POLARITY 188
this entry brought to you by the dandy warhols, "all the money or the simple life honey"
THE GOOD
Grizzly Man What starts off as simply the story of the life and death of Timothy Treadwell, who obtained national near-celebrity status as "That Grizzly Bear Guy" who lived amongst the Alaskan Grizzlies for months at a time, soon becomes an unflinchingly deep character that is at times beautiful (as we watch an impassionaed, loving Treadwell make friends with the animals) and disturbing (as Treadwell, already clearly a troubled man, begins to lose his mind out in the wilderness). From there, however, the movie ultimately becomes a study on the human condition, as Treadwell goes to great lengths to do what he believes and fulfill what he admit isn't the best life. Beyond that, Grizzly Man, although shot cheaply with personal digital cameras, has unparralelled beauty because of Treadwell's extremely personal access to the bears, who quickly become important supporting characters. An absolutely gripping documentary.
The Secret Machines, Now Here is Nowhere The first time I put Now Here is Nowhere, The Secret Machines' debut LP, into the CD player, I was immediately blown away. "First Wave Intact", a long, slightly psychedelic, magically bass-throbbing song, was one of the most thrilling, absolutely rocking openers I'd ever heard on a debut record, or hell, ever. The next song, "Sad and Lonely", which I'd originally heard on the WB soundtrack of all places, with its steady, gigantic bass-drum sound, and mind-shreddingly awesome bass solo (!), was like indie-kid headbanging heaven. The album's high lasted relatively uninterrupted until I reached "You Are Chains", the seventh track, which was absolutely the most idiotic, agonizingly painful song I'd heard in a while, with such forehead-slappingly dumb lyrics as "You are chains/ when you're chained/ with a chain/ with an iron ring/ bound to a rock/ on which you stand". Here's the thing: The Secret Machines like drugs, and if you don't, you'll be fine for the most part, until the band tries to get, like, totally fuckin' deep, rather than just-took-a-hit-and-ready-to-fuckin'-rock, which they do very well. When the dark side of the moon comes on, just press the skip button. Unless, of course, you are on drugs. In which case, toke up, man, and lose your mind on those drums.
The Asian Supermarket Michelle needed a particular spice and was told the only place to find it would be the Asian supermarket about a mile from where she works. Although we always wanted to, we'd never wandered through there. The first moment I walked in, I felt like I was in Asia. This being the only Asian market in the area (whereas there are something like seven Fry's Groceries within a 10 mile radius, as well as about a dozen other grocery stores), it had about three or four times the amount of people in it as normal-- and it was 1 o'clock on a Monday! It turned out that even though it's called an Asian market, it's actually an international market, with aisles dedicated to African, Indian, and other cultures as well as Asian. Call me easily amused, but I was like a kid in a candy store, looking at all the exotic stuff used in day-to-day life in other cultures. Gigantic bags of seaweed! Freeze dried squid legs! Dirt-cheap spices and fresh fish! Strange sodas! It was awesome. I wanna go again!
Heat Vision and Jack Maybe you knew this and maybe you didn't, but back in 1999, Jack Black, Ben Stiller, and Owen Wilson did a TV pilot for the Fox Network that never got turned into a TV show. It's about Jack Black, a former astronaut, flying too close to the sun and consequently becoming the smartest man in the world, but only when the sun is up. He and his talking-motorcycle sidekick, Heat Vision (voiced by Wilson) get into adventures while constantly on the move from actor Ron Silver, playing himself, who is from another planet. When you see it, you'll understand why Fox never picked it up, because while genius, it's not exactly the kind of thing mass audiences would watch. Luckily for you and me, the pilot, which is ordinarily only available on Ebay as a third generation bootleg on VHS, has been uploaded onto YouTube in its entirety. Go give it a look soon, because if you don't, somebody probably will take it down.
Ludacris I've never liked Luda's music. I get that he's trying to be a clown jester of hip-hop, but his music has always gotten on my nerves. However, I've seen him in both Crash and Hustle and Flow, as well as an episode of Law & Order: SVU, and while he was always playing to his type, a thug from the streets, there was more subtlety and depth than what I was expecting. I'm actually quite looking forward to seeing him in more movies, even though I dread hearing his music, and dislike the proliferation of rappers in Hollywood.
THE BAD
Coca-Cola BlaK Coke's odd attempt at spinning the Coke product into an energy drink, it's supposed to be a Coca-Cola fusion with coffee. The problem is, I'm not really sure that I like it. It's carbonated, so it's not smooth like a good cup of coffee. And much more bitter than a can of Coke. The good news is that is has less calories and sugar than even C2, Coke's spin-off that has half everything, so if you do dig it you can do so without guilt.
The Shick Quattro I switched to the Quattro about nine months back because I needed a razor and it was on sale, and it worked fine so I kept with it. I mean, it's the Quattro, right? So it's better. Well, the other day I needed a blade and Gillette's Mach 3 was on sale, so I went with that. To my surprise the blade cut through my growth of about 15 days like it was carving butter; that is to say it was easy as hell. I think I'm going to stick with the Mach3 from now on.
Pet lovers I don't get why someone, when they get a new pet, would call up another person to tell them the news of them just getting a new pet. I especially don't understand inviting someone over with the express purpose of seeing the new pet. This just seems silly to me. I mean, I like pets too, but not as a cause of celebration or anything.
Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas I mean, yeah, she's an attractive person, but she always reminds me of someone's really hot mom rather than the sex symbol they're making her out to be. You know? Sexy pop symbols are a dime a dozen.
