The Desert Island CD Blog-a-thon

About a year ago, bloggers from all over the world took part in the Desert Island DVD blog-a-thon hosted by Fandango Groovers Movie Blog. It was a smashing success and a fun exercise, in which we were forced to select eight DVDs to take to our desert island, knowing those would be the last we'd be able to watch for all time. This was my entry.

Smart feller that he is - and fresh off of a post about the "52 Most Iconic Use of Pop Songs in Movies" post, which no doubt inspired this idea - Castor Troy of Anomalous Material decided it was time for a similar challenge. Namely, the title you see above. Here are the details:

"The concept is very simple, you are stranded on a desert island with only one CD (and a CD player etc...). What are 12 tracks that you would want to have with you? While those can be pop song, instrumentals etc... we are all movie bloggers so there is one requirement that each track comes from a movie soundtrack. Of course, you should give a little blurb for each to explain why as well as try to post YouTubes if possible/necessary."

The official post, where you can find links to everyone else's lists, is here: http://www.anomalousmaterial.com/movies/2011/03/desert-island-cd/

Longtime readers of Blog Cabins won't be surprised to see a number of the songs I've chosen, as I've put them up here (or on Facebook) from time to time - songs that give me inspiration of one sort or another. The ones you've not seen, though, will fit the same mold: songs that I could listen to time and time again - I should hope so, since they'll be all that I have. I wonder how much of it is coincidence that more than half are instrumental - perhaps they're just more timeless to my ears. Here they be, in no special order:

1. First, some of the familiar. Yes, I'm a dead sucker for the accordion. I'm also deathly in love with Amelie. Combine the two (and some beautiful work by Yann Tiersen) and you get the theme song, "La Valse D'Amelie."



2. I gave Castor trouble for putting this song on his "Iconic" list, since (shamefully) it was featured very little in the actual film. Still, it's there, and it's the best damn song on The Matrix soundtrack by a country mile: Rob Dougan's "Clubbed to Death." Blast this song as loud as you can, every time - it only makes it better.



3. That one's a bit heavy, so how 'bout something a little lighter? Hans Zimmer's "You're So Cool," aka the True Romance theme.



4. Before you get freaked out by all these instrumental tracks, here are some lyrics and singing for you. An older track that I'd all but forgotten about until I saw Adventureland, I fell back in love with INXS (well, especially this track) after hearing "Don't Change" through older ears. Quite possibly my favorite song from the early 80s, and I'm shocked at how well it ages. Awesome song to close out the film, to boot.



5. This portion of Beethoven's 7th might well be a cliched movie song at this point, but I really don't care (for the record, I'm choosing its use in The Fall). It's stunningly gorgeous, and builds to an awesome crescendo. I dare you not to like it.



6. Speaking of crescendos, this song works its way to its climax with such mastery. As I've stated elsewhere, if I ever had to run through a wall, I would listen to this Trevor Jones' Last of the Mohicans epic "Promontory" as preparation. Also used to great effect in an epic Nike football commercial some years back.



7. Next up is one that I know will be a popular pick - heck, I already saw it on one list (at The List, appropriately). It's the song that managed to make Fight Club even cooler than we thought it could be, ending the film with mucho gusto: The Pixies' "Where Is My Mind?"



8. Another song with a sweeping crescendo? You bet. And besides, what good is a movie song list without some Clint Mansell. Perhaps his most famous and loved song to date, The Fountain's "Death Is the Road to Awe."



9. Okay, so I'm not exactly the biggest Smiths fan, but this is a treeeemendous choice, and I'll tell you why. First, it's a great song (naturally), being put to extensive use in a favorite from the last few years - (500) Days of Summer. But that's not the genius move. The best part - noticeable to those with a good audio memory - is that this song serves double duty, as The Dream Academy (yeah, who?) had their (instrumental) cover version used in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (the museum scene). I'll be honest, nostalgia and sentimentality actually have me enjoying that one more, but I'll give a nod to the original.



10. The Beach is not a great movie. Ambitious and pretty good, but like many a Danny Boyle flick, it goes off the rails in the last act. Nevertheless, I have a soft spot for it for perfectly showcasing (and perhaps introducing me to?) Moby's "Porcelain." Shut up - I don't care if you don't think it's cool to like Moby songs anymore.



