Sofia quote of the day: Santa

Me: I'm proud of you and I'm going to go tell Santa you've been a good girl.

Sofia: He already knows.

Rapping in a British accent: Mikill Pane

It always sounds so cool and intellectual, even when the lyrics consist of tales of farting in a movie theater. I guess that should be "theatre."



Thanks to the Umbro web site's music player for the tip-off.

The Almighty Tanya Morgan: You & What Army

Tanya Morgan hold a special place in my heart as the group that reignited my love of hip-hop music after years of apathy.

I think it was 2006 when their album Moonlighting was heralded by that evil Bachmann basher, Questlove, as one of his year-end favorites. That co-sign was enough for me to take a listen and what I heard instantly connected with me. Von Pea, Donwill and Ilyas were smart, funny and funky... just like me. What!

Five years, a slew of Tanya Morgan and solo albums and EPs later, they're still trying to carve out a spot for themselves in the music industry, but their art hasn't suffered in the struggle. They continue to grow artistically, even if they're shrinking in number. Ilyas has left group -- a fact that is played out in a really clever (and pretty damn heatbreaking) skit in the intro to "You & What Army?"

It won't be the same without him, but it doesn't have to be. Von Pea and Donwill are two creative cats and they're moving forward with more high quality hip-hop. No, no. Don't believe me. Listen to it yourself. It's free, Emmer Effer:


Like it? Go to their bandcamp page and buy a T-shirt. I'm putting one on my Christmas list.

"That's a bunch of bull, like Jordan in a steakhouse."
-- Donwill

Sofia quote of the day

This came tonight while Sofia was chomping on a cherry Starburst candy cane:

Sofia: Mami's the boss, right?

Me: Yep.

Sofia: Mami's the boss because she says she's the boss, but God is the real boss, right?

Me: Who told you that?

Sofia: Nobody. I just believe it inside my head.

Where does she get this stuff? Not from home.

Sofia quote of the day

Watching the Thanksgiving parade: "That's cool that the Kool-Aid man showed up."

Good News/Bad News

Good News: We actually had chocolate sauce in the fridge to spruce up that remaining vanilla ice cream.

Bad News: It was really just "chocolate flavored syrup."

Good News: It's a "fat free food."

Bad News: The "best by" date on the bottle said November 10.

Good News: Still smells OK.

Bad News: That's actually November 10, 2007.

Good News: Tasted just fine.

Bad News: Tasted just fine.

Good News: Purchased for less than $2 sometime during George W. Bush's second term, Publix brand chocolate flavored sauce survived the worst economic downfall in decades and is still yielding great returns.

Bad News: None. It's all upside.

Getting out of the funk with The Original 7ven

The last couple of months haven't been the greatest and I've been struggling a little to get back to my amazingly upbeat self. Tough times like these call for the right music, and the way I see it, you have two choices: 1) You can dive head first into your pity party with something whiny and sorrowful, and most likely British; or 2) You can try to pull yourself out of the funk with a double dose of the funk.

I didn't think I was quite ready for Option 2, but like a funkin' miracle from above, the Minneapolis branch office of The Adjustment Bureau saw fit to reunite the original seven members of The Time after 21 years to record a new album that makes me smile, dance and laugh every single time I play it.

My friend Prince tried to stomp his pointy heels all over my comeback and theirs by not allowing them to use their Prince-given name, The Time. But just as Prince's other revered side project, The Family, did this year when they regrouped and recorded their own new music under the name fDeluxe, The Time just moved forward and renamed themselves "The Original 7ven."

Although Prince wrote and basically recorded all of the songs on their first three albums, the seven members of The Time were -- and still are -- talented musicians in their own right. Jimmy Jam (keys) and Terry Lewis (bass) wrote and produced a million hits after Prince fired them and they're responsible for producing most of the new album; Morris Day is coolest, most pimping and self-deprecating frontman in the world, not to mention a funky-ass drummer with enough personality in his voice to pull off any line; Jerome Benton is the greatest hype man ever, always stealing the show; Jesse Johnson is an amazing guitarist and should be a household name (Quad Cities, U.S.A., represent!); Monte Moir, who wrote Janet Jackson's "The Pleasure Principle," can play the Minneapolis sound's signature keyboard lines like nobody else; and Jellybean "Don't Be So Mean" Johnson is the drummer in one of the tightest live bands ever to do it.