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with love from CRS @ 8:20 PM
Monday, April 10, 2006
THE GOOD
Grizzly Man What starts off as simply the story of the life and death of Timothy Treadwell, who obtained national near-celebrity status as "That Grizzly Bear Guy" who lived amongst the Alaskan Grizzlies for months at a time, soon becomes an unflinchingly deep character that is at times beautiful (as we watch an impassionaed, loving Treadwell make friends with the animals) and disturbing (as Treadwell, already clearly a troubled man, begins to lose his mind out in the wilderness). From there, however, the movie ultimately becomes a study on the human condition, as Treadwell goes to great lengths to do what he believes and fulfill what he admit isn't the best life. Beyond that, Grizzly Man, although shot cheaply with personal digital cameras, has unparralelled beauty because of Treadwell's extremely personal access to the bears, who quickly become important supporting characters. An absolutely gripping documentary.
The Secret Machines, Now Here is Nowhere The first time I put Now Here is Nowhere, The Secret Machines' debut LP, into the CD player, I was immediately blown away. "First Wave Intact", a long, slightly psychedelic, magically bass-throbbing song, was one of the most thrilling, absolutely rocking openers I'd ever heard on a debut record, or hell, ever. The next song, "Sad and Lonely", which I'd originally heard on the WB soundtrack of all places, with its steady, gigantic bass-drum sound, and mind-shreddingly awesome bass solo (!), was like indie-kid headbanging heaven. The album's high lasted relatively uninterrupted until I reached "You Are Chains", the seventh track, which was absolutely the most idiotic, agonizingly painful song I'd heard in a while, with such forehead-slappingly dumb lyrics as "You are chains/ when you're chained/ with a chain/ with an iron ring/ bound to a rock/ on which you stand". Here's the thing: The Secret Machines like drugs, and if you don't, you'll be fine for the most part, until the band tries to get, like, totally fuckin' deep, rather than just-took-a-hit-and-ready-to-fuckin'-rock, which they do very well. When the dark side of the moon comes on, just press the skip button. Unless, of course, you are on drugs. In which case, toke up, man, and lose your mind on those drums.
The Asian Supermarket Michelle needed a particular spice and was told the only place to find it would be the Asian supermarket about a mile from where she works. Although we always wanted to, we'd never wandered through there. The first moment I walked in, I felt like I was in Asia. This being the only Asian market in the area (whereas there are something like seven Fry's Groceries within a 10 mile radius, as well as about a dozen other grocery stores), it had about three or four times the amount of people in it as normal-- and it was 1 o'clock on a Monday! It turned out that even though it's called an Asian market, it's actually an international market, with aisles dedicated to African, Indian, and other cultures as well as Asian. Call me easily amused, but I was like a kid in a candy store, looking at all the exotic stuff used in day-to-day life in other cultures. Gigantic bags of seaweed! Freeze dried squid legs! Dirt-cheap spices and fresh fish! Strange sodas! It was awesome. I wanna go again!
Heat Vision and Jack Maybe you knew this and maybe you didn't, but back in 1999, Jack Black, Ben Stiller, and Owen Wilson did a TV pilot for the Fox Network that never got turned into a TV show. It's about Jack Black, a former astronaut, flying too close to the sun and consequently becoming the smartest man in the world, but only when the sun is up. He and his talking-motorcycle sidekick, Heat Vision (voiced by Wilson) get into adventures while constantly on the move from actor Ron Silver, playing himself, who is from another planet. When you see it, you'll understand why Fox never picked it up, because while genius, it's not exactly the kind of thing mass audiences would watch. Luckily for you and me, the pilot, which is ordinarily only available on Ebay as a third generation bootleg on VHS, has been uploaded onto YouTube in its entirety. Go give it a look soon, because if you don't, somebody probably will take it down.
Ludacris I've never liked Luda's music. I get that he's trying to be a clown jester of hip-hop, but his music has always gotten on my nerves. However, I've seen him in both Crash and Hustle and Flow, as well as an episode of Law & Order: SVU, and while he was always playing to his type, a thug from the streets, there was more subtlety and depth than what I was expecting. I'm actually quite looking forward to seeing him in more movies, even though I dread hearing his music, and dislike the proliferation of rappers in Hollywood.
THE BAD
Coca-Cola BlaK Coke's odd attempt at spinning the Coke product into an energy drink, it's supposed to be a Coca-Cola fusion with coffee. The problem is, I'm not really sure that I like it. It's carbonated, so it's not smooth like a good cup of coffee. And much more bitter than a can of Coke. The good news is that is has less calories and sugar than even C2, Coke's spin-off that has half everything, so if you do dig it you can do so without guilt.
The Shick Quattro I switched to the Quattro about nine months back because I needed a razor and it was on sale, and it worked fine so I kept with it. I mean, it's the Quattro, right? So it's better. Well, the other day I needed a blade and Gillette's Mach 3 was on sale, so I went with that. To my surprise the blade cut through my growth of about 15 days like it was carving butter; that is to say it was easy as hell. I think I'm going to stick with the Mach3 from now on.
Pet lovers I don't get why someone, when they get a new pet, would call up another person to tell them the news of them just getting a new pet. I especially don't understand inviting someone over with the express purpose of seeing the new pet. This just seems silly to me. I mean, I like pets too, but not as a cause of celebration or anything.
Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas I mean, yeah, she's an attractive person, but she always reminds me of someone's really hot mom rather than the sex symbol they're making her out to be. You know? Sexy pop symbols are a dime a dozen.
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