11. How could I not have a song from one of the greatest soundtracks of all time (and one of my top three movies)? Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. But then...which song to use? I could choose any of about eight of them, but Urge Overkill's cover of Neil Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" barely edges out Chuck Berry (probably the only regard in which they can say that). Personifies cool.



12.Damnit, just one spot left. What to choose?!?! I could easily go for some Donnie Darko ("Mad World") or double up by taking Fiona Apple's cover of The Beatles "Across the Universe" (Pleasantville), but in the end, I'm taking The Who's "A Quick One While He's Away." It might not even be my favorite song on the Rushmore soundtrack (there are many to choose from), but it's a great pick for a few reasons. One, I don't want short songs, really - if I'm stuck with one CD, punk music is off the table, as a 32-minute disc would just end up pissing me off more than anything. But not only is this track nearly nine minutes, it's like six songs in one, what with all of the transitions. Plus, I need another nod to classic rock, and I could stand to listen to this more and more. "We have a remedy!" (See how I snuck honorable mentions in there, too?)



Too instrumental for you? Just right? At the least, how 'bout that representation of films? Let me hear your thoughts on my Desert Island CD in the comments.

And then...

The State of the Cabins (2/9/11)

Movies watched for the first time (non-theatrically) since last week:
The Green Mile
At the beginning of the year, in my "50 Films I Will See in 2011" post, Buffett35 (aka new contributor Mayday) commented with this:

Before you watch The Green Mile, I want you to read the book the way I read it. It was separated into 6 parts, released on the 1st of the month over 6 months. I still have them. It was much more enjoyable than just reading the whole thing at once. Oh, and the movie didn't live up to the book at all, of course."

Well, if you've been keeping up, you'll know that I was reading the book (though I didn't take gaps in between parts). I got engrossed in it and finished it Friday night, and I was dying to watch the movie immediately. I knew - just knew - that I either had it on one of our DVRs or on Netflix Streaming. Of course, I was wrong, and had to actually (ewww) rent it from Blockbuster. See, they're still relevant!


Where was I? Anyway, I watched the flick (three hours? seriously??). As I neared the second act or so, those words were floating through my head: "Oh, and the movie didn't live up to the book at all, of course."

Did I miss something? This movie was 96.7% faithful to the book, the closest thing to a shot-for-shot adaptation that I've ever seen (Watchmen coming in at 94.8%, I guess; really, they're about the same). Even the Constant Writer himself "called this the film single most faithful adaptation of his work." So, Mayday (or anyone else that could possibly share that sentiment) - what's the deal?

It should come as little surprise, then, that the same issues I had with the book I had with the movie. The magic negro, the predictable plot, the tidy ending. True, the film diminished the pieces of the book that bookended each part of the six-book set, but to little detriment. The casting - as I discussed before - was essentially dead-on. The visuals beautiful, if overwrought a time or two (not sure how many instances of lights being blown out in slow motion I needed to see). The effects to make Michael Clarke Duncan grand in scale were a bit inconsistent (in the book he's said to be 6'8"; in the film, he first appears to be ~ eight feet tall, and slowly shrinks as the runtime advances).

But all in all, it was...faithful, in multiple senses of the word.

Fletch's Film Rating:

	Expectation: "It's in the hole!"
	Reality: "It's in the hole!"

LAMBScore:

Music I'm currently obsessed with:
* Anything and everything by the Black-Eyed Peas.

No, just kidding. I got nothing again here. Been a mad dog catching up on podcasts from the last month, and am kicking ass at said task. Soon, I will be out of fresh ones and clamoring for more. Until then, no new music to speak of and nothing from the past infiltrating my mind too heavily, outside of evil baby music that I sing every day. I'll spare you from those songs, though.

Book I'm currently reading:
* Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon.

Not too far into it. First book I've read of Chabon's. He's intuitive and much smarter than me, but I'm not how accessible I think he is, and I'm pretty sure I find some of his overthinking annoying. Not sure I feel the same sentimental way about some things as he does, and the emotion he spills out about them gets on my nerves at time. Still, I can't deny that it's well-written, and the buffett-style of it (it's a collection of inter-connected essays about fatherhood, sonhood, and spousehood) makes it easier to forget the things that might bother me since the essays are only about 10 pages apiece.

