This just might be my easiest film review to date. Did you enjoy Tod Phillip's original bachelor party gone awry comedy, 2009's The Hangover ? If so you'll probably enjoy the sequel, The Hangover: Part II. Did I say sequel? I meant remake. They're almost the exact same movie. No really. Look for yourself:
So yeah. As long as you don't come into this expecting to be wowed with fresh originality you should be fine. It's still a very funny movie but like most sequels, simply cannot match the awesomeness of it's predecessor. Of course as numerous critics have pointed out, it doesn't even look like Tod Philips even tried to. But hey, lack of originality seems to go over like gangbusters these days.
*NOTE*
There are some major differences between the two Hangover films. This new installment is much darker than the original. I'm not talking about the dingy Bangkok location either. The overall spirit of the film and some of it's characters are meaner than before. Also, be prepared for a lot more dick jokes. A LOT.
Welcome to this special, spur of the moment edition of Female Obsession. I didn't plan on posting one of these for May, since I'm not a complete pervert and don't have a long list of ladies sorted out in a monthly schedule. I post em' when I post em' basically. That all changed after I saw The Hangover: Part II this weekend (review coming shortly) which stars the lovely Jamie Chung.
Real World 04'. Represent.
I've loved Jamie ever since her stint on MTV's The Real World: San Diegoback in 2004. She was one of the "quiet/good girl" types every season has. Meaning she didn't get shitfaced drunk and fight/strip naked for attention. This was the last season of The Real World I watched regularly and since she was my favorite cast member from this season, it's no wonder she always lingered in my head. Flash forward a few years and suddenly my favorite reality tv star is a Hollywood actress. I was ecstatic.
Sadly, her filmography was hardly worth celebrating. She nabbed the coveted role of "Hooters girl" in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Chi Chi in Dragonball: Evolution and a co-staring gig in everyone's favorite cinematic epic, Sorority Row. So yeah, needless to say, I never got around to seeing much of Jamie in the movie theater but oh how I longed for the day when she would appear in something worthy of her talent, and my hard earned cash. Jamie stared with Vanessa Hudgens (last month's Female Obsession inductee btw) in this year's girl power romp Sucker Punch, but since I suck at life I totally missed that one in theaters =/ Thankfully, the Jamie Chung curse has been broken! She has an important role in The Hangover: Part II, a HUGE film that will hopefully break Jamie's acting career into the stratosphere.
Hangover 2 = $$$$!
So this is more of a congratulatory post to Miss Chung. She, the best thing MTV has produced since the turn of the century, the hottest Asian girl on the planet and now, hopefully a truly rising Hollywood talent.
As this video illustrates, Jamie appears super down to Earth, genuinely stoked to be in this acting game and is really, really ridiculously good looking.
No one in my immediate family has health insurance. Luckily my dad has imbibed so much alcohol over his lifetime he's developed some kind of beer/gamma radiated immune system that keeps him from ever really getting sick. My mom and I aren't so lucky. Today I'm chauffeuring her over to a free clinic. Getting sick without a regular doctor/health insurance is no picnic as I'm sure many of you know.
SCUM
This is why I'm continually amazed that people will willingly vote for douche bags like Republican Congressman Rob Woodall of Georgia. Check out his extremely humanist/compassionate stance on the health care debate by watching the video below.
Clint Mansell's epic piece, "Lux Aeterna," provided the haunting background for Darren Aronofsky's 2000 film, Requiem For a Dream. This mournful tune of exquisite pain and sorrow has been masterfully crafted with scenes from John Hughes' 1986 comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off. This is why I love the internet.
