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May 19, 2010

The State of the Cabins (5/19/10)

Movies watched for the first time (non-theatrically) since last week:
* The Rocker - Very nearly the definition of "middle of the road." There's nothing to hate about The Rocker (save perhaps for seeing too much of Rainn Wilson's naked flesh), but there's not too much to love, either. Wilson's a drummer that got dumped by his former band RIGHT when they were about to hit it big. An idiotic action sequence ensues. (On the bright side, his former bands mates include Will Arnett and Bradley Cooper.) Fast-forward 20 years and the guy is on a fast-track to Nowheresville, and to boot, he lives in Cleveland (which, if it weren't bad enough, means he has to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame frequently). Yada yada yada nephew's band yada yada yada join together yada yada yada redemption, lessons learned, Christina Applegate.

For some reason, I like recording and watching these average movies for late Friday/Saturday nights or early Saturday/Sunday mornings. I guess I have a thing for Movies to Fall Asleep To - probably the lack of guilt that comes when I finally do nod off. I know I can always pick them up later.

* Observe and Report - Speaking of which, I turned this one on Monday night at around 11:15. Fast-forward to 90 minutes later and I've watched the whole thing. Couldn't fall asleep to this - it's too weird, too intense, pretty funny, and all-out nuts. I knew it was compared favorably (in terms of characterization) to Taxi Driver, and the comparison is apt - Seth Rogen's Ronnie is batshit crazy, and the film does a great job of neither condoning nor admonishing his behavior.

I still don't know how much I liked O & R, but I know I did like it. Outside of Rogen, the characters are awfully thin, and there's not a ton to the story, but the lead is handled with such care, and is such a memorable character, that's it hard not to dig. Imagine Nick Frost's character in Hot Fuzz taken to the 10th degree and you might come up with Ronnie. Michael Peña is pretty damn funny, too.

Music I'm currently obsessed with:
So we're sitting in The Cheesecake Factory (PLUG!) the other day and an instrumental song is playing. It sounds familiar as hell, but I can't place it. I can't concentrate on whatever it is we're talking about because I keep hearing the song out of the corner of my ear and it keeps bugging me that I can't think of what it is. Can't use the Shazam app (PLUG!) on Mrs. Fletch's iPhone since the ambient noise in the restaurant is way too loud. The notes "doooooo dee doo, du-doo du-dee doo" keep running through my head. The only thing that keeps coming to me is the phrase "(something) is our friend," but I can't think of what that something is, only that it makes for a weird statement. Later, I'm also picturing a guy wearing a fez, though I'm not sure why. At one point, Mrs. Fletch even says the name of the song, though neither of us make a connection.

Turns out it was this song:



The version I was thinking of was from the prom scene in American Pie, where some dude rocking a fez is indeed belting out the tune (and makes a bad song even worse). CACTUS is our friend! I live in the desert, and cacti ARE my friends (ok, not really)! Shame on me.

Anyway, that p.o.s. song has been in my head for like three days now.

Book I'm currently reading:
None.


6 people have chosen wisely: on "The State of the Cabins (5/19/10)"

Mrs Fletch said...

I hold you personally responsible for getting that song stuck in my head - again!

Anonymous said...

the line is:

Come on, Cactus is our friend
He'll point out the way

Nick said...

I actually just DVR'd Observe and Report last night. I've heard all the 'batshit crazy' comments... I'm intrigued.

Bob Turnbull said...

If you need to clear out that song (that horrible, horrible song...), try a bit of this. Does the trick every time. Of course, then you just have a different problem...

And was it just me or was that also a really awful performance by Muldaur?

Observe and Report was certainly not what I expected it to be - and I saw it on DVD after I knew it wasn't a generic comedy. It still threw me a bit. But yeah, I liked it too.

Fletch said...

Nick - share your thoughts after you've watched O & R. It's weird, I didn't exactly love or hate it, but I'm interested (more so than usual) to head what others think of it.

Bob - Wow, just wow. I made it 42 seconds into that video, and most of that was due to morbid curiousity.

Thankfully, I've had a much better song in my head all day today - that Somehwere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World cover/mashup by the large Hawaiian dude (Israel Ksdfsdfkdsfsjdfi). Plays over the end credits of Meet Joe Black (and 50 First Dates, I think). Great song.

Castor said...

Observe and Report is definitely an odd animal. It's a bit heavy at times and seriously dark while trying to be funny. I'm not sure if that was intentionally made that way or it just turned out weird.