The Ides of 2006 (and Movies)

Today is the last day of the first half of the year -- June 30 -- and my favorite movie thus far is the kickass crossword documentary Wordplay. Nothing else has come along that I've been particularly stoked about, but I am eager about these upcoming movies (listed in order of release):

Strangers with Candy (July 7). Jerri likes the pole and the hole, and I like Jerri. But I hope I don't come out of this feeling like I paid $9.50 merely to watch an extra-long episode of the TV show.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (August 4). Will Ferrell is a NASCAR driver! And his name is Ricky Bobby!! This looks killer.

Snakes on a Plane (August 18). Actually, I'm not as eager about this one -- I'm afraid that the anticipation of this film will be more fun than the film itself. I'll wait to hear how it's generally received before deciding whether I wanna watch it.

Jackass: Number Two (September 22). This "sequel" looks to be more of the same, which is to say, it looks hilarious. However, the near-identical reaction shots of Johnny Knoxville and company following every stupid/dangerous/gross-out stunt ("Whoaaaa!") is tiresome.

Borat (November). I love Ali G on TV ("Booyakasha!"), but the Ali G movie was pretty weak. By the same token, I love Borat on TV ("Jagshemash!"), but a Borat movie? At least his web site is the funniest of this bunch.

For Your Consideration (November). The latest Christopher Guest ensemble mockumentary, following the trifecta of Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind. After some slight initial disappointment, repeated viewings brought me to love A Mighty Wind, but I don't know how many more times Guest'll be able to repeat his winning formula before it gets stale.

Spider-Man 3 (May 2007). Alright, so this doesn't come out 'til next year, but Spider-Man is my favorite current big blockbuster franchise, the kind with trailers appearing nearly a year in advance. So there.

I'll get back to you in six months' time with my favorites of the year. Okay?

Bigfoot, Evel Updates

Today I updated three pages on my site with some new tidbits...

Added to Bigfoot Is Real: The above picture of me and the creepy Seattle Supersonics mascot, whom I met earlier this month. Turns out I'm actually taller than Squatch, though I still can't bounce off a trampoline, somersault through the air, and dunk two basketballs at once. Incidentally, because I'm afflicted with red eyes in flash photos, my eyes look weird here 'cause I used the "Red-Eye" function in iPhoto. However, I didn't use the function on the new photo near the bottom of Bigfoot Is Real (scroll down), showing a creepy, red-eyed Bigfoot statue spotted over the weekend outside a Federal Way chiropractic clinic...

Added to Knievel Rock: The Evel Knievel Discography: Some blurbs about the Flaming Lips, Robbie Knievel's daughter Krysten's upcoming album, and an Evel-inspired CD cover by a group called the Burden Brothers. Sorry, no direct links to these items, but you can easily text-search the Knievel Rock page for those specific terms...

Lastly, added to Knievel Comedy: The Evel Knievel Humorography: A very brief clip of Evel, Muhammad Ali, and the host of the short-lived 1975 variety show Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell, Robbie and Crash Bandicoot in a 1990s PlayStation commercial, two videos of guys playing with their wind-up Evel dolls, and a link to a clip from last night's episode of Cheap Seats without Ron Parker, an MST3K-style sports comedy show on ESPN Classic. Unfortunately, nobody I know gets ESPN Classic, so if anyone out there wants to tape it for me...

I Don't Know Who They Think They Were

Rock 'n' roll purists may scoff, but I love greatest-hits packages, especially when they're done up right. Such is the case with Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? The Best of the Replacements, which I picked up upon its release this morning at Sonic Boom.

The disc's 20 kickass tunes are neatly presented in chronological order, spanning the group's entire recording history (1981-1990), drawing at least one track each from their seven albums and lone EP (released on both indie and major labels), and including previously unreleased tracks (in this case, "Message to the Boys" and "Pool & Dive," two new songs recorded by reunited original members Paul, Tommy, and Chris). Of course, this being a hits compilation, the liner notes contain a gushing, superlative-filled essay -- here Bill Holdship claims, "No rock band has ever released a trilogy of albums any greater than the one the Replacements released between 1984 and 1987"... Really?

Regardless, as the Replacements are one of my favorite bands, I already own 18 of these 20 songs. The new tunes are solid, upbeat rockers that hearken back to their glory days (though the guitar hook in "Pool & Dive" brings to mind the Seekers' "Georgy Girl"). However, DYKWITIW?TBOTR is somewhat redundant with the 1997 anthology All for Nothing/Nothing for All, and will also likely be redundant with a rumored box set, a collection of more rare 'n' unreleased Replacements that Rhino will supposedly, um, "drop" next year.

In the meantime, enjoy the Replacements' phoned-in video for "Alex Chilton," my favorite song from my favorite album ever of all-time ever, 1987's Pleased To Meet Me...



BWT, I've never been able to simply call them the "Mats" (as many fans do), like I can't bring myself to call my alma mater the "U-Dub." I just can't.

Post One: 666

Let’s, like, get this party started. You know, all up in here.

Seeing as how today is, among other things, the National Day of Slayer, it’s a good a day as any to start my blog. So yeah, the date is 6/6/06, or 666. Big deal. My birthday, 6/26/69, also has 666 in it (in fact, it’s right around the corner -- hint, hint!). I've lived through three dozen of ‘em have thus far, with nary an apocalypse...

Still, in keeping with the 666 theme, here are three vaguely “evil” videos, beginning with a clip of me on the recent CMT documentary True Grit: Evel Knievel. Here I am in my national TV debut, describing how Evel crashed into a TV cameraman when he tried to jump a shark-infested pool in 1977…

I'll never forget Crispin “Hellion” Glover's 1986 freakout on Late Night with David Letterman (my favorite TV show ever of all-time ever). Clad in his Rubin and Ed getup, he was ostensibly on the show to promote his awesome movie River’s Edge (with four Slayer songs on the soundtrack!). Whether his nervous, hostile, and increasingly violent behavior was calculated or "real," a nervous Letterman quickly cut to a commercial. When the show resumed, Glover was gone...

Finally, the Rolling Stones (my favorite band ever of all-time ever). Thirteen years after Mick and company released “Sympathy for the Devil,” an overzealous fan rushed onstage during the finale of a 1981 concert. Keith fought him off with his guitar until security chased the guy away. I love how Keith then cooly slipped his axe back on and continued to rock, as if nothing ever happened...

Thank you! Good night!!