The Simpsons Movie

Film #42 of my '07 watch list was The Simpsons Movie.

My NetFlix rating: 3 stars
Jamie says: Longest Simpsons episode ever
RIYL: O.J., Jessica, and Ashlee

Official site
Rotten Tomatoes reviews
Wikipedia site

Once in a Lifetime

Film #41 of my '07 watch list was Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos.

My NetFlix rating: 2 stars
Jamie says: Felt like an American soccer propoganda show that you'd see on cable rather than a true documentary. Second star is for the Pele highlights.
RIYL: ESPN Classic

Official site
Rotten Tomatoes reviews
Wikipedia site

Films #1-40

Here's a recap of the first 40 films I've seen this year. Looks like I'm going to blow away my original goal of seeing 50

1. Curse of the Golden Flower
2. Talladega Nights
3. The Devil and Daniel Johnston
4. Little Miss Sunshine
5. Murderball
6. Trekkies
7. Scoop
8. Da Ali G Movie: Indahouse
9. Beerfest
10. Reno 911: Miami
11. Jesus Camp
12. Strangers with Candy
13. 300
14. Syriana
15. An Inconvenient Truth
16. Children of Men
17. Blades of Glory
18. Babel
19. Match Point
20. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters
21. What Happened To Kerouac?
22. Stranger Than Fiction
23. Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus
24. King of Kong
25. Fearless
26. The Fever of '57
27. Big Rig
28. About a Son
29. The Fountain
30. Idiocracy
31. Pirates of the Caribbean 3
32. The Pervert's Guide to Cinema
33. American Shopper
34. Knocked Up
35. Pan's Labyrinth
36. Letters From Iwo Jima
37. Scratch
38. Mulholland Drive
39. 21 Grams
40. American Splendor

American Splendor

Film #40 of my '07 watch list was American Splendor.

My NetFlix rating: 4 stars
Jamie says: More like American Splendid. How's that for cheesy?
RIYL: Crumb, Ghost World, Paul Giamatti, graphic novels

Official site
Rotten Tomatoes reviews
Wikipedia site

A Feast of Snakes

Book #28 of my '07 reading list was Harry Crews' A Feast of Snakes

One word: classic. Oddly timely too since it involves dogfighting and football players in Georgia (pretty eerie huh?).

"A Feast of Snakes reads like a Flannery O’Connor crossed with Bukowski, and if that description doesn’t interest you, then I don’t know what will. " -- Suicide Girls review

In the Heart of the Sea

Book #27 on my '07 list was Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex.


ItHotS is a historcial account of a Nantucket whaleship and the men who survived for nearly three months at sea after their vessel is sunk by a giant whale. And yes there is cannibalism involved. The story of the Essex inspired Melville's Moby Dick. All in all a very entertaining and interesting read.

Excerpt
CNN review
Nathaniel Philbrick's site

Falling Man

Way, way behind on my blogging, so I'm going to make these next few short and sweet. Book #26 of my '07 reading list was Don DeLillo's new post-9/11 novel Falling Man.

Riveting reading as you would expect from DeLillo. It's not his best work, but the fact that he's managed to produce a novel that reasonably contextualizes the impact of 9/11 on our collective psyche makes it well worth a read.

Wikipedia entry
Village Voice review

21 Grams

Film #39 of my '07 watch list was 21 Grams.

My NetFlix rating: 4 stars
Jamie says: I seem to be on a Naomi Watts kick. Any other movies she's done that are worth seeing? Besides King Kong of course which obviously goes without saying.
RIYL: Babel, Magnolia

Official site
Rotten Tomatoes reviews
Wikipedia site

Mulholland Drive

Film #38 of my '07 watch list was Mulholland Drive.

