fingers in the air

Thanks for all the nap time advice. Now I don't feel as crazy. Next time I'll set an alarm and try to cut it down to 45 mins. or less.

Had a long night last night. This video, aside from being wildly entertaining, sums up how I felt:

Nap Time

Why so serious...ly sleepy?

Ok. Random post topic today folks.

The other night I closed and got off work around 2:30am (ish). Had a meeting the next morning at 8:50am (because 9:00 would be to much to ask for right?!?). By the time I got home, showered and finally knocked out, I'd say I got about 4.5 hours of sleep tops. Yes, I felt like a damn zombie the next day. Either way, afterward I had breakfast with some co-workers then headed home and SLEPT.

Problem is...I HATE taking naps! They make me feel like garbage after. So while that 3 hour nap seemed like a great idea, I wound up feeling more exhausted when I woke up later on. People think I'm nuts when I openly declare my disdain for napping.

What's your take? Do you people enjoy nap time? Am I insane or do I just need to perfect my napping technique?

Kids and Extreme Music

So little 8 year old Juliet created quite a internet sensation with her brilliantly amazing, "My First Hardcore Song" video on Youtube earlier this month.

I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching this. The trampoline breakdown & flying stuffed animals is the raddest thing I've ever seen in my life!

A lot of people were talking about this video last week. Everyone seemed to get a kick out of it and I see why, the girl is adorable. Of course some people seemed to dig it more than others. Normal folk without any knowledge of modern hardcore/metal see a little girl rocking out over some loud instruments and chuckle. What they don't seem to get are the major lulz derived from lil Juliet taking cliches from this music genre and showing just how ridiculous they really are.

The stuff she references like "opening up the pit," "getting your two-step on" and even singing about her most cherished friendships (replacing her "crew" with dog and fishes) are usually reversed for dudes like this...only they're dead serious when they do it!


Anyways, seeing Juliet's rapid rise to internet stardom reminded me of a video I saw years ago. Allow me to introduce, Death Metal Rosie!

Lol @ her coughing/spitting at the end! She's basically doing her best cookie monster impersonation...and it rules!

That's it. Kids listening to & loving metal/hardcore with their folks. Brings a smile to my face.

500+ Followers!

I spit out my water just like this when I heard the news!

With all the fuss of New Years, being sick, and best of 2011 compilations...I sort of forget to commemorate my 500th follower milestone! Shame on me, but thanks to all you. I really was stoked when I saw that. Here's to 500 more, and slow but steady internet domination!

Cops Gone Wild? So This Happened...

Monday, Jan 23, 2012: Some whacked out dude with a crowbar/pipe starts smashing the windows of a local Carl's Jr. fast food restaurant. Patrons and employees flee the scene. The police arrive and order the man outside. Mr. crazy man exits, weapon in hand and takes a taser to the face without flinching. He then turns toward the officer who tased him which causes the other cop (who happened to be holding a k-9 police dog as well) to shoot him 5 times at point blank range. The first officer ditches his taser and then he fires another 5 five shots. Two cops (with a k-9!) shoot one guy 10x at point blank range...and it was all caught on video.



I used to eat at the Carl's Jr. just about every other day when I attended East Los Angeles Community College in the mid 2000's. That restaurant is directly across the street from campus. If it was a good day, I'd munch on some Carl's Jr. then head over to Tower Records and not catch up on readings. It's kind of surreal seeing something like this happen at one of my old haunts.

No doubt the guy was either insane or on drugs. He had a weapon and the instant he charged the first cop he basically sealed his own fate. But really...TEN SHOTS?! I'm not saying the cops should have tried mace or batons or mud wrestled the guy, they can shoot to kill if threatened. But one, two or three shots to oh I don't know, the face perhaps would have done the job right?

*WARNING*
Here is the FULL UNEDITED video.
*GRAPHIC*

10 rounds. Really? I think they were justified in shooting him...but even then, this is flat out overkill.
The guy died at a local hospital shortly after. Which was to be expected, after the cops turned his chest into Swiss Cheese.

