Freaks and Geeks

The late 1990's TV series entitled "freaks and geeks", which was produced by the brilliant Judd Apatow, is probably one of my favorite shows. It follows two obviously named groups of students around their 1980 high school, and many outrageous scenarios occur, (from being sent to the hospital from a fatal peanut allergy, too being first chair mathlete). The geeks, consist of Sam Weir, Bill Haverchuck, and Neal Schweiber. They are freshman, and are desperatley seeking to shake off their stereotype of being geeks. Being active members of the AV club gets them nowhere. The freaks, are Lindsey Weir, (Sam's older sister), Kim Kelly, Daniel Desario, Ken Miller, and Nick Andopolis. Always getting fake IDs, and playing in their "band" creation, they are mostly think about, nothing, unless of coarse they are high and end up sitting around on Nicks couch listening to the Greatful Dead while eating rice cakes. Its awesome, and should never have been cancelled as early as it was. Only 18 great episodes are out there, but you NEED TO WATCH THEM! There are many guest stars and many future stars that appear in the episodes so keep your eyes peeled.

Religulous- Religuawesome

Check out the documentary Religulous. It came out last fall, and i accidentally ended up seeing it in theatres. To my surprise, it was one of the funniest movies i have seen it a while. Bill Maher is brilliant in it, and had me laughing the whole way through. Directed by the same guy who did Borat, the plot follows Bill, and his fateful camera crew, around to various famous Religious temples, cities, and monuments. You'll need to watch it to get the full plot, because i think it would take me at least a year to write it. Basically, its fantastically funny, and if you are in the mood for a more serious film, yet love sarcasm you need to see Religulous.

Neon Bible

Neon Bible, an album from Arcade Fire( a Montreal based band fronted by a husband and wife duo Win Butler, and Régine Chassagne, but others in the band consist of, Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, Sarah Neufeld, and Jeremy Gara) caused quite a commotion. Some liked it, (it was nominated for a Grammy), yet some hated it and called them sellouts. Maybe that was the idea. I disagree thoroughly, and enjoyed this album immensely. Neon Bible is an aggressively gothic record, with pipe organs and church bells. The self entitled track, "Neon Bible" is a bleak, soft, two-minute eulogy for a generation blinded. "A vial of hope and a vial of pain/In the light, they both looked the same," Butler sings through whispering cellos, like Leonard Cohen wandering through the third Velvet Underground album. When Arcade Fire hits the gas pedal, with "Keep the Car Running" it is a gripping chase scene --on the run from some kind of gestapo? Even better is the delirium of "(Anti- christ Television Blues)." The reverb does the lyrics no favors, but at the end of this torrent of 9/11 trauma ("The planes keep crashing, always two by two") and blasphemous prayer (a minimum-wage-slave dad asks God to make his daughter a TV star), an avenging spirit cuts through -- "I'm through being cute," Butler snaps, "I'm through being nice" -- that runs deep in Neon Bible. It's too bad you can't always hear it. My favorite song from the album is "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations". Overall, this whole album gave me chills.
Lyrics: Black Wave/Bad Vibrations:
We can reach the sea
They won't follow me
Shadows they fear the sun
We'll make it if we run!
Run from the memory
Je nage, mais les sons me suivent
Left my name with the border guards
A name that I don't need
Ce sera un long voyage
Sur les vagues de l'oubli
Run from the memory
Je nage, mais les sons me suivent
Stop now before it's too late
Been eating in the ghetto on a hundred dollar plate
Nothing lasts foreverThat's the way it's gotta be
There's a great black wave in the middle of the sea
Stop now before it's too late
Been eating in the ghetto on a hundred dollar plate
Nothing lasts foreverThat's the way it's gotta be
There's a great black wave in the middle of the sea
For me
For you
For me
It's always for you
Stop now before it's too late
Been eating in the ghetto on a hundred dollar plate
Nothing lasts forever
That's the way it's gotta be
There's a great black wave in the middle of the sea
Stop now before it's too late
Your lover was for hire
Have you noticed he's been late?
Nothing lasts forever
That's the way it's gotta be
There's a great black wave in the middle of the sea
For me
For you
For me
It's always for you

Parlez-vous Francais?

Gérard Depardieu is french movie legend. I found this sweet old french magazine in my French classroom and realized it was from 30 years ago. It didn't matter, Gerard was in his prime back in the 70's, (along with Charles Nelson Riley, Betty White, and the Match Game). Then last morning while taking my French exam, who's name did I hear during the listen portion of the test? That's right, Gerard was mentioned to my delight, although I seemed to be the only one who noticed. Oh well, here are some of Gerard's greatest masterpieces. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000367/

Sic Transit Gloria- "Glory Fades"

One of my new favorite movies is Rushmore directed by Wes Anderson. Wes always creates a sort of semi-real world as the setting for his stories and makes the audience relate to the characters they are seeing transform on screen. Rushmore revolves around Max Fischer, a student at a private school called Rushmore. Max spends his time creating clubs and writing plays. Although his grades don't show it, he is rather smart for is age and is very content with his life. As the story develops, Max unexpectedly meets a first grade teacher at Rushmore, Ms. Rosemary Cross, and helplessly falls head over heels for her. She is an obsession to him, and each day he finds new ways to try to make her feel the same way about him, (for example, because her favorite language is Latin, he enforces Latin a requirement for students to take before they can graduate). Max's friend however, Herman Blume, (a washed up old man going through a ruff patch with his wife, and who doesn't recognize the kids he has raised), also falls for the same women. Rosemary falls for Blume as well, and the two friends take up arms, and the fight is on. Ultimately, Rosemary chooses neither of them. This main story is filled with multiple side stories that help you get to know the characters better. Along with a great story, the film is accompanied with an excellent choice of music, (like all of Wes's films are), which also adds to the story. The cast includes, Bill Murray as Herman Blume, Jason Schwartzman as Max Fischer, Olivia Williams as Rosemary cross, Luke Wilson as Dr. Peter Flynn, and many more. So bottom line, check out Rushmore. Its pretty sweet.

The world makes for great television

This world may be crazy, but it sure is fun to watch. A prime example of this would be reality TV. Real Chance of Love, I Love New York, Rock of Love with Bret Michaels, A Double Shot at Love, the list goes on forever. All of these shows are filled with plenty of people who deserve to be in the loony bin. The sick thing is that people see these things and think that's how i am supposed to be, and then they go out and act like it. Thus, the whole crazy sequence begins all over again. I mean, a lot of people think they are weird. People who are reading this right now are thinking, "well at least im not as weird as her", and im thinking "well at least im not as weird as those people in the looney bin", and the people in the looney bin are thinking, "well.... at least im an orange". The point is, stop looking at this crap, even though it is mildly interesting, and go back to Leave It To Beaver, and Boy Meets World.