With all of that said, if they had never recorded this new album, Condensate, their legacy might have been misinterpreted as solely the best band to play Prince songs. Condensate disproves that argument.

While the new music still adheres to the template Prince set out for them in the early 80s, Condensate is slick, funky and really adventurous music for fans of the genre, not to mention way more fun than anything Prince has released in a long time. They don't take themselves too seriously, just the music.

Don't be tempted like I was to judge the album by 30 or even 90-second snippets. There are funky little surprises around every corner that show off their musicianship and make for a great listen all the way through. Also, go to Best Buy and get the CD with special DVD documentary featuring the guys telling their own history. It's really well done and kind of sweet (Morris delivers another classic Morris line when, describing his normal childhood growing up in Minneapolis, he says in his Mr. Day voice, "A new bike for Christmas and shit like that.")

And if this song -- the greatest social media jam ever written -- doesn't pick you up, put a little hop in your step and make you feel like dancing, you might as well just retire and go to bed:

Netflix abandons Qwickster

I just got my e-mail from Netflix saying that they've decided against the Qwickster thing. As a man who took the Netflix Instant Queue Challenge and won, I feel like I'm qualified to say this is a good move.

I love Netflix. They saved my soul from Cockbusters just a couple of years ago, but what's going on? Is it that they have no backbone or are they just great listeners?

It seems like a focus group might be a good idea. Maybe they haven't seen Mad Men? It's available to watch instantly.

If not, I hope they've at least seen this unaired SNL skit from two weeks ago: Web Exclusive: Netflix Apology

Late pass: Breaking Bad

Although it's really depressing, Breaking Bad is my latest Netflix instant queue addiction. That Bryan Cranston deserves every acting award ever awarded for this. Plus, he's got his own website.

Lounge Act with Sofia

A little Sunday morning grunge dance off:

Malcolm Gladwell on sports franchises

Very good article by Malcolm Gladwell on the NBA lockout, the Boston Red Sox's racist past and sports franchise owners who say they lose money.

Read it here at Grantland.com.

Sofia quote of the day

This afternoon, while sitting on the throne: "Daddy, I think we need to take a break from the tacos."

Netflix Challenge: The Final Breakdown

It's all over. Che is done and I even knocked off a few re-adds and automatically added films -- Agatha Christie's Evil Under the Sun, the awful Goya's Ghosts and the totally awesome Oceans for good measure. I highly recommend Oceans.

I started the Netflix Instant Queue Elimination Challenge back on Aug. 10, 2010, as a way to clean out all the films I was hoarding on the queue, but not actually watching. I vowed to not add any new titles until the backlog was cleared.

Exactly one year and four days later, on Aug. 14, 2010, I was done.

A lot has happened since then, including one very nasty price increase, and I'm glad it's finally all over. Here's a little breakdown of the experience

Total Films: 54

Average Watch Rate: One movie every 6.8 days

First Film: Wonderful World with Matthew Broderick

Last Film: Che was the official end, but Goya's Ghosts was the last to be watched after it somehow sneaked back onto the queue.

Best Film I Hadn't Seen Before: Based on my Netflix ratings, I guess it's got to be Mary and Max, since it was the only one to get the hard-to-come-by 5-star "Loved It" rating. I don't just hand those out, unlike my wife who gives five stars to entire seasons of Roseanne.

Worst Film: I'll Believe You. This was horrible. The only Netflix Challenge film I couldn't finish, despite it featuring Chris Elliott.

Surprise Film: All of the Ramin Bahrani's U.S. immigrant story movies: Goodbye Solo, Chop Shop and Man Push Cart. I had never heard of this guy before, but I'll be sure not to miss any of his movies in the future. No wonder Ebert called him "Director of the decade."

Late breaking Netflix Challenge news

Che is off the queue. The Netflix Challenge is history!

More analysis to come...

OK, this is bullshit

After a long, fun summer away from here, it's time to finish off the Netflix Challenge tonight. No more bullshitting around. You're going down, Che, you two part, 4.5 hour biopic.

