now, before buying this cd i had only heard of the name Patti Smith in passing (through facebook no less), i had no idea about her "Godmother of Punk" status. But, all hype aside, Gone Again stands on its own as a solid album.

When the words "Hey now man's own kin, we commend into the wind, grateful arms. grateful limbs, grateful soul he's gone again" come out through the headphones my initial reaction was "well, this is some Alanis Morissette feminist bullshit right here" but i was wrong. Patti Smiths lyrics and vocal melody reminds of Nico from Velvet Underground and Bob Dylan. I am certainly fascinated by her music and lyrics. why isn't she more popular? as the album trails on the style of music changes from upbeat folk to melodramatic pop. its really a mish mash of an album. not that thats a bad thing. i really dig it, and its a prefect album to lay in bed at night with muff headphones on and zone out too (wish i got it on wax).

sorry for the short review but i've been busy this whole December and really need to get back to my holiday labor.


Pablo

you know, i have talked shit about critics and how they are pretentious fucks who failed at doing the arts and just spend their time bad mouthing artist but after spending 145 minutes of my life watching Funny People, i understand how you can become a harsh pretentious asshole; this movie was insult to my being. Adam Sandler and Seth Rogan have reached a new low, seriously, one of the worst films i have seen in the last 2 years. And worst of all its not bad in the good sort of way but just BAAAAAAD. the movie starts out more or less like any Judd Apatow film, dick jokes and trying to someone inject some sort of deeper meaning with the writing and failing. don't get me wrong, i liked Dewie Cox, 40 Year Old Virgin and i didn't dislike Pineapple Express but seriously Judd Apatow, don't try to "broaden your horizons" anymore. This film is horribly boring and long, really it should have ended with Sandler dieing and thats it. At least that way you could go "ok, this is Adam Sandler 'tryin to pull on my hearts strings' dramatic crap movie that he always does" which isn't a far stretch for Adam Sandler since he is use to doing "meh" movies but this....it's crap that doesn't know it's crap, it's worst then crap, IT'S PRETENTIOUS CRAP.

how far can you drag on a story? how many comics can you cameo in a movie? How many scenes of comics doing stand-up can you fit in a movie? how long can you drag a movie on? how much of Seth Rogan's shitting acting can one human take?  and just HOW LONG can you drag lukewarm story/movie on? well, test your might. watch Funny People.



Pablo

I have not seen The Road but i have read some reviews and most are saying that it is pretty bleak and depressing. They are also saying that by the time you exit the theater your one rainy day away from slashing your wrists. now, i can't say anything about The Road but i can tell you that this movie, Precious, is unrelentingly, horribly and abundantly depressing. that being said, this would be the part where i would give you a brief summery of some sort but it has been given Oprah's golden stamp of approval and needs no further introduction. Just Google it. There is has been enough publicity out there and one line e-talk summaries to satisfy any curiosity. now, lets cut to the chase.


As i have stated, Precious is a wonderfully depressing film that is somewhat surprising how it all came together in the end. Everyone is talking about Gabourey Sidibe's (Precious) performance, which was indeed quite outstanding, but by 30 minutes or so into the movie i ended up finding a Joker in the pack; a single character that completely overshadows all other performances in a way that is stunning. i'm talking about Mo'Nique's god-like performance as Mary, the mother. Her character got me onto a roller coaster of emotions. During the first and second act of the film i litterally wished i would bump into Mo'Nique just so i can punch her in the face and tell her she is terrible mother. seriously, her performance was that powerful. What just blew my mind was that by the end i actually felt bitter but sorry for her character, it was a "wow" moment (which i actually said outloud). I hated her so goddamn much because her character was the type that is unrelenting evil and mean spirited, there isn't a single moment that you actually see anything to like in her or any spark of human decency and understanding within her. She was the perfect evil mother in ways that i have yet to fully comprehend. And just the whole build of her character- until the very peak and then giving you a brief breeze of her humanity at the end is something so astounding that i can't even quite get my head around it.....shit, im getting excited just thinking about it. the rest of the film at first seems to be going one way but it isn't quite as "im fat and i don't fit in" as you would think. the emotions seem raw and the subject matter realistic. it doesn't seem like white people writing about black people and its great to see a movie with an almost all black cast that doesn't have "tyler perry's" in front of it. all the characters seem real, like i could actually meet them in real life. it was wonderfully cast, i can't think of one performance that was spot on but, as i said, they are all over shadowed by one. It has a lot in common with The Dark Knight in that sense.




