Katie created a double disc music mix for Christmas (a very electro Christmas) and this track quickly became one of my favorites. I may or may not play it on repeat for hours at a time.
Haywire is a new spy thriller by one of my favorite directors, Stephen Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich, Traffic, Solaris). As is the case with the Ocean’s trio of movies and his other recent film Contagion, Haywire features a rock star cast including Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Channing Tatum (yum), Bill Paxton and Michael Angarano. Ok, maybe you’ve never heard of Michael Angarano, but if you were a fan of Will & Grace you will remember him as Jack’s son on a handful of episodes.
The real star of the movie however is Gina Carano. You’ve probably never heard of her either, but she’s a retired mixed martial arts fighter and full of kick ass. (She was also “Crush” in the revival of American Gladiators.) In Haywire she’s basically the only female cast member and spends most of her time whooping butt. I found the movie slightly hard to follow for the first 45 minutes (lots of twists and turns), but eventually explanations unfolded and by the end it was clear what was going on.
This move is a heck of a lot of fun, especially the fighting scenes, most of which are comprised of long sustained shots without a lot of editing. These scenes go from calm to violent in a shockingly quick instant. There were a bunch of moments where I couldn’t help but blurt out “daaamn,” like when Gina’s character suffocated a guy with her thighs and when she shot a guy in the face (covered by a pillow) point blank.
I definitely recommend this violently enjoyable and easily digestible 90 minute movie!
This weekend I returned from a 10 day trip to Hawai’i. I went mostly off the grid, solo, independent and ready to be resourceful. I got to know a handful of really interesting people and saw some beautiful sights. As inspiration for this post, I listened heavily (while driving more than 1,000 miles on the Big Island) to four albums released over the last few months. I picked these albums for a variety of reasons which I explain below and also because the artists are all slated to play at Coachella this year.
Here are my thoughts and favorite songs from my Hawai’i soundtrack:
Florence and the Machine, Ceremonials
What’s great about this album? It’s better than their first album, which was pretty damn good. What’s cool about this album? It was recorded in Abbey Road Studios.
I saw Florence and the Machine perform live at the Greek Theater in Berkeley last summer (the day after I finished the AIDS Lifecycle). She is an amazing, powerful singer and her band is a very talented group of musicians. I think all of that becomes quite obvious on this new album. There isn’t a song on the album I don’t like, and knowing how great they were live, I would love to see them on tour this summer. I highly recommend this album.
Here’s my favorite song, Spectrum, being performed live (in dramatic Florence fashion) on an episode of the X Factor.
Florence and the Machine will be playing in Davis, CA at the Mondavi Center on Wednesday, April 18.
Gotye, Making Mirrors
I first heard Gotye from my friend Lukasz. He is obsessed with KCRW which I haven’t had a chance to listen to much, but he insists features a lot of great up-and-coming music acts. He shared a Gotye song with me, Somebody That I Used To Know, back in November, which was long before the video garnered 55 million views on YouTube. It’s a great song if you haven’t heard it.
As for the rest of the album, it’s good and it definitely features what I deduced to be three different sounding sets of songs. I loved songs #1-5 and thought these defined his style best. These songs sound the most current, are a tiny bit alternative, and feature meaningful lyrics. The second set of songs have an upbeat vibe but more to the tune of Michael McDonald or Taylor Hicks. The final set of songs are a bit darker and more electronic.
My favorite song from the album is called Eyes Wide Open (#4), which I must have listened to 50 times during my trip. Here’s a really great movie he released on YouTube with the song.
Gotye will be performing at The Independent in SF on Thursday, April 12.
Girls, Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Yes I like Girls because they are a San Francisco group. And yes I have great respect for Girls because their lead singer speaks open and honestly about drug abuse. Their new album, which I chose based on a sky-high review from Pitchfork (they gave it a 9.3), is good, but made less of an impression on me than the other three albums. Music snobs would probably say I didn’t get it. Maybe not. I definitely think they’re original (albeit retro) but perhaps just not for me.
It’s not like they don’t have a rabid following. It’s already been highlighted on their Wikipedia page that they recently sold out Terminal 5 in New York City. (That’s a sign they’ve made it right?)
