american splendor

its a movie about the American Splendor comics, and its creator Harvey Pekar.
He was a very cool man, who I would have loved to meet in person. It features both the actors and the real people throughout, very cool stuff. Plus, some of the story is even told through comic panels. And come one...Paul Giamatti plays Harvey. I dont even need to say more.
Watch this one. Do it. Life In High Fidelity commands it so.

big bang, bigger heart.

http://io9.com/5694701/does-cosmic-background-radiation-reveal-the-universe-before-the-big-bang?skyline=true&s=i
whoooa

Top 5 Hang Out Sessions:

So, you have five people (currently alive) to spend a day with. All specifics aside, who would they be?

1- John Cusack. This is an obvious choice. Mainly based on my continuing obsession with his work. Place: Cafe, movie theater, anywhere,actually.
Question 1: One step to being as cool as him. Even one, and I am good.
I would have him compile a reading/ film list for me. It would be the best day ever.

2- Michael Caine. See while I do enjoy mr Cane as an actor, I think I just really like him as a person. Its the voice, really. So much classiness in one person.
Places: The MOMA. Just talk about art, man. Just tell me what you think.
Question 1: 5 simple steps to being as classy as he is.
I would have him tell some great British-isms. Get all British.

3-WIN BUTLER/ REGINE CHASSAGNE. These two really should be on the top of my list. Now I realize that two people shouldnt count in one point, but hey, its my list. I do what I want. As far as musicians go, these two are my favorite. Well, my favorite alive ones. Looking at you, John Lennon. These two are the front men for Arcade Fire, and are also totally married. Even if these two weren't hitched they would still have incredible chemistry as artists.
Places: My room. Creepy, I know. But hey, I have a nice room.
Question 1- Lyrics. Just to have them tell me about their lyrics writing process. Love.
I would have the both of them make me a mixtape list based on the music they listened to when they were 16, and play Neighborhood 1. My life would be complete.

4- David Bowie: While the current version of Bowie is rather creepy, that is just fine with me. The fact that classic Ziggy Stardust version of Bowie is in there somewhere. And that would be enough for me.
Location: Space.
Question 1- How to obtain true grooviness. Not a word, but with him, it so is.
I would have him draw me a picture him and I in space. And have him play me Rock and Roll Suicide.

5- Sufjan Stevens. I really dont feel the need to explain this one. His music gets me through some pretty banal days when I need to hear something beautiful.
Location: Kensington Market, Toronto.
Question 1- What does life mean to Sufjan? As of late I have been thinking about how people give their own lives meaning.
I would have him give an acoustic rendition of All Delighted People, and write a song with me.

Comics for you

So here is a list of comics/graphic novels I really do think you should take a look at.

Batman: The Long Halloween.
This one was the basis for The Dark Knight. A killer is on the loose, known only as Holiday. He strikes his victims on holidays, and Batman is on the case. The art in this graphic novel is beautiful and very stylistic. Almost all the Batman make an appearance in this one, even at the same time.

Watchmen: This one is just obvious. Alan Moore may be slightly psychotic, but he sure as hell knows how to make a great graphic novel. This one is pretty famous, I really dont know how to describe it in a way that gives it justice. Its beyond deep, very intricate and compulsively rereadable.

DC Trinity
A graphic novel trilogy, uniting Superman, Batman, and Wonderwoman. It starts with the three thwarting weird magical terrorism, and concludes in its third part with a galactic war with the three with the power of gods.
You know. The usual stuff.

Marvel Civil War Series: I have only read a few entries to this series, but it is very cool stuff. When a school gets blown to hell by a hero gone bad, the public demands that Superhero's register themselves and unmask. They want them under governmental control. So the Marvel hero's need to take sides. Then shit goes down all over the place.

Enders Game: The classic sci fi story, and Orson Scott Card's magnum opus, was made into a monthly issue comic book. At the moment I only have three (the only three I could find) in my collection, but I am constantly trying to expand upon it. A movie version of the book has also been stuck in pre production for years now. What is great about the comics is how Ender is still the nearly psycho child killer he was in the book. The movie version really wont be able to capture that in the way that the book did, so its cool to see it intact here. The style its done in is very cool, too. The book takes place far in the future, and the comics seem to have updated what we would possibly see in our own future. After all, the book was written in the eighties.

The Umbrella Acadamy
Created and written by My Chemical Romance's front man Gerard Way, the series has as of yet made 2 series. Both have been released in collections. And I have heard that in the future there will be another series out. Probably not any time soon, seeing as MCR drops a new album this coming week. Its about a team of children with superpowers, adopted and raised to be superheros. The story takes place following the death of their father, after the team has been broken up for years. Lets just say they didnt grow up to be the most well adjusted adults. They are so much fun to read, beautifully illustrated, and delightfully dark.

Comedy Mix List

These are movies best enjoyed with friends who want nothing more than to laugh at stupid things and eat nachos.

Anchorman
I dont know if I have talked about this movie as of yet on here. For those who dont know me, Anchorman is a movie I could reenact from begining to end, no problem. Its the kind of movie where every line is instantly quotable, even things that arent even lines. (For example, Brick's hillarious look towards his banana while people are talking about him. Hugh Lobb, I am looking at you) Most of the diolouge in this movie was improv, so the most rediculous things are said throughout.

