Blades of Glory (slight spoilers)

Last night I saw a preview showing of the new Will Farrell / Jon Heder flick Blades of Glory. I looked at trailers for this movie a month or so ago and by ghawd cringed at it. It looked like a homophobic sophomoric mess with two directors and five writers and I could not imagine that it would have anything to recommend itself to me. That should have been the end of the story. But the GF found out about this free showing sponsored by the Boston Globe and WBCN and Newbury Comics, and as I was free for the evening and was in the mood to hang out with Missy Ma'am, I kinda said, what th' hell, I'll go see a bad movie. Might be a kick just on that level.

It was kinda across town on the Brookline verge of Newton, at this beat cineplex called the Cleveland Circle Showcase Cinema, so there was the 45 minute travel time to conted with, into somewhat unfamiliar territory. I took two wrong turns, but even after the 2nd one, I was still able to orient myself. We got there in pretty good time, like 5 minutes before the show. Very young crowd. K said "we're skewing the demographic" and that was obviously so. The house was about 5/6th full -- the front five or so rows were empty, and the theater was kinda long & narrow.

So anyway, not long to wait for the movie to start, and they didn't show any previews. So we walk in, sit down and BAM!

The opening titles were actually kind of understated, a montage of beautiful, fuzzy shots of kids skating. Not what I expected at all. The whole movie is like a preteen boy's fantasy about what skating is, a total flight of fancy and so extremely over the top. It was hilarious, with a couple of outre, hammy, raucous, great performances at its center, and a truly top notch supporting cast including Craig T. Nelson, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, Jenna Fischer, and William Fichtner.

I think no comedy stands up to analysis, and this one dares you to try and analyze it. (I will get the DVD when it comes out, so I'll figure some of it out then, I guess...) I actually found it slightly homophibic, but not nearly as much as you might expect. Note that the only "gay" character never actually comes out and is a stalker. If you are sensitive about such things this may not be the movie for you. I'm pretty easy to offend actually, but this didn't piss me off: You end up liking the gay stalker character. (yes, like much of the movie, that's so wrong!)

So, if you like your comedy burlesque and a little edgy, I think you might find this a pleasantly spent hour and a half.

Going on 2 years ago now, I went on tour to the Southwest. I loved that trip -- it was one of the best things I've done in my life, but the aftermath was a bit harsh. My own fault, of course. I was not wise about money & caused myself trouble that I'm still dealing with and probably will be for another year or so, if not longer. TMI, really, but it affects a lot of things.

I will always play music. I love it, but more than that, it's like a basic drive to me. Writing and singing and recording and listening to new music are as important to me as breathing, even at this late date. So I feel safe in assuming that I will continue to do it. But I think it has to inhabit a different place in my existence. And that comes down to $$$. As it always does.

The internet is where I'm doing most of my music these days. I have a mac with garageband. It is my salvation, along with macidol.

You can find my music by clicking the link over there on the right labelled "Frogmorton (Home Recordings)".

Me and Boris the Bull's "Neck Romantic"

My buddy Boris over at macidol.com has been lurking in the forums for a couple of months, but in that time put together a couple of bodacious tracks. Back in mid-February he posted National Pastime which has a dark, evil tone and words by Babe Ruth(!). Very unique, a little bit hip hop influenced and a pleasure to hear.

This week Boris (or "Me" as I like to call him) posted another new one called Neck Romantic. He says he was feeling a bit naughty when he made this one. He does all the voices (including the "hot chick") and has created something that sounds like a state of the art rap tune from oh, 'bout 1983. It's twisted (check the title) but it should be an awesome dance party number.

For both tunes, there is a button for downloading, but it wil stream automatically when you click on the links.

Something About the Sex Pistols

There was this awesome documentary on Youtube yesterday that was basically interviews with all responsible / surviving parties about the making of Nevermind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, but it's gone now. I think it is available as a DVD, so copyright infringement is probably the issue. Much of what is said in the doc is not news to me, but I found it interesting that Steve Jones at least had very definite ideas of why the band didn't survive, and feels that if two things had gone differently, there could have been more Sex Pistols music. The two things were: If they hadn't gotten rid of Glen Matlock, and if they'd never gone on Bill Grundy's show.

That's a pretty short list of things going wrong, but they're pretty crucial things. Glen Matlock was a great bass player and the other Pistols acknowledge that he was a big part of their songwriting. I never got off on the Rich Kids (Matlock's post-Pistols outfit) but I actually really like his current band, The Phillistines. The first few things by Steve Jones' and Paul Cook's post-SP band The Professionals are very Pistol-like and very cool: For instance -- Join the Professionals, by the Professionals.. They're trying to be a pop band like the Romantics, but their lyrics don't quite make it. They needed Johnny.



I wonder what a second or third Pistols album would have sounded like...

currently, nothing of interest to report!

Nothing much of merit to say at this point, I just wanted to have something inhabit this blog while I figure out what I'm gonna do with it. I have been writing things at myspace, but I find the fact that you can only have about 8 or so entries at a time rather annoying, so I am starting this. I imagine this will not be too focussed, but rather a buncha nonsense, and also some about various fascinations of mine. Will there be anybody out there reading this? I guess we'll find out!