Thursday, March 30, 2006

Soundgarden 'Superunknown'




Just for kicks and since I have written about my cat before, enjoy a fresh picture of Monroe taken today. She's named after a character from 'Green Acres'. Is that sad?

The title of each blog entry is the music that I’m listening to for the day. I haven’t listened to this Soundgarden CD for at least 10 years. I simply got sick of it and never wanted to hear it again. I got tired of hearing “Spoonman”, “My Wave”, “Fell On Black Days”, and of course… “Black Hole Sun”.

I purchased the CD before radio got all over the damn thing. There was an alternative rock station in the Greensboro area and every two or four hours, I would hear “Black Hole Sun”. If I weren’t hearing the sounds on the radio, MTV was showing the videos. I simply got burned out on Soundgarden.

I must admit it’s kind of nice revisiting the CD today. The music isn’t as painful to hear today as it was 10 years ago.

It took me three times to sit down with it, but I have finally finished watching The Godfather III. I’m starting to get an appreciation for it.

What?

Yes, an appreciation for it.

I’m a fan of bad movies that weren’t intended to be bad. For examples… The Conqueror, Plan 9 From Outer Space, and Showgirls.

There are MANY things that I found out-loud funny about The Godfather III. First of all, Sofia Coppola (did I spell it right today?) filling in for Ms. Klepto Ryder. She filled in at the last minute and quite frankly; it’s painful to watch. But a little later, I find myself laughing at her acting and utter lack of ability.

I realize that she was in the first one (baby getting baptized), but that shouldn’t allow her in the third installment. She does have a little something about her that’s attractive, but you have to look really hard to find it. The kneading dough-turning-to kissing scene with Andy Garcia was borderline gross and I was laughing my ass off.

The Family tries to buyout the Vatican… What in the hell is that about, huh?

Then there’s a Priest who moonlights as an assassin. It’s just pure craziness! What were these people thinking?

Perhaps they succumbed to the crack epidemic of the 90’s, I don’t know.

The best thing about the film… SPOILER ALERT… Sofia Coppola ends up biting the dust near the end of the picture. It was HYSTERICAL! I didn’t find the same emotion that Pacino portrayed with a soundless scream… I was too busy laughing my ass off.

And finally the film ended with Pacino sitting alone feeding the birds. Crazy.

It’s getting 2 stars on the Netflix grading scale.

After that was FINALLY through, I popped in the film In The Mix. It failed my 20-minute test and was quickly pulled from my DVD player. R&B performer Usher was in the lead role as a popular club DJ who was tapped to provide the music for a Italian (Mafia) family surprise party.

It didn’t seem to be going anywhere and to be quite honest, I don’t even recall putting it on my Netflix queue. Oh well.

It’s getting only 1 star on the Netflix grading scale.

Let me say this before closing out… Season 5 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer is the ShizNit, baby! Season 5 has clinched it for me and I’m going to purchase every season for myself.

There’s an episode in season 5 that was totally snubbed by the Emmy Awards. They didn’t even get a nomination for a great, GREAT episode called “The Body”.

Christine informed me that there’s a Hollywood term for shows that get snubbed by the Emmys. The term is “you’ve been Buffied”.

In “The Body” episode, the lesbian kiss between Willow and Tara finally happens. But, you’re so emotionally spent with the main storyline that you don’t really notice it. Those bastards slipped it in there and in a place where you can’t even enjoy it.

I was pissed, but impressed with how the director, writers, and producers positioned it. Because I remember there were TV stations that weren’t going to show the episode because of the lesbian kiss. The show totally downplayed it and made it a non-event.

Netflix only allows 5 stars to be given as a grade, but season 5 of Buffy should go all the way to eleven.

That, my friends, makes for a great show. I’m going to be on the lookout for some used Buffy on DVD.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer is a great show that deserves your attention. And probably, like me, you may have trouble with season 1. After that, it’s all butter, baby!

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:30 AM

    I think you're getting confused on some major plot points in Godfather III (not that it matters because it's a mediocre movie that you'll never see again). Nevertheless:

    There was no priest moonlighting as an assassin. The assassin who inadvertantly killed Sophia Coppola's character was merely disguising himself as a priest. What better way to get close to Michael Corleone now that he was in the Vatican?

    If, instead, you're speaking of the murder of the pope by a priest, you have to understand the historical reference for it. The pope's name is never given, but the circumstances of his death as well as the time-line point clearly to real-life Pope John Paul I. Being only 11 or so when he died, and not being Catholic, I doubt you remember much about it. The fact are these - an otherwise healthy man who just suddenly (and mysteriously, some say) died in his sleep a mere month after ascending to most powerful and influential religious position in the world. Conspiracy theories abounded - and still do, to some extent. What the movie did was trade on some of those conspiracy theories, and provide a
    "what if this is what really happened to the real-life Pope John Paul I" in the guise of a thinly-veiled fictional setting and character. In the movie, as well as in real-life, this pope was widely seen as someone who planned to 'upset the apple cart' and make major, sweeping changes to Vatican personnel, policies and politics. Knowing the real-life connection as I do, I personally thought that was the best and most interesting plot line the movie had to offer.

    Lastly, the Corleone family wasn't trying to "buyout" the Vatican. It's been a few years since I've seen it, so I'm a bit fuzzy on the details, but what I remember was this: Michael Corleone, in an attempt to go "legit", was vying for a high-ranking advisor position with the bank that managed the wealth of the Vatican. The only way he could do this was with an enormous bribe veiled as a "donation" - a buy *in* not a buy *out.* Again, a major poke at Vatican corruption, but not at all unrealistic given the context.

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  2. Congratulations Christine... You figured me out... I didn't really pay attention to The Godfather III. Instead of devoting too much attention to it, I did laundry and my brain kept wandering off thinking about watching some paint dry.

    :)

    I just never have to see any of those films again.

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  3. Anonymous2:52 PM

    Your comforter scares me!

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  4. What's wrong with the comforter???

    It's warm and my cat likes it!

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