In the meantime, I wish I had HBO so I could watch this:

Ep. 75: Clip - Larry on… Pig Parking

It's scary, but I become more like Larry every day.

Netflix Challenge: The Final Countdown

It's been nearly 10 months since I first accepted the Netflix Challenge (Aug. 10, 2010) and I'm proud to say we're down to the final film.

At least I want it to be the final film. I'm not sure what the rule book says about this, but a few films that were initially on the 73-deep queue when the challenge was first issued (Goya's Ghosts, Manhattan Murder Mystery)but then disappeared, have now magically reappeared, while a couple of films that were in the DVD queue (Cold Souls, Tetro) have now popped up in the Instant Queue. Crap.

So, while we wait to convene a bipartisan panel to rule on whether or not the queue is down to one (Steven Soderbergh's four-hour Che) three, or five, here's the breakdown of what we've recently eliminated:

The White Ribbon
Just like director Michael Haneke's previous entry on the Netflix Challenge, Funny Games, The White Ribbon is physically draining to watch. It's also painfully German.



Chop Shop/Man Push Cart
Two great American immigrant stories from Ramin Bahrani.






Broken Embraces
It's hard to go wrong when you get to spend two hours with Penelope Cruz, including a few seconds of bare-chested Penelope Cruz, but this one definitely falls into the Pedro Almodovar-Is-Overrated category. Just not that entertaining.




The Beaches of Agnes
An autobiographical documentary by the really interesting Agnes Varda. I didn't fall asleep once!




A Nos Amours
French awesomeness from the early '80s about a young girl from a dysfunctional family blossoming into womanhood with promiscuous sex. Not sure how the French get away with filming a 16-year-old girl all naked, but they do. It's art.

Here's the trailer in French. It's more fun without the subtitles:




Hounddog
Dakota Fanning in a dark Southern tale featuring Elvis and rape. Why do we put ourselves through this shit?



Just one, three or five to go!

Woody + Owen

Two of my favorites in a movie set in Paris.



If there's one actor that I could stand performing the Woody role in a Woody Allen movie, it would be Owen Wilson.

Doesn't look like it's scheduled to hit Greenville anytime soon.

Raphael Saadiq's Stone Rollin'

While I was a little worried he was just going to retread the Motown sounds of his last awesome album, the new one is so good and a lot more rock 'n' roll than a lot of rock 'n' roll. It's like Saadiq does The Rolling Stones. But again, just like on The Way I See It, Saadiq doesn't just imitate the influences. He uses them as inspiration. And that's why it's awesome. Everybody agrees.



I listened to the album for free all the way to Nashville and back on NPR Music's great album preview feature. Catch it while you can.

Daytrotter has a good live session for free.

Bob Schieffer makes it plain

Have always loved Bob Schieffer and will continue forevermore.

Netflix Challenge: Under 10

We need to catch up on the Netflix Challenge. In the last two weeks, it's been all about the French frogging up our queue. But now, les films sont retirés de la file d'attente.
Thank you, Google Translate!

The Horse Boy
A documentary about a family of an autistic boy as they travel to Outer Mongolia in an attempt to heal their son. Still not quite sure how I feel about this one. Is the effect real or wishful thinking?




Swimming Pool
Whoah! A good Hitchcockian thriller about a cranky, middle-aged British mystery writer who travels to France for peace, quiet and new literary inspiration. She finds it, along with a heaping helping of bare French breasts, sex and big tubs of yogurt.




Delicatessen
Before there was Amélie, there was Delicatessen. This is a visually striking and funny French movie about a retired circus clown who finds work at a strange apartment building full of hungry tenants.




Dark Matter
Didn't really know what to expect from this one and it ended up shocking me right out of my pantaloons. This first film by opera director Chen Shi-Zheng provides a look into the world of academia and the hidden lives of all those genius foreign students who come to the U.S. to study. It won a Sundance award for best feature film about science or technology.




The Stranger
I got on a real Orson Welles kick and knocked out two of his noir films I'd never seen before. This one has the great Edward G. Robinson, the realy nugly Loretta Young and Welles with a great mustache and haircut. Robinson is a UN war crimes commission investigator and Welles is a Nazi war criminal hiding out as a professor in a small Connecticut town. I highly recommend this one. Apparently, you can watch the whole thing for free right here on the YouTube.




