The Shins: Wincing The Night Away

I'm one of the losers who didn't really listen to the Shins that much until the movie Garden State. When Natalie Portman pulled her headphones off and made Zach Braff take a listen, telling him that "they will chage your life" didn't really make much sense to me at the time. So I picked up the soundtrack and rocked out to "Caring is Creepy" and "New Slang", yet I still never went out and picked up either of their albums "Oh Inverted World" or "Chutes to Narrow".

I'm sorry I ever doubted you Natalie.

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Wincing the Night Away is a pretty freakin good way to start the year out. The writing on this record is amazing, sometimes bordering on stream of consciousness writing turned into song.

Instrumental wise the record is solid. None of these guys are going to bust out into Slash guitar solos, but instead they deliver solid melody and songs that you can tap your feet to, as well as many other things.

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This album has sold me on this band 100%. I tried to avoid the hype around them for so long, but just like how I gave into John Mayer, you can't deny good music just for the sake of an image or the people that listen to them. What's good is good, and it's usually popular for a reason (sometimes good, sometimes bad, in this case good).

So thanks again Natalie Portman, I see what you were talking about now. I will now belive everything you tell (except for anything you said in Episode III).

Wincing the Night Away -9/10

The Super Bowl: Man I was waaaaaaaay off!

Well I have learned my lesson. I'm no longer going to be a homer and pick my team to win a championship in any sport, no matter how good they look on paper, or how many experts pick them to win. Nope. I don't care if Jesus himself starts at quarterback for the Panthers next year, I wont be picking them. It's a jinx, and more often that not you end up looking like a fool.

My super bowl pick was the Bengals vs. The Panthers. I had the Cardinals in the playoffs, as well as the Dolphins (At least I didn't pick them to make the Super Bowl, cough*Dr.Z* cough). Hindsight however, is 20/20, and I know I'm not the only one who made some bold predictions that turned out false. At least I did better than my baseball predictions last year.


As for the actual real- life Super Bowl, it should be a good game. A real good game. Everyone outside of Chicago and Dan Marino's living room is pulling for Peyton, and I am too, but I have this funny feeling that Chicago might pull this one out. Yes, Rex Grossman is terrible, but he's no worse than Trent Dilfer who threw 12 TD's and 11 ints in the 2001 season when he quarterbacked the Ravens to a superbowl. These Bears remind me a lot of that Ravens team. The only difference in Super Bowl 41 is that Peyton Manning isn't Kerry Collins. I don't even think Kerry Collins isn't even as good as Eli Manning (not saying much).

So with that said, do I have the guts to pick the Bears.

No. No I don't. I've learned my lesson this year.

Colts 28, Bears 14

Review: Children Of Men

Children of Men is one of those movies that comes in under the radar, but when it lands, it doesn't take long for people to notice it. I heard about this movie simply by being a nerd and reading top ten list, upon top ten list online (top tens are the only thing websites and magazines do for the week or so after christmas, or in my case, three weeks) I couldn't help but notice common characteristic among all of them. That being of course, the inclusion of Children of Men. From there it didn't me long at all figure out that I had to see this movie, and nothing could get in my way. Well, except for the fact that it didn't open in the Piedmont area for three weeks after it was released. That sort of got in my way... Oh well good things come to those who wait.

Without giving to much away, the basic premise of the movie, which takes place around 25 years in the future, centers around the fact that women have been infertile for 18 or so years due to disease and unexplained phenomena, and the human race is slowy dying out. All other civilized nations have crumbled, except for Britain, but they aren't letting refugess into the country. Then it's discovered that a refugee girl named Kee is pregnant, and it's race from their on out to make sure she ends up in the right hands. Clive Owen plays Theo, Julianne Moore plays Julian, and Michael Caine plays Jasper, and Claire-Hope Ashitey plays Kee, the pregnant refugee.

Now let me say this right off the bat, Children of Men is not a popcorn movie, it takes itself very seriously. It's set in the future, but a very believable and grounded future. The movie starts off very intense and then settles down for about 40 minutes before it picks the pace up again, but what's in between is some excellent character development and story telling. CoM also does something that is very hard to do in a post-apocoylptic film, and that's letting past events and facts come out in context. There are no montauges or news reels that explain what happened, instead, everything comes out in conversations and photographs, which is nice, because it gets you more involved and doesn't treat you like a total idiot.

CoM has it's fair share of intense moments, actually it has a lot of them. The final act of the movie is a chase, a war, and an emotional drama all rolled up into one. Combine that with what better be Oscar caliber acting (that's why they released it in 2006). Clive Owen is in top form, but the best performance came from Ashitey who plays Kee. She's a relativley new actress but you couldn't tell that by watching her act in the presence of some seasoned vets. I think she is the most likely out of the cast to get nominated (next would be Owen and the movie itself)

My only complaint about CoM is that I wanted more. The world that director Alfonse Cuaron created is so fascinating, that you can't help but wonder everything that went wrong to lead Civilization into that much chaos. CoM is one of those movies that you are thinking about days after you see it. Which is what makes movies so great, they make you wonder and they work your imagination, and Children of Men does this in spades.

9.5/10