Random Media Stuff

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2742

I’ve been hibernating. Or, avoiding the internet, anyway. Moving servers turned out to be a huge pain in the ass and it still seems like a total crapshoot as to whether my websites will actually work on any given day. Kind of pointless to post an entry when I’m not sure if anyone will be able to see it or respond. I’m pissed at the server company, but sick of wasting time dealing with it.

So, here’s a post, which may or may not work. :P

A summary of my life in media over the past two weeks:

* I saw Twilight. My god. That’s two hours of my life I’ll never get back.

( spoilers for Twilight )

* I'm thinking about seeing Milk. It looks really good and historically interesting, but Sean Penn's gigantic hulking ego makes me cringe. I'm not sure I can take it.

* I'm thinking about seeing Valkyrie. It looks historically interesting and I'm very fond of Bryan Singer (X2 is still my favorite superhero movie ever, with Iron Man a close second), but Tom Cruise's ego and presumptuousness offend me even more than Sean Penn's.

* I went to see the Cruxshadows on Thanksgiving Eve. I got there at 11:45pm and they didn't go on for another hour. Damn Pyramid Club. Luckily my new phone has internet so I read marzipan until they came on.

The Cruxshadows may be ridiculously cheesy and overly sincere, but they sure put on a hell of a show. I was crying at the end. How often do you see a band playing to a packed crowd who invites their fans onstage at the end and stays up there afterward hugging every single person who wants a hug?

* I started listening to a bunch of old David Bowie albums while I was cooking for Thanksgiving, and, oh my god, you guys, why didn't anyone tell me that David Bowie used to be this awesome??? I've had The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars on repeat all weekend. I mean, I was vaguely aware that Bowie had once been good, but all I knew was the guy with the bulge from Labyrinth and the skinny old guy who toured with NIN in the 90s. I didn't realize he'd done something this passionate and creative and amazing. I can't even articulate my response; I just want to listen to it again and again.

Although, one of the really interesting things is to pick out all the Bowie influences on the bands I grew up listening to. I can see Nirvana, and Alice in Chains, and, dude, Marilyn Manson should be paying this guy royalties. And it's fascinating how it seems to straddle this boundary between 60s and 70s music and culture, idealism and disillusionment...

Anyway. Must listen more.

* I re-read The Disorderly Knights, the third book in Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles. I think it's my second favorite, after the first, A Game of Kings.

( spoilers for The Lymond Chronicles )

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.
(Anyone can comment on public entries.)