I Had a Dream

deeper?

Which is kind of a big deal since I NEVER usually remember my dreams. I usually pass out, wake up and oh look it's 7 hours later. Only sometimes will I have a vague recollection of what I dreamed about. That's why today is different, because I woke and actually remembered what the hell happened!

Lets just say that a bunch of people (many of whom were friends, but mostly random strangers) at a rest stop in the desert where being systematically killed by some freaky Michael Myers looking dude and then a gigantic nuclear explosion lit up the sky, alarming everyone but the killer who continued his rounds slaughtering. This rest stop was huge, almost like a warehouse and the desert was like the Sahara...not the Mojave.

I'm trying to decipher what all this means. Most of the friends in my dream where coworkers who were on my shift yesterday. The sand/camel desert & nuclear woes might be tied to news headlines? I was watching some CNN last night. The desert could be Libya, the nuke related to Japan...but Michael Myers? I haven't seen any of those movies in years! Maybe he represents Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker who's trying to kill the state's Unions and organized labor in general.

                                                               or

Either way, I had a dream and even though it was kind of a nightmare, I had to blog it since this almost never happens. Aight, off to work I go.

100th Post

happy birth.day. to yoooooooooooou

So this right here, this is my 100th post on the ol' Jim's Fear bloggy blog. Crazy. Thanks for all the support people. Here's a little song in honor of the occasion and to the next 100 posts.

The Strokes @ The Cosmopolitan Hotel, Las Vegas. 3/12/11.

Guess who's back? Back Again...

It took some time before I came to embrace The Strokes. I was a snotty teenage metal head when their debut album came out in 2001. All the girls at my high school gushed over these five scruffy lads from New York and MTV tried oh so hard to convince me how buzzworthy their video for "Last Nite" was but at this time, if it wasn't Slayer I didn't care. All those trips to Tower Records when I should have been in class at ye olde community college helped me warm up to several tracks from Room On Fire but I still wasn't a confirmed fan. It was First Impressions of Earth that convinced me that The Strokes were for real. The album was darker, slightly heavier and more up my (contaminated by heavy metal) alley. I caught them live in 2006 and was thoroughly impressed. I could now safely say I was a fan of The Strokes. Then they went on a five year hiatus. Great.

So now the band I used to love to hate is back and I had to make amends. I snatched up tickets for their special one off show at the brand spankin' new hotel, The Cosmopolitan, in Las Vegas and prepared to rock out like it was the mid 00's all over again.

First, The Cosmopolitan is a siiiiiiiiiick hotel/casino. From the high tech underground parking garage, to outdoor pool alongside The Strip, and that giant fucking chandelier with a bar/lounge inside it, this place was pretty awesome. Too bad I probably couldn't afford to stay there until I'm old enough to collect Social Security (lol @ no hope/future for my generation!).

The show took place in the Chelsea, a giant ballroom on the 4th floor. It's a pretty large rectangular space, like the Hollywood Palladium, but 1000x fancier. We arrived around 7:30pm, The Strokes didn't come out until almost 11:00pm =/. The first opening band didn't show and or canceled for some reason and the next act, hipster folk lord Devendra Banhart didn't go on until 9:00pm and was done by 10:00pm. So yes, that equals about 2 1/2 hours of standing in a sold out/over capacity venue. It was the best of times, it was the BLurst of times...

Devendra "The dude who used to nail Natalie Portman" Banhart was alright. I think under normal circumstances I might have said he sucked but given the boredom induced dementia I was fighting I actually kind of enjoyed some of his tunes. His band was tight and hell and sort of sounded like a Doors tribute band, his over the top vocals are what killed it for me though. Funny stuff happened during the massive wait for The Strokes. Some girl repeatedly passed out in front of us after taking hits from some really foul smelling joints. My girlfriend ran into some girl from her high school that she hadn't seen in almost 10 years, and we meet some funny Michael Cera looking dudes from UNLV.

Finally, after waiting for an eternity, The Strokes hit the stage. They opened with "I Can't Win" off Room On Fire ( a song title that perfectly describes my exploits with Roulette the next day) and the crowd exploded. Between the rabid movement of the audience and Nikolai's at times over powering bass lines, I quickly realized it would be impossible to take any decent footage of their set at this point and put my video camera down, enjoying every beat of classic jams like "Reptilia" and "The Modern Age" instead. I was really pleased with how the new songs off their, then upcoming but now just released, album Angles sounded live. I was already familiar with "Undercover of Darkness" but man, the new track "Gratisfacion" they played during the encore was damn awesome. Anyways, back to the main set.  Coolest slow jam of the night goes to "Under Control." It really felt like we were watching the Rat Pack onstage during this song, everyone in the crowd swaying and singing along as Julian crooned extra Sinatra-y (Vegas man, Vegas...). "New York City Cops" gets the award for wildest crowd response. I was afraid the floor in the brand new Chelsea might collapse from the combined weight of the audience, and the chubby hedgehog looking dude in front of us dancing/jumping like madmen.



