fireballs & tsunami

Currently listening: Herman’s Hermits, Japan, Saint Etienne

First and foremost, congratulations to the lovely Chase Mallen, my friend and college roommate of two years, who’s taking Hollywood by storm! See her in the short film Study Buddies (click on Skits, then Study Buddies, you won’t be sorry); you can also check her out in this trailer for the feature film Interstate.

My friends Bryan and Mary recently launched Ruined Music, an online collection of stories about songs/albums that suffer in the wake of a break-up. They are looking for submissions, so…make it happen.

Speaking of music, I really dislike Kanye West’s new single “Impossible” (which is also the theme to that new Scientology documentary, Mission Impossible 3). The song chugs along with a terribly awkward beat, and sounds like something an apathetic eight year old would write as a joke if their music teacher demanded that all students deliver short presentations in chorus. Not like I’m speaking from experience, or anything.

This weekend I took part in a sold-out IMAX screening of Poseidon in Lincoln Center and it…was…breathtaking. But honestly? While chewing thoughtfully on my popcorn in the dark theater, I was silently praying that Richard Dreyfuss’ character would chime in with, “We’re gonna need a bigger boat” at some point…but he, uh, didn’t. [Awkward silence number one] Come on, after having seen Poseidon, I bet Roy Scheider would have immediately called up Richard and they would have shared a good laugh and Roy would have congratulated Richard on being so goddamned cool and having such a good memory for movie lines after all these years and proudly carrying on the Awesome Movie Quote Torch.

Joking aside, I am a little ashamed to have made a joke about a tragedy like…a…ship…turning…upside-down. My other stupid joke, which I told myself I wouldn’t mention here but I am going to anyway, is a “Real World” Season IV reference. Remember Jacinda, the Aussie model cast member? She co-stars in the Poseidon remake, and the one episode of Real World London that I actually remember is the one in which Jacinda recounted details about an injury sustained by fellow cast member and punk rocker Neil; she exclaimed in her lovely Australian accent, “There was blood everywhere.”

[Awkward silence number two] Come on, there were PLENTY of moments in Poseidon where she could have said it; a nice little in-joke for all of us viewers who actually enjoyed “Real World” before it started to suck (the season right after London). Um…that’s all.

After the screening, we rented the original Poseidon Adventure, which features the always-adorable Shelley Winters and a grizzled Gene Hackman who tells more than one female character to remove her dress because it gets in the way of the group’s escape. Ah, the seventies.

Village Voice announced its 2006 Siren Music Festival line-up which will include…Art Brut! Huzzah.

Lastly, I got my hair cut. I scored a bitchin’ pair of Katayone Adeli pants at Beacon’s Closet. I uploaded new photos to my Flickr page. And after years of recommendations from loving friends, I have finally started watching “The Sopranos” on DVD. I had never seen an episode before, and thanks to Netflix, I am on my way from knowing nothing about “The Sopranos” to knowing EVERYTHING about “The Sopranos.”

This entry was posted on Monday, May 15th, 2006 at 11:29 am and is filed under Music, Film, Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.