Loved the one about Legos, since I had the same thoughts some weeks ago when my brother's kids were visiting. When I was a kid, Legos were still rather simple - there were some custom things coming down the pipeline, but for the most part, when I played, it was free-form. But my nephew bought himself a Lego set that builds an airplane and such. The instructions are detailed, and the end product leaves you with zero Legos left over. You are solving a puzzle, not "playing" with Legos. I loved pouring out my cannister of Lincoln Logs and building something different every time; the thought of being guided to "create" the same thing that every other kid out there is making depresses the hell out of me.

There is at least a happy ending, though. As I would expect with myself or any other child, eventually Chabon's children grew tired of their pre-processed sets and starting mashing up their Star Wars Legos with their medieval Legos with their airplane Legos, creating the kinds of creatures and vehicles no one could possibly think of.

Why not skip the middleman and just encourage kids to do that stuff from the start? Oh yeah, that's right...commercialization.

Things to Click On
* If you are a LAMB member and have not yet taken the LIONS for LAMBs poll for 2010, DO IT NOW! The link can be found here. (the Large Association of Movie Blogs)

* I guess I'm just gonna link to Ross v Ross every time they snare an interview with a major Oscar contender. Seems fair enough.

* Vancetastic feels old just thinking about The Roommate. I do, too. (The Audient)

* I've been writing and reading movie blogs for about five years. Might not be the longest time ever, but I think the quantity I've read over that time kinda pushes me over the edge (of what, I don't know). Anyway, it's taken some time, but I've come to the conclusion that my Closest Taste Ally out there (he or she who is most likely to rate a movie the same as me) is Aiden. He proves it yet again with his Amelie review. Of course, agreeing with someone all of the time can get old, but not when you write as good a review as he does. (Cut the Crap Movie Reviews)


* Castor lists the 7 corporate mascots he feels deserve a movie. As some have said, I don't know if any of them deserve a movie, but if they were going to be made, you could do worse than his choices. My main suggestion: the Kool-Aid Man, of course! (Anomalous Material)

* Many were impressed with Chrysler's patrioticy Detroit commercial during the Super Bowl. Paul was not. An awesome analysis of what is wrong about it. (Careful With That Blog, Eugene)

And then...

The State of the Cabins (1/12/11)

Things to Click On
* Hokahey takes a final look back at 2010 with his "Images" retrospective. (Little Worlds)

* The Good Indoorsman takes a page from my book (not that I have the market cornered or anything, but he even said he double-checked to make sure I hadn't already done it - awesome!).

* Horatio (Paul's compadre over at Careful with That Blog, Eugene) has a bone to pick with Ramona Flowers. Funny stuff.

* Want to debate the term 'second fiddle?' Castor has deemed these 7 Actors as being better off in that role than in the lead. (Anomalous Material)

* Kano's done made a '50 to see in 2011' list as well, and damn, if he ain't in for a terrific 52 weeks of movie watching. (Kano's Lay-Z-Boy Theater)

Movies watched for the first time (non-theatrically) since last week time:
* Alice in Wonderland
Pardon my French, but what the fuck was that shit?

Unlike many out there who were fooled by it, I was pissed at this abomination from the first look at the trailer. It certainly wasn't the fact that someone dared to make a sequel/remake/whatever of the Disney classic - hell, it's had a number of those over the years. It was that he was doing it - TAFKAB, aka The Artist Formerly Known as Burton. I guess it shouldn't come as that big of a surprise that he's a hack anymore - the evidence has been mounting for years.

We all fell in love with him in the 80s and early 90s. Some with Pee-Wee, others with Edward Scissorhands, and still more with Beetlejuice and the Batman films. He's not the first director to start out as a hyphenate, but at least the others can mix it up every now and then. Hell, Martin Scorcese hasn't written a screenplay since Casino in 1995, but no one would accuse him of being a hack. Burton hasn't even had so much as a story credit on a feature since 1993 (The Nightmare Before Christmas), and few would argue that he's made a better film since 1994's Ed Wood. (Note: this will actually change with his next flick, as he's mining his past/returning to his roots to make a feature of his short film Frankenweenie.)