It wasn't until the band come out for their encore did the energy level drop just enough for me to get some quality video. And what an encore they did. "Automatic Stop" and "You Only Live Once"  back to back?! Good stuff friends. Good stuff. They ended the show with "Last Nite" and the crowd responded with one last final burst of explosive energy to see their heroes off the stage. The lights came back on and we all stood in this majestic new ballroom, in a swanky new hotel surrounded by some serious ballers on Saturday night in Vegas, completely covered in sweat, dehydrated and totally loving The Strokes. All the grumbles about the insane weight time seemed to vanish and quickly turned to "I can't wait for that new album." All in all, twas a great show and a nice little Vegas weekend getaway as well. Too bad traffic sucked heading back home Sunday night. Yes, I endured even MORE waiting...

Cartman, voice of an angel....

There are only a few constant, unfaltering things in my life. Taxes, allergies...and my undying love of Eric Cartman's singing voice. Yes, when South Park's resident big boned trouble maker starts singing, all (if only temporarily) is right with the world. If you don't know who Eric Cartman is, or what South Park is for that matter, be ashamed. When The Simpsons derailed in the late 90's, Matt Stone and Trey Parker's South Park took the reins as the greatest animated show on television. While the last few seasons have been kind of "meh," South Park has enjoyed a solid decade of awesomeness throughout the 00's. There's nothing quite like watching a bunch of mischievous ten year old's destroy every sacred cow mankind has to offer. There's also nothing like hearing Cartman burst out into song.

Here's a brief clip from a more recent episode where Cartman, dressed as his superhero alter ego...The Coon (yes, really), for no reason at all, randomly walks around singing a certain 80's pop hit.


Here's Cartman & his short lived Christian rock band sharing their LITERAL love of Jesus with the masses:


and finally, here's the song that forever changed how I look at the State of the Union address and other large political gatherings. Cartman's delivery here *tear* makes everything all better for this disillusioned ol' blogger! ENJOY FOLKS!

Kenny Dies
Tags: SOUTH
PARKmore...

Black Metal Lulz: Frost

Kjetil-Vidar Haraldstad aka Frost, is one of the most talented drummers in extreme metal. He currently drums for both Satyricon and 1349 and has done guests spots for a bunch of other black metal bands. The dude plays lightening fast double bass and bashes his drums with POWER. There's an almost manic quality to his playing that's both inspiring and unsettling at the same time.


Accolades aside, Mr. Frost's appearance in the 2009 black metal documentary, Until The Light Takes Us successfully shits over his insane musical prowess and makes him come off as some trend hoping poseur. Although I strongly disagree with the way Frost is portrayed in the film, even I couldn't help but lol at this airplane scene:

you see that kid's face at the 0:13 mark!? Damn that's some good unscripted stuff. Talk about taking it all a little too seriously. Lighten up Frost...you're scaring the kids!

CELEBRATE: Taxi Driver

My favorite movie of all time hit the big screen this week, last night and Saturday night to be exact, in honor of it's 35th anniversary and upcoming release on Blu-ray. Yes, I'm talking about Martin Scorsese's, Taxi Driver.

Unfortunately, I couldn't make it to either of the screenings =/ My girlfriend was sick on Saturday night so we stayed in and I was stuck working a late shift yesterday...so yeah. Don't cry for me though, I've seriously seen this movie OVER 9,000 times. I can quote from the book of Travis Bickle like right wing nut jobs quote the Bible. Even though I have two different versions of Taxi Driver on DVD, I'm still probably going to end up with the new Blu-ray. Its kind of sad if you think about it. Oh wells. I also don't regret missing this film on the screen all that much. Unlike my Back To The Future celebration, Taxi Driver isn't the type of movie you should enjoy with a large group of excited, positive people. No, Taxi Driver should be viewed alone, on a tiny beat up old television, while you brandish a pistol and plot revenge against all the fictitious enemies responsible for your life's misery. The way Travis Bickle would want it.

