Solid Brick

BRICK

Brick sounds like a no brainer. Take the archetypical detective story, and set it in modern day high school. What Rian Johnson ends up with is a slick looking nod to the thrillers of the ‘40’s with fast talking men hot on the heels of a dangerous crime lord in a shady setting with shadier woman.

Brick tells the tale of Brendan, a high school youth who worries about the whereabouts of his ex-girlfriend Emily. When things go awry, Brendan has to delve into the shady high school underworld to shake out the guilty party. Helping him out is The Brain, a rubix cube playing associate who aides him with information. This information leads Brendan to a meeting with a number of the schools more outlandish individuals.

Rian Johnson has got it, I don’t mean got the style of the genre he’s knee deep in, though he does, his detective tale is a road paved with sleepless nights, vicious brawls, mysterious men with mysterious motives. Johnson's got the visual talent and ability to create a distinct mood and atmosphere What’s really impressive is the staging and execution of the two big “action” scenes, one being a parking lot brawl, the other being a thrilling foot chase with a splendid payoff, it’s no surprise he was awarded for originality of vision, the guy’s gonna go places.

I never liked Joseph Gordon-Levitt during his tenure on Third Rock from the Sun as the youngest [oldest?] alien Tommy, but then you don’t care once his portrayal of Brendan hits the ground running in his search for the perpetrators and the story behind the titular “Brick”, giving pursuit with little regards to health, sleep or grades, he’s the hero who can't be put down, and his hard boiled banter works 100% throughout the tale. To paraphrase Paul Rudd “Y'know, I always thought that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was like a Streisand, but he's rocking the shit in this one!”

Discussing the supporting cast of characters risks spoiling and this is a film best watched without prior knowledge [But then again, what isn’t?]. Brick is playing in limited release but I assure you it’s worth the time when the film is rolled out to a theatre near you.

Yo Mamma handles more "traffic" than a linux based web server!!!

Immigration is a hot topic right now, and myself being a California resident I have come to embrace the Hispanic culture that is so prevalent in Southern California with one exception...WILMER VALDERRAMA. I would gladly support deporting all "undocumented citizens" if the government only promised to send Wilmer back with them. This guy has done nothing significant in his entire Hollywood career. He has simply coasted on his Fez voice and his on again off again relationship with Lindsay Lohan (come on you two, work it out!!!).

Apparently, someone gave Wilmer DVDs of "In Living Color" and some executive agreed that the idea of doing a show based on a 15 year old skit concept (Dirty Dozens) was a great idea! Basically, Wilmer and some black guy find the best trash talkers from schools in the "ghetto" and have them "spit their game" against each other. As I was watching bits and pieces of the recent 9 episode marathon MTV aired this past weekend, I expected Ashton Kutcher to pop into my screen and explain to me this was one giant Punk'd skit. The people on the show are not funny and the jokes are all old. Seriously, we all see this person is fat and has pimples is it really that hilarious when you point out the obvious? Also, there is something inherently racist about the idea of combing the "ghettos" for the best trash talkers. Are blacks and latinos the only ones who can talk good trash? Rich white kids have been trying to be black for the past 40 years. I am sure there are some great trash talkers up in the San Fernando Valley or in Beverly Hills.

"Yo Mama" airs 19 times a day on MTV. I am sure you will run into an episode soon. I suggest you don't watch.

Justin Fixes the Sweeps Update: Faze

Since I have to be the negative guy around here, and the only show I think is up to par is The Sopranos (well and the Office), I'm going all counterpoint on Faze's ass.

24: Who knows what it is about this show that keeps me glued. It's not as interesting as seasons past, and never as ballsy as it's best cliffhangers tease. Somehow though, the still badass Jack Bauer and his merry band of folks keep this show near the top of my DVR list. Aside from the cliffhangers, which I agree with the Faze on, a major recurrance is the reliance on bureaucratic roadbloacks to Jack. It seems no matter how many times this guy is right, there's some new head of CTU or protocol that is in his way. It's a plot device used almost every week. If this didn't exist, this season's 24 would have to be called 2.

Prison Break: I have all four of these waiting on my DVR. More later.

Family Guy: After a phenominal return and great run, the show has gone downhill for me since the Quagmire falls in love episode. The last 2 or so have produced about as much laughs from me as your average episode of Mad TV or Saving Private Ryan. Hopefully they are just off their game, but if this streak continues, I don't see this lasting on my must watch list.

