Another long gap between posts...got some catching up to do! I'll start with a few random asides, love the revamped Star Trek-The Original Series with new special effects. I've seen two episodes and the facelift breathes new life into the classic show. So far, no "Greedo shoots first" incidents which is fantastic. Moving on, I like that new Hinder song "Lips Of An Angel". It's as if Nickelback decided to write an Aerosmith ballad. Best of all, it's a song that plays tricks on you. At first listen, it sounds like a bland love song - but on closer examination, the song is actually about how this guy is cheating on his girl with another girl and is really really happy about it. He can't quit cheatin' because the other girl has the "Lips of an Angel" but can't let his girlfriend hear the phone calls or she'll catch on. Great stuff! The last big fad for me is the video for OK Go's "Here It Goes Again". Gymnastic dance routines on a series of treadmills by four musicians makes for great video.
A movie that doesn't make for great video is the Japanese film Nobody Knows (2004). The movie tells the story of four children in Tokyo abandoned by their slutty mother and left to fend for themselves. This movie did score points for creating a realistic vision of their hermeted life (the children aren't allowed to leave the apartment) and insular world. The first half of the movie proved interesting in these terms. Sadly, the slow moving film fails to catch fire in the second half and the movie melts into a sort of bored mediocrity. By the time you get to the end, the movie seems so remote and ridiculous you're sort of dumbfounded by the amount of time you lost watching it. Sometimes it's better when Nobody Knows.
The Tao Of Steve (2000) is a lighter movie that I enjoyed much more. Starring Donal Logue (TV show Grounded For Life) as Dex, the overweight bong smoking slacker and part time kindergarden teacher, the movie follows its predictable plot faithfully but amiably. This movie has no pretentions, it's about this charming shaggy guy spinning his bullsh*t into gold. He scores with women and has an all around good time on his own terms, following the example of the three "Steves": Steve McGarrett (Hawaii 5-0), Steve Austin (the bionic man) and Steve McQueen (The Great Escape). Dex's life is uncomplicated and fun until he meets the girl of his dreams, Syd. He spends the rest of the movie re-evaluating himself to try to be worthy of Syd and has the standard detours while doing so. The performance of Logue and the simple execution of the ideas makes for a light, satisfying piece of entertainment.
If Dex were an 80's guy, his philosophies could be summed up by Number 70:
Van Halen - 5150 (1986)
I can't recall another album in my life with as much prerelease buzz as this one. When Diamond Dave left VH in 1985, everyone thought that was the end of the band. Then came the news: Sammy Hagar, the Red Rocker himself, signed up to be Van Halen's new singer. Rock fans across the nation became enamored with the possiblities of a more commercial singer backed by Eddie Van Halen's lightning fast guitar runs. They have a singer, not an entertainer was the running line. The first single, the great "Why Can't This Be Love" was a Top 10 hit thanks to the hype.
But the reason why it's Number 70 isn't because of the hype, but because it exceeded it's considerable hype. 5150 is an album stuffed with raging hard rock and steely power ballads combining the commerciality of Hagar's blustery anthems with the freewheeling guitar blasts from Eddie Van Halen. Fist pumping hard rock is delivered on the lumbering groove of "Summer Nights" and the contrasting guitar licks on "Best Of Both Worlds." VH wanders into ballad territory with shiny keyboard parts in the ET obsessed "Love Walks In" and the fan favorite "Dreams". My favorite track on the album is "Get Up", a song that has the famous Van Halen shuffle rhythm, a speedy finger tap solo from Eddie Van Halen and screaming vocals from Sammy Hagar.
Overall, it's really difficult to find a weak spot on this other than the throwaway ending song, "Inside". "Inside" is just a jokey sound mix to show the new Van Halen bantering with each other to underscore the comraderie of these fast friends. It seemed a little fake at the time because Sammy Hagar was attempting to be more of a party hearty kind of guy instead of the fierce rocker persona he had perfected up til then. Outside of some trying to hard by Mr. Hagar, Van Halen 5150 stands as one of the ultimate hard rock albums of the 80's
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