Sawngz

It's a good week to be a pop fan. Just throw Jay-Z - Young Forever and Katy Perry - California Gurlz [Ft. Snoop Dogg] on repeat indefinitely and roll one up, dawg.

So this happened. Thanks LH.

Toy Story 3

Seeing it at a late Sunday night showing to avoid the children and crowds. Can't fuckin' wait.

Tons Of Shit

Eminem album. It is the reverse of Relapse, but in comparison it is better. Basically, I don't care about lyrics in rap. When they're on point (which is quite easy to do, it's like "nice beat = 'weed, club, ladies, whatever'" and "hard beat = 'struggle, manly tough guy shit, cars, guns, drugs, action movie shit') everything is all cool, basic entertainment. But, really, I'm not listening... I'm listening to cadence, delivery, and the fucking beat. Really loud. I mean rap has been going on for 30 years, there's nothing you can say in a rap song that hasn't been said. There's nothing you can say in ANY kind of song that hasn't been said. Lyrics are the least important thing... if you cared that much about prose you'd read a book instead of listening to a record, right? But, interestingly enough, on Relapse, Em was entering territory that actually had really never been hit on with lyrics... crazy, looney tunes tongue twisters revolving around long prescription pill names. It was weird and cool. The whole album wasn't that over and over, but he was doing that on several songs and it was like "wow, what a weird and inventive way to deal with rehabilitation. Wild rhymes based on complicated pill names." I loved it. But the beats were fairly weak, even by his standards. And he's NEVER had good beats. He's only ever had 'okay' beats. And since I mostly listen to rap for the beats, I hardly ever throw on an Em album after I've initially absorbed it.

Cut to Recovery. THE BEATS FUCKING RULE. BOI-1DA, DJ KHALIL, AND JUST BLAZE. EM GOT SOME DECENT BEATS. It's not Thank Me Later, but it's a fuckin start. Some of these beats just rule. Others are whack, but let's overlook that. At least 5 of these beats fucking rule. I like that there's an Eminem album finally that doesn't entirely hinge on his rhymes, again, considering the fact that lyrics don't mean a whole lot to me in music. Not to say the vocals don't matter... I would say in rap the vocals are the most important instrument, but it's the delivery... the vocal acrobatics. And the beat banging or not is pretty make or brake.

BTW DOWNLOAD THE FUCKING DRAKE ALBUM. It's perfect. The production, the weird song structures, and how he will randomly switch from rapping to singing at any given moment (not on a chorus/verse basis, just... randomly...) But, finally, the Drake album is out of the CD player, and something else is in... and it was Eminem that did it.

And the other thing I am freaking out about is that Nick Stoller, writer of the immensely funny Get Him To The Greek, wrote the upcoming Muppets movie? FUCKING AWESOME.

With a lot of cool shit going on, I don't really want to touch on Lil Boosie, but I will. He is one of my favorite rappers, and now he is allegedly facing the death penalty for paying a hitman $30,000 to kill somebody. It's at Tupac moment. I'm mad at him, I can't believe he would do that. I have to think he would not do that if he hadn't been threatened, or maybe even attacked or robbed, but this guy Nussie, but even then... it's monsterous. It is a Tupac moment. For the most part I feel like society created a monster that it couldn't save or redeem, and there is no upside to that. And we're left with terrible, pained, and haunting recordings to mull over. Resonant reflections of the darkest impoverished experiences of modern, violent America. Is there any way we can save this place and save ourselves? I still believe demonizing societies criminals is the path that leads us to these moments, not the one that will save us from them.

Stuff

Apparantly George Lucas is launching a Star Wars TV show with a comedy slant to it, and Seth Green is one of the showrunners? Count me fucking in. Also, dudes, the Cartoon Network CGI series Clone Wars is actually kinda tight. At least as good as the end of Episode II and all of Episode III, which are actually decent in spite of whatever you might hear from the haters. They only pale in comparison to the holy original trilogy because those 3 movies stand as probably THE BEST ADVENTURE MOVIES OF ALL TIME. Suck on it.

If anyone actually reads this blog (and I don't think anyone does) and you get EPIX on demand, watch The Long Riders. It is super tight, and has the Carradine brothers and Stacy Keach in the main roles, which you should be excited about if you are not. It is directed by Walter Hill, the cult director who did The Warriors. I have always liked that movie, but am just now realizing he left behind a treasure trove of obscure cult hits like the movie I just mentioned and also Undisputed, Wild Bill (with Jeff fucking Bridges in the titular role), and Last Man Standing. I also recently read in this dude Vern's column on AICN that Undisputed 2 and Undisputed 3 have been partly responsible for a renaissance of modern action films that have subversively used direct-to-video as an unlikely avenue to release superior modern action films. This is largely due to Hollywood being unwilling to greenlight classic-style action films that rely on practical effects. They make more money off of big budget computer image movies, but if I had my way car chases would go back to the no-cuts/real driving days and all stage fighting would be performed by legitimate professionals. I recently saw Iron Man 2 in the theater, which I loved, but one thing really irked me - that talentless hack Scarlett Johansen's action sequences were all blurred out and edited choppily? And do you know why? Apparantly she insisted on doing her own stunts. BUT SHE IS NOT A STUNT PERSON. So we have to watch some crappily edited and blurred action sequence so her resume can look a little more impressive? BRING IN A FUCKING PROFESSIONAL. Actually, that sentiment goes for her acting roles and singing career too. BRING IN SOME FUCKING PROFESSIONALS. GET THIS NOBODY OUT OF HOLLYWOOD, PLEASE!.

Get Your Ass To Get Him To The Greek

What a great suprise comedy hit. Wasn't expecting that one. Pay the theater price, you will be so happy you did. Great date movie.

Thank Me Later

Drake album is, has, and will be on repeat. Stone cold classic. Similar to the best of the classics - Ridin' Dirty, Illmatic, Enter The 36 Chambers, Blueprint 1, Graduation, Carter III, Paper Trail - it gives you everything; the ups, the downs, the regrets, the shocking admissions, the unhealthy self-medication via spending and drugging, the real r. kelly truth of rags-to-riches madness the bullshit road to big capitol and the resulting suffering of the soul in spite of the euphoria of the moment. And it does so over top of the most mind-bogglingly perfect instrumental tracks the year 2010 can offer anyone. If Hov is supposed to be Sinatra then who the fuck is Drake? Someone more promising. After all, it took Jay 5 albums to put out something perfect, and lightning hasn't struck since. Drake is 1 for 1, big time. Keep that yuppie-rap throne warm, Jigga.

Thank Me Later

The Drake album leaked yesterday, and it is better than both The Carter III and Graduation, which are in my consideration the 2 milestones of pop music quality in the last 3 years. One of the best pop albums I have ever heard. I take back anything I ever said about Drake.