ten happy fingers.

the 5000 fingers of dr t. combined my love of dr seuss, b-movies, musicals, and theremins into a magical 1.5 hours. i am appalled that i have never seen this before. this needs to be made into a broadway musical.

seeing this has kind of made me a bit angry at what hollywood has done to the stories of dr seuss, those recent movies are all travesties.

lets do a sing-a-long.

the oven like temperature in our apartment over the last couple days has keep off the computer. if i wasn’t seeing a movie, i was lying on our bed reading with a fan pointed at me. we are currently down to a chilly 92, and it wierdly seem chilly, i may put on pants.

here’s what happened at edgefield in troutsdale, or. on July 18th.

rebecca, jessica, and i went to troutsdale to see the decemberists on a lawn with a bunch of families and blankets. i normally avoid this stlye of show. i’m not a fan of outside shows, especially when it’s still light out. also i hate the casual family oriented atmosphere. the group next to us had a 3 month old and they spent the entire time talking and braiding hair. it’s just not how i like to see a show. then last year i went to see erykah badu at marymoor park, that show gave me hope that some shows are still worth it. so i thought i should give it another try. i thought the decemberists were a safe bet, i’ve seen them live several times before. also they were performing the hazards of love, which i believe to be a masterpiece.

hip portland band of the moment blind pilot played first, they were completely pleasant country pop. something that i might grow to like but not enough for me to exert the effort to find out. andrew bird played next, and he was much loved by the crowd. andrew bird is his own brand of quirky, i just don’t find the music that interesting. he spends all this time setting up the song and there is much payoff, his song just kind of meander. i never grew to like that kind of pop. talented guy, just doesn’t work for me.

of course it was still bright as day when the decemberists came out, so the light show was barely there. they went right to playing through the hazards of love. hearing it live was pretty extraordinary, when i wasn’t focusing too much on the activity and din around me. becky stark and shara worden were amazing, they moved around the stage providing the drama. they weren’t my favorite part of the album till i hear the npr sxsw podcast, they can tear it up live. the decemberist were predictably good, colin and the gang rocked their butts off, somewhat gently.

the second set made up of older songs, was alright, i expecting it to be a bit longer. that may have been that, because of the area, the venue has a 10 o’clock curfew. (another annoying thing about outdoor summer shows.) they chose good songs, but none of my favorites. the best part was the heart cover, “crazy on you”, with becky stark and shana worden dueting. it was pretty awesome, watch them play it in minneapolis here.

but because of the surroundings i couldn’t connect with the show, i felt a little cheated. i think i would have had a better experience if i was in a different part of the lawn. it was the only section that didn’t stand up, i couldn’t really see from where we were sitting and i didn’t want to be the one person standing.

set list,

prelude
the hazards of love 1 (the prettiest whistles won’t wrestle the thistles undone)
a bower scene
won’t want for love (margaret in the taiga)
the hazards of love 2 (wager all)
the queen’s approach
isn’t it a lovely night?
the wanting comes in waves/repaid
an interlude
fhe rake’s song
the abduction of margaret
the queen’s rebuke/the crossing
annan water
margaret in captivity
yhe hazards of love 3 (revenge!)
the wanting comes in waves (reprise)
the hazards of love 4 (the drowned)

encore
july, july!
billy liar
the engine driver
dracula’s daughter
o valencia!
crazy on you

2nd encore
sons & daughters

he was here to recruit us.

we finally watched milk last night and i have to say i was really impressed. normally i find biopics a little too made for tv, so i generally avoid them, milk managed to avoid that feeling, in fact it seemed effortless. i wasn’t necessarily blown away by any one part of the movie, the acting was solid and it was shot well, the movie just works as a whole.  what has stuck with me is the optimism and hope of the movie, i guess it was his perseverance that really got to me, it’s a message that most of us can relate to right now.

and congratulations to the lgbt citizens of iowa for getting the right to marry.

trying hard not to mention the blue penis.

i finally broke down and read watchmen. i figured i should read it before i saw the movie, which i saw last night. i found the book to be a good read offering a well written multi-layered story about the state of the human condition, albeit in an alternate reality where super heroes exist and nixon has been president for almost twenty years. i liked the book but i fail to see why it gets all the critical acclaim. i wasn’t in awe of it, and while the story was dense it still felt a bit shallow to me. it may have been another example of setting my expectations too high.

my opinion of the movie version is a bit different. i liked the movie quite a bit, although it was far from perfect. they cut a lot of the content of the book, and changed a little of the story. i agreed with all the alterations, the book has quite a bit of chaff that could be cut. the film was well cast and everyone gave a good performances. the style and design was lifted right out of the comic with only subtle changes to make it workable in “reality”, the look of the movie was one of my favorite parts. the downfall of the movie was in its pacing and length. watchmen, much like the dark knight, should have been made into two movies. they could of given us a little more of the depth and connect us to the characters more. i don’t know if i would recommend watchmen to anyone beside comic book nerds.

kept me from breaking.

i’ve been going through a fairly rough patch over the last couple of weeks. if it wasn’t for the following things i probably would have broke.

the second season of 30 Rock on dvd, and the start of the third season.

the second season of the incredibly inventive pushing daisies. please everyone watch this show, they might take it away, and that would be sad.

chelsea handler’s late night show on E.

the simple pleasures of ellen.

crosswords on my ds. i’ve done over 500 crossword and about 150 word searches.

korg ds-10.

seeing john hodgman at wordstock. this isn’t from wordstock though.

the new album from of montreal skeletal lamping, and a couple of bootlegs from the current tour. i’m seeing them in a couple of weeks.

