So tonight I'm going down to Denver to see "Les Misrables" at the Buelle Theatre. I'm super excited, since the only musical I've ever seen at that scale was Disney's Beauty and the Beast and that was years and years ago, and it was Disney's Beauty and the Beast. The girl I'm going with has seen it around five times and has seen it on Broadway, so I'm convinced it's going to be pretty amazing.
Then tomorrow is KBCO Kinetics in Boulder, and I'll be going to that. John Butler Trio & Los Lobos are playing the event and I've been wanting to see Los Lobos live ever since I heard their "Just Another Band from East LA" CD a long time ago.
So, its shaping up to be a pretty sweet weekend!
05 May 2006
04 May 2006
worst smell ever
Old sprouts that have gone bad. It's terrible. Makes you want to throw up when you smell it. And it lingers around as well.
If you have sprouts that you don't finish all the way, don't throw them in your kitchen trash, unless you seal it up in a couple ziploc bags.
Just a heads up.
If you have sprouts that you don't finish all the way, don't throw them in your kitchen trash, unless you seal it up in a couple ziploc bags.
Just a heads up.
20 April 2006
Joan Miro's birthday
Today, April 20th is the Spanish surrealist painter Joan Miro's birthday. Google is doing their cool "Google Art" thing so I thought I'd post something as well. He was born in 1893 in Barcelona, studied in Spain for awhile before moving to Paris where he really developed his surrealist style.
I'm a big fan of his paintings and like him even more because he's one of the few artists whom I've been lucky enough to see original paintings by in a museum I was at a while ago in Vienna. That always makes me biased towards an artist. In that same museum there were several Kandinsky paintings who, for me, ranks up in my top five of all time.
If you get a chance today, do some searching on Joan Miro, he's got some really cool stuff out there.
above picture taken from this site
I'm a big fan of his paintings and like him even more because he's one of the few artists whom I've been lucky enough to see original paintings by in a museum I was at a while ago in Vienna. That always makes me biased towards an artist. In that same museum there were several Kandinsky paintings who, for me, ranks up in my top five of all time.
If you get a chance today, do some searching on Joan Miro, he's got some really cool stuff out there.
above picture taken from this site
11 April 2006
State Radio show
Last night I went to go see State Radio at the Fox Theatre in Boulder. Incredible show. If they keep it up like this it will only be a short time since they hit the popularity that Dispatch had before breaking up.
Out of the three guys in Dispatch, I would have to say that Chad wrote my most favorite songs. The General, Passerby, Cover This, Elias - his style was the upbeat rocking, political song writing. You can definitely tell that he picked up right where he left off. State Radio's new CD "Us Against the Crown" is one of the best CD's I've heard. I can listen to it over and over. The songs have a great drive, a beat you can really get into, and lyrics and melodies that you can listen to for hours on end.
The energy that they brought to the stage with their songs were incredible. Not only was the music really tight but they bring a political message to their shows through their songs and also between songs. They had a petition next to the merchandise table to try to push our country to act in the recent genocide that is going on in the Sudan and being greatly ignored by the US. Also, before playing the song Camilo, Chad said that he had a friend fighting in Iraq and when he came back to the states for leave, he said that he couldn't under good conscious return and fight, so he was arrested and put in military prison - so Chad wrote the song for him, and soldiers like him. You can download a free copy of the song at State Radio's website.
The show was great, the crowd was really into it - I think there were around five or six people who got up and did some crowd surfing - and overall it was just a great time.
If you haven't heard of them you should definitely check them out, and if you're a fan, be sure not to miss them the next time they come to your neck of the woods.
State Radio's website
Out of the three guys in Dispatch, I would have to say that Chad wrote my most favorite songs. The General, Passerby, Cover This, Elias - his style was the upbeat rocking, political song writing. You can definitely tell that he picked up right where he left off. State Radio's new CD "Us Against the Crown" is one of the best CD's I've heard. I can listen to it over and over. The songs have a great drive, a beat you can really get into, and lyrics and melodies that you can listen to for hours on end.