American Idol: Fuck you for mentioning this on my site. To all of you people watching this, thank you for making a shitty karaoke/popularity contest one of the most watched shows on TV. Die.

Scrubs: Keith is horrible. This season is horrible. I feel this perhaps more than others because I only caught up with the show last year..the first few seasons still fresh in my mind. How did these characters' reality become more crazy than JD's old fantasies? How have they managed to dumb down these characters that they have taken so much care to give depth? Why, when Elliot had nothing to do, did they have to give her the jackass Keith? Why do the producers of the show think he is good enough to be recurring? The show may be getting it's best ratings, but god dammit it has nothing to do with the current state of things. There have been some good shows, the Wizard of Oz and Air Guitar band being standouts. Fasion is really shining this year as well, they are giving him room to breathe. The rest of the scrubs are just starting to annoy me..even the great Dr. Cox has been hitting the same note for a while. The former masterful balance of comedy and drama has been tilted way to the comedy side, with the drama forced in at the end in an almost full house fashion..all that is missing is the shitty guitar riff. The Office is the funniest show that is (still, arrested development RIP) on television right now.

Veronica Mars: One of the most consistent shows on TV is still pretty great. I have quite a backlog of these to watch so I'm not completely caught up, but I am liking where the show is going. My only problem here is that the attempts to make this accident seem personal to Veronica seem stretched..that is nothing that can't be tied in later. I also love the possibility that season one's mystery hasn't really been solved.

Supernatural: I will watch this one on DVD.

Lost: Ah yes, you've been waiting for this one. Jeph Loeb, known mainly for his work on some recent great Batman comic books, has seen some work with Lost this season..And some of it has been pretty good. Ok, I lied, this show sucks, but like 24, I keep tuning in to see when they slide in their approximately 1 out of 5 ratio in which the episodes have anything interesting happening to a character you give a shit about. Seriously, who cares about the asian couple? If you say that you do, you really ought to get outside, or at least down to your video store and rent a show that does this type of thing right, Twin Peaks, or even get a COMIC BOOK that does it right, The Walking Dead. Anyway, the last Locke episode was a good example of how good it could be. They didn't spoonfeed us anything, and they didn't really reveal anything, but they added to the mythology of the show in a way that kept it interesting. I don't care about the love triangle, I don't care about Sun's baby, I don't care about the sand in Ana Lucia's snapper. I care about the main story. The writers haven't given any characters enough depth or relevance, outside of a precious few, for that to change for me.

Pre-Sweeps Update 2

Here are some of the shows I have been following in addition to the ones listed below:

Desperate Housewives: Season 2 started out really slow and I was pretty sure it was going downhill from all the hoopla it got first season. The story line has picked up and it is getting somewhat interesting. Carlos and Gabby are stealing babies, Bre is being accused of child molestation and Susan can't seem to get it right with men. Seems like any other week in Wisteria Lane. America loves sensationalism. I guess that includes me.

Grey's Anatomy: It is still entertaining to me, despite Meredith Grey. George sleeps with Meredith and while they are doing it, she cries so he hates her. He ends up dating some orthopedic surgeon, forgot her name. Mer and Dr. McDreamy are trying to be "friends." And Izzy is falling for a patient in need of a heart transplant. 10 bucks on Addy walking in on Mer and McDreamy in bed by the end of the season.

Prison Break: Faze already talked about this. Just wanted to add how much I love Wentworth Miller. And I hope Dr. Sara falls for him even more while he is in the psych ward.

Gilmore Girls: I have been meaning to talk about this show but have been avoiding it since there is so much to say. I have been a fan from the beginning and I am going to miss it when it goes next year. The season has seen a lot of ups and downs in the world of Rory and Loreali. Running away from Yale, getting arrested, going back to Yale and falling in love with the town asshole (Logan) are just some of the things Rory has accomplished thus far. Loreali and Luke finally admitted their love to one another and planned on getting married but that got complicated after Luke found out he had a long lost daughter. Even still, Loreali and Luke are boring as a couple, I actually enjoying Luke's pining for her more then them being together. Hmm what else...Jess came back last week. That was refreshing. And Paul Anka guest starred. (reason why it's funny-Loreali named her dog after him) Oh ya, Loreali's parents are planning to move to Stars Hollow. That should be interesting. AND Lane is getting married!!

Enough Summarizing. I love this show's wit. And I remember someone coined them Gabmore Girls (maybe SNL or MADTV, not sure) because everyone speed talks. Remember the show Blossom, her friend? It is like that. Like 100 words a sec. You really have to pay attention to get jokes because they don't stop for the audience to get them. That's all for now.

