Top Bedtime Albums

So, I pretty much rock out all day long. I jam on the way to work, I listen to music while I teach (on days when it makes sense to do such things), I rock out on the way out of the parking lot, and then listen some instrumental stuff while I write in the evening. One of my other favorite times to listen to music is right before bed, while I am falling asleep. Picking the appropriate bedtime album is always an important, but tough, choice for me.

Here's the list (all on vinyl if possible, I normally fall asleep before it's time to flip to side B):
The Shins-Oh, Inverted World
Simon and Garfunkel-The Best of...
Radiohead-In Rainbows (or any of their stuff really)
Neutral Milk Hotel-In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Bruce Springsteen-Nebraska
Tom Waits-Closing Time
Bob Dylan-Blonde on Blonde
The Assassination of Jesse James...OST-Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
Beach Boys-Pet Sounds
Magnetic Fields-69 Love Songs

5 Things That Rocked/Sucked About Watchmen

So it's been a week, and I feel it's open game. 5 things that were good (maybe MAYBE better than the book) and bad about Watchmen:


Disclaimer: I liked it.



In case it wasn't obvious, spoilers on.





5. Seeing Rorschach say "You're in here with me!" -- It makes one forget that in the book it's mentioned offhand.
4. The end -- I liked it. I thought it was more plausible. Which is good. The only flaw is that you don't really see the bodies that are so effective in the book. But, as those characters are marginal at best in the movie, I don't think that's too big of a loss.
3. The sex scene -- yeah, I liked that, too. I know a lot of critics have shit on it, but I think the porno-ness of it conveyed the fetishist reasons that partly make up some of these heroes motivations.
2. Ozymandias vs. the Comedian -- Upon hearing that this fight scene was going to be extended, I at first was upset, as I thought it was just grandstanding for the audience. But upon seeing it, I loved it. For one, it was incredibly choreographed. I thought most of the movies fight choreography was brilliant, but in this scene, it made sense (I'll get to this later). You get to see just how competent the Comedian is, as he gets his ass kicked. Knowing it was Veidt doing the kicking, I loved how preposterously perfect he was. It really showed the whole "perfect man" thing ultra well. One of the best fights I've seen in a movie.
1. The opening credits -- Because they were perfect. Easily the most ingenious device used in the film to bring elements smoothly and effectively from the book. And, more importantly, it made these elements work in FILM. Very cinematic. Again, perfect.




Now, things I thought were stupid. I'll try not to choose anything that has to do with time constraints (though I wish they could have worked in the psychologists soliloquy), or necessary changes for conversion from book to film. So I suppose this is "nit-picking." Though I'll try to keep away from the too, too trivial.


5. Malin Akerman -- She wasn't good. Silk Spectre didn't really portray any of the fickle tendencies that she did in the book. She read her lines as if ... she were just reading lines. Hot though.
4. Watchmen killing! -- Silk Spectre stabs a dude! Comedian doesn't use rubber bullets out in the open! Nite Owl has no qualms about Rorschach clearly killing Big Figure. (This last one can be argued against. My girlfriend thinks that SS2 and Dan were at a different angle as the audience when we see that bathroom door swing. I do not, citing the way Rorschach turns his head.) I feel as if all the Watchmen killing, or at least not protesting murder, takes potency away from the fact that Rorschach and the Comedian DO kill.
3. Not-powered heroes doing ridiculous things -- After coming out of the movie, my girlfriend said to me, "John, you told me that Dr. Manhattan was the only one with powers, right?" I knew exactly what she meant. Ozymandias leaping 20 feet in the air... maybe. He's close to super-powered. But Dan Dreiberg, after years of retirement, shouldn't be able to leap 10 feet and then kick someone an additional 10 feet. Rorschach shouldn't be fine after jumping out the third story of a building. Similarly, I thought the superheroes that weren't Ozymandias showed a little too much martial arts prowess. In Watchmen, the action was grounded. In the film, the heroes are all untouchable, probably able to kick the shit out of Bruce Lee. While this is not in itself bad, it misses the most important point of Watchmen, which was to show superheroes in the real world. And some of that action did not seem real. Which I think it should have.
2. Some dialogue changes -- I understand cutting some. I understand changing some to make it more understandable (for example, "serial-villain" to "comic-book-villain"). But some lines were really really cool, and were lost. The light is tearing me apart?! I now wish that a beautiful woman was handing me a glass of cold beer?! Nothing ever ends?! Ronald Reagan instead of Robert Redford?? C'mon! Gold! It doesn't count if Laurie says it! 

