Merry X-mas...from the HOFF

This card makes me laugh.


I know that everyone out there looks at my blog at least 2 times a day but this may be the last update till 2006. Just taking the week off after Christmas (there i said it).

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by as well as my 'blog buddies' (check out my faves under the links).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
-MARCH-

Letter to Santa...

Have some fun with a letter to santa. Its like mad libs for adults. If you have the mentality of an 8th grade boy like me you put in stuff like pee-pee and you will giggle for
hours.

Something a little less taxing. Pimp My Nutcracker. Have fun!

Some people...

Have far too much time and money invested in christmas decorations. Case in point
can be found here in which a homeowner has their ligths set to music.

The Chronic of Narnia....

I love the "hamiltons" line..ahhahaa

click the image and let it load..if its super slow..try this linky link link
(its a little slow and stuttery off my blog..but)

Back to the office for a rest....

Whew! I actually shudder at the idea that work life can be less taxing than home life but now and then work is a nice break from personal life. We FINALLY got out tree up, ran errands like mad and Sunday hosted a nice open house (well at least I think it was nice). Its great to see people and you always say "We need to do this more often" when in the back of your mind you say "I'll see you this summer for a BBQ". Perhaps a new years resolution? Have some smaller dinner parties to just 'see people'. We shall see I guess. Might actually be a resolution I keep. Resolutions are silly I know so why bother.

Getting ready to re-listen to the 2005 Music that I bought so I can compile a list of my favorite cds. Per the norm I spent way too much but the good news is the vast majority I enjoy a great deal. Its going to be a rough year.

I decided on a good money making plan for the next holiday season. I can't tell you cuz you'll steal it.

Look here tomorrow for perhaps my favorite and most cheezy x-mas greeting ever.

March spins the dial....

The other night I was out running some errands, bouncing around the dial when I came upon WBCN. Its one of my pre-sets and it used to be one of the better stations in Boston. So good that when I was going to school for radio it was one of only two stations I applied to for an internship. As of late they have had a lot of turn over and not a lot of direction as to what they want to play. I still wonder who out there hears "Paradise City" and shrieks YESSS THIS IS JUST WHAT I WANTED TO HEAR RIGHT NOW!. I am not dissing the song, band or what have you I just don't get what program directors thing is a good idea to ram down our throats.

So on my bounce around they were doing a sweeper (its those recorded promos you hear between songs) so I sat tight to see what was next. The song was Jesus of Suburbia from the Green Day record American Idiot. It was one of my favorite records from last year. For those of you not familiar w/the track its close to 10 minutes long and it a song in about three various parts. It smokes, it really does. Any song that gets me to air jam all the instruments at their most poignant moment, throw up the devil horns and "sing" a guitar part is GOLD. Now back to the story. As stated the song is a tad over 10 minutes long. Considered by many to be "radio suicide". 3:30 is about as long as you want to go. So as the song started I said "Ohh I wonder when they will stop the tune". As each "part" drew to a close I said "okay here comes the assy DJ being all cool telling me how this song is 10 minutes long and it really rules and to check out the cd. Amazingly...the whole song played through. I drove 200 mph. I threw up the devil horns. I sang Mike Dirnts bass line...all the while saying "holy f**king crap this song rips". As the song ended they went it to some song that I had heard a million times before, but, its name escapes me.

If you think this song sucks I feel bad for you. I know everyone has their own opinions but these same ass hats thing Bo Bice was "robbed".

Paris Hilton has never read my blog?! Reason # 912881888128818812818 and 1 why I dislike her. See what some of the other silly quotes of 2005 were.

Sin City..Finally gettin to it.

I rented Sin City as noted a few posts back and now I have a moment or two to yammer on about it. First if you have seen it check out the trivia off IMDB regarding the lengths the director took to get Frank Miller to allow this project to take off.


Few things I'd like to chat about.

1) If everyone I knew had free time I'd love to start a film discussion group. I loved my history of film classes and loved to analyze films and see something that I never would have guessed or get others takes on it.

2) For the folks that have seen it and didn't like it you just need to look at it from the graphic novel (aka grown up comic book) sense. Its so well done. Sure its confusing at time (see my #1) but as a whole its really great. I call movies like this "reward" movies in that they seem confusing but when you get to the last 1/2 hour of the film (most times) everything comes together and you go AHHHHHH..NOW I GET IT. Films like Memmento, Usual Suspects and Crash all come to mind.