This is not a coincidence. Burton, while capable of turning copper into at least bronze with his shtick (Big Fish) is more than content these days to mine the past of others, putting his stamp on all matter of pop culture greatness, from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to Sweeney Todd to Sleepy Hollow to even Planet of the Apes. And now this. If I didn't know better, I'd lay even money that a Wizard of Oz remake will be on his slate within the next ten years.

So it was with that mindset that I sat down to watch his interpretation of Alice. Oh, but wait! It's no remake at all - it's a pseudo-sequel! That Alice being played by a teenager was no accident - Burton tells us that her original trips were part of her early childhood dreams (or were they...?), and here at the arrival of her supposed engagement she's meant to take another trip down the rabbit hole.

But it's not to Wonderland, no. Not content to merely sequelize the classic, Burton informs us that it was never Wonderland at all, but Underland. Oh. Well, then here's my question for you, Tim? Why title your film Alice in Wonderland?

The answer is money. And shame on him and Disney for gracing this awful movie with the same title as the 1951 film it trades off of.

Fletch's Film Rating:

	Expectation: "Whatever."
	Reality: "I want you to punch me as hard as you can."

LAMBScore:

* True Grit
Were it not for the overwhelmingly positive reviews all-around for the Coen Brothers version, here is where I would likely come off as a hypocrite. It's no surprise to anyone reading this, but I'm no film classicist. I've mentioned before that there's an invisible line in the sand of film history where 'modern' turns to 'classic,' and with it a set of variables that are likely to turn me off. I usually place this line somewhere in the mid-to-late 60s, though it seems to jump from film to film.

True Grit manages to extend that line all the way to 1969. Is it just me, or does it feel as though it were made a decade earlier? Unlike the 2010 version, the film is anything but gritty, starring a weirdly-always-smiling Kim Darby as Mattie Ross and featuring a just-plain-awful title song that I later learned was (of course) nominated for an Academy Award. Likewise, star John Wayne received his only Best Actor win for his role as Rooster Cogburn, and I can only assume it's because it was a bit outside his normal wheelhouse. Will you hate me for saying that Bridges is worlds better in the role?

That's not to say that Wayne isn't enjoyable - he just doesn't do much here to make me think he deserved the win over the other nominated actors, including both Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight from Midnight Cowboy. Smells like a lifetime achievement award, despite the likability of the Cogburn character.

The completest in me was curious to catch the original and compare the Coens version to it and I've done it; as others have noted, it's surprisingly similar. Many scenes and lines are near shot-for-shot or line-for-line. There's just something that didn't click nearly as well. Not surprisingly, Robert Duvall as Ned Pepper was terrific and led the way for Barry Pepper, and also served as my modern-day connection to an old-timey movie (Dennis Hopper, not so much).

P.S. - I was thinking that Darby was so terrible that she couldn't have gone on to do much else. Of course not - amongst other things, she's an 80s icon (!), co-starring in not only Teen Wolf Too! (haha) but also in Better Off Dead, as Lane's mom. I can't wait to watch it again just to see her. Hell, she probably fit right in with the tone of that flick, which is more than I can say for Grit.

Fletch's Film Rating:

	Expectation: "Darn tootin."
	Reality: "You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you."

LAMBScore:

Music I'm currently obsessed with:
* See below - I haven't listened to much of anything lately.

Book I'm currently reading:
* See last week's State. I don't think I've read a page since (I'm at home on paternity leave and haven't had or made much time for reading).

And then...

The State of the Cabins (9/29/10)

Things to Click On
* If you haven't checked out Rachel's unique take on the old Screenshot game, you must, and soon. She's done four of them now (new ones released every Saturday), and the latest was my favorite yet. (Rachel's Reel Reviews)

* I love it when Daniel gets all thoughtful and introspective. Really. (Getafilm)

* Well, Nick's got his Vlog, but Jason's got his new "Jason Made a Video" series. Like Rachel, it's pretty young (he just posted #5). Though all are entertaining, #3 was far and away the tops. Outstanding! (Invasion of the B Movies)

* Speaking of Nick, in honor of our fellow LAMBcaster James, he counted down his Favorite Tree Moments. Ha! (Random Ramblings of a Demented Doorknob)

* I have some serious issues with the choices here, but countdowns of Ahnuld's top flicks should always be rewarded. (Anomalous Material)

Movies watched for the first time (non-theatrically) since last week:
* G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - I really don't know what I can possibly say about this while still respecting myself. It's like it has a built-in excuse: if you watch this film on purpose and then proclaim it to be idiotic, then you're the moron for watching it in the first place. What else did you think it was going to be? I mean, have you seen the cartoon?

