Saturday, August 29, 2009

In B Flat

This website is pretty incredible. I haven't played around with it too much, but there are 20 different clips all in the key of b flat so they can be played all at once or only a few, and the timing doesn't matter. It is an amazing feat of musical comradery.

Enjoy the link here, and feel free to play around with it.

In a related news, I saw the documentary It Might Get Loud last night. It is a documentary about the electric guitar and it follows arguably three of the best guitarists from three generations: Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White.

I loved this movie and each person's story with how they found the guitar and how they were attracted to it and their influences and songwriting process was great. I'm sure there are tons of footage that wound up on the cutting room floor and can't wait to see that on the DVD someday.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Cosmic


Something different for dortTASTIC, but still decidedly dorky. I found this picture and this information related to the picture while reading about the AFC on ESPN's Page 2.

This simply fascinates me on so many levels that I thought it should be included. Anyone that thinks we are alone in the universe has to be mistaken. The law of averages simply means there has to be life in a bunch of these places, I just hope I live long enough for some sort of contact.

Researchers led by Swinburne University of Technology, in Australia, released this map of the "nearby" cosmos. The map contains about 100,000 dots. The dots are not stars; each dot represents a galaxy, and galaxies are thought to average about 100 billion stars each. Thus the area depicted contains holds roughly 10 to the 15th power stars, a number far too huge to bother attempting to fathom. And the map merely shows galaxies nearby. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is at the center of the map. On the cosmic scale, a place with 100 billion stars is a dot.

Weird Images...


Every Friday on the Bendis Board someone posts "Weird Images" he came across while he was surfing the net this week. Today's aren't great, but these are always fun to read. One of them was great for numerous reasons though.

Enjoy the rest of the images by clicking on this link

Thursday, August 27, 2009

The greatest thing ever??



Someone decided to compare and contrast characters from Lost with comic book superheroes. It's virtually perfect.

Go on. I dare you not to tell me that this is not the greatest thing ever. For me, this could possibly be the reason the internet was invented

ENJOY by clicking here.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Movies I've seen so far in 2009

The year is more than halfway over, and I was looking over the movies I've seen so far this year. If I had to rank them so far, they would look like this, without any spoilers:

Inglourious Basterds A +
Up A
Star Trek A-
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince A-
Watchmen A-
Drag Me To Hell B+
The Time Traveler’s Wife B+
Coraline B
I Love You Man B
Knowing B
Angels And Demons B
Food, Inc. B
Terminator Salvation C
Wolverine C-
Transformers: Rise of the Fallen C-
He’s Just Not That Into You D

Anyone out there see any movies that I should see? Let me know and I'll add them to my list.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Tarantino's favorite movies since 1992

Most people that know me and knew me in High School know I was a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino. My love for him has dwindled since he has not released that many films in his career, but he does have an interesting sense of what is a great movie and what is not. Although you may not agree with his taste, I like to see where he gets his inspiration from. With the movie Inglorious Basterds opening on Friday, this is a good time to figure out what he says.

Click here to be brought to the youtube clip featuring Tarantino's opinion.

For those (like me) that get antsy if a video is more than 20 seconds long, here is the movies that he thinks are the best since 1992: (My comments on his list are below in italics)

Battle Royale- Fantastic future distopianJapanese movie. Anyone that has seen this agrees it is one of the best in recent memory.
Anything Else - I turned this off. I'm not a huge Woody Allen fan and this was not one of his best. Match Point on the other hand...
Audition - I have tried to watch this a few times, but it is quite brutal. I understand why Tarantino has this on his list. I do need to watch it myself. For those that don't know, it's a Japanese horror film of sorts.
Blade - This was the first movie based on a Marvel Comic and made possible all the other comic book movies that have come since. I agree with this for that reason, although it's not the best comic book movie.
Boogie Nights - I love this movie as well. The opening crane shot in the disco is fantastic, and any scene with Mark Wahlberg and John C. Reilly is priceless.
Dazed & Confused - One of the best. I agree wholeheartedly. My friend Craig used to throw a 70s themed Dazed and Confused party every year in honor of this film it is that good.
Dogville - I tried to watch this and failed. But I understand why Tarantino would like this.
Fight Club - Another one of my favorites as well. A revolutionary film and still Fincher's best in my eyes.
Friday - A fun comedy, but wouldn't be on my list
The Host - Great Korean horror film that I rented last year. A fun monster movie in the vein of Godzilla, but not as cheesy.
The Insider - I never saw this, but I know I should.
Joint Security Area - I never heard of this one.
Lost In Translation - I didn't love this movie. I still don't know what all the rage is for this movie. It's OK, but that's all for me (dawg)
The Matrix - Agreed. This changed the way action movies were done after 1999.
Memories of Murder - Never heard of this one either.
Police Story 3 - Or this.
Shaun of the Dead - I Agree with Tarantino. This is a fun, awesome movie.
Speed - This wouldn't be on my list, but I understand why he includes this. Like The Matrix, this was the blueprint for action movies for a few years after this came out.
Team America -I think South Park is better, but Team America is quite fun. Trey Parker is a modern genius in my eyes.
Unbreakable - Agreed again. This movie is so well done. The pacing, the story and direction are spot on.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

icheckmovies.com

I have a new favorite website: www.icheckmovies.com.
It is quite simple: They take all sorts of lists like the imdb top 250 movies or Academy Award winning movies or the Empire 500 and you go through and check off what you have seen. Very simple, but it has made me watch movies that I normally wouldn't watch.
For example: On every list is Unforgiven. I had never seen this movie even though everyone I know says it is great and I believe them. Because of this list (and the fact that I netflixed Gran Torino and liked it) I decided to watch Unforgiven last night just so I could check it off my list and have better stats with myself.
This also made Aubrey watch 2001: A Space Oddessey for the first time in her life while home alone today. If you are like me and enjoy crossing off things off lists, and sometimes sit around wondering what movie you should watch, this site is for you.