3) A special note to Hollywood and DVD makers. When a DVD is first released after the theater release a bare bones version as in "just the film" and sell it for 7.99 or less. After 90 days or so unload all your silly repackaged, extra scenes, deleted scenes, comes with a piece of the actual film box sets. Sin City has been on DVD for about 2 months and right in time for the holidays they release an expansive 2 DVD set. Its just a shame and sham they do this. They know what footage they have going in so just say to people If you really want just the movie, grab it, otherwise wait a few months and get the expansive pack. Honestly most of the bonus stuff is crap anyhow..A deleted scene was deleted for a reason. Dunno..I am not really making a point here.

4) Overall its a great film and I see there are Sin City 2 and 3 in works. Since the graphic novel has 6+ volumes we can be due for a long run. I just hope the franchise doesn't suffer.

Quick stuff...

Part of the Smiths got back together a few nights ago. Note to NME: this is not news until both Johnny Marr AND Morrisey are there. Name the other two guys in the smiths and you win a prize. (don't look it up).

Sick of radio, ipod battery dead? Check out Pandora.com. All you do is add yer fave bands and it creates a play list of "other bands" that are like them. hate em..say it and it will remove from coming up again.

Gad zooks, why do they keep making movies of moderate TV series. Then again what TV series would make a good movie? Closest to being "good" was Beavis and Butthead but it was just an extension of what they already did.Miami Vice is up now and the trailer is at that link if ya really REALLY care.

Super late update..sorry..

Just something to post.

A guy recently started here at my job that has a great passion for music. Over the last few weeks its been "have you heard..check this band out". Its been great because its no macho ego thing like "You mean you have not heard _____." Well I stand corrected we have done that but its never done to make the other person feel inferior. Most of the time its followed with "I'll bring in the cd tomorrow".

So today I just asked "Have you ever heard Slint?". I got the response of "No, but you speak of them highly and I'd be curious". That being said I responded with

Spiderland will be here tomorrow in the mean time read this. Its an awesome review of any record I have ever read. Granted it didn't get me to buy it (I had it when someone told me about it) but after reading it I listened to it probably 10 times in a row. Treat yourself and buy Spiderland today.

A nod to Richard Pryor and then some.

First one has to pay homage to a great stand up comic. If you had not heard comedian Richard Pryor died at age 65 of an apparent heart attack this weekend. Do yourselves a favor and rent Live on the Sunset Strip. Some of it may seem dated but remember this was 1982 and this was very taboo. Interesting to note that many of his films now have a wait in Netflix.

I checked out Rock School this weekend. Its a documentary about Paul Greens School of Rock in Philly. I am really really not sure what to say about the film. Being a music fan I wanted to see how someone "carves" or "teaches" kids how to "rock". I'll admit that he has some very talented kids in his school (I'll get to that in a second). This guy Paul is a flat out dickhead. Plain and simple. He never made it as a professional musician from what I can tell but he is going to teach 9 to 17 year olds how to "rock". First, he yells, all the time. As he is yelling he drops more f'bombs than Pacino did in Scarface. I can't tell if the real little kids are around when he does most of this but man he is just unreal. I know that rock and roll is supposed to be dangerous but come on dude. One might say that he is driven. He pushes "tweens" to be good at something which is very commendable. I kept saying "man I want to be on your side for getting the best out of these kids but there has GOT to be a better way than screaming at them!"

He has 2 levels and the idea was to get the first group to do a Black Sabbath show. He had these 2 twin boys be "Ozzy" and the class at the end played through some classic tunes but sung by a nine year old..well you get the idea.

The "upper" level is showcased a a lot more as you'd expect. He has a 12 year old named "CJ" and he is really amazing. The film starts off with him playing Santanas intro to Black Magic Woman and through out you get to see a somewhat "normal" kid just express himself via the guitar. Green decides that the upper class is going to do a "Zappa" set. They get so good they go to Germany for a Zappa festival. I guess its super hard core fans that go to hear Zappa Band Members new projects as well as tribute bands from around the world. Even some members of Franks band sit in with these kids and they are stunned. That is the stuff I wanted to see more of. The kids were excited and just in their element. When Paul is on screen you just want to punch him..its that simple. I am hesitant to recommend it to anyone really for that simple reason of the instructor..but if you play an instrument you'd be impressed with what some of these kids can do.