I grew up on the cartoon - it was probably my favorite at age 10 or so - and had little interest in seeing this. I had hoped that they would have either a) taken it a bit more seriously or b) go full-on cartoony - my biggest gripe with this adaptation is the lack of color. Joes wearing all-black outfits? I wanted this and this and this. Instead, we got a movie that had no shortage of ridiculous action...with booooooooooring characters. Sure, Jo-Go was a great get to cast as the future Cobra Commander, but he spends 95% of this flick bottled up as some scientist with crap covering up his face. The stage is setup for Destro, but again, 95% of the flick he's boring old Christopher Eccleston. Channing Tatum and Dennis Quaid? Two of the most boring movie stars of the last 30 years.

At least there were a few plusses. Marlon Wayans was a welcome sight as some G.I. Joe character I don't even remember. They brought on two of my favorite character (and foreign) actors in Said Taghmaoui and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, but of course, both have glorified bit parts as we focus on the boring white guys. Sienna Miller is appealing in many ways as The Baroness, and it's always nice to see the Bizarro Billy Zane (aka Arnold Vosloo), playing Zartan here.

It's just ok. Stupid as hell, but if you must satisfy your nostalgia bone and give it a watch, I won't blame you.

Fletch's Film Rating:

	Expectation: "I want you to punch me as hard as you can."
	Reality: "Whatever.."

LAMBScore:

P.S. - I still have yet to figure out - at all - why Snake Eyes has lips. It's fucking weird, and worst of all, pointless. If you're gonna change a beloved character like that, at least make it worthwhile.

Music I'm currently obsessed with:
Is it possible to be obsessed with something I haven't heard yet? Royksopp's Senior was released on September 13, but even the great Amazon doesn't have anything other than the dreaded "Import," a license to charge 2-3x as much for essentially the same product. Much as I want it, I can wait.

Book I'm currently reading:
* Still Chuck Klosterman's novel Downtown Owl. Still digging it just as much as I did the first time around. The only downside to this thing is it's length - it's only around 250 pages, and when you get a book that you really love, that's nowhere near enough.

Next up? Well, I put out some feelers on the Facebook page and got some recommendations (thank you very much). Put a few of them on the list, so stay tuned.

And then...

30 dAyS oF cRAzY: American Psycho

I've always put American Psycho in the same realm as that other American flick, History X - pretty-good-yet-somewhat-flawed movies that feature stellar lead performances. Today, Anomalous Material's Castor delves into the mind of Patrick Bateman. (Sorry for the late posting - I was out celebrating my Dad's birthday!)

Stay tuned throughout September for nuttiness and zaniness of all varieties - click here for the full lineup, and click here for prior entries (which won't do you much good today, what with this being the first - madness!).

"I have all the characteristics of a human being: blood, flesh, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust. Something horrible is happening inside of me and I don't know why. My nightly bloodlust has overflown into my days. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy. I think my mask of sanity is about to slip."

Based on Bret Easton Ellis highly controversial novel of the same name, Mary Herron's American Psycho has remained one of the most misunderstood film of the 21st century. Nevertheless, it has progressively become a cult classic that has influenced pop culture in general and is studied in classrooms for its social critique. In many ways, it presaged the excesses and greed that led to the global financial crisis that has sent most of the world economy into a tailspin since the summer of 2007.

Christian Bale plays Patrick Bateman, a narcissistic Wall Street yuppie who seems to have it all. He is obviously extremely wealthy, has an attractive secretary, a beautiful fiancee and a luxurious apartment. However, behind this seemingly idyllic facade of the American alpha male, there is something terribly wrong with Patrick. He is so obsessed with external appearances, what he looks like, what he eats, what music he listens to, who he is seen with, what he possesses that he is only a hollow shell hiding a misogynist monster inside. A blood lusting monster living a vapid life by day and who goes on a murderous rampage by night. Bateman doesnít just kill people, he takes an insatiable pleasure in murdering unsuspecting people and absolutely relishes every single moment of the mayhem he creates.