the non-existent bootlegs from antony & the johnson’s recent orchestral tour.

there are a few other things that have kept me from being totally down, but i will be giving them their own post soon.

i also want to thank all my friends, i think i have the best group of friends anyone could ever ask for.
and a big hug and kiss for morgan.

with all the feathers.

i have long been a fan of dance movies, which i (and i’m sure others) often refer to as danceploitations. it probably started with girls just want to have fun, i remember watching that repeatedly. i have never really had many people to watch danceploitations with, here in portland though i have found a group of people. the group gathered recently to watch step up 2: the streets. i’ve never seen the first step up, i have never been a fan of balletsploitations, they tend to be more romantic and less about dance numbers.

when the trailers for step up 2 starting airing i knew it was going to be good, after failing to mobilize the group to see it in theaters we finally got to see it on dvd. wow, what a great danceploitation. at times they try a little to hard to inject a plot, but the dance numbers more than make up for the clunky forced plot.

especially this number, which is the fantastic final number, so if you plan on watching the movie you might not want to watch this.

everyones favorite character in the movie was moose, played by adam sevani. when i was looking for clips of this movie i came upon an interesting online battle between miley cyrus, her friend mandy and adam sevani teamed up with jon chu (the director of step up 2). i don’t really understand anything miley cyrus related and her part of the dance battles are horrible. miley and mandy head up the m&m cru, while adam and jon have the acdc. i won’t torture you with all the videos but the second acdc video has some pretty good dancing.

the acdc comback.

the midly comical final battle, that took place on some awards show that i have never heard of.

this is going to be amazing.

indoor summer activities.

mad men : set in the sixties with dashing men in sexy suits and women in torpedo bras. also its a damn good show, somewhat reminiscent of the good seasons of six feet under. we are in the middle of the first season, trying to catch up since the second season already started. this show really makes me want to drink scotch.

picture from vanity fair

eureka : the second season of this somewbuhat cheesy sci fi show is just out on dvd. while this show is far from perfect, it has a very quirky buffyness about it. and i have a bit of a crush on jack carter.

americas’s best dance crew : since watching this show i have become an authority on dance crews. i’m rooting for fanny pack. i recommend following the link this youtube video dosen’t do them justice.

project runway : the last season of on bravo. i loves me some project runway. hands down the best reality show that will ever exist.

wall-e : utterly charming, amazingly grand in scope, i almost cried (people were crying all around us).

the dark knight : i liked it more than batman begins, but all i can say is “meh”.

viewings from the queue #5.

the secret garden – not as good as remembered, but still fine.

nancy drew – i enjoyed this, it goes into the same category as clueless and legally blonde.

jane eyre - morgan continued foray into female centric english literature movies, this one was alright. it kind of felt like it was made for the hallmark channel.

pierre henry: the art of sounds – an interesting, albeit a bit shallow, look into the mind of one of the creators of musique concrete. highly recommended if you at all interested in electronic or experimental music. i wish it delved more into his music process and how he built his machines. and who were those two women that are always around him?

before the devil knows your dead – i didn’t really like this movie, i didn’t hate it either. it really had two things that i couldn’t get over. one; no good ever comes of ethan hawke. and two; there is far to many shots of marisa tomei’s boobies. so i guess if you can get over those things, you will enjoy this movie slightly more than i did.

dan in real life – i didn’t know this was a disney movie. don’t get me wrong i like disney movies, i just would of gone into it with a different mind set. also i didn’t know that that annoying comic dane cook was in it. i just like steve carrell. i guess i should do more research before i add movies to the queue. anyway. while at times painful to watch, i didn’t hate this movie. it is very disney, it is how disney handles the mid-life crisis romantic comedy. just don’t expect to laugh, you may do a bit a cringing though.

viewings from the queue #4

a state of mind – a thoroughly interesting look inside north korea, told through the eyes of two young gymnasts preparing for the mass games. even with this being a glossy version (approved by the north korean government) of what life must be like in north korea, you still get a good idea of how secluded (and kind of deluded) the north koreans are.

pride and prejudice – this is one of morgans favorite movies, and it made him so happy that i watched it with him (all six hours of it). this is the made for bbc version from the mid nighties. still not a convert to the jane austen fan club.

i am legend – why does will smith keep getting cast in sci-fi movies. he ruined i robot, and now he ruined this. the idea is pretty interesting, if not plotted well. it really could of moved a little faster, they really tried to acheive a pensiveness that eluded them. but the worst thing is will smith, he just always comes off as trying to hard. i would not say that this movie should be avoided, for fans of apocalyptic sci-fi, this is alright, you just have to suffer a bit with the fresh prince.

no country for old men – we sat on this movie for two weeks, breaking our rule of sending back any movie within a week of not watching it. for some reason neither morgan or i were really that into watching it. i knew it is based off a cormac mccarthy novel, i’ve read a couple of his books, and am just not a fan. finally the other night i forced us to watch it, it did get the best picture oscar, so we should give it a chance. we both really enjoyed it. i liked out the movies main subject wasn’t clear, it gave equal time to several characters and you never really know who you are supposed to root for. i can’t help but compare it to there will be blood. both are upridictable, perfectly cast, and shot and directed excellently. in my opinion though there will be blood is a better movie.

the king of kong -this documentary was kind of harrowing to watch. the journey of steve wiebe to become the world record holder in donkey kong was unexpectedly engrossing and frustrating. plus you get to see some of the nerdiest people alive today, and (if i may be a bit crass) one of the biggest douches ever. highly recommended.