Posts from May 2014

That’s our monster…

Godzilla (2014) ★★★½

Directed by Gareth Edwards

I must confess that I am a Godzilla movie fan. For some reason I can’t explain, I am just drawn to his movies even though the hugely-vast majority of them are utter, utter crap. Nonetheless, much like the entire James Bond oeuvre, I really enjoy them. Started by the original Gojira, a very serious and scary film, the series devolved over the decades into cheesy, B-movie, Saturday-morning kiddie affairs (I mean, Jet Jaguar—come on). The series tried to right this starting with Godzilla 1985 and going through a couple of iterations in the 90s and the 00s, but with the quirkiness of Japanese pop-culture of the times, these movies were bright, colorful, cartoony spectacles.

That is one of the main reasons why I really enjoyed Gareth Edwards’ new Godzilla movie. This is by far the most realistic Godzilla movie to date. And though there are a couple of fun nods to previous Godzilla and Kaiju movies, this one really treats its source material with great respect and much-due gravitas. This isn’t a tongue-in-cheek, ironic “re-imagining” of Godzilla. This is a distillation of what makes Godzilla the King of the Monsters. Gareth Edwards brings Godzilla back to his roots.

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She’s watching you… watching your every move…

Veronica Mars (2014): ★★★½

Directed by Rob Thomas

After being cancelled for low ratings, Veronica Mars has returned to the big screen via the most successful movie Kickstarter campaign of all time!

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So it turns out when you have a baby and you and your spouse are both working full-time, one of the things that gets pushed WAY down the list of priorities is yard work. It just doesn’t seem like the most important thing in the world, especially if there’s a giggling, wiggly, adorable baby you could be cuddling with right inside the house.

Thankfully there are actually people who will do yard work for you. It’s true! People will exchange services for money! The yard absolutely exploded over the past month, what with it being Spring and all. So I hired someone to come clean it out… with a vengeance.

Just take a look-see:

Before…

Not quite done yet…

After! Hey, look at what was under there!

Hooray! There’s actually a usable yard back there once more! This is especially important as the wee beb becomes more mobile. We would really like for her to actually be able to, you know, enjoy our yards. Weird, I know. But that’s how it is.

Oh, the person I hired? I hired The Lawn Man, of course. Kyle the Lawn Man. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! He did a metric tonne of work razing that jungle down to the ground and re-seeding it for the future. He cleaned out many a thorny bush and unwanted sprouting tree, and he scraped the patio completely clean.

I’m super glad I hired him. SO CAN YOU!

Musical Ladies: The West and JM+FFD!

On Friday evening Carrie & I left the wee beb with the Grandparents and jetted on up to Seattle’s Columbia City Theater to see our friends do some of the rock and roll. And I took photos!

We arrived late enough that we only got to hear a couple of songs from the opening band, Bandolier, so apologies to them but I didn’t hear enough to really give them a fair review. Sounded good, though. You can listen to their musics on the Bandcamp.

Up next was The West. I’d only vaguely known of their existence prior to this. I think I saw their name on various show flyers around Seattle and on some Facebook events. But I knew nothing about them.

Turns out they are a very talented pop/rock/disco/dance quintet: guitar, bass, drums, and two keyboards (including a very cool Korg) and two vocalists, a husband-and-wife team (who are also the two keyboardists). Adrienne (pictured at the top left of this post), had a super-engaging stage presence and spent the whole set rockin’ out with her punkish outfit and fiery mop of red hair. They put on a very enjoyable show, so Carrie & I were really happy we got there in time to see them.

Plus, I made an animated GIF of them! Look at them go:

The West: The Animated GIF!

Speaking of stage presence, Julia Massey was up next. Their set included the song they wrote for my baby daughter! Squee! I got some pretty good photos of them individually:

Julia Massey!

Geoff B. Gibbs!

Dom “The Nizzle” Cortese!

I tried to make an animated GIF out of Julia, but the series of photos I took were just too wobbly and it came out all crazy. So instead I made an Instagram video of Geoff playing the bass. My cameraphone couldn’t handle the volume of the music, so it sounds pretty crazy, but just look at Geoff’s hands go:

One of Julia’s songs was also filmed for some sort of video, so there’s a really good chance that Carrie I will be in it! I’ll keep you posted on that as I learn more myself.

At the end of the night I purchased The West’s album In Low Light on CD and showed the animated GIF to Adrienne. I posted it on their Facebook page when we got home, and they seemed pretty impressed:

Hooray! I’m SOMEONE!

OME is Cliffin’ it up…

Mr. Open Mike Eagle has released a new video from his as-of-yet-unreleased album Dark Comedy. This is for the track “A History of Modern Dance.” If you grew up in the 80s or early 90s (or watch Nick at Night), this video might be a bit familiar-looking to you…

It’s very entertaining to see Mike and company Huxtabling it up. Can’t wait for Dark Comedy to drop, but seeing as how I can’t travel through time, I will have to wait until June like the rest of all y’all.

Which One Will You See!?

Ho boy, folks, this Friday you’ve got a freakishly difficult decision to make. There are TWO COUNT ‘EM TWO excellent music shows happening in Seattle, both of which are just chock full of my musician friends. But they’re at the same time in two different venues! Gasp! You can only go to one! BUT WHICH ONE!? Let’s take a look:

(1) Incanus, Terrapin, & WIN95SE

• Incanus includes Fools Play’s own Periwinkle Fool (aka The Old Salt).
• Terrapin is Neighbor Gary
• WIN95SE is a collaboration between tangentbot and extropic_engine

The Josephine: as DIY as it gets.

Details:
Cruel as Kids show at the Josephine (Facebook event)
Friday, 5/16 9:00 PM
@ The Josephine
608 NW 65th, Seattle, WA 98117
$5 Age??

(2) Julia Massey & the Five Finger Discount

• Julia Massey is a good friend!
• The Five Finger Discount includes Fools Play’s own Yellow Fool
• Dom the Drummer is also a good friend (and also drums for The Jesus Rehab)

Columbia City Theater: the epitome of class.

Details:
That Pretty Theater Down South (CCT) (Facebook Event)
Friday, 5/16 8:00 PM
@ Columbia City Theater
4916 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118
$8 21+

DECISIONS DECISIONS

Well, it looks like Carrie & I are going to be going to the Columbia City Theater show. Why? Because as much as we love the people involved in the Josephine show, that venue frankly frightens us. See, we are old. And the fancy, comfortable, highly-professional Columbia City Theater makes us feel relaxed and safe. Whereas the underground, DIY, this-is-just-someone’s-garage, punk-kids vibe of the Josephine is not terribly attractive. We’re too old for that sh*t.

But that doesn’t mean you are! Whichever show you choose, you’re sure to hear some great effing musics. So choose one! Choosing neither is NOT AN OPTION!

JM+FFD. With them crazy eyes.

Today is my birfday! And also the birfday of Geoff, the bassist of the Five Finger Discount. As if by coincidence, over the weekend Julia Massey and the Five Finger Discount released a surprise, secret album (another one)! This one consists of live demo versions of songs that never ended up on any of their albums. Here’s how Julia explains it:

Sloth it up!

Over the last few years, Geoff has rigged up microphones in our practice space and tracked all of the songs that have ended up on official records.

Through that process, lots of demo tunes got lost in the cracks. They’re like the lost boys in Neverland!

Lucky for us, Geoff spent his downtime on tour mixing eight of those songs. We’re only letting folks on our email know about this, but if you want to spread the word, feel free!

Here they are!!!

I want to spread the word! So here is one of those eight songs:

Hooray! Go get ALL OF THE SONGS!