100 Movies that Make me Love Film: 79 - Shaun of the Dead

Every Thursday I discuss one of the movies that makes me love film

79. Shaun of the Dead

I’ll never forget the time I walked into the movie theater and saw the giant cut out of Shaun of the Dead standing there. I couldn’t help but be interested, I mean beyond the play-on-name and the tag line “The first romantic zombie comedy” I couldn’t help but think… is he holding a cricket bat? Sadly that was also a summer in which I had very little money and didn’t make many trips to the theater, however the day it came out on DVD I rented immediately. In the Return of the Living Dead article I said it was my favorite zombie movie, and that’s very true, but this I think is the tightest script in the zombie/comedy genre.

Shaun (Simon Pegg) is a slacker with a directionless life. His girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) is dissatisfied with her social life and feels Shaun his bring here down since they spend every night at Shaun’s favorite pub The Winchester with his best friend Ed (Nick Frost) and her flatmates David (Dylan Moran) & Dianne (Lucy Davis). Eventually Liz has enough and breaks up with Shaun. 

Ed takes Shaun to the Winchesters for some drinks to cheer him up. They show up at their house drunkenly rapping Grand Master Flash waking up their roommate Pete (Peter Serafinowicz) who screams at them, telling Shaun to sort his life out. He also mentions some crazy homeless guy bit him on his way home from work.

The next morning the town is in completely anarchy, with zombies roaming the streets. Shaun begins to peace together a plan to save his mother Barbara (Penelope Wilton) and Liz and take refuge in the Winchester. When they get Barbara she demands her husband and Shaun’s stepfather Phillip (Bill Nighy) come with them. On the way to the car Phillip is attacked & bitten by a zombie in the neck.

They next arrive at Liz’s flat where Shaun climbs to building to save her. David and Dianne decide to come too. During the car ride Phillip finally makes peace with Shaun before dying and coming back as a zombie forcing everyone to evacuate the car and go the rest of the way by foot to the Winchester. 

When they reach the Winchester they found it completely surrounded by Zombies. They approach the pub by impersonating zombies however their cover is blown when Ed and Shaun begin to argue. Shaun runs around to the back of the pub making the zombies follow him while David breaks in the front window with a trash can. 

Shaun comes in the pub through the backdoor but the silence and lack of supplies in the pub start to cause stress and arguments among the group. It’s discovered that Barbara has been bitten as well causing Shaun to have to kill his own mother. Zombies crash through the window and attack David, prompting Dianne to go outside to save him.

The zombies all come into the pub, included the zombified version of Pete who immediately attacks Ed. Shaun shoots zombie Pete but Ed has still been bitten. Liz, Shaun and Ed make their way into the cellar. Ed offers to sacrifice himself to the zombie who begin to come into the cellar. Shauna and Liz prepare for one last battle against the Zombie when the British Army arrives just in time for their aid.

Six months later, society has returned to normal and the zombies are being used as cheap labor. Shaun and Liz are now living together and zombified Ed is chained up in the shed where Shaun goes to play video games with his best friend.

Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg proved with this, Hot Fuzz and their TV series Spaced that they are a writing/acting/directing force that is unstoppable. Shaun of the Dead is one of the most picture perfect movie scripts out there. Every single piece of dialogue is set up to another line of dialogue (Snakehips is always surrounded by women according to Ed; next time you see him, zombie women are surrounding his dead body and eating him) and also has a brilliant usage of reoccurring lines (“you’ve got red on you”). There’s even a brilliant reference to Night of the Living Dead (“We’re coming to get you Barbara”)

The film uses quick editing to show the mundane life of Shaun. The first 30 minutes of the movie are almost completely re-shot piece by piece except with all the characters the first time around as Zombies. The film even takes a note from An American Werewolf in London by trying to use songs that have an undertone of zombie in it (“Ghost town” by The Specials, “Kernkraft 400” by Zombie Nation).