My favorite song is probably their second single from the album, Honey Bunny, because it’s light and fun, and because it takes me to the 1950s, when Buddy Holly might have been playing a concert in Santa Cruz.
Girls will be performing in Santa Cruz on March 1 at the Coconut Grove Ballroom.
The Black Keys, El Camino
I have to be honest, I’ve been pretty oblivious to The Black Keys. I picked this album because I knew nothing about it, yet it was on the top 10 most popular album list in iTunes before I left and because they’re headling Coachella, for crying out loud.
Boy have I been missing out. The Black Keys are a talented band and likely enjoy appeal from a wide variety of fans. I know plenty of friends with good music taste that have liked them for some time (but never pushed them on me apparently) and I know plenty of different people that would appreciate this album to. Like my dad, or my sister and her fiance, for example. (Congrats again Jaime!) It’s good music and it feels good to listen to it.
Stop Stop isn’t necessarily my favorite song from the album but it stands out most for me. I had it stuck in my head throughout several points on the trip and I think it gives a good sampling of the album’s overall sound.
The Black Keys will be performing big at Oracle Arena on May 5. I don’t doubt they will put on a great show leading the marquee on Friday night at Coachella.
I had to be slightly persuaded (over my choice Carnage), but tonight I finally saw A Dangerous Method. And let me tell you ladies and gentleman, we got a hot one. The acting by the trio led by Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortenson and Michael Fassbender was top notch. Viggo was the only one to get a Golden Globe nomination and I’m not sure who will, if any, get Oscar nods, but they all deserve them, in my opinion. I never really liked Keira before this movie. She was to me to Natalie Portman, as Glenn Close is to Merryl Streep. But she proved to be quite the talented actress in this film.
The movie is based on truth, and focuses on the relationship between two of the most prolific pyschologists ever, Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, and the crazy-but-turns-out-to-be-pretty-brilliant woman that comes between them. in not necessarily the way you think.
I loved this movie and the connection I felt to it in many ways. From the topics of sex to pyschotherapy, it had my interest from start to finish.
There have been some really great songs by The Rapture including Get Myself Into It and Whoo! Alright – Yeah… Uh-huh. There have also been some really great remixes of songs by The Rapture from their 2011 album, In The Grace of Your Love, including How Deep Is Your Love, remixed by A-Track (which I featured on my Favorite Songs of 2011 holiday cd mix for friends) and the following track, Sail Away, remixed by one of my favorite electronic groups, Cut Copy. The Rapture is one of the many acts I’m looking forward to checking out at Coachella!
If you watch Jon Stewart and/or The Colbert Report, you sure know what I’m talking about.
If you remember Kerry losing the 2004 Presidential election because of the drama stirred up from the Swiftboat attack ads, questioning Kerry’s integrity, then you are familiar with the nasty power of traditional PACs. Just wait until you hear about Super PACs.
In this election cycle, the Super PACs are in full force. There are Super PACs (political organizations that can raise as much money as they want with unrestricted single donation amounts, in support of a candidate, as long as they don’t actually interact with the candidate) that will raise up to $300 million in this Presidential election. Their goal is to get their candidate elected by taking out the other candidates. Mostly with negative attack ads, robo calls, etc. You’re familiar with their tactics.
Did you know it’s harder to create a TV commercial selling white bread because of FCC regulations you have to go through to prove your claims. With political ads you apparently aren’t under the same scrutiny, so you don’t have to prove the claims you’re making. So it’s pretty easy to get a negative campaign ad about a candidate on TV.
Sometimes the Super PACs get fined when the Federal Election Commission finds out that they are cohorting with a candidate (you’re not allowed to communicate remember). Fined how much you ask? Anywhere from $50,000 to $300,000. Hmm, sounds significant. I guess unless you consider that some of these Super PACs are raising tens of millions of dollars. So maybe a $200,000 fine here and there is the cost of doing business?
Back to Stephen Colbert. Maybe you’ve heard, he’s founded his own Super PAC. Why? Not to attack any particular candidate. But to draw more attention to how Super PACs are destroying the political system in the United States.
