Beating her to the punch.

S.A. and I have pretty divergent taste in movies. To be exact, we have a good friend who serves as each of our "date' when one of us wants to see a movies in which the other has no interest. However, there are lots of movie genres where our taste overlaps. Romantic comedies, as a general rules, tend to fit that category.

On Saturday, S.A. and I went on a belated Valentine's date to see Music and Lyrics. I have no doubt that she'll be posting a movie review in her blog at some point in the near future as she felt rather strongly about the film. But I thought I'd try to beat her to it, just to get my two cents in.

IMDB currently has the user ratings in the mid-6's for Music and Lyrics. We try to check out IMDB before seeing a movie. We find that those user ratings correspond more closely with how we feel than the movie reviews you read in the newspaper.

I felt that was just about right. S.A. felt it was about 5.5 too high.

Let me start by saying a couple things. If someone tells you it's predictable, they're right. If they tell you and both Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore play the same character that they play in every other movie they're in, I can't argue. If they tell you the supposedly "hit" music is less than spectacular, they're spot-on. The thing is, in my ever-so-humble opinion, it doesn't matter.

Now in the interest of full disclosure, I should make sure you all understand one thing. I would happily pay to watch Hugh Grant balance his checkbook. And though I think Drew Barrymore is pretty much talentless, watching her movies, for me, is a little like watching a 5-foot-tall glasses-wearing geek trying to play high-school basketball. I'm not saying he's any good, but I kind of root for him anyway.

The movie IS predictable. Very. It's not gonna win any awards. But I'm okay with that. I LIKE happy endings. I don't like movies with anti-heroes. I don't want to have to sort though symbolism. I respect more complex, nuanced romantic comedies like Lost in Translation. But I don't ENJOY them. So knowing that the two main characters would end up together and would write a hit song in the end before the movie had actually started was good by me. (And if you're now howling that I've slipped spoilers ::GASP:: into my movie review, shut up. If you're honestly interested in seeing this movie but don't already inherently know this stuff, you're an idiot, so I don't want to hear it.)

And as for the music... S.A. complained that the songs in the movie could never be hits because the faux-80s songs were cheesy and insipid. She felt that the supposedly modern songs would never succeed because they were tuneless and slightly insulting. I'm left to assume that she does not, in fact, own a radio. The 80s-style stuff sounded A LOT like a great deal of 80's music. The modern stuff was HORRIBLE. And it sounded EXACTLY like 90% of the crap you hear on the radio today. The "hit" song that Hugh & Drew supposedly wrote was insipid and cutesy and if it was recorded by a couple of the fine folks on American Idol, I guarantee it was be a huge hit. I apologize to anyone who's offended by this, but the vast majority of the music-listening public know absolutely nothing about music. They're not looking for Motzart. (Which is good, because they're not gonna find it anywhere.) And that's okay, too. I am pretty well musically-trained. And I downloaded the soundtrack last night, anyway.

Anyway, when it's all finished, Music and Lyrics is probably not going to make you think. But if you let it, it'll probably make you smile. Unless you're my wife. And she liked XXX, so i don't really care what she thinks.

Laterz.

Stealing Andrew Andrew's Meme

1. What was the first CD/Record/Album/Artist you ever bought and what format was it in?
Guns ‘n’ Roses - Appetite for Destruction. That was the first CD. I couldn’t tell you the first tape. I had TONS of cassettes as a kid, but I don’t remember which, if any, of them I actually paid for.

2. How do you usually listen to music?
My iPod. 40 gigs of eclectic musical bliss.

3. What is your favorite genre of music and why?
Classic rock, but only because it’s different to find a genre that encompasses KISS, Elton John, Ringo, George Harrison, and Warren Zevon. (Maybe "Old Fogie Music"?)

4. What is your opinion on music video shows and music televion?
I truly cannot remember the last time I watched a music video. Ditto for awards shows.

5. Do you usually agree with who the winners of the Grammy Awards are?
The Grammy Award winners generally make me think that REAL musicians (see above) should have to approve every new artist who wants to record an album because everyone (okay, maybe not everyone, but let’s say 98% of the folks) recording today who’s under the age of 40 is a steaming pile of crap. (On a positive note- Weird Al just scored his first ever top-10 single. I guess maybe there’s a little bit of hope for the music industry.

Music so great it advances evolutionary theory

My son (who's 4 months old today) has a new favorite song.

The New York Dolls have released a new album and the first single is called "Dance Like A Monkey" and it's actually about the evolution/intelligent design/creationism debate.
Also it has a good beat and the way my wife dances to it when playing with my son is the funniest damn thing you've ever seen. (She would not let me videotape it. Sorry.)

You can check the video out here.

Laterz

Music Meme

I wanted to write this morning and I'm starting to feel like my posts are getting a little bitchy. Solution? Blog meme! So here's my music meme. (Needless to say, I stole stole it from some random nobody out in the blogosphere.)

What is the total amount of music files on your computer?
About 18 gigs. I have almost my entire collection digitized, so I can carry it all on my ipod. When I think about getting on an airplane with 400 cds in 2 huge-ass disc wallets, I just shake my head.

The CD you last bought?
I bought the Spamalot soundtrack a couple weeks ago. As a general rule, I don't BUY cds, but I felt like it was worth having the whole thing rather than going through the trouble of trying to download each individual song via WinMX.

What was the last song you listened to before reading this message?
"You Can Call Me Al" by Paul Simon. I've got my ipod plugged into my computer speakers at work at the moment. Listening to my "Over Easy" list, in case you wondered.

Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.
Let's see... This could change a lot from day to day, but here goes.

1. "Find Your Grail" from the Spamalot soundtrack- I listen to it most mornings on my way to work. Nice mood to it and I love Sara Ramirez' voice.(She's kind of a hottie, too.)

2. "Studebaker" by Jordan Zevon - It's from Enjoy Every Sandwich, the tribute to Warren Zevon album. Warren wrote it but never had a chance to record it before he died. Very cool Zevon vibe and very nice piano part. Also uses a really original chord progression that I truly wish I was talented enough to write myself.

3. "Sad Songs Say So Much" by Elton John - The song that turned me on to Elton John when I was only 5 or 6 years old. Not necessarily his best, but I have a lot of good memories of riding in the car and singing it with my mom. "I Just Called to Say I Love You" by Steveie Wonder and "The Longest Time" by Billy Joel also fall into this category. (That would be the "Cheesy-Ass songs you're embarrassed to like but stuck with them due to childhood memories" category.)

4. "Beast of Burden" by the Rolling Stones - Again, not a great song, per se, but I have great memories of driving down the highway with B and Nate sticking their heads out the windows and singing to the whole world. The time of my life when I realized that the only thing I needed to have in common with my friends was our outlook on life.

5. "Forever" by Kiss - This was our first dance at our wedding reception. "Cheesy early-nineties' power ballad," you say? Hah! We got married in 2000! So by then it was a "classic". Its good stuff and I truly believe it. (I know it's cheesy. I'm cheesy. I've learned to live with it.)

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
Andrew Andrew, because he loves music almost as much as I do. S.A., because I think the "Forever" stuff might get me a few brownie points. And Amy, because she's the 3rd person I know with a blog. (I'm kind of pitiful, aren't I?)