Chronicle

Saw the film Chronicle over the weekend.  Three friends find a mysterious formation in a hole in the ground outside a party, and then all of them shortly afterwards find that they have superpowers.  Chronicle is a fast moving movie with outstanding special effects and great scenes with teenagers discovering what they can do with their superpowers.  One of them, Andrew, has an abusive father and a stressful homelife, and in his hands superpowers aren't necessarily a great thing. 

Recommended for the special effects and the fact that Chronicle is wisely only about an hour and 25 minutes- it doesn't overuse the special effects, and is a very entertaining movie.

Quick Hit- The Good Feeling by Christian McBride Big Band

I don't know a whole lot about big band music, but I found The Good Feeling to be a very pleasant listen, very upbeat, and very much enjoyed the album's vocal tracks.

Be The Void by Dr. Dog

Be The Void is the new release from Dr. Dog, a group with a retro sound.  I had first heard Dr. Dog on NPR and was caught by what I head from their album Fate, specifically a song called "The Old Days", which remains one of my favorite songs.

Catching up with them a few years later on Be The Void finds them in much the same place in my book- I had heartily enjoyed a few songs off Fate, but found the album as a whole pretty dry.  Be The Void suffers from a lack of catchy, interesting songs and no matter what the emotion, on most songs the vocals have a similar tone, and some are downright silly ("Warrior Man").  The standout tracks to me were "Vampire" and "Big Girl", but for some reason I feel like I've heard these two songs before in some form.

Moneyball- The Movie

Pretty fresh off having finished Moneyball, the Michael Lewis book about Billy Beane and the Oakland A's revolutionary thinking, I was curious to see the film and make a comparison.  I find most of the time the book wins in the book-vs-movie debate, and this was no exception.  

I was highly skeptical when I had heard a movie would be based on Moneyball.  Who would really want to watch a movie about a baseball general manager going against the baseball establishment?  Would stats versus scouts really make for must-see watching?  How to make that entertaining?

Moneyball, the film, takes some dramatic license with the content of the book.  Instead of settling on the book's hemming and hawing of the scouts as they figure out that Beane wants to change the thinking of the organization, there's a confrontation.  There's also conflict between Beane and manager Art Howe that wasn't present in the book (at least not as explicitly as in the film).  And, to make the film connect a little more, it adds scenes with his daughter.

Finally, Jonah Hill's character doesn't exist in the book but serves as a sounding board for Beane's character in the film

Moneyball is a watchable film.  It's not great or even very good.  I'm honestly befuddled at the Oscar nominations for the film (Best Picture), best actor (Brad Pitt), and best supporting actor (Jonah Hill), since the film doesn't really achieve any great highs or dramatic lows.

Area 52 by Rodrigo Y Gabriela and C.U.B.A

Flying fingers and furious guitar solos characterize Rodrigo Y Gabriela, the mexican guitar duo.  On Area 52, they team with several other musicians (and featuring drums, piano, organ, and sitar, amongst other instruments) and I'll admit, after several listens, the jury's still out for me.  The fundamental question in my mind prior to listening:  will the talents of R Y G be lost amidst the rest of the musicians?  Area 52 remakes several of the duo's songs to varying results.  Area 52 is never a snooze, but in places it does wander a bit and I kept waiting for Rodrigo Y Gabriela to make a more pronounced mark.  Like many works in which an artist or group remakes their music, I felt more compelled to play the original songs instead.

The King's Speech

Tonight I decided to visit with an old favorite and see if it still held the same appeal  as the first two times I watched it.

The King's Speech became an instant favorite the first time I saw it, and each viewing has reinforced that opinion. It's an Oscar winning film with many Oscar winning performances, but its inspiring message is what hits home more each time.  The Duke of York must find his voice, and through difficult circumstances works to conquer his stammering.  The scenes between The Duke of York (Colin Firth) and his speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush. are extremely compelling, especially the chance to see royalty as royalty might not want to be seen (looking silly, swearing, etc.).  As yet it doesn't quite rank up with my favorite film (Rain Man), but it's still a reliably good time.

Excellent take on the Jeremy Lin buzz

Boy, I thought that ESPN and company went overboard on Tim Tebow- I've pretty much stopped listening to ESPN Radio because of all the Jeremy Lin coverage.  That said, it was great to read this from Grantland.com's Charles Pierce:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7597844/jeremy-lin-perils-flash-stardom-internet-age