Stephen Colbert’s Super PAC is running the following outrageous TV ad right now in South Carolina, if you can believe it:
How much as Stephen Colbert raised? The funny thing is that he doesn’t have to tell us! Well, Super PACs are supposed to release the names of their donors, with donation amounts, every 3 months. But you know what? Stephen Colbert formed his Super PAC in July and he hasn’t reported any of his donations. And no one seems to care. He says the FEC could fine him but they’d have to rule he did something wrong. And they’re split 3-3 (republican-democrat) so they can never actually ever agree on anything to rule on. So he’s fine to just keep wreaking havoc… showing how out of control Super PACs are.
I don’t know what the solution is to Super PAC fiascos. They are supported by a 5-4 Supreme Court decision in 2010 (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission), with the majority coming from liberal judges. And it sounds like the Supreme Court will never reverse its own decision, so the only thing that could change the system now is an amendment to the United States Constitution (no easy task).
Oh and don’t think this is a nasty Republican thing. Democrats are currently raising oodles in their own Super PACs, in support of President Obama. They will be fired up and ready to rip to shreds whoever the Republican candidate ends up being.
It’s going to be interesting. Can’t wait to watch the 2012 election unfold.
Today I checked an item off my Bay Area Bucket List – kayak in the bay. I had previously been kayaking in lakes, quiet little inlets and even down rivers with a little white water. But never, had I until today, hopped in a wobbly watercraft and paddled around in the intimidating waters of the mighty San Francisco Bay.
on the bay, passing the Ferry building on our way to Aquatic Park
Intimidating? Yes. There is serious traffic out there, ferries, cruise ships, sailboats and massive cargo ships. The tides are significant and the weather can be impossibly windy. But my 7.5 mile trip from City Kayak (near AT&T Park) to Aquatic Park and back, was fun, breezy, a little wet and rewarding. It was amazing paddling under the suspension spans of the Bay Bridge and alongside sea lions and wet loons.
highlight of the day, going under the Bay Bridge, a unique and humbling perspective
all photos credit to Nicolas Smith!
It was an awesome day, a legit workout and a great way to cap off a great return from CES weekend.
iDevices was showing off three of its latest technologies. iGrill, iShower and iNotebook. iGrill was my favorite...
iGrill is a cooking device, with thermometer prongs that stick into your meat when you're grilling. You set the cooking temperature for each piece of meat and then it will alert you through your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch via Bluetooth when your meat is done cooking. How convenient! Right? Think of all the grilling multi-tasking you'll be able to do.
The Romibo is a build-it-yourself robot for therapy and education, for children with physical and developmental disabilities. It was designed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and it can be used to stimulate social engagement, promote emotional response and reinforce positive behavior, especially in children with Autism. I loved how passionate the woman was that we spoke to about these fuzzy still-in-development gadgets. Great to see this kind of technology at CES and I hope they were successful in finding distribution partners!
Amidst a sea of iPhone accessories was this useful-in-theory but hard-to-actually-use laser keyboard.
I've heard a lot about 3D printers in the last few years and this was one of the first times I've actually seen one in action. The Cube 3D printer launched at CES this year and it prints a variety of things of your liking, like chess pieces, bracelets and 5 inch shoes. It retails for $1299. What a bargain!
A gadget on a bigger scale, the 2013 Ford Escape is SUV eye candy, in my opinion. The auto industry has increased its presence at CES over the years especially with all the new technology finding its way inside the car like navigation and GPS, streaming music and in-dash web browsing. Go Ford!
What’s great about this album? It’s better than their first album, which was pretty damn good. What’s cool about this album? It was recorded in Abbey Road Studios.
I first heard Gotye from my friend Lukasz. He is obsessed with 
Yes I like Girls because they are a San Francisco group. And yes I have great respect for Girls because their lead singer speaks 
I have to be honest, I’ve been pretty oblivious to The Black Keys. I picked this album because I knew nothing about it, yet it was on the top 10 most popular album list in iTunes before I left and because they’re headling Coachella, for crying out loud.
A Dangerous Method
The movie is based on truth, and focuses on the relationship between two of the most prolific pyschologists ever, Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, and the crazy-but-turns-out-to-be-pretty-brilliant woman that comes between them. in not necessarily the way you think.
I loved this movie and the connection I felt to it in many ways. From the topics of sex to pyschotherapy, it had my interest from start to finish.
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Posted in Commentary, Movie
Tagged movies, my review, psychology