Pablo

First let me start with Pygmy.

its a romance/comedy/spy/grindhouse thriller...god, its a mouth full.

Pygmy (or agent 67) is a spy from an unknown country (which based on the cover and my assumptions is China) who has come under the cover of exchange student to a unspecific place in America to do an unspecific act of terrorism under the name Operation Havoc. its kind of a coming of age story and full of prescriptive into north american culture. the writing is very stylized, as is common with Palahniuk's novels (the author of Fight Club). it is split up into "Dispatches" instead of "Chapters" which are each only a couple of pages long. its great that it's laid out this way because the whole book is written in "Engrish" and this style of writing works well in the context of the book but  requires some getting use too. Pygmy is a book that you can't make a judgment of at your first impression, it think its best to give it some time to breath after you finished it. at first, i didn't like this book that much. it seemed like it was just horrific and disgusting for no particular reason (already in Dispatch Two the bully gets his....well im not gonna spoil it) but only after you finish it everything comes together. you realize that it isn't as shallow as it comes off as at first. Before i finished it, its not that i didn't like it, i just thought to myself "this would work better as a graphic novel", a graphic novel such as sin city or the maxx however but as i've said, you really need to finish it for it all to come together. overall its a great book that requires some getting use to but in the long run is worth while. the inner flap of the cover describes it as "The Manchurian Candidate mixed with South Park" and i think that explains it perfectly.





The Lost City of Z is a non-fiction adventure story about English explorer, spy and solider (fought in WWI) Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett who disappeared in 1925 after going on a expedition into the Amazon. He went looking for the Lost City of Z, an ancient civilization which he thought lived isolated in the jungle. it is part biography (and log of all his expeditions leading up to the last) part history lesson, part adventure story. the author actually went into the jungle himself to find any evidence of what happened to Fawcett and maybe find some trace, if any, of the Lost City of Z. its a book i can't stop talking about it. I don't know if its just me and my "learn about Brasil" phase but i really loved this book probably more then any i've read in a while. Fawcett is one of those people that the term "larger then life" fits in perfectly. in fact, he had such an interesting and adventurous life that i had to do a little fact finding of my own to see if what i was reading was true, turns out it all is! David Grann writes articles for different news papers and the fact that he is a journalist is really apparent in the book. he is always quoting this or that person or newspaper of the time, he doesn't write like a writer but from a journalism standpoint, he is probably one of the best journalists i have ever seen. the research and dedication that went into this book is really something to marvel at, for the fact finding alone Lost City of Z should have won some sort of award. overall, its a fascinating story that even though is very fact filled menages to be entertaining enough to keep you staying up late to read what happens next.



Pablo

as far as super-groups go, this takes the cake. never in my life have a heard the term "super group" applied so accurately. each individual playing style is apparent but at the same time its something completely different anything that Homme, Grohl or even Jones have done before. Its a side project thats good enough to be a main band.


what i noticed about this album is that it takes a while to get use to, at first listen it can be quite off putting. there is something so weird and strange that flows through the songs that i can't quite put my finger on. With every listen it gets a little better until you can actually enjoy everything. What i also noticed is that almost all of the songs could be the single, they each stand on their own two feet but yet they all flow together quite well. Its full of heavy riffs and suprises, nothing less then would expected with a Homme and Jones co-lab. I was never that much into Grohls drumming but he managed to make me a fan, i don't think his drumming has ever been quite as good as it is on this album. its a dark and fun album that even though it isn't as ambitious as would want it to be (doesn't mean its not fucking awesome) but its only a prequel for things to come.


Pablo

P.S i had a dream that had the end of Scumbag Blues playing and Dennis Hopper narrating the Apocalypse. made me like that song even more!

Dracula: The Un-Dead could be considered a "legit" squeal of the original Dracula (written by Bram Stoker, released in 1897) because it is the only Dracula novel or film that has been officially authorized by the Stoker famliy (Dacre Stoker being Bram's great grand nephew) since the 1933 Dracula film with Bela Lugosi. it is a completely different book then its predecessor; I can't tell you exactly if it is worse or better but i can say that it is a wonderful Gothic horror novel for the modern age. It isn't literature thats going to last through the ages but if that what your looking for your just not getting it. While reading the book i found myself hearing the theme for the first level in Castlevania III in my head; a nostalgic feeling that i couldn't exactly shake, one that has made it a fun epic journey that somehow feels familiar. It has SOME essence of the original but its way more....horrific; its a HORROR novel in all sense of the word, horribly horrific. Descriptions of gory scenes that really made you envision it to the point of your stomach churning. Its more like the 1992 Francis Ford Coppola Dracula film then the Bram Stoker novel. Dracula: The Un-dead is what i would consider an action horror novel with many scattered pieces that at the end fit together some how. I feel all the romanticism of the original has been replaced with broadswords and crossbows. lots of death and lots of gore, just how i like it. If it was a film, it would be a mix of a classic horror film making of the 30's, with the fog and the lighting of only the eyes, and gore soaked exploitation splatter film of the 60's and 70s. it could be showed in a grindhouse or in an arthouse. not to give to much away but Dracula is not as bad as you would think and by the end i thought the book would better be called something else because Dracula isn't as much in the book as you would want him to be....well, not at least until you know he is who he is.


