Patrick Smith is a Basterd
Hello world!
How are all of you doing this fine weekend? I'm doing wonderfully, thank you for asking! I'm once again writing to you from my favorite place, B&N. I'll spare you all the long talk about it this time since I wrote my B&N love letter last week. Tomorrow, the 7th, its my birthday and that's another reason to be excited. I mean, who doesn't like birthdays?! I mean, birthdays usually mean cake. I like cake. And chocolate cake with peanut butter icing just cannot be beat my friends. Though, that is waiting for me at home. For now, I'm enjoying a much more B&N appropriate snack known as a blueberry scone. Tasty! Maybe its just that I've been here on Sunday afternoons the last couple times I've been here, but the cafe section seems to be a lot busier lately than it used. I've been coming to this particular B&N for years. I know its a little weird considering that reading can take place anywhere but I often go to B&N just to break out a book and read. Free AC should never be passed up during the dead of summer. Remember that.
As you might have been able to guess from the title of this little blog posting, I went to see Inglourious Basterds since we last spoke. As you could also probably gather, I rather enjoyed it. Its a very sick and twisted movie but its also all sorts of wonderful. I don't know of anyother film that ends like that one does that you can walk out of with a smile on your face and a bounce in your step. I won't divulge the details since I'm sure there's some of you that haven't seen it yet but its all sorts of good fun. The last line of dialouge is Brad Pitt looking right into the camera (the camera taking the place of one of the "bad" guy's points of view if you will) and he says, "this might just be my masterpiece." It occurs to me that in a way, its rather likely that Mr. Tarantino was saying that about his film. Now, that's a very hard statement to verify. Especially considering his back catalogue includes Pulp Fiction, one of my favorite movies ever. In some ways, it almost doesn't seem like a Tarantino movie in that the story is told in a linear fashion. Shocking, isn't it? It works though. I can't really picture this movie being told in the jumbled up fashion of Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs. (and on the other hand, Reservoir Dogs shown in a sequential order wouldn't be anywhere nearly as impactful). So, is it his masterpiece? I think it might be. Its right up there with Pulp Fiction but it also has a bit more "heart & soul" than Pulp Fiction did. Time will tell. At the very least, the revenge aspect of this movie is much more fulfilling than Kill Bill. Especially the ending. That may have been a rather clever ending for Kill Bill but I always found it a bit anti-climactic. Though, Bill's Superman monolouge at the end is classic! Anyway, it is a Tarantino movie so its violent. But I think you can handle it. I think you need to see it if you haven't. And if you're like Jeremy who's only seen Pulp Fiction cause we made him watch it and never seen anything else by Tarantino, well, do yourself a favor and see them all. Sooner rather than later.
In other news, much more niche news, the Final Fantasy IX Play Arts figures have finally been released! Its about freakin' time! Now don't get me wrong, I love FFVII to death, but how many freakin' Cloud and Sephiroth figures can they make?! (and why the eff won't they make Barret and Cid!?!?!) So yes, this is pretty exciting news for me. Though, sadly, they seem to keep raising their prices everytime a new figures series comes out. Alas. I also don't know why they couldn't have at least also made a Freya figure cause she rocked all kinds of awesomeness in FFIX. Oh well, anyway. Sorry for my geeking out right there.
Are there any new cds that we need to discuss? I feel like there might be. I don't believe we've talked about the new Third Eye Blind cd yet, have we? Well the jury is still out on that for me as to whether it lives up to what I was hoping for. However, I can tell you it was not disappointing. While perhaps not as instantly memorable as their debut it is certainly a very very solid record. Much better than the new Thrice cd. Everytime I listen to that cd I just get bummed out. I still can't really put my finger on it. It feels like they spent the whole record wishing they were in the late 60's or something. To be honest, I like probably about half of the cd. They're all good songs but I just don't like some of them. If that makes sense. I like the slow ones. Its funny, if at the beginning of this year you would have told me that I'd like the new Taking Back Sunday cd more than the new Thrice cd, I would have openly laughed in your face. But its true. I do. September is a big month for the new music though with Monenn, AFI, Muse, Every Time I Die, and Paramore all coming out. And probably more that I'm not aware of at the moment. I'll try to at least mention each album as I get it and report on my thoughts.
I think its about time to wrap things up for the week. Don't forget that Saturday the 12th is the next epic Channel 1225 event. And epic it will be. You really don't want to miss it. We'll be busting out a few surprises. Old and new and old again. Don't miss it. I promise you'd regret not being there ; )
The Bear Jew