Pineapple Express
I am aware of how stupid this movie, but how gloriously stupid it is. The first time I saw this movie it was with two friends who were madly in love with it, and we were all in the mood for something rediculous. We actually watched this one with Anchorman. Seth Rogan is in both, if only for a second in Anchorman. They go very well together, lets just say.

South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut
Its south park. Its a musical. Its completely uncensored. It has characters such as Satan, Sadam Husein, and a giant clitorus. Do I even need to say anything else?

Mix Tape- Filmy

So I know people like to make playlists and mix tapes, but I thought I would put a little spin on it and make some movie ones. As in, movies to marathon to. Movies that work well together, check it out:
Action Night

The Dark Knight.
This is an obvious choice. Mainly because its one of the best big films to come out of the last few years. What Nolan did was truly exceptional, really balancing the noir style of the Batman graphic novel "The Long Halloween" and its themes of what makes a hero, where people draw their lines,etc, with a sleek modern action movie kickassness.Its a term.
Star Trek
Graaaaah....JJ Abrams, you crazy man, you. This is the best update on an old franchise in a very long time, perhaps rivaled only by The Dark Knight. The action is beautiful, the CG just a joy to behold. He added to the mythology of the Star Trek universe by taking its origins and taking them in a new direction, setting it off into an alternate universe. He is not tied down by the continuity of the original series by some very cool plot twists he decided to throw in to this movie.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Yes, Harry Potter. The magic thrown around in this movie is really fun to watch. Harry trains up some students to begin a rebellion, and the final half hour or so is the best the series has done as far as action scenes. Both the beginning of this movie and end are thrilling to watch, there is a Dementor attack, then a huge battle in the Ministry of Magic. Death Eaters get blown up, shit gets hexed and cursed all over the place.
Serenity
The cult classic Firefly tv series got the sleek looking finale that it deserved. The ship from the show finally got the big look it lacked from the show, and all the fight and space scenes for the big blockbuster treatment. Its so much fun to watch, and really satisfying for anyone who loves the TV show.
Kick Ass- Buckets of blood, not to mention the fact that most of the ass kicking comes from a little girl vigilante named Hit Girl. she bounces off the walls like most kids, except with the help of swords and guns. The final battle scene in this movie is so beyond epic. Kick Ass himself doesnt do a whole lot of ass kicking compaired to Hit Girl, but is still a very cool hero. A great addition to the list, very funny and clever.
Sin City- This movie is a graphic novel put on film, simple as that. Sin City is gritty to the max, with body parts being blown up and faces being shot all over the place. This is deffinetly a movie that would be fun to do in a marathon with friends. Like I said. Faces. Shot. Boom. Clive Owen+ Rosario Dawsom+ Hooker Army= yesss
enjoy yourself some action movie fun, bloggers

Song of the week times 4

Blog write up
Song of the week,
So its been a weird 3 or so weeks for me, and I cant really pick up just one single song for my song of the week. So this week you are all in for a thriple feature (Im such a giving blogger, I know)
1- All Delighed People- Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan doesnt really sample Paul Simon's The Sounds of Silence in clip form or anything, but does something really brilliant and sort of bases the entire song around it. "And the people bowed and prayed" chanted throughout the song, and somehow never manages to become tiresome. This was the song I happened to be listening to when I recieved the phone call that my dad was in his bike accident, so maybe it carries a little more emotonal weight for me than most Sufjan songs. While the basis of the lyrics mostly remain the same, the song really does feel journey like, if that makes any sense. Coming in at about 11 minutes, the song is a full on emotional adventure. Maybe I am making it into something more than what it is, but this song has always been able to get a very emotional response out of me. Its intensly beautiful and personal, really. Check this one out, if you havent already. And even then, check it out again.
Dog Days Are Over- Florance and the Machine
This song has become a hit, which is pretty cool. I am not sure how popular this band is, but I think I saw them performing on some ABC show weeks ago, I dont remember what it was, but its cool to see music like this become popular. Main stream doesnt always need to mean terrible. Anyhow, this song is very epic, for lack of a better word. For me its a song about being brave and taking control over your own life, maybe thats not what Its about at all, but thats what I always get from the song. That message really hits me, its something I have been silently pondering as of late. This song has been on heavy rotation on my ipod this week, its really just a beautiful song to rock to if nothing else.
A Call To Apathy - The Shins
The shins have a way of just nailing those feelings we all have, my teenage relsesness and over self examination have found a home with this band. I dont know if that last sentence made sense to you guys, but it did to me. These guys get it, and this song does too.
Chicago- Sufjan Stevens
I dont know if this has made my list as of yet, but at the moment I have no internet connection and no way to check. I got to see this song performed as one of Sufjan's last during his Massey Hall performance in Toronto, and it was like a religious expiriance. That guy is so pure sometimes, and this song really is. "All things go, all things go" is really a mantra, especially the way mr Stevens uses it in this song. A six minute epic that has the power to evoke some pretty stong emotions from its listeners. In me, at least. This song always makes me think of letting things pass when they need to, and about finding something new in my own life. And about how beautiful those things can be. Again, maybe thats not what he was going for, but its what I always get from it. This song really is beautiful, if you want something to really feel to, check this one out.

Song of the week Nov 3

New Slang- The Shins
Its been a Shins sort of week.This song is positively dripping with melancholy, which is something I have been feeling as of late. Maybe not melancholy. But a sort of uneasiness about the current life I live, that we all live, even. The opening vocals are beautiful and sort of haunting, something cool from a Shins song.