*Welcome to the latest edition of Crunch Time, where I swoon over some of my favorite HEAVY riffs.*
Once upon a time, Mastodon was a damn fine metal band. Today's Crunch Time installment hearkens back to that time. The early to mid 2000's to be exact. Mastodon was the result of two unique halves forming one new staggering musical whole. Bill Keliher and Brann Dailor (ex- Lethargy and Today Is The Day) brought the metal and spazz elements, while Troy Sanders and Brent Hinds added the rockin' Southern fried sludge that made Mastodon such a fucking beast. They crafted brutally heavy, yet mind bending-ly intricate songs that speed off in a zillion different directions but remained catchy and memorable as hell. After losing their original lead singer early on, Mastodon's subsequent "triple vocal attack," resulted in three different dudes who never sang in their lives just shouting their balls off and laying down some gnarly and distinctive extreme metal vocals in the process. Brann's drumming was straight out of this world. Like a speeding freight train about to derail, he jumped between wicked time signatures and tossed out twisted stick patterns like nobody's business. But yes, who could forget, the RIFFS. Thats what Crunch Time is all about remember? So listen to "Crusher Destroyer," the opening track from Mastodon's 2002 debut album, Remission and judge for yourselves:
Crushing riff? CHECK. T-Rex sample from Jurassic Park? CHECK. What else do you need?! That opening riff is so basic, yet devastating. It delivers pulverizing left hooks to your skull while the nonstop snare work jabs you to death. THIS is my Mastodon.
Sadly, in recent years the band has settled into a self indulgent wank fest (er, sorry Prog nerds but its true!). Horrible attempts at clean/melodic singing and a near complete loss of all the dynamic qualities listed before makes the present day incarnation of Mastodon a sad sight for this long time fan. At least Bill's new band Primate has some balls. Oh wells.
Thank you Marvel. Thank you oh so much. This could have been bad. I'm not talking Fantastic Four bad. I'm talking Ghost Rider/Daredevil/X-Men Origins: Wolverine bad. It could have been so easy to mess this whole Thor project up. He's one of least likable/identifiable characters in the Marvel universe. He speaks in old timey English riddles half the time and is so powerful, an action movie about Thor could have been the equivalent of watching Michael Jordan play basketball against kids from the Special Olympics. But no! Marvel and director Kenneth Branagh did the impossible, they made an awesome Thor movie and did my favorite superhero justice on the big screen!
So yes. I'm a little biased. But my love for The Silver Surfer and Venom and didn't stop me from cringing at their appearances in big budget abortions either. Unabashed love for a character does not a good film make. Now onto the movie:
Thor (Chis Hemsworth) is the big man on campus in his native Asgard. He's all set to inherit the throne from his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) when he royally screws things up (haha, get it?). Odin casts Thor down to Earth, stripping him of his powers, in order to teach the arrogant Thunder God some humility. Of course there's some shady back door conspiracy stuff going on and before long Thor is needed to lay the smack down with his mighty hammer Mjolnir and save the day.
First, the film is visually stunning. Yes, a large portion of the movie takes place in a boring ass desert, but all the Asgard sequences inter cut throughout the film are flat out amazing. I loathe this current 3D trend in Hollywood, so I can only speak for the regular 2D version I saw, but yes, I was pleasantly surprised at how awesome the visuals for the film came together. From the costumes, to the CGI baddies to the rainbow fucking bridge! I mean, how easy would it have been to make the rainbow bridge look like a complete joke? Thank you Marvel. Thank You Kenneth.
like the comic come to life!
Loki- MVP
Kudos again to Mr. Branagh for assembling such a wonderful cast. Known for his dramatic/Shakespearean films, Branagh easily handles the grandiose aspects of Thor that might have crippled a lesser director, while bringing out impassioned performances from his actors, even when they're wearing eye patches, capes and standing amidst an obvious CGI overload. I honestly think Tom Hiddleston steals the entire movie with his twisted portrayal of Loki, Thor's devious brother aka, the God of Mischief.
