Notes from a Genius

This weekend was another great weekend. Last weekend it was live music with friends. This weekend it was movies with friends. Friday night I went to the Portland Museum of Art with my buddy Chris and met his friend Todd (who seemed very familiar only to find out that he works at Bull Moose and I've probably bought many DVDs and CDs from him). PMA was showing the French film "Holy Motors" (thanks in part to SPACE Gallery) which was on many critics Top Lists of 2012. I certainly do not disagree that it's one of the most amazing films I've seen the past year, but it's also the most baffling, confusing and I'm quite sure insightful, but as I'm still thinking about it even now, I am still wondering exactly what I actually watched, and I saw it on Friday night. And I've tried to do my research, but no one has attempted to try to explain the movie, least of all the director. To quote the Washington Post I read that seemed to be the most accurate descrip...

Film 71 Leon: The Professional Directed by: Luc Besson Starring Natalie Portman as Mahtilda, Jean Reno as Leon, and Gary Oldman as Stansfield When this film was released, I was only 13...the same age as Natalie Portman as she made her film debut in this gritty, violent film that many people have passed over because of its content (it's pretty violent, with lots of cursing, and the bizarre relationship the main characters develop) or because it seems like Besson is trying to be like Tarantino, a bit too much. It seemed trite the second time around, for me, and even a bit mild, comparatively (against other films in the same genre). But, I can appreciate the acting. Natalie Portman is stellar as a 12 year old girl who hates the life she never chose for herself and when I read other reviews of the film, they shamed the director for putting her in such a "world" of seediness and drugs and death, claiming it was unreal and unnecessary. Here's the thing, yes, sometimes ...

Film 67 Can't Hardly Wait This is a classic high school film from 1998 starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ethan Embry, as well as a plethora of other 90s actors that were young at the time and went on to bigger and better things. But hey, everyone needs a point they can look back on as the time in their life/career that marks a significant point. For example: Lauren Ambrose- went on to "Six Feet Under"  fame Seth Green- what hasn't the guy been in (but I loved him as Oz in "Buffy" and also, Robot Chicken and the voice of Chris on "Family Guy") Peter Facinelli- Twilight fame (if it should be called that) Sean Patrick Thomas- Cruel Intentions and Save the Last Dance Donald Faison- Clueless and Scrubs Jaime Pressly- My Name is Earl Clea DuVall, Jason Segel, Selma Blair, Breckin Myers, Sarah Rue, Eric Balfour and Jerry O'Connell even make brief appearances in what is clearly an ensemble piece. Sure, when held up against other films in t...

Holy crap! What an amazing weekend, which was absolutely needed after a long week at school. First off, I spent Friday night in the nostalgia lane because my buddy Brian's band The Fogcutters backed John Popper (Blues Travelers) and Chris Barron (Spin Doctors) at Port City Music Hall. The Fogcutters have always been amazing, every time I've seen them and this time was no different. The arrangement of old 90s tunes that I grew up on sounded great. I've begun to really enjoy music that includes a fantastic horn section. It was a "best of" setlist, but that's what everyone paid to hear anyone. It was hard to tell if John Popper was sick of playing those hit songs because he seemed to mask his indifference with alcohol (he seemed to be rather drunk, or at least his banter with the crowd made it seem that way). I didn't care though, because that guy can still wail on the harmonica, although he seemed to hold back a bit this time around. Having never seen Blue...

First off, I have to say, I think the band Taking Back Sunday has been completely ruined for me. And I know what a lot of people are thinking...really, aren't you like 8-9 years behind everyone else? It's true the original bands album "Tell All Your Friends" was seminal in putting the genre now known as EMO on the map. It was approximately 30 minutes of pure, unadulterated "heart-on-my-sleeve" and "I'm pissed at how you treated me so I wrote song about it" songs. Adam Lazzara is well known for writing songs is a form of back-stabbing or talking behind someone's back who has slighted him. I used to really love them. I would crank their music to Eleven! I never thought of it as EMO music, I just thought they were writing songs that I could connect my experiences to. It was like they were writing relatable songs. They knew my heartache and pain. And they wrote it for me! I still remember seeing the video for "Cute Without the E" on M...

It's fun to know that my facial hair has become a topic of discussion among those around me. I'm not one to shy away from the attention, some might say, and I usually grow my facial hair as an attempt to become the topic of discussion for people. It's weird because, if people are looking at me, I get self-conscious, like "what? do I have a booger or something?" but I do enjoy attention...if I create it for myself. My appearance or how I act is usually how I create it. And I couldn't exactly grow facial hair until I was probably 23 or 24 years old. In high school I heard comments about my "peach fuzz" while other guys at school had 5 o'clock shadows by noon. Anyway, I will admit, my beard is becoming slightly unkempt, but I enjoy it. I feel like, if you're going to grow a beard, you should just let it grow naturally. No, "man-scaping." Besides, the idea of a beard is anti-maintenance. I've decided to "give back" a bit. ...

Who would have thought over 13 years ago that I would be where I am today. In high school I was positioning myself to never enter another formal education setting. I had decided once I'd graduated from high school that I would be done with my education, that I'd gotten all I wanted out of it. I was someone who hated being told what I should study, what I should why, and why it was important. Let me decide for myself, I thought. I hated school. I found it dull, learning inside a box. I never considered myself an inside-the-box thinker. In fact, I resented it. So, once I graduated I decided to "take a year off" to figure things out, to figure out exactly what I wanted in life, what I wanted to be. It was an important year in my life. I was working at a record store, thinking life doesn't get any better than listening to music all the time and getting free music once a week and going to as many shows as I wanted (sometimes for free). It seemed immature, but in actua...