POLARITY 178
this entry brought to you by audioslave, "your time has come"
THE GOOD
Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy Again, I'm flabberghasted at the response to this movie. It wasn't even liked critically enough to get a "fresh" rating at rottentomatoes.com (although just barely-- it scored 58%, and the minimum to keep a movie from "rotten" is 60%), and I absolutely cannot understand why anyone wouldn't like it. No, I didn't read the books, but the movie by itself was still plenty entertaining. The sardonic, bizarre sense of humor combined with the movie's frequent sidenotes are completely refreshing and, despite the novel's influence on pop culture, there isn't another movie like it. The resolution of the movie is just a tad bit deus ex machina (the whole world is blown up? Don't worry-- here's another one just like it!), and the movie is so fast paced and full of wonderful, colorful characters that you barely even notice the main character, everyman Arthur Dent, played by The Office's Martin Freeman, who still manages to inject charm, despite having a role that is entirely being lost and confused. But Ford Prefect by Mos Def is great (further cementing Def's placement in my "people who totally rule" list) and President Zaphod Beeblebrox is one of the most hilarious, memorable characters in recent history.
Audioslave, Out of Exile Audioslave is, without a doubt, one of the most popular bands in the world right now. Everybody likes them, but nobody seems to really love them anymore. The attitude seems to be, well, they're not really raging against the machine anymore, but yeah, they're pretty cool. The reception of their newest album was lukewarm at best-- yay, another predictably solid album from guys who hit the ceiling years ago and have comfortably settled shy of it. It's not as if I can blame people, I suppose; "Be Yourself" was a really weak lead single, and the semi-hippy self-affirmation theme seemed to be pretty much the antithesis of what Rage used to be, and a solid confirmation that the band will never be what it once was. Perhaps this was the point. The truth is, despite not being as revolutionary as they once were, there's no other band on the map that makes the kind of earnest, poetic, completely unpretentious hard rock that Audioslave make, with the exception of Foo Fighters. This kind of introspective, sensitive-guy arena rock just doesn't exist anymore, and honestly, listening to Out of Exile is a bit refreshing in its straight-forwardness. It feels weird to call a multi-platinum album "underappreciated", but there ya go.
Uhaul evicting us Ordinarily, being evicted is not a good thing. But I cannot tell you what a pain in the ass this storage room has been for the four years or so we've had it. There was even a point last summer where I couldn't pay it three months in a row and had to ask for money from my grandma. It has caused countless overdraft fees from automatic deduction, and when it didn't auto-deduct I've had to pay late fees. And the month we were evicted-- surprise! We actually had the money to rent the truck for two days and load everything into the garage, actually had the days off, a friend to help with a valid license, etc, etc, etc... Everything was just worked out absolutely perfectly, and now everything is safe, with no worries about that bill ever again. Thank god.
Margaret Cho Hey, remember Margaret Cho? Did you know that she got really hot? No, I'm serious. She got really hot.
Short Circuit Michelle and I watched this 80's movie that was a favorite of both of our childhoods. Michelle was appalled about how bad it was, but I was actually surprised at how well it stood up. Yes, it's still from a bygone era of movies, and yes, Ally Sheedy acts like they discovered her in a highschool play. But the robots still look really good-- even if it seems ridiculous that the killing machines of the future have a top speed of, apparently, 1.5 mph.
THE BAD
Vanity Fair's Lindsay Lohan cover This isn't "bad" because I don't like her. This is "bad" because I bought it, and specifically bought it because of her. I'm totally ashamed of it. I think I kind of... (takes a long, shameful sigh) I think I kind of have a crush on her. It's one of those hate/crushes, though. I wanted to hate her so bad, but I started looking up pictures of her to use on an entry to make fun of her months back, and the harder I tried to find obnoxious pictures of her, the cuter she became! I genuinely felt sorry for her drastic, scary weight loss, instead of saying "Oh, a young actress has image issues... that's worth wasting my attention over..." like I would have with anyone else. I think it's the freckles. How many other hip, young actresses have freckles, yet have no problem with it? Seriously, you should look at these pictures of her in Vanity Fair. She is gorgeous. Marilyn Monroe gorgeous. I mean, she has this real classic, timeless beauty. Whoever thought I would be saying this about Lindsay Lohan?
CDs with copywright protection You've either got one yourself, or you've heard about it, but the newest way for the record industry to fuck its customers is through obnoxious copy protection. This software encoded on many new CDs prevents a computer from copying it, or sometimes even from playing it, despite the fact that copying music has never actually been illegal for private use (and makes sense when you're trying to fill up an Ipod). The real problem? Sony BMG found that MediaMax version 5, the software they were using to protect their music, left users' computers open to hacker attack! Thanks for nothing, assholes! And you know what? I have never had any problems downloading any of the music that they have gone so far to protect, so I have no idea what the hell they think the point of any of this bullshit is.
Paul Wall I refuse to listen to any music Paul Wall has made, on account of his custom made grill. He looks like an idiot and a robot! And if he looks like an idiot, chances are I won't dig his rapping. Fuck that guy.
The Number One Names in America The number one name for a boy in 2005? Aidan. I think that's kind of disturbing, considering how lame it is. I mean, I suppose it's okay, but it just stings of "soccer mom". Can't you just hear some pathetic soccer mom shouting "GO, AIDAN! GO!" It sends shivers up the spine. Also, I thought it was interesting that "Emma" was the number 1 name for girls last year, considering the only Emma I've ever heard of was an Avenger. Oh, and there was that one Spice Girl.
G-Mail is Too Creepy I don't have a GMail account, but I know a lot of people who do, so I thought it should only be fair that I tell you all about this link. Apparently, GMail is a little darker and more sinister than they would have you believe.