Mankind in a nutshell

"We are not what was intended" -John Doe

Base.
How low can we go?
Fuck the Beatles, I'm an animal
An upright ape with opposable thumbs
To hold the clubs
To hold the guns
Swing low sweet chariot
God bless my DNA
Drunk drive my Chevy to the levee
Let the flood come and sweep me away
No this ain't the apocalypse
It's the way shit has always been
From Sodom to Saddam
Attila to Tienenmen
A quarter million years of human being
A quarter million years as a human stain
We use ten percent of our gorgeous brains
And leave the rest up to cocaine
Lucy in the sky
Got her hands on a new shotgun
Lucy in the sky
Got her hands on a Remington
Lucy in the sky
Her shiny diamonds drenched in blood
And I know where the wild things are
Don't look far
Don't look far
'Cause I got wisdom in my teeth
And terror in my wars
Yes, I know where the wild things are
Don't look far.
Don't look far.
There's a reason that it's hard to look in the mirror.
There's a reason that it's hard to go to the zoo
And there's a reason you want to pry open the cage
See, you should be there, too.

or basically...THIS:

The Dillinger Escape Plan, Nails & Dangers @ Center For The Arts, Eagle Rock. 1/18/2011.

destroyers!

Best show of the year. I know it's still January but really, I'd have to be invited onstage by Slayer or have Refused unite in my living room or some shit for anything to top this. I've already said many times before, but The Dillinger Escape Plan is my favorite band and in fact, this here blog is named after their song, "Jim Fear." Anyways....it had been a long while since I last saw Dillinger perform a headlining show, and never in a venue like this.

The show took place inside the Eagle Rock Center for The Arts. The place was meant to house art exhibits, yoga classes, community meetings and now, sweaty mosh pits. We arrived just as the first opening band finished up. Dangers, was up next. This was my first time seeing these guys live and they did not disappoint. Fast paced hardcore meets rock & roll vibes, with lots of energy on stage and some witty stage banter to boot.


My losing streak finally came to an end. After 3 failed attempts, I finally got to see Nails live. Their music is fast, ugly and ridiculously heavy. Like a monolithic slab of caveman brutality. The area in front of the stage, affectionately referred to as...the pit, started getting nasty during during their performance. If Dillinger wasn't immediately following them onstage, I wouldn't have wanted Nails set to end.


And then there was Dillinger. This was my 11th time seeing them live since 2004 and it's safe to say that this show stands as one of my favorites. The venue's small floor area kept the crowd's energy high, and it's high ceilings gave the band some more room to work on their acrobatics. They opened with "Panasonic Youth" and my sanity/better judgement went out the window.


I knew I shouldn't have stayed down in the front like I did. I had work the next morning and should have stayed with my pals on the sidelines. Of course with the songs like "Good Neighbor" blaring through the speakers, and watching singer/riot inciter Greg literally climbing the walls, I forgot I wasn't 18 anymore and decided to stay on the front lines. Sure, my camera got knocked around, causing the battery to stop functioning properly, and some dude collided into my wrist, causing me to now wear a splint/brace and type reeeeeeeally slowly, but that was but a small price to pay to witness the Dillinger spectacle up close and personal.


I dug their set list. All killer, no filler some would say. Surprised I still had a voice the next day after singing along to crowd favorites, "Milk Lizard" and "Gold Teeth on a Bum." It's funny, those songs got the best reaction from the Deftones' audience when Dillinger opened up for them last summer and although they may be more "streamlined" than the usual DEP fare, all their hardcore fans love em just the same. I guess people really do like just singing along to their favorite tunes. Cause in point, the final onslaught of "Sunshine The Werewolf" and "43% Burnt" back to back. People soaked in sweat and utterly devoid of energy, screaming their lungs out for the "DESTOOOOOOOOYER!" breakdown part like they'd never live to see another day. I would know, I was one of them.

Did you see that? Clip is kind of long and audio is a little sketchy at times but man, just imagine being in the center of that. I was on the stage, sprained wrist and all. Bumping into Ben's guitar, hitting Billy's china cymbal with my (good) hand, and screaming with Greg at different times.