The movie was advertised as a rom-zom-com (romantic zombie comedy) but there’s so much more going for it. Not only is it a horror movie and a romantic comedy, it also hits multiple emotional points about friendship and his mother. One of the most heart-wrenching moments in any film in the last decade occurs when Shaun screams at David “Stop pointing that gun at my mum”. Shaun’s undying love to take care and protect his mom is absolutely touching and his unconditional love for his best friend is something that anyone can relate too. That’s just one of the many reasons that bloody-digusting called Shaun of the Dead “quite possibly the best horror-comedy ever made." I humbly agree.

I tweet. I Write for Geekscape (Guilty Pleasures: Piranha 2 the Spawning). I podcast... two times The Saint Mort Show (episode 30 with Robert Angelo Masciantonio & Roots in Stereo) as well as a horror movie review podcast (Episode 2 - Wake Wood)

<----- 80 - 100

78.Caddyshack ----->

100 Albums That Make Me Love Music: 79. Brand New - Your Favorite Weapon

Every Tuesday I Defend One of the Albums that Made me love music

79. Brand New: Your Favorite Weapon

I sometimes lie and pretend that I was always on top of my shit when it comes to pop punk. But the fact of the matter is between the years of 1997-2003 I was basically a jesus freak who listened to almost exclusively christian punk (with a few exceptions). This meant that I missed out on a lot of the cool stuff all my friends had gotten into. So the first time I ever heard of Brand New was in 2003 when the song Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows came out. I dug the song but never bothered to pick up the album it appeared on.

The following year a girl in my film class who was listening to Brand New: Your Favorite Weapon while editing a video. This girl was always sort of a hippie so I was shocked that she was listening to something so completely punkish. I dug what I heard but still didn’t purchase the album until a year later when I found it on sale at a local record shop. What I discovered was an album that may arguably the best debut in pop punk. 

The songs are all about heartbreak with a strong vindictive sound. Fall Out Boy’s Take This To Your Grave had a very similar lyrical approach. The poison filled hate in both albums lyrics sting and while Pete Weintz was a little more poetic in his hate, Jesse Lacey’s intense hate pours out of every angrily line.

The album starts off with it’s heaviest song The Shower Scene’, which is in reference to the infamous murder in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. The song begins our terrible tale of a friendship lost in the middle of a love triangle starting with a line like ‘It’s funny how your worst enemies always seem to turn out to be all of your best friends’ best friends’. And that’s one of the cheerier lyrics.

The following track Jude Law and A Semester Abroad dives into even darker territory with lines like ‘Even if her plane crashes tonight she’ll find some way to disappoint me by not burning in the wreckage or drowning at the bottom of the sea’. The lyrics just go darker and darker from there.

The most infamous lyrics come from the albums most popular song Seventy times Seven. The story behind the song (and possibly most of the album) is around an argument between Jesse Lacey and Taking Back Sunday’s John Nolan. In this song Lacey basically tells Nolan that he hopes he dies in a car crash. Nolan then tells his side of the story in Taking Back Sunday’s There’s No I In Team. Throughout that particular song he uses phrases and references to multiple songs on Your Favorite Weapon further leading to the speculation that most of the album is about their falling out.

The album ends on a slightly hopeful and nostalgic note with it’s closing track Soco Amaretto Lime. With the repetitive line ‘I’m going to stay 18 forever’, it’s hard not to have nostalgia for your high school days even if they were far from great. Brand New has become a band who has receive plenty of praise for a band that never experience massive and long-lasting mainstream success. Despite this they’ve built themselves an extremely dedicated fanbase. Punk site absolutepunk.net frequently ranks their sophmore album Deja Entendu as one of the greatest albums in pop punk history. While Deja Entendu is a great album with incredible instrumentation and melodies, Your Favorite Weapon will always be my favorite of Brand New’s albums.