The energy that they brought to the stage with their songs were incredible. Not only was the music really tight but they bring a political message to their shows through their songs and also between songs. They had a petition next to the merchandise table to try to push our country to act in the recent genocide that is going on in the Sudan and being greatly ignored by the US. Also, before playing the song Camilo, Chad said that he had a friend fighting in Iraq and when he came back to the states for leave, he said that he couldn't under good conscious return and fight, so he was arrested and put in military prison - so Chad wrote the song for him, and soldiers like him. You can download a free copy of the song at State Radio's website.
The show was great, the crowd was really into it - I think there were around five or six people who got up and did some crowd surfing - and overall it was just a great time.
If you haven't heard of them you should definitely check them out, and if you're a fan, be sure not to miss them the next time they come to your neck of the woods.
State Radio's website
20 March 2006
"V for Vendetta" movie review
Pretty sweet movie. Now, I've never read the comic that it was based on, nor even knew that it was based on a comic until the DC Comics logo came up in the opening credits, so I can't say if the movie did it justice or not. But I would assume it did a pretty good job.
The movie was written by the guys who wrote the Matrix trilogy and the plot is a little reminiscent of it, although much more of a Brave New World theme that's been used so often in this genre. There are some pretty sweet fight scenes, but mostly these are over quickly and the movie relies on the story, the actors and the set design to really carry it. That being said, Natalie Portman and Stephen Rea do an incredible job as two of the leads in the movie. Hugo Weaving plays the main character, and does a great job with his voice, but his face is behind the Guy Fawkes mask the entire time so the voice is the only performance you really get.
"People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people."
The plot of the movie is basically a tyrannical oppressive government in the not too near future of England and a revolutionary bent on revenge who's goal is to bring down the government and wake the people up to what they have been tolerating all of these years. It's well written and well executed, and a definitely entertaining movie. It is, however, quite dark, so if that's not you're thing, you probably won't be too big of a fan.
Let's go with an 8 out of 10.
On a side note, the mask that V wears in the movie is a Guy Fawkes mask. Guy Fawkes was an Englishman who, in 1605, tried to blow up Parliament & King James I, but was caught before he was able. On Nov 5th (the day in which he was caught) there is now a celebration in the UK in which they burn bonfires and dummies of Guy Fawkes to celebrate his failure. Years ago they would also tie up live cats inside the dummies to mimic the scream of a person getting burned alive, but they don't do that any more. Probably thanks to PETA.
The movie was written by the guys who wrote the Matrix trilogy and the plot is a little reminiscent of it, although much more of a Brave New World theme that's been used so often in this genre. There are some pretty sweet fight scenes, but mostly these are over quickly and the movie relies on the story, the actors and the set design to really carry it. That being said, Natalie Portman and Stephen Rea do an incredible job as two of the leads in the movie. Hugo Weaving plays the main character, and does a great job with his voice, but his face is behind the Guy Fawkes mask the entire time so the voice is the only performance you really get.
"People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people."
The plot of the movie is basically a tyrannical oppressive government in the not too near future of England and a revolutionary bent on revenge who's goal is to bring down the government and wake the people up to what they have been tolerating all of these years. It's well written and well executed, and a definitely entertaining movie. It is, however, quite dark, so if that's not you're thing, you probably won't be too big of a fan.
Let's go with an 8 out of 10.
On a side note, the mask that V wears in the movie is a Guy Fawkes mask. Guy Fawkes was an Englishman who, in 1605, tried to blow up Parliament & King James I, but was caught before he was able. On Nov 5th (the day in which he was caught) there is now a celebration in the UK in which they burn bonfires and dummies of Guy Fawkes to celebrate his failure. Years ago they would also tie up live cats inside the dummies to mimic the scream of a person getting burned alive, but they don't do that any more. Probably thanks to PETA.
17 March 2006
Happy St Paddy's Day!
Don't have much to say on this post. Last night went out to see one of my good friends Irish band play at a punk bar here in town - pretty crazy experience. While they were setting up there was way too loud crazy punk music going on in the house (not my first choice in listening...) and then they played a great set, took a break, and a punk band did a quick change over and played a set (I hung out outside with my friend during that set to save my ears from exploding) and then the Irish band took the stage once more.
