American Pie 2

[Aaron]

For those of you that loved the first one, you gotta see this one! I laughed my arse off! They had a tough act to follow from the first one, but I think they did about as good of a job as could have. I've been pretty disappointed with this summer's movies (i.e. Jurassic Park III - the lost plot), but this wasn't a let down.

Aaron

[jeffeb3]

hmmm....arse? ok I'll go with arse.

[Micah Cohen]

Don't bother with "3000 Miles To Graceland." I rented the DVD this weekend, and even tho it's nicely presented, bright and sharp, it's a dumb, dumb movie. Dumb.

Stay away.

MC

[Aaron]

....was "Down to Earth" with Chris Rock. It was OK, and kinda funny, but certainly nothing to write home about. Has anyone seen "13 Days" with Kevin Costner? I thought that sounded good.

Aaron

[RuSsMaN]

The Freakin Wedding Planner. Hey, at least I get to look at Jennifers ARSE....

It was actually o-k. I mean, if your girl/wife wants to see it, its not a total loss, you won't fall asleep....anyway, moving on...

The Mexican
o-k, I wouldnt buy it, but its worth a rental. It has some decent action, and plenty of comic relief...but this movie is far from 'greatness'. Almost disney-ending, but it will keep your attention, a decent flick, with a funny, but hard side.

Snatch
Guys, see it. If you can stand the British accents, its a fairly funny, and entertaining movie. Gangster-gore, and comedy all mixed together, interesting camera work. 2 dvd set, dts.....This might be one to buy off the previously viewed rack in a few weeks.....

Micah, 3K miles.....We need to grow out some mutton chops like Costner....

Cheers,
Russ

[Aaron]

I was definitely tempted by the "Wedding Planner", or should I say, by J. Lo. :D So hot!

Aaron

[TroyD]

I thought the Wedding Planner sucked out loud and to be honest, didn't think Jennifer Lopez was that hot....

Original Sin sucked other than some gratuitous flesh.

Snatch was cool.....I think along the lines of Pulp Fiction either you liked it or hated it. I thought it was great.

Down to Earth, sucked.


Yeah, big ol' mutton chops would be cool....to bad Uncle Sam won't allow 'em. Oh well, in 11 years or so.

Troy

[Micah Cohen]

And too bad Kevin Costner looked fat, over-the-hill and sloppily careless about himself and the roles he's been choosing. Can you believe that this is the same guy who made "Dances With Wolves"? He must really need to pay the rent.

Was J Lo ever really really hot? I mean, she looks great in "Out of Sight," but that could just be great direction. And she looks okay in "The Cell," when she's all dressed up like a music video, but really... Is she really really "hot"?

MC

[-justin-]

I saw Snatch this weekend. My one suggestion is to watch the movie with no other audible distractions (the 2 fans blowing in my house cause I don't have AC...damn it!). It was hard to understand what they were saying because the voices are very low. The louder I turned up the volume, the more annoying the movie became because of all the bass.

Pretty funny though, the parts I could hear :)

~Justin

[TroyD]

I think it is imperative to watch Snatch sans (a little French lingo) distractions or you will miss a lot. Again, I think the same thing about Pulp Fiction....good movie though.

No, I have never been a Jennifer Lopez fan. Average at best.

Troy

[Micah Cohen]

I was "unfortunately" flipping channels last night during commercial breaks in "O'Reilly" and I stopped on MTV because it seemed like they were actually playing music videos (I know; wacky isn't it?). That would make me stop on that channel because I know I'd get to see some porn there.

Amazingly, I saw a J Lo video. Guess what? She's not that attractive. And it's not because she's not a hottie; she probably is. But it's because she surrounds herself with such garbage, such human trash, that she comes off looking horrible.

And is it me, or does every band today look and sound the same? They look like a bunch of special olympics competitors doing lame Nirvana impressions. (No offense to special olympics competitors.) I mean, is it "cool" to flail about like an epileptic wearing throw-away threads that fit like clown clothes (all they need is big floppy shoes and they'd make great circus clowns!)?

What has happened to the world?

Youngsters, tell me this: Is this kind of wacky nonsense seen as a "joke," like a Weird Al Yankovich-type thing, something to be laughed at (or even laughed with)? Like, "Bubba Sparxx" is not a real thing, right? It's like those phoney parody records you used to get in MAD Magazine, right? Behind all the assumed ignorance and idiocy of MTV, you youngsters are really paying attention in school and learning about stuff and being smart, right?

RIGHT!?