1. Nixon sub-plotline -- I hated this expanded plotline for 3 reasons. One, it took time. Time that could've been used to show Hollis' murder, or expand on Rorschach's origin, or to expand to introduce the minor characters who get blasted away. Two, it was downright silly. The prosthetic nose was ludicrously big. A caricature, made to look like a comic book instead of being made to look like Richard Nixon. And finally, three. And this is the most important. In the book, Nixon does not make a decision. He says to give it a week and he'll sleep on it, but there is a connotation that after that week he would do the same. There was no urgency to bomb. The movie made him out to be almost eager to pull the trigger first. Now, I'm no Nixon fan (though triangulation between the USSR and China was a smart call), but this seemed out of character, and unnecessary. A point of Watchmen was that war, without Manhattan, was inevitable, simply due to the circumstances. The film made it out as if, without Nixon, there was still hope that things would be okay. And they wouldn't have been.

So yeah, that's what I liked and didn't. Everybody should probably make their own lists, as everyone probably thought much different things, as the critics did. Have you read Rottentomatoes?! It's like all or nothing with those guys. Again, I thought the film was really good. Probably as good of an adaption as there could have been. Certainly as good of an adaption as Snyder could have made. 

Top Ten Things That Rock

A word association list...

10. Punk- circa 1975-1979
9. The Vote- this time around, I think it worked
8. Gibraltar- it just sounds funny when you say it
7. The Earth- 75% water–whatever
6. The Clock- at least somewhere around it
5. Kid- not a goat, and kind of a redneck, but I think he’d be pretty good in a fight
4. Geology- not a very sexy science, but no less important that any other
3. That Chair in Mom’s old apartment- man, that was comfortable
2. The Casbah- Algiers seems exotic, and this list needs some multiculturalism
1. My Cock Out- it’s very freeing not being encumbered by undergarments

Sorry, no link for #1

Top Ten Things I Like Designing With or About

Following the glorious trend, here are the things I like designing, or the themes I like using, or fun graphic tricks i try to incorporate, even when they don't make sense.

1. Scaffolding
2. Loggias
3. The play of temporary structures on eternal structures
4. Half-tone screen dots
5. Yellow-green and orange
6. Irreverence towards program
7. Screen façades
8. Changing façades
9. Helvetica Neu, Ultralight, preferably smaller than 11 font.
10. Time and perception

Top 10 Things I Like to Write About

Here's some stuff I tend to enjoy writing about.

1 Robots
2 The Future
3 Doin' It
4 People Talkin'
5 Super Powers
6 Immortality
7 Crime
8 Supernatural Stuff
9 Pseudo-Science Fictiony Type Stuff
10 Death, Murder, Dying, and other Morbid Junk

There you have it, folks! My writing repertoire in a nutshell!

Top EIGHT Second Tracks

People are always going on about what the best first track (or track ones) might be. Smells Like Teen Spirit? Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band? London Calling?
I say, who cares!? Track twos are where it's at! (Yeah, I just ended that sentence with a preposition!)
When I think track twos, I think rap. This is because almost every rap album I own begins with an introduction track. So here it is, top eight (yeah, i said it) second tracks...
Nas "NY State of Mind"
OutKast "Gasoline Dreams"
Tupac "All About U"
Notorious B.I.G. "Things Done Changed"
Dr. Dre "The Watcher" (Probably my favorite Dre song)
Eminem "Kill You"
Jay Z "December 4th"
Kanye West "We Don't Care" (can't find I source that isn't linked to the intro...)


So, why just eight? Is it because I can't find my Beastie Boys or Tribe Called Quest CDs? Yeah, it could be. So, let's hear it, what other two should have made the list?

Top Ten Memories of Our Left4Dead Game Tonight

A DFC+LUGIBLAH Co-Written Experience.

1. That time Denny saved me from the Hunter
2. That time Denny saved me from the Smoker
3. That time we shot those dudes who were zombies.
4. That time Denny woke up the Witch.
5. That time Adam threw that molotov at the Tank.
6. That time the AI used first aid on us.
7. That time the scary music came on.
8. That time Adam said 'Battlestar Galactica's on. Oh well, we can watch it when we're done.'
9. That time we died right before getting onto the plane.
10. That time the credits rolled.