to conclude, Dracula: The Un-dead, while not being as poetic or timeless as its predecessor, still holds its own in the field of modern age Gothic horror. its a fun read if you don't take it to seriously, don't nit pick it. however, after going to a dramatic reading and book signing with both Ian Holt and Dacre Stoker, i feel that it was mostly a cash grab (a pretty fun cash grab) and it makes me wonder how much Dacre Stoker had to do with the actual writing of this book. I personally feel that Ian Holt seemed the more enthusiastic and overall into the whole Dracula universe of the two. it makes think that Ian Holt just wrote the book and approached Dacre to get his name on it, that way he could make more money if he sells it off as a "legit squeal, authorized by the Stoker family". of course on the cover is says in big yellow letters "DACRE STOKER" followed by a very small "and ian holt" under it. By the way, the cover, font overall way its put together looks so fucking awesome. it makes me wonder if aesthetic appeal isn't what makes me feel so nostalgic about the whole book...hmmm....


Pablo

hello, welcome to the reviews blog!


here ill be reviewing many things like:

- Books
- Films
- Concerts
- Programs
- Video Games
- Albums

and probably many other things. im shooting for one review a week and possibly, when i get some momentum going, more. well without further delay here is the first review.





Reading Bob Dylan's Chronicles is like climbing a mountain, its tedious and makes you wonder why your doing it in the first place but once your finished, you feel that it was probably one of the greatest things you've done; or read rather. Having been diagnosed with ADHD (whether it is a factitious learning disability or not) it was rather hard to sit down and read more then a couple of pages of this book without getting confused and/or lost, I can see both sides of the argument when it comes to good vs bad. In a way, when speaking of the standerd writing form for autobiographies, its a badly written book. It doesn't tell you exactly why or how he wrote this or that song. its more like "then i woke up, walked over to the fireplace, both the one in my mind and at the apartment, and looked out the window; down into the snow covered streets of New York City. That afternoon, i wrote such and such song". He isn't exactly straight forward with what he trying to say but what can be expected from the man who wrote "The handmade blade, the child's balloon, Eclipses both the sun and moon, To understand you know too soon, There is no sense in trying"; Absolutely beautiful but you can tell that whoever wrote it is completely lost in their own minds. Let me take this opportunity to clear this up now, i love this book. It gave a wonderful insight into what makes Dylan tick but i can see why some people will hate it. I was a hard book to read, it took me well over a month to read from cover to cover; the longest i have ever taken to finish a book. It is written in a real "stream of consciousness" sort of way that only Dylan could do. it has a flow to it that seems natural, one thing leads into another and then back again into what he was talking about in the first place fluently. As much as i love his writing style, i couldn't help but get lost. It really doesn't help that there aren't any chapters. the book is split up into 5 different parts which have around 50 each. In most cases, no one will read that much in one sitting meaning that, wherever you put your bookmark after your done, your in the middle of a thought or sentence. The best you can do is stop when you get to the break in the paragraph but the next day when you want to pick up where you left off, you'll probably have to go back and start from the beginning to remember what the hell you were reading in the first place....agh....its a mess. a beautiful mess that i can't recommend highly enough.

To conclude, it was a great read from Dylan's standpoint. its no more or less what i would expect from him. There is a certain poetry and beauty to the whole book that I've never experienced before; i had to adapt my reading style to it and i think that i  have overall become a more patient reader. i had to focus on every single word in order to fully understand what he was trying to say. i have read that some people think it came off as pretentious but i don't think so. i think the complete opposite actually, he seems to me to portrait himself as rather fragile and humble. what came of as pretension to some people is merely him finding his purpose in life. my main issue with the book is more with how its arranged, it would have been nice to have chapters every 10 or 15 pages. i mean, Dylan already writes stream of consciousness, why would you want to make it anymore confusing?


Pablo