I tweet. I Write for Geekscape (Guilty Pleasures: Piranha 2 the Spawning). I podcast... two times The Saint Mort Show (episode 30 with Robert Angelo Masciantonio & Roots in Stereo) as well as a horror movie review podcast (Episode 1: The Fog)

<------- 80 - 100

78. Calibretto 13: Adventures in Tokyo ------>

100 Movies That Made Me Love Film: 80-100

80. House of Wax

81. It's a Wonderful Life

82. Rocky Horror Picture Show

83. Young@Heart

84. Royal Tenebaums

85. Alligator

86. Trick R Treat

87. The Breakfast Club

88. Heavyweights

89. Cannibal the Musical

90. Killer Klowns From Outer Space

91. Clue

92. Pulp Fiction

93. Young Frankenstein

94. Charlie Bartlett

95. UHF

96. Ghostbusters

97. Heathers

98. Re-Animator

99. A Goofy Movie

100. Shock Treatment

100 Movies That Make Me Love Film: 80. House of Wax

Every Thursday I Discuss one of the 100 Movies that Make me Love Film

80. House of Wax

My grandfather was the person who first exposed me to this film and entered me into the world of Vincent Price. At the time it was one of the scariest movies I’d ever seen and to this day it still erks me to watch. The general concept is just so terrifying and frightening.

House of Wax is a perfect example of it’s era. It’s dark, but funny. It has Vincent Price. He goes over the top showing off it’s flashy 3-D but most of all it’s charming. There’s a certain to old horror movies (specifically Vincent Price films), and even more charming is this delightful 3-D sequence.

The film begins with the talented but struggling wax sculptor Professor Henry Jarrod. His financial partner Matthew Burke thinks that sensational exhibits will help save the company but Jarrod refuses. Matthew sets the wax museum on fire and leaves Henry to die hoping to collect the insurance money.

We flash forward to Matt on a date discussing the recent death of his business partner. After the date a noose is thrown around his neck and he is killed in an elevator shaft however the papers call it a suicide. 

Shortly afterwards we discover that Henry is still alive and planning to follow Matthew’s advice and change the show into a more macabe and sensational wax show. However he needs assistance since the fire destroyed his hands. Audiences can’t get enough of his realistic wax figures specifically Sue Allen. She’s terrified by how much one of the figures looks like her dead roommate Cathy. 

She sneaks into the museum one night and is attacked by Henry. While fighting him off she shatters his face revealing a burnt up and scarred face underneath. The sequence of his face shattering used to terrify me as a kid.

This movie is a prime example of what makes me love Vincent Price movies, his character doesn’t start off evil. He’s driven to it by the evil doings of others. House of Wax is no different. Sadly it was remade into a mediocre horror film in the 2000’s but that doesn’t stop the 3-D film for 1953 from being a classic of the genre.

I Tweet. I Write For Geekscape.net and I host the Saint Mort Show Podcast (this week's episode features Spoken Life and First Things First)

<--- 81. It's A Wonderful Life

100 Albums That Made Me Love Music: 80-100

80. DC Talk: Jesus Freak

81. Colin Hay: Going Somewhere

82. Garfunkel & Oates: All Over Your Face

83. Johnny Cash: American VI

84. Hellogoodbye EP

85. Mr. T Experience: Revenge is Sweet, and So are You

86. Sublime: 40 Oz to Freedom

87. My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade

88. Unsung Zeroes: Moments of Mourning

89. Punchline: 37 Everywhere

90. White Stripes: White Blood Cells

91. Punchy's Pilots: Otter Space

92. Queen: Sheer Heart Attack

93. Beastie Boys: Licenced to Ill

94. Dashboard Confessional: Places You Have Come To Fear the Most

95. John Reuben: Hindsight

96. Blink 182: Take Your Pants Off and Jacket

97. The Leftovers: Eager to Please

98. Relient K: Two Lefts Don't Make a Right, But Three Do

99. TwoThirtyEight: Regulate the Chemicals

100. Linkin Park: A Thousand Suns

100 Albums That Make Me Love Music: 80. DC Talk - Jesus Freak

Every Tuesday I discuss one of the 100 Albums That Made Me Love Music

80. DC Talk: Jesus Freak

So I’ve mentioned in a few of the past lists that I used to be completely into Christian rock. Well this is the story of how that happened.

