http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Thu, 27 Feb 2003 08:29:42 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/02/27/082942.php SpeakerMoriarty at Aint-It-Cool-News reported some sad news today in the Neighborhood. Fred McFeely Rogers has passed away. This has hit me a little harder than I expected. The funny (not ha ha) thing was my wife and a couple of our friends were just discussing this last week. It's unreal, almost like when Douglas Adams died, except worse because it feels like part of my childhood has gone. I realize that I'm getting older myself. I'm married. I have a dog. I pay bills. I miss the days when all I had to do was sit in front of the TV and wait for the Trolley to sweep me away to the Land of Makebelieve. Times were simpler then . . . Now I'll end this here before it takes a hard turn away from sentimental reflectiveness and towards hard rant against the way we're forced to live in society...I'll save that one for later. For now, I'm just going to rest for a minute and think about one of people who had an effect on my life...Fred Rogers was 74 years old. Video3473@blogcritics.org Thu, 27 Feb 2003 08:29:42 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/02/25/230512.php SpeakerIf you're not a fan of Smallville, or you didn't like the first season, give it another chance NOW! the last 5 episodes have been WONDERFUL!!!! And tonight's episode, called "Rosetta"...well, all I have to say is . . .*WARNING! EXTREME GEEKOUT AHEAD! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!*SMALLVILLE TOTALLY ROCKED! IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!!! You know those episodes of your favorite show that they tease you about until like season seven and then it finally happens...this was one of THOSE shows but in season two!! And there's still more! IT SO TOTALLY ROCKED! Christopher Reeve is STILL tha man! And when they started up the old Superman the Movie theme oh so subtely....I soooooo geeked out! I had chills, my eyes swelled up....it was just beautiful! My god what a wonderful episode.... I'm going to go geek out with my friends about it now! -Speaker Video3452@blogcritics.org Tue, 25 Feb 2003 23:05:12 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/02/17/104114.php Speaker For the past year I have had numerous conversations with my friends wondering where the hell the sound of this decade(let's call it "The Aughts") is . Not since the 50's, when it took until 1955 for Elvis to come onto the scene, have we had such a late start finding a defining sound for a decade. Ok, so maybe it took until 1963 for Dylan to popularize protest songs and 1964 for the Beatles to set trends for the rest of existence. Still, it has come MUCH quicker since then. This is the first time that it seems like there isn't much ground left to cover. Maybe it was because of Woodstock in '69, but right away in the early '70s you had bands like The Moody Blues, Electric Light Orchestra, and Pink Floyd creating "art rock" and the rise to popularity of revolutionary groups like Led Zeppelin. Sure, the '70s had that awkward transition phase to the '80s called Disco, but it didn't last long. The 80's quickly gained its own sound,possibly because of the start of MTV in 1981. The music of the 70s quickly became "classic rock" and was replaced by glam rock and synthesized pop. I don't know about you, but when I think back to the 80s I think about Tawny Kitaen on the hood of that car in the Whitesnake video and other bands like Poison and Motley Crew. Oh, did I mention that the 80s was also the beginning of the popularization of gender bending? Thankfully that ended quickly when Nirvana a brand new revolution in 1991 to pave the way for bands like Pearl Jam and Staind. Since then, I have been left to wonder, what has happened to the Aught's sound? I mean there was the awkward transitional "music" from the 90s to the Aughts, but . . . IT'S STILL HERE! The only thing I can point to that might be the music of the Aughts is either Rap or Rap-Rock. The problem is, neither of them are distinctive to this decade. Rap was popularized in the early 80s. Rap Rock, which started in the mid 90s, was a natural progression from the popularity of grunge, rock, and rap. There are tons of indie bands out there like Dealership with their eclectic blends of sounds that seem to come from various J-Pop sources, They Might Be Giants, Weezer's "Buddy Holly", and Mates of State with their two leads' passion for each other which lead to some very interesting and often time GOOD sounds. If we look back at the Aughts and say that it was the decade of rap, I will be happy. Rap is about the only music that is going ANYWHERE right now. But it's still not a new sound. I want to see a variation of Rap. Better yet, why not popularize Geek Rock? They Might Be Giants and Weezer have been around for awhile but they are not very mainstream. You can put a unique spin on that sound, especially if you have more than just a couple of bands play under that genre. You would think that we would have a sound by now, if only because of influence of the Internet. With the introduction of the MP3 and spread of Point to Point file sharing systems, one would think something would be born out of it.I am seriously surprised that we haven't been blown