Current media consumption

The newest Spiderman 3 trailer (justification issues and all).

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If you're looking for an excuse to buy an external hard drive and you still like (pre-Everyday and Stand Up) Dave Matthews Band, go here.

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Here are a few of my recent downloads that should be on your iPod too.

1. #41 with Everyday Outro (Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, 3.29.03)
2. If I Had a Boat (Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, 2.6.99)(Lyle Lovett cover)
3. Warehouse (Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, 1.25.97)
   

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Dwight and Salman, sittin' in a tree...

When I see someone on TV with a look and personality as distinct as Dwight from The Office, I often wonder if the person playing them is acting or if they were cast to play themselves.

Re: Rainn Wilson, who plays Dwight, I think we have our answer.

Dwight tells Salman Rusdhie to "Git 'er dun"

I have been giggling about this for days now... Dwight Shrute telling an internationally known author who has an active fatwa against him to "git 'er dun" may be the funniest and most absurd thing I have ever seen. For some reason it kinda reminds me of Family Guy. And may also be the reason why Al Qaeda thinks we're infidels.

CUIDADO! - This is a clip of Dwight/Rainn on Real Time with Bill Maher from last Friday night. If you're like me and have set a Tivo Season Pass for Real Time in order to skip the monologues, New Rules, and basically any part where Maher is jaw jacking, skip to about 2:10 to see Dwight come out while minimizing your Maher exposure.

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Cowabunga!

Yeah, so maybe I used to play Ninja Turtles when I was younger. So what? And maybe I was always Donatello. So what? That doesn't change the fact that I will once again be cool when this comes out.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trailer - video powered by Metacafe

Spiderman 3 trailer

Berry smart for you, spam gringos...

Here are some of the subject lines of the spam that was waiting for me when I returned to work after the 4^th of July holiday:

• Brittney Chavez wrote me with advice about “Your health, oblong wedgeshaped,"
• Frederic Lara attempted to contact me regarding “Order status, nut-rush,
• Oscar Aldridge clearly knows me well as he opened with, “Hi, non-Spanish,"
• Mallory Akins dropped me a courtesy correspondence about “Your cash, no-eye pea,”
• Eric Hart opened by calling me his daddy in Latin while offering me money, “Your money, pater noster,” (NOTE – this one might have worked if it hadn’t obviously come from a dude) and finally
• Ava Tomlinson must have known that I skipped lunch on the 4th in favor of some Heineken Light when she wanted to update me on my “Order Status, much-hunger.”

First of all, I am most definitely NOT oblong or even slightly wedge-shaped, so kiss my ass Brittney Chavez. And (B) My friends and I call each other some pretty creative and insulting names, but I don’t think any of us have ever tossed out a “no-eye pea” or a “nut-rush,” even during the bloodiest game of dominoes, Madden or ATV Offroad Fury 3. I’m not even sure how “nut-rush” would work into an insult… but I’m definitely going to be on the lookout for an opportunity now.

So, the question becomes… who THE FUCK would respond to, or even take seriously, an email with such non sequitur as its subject? I might even take the odds on my grandmother, who uses an eMail Station, being able to spot “phishing” with those nuanced openers. The only plausible explanation is that Land Shark must be the evil mastermind behind all this frighteningly legit spam.

For further sarcasm on this point, listen to the newest podcast at www.Czabe.com, “Really Sloppy Spam.”

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The Wire Season 3 on DVD

Finally... after months and months of scouring for any hint that Season Three of HBO's The Wire was being released on DVD soon, upcomingdiscs.com, which is very cool, tells me that the release date is August 8, which is even cooler. Amazon has it releasing on the same date, so it must be legit. No cover art yet.

Incidentally, V for Vendetta is releasing on DVD the week before, on August 1st. I've already calendared a Best Buy trip for both Tuesdays.

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Apparently H-Town really has taken over...

It seems that Houston rap is so hot right now that it has found its way into our students' curriculum. Although I'm not sure what lesson plan this would fall under, it does make me want to bounce a little.

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Saturday Reading

Does anyone else watch Spiderman 2 every time it's on HBO? Definitely one of my favorite movies from the last couple of years. I can't wait for Spidey 3. Internet rumors are that there will be up to 4 villains, including Sandman, Venom and the return of the Green Goblin in the person of James Franco, the son of Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin. According to Rotten Tomatoes, some of the action scenes were filmed in Cleveland at the end of April.

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The trailer for the upcoming Bond movie, Casino Royale, can also be found at Rotten Tomatoes. Daniel Craig, from the British crime flick Layer Cake, is the new 007. If you haven't seen Layer Cake, youi should definitely check it out. Understated when compared to the Guy Ritchie flicks that made Jason Statham famous, but very cool.

Here's his watch, an Omega Seamaster special edition. Only 10,000 will be manufactured.

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The 15 People You Meet Listening to DVD Audio Commentaries, courtesy of The Onion's AV Club.

This is from 8 years ago. Only 10-12% of the country can still be unfamous at this point... and I'm one of them, even after graduating in the top 6.5% of my high school. What injustice! If only I could have been an octuplet or something.