MC

[-justin-]

Oldsters: Tell me this, were the 70's and 80's a big joke? Was White Snake for real? If you haven't figured it out already, life is one big joke. Younger kids love it because it's not what older people accept. (them) Ha! The joke is on you! (you) Ha! The joke is on you kids! (artists) Ha! The joke is on all of you [fade out, laughing all the way to the bank].

I swear Micah, it's like you are stuck in a bottle and you are the only one who is not aging with the times -- in fact, you SUPER aged. Adjust, adapt, don't just sit there looking out.

If you want music videos (cause you won't find them on MTV), get MTV2/MTV Rock Videos/MTV [insert here]. I have digital cable and get all those channels. They rock, really! Just music videos ALL DAMN DAY. It's great.

Act your age Micah. :D

~Justin

[Micah Cohen]

life is one big joke

It's so weird to see this ethos in action. I mean, I know life is a joke. But, not everything you do is a joke. That's something I can't figure out, this happy-go-lucky Gen-Y attitude. I guess it's a good thing, I'm not saying it's really "bad," I just don't understand it. The fashions, the music, the social mores, everything today is like styled on a circus bigtop. I'm clueless. And believe me, I'm as filled with "jokiness" as the next guy. You'd fall over if you really saw how nihilistic I am. But today's kids aren't necessarily nihilistic. They're more like oblivious.

And don't make fun of WhiteSnake. Back in the 70s, this was a kick ass band. Did they think of everything as a joke? Prolly, since hey they were destroying hotel rooms all over the world in their 20s, of course stuff was a joke. But there was some undefinable seriousness there, too; they were musicians, they were fairly apolitical, they were... I don't know; they were not wearing clown clothes and falling down like retards. (No offense meant to the learning disabled among us.) Don't make fun of WhiteSnake. It's a great band that can pass off a song like "Lie Down (I Think I Love You)."

It's just weird to see this "big joke" ethos in action. Like in that movie "Kids." That's freaking terrifying. Those kids don't see the consequences of their actions because the "big joke" ethos doesn't cover that. Everything is hand gestures and baggy pants, meanwhile everyone's dying on the streets, see? And at the end, like Alex in "Clockwork Orange," they're not redeemed, there's no cure, no help. I just don't understand it.

Plus, I can't help but laugh at the goofiness of it.

What up wit dat, kiddies?

MC

[Micah Cohen]

You know that MTV show "The Real World"? Well, of course I'm ashamed to admit that I've watched that show every damn season. And this season, of course I'm ashamed to be watching it again.

(Whenever I watch it, I recall that great line from "Clerks": "I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class. Especially since I rule." I don't know why.)

Anyway, this season, they have this goofy chick on it (surprise!) who is all into this new fangled fashion crap. She's a very light-skinned black girl (wouldn't expect MTV to have any real actual black people on, would you?) who has some issues with her make up. In fact, she's always overly made up in this hysterical way. She looks like a clown.

And because I actually own a CLOWN NOSE, one of those little red puffy things that you see clowns wearing at the circus, sometimes what I do is I sit real close to the TV when "The Real World" is on, and every time they do a close up of this girl, made up like a fashion clown, I put the actual clown nose right up to the screen, over her nose, and move it around with her movements. SHE LOOKS LIKE A CLOWN! It's hysterical!

Can't do that with WhiteSnake. (WhiteSnake's no fun.)

MC

[wangotango68]

you have way to much time on your hands!! and on the real world it is unwatchable. my wife can be a drama queen sometimes i don't need to see it on tv.

scott :cool:

[Micah Cohen]

I know -- it's tedious. But I'm unable to stop myself from watching this nonsense. It makes me just feel so... so... superior in every way.

And the clown nose thing is a scream. You should see.

MC

[-justin-]

But today's kids aren't necessarily nihilistic. They're more like oblivious.

Give me a freakin’ break. The irony in that last sentence is overwhelming. Sometimes I think, “Maybe Micah is kidding.” But then I realize you’re not. Your stupid convictions about the idiocy of the younger generation are biased on your own experiences. If you were 10 years older, you would probably be laughing your ass off (or gritting your teeth) over WhiteSnake – what a ridiculously stupid band!

There are a lot of stupid bands though. And you don’t have to listen to them, but they are apart of this ethos. Sorry, but we all still don’t want to wear tight jeans and let our hair grow down to our backs with red bandanas wrapped in our greasy, nappy hair. Now THAT is goofy. Baggy jeans goofy? Sure, you don’t wear them, of course they’re goofy.