Notice I haven't referred to Robert De Niro once. That's because in my eyes, he IS Travis Bickle. He wasn't some dude pretending to be a deranged Vietnam veteran turned cab driver, whose Schizotypal behavior leads him to kill minorities & criminals, stalk underage prostitutes and the occasional assassination attempt on political figures. No, De Niro WAS this guy. Just as Christian Bale will always be Patrick Bateman, De Niro and Bickle are one and the same.

I really can't explain how important this movie was to my development as a person. I'm not some raging psycho or angry basement dweller by any means. No, I'm just a regular guy who was horrified when I saw how much I identified with Bickle's character. Travis is hardly a monster, but the dude CLEARLY has some issues. What does that say about me or about the society we live in? Damn you Scorsese!

So go watch Taxi Driver because it's so damn awesome. Yeah, I'm talkin' to you.

Scion Rock Fest 2011

This year the good folks at Scion brought the ever elusive metal fest experience back to Southern California with their 3rd annual Scion Rock Fest. It's been a few years since the last Los Angeles Murderfest or Gathering of the Bestial Legion, leaving us West Coast metal fiends in a lurch. Luckily for us on March 5, 2011 more than 20+ bands ranging the gamut of extreme music (death metal, grindcore, black metal, thrash, hardcore) polluted the mean streets of Pomona, California at this year's Scion Rock Fest....and it was all free!

I'm going to break the many facets of the fest down for ya'll as follows:
-the setup
-the venues
-the bands

THE SETUP
an entire city block was quartered off that housed three of the fest's four stages. The Glass House and both music tents were all within a hop/skip/jump distance of each other inside the "Scion compound." The all important merchandise tent for a majority of the bands, as well as the Grill Em' All burger trucks and the Scion mobile handing out free shit (Black Metal socks!) were all conveniently located within said compound. The Fox Theater, home to the larger bands on the lineup was just down the street. The festival grounds was also next to a giant Chase Bank with ATMs, numerous restaurants, bars and empty lots with free parking.


THE VENUES
I've never been a huge fan of the Glass House, the Fox Theater or attending shows in Pomona in general but I really can't complain this time around. Sure, waiting in line when the bigger venues reached capacity kind of sucked but then again, I didn't pay for any of this so who am I to bitch? Luckily most the bands I wanted to catch were all playing in the smaller tents anyways and there was never a problem getting in there. The sound/atmosphere in the tents was impressive. I was expecting some rickety old set up for the grind and hardcore bands in these outside tents but no, Scion hooked these up quite nicely. The sound at the Glass House was slightly off like always, but they sell pizza inside so it kind of balanced out. I can't really comment about the Fox because I spent the least amount of time there but its nice to see their security still enforce the venues Gestapo ass policies (no gum, chapstick, makeup, pens, etc.).

THE BANDS


Wormrot kicked things off with bang. Still riding high after their triumphant show at The Blvd. (that I missed =/ ) the night before, Singapore's favorite grinders hit the ground running and had their oh so crusty fan base inside tent #1 as well as members from Primate, Fuck the Facts and Municipal Waste watching from the side of the stage eating out of their hands.



I've been waiting to see Fuck The Facts since I fell in love with their Stigmata High Five album back in 2006. Finally my long wait had ended. They took the stage shortly after Wormrot finished and opened with "The Sound of Your Smashed Head" and all was right with the world. Mel stormed around the stage looking like a possessed canine complete with foaming mouth and all. Erie, pummeling, technical grindcore at it's finest.



I ran over to tent #2 and caught a song from Woe. I really enjoyed last year's Quietly, Undramatically and wished I could have stayed for their entire set but alas, conflicting schedules. The band had heads banging in spades by the time I strolled in. Sadly their thrashy black metal assault was too powerful and completely overwhelmed the speakers of the video camera. Next time fellas.


Now it was back over to tent #1 for Primate, the new hardcore/grind band featuring Kevin Sharp from Brutal Truth and Mastodon's Bill Kelliher. Not being familiar with any of their material, I didn't know what to expect upon entering the tent. Luckily, Kevin Sharp's barefooted howls and the band's high octane punk & roll sound proved to be an awesome mix. The highlight was seeing Bill jamming onstage and not stuck in a proggy coma like he's been on the last few Mastodon tours.


Waiting inline for the Glass House to see Atheist allowed me the luxury of hearing the end of Primate's set and to eat some of my buddy's french fries from the Grill Em' All truck. By the time I got inside I had missed a good chunk of their set but hey, some Atheist is better than no Atheist.

