Fab Fail

I watched ESPN's documentary on the Fab Five from Michigan last night.  The biggest takeaway for me is that I'm getting old fast.  It seems like that was just the day before yesterday, and it turns out that was 20 years ago. 

Beyond that, I hate this story.  It has nothing to do with

And the Oscar will not be going to........

I don't say this to bash the movie.  I enjoyed it a great deal.  That is I enjoyed it in spite of the state of modern movies.  I've come to expect the predictability and cliches that are rife in films like this, and am desensitized enough to that to overlook them, even though a tiny voice inside of me is screaming that I should be annoyed. 

Now even though a heavyweight like Denzel Washington leads this movie, the real star is the incredibly menacing looking Engine 777 as it speeds on a collision course toward......well it doesn't matter what, because whatever IT is, IT will be obliterated.  The 777 looks mildly ominous enough when sitting still in the rail yard, but each incremental increase in MPH causes the triple 7 to morph more and more into a demonic machine posessed with the intent to unleash havoc.  If this is all you want from the movie, you'll be satisfied.  There are enough action scenes that are thrilling enough to make up for the ones that are prepostorous. 

Now, on to the real point of this post.  The movie won't be getting any awards, and if I'm wrong and it does or has already, than a great injustice has taken place.  It isn't because the subject matter is unbelievable though.  The script writers took an entirely plausible event and added depth only in the form of 1 dimenstional drama.  The setup for an event like this actually occurred 10 years ago just a few miles from where I am typing this.

Obviously this story, interesting and potentially frightening as it is, does not have the dramatic credentials to carry a feature length film. But it certainly has the right elements. All we need is to take what occurred here, imagine how it could have played out if we were less lucky, write a story about how real people would have responded to THAT situation, and make that our movie.

It is taken for granted that action movies are not award winners, so nobody bothers to try to write one worthy of an award anymore. Somebody did write an action movie about a runaway train in 1985. Now I have my problems with that movie too, but it had dynamic characters, and the incredibly dangerous out of control train served as a vehicle to deliver redemption and justice, not just cheap thrills and tidy resolution. 'Unstoppable' had the true elements to base a story on. If it hadn't suffered from a lack of imagination and correctly recognized the opportunity to capitalize on the themes that 'Runaway Train' got right, it would be a superb movie. Instead it is yet another million dollar missed opportunity.

Update:

Now THIS definitely deserves an Oscar.  "Chugga chugga Choo CHOO!........BOOM!!!!" LMFAO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB6QMp_rGIc
(embedding disabled)

Because it's cold and warmer days are ahead

I give you Galactic in NOLA in 2009.........

The view from stage 2

This is the first in a series of posts about The Dave Matthews Band. So much to figure out. So I'll just begin here.

To be a fan of the Dave Matthews Band is both fun and frustrating in so many ways. This is a band that can blow your mind, and infuriate you because you know they can blow your mind. They are so unique, and with their uniqueness, they haven't so much revolutionized music as much as they have created their own rock and roll utopian society. By no means are they the only jam band so don't get me wrong. But for a jam band, there is an interesting interaction of jam band fans along with alternative fans, middle age music lovers, and mainstream radio music fans. Any attempt by the band to cater more to one of these audiences over another results in this weird conflict about a show was great or "was not what I know this band is capable of doing." I'm not in the mood to disect this to the point that the soul of music is lost. But do me a favor, watch this video and follow up afterward:



You watched this video and your reaction was:

a) It rocked, I danced my ass off
b) GFD that song again. DMB is on the brink of collapse.
c) Heard it many times and it never gets old
d) It's fine, but can we get back to why I am a fan of this band?
e) Other (please add a comment to explain)

UPDATE:
To expand upon Sharon's most astute comment, I wholeheartedly agree that Cornbread isn't meant to have lots of bells and whistles.  And to demonstrate the contrast, the Radio City version embedded below (the most well known Dave and Tim adaptation of the song) is one of the most enjoyable tracks on my iPod.  whereas the live, full-band versions of the song like the one you just listened above, are the most frequently skipped (again, speaking only for my iPod).

Free Jim Free Jim Free Jim

We here in the hallowed halls of the Big Empty are with Charlie Crist.

Very belated update:

And there was Justice.


My old hometown of New Haven couldn't contain him, neither could Miami, and now neither can history.


The streets in Madison Wisconsin and now, my new home state of Ohio are taking on a flavor that hasn't been tasted since the days when Jim Morrison took the stages of the New Haven Arena and the Dinner Key Auditorium.  Nobody gives a fucking rats ass about the pigs that put Jim away back then and in 50 years nobody will give a fuck about the toadies who do the dirty work of the powerful now.  And so, as a tribute to the forgotten nameless establishment stooges of yesterday and today, I give you Jim.


".......blood in the streets in the town of New Haven........."