away by a new sound that started on the Internet yet. We're long overdue for something like that to happen. I hope it happens soon, because people have been writing the eulogy for pop for almost 5 years now and I don't want to look back at the Aughts and see that it was kept on life support for another 5. Music3236@blogcritics.org Mon, 17 Feb 2003 10:41:14 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/02/15/023829.php SpeakerDaredevil can be summed up in 6 words. It could have used another hour. Don't get me wrong, that is NOT a negative, there was a LOT of shtuff in it! It was just packed into a neat little hour and 44 minute package so it didn't have time to really develop much. But a ton of development really wasn't necessary anywhere in the movie except for in the DD/Elektra love story, which is really the only suffering point of the film. I just haven't bought the whole "guy meets girl has sex the next night" thing since I started dating back in high school, but that's a minor complaint. I mean, when you get right down to it, Daredevil TOTALLY ROCKED! w00t! I mean, I just went over the only real negative parts, so I guess that means we're on to . . .The GoodBen Affleck This is the FIRST TIME since Dogma that AFLACK! has not played Ben Affleck. I'm proud of the boy. . . I actually forgot he was AFLACK! during the movie!Jennifer Garner She was really great in this part, only problem was . . . NEST...Not Enough Screen Time! But she really shined as Electra! Sure she doesn't look straight greek, but they kept her Greek heritage... and well...if Wilson Fisk can work as Michael Clarke Duncan, well then...ya know :-DMichael Clarke Duncan The only person in existence anywhere NEAR built for this part. As always, he is a pleasure to watch on screen. Especially during the final scene!Colin Farrell This boy is GOIN places! Bullseye is done wonderfully over the top by Farrell and is easily my favorite character leaving the film.Jon Favreau NAILED Foggy. Not much else I can say here, just nailed him!This movie did everything much the opposite of Spider-Man. I mean, when Spider-Man has to choose between helping people and the girl . . . he goes for helping people. Matt Murdock very much keeps his personal life in order on top of being a vigilante. DD was a very human character in this film, and that is helped out very much by it's tone and direction. This movie had very much the tone of Batman the cockiness of The Crow and the fighting sense of X-Men. No one really pulled their punches in this movie, and that's a nice change. Bullseye came off as completely deadly. I really believed that he could and would kill anyone he came across. I really can't go into much more without giving it away so I'll just leave it at GO SEE IT!Speaker speaks for this movies w00tness, it totally r0xx0rs if you know what I mean! -Speaker Video3207@blogcritics.org Sat, 15 Feb 2003 02:38:29 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/02/08/164855.php SpeakerIt's been 10 years since Jackie Chan filmed Drunken Master 2 and his age is finally showing. He's still the greatest there ever was (IMHO) but gone are the most risky of his stunts and the no stunt double ever policy. That combined with the close-ups forced upon Jackie by American insurance agencies should have made Shanghai Knights a sure-miss, but this sequel to Shanghai Noon wasn't actually that bad. I like this one a lot better than the original. The fight scenes were less inventive, but they were inventive enough and the character play and story weren't that bad. The story basically follows the same pattern as a Sherlock Holmes story; I'm not sure which one but it's the same one that Disney's The Great Mouse Detective follows. It's pretty much a standard story, so I'll just get down to it:The Bad:Period Jokes: Too many bad irony jokes. Too many times have I heard in period movies crap like, "Oh the Au-to-mo-bile. . . that will never work!" I'm tired of it! It has ceased to be funny.The Score: It was way over the top some times. It sounded like it should be in Super Smash Brothers Melee. I just wish they would tone it down a bit sometimes.Stunts: The big finally stunt this time was a rehash of the one from Rush Hour. The height was taller, but still.The Good:Fights: The fights were typical Jackie Chan ingenuity. The Singing in the Rain fight was especially nice.Fann Wong: She kicked serious arse! Her acting was excellent and she got to lay the smack down on Jack the Ripper.Jackie/Owen: Their friendship is strengthened and starts to make more sense. They do well together.Historical Characters: I almost put this under The Bad, but when I thought about it. I liked them. Arty was a good character. And so was Charlie, I just wish they would have been more subtle about it instead of saying "HEY I'M CHARLIE CHAPLIN!" with the acknowledging music to back it up. I also like the paradox presented with Charlie Chaplin's character. You see, Jackie Chan was inspired by Charlie Chaplin, and this movie turns it around and has Jackie inspire Charlie. I love it!Overall the movie was good. It is definetely worth seeing if you're a Jackie Chan fan or if you love light hearted comedies.It pleased me; I shall speak for its life. I hope that it does well. Video3079@blogcritics.org Sat, 8 Feb 2003 16:48:55 EST