The vibe inside the Glass House was different than that of the tents outside, I was in long hair country for sure. I found a viewing spot near the edge of the pit and caught the last few songs from the Florida shred wizards. Ironic that the sound for these technical death metal legends was muddy yet all the grindcore upstart acts playing outside sounded nice and crisp.

Kudos to the dude who kept yelling "Kid Rock!" and "Rock of Love!" at Kelly Shaefer every time he started talking in between songs.


Immolation was next. Yes, Atheist and Immolation played back to back. Thank you Scion. I secured a spot right in front of the stage after scarfing down some pizza and waited for my 2nd favorite New York death metallers to come out. Holy balls this band is amazing. I heard people complaining later about their crappy sound but from my position in the front, Immolation sounded like Godzilla on steroids, devastating all in their path. The term crushing doesn't do this band justice. Imagine a big rig truck carrying a load of hallucinogenics jackknifing in the middle of a crowded highway. That's Immolation in a nutshell. Best of all, I got some amazing quality videos of "Swarm of Terror" and "Father You're Not a Father." Immolaiton was all sorts of win.


Sadly, witnessing Atheist and Immolation at the Glass House meant missing Nails' hardcore/grind assault in tent #1 and Agalloch's, awesome band that almost never tours/plays live once in a blue moon performance at the Fox Theater =/. Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes...


My buddy wanted to catch some of Death Angel (who I kept referring to as Dark Angel all day...mixing up my D-Angels here) so we stayed inside the Glass House and caught their first few songs. The band has energy to spare onstage and worked the crowd into a frenzy. I'm guessing all the death metal hordes headed over to the Fox Theater to catch Obituary and Morbid Anegl just as we were about to do while all the teenage thrashers descended upon the Glass House for the white high-top wet dream of Death Angel and Municipal Waste.

Before running over to the Fox I made a pit stop at good ol' tent #1 and caught a song from Bastard Noise. I loved their split with The Endless Blockade last year and was eager to see how this band transferred their "sound" live. They were exactly as I imagined. Chaotically enthralling...probably the most aptly named band ever. Buzzing, mind altering noise, abrasive vocal shrieks/growls, blast beats and some of the gnarliest bass playing I've ever seen. I really wished I had ditched Death Angel and caught more of Bastard Noise but there was no time to dwell, Obituary was rocking the Fox Theater and time was of the essence!

Sadly, several hundred other people had the same idea as us and we got stuck outside the Fox waiting for the over capacity venue to empty out a bit before security would let anymore in. That Fuck The Facts hoodie I bought sure came in handy during that twenty minute wait in the frosty (lol @ Southern California winters I know) air but we eventually made it inside for Obituary's last song, the mighty "Slowly We Rot."


After the epic campaign trying to get inside the Fox Theater for Obituary, I realized there was no way we could leave to catch Integrity or Municipal Waste, who were headlining the other stages, if we hoped to see any of Morbid. We staked out a spot right above the Fox's large floor area and waited as people jumped the guard rail and attempted to fight their way down to the front of the stage.

After a short wait, the new (and improved?) Morbid Angel, with Tim Yeung filling in for Pete Sandoval on drums, came out to a rabid audience inside the Fox. They opened with "Rapture" and the place went nuts. Bodies flying across the crowd, dumb girls on the side of me throwing beer everywhere, the fog, the ominous lighting, Trey's otherworldly guitar work, David Vincent's cheesy stage banter, classic Morbid Angel in effect.

I want to say that Tim's presence behind the kit had a positive influence on the band, bringing some much needed firepower to their show but I read online that some felt he overplayed and ruined the tempo for some of their tunes so who really knows? After their third song, a supercharged version of "Maze of Torment" we booked it out of there and raced back to the Scion compound pleased to have witnessed the new Morbid Angel's first performance and hell bent on catching Birmingham England's lovable nihilists headline in tent #2 and consequently rape the entire fest.

Yes, I'm talking about Anaal Nathrakh. Black metal meets grindcore mixed with equal parts venom and hatred. The only band who could successfully make Morbid Angel look like The Monkees while playing 100 ft. away from them. The Anaal boys...er, Nathrakh dudes rarely play live since the "band" is normally a studio project between Irrumator (Mick Kenny, guitars/bass/drum programming) and V.I.T.R.I.O.L. (Dave Hunt, frightening screams/vocals) who enlist some of their buds to fill their ranks for the occasional live show or mini tour. That makes any Anaal Nathrakh gig a special occasion, that and they're fucking awesome too.