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with love from CRS @ 10:38 PM
Monday, January 30, 2006
THE GOOD
Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy Again, I'm flabberghasted at the response to this movie. It wasn't even liked critically enough to get a "fresh" rating at rottentomatoes.com (although just barely-- it scored 58%, and the minimum to keep a movie from "rotten" is 60%), and I absolutely cannot understand why anyone wouldn't like it. No, I didn't read the books, but the movie by itself was still plenty entertaining. The sardonic, bizarre sense of humor combined with the movie's frequent sidenotes are completely refreshing and, despite the novel's influence on pop culture, there isn't another movie like it. The resolution of the movie is just a tad bit deus ex machina (the whole world is blown up? Don't worry-- here's another one just like it!), and the movie is so fast paced and full of wonderful, colorful characters that you barely even notice the main character, everyman Arthur Dent, played by The Office's Martin Freeman, who still manages to inject charm, despite having a role that is entirely being lost and confused. But Ford Prefect by Mos Def is great (further cementing Def's placement in my "people who totally rule" list) and President Zaphod Beeblebrox is one of the most hilarious, memorable characters in recent history.
Audioslave, Out of Exile Audioslave is, without a doubt, one of the most popular bands in the world right now. Everybody likes them, but nobody seems to really love them anymore. The attitude seems to be, well, they're not really raging against the machine anymore, but yeah, they're pretty cool. The reception of their newest album was lukewarm at best-- yay, another predictably solid album from guys who hit the ceiling years ago and have comfortably settled shy of it. It's not as if I can blame people, I suppose; "Be Yourself" was a really weak lead single, and the semi-hippy self-affirmation theme seemed to be pretty much the antithesis of what Rage used to be, and a solid confirmation that the band will never be what it once was. Perhaps this was the point. The truth is, despite not being as revolutionary as they once were, there's no other band on the map that makes the kind of earnest, poetic, completely unpretentious hard rock that Audioslave make, with the exception of Foo Fighters. This kind of introspective, sensitive-guy arena rock just doesn't exist anymore, and honestly, listening to Out of Exile is a bit refreshing in its straight-forwardness. It feels weird to call a multi-platinum album "underappreciated", but there ya go.
Uhaul evicting us Ordinarily, being evicted is not a good thing. But I cannot tell you what a pain in the ass this storage room has been for the four years or so we've had it. There was even a point last summer where I couldn't pay it three months in a row and had to ask for money from my grandma. It has caused countless overdraft fees from automatic deduction, and when it didn't auto-deduct I've had to pay late fees. And the month we were evicted-- surprise! We actually had the money to rent the truck for two days and load everything into the garage, actually had the days off, a friend to help with a valid license, etc, etc, etc... Everything was just worked out absolutely perfectly, and now everything is safe, with no worries about that bill ever again. Thank god.
Margaret Cho Hey, remember Margaret Cho? Did you know that she got really hot? No, I'm serious. She got really hot.
Short Circuit Michelle and I watched this 80's movie that was a favorite of both of our childhoods. Michelle was appalled about how bad it was, but I was actually surprised at how well it stood up. Yes, it's still from a bygone era of movies, and yes, Ally Sheedy acts like they discovered her in a highschool play. But the robots still look really good-- even if it seems ridiculous that the killing machines of the future have a top speed of, apparently, 1.5 mph.
THE BAD
Vanity Fair's Lindsay Lohan cover This isn't "bad" because I don't like her. This is "bad" because I bought it, and specifically bought it because of her. I'm totally ashamed of it. I think I kind of... (takes a long, shameful sigh) I think I kind of have a crush on her. It's one of those hate/crushes, though. I wanted to hate her so bad, but I started looking up pictures of her to use on an entry to make fun of her months back, and the harder I tried to find obnoxious pictures of her, the cuter she became! I genuinely felt sorry for her drastic, scary weight loss, instead of saying "Oh, a young actress has image issues... that's worth wasting my attention over..." like I would have with anyone else. I think it's the freckles. How many other hip, young actresses have freckles, yet have no problem with it? Seriously, you should look at these pictures of her in Vanity Fair. She is gorgeous. Marilyn Monroe gorgeous. I mean, she has this real classic, timeless beauty. Whoever thought I would be saying this about Lindsay Lohan?
CDs with copywright protection You've either got one yourself, or you've heard about it, but the newest way for the record industry to fuck its customers is through obnoxious copy protection. This software encoded on many new CDs prevents a computer from copying it, or sometimes even from playing it, despite the fact that copying music has never actually been illegal for private use (and makes sense when you're trying to fill up an Ipod). The real problem? Sony BMG found that MediaMax version 5, the software they were using to protect their music, left users' computers open to hacker attack! Thanks for nothing, assholes! And you know what? I have never had any problems downloading any of the music that they have gone so far to protect, so I have no idea what the hell they think the point of any of this bullshit is.
Paul Wall I refuse to listen to any music Paul Wall has made, on account of his custom made grill. He looks like an idiot and a robot! And if he looks like an idiot, chances are I won't dig his rapping. Fuck that guy.
The Number One Names in America The number one name for a boy in 2005? Aidan. I think that's kind of disturbing, considering how lame it is. I mean, I suppose it's okay, but it just stings of "soccer mom". Can't you just hear some pathetic soccer mom shouting "GO, AIDAN! GO!" It sends shivers up the spine. Also, I thought it was interesting that "Emma" was the number 1 name for girls last year, considering the only Emma I've ever heard of was an Avenger. Oh, and there was that one Spice Girl.
G-Mail is Too Creepy I don't have a GMail account, but I know a lot of people who do, so I thought it should only be fair that I tell you all about this link. Apparently, GMail is a little darker and more sinister than they would have you believe.
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