I think the point of “Kids” is, “Hey parents, stop listening to WhiteSnake and educate your kids about the consequences of their stupid actions, because they need guidance.” Although, I shouldn’t have to tell you that. You ARE superior.

~Justin

[Micah Cohen]

Funny thing is, I understand and agree with everything you say.

No argument. Seriously. (Except for the WhiteSnake stuff. Can someone else please chime in and stick up for heavy 70s rock?)

I just think that everyone looks like clowns these days. Clowns falling all over each other like 'tards, all gestures and weird clothes. Clowns doing bad Nirvana impressions. And I don't mean "clowns" as in, you know, just "funny," I mean clowns as in made up faces and floppy shoes and red noses. I imagine these new bands not travelling in tour buses, but in tiny Shriner cars. They get to the next gig and they all pile out, one after another, like... CLOWNS!

Maybe it's just a problem with today's overdone style of video direction, that they all look this way. Everyone uses fisheye lenses and stop-motion techniques, all brooding and serious. It just looks goofy.

Am I alone here?

MC

[RuSsMaN]

My BRIEF take on this.

WhiteSnake- some cool songs, looked goofy. Not Poison goofy, but goofy. (was VERY cool AT THE TIME) key=at the time.

The new 'stuff'. Yeah, times have changed and so have styles. Personally, Im glad to see the young hotties in tight belly shirts and hip-huggers.

Point is, every era/gen has its own 'goofiness' to deal with. What about the mullet-mop on the back of your heed there Micah, that could be deemed goofy? Doesn't mean its BAD. ( I sported a really cool 'muscle car' mullet for YEARS, I know how cool I was)

Music is changing, I like it all to tell the truth. I can hear the value of WhiteSnake, and Boston, etc etc, but I can also hear the value of , say, Staind, or Linkin Park, or Weezer....

Pop music? Imo, the only decent pop was some select 80's tunes. The 'boy' bands and the like, well, I wouldn't give a bucket of piss for their future, or talent.

I hate the gen-this, gen-that.....I like where music is headed in general, and I like how the young(er) generation is expressing themselves. Would you rather they all dress like Alex Keaton, from Family Ties?

Cheers,
Russ

[wangotango68]

david coverdale has a voice most people in bands today would die for! he could pull the hot chicks, he had a mullet to die for
and the guitar player vivian campbell amazing!! instead of sending problem kids to bootcamp like on all the talk shows
send them to a slayer,megadeth,alice in chains,anthrex concert
like i saw 10 years ago no that was rock!!!

scott :cool:

[Micah Cohen]

See, tho, even you guys are too "new" for me. WhiteSnake was a better band before Campbell joined up. Marsden & Moody were better musicians. But... The 80s WhiteSnake was cool at the time. I got to hang with them once at The Omni in Baltimore, and they were cool young guys. Of course, I was blown away because they were The Blizzard of Oz band, but that's another story. I'm talking 70s.


Personally, Im glad to see the young hotties in tight belly shirts and hip-huggers.

I can't argue with you there. Where were these little girls when I was that age? Where are these little girls coming from? I go out of my way to drive by high schools on the way home, and I never see this stuff. MTV Porn.

And I do not now sport, nor have I ever sported, a "mullet." I don't think Coverdale ever has, either.

MC

[TroyD]

I dunno guys. I think that every generation is viewed by the previous generation as a bunch of losers who will obviously ruin the world as we know it and plunge us into anarchy.

I think that todays generation is just a natural extension of ourselves. So, while I don't always like or agree with a lot of crap today, I don't think that it is neccessarily the undoing of society.

Having said that, hip-huggers? Not bad but 80's mini-skirts were the coolest, big hair...oh, yeah....

Troy

[Micah Cohen]

Okay, I just went to lunch with Greg, and we talked about this.

It comes down to this:

1. I had trouble with the overt sex and violence going on on MTV. But, I guess I have to admit that in the 80s there was lots of the same stuff going on in the videos for the bands I liked. (I mean, the sort of posterchild for sex in videos was WhiteSnake, I guess.) So I can't really have a serious problem with the sex & violence on MTV, considering that fact. There just seemed to be some "class" to it then, I guess.

B. I couldn't figure out what it was exactly that was bugging me about the stuff I saw on MTV, but I whittled it down to this: the overuse of the fisheye lens in video production, and the constant gesturing and thrusting with the hands and stuff, something that seems to be a "rap" thing but everyone does it now. I'm just freaked out by it; it's weird. But Greg pointed out there was plenty of constant gesturing in the 80s, but it was with guitars! Of course it was! (And wasn't it DLR who did the fisheye lens thing?)