The Third Man
Another classic noir with Welles playing the bad guy. This time he's Harry Lime, a suspected black market profiteer in post-war Vienna, who also happens to make one of the best, most dramatic screen entrances ever.




To Be and To Have
This is a sweet little documentary about a tiny, one-teacher school in the French countryside with a bunch of sweet, tiny French kids. There's just something about little kids speaking that poo-poo, oui-oui French that gets me every time. Although, the whole thing is spoiled a little when you learn that the nice teacher sued the filmmakers after the fact.



Just eight titles to go. We can do this.

Great things accomplished today

What a Saturday!

1) After about eight months of dumbly looking at the all dried up tube of Crazy Glue, I finally bought a replacement. I went with Super Glue. I'd had enough of the crazy.

2) Super-Glued the knob on the kid's underwear drawer. Wood on wood action! And it stuck. Now, for the first time in four years we can open the drawer the way it was meant to be opened.

3) Super-Glued the Elvis '68 Comeback Special Christmas ornament. It's like Elvis' patella is brand new again.

4) Struck Record Store Day gold when I picked up a near-mint copy of Terence Trent D'arby's "Introducing the Hardline" on vinyl for $4. God bless the poor soul who parted with that one. Their soul is that much poorer now.

What could Sunday possibly have in store?

Netflix Challenge: We're under 20

SNL: The Best of Dan Aykroyd
An excellent reminder of the genius of Dan Aykroyd, whose sketches hold up better than many of his SNL contemporaries of 35 years ago: Irwin Mainway and his dangerous Halloween costumes (Invisible Pedestrian); Fred Garvin, the nerdy male prostitute serving the entire Quad Cities area; pitch man for the Bass-O-Matic 76; and the list goes on.






Goodbye Solo
Director Ramin Bahrani's critically acclaimed film about Solo, a Senegalese cab driver in Winston-Salem, N.C., who takes it upon himself to prevent an old man from committing suicide. A great, great movie that lets you take a peek into modern immigrant culture in America, far away from the big cities. Plus, Red West, a key figure in Elvis' "Memphis Mafia," plays the old man.




The Messenger
A tough-to-watch drama about two soldiers assigned to the casualty notification unit. Amazing movie with great performances by Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster, but I'm glad it's no longer on the queue.





Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
I'm ashamed to say I didn't know very much about Hunter Thompson, this documentary rectifies that. Features interviews with Jimmy Carter and Jimmy Buffett, not to mention readings by Johnny Depp.




Shanghai Kiss
Based on the poster that features a big picture of Hayden Panettiere, I thought this was going to be horrible. It wasn't. In fact, she's barely in it, and the movie is pretty interesting.

Despite what the poster implies, the film is actually about a Chinese-American actor in Los Angeles, suffering in his career due to Asian stereotypes in the industry. He does have a weird, unhealthy relationship with a teen girl (Panettiere) who obsesses over him. When his grandmother dies and leaves him her home in Shanghai, he visits China for a view days just to sell off the place and make some cash. Instead, he meets a nice Chinese girl and finds himself longing to reconnect with his ancestry.

According to Wikipedia, this went straight to DVD. It's better than that.



16 titles still remain...

Netflix Challenge: European, I'm-a-peeing

In an attempt to cleanse myself of this Oscar mess, I crawled back into the loving arms of heady European cinema.

First, it was the 1929 Luis Buñuel/ Salvador Dalí collaboration, Un Chien Andalou. Sixteen minutes of surrealist goodness -- razors to eyeballs, ants crawling on hands. Fun!

Then, it was on to one of my all-time favorites, Jean Luc Godard's masterpiece, À bout de souffle (Breathless). It's an important film in the history of cinema for many reasons, but if it were nothing more than just 90 minutes of staring at Jean Seberg, I'd still love it. She's a 1960s intercontinental American Dream.

Take a look:







21 to go!

Crud

It's taken a week for me to get to a place where I can write about it, but Carolina won Oscar Smackdown XII.

She had a great night, correctly picking 21 out of 24 categories. That's impressive and I graciously congratulate her.

