought this year.

It's a classic, from top to bottom, but the first 7 songs are so great that they could have just put dead air after number 7 and still this would be my favorite album of the year. Sex on Fire you've all heard, great album.

Crawl is amazing.
Closer is great.

But Use Somebody is one of my favorite songs of the year, if not my favorite. Everything about this release has forced me to take a closer look at this band, past the two albums of theirs that I own, and put me in love with another band.

Another band to follow.

Take a listen to this album and know, this is what rock is supposed to sound like. Not like GNR or the new Metallica or Veloci-Jesus forbid, Staind or Creed or Nickelback. This album is rock. This is what it's supposed to sound like. Stripped down. Bare. And great.

Next time, film and music disappointments of the year. Enjoy.

Fear and Loathing in Overland Park pt 86

That's the UK Poster there. It was released last November 30th in the UK.

Top movies of the year. And notice I didn't say Top ten. Or best of the year. Or worst of the year. Because these aren't all movies that will make any lists. These aren't all movies that people will ever even see.

A lot of these are just the movies that I thought were the most entertaining. The most watchable. And the ones that I have watched the most this year.

We all know where I live. And where I live doesn't afford me the opportunity of seeing such films as The Wrestler, Gran Torino, JCVD, and countless others until some time in the next year.

I didn't get to see Slumdog Millionaire. Or Let the Right One In. I chose not to see Twilight and I never ever will watch it.

I never got a chance to see In Bruges even though I've been told countless times I should see it.

Hell, I didn't even get to see Gonzo, the documentary about Mr. Hunter S. Thompson, a man whose life I have followed daily. Or Choke, a movie version of one of my favorite books. This was a year spent trying to do too much and not seeing all the movies that I wanted to see.

I'm not complaining. I'm really not. It's just been a year. I can't believe it's already been another year.

I will start with this one though:

The Dark Knight

I spent the months leading up to the film talking about it. Discussing it. Looking and poring over it for the minutiae and trying to decipher any potential secret messages. I spent a long time trying to decide what I thought of it and how it could possibly stand up to what I made of it in my mind.

It was the best movie of the year. In my opinion. It lived up to all the expectations. It was a comic movie that was unlike any other. It was a real adult version of a comic that didn't mock the viewer who happened to be a comic reader and didn't force the viewer who wasn't to attempt to be one.

It was an honest to Velocijesus good movie and great comic adaptation. And one of the all-time best.

Years from now people will stop comparing every comic movie that gets released to Superman and instead compare it to this. And it's already started with the comparisons that Spirit has been getting. Too bad that movie looks all kinds of suck.

Next on the list, two movies that didn't get wide releases at all but two movies that found there way into my brain and into my favorite movies of all-time:

The Nines
Southland Tales

Both films are enjoyable. They are frustrating. They make you think. They make you scratch your head.

And both movies really are hard to follow unless you pay attention. They don't give you anything up front. They don't just explain everything outright to you. They make you work for it.

And I love movies like that.

Movies that challenge you. Movies that make you work for meaning and don't just say HERE IT IS.

Movies that make you want to watch them again and find things that you may have missed.

Every time I watch Southland Tales I pick up on more things. Other nuances. Little subtle hints that Richard Kelly gave to the viewers and didn't just belabor to show you. The soundtrack is one of the best and it even made me like Moby.

Plus, after my last viewing of this, I found someone worthy of a shot at impersonating Barack Obama: Dwayne Johnson. Trust me and watch the movie and tell me there aren't a few instances in the film where he could honestly portray him on one of the comedy shows and do a fine job of it.

Tropic Thunder
Pineapple Express
Role Models

These three films are the three fun films of the year. They are goofy, they are funny, they are just little surprises in an otherwise turd-filled movie year.

When we were given crap like Step Brothers, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Semi-Pro, Zohan, Love Guru, Meet Dave, and the list goes on, to have three actually funny comedies that were set up as comedies, all of them R-rated, you have to hand it to them. These were actually good movies too.

Pineapple Express is one of my favorite movies of the year. Hands down. It was funny. It was action-packed. And Danny McBride looks just like one of my best friends in this film and a little like him in Tropic Thunder so it's one of those instances where you're watching the film and you look over to make sure it's not the same person next to you.

But James Franco and Matthew McConaughey and Seann William Scott are the surprises this year. Franco dominated Pineapple Express. His stoner was amazing. The scene where he cries eating the cheeseburger is, for some reason, one of the funniest moments in a film all year. And Franco is commonly known as a serious actor, so to see him in this film, with some of the best lines (besides McBride) alongside an actor I'm completely sick of (Rogen), you just have to give him credit for making this movie much better than it would have been had it been directed by, oh I don't know, Judd Apatow or Kevin Smith?

Matteo in Tropic Thunder was a surprise moreso than Cruise and Downey. Both good nonetheless, but McConaughey was great. He was funny. He was on-mark. His idiot agent with the idiot son was great. His need to give his client Tivo was hysterical. He was perfect. And I've never liked him in ANYTHING before. Ever.

Seann William Scott was in two movies I loved this year, Southland Tales and Role Models. And he was great in both. A Messiah and a complete asshole, he worked some range this year. Yes he played the idiot party animal like usual in Role Models, but that movie was funny. Much funnier than Zack and Miri and a much better all-around movie than quite a few others this year.

Burn After Reading
Be Kind Rewind

Two more movies by directors that I love that did not disappoint.