Which then made me think: Why was I "ok" with the constant thrusting of guitars into the fisheye lens, but I'm freaked and disturbed by the constant thrusting of hands and faces into the fisheye lens, as is currently en-vogue? Then me and Greg decided that guitars were really very phallic, and that the fact that I didn't have a problem with thrusting guitars could be seen as pretty gay, in fact. At that point I changed the subject.

And, yeah, I'm totally partial to the big-haired metal chicks from the 80s. Sadly, I still know some of them. ('Course, they're all "respectable" now. One of my favorites just got married. :()

MC

[wangotango68]

just so that you im not with your story..who is greg? and dlr will always be the man! now maybe wee can get eddie of his a**
and make that record.

scott:cool:

[wangotango68]

can i type or what?

scott

[jcaut]

I think Troy is right:


every generation is viewed by the previous gereration as a bunch of losers

I gripe (mostly to my wife) about the lack of musical acts with any real "talent" these days. There are some that I would consider talented musically, but very few mainstream acts. Not many write their own songs, play real instruments, or can carry a tune without electronic "enhancement". Its like a big show-------I know, it IS a show. I don't know how to put it...... It's like professional sports.

I don't know where I'm going with this, so I guess I'll stop.

---Jason

P.S. I like Whitesnake. And Muscle Cars. And young hotties.:p

[Micah Cohen]

Greg is one of our designers. He's an aging rocker. Already over the hill; kids, house, wife, white picket fence. And not sad about it at all. I envy him.

mc

[TroyD]

Maybe, just maybe, the fact that none of us are getting any younger and that sometimes we catch ourselves saying and thinking the things that we vilified our parents for eats at us from time to time.

Every once in a while, I catch myself thinking, "man if I could only do that again" but since I have a wife, house (with appropriate mortgage) yada, yada. I can't. Oh, and hell yeah a few '80's big hair hotties would be cool too. But here is the thing, if you get right down to it, I wouldn't go back if I could. I wouldn't trade a thing for what I have now (except I would have bought and kept a fat set of SDA's). Life is good so enjoy it. And the current group of slackers in time will be facing the same issues about the past and mortality that we are in the years to come.....

By the way, if I think back, there were a lot of bands in the 80's that were, so to speak, musical fluff. Duran Duran - NSynch. About the same caliber I would say.

Troy

[RuSsMaN]

....See, at least Duran-Duran actually PLAYED instruments.....

Cheers,
Russ

I wouldnt change a thing either, except make wise(r) audio purchases, and maybe drink a little less, just a little...

[Micah Cohen]

I thought about the 80s fluff band factor. There were lots of goofy fluff bands, true. I guess there always is. But (and this is not a completely formed thought or theory), doesn't it seem like the stuff that was "parody" then, is "real" today? Like, where's Weird Al Yankovich (or whatever) today? Nowhere, because the stuff you see on MTV now is funny already without any need for parody. See what I'm saying? How do you parody... I don't know, name any silly boy-band-slash-teeny-bopper chick singer-slash-rap group-slash-white-guys-on-MTV-group... How do you parody that when it's already a parody of real music to start with?

There's a gem of a theory there, I'm still working it out.

"If I could do that again"... Sheesh, I'd have wreaked far more HAVOC than I did. I was an angel. I shoulda really pillaged. I shoulda taken advantage of a lot more people than I did. I shoulda broken the law more.

MC

[TroyD]

How about Milli-Vanilli, Tiffany, Debbie Gibson ? All pretty silly although I thought Debbie Gibson was hot and she went to Boston College.

I actually like some Duran-Duran....

I dunno man, I just think we have a different frame of reference than the younger crowd. They will be saying the same things we are in a few years...

I would have drank BETTER beer......

Troy

[gidrah]

Here is what this newbie polkster thinks on the whole thing:

60's - they wrote about alot because they had alot to write about. The Beatles, Bob Dylan
70's - they didn't write about much, but they had fun with it. Disco (nuff said)
80's - they didn't write about much, but the whole MTV thing was cool. U2, Tears for fears,REM vs. Motley Crue, Whitesnake come back (shoulda' left it alone), Police. Also Supertramp, Van Halen
90's - they wrote about what they care about, and were pissed about it! (+ the dawning of "young country"), GRUNGE
20's - they're selling anything from T&A to Burger King. J'Lo, Backtreet Boys (compared to Boyz 2 Men, come on). It's not as if there was nothing being sold before, but I remember when being a performer meant that you were in a traveling arts group, not milking one thing for as many other things as humanly (or agently) as possible.
The decade is new. I think that society as a whole is going in multiple directions. I also think that the general state of society is mostly dictated by their youth. I further believe that the youth is highly influenced by their surroundings, (TV, music, videogames, peers, parents).
I cannot tell you which of the decades is the best, but for my money, put it on the conviction. Regardless of the situation, deal with it. If there is no situation, be festive not fodder

[jdelan]

Better Beer? Yeah, I would have had Budweiser instead of The Beast...