My mom used to force me to go to church. I hated it. I’d go to sunday school and then after sunday school I’d have to sit through a church service. I hated the uncomfortable clothes and the boring sermons and the cheesy songs that meant little to nothing to a kid who loved Bloodhound Gang, Rage Against the Machine and Green Day. There was one thing I did like however, a weird pastor we called Pastor Dan. He was the youth pastor and he looked like a younger Santa Claus and just as jolly.

One day my mom came home from church with a cassette tape that Dan had given to her to give to me. The tape was the comp from Forefront Records and contained artists like Audio Adrenaline, Bleach, Big Tent Revival and DC Talk.

The first song was DC Talk’s Jesus Freak and I was blown away. Christian music could sound like this? The music was heavy, it had some rapping in it and in general it just sounded like the music I was already listening to. I really liked a bunch of other stuff on the cassette tape but it was that song that pulled me in. I bought the CD and while some of the stuff was much softer (but not all) I loved it all. 

This album helped blow open the doors between Christian and Mainstream music when it debuted #16 on the Billboard 200. The songs Between You & Me and Jesus Freak both did well on the charts (I remember seeing Jesus Freak on The Box and getting crazy excited). 

A few years ago I went through my CD collection and was embarrassed by how bad some of the albums were, but DC Talk: Jesus Freak was still great. The reason is that while it was just as preachy as the other groups on ForeFront (except Pax217) it never felt that way. 

It’s just a great rock record regardless of lyrics. But the lyrics don’t bother me. It has songs like Colored People and What Have We Become? which discuss things like racism and a song like What if I Stumble? about why people hate christians for their inability to show love and compassion.

I still blast this in my car without shame and I’m not a church goer anymore.






I Tweet. I Write For Geekscape.net and I host the Saint Mort Show Podcast (this week's episode features Spoken Life and First Things First)


<----- 81. Colin Hay: Going Somewhere

Going For a Little Run - Ultimate Playlist

Tomorrow I will be participating in the Warrior Dash for the first time. I've been "Training" for the last 4 or 5 months. The Warrior Dash is a 3 mile run with a few obstacles. Not exactly the most difficult run out there but since I am never really known for my desire to go running or exercise or leave the safety of my house... this will be an experience.

Running by my side will be one of my best friends Ed Gusler Jr. Our run is at 8am (aka 9 hours from now). We plan to have as much fun as possible and for the event I've created a running mix. I'll have a light backpack with an old iPod (donated by Jackie DeSalvo) and a pair of speakers on my back pumping a mix that's guaranteed to motivate everyone around us.

But before the run I'd like to share the playlist with all of y'all!

1. John Goodman's Revenge of the Nerds Speech
2. Back in Black - AC/DC
3. You're the Best - Joe Esposito
4. You Give Love a Bad Name - Bon Jovi
5. Come On Ya-ha! Sequence from Saving Silverman
6. Be the Best - Tenacious D
7. Separate Ways - Journey
8. More Than A Feeling - Boston
9. Haverboards don't work over water without power quote from Back to the Future
10. The Touch - Stan Bush
11. Unskinny Bop - Poison
12. We're not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister
13. Nothing is over till we decide it is Speech from Animal House
14. Love is Alright Tonight - Rick Springfield
15. Don't Stop me Now - Queen
16. The Final Countdown - Europe
17. Never Give Up, Never Surrender Speech from Galaxy Quest
18. Rock You Like a Hurricane - Scorpions
19. La Grange - ZZ Top
20. Black Betty - Ram Jam
21. Run Home and Cry to Mama - Army of Darkness Speech
22. Heat of the Moment - Asia
23. Take Me Home Tonight - Eddie Money
24. We Want Fun - Andrew W.K.
25. God Gave Rock N Roll To You - Kiss (When we near the end of the race, if the mix isn't over we must skip ahead to this for dramatic effect)

Feel free to duplicate this mix for all your exercise and running needs

100 Movies That Make Me Love Film - 81. It's a Wonderful Life

Every Thursday I Discuss One of the Movies that make me love Film

81. It’s A Wonderful Life

There are few films that get me as choked up as this movie. I was extremely late to the party with this film. I’d always heard references to it, specifically stuff like “If a bell rings an angel gets it’s wings”. 

The movie is a christmas classic, but unlike most christmas classics you can watch it at any time. Christmas is just a back-drop for the film. It speaks to a very human emotion of hoping that what we do makes a difference.

In my life I’ve helped organize many charities, I’ve helped friends in need, I’ve put money in homeless people’s cups, but yet I always feel like when I need help the most a rain cloud appears above my head. It’s a Wonderful Life shows people care about you.

The film is a tour de force of perfect acting, directing and writing. It tears me up that there is so much I want to say about this movie and I’m completely unable to find the words, so I guess I’ll just tell the story of the first time I watched this film.

The year was 2008. I had moved out of my parents house and into my friends apartment. I had just graduated college, lost my job and been dumped by my first true love. I was at my lowest. I decided that since it was December I’d put It’s a Wonderful Life on my netflix queue. 

The film arrived December 23rd. I knew I was going to wake up early in order to drive to my parents house for Christmas Eve and help prepare the house for Christmas. Regardless I wanted to see the film being a fan of Frank Capra. 

Do you know that moment when you’re just about to cry when you almost hiccup a tear? I did that every ten minutes or so while watching this movie. The final scene when George (Jimmy Stewart) runs through the town yelling merry christmas made me suddenly miss my grandfather. I started to do that choked up feeling, when George opens Adventures of Tom Sawyer and reads the inscription from Clarence reading “Remember no man is a failure who has friends” the floodgates opened.

This movie was voted the number one most inspirational film of all time. I almost wish there was a higher ranking. 

I tweet. I write for Geekscape.net (This week's Guilty Pleasures: Home Fires), I podcast (Check out this week's episode with Chalie Chan and Josh Ireson of With Life in Mind)

<-----82. Rocky Horror Picture Show

100 Albums That Make Me Love Music: 81. Colin Hay - Going Somewhere

Every Tuesday I discuss one of the Albums that Make Me Love Music

81. Colin Hay: Going Somewhere

I think you can put people into 3 categories. They know Colin Hay as the guy from Scrubs, they know him as the lead singer of Men at Work or they’ve never heard of them before. I lied actually, there’s a fourth category where I fall into. I discovered Colin Hay through the soundtrack of Garden State. I had my heart-broken during the winter break vacation of my freshmen year of college. I watched Garden State a lot that weekend and eventually bought the soundtrack and listened to that a lot as well. My favorite song on it was Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You by Colin Hay.

I started to download other songs by him and feel in love with his retrospective and honest songwriting style. Around this time I also watched Scrubs for the first time after many people’s recommendations to me. The show quickly became my favorite show of all time and too this day still holds a special place in my heart. Hay has multiple songs appear on the show over it’s nine year run.

While I’ve enjoyed almost all of Colin’s albums my favorite will always be Going Somewhere. The album is so stripped down with many of the songs just being Colin and his acoustic guitar. It’s in songs like Beautiful World and Wayfaring Sons that you can truly hear why people who like Colin Hay LOVE Colin Hay. His guitar parts and simple (and occasionally humorous) lyrics are hard to resist.

However the stand out track is Waiting for my Real Life to Begin. One of three songs that Hay had a co-writing on. The song has appeared on eight TV shows to date (and I’m sure more in the future) and with good reason, it’s one of those rare songs that makes you both happy and sad at the exact same time.

Have you ever heard a song where despite the lyrics not being anything remarkable it touches you based simply on the way the lyrics are sung? That’s what this song is for me. The opening line ‘Any minute now, my ship is coming in, I’ll keep checking the horizon’ while a little beautiful is mostly a simple lyric, but when it’s sung by Hay it reeks of a man who has lived a full life but ready to live more of a life (Don’t you understand, I already have a plan, I’m waiting for my real life to begin).

That really is what Colin Hay does best. He writes songs that while lyrically they’re simple (and sometimes borderline unremarkable) his voice and his guitar playing elevates them into a higher level of musical quality. Going Somewhere is he’s finest example of this.



I tweet. I write for Geekscape.net (This week's Guilty Pleasures: Home Fires), I podcast (Check out this week's episode with Chalie Chan and Josh Ireson of With Life in Mind)


<---- 82. Garfunkel & Oates: All Over Your Face

80. DC Talk: Jesus Freak -------->

100 Movies That Make Me Love Film - 82. Rocky Horror Picture Show

Every Thursday I Discuss One of the Movies that Made me Love Film

82. Rocky Horror Picture Show

It seems there aren’t many horror movies that ‘rock’. I mean I can name a bunch Little Shop of Horrors, Rock N Roll Nightmare just to name a few. But apparently when it was Halloween VH1 had no option but playing nothing but Rocky Horror content all day long. If it wasn’t the movie it was a behind the music on the movie or a pop video of the movie. It was basically nothing but RHPS... and this is how I first discovered the film. 

I became obsessed with the movie, specifically the song Eddie’s Teddie. I loved this movie and quickly learned the lyrics to all the songs. However I rarely saw it live because to be honest, I wasn’t a fan of the live experience of the movie... I just enjoyed a fun b-movie/musical. The fans kinda annoyed me.

I started dating a girl a few years later and introduced her to the film. She became obsessed with it to a level that put me to shame. She went to a midnight screening every Saturday and even became a cast member. And then she dumped me.

It’s funny how we can connect things with people in our past and sometimes those people taint something we love. For a year after the break up Rocky Horror was ruined for me. For a while I thought I’d never watch the film again, which is what made me start to love Shock Treatment.

However, I couldn’t deny this movie any longer. After a year my fandom took over again and I decided re-watch it. Sure there was an aspect of remembering being drug to midnight screenings and stories of my now-ex hooking up with cast members but... I was able to look past that and enjoy the good times I had with the movie.

If you’ve seen the movie, you know what it’s about. If you haven’t seen the movie, I just recommend seeing it. It’s not for everyone but trying to explaining it will almost definitely make you lose interest in the movie before you’ve given it a fair shot.

Since there’s a chance that people are reading this who haven’t seen it I won’t post my favorite song/s (Rose Tint My World - I’m Going Home) but instead post “Hot Patootie” because (a) It doesn’t ruin any major plot points and (b) I fucking love Meat Loaf.

I tweet. I host a Podcast. I write for Geekscape.
Check out Lily Bee & Fabien Matorell on my podcast. My guilty pleasure of Horror Classic Mother's Day. My Euology for MCA.

<------- 83. Young@Heart

81.  It's a Wonderful Life -------->

100 Albums That Make Me Love Music: 82. Garfunkel & Oats: All Over Your Face

Every Tuesday I discuss One of the albums that make me love music

 

82.Garfunkel & Oates: All Over Your Face

Garfunkel & Oates I discovered through scrubs. I found an episode of Scrubs: Interns (the Scrubs web-show) of Kate Micucci (as Gooch) playing a song with Ted. The next week they played part of the song on the show. The song was Garfunkel & Oates’ song Fuck You (with lyrics changed to Screw You). I became a fan of the band and while I enjoyed their album Music Songs it didn’t seem like anything super special, I was already familiar with all of the songs from their youtube videos and the production was average enough so when I saw the track list for All Over Your Face I went in with low expectations, at least half these songs were Music Songs I thought.

However, I was immediately blown away. These recordings were a major step up in production value and quality. The fact is that while Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci are great at writing in your face foul-mouthed comedy songs they’re greatly under appreciated for their good vocals (and their purposefully bad ones too) and have a great ear for melody.

I don’t want to cover every track (although their are only ten) but I want to focus on 5 particular tracks that stood out for me.


1. You, Me and Steve - The opening track to the album because with chimes. Musically the song is simply but the harmonies between Riki and Kate are to die for. More importantly their word play and catchy chorus’ are to die for. When the album first came out I couldn’t stop singing lines ‘Are you gay for Steve I think you maybe and that would be alright/But let a bitch know just what your steez is so I know if I should shave tonight” or just singing the ‘do do do do do do steve’ chorus.




2. Gay Boyfriend - I’m going to be honest. Gay Boyfriend is one of the best songs in music comedy history. Ironically it’s not even really that funny of a song but musically it’s just perfection. What makes this song work is that it’s taken seriously musically. Anyone could write a song like this off in the realm or production values but between the claps in the background, an excellent use of a keyboard and a catchy chorus this song could have been on a Bryan Adams album during the 80’s. Every time I hear it on my iPod I stomp my feet and sing along, which is weird since this was my least favorite song from G&O’s youtube but yet my favorite song on the album.


3. Fuck You - The song Fuck You proves that if they wanted Garfunkel &Oats could be a pop group if they wanted to. Besides the titular punchline the song is one of the best love songs I’ve heard lyrically in years (which is both a compliment to Kate and Riki and insulting to the state of music). But lines like ‘I’ll try to be less of a loser’, ‘Am I I-magical enough for this to happen?’and ‘Like can lead to Like like and Like Like can lead to love’ are absolutely adorable. Other artists could learn a lot from this girls on what’s cute and smart at the same time


4. This Party Just Took a Turn For the Douche - The first time I heard this song I immediately fell in love with it. It’s a great mock of bad-hip hop. Kate and Riki actually are decent rappers and drop similes & metaphors so good that it’d make the Beastie Boys jesus but my favorite moment in the song (and possibly the whole album) is hearing Kate Micucci singing Jim Croce through Auto-tune.


5. Place to Rest - Kate and Riki are more than just saying fuck in songs a lot. They have a soft side. Much like how As you Are was my favorite track on Music Songs, Place to Rest is a serious and adorable closing track to the album. After we’ve heard about sex with ducks, weed cards and one night stands we end on a serious note. Kate and Riki are still humans and there’s a human need for love and compassion. In comedy it’s so easy to be cynical and negative that the hardest thing to do becomes shedding your comfort blanket of comedy and be sincere. Place to Rest absolutely oozes with honesty and sincerity. If you didn’t fall in love with Garfunkel & Oates’ sense of humor... you will fall in love with their honesty on this closing track

Perhaps I just over analyzed a 25 minute comedy album, but I sincerely love this album and would rank it with the likes of Weird Al, Tenacious D and Tom Lehrer in their prime.

I tweet. I host a Podcast. I write for Geekscape.
Check out Lily Bee & Fabien Matorell on my podcast. My guilty pleasure of Horror Classic Mother's Day. My Euology for MCA.


<----- 83. Johnny Cash: American IV Man Comes Around

81. Colin Hay: Going Somewhere ----->

Episode 27 of the Saint Mort Show Up Now!

Hey Guys!

As an added bonus to the blog I've decided to have an entry in here about each new podcast episode.

Episode 27 is up today. It's got 2 interviews and 3 songs as well as an old fake trailer from the 2nd episode of the podcast.

The first interview is with Fabien Matorell the director of the documentary Tromatized: Meet Lloyd Kaufman. Lloyd has been a guest in the past on the podcast and for the last 2 years has been a good friend and mentor towards me. We've talked at multiple conventions, book signings and exchanged emails. He's one of the friendliest and most down to earth people I've ever encountered and definitely deserves his own documentary. Fabien is a great guy as well and completely lacked confidence in his English (it's not his native language) but he did absolutely fine.

The second interview is with Lily Bee. I met Lily because of a video her covering the Muppet Show theme song popped up on my reddit feed. I contacted her about using the song on my upcoming Muppets/Jim Henson Tribute album (news coming soon) and we struck up a quick friendship. Lily is a friendly and upbeat person. While she was on tour of the east coast with her band Lily Bee and the Dreamers she spent a day hanging out with me. She went on some dog walks with me (I'm a dog walker btw), we grabbed some lunch and recorded the podcast. I set up the PA incorrectly however so the entire interview sounds distant. I apologies to you the listener as well as Lily, but hopefully she'll be  back on the podcast in the next year and I will double check the sound.

The music on the podcast is provided by past guests Harley Poe and Punchy's Pilots as well as Fowl Play. I met Fowl Play in Feb at a charity show I was throwing. They were a group of really funny down to earth guys. I'm hoping I'll get those guys on the show in the near future.

I hope you enjoy the episode! Check it out here.

100 Movies that Make Me Love Film: 83. Young @ Heart

Every Thursday I Discuss one of the 100 Films that make me love Movies

83. Young@Heart

I first heard of this documentary through Jonathan London. He reviewed it with his mother on an early episode of Geekscape. It seemed like an interesting documentary but he warned that you might get teary eyed while watching it. That was a major understatement.

Young@Heart tells the story of a chorus in New England featuring members ranging from late 60s to early 90s. The group covers more modern songs like I Wanna Be Sedated, Feeling Alive and Should I Stay or Should I Go? The group is lead by music director Bob Cilman. One could argue that Bob is too demanding on the group however as you see this senior citizens become more and more animated it really shows what Bob does best.

I’m torn as to how to talk about this movie and not ruin it’s emotional moments for you. I will say this, yes, members of the band die and it’s sad. The songs that they sing as tribute to these lost members will bring tears to your eye. However this is more of a feel-good comedy and a drama. It’s impossible to smile hearing these musicians talk about how the music is the reason they get up in the morning and ‘keeps them young’.

It’s going to be a short one this week. Just see this documentary and bring some tissues with you.

When he’s not watching straight to DVD movies Matt can be found tweeting, writing for Geekscape.net (read his guilty pleasure on Comic Book: The Movie) and hosting is podcast The Saint Mort Show (check out this week's episode with Todd Edwards and Wordburglar) .

<---- 84. Royal Tenenbaums

100 Albums that Make Me Love Music: 83. Johnny Cash - American IV: The Man Comes Around

Every Tuesday I discuss one of the Albums that made me love music

83. Johnny Cash: American IV (The Man Comes Around)

Johnny Cash was a name I knew for a long time without ever hearing his music. LIke most people my age, I had parents who grew up around the era when Johnny Cash was the king of cool. He was like Elvis and James Dean mixed into one. However I didn’t actually know any of this songs until he covered Nine Inch Nails.

In March 2003 the video was released. Even though it sounded nothing like what I was into at that time (around this time I was still a Ska/Punk kid), the song (and the video) had an incredible level of sadness to it. Having not been a huge Nail Inch Nails fan at the time I wasn’t aware of the original and believed this to be a Cash original the first time I heard it. Everything about the song sounded like it was coming from Cash’s life experiences. Trent Reznor even said he was deeply moved by the cover and found it beautiful and meaningful.

I still didn’t get the album right away though. That wouldn’t be for another year or two when I heard the song The Man Comes Around during the opening credits of Dawn of the Dead. I finally decided to pick up a copy. Despite the instrumentation on Man Comes Around and Hurt the albums best moments come from the more stripped down songs like Give My Love to Rose, In My Life and Desperado.

Rick Rubin did a fantastic job picking out songs that represent Cash. The album feels like a goodbye record (which it sadly was as Cash died in late 2003). Songs like Bridge Over Troubled Water and Tear Stained Letter have an overwhelming mood of sadness advanced by Cash’s deep voice.

The best track on the album though is the lovely rendition of Vera Lynn’s famous We’ll Meet Again. Being one of the most popular ‘farewell songs’ for TV shows, radio shows and retirements Cash wraps up his long and impressive musical career with a chorus of backup singers promising us that we will see each other again one day. It’s the perfect way to end an album and to put the final farewell in a great career.

When he’s not watching straight to DVD movies Matt can be found tweeting, writing for Geekscape.net (read his guilty pleasure on Comic Book: The Movie) and hosting is podcast The Saint Mort Show (check out this week's episode with Todd Edwards and Wordburglar) .

<---- 84. Hellogoodbye EP

82. Garfunkel & Oates: All Over Your Face ------>