On the flip side, I had what can only be described as an average night for a genius like me. I hit 16 out of 24 categories -- not great, but good enough to beat Roger Ebert and win a free, three-month subscription to this arthouse movie site, MUBI.com. I'll take it.

For her efforts, Carolina won The King's Speech-themed first place prize package featuring a King George Harrison iTunes card, a bottle of London Pride beer, a tube of UK-made McVittie's Hob Nob biscuits and tea.

I took home the Social Network loser prize featuring a box of Sour Patch Kids, a bottle of He'Brew Messiah Bold beer and a Napster card.

I'll get over it.

Oscar Smackdown XII

Tonight, Carolina and I will do battle in our 12th Annual Oscar Smackdown competition. After another loss by a sizable margin in the Grammy challenge, I once again find myself with my back against the wall.

Let's do this:

Short Film (Animated): Day & Night, Teddy Newton
Actually saw this one.

Documentary (Feature): Inside Job, Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Actually want to see this one.

Short Film (Live Action): Na Wewe, Ivan Goldschmidt
Heard this is good.

Documentary (Short Subject): Killing in the Name
Looks Oscar-worthy.

Film Editing: The Social Network, Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
You notice the editing in The Social Network, in a good way.

Actor in a Leading Role: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
British+handicap+ royalty = Oscar Trifecta

Sound Editing: Inception, Richard King
Inceptions sweeps the technical awards

Actor in a Supporting Role: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Body change (weight loss) + Crack addict = Oscar

Foreign Language Film: In a Better World, Denmark
The Danes are so hot right now.

Actress in a Leading Role: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Momentum+Body Change+Oscars Need Natalie Portman = Win

Sound Mixing: Inception, Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick

Makeup: The Wolfman, Rick Baker and Dave Elsey
Thriller x 2010 = Oscar for Rick Baker

Actress in a Supporting Role: Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
I probably should have gone with Melissa Leo, who was great in Frozen River last year and didn't win. This could be the make-up year.

Visual Effects: Inception, Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb

Music (Original Score): The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
It's recognizable and set just the right tone for that film.

Animated Feature Film: Toy Story 3, Lee Unkrich
It's an unwritten Academy law that some geek from Pixar must take a break from Segway-ing around the office to deliver an Oscar acceptance speech.

Art Direction: The King's Speech, Production Design: Eve Stewart, Set Decoration: Judy Farr
Period + British + 11 other nominations = Oscar

Writing (Adapted Screenplay): The Social Network, Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
The Social Network needs to be acknowledged with at least one major award. This will be it.

Cinematography: Inception, Wally Pfister
I like his name.

Music (Original Song): If I Rise (from "127 Hours"), Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
Shot in the dark. Rahman won for Slumdog and I don't see Randy Newman getting up there for another Toy Story song.

Costume Design: The King's Speech, Jenny Beavan
Period + British + 11 other noms = Oscar

Writing (Original Screenplay): Inception, Written by Christopher Nolan
Personally, I prefer "The Kids Are All Right," but this is my official pick.

Directing: The King's Speech, Tom Hooper
Uncle Mo'

Best Picture: The King's Speech
British + World War II + Handicap = Oscar

Netflix Challenge Update

Oscar season has taken up all of our movie-watching time, so it's been slow going on the Netflix Challenge.

Here's a quick recap of what's been taken off the list since December.

I'll Believe You
This one made the queue because I saw Chris Elliott on the cover. It was horrible. I couldn't finish it.




Taps
A good cast featuring Sean Penn and Tom Cruise early in their careers, but its only value today is as a document of the crazy return of "tough guy" military war mongering of the Reagan '80s. Sucked.




Kicking and Screaming
Finally, one I sort of liked. Not to be confused with Will Ferrell's very funny film of the same name, this is writer Noah Baumbach's (The Squid and the Whale, Margot at the Wedding) first movie. It's about a group of guys in the mid 1990s who can't quite move away from their college campus after graduating. It's one of those, "I wish I'd written that" movies. There's definitely room for improvement, as a lot of the dialogue sounds very written in the way that Kevin Smith's movies always sound very written.




Capitalism: A Love Story
A good Michael Moore movie. If you like him, you'll like this.