But I STILL would have had some Boones Farm, Strawberry Hill...Hell, when in the Military on the Military Budget that stuff was the best. At $1.95 a bottle. 2 Bottles and you were set for the evening!

As for the Music of Today....Sex Sells...And young sex sells more...
I remember when People were appalled with Hot for Teacher Video by Van Halen...That is VERY tame compared to what we see now on MTV with the so called Hip-Hop and Teen Band videos...

But at least none of them sound as good as that song did/does...

Whitesnake? Not real familiar with their 70's stuff but familiar with the 80's and all I got to say is Cheap Zepplin Clone...

But i like them better than Zep...Go figure...

[Micah Cohen]

>>
70's - they didn't write about much, but they had fun with it. Disco (nuff said)
80's - they didn't write about much, but the whole MTV thing was cool. U2, Tears for fears,REM vs. Motley Crue, Whitesnake come back (shoulda' left it alone), Police. Also Supertramp, Van Halen
<<

They didn't write about much in the 70s? Think about that. Some of the best lyrics ever came out of the 70s: Billy Joel, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Don Henley, Jim Steinman, etc etc. Don't forget Jethro Tull, Ian Anderson is a genius. The 70s were also the years of Van Halen, which was pretty much OVER by 1980. WhiteSnake's best stuff was late 70s, early 80s, as was SuperTramp's. The 70s was the decade of Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, The Who. Boston. Ramones. Disco doesn't even figure into it, at least till '77 ("Saturday Night Fever" made it legit).

For me, the 80s was post-glam rock (considering Glam was really a 70s thing: The Dolls, Alice Cooper, etc.), "hair bands," and hot chicks at Hammerjacks (local rock club). The whole alterna-scene never even made it onto my radar (where's REM now?). It was Crue, 'Snake (lame lame stuff compared to the 70s stuff, try "Trouble" ['78] or "Come An' Get It" ['80] ifin you wanna hear some WhiteSnake that ain't "cheap Zeppelin clone"!), Guns & Roses, solo Ozzy (with Randi Rhodes -- I listened to "Diary" this weekend on my new EX3 sound system in my car, and W-O-W, crimony that's amazing stuff!), etc etc.

>>
I dunno man, I just think we have a different frame of reference than the younger crowd. They will be saying the same things we are in a few years...
<<

I agree. It's just weird to have this new perspective. This whole new thing: white guys rapping to metal and this veneration of "new country music" as the sort of glam-metal of the 90s, is just weird. It doesn't make much sense and I don't see much quality in it. For example: the very first Sabbath album is basically a live jam; this crappy dirty band just jamming in the studio. But, it's pretty freaking great. And it displays a level of talent, of musical knowledge and songwriting skill, that just seems to be missing today. "New country" is weird, too, man. What's the deal with that? How strange. I don't know what to make of it. It's so far removed from "real country," Hank Williams (and even what Lyle Lovett is doing now), that I don't even know what it is. And that ugly Dixie Chick ruins the whole thing for me.

MC

[TroyD]

I would actually say that the best generation of song writers were in the 70's.....I would also add Gordon Lightfoot, a lot of people don't care for him but if you get to see him live, he is great.

Micah,
Now you know what our parents went through...it'a a rite of passage....


Troy

[Micah Cohen]

Now you know what our parents went through...

Yeah, WOW! True, true.

I am OLD now.

Altho, you know that "if it's too loud, you're too old" thing? It's still never too loud for me. Unless it's crappy stuff.

Feeling my age, MC

[gidrah]

I will admit that you were right about the music of the 70's. I still listen to all those bands, but my mind set was more towards the sell-out factor at the time.

You mention Black Sabbath! SABBATH RULES! No hairband ever came close to the shear angst, power & musicianship (is that a word), but OZZY wouldn't have been on the cover of TEENBEAT.

DISCO=(GLAM-ROCK+/-METAL)-FUNK + $.
I was so strong about Disco because; while it happened late, it took hold and wouldn't let go. Xanadu, SNF. Disco was everywhere! That's why we blew it up!

Lightfoot is great.