I only have two real gripes with the film. My lovely Natalie Portman does her best playing Thor's love interest, but even an Academy Award winner like herself can't save a barely written role like this. Lastly, I wished they showed the full extent of Thor's powers! Yeah we saw him kicking some Frost Giant ass and eventually summoning up a nice little thunder storm, but the dude has Superman level strength and is capable of tossing tanks around like baseballs. I really hope we get to see Thor unleash his full potential in the Avengers movie.
TLDR: Thor rules. Best comic book movie since Spider-Man 2.
Woke up and found out that Randy "Macho Man" Savage died in a car crash this morning. It's being reported he had a heart attack while driving and lost control of his vehicle. Macho Man was a huge superstar for the WWF back in the 1980's and 90's. By the time I got hooked on pro wrestling (about 8 years old) Savage spent less time in the ring and was announcing the matches on Monday Night Raw and doing these awesome Slim Jim commcerials:
*OTHER SAD NEWS*
Derek Ryquist has quit The Faceless. Again. But for reals this time. Derek was the vocalist/frontman for The Faceless since 2006 and has been featured on both of their full length albums. To most people, all this cookie monster growling shit sounds the same; but to the trained ear (geeks) it was easy to recognize Derek had immense power and dare I say....range with his vocal delivery. Here's my favorite song from The Faceless to see Derek off in style.
Well that job search hasn't been too productive. I've worked at my current job since I was 18...it's about time I moved onto something else. I graduated from college last year and still haven't put my degree to use. Note to self, next time...major in something useful!
So I'm contemplating the thought of grad school. Actually, more like film school. I had strong GPA, and I'm pretty sure I could string together something to wow the admissions board...too bad I'm lazy as fuck.
If I ever do make it in the biz...hopefully it goes something like this:
or maybe
damn I love the Whitest Kids U Know. Funny, funny stuff.
I hadn't seen Amon Amarth live in seven years. Back in 2003, they were opening a package tour with Goatwhore, Vader, Kreator and Nile in small clubs across the country. Today, Amon Amarth are selling out larger venues like the House of Blues by themselves! Yes, my first Amon Amarth gig in forever was "An Evening w/" Amon Amarth. No opening acts, just my favorite Swedish Vikings playing two sets back to back all by their lonesome.
First things first. Holy feces this place was packed! I knew Amon Amarth have gotten considerably more popular over the years, but I've never seen a line outside the House of Blues like this one. With no opening act to skip/arrive fashionably late for, everyone and their mom (hot girlfriends actually) was outside waiting. Once inside, the vibe within the HoB was festive, despite having waited outside in the cold for well over an hour. There was a surprising number of ladies in the crowd, and not the usual heavy metal girlfriend troll types either. Also, I overheard a lot of foreigners jabbering in their native tongues (random Scandinavians, Japanese, some yoked out British dudes, etc) aside from the healthy dose of SoCal Spanish I hear all the time.
So Amon Amarth came onstage and immediately went into "War of the Gods," the opening track off their latest album, Surtur Rising.This first set consisted of their new record in it's entirety, then they came back out and did an even longer set of hits. I like their new album fine, not as much as 2008's Twilight of the Thunder God that preceded it, but hey, no big deal. The second set they did is where things really got poppin'. The crowd went nuts during the last half of the concert, even if the band remained totally chill as before. Aside from their occasional synchronized headbanging, the dudes in Amon Amarth let their music do the talking. Heads were banging in force, girls were dancing ( WTF? where were these girls back in 03?!) and just about everyone was singing along. "With Oden On Our Side," "Guardians of Asgard" and "Thousand Years of Oppression" were my personal highlights of the evening.
Something about listening to this pro-pagan, anti-Christian anthem on Easter Sunday made me love Amon Amarth a little more before. haha
They ended the night with "The Pursuit of Vikings," and effectively turned the House of Blues into a sweaty karaoke party. Pretty awesome show. Totally worth the seven year wait.
Well, Blogger is back to normal. First Sony, now Google. Way to systematically break my heart guys. I had some stuff/posts planned but now everything is a little thrown off. Glad they restored my last Kelly Brook post though (all the comments are gone....bummer).