Cheech and Chong's Nice Dreams
I remember seeing this a long time ago and thinking it was funny. Stone sober, the comedy has not aged well.


Downtown 81
The real Jean-Michel Basquiat hangs out with artists and musicians in New York in 1981. Super cool with good music.



Others removed from the list before viewing:
Paloma de Papel
Dirty Harry

Just 25 titles remain.

35

Continuing a weird tradition I started a couple of years ago (33, 34), today is my Reggie Lewis birthday.

It was hard finding a good No. 35. It's not a very popular number. Reggie Lewis was a great player, but he died from cardiac arrest at age 27 -- not exactly the type of thing you want to think about as you turn a year older.

Here's to No. 35...

A wonderful story about a lady falling

Have you've seen the story about the lady who fell into the mall fountain while texting? Of course, you have.



It's one of those great viral videos that has turned into one of those great fables of modern America:

• Lady absorbed in technology makes an ass of herself
• Lady gets digitally shamed on YouTube
• Mainstream media sees lady's video and gets excited
• Lady comes out of hiding to do interviews
• Lady ponders lawsuit on morning shows
• Media digs into lady's past and finds out she's got a rap sheet
• Lady is currently facing charges for going on a Target spree with a coworker's credit card

It's classic fun and a great distraction from that messy "Man With the Golden Voice" scenario from two weeks ago. That guy's problem was he just did Dr. Phil's show too early. He should've at least waited until the Entertainment Tonight crews lost interest.

Anyway, this screenshot pretty much sums up the whole experience:

On Sarah Palin, dingleberries and improving civil discourse

I think the President and my daughter were trying to teach me something this week.

First, it was the President with his perfect speech in Tucson. It reminded us all why he was the only choice two years ago and proved he's still got the right vision for this country -- no matter how difficult it will be to make a reality over the next six years.

Then, it was Sofia with her commentary on this morning's Meet the Press.

During a brief break from begging me to "turn on some kids' cartoons," she spotted some Sarah Palin b-roll.

Sofia: Hey, that's Sarah Palin.
Me: Yeah, she's a dingleberry.
Sofia: Why is she a dingleberry?
Me: Because she's stinky and not very smart.
Sofia: Pew!But, I think I like dingleberries a little bit.
Me: Why? They're so stinky.
Sofia: Well, I like their glasses.
Me: OK.

I may not like Sarah Palin's glasses, but I know a lot of very decent people who do. They're good, honest, hard-working Americans. I understand that their beliefs about her frames come from an earnest place. At the end of the day, we can respectfully disagree about the merits of her eyewear, but understand we must find some common ground to move this country forward. Afterall, we're all Americans.

Some of us just have perfect vision.

Lance Cpl. William H. Crouse IV

I knew him as Billy, a sleepy-eyed new student in my second period American Lit class during my short-lived career as a high school English teacher.

Billy and I bonded because he was from northern Indiana, just like me, and I knew what it was like to be the new kid in high school. I distinctly remember the look on his face when he found out I was from Indiana. It was that look that teachers talk about when they talk about "the light bulb coming on." Unfortunately, it wasn't because I actually taught him something. It was just the surprise of being from the same far away region of the country. It was enough to wake Billy from his slumber and get him to listen to me ramble about some boring ass Jonathan Edwards "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," hell-is-real Puritan sermon bullshit. And that was enough for me.

I didn't last long in school. Billy did better. He was the big fullback on the football team that needs a big fullback. He graduated, became a Marine and recently died a hero while searching for bombs in fucked up Afghanistan.

It makes me angry. It's sad. It sucks.

Here's part of the story.

Rest in peace, Billy.

New Quadron video

I really enjoy Coco in that marching band jacket.

Quadron - Tone [ Directed by Joslyn Rose Lyons ] from Joslyn Rose Lyons on Vimeo.

Mecano

Snow day today in South Carolina, so we might as well enjoy this awesome song from the Spanish new wave group, Mecano.

WARNING: This video includes mimes and mime-on-mime situations.

The Dude on PBS

I'm on a Jeff Bridges kick right now, so this episode of PBS's American Masters, titled "The Dude Abides," is kind of exciting.

Watch the full episode. See more American Masters.