My NetFlix rating: 5 stars !
Jamie says: An enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in Lynchian goodness. How on earth did Naomi Watts not get an Oscar, or at least a nomination for her performance?
RIYL: Memento, Pulp Fiction, cult classics, Billy Ray Cyrus

Official site
Rotten Tomatoes reviews
Wikipedia site
Fan site

Mayne Mariner

Saw Kenny Mayne on my way to my seats at the M's game tonight. Who knew he was a Washingtonian? He was easy to identify because he was (still?) wearing his All-Star Celebrity Softball jersey. No joke. Anyways, just thought I'd share. This ain't L.A. so this is about as close to a celebrity sighting as we get around here.

Scratch

Film #37 of my '07 watch list was Scratch.

My NetFlix rating: 4 stars
Jamie says: Another excellent documentary from Doug Pray
RIYL: Hype, Juice, real hip-hop

Official site
Rotten Tomatoes reviews
Wikipedia site

I-C-H-I-R-O

What a night. After a great All-Star game in which he hits the first in-the-park HR in All-Star history and wins the MVP award, we find out that Ichiro is on the verge of signing a new 5-year extension to stay here in Seattle. The only way I could be more excited is if Brian Roberts hadn't flubbed J.J's chance for a 1-2-3 save.

"It's like he does whatever he wants to do at the plate. It's almost like he's playing around." -- Justin Morneau

"Obviously, I would love for him to beat it and get to the National League" -- Michael Young

"He's an artist with that bat" -- Tony LaRussa

Counting Crows & Home Run Derby

Congrats to my boy Big Bad Vlad on his Home Run Derby win. Nicely done sir.

In case you missed it the Counting Crows opened the show with a rousing rendition of
"Accidently In Love", not their best song but still pretty cool to see them...it's been awhile. A review of their quick set can be found here including a link to stream the video.

Letters From Iwo Jima

Film #36 of my '07 watch list was Letters From Iwo Jima.

My NetFlix rating: 4 stars
Jamie says: Hmm, that Clint Eastwood fella seems to know how to direct. A fine, fine film.
RIYL: Glory, Saving Private Ryan, subtitles

Official Site
Rotten Tomatoes reviews
Wikipedia site

Rant

Book #25 on my '07 list was Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk.

In Rant, Palahniuk uses an interesting oral biography approach to weave together a story loosely centered around a rabies epidemic, time travel paradoxes, Matrix-style politics and a Death Race 2000-like car crash game. Got all that? The oral biography style is a bit tough to get into, especially with the fifty-plus characters who chime in (none of whom are Buster Casey), but like all Palahniuk novels it's chock full of crisp writing, gross-outs asides, and oh-so-clever ideas. The end result is a book that's a good step up from Haunted, but still on the lower end of the Palahniuk scale. If you're already a Palahniuk fan you'll dig this one, otherwise I'd start with one of his earlier works.

Official site
Reviews

Pan's Labyrinth

Film #35 of my '07 watch list was Pan's Labyrinth.

My NetFlix rating: 4 stars
Jamie says: Visually stunning adult fairy tale
RIYL: Academy Award winning makeup and art direction, Subtitles

Official Site
Rotten Tomatoes reviews
Wikipedia site

You Don't Love Me Yet

Book #24 of my '07 list was Jonathan Lethem's You Don't Love Me Yet.

Lethem's new novel is your typical kangaroo kidnapping, punk rock love story with underlying themes of plagarism vs. subconcious influence. As compelling as that sounds, the book is a bit of a let down, with one-dimensional characters and predictable plot twists. Perhaps it's a sly send-up of the genre, but this one just didn't work for me. Try Motherless Brooklyn or The Fortress of Solitude instead.

Metacritic reviews
NPR appearance
Lethem's Harper's essay on plagarism

Ry-Ry on Letterman

The new Ryan Adams album is really good. You should stop reading this and go get it.

Knocked Up

Film #34 of my '07 watch list was Judd Apatow's Knocked Up.

My NetFlix rating: 4 stars
Jamie says: Seth Rogan is a funny man
RIYL: Freaks and Geek, Fantasy Baseball

Official Site
Rotten Tomatoes reviews
Wikipedia site