Off to work soon. Have a feeling tonight is going to suck. Still searching for that new gig. Crossing fingers. This video is for all us chumps working jobs we hate to buy shit we don't need. Middle children of history, etc. etc.
British model/actress/goddess roaming the planet Earth, Kelly Brook has suffered a miscarriage.
You might recall from previous posts that Kelly Brook rules my universe and I wasn't too thrilled when I found out she was pregnant. Truth is, I was just bummed that her transformation into motherhood might deprive us (re: ME) of more awesome performances such as:
Of course I never expected anything like this to happen. I wish her and that lucky dude who isn't me that she's with right now, all the best during this sad time.
Some dudes I know from way back in high school have a band called Twin Suns. They rule.
They have this thing on facebook called Twin Suns Tuesday where they do some extra promotional stuff for their band and try to get their friends/fans to spread the word. Well I'm not too active on facebook these days and any promotion I'd do on there would be like preaching to the choir anyways so that is why I turn my attention to you fellow bloggers.
Here's a little Twin Suns sample:
High energy stuff, not too abrasive but hardly pansy tunes by any means. Every guy in the band can shred their respective instruments to pieces yet they restrain themselves enough to craft catchy, yet technically dazzling songs.
This is the ending/jam from their song "Voices." I took this footage at one of their shows in January, but sadly, it was my first time using my Sony Bloggie digital video camera and I uh, kind of munched the sound up (i.e. covered the speakers) =/
Sorry about that. Their performance still rules though!
As you can see, well those who watched at least, this band shreds all over the place and just oozes energy. I'm so glad that one time band geekness could be transformed into rockin' kickassery.
Hope some of you bloggers got a kick out of this.
You can download (or buy) their EP over at their bandcamp page, HERE.
For more Twin Suns goodness, follow them on facebook, HERE.
1st) Saw Thor this weekend and LOVED it. It put me in comic book movie mode and led me to watch Spider-Man 2 the other night (which imo, remains the greatest super hero flick ever). As a result, I got Dashboard Confessional stuck in my head. You know, the part where Mary Jane stares off at Peter web slinging away, the credits role and suddenly, you find yourself: "Viiiiiindicaaaaated!"
2nd)Major thanks to all the bloggers (Miss Jamiesaur, Mr. Zombie, and the legendary Angry Lurker) who have been shining their respective spotlights on my lil' blog as of late. Much appreciated guys (& gal). Here's how you all make me feel:
They like my blog?!?
3) I'm on the hunt for a new job. This quest will undoubtedly take up a large portion of my free time so I might not be able to update as often as before, but I shall try to keep up with all you cool blogger kids as much as possible.
That's all for now. Expect a little bit of Viking overdose @ Jim's Fear, as I put up my Amon Amarth concert and Thor film reviews later this week!
IT's FRIDAY! *ducks*
Yeah, I know that Rebecca Black is the antichrist, but this is a pretty rad/funny cover by the super awesome NICE PETER.
"Random black dude! Random black dude!"
haha.
Here's the REAL reason behind my giddiness. Today THOR hit theaters. Some of you might remember that Thor is my favorite comic book super hero, ever, and now I finally get to see him come to life (well sort of) on the big screen.
FINALLY!
Here's some Viking Metal courtesy of Amon Amarth to get everyone psyched for Odinson's big film this weekend.
Remember NAILS? They were one of the band's I featured on my Top 10 Albums of 2010. They've just come out with a slamming new music video.The good folks at Scion have smiled upon us lowly extreme music rabble and blessed us with this fine slab of high def awesomeness. Hope you like your grindcore extra power violence tinged like I do. If so, NAILS will not disappoint.
Yeah, that was two songs in a minute & thirty seconds. And what?!
It's sad that they're from California and I've missed all their previous live shows, including at the Scion Rock Fest. One day =/