I missed the beginning of their set but found a spot near the side of the stage before they launched into "Submission is for the weak." The last time Anaal Nathrakh played in Southern California, it was for a handful of drunks in the dilapidated ass Knitting Factory. Thankfully, there was a good sized crowd inside the tent this time around and Anaal Nathrakh received the sweaty, violent (fun) welcome they deserved. The die hard fans shouted song requests at the band in between Dave's stage banter but most of the Integrity punks, recovering Municipal Waste thrashers and burly metal dudes turned away from Morbid Angel's over capacity Fox Theater performance just wanted the band to keep playing. Anything. They were eating this shit up. Some dude saw me recording videos of their set and excitedly asked me "what is this?!" It was awesome my friends. It was awesome.


In conclusion:
-The show ran like clockwork/on schedule which is RARE for metal gigs.
-My only real gripe was that there was too many good bands playing at the same. Yes, too much awesomeness was the only negative I could draw from this experience.
-Talked with the dudes from Wormrot, (dudette from) Fuck The Facts, Anaal Nathrakh, shook Dave Witte's (Municipal Waste) godly drumming hands and pestered Immolation while they ordered kabobs.
-The whole thing was FREE.

Thanks again to Scion for throwing the biggest party of the year.

FML: why Kelly...WHY?!

Sayonara...suckers =/

First Egypt goes to hell. Then Libya. Then Wisconsin. Japan is all but annihilated off the face of the Earth. Nate Dogg dies and now this breaking, tragic news:

Kelly Brook is pregnant.

Some of you might recall that Kelly was the subject of my late Jan/early Feb edition of Female Obsession. She was also the face of my first blogger milestone, my 100th Post Celebration. And now, with a simple tweet...shes gone. =/

So there you have it folks, the dream is dead. Here's to Kelly's memory.

R.I.P. Nate

My self imposed blogging exile is over, but alas...it's because of some sad news:
the homie Nate Dogg passed away last night due to complications from multiple strokes he suffered over the last few years. He was only 41.

Nate may not have been a household name and kept a rather low profile recently, but his voice was truly distinctive and almost instantly recognizable. Nate shot to fame in the 90's for his role as "hookman," crooning the ultra sly hooks in collaborations with nearly all the top West Coast rappers of the day. His death should put a =/ on the day of anyone who listened to the radio between the mid 90's-early 00's. Here are some of my favorite Nate Dogg clips:

Nate & Tupac: "Every other city we Goooooooooo" Nate comes in @ 1:05 mark.


Nate & Warren G: "Got a car full of girls and it's going real swell, next stop is the East Side, Moteeeeeeeeel"


and easily one of the greatest songs of the 90's...
Nate & Snoop Dogg: "I had respect for ya LaDaaaaaaay..."


R.I.P. Nate Dogg.
1969-2011.

strange times

So I'm feeling a little better. I never got a chance to call out sick from work so I just sweated most of my illness out over the past few days.

Since my self imposed blogger exile, THE WORLD HAS STARTED FALLING APART w/Japan in the lead for ARMAGEDDON points =/ I don't even think MartinLawrenceBadBoys.jpg is suitable here....shit just got UNREAL. 8.9 earthquakes, tsunamis and now possible nuclear fallout, lions, tigers & bears oh my.

I'm leaving for Vegas as soon as I publish this post. I'm still sort of sick but I don't care, The Strokes are back and I'm not missing this show. Hope California isn't a radioactive waste land when I return. Take care bloggers, hopefully I'll see you all soon. Remember:

ill

I'm coming down with something folks. I've been forcibly blowing nice chunks of brownish crap out of my nose for the last two days. Now I feel like I've been run over by a truck. I'm going to have to call out from work one of these days to get my rest/recovery on or else I won't be able to make the Vegas trip I've been planning for months =/

My review for last weekend's AWESOME Scion Rock Fest should be coming soon as well....

Charlie Sheen?

"Oh, you know him?"

It seems like everywhere you turn these days people are talking about one thing and one thing only....Carlos Irwin Estevez. Yes, Emilio's little brother has finally taken his rightful place as the center of our pop culture universe. Some people might see his recent behavior as a entertaining train wreck, others might be enamored by his uncanny ability to say/do whatever the hell he wants (Ozzy Osbourne level drug use, dabbling in porn stars...hehe...the works) or what Sheen refers to as, his "Bi-Winning" lifestyle.