Pre-Sweeps Update

Do you hear that? It's the sound of your Tivo/DVR revving up for the happiest time of the TV season...Sweeps. I figured since I have talked about TV so little recently, I would run a quick update of some of my favorite shows as they make their way into the homestretch.

24: Umm...I don't know where to start. This season has been all over the place. The one theme that is kind of annoying is doing a big reveal at the end of one week, only to take a step back in the following week's episode essentially negating any drama that was developed e.g. Audrey's connection to the day's events, the President's involvement, etc, etc, ETC. The only thing saving this season is that it has had some great "Jack Moments". Anyway, this show is really limping to the finish in my opinion...yet I keep watching!

Prison Break: I was skeptical what they would do after we saw the aftermath of the initial breakout attempt. I figured the show would collapse in 24 fashion and just meander around until the end of the season for a big bang finish. I guess it can still happen seeing that it just came back a month ago, but I like what they seem to be setting up, and that flashback episode was actually pretty good.

American Idol: Good talent. Thank God Taylor and Chris are there. I am calling McPhee to win it all.

Scrubs: Pretty decent overall. It hasn't had the consistency that I could expect each week, but still very high quality stuff.

Veronica Mars: The show has been cruising along nicely giving bits and pieces of information about the bus crash. I was afraid this formula wouldn't work as well as it did last year having one giant overarching mystery, but you know what as the season has gone along its really kept me engrossed.

Lost: Justin would disagree here, but this season has been spectacular. The impending war with the Others, Mr. Eko, guns, POW's, crazy houses, highlighter images, etc. Great stuff. I can't wait to see what massive cliffhanger they leave us with this year.

Supernatural: Still my fave show of the entire year. Every episode is laden with humor, scares, mythology, and just good ole ass kickin'. It really has the early seasons of Buffy vibe going for it with a nice kick of machismo. It looks like the demon that killed Sam and Dean's mom will be involved in the finale and they will be reunited with their recluse father to fight it. I can't wait.

South Park still relevant?

So this last week brought the conclusion to South Park's 2 parter commenting on freedom of speech and the controversy over Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) packaged all around Cartman's quest to get Family Guy cancelled for showing the Prophet in an episode.

Geeks have been in an uproar about this episode and have come out in staunch support of Trey Parker and Matt Stone but I ask is it warranted? I did not think these episodes were that clever at all and any laughs in it were just chuckle inducing. The twist involving the writing staff of family guy being manatees was just stupid. The commentary on freedom of speech I guess was intelligent, but nothing groundbreaking. Really, South Park hasn't done anything great for a long time now. Save for its Scientology episode (which was genius), the show has just been coasting. Granted, I haven't watched the show religiously for years now,but I get the feeling that the show is going through, dare I say, the Simpsons syndrome. Its been on too long and it just doesnt make with the funny anymore

As far as Family guy, the show has had huge ups and downs this season, but I still think its one of the funniest shows out there and today's South Park doesn't hold a candle to the best that Family Guy has to offer.

As far as which show in its prime is better, the answer to that is easy...Futurama.

Tivo is still kicking

Lots of Tivo in the news over the past week. First, Tivo extended its deal with DirectTV for another 3 years, which means all you DirecTivo users out there can rejoice in getting great satellite service with the BEST DVR software on the market today (LINK).

Next, Tivo announced a sort of choose your own adventure version of advertising given the fact that Tivo users see little to no traditional commercials. Basically, you see part of an ad and choose what kind of person/consumer you are and the ad will continue down a specific path for the user (LINK)

Finally, the big news. Tivo wins its patent infringment lawsuit against Echostar (the other satellite provider) and is awarded 73 million dollars. Basically, Tivo stated that Echostar stole their technology and used it in their own 1st party DVRs. In reality, everyone has stolen Tivo's design, but no one has done it better (LINK)

Just when you think they couldn't get any stupider, they go and do something like this...AND TOTALLY REDEEM THEMSELVES. (5 stealing cable brownie points to the person who can identify the movie that I am paraphrasing from)

You Tube Pick of the week/day/hour

Heat Vision and Jack. A super intelligent astronaut (played by Jack Black) on the run from NASA with his talking bike (imbued with the spirit of our hero's old roommate Doug and voiced by Owen Wilson). This pilot for a half hour action-comedy show directed by Ben stiller and written by some of his old "Ben Stiller Show" cohorts has been floating around youtube for a while now. I finally got around to seeing the whole thing. It had potential, but it also felt a bit off in its humor too. Although, you gotta give the show credit for having Ron Silver play himself, "a gifted actor and a cold blooded killer".