Dillinger played another show, this time a free 21+ gig in Fullerton the next night. I planed on going but was now nursing a sprained wrist and decided to stay home and watch the show streaming live from the band's website. It looked like fun, but just not as wild as the Center For The Arts gig!

Awesome Photo (5)

My Greek wifey (and  Female Obsession honoree), Maria Menounos busting a "Tebow" at last weekend's Golden Globe awards.

*Bonus Photo*
Maria being gorgeous.

Top 5 Films of 2011

So here it is...my top 5 favorite films of 2011:

                                 Drive - Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn
Hands down, my favorite and easily the most stylish film of the year. This movie just oozes cool. Arthur Fonzarelli couldn't have done a better job if he tried. A violent, yet touching neon noir fairy tale. Oh yeah, best soundtrack of the year too!

                                 Shame - Directed by Steve McQueen
The most exhausting film I've seen in ages. It's powerful performances and gritty realism about the perils of addiction will leave you in awe, and probably utterly devastated as well.

                            The Tree of Life - Directed by Terrence Malick
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Remember that spooky kid in American Beauty (Ricky Fitts) who rants about the overpowering beauty of the world that makes his heart want to burst? This film is what he was talking about. Sure, The Tree of Life has it's flaws, but watching this film on the large screen in that dark theater is an experience I don't think I'll ever forget.

               Crazy Stupid Love - Directed by Glen Ficarra & John Requa
The most entertaining film of the year. I laughed, I got choked up, I laughed some more and then I yelled at the screen like an idiot during the film's climax it was that good. I don't know what's more rare, a smart romantic comedy or a film that appeals to all ages/demographics. Either way, this film wins big.

                  Martha Marcy May Marlene - Directed by Sean Durkin
A minimalist head trip if there ever was one. Elizabeth Olsen is marvelous as the damaged young Martha. After years living in an abuse cult, she's become disjointed, paranoid and ready to pounce without notice...just like Durkin's film itself.

*NOTE*
Looks like this year belonged to Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, with their roles in Drive, Shame and Crazy Stupid Love all atop my favorite films list.

Bummed I still haven't seen Melancholia yet. I've heard/read so many great things about this film I was waiting to craft my best of year list until I finally saw it in theaters. Oh wells. Some day soon I hope.


What were your favorite films of 2011?

Vile Nostalgia: Boy Meets World

You know you're getting old when you nostalgia for crap you barely even liked (or flat out hated) before only because it reminds of the past. Ladies and Gents, respected bloggers and all you trolls out there, it's with great sorrow that I present this latest installment of Vile Nostalgia...

TGIF allstars

So I'm flipping through the channels this past Saturday, enjoying a lazy day off and what do I see before my eyes? Old school episodes of Boy Meets World's first season on MTV2. Yeah, it didn't make much sense to me either but out of morbid curiosity I stopped and watched a little of it. This quickly transformed into a full on nostalgia wave and I watched about 3 or 4 episodes and loved every second of it!

I grew up watching TGIF sitcoms on ABC and although not my favorite, Boy Meets World was something I pretty much always watched. Unfortunately, as the kids aged the show got a a bit lamer and lamer until by the end it was a wildly outlandish crap fest. I guess this memory of the last few seasons has tainted my view of the entire series. Thankfully, MTV2's little weekend marathon has restored my faith in the series by highlighting the awesomeness of the shows first season.


Love that campy intro! It's so bad it's awesome. Now keep in mind Boy Meets World had like 500 different intros throughout it's 7 season run but honestly, I love this hokey first one the best. See those cheesy computer graphics flying around?! Damn I miss the early 90's.

I think the show was most effective in it's early years. When the kids were still, kids and learned valuable lessons from their teacher (like the always awesome Mr. Feeny) or their parents. Also, the first season still featured Minkus and Cory's adorable little sister Morgan (before Minkus vanished to the other side of the school for about 6 years, and Morgan was replaced by an older, brattier actress).


So yeah. I get a kick out of laughing at their outrageous 90's fashions, with the baggy clothes and funky haircuts and flashing back to when I was a young school punk myself, but now that I'm older I appreciate the show on a different level. The show is heartfelt while remaining wildly entertaining. Kudos to MTV2 for restoring my faith in the Matthews family.

