Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The Ballsening

Hey guys,

I'm about to wax a little British on you...

You see, I saw a movie tonight that everyone who's seen and hated came up with their own name to make fun of it...

I've seen "The Suckening", I've heard the "The Crappening"... I'll now go the British route, come up with my own name and call it...

"The Ballsening!!!"

As in, you know, they really ballsed this one up...

The film was The Happening and as much as I'd hoped I'd come out on my own here and like the film, I really just can't...

It could have been really well done and just wasn't... Unrewarding plot, bad acting, you name it, it just didn't have it...

So, go see The Happening (or don't and say you did) and let us know back with your name for it...

My alternate titles would be "The Marky Mark can't act-ening" or "The why should I gave a fuck-ening?"

Don't say we didn't warn you...

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The "Write" Stuff...

Hey guys (especially those close to me),

Just wanted to share a little mini-celebration with you all...

When I write tonight (Lord Willing), it'll be my fourth night in a row...

Little victories, little victories...

I think I'm finally getting serious about trying to break down the door of the comics world and set my foot in there and draw my marks on the wall...

Some of you will know that I was working on a story about an alien abduction. I abandoned it the last time I stopped writing and now I'm back on it again...

The working title is "Black"... Those of you who I'm going to ask to read the script for the first issue soon will begin to see why... I had to change the name of the story because the ones that I was thinking about (Taken, The Taking, all things relating to the word "take") were, um, taken...

So anyways, if you guys care, jus' lettin' ya in on what the Lloydster's into with this and other posts...

Peace...

An Album in Goliath

Hey guys,

Taking a little break from Bjork lately (so as not to burn myself out on her), I started spinning the latest disc from The Mars Volta again. It's called The Bedlam in Goliath...

This is really a good album. It's the first album with their new drummer Thomas Pridgen, who (despite me really loving and missing old drummer, Jon Theodore) absolutely smokes those traps on this one... They also released a lot of "webisodes" (videos) through their website for this disc... I'm going to try and find clips of these that can be embedded (tricky) and post them below for you with (as usual) the names of the songs ABOVE the vids...



Aberinkula





Ilyena





Wax Simulacra





Goliath (from Nissan Live Sets)





Askepios





Ouroboros (from Nissan Live Sets)





*NOTES*

-A couple of these are from something called "Nissan Live Sets" that I found on YouTube. They are labelled appropriately...

-The sound quality on "Askepios" is really bad, but at least you've got something...

-There are more videos from The Mars Volta around (on YouTube and their website and such) that are not able to be embedded. Take a look around, if you're interested...

-How many times have I put "Wax Simulacra" on this blog? Was that three? Anyway, LOVE THAT SONG!!! How 'bout that drum intro?!?!

-Dig those irresistible grooves on "Ilyena" and "Goliath"!!! Damn!!!



Well, there they are... Some videos from one of the only ones of my old favorites that I can bear to listen to nowadays... Hope you enjoyed... Hit me back on these or anything else...

Until next post...

Peace...

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Take a look... (Beware! My views included!)



Anybody got any thoughts on that?

I do...

This woman is the kind of nut that makes all Christians look bad... I mean, I've always been a believe what you want kind of guy. If this woman has these views, I guess they're hers...

But...

I pose some questions:

-Why is it bad if our President's name is "Obama"? I still didn't catch the real reason for that being bad...

-A mother that's atheist? Why should that bother her? Is Obama's mother on the cabinet? What if she is?

-A father that's Muslim? That should bother everybody? Why? Extremist groups of ALL faiths take it too far... Does anyone argue that? Can anyone really argue that?

-What is "the kind of Christianity that's in the bible"? Did you know that Christian means "little Christ"? Would our beloved Jesus condemn a Muslim? An atheist? Anyone? If you think he would, go read some more...



Yeah, I'm afraid that my view is that people like this woman is what causes us Christians to be looked down upon in certain intellectual circles...

My point (and why this has gotten me so riled up) is this: Am I a Christian? Yes, yes, YES!!! Am I some kind of closed-minded, xenophobic, racist, totalitarian asshole? I'd really like to think not... Are my friends of strong Christian faith, my relatives of strong Christian faith, the people who taught me to love no matter what like this woman? NO! Are we sometimes viewed this way as soon as the word is uttered that we're Christians (before we EVEN SAY OR DO ANYTHING ELSE)? YES!

Ultimate point: Not all Christians are this way... Some of us (most of us, I'd like to think) are loving, compassionate, worldly people who don't tolerate this woman's kind of propaganda...

And signing off, I want to say two things:

-Feel free to hit me with ANY kind of reply to this post

-And listen, really listen to the word I often sign off with... Ready?

PEACE!


Thanks to Warren Ellis' site for giving me something to rant on...

P.S. To give props to where I found this bit of info, Warren Ellis (a British writer of pure brilliance) said that his American fans need to vote this time around because you either want the kind of country that this woman does, or you don't... I don't vote (for other reasons that I don't care to get into), but if you do: There ya go...

Friday, October 17, 2008

A Post on Post (Bjork Pt. 2)

Hey guys,

I've been into another Bjork album and while on the cusp of getting into a third, I figured I'd give you guys a taste of what Bjork's second offering Post is all about...

As usual I'll post all the videos from the singles from the album below with the titles to the songs above the vids...