I also finally got to Sin City
..more on that tomorrow as I need to get my head around that more.

March watches March..

I finally put aside some time to watch the buzz film March of the penguins. Have you seen it? First I want to say it was well done. It is interesting and fascinating. Second, it was a little too long. Even though it was 1hr and 20 or so minutes it didn't need to be. As good as it was you are also not missing anything if you have seen a quality nature show. Kids will like it and it does explain the cycle of life in not so literate terms. I got that film "Rock School" that I want to check out. Also Sin City has been collecting dust I need to get thru that.

The snow is falling, waiting for them to let everyone go at the same time to make the ride home as bad as the ride here. Actually the ride here was not so bad, I arrived 10 minutes earlier than I usually would, but, I left the house an hour earlier than I usually do.

Trading Spouce lady..

I never saw it..so this is rather good.
LOONY LADY!

the link goes to the main page..for a fast one:
movies.crooksandliars.com/Trading-Spouses1.wmv

Lennon..then something a little lighter...

It was 25 years ago today that John Lennon was shot and it seems to be the trend while bouncing around the radio today that people are talking about where they were when they heard the news. I was in 6th grade and we used to have to wait outside the school before it began (that would never happen now..plus I was a "walker"). We were all just hanging out waiting to be let in when one kid mentioned it. I said "who?" he said "John Lennon". I said "Who is that?". I kid you not. I had no idea who he was. Its odd to think back to it now since I am such a music fan but I am being honest, I had no idea who he was. When I got home I asked my parents about it and they didn't really emote one way or the other. My mother said "I was too old when they were popular" and my dad probably said something like "Damn hippies" or something. I can't say that after the news I was thrust in to trying to buy or listen to the Beatles, it came later. Times were different, I couldn't surf the web on his name, I couldn't download a song and we didn't have cable so we were stuck to 3-4 channels and 99% of the time it was what mom or dad wanted to watch. There is no denying the joy he gave to millions and I too have become a fan. Hopefully he is at peace and his family will stop bastardizing his legacy.

***update*** the u2 link is dead and I can't even find it now on ebay to update it..
U2's backdrop from the Boy Tour is one of the fun finds I had on ebay recently. Its fun to put in something "random" then when the selections come up sort by "highest first". Its also fun to do with Ferrari, Miles Davis and of course, the beatles.

Silly..but it made her day.

A co-worker forwarded me a story about Edmonton Oiler Ryan Smyth granting the wish of a 101 year old female fan that wanted to run her hands thru his hair. Silly on so many levels but talk about simply making someone's day. If you really care you can read about it here. You hear so often of what jerks pro athletes can be its nice to see players making an effort to be "stars" in the eyes of kids. Recently I was watching a game on OLN and it had the Tampa Bay Lightning. It was the end of the game and the players were coming off the ice (TB was the visiting team) and the camera was shooting looking out from the hallway to the locker room out into the arena. Martin StLouis was coming off the ice and you see a young fan lean over the railing w/the Bolts hat waving. Martin stops and says hi. You can't hear the conversation but he drops his gloves, takes a marker and signs the kids hat. It was brief moment in time and I had nothing to do with it, but it makes you feel like some of these guys are "getting it". Of all people Ozzy Osbourne said it best "Be nice to everyone on the way up, cuz on the way down they will forget your name".

Few things..sans all the snow.

We were due for some snow last night but didn't get any. Funny when you are going skiing or in school snow rules. Otherwise its a big hassle.

Not sure what to get the gangster rapper on your holiday wish list.
Check the Scarface Poster out. It uses the entire script to make up the picture. I gotta admit that had to have taken a ton of work..but writing "fuck" over 200 times must have gotten tedious.

I have a slew or records that I wish i could store better. Which leads to me to the belief that someone else was not sure what do with theirs and made some cool bowls out of them. Not sure how a lamp would hold up with the heat..but hey.

Finally if you still are not convinced that buying a Sigur Ros cd or seeing them live in concert is not worth it. Please check out this. Its their show from Iceland with a brass band. Its long of course but just watch for 10 minutes and you'll get it.

Quick Entry..cuz I need to get up and exercise...

Is it just me or is it hard to sit and just watch movie like Murderball? By hard I mean you feel like a slug. As the guys noted throughout the film they really didn't want pity or to be looked at differently and they all seemed to be handling life in a wheelchair. These guys are driven and committed to being part of the best quad Olympic rugby team. This movie got added to my Netflix queue what feels like a year ago now. If you ever need some motivation to get things done, or feel like you could never do something look no further than this very film.

Office and My Name is Earl fans take NOTE!

The Office and My Name is Earl are changing nights

Son of a BITCH! On during CSI Time are they NUTS?! Now I gotta freaking tape one and watch the other. Going up against CSI is a bad bad move. Thursdays would be complete if we could have this 8-9 then CSI 9-10 then ER 10-11. I know KK is freaking out right now about my rant on TV but if there were ever a time to get a TiVo I guess it might be now. effing ef I am bent.

Live Concerts: A Year in Review.

The live year in review. I saw 21 shows this year (well at least as of this typing. I was going to get fancy and try to link to all the bands sites but we shall see. Here is what I saw and any comments I may have had.

The Arcade Fire February 2, 2005 at the Roxy in Boston. Final Fantasy opened.
Riding high on the massive wave of best of 2004 lists the Arcade Fire were super live. The show ended with the band taking their gear into the audience and walking all around playing the last tune.

moe. February 11, 2005 at the Palladium in Worcester, MA there was no opening band. My buddy KK is a big big fan of them and hooked me up with backstage passes. We watched the whole show from the side of the stage. It was excellent to look out and feel the energy that the band must get.

They Might Be Giants March 13, 2005, Borders Bookstore, Providence Place Mall (instore)
They Might be Giants released a second record for kids this year and we caught the instore. There was probably 500 people there and we got there at 430 for a 6pm show. Most of the show I had my six year old on my shoulders so she could see. The best is that I taped the show and at one point you can hear her squeal with delight..its the best.

Slint March 20, 2005 at the Roxy in Boston w/PG6
One of the few broken up bands that should have reformed did just that in 2005. Top 5 show of the year as well as a top 5 show of all time for me. Stunning from beginning to end. Rumor has it a DVD is in the works of this "final tour". It was worth the wait

Queens of the Stone Age March 28, 2005 at The Roxy, Boston MA. Throw Rag opened.
I love Queens. The band was on fire this night but the only down side was that I was taping and had a spot on the floor (near the back)
and a group of women decided to sit on the 1/2 wall and block my view for 99% of the show. I hope they return for another leg. Also a top 5 show of
the year.

Max Creek April 9, 2005 at the Living Room in Providence. There was no opener.
this is a local band that has been around for ages. A co-worker got us on the guest list and we went down for a few hours (the band plays 2 or 3 sets a show) so we had our fill and left. It was fun and free

Mono April 16, 2005 at AS220 in Providence. Seratonin, Eluvium and Urdog were in support. Urdog is the thorn in my local music scene side. The suck and I had to deal with them (more on that later). Mono was stunning just amazing in this small
art gallery. It was a show for the ages until the police broke in with their guns drawn. Long story short a few doors down is the police station. A guy had shot a cop in the police station and fled on foot. The only place open at this hour..AS220. I had no idea what was going on until the next day. The most scary moment ever in my life. I wrote a longer story on that, that I can post.

Death From Above 1979 May 2, 2005 at the Middle East in Cambridge. Controller Controller and Red Yellow opened the show. I loved LOVED the record and DFA cancelled 2 times prior to this show. When it all went down I left feeling a little cheated. On record they are amazing but live I was a little let down.

The Mars Volta May 7, 2005 at Lupos in Providence. There was no opener.
2hrs and about 6 songs, what is not to love

U2 for 2 nights, May 24th and 26th at the Fleet Center in Boston. Kings of Leon opened.
Yep back to back nights for U2. They are probably the biggest band I obsess over. I am not a freak about them but I own their cds and go to their shows etc. Night one was in the 'ellipse' with my wife. We got scanned in and were off to the side a smidge. The best was the Edge doing the solo to The Electric Co right next to me. Night 2 was good, still on the floor but not inside the ellipse