Top 10 Albums of 2011

Here's the listing of my favorite albums from 2011. Not necessarily the best or greatest but the ones that left the biggest impact on me and warranted the most repeated listens. Not ranked in numerical order, all rule pretty hard (IMO). Feel free to take listen:

Trap Them- Darker Handcraft

Punk and metal have never sounded so rockin' together. Trap Them's latest album retains the anger of their earlier releases but this time, boasts an amazingly polished (for them) production. You'll want to tap your feet and punch someone in the face at the same time.
TRAP THEM "The Facts" by Prosthetic Records

Burzum- Fallen

Varg Vikernes may be a convicted murder, arsonist, anti-Semite, homophobe and all around scum bag...but he steams a good ham...and knows how to craft some damn good tunes. Case in point, Burzum's latest album. I love me some raw ass black metal just like the next guy, but Varg's latest offering amps up the ethereal elements and will leave you breathless in the process.


Deafheaven- Road to Judah

The soundtrack to my brief but gloomy winter (we don't really have weather here in SoCal). Beautiful, atmospheric post-rock fused with good ol' misanthropic black metal. This album came out of nowhere, but based solely on number of plays on my iPod, has earned it's spot in my top 10.


Maruta- Forward Into Regression

It's grindcore played by pissed off T-800 model terminators. Manic bursts of energy reeled in by a lumbering heaviness, reminiscent of AT-AT Walkers from The Empire Strikes Back. You see what I'm getting at with this. The album's title is dead on. Futuristic technical grind meets cave-man slams FTW. Too bad they broke up =/


All Pigs Must Die- God Is War

Pummeling punk metaller's bring the hurt with this, their debut album. You've heard of in your face? Well, this is through your face. When you've got DrumTHRONE honoree, Converge's own Ben Koller, leading the charge you can expect lots of fast paced, high intensity shenanigans. Surprisingly, I love the album's slower, grimy moments like the album's title track.


Skeletonwitch- Forever Abomination
Thrashy black metal that brings a smile to my face. This album finally provides Skeletonwitch with the proper sounding studio album they've always deserved. Highlighting their Iron Maiden/ Bay Area Thrash/ and Norwegian Black Metal influences into one ass kicking hodgepodge of awesomeness. Oh yeah, and they have some catchy ass songs too!


Craft- Void

Raw, ugly and heavy. That's all folks. That's what I love about Craft, they don't mince words or fuck around musically. With previous gems in their catalog like Fuck The Universe and Total Soul Rape, they've stripped things down to an even more debased center. Void. Some would call this simplistic black metal. I call this, anti-music.


Ghostlimb- Infrastructure

Snarling hardcore, with a tender side. Ghostlimb's third full length album is righteously pissed, with most songs barely clocking in over a minute and thirty seconds long, this record is like a swift kick in the gut. The raging speed and rabid, barking dog vocals accomplish their goals quite nicely, but it's the album's clean guitar sound and moments of clarity that have haunted me all year.


Rival Schools- Pedals

I've kept their debut album spinning in my stereo all throughout their near decade hiatus. To say this new record had some big shoes to fill would be an understatement. Thankfully, the boys in Rival Schools came through BIG TIME. Amazing album of solid, yet thoughtful rock & roll tunes. This solidifies Walter Schreifels as the most underrated songwriter, ever!


Foo Fighters- Wasting Light

Dave Grohl is KING. End of story. This is probably my most played album of 2011. Wasting Light wasn't a slow grower, more like a charging horde...my poor ears never stood a chance. There's not a bad/filler song on this record, it's that good. If you don't know the Foo Fighters by now, some two decades into their marathon of awesomeness, starting here wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Movie Review: Shame

Great film, but draining. Like someone kicked the wind out of you, draining. Shame is director Steve Mcqueen's harrowing look at the downward spiral of addiction. The brief highs, the near infinite lows, it's all here. Only this film isn't about crack or heroin, it's about sex. Michael Fassbender delivers the most powerful performance I've seen all year (of 2011 folks) with his portrayal of Brandon Sullivan, the NYC sex addict whose compulsion engulfs his entire life, contaminating every aspect of his being with shame and utter depravity.

