Archive of 2009 May
On the Bus to New York
May 29, 2009, 7:33 pm View CommentsSo here I am, sitting on the Chinatown bus on my way to New York from Baltimore. I’m not sure which thing I’m more excited about, the fact that I’m sitting directly next to the toilet or the fact that I-83 is a parking lot and the only vehicles making progress are emergency vehicles. We left about a half hour ago and still haven’t left the Baltimore city limits. Also, I’m hungry because I didn’t have time to grab dinner.
But you know me. I can’t complain. Unless one of these people gives me swine flu.
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New Music Tuesday - May 5, 2009
May 5, 2009, 8:08 pm View Comments
St. Vincent — Actor
(Buy it in iTunes or on Amazon.)
2007 was a really, really good year for music. So good, in fact, that St. Vincent’s Marry Me was lost a little in the wake of huge releases from established artists. That was the year Feist’s The Reminder came out, permanently etched into our brains by Apple’s iPod commercial. Radiohead released In Rainbows. It was like that all year long. There were literally dozens of others.
Still, out of all the great music from that year, St. Vincent’s Marry Me ended up being one of my favorite albums. Today she’s back with Actor. From what I can tell, this album is poised to get a lot of well-deserved attention. Annie Clark’s voice is almost like a musical instrument, dancing lightly and airy one moment, gravely and sincere the next. As was true with her prior efforts, this album deserves multiple listens, from start to finish. It’s complex, but easy on the ears at the same time, no easy feat. It will be easy to pick out something new with each listen.
Go pick up this album. Your friends will all be talking about it in three months.
Cracker — Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey
(Buy it in iTunes or on Amazon.)
What? Cracker is still around? They have a new album today? And it’s good? Sign me up.
This album is very 1990s, and I always use that as a compliment. Listening quickly through the tracks, it’s amazing how it instantly transports me back to HFStival ’96 at RFK stadium in Washington, DC where my high school friends I stood all the way up by the front of the stage in the very, very sweaty crowd so we could get a good view of the band. Sometimes a drunk guy would spill beer on us. 21 seemed so old! I can hardly believe that was 13 years ago. Okay, now I feel old.
David Lowery’s voice is exactly the same now as it was then. How does he do that? And how does Cracker take such a simple-sounding version of American rock and make it 100% uniquely theirs? Johnny Hickman’s guitar work should probably take a lot of the credit, too.
This is going to be a great warm-weather album. If I had a porch, I’d put this on the stereo and sit outside with a well-stocked cooler. I’ll have to settle for an open window in my basement apartment. The music will take care of the rest.
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I Saw Star Trek and it's the best movie of the summer
May 5, 2009, 2:38 pm View CommentsThere. I said it. It’s not even summer yet, but the blockbuster season begins and ends this Friday with Star Trek. Sure, X-Men Origins: Wolverine came out last week, but any tepid urge I had to go see it has been flushed from my system. Since it’s not released until this Friday, May 8th, I’m going to keep this post as spoiler-free as I can.
I was lucky enough to score an advance screening pass at the AMC in White Marsh, Maryland, thanks to my friends Spam and Anna. My dad met me at the theater, and we all went in with cautiously high expectations.
I’m used to being let down by big-budget Hollywood movies, especially those adapted from source material I already know and love. This movie did something that very, very rarely happens: It was better than I had hoped. Way better.
Star Trek is unbelievably awesome. I loved nearly everything about this movie. The fight scenes are great. The space battles are expertly done without being visually overwhelming (I’m looking at you, George Lucas). Each cast member is perfect in his or her role. The story was well-paced and never hit a stretch where I felt it dragged. Even though the sets, ships, weapons, and costumes all received 2009 updates, they still feel like they’re a part of the familiar original story.
It somehow manages to be awesome for hardcore fans and people who have never stepped foot into a Star Trek universe, something I thought would be impossible. It’s helpful that the story starts way at the beginning, before the original series. Everybody in the theater, Trekkie Trekker or not, has to get oriented with the tone of the film as they are introduced to the characters. Even if you don’t know your Scotty from your Chekov, you’ll feel right at home.
The movie also has a great sense of humor, which makes the serious parts even more powerful. There are plenty of references to the original series and movies. There are bar fights and phaser shoot-outs. There are big surprises and twists. And at the end of it all, you want to get back in line and watch it again.
Okay, Gavin. Breathe. This is unlike you. You’re normally very, very cynical about movies. What didn’t you like?
Well, there were two minor things that irked me. Near the beginning, there’s a certain pop-culture reference and a certain product placement that completely threw me out of the narrative. You’ll know them when they happen. It was a very Michael Bay-esque move, and I started to get really worried that J.J. Abrams ruined everything. Thankfully, the movie was non-stop awesome from that point on, so I was able to forgive him for the blunder.
Of course, there are bound to be unflappable, hardcore, über-nerdy fans that will tear this movie to shreds simply for not being the original material. To those people I say, relax. Enjoy. No one going to break into your house and trash your DVD box sets while you’re in the theater. No one is going to open your sealed action figures. Your characters and canonical storylines are safe.
It’s going to be very difficult for any other blockbuster of the 2009 season to be this good. As far as I’m concerned, Wolverine can wait for DVD, the new Terminator is a toss-up, and there’s no way I’m getting anywhere near the Transformers sequel. G.I. Joe? I fear it’ll be another Transformers–caliber letdown. Of course, I could be totally wrong about all those movies. Still, they’ve got some tough competition from the young crew of the Enterprise.
If you’re unconvinced, do yourself a favor and make this the one movie you go see in the theater this summer. I can’t wait to go see it in IMAX for my second go-round.
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Washington Monument in Mount Vernon
May 3, 2009, 3:29 pm View Comments
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Baltimore Alley
May 2, 2009, 3:27 pm View Comments
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Please Use Calvert Garage Entrance
May 1, 2009, 3:25 pm View Comments
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Flowermart 2009 in Mount Vernon
May 1, 2009, 3:00 pm View CommentsToday is the first day of the annual Flowermart in Baltimore, which takes place in my neighborhood, Mount Vernon. Between the road closures around Mount Vernon Place and the road closures downtown because of the water main break at Lombard and Gay Streets, driving through the city looks like it could be a bit of an adventure right now.
I started looking for an apartment in Mount Vernon two years ago during the Flowermart, so the event has a special significance for me. The weather may not be as nice today as it was when I first started exploring the neighborhood on that weekend in 2007, but the closed streets and wide variety of activity in the middle of a usually busy intersection still makes me smile. Back then, other than Brewer’s Art, I really didn’t know much about this area of Baltimore, the neighborhood I can now only identify as home.
The Flowermart is from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm today and tomorrow. The park is packed with flower vendors, food vendors, a music stage, and various activites around the square. If the weather holds out, I might walk around to check everything out tomorrow afternoon.