Fox passed it over. Of course, if they knew how big Jack Black would become I am sure they would have reconsidered. Tell us what you think about it. Here is the link

Thank You For Smoking

Overview: Nick Nayler played by Aaron Eckhart is a lobbyist for the Tobbaco company who wants to take back the industry from the do-gooders (played by William H. Macy) by getting more cigarettes into the hands of children and teenagers, preferably by working with Hollywood to get smokes into films. Much of the film is a reflection of how Nayler faces opposition against his “morally flexible” stance on selling cigarettes. Nayler’s son, a product of a broken home, wants to learn what his dad does and why everyone hates him so much…so Nayler takes him along for the journey, from taking part in bribes to point blank escapades.


The Good: What satire!!! And what a cast. Rob Lowe plays the head honcho of a consulting firm, “EGO” (haha) who has a weird obsession with anything Asian. Katie Holmes is a reporter who will go to any lengths to get a story and she does a pretty good job. Robert Duvall is the “captain” of the industry who supplies money to Nayler to further the smoking cause. I could go on but really…the cast was awesome. Not to give away too much, but I really loved how these anti-heroes did not feel it necessary to change their views to be politically correct. It was real and I appreciated it. (Especially the Merchants of Death. Haha!)

The Bad: Nothing. It was a light hearted laugh and I really enjoyed it.

Recommendation: Definitely go watch it. Unless you have lung cancer or know someone who died from it, or got fat from cheese or got shot or alcohol poisoning, I could see why you wouldn’t think it’s funny. Sorry.

Can you see me now? Good.

Verizon is looking to establish direct relations with its customers in hopes of subscribing more people to their new cable TV campaign. In an article in the Wall Street Journal, Verizon has set up call centers in Fairfax, VA to directly answer the concerns of the customers in the region, one of the first of many of such centers. There has been a push to sell their cable TV service door to door. The article talked about this one lady who recently had surgery and switched to Verizon because the rep came to her door and offered to walk her dog. She claimed he was so nice and that's why she switched. Oh man. That is the way to do it. Verizon is not even offering discounts to customers because they have not gone national at this point and their rates are still more than Comcast but I guess this door to door service is a way to revamp their company.

It is interesting to note how companies are changing their marketing techniques to stay in tune with the times. With the inevitable segmentation of media as we know it, everyone knows it's all about customization and they all want a piece of the pie. Telecommunication companies are switching over to cable and vice versa. I personally would rather have the companies stick to their original endeavors instead of crossing over because I get this image of Walmart-esque companies taking over every aspect of our lives and selling anti-freeze in the same aisle as fresh fruits but that’s just my own personal paranoia and I realize it probably isn’t rational because of regulations. Thank God for Osha, FDA, EPA and whatever the hell else. This will probably be really good for consumers because the more competition there is, the more innovation and price cuts. Here is to living at the threshold of change. Cheers.

You Tube Pick of the day/week/hour

This post is actually a link to a specific youtube user's member profile. The man "young afghan" has posted over 300 videos of classic hip hop from A tribe called quest to Kool G Rap and everything good inbetween.

You will not find any of that crap being sold as hip hop today in this collection.

This was Hip Hop at its BEST.

Go here and set aside a few hours.

Not So Phat.

Phat Girlz. So I got coaxed into watching this film with a bunch of girls...ya peer pressure. I had a feeling it was going to be horrible because Mo'Nique was in it but I watched it anyway because I did not want to be diffcult.


Overview: Mo'Nique wants to get some but thinks she won't ever find a man because she is obese and hates herself.

The Good: nothing, I wanted to shoot myself.

The Bad: This movie was trying to be a social commentary on how America views fat people and how in Nigeria, being obese is a sign of wealth because most of the country is dying of starvation. And how you should love yourself, even if you are really overweight. The words type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, certain types of cancer and early death kept flashing in my head and yes, that's where my mind went because I was so not entertained with anything in this movie at all. It was trying to be funny and serious at the same time and it just didn't work. None of it. The lines were so predictable that I knew what the characters were going to say before they said it.

Recommendation: I am actually just venting because I am so annoyed that I wasted money on this piece of crap, waste of my life, excuse for a motion picture. So Kids, moral of the story, don't listen to your friends and steer clear of Mo'Nique.