Lightning Bolt July 20, 2005 at AS220 in Providence with Afrirampo and Urdog.
Ugggh..Freaking Urdog. I got to the show and was told it was sold out. Then 2 seconds later the guy looks at me and says "can I help you?" and I said I wanted to come in but its sold out". No its not he said. So I had to stand thru Urdog once more but Lightning Bolt SMOKED the place. It was hotter than hell in the small room and they make you glad you wear earplugs to shows. Short mention of the show here


Pelican July 25, 2005 at the Living Room in Providence with Big Business, Panthers and Goat Island. Great show. Big Business was fun and how a bass player and drummer can make that much noise is beyond me. Pelican was great. I e-mailed the band a year or so ago asking about east coast dates and got a response "we all have used up out vacation time from our jobs". Working men indeed that I was glad to see took a "vacation" to come east. A mention of the show is here somwhere

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah September 14, 2005 at TT The Bears Place in Cambridge MA. Dr.Dog and 2 other bands opened that I missed. One of my favorite records of the year. I did a review on this you can read here

Sigur Ros September 15, 2005 at the Opera House in Boston. Anima opened.
umm yeah..prolly the best show of year. Read about me gushing over it over and over if you darehere

The White Stripes September 19, 2005 at the Providence Performing Arts Center. The Greenhornes opened. Another review here. As good as they sounded I am still pissed.

Nashville P***y September 24, 2005 at the Living Room in Providence. Zeke and Akas opened.
a buddy called and asked if I wanted to go. Saturday night..why not. The band rocked. For what they do it was a lot of fun. Strap on your domestic beer buzz and come along for the ride.

U2 for 2 shows October 3 and 4th at the TD Bank North Garden in Boston. Keane opened both shows.
I know I know...sorry. Again, floor both shows but I went alone and taped both nights. I was about 20 feet off the tip of the ellipse both nights. I think night one was better. There are reviews somewhere on my blog.

Death Cab for Cutie October 22, 2005 at Lupos in Providence. Stars opened.
stars were wonderful. I bought their cd after the show. Death Cab was pretty good and they did a lot to impress. I had seen them open for pearl jam.
you can read about my experience here

Bauhaus November 13, 2005 at the Orpheum Theater in Boston. There was no opener.
the same guy that asked me to NPus called me about this show. Free ticket to boot. if you want you can read about ithere

Stuff..

First..regarding the "Rules" I did not write those. Wish I did but as KK noted I am not that bright. My dad e-mailed them to me so I figured I'd share.

On to the crap you normally expect.

I am a Netflix Netflix. I love to update my queue and move movies around based off my moods. Its like a competion now when new releases come out. If I mail a DVD from work on a monday and there is new release coming out the next day there is a 90+% chance I will get that release. It worked this week with March of the Penquins AND Murderball. I just wish I could have my apendectomy all over again barring the few days of pain. Just take two weeks off work and watch a slew of movies and not feel guilty cuz I am recovering.

Recently I rented a really stoopid sounding DVD. It was called
Hooligans and Thugs: Soccers Most Violent Fan Fights
You are reading the blog of a guy that has about 50 hours plus of NHL fights on VHS tape so this had just that "i don't need to think to watch this 1hr program". First the film was suggested via Netflix the day I added the movie
Green Street Hooligans to my queue. (it was in theaters for about 1 hour I think?). Anyhow this DVD arrived and I sat down to watch it and I watched. Its no wonder the world is coming to an end. People are morons and crazy. I am all for being passionate about a team but to the point of flying to a city to then just beat up other fans, makes no sense. It was pretty exploitive as well as you'd imagine. I am sure it was once available off a 1-800# in the wee hours. The footage is mostly cam corders and wobbly footage and offers only a hint and the "early days". Check out amazon some time for the books on the subject..its stunning. It was just senseless. Beating the tar out of someone (including repeated kicks to the head???!). There was footage of one fight that had someone killed in the stands and to calm the rest of the masses the game went on. Another doozy was the idea that a "beer garden" would make for a more festive and friendly attitude. Yeah, exactly. The best of all was some brawl in which the police rounded up some 250 "fans" after the game..drove them straight to the airport and put them on a plane. Most didn't go back to the hotels to get bags, passports etc. The single file folks walking through the airport with shirts over their heads to cover up their "innocence".

If you wanna know what your favorite football teams hooligans club name is you can look
here