I liked Pitt better in Burn after Reading than I did him in Benjamin Button and I liked Jack Black better in Be Kind Rewind more than I did him in Tropic Thunder.

But to watch these movies, movies that didn't really get much credit yet and might not get any, and just laughing my ass off while watching them, it was great.

Burn After Reading is one of those movies where getting prepared for it you don't know what to expect and as the movie continues on you have no clue what to expect. But it's hysterical. Clooney and Pitt and J.K. Simmons (one of the finest comedic actors living today) give great performances and McDormand is outstanding, as usual, and Tilda Swinton and John Malkovich are surprising as all hell in this movie about people falling out of love with each other and espionage shit going down.

The Coens know how to make a movie about idiots and make it funny. Another great performance from Richard Jenkins (sadly overshadowed by that shitty Step Brothers).

Be Kind Rewind was just a good movie. Hands down. I like the cast. I love the premise. And the director is one of the most interesting talents in Hollywood today. Won't make any ten best lists, but it was enjoyable.

Iron Man
Incredible Hulk
Punisher: War Zone

I'm a Marvel Comics fan. And I loved all three. Iron Man would have been the best of the year had it not been completely outshined by the amazing Dark Knight. No real reason to say anything more as I already reviewed this movie once this year, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The other reason it wasn't the best of the year: Downey was great but was playing himself in a suit of armor. And the majority of the plot and the rest of the movie was just a little too on the nose and tried a little too hard for my tastes.

Incredible Hulk, while boring, gave all the smashing. I would go into more depth, but the movie was dumb fun and that's all you need to know.

Punisher War Zone, just like Rambo this year, two of the most gory, violent, and insane films to watch in theaters. Punisher was dumb. It was stupid. It had crappy acting, crappy directing, and a shitty soundtrack full of loud, thumping, death metal.

But the movie itself was fun. It was violent because it was supposed to be. The Punisher looked like the Punisher. He looked like someone to be scared of. He looked like someone to genuinely flee in terror from.

It had some of the loudest gunfire in movie history and some of the most insane death scenes this side of Rambo's 50-cal attack scene. One guy got blown to bits with a rocket launcher in Punisher.

I laughed. I laughed at it's sheer insanity and I don't care what critics say, I enjoyed it. No 98-pound weakling as the Punisher this time and I enjoyed the hell out of it. Plus, it didn't have any dumb bullshit like Hellboy 2 where the director tried really hard to cash in on his Pan's Labryinth success while using a big-red superhero demon to make more money. That movie was just dumb.

Pure and simple.

CJ7
Wall-E

CJ7 was directed by Stephen Chow and is amazing. I loved it. It was a kid's movie in Chinese and I loved it. I loved reading the subtitles. I loved the story. I loved the special effects. I loved the cheese factor.

I love everything about this movie.

I love that it was one of those movies that you see and you know what it is and when other people start to talk about it you can say, later on, that you had seen it way back when. But even beyond that, I love everything about this movie. I love the scenery. I love the sense of wonder that can be felt in this film that quickly reminds you of Gremlins or ET and then says, but wait, this is the crazy Chinese guy who did Kung Fu Hustle.

So it's great.

On the English-language side of things, Wall-E is probably one of the best animated films of all-time. Sure, it had a message about pollution and taking care of the planet and all that environmental stuff, but I still love it.

I can look past the message and not be stuck, hip-deep in allegory, when I watch the film because it's just a movie.

It's a movie about two robots that fall in love and a society that is going to take action and make the world a better place.

It's beautiful, even moreso in Blu-ray. But it was an outstanding movie. One that wants to make you think and really wants you to get the message but you just have to love it.

You have to look inside and see the kid in you and just accept the film as a piece of cinema and enjoy the crap out of it.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Like the title suggests, it is a curious thing. I'm still trying to decide what I thought of this film.

Did I love it? Did I hate it? Was it awesome? Was it boring?

Was it everything everyone is making it out to be?

Or was it something more?

Brad Pitt did an excellent job. He really did. He made me believe in the character of Benjamin Button and he played it close to the chest.

It wasn't hammy like his partner's performance in Changeling and it wasn't over-the-top like her performance in Wanted.

It was great. He was great.

Cate Blanchett probably looked her best in this film with all the special effects really helping her to look her best as well as Brad to look his.

The soundtrack was amazing. The special effects, the scenery, the entirety of the film was a thing of beauty. But the story itself is where I'm stuck. I'm still curious about that.

There were things that felt like too much. I hated the people in the theater behind me and yelled at them a number of times to shut up as they seemed to just be there to watch and laugh at the absurdity of the film and not be taken away by it's fable story.

So that took me out of the experience a little bit.

But the idea that the daughter is reading the diary on the mother's deathbed just seemed like too much melodrama for me. Like the movie could have been handled better maybe with Blanchett reading it for herself or just having the movie start with Pitt telling the story.

The sidestory with Tilda Swinton seemed a little unnecessary, but again, showed Benjamin a new part of the world.

The stuff with his birth father could have all been excised. It was pointless and again melodramatic, but Pitt did his best in these scenes and did not overdo it. He was amazing in this movie.

So again, I'm still curious about this one. I loved the film. I really did. I love everything the director has touched and will see each of his films, no matter what they're about.

But I feel like this movie needs to be seen again and processed, but will I sit through it in theaters for another 3 hours? Maybe not.

Again, I'm still curious about this one.

Alright, so next time we'll get to the worst movies of the year, some of which were briefly mentioned in this here blog. See ya in a few and keep reading. Music is on its way as well.