BORAT: THE MOVIE (I like you, do you like me?)

If you don't know who this man is to the left, I suggest you familiarize yourself with Borat Sagiyadev before reading this advance review. I think watching his work will explain the genius that Sacha Baron Cohen has created. You can find a lot of great stuff on youtube (who knew?!). Here is a link to a best of episode from one of the british episodes

Ok...done watching? Caught your breath from laughing. Let me tell you, that I was lucky enough to see a full movie version of Borat's antics in America, and if you loved the clips you saw on youtube, you will love this movie. I don't want to ruin too much of the movie, but I will just tell fans out there that this is NOTHING like "Da Ali G movie". Rather than make an actual movie, Cohen made the smart choice of putting together interviews across the U, S, and A and running a paper thin plot in the background to give the movie a more legitimate beginning and end.

They use what worked from shows in the past e.g. the etiquette bit is recreated with a new flavor, but there is nothing from the show that was just spliced into the movie. This is 100% new Borat. Along for the ride is Borat's Kazakstani TV producer, Azamat. You will just have to watch to see the antics he gets involved in. There are some INSANELY funny scenes that will no doubt be trimmed for the MPAA and some tightening up occuring over the next few months for sure, but with no hyperbole I can say that this movie is one of the funniest things I have scene in the past few years.

For the uninitiated who didnt care to view the clips, the only movie that really compares is the Jackass movie. Real people are on camera, who don't know that Borat is just a character being played by a comedian. It isn't some sort of mockumentary because there is little scripted action in it at all and 90% of the laughs come from the culture clashes that Borat sees between American and Kazakstani culture.


As far as release date, we were told that the movie is currently being screened across southern california but is in a state where the audience input can make significant changes in the final product. So, I would guess the movie is still 5-6 months away from release. I could see the studios waiting to see how Will Ferrell's new movie "Talladega Nights: the legend of ricky bobby" does this summer seeing that Sacha Cohen plays Ferrell's nemesis in that movie. A Borat movie in the fall/christmas season could build nicely on positive buzz from the Ferrel movie.

If you love the show, you will love this movie. If you aren't familiar with the show, you will still love this movie. If you are an ultra conservative, feminist, jew...you may not like this movie.

You Tube pick of the day/week/hour

I am a you tube whore. It epitomizes this whole craze of user created content that all the tech geeks of the world have been talking about for the past few months. Granted, a lot of the stuff on the site is not created by users as so much as digitzed and posted there. The thing that makes it great though is that I literally am never disappointed by the content. Do you want to see "u cant touch this", it's there...the humpty dance, it's there...captain eo (the michael jackson 3d adventure that used to be at disneyland/world), it's THERE...and the list goes on and on.

So, given the fact that I waste so much time there, I thought I would just link to some of my favorite peices from you tube in this blog from time to time. At first it was going to be a weekly column, but I figured given the amount of stuff on the site I should leave myself the possibility of posting more than once a week.

Without further ado, the first youtube pick of the day/week/hour:

C-walking Vietnamese

For the wankstas out there, C-walking (short for crip walking) is a sort of gangsta dance form popularized by southern California's own legendary gang "the Crips". Members such as Snoop Dogg and Mack 10 often use these dance moves in their stage shows and refer to them in their music. Now, these 3 vietnamese kids have taken it to a far more complex level than gangsta's ever did and frankly are pretty damn impressive.

Enjoy...

Robot Chicken is BACK BABY

Robot Chicken, one of the best things Adult Swim has green lighted since its original 4 shows, is coming back TONIGHT AT 11:30 pm on Cartoon Network.

Coincedentally, the DVD of season 1 is also available with all the original "Sweet J presents" skits that Seth Green and Matt Seinreich worked on , which was basically the same idea as Robot Chicken. Unfortunately, Sweet J was part of Sony's early foray into the world of Broadband, Screenblast, which basically meant it was impossible to view entire episodes due to buffering and poor streams.

For the uninitiated (of which there are many), Robot chicken is a skit show at heart. Except the stars are action figures of yesteryear (animated through stop motion) in outrageous situations e.g. Voltron facing off with a monster in a "you got served" style dance off, Optimus Prime falling not to decepticons but to prostate cancer, etc.

If you were born in the '80s, Robot Chicken will definitely entertain you, and its barely 15 minutes long made up of sketches that range from 5 seconds to 3 minutes. You cant be THAT busy can you?