I thinks it's hilarious that people are barely catching onto Sheen's shenanigans these days. Dude's been doing crazy shit forever. Did everyone suddenly forget the 1990's? Either way, I say the evidence of Sheen's tiger blood has been there all along. Lets go back to 1986. This is the year that Charlie boy appears in the now classic film, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and in the criminally underrated teen comedic/drama, Lucas.

In Lucas, Sheen plays Cappie, the literal All-American captain of the football team who befriends the biggest geek in school, Lucas  (R.I.P. Corey Haim). Of course with so much tiger blood pumping through those veins it was inevitable that Cappie would wind up alone in the only secluded room on campus with his homeboy Lucas' love interest (that cute red headed girl from The Goonies). How long do you think it takes before he rips his shirt off and macks her down? NOT LONG FOLKS.....WINNING!

Then we come to Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Y'all know the drill. Sheen plays the part of "boy in police station," busted for....surprise surprise: DRUGS. Stoned out of his gourd, surrounded by cops and Ferris' uber hostile sister Jeanie, you can already tell from the image above the one thing on Sheen's mind. Thats tiger blood folks. He ends up WINNING with Jeanie after less than 5 mins.

It doesn't matter what he does, trying to be a goody two-shoes or snorting his own DNA (cocaine) off a dead hooker's ass, Mr. Charlie Sheen has and will always be about getting ladies and flat out WINNING.

Decrepit Birth

My blogger buddy The Nite Falls regularly features awesome bands/musicians on his page. Over the past month he's featured notable extreme metal acts:

Necrophagist
Gorguts
Spawn of Possession

and to my surprise people actually seemed to like this shit! Props to Nite Falls and all you opened minded bloggers for tolerating the same ADD driven music I love so much. If you were one of those who dug any of the acts The Nite Falls featured, then I welcome you to try your hand at some Decrepit Birth

The band originally started out as an exercise in pure brutality. Their debut album, 2003's ...And Time Begins is the sonic equivalent of getting run over by the T-1000 in that Mack truck he hijacks in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Starting with 2008's Diminishing Between Worlds and continued with last years Polarity, the band's sound has expanded into a hodgepodge of technical shred, ethereal prog and yes, sweet sweet brutality, courtesy of front man Bill Robinson's gnarly homeless guy vocals. Dude is legitimately homeless, he grows weed for a living and tends a plot of land in some isolated state park in Northern California... and has a really awesome little dog too.

So here's a clip of the current Decrepit Birth lineup sans Bill, killing Diminishing Between Worlds title track for your enjoyment.

DROOL.

Here's the original album clip with Bill's grizzly ass vocals for those who survived the initial onslaught.

Female Obsession: Marisa Tomei

With the Academy Awards fresh on my mind, I had no other choice but to honor one of my favorite actresses and easily one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood, my ageless queen, the lovely Marisa Tomei. She's been in the acting game for more than twenty years and I'll be damned if she doesn't get better looking as time goes by. At 46 years old, she's got more beauty and poise in her fingernail than most up and coming Hollywood starlets could ever hope to attain.

92' represent

Marisa looked gorgeous on the red carpet at Sunday's Oscar ceremony (like always). Her first brush with the Academy Awards came with her Best Supporting Actress win for her work in 1992's My Cousin Vinny. Awesome movie, a total classic and as far as I know, the last known appearance of The Karate Kid (Ralph Macchio). I remember watching her in My Cousin Vinny as a boy thinking, "that lady with the makeup and odd voice is funny." Flash forward six years and my pubescent teenage self is thinking, "hot DAMN that slutty nurse from Slums of Beverly Hills is smokin!"
It killed me when I realized they used the exterior of my local library as Marisa Tomei's character's nursing school in the film. She was in my town, at my library and I didn't even know it! =/

So Marisa has been beautiful her entire life. Allow this TMZ produced demonstration to prove my point.

She and Keanu Reeves must have made similar pacts with the devil. Here she is back in the day on Letterman looking cute:

jump ahead 17 years and she looks even HOTTER on Jimmy Kimmel:

It's amazing folks. Her genetics boggle the mind! Here is some random hotness courtesy of Marisa.

She's beautiful and honestly one hell of an actress. Check out her work in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and The Wrestler if you doubt this claim. She displays ALL of her talents in these two movies as well. Yes my fellow bloggers, this world class actress isn't above getting nekkid on film either! PRAISE THA LAWD!

*Bonus Tomei overdose clip:
wonder how Marisa manages to stay so damn sexy after all these years in the limelight? Here's her top secret exercise weapon: