Self Observational Sunday: BROME

The 3 of you who check my blog/read regularly may have noticed that I didn't have a Self Observational Sunday last week. That was not out of laziness nor did I forget to do it. You see my brother was home from Florida. When given the choice between finding 30 minutes to write a SOS or finding as much time as possible to hang out with my brother .... brother will win everytime.

He's back in Florida for the time being and it seems like unless I save up enough dough to visit him in the fall I won't see him again until Christmas. I miss him. He's one of those people that lights up a room and is so full of energy that you can't help but be active when he's in your life.

Since he left on Wednesday I've almost only left my house for work reasons. What I'm driving at is that he's the person who gets me off the couch.

While he was home I recorded a fascinating podcast with him. THe episode will be released in about two weeks. I can't wait til you hear it!

100 Movies That Make Me Love Film: 30. Free Enterprise

30. Free Enterprise

As I do more of these lists (sorry for all my facebook and twitter followers who are sick of this only 29 more weeks right?) I’m realizing that at least half my favorite movies I discovered watching Showtime. Free Enterprise is no different.

I remember catching the movie in the middle and watching about 45 minutes of it and then I had to leave. I had never seen anything else in the film until almost 6 years later when I found the DVD for sale somewhere. I had no clue what this movie was actually about until then.

When I first saw it I just assumed it was about 2 guys who are obsessed with William Shatner due to loving Star Trek as kids. However there’s so much more to it. The film is about importance of Sci-Fi to some people, the importance of the escapism. It also discusses issues of growing old as well as relationships. It basically plays out like a Seinfeld episode written by Kevin Smith.

Mark and Robert are struggling writers in Los Angeles as well as die hard sci-fi geeks. They’re unhappy with work and unlucky with love and dealing with turning 30. 

There’s more pop culture reference than what’s good for it (in theory) and the dialogue occasionally sounds too forced but regardless these are my friends. As I listen to these guys make Star Wars references and get excited at a chance to see Wrath of Khan on the big screen I can’t help but see myself and my friends in these people. 

One of the biggest elements of the movie that appealed to me was that Mark and Robert aren’t show as socially inept. While they have action figures and obsess over a 70’s TV show that doesn’t mean the women don’t date them. This isn’t the Big Bang Theory. 

Their lives come to a weird place when they find themselves developing a friendship with William Shatner after running into him in a bookstore. They’re disillusioned by his porn obsession and his desire to create an all hip-hop version of Julius Caesar but they don’t allow it from keeping them from developing a bond with their childhood hero.

If you’ve ever loved science fiction, felt isolated in high school or just love pop culture based dialogue this is a movie for you.

My Latest Obsession: The Mars Volta: De-loused in the Comatorium

The Mars Volta: De-Loused in the Comatorium

I can't say I disliked At the Drive-In. That absolutely was not the case, I actually quite enjoyed a good handful of their songs however I was not obsessed with them like many music critics. Perhaps that's the reason that I constantly was putting off listening to the Mars Volta.

However after a ton of people telling me I had to give them a chance I decided to pick up their debut album to see what they were all about. It shattered my mind.

I understand that this album is a concept album but I frankly wasn't listening to the lyrics closely enough to decipher the story, my ears were far too focused on the music. There are moments of intense insanity (specifically on the track Drunkship of Lanterns) and moments of beautiful (I hate that I'm about to use this word) epicness.

Also this album managed to do that very few have been able to accomplish in the life of Matt Kelly. I have a relatively short attention span which has made me pretty unforgiving to many Prog-Rock songs. However this album kept my attention even during Cicatriz ES a song in the dead center of the album running over 12 minutes long. I didn't lose my attention even when the song broke into an 8 minute "feedback solo".

This is not an album for everyone but this record certainly made a big impression on me.

100 Albums That Made Me Love Music: 30. Panic At The Disco: Pretty. Odd.

30. Panic At The Disco: Pretty. Odd.

When I was just starting college the world was introduced to Panic at the Disco. It was like Fall Out Boy but more theatric and weird. At the time I didn’t really think much of them. They had one or two songs I heard and thought were okay but I didn’t go running to the local CD store to purchase it or anything.

Flash forward to 2008. One of my best friends Matt was in a local band called Racing Kites. They had just completed a month long tour and he was telling me how much I’d like the new Panic at the Disco album. I was doubtful but he kept describing it to me as “a Beatles album”. I still didn’t believe him.

Now around this same time I got into the video game Rock Band (admittedly way later than the rest of the world) and I was exposed to “Nine in the Afternoon” for the first time. And dammit. Not only was it catchy but there was an undeniable Beatles influence behind it. The next time I was in Matt’s car I asked if he could put it on.

I was immediately drawn in. Songs like We’re So Starving and She’s a Handsome Woman had a unique sound of Beatles meets punk. But not just in sound lyrically songs like Do You Know What I’m Seeing could have been a B-Side off Sgt. Peppers.

This album suddenly changed my mind entirely about Panic at the Disco as a band. Ever since hearing Pretty. Odd. I’ve always given bands a genuine chance before immediately writing them off.

100 Movies That Make Me Love Movies: 31. Toxic Avenger

31. Toxic Avenger

The 90’s were a weird time. Anything could become a marketable children’s cartoon. Despite all that, nothing was more confusing than the decision to make Toxic Avenger into a children’s cartoon. But I didn’t care. As a kid Toxic Crusaders was my favorite cartoon. When I say as I kid I mean like 5 or 6 years old.

When I was a kid I used to hang out with my Uncle Craig a lot. He was a huge horror buff and would put together this elaborate and awesome halloween displays. He had thousands of movies, most of which I was afraid to watch. However one day while the family was out in the pool I was in his basement looking at his VHS tapes and suddenly I saw my buddy Toxie’s face on a VHS cover. 

I got extremely excited and immediately put the tape into the VCR. What occurred next was 30 minutes or so of things a 6 year old shouldn’t be watching. Plenty of nudity, a man melting due to toxic waste exposure and finally my breaking point Toxie poking out someone’s eyeballs. I ran screaming from the room and my mother had to comfort me that it’s all fake.

It wasn’t until years later when I was in 7th grade and I rented the movie and finally completed the film. What I found was an incredible movie filled with human and for a low-budget movie some impressive special effects. 

I’d watched the shitty sequels but it wasn’t until college that my true love affair with Troma pictures was rekindled. They are now (and have been for a while) my favorite film company. While they’re not always winners, they always have a charm and heart.

My Latest Obsession: /r/ExplainLikeDrCox

It's not secret I'm a little bit of a redditor. I've had people tell me how awful redditors are and how I shouldn't include myself as one of "them"but I think it's all about the SubReddits. Yes if you go to the main stuff you'll find horrible people but if you just go to your interest wheels you'll be super satisfied. I almost exclusively post in /r/Horror and /r/PopPunkers I found that this subreddit fulfill my needs and everyone there is mostly a good hearted person.

However I recently discovered a subreddi that blew my mind skull with it's brilliant hilarity. Explain Like Dr. Cox.

I haven't posted in this subreddit and probably never will but I can't lie that I get overjoyed just reading people answer everyday questions in that very distinct Dr. Cox style. If you're a scrubs fan, you owe it to yourself to also check this out.

100 Albums That Make Me Love Music: 31. Eminem - The Slim Shady LP

31. Eminem: The Slim Shady LP

People talk about those magical moments in music. The things that changed the game. The first time the world heard The Beatles or Nirvana. I was never a part of those things ‘first times’. But I remember the first time the world heard Eminem. 

The song was My Name Is and it’s hilarious music video and catchy hook spelled instant success. When I first heard him I assumed it was a joke or a one-hit wonder. It wasn’t that I didn’t think he was talented because I immediately could tell he was, but I first heard him on our local rock station. Before this the only rap artists they played was Beastie Boys.

Much like when I talked about Weird Al a few months ago, the first time the song came out it was all anyone could talk about at Northley Middle School. Now I’ve talked about my religious background really fucking up my ability to enjoy music before in high school. I ignored this ‘foul-mouthed rapper’ for years. I talked about this previously about my secret fandom when discussing the Marshall Mathers LP.

Don’t get me wrong for ranking this higher than the Marshall Mathers LP. Eminem’s Sophomore album is his best record. It’s a masterpiece of hip-hop storytelling and is among the 10 greatest rap albums ever released. Regardless, this is my favorite album of Eminem’s. Call me immature but I’d rather listen to the over-the-top and absurd comic book violence and sex that is presented on this album (‘go-go gadget dick’, ‘I beat up Foghorn Leghorn with an Acorn’) than the most serious (but still great) side of Eminem.

I’ve loved almost all of Mather’s albums (except Recovery... which I realize I’m in the minority about but fuck it, not for me) but it was songs like Role Model and Brain Damage that really got me interested in Eminem. 

One of the best major label debuts in hip-hop history, plain and simple.