Army of Me





Isobel





It's Oh So Quiet





Hyper-Ballad





Possibly Maybe





I Miss You





*-COMMENTS-*

-Well, first off... Despite loving this album and all these tunes, I'd have to say that "Hyper-Ballad" is probably my favorite. I also really like "Army of Me" with its infectious trip-hop groove and beautifully sung chorus...

-If any of you who are not really into Bjork's music know any one of these, it's probably "It's Oh So Quiet", which is really a tune that has some jazz flavor without being as annoying as most vocal jazz... I also get a kind of big band feel from "I Miss You"... Really more songs with a jazz feel on this record than on Bjork's previous, Debut...

-"Possibly Maybe" is also a beautifully hypnotic tune... I think MTV or VH1 used some of the tones from it when they used to have late night video shows... I seem to remember that... Was the segment called "Insomnia" or "Insomniac"??? Anyone know what I'm talking about???

-"Isobel" is supposedly tied in some way to "Human Behaviour" from Debut as some kind of conceptual piece, although I'm really not sure of all the specifics...



Well guys, those are my thoughts on Post... I've just downloaded Bjork's third offering Homogenic and should be commenting on it soon... Feel free to hit me up and let me know what you think about Bjork, any other music, or ANYTHING ELSE!!!

As always...

Peace...

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Takin' it for "Grant"-ed

Hey guys,

I can't help but to keep going back to works by a fellow named Grant Morrison...

Some of you will remember me raving on about what might be my favorite work of his, The Invisibles, in a prior post... Well, I've finally done it... I've done one of the things that I wasn't smart enough to jump onto in the first place. I've read Mr. Morrison's first trade's worth of Batman issues that he did.

Pretty good...

This post might lead the way back to an old series of postings on this blog entitled "Studies of the Clown Prince"... In Grant's first book of Batman stories, there's an amazing Joker-themed piece that has some of the weirdest artwork I've ever seen and the story behind that magnificence is written in all prose... It was truly an experience and one that I won't forget soon...

I've also read the whole All-Star Superman series, which just finished up, by Morrison recently... This is a timeless gem bringing us right up close to the hero we all love... His humanity, his weakness, and his magnificence are all in the spotlight in this one and it, too, is a great story...

Perhaps the easiest "one-read" story by Morrison that I've gone back and read recently was the JLA trade New World Order... It is only the brilliance of a writer like Morrison that can keep us up nights pondering the multiverse with some of his work and then wow us just as much (even if entirely on a different level) with a superhero book... The reason I call the JLA book a one-read book is because usually there are layers to the stories that Grant writes. These tales, I think, are meant to be read over, pondered, dissected and then read all over again... JLA had a straight-forward cohesiveness that hit us with another facet of genius from Morrison, proving his deftness at crafting all kinds of story...

Below (as I am proned to do) I'm going to include some video of the man himself... Watch and be perplexed... Don't forget to enjoy...



*-Notice in this first video (at around 2:20) where someone asks a question of Grant and the answer he gives, talking about heroes being real and a part of their own dimension... This blew me away and started some thought processes in my head that I hope will lead to great writing on my part...





*-Wanna see some stuff on Grant talking about a new web-based animation story that he's doing plus plans for the future? See below!





*-Curious about this guy's influences? The WE3 movie? See below...



Sorry about the slow load on the above vid... If you didn't wanna wait he cites influences of:
-Peter Shaffer
-David Sherwin
-Alan Garner
-J.R.R. Tolkien
-Robert Anton Wilson
-Timothy Leary
-Aleister Crowley
-The Beatles
-The Buzzcocks
-The Sex Pistols




Well, that's my rave for now... My advice, check out some of Grant Morrison's work soon. A piece of your life is missing until you do...

Peace...

Sunday, October 12, 2008

A roundup...

Hey guys,

I'm not going to do an in depth post on anything this time, just a quick one to tell you what I've been taking in...

Here goes:

COMICS
-I'm currently re-reading the latest Green Lantern series. Partly because there's a huge story coming up and partly because everyone's been raving about it and it's won tons of fan awards...

MUSIC
-Coldplay - "Parachutes"
-Bjork - The first couple of albums
-Slipknot - "All Hope is Gone"

MOVIES
-"Run, Fatboy, Run"
-"Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark"
-"The Assassination of Richard Nixon"



That's what I've been doing... If any of you wanna know what I think of these things, I've discussed some of them in prior posts... OR, you can always hit me up with a comment and ask...

Just checkin' in with ya, fellow bloggers and readers...

'Til next time...

Peace...

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Quote of the Day

Hey guys,

Any of you who know me personally know that I read a lot... Whether it be prose, comic books, magazines... I come across some pretty profound stuff...

I had the idea to just start throwing out some quotes that really strike me from time to time. This will be the first of those. It comes from a newly resurrected Hal Jordan, (the current, the best, the legendary) the Green Lantern who is really at the forefront of all of them... (For those of you who don't know, there are a whole corps of them, one for every sector of space...)

Anyway, this quote is from Hal's thoughts at the end of a big battle at the end of issue #3 of Green Lantern (Sept. 2005, DC Comics)...

I look around today, at the way we live...

...We're arming security systems, putting metal detectors in schools and looking over our shoulders on airplanes.

The news shouts -- "Tonight at eleven, find out which major drug company could make you sick."

Is this the life I'm coming back to?

Is this the strongest emotion in the universe?

Is fear what controls everyone and everything?




*-Thanks to Geoff Johns for great writing and for bringing back Hal for us to spend time with again...



'Til next time...

Peace...