Magneto exposed

Fassbender already made waves this year with his awesome turn as Magneto in X-Men: First Class but nothing will prepare you for his fearless performance in Shame. Dude bares his soul on screen (and then some), exposing the pitiful, tortured existence of his character Brandon. Oh yeah, and he's naked a lot. Like the first thing you see is, well, his thing. Brandon is a well to do business type living the bachelor life in New York City. He's young, handsome, has money and is totally miserable. His life revolves around sex/orgasms. He spends his free time with hookers, internet porn, live web-cams, seducing single and or married women at bars (or anywhere really), and if all else fails, masturbating in the men's room at work.

Brandon's demented lifestyle/routine suddenly comes to a screeching halt when his damaged sister reappears in his life. Carey Mulligan plays his sister Sissy with such sadness and fragility,something she hinted at in her performance in Drive but fully realizes here, she's confirmed herself as one of the best up and coming actresses around. In fact her rendition of "New York, New York" in the bar/dinner scene is one of the most moving moments of the entire film (and is hands down, the saddest version of the song ever recorded).

"I want to be a part of it..."

Rated NC-17, Shame is definitely not a film for everyone. Despite it's full frontal nudity and graphic sexual content Shame is seriously the least sexy film I've ever seen. This isn't Tony Montana doing mountains of blow in Scarface. This is the crack fiend from Menace To Society offering cheeseburgers and blowjobs to feed their habit. Director Steve Mcqueen's film is dark, brazen and powerful. During Brandon's threesome with the Asian and blonde hookers, his choice of odd camera angles and classical music transformed the group's ménage à trois into a tortured ballet sequence. A dry, mechanical routine necessary to make poor Brandon feel alive for a few seconds. Again, I think this truly is a great film, although like Requiem For a Dream,something I may not want to watch again for a while. If that's not a compliment, I don't know what is.

HOLY FECES: Refused & At The Drive-In reunite/Coachella 2012 lineup

bastards!

Around this time last year, I went on a massive rant about how much I hate large music festivals/rip offs like Coachella. As most of you might have noticed by now, I love seeing live music but I'm kind of spoiled and prefer smaller shows that won't test my patience or drain my wallet.

I went to Coachella in 2007 to see Rage Against The Machine's reunion. This was more than a concert, it was a childhood dream come true, an event I never thought would take place in a million years. Well it seems that hell froze over yesterday because two seminal bands from my youth announced their respective reunions and as luck would have it, they're both scheduled to play at Coachella 2012.

Refused & At The Drive-In: reunited and it feels soooo good.

Both Refused and At The Drive-In, two highly influential post-hardcore bands who've been dead and gone for over a decade are back!

The news of ATDI's reunion broke first, causing half of my facebook news feed to erupt with OMG status updates. That makes sense though, since At The Drive-In was fairly well known before they imploded and their ties to The Mars Volta has kept their memory alive all these years.


As I was logging off before heading to work last night, that's when the Refused bombshell broke. Holy FUCK I seriously started shaking. I mean, the band's unofficial slogan since even before they self destructed was, "Refused are fucking dead..." but not anymore! 


So I'm in a pickle. I basically NEED to see these two bands, but I really doubt they're going to play any special LA shows just for me. ATDI might do some more touring together, but Refused...I highly doubt that. Of course tickets are close to $300! As much as I rejoice over the news of these reunions, I really hate Goldenvoice/Coachella and everyone else who is holding these acts hostage for such a kings ransom.

Still, I wouldn't mind seeing Radiohead, Artic Monkeys, Madness, Explosions in the sky, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Shins, The Hives, Jeff Mangum (from Neutral Milk Hotel), Le Butcherettes and you know, Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg.

It looks like I better start saving up my pennies.

TLDR:

PIGS FLEW THROUGH THE GLORIOUS SKY. Refused + At The Drive-In reunions = I'm going to Coachella 2012.

