The new RANCID cd comes out Tuesday (June 2nd) and I received an advance copy. All I can say is WOW!!!!!! Great disk. I love it. If you like Rancid (especially "...And Out Come the Wolves", which is now 14 years old, but still holds up as well). Also, they give you 19 tracks (20 on the Enhanced Box set along with an acoustic disk & DVD))
Compared to even some of the really good disks that have come out so far this year, this one will be at or near the top of the pile.
Track Listing:
1. East Bay Night - 9 of 10 / Great way to start an album! 2. This Place - 8 of 10 / Good, Solid Punk. 3. Up To No Good - 10 of 10 / Makes me sing along and happy. Tied for my favorite song.
4. Last One To Die - 9 in 10 / First Radio Single. 5. Disconnected - 10 in 10 / Ode to America today. Great Song! 6. I Ain't Worried - 6 of 10 7. Damnation - 7 in 10 / Fun Rock! 8. New Orleans - 8 of 10 9. Civilian Ways - 8 of 10 / Funky Mandolin feel. 10. The Bravest Kids - 7 in 10 / Fast, Fast, Faster. 11. Skull City - 7 in 10 / 60's - Rockabilly - Punk - Ska - all rolled into one.
12. L.A. River - 6 in 10 / Another Rockabilly feel song meets Rancid.... Shimmy-Shake.
13. Lulu - 8 of 10 / Luuuuuuuuu-Lu. 14. Dominoes Fall - 10 of 10 / LOVE this song! Tied for my favorite song.
15. Liberty and Freedom - 6 in 10 16. You Want It, You Got It - 8 in 10 / Fun, Fast tune. 17. Locomotive - 6 in 10
18. That's Just The Way It Is Now - 7 in 10 / The Clash meets Smashmouth? But in a good way.
19. The Highway - 9 of 10 / An anthem you will hear at graduations and the like (ala' "Good Riddance, Time of your Life" by Green Day)
The new TV line-ups were presented this week for the Big 3 and boy, what a let down!!!!!!! As per usual, they canned a couple of great shows - LIFE, My Name is Earl, Life on Mars, Pushing Daisies and The Unit.
One that may get the axe still is Reaper. Too bad... That show is funny!
Shows that SHOULD have wrapped up this season - Smallville. It's tired. I think Tom Welling is 40 now and could play Superman in a movie.
Shows like Chuck have been cut back to fewer (13) episodes.
A final wave goodbye to BSG as well. Those of you that watched, know what real TV is.
Returning favorites - LOST, How I Met Your Mother, Criminal Minds, CSI and CSI:NY, Friday Night Lights, Supernatural, The Office, and 30 Rock, will keep me entertained.
Thankfully a BUNCH of crap got cancelled too - Knight Rider, Kim & Kath, and Kings.
Out of the new stuff, there is NOTHING that excites me. Blah!!!
The best thing to come out this year and I'm looking forward to a full 22 episode run is southLAnd. Watch the shortened first season on re-runs, DVD or Hulu. It's worth every minute. Another notable is Castle.
Time to enjoy the summer, catch up on movies (or summer shows) and get out and play!
2005... LIke ages ago. Changing. Staying the same. Relationships. Friendships.But 4 years ago I wrote my first BLOG entry and I feel like a different person.Same home (10 years in North Park), same car, same cat, same life... The one major difference is that I am Happy. I make myself happy and try to surround myself with positive things.
There are always bumps, hurdles, and LARGE obstacles, but thus is life.
Not that I judge myself by anyone else, but I think on the happy scale, I feel I am waaaaay ahead of the curve.
Happy with my CAREER - wanting to make more money and wondering what the future holds (longevity, retirement, etc). Freelance has been good. Trying to get more while suffering through the GWB mess that we are in. I started a new job in the last year and the stress has been low, which is great. And it frees me up for more freelance and fun things.
Happy with ART - busy with multiple projects - Photography, Clothing, Design, Gaming... still haven't painted this year but the idea is still there.
Healthy, Happy, and Wiser. Trying to look at the bigger picture and not get bogged down with the mundane.
Next year - 5 years of the blog and 40 years of existence, and still somewhere between Heaven & Hell.
I have been reading the (semi) new Denis Leary book "Why We Suck" and I think it's AWESOME and very hilarious!!!! With chapters like: Your kids are not cute; Nuns, Tits, Booze & My Mom; and Matt Dillon is a Giant Fag, what is NOT to love about it.
Here is a sample:
"The type of guys who spend money in strip clubs are the ones who don't have the balls or high-enough self-esteem to talk to the pretty girls at work but just enough self-esteem to keep them from hiring a hooker"
"My advice to men who are thinking of going to a strip club would be this: don't. On second though, go to the club. Just don't go in. Stand outside, remove all your cash in your wallet and light it on fire. Watch it burn until it's a smoking pile of ashes. Then bang your head against the wall of the club several times - hard. Get in your car. Drive home. When you wake up in the morning, you will have achieved the same effect as if you had spent the night inside the club: no money, giant headache. What did you miss? Nothing. Smelly armpits, seven useless hard-ons and eighty-five horrible tattoos."
Cheese's Summer Movie Preview & his top picks (and one piece of shit)
Wolverine - May 1st (TODAY!!!) Looks great and should be a lot of fun.... but the reviews say it sucks. Eh.
Star Trek - May 8th My top movie pick for the summer. Heard it was great and action-packed.
Angels & Demons - May 15th Never read the book but heard it was better than The Da Vinci Code.
Terminator: Salvation - May 21st Christian Bale + Terminators + Great Franchise = BLOCKBUSTER LINK Land of the Lost - June 5th Will Ferrell & Sleestacks should be movie gold!!!
The Hangover - June 5th Guy comedy directed by Todd Phillips (Old School). Looks really funny.
Year One - June 19th Jack Black, Michael Cera and directed by Harold Ramis. Stone age meets Comedy age. Dumb but super funny
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - June 26th The Decepticons get their hate on... as well as their revenge.
Public Enemies - July 1st John Dillinger / Bank Robber - 30's period piece with Johnny Depp (Dillinger) and Christian Bale (does that guy ever stop making movies???), directed by Michael Mann (Heat). Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince - July 15th 2nd most looked-forward-to movie this summer (especially since it was pushed from last fall.
(500) Day of Summer - July 17th Romantic Comedy with Joseph Gordon-Levitt
BRUNO - July 10th You will hate this movie if you like BORAT, gay comedy, bad language, poking fun at everyone and don't have a sense of humor. G.I. Joe : The Rise of Cobra - August 7th Having just watched the new adult swim G.I.Joe cartoon "Resoluute" this live-action movie is primed as the BIGGEST flop of the summer. Make more cartoons instead!!!
Taking Woodstock - August 14th My sleeper hit of the summer. Demetri Martin, Liev Schreiber & Emile Hirsch, directed by Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger) bring the summer of love to 2009.
Inglourious Basterds - August 21th This would easily be my #1 pick but with the saturated summer hits that just keep coming, Quentin Tarantino's WW2 pick comes in 3rd. That is not to say I WILL be seeing this opening weekend. LINK