Anyway, the whole point is that they have this song (it's an original, which I was completely impressed by) which says that everyone's Irish for a day. So Happy St Paddy's day to all of you, have fun tonight, but be safe, and drink a couple Guinness (is there a plural for Guinness? Guinnesses? Guinnessi?) for me.
Also, find at least some Irish music in your music collection and do a little jig to get yourself into the spirit.
On a similar note - a couple days ago, the archbishops in Chicago declared that since St Paddy's day falls on a Friday - and during Lent, if you're Catholic you're not allowed to eat meat on Fridays - this particular Friday it will be okay if you eat your traditional corned beef and cabbage. But if you do, you have to find some other way to repent and sacrifice today. So for all of you Irish Catholics out there, don't worry, go ahead and have that second helping of corned beef and feel no guilt about it. The archbishop says it's okay.
Anyway, the whole point is that they have this song (it's an original, which I was completely impressed by) which says that everyone's Irish for a day. So Happy St Paddy's day to all of you, have fun tonight, but be safe, and drink a couple Guinness (is there a plural for Guinness? Guinnesses? Guinnessi?) for me.
Also, find at least some Irish music in your music collection and do a little jig to get yourself into the spirit.
On a similar note - a couple days ago, the archbishops in Chicago declared that since St Paddy's day falls on a Friday - and during Lent, if you're Catholic you're not allowed to eat meat on Fridays - this particular Friday it will be okay if you eat your traditional corned beef and cabbage. But if you do, you have to find some other way to repent and sacrifice today. So for all of you Irish Catholics out there, don't worry, go ahead and have that second helping of corned beef and feel no guilt about it. The archbishop says it's okay.
16 March 2006
"Elizabethtown" movie review
Think "Garden State" mixed with "Almost Famous". Did you like those two movies? Then you'll like this. I loved those two movies and I loved this one as well. The soundtrack is great, the actors are great, and the movie just makes you feel good through the entire thing.
The cast is incredible. Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst do a great job in the leading roles, especially Orlando Bloom, but the supporting cast is great as well. Susan Sarandon, as usual, is great (anybody seen "Igby Goes Down"?) and Alec Baldwin, although not in the movie for very long at all, really nails his part.
The premise is simple enough, Orlando Bloom plays a young businessman in the shoe designing business who has just made this huge fiasco for his company, and he gets word that his dad just died. So his mom and his sister tell him he has to go out to Kentucky, where all of his dad's family lives, to pick up the body and bring it back to Oregon for cremation. He meets Kirsten Dunst on the way there and it goes from there. Outside of that, there are several things in the movie that just stood out to me and made me really like the movie in general. There's a pretty unique part with an exercise bike, an explanation by Alec Baldwin about just how much money 942 million dollars is, Freebird at a memorial service, but the best is the last 15 minutes which just made me happy for a couple days.
Definitely a movie to check out. 10 out of 10.
"Sadness is easier because its surrender. I say make time to dance alone with one hand waving free."
The cast is incredible. Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst do a great job in the leading roles, especially Orlando Bloom, but the supporting cast is great as well. Susan Sarandon, as usual, is great (anybody seen "Igby Goes Down"?) and Alec Baldwin, although not in the movie for very long at all, really nails his part.
The premise is simple enough, Orlando Bloom plays a young businessman in the shoe designing business who has just made this huge fiasco for his company, and he gets word that his dad just died. So his mom and his sister tell him he has to go out to Kentucky, where all of his dad's family lives, to pick up the body and bring it back to Oregon for cremation. He meets Kirsten Dunst on the way there and it goes from there. Outside of that, there are several things in the movie that just stood out to me and made me really like the movie in general. There's a pretty unique part with an exercise bike, an explanation by Alec Baldwin about just how much money 942 million dollars is, Freebird at a memorial service, but the best is the last 15 minutes which just made me happy for a couple days.
Definitely a movie to check out. 10 out of 10.
"Sadness is easier because its surrender. I say make time to dance alone with one hand waving free."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