Top 5 Concerts of 2011

I went to 14 concerts in 2011 (real professional/touring bands not friends or locals). That's ten less than the 24 shows I attended in 2010. I've been going to shows for about a decade now and this is the least amount of concerts I've been to since my days as a car-less high school metal head, trying to scrounge together money for tickets and bum rides off friends. Crazy. Anyways, here are my top 5 favorite shows from 2011:

Scion Rock Fest @ The Fox Theater/Glass House, Pomona. 3/5/11.
Dozens of awesome underground metal bands together at one event. Multiple stages/venues covering all different genres (black metal, death metal, thrash metal, grindcore, etc)...and it was all free! Immolation, Wormrot, Fuck the Facts and these guys, Anaal Nathrakh were my personal favorites.

(1:20 mark, Dave getting pissed @ security for dropping a kid/crowd surfer!)

Rival Schools @ The Bootleg Bar, Los Angeles. 5/21/11.
Never in a million years did I think this reunion would happen. Loved this band via headphones for 10 years and I finally got to see them live (not once, but twice!). New material off awesome new album + classics from United By Fate = out of body experience. Amazing times.

(not the show I attended, but damn fine version of this song!)

The Strokes @ The Chelsea (Cosmopolitan Hotel), Las Vegas. 3/12/11.
Celebrated my girlfriend's birthday in Vegas w/ The Stokes. Sure, they made us wait an ungodly amount of time before they finally took the stage, but they put on a damn good, nay, great concert. Also, had an awesome little vacation as well.


Amon Amarth @ The House of Blues, Hollywood. 4/24/11.
First time seeing Amon Amarth in 7 years and they did not disappoint.They've settled into their role of unstoppable heavy metal juggernaut quite well. The last half of the show was a heavy metal karaoke party on the Sunset Strip.


Kylesa & Intronaut @ The Troubadour, Hollywood. 9/2/11.
Stood in the front against the stage for both bands, something a rarely do these days. Intronaut redeemed themselves in my book after a string of "eh" performances and Kylesa proved they are ready for the big leagues, as part of this show was filmed for a TV appearance on Later W/ Carson Daly.

1st concert of 2012....

Got tickets to see my boys The Dillinger Escape Plan on Jan. 18th! For those of you who don't know, they're my favorite band and I even named this here blog after one of their songs...

The show is supposed to be at a tiny venue which means my old ass is probably going to get annihilated but I simply do not care. Looks like my first concert of 2012 might also be my last.


DEP: Bad Bonn, Switzerland 09 August 2011 from The Dillinger Escape Plan on Vimeo.
it will probably be like that...only x1000!

under-covers: Judas Priest/Hellsongs

Perhaps, one of the greatest guilty pleasures in my life: the perverse enjoyment I get listening to musicians covering other artist's songs. The weirder the cover, the better! It doesn't matter how awkward or horrible the quality (shitty cell phone video, I'm looking at you), I'm an absolute sucker for this stuff. Here's the latest installment of "under-covers."

Today we feature legendary heavy metal icons Judas Priest and their anti-authoritarian anthem "Breaking the Law." This song is over 30 years old and still gets heads banging and fists pumping like nobodies business.

That riff, dear lord it's that riff! Catchy and just cool as hell.

And now we head to Hellsongs' version of this classic tune. Don't let their name fool you though, despite their rough moniker, the band is anything but (411 on Hellsongs HERE).

HA. I love it. So mellow and un-metal that it works. At least I think so. Once again, that riff grabs you by the throat, only this time its the acoustic, tropical lounge version. While I appreciate the quirky nature of this version and love how it breathes new life into a three decade old song, nothing tops the original and Halford's gnarly high pitched wails.

What do you kids think?

Top 5 Blog Posts of 2011

The books are now closed on 2011. Time to go back and see what was what in the year. I plan on doing my a  best of albums/movies/concerts post in the near future. But first,  I present my Top 5 Blog Posts of 2011:


The results speak for themselves. Sexy ladies is where it's at folks. Of all the crap I've ranted and raved about during my first year (er...15 months) here at Jim's Fear, my Female Obsession series is the most popular.

pervs. the lot of you.