Mary Herron walked an extremely thin line between the sordidly funny and the tragic, giving this psychological thriller a heavy dose of dark comedy, horror, and satire. The violence although extreme and gory is stylized in an over-the-top comedic tone. Bateman is less a movie character than a symbol of American capitalism. He is an arrogant and boorish dufus forever preoccupied with materialistic possessions and outward appearance of success. He spends hours in the morning simply preparing to go to work, with fancy skin treatments and doing 1000 stomach crunches while watching disturbing porn movies on his TV. He constantly puts down women, Jews, black, the poor and anyone else who doesn't "belong" to his social rank.

Oddly, we never see Bateman at work, most likely because he probably doesn't do anything economically productive. His main concerns during the day is playing ridiculously shallow one-upsmanship games with the people around him. Who has the best haircut, the most expensive suit, the best looking business card? His boss, a certain Paul Allen (Jared Leto), routinely confuses him for another colleague and Bateman admits himself he would be a nobody if he wasn't a serial killer. In all, Patrick Bateman is just a shell, a cover for some sick creature inside that can only feel emotions committing heinous acts of killing.

"There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman; some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me: only an entity, something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable... I simply am not there."

The movie rests entirely on the delightfully unhinged performance from Christian Bale who goes completely off the reservation as Patrick Bateman. I am quite certain that Leonardo DiCaprio, who was the first choice by Lionsgate, would not have been able to come anywhere near the masterful brilliance that Bale showed here. His portrayal of Bateman is showy and over-the-top yet so restrained in the sense that there is nothing tongue-in-cheek about it. Bale intelligently portrays his character not only as a delirious monster but also as a sad loser with a meaningless life. The supporting cast is talented although this is obviously a one-man show and they are given little to do. Reese Witherspoon and ChloÎ Sevigny playing Bateman's silly fiancee and worshiping secretary respectively while Willem Dafoe plays a pestering detective investigating the disappearance of one of Bateman's prey.

The film switch gears in its last third, spiraling into a macabre, surreal and completely over-the-top climax. American Psycho asks more questions than it answers, ending on an ambiguous note. Are Patrick Bateman's crimes real or simply a raving product of his twisted imagination? Whatever the answer is, he is a sick, sick man. However, the fundamental question is whether he is a product of the materialism and greed of our society? The film's main shortcoming may well be that it doesn't make this clear.

Hilariously funny, twisted and brilliantly acted, American Psycho is a daring film worth watching over and over again.

B+

(8/10)

Lesson of the Day: "Did you know that Whitney Houston's debut LP, called simply Whitney Houston had 4 number one singles on it? Did you know that, Christie?"

Notes: Rated R for strong violence, sexuality, drug use and language (DVD cut is NC-17), 102 minutes.

Tomorrow: Cin-Ob Angie goes beyond the Event Horizon.

And then...

Tuesday's Things to Click On (4/6/10)

Programming note: the Dudes/Ladies tourneys are more or less going to kick my ass for the next 4 weeks or so, so there will likely continue to be no TGITDNMAR until they're over. I know this news is a bit late, but I wanted to make it official and throw that out there. Why that and not this weekly feature axed? I dunno. I guess I just like to spread the love, baby.

Movies watched for the first time (non-theatrically) since last week:
None. Ever since we got a DVR (sidenote: what's the deal with DVRs being called PVRs in Canada?), I've developed a terrible habit: starting movies and taking forever to finish them. I must have 12 movies (if not more) in some state of watch at present. This week I added two more to that list, The Hustler and Tapeheads. So pretty similar stuff. Thoughts on these (and maybe five others) to come if and when I finish the,

Music I'm currently obsessed with:
* The song "Sticks & Stones" by Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi Birgisson that plays over the end credits of How to Train Your Dragon. Listen to it here. I'm pretty sure that all of my favorite Sigur songs are their more uptempo ones, and this solo effort uptempoes them all (and it's in English to boot, though that makes less difference than you might think). My love of this song will undoubtedly spill over to his solo album, Go, which is out now. Speaking of now, I'm about to go listen to it for the first time...right now.

Book I'm currently reading:
Finished "The Year of Living Biblically" and I'd recommend it for the secular and religious alike. Though it's probably a bit slanted towards the secular, author A.J. Jacobs does a good job of keeping an open mind no matter how bizarre the ritual he's asked (commanded) to perform.