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The good shit's all on vinyl anyway

I am often guilty of not taking recommendations seriously... movies, music, books, everything. Is it because I'm afraid that it will be good and I didn't find it myself and that will hurt my ego? Is it because I'm predisposed to think it will be a waste of my time? Is it because I've already got "my thing" and don't want to pollute what I know I like with something that will require me engaging a foreign subject matter? I don't know. Strangely enough, though, the people I surround myself with usually have a pretty good idea what I will like or dislike. I guess that's what a friend is.

So... what the hell am I rambling about? Well, I watched High Fidelity tonight, one of Nathan's recommendations from years ago. I had already seen it once but didn't really give it much of a chance because my singular focus at that time was Chinese film. On rewatch, though, it is a great flick. I can completely identify with the record store music snobs and the way they define people by the music they listen to. At one point in the movie, Cusack's character says, "What really matters is what you like, not what you are like. Books, records, films, call me shallow but these things matter!" I agree (to a certain extent). There's not much more exciting than meeting a perfect stranger and discovering you have a favorite artist or movie or book in common... it's like a shorthand for compatibility.

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Speaking of High Fidelity, Hammacher Schlemmer has a really cool vinyl-to-cd recording component by TEAC. Kinda makes me want to buy some LPs ... aaaaaaaand then rip them to my iPod.


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Kung Fu Panda

Been browsing IMDb a lot lately looking for something to be excited about, and found this last night:

A CG-animated comedy about a lazy, irreverent slacker panda, Po (Voiced by Jack Black), who must somehow become a Kung Fu Master in order to save the Valley of Peace from a villainous snow leopard, Tai Lung. Set in the legendary world of ancient China, this is the story of Po, our unlikely hero, who enters the rigid world of Kung Fu and turning it upside down. Po ultimately becomes a Kung Fu hero by learning that if he believes in himself, he can do anything.

Jables, Dreamworks animation AND kung fu? This has real potential. Hopefully it will be more like Shrek than Shrek 2: Retread Boogaloo.

Also, there are apparently 2 Beowulf movies in our future (both of which, hopefully, will be better than the sci-fi disaster with Christopher Lambert... even Rhona Mitra in a metal bikini couldn't salvage that one). One has been released in Canada, Iceland and the UK and is on its way to NY on July 7 of this year. Only recognized two names on the IMDb cast list, Stellan Skarsgard (as King Hrothgar) and Sarah Polley (as Selma, who I don't remember from the poem), but the rest of the names make me think that there will be an authenticity factor at play here. So much for the idea that every actor in a movie based on an epic poem, or any classic literature really, has to have a British accent.

The other is an American production due out in 2007 with Anthony Hopkins (King Hrothgar), Angelina Jolie, Brendan Gleason, Crispin Glover and John Malkovich. Star power notwithstanding, my hopes aren't as high for this one. Perhaps I'm just preparing myself for the Hollywood-ization of another epic. I'm guessing the Icelandic Beowulf is going to be the grim, realistic-feeling version where the Geats don't know kung-fu, and this one is going to be over-produced, CGI'd and slick. Plus there's very little chance of seeing Agelina nude as she's only credited with a voice part. Perhaps I shouldn't be so cynical. IMDb shows the movie to be in post-production and that Robert Zemeckis directed. If he incorporated special effects judiciously, this one could be worthwhile... but King Hrothgar will have a British accent. Ahhhh, compromise.

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I am still spending a good bit of time going over Season Six of The Sopranos in my mind and have come up with several fond memories, some of which I have written about here. Most of what occurs to me, though, is more missed opportunities for good storylines. Remember the Hasidic Jew with the hotel who didn't want to honor his agreement with Tony in Season One? That was a good plot point for several reasons. First, Tony's human side was explored in his conversations with Melfi about being called a "monster." Yes, there was extortion, torture and plenty of situational comedy involved, but the predominant theme was that the actions of a mobster weren't perpetrated by a cardboard cutout... Tony had feelings. Same with the Davey Scatino bust out in Season Three. It showed that not only did Tony have feelings but also that his actions had repercussions unrelated to possibly being caught by the Feds. These arcs, and others like them, lasted for several episodes each, endearing Tony to us as a human, not just as the mysterious oath-taking, Saint-burning, finger-pricking, gregarious guy who could spend his nights in a strip joint conducting bee-za-nees, sleep through lunch, eat cold cuts in his terry robe and then dish out vigilante justice to those who disrespected him or his "thing." My subconscious pieced all these Sopranos memories together today while I was driving home from work and I also remembered Tony's meeting with the Cajuns this season. That could have been a gold mine for writers and fans alike. Being Katrina-based it was topical; it gave Tony a chance to "send a message" in some creative way that would allow the writers to show they aren't recycling Goodfellas and the Godfather as so many before them have, and might have even given Cagney, Jr., a chance to take out some of his frustrations from this season with a ball peen hammer. Did we get to see any of that? Of course not.

Why do I torture myself this way?

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