*NOTE* Although Kristen Bell's Female Obsession is from 2010, I'm still including it because:
1) I love her.
2) It's from December 2010 and since I started my blog last fall, I'm counting everything from my first 15 months as part of year one.

1st place- Miss January 2011

2nd Place- Miss July 2011

3rd Place- Miss December 2010

4th Place- Miss May 2011

5th Place- Miss August 2011

Oh Kelly Brook. On top of the heap, with that massive poofed up hair...like the Lion Queen of sexiness! As you can tell, the love of ladies here at Jim's Fear knows no bounds. Black, White, Asian, Armenian, it's all good. We (meaning I) do not discriminate here when it comes to Female Obsession.

Of course I'm partial to ALL my Female Obsession ladies. If I wasn't, I would never have blogged about them in the first place. I really wish my Maria Menounos installment got more love though =/ ohhh wells. I still love you Maria. 

So there it is. Again, all the past installments of Female Obsession can be found HERE for all you new kids on the blog who want to catch up and see what all the fuss is about. Thanks for all the support this year.

*NOTE*
Curious...do you agree with the rest of the internet? Do you wish Vanessa Hudgens or Lucy Liu cracked the top 5 instead? Who are your favorite Female Obsession honorees from last year? Feel free to share the love in the comments down below.

Movie Review: Mission Impossible- Ghost Protocol

Mission Impossible 4 or, I can't believe they made another installment of this franchise. Seriously. My initial reaction when I found out about this movie was: "REALLY? Are they going to use CGI to erase Tom Cruise's wrinkles?

The first Mission Impossible film (and one of the first big examples Hollywood rebooting/pirating old material I can remember) came out in 1996.  I liked it a lot. Mission Impossible 2 was released in 2000 and was horrrrrrrrrrrible (the stunts/action were all blatant Matrix rip offs). Finally, Mission Impossible 3 came out in 2006 and redeemed the series, rocked pretty hard and distinguished itself as my favorite MI film of the bunch. So why oh why did they go and make a 4th film? Were the masses begging for MOAR Tom Cruise? Also, who makes part fours anyways? Trilogies man, that's what we like. So yeah, they made a new film against my wishes. Guess what? It's been the #1 movie in the country for like 3 weeks or something crazy like that so...shows what I know.

Heeeeey Mrs. Parker

As for the movie itself? It's fun. Yeah, the plot is kind of eh, some of the high tech gadgets they use are a stretch (even for Mission Impossible movies!) and the acting is, well, not all that important. Luckily, there's a shit ton of action, dudes getting killed, chicks looking hot and some crazy camera maneuvering going on this in this film so I couldn't not enjoy myself. I'd say the movie is about 20 mins too long. If they could have trimmed some fat somewhere it probably would have held my attention a bit more and I might have a more glowing review. The Dubai tower scene is visually amazing and is kind of cool because it ties back into Tom Cruise...I mean, his character, Ethan Hunt's love of mountain climbing from part 2. Simon Pegg is funny and kind of steals the entire the movie. Unfortunately, Jeremy Renner just stands there and takes up space. As you've probably noticed from the image above, Paula Patton is smoking hot but her character is a little flat (unlike her womanly figure, HEYOOOO!). She plays the woeful, revenge minded vixen quite well though.

Mission Impossible 9: Viagra Resolution

Of course we all know this Mission Impossible franchise is nothing more than a Tom Cruise vehicle. How is Cruise in this latest film? Well, he gets his ass kicked, a lot. At times, it played like a Scientologist version of Passion of the Christ. He survives, bombs, gun fights, falling off/out of buildings and multiple car accidents. Kudos to Tom Cruise for showing that even pushing 50 years old, grandpa's still got it. You just know they're going to make a Mission Impossible 5 now that this film has taken off at the box office. I just hope it's sponsored by Icy Hot, because I don't think Ethan Hunt can take much more abuse on the big screen.

1st post of 2012

Last year...I kick started 2011 with some good time party tunes courtesy of Municipal Waste. This time, it's a classic from Neil Young featuring Pearl Jam on (once upon a time, they used to be somewhat culturally relevant...) MTV. 2012, don't let me down man!