Now, after having finally seen the filmed version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I've received and begin The Girl Who Played with Fire. Always nice when you get a chance to spend more time with characters you came to know and love. Better yet - one more book to go after this one.

Finally, the Things to Click On:
* Anomalous Material is back with his second round of tips for bloggers old and young, movie or otherwise. Not groundbreaking, but solid info that some people need to be reminded of.

* The Mad Hatter took a fun (bad) joke and turned it into an even better April Fool's prank. If you don't understand this one, you clearly don't listen to the LAMBcast.

* The next time you're taking part in one of the various LAMB blog-a-thons (or the LAMMYs)m think of Branden. I'll do my best to as well.

* He spring it unwittingly on me and so many other innocents, and I think one good turn does another. That's right - it's He Shot Cyrus' list of Top Five Actors I Never Wanted to See Naked.

* I celebrated a milestone earlier this week, but at least I didn't have to post for 47 straight days to do it like Rachel did. All reviews, mind you - no filler like that lazy Fletch guy does every now and then.

* Finally, Tom's back from an unwelcome hiatus and wants to talk trailers.

And then...

Tuesday's Things to Click On (3/23/10)

Believe it or not, movie reviews will appear here again someday, though I've yet to decide if they'll be in the same format or not. I enjoy the discourse of writing and commenting back and forth on them, but something's....missing. To be continued, I suppose. It's certainly not for a lack of other content (I hope you agree with me there). Coming soon - the March 2 Box Office Madness game, and another long-delayed tournament of sorts that I'm anxious to get off the ground.

Movies watched for the first time (non-theatrically) since last week:
Um...none that come to mind. We sat down to watch A Streetcar Named Desire, but stopped about 45 minutes in and have yet to pick it back up yet (I currently have about 10 movies I need to watch the endings of...). Thought Brando was good (and damned if he didn't look younnnng), but that Vivien Leigh was laughably bad. Then I had the ending inadvertently spoiler for me - no big deal there, though. At least in doing so, it made her performance a few ticks better. Still, the acting style of ye olden days just turns me off faster than you can say "melodramatic." Please recommend old movies that contain what you might call a contemporary acting style...

Music I'm currently obsessed with:
* Not music - catching up on my podcast listening after a number of days without a commute (my prime podcast listening time).

Book I'm currently reading:
My trip to Washington left me with a lot of reading time, so I finished Chuck Palahniuk's "Snuff." A nice, short read (under 200 pages); not my favorite of his, though. There are very few characters and all of them speak a bit too much like a stereotypical Chuck character. The story is sparse, yet typically interesting/"shocking." If you're a diehard, check it out - it won't take long. Otherwise, don't worry about avoiding.

Having finished that on one plane trip, I was forced to head for the airport bookstore, where there were no copies of "The Girl That Played With Fire" (bummer), which left me perusing the store for something interesting. Came upon A.J. Jacobs "The Year of Living Biblically," a yearlong journal of a secular guy (born Jewish) attempting to live according to the rules of the Bible (all of them, no matter how minute) for 365 days. Jacobs is an editor/writer for Esquire, so I'm probably familiar with his work even if I'm unaware of it. It's not laugh out loud funny, but it's interesting, even if I don't buy some of his scenarios and/or how much commitment he made to the "transformation" (like many followers, he seems to randomly assign importance to certain rules according to the whims of the day).

Finally, the Things to Click On:
* First off, a salute and well wishes to Foolish Blatherings' Branden, who's headed off on a journey that's sure to be interesting (and who knows what else). Best of luck, Branden, and the blogosphere (particularly the movie portion of it) will miss you and await your return.

* I've had The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on the mind for some weeks now, but Fandango Groovers is ahead of the game (and not just because he's already seen the Swedish version, hitting U.S. cities any day now), putting out some casting suggestions for the U.S. remake, which is already in the works.

* Castor over at Anomalous Material takes an in-depth look at the recent theatrical market statistics released by the MPAA. Cool stuff.

* Jason finally sees Point Break. Will the B movie king give it his seal of approval or seal his fate in my doghouse?

* Finally...the answers are already in the comments, but The Cooler's 2nd annual Eyes of March post is the kind of movie quiz